The next morning came as the sun rise, shining the darkness of the world.
We now see two individuals seemingly getting ready for the dungeon.
The two individuals are Bell and Aurelius.
"Kid, are ya ready to go?" Aurelius ask as he equip his shield.
"Almost done! just need to get the rations packed." Bell said as he put potions in his bag.
After Bell finishing up the last necessities needed, they then start to head out of the church, leaving a sleeping Hestia behind.
"zzzz....Bell....Aurelius....zzzz" the goddess mumbled within her sleep.
The two then went out of the church, going straight towards the dungeon.
As they walk, Aurelius couldn't help but thought that something is amiss.
'It feels good to be able to see my progress towards my stats.' Aurelius thought.
'However, I feel like it's still not enough for me.'
While thinking about his progress. Bell couldn't help but notice the titan deep in thought.
He then decided to ask.
"Is there something the matter mister?" Bell posed a question.
"Huh? oh, nothing really. Just thinking about going deeper then yesterday in the dungeon." Aurelius said.
"Oh! are we really?" Bell ask, a bit excited by the prospect.
"Yeah, down a level or two. Should be good. Been stuck on floor 7 for a week. I needed more challenge to grow stronger faster." Aurelius said confirming the rabbits' question.
"E-Even though the events of yesterday just happened?" Bell said as a shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the horrifying events of yesterday.
"Don't be a wuss brat. At some point you're gonna go through that kind of stuff too." Aurelius said stilling bravery within the rabbits' being.
Bell then slumped down. The suggestion of having to go further deeper into the dungeon does not put himself in a good mood.
"Don't be so dramatic. C'mon now, let's go." Said Aurelius as he dragged the boy towards the dungeon.
As they walk through the streets of the city, they talked about topics that would make their walk much livelier as well as to motivate themselves upon the dungeon diving today.
"Mister." Bell ask.
"Hmm?" Aurelius uttered, directing his attention towards the rabbit.
"What do you think we would be eating tonight?" Bell ask, curious upon the meal that his goddess could prepare for them after their job.
"Eh, beats me. All I know that potato puffs would be on the menu."
"Every. Single. Time." Aurelius said, emphasizing every word he just said.
"It would be nice that we would eat out once in a while." Bell said.
"The question is, where to eat? The majority of the Orarios' restaurants are expensive as heck. Plus, their food aren't even that great to begin with." Aurelius said, contemplating upon the matter.
"Yeah, if only there is a place we know that would be nice to eat out at." Bell said solemnly.
As they continue to walk towards the dungeon, all of a sudden, they felt a sharp gaze behind them.
""?!"" The two Hestians was then alerted upon the feeling.
They looked back towards the direction of the source, only to see no one staring at them.
"Did you feel what I feel mister?" Bell ask.
"Yeah. I do." Aurelius said, confirming the rabbits thoughts.
Aurelius and Bell continued to search for the perpetrator as suddenly a voive beside them called.
"U-Um, excuse me."
A feminine voice then said towards the two.
They then looked towards the source of the words spoken, only to see a girl within a green maiden dress stood with grey hair and grey eyes.
"I believe that you dropped this." The girl said as she proceeded to give a monster core towards the two.
"Huh? ours?" Bell asked.
"Yes, it is yours." The girl said.
Bell looked confused upon the crystal. He then looked towards the titan beside him.
"Mister, didn't you traded in all the monster cores yesterday?" Bell ask.
"Yeah, none left." Aurelius answered.
Aurelius then looked towards the girl in front of him and proceeded to pose a question.
"miss may I ask, where do you actually found this crystal at?" Aurelius ask.
"W-Well, when I went through the streets passing the guild yesterday, I saw you both walking out of the guild. You were heading out quickly. At that time, I saw you dropped this crystal." The girl said.
"Is that so? Then maybe I didn't cashed in every single one then." Aurelius said.
He then proceeded to take the offered crystal that "belongs" to them.
"If that is the case, then thank you miss. You are too kind to do such things for us." Aurelius said as he bowed a bit.
"A-Ah there's no need to bow down! I just did it because it's right to do so." The girl said as she frantically waves her hand in denial.
Aurelius then straighten his body, stilling himself before he spoke again.
"Well we better be on our way now." Aurelius then grabbed the shoulders of Bell as they proceeded to go towards the dungeon, seemingly in a hurry.
"Wait!" The girl shouted.
"Hmm? What's the matter miss?" Aurelius ask.
"I heard that you wanted to find a good and affordable restaurant to eat out with your familia. How about you try our place. It's cheap and the cooking here is good." The girl said as she started to point towards the restaurant that she works in.
The sign above showing the name of the restaurant the girl is currently working in.
The Hostess Of Fertility.
Bell happy upon hearing so, replied towards the girl.
"Okay! we'll try it out when we have plans on doing so." Bell said with a smile.
"Yeah, what he said." Aurelius said.
They then went towards the dungeon with great resolve to get stronger.
As they left, Aurelius can't help but to think about the girl.
'Syr, that's her name.....
Or should I say Freya.' Aurelius thought upon the identity of the girl that he had talked to just now.
'Yeah I need to be careful starting from now.' Aurelius thought warry of the schemes that the goddess in disguise had in plan.
...
...
...
...
"Beautiful."
"One of pure bright white and the other a noble gold."
"Truly beautiful." The girl muttered while smiling.
________________________
After some time, the two Hestians reached the Tower of Babel and proceeded to enter the dungeon.
They then went through the floors quickly as they hunted the monsters instead of just encountering them.
After some slaughtering, they have gone ahead and went lower then their deepest floor they had ventured.
The eighth floor of the dungeon.
"So this is the eighth floor huh? There's a lot of moss in here." Bell said upon seeing the scenery unfold.
"Yeah, it's ceiling looks taller too." Aurelius said while looking up.
"What type of monsters do you think would be here mister?" Bell said.
"Well from what I studied the monsters here are practically the same from floor 1 through 7. It's just that the monsters in here are stronger then before." Said Aurelius.
"Is that so? then we can become stronger quite easily isn't it? The monsters here are the same as before so we already knew their attack patterns. This is going to be a breeze!" Bell said excited by the challenge ahead.
"Still, don't let your guard down kid. Anything can happen." Aurelius said.
They then venture through the floor, killing any monsters that comes their way as they hunted them as well in the process.
As they went through the massacring of the monsters, they then stumbled upon a horde of killer ants coming their way.
Although with a bit of difficulty, they have managed to buldoze through them all.
*Phewwww* "That was a bit of a workout, don't you think mister?" Bell said as he swiped his sweat from his forhead.
"A workout? more like a warmup for me kid." Aurelius said as he cracked his fingers.
"Well, you just use your fists to just kill them and took all the blows. I don't have that kind of capabilities. I guess being born a giant is nice for being an adventurer huh?" Bell said, a bit jealous of the size between them.
"There's no need to be ashamed brat.There's a reason the falna exist now in this era. Even if a big guy comes to you, if you're stronger in stats, then that wouldn't matter at all." Aurelius said comforting the rabbit.
"Besides, size doesn't always mattered kid."
"But you're different though. Born a giant and has skills to enhance those strength related stats? I could only imagine how rewarding the feeling is after all that work to result ratio that you have." Bell said pouting upon the luck his titan friend has.
'If only you knew that you have a skill similar to mine kid.' Aurelius thought.
"You'll get there kid. Just work harder and maybe, just maybe, you can be on my level." Aurelius said as he went ahead pat the rabbits head.
"Hmph." the rabbit huffs out of frustration.
"Well then, how about we go through the floor once more for some bit of grinding and then afterwards go to the next floor?" Aurelius suggest.
Bell, now calm from his feelings, replied the titans' question.
"Sure. Let's get stronger!" Bell said.
"Atta boy brat." Aurelius said as he pat the back of the rabbit.
They went through the eighth floor once more, hunting down any monster that they find without stop.
Everywhere they go, they lay massacre towards the monsters, shredding through their hordes like they are the monsters themselves.
They then reached the entrance towards the next floor.
The ninth floor of the dungeon.
Upon arriving on the ninth floor, They see that the layout of the dungeon is still the same as the previous.
They then venture off within the floor. Every step took, every area of the floor they discovered and every monster found and killed, they do it with the intention of getting stronger.
The monsters on this place are the same as the ones before. From goblins all the way to the needle rabbits, they encounterd the same monsters that spawn on the previous floors. There were no new monsters available within the confine stone walls of the ninth floor.
However, they do hunt a big margin of them, further improving their stats. At the same time, they got a lot of monster cores to trade in, more than the previous one from yesterday.
As they picked the last monster core on the ground, They decided to pack up their things and started to head towards the surface.
"Todays' dungeon dive was very succesful. Look at how much monster core we got on us here!" Bell said as he started to pack his bag full of monster cores.
"And our stats might go up a lot as well!" Bell said once more, jumping in joy.
"Heh, all in a day's work." Aurelius said as he huffs with pride.
Bell, while jumping in joy, then remembered something earlier from today.
"Oh! That reminds me! How about we go ahead and visit the Hostess Of whatever the name was." Bell said with a smile, even though he didn't called the restaurant by its full name.
"Yeah sure why not. I'm interested in the store too after hearing her say that." Aurelius said accepting the rabbits' offer.
"Heck yeah! Tonight's going to be a fun one!" Bell said, jumping like a rabbit with joy.
As they planned about their night, they went back to the surface. Upon arriving, they exchanged all of their monster core that filled their bags, much to the surprise of the worker.
'My goodness, how did these two get this much? are they from a strong familia?' the exchanger thought after seeing the absurd amount of monster cores they brought back.
They received their valis after exchanging their collected monster core. Thankfully, they had brought themselves a separate pouch that can contain the amount of valis that they earned today.
After sorting their money, they then headed off home.
Upon reaching home, they were greeted by their goddess, waiting in front of the church.
"Hello there you two! How's the dungeon today?" Hestia said, Happy upon the arrival of her two children.
"Great, Goddess! We actually had a haul!" Bell said, excitement splattered on his face.
"That's great to hear! now how about we get inside and tell me all about your adventures for today." Hestia said.
The two of them then went ahead and entered the church and went towards the room the lived in.
They then unpack everything they had on them and sit on the sofa, relaxing after a long day of hunting in the dungeon.
"Today was one heck of a massacre we did. The monsters were dead before they could even get the chance to do anything." Aurelius said with a prideful, haughty smile.
"You got a lot more of them than me though mister! It's just hard for me to keep up. I just rely on my speed while you can just brute force your way through the monsters." Bell said stating the fact the events occurred in the dungeon.
"it's not like you're lacking behind that much kid. You were as much as a monster than the monsters themselves. Any adventurer on the same level going up against you just can't keep up with you." Aurelius said, first hand witnessing the rabbits' capabilities.
While this was happening, Hestia was putting her working clothes in the drawer. She then proceeded to join in the conversation.
"Well, Well. Look at you two. Happily talking about your challenges in the dungeon even though it's a life and death situation." Hestia said teasing her chilren.
"HAHAHA, you know it! It will take more than just mobs to beat us down to the ground." Aurelius said, a prideful smile on his face.
"Yeah! It's never been so refreshing to go into a dungeon, like ever." Bell said.
"That's good to hear."
"Alrighty, then, how about we get to the usual routine?" Hestia said towards the two
They both nodded and proceeded on taking off their clothes.
"Alright then, you first Aurelius." Hestia said.
Aurelius then went onto the bed. Hestia then got to the status update ritual.
After she's done, she paste its contents on to a piece of paper.
"Here you go!" Hestia said happily.
Aurelius took the paper presented to him. He then look towards the contents of the paper.
________________________
AURELIUS
LVL 1
STR > B 774 ---> SS 1194
END > B 712 ---> SS 1086
DEX > F 398 ---> D 567
AGI > F 377 ---> D 523
MAG > C 607 ---> A 823
MAGIC:
-TAUNT
SKILL:
-VIRTRUS TRANCENDENS
-IUSIURANDUM GOLIATHIS
________________________
Aurelius looked, dumbfounded.
"What the heck?! Just by slaying that many mobs that I got these kind of increase in stats? If that's the case then I don't mind doing more!" Aurelius exclaimed with happiness.
"Now calm down Aurelius. Don't get to ahead of yourself." Hestia said.
"No, in fact, I'm going to go nuts tomorrow HAHAHAHA!" Aurelius laughs as the other two sweat drops from his antics.
*sigh* "Okay it's your turn now bell."
"Okay! can't wait to see how much I've grown!" Bell said excitingly.
Hestia Updates Bells' status. She then proceeds to paste it onto a paper as well.
"Not to shaby bell. You had a great increase as well."
"Really?" Bell said.
"Yeah! take a look yourself." Hestia said as she gives the status paper towards bell.
Bell looked at the contents of the paper.
________________________
BELL CRANEL
LVL 1
STR > E 452 ---> C 632
END > E 421 ---> D 547
DEX > C 601 ---> B 791
AGI > C 651 ---> A 843
MAG > I 0
MAGIC:
SKILL:
________________________
"Ehhhh?! It increased by that much?! How?!" Bell said in disbelief.
"HAHAHAHA didn't I said that you can become strong too Kid!" Aurelius said, further adding in the rabbits' success.
"This is so nice! If this goes on then I can be level 2 in no time!" Bell said, excited upon the thought of leveling up.
Hestia, hearing the word "level up", realized something.
"Now that I see it, You two can already level up with the stats you have right now." Hestia said.
"Do you two wanted to?" Hestia suggest upon the prospect of leveling up now.
"Nah, considering 3 of my stats can go above S rank, then why would I waste such an opportunity to continue to upgrade my stats first?" Aurelius said.
Bell then started to speak, further solidifying the titans' reasoning.
"Yeah! I want to get stronger as well! I'll want my stats to be higher too!" Bell said.
"Hihi, you two really do think alike. It's as if you were brothers." Hestia said giggles towards the resolve of her children in front of her.
"Oh! that reminds me. Lady Hestia! do you want to go eat out at a restaurant? there's this place we know today that looks like they sell good food for cheap price." Bell ask hestia about the the restaurant that the girl from earlier today suggested to go.
"I would love to, but, I actually have a....work party that I needed to attend to after this. So I'm sorry Bell!" Hestia said while clasping his hands.
Hestia then quickly wore her white jacket and storms out of the room.
"Aaannd she's gone." Aurelius said.
"Oh. That's a shame.I thought we three would have a good meal together tonight. That means I'll be going with you then mister." Bell said, inviting the tittan to go along with him.
"On second thought, I won't be joining you." Aurelius said.
"EHHHH?! Why? didn't she invited both of us to go come to the place?" Bell said.
"Well, still skeptical if the "food is cheap and good too" thing is true. So, I'll leave up for you to judge such statement." Aurelius said as he puts a thumbs up towards the rabbit with a smile.
*sigh* "Alright then. I'll go alone." Bell said with his mood now non-existent.
"Ey, look on the bright side. You get to eat." Aurelius said, lightening up the mood of the rabbit.
"Yeah, sure.....I'll be going now." Bell said as he walks out of the room with a slump body posture.
'Sorry Bell but that girl gives me the creeps. If only you knew that grey hair is actually a goddess in disguise.' Aurelius thought not wanting to have anything with the sex-craved goddess.
'Well now that I'm alone I think I'm going to go out as well to go on a stroll. As much as I am traumatized by my first death from just strolling, I have nothing better to do.' Aurelius thought.
Aurelius walks out of the room and out of the church as well.
As he walks through the ruins within the area of the church, he saw many ruins of building that once probably the buildings dedicated towards the gods a long time ago.
'I guess back then people worship the gods so that they can get protection and a miracle to help them with their problems.'
'Now however, considering the gods walked amongst mortals, there is no need for such things.' Aurelius thought upon the possible history of this area.
'If you can become a follower directly under the gods themselves now, why would you want to build a worship place in the first place?' Aurelius thought.
He then continued walking until he was out of the area that he was in and entered the bustling part of the city.
Many people were doing their own business, either by having fun with friends or busy doing work.
'So lively. I think I should take a stroll around more at night time when I'm free.' Aurelius thought.
Aurelius kept on walking, taking in the scenery of all the things around him.
However, something bumped into him.
*THUD*
"Ow!"
A female voice was heard. In fact, a childs' voice of a girl.
"hmm?" Aurelius turned looking towards the source of the collision.
There he saw a tiny person that is barely passing the height of his knee.
"I-I'm sorry sir. I didn't look where I was going."
The person in question possess a very small stature. wearing a robe that hides its identity, the person in front of him seems to be a girl.
"Oh, it's fine. There's no need to apologize." Aurelius said as he gestures a hand towards the tiny girl.
"T-Thank you sir." The girl said as she took the offer of the titan. Much to the dismay of the girl seeing such a titanic human being.
"It's nothing." Aurelius said.
"Well I'll be on my way now." The girl said as she started to walk past the girl.
Before she gets to fully past the titan, his hands suddenly grabbed onto the tiny girls' right shoulder, almost encompassing all of her arm.
"?!" The girl alerted upon the sudden contact then tries to shake off his hand.
Of course, to no avail.
"Didn't anyone tell you that it's not good to steal from someone else young miss?" Aurelius then said towards the girl.
"I-I'm sorry, I'll give it back to you sir." The girl said as she pulls out a pouch, his pouch, full of Valis from her sleeve of her robes.
"Nah, take it." Aurelius said as he pushed away his own pouch that was stole by the girl.
"Eh?" The girl uttered with a confused voice.
"I said take it. You probably needed it more than I do." Aurelius said.
Aurelius then proceeded to walk away from the little girl. However, he then stopped for a moment and spoke.
"Just, make sure that you don't do any stealing again. It's not a pretty act for any girl really." Aurelius said as he walks away from the girl to who knows where.
"..."
The girl was silent upon the kind gesture of the titan.
She then looked at the pouch in her hands, wondering why he did such a thing.
"..."
As he walks, he can't help but realize who that person was as he saw a bit of how she looked.
'Brown eyes, brown shoulder length hair. Yeah, there's no mistaking it....."
'...that was Liliruca Arde.' Aurelius thought upon knowing who that little girl is.
'I didn't think I would meet her soon. I guess doing that kind of gesture would help the Familia gain her much easier...I hope.'
Aurelius then continues to walk through the city, taking in the atmosphere of night.
While walking, he received glances from people that saw him. It is most probably because of his abnormal size that got their attention, saying things like "Woah! he's huge!" or "How can a guy be that tall?!" or even "Do you think he's single?" much to the uncomfort of the titan. However, he still strode on his stroll, minding his own business.
After a while, he went back home towards the church after deciding on having enough walking for one night.
After some time walking, he arrived at the church. Before going in, he remembered something crucial.
'Wait, I just remembered. Bell isn't going to be home tonight because of that dog boy roasting the poor rabbit.' Aurelius thought.
'Considering that it's already this late, He's already in the dungeon, mindlessly slaying monsters left and right.' Aurelius thought as he sighs from the reckless action of the rabbit.
'I guess it can't be helped. Even I would somewhat snap from his stupid provocation.'
Aurelius then looked up towards the stars as he took in the full scenery of it.
'He's going to be fine. I'm an acute believer on his plot armor. Besides, pain and trauma is needed for the development of a person. He'll get stronger faster this way.' Aurelius thought, not worrying further upon his comrades well being.
He then enters the church and went towards the rooms they lived in.
once there, he saw that Hestia was already asleep on the bed, peacefully.
"Zzzz"
Aurelius saw this, took a blanket on the sofa that he saw and gently encompass the goddess' body.
"Goodnight, goddess Hestia." Aurelius said as he proceeded to go ahead and lay down on the sofa as he close his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
________________________
Next morning came as the sun shines within crevices of the room.
Aurelius was sleeping peacefully and soundly as suddenly he was disrupted by a sudden shout.
"Aurelius! Wake up Aurelius!" Hestia said frantically trying to wake up the titan from his sleep.
"Hngh, I'm up, I'm up." Aurelius said as he positions himself in a sitting position.
"What is it goddess?" Aurelius said as he groggily rub his eyes to clean it.
"Help me bring bell onto the bed! he's bloodied here!" Hestia said as she struggled to carry the half conscious Bell.
"?!" Aurelius after noticing the condition Bell was in, waste no time in helping him get to bed.
Aurelius then lifted him up and brought him towards the bed. He then put him on the bed, properly adjusting his body to suit his comfort.
"Are you comfy kid?" Aurelius asked.
"Y-yeah. Th-ank y-you mi-ster." Bell said stuttering in between words, most probably from the pain he is feeling.
"I'll go get the potions really quick." Hestia said as she quickly went ahead and grabed a potion or two.
After getting it, Hestia then brought it back to Bell. She assisted the poor rabbit on drinking the potion, healing himself.
Hestia then went ahead and started to clean the rabbit from any stained blood on his body.
"Oh Bell, what happened?" Hestia said as small tears falling on her cheeks.
"..."
Bell was silent for a moment. Most probably from the experience he feels from yesterday.
"....Lady Hestia, mister...." Bell said as he looked towards them.
The two then looked upon the laying rabbit as they awaited his words to be spoken.
"....I.....want to be strong.....so that I can protect the honor of this Familia."
Hestia, After hearing that, puts up a smile.
"...sure Bell.....but please, don't kill yourself doing so." Hestia said as she caresses the rabbits hair in comfort.
As Hestia Caresses his head, Bell closed his eyes, slumbered from the tiredness he feels.