Not long ago after we entered the forest we found a monster. It was an upgraded version of man eaters named Spiked man eater. If you get close enough, the ground below you will form a spike and try to impale your body. That attack isn’t instant so It isn’t that hard to dodge for me but it couldn’t be the same for Lisa. Before we got to the monster we had to avoid it two times as it attacked us both at the same time. A person around D rank could avoid it if they didn’t let their guard down.

The spiked man eater died after I attacked it two times and Lisa once. Our swords were coated with the fire attribute so the damage could be said to be doubled. Next I took out the magic crystal. Just like that we proceeded throughout the eleventh floor and soon found the entrance to the twelfth floor. I didn’t proceed to the next floor due to insufficient strength of Lisa. Her speed wasn’t that high so she would have a lot of problems dealing with the red caps. We continued to hunt the monster down just like I usually did. The only problem was that Lisa was beginning to get tired so I we had to take a break. We sat near some trees and while using sense presence to detect any monsters around me Lisa started to talk.

[You aren’t tired Satoru?](Lisa)

[Not really, I’m used to hunt hundreds of monsters daily so defeating twenty or so isn’t tiring.](Satoru)

[H-hundreds? How are you able to defeat that many in a day?](Lisa)

[I just run from one monster to another while defeating them in the quickest way. It usually takes me around 5 seconds to kill a monster.](Satoru)

[Five seconds?! I have a feeling that instead of helping you I’m slowing you down.](Lisa)

While she said that her ears and tail fell down. I felt the urge to pat her so I came up to her and patted her head.

[Funya!]

With that shriek her ears and tail stood up and she backed away almost instantly. She looked pretty flustered and embarrassed.

[W-why did you do that so suddenly!?](Lisa)

[E-eh, you pretty looked down so I wanted to pat your head to cheer you up. Was I not supposed to? Does touching your head have some special reason in your tribe?](Satoru)

[In our tribe the only person that can touch our tail or ears is our parents or our partner!](Lisa)

When I heard that I my face went pale and I quickly bowed my head.

[I’m sorry! I didn’t know that it was that important!](Satoru)

[Awawa, I’m sorry for shouting at you, please raise your head.](Lisa)

[But I did such a thing.](Satoru)

(This is certainly my fault, I didn’t know that the beast people had that kind of rules. I hope that she won’t leave my party out of anger.)

[N-no I was just surprised that’s all.](Lisa)

[R-really? So you will forgive me?](Satoru)

[Yes, so please raise your head.](Lisa)

[Sorry, I didn’t know that you had such rules in your tribe.](Satoru)

[Don’t worry about it, if it’s you then it’s okay.](Lisa)

[Eh?]

[Ah!]

I was dumbfounded and I felt like my face was heating up. Lisa’s face was the same, she hid her face behind her hands but I could see it was more redder before.

(If she says that then does that mean that she likes me?! But why would she, I only saved her that one time, it shouldn’t be enough for her to fall for me right? But there is no other option there. I need to make sure, I don’t want to be misunderstood.)

I gulped and asked.

[Does that mean that you like me?](Satoru)

After I asked that her face was as red as a tomato and her body was twitching too. I stood there quietly waiting for her response. The more time I waited the more I felt that it wasn’t really possible. I wasn’t confident in myself so I though that a cute girl like her wouldn’t want to be with me. In my opinion my looks were average at best and my attitude wasn’t the best either so I didn’t know why would she say something like that.

After some time she gradually calmed down and stood there quietly. I then knew that this was probably a slip of a tongue so I tried to end this embarrassing silence.

[N-never mind, forget I even asked. Who would want to be with me anyway. Okay this should be enough for a break, let’s go defeat some monsters.](Satoru)

When I tried to walk away I was stopped. I was actually hugged from behind by Lisa. The soft mounds were sticking to my back again.

[That’s wrong! You are handsome, kind and you care about people close to you. Maybe you are a little perverted because you sometimes looked at my butt when we were fighting but I’m okay with that.](Lisa)

(Aw shit, I though she wasn’t looking. So it’s true that women are sensitive to gazes. I need to be careful next time.)

I fell in love with you not only because you saved me. I also wanted to see how you would behave and see if you are actually a good person. Today I saw your behavior and I felt that it’s okay to be with you, I just felt that I’m actually not good enough for you. Are you fine with me as well?](Lisa)

Hearing those words I froze and looked behind. There I could see Lisa’s face from up close trying to conceal her tears. Her face was red and she looked at me with anticipation.

[If not then-](Lisa)

[I’m okay with being with you too! On the contrary I’m amazed that such a nice girl like you likes me!](Satoru)

[I-i see](Lisa)

[But I must tell you something first. This is a very important thing. I want to have a harem but it will probably be a hard thing to achieve for me. I must know if you are okay with that.](Satoru)

[I’m okay with a harem, you are a great person after all! I just hope I can stay with you.](Lisa)

[Then it’s all good! I swear I won’t abandon you!](Satoru)

I instinctively turned around and hugged her. I stood there for a while in each other embrace and then separated. I then patted her head just like before and felt the fluffiness of her ears.

[Ehehe, I love you.](Lisa)

I was still embarrassed hearing that. She was the first girl that ever said those words to me. I couldn't contain my happiness. When I was in japan I was a loner, most of my conversations were with my little sister. I felt that I finally had a person that I could talk and share memories with. I convinced myself that I didn’t need any friends but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel lonely. I managed to forget about that loneliness as I played games so I wasn’t really in need of any friends since then. Lisa was the first person and she wasn’t even my first friend but even above that!

We decided to rest some more and I took out some of the food that I should have eaten on the way to this city and ate it with Lisa. She was surprised again when I told her that I had an item box that could stop time of the objects inside. When she bit at the sandwiches she couldn't help shouting delicious and I began to praise the chef that made them. After that we quickly resumed our monster hunt. My archer job soon hit max level so I chose hunter as a next job.

[You have learned Danger sense!]

My attack power was quite good so all I needed now was speed. I though that jobs related to archery will give me agility and I wasn’t wrong about that. Lisa also reached max level and I told her to choose apprentice mage next. She wondered why would I tell her to choose this job so I explained to her why. After I did she followed my instructions and chose apprentice mage. With this we hunted for the rest of the day. We sometimes made small breaks so Lisa wouldn’t tire herself out.

At the end of the day we left the dungeon and came back to the city. We went to the adventurers guild to sell all of the magic crystals and returned to the inn. After eating dinner I talked with Lisa about the jobs that she should choose. When I told her all of the things that I wanted we said goodbye and left for our rooms. I though about talking with the goddess and went to sleep. When I feel asleep all of my surroundings turned white and I soon saw the goddess standing there.

[Hello there Akasha.](Satoru)

[You’re finally here Satoru.](Akasha)

[Well there were some things to take care of. So what did you want to talk about Akasha?](Satoru)

[Can’t we have a normal chat?](Akasha)

[Of course we can. I also want to ask some questions to you.](Satoru)

Just like that we sat on the floor and started our talk.

[So I wanted to tell you about some things. First there is the talk about the dungeon breaks. As you know before the dungeon break occurs you should have some type of feeling right?](Akasha)

[That’s right, when I was in the Lostgate city I got this bad feeling from the dungeon.](Satoru)

[That’s right, well that is just your body sensing danger. The stronger the feeling gets the harder it is. Of course that also depends on your strength, if you are capable enough of dealing with the situation alone then the feeling won’t be as bad as the ones where you can’t cope with it alone. You have a map skill right? If you get strong enough to beat a B rank monster alone then I will mark the cities where the dungeon outbreak will occur, the more floors the dungeon have the stronger the monster that come out of it.](Akasha)

[That is quite useful I must say.](Satoru)

[The next thing that I want to talk about is summoning.](Akasha)

[What summoning?](Satoru)

[Summoning me! I will give you the skill that allows you to summon me to the world. Umm I want to be a member of your hare.. I mean party as well!](Akasha)

(You were about to say harem weren’t you. Well I would be grateful to have a beautiful girl like you in my party but what would you do…)

I just remembered that my thoughts are revealed here.

[Yes I want to! It’s so boring here, I’m lonely you know! I’m also quite useful as well you know! I have a lot of boosting spells as well as healing magic you know!](Akasha)

[Ahaha, alright if but how do I even summon you. On the other hand you are a goddess right? Don’t you have this duty of some sort?](Satoru)

[Not really, I only watch the world and I can’t interfere with it from here. But if you summon me there I can help you fight off the waves! There aren’t only outbreaks from dungeons, there will be portals that spawn monsters too!](Akasha)

[Okay okay, then how would I summon you through the skill? I feel that it isn’t that simple right?](Satoru)

[Well you are right but also wrong. You just need to have a lot of mana, probably somewhere around twenty thousand mana?](Akasha)

[Pfff what!? I have something along 3400 mana, how long will it take for me to gain 20 000.](Satoru)

[I believe you can do it! I just hope you won’t forget about me when your harem gets big enough.](Akasha)

[You are talking like it will be an easy thing to do. I can tell you this now but I’m not woo after every woman that gets close to me you know?](Satoru)

[Of course I know that! So what did you want to talk about?](Akasha)