My Misadventures as a Hotel Owner

by Hussbek

Despite graduating from college with good marks, Naruto's had no luck getting a fulltime job and had just gotten kicked out his landlord. Naruto certainly wasn't expecting a random questionnaire to win him an apartment and the troubles it would bring to him. It's like Lady Luck can't make up her mind about him. Naruharem and various Anime/Video Games/Manga Elements to be applied

9. Help Wanted

My Misadventures as a Hotel Owner

Chapter 8: Help Wanted

As the evening gradually settles upon Orario, a voice could be heard ringing throughout the guild which caught the attention of everyone nearby and they recognize it to belong to Eina with her target being our favorite blonde reincarnated ninja.

"Seriously! The Middle Floors?! But you only started out as a beginner in the last couple of days and now you wanna advance further down into the dungeon? As if killing a demon, defeating a Minotaur, besting one of strongest members of the Loki Familia and even taking down a Floor boss on Floor 11 with the help of two E-Rank adventurers BEFORE you became one at the start wasn't enough for you, now you wish to go down to the Middle Floors? What in the world makes you think you're even ready for the Middle Floors. How insane can you possibly be?!"

Naruto sweatdropped at the tirade he's being subjected to. He supposes he should've expected this and won't blame her for acting like this since it's understandable. After all, from what he heard and understands is that the Middle Floors is a dangerous place if you're not carefully prepared. Despite her reasoning, Naruto is getting a bit annoyed at being looked down just because in her eyes, he's a beginner with lesser skills that don't meet the standard requirements…supposedly that is.

"Eina, please calm down. I can understand why you're hesitant of that request and I don't blame you for it but you seriously need to stop underestimating my abilities thinking that I'm just some average adventurer like any other. I've already shown you plenty of proof before and proven that I'm capable of handling myself just fine," said Naruto, trying to reason with her.

"I'm not underestimating you. It's just…as your personal receptionist and advisor, it's my job to make sure that you're properly ready for any dangerous quest you'll take while making sure you come back home alive. I don't wanna risk you getting killed down in the dungeon without knowing the risks. Whatever happens down there, it's my responsibility to make sure you're fully prepared and well informed so that you know what to expect and walk out in one piece. I hope you can understand that,"

"I do understand but I've shown and proven that I'm a lot stronger than how I look. Besides, haven't you noticed something different with my Guild Gem?"

Eina was confused a bit till she took notice that his Gem color isn't Copper anymore but Grey which surprised her for what this could mean "Y-Your gem…it's no longer Copper but Grey now. So that means…,"

Naruto smiled as he spoke "That's right, I'm no longer an F-Rank but an E-Rank now,"

Eina was shocked by this news "You leveled up that fast? That shouldn't be possible. I need to see this for myself. Please follow me to the booth room so I can confirm it myself,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "You saying the gem color isn't enough proof?"

"No no, I believe you. The Gem necklace can't be tampered with so that's more than enough proof, however I need to see just how far your stats has improved if anything's changed,"

"Alright then, fair enough,"

With that out of the way, Naruto followed Eina to the booth room where he showed his backside as he lifted the back of his shirt to her so she could look at his stats. As she expected; she still can't see the ones that are blurred out, only the ones she's able to read. She would really like to know what's been blurred out but given her talk with her friend Misha, she doesn't want to rush into things until Naruto feels ready to trust her with this so she'll be patient and just read the ones that are displayed to her that she can see.

As she reads his stats, she states "Y-You weren't kidding Naruto, you been advancing extremely quickly. I didn't expect you manage to reach Rank E that quickly but well, your abilities do appear to be quite genuine" she thought to herself "Aside from the ones that are blurred out,"

Naruto pulled down his back shirt after seeing that Eina is done confirming his status "Great, So does that mean I'm allowed to advance down to the Middle Floors now?"

Eina hummed in deep thought for a moment "On the one hand; if your status is really that impressive, I have no reason to not clear you for the Middle Floors now that you're an E-rank. And given your past actions which shouldn't be possible at all when you were just an F-ranker also tells me you're more than qualified for it despite you don't have a party of your own but uhh…on the other hand; your lack of armor…ugh," she took notice that Naruto isn't wearing any actual armor at all hence lacking appropriate protection. It made her wonder how he managed to get by without any armor on him up until now. She then thought up an idea and asked "Tell you what, do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

Naruto was confused by this but answered "No, I'm pretty much free,"

Eina smiled at this "That's perfect, I want you to meet me over at the statue in the middle of the center city by morning. Can you do that?"

"Sure but, why do you want us to meet up there?" asked Naruto confusedly only to receive a giggle in response.

"Let's just say we're going shopping and leave it at that. See you by tomorrow, I need to finish some documents right now,"

Naruto then says "Okay, I'll see you by tomorrow," With that he left as Eina watches him go before focusing back on her work station.

As Naruto is walking through the city, he spoke to Kurama and Sora mentally "I wonder why she's asking me go on a shopping trip with her for?"

Kurama shrugged his shoulders "Who knows. Guess you're gonna have to wait for tomorrow to see for yourself,"

Sora added "It might just benefit you,"

"I guess so,"

Kurama then asked "So what now kit, are we going home?"

Naruto replied "Not yet, we're making our last stop to Hephaestus's smithery to get my Tsumetogi repaired,"

"You know her prices are expensive right? You really wanna get your weapon fixed by her? You already got a new weapon which is WAY better than the previous one," Sora pointed out to the blonde ninja.

"While that is true, I would like to at least get my original weapon fixed since I started out with it. After all, I can't always rely on my Hestia Knife in every battle I get into. I like to expand my arsenal that way it'll keep me prepared for any situation,"

Kurama had to agree "Makes sense and probably smart in case you don't have any other weapon with you aside from your firearms,"

Naruto smiles "Yup. Plus, this also gives me a reason to ask Hephaestus a few questions about the Hestia Knife that she and Hestia worked on,"

Sora then asked "I thought you were gonna asked Hestia how she got it?"

"Let's be honest, I feel that Hestia doesn't want me to find out just how much a custom weapon like the Hestia Knife costs and she'll try to dodge the question or refuse to acknowledge it. So, what better way to find out than to ask Hephaestus herself to find out just how much the Hestia Knife cost,"

Both Kurama and Sora couldn't deny that Hestia would try to not tell him the cost of the Hestia Knife and probably would avoid answering him should he brought it up, so him asking straight to the source that is Hephaestus would definitely been a smart decision to find out just how much.

The two nodded which Sora commented "You raise a valid point but would she answer to you though?"

"Only one way to find out. But I'm fairly certain she'll tell me either way," said Naruto

With that being said, Naruto makes his way to Hephaestus's Smithery to get his old weapons fixed, as well as getting some answers.

Sometime later, Naruto finally arrives at the smithery and goes inside to find Hephaestus checking on the state of her weapons and armor on the shelves, making sure that they're in good condition.

Hearing someone entering, Hephaestus turned round and saw that it was Naruto "Hello Naruto, what brings you here?"

"For two things actually…," Naruto reached into his backpack and took out a bundle of cloth and placed it on the counter before unfurling it to reveal his broken katana "I'm hoping that you can repair it,"

Hephaestus looked at the broken pieces with a calculative eye "I can, but it's gonna cost you though,"

"No worries, I'm sure I've got more than enough to pay for its restoration," said Naruto, having been gaining money from his exploration of the dungeon floors and still has some of the jewels and relics from the treasure chests in the hidden room.

The smithing goddess nodded in understanding "In that case, I can also make it sharper and more durable so it won't break easily, all these can be done at a discount,"

Naruto smiled happily "That's great! So how long will it take to repair and improve it?"

"It should take a few days at most," said Hephaestus "So, what was the other thing you came here for?"

"It's about the Hestia Knife, I wanted to know how much it costed for you to make it for me?" asked Naruto with a serious expression on his face.

Hephaestus wasn't too surprised to hear him ask about it but still "Okay, but why do you want to know?"

"It's because it's a well-known fact that the Hephaestus Familia's weapons and armors are very expensive due to their high quality. And since Hestia-chan gave me an enchanted knife which is specifically created to grow alongside me, it must mean that it's custom made by both you and her which makes it even more expensive than usual. I would have asked Hestia-chan about the cost but I feel that she won't tell me since she wants to handle the debt by herself. I want to know the cost so I can help her handle the debt together," Naruto explained.

Hephaestus was quite surprised to hear his reason which she must admit is noble and considerate of him "Hestia, you're very lucky to have someone like him to look after you,"

The goddess decided to tell him "Okay, I'll tell you but I have to warn you that the debt Hestia owes is pretty high," seeing Naruto nod in understanding, she told him "The debt that Hestia owes for the creation of the Hestia Knife is 200 million gold coins,"

Naruto didn't react outwardly but inwardly…

"WHAT?! IT COST THAT MUCH?!" Naruto yelled in his mind, Even Kurama and Sora are surprised upon hearing the price as well.

Hephaestus who was watching him and expecting a reaction but seeing none wondered if he was either coming to terms with the amount or he's that good at concealing his expression "Are you sure you want to help pay off the debt, it won't be so easy,"

Hearing her words, Naruto snapped back into focus "Yeah, I'll still do it. But is there any deadline for us to pay the full amount?"

"There's no deadline, I'm willing to wait for you to pay for it,"

"Got it, we'll definitely pay the 200 million gold. That's a promise!" Naruto bade her farewell before leaving the smithery.

Hephaestus smiled softly "I'm sure you will,"

While walking through the street, Naruto was having a conversation with Kurama and Sora about what they have learnt concerning the cost of the Hestia Knife.

"So, will you be confronting her about the debt when we get home?" asked Kurama.

"I was considering that but then I've decided not to," thought Naruto.

"Why not?" Sora inquired curiously.

Naruto proceeded to explain "Initially I was planning on confronting her for not telling me about this but given that she went through the trouble of asking Hephaestus to make the Hestia Knife for her before the whole incident with the white gorilla occurred, I've decided to give Hestia-chan a break and fix this debt problem of hers, that way she wouldn't have to worry about it. So for her gifting me with the Hestia Knife, I'm gonna pay her back which is by paying off her debt with Hephaestus,"

Both Kurama and Sora smiled at this and fully agreed with his decision. Right now, Naruto is calling it a day as he heads back to the church to rest up for tomorrow.

---

The next morning, we find Naruto standing next to the statue in the middle of the center city as he waits patiently for Eina to show up.

"Naruto!"

Hearing a familiar voice calling out to him, Naruto turned to greet Eina finally showed up but was taken aback by Eina current appearance which is a far cry from her suit that he always seen her wear during work. She's wearing casual clothes which consists of a white shirt with a ribbon in the middle and a red skirt.

"Wow…," Naruto was a bit stunned at how she looks so cute as she giggles at his expression

"Well, good morning to you Naruto," Eina then decided to tease him a bit "It looks like you came here early, were you really looking forward to spending the day shopping with me that much?"

Naruto was taken aback with his cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment "What no! It's not like that! I mean, um…," he fell silent, not knowing what to say without making it awkward.

"It's okay, I admit that I am rather excited to see you too which is why I got all dressed up," said Eina, having had enough of teasing for now.

Naruto just nodded while still refusing to say anything, but then Kurama and Sora were laughing and teasing at him from within his mindscape as he told them to keep quiet, making plans to get back at them.

Seeing that he isn't saying anything, Eina spoke up to get Naruto's attention "You know, this is the part where you compliment my outfit,"

"Oh right!" Naruto looked at her outfit carefully before speaking honestly "It looks really great on you, makes you look very young,"

Eina was surprised to hear such a compliment and awkwardly reacted by grabbing Naruto's and squeezing it against her chest, much to Naruto's shock "I'm not that old to begin with! You better apologize right now, mister!"

"I stand by my words, now let go of me!" Naruto on the other was struggling to break free from her hold before she notices their position and ends up hitting him with her feminine fury.

After that odd moment, Naruto and Eina were now walking along the busy street of the central city when the former decided to inquire from the latter on what they'll be doing today.

"Where are we going exactly?" asked Naruto curiously.

Eina simply giggled and pointed ahead of them "In there,"

Naruto followed her gaze to see that she's pointing directly at the Babel "Why are we going shopping in there?"

"That's because we'll be going to the Hephaestus's Familia shop," said Eina.

"But all of their stuff is crazy expensive and for good reason too," Naruto pointed out to her, considering that he had just given his broken katana to Hephaestus to restore and improve as well as learning how much it cost for the Hestia Knife to be forged.

Eina giggled at the worried look on his face "Not need to worry, there are cheaper items which you can afford. The reason for our shopping today at the Babel Tower is to get you some armor for protection, I've realized that you haven't worn any armor at all which is crucial for survival if you're truly going to try your luck in the Middle Floors,"

Naruto nodded in understanding for her reason but technically he has body armor that is military grade but he supposes it might not be enough for tougher monsters he'll be facing soon, plus it's eventual that he'll be utilizing the weapons, armors and gears of this world anyways.

Later, Naruto and Eina went inside the Babel Tower and used the elevator which surprised the former that there's a magic version of it to reach the floor where the Hephaestus Familia's shop is situated. The blonde ninja looked at the weapons and armors on display along with their price tags depicting their high costs.

"Man, these are pretty fancy," Naruto commented.

"We're actually heading for the upper floor, but this is also part of the Hephaestus Familia's store so why don't we take a look around and find something that would suit you?" Eina suggested.

Naruto went on to look around to see what they have which he'll admit they look amazing…however they don't seem to click with him as most of them look too flashy and too expensive for his taste, not fitting for his style so far. They approached one of the display cases where Naruto sees an interesting looking sword but to his shock it cost 30,000,000 million gold coins which to him, that's just insanely expensive.

Suddenly, the entrance door leading into the shop opened up which caught both Naruto Eina's attention as someone approached them with a welcoming smile.

"Welcome! What would you like to buy, sir?" asked the person, Naruto was stunned to see who it is and the same could be said for the person while Eina stood there, feeling confused.

"Hestia-chan, what are you doing here?! I mean I've noticed that you've been busy as of late, is this a second part-time job?" Naruto exclaimed, staring at the aforementioned goddess who's currently wearing a uniform resembling a maid which he has to admit really suits her.

"I should be asking you that, Naruto!" Hestia replied, then she noticed Eina standing next to him and frowned "And who is she?"

Eina stepped forward to introduce herself "Hello again, Hestia-sama. I'm Eina Tulle from the guild, we met before when Naruto registered as an adventurer and I am his dungeon hunting advisor,"

Hestia's frown turned into a glare as she remembered her "I remember now; you're that receptionist that underestimated Naruto due to his previous rank and even doubted his abilities all because he didn't have that many skills," she's aware of the reason why Eina couldn't see all of Naruto's stats but it still displeases her when Naruto is being looked down on.

Hearing her statement, Eina felt a bit ashamed that she must've left a negative impression on Naruto's goddess that day, feeling responsible for her previous behavior when they first met.

However, Hestia got up close to Eina while still glaring and whispered into her ear "I hope you're not abusing your authority to seduce him,"

Eina took a step back in shock "I-I try to keep my private life separate from work!"

"Try, huh?" Hestia capitalized on that particular word, making Eina even more nervous.

Shaking his head at their interaction which Kurama and Sora were enjoying, Naruto spoke up "Calm down, Hestia-chan, it's not like that. We're just here on a shopping trip,"

Hestia turned to Naruto with a suspecting gaze "A shopping trip, why's that?"

"It's to get some protective armor for myself since I'll be going deeper into the dungeon," the blonde ninja explained.

Hestia looked at the two silently for a while before letting out a sigh "Fine, I'll trust you…," then she glared at Eina again "But don't you try anything funny; Naruto's mine,"

"I assure you that it's just a shopping trip and nothing more than that," said Eina with a sweatdrop.

After managing to convince Hestia into going back to work, Naruto and Eina were back in the elevator to ascend to the upper floors.

"Your goddess is quite the character," Eina commented.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders with a fond smile "Hestia-chan has her quirks but that's just how she is which I'm completely fine with that, it's what makes her unique,"

"I see…I believe I need to apologize for underestimating and doubting you because of your former rank and abilities which must have left a bad impression on your goddess though it wasn't my intention, I was just doing my job and worried about you,"

Naruto smiled softly, understanding where she's coming from "It's fine, I know that you were just doing your job and don't know what kind of person I am. So it's understandable that you would react that way. I'll forgive you but at least try to not make it a habit,"

Eina nodded "I'll try to…,"

They finally arrive at their new destination of the 8th floor of the Babel tower, Naruto took note that the place is much plainer compared to where they came from before Eina spoke up to catch his attention.

"I can assume that the high-quality Hephaestus items are going to be way out of your price range," Eina inquired.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Pretty much, yeah. But that's not the only thing as none of them clicked with me,"

"I see, then I'm sure you'll have better luck here,"

"What do you mean?"

"On this floor, everything sold here was crafted by novice craftsmen and their prices are well within your price range. Would you like to take a look?" Eina explained.

"Sure,"

They went inside a shop and sure enough, Naruto was seeing the items which costs silver and copper coins but are affordable nonetheless.

"I'm going to take a look around," Naruto left before Eina could say anything in response but smiled at his slightly childish nature.

On the other hand, Naruto was surveying around the sections to see anything that catches his eye and so far there's nothing that interests him until he notices something that caught his attention. He sees a box with light armor in them, he took a closer look at the armor has Black with red outlined stripes on them which to him it looks interesting. He took one of the pieces of the armor that's a chest plate which was surprisingly light.

"Hmmm, I think I can use this. It doesn't feel that heavy and won't restrict my mobility," Naruto muttered thoughtfully.

"Plus you could apply Fuinjutsu to enhance its durability along with other effects," Kurama added.

"That too,"

At that moment, the screen popped up to provide information about the armor in his hands.

Name: Pyonkichi Mk-II

Type: Armor

Element: Null

Ability: Null

Attack: ?

Defense: 19

MAG Attack: ?

MAG Defense: 12

Wanting to examine it further, Naruto flips the chestplate over to see an engraved picture of a rabbit along with a name on the bottom.

"Welf Crozzo, he must be the creator of the armor. Hope he doesn't mind if I spec it up a bit," said Naruto.

At that moment, Eina appeared in search of him "Naruto, I happened to find something that might…," she noticed the armor in his hands and identified it to be of the light type.

"Thanks, but I'll be going with this one," Naruto replied, he checked the price tag to see that it costs 9,900 copper coins "Plus it's affordable,"

Eina sighed a bit "It's fine if that's what you're looking for,"

"Pretty much,"

"So, will you be going to the dungeon tomorrow?" asked Eina curiously.

"That's the plan, just need to prep my new gear tonight," Naruto responded.

"In that case, how about hiring a Supporter,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "A Supporter, you think I'll need one?"

Eina nodded in confirmation "It will make you a more efficient adventurer, especially when it involves the Middle Floors to have someone watch your back. I'll be happy to help you find one if you want,"

Naruto hummed in thought, weighing the pros and cons of having a Supporter accompany him in the dungeon "I'll…think about it,"

Naruto took the armor to the counter and made his purchase with 10 Large copper coins as payment since it has a higher value than regular copper coins but below that of a silver coin. They were now out of the tower and back at the statue where they met up in the morning when Eina recalled something.

"Oh, I almost forgot to give you this," Eina held out a bundle of cloth which she unwrapped to reveal a green piece of armor designed for the forearm.

"Uh, what is it?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"It's a present from me to you, be sure not to forget to use it,"

"Really? I can't accept this,"

"No, you're going to take it, not just for my sake but for your own as well,"

"…?" the blonde ninja was confused by the statement.

Eina went on to explain "It's a hard life which adventurers have no way of knowing what day might be their last. I've known several who didn't make it back alive," Naruto looks down as he ponders on her words "I don't want to lose you as well, I just can't," Eina giggled to herself at how she's sounding right now as she's starting to think maybe it is for her sake then.

While in thought, Naruto couldn't help but see reason in Eina's words as the life of a adventurer has several similarities to how a ninja lives in his previous life, he had lost many loved ones like his parents, Hiruzen, Jiraiya and many others back then and it weighed heavily on his heart.

He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when Eina used a finger to boop him on the nose for him to look at her.

"When I see how hard you work and the accomplishments you've made when you started out as an F-ranker, I want to do whatever I can to help you out," Eina presented the green piece of armor again "I wishes for you to accept it from me,"

Naruto blushes a bit at how cute she looks while he feels she's genuinely hopping for him to accept it. They stared at each other until Naruto finally decided to accept the gift, he doesn't have any good reason to refuse anyway.

"Okay, I'll accept your gift and put it to good use," Naruto took the armor piece.

Eina smiled happily "Thank you, I hope it protects you,"

With that out of the way, they bid each other farewell as they went to their separate ways. Naruto looked up to the sky and notices that the sun is already setting.

"It's getting late, I'd better head home before nightfall," said Naruto thoughtfully.

He hastened in his footsteps to reach home in time before Hestia begins to worry. As he was coming down the stairs, he failed to notice someone running towards him which the runner ended up bumping into Naruto and resulted in the person falling down to the ground.

Naruto looked at the runner and noted that she's female in spite of the cloak concealing her face and body "I'm sorry for bumping into you, let me help y-,"

"There you are!" suddenly an angry voice called out which made the girl tense in fear and Naruto look up to see a male adventurer who was approaching aggressively with his sword already drawn "Just where do you think you're going, you stupid pathetic Prum!"

Realizing what was about to happen, Naruto swiftly moved to intercept the incoming slash with his Hestia Knife to block it from striking the girl. The girl herself was surprised by his action then her attention was drawn to the Hestia Knife.

Naruto broke the clash and pushed the adventurer away from them as the latter scowled at him "Got a problem? Is this mongrel a friend of yours?"

The blonde ninja shook his head "No, I've never met her before,"

"Then why are you trying to help her?"

"I don't know, probably because you were about to kill her right in front of me? Whatever it is she did to piss you off, I'm not about to just stand by and watch as you murder her,"

The adventurer didn't seem to like that he's interfering as he readies his sword "Well, that's a stupid reason to die,"

Clearly seeing that he wasn't going to listen to reason, Naruto prepared himself to take down the attacker.

"That's enough,"

Hearing a female voice, everyone looked up to the top of the staircase and Naruto immediately recognizes the person to be Ryuu from the Hostess of Fertility as she's carrying a bag of vegetables in her arms.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves for crossing swords within the city limits," Ryuu scolded them both.

However the guy didn't seem to care at all "You'd better keep your mouth shut and beat it or I'll-,"

"Silence," Ryuu interrupted coldly which surprised Naruto "I suggest that we avoid the use of violence, I tend to get…carried away while doing so,"

The underlying message couldn't be ignored, the adventurer could clearly see that she's no ordinary woman and need to tread carefully around her before finally backing down and walking away.

Naruto who's been watching this the whole time has left him quite amazed by how it ended "Did she have another occupation before becoming a maid, the aura I sensed from her is rather deadly," He puts away his Hestia knife as Ryuu came down the stairs towards him "I gotta say that was quite impressive how you made him run away in fear with his tail between his legs. Thanks for the help b the way,"

Ryuu nodded "Of course, although I probably shouldn't have interfered,"

"It's fine," Naruto waved it off. Though to be honest, if she hadn't shown up to stop that guy from doing something stupid, Naruto would've done it himself. It would've been less of a mercy from him than getting a warning to back off. There would've been broken bones involved.

"Oh yeah, the girl. Are you okay…where did she go?" Naruto turned to see that the cloaked girl was nowhere to be seen.

However, the girl herself was hiding behind the corner not far from Naruto and Ryuu then she immediately darted back to hide when the latter looked in her direction, hoping she didn't notice her.

She then heard Naruto speak up "Well that's a shame. Guess she took the opportunity run off without us knowing,"

"You need to be more careful, Syr will be upset if you were to get hurt," said Ryuu.

Naruto nodded in understanding "Thanks, I'll be sure to keep that in mind,"

"Very well then, I'll be on my way," Ryuu then went on her way to the pub to deliver the vegetables.

Naruto was seemingly looking around when he had already sensed the cloaked girl hiding at the corner and thought "She doesn't know that I can sense where she's hiding,"

"It's not like she's aware what kind of person you are so she has no idea. Plus we can also sense her emotions. It's not negative but she seems to have her sights on you," said Kurama as he can clearly sense that whoever that girl Naruto saved is gonna be having intentions towards him.

"I agree. Which begs the question of are we going to call her out?" said Sora as she was curious what is Naruto gonna do

"Nah, even if I did, she'll just run off to who knows where. However, I will let her know as a parting gift so that she's aware that she's still around hiding from me," Naruto then calls out to her "I know you're still around hiding somewhere. I just want you to know that I'm not your enemy as I mean you no harm. But I will say that I hope we see each other again under better circumstances. I wouldn't mind being friends if you want and I wish you goodnight,"

Naruto proceeds to walk away as he heads back home unaware that the girl who was watching him leave which he definitely felt her gaze to be out of curiosity and confusion before sensing she took off somewhere. With that being said, Naruto smiles and heads back home to rest up for the night.

---

The next day, Naruto was already up and currently wearing his new armor which he must say fits him very well, no feelings of restriction and doesn't cramp up anywhere either. Plus he also applied Fuinjutsu, giving it a boost in defense. He also put on the Green Supporter on his right arm and had discovered that he could store a knife inside of it which would be useful to him.

"Eina really thought this thoroughly when buying it," Naruto turned to Hestia who's sleeping on her bed which feels rather unusual to him "Hestia-chan, I'm heading out and I've already made breakfast on the table for you,"

"…mmkay," Hestia mumbled a response with her face on the pillow.

With a fond smile, Naruto left the church and was soon on his way to the dungeon. While walking on the road, Naruto noted that today's weather is rather smoggy which impairs the vision a bit but nothing too serious. Walking amongst the groups of adventurers, Naruto saw one of them carrying a large backpack with ease in spite of it appearing rather heavy.

"I wonder how they can carry something that size, maybe magic that boosts their strength or something?" Naruto muttered to himself "And where can I find a Supporter? Maybe I should ask Eina-san after all,"

"Mister! Hey mister! You with the spiky blonde hair!"

Hearing someone call out, Naruto looked behind him and to his surprise it's the same girl from yesterday

"A very good day to you sir, sorry to bother you but would you happen to be in the market for a Supporter?" asked the girl cheerfully.

Naruto blinked in confusion "Huh? Hey, you're the girl from last night,"

"Oh what? I'm sorry, you must be confused, but it's not really all that complicated sir, I'm just a poor lonely Supporter offering her services to an adventurer who doesn't have a partner," said the girl.

Naruto mentally raised an eyebrow at her trying to cover up and act like she doesn't know him but he wasn't fooled. Nonetheless, he continued "Yeah, I already gathered that much but I'm fairly certain that you are the Prum I met yesterday right?"

"I'm not a Prum, I'm a Chienthrope. It's like an animal person," As she said that, the girl pulls down her hood to reveal animal ears poking out from her hair. Out of curiosity, Naruto softly touches her right ear without even knowing what he's doing to the girl as she's surprised by what he's doing right now.

"A Chienthrope, well look at that," Naruto rubs her right ear, he didn't know that it's affecting the girl.

"Mmmahh…th-that's not appropriate," the girl barely squeaked out due to the sensation she's feeling from having her ear rubbed

Realizing the effect of his action, Naruto stopped what he was doing "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't realize what I was doing," Unaware that the girl was smirking at this knowing she's got something planned involving him.

Anyways they sat near the fountain as they chatted with each other as Naruto asked "So…your name is Liliruca Arde correct? What made you wanna approach me specifically?"

The now named Lili replied "Well, it seems to me like you were all by yourself. I mean you're an adventurer right. You're carrying a backpack around so, I kinda just assumed you know," as she said that, she was inspecting him and could see that he definitely looks like an adventurer given his weapons, armor and attire is anything to go by. However she noticed something that's strapped to his wrist as she asked "Also, what kind of weapons are those? I never seen them like that before. They look far more advanced than any crossbow,"

Naruto who was watching her while she inspected him already knew what she was referring to as he answered "Well they're called guns and they are indeed far more advanced than any crossbow one could find. These babies are capable of firing small pieces of shaped metal at highspeed that can tear through a human being or in this case, monsters who are unfortunate enough to get in my line of fire," then he noticed the look in her eye "Sorry but you wouldn't be able to find them anywhere around here. These are from my homeland and I already have someone who had that same look in her eyes so you wouldn't have any luck or anyone for that matter getting their hands on them,"

Liliruca looked slightly disappointed upon hearing that "I see…," While she didn't show it, she was intrigued by these guns Naruto explained and wanted to know more before she does anything else. She'll shelf the information about them later as she getting back to her original question "Well anyways, have you decided yet mister? You want me to be your Supporter or what?"

Naruto crossed his arms and pondered "Well…I have been giving it some thought and I suppose it wouldn't be bad to have someone to travel with. It does get rather boring to go solo in the dungeons at times,"

Liliruca looked happy to hear that "Wow you think so! Does that mean you'll take me with you mister? Pretty please? I don't have much money, so I wasn't sure exactly what I was gonna do," She then placed her hand on her right ear as she said "Besides, you do kinda owe me,"

Naruto raises an eyebrow at that claim "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Because you touched my special spot when you didn't get my permission. You need to take responsibility for such behavior,"

Naruto who doesn't know why he was blushing like a storm by this as he wasn't aware that there was some kind of a custom for her kind. Given he played various games and anime, he knew exactly what she was referring about and he felt embarrassed by this. He then said "Well I suppose that's fair. I guess I will hire you as my Supporter, but just for today. Got it?"

Lili smiles as she says "Got it! You won't regret this,"

Inside the dungeon, we now find Naruto combating monsters known as Killer Ants. In spite of their tough exoskeleton and swarming tactics, Naruto was taking them out in droves with his Hestia Knife and firearms. A Killer Ant lunged to attack him with its mandibles but he used his Green Supporter to knock it aside before driving the Hestia Knife right into its head, instantly killing it.

"Master Naruto, watch out!" Lili called out in alert.

Naruto turned to see a Killer Ant emerging from the ceiling and took out his handgun to fire a shot at its left eye, making it shriek in agony. Then he channeled chakra to his feet and dashed forward and attacking with a flying roundhouse which snapped the Killer Ant's neck from the force alone, leaving it to dangle from the ceiling limply.

After witnessing Naruto clearing out the monster single-handedly, Lili praises him while clapping her hands "That was amazing, Master Naruto!"

"It was nothing. I'm just glad to have you here with me, Lili. At least I have someone who I can rely on to watch my back while I focus more on fighting," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh no. You taking out all those monsters alone was WAY more impressive than anything I did, master Naruto. Although I'm guessing most of your power probably comes from your weapons of yours, mainly the knife which you're using, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if I'm depending on a bit too much," Naruto raised the Hestia Knife to look at it thoughtfully, not noticing that Lili is staring at his Hestia Knife with keen interest as she's smiling at how powerful that weapon is.

Lili then asked Naruto a question "So where did you get a knife like that anyway?"

Naruto looked at her for a bit, he can tell that she seems rather interested about his knife but answers her question nonetheless "Where I got it? It is a gift from my goddess," he puts away his Hestia Knife in its holster "That reminds me, are you by any chance a member of a Familia too, Lili?"

"Yup, the Soma Familia," Lili answered him as she goes ahead and began picking up Magic stones and Magic cores.

"Really? Well, that's pretty cool,"

Lili said while pointing at the dead Killer Ant dangling from the ceiling "Hey master Naruto, that one still has its magic stone. It shouldn't be too deep inside; I'll get the ones that fell on the ground," She then handed Naruto a knife to remove the magic stone off of the monster's dead hanging corpse as she asks "Wanna call it a day after that?"

Naruto gladly accepted the knife "Sure," he walks toward the dead Killer Ant to retrieve the magic stone, Lili then smiles under her hood as his back was turned while he struggles with slicing the neck of the hanging headless Killer Ant "Man, it's kinda hard to cut. Guess I can thank all those Biology lessons in school for this,"

The blonde ninja was too busy with cutting the neck off, he's unaware that Lili continues to smile but with not with good intentions as she's eyeing the Hestia Knife holstered to his waist.

---

"Hmm…wait, you said that your Supporter is in the Soma Familia?" asked Eina curiously which Naruto nodded in affirmation.

It was late in the afternoon that Naruto had returned from the dungeon and came to the guild while Liliruca went elsewhere. He came to exchange the Magic Stones and Magic Cores for money, at the time he was telling Eina about his time with the Supporter in the dungeon.

"Yeah? Is there a problem with that?" asked Naruto confusedly.

Eina appears to be concerned about what he told her and decides to inform him about the Soma Familia "Well the Soma's mainly focused on exploration and they sell a lot of booze as well. Which is fine but…*sigh* the whole group always seems to be so desperate. Like they're always in a panic about something,"

Hearing that info, Naruto became curious since he didn't know about the Soma Familia being desperate about something and Lili is part of that group. Even so, it's not any of his business as everyone has their faults so he wouldn't judge them despite this new information.

Eina then inquired from him "But besides that, what did you think of Liliruca? Did the two of you end up getting along?"

Naruto smiled in response "Oh yeah, she was nice and friendly. We even made a huge haul today too," As he showed her the sack filled with magic stones and magic cores inside that he's submitting.

Eina looked happy for him "That's great, I won't suggest otherwise then. Do whatever you think it's best, I mean it's your own decision to make after all. One more thing though; have you by any chance entered the Middle Floors yet now you got a Supporter with you?"

Naruto shook his head "Nah, I've decided to hold off of entering the Middle Floors until I know my Supporter is ready for it. Besides I'm not in a rush so I'll wait until then," Eina looks pleased by this as she accepts his decision as she completely understands. "Anyways I'm gonna head back home now, see ya,"

As Naruto turns his back to head over to the exit, Eina then notices something is missing behind his back and she calls out "Naruto?"

Naruto looks back as he said "Yeah? What is it?"

"Your knife, it's gone,"

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Naruto then checked behind his back to grab his knife but he doesn't feel anything which shocked him "What the- it's not here! How is it gone!?"

Eina asked Naruto "Did you perhaps drop it in the dungeon by chance!?"

"No! I couldn't have possibly dropped it in the dungeon. It was safely secured to prevent it from falling out. How could it possibly-,"

That's when he began to realize something which could only lead to one conclusion, something which both Kurama and Sora suspected the same thing.

"It's pretty clear who's the culprit who stole your knife," said Sora.

Kurama agrees with a nod of his head "Yeah, and your 'Supporter' was the only one with you at all times in the dungeon today,"

Hearing what both Kurama and Sora had the same idea as him, Naruto immediately shouts out in huge anger "THAT LITTLE THIEF!"

---

Inside a general store somewhere in a different location of the city, Lili handed the Hestia Knife which she stole from Naruto over to the Gnome shopkeeper who inspects it a critical eye before giving his verdict.

"I can give you 30 copper coins for the knife," Lili looked shocked at such a low price of the blade as he continued "It's not very sharp and it won't cut anything. The blade has gone completely dull,"

Without a word, Lili took back the knife and left the general store in a furious fashion "You're kidding me, it cut down all those monsters without even getting scratched and he offers me 30 copper coins? That's ridiculous,"

Walking through an alley, Lili noticed two women that are waitresses from the pub and recognized one of them to be the same Elf from before. Lili kept herself calm and pretended to just mind her own business while concealing the knife into her left sleeve from view in hopes they don't notice. She went passed and seemed relieved that they didn't notice.

"Wait a second," Ryuu suddenly spoke up "You, little Prum," Lili stopped in midstep with their backs turned to each other while Syr looked confused as to what's going on "Let me see that knife you're hiding in your cloak,"

Lili became tense, feeling nervous at the likeliness that the elf waitress is onto her.

"Ryuu?" Syr looked at her elven coworker, wondering what's she's doing .

"I wish to find out if it belongs to someone I know who lost theirs," Ryuu stated.

Lili was steadily losing her composure, knowing that the jig is up but she still tried to get out of the situation "You must be mistaken, this is mine. I'm sorry but I can't help you,"

"…," Ryuu who was silent then spoke up "Give it to me, I only know of one knife that's covered in markings like that," Lili looked shocked at how she was easily found out "And it's not yours!" Ryuu then turned around and flicked a gold coin at Lili's left hand with such force which made her drop the knife. In fear at being found out, she immediately took off running in hopes to get away from Ryuu whom alongside Syr pursued her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was searching everywhere to locate Lili but wasn't having much luck so far. Naruto stopped near an alleyway as he looked around "Dammit, where could she possibly-," before he could finish his sentence, he felt something crashed into him from behind, knocking them both onto the ground. Naruto recovered from the impact to see who ran right into him which so happens to be the very person that he was searching for "There you are Lili,"

Lili looks up and sees that the person she crashed into happens to be Naruto "Master Naruto?"

Ryuu finally caught up to Lili as she came out of the alleyway to chase her which she found out she's not a Prum "She's a Chienthrope,"

Naruto who noticed her became confused "Ryuu?" Then Syr emerges out of the alleyway "And you too Syr? What's going on here? You know what nevermind, have either of you two seen a knife around here? It's a special custom weapon with markings on it and extremely important to me,"

Both Ryuu and Syr looked at each other as the former then takes out the knife with the exact description which she presents to him "Does it look like this?"

Naruto looked at it and said "Yes that's it. That's my knife," he immediately grabbed hold of Ryuu's left hand which surprises and shocks the two of them at what he's doing as he thanked her "You found it! You have no idea how worried I was without it. Thank you so much, I owe you one for finding my knife. You're the best!"

Ryuu looks away, feeling embarrassed from how Naruto's hands felt on her "Mister Uzumaki please, could you uhh…stop that? I understand you're excited. Why don't you take Syr's hand instead?"

Syr looks surprised at hearing this "Ryuu what? What are you doing?"

Naruto let go of Ryuu's hand as she gives his knife back "Here, take it,"

"Again thanks," the moment he took back his knife, the markings began to glow as it recognizes its true wielder surprising Lili when she witnessed this as she never seen that happened before with any enchanted weapon that she's heard of.

"Thank goodness I got my knife back, this will be the last time I'm letting it out of my sight should this get stolen again,"

Ryuu frowned at his words "Wait, it was stolen?"

Lili looked away as Naruto answered Ryuu "Yeah, I found out my knife was stolen when I was at the guild and my 'Supporter' here was the one who managed to steal it behind my back while we were in the dungeon earlier. How exactly did you manage to get it back?"

"Well, to be more precise, she attempted to hide it and claimed it was hers while trying to pretend to mind her own business,"

"Really? You don't say,"

While they were talking, Syr noticed Lili's ears drooped since she knows she's caught red-handed and she's in trouble for it. Syr then smiles knowing what's going to happen.

Ryuu then said while bowing "Anyway, we should really be going,"

"Yeah I understand. Besides, I need to have a little chat with my Supporter anyways, so don't let me stop ya. And once again, thanks for everything,"

While Ryuu prepares to leave to the pub, Syr took the time to whisper something in Lili's ear "You shouldn't have been such a naughty little girl~" hearing her words took Lili by surprise.

After seeing Ryuu and Syr leave, Naruto then turned to Lili "Well…I must say, talk about great timing, I'm glad you were caught because you have no idea how worried and upset I am knowing what you did. So Lili, let's talk and don't bother trying to make a run for it. Because the moment you do, I'll immediately catch up to you. So…why did you steal my knife while we were in the dungeon?"

"…," Lili didn't say anything as she chose to remain silent.

Naruto frowned at the silent treatment Lili is giving him as he asked again "Come on Lili, start talking. Why did you do it? What reason could you have to steal my knife while my back was turned? I want to know the truth,"

"…," Again she refused to talk which made it clear to Naruto that she's not going to say anything.

"Still refusing to say anything huh? Well fine. If you're not going to say anything then allow me to express myself for what you pulled,"

Lili knew what's going to happen, she's been through this many times and quite sure that he'll insult her, ridicule her or even abandon her. It wouldn't be of a surprise if he started to abuse her like all other adventurers have done.

"I'm…"

Lili closed her eyes, awaiting the many insults with her as the target…

"…quite impressed,"

"…!?" Lili's eyes snapped open in shock and surprise at what she just heard and wonders whether she heard it right. Did she hear right?

"I know you heard me Lili, I said I'm quite impressed with what you pulled," Naruto repeated himself, making it clear than he didn't misspeak.

Lili couldn't believe what she's hearing, he's impressed? Why would he be impressed with her for stealing his knife? How could he? Is he stupid? Is he that gullible to be fooled or is he just making a cruel joke.

Naruto could tell that she's in disbelief and went on to explain "You're probably wondering why I'm even impressed by you stealing something from me. Well, it's quite simple really. It's just that I never expected that you could manage to steal my knife without me knowing. It's quite an accomplishment that no one could do to me and you should know that you're the first to actually manage to steal my knife while I wasn't aware," Lili was just listening as Naruto's talking since she doesn't know what to make of this. "You see, where I'm from; I was trained to be a master of deception as stealing something from others is second nature to me. Anyone who ever attempted to steal something from me wouldn't get far because I'll know before it could happen. But today's different, the fact you managed to pull it off by stealing my knife while I didn't know has led me into two conclusions; You used some sort of thief skill to take my knife while I wasn't aware or I let my guard down since I was too relaxed,"

Lili doesn't know how he came up with this, he was definitely on the money because she did indeed use a thief skill to steal his knife and he seems to figure it out. Naruto noticed her tense body language gave it away as he said "Judging by your body language, I can safely assume it's the former,"

She hasn't said a word but Naruto didn't care "I gotta be honest. Even though I'm impressed that you managed to steal my knife and almost got away with it, that also means that I'm upset that you chose me as a target for you to steal from which I'm starting to see why that guy was pissed off about. You betrayed me and broke my trust for you to just use me…and I don't like being used,"

Lili continued to listen, not knowing what to make of him at this point but when he mentioned the guy whom she tricked, she frowned while thinking if he'll be just like him.

"However, I'm willing to overlook this betrayal and giving you a second chance,"

Now THAT really got Lili's attention as she finally raised her head to look at Naruto in shock by this.

Naruto continued "Don't get the wrong idea, this doesn't mean that I forgive you. I'm just giving you a second chance to redeem yourself for what you attempted since I'm overlooking what your real objective is. I still felt betrayed because you broke my trust and yet despite this, I felt impressed. Nonetheless, I'm still willing to let you be my Supporter so long you don't try to steal my knife or my weapons ever again. With that being said Lili, do you wanna go back to the dungeon with me tomorrow?"

"What's with this guy? Is his brain broken or something?" thought Lili who just couldn't understand him as she stared at the blonde ninja who simply smiled in response.

"Aren't you letting her off too easily with what she did? By all rights we should be making her learn the consequences of her actions given how valuable the Hestia Knife is to you," Kurama complained.

"That would be true and make the most sense here…but you know exactly why I didn't do that and choose to give her another chance, don't you?" thought Naruto knowingly.

"…tch, that habit of yours again,"

the next day, Naruto and Lili are back in the dungeon again as they walked down the stairs.

"Master Naruto?" Lili called out to Naruto

Said person looked back with a "Hmm?"

"Thank you for officially hiring me, it means a lot," she then noticed that his knife is not strapped behind his lower back "Where's your weapon today? Don't you usually carry it right there on your belt?

"Why? So that you could try to steal it again? Sorry Lili but I'm not just gonna make it easier for you to make that attempt. I've learned my lesson for allowing myself to get tricked and robbed and this is just a reminder for I shouldn't let my guard down no matter what, whether it be monsters, thieves or anyone else with ill intentions. So for now on, I'm going start keeping it in my green supporter now. That way it's with me at all times within eyesight without it getting stolen,"

Lili narrows her eyes at that as she mutters "Really?"

Naruto heard her as he answered "Yeah, really," he turns to looks at her "Look Lili, I just want to make this clear. Don't try to steal my knife from me or any of my belongings that aren't yours. I'm already giving you a second chance to fix your mistake. And I would hate if I have to fire you should you make the attempt again but it's not gonna be easy pickings for you this time since I'm now gonna be on guard from both monsters and you from now on. So I highly recommend you don't try that stunt again if you wanna win my trust once more,"

Lili didn't show it but she's frowning mentally knowing that stealing from him is not gonna be that simple this time with her Thief Skills compared to before and he's very perceptive than she gives him credit for. If what he told her is true the other day about how he's known to be the master of deception and stuff, then she'll have to bide her time until the time is right.

"Anyways, you sure you don't want a down payment first?"

Lili shook her head "Nah, there's only you and me down here so it won't be too hard to figure out who gets what. Besides…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he said "Besides?"

Lili gives him an ominous look while smiling as she says "I wanna do whatever makes things easier for you master Naruto,"

Naruto didn't show it but he can clearly sense her emotions and it's obvious that she's not giving up on her plan to rob him. That, and the way she spoke to him left him a bit unnerved as she's practically telling him that this is not over, not by a long shot.

"Are you ready to go? As long as you do your best, I'm sure there won't be any problems at all," said Lili

Naruto looks at her for a while before speaking in a slightly unsure tone "Uhh yeah…right." Naruto just walked forward with Lili following suit as they ventured through the dungeon floor.

"Wonder how much loot we'll get today?" said Lili

"Who knows. If we're lucky enough, it might just make it worth our while," said Naruto while shrugging his shoulders.

---

"TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND?!" the reason for Naruto and Lili to be yelling so loudly would have to do with the two brown pouches filled with a LOT of coins

"Oh man, look at how much money we made! We were definitely lucky today," Naruto was genuinely surprised they made THIS much in one day but he wasn't complaining.

"You're amazing! Thanks to you, we made more than a whole party of five F-rank adventurers would've made combined," Even Lili was also shocked, she had never seen this amount of money with the parties she had worked with in the past.

"Well, we definitely made our day worthwhile with this much money. Plus, also discovering a hidden room with a treasure chest; it doubles if not triples our payment from the loot we took,"

"You're definitely right. I can't believe we were SO lucky we made so much in one day. Talk about crazy luck, Master Naruto. Oh wow, let's try to get even more tomorrow," she then developed a side glance "Now we just have to decide how we're gonna split the money,"

As she was planning ways on how they'll split the money into her own favor, Naruto already gave the other pouch of coins to her while already taking the liberty of splitting gems and coins from the treasure chest they took from the hidden room of the dungeon thanks to the Isekai System helping him divide evenly and gave half of it to Lili which left her in shock at what he just did.

"Man, Hestia-chan will be surprised at how much money I've made today. In fact, I bet I can take her somewhere nice to have dinners with all of this. Speaking of which, you wanna get something to eat to celebrate?" said Naruto happily.

Lili broke out of shock and said "W-Wait! Wait a second!"

That got Naruto's attention as he said "What?"

"Um, this looks like it's half. I don't understand…I mean, shouldn't you take them all?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that "Well if it was just me doing solo then yeah but you're my Supporter now Lili which means you're half of the team that I hired and as such, you deserve to get your half of the share we made together," This surprised her for she didn't expect this kindness that he's showing her as he continued "Also, you haven't been trying to deceive me this time which shows me that perhaps I'm willing enough to trust you again so congrats Lili. You're well on your way to regaining my trust and it's great to have you onboard,"

Lili just stared at him while he extends his hand to her for a handshake, she couldn't express herself about this because she has never experienced this form of kindness before. She slowly took his hand into hers to shake. Naruto smiles brightly while Lili didn't know what to make of this towards Naruto as she mumbles to herself "You're a weirdo…,"

---

Eina is at the guild doing her job peacefully at her table when her thoughts were suddenly disrupted by a commotion not far from where she is. She looked to see an adventurer wearing armor with a Familia emblem complaining about something while slamming his fist on the counter

"It's only worth Twelve-thousand coins?! Are you blind? Please tell me this is a joke!" the adventurer acting like he was having a crisis for who knows what.

Misha walked up next to Eina with a frown before muttering to her "Ugh, not this again. There's another one of the Soma Familia members,"

They watch the man who was having a mental breakdown as he cries out "It's not gonna be enough!"

Eina then mutters to her coworker "Just as unstable as ever." Then to herself "Naruto, please do try to be careful,"

---

Somewhere inside the depths of the dungeon, Ais stood with a hand close to her sheathed sword next to her party member as the dungeon walls began cracking open with the whole place shaking.

"It's here," Riveria braced herself with her magic staff at the ready.

"Riveria, don't interfere," Ais calmly drew out her sword and took a stance right as the crack in the wall grew wider and a large silhouette of a monster became visible, but the Sword Princess remained unfazed and prepared for battle.

---

Sun sets, casting an orange glow over the city which presents quite the beautiful view for Freya who sits on her chair at the balcony of her home. Freya got up from her seat and walked to the edge of the balcony before looking down to see Naruto walking alongside Lili.

Freya then smiles down at Naruto while sporting a faint blush then said "Oh goodness, I was going to sit back and just watch for a little while but I simply cannot help myself," She then walked towards her bookshelf and pulls out a white book then looks at it "I must see it emerge…the power that sleeps so deeply within you,"

---

Somewhere in a different pub at night, we find Hestia and Miach enjoying their night…well enjoying is a strong word for Hestia's case because she's drinking mugs of alcohol as if it's water to drown her sorrows for some reason.

"Listen, Miach!" Hestia complains with her cheeks tinged pink and teary eyes "Naruto is…Naruto is…cheating on me!"

Miach silently nibbles on his food, not at all phased by his friend's overreaction and continues to listen to her rant.

"Damn it, who is that girl anyway? Naruto is mine!"

"Now now Hestia, Naruto doesn't belong to anybody," Miach pointed out.

"I know that! I just had to say it," Hestia raised the mug to her lips "No, I wanted to say it!"

Then Hestia downed the mug in one go and ordered for another…and another…and another…five empty mugs later and Hestia's face is redder than an apple while burping pink mist, an image of Naruto appeared in her mind which caused Hestia to start crying dramatically.

"Oh Naruto, please don't leave me!" Hestia's face hit the barrel table and Miach had to move his snacks and drink off the table before she did so.

The male god sighed at how his friend is acting "Calm down, Hestia. You're being too loud,"

"Auuuuuuu…Naruto, I love you!" Hestia simply couldn't hold back her affection for Naruto and wants his attention back.

---

Naruto is confused right now and you want to know why? He's currently at the church home and watching Hestia make a huge ruckus in the room as she's crying out while covering herself with the blanket on the bed.

He was standing next to the bed with a glass of water since he smelled alcohol from her last night and knew that she would be having a major hangover so he prepared accordingly "Hestia-chan, are you alright?"

"Hmph," Hestia didn't answer his question, she just snatched the glass of water and drank it before handing it back to Naruto without even looking at him which confused him even more by her behavior.

Naruto asked "Are you feeling alright? You're acting very weird and it's unbecoming of you."

Hestia huffs as she tells him "I'm fine. But whatever, who cares what you think dirty cheater,"

The blonde ninja places a wet cloth on her head while talking to her "Don't go calling me stuff that I never done at all," Naruto sweatdropped at her current attitude "Hestia-chan, since I can see clearly that this is a bad time, but when's the next day you have time off?"

Hearing that caught the goddess's attention to raise her head "Time off? What do you mean?"

"Well let's just say that I've been making a lot of money in the dungeon recently. In fact I've made so much, I wanted to treat you somewhere nice. It's my way of repaying you for gifting me the Hestia Knife that helped me against the Silverback. So how about it Hestia-chan; would you like to go out to a fancy dinner with me sometime? Just the two of us?"

Hestia was surprised by this but she was slowly smiling with joy "Like…a date?" She then got closer to Naruto "How's today?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, today,"

"Whoa hold on a sec-,"

"We're going today!"

At this point, Naruto literally has his back against the wall due to Hestia's face being so close to his out of eagerness, he never saw her this aggressive "Ok we'll go but aren't you like sick or something?"

Hestia quickly backed up with a cheerful smile "Nope, all better," She then excitedly goes to the closet and started looking for something to wear when she pauses for a moment to smell herself then turns to Naruto "K'ay Naruto, meet me at six o'clock sharp tonight at the southwest main street of Amour Plaza, okay?" she gives him a thumbs up while giggling.

"You still have a lot to learn about women, master," said Sora teasingly.

"It goes without saying," Naruto replied.

---

Inside the temple baths where various goddess are bathing and relaxing. Hestia happily sings as she bathes, wanting to make herself as clean and alluring as she can for the upcoming date with Naruto. The opportunities of spending time together have been low as of late ever since they came from Naruto's world which kinda bugs her, in fact the last time they tried to spend time together was disrupted by a monster that tried to kill them.

"Finally, a date with Naruto," Hestia can't stop herself smiling at the thought of it.

"Oh, is that you Hestia?" a voice called out.

Hestia turned to see one of her dear friends in the bubbling bath with her "Hey Demeter, it's been a while,"

The goddess Demeter smiled in response before looking at Hestia's chest which is being quite…buoyant in the waters "They're bigger than ever," she tries to reach for them only for Hestia to rebuff her in annoyance.

"Yours are big too, you know," Hestia huffed.

"But it's quite surprising," Demeter sat down next to her "After all, this is the first time that you're vising the Divine Bathhouse,"

"Well that's because I'm going to meet someone afterwards, so I'm going all out for it," Hestia explained.

Demeter was shocked to hear "Could it be…? You're meeting a gentleman?"

Hestia frowned "So what if I am?"

"Oh really, you of all people? Hey everyone, Hestia's got a man!" Demeter excitedly announced which instantly caught the attention of all the other goddesses much to Hestia's horror.

"Hestia, who has always been so hopeless in heaven?"
"Loli big-boobs, that Hestia?"
"Who is it?"
"Tell us!"

Hestia looked around then sighed, knowing that they won't let her go until she tells them "He's a child from my Familia, a human," the goddesses swooned which annoyed her "Jeez, you girls! I'm leaving!"

Demeter watched Hestia leave before calling out to her "Hestia, what's so special about him?"

Hestia looked back with a joyful smile "Everything!"

---

At six o'clock with the sun setting, Naruto was waiting at the designated spot of a statue for Hestia to arrive. As Naruto waits for her, he looks around and he sees other people being affectionate with each other, making him feel self-conscious.

"Man, this is making me nervous," Naruto muttered to himself.

"I can't blame ya, considering the current environment that you're in right now," said Kurama.

"It's kinda adorable to see you act this way," Sora commented in amusement.

"Quit teasing me," thought Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto!" he looks over to see Hestia running up towards him while wearing a beautiful dress of hers "I'm so sorry, um…did I keep you waiting?"

Naruto shook his head with a soft smile "No of course not, I actually only got here just a minute ago,"

Hestia smiles while blushing, she was about to reach over to grab hold of his hand, however…

"Oh, is that Hestia's new man that I heard about?"
"He looks so cute with those whiskermarks on his cheeks, just like a fox!"

The next thing they knew; Hestia was rudely shoved out of the way and Naruto found himself being swarmed by the goddesses that had been stalking them with the poor ninja in a state of confusion and nervousness.

Hestia watched as the goddesses fought each other over who gets to hug him "Wh-Wh-Wha?!"

Demeter appeared next to her with a sheepish smile "Sorry, Hestia. We were curious and so followed you here,"

"Please let me go!" Naruto barely managed to free himself from their grip but ended up stumbling forward and plopped his face right into Demeter's bosom which shocked both her and Hestia, but mostly the latter "I'm so sorry!"

Naruto tried to pull away but Demeter wrapped her arms around him, pushing his face deeper into her chest "Oh geez, you're so cute!" steam began shooting out of his reddening ears like a whistling kettle.

Kurama was laughing up a storm at this "Jiraiya would be so proud of you that he'd be wishing he was in your position of getting his face smoothed into this woman's boobs right now!"

"You're definitely becoming a ladies' man," said Sora with a teasing smile.

"SHUT IT!" Naruto yelled at them mentally but wasn't so convincing given his current situation.

"Get your…boobs…off of him!" an angry Hestia rushes forward and snatches Naruto off of Demeter which catches her off guard as she looks at the retreating figure of Hestia running off while dragging along the slightly dazed Naruto.

"Hey, Hestia's running away!"

"After her!"

Sure enough, the other goddesses pursued them due to their strong desire of wanting to learn more about the adventurer who has Hestia's sole affections.

Meanwhile, Hestia continued to run while still dragging Naruto "Naruto, get your head out of the clouds! We need to get away from those girls!"

Hearing the urgency, Naruto finally snapped out of it "O-Oh right, hang on!" he got to his feet and scooped up Hestia in his arms and began running more quickly than Hestia.

Things pretty much turned into an odd game of Hide and Seek with Naruto and Hestia forced to be the Hiders while the goddesses were to nosy seekers as both ran around the city. They were running through a street when they heard footsteps heading their way, Naruto quickly had himself and Hestia press their backs against the side of a building before taking out a tarp and using it to cover themselves while activating the Camouflage jutsu to blend in with their surroundings. The duo waited for the goddesses to run past them before undoing the jutsu and resuming their escape.

This chase continued for a while with Naruto and Hestia having to hide behind animlas and stalls, jump into barrels to conceal themselves, sneak within a large crowds or Naruto having to using to use his Shadow Clones with one of them using the Transformation jutsu to take on the appearance of Hestia and lead the others away while they make their getaway.

As nighttime hits the city, both Naruto and Hestia manage to escape from their pursuers as they ran and hid in the bell tower which allows them to catch their breath from being chased by goddesses around town.

"We finally lost them," said Naruto while steadying his breathing.

"Yeah, those goddesses are always like that…those darn drooling hyenas," Hestia replied, feeling annoyed at first but then became depressed "And thanks to them, we didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted to today. So much for our date…,"

"Oh come on, Hestia-chan. It's not all that bad…," Naruto caught sight of something from the corner of his eyes which caused him to look and get a sense of nostalgia "And besides, it's thanks to them that we got to have fun and see something amazing, take a look…,"

"Huh…?" Hestia looks at what's in front of her and was greeted with the beautiful scenery of the Babel Tower along with the city lights shining warmly like stars on earth "Wow…,"

Naruto gently guided Hestia to sit on the ledge of the bell tower before settling next to her then spoke softly "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Hestia nods while still mesmerized by the scenery "Hey Hestia? Let's do this again…only next time, let's not include being chased down by a bunch of goddesses before we had a chance to have dinner first,"

Hearing the playful suggestion made Hestia giggle "Yeah, I'd like that…," She leans onto Naruto's right shoulder, making Naruto blush at this action of hers "I'll be looking forward to it…Naruto,"

After regaining his composure, Naruto smiles as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulled her into an embrace her tight in his arms as he lays his head onto hers then two of them silently enjoy the moment together, gazing upon the view of Babel Tower and the city.

---

Elsewhere in the dark shadows of an alleyway, Lili stumbled backwards while holding the bag of money that Naruto had given to her as payment when someone snatched it from her, turns out that she was being assailed by a trio of male adventurers which turned out to also be members of the Soma Familia like her.

The leader of the trio who's a beastman shook the coin bag to make the coins inside jingle with a greedy smile "What do we have here, you seem to have earned better than usual…but still not enough, isn't that right, Arde?"

"…," Lili quivered in fear, unable to respond as the beastman known as Canoe Belway approached her with a sneer.

"Let's not forget how a useless Supporter such as yourself could be a part of the Soma Familia like us? " Canoe raised a foot and pressed it down on Lili's face.

"I-It's thanks to you adventurers," Lili stammered in response.

"If you know so well, then keep working until you drop dead!" with a cruel smile, Canoe kicked Lili down a flight of stairs and watched along with his cohorts as she fell to the bottom before walking away, laughing all the while.

Lili barely rolled to her back and looked up to the night sky while muttering to herself "Who cares about those stupid adventurers, seriously. Doesn't matter anyway, I've almost got enough money saved up by this point and I swear I will get that knife back along with those 'guns' of his,"

Suddenly she then remembered Naruto's words which he said to her "You're well on your way to regaining my trust and it's great to have you onboard,"

Lili flinched as she reeled her hand back due to his words starting to confuse her. Part of her felt like she shouldn't betray him again because he's been genuinely fair and nice to her even though she tricked into robbing him of his knife and yet he gave her a second chance and was even impressed by her stealing his knife without him knowing. And now she's earning his trust again, she felt like she doesn't want to try her luck again yet at the same time, he's an adventurer like all the rest that she despises and reminding herself of the situation she's in.

She was having conflicting feelings and emotions that she doesn't know what to do until she covers her eyes with her left arm as she mutters "That guy is…so weird,"

---

The next day at the Guild, Eina is inputting information into a log book at her desk while Misha was picking a few book volumes from the bookshelves when the later spoke up to gain the former's attention.

"Have you heard, Eina? Another adventurer from the Soma Familia was able to rank a ton of coins from out of nowhere," said Misha.

Eina frowned upon hearing this "Why are they always so preoccupied with making money?"

Misha placed a stack of books onto the table with a shrug of her shoulders "Who knows? In my opinion; they've been selling so much alcohol that I don't see how their Familia could possibly be hurting for cash,"

"Hmmmm…," Eina hummed in thought, feeling both curious about this news while at the same time a bit suspicious about all this, considering that Naruto is currently working with one of the members of the Soma Familia as of now.

---

Meanwhile at the 7th Floor of the dungeon, Naruto was currently combating another swarm of Killer Ants with use of his Hestia Knife and the Taurus PT92 pistol while Lili watches the battle from a safe distance.

Holding the Hestia Knife in a reverse grip, Naruto channeled his chakra through the blade to increase its sharpness as he rushed forward and was easily slicing through the exoskeletons of the Killer Ants with more ease compared to attacking normally, he looked further ahead to see more Killer Ants approach then took aim with his Taurus PT92 pistol before firing rapidly to take them out from a distance, he was so focused that he barely heard Lili call out to him from behind.

"Master Naruto, look out!" said Lili worriedly.

However, before Naruto could turn around to see what was wrong; he was already ambushed from behind by a white bunny-like monster with a horn called the Needle Rabbit which is known for its nimbleness. He was about to get up, but a Killer Ant was already upon him ready to strike him down with its mandibles. As Naruto was about to use his pistol to shoot at the monster from pointblank range, Lili surprisingly intervened.

"Leave him alone!" She then takes out a knife that glows with magic as it launches a fire blast which hit the Killer Ant, burning it into a burnt crisp. Naruto took the opportunity to use his Hestia knife to slice the dead Killer Ant into pieces before jumping back to his feet and immediately resume his fight with the monsters. Lili sighed in relief but then realized what she had just done as she mutters to herself while quickly putting away her magical weapon into her cloak "Shoot, I wasn't supposed to use this,"

Naruto then finished off the remaining monsters which are the Needle Rabbits by casting a Blizzard to create a sheet of ice on the ground which causes them to slip constantly before finishing them off by firing his pistol and afterwards, he successfully eliminated at the monsters here in the 7th floor. Naruto took a breather as he reloads his pistol while putting it away in his holster as well as putting away his Hestia knife.

Lili runs up to Naruto as she asks in concern "Are you okay, master Naruto?"

Naruto smiled at her in response "Yeah I'm fine, don't you worry. I've been through worse so this is nothing but thanks for the save,"

Lili smiled nervously "S-Sure thing,"

Then the blonde ninja recalled what had happened earlier with Lili "Hang on, what you did back there, did you just use magic?

"N-No, I have a magic knife,"

"Really? You chose to use something that valuable for me. I'm very flattered, thanks a lot Lili,"

Lili felt a bit shy by the compliment "Uh…Don't mention it, I wanted to help you out so…,"

"Well, let's take a break and put something in our bellies," Naruto suggested, seeing as they had been rather busy in exploring this floor of the dungeon.

After settling at a safe area, Naruto brought out his boxed lunch from his backpack which Syr gave it to him even though he stated that it wasn't necessary but she always insisted, leaving him with have no choice but to accept it from her.

Anyways as he brought out food from his bag, Naruto commented said "Man, who knew magic was this amazing,"

"Well of course magic is amazing. There's a lot of spells out there you haven't seen before yet that'll put your Jutsu to shame," said Sora with pride.

Kurama scoffed in disagreement "I highly doubt that. Magic is impressive, I'll give you that much, but Chakra and Jutsu from our previous world are a lot better than this world's magic. Naruto's Jutsu are a lot more destructive and powerful than any magical spells anyone would throw at him and he'll come out on top,"

Not wanting to be downplayed, Sora counters "While I can't deny that some parts you said are true from what I've looked through Naruto's memories of the opponents that he's seen and faced, but you'll be surprised just what kind of magic he might find or encounter that might be similar to those jutsu of his. Just give it time,"

Naruto mentally rolled his eyes before intervening to stop their argument "Okay you two, there's no need to fight over which is better. Personally, I like them both equally as they both have their own way of being destructive whether or not regardless. I just haven't witnessed something interesting just yet. So please calm down you guys,"

Now seeing that they've stopped arguing for now, he gave another boxed lunch to Lili which left her confused by this. Seeing she being hesitant, Naruto explained "I thought you might be hungry,"

Reluctant, Lili accepted his generosity "Uhh, thank you very much," she puts her food to the side and asks Naruto "Hey master Naruto, would it be okay if I took a day off tomorrow?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders since he didn't have a problem with that "Yeah that's fine, I don't mind if you took a day off. You got something planned tomorrow?"

"There's this big Familia meeting and I sorta have to be there. But I know it's a breach of contract so I'm prepared to pay the price," Lili lowered her head as she explained.

Naruto quickly stopped her from doing so "Whoa whoa, there's no need for that. I already said I'm alright with you taking a day off so there's no need for you to make up for it. I've made myself known already that I'm not like any other adventurers you may have worked with in the past, okay? If you ever want to take a day off, just let me know,"

After making his point, Naruto started eating his food. Lili stares at him for a moment and just looks down, not knowing what to think. She feels conflicted about if Naruto is truly not like the others for he's done nothing but showed kindness to her despite what she's done. She doesn't know what to think anymore then just took a piece of food and took a bite while she just sat there contemplating on her thoughts. She was snapped out of those thoughts when Naruto called out to her.

"By the way, I almost forgot to give you these, so here you go," Naruto held out a transparent bag of pastries which Lili is unfamiliar with.

"What are those?" asked Lili curiously and a bit warily.

"These are macaroons which are chewy cookies normally containing almond paste but also has other flavors as you'll soon find out. I'm pretty sure that you'll like them," Naruto held out the bag of macaroons to Lili.

"Um okay…," Lili took the pastries reluctantly "…thank you,"

Naruto grinned widely "You're welcome,"

---

At the Hostess of Fertility pub, two of the waitresses Anya and a human girl as the two are watching Naruto and Syr interact with each other since the otherworldly adventurer came here for a quick visit while dropping off Syr's boxed lunch she gave to him earlier in the day.

Naruto handed back Syr's empty lunchbox back to her "All finished, thanks for the food even though I keep telling you there's no need for that,"

Syr accepted her lunchbox as she replied "I know but I wanted to provide you my lunch in case you ever were to forget to pack your own as a way of a backup. So, you're taking a little break today huh?"

"Yeah, I'm not feeling like going to the dungeon right now so I got some free time. Hey uhh…out of curiosity, what do like to do on your days off, Syr?"

Syr thought about it for a moment "Um let me see…read books I guess,"

"Reading huh…that's cool. I like reading books too but back then I wasn't all that interested because I used to see reading to be boring. I usually just train or go sightseeing in different places to pass the time. Plus now that I read, some of Hestia-chan's books all look a bit too complicated," Naruto then noticed something behind Syr which turns out to be a book and looked at the title "Modern magic even a goblin could do?"

Syr followed what he's looking at which was the book as she said "That something you like? A customer left it here a while ago. I doubt they'll ever be back for it," She went to fetch the book from the shelf and held it out to him "I'd be glad to let you borrow it if you're interested,"

Naruto looked at the book when Sora spoke up "Wait, that's a grimoire. Who would be dumb enough to leave it here?"

"Who knows, though if you ask me, I say don't bother. We already have our own grimoire that is sentient. I doubt whatever spell that's in there isn't something worth to read over," said Kurama.

Sora beamed happily "Aww thanks Kurama, I feel flattered. Yeah, you already have your very own grimoire right here with you who's a sentient being that knows any kinds of offensive magic. In fact…head back home Naruto, I think it's time for you to learn two new spells which I'm gonna teach it to you as a reward for reaching Rank-E,"

Naruto was surprised to hear that "Wait, really?"

"Yup! You're gonna love it. Come on, head back home so I can teach it to you,"

"Alright alright calm down, we're going," After his talk with Sora, Naruto turned his focus on Syr "Thanks for the offer but I'm gonna have to refuse, I already know magic and I don't wanna read a book that belongs to someone who had misplaced,"

Syr was surprised to hear his refusal and insisted "Are you sure? I don't mind you reading this as long you return it back. Plus whoever left it here probably wouldn't get it back any time soon,"

"Even if it's true, someone will be bound to return for it. Again, thanks for the offer but it's not necessary,"

The waitress sighed in mild disappointment "Alright then, if you ever change your mind and want to borrow it, I'll leave it here on the shelf in case you're interested,"

"Thanks but I probably won't need it. Anyways I'll be heading out now, later," Naruto then walks out the pub and heads back home to the church.

After returning home, Sora emerged in her human form and stood before Naruto with her arms crossed and a wide grin on her face. No doubt, she's very excited to teach Naruto new magic spells since he's shown to have great potential in magic and very creative in its use.

"Well then, Sora-sensei. What will you be teaching me?" asked Naruto playfully.

Sora preened from hearing Naruto called her like that "Well my cute student, I'm going to teachy you two magic spells; first is the Firebolt which is a fire element spell and second is the Shining Ray which is a light element spell,"

Naruto listened keenly with interest, wanting to hear more about these two new spells with Kurama listening in as well.

"First is the Firebolt which is a fire element spell that allows you to launch a bolt of concentrated flames at lightning speeds, it may not be as damaging as the Fire spell but its speed and low mana cost makes up for it. As for the Shining Ray; it is in simple terms a concentrated beam of light element energy that is capable of piercing through various forms of defense whether it being physical or magical but it depends on the amount of mana applied to the spell, the more the mana then the stronger the spell becomes,"

"Hmmm, seems to me that the two spells are polar opposites of each other in certain ways," Kurama commented.

"I know, but I'm definitely gonna put them into good use in the dungeon floors," said Naruto with a smile of excitement.

Seeing his excitement, Sora smiled as well "Alright then, here's how you cast the spells…," she went on to explained how the spells are performed and Naruto paid close attention to her instructions "How about you give it try tonight in the dungeon?"

Naruto hummed thoughtfully "Sure, sounds good to me,"

Later on, Hestia returned home from her parttime job and Naruto cooked dinner for the both of them. While they were eating, Naruto spoke up.

"Hestia-chan, I've learned two new spells from Sora-chan today," Naruto informed her.

The twin-tailed goddess smiled in response "That's great to hear, that means you'll be more prepared for the dungeon and able to return home to me safely,"

"That's right,"

"Well, let's finish eating and prepare for bed, it's a long day for the both of us tomorrow,"

After eating dinner and brushing their teeth, Naruto and Hestia went to bed and fell asleep. Late into the night, Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked to see that Hestia was fast asleep just like he intended. He stealthily got off the couch and put on his Modern Adventurer clothes while forgoing his hat since he won't be needing it before sneaking out of the church and was now leaping across the rooftops towards the dungeon tower.

"Forgive me, potato croquettes…," Hestia mumbled in her sleep while turning over on her bed "Hephaestus is freshly cooked!"

---

Upon arriving at the dungeon then going down to the first floor, Naruto performing a few stretches in preparation of trying out his new spells. He didn't have to go far and came across a goblin monster that's all alone.

"Looks like I've found my first victim for target practice, let's get started," Naruto aimed an open palm at the goblin and immediately shouts out "Firebolt!" he instantly launched a bolt of fire at the goblin which instantly killed it before the monster could even realize that it had been attacked while dropping a magic stone.

"Whoa…," Naruto looked at his hand in surprise, he was impressed with how strong it was despite he tried it on a weak monster but still impressed nonetheless "The speed in casting the spell and the attack itself is nothing to scoff at, there's almost no lag in between them at all. I can probably use it to intercept or even disrupt enemies,"

He ventured onwards through the pathways of the dungeon while keeping an eye out for any kind of monsters before coming across a group of goblins.

"Now to try out the Shining Ray spell…," Naruto held out his hand towards the monsters as a white orb of light appeared on it, the goblins saw him and rush to attack but he remained focused "Shining Ray!" The orb of light immediately fired a white laser beam which pierced through a majority of the goblins whilst the others barely avoided it but were swiftly finished off by Naruto using the Firebolt spell "Pretty powerful to be able to take now many enemies in one attack but it takes time to cast the spell though,"

Sora spoke up "Like I mentioned before; the amount of damage it can inflict depends on the amount of mana used for the spell. The larger the amount, the longer it will take to cast. So you'll need to be careful if you don't want an enemy to interrupt while you're charging up,"

"Kinda reminds me of when I started using the Rasengan before eventually mastering the jutsu to the point that it's second nature to me," said Naruto "Like it, I'll keeping practicing till I've mastered them too,"

Anyways Naruto decided to practice in the use of both the Firebolt and Shining Ray for a while to get the hang of them as he goes deeper into the dungeon all the while killing any monsters unfortunate enough to cross his path. After a while, he was panting lightly out of tiredness from using his magic. Naruto took a look around as he's taking a breather to realize he's gotten far in without knowing.

"Whoa…didn't notice that I came down this far into the dungeon," Naruto muttered to himself.

"You were so busy having fun with those two new spells of yours that you wound up getting farther into the dungeon without paying actual attention," Kurama pointed out to his friend.

"Well, I'd better head back before…," Naruto was about to return back from where he gone to but suddenly felt a wave of dizziness that he stumbled a bit "Whoa, what's going on with me?"

"That's a sign that you're close to a Mind Down, you would have passed out if you had kept using magic. It's thanks to your large Mana reserves that kept you going and retain consciousness otherwise you would have already been in Mind Down a while ago," Sora pointed out to him.

"Guess I'll have to take a moment to rest and wait for my mana to recover, glad that I won't have to worry about monsters attacking me since I pretty much killed a lot of them while trying out my spells,"

Naruto sat on the ground with his back against the wall of the dungeon and closed his eyes to rest and recover his mana. Unbeknownst to him, a dark mist-like energy was starting to appear as it was getting closer to Naruto with shadowy hands outstretched to grab him but then sound of footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the dungeon walls, causing it to cease its actions and disappear immediately.

Minutes Earlier

Two female adventurers coming up from the stairs which happened to be Riveria and Ais who just finished killing a Floor Boss with the latter doing so single-handedly all by herself, but she didn't emerge completely unscathed as several parts of her armor particularly her breastplate were severely damaged from the battle.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave it with him?" Riveria inquired as she walks ahead of Ais.

Ais nodded in affirmation "Yes, it's not like I can wield it. Plus the town can be attacked by monsters again so having a strong weapon would be reassuring,"

"Well it does seem valuable. Regardless, I'm sure he'll turn it into a great weapon even though it's the first time that I've seen a dropped weapon,"

"You've never seen it before either?"

"No, I've never known of the Udaeus monster being capable of wielding a sword in the first place,"

The two female adventurers soon reached the top of the stairwell, there they spotted someone sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the wall and his eyes were closed as if asleep, he didn't even stir when they approached him.

Riveria knelt down next to him and placed her hand close to his face for a moment "He seems to be fine; he's just resting to recover his mana. He must've realized he was close to a Mind Down from using too much magic so he decided to rest to recover,"

Ais came closer to look at him and soon recognized who he is "It's him,"

Riveria turned to Ais with a questioning look "What's the matter Ais? Do you know this guy?"

"Well, we've only spoken once and it was brief but…this is the guy I met down at the dungeons who claimed to have slain the minotaur, as well as him being the one who defeated Bete back at the pub,"

Hearing that, Riveria recalled what happened back at the pub that night when a random boy challenged Bete and won. She then remembered when Ais told him that he's the guy she encountered which she now understands. Not to mention both Tiona and Tione are looking around trying to find him or at least information like his name but nothing came up.

Riveria looked at Naruto's resting figure "I see…no wonder this young man looked familiar, he's the poor soul who paid for our unfortunate mistake,"

Ais nodded eagerly in agreement "That's correct, so I…I would like to make it up to him. I think I should apologize to him,"

"I see…" Riveria thought of something that'll be of benefit for them both. She went over to whisper into Ais's ear as she told her what she needs to do.

As she explained it to Ais, she blinked her eyes from this and asked "Do you think it will be enough?"

"Yes, it will help you both quite a bit. I'll start heading back,"

As Riveria leaves, Ais looks back at Naruto's resting figure. She got onto her knees as she reached out with her hands to grab his head only to flinch back when he fidgeted a bit but thankfully didn't wake up yet.

"…this will be tough," Ais muttered to herself but remained determined to apologize to him.

While making her way back home, Riveria was deep in thought "I never thought that Ais would come to me for that sort of advice," then she smiled a bit "Let's see what happens next…,"

Slowly but surely, Ais was able to carefully place Naruto's head on her lap without waking him up "Is this how you do it?" apparently Riveria's advice for Ais on how to apologize to Naruto is to give him a lap pillow.

Thinking that she got it right, Ais took her time in examining Naruto's face as she realizes how cute he looks, especially with those whisker marks of his cheeks that give him a distinct look of a fox or cat while he's sleeping "You know, I never realized how strong you are from your fight with Bete when you were just an F-Ranker. Just how strong you are is a mystery to me…you're also quite adorable too,"

While this was going on, Naruto was in his mindscape chatting with Kurama and Sora about how he could use his new spells to expand his arsenal and perhaps incorporate them with weapons and firearms. Then he felt a presence near him from the outside which didn't appear to be a threat to him but decided they'll talk about this later since he now needs to find out who's messing with his body while he's recovering.

After exiting from his mindscape, Naruto woke up to see Ais looking right at him with her face rather close, wasn't he supposed to be leaning back against a wall? "Ais? Is that you?"

"Yes it's me," Ais responded in her usual tone.

"Huh…didn't think I would run into you,"

"It was more of me finding you slumped against the wall," without hesitation, Ais started to pet Naruto which left the blonde ninja in a state of confusion while blushing slightly.

"Why are you petting me and why I'm on your lap?" asked Naruto, trying to find a way out of this awkward atmosphere.

"I figured…you would be comfortable. Is it uncomfortable?"

"N-No it's not, it's just…I never expected to wake up in this situation," As he said that, he looked away with a blush since he has to admit that up close, Ais looked beautiful and at the same time looks cute.

Ais blushed and looked away as she continued but accidentally petted his whiskers marks which caused Naruto to unintentionally purr at her touch. Ais was surprised by this as she asked "Wait…did you just purr?"

Hearing her question, Naruto got back to his senses as he quickly said "N-No! I didn't! I don't purr!"

Ais could've sworn she heard him purr and was about to ask him again but then realized what she was supposed to do which was to apologize to him "That's right, I need to apologize,"

However before she could, Naruto immediately got up from Ais's lap as he quickly spoke "Anyways, it was nice resting on your lap cause I'm feeling better but I should probably get going back home. So later Ais!"

Ais blinked before realizing that he's about to leave "Huh? Hey wait-!" However, it was too late as Naruto immediately bolted out of there in a hurry, leaving her sitting there to watch him go as she mutters to herself "Why does he always end up avoiding me?" She just blushed in disappointment that she didn't get a chance to apologize to him.

---

"Oh man, why did I go and do that…?" Naruto groaned to himself at home as he's contemplating about what happened last night with his encounter with Ais. It didn't help about that Naruto unintentionally purred right in front of the Sword Princess the moment she started petting his whisker marks which only embarrassed himself. It's not helping matters since Kurama and Sora are laughing up a storm in his mind.

"Will you guys shut it? You're getting on my nerves!" thought Naruto angrily.

"You may say that but it's pretty hilarious to me!" Kurama chortled in response.

Sora giggled "I think it's cute, I never would have thought that you could purr like a kitten," she's already planning to use this as blackmail material.

Naruto was force to cut off his connection to them as he continues to groan out of frustration and embarrassment from last night and these two chuckleheads making fun of him for practically making a fool of himself aren't helping matters. As he was too busy having a crisis, Hestia woke up and noticed Naruto groaning himself on the couch.

"Naruto, what's the matter? Did you have a nightmare last night?" asked Hestia with concern.

"…no, but I kinda wish it was. Let's not talk about it, please," said Naruto, Hestia was left confused by this but chose to not ask about since he doesn't seem to be interested in talking about it so she'll just assume he had a bad dream.

Anyways, Naruto began to gearing himself up while hoping to forget about what he experienced last night, he left his church home after having breakfast with Hestia before going about their business. Naruto still got some bit of time left to do something before meeting up with Lili to go to the dungeon.

"I think I'll pay a quick visit to Hephaestus's smithery to see how her progress is going so far in repairing my katana," so he made his way over to his secondary destination and met with Hephaestus who welcomed in a friendly manner.

"Hey there, Naruto. Have you come to check on your Katana?" Hephaestus inquired.

Naruto nodded in response "Yeah, I wanted to find out how the process is going,"

"It's coming along well, won't be long until it's finished. You won't even recognize it,"

"Thanks for the update, I'll keep coming by to check up on it until you're done. I'll have to get going and meet up with my Supporter so we can dive into the dungeon today. I'll see you some other time, Hephaestus," he bid Hephaestus farewell which she did the same.

As he left her Smithery, Hephaestus muttered to herself "What a nice young man he is, you sure got yourself a nice member for your Familia, Hestia,"

---

"Hmmm, now what to buy…," Eina pondered to herself while looking at the items stocked on the shelves around her. She's currently inside of a general store to buy a couple of things that she would need later down the line, she was suddenly disrupted by a commotion near her and looked to see the goddess Loki in company of her Familia member Riveria.

"Here it is, Riveria! The Soma Wine, let's buy it!" said Loki excitedly.

"I'm here to replenish our item stocks, not buy you drinks," said Riveria sternly, clearly opposing the purchase of the wine for her goddess's whims.

Eina looked at the two for a moment before realizing something "Maybe…,"

Moments later, Loki was happily caressing the Soma Wine in her hands which Riveria ended up buying even though she tried to prevent her from having it.

"My apologies, Riveria-sama," Eina bowed her head "Making you buy such an expensive drink for my sake…,"

Riveria simply waved it off "It's okay, I was going to buy some anyways. I'll feel better if it's helping you," she turned to Loki who's still being happy about the wine "You promised, answer Eina's questions,"

"Alright alright," Loki turned to Eina "So, you were asking about the Soma Familia, right?"

Eina nodded in affirmation "Yes please!"

"Well, to put it simply; the children of the Familia don't worship Soma but rather the wine,"

---

Somewhere else in town, Lili is seen walking out of an alleyway but is unaware that she's being stalked by Canoe who was waiting for her to come out then he starts following her. Lili arrives at the fountain only to see Naruto wasn't here yet. "Master Naruto must be running late."

As she stands there waiting for Naruto to arrive so they can start their exploration in the dungeon again, she was suddenly getting pulled from behind which took her completely by surprise. When that happened, Naruto had just arrived at the meeting point but noticed that Lili was nowhere to be seen

"Hmm, shouldn't Lili be here by now?" He looked around the area then he finally spotted her large backpack over at the bushes which he recognizes, meaning she's right over there "Ah, there she is…but why is she over there?"

While wondering why she's at the bushes, he immediately answered his own question when he sees another person over there with her which happens to be a male adventurer and he was sensing a lot of negative intentions "Wait a minute, who the hell is that guy with Lili?"

"Well, standing around isn't going to get us answers," Kurama pointed out.

"You're right," Naruto started to walk towards their direction as he calls out "Lili!" But before he could reach them, he was stopped by the same guy from behind that tried to attack Lili.

"Hey there," Said the man known as Ged

Naruto frowned when he recognized him "You're that guy from the other night…I don't have time to deal with you, get out of my way," he tried to walk past him but the guy blocked his way again

"So you hired the little street thief, did ya? I guess you must've figured out what's going on then, huh,"

Naruto knew what this guy meant as he does indeed know but decided to play dumb and act like he's not aware "What are you're talking about?"

But the man wasn't having none of that "Oh don't even try to fool me. But ok check this out, I can help you get back at her," Naruto looked surprised at this which he continued "Come on, what's that look for? I mean you do want a piece of everything she's been stashing away, don't ya?" He then placed an arm over Naruto's shoulder "Think about it, it's just a couple of guys making a few bucks off of some skeezin little pack mule, alright?"

The more this guy keeps talking crap about Lili despite he wasn't wrong about her being a street thief, Naruto was slowly getting angrier as this guy was nothing more than a common street thug to him like all the rest he had met.

"No way," Naruto then grabbed this guy's arm and then shove him off "There's no way in hell I would ever do that. Never. Now get lost,"

The guy scowled "Fine, suit yourself kid…moron," He then walked away while Naruto watched him go and he heard what that guy just called him which he muttered

"Prick,"

"Master Naruto,"

Naruto turned and was slightly surprised to see Lili who was standing behind him "Were you there this whole time?"

"…," she didn't answer and asked "So that adventurer guy, what were the two of you talking about?"

Naruto waved her off "Don't worry about it, some jerk was saying stuff I didn't like so I told him to get lost. Wasn't anything serious or important. Anyway enough about me, what about you? From what I saw, that looked serious and that guy you were with, he looks like bad news, you ok?"

Lili looks down sadly "I'm fine, it was nothing. Ready to go?"

Naruto just watched her as she dismissed his concern and just walked on ahead. Naruto didn't say anything but he can tell whatever it is that guy said to her or how she saw him talking to that adventurer guy she robbed, her emotions were looking pretty negative. He can tell she wasn't fine, especially seeing this emotional state of hers but decided to remain quiet and just follow her since he's beginning to understand what's really going on.

While Naruto silently follows Lili, she mutters to herself "Well…looks like it's about that time, huh,"

---

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter as you can see in this exceedingly long chapter, Naruto has met Lili like in canon but things went differently with him still having her as his Supporter, I've also given Lili thief skills which frankly makes sense given the life that she has before making Naruto. Also, Naruto's having his katana fixed and given the Isekai treatment so be sure to expect a new look and function. Also for Naruto learning new magic from Sora instead from Freya's grimoire, I guess in a way I'm having him dart away from her a bit plus Sora is a special kind of grimoire specializing in all forms of Black Magic so it makes sense for her to teach him. Without a doubt, things will definitely go differently in the next chapter so be sure to look forward to it. Be sure to read and review like always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.