It had been two months since Lone had renovated the shanty town, and much had happened to him in that period of time. Currently, he was standing next to the large gate that led to floor forty-one from the waiting area and beside him were his companions, Breena and Sophie. Standing behind him were Reytla the Lemurian Chieftain, Bastian the Archangel, Greyfus the city Mayor and his retainer Alfonse, the tailless Lemurian whose hand and tail Lone had severed and lastly, Eolande.

"Do you really have to leave, my King?" Basian asked with a pained voice. Clearly, Lone's planned departure hurt him greatly.

Lone turned to look at him and the group that had gathered to say farewell to him, and he smiled. "Yeah, I was made to wander. I'm surprised I stayed in Hope for two months, to be completely honest. However, as I promised, I'll find a way to liberate this entire city from the dungeon at some point. I do intend to lead my people, after all," Lone finished with a smile. 'Dunno what I'll with a bunch of weak egg-heads, but I'll figure something out when the time comes, I guess,' he thought to himself.

"My King..." Bastian replied with tears welling up in his eyes.

"Hold down the fort for me until my return, okay?" Lone said to Bastian with his lack of interest quite plain to see, but either due to stupidity or for being too honest as a race, Bastian seemed to believe that Lone was being sincere.

"Yes, my King!" Bastian shouted with emotion lacing his voice as he saluted. His white hair flowed in the breeze along with his manly tears. "Well, my King, I shan't tarry any longer. Safe travels to you and your companions. I'll be eagerly awaiting your return, we all will," Bastian finished with a smile that livened up his aged face. He then unfurled his wings and flew off.

Everyone watched with various expressions on their faces. "What a big crybaby. I bet he only left 'cause he was embarrassed to be crying in front of his 'King'," Greyfus said with a smirk. He then walked up to Lone and slapped down onto his shoulders with both of his furry hands, grasping them.

"You take care, Lone. No one doubts your ability, but not a single person has cleared the dungeon before, so don't push yourself. Ya hear me?" Greyfus said with a serious, yet slightly lighthearted tone.

Lone smiled and punched Greyfus in the chest lightly, obviously not enough to deal any damage or even move the Lionkin that ruled the city. "Who do you think you're talking to, ya big furball? There's no way something like a dungeon would kill me. Don't worry," Lone responded with a laugh.

"Right, of course! HAHAHAHA!" Greyfus roared before he finally parted from Lone and walked back to Alfonse's side.

Lone then turned his sight to meet his eyes with Reytla, the Lemurian Chieftains'. She looked at the discarded members of her tribe that stood proudly next to her. "Lone, I have a request," she stated.

"Mmm? I was surprised that you even showed up, let alone ask me for a favour. How ballsy of you," Lone said with a smirk, obviously not caring about his attitude towards the SS-Ranker before him.

"That's true... I did not expect you to leave after helping our abandoned, but after some thinking, I decided to forget the matter," Reytla said with some regret to her tone, but she was mostly happy that Lone had at least helped some of her people.

"But yeah, regardless, what do you want?" Lone asked the scale-covered woman. 'I wonder what she's after? I bet it has something to do with Miss Tail'n'Handless over there, right?' he thought.

"Right, please take this one with you," Reytla said as she gestured to the crippled Lemurian sanding proudly next to her. "She may have wronged you previously, but she wishes to properly apologise, unlike the spoken apology you 'forced' from her. She has no place here in Hope, so please, I would appreciate it if you took her as your travelling companion. Do this for me, and all past mistakes shall be forgiven and forgotten," Reytla explained softly.

At this point, the Lemurian missing her tail and right hand walked forward and lowered her head in Lone's direction. "I have no combat abilities or skills-ss! I'm greedy and selfish-ss! All I have is my few trading skills-ss! But please, take me with you-ss! Take me to the outside world-ss! I want to have meaning in my life again-ss!" the ex-vendor shouted with vigour and emotion.

Lone put his fingers in his ears and scrunched up his face. "I accept," Lone easily replied much to the shock of both of the Lemurians. 'Figured it'd be about her. I just so happen to need a being not accepted since I accepted Breena.'

"Really? Lone, you do realise what I mean, don't you? I want you to take her with you on all of your travels and-" Reytla began explaining before Lone put his hand up to stop her and he spoke.

"Yes, I'm fully aware. I have my own reasons. Don't worry, I'll look after her," Lone said in a reassuring way, leaving Reytla no room to question him. It was hard to tell lies to a being as powerful as herself, While it was still possible, everyone present was aware of how honest Lone liked to be, so she didn't question him any further.

"Thank you. Well then, I have business to attend to. I'll take my leave. I wish you luck in clearing the remaining floors of the dungeon, Lone," Reytla said to which Lone nodded in acknowledgement. She then left, leaving only Greyfus, Alfonse and Eolande there.

"Well, it's about time I left too. I can't leave my duties to pile up for too long. Paperwork isn't my strongest area of expertise," Greyfus laughed.

"That's why you have me, Sir," Alfonse said with a helpless expression. After saying their farewells, the two left, leaving only Lone, Sophie, Breena, the Lemurian and Eolande standing by the gate that led to floor forty-one.

"I guess this is goodbye for now then, isn't it, Master?" Lone said with some sadness in his voice. 'I feel bad leaving her behind ever since I accepted her, but I really don't feel comfortable staying here any longer... ' Lone thought.

"Now would probably be a good time to tell you, but I'll be going with you, forever," Eolande said with a sweet smile.

"Huh?" Lone replied as he stared at her blankly. 'Did she just say 'forever'? No wait, she's coming with us?! Why?! If she's with us it'll make the rest of the dungeon easy I bet! No! She absolutely can't come!'

Eolande giggled a little bit and floated towards the still dumbstruck Lone and placed one of her hands on his chest gently and picked up the small pendant that was wrapped around his neck. It had two items attached to it. A small anvil and a small furnace. Were Lone to compare them to items back on Earth, he would say they were similar to key ring accessories.

"There's no way I would just let you take my most precious tools without any hesitation, right? Besides I still have to teach you a lot more about smithing and enchanting before I'll be satisfied," she said as she looked up at him, straight into his eyes.

It was at this point, that Sophie started to feel uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. The look in Eolande's eyes was sending shivers up Sophie's spine. 'N-No way... she can't possibly... '

"I think I mentioned it when you said my true name back then, but, 'this complicates things'. Remember?" Eolande said as she narrowed her eyes and smiled coyly.

"O-Of course I remember... weren't you just mumbling?" Lone said with a quake to his voice. He had a very bad feeling. A certain myth about Tylwyth Tegs was suddenly resurfacing in his mind.

"Right, well, since you were the first person to ever say my true name to me from another race and from the opposite sex," she said mischievously before she suddenly levitated up slightly and held Lone's head in both of her hands. She then, before anyone could even attempt to stop her, kissed Lone with a great amount of lust. Tongues mingled, and saliva melded. A hot kiss of passion was born between the two's lips.

After a quick second or two, Eolande separated from Lone and smiled with a certain hint of desire to her expression. "Well then, shall we move on to the next floor, Husband?" she said.

"Huh?" Lone, Sophie, the Lemurian and Breena all said at the same time. Then suddenly, Sophie broke down into tears on the spot and Lone looked like his soul had left his body due to pure shock. It was certainly a turn of events that no one had expected.