Chapter 6 - Dungeon and Loki!

After getting our Falnas, we met a tattered Bell, who was very excited about having new Familia members. We all exchanged greetings and chatted a little bit. Sora was crying over how cute Bell was and, Hestia crying over how tattered Bell was.

It seems like Bell was just home from rampaging the dungeon with his new skill.

"Why am I surrounded by cute guys?! First Rimuru and now Bell-san! Such injustice!" The cries of Sora could be heard from several kilometres away as Shiro comforted him with a lab pillow.

When introductions were all done, it was already sunset, and we decided to stay at an inn for the night.

The following day, using Rimuru's magnificent counterfeit skill, we managed to rack up enough Valis to purchase a small but comfortable home. If anyone asks about the source of all of this money, we'll say we got it from our travels.

Anyways, after purchasing a house and trying to dodge Hestia's hugs, we moved on to register at the guild. All of us got Eina as an advisor since she was Bell's advisor. We call Hestia by her first name with the sama suffix now, encouraging Bell to follow along, which he reluctantly did. Peer pressure always works, and pushing Bell together with Hestia is cuteness overload!

After registering with the guild, we went shopping for some gear. Bell still had his old equipment, so we decided to exploit Rimuru some more and create more money! It's not counterfeit and illegal if nobody knows it is.

Bell picked up Welf's armour whilst we bought some low-end gear. It would be bad for us if we lavishly spent money on high-end gear since it'll draw more attention than needed. A house is necessary, but fancy equipment is for the rich. It's much easier to explain money for a house than money for rich equipment.

After our nice shopping trip was over, we renovated our new home for a little bit before heading off for the night.

The following day, it was finally time to enter the dungeon!

Me, Sora, Shiro and Rimuru were decked out with some low-grade armour. We didn't buy any swords since Rimuru could pop some good ones out any time he wanted.

I definitely understood how someone like Bell managed to gather a harem. He was too damn cute; Sora was bleeding from hitting his head on the wall to snap out of it! Bell was guiding us through the first floor, but we decided to venture down further.

We encountered a goblin as the first monster. Rimuru decided to stay back and help if we were in danger. I used a bow since being away from contact felt more comfortable. Sora was the vanguard with a sword, and Shiro had a bow too as a sharpshooter herself.

We discussed a plan before engaging in battle with the goblin. It was the first time I've ever been in combat in both lives, minus assassination attempts. I got used to the stench of blood since my dad was a Yakuza boss, but I wasn't confident in killing another living being. We needed to work on teamwork as well. Even though it was excessive, it was good practice.

It was only 1 goblin, so Sora kited the goblin with Bell rushing in for some blows before retreating with his agility. Eventually, the goblin got killed by me with an arrow in its head. I did some silent prayers before moving on.

I wonder if the group chat shop had anything to boost my social skills and harden my mind? I should check the shop out later.

At the end of the day, we managed to kill a few lizards together, which racked up around ~40 magic stones, which was quite a lot. I remembered Bell only earning around 3-6 stones per day before he got Liaris Freese.

As we returned from the dungeon, we decided that we should eat at the Hostess of Fertility. I was pretty sure Freya is going to be mad at us for being near her Bell, but Rimuru should be able to protect us from most of what she throws at us. Hopefully.

Well, Freya should be at the Ganesha banquet or whatever it was called, so I didn't need to worry for now. Speaking of which, Hestia should also be away at the Ganesha banquet. I wonder if Hestia still commissioned a weapon for Bell from Hephaestus. I already told her that we didn't need any equipment since Rimuru had a lot of magic swords but no daggers to fit Bell.

Anyways, we entered the bar and sat down at a table. The whole dine-dash incident got silenced when Rimuru took out a couple of thousand Valis.

As we sat down to eat, I could hear several whispers from around us.

"Hey, isn't that the tomato boy?"

"Yeah, he dine-dashed from here, so he probably has balls."

"What is he doing with so many cuties?"

"Everyone at that table is radiating; they all have different hair colours, and they all look good! This world is too unfair!"

There was A LOT of gossiping. Anyways, after the dungeon hunt, I felt my body powering up significantly. I used my Power Experience a few times and levelled it up by 1 level! It added an extra 10 seconds to the skill. I got 10x boosts 4 out of 5 times, which should be from my luck. This might be overpowered!

[Name: Power Experience

Effect: Increases the rate of learning, gaining skills, levelling up, cultivation, etc. By 2-10x for 40 seconds with a 2-hour cooldown. The cooldown can decrease, and the effect can increase as it levels up through usage.

Level: 2]

"Bell-san?" A sweet voice suddenly caught the attention of everyone. Turning around, we saw that it was the Loki Familia, but without Loki, since she was at the Ganesha banquet.

"Huh? Isn't that the dine and dash boy? Is he also the tomato boy?" A certain bastard of a dog said, sneering at Bell, who seems to be shaking right now. I put my hand on Bell's head by pure instinct from my internal motherly nature that I never knew existed, which calmed him down a little.

I stood up from my seat, along with Sora, Shiro and Rimuru. Shit is about to go down; who dare bully the cute rabbit!

---

3rd POV

"Hey Loki, I want to ask about that Wallen-girl in your Familia." Hestia looked at Loki, who was rubbing the back of her head. Loki's expression immediately turned smug.

"Ah, the Sword Princess. I want to hear about her too." Hephaestus nodded.

Hestia proceeded to ask if the Sword Princess was dating. Loki replied with a threat to whoever dared to date her Ais.

"By the way, isn't it rare for you to wear a dress, Loki?" Hephaestus asked.

"Fu-hihi. That's because I heard a rumour that some little girl was coming to the party, so I wanted to laugh at the Goddess of poverty who can't even afford a dress." Loki replied with a hella smug smile, looking at Hestia, who immediately awakens her final form to counter Loki.

"Hmph, I have several new children, so I don't need to worry about my financial status. They even bought me a nice house! I'll surpass you before you, and your laughable chest know it!" Hestia replied, puffing her chest up in the air.

Eventually, the two Goddesses fought each other, becoming one of the most legendary battles in history.

After the end of the battle between flat and big, Hestia turned to Hephaestus with a serious expression.

"You see… I want you to do me a favour, Hephaestus." Hestia nervously asked, looking away from murderous-looking Hephaestus.