Chapter 90 - Parties

Upon seeing Riveria leaving the tent, Ethan couldn't help but look at Ais as the latter was dressing..

'Thinking she doesn't have a proper understanding of s.e.x just because she walked in the tent n.a.k.e.d really isn't the best. At this point I wonder what kind of face she'll make when we tell her we already did that kind of thing..'

With this thought in mind, he sighed as he decided to adjust the futon. After a while, he finished doing so as a smile formed on his face before he remembered he had something important to do.

Approaching Ais, Ethan took the pill out of his inventory as he added

"Here, you don't want to be pregnant, right?"

Looking at the pill in his hands, she took it slowly while putting it into her own mouth as he looked away.

Even though he was the first that didn't want to become a father yet, having her to take this pill every time as they 'killed' all the chances that something like this could happen, brought him to sigh without him even realizing it.

Now that she was ready to go, He took her hand in his as the two exited the tent without adding anything more...

Seeing the two finally out of the tent, Riveria nodded as she said

"We can go to our familia's place. Finn will be our Captain as always, the only difference is that he will be the captain of everyone around us as well. The other Captains will follow his lead and, we'll separate in parties to make things easier"

Receiving this new information brought Ethan to nod while Ais didn't reply, but, being used to it, Riveria didn't add anything more while the three were already on their way back..

After a while, they arrived at their destination where everyone already was there.

"You made us wait this much time! Aren't you ashamed of yourself!?"

Hearing Bete's shout, Ethan's brows twitched as he answered

"If you don't like to wait, why not going in the 19th floor yourself alone? You are strong enough to do so."

Replying with a 'tch', Bete was about to say something more before Finn glared at both.

"We're not here to see the two of you arguing. I never asked for you two to get along, but at least ignore each other as the party has the privilege to be in separate groups."

Knowing Finn was right, Ethan looked away while he chose, in his mind, to completely ignore Bete.

'I would like to ignore him forever.'

With this thought in mind, he could already see the difference in his own behavior. Turning to look at Ais, he saw that she never really let go of his hand as a more natural smile formed on her face...

Even though he was about to tell her something, he couldn't do so in time as Tiona and Lefiya were already next to him.

"How are you, Ethan? Ready to enter the dungeon?"

Hearing Tiona's words, he sighed in his mind as he turned again, this time to look at the latter who was smirking happily

"I'm fine and ready to go"

Nodding with a chuckle, Tiona added

"That's the spirit! Well, let's do our best then"

Hearing his words, Tione sighed from the distance as she added

"You can be heard from here, Tiona."

While Tione approached Tiona, Lefiya added

"Hi, E-Ethan, Ais. Let's do w-well in the dungeon!"

Her words brought him to nod as Ais did the same. They were about to continue their conversation, but before they could, Finn shouted

"Let's go onto the centre, people are waiting for us"

Replying with a nod, all the core members of the Loki Familia, as well as the others, headed towards the 'spot' Finn chose to gather all the ones who will participate.

Seeing them moving, everyone quickly understood Finn was about to give them some insight on how to deal with the situation.

While they were moving, the first thing Ethan could see was that they weren't the only ones who were moving.

This surprised him a little but, remembering as always that the people in front of him were 'seasoned' adventurers made him look up at Finn with determination in his eyes.

'Maybe, in the future, I'll be able to lead a force like this on my own..even though I don't really like to be in charge of groups, I can't stop comparing myself to him who reached the pinnacle of his strength.'

As he was busy thinking about this, Ais stared at him as his determination brought another smile on her face. Still with his hand in hers, she squeezed it to try to give him encouragement on her own while he smiled without looking at her.

Stopping for a moment, Finn saw that everyone was following him as planned. With the use of his [Command Howl], he started his speech with a sigh.

"Now that you are ready, I'll tell you what we will do. First, you have to form parties of 4 or 5 people each. After you are done, we'll split our forces in two parts. The first one will go to the 17th floor, the second one will go in the other..."

Seeing as they were already whispering among themselves, Finn took a pause before continuing his speech

"We will start with ensuring that the two floors are safe for others. First, you'll enter the floor and check that everything is alright. You don't have to make sure that every single thing you remembered is exactly the same. Our objective is to understand what is happening and why, but these questions can't be replied easily. What I ask you to do is to fight monsters for a few hours, and see if there are any differences, both in strength and abilities. If we confirm that the situation is indeed too risky for low-level adventurers, we will let them 'rest' until we can clear the 17th floor to bring them back."

His words brought people to whisper even louder as he finished his speech while declaring that they had 5 minutes to form parties.

Without wasting time, adventurers started to make parties while Ethan was thinking about who will be in his party. Turning his head to look at Ais, he knew he already had a party of two people.

'I need at least another 2...'

"Do you want to join my party?"

His words caused her blush to widen as she answered with a yes while nodding weakly...

Smiling, he now had both Ais and Lefiya to his side, but he was still troubled about his 4th member...

'Someone who would get along in my party...'

Staring at Riveria, she shook her head while replying to his unasked question.

"Your party will likely go in the 17th floor, right? I have to go to the 19th, other than that... I am the Vice-Captain, so it's my duty to be in the Captain's team.."

Understanding this as well brought him to nod as he replied

"Well, let's do our best then, Riveria."

Nodding as well, she headed towards the Captain while she muttered

"...Take care of these two."

Even though he couldn't hear what she said, he guessed that she would say something similar anyway..

'If not Riveria..the 'closest' one I know in the Loki Familia is..'

Staring at Tiona while the latter was still talking with Tione, he approached her as Ais followed him. Seeing the two, Tione pointed with her finger towards them while Tiona, confused, turned around to look at where her twin was pointing.

Seeing Ethan approaching her, she tilted her head slightly as he smiled at Tione.

"Tiona, do you want to join my party? If you want, Tione can join as well."

His words brought her to smile happily as she went next to him while replying

"Obviously! I want to be in your party as well...but I don't know if my twin will join. You see, the fact she really likes the Cap--"

Immediately stopping her, Tione had a blush on her face as she shouted

"Tiona!! It's true that I like the Captain, but that doesn't mean you have to blatantly tell it to the whole world!"

While her blush became even more evident on her face, Tiona returned her focus on Ethan as she added

"I guess our party will be of 4 people, right??"

Staring at Lefiya to confirm if she was indeed in the party or not brought the former to nod with her blush still showed on her face..

Now that Ethan had at least 4 members to enter the dungeon, he decided to start a conversation while the situation between Finn and Tione was 'tense' mainly because Finn didn't really reply to her shouting.

"For now, my party has Gareth, Bete and Riveria, do you want to be the 5th?"

Even though his words made her really happy, she couldn't help but reply

"Yes, but didn't you hear what I said..?"

Sighing, Finn answered

"I heard what you said, and I'm really happy that you came to like me as I already said that to you when you confessed the first time. It's not that I don't like you, but I want to have a relationship with a Pallum, so I can't return your feelings."

With a heavy sigh, Tione didn't say anything more while Finn saw that Ethan had already formed his party.

'It's really a wonderful sight. They seem to be all tied by Ethan but, in the end, their relationship with each other is improving. I don't really know how he is able to connect them so easily, but I think it's something I will never be able to understand..'

Thinking about his own future, Finn looked up at the sky as he sighed.

Seeing him doing so, Tione stared at him while closing her eyes.

'The Captain..is really dumb.'

Doing her best to contain the tears in her eyes, Tione was thinking about this as she came to an understanding.

'No..I really am the dumbest one here... but I can do nothing about my instincts. He's the one who beat me, so I can only be with him'

Thinking this, she found the determination to continue as always.

"Captain, the 5 minutes already passed."

Her words brought him back from his thoughts as he nodded while looking at his surroundings to see if the groups were already been made. Seeing that there still was someone without group, made him use his [Command Howl] again.

"Those who already are in a party, please move to the right as the few ones remained will find it easier this way"

With his instructions clear to everyone, they did so as the few other adventurers without a group talked among themselves to form parties as well.

After a minute or so, all the parties were formed as Finn added

"Now, the second thing we'll do is splitting in two parts as I previously stated. The choice is yours to follow me in the 19th floor or go to the 17th. The only thing I want is that, from this 30 groups, roughly half will go to each floor. Our suggestion is to come with me if in your party, there is at least a level 5 or higher. But it's not a rule. You are free to do what you want to"

Hearing his words, people were busy choosing as Ethan was deep in thought as well.

'Going to the 17th floor or to the 19th floor? We don't have any magic user able to cast protection on us, so the obvious choice would be the 17th..'

That was all he thought before Tiona smiled again as she declared

"I can go in both! The choice is yours!"

Her words brought his thoughts to an end as another one was forming in his mind..

'Wait. Why Am I thinking about where to leading the party? It's not like I'm the Captain..'

---

(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: "Sigh..Riveria. They had s.e.x just yesterday, it's obvious that Ais still needs to understand a few things!", "Tiona be like: Yeah, you can do whatever you want, fine by me", "Ethan be like: I don't like to be a Captain, but I want to lead the party", "Lefiya, you are becoming a side character.")