Chapter 22 - Dungeon

Waking up, Ethan looked at his surroundings. He remembered immediately the fact that Ais would come with him in the Dungeon. Leaving the room, Ethan went to the entrance of Ais' room.

"Ais, we have to go in the Dungeon"

Seeing that nobody replied, Ethan knocked on the door a few times. The fact she didn't answer made Ethan think she was still asleep. With a large smile on his face, Ethan bought another paper and a pen to write a message

'You worked hard for my behalf all night, I will go in the Dungeon alone for today, don't worry about me, I won't go deeper than the 10th floor'.

Passing the message under the door, Ethan headed directly to the Guild. After 1 hour of walk, he was finally at the entrance of the Guild. Entering, he saw Eina talking with Misha and, the moment she saw him, stared at him all the time before Ethan said

"Well.. I came here because you said I needed to inform you about my movements in the dungeon. Know that I will go to the 10th floor today"

Hearing his words, Eina tried to calm herself, failing miserably before she said in an anxious tone

"The 10th floor... Are you sure about that? I know you are strong..but.."

Ethan, thought about what he could do to pacify her but, instead of finding an excuse, he just said

"I will return...Eina, trust me".

Seeing the expression on Ethan's face, Eina nodded slowly her head before saying

"I will trust you".

He exited the Guild 5 minutes later and, without even him realizing where he was, he found himself in the entrance of the Dungeon.

Entering the 1st floor, he decided to speed it up all the way because the monsters were weak for him with his parameters and, after 35 minutes, He was at the 9th floor. He was bored to fight Goblins and Kobolds but, he found himself victim of a Monster Party that blocked his way to the 10th floor.

"I want to try something"

Was all that Ethan said before he started to try to form a bubble of mana. He wanted to infuse mana itself in his own [Twin's Digimon]. This caused the daggers to become extremely powerful and, although he didn't have knowledge about [Enchanting Magic], he successfully applied the mana in the daggers.

This display caused the poor Goblin that tried to rush at him to be destroyed in contact with the dagger. Seeing this, Ethan thought about his current abilities. He only had [Sagitta Magica] to attack his opponents and, without [Qienta's Blessing], he would have a hard time in this floor.

Deciding to make a mental note to upgrade his current abilities and develop new ones, Ethan killed all the Goblins and Kobolds in the monster party after 20 minutes.

Arriving at the 10th floor, he saw a group of adventurers fighting some orcs and, as a rule no one would have had to intervene in someone else's fighting if they didn't need help, Ethan intended to pass the group to hunt alone but, he saw a petite girl, wearing a slightly torn red and white hooded top, a red skirt, black tights, and light brown boots.

He knew who she was and, seeing the latter with bruises all over her body, he felt rage in his heart thinking that Bell would arrive so late to help her.

Seeing that the group successfully killed an Orc, Ethan decided to hide for the moment, even if he knew the fact that the Soma Familia's members never treated her well, he could accept it more if he killed someone he 'knew' did the things that happened in the anime.

---

Seeing that her two familia members killed the Orc, the petite girl immediately took the core from the floor and placed it in her 'backpack'

They were in the dungeon from hours and, since their 'job' would be done with the amount of cores they had, The first Adventurer said

"We finished the job, now hurry, we need to leave this place before other Orcs would spawn".

Hearing this, one of the other two adventurers said

"Yes, but the Captain said we needed 120 cores, we should have around 110, is it not enough?"

Knowing what he meant, the other Adventurer had a big smile on his face. He looked at the petite girl, saying

"Lili, you should have some monster cores you obtained as a reward from the previous time, right? You see we need other cores, could you help us?"

Lili, tried as always to say

"It's not fair! I didn't hear Captain said---"

Before she could finish her words, The Adventurer punched her face while saying

"Are you saying that we're lying?"

She wanted to argue, but she found herself with a foot on her face.

"Give us all your possessions, and we may let the matter lay, otherwise.."

Hearing these words, Lili felt scared for a moment but, knowing the feeling of being punched and kicked, she gave up and thought

'Adventurers... I will never forgive you'

Closing her eyes, ready for endure a long session of pain, she felt something was 'wrong'. Opening her eyes again, she saw a boy looking at her with a pair of daggers in his hands.

"I saw how they were punching you, are you okay?"

Lili, couldn't find her words at time before one of the adventurers shouted

"Who are you!? It's none of your business, she is a member of our familia!"

The boy, with a grin, said

"So? Is this a good reason to punch and kick her?"

Lili felt tears on her face while she shouted

"It's as he said, none of this is your business!"

Seeing this, the boy started to laugh lightly. The adventurer, immediately resumed a combat-ready state before he said

"W-What? Why are you laughing?"

But, this time, the boy didn't respond while 17 arrows, immediately pierced the 3 adventurers.

This display caused a shocked expression to form on Lili's face. She looked at the blood and the nearly dead 3 adventurers, she thought things would be like always but, now that someone easily killed the 3 of them, she felt so scared that she couldn't even speak.

---

Seeing the shocked and scared expression on Lili's face, Ethan immediately made a smile before he said

"Don't worry, I want to save you, I'm not like them"

She looked at his face for a moment without even have the force to think, something picked up by Ethan that decided to use a more gentle approach.

He went near hear, looked at her face with a gentle smile for a few seconds before he put his hand on her hair, stroking them in the aftermath

"It must have been tough.."

Lili, didn't processed well everything that was happening but, feeling a hand on her hair far gentler than the ones that hit her with force, immediately brought tears to her eyes.

"I.. I don't even know you...why..why.."

With the same smile he had before, Ethan said

"I saw that they were hitting you and I decided to help you.."

Hearing this, Lili laughed while crying, saying

"You..saved me..because they were hitting me.. I see. Are you a stupid? If they were stronger than you, what would you have done?"

Ethan, thought about it for a moment before he replied

"I don't know, but right now it isn't that important..right?"

Lili didn't know if she should laugh or cry at his words anymore. She muttered

"You are a stupid.."

Although Ethan heard her words, he decided to not argue because right now she was in a state of mind he couldn't afford to tease.

"Now that I saved you, what could we do? I can't take you to my familia, but I think return in your own isn't an option either.."

His own words immediately brought him to think about Hestia. He felt scared and relieved at the same moment. Scared because he forgot about her completely and relieved because he could make Lili join Hestia as her first familia member.

"Lili, I actually thought about a place and a familia you could join, what do you think? Do you trust me?"

She wanted to say a lot of things but, she simply replied

"To be honest, I don't trust you yet, but I..want to trust you.."

Feeling her own words rather offensive to say to the person that saved you, Lili was right to explain her reasons but, she saw that Ethan stopped stroking her hair.

She immediately felt scared that he would hurt her but, instead, he brought his hand on his head, petting her in the aftermath while he said

"I will make you believe in me soon, even if you can't trust me, I promise to make you have a good life from now on. But for now, I think it's better to start with the introductions. My name is Ethan, and yours...it's Lili, right?"

Hearing his words, Lili started crying again and, with a smile on her face, she replied

"Yes... I'm Lili, Ethan-sama"

Hearing her words made Ethan furrowing his brows while he said

"Come on, just call me Ethan"

Lili, immediately replied

"I can't Ethan-sama, you are my savior, I can't call you without honorifics."

He decided to let the matter for another time before he said

"Whatever, for now I'll take you to my friends' Familia, okay?"

Lili's ears immediately twitched hearing his words but, without arguing, she nodded her head while she saw Ethan looking at her with another gentle smile. He released his hand from her head, something that made Lili sad but, without pointing it out, the two quickly made their way to the entrance of the Dungeon.

After 2 hours of walk, the two finally arrived at the Abandoned Church.

Ethan, seeing the church had a sad smile on his face while he said

"Follow me, we will go to see my friend"

Lili wanted to ask who his friend was but, before she could even ask, she saw a girl with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Why didn't you come to me last night!?"

Hearing these words, Lili had a face so red that you could mistake her as a tomato. Seeing this, Ethan immediately stated

"She is my friend, Hestia..."

Now looking at her, he continued

"I had something to take care of..but now I'm officially in the Loki Familia."

Hearing these words, Hestia released a sigh before she muttered

"At least you may have come to explain..."

Ethan, decided to ignore her before he turned his head to Lili

"Lili, she is a goddess without any member but, she is a very caring goddess and, even if sometimes lazy, she cares a lot about her family.."

Lili had a shocked expression for various reasons, but what made her more shocked than the others was the fact that he was placing himself at the same level as a goddess.

"Are you...a God?"

Ethan, replied with a 'Hmm?' before he understood the meaning of her words.

"Oh, I'm not a God, you can say I have a special relationship with her..."

Lili, thought hard about it but, the only answer she could come up to was far more shocking for her

"Are you two..lovers?"

Hestia, hearing Lili's words, Immediately replied

"We-We're not l-l-lovers! We--"

She was ready to say a lot of things but, without the time for do so, Ethan replied on his own

"No, we aren't lovers, I think of her as something similar to a friend. I wish to help you but I can't do it myself because I don't have the money to buy you a home nor can I take you to my familia so I wanted to ask her help.."

Hestia, looked at Lili with a shocked expression

"Are you saying..she would become my familia member?"

Ethan, nodded his head without asking the 'confirm' of Lili, while saying

"I know I'm asking a lot, but I hope you will come to understand each other, although I know that many things have happened in a short period of time, Hestia, you wanted a familia member and Lili, you wanted to be 'free', isn't it perfect? You will come with me in the dungeon so that you won't risk someone of your familia try to kidnap you"

Hearing his words made Hestia and Lili look at each other before they saw Ethan laugh.

"So... I am Hestia, Would you want to join my Familia, Lili?"

Hearing her words, Lili sobbed before she said

"Yes.."

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things like the [Twin's Digimon], but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(A/N: Tuesday and Friday will always be a pain in the *** for me because of my work and other projects but, instead of thinking I won't publish a chapter, know that I will post later in these two days of the week)

(Alternate Titles: "Liliruca Arde...what a pain...Oh I know the answer! Making her join Hestia Familia!" (It wasn't part of the keikaku I swear) "'I will return Eina, trust me'", "Ethan, you baka ~")