Stare!
Astrea observed carefully for a while, realizing that both Ais and Isagi were properly dressed, and only then did she breathe a slight sigh of relief—
As if!
What are these two children doing? How did they end up lying on the same bed, and they seem to have already fallen asleep?!
She couldn't imagine what had happened in the room just now, no matter how hard she tried.
The two Goddesses remained silent.
Finally, Demeter was the first to walk into the room, approaching the bed, and began to "inspect" them.
"Mm... they seem to be sleeping very soundly."
"?!"
That was even stranger!
They weren't pretending to sleep?!
How on earth could these two children sleep so sweetly in such a situation!
Following behind the beautiful matron, Astrea's face was full of distress, and her heart was quite conflicted. She wondered what she would do if Cecil and the others found out. As a Goddess, she was too incompetent to let a child of the Loki Familia find such an opportunity!
Also.
What should be done now?
She had absolutely no experience!
Although she was an older sister figure who often teased Isagi, Cecil, and Lefiya...
That was the extent of it for Astrea.
After all, the Familia of the Goddess of Justice used to be entirely made up of girls.
Everyone knew how to make flirtatious jokes and tease each other, but when it came to "practical application," every single one of them had zero experience. In this regard, the Goddess included, there were no exceptions.
So earlier, she was saying she would "start working hard"!
But the moment she encountered a situation, she panicked immediately, not knowing what to do at all.
[Reasonably speaking, Gods shouldn't interfere with children falling in love with each other!]
[But Cecil and the others went to the Dungeon, and if they came back to find Isagi had been abducted, how would I explain it to them!]
[No, no, no, now is not the time to think about this. In short...]
"Let's move little Ais away first."
"?"
Watching Demeter's calm demeanor from the side, Astrea blinked, not understanding what she meant at all.
"Isagi definitely doesn't know little Ais fell on him like this either. Maybe after Isagi fell asleep, Ais secretly ran into the room, climbed onto the bed to lie down, preparing to give Isagi a surprise like this—"
"..."
Is that possible?!
Just listening to the description sounds too strange!
Although, in a sense, it might actually count as a surprise.
And why would Demeter think of such a thing? Could it be that she had thought of doing this herself...
But the beautiful matron was right!
In short, they couldn't just leave them be, allowing the two fellows to lie on the bed!
Thus, very quickly, Astrea took action. Together with Demeter, she lifted Ais off the boy's bed and then placed the girl in the room next door.
Immediately after, the Goddesses returned to the boy's room!
Astrea felt she had to watch over things here to avoid any more accidents. But suddenly, the sticky, cloying voice of the beautiful matron Goddess came from beside her ear.
"Has Astrea also fallen in love with her own child?"
"No such thing!"
She hurriedly denied it.
After all, she couldn't possibly admit it!
"So that's how it is~"
Inexplicably.
She always felt that Demeter possessed a certain imposing manner she found hard to resist. In just a few words, the gap between the beautiful matron and the older sister seemed to have been established.
Especially—
"?!"
Astrea saw Demeter naturally climb onto Isagi's bed just like that.
Eh?
For a moment, her brain couldn't turn the corner.
What is she doing?!
How did she crawl under the covers?!
How did she suddenly seem to hug Isagi?!
The boy's slightly frowning profile seemed to be silently complaining about the difficulty of breathing!!
And what was she doing herself?
Could it be that she was just going to stand here, watching by the bedside?!
*
In the dream.
To be precise, it should be outside the [Dark Hall], on that land floating amidst the sea of stars.
Ais was fighting!
Grasslands, wastelands, mountain forests, city ruins...
The land floating in this starry night was vaster than imagined, and within it, numerous Monsters existed.
Goblin Knights, Kobold Killers—the fellows the boy had encountered in the Dungeon before were simply all there!
The girl soon discovered with surprise.
These Monsters, which should have been only Level 2 or Level 3 in the Dungeon—levels far lower than hers—now possessed the strength to fight her!
Was the [Falna] invalid?
Or had the Monsters become stronger?
Ais didn't know, but she simply found that all the Monsters she encountered were qualified to fight her.
Furthermore.
If she defeated all the Monsters in an area, such as a certain camp, a treasure chest would appear, from which she could obtain various weapons.
Most were not very handy.
It would even give her bows or staves, things she couldn't use at all.
But even so, Ais still found an axe and a long spear; it was better than being bare-handed like before.
Barely considering herself armed, she continued to search everywhere for Monsters, especially to fight BOSSes like the [Golden Miracle] from earlier.
The girl was surprised to discover.
Here, although she would get hurt, she wouldn't die at all. Every time she was defeated by a Monster, she would "resurrect" from a pitch-black Site of Grace nearby.
"!!!"
What kind of divine place is this!
Ais was dumbfounded, even momentarily forgetting that this seemed to be Isagi's dream or something.
In the girl's view, wouldn't this mean she could train herself forever, fight Monsters forever, and improve her Ability Scores forever?!
Wait.
Since it's in a dream, she isn't actually moving, right? So can it really improve Ability Scores?
Could it be that only "combat experience" improves?
That works too!
Experience is an incomparably important thing. Facing the same Monster, the difference between fighting it for the first time and fighting it for the ten thousandth time is self-evident.
This is just too great.
So...
What is the price?
While Ais was happily battling the Monsters, Isagi, floating in the starry sky, noticed the center of this floating continent.
That tiny pitch-black "sapling" amidst the wasteland.
After getting closer.
Isagi realized that the center of the pitch-black sapling was actually holding up a black sphere.
The moment he saw it, Isagi seemed to understand something: he knew that this was the "Dungeon" itself.
Or rather, it was the Dungeon itself, not yet gestated.
It existed here.
From time to time, it would swell like a beating heart, and—as Ais was "killed" by Monsters each time, this tiny black sapling would grow a little.
Hah?
He couldn't understand what this meant at all.
Isagi could only hypothesize that this space was a place created by the Dungeon using his power. Likely, it had formed some kind of "resonance" with his Skill, and thus established a connection.
The goal.
Was to help It grow?
Just letting adventurers in, then constantly having them taken out by Monsters, could accelerate its gestation speed from the black sphere? What kind of logic is that?
Not only that.
From a distance, Isagi seemed to hear something. It was a whisper from the pitch-black depths that only he could hear.
What it recounted was—
Divine Power.
In a trance, Isagi realized that a brand-new power had appeared in his body.
It was like a sudden enlightenment.
That power which shouldn't belong to mortals of the Lower World, that power which only existed in Gods, was "acquired" by him—no, strictly speaking, it was shared with him by the Dungeon.
Because a connection was established, he obtained that kind of power. And the closer It came to being gestated from the black sphere, the more Divine Power he would obtain.
That was probably the logic.
Why does it feel like I've been bound to the Dungeon, or even become like a villain?
However.
The Divine Power currently only existed; Isagi hadn't learned how to use it yet.
Just as Mages need to convert Mind into Magic, using different chants, filling, and strong control to shape it into different Magic.
Now he possessed a very tiny amount of "Divine Power," but he didn't know how to use it, nor did he know what it could be used for.
Clearly, this was just a beginning...
In the darkness.
Isagi slightly opened his eyes, waking up from the dream.
Realizing that everything just now had happened for real, at this very moment, he could still clearly feel the cold touch brought by the pitch-black ring on his finger.
And...
So hot.
Has the charcoal fire in the room not gone out yet?
Or did the Goddess come in to add charcoal, making the bedding inside and out so hot right now that it's simply ridiculous, practically no different from a furnace?
Isagi thought so, but his body, which should have been sleepier due to the warmth, couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
Because besides being hot.
It was also very soft.
Very sweet.
It was that sticky, cloying sweetness that made one just want to sink deep into it!
Why is it a bit familiar?!
Isagi even immediately recalled Goddess Astrea and Goddess Demeter!
Because they had both done that kind of thing, pressing his head directly into their soft, magnificent bosoms or something.
So this soft touch really feels familiar.
Mm...
In a daze, Isagi looked with some confusion at the large expanse of snow-white presented before his eyes.
How did it turn into a strange dream?
He was puzzled.
It was somewhat hard to understand.
Isagi even saw Goddess Demeter sleeping right beside him, and turning his head, he also saw Goddess Astrea.
Hah?
Why would I have this kind of dream?!
Isagi felt something wasn't quite right, so subconsciously, he lifted his hand and grabbed straight towards the softness pressing directly on him.
He wanted to judge if he was really dreaming. The result, judging from the feel, it wasn't one?!
And not only that.
The two Goddesses weren't asleep at all, and they even reacted to his action just now!
"!!!"
"..."
Why is it a bit noisy?
Lying in the room next door, the golden-haired girl was in a daze; her brain hadn't yet recovered from the "battle" just now.
[So tired...]
Mental exhaustion made her completely ignore the somewhat noisy commotion next door.
And in the late night.
In the courtyard outside the house, that tiny Golden Tree located in the corner was also quietly, already a little grown.
____
New Story: Junji Ito: I Shall Smash Hellstar Remina
🔥We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. 😄
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan