Chapter 45

Walking with Ais down the streets of Orario was a test of patience as people always fixated on her as she was literally one of the most famous people here in Orario. Thankfully Orario's culture of strength and value is the most important. No one dared to run up on Ais to harass her as she was very clearly armed and walking with purpose as she kept one of her hands on her sword sheathed at her side.

"Ah let's get the potato snacks on the way," Ais said seeing an older lady working a stand and I nodded in understanding.

"If we keep them in my pocket spell they won't cool down or go bad by the way," I added on and Ais's eyes lit up as she smiled, and then as soon as she was able to order she gave out a ridiculous order.

"Fifteen of all three flavors please." She said shamelessly and the woman blinked as she looked down and saw that her order was literally everything on the rack she had precooked and thus shrugged and took a small bag of Valis from Ais. "Keep the change. I love the snacks." She said softly as she handed me six potato snacks being two of the three apparent flavors while she had me put the rest away in my inventory for a midnight snack or something when she went back home.

"Cheese, red bean paste, and spicy shredded chicken and cheese flavor... My mom used to make these all the time because it was so simple." Ais spoke almost to herself but more as an explanation as to why she bought so many, I guess.

I knew how Aria, Ais's mom got vored by the One-Eyed Black Dragon and was supposedly somehow still alive within the dragon. So, I respected her desire to gain strength to free said mother.

"So how are your expeditions going?" I asked and she shrugged.

"Difficult. Boring. And I suppose different now. With the tunnel you made we will be able to take more supplies down with bigger carts but for us level fives and sixs to actually get challenged and grow we need to head past at least floor forty... Which can take more than a whole week of travel time." Ais said duly and I could feel the sheer disdain she had for the long travel time it took for the Loki Familia to get to the depths in which they could actually grow.

As me and Ais ate our potato snack and walked toward the Guild I noticed Ais twitching every once and a while as she looked into the alleys we passed by but with the late afternoon crowd filling Orario's streets I couldn't see anything in the glancing moment I had to look within the alleys.

"See anything?" I asked.

But Ais only shook her head as she changed the subject. "Is it true that you can give people an extra mana pool? Riveria is still freaking out about it and it's really funny when she flip-flops between wanting to demand the secret and denying your hints as a total lie." Ais asked with a small smile at seeing her disciplinary figure in life anguishing over something.

I likewise shrugged just to mess with her. "Eh, so can you properly fly with your wind magic stuff?" I reposted and Ais's head cocked to the side.

"I probably can for a bit... But holding up my weight entirely on my winds uses a lot of Mind so it's not worth it when I can just use it to dash around." She said and before we could dodge around each other's questions any further, we had finally arrived in front of the Guild.

Ais decided to stay back outside the Guild when she heard my guild advisor and contact was Rose Fannet as she was also a guiding figure for her in her childhood as an adventurer when she herself was her advisor and would always get on her case about being too reckless.

After waiting in line for a while Rose was notified to come out of the back where she was doing paperwork and seeing me, she rolled her eyes and made a come-over motion with her hands as she walked into one of the Guilds' side rooms.

"Well, you have been a busy bee... Building a tunnel through the dungeon, spawning Monster Rex's in Orario's backyard. Do you have a death wish or something? Why aren't you doing these suicidal things when you are like level five and can take the heat or flee from people trying to hurt you?" She demanded and I held up a hand in front of her face as she was all but about to leap over the table separating us.

"Doing those things will help me grow faster and I am not far from my level up with all the shenanigans I got drawn into," I said shrugging my shoulders as she couldn't refute me. "Now I came here to square away the details about the War Game that Apollo challenged me to."

Rose's nose twitched and I noticed how her eye's had dilated at being locked in this room and I couldn't help mentally sighing and pondered on whether Seshat's little claim on me was going to be more trouble than it was worth.

"So, what paperwork do I need to fill out for the War Game," I asked snapping her back to attention. Honestly although Rose was hot, I had both Seshat and Beatrice who were more than willing to warm my bed.

Rose hummed as she bit her lip and took a folder out of a stack that she brought in. "Well seeing as you are representing your goddess and the Familia in totality. You are capable of signing off on the documents to set the date of the War Game. Though be warned that your goddess will need to meet with the other gods during the mini Denatus to set the challenge for the War Game." She warned me.

"Alright," I said taking the paperwork from her and filling it out while I did so. Rose coughed awkwardly.

"By the way Jake. The tunnel you made has become an issue of Orario's future and many people are curious about what you will be doing with it." Left unspoken was the Guild's desire to tax the shit out of it as they were the ones taking care of Orario's municipal needs and cleaning up after the irresponsible gods of Orario.

But that was my tunnel, and it didn't even break through the surface, so the Guild had no jurisdiction over it at all as the dungeon was literally a lawless land with zero hard rules and only courtesy rules that can and will be thrown aside to get ahead.

"The expressway I created is actually within the dungeon, so the Guild has no right to it as not only do they not have a way to safely get to the tunnel through the Dungeon without hiring mercenaries which the Guild isnt allowed to. But I am keeping it locked up that way monsters cannot travel to and through the tunnel to prevent floor eighteen or even lower monsters from getting to the surface." I said duly and she shrugged.

"Well, I personally don't care. But my manager ordered me to press on you to get a copy of the key you gave Riveria for Guild use." She said truly only with relief at getting it off her chest in her voice and then she went back to her more deadpan voice as she had me fill out some more regular guild paperwork.

"Also bearing in mind that you are about to level up. You should be aware that the Guild expects you to come back to announce your level up so we can adjust your Familia's tax rates as well as provide more detailed information about dangerous sections within the Dungeon." Rose recited from memory as she gathered all the papers I signed into another folder.

Then Rose took a deep breath as she walked away from me, and I quietly just put the files she left to me in my dungeon as I waited for her to leave.

"Should I just teleport home?" I pondered muttering lightly but then I recalled Ais was just standing outside the Guild probably still as stone patiently waiting for me...

Yeah, leaving the airhead to just stand there probably till dawn would just be mean as she would actually wait that long probably.