"Chapter 25: The Child Again and Third-Rate Villains"

Same Day

After Alex, Lily, and Loki returned, Alex realized that Loki wasn't suitable for this type of prank. She was too impatient and more focused on creating problems than on teasing trash adventurers. Alex decided never to take Loki with him again because she ruined all the fun, but he chose not to tell her this to avoid creating even more issues. Alex looked at Loki, who was laughing, and couldn't help but shake his head.

As soon as Alex decided to leave, he encountered Hestia.

"Where have you been? And why is Loki with you?" Hestia asked, walking toward Alex with heavy steps.

"Lily and I went to the store to buy some things," Alex said, to which Lily quickly nodded her head.

"Then why is Loki with you?" Hestia asked, looking at Alex with narrowed eyes.

"Loki came with us to buy some booze because she had a hangover and didn't want to sit and watch her kids test new weapons. She got bored," Alex explained the story he had made up while they were messing around.

"Then why is this flat-chested idiot smiling and laughing so stupidly?" Hestia asked, looking at Loki, who was still giggling from the previous events.

"I just bought her some booze to stop her from bothering me," Alex continued to lie.

"Are you saying you spent money on Loki?" Hestia asked, still suspicious of the situation.

"I was just tired of her whining about her headache. I wanted her to shut up, so I bought her some booze. Right, Loki?" Alex said, turning his attention to Loki.

"Mmm, that headache was driving me crazy. And your very kind child saved me from it," Loki began to lie.

"Alright, I'll believe you for now," Hestia said, still suspicious of the situation.

"Now to the main point, what are we going to do since we have a few new members?" Hestia asked.

"I'll train them for a few days and then go on a raid with them," Alex said, laying out his plan.

"Why go on a raid?" Hestia asked, not understanding Alex's plan.

"I want them to be able to trust each other's backs during battles and raids," Alex explained.

"Hmmm, but they're not strong enough yet, as you said," Hestia recalled Alex's words about the newcomers' strength.

"I'm not taking them to the lower floors. I'll go with them to the 10th floor at most," Alex said, making it clear he wouldn't endanger them.

"Alright, I trust you," Hestia replied.

After discussing his plans with Hestia regarding the upcoming family raid, Alex decided to visit the training grounds to check on the group and see how they were doing with the new weapons he had distributed. Arriving at the scene, Alex expected to find everything in ruins, but instead, he discovered that Loki's familia members were peacefully sitting and chatting while examining their weapons. He was surprised, as he had anticipated that they would be testing the weapons with such force that they would have destroyed Hephaestus's backyard, leading to a long lecture from Hephaestus or even Tsubaki for his irresponsibility.

"Yo, guys, how do you like the weapons?" Alex asked, approaching the group.

"These are excellent weapons, even better than what we used before," Finn replied, clearly pleased with his new spear.

"That's good. I expected to see a half-destroyed training ground, and here you are, sitting peacefully and chatting," Alex said, coming closer.

"Who do you take us for? Do you think we smash everything we see?" Bete responded in a rough tone.

"Isn't that the case?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That only happened a couple of times, and it was a long time ago," Bete denied.

"Whatever you say. How do you like the weapons? I need your opinion. Do they feel good in your hands?" Alex asked, surveying the group.

"The weapons are fantastic! Thanks! Now let me kiss you as a thank you for such a gift," Tiona shouted, trying to run up to Alex but was stopped by the other girls in Loki's familia.

"Let me go! I need to thank him! There's no better gratitude than a kiss from a beautiful princess," Tiona yelled, trying to break free.

"What kind of princess are you? You look more like a barbarian with muscles instead of a brain," Bete said with disgust.

"I'm a real princess! Look how elegant I am," Tiona replied, pretending to be a noble lady, making everyone roll their eyes, knowing how she dealt with monsters.

"Tiona, I told you there's no need for such gratitude. The hugs were more than enough," Alex said, looking at Tiona, who had been released.

"Alright, then let me give you another hug," Tiona said, approaching Alex.

"Fine, another hug from a beautiful girl, who am I to refuse," Alex said, opening his arms for a hug. Instead of hugging him, Tiona decided to perform a sneak attack and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hehe, gotcha," Tiona said with flushed cheeks after her successful sneak attack, to which Alex just shook his head with a smile.

"Tiona, what are you doing?!" shouted the girls from Loki's familia, beginning to chase Tiona who ran away laughing.

"How can I help you, Ais?" Alex asked, turning his attention away from the chase.

"Um, could you lean down?" Ais asked, waving her hand.

"Sure, what do you need?" Alex said, leaning closer to Ais.

"Here's my thanks," Ais said, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thank you, of course, for the kiss, but you didn't have to," Alex said, receiving another kiss.

"You didn't like it?" Ais asked, looking at Alex with sad eyes. She herself didn't understand why she did it, but seeing Tiona kiss Alex, she wanted to do it too.

"Of course, I liked it. Who wouldn't like a kiss from a beautiful girl," Alex replied. After his words, Ais's eyes returned to normal, and her cheeks blushed again.

"Ais did it too, so why are you all chasing only me?" Tiona shouted, pointing to Ais who had kissed Alex. No one listened to her and continued chasing her with laughter just to annoy her.

Alex looked at the members of Loki's familia, who were chatting and laughing cheerfully, and couldn't help but smile. Ais, standing nearby, was still thinking about the kiss she gave Alex and wondered if she should do it again when no one was around. Alex didn't know what Ais was thinking, but if he did, he wouldn't mind at all.

A couple of days of training flew by unnoticed, and it was time for the first family raid. Waking up early in the morning, Alex decided to do something crazy, something he might regret or, on the contrary, be delighted about. He chose to change his age back to 12 and see how everyone would react. But when he transformed into his 12-year-old form, he noticed a problem: his legs became shorter, and his strides shortened. Remembering one of his magical tools, the "Chastifol" in its pillow form, he decided to use it for flight.

"This is quite convenient. I wouldn't want to get off it now. Now I understand why King always flies on this pillow, it's very comfortable," Alex thought, lying on the flying cushion.

Flying on his new cushion to the main hall where everyone had already gathered, Alex anticipated their reaction.

"Hey, good morning," he said in a childish voice, catching everyone's attention in the hall.

"You-you-you, Alex-kun! How did you become like this?" exclaimed Hestia, pointing at Alex with disbelief in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I just wanted to check something, and here's the result. Also testing out new weapons," Alex said, floating on his cushion.

"If you became a child, what about our love that was just beginning between us? Now I'll have to wait for you to grow up," Hestia said, falling to her knees and crying. Everyone looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Hestia, I can return to my normal form, it's just an age-changing spell," Alex said, flying closer to Hestia.

"Then change back to your older version so I won't get in trouble for sleeping with you," demanded Hestia.

"Hestia, technically I'm still 18 years old, this is just an altered form," Alex said, descending from the cushion, which transformed into a spear. But Hestia didn't listen to him and continued crying, insisting he return to his normal form.

"Is this your new weapon? How interesting," said Hephaestus, approaching from behind and looking at the spear floating next to Alex.

"This is the spiritual spear Chastifol that I created. It has eight variations of form, but I won't show them all now, hehehe," Alex replied, chuckling. Others found his laughter endearing and wanted to take little Alex for themselves.

"You've created an interesting spear, Alex," said Hephaestus.

"Now let's gather up and head out for the raid," Alex said, trying to reach the food table, but he was interrupted.

"Let me help you," said Hephaestus, picking up Alex and carrying him to the table.

"If you're helping me, why didn't you put me on a separate chair?" Alex asked, when Hephaestus placed him on her lap.

"Maybe it's just not comfortable for you," replied Hephaestus in a monotone voice.

"Well, whatever you say. Who am I to refuse?" Alex said, leaning closer to Hephaestus and starting to eat. The others watched him with envy, watching Hephaestus take charge and spoil little Alex-kun.

"Hephaestus, give Alex-kun back! He's a member of my family, and I should take care of him!" shouted Hestia, coming to her senses after the shock.

"Hestia, sit down at the table and eat quietly, don't disturb the others," Hephaestus said sternly, not allowing Hestia to take Alex away. Hestia could only pout and sit at the table, thinking that next time she would be quicker than Hephaestus and snatch little Alex-kun for herself to pamper him.

Mysterious Machinations

While our group was having breakfast, another group gathered in a dark place, plotting something sinister. They were unaware that all their plans would be futile, for there is a saying: all intrigues and schemes are useless against absolute power. But this would become clear in the future, when this group of pseudo-villains would begin to act.

"What do you decide to do with our plan?" asked one member of the group.

"Our plan will continue without delay, we'll just find another scapegoat to blame if necessary," replied another.

"That bastard ruined our plans. I told you we should have chosen a different god, not this arrogant idiot," said a female voice.

"It's not just Apollo's fault, but also a member of Hestia's family who ruined our plans," added a third.

"We must eliminate him before he grows up and starts to thwart our schemes," said the fourth.

"We shouldn't show ourselves yet, our plans won't change. Apollo might spill something before he's sent to the realm of the gods," intervened the second.

"He's right, let's lay low for now, but we'll continue the plan, just with more caution. And don't forget, we need another scapegoat," added the female voice.

"Silence!" ordered the leader's voice at the head of the table. After his words, silence fell in the hall, and everyone turned their attention to him.

"We will test this item I obtained through my power to see how it affects monsters," he continued, showing a black crystal he held in his hand.

"How will we test it? Shall we use monsters we've already captured, or test it directly on dungeon monsters?" asked the female voice.

"I will send one of my followers to implant this crystal into a dungeon monster," replied the leader.

"If the crystal integrates with the monster and enhances it, we'll have a backup plan for the future," the leader concluded.

Alex and His Group

While the group of pseudo-villains discussed their nefarious plans, Alex and his team arrived at Babylon. Alex was still unaware of the existence of villains scheming something sinister, but if he had known, he would have simply laughed at them. After all, they acted and behaved like third-rate villains from movies, hiding like rats to discuss their plans. If you're a villain and want to do something bad, why hide and then put on a hypocritical face, claiming circumstances forced you? Just embrace who you are.

As Alex and his group drew closer to the dungeon, more adventurers began to notice the child flying on a cushion alongside the girls.

"Hey, look, that kid is flying on a cushion," said one adventurer to his friend.

"I see he's flying on a cushion, I'm not blind," his friend replied.

"It's probably some artifact worth a lot of money," the first one continued, his eyes gleaming with greed.

"Yeah, exactly. If we sell it, we can live the good life forever," the second one agreed, not taking his eyes off the cushion.

"Why would a kid have such an artifact? He could lose it," the third one chimed in.

"You greedy idiots, look at the kid flying on that cushion before you speak," said the fourth one, noticing the resemblance of the child to someone important.

"He looks like..." started the first.

"Yes, exactly like him. Maybe he's his son or younger brother," confirmed the fourth.

"Are you saying this kid could be related to that lunatic?" asked the third.

"Yeah, most likely, because they look alike. And I don't want that lunatic chasing me to the ends of the earth. I don't want to suffer the fate of Apollo's children," said the fourth.

"You still haven't told us what happened there," said the first.

"I can't tell you because there's a ban on that information. But I can say one thing: their fate was worse than death. It's better not to provoke that lunatic," replied the fourth, implying he'd rather face Goliath alone than provoke the Demon King.

"That's because all the adventurers who were at that war game started calling him the Demon King. I'd rather live a few more years than provoke that monster," said the fourth, heading towards Babylon.

Arriving at the first floor of the dungeon, Alex and his group stopped, and Alex decided to lay out the plan of action.

"Ladies, I want to congratulate you on your first raid," Alex said, sitting on his cushion and clapping his hands. The faces of the girls turned sour, as they would have preferred to sleep in.

"I know Lily might have told you about her first raid, don't worry," Alex continued. The girls' faces brightened as they knew what speedrun was and didn't want to repeat it.

"Your task in this raid is to improve teamwork. In the future, you will often work together and help in training future family members," Alex said, jumping off the pillow.

"Daphne, you will be the vanguard of this group, and you will need this," Alex said, handing Daphne a new sword and shield.

"Why such generosity?" Daphne asked, picking up the weapon and checking how it felt in her hands.

"It's not generosity. You're a member of my family, so it's my responsibility. As captain, I have to take care of you," Alex replied, rummaging in his pocket. Daphne's face blushed slightly at his words, as she thought he was stingy because she didn't get the gun when he was giving it away.

"This is for you, Cassandra. You are also very important in this raid as a healer and support," said Alex, taking a long staff and pendant out of his pocket.

"Thank you," said Cassandra, taking the pendant and starting to inspect it.

"Alright, equipment distributed. Now, the plan: your group must reach the tenth floor," Alex said.

"Just the tenth? Do you think we're weak?" Daphne asked, clearly unhappy with being underestimated.

"Do you think it's that simple?" Alex asked, prompting nods from Daphne and Cassandra. Lily sensed something was wrong but didn't manage to say anything before Alex acted again.

"Since you say it's simple, there will be a slight complication. Cassandra will only heal and do no damage. Daphne and Lily will have to use only the skills they've learned in training over the past few days. And most importantly, a spell will be placed on you to attract monsters," Alex said. Tears welled up in Lily's eyes as she fell to her knees, accepting her fate. Lily looked at Daphne, and her teeth ground with anger at the woman who couldn't keep her tongue behind her teeth.

"And finally: the spell will strengthen each time you stay in one place for too long," Alex said, climbing back onto his cushion.

"Now, ladies, your raid begins. Go ahead, you can start. I'll keep an eye on you just in case," Alex said, indicating it was time to start.

The group of three started their first raid, unaware of how difficult it would be. The spell attracted all the monsters on the floor, making progress much more difficult. As they progressed through the first floor, Lily decided to tell them what awaited them.

"Who pulled you by the tongue? Why did you decide to speak? Do you understand how silly this spell is?" Lily shouted at Daphne.

"Is it really that bad?" Cassandra asked, not understanding why Lily was so angry.

"When I went on a solo raid, I had a similar spell on me. Every time I stopped, it got stronger, and eventually monsters from the entire floor came running at me," Lily recounted, recalling her grim experience.

"And most likely, because someone doesn't know when to keep quiet, the spell will start strong and get stronger every time our progress slows down," Lily said, indicating what lay ahead for them.

"No big deal, they're just first-level monsters, it's not a problem," Daphne said, trying to reassure everyone.

"No big deal, you say? Let's see how you handle it when there's a whole crowd of them, and if there are no monsters on this floor, the dungeon will start spawning new ones," Lily said through gritted teeth, seething with anger.

"He'll help us, right?" Cassandra asked, starting to worry.

"Last time, he didn't intervene even when there were a lot of monsters," Lily said, still upset.

"You were alone last time, now we're a group, so there's no need to worry," Daphne said, not taking the situation seriously. Hearing her words, Lily became irritated with Daphne again.

"Alex, why did you bring this woman into the family? We could have managed with just Cassandra. At least she has common sense and understands the situation," Lily muttered, looking at Daphne.

As the group continued to advance through the floors, Alex floated behind, observing their raid. He noticed someone watching them with ill intentions and decided to address the issue immediately, without waiting for this enemy to cause trouble.

"Stop hiding, little rat. I know you've been watching my group since the beginning of the fourth floor," Alex said towards the large rock.

"So, you want to continue playing hide and seek," Alex said, transforming a pillow into a spear and launching it towards the rock. As the rock shattered, a shadowy figure jumped out from behind it.

"And who are you to want to harm my group so badly?" Alex asked, looking at the person dressed in all black.

"The kid thinks he can handle everything he encounters? You're as arrogant as that person from your family," the man in black said.

"Who are you talking about?" Alex asked, not understanding whom this idiot was referring to.

"I'm talking about Voldigoad, the captain of the Hestia family, who decided to attack a god and thought he could get away with it," the enemy replied, drawing his weapon.

"Haha! That's rich!" Alex burst out laughing, amused by the thug's words.

"What are you laughing at? Have you gone mad before dying?" the villain said, clearly not understanding why the child in front of him was laughing.

"Oh my gods, I haven't laughed like that in ages. I didn't even think I wouldn't be recognized in this form," Alex said after his hearty laughter subsided.

"What do you mean?" the villain began to say, clearly sensing something was amiss.

"I mean you're an idiot for not recognizing the very person who attacked a god," Alex said, while "Chastifol" began to glow and take its fifth form.

"You can't be him!" the villain exclaimed, pointing his weapon at Alex.

"Don't point that weapon at me, it's rude. Now, you're going to tell me why you're here, or we can chat nicely and then you'll spill everything," Alex said, aiming his weapon at the enemy.

"I won't tell you anything! I'd rather die than betray my master!" the arrogant lackey shouted.

"While you were shouting, I already figured out why you're here. Most likely, your master, or whatever you call him, sent you here to check on something. But you noticed my group and decided you could eliminate future problems for your master," Alex said, looking at the enemy with disdain.

"H-How did you figure it out?" the lackey asked.

"You're probably an idiot, because all lackeys of villains act like this," Alex replied, regarding the lackey as an idiot.

"I still won't betray my master!" the lackey yelled and attempted an escape skill.

"Well, you tried, but did you really think you could escape?" Alex said, launching "Chastifol" in its fifth form towards the lackey who tried to flee.

"And so the villains start to emerge, thinking they're the smartest. Well, at least it's some entertainment in this world," Alex thought, retracting the spear back into its pillow form and heading towards the girls.

To be continued...