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Kenet's arms didn't tremble beneath him, as he held the position. When he had first joined the Freya familia, when she had first put him in this position, they had. Even if others didn't understand - even if his own daughter didn't understand - he knew this was the path forward to him. The way that the members of the Freya familia glared at him with obvious jealousy, when they were allowed up into Freya's private room, made it clear that he wasn't just deluding himself.

He'd seen his daughter taunting Freya - carrying some boy up to a height where she was at eye level with Freya's office and then flipping the woman off with a long, side-to-side gesture. It did show her whole new... side. Freya herself had responded with calm, drinking her glass of wine, and idly kicked at his face, as if to emphasize that whatever Xulia might be threatening, Freya still had her father to threaten.

He doubted that it was that persuasive to Xulia. He figured that it was more likely the implicit threat wasn't followed through on simply because she wasn't the sort to drop a child like that.

He had been allowed to sleep with Freya. Obviously not as much as some of the other members of her familia, but she had let him kiss his way up her legs to eat her out. It was his first time eating a woman out, and he knew he had been quite bad at it, but Freya had given him some guidance and managed to drag herself to one limp orgasm before getting tired of his meager attempts. He hoped that next time he would do better. He had tried to burn into his mind what he had done wrong, what she had liked, so that next time, he could do better.

He wanted to prove himself to her. He wanted to succeed. To become better than he had been, lingering and drowning in his own mediocrity. He saw that much very clearly now. Freya had shown it to him.

Freya hardly talked to him. He understood the implicit idea behind it: he would show that he could control himself enough to keep silent, and he would be permitted to bask in her presence. He sneaked peaks at her body (in varying states of undress; sometimes, she wore only a loose robe which fell across gorgeous creamy pale skin that he might have killed to run his tongue along), and occasionally she even met his gaze and offered him a smile that set his heart pounding in his chest.

Mostly, however, he stayed on hands and knees. Mostly he worked the fruitless, pointless labor he was assigned, in the hopes of proving himself enough for her to grace him with another opportunity. It could have been eating her out again, it could have been sending him into the Dungeon - he would do either one with as much energy as he could find, to prove himself to her.

"My goddess," came the cool voice of Ottar once again. They spoke fairly often up here, though whenever it was truly important, Kenet would be kicked out - this time, he had not been, at least.

"Ottar," Freya said, real warmth in her voice. "I have a question for you."

"Yes, Lady Freya?" Ottar asked. Kenet couldn't see him, from the angle he was at, but he listened to every word both of them said with his most intense focus. He wanted to understand Freya as best he could, and these sorts of conversations were the closest he could get.

"Have you ever imagined... a hatred so intense, it forgives?" She asked.

"No."

"Does it make sense to you?"

There was a pause, as he thought it over. "No."

"To me, neither. What about a depression so deep that it uplifts?"

"That also sounds like it's not sensible."

"Mm. Agreed. What about..." There was a momentary sipping, the goddess drinking down some of her wine, and he spared a glance her way, watching her perfect pursed lips on the edge of the wineglass, his gaze not even wandering to her body, currently contained in a loose robe and no more, her crossed legs the only thing keeping him from seeing her divine sex. "Don't look with such eyes," she interrupted, glaring at Kenet, and he quickly turned his gaze to the ground. He could hear her scoff. "What about, a love so complete that it feels no jealousy?"

Ottar seemed more willing to imagine that. "I do not know about the love being so complete... but I can imagine an unjealous love. The love of a mother for her child."

"Romantic love," she corrected, mildly. "A romantic love, so perfect, that it watches the object of its affections with another with an uninhibited smile on its lips," she explained. "After all - the one she loves is happy, fucking this other woman. The other woman is happy. Why should she, the scorned lover, be upset?" Freya's voice became more intense as she spoke.

There was silence for a moment, and Kenet did know something about this. "Ah," he spoke up, sparing a glance at Freya, who rolled her eyes but gestured for him to speak. He'd learned of this from finding some of the smut that his daughter had read, after she had... eloped. "There - there are those who... ah... fetishize, such betrayals?" Freya's eyelid twitched, and he turned his gaze back down to the ground.

"Yes. But I am not talking about some disgusting little pervert like your daughter," Freya said, making him inwardly cringe. "I am talking about the purest, sincerest love. It isn't sexual, any more than..." She sipped her glass of wine again, taking a moment. "...any more than a mother being happy her daughter has found a good man, is sexual. Does that make sense to you, Ottar?"

"No, my goddess," he said. "Though, there are the Amazons?"

"Those Amazons you are thinking of, simply don't care," Freya said, with a cluck of her tongue. "It is like... not caring... if your lover has blue eyes or green. I am speaking of something more than that. It isn't even..." she sighed. "It oughtn't be love."

"Yes, my goddess," Ottar agreed. "Love is jealous."

"I could unfurl a part of my effulgent beauty to you," she said to Ottar. "I could make it so you don't feel jealous when I say that Kenet has kissed my lower lips. Or when I speak of any other child of mine that I have ridden like a warhorse. Would you prefer that?"

"No, my goddess."

"No." Freya repeated the word. She obviously thought that was the sensible response. "No, you wouldn't." Another long sip of wine. "It's maddening," she said at last. "How - how can she love him like that? How can anyone love anyone like that? But she does. It is love. Honest. Sincere. Pure. Perfect. In all my years, I have not seen its like before." Kenet's attention perked up. Who was she speaking of? What was it about? "Oh, I can't deal with you right now," she said at last, taking her feet off his back. "Out, out," she ordered, and he quickly scurried out, wearing nothing but his underwear, waiting for the pair to finish their conversation.

He wondered who she was talking about. He really didn't have the slightest idea.

* * *

Bella looked up at the elephant-faced god in awe. He was wearing a mask, obviously, but she could still feel that trembling awe at his presence. "I am Ganesha!" He declared. "Do you have any combat experience?"

"O-once-" gah! Why was she stuttering! Take a second to get yourself under control! "Once, I fought a goblin!"

"I see. And how did this battle go?"

She hesitated, but this was a god... you couldn't lie to a god. "I... almost died. But with a falna-!"

"I am sorry," Ganesha said, shaking his head. "My familia has a high standard for membership! I wish you the best in the future!"

"But, please-"

"No!" Ganesha roared, and she stepped back - then ran off in embarrassment.

* * *

The blue-haired women wearing glasses gently adjusted them. "I am Asfi Al Andromeda, the Captain of the Hermes familia. I will decide if you can..." she let out a small groan,  just a soft exhalation of air, "...'waste Hermes's time.' What special skills do you have?"

Bella felt her cheeks color as a plastic smile curled across her lips. The woman in question just stared at her. "I- well, I'll work really hard!"

Asfi simply shook her head. "Are you... good at lying? Hunting? Tracking? Sneaking? Fighting? Stealing?" Bella could only shake her head. "I'm sorry, then. It doesn't sound as if you have any relevant skills."

* * *

"Our goddess has no use for a random small fry," the catfolk man said, grabbing Bella by the neck of her shirt.

"B-but come on, please, I'll fight super hard and work extremely hard!"

"Freya only allows people into her familia by invitation. You aren't invited - that means you're of no interest to her," he continued, walking with her in hand. "Stop wasting my time," he said, giving her a light underhanded throw - but since he had a falna, she went sailing and rolled across the ground, groaning as her skin got scraped up. Countless little bleeding spots appeared, but she had brought along some bandages, at least!

* * *

Bella stumbled into the restaurant, holding her bag of coins like a magic talisman. Everything had gone bad. But this was a restaurant for adventurers! Maybe somebody would know of a familia she could join? There had to be one!

"Do you actually have enough money to buy anything on the menu?" A woman's booming voice met her as she stepped in, the tall, muscular dwarf woman staring her down.

"I-I-!" The woman stared her down with a fierce expression. Bella just ran away in fright rather than try to argue with the woman.

* * *

Bella sat on a chair, contemplating her position. She'd come to Orario to become an adventurer. She was willing to risk life and limb in the Dungeon! She wanted to adventure, to meet a strong prince, but here she was, sitting alone, every familia having rejected her. "Hey. That's my chair," said some man. "Get off of it, street rat."

"O-oh, sorry," Bella said, giving him a nervous smile as she got off the chair, then sat down on the ground instead, the rough cobblestone feeling unpleasant against her butt.

"Get out of here," he added, more fiercely - and she scrambled to her feet and ran off. This city was full of terrible people! They treated her like so bad! She felt like crying, but she resisted the urge. She could still become an adventurer! There were other familias left!

* * *

Bella's fingers trembled against the edge of her shirt, straightening it out, trying to get out the bits of mud and dirt that had ruined her clothes since she'd come here. She looked terrible. She was doomed. No! No! She was Bella Cranel, she was going to be an adventurer! She puffed up her chest, stepping towards the Loki familia's gates.

"Hello?" A man asked her, looking dully up. "No begging," he added, after getting a look at her.

"N-no, I'm not here to beg, I want to join the familia!" The man's gaze went right for her breasts, which made her awkwardly bring her arms up to try to cover them. It wasn't like she was wearing anything to show off her breasts, but he was looking anyway! Well, he looked. For a second. Then his eyes went back to hers.

"I don't think that there's much chance of you joining," he said, at last. "Unless you're pretty incredible somehow?"

"U-um... no," she admitted. "But I'll work hard! I'll carry stuff! I'll work my way up from the bottom, it's alright!" He just gave her a look she was rapidly becoming miserably familiar with, the person who wants you out of their hair but doesn't quite want to just yell and scream at you. Her shoulders slumped. "I don't have a shot, do I?"

"No, not really," he said. "Sorry, kid. It's not a charity here. Besides, you're better off not joining right now - bad times ahead, probably."

"Huh?" She asked, looking up at him. If there were bad times ahead - then that was the ideal time to join! There'd be adventure! A chance to prove herself! They'd be in dire straits and appreciate her more! "I'm okay with 'bad times ahead'."

"Forget I said anything," he said, and she let out a quiet noise of defeat. "I said too much anyway." He made a little waving motion with his hand, a quiet motion of dismissal. "Maybe set your sights a little lower," he added.

She should... but she wanted to adventure in the Dungeon, and the exploration familias that people knew about were the big ones. She just started to trudge away slowly from the gate, sighing. "Maybe I'm not going to become an adventurer."

"Ehehe," came a female voice from behind her. She spun around, seeing a short (chesty) young woman with dark hair done in twin pigtails. "It looks like my plan worked!" The young woman declared. She was a goddess, Bella recognized, after a couple seconds.

"Your plan?"

"Yes! I just wait outside the Loki familia headquarters, and when they reject somebody, bam!" She smacked one fist into her palm. "I invite them to my familia! It makes sense, right?"

Bella's eyes widened. "You'll let me join your familia?!" She asked, excited.

"I sure will," the goddess said, placing one hand on her chest, looking quite proud of herself. "My familia's pretty small right now, but don't worry. We've got powerful allies. We actually have a marriage alliance with the Loki familia, in fact," she explained, smiling.

"Wow," Bella replied, a smile blooming on her face. She was willing to work her way up from the bottom, absolutely, but an ally of the Loki familia? That was the second best thing next to the Loki familia themselves! "Oh, thank you so much, um, Lady... um, sorry, I don't know you."

"Oh, that's alright, I only descended recently. I am the goddess of the sacred flame, Hestia!"

"Oh! Grandpa mentioned you! You're one of the three virgin goddesses, right?" Hestia's eyelid twitched at that. "Sorry. Did I get it wrong?" She'd probably just suggested that a powerful goddess was a kissless virgin.

"No, I am a virgin goddess, yes," Hestia replied. "Look, that's not what's important about me! Yes, I have kept myself pure for ten thousand years, but I do other stuff too," she said, poking her fingers together awkwardly. "Anyway. You want to join my familia, right?"

"Yes!" Bella replied immediately. "Thank you again, Lady Hestia," she said.

"Lady Hestia. Yeah. I like the sound of that," Hestia said, wearing a giddy grin on her lips. "Alright, come on! We'll go to our familia headquarters... well, really, it's Setsuko's house, but it's super big and she'll let you crash there, I'm sure! She's a big old softie!" Bella just nodded, following after the goddess, happy to have found a familia.

* * *

My fingers found Setsuko's butt, giving it a squeeze through the fabric of her dress. She had been doing a bit of dusting in the dining room when I had come to the house. With her money it was frankly crazy that she didn't just hire somebody to do it, but she seemed to like it, so I wasn't complaining. "You look beautiful as ever, Setsuko," I said, as she turned around to face me.

"Thank you, Drake," she said, looking like a bashful girl rather than an experienced older woman. Perhaps even just a hint of doubt lingered in her eyes - she had criminally low self esteem from Goro's work.

I decided to give her a firm kiss on the lips, pressing my mouth into hers. She moaned softly into my mouth as my tongue began to explore her own. Given her Hentalian hypersensitivity, she trembled softly at the kiss, her hands reaching up to explore my chest, running along my body with obvious interest. I reciprocated her own exploratory touch, sliding my hands along her very full pregnant belly before making extra certain to pay special attention to her breasts, gently cupping one in either hand, trying to make it obvious that whatever Goro may have thought of them, I thought they were her best feature. When we broke off the kiss, her lips parted, her cheeks pink - I couldn't help myself. "Let's get you out of this," I told her, grabbing her dress and just starting to pull it off, making her smile and blush, helping me along.

"Hestia's out trying to find another familia member," she told me.

"Good," I told her, with a grin. There was some tiny male ego shaped part of me that enjoyed annoying Hestia by fucking Setsuko while she was in the house, but most of me just found the goddess's presence unwanted when I was with my bashful wife. "That means we can do it right here."

"Right here?" Setsuko asked, glancing around the room.

"Sorry, did you just get done cleaning?" Being a Hentalian, she also squirted like crazy, though it tended to clean itself up pretty well. "We can go to the bedroom. I just thought it'd be sexy."

Setsuko hesitated a second, her expression one that said she really was seriously considering it, finding the idea adventurous. She had a certain cute innocence to her, despite her age. At last, she nodded. "Let's do it in here," she said, with a mischievous little grin.

I grinned right back, pulling the rest of her clothes off, leaving her naked in front of me, my hands groping those gorgeous big tits of hers, playing with the soft, supple, copious amounts of titflesh on display. She moaned gently into my mouth, her lips pressing back against mine, her eyes lidding in uninhibited lust. I directed her over towards the dining room table, her blush getting brighter as I laid her down on it, taking a moment to admire my wife's gorgeous form, her large, full breasts, only lightly affected by gravity despite the way that should be utterly absurd, her full, pregnant belly, containing my unborn child, and her slick sex, lemon-lime juices gently trickling out of it with anticipation.

I hurriedly pulled off my shirt, letting her eye me up, obviously quite liking muscular men. I wasn't as wide-built as Goro, but she obviously liked my physique anyway, licking her lips a little as I pulled down my pants and underwear, letting my cock bounce free. Once I was completely naked, I simply slid into her sex without further ado, making her pant in arousal and pleasure, my mouth leaning down over her, kissing her on the lips, while my hands reached for her breasts and gave them a grope.

Her own hands reached up to run through my hair, softly playing with it; then one slid down, starting to run along my back, while I began to pump softly into her sex. I broke off the kiss, smiling as I stared down at my gorgeous, very pregnant, wife. One hand slid down to her belly, running along its full curve. "I can't wait for you to give birth," I breathed out, fingers trailing across the bare skin.

"O-oh? Why's that?" Setsuko asked, this cute, awkward little smile on her lips.

"Because then I can knock you up all over again," I told her, with a certain animal growl, pressing my lips up against hers fiercely once more, groping her breasts all over again, giving them a firm squeeze.

She came at that point, moaning into my mouth, her tight sex squeezing and coiling around my cock, her legs snapping tight around my hips, dragging me inside her. I was three Levels higher than her, so I could have easily resisted, but why would I want to? My beloved, sexy wife wanted me all the way inside her, and I was happy to oblige. I was pressed up tight against her, her pregnant belly pushing into my own muscular abdomen, and she just squirmed and bucked in delight, letting out lewd little moans into my mouth as she did.

When I broke off the kiss, letting her pant and catch her breath, I gave countless kisses down her soft, smooth, pale skin, running all the way down to her breasts, finding one of her nipples and just gently suckling it. Since she was so pregnant (and since I'd played plenty of attention to her tits in the past), there was a honey-sweet trickle of milk that came out of her nipple, and the woman in question moaned beneath me, enjoying the feeling of my lips against her bare flesh. Her fingers ran through my hair, hot pants escaping her throat as she wiggled in place.

"Ah, ahm, Drake," she moaned, then tried to push me into her breast - more an instinctive act than anything else, but one I gladly went along with, all but mashing my face into her tit. "Oh, it's so, so nice," she panted out, and I slid one hand down her body, towards her clit, teasing it - she immediately came, squirting on my pelvis as she jerked in place, her whole gorgeous body vibrating beneath me as she did. Her belly smacked against mine, her hands gripped my head tighter, holding me into her bosom, actually winding up guiding me to just rest my nose on her sternum, her tits on either side of my face. I didn't mind, though - that was a perfectly pleasant position too, and I enjoyed being smothered in her tits like that.

When her orgasm ended, she released my head, and I leaned up, leering down at her body, at her bare skin, her flush cheeks, her whole body lightly pink with arousal. Sweat gently coated that sweet skin of hers, and I ran my finger across one breast, scooping it up before feeding it into my mouth. She blushed scarlet at that, though it just tasted regular-salty rather than delicious, as her juices did. "You're too sexy," I told her. "Especially pregnant," I added, running my hands across her belly again, feeling the large, round thing that contained my child. "I can't wait to see you as a mother," I told her, softly sawing my hips back and forth. "My child in your arms, held up to these gorgeous, life-giving tits..." I grunted, intensifying my pace inside her, my hands caressing her breasts softly again.

"I- I want that too," she said, her breathing heavy, her arousal obvious. "I want to have a lot of children with you... all the children Goro didn't give me, and then some..." My cock twitched inside her, throbbing as it pressed all over her sex. She wore a look that was half nervous, half playful, then spoke again. "You know, you're bigger than he was." My cock twitched all over again, and she wiggled in place, her smile growing more sincere and uninhibited as she saw the effect her dirty talk was having on me. "You're nicer to me... sex with you is better... you do dirty things with me that he never did," she said, her voice becoming more excited, just as I became more excited myself, pumping away inside her more and more forcefully. "He didn't, even, fuck, face-to-fuh-face, after Noriko," she told me, and I leaned down over her, kissing all over her soft, pendulous breasts as they bounced with each thrust. "I, 'm, happ~y!" She squeaked out the last word, coming on my cock all over again, squirting her juices all over my dick.

I just buried myself in her tits at that point, grasping them in either hand, holding them against my face as I pounded away inside her. She squeaked and gasped, her pleasure intensifying, and I found the string of Fate that would make her come her brains out, catching it in my teeth and tugging on it, pulling it into my mouth. She mewled softly beneath me, and it felt like it took no time at all for her to start thrashing and moaning, gasping in place, legs wrapped around my hips as I pumped away. "Sho good! Ahm, ah! Ahn! Ohhhh!" She mewled and twisted around beneath me, her whole body undulating on my cock, her breasts and belly both pushing against me in their own enticing ways as I thrust away inside her, losing myself in the moment.

When I finally felt my orgasm rapidly approaching, I pulled back from her breasts, admiring her silly face, eyes rolled up, tongue lolling out as she got fucked like that. "Here, it, comes," I groaned, tilting my head up as I exploded inside of Setsuko.

Of course, it was then that I noticed Hestia and some white-haired, red-eyed girl, both of whom had steaming red hot cheeks, Hestia having placed her hands in front of the young girl's face, the girl in question quietly peeking out from behind the fingers when she got the chance, clearly intensely curious about what she was seeing. Given that I was balls deep and orgasming inside of Setsuko, I didn't really have much to say for several seconds of eye contact with both women - once I was done, though, I pulled out of Setsuko. "You could knock, Hestia."

"Y-you! You're just doing it in the dining room?!"

"Yes, I'm having sex with my wife, in her home," I told her, Setsuko still panting as she recovered from the intensity of Celestial Bliss Trick enhanced sex. I looked at the girl, whose gaze was now on my dick, her expression making it obvious she'd never seen one before in her life. Hestia followed my glance, then hurriedly moved to hide the girl's eyes again.

"No! Stop perverting every woman you see, you p-pervert! He's got like twenty wives already, Bella! You don't want a guy like him!"

"She's young. It's probably the first time she's seen one." Bella actually nodded at that, as ridiculous and goofy as it was. I grabbed my underwear, pulling it on, while Bella continued to try to secretly peek past Hestia's hands without the goddess noticing again. When she saw I was dressed again, she let out a little huff. "Nice to meet you, Bella," I said, making the girl's gaze go up to me and her face turn cherry red as she finally seemed to consciously realize that she'd been staring at my dick. "I'm Drake, by the way," I told her.

"H-hi," she responded, giving me a limp wave. "Sorry for staring."

"It's fine. It's really Hestia's fault," I told her, as I grabbed my pants.

"H-Hest-! How is it my fault?!" Hestia demanded.

"I'm pretty sure we weren't being quiet, yet you strolled on in here anyway," I told her.

"I-I thought that Setsuko had fallen or something and was moaning in pain!" I gave her a doubtful look. "Really! That's the truth! Like I want to see you doing that stuff with my child!"

"Well, thank you for your concern, but as you can see, she wasn't." I leaned over Setsuko, kissing her forehead. "I'll be back in a bit, alright?" I prompted her. "Come on, let's leave her alone for a second," I said, and at that point Bella realized that Setsuko was also naked and stared at her tits with an expression that wasn't so much lustful as jealous. "Come on," I said, taking hold of Bella's shoulder and dragging her along with me, forcing her to stop staring at my naked wife, which definitely was something I was not as accepting of as her staring at my dick. "I'm glad you're actually trying to recruit new familia members," I told Hestia.

"That's right! I am!" Hestia declared, jumping on the first opportunity to change the subject. "Bella's gonna join my familia! Right, Bella?!"

"Y-yeah," Bella said. She was pretty dang short - a couple inches taller than Hestia, and maybe even shorter than Noriko - so she just stared up at me with a sort of quiet awe. "You're - you're an adventurer, right?"

"Yeah," I told her.

"Can you tell me about it? What it's like?"

"Sure," I said, though a glance sideways showed that Mt. Hestia was about to erupt again. "Though you should probably get your falna, first."

"Yeah!" Hestia said, grabbing Bella, pushing her along, willfully ignoring the way the cute girl's head swiveled to watch me. "Don't follow us! She has to take her shirt off, you know!"

"I'm more than aware," I said, and Hestia promptly slammed the door to the room she'd gone into shut.

* * *

"Sit down there, Bella," Hestia said, gesturing towards the bed. Bella promptly hopped on it, and Hestia got behind her. "You have to take off your shirt," she added, and Bella blushed and started to do that, too. Or, maybe she blushed - she'd been blushing pretty hard since seeing Drake's manhood. It was bigger than she thought it'd be! She was sure grandpa was exaggerating because he was an old pervert! "That guy's Drake Holt, Bella." Her voice had the tone of a spooky story, but Bella just listened quietly. "They call him the Happy Ending, because he's a huuuuge pervert, who goes to brothels lots and lots. He's forced a dozen young women into marriage with him! He's fought War Games just to make women marry him! He's tricked and bamboozled my precious child Setsuko into accepting that he has so many other wives! You definitely shouldn't do anything lewd with him, Bella!"

"Eh... but isn't that normal? I mean, he's a high Level adventurer!" Bella had heard a little bit about "the Happy Ending," though she definitely hadn't expected to meet him like that! She shouldn't have stared at his thing so much... she probably made an awful impression on him! Her cheeks burned at that thought. "Isn't it normal for high Level adventurers to have women throwing themselves at them?"

"Eh?! No! Not at all!" Hestia said, though she didn't sound convincing.

"That's what Grandpa said."

"Well, your grandpa sounds like a perv, just like Drake! Look, Bella, he's a dangerous man! Dangerous to innocent, sweet girls like you in particular! Most of his wives are half his age! He's a perverted monster who thinks nothing of seducing woman after woman, just like his goddess, Loki!"

"Ah?!" Bella jerked in place, Hestia's hand snapping to her shoulder to stop her from standing up. "He's from the Loki familia?!" They were the number two familia in Orario! She had heard about Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess, and Riveria Ljos Alf, the Nine Hells, and Tione and Tiona Hiryute, Jormungand and Crusher! The sort of heroines she'd always looked up to and aspired to be like!

"Why is that the only thing I said that you pay attention to?!" Hestia asked, bouncing on the bed behind her. "Argh! No! You can't, Bella, you can't, okay?!"

"Can't what?" Bella asked.

"Can't... you know..." Hestia said, her voice becoming softer. Bella didn't know what she was getting at. Did she think that Bella was going to run off and join the Loki familia? They'd already rejected her, even if Drake seemed nice!

"I won't," she said, gently patting Hestia's hand. "I promise." Hestia had been the one to invite her to her familia, after all.

"Oh, thank you!" Hestia said, bouncing on the bed. "Alright, coming up! One falna for one young adventurer-to-be!" There was the drip of something wet and warm against her back, and she felt a soft tingle run through her whole body, something pleasant and powerful. "Alright," Hestia said. "I'm done. You can put your shirt back on now."

"Thank you, Lady Hestia," Bella said, grabbing her shirt, giving the goddess a bow. She wobbled in place, bouncing on her feet for a moment, taking a deep breath then stepping out back to the sitting room where Drake was idly reading a book. So adventurers read, too! Wait. Should she interrupt him? Ahhh! She'd been staring at his dick earlier! He probably thought she was a total pervert! She wasn't! Grandpa was, so she knew she wasn't, because she knew what a total pervert looked like.

He put the book down, turning his attention back to her, and her cheeks grew fiery hot as he stood up again. He was crazy tall! He was, like, a foot and a half taller than her! It was insane! "Hey. You wanted to hear about what it's like to be an adventurer?" He asked her. She nodded rapidly. "Are you going to say anything?"

"U-uhm, ah- s-sorry for staring at your dick!" She shouted, her whole face feeling like it was on fire with heat, and she rushed desperately out of the room, scurrying through the house like she was being chased by a monster. Her feet made each step faster and harder than ever before, as she rushed away.

She managed to find her way out the front door, panting as she got outside it, feeling flushed and embarrassed. Was running away really better?! Oh no! No, it was a million times worse! She placed both hands on her forehead. She'd have to come back, and this was Setsuko's house, and Setsuko was Drake's wife, and Hestia, her new goddess (!!!), was living here! She turned around, looking back at the door. Okay. She could do this. She just had to act normal! She took a deep breath, opening the door, sticking her head inside - and bumping right into Drake's chest.

"Apology accepted," he told her, as she fell on her butt in shock. "Look, don't worry about it, Bella," he said, giving her a gentle smile. He squatted down in front of her, offering her his hand to help her up. She could probably have gotten up on her own, but she took it anyway. "I go into the Dungeon with Setsuko, so unless you want to die from soloing the Dungeon, then it's probably best if we can get along."

"A-ah, yeah," she agreed, feeling like a total idiot, her cheeks flaring with heat.

"So, do you want to hear about the Dungeon?" He asked. "Or I could tell you some stories about my out-of-Dungeon adventures, if you'd prefer." He was still holding her hand. Her hand was definitely getting sweaty. "Come on in, Bella."

"O-okay," she said, letting him pull her into the house. He gently pulled her along with him to the kitchen, and it was there that they ran into Hestia.

"Nooooo!" Hestia yelled in horror, her gaze focused entirely on where they were holding hands. "Already?! It wasn't even a whole minute! How did you do it, you perverted monster?!?"

"Hestia. I didn't do anything," Drake said, placing one finger on his temple. "Bella was embarrassed because you came barging in on me having sex with my wife and she happened to see some parts of me that will go unmentioned." Bella felt her cheeks grow even brighter at that. She didn't just 'happen' to see! She had looked right at it! It was all big and girthy and wet and stuff! Ahhh she was a total pervert! "I was going to fix her something to eat. I'm not the best chef, but Setsuko is clearly quite tuckered out from earlier, given she hasn't come out yet. Either that, or she's embarrassed too," he said, making Bella's cheeks burn like an inferno. She was sure she looked like a tomato at this point, and she pulled her hand out of Drake's to hide her face behind her hands.

* * *

Ryu smiled as she saw Syr adjusting her hair. The girl had been out of town for weeks, on that journey through the Kaios desert, but now she was back. "It's good to see you again, Syr," she said.

"Good to see you, too," Syr said, a smile on her lips. She stretched, looking quite a bit happier after her journey.

"Was your trip nice?" Ryu asked.

"It was! It was really hot, though, I don't know how anybody lives out there, I was sweating like crazy!" She paused, looking at Ryu closely for a moment. "I got to kiss Cass a lo~ot," she said, with a little bouncy movement in her feet. "On the lips, the ear, the cheeks, the neck, the collar bone, the shoulders, the fingers too! I kissed all over! I looked really hard, and I think I might even have found a place to kiss her that Drake hasn't yet."

"Oh? Where?"

"Oh. I just kissed everywhere, but maybe Drake hasn't done that yet?" Syr suggested.

"Ah. I see. That makes sense. What did you do?"

"Oh, Cass, erm," she paused for a second. "Well, Cass decided that we should rescue some slaves! Actually, all the slaves in Liaod Town."

"Oh. That is good. I had heard you came to Orario with many additional people."

"Yeah." Syr agreed. "They're all former slaves. They all tried to join the Loki familia, but most of them got rejected. Just not Loki's 'type,' you know?"

"Her type?"

"You know. She likes girls with big chests. She's shallow. Come on, you must have heard about this?" Ryu shook her head. "No? You suuure? Did Rei mention it to you when you were out on your little adventure to Rezianal?" Ryu thought about it for a few seconds.

"I don't think so. What I remember is her saying that I had the emotional self-awareness of a rotten tangerine."

Syr giggled at that. "She said that, huh? She sure can be so mean." She smiled. "Is Leah around, by the way?"

"I think that Chloe is trying to give the stray another bath," Ryu said.

"Oh! You know, I think I just might be warming up to the little critter, I'll go help her out!"

"That's very mature of you," Ryu agreed, as Syr pranced off to the bathroom. She heard the loud squealing of the cat less than a minute later, as well as furious dunking sounds.

"Syr, she doesn't like that, you have to be gentle with her!" Chloe shouted at her.

"No, she totally loves it, don't you?!" Syr demanded of the cat, in a tone of voice that sounded more vengeful than anything else. "She loves being dunked underwater over and over again! She just loves being in the bath with pretty girls sooo much, she'd never start a fight with one of them for fear it'd get her kicked out!" For a few more minutes, there was the sound of splashing, screaming cat, Syr and Chloe arguing, and then Syr returned. "Whew! Helping wash that cat really does make me feel so nice, Ryu! Promise me you'll let me wash her if you ever have the chance?"

That was a strange request - normally Syr just tried to avoid work, not do it. "Very well. How did Cassandra free the slaves?"

"Ah, that's just a boring story with some clowning on low Level mooks, not really anything important. No wait! There was a guy there, who was a Level Four, and she did fight him off! Mostly by making him just leave, though," Syr noted, with a hum.

"I would still like to hear the details," Ryu said.

"Well..." Syr hesitated. "Cass got away from the rest of us, and I knew right away what she was thinking: I want to free the slaves!" She leaned into Ryu, her voice turning into a stage whisper. "I suspected that was going to happen even before she decided to do it," she added, with a grin. "Then Drake decided, well, since it was happening anyway, he might as well help out, so he went up and started a fight with the loser guards. Once they were taken care of - and Cass took care of the most dangerous enemy there! - he picked up the girl on the block with the biggest tits. Her name's Jahanara, he just decided 'oh, dark skin, big tits, I've only got a couple of those, time to get another!'"

"I see." Ryu nodded along with the story. So Drake had done most of the work in saving the slaves, it sounded like. She smiled a bit at that. It felt nice to know he was nice. "Did anything else happen?"

Ryu noticed Syr's eyelid twitch in restrained anger. "...no, not really," she said, at last. "We bought some extra camels and rode on home. The guide was pretty mad, I think. After all, Drake didn't tell him anything about what was going to happen!"

"It sounds like Drake did not know," Ryu noted, her brow slightly furrowed.

Syr's mouth worked for a couple seconds, then she just huffed. "I guess not. You know, Ryu..." she trailed off, looking at Ryu closely. Ryu just looked back, confused as to why Syr was staring at her like that. "...never mind," she said, letting out a long sigh.

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