"Why are you associating yourself with monsters? No way... You have a monster fetish!?" Tiona accused him.
"What!? T-that's crazy..." Lars started sweating and Tione was about to cry.
"Is it that arachne? Is her upper half that beautiful for you?" Tione asked him with a shaky voice.
"Hey, let's get one thing clear here. I don't have a monster fetish." Lars huffed at them.
Everyone looked at him with a raised brow, even Alfia.
"I just like beautiful women in general. And no, I don't prefer monsters. Besides, they're called xenos." Lars explained to the ignorant.
"Xenos? Is that why they can talk?" Tione tilted her head.
"Yeah, they're basically humans in the form of monsters." Airmid chimed in.
"Umu, they're sapient, can feel, can form bonds, and can make communities to protect themselves." Lars added and the twins went deep into thought.
"If your body suddenly turns into a monster's. Are you still you? Or another monster that needs to be killed?" Alfia asked them.
"O-of course I'll still be me! And I'll convince everyone that I'm Tiona!" The amazon cried out.
"Then you have your answer, do you not?" Lars sighed and the twins calmed down.
"But you're still suspicious with your answer earlier." Tione squinted her eyes at him.
"Ranye's beautiful yeah, but my great Alfia-sama doesn't lose out no?" Lars pointed at her.
Alfia rolled her eyes. "So, do I need to get rid of you?" She squinted her eyes and they paled.
"Hey, why would I even ask you to kidnap them if you're going to off them? If they don't agree, we'll just imprison them." Lars assured their lives.
"So we're still going to be forced to accept this situation, huh?" Tiona smiled wryly.
"Better accept it, the xenos aren't really bad people. They just want to go to the surface and live peacefully." Airmid shrugged.
"You seem awfully convinced that they are peaceful..." Tione didn't really understand them.
"Well, of course. Have you ever seen or heard of a talking monster in the dungeon? Besides sirens? Yeah, I thought so." Lars snorted.
The twins looked at each other. "Yeah... Now that I think of it, these xenos groups would be dangerous if they did coordinated attacks." Tiona frowned.
She imagined their coordination. And it would be pretty bad for people.
"And we've decided to protect them, because they will be attacked by both humans and monsters alike." Lars explained why they were there.
"I've never thought of a hero that protects monsters instead..." Tiona had a wry expression.
"So you don't have a monster fetish, right?" Tione asked with a raised brow.
"I told you, I don't have one..." Lars rolled his eyes at her and she sighed in relief.
'It'd be hard for me otherwise... Though the competition is tight.' Tione looked at Alfia.
She's a cool beauty. Not to mention that she isn't lacking in anything physically.
'They look close too. Tione thought of Lars' interactions with Alfia.
"I don't want to ask this, but are you guys with me or not?" Lars gave them his hand and the twins looked at him for a good second.
Tione lost her hesitation faster than Tiona and she nodded at him. Her bindings was taken off and she shook his hand.
"I'll help you with everything I can." Tione promised and she sounded sincere.
That propelled Tiona to accept. "Well, who said that heroes should be normal? The xenos are a minority that needs the most help anyway." Tiona reasoned.
"Good, I wouldn't want to put you guys in a prison and lock you up." Lars smiled at them and they paled.
"Haha~ good thing right?" Tiona laughed nervously.
"Don't think you're safe, amazons." Alfia commented as her icy voice resounded.
"Betray us and I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I'll even send you and Telskyura to Tenkai if need be." Alfia warned them and they gulped.
"And you better listen to her. She's a level 7, but she practically isn't." Airmid winced.
"Wha? Why?" Tione asked and Lars answered.
"She's approximately a high level 8. No, level 9 due to her skills." Lars thought about her hax.
'Damn hacker, she has the sharingan...' Lars' back glowed and a symbol of a snake appeared on it.
Alfia noticed it, but she didn't comment. Though with her sharp senses, she could feel it.
An otherworldly power was rolling off of him.
"So, are you guys in?" Lars asked the twins and they sighed.
"What choice do we even have?" Tiona rolled her eyes.
"Well, we can put you in house arrest here and torture you." Airmid had a wicked grin on her face.
Lars noticed that she was teasing them. She wasn't going to do that.
"T-torture us?" Tione gulped and she looked at Lars for some help.
"Umu... We will lock you up and tempt you with these great dishes!" Lars took out a pizza from his inventory.
It was one of his greatest recreations from earth. Using the square tomatoes for pizza sauce.
"Is that pizza? Give me some." Alfia demanded immediately.
She might be a no-nonsense woman with a really strict outlook on everything, but she's an adventurer that needs a lot of calories.
"Ohhh, that's a tough one." Airmid took a slice while the twins looked at them in confusion.
But its scent was really attractive. And Tiona even started to drool.
"C-can I have some of that? We haven't eaten yet." Tiona's stomach growled.
"Well, that depends." Lars looked at them with half-lidded eyes.
"I'm in!" Tione lunged at him and hanged on his back, she then took a slice and Tiona was flabbergasted.
"You traitor! Now, I have no choice!" Tiona started fighting her for some.
"Well, that was easy." Lars shrugged and Airmid chuckled.
Alfia then pulled Lars outside and left them there for now.
"You know that Fels won't be happy with this." Alfia rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about Fels and their boss..." Lars winced.
"They better be worth the trouble. And you're the one that is going to talk with them." Alfia gave him the spherical magic phone.
"Hmm? What is it, Lars?" Fels answered pretty quickly.
"Yeah, see... We got attacked by evilus and I brought a couple of adventurers to Monstro." Lars started explaining.
After a lengthy amount of talking, Fels went pensive.
"Are they trustworthy?" Fels' spectral voice resounded and Lars couldn't tell if they were angry or not.
"I'm not sure... But they're not freaking out when they see the xenos." Lars shrugged.
"Hah, you have to be more sure than that." Fels sighed at Lars carefree attitude.
"Well, they aren't trying to attack anyone. And don't worry, I know what's at stake here." Lars squinted his eyes.
"As long as you know." Fels ended the call and Alfia snorted.
"That went better than I thought." Alfia smirked at him and he pouted.
"You could've at least told Fels that you will be handling leaks." Lars huffed.
"You got yourself into this mess, you extricate yourself." Alfia grinned at him.
"Now give me a burger, one of those cheesy ones with bacon." Alfia demanded and he paid up the food tax.
'Tch, she knows the good stuff...' Lars coughed up the goods and Alfia nodded at him.
"Keep up with your taxes, citizen." Alfia waved at him as she moved towards the deeper floors.
"Hah, at least she makes inside jokes." Lars smiled.
He then went back inside his cabin and the twins were stuffing their face with food.
"What ish thish!? It'sh delicious!" Tiona talked with her mouth full.
"Swallow first." Tione glared at her. "That's what she said." Lars couldn't resist.
They then looked at him with confused expressions.
"Don't mind me... So, I'll introduce you guys to the xenos first. You already know Ranye." Lars gestured for them to follow him.
"Lars-chi, are they the new recruits?" Lyd appeared and he saw the amazon twins.
"Lars-chi? A lizardman calls you with chi?" Tione was surprised about that.
"Well, it's his verbal tic." Lars shrugged and he nodded at Lyd.
"Ranye is the only one who's met them, so I'm showing them around Monstro." Lars explained.
"Monstro? You named this settlement?" Tiona never thought that a monster community will have a name.
"Pretty cool name, right?" Lars grinned at them.
"Lars~ are they the new humans we have with us?" Ray flew to them and she waved with her wings.
"Crazy, everyone can talk." Tione couldn't quite believe it.
"Well, not everybody. Like that guy over there, Gryuu." Airmid pointed at the green dragon.
It just snorted when it noticed they were talking about him.
"Lars! New adventurers?" Marie tilted her head as she looked at them.
"Wow! A mermaid..." Tiona blinked, they were extremely rare after all.
"Yeah, Marie. They're going to be a part of the vanguard " Lars patted her head and she giggled.
"Then don't make them lose your left hand like a few months ago." Marie requested of him.
"Wait, you lost your arm recently?" The trio didn't know that.
"Ahhh, well... Remember the nightmare on the 27th floor?" Lars had a wry expression.
"You fought there!? You're insane!" Tione grabbed him.
"A lot more people survived due to the time I gave everyone." Lars shrugged.
"Wait, so it wasn't a Pallum warrior that gained a lot of traction like the braver... It's because you were small." Tiona understood the story now.
"Hey, I'm still growing you know?" He huffed at them and the xenos chuckled.
"He does pack a punch doesn't he?" Lyd commented.
"So, are you going to show them your ability then?" Ray asked and he winced.
"Ahhh, I shouldn't have said that." Ray frowned, but it was already too late.
"They would've learned eventually anyways." Lars spawned some dragon scales on his body.
"W-wha? So you didn't have dragon hide armor?" Tiona's eyes started to shine.
"Yes, I take in the attributes..." Lars took out a magic stone from his inventory and he ate it.
"From monster parts I eat." He shrugged and he formed diffetent kinds of monster parts on his body.
"That's so cool!" Tiona shouted out and she started patting her all over.
"Hey! Stop fawning over him!" Tione hissed at her.
"What? I'm just checking out his cool ability." Tiona raised a brow at her.
The twins then started fighting and he sighed. "Well, at least they're close." Airmid smiled.
"I guess, let's wait for Alfia. She's most likely thinning out herds in the lower floors. We should report evilus' attack on us." Lars squinted his eyes.
Tiona and Tione then interacted with the xenos. It was a spectacle for the amazons.
They travelled away from Telskyura to escape the brutal country. Eyeing Orario for a new life.
But the two didn't expect that they would be roped in something like this.
"Isn't this crazy... We'll definitely be labeled as enemies of mankind if this gets out." Tiona realized.
"Yeah... But I won't back down." Tione looked at the xenos and they were just building a city for them to live in.
They're just like the people in the surface. And they have it much worse than everybody.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't have to doubt Lars. Being a hero is fighting against all odds for what is right." Tiona smiled.
The twins went quiet for a moment. "You think we'll grow stronger faster here?" Tione asked her.
"Look at the strong monsters we can fight more safely here. I'm sure we can ask for a spar." Tiona pointed at the myriad of monsters.
"You won't be needing to spar with them, amazons." They heard a cool voice behind them.
The twins yelped and they put a hand on their chest as they saw Alfia.
"Y-you're going to give us a heart attack." Tiona pouted at her.
"Stop being noisy, amazon. You will be warriors that are worthy to take on the world." Alfia grabbed their napes.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.