บท 69: Truly Unexpected
Immediately after hearing these words, an awkward expression crept on Isaac's face and he hurriedly made all of his mana return, deactivating his Eyes of Hermes. With a placating smile on his face, he slightly raised his hands in surrender.
"You misunderstood, Riveria! That was never my intention. I only just learned a new Magic and was eager to try it out."
Conveniently, he didn't mention that even back when he was in the middle of creating it, he had seen far more of the various campsite dwellers' lives than he had ever wanted to. But he couldn't blame them for wanting to 'relieve some stress' when they were alone in their tents' compartments, with 'nobody' being the wiser. He would never knowingly seek out such scenes of self-gratification. Still, it was far from the first time he had come into contact with such matters, so he managed to keep a straight face and completely ignore these scenes.
Contrary to Isaac, the girls hadn't understood what Riveria was getting at because they weren't aware of the mana they had been observed by. They only showed confused looks and stared at the two, clearly not sure what they were talking about. They didn't have to wait long for an explanation, however, as the mother hen was all too happy to let them know about what she had just observed.
"Your new Magic enables you to see everything within a radius of multiple kilometers. Don't think that I'm not aware that our usual bathing spot is also included in that area."
Although Isaac's previous words had sounded genuine and she was aware of his moral character, there was still a chance that when she wasn't around to check whether or not the Magic was currently activated, one of the girls would decide to take a bath, leading to her unknowingly being taken advantage of. It wouldn't matter whether or not it was an accident and Isaac didn't actually want to do it - Riveria didn't believe for a second that he would look away if he happened to stumble across the sight of a beautiful girl bathing.
Isaac felt like cursing when he heard her explanation. The reason for this wasn't that he had been figured out, no. After all, he had never intended to peek on anyone! He didn't even care to do so. Rather, it was the imminent reaction of the girls that he was all but hyped for…
The first one to spring into action was, unsurprisingly, Tiona. She skipped closer and poked his chest playfully, a seductive smirk on her lips.
"Oho~? So you wanted to take a look at our bodies? You could have just told me anytime, y'know? My body is all yours for the taking~"
By this point, Isaac had grown nearly numb to Tiona's attempts at seduction. But even he had to admit that her current words were a new low… or a new high, depending on the point of view.
Before he could reply to her, a shy Elf grabbed his sleeve tightly and looked up at him with a face as red as a tomato. Lefiya's breath had already quickened and she was panicking a little, her eyes turning a little watery. Tiona's words had undoubtedly added fuel to the fire that was her imagination.
"Have you… changed your mind…?"
To almost everyone else, her words wouldn't make a lot of sense, as they didn't know what she was referring to. Isaac, however, did. And no, he was still as adamant about rejecting her as before. By now, the awkwardness on Isaac's face had been replaced by an apparent lack of any particular expression. His eyes turned somewhat lifeless and listless, clearly exasperated at the situation.
To attempt to get some support from his trusted partner, he looked at Ais, but the normally reliable girl had apparently lost herself in delusions of her own. Usually, she would always be able to accurately guess what he was thinking about when they were looking at each other. At this point, they could practically communicate wordlessly, even without the system. But now, she was clearly too distracted by her thoughts to pay close attention to his exact mental state. She was staring at him with a far more heated gaze than he was used to and before anyone could react, she had already appeared at his side and grabbed his arm. With a completely straight face, she then spoke the following words:
"Come, let's take a bath together!"
At this notion, Isaac's disappointment faded a little, but he also felt conflicted. He hadn't wanted to rush this relationship and wanted to give Ais at least a few months or even years to get used to their dynamic. But still, he had to admit that he wasn't particularly off-put by what she had proposed, not at all…
Three loud THUDs interrupted his thoughts before he could decide on a path of action. A second later, he was greeted by Tiona, Lefiya and Ais clutching their heads with a few tears leaking from the corners of their eyes. Next to them, Riveria menacingly held her staff and looked at them with a reproachful gaze. Even though her main stat was Magic, due to the massive difference in Levels, Isaac hadn't seen her move at all.
"How shameless!"
It was clear as day that Riveria was infuriated by their behaviour. Had they acted like this when they were alone with Isaac, she wouldn't have minded it too much, but currently, there were six people here - this situation was basically public, not private. No matter how close they were, they should at least behave appropriately, even in front of their friends.
While Tione was snickering to herself in the background, rejoicing at the others' unfortunate fate, Isaac nodded along with Riveria's words. After all, she was correct. He didn't want to be subjected to such affectionate words and actions in public either - and from two of the girls, he didn't want any romantic affection in the first place!
Speaking of, what was up with Lefiya? According to the system, she only considered him a friend, but she clearly behaved as if she saw him as 'something more'. She wasn't in love with him, but she clearly didn't mind a close, physical relationship. Perhaps it was just youthful curiosity that led her onto such a path… or maybe, she was just too horny. Her behaviour was very out of character for a stereotypical Elf - but at least she wouldn't get taken advantage of, as she only showed this side of hers in his presence, and he was a close, male friend… or, well, whatever the hell he was classified as in that delusional brain of hers.
As Isaac was a little lost in thought and occasionally showing obvious approval for parts of Riveria's scolding, the High Elf in question noticed his behaviour and grew slightly annoyed.
"What do you think you are doing, nodding along like that? Aren't you the culprit who corrupted my girls!?"
Her words left Isaac flabbergasted. While he couldn't deny that the main factor for Ais' rapid change had probably been him, Tiona had already been this shameless back when he first met her. And Lefiya also hadn't changed at all - so how exactly was this his fault? Simply because he became the outlet for their affections? And more importantly, wasn't she forgetting something crucial here?
"Hold up. Weren't you the one who made them imagine me peeking on them in the first place? If it weren't for that, none of this would have happened."
Now it was Riveria's turn to be speechless. And although she was a bit angry at having her misstep pointed out like that, she couldn't deny his words. Thankfully, she wasn't an unreasonable person, so she didn't lash out at him and only heaved a somewhat forced sigh before turning away. Without sparing him another glance, she resumed her scolding of the girls, doing her best to try to educate them on how to properly behave in public.
What she didn't know was that on the inside, Isaac was quite relieved. He had been prepared to face a strike from her staff at any moment and kept careful track of each of her movements. Had she started to take a step towards him, he would have instantly teleported away, as he didn't want to fall prey to her scolding and join the girls kneeling on the ground. Thankfully, he could relax now.
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During the later parts of the night and until the early morning, Isaac returned to the 12th floor and mapped parts of it. Although it wouldn't be entirely unrealistic to do so now that he was using the Eyes of Hermes, his goal wasn't actually to complete his map of the floor. Instead, he planned to finish his Infant Dragon research. As they were incredibly rare, he hadn't encountered anywhere close to enough of them up until now.
Shortly before 4 a.m., he finally finished his research on the lizards. The rest of the time until he had to return to the campsite, he spent searching for and slaying Blue Papilios on the seventh floor. One could really never have enough of their Drop Items.
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At about 6 a.m., almost all members of the expedition party were gathered in a large open area of the campsite. Only the ones who were currently on guard duty weren't here. In front of this sizable crowd, Finn stood on a barrel, his arms heroically crossed behind his back.
"You have all probably noticed that we are slowly running out of supplies, and we've reached close to the limits of what we can bring with us on the journey back to the surface. This time, we had a much bigger harvest than expected, so even though our supplies would still allow us to stay for a couple of days longer, it would be wiser for us to head back as soon as possible, just in case we run into some unexpected trouble. We wouldn't want to be stranded down here without food and drinks."
Nobody was surprised by his words, as the supporter teams had already dutifully reported on this matter a few days ago. Everyone had been mentally prepared to head back and had done their best to spend as much time as they could slaying monsters. After all, every single increase in excelia could make a difference, no matter how small.
"It's time to pack up. We'll set off in an hour! As you know, we have to make it to the 39th floor today, so we can't afford to dally."
Finn dispersed the crowd by clapping his hands. Shortly after, Isaac seamlessly rejoined his supporter team and helped them with their duties. During this expedition, this was his job. He wouldn't behave like a spoiled, arrogant brat and request another position in the party just because the Top Executives had now gained a small insight into his abilities. But more importantly, he had grown quite close to these supporters after spending so much of his time with them - he didn't mind their company.
An hour later, Isaac yet again found himself in a position next to Cedar and Claire, The endless numbers of monsters had already formed a wall completely surrounding the expedition party, but just like before, this barrier of flesh had a bloody path cleaved through it without being able to provide any meaningful resistance.
As so often, a sigh escaped Isaac's lips.
'This is just too boring… but at least it will be over soon.'
There was only one event of note that happened during today's ascent. On the 42nd floor, the Monster Rex, Morhaeon, had finally respawned - just according to plan. It was close to a hundred meters tall and seemed to just grow out of the floor itself. The heat it gave off when it was multiple kilometers away was enough for Isaac to determine that he wouldn't be able to approach it easily in his current state, if at all.
Because Bete had been tasked with watching over the party together with Gareth, the rest of the Executives and Top Executives split off to deal with Morhaeon - and yet again, Isaac couldn't follow any of their movements with his eyes. The only thing he noticed was Riveria casting an AoE ice elemental Magic…
A couple of minutes later, the small group returned to the party, an enormous magic stone and a metal-esque Drop Item in tow. The whole battle was just as anticlimactic as usual. But hey, at least he had been able to take a look at the lava golem once. Now he knew that he needed to prepare sufficiently to be able to resist incredibly hot temperatures. Admittedly, that had already been one of his many plans for the future, so nothing actually changed.
Life as a supporter during a strong familia's expedition… was truly safe and uneventful.
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When Ais, Isaac and Lefiya had just returned to their shared tent in the late evening, suddenly, Claire's voice came from the entrance.
"Isaac, can we come in?"
Because Isaac had noticed three pairs of footsteps approaching, he wasn't surprised at all and questioningly glanced at the two girls, who both quickly gave the okay. Without their approval, it wouldn't have been appropriate to allow others to set foot in their temporary shared residence.
"Please enter."
To Isaac's amazement, the combination of people that appeared was quite unusual and rarely seen. Claire had already been a given, but she had also dragged her partner in mischievousness, Bryce, along. That much wasn't anything weird, but the two were accompanied by Aselina. Leaving this naive girl alone with the two troublemakers… What were the others thinking!?
Even though Isaac was curious, he didn't interrupt the three and let them take a seat at the table as well. He happily ignored their baffled looks - after all, there shouldn't have been a table down here. As the ones partially responsible for everything the party carried with it, they were very well aware of that.
"So, what have you come here for?"
Clearly intent on not answering their questions regarding the elephant - or rather, table - in the room, Isaac showed a somewhat stern smile, changing the topic and snapping the three out of their confusion. It wasn't every day that someone sought him out in private like this - actually, during the entire duration of the expedition, it had never happened before.
"Ah, sorry! I got distracted. Ahem. Actually, we came here because Aselina brought up a question with us that she wanted to ask you - and we would also like to hear the answer to it."
Both Claire and Bryce were unusually serious when the former said this. The latter hadn't even made a single joke since entering the tent, neither did his eyes wander around shiftily.
Seeing Isaac nod, thereby signaling for her to continue, Claire did exactly that and asked him the aforementioned question.
"After the expedition ends, will you still give us pointers?"
For them to ask about this wasn't entirely unexpected. After nearly the whole expedition party had benefited from his training for a while, they were bound to grow used to the comfort of it. After all, he was always able to show them a path forward, a way to improve themselves. Nobody would be happy about losing such a fantastic opportunity to increase their combat skills.
Still, Isaac was fully aware that he didn't have an infinite amount of time every day. He had only helped everyone out because he had been bored and there was nothing much else to do. Once he got back, he would be busy - far too busy to spare the time to look out for people who weren't his students or subordinates.
With that in mind, he resolutely shook his head, causing Claire's and Bryce's moods to plummet before he had even said anything.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I will have a lot of things to do and it's just not manageable to set aside the time. Maybe I'll do it once in a blue moon, but I highly doubt I'll feel like it."
Bryce had a self-mocking smile on his face as he nodded and responded.
"I can't blame you. You'll probably progress much further than we ever will. Honestly, man, I'm grateful for all the help you've provided me with during this time. Not kidding, I'll remember this forever."
Hearing Bryce talk in such a serious manner felt a little weird, but Isaac didn't let it show on his face and reacted with a small smile and a nod. And because it was seemingly somewhat of a tradition to interrupt him before he even gathered his thoughts and formulated his actual reply, Claire stated her thoughts on the matter next.
"Same here. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bummed out about it. But no worries, I understand."
As was the nature of conversations, they often progressed fast and without everyone being able to voice what they were trying to say. Claire's words hadn't even left her mouth for long when a somewhat cold and detached, but innocent voice chimed in. It was Aselina. Her raccoon ears seemed to be a lot less energetic than usual and the light in her eyes had dimmed a bit. It was clear that she was very distraught - although the extent to which it manifested on her face was only a small frown.
"Is there no way to make you teach me again?"
Never before in her life had Aselina had a teacher. Sure, there were senior adventurers that she looked up to that had imparted her with their accumulated wisdom. But compared to the tutoring that she had luckily stumbled across this time, the difference was insurmountable. Was she training harshly every day just for fun? Of course not! She had a goal that she wanted to accomplish at all costs - and for that, she needed strength.
Back when she chanced across Loki, the seasoned goddess had nigh instantly decided to shelter and help her, clearly already used to scenarios similar to the little raccoon girl's situation. Aselina wasn't anyone special - but by joining the Loki Familia, she got a chance to become someone of worldwide renown. Well, it would still take many years for her to reach such a height - if she could even make it there in the first place. She was very well aware of this and now that she had tasted the sweet fruits that were Isaac's pointers, she was unwilling to return to her previous diet.
"I never said that. There are multiple paths that you can choose from that would allow me to teach you. The first one would require you to swear your absolute loyalty to me, the sec---"
"I hereby swear my absolute loyalty to you. May the gods be my witnesses."
[ Aselina Sceaga has sworn her loyalty to you.
Quest 'Have four retainers.' completed. 400 AP rewarded. ]
Isaac wasn't even in the mood to rejoice about the free AP or to take a look at her Status. Rather, he just stared at Aselina, completely speechless. Everyone else in the tent had a similar reaction.
When Bryce and Claire had come here with her, they hadn't expected their longtime friend to suddenly swear allegiance to Isaac! It was completely out of left field. Especially because Isaac had already said that there were multiple options. He hadn't even stopped speaking or taken a pause to breathe yet, for Loki's sake!! Who would interrupt someone in this manner, especially when the clearly milder and better terms were just about to be mentioned!?
On second thought, scratch that. The socially inept ice queen was exactly such a person.
Somewhat embarrassedly, Isaac coughed and showed an awkward smile. He had just been about to offer her to become his student, just like Jakk and Lefiya before her. He had only mentioned the loyalty part because he treasured honesty and transparency, so he laid out all of the options. Never had he thought that she would even consider the one she ultimately chose. After all, unconditionally following someone's orders for the rest of one's life was an enormous commitment. Still, the system had already spoken, so there was no way back now. He could only accept it and move on.
"Well then, I guess I'll be teaching you together with the rest of the students and subordinates from now on. Glad to have you aboard."
In response to his words, Aselina showed a surprisingly solemn expression and bowed deeply, until her forehead touched the table. If there hadn't been an obstacle in the way, she undoubtedly would have lowered her head even further.
"Thank you."
Trying to lighten up the awkward atmosphere after this reverential thanks, Isaac coughed and helped the raccoon girl sit up straight again, then he looked at the two troublemakers with a naughty grin on his lips.
"So, do you two perchance want to follow in her footsteps~?"
Hurriedly, the two shook their heads.
"No way! I like my freedom."
Claire fully agreed with Bryce's words. They both preferred to be exempt from as many restrictions as possible. Their bond with Loki was already a kind of shackle, there was no need to add any more.
Nodding at them, Isaac heaved a sigh of relief. If everyone that he had taught during this time suddenly wanted to become his retainer, he truly wouldn't know how to react. The reason he intended to only teach those following him from now on was exactly because he didn't have too much time. If everyone suddenly became his follower, then that whole plan would be pointless!
This time, he had uncovered a potential major flaw with the system's Retainers feature. What just happened could fall into one of two categories. The first one was that if someone pledged themselves to him, this decision would be accepted by the system, whether he wanted it to happen or not. As for the second one, it would require him to bring up the topic of loyalty first and only when the other person responded would the system accept the pledge. Ultimately that option would also ignore his wishes. If he ever even mentioned the word in passing, it would basically be a time bomb.
No matter which of these the inner workings of the Retainers feature fell into, Isaac wouldn't actually be forced to take care of these subordinates of his. He could just choose to ignore them. But even though he was anything but open to admitting it to himself, he found it excruciatingly hard to completely disregard those that wished to devote their lives to him. Subconsciously, a part of him felt somewhat responsible for them.
All of that aside, a question still remained.
With an intrigued look on his face, Isaac looked at Aselina, this sudden, new subordinate of his. He truly needed a better understanding of her to know what to do with her and to be aware of the motivations that had made her take this step.
"Why?"
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Shiro_the_Hero
Shiro_the_Hero *immature giggling because of the chapter number*
All of that aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter - finally, the return to the surface has begun! \o/
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Shameless self-promotion aside, I hope you have a wonderful, fantastic day!! o/
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