Author Note:
Are you Happy?
I turned off Bold Letter for Issei dialogue since it seems to upset or bother some people. I will not use it when he is talking publicly but I will use Bold Letters for Issei on certain situations like when he is inside Bell for instance.
Though I am pretty happy with the support of this fanfic especially for the last chapter, it makes me extremely happy that you liked what I wrote even if there are some insignificant mistakes that I made.
Also thank you Marshall Cross Marian for coming up with the name of Bell's weapon.
Chapter 6: Progress
Previously on,
They all made their way through the debris only to see Bell with an enormous black broadsword in his hands, Bell quickly twirls it only for it to change into a rapier, he then now flips the weapon into the air only for it to change once again but this time into a dagger.
Issei and Hephaestus who knew about weapons were mesmerized by the shape-shifting blade. Hephaestus was at least proud that she once again made something unique even if it was with the help of another. Issei was just happy that Bell was able to bond with the spirit blade at least and Bell seems to be able to understand how to utilize it properly.
"Bell?" Hestia asked.
Bell then turns to them and widely smiles, showing them his white teeth. Hestia and Hephaestus were both blushing like teenagers at seeing Bell in his Boxers giving them a smile, it was a dream come true for them.
Issei who was standing right next to them sweatdropped and made his way to Bell appraising the blade he and Hephaestus crafted.
He knew that this blade is currently as strong as the boy right now, but will also grow with him in time.
"Bell, Can you tell what is the name of your partner?"
This got the attention of the Blushing Goddesses who were also interested to know the name of the Boy's sword.
"Oh his name….its—"
Third Person POV:
"Arondight" Bell said to Issei and the others enthusiastically. He was extremely happy with acquiring his new partner.
'So….A name inspired by the sword of Sir Lancelot. That's a surprise since I didn't expect that' Issei thought dryly as he was stupefied beyond reason since Sir Lancelot back in his world was highly respected by the supernatural community.
Le Fay, one of his wives once told him that Sir Lancelot du lac sexual affair with Queen Guinevere was just a scam made by the envious noble of the time. In reality, Lancelot du lac was so pure of heart that he instantly became an angel right after his mortal death just like his son Sir Galahad after him.
"Hmmm….Arondight, A Divine holy sword wielded by the purest of knights. I am glad that you got yourself a worthy partner, Bell."
The others were surprised that he knew the meaning behind the blade. Bell was stunned while Hestia was smug. Hephaestus however was looking at Arondight with pride showing in her eyes.
Bell realizing that they were other people behind Issei became perplexed since he didn't know why Goddess Hestia was here in the first place and he didn't even know the name of the other Goddess. He knew she was a Goddess because of her divine aura. He was though mesmerized by her appearance, she was extremely pretty in his eyes.
Hephaestus was secretly enjoying the look Bell was sending her. Issei seeing them both act like this made him groan which caused Hestia to become confused by his action, making her lose focus of Bell.
"May I know who you are Goddess?" Bell asked the beautiful red-haired Goddess respectfully.
"Of Course, you may. I am one of the two people that made the sword that you are wielding. If you are wondering, the name's Hephaestus" She said with a smile on her face while secretly trying to hide a blush from the look of awe Bell was sending her.
Issei seeing this wanted to laugh, He sent Hephaestus a smirk which she did indeed caught but ignored completely. Hestia however was now getting suspicious of her friend and her first child.
"Hey Issei, What's Happening?" She silently asked him trying to understand what the hell was going on between Hephaestus and Bell.
"Drama….Hestia. Total Drama" Issei replied absentmindedly not wanting to miss any of this, Damn….he wished he had popcorn with him, this is about to get good.
Hestia wanted to strangle him for such a vague answer but decided that she should use her precious time on doing better things, like ogling an almost naked Bell before he realizes for example
"I don't know….how to thank you for this," Bell said emotionally as he held his partner, Arondight, now in its broadsword mode. Hephaestus was looking at her crush and her creation with pride and joy. She waved her arm.
"None of that Bell, I am already impressed by how you are able to wield Arondight in the first place. These living weapons are rather picky when it comes to choosing their users. In fact, I can count the number of people in history who had a spirit-weapon of their own with just one hand and that also includes you" She said, genuinely impressed by Bell's performance thus far.
Bell halted, He was surprised….no he was shocked for the better word. He is now a rarity among rarity. He turned his face to look towards his spirit companion, that being the now embarrassed Issei Hyoudou, with a look that said 'Explain NOW'.
Issei immediately raised his arms up to his face and said "Hey Bell, I told you I was going to build something for you and if someone gets a weapon from me then it will be the best of the very best."
"He isn't wrong, the sword that you are carrying is a living blade and is most likely the strongest that exists in the world right now. The only thing that I want from you for now is a promise. A promise to only let me be the one to run maintenance on Arondight," she says to Bell, staring him right into the eyes. She then looks to Issei, "if it's alright with you, Issei?" And asks him that since Issei also made the blade too.
"I am already in great debt of you and your familia's captain, Goddess Hephaestus. If it weren't for you then Arondight wouldn't have existed in the first place. It would be a great pleasure for me and Bell, if the Goddess of the Forge service Arondight herself" He said to her with respect and Bell joined him by frantically nodding his head to the red-haired Goddess.
"Yeah! Goddess Hephaestus, it's a great pleasure for us if you work on Arondight yourself" He says to her with a wide smile. Hephaestus herself was smiling by her crush's action.
Issei who saw Bell's current attire didn't miss the chance to tease him as he said amusedly to Bell "Hey Bell, at least wear your clothes now, you do realize that you are in fact in the presence of the Goddesses right?"
The boy who had his entire attention on that blade of his, snapped from his focus of attention and widened his eyes as he looked over his own body. He was indeed bare with only his underwear remaining on him. He madly blushes and rushes towards where he placed his clothes at, which got Hestia who was still ogling Bell's body for some reason to become crestfallen. She sent Issei a mock glare.
"You are unfair, Issei" She says with a pout on her face.
"Life is unfair in the mortal world, Goddess Hestia. Get used to it," Issei simply says to her since he was getting used to his little Goddess antics by the second.
"You know, he is right, Hestia. Life is kind of unfair in the mortal world" Hephaestus chimed in agreeing with Issei much to Hestia's irritation and displeasure.
"I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Hephaestus" Hestia says to her friend. Hephaestus was about to give her a response but stopped as Bell returned to them, this time with his clothes on and Arondight in its broadsword mode dangling on his back. He was still blushing from being seen almost naked by the Goddesses.
For some reason, Bell with Arondight reminded Issei of a video game character of a retro game he used to play back in his childhood. (You know the one from FFVII)
"Can we leave now? I think it's getting late" Bell asked hesitantly since he wanted to leave right then and there because of his embarrassment.
"Yeah. You are right, Bell. It is getting rather late, we should return back home" Issei said tiredly, since he was exhausted from creating Arondight. Not that he regretted creating it, it was just way too tiresome for him to even think of doing it ever again.
"Issei Hyoudou, Can I talk to you for a few moments alone?" Hephaestus said.
Issei slowly nodded as agreement and sent a signal to a clueless Bell and a curious Hestia to leave. They both left the cave through the tunnel, leaving Both Hephaestus and Issei alone in the cave for them to chat.
"What do you want to know, Hephaestus?" Issei asked the Forge Goddess rather briskly since he wanted to make it quick.
"That Hammer is it fro—" Hephaestus tried to ask but;
"From you. Yes, it is from your counterpart back in my world. He gifted it to me when I was in need of it" Issei interrupted, bluntly answering the question before she could even finish the question.
"He?" Hephaestus asked perplexed.
"Different reality, Different Sex. Anything else you may want to ask me?"
"You said something about Fate hating Heroes with no sense of fear. What did you mean by that?" Hephaestus asked as she was truly curious about what Issei's answer to the question will be.
Issei looked directly at her, his face was emotionless which made Hephaestus uncomfortable. He opens his mouth and says;
"Fear is a necessary emotion for everyone to feel except for monsters, Fate agrees with that. So what do you think will happen if a hero doesn't feel it. It makes him a monster in the eyes of fate and not worthy of the title Hero. Fate considers fear to be one the greatest triggers to drive a person to do their very best. The reason why Fate hates fearless heroes is because they don't tend to grow due to them not being able to feel fear."
Hephaestus was satisfied by his answer since even the Gods and Goddesses knew that Fear is a necessary motivation for mortals to have just like hope and curiosity. She already assumed that Bell was supposed to be this generation Hero since she too felt 'the shock of the new legend' and felt that for some reason this Issei Hyoudou wanted to make use of that fact.
She now was frowning at him and said to him, "I know you want something from Bell, that I am definitely sure of. I don't even know if Hestia is even aware of this or not. I won't even ask what you want from him since I can tell that it's personal and extremely sensitive for you. I just want you to swear to me"
"Swear to you what?" Issei asks, not quite understanding what she meant by that.
"Swear to me that you will protect him, the boy I lov—I mean I like from life-threatening situations" She says with pink cheeks, embarrassed at the fact that she almost admitted her love for Bell.
"Don't bother hiding it. I already knew the truth ever since Tsubaki gave me the hint. Besides, you are little too late for asking me that since I already made an oath to make the boy's protection my first priority, the moment I arrived inside his soul. Bell Cranel would be well-protected from all sorts of life-threatening circumstances but he will have to face danger for him to grow"
"Thank you….Issei Hyoudou," Hephaestus tells him with a relieved smile on her face.
Scene Break:
"What in the world happened here?" The Goddess of Hearth, Goddess Hestia dryly asked to no-one with a stunned expression on her face.
The storm ended a little while ago, however it did cause some damage here and there all over the city but that wasn't what surprised her.
Bell also appeared shocked since he too didn't expect it and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Hephaestus and Issei were following behind them where Issei gave himself a facepalm for forgetting about this.
Hephaestus seeing his action gave him a dry look which said 'explain'. Issei rubbed the back of his neck rather sheepishly.
"I was kind of running renovations here using one of my thought projections. I just didn't realize how far that clone of mine was gonna take this" He muttered but everyone present heard him, they all looked at him incredulously.
Yes, instead of an old abandoned Church now there is a beautiful six-story modern looking building here.
"Why?" Hestia asked now looking him right in the eyes as she couldn't believe what she was seeing, Bell was also looking at Issei with feelings akin to wonder.
Issei gave both of them a smile as he crouched to get to their eye level.
"Well Hestia, I thought with me and Bell here, this Familia is going to grow bigger and stronger sooner than later. Plus, it's kind of funny to see how you will react to my little surprise" He said chuckling at the very end.
His silent laughter ended as both Bell and Hestia rushed at him to give him a warm embrace. Issei felt delighted by this and hugged them back. Hephaestus looking at this heartfelt moment smiled as she was happy for her friend.
"You are way too nice for your own good, Issei. You know that" Hestia said with tears of joy falling from her eyes, feeling that she didn't deserve such great Familia members.
'How long has it been that I ever felt this warmth. The last time I remembered getting hugged like this was when I saved her' These were the thoughts running inside the dragon spirit's head. He felt his heart prick when he remembered that little child that he once saved from a fate far worse than death and took her in as his daughter and later as his peerage member.
The embrace ended by Hestia who instantly grabbed Bell's arm and took him inside their new home.
"Hey Bell, Let check this place out"
"Okay Goddess"
"I have to say, the building is much better than the ones Goibniu Familia makes" Hephaestus said while she was gazing at the view of the house.
"I appreciate the compliment but this is merely an imitation of my old place. Back in my world, my brother-in-law hired a bunch of his expert contractors to renovate my parents humble home and into something like this and it all happened when I was sleeping. You could guess what kind of reaction I had when I woke up" Issei said with some nostalgia at seeing the new base of Hestia Familia.
Hephaestus gave a light chuckle on that, as imagining the sight of a gobsmacked Issei finding himself in a giant bedroom kind of funny….No, kind of hilarious to be exact.
"Do you want to enter?" Issei asked to which she gave him a nod.
"Of Course." She said.
They both went inside the base through the front door only to find themselves in the living room. Hephaestus was mesmerized by the modern aesthetics of the house while Issei went to check his own memory to see what the hell his clone was upto to build this place to begin with.
Hestia came back with a smile still dragging the poor boy by his arms. They came to the living room from the floor above through the stairs. Issei was at least joyful that Bell and Hestia were happy about their new place.
"Hey Issei, this place is amazing. I can't even wander around here without getting lost. How in the world were you able to build this place by yourself in such a short time?"
He gave her an eye-smile and said "That's a secret" Hestia gave him a deadpan look to which he laughed at. He ended his laughter rather quickly and said;
"Well, if I checked my memory correctly then this place should have six floors with three large basement underneath" which was able to shock all of them since they didn't expect the new residence of Hestia Familia to be this big.
"The First floor includes a guest room, the kitchen, the living room, a bathroom and an eastern styled room (washitsu). The Second floor has five fully furnished bedrooms each with their own bathroom. The Third floor has my workstation, a study, a library and a storeroom. The Fourth and Fifth floor have just empty rooms for now while the Sixth floor has the office and the meeting room for any official business we may need to do. The rooftop is a communal garden. All floors are accessible via an elevator just like the one we saw this morning at Babel tower, Bell," Issei told all of them. Hestia and Bell were stunned at that. Hephaestus however was rather impressed that Issei was able to build all of this in just a day.
"Uhh...Issei, What about the basements?" Bell asked his companion, feeling rather light headed from all that has been going around this day, sure he was appreciative…. but this was way too much even by his standards.
"The First Basement floor has a training room where you and I will do our training together from now on, there is also the changing rooms and a large indoor bath. The Second Basement floor has a heated swimming pool and a sauna while the Third Basement floor is just meant to be used for storage" Issei simply said, He didn't bother to mention that there were various hidden rooms down there.
Hestia was now feeling really happy while her first-child felt like passing out. Hephaestus who was standing at a corner was now rubbing her chin in deep thought.
'Maybe I should live here from now on. the others from my familia wouldn't mind. This place feels way more comfortable than my place and Plus! I will get to spend some time with my adorable little bunny,' She thought, feeling that it might be a good idea.
"I wouldn't really mind, Hephaestus. But if you have to ask someone then you should ask the Goddess of the house herself" Issei gleefully said to her, somehow reading all of her thoughts.
"Am I really that easy to read?" Hephaestus muttered with pink cheeks.
"More than you realize,"
"Okay Fine," She said to him before she turned to ask her Goddess friend "...Hey Hestia….Can I stay here in your place?". She hoped that Hestia wouldn't reject her since that would truly suck for her.
"Of Course, Hephaestus. We are friends and I already owe you too much, But won't your familia worry about where you are?" Hestia cheerfully said, oblivious to Hephaestus reason to even want to live here.
"Don't worry about it, not many people even know where I actually live, some even believe that my sleeping chambers is actually my office. Tsubaki may be the only one that might worry but she is currently busy with one of her crazy ideas" Hephaestus answered happily since Hestia didn't reject her and she could get closer to Bell.
'I have to give my congratulations to you Goddess Hestia, you just increased the competition to get to Bell's heart' Issei thought mirthlessly, wanting to facepalm at how oblivious his patron goddess is.
'Oh great' Issei thought, feeling that the time outside Bell's body had finally come to an end.
His thought projection suddenly dissolved into gold dust and his consciousness returns back to Bell's soul which caused the others (Hestia, Bell and Hephaestus) to panic.
Bell's POV:
I started to panic as Issei disappeared, the others that being the Goddess Hestia and Goddess Hephaestus were also becoming distressed by his sudden disappearance.
'Where did you vanish to, Issei?' I anxiously thought to myself.
'Oh Thank God!, This is much better' came the voice inside my head that was able to calm me down.
'Issei, you are back and now inside my body again' I mentally said, absolutely relieved that Issei was alright.
'Of Course, I am back. I can't keep myself materialized outside you all the time since I would run out of magic sooner than later. Thought Projection or Clone Magic in general are rather taxing magic to perform so obviously I too have to take some rest inside you. You can now tell the Goddesses that I am fine but tired'
"Issei is alright, he is alright. He is back inside my body saying that thought projection was taxing for him and now he is tired" I said to calm the Goddesses from their panic. Thankfully, my words seem to do the job as they both sighed in relief.
'Thank you, Bell. I am getting tired now…. tomorrow morning let's head to the dungeon so wake me up, Okay….zzzz….zzzz…'
'Issei….are you asleep?' I tried asking but wasn't able to get an answer from him. Huh, guess he really is that tired.
It was getting rather late so after a few talks and a dinner which was apparently made by Issei's clone. We all made our way to the second floor. I still couldn't believe that Issei built this in just a day. The new home is far better than the ones that are made by the Goibniu Familia.
Somewhere into the Workshop of Goibniu Familia, The God Goibniu sneezed
"Damn Brats, disrespecting my art as usual" he muttered sullenly.
I picked the middle room on the second floor and for some reason after I made that decision, Goddess Hestia and Goddess Hephaestus both chose the room right next to mine. Them picking their room made my room in between theirs. I entered the room only to find myself in a well decorated bedroom which had a giant closet, an empty desk, a bookshelf filled with you guessed it, all sorts of books, some armor stands as well as a weapons rack mounted on the wall and finally the bed itself. I went to lay down on the mattress only to moan on how super comfy it is.
'This is so much better than the sofa, thank you Issei' I thought appreciatively as Issei has done so much for me.
He has improved my growth, given me encouragement to do my very best as an adventurer, Created me a great weapon by his sweat and blood and now built me and my Goddess a new place for us to live in and it seems that Goddess Hephaestus is also moving in with us.
Ever since Issei revealed himself to be inside of me, it hasn't been that lonely anymore.
When I first entered the city, I had been rejected multiple times by so many familia, ridiculed by mortals and immortals for my dreams and been told to give up being an adventurer by God knows how many times.
So why hadn't I given up? Why didn't I just quit or walk away? These thoughts did come to my mind but I didn't commit myself to any of them because my Goddess didn't give up on me, neither did my advisor, Eina give up on me and neither did he, the person I respect and admire the most.
Issei Hyoudou, My friend and whom I consider to be my surrogate big brother didn't give up on me.
I closed my eyes thinking pleasantly about these thoughts.
Unknown to Bell, Issei even in his sleep could still hear Bell's surface thoughts. He had a big smile on his face.
'Big Brother, Huh...Haven't been called that ever since Millicas's Death'. He thought with some sentimentality.
'Maybe Little Brother, maybe' He smiled with that thought.
Scene Break:
*SLASH*
Arondight cut through the body of a War Shadow slicing it into half.
'You are doing great Bell but you need to practice your caution, never fully commit to a strike, not unless you know for certain that it's going to land' came the voice inside my head.
'I realize that' I mentally replied back.
Me and Issei along with my blade, Arondight were inside the Dungeon. Currently, we were on the sixth floor. I wasn't comfortable to come down here but Issei assured me that I will be fine since I am stronger than last time.
Issei was still inside of me. He told me that it is unnecessary to have a thought projection all the time unless it is either convenient or necessary which was something I agreed with.
After harvesting the magic stones as well as the drop item from the War Shadow's corpse. I made my way forward to hunt more monsters.
Arondight now as an enormous broadsword is really comfortable to use whenever I fight. The weird part is that for some reason I could feel it, I could feel what it's feeling. Guess, Goddess Hephaestus words of it being alive hold some merit. Arondight is light and I mean extremely light. Issei also told me when we were wandering that the blade is unbreakable and most likely has the sharpest edge in all of Orario, even Miss Aiz sword, Desperate has nothing on Arondight.
I already fought some monsters along the way down here and somehow not struggling with them. I feel like I am too strong for them, I don't mean to sound arrogant but I really felt like that I can slice through even a horde of them without breaking a sweat.
'That's because you can,' Issei mentally said.
'What do you mean by that?' I asked
'I mean that you are underestimating yourself, Bell. You have gotten stronger, way stronger than you realize yet. It's not just your growth in stats but also your experience as an adventurer'
Am I really that strong? These were the thoughts running on my head. I looked at Arondight only to somehow feel that it was agreeing with what Issei said.
'Okay fine, Let's make our way down the dungeon' I thought with a smile on my face.
'That's my boy,' Issei cheered and Arondight was also shimmering with excitement on my back.
That's how we made our way deeper inside the dungeon.
I cleared the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and even the twelfth floor with little to no struggle with fighting monsters like Killer Ants, Purple Moths, Blue Papilios, Orcs, Imps, Bad Bats, Silverbacks, Needle Rabbit and the Hard Armoreds. The monsters were really easy to deal with since I would just cleave right through most of them. Sure there were times where I kept getting surrounded by monsters of different shapes and sizes but even then, I escaped and defeated all of them.
I first thought it was because I was wielding Arondight but I discarded that thought when I noticed that I am physically faster and stronger than my opponents, I can also react and perceive danger way faster than they could.
Lastly, I went down the middle levels because of the insistent encouragement from both Issei and Arondight to keep moving on. To enter the middle levels which started from the thirteenth floor, I had to make my way through its entrance known as the First Line.
The walls, ground, and ceiling become made of bedrock. While the upper floors are just flat, circular maze, the middle floors have more complex layout which include intertwining upper and lower tunnels. The light becomes darker and the air seems to be moist down here.
I became tense and wary of my surroundings the moment I stepped foot inside the 13th floor. I held Arondight in its broadsword mode tightly, ready to unleash it if I see any signs of danger. Even if I have gotten stronger recently, I am not cocky enough to underestimate the middle levels of the dungeons.
'Issei, do you know what's in the thirteenth and fourteenth floors?' I mentally asked him since he is more well informed out of the two of us.
'Hmm….From What I know, Bell. The monsters in the thirteenth and fourteenth floors are not much different than the ones on the 12th floor in terms of strength but the rate of spawn is much higher that's why it's so very difficult to solo these floors. Add the fact that the layout is also get more complex the deeper we go is only adding the fuel to the fire'
'Thanks Issei, that's a big help' I mentally said, genuinely thankful for his aid.
Issei is not just cheering me on, he is helping me build strategies to combat my foes whenever they are in larger numbers. He has also been teaching me how to properly fight with a sword by teaching me various stances of sword arts. He seems to be specialized in weaponry since he knew so much about wielding many types of blades like a Saber, Claymore, Gladius, Xiphos, Rapier, Jian, Scimitar, Cutlass and even a Katana. He told me how they are designed like and what their purpose is just for me to see if I could implement any of them with my shape-shifting blade, Arondight. Arondight itself seems to be swallowing everything Issei was saying most likely trying to gain knowledge about other swords for him to turn into.
I came across a few Hard Armored before I met a monster that I haven't seen before, it was a dog but it had mangled black fur, glowing red eyes, a foul odor and fire was coming out of its mouth.
'Issei, what is that?' I asked while moving extremely carefully as to not catch it's attention towards me.
'That Bell is a Hellhound, Now don't panic, remember what I have told you and then fight whenever you feel comfortable'
'Okay' I said to the spirit before moving closer towards the hellhound.
It seems to get its attention as it whirls his head toward me and rushes at me with fire spewing out of its mouth.
I leaned to the side for it to barely miss me from biting my head off. Before it had time to recover, I made my move and quickly struck it's head to finally kill it.
I collected the magic stone from the corpse as well as the drop item which turns out to be 'Hellhound Fang'. Issei called it quits saying that I was gonna tire myself really early if I keep this up and that I still need to preserve my energy to head back up so it is better for us to return rather than continue moving forward. I was completely okay with it since I knew what Issei said made sense.
Well, at least today was a good haul for us inside the Dungeon since I got myself a lot of magical stones and drop items. By the way Issei stored all of them inside his inventory which solved the issue of me carrying the drops. I happily returned back to the base.
"Hello Bell, How was today?" Goddess Hestia asked as I entered through the front door.
I don't know why but she looked dead-tired. I think it might be those books the Goddess Hephaestus forced her to read and learn from.
"Today was great, with Issei's help I even managed to reach the middle levels" I said to her with a wide grin on my face.
"I didn't do much, Bell. It was all you, I was just giving you some guidance whenever you needed it" Issei said loudly for even the Goddess to hear.
"Goddess, Where is Lady Hephaestus?" I asked her since she was nowhere in sight.
"She went back to work at her familia's place, she has some paperwork in her office that she still needs to fill out. If you are wondering when she will be back, probably around midnight." Hestia answered my question.
I looked around the living room only to find myself locked on an envelope on the coffee table, I became curious so I asked;
"Umm….Goddess, what is that envelope for?" And pointed my finger at the envelope.
Hestia looked and said "Oh that…. that's the invitation to the 'Celebration of the Gods', it's tomorrow and this time Ganesha is hosting the event at his place. "
"So it's time" Issei said which got me confused but Hestia seemed to get it as she nodded towards my direction.
"Yeah it's time for that confrontation with her. Hey Issei, Can you use thought projection? it's getting a bit awkward for me to talk to you when you are inside Bell" she said, I was still confused on what confrontation they were both talking about.
"Of Course! Goddess"
Suddenly behind me, Silver flames popped up on the ground, they became bigger and bigger before Issei came out of those flames and then the flames vanished completely.
'That is so cool!'
He looked at me with a grin "Bell, I need to talk with Hestia for some 'business' so Why don't you go get yourself freshen up and then go to the exchange for your earnings" he said to me while air quotes on the word 'business' as well as rolling his eyes. Goddess Hestia was giving Issei a scowl for doing that while my mouth was twitching, trying so hard not to laugh.
"Oh...Okay. I will leave" I said between my chuckles and then I headed upstairs to go get myself cleaned up.
Third Person POV:
"Issei, Did you have to do that?" Hestia said exasperatedly to the dragon spirit.
"Yep! It's hilarious to see how you react with everything I do" The spirit, Issei answered her.
"Issei, Are you sure she is going to show up at the celebration? She hasn't been in one for so long." Hestia asked him in concern.
"Freya? She is definitely going there and she will be definitely asking for Bell," Issei answered, confident that he is right about Freya.
"Well, at least I have Hephaestus with me to help, I don't know how I would have dealt with her without making a scene." She said
"That's a blessing. Plus, Loki will also involve herself between you and Freya just for the heck of it" Issei told her, which seemed to annoy Hestia at the mention of the Goddess of Mischief.
"Loki….Are you sure she will come? Just like Freya, Loki also isn't one to go to these celebrations"
"If she know you are going then she will definitely come"
"This whole situation sucks for me. What the hell are you going to be doing then?" Hestia asked him. She was frustrated about everything that might happen at the celebration.
"Me? Well I am going to finally teach Bell something that I wanted to teach him for a while"
"And What exactly is that something?" She asked with one of her eyebrows raised.
"Magic" Issei smirks as he says that.
Arondight:
A living blade with the ability to shape-shift into multiple different types of blade. It is created by the Crimson Inferno Dragon Emperor with the help of The Goddess of the Forge, Hephaestus.
The blade is made from fragments of legendary weapons like the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, Durandal and Excalibur as well as materials such as Mithril, Pure Adamantite, Aether (æther) and the hair and blood of the Goddess of the Hearth.
It is named after the sword of Lancelot du lac.
