The Protagonist System

With the loot drops combined with the monster crystals, we ended up with a whopping 230,560 valis. That was almost 10 times what a normal adventuring party of five people could gather in a day. It was both shocking and hilariously funny, because Lili constantly laughed and sneakily grabbed my butt every time Rose turned to look at us, in order to make the werewolf blush. And she did. Every time.

We left there with big smiles on our faces as light applause came from the other adventurers that had seen the huge pile of monster crystals and loot we had turned in. Word of it was going to spread fast, I was sure. That was one of the reasons I hadn't asked Lili to not laugh or make a spectacle, because we wanted people to see how successful our Familia was.

Lili took my hand as we walked and she beamed a smile up at me. “This is the best scam I've ever seen, Bell! Thank you for including me.”

I chuckled and darted down to give her a quick kiss. “We have to do it this way until we get more Familia members. Once we do, we can clear out floors faster and go even deeper into the dungeon.”

Lili's smile somehow became even bigger. “The deeper floors have much bigger and stronger monster spawns, which you can find and agitate with that wonderful magic detection spell you have.”

“It's up to 200 feet now, so I think I've levelled up again.” I said.

“That's why Hestia gasped?” Lili asked me.

“No, I think when Hephaestus and I... consummated our mutual support contract... she granted me something.” I told her and she looked surprised. “I'm hoping it's a blessing of some kind that probably deals with heat, the forge, or something similar.”

“Do you feel anything different?” Lili asked and pointed down a side street.

I followed where she wanted to go. “I felt it when whatever it was activated during my update.” I said and remembered when it had happened the first time. “Also when Hephaestus gave it to me.”

“You actually felt her blessing you?” Lili asked, surprised.

“I sure felt something.” I joked and wagged my eyebrows at her.

Lili barked a laugh and then giggled like a little girl. “S-stop making me laugh!”

I shrugged, not agreeing or promising anything. She gave me a light smack on my arm and led me down several streets to a small place. Her mood fell as we approached the door.

“You don't have to do this.” I whispered to her.

“I know. I want to.” Lili said and reached into her money pouch and pulled out a second bag. In it was the 25,000 valis that I had paid her for robbing me. It had been the last amount of money she had earned as a Soma Familia member and she believed she needed to give it to the people that had taken care of her when she was younger.

I knocked on the door for her and we waited, and waited, and no one opened the door. I cast a detection spell and sighed. Lili gave me a searching look and I nodded. They were inside and were not answering on purpose. Undaunted, Lili opened the door, the lock proving no barrier to her augmented strength, and she tossed in the bag of money.

“We're done. I have a real family now.” Lili said and shut the door. She hadn't slammed it.

“I would have slammed it.” I said and cast a quick repair on the lock. “Let's go grab those things you were looking at yesterday in the market.”

Lili took my hand with a sigh and we walked away from her old guardians, never to return.

*

The Loki Familia finally returned from their week long excursion into the dungeon. They had made it all the way down to the seventeenth floor this time and had spent a long time clearing out the various monsters scattered all over the level that was nearly a quarter of the size of the city of Orario.

The trip back to the surface had been quicker than going down, because the bigger boss monsters they had slain would take a week or more to spawn again. They had gathered a very good haul as well. The rare loot drops and larger monster crystals meant a large payout that would keep them solvent for at least a month, even after they distributed everyone the share they had earned.

The less important members had already scurried off to their rooms as soon as they entered the compound, so it was only Loki and her executives and the Familia head that entered the main building.

“Goddess, this came for you by priority runner last week right after the expedition left.” One of the compound's attendants said and bowed as he held out a note.

Loki's eyes crinkled as if squinting, even if her eyes were already squinted. “Who would send something to me directly and not to my cute little Finn?”

Finn took the cue and walked over to take the note. He quickly read it and shook his head. “The Hephaestus Familia wants to commission us for an exploratory mission into the dungeon.”

“HA! Not goddess-damned likely.” Gareth the large surly dwarf almost spat as he sat on a huge couch. “We just got back from a week down there and we're exhausted.”

“Even the support people we hired dropped their packs and pulled out bedrolls to sleep in the courtyard. They're not moving until tomorrow at least.” Tione said with a groan as she sat across from Gareth. She grunted when her sister flopped down onto her lap and started snoring. “Yeah, like that.”

Some of the others chuckled and they all found places to drop their things and flopped onto couches and chairs to relax.

“Is it a straight fee or resource sharing?” Riveria asked. As the vice-head, she needed to know and she would start the planning right away.

“Straight fee. Going for the resources is the point of the dive.” Finn said and handed her the note.

“Hard pass!” Tiona said from her sister's lap, her snoring had been fake. “I barely have any boobs and even my boobs are tired after that trip!”

That made most of them laugh and then sigh as they pulled off their heavy clothes and pieces of armor. No one winced at the smell, because they were all covered in it. Sweating in the dungeon was accepted as normal and no one was exempt from stinking up the place. They wouldn't even notice until they went to their individual rooms to clean up.

“I have to agree. We need rest for a day or two before heading out again, even if it is a lucrative contract.” Riveria said and handed the note to Loki.

Loki's eyes twitched and the slits she had for eyes opened a small bit in surprise when she saw the offer. “Is she insane?”

“You would know better than we would.” Riveria said and sat beside Tione and pet Tiona's head, making the amazonness almost purr. “Why would she pay such an outrageous fee for an escort mission?”

Loki didn't know. Hephaestus was a blacksmith and all she really wanted out of life was to pass on her craft to those that were worthy and to smith new things with the best ingredients. She wouldn't even look at anything that was a common grade or lower, which meant she expected to find something worthy during the trip.

Her request for them to go down as many levels as possible, would be quite the undertaking. That could explain the fee, especially since there was nothing in the note about their own provisions or support personnel. Then again, Loki would have to meet with her to get the details, since the note was only worded with the intent to hire them, not that she would.

“What do the rest of you think?” Loki asked them.

“Wait a few days to a week and ask us again.” Tione said and nearly everyone else nodded.

“I would go right now if I didn't need a change of clothes and a bath.” Aiz said.

“I'll join you!” Loki exclaimed and leapt at her.

Aiz was well versed in the goddess and her perversions, so her hand easily swiped the groping one away from her breast and followed through with a slap to the face. She caught the hand and tripped the goddess to make her faceplant into the floor.

“You're soooo mean!” Loki groused from the floor. No one moved to help their goddess and avoided looking at her sprawled out on the floor.

Aiz picked up the dropped note and saw who it was from. No one saw as her lip twitched slightly and she pocketed the note as she left the room.

*

“I can't believe you bought a stupid lute and a bunch of parts for 20,000 valis!” Lili almost shouted at me as I put my purchases into the side pocket of her backpack.

“There is a method to my madness. Two methods, actually.” I clarified and she gave me an incredulous look. “You'll find out what I mean as soon as I can get you home and can work on it.”

Lili sighed exaggeratedly and poked me in the side to get me to move.

“If I need anything else for my home, I know where to come looking for it. Thank you.” I said to the older woman behind the counter of the old store.

“I look forward to you coming back to visit, Bell.” She said with a slightly red face.

The store had been a rare find when we stumbled upon this place and it had a bunch of old things like beat up trunks, dressers, lamps, tables of all kinds, and other furniture that had seen better days. They were selling them for cheap and I bought more than a few things for our home and just so happened to ask about musical instruments.

The older woman said she had something that wasn't for sale and showed me her mother's old lute. It was in fairly good shape and had some faded gold filigree on it, so I knew it should work for what I wanted. It had a bulbous teardrop shape and not the figure 8 of a guitar and the neck was very short and the top bent back at an angle to keep tension on the strings. On the plus side, it had the right number of strings and I wouldn't have to add any.

After a lot of haggling and a promise to come back and play a song for her, I had gained it and all of the things her mother had collected over the years for it, including many replacement strings, frets, the string screws, and everything else that would be needed to repair or replace parts on it. She also gave me a small pot of wood varnish that she had forgotten to use on the thing months ago.

That was why I hadn't balked at spending the money. The older woman had seen my clear interest in it and had only haggled for fun, which let her start off outrageously high at 50,000 valis and I started outrageously low at 100 valis. By the time we reached the 'right' price for her to sell it to me, we had both been laughing under our breaths for several minutes.

I bid her a good day and we left the small shop. I made a mental note of where it was and placed a minuscule barrier onto the front window, just so I would find it if I was within 200 feet.

Lili didn't say anything else to me about it and took my hand again. “What should we do now?”

I checked the invisible clock in my head. “We need to go eat supper. I doubt we'll see Hestia until later tonight after what I told her yesterday.”

Lili nodded and we talked about the best place to go, then chose to head to the Hephaestus Familia compound to hand over their half of the money we made from cashing in the monster crystals and loot drops.

“And if they just so happened to be eating...” Lili said with a smile.

I chuckled and we ran the rest of the way there. My condition of only being there for contracted business would still count if we were invited to eat while delivering the money. We were in luck when we arrived in the main building. A huge pile of food had been delivered and most of the Hephaestus Familia members were there eating.

“Bell!” Tsubaki almost shouted and waved to us. “You're just in time!”

“We couldn't impose...” I started to say.

“Sit! Sit!” Tsubaki said and motioned to the empty chair beside her.

“We finally cashed in what we gathered at the Guild.” Lili said and let me sit, then she took off her backpack and sat on my lap. I was hard for her instantly and she looked quite smug about it. No one mentioned her sitting on me, not even Tsubaki.

“Oh? Did they piss themselves? That was a lot of monster crystals.” Tsubaki said.

“It was pretty close and Lili and I were laughing pretty hard.” I said as Lili picked up a biscuit to butter it and fed me half. “Fangs.” I said in thanks and chewed before I swallowed. “We popped into the dungeon for half an hour this morning to gather what was around the travel points, too.”

Tsubaki chuckled and spread jam on her next biscuit. “How much was around the last one?”

“Almost as much as the top eight floors combined.” Lili said and started prepping another biscuit to feed me half and added a drop of honey.

“HA! It must have been a huge pile when you delivered it to the Guild.” Tsubaki said and took a drink of tea. “Ahhh, that's good stuff.”

“The pile was almost as tall as Lili and she had to turn her backpack upside down to get them all out.” I said and accepted another half-biscuit and a potato treat. Both tasted great with some honey on them.

“That's why we were laughing so hard. The looks on everyone's faces when they saw how much we had was really funny!” Lili beamed a smile at her and Tsubaki laughed.

“I bet the adventurers there will have spread the story to the others already.” I said and Lili nodded.

We were about halfway through supper when the main building's door opened and a very nervous young man ran in and went right over to Tsubaki. He whispered in her ear and she nodded. He ran back out and disappeared for a minute and then he came back as he led a pretty blonde woman inside.

“Aiz!” I said in a similar manner to Tsubaki's welcoming greeting and waved her over. “You're just in time. Please join us.”

Aiz gave me raised eyebrows and walked over to us.

“Lili? Could you grab...” I started to say and Lili hopped from my lap to sit on Tsubaki's. The other woman barked a laugh and handed her a slice of beef and a tomato. “I was going to say a chair.”

Lili motioned to Aiz and she sat demurely on my lap side saddle, as if I was a prize show horse.

“That was a classy move.” Tsubaki said with approval.

Aiz gave her a slight nod and started eating and feeding me bits as well, just like Lili had. I accepted them because I had already put my arms around her waist to hold her steady and my hands weren't free. With where my hands were, I could easily tell that she worked out a lot to get such a fit body and I knew she was very strong.

The thing was, after my current level up that Hestia had performed that morning, I was sure with my armor bonuses that I was pretty close to her level and possibly stats. Aiz must have noticed a change in my face as I thought about her, because she gave me a fairly pointed look. She briefly glanced down at my hands and back at my face.

I softly laughed at the partial accusation. “I'm not so crass as to try and grope you under the table, Aiz. Unless we started dating, that is. Then it would be kind of fun and something we could both do and not just me.”

Aiz gave me another pointed look, seemed to think about it, nodded, and leaned in to give me a kiss.

The entire table seemed to still as all conversation stopped and everyone looked over at me, even Lili and Tsubaki. I was almost equally as stunned as them, because I was pretty sure Aiz had just agreed to date me and gave me permission to grope her under the table.

Aiz went back to eating and feeding me. One of her hands briefly dropped below the table edge and slid along my waist to feel my erection. I sucked in a sharp breath for her and she gave me a slight smile before she went back to eating with both hands.

I slid a hand down from her waist and along the outside of her thigh, then along the inside. I hesitated when my hand slid up under her short skirt and she looked at my face. I put a questioning expression on my face and my eyes darted down to her waist. Aiz gave a very slight nod and prepared another potato treat. She liked them with honey, too.

I did not try to play with her or rubbed her down there. I slid my hand up and did what she did to me. I slid my hand along her panties and then rested my hand there on her. It also let me feel her grow damp at the intimate touch, even if I didn't do anything except hold her down there.

I moved my hand away after that brief touch and she seemed to appreciate that I hadn't done more than that, because she smiled slightly again. I accepted another bite of potato treat and we all ate breakfast in almost complete silence.