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Is It Wrong For The Devil To Fool Around In Orario?

Chapter 14

Twilight Manor

Riveria took a deep breath as she stood atop Twilight manor's highest spire, enjoying the cool air as the first rays of the morning light began to brighten the sky. The High Elf had always been an early riser and she enjoyed watching the dawn arrive to signal the start of a new day. However, Riveria was not up on the spire to simply greet the new day and she took her eyes from the slowly brightening sky and resumed scanning the area around her home with her keen emerald eyes.

Riveria did not need to keep her vigil long before she spotted a small blonde figure leave Twilight Manor and furtively glance around the courtyard she had exited into for other members of her familia. Thankfully for Riveria the blonde did not look high enough to notice Riveria on the spire and quickly made her way across the courtyard before launching herself over the wall surrounding her home as easily as a grown man would step over a bump in the road.

Riveria let out a quiet sigh as she spotted her quarry leaping away from Twilight Manor across the city's rooftops, growing smaller by the second.

Now a normal person likely would have given up the chase then and there, realizing that their quarry would be far beyond their line of sight by the time they walked down the stairs and through much of the interior of the manor. Thankfully for Riveria she did not need to bother with stairs to follow after her quarry and simply stepped up onto the parapet of the spire before leaping off of it and falling towards the ground.

Now for a normal person this would have been a death sentence and even many adventurers would have had to worry about broken legs for falling from that height. Thankfully for the High Elf she was a level six and while she may have had low endurance and strength compared to Gareth and Finn given her specialty as a pure mage, her body had still been strengthened enough that is could handle such a fall with little effort and she was able to easily land on top of the wall that surrounded Twilight Manor before leaping off of it as well in pursuit of her charge.

Riveria was barely able to still see the blonde girl by the time she had finished her descent from the tower but she could still make out the girl in the distance with her enhanced vision. And even if she had lost sight of the girl, Riveria already had a good idea of where Ais was going given the general direction she was headed in.

Over her years of watching over Ais Riveria had learned quite a number of the girl's odd quirks and habits and among them was Ais' fondness for a particular stretch of wall on Orario's northwest. Riveria had been forced to track down Ais to this particular section of the wall more than once over the years when the girl had something bothering her and would run off. At first Riveria had assumed that Ais simply came there due to the fact that no one else would be around to bother her in such an out of the way location, but Ais had once told her the actual reason she favored that spot on the wall.

It turned out that the home Ais had lived in with her parents before the creation of Orario had been located relatively close to where that section of the wall now stood. Ais would occasionally go there because the view looking out onto the plains from that place was as close as she could come to the view she had seen in her youth, looking out from her parents home.

Once Riveria had learned this she had stopped pursuing Ais to that place, allowing it to serve as a place the girl could reflect by herself. However, Riveria now had the sinking suspicion that the spot now served a different purpose from Ais' private retreat.

Riveria saw Ais arrive at the wall and quickly make her way to the top. Riveria quickly launched herself into a nearby bell tower to avoid being spotted and began waiting again, taking the occasional glance up at Ais and the stairs leading up onto the wall from her hiding spot.

Riveria had noticed something off about Ais over the past several days. It had begun two days ago when Riveria had woken up early as usual and went to the library to prepare Lefiya's lesson for the day. As she had made her way to the library Riveria had looked out onto the courtyard and had been surprised to see Ais absent. Now to most people this would not be overly surprising given the early hour but for someone who had known Ais for nine years her absence was odd given the fact that the girl had almost always began her mornings by practicing her form in that courtyard for nearly a decade by that point with the only days she neglected those drills being either when she was too sick or wounded to perform them. Still, it wasn't that strange and Riveria had simply made a mental note to see if Ais was feeling well when she saw her later.

However, when Riveria came across Ais in a hallway several hours later she had noticed some more peculiarities. The most obvious one being how the girl had frozen up upon being called out to by the High Elf, turning to face her with poorly concealed worry. Riveria had been confused by the response but had simply asked if Ais was well, with the girl quickly saying she was fine before hurriedly excusing herself. This had immediately roused Riveria's suspicion, and the High Elf had begun watching the girl for any more odd behavior…. Which she did not have to wait long to see as later that day she had seen a visibly distressed Ais lead a listless Lefiya from the manor's dining hall. Riveria had no idea what the two had discussed but they had returned a short while later with Lefiya having regained most of her energy and Ais looking even more nervous than when she left.

The next morning Riveria had risen early again and again found Ais absent from her usual training spot. When she had mentioned this to Lefiya during their morning lessons her apprentice had frozen up for a moment before mumbling something about rabbits and had tried to distract her with a question Riveria knew full well Lefiya could answer.

Needless to say, by that morning Riveria had had enough of her charges trying to hide what was going on from her and the High Elf's determination to find out what was going on had led her to her current location, leaning against a wall in the shadows in the interior of the bell tower as she watched Ais up on the wall.

Riveria already had a sinking suspicion as to what was going on here and those suspicions were all but confirmed as she saw a white-haired boy begin to make his way up the stairs to join Ais on top of the wall. Riveria could only let out a tired sigh as she watched Ais begin to converse with Bell Cranel of the Lucifer Familia, feeling a headache begin to form.

Under normal circumstances Riveria would be more bemused than anything, pleased to see Ais come out of her shell and make a new friend even if they were not a member of Loki Familia. Hell Riveria would even have been fine with Ais seeking out a boy because of a simple crush as long as the boy possessed good character and was part of a familia of good moral standing.

Unfortunately, Riveria was uncertain if the boy met the former requirement, and he most certainly did not meet the latter.

From her extremely brief interactions with the boy Bell Cranel seemed to be a fairly standard rookie adventurer, a boy who had likely come to the city pursuing dreams of fame, fortune, or adventure like so many other youths did every day. Beyond that Riveria knew next to nothing about the human boy besides the fact that he had caught Ais' attention after she saved him from a minotaur on the fifth floor. She also knew that Ais had felt horrible about Bete's mockery of him during their post expedition celebration at the Hostess of Fertility and the fact that he had always run away at the first sign of Ais whenever they met afterwords. This fact had left Ais feeling dejected after each instance of encountering the boy, but that supposed fear was in the past if their interaction on the wall was anything to go by.

As far as Riveria could tell Bell Cranel seemed like a normal and shy boy and had he been a member of most other familia's from their allies in Ganesha Familia to the newly born Hestia Familia the High Elf would likely have stood back and watched quietly to see how things went between him and Ais.

The problem was that Bell Cranel was a member of what Riveria and the other leaders of Loki Familia considered to currently be Orario's most suspicious familia.

Riveria had encountered plenty of familias during her three decades as an adventurer and she liked to believe that she was an open-minded individual, but Lucifer Familia had made her feel uncomfortable from the very first night she had heard about it. Not only did they show up seemingly out of nowhere with a previously unheard of first class adventurer as their captain but their values and business flew in the face of everything Riveria believed in as an elf. Openly espousing the virtues of lust and the unashamed pursuit of desire, the Lucifer Familia's club had become a renowned center of vice and debauchery during its short existence. While this offended the High Elf's sensibilities, Riveria likely would have simply put Lucifer's den of sin out of her mind if not for other, far more troubling rumors that had reached her ears.

As it turned out the Soma Familia's move to their new vineyard outside the city walls as well as Demeter's breach of her longstanding policy on not selling so much as a scrap of land owned by her familia had caught the attention of more than a few people in Orario, especially among the gods who loved nothing more than gossip. And after a few days of gossip and speculation it had come to light exactly who it was that had arranged the transaction between Soma Familia and Demeter Familia. But the revelation that it had been Lucifer who had negotiated the deal between the two familias had quickly been overshadowed when the leaders of Loki Familia had begun to learn of just how much influence Lucifer had accumulated during his short stay in Orario.

After the details of the deal had come to light many other gods and prominent business people had also spoken of how Lucifer had also done "favors" for them as well. From introducing a god to a particularly attractive partner for the night to helping two merchants come to a mutually beneficial arrangement to a variety of odd favors ranging from helping someone get a desired job or even overcome their inhibitions, it had become clear to the leaders of Loki Familia that Lucifer had managed to build up quite the list of contacts since opening his club. And as the list of people who owed Lucifer favors grew so too did the trepidation the Loki Familia leaders felt towards the man Ouranos had called "The Devil".

In less than a year since coming to Orario Lucifer had built a list of contacts and a reputation greater than many familias that had been in the city for a decade. Not only did his familia contain one of the few level five's in the city outside of Loki, Freya, or Ganesha Familia but he had also amassed powerful allies like Ishtar and cultivated relationships with many of the city's prominent merchants. But perhaps of greatest concern was the seeming ease with which he had managed to get The Guild to agree to several of his requests.

Like many elves in the city Riveria was not fond of the head of The Guild despite him being a member of their race. This was due in large part to the many unpleasant rumors she had heard over the years concerning the older elf's… appetites. Still, while she had not approved of Royman's vices she had firmly believed that he always placed the good of the city before all else, a belief that had been validated at numerous points during the city's dark age. Now though it appeared that the obese elf was letting his desires have greater reign after the city had enjoyed years of peace, an opportunity that Lucifer had clearly taken advantage of already.

All of this had led to the leaders of Loki Familia feeling an increasing sense of trepidation towards Lucifer and his children, all of them wondering what Lucifer planned to do with his ever-expanding list of favors and allies.

And now here was Ais inviting one of Lucifer's children to join her at a place she had never even invited a member of her own familia to.

Riveria tightened her grip on her staff as she felt a sense of worry come bubbling up from deep inside her, the sight of the two standing together on the wall sending a chill down her spine. The High Elf did not know quite what to make of these secret rendezvous between the two but she knew they made her feel worried, not for herself or her familia on a whole, but for the girl she had watched over for nearly a decade now.

In many ways Ais had surpassed all the expectations she and the other three leaders of the familia had held for her, leveling up at a rate that shocked most people in Orario, civilians and seasoned adventurers alike. More than that Riveria was glad to see Ais begin to display habits and mannerisms more in line with her actual age such as going shopping with her friends and seeking them out for reasons other than seeing if they wanted to go to The Dungeon with her. These changes had left Riveria feeling more relieved than she had expected, remembering all the times in Ais' youth where the girl had shown a frankly heartbreaking lack of childishness or joy in anything other than growing stronger.

However, in other ways Ais was still very young, more so than even her age would suggest as she had ignored a great many things other girls had dealt with and thought about in favor of focusing solely on growing stronger. This had left Ais naive in several regards and one of Riveria's fears was of someone taking advantage of Ais' innocence for their own benefit. Riveria was not blind to the fact that Ais had grown into a beautiful young woman and had drawn the eyes of many people in the city. Thankfully this had never proven to be a problem before as Ais had simply brushed off any attempt at flirting or courtship in favor of focusing on her growth as a warrior… until now that is.

Riveria did not know why Ais had taken an interest in the white-haired boy or which of them had asked for these meetings, but she could not shake the fear of what these secret meetings between Ais and Lucifer's child could lead to. Ais' experience in anything related to romance was virtually nonexistent while the boy was the child of one of Orario's most openly salacious beings, literally living in an establishment of sin and vice. Bell Cranel looked innocent, but Riveria was not willing to allow someone from such a debauched home to get close to Ais simply because of how he behaved in public.

She would need to evaluate the boy, Riveria decided. She would need to look into what kind of person he really was, whether he really was the simple boy he seemed to be in public or if he was in fact a wolf in sheep's clothing. If he proved to be the former Riveria would offer him her sincere apology and not hinder whatever was going on between him and Ais.

But if he proved to be the latter…

Riveria turned away from the two on the wall and dropped down into the alley next to the bell tower so she could begin making her way back to Twilight Manor without fear of being seen by Ais. As she left her lips curved down in a frown and her eyes sharpened as she continued her train of thought.

If the boy proved himself to be someone who wore an innocent mask in public so he was able to better manipulate or fool people, then she would cut off his contact with Ais immediately. She had no intention of letting such a poisonous influence get close to Ais when the girl herself had shown an interest in him that he could exploit. Even if Ais herself did not approve of the move Riveria would not allow someone to get close to Ais just so they could take advantage of her in some way.

Riveria would sooner burn the Entertainment District to the ground herself than allow that to happen.

Riveria hurried of back to the manor, needing to write and send a letter before the day began in earnest, her sharp mind quickly devising a means to test the boy using an opening his god had left to them at their last meeting.

/

Unknown to Riveria her departure was in fact seen by someone, though not by the two she had been hiding from.

Languidly detaching herself from the shadow of the chimney she had used for cover, Maze looked down at the departing High Elf with a small smirk, pleased to have avoided detection. Not that it had been particularly hard given how intently Riveria had been watching Bell and Ais but still it pleased Maze that she had been skilled enough to avoid detection by the level six's enhanced senses.

"Looks like someone's having a bad morning." Maze muttered quietly to herself after Riveria had rounded a corner and left her sight. "Guess she's not a fan of Bell's little morning beatdowns."

The demon turned her attention back to the wall and was rewarded with the sight of Bell being sent spinning away by Ais first roundhouse of the day. Given what she had observed on the two previous mornings she knew it would likely be the first of many.

When Bell had come to her and asked for a week off from her training Maze had been… less than pleased. She hadn't been training Bell for all that long so Bell asking for a full week off had rubbed her the wrong way, especially when the boy had not elaborated as to why he wanted that time off. Still if Bell wasn't willing to put in the effort then Maze saw no point in wasting her time trying to teach him so she had allowed it.

However, Bell's attempt at sneaking out of the Salome early in the morning several days prior had caught Maze's attention so she decided to follow him to see what the boy was up to. And low and behold the young rabbit was sneaking off to have a secret meeting with Loki Familia's Sword Princess. Maze was fairly certain Lucifer would be proud of the brat if he knew that Bell was already close enough with the blonde girl to have secret rendezvous with her, but it appeared these meetings were less about the two teenagers sneaking of to fool around kind and more of a one-sided beatdown that could charitably be called training.

At first Maze had been mildly miffed that Bell had chosen to train under Wallenstein instead of her but then she remembered the kid had a crush on the blonde so she figured she probably shouldn't have been surprised he chose her over Maze. Hormones were apparently a major controlling factor in teenagers regardless of what reality you were in. And then Maze watched Ais give Bell the first of many roundhouses and found her mood much improved.

Maze had been spying on the two's training sessions since out of a curiosity to see if Bell was able to pick up more from the Sword Princess' method of training than her own and so far the demon felt secure in the belief that she was the superior teacher, if for no other reason than the fact that she had yet to knock Bell out even once during their training sessions whereas she had counted the Sword Princess having knocked Bell unconscious a total of six times in the past two days. Now seven if the fact that she was placing Bell's head in her lap was any indication.

Maze wondered if she should have said anything to the elf before she left so that she didn't get the wrong impression of what was going on but just shrugged to herself after a few seconds. No point wasting time pondering what ifs.

Maze took out an apple and began to munch on it as she made her way back over to the chimney and entered its shadow again, the darkness obscuring her from view to an unnatural extent. She kept her gaze focused on the two and watched as Bell suddenly jolted up with a shout, having regained consciousness. She could practically feel the Sword Princess' disappointment as she stood and the two moved to stand across from each other again before resuming their training, completely unaware of the demon watching them from down below.

/

Outside Babel

Emma idly hummed to herself as she sat on the rim of a fountain a short distance away from the entrance to Babel. She and her familia members had arrived before their allies in Lucifer Familia and were waiting for them before proceeding into The Dungeon. Emma decided to take a moment to rest and enjoy the scenery while her two familia members were being a bit less reserved.

"Alright newbie, today is the day!" Primo all but shouted as she rested one hand on her hip and used the other to point her staff directly at the face of their familia's newest member. "The days we spent all that time training to prepare you for! Tell me, are you ready to show The Dungeon what a member of the Hestia Familia is capable of!"

"Y-yes Vice-Captain!" Iris Bennett, beast person and newest adventurer of the Hestia Familia responded. The brown-haired Bulls did her best to not let her nervousness show in front of her captain or vice-captain, afraid of disappointing the two of them after they had worked so hard to prepare her for this.

Emma lightly chuckled at Primo and Iris' antics, finding the sight of the Bulls being lectured by an elf who was seven years her junior and did not even reach her shoulders very amusing. Both she and Hestia had been gotten a few good chuckles over the past several days from watching Primo lean into her role as their familia's vice-captain.

Though they would admit that maybe giving that much authority to a ten year old was perhaps not the best decision Hestia had ever made.

"Good! Now show me your war face, recruit Bennett!" Primo continued on, taking a step forward and forcing Iris to lean back to avoid having the elf's staff poke her face.

"M-my what, vice-captain?" Iris asked as she looked down at the Primo in clear confusion.

"Your war face! It's something I heard two gods talking about the other day! I may not have caught their full conversation but from what I heard it helps get someone in the right mindset before going into battle! So, show me the meanest face you can muster, meaner than any of the monsters we're going to meet down there!"

Iris just stared at the excited young elf for a moment before turning to look at Emma, hoping for some clarification. Unfortunately for her Emma had about as much idea of an idea on what Primo was talking about as her so all the pink haired girl could do was just shrug and offer her an apologetic smile.

"Um…. Grrr?" Was all Iris could think to do in response to Primo's expectant look and words, only managing to muster out a halfhearted growl as the little elf looked up at her expectantly. Unfortunately for her it clearly wasn't what Primo had been looking for.

"What was that supposed to be, your stomach grumbling!" Primo exclaimed in clear annoyance. She quickly reached up to grab Iris' shoulders so she could drag her down to face level with her. "That's not a war face! Now do as I do."

And then Primo took a deep breath before baring her teeth and glaring at Iris with her eyes glaring forward, growling as menacingly as a ten-year-old girl under five feet could hope to.

"GRRRRR!"

"…. Grrrr?" Iris replied, trying to add a bit more heat to her growl but failing miserably and clearly irritating Primo who started shaking the poor Bulls by her shoulders.

"GRRRRRR!" The young elf tried again, continuing to shake Iris.

"Grrrr." Iris forced out, her face growing red from the continued shaking and the embarrassment.

"GRRRRR!"

"Grrrrr!"

GRRRRRRRR!"

"GRRRR!"

"GRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

"GRRRRRRR!" Iris didn't so much growl as scream her last attempt but Primo finally stopped shaking her and took a step back, placing her hand on her hip and tapping her staff on the ground in approval.

"Good! Now you're ready to face The Dungeon!" And with those words Primo turned towards Babel and pointed her staff towards the entrance. "Let's go show those monsters what Hestia Familia is made of!"

Primo strolled confidently towards the entrance, not noticing her companions were not following her.

"Um, should we call out to her?" Iris asked, her face flushed from exertion and embarrassment.

"Just give her a minute, Primo can just get a bit carried away at times." Emma replied, her own face sporting a blush as well. However, Emma's blush had less to do with exertion and more to do with all of the people who had decided to stop and stare at the trio during Primo's little pep talk.

About a minute later Primo returned looking very irritated with her familia members.

"come ooooon! What are the two of you waiting for?" Primo whined at the two as she returned to them.

"Our full party." Emma replied simply, smiling at the irate little elf.

"Wha- oh right." Was Primo's response as she remembered why they had stopped at the fountain and her own cheeks colored pink to match her companions.

Thankfully, the three did not have to wait long as they heard a shout in their direction and turned to see Bell and Lili making their way towards them with Bell having his hand raised in the air in greetings.

"Bell, Lili, Good morning!" Emma said happily as she stood up to turn and greet them. "How have the two of you bee-."

Emma stopped speaking once the other two were close enough to see and she was able to get a good look at Bell's current…. Condition.

"Good morning, Emma, Primo, and you must be Iris!" Bell said happily as he walked up to the three girls, a friendly smile on his face. He extended his hand towards Iris once he was close enough. "I'm Bell Cranel of the Lucifer Familia, pleased to meet you!"

"Um, nice to meet you too Mr. Cranel." Iris replied and reached out to shake the offered hand with a small smile on her face. "I'm Iris Bennett, newest member of the Hestia Familia. I promise to do my best not to slow the party down in The Dungeon."

Bell continued to smile as he shook Iris' hand and Iris tried to smile wider to match but found it difficult given Bell's state.

"Um, Bell are you… alright?" Emma asked tentatively, unsure of what to say.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little sore from training." Bell replied, doing his best to appear unbothered. "But there is something I need to- "

"What happened to your face?" Primo said before Bell could continue, unable to contain her curiosity anymore.

And the two older members of the Hestia Familia could only look sheepishly at Bell, their gazes apologetic but also questioning as they stared at the very noticeable bruise on his right cheek.

The bruise took up most of Bell's right cheek with the center of it being noticeably darker than the rest, as though something (such as a boot's heel) had repeatedly struck it over and over again.

Now Emma and Primo were aware of Bell's training sessions with Maze, however this was the first time he had come to meet them at Babel with a visible bruise. The reason for this being that despite how intense the training session with Maze were Lucifer was always waiting for Bell with a healing potion after they ended to fix up any scratches and bruises he incurred during the spars.

Unfortunately, Ais did not quite have that level of foresight and had forgotten to bring any healing potions with her when she left to meet Bell that morning. And Bell being used to other people bringing the potions had not thought to bring any himself and he had not really had time to run to the Blue Pharmacy to buy some before he had to meet Lili and head to Babel.

"Um Bell, are things… okay with your training sessions with your captain?" Emma asked cautiously, not wanting to offend her friend by insulting his familia.

"Oh! Yes, everything is fine with Captain Maze!" Bell quickly replied, not wanting to see his captain's reputation besmirched due to a misunderstanding. "I'm actually taking a few days off from her training for… reasons."

"Then what happened to your face?" Primo asked again, equal parts curious and concerned for her white-haired friend. "Did you get in a fight?"

"Um, no not really a fight." Bell said, clearly uncomfortable with the question.

Bell liked Emma and Primo, they were two of the first friends he made in the city and he trusted them after the times they had fought together against monsters. Still, Bell did not want to tell anyone about his training with Ais for multiple reasons, not the least of which being the problems it would cause between their two familia's. So, despite his trust of his party Bell decided to keep his morning sparring sessions with Ais a secret, unwilling to risk his opportunity to learn directly from his idol on the chance that they might unintentionally let something slip. After all, one of them was still just a child by the metrics of any culture and children were well known for being very bad a keeping secrets.

The atmosphere grew uncomfortable as Bell continued to keep silent on where his bruise had come from until eventually Lili let out a tired sigh that drew everyone's attention to her.

"This mood is not good for a group about to enter The Dungeon so allow Lili to explain and end any confusion before things get even worse."

This caused everyone to look at Lili in surprise with Bell feeling a spike of anxiety at the thought that Lili might know where he had been sneaking off to in the mornings.

"You see there is a very simple reason that mister Bell has a bruise he is so unwilling to discuss." Lili explained as the rest of the group listened. "And that reason is that Mister Bell is a masochist."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"Mister Bell has been sneaking out to fulfill his secret desires for the past several days and has been returning battered and beaten up every time, but has also been looking incredibly pleased and happy as well. Why just this morning Mister Bell was practically skipping when he returned to the Salome, grinning like a child who had just gotten a treat despite the bruise. Lili does not know exactly where Mister Bell is going but it is clear they are satisfying some deep-seated masochistic desires of his for him to take such a beating there and return home looking so happy every time."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…. L- lili." Was all Bell managed to croak out after Lili finished her explanation, Looking at the Palum with a look of abject betrayal.

"What? If Lili is wrong then please feel free to correct her on what you have been doing these past few days that cause you to come home looking so happy despite being beaten up." Lili responded, looking straight at Bell with a challenging stance as though daring him to tell them why she was wrong.

"I- I can't really say." Was all Bell could manage in response. "But I'm not as masoc- I mean I'm not like that!"

"So, Mister Bell has not been sneaking out of the club to go meet someone who he knows will beat him up?" Lili asked with a flat expression.

"W-well yes but-"

"And Mister Bell is not only willing but eager for those session?"

"I-I mean… kinda?"

"And Mister Bell plans to keep going back despite all the pain he had endured and plans to continue to do so for as long as he can, despite knowing that there will be even more pain tomorrow?"

"…."

Lili simply stared at Bell at the young rabbit's lack of response before letting out a sigh.

"Lili does not understand those kinds of desire, but out of respect for her new god's teachings Lili will not try to stop you. She only asks that you please be more careful to avoid so much harm to yourself in the future. Maybe with…. ah what did Miss Maze call it again? Ah yes, a "safe word". Lili simply asks that you please keep the "safe word" in mind in the future."

Bell could only stare at Lili in shock before slowly turning to see how his three other party members had reacted to Lili's revelation.

Emma's face was almost as pink as her hair and she was trying her best to not look directly at Bell, her gaze locked onto a particular cobblestone about four paces to the left of Bell.

Iris was practically swaying on her feet, her face beet red as she held her hands in front of her mouth. Her eyes were distant as though she was imagining something with great clarity, a thought that sent a chill down Bell's spine as it didn't take a genius to imagine what exactly was going through her head.

But perhaps the most mortifying reaction came from Primo. The small elf girl just regarded Bell for a moment, her face scrunched up in clear confusion, before she walked over to Emma and silently gave the older girl's sleeve a gentle tug to get her attention.

Emma shifted her gave back to her vice-captain and was about to speak when Primo beat her to it.

"What's a masochist?"

The elf girl's innocent question hung in the air like a guillotine, with none of the other four willing to explain that particular word to a ten-year-old. However, their silence didn't banish the question from Primo's mind and after a moment of silence she tugged on Emma's sleeve again more insistently and asked again with more force in her voice, annoyed at being seemingly ignored.

"I-it means training too hard!" Bell all but shouted out after Primo's second asking, desperate to both try and retain his dignity with at least one member of his party as well as not explain the actual meaning of the word to a child. "It means working yourself too hard and not taking enough time to recuperate before doing it again!"

Primo and the other girls all turned to look at Bell. Emma and Iris sported strained expressions at giving their familia member such brazenly incorrect information, but neither was willing to speak up to correct him lest they have to explain the actual meaning of the word themselves. For her part Lili simply rolled her eyes at Bell's sloppy attempt at a cover up but kept her mouth shut.

"That's what masochist means?" Primo asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Yes." Bell said, his tone somehow both firm and pleading at the same time. "That is absolutely what it means."

Primo just regarded Bell with a look of mild confusion for a few seconds and turned to look at the other members of the party to see if anyone spoke up to contradict him. When no one did she simply turned her gave back to Bell and nodded.

"Ok." Was Primo's simple response.

Bell, Emma, and Iris all let out a collective sigh of relief at Primo's acceptance.

"So now that we're all here does that mean we can finally get going." Primo asked tapping her foot impatiently as she gestured the entrance to Babel.

Emma nodded and Iris took a deep breath to try and steady herself before entering The Dungeon. But only Lili came over to join the three girls from Hestia Familia, with Bell staying where he was with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Bell?" Emma said and gave Bell a surprised look as he made no move to join the other four.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I'm afraid that I have something else I need to do today." Bell said with clear regret as he adjusted the straps of his backpack. A backpack that Emma only now took notice of.

"Lord Lucifer extended an offer to assist Loki Familia with their preparations for their expedition as both a means to apologize for the fight with Vanargand as well as a thank you for helping Mr. Bell when he got a mind down in The Dungeon." Lili explained to the three other girls. "Early this morning we received a letter from Nine Hells asking if they could borrow Bell for the day to act as a supporter for a group of theirs that is going down to the Middle Floors to gather some drop items for a quest. That means only Lili will be joining Hestia Familia today."

The news immediately dampened Emma and Iris' moods, the two of them hoping to have Bell to support them on Iris' first dive. In sharp contrast to her familia members Primo's eyes lit up at the mention of Nine Hells and she immediately scurried over to Bell to look up at him in awe.

"Lady Riveria asked for you personally!?" Primo said as she looked up at Bell, practically bouncing on the spot. "You know Lady Riveria!?"

"Um well know may be too strong a word." Bell said with an embarrassed smile as he leaned back from the over excited elf. "I've met her only twice and barely said anything to her. I'm just as surprised as you that such an amazing adventurer remembered me."

"You've seen Lady Riveria!" Primo squealed, the young elf looking up at Bell with stars in her eyes. "I've has always dreamed of meeting her majesty but I have not yet seen her even once even though we are both adventurers! Please tell me, what kind of staff does her majesty use? Is it true that her hair and eyes are as green as emeralds? Is Lady Riveria really beautiful enough to put goddesses to shame?!"

Primo continued to bombard Bell with questions, practically hopping on the spot as she begged Bell to tell her about her idol. Emma and Iris could not help but chuckle at the sight as Primo's sheer enthusiasm caused Bell to take a step back. Lili was again more subdued, but a small smile still made its way onto her face.

However, before Bell could even begin to articulate an answer to Primo's avalanche of questions a new voice spoke out a short distance away from them.

"Excuse me, are you Bell Cranel?"

Standing a short distance away from the group was a beautiful Elven woman with golden hair and hazel eyes. She was clothed in a conservative adventurer's outfit and had a wand and a sword connected to the belt around her hips. She regarded Bell and Primo with a small polite smile as she waited for Bell to respond to her question.

Bell was surprised by being suddenly addressed by the somewhat familiar elf but was unable to speak before Primo let out a surprised squeak and suddenly ducked behind him, her eyes wide and face red.

"Um, Primo-?" Bell began before he was suddenly yanked down to Primo's level by the young elf reaching up and grabbing his shoulders.

"You're going to be supporting Elleaf today!?" Primo whispered in clear amazement, trying to keep her voice down but doing a poor job due to her excitement.

"W-well it appears so." Bell said, feeling uncomfortable from being manhandled by the small elf girl and a little put off by the awe in her eyes. "What can you tell me about her?"

"You mean you've never heard of Elleaf before!" Primo responded in shock before casting a quick glance over Bell's shoulder to look at the older elf who was still waiting for a response. "She's a second-rank adventurer who basically acts as Lady Riveria's right hand and handmaiden! She's famous for being a magic swordsman who can use both spell and blade to lay waste to monsters! How have you not heard of her before!"

"Um, well Elleaf did sound somewhat familiar?" Bell tried to defend himself. "But when people talk about Loki Familia they usually talk about the first class adventurers, so I guess I only heard a few mentions of her in passing?"

Primo looked like she was about to tear into Bell for not knowing about such a famous elven adventurer when a shadow fell across the two and they looked up to find Alicia standing next to them with an exasperated smile on her face.

"Excuse me but would you perhaps mind answering my question?" Alicia said with a small twitch of her eyebrow. "I realize we saw each other a few days ago but we were never formally introduced. I am Alicia Forestlight, are you Bell Cranel?"

"Ahem, ah yes I am Bell Cranel." Bell said as he quickly stood again and offered Alicia a bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance Ms. Forestlight!"

"Pleased to formally meet you as well, Mr. Cranel." Alicia responded with a nod of acknowledgment before turning to look at Primo with a small but genuine smile. "And who might you be, my young elven sister?"

Primo let out another squeak at being directly addressed by the older elf but quickly stood straight and offered Alicia a full waist bow, both to show the older woman her respect and to hide her burning face.

"I-I'm Primo Libera, Ma'am!" Primo managed to get out even as she kept her gaze firmly locked on the stones under her. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Elleaf!"

Alicia let out a light chuckle at Primo's clear nervousness and kneeled to get down on Primo's level, placing her hand in the small girl's line of sight and gesturing for her to rise. When the younger blonde did look up she was met with a friendly smile from the older woman.

"It's very nice to meet you, Primo." Alicia said kindly as she looked Primo in the eyes and offered her a friendly smile. "I take from your staff that you are an adventurer as well?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Primo confirmed while vigorously nodding her head. "I am a new adventurer who is part of the Hestia Familia along with my two familia members here. I've heard a lot about all that you and the other elven members of Loki Familia have managed to accomplish so it is a real honor to get to meet you!"

Alicia chuckled at Primo's earnestness, and the younger girl felt her face heat up even more before she glanced at the older elf's face and saw the friendly smile there.

"I'm honored you've heard of me but there's no need for you to be so formal." Alicia assured Primo, trying to get the younger girl to relax. "After all, compared to Lady Riveria and Lefiya I'm not really worthy of such praise. I'm just a fellow elf who decided to travel to Orario and sought to become an adventurer as I assume you did."

"B-but you're Elleaf! One of the highest-level elves in the city and Lady Riveria's right hand woman!" Primo responded with a shake of her head. "And I'm just some rookie whose hasn't even been an adventurer for two months!"

"All of us start out as rookies at first. So, there's no need for you to feel ashamed of that fact." Alicia assured Primo. "And being fortunate enough to serve Lady Riveria does not make me better than my fellow elves. So please relax, it's not good to go into The Dungeon when you're already stressed."

Alicia's words finally seemed to have an effect on Primo and the younger elf slowly seemed to relax a bit and was finally able to look up at the older elf and offer her a small smile, which Alicia returned.

The rest of the group looked on with Bell, Emma, and Iris all smiling at Primo getting to interact with one of her idols while Lili just rolled her eyes at the interaction but could not stop a small smile from appearing on her face.

"Well Primo, as much as I would enjoy speaking with you some more, I am afraid that I and my companions have some business we need to attend to in the Middle Floors with Mr. Cranel." Alicia said as she straightened up and turned to regard Bell again. Her expression was not cold or dismissive but it was noticeably less friendly and more formal than when she was speaking to Primo. "Are you prepared to go, Mr. Cranel?"

"Yes, Ms. Forestlight! Just please give me a moment to say goodbye to my party." Bell said with a nod, clearly excited at the thought of traveling to the Middle Floors with the more experienced adventurer.

Alica nodded and moved away from the party to join three other elves who were standing a short distance away from the group, all of them having the symbol for Loki Familia somewhere on their gear.

"I'm soooooo jealous of you, Bell!" Primo said with a huff after Alicia had given the group some space. "Getting to go down and explore the Middle Floors with Elleaf and other members of Loki Familia! Being able to watch a magic swordsman like her fight would be so cool!"

Bell chuckled at Primo's envy before turning to look at the rest of the party with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry I won't be able to join you all today." Bell said with a clear note of apology in his voice. "But we can't really turn down this request after Lord Lucifer promised to help Loki Familia however they liked."

"It's alright." Emma said with an understanding look. "You have an obligation you need to take care of. It's no big deal, we we're planning to stick to the top three floors anyway since this is Iris' first day and we don't want to expose her to anything too dangerous."

"Yes, while we have to deal with Dungeon Lizards and those Icky Frog Shooters you'll be on an adventure with Elleaf in the Middle Floors." Primo muttered to herself, having trouble reigning in her envy.

"Everything should be fine Mr. Bell." Lili said. "After all, Lili may not exactly be very strong but even she is certain she can handle the first three floors with a party to work with. So don't let guilt distract you down in the Middle Floors. After all, you'll be the one in a much more dangerous place if you lose your focus down there."

Bell nodded at Lili's words and offered one last smile to the rest of the party before moving away from them to go and join Alicia and her group.

After the white-haired boy had left the remaining four members of the party all exchanged glances before forming up and proceeding into The Dungeon together.

/

The Dungeon, Second Floor.

"Haaa!" Iris cried out as she charged forward and impaled the goblin in front of her on her short sword. The monster let out a pained shriek as it was impaled but quickly went limp on Iris' blade and fell down onto the floor when Iris pushed it off the blade with her buckler.

"Good job Iris!" Emma congratulated as she dispatched her own goblin with one swift slash to its neck with one of her own swords.

"T-thanks." Iris said as she continued to look down at the goblin on the ground with her sword raised, as though she was worried it was only playing dead. When After ten seconds had passed and the goblin did not so much as twitch Iris let out a breath she had been holding and relaxed her guard, not seeing any more monsters for the moment.

Lili and Primo both quickly joined the two front line members of their party and quickly went to work extracting the monsters magic stones, with Lili extracting her magic stones far faster than the rest of her party. After finishing gathering the loot and with the monsters bodies beginning to disintegrate in front of them after having their magic stones harvested the party of four proceeded cautiously though The Dungeon.

"I think this is going pretty well so far." Primo said as she and the rest of her party moved though the Second Floor. "Iris only really froze up on the first monster and she hasn't needed any help with the others since then."

"Lili agrees that miss Iris is doing well for her first day." Lili responded to Primo's statement. "But we should still stay alert. All it takes to turn this from a good day to a disaster is one lapse in focus."

Primo nodded her head at the Pallum's words and kept scanning the walls and floor while traveling at the back of the group with Lili.

"Are you still feeling okay?" Emma asked as she shot Iris a concerned look as the two led the group.

"Yes, I am doing…. Mostly fine." Iris responded with a small smile before shaking her sword arm as though to limber it up some. "I guess my arm is a bit tired though. I never realized just how tough goblins could be before today, or how tiring it actual is to spend so much time fighting."

"Yeah, I had the same problem at first" Emma said with a small smile of her own before holding up her two short swords and giggling. "I used to love playing adventurer when I was little but I never realized just how much more tiring it is to swing your sword when your blade meets flesh and bone instead of just air. My arms were super sore when I made it back to the church after my first day and my palms were developing some blisters as well."

"But don't let that get you down!" Emma quickly continued as she saw Iris' expression begin to drop. "you'll get used to this really fast after a few weeks of fighting in The Dungeon! Lady Hestia says it is because our falna's help our bodies adjust more quickly to these kinds of strenuous activities than if we were doing them without being blessed, something about the status updates helping to speed up our natural adjustment. Just give it a bit of time and you'll be able fight like this for hours, no problem."

Her captain's words seemed to lift Iris' spirit's slightly, but she still let out a sigh as they turned the corner and saw another group of goblins a short distance away. The monsters quickly noticed the four girls and let out shrieking cries as they charged them, with Emma and Iris moving ahead deal with them while Primo and Lili stayed back with the Palum providing support with her miniature ballista. Unfortunately for Primo the group had noticed them too quickly for her to move up and begin casting before they got too close, so she was forced to stand next to Lili and keep an eye out for any monsters spawning nearby while the three older girls all fought.

Thankfully the group of goblins only had three monsters in it so they were dispatched quickly with Lili dropping one before they reached them and Emma and Iris both dispatching one each with quick jabs to their torsos. After the monsters had stopped twitching the party moved forward to quickly gather the magic stones, with Primo keeping watch while the other three carved out the stones.

As they gathered the stones Emma cast a quick glance at her familia's newest member. While Iris had been nervous at first she was quickly adapting to dealing with the low level monsters they'd encountered so far. And while this did make Emma feel both relieved and happy it also made a small pit form in her stomach whenever she pictured their parties missing member.

Ever since she had first started adventuring with Bell Emma had been able to tell there was something special about the white-haired boy. At first she thought it must be some kind of training that he'd had before becoming an adventurer but she had dismissed that idea after Bell told them that he was raised out in the countryside with his grandfather who was only a simple farmer, with no retired adventurers or former warriors or soldiers in his village to teach him anything about combat before he left for Orario.

Next she had wondered if Bell had lied to them about being a fellow rookie but again that theory had also been disproven over time as well with Bell making many of the same mistakes she and Primo did and being chided for them by Lili. Those mistakes plus her own gut telling her Bell had not lied to her had assured her that Bell was just as green as she and Primo were.

And yet…. For every step she seemed to take it seemed like Bell had taken five more with the same level of effort.

In the weeks since their party had formed Bell had only seemed to grow stronger faster and faster. At the start of their team up she and Bell had been comparable to each other with Bell being a bit stronger. Now though, Bell had become noticeably better in every imaginable way. He was faster than her, stronger than her, and had even managed to acquire magic somehow. And while Emma was happy to have such a strong ally to watch her and Primo's back in The Dungeon…. It had also started to worry her.

Emma liked Bell, he was one of the first friends she had made after arriving in Orario. But whenever she noticed that the gap between the two of them had grown even more, she couldn't help but feel worried. Not just because she was worried about slowing Bell down, but also because she was worried about how quickly they were descending The Dungeon and strong the monster they were becoming. Strong enough that she wasn't sure she could deal with them by herself without Bell there to help.

Being here with Iris had helped to display that growing gap even more clearly to Emma. Because while she was still stronger than her familia's newest member, the gap between her and Iris was still noticeably smaller than the gap that had developed between her and Bell despite her and Iris starting relatively close to each other in terms of time.

"Emma?" Primo suddenly said and Emma realized that the rest of the party had finished gathering their magic stones while she was still just standing over her dead goblin's body with her knife ready to begin. "What's wrong?"

Emma looked up and found her three party members looking at her with various levels of concern, with Primo and Iris' being clearly visible and Lili's being more subtle with only her lips turned down slightly.

"Ah…." Emma let out as she tried to find the right words to speak while also getting to work on her goblin. "It's nothing, I just got distracted for a minute. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Primo asked, her tone concerned as she looked at her captain and best friend. "Were you thinking about your sister again?"

"No." Emma said a bit more forcefully than she meant to, not eager to start thinking about that matter on top of her current dilemma.

Primo did not seem convinced and came over to kneel beside Emma as she worked, her worried expression showing her desire to help.

"I'm sorry we haven't found anything yet." Primo said gently, her ears drooping slightly to show her own sadness at their lack of findings. "But Orario is a ridiculously big city, so it's probably just that we haven't met the right people yet! We just need to get some more fliers made and spread them even further across the city and someone who knows her is bound to see one eventually!"

Emma could only let out a light chuckle as she finished extracting the magic stone and turned to give Primo a small smile.

"Thanks, Primo." Emma said as she reached up to gently pat the young elf's head. "But I'm fine. I just let my mind wander for a minute there."

"Ms. Misha says that's a really bad habit to have in The Dungeon." Primo responded, not completely mollified by Emma's show of affection.

"Lili hates to interfere in another familia's business." Lili said a short distance away from the two. "But Lili could not help but hear you mention a sister. Is Ms. Emma searching for her family in the city?"

At Lili's words Primo developed an embarrassed blush as she realized she had let something very personal slip around someone who was not technically part of their familia, but Emma did not appear particularly bothered by the question as she stood.

"Yes, you heard right." Emma said as she slipped the magic stone from her goblin into a leather pouch at her waist. "My elder sister Sophia left for Orario to become an adventurer a few years ago. But I haven't heard anything from her since except a letter she wrote after making it to the city to let me know she had arrived all right and was searching for a familia to join. But since then I haven't heard anything from her. And before you ask, yes I have checked with The Guild to see if an adventurer named Sophia Flores ever registered with them along with checking around at several of the graveyards to see if my sister is buried at any of them. The Guild says they have no record of her and none of the graveyards I've visited have her listed as being buried there along with no one of her description listed as being laid to rest after she sent her letter. So I've been trying to find out anything I can about her in my spare time."

"I see. Lili wishes you luck in your search but is afraid she does not know anyone with your sister's name."

"Thank you." Emma responded with a small smile. "Now how about we move on? I'm sorry for holding the party up but I'm ready to keep going if you all are too."

The three other girls all nodded at Emma's question and Emma moved up towards the front to join Iris again, but as she was walking past Lili she was surprised when the chestnut-haired girl reached out and gently grasped her wrist.

"As Lili said, Lili does not like becoming involved in other familia's affairs." Lili said while looking away from the confused pink-haired girl. "However, Lili also knows someone who rather enjoys difficult problems like your dilemma with your sister. So if more time passes and the fliers still do not work then Lili would suggest that Ms. Emma come visit Lili's familia's home. Lord Lucifer can be rather eccentric at times, but Lili can personally vouch for his skills as a problem solver if your search remains unsuccessful."

Emma blinked at Lili in surprise, not expecting the usually withdrawn Palum to offer advice on her search. But Emma still felt her smile grow at the unexpected suggestion.

"I'll keep that in mind." Emma said with a nod as Lili released her wrist. "Thank you for the suggestion."

Lili simply nodded as she moved to stand with Primo at the back of the party while Emma moved up to stand beside Iris again, feeling a little better after the support's small show of concern and suggestion. The party then resumed their search for monsters, none of them feeling like stopping for the day yet.

/

The Dungeon, Fifteenth Floor

Alicia dispatched the Hellhound that had attempted to attack her with contemptuous ease, stepping to the side as it leapt at her and decapitating it with a quick swing of her sword as it passed through the space she had occupied. Her elven brethren were doing the same around her with Sonia swatting down another Hell hound with the bladed tip of her staff, Alice dispatching two Almiraj at the same time with her dual short swords, and Chiffon freezing a Ligerfang with her ice magic.

Quickly scanning the cavern they were in Alicia saw that those were the last of the monsters and relaxed slightly, sheathing her sword as she gestured for their party's fifth member to step forward and begin gathering the monsters magic stones and any drop items left behind which Bell did without a word of complaint. The young human quickly moved forward and began carving out the magic stones while the four elven girls took a moment to catch their breath. While all the elves present were strong enough to not face any serious problems from the monsters in the Cave Labyrinth except the Goliath itself, that did not mean that they could relax completely. After all, one of the first lessons they had all been taught by their seniors in the Loki Familia was to never completely let their guard down while in The Dungeon, regardless of how deep they were.

As the four elves kept watch Bell quickly moved between the bodies of the dead monsters, doing his best to quickly extract the magic stones but his lack of familiarity with these types of monsters did slow his harvesting down. Eventually Chiffon, the only level two in their group of five, moved over to stand closer to Bell and leaned down to examine his technique as he worked.

"You shouldn't try to cut through their hide with a slash." Chiffon said, drawing Bell's attention from the dead Ligerfang. "The hide of the monsters in these levels is too tough to be cut easily with an iron knife like that. Instead, you need to stab them and then draw the wound wider with the knife."

"Thank you for the pointer." Bell said and offered Chiffon a bright smile before turning his attention back to the Ligerfang. "Sorry, this is taking so long. I'm not really familiar with the monsters down here."

"It's alright." Chiffon said as she stood back up, a light dusting of pink present on her cheeks after Bell's smile. "I used to act as a supporter a lot, so I remember how annoying it was to have to carve through all the monsters bodies after the fighting was finished."

Alicia kept one eye on this interaction as she continued to keep watch, just as she had been with everything Bell Cranel had done since she had met him outside Babel. The senior member of Loki Familia did not quite understand why her princess had requested she watch the human boy on this quest to gather drop items, but that did not mean she wouldn't do her utmost to fulfill Lady Riveria's request of her…. Even if she was admittedly curious as to why that request had been made.

If Alicia had to guess she would guess that this team up was a means to gather more information on Lucifer Familia. Because while Lucifer Familia had seemed to make a legitimate effort to mend relations with her familia, Alicia knew it still vexed her familia's leaders how little information they'd managed to gather on the familia's god and captain. Which left her leaders with little choice but to see what information they could gleam from the lower ranked members like Cranel. Which would explain why Lady Riveria had placed such an emphasis on observing Cranel's mannerisms and conduct on this quest, clearly hoping to gleam more about his familia by the type of people they let into their ranks.

This was the conclusion Alicia had reached for why Riveria had given her this mission…. With the limited information she had on the matter.

So far Alicia could honestly say she had no particular problem with the young human. The boy had been polite and respectful throughout their quest and had not shied away from the tedious and often thankless work of a supporter.

Alicia had admittedly been less than enthusiastic about bringing Bell Cranel down to the middle floors with her party. This was due to her concern that his god's hedonistic beliefs had influenced the boy as well and she had not been looking forward to enduring the leering of an adolescent boy if it was directed at her or her party. Not that she or any of the others was actually concerned about the boy trying something. After all Cranel was only a relatively green level one while she was a level four, Sonia and Alice were level three, and Chiffon was level two so all of them could easily deal with him if he tried anything…. Untoward.

Thankfully it had not come to that, and the only complaint Alicia could think of at the moment was that Bell was a bit slow with extracting the magic stone, a perfectly understandable flaw when you remembered that the boy had never fought the monsters present on these floors before and had no real idea of their anatomy. Still, if that was all Alicia had to complain about on this quest then things were going well.

"Got it!" Bell exclaimed as he finally extracted the magic stone from the dead Ligerfang. He then turned and gave Chiffon another beaming smile. "Thank you, Ms. Chiffon! I really appreciate the advice."

"Ah, well you're quite welcome, Mr. Cranel." Chiffon replied with a smile of her own, the pink on her cheeks becoming a bit more pronounced. "And uh, you can just call me Chiffon, if you like. It feels a little odd to have someone so close to my own age calling me miss."

"Oh? Ahahah, sorry." Bell said with a slightly embarrassed look as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "It just felt appropriate since you're already an upper-rank adventurer despite being so young and being such a skilled magic swordsman on top of that. I mean watching you take down that Ligerfang was so amazing! I've always wanted to see a real magic swordsman fight in person and you and the others here are all amazing to watch! It's like seeing the fairy knights I read about in storybooks leap of the pages right in front of my eyes!"

At that even Alicia felt her cheeks warm slightly, and she could see from the corner of her eye that Sonia and Alice were no different. Chiffon had by far the most visible reaction, the dusting of pink on her cheeks changing to a brilliant red as she began fidgeting in front of Bell while not being able to look him in the eye.

"I-is that so?" Chiffon said, her voice higher than before. "Well then I shall be sure to do my best to live up to your expectations, Mr. Cranel."

"Oh, you can just call me Bell." Bell replied, his posture and face open and friendly. "It feels strange for me to call you just Chiffon if you keep calling me Mr. Cranel, so please just call me Bell."

"…. Very well then…. Bell." Chiffon said with a small smile on her still red face. "Ahem, it would appear that we are done here so shall we continue?"

And without waiting for a reply Chiffon turned on her heel and began to quickly proceed to the next cavern, without waiting for either her elven party members or Bell, who quickly moved to follow the flustered girl as she tried to find something else to focus on besides the burning of her cheeks.

'…. I may have been preemptive in my assessment.' Alicia thought to herself as she followed Chiffon. 'This boy is MUCH more worrisome than I thought.'

Alicia was not sure if Bell had meant to fluster Chiffon to the extent that he had, but the relative ease with which he had gotten under the elf girl's skin worried her. Indeed, it worried her even more when Alicia took a quick glance back at Bell and saw only innocent confusion in his large red eyes. Red eyes that when coupled with his white hair and innocent appearance brought back certain memories that Alicia had not thought about in some time.

A little-known fact about Alicia was that she had a pet snow rabbit when growing up in the White Ice Forest Fanache. It had been a gift from her parents when she was little and some of her earliest memories were of frolicking with it in the snow when she was a small child. She remembered that it had bright red eyes and soft white fur that Alicia swore she could pet for hours and not become bored with how soft and fluffy it was.

Alicia shook her head to bring her back to the present and brought her gaze forward as she noticed another group of monsters down the passage they had chosen. She quickly drew her sword again and moved to deal with them, almost thankful for something to take her mind off the strange human boy behind her with his disarming smile and bright red eyes and bright white hair that looked surprisingly soft and fluffy.

/

Ruined Church

Hestia let out a tired sigh as she flopped down onto the couch in the center of her small home. The bed was admittedly comfier but after the day she'd had at the stand today she didn't think she could muster the energy to make the trip from the couch to the bed. Still, she felt a small smile spread on her face as she looked at the small pile of potato poppers she had brought home from work with her, happy to have contributed something to tonight's dinner and eager to share the tasty treats with her children when they returned.

As though summoned by her thoughts Hestia heard the patter of feet coming down the stairs and as she forced herself up into a sitting position on the couch she was greeted by the sight of her three children entering the room, Emma and Iris both carrying groceries in their arms which bode well for the night's dinner.

"We're back Lady Hestia!" Primo happily exclaimed as she rushed over to greet her goddess as Emma and Iris took the groceries over to their small kitchen. "Iris did really good today and we were able to take down a ton of monsters of the monsters on the first three floors!"

"It wasn't that many." Iris said bashfully as she put away some of the groceries and used others to begin making dinner. "There were plenty of other adventurers on those floors, so the monsters didn't really have much chance to form groups larger than two or three before they were killed. Unfortunately, that also means we didn't make that much so these groceries are basically our entire earnings for the day."

Hestia smiled at her newest child's bashfulness, reaching out to take one of the potato poppers from the platter on the table to help curb her appetite while dinner was being made.

"You need to be more confident Iris!" Primo declared as she stood next to Hestia as her goddess took a bite of her potato popper. "You did good work today! Covering the front with Emma even though Bell had to go help Loki Familia. Even Lili told me she thought you did a good job today."

Hestia couldn't help but giggle as she saw Iris blush from Primo's praise and she shared a smile with her first child as Emma's eyes momentarily met hers as her first child worked with Iris to prepare supper.

"However! That doesn't mean you get to rest on your laurels, newbie!" Primo continued, placing her hands on her hips as she continued to lecture the older girl. "Just because you did good today don't think I'm going to go easy on you during training! In fact, I'm going to work you so hard from now on everyone will think you're a masochist!"

Hestia's eyes suddenly shot wide open at the word that came out of her youngest childs mouth and she opened her mouth to demand where she had learned a word like that…. Or at least she would have if the chunk of potato popper she had just bitten off didn't slide down her throat with her shocked intake of breath.

"But don't think that you'll be the only one who has to work hard Iris." Primo continued, oblivious to the chocking sounds Hestia was making. "Me and Emma will work hard too! We'll be sure to set a good example for our familia's newest member! We'll train so hard that everyone will think Hestia Familia is a familia of masochists!"

Emma and Iris both felt their faces flush in embarrassment at the words Primo had said and were about to suggest she use some different words to describe their training….. or at least they would have had they not noticed their goddess begin to foam at the mouth from a mixture of choaking and the words her youngest child was speaking. Emma and Iris immediately cried out in alarm and rushed over save their goddess from the indignity of being sent back to Tenkai via improperly chewed potato popper….. though they might have been a little slower to help their goddess had they known the shriek Hestia would let out once her throat was unclogged.

/

Ah children. You really do need to be careful what you say around them or else you might have to deal with them starting to spout words they don't fully understand in front of others. I know I did this a few times when I was little and I doubt I'm the only one.

As you can see Riveria is not quite as onboard with Bell and Ais as she is in canon. After all there is a pretty big difference in impression between being the child of the goddess of home and virginity and being the child of someone literally called The Devil. Hence her sending Alicia and the other elves to do a little spying on Bell under the pretense of taking Lucifer up on his offer of assistance. Though this may not go the way Mama Riveria wants as sending four young women to spend time with a harem protagonist might not be the best idea for gathering unbiased information.

If you would like a clearer picture of the three elves that were with Alicia and Bell you just need to look in the Sword Oratoria manga. Some of you might already know Chiffon as she is already a named character in the manga as she is the elf swordswoman who helped protect Finn with Raul and Aki in Knossos in chapter 65. As for Sonia and Alice I found Sonia's name listed as part of Loki Familia on the wiki and she was listed as being an elf in Loki Familia between levels 3 and 4. For her physical appearance I decided to use an as of yet unnamed elf in Riveria's raiding group from chapter 89. Sonia is the elf in the black and white dress with the short dark hair and kept in a bun on the side of her head and using what is either a bladed staff or spear with a hole on the center of it. As for Alice I just made that name up and applied it to another elf in the Fairy Force, this one dressed in a white dress with short white (or blonde?) hair who wields two short swords. I decided to apply those names to those characters just because I liked their character designs and wished that the manga had actually named more members of Loki Familia's Fairy Force. Plus I find it helps immersion when reading if you can put a face to a name.

As always feel free to leave a review, going through them helps fuel my desire to bring you all the next chapter as fast as I can. I hope you all are doing well and enjoyed this chapter, Have a nice day!