章節 78: 23
Part Twenty-one
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In the grand scheme of things, Liliruca Arde's appearance in my life was nothing more than random chance. I was in the right place, at the right time.
Thinking back on it, it could not have been otherwise. Lili was never a person I could have sought out. She spends most of her time as someone other than herself, stealing from adventurers in order to one day put together enough money to leave the Soma Familia. How was I to find her exactly? I could seek out the Soma Familia, but why would Lili have considered joining an Adventurer who asked for her specifically? What justification did I have for that?
Nothing.
Unlike Hestia, who I could have reasonably found even without my tutorial quest, Lili would never show up in my life except on her terms. Or by a random encounter in the Dungeon. And I likely wouldn't have known if she did.
I had considered what I might do if I encountered her, but only a little. I didn't expect to see her for weeks, if ever. I still expected things to happen on canon's timeline, if only subconsciously. So when the pallum girl appeared in front of me, I was shocked.
In that moment I had to make my choice. I didn't have time to think it over, to carefully consider all the pros and cons.
Either say yes, and take a chance on Lili despite the risk she posed. Or say no, and lose the chance forever.
Turning her away was the safer choice. This is undeniable. But I didn't want to turn her away. Call it waifu-bias, call it white-knight syndrome, it didn't matter. I wanted to take the chance on her.
I simply put into motion the bare-bones plan I had devised in the little time I had spent thinking about the possibility of meeting Lili.
By comparison to Bell, I had one huge advantage. I didn't have a Hestia Knife. That sounds like a disadvantage, but in this case it isn't. I had no big-ticket, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Lili to get out of her shitty Familia by betraying me for immediate profit.
What I did have was Drop Crystals. Lots of them. And no intention of screwing Lili out of her share of the money. If I consistently made too many Drop Items appear, perhaps I could convince Lili it was some kind of Rare Skill.
I could make myself her golden goose. Her one-man ticket to enough money to buy her way out of the Soma Familia. To risk that for the short-term gain of stealing my weapons or something would be foolish in the extreme, and Lili was rarely foolish. There were many words to describe her in canon, many of them not exactly flattering, but foolish and unintelligent weren't two of them.
There was a risk that she might sell knowledge of my apparent "Skill" to someone. A non-zero chance that would certainly be a right mess to deal with. But I thought it unlikely. It was risky for her too, riskier than keeping quiet and reaping the benefits of my "Skill" herself.
And it seems my hastily slapped together plan worked.
Lili had immediately shown her talents as a supporter. Every monster's magic stone was carved out with speed and efficiency that put Oki's lessons to shame. And her timing was impeccable while I fought. Whether it be stepping forward in a gap in the fight to drag a monster's body out from under my feet, or the situational awareness to call out the presence of monsters arriving from a side hall, or a bolt from her crossbow that kept a monster from flanking me successfully, somehow Lili was always in the right place at the right time.
Adventurers abused this? I was finding myself baffled the more I thought about it. Did they just not see it?
Lili was showing off a master-class in how to support an adventurer, and made it look like it was as easy as breathing. But after spending two days supporting the Takemikazuchi Familia, I had a vague idea of just how hard this sort of timing and skill was. Being a supporter sounded easy on the surface, but it had its own intricacies.
With Lili's help the speed with which I was able to move from fight to fight increased drastically. So when I proposed that she stay on more permanently with me, I was perfectly pleased to hear her accept. And not only because I wanted to help her, but because she had already proven to me her value in the Dungeon.
Two copies of our contract sat before us on a table in the Guild, written by a Guild employee to our specifications, a pretty young human girl with red hair. It wasn't a complicated contract, nothing like the sorts I had seen back on Earth. It took less than two pieces of parchment for the whole contract, laying out our duties and responsibilities, how drops and money are to be split, and how that split changes if additional party members are added, that sort of thing.
I signed mine and Lili hers, before we switched copies and signed the other's.
"Welcome aboard, Lili," I said.
"Lili is thankful too," she replied, really playing up the downtrodden waif to me.
I'll be entirely honest, given her short stature and that monstrous backpack she carries, it was sometimes hard to remind myself she's not exactly who she's presenting herself as to me. I was lucky Lili had approached me out of disguise, because if she had been under disguise and using a false name, I simply would have turned her away with hardly a second thought.
Lili's unique circumstances in many ways made her a safer choice for my secrets than a traditional supporter would have been. As long as I continue to be Lili's best source of progress towards her goals, my secrets will remain safe.
"Mister Blair will be going into the Dungeon again tomorrow, right?" she asked.
"I will," I agreed. "Shall we meet in front of Babel? Or would you prefer somewhere else?"
"Perhaps Lili could meet Mister Blair in front of the Guild?" Lili replied. "If it isn't out of the way for you?"
"That's fine," I agreed. "It's on my way from home."
"Then Lili will meet Mister Blair here. Just after dawn?"
I shook my head and motioned to the clock. "Around 9 o'clock would be better. I have some training to do in the morning." I'd have to see about scheduling weapon training with the Takemikazuchi Familia in the evenings on off days, either that or start leaving the Dungeon later in the evening.
"Lili understands. She'll meet Mister Blair at that time."
"You know you can just call me Blair," I said.
Lili looked shocked. "That wouldn't be right. A supporter must show proper respect for her adventurer. Mister Blair is the best Lili can do."
I shook my head sadly. "If you insist."
"Lili does."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow, Lili."
She nodded, giving me this happy smile that if I didn't know better would have fooled me completely. I know full well she doesn't like me yet. If her smile is genuine, it's only because I'm a goldmine to her. That is something that can only be changed with time.
I reminded myself of that as I watched her tiny form disappear out the doors of the Guild and into the crowded street beyond them. I turned further into the Guild Hall, to go see my advisor.
Miss Eina was quite pleased to hear I had hired a supporter. In no small part because I omitted any mention of how deep I had gone with just myself and a supporter. I had no particular interest in opening that powder keg, and I had the perfect excuse for focusing my attention, and thus Miss Eina's lessons, on the deeper floors, in the form of my own supporting of the Takemikazuchi Familia and our upcoming trip.
"Please remember to be careful with your supporter," she told me. "Remember that you aren't just responsible for yourself now. Your choices can get more than just you hurt or killed if you try to bite off more than you can chew."
"I'll be careful," I said. But really, it wasn't me who needed to be careful for Lili. I needed to be careful of Lili, if only for the moment.
With that, Eina's attention turned to drilling into me the characteristics and dangers of the monsters on the Tenth Floor of the Dungeon.
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It was on my way home to see Hestia that I found myself at a loss. A complication I hadn't even considered creeping up on me like a predator in the night.
What was I supposed to tell Hestia? After our talk about how important it was to keep my abilities secret, how was I supposed to justify my decision to hire what is to all outward appearances just a random supporter who approached me?
It struck at the heart of something that had been bothering me.
Just what did my admittedly limited metaknowledge of this world mean for me? More specifically what did it mean for me and my burgeoning relationship with Hestia?
Was it time to just come clean about it? And if so, how?
I just didn't know.
Not telling Hestia about Lili wasn't really an option. I could do so, it was within my ability to simply not mention it, but that was worse. This thing I had, that I wanted with Hestia, it couldn't be built if I deliberately hid things that affected her and me.
If I had wound up somewhere else, if I didn't desire the love and affection of a goddess who could sense lies, maybe I could have buried the truth about my nature. But I didn't.
That was the answer, wasn't it? If Hestia was important to me, if I wanted this relationship to be real, to have a chance at being the real deal, then I simply had to explain.
In a real way, going any further than we had gone would be under false pretenses. Hell, what we had done already was too much.
I stopped outside a slightly rickety looking bar and watched some patrons with their alcohols of choice.
Being drunk sounded really good at the moment, despite the fact I had never consumed more than a sip of alcohol in my life. Facing Hestia with what I had to say sober sounded terrible, and being less than sober sounded marginally better. But I turned away and kept walking with a stiff jaw.
I had to man up. If I couldn't tell Hestia the truth about me after everything else she's already seen about me, and despite her desire to have a genuine relationship with me, then I was letting my selfishness do my thinking.
Maybe telling Hestia will blow up in my face. Maybe she'll feel I took advantage of her. But it would be a hundred times worse if she found out only after doing something more for me, whether that be sex or not.
Be a man, Blair, I told myself as I opened the door down to our shared basement.
"Welcome home!" Hestia's excited greeting met me as soon as the door swung open.
"I'm back," I said, setting down my gear and letting Hestia come up to help me remove my armor.
"How was the Dungeon?"
"It was good," I replied. "But we need to talk."
Her hands paused on my back, where she was undoing the straps for my breastplate.
"What about?"
I swallowed nervously.
"It's complicated." God give me strength to not screw this up.
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'We need to talk' are not words a woman wants to hear from her man. Not in that tone of voice. Following that with 'It's complicated' did not help Hestia's increasing heart rate.
There were a great many things that could have been said after that, as Hestia helped Blair get out of his armor in silence. Blair seemingly collecting his thoughts - and his courage - to tell Hestia something he felt she wouldn't like to hear. And Hestia was just trying to focus on what she was doing and not imagining all the horrible things Blair could be about to say to her.
Like 'I'd like you to let me leave'. As long as it wasn't that, Hestia could deal with it.
That's what she thought. They sat together on the couch, facing each other for what seemed like forever, before Blair finally worked up the determination to say what he had to say.
Hestia was not at all prepared for it.
Once Blair started talking, everything came out in a stream of consciousness. It was an utterly impossible story, about a man from another world, a work of fiction, and a very real world that the fiction seemed to reflect.
It was entirely impossible.
And yet.
Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth. Truth.
No matter what he said, no matter how outlandish the claim. It all rung true to her. He never told a lie.
Her divine intuition worked on him. She knew it did, she had felt lies or omissions from him before. But here, while there were still omissions from time to time, not a word was something he didn't believe to be true.
Truth.
Either Blair was the most completely insane mortal to have ever existed, so utterly deluded that he could believe to be true anything with absolute certainty… Or he was telling the truth as he experienced it.
Truth.
Her mind flashed back to that first day. 11 days ago, when she was crying in an alley and Blair had approached her. Walked her home, volunteered to join her Familia. A Familia with no money, no infrastructure, absolutely nothing to offer.
'I would.' That was what Blair had said. He would join her Familia.
Now she understood the why. Why he had no interest in going to another Familia for their benefits.
He had sought out Hestia. Not Loki, with her incredible Familia of heroes. Not Freya, who might have molded him into a hero of legend. He sought out poor, destitute goddess Hestia.
Because he wanted to be her first Familia member. He already knew who she was. He knew she was lazy, and had a bit of a temper. He also knew she was willing to do her best for the hero of the story he knew, and wanted that same thing from her.
It was like a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The weight of those doubts that she was worthy of this mortal child. They evaporated, like the rain after the sun comes out.
"Hestia?" Her strange, wonderful man's voice cut through the fog of her racing thoughts. "Please don't cry."
Was she crying? Her finger went to her cheek, and sure enough, she felt the wetness of tears. So she was.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," he continued, not at all understanding that she was happy. "And I didn't mean to take advantage of you either. I'm sorr-"
Hestia jumped at him to cut off his stupidity and mashed her lips against his.
So what?
So what if he came to her because of a story. He's here now, in her Familia. He didn't leave when he was confronted with the real Hestia. She still remembered the shivers that went down her spine when he told her he wanted a genuine relationship with her, and not just her body, and it pinged as truth.
Blair never managed to kiss her back.
"Did I break you?" she asked, blinking her teary eyes.
"H-Hestia?"
"You're so dumb." She leaned forward to kiss him again, and this time she felt him respond, wrapping his arms gently around her back and kissing her back.
"You don't care?" he gasped out as she was forced to come up for air.
"Of course I care," she snapped, slapping his chest for emphasis. "I care that you picked me. Why didn't you go to Loki? Huh?"
"I almost did go to Loki."
Truth.
"But?"
"I wanted you more." he said, looking away like it was something he was ashamed of.
"Exactly," she said and laid her head against his chest.
It didn't matter that some being that was probably as far above her as she was above a mortal had plucked him out of his world, given him phenomenal unique powers and dropped him in her world.
"Thank you for picking me," Hestia said.
"I should be the one saying that," Blair replied, tightening his arms around her. "You're much too good to me."
"As long as you recognize it," Hestia agreed, her tone turning to teasing. "Now kiss me again."
"As you wish."
There were many things about Blair's story that needed to be elaborated upon. A great many things. But as Blair held her close and their lips met again, Hestia let all that fall to the wayside. Those things could wait.
Kisses were very nice.
Part Twenty-two
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Hestia is the best.
While all I could see was the negatives of my choices, all Hestia saw was the positives. While I had berated myself for manipulating her and changing her future for my own gain, Hestia apparently saw it differently.
When she cut off my fear-laden apology with her mouth, I was too stunned even to reciprocate.
If Hestia didn't see my actions as being in the wrong, who was I to argue. Any will I had to resist was thoroughly demolished by her demand for another kiss.
Her lips were soft on my own, tasteless, but with just a hint of salt. There had been some potato-cakes on the table, so probably from that. It's bizarre what your mind can focus on when your adrenaline is pumping and your heart racing.
My tongue reached out to touch her lips, slipping gently between them before met by the light touch of her own. Thought left entirely then. There was only the sensations of exploring tongues and her body pressed close against mine. And only our bodies' demands for air forced the moment to come to an end.
I fell back against the couch's arm rest, with Hestia lying against my chest, both of us panting in sync. Our eyes met, and Hestia's cute, child-like face looked back at me with what I could only call lust, every bit a match for my own.
"Wow," Hestia breathed out. "That was… yeah."
"Yeah," I echoed, chuckling. Her cheeks were flushed, a beautiful tinge of red against her pale skin, and given the burning feeling in my own, I imagined we matched.
"No more self-recriminations, okay?" she said as she slipped her fingers down under my shirt, trailing them across my chest. "Whatever my future may have been, it doesn't matter. This is real. We're real. So I won't hear anymore about you having taken something that hasn't yet happened and may never have from me."
I nodded, blinking my own tears of relief out of my eyes. "Okay."
"Good." She leaned forward and tapped her lips against mine again. "You chose me. And no matter what might have been, you've given me exactly what I wanted. Both as a person and for my Familia."
She was too good for me. But like hell I was giving her up for anything. She looked at me with those big blue eyes, and I couldn't help myself any longer.
"Eep!" Hestia squeaked as I pushed off the back of the couch, effectively reversing our positions so that it was now Hestia rested against the other armrest and me on top of her. I dived forward, and claimed her lips with my own.
Mine. My Hestia.
She failed to kiss me back for only a few moments before she returned my attentions, and time lost all meaning once again.
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"Do I still count as a virgin Goddess?" Hestia asked me, splayed as she was across the couch. Her false tears playing up the role. "I've been assaulted by a brute. Forcing himself on his own goddess."
We were both quite disheveled by this point. My shirt had gone missing entirely, and Hestia's dress, which barely covered her most generous assets at the best of times, only preserved her modesty by the slimmest of margins.
"I seem to recall that I was the one who was assaulted," I retorted, not even bothering to hide the way my gaze was drawn in by her breasts' tantalizing cleavage. I was grinning like a loon, I was sure, and Hestia's enchanting smile couldn't be hidden beneath the veneer of a teary maiden she was putting on.
The desire to pin her down again and have my way with her was strong. I was going to have a terrible case of blue-balls tonight.
"We assaulted each other then." Hestia said, timidly adjusting the shoulders of her dress back into place. In trying to keep from revealing herself to me, it did wonderful things to her tits.
"Mutual assault?" I asked. "We're both criminals then?"
"You'll just have to accept your punishment later."
"And what about you?" I asked, not entirely serious. The image of Hestia bending over for a spanking came to me involuntarily. It was a pleasant image.
"It's a goddess' prerogative to decide whether or not she's done anything wrong," she said. "But I'll concede this once."
Damn me. Definitely not escaping the blue-balls anytime soon.
"Within reason," Hestia amended.
"Obviously," I replied. Maybe I could get her into a french maid outfit? Or a bunny-suit? I seemed to vaguely recall seeing some bunny-suit Hestia fanart before. The real thing could only be better. Definitely another reason to make money fast, if I wanted to convince Hestia to play dress-up for me. And strip-down. Let's not forget that either.
"I'm going to go get some water," I said. As much as I loved just looking at Hestia, after all those kisses I really needed to cool down before either of us did something we'd regret. "Would you like some too?"
"Please."
Two glasses of water and several splashes on my face later, Hestia and I sat on either side of the couch. It seemed we both knew we needed a bit of space now, or else we might dive right back into those kisses.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Hestia said, in reference to Lili. "Do you believe this supporter is a good person?"
Was Lili a good person. No, not really. Not right now. She was a thief. Even if she never actually caused the death of an adventurer, which I wasn't entirely certain of, she was definitely guilty of deliberately putting people in situations that might have resulted in their deaths. She was no saint, and in fact would be someone I would have wanted nothing to do with without my outside knowledge of who she could be.
"I think she's capable of being a good person." I said. "That she doesn't want to be who she is."
"This could end badly," Hestia said. "Even if she doesn't sell you out, if you're right her Familia is desperate for money. If she's robbed by them, or they try to make her tell them how she's making money, you could be in danger."
She wasn't wrong.
"I know. But I still want to try." In the end, I wanted to try and help, even if it meant taking a risk. And the reward if I succeeded was a master supporter and a loyal ally.
"If you tell me you want me to get rid of her, I will." I would. I wouldn't like it, but I would. Lili wasn't worth that much to me, if it meant harming my relationship with Hestia.
Hestia shook her head. "No. I don't hate it, that you want to help her." She gave me a side-long glance. "You're not allowed to fall in love with her though."
"I won't-"
"Don't say it," Hestia said. Her eyes turned piercing, like she could see right through me. "These stories of yours, they've already primed you to like her, and others."
She scooted closer to me and grabbed my shirt by the collar. "You're not allowed to seduce her, or anyone else. Not without my permission."
"I don't want-"
"Lie." Hestia said, and I flinched. "But not entirely. I know you won't act on it if I tell you not to, so I'm telling you not to."
"Hestia, I…"
"You're mine," Hestia said. "So no promises."
"That's all I wanted," I said. I could absolutely live with just Hestia. But a harem was a man's dream, as Hermes said.
"Still a lie," Hestia whispered, before giving me a peck on the cheek. "But only a small one."
I pressed a hand to my cheek, and then brought the fingers to my mouth, looking Hestia right in the eye. An indirect kiss.
Hestia looked away with that cute look of hers.
"Anyway, there's still one more thing we have to settle." she said.
I knew it was coming before she said it.
"Bell Cranel."
I didn't even know what to say. I was deeply torn over the question of the main character. On the one hand, I wanted him no where near Hestia, the little harem protagonist that he was. On the other hand, I trusted Hestia. If she wanted me, I trusted her not to fall for Bell.
On the other, other hand, there was Freya. Adding Bell to our Familia guaranteed a confrontation with Freya at some point in the future over him. She would come for him at some point, and our only choices would be to fight or give him up.
On the other, other, other hand, Bell was a protagonist. He was talented, and if he still wound up with Liaris Freese, he'd become a monster. And I could make him into one even if he never got it with my Excilia Tomes. And he would be a loyal familia member and was a good person.
I had already narrated to Hestia what I knew about him, as best I could, but I couldn't make a decision.
No. I didn't trust myself to make that decision. To not say no only because I wanted Hestia to remain focused on only me.
"I don't know." I said. "But if you decide you want to recruit him, I'll try and find him. And I'll do my best to make him into the hero he would have become without me."
"You aren't scared I'll fall in love with him?" Hestia asked.
"I am. But I trust you." Her smile widened.
"I'm glad. How about this? If you see him, bring him here. We'll decide then. And I'll do the same, and wait for you to return if I see him."
I nodded.
"Perfect." Hestia clapped, bounding up off the couch. "Now I have to get our food reheated, or else we'll go to bed hungry."
"Hestia," I called out as she stepped away. "Thank you."
She winked at me and disappeared through the doorway.
Neither of us got nearly as much sleep as we should have that night. Perhaps it was a bad idea for us to share a bed after getting each other all worked up, but as I hugged Hestia's back to my chest - her letting me be the outside of the spoon tonight - I couldn't care less that I'd be a bit tired in the morning.
Kissing Hestia was a wonderful thing.
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"Does Mister Blair have a plan for today?" Lili asked her adventurer. He had shown up precisely on time, coming out of the Guild with his spear in hand.
When she had woken up, Lili had wondered if yesterday was even real, but the contract on her desk and the bag of valis in her room had proven to be quite real. She had really stumbled across an adventurer with the ability to make Drop Items rain down from the heavens…
What bullshit luck he had. To have a skill like that.
If Lili had a skill like that, then Lili would have been able to leave. She could have gone to Hephaestus or Loki or Ganesha Familia and used its allure to escape. Soma wouldn't be able to refuse, and Zanis would have no choice but to accede to the wishes of the larger and more powerful Familia.
But Lili didn't have any such thing. Just her transformation magic that couldn't even get her out of the city. All because of the Falna on her back that chained her to this place.
Beneath her false smile, Lili seethed at the smile on her employers face. He looked as chipper as could be, like nothing in the world could bring him down as he brandished a Quest form at her. It reminded her of the look so many of her previous marks had on their face as they recounted the fun they had in the Pleasure District the night before.
He probably found himself a nice whore and enjoyed himself with the money they had made. What a waste.
"We're going Purple Moth hunting," he replied, as though a solo adventurer and his supporter going on a quest that would normally require a five to six man party to complete in a day was utterly normal. "They'll even pay extra if we get more than requested."
Lili wished there was some way she could convince him not to take Quests. If he consistently took and completed quests intended for full parties as a solo, someone was bound to notice. And if someone noticed him, then they'd be in Lili's way. No one could pass up this money-printer if they knew about him.
But if she told him how valuable his skill was, he might just decide to take it to those same powerful Familias instead, leaving her high and dry.
No, she'd just have to milk him until he is inevitably found out and then cut her losses.
"That sounds great, Mister Blair," Lili said, giving him her best happy smile. "Did Mister Blair's morning training go well."
"Just fine," he replied as they headed towards Babel. "I still have a lot to learn."
"Lili thinks it's a good thing that Mister Blair isn't focused solely on the dungeon. Lili has seen many adventurers who barely knew how to use their weapons." They were even easier marks.
"Do you have enough antidotes?" he asked her. "I picked up extra on the way here, so don't be too stingy with them if you need them."
"Lili won't." Lili watched his back warily. Lili had heard this many times, but adventurers never liked it when their supporter used such things unless it was literally life and death. And even then you might get a beating just for daring to save your own life at the cost of their profits. Lili wouldn't be using Mr. Blair's antidotes. She had her own, and that was the safer thing to do.
Once they entered the dungeon and began their hunt for the purple moths, Lili watched and waited. Some small part of her still thought it was a mistake, that it was random chance and that no one could actually have a Skill that raised Drop Item's chances of appearing.
But as first one ant, and then another's Drop Item appeared, and the Purple Moths dropped theirs as well, Lili's final doubts receded. She'd found the real deal.
Now she just had to figure out how to keep him.
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Lili was pleased. No, Liliruca Arde was ecstatic. As she traded in their drops and magic stones for valis and split it according to their contract, Lili was beyond happy. The clinking of the valis was music to her ears, even as she divided the bulk into Blair's take.
It was rare that Lili was pleased about not skimming anything off the top, but she couldn't afford to do that. Not now. Not unless and until she figured out how closely Blair was going to be watching her.
There were going to be gaps in their trips together though. In their contract, it said that they would agree on the dates of their trips into the dungeon in advance, and Blair had said he had other plans tomorrow.
"So, what is Mister Blair doing tomorrow?" Lili asked as she handed over his take. Small talk was always a good way to build her rapport with his type. "If it isn't too much to ask?"
Blair took the bag and added it to his small backpack. "I'm joining the Takemikazuchi Familia as a supporter tomorrow, going down to the Tenth and Eleventh."
Lili's good mood came to a screeching halt.
He was going into the Dungeon? With another Familia? No. No, no no. He couldn't. They'd find out, surely.
"They've taken me on a couple of days earlier this week," he added, just to drive the nail in deeper. "Just the couple of days before we met, actually."
Lili could feel the valis slipping from her fingers, the more he spoke. She had to do something, but she didn't know what. She racked her brain for an answer.
"They're actually the ones I was doing my training with. They've been quite good to me."
"Mister Blair is acting as a supporter?" Lili asked. She needed more information. "As strong as Mister Blair is, I'm surprised they have you as a supporter. Is the Takemikazuchi Familia very strong?"
"I don't know," Blair shrugged. "They've got a couple of members that are getting close to Level 2. That's why they're starting to hunt Infant Dragons more often."
"Hunting Infant Dragons is very dangerous," Lili said, latching onto a line. "Lili has seen the aftermath of parties that thought they could take them. It wasn't pretty. Mister Blair shouldn't risk himself that way." He also shouldn't risk her precious money that way, more importantly.
"I'm only there as a supporter," Blair said. "And I can run pretty fast if things go wrong."
Lili sighed inside. There was never any real chance she could stop this, but maybe she could steer him away from this Familia later. And if they only had him acting as a supporter, then maybe they wouldn't notice his Skill.
She hoped they wouldn't.
Lili couldn't afford to lose this chance. At this rate, Lili would be able to gather up enough valis to have a good chance of escaping in a matter of weeks, once it was added to the rest of her hidden valis.
She just had to buy enough time.
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Orario, the center of the world. The City of the Gods. The Dungeon City.
This was the place where his grandfather had told him to go if he wanted to be an adventurer.
Drawn by the spire that was the lid on the Dungeon, Bell Cranel walked along the plaza, staring in wonder at the crowds and the sights. It was nothing like anything he had ever seen before.
A commotion was taking place not far from him, and he ran over to see what it was. Everyone was pointing and talking, and the targets of their attention were indeed splendid. A large party of adventurers, led by a pallum with a long spear.
But what caught Bell's eye was the girls. A tall, regal elf with green hair couldn't possibly be missed, but behind her were more. A pair of Amazons wearing such scanty clothes that if they looked at him he'd have to hide his face in shame, and a beautiful blonde swordswoman his eyes couldn't leave.
"Who are they," he asked a bystander.
"You don't know the Loki Familia?" The man gave him an incredulous look. "Did you just arrive here today?"
He nodded uneasily.
"Ha! Let me tell you all about them, starting with the best, the Sword Princess," he declared pointing at the blonde human girl.
Soon enough Loki Familia had passed out of sight, but his brain was full of their names. Braver, Nine Hell, Sword Princess, Vanargand…
So cool!
So this was Orario.
He'd go find an inn, and tomorrow he'd join a Familia.
This was the place he'd find his own adventure. And maybe, just maybe, a man's, no, a hero's romance!
Is it wrong to pick up girls in the Dungeon? Not if his grandfather had anything to say about it.
Part Twenty-three
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Today was the day I was going to experience the Tenth Floor and lower for the first time. In preparation for this, not only had Hestia updated me, but I also used all of my new Ability Pages and Chapters.
We had both agreed that the best thing for me to do at this moment was to use them more or less as I earned them. The stronger I was now, the faster I'd be able to grind out more of them.
Blair
Level 1
Strength D-549
Endurance D-549
Dexterity D-574
Agility D-591
Magic C-600
My Basic Abilities had risen substantially, between my improved growth and stat boosters, I had wound up with well over 300 points of growth across my abilities in just two days. And I had gotten another Class Augment too, which I used to improve my Healer Class once more, and received a new magic for my trouble.
Cleansing Light: (Short Chant Magic)
"Come, Divine Light. A soul is afflicted, a body worn. Grant unto us this reprieve. Cleansing Light!"
Healing Magic. Weakens and/or eliminates abnormal afflictions and curses from the target, starting from the strongest to the weakest. Less effective against curses.
It was a helpful addition, making me able to directly heal poisons and other such effects. As tempted as I was to finally upgrade my Adventurer Class to A Rank and see what its final bonus would be, Healer was going to be more useful today. And I had a couple of monster-slaying quests that would reward Class Augments that I could complete in a day or two on my own.
And I still had my Benediction from Hestia, Thraka Elpida. As our Home was improving in Quality, so too were the Familia Blessings I received from the System. Or rather, they were being less penalized, as Hestia had explained. Since apparently their strength was tied to the state of our Familia's home.
Of course, ever since we had enough Merit stored up, Hestia had chosen to pay an additional upkeep to my own Benediction to ignore the penalties inflicted by our poor living standards, and that on top of the fact that the she had to pay to improve my Benediction once my stats had crossed into the D-rank range.
We weren't in danger of running out of Familia Merit anytime soon, but between the initial costs and the upkeeps, it definitely incentivized us to keep going into the Dungeon, since killing monsters, and performing Quests was the only way to keep getting that Merit.
I was confident that even if we ran into an emergency, like getting into a fight with an Infant Dragon when we weren't ready, I'd at least be able to hold it off long enough for us to escape. Absolute worst case, I'd be able to escape myself. I'd definitely out myself and my abilities as completely abnormal in doing so, but better that than dying, or risking my allies deaths when I could have acted. Preserving my secrets were not important enough to me to do that, and I held out little hope I'd be able to keep all of it secret for long anyway.
Takemikazuchi Familia had already noticed that my growth was weird. Or at least Ouka had.
It may be hard for someone whose main point of reference for Basic Abilities is Bell Cranel's absurdity to really understand, but I was already a high-end Level 1, even with just 1 C-Rank. It was something I had spent a long time with Eina about, to get a better sense of perspective. Broadly speaking, Basic Abilities were often divided into either 3 common categories, Low, Middle and High Class, followed by 3 higher divisions, for B, A, and S Rank respectively.
Simply put, hitting D-500 in a stat could be considered "High-Class". This was because once you had one, you were eligible to Level Up. Your efforts had excavated enough potential in an Ability to be ready to seek out the sorts of challenges you needed to Level Up.
But also because the gap between E-499 and D-500 was known to be larger than what came before it. Reaching D-Rank, and every Rank thereafter, was a kind of barrier, one where each adventurer had to find the potential within themselves and break through with their own effort. And by breaking through, you were rewarded with more than just a single point of strength, but a small jump. And another if you reached C, and another at B, all the way up to S.
Anything below D-rank could be called Low (I, H and G) and Middle (F and E). And High-Class was composed of D and C Ranks.
In some sense, the ability to break through these barriers was the evidence of your potential to become an even higher Level in the future. To join the ranks not of merely Level 2s, but Level 3 and beyond. The real Elite.
B Rank was considered a Superior Ability. A Rank, Elite. And S Rank, that was reserved for the elite among the elite. It was simply S Rank. To say you had a single ability at S was to announce that your future was to shine even among the crowds of aspiring adventurers in Orario.
Which put a monster like Ottar, who I recalled reading somewhere as having every physical ability at S as a Level 7, into perspective. And made Bell's stats, and where mine were headed, all the more insane.
A common distribution for a frontline adventurer's physical abilities might look something like 1 at C, 1 or 2 at D, and the remaining at E. The 400s were an acceptable place for an adventurer's secondary focuses to wind up. Only about half of adventurers will ever manage Level 2 at all, the rest either remaining stuck at Level 1 with sub D-Rank abilities, retiring from adventuring, or dying in their attempts to improve.
I knew that Ais Wallenstein, for instance, one of the strongest adventurers in the entire city, would Rank Up to Level 6 with two stats, Strength and Endurance, at D. Anything at D-Rank or beyond was a perfectly respectable place for your stats to be on the path to becoming a first-rate adventurer.
Trying to hide this growth from Takemikazuchi Familia was impossible, short of me simply not adventuring with them anymore, even after just two days spent with them. My own abilities were already approaching Ouka and Mikoto, if only in magnitude. My personal skills were, of course, still quite lacking. And if I stopped working with them for this reason, I'd also have to give up my weapons training with Ouka, and I definitely needed that kind of training.
No, hiding this from people I was expecting to rely on me and to rely on myself was not a worthwhile endeavor.
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"Orc!" Mikoto's voice called out as we walked through the fog-covered terrain of the Lower Tenth.
It shouldn't have been surprising, given Miss Eina's lectures and Ouka's own instruction in preparing me for stepping foot onto the Tenth Floor, but I was still shocked when the Orc showed itself.
10 towering feet of muscle and fat, Orcs are the heavy-hitters of the Tenth Floor, and the Dungeon's introduction to Large Category Monsters. These monsters are exactly what they sound like, monsters whose size has become a threat all on its own, apart from their already superhuman strengths.
The boar-faced orcs, apart from being the strongest monster yet in pure physical strength, have another tool. They can carry and use weapons. Given birth from the landscape of the Dungeon itself, landform weapons add range to the already impressive threat of the orcs. In this case, Orcs will pull the small, twisted trees of the Tenth Floor right out of the ground and use them as crude clubs.
Scampering around it like its posse, were a half a dozen Imps. They looked similar to goblins, but with more wiry bodies, longer, sharper ears and a distinctive purple tone to their flesh. The little demons often grouped around the far stronger orcs, and made for a nasty combination.
The orc would crash into a party like a battering ram, a mountain of muscle and flesh that could break up a party's formation, and then the imps would jump into the gaps, using their claws to rend anyone whose guard faltered from the orc's charge.
As I had been instructed, I fell back slightly to keep any eye on our front line. Ouka and Mikoto stepped ahead to be at the forefront, with Ouka stepping further forward to meet the Orc head on. Mikoto was just a step behind and to his left, while Chigusa and Asuka were on the right side. Kane was acting as the rearguard, with Oki and I in the middle.
Since my Healing might be needed at any time, I was in a good position to act and move to any position of our fight that needed assistance.
The orc took a wild swing with its club the moment Ouka came into its range, and Ouka showed his ability, easily stepping aside from the blow and thrusting his spear into the orc's hide.
I watched the fight unfold with careful attention. My job right now was to watch the way my allies fought and learn how to fight these monsters, not to fight myself, even if I was strong enough to do so.
Ouka had asked me to step aside with him the day before, after our training session.
"You've gotten stronger," Ouka had remarked. "Quite a bit stronger."
I nodded, unsure what to say. My growth was so abnormal it would be weird if my instructor didn't notice it. I had hoped he might not, but now that he had, I wondered what it would mean for me.
Ouka had stared at me with that serious look on his face that he got whenever he was acting as the Captain of his Familia. The silence stretched out between us, and shifted my feet uneasily.
"Being a supporter is wasted on you," Ouka finally said. "For now we'll continue as we have been, since I want you to have the opportunity to observe the monsters on the Tenth and Eleventh floors before you have to fight them. And we'll transition you away from being a Supporter and into a Middle-guard role. Where you can watch over the frontline and step in where needed."
"I understand."
He grabbed me by the shoulder and looked me in the eye.
"One question first." His expression hardened. "I'm not going to ask about it," he said, obviously referring to my growth, "but does it pose any threat to my friends?"
"No," I replied with a shake of my head. "If something does happen… I won't try to get you involved."
"Good enough," Ouka commented as he released his grip. "I don't think you have any ill intent. You're very strange, but as long as you don't put us in danger, you're welcome with us."
Ouka was a good man. A better man than me, maybe. I'm not sure I would have been willing to accept no explanation for my weirdness, and still trust me with keeping my friends safe and healed. Or maybe it was the healing that pushed it over the edge, despite any misgivings he may have had about my secrets, and made them willing to keep me around despite them.
Either way, I focused on the battle in front of me, watching how the monsters responded to each of my senior's different attacks and extrapolating that response to my own fighting style.
In the end, though, the Tenth Floor was only the pre-show for us. We only spent long enough on the floor to get me a feel for the way the fights would go before we found our way to the Eleventh Floor.
This was the real deal. Because in the Takemikazuchi Familia there were two members who were actively working towards Level 2, in Ouka and Mikoto, and two more in Asuka and Chigusa who both had an Ability at D-Rank.
Which meant seeking out more challenging battles. Specifically, it meant hunting Infant Dragons.
The Infant Dragon was the Boss Monster of the Upper Floors. A Level 2 equivalent Large Category Monster, it was more than a match for most parties of Level 1s. But if you lacked a Level 2 of your own to take you down below the Twelfth, Infant Dragons were the only efficient way to grind out the necessary High-class Excilia to Level Up. Taking a party of just Level 1s down to the Thirteenth was just begging for a massacre.
And that is why we were here.
In addition, two more threats were introduced, in the form of the Hard-Armored, a large armadillo-like creature with exceptional defensive strength, and the Silverback, a two meter tall ape-like creature with white hair. The anime had been quite poor in this regard, depicting the creature as a monstrously large gorilla. And we still had to watch out for all the same monsters as the Tenth Floor as well.
And it was the sole monster on the Upper Floors that would have adventurers all ignore the unwritten rule not to interact with other parties. When an Infant Dragon appears, everyone in the area fights it together. How its magic stone and drops are distributed is a matter for after the monster is dead, since Infant Dragons have been known to wipe out entire parties of adventurers who were cocky enough to take it on without an escape plan prepared.
They could be difficult to find, even if you were looking for them. There were never more than five or six between the Eleventh and Twelfth Floors, and there was usually at least a party or two like ours who was seeking out one of these bosses for the purpose of working towards their own Level Up.
"Hard Armored, behind!" The call came out from Kane, and we all shifted to face the new threats.
Unfortunately, we never did find an Infant Dragon.
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"You're resigning?" The owner of the jagamarukun stand seemed a little stunned.
"I am," Hestia replied with a sharp bow. "Thank you for putting up with me."
"I see. It sounds like your Familia has already found its feet then?"
"We have. I'll still finish out the week if you'd like, but after that I won't be able to work here anymore."
Hestia hadn't originally intended to give up her part-time job, but Blair had convinced her to take up running their Familia full-time. A goddess who sold snacks for a living hardly gave off a reliable impression to potential recruits. And apart from keeping an eye out for a white-haired boy looking for a Familia, Hestia did want to recruit more members eventually.
Not immediately, but there was lots of work to be done to their home before it would be ready for an expansion of their Familia, and Hestia needed to be there while the work was being done. Hephaestus had been kind enough to point her towards a Familia of artisans to take up the renovation of the old church into a proper home for her Familia.
"Congratulations," the woman who was her boss said. "If you don't mind finishing out the week, I'd appreciate it."
Hestia beamed and hopped right to work. She might miss it just a little when it was over.
While she worked, she couldn't help but imagine how nice their home would look once everything was fixed. And how nice her proper bedroom would be.
Or should that be their bedroom?
Her cheeks warmed up at the thought, even despite the fact she'd been sleeping in the same bed as Blair for days now.
Their bedroom sounded nice.
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Failure. That was all Bell had encountered.
No one wanted a country boy like him for their Familia. He'd asked around, and gotten the locations of a lot of the more notable Familia in Orario, but none of the big names were even accepting new members. And those who were had turned him away on sight.
How nice it must be to be a naturally magical and handsome elf, who gets let right in the door when a poor human gets turned aside, or a powerful dwarf, whose physique without a Falna was strong enough to fight the most basic monsters.
Humans were the least desirable race of adventurers, second only to the even smaller but otherwise similar pallums. Neither race had anything in particular going for them being utterly ordinary in every respect.
But Bell wasn't going to give up! He just had to find the right Familia. The Heroes in the stories never gave up after a single setback, and neither would he. Tomorrow would be better.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票