Chapter 78 - Expedition(1/?)

Getting up, Ethan went to the door. Opening it, he saw that all the core members were already in front of him.

"Surely you took your time.."

Hearing Finn's sarcastic tone, Ethan laughed sarcastically as Ais exited the room as well. Even if he hadn't thought about it therefore, the fact that their hickey were visible could create many misunderstandings, even if they weren't, and the last thing Ethan wanted was to focus on her...

Seeing her approaching Riveria, he shook his head

'I can't let myself fall into doubt now that I can't do anything. Who cares if they understand what we did, we are in a relationship so it's only natural to do these things...'

Nodding to himself, he went near Riveria and Ais while the former sighed. As the group leader, Finn nodded upon seeing that everyone was here.

"As you know, today we will participate as the main familia in the expedition. Our goal is simple. Find the cause of the abnormalities that have occurred these days. For this time I expect you to not act independently. Although normally this isn't the case, we tend to relax too much because we know that the level of monsters is lower. However, now we no longer have that certainty, therefore maximum seriousness. I've been clear?"

Tilting his head to look briefly at Bete and Ethan, the former made a 'tch' while looking away. The latter instead, completely ignored the fact that he was mentioned, even if indirectly. Seeing this, Finn sighed while hoping that in this expedition everything would go in the right direction.

Now that his small talk with the core members was done, Finn added

"As you know, from today we have another member in our group, Ethan. Since he never directed an expedition, I will explain again what we should do..."

Hearing him, Tiona was really curious to know his potential against monsters as well, while Tione just sighed...

Explaining quickly everything he should do, Ethan knew more or less everything, so he decided to focus on Ais, but..

"Will you explain to me, on our return, what happened?"

Hearing Riveria's whisper, he turned his head to face her.

"That's not a problem. I will explain everything you want to know."

His firm reply made her flinch slightly before she shook her head.

"I don't want the details, for now it was enough for me to know that things are normal between you"

Nodding, he took Ais' hand in his while the explanation of Finn was finally over. Starting to walk towards the exit, Ethan saw how all the members of the familia were preparing and, possibly waiting for the few who still remained.

Now just outside the door, Finn stopped as everyone else did the same while Ethan decided to ask

"Riveria, shouldn't you stay ahead with him since you're the vice-captain?"

His question made her shake her head as she answered

"For these days you have been entrusted to me and Ais, so I'll remain here to protect you, just in case."

Understanding, he didn't say anything more. He knew that if Riveria hadn't wanted to help, she wouldn't have stayed here, so, anything he would say didn't seem appropriate to him.

With time passing quickly, it was already time for all the rest of the members to group together and join the group of the core members. Seeing the level of organization with which all this was taking place, Ethan was surprised for a moment before actually realizing that the Familia in which he was, was in first place for more reasons than he had originally imagined.

This because, although not all of them, most adventurers were too low-level to compete against variants. This means that all the time before the situation was finally resolved, their only source of income was the few part-time jobs that could be done.

Observing carefully all that surrounded him, Ethan felt even more curious to explore the city. Squeezing the grip with Ais's hand, he said, all of a sudden

"As soon as the expedition is over, I want to explore the city with you."

Hearing this, she looked at him while he smiled happily. Seeing his reaction, Ais made a small smile whilst nodding in affirmation.

His words were heard by Riveria as well that, with a sigh, looked away.

---

Now arrived at the entrance of Babel, Finn declared

"Now what we have to do is wait for everyone else to arrive like us. Having arrived early, you can start regrouping if you are part of a group, otherwise stay where you are and form a party with someone close to you. As you know, this expedition is not used to collect materials, so if you have to collect them, it will be your choice."

Knowing this as well, everyone had solemn expressions, ready to uncover whatever mystery lies behind the dungeon.

After some minutes, adventurers from various familias began to arrive, including Tsubaki and other members of the Hephaestus familia. Seeing the captain of another important family, Finn decided to go talk to her to ask for updates.

With time passing rather quickly, all the people who were to participate arrived while Finn returned to his position. Together with the other captains of the other familias next to him, he decided to make one last speech, this time addressed to everyone.

Having explained more or less the same things he had explained previously, the members of the Loki familia were already in the vanguard while, in the rear, there were all the adventurers who had decided to participate as free-lancers. In the middle, everyone was ready to enter as Finn declared the start of the expedition.

---

The first floor of the Dungeon passed as expected. Their current goal was to settle in Riviria and then check the situation in those plans. Although with large groups the dungeon was full of monsters trying to stop them, the situation went smoothly.

Now on the 17th floor, Ethan remembered his fight against the Goliath. The fact that, all the while, he didn't even kill a single monster made him feel anxious and annoyed, also because he couldn't get [XP] if he wasn't the one killing monsters.

Seeing that Ethan was rather impatient, Riveria decided to calm him down

"For now it isn't important to face the monsters but to reach the 18th floor. We will have free time in which most of our members will be busy setting up everything we need. Since we don't have to collect materials, we will also have more time than normal, so I can supervise you and help you kill monsters..."

Her answer surprised him. While Ais was busy to fight against the Goliath, he thought about her words before understanding that she was right.

After some seconds, the Goliath dissipated as Ais sheathed her sword before returning next to Ethan and Riveria. Seeing that her nature of killing bosses in solo hadn't passed, Riveria shook her head as a sign of 'surrender' before sighing.

Heading towards the 18th floor, Ethan crossed the border that separated the two floors before he found himself facing the large forest which barely hid what was the exit and entrance from the 18th floor.

Now that everyone entered, The group immediately found a spot where to set up camps. Those who specialized in this proposed for the task like all the rest of the tasks to be performed.

While this was happening, Finn, together with the other captains, gave orders to all the various members. Even if they had only entered the Dungeon for a few hours, they would still have camped for the day. This because, as Finn explained, it was better to start by gathering information than by killing monsters who couldn't answer the question that everyone is asking.

The first to 'accept' the task of gathering information were Gareth and Bete, this because, being rather known in the Riviria Pub, they were more likely to collect information.

Deciding that it was better to set up his tent as everyone was doing before going hunting for monsters, Ethan took everything he needed and soon found a place to camp.

'I have never practised scouting, so I hope it works as I remember...'

Thinking this, he tried but, failing to mounting it correctly made him sigh. Closing his eyes to think on how to make it work, he didn't even notice that someone else was already preparing the tent for him. Opening his eyes, he found himself in front of his tent, set up in the blink of an eye.

Immediately recognizing who helped him, made him smile

"Thanks, Tiona."

"No problem! I didn't understand how to do this as well, but when they taught me a few times, I magically managed to do it as well! If you want I can teach you sometimes"

Her words made him nod in agreement while she chuckled. Ready to talk about something else, she was about to before Riveria took Ethan by the collar of his shirt while Ais followed her without uttering a word as usual.

"Sorry, Tiona. I have an important conversation with these two."

With an 'oh', she understood that it was better do not contradict Riveria when she seemed so serious. Bringing her hands behind her head, she looked at the 'sky' while heading back to her twin.

Even though Ethan was curious to know what she wanted to talk about, he knew that as well...the only thing he wanted to know was...

"Didn't we say we would talk about it on the way back, why now?"

Hearing him, she shook her head while staring at the hickey on Ais' neck.

"I forgot that we had time to talk about it and, when I told you we had free time I realized it was the best opportunity to talk about it."

Sighing, Ethan knew that he should have explained the situation sooner or later, so it wouldn't have changed much from normal.

As he continued to speak, Riveria understood that the situation was more eventful than she had come to think. Although there was no need to wait for her to talk about it to get over that line, the way he talked about it managed to convince her too, it was simply inevitable.

Staring at him, she didn't say anything while Ais, feeling slightly sleepy, rested her head on Ethan's shoulder...

This action, brought Ethan's long speech to a stop as he smiled. Deciding to conclude his speech with a single line.

"I don't think there is a need to think too much about how our relationship is going. All I know now is that I love her even more than before, and I want to see her smile for real. I want her to smile only at me, and I want to protect that smile at all costs."

Even though she wanted to hit him for the way he put things, but, the fact that Ais was peacefully sleeping on him stopped his actions while he chuckled

"I ask you again to watch over the two of us, I won't always be the best, but what I want is clear to me now"

Hearing his words, Riveria thought about what to do with him while nodding slightly.

"I still want to teach you a lesson on the appropriate way to have s.e.x..."

With a nod from Ethan, Riveria sighed as she added

"for now it's better if you and her stay here, I will go to take care of other things. If you want to enter the dungeon to hunt monsters, come to the main tent to ask me and I will accompany you."

Nodding, he decided to stay with Ais for a while. Closing her eyes, she started thinking about several things to keep herself busy as Riveria left the room, sighing...

'It seems that their relationship evolved while I wasn't watching...'

Thinking this, she headed towards the main tent while the rest of the adventurers were still busy in preparation, even though half an hour had already passed while they talked...

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can join the Qienta Familia! play a lot of fun games, but, obviously, that's not all, I post there images regarding things you may see in the story, such as the [Twin's Digimon] and [The Devoted Heart].)

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(Alternate Titles: "Riveria wants to be a Sensei.", "Ais fell asleep because the conversation was boring!? No, she was simply sleepy", "Ethan felt sleepy too!? Why!? <--they woke up too early.")