The Protagonist System

With three battle-hungry women to clear the levels out for us, Lili and I gathered tons of monster crystals and I cast the mapping spell inside every chamber we entered. The parchment page for each level was filled out much quicker than any of them expected, since they thought I would be making line drawings or something.

I didn't tell them that I actually anchored the master maps to the teleportation circles on each level, so there was a magical base for them to work from. I didn't include the circles themselves, since that was going to be an exclusive service only offered to preferred clients.

I had already added the Loki, Freya, Soma, and Ikelos Familias to the banned list and the master maps worked like small ward books. It made Lili really happy that she didn't have to try and keep track of everyone that might use the teleportation circles and she could just write the excluded names on the back of the map.

Since the Adventurer's Guild had the first 12 floors relatively mapped, those I spent the most time adding the architectural details. I also added where the monsters spawned the most, thanks to where I could detect their spots inside the walls.

Because I was casting so much magic, it drew a significantly higher number of monsters. Aiz, Tiona, and Tsubaki loved that and had an absolute ball guarding Lili, Ryuu, and I as we worked. I even had the time to teach Lili and Ryuu the mapping spell, the cleaning spell, and the transfiguration spell.

We stopped to rest and Ryuu healed the fighters, which gave her more experience using her healing magic. I handed out delicious snacks and drinks for everyone and Tiona and Tsubaki chatted like best friends as they talked about the other monsters they had faced while in the dungeon.

When the drinks and food were gone, Tiona pulled off her top and her skirt and jumped me. That made Lili and Tsubaki laugh, Ryuu blushed, and Aiz gave us an interested look. I was sure she was going to compare this session with the very first one she had witnessed between Tiona and myself.

The thing was, Tiona was not going to respond to the normal foreplay or tenderness I usually showed. None of the amazonnesses did, since that was how they were raised. They thought it was a waste of time and wanted to get to the main event and to enjoy it the way they wanted it.

I didn't go all out, since it would take time for Tiona to accept that I wanted to share more with her than just sex. That was for later, though. She needed a good pounding right now and I wasn't going to disappoint her. I delivered, she loved it, and rolled off of me to give the others a thumbs-up.

“Damn, seeing that got me worked up, too.” Tsubaki said and took off her skimpy outfit.

“I've got it.” Lili said and we both glowed slightly with her magic and were suddenly clean.

“Thanks, Lili.” Tsubaki said and jumped on me to have her own version of sex.

Despite being over twice Tiona's age, Tsubaki was in fantastic shape and knew exactly what she wanted from an experienced partner. We had been together quite a lot, so she had her own needs and wants, which I also delivered. Even in the dungeon, or especially in the dungeon, I did not want to disappoint her.

I also gave her the basic upgrade package, just to see how it would affect her. She gasped when she felt the change overcome her and she was quite a lot more enthusiastic to get herself off. Apparently, she was so used to her normal physique that she had felt the difference immediately.

Tsubaki finished and rolled off of me, over Tiona, and she gave a thumbs-up, too.

“I'm going to pass this time.” Lili said and patted Aiz on the back. “I don't want to be exhausted when we start moving again.”

I didn't mention that Ryuu's healing spell would restore our stamina until after Aiz was well and truly made love to. The two amazonnesses had slight disapproval on their faces because I was wasting time, and I didn't care. They had their turn already and this was Aiz's time with me. I wasn't going to rush it.

Ryuu had a red face as she cast the healing spell again and the three battle-hungry women were re-energized and we moved on to the next level to keep working.

I hung back just enough to whisper to her that she didn't have to participate in things like that. I had an existing relationship with Tiona and Tsubaki and this was how they worked out their frustrations or celebrated. It wasn't really personal, either. They treated all men like that, no matter who they were.

I also said Aiz was a special case, because she was raised by an elf and her best friends were amazonnesses. Ryuu had an understanding look on her face and she nodded, then she gave my cheek a kiss and thanked me for explaining.

We worked up until suppertime and had to return to the surface. We didn't have many more floors to map out above the eighteenth floor, so we could finish that either this evening or tomorrow afternoon. The floors below that were going to take longer, because the floors grew much bigger after the safe floor where a lot of adventurers had made their homes.

Hestia and Hephaestus were waiting for us when we appeared. They looked surprised when they saw us completely clean and our armor was almost gleaming in the setting sun.

“Cleaning spells are great.” Lili said and patted my arm. “A change screen please or should I bring us home to drop off our things?”

I looked at Hestia. “My goddess? Are we eating somewhere fancy? It's up to you.”

Hestia exchanged looks with Hephaestus. “Maybe mid-tier? It depends on the customers.”

“Definitely no armor or weapons on display.” Hephaestus added.

“Then we should head home to get ready.” I suggested and Tsubaki glanced at me. “I'll make something for all of us that should work.”

Tsubaki nodded and looked happy at being included.

Hestia took her friend's hand and stepped onto the teleportation circle. “Go ahead, Lili.”

“Yes, goddess.” Lili said and activated the teleportation circle.

We all appeared inside the church and Hephaestus seemed to freeze when she saw the place.

“My Bell has done a lot of work to repair everything.” Hestia said and gave me a glare. “You should see the outside as well and you have to completely ignore the thing mounted above the front doors.”

“I'm not sorry. It came out great.” I said with a grin.

“Now I have to see it.” Hephaestus said and pulled Hestia by her hand out of the church.

Just as the doors closed behind them, we heard Hephaestus gasp when she looked up and saw the giant hearth with an eternal flame on it and Hestia's sitting form on the throne.

“She saw right though that enchantment hiding that the gems and precious metals were real.” Lili said with a soft chuckle.

“They were real?!?” Tiona gasped and Lili laughed out loud.

“Many, many secrets to share.” Lili said and walked over to the secret entrance to the underground. We followed her instead of waiting for Hestia and Hephaestus.

I had some outfits to make and wherever we were going, I was sure there was going to be a confrontation. I planned accordingly as well. The outfits would be both functional and protective, just in case. I had the feeling as soon as we were seen out in force, casual clothes or not, someone from the Loki Familia would see us and summon the rest of them. Assuming they weren't there already.

After I expanded the end of the hallway and added several more rooms, I helped everyone put their things away and take off their armor. Unlike the others, Ryuu politely asked for something formal that would let her cover up the armor bodysuit. I did one better and taught her a minor glamour charm to cover her legs and arms, that way she could wear a nice dress and won't have to worry about it.

That earned me a kiss on the lips and a shy smile. Ryuu appreciated keeping her magic active and she was thankful to not have it reduced or off while she was in the city and in many parts of the dungeon.

Lili liked the black sequined dress with a partially plunging neckline. It really showed off that she had a perfect body shape and the only difference between her and a normal woman was her short height.

Aiz really didn't care what she looked like, so I went with a basic white dress with blue accents that really brought out her eyes and highlighted her long blonde hair. The hidden armor panels made her smile and she gave me her sword to store for her. We both knew she might need it and she wanted it close by and easily accessible.

Tiona didn't see the point in dressing up; but, she accepted that Hestia wanted to show us off as sophisticated and not only brutes that fight in the dungeon. Also, she liked the push-up part of her slinky dress and made it look like she had much bigger breasts. She kissed me pretty hard for that.

Tsubaki was almost the same, except she had been the captain of the Hephaestus Familia for a long time and knew the whole point of dressing up was to show everyone your potential. She accepted a little black dress and slipped it on as if she always wore it, her breasts barely contained inside the slinky cloth. She looked quite pleased with the results.

I went to my room and my closet to put on the mostly formal suit that I once wore during a private date with Hephaestus. I was pretty sure she was going to blush when she saw it. That had been a great night and was our first time together, which had been helped along by a bottle of the good stuff, Soma's most potent vintage of wine.

That reminded me I should bring a barrel for the restaurant, just in case, and pretended to take one from the stack at the side of my room. That wasn't really necessary, since Aiz didn't care, it was just to keep up appearances and a habit I was used to.

We all went out to the main room and both goddesses made surprised sounds. Hephaestus blushed when she saw me, just like I thought she would. I motioned for them to follow me and I put Hestia into her bedroom to wait for me and went with Hephaestus to a guest room. I made a similar dress to what she wore on our date and used a portal to let her grab her masterwork Silverback Gorilla shawl.

I led her back to the main room and the others made appreciative sounds at seeing a goddess dressed up like that, especially Hephaestus, since she usually always wore pants and a shirt. I went back to Hestia's bedroom and she looked a little lost as she searched her closet.

“Allow me.” I said and thought about what would make her stand out, then made a beautiful ball gown that showed off her massive cleavage. I even redid her hair with a spell and it changed her normal childish look of pigtails into a distinguished and regal one that was more fitting for a goddess.

Hestia blushed when she looked into the full length mirror and gave me a very pointed look.

“Tonight, my goddess.” I promised and she nodded. I led her out to the others and several gasps came from them, even Hephaestus looked shocked at the change. “I assumed we were showing off.”

“We are.” Hestia said and took my hand. “We already have reservations.”

We all went up the stairs and stepped onto the teleportation circle. A flash of light later, we were in the alleyway beside where Hestia worked. It was only a short walk down a couple of streets to the building that looked like an upscale restaurant. It wasn't the best example of opulence, so it could go either low-class or top-tier easily, which explained Hestia saying it depended on the customers.

When we entered, the woman at the hostess podium tried to discretely ask who would be handling the bill at the end of the meal. She looked nervous about asking, because there were so many of us.

“I'll handle it.” I said before Hestia could and I took out the distinctive barrel from the Soma Familia. “This should handle everyone's bill tonight.”

All of the patrons in the restaurant saw this and a lot of them started whispering about how this night was going to be much better than they thought it was going to be. I had already removed the slightly addictive properties of all the wine, so it was just really great wine, even the dregs that the minor members had made.

“Th-hat... that should... yes, I believe it will be enough to cover everything.” The hostess stammered and recovered her composure when she finished talking. She clicked her fingers and two men came out from the back and deliberately rolled the barrel in front of everyone in the restaurant and into the kitchen.

The shouts from the kitchen staff made a lot of people chuckle.

“Your table is this way.” The hostess said and led us to a nice large table off to the side of the large dining room and there were plenty of seats for everyone.

I helped Hestia and Hephaestus sit first, of course, then I used telekinesis to pull out all the other chairs at the same time. Lili laughed and commented about how smart that was and they all sat at the same time. I pushed their chairs in and then sat myself between Hestia and Hephaestus.

The menus were on the table already and we looked at them and discussed what to get, then the waiter arrived and took our orders. It was going to be a little while to get those meals together, so we spent the time softly chatting about our plans for the stall and that we almost had the maps done down to Floor 18.

Hephaestus offered to extend her own selling license for us, since having a cheaper outlet for her students on the main street instead of tucked away up in the Tower of Babel, would give them more exposure.

Hestia accepted right away and everyone was happy. Our plans would be going ahead without restrictions and our stall was shaping up to have a lot more going for it than we assumed it would.

We then had a discussion about where was the best place to have it, and I mentioned both of my ideas, one right in front of the dungeon entrance for low ranked adventurers and one inside the dungeon for higher ranked and more serious adventurers.

Everyone loved the idea of having two stalls and the more expensive one being inside the dungeon. Only an idiot would try to brave the dungeon to rob them, especially since they wouldn't know about the teleportation circles until we advertised them and their versatility.

Our food arrived and everyone noticed that the two glasses of wine delivered to Hestia and Hephaestus were a little more deeper red and smelled great. Both goddesses only took small sips and let out soft moans after they did. Hephaestus glanced at me and blushed again, because she remembered what happened the last time she had some of the wine that could make gods and goddesses drunk.

The food was good and was a little better than the normal meals given out at the other shops, which again explained why they could serve all kinds of customers. It was a nice middle ground restaurant with it not being too high class for the lower class and not too low class for the higher class.

We were halfway through the meal and a conversation about offering different services at the stalls, like healing and equipment repair, when the door of the restaurant was kicked in by an idiot werewolf named Bete. He did that no matter where he went and it proved he had always been an asshole and it wasn't a recent development.

“We heard the Loki Familia's kidnapped Sword Princess was in this place.” Bete said with his arms crossed. The rest of the executives from the Loki Familia came in behind him and there was a large gathering of the rest of them outside.

“Do you have a reservation?” The hostess asked.

“Shut up!” Bete spat at her and his eyes quickly roamed around the other customers, then his ears perked up and his eyes widened when he saw Aiz. He pointed at her and his hand shook. “There she is! Look what they did to our sweet innocent flower!”

Half of the people in the restaurant groaned at the comment and the other half fought to not laugh.

“Is he talking about Tiona?” Lili asked loud enough to have them hear.

Bete looked embarrassed and angry. “I said innocent, not slutty!”

“Ooooo.” Nearly all of the people in the restaurant said at the same time.

Tiona slowly stood up and glared at him. “The only reason I never killed you for everything you said about me and my sister was because we were in the same Familia.”

Bete braced himself and was ready for a fight.

“This is a place for eating and talking, not fighting.” The hostess said.

Finn pulled out a heavy bag of valis and tossed it at her. “For your trouble.”

The woman didn't try to catch it and the bag fell onto the podium, then it rolled off and onto the floor with a plop sound and the jingle of coins. Everyone in the restaurant knew how much of an insult that was and waited to see what would happen next.