A few more days passed, now a full two weeks have passed since the day Alise, and the others were reduced by Ceraunius and Gamelia. Astraea familia had dove into the dungeon with full force and an additional member as a bit of added back up, courtesy of Ganesha who lent Ilta and two more level 4s.
"You know, this floor feels more peaceful than the surface." Ilta said all laid back, resting on the river bank, her chest just barely under the surface of the water, in such a way with each breath her nips would poke out. "You seem to be doing well Iska. Find any strong men you like yet?" She asked, with a heavy sigh.
"There's one with ridiculous strength… I can hardly explain it." Iska answered, also fully relaxed. "But he was so strong, I lost control over our nature. I couldn't help but want to be knocked down, and taken. But I wouldn't have reached him, his wife is… equally terrifying." She sighed, with a slight tension.
A few others were splashing in the water, they were down here, camped near the path going up for a couple reasons. First in hopes of seeing the married couple. Second was to slay Goliath, Alise seemed rather adamant about doing that.
"CAPTAIN! They're here! They're at the camp! Come quick." Asta relayed her message as fast as her feet could carry her. "They look like they're wary of Kaguya."
Alise got out of the water, along with everyone else, eventually they were dry and returned to the camp where Ilta got the first glimpse of the two.
"How did I not sense these two earlier? Their presence is ridiculous." Ilta asked, in a whisper.
"How should I know, I'm not a first class adventurer like you, Ilta." Iska shrugged in reply.
Ceraunius sighed, averting his gaze. "Before you talk about things like that, perhaps you should dress yourself?"
"Huh? Oh, I guess my top band slipped, sorry about that. Do you wanna touch it?" Ilta said, trying to tease.
"Do your best to keep yourself in line. I'd hate to need to kill you. He's my man, you can not, and will not touch him in any lewd ways. Do you, or do you not understand?" Gamelia spoke with a smile holding back a raging fury.
"Yep, I got it. And I know something else now, you are without a doubt from the Hera familia."
"You're right! Congratulations, you're not as stupid as those fools we saw the other day."
Alise sat down next to Kaguya, still drying her hair. "Kaguya, did you give them the letter from Lady Astraea yet?"
"Huh, no. I've tried to give it to them, but they keep refusing it." She huffed.
"You said it was a love confession!" Gamelia retorted, snatching the letter out of Kaguya's hand.
"Heh? How'd you? Know what, I'm not going to ask…"
"It's just being fast, that's pretty much all it is." Ceraunius yawned. "So, my love, what does the letter say?"
"It's an invitation to come visit her, she says she wants to thank us in person for saving her familia from that monster… Monster?"
"Monster? Uh, what monster was it again?"
The entire Astraea familia had a shared moment of complete disbelief. Eyes went wide, and all. Then the married couple grinned.
"Awe don't worry, we remember what it was. Juggernauts are hard to forget after all. I remember the first time I saw one. What a rush." Gamelia smiled. "I remember it well, it was the day I truly fell in love with Cera!!! How he obliterated it in such a beautiful bolt of lightning. Oh I still tingle all over!"
Ceraunius just looked to the side shyly, and scratched his cheek. He had a slight heat fill his cheeks.
"You don't have to say it like that wifey. It's embarrassing, I was so wild back then."
"And every night we become one." She added… Causing everyone to grow red. "Anyway, there's some language of the gods on here, I think it was meant to test us. But you're better at reading it, be sure not to speak it out loud though. We don't need any freak accidents."
Ceraunius took the invitation, and started reading. Once he was done, his lips twitched, and his presence fluctuated as if he couldn't decide how to feel about what he just read.
"Well?"
"The long in the short of it is… Well, it looks like I lost the bet with Hera."
Gamelia went through several moods, and expressions as she tried to come up with the answer, doing some overly exaggerated leans, then she shot to her feet with a great big smile, practically swooning.
"Are you serious?! Are we going?! Can we?!" She was so happy she sat down across Ceraunius' lap wrapping her arms around his neck. "We can have a baby now?! Right?! Right?!"
"Yeah, Hera won the bet… I never thought another familia would actually ask to bring us in."
"Bet?" Alise asked, trying to make sense of things.
"Baby?" Ryuu questioned in a radically different expression. "You have to do lewd things for that, right?"
"Oh wow, you're so pure." Gamelia giggled.
"Anyways, it seems Lady Astraea wants to ask us if we are willing to join her familia. What do you think about that, Gamelia?"
"I have a reason to thank her now. I've wanted a baby for a year now! And because of her we have a chance. You just had to make sure there would be someone nearby to always keep the baby safe. With a familia we'd have a familia again! Finally… And it's the ladies that Alfia chose to put her faith in, so in a way it would be like she's still with us."
"You know that means we have to bring them too, right? I don't know if she would be willing to accept them. It is possible, but it wouldn't be a guarantee. He wouldn't be happy about risking it either."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, but let's not wait here any longer, I'm so excited! I can hardly wait!!!!" Gamelia practically glowed with excitement, her legs kicking the air, and then kissed Ceraunius emphatically.
"Oh, wow. She's taking it quite well. And here I thought she'd be more worried about all of the ladies in our familia going after that hunk of a husband she has."
"Well, it makes this easier I guess. But we can't return yet, Goliath hasn't spawned yet. And I'm going to kill it, alone." Alise declared, with a powerful gaze, as if she was filling with strength.
The lovers stopped kissing, and looked into Alise's eyes for a moment.
""Good eyes."" The two said in unison.
…