Chương 183: Bet

After impregnating Gabriel, Alex escorted her back to Misty Manor where he had breakfast with the girls before returning to Tortus. The entire time felt surreal, he was going to be a father.

Though there has always been a possibility of it happening over the last two years, now that it was pretty much set in stone he didn't know what to think. He was forced to put his feelings aside however, when he returned to the hideout and it was time to resume his Haki training. This time he only had Grayfia helping him since she used both magic and close combat, and he sent Rias, Kuroka, and Yue to hunt monsters and gather resources. The tracking spell he placed on Hajime told him that he was still on the floor where he left him, so Alex wasn't too worried about them running into him. Anne on the other hand was still working on reviving the garden, happy to work on such a project.

After a few hours Alex then ended his training and sent Grayfia to train with the other three, while he assisted Anne for a couple more hours. Anne was very glad to have the company, and spent the time they were working together discussing various things about their lives the last twenty years. When it got to the afternoon, Alex went back to Asora to spend time with the girls he didn't get a chance to be wth the day before. Though things didn't progress too far, Alex simply spent the remainder of his day relaxing with them and catching up on what happened over the last two weeks. He did however feel anxious around Gabriel, and tried not to be too partial towards her and let the other girls know something happened.

In this manner the weeks started slipping by, it didn't take long for the girls to get their next job change, and Alex figured they would get at least one more before they left to the next labyrinth while Yue would probably get another one or two. As for Hajime, after over a week on the same floor, he finally started moving again and worked his way down steadily. A month after Alex left him, he finally arrived at the final floor to challenge the hydra. Alex waited on the other side of the giant doors for the fight to end, with no intentions of intervening since he wanted to see if he could fight the monster on his own.

After over an hour of listening to the intense fighting on the other side of the door, accompanied by multiple sounds of explosions, everything went quiet. Alex opened the door, and found both Hajime and the hydra collapsed, the monster having lost all of its heads and Hajime seeming to be barely breathing. Alex walked up to Hajime and his entire face twitched at what he saw, was it fate, destiny, or just shitty luck? He looked around but couldn't find it, so Alex just took Hajime with him as is and called for Anne.

***

Hajime slowly opened his eyes, no his eye, feeling sore all over from the fight. Once he recalled the fight he bolted straight up and looked around, confused at his surroundings. He was now in a bed with bandages all over his body, the last of the medicine he was given used during the fight with the hydra, and there was a very beautiful girl sitting next to his bed. Her skin was a nice brown color and she wore a revealing dancers outfit, something Hajime thought only existed in anime and manga. She was startled when he bolted right up, but soon recovered and asked,

"How are you feeling?" Hajime didn't reply for a second, before he realized he was staring and said,

"I'm fine, a little sore but ok." The girl nodded, and said,

"That's good, I haven't had to heal something so drastic for a while, though I couldn't fix the lost eye or arm you got lucky." At the girls words Hajime's otaku mind immediately imagined a scene of this girl laboring for hours on end to treat him, and possibly what may happen after. The girl seemed to sense what he was thinking, and said with a frown,

"My hearts already taken, so don't get any strange ideas. Also before you see the rest of the area any girls you see here are also taken, so don't do something stupid." Hajime was taken aback by the girls harsh remark, and scolded himself, he thought he was done with this kind of attitude. He then pictured Kaori and hardened his heart, setting his determination to see her again before doing something stupid. He couldn't help but wonder though, who were all the apparent girls here with? I-it couldn't be just one guy, could it? Hajime told himself that wasn't possible, that was another thing that only happened in anime.

He then tried to get out of bed but felt off with only one arm and half his vision to work with. He couldn't help but want to laugh at the irony of the situation, Alex saved him and help heal his broken arm, only for him to lose it later. Thinking about him Hajime became alert, and asked the girl,

"Is there someone named Alex around here?" She nodded, and said,

"He's the one in charge here, and the one all the girls here are with. I'll take you to see him now." She then left, leaving Hajime to dress himself with his one arm, and the realization that all the girls she warned him about did belong to one guy. After several minutes longer than it normally should have taken for him to get ready, he finally left the room and followed the girl. He was worried for a moment when he couldn't find the storage ring with all his remaining weapons, but figured it was with Alex himself, something that bugged Hajime a little even when he knew he got it from Alex to begin with. He was then pulled from his thoughts when the girl started speaking again.

"I'm Anne by the way, and I heard your name is Hajime." He nodded and said,

"That's right, I guess Alex told you." Anne nodded, and replied,

"He also said you have a girlfriend yourself, one who you put your efforts into conquering the labyrinth to see again." Hajime grimaced, but didn't refute her words. He didn't know what Kaori was to him until they saw each other again, but he was determined to meet with her.

As they left the building a small group of girls approached them, making Hajime want to puke blood. They all seemed to be the exact type of women all guys longed for, there was the Crimson haired girl that dressed and carried herself like a high class lady, the black haired girl that had cat ears and two(?) cat tails, and what seemed to be a little girl that had a really mature aura around her to add controversy to her looks. The one that Hajime was paying the most attention to however, was the silver haired maid that seemed to be sizing him up, after all maids were part of pretty much every guys fantasies. The Crimson haired girl and the young girl seemed to be arguing, but stopped so Anne could start introductions,

"The Crimson haired girl is Rias, the cat eared girl is Kuroka, the young looking one is Yue, and finally the silver haired maid is Grayfia." Hajime tried to remember all their names, but his thoughts were interrupted by the Crimson haired girl, Rias.

"Yep yep, Yue only looks young but she's actually a few hundred years old, to think such a young looking girl was actually an old hag!" Yue glared at Rias's words, along with Grayfia. She knew they were simply continuing their earlier argument, but still decided to scold Rias later for her remark. Yue then retorted,

"At least I'm not a cow with useless fat hanging off my chest!" Her comment drew looks from the other girls, but hey decide to let that one go since the two were always arguing. Hajime however gasped at what Rias said, and accidentally blurted out,

"You mean she's a real life Loli grandma!" At his words all the girls directed strange looks at him. Up until now Hajime had fought monsters that would even scare the things nightmares were made of, but he never backed down in the face of them. However the look Yue gave him made him consider going another round with the hydra, before she attacked him with a spell. Hajime dodged and since he didn't have his weapons simply tried to avoid her attacks, until she eventually got him and froze him solid before storming off. Rias started laughing at what happened, until Grayfia grabbed her by the ear and dragged her off for her scolding.

It was already an hour later when Hajime was thawed out thanks to Anne managing to convince Kuroka, and finally went to see Alex again. Pushing the girls that should only exist in fantasies out of his mind, Hajime started to seriously examine the place he was in. Though it seemed bright enough for him to be above ground for the first time in weeks, he almost immediately realized that the sun above them was actually artificial, and they were surrounded by cave walls. As he tried to figure out the complexities of this place, he was brought to a different building than the one he woke up in.

Anne led him up to the third floor, where they finally saw the same figure that saved Hajime's life a month ago. Alex smiled when he saw Hajime, but instead of greetings said,

"Stand over there and we'll talk once you're done." Though he was hesitant about what Alex wanted him to do, Hajime listened anyways since he was outnumbered and outmatched, the Loli grandma showed him that. Hajime moved to the magic circle and watched what the creator of this labyrinth wanted to show those who passed their trials. Though it didn't change his stance regarding this world, it was an enlightening experience for Hajime. Once the recording was done Hajime looked over at Alex and Anne, before asking,

"So do you want my help to defeat these "mad gods" or something? Just to say beforehand I have no interest." Alex chuckled at Hajime's words, and relied,

"Well yes and no, I intend to challenge all the labyrinths and obtain their age of gods magics, something I think you'll find interesting. I'll eventually challenge the gods after I find a way to get to them, but you I would like to work with me as a transmutation master. While I can learn the skills myself, I doubt I'll surpass someone like you who has to rely on their skills to survive, while in comparison I'll simply use it as one of my abilities and never actually manage to master it fully." That was what Alex thought when it came to Hajime, while he could also learn the skills to be a master craftsman he doubted his creations would surpass someone who was raised in a complete otaku environment like Hajime. Plus it would be beneficial to have someone else to do crafting, otherwise he'd be too busy to do anything else, why not have someone who would genuinely enjoy making new inventions all day working for him? Hajime smirked at Alex's proposition, and said,

"I'd refuse but you have me outnumbered, so how about a bet?" Alex smiled as he figured where this was going, and played along by asking,

"What bet?" Hajime smiled, and explained,

"In one week we'll have a fight, just you and me. If I win then I'll do as I please, if you win then I'll follow you as you wish." From what Hajime recalled Alex killed the claw bear in one hit, a feat he believed he'd be able to replicate now. He believed he'd be able to stand against Alex and match him in a duel, if not then the weapons he relied on would give him the edge needed to do so. After all being beaten by that Yue girl so easily was enough to show him that other people could be stronger than him, but he didn't have his weapons and they could give him the edge he needed. Plus with his creation magic he would the next week to be able to power them up even further, and possibly do something about his arm. As the ideas started flowing into his head, Hajime started chuckling evilly again, planning for the upcoming match.

Alex accepted without complaint, as he figured Hajime would be like Vali and need to be put into place before truly submitting. Though he knew Hajime was a master at planning ahead, it wasn't like he knew what Alex was truly capable of, so he wasn't worried.