Chapter 16: Becoming Strong
"So, what do you think?" Welf asked as Lucia and Iris moved their limbs and admired themselves in a nearby mirror.
"Wow, you do good work!" Iris said, impressed.
"I like it, this is incredibly well-made and fits perfectly," Lucia said as she checked that her armor was properly fastened.
The two newest members of the Hestia Familia were in Welf's workshop, trying on the equipment the red-headed smith had made for them.
Taylor had, at some point, taken their measurements (neither of them were sure when, or how, but the thought of bugs crawling all over them to do so had them shivering) and given it to Welf, who had made their equipment over night.
As for what the duo wore, Lucia and Iris had been given studded leather armor made from Orc hide with metal studs. It was thick and somewhat heavy, but they were strong enough to wear it without issue. In addition, he had added some belts with pouches that could be worn like bandoliers so they could carry potions and other items and grab them easily.
Welf had dyed the armor a dark red, and combined with the darker metal of the studs, it looked quite good.
"This armor will serve you well on all floors above ten," the blacksmith informed them. "It's light enough to still be able to move around in so you can avoid attacks, and it will also be able to resist or outright turn aside most monsters. Don't get hit by a War Shadow or Killer Ant, though, they'll carve through it with contemptuous ease."
"Understood," Lucia said, nodding her head at the advice.
"What sort of weapons do you have for us?" Iris asked eagerly.
"For you, Miss Bennett, a hand-and-half straight sword," Welf said. "It's identical in form to your former weapon, but I added a bit more metal and weight to the tip to allow you to take advantage of heavier hits."
"Call me Iris," the cowgirl replied as she took the sheathed sword. She then drew it, admiring the blade. "Oh! It's beautiful!"
Taylor agreed. It was a good, reliable sword, and would be able to kill pretty much anything above the 10th Floor, save perhaps War Shadows. Even the carapace of Killer Ants wouldn't be able to resist, and Iris' strength, already impressive before the Falna, had only grown since becoming Level 1.
"As for you, Miss Ramirez, this is your new weapon, a schiavonasword," Welf said, handing it over to Lucia. It had a half basket hilt similar to a rapier, but had a thicker and heavier blade. "It's a kind of broadsword favored by military officers in the Empire as a sidearm, especially the cavalry commanders, though it works just as well on foot and as a main weapon."
Lucia took it, hesitantly at first, but when it was firmly in her grasp she gained a bit of confidence as she drew it from her sheath. She ran through a few sword drills, thrusting and slashing with it to test the balance.
It was quickly apparent that the weapon could still thrust and pierce like Lucia was used to, but also had the ability to slash and cut. The greater weight of the blade itself allowed for superior penetration power, and would serve well in the Dungeon.
"I'll need to train and get used to it, but it feels good in my hand, and it's not too heavy, like I was worried about," Lucia admitted.
"You're Level 1, now," Taylor reminded her. "If you tried to hold it without the Falna it would be much more difficult."
"Good point," Lucia agreed.
"You like 'em?" Welf asked, and the girls nodded.
"They are great, just like the armor," Lucia said with a grateful smile.
"Yeah, this sword is way better than my old one!" Iris nodded. She then blinked, as if a realization had just hit her, and she gasped.
"I just realized who you are!" Iris exclaimed, pointing a finger at Welf. "You're Welf Crozzo!"
"I am," Welf confirmed, his smile disappearing as his expression turned blank.
Confused, Taylor looked between the two.
"And what is so important about that?" Taylor asked. Well, demanded, really.
"You don't-?" Welf began, confused, Iris and Lucia both mirroring his bewilderment. "Oh, right. Foreigner. Man, your home must be really far away to have never heard of the Crozzos. I mean, Bell I understand, he basically grew up in the boonies. I'd have thought you'd know, though."
"Afraid not," Taylor said with a shrug and 'what can you do?' expression.
"Hmm. Alright, well, long story short is that many, many centuries ago, way back when the Dungeon first appeared and monsters ravaged the land, my ancestor, the founder of my family line, was blessed by a spirit," Welf explained. "This blessing gave him the power to forge Magic Swords that were unmatched in power, and nigh indestructible. With these mighty weapons, the survivors drove back the tides of monsters. And this ability to forge Magic Swords was passed down to his children, and their children. And so on, and so forth. No need for a Falna, either. It was a unique trait completely separate from a Divine Gift."
"But people being people, somebody began to abuse the power of these incredible smiths and their Magic Swords," Taylor guessed, already seeing where this was going.
"Got it in one," Welf said with dark chuckle. "It was after the gods descended that it happened. Ares, the God of War, managed to convince one of my ancestors to work for him. And with those Magic Swords, founded the ruthless military nation of Rakia."
"Wait, so this Ares rules an entire country?" Taylor asked in disbelief.
"Sorta," Welf said, wobbling his hand back and forth in a 'so-so' gesture. "He's the God of Rakia, but he leaves the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom to the royal family and his advisors and plays more of a ceremonial role. From what I understand that's a pretty normal set-up."
He then cleared his throat. "Anyways, back to the Crozzos. They helped Ares and his Familia-turned-kingdom win countless wars with their Magic Swords. And slowly, over time, they became… brutal. Cruel. Warmongers and invaders spoiling for a fight. They would attack other countries without any pretexts and conquer them, expanding their territory to encompass a truly vast amount of land. To this day, none have matched it. Not even the Jade Empire to the east, or the Solar Empire in the west."
"But one day, they fucked up. They attacked the Sacred Forest of the elves, where some of the oldest spirits resided, and tried to burn it down for the heck of it," Welf spat in disgust. "Of course, the spirits didn't like their blessing being used against them, so they tore the power to forge Magic Swords from those with Crozzo blood and caused their Magic Swords to stop working. Rakia's invasion stalled, and the army was wiped out by vengeful elves."
"And so Rakia reaped what it sowed," Taylor muttered.
"Yeah," the smith nodded grimly. "They still had a lot of high-level individuals, but without the Magic Swords they were quickly driven out of all the territory they'd claimed, reducing Rakia to what it is today. A small kingdom stuck upon land with soil that isn't suitable for farming with delusions of grandeur. Sure, it's still a militaristic nation, but it cannot expand anymore because Orario stands in its way."
"And Orario, with its dozens of Familias and hundreds of adventurers, some of which are the most powerful people in the world, can easily handle a single country, even one backed up by a god," Taylor muttered.
"Right," Welf nodded.
"But wait, I thought you said the spirits took away the Crozzos' power to forge Magic Swords?" Iris spoke up in confusion. "How come you can do so?"
"I don't know," Welf admitted with a helpless shrug.
"You can forge Magic Swords?" Taylor asked, surprised.
"Wow, you really are clueless," Welf commented, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Uh… I mean…" he stammered, looking at Lucia and Iris for help but found none as they looked away. He'd have to dig himself out of that hole on his own.
"A-anyways! Yes, I can," Welf said, coughing awkwardly. "Forge Magic Swords, that is. Nobody knows why. I'm the first Crozzo in centuries to be able to do so. And it's why I'm in Orario right now."
"Because Ares and Rakia would want to abuse that ability and try to begin their short-sighted wars of conquest again, and so you escaped," Taylor guessed. Welf snapped his fingers and pointed at her.
"Bingo, Bug Girl," he confirmed. "I'm sort of infamous because of it. Elves especially hate me. But it's not like I'll ever forge one of those damned weapons in the first place. So please don't ask, Miss Taylor."
"Why exactly is that?" Taylor asked, confused by his refusal to use his gift. If he had, he surely could have been working for other people.
"Do you know what a Magic Sword is?" Welf asked, already cottoning onto the fact the parahuman didn't know. When Taylor confirmed his assumption with a shake of her head, he frowned.
"Magic Swords are crystalized chunks of raw elemental power and magical energy, sealed into the form of a sword or some other weapon," Welf explained. "However, such weapons are immensely fragile. After unleashing one or two swings they break apart, rendered worthless."
'Reminds me of Tinker-tech,' Taylor thought to herself. Incredibly powerful but unstable and impossible to repair or replicate through conventional means, and only able to be made by special individuals.
"So, Magic Swords break easily. They seem more useful as back-up or emergency weapons than something used in everyday combat in the Dungeon," Taylor hummed.
"But Crozzo Magic Swords are much more durable than regular Magic Swords made by other Blacksmiths," Iris piped up. "They can be used a dozen times, easily!"
"I'll never make one, though," Welf spat. "They've brought my family nothing but pain and misfortune. Not to mention, their gravest sin is that Magic Swords always break right when their wielder needs it!"
"Wait, so the reason you don't like Magic Swords isn't because of their horrendous potential for destruction, but because they are too fragile?" Lucia asked incredulously.
"That's right. A weapon that breaks on its user is not worthy of being used! And a weapon that can be only used a few times is worse than worthless!" Welf declared, hands clenching into fists.
"That's something of a foolish mindset," Taylor said, shooting Welf a disappointed look. He gave her a frustrated look in return, clearly annoyed by her opinion.
"Welf, weapons break. That's a fact of life. Even so-called 'unbreakable' weapons imbued with the Durandal enchantment can be destroyed," Taylor told him. "If weapons were unbreakable, blacksmiths like yourself wouldn't be needed. At least not in such numbers. You are restricting your skills and abilities, and making things harder for yourself. Not to mention there are plenty of one-and-done weapons. Bombs, for instance. They're made to be used a single time, after all."
"That's…" Welf began to protest, but Taylor raised her hand to forestall him.
"However, in the end, it is your power, and thus yours to do with. If you don't want to forge Magic Swords, then don't forge them. Neither I, nor the Hestia Familia, will ever pressure you to do something you're uncomfortable with."
Taylor glanced towards Iris and Lucia. "The same goes for you two as well. If you ever feel like an order I've given is the wrong one? Let me know. I won't force you to do something you feel is wrong, understood?"
"Right!" Lucia and Iris said in unison.
"Welf, I hope someday you can overcome… whatever this is," Taylor said, looking at her Familia's contracted blacksmith. "Until then, you'll just have to settle for making non-magical weapons for us."
"I- yeah, I can keep doing that," he said with a nod.
"Good. Iris, Lucia? It's time to train and get used to your new equipment," Taylor declared. "Welf, meet us at the church tomorrow at seven in the morning for teamwork practice. Don't make send Chris or Anne to pick you up."
"I'll be there," Welf replied with a shudder of fear at the aches and pains tomorrow would bring.
Iris and Lucia shared a nervous look with each other. Were they perhaps getting in over their heads with this Familia?
'How bad can it be, though?' they wondered, blissfully unaware of what was in store for them.
111 &&& 111
"Are you ready?" Taylor asked everyone. Bell, Lili, Welf, Iris, and Lucia all stood in the church's yard facing her while clad in their armor but wielding wooden training weapons.
Nods were the only response she got, and a tiny smirk flickered across her face before her vanishing. "Remember, teamwork, and no Skills or spells for this round," she said, before raising her hand.
The swarm responded, buzzing and clicking loudly as it rose up and formed several small, child-sized clumps. These short bug clones were mimicking Goblins and Kobolds, and began to advance onto the five adventurers.
Whenever one clone was 'killed' it would collapse and disperse, but would reform elsewhere. Each clone would also drop a polished pebble to simulate the Magic Stones. It was a disturbingly accurate recreation of the Dungeon, what with the endless tide of enemies to fight.
Forced to work together, the party quickly learned how each other fought, and where they would serve the best in the line of battle. Welf and Iris quickly took over the role of Tanks, standing at the front and eliminating large swathes of foes at once. Lucia and Bell were faster on their feet and would move quickly around the battlefield, flanking and attacking the 'monsters' that were distracted by the Tanks.
Meanwhile, Lili took up a place behind the Tanks, letting them protect her while she provided support in the form of crossbow bolts and occasionally darting in with a knife to take down 'wounded' opponents and to snatch up the fake Magic Stones.
There were some problems, of course. Iris and Welf would occasionally get in each other's way, same as Lucia and Bell. Lili would also be forced to move out of the way quickly whenever the two Tanks ended up forgetting she was nearby or got too focused on the monsters in front of them to remember to watch their rear.
But the quintet learned quick, and picked up on their companion's tells, along with their strengths and weaknesses. Welf and Bell were able to coordinate and work together better more often than not, same as Iris and Lucia naturally joining up with each other, and Lili was skilled at jumping between the pairs as needed.
'Bell's leadership skills are improving as well,' Taylor noted. 'He's getting better at delivering orders and obtaining information about the battlefield quickly and on the fly. And Lili's ability to mesh with different groups at the drop of a hat is impressive as well. A result of her life as a Supporter, or thief? Or perhaps a combination of both?'
Whatever the reason, Lili was proving to be a vital part of the party.
"Gonna join in the fun any time soon, Bug Girl?" Welf asked in a joking tone as he cut apart three clones.
"Yes," she said shortly, and he blinked, before blanching.
"Uh, on our side, right?" he pleaded. "Right?!"
"What do you think?" she asked as she grabbed a wooden dagger before striding towards them, the swarm exploding into motion around her.
Welf winced as everyone shot him annoyed glares, but didn't have time to admonish him as several of the bug clones began to grow in size and move faster. Now they were acting like Dungeon Lizards, Frog Shooters, and War Shadows along with the Goblins and Kobolds.
Taylor did show them some mercy as the parahuman started to fight with them, though. After all, it was a teamwork exercise, and it would only work if all of them were working together.
Her combat abilities suited the backrow better, and she joined Lili in supporting the other four from behind. Even without Chris or her other monsters Taylor was still a competent fighter. It was a bit weird to be fighting against her own swarm, but the point was to learn to coordinate with her party after all.
Three hours later, all six adventurers slumped to the ground, tired and exhausted after their work out. Even Bell, who was now Level 2, couldn't completely escape the weariness from being trained by Taylor.
"We did well this session," Taylor said as she grabbed a canteen from a pile on the ground. "Grab some water, and rest up. We'll have lunch in a little bit as well. Hope you like sandwiches."
Chris approached them, carrying picnic baskets in his claws. He dropped them at Taylor's feet, who opened them up, revealing dozens of sandwiches.
"Are these from the Hostess of Fertility?" Bell asked, recognizing them from the times Syr had given him lunchboxes.
"Yes, I didn't have time to make everything this morning so I bought these from the Hostess," Taylor confirmed. "Your girlfriend Syr was quite eager to make them for you."
That caused Bell to blush bright red and stammer a denial, while Iris and Lucia leaned in, intrigued by the gossip.
"Oh? Does the Lucky Rabbit have a special someone?" Iris asked, a teasing lilt to her voice.
"S-she's just a friend!" Bell protested.
"A friend who offers to make you sandwiches," Lucia said with a grin.
"Lili thinks it's cute," the pallum said with a smirk, though there was also a hint of envy and longing in her tone.
"Yeah, the way she flirts with him is great entertainment," Welf laughed.
"Syr's not flirting! She's just trying to get me to buy more food, is all!" Bell denied. "And it's not cute! Or funny!"
"It is, though," Taylor drawled, and Bell spluttered at that. Eventually, he realized he wasn't going to win, and just grabbed a sandwich, eating it sullenly with a pout.
"Dang, he really does look like a rabbit when he does that," Iris muttered, watching the Level 2 eat.
"I know!" Lucia agreed, and Welf and Lili both nodded along.
"Eat up," Taylor urged everyone as she grabbed herself a sandwich. "There's enough for everyone."
At that, the rest of the party turned their attention to lunch as well, devouring the food with gusto after the harsh training they'd just gone through.
Thankfully the sandwiches were light and didn't sit heavily in their stomachs, so after half an hour of rest and digestion they were able to stand back up onto the feet, ready to begin again.
"Will we be using our Skills in this next round?" Bell wondered.
"Yes. Bell, you're limited to two clones. Welf, your task is to use your spell to try and negate Bell's clones," Taylor instructed.
"Can my Will-o-Wisp even negate them?" the smith wondered.
"Even if you can't negate Skills, it's important to learn how to aim with it. It's slow and requires precision," Taylor pointed out. "Besides, I believe it might be possible. Bell said you were able to take out a Bad Bat when it was using its sonic wave attack, and could cause an Ignis Fatuus, or Spell Failure, on a Hellhound before it could use its fire breath attack. That means that you can at the very least disrupt things that are powered by magic or some other form of energy. And monsters and the Falna are both examples of non-standard uses of magical energy."
"Huh, good point," Welf said, blinking to himself as he realized that yes, his Skill did work against monsters as well as actual spells.
"Lili, I want you to practice your Cinderella Skill," Taylor requested. "Be sure to swap between forms you usually don't use. Even the monstrous ones. That will help the party to learn how to identify targets on the fly and also learn how to pull their punches and avoid hitting people."
"Understood," Lili said, though she looked a little nervous.
"I will watch over you and ensure nothing happens," Taylor promised, and Lili sagged in relief at that. "Now, Lucia and Iris, since you don't have any Skills or magic yet, your task will be to back up the rest of the party. I will occasionally have the rest of us pretend to experience Mind Down so you can get a bit of experience with that."
"Got it, boss!" Iris said while Lucia nodded.
"Wonderful, let's begin, then," Taylor declared, and her swarm rose up again.
"Let's do this!" Bell cried out, his friends echoing his battle cry with shouts of their own as they clashed with the tide of bugs.
It was four in the afternoon when Taylor finally ended the grueling training session, letting the party slump to the ground and rest after several hours of non-stop fighting.
"Well done," Taylor praised. "We're finished for now. The rest of the day is yours."
"Y-yay…" Bell said, weakly raising his fist into the air. Everyone else was too tired to respond.
"Lucia, Iris, if you wait a bit, Hestia should be back in an hour, and she can update your stats," Taylor said.
Quite a few things were learned in this session. First off, when they could use everything at their disposal, the party was scarily effective.
The swarm couldn't touch Bell's clones, since the lightning would fry any bugs that landed on them. And, everyone learned something new as well. The method the clones used to sense their surroundings allowed them to pick out individual insects within the swarm. The two clones always managed to accurately tag and eliminate the bugs holding the fake Magic Stones.
And that wasn't even going into what Bell could do with his new Skill, Argonaut. The wind-up time was rather long, as three-minutes was practically an eternity on a battlefield, but Bell was learning how to be able to move when it was charging, so his speed and agility worked in his favor.
Bell also didn't have to charge it all the way up before activating Argonaut. He was able to partially charge it to release smaller and weaker spurts of power, though they were still capable of letting the white-haired Level 2 move even faster than normal and strike harder in short bursts.
However, it was his Skill, Jupiter Ascendant, that showed the most benefit from Argonaut. If allowed to charge to full power before he summoned a single clone, said clone would be as powerful as Bell himself, and not suffer from reduced stats. It only worked on one clone at a time, but it still meant that Bell could bring a second Level 2 to the field.
Bell was not the only one to learn new things thanks to the training session. Welf discovered that he could, in fact, use Will-o-Wisp to negate the effects of Skills as well as spells. If he managed to hit one of Bell's clones, it would destabilize, causing it to explode. Not fun to experience up close, but a good thing to learn all the same for the future.
Welf's spell could also undo Lili's Cinderella transformation, which was an interesting tidbit to learn. If Welf trained more, and could practice against different kinds of abilities, could he potential be able to temporarily negate Developmental Abilities or even the Falna itself?
A mystery to explore another time, but still something that Taylor was very interested in. Curiously, it didn't seem like Will-o-Wisp did anything to Taylor's Shard and control over her swarm. Maybe there was a brief stutter or lag or something, but if there was, then it was too short to even notice.
'But then again, that makes sense,' Taylor thought to herself. Her parahuman powers operated off a completely different system compared to the Falna, even if it did seem to synergize with it, like when she was able to bestow a 'Skill' onto Bell. Taylor had Triggered. Bell hadn't, and his Skill used up Mind where hers didn't. That seemed to be the main difference between them.
She spared a look at the rest of the party. While Lili, Iris, and Lucia hadn't shown as much improvement, their fundamentals were getting more refined. They were also better at working together in a team than Welf or Bell were thanks to training together beforehand. Which made sense, as both boys were far more used to operating solo till only recently. It was a work in progress.
"Can we take a shower?" Lucia asked hopefully, shaking Taylor from her thoughts.
"Go ahead and use the bathroom in the church," Taylor replied.
"Lili thinks we should go to the bathhouse," Lili suggested. "Lili doesn't want to stew in her own juices while we wait for the chance to use the church's bathroom."
"Hmm, good point," Taylor hummed. The church had only a single bathroom and it could barely fit the bathtub and toilet in the same space. No way more than one person could fit inside at a time. "Alright, leave our weapons and armors here, and we'll go to one of the bathhouses."
At that, the group managed to get back to their feet and headed off as a group to the nearest bathhouse. Orario had an interesting mix of cultures, many of which had some sort of culture involved with public bathing. This meant that there were several such establishments throughout the city. Some were cheaper than others, a few were exclusively for the 'gods,' and a couple were used primarily by adventurers.
Bathing with others in a Roman or Japanese style wasn't something Taylor was used to as an American, though she could handle it. Communal showers when she was in the Wards and high school had taught her how to deal with the concept.
The bathhouse Taylor led the tired and sweaty group towards was one of the better ones she'd scouted out in the past. It was clean, relatively cheap, and also had a laundry service where clothes could be washed for an extra fee.
"Here," Taylor said, tossing Bell a pouch of valis. "Pay for the laundry service as well."
"Got it, Miss Taylor!" Bell nodded. With magic tool washers and dryers, their clothes would be cleaned and ready to be worn again when their bathes were done.
Stepping into the girl's side of the bathhouse, Taylor, Lili, Iris, and Lucia undressed, tossing their clothes into baskets.
"Aaahhh!" Iris sighed happily as she slipped into the warm water. "This feels nice!"
"Taylor, do you want some help doing your hair?" Lucia asked, and after a moment the dark haired parahuman nodded.
"Yes," she replied. "I usually use my swarm to help me with that, but I felt that might a bad idea to do that in here."
"Eww," Lili said with a grimace.
"Bugs and the like aren't any dirtier than a person is," Taylor replied, a little offended on behalf of her swarm.
"It's not the dirtiness, it's the fact they have too many legs," Lili said. "That is why Lili doesn't like them."
"Ah. Fair enough," Taylor shrugged. She'd gotten over her own instinctive aversion to insects, spiders, and so on surprisingly fast, but she understood why some people would be disturbed by a mass of tens of thousands of small critters suddenly crawling all over them. 'I wonder if QA had something to do with that?'
There was no response. Expected, she supposed, but it was a bit annoying for her Passenger to only answer whenever she felt like it.
Once they were done bathing and their clothes were washed, the group returned to the church, stopping at the market place to buy food for dinner. And since adventurers could eat a lot, everyone had to help carry the bags back.
Hestia was waiting for them when they entered the living room, and she smiled happily in greeting.
"Welcome back!" she called out cheerfully.
"We're home," Bell replied with a smile.
"Did you have a good day of training? Taylor didn't break you, did she?" Hestia asked. She then sniffed the air. "And did you go to the bathes?"
"We went to one of the bathhouses after our training sessions," Taylor informed her. "And no, they didn't break. I made sure they wouldn't."
"Awww! You should have waited! I'd have gone with you!" Hestia whined.
"We were rather ripe, Lady Hestia," Lucia said with an apologetic tone.
"Well, whatever. What's done is done," the twin-tailed girl said with a shrug, and then she grabbed Bell's hand. "Let's see how you much you've grown today!"
Everyone in the Hestia Familia got their Falna updated while Welf and Lili discussed adventurer stuff. Mainly going over Lili's future suit of armor, which according to Welf would be ready soon.
"Are our Stats supposed to go up this much after just a few training sessions?" Lucia wondered in disbelief as she looked over her Stat sheet as she left the bedroom. Five points in Power and Endurance, and ten in Dexterity and Agility! That was a lot, right? Especially after only two days of being in the Familia!
"No," Lili replied to her in a dull, dry tone. That single word carried a huge amount of unspoken meaning behind it, and Lucia frowned a bit.
Iris wasn't worried, though. In fact, she was excited to see her numbers grow so fast. She'd gotten a twelve in Power, ten in Endurance, while her Dexterity and Agility had only gone up by four each.
"When are we going into the Dungeon?" the cowgirl asked Taylor after looking over her stat sheet.
"Tomorrow, all of us are going into the Dungeon," Taylor said. "You, Iris, and I will stay above Floor Five. Bell, Lili, and Welf will accompany us until then, after which they'll head down to Floor Thirteen to survey the area."
"W-we're heading all the way down to the Fifth Floor?!" Lucia gasped.
"We'll see," Taylor replied. "Probably not, but I do want to see how well my training helped you two."
"We won't let you down, Miss Taylor!" Iris promised.
"I know you won't," Taylor said. "Now, are you two staying for dinner?"
Both girls nodded eagerly, and Lili smirked a bit at that.
"Two more souls ensnared by the cooking skills of Miss Taylor," the pallum laughed.
"It sounds like someone doesn't want an extra serving at dinner tonight," Taylor said, and Lili paled.
"Lili is sorry!" she said. "Please don't take away Lili's food!"
"Don't bully Lili, Miss Taylor," Bell scolded.
"Fine, fine," the parahuman shrugged. "Now, I need help slicing these vegetables for the stir fry. Who wants to help?"
'This is nice,' Taylor thought to herself as the Hestia Familia prepared dinner. Food always tasted better with friends, after all.
Things were going well so far. Yet she couldn't help the niggling thought that something bad was looming on the horizon.
'If anyone tries to hurt my family, they will pay,' Taylor vowed. There was nothing else to say, really. All threats would be dealt with. One way or another.