The Protagonist System

My morning plans were delayed a little as Aiz and Lili went with Ryuu into the redone bathroom and the three of them enjoyed a bath. Ryuu had regaled them about the wonderful experience after we all met up in the living room and they couldn't wait to experience it for themselves.

While they were busy, I expanded my room to make it bigger and more appropriate for multiple people sleeping in the bed. I added another dresser and a closet for clothing, just because I knew Aiz would want her own spot to put her things. That reminded me that we had to go to the Loki Familia compound to grab her things as well.

When the bath was done and all three women looked clean and happy after getting dressed for the day, I mentioned Aiz needing to get her things. She shrugged and said she didn't really have any possessions, because all she ever did was train and go on trips into the dungeon.

That kind of solved that problem and Lili promised to take her shopping to buy a few things, just because a girl needed her own things. Surprisingly, Ryuu agreed with her. She had been retired from adventuring for years and been a barmaid for all that time, and yet, she still had some clothing and mementos from her time at the Hostess of Fertility pub, which she put into her room.

I didn't ask her if she was happy with her room, since I could almost feel how happy she was. Despite her outwardly calm demeanor, Ryuu had enjoyed herself in the bath and having a huge room that was only hers, instead of having to share with the other barmaids at the pub. Sharing with five other women had been hard on someone that preferred the outdoors.

“What did Mamma Mia think about you joining another Familia?” I asked, just because I was curious as to how the former captain of the Freya Familia would react to losing Syr as a barmaid and Ryuu as a resident.

“She warned me to not get too attached, in case you try to force me to fight.” Ryuu said, honestly.

Lili barked a laugh and Aiz smiled.

“What is it?” Ryuu asked them.

“He'll never force you to do anything.” Lili answered and Aiz nodded. “He's a bit too nice to ask you to risk yourself like that and he's still going to give you the same armor and enchantments we have, just in case.”

Ryuu blinked her eyes several times. “I'm a magic user. I can't wear armor.”

Lili made a snort sound and burst out laughing while Aiz let out a soft chuckle, which was a huge change to her normally stoic behavior.

“You can when it enhances your spellcasting.” I told her.

“That's not possible.” Ryuu said with a shake of her head. “I'm an elf. The last time I was in the dungeon, I could only wear a thin top, a small pair of shorts, and a cloak to not interfere with my magic casting.”

“Then it's a good thing we're heading over to the Hephaestus Familia's compound to commission an armor set for you.” I said and looked at Lili and Aiz. “Do you have your armor in your backpacks?”

Aiz turned slightly to show off the slim backpack that her long blonde hair easily covered.

“Mine's in the side pocket I chose for it.” Lili said and pointed to it. The hiker's backpack really did suit her smaller frame much better than that overly large puffy cloth monstrosity she used to have.

“Great! Let's head over there first and asked Tsubaki to work on it, then we can head to the shopping district and we can get you all some new clothes and things.” I said and motioned for them all to follow me.

“What about breakfast?” Lili asked.

“We'll grab something before we go shopping.” I said and walked up the stairs. “It will let Miss Lyon have a chance to experience service from the other side, too.”

“I have eaten other places before.” Ryuu scoffed.

“Ohhh, nooo!” I fake yelled and Lili laughed. “How can I ever impress you now?”

“You could stop acting like a fool.” Ryuu said, realized she spoke out loud, and blushed.

Lili laughed and laughed. “You'll... fit right in... here.”

Aiz nodded and held the secret door open for her.

“Thank you.” Ryuu said and we all knew she meant more than just the door.

I stood on the teleportation circle and Lili, Aiz, and Ryuu joined me. “All right, Lili. We're going to the Hephaestus Familia compound.”

Lili closed her eyes for a moment and held her hand down to activate the teleportation circle. A flash of light later, we were standing in the Hephaestus Familia's backyard.

“I'll be right back.” I said and disappeared from their sight. I could still hear them as I met with Tsubaki and asked her to make another set of armor.

Ryuu gasped. “Where did he go?”

“We learned how to Dash the last time we were in the dungeon.” Aiz answered and stepped out of the range of the teleportation circle. “Even Lili knows how to do it and she is our support.”

Ryuu looked down at the smug prum woman. “You can do that with a full backpack?”

“Oh! That reminds me. I need to gather the latest piles of monster crystals.” Lili said and shooed Ryuu over to where Aiz stood, then she disappeared in a flash of light.

“Where did she go?” Ryuu asked.

“Bell set up spells around the teleportation circles in the dungeon that deals with the various monsters trying to destroy them.” Aiz said. “It's free money.”

Ryuu caught her breath and wasn't sure what to say to that. It never occurred to her, or anyone else, to set up monster crystal traps like that.

I walked back over to them. “We made it all the way down to floor 40, so Lili might be a little while.”

“How?!?” Ryuu gasped. “I lost my entire Familia on floor 30!”

I gave her a sympathetic smile and put an arm around her shoulders to hug her. “That was a plot by the Evilus Organization, which you know. You made sure they paid for what they did and you took down the Rudra Familia and anyone associated with them, and you almost died for it.”

Ryuu looked at me with horror in her eyes, probably because she didn't think anyone else knew about what happened back then. She didn't try to shake my arm off or tried to get away from me, though.

“Yes, I know, and I'm sorry that you had to go through that alone.” I said and pulled her in to give her a tender kiss on the lips. “You gave up your beliefs to have your revenge, to have the deaths of your Familia actually mean something, and I'm very proud of you.”

Ryuu sobbed and hugged me tightly as she buried her face into my chest.

“We went so fast through the floors that we barely activated the normal monsters that exist on each floor and none of the floor bosses appeared. We also didn't stop to explore or gathered resources like we usually do. We went straight for the exit to the next level and only stopped where we did because we ran out of time before I had to meet up with the tribunal over the deaths of Freya and Ishtar.”

“The Goddess Freya is dead?” One of the members of the Hephaestus Familia asked. He was one of the many guards that patrolled their compound to protect the blacksmiths from thieves and kidnappers.

“As is Ishtar.” I said and he nodded and walked on.

“I do not think people were supposed to know that.” Aiz said.

I shrugged. “They were going to find out soon anyway with the absence of her Familia members around Orario.”

“Are they staying inside the tower?” Aiz asked.

“The source of their blessing is gone. I doubt they want anyone to witness what happens to them without Freya there to protect them.” I told her. “They're also too devoted to her to ever consider receiving a blessing from another god or goddess.”

“They did throw their weight around like they didn't fear the consequences.” Aiz said, ignoring the fact that her old Familia did the exact same thing.

I held onto Ryuu and patted her back until she finished crying. It was odd for an elf to lose control of her emotions like that and I didn't ask her about it, because I wasn't an idiot. She probably just relived what happened to her and what she had to do afterwards, and now she knew I knew about it as well and I had still accepted her.

I used a conjured handkerchief to wipe off her face and Ryuu looked grateful. Before she could say anything, the teleportation circle lit up and Lili appeared in a flash of light and she had a huge smile on her face.

“I have a bunch of crystals to cash in and we can hit the shopping district without a care in the world!” Lili almost shouted.

I saw those words had a profound effect on Ryuu as she straightened her back. “Are we walking or taking the Lili Express?”

Lili grinned at me. “We should pop to the first level of the dungeon and walk out. The guild hall is right there and the shopping district is only a few streets away.”

I nodded and put a hand on Ryuu's back and the other hand on Aiz's back. The three of us stepped onto the teleportation circle and Lili activated it. We had a morning of shopping to do and then we had some dungeon diving to do.

Now that I wasn't rushed for time, we could explore the floors we pretty much skipped to search for the various ores and monster ingredients that Hephaestus wanted us to gather.

*

Just like most of the other gods and goddesses, Loki of the Loki Familia, had retreated to her room and stayed there. Unlike all of the others, she had a genuine fear of the consequences of her actions. You see, she had thought the troubles from her past were over when Dionysus, the unofficial keeper of secrets, was killed in front of everyone and Bell had been shoved through the death portal.

Bell's unveiling of Holy Lightning, the bloodline power of Zeus himself, had terrified her. When the Zeus and Hera Familias had failed in taking down the Black Dragon, the third of the three great quests given to the heroes of the mortal world, both she and Freya banded together to banish the remains of both Familias from the city of Orario.

If Loki had known that someone of Zeus' blood was still alive, she would have made sure to end them, just so she could stop the retribution she knew would be coming back to her for her role in driving them out of the protected city and to their deaths. With Freya dead, she had no one else to shift the blame to, not even onto Finn, her Familia Captain, whom planned it and helped execute it.

Just as Loki thought it had all been resolved with Bell's death, the white haired bastard somehow appeared again and killed another goddess in front of everyone, as if it was nothing. He hadn't even used Holy Lightning and only kicked her, like she was trash and not worth the effort to waste the magic on.

When he asked who voted to have him die and not sent to another world like he had been sentenced, his eyes looked right at her. He knew. He knew it was her that forced his parents out into the wilderness 15 years ago and now he was back for revenge. It didn't matter if she didn't know that his mother was pregnant at the time.

All that mattered was that if his mother had been allowed to stay in the city, or even joined another Familia, Bell would have had a mother taking care of him and wouldn't have grown up in the wilderness or lived in a simple log cabin on the side of a mountain.

It had taken almost no effort to find the simple village where Bell had come from, thanks to his goddess telling everyone about him and how they would become the best Familia because of his efforts. Loki had scoffed at the big-boobed loli goddess at the time, because everyone had rejected him as a child when he approached them.

Oh, what a mistake that was! Loki thought and huddled under her blanket as she chewed on the last dried out meatball from the meal he had made for her. She had no idea how the thing hadn't gone bad after all this time or why the thing still tasted delicious.

Her pet wolfman named Bete had taken a lot of flack for being the one to refuse Bell's admittance to the Familia and he would never live it down, not after everyone saw that fancy armor that was worth as much as one of Hephaestus' best normal weapons.

Her child named Tiona had known he was strong or powerful at level one and had slept with him, which she was very eager to repeat. She just needed some time to rest and recover after their last trip into the dungeon. They all did, actually. Except Aiz. She had snuck away without telling anyone where she was going or when she would be back.

That didn't bother Loki much, since she always gave the beautiful girl a lot of leeway to do what she wanted, as long as she fought for her and earned money for the Familia. It was the report of her wearing brand new orange-yellowish armor with the Hestia Familia's emblem on it that worried her. If she had been stolen, or worse, defected to the enemy's camp, then Loki was in serious trouble.

Thankfully, the amazonness Tiona wouldn't be foolish enough to defect as well, not for sex that she could get anywhere. Her twin wouldn't follow her, either. She was in love with Finn, even if the male prum was an elitist about being a hero for his own people and wanted nothing to do with any other race as a potential mate.

That left the rest of her top members and only two of them could handle fighting against Aiz by themselves, the elf and the dwarf. Both her higher level than her and would have no trouble holding her off if the Hestia Familia ever attacked the Loki Familia.

Yes, that was a smart plan. Loki thought. I'll start sowing the idea that Aiz betrayed us and she'll have to come to us to explain things and make it up to us. After everything my Familia did for the girl, she should be grateful enough to take the penalty of changing Familias again and then I can punish her properly by claiming her cute little ass for myself!

Loki's demented look would have made many people run away if they saw it for themselves. She would also put things into place as she prepared for the attack she was sure would come when she least expected it, which meant she would have to start having her lower level people patrol her grounds and parts of the city to try and find out when the attack was coming.

She wanted to be ready and thought about hiring a few spies as well to seed throughout the city, just in case her own people weren't enough to give her a warning in time.