19 Preparations

"Here are the documents from the floor records in the dungeon"

Dropping a thick, oversized book on the table, Rose crosses her arms as she speaks again.

"Now... will you explain to me why you asked for all this?"

Taking his attention away from the thick book for a moment, the other person in the room, no, Rito puts a confused expression on his face.

'She's irritated?' Rito thought, as he could see a gloomy aura around Rose.

His thought was correct, since Rose was indeed upset. She had learned of the 'little' problem she had with the Astraea Familia and the two Amazons.

Rose already saw Rito as a 'bad' target, so when she heard that anecdote it didn't change her idea of him one bit, but rather it strengthened her belief in him.

But this wasn't something that Rito knew, so he simply let the matter go and answered vaguely, "It's to know where to attack..."

'Ha, know where to attack?' Rose didn't know what Rito was planning, but taking his words into account, she managed to draw a rather inadequate conclusion.

'He plans to catch every girl who passes through each floor and he will make them his 'slaves' while he plays with them!!!'

Rose knew that the boy in front of her was quite dangerous if he was allowed to wander freely. After all, no matter what race he was, all 'males' are always the same.

Yes, there was none left out of it. Greedy, coarse, barbaric, lustful, each of these words perfectly described how men were and it is for this reason that Rose did not trust 'males'.

'Right, I can't let this guy do what he wants!'

Placing a determined expression on her face, Rose looks at Rito as if he were the final boss of a video game, although for some strange reason there were several tentacles around her.

While Rose was already having her own 'battle', Rito was completely oblivious to this and still continued to look at the documents on the table.

"Okay, I think this is enough..." Rito said.

Setting aside the document in his hand, a sigh of relief escapes from Rito's lips. He had been worried about the different 'entrances' the monsters had to invade, but after reading the records he felt less worried.

Getting up from the couch, Rito looks over at Rose so he can thank her for taking the time. What Rito didn't know was that she was still caught up in her 'battle', so she didn't pay attention when he started talking.

"Thanks for this Rose was very helpful" Rito said, but he hadn't gotten any response.

I wait a few seconds, but it seemed like Rose was lost in an internal struggle right now.

Confused by this, Rito brings his face a little closer to Rose and says: "Rose? .... Everything okay?"

Ah. Regaining her awareness that she was caught up in her 'fight', the werewolf's beautiful eyes kept blinking in bewilderment as she noticed how close Rito's face was.

Tsk. Giving a quick jump, Rose tries to get away from Rito, but she didn't remember that there was a piece of furniture behind her.

Although Rito wanted to help, unfortunately he ended up being in the same place as Rose, since, after stretching out his arm to prevent the werewolf from falling, he ended up falling because he tripped... although he doesn't know the exact reason.

Kiss~

Neither of them was caught by the impact of the fall, but what did receive them was a chaste kiss on the lips. When they both looked at each other their eyes widened.

'Fuck!!' Rito yelled internally, but without wasting a second he broke the chaste kiss he had with Rose and got up from the spot.

Once he was far enough away he bowed his head slightly and said, "Thank you very much for your help...and the kiss."

Rito didn't say the last part out loud for obvious reason and it's because of this that he didn't wait for Rose to answer him either. Once he finished saying goodbye to Rose, Rito 'ran' to the door and 'escaped' from the room leaving the beautiful werewolf quite baffled as to what had happened.

Bang. After Rito left the room, several seconds passed, but Rose still hadn't recovered from her bewilderment.

'Our lips.....' Placing her delicate fingers where her lips were, a lost look came over Rose.

"That was-..."

oh Realizing what she was doing, Rose starts to shake her head fiercely. She didn't look like it, but in reality she was a pure woman.

Although she had dated some adventurers several times, her experience didn't amount to much as her dates almost always ended up dying or traumatized by the 'Dungeon'.

'But still....'

"That was my first kiss" Rose whispered as she looked like her head was going to explode from the conflicting emotions she was having.

She hated men, anyone who was someone of the opposite sex was strongly disliked by her. But for some strange reason her heart pounded as she remembered what had happened a few moments ago.

Not long ago she had decided to unmask Rito, but now she didn't know what to do. For Rose it is as if she has lost one of her lives at the mercy of the final boss.

'Tsk, I must prepare better or I'll fall for another of her tricks' she thought Rose as she slowly got up from the cold ground.

Despite being so determined to achieve her goal, she would be quite surprised if she knew that this would only be the beginning before she fell to the mercy of the Demon Lord-.....the beginning of a strange relationship.

...

..

.

Having successfully escaped from the guild, Rito headed to where he was supposed to meet the girls before entering the Dungeon.

Walking through the dark but bright streets of Orario, Rito finally reaches his destination though his expression becomes somewhat confused when he sees that there were two people he didn't expect to see.

Along with the girls that belonged to his group could also be found a beautiful woman with green hair and a masculine attire. Not only that, but there was also a voluptuous and sensual brunette woman who wore a sarashi on top of her while a hakama covered her chubby legs.

'That's not Riveria!? .... also, what is Tsubaki doing here!!"

Even though his insides were in chaos, Rito presented a calm expression as he made himself present to the group of girls.

"I see that you are all gathered, although I didn't expect you two to be here too" Rito said making all the girls turn in his direction.

"Rito!!"

"Honey~!!"

".... Yuu-niisan..."

Being the most enthusiastic of his arrival, Tiona and Tione along with Ais pounced on Rito making the latter case lose his balance.

'They look very happy' Rito thought as he watched as the three little girls rubbed their faces with their clothes.

"Are you done with what you had to do?" Jill asked.

Assent. Having given a vague reply to the voluptuous-....beautiful agent, Rito turned his attention to Riveria and Tsubaki putting on a confused expression that seemed to say, 'Why are they here too?'

Noticing the look that Rito gave them, a small smile was placed on both women's faces. It wasn't long before they walked to where Rito was, although the latter's attention was mesmerized by something else..... Boing*.

"I'm sorry for my sudden participation in this expedition…" Riveria mentioned as she gave Ais a small glance.

oh Waking up from his 'dream', Rito realized the reason why Riveria decided to come with them. 'Surely she was worried when she found out about the expedition...'

'....But why Tsubaki too-' before Rito asked his question, he felt a strong tug on his neck and moments later a somewhat noisy voice was heard.

"What's up brat, I see you've become very popular since the last time we met~" Tsubaki said as she grabbed Rito by the neck and enclosed him between her two majestic monsters pressing the boy's face with them.

"Uff... N-nice... seeing you... Tsubaki" Rito said with difficulty formulating his words due to how attached his face was to Tsubaki's enormous breasts.

"Hey!, what do you think you're doing with Rito!"

"Get your hands off him quickly woman 'cow'"

Noticing how his 'love' had been snatched and 'imprisoned' between two mountains, both Amazons lunged at Tsubaki. But, they were stopped by Riveria.

"Calm down girls…" turning to face Tsubaki, a small reddening can be seen on Riveria's cheeks as she said again: "…This, Tsubaki could you…you know, free Rito"

Placing a confused expression on her face, Tsubaki turned her attention to Rito noticing that the latter was having difficulty breathing.

Oh. Noticing her mistake, she breaks her 'hug' over Rito. The latter thanked Riveria for having 'helped' him to return to the 'surface'. Having recovered enough air, Rito begins to speak again.

Ahem * "So Tsubaki, why are you here?" asked Rito, since he didn't know the reason or who had invited Tsubaki yet.

A frown mars Tsubaki's pretty face and instead of answering Rito, she turns her attention to Bulma and asks, "Didn't you tell her?"

Hearing the teacher's question from her, Bulma is confused for a while, but she quickly recovers and lets out an exclamation of 'Oh!' as if she remembered something.

"Right, I forgot to tell you, but Tsubaki said that she wanted to join us to observe my work in progress!!" mentioned Bulma who placed an apologetic expression on her face as she looked at Rito.

Letting out a tired sigh, the expression on Rito's face softens. He didn't much care if two more people joined him, but he wondered if it would be okay for them to come with him.

"Riveria, hadn't Loki left you in charge of the Mansion?..."

"... And you Tsubaki, shouldn't you be with your Goddess in the Denatus?"

He knew that both women had their own responsibilities and it is for this reason that he asked that question. But the answer he got was simpler than he had believed.

"I let Gareth take care of security...." Pulling a stone out of her pocket, Riveria spoke again. "....I have a communication stone, so any news that happens here I will know"

"Because the Hephaestus Family is focused on weapon forging and trading, it's not necessary for me to participate" Tsubaki mentioned.

Once having heard the responses of both women, Rito dropped the subject and told the others to come closer.

"Well, before entering the dungeon I would like to give you this" Rito said as he placed one of his hands on his chest.

Swish—

A large sphere of orange energy with violet tones similar to a fairly bright flame begins to emerge from Rito's chest. When it comes out completely, the beautiful orange-violet flame energetically dances on Rito's hand.

Surprised by the strange phenomenon, neither of the girls knows what to say. Noticing the girls' surprise, Rito begins to explain that it was the strange flame in his hand.

"This 'Flame' is my [Reiryoku]... well, a part of him rather..." Rito said as he explained what he meant.

"All living beings are born with a certain force around our soul, whether they are animals, humans, elves, dwarfs, Amazons, etc. That power is present in each one of us. But not all of us are capable of fully awakening that power.

That energy is known as [Reiryoku], which is also the main support by which living beings are able to accumulate 'Excelia' in their bodies in order to increase their Status..."

The moment he said this, all the girls around him were lost and shocked at such a revelation. Noticing the surprised expressions the girls had, an ironic smile appeared on Rito's face.

Rito had also been very surprised to discover that the 'Spiritual Energy' that the Shinigami had to release their abilities was the catalyst to absorb the 'Excelia' into the body of the adventurers. It all started two days ago.

After Riveria had told him about [Spiritual Eyes], Rito thought it would be good to read a bit more about magic. It was a coincidence that while Rito was investigating in the library that he had the mansion he had found an old book.

That book didn't seem like anything special, its cover was quite dusty and damaged while the paper inside it had a yellowish color and some cobwebs on them.

But when Rito began to read the content, he didn't let his gaze escape him and stayed reading the book until he realized that night had come.

After that, he decided to take the book to his room and finish his reading there. The content at the beginning was not that important and it was something that Rito already knew, but when he got to the middle part of the book he found something quite interesting....

'Who would have imagined that there was a relationship of concepts between both worlds' Rito thought as he remembered what he had read in the book.

Although the adventurers needed the 'Excelia' in order to increase their Status, this energy was only a small nutrient for the true engine that made all this possible. The 'Excelia' was the fuel that fueled the [Reiryoku] within the person and it is thanks to the latter that the soul became stronger by increasing abilities while in turn granting it 'powers' out of the ordinary.

Not only did the 'Excelia' serve as fuel, but also the magic stones dropped by the monsters, since Rito was able to absorb the energy from these and from what he had read, the Spirits were also capable of granting 'Energy of the World'. The latter was what they used to make humans stronger and survive the catastrophe before the descent of the gods to the world.

Sigh. Putting aside the thoughts that were coming over him, Rito started explaining him again.

"While the 'Excelia' provides nourishment to the soul, the [Reiryoku] makes it possible for a person to 'level up'.....you might think of this as if you were putting gas into a car engine so it can start"

"Gasoline to a car engine!?" exclaimed Tione, Tiona, Riveria, Tsubaki and Ais.

Noticing the mistake he made, Rito puts a goofy smile on his face as he says, "I mean like you're putting more coal on the train to start moving!"

Train!?" x4

'Shit!!' looking for different examples in his head, a small spotlight appears on Rito while the latter says: "Horse..."

"Horse?" the others repeated except for Jill and Bulma who were looking at Rito in confusion.

Assent. Seeing that this time he had found a good reference, Rito resumed what he wanted to say.

"You could consider the 'Excelia' as the horse used to move the carriage and the latter would be the....."

"Reirouko?" Jill mentioned.

"Rayroki!!" Bulma exclaimed.

"Reigoku!!!" "Rarioke!!!" answered Tiona and Tione

"Ruroaki" Tsubaki exclaimed.

"Rei.....ko" Ais exclaimed as she lifted her small arms.

"Reiryoku..." Riveria mentioned calmly.

"Point for Riveria!!!" Rito said as he pointed to the beautiful elf with green hair.

Hearing Rito's answer, the girls, except for Riveria, Jill, and Tsubaki, lowered their heads and had sad expressions on their faces.

While the other girls were saddened for failing, Riveria's face gained a small redness on her cheeks due to the embarrassment of having participated in something so childish, something that was noticed by Rito, but he let it go since he could make fun of the beautiful elf later.

Joking aside, Rito began to explain to all the girls what [Reiryoku] meant and the manifestation of it.

When Rito stopped explaining, all the girls had a rather curious expression on their faces, but the first to want to ask was Riveria who said: "So this is the power that surrounds our soul? It seems like something quite unique"

"It's the first time I see a flame of this color" said Tsubaki who seemed to be inspecting the energy in Rito's hand

"It's cute!!" Tiona said as she brought her face closer to the flame.

"I feel... Force" Ais mentioned.

All the girls commented on how they felt when they saw the 'flame' that danced freely around Rito's hand. But after a while, Jill looks into Rito's eyes and says curiously.

"But if it's one's strength, that means this 'flame' is your power, right?"

"Yeah.... well, a part, hehe~" Rito mentioned as he scratched the back of his head.

"Then why did you remove it from your body?" Jill asked again since she didn't understand Rito's motive for splitting his power if it meant he would be weaker now.

Ah. Rito put a wry smile on his face when he heard the beautiful policewoman's question. He had remembered that he didn't tell them about his plan and they all thought it would be a simple expedition, but seeing that Jill had asked the question he took it as an opportunity and said.

"I divided my power because I plan to distribute this energy to each one of you" Rito said as he brought the flame closer to the faces of his companions.

"Huh!!?" x7

Hearing Rito's answer, all the girls, including the beautiful elf and the sexy semi-dwarf, couldn't help but be surprised. At first he only planned to give part of his [Reiryoku] to Bulma, Jill, Tiona, Tione, and Ais, but due to the unexpected addition of Riveria and Tsubaki, the energy Rito split was a bit higher than planned.

Seeing that no one seemed to recover from his surprise, Rito began the dialogue again as he said: "Normally splitting 'Reiryoku' is not easy at all and leads the user to fall into a quite weakened state almost leaving them in a coma...."

It was thanks to the 'book of learning' that he obtained from Urahara that he managed to find a method to split the 'Excelia' and his [Reiryoku]…. But this was not something the girls knew.

When they heard Rito's words, the color on all the girls' faces began to pale as a frown marred their earlier cute expressions.

"... But..."

"But?" They all answered and their expressions softened a little when they heard Rito's next words.

"Because of the 'Excelia' and the energy I 'consumed' thanks to the monsters' stones, none of that will happen" Rito mentioned as he placed a smile on his face.

This had made half the girls breathe a sigh of relief, but Riveria, Tsubaki, Jill, and to a lesser extent Ais, thought differently.

"But that would still make you weaker right? Also, if you're taking part of your 'Excelia' still in storage that means your stats will drop."

"What Riveria says is true, if your goddess hasn't given you a 'raise' yet then your current stats will be lowered in part due to 'Excelia' leaving" Tsubaki mentioned who had a rather serious look on her face.

Once Tsubaki finished her words, everyone (including Riveria) looked at her with surprised faces, but it wasn't their fault, after all, the fame of the fearsome drinker and empty-headed captain of the Hephaestus family became famous throughout Orario. .

Noticing the looks everyone had on her, Tsubaki puts a pouty expression on her face as she says, "I'm not as dumb as you think you know..."

"Okay?...." turning her attention away from Tsubaki and directing her gaze towards Rito, the expression on Jill's face becomes more severe and says: "There are many risks Rito, besides, we still have a 'mission' remember? "

"There is nothing to worry about, although it is true that there are those consequences...." Placing a mysterious smile on his face, Rito continues: "...My case is very different"

As if to emphasize his last words, a strange purple-orange energy appears around Rito. At first it seemed to be just decorative, but as time passed the aura grew fiercer and incredible pressure was placed on the girls.

Rito had released his pent-up aura, but he sent a different effect to each of the girls, as currently only level 2 or higher adventurers could withstand his current power. Once he released his power 'completely', Rito stared at the reactions of each of his teammates.

Jill and Bulma both had puzzled expressions, but when they stared at Rito a strange chill ran through her entire body. In the case of Tiona, Tione and Ais quite a strong pressure was concentrated on them while an expression of pain was placed on their faces.

Regarding Riveria and Tsubaki it was more like what Jill and Bulma felt, but a slight feeling of dread was beginning to grow in their hearts. Even though the former was a level 5 adventurer and the other a level 4 adventurer respectively, neither of them had felt such a feeling after passing the level 3 barrier….

Sigh. Noticing that the faces of the girls and the two women were beginning to pale, the pressure that Rito had released began to decrease, freeing everyone from the strong pressure that reigned around them.

"Like I said, even if my energy splits I'm still able to withstand any monster below level 4" Rito mentioned.

'If I make an effort of course...'

Because he had said it in his mind no one was able to hear the small contradiction from him. But this whole matter finally ended the moment Riveria said.

"I see….then, if you are sure of what you are going to do I won't stop you anymore…"

After her comment Tsubaki, Tione, Tiona and Ais followed.

"Well boy if you want to get on with it then good for me, just yell out loud if you need my help"

"... Ask for help..."

"That was a pretty scary experience, but I'm not going to lose next time!!!"

"I expected no less from the man I chose, our sons will surely be the strongest in all of Orario!!"

Finally, it was Bulma and Jill's turn...

"Just be careful alright..."

"Try not to try too hard, I don't like this idea, but seeing that the others agree, then I just have to accept and continue, right?"

Once having listened to the answers of each one of his classmates, the smile on Rito's face grew bigger. If it was an ordinary expedition then he wouldn't use something like that, but due to the unknown danger that awaited them after entering the dungeon and the absence of the captains, Rito didn't think twice about using this method.

'This way each one of them will have a level up and I won't be so worried when monsters appear....' Closing his eyes, Rito continues his thought. '...Besides, I'm just lending my power.'

After taking some time, Rito says, "Okay, stay tuned, I'll start distributing the [Reiryoku] on your bodies!!"

Swish—

With that said, the flame in Rito's hand begins to grow larger and larger. Once the purplish-orange energy reaches a decent height (Peak of a campfire... or something like that), the shape of the flame begins to warp.

Crack. Once the shape of the flame was deformed it began to disperse into various energy particles of the same color that they had in their old form.

"Beautiful...." all the girls said in unison.

The sight of various particles around the place was similar to seeing a beautiful forest or room lit by fireflies, but the feeling that came from those energy particles was quite warm and calming.

While they were hypnotized by the beautiful sight, none of them were able to react in time to the moment when those particles began to enter their bodies as if dyeing the figure of each one of them with a strong shine.

Swoosh—

"Wh-What is this!!!" Tiona exclaimed quite excited and curious about the strange phenomenon that was happening.

"....." Ais had a rather blissful look and seemed to enjoy the sensation that the particles were bringing to her body.

"Unbelievable..." Riveria muttered.

Nobody could disagree with Riveria, the warm feeling they were feeling was something they had never experienced before, no, it would be better to say that they never expected to experience before.

After a while, that warm feeling faded and the glow around the girls' bodies gradually dissipated.

When he saw that the light around the girls completely dispersed, Rito placed a smile on his face and whispered, "It's done...."

"....How are you guys feeling?" asked Rito, since it was the first time he had done this... although he could also be considered the first to do it.

The moment Rito's question reached her ears, each of them began to check their own bodies. There was no visible change, but they felt that they were stronger now than they were before.

"I don't know how much his strength has grown, but everything will be revealed the moment we enter the Dungeon, right?" Rito mentioned as he calmly walked through the group of girls.

Hearing those words, an enthusiastic sparkle appeared in the eyes of each of them. Once Rito stepped forward, each of them began to follow him, starting with Tiona and ending with Riveria, all of them had smiles covering their faces.

No one knew what would await them once they entered the Dungeon, but at no time did the thought of losing cross their minds. There were no signs of arrogance or vanity, no, what each of them gave off was pure confidence.

Confidence in them and in the group that was at their side. Yes, that day the strongest team of adventurers in all of Orario was born...