"Fishing" a Jack Bird

After a full night of rest, Ad woke up to a weight on his chest. He had told the girls to sleep together on a bed while he slept on the sofa, but at some moment during the night, Hestia crawled her way into the sofa and on top of him, using his chest as a pillow. Had it been Bell, he would've reacted like an innocent child. But as the man of culture he was, he simply caressed her head, playing with her smooth, silky hair.

This seemed to rouse the Goddess out of her sleep. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked up, only to find Ad looking at her lovingly. She just hugged him tighter and giggled merrily.

Adalwulf: Good morning, Hestia-sama.

Hestia: Good morning, Ad-kun!

After this, Natsuki left the room where she and Hestia were supposed to be sleeping, and found the pair cuddling silently on the sofa. She turned beet red, her imagination running wild.

Natsuki: W-W-What kind of i-immorality d-did you commit?!

Ad, who just couldn't let go of such a good chance, hugged Hestia by the waist, making the pure Goddess blush as well. She just hid her face in his chest and pinched his waist.

Adalwulf: Eh? I don't know what you are talking about~

Hestia: Mou! We didn't do anything!

But it was too late, the innocent girl from the Far East had short circuited and was now on her knees while mumbling something about Ad being a bastard for taking their Goddess' purity. Hestia pinched his waist harder until he had to apologize, though the girls knew he wasn't really sorry.

After he got berated by being a gigolo and a teaser, they had a sumptuous breakfast, provided by Ad's savings. Hestia had decided to take on work, but he completely ruled out that idea. He wouldn't allow her to move a single finger, not to earn money for them. That was going to be his and Natsuki's work.

And once he made it clear that she wasn't allowed to work, though Ad knew she would do so anyway, he decided that entering the Dungeon today would be the best. That would get Natsuki used to the monsters and would earn them enough money to last a few weeks. That way, Hestia wouldn't have to worry about a steady income.

Adalwulf: Ok then, we're going, Hestia-sama.

Hestia: Un. Take care, Ad-kun, Natsuki-chan.

*

On the way to the Entrance of the Dungeon, Ad and Natsuki made small conversation. He could feel the jealous glares from some of the males, but he ignored them. It was just jealousy, none actually evil feelings were caught by him.

He was explaining to Natsuki what she could expect from the first four floors of the Dungeon. He would use them to check how well they worked together and if they had little trouble, he would venture into the fifth floor. Natsuki agreed with his idea, as he clearly had more experience than her when it came to fighting. Soon, they reached the Babel Tower.

Ad couldn't help but whistle at the impressive sight. From afar, the tower seemed to dwarf all other buildings and overlook the entire city. But from up close, one felt like whoever was on the top of the tower, could see the entire world. Without allowing his excitement to cloud his thoughts, Ad lead Natsuki into the Tower and down towards the Dungeon's entrance.

As they went down the hole that lead to the Dungeon's first floor, Natsuki's nervousness grew, which led to her asking a lot of questions to Ad.

Natsuki: What monsters are there? What should I do? How far away from you should I stay? How do I know when to shoot? Are you going in me...

Adalwulf: Natsuki.

The girl zipped her mouth when she heard Ad's tone. It was neither anger nor annoyance, but gentleness, that she caught in his voice. And she understood what it meant. She just had to calm down and do what she knew how to, while avoiding harms way.

In such a fashion, they reached the first floor of the dungeon. The walls were light blue in colour, and very few monsters could be found in there. Ad lead the way all the time, always ready to use his sword. He had instructed Natsuki to get away from the monsters and only shoot those who tried to attack him while busy. That way, they both would gather excellia and monster cores.

*

Adalwulf: Take that!

It had been five hours since they had entered the Dungeon. Ad realized that the first floor was no challenge at all, so he decided to go straight into the fourth one, were more monsters would appear. They had already gathered many Magic Stones. Seventy from Goblins and forty from Kobolds. They had also gotten twelve Goblin Fangs and five Kobold Nails. All in all, it was a pretty good harvest.

(A/N= As the exchange rate of Magic Stones to Vallis isn't clarified, I'l just be making them up.)

Natsuki had managed to slay at least a third of those monsters on her own, which gave Ad a weird sense of pride.

Natsuki: Hey, we have a big haul, shouldn't we go back already?

Adalwulf: I think we could, yeah. We can kill some more monsters on our way to the Entrance.

*

While walking through the first floor, Ad heard a weird chirp, something very uncommon, as there weren't any bird monsters on said floor. None besides...

Adalwulf: Natsuki, we have to hunt one more monster.

Natsuki: Eeeh?! But I am very tired already!

Adalwulf: You don't get it!

Natsuki: What?

Adalwulf: I heard a Jack Bird! It's drop is worth a million Vallis!

Just when they were talking, a fluffy rooster with yellow and green feathers passed running in front of them. It was frantically running from a group of Goblins, which seemed to not even notice the pair. Ad couldn't help but think what kind of comedy skit was happening right in front of his eyes. Still, he decided to join in.

Adalwulf: Chase it!

And like that, began the hunt for the Jack Bird. Ad ran after it with all his might while slaying Goblins who got in the way. He couldn't even feel his sore muscles from the excitement and adrenaline, brought by the prospect of earning a million Vallis.

Natsuki stood rooted in one place and stopped Goblins from approaching the bird, while aiding Ad by sometimes shooting an arrow in the trajectory of the fluffy rooster.

After failing for the umpteenth time, they had both lost track of the bird. Ad, feeling too tired and frustrated to even try and search for it, threw his sword against a wall. Unsurprisingly, it bounced and fell beyond a boulder. And then a weird "agonizing" chirp was heard. Ad, instead of getting happy, had a face full of tick marks. Natsuki was somewhere in between laughing and crying, since she couldn't believe how good and yet bad their luck seemed to be.

*

Outside the Babel Tower, Ad and Natsuki were making their way towards the Pantheon with the Haul of their first day in the Dungeon. And they were sure they carried more than a million Vallis in both bags combined.