The Day Before The Expedition

At first, Isaac didn't get a reply. This wasn't a surprise, however, because Ais simply stared at him completely shell-shocked. Although she had been fully aware of his feelings, this was the first time anyone had confessed to her so genuinely. Usually, there was also a lustful, possessive gaze accompanying the confession, but not this time. Isaac's eyes were devoid of such feelings - even though she wouldn't have minded them in his case. More importantly, however, this was the first time that she actually had feelings for the one who confessed to her, so hearing these words felt incredibly fulfilling.

For a few seconds, Ais simply looked at Isaac, his words replaying themselves in her mind constantly. Then, they finally settled in.

Ais had already been blushing a bit before, but now, more and more blood was rushing to her head. It was to the point that Isaac, who was calmly observing her cute reaction, grew a little bit worried. Could a human really blush this much? Was this still healthy? She might even faint if this continued.

All of these distracting thoughts dissipated instantly when Isaac saw the amorous gaze and radiant smile the otherworldly beauty directed at him. Then, when a few words left her lips, he was put into a very similar situation to the one she had been in just moments prior.

"I love you too, Isaac."

For a moment, there were only these words. Even Isaac's heartbeat seemed to have entirely stopped while these words engraved themselves on his soul. Of course, Isaac had known about Ais' feelings for weeks now. After all, the system had notified him the moment she had fallen for him. But hearing her spell it out… it was so much more than just a simple confirmation. Well, to be honest, it really wasn't, but it certainly felt like it.

When Isaac's heart finally continued beating, it did so at a rapidly accelerating pace. Just like Ais, he also began to blush more and more heavily. At the same time, Ais' face continued to get closer until their noses started to touch. In this position, where the two stared directly into each other's eyes from such a short distance, Isaac slowly but surely snapped out of the all-encompassing happiness that had caused his mind to blank out completely. That didn't mean that he was less happy, though, just that he had regained control over his body.

'Why are we suddenly this close? … Oh.'

It didn't take long for Isaac to figure out that it hadn't been Ais who had been getting closer. Rather, he himself had slowly but surely raised his upper body until they were only a few centimeters apart. But rather than becoming uncomfortable, both of them just looked at each other in tranquil silence, needing nothing more than the other's company. Of course, they could also feel each other's breaths on their skin.

After having been lost in this cosy, happy sensation for a while, Isaac's gaze suddenly turned somewhat embarrassed. Taking the current situation into account, well, he had decided to do something pretty obvious.

Yet again, Isaac got a little bit closer, then he planted a shy and reserved, quick kiss on Ais' lips. Although it had only lasted for a short moment, his heart had already started to beat loud enough to overshadow all other sounds he had been hearing.

It wasn't like he needed to hear anything else at the moment, though, because, just like him, Ais had completely blanked out the moment after their lips had parted. Both of them had never felt such a sensation before. Sure, Isaac might have all the theoretical knowledge about romance and what was involved with it, but he had no practical experience whatsoever. And although his first kiss had only been a very fleeting moment, Ais' lips had felt so seductively soft that he hadn't wanted to part from them at all. It felt like they were inviting him, telling him to take yet another step…

Still, Isaac didn't want to and didn't allow himself to get lost in these instincts. One of the main reasons was that he had promised Riveria to take things slowly but even more than that, he didn't want to taint Ais with such physical desires yet. There was no need to hurry, they had an eternity ahead of them, after all. Rushing things would only make things… imperfect. Not that he would be opposed to such a thing, but if he had the option, he would rather wait for them to grow a lot closer first.

To snap Ais out of her bliss-induced absentmindedness, Isaac pulled away slightly.

"Now, it's your turn."

In response to her adorably cute, confused head tilt, Isaac got up fully and sat down next to Ais, then, just like she had done before, he patted his lap. At this point, it really didn't take a genius to figure out that he wanted to return the favour and give her a lap pillow as well.

For the next twenty minutes or so, Isaac gently stroked Ais' head while having her rest on his thighs. Both were simply stupidly smiling at each other, completely lost in their own little world.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, Isaac suddenly noticed the time thanks to the system clock.

'What, it's already this late?'

Normally, he would have made his way towards the dungeon already. After all, today, it was time to hunt a few thousand monsters to gather more AP. Or, well, that had been the original plan. Should he still go or would he rather stay with the girl of his dreams? Even though it wasn't such a hard decision, Isaac still grew a little restless while contemplating his options. And of course, Ais didn't miss such obvious indecision. Even though she had become very shy after he kissed her and didn't say a single word, mostly due to embarrassment, she had been paying very close attention to him this entire time.

Unhappily, she began to pout, then her relaxedly closed eyes snapped open while she gently grabbed his left hand. She knew exactly what he was thinking about, because she knew his daily routine better than anyone else.

"Please stay."

These words caused a somewhat awkward but happy smile to surface on Isaac's face. Although his perfectionistic mindset was urging him to finish all of his plans for today, he didn't really need to enter the dungeon right now. He had so much leeway, there was no need to desperately throw everything else aside right now just to grow stronger by gathering AP. After all, he had been wasting so much time during the day on less important things, wouldn't it be unreasonable for him to end such a lovely atmosphere, something extremely important to him? The answer was yes. So Isaac decided to stay here tonight.

When she saw Isaac's small nod, Ais' pout immediately relaxed and a happy smile reappeared on her lips. Inwardly, she was giggling victoriously.

An hour or so later, Isaac had changed into comfortable sleepwear. Although he knew that people would freak out if they knew that he stayed in Ais' room the entire night, that was only if they found out. If he didn't boast about it in public, there wasn't really any way for anyone to know. And honestly, Isaac didn't care too much about that. After all, they hadn't been doing anything indecent, which Loki would easily be able to tell if she asked them. But even if something more had happened, it wouldn't be anyone else's business.

'She smells so nice…. like a refreshing spring breeze…'

With thoughts like these, having placated his worries, Isaac peacefully fell asleep right next to Ais, who had asked him to stay with her until morning.

-----

When Isaac woke up at around 5 a.m., what first assaulted his senses were three different sensations, all originating from the same location, his left shoulder: weight, warmth and wetness. Thankfully, Isaac hadn't forgotten that he was still in Ais' room, so he didn't react in a hasty manner and only opened his eyes, looking at the girl resting her head on his shoulder.

Her breathing was very even and relaxed, somewhat tickling his neck, while she wore a perpetual smile on her face. Her hair, for some reason, didn't really look like she had slept at all, as it wasn't the slightest bit dishevelled. Still, there was a little bit of drool on the edge of her mouth and over the course of the night, quite a bit of it had found its way to Isaac's shoulder… hence, the wetness.

An especially warm and genuine smile played across his lips. While some might have seen Ais' act of drooling as a sign of imperfection, in his eyes, it only made her even more perfect. It was just too adorable. How could someone this adorable be anything but the epitome of perfection itself? Of course, Isaac had to admit that parts of his reasoning were most likely affected by the rose-coloured glasses he was wearing. But that didn't really matter. What mattered was that Ais… was adorable. He consciously had to hold himself back from poking her nose or cheek, or anything similar.

While thinking about such things, Isaac had been staring at the ceiling for about ten minutes while stroking Ais' back gently. He didn't do so with the intention to wake her up, rather, it was simply something he had started to do subconsciously. It felt natural.

Still, after a while of doing this, Ais' breathing pattern noticeably changed and he perceived some movement, so Isaac turned his head to look at her again. This time, what greeted him was a pair of sleepy but well-rested golden eyes, which still had a little bit of post-awakening confusion clouding them. Yet again, a gentle smile blossomed on Isaac's lips.

"Good morning~"

-----

After Isaac had taken a quick shower and put on his adventuring gear, he met the Amazoness sisters in the main courtyard, just like every morning.

Yesterday evening, Tione had told him that they had missed one monster species during their exploration of the 25th and 26th floors. Of course, as soon as he heard about this, Isaac immediately cancelled any other dungeon-related plans he might have had for today and focused fully on finding this one kind of monster.

The reason they hadn't encountered it before was that they hadn't gotten close to the Great Fall during their exploration at all - and it only lived in the cliffs that were close to that. Still, even then, it wasn't that common to actually come across it, but when one did, there was probably a colony of a few hundred nearby, who would start an unceasing assault together. The name of this species was Iguazu and their Agility could reach up to C-650 / 2650. Visually, they weren't really impressive, as they simply looked like slightly bigger, crimson swallows. Still, because of their speed-focused nature, adventurers referred to them as invisible monsters. Of course, they weren't actually invisible, most adventurers who made it to this floor just simply weren't fast enough to properly react to or even perceive them until it was too late. As expected, however, this wasn't a problem for Isaac. They were so incredibly slow in his eyes that dodging or dismembering them could almost be done in his sleep.

There was one annoying thing about the Iguazus, however. That was their method of attack. It was incredibly stupid and suicidal: they simply dove at any nearby adventurers from the cliffs overhead. Thanks to their high speed and practically nonexistent Endurance stat, whether they hit their opponents or not, they would die on impact. The worst part about this was that they really didn't have any other strategy. Regardless of their losses, the birds simply kept diving at their 'prey', killing themselves in the process. Was there any point in bringing down your prey if you died while doing so?

Thanks to this, Isaac had been completely baffled at first. Also, how could he possibly research the birds in detail if they continued doing this? There were only so many ways he could cut them apart while they were throwing themselves at the floor like kamikaze bombers. Still, there was a rather simple solution to this problem. So after a flock of about a hundred Iguazus had all killed themselves, Isaac climbed up the nearest cliffs and decided to search for the next flock up there instead. While he might have a little less footing, at least he would have the opportunity to research the birds before they entered 'suicide-mode'.

In such a manner, even though Isaac's stats had just increased by an extremely huge amount, he spent about two hours to finish his research on the brain-dead birds. But because he definitely didn't have enough time to fully explore the 27th floor today, Isaac decided to not even attempt doing so for now and simply killed any and all monsters he came across on the 26th one.

His reasoning for not entering the 27th floor was as follows: Tomorrow, the Loki Familia's expedition would begin. At that point, he would most likely not have the opportunity to sneak off and kill monsters for a couple of days at least, so rather than begin something he couldn't finish anytime soon, Isaac decided to wait for a bit and then do it all at once when the opportunity presented itself. Well, admittedly, there was also another reason: Amphisbaena. As the Monster Rex hadn't been slain yet, entering the 27th floor and exploring it sufficiently would be a little suicidal, as it would appear the moment one got close to the seemingly infinitely big lake on that floor.

In any case, Isaac's monster slaying speed had increased quite significantly after yesterday's update, so he accumulated quite a lot of magic stones. His Level 2 monster slaying achievement progressed to 3280/4000 by the time he left the dungeon as well, netting him 300 AP in the process.

-----

When it was time for dinner, Isaac left the Twilight Manor to meet up with Asfi and Hermes again. This time, however, he didn't dawdle on his way and also made sure to blur his existence right until he stood in front of the Bard's Respite.

So when he suddenly entered the inn, both Asfi and Hermes were completely unprepared for it. Asfi almost dropped her cup of tea, while Hermes actually fell off his chair, as he had been doing a risky balancing act while waiting. Of course, even though he had attracted the attention of the entire inn for a moment, the wanderer god didn't let it bother him in the slightest.

Even after she had regained her cool, Asfi just continued to stare at Isaac with a perplexed face. How did he manage to make it past all of their sentries undetected? None of them had contacted her. She simply couldn't figure it out. Even a mouse should have been picked up by them without a problem. Hell, if she didn't use a very specific item which granted her invisibility, even Asfi herself had no way to evade them. But as she was the one who produced that item, there was simply no way Isaac could have gotten his hands on it without her noticing.

Hermes, contrary to Asfi, just smiled even brighter when he realized what had happened. There was no doubt in his mind that this had been a deliberate display. Isaac showing off his ability to move undetected was definitely a sign of trust, something he was glad to see. Still, Hermes had been 'in the business' long enough to be aware that this wasn't all it was. It was also a threat. With them being unable to ascertain where he was, he could literally be anywhere. He could be watching them from a distance without them being aware of it anytime he wanted. In this way, the observers suddenly became the observed.

'Truly a marvelous move.'

A bright smile played across Hermes' lips as he silently reevaluated the man in front of him.

Still, besides this slight act of showing off, this evening was rather uneventful. There was nothing new to discuss so after paying the Hermes Familia in advance for their services, like they had discussed yesterday, the three simply had a nice meal together while doing some harmonious small talk. If there was one thing of note, it was that Asfi seemed to have become a little more relaxed around Isaac compared to their first meeting. Whether that was due to what she had seen last night or simply because she had been employed by him, however, that was unknown.

After Hermes wished him good luck in the upcoming expedition, a welcome gesture, Isaac left the inn. But before he blurred his existence yet again, he stole a glance at two women hiding on a distant rooftop: a jackal-eared Chienthrope and an Elf - Tabitha and Suicia, the two Hermes Familia members he had met on the 25th floor before. Seeing how they had come across each other again now, he thought it rude to leave without at least a greeting, so he walked in their direction and after he had made sure that the two had noticed him and were relaying his position back to Asfi, he showed them a radiant smile, looked directly at them and waved. A couple of seconds later, he blended into the crowd and disappeared, leaving the two women in a somewhat panicky state, which only caused him to grin mischievously while hurrying home.

Tonight, Isaac had decided not to enter the dungeon to gather AP either. There was a simple reason for that: As he was about to go on an expedition, lots of unexpected things could happen. He might only need to sleep for a little less than four hours every two days now, but there was a chance that he wouldn't be able to get any sleep during his first night in the dungeon. After all, who knew what the dungeon would throw at them? Admittedly, it was very unlikely for anything too out of the ordinary to happen and he should be able to get some sleep, but better safe than sorry. If he had to spend some time on recovery simply because he didn't sleep enough and damaged himself in such a pathetic manner, Isaac would definitely feel discontented. He would also end up bogging the expedition down if he did so, which was far from his goal of staying mostly in the background and silently observing it. Well, he was sure that he wouldn't be able to keep out of sight entirely, but he at least didn't want to increase the attention he would attract deliberately.

Of course, as Isaac did still have a few hours until he needed to sleep, he didn't plan to slack off. Yet again, he focused on his mental layer, then he slowly started to add more and more drops of mana to his total. Yesterday, although he hadn't spent much effort because he had been blissfully distracted, his drop count had already reached 1263. Today, before Isaac decided to practice his Anemoi Steps for another hour, he reached a somewhat staggering amount of 1679. Ever since he had reached Foundation Establishment, it had become a lot easier for him to increase his usable mana drop count.

-----

The next morning, at about 5:20 a.m., Isaac had just taken a shower. In about 40 minutes, all the familia members taking part in the expedition were supposed to gather in the main courtyard, so for once, the hallways were actually filled with people so early in the morning. Because of this, it had taken him a while to find an unoccupied bathroom. It seemed like usually, almost everyone liked to sleep in for a bit. Well, maybe it was just that Isaac 'woke up so damn early', like the Amazoness twins always said.

In any case, it was finally time. With a genuinely excited smile, Isaac pulled a new set of adventuring gear out of his inventory, then unhurriedly put it on in front of the mirror.

"Quite dashing."

A smug smile played across his lips when he observed the set of equipment he had bought yesterday, shortly before his students had left the dungeon. It really had been high time for him to upgrade his gear, especially because he was about to quite possibly face extremely strong monsters during the expedition. Still, there was one thing he probably had to take care of immediately after his return: To find a blacksmith to establish a personal contract with. It had been very difficult and time-consuming to find something that actually fit him at this high of a standard, mostly because almost anything at the Level 3 standard was custom-made.