Episode 1-Adventurer Bell Cranel
A dungeon is a place for the birth of monsters. But sometimes, the dungeon gets mad at the adventurers for killing its children and collecting their heart which we call magic stones which are also the earning of an Adventurer. The dungeon sometimes tries to make the adventurers fell in its trap so that its beloved children's could devour them and for that, it shows some kind of happening which could be also called an Irregularity.
My dad told me, dungeon also takes the test of the adventurers and sees if they face it or not. Basically, the probability of these kinds of happenings or Irregularities mostly began from mid or deeper Floors.
So why?
Why? Why? WHY!?
"WHY THE HELL IS A GOD DAMN MINOTAUR DOING ON THE FIFTH FLOOR?!"
I'm being chased by the bull-headed man-beast, the Minotaur. I'm going to be devoured by a monster that my measly Level One attacks can't even scratch. Honestly, how is this possible, to even have an irregularity on damn Fifth Floor?
Few hours before the encounter...
Orario, the labyrinth city…
I finally came back, to the place where all of this happened. Now the only thing I had to do is quickly get into a Familia and grind excelia, get stronger to protect others. I still have grandpas engraved falna I can't rely on him to update my status as he is banned from entering to Orario, so he decided to seal my falna so that no other gods could notice it and the seal was placed with the complex spell. He did this so that he could ensure that I am doing good. 'Now time to find me a Familia.' I roamed here and there to get someone pick me for their Familia, but the gods there were just putting me as a non-combatant member who would only be allowed to do the housework for the Familia like cleaning, washing and all.
The nerve of those gods, how can they treat me like that? is it because I am a bit skinny, weak looking brat. I sat on the Floor with the support of a wall on my back holding my forehead and was about to give up but one stray goddess came to me, "Are you looking for a Familia?" she lends her hand to my reach and asked me with a smile.
"A-And you are?"
"I am Hestia, the goddess of Home and Heart."
"Eh?..."
Just by looking at her, I probably thought she was a young girl about to hit puberty. Her shiny jet-black hair falls down on the sides of her head to cover her ears but is also long enough to be tied into two extensive ponytails that reach down to her waist. Two black plain ribbons hold them together. Her round face and cheeks make her look very young, which is why I can't believe how much her boobs push up her clothes with her clear blue, orb-like eyes, and she has an aura like a fairy-tale character come to life.
"Uh…..are you really a goddess? You look like a little girl to me."
"Hey…..you are being rude child, you dare to make fun of a god," she puffed up and took her hand backcrossing it under her humongous boobs.
'Why is she wearing that kind of outfit it is too hard to look at her,' I was hardly looking with a light blush, "Why me?"
"Eh?...Uh...Well, you see."
I stared harder at her, she can't help but be honest to me.
"Well, the thing….I just came to the lower world and no one is interested in joining my Familia….So I thought..you might..*sigh*" she dropped her head and I was surprised for that sudden reaction.
A goddess who needed a Familia of her own, she looked poor and sad. I couldn't help but accept her offer, no it was beneficial for me as it would also train me to be the captain if my Familia grows up.
I lend my hand and the goddess was confused but she helped me to stand up, I then said I am ready to join your Familia and hearing that she started to jump with joy.
"Um...There is one request...could you fulfill it for me?"
"A-A request?...w-what is i-it?" Hestia started to stumble as she was worried that I might change my mind.
"Can I call you by your name?"
"Eh?"
"Well, I am in a habit to call the deities by their name…..So if you don't mind can I call you Hestia?"
"Yes sure, why not," she said it with a small blush and a big smile.
We then headed to the Familia base. First, we made our way out of the crowd, off of Main Street, and into a smaller back road. There are so many twists and turns back here I'm surprised I don't get lost more often.
As the noise of Main Street fades, we arrive at a dead end.
"…"
I crane my neck back to look up at an old, rundown church in this cul-de-sac. I don't think anyone has been here in years.
"Um….Hestia….why are we here?"
"Hehe…..this is our home child."
To think, this two-story building was built to be a place to worship the gods. Now it's not much more than ruin. There are pieces of walls missing. Well, actually, they're in piles on the ground where they fell. There's a hint of sadness about this place, left over from the people who stopped coming here who knows how many years ago.
A statue of a goddess smiles down on me from above the main door of the church. She's seen better days. Half of her face is missing, and chunks of rock from her body are gone. I've seen more complete Swiss cheese.
The inside looks half destroyed. As I step inside, my foot lands on a weed growing out of the broken tile Floor. Pieces of the ceiling are either gone or about to fall. On the bright side, this lets in a bit of sunlight. The sunbeams light up what's left of an altar at the back of the church.
We weave through the wreckage on the path where Hestia was taking me, heading toward a small room behind the altar. It was once a storage room and is still lined with empty shelves. But the shelf at the very back corner is actually a door to a stairwell. Hestia pulls it back and climbs down.
The stairway isn't that long, and there's still some light sneaking in from outside. We had no trouble opening the door. The space we share has one square part and one long part; it's the shape of a P underground. The entrance is in the square, the door in the middle of the front wall, and two sofas face each other against the other two opposite walls.
"See, this is our home child."
"Bell…"
"Eh?..."
"It's Bell, Bell Cranel."
"Bell Cranel huh…..okay Bell, starting today you are my Familia. Now first take off your shirt and lay down here for the ritual."
"O-Okay."
I walk toward the bed as I pull off my undershirt. I look over my shoulder into the full-length mirror at the end of the room.
My topless, pale-skinned reflection with hair as white as Grampa's looks back at me. Hestia then started to imprint her falna on my back. Thankfully she didn't notice Zeus's falna. After she imprinted her falna, she was surprised to see that my stats were a bit high for a normal level one
Bell Cranel
Level. 1
STR: H 198
END: H 155
DEX: G 201
AGI: F 388
MAG:I 0
SKILL
[]
MAGIC
[]
"Um….Bell have you already been in another Familia?"
"Uh….yeah, outside Orario, a god gave me his blessings so that I could train myself to get stronger before I come here."
Nobody can lie to the gods, I just told half of the truth so that I could keep my secret of having Zeus' falna. Hestia didn't ask more question. Yes, finally got into one. I then left off to dungeon after saying bye to Hestia, she also sees me off with a smile.
I finally reached the guild. I asked someone for filling myself as an adventurer, the person who came to assist me with the document was named Eina Tulle, a receptionist that manages all dungeon activities.
Her long, pointed ears twitched as her transparent emerald eyes tore themselves away from the pages of the book she was currently reading. Her mid-length brown hair shone in the early afternoon sunlight. Despite her good looks, she was not quite as "perfect" as the elves. It was as if her beauty had been glued on, but a corner was sticking up. The guild uniform, black jacket and pants, suited her thin frame very well.
Known as the young Miss Congeniality within the guild, Eina was half human, half elf. She helped me fill up the form and after all the formalities I was happy that she was assigned as my advisor, she bought me the basic equipment for a beginner adventurer which had a light chest-plate and a dagger with some potions for which I do have to pay, I again greeted her and left off to the dungeon.
The dungeon is in a place where a big tower is built over it to prevent the monsters from coming out from it, the tower is called the Babel. It was originally the same size as the buildings but was intentionally destroyed when the first Gods came down to earth. Those Gods later rebuilt it as it currently stands all tall and high. Babel is owned by the Guild to watch and take care of the dungeon. The first twenty Floors are filled with Familia business, facilities, and money exchanges. The Hephaestus Familia has shops in Floors 4-8. Above that are living areas of the most prominent Gods in Orario, known as the Private Rooms.
Just like Babel dungeon also have some levels which are made after analyzing the Floors, they are classified as upper-Floors, middle-Floors and the lower or deeper-Floors.
The upper-Floors are ranged from 1st-12th Floor, middle-Floors raged from 13th-25th Floor and lower or deeper-Floor ranged from 26th Floor onwards.
For now, I am passing through 1st Floor, the walls are light blue colored, and most of the monsters that appear are Goblins or Kobolds. I had no problem in killing them so I decided to go even further.
Now I am in 5th Floor, the walls change to a light green color and the structure of the Dungeon begins to change. Stronger monsters such as Killer Ants appear and the monster birth time is faster. Everything was going good, I slew most of the monsters and took their magic stones, Well these monsters are weak...can't I get some strong monster's? and thus that was my biggest mistake to even think about that, right after I thought that I heard heavy footsteps from one of the four junctions of the path, and then I saw it a bull-headed man-beast Minotaur which is supposed to be a level 2, It had a hard body which can't be cut down by the equipment I had. Even if I had skills to fight it I can't for now.
"Urrrroooooarrrrrrr!"
"Damn my luck, I didn't want this kind of monster to show up now!"
"Uughunnnnn!"
"Daaahhh!"
The Minotaur's hoof comes crashing down behind me.
Ha-ha! It missed! Eh? When did that crack get there?
Not the most graceful face-plant… Here comes that hoof again! Roll! Now!
"Hoo-hooo…!"
"Waaahhhhhhhh!"
All I can do now is scoot my sorry butt back. My back hits the wall. Now there really is nowhere to run. I sprinted all that way, hall after hall, just to get trapped in a wide, square room. And now I'm cornered. Tsk...is this the end for me? No….not yet Bell. You promised your mother that you will get strong, you will face any danger head-on, come on, think, think, there must be a way out.
The Minotaur's nose is so close, its putrid breath pounding my skin. I look up at its ridiculously muscular body. It has to be at least twice my size. What's worse, it's gloating over me with a clumsy, broken smile. I tried to think to again outrun it but it was too late.
The next moment, a line shoots across the creature's torso.
"Huh?"
"Uoohhhh?"
Sounds like he's just as confused as I am…
The line doesn't stop there. It travels through thick pectoral muscles, across the raised leg, up to the thigh, to the shoulders, and finally out the Minotaur's neck. Now a silver light is shining through…
And so it was that a monster I couldn't scratch was cut into slabs of meat.
"Guu…? GWWAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa!"
Its dying roar of surprise and pain echoes through the chamber.
The beast's body falls to pieces along the dissection incisions, as if the seams of an overstuffed doll all burst at once. Its dark red "stuffing" sprays out like a fountain. Time stands still as a tsunami of beast blood washes over me.
"Are you… okay?"
That's when I see a young girl, emerge from behind what's left of the bull monster.
Her thin body is decorated with light blue clothing.
Even in armor, she radiates feminine beauty.
She stands tall, despite her petite frame. Her bulging twins are packed tightly into a breastplate engraved with a silver emblem. The same emblem graces her wrists and blood-soaked saber. She points the glistening blade downward, the blood dripping harmlessly to the floor.
The blond hair hanging down to her waist shines so brightly, I could swear it's made of real gold.
Atop a body that any woman would call delicate perches the face of a sweet, young girl. She looks down upon me with golden eyes. A female warrior with golden eyes and hair, clad in light blue raiment.
Seeing her reminded me of my mother who was as pretty as her, judging by her body she might be a year or two younger than me. She lends her hand and asked again "Are you... okay?"
I came back to my senses, I was blushing after seeing her beauty but it was covered with the Minotaurs blood, I got up with her support. Disgusting Minotaur's blood never mind that I had to take bath first, I looked at her and was about to thank her but then a beast-man appeared after her.
"Hey, Aiz did you killed the last minotaur?"
He has gray colored hair, along with amber eyes, as well as a sleek tail. He also has a blue tattoo on the left side of his face and a muscular physique.
"Yes, I did Bete."
The beast-man was called Bete, a werewolf and the one he called Aiz was the blonde girl. The werewolf took a look at me and started to laugh,
"Pft-hahaha….. what's with the tomato guy here?"
"T-Tomato guy!?"
"It's rude Bete," the blonde girl said with a plane face.
"Whatever, you must be a newbie…huh? Where did he go?... Don't tell me he is scared of our princess now….pft-hahahaha."
He kept on laughing and Aiz puffed her cheeks with only one thought, Am I scary?
I immediately left the place to grab my magic stones while the big guy was making fun of me, ya I know it's rude of me to leave without thanking her but I couldn't stand to hear that guy's laugh and moreover I don't want to stay while this disgusting blood is all over me.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy! Eina!"
"Oh Bel- Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
Inside guild hall, private room
"You know, Bell, after getting covered in blood, you should at least take a shower before coming in here…"
"Sorry about that… but it would be a pain to go back home and come here."
"*sigh* Honestly, why are you like this…"
I can only hang my head and listen as she speaks. We are in a small room set up in the lobby of Guild headquarters. Sitting in chairs across from each other, there's only a table between us.
I'm clean at this point, but that doesn't stop her from making an overly dramatic sigh.
"I can't believe you walked through the city as such a revolting mess! It makes me question your sanity."
"Y-Yeah I know….*sigh* sorry."
Hearing someone as pretty as Eina say something that harsh so directly cuts really deep. She cracks a painful smile and gently pushes my nose with her finger. "Be careful next time, okay?" she asks, giving me a big smile. I nod with a small smile on my face.
"So what made you rush here instead of going back to your home?"
"Well, about that…"
I told her everything about what had just happened, my face getting redder with every word. I start with how I decided to go from the lower second floor of the dungeon, my usual route, down to the lower fifth and then about how I encountered a Minotaur the moment I arrived. Even about trying to run away and getting cornered. Then being saved from certain death by the blonde hair and golden-eyed girl named Aiz.
Eina is nice enough to lend me her ears, but her face gets more and more frightening with each passing detail.
"Aaahh, why don't you ever listen to me?! You are alone, solo, in the Dungeon! You can't just suddenly go that deep without any preparation! How many times have I told you that adventurers shouldn't go on adventures?!"
" *sigh* Yes ma'am…"
—Adventurers shouldn't go on adventures—
That's Eina's motto. It may sound like one heck of a contradiction, but she's really saying, "Get some insurance and safety first."
Seems like newbies like me really need to take her words to heart. I heard most adventurers who die in the dungeon are newbies, too. No one could have guessed that an encounter with a category Level Two monster like the Minotaur would have happened on the lower fifth floor of the Dungeon.
Everyone knows that Minotaurs only show up on the lower fifteenth floor or lower. I can hear Eina's words now: "No telling what will happen in a dungeon."
But seriously, if it weren't for that girl, I'd be dead right about now. Finally, I told her how I tried to say "thank you" but ended up to get out of there because of this Minotaur's disgusting blood smell and that wolf-guy.
"Bell!... That's rude of you!"
"I-I know Eina, I should've stayed and thanked her. But could you please tell me who this Aiz person is?"
"Eh….you don't know about Aiz Wallenstein?"
I nodded sideways and Eina on seeing this was left with her mouth open. Why is that person something special?
Eina then told me everything about her but not in detail as she had to follow the order of guild of not exposing any other adventurer's detail to anyone, so she only told me what everyone knew about her.
Full Name: Aiz Wallenstein. She is the female warrior at the core of Loki Familia. There is no question that her swordsmanship is on par with the strongest of all adventurers. She once wiped out a horde of Level Five monsters by herself, earning her the nickname "kenki," or sword princess. Some go as far as to call her "senki," which sounds like "Lady of Combat."
I heard from her that the gods call her Aiz "maji musou," or "Aiz the Unequaled." Males who try to put the moves on her are slain, utterly destroyed. She just recently passed the thousand-kill mark.
"Wow… is she that amazing.." I touched my lip with my index finger with a surprised face and was wondering about her, as a slight blush appeared on my face Eina continued, "Haha… What's this? Bell, do you have a thing for Ms. Wallenstein?
"Huh…..No not at all," I quickly replied and stood up "Besides, I have some other things to look up for."
Eina also stood up and continued to hear me out,
"It's my fault, I wasn't prepared ( making a fist ) I have to get stronger. ( while glancing at her ) Right now I only have a mindset to get stronger."
Eina blinks her eyes two, three times and says while giving a smile "Yup, I guess you are right."
She then clears her throat and gets back to her business as an adviser.
"Are you going to get some money?"
"… Well, yeah. I slew a lot of monsters before meeting the Minotaur, so that's something."
"Then let's go to the Exchange. I'll walk you there."
The Exchange is within headquarters itself. We go there, and I pick up my pay for today. I trade in some magic stone shards I got for killing mostly goblins and kobolds. Everything comes out to about 7,500 vals worth of money.
Let's see… Weapon repairs, food for me and Hestia... a chance for new items for me…
"Bell?"
"Oh… yes? What is it?"
Eina had walked with me almost out the door, but she stopped just before leaving headquarters.
She looks like she has something on her mind, and then just says it: "You should also consider many things in life, you are a man now right so it's okay to look for things other than getting stronger."
I could only smile at her, I am a teen and she is right I should relax and look for other things but for now, I can't distract my mind so I could only reply: "I will keep that in mind Eina. Thank you." I left off.
I was passing by the shops, it was almost night and the clock was about to hit six. While passing through the shops I saw a stall where ribbons were sold. It's my first income... I have 7,500 vals now, I would be a bad guy if I didn't give her something.
Finally, I reached back home.
"Hestia I'm home!"
As my voice echoes off the basement walls, the smell of home wafts into my nose. Hestia sprawled out on a purple sofa just inside the door. She looks up from her book and jumps to her feet.
"Hey, hey, welcome back! So how did it go?"
"Hehe… guess what I slew a ton of goblins and kobolds, and was surfing through the fifth floor and killed a group up killer ants," I told her with a smile but she seemed to be disappointed.
"Is that all you did?"
"Well duh… what were you expecting?"
"I thought you could've done more good than that."
"Oh please, I could've done only if I wasn't chased by a god damn Minotaur."
"Eh?"
I explained the whole story to her but seems like she was more irritated at the part when I mentioned Aiz.
Well after explaining everything to her I asked her to update my status, that Minotaur did make me run all over the place so my agility must've skyrocketed through the status. I took off my undershirt and Hestia began to run her fingers on my back.
Bell Cranel
Level. 1
STR: H 198 - G 202
END: H 155 - H 156
DEX: G 201 - G 205
AGI: F 388 - D 488
MAG:I 0
SKILL
[LIARIS FREESE]
Rapid Growth
Continued desire results in the continued growth
Stronger desire results in stronger growth
MAGIC
[]
Hestia herself was surprised while handing my status to me, she kept silence while I was left with my mouth open.
"Um… Hestia, is my status correct?"
"Y-Yes it is, why do you ask?"
"Look, it's unusual to have a direct increment in my agility. It went up by 100 points? Was I running that much?" I was still scratching my head while she still kept herself silent.
"And seems like I got a new skill…"
"Oh, my hand jus-"
"L-Li-ar-is Fr-ee-se?"
"Wh-what, w-wait you know how to read the Tenkai language?" she was surprised as she clearly wrote its name in Tenkai which was a bit broken or say outlined.
"Uh… yeah, my previous god taught me how to read the language of Tenkai.
I read it clearly and scratched my head, Hestia after giving out a big sigh told me that I had earned this skill a long time ago but according to her it was sealed by my previous god that is grandpa Zeus. Grandpa, why didn't you told me about this? the only question in my mind which was broken by Hestia's interruption, "I think he didn't want you to know, if you knew about this then you would've probably blab it off to others."
Yes, she is right, when I was a kid I was an easy one to get any info out from me. The skill I acquired is the rarest of all.
"Bell… since you know about this, I would recommend you not to blab it out. Otherwise ( head downs ) other gods would try to steal you away from me and use you as a toy. I… I don't want it so please…"
"Heh… Like they got a lot of nerve to use me as their plaything."
"Huh?"
"Hestia… I promise you, no matter what happens I won't leave you alone."
"..."
"I am an adult and I know what I must say and what I mustn't say."
"..."
"Here…" I took a pouch from my pocket and gave it to her.
"W-What is this?"
"Open up..hehe."
As she opened up the pouch, she found two blue ribbons with silver bells on them. She then looked at me with her round blue eyes in confusion.
"This… is the promissory gift… from me to you Hestia…"
I gave her a big smile. Seeing this she became happy and hugged me, well the hud gave me a direct hit on my face by her big boobs. We then sat together to eat Jagamaru-kun or potato-croquettes for dinner. Well, the first day of Orario went well, somehow. I still have a long way to go, so for now,
"Goodnight Hestia."
"Goodnight Bell."
