Orario is not a safe place(corrected)

--- Pov Zoe ---

"Hmm, it's done well. I'm sure that in no time, you will become an expert alchemist. " -Nodded the man in front of me.

"Thank you so much God Miach, but I have to thank you for your advice." -I said humbly.

"Don't say that, I can see you have a lot of knowledge, you just lack a little experience. I bet your teacher must have had a good level of alchemy. " -Said Miach patting me.

"True, he taught me many things." -I said happily while thinking about Al.

The man in front of me was the God Miach, the friend Hestia spoke of. He was a handsome man with long hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a black robe, a light brown stole that reaches down to his shoulders, and brown shoes

I started making potions with him, just the day before and I had to say that he was very kind and he didn't mind me using his equipment, on the contrary, he also wanted to pay me for the potions I made. Obviously, I refused, he was already giving me a lot of advice and the free use of his equipment, at least I wanted to give my potions for free to help him economically.

From what Hestia told me, the members of his Familia suffered an accident, consequently, only one person was left, who lost her arm. To allow his last member to have a more adequate life, he bought a magical limb, which functioned like a real one, but consequently went into debt, and now lived in a small house away from the center of Orario.

'Sound of bells'

"Oh look how time flies, it's already almost evening. You can go home Zoe, I'll take care of tiding it. " -Miach told me smiling.

"Okay God Miach see you tomorrow. You too Naaza see you tomorrow. " -I said greeting the girl who was at the counter.

"...See you tomorrow." -She answered sleepily.

Naaza Erisuis was the remaining member of the Miach Familia. Naaza had long brown hair, purple eyes, dog ears, and a tail the same color as her hair, being a chienthrope. Personally, I found her pretty, too bad she always kept a tired expression, but it had to be said that her ability to create potions were fantastic.

Leaving the building, I looked at the orange sunset sky as I headed to the old church.

"Three days have already passed." -I thought as I looked at the various people going about their business.

It was a strange feeling. For as long as I could remember I spent all my time in the village with my mother and now that she wasn't with me I felt a little lonely. Of course, I could go and see her whenever I wanted, but she wasn't always there, as she too had something to do.

Even if I missed her, it didn't mean I was sad. Here I could finally improve my alchemy and the Hestia Familia was a fun place. With energetic Hestia, shy Bell, and cute Lili, it didn't take long for me to settle in.

Walking for a while I came to the church quite quickly, where I saw a rather battered Bell.

"Ohi Bell are you all right?" -I asked him, even though I already knew the reason.

"Oh-h Zoe, it's nothing." -Said as he turned his head embarrassed.

<I cannot tell her that I am training with Aiz, even if she is part of my Familia. But I must say that she is a beautiful girl... AAAA! What am I thinking when I decided to reach Aiz>

With my ability to read thoughts it didn't take me long to figure out what he was doing and I couldn't help but laugh. From the short time I spent here I understood a few things, Bell liked Aiz Wallenstein, one of the most popular people in Orario and a member of the Loki Familia, while Hestia and Lili liked Bell.

'A strange love triangle.' -I thought laughing as I handed him a potion.

"This should make you feel better." -I told him as we entered the church.

"Thanks, Zoe." - He said while drinking the entire content.

"Bell!" - The moment we entered the hidden room, Hestia launched herself at Bell.

"My goddess, you may get hurt if you do this." -Said Bell worried.

"I knew you were gonna get me, oh Zoe how is your studio doing." -She asked me.

"Very well, Miach is giving me a lot of advice and now I can work with a lot more objects." -I told her smiling.

The thing I noticed while working at the shop was that I was lacking practice. I knew most of the plants and materials, but I did not have the experience of working with them, but I knew that if I trained, I would be able to achieve my goal.

"So Zoe, are you coming to the dungeon today?" -Bell asked me.

"Give me a moment, I'll go get my equipment." -I told him, as I headed to a small room they had given me.

I quickly wore the armor Ryuu had given me. It was a robe that wizards usually use, but which still allowed them to move easily. From what she told me, this robe had been enchanted, so it offers a good defense. After putting on my robe, I grabbed the magic spear and some emergency potions, and I was ready to go.

"Sorry I made you wait for Bell, we can go."

"Okay then, see you later my goddess." -Said Bell.

"See you later and be careful." -Hestia told us as she greeted us.

"Is Lili waiting for us in front of the dungeon?" -I asked him when we went out.

"Yup. She said she had to buy some things, so she headed directly there "-He told me.

"Then we better hurry, it wouldn't be nice to make her wait too long." -I told him smiling.

"O-Ok." -He said embarrassed as he increased his speed.

After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the dungeon, where Lili was waiting for us with her usual huge backpack.

"You're finally here, do you know how long I've been waiting for you?" - She said crossing her arms.

'Fufufu she is so cute' -Every time I saw Lili, I felt like hugging her, of course, I know that if I told her she would be angry.

"Sorry Lili, I wasted some time finishing a potion."

"If so, I can't complain, with your potions, we can save some money." -She said with a sigh.

So we began our descent. The upper floors weren't difficult to manage, in fact, I didn't even need to cast any spells until we got to the 10th floor.

"So this is where the accident happened." - I asked curiously.

The previous days, we mainly explored the upper floors, to allow me to get used to the dungeon, so it was the first time I visited the floor.

"That's right, that day this place was full of flames and monsters." -Said Lili with a complicated face.

"So it's true that the boy of the Loki Familia defeated a dragon-like monster." - I asked curiously.

"Oh, you are talking about Mark. " -Lili nodded.

"You had to be here, he moved very fast and kept attacking the monster, and even when he was in bad shape, he cast a spell that pierced both the monster and the dungeon walls. Haaa I would like to be that strong too. " - Bell sighed.

"Don't worry Mr. Bell, you're growing up fast too. You can safely reach the 11th floor now. " -Lili consoled him.

'Is it even possible for a level 1 to have such strength?' - I thought confused.

Reading their thoughts, I knew they weren't lying, but I still had a hard time imagining a level 1 that can handle a monster estimated to be level 3. Having lived in the village, I didn't have much knowledge about adventurers, but from the stories that my mother told me, it was not normal.

'Well not that I'm different, with my ability I can absorb the magical power inside the magic stones, increasing my stats.'

"Orcs coming!" -Warned Bell, as he sprinted towards them, making me wake up from my thoughts.

"They're also coming from behind." - I said.

"I distract those furthest away, you take care of those closest." -Said Lili, as she started shooting with her wrist crossbow.

Nodding at her words, I aimed my spear at the nearest orc.

"Fire arrow!"

From the tip of the spear, an arrow of fire came out, which pierced the orc's head, but I did not stop and continued to shoot arrows of fire at all the monsters, killing them.

My magical ability allowed me to create spells based on my imagination, but there were limitations. One was consumption and the second was that if I imagined a spell too big, I would immediately find myself without Falna and with no magic casted.

"Is everything okay on your side?" - Bell asked.

Turning to the area where he was fighting, I could see several magical stones left on the ground.

'It's incredible, he managed to kill all those monsters by himself.' - I thought, surprised.

"Mr. Bell you were fantastic, you moved much better than usual." - Complimented Lili.

"I still have a long way to go." - He said embarrassed.

<Compared to the two of them, my skill is still awkward.>

I couldn't help but sigh when I heard what he was thinking. These days I had seen what kind of guy Bell was and I had to say he was someone who put in a lot of effort but had a bad habit of always putting himself down, even when he did well.

"Should we continue to hunt?" -I asked, attracting their attention.

"Yes!" x2

--- Pov Astraea ---

"So you want some information huh?" -Said Loki in front of me.

I had been doing some research these days, but the information was fairly confidential. From Hephaestus, I learned about the monsterphilia incident and the 18th-floor incident, but there was no concrete evidence of Evilus' appearance. For this, I was forced to turn to Loki

It could be said that the relationship between her and me had always been quite normal. We talked little among ourselves, but our Familia, have carried out some missions together in the destruction of Evilus, also she loved her life on Gekkai, so she would do anything to protect it. Unfortunately with her personality, which was impossible to read, I couldn't trust her completely, but she was my only chance remaining.

Using Hephaestus' advice, I came to the bar she usually frequented and was able to meet her right away and was quite surprised at my appearance, but she quickly returned to normal.

"Exactly, I only heard about the rumors, but nothing concrete." -I told her seriously.

"I understand, but I find no reason to tell you. Besides, you no longer have a Familia and you wouldn't be very useful. " -Loki said calmly.

'Without mercy, eh.' - I thought.

"I know and I don't ask to intervene. A very important person to me is in Orario and I want to warn her of the most imminent dangers. I beg you." -I said lowering my head.

"I didn't know a proud goddess like you could beg." -Said Loki surprised.

"Thanks to my pride, the members of my Familia are dead. If by throwing away my pride I can get that information, I would do it calmly. " -I told her still bent.

"You're playing a dangerous game girl, aren't you going against your divinity?" -She asked me seriously.

We gods couldn't die. If we had died on Gakkai, we would have returned to Heaven but there were two exceptions. The first was dying in the dungeon and the second was the destruction of our divinity.

Divinity was what gave us the shape and concept of existence. For example, mine was justice, as long as I follow my sense of justice I could keep my existence, but if I tried to rebel, my divinity would be destroyed leading to my death.

'Sigh'

"Okay stop, I don't want to see you die." - Loki said with a sigh.

"Thank you." -I told her as I got up.

"Well, where to start... the Evilus is back. They have in their possession some monsters never seen of the vegetable type and can control them, due to their tamers, some of their members are a fusion between human and monsters, they also have a tool that can make monsters evolve. " - Loki explained.

"...This is worse than I expected and what do you mean by a fusion of human and monster?" - I asked her in shock.

"As per the name, they are humans who have a magic stone and it seems that they can grow in strength by eating other stones. During a problem on the 24th floor, they encountered Olivas Act with a magic stone embedded in his chest. "

"!" -Hearing the name of Olivas, I was filled with sorprise. The same person who had realized the 27th floor nightmare and thought himself dead, was still alive?!

"Try to calm down Astraea. Olivas was then killed by his partner, the same one who caused us problems on the 18th floor. " -Said Loki.

Hearing her words, I finally managed to calm down. I would not have supported the idea that he was still alive.

"And that was all, I hope that's enough."

"Thanks for the information Loki." -I told her sincerely.

"As you can see we don't know much and many doubts still remain. So I advise you to remain hidden and if possible try to attract as little attention as possible. It seems that the problems here in Orario concern many more people than we can imagine. " -She said with a cold smile.

'It seems that Orario will soon become a problematic place. I hope Zoe doesn't end up in the midst of all these problems. "- I thought worried.