The Second Domino

"Of course it is allowed!" Hestia remarked immediately. "Otherwise I wouldn't be asking you." She of course didn't mention at all that it was not at all required and was simply something that could happen if both groups agreed. No one would turn an eye if a God and a Mortal decided to use each other as a bed companion, but neither would they turn an eye if either of them refused.

Well they might turn an eye if the god was particularly attractive. I mean who would turn down sleeping in the same bed as a beauty of such divine nature? "I'm sure that Loki is regularly asking that Aiz of hers to sleep alongside her. So you are to get in the bed now Bell."

With nothing else left to do if he was unprepared to argue with his goddess, Bell settled uncomfortably onto the bed, at least taking the time to remove his armour and get onto the bed in his freshly cleaned underclothing.

A moment later he felt his Goddess get onto the bed behind him, pressing into his back. The feeling of her soft breasts against him was incredible, and he couldn't help stiffening at the feeling of it. Her breasts were divine, and huge for her short frame. They were so very, very soft. He could feel as she nuzzled closer in to his back, wrapping her arms around his waist to keep him from escaping, while her bouncy bosom slowly flattened against him, emphasising the sheer size and texture of the monstrous mammaries.

"Now stay put Bell" Hestia whispered into his ear with a tone that sent shivers down his spine. "I want you to be here when I wake up."

This was going to be a longgggggg night.

Bell awoke after what was admittedly the best night's sleep in his life. After sleeping on the hard couch since he met Hestia, and on the hard streets before that, it was nice to be back in a proper bed. Opening his eyes, he discovered to his horror that at some point in the night he had turned over in his sleep. Hestia and he were now laying chest to chest, his goddess nuzzling into the crook of his neck while his arms were around her, even having somehow managed to sneak under her arms and hugging her too him.

Bell felt like a rabbit staring up at a Rampaging Floor Boss. Whatever she said, there was no way that she would ever be okay with this level of disrespect. He had invaded her personal space and was now using her as some sort of huge pillow to hug in his sleep. To use a Goddess in such a manner, it was beyond the pale!

Bell of course did not at all realise that his Goddess was not at all asleep at this moment, and was in fact squealing internally at her beloved Bell having reciprocated her embrace. She wished she could lunge forwards and kiss him right now, but such actually would be inappropriate for a Goddess. Not the kissing part, Gods came down from the Heavens to seek entertainment, and if they did so through fulfilling their carnal desires then that was perfectly acceptable. But acting like a little schoolgirl would definitely be a no go. She needed to act with some modicum of dignity.

Bell meanwhile was spinning cogs within his mind, trying to think of some possible way out of this whole thing. And then an idea hit him. Just leave. He could just get out of bed and go, and leave Hestia none the wiser to what he'd been doing in his sleep. With that plan decided upon, he slowly teased his arms out from around Hestia's waist, and pulled away.

The moment he was off of the bed Bell rushed through the collection of his gear and sprinted out of their shared home, fleeing into the city on the way towards the Dungeon, anything to escape the situation he had discovered himself within.

As he sprinted down one particular street, he ended up colliding with someone and the two immediately tumbled head over heels a few feet down the road, before coming to a rest. Bell was quite thankful that his landing was softened quite nicely by something soft. Something that was also quite bouncy. Something that felt familiar to another sensation from down In the basement.

His head was buried within a woman's breasts, shoved right between them until his nose was breezing over her breastbone. He looked up. He was currently laid upon a green haired woman, who was staring at him quite intensely through two brilliant sky blue eyes. And she had pointed ears.

She was an elf. Bell suddenly felt like he had just escaped a frying pan only to jump right into a volcano. Elves were famed for incredible magic and long life, being a proud race that lived mainly within the forests of the world. But they were also famed for being incredibly protective of their own bodies. Anyone who touched a pureblooded elves body, even through clothes, without express permission almost always ended up with them being given a good kick along the path to becoming a corpse. And not only had he touched her, he was literally laying atop her, with his head buried in her chest.

'I'm sorry Hestia-Sama, it seems I'm going to be leaving you alone again.'

The elf blinked up at him, but continued to just silently stare, not making any sort of movement. Eventually, after a minute of locked eyes, she eventually spoke up. "How long do you intend to stay atop me in this fashion?"

He squawked and practically jumped off of her, flinging himself across the road to 'hide' behind a wooden chair set outside of one of the buildings. "I'm sorry!" He cried out, quivering in fear behind the feeble furniture, with no doubt that it would do nothing to inhibit the **** of an angry elf.

"Sorry for what?" She asked, standing up and brushing a modicum of dirt from the front of her outfit, which appeared to be some sort of green maid outfit, complete with white apron. "You did nothing that you would need to apologise for."

"B-but you're an elf."

"Indeed I am."

"And I touched you. I-I I felt-" He blushed the bright red colour of a tomato, unable to bring himself to even finish his sentence.

"You did indeed. However there is no reason for you to be alarmed. I hold no contempt to you for doing so."

"Y-you don't?"

"I do not. However might I inquire why you were running along so recklessly, that you did not see me in your way?"

"W-well. I am an adventurer, and I was heading to the dungeon."

"This early in the morning? We don't even open for breakfast for another hour. Have you even eaten?" She said, stepping past him towards the building he was cowering before. Stepping out from his position, he looked up at the sign above the building. "The Hostess of Fertility." It read. Tentatively he followed her inside.

"Umm, no."

"I thought so. The Dungeon is not a place for someone unprepared for its rigours. To head into the Dungeon without having done everything you can to minimise the risk to you is effectively suicide. If you do not eat, then you will be weaker, more tired, and ultimately more likely to die." She lectured him as she walked around the insides of the tavern, flitting from table to table, cleaning away any dust or detritus. For a moment she disappeared behind the bar, and the moment she returned she marched to the nearest table to him and planted down a plate of food. "Leftovers from last night. Sit and eat." Bell did so.

"So you say you are an adventurer. And surely a level 1 if you are headed to the dungeon so unprepared. I must commend you for your vigour though, I don't believe I ever had such enthusiasm for adventuring even when I was a Level 1."

"You were an adventurer?" He asked between shovelling mouthfuls of... something into his mouth. She blinked in response, as if that wasn't something she had intended to say before nodding in acceptance that she had let it slip.

"Indeed I was. No longer though, I have not set foot in the Dungeon for a long time, and intend to keep it that way. My time as an adventurer is over. But that is now what I wished to ask. Why do you want to be an adventurer, what spurs you on?"

"I-" He began, before reconsidering. He set down his fork on the table. "I grew up with just my grandfather, just the two of us together for the longest time. And he used to tell me so many stories. Fairy stories, Heroic tales, anything and everything, even Dungeon Oratoria. So many stories of great heroes. And I wanted to be that. I wanted to be a Hero." He chuckled lightly. "My grandfather used to say that the best part of being a Hero is that you get to get the girl, or the girls. He was very specific about that. 'All Good Heroes Have a Harem' he used to say."

"And because he said it, and I trusted him as the only family I ever had, I believed every word."

"But not anymore?" The elf asked.

"I'm not sure. I-I almost died in the Dungeon yesterday. And I was saved by a powerful adventurer. Without her I wouldn't be here right now."

"Did it shake you?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. I'm not sure. But right now the only thing on my mind is that I have to pay her back. But how could someone like me ever hope to repay someone so far beyond me. She's a level 5 adventurer. She probably wouldn't be able to recognise me if she was here right now."

"Well to be fair to her, you haven't even told me your name yet, and I have surely helped you far less."

He blinked. "OH! Sorry. My name is Bell Cranel." He introduced himself, lifting his hand towards the woman. She looked at his extended hand for a second. Then raised her own, not toward his own but just up into her view. She looked at her hand for a few seconds, clenching it slowly and then unfurling her fingers again. Finally she seemed to come to a decision, reached out, and took his hand, giving it one hard shake before drawing back once again, her eyes following her hand the whole time.

"I am Ryuu Lion." She returned. "So Mr Cranel, it sounds like you are currently searching for a purpose for your dungeoneering. You have been shaken free from your previous path and now seek another. In that case, might I ask what your heroic stories would say?"

"What the stories would say?" Bell thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, in most of them, the reason the Hero went out to fight, and the reason he was able to fight so hard to make it back alive, was often because he had someone to come back to."

"And you do not?"

"Well there is Hestia-sama, but... she's a goddess. She doesn't need me. She'd be lonely, and sad, but eventually she would be able to find another adventurer. Someone better than me."

"So you need someone to come back to, to whom you are irreplaceable. Then I shall provide."

"Huh?"

"Mr Cranel, did you know that elves despise physical contact?"

"Yes. That was why I was so sorry about touching you earlier."

"I hate it more than most. No, in fact, being touched by another living being to me is simply... disgusting. It is the most revolting sensation in the world to me, such that the slightest touch arises the instinct for me to lash out and annihilate whoever did so, simply because it is the worst thing there is for me, the very opposite of **** pleasure. But not with you."

"Wait what?"

"When you touched me, I felt none of it. Not the slimy feeling of your hand on my skin, not the turning of my stomach making me want to vomit, not even the shivering in fear at being touched. You touched me, and for the first time in my life I was not at all disgusted. That is... intriguing to me. So I wish to make you an offer. I shall become the one you always come back to. Every morning, please come here to the Hostess of Fertility, and I shall see you off for the day. And every evening, come here to let me know you are still alive. And so long as that continues, you will always have something to fight for."

"Are you sure?"

"I am Mr Cranel. Now, If you have eaten sufficiently, were you not heading to the dungeon?"

"Oh yeah." He said, rubbing the back of his head, and going to leave. But suddenly he was struck by a thought. It was a silly thought, just a piece of childish whimsy. But... "Wouldn't it be normal for you to give me an incentive before I go? To come back I mean. That is what always happens in the stories."

Ryuu blinked at him. "I suppose it would." With that said, she walked over to him so quickly he barely saw her move, and then suddenly she was in front of him. "For you, my Hero."

And she pressed her lips to his own.

It was incredibly chaste. Their lips remained locked the entire time, and no other movement was made by the two of them. But the two of them stared into each other's eyes the entire time, until finally she broke away.

"There you go Mr Cranel. If you want another, you must return here tomorrow, alive and well, and properly prepared to venture into the Dungeon." Bell was absolutely stunned, the only reaction to what had just happened being a steady reddening of his face. Finally he broke, bringing one hand up to his lips to feel them, to make sure they were actually there and what he thought had happened had actually happened.

"Off you go, Mr Cranel, else Mama Mia will arrive and will charge you for that meal."

"Umm. Thank you Miss Ryuu." He said, turning to go.

"You are welcome Mr Cranel."

He swiftly left.

The woman stood for a moment in the empty tavern. With Bell gone and no one around, she finally felt comfortable enough to touch her own lips with one hand, mimicking the exact motion Bell had gone through just before. The tips of her pointed elven ears tinged just slightly. "Yes indeed." She whispered to herself. "Please come back Bell."