downyawood: Ah, really? Thank you for your support!
Huh, I honestly didn't expect the fic to get this much attention. Thanks to all the people who followed/faved! It gives me motivation!
DISCLAIMER: DO I LOOK LIKE I OWN ANYTHING—ah, well I'll just put this here: Hyperdimension Neptunia is developed by Compile Heart and Idea Factory. Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Daro ka or known in English as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? or simply DanMachi is written by Fujino Omori.
CHAPTER 2:
So I've Got No Place To Stay...
Bell blinked. "'CPU'...?" Was that a title of some sorts? Her words weren't really familiar with him...
Neptune studies the confused look on his face, a sense of realization starting to slowly creep up within her mind. "Aw, come on, you know? CPU? Console Patron Unit?"
The confusion still doesn't leave his face. "I'm sorry..." He starts to look sheepish. "Is that an Adventurer term here? I just recently came here to Orario, so I'm still not that knowledgeable about things here in the city..."
Neptune picked up on the new word he just said. "Huh? Orario? I've never heard of that place before... is that some location here in Planeptune?"
"Planep...?" Bell trails off in bewilderment.
Welp, his reaction just confirmed it. He doesn't know that a CPU is, he's never heard of Planeptune, so that obviously meant..."Ahhhh," Neptune heaves out a loud, exaggerated sigh, slouching her body forward while she was at it. "Looks like I've landed in another dimension again."
And to think that she was just in the Ultradimension. Looks like she can't stop being accidentally taken to other dimensions one way or another. Normally, one would be overcome with shock at the fact that they had been transported into a completely new and foreign dimension, but Neptune had already grown used to the running gag and treated such occurrences like these as normal.
Seeing that the boy before her - Bell, was it - was still looking pretty confused, Neptune decides to straighten up and explain things to him. "Well, another way of referring to a CPU is a goddess. Yeah, I know, things can get confusing when it comes to English localization terms."
Bell widens his eyes in surprise. Disregarding that confusing last bit aside, he exclaims, "Eh?! You're a goddess, Nepu... N-Neptu... N-Neptoo..."
Ah, he's pulling off a Compa. Neptune had to suppress a giggle at the way he was struggling just to say her name, she always found it amusing whenever others couldn't do it, especially when it comes to her Basilicom staff (this is why they had always opted for calling her "Purple Heart-sama" instead).
"Aw, if you're having too much trouble, you can just give me a nickname! Like Neppers, Neppy-Nep, Nep, the Nepster or whatever floats your boat," Neptune says.
"Oh, then may I refer to you as Nep-sama?" Bell asks.
"Just 'Nep' is fine, you know. You don't have to be so formal," Neptune replies.
"But you're a goddess, so it's only proper that I should give respect to you," Bell answers firmly.
He looks so insistent at it that Neptune decides to let it slide. "...Haha, wow, the way your eyes are giving me so much reverence is kinda making me blush," Neptune remarks with light embarrassment.
Out of all the goddesses, she was well-known for her lax ways, so her friends treated her casually like any other being, even with her human friends; to the extent that even her followers, with the admiration they have for her, regard her in a friendly manner as well (easygoing goddess also comes with easygoing followers—birds of a feather flock together, as they say). So she's not exactly used to being treated in such a formal way.
"...But ooh, 'Nep-sama' is like a combination of respect and endearment! It's a first! So I'm okay with it!" Neptune agrees enthusiastically. "And as for you..." She'd call him "Beru-Beru" or something along those lines, but that's what Peashy already calls Vert, so..."I'll just call you Bell-kun!" He and Vert had similar sounding names, might as well throw in a suffix to at least differentiate between the two.
Bell nods with a smile, having accepted their introductions with each other. "Um, so Nep-sama, what are you doing in a place like this? It's pretty dangerous to be in the Dungeon all by yourself." Especially since it looks like she didn't have any weapons with her...
Neptune rubs the back of her head with a sheepish smile. "Ahaha, you see, about that..."
A low growl resounds from her stomach, putting a halt to their conversation.
Oh, right, since Neptune was so caught up in saving Nepgear from the Bad End Syndrome she forgot to eat anything.
Bell remembers the food he had put away in his backpack and almost reaches to take it out, but remembers the location they were still currently in. "Ah, Nep-sama, I have some food you can eat, but we should get out of here first. Monsters might attack us at any moment."
They were pretty lucky that no monsters had attacked them in the middle of their conversation. There were only a certain number of monsters that could spawn in each floor, so perhaps he had managed to take all of them out? But they were bound to respawn eventually, so it's best to leave as to not take risks, Bell thinks to himself as he looks back at the quiet, dark path leading farther into the Dungeon.
"Oh Nep! There's a dead frog here!"
...And standing around here with a dead monster lying around isn't exactly going to help her appetite either.
They proceeded to leave the Dungeon, going up one floor at a time. Neptune had complained that it took too much effort in doing so, didn't they have a warp point or Escape Wing they could use? Bell didn't know what she meant by those words, but had explained to her that Adventurers have to walk all the way back from the floor they were in if they wanted to get back to the entrance. Neptune found such a rule a large inconvenience, but there was nothing she could do about it and grumpily walked along with him the rest of the way. The floor they had stayed in was the 5th floor, so it took them a total of four floors to get back to the Dungeon's entrance.
The rocky terrain and walls began to vanish, smooth tiles replacing it instead. Bell told Neptune that this tunnel was called the [Beginning Road] because naturally, this is the path leading to the Dungeon. There were a lot of Adventurers walking by, which Neptune had been staring and looking around in fascination. There were so many different people about with different clothes and different races ('Oh look a fox girl!').
The tunnel led to a set of stairs which led to a much wider and open space, the stairs they emerged from looking like a large hole in the center of the room. Judging by the people leaving through a large tunnel nearby, this was literally the "entrance to the Dungeon" itself.
"This is the underground floor leading to the Dungeon, [Babel]. It's a 'safe zone' since monsters don't spawn here," Bell had explained to Neptune, who was so busy admiring the painting of the sky in the ceiling overhead.
They were now currently sitting on one of the many benches placed around the town, as Bell was accompanying Neptune eat the bread he had given to her. 'Looks like it was a good thing I saved some leftovers after all,' he thinks to himself as he watches Neptune give large, hungry bites.
Since the surroundings were relaxed and peaceful, this looked like a good opportunity to get some explanations done.
"So, anyway, like I was about to say earlier," Neptune begins, after swallowing a chunk of bread down her throat, "The reason why I was in that dungeon place was because I got transported there. I was actually in another dimension, somehow triggered a portal, and woke up there."
Bell had already gotten the idea that she wasn't from around here, seeing that she had absolutely no idea about dungeons or anything about Orario at all, which is why he had explained things that seemed so foreign to her. But saying that she was from another dimension... a very uncommon situation, but Bell dismissed it as a deity-thing. "It was a good thing you didn't get seriously hurt, Nep-sama. It's dangerous there in the Dungeon."
"Yeah, I lucked out on that one. I was pretty freaked out when that shadow thing came from those cave walls! Not only that, but these other green monsters came out of them too! I don't get it, what's up with that place?!" Neptune babbles in a slightly distressed tone.
'Green monsters? Oh, she must mean the Goblins.' "That shadow-like monster is called a War Shadow. They're the strongest monsters on the 6th floor, where you must've woke up. The 'green-like monsters' you mentioned are Goblins. In the Dungeon, monsters are born from walls and the ceilings. We don't know why that's the case, the Dungeon is mysterious like that. It's like the place itself has a mind of its own, since it repairs itself whenever something damages it," Bell explains. He fixes his gaze at said tower ahead. "The tower of Babel was built in order to stop the monsters from escaping the Dungeon. Up until today, no one knows how many floors the Dungeon has, or what's at the end of it. A lot of people around the world come here in Orario and become Adventurers to explore it."
At his explanation, Neptune follows his gaze at the tall looming tower in the distance, noting the similarities to the Cursed Hell Devil Death Bloody Spectral Tower. Perhaps there was a connection between the two towers which could have led to her being transported in here? Hm...'I wonder if it'll be like the Cursed Hell Devil Death Bloody Spectral Tower and have 10,000 floors? They don't have elevators here so I guess it's going to take a long time for people to get to the last floor. ...Also, another good mystery to think about: who named the [Cursed Hell Devil Death Bloody Spectral Tower] anyway? It's seriously long, I'm going to abbreviate it to CHDDBS.'
"The Guild is the organization that handles the monsters by giving us Adventurers missions to complete and obtain money..." Bell continues, but suddenly trails off as his eyes widen. He quickly stands up from the bench in alarm. "Ah! That's right!"
Neptune looks at up at him in confusion. "Hm? Something wrong?"
"I still have to get the Magic Stones I collected exchanged in the Guild! I had completely lost track of time...! I nearly forgot...!" He explains in a hurried tone.
It had gotten fairly late. The sky had already turned orange, it must be already late in the day. He had entered the Dungeon at slightly past noon, and the hours he spent over going down until the 5th floor must have consumed a lot more time than he expected.
"Um, ah, Nep-sama, if you don't mind, I have to be on my way to the Guild," Bell tells her, taking his black backpack and strapping it on his shoulders.
"Oh, all right," Neptune stuffs the last bit of bread left into her mouth, stands up, and follows Bell.
The place they had ended up sprinting off towards to was a large yellowish—greenish—brownish (Neptune couldn't decide, the sunset made it hard to tell) and white building with what seemed to have flags or emblems hanging down from the front in the upper part of the building's walls.
They entered through the doors, Neptune taking in the various counters around the area and of course, the Adventurers that would come in and out from the entrance. "Ah, a guild. The staple of RPG settings," Neptune had remarked knowingly. Bell had glanced at her with a slightly confused face before he proceeded to this other counter to the side that was covered in this (gold?) wall. Neptune spots a strict-looking guy in a suit standing beside it, most likely acting as a guard. He narrows his eyes when he makes eye contact, making Neptune hurriedly look away uncomfortably ('Dude's giving me the evil eye...').
Bell takes out a small brown pouch from his backpack and lets these small purple fragments that Neptune had seen fall out from that War Shadow earlier drop into this space in the counter. It turned out to be a drawer that quickly shut in and replaced it with coins afterwards (he said "Valis"; is that the currency of this world?), making Neptune's eyes boggle with surprise because oh wow, that cloaked dude by the counter switches things -fast-.
Neptune surmises that the counter is like the equivalent of a bank in this world, seeing as this is where money is exchanged. It's no wonder that the security is tight.
Bell says a "thank you" as he picks up the coins and stores them away in the same brown pouch, as someone comes to approach.
"Ah, Bell-kun, you've worked hard today as usual."
"Oh, Eina-san!"
A female also dressed in one of those black and white suits was standing before them, glasses adorning her face with short brown hair and pointed ears. She had this mature look to her, but still had youthful features, so she should be older than Bell by a few years. 'No doubt about it, she has the big sister aura,' Neptune thinks.
Also, seeing as she had pointed ears, then..."Oooh! An elf character!" It was the first time Neptune had seen one up close. Elf-like characters hadn't really appeared in her series until Noire's spin-off. 'Ergh, figures that Miss Popular Lonely Heart would get to have the privilege of having one in her game first.'
The woman blinks at Neptune's sudden exclamation. "Ah, Bell-kun, who might your companion be...?"
"Oh, right. Let me introduce you," Bell says, gesturing over to the taller female. "Nep-sama, this is Eina Tulle-san. She's my advisor here in the Guild; she's actually a half-elf. Eina-san, this is Nep-sama. She's a goddess."
The woman now with the name of Eina stares at the smiling girl with surprise. "This girl... is a goddess?" Well, that certainly explained the unusual clothes. Though she looked like an adolescent girl, Eina knew that gods came in all shapes and sizes, so one couldn't judge based on appearances alone. "I-I see... though, what brings a goddess like herself to the Guild?"
"Good ol' Bell-kun here found me in the dungeon in the Baby-whatchamacallit tower. I got transported there from my dimension," Neptune replies cheerfully.
"Since Nep-sama says she came from another dimension, she doesn't know much about Orario yet, so I'm letting her accompany me," Bell adds.
"A-another dimension, you say..." Eina was desperately trying to contain the incredulity that was starting to seep into her voice. They were treating the situation so casually! Bell already looked like he accepted the fact that the girl was some deity from another world, without questioning the ridiculousness of the statement! For all Eina knew, she could be tricking Bell by claiming she was a goddess and had hidden ulterior motives. There are many people out there who would take advantage of Bell's nice personality, so she can't help but worry. That was what the paranoia within Eina was saying, but then again, she doesn't sense any malicious intent coming from the girl (her eyes seemed way too -bright- and way too -honest-), and perhaps this whole "dimension travel" thing was simply another divine-related matter that was far too otherworldly for her to comprehend...? The nature of the gods and their ways of living were on a different level as far as Eina knew.
"...I-I see, that's very considerate of you, Bell-kun. But, you mentioned that she recently arrived here, right? Does she have a place to stay?"
Neptune crosses her arms and looks down on the floor in contemplation. "Hmm, didn't think of that..."
"I'd recommend an inn for you, but knowing that you don't have any Valis..." Eina starts to say.
Seeing the troubled looks on both of the girls' faces, a thought comes to Bell's mind, and he speaks up. "Ah... maybe, would you like to stay at our place...?"
This makes them face him in surprise at his suggestion. "Eh, really?" Neptune asks.
"W-well, it's just that the place we are living in might not be the most ideal kind of location..." Bell tries to explain.
But Neptune just nods her head eagerly. "Nah, you're the one who's letting me stay over! That's good enough for me!"
"Is your goddess going to be okay with letting a stranger be living with you two?" Eina tells him.
'Right, there's still Kami-sama's opinion...' "It's only just Kami-sama and I who are living in our home, so there should be more than enough space for another person. Nep-sama is really in need of shelter, so I can't just leave her alone like this..." Bell replies.
Neptune looks upon him with shining eyes filled with admiration. "Oh, Bell-kun! You nice guy, you! If anything, -you're- god-sent!"
As Bell rubs the back of his head sheepishly at Neptune's comment, Eina folds her arms across her chest and gives him a bemused smile. "Honestly, Bell-kun, you're too nice. But, well, that's your decision, so you're going to have to take responsibility for it." Her tone had a light scolding manner to it, but the understanding was present. 'Yep, definitely the big sister type,' Neptune thinks. Bell responded to her words by straightening his posture and saying a firm "Y-yes!".
Eina smiles and gives a small 'hm' of approval. She then turns her gaze towards Neptune and takes note of her dirty appearance. "Well, before you two get going, I think it's best if you let ah, 'Nep-sama', is it—take a bath to clean herself up." Her words make Neptune glance down at her body. Right, she was still covered with dirt and scrapes from her earlier mishap in the Dungeon. Eina then leans forward with scrutinizing eyes at Bell's direction. "You look like you could use a bath yourself, Bell-kun. With all the Adventurer work you do, you can't forget to look after cleaning your body. Hygiene is very important!"
"Y-yes..." Bell responds with his head drooped down low.
After thanking Eina for her advice and bidding her farewell, the two leave the Guild. Before the two could get on their way, Neptune accompanied Bell in one of the market stalls as he had to buy their meals for dinner. Well, for a definition of 'dinner'. As much as Bell wanted to buy some meat (since he felt the need to at least feed a goddess like Neptune some decent food), sadly the money he had on now wouldn't be able to make the cut, so he ended up buying more bread again, inwardly promising to stuff it with as much ingredients like maybe cheese in it (oh wait they might still have some jam left over too, they could use that) so the taste wouldn't be too plain.
While in the middle of doing his groceries, Bell remembers that since Neptune will be staying with them, and they'll be having dinner, she'll need a toothbrush to brush her teeth afterwards, right? He and Kami-sama already have theirs, he should buy one for Nep-sama too. He remembers Eina's words about Neptune needing a bath, so he buys another towel for her to use.
He bought the tootbrush for about 25 Valis, the towel for 150 Valis. They were both very cheap, it was the same kind he and Kami-sama used. He would've bought something better, but that was all he could afford for now...
After finishing what needed to be bought, Bell starts to lead Neptune to their home, as in, the current place where she'll be staying from now on. Neptune noticed that they were walking farther away from the bustling streets and heading into a quieter part of town where there seemed to be less people. One would have immediately gotten suspicious with the rather isolated location he was taking her, but Neptune was completely sure that Bell was a nice person and the thought of him doing anything weird to her hadn't crossed her mind one bit.
They slip through a bunch of narrow corners in the alley, and eventually arrive at an area where Neptune can promptly sum up was a "ruin" due to the broken remains and slabs of concrete scattered about the path. Just before they could enter the building, Bell had paused and turned to face Neptune in concern. "Um, Nep-sama, so this kind of place—"
"So... is this your Basilicom?"
Bell blinks in surprise, caught off-guard by Neptune's sudden question and unusual term she had used. But he slowly replies, "Ah, yes, this church is..." Bell could only mutter out a few words in response as Neptune dashes past him and into the church's aisle.
"Wow, this place looks ancient! Oh, hey, at least tell me you've got a toilet in here! I feel like I gotta go!" He could hear her yelling from inside.
"Ah, yes, the bathroom's over by the room in the back—"
The bathroom was predictably in the same dilapidated state as the building was, but Neptune's just glad there was an actual toilet bowl. Bell told her that there's a cloth she could use to cover the toilet seat if she ever wants to do her business. There was a shower right next to the toilet, covered by an old-looking, worn-out curtain. While she was busy examining the bathroom, Bell reaches out an arm through the door with the towel he had bought earlier, telling her that she can go ahead and take a bath first, to which Neptune happily received with a quick "Thankies!".
"Taking a bath, taking a bath~" Neptune hummed to herself, scrubbing her body with soap (she was thankful that they had liquid soap, otherwise it would've been weird if she had to use somebody else's soap).
Meanwhile, while waiting for his turn in the bath, Bell was seated on the couch, counting the Valis he had earned for the day.
'Okay, so I earned 3,500 Valis today, and I spent 980 Valis for the bread, with an additional 25 and 150 Valis for the toothbrush and towel respectively... so that still leaves me with 2,345 Valis!'
To others, Bell worrying about money savings might not seem much, but for a humble Adventurer such as him, budgets were -serious business-.
"Baaaaaaath~"
He glances at the direction of the bathroom with an amused smile. 'Nep-sama is a very cheerful person.'
Minutes later, Neptune came out from the bathroom, fully dressed and drying her hair with the towel.
"Hey, Bell-kun! Does your goddess have a comb or brush I can use?"
Bell freezes up on the spot, panic starting to come over his features. "...Aaah! I completely forgot to buy a comb for Nep-sama!"
"Nah, it's fine, I'm not that conscious of sharing combs," Neptune replies. "I mean, your goddess doesn't have nits or bacteria on her head, does she?" Her tone was light, but blunt; Bell could get that even though most people would find her words offensive, she was just saying things as it is. He could sense that she was a person who spoke what was on her mind, Bell thinks with a light sweatdrop.
He shakes those thoughts away, shaking his actual head while he was at it. "No, it's not proper! Please wait here! I'll come back and buy you one!"
"Ah, but you don't have to—"
But he was already out the door.
Bell came back later, a comb in hand while looking out of breath. He looked like he ran a marathon or something! As it turns out, he had dashed all the way into town and back. It took him a total of 15 minutes, holy smoly, just how fast was he?, was what Neptune was thinking. Still, it was very considerate of him, so she praised him for his efforts.
'And that's minus 185 Valis, so now there's 2,160.'
The sun had finally set, their hairs fully combed and fully dry, and the two were currently eating supper with the meals (bread) that Bell had prepared on the (only) small table in the room, sitting on this couch. Bell had put away his brown coat and black backpack and was only wearing his black clothes underneath. 'Black clothes and white hair... is he going for a monochrome look?,' Neptune wonders.
While chewing a piece of bread in her mouth, Neptune looks around the room, as if looking for something. "Hey, you said you live here with your goddess, right? Where is she?" Her voice had ended up being slightly muffled with the chewing she was doing. "Ah, is she that statue over by the altar?" For all Neptune knew, maybe their goddesses were different in this world too.
Bell shakes his head with bemusement. "No, Kami-sama was invited to a banquet and left this morning. She won't be back for a few days."
"Hmmm, she didn't take you along?" Neptune asks.
"Those kind of parties are only exclusive to the gods. A human like me isn't allowed to come," Bell replies. There was something rather deprecating to his last words, but Neptune chose not to dwell on it at the moment.
"Is that so... well, either way, I'd like to meet up with your goddess soon and see what she's like! She must be a really interesting person since she lives in a place like this!" Neptune says.
"Ah... about that... Kami-sama didn't originally live here. She recently came down from Heaven. But she's not a very well-known goddess, so she wasn't able to obtain shelter on her own... Kami-sama's friend was the one who let her stay in this church," Bell explains.
Her friend must have dumped this place on her as a last method... why does Neptune get that kind of feeling, she wonders..."Ohh, is that the case? I'd have to say you're pretty dedicated, seeing as you're still staying with her until now."
"Kami-sama reached out to me when I was alone... and I have always been grateful for that. Even if it's only just the two of us right now, I like to think that we're still growing...! I know that someday our [Familia] will become bigger...! So until then, I'll keep working hard!" Bell says with impassioned emotions.
Neptune can't stop the smile that's forming on her face. "Aw, you -are- dedicated! I can totally feel your passion." Neptune then raises a finger. "Ah, but don't you mean three?"
"'Three'...?" Bell asks in confusion.
"Yeah, you just said there's only two of you. Now that I'm here, there's three of us!" Neptune explains to him as if she was a teacher giving a lesson to a student. "I'll try to become the best third-wheeler that I can be! See, it's already growing!"
Bell looks at her with comically glistening eyes as if he's about to burst into tears right then and there. "Nep-sama...!" He didn't know what a "third-wheeler" was, but he's still immensely touched.
'Ah, I knew it, he's the sensitive type,' Neptune thinks with an amused grin. Then her expression shifts to an inquiring one. "Speaking of which, what's that 'Familia' thing you just said?"
Bell snaps out of his emotional moment and recomposes himself. "Ah, right. A [Familia] is a faction under ownership of a god. Most Familias are composed of exploration-type factions, meaning that their purpose is to explore the Dungeon, though there are others that are involved in businesses, industries, medicine and even Familias that are composed of an entire nation. Kami-sama is the head of this Familia, the [Hestia Familia]."
"Oohh, so her name's Hestia," Neptune remarks thoughtfully.
Bell nods. "Yes. ...Though, we are still starting out, that's why our living conditions are still like this... Nep-sama, I know what you said earlier, but are you really comfortable in living in a place like this?"
"Ehh, you still want to ask me that now, of all times?" Neptune asks dismissively. "I should be saying the same thing to you, Bell-kun. Do you like living in this crumbling old building?"
"Eh?" He has often wished that he could give Kami-sama a better home to live in, but..."I'll admit that the first few weeks that we spent here weren't easy. There was a lot of adjusting we had to do, but the times I spend with Kami-sama are fun... so if I had to say, at the moment I'm actually content with this kind of lifestyle..."
Neptune flops her back onto the couch. "Then see, there's no problem! I'm totally okay with it, too! If anything I should be the one who owes you, seeing as you're the one who's letting me stay and everything!" Then she straightens from her seat, facing Bell with a mixture of seriousness and intrigue. "After all, we just met today. And you're willing to let me live with you?"
"Well, um... I guess that's because..." Bell starts to say, already rubbing the back of his head. "...I know Nep-sama is a good person? And as a man, I wouldn't live it down if I couldn't help a girl..."
Neptune stares. 'That kind of reasoning...' "As expected of a nice guy protag! How typical! Ahaha!"
Bell's face starts to grow red in embarrassment while Neptune continues to laugh. Maybe his reasons were too cliché? He admits that most of his values came from the stories of heroes his grandfather used to tell him...
"Well, mister nice guy protagonist! I, Neptune [insert last name here], extend my deepest gratitude to your niceness!" Then her smile grows softer; less teasing, "Thank you. I'll be in your care!"
'Ah... that's it. Someone who smiles like that can't possibly be a bad person.' Bell returns a smile of his own. "Yes!"
After finishing dinner, the two brush their teeth (the toothbrushes here looked like these cute little paintbrushes ooh it's so different from modern toothbrushes, Neptune notes), and decide to call it a day.
"You sure you wanna sleep at the couch?" Neptune asks, standing by the bed. "The bed's big enough for two people, so we can share!"
"N-no, it's okay! I'm used to it! There's no need for you to worry, Nep-sama!" Bell answers hurriedly as he positions himself on the couch. Though the lights had been turned off, Neptune could tell that his face was slightly red. The color was rather easy to spot due to its contrast with his albino hair.
Yep, he was definitely a 100% nice guy. It was an overused trait when it came to protagonists, but still a likable trait nevertheless. For a boy like Bell, it made him seem more innocent, Neptune thinks with a smile.
"Well, g'night!" Neptune says as she flops into the bed face-first.
"Good night, Nep-sama," Bell answers as he places his blanket over his body. He lies down on the couch, staring at the ceiling, before he eventually drifts off to sleep.
Tomorrow would be another day; another usual dungeon exploration.
But he finds comfort that when he wakes up the next morning, he won't be alone.
Some trivia:
Nepronunciation - Neptune's name in Romaji is apparently "Neputūnu" (or even "Neputyūnu" according to Wikipedia) instead of "Nepūchun", so perhaps the difference in pronunciation is why others can't pronounce Neptune's name right. Then again, everyone can pronounce the name "Planeptune" just fine, so it's most likely some running gag. And I'm probably just overthinking things. Bleh.
Double Bell - While we're at it, Vert's name in Romaji is "Beru", the same as Bell's name when pronounced in Japanese; "Beru".
Spare toothbrush, towel and brush - It's apparently not very hygienic to share one's towel and brush/comb (toothbrush is naturally out of the question) with other people due to the risk of catching bacteria or other diseases. So Bell's concern is natural, Neptune! No matter how nonchalant you are, this is hygiene we're talking about here!
Not much action here, it's mostly exposition, so sorry if this chapter's kinda boring. But hey, you can't expect Neptune to be running around with absolutely zero knowledge of the DanMachi world, right? Oh, and rest assured, the constant appearances of bread here isn't because of my status as a bread lover, but a legit European lifestyle!
I get the feeling that I might have unnecessarily gave importance to the living conditions of the Hestia Familia. But realistically speaking, it's a ruined church! Living in such an abandoned place must be covered in a whole lot of dust and dirt, and I can't imagine that someone would immediately be comfortable living in that kind of environment. ...Then again, this is only an anime, and therefore not associated with reality, so who knows. Maybe Hestia's applying some power to the entire place to ensure that it's always clean or something?
Ah, and I'm going by the light novel's pace, so I might mention some things that will confuse those who haven't read it yet. Neptune's appearance takes place when Hestia had gone out to the banquet. They ended up skipping what Bell did during those three days, so I figured I'd use this opportunity to use those days for more bonding moments, yeah! As you can see, this is only the first day so far.
And ugh, I'm not sure if I wrote everyone in character. EERGH NO I HATE OOC-NESS DAAARGH
...I should go now.