It Was About Us

by Scapel

In the dark pits of the Dungeon, Gekai's premiere pit of overflowing darkness, untold riches, glory and power, the remains of a broken and twisted Hero are left. Is it to Gekai's misfortune that these dying remains are found by an errant tendril? Or would the chance given to the one that drowned in her justifications lead to brighter days?

7. Chapter 7 Towering, Fierce, Terrible

Hephaestus familia's manor wasn't exactly what I'd expected, I had imagined a place solely dedicated to fitting in as many workshops and forges as they could inside the confines but instead it was actually a fairly nice home.

I'd asked Tsubaki the reason for it as we walked. It turns out this was all because of a friend of their goddess, who hadn't descended yet.

"If she saw my home being a giant workshop again, she just might strangle me to death despite how lazy she is." Was apparently the exact quote her goddess used.

It made sense… though to hear gods and goddesses having friendly relationships like that was odd to say the least.

It made them almost feel human, despite your own instincts telling you otherwise.

Anyways, those thoughts were not as important as my real objective. Maintenance on my Nanothorn knife. I wasn't sure if Hephaestus would be able to do it truthfully speaking, even if the Nanothorn knife was specifically designed with ease of maintenance in mind, it was still a Tinkertech weapon.

A masterful example of one, but even then, it had been degrading right before my eyes. An illogical but fully intended quality of tinker powers. A person without tinker powers couldn't repair or even properly maintain a Tinkertech weapon, it just wasn't possible for normal people.

But if anyone could, it would be the goddess of smiths.

Even if I was hesitant to show it to a goddess for the attention it might bring, I needed to do this. This weapon was on its last legs, and I knew for a fact that I would need it in the coming expedition. I simply wasn't strong enough on my own.

Tsubaki went a slight bit ahead of me talking about one thing or the other all the while.

"Say, Taylor. Why did you specifically want Hephaestus anyways? If you need another weapon or something you could just come to me… or Toren if you're desperate." She asked as we walked.

Should I tell her? Well the knife was never a real secret, it shouldn't hurt.

"I have a weapon, that was gifted to me by some old… friends. It wasn't made through conventional means and now needs maintenance." I explained with a calm voice.

Tsubaki side stepped an apprentice carrying a crate full of materials and turned to face me as she walked backwards.

"Not made through conventional means? Was it made with a special skill, or what?" She asked with a curious spark in her eyes and a slight smirk.

"Something like that, though… they aren't around anymore." I confirmed.

Tsubaki grimaced as she heard my statement.

"Sorry, I should've guessed." She said with a quieter than usual voice.

I waved it off.

"It's fine, I'm sure they wouldn't want me to wallow in grief or something for them."

I wasn't sure if they were alive or not anyways. I hoped they lived… those two had been good to me. And besides they had been part of the tinkers I used for my weapon, right? They had all lived…

I shook my head and kept following behind Tsubaki in silence. Eventually we reached a pair of fancy wooden doors and Tsubaki hammered into them like they owed her money.

"Goddess! Someone's here to meet you!" She shouted still with a tiny bit of respect in her voice.

"Come in!" The goddess I'd only met once before shouted back.

Tsubaki opened the doors lightly and we stepped inside.

Hephaestus was behind a desk writing with a pen on some documents and sipping what smelled like coffee.

"Welcome. Taylor, was it?" The goddess of the forge asked with a handsome smile on her face.

I nodded, perhaps a bit shyer than I'd intended.

Tsubaki didn't even bother with the niceties and laid herself onto the couch to the side before pouring herself some coffee from a metal bottle, most likely some manner of thermos. I hadn't seen one in this world before, though I imagined being the premiere smithing familia granted you access to some luxuries.

I saw Hephaestus scowl slightly at Tsubaki. Apparently, she was protective of her coffee.

"Sorry for the sudden intrusion, but I have a weapon that urgently needs maintenance, and I know no one that could do it but you." I spoke softly, with a bit more respect than usual. Hephaestus, no matter how much she might act like a normal person, was a goddess. Even I knew goddesses were notoriously fickle.

"It's fine, I'd been getting tired of dealing with Ganesha's terrible contract writing anyways." She dismissed and took another sip of her drink. After that she motioned to show her what I wanted fixed.

I gently unclasped the sheath of the Nanothorn knife from my belt and stepped forward to lay it on her desk.

With an intrigued look in her eyes Hephaestus picked up the sheath and lightly drew the knife out. I noticed her keeping her finger off the switch of the knife. She knew.

She turned it around silently and sometimes tapped it lightly for what purpose I couldn't tell. The curious look in her eyes had become… fascinated. To say the least.

She began to expertly slide off panels and unhook parts as if she had done it a thousand times before. Finally she took off the pommel of the knife and pulled out the air filter inside. Grimacing as she inspected it, she gave me an unimpressed look.

She shook her head in a way that clearly said. "Ugh, adventurers…" And then reassembled the knife.

Once it was back whole, she turned to me.

"Did a god make this?" Her tone was inquisitive and had slight undertones of what I could tell was either anger or displeasure.

I shook my head.

"It was made by mortals, two of them." I explained as far as I remembered.

The anger in her face disappeared immediately, replaced entirely by uncertainty and some worry. She picked the knife up and turned it on, lightly waving it through the air.

"I'll be honest, Taylor. You kids aren't supposed to have stuff like this for another thousand years at the very least. No, make that another two thousand." She explained.

I nodded my head. That was to be expected, Tinkertech was beyond even my Earth's technology by a hundred years at the very least.

"It was made with help of a special ability." I explained.

"A rare skill… I don't suppose the people who made this are around any longer?" She asked as she let a piece of paper fall onto the nanothorn cloud.

An almost silent humming was the only indication that paper had ben shredded into nothing. She hummed as she watched it before turning the knife back off. I heard Tsubaki choke down on her coffee on the couch.

"They aren't on this world with us anymore." I answered slightly evasively. As I'd been told by Fels, when dealing with gods misdirection and silence were the only way to hide anything from them.

"I'd have loved to meet them; this thing is incredible. But I see why you're having problems with it." She spoke softly as she continued inspecting the weapon.

"I'm sure they would've liked to meet you as well." I replied. I was sure those two would've been thrilled with the opportunity.

Hephaestus nodded distractedly.

"Now that their rare skill is gone, this thing is deteriorating slowly. I can repair it, certainly… but even then, without my Arcanum it will only go to a certain point. I can promise you a few more years of lifetime with constant maintenance but nothing further." She admitted.

I noticed Tsubaki had risen from her seat at some point and was overlooking the knife herself.

Hephaestus sighed as she handed the knife to her.

"I have no idea what kind of rare skill let them make this, but its maintenance is going to be difficult." She explained as she began drawing something rapidly on a sheet of paper.

So long as it was ready before the expedition, I was prepared to pay any price.

"Can it be done in two and a half weeks?" I asked.

Hephaestus looked up from her sketch even as her hand kept moving. She thought for a second and then nodded.

"Though I'm going to have to get my familia to build machines that haven't really been invented yet. It should probably be fine; the main thing is just a vacuum chamber… but if other gods get on my case for it, I'll call you up." She warned me.

That was fine, I'd come to bat for her if she could get me my knife on time. It was an easy price to pay… No sacrifices, no one harmed. Just a slight annoyance.

---

After I left Hephaestus familia's home, I handed my sword off to Toren for maintenance. Once those responsibilities were done, I went to check in on Ais.

There was a pair of Guards standing watch over the gates this time around, a cat woman and an elf. The moment I stepped close to the gate they pointed their weapons at me. A sword and a lance.

With a raised eyebrow I called out from afar.

"Can you go and call for Ais for me?" I asked them.

The cat woman furrowed her brows.

"What do you want with her?" She asked tersely.

Did they not tell their familia about me? I mean I had a fairly distinct look.

I frowned lightly. Pushing past them wouldn't be all that troublesome, they looked like level three's at maximum.

Get Aria…

I shook my head lightly, no point causing unnecessary conflict.

Bring her to me

"I need to tell her something, she asked me to come back." I told them.

The cat woman hesitantly lowered her sword and the guy with the lance besides her whispered to her.

"Think she's the one Raul mentioned? The one that brought Ais back?"

I heard him clearly. Was it really up for debate?

"Might be… she doesn't look as impressive as I thought she would." The woman commented.

"Rude." I said simply. I knew I was just wearing casual clothes with only my baton with me… but still.

She flinched and her ears flew upwards like an actual cat's.

She raised her sword again. Oh come on.

Just as I opened my mouth again to try and convince her again, I saw a window on the Loki familia home open. I saw a tiny figure fly out of it.

As I watched Ais soar through the air towards me, sudden worry came over me. She'd misjudged her strength and was flying badly. With that sort of speed she would crash into the wall if I let her.

I grimaced and moved. A step saw me behind the shocked guards. I gently pushed their weapons towards the ground with two flicks of my hand and stepped again. My next push saw me directly on Ais's path, but she was a bit too high.

I jumped lightly and opened my arm wide.

Sadly for both of us she was going far too fast. She slammed into my chest, and I held her tight as my feet dragged into the dirt slowing us both down. We stopped right as I felt my back line up against the solid stone wall.

"Ow…" Muttered Ais.

I gently set her down to the shocked looks of the guard duo.

"That was dangerous, Ais." I scolded as I pulled at her cheek.

"I had it…" She complained.

"You were about to slam face first into the wall. You could've gotten hurt." I refuted.

Ais looked like she almost deflated before becoming really excited again. She latched onto my waist.

"You're back!" She spoke with childish glee, but also incredible relief.

With a soft smile stretching across my face I patted her on the head. I huffed a bit.

"I promised, didn't I?" I spoke.

She buried her face onto my stomach. I heard or more like felt her mumble something.

Aria is back

Ais abruptly leaned back to look at my face. I looked into her hollow eyes and noticed that there was a slight bit more shine to them.

"I made it to level four!" She exclaimed.
My eyebrows rose. Ais was the same level as Leon, Alise and Kaguya? Hell she was higher levelled than Lyra. That couldn't have been normal.

But Ais wasn't exactly normal was she.

Please let me see her

Yes, Ais wasn't normal but the fact that this child threw herself at so many life-or-death situations that she'd already levelled up three times was worrying. Levels weren't exactly something that were easy to come by.

"Congratulations." I said to her.

She'll descend even deeper now

Ais gave me a satisfied nod. She really was a cute child when she didn't have murderous and suicidal urges in her eyes.

The cat woman came near her.

"Ais, you're not supposed to tell her that until the Guild announces it." She scolded lightly.

Ais's mouth made an "o" shape, and she glanced between her and me.

"I'll keep it a secret." I assured her.

Ais let out a relieved sigh.

Better tell Ais what I'm here for though.

"Ais, I didn't come just to check up on you today. I'm heading out on an expedition in a few weeks I wanted to give you early warning if you don't see me around for a while." I mentioned lightly.

Ais immediately became alert.

"You're descending again?" She asked lightly.

Back to the slaughter

"In two and a half weeks along with Astrea familia to the 37th floor, they got a mission from the Guild to kill Udaeus and I'm helping them." I confirmed.

Ais tilted her head slightly.

"Will you be fine?" She asked me in a worried manner.

She feels just like her

I patted her head lightly and just for the sake of it squished her cheeks. The baby fat hadn't fully melted away yet, so she was still quite squishable.

"Of course, it'll be difficult but with a few allies and good preparation I'm sure we'll win." I reassured her even though I was a lot less certain. I believed we would win… but there was always that slightest bit of hesitation in my mind.

At the word allies Ais's eyes opened slightly. There was a bit of an excited shine to them. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"Don't even think about it, Ais. We have an expedition ourselves in ten days." The cat woman interrupted.

Ais pouted slightly at her.

She looks just like her

She looked slightly put off by that. She glanced at Ais and then at me again. Before shaking her head.

"I haven't seen her this emotive… almost ever really. But our hands are tied, the captain would be mad at me if I let Ais promise something we can't fulfil." She explained.

It took an embarrassing amount of time to realise what Ais had been trying to offer. She wanted to help me and the Astrea familia. I patted her head even more.

"It's fine, I didn't come here for something like that anyways. Just wanted to make sure Ais didn't panic." I reassured the cat woman.

Ais stepped away from me for a second. I didn't get why but she froze there staring at nothing for a while.

"Ais?" I asked her.

Aria

She looked slightly upset.

"We don't have much time… Taylor, can you come more often? At least until we leave on our expedition." She pleaded.

Her face would probably seem like a blank slate to most, but I recognized the look in her eyes immediately. Desperation and fear. She was afraid, not of the Dungeon but of losing me.

I smiled despite what I felt.

"Sure, Ais. But I can't hang around all that long today, I'll come by the day after tomorrow and we'll do whatever you want. Alright?"

I indulged her.

A soft smile came over her face. "I'll do everything I need to as well!" She declared lightly.

"I feel like I'm seeing a cryptid." The cat woman muttered to herself.

I didn't get why; this is what Ais had always been like as far as I knew. Maybe she acted differently around me than other people?

Regardless, I'd have to make some more time for her until they went on their expedition.

…

Wait they were taking Ais on an expedition? I mean she's plenty strong but she's still a kid… It just doesn't seem all that responsible. Though as I thought of it my sudden onset of worry vanished the moment, I remembered what Ais was like.

She was probably safer under supervision to stop her from running away and fighting something dangerous. Even if said supervision was in the deepest reaches of the Dungeon Orario had reached.

---

Unlike my usual sitting place when I visited Fels, this steel chair with actual belts and straps built into it wasn't very comfortable at all.

And that was with only one of the binds on. My stump had been thoroughly bound to the chair so that it would remain steady.

I naturally felt distinctly uncomfortable with it. But as any and all anaesthetics we'd tried had no effect on me, this was the solution Fels had come up with to hold my arm still as they worked.

As the first incision began and healed over instantly to Fel's quiet frustration I asked the question on my mind.

"Is there a reason you have a chair like this?" I asked hesitantly as Fel's brought out what genuinely looked like an electric buzzsaw.

They do realise that I feel those cuts, right? Just because I'm used to pain doesn't mean I can shrug it off forever, I mean my nerves aren't even dampened anymore it's just full-blown pain.

"Right after the Zeus and Hera familias fell the threat of Evilus became a major concern for us, lord Ouranos tasked me with developing a more… humane way of extracting information from captives. The truth serum took many tries to get right."

Fels absent mindedly explained as if it was a totally normal thing to perform human experimentation to develop something I imagined most intelligence agencies would coup another few democratic nations over.

Well… Evilus technically was an organization with the explicit goal of ending the mortal world. Since their lower ranking members were mostly traffickers and common criminals, I'd forgotten that they were actually a doomsday cult.

I imagined the cult portion was probably much more active back in the day and many times worse than the actual human traffickers and scum.

…

Okay, even trying to justify it doesn't help much and I'm not delusional enough anymore to keep lying to myself. I'm eighteen now, I'd like to think I changed somewhat after three years. Especially after constant justifications leading up to the actual apocalypse. So…

What the fuck, Fels?

Seriously… I mean you're already shady as fuck but… I guess I hadn't been able to visualise them doing anything that seriously bad. I mean until now I'd only ever seen them be helpful to me and others.

Even as those thoughts mixed around in my head, I kept my mouth shut and tried to hold back the regeneration so that Fels could properly anchor the prosthetic in. The pain was… quite a lot. Despite that I simply grit my teeth and kept my mouth shut.

I don't know why my pain tolerance was so high, I certainly felt more pain now ever since I'd become this way and my nerves had healed. Yet despite that I still had an absurdly high pain tolerance. Maybe it was because of my current nature or maybe it was because I'd felt so many sorts of pain worse than this that I'd eventually come to just accept it.

…That wasn't a good thought.

As Fels finally managed to trim away at the stump beating back the regeneration for a meagre two inches, the connection piece was finally pushed on. I felt a burning sensation I associated with menthol more than anything else and my flesh began bubbling up beneath it.

I felt it trying to push away at the connection piece. I grit my teeth and forced it back. Even then there was a tenuous moment where my skin boiled like water and shifted along my stump before calming down.

I let out the breath I had been holding. Similarly relieved Fels set down the electric saw they'd been holding and brought up the prosthetic they'd worked day and night for.

"I didn't implement any of the slots and launchers for magic items you requested. Instead prioritising the structural integrity of the arm itself. I apologize, but my skills are not advanced enough to promise durability on your level with them." Fels explained as they lined the dull white arm with almost skeletal features onto the slot.

That's alright. I doubted the smoke bomb launchers, flashbang canisters and the other bits I'd requested would help much in the expedition anyways. Moreover, I'd requested Fels set aside some Mithril for Leon's weapon. I couldn't expect the best with those conditions.

"It's fine, I already demanded so much of you anyways. We'll work on them in the future if need be." I answered as Fels continued the mounting process.

Fels nodded but their focus was clearly on my arm. I'd been told that the initial installation was quite complicated, so I sat silently as they worked.

After Fels tweaked the arm for a few minutes the first jolt of sensation came. I almost flinched off the chair when it did. The sudden shock of… immense amounts of sensation on my arm was jarring.

Fels muttered something under their breath. With a few motions of the long and elegant fingers of their gauntlet, of which I felt every single touch the sensations dimmed.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"How does it feel?" Fels asked as I flexed my new arms fingers.

"Like my actual arm." I answered with the first thing that came to mind.

Fels clicked their tongue and undid the binds allowing me to bring up my new arm and inspect it closely once again.

The dusky, almost bone like white surface was clearly masterful work. A dozen mechanical parts flexed and moved as I moved my wrist from side to side, the armoured plates felt no heavier than my own arm. I watched the articulated joints move about with a mesmerised look in my eyes.

It was a beautiful arm even if it had slightly more of a… skeleton like motif built into it, though that might just be Fels's preference given the look of their own equipment.

I flipped my hand around to look at my palm. The flexible surfaces along the palm and between the joints shifted like it was skin despite the metallic look.

"My blend of Dir Adamantite is a bit more flexible than most others and much more durable. It will flex up to a certain point to divert impacts, but do not expect it to hold up to the same punishment you can." Fels began explaining as I tested out my new fingers.

"The chassis and skeleton are incredibly durable but the mithril and silk parts inside of it along with some of the other arcane machinery inside will break if you over strain it." Fels cautioned me like a particularly strict mechanic.

"It's incredible." I spoke when they finished.

Fels nodded and stood up.

"I'm glad you liked it. I am quite proud of it too but… It can be better. I've let my arrogance halt the improvement of my own skills" They spoke as they picked up a crate full of something.

I wasn't particularly paying attention though. Despite the slight onset of nausea I felt as I saw something else where my arm should be, I gently experimented with closing and opening my fingers.

I knew a wide smile was etched on my face as I watched the arm move about. Even though something told me that I had no arm, that I lacked the piece of myself… my soul to fill that arm with. All I could think was that despite that it still moved, it still felt. This was a gift that went beyond anything I'd received… perhaps ever.

This would make life a lot easier, no more spending thirty minutes just putting a damned shirt on. No more washing the dishes by pinning them onto place. No more fumbling with valis whenever I wanted to pay for something.

Even if it's horrifying in a terrible sixth sense sort of way… this would make my life a lot better.

"Fels… thank you. Thank you so much." I uttered as I experimented with picking up a quilled pen Fels had lying around. I grasped it lightly and brought it up. I tried to write with it on a nearby scrap of paper and almost felt tears spring from my eyes as the few messy letters I'd managed to learn on my own appeared on the paper.

"I still have one more thing for you." Fels's androgenous and multilayered voice came from behind me as they unfurled something.

I stood up and turned to see what it was.

A white cavalry cape, one of those short ones that only went until around the midriff. Its colour was remarkably similar to my almost completely trashed costume.

I carefully picked it up from Fels's hands.

"I had extra Deformis silk. With the way you've been going through battle clothes thought you could use something a bit sturdier."

I felt a lump in my throat.

"Fels… thank you so much. You've been doing so much for me…"

Touched. That was the only way I had to describe what I felt. Fels shook their head.

"I haven't had a reliable coworker in a long time. I'm glad to have one that works as tirelessly as you do." They answered.

I bowed my head deeply with the cloak clutched in my… hands. Fels was giving a lot to me.

"I'm… I'm lost for words." I admitted.

Fels gently laid an arm on my shoulder. "What you're going to do right now is dangerous. The best thing you can do for me now is to come back safe and sound. I appreciate our talks even if it's mostly about work… I suppose both of us are far too workaholic for it to be anything else." Fels continued speaking before clearing their throat.

"Regardless, would you like me to put it on for you?" Fels's kind tone asked me.

I nodded my head mutely. I hadn't quite realised how much time I'd come to spend around Fels, even if it was as they'd said mostly just about work… I had been relying on them more and more throughout my time.

With careful, dexterous hands Fels clasped the cloak around my neck and let it fall down. With my reflection on the windows I could see it almost felt magical.

"Fels… again thank you truly."

"Just make sure to come back alive, I'd hate to lose such a capable junior after I finally got to have one."

I nodded silently.

---

""""Arm!"""" echoed the Astrea familia when they saw me a few days later.

Sans their goddess, she didn't seem as shocked. Or maybe just wasn't the type to react that way.

"Hello to you too, been a few days." I deadpanned.

Alise rushed towards me and clasped her hands on my new arm before raising it up. I let her have her way.

"Woaaaah! This looks super expensive! Seriously, Kaguya come take a look at this thing." She said pointing at it.

I sighed as we attracted more and more attention from those around us but let the scene play out.

"It's got… skin?" Leon uttered as she saw the flexible almost skin like sections that covered the gaps in the joints and stretched along the palm.

"It's… unique to say the least. I doubt even Airmid could make something like this." Kaguya muttered to herself.

"Hey, is this colleague of yours some sort of genius or something? Imagine the items we'll be getting if this is their work…" Lyra spoke with an incredulous tone.

"Alright, that's enough girls. Give Taylor some space to breathe." Lady Astrea spoke from behind them and the girls dispersed slightly. I sighed to let out the pressure a bit.

"Thanks." I said to her, but she just waved her hand as if dismissing it.

"So! Shopping time!" Alise exclaimed, quite literally jumping for joy.

Yes, shopping time. For battle clothes, that is. I'd already ordered some vambraces and grieves for myself and the girls had picked up some stuff as well, but we still needed some other things. Specifically, spirit cloth underclothes.

Just like my now thoroughly ruined salamander wool surcoat had been, spirit cloth was considered a vital piece of gear. What we needed right now were undine cloth and salamander wool. For the middle and lower floors, primarily to reduce attrition.

Though I and the girls planned on getting some other pieces as well. I practically had nothing so was building it up entirely.

"You said you knew someone, right?" I asked as the other girls stepped away from Alise. It almost reassured me that I wasn't the only one that found Alise's antics kind of embarrassing.

Hearing my question Alise stopped jumping in place.

She closed her eyes and nodded in a satisfied way.

"Of course, I do. With my pure, infallible instincts I've found a reliable tailor." She claimed.

"We practically tried every single one the Guild suggested and found one through trial and error." Lyra shot her down with a deadpan.

"I'll never forget the wardrobe malfunction you had back in the 12th floor." Kaguya said to Leon. Who predictably went totally red.

"I thought we'd never mention that again!" She exclaimed.

Setting aside their antics I elbowed Alise.

"Lead the way." I told her.

She got a smug look on her face and a proud glint in her eyes.

"Oh, follow me proud companions! We sally forth to an adventure!" She grabbed the sheath on her belt, one that noticeably lacked a sword, and raised it high.

A synchronized series of sighs answered her as she ran off. We fast walked after her as she ran ignoring all the stares at the same time.

"Alise's been preparing some things." Leon told me as we chased after her.

"Hmm?"

"Writing implements and books. She's been really bothered you two didn't get the chance to work on that."

...I hadn't really voiced it, but it had been on my mind. Mostly a…tertiary concern? No probably even further down than that. It hadn't seemed worth bringing up, a small comfort like that could wait until we were done.

"She's determined to give me those lessons, isn't she?" I asked her.

Leon nodded.

I smiled and huffed a bit.

"I'll need to thank her once we get around to it." I mentioned.

Leon's mouth was suddenly set in a line.

"You might not want to after this." She said.

I felt a feeling of dread wash over me.

What exactly did she mean?

---

"I am not wearing that, Alise." I deadpanned from inside the changing room as Alise held up what looked like a crop top and booty shorts made of leather.

"But you'll fit in with us!" She exclaimed and I dared to peek outside to see what Leon and the rest had picked out.

…

Unsurprisingly Leon and Lyra were in the process of getting a tailor refit some shorts they'd picked out. Though even Lyra had dropped the short vest she had worn and replaced it with an actual sleeveless coat that went to her knees.

But even then, she refused to wear actual pants… It was like 41 degrees outside, wasn't she cold? Once the tailor was done marking the shorts, she picked out some undine cloth fingerless gloves that went up to her forearms as well.

As she was trying them on, she turned towards me. And grinned.

She was fucking with me!

Though I couldn't decide which was worse, the pallum girl actively messing with me with her clothing choices, or the oblivious elf picking out clothing that was somehow more revealing.

Leon, who was now also done being measured for her shorts was picking out a short jacket that barely went below her armpits. It was definitely sturdy, but it also barely provided coverage.

I sighed and averted my eyes.

"You sure those clothes will be helpful?" I asked Alise.

She waved her hand about.

"It's fine, Leon doesn't wear much armour anyways and I'll make sure she wears some underclothing to block the small nicks and cuts." She admitted.

So she was aware, just didn't value armour much.

"You should wear tougher clothing." I advised as I finished putting on the undine cloth undersuit I'd picked out. It was somewhat reminiscent of my old costume, though instead of white or grey it was more of a very dark shade of blue. Almost black if you looked at it under a certain light.

"Usually, some protection on the arms and legs is fine with a bit of protection over the vitals added on." She spoke from afar as she was put the clothes she'd shown me back.

I was about to comment that they left a lot of skin exposed but other than Lyra and Leon the other two covered pretty much everything. The armour itself they used was a bit lighter than I'd have preferred, but they did have something on.

"What happened to your half plate?" I asked her as I watched Astrea hand Leon a padded sleeveless shirt.

"It's in for repairs…" She said in a distracted way as she was going through the racks searching for something.

"Found it! Kaguya, check this out. This'll fit on Miss Taylor well, right?" She called out to Kaguya, who was already done picking out her own clothes.

She approached lightly looking ponderously at whatever Alise had picked out.

"A dress? With the way she jumps about it might get in the way." She commented.

"It won't! Look, here the skirt is slit down into four parts." Alise countered.

I sighed and shook my head. Might as well get it over with.

"Give it here, I'll check it out." I called out to them.

A second later Kaguya reached inside and handed me a white bundle of cloth.

I unfurled it lightly and took a look at it in the mirror.

Yep… it was a dress. What kind? I had no clue. But it had long sleeves, that could've covered my hands if I let it, and a skirt that stretched until my shins. Not really something I'd normally wear to a fight. But as I pulled at the silk-like cloth it was made from; I thought it seemed tough.

Oh, to hell with it. Just put it on Taylor.

I tried it on, and the dress fit almost perfectly. With the skirt going almost exactly to my shins, it would almost certainly only leave my grieves visible if I had them on. I tried moving my legs to see if the four sections of silk would get in the way. Surprisingly they flowed around easily.

Hmmm…

I tried moving my arms and shoulders around to see if it would ever get stuck or if the sleeves would get in the way if I tried fighting.

A few stretches and faux hits showed that they didn't. Well this was a shop for adventurers, so it made sense. Of course they would design them this way.

Ugh…

It was good, it was a really good piece of battle clothing. It felt though but was airy enough to not bother me, it also covered almost everything.

…Okay, I might be alright with this.

Though the way its neck swooped down low was a bit demoralising especially since it was clearly made with someone more… endowed in mind. That could be adjusted…

For now I put on the cavalry cape Fels had gifted me and opened the curtains of the changing room.

"Uohhh!" Alise intoned the moment she saw me.

"It does go well with that cape…" Kaguya commented critically as she inspected me carefully.

"Is it easy to move in?" Asked Lady Astrea as she watched from afar.

I took a few more steps around and then rapidly spun on my right heel. The cloth bloomed around me but didn't obstruct my movement.

"Woah!" Alise uttered.

"It is." I confirmed.

The shop's owner stepped out from a door to the side with a bundle of thread and nail in her hands. A woman named Olivia, a half-elf from Orario, and apparently a fan of Astrea familia. Or so Alise had told me, I wasn't sure if I should believe her.

The moment she saw me she had sparkles appear in her eyes.

Oh no.

She set the thread and needles down and rushed over to inspect me.

"Hmmm…" She spun around me a few times before nodding to herself.

"It fits! Just need a few adjustments since this was originally made as a prototype for Lady Riveria, she decided to go with a different design though." She mentioned.

Riveria… that was one of the Loki executives. The green haired elf woman, that had been running after Ais.

This must've been good quality then.

"Can you do the adjustments now?" I asked her.

She looked almost offended for a second before shaking her head and muttering.

"New customer…"

That wasn't all that reassuring.

"Of course I can! Give me an hour and you can walk out of here with it on!" She exclaimed proudly and then picked back up the needles and threads she'd brought along.

"Stand still!" She scolded from behind me when I began moving to take off the clothes.

I flinched and did as she said. She began marking sections with the needles she had. Though I was uncomfortable, I bared with it as she worked. Other than Kaguya, who was finished with shopping, the others went back to their business.

Of course, this meant I had to see Kaguya's slightly smug smile as she watched me.

I rolled my eyes at her; she really was enjoying my discomfort.

"Don't be a baby, it's just tailoring. Still, it's odd to see you so flustered over something." She chided me but added the last bit with a softer smile.

I was about to retort but saw someone familiar or rather a group of them step into the store.

It was Hashana being dragged along by some other members of the Ganesha familia. Kaguya turned her head to look at them as well and recognized one of them.

"Shakti, shopping with your juniors again?" She called out to her.

The serious looking woman, I'd seen once or twice while working with their familia, made a face.

"If I let this idiot be, he'd let the newbies buy whatever looked the funniest. He's a menace." She said pointing at Hashana.

As the tailor was finally done marking the robe I was forced back inside the changing cabin and told to take it off.

With a sigh I shrugged off the dress and put on my actual clothing over my new undersuit. I rushed along a bit, since I wanted to talk to Hashana.

Both to check in with him and inform him about how I was heading down. Things had calmed down a bit with Evilus, but it was best to inform him I was heading down again.

I parted the clothes and took a glance around to see that everyone was busy with something and Hashana was just standing off to a side of the shop letting the newer Ganesha familia members dress themselves.

I walked up until I was just behind him.

"Hashana-" I began saying but he immediately flinched away from me and almost fell down.

He glanced at me with wide shocked eyes before shutting his eyes and groaning to himself. He held onto his chest for a moment and took a few deep breaths before straightening again.

"Do you have to do that every single time I see you!?" He complained.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe you should be more alert." I noted.

He made an incredulous face before sighing.

"Maybe… Anyways, I haven't seen you around in a while. Your leads dry up?" He asked after he properly gathered himself.

"Mostly, have you been clearing out the walls all this time?" I said after answering him.

His face twisted in cringe.

"Ugh… you don't know the least of it. The bastards have dug inside them like ants. We've mostly routed them out but somehow, they keep sneaking items from outside through some other route." He admitted lightly.

I clicked my tongue. Knew it wouldn't be that easy. They had another route we didn't know of, most likely not connected to the wall either.

"Sorry, I can't help you out with it. I've been busy with other things."

Even still I did want to go out and help them find that route, but Astrea familia needed my help more urgently. Besides Ganesha familia, despite all their odd behaviour, were skilled at what they did.

Hashana shook his head dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. it just means I have to actually work instead of just chase after you for a while." He chuckled about it, but I could see that he was somehow even more tired than before.

Though I was somewhat worried about him, he should be fine. I didn't see him as someone who'd run himself to the ground, he seemed like a man determined to go about life at his own pace whilst helping people when he could.

"I'll be away for another few weeks, possibly up to four weeks." I commented as he turned back to check over their new familia members going around checking out clothes.

I'd always thought they wore uniforms but apparently, they all had custom outfits it was just that they matched them by going with the older familia members.

"If you're asking if we can handle it, we'll do fine. You and the Astrea familia can't be around all the time. Even if on average, we're weaker than you lot we'll push through when the time comes. We are the guardians of the masses, after all." He spoke proudly.

And well… he was right. We couldn't always be there to help them out, no matter what we wanted. And it wasn't like Ganesha familia was weak either. They had the largest number of members in the city and had the most level two's out of any familia. It was just that other than their executives who were level five at most they didn't have anyone that was in the big leagues.

Even Hashana was a level three, and he was one of the most senior members they had.

I needed to trust them more, even if it felt wrong to trust others with such an important duty… I had already learned that I couldn't do everything myself long ago. So why did I still have such trouble relying on other people?

I knew it was a fault… one that had caused the biggest problems for me throughout my career. I always had to be there, I always had to be the one that did something.

I clicked my tongue.

"I'll rely on you then." I said instead of voicing my thoughts.

Hashana smiled gleefully. "Of course, how could I ever let such confidence down?"

I rolled my eyes at his teasing remark.

"Hashana, can you come here for a bit?" One of the girls inside the changing cabins called out.

Hashana smirked at me in a smug manner before calling out.

"I'll be right there! Can't let my cute juniors go without my expertise, can I?" He finished by asking me.

I just slapped him on the back a couple of times.

For being such a… how do I say this? A hedonist? Maybe. It did describe Hashana fairly well, but also not. He made everything a hobby; he was constantly like this. Enjoying life almost always came first to him, the only exception being his duties as a child of Ganesha.

I shook my head lightly.

He'd be fine, he was a dependable guy despite his vices.

"Alise, I am not wearing that!" Leon's voice rang out through the store, and I leaned back to check what was going on.

As expected, it was Alise teasing her with some choice pieces of clothing. For some reason I could see Leon eventually wearing that leotard if I or Astrea didn't stop Alise from convincing her. Glancing over and seeing Astrea busy helping Lyra out I began making my way there.

…

Hopefully our days could just continue on like this.

No… I'd make sure they could.

---

A day later I'd finally had enough time to go and visit Ais. Which had ended up with me being led around the main building and towards a training field all without letting me go inside.
They must've been hesitant to show me the inside of their home. For what reason I didn't quite get, but neither did I question them on it.

I'd just let Ais lead me towards our destination. She'd been silently excited all the way, so excited that she hadn't even noticed my new arm. Maybe it was because of the large and long sleeves of my new clothes.

I hadn't shown her my new arm even till now, even though I'd been suddenly dragged into training Ais. Not that I really needed it. Ais was fast. But compared to the monsters deep inside the Dungeon she was passable. Not fast enough to make me struggle to dodge her.

Speaking off….

"Heyup!" Tracing her trajectory with my eyes I side stepped her lunge. Ais went flying off to the side.

"Even if you were only fighting monster, the ones deep down would've seen you coming. You can't rely on your speed alone." I lectured.

Oh Aria, still so sure of yourself

Ais furrowed her brows and brought her sword back up to bear.

I still didn't bother drawing out my baton.

"Watch me move and tell me what you see." I said to her and waited for her to be ready.

She brought her feet closer together like I'd taught her, instead of the wide stance she'd inherited from her familia. Her fighting style didn't fit the wide stance she was using, she'd need a weapon with longer reach for it.

I could tell from whom she'd gotten it from, in fact he was watching me from a window right now. But the blonde pallum's gaze wasn't particularly disruptive so I let it be.

Once I was satisfied, I began moving. A step to the side brought me halfway there, another step dashed me even closer. Throughout my dashes I made sure to keep to Ais's speed and moved in a steady if predictable manner. But just as Ais brought up her sword to block my current path I stepped once more and changed which foot I was favouring.

Her eyes widened as I sent a lazy kick to her now exposed flank. She tried to bring her arm around, but I gently tapped her on the shoulder with my foot.

She huffed in frustration and let down her guard.

I motioned for her to go ahead.

She will come to us

"You kept your feet on the ground." She said in a sulking manner.

I remained silent and after a few seconds she continued.

"Also you moved in short bursts." She said once more.

I nodded with a smile. There wasn't much I could teach her; I wasn't all that good at sword play or close combat in general. I only knew how to move to avoid attacks and surprise opponents. It had been my primary tactic whenever I had to get close.

"Exactly, if you let yourself get off the ground like that you won't be able to control your movement properly. Even with that wind of yours you will always be more mobile on the ground. You're mimicking your Captain's movement, but he uses a spear. His needs won't be the same as yours."

I lectured as I moved back towards the other side of the field once again.

Let her drown

Ais nodded grimly. I raised my actual hand once again and snapped my finger, signalling the start of another bout.

Ais moved fast in short burst linked by steps, just like mine. But she careened around a bit too much, losing speed. She slashed forward with her sword in a wide arc.

She attacked a bit too high and overextended slightly. There was power there, and technique. I had no doubt that her actual sword technique was better than mine with straighter cuts and smoother movement. But she was too eager, too savage with it.

I let my body fall backwards and stepped to the side with my right foot then pivoted around it. Ais watched me as I let the sword sail over me. She tried to bring down her sword, but her hand was extended too far.

My left arm darted forward and latched onto the back of her shoulder, or rather the shirt there. With a soft hum I threw her. Ais's hair whipped about as she flew, and she struggled to recover from her sudden acceleration.

Bring her down

I saw her focus midway through her arc and bring her feet under her. She landed a bit roughly but still on her own two feet.

"Don't overextend yourself unless your opponent is occupied with something else!" I lectured. Though I wasn't sure if Ais was listening.

I took a glance around us to see that a lot of her familia had gathered around us watching in silence. Ais had noticed as well, unsurprising. She was consumed by her obsession, but even then, she had been trained as a member of an elite exploration familia. They weren't sloppy enough to let their members get tunnel vision.

I opened my arm wide baiting her into an attack. She didn't take it, since I'd already baited her like this once. Good to see she was improving so fast. Ais was talented and she'd been taking to what I could offer her like a fish did to water.

"Tempest" She chanted.

I grimaced.

Aria!

The voice went wild, but I dismissed it by biting into my tongue. I felt a bit of blood in my mouth but not enough to be noticeable.

Ais began dashing forward, adjusting her steps to waste less speed this time. She was already adapting and with her wind buffeting around her it took her speed into an entirely different section.

If I still had my swarm, I would've continued to keep myself to her previous speed, but I needed to be a bit faster than her. If I wasn't I wouldn't be able to keep up.

Hesitant to truly fight

I saw her coming in and narrowly stepped out of the first shallow swing and deflected the next with a soft kick to the hilt. Right as I spun to deliver a touch to Ais's cheek she dashed backwards. I smiled proudly, she'd already begun keeping her feet closer to the ground.

"Etesien!" she shouted out once her stance was back up.

So fierce but so weak, she should just wallow with me

With a swing of her sword a pressurised blast of wind was shot towards me.

She's using it as a distraction to get closer. I smirked. There you go.

Instead of dodging to the side I took a deep breath and punched forward blasting apart the shock wave. As expected, Ais was right behind it now attacking at my exposed midriff with her sword.

So exposed, one mistake and she'll be back with the gods

Well…

Exposed is a bit of a lie. My new arm snaked out from beneath its sleeve and batted aside Ais's sword. Her childish eyes opened wide with shock as her sword was driven into the ground. With my new arm I gently flicked her forehead.

"You never know when your opponent is hiding something major, Ais. Never assume you know everything up their sleeve." I chuckled lightly as I adjusted my new arm and pushed back my own sleeve.

"Arm!" She shouted eerily similar to Astrea familia.

"As I was saying, inspect your opponent constantly. You can usually tell if they have something they haven't revealed through their body language or how worried they are. Everything has a tell, you just need to watch out for it." I continued lecturing as Ais stared at my arm with saucer-like eyes.

"But you did really well that time. You've really been taking to everything I teach you." I praised with a smile and patted her on the head. She still kept staring at my arm.

"When?" She softly asked.

Aria… your concern was always so palpable

"Just a few days ago." I answered. It had gotten some getting used to, but my new arm was perfectly functional, though I wasn't as skilled with it as my actual arm just yet. Even limiting my strength properly had taken some broken cups and torn pieces of paper.

Much to Alise's frustration as she'd dragged me to their home to give me some lessons.

She nodded dumbfoundedly and padded off back to the other side of the arena. Once she was ready again, I was about to start another bout, but a pair of shouts stopped me.

"Tiona, stop dragging me along. I already said I'm coming with you!" An olive-skinned girl shouted at another shorter and probably also younger girl who looked very similar to her.

"But they're going to start again, hurry!" The other shouted back. I could already tell the cheery tone of the voice was an ever-present thing.

I waited a bit until they could push through the crowd. Ais looked questioningly at me as I did but the moment the two broke through her head turned towards them.

"Ais! Let us join in too!" The smaller girl shouted waving around a sword far too big for her as she did. There was a bright smile etched solid onto her face.

Companions? As always Aria dragged in others to her fights

I almost felt like averting my eyes from the sheer shine. Her sister, I think, had a much more neutral smile and a pair of short swords in her hands.

Ais made a face as if debating whether to say no or not but then took a glance at me and nodded to herself. "Sure." She uttered, which only made the smiling girl's smile wider. Though her sister had a bit of an incredulous look in her, as if she hadn't thought she'd have let them.

I shook my head lightly, seems Ais was actually going to start working with her familia. Hopefully it'd keep her from running off again as well.

Would she run to me if she knew?

"Alright, girls. Take your places near Ais and introduce yourselves please." I spoke lightly as I watched them walk over each taking a position on both sides of Ais.

"Tiona Hiryute, level three! Pleasure to meet ya!" The now named smiling girls shouted over as she shouldered her weapon.

"Tione Hiryute, also level three. Help me get stronger, will you? I need to catch up to the captain." The girl who was actually her sister also introduced herself.

I cracked my neck slightly and stretched my arms. Alright, let's get a bit more serious. I drew my baton out of its harness and tossed it to my prosthetic right arm. My actual hand was probably more durable than it.

I didn't draw my sword just yet; I'd been practicing but didn't trust myself enough to use it along with my baton just yet.

"I'll actually start hitting you this time, prepare yourselves." I warned lightly.

The only response I got was a pair of smirks from the sisters and Ais's chant.

"Tempest." She chanted and her magic surged, buffeting her allies as well.

Would she call her wind to save me?

Detract one point, that's poor teamwork.

I didn't rush forward despite my instincts pushing me that route. I was here to teach them. Not slam dunk them into the ground.

The two sisters and Ais dashed forward towards me. Even by their movement I could tell that the sisters had more experience against human opponents even as they fell behind Ais and her superior speed.

Another mistake, no coordination at all.

The voice had gone quiet. Finally.

"Teamwork!" I shouted and batted aside Ais's first probing thrust and kicked her to the side lightly.

The moment she was launched away with a grunt I dashed forward under the swing of Tiona's oversized sword using her body as a shield against her sister. Tione dashed forward trusting her sister to get away.

These two had more experience working together, or rather they had more experience fighting around each other. They didn't move to support each other just trusted the other to handle themselves.

Eh… not a plus nor a negative. Neutral.

I grabbed onto Tiona's leg as she tried to kick me and threw her towards Ais. Though the sound of her hitting the dirt of the training ground tells me I missed. I should've checked before I threw, I was too used to knowing where everything was. It caused issues even after all these weeks.

Banishing that from my mind I spun my baton around to deflect slashes coming in from Tione and punched her in the gut the moment she got in too close in her frenzy. As she expelled the air in her lungs, I let my baton spin in my hand and hit her in the thigh with a strike.

She hissed in pain but didn't let up. Hearing the whistling of wind I stepped to the side instead of attacking again. Ais barely missed me and almost speared into Tione's shoulder. I kicked her in the back of the knee as punishment.

"Don't be reckless around your allies!" I scolded.

A glance showed me that Tiona had gotten back on her feet and was charging at me with rapid steps. I saw Ais direct a slash from her kneeling position and simply stepped back.

Tiona and Ais swung at the same time Ais's slightly faster weapon being accidentally caught by the heavier blade. They knocked each other of balance and their attacks off course.

I clicked my tongue and dashed to the side behind Tiona, they'd not even closed me off. I picked Tiona by the scruff of her neck and threw her at her sister, who caught her without worry.

Ais, instead of protecting them as they recovered tried to rush at me. I shook my head and flanked her in a few steps. With the other two guarding her she was exposed. I slammed my baton at her side.

Take her away

As she was flying away, I stepped close to the sisters who were in the middle of raising up their weapons. Tione saw me coming and tried to protect her sister, who was trying to spin around her own sword.

Stab through her chest

I spun on my heel and slammed my knee into Tiona sending her back at Tione. She dashed forward to avoid her sister, which was the right choice, but she was now without allies and against a superior foe. I let her swing her swords at me and stepped into her guard to knee her square in the chest.

As she was stunned, I picked her up and threw her onto Ais, who was trying to get back up.

A glance showed me that Tiona had gotten her bearings faster than expected and was rushing at me with a wide swing almost about to hit me. I couldn't avoid that one on time even if I let myself fall completely onto my back so instead, I simply lowered my baton down and slammed it into the flat of her blade.

She let the blade go and threw a solid punch at me. Smart, but the punch itself was all wrath and no substance, she had no posture nor technique behind it to put proper force into it. Not that she had much of a chance to demonstrate either of those.

Rip her throat out

I grabbed onto her hand as I'd been thought back in the Wards and twisted her arm putting her in a head lock. Instead of bringing her down normally though I spun her around and threw her at the pile her sister and Ais were forming.

"Woah!" She shouted as she flew and slammed into the ground.

The familia members around us winced as she crashed.

"Teamwork, girls! Teamwork! You kept getting in each other's way, not covering each other, not working together to box me in… the list goes on. Especially you Ais, the other two could at least stay out of each other's way." I began lecturing.

But once I saw that my only response was a series of groans I stopped. Their teamwork would improve, already their experience with battle was showing. These girls were prodigies considering none of them could have been older than thirteen. If they had proper teamwork on their side, they could've beaten me. Or at the very least I would've had trouble beating them.

As it was right now, they needed work to function properly as a unit. I'd beat it into them then.

So many gone to waste

Even if I wasn't here, I had no doubt that their familia's executives would've ironed them out sooner rather than later. Loki familia was an exploration type familia that had earned much renown with their formation-based fighting style. No way would the execs let this go on for much longer.

Though I suppose I'd just need to do a bit of the work for them. Especially since Finn still hadn't stopped throwing me glances from that window.

---

Finn the Braver

"Looks like Bete joined in as well." I said to Loki, who was drinking slowly from a bottle of elven red wine. A rarity, extremely so considering most elves despised alcohol. As such also very expensive… But she was still in the allowance Riveria had set for her, so I didn't comment on it.

"Damn, they are really going at 'er." Loki spoke as if she was barely holding in her laughter and tried to reach across the coffee table for the bottle of the wine itself.

The resounding slap that echoed throughout the room was more than enough to signify what Riveria thought of wasting that precious wine like a common drink.

I didn't pay it any attention and continued observing "Khepera" or Taylor as she preferred to be called.

"She's somewhat experienced in hand-to-hand combat, not to the extent you'd expect from a dedicated frontliner though. She's trained in it, and clearly has some sort of martial arts knowledge though other than a few far eastern styles I recognize none of it." I narrated my thoughts to Loki and Riveria who listened silently.

"She knows how to use the tonfa in her hand and is trained in a professional style with it as well. But if I had to guess I would say other than those she isn't experienced with any weapon." I finished and paused inspecting her footwork. Maybe there was something there?

"Does she move like a mage?" Riveria asked as she continued to comb through the old hero stories we'd scrounged up from our library.

I thought on her question. No… she didn't, in fact she moved in a methodical manner. Almost always knowing where to put her foot exactly right to not lose her balance. She didn't even seem to be aware of it.

Most mages especially backline ones, had rudimentary footwork that only really specialised in keeping them moving no matter what. Maybe if the mage was particularly experienced, they'd add in concurrent casting to the mix. But definitely not the sort of high speed almost unbelievable movement she did.

"She's moving too cleanly, if I had to call it, I'd say a magic swordsman that switched between the backline and the frontline. Though she doesn't move to get clear sightlines on opponents, it could be that she's purposefully hiding her true technique though. She did notice me from the start." I continued but as I felt a tingle pass over my thumb, I discarded that.

"Never mind, she's not hiding it. Her movement is odd, mechanical almost. Her balance is perfect even when it shouldn't be as if each and every step was calculated. And she's used to moving like this." I added on.

"A spirit could do that, a greater one almost certainly could do it. Those kids were made earlier than you lot, a lot of them have weird personality quirks because of it. Some of them were real mechanical like and thought insanely fast. Though I couldn't tell you which, back when most of 'em were running around I was busy trying to get Odin and Thor to kill each other." Loki said as she waved around her almost entirely empty wine glass.

I still couldn't figure out what her true fighting style was, and she didn't show any spells in the training field even as they kept coming at her and she was finally getting pushed back. Though I did notice something.

"She's good at squad tactics, and good at teaching them. The kids are improving their cohesion the more they listen to her."

Riveria looked up from another telling of Argonaut.

"That would fit with most depictions of Khepera. Especially in later tales after Argonaut." She finally began speaking of her findings.

"How many mentions of her could you find?" I asked as I finally managed to tear my gaze away from the enigma in our garden.

Riveria waved her hand. "More than I care to count, but the first tale she appears in is Argonaut and the last one is a mention in Dungeon Oratoria. Every tale we found her in she appears out of nowhere, teaches the Hero and their companions something or warns them with a message from the gods and then watches their journey.

She almost never fights herself unless it is to save a Hero or a group of them from something in their first encounter. It's odd to see a spirit both so active and clearly capable of fighting, but also unwilling to unless something drastic is happening." She retold.

What she described was plain weird. Spirits tended to go one route or the other. Either granting Heroes power and becoming their weapons or fighting alongside Heroes as companions. Khepera didn't fit that mould very well.

"Is there any reason for that?" I asked the question Riveria had apparently been dreading as she began rubbing her eyelids as if trying to rest them.

"Any number of them, the reason changes with every telling of the story. The most common ones are either that she was ordered by the gods to not do so, or that she trusted her pupils so much and wished to not "interrupt their tale"." She explained with frustration.

The first one was likely with what we knew of the gods.

"Sounds like she has even more variation than most other Heroes." I commented.

Riveria shook her head in despair.

"She does. Almost everything except that she's a spirit and that her name is Khepera changes. It's almost like she acts to fit the story she's in. The only one where that doesn't happen is Argonaut. And you already know how that tale is, Wishe and Orna the Storyteller both have almost entirely different stories.

As if that wasn't enough, the dwarven, human and the pallum retellings say that she acompanied Argonaut until the end as she wished to observe her first pupil's tale. Whereas the elven and beastfolk versions say that she gave up on training Argonaut because of his weakness and foolishness to search for more worthy pupils."

I winced. Whoever Khepera actually was would be almost impossible to infer, even Ais's descriptions sounded only tangentially related to the character.

"Her being a teacher is the only real continuity, then."

Riveria nodded.

"That and that she prefers to rely on others to solve the problems around her. Something which even with our cursory observation doesn't seem to fit Taylor. Ais might just be mistaken here." She finished and set the book on her lap to the side.

Loki looked unsatisfied with that conclusion though.

"There is something weird going on with her, as I've told you two and Gareth before. She isn't Human, she's something pretending to be a human. Or one that wholeheartedly believes it's a human. Changes in personality are to be expected." Loki chided lightly.

"It's impossible to identify her this way then. Notwithstanding that we can't be sure she is Khepera. It's not like we know what's wrong with her, even if we wanted to help her we couldn't." I added further.

I saw Gareth down at the training field dragging an unconscious Tiona and Tione away and Bete was being carried off by the level ones. Looks like they managed to push her enough that she stopped holding back her strength. I'd say she was around high level five. Though I wasn't sure if she was just naturally that strong, as the people of ancient times sometimes were. Or if she had Falna of some god.

The only one still standing was Ais but before she could even start her attack Taylor dashed in close, and choke slammed her into the ground.

I winced lightly as Ais slammed into the ground. Taylor picked her up with a muttered sorry and cradled her lightly as she carried her off. It looked far too peaceful to be the end of a bout that had torn up the ground and scattered dust in huge clouds.

But such was the way most things were with adventurers.

…

I let the concern about her identity fade away for now. I had more urgent matters to be concerned about.

"We'll continue to observe her passively. I don't think it's worth pursuing this to the end and tiring ourselves out for it right before an expedition." I declared.

Only to receive a nod filled with reserved relief and a lazy salute from Loki.

"Aye, Captain." She smirked gleefully though I saw a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Finn, you said that she's the one that got a Brass Sky from the old man, right?" Loki asked lightly afterwards.

I nodded slightly only to watch her smirk grow larger.

"Well, I'll just have to ask him then." She uttered dangerously.

…

Please don't let this turn into a mess I have to deal with after the expedition.

As time went on and the deadline for Astrea familia's descent neared there was actually less to do. That only made the girls and I more anxious. Training and preparations could only mitigate some of it. Especially since Ais and her familia had descended beforehand Though the first few lessons, I had with Alise certainly helped, especially when it got the entire Familia to argue over pronunciation.

But thankfully our weapons and gear were ready on time, everything was arranged properly, and I'd gotten to leave my house with all my gear on me and with only a small mess of pouches and such arrayed over and under my clothes.

Our actual supplies would be carried by the Nikarrak familia, who I hadn't met until now.

With those thoughts lightly churning in my mind I arrived at our meeting spot. Astrea familia was there with even Astrea there to send us off. There was another group of people there too, with staves, spears and javelins adorning their hands along with the massive backpacks they carried.

Follow after Aria

At least thirty adventurers, almost all of them being Dog or Wolf beast people. I think they were called Chienthropes and Werewolves respectively.

Alise saw me first and raised her hand to wave at me. I waved back and quickened my steps. The sun was just beginning to rise but everyone had eager smiles on their faces. Well… that and an undercurrent of anxiety in their eyes, but that was just natural.

I'd have been more worried if they didn't realise how tough this was going to be.

"Miss Hebert. Everyone is almost ready, we'll descend on schedule." Leon informed and greeted me with a tiny smile on her face. The edges of that smile were a bit wobbly, but she seemed sure of our chances.

"I'll follow your lead." I said looking over at Alise, whose only response was to make some finger guns at me.

I shook my head and turned towards the werewolf man approaching me. He extended his right hand in a handshake, and I took it with my new prosthetic. The clap sound it made being almost exactly like a flesh hand.

The werewolf looked shocked for a second before tightening his grasp and lightly pulling me in. I let him as he bumped our shoulders together and grinned in an almost boyish manner. Cute. Especially with his ears standing up like that and his tail wagging lightly behind him.

"Captain of the Ninkarrak familia, Sargon Naram-Nin. Pleased to meet you." He exclaimed boisterously.

Another one lost to the depths

"Like wise." I answered as I looked him over one more time. Athletic in the same way a sprinter was with a lean body and wearing what looked like a plated skirt and a vest. He wore bits of steel and silver jewellery around his head and neck. A good-looking man of around twenty years old. Though perhaps a bit more boyish than most.

Compared to the other werewolf that I'd seen in Ais's familia he had a softer look in his eyes.

The rest of his familia also bowed their head slightly.

"You'll be supporting us until the Throne room, right?" I asked him.

Following you to their doom

He nodded his head proudly. "We're mostly healers but many of us are level two and I myself am level three. We have descended until the end of the Lower floors with Astrea familia before, you can count on us to go until Udaeus's doors at the very least." He assured me proudly.

I smiled and clapped him on the shoulder with my actual arm.

"I'm sure I can." I uttered lightly.

They will all be devoured, just like the Heroes of old were

"Uoh! No flirting in Lady Astrea's presence!" Alise shouted over from the side.

I let Sargon go and turned towards her. I hadn't even been flirting. Before I could even say anything, she got slapped on the back of the head by Kaguya.

"Don't get in the way, idiot!" She scolded her for an entirely different reason.

"She can flirt all she wants. I've said this before girls, I don't mind romantic relationships. I'm not Artemis…" She chided lightly from the side, whilst concealing a smile behind her hands.

I huffed out. You act friendly to one attractive guy and suddenly, you're accused of flirting.

Consume their flesh

I shook my head lightly.

As I stepped away from the frozen solid Sargon. He wasn't bad, in fact I'd say he was my type, but I just wasn't looking for a relationship right now.

… My previous experience had thought me how it was a bad idea to get involved with someone during times like these.

They will all rot

Recovering from the smack in the back of her head Alise shouted out.

"Alright! Let's head down, we'll kick Udaeus's ass and come right back!" She called out to everyone.

Ninkarrak familia raised a variety of weapons into the sky and cried right back at her, while the Astrea familia simply tightened their grip on their weapons.

"Take care, girls." Lady Astrea called out to us.

"Don't you lot dare die! We've got so much work to do, still!" Another goddess, who must have been Ninkarrak, shouted over to her familia. She was answered by boisterous laughter.

It was time to descend.

I took one last glance at the place I knew my passenger was in the sky.

I'm heading down.

Welcome back

I'm going to silence you someday.

"Spears up! The Astrea familia won't interfere until the 19th floor, let's earn some Excelia!"

Sargon shouted over the roars of the hellhounds rushing in towards their formation.

We were moving as one large group split into five blocks and rotating the middle group out as the Ninkarrak folks got tired. We weren't going all that fast, but with our numbers most shortcuts were plain impossible to use. So I'd expected this. Though we were slowing down even further because Sargon had asked us to let their familia fight alone until the 20th floor.

That was perfectly fine by me, the girls and I needed all the energy we could spare and it wasn't like the healers and spearmen and women of their famillia couldn't handle this. Though I had to admit just watching them spear Dungeon worms and Hellwounds constantly was getting boring.

""""MROOOAAAAGHHH!""""

In that moment a roar echoed through the wide cavern corridor we were in.

"Minotaurs! A heard of them, a dozen at least." Shouted a Ninkarrak familia member and I began unsheathing my sword only to be stopped by a shake of the head from Sargon.

"Form ranks! Healers, begin casting enchantments. We'll stop their charge in its tracks!" He shouted out and jumped down.

The stronger members from the two Groups at the front rushed next to him and locked themselves shoulder to shoulder, followed shortly by other groups moving to reinforce them. In seconds a wall of spears and polearms was formed.

Then the chanting began. An array of mages and healers with at least two in each group began their spells. I watched intently as they continued their chants with the occasional magic circle forming underneath them as they did so.

Disrupt them

I turned back to the direction the minotaurs were heard from and watched as they finally came to view. Thirteen minotaurs, each and every one of them rated at high level two rushed forth in a frenzied charge.

Their maddened eyes saw the spears pointed their way but did not care whatsoever instead continuing to pick up speed.

Just as I was getting worried the casters finished their chants. A mixture of colours descended over the front lines, most patching over accumulated wounds and energising the fighters. But the rare few descended completely over them in the shape of flames, light and other forms.

I'd been led to believe that enchantment spells that affected others were rare. Apparently not for them if they could reliably cast three or more spells of the kind.

With my hands on my weapons and my muscles tensed I watched carefully. Scanning their line for any vulnerabilities I could fill without offending them.

I didn't see anything but stood at the ready as the monsters neared.

Their stomps shook the ground as they charged at our supporting familia. Ninkarrak's adventurers roared in defience as they steadied their weapons.

A moment later the two masses crashed. I almost dashed forward in instinct as their line of spears began to get pushed back. The minotaurs were spearing themselves ever deeper just to get at the adventurers.

They were being pushed back by the sheer force of the minotaurs but rallied. The second line of spears let go of their primary weapons and drew out swords and axes to hack into the frothing monsters and the healers who continued casting their spells.

I grit my teeth and forced down my instinctual response to help them out. They wanted the fight; it would make them stronger later on… so if I interfered here, they'd be seriously put off with me.

I needed to trust them to handle it.

I still grit my teeth as I saw the minotaurs buckle the lines. Sargon roared again and his familia roared after him. With another push they sent the horde of monsters reeling back. The thrusts of spears from the front lines finished them off.

"They did it." I uttered to Leon who had come to stand next to me.

"They did." She confirmed with a relieved sigh, and we stood around on watch as the Ninkarrak familia began carving away at the minotaurs, extracting their magic stones and few drop items.

I nodded to myself.

This should be the toughest battle we'd have until we passed Rivira.

I heard the laughter of the voice in the back of my head as I thought that.

Oh boy.

---

It hadn't been the toughest battle, by far. We'd even gotten a monster party spawn just before Goliath's room. But I hadn't gotten to step in at any of them, the Ninkarrak familia had managed to beat them back thanks to their healers constantly keeping them at peak condition. Though once we'd arrived at Rivira we'd stopped and set up camp to let them rest. It had been a though day for them, but as they had promised, we'd not had to fight anything and were at peak condition. Of course, the real thing started now that we'd entered the Large Tree Labyrinth and were descending down towards the Water City.

"Gun Libellula!" Some Chienthrope woman shouted, and I dashed forward before the volley could reach my group.

Thirty or maybe more dragon fly monsters appeared from behind the tree's. The instant they were in range they began firing off their projectiles. A volley of bullet like projectlies were launched my way and I focused on nothing by protecting the people behind me. My limbs flashed with a weapon in each hand batting away and deflecting the shots fired at us like a machine gun.

I was about to dash forward to take care of them when I heard Leon's chanting from behind me.

"Come, wandering wind, the wandering traveler." She sung as she dashed forward towards the middle of the lines and brought her newly made and remade swords to bear.

A wooden one reforged by Tsubaki out of her old broken one and a mithril one made out of Fel's mithril and etched with the rest of the line written on my baton. It had been made by Toren, who had been surprisingly glad to forge it.

She tried to deflect what few bullets I missed to protect the weaker Ninkarrak members even as she chanted. Though her movements were slower than usual. Chanting and fighting at the same time was difficult I suppose.

Well… I'd seen what happened when a spellcaster messed up while chanting. An explosion, that's what.

"Cross the sky and run through the wilderness, run faster than anything else." Her chant continued and I pushed forward a bit to cover the rest of the groups.

I heard the other girls fighting something on the other side as well, no hope of help from them then.

"Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy. Luminous Wind!" Leon finished with her long chant spell and the glowing orbs of stardust and wind formed around her once again. Without any visible trigger she sent them ahead to obliterate the dragonfly monsters.

I watched with muted satisfaction as our attackers were bombarded with a series of explosive shocks delivered by the orbs of wind faster than even their bullet like projectiles.

I glanced over to the other side only to see the others finishing up as well. The healers and supporters had already begun taking care of the wounded and one of them ran up to me to hand me a potion as well.

As I'd learned it was basically an energy drink, or at least this one was. Though calling it merely that was a bit misleading. Whenever I drunk one, I felt like I was back to tip top shape. It melted away exhaustion, but they warned me that I'd crash eventually.

Not all that reliable then, but during our march down it was incredibly useful. We'd eventually stop to let the spell casters rest anyways.

Catch up to Aria

I huffed out in between sips. I'd been crunching on the magic stones from these floors whenever I had the chance to, but it just wasn't as effective anymore.

I hadn't gotten to eat all that much, with the supporters lugging around most of them, but even then usually I'd notice even minute improvement as I ate.

Maybe since I'd gotten a lot stronger the ones only this far down just weren't effective anymore.

Descend deeper

…What a bother.

If I wanted to keep getting stronger at my current pace, I'd need to delve deeper and deeper. Which would take longer and longer each time. That's not even counting just how dangerous it was to head deeper in by myself. I'd need to tag along with Astrea familia more often.

I suppose that was fine.

Sargon waved over at Alise, and they began speaking worriedly about something. Probably the attrition we were taking. The fighters of Ninkarrak familia were already staggering a bit. Thankfully we were almost at the Water city which despite its tight corridors and dangerous waters had less places to ambush a convoy like ours from.

Death around every corner

I shook my head to clear it.

We'd get through it and then rest.

We hadn't taken a casualty yet and I was sure we could it that way as we dived further down.

At least until we reached the safety zone on the 28th floor.

After that…

I'd do everything I could.

---

An: Hey, hey people sadly not Sseth here. I am back with another episode of Taylor Goes along with Ais's wishes despite the voices in her head because the emotionally stunted girl makes every pack bonding neuron in her head fire.

Well besides that I just wanted to show some characters off and their interactions with each other, especially since besides that it was mostly Taylor getting some more equipment for herself. Hopefully these ones will last a bit longer, they are quite expensive.

But leaving all that aside Astrea familia and their Allies finally begin their descent down into the reaches of the Dungeon right after Loki familia, who hurried along beforehand to not have to deal with a newly respawned Udaeus.

Thankfully they got some healers and midlevel adventurers to make their descent mostly smooth and attrition free. It's just the very start of the delve here though. The real challenges will be in the upcoming chapter.

Hopefully they'll make it through nice and easily.

As always if you enjoyed, or have criticism please reply. I do enjoy reading them.