Wish Fulfillment System

"Hold on a minute."

Without giving the situation any more time to grow out of control, Riveria interrupted the two.

When she noticed her mentor staring at her hand, which was still grasped in Isaac's, as he had just helped her up, Lefiya grew very fl.u.s.tered again and hurriedly distanced herself from him, looking down at the ground in shame.

As she was well aware that this small amount of skinship literally didn't amount to anything in human society, Riveria chose to ignore how inappropriate it would have been seen as in elven culture and focus on the problem at hand. With an inquisitive gaze, she asked Isaac a question.

"So you want to help Lefiya grow stronger. How exactly do you plan to do that?"

Isaac had obviously been prepared for being asked such a question when he decided to offer Lefiya his help. Still, now that the conversation had started, it was only a matter of time until the perceptive mother hen would notice his own troubles, which had originally been something he wanted to keep under wraps for a little longer. Now that he basically poached Lefiya to his side already, though, it was a sacrifice he was ready to make.

"First of all, I would like to train her in close quarters combat. Lefiya is most likely heavily lacking in this aspect and it would help her massively whenever she is venturing outside of the manor on her own. Secondly, I would like to help her further her studies into magic. While I can't really elaborate on the specifics of that right now, as I'm pressed for time, it's an important topic of study to me as well."

Before Riveria could notice his hurried state herself, Isaac simply talked about it frankly from the beginning, as there was no use in hiding it. Also, it could be used as a smokescreen to cover for his temporary lack of knowledge about the field of magic. While he was sure he would be able to pick up on the entirety of it relatively quickly, he would be caught with his pants down if grilled about specifics right now, as his studies hadn't even begun.

Even though Riveria thought very highly of the potential of the young man in front of her, she was very skeptical about his magic related claims. Lefiya was the same as well, although she had less doubts than her mentor when she thought back on the curious unexplained phenomenon she had come across when they first met.

After she had shrugged off her concerns for now, as there was no use dwelling on it, the astute, mature elf noticed that Isaac had mentioned being in a hurry right now. As she had initially planned to talk to him a little more, Riveria had to inquire about what was going on.

"What's the hurry?"

Of course, Isaac's next lines had already been prepared well in advance, so his reply was nigh instant.

"I have to show myself on the streets to attract the attention of all the people stalking me ever since Ais and I walked around in public while holding hands. I wouldn't want those people to think about harming my students and subordinates just because I don't show myself, so I'll take the heat. I'm the one responsible for all of this negative attention anyway."

Riveria's brows, which had just started to relax, furrowed up again when she heard this. She was probably the most well versed about all the forces and people who had shown interest in or tried to woo Ais, as she had been observing them herself, to see whether they would plan to harm the naive girl. Thankfully, Ais' growth in strength had been too fast for the shadier fraction of her admirers to be of any danger to her. But now that Isaac, a way weaker adventurer, was attracting their ire, these forces would most likely not sit still. A heavy sigh escaped the stern-faced elf's mouth.

"Why didn't you two think about the consequences of your actions? Now, we'll have a host of rabid dogs lurking in the shadows whenever you go out… Oh well, what's done is done. What about those students and subordinates that you mentioned? Will you train Lefiya together with them, at what I assume to be the Guild?"

Now that her protégé would most likely end up getting involved with the maelstrom of danger Ais' and Isaac's actions had unleashed, Riveria wanted to make sure that she would be in a safe environment. Therefore, when Isaac confirmed that her assumption was indeed correct, she told him that the Loki Familia had many unused courtyards intended for the training of their members, which were located within the formation protecting the manor's grounds. She offered for him to use one of them for his training sessions, so no harm could come to everyone involved in the meantime. After Isaac agreed to this, as turning down a free training ground wouldn't do him any harm, Riveria's protective instincts kicked into overdrive as she asked him yet another question.

"I assume that besides that youngster Jakk and Averin, there are still some others you are teaching. Would you like to ask our goddess about letting them join the familia so we can keep them safe?"

With an apologetic smile on his face, Isaac responded after seemingly thinking about the offer for a second or two. Of course, he had already decided on a response to this a long time ago.

"No thank you, I do have other plans for them."

Although she was quite surprised, Riveria decided to not pry into what those plans of his were, seeing how Isaac didn't seem like he wanted to share them for now. Then, while Lefiya was still quietly and obediently waiting for the two to finish their conversation, Riveria made Isaac another offer. Or rather, she notified him of what would be happening, whether he wanted it to or not.

"I'll ask Tiona and Tione to accompany you to the dungeon today, to protect you. They don't have anything else to do besides lazing around at home or beating up monsters that are way too weak for them to gain any excelia from. It'll be good to have them do something useful for once."

A somewhat hesitant expression appeared on Isaac's face when he heard this. He kind of wanted more fools to ambush him and donate him their belongings in a wonderful display of selfless generosity. But it seemed like he would have to put that aside, for now.

"Thank you, Riveria. Still, even though you might not believe me when I say this, I'm not in any danger. Their protection isn't needed, although I'll gladly accept it."

To Riveria, the young man's words sounded a lot like the c.o.c.ky ramblings of one who didn't realize just how in over their head they were, so she chose to ignore them for now. In the end, he had still accepted the helping hand she offered him and would be safe for today. And wasn't that all that really mattered?

"Wait here for a moment, I'll get the twins for you."

Before Riveria could walk away, Isaac's hurried voice made her stop in her tracks and look back, patiently waiting for what he had to say.

"Please wait a moment. If it won't be a problem, I'd like to book one of the courtyards you mentioned this afternoon, at around 1:30 p.m.. Also, Loki asked me to report to you and talk about the expedition, do you have some time for that this evening?"

After there were no more questions thrown her way, Riveria responded with a simple nod, before leaving the quietly waiting Lefiya and Isaac alone in the main courtyard. Inwardly, she lamented her heavy workload. It seemed like she would have to pull yet another all-nighter today...

As the two of them were now alone together, Isaac didn't want Lefiya to get her head in the clouds again, especially because he had no feelings of that sort for the adorable elf. Therefore, he lead the way to one of the stone benches lining the sides of the courtyard, where they sat down and talked a little bit about the other people Isaac was teaching.

Just like Riveria, Lefiya had been aware of Jakk and Averin, but she hadn't known about Kalin and Mina. After he told her a little bit about their tragic backstories, Lefiya had yet again been close to tears. If she had been alone right now, she would have probably cried her eyes out while lamenting such pitiful fates, but as she wasn't in private, it would be too embarrassing to do so, so she bravely kept up a strong front.

The rest of their time waiting was spent talking about Lefiya's current combat standards. There was no need to beat around the bush: they were extremely horrendous. If she didn't have such high stats, she probably would only be a match for a kobold in a one-versus-one battle. Without her magic, Lefiya was just a sitting duck, waiting for slaughter. While her familia had done the strategically correct thing by protecting her and making her use her AoE magic to wipe out large groups of enemies every now and then, which reared them a powerful weapon, their protection now seemed more like a curse than a blessing. Good intentions could often have undesirable consequences. Lefiya didn't want to have to rely on others all the time. She wanted to proudly stand on her own feet, chasing after dreams of her own choosing. But if she couldn't even go outside alone without putting herself in danger, she couldn't grow without being a burden to others. To correct this fatal flaw of hers would take time, but Isaac was confident he could teach her how to protect herself.

To bridge the times where Lefiya was deep in thought, Isaac used the system to inform Ais, who was already awake and diligently training her swordsmanship in one of the courtyards Riveria had mentioned, about his plans for today and how they had just changed a little. Of course, he didn't leave out how Lefiya had chosen to rely on him for help. As he didn't want to interrupt Ais' training more than necessary, he didn't let their usual small-talk continue on for too long and after wishing her a productive day, he focussed fully on his new elf student again.

Pretty soon, the Amazoness twins arrived at the main courtyard, with Riveria nowhere to be seen. The moment Tiona, who still looked to be a little sleepy, saw them, she jogged up to them, stretched and yawned a little bit. She then first addressed Lefiya.

"I'm supposed to tell you that you gotta meet Riveria in her study as soon as you can. Good luck!"

The happy smile that was meant to encourage her only made Lefiya remember the scolding she had the pleasure of enjoying just minutes prior. With a pale face and drooping ears, she hurried off quickly, too distracted to even remember to excuse herself.

After Lefiya had disappeared into the manor, Tiona turned to Isaac with a bright and cheerful smile and gave him a thumbs up.

"Seems like we'll be having your back today. No worries, you'll be perfectly safe!"

Contrary to her sister, Tione seemed to be a little downcast about the whole situation and muttered unhappily to herself.

"I had originally planned to be with the Captain all day. What if he needs my help while I'm gone?"

Both Isaac and Tiona smirked at her lovestruck antics. Ever since she had joined the familia after Finn had bested her in combat, Tione had been infatuated with him. It was too bad that the heroic and selfless Pallum didn't reciprocate her feelings at all.

"He'll get more work done if you're not there to constantly interrupt him, though~"

With a mischievous smile on her lips, Tiona dodged the playful punches of her sister, who had a slightly enraged blush on her face.

Once Tione had vented her frustrations by chasing Tiona around the courtyard for a while, the group of three finally left the Twilight Manor.

Compared to yesterday, Isaac garnered even more attention this time. So in a way, his plan was now working even better than before, thanks to the addition of the two brown-skinned beauties accompanying him. While Tiona and Tione were exceedingly good-looking, what actually caught most people's attention was their celebrity. They were both famous Level 5 adventurers and Loki Familia Executives, after all.

In opposition to what he had been somewhat cautious of, Tiona didn't behave in any worrisome manner, even though Isaac had unintentionally appealed to her a little a few days prior. Seeing how the twins would be watching him dispatch many a monster today, he had originally been a little worried that Tiona could be swept up in her battle hungry state yet again. But as his fights currently all ended in an instant, there probably wasn't much for the bubbly Amazoness to get excited about. And just in case, he could just use Tione as a shield.

Because she had mentioned that they didn't have breakfast yet, the group stopped at a potato snack stand and the twins bought a few of them. Just like Ais, they both were also very fond of the crunchy treat and would try a lot of different flavours whenever they had the chance.

After they had entered the dungeon, there were still a few hostile presences tailing them. Even though none of them seemed to be a match for the Amazoness sisters, it still wasn't a pleasant feeling to be spied on. Therefore, Isaac lead the sisters around the labyrinthian and convoluted paths of the first floor using his system map and shook off their tail, effectively turning his supposed bodyguards into a glorified peanut gallery. Once he had confirmed once and for all that nobody was following them, the group of three relaxedly sat down in a small cave, that had previously housed five kobolds, as if they were trying to have a picnic.

While Tiona and Tione casually nommed on their potato snacks, Isaac explained his plans for the day.

"I'll be making my way down to the entrance of the 18th floor as quickly as I can. I've been meaning to check it out yesterday but ran out of time. Today, I plan to explore the floor a bit, but I'll probably have to postpone taking a look at Rivira. I'll have to be back at the surface at around 12:30 p.m., after all."

Most likely, it would take Isaac a few of his mornings to properly check out the entirety of the safe floor, also called a safety point, simply because it was that massive. Even an entire town could be housed down there, with plenty of space to spare to get lost in.

"Hmm… how about we give you a tour of Rivira today instead?"

Tione's recommendation earned her an approving smile from Isaac. He hadn't wanted to ask them to guide him, simply because he didn't want them to feel like they were being exploited. Nonetheless, an introduction from someone who was familiar with a place was always a welcome thing. So now that it had been offered, it would be foolish of Isaac to deny their goodwill. Additionally, it didn't really matter at which part of the vast floor his exploration began. One thing was for sure, though: he wouldn't be descending into the dungeon with the twins every day, so this was a rare chance.

"Thanks. Then I'll be relying on you when we get there!"

Once he had accepted, Tiona sprang to her feet in a hurry, with excitement written all over her face.

"Let's get a move on. I can't wait to show you around!"

He hadn't expected Tiona, who didn't even make the offer, to be that happy about acting as what was basically a tourist guide, so Isaac took a moment or two to collect himself before getting up from his comfortable rest.

"Oh well, I guess I'll hasten my pace a little, then."

Originally, Isaac had planned to take it easy on his way down. Now that he saw how Tiona was barely able to hold herself back from dragging him along, though, he decided there was no need to conserve his stamina. He could just recover while strolling around the safe floor, after all. There was no need to risk getting dragged to death just so he could be tardy.

Even while rushing all the way, Isaac made it a point to swiftly kill every single monster he came across. It would have simply been a waste not to, after all. Still, even though he did this, it only took them around 30 minutes to arrive at the boss room he had just stood in yesterday.

Once they had reached this point, the chipper Tiona took the lead and ran down the stairs leading towards the 18th floor, while Tione stayed behind, taking her job as a bodyguard a little more seriously.

Compared to all previous floors, the staircase leading to the 18th floor seemed to go on forever. Because of the surprising length, it took them a few minutes to catch up with Tiona, who waited for them at the floor's entrance..

"Let me introduce you to this little slice of paradise down here, Isaac!"

With her arms spread out widely and proudly sticking out her almost nonexistent chest, Tiona laughed happily and motioned at the impressive sight behind her, which was stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Forests and lakes dotted the entire landscape, while some hills and small mountains jotted out of the ground every now and then. Far into the distance, a massive tree of at least two kilometer height could be spotted. And even though it couldn't even be seen from here, right beneath that enormous tree was where the town of Rivira was located.

It turned out that there was a pretty simple explanation for the uncharacteristically long staircase - the height of this floor's ceiling. About three kilometers above their heads, the entire ceiling was filled to the brim with brilliantly shining crystals. Because they came in two colours, blue and white, and the white ones formed a shape akin to the sun, one could easily mistake the ceiling for the actual sky on the surface, if one didn't pay close enough attention. On the ground, pretty much scattered everywhere, were many blue crystals as well, which reflected the light from the ceiling, making the entire floor have a bit of a pale-blue glow.

Even though Isaac hadn't seen it yet, he had heard about how the amount of light the crystals emitted changed with the respective time of day on the surface. This way, the floor was able to mimic a perfect day-night cycle. Quite the curious place indeed. It granted adventurers a short respite and gave them a sense of familiarity and security, before luring them further into the dangerous depths.

Most of the adventurers that made it all the way down here called this floor the Under Resort. As a little side note, that nickname was already in use way before the town Rivira was founded.

Interestingly enough, there was a ten meter wide, apparently very frequently travelled, simple dirt road stretching out into the direction of the enormous tree. As far as Isaac could see, there had been swathes cut through the few forests that happened to be in the way, so the heavy carts, that expeditions into the lower floors made use of, could make their way their to Rivira without having to take any detours.

When he took another cursory glance around the tiny part of the floor he was able to see from here, Isaac remembered how a certain goddess had caused the dungeon to spawn a variant Goliath from somewhere in this floor's ceiling. Variants were individual monsters that were at least half a Level worth of stats stronger than all other members of their species. The aforementioned Goliath had been one of the major opponents of Bell early on in his adventure.

Anyway, Isaac probably wouldn't be encountering such a situation himself. Unless he decided to kidnap a god and force them to unleash their divine aura down here in the 18th floor…

"Had enough of the view yet?"

Isaac's nefarious thoughts were interrupted by a grinning Tiona, who poked his cheek in amus.e.m.e.nt. Before he had noticed it, he had been lost in thought and staring at the vista for more than a minute without making a sound. He had probably looked like an idiot, getting all distracted like that.

With an embarrassed cough, Isaac grabbed Tiona's finger before she could poke him again, then nodded with a sagely expression on his face.

"Yes, it was quite exquisite."

Before he could even let go of Tiona, Tione interjected from the side with a teasing smile on her face.

"So you're into flat chests then, huh?"

It was at this moment Isaac realized… he f.u.c.k.i.e.d up.