Chapter 10: Magic and chocolate

The entertainment district wasn't a very lively place in the middle of the day, usually only coming to life when night fell. But on this day, that was not the case. The early afternoon was abuzz with activity as a large group of Berberas, led by Aisha, returned from the Dungeon and paraded through the district after having successfully completed their expedition.

Although the group had taken the time to recover on the eighteenth floor, they all bore the scars of their descent into the Dungeon and, above all, of their battle with the monster rex. Fresh wounds, new scars, torn and soiled clothes, damaged weapons and so on showed what they had been through.

They were welcomed with honours to Belit Babili and Ishtar received them seated on her throne.

Leading the expedition, Aisha was the first to kneel before her goddess.

"My goddess, I am pleased to announce that the expedition has been a success."

"I'm glad to hear that and I warmly welcome you all back. Alright Aisha, I'm listening to your report."

The proud amazoness then began a much more complete mission report, detailing their descent into the Dungeon, the fight against the Amphisbanea, the fact that despite the more or less serious injuries, there had been no casualties, as well as the loot obtained. A report that fully satisfied Ishtar, if her smile was anything to go by.

"Excellent work, girls. You've all earned the right to a well-earned rest. I'll be in my room today for anyone who wants to update their status."

The proud Berberas bowed in unison to their goddess as she retired.

As the day passed, Ishtar had many visitors in her flats, and almost all the Berberas who had taken part in the expedition had come to see what they had gained. There had been a few level-up, new skills, new magics, and even simple gains in statistics, but overall, the results were fairly good and represented a certain improvement in the power of her familia.

Aisha came last. Ever since she was punished after the Killing stone incident, the amazoness hadn't been very keen on physical contact with her goddess. But even so, she needed to update her status, so she finally found the courage to go too.

Since she had met Bell, since the dreams were there and since she had started to change, Ishtar wasn't sure how to deal with Aisha either. Even though she was still trying to justify to herself that the amazoness' punishment was well deserved, a little voice inside her was telling her louder and louder that she had overreacted and that no one deserved to be subjected to something like that.

The pleasures of the body should only be a source of joy and she had turned them into the most atrocious of punishments.

When Aisha finally decided to enter the room, Ishtar simply beckoned her over and took her place. Without a word, the sensual amazoness took a seat and shed the little fabric covering her bust before pushing back her hair to free access to her back.

The goddess picked her ritual dagger and drew a drop of her blood to make the blessing appear in divine runes. For the gods, each falna was like a book telling a story. By reading Samira's, Lena's and the others', she had learnt a lot about this expedition. So what story was Aisha's falna going to tell her?

Silently, the goddess set to work, drawing the accumulated excellia from her sleep and transforming it into power, before copying it all down once she had finished. And after a long silence, she spoke.

"Good. Let's start with the bad news, Aisha. Unfortunately, you haven't levelled up."

The amazoness held back a grunt of frustration, she had really hoped that this fierce battle would give her the impulse she needed to progress.

"On the other hand, your stats have improved and some of your developmental abilities have gained a rank. As for the rest, I just have one question. Aisha, since when have you developed masochistic inclinations?" asked the goddess in a perfectly serious tone.

"Excuse me?" replied the amazoness with a shocked expression.

"See for yourself, your new skill is quite... interesting."

Without even getting dressed, the berberas grabbed the paper on which the goddess had transcribed her status and quickly looked up the skill in question before remaining somewhat dubious as she read it.

Supplice of ecstasy: The wearer can ignore all pain caused by wounds. Pain is converted into power. The bonus increases according to the user's willpower.

Indeed, after a first reading, Aisha could only admit that this really was a masochist's skill.

"What happened on that expedition, Aisha?" asked the goddess, looking for an explanation.

The amazoness replied, detailing in great detail the fight against the two-headed dragon and also the way in which she had voluntarily exposed herself to danger in order to create an opening to overcome it.

"I see..." said the goddess laconically. "What the wearer experiences has a huge influence on the way the falna develops. In this fight, you surpassed yourself by knowingly exposing yourself to pain, and this skill must be the result. But be careful with it, Aisha. Being able to ignore pain is useful, but never forget that it exists for a good reason, namely to let you know that there's something wrong with your body. Ignoring pain means taking the risk of no longer being aware of your limits."

"I understand." She said simply before putting her clothes back on and burning the paper once she was aware of her status.

"Aisha, I'm very pleased with your work. You ran this expedition perfectly and it fulfilled its initial objective. But I also know that you were hoping to achieve much more than that. So, as much to compensate you as to reward you for your excellent work, I'm disposed to grant you the favour of your choice. If you already have an idea, I'm listening."

If the amazoness had spoken without thinking, she would simply have asked her to free Haruhime and leave her alone forever. But she knew that even if her goddess had changed, she would never grant her such a favour, and would even risk further punishment for her insolence. Or maybe not... She didn't know, she didn't understand her goddess at all these days.

So instead, something else came to mind.

"In that case my goddess, I already know what favour I can ask of you."

Lena was in a very good mood, and with good reason. After this most intense expedition, she was finally going to be able to see her pupil again. After several days without seeing him, she too had begun to miss him. The cheerful amazoness herself seemed to have been converted to the many benefits of Bell-energy and needed a fix fast.

When she arrived at the Astral Mansion, she entered without knocking and shouted directly.

"Beeeeeeeeeell! It's me!"

"Ouch! You don't have to blow out my eardrums!" said a little goddess with black twintails. The poor goddess was standing next to the door when it was yanked open and the amazoness screamed in her ears.

"Oh, excuse me. Lady... Hestia, isn't it?"

To which the principal concerned replied with a nod. Hestia had arrived around the time the expedition was organised, so the young amazoness hadn't bumped into her yet. However, like all gods, she exuded that special something, that special aura that made it clear you were dealing with a divine being. Even though Hestia only worked at the Astral Mansion, the fact that Ishtar had managed to hire one of the three virgin goddesses as a maid had quickly spread around the neighbourhood.

"Is that you, Lena?" came a soft female voice. It was Haruhime's voice, coming out of the kitchens, and her presence naturally surprised the young woman.

"What the... ? Haru-haru? What are you doing here?"

Not that she wasn't pleased to see her, but she did wonder what she was doing here. She wasn't aware of the latest changes, which was to be expected given that she'd spent the last few days deep in the Dungeon. Haruhime then told her the latest information. The fact that she was no longer working in a brothel, that Ishtar had taken her directly into her service and that she had more or less asked her to come and help out here.

This came as a great surprise to Lena, who certainly hadn't expected her goddess to behave in this way towards the fox, even if she didn't think it was a bad thing. The big question now was whether Aisha knew. As soon as she did, the likelihood of Bell receiving a visit to instruct him to take good care of the renard would undoubtedly be imminent.

"Lena?" said Bell as he came down the stairs of the house.

"Yes, it's me! Big sister Lena's back!" she said cheerfully before moving towards him.

"Is everything all right? I heard the expedition was quite intense."

"And not just a little! But it was worth it."

"Really?"

"Of course, and for a good reason. You should know that the one standing in front of you is no longer the Lena you knew, she's a new Lena... A level 3 Lena!" she shouted in joy, gesturing wildly.

You could have heard triumphant trumpets and seen fireworks appear behind her and it wouldn't have shocked anyone.

"That's amazing! Congratulations Lena!" said Bell, genuinely happy for her. He thought he was still a long way from being able to level up, so seeing Lena succeed made him happy, especially as he had a real affection for her.

Strangely enough, receiving congratulations from Bell warmed Lena's heart more than she would have thought. It gave her an idea.

"So, Bell, since I've done well, I'm deserved of a little reward, don't you think?" she said, moving closer to him.

"Er... yes, I suppose so."

With a big smile on her lips, Lena was beginning to become very insistent, even on a physical level, given the way she was approaching him. It was obvious that she had some less than innocent intentions in mind. Bell had certainly had THE big talk with Neela, but it was still recent, too recent for him to have had time to process it all, and he didn't really see what she wanted.

Well, he did understand that she wanted him to reward her for her hard work on the expedition. So the only thing that came to Bell's mind was an image from his childhood, when his grandfather used to congratulate him if he did well.

Allowing himself to be guided by this memory, Bell then raised his hand and... began to pet Lena's head with a big, innocent smile.

"Well done Lena."

The playful amazoness stared at him for a moment, her eyes wide. Was he really petting her now? But strangely enough, her only reaction afterwards was a goofy smile and a silly little laugh.

"Huhuhu... Keep congratulating me Bell." She said, bending down to enjoy the young man's affectionate gesture a little more. It wasn't exactly what she'd planned, but it wasn't so bad after all. It was even very pleasant. Perhaps she was even developing a new kink...

A strange sight, which made Hestia wonder how many more crazies she was going to see come into this house. But as a mere employee, she was in no position to complain.

"Bell, I've got to show you something!" said Lena, grabbing his hand and leading him into the garden.

The boy said nothing, letting himself be carried away by Lena who, in any case, would not have listened to any protests. The spirited amazoness stood in front of one of the training dummies and began to incant.

"Ethereal jailer, appear in my hand, chain my enemies and submit them to my will, Spectris Catenae!"

At these words, two spectral chains appeared in her hands and wrapped themselves around her target, then she pulled on them to knock the dummy to the ground.

"So Bell, what do you think of my new magic?"

"It's amazing!"

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting to get a spell like that, I guess my little feat against the Amphisbanea left more of an impression on my falna than I thought."

"A spectral chain sounds practical, and it should even offer quite a few tactical possibilities in combat." Analysed the boy, whose training was beginning to give him a more tactical view of combat.

" For now, I don't have the mana to use it for more than a few minutes, but with practice, I'm sure I can improve."

"You're lucky, I wonder when I'll have magic too." The boy said with a hint of sadness in his voice. In some ways, Bell was still a young boy, dreaming of magic and heroic powers.

"Unfortunately, it's hard to say. It will manifest itself at the right moment, I suppose. As you're human, you have no racial predisposition to accelerate the process. It will come... when it comes. There are no real rules when it comes to the magic achieved through falna."

And that was the limit of Lena's knowledge on the subject. She had never really been interested in magic. Like many amazoness, she just saw it as a practical tool, but that didn't really make her want to study the subject any further.

"I see..." said Bell with a little disappointed look on his face. And when he put on his puppy dog face, no one could resist him, especially not Lena, who was now looking for a way to console him.

"Well, you know, the falna's progression is conditioned by our desires, so if you really want magic, it'll eventually appear."

It really was illegal to be so adorable...

Hestia was about to point out that it didn't exactly work like that, but she was cut off by Lena's dark look, which urged her not to break Bell's enthusiasm. The little goddess with the strong lung capacity chose to remain silent and instead began to think in her corner, trying to understand how this human could be so loved in such a familia.

"So, Bell, get up early tomorrow morning, big sister Lena's morning training is starting up again!" said the amazoness with enthusiasm.

While Lena was busy telling Bell about the expedition, another amazoness wanted to do the same with someone close to her heart. Aisha, unaware of the latest developments within her familia during the expedition, had naturally gone to the brothel where Haruhime worked, in order to tell her all about it and check up on her.

She was very surprised not to find her and began to worry, even to panic. It was only after she had scared off a few customers and interrupted two others in the middle of a... sports session that the owner of the place came to find her and explain what had happened.

Aisha learned that Harihume was no longer a courtesan and was now working directly for Ishtar.

The news left her sceptical. On the one hand, she thought it was a good thing, Haruhime hated this job and by fainting, she was giving more work to others. But on the other hand, she found herself under the direct supervision of her goddess. Aisha doubted that Ishtar had done this out of the goodness of her heart, or even out of pragmatism given the fox's disastrous results. No, she must have wanted to keep her close, to make sure she couldn't run away until the moment of sacrifice and to warn off anyone who might want to help her.

But her suppositions collided with another piece of news, the fact that Ishtar was letting Haruhime go freely to the Astral Mansion. The situation was becoming increasingly difficult to understand. Why expose the fox to a boy whose head was full of heroic dreams? What was Ishtar trying to do? It made no sense at all!

Her instinct was to go and break down the Delebat door to ask Bell a few questions, but she changed her mind, thinking it would be a bad idea given the extent to which the goddess was infatuated with the boy.

Instead, she followed Lena the next morning when she joined her for Bell's morning training session.

The first thing that greeted her when she entered the Astral Mansion was the goddess in a maid's outfit staring at her incredulously. Aisha wondered for a moment how such a large rack could fit on such a small body; the gods certainly didn't do anything like everyone else.

The second was Haruhime herself, who looked like the perfect housewife and strangely enough, it suited her much better than her courtesan attire.

"Aisha?"

"I wanted to say hello to you after the expedition, but no one had informed me of your new... promotion."

"There... things happened and..."

"And you didn't have time to tell me, I don't blame you." The sensual amazoness replied before going out into the garden where Bell was warming up under Lena's gaze. The latter was rather surprised to see her Berbera sister appear.

"Aisha? What are you doing here?"

"Nothing in particular, I thought I'd come and help you train him for once."

"Er... all right, but you did receive Lady Ishtar's permission, didn't you?"

The only answer she got was silence and a toothy grin, which quickly worried Lena.

"You did receive her permission, didn't you?"

For his part, Bell wasn't particularly reassured; for him, Aisha was like a magnificent beast, as fascinating as she was deadly, and he still wasn't at ease in her presence. The amazoness approached him and took hold of his chin to look him straight in the eye.

"Since our young friend intends to conquer Haruhime, it is only natural that I should assess whether he is fit to protect her."

" Well, technically, I've never tried to..."

"When I'm in combat or in bed, I'm not one for talking. So get ready boy, the training starts now."

As they had agreed, Bell met Lili in the morning in the central square in front of Babel. When the boy called to her and she turned to face him, she couldn't contain a cry of surprise.

"M-Master Bell! What's happened to you?" she asked, pointing to the young man's somewhat swollen face. It was obvious that someone had bumped into him.

"It's nothing... Spartan training."

The person in charge of the training was shouted at profusely by Lena on the grounds that she had been a little too forceful. Aisha dismissed her complaint with a wave of her hand and left. In reality, she was mostly surprised by Bell's level. Admittedly, he was still a level 1 kid, inferior to her in terms of power, but he had made amazing progress. He was much stronger now than when he fought the silverback.

She needed to become stronger too and she already had an idea. It was this idea that she had asked Ishtar for as a favour.

So the amazoness arrived in front of the workshops of the Goibniu familia, carrying a thick bundle on her shoulder and asking directly to see the god of the familia. Curious, the blacksmith god received her in his private workshop.

"A rather unexpected visit, what do you want Antianeira?"

"It would be for a special order."

"Nothing too surprising." said the god with an amused chuckle. After all, why else would anyone come to see a blacksmith god? "What kind of order exactly?"

By way of reply, the amazoness placed her large package on the table and unwrapped it, revealing an enormous crystal shining in several colours.

"Oh, here's something very interesting. I think I already have an idea where it comes from, but can you confirm its origin for me?"

"It's a crystal that adorned one of the two heads of the amphisbanea, the one capable of repelling magic. Lady Ishtar has generously granted me the favour of keeping it for my personal use."

This was the favour Aisha had asked for, to keep this rare loot for herself, and the goddess had granted it.

"I haven't seen an object like this for a very long time. What exactly do you want?"

"I want you to make a sword from it, on the same model as this one." She said as she unwrapped the rest of the package, revealing her great sword, which was beginning to show many signs of wear. It had originally been a very good weapon, but the fight against the monster rex had not spared it.

"Hmmmm." The god was silent for a moment, deep in thought. "It's certainly possible. This kind of crystal has very special properties. If I mix it with a sufficient quantity of mithril and adamantium... the alloy obtained would make it possible to create a weapon that could protect against magic... or even amplify it..."

"So, it's possible?" said the amazoness, who didn't want to hear all the technical explanations.

"Yes. It's even going to be very interesting." said the god with a mysterious smile. As Ishtar had said, it was difficult for the gods to escape their nature. Goibniu, like Hephaestus, was a craftsman god, he couldn't resist the call of such original and interesting work. "However, such a weapon is also going to be very expensive."

Passionate, yes, but he didn't forget to get the bills paid.

"That's not a worry. Fortunately for me, some people are ready to pay dearly for the company of this magnificent body." She said, striking a pose to show off her advantageous physique. "A small discount in exchange for the chance to check it out for yourself, would you like that?"

She too had a flair for business when it mattered.

The god cleared his throat in embarrassment and replied to the amazoness.

"Sorry, but my forge is the only love of my life. So it'll be full price."

The amazoness laughed amusedly at his statement.

"That's not a worry, my goddess has given me as an addition to my favour to cover the costs of what I would have done with that crystal.

"Well, Ishtar is very generous these days. But never mind, at least I won't have to worry about the bill. Very well, Antianeira, I accept your order, but it's going to take me a bit of time. I'll let you know when it's ready."

"Very well."

The amazoness was about to leave, when one last thing came to mind.

"Just one more thing. If you ever have enough material left over once you've forged my sword, would it be possible to add an extra dagger?"

"A dagger? Well, I'll see then."

"Thank you."

Why make such a request? Aisha herself wasn't sure. She still didn't fully trust Bell. But if Haruhime was getting attached to him, then she might as well use him to protect her.

As for Bell, the Dungeon helped him forget the beating Aisha had given him earlier in the morning. With Lili's encouragement, he let himself be tempted to descend further and further into the labyrinth. A little further and she'd take him where she wanted, to the tenth floor. But first things first.

Bell may have been naive and isolated from his own familia, but he was still a child of Ishtar, a powerful and potentially dangerous goddess. If Lili screwed up, the backlash was likely to be violent.

It was a risky gamble, but Bell was still too tempting a target. If she succeeded, she would have enough to pay for Zanis's boundless greed, as well as a passage away from this town. Growing vegetables in a godforsaken village would be a hundred times better than this shitty life!

The two adventurers left the Dungeon quite early that day, and once they'd shared the spoils, after Lili had taken her little 'secret share', they went their separate ways.

As it was still quite early, Bell decided to drop in at the Hostess of Fertility. There he was greeted by Anya, who was still having fun teasing him in her own way.

"Nya! It's Mr Gigolo!"

"It's really not possible to have another nickname?" Bell asked, somewhat determined deep down to have to put up with this for a while yet.

"Nyope! Even less so now that even Ryuu is talking about marrying you."

Bell couldn't respond with anything other than a cry of surprise at the cat-girl's statement.

"A story about you pouring your lust on her, taking responsibility, that sort of thing."

"I barely held her hand!"

"To an elf? You're even more indecent than I thought, Mr Gigolo. I'd better watch out, before you do the same to me..."

But the young woman was stopped in her tirade by a blow from a tray on her head, generously offered by Syr, who preferred to stop her in her delirium.

"Ouch! Not nice Syr!"

"You'd better get back to work instead of talking nonsense. Unless you'd rather get scolded by Mama again?"

The threat must have had its effect, because the feline damsel withdrew to get back to work.

"Don't pay any attention to Anya's nonsense. As for Ryuu, she'll calm down sooner or later."

Or so she hoped. Even if the elf wasn't the worst possible rival. She was perhaps even the only one with whom Freya could agree to share Bell. And if she let her mind wander a little too much, she could easily imagine the three of them together in the same bed. And not to sleep, of course.

But the false human regained control of her thoughts before they drifted too far and settled Bell in, with whom she shared a convivial moment. A cunning manipulator, Syr easily managed to steer the conversation where she wanted it to go, or almost where she wanted it to go. Bell told her about his days in the Dungeon, but also about the return of the expedition and, above all, about his own expectations, in particular his growing curiosity for magic.

An opening she was able to exploit with ease, explaining that, by chance, a customer had forgotten a book on magic the day before, which the waitresses were keeping until he returned to fetch it. So Syr offered to lend it to Bell.

"I can't do that! What if that person comes back for it?"

"I don't think he'll be coming back for it any time soon, and in the worst case I'll explain it to him.

"I can also ask my goddess."

"Really? I thought you didn't want to disturb her for no reason?"

Syr was playing on the fact that Bell was already feeling very blessed because of the attention Ishtar was giving him when she had a lot of work to do and didn't want to disturb her unduly.

"And I don't know if there are many magic specialists in your familia to help you on this subject." She added to emphasise the point.

The argument was valid. Bell didn't know all the members of his familia, or even just the Berberas, but he hadn't heard of any magicians. Almost all the Berberas were amazoness, and therefore adepts of close combat. Many of them had magic, but as with Lena, it was only a complementary tool. You only had to look at the way Lena herself admitted that she knew nothing about magic. And given the familia's main activity, he expected to find lots of dirty books in Belit Babili's library, or books that dealt more with... horizontal combat tactics.

"Trust me, read it, bring it back quickly and everything will be fine." the young woman urged, thrusting the book into his hands.

If there was one thing Bell had learned about Syr, it was that there was no point in trying to dissuade her when she had an idea in mind. So in the end he accepted the offer and went home.

In the early evening, Bell was alone at the Astral Mansion. Ishtar was busy, her familia was taking up a lot of her time and, contrary to what some people thought, she wasn't glued to Bell all the time. Haruhime wasn't there either. Now that she was in Ishtar's direct service, she had to stay by her side most of the time. As for Hestia, she had left in search of members for her future familia, or else she was at some meeting with other gods.

Fortunately for him, Haruhime had left him a few snacks for dinner. Once he had settled down, Bell moved into the living room of the house and began reading the book. Judging by the title, it seemed to be a book for beginners.

Bell began to read, the beginning talking about the difference between the magics of racial heritage and those given by the falna. So far, it sounded a bit like what Lena had told him, with no real rules and a strong influence from the unconscious.

But as he turned the pages, the words began to distort. Little by little, they formed a face. His own.

"Well, let's begin."

It was a mirror, the mirror of truth, the mirror of his own soul. Exposed, without lies. As he turned the pages, he began a strange conversation with his own unconscious.

"What is magic to me?"

"A mystery, a power, something fascinating."

"What is magic to me?"

"Strength, the strength to overcome my weakness, the power to keep moving forward."

"What form does magic take for me?"

An image came to him, that of his goddess, warm, smiling, energetic.

"Fire. A flame, like her, passionate, exuberant, of infinite energy, a blaze that never goes out."

"What form does magic take for me?"

Another image came to him, that of a starry sky, the one he observed with her on the day they met.

"A star. A shooting star. A ray of light that pierces the starry sky and tears through the darkness, the strength to fulfil one's dearest wishes."

"What do I want from magic?"

"To be stronger. To become her equal. To become faster, so I can catch up with her. Always be faster, keep going and never stop."

"Is that all?"

"If possible... I want to be a hero."

"How childish."

"I know, but..."

""That's what we are!"" the two saw in unison before Bell's mind plunged into darkness.

"...ell...Bell... Bell!"

The young man woke with a shock as he heard someone calling his name. He then realised that the person calling him was his goddess, who seemed slightly worried.

"Goddess?" he asked in a voice that still sounded pasty.

"Is everything all right? This is the first time I've found you asleep on the living room table."

"Oh I was reading this book and must have fallen asleep in front of it."

Bell's first thought was to assume that he was more tired than he thought and that would account for his sudden tiredness.

"A book?"

"Yes, a magic book, my friend from the pub lent it to me and..."

As she listened to Bell, Ishtar grabbed the book and examined it. The white cover was of good quality and decorated, so it wasn't a cheap book. She flipped through the pages quickly, her eyes wide with surprise at what she saw. She then simply put the book down on the table and turned to Bell before putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Take off your clothes."

"Don't talk your usual nonsense with such a serious face!"

Ishtar being herself, she hadn't been able to help presenting things in ambiguous ways even though there was a perfectly serious reason for her request.

A few moments later, Bell was sitting shirtless as Ishtar updated his status. There was the usual progress that defied logic and as she suspected, something else had appeared.

"Bell, you have obtained magic."

"Really?" he asked without trying to hide his excitement. He'd been dreaming of being able to do it for so long.

"See for yourself," replied the goddess, handing him a copy of his status.

It was then that Bell saw the magic he had finally acquired.

Shooting Star: Quick attack spell.

"That's amazing!"

"And also very weird."

"Why?"

"You must already know that all spells have a chant before they can be cast, don't you?"

"Indeed."

"Normally, the chant is written on the status along with the spell description. But in your case it's missing."

"Which means what, exactly?"

"Given this mention of quick attack, it's possible that your spell simply doesn't require a chant to be cast, perhaps the name is enough."

"You mean all I have to do is saying Shoot..."

He was interrupted by Ishtar, who clamped her hand over his mouth to silence him.

" Easy! I'd like you to avoid casting an unknown spell in the house!" said Ishtar before releasing him.

"Sorry goddess," said Bell, a little embarrassed by his mistake.

"Never mind. Do you even know why you got a spell?"

"Erm... a matter of willpower or something to do with my falna... I think." he replied, suddenly unsure of himself.

"Not exactly, it's more thanks to this book." she said, handing him the book. Bell examined the book and discovered to his horror that the pages were now blank.

"G-Goddess! The book."

"This is no ordinary book Bell. It's a grimoire. It looks like a book, but it's actually a powerful magical artefact, allowing anyone who reads it, provided they have a falna, to immediately obtain new magic. An object which, unfortunately, is only used once before becoming unusable."

This information made Bell look even paler than before.

"Erm... by any chance, is it... expensive?

"The prices are in tens of millions valis."

The poor boy collapsed to the floor under the weight of this information, he had just made a monumental mistake... and a very expensive one.

"How am I going to..."

"Calm down, Bell," said the goddess, seeing what he was getting at. "You were unaware of the nature of this object and you didn't try to use it voluntarily. Start by explaining the situation to your friend and apologising for what happened. If necessary, I'll pay it back."

"I... I'm sorry goddess and... thank you."

"No, I'm the one who should apologise. I should have seen earlier the interest you had in magic. I insisted that you do a lot on your own to allow yourself to grow, but I misjudged your speed of progress as well as your desires. And I've ignored far too much the fact that you're alone in Delebat, if you don't count the supporter under contract with you at the moment. Magic is indeed a precious asset in your situation. And I could very easily have procured a grimoire for you myself."

"Goddess..."

"Well, there's no point dwelling on the past, anyway, now it's done. You've got a spell, now all you have to do is test it to find out its potential and its limits. You can do that tomorrow in the Dungeon."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. You weren't planning to rush into the Dungeon and test it straight away, were you?"

The only answer the goddess received from him was a nervous laugh. After all, you couldn't lie to a god.

"Bell, I know you're very curious to test this, but you'll do it tomorrow, go to bed." she said more authoritatively.

"Yes, Goddess," replied the young man.

And he hadn't lied, because he quickly went to bed... before getting up half an hour later to head for the dangerous underground.

"Sorry Goddess, but I really couldn't wait until tomorrow."

So Bell ventured into the Dungeon in the middle of the night. He soon came across a goblin on the first floor. An ideal target for testing his spell. Letting his instincts guide him, he held out his hand, palm open, and spoke in a confident voice.

"Shooting Star!"

A sphere of flame and light appeared in front of his hand and suddenly shot out. The sphere became a ray of light that exploded as it hit its target, vaporising the poor goblin who hadn't asked for anything.

"It's... it's awesome!" cried Bell, bursting with joy. This was magic, real magic, the magic of his heroic dreams. And just as his goddess had suspected, it didn't require any chant. Letting himself be carried away like the child he still was deep inside, Bell began to run, hand outstretched and shouting as soon as he saw a monster.

"Shooting Star!... Shooting Star!... Shooting Star!"

In this way, he cast several spells, regardless of where he was going, or even how deep he had gone. But because Bell had rushed in without knowing the dangers of magic, the unavoidable eventually happened.

"Huh? What's... going on?..." He said as he began to hold his head. He was feeling strangely dizzy and an intense exhaustion was beginning to take over his body. Unable to resist the rapid numbness that overtook him, he fell to the ground and his mind sank into darkness.

This could have been the end of his adventure... and his life, but fate was on his side and the few monsters who were already beginning to salivate over this easy prey fell victim to a bigger predator. More specifically, two adventurers returning from the depths.

As soon as Ais saw the young man, she immediately recognised the boy from the minotaur incident. As for Riveria, she was surprised to see Ais showing an interest in someone, but she thought it was a good thing.

The high elf examined the boy and quickly realised that he had abused his magic to the point of Mind Down, while Ais seemed to be trying to make up for last time's mistake.

No doubt as much out of amusement as out of a desire to help her beloved daughter, Riveria made a strange suggestion, but the swordsman put it into practice anyway. The elf went ahead, leaving the young man to sleep on one of the best pillows there is, Ais Wallenstein's lap.

When Bell finally came to his senses, it took him a moment to realise where he was.

"Mom..."

"Sorry, I'm not your mother..." the beautiful blonde replied prosaically.

"Goddess, is this another one of your jokes?"

"I'm not your goddess either," said Ais, a little offended.

Indeed, Bell quickly realised her mistake, if only because she had the wrong skin and hair colour. He had fainted in the dungeon and was lying there while his idol was giving him a lap pillow.

The poor young man's mind was reeling from a myriad of different emotions. Added to this was a very special view of the young woman's anatomy. The fabric just below her breastplate (cut in a very strange way) was torn, revealing the underside of one of her... sacred hills. Suffice to say that in this position, she was also offering him a bit of fanservice, which wasn't helping the young man to calm down.

As a result, Bell did the only thing he could think of at the time, which was to run away screaming like an idiot.

Leaving the young woman in the lurch for the second time.

Naturally, Bell returned home, hoping that his little escapade had gone unnoticed. But on this night, karma was not his friend and he was greeted by the dark gaze of his goddess, who was waiting for him with bated breath.

"Good evening Bell, can I ask where you've been?"

The question was almost rhetorical, she suspected very strongly what he had been up to.

"Er... goddess, that is..." he began to babble unsurely.

"You're not going to do me the affront of trying to lie to me, are you?" she insisted, approaching him with a smile that had something worrying about it. Realising that he wasn't going to get away with it, he quickly confessed his stupidity and everything that had happened. Naturally, this made Ishtar angry.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU!" she said, grabbing his cheeks and pulling as if trying to test how far she could stretch them. "When are you going to stop playing jokes like that on me?" she shouted in a voice that, despite its anger, also betrayed her concern.

"Sorry goddess!"

"Do you realise that you could have died if the Sword Princess hadn't arrived? And what's more, you ran off without even thanking her! A woman you like pampers you and you run off like an idiot, when are you going to stop being so hopeless when it comes to women!"

"Sorry goddess!"

The poor boy wasn't quite sure what he was being scolded for, but he preferred to apologise anyway.

"Oh no! This time you won't get away with an apology and I'm going to make sure your punishment gets you over that kind of urge."

The young man swallowed nervously, fearing what his goddess was going to come up with. Was she going to try and suffocate him in her chest again?

"Since you're getting on so well with the girls of the Midnight Sigh, tomorrow morning at dawn you'll be in charge of washing all the sheets in the brothel!"

Bell suddenly turned white as a sheet himself and fell to his knees.

"Noooooooo, goddess! Please, not that!"

"And it's not negotiable!"

In this case, we weren't talking about a simple laundry chore, but cleaning the sheets in a brothel, a place where people didn't use the beds for sleeping. At best, they were full of sweat, chamber sports being an activity that easily made you hot, but very often, they ended up soaked in various... corporal fluids, the content and origin of which Bell didn't want to know. Add to that the unpleasant smells and anyone would understand that it was a dreadful chore.

So Ishtar's punishment was indeed severe. Would it deter him from doing it again? Probably not.

For her part, the goddess now had another concern on her mind.

"Damn it, between this, the minotaur thing and my little revenge on her big-mouthed wolf, I'm going to end up attracting too much of Loki's attention. Although... No, actually, this could be a good opportunity," the goddess said to herself as she set off again towards Belit Babili.

For Eina, it was now too late to try and keep a clear line between her work and her private life. At least as far as Bell was concerned. She had become attached to him and couldn't help worrying. What occupied her now was the fact that he was working with a Soma Familia supporter. She couldn't find much about this familia, but the little she did hear worried her.

By chance, her little personal investigation led her to meet a particular person, Riveria. Virtually all the elves and half-elves kept a respectful distance from Loki's magician because of her lineage, even if she didn't want them to. This was also the case with Eina, but to a much lesser extent, as she was her mother's best friend.

They hadn't seen each other for a while and this reunion was an opportunity for the adviser to talk about her current worries. Concerns that Riveria might be able to help her with, inviting her to come with her to the Twilight Mansion.

When the two women arrived at Loki's residence, Eina couldn't help noticing a few strange things. There was damaged furniture, a few broken decorations and marks of blows on the walls. All of this combined to give a rather worrying picture.

"Lady Riveria, have you... have you been attacked?"

It was a legitimate question and Eina was already imagining disaster scenarios. An all-out war with another powerful familia, a resurgence of the Evilus or even worse. However, the high elf's nonchalance didn't seem to indicate any urgency and she quickly understood what Eina was getting at.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. Let's just say it's a joke that started with a chocolate box." She said with a hint of amusement in her voice, as the two women had just bumped into Tione and Tiona, dressed as maids and cleaning up.

To understand the situation, you had to go back to the morning of that day.

Riveria was the first to return, followed by a dejected Ais, who provoked a fit of giggles from the high elf when she explained that the rabbit had run away again.

Only two hours later, someone had arrived at the entrance to the manor. Two women, messengers from Ishtar's familia, who had come to deliver a package on behalf of their goddess.

Loki was a little taken aback by this, wondering what Ishtar could possibly want with her. Sitting in her living room, several of her children had come to see what was going on. Finn, naturally, was curious as a captain to see what the goddess Ishtar could possibly want with their familia. Riveria and Gareth were there too. Tiona had come out of curiosity, dragging her sister and Ais along with her. And Lefiya had also come to see.

The package contained a letter.

"What does it say?" Finn asked when he saw Loki finish reading it.

"Not much, apparently, Ais saved the life of one of her children last night in the Dungeon and she thanks us."

"Well, that's a change from the last time she 'thanked' us." Gareth then said with amusement, referring to Bete's sudden reputation for his... thwarted virility. Even if it had amused a lot of people in the end.

Loki rummaged around a little more in the package, which contained much more than a letter, and began by taking out a bottle of wine, with a note saying that it was for her. And the label said it was a rare wine.

"Ooooooh! What a lovely bottle! There's no denying it, Ishtar knows how to give thanks when she wants to."

The goddess noticed that there was still something in the package and took out a small wooden box, which she handed to Ais.

"According to the note, this one's for you, Aizou."

Curious, the young woman took it and opened it, allowing everyone to see that the box contained chocolates.

"Well, Ishtar looks really grateful. Besides, it's not an amateur's stamp on the box." The goddess pointed to the logo on the small wooden box.

Orario may have been the center of the world, but chocolate was still a very rare delicacy. In a world that was not industrialised and where everything was still done by hand in some sectors, chocolate was naturally rare. Firstly, the cocoa tree only grew in tropical areas a long way from Orario, and secondly, the long and tedious processing meant that only certain craftsmen knew how to work it.

A box of fine chocolates was therefore a precious gift and showed that Ishtar was not kidding anyone.

Ais, who had been obsessed with monster hunting since childhood, had never developed the slightest interest in life's various pleasures, be they clothes, jewellery or anything else. She ate mainly out of biological necessity, the only exception being the interest she had developed in potato croquettes, but that was the only interest she had in life.

However, she still had a little curiosity in her. She grabbed one of the chocolates and put it in her mouth.

And suddenly, the world changed...

What was that wonderful sensation that invaded her mouth and spread through her body? This perfect blend, this delicate balance between sugar and bitterness, this unique taste that she had never experienced before.

Make no mistake about it, jagamarukun, the famous potato croquettes, would always be her favourite food, but now there was stiff competition.

Added to this was a gentle warmth spreading through her body as she let one of the chocolate treats melt in her mouth.

Contrary to popular belief, chocolate is not an aphrodisiac, but it can provoke a reaction similar to sexual pleasure. In a society where people ate kilos of it from childhood, this wouldn't be very noticeable.

But for a young adult discovering it, the effect was powerful.

In short, Ais savoured her gift with great pleasure, under the amused or surprised gazes of the other people present, unaccustomed to seeing her express her emotions openly.

This attracted the curiosity of Tiona in particular, who wondered if it was as good as it looked.

"That looks good, do you mind if I try it?" said the amazoness, reaching for the box, convinced that Ais was going to let her... before the blonde slapped her hand away and gave her a dark look.

The message was clear: it was HER chocolates.

This surprised several people, unused to seeing her react like that, starting with Tiona.

"Hey Ais! Don't be such a cheapskate!" said the amazoness in outrage as her sister took advantage of the distraction to try and sneak a chocolate.

But unfortunately for Tione, Ais pushed the box aside and gave her a dark look. What happened next was rather absurd. Tiona came back to try and get a chocolate and pushed the blonde to flee with her precious treasure.

There followed a chase through the manor around the famous box of chocolates. Ais, escaping the clutches of the Hiryute sisters and other onlookers, all under Finn's vain pleas to calm down, Riveria's jaded gaze and Gareth's amused laughter.

As a result of this mad chase, Ais saved her chocolate box, which she savoured with great pleasure, some furniture was broken and the two amazoness who had initiated the movement were condemned to clean up, dressed as maids.

As for Eina, she didn't know what she found crazier: the story of the chocolate chase, what she had learned about the Soma familia and its famous wine, or having heard the goddess Loki shout that Ais Wallenstein was now level 6.

Or perhaps it was all of the above...

Author's notes:

Well, another very late chapter. I've had two weeks off, so I thought I'd have more time, but in the end I've done everything but write.

But that hasn't stopped the story from attracting a new audience, which continues to surprise me. I've also noticed that my other fic, Grace of Ishtar, has also been attracting people for some time now, which is a strange coincidence...

As for the chapter itself, I'm not going to lie, Shooting Star is just Firebolt with a different name and a slightly different visual effect.

I've been thinking about how to bring magic to Bell and given how a grimoire works in this universe, I felt that even if Ishtar's influence changes certain things, Bell's psyche isn't fundamentally different at this stage of the story for his magic to be drastically impacted.

I do foresee other changes for him, but please be patient, they'll come in their own time.