[Many complained about how I wrote Riveria in this chapter, but as one of the first writings I did, I'll keep it in the original as a memory.]
[Chapter Size: 2585 Words.]
Lucius POV
Dungeon, Eighteenth Floor.
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When we returned to the camp, night had already fallen, and the entire floor was dark. We made a big bonfire next to the camp with the fish we caught. Bell's group, Mikoto's group, Hermes, and even many people from the Loki family joined us. We had many pleasant conversations and laughs, but there were also other annoying conversations, like listening to Bete's arrogance and, especially, the twins questioning me about many things in the Goliath fight, where I had to give some explanation under Hermes' watchful eye on the conversation topic. It was exhausting.
But my dodges improved over time, as I began to get drunk! I got too carried away with everyone's company and overdid it with the drinks during the banquet, until I lost consciousness of my actions, something that wasn't happening for the first time.
When I regained consciousness a few hours later, Hestia was yelling at me while in my tent, with Aphrodite putting my head between her breasts like one of her pillows.
I looked a bit scared and sighed in relief, seeing that I didn't sleep with her while drunk, as she was still dressed. That could bring me a lot of trouble; I even questioned how she ended up here.
But for Hestia, it didn't seem that way. She was extremely furious!
"You damn love goddess! How dare you sleep with my son behind my back!" She shouted at a sleeping Aphrodite.
Seeing that Aphrodite just groaned a bit without caring about Hestia's screams, my goddess lunged at her sleeping colleague, catching her by surprise and dragging her to the tent's entrance, while the love goddess suddenly woke up being dragged and started screaming indignantly. But Hestia simply kicked her out of the place.
'How does she have so much strength?' I couldn't help but wonder in my hungover state when I saw Hestia throw Aphrodite like a ragdoll. I prayed Riveria didn't see this scene, as it could classify me as a playboy and make her angry at me.
"AND YOU! CAN YOU STOP SLEEPING WITH ALL MY HEAVENLY COLLEAGUES? YOU DAMN PLAYBOY!" Hestia yelled at me, which made me cover my ears with my hangover not helping much.
She didn't let me respond because she quickly left the tent, probably to argue with Aphrodite.
After a while, I left the tent wondering where Riekling had gone. I knew he didn't die, so he should be somewhere around here.
I found my goblin with Aphrodite's group of girls. They treated him like a docile dog, which wasn't much of a surprise. I greeted everyone I could, and if Riveria saw the commotion with Aphrodite, she didn't show any reaction when I greeted her at breakfast.
We started the day calmly after dealing with my hangover from last night, had my first meal with Hestia and the others. Then I went to the city; I had to deal with the issue of that explosion at the inn.
When I arrived, I could see the damage for the first time. Some people recognized me as they saw me looking at the wreckage so attentively and with a shocked expression.
"It's him, isn't it?" said one voice. "It was him! I saw him being carried out of the wreckage by the Loki family!" said another.
Ignoring the adventurers talking about me, I entered the place to deal with it directly with the owner.
"So it's you?" said a man who seemed to be a level 2 or 3 adventurer when I entered the place. He was behind the counter cleaning some glasses and not very happy with my presence, from what I could gather.
"Just tell me how much I owe you for the damage I caused..." I sighed, there was no point in arguing for something I brought upon myself.
"300,000 should cover the expense, but the Loki family paid for everything. I don't know why, but consider yourself lucky that they did you this favor. Otherwise, I'd be charging your Goddess directly for the damages!" he said with clear anger in his tone. I can understand...
"Who wouldn't be grumpy after their property gets damaged by someone else?" I thought.
"I apologize for the misunderstanding. Since the Loki family made the deposit, I can only say this, as the fault was mine." I said, and he accepted my words a bit more with less anger than before. There was no way I could escape this; otherwise, it would be a situation taken to the guild, and Hestia's name would be tarnished.
After that, I returned to the camp and found the place almost empty, at least in terms of the women who usually stayed here. But I realized they weren't even in the city when I visited.
"At this moment, the girls must be bathing in the river, like in the original story..." I thought.
"HEY! Lucius-Kun!" said a Hermes, suddenly appearing in front of me, pulling a Bell who didn't know what he was doing there while being dragged by the God's arm.
"I see you're busy..." I said ironically, knowing what they were about to do, spying on the group of women at the waterfall.
"It's a very special training. How about coming with us and wanting to get stronger? I have a great formula for it!" said Hermes, adjusting his hat and smiling treacherously.
"I'm sure, God Hermes. But I'll pass..." I said, refusing to go with them, clearly mocking.
"Well, that's a shame. See you later, Lucius-kun!" If he noticed my mockery, he didn't show it and said as he pulled a helpless Bell. They soon went out of my sight and headed to the lake to spy on the girls who were bathing.
With nothing else to do, I left the camp as well. Because the only thing in it now was an arrogant Bete who wouldn't stop talking and provoking. Riekling was gone too, as he was dragged by the girls before going to the city.
If he's bathing with them, he'll be fine. That goblin likes female attention, but he's asexual from what I've observed. Thankfully, I wouldn't want to see my goblin hitting on women and causing me more problems than those damn nicknames I received.
I continued walking in the forest not far from where Bell and Hermes went but avoiding the girls' bathing area. I continued to walk aimlessly until I heard the sound of water and came across a very, very beautiful sight.
In a stream far from everyone, there was an elf bathing peacefully. But this wasn't Ryuu that Bell would encounter; it was my Riveria!
I looked at her surprised and ended up not realizing that I was shamelessly admiring the beauty, as my head appeared to her between the bushes.
I just stood there looking at her.
"WHO'S THERE!" She suddenly shouted after realizing my presence while casting something at me. It was a simple spell, but enough to kill a level 2, as it was cast by a level 6 mage!
Seeing the beam of light towards me, I quickly threw myself to the side.
"Do you want to kill me!" I shouted indignantly to this elf.
"LUCIUS!!?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING SPYING ON ME!" She said angrily.
"I'm not spying! I'm looking, it's different!" I shouted angrily.
"YOU BASTARD!" Suddenly, I didn't see her as a beautiful, erudite, and stoic elf.
I had never seen Riveria so angry; it seemed like our conversations from yesterday were forgotten because she started casting spells in my direction, and I had to cast spells to increase my agility while dodging the attacks.
"Stop it, Riveria! I didn't know you were here, just stumbled upon you accidentally. Besides, when I saw you, I couldn't help but admire. YOU LOOK STUNNING, EVEN WHEN YOU'RE CASTING YOUR SPELLS, TRYING TO KILL ME. I'M HAVING A GREAT VIEW FROM HERE!" I shouted to her, as she didn't even realize she was standing with her naked body while casting spells at me.
I went through several moments of being hospitalized with these spells coming my way, but I was fascinated by the elven beauty in front of me.
"LUCIUS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" She quickly covered herself while sinking into the water with a face so red that even the famous elven princess lost her composure.
"You can't do that! Think of little Lyarra and little Julius!" I shouted to her, and it seemed like I was serious.
"Who are little Lyarra and little Julius?!" She asked not understanding what I was talking about and trying to access her memories to see if she remembered any of them that I mentioned.
'Ahhh, feminine curiosity...' I thought, laughing. You can unsettle a woman by saying something to pique her curiosity.
I gave her a big smile and said confidently.
"Our children, who else would they be?!" I said.
After that, I saw her stunned for the first time, and shortly after, she lowered her head.
I was a little worried, in case I had gone a bit too far with my flirtatious teasing. Even with a bit of the anger she gave me as soon as she attacked me, however, as soon as I started to observe her better, my concern turned into horror, as I saw that her lips were moving quickly when she had her head down.
"The flame will be cast soon. Low war, inevitable destruction. The battle horn sounds loud, the cruelty of conflict will envelop everything. Come, crimson flames, the relentless hell..." With my level 2 hearing, I managed to pick up those words....
'Damn! She's casting a spell, and a long one judging by her chanting speed!!!' I exclaimed when I heard that, wasted no time and turned to start running immediately, if I get caught by this, I'll die here and now!
I was in despair as I distanced myself from this tsundere behind that stoic face.
"RIVERIA, DON'T DO THIS! THINK OF OUR CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY SINCE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE AT LEAST 20! DO YOU WANT TO LEAVE ALL THOSE CUTE HALF-ELVEN BOYS AND GIRLS WITHOUT A FATHER!?" I shouted as I ran through the forest on the opposite side of her, but I noticed that my words only angered her more.
"...You are the avatar of the infernal fire. Sweep them completely, bring an end to the great war. Burn them, Sword of Surtr - MY NAME IS ALF!" Right after hearing these last words, as she was screaming at that moment, all my instincts were on high alert, and I saw a large shower of luminous fire being launched into the sky and then falling directly to my location.
(Author's note: I have no idea how this enchantment works, but I described it like this, if someone knows better how it works, write it here!)
Soon, the entire eighteenth floor was echoing with the sounds of explosions coming from the forests of the floor, near the bathing areas.
All the adventurers and gods everywhere on the floor wondered what was suddenly happening here, whether it was some monster attacking or adventurers fighting. Some said it could be that adventurer who blew up the inn a few days ago. If Lucius heard something like that, he would ironically laugh because in the midst of the explosion, there he was, a little burned and battered but still alive and conscious while having some wounds bleeding on his body.
"Damn. I thought I was going to die. I used everything I could to protect myself from the explosion, didn't injure myself seriously, but that was due to Riveria holding back when she cast the spell. If not, I would be dead with a spell cast by a mage of her caliber." I said to myself as I looked at the crystals on the ceiling, lying amidst the debris; the entire area within a radius of 100 meters turned into chaos as the dust smoke rose from the location.
Even before receiving the attack, I cast healing on myself in addition to protection buffs to start enduring it.
"Damn it, Riveria, you must be a woman almost 100 years old! You should be more tolerant of comments about children even though you're still a virgin!" I cursed my future wife for trying to hurt me like this just because I talked a bit about our future.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson now for that!" I said to myself and fell to the ground waiting for the elf to appear, as I was going to get back at her with a little theater.
"LUCIUS?!" After a few seconds, I heard a voice coming; she sounded worried? I wondered why, as she herself left me in this state.
"LUCIUS?!" The same voice called me, and I let out a small feigned groan of pain so she could hear me.
"Are you okay?!" Riveria appeared dressed this time and running toward me; she clearly seemed concerned. I was fine, I cast healing and had already fully recovered from the more serious injuries, but I was bleeding and dirty, giving me the appearance of being wounded along with the blood from the old wounds I suffered while healing.
"Listen, Riveria... I'm dying, it's too late... just take care of our children, you made me a happy man in our marriage after all these years... just take care of the little ones... I love you... Riveria... I'll be waiting for you in the afterlife..." I said, trying to play my best acting role possible.
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU DIE!" She suddenly shouted, which even startled me, but her desperation made her not realize that my face went from feigned pain to a frightened expression.
'Is she buying into all of this? She's level 6!? Where are the instincts of a high-level adventurer? I'm talking about us having a marriage and children! Why doesn't she realize the absurdity of this?' I wondered where that stoic elven princess was who would remain composed all the time.
"Listen, Riveria, I will only live if you give me a kiss and go out with me..." I quickly said, realizing that this little joke was scaring me. When I mentioned the kiss, I made a ridiculous gesture with my lips, hoping to signal to her that I was just kidding.
Of course, I didn't expect this to work; it was just to let her know I was joking.
She lowered her head and didn't say anything for a while, until she looked at me and saw her eyes with some tears...
'Wait! Did she really think I was going to die and was worried?' I thought, stunned.
"Were you pretending this whole time?" She said calmly, wiping away her tears while her anger showed on her face.
"NO! I'M DYING, DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!" I shouted, knowing she wouldn't let it go after believing I was going to die; I started acting like I was choking, I don't like being ridiculous, but I really could die from this tsundere.
"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed as she raised the staff, and the last thing I remember is her bringing that piece of wood straight down onto my head before I lost consciousness.
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