God's Blessing on this Wonderful Dungeon

By Icura and Special FX

~o~

Chapter 23: Countdown

~o~

"And I hereby present to you: the Fortress Town of Rivira!"

To the rambunctious applause of the crowd of at least a hundred adventurers, Aqua—dressed in a business suit and tie with a pair of blocky glasses on her face—used a pair of giant scissors to cut the ribbon that was wrapped over the gate. Despite the scissors looking quite polished, they were actually just a couple of swords welded together that fell apart after being used just once. However, the audience didn't care about any of that as they cheered loudly while throwing confetti into the air.

"Thank you, thank you!" Aqua waved at the crowd. "For my first act as the democratically elected mayor, I will—"

"Wait just this instant, young lady! I'm the leader of this town!"

"Oh, right! Okay, you can do the speech then, mayor!"

"Huh? What speech? Oh… Um… So, when I was a little boy… Wait, nobody can hear me over all this noise…"

Standing at the front of the crowd, beside a dull-faced Kazuma, were the rest of his party. Darkness and Megumin were both clapping alongside the crowd while Bete just watched on with a befuddled expression on his face.

"...I saw the entire process and I still don't understand how she did it."

"You'll get used to it," Kazuma simply replied.

Alise, who was nearby with Ryuu, was also clapping enthusiastically with an awed look on her face. If anything, her expression was far, far more common amongst the excited crowd than his own unimpressed face. That was because the sight before them was not something that should have been possible within the dungeon.

Surrounding the town was a tall stone wall that was more readily seen around a castle than a town, and it included enough space at the top for seven people to walk side by side. Not only that, but should the enemy somehow penetrate the first gate, there were two more stone walls with gates that could be similarly manned by adventurers who could rain death down on any invading monsters. More importantly, past these protective walls was a town that looked awfully similar to…

"Aqua," Kazuma intoned, still staring past the gates with dull eyes. "You just copied Arcanletia, didn't you?"

Aqua puffed up her chest proudly, not noticing that it popped off one of the buttons on her business suit.

"There were a lot of natural hot springs around here so why not?"

Indeed, the town within was designed very similarly to the hot spring resort city in Belzerg that housed the headquarters of the Axis Order. It was a mix of urban buildings with blue roofs and elevated water reservoirs on artificial hills. However, even among the many residential houses and shop buildings, there was one in particular that stood out.

"And that one?" Kazuma dryly pointed at the building that was almost an exact replica of the Axis Cathedral.

"That's the town hall." Aqua took off her blocky glasses that had no lenses with one hand and flipped her hair over her shoulder with the other. "Obviously, that's where the most important person in the city lives."

"You?"

"Of course not! Why would I want to live underground? No, it's…" Aqua pointed over to the mayor who was crying tears of rapture. "Him."

"I see…"

"And the best part about my city is…" Aqua spread her arms out to the side dramatically, inadvertently tossing away her glasses at the same time. "The water for the hot springs will never run out!"

"Why is that?" Kazuma asked, playing along even though he could already guess the answer.

"It's because the dungeon keeps repairing itself so no matter how much water is used or thrown away, it all comes back within a few hours!"

"Wow. Amazing," he dully said, purposefully not putting any enthusiasm into his voice.

"I know, right?!"

Darkness looked on disapprovingly, having noticed what he was trying and failing to do.

"You shouldn't do that," she said, whispering the words to Kazuma so that Aqua wouldn't overhear. "Aqua worked really hard on this all week."

"Ah…" Kazuma felt more than a little guilty. Having it pointed out to him made him feel all the more—

"If you need to disparage anyone, then let it be me!"

—pissed! It didn't invalidate her words, but he still really wanted to take his anger out on her, even though that would only be letting her win. There was only one consistent way to punish her, but as much as he wanted to pull out the Lalatina card, overuse of that would only lead to a reduction of effectiveness. Since he wanted to prevent immunity from building up, he could only use it in situations where he could inflict the most pain on this infuriating knight.

"Just wait until we get back home," Kazuma intoned darkly.

"I'll be waiting with great anticipation," Darkness responded with a blush on her cheeks.

Of course, Kazuma wasn't planning on doing anything. In fact, he planned to simply say that he "forgot" which would both annoy and satisfy her. After that, the contradictory emotions she would experience would probably do the work for him, far more than what he could do by his own hands.

Though, other nearby people didn't know that.

"Alise, my hand…" Ryuu Lion futilely tried to pull her hand out of her friend's iron grip.

"Oh, sorry!"

In the meantime, Kazuma glanced around at the crowd.

Despite many of them having participated in the construction right from the beginning, there were more than a few disbelieving expressions, as if they couldn't believe that the work that they all did could lead to this. In essence, some part of it was her natural skill as a goddess, but there was also a portion that could be attributed to her falna's developmental ability. They all helped in little ways, making things go right when they shouldn't. All of it would accumulate into something much bigger without being too noticeable. Even if they think about it, they probably wouldn't be able to pin it all down to any one thing.

That was why replication of this feat without Aqua was impossible, and they would likely find out that fact as soon as they tried it themselves. Thankfully, Aqua would reject most requests since it was based on her whimsical moods and wants. After all, if it were so easy, then Kazuma would have monetized her ability a long time ago.

"Alright, let's get going then," Kazuma announced to his party. He glanced over at Alise and Ryuu. "Do you two want a ride back? Since I did make you both escort me down to here."

Alise shook her head. "We'll stay. We have things to take care of on our end and Evilus might attack while they're still setting this place up."

"Can't we stay longer?" Aqua whined. "They're going to have a celebration party in a few hours!"

"If you just want to stay for free liquor, I'll pay for some when we get back. They'll be of better quality than what's down here," Kazuma said. "But if you want to stay to get to know—"

"What are we waiting for?! Let's get out of here!"

~o~

After teleporting back to the church, Darkness, Bete, and Megumin went to get their falnas updated by Eris. Kazuma, however, had to escort Aqua to the local liquor merchant. There, he opened a tab for her and left her to her usual shenanigans. After leaving Aqua, Kazuma went to the Guild Headquarters to sell off all of the loot that his party was given as gifts during their time on the 18th floor.

Selling everything off and getting pouches of coins—though not as big as the ones they would get from the 51st floor's loot—was getting a little bit repetitive. Even the staff knew him by sight and weren't surprised anymore by the amount that he brought in. It had all gotten a little too routine for his liking.

Kazuma let out a tired sigh as he walked down the familiar path back home. Aqua could find her way back on her own whenever she was satisfied.

That feeling of tiredness was one that he was far too used to these days. Getting up bright and early in the morning? Working until the late afternoon? He was really starting to miss the good old days when he could sleep in until noon and only had to work every once in a while. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option anymore with all of the new responsibilities that he had somehow gotten himself roped into. Wasn't money supposed to pay for less responsibilities, not more?

"Master Kazuma! You're looking tired today. Take an apple and cheer up. In fact, take two."

"Sir Kazuma, thank you so much for last week. If there is anything I can do, just say the word!"

"Big bro Kazuma! Come play with us!"

"Kyaaah! Kazuma, we love you!"

"Ah, my good friend, Kazuma, finally! We've been trying to reach you about your extended warranty so that—wait! Don't…don't walk so fast…!"

Fame was not something unfamiliar to Satou Kazuma, but all the same, it got repetitive after a while. Even the one who yelled that she loved him, if he were to go up to her, she would say something like: "Oh…? You're actually interested? Um, I was just playing around…" or "Ah, I meant that in an admiring way, not the love love kind."

How did he know? Well, experience was the best teacher, and in that, he had so much wisdom to share that it brought a tear to his eye.

Damn it! It wasn't like he wasn't experienced. In fact, he did it many times…in the world of dreams. Many would say that it didn't count, but it did since the succubi who were controlling the dreams knew what they were doing. They had been around the block a few times so they would know it from inside out in regards to 'that'. If he couldn't trust obviously experienced experts, then who could he trust?

Unfortunately, they weren't an option here.

Well, there was the Red Light District. However, he was reluctant to try that. Everyone always remembered their first time, and for him to use it in some place where it was a coin flip between a memory and a trauma was a hard thing to swallow.

Ugh. It was like a gacha. What if she were to laugh at him or be too…professional? It would become a bad memory that would stick to him forever, tainting all his future encounters.

Sure, Kazuma could pay a lot of money to ensure a few things, but he had a lot of enemies too. Who was to say that his first time wouldn't be with an assassin who would try to kill him while in bed? He had already seen plenty of suicidal crazies from Evilus to know that they would sacrifice their lives at the drop of a hat. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility for them to do that.

Worse, what if they used poison to make his crown jewels fall off? Even though he could get Aqua to bring them back into shape, that wouldn't get rid of the trauma of the experience! Even the thought of them rotting and falling apart was too much!

Oh, and other people could get hurt during their infiltration to get to him. That too.

All of it was just way too risky. Not to mention the fact that Megumin and Darkness would probably beat him up if they ever found out.

Of course, the problem would be completely resolved if Kazuma could finally get back to Axel and the Succubus Cafe. Over there, he had already been practically in retirement mode since he had been loaded with immense wealth and prestige. Plus, there were no more Devil Kings—at the moment—that the world needed saving from.

"Hey, Kazuma. What's with that scary look on your face?"

"Just thinking about how I can lose my virginity."

"If you don't mind me, I can help you with that."

Kazuma blinked and whipped his head around so fast that he almost snapped his neck, but didn't see anyone there. That was, until he looked down and saw a familiar face. Lyra, the pink-haired pallum from Astraea familia, was looking up at him with a playful smirk on her face.

"Stop joking around, Lyra," Kazuma listlessly replied. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Picking up some supplies." She held up a bag in her hands. "When did you get back from the dungeon?"

"Today." Kazuma was about to walk away when he realized something. "Oh, by the way, Alise and Ryuu are staying in the dungeon for a bit longer."

"I know. You didn't think they'd agree to escort you just for that, did you?" Lyra asked. "Well, actually, Alise would have, but they're also looking into a lead on Evilus."

"What kind of lead?" Kazuma furrowed his brow. "And how come this didn't come up during our last meeting?"

"Because we just recently discovered it ourselves," Lyra explained as she glanced around. "I'll tell you more about it at our place. Less prying ears that way."

"Alright." Kazuma nodded. "Let's go."

Lyra just nodded as well before she took the lead and led the way. The walk was hardly silent since they chatted with each other in the meantime while being greeted along the way by people who knew them. It wasn't long before they reached their destination.

The Astraea familia's home, the Stardust Garden, wasn't anything new to him. He had been there a few times already—mostly because of Alise. It was a familia of only women, and normally, he would have been ecstatic to be going over to what was the equivalent of an all-girls dormitory. The only problem was that all of the girls there were just as crazy about justice as their captain.

Not to mention the fact that the novelty wore off after a few trips with nothing noteworthy happening.

It was a huge mansion that still managed to give off that cozy feeling of a small family home. Plants of all different kinds grew around the building like one giant garden, really living up to its namesake.

Kazuma followed Lyra inside as they walked down a familiar hallway into a spacious meeting room. He took a seat at the large table in the middle of the room while Lyra did the same. It wasn't the first time he had been in this room so he was familiar enough with the place to make himself comfortable.

"So what's this all about?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Lyra smirked. "Not even going to butter a girl up first?"

A year ago, he might have gotten flustered from all of her flirting and innuendos, but he had gotten to know Lyra enough to know that she was mostly just messing with him. The keyword was 'mostly' because she was serious about being after his bank account.

Nonetheless, he still just gave her an unimpressed look.

"Alright, alright. Enough messing around." Lyra's face turned serious. "The gist of it is that we found some big leads recently. We're following up on a few of them, but Finn has big plans to hit all of them in a week."

"And the leads are in Rivira of all places?"

"One of them." Lyra shrugged. "That's why Alise and Ryuu wanted to stay behind to verify it."

"They should have just told me about it." Kazuma frowned.

"Alise probably just didn't want to waste your time," Lyra replied. "She knows how busy you've been lately."

That made sense. Alise did treat him like her junior, so she often tried to shoulder more of the burden herself. Well, Alise was strong so it wasn't like he needed to worry about her. He would know since he had both of her skills, albeit severely underpowered copies of them. Not to mention how good she was with a sword.

Actually, since he was already here…

"Hey, Lyra," Kazuma said. "Is Kaguya around?"

"Probably. Why?"

"You think she would be up for some sparring?"

Lyra just laughed in response.

~o~

As it turned out, Kaguya was indeed up for some sparring.

The backyard of the Astraea familia's home was also a garden, as expected of their mansion's name, but there was a large clearing at the center. There were signs that it was supposed to be a viewing pavilion or something in the past, but it seemed like it was used for more of an impromptu training ground these days instead. At least, that was what it seemed like to him with all of the random marks on the ground scattered throughout the area.

Beyond the gardens, a small crowd of girls from the Astraea familia were watching as spectators. Some of them were even watching from the third and fourth floor windows of the mansion. The group of spectators included Lyra and even the goddess Astraea herself. As he watched Kaguya gracefully pull out her katana and give it a few practice swings—making loud whooshing sounds as the blade sliced through the air—he was starting to think that maybe this was a bad idea.

Was it too late to back out now?

However, the issue was that there were very few people who would actually use a katana like he did. While he had been practicing with Alise, she used a one-handed sword that fit the medieval aesthetics of this city which didn't really help him with his specific weapon. The only katana users he could think of off the top of his head were the old man from Loki Familia, Noir, and his blacksmith, Tsubaki. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy to ask either of those two for a spar. Tsubaki was usually busy with her forge and he didn't know the old guy from the Loki Familia well enough to just ask for something like that.

Not to mention the fact that he would rather spar with a girl than some old man anyway.

"I won't be as kind as Alise and go easy on you," Kaguya remarked as she resheathed her sword and got into a traditional Japanese quickdraw stance. "So take this seriously or you're going to get hurt."

"She's right," Lyra commented from the sidelines. "Kaguya's the best swordsman in our familia."

"...that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me, you know."

In fact, it made him want to throw in the towel and go home instead.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you." She smiled, but instead of it making him feel better, it made him feel even worse. "Your generous donations are quite appreciated after all."

"Indeed, killing him would be bad." The goddess Astraea nodded to herself. "As long as he can still walk, it shouldn't be any trouble for your familia member, Aqua, to fix."

No, that wasn't fine. Not at all.

He wasn't sure why, but every time he showed up to the Stardust Garden with Alise, her goddess always seemed to give off some bad vibes. She never outright said anything and was always polite, but he got the feeling that she didn't really like him. Whenever he had asked Eris about it—since they seemed to be friends—she would just get embarrassed and tell him to not worry about it.

"Get ready, Kazuma," Kaguya said, bending down slightly as she held her sheath in one hand and the hilt of her katana in the other. "Here I come."

He took out his own sword and held it in front of him. Not even a second later, Kaguya blasted forward with a sudden burst of speed. It was almost like a spring that had been coiled up and suddenly released. She unsheathed her katana in one smooth motion. In the blink of an eye, the tip of her blade reached the end of its path, pointing upward to the sky.

However, Kazuma had no mind to pay attention to that as he dug his shoes into the ground, stopping his slide back. His sword still shivered in his hands from the recoil, and his hands slightly ached from the impact.

What the hell was that? While he, of course, knew of Iaijutsu, this kind of quickdraw was only in anime and manga. To actually see it being done for real was—

That was as far as his line of thought went because Kaguya closed the gap on him. Her sword slashed through the air with a terrifying amount of force, though far less than her quickdraw. He raised his own sword up and blocked the overhead strike.

Kazuma tilted his sword to the so her forward motion would cause her own blade to slide off. He wanted to counterattack, but in that split second, he hopped back instead to create space. However, Kaguya didn't give him any room to breathe and gave chase with a savage grin on her face.

She was getting way too into this…

Rather than attempt to block her attack this time, he opted to sidestep it instead and counterattack. She twisted her body, however, with some astonishing agility as she blocked his attack. Their blades met with a resounding clash, sparks flying as metal bit into metal. Kaguya attempted to brute force her way through his guard, but he decided to just retreat again. She chased after him and unleashed a series of slashes, chaining them one after another with a terrifying amount of precision and speed.

There were some "oohs and ahhs" from the crowd as Kazuma dodged the attacks he could and got glancing cuts by a few that he couldn't quite dodge completely. It was impossible to dodge everything, but with proper attack prioritization, he could limit the damage taken. His [Auto-Evade] even kicked in a few times during the onslaught and jerked his body out of the way of more devastating strikes. That was always a trip whenever it happened because it moved his body involuntarily, but he had long gotten used to it and adapted to the passive skill.

The moment their swords clashed again, Kaguya kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to step back. She swung her katana to capitalize on it, but Kazuma had leaped backward out of her range, recovering his stance the moment he landed. He idly rubbed his abdomen while keeping his opponent in his sights. The fact that it still hurt this much through his armor was a scary thought to think about.

"...I'll admit you're really good at dodging and running away," Kaguya said as she brushed some sweat off her forehead with her sleeves. "Almost inhumanely so. It looks like those sessions with Alise paid off."

"Gee, thanks," he dryly replied as he caught his breath.

As it turned out, trying to not get killed by assassins all the time or not getting beat up by gorilla women led to better avoidability skills. Who would have thought? Still, as much as he had mentally griped about it, this was still a good workout and a change of pace from what he usually did with Alise. Kaguya had a completely different style of fighting so it was a good experience, and he was already getting some ideas on how to improve his use of his katana.

Maybe he could even steal a few moves from her once he got a better feel for her style.

"Ready for your round two?" Kaguya asked with a smirk.

Kazuma held his sword in front of him once more.

"Let's do it."

~o~

As Kazuma opened the door and stepped into the church section of their home that also doubled as a reception area, he noticed that someone else was already there.

His [Enemy Detection] skill hadn't gone off, but he still stayed alert until he was able to make out who it was. He had to deal with his fair share of assassins the last couple of months so he was used to it already. The person sitting alone at one of the pews had long silver hair and a fancy-looking dress that revealed bare shoulders. He took his hand off the hilt of his sword and stepped inside.

While she wasn't someone that he actually knew, she wasn't exactly a stranger either. They had met once before when she came to visit the church section of their home; it had apparently been her sister's favorite spot before they renovated the place.

Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised to see her here. He did say that she and her sister could come by whenever they wanted after all.

"Hey," Kazuma greeted as he approached her seat at the pews. "You didn't bring your sister?"

The silver-haired woman turned her head toward him. The fact that she never opened her eyes made him wonder if she was blind or not. Not that he would actually ask her that; even he wasn't that crude.

"My sister…?" The woman frowned. "Ah, I seem to have given you the wrong impression."

Kazuma raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?"

"My sister passed away from her illness a few years ago."

Well, this was awkward.

"...oh, uhm. Sorry about that." Kazuma rubbed the back of his head. "Didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"There are no bad memories of my sister," the silver-haired woman murmured before she frowned again. "Though, I wish you would stop making so much noise."

"Huh?"

"Your armor reminds me of someone I know, and it's quite grating to my ears."

At first, Kazuma was a little pissed off with her haughty attitude and was about to give a snarky reply, but now that he thought about it, the loss of her sight probably made her hearing a lot better. At least, that was what he vaguely remembered learning about back when he was NEET and watching random online videos when he wasn't gaming. If that was the case, then it was no wonder.

Still, it was a bit annoying to be treated like this when he had been nothing but courteous so far.

"I'll try to keep it quiet and not wear it when you're here then."

"Hm." The silver-haired woman nodded, as if pleased. "It appears that you do have some manners after all."

"Thanks…?" he dubiously replied.

Kazuma was pretty sure that was a back-handed compliment, but it didn't really tick him off like how it probably should have. For some reason, she gave off some big sister vibes after all. He preferred little sisters, but big sisters weren't bad either. That was probably why he was a bit more forgiving than usual. It helped that her chest certainly fit the big sister role too. She might even have Darkness beat in that category.

"...the silence in here feels nice," the silver-haired woman remarked, unaware of his thoughts. "It keeps the noise of the city away."

"Ah, yeah. That was Aqua's doing."

As useless as that goddess was, when it came to building things, she was by far the best architect he knew. Not that he knew many, but the point was still valid. How she had managed to soundproof the entire building from the outside was beyond him. Even when they were working in construction together when he had first been isekai'd to Belzerg, she had been better at the job than him somehow.

The conversation soon died out as the silver-haired woman opted to sit in silence. She seemed to be enjoying the silence so it didn't seem like a good idea to say something. He wasn't quite sure what to do though since it was starting to get awkward just standing there. Honestly, he was tempted to just say his goodbyes and head upstairs.

Although, just when he was about to leave, the woman opened her mouth.

"A question for you before you leave, Kazuma Satou."

It didn't surprise him that she knew his name. He wasn't exactly a nobody in this city after all. Though, that notoriety came with a host of its own problems. She probably found out about him sometime in between their last meeting and now.

"What is it?"

The silver-haired woman opened her eyes. Green and gray irises bore into his own green ones. The first thought that came to mind was that she had heterochromia; the second thought was that instead of the eyes devoid of light that he had been expecting, hers still seemed to be able to pierce right through him.

"What do you think makes a hero?"

Kazuma blinked at that.

"That's a strange question to suddenly ask someone."

"This city considers you a hero, does it not?" The silver-haired woman asked. "Even the gods themselves granted you the title 'Hero of Justice'."

Kazuma couldn't help but internally wince at the name. No matter how many times he hears someone call him that with a completely straight face, it made him cringe, especially since he knew from Eris the real reason why they gave him that name. Though, with how goddess Astraea seemed to have it out for him, he had a feeling that Eris hadn't given him the entire story.

"It's…" After a couple of moments, he eventually shrugged. "Someone who saves the world?"

"Indeed, a hero is someone who saves the world." The silver-haired woman stood up and approached him. "So why is it that you are considered a hero? You haven't done that."

Technically, he did save the world before, just not this world. Not that he was ever going to tell her that. The fewer people who knew about his origins, the less trouble there would be.

"Something like that," he replied awkwardly.

"And yet, the gods still gave you the title of hero." The silver-haired woman stared him straight in the eyes. "I believe that it is because of your potential, but in order to fully realize that potential, a hero needs an overwhelming evil to defeat. One cannot exist without the other."

She stepped even closer to him—to the point where their faces almost touched—and while he was tempted to instinctively take a step back, he found himself rooted to the spot. That was just how powerful her gaze was.

"A hero needs to overcome a great trial and surpass his limits. Only then, can he realize that potential and save the world."

He supposed that was true, but he wasn't sure where she was going with the conversation either. Just when he was about to ask, a familiar loud—and annoying—voice interrupted him.

"I'm back!" Aqua yelled as she popped in through the front door, carrying a large bag filled with clinking bottles. "And I brought bubbly!"

The silver-haired woman in front of him actually seemed to wince at the noise. Not that he blamed her. To call Aqua a loudmouth was an understatement.

"Don't be so loud, Aqua!" Kazuma whispered.

"Huh, why?" Aqua asked as she approached. However, she suddenly stopped and turned her attention toward the silver-haired woman with a serious look on her face. "Hey, you, hold still."

"What are—"

"Sacred High Heal!"

There was a sudden bright flash of light that filled up the church. There was almost a sense of holiness in the air as the light began to fade, leaving a satisfied-looking Aqua and a silver-haired woman with a shocked expression on her face.

"There! I can't do anything about your disease, but if you stop by once a week, I can heal you back up to normal," Aqua said as she happily patted the silver-haired woman on the shoulder before she walked over to Kazuma and handed him the receipt. "Kazuma, here you go!"

"What's—you maxed out the tab?!"

"Why did you even put a limit in the first place? I had to put back a third of my order," Aqua grumbled before she lifted her bag and ran past him. In her rush to get right to drinking, she jogged right up the stairs.

In hindsight, he should have expected her to somehow max out the extremely generous tab. It was a good thing that he still had the foresight to add a limit to it.

The silver-haired woman had been simply staring in shock the whole time.

"H-how…?" she murmured to herself, still in shock.

"You know, you really should have said something if you were sick last time," Kazuma replied. "I could have told Aqua to heal you."

"This…shouldn't be possible." The silver-haired woman looked back toward him, eyes wide. "I haven't felt like this since I was a child…"

"Uh…it's no big deal." He scratched the back of his head. "You can come by whenever you don't feel well… Oh, I never got your name."

The silver-haired woman just stared at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head. There were a myriad of different emotions that seemed to go through her face before she finally seemed to get a hold of herself.

"...Alfia," she managed to utter. "My name is Alfia."

"Well, it's nice meeting you again, but I'm going to go get some rest." Kazuma gave her a small wave before he began to make his way toward the stairs. "Take your time here."

"Yes…" Alfia said, looking conflicted as she watched him leave. "Good night…"

~o~

Authors' Notes:

Icura: That took a while. Whew.

SpecialFX: This took so long because I'm soooooooooooooooo busy lately.