17 A partnership
'Right, I forgot about this,' Moby stood in the tough atmosphere.
It's been three days since Lily joined and Moby and the bell had magic thrust upon them in those days. They spent most of their time in the dungeon fighting and getting stronger, but today was a special day.
"Like what you did with the place, Hestia," Loki said, swirling a glass of wine in her hands.
"Thank you," she smiled like a suitable host, 'pompous bitch.'
Both goddesses sat across from each other behind the seats were Bell, Lilly and Moby and behind Hestia were Riveria, Ais, and Bete.
Bell was having a hard time acting normal. 'don't look at her, look at the floor ah why is she looking at me!?' seeing Ais standing across from him.
And Lilly was still processing the situation 'I just joined yesterday... how did I get here?'
This was the day of the meeting. If big decisions like this come up, Moby will try to hand them over to Hestia.
"So you want Moby's help."
"In return, we become f-partners. I'll have Riveria fix your wards, offer some protection and Two million Valis."
Hestia nodded. It was a fair deal, 'what could she need that would cost her so much money to come here?' she was in slight turmoil, not wanting to be near Loki herself, but she wouldn't lie if this wasn't a fair enough deal.
"Sigh, fine, but I'd like to make some changes to our contract," Hestia said in a neutral tone.
Loki's brow twitched. "This isn't enough for you?"
"No, for one, we don't need the money, so I'd like to change that for... training for my children. Two of them have already unlocked their magics and could use help in combat as well."
'I have to think about my children for them to come back safe. The further they go, they'll need proper training.' she put their well-being first in this negotiation. It's what a familiar head does.
'Huh, so it's for them. I thought she was going to drain more out of me, training her children. That's better than giving away my hard-earned Valis,' the goddess chuckled to herself, which grew to a small cackle.
'Not this again,' Riveria sighed, having seen the face of Loki in one of her fantasies, "Ahem."
"Ah right, that's all fine, hey which-"
"I'll train the alchemist," Riveria answered immediately.
'So quick, was she waiting for a moment like this?'
"I'll train Bell," Ais responded just as fast.
'WAAAAA!?' Bell's mind stopped working.
"Huh?" Bete looked at the two, not sure what to say, looked at Lily. "I guess I'll train-"
"I don't need training from you," Lilly answered back. Whether it was a jab at Bete, it was a harsh rejection.
"Alright then, that's settled." Loki stood up and brought out her hand. Hestia, doing the same, they both shook on it. "I'll bring the contract to make it official, but Riveria, you can start with fixing their wards."
"Can you show me around? I need to know where the previous wards were set," Riveria asked Moby, who nodded, asking her to follow.
He knew where the previous wards were set. Certain crystals in the walls were magic of some kind, "when I used my alchemy I found four weird pearls on each wall. I didn't know what it was, so I couldn't transmute it."
"I see, so you can only do so for materials you are aware of," she murmured as they reached a wall. Moby clapped and touched the wall.
"Not exactly. I can, but since I don't fully understand, I just destroy it."
"Mn," she nodded, listening and observing him with intent.
The wall opened and out came a dark blue pearl. It was the size he assumed was a creation with a magic stone from monsters, each working to create the award.
"It has multiple layers of defence and to it."
"Makes sense. It was a gift from Hephaestus. It only makes sense it withstood attacks from the Apollo Familia."
Riveria raised her brow. "so you know its history, didn't take you for the literary type," she added, examining the pearl.
"And what type am I meant to be?"
"Oi, what's going on there?" Loki asked them, but they were too engrossed in the functions of the pearl to respond.
"I unlocked my magic recently so I have little experience."
"I see that's something we can handle with some lessons. How confident are you in your studies?"
Moby smirked, answering, "with my ability I'd be the best student you'll ever train."
She mused, wanting to test him. Her smile was brief before focusing again. "I think I know how to recover the wards."
"Bell Cranel,"
"Yes!"
"Are you free to begin your training? Let's go," she turned to leave before Bell stuttered.
"W-wait, can we not begin immediately? I don't want to make you mad. I'm sorry. It's just we're going to the dungeon today."
He bowed to the adventurer. She tilted her head confused, 'why would I be mad?' "that's alright I'll come back and we'll set a schedule"
It wasn't long before the Loki familia left. Once they left, everyone exhaled and sat down to talk. It was nothing heavy, just some bonding and planning.
"Wait, you caught a jack bird!?" Lilly squealed, her eyes practically turning to gold.
"Yep, I'm raising slash training the thing it becomes less hostile now," Moby smiled, "I called it Verde," 'also I've been slowly feeding it magic stones, and it's becoming bigger like an Emu though it's barely a meter tall.'
"I still think that's a weird name, for a jack bird," Bell said.
"You wanted to call him Green just because of his feathers. Verde sounds unique," Hestia said.
Moby coughed, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "That's a pretty lame name green," Lilly called him out on the stupid choice of calling the animal green, "but wait, Verde must lay eggs, right? Then how is the guild not suspicious?"
Moby's eyes sparked at her question. "Yeah, I thought about that, too. It was difficult, but I work like this."
...
Moby goes into retelling his shirt tale of a night ago when the moon was at its brightest. He left the church carrying a large bag covered in a thick, dark cloak. He wandered around Orario to the one place he was set.
[Hostess of fertility]
He walked behind the building and knocked on a back door. It creaked on the other side a familiar face of an elf. "you're very punctual," Ryuu said as she opened the doors for him.
"I'm a man of my word." he pulled his hood down and walked in.
She closed the door and walked with him to a secluded room where both sat in silence until he broke it, "so how are you?"
"Small talk?" She chuckled.
"I'm interested in your day is all, and it beats sitting in silent awkwardness."
"Alright, today's a bit more chaotic than expected, my guess, because Mama Mia put the egg fried rice back on the menu."
Moby nodded, 'she must use the Jack bird eggs in the meals, and since it's so good it leaves people wanting more and overall increases sales,' he ended his thought with a chuckle, "sounds stressful want me to stay and keep eyes off you?"
"I appreciate it, but no, they want to see more of me, so they'll buy more for me to serve them," she said nothing, already feeling the annoying hours ahead of her.
She naturally glanced at Moby, whose eyes were wandering before staring back. She was about to ask when the door opened and the legend herself, Mama Mia, walked in with a large sack of Valis.
"Hahaha yeah!" She walked in and closed the door. "Damn idiot's drunk already, hah," hope I didn't keep you waiting.
"We were fine," Ryuu said.
"Oho, maybe I should've taken longer might've walked in on something."
Both stayed quiet and flushed in embarrassment, not because of any feeling but the reason behind the comment.
She burst out laughing and dropped the sack of gold and Moby pulled out two eggs. One is a gift to Mama Mia, most of which usually she gives to her employees. And the other for her to sell to the guild.
It was a gesture with various meanings that they agreed to. After some light conversations mostly between him and Ryuu then he left in the night moving through the shadows.
"Aren't you going to go after him this time?" the former captain of Freya asked the elf.
"He'll be fine. I've seen him move before. He's adept at moving in the darkness. I guess it becomes second nature when living off of the streets."
"Hm stealing to survive when there is no other option, poor kid. At least he's becoming something more now," she nodded.
She sighed and left the room Ryuu before following, taking one glance back before she went to service.
...
Moby finished retelling the short story. Of course, most were from his perspective and he skipped the personal talk, only mentioning the business aspects.
Lilly looked at him with worshipping eyes, "you have the protection of the Hostess of fertility!?"
"Yep, and we get a discount of twenty per cent on whatever we buy. Which doesn't sound like much now that I'm saying it out loud," he slumped back, tired.
"On that note, I think we should call it a night," Hestia said, clapping her hands.
"Mn I'm feeling sleepy too," Bell added. One by one, everyone got up and went to sleep. The next day, they would embark further into the dungeon.
...
[Orario guild]
"So you're planning on entering the 10th floor... I'd advise you not to, but be careful of other adventures. It's often on those floors that they stand and wait for others to kill and their valuables and kill them looking at your sheet. I would also recommend always being on guard. The mist down there can easily mess with your senses." Rose said, looking at the sheet.
Moby Tick
Level 1
Strength C602
Endurance C608
Dexterity C602
Agility D562
Magic: D592
"You need to have B-ranked status to fight on the tenth floor, your friend does which is fine but in your case, it isn't, then again your magic as you said improves your physical prowess so I get why but I don't think you should."
Rose said, placing his sheet on the table, her face traced with concern. Which turned to delight at seeing him nod. Most adventurers would ignore such warnings, 'but you aren't like most are you.'
"You can go as support instead of fighting up front. You can use your ranged attacks and still improve that way until you reach B rank status. Do not enter combat."
"I guess I'll play support then, thanks," he smiled at her shaking hands and left.
[Dungeon of Babel] [10th floor]
"Ready boys, the tenth floor differs from the previous nine," Lilly said, holding a crossbow.
