22 Back to the Surface
~CEO, Entrepreneur, Born in 1964...~
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(2 Days Later)
The expedition group sighed happily as they stepped out of Babel into the sunlight. For a moment it blinded them, but they were quite used to these shocks having gone on several expeditions before. Steve though was taken aback by just how strange real sunlight looked after having spent over a week in a dark gloomy dungeon where the only sources of light were artificial.
"Aaaaaahhhhh, even the air tastes so sweet!" Steve exclaimed happily as Bathsheba seemed to agree, wagging her tail and panting plenty as she too drank in genuine atmospherical air.
"Addictive, isn't it?" Finn said. "Makes you wish that the air was like that all the time."
"I'd imagine it makes you appreciate the lives you have up here on the surface a whole lot more."
"Like you couldn't believe." Finn chuckled as he shifted Fleinn'leptr to his other hand.
Their emergence from Babel Tower as well the new appearances of their gear caught the attention of the many civilians walking by.
"Look!" Somebody shouted. "The Loki Familia is back! They've come back from their expedition!"
At once, a small crowd of people began coming out of their houses and piling out onto the streets to welcome the Loki Familia home as little children stood at the side of cobbled paths and stared at their heroes in wonder and aspiration.
"Here they come." Tiona giggled. "It's always like this. It's honestly flattering that they think so great of us but it gets pretty exhausting."
"Is it that bad?" Steve asked.
"It is." Ais said flatly although there was something in her tone that caused Steve to pay more attention to her.
Following her line of sight, Steve caught sight of some very enthusiastic men looking directly their way. Some had flowers in their hands while some looked to be whipping small boxes in their hands behind their backs as they dressed in what looked to the equivalent of suits and ties in this world.
"What...the hell?" Steve asked. He'd watched enough anime to know where this was going but it baffled him to see it in person.
"A gaggle of Miss Ais's many admirers." One of the second string adventurers said. "The more religiously fervent of them always gather here at this spot, then just walk straight up to her and either ask her out or just propose to her."
"I'd have believed the admirers and asking out thing, but I genuinely thought Finn was exaggerating when he said people had outright proposed to Ais." Steve said. "Damn, they're actually going hardcore on this. The lengths a simp will go to is just...I wouldn't even consider such a risk in such a setting. The humiliation would be too much."
Tiona gave him a puzzled look.
"What?" He asked.
"I've heard you say that word a couple of times before Steve." The Amazon said. "What is a simp? I keep forgetting to ask."
"A simp? Well the official meaning for it is an utter fool. But where I come from, the street definition of the word, in textbook language, is someone who is 'overly submissive or even desperate for the attention or affection of someone without receiving anything in return'. In most cases, it refers to a man going out of his way to unnecessary extents to please a female he likes, risking things as great as his dignity in doing so. We didn't consider them real men."
"But then wouldn't that be most relationships then?" Raul timidly asked. "Don't men do things for the women in their family they love with out expecting anything in return."
"You misunderstand. It's very hard to be a simp when you're a husband but even then, I do not believe for one second that I should give up my sense of image preservation and self-respect just to simply please a woman. I will just as quickly do away with the bitch and find myself one that is not so stuck up."
"Would you apply those rules with me as well?" Tiona asked as she stepped beside him in perfect tandem with his feet.
"Absolutely." Steve replied without hesitation. "I have not had much social interaction in my life, but I am a man and I know for a fact that men feel empowered and satisfied when they see that they are able to make the woman they love happy. But I do not think for one second that my dignity and my integrity is worth the affections of one woman."
Tiona mulled over his words before a cheeky smile on her face appeared. 'So you're a dominant type. I definitely wouldn't mind that.' She thought.
The Amazon then noticed Ais's admirers begin to make their way over to bother the Sword Princess with their usual spiel. Glancing between Steve's stone set face (his helmet was off, revealing his extremely handsome features to the city), and Ais's, she hatched a plan. You had to know Ais well enough up to the point of living with her to spot the small differences in her moods, and Tiona could tell the girl was slightly annoyed.
"Well what about two women then?" Tiona asked as she wrapped her arms around one of Steve's.
"What?" He asked but Tiona was not even looking at him, instead staring Ais down.
"You said that Steve was your hero right? And the only one you needed." Ais gave Tiona a blank stare. "So what need would you have for those losers?" Tiona gestured towards the simp brigade that was coming their way. "Aren't you going to get the message across to them that you just don't bother and that you're interests lie elsewhere..." Tiona tightened her grip on Steve's arm, causing Ais to narrow her eyes a little. "...of course if you're not all that interested after all, I'd be happy to-"
The Amazon didn't even get to finish as Ais immediately sidestepped right up against Steve's left side and grabbed his hand tightly in both of hers, moving in to his side real close. Immediately her fanboys stopped in their tracks with boggled eyes as Tiona smiled in triumph at the success of her plan.
"You cheeky little..." Steve frowned at her, before a few second later he lost the will to resist smiling. "You sometimes really need a good spanking for the trouble you cause, you know that?"
"I didn't know you were into that." Tiona put a suggestive finger under her lip and tilted her chin to look up at him in an adorable way she knew both ticked him off and made her more appealing. Having spent hours upon hours at a time flirting, bathing, and just getting to know him better, she had almost completely mapped out by now the kind of reactions she had to make in order to get the reactions she wanted. "Not saying that I mind it of course. If anything, I-"
"OKAYYYYY!...enough about that." Steve said with his cheeks red and he desperately tried to wipe the grin off his face. Tiona just laughed.
Meanwhile, the simp brigade that had been approaching to declare their undying love for the girl seethed in indignation and fury as they watched the object of their affections and obsessions wrap her hands around the arm of a complete stranger and pull herself into him. It didn't take a genius to realise why and some of the suitors died inside, crying as they mourned the loss of the love of their lives. They fixed Steve with a vengeful and hateful glare, swearing comeuppance for this grave crime.
Yet they were all taken aback as they caught sight of about a couple dozen male adventurers walking right behind Steve, Tiona and their beloved princess. The men, all well known to be full second class adventurers, fixed the simps with threatening death glares.
These were the members of the Faith of the Hips, those who had rejoiced and celebrated vigorously on the occasion that their glorious leader and founder won the hearts of the two most haunchly gifted women they had ever known.
They would die before any filthy outsider came in and ruined what their leader had created for himself. In perfect synchronisation, the members of the Hip Faith raised their hands, placed a closed fist into a flat palm, and collectively cracked their knuckles.
This portrayal of patronage, paired with prominent promise of pain present in the pupils of their peepers, persuaded the peons to pull from pursuit.
Or at least most of them. There were a few who were still fuming inside, and a sickly jealousy began to twist within them as they swore to do all sorts of seriously messed up tings to Steve, Tiona and even to Ais since in their eyes she had 'betrayed' them and their love. They were willing to maim and enact horrific things upon the girl they proclaimed to love just to spite the man they saw as an enemy.
The nail in the coffin though was when Steve himself whipped his head around in their directions, as if he'd sensed their malicious thoughts and fixed them with a horrific and terrifying stare, as if Death himself were staring through his eyes as they glowed with malice a hundred times greater than theirs combined, and for a moment they thought they saw a giant black dragon with grey claws and spikes, with glowing purple eyes and purple fiery breath was staring down upon them. What fight they had in them immediately vanished as they crumbled under fear.
Meanwhile, the elder three executives just put their hands on their foreheads and nervously chuckled as they both laughed and despaired at the antics of youth and affection. But by now people had begun to notice Steve. It was quite hard to miss him. For one thing, he was quite tall compared to the rest of the Loki Familia, plus he was wearing heavy, glowing armour. The public also realised that the same glow radiated off of the weapons in the Loki Familia's hands and they took extra notice of the new spear in Finn's hands.
Immediately the gossip began starting.
"Who is that?"
"That gear looks expensive as hell!"
"Why is the Sword Princess and the Crusher wrapped around him?"
"Don't tell me he's bagged both of them!"
"Man, I'm so freaking jealous. What's his secret?"
"Duh, his face of course. He looks super hot, especially with that scar under his jaw. I bet he's also super powerful."
"He must be if even the Sword Princess likes him."
And then came the ones who seemed to recognise him.
"Hey wait, it's that guy from the gates almost a fortnight ago. Look, he's even got his wolf with him!"
"Oh yeah, he turned down an offer from Lord Ganesha himself!"
"Do you think he joined the Loki Familia instead? I mean, not gonna lie, but that is a fair trade to me."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure he's not on their register."
"And how would you know?"
"Because I'm their biggest fan of course. I know everything about the Loki Familia, from their favourite foods, to their most frequent choices of pastime, down to which window belongs to who's room. All here, mapped out in my book with excruciating detail. Spared no expense nor effort."
"..."
"..."
"Jump him?"
"Yeah, let's."
...
And while that creepy stalker suddenly found himself with his head getting kicked in, Finn began to address Steve.
"Now then Steve. I believe you asked me for this." Finn pulled out an envelope. "I've signed them, just as you asked. Now you can just give it to Royman and he'll be happy to proceed."
"Cool." Steve said as he detached Tiona from his right arm and took the letter. He gave it a once over before placing his inventory, then drawing a deep breath as he looked over his new friends. "Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends from the Loki Familia, I believe this is where we part ways."
"Indeed." Gareth said. "It was fun diving down with ya lad. Next time we go on an expedition, we'd be happy to extend an invite to you to come along."
"It would be the most appropriate thing." Finn said. "We are allies now."
"Yeah, and you're definitely not just saying that so I can punch holes through Dungeon Floors and Monster Rex' heads for you when we do go back down." Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head smiling. "Yeah sure. Give me a shout when the next one is about to happen and we can do this all over again."
"Yes." Riveria said as she adopted a formal attitude. "Stephen Hewer, it was good working with you and an even greater pleasure getting to know you."
"Don't be so stiff Riveria." Steve said. "I'm still in the city, and there's more of you and one of me. I'm bound to run into you again at some point."
"Orario is bigger than you think." Tiona said smiling. "I still get lost in it sometimes."
"You mean you get your head lost in the library books." Tione rolled her eyes. "Then I have to come and find you drooling over the covers because you've stayed past dinnertime and read yourself to sleep."
"I'm not the one who stays up all night hand-cleaning the Captain's clothes instead of leaving it to the grunts, taking long deep sniffs of each singular garment for half an hour before mourningly scrubbing them."
"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!"
Steve grimaced and began to move away. "Gentleman, I wash my hands of this weirdness." He said to Finn and Gareth who were just staring at Tione stunned, Finn a bit more on the disturbed side.
As Steve began to pull away with Bathsheba behind, he felt his arm suddenly get tugged and he looked to see Ais firmly gripping on to his hand.
"Come on Ais, we talked about this. The hand problem, you need to solve the hand problem. It's my hand, not yo-"
"Will I get to see you again soon?" Ais asked, ignoring his words. The way she said it made him falter a little as he wondered.
'How affection starved is this girl?'
"I don't know Ais." Steve said honestly. "I've got a lot of work to do now that I have to go back to my god. We are still budding, me being the only member and all."
"But I want to see you again." Ais said.
Bathsheba snorted in Steve's ear which roughly translated to 'She's down baaaaaaad...'
"Shut up." Steve hissed back at the Warg before sighing. He patted the top of Ais's head gently for no particular reason. "Look Ais. I'm not sure when I'll see you again. But I'm pretty positive it will be soon since things will blow up around me in a good minute. But tell you what, I'll drop by the Twilight Manor to train. Will that be okay?"
Ais thought for a moment before she held his hand higher.
"Promise to train me everyday, and I'll let go."
"What kind of demand is that? That's physically impossible Ais. I have a life."
"Every day."
"Once a week."
"Every day."
"Growing strong is not the most important things Ais."
"It is for me." Ais said with an intensity in her eye. "Or you won't accept me." She added under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. Everyday."
Steve sighed and brushed his hair back.
"Look Ais. I can't afford to train you every single day. It will be bad for your body and I need to focus on my Familia okay? My patron needs my help because he's hopeless and I need to build a life for myself in the city. I want to get my name out there. I can't do that if I have to take portions out of my day for you all the time." He rested a gentle hand over both of hers. "I promise I'll train you Ais...when we cross paths. You still promised to show me around and stuff remember?"
"Yes."
"Well as important as strength is to you, a stable life and a creative one is important to me. So please, I promise that I will train you when I have time. For a start, I'll come visit you at the manor when I'm done with stuff on my end. Okay?"
"...Promise?"
"I promise Ais."
"You sure you don't break your promises?"
"...I haven't broken many, no."
"Fine." Ais forlornly let go of his hand, feeling as if she'd let go of some sort of lifeline. "But remember, you promised."
"Yes, of course." Steve hopped onto Bathsheba's back and the wolf ruffled herself as she prepared to canter. "I'll see you around Ais."
"Bye." Ais said, giving him the biggest smile he'd seen from her so far, which still wasn't much mind you. But for a moment, she looked rather pleasant with it on, as if it were a special kind of beauty unique only to kuudere's when they did show happy emotion. For a moment, Steve felt a little more compelled to keep his promise.
Bathsheba began walking away from the procession, breaking the crowd and heading towards the guild. She grumbled a bit in her throat.
"Yes, I'm attracted to her." Steve said. "But I've already listed the reasons why it would not work out. I'm only focused on what I've got going on between Tiona and me."
'grunt'
"What do you mean I don't sound sure of myself? And why would you want two mummies?...is that even a thing with wolves?"
Bathsheba did the animal equivalent of an exasperated sigh. Human could say what they wanted but they could not control their bodies. You cannot lie to the nose of a canine...it can smell the hormones before you even realise what you're feeling.
And Bathsheba's nose could tell for a fact that her papa released just as much pheromones around Ais as he did around Tiona. Both of them similar quantities that he did not release around anyone else. She supposed she would just have to wait until her papa pulled his head out from where he was getting his denial.
---
(Steve's POV)
Bathsheba and I pulled up in front of the guild, startling some of the adventurers loitering in the entrance. While they scrambled to get out of the way, I hopped off of my Warg and gave her a stack of steaks to keep her distracted while I dealt with my business. I made my way to the flap doors, shoving an adventurer aside as he persisted in blocking the doorway.
Geared up in my armour again, just like last time I drew the attention of the room all though the occupants were completely different. I braced myself to deal with the issue I had at the moment. Eina was not my Dungeon advisor, and frankly I did not need one considering how far down I'd gone. But Royman had assigned her as my monitor because she had been the one to deal with my paperwork. I suppose it was easier to dump all the trouble on one person than making another one come into the fray.
However, I believed I could tolerate her this time around. I was quite familiar now with elven assholery, so the half-elf could only be half as bad. I learned from Finn that depending on certain moods I had, I released a kind of pressure palpable to the senses of adventurers, which gave away how potentially powerful I could be. It was usually when I was angry or ready to fight. I did not have the patience to wait in a line again so I decided this time to move things along.
I released some of my battle intent as it was, and immediately the adventurers in front of me backed off or stepped out of the way in nervousness, allowing me to skip the line. I came up to the guy Eina was sorting out and waited for him to finish his business. Once he did, Eina looked at me with a smile I suppose took her effort to make, but I honestly couldn't blame her since I gave no reason to be happy to see me at all.
"Welcome back Mr Hewer. I suppose you've just returned from the dungeon?" She asked.
"Yes, I have." I replied as I pulled out a bunch of documents. "I need to see the guildmaster. Take me to him please."
"I'm sorry but I simply won't be able to just take you up there like last time. It was an exception because Lord Ptah made that request personally but if an adventurer wants to see the guildmaster, they have to make an appointment."
I sighed as I pulled a few documents out of my bunch and placed them in front of her. "This is an inventory of all the spoils I have made from the dungeon in the last week or so." I said and she gingerly took them, already very much alert with how many papers there were. As she read them, her green eyes became wider and wider and her jaw dropped lower and lower. "I also bring a letter from the Captain of the Loki Familia." I said as I waved it in front of her, clearly bearing the seal of the Loki Familia. "So if you would mind Miss Tulle, I really must see Mr Mardeel at once."
"...Yes, of course." She said as she opened up the door to the receptionists' partition and beckoned me through. "Come sir, I will take you to him at once." I nodded in approval and made my way through as she secured the door behind her and then we made way upstairs to the top where the guildmaster's large office was. She knocked on the door, hearing Royman's shout to enter.
She looked as if she were about to tell me to wait outside but I was already walking into her, forcing her to open the door and rush into the room so I didn't bowl her over. Royman looked at us, annoyed at being disturbed but as he focused on me more, the expression melted away completely and he put down whatever documents were in his hand to greet me properly.
"Aaaah, Stephen my boy." He said clasping his hands together. "You've returned. Given your level I assumed you would be daring to spend longer time down there, pushing for lower floors more and more. I assume all went well."
"Yes, they did." I replied as I stuck Finn's letter on the desk and slid it over to him. The heavy oak desk creaked under the pressure my palm was exerting on it. "But first, a letter from Finn Deimne."
"Braver himself?" Royman lifted a brow before his face changed to one of realization. "Oh yes, they were scheduled to return from an expedition right about now weren't they. So you met them during your journey did you? Did you make all good friends?"
"Surely we would have. I don't think someone would charge an enemy with handing over a letter now." I said. "Read it first as it will pretty much summarise both our situations."
Royman nodded before breaking the wax seal and deeply digesting the contents. His eyes became more and more focused and dare-I-say excited as he read further and further down.
"So you made it all the way down to the 50th floor, singlehandedly dealing with every monster rex along the way as well fighting ahead of the vanguard the whole time." Royman said, causing Eina to gasp in shock. "Balor being wiped out with one spell? Defeating the entirety of the Loki Familia executives in a one-on-seven bout? My, have you been busy establishing the foundations of your reputation."
"That was not really my intent. I simply was interested in how they all compared to my power and suffice to say, the results were crystal clear. I only realize now with that on my record how much reputation and credibility points it gives me, especially when sworn upon by the signature of the Loki Familia captain himself. And if I am correct, there is also a request for you to testify."
"I could do that of course in just a tick Mr Hewer...provided I get some incentive staking my name on a claim such as this."
"Do not patronize me by ways of extortion Royman." I said firmly. "What you will demand of me in taxes from my spoils alone are more than enough to stick your fingers in and take away what is due." I pulled the list from Eina's hand and placed it in front of him.
"Are you implying that-"
"Do not ask me for anything more when you already are the one most to gain from this. Read it if you want to disagree." Royman picked up the list and his eyes went wide as he saw the contents.
"All these monsters, and you killed them yourself?"
"With my own hands...and some with team effort and some given to me based on a deal I made with the Loki Familia."
"Would that deal happen to be this alliance that Captain Finn speaks of in here?" Royman asked as he finished off reading the letter.
"Connected."
"I see. As for the monster rex cores, are they intact?"
"Only the one I took from Amphisbaena. The one from Udaeus was impaled by my sword so there is some damage. And the Goliath's one is just in pieces."
"The intact one will go for much higher than its usual rate, that much can be guaranteed. As for the others, you will get around the same amount."
"Okay. Has Ptah agreed on 'it' yet?"
"Yes, he did. A couple of days ago, he sent me this letter of approval." Royman pulled a folded note from his desk drawer. "Are you also ready my boy?"
"I am."
"Then tomorrow, I will put you on the active register and the world will know you for who you are. With mine and Finn's signature, your credibility will be hard-pressed to question besides amongst the gods...but we can let them do whatever it is they do. The important thing is...Congratulations on your first dungeon dive Stephen Hewer. May we find more prosperity from your efforts in the years to come."
"Thank you. Now onto what I really want to talk about." I handed over my drawings and papers on the new Prisma Guardians and the Juggernaut. "I've encountered two new species of monsters that are not registered guild master. I believe the adventurers must be made aware."
"Intriguing." The elf said as he examined my artistic pieces. "Do regale me with the events please. And do sit down while you're at it. It would seem now that our little meeting is going to drag out for a bit."
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