Sometime later in the Dungeon.

"It’s nice of you to take us so deep within the Dungeon, Zephyr." said Rethusa.

"Hm! We only made it to the 3rd floor! " Said Cale, one of Artemis’s children.

"So how deep did you go?" asked Phi, another one of Artemis’s children.

"Hmm… about the 37th floor, I would have gone deeper, but I had to do other jobs," Cirrus said, leading the Artemis Familia down to the 10th floor.

"Maybe we’ll get as strong as you and we can go down further on our own!" said Cale.

"Maybe one day. Say, did you go with the members of the Astraea Familia come with you?"

"Yes, but they didn’t let us fight any of the monsters, so it was just a tour." Said Rethusa.

"Hmm… it’s a shame your archery is good. Fsh! You’d make an excellent backup when killing flying monsters. "

Cirrus shoots a few arrows, with one of them hitting its marks.

"All thanks to Lady Artemis!" said Phi. "When you first started, you couldn’t even fire the arrow halfway to its mark, but now you can at least shoot it straight!"

"… At least that’s progress."

"Say, what’s that weapon on your back?" asked Cale. "It looks like... well, I really don’t know?" She said, looking away from it.

On Cirrus’s back, he was carrying a weapon that looked like a one-handed black great sword with a green gem embedded in its hilt. It gave off an uneasy feeling if one looks at it.

"Oh, this? I made it with my blacksmith; this item is rather special." He said while he tapped the sheath of the weapon. "Maybe if we encounter a threat, I’ll pull it out."

"Is anything down here a threat to you?" Rethusa said as she shot a monster between the eyes.

"Everything is a threat if you’re not careful." Cirrus quickly turns and fires one of his arrows.

Thud!

"Riii!"

They looked to see an Imp dying from the shot Cirrus fired.

Gulp!

The whole Familia gulped at this monster, sneaking up on them.

"W-we'll make sure to remember your words."Rethusa then reorganized their formation to ensure this wouldn’t happen again.

With the monsters they killed, they went about getting the magic stones, with Cirrus being the lookout.

Shiing!

Shing!

‘Faint fighting… another group of adventures-no... just one?’ Cirrus thought to himself as he focused on the sounds of the area.

"Just a heads up, but someone is coming," Cirrus said with his eyes trained on the direction.

"We’ll hurry and collect the stones!" said Cale.

The fighting would start and end quickly as the sounds of fighting got closer and closer until...

 

Appearing from a corner of the dungeon was Ottar, a tall, muscular Boaz with rust-colored eyes and hair, along with a pair of boar ears. In his hands were two great swords.

"It would seem I finally found you, White Beast."

"!!" That same emotion when he met Freya sprang up.

‘Calm yourself!’ Cirrus thought as he looked around to find he had come alone, but even then; he still kept his guard up. ‘Why is this finally coming out!? Was it Freya? Did our meeting draw out a long-buried emotion?’

"Warlord Ottar, the Vice-Captain of the Freya Familia. What pleasure do I have to meet you by chance?" Cirrus said in a forced joyful tone of voice while observing Ottar’s body language. "Or was this by plan?"

‘Why is he here? Does he know? But then how? Was it Freya? She is a goddess, so who fucking knows… no matter what, my only priority is keeping the girls safe.’ That emotion raced across his mind and heart. He wished to fight him. ‘No!! They will get involved! I can’t have more innocent blood on my...’

"…" he remained silent. He noticed the nervousness on Cirrus, so he took a few steps forward before sheathing his weapons. "I came here to challenge you to a match."

"Eh?" Cirrus was surprised and ecstatic at the fact.

He didn't expect to be challenged by a man who had fought against some of the most powerful Familias and lived to one day overthrow them, albeit when they were at their weakest.

"I wish to know your strength and what better way than by the blade."

"… Fine, how about in, like, 3 days from now? Down on the 18th floor. Right now I’m these adventures guide."

Ottar looks at the girls and nods his head.

"Very well, I will see you in Rivira."

He then took his leave.

"… Phew…" Cirrus breathed an air of relief as emotions calmed as Ottar left. He turned to the others, and they were finished.

"I-is everything okay?" asked Rethusa.

"Yeah… I just didn’t expect to meet one of such renown in the dungeon!"

‘Especially when I met his goddess 3 weeks back.’

Cirrus brought them back to the surface. He bid them farewell as he was returning home.

 

Walking back, he saw a familiar person being cornered.

A little girl his age with aqua blue hair and glasses.

"What’cha got there, little girl? Seems you have some—"

"Go away! It's nothing!" she shouted.

"We’ll be the ones to—"

Fsh!

Thud!

"!?"

Cirrus had fired an arrow near where they were, and as soon as they saw those golden antlers, they quickly panicked.

"S-shit!" said one of them, running.

"Run!!!" said the other.

"Not today!!" shouted Lydia, coming in and lariat-ed both of them with her arms.

"Lydia!!" shouted the girl.

"Ah sorry Asfi! I was getting a drink when you left my sight!" she looked up to see Cirrus. "Ah, Zephyr! Thanks for having her back!"

Cirrus drops down and picks up his arrow.

"It’s no problem, but what the hell did you have that they wanted, uh, Asfi was it?"

"M-my name I Asfi Al Andromeda. I’m one of Hermes’s new children."

"Al? Andromeda? Your—"

"F-forget I said it!!" she shouted nervously.

"Hmm… Asfi, tell me if Hermes is holding you against your will, me and Lydia will make sure you're fine!" Cirrus said to her.

"N-no! I-I came… because I liked him." She blushed as she spoke.

Cirrus looked at Lydia, and she shook her head in agreement.

"Well, can I see what you have there?"

"Ah! Well um!! Um!" Asfi fumbled a bit before Lydia placed her hand on her head.

"Come on! Show him!"

"U-um, could I show him back at home?"

"Zephy, do you have anything to do?"

"Not really. I have some time to burn."

Returning to the Hermes Familia home, Asfi led Cirrus to her workshop, which was filled with several materials and broken objects.

"Heh… are you a level 2?" Cirrus asked.

"Well um—"

"Yup! Sure is! She leveled up after 2 years!" Lydia said with a proud smile.

"L-Lydia!"

"Ah, so you have the Mystery development ability, huh?"

"Y-yes!"

"Hmm… so what was it that you needed to show me in your Familia home?"

Asfi rummage through her bag and pulled out a familiar item.

"I-I saw it on that p-pirate ship you were on. I-I asked one of them how it worked, and he removed the ring and threw it into the sand, and it exploded."

"… Did they throw them all?"

"Y-yes, they got them all and threw them all into the sands and we enjoyed the spectacle. They said these were called hand bombs. I tried to recreate it, but I haven’t quite got it down."

"Hmm.. that’s because the shell is too fragile. When you throw it, a crack appears and lowers the explosiveness of it."

"E-eh! You know how they work!"

"Of course, I was the one who made them."

"!!"

Asfi quickly got up and bowed profusely.

"I’m sorry I'm—!!"

"It's fine, hold on, shit. Does this place not have like a quill and ink?"

"I-I ran out of ink…" Asfi said. "I can go and get some if you can wait for a second!"

"By all means." He took a seat, as did Lydia .

Asfi quickly rushed out to get more ink.

"So how have you been?" Lydia asked.

"Good, good... You and Hermes still go our drinking?"

"Sure are! You wanna come? I bet you have a good Immunity rank!"

"Um... maybe some other day."

After a bit, Asfi returned with a bottle of ink.

Cirrus took a quill and quickly drew up the basic structure of the grenade and left it on the desk.

"You can make them, but promise me one thing."

"Sure!"

"These stay with you once you learn how to make them without my plans to burn them. This knowledge stays between you and me, alright?"

With her starry eyes, she nodded her head.

"Good! Well, I need to get going. I look forward to what else you make!"

Cirrus walks away, waving goodbye. Asfi waved back with a big smile on her face. After he had left, she got to work.