Eclipse | COTE x Danmachi

Chapter 3 (Solving Language Barrier.)

"What is this about, Riveria?" The light-red haired Goddess—Loki—asked, leaning in towards Ais, her hand slowly making its way towards the destination that it longed for. 

"It is about the new person that I found in the dungeon, in one of the lower floors." Riveria replied, maintaining a straight posture. She had gotten rid of her robe and staff and was standing in much casual clothes, in comparison to the one which she was wearing a while ago. 

"What about him?" Loki asked again, leaning just a little closer. Like a thirsty traveler lost in a desert, she reached out for the lower end of Ais' skirt, her fingers moments away from the bump of her hips. 

Just before she could land her hand, Ais sidestepped, causing Loki to fall down as she was leaning against her. 

Riveria's brows twitched, the insouciance from Loki in the matter of such magnitude—at least for Riveria—making her agitated. "Are you listening, Goddess?"

"Ah yes, yes, totally, I am listening. About a mate that you found in the dungeon's lower floors. Good for you." Loki replied, tears forming in her eyes at the unsuccessful groping attempt. 

"Mate? Fuuu..." Riveria heaved out a deep breath. 

"If I may, Goddess, it is really an important matter. You should pay a little attention to it." Finn—who was leaning against the wall until now—spoke, prompting Loki to suddenly drop her lecherous behavior and suddenly got serious. 

"Yeah, I am listening. Speak up." She spoke, distancing herself from Ais and walking back to the throne-like seat. 

"As you know, while we were on an expedition, some of the monsters escaped and went towards the lower floors. While Ais went after a minotaur on the lower floors, I decided to go check up on her." Riveria began narrating the events, not leaving out a single detail. 

Loki also sat with patience, taking in every word and detail with concentration, the childish behavior from a while ago nowhere to be seen. "As I was walking there, I came across some disturbances. Since I could sense that it wasn't just monsters, I decided to take a look, just in case it wasn't someone suffering from the monsters that had escaped from us." 

Up until this point the story was known to everyone. And while Ais and Finn knew about Kiyotaka, or rather the body he was in and his relationship with Riveria, they didn't know the full details. 

"When I arrived there, there were two Level 1's attacking a boy without Falna." As soon as Riveria said that Loki shifted in her seat. 

"Without Falna? That shouldn't be possible. People who have not received a blessing are not allowed in there. How did he arrive there in the first place?" She asked. 

"We have yet to know the reason of his existence there." Riveria replied. 

"From what I can see and judging from Riveria's words when she encountered him, it wasn't just attempt at murder." Finn joined the conversation. "They avoided maiming him and only attacked places which could be healed easily or didn't have any long-lasting effects in functionality. And there was no maiming. In extension meaning..." Finn paused, letting Loki put the missing pieces inside his sentence. 

"They wanted him alive. Kidnapping? Ransom?" Loki finished it. 

"Most likely."

"But why? Why someone like him, without a blessing. Someone so weak he was beaten to near death by a Level 1?"

"Because he is a high elf." Riveria answered, making Loki's eyes go wide. 

"High... elf? Like you?"

"Yes. Not just like me. He is my brother. Well, stepbrother."