[Early morning, at the Emiya Residence] Syr, who had already moved here, was sleeping sweetly in warm bedding. The [Goddess Seizure Battle] that Emiya launched against the Freya Familia ended with a complete victory for the former. News of the Freya Familia's defeat caused an uproar across the world. Because this city's strongest Familia hadn't merely been beaten, it was an utter "rout." From the Familia's foundation, the fierce warriors and the Gray-Faced Comforters, to the powerful First-Class Adventurers, and even the city's only Lv.8, the [King], they were defeated across the board. Many mocked the Freya Familia for becoming losers, but more of the citizens who watched the "War Game" felt the Freya Familia's loss was understandable. A lancer whose single song made Second-Class powerhouses go weak in the knees; an assassin who flitted through enemy lines like a phantom and toyed with opponents; and a pugilist who was one against a thousand, unstoppable. Each of those girls was top-tier among all Lv.5s; adventurers below First-Class simply couldn't stand against them. And above that were two who shattered the worldviews of all citizens. [Gale] Ryuu Lion, who summoned the heroic spirits of the Astraea Familia, "truly, one man army." And the one who crushed the [King] and became the city's new strongest, [Grand Saber] Emiya Shirou. Many in the city believed they had already surpassed the peak generation of the past thousand years, i.e., the [Empress], [Silence], [Hero], [Gluttony], [Sword Saint] and the rest, and were the true strongest adventurers. In fact, there was also one little fox who technically took part but was watching the whole time, whom everyone ignored. Can't be helped. Emiya's side didn't use the Uchide no Kozuchi; Haruhime couldn't exactly run to the front line and throw "foxfire" at the fierce warriors. Or, to make Emiya fight more enjoyably, throw a single [Uchide no Kozuchi] at the [King], that wouldn't be very appropriate either. All in all, since the final winner of the War Game was Emiya, by the contract, he took away the goddess Freya. Now, with the goddess turned into the girl (Syr), she became a maid at the Emiya residence and a coworker of Haruhime and the others. And the Freya Familia still existed; it wasn't disbanded. No one died in this War Game. Emiya's side, naturally, had no casualties; on the Freya Familia's side, because Emiya's group held back their hands, there were no deaths or maimings in the end either. The Freya Familia's strength remained intact, only the goddess changed address. Indeed, objectively speaking, they even got much stronger. After the War Game ended, the Freya Familia's fierce warriors sank into discouragement for a time. Even the First-Class Adventurers, aside from Hedin, who had expected this outcome all along, and Ottar, who realized the goddess's wish from Emiya's single sword, those two remained steadfast; the others were somewhat self-destructive. Allen and the others once tried to attack the Emiya residence, but were stopped by Hedin and Ottar. As a result, on the very night after the War Game, the Freya Familia's First-Class Adventurers fought a match on the Battlefield again, pounding each other until flesh and blood were blurred, until all their tears ran dry. Only then, at last, did they recognize the goddess, and their own hearts. "The only reason we lost to the [Grand Saber] was that our 'love' for the goddess wasn't enough," That was the conclusion they reached. Emiya's will to protect the "girl" far surpassed their love for the "goddess," so they lost. Therefore, the only thing to do in the future, and the only thing they could do, was to use "love" to defeat Emiya's will. After setting their resolve, [Black Fairy's Demon Sword] Hogni, [Goddess's Chariot] Allen, and the [Four Warriors of Burning Gold], the Gulliver brothers, began a Dungeon expedition. In the end they dragged their near-dying bodies out of the Dungeon, achieved great deeds, and all leveled up. Not the least bit satisfied by their level-up, they continued harsher battles on the Battlefield and in the Dungeon; the Freya Familia's First-Class Adventurers even began training their cooperation. For adventurers of the Freya Familia, who wished to monopolize the goddess's love and saw all others in the Familia as enemies, this was originally something that should never happen even at the end of the world. But now, the external pressure outweighed the internal conflicts; to defeat Emiya, Allen and the others were even willing to cooperate with each other. Meanwhile, with the "goddess" becoming a "girl," for the girls called the Gray-Faced Comforters, the scene was entirely different. "Ah, Heith, you are here!", In a room of the Emiya residence, Remilia called out. She was a human girl with a cute face. Not even one-meter-fifty tall, she looked like a child still growing, but in fact she was already an adult. And a Second-Class Adventurer of Lv.4. Syr sat up and rubbed her drowsy eyes. "Mmm... morning, Remilia." The girl stretched and looked to the other side. "Heith, Heren, good morning to you too~" Remilia spoke in anger, "Heith, why are you with the goddess... sleeping together with Syr." Heren was still asleep. Heith Velvet yawned and sat up; maybe it was an illusion, but her dark circles seemed lighter than before. "We chatted too late at our girls' tea party with Syr last night, so we just slept together," Miss Heith, the [Golden Witch], said this righteously. If it were the goddess Freya, naturally there could be no "girls' tea party," but if it was Syr, then there was absolutely no problem. A girl like Syr liking tea parties, late-night love talks, and pillow fights was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it? Moreover, Heith had quite a lot of common topics with Syr. Though the object of her "love" was the goddess Freya, Heith was also a fan of Emiya; about the boy's good points and how cool he was, they could talk from night till day. Seeing Heith's feigned-innocent face, Remilia stomped her foot in anger. On the other side, Heith noticed the shoeprints left on the carpet by the girl; her expression changed. Remilia had climbed in through the window, and upon seeing Heith and Syr sleeping together, she got so flustered she forgot to take off her shoes. "Ahhh, this is bad, we have to clean it quickly...",nSeeing this scene, Syr's pretty face went pale all at once, and Heith shouted nervously, "Remilia, you idiot, keep it down." Seeing their reactions, though she didn't understand why, Remilia also panicked, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to..." But soon, she understood why the girls were so terrified. Swish! The door opened. Tiamat looked at the scene in the room, narrowed her eyes, and smiled. "Syr~ what are you doing? Why aren't you up yet when it's so late, stayed up again last night?" "Naughty, misbehaving children who don't listen to mama have to be punished~" The goddess's overwhelming aura made the girls tremble and unable to move. Tiamat lowered her head and saw the shoeprints on the carpet; the goddess's smile grew even gentler, "Syr~" "T-that was Remilia," Syr, without hesitation, pushed out the girl who'd done wrong. Tiamat's smile slowly faded. She looked intently at Syr, "Are you going to shift the blame onto your own 'child,' Freya." Syr: 'Freya... the true name, now I'm done for.' "Guh—SHIROU, SAVE ME!" "Shirou, something the matter?", Hedin asked. "No, it's nothing," Emiya smiled, "I was just wondering whether Syr was getting punished by Goddess Tiamat again for getting up late." Hearing Emiya's description, imagining that scene, the corner of Hedin's mouth arced ever so slightly. The goddess Freya's "Charm" was especially strong even among the beauty goddesses; only the three great virgin goddesses of the Olympians could resist her "Charm." And in the heavens, aside from virgin goddesses resisting the beauty goddess's "Charm," there was one other exception, the Creator Mother Goddess. As the highest-ranked Mother Goddess, Tiamat's "Motherhood" was a divine authority of "Love" one level higher than any beauty goddess's "Beauty," so she naturally wouldn't be affected by "Charm," and could even in turn easily suppress a beauty goddess. Otherwise, Ishtar wouldn't be so afraid of Tiamat. "The passage straight to the surface is just ahead," Finn said, "Gareth, [King], please escort the wounded and return to the surface as soon as possible." The dwarf warrior nodded and waved his hand, indicating some adventurers to follow him; the boarman warrior silently guarded the wounded. They were currently in the safe zone on Floor 39. The adventurers had completed the expedition and were on their way back to the surface. After the War Game, the Loki Familia's expedition set out, and at Emiya's invitation, two adventurers of the Freya Familia also joined in. The Lv.8 [King] and the Lv.7 [White Fairy's Magic Wand]. They did not resent Emiya for the previous battle, and agreed to the joint expedition; the strength of the two of them was sufficient for an expedition to the Deepest Levels. In the end, because preparations were overly thorough and the joint expedition's strength was too great, the expedition met no major twists and was completed smoothly. The maze's Solitary King of Ice on Floor 60, the dragon Hyperborean, died under Emiya's dragon-slaying holy sword. The expedition advanced to Floor 65, then, because the majority could no longer withstand the extreme cold environment, it had to stop. In the cold winds of the [Ice Garden], salamander wool would gradually lose effect. Throughout Floors 60 to 70, the environment was a more fearsome enemy than the monsters. If they wanted to go deeper, they needed to develop protective gear better than salamander wool and magic tools to counter the extreme cold. Emiya planned to call on the [Omnipotent One] and the [Sage] to begin research after returning to the surface. And preferably invite the [Thousand-Year Staff] as well. Can't be helped. Across the whole world, there were still too few holders of [Mystery]. "By the way, Lord Emiya, aren't you taking the quick-return route?", Raul asked. "Mhm. We accepted Airmid's commission to collect some venom powder from [Poison Vermis], so we're planning to take the main route back to the surface," Alicia explained. [Poison Vermis] was a monster whose danger level didn't match its spawn zone. Its toxin was strong enough to knock down First-Class Adventurers whose [Abnormal Resistance] wasn't high enough, and yet it appeared in large numbers in the Floor 19–25 region. However, medicine and poison share a source; monster toxin drops could also be used as medicinal ingredients under specific effects. After Airmid leveled up to Lv.3, she obtained the Development Ability [Harmonize]. Recently she had been using the anticoagulant toxin of [Poison Vermis] to develop a medicine to treat heart disease. "For us, even if we go through the Dungeon, we won't be much slower, just think of it as a stroll," Alicia was especially cheerful. After the ice dragon Hyperborean was slain by Emiya, it dropped dragon bone. Emiya planned to use it as material to reforge her [Skadi of Ice]. As for the price of the reforged sword possibly soaring to one or even two billion valis, Alicia wasn't worried at all. At worst she'd rope in Lady Riveria as well and "repay" with "service." Alicia: 'Let Lady Riveria suffer; I'll take the infamy.' "Raul-senpai, want to come along?", Emiya asked. "Eh... th-then I'll join too!" In the end, aside from Gareth, Ottar, and Hedin escorting the wounded straight back to the surface via the quick route, the others still decided to traverse the Dungeon. Emiya and Ais and the others opened the way ahead; Riveria held the center; Lord Finn closed the rear; the adventurers moved quickly. As expected, Udaeus on Floor 37 wasn't present. It had likely just resurrected and was immediately subjugated again. Ais felt a little disappointed. She had hoped to imitate little sister Wiene and try a solo against Udaeus. However, now that the [Sword Princess] was Lv.6 already, with the strength of [Ariel] and [Avenger], Ais soloing a same-level Udaeus would at most increase ability scores, probably not yield much great feat. "Lord Emiya, I've been training at housekeeping lately," Tione sidled up to Emiya and said expectantly, "Please allow me to help out at your place." "Mm... helping out and such, there's no need," Emiya thought a moment and replied. There were four maids at home now; Miss Heith from the Freya Familia and the others also came by from time to time to help Syr with chores. Even if the residence was large, it was more than enough. "But if you want to visit or stay over temporarily, you're welcome anytime," Emiya said. The Amazon girl's expression shifted from dejection back to delight. "Master, can I come too? It's been so long since I practiced sword with Master," Ais came up beside Emiya; her slender fingers tugged at the hem of his clothes. Because he'd left the city previously to subjugate ancient monsters, the joint sword practice with Ais indeed hadn't happened for a long time. "Of course there's no problem," Emiya rubbed Ais's hair and replied gently. Bete: "These women are hopeless..." Hearing Bete mutter, Tiona raised her hand high, "Shirou, did you know? Bete's in love." "You idiot Amazon, what nonsense are you spouting?" Ais and the others, and Bete respectively, let out voices of surprise and sputtering fury. Alicia wasn't surprised, "Ah, did Line confess?" "Line? She likes Bete?", Little Ais's mouth fell open. Line Arshe, title [Trickster's Acolyte], the Loki Familia's Lv.2 healer, a cute human girl. "Mm, lots of people know. Eh, where's Bete?", In the blink of an eye, the werewolf adventurer had vanished. Bete had wanted to charge in and go at it with the gossiping Amazons and elf girls, but there were too many of them; if he went in, he'd only be immediately suppressed. So the werewolf fled. Aki: "Sigh, Line's tastes, I can't understand them." Tiona: "Well, although he can't compare to Shirou-kun, Bete's face is decent enough, and he's tall." Alicia: "Though Bete's personality is weird, how should I put it. He unexpectedly doesn't give off that 'future domestic abuser' vibe." Listening to the girls talk about Bete, Emiya thought a bit and said, "Tsundere?" "Mm, indeed, Bete really is a tsundere!" Hearing the First-Class companions discussing Bete, Raul did his best to hold back his laughter. If Bete found out, he wouldn't be gentle when pounding him. The adventurers moved very quickly. By now, the region before the Deep Levels was like a picnic for them; on this stratum, there simply didn't exist monsters that could threaten them. As usual, from Floor 30 upward, First-Class Adventurers tried not to make a move, leaving battles in this region to their lower-level companions. This was also why they weren't taking the quick return: at the start of the expedition, for efficiency and to preserve supplies, the force had skipped the Upper and Middle Levels, which made lower-level adventurers lose training opportunities. Now on the return, it was better to let them participate in more fights. Watching Mikoto swing her tachi and cut down an Lv.3 tyrant lizard, Emiya's expression began to grow a bit grave. "What is it, Shirou?", Riveria came to his side and asked. "The number of monsters is a bit too high, and 'Monster Feasts' are too frequent," Emiya said. Riveria recalled for a moment and said softly, "Indeed." Thinking carefully. It wasn't only below Floor 39; all along their return route, the number and frequency of monsters they encountered seemed far above the usual average; they'd even run into three "Monster Feasts." It was only because the party was too strong that, no matter how many monsters there were in this region, they posed no threat, so they subconsciously didn't pay it much mind. "An increase in monster generation, it's not a good sign," Emiya thought silently. "Is it a coincidence? Or is there another ancient monster reviving, or has the Dungeon itself developed a problem?" Just then, the "tsundere" werewolf Bete, who had run off earlier, returned with a grim face. "What is it, Bete?", Finn stepped forward to ask. "The Upper and Middle Levels ahead have a problem," Bete's brows were tightly knit, "The number of monsters is way too high, and I saw some monsters in the Middle Levels that should be in the Upper Levels." "If I'm not mistaken, there might even be Middle-Level monsters running up into the Upper Levels." Hearing Bete's report, Finn's expression tightened. "Abandon the task of collecting [Poison Vermis] venom powder for now; everyone into marching formation, advance at full speed," Finn issued orders. "Shirou, Bete, Ais, Tiona, Tione, Alicia, I'm counting on you to move ahead and sweep the monsters in the Middle and Upper Levels." Emiya nodded; Ais and the others responded seriously to the command. Then the First-Class Adventurers, like a storm, dashed toward the Upper Levels. "Hah!", Bell kicked a goblin in the face and sent it flying. Then the girl swung her longsword, the sharp silver-white blade sinking into another goblin's body. Shaking off the monster, the girl adventurer turned and cut the last goblin in half with a single stroke. Just then, the goblin she'd kicked stood up again. But its companions had all been killed. The goblin shrieked and turned to flee; Bell chased it down, slashing several times and chopping it to pieces. Then the girl sat down on the ground, panting, "So weak." She wasn't talking about the goblins. Everyone knew how weak those monsters were; the girl was lamenting her own weakness. Just three goblins on the Fourth Floor. She'd tangled with them for a good while to finish the job, and wore herself out. "If it were Miss Mikoto, even if there were more of these, it'd be one per sword, right...", Bell wasn't thinking of the Lv.3 [Absolute Shadow]; she felt that even when Yamato Mikoto was Lv.1, killing such monsters would have been easy. "Wanting to be a hero, it's really not that easy," The girl sighed softly. It had been over two months since she came to Orario. Bell had joined a Familia and become an adventurer. Her process of joining a Familia unexpectedly had many twists. At first, Bell interviewed at quite a few Familia, but once they confirmed her race was human and did a light test of her strength and swordsmanship, they all politely declined. There were a few Familia who considered taking her. But not as an adventurer. For example, the Dian Cecht Familia was willing to give her an internship opportunity, hoping Bell could work at the hospital for a month or two to try whether she had a talent for becoming a doctor or apothecary. Honestly, that was a pretty good opportunity. If she could join the Dian Cecht Familia, the future could be called bright. Even if she didn't pass the doctor or apothecary examinations, she could stay on in the Familia as a nurse and never worry about food and clothing. Bell was tempted for a time, but in the end, she refused with pain in her heart. She still wanted to become an adventurer. Aside from the Dian Cecht Familia, the Ishtar Familia also wanted to have her. But Bell declined that even more firmly. In the end, Bell found the goddess Hestia, who had been kicked out by Hephaestus, lying in an alley, and made a contract with her, receiving the [Falna]. Because she was the goddess's first follower, Bell naturally became the captain of the Hestia Familia. Hestia was driven out by Hephaestus because the Fire Goddess discovered Hestia had actually bet on the Freya Familia in the War Game, instead of supporting Emiya. Which made Hephaestus very angry, and she directly kicked the gradually shut-in goddess out. Now, Bell had become the captain of the Hestia Familia, and the goddess had taken over Bell's fried potato ball stall and finally begun a life of self-reliance. In the previous War Game, Bell, by a twist of fate, had bet on Emiya's victory and unexpectedly made quite a bit of money. On Mikoto's recommendation, she went to the commercial district of Babel and bought a basic set of sword and armor, beginning her adventuring life. At Babel, the girl had nearly been tricked by a black-hearted Guild sales guide into buying cheap-and-shoddy, inferior gear. Thankfully, she met a kind pallum manager, who scolded away the guide who preyed on newbies. That pallum big sister seemed to be a big shot; the Guild staff didn't dare argue with her and slunk off. After that, she recommended a set of weapons and armor for Bell. Priced about the same as the Guild's recommended gear, but the quality was more than a grade better. Now it was Bell's seventh day in the Dungeon. She still hadn't left the newbie zone of Floors One to Four. 'Today, let's go to the Fifth Floor,' the girl thought to herself. The first four floors were safe, but scrapping with goblins and kobolds all day barely earned enough for her and the goddess's meals; compared to the gains after Floor Five, it was really too meager. Thinking thus in her heart, she still honestly picked up the goblins' magic stone fragments, small and dim, worth hardly anything, and put them into her pack. "Thinking carefully, most of my income these days is actually picking up magic stone fragments other people don't want..." Those adventurers exploring Floor Five to Eleven also killed quite a lot of goblins and kobolds when passing through Floors One to Four, but most of them disdained wasting time and pack space picking up these low-value fragments, and just left them where they lay, for scavengers. Maybe due to luck, the girl frequently ran into monster remains tossed by the roadside; overall, the fragments she picked up were probably more than what she got by fighting herself. Bell: "This isn't real adventuring at all..." The rookie adventurer who had made up her mind entered the Fifth Floor. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The result of becoming an adventurer harboring some delusions, with half-baked thoughts, was: the girl was now about to die. More specifically, she was being chased by a bull-headed monster, a "Minotaur." A weak Lv.1 rookie, her attacks couldn't harm this monster at all. "I was really too stupid, I shouldn't have yearned for some hero's dream." "I want to go back, I want to return to the past. And beat up the me who, already old enough, still had shining eyes, who refused Miss Airmid because of some wish to be a hero." But in every sense, it was too late to regret. The heavy stomp of the raging bull monster fell. Though the blow from behind didn't hit her body, it shattered the packed earth and happened to affect the foothold where the girl stood. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽 The girl's butt hit the floor as she pathetically scrambled backward. Bell clenched her silver teeth; tears streamed down her face. The Minotaur's rough, foul breath sprayed on her skin. 'Am I going to die?', The girl reflexively closed her eyes. Yet in the next instant, Bell only felt her body grow light. And at the same time, a fine line was drawn across the Minotaur's body. The girl and the bull monster made dull, stupefied sounds at the same time. Along that fine line, the bull monster's body split into two halves and fell to left and right; black-red blood sprayed everywhere. Bell leaned against the rock wall, staring blankly at the man who had cut down the bull monster. "Are you alright?", Emiya examined the girl's face and asked, "Haven't we... met somewhere before?" [🎉 Shoutout to SCZX, NoReasonOrSense, Jose & Ruben for joining . Thank you very much.🤗] .com/AmbitiousTranslator 🥳Joining keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through .