A few minutes later, as Finn kept guard while Aidan and Ais relaxed under the barrier, the green-eyed elf finally arrived. “What happened?” She asked as she looked around.

“The two of them were attacked by him. He wanted to do ‘weird’ things to Ais.” Answered Finn while he emphasized the word ‘weird.’ ​​

“Did he do anything to them?” She asked back, concerned.

“No, from what I heard, Aidan’s magic cards managed to take him off guard, and they managed to take him out.” He said while pointing to the slobbering mess on the ground.

As the beautiful executive looked at the man on the ground, the same man squirmed, cried and shouted due to pain after he awakened from the hit Aidan gave him, unaware of the troubles he would have.

“I see.” She nodded as she approached the golden-eyed duo. “Did he do anything to you?” She asked them both as she wanted to make sure they wouldn’t have some deep trauma.

“No, Aidan stopped him before he could touch me.” She said with her eyes looking at the floor.

“What about you?” She asked as she looked at Aidan.

“I’m fine.” He answered before continuing. “We managed to take him out before he did anything to us.” The boy finally answered, upon which Riviera gave the nod at him with a slight smile.

She was happy that he had stood his ground over a stronger opponent instead of running away, abandoning his teammate. After all, while it may seem low to do so, it wasn’t rare at all since most people prized their lives over anything else and could sacrifice anything for it, including their partners.

“Alright, we should leave. Loki is awaiting our return.” She added as she looked at Finn. “What are we going to do with him?” She asked immediately after.

“We’ll bring him back to the guild. After we discover from which familia he was from, Loki will deal with it.” He answered with a serious look on his face, certainly not happy to have to bring back deadweight, especially such scum.

“I see; let’s go.” She answered back with a curt nod as the two children got up. After Aidan stored the bag in his storage card, they all made their way back to the surface, finishing an exploration that could have likely brought death to the two youngsters of the familia.

Arriving at the surface, Finn and Riviera immediately separated. The former took the man to the guild employees to ask for an identity check and explain what happened in the dungeon. At the same time, he would verify whether he was a known criminal and if he had a bounty on his head.

As for the latter, she brought the two back to the manor. Ais had been tired after all the intense day of fighting and the surge of emotion at the end due to the man. As such, when she finally reached the surface, she immediately fell asleep, and Aidan decided to carry her on his back instead of awakening her.

As they arrived back at the familia, Riveria immediately left as she went to report to the familia’s goddess while the two went back to rest. After all, he already had a girl drooling on his shoulder.

Taking her door key, he opened her room door and brought her directly to bed after taking off her boots, armour and weapons. Tucking her in, he closed the light and the door after locking it and went back to his room as he still wanted to wash before going to bed.

‘From tomorrow, I have to strengthen one or a few cards to protect us if an event like this happens again. The card should at least have the strength of a level 2 adventurer or more.’ Aidan decided as he climbed into the shower and opened the water to clean up.

‘Today, we were lucky that the man looked down on us and was pretty weak himself. However, if he had been stronger, we would be dead right now, and he would have done something weird with Ais.’ Thought Aidan as he felt as if a rock pressed his heart at the thought. ‘I have to protect Ais.’ He decided as he felt his heart full of anxiety about what could have happened.

With these thoughts in mind, Aidan directly went to bed, ready to work even harder to become someone strong. It wasn’t only for his memories anymore. No. It was to protect those he cared for.

As such, with one last sentence in his mind, he finally fell asleep.

‘I’m weak; I can’t protect anyone even if I wanted to so, become stronger, never stop growing stronger.’ His parents’ words were reverberating in his mind.

—-

The following day, Aidan didn’t get up early to go to the dungeon. No, the previous day, along with Ais, they had decided to take a small break from adventuring, taking this opportunity to go and explore the city and learn more about where they would live for most of their lives.

As such, he only woke up at 8 in the morning. Still early but not as early as before.

After waking and dressing up, he left the room to go to the cafeteria, which had many more adventurers than he thought would be at this hour. After all, he knew that most adventurers enjoyed partying late at night and drinking. As such, he never expected them to be morning people.

Walking to the chefs, he got some food which he immediately took. However, right as he was about to leave, he thought back to Ais and how she was feeling the day prior. As such, he took another serving of breakfast and stored it in his card before walking back to the dormitories.

Upon arriving, he waited for a bit and knocked at the door lightly in case she was still sleeping. He paused for a moment, and just as he was about to leave, he heard the door unlock and open, only to see a dishevelled Ais on the other side of the door, which was half-closed.

“Can I come in, Ais?” Asked Aidan, understanding that her shock was most likely worse than he had thought.

“Yes.” She nodded after a little while, opening the door, just big enough for Aidan to enter the room.

After he entered, he looked at Ais and saw that she had changed into some pyjamas and was still quite sleepy.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, knowing full well that she wasn’t okay.

“Whenever I close my eyes, I only see his hand coming closer, trying to touch me.” She said with a slight sob as she once again approached him, sitting right next to him.

Taking her in his arms, the boy said nothing as he merely held her tight, hoping to give her the security she currently needed. They were lucky they were strong enough because even if he did not kill them afterwards, the trauma would have been a lot bigger.

“Let’s stay here today. We will go and see the city another day; let’s relax.” He said as Ais nodded her head in his chest.

After a while, she got back a bit, and Aidan immediately asked her: “Are you hungry?”

With a nod as an answer, Aidan took out the food he had previously taken from the cafeteria and laid it in front of them both to eat together.

After eating, they both went to her bed to relax before she fell asleep due to not having slept very well the night prior while he fell asleep due to how comfortable to beds were, especially since they were the perfect temperature.

In the end, they woke up a few hours later when a knock sounded on Ais’s door room.

Having woken up, Aidan looked at the other occupant of the bed, who woke up slowly before answering the door.

“Hello?” Asked Aidan as he saw Riviera at the door.

“Aidan? I thought this was Ais’s room?” She asked curiously.

“Well, it is, but I came to hang out in her room.” Explained Aidan as he looked at Riviera curiously. “Give me a moment, and I’ll go and get Ais.” He said immediately after.

However, the elf stopped Aidan since telling it to him was the same. “I just came to inform both of you that tomorrow will be the contract formation day and that you shouldn’t go into the dungeon. The meeting will be at ten tomorrow morning.” She finished as Aidan nodded his head.

“Now, how is Ais?” She asked concernedly.

“Could be better.” Sighed Aidan as he didn’t know what to do to help. He was confident that with a bit of time, she would come back better than ever, but it still worried him.

“I see; well, just keep her company, and she should be fine.” She smiled slightly before glaring at him. “However, this doesn’t stop you from practicing your magic control.” She said before turning around and leaving the dormitory area.

‘Understood.’ Answered Aidan in his mind with a sigh.