44- 'Friendly' monsters

As Calvin and the team were speaking to the Xenos, Hestia went to the location that the secret message on the letter said.

She was now going down a secret underground tunnel accompanied by Fels.

As they reached the end of the stairs a wide dark room was revealed in which a golden throne and an old man was sitting on it.

"Ouranos…I knew you'd be the one behind this" Hestia said.

"Hestia, I think you already know why I called you here" Ouranos said.

"Yes, it's because of Bell and Calvin isn't it" Hestia said.

"More one than the other… but yes that is the reason, Bell is unique in his own but not much of a threat if guided in the right direction" Ouranos said, projecting images of Bell talking to people.

"But Calvin on the other hand…" He continued, showing images of Calvin laughing like a madman when he discovered infinite Bent then another image when he struggled to refrain himself from killing people.

"Well, he might not be completely sane but I've been trying to fix that, it is my duty as his goddess" Hestia said puffing out her chest in pride.

"He does seem weak to your divinity, but that's more psychological than anything"

"I mean his façade does break when I use my divinity on him" Hestia said looking to the side as she knew that using divinities in humans was not allowed.

"However, I must give you the task to control him in case something happens in the future…" Ouranos said mysteriously not caring that Hestia had broken some rules.

'Should I tell her about that?' Ouranos thought 'No… she is too young and could interfere in our plan'

"Anyway, as for the talking monsters, they call themselves the Xenos…" Ouranos said giving her a brief description of their story.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>[The next Day]<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

At the second floor on the adventurer's guild.

The head of the Adventurer's guild was in the middle of a tough decision.

In front of him laid 2 papers that were similar but portrayed a different idea.

The one on his left portrayed a Red Lizardman with armor and swords, something that was seen just a few weeks back, it looked menacing walking towards the observer, below the image was a bounty of 500.000 Valis.

The one on his right portrayed the same Lizardman but this time it was slaying monsters and giving a helping hand to a downed human, something was written 'Friendly monsters sighted in the lower floors do not attack them!'

"Such a turn on events, first they were just stronger monsters but now they are saviors?" Royman said in a tired voice.

"But it seems like the friendly encounters are the most common now" he said opening a drawer in lifting a stack of papers that said 'friendly encounters' on the top of it.

"Eina!" Royman shouted.

After a few moments a woman walked through the door, she had brown hair and pointy ears that were just a bit larger than a human's meaning that she was a half-elf.

"Yes? Guild master" she said doing a little bow.

"Share this with your colleagues and give one to every adventurer that comes to the guild, also put one on the notice wall, and look for someone to print more" He ordered, in a somewhat disrespectful manner.

"As you wish." She said respectfully, not minding the guild master's lack of respect.

She grabbed the stack of papers and walked out of the room but before she was completely out of sight the guild master spoke again.

"And tell them that I deemed the friendly monsters as 'safe' at least for now" Royman said, hoping that it would calm down the answer-seeking adventurers.

"Alright" Eina said closing the door.

"*sigh…* I hope that Ouranos-sama gives me a raise for this" Royman said, after all, giving him even more stress wasn't part of the plan.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Meanwhile in the guild reception.

Many adventurers were wanting a talk with the guild master and there were many more with more sightings of friendly monsters.

This was of course overwhelming the few members of the guild staff.

Eina came from upstairs and spoke.

"Please hear me! The Guild has deemed these new monsters as 'safe'" She said in a loud voice throwing a bunch of papers in the air.

"More information will be given as soon as the researchers come back from the dungeon" she said and gave some of her colleges a bunch of the papers she had and kept a bunch for her own.

She then went to her normal place in the reception window where Bell was the first in line as usual.

"Good morning, Bell I see that you are safe and sound" Ina said to Bell which had a 'happier' than normal smile on his face.

"And what's with that face?" She asked.

"Ah! Uh… it just that something good happened" He answered.

"Is that so…?" she said giving him one of the papers.

"Well, there are some new monsters in the dungeon, although it's said that they are safe I wouldn't let my guard down" she said not believing that there were friendly monsters in the dungeon.

"Ehhh? But they are commonly sighted helping people, right? Why would they be dangerous?" Bell said wanting to change Eina's thinking about the Xenos.

"There were some bounties for them before-" she said getting cut off by Bell.

"don't you think that was just some propositions? After all, there aren't more bounties for them, right?" Bell said showing her the paper.

Eina thought for a moment and realized that there were far fewer bounties for those monsters 'maybe someone wanted to get rid of them? Ah… I guess that some people are just bad from the root'

"You are right Bell, there are almost zero bounties since the first ones" she said.

"See? Anyways see you later" Bell said leaving the place and heading to the dungeon.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Meanwhile on the 24th floor of the dungeon.

Calvin was walking through the forest with an unexpected guest beside him.

It was Ais, they had run into each other on the 15th floor, she heard of the 'friendly' monsters and wanted to see one for herself.

"Have you seen one?" Ais asked.

"No…" He said not sure of how to answer it, as she asked the same question over 10 times now.

"Why are you so obsessed with them?" He asked stopping their walk

"I just wanted to make sure" she said while tightening her fists unconsciously

"Well, I heard that they've been sighted in the lower floors so, I don't think we can find anything if we keep going down" he said feeling the cold breeze of the 25th floor.

She suddenly asked Calvin.

"Calvin, what is your motive for coming to the dungeon?" She said taking a seat in the roots of a tree.

"Me? Uh… you could say it's to get stronger" He said taking a seat beside her.

"But why do you want to become stronger?" She asked again.

"Ummm… to meet someone I care for…?" He said making Ais think for a bit.

"And what is your purpose?" Calvin asked, after all, if it wasn't for money, glory, or strength what more could the dungeon give?

"I too aim to get stronger, although my objective is to take revenge on someone" she said.

"Eh??? That's all?" Calvin asked making Ais look at him a bit displeased.

"You are doing all of this just for some revenge?" Calvin said in a mocking tone.

After all, he had heard the tales of the 'sword Princess' fighting monsters all day, one of the strongest adventurers in Orario and the fastest to level, rumors said that she spent all of her days training or killing monsters.

"…Yes" she said with a bit of shame by the way Calvin was making it sound that her revenge was just a childish act.

"And who do you want to revenge?" he asked expecting her to say something like 'my teacher or my friend'.

"My father, he was defeated by the one-eye black dragon in the bottom of the dungeon" she said, it was all right for Calvin to know as it wasn't a direct secret it was just that no one ever touched the topic.

'Damm, was he even human? What level was he? 10?' Calvin thought, seeing Ais's father as another monster, just like her, and probably Bell in the future with his cheaty abilities if it just wasn't for his personality as he could get himself killed way before becoming stronger than anyone in Orario.

"Ah… well" 'What would Kala say on this situation?' he thought.

"that's why I want to get stronger, but as I am now, I'm not even worthy to step on my father's shadow" Ais said in a melancholic tone.

'Ohh...So that's how it is, then I know exactly what to say' He thought remembering all his previous interactions with princesses.

"You want to avenge him, but is that what he wanted?" He said making Ais widen her eyes a little.

'Is that what father wanted? He told me something before but I couldn't understand, maybe it was something important' She thought, not knowing what her father wanted.

"It's all right if you want to avenge him, but you don't have to dedicate your entire life to it" he said, making Ais look at him.

"But if I don't do that, then what am I supposed to do?" She asked.

"Live your life? You know, I'm from outside Orario but do you know why I came here?" He asked to which she shook her head indicating that she didn't know the reason.

"It's because someone invaded my hometown, and even if I do plan to take revenge, I'm still living my life taking revenge will come eventually" he said.

"I see… it'll come eventually" she said.

"Well… you know…as strong as you are it might even come way sooner than you think" he said making Ais's eyes sparkle.

'Maybe I should ask Riveria more about this?' she thought, not noticing that the energies that were in a constant war inside of her were peaceful.

She then got up and started walking back to the forest.

"Where are you going?" he asked walking behind her.

"I'm going to ask Rivera more about this" she said not turning around seemingly in deep thought.

"Okay...? see you then" he said stopping his walk a little confused by Ais's reaction.

'What was that? The air around her changed at the last moment' he thought.

As Ais disappeared from his sensing range he focused on the matter in hand.

'Anyways, I needed to get rid of her but thankfully that got me to know that she isn't a good sensor at all' he thought looking at the forest in front of him.

He had noticed that someone was following them for a while now and they are still around.

'They were probably waiting for me to be alone?' He thought.

"Get out will you? I don't have all day" he said in a rather loud voice to nobody in particular.

Suddenly from the forest emerged a man.

"I knew you could sense us from the beginning, I don't know why we even tried" he said making more people emerge from the forest.