expedition

Chapter Twenty-One: Zenshin

Upon their return, Loki Familia settled into home after a long spell in the Dungeon; they had been away from home for well over a month, and planned a long rest collectively. However, their return meant a great deal of work for a certain someone…

As Hestia had recently discovered, there was some considerable work in even just updating a larger familia, and Loki was very familiar with this; her own Familia was much larger, and they had almost all gone on this recent trip, which meant a hassle of work for her, since most of them were chomping at the bit to get their updates as soon as possible. She got to work as quickly as possible, if only to shut the more chattery ones up some. She went through the lower level ones first; on the whole, the expedition was pretty successful in terms of their growth.

Getting to her higher level kids showed the same; Aiz, Tiona, Tione, and Bete were settling in as level 6's and growing their stats well into that level, and Lefiya was doing as good for her level 4 status, beginning to get close to Raul and Aki in her own ability. The three executives had waited until the end, expecting at long last to have moved up to the next level after a long, grueling battle with Balor, the goat-like monster rex of the 49th floor.

True to expectation, her eyes bulged when she saw that first Finn, then Gareth, and finally Riveria had all done it.

"Can't believe it, but ya all really did it; in one swoop, you went and cleared it. You're all level 7 now; good job guys!"

"Thank you Goddess; it always pleases me when things go to plan" Finn said, "Now I feel more comfortable with our position. Though I wonder how the rest will react…"

"Well, we do have a bit of a message to deliver for you anyway, Loki" Riveria cut in, "On our journey, we encountered Hestia Familia with their captain and Haroeris" they paid closer attention as their goddess gained more of a serious expression while she listened.

"He implied that things weren't completely honest about what has been told of him, and made an offer to train our familia in return for an agreement between you and Goddess Hestia"

Finn felt his thumb twitch as Loki paled slightly.

'That little punk! Didn't Ouranos put a gag order or somethin on him!? We were supposed to have discretion about tellin' the other mortals; if the truth gets out…'

"Momma, what did he say that implied that? Surely it ain't too weird for him to offer that, he used to do it all the time when he was with Zeus"

"He said that he and Ottar had already come to an agreement; he will be training the Warlord himself, which would normally be strange if the announcement was completely true"

"Ugh…" Loki sighed and slumped down, "Course the meathead would figure it out; I bet Freya didn't even have ta say a word… Alright, alright, I'll tell you three everything, but keep it mum, yeah? I have no idea what's goin' through Ouranos' mind in regard to this whole situation, but it makes me queasy" so Loki continued and gave them the full run down on the whole emergency Denatus, watching as the three took it in with their own degrees of shock.

"Level 10 and 8… and he went to the 100th floor?" Finn whispered, feeling almost ill with how violently his thumb throbbed, "That is… more than I expected to handle"

"I was keepin' quiet for a reason; sorry guys"

"Nah, it's nothing to be sorry over, Goddess" Gareth grumbled, "It does irk me a bit, though. A human at level 10 before any of us, who'd a thought it?"

"It makes sense now, why the King would seek him out to grow stronger; he must have sensed the gap between them was still great" Riveria muttered, ashamed that they hadn't realized he was still so much farther above them, too.

"We're lucky that Freya hasn't gone for him, honestly" Loki said gravely, "He seems confident she won't, so there may be some history there, but I don't know if that's the case… Did he mention anything more specific about this training? Does he want to be paid or something this time?"

"Well… he said that in Ottar's case, he merely earned a valuable favor; I assume we won't know the cost ourselves unless we pursue it"

"Riveria is right, and now I feel like we don't have a choice but to do so; even if only to foster friendly relations with Hestia Familia. For now, I think we should approach with an offer and go from there, maybe bring Ais, Lefiya, and the twins with us; Bete should sit this one out, I think" Finn considered.

"Well, they just finished a good bit of work and effort on their part, too. Their familia will be resting as ours will for a while, so now's the time to ask, right? Strike while the irons hot" Gareth smacked a fist into his other hand, "Our kiddos will be rarin' ta go for some training in a few days; we should pay em a visit before then"

"Finn, for now, I just want you to establish terms of an agreement, understand?" Loki ordered, "Until we know exactly what he wants, I can't let this go forward with confidence…" she bit her fingernail, "Honestly, what a mess…"

Upon their own return, Hestia Familia was having their own celebration once again; nearly everyone had levelled up from the battle, save for Lili and Haruhime, who had not earned the right to advance. Still, they were in good spirits, considering that the excellia from the battle overcharged their stats, so that they were now more than eligible to earn their own level ups. Both were happy as they were being consoled and pampered by Bell and some of the other girls, which took a great deal of the sting out of it. Welf was of course given the Goliath drop to use at his discretion. Master Aedan had said that they may get to level up when they finish with the map work later, which was something to buoy their hearts. Welf, Mikoto, and Oriana were able to become level 3, a particularly spectacular achievement for the three, as they had only been working at it for a little over eight, ten, and eleven months, respectively; all record breaking achievements before Bell's ludicrous feat.

In any case, the celebration went long and late, as everyone came away from the ordeal with a high sense of accomplishment. Despite this, the next day started early for the usual members, which meant there were a handful of people awake to greet the guests that arrived.

"My goodness, we have quite the visitation today" Aedan grinned, seeing most of the high level members of Loki Familia coming into the courtyard; having been greeted by Alfia instead of Haruhime, they were a bit on edge, but he noticed that the three executives seemed more relaxed.

They were settled into the large great room as Bell came to meet with them; Hestia was still asleep, but the captain was happy to see his friends and welcomed them with Ryu, Alfia, Aedan, Lili, Welf, and Haruhime as the other members were still resting or attending to other things.

"Welcome Mr. Finn, everyone" Bell smiled brightly, "but this is a little strange; normally when you guys visit it's more… informal?"

"Yes, but given circumstances, we had a reason for all coming today; actually, it would be more accurate to say that we have multiple reasons" Finn began, and when Bell motioned him, he continued, "First, I wanted to ask and make sure that there were no hard feelings between us over the issue a little bit back with the monsters on the surface" Finn knew he had to get any discomfort out of the way early, and could feel the unease form his own familia at his question, mostly from Tiona and Ais. They weren't totally in the know on the Xenos situation, and given how Bell led the Hestia Familia, they were either in a similar position or they had even more information than he did.

"Ah, well… speaking for myself, there are no hard feelings; everyone made it through that more or less alright, so I don't see a reason to have any grudge over it now. Besides, you guys were doing what was expected of you" Bell answered honestly, but didn't catch the severe look Alfia shot at the three Loki executives, managing to slightly cow Gareth and the vice-captain. Finn though, soldiered on.

"I'm relieved to hear that; we haven't had a chance to talk about it, but given how things ended, I'm happy to put it behind us, too. Having said that, we also came to give you a heads up, since you did the same for us when you levelled up"

Bell caught on quickly, and his eyes shined in expectation, "How did your expedition go?"

"Very well, overall, but Gareth, Riveria, and I have all reached level 7; we wanted to let you know before there was a public announcement by the Guild" smiling, the Loki captain saw the genuine joy and exuberance pour off of Bell's expression.

"Congratulations you guys!"

"Haha, thanks lad; we been goin' after this for years now. Feels good ta hit the target at last"

"Indeed, thank you Mr. Cranel"

"Thank you very much" Finn let his smile sink into a half-grin, "Of course, with this reciprocity, I wanted to bring up a possibility with you: the chance of forming an alliance between our familia"

This time, Finn was surprised- though didn't show it- as Bell suddenly grew serious. His face wasn't solemn, but he could tell that the boy was focusing heavily on everything that was happening, "Alright, as a possibility… what brought this up?"

"Well, our familia have had informal, but good relations so far in the recent past. There are good relationships between a number of our members, too, so I thought that making something more official of it would be a boon to us"

"I do agree with that, but even if we can put the incident with the monsters on the surface behind us, that doesn't mean the public can as easily; there is still some unease over our Familia from what I understand; wouldn't that affect you guys?"

"We have thought about that, but I believe the benefits of pursing this arrangement outweigh those drawbacks"

"What benefits do you see in making an official alliance with us, specifically?" Bell looked Finn in the eye, Lili gripping his forearm from her place beside him, and Aedan smiling knowingly at the blonde pallum.

"For one, pooling resources and knowledge for future quests and expeditions, which is the main point of any alliance. With the growth of your familia recently, it wouldn't be a stretch for us to ally with you in pushing deeper into the Dungeon, which would naturally benefit both of us" Bell nodded as Finn went on, "Further- for you- this could help alleviate that public image issue you mentioned, and promote more people to your familia as a result; for us, this could possibly present an opportunity to train with our old instructor" finally, Finn played his hand, and saw the understanding dawn on Bell's face.

'I wonder if Mr. Finn would have ever considered something like this if Mr. Aedan didn't join us…'

"You mean you want to train with Mr. Aedan? I wouldn't be opposed, but only if he agreed; that is, if we were to become allies"

"Then that simply leaves what the terms of this alliance should be, beyond what we mentioned"

"This should really be written down in an official agreement, master Bell, master Finn" Lili interjected, "If this is to be an official alliance, it should be supported by proper documentation"

"Of course, and the final word must be witnessed by our Goddesses, too; before that, though, I simply wanted a preliminary understanding of what the agreement would entail, that way we could both be informed and prepared to make it final"

"Then would it be fair to say that in this alliance, you wish to pursue more integrated teamwork in operations within the Dungeon, as well as training available from Mr. Aedan?" Bell asked, "Is that right; anything else?"

"I think that's a fair summary; what would you say that you want out of this?"

"… Beyond what you've already mentioned as side benefits to an alliance, there is only one thing I can state for myself, and another I will leave to Mr. Aedan" Bell said seriously, getting the full attention of the room, "Should something happen with the Xenos again, we will not help to fight against them" he stated seriously, and finally. Shock filled not only the Loki Familia visitors, but even some of his own allies. He practically stated that even if they were allies, he would not aid them against monsters, of all things; true, a particular kind of monster that they had become friends with, but that could not be known by the other party at the time.

Finn though, decided to take the statement at face value, "Very well, I can accept that; even among allies, we each have our own secrets, after all. What of Haroeris? What is it you would ask?"

The man who had been looking at his own captain turned his eyes to Finn, smiling like a cat, "Should we become official allies, I will gladly train any member of your familia as though they were my own, including you, Riveria, and Gareth. I ask only one thing in return: that everyone I train- which I will do to the best of my ability- will aid us in completing the last of the Three Grand Quests" in an instant, the Loki Familia understood- particularly their executives- what was happening. What Aedan had done with Ottar, and likely with many more later down the line.

They'd walked right into the most dangerous situation any adventurer could ever find themselves in, and what was worse, he knew even without looking that Aiz was already completely on board, her own eyes sparkling at the prospect. He couldn't stop himself from sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose as he clenched his eyes shut for a moment, "You want us to help kill that dragon? The same one that foiled Zeus and Hera, right? Have you got a plan to face that monster?"

"I'll tell you like I told Ottar; I only have the most bare planning done for now, and I don't wish to elaborate until I at least have formed enough allies here in Orario to do so at one time. I will say that we have some advantages, namely accounts of the battle to draw on, and potentially greater strength than Zeus and Hera had"

"Greater? How'd ya figure that?" Gareth grunted.

"Already, between your first class members, Freya Familia, and the first class members of our own Familia, I would guess that we come close to matching most of the combat strength of Zeus and Hera. Once our training has borne fruit, we alone will match or even surpass it, but we will seek out more allies, yet. My goal is to bring every adventurer in Orario that is first class in ability into the fold; once we have as many allies as we can get, I will seek out more strength from abroad, in terms of manpower, equipment, and even quests which may pitch the battle further in our favor"

"This is a lot to take in" Riveria finally spoke up, having been paying more attention to Aiz' reaction, "Frankly, it is a lot to ask"

"Of course I'm aware of that" Aedan sighed, "This isn't a condition for an alliance, but I don't expect to personally train anyone unless they can help me in this endeavor. For one, if we cannot succeed in it, then anything else we do will be rendered moot soon, once the dragon renews its rampage" he noticed everyone tense at his words, "You didn't think it would stay quiet forever, did you? Zeus and Hera weren't able to kill or cripple it, after all, only exhaust it enough to hibernate, likely in the northernmost part of the world. Once it awakens to full strength, our prospects will be even more grim. Ideally, we can gather a great amount of strength and strike it down while it is still relatively weakened from their efforts"

After coming this far, Finn knew he couldn't simply refuse, so he acquiesced, "Alright, I need to relay all of this to our Goddess, but I don't think she will block an alliance, now. Out of curiosity, how far do you think we can get by the time we will be called on?"

"Ottar was curious of the same" Aedan took a moment to look over all of the Loki Familia, "You three I can possibly get to level 8, and the rest level 7, except those two" he pointed at Aiz and Lefiya, "I can get Aiz to level 8 as well, possibly, and Lefiya to 6, depending on how things go"

"How do you plan to get us to advance so quickly?" Tione asked, a bit unnerved that he seemed to know enough about them to accurately gauge their power and how far he could take them.

"Well, I was thinking we could all go on a little trip to the 100th floor; what do you think?" he laughed with a shit-eating grin at their pale-face response, though he felt a bit guilty about it since his own Familia was just as shocked, "Sorry, sorry, but I do seriously intend on taking us into the Dungeon's depths. Don't be so worried, I have already been myself, so the danger is slightly less than what I faced the first time; although it is still much greater than anything you've encountered up to now" he looked over their reactions, his own Familia having tempered theirs and put their faith in his words; Loki's kids were more uncertain, and the elf Lefiya was particularly unsteady looking, "Enough of that for now, though; you understand the terms of an alliance, and of myself training you. Do with it whatever you wish; I certainly won't blame you if you wish to avoid confronting the Black Dragon"

"Thank you… well, that was all I really needed to come discuss with you all, so I think we will take our leave now"

"Ah, Mr. Finn," Bell stopped them, not wanting the meeting to end in such a formal manner, "Do you want to join us for breakfast?"

"I'll have to pass myself, but the others may wish to; thank you all the same, Bell"

In a polite departure, Finn left with Tione and Gareth to report back to Loki, while the rest stayed to enjoy breakfast with their new allies: Hestia Familia.