Okay, I'm back. This time, I'm making a full fledged story and not a one/two/three-shot... hopefully. As always, expect slow updates because my college cram courses are the epitome of suffering in the Underworld. I was only able to finish Syr's Wish as quick as I did because it was spring break. If you're wondering about the ending of that story, I set it up to let the reader decide for themselves; go ahead and make your own twist. Anyways, enjoy the first chapter of Sakleysi.

Orario. The Labyrinth City. It is here that the greatest adventurers make their name, wealth and fame. Men hear tales of adventure and come to this city to make their own adventures. Some experienced. Some naïve. Some go to the Dungeon to make a living. Others go for the thrill of a fight. And some go just for the show. Many stories are told in this city.

We're focusing on one such story.

In the middle of the city stood the Tower of Babel. A structure unparalleled in height and glory. It is where all adventurers find the entrance to the Dungeon. At the side of the entrance was an abandoned cradle. Within that cradle lay a baby boy, with a red blanket covering him, a birth certificate, letter, and a magic orb for communication resting within the cradle as well. The baby held the orb as he slept, as if it were a toy. As time passed, the baby woke, hungry and cold in the dark of night, crying for his parents who were never seen. The adventurers of that time passed by him, a pitiful glance or two given. It was apparent that none of the adventurers could afford to give the baby shelter.

But hope was not lost. A goddess, returning from her visit to a certain area of the city, spotted the baby and made her way to him, her two most trusted guards following. She stared at the boy thoughtfully, contemplating about his situation and reason as to why he was left here. Spotting the letter, she opened it and found a message addressed to anyone willing to read it. His parents were no longer around to take care of him, his father having died in battle and his mother died giving birth to him. His next closest relatives could not afford to take care of him, and left him here with enough baby food for a day or two, along with the certificate in the event someone wanted to adopt him and change his name. But the goddess let the name stay as it was, it gave a feeling of innocence. She cared for the baby's life, unwilling to see him be snuffed from existence so soon after being birthed into this world. She would give him the warmth and love that any child needs from their mother. The orb, filled with stories of heroism and legends, would otherwise keep the baby entertained should he be left with a sitter. She asked her first guard to take the baby to his new home, where the goddess would take care of him until he could be comfortable with his new brothers and sisters. After that, the goddess would give him a new path of life to follow. She watched as her guard took the handheld cradle, baby and contents within, and made way to the home of his new Familia. Such cuteness and longing in the baby as he would grow would give him the early affectionate nickname of Sakleysi, meaning Innocence. She smiled as she remembered the baby boy's name: Bell Cranel.

Bell, now at the age of 14 and a Lv.2 adventurer, stared down the group of minotaurs before him, an arming sword in his right hand and a dagger blessed by the goddess he saw as his mother in his left, his red cloak waving in the air slightly, but not enough to reveal the armor underneath. Remembering his training given to him by the mentor he viewed as a brother as much as a teacher, he struck at the neck of the first minotaur before him, then jumped up and stabbed his dagger into the nape of the neck as the minotaur fell, killing it and reducing it to the black essence it was made from.

Bell: "How did all these minotaurs get onto the 4th floor?"

He slashed through the back of the leg of another minotaur, causing it to fall to its knees, and decapitated it before jumping out of the way as the third minotaur slammed it's fist into the ground where he previously stood.

'Aim for the throat or just below the ribs. That is where the minotaur's hide is weakest. If it gets close, kick the snout.'

Bell lunged forward and kicked it in the snout, stunning it, before piercing it's chest with his arming sword, breaking the magic crystal within it's body. A fourth was closing in on Bell from behind before a red throwing knife pierced it's neck, causing it to stumble and miss it's target. A male werewolf stepped into the corridor with a second throwing knife in hand.

"Thanks for the assist, Arden," Bell said.

Arden Voss | Race: Werewolf | Level 3 | Alias: Klofna

Arden snorted before answering, "You need to watch your back more, Bell."

The fifth and final minotaur stood before the pair, and Bell readied his arming sword while Arden pulled out his axe.

"I'll distract it," Bell started, "You go around behind it and take it down."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, we've done this before," Arden replied before beginning his flank.

The minotaur raised it's weapon, a large crude axe, and slammed it down towards Bell, who dodged the rather slow but heavy attack. Bell retaliated by slamming the pommel of his arming sword into the minotaur's knee, an audible crack signaling that it had been broken. Arden had gotten into position and brought his own axe to position, raising it above his head as the minotaur fell to it's knees, and swung down, cleaving it in two. Confirming there was nothing else that was a threat, the two settled down and placed sheaved their respective weapons.

"Are you ever going to use that Zweihänder on your back, Bell?" Arden asked.

"You know it's only supposed to be used in emergency situations," Bell responded.

He focused on the weight of the weapon on his back. The Azrael Zweihänder. Recovered from a monster-infested ruin in Mesopotamia, it's a large and immensely powerful two-handed sword that could destroy any creature, monster or other figure, supposedly in a single strike. No one is sure if it's a weapon of divine make or cursed beyond human capability. It had been given to Bell since he was the first to pick it up without it trying to set him ablaze, and it had been bonded to him ever since. But he was told that it could only be wielded in a time of great crisis, where all odds were against him. The magic chain wrapped around the blade wouldn't fall away otherwise. There was still yet far more to be discovered of its capabilities. As of now, he has never used it, but he always kept it close.

Bell reached up to pull his hair back when he noticed his hand was coated a deep crimson. Arden turned around and forced himself to hold in a laugh, but a snicker came out. Bell could only sigh in resignation for now. When he got back home, he'd find a way to make Arden clean up his armor and cloak, which he now realized were caked in the blood of the last minotaur.

"Please stop laughing," Bell said.

"(snickering) I can't help it Bell," Arden responded, "It's actually pretty funny." Arden continued to snicker before going into full blown laughter. "I'm serious, you look like a tomato right now!"

Bell took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the blood off his face. That would have to be washed too.

"We'll see if you're still laughing when I get the captain to make you clean my armor. I was hoping I could get to the 10th floor today, but for now let's pick up these crystals and call it a day."

Bell moved to pick up the nearest crystal when he heard footsteps. It was giving off a strong aura. Giving a hand signal, Bell and Arden had their hands resting on their weapons, ready to attack whatever was coming towards them. Bell had been attacked by rival adventurers a couple days before and wasn't about to drop his guard.

But he didn't expect to see a beauty of a girl walk out. A slender frame clothed in blue and protected by armor shining like silver, long, golden blonde hair, and eyes to match. Were she any more beautiful, Bell would've been stunned and unable to move. He was sure it was the famous adventurer he had been hearing of since he was given permission to go to the Dungeon after reaching Lv.2 through training at the request of his mother and goddess. This girl... was the Loki Familia's Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Bell snapped out of his trance and shook his head.

"A-a-ah, yes, I'm okay..." Bell said, unnecessarily checking to make sure he was actually okay.

"Oh...? Bell, you're blushing," Arden said with a smirk.

"Eh?" Bell looked over to Arden, who was holding a mirror. Bell was indeed showing some pink in his cheeks.

"If your face was still covered in blood, I wouldn't have noticed." Arden had a smirk on his face.

Bell suddenly went pale and turned tail, running as fast as his legs could take him, screaming, "I HAVE SINNED!" for all to hear. (SFX: Fighter Jet Overpass)

Arden had clutched his sides and lost composure as he laughed at his loudest, before picking up the rest of the crystals and following after Bell.

"Yeah, Sakleysi certainly fits with his nature."

All the while, Ais stood with her head tilted slightly in confusion.

"That boy..." She murmured to herself. "I'll need to ask Riveria about this 'Sakleysi' when I have the time."

"I can't believe I encountered Ais Wallenstein out of all the possible girls I could run into," Bell said.

"What, you'd rather run into an Amazoness instead?" Arden asked.

"I mean, if I could handle her nature..."

"Yeah, no."

"Hahaha... Goddess seems a bit overprotective sometimes when it comes to girls..."

"Better not say that in front of her."

"By the way, aren't the executives in our Familia coming back tonight?"

"Now that you mention it... oi, where do you think you're going?" He stopped Bell, who was headed for the Guild.

"To turn in our magic stones?" Bell answered with a confused look.

"... Clean yourself up first. If you do something embarrassing, it's MY tail on the fireplace." Arden said before giving Bell his own portion of the magic stones and leaving. Bell looked at himself and realized he still had monster blood on him, and promptly went over to the showers.

Soon after, Bell exited the showers in a fresh set of spare clothes that he kept in his backpack, and headed over to the Guild.

"Eina-san!" Bell called out.

"Ah, Bell-kun... oh? Where's your gear?" Eina asked seeing that he was wearing casual clothing.

"My armor got dirty, so Arden had me change. I'll get it cleaned up tomorrow," Bell responded.

"That's good to know," Eina said, "I thought you ventured down too deep and damaged it again."

"I'm not that reckless!" Bell exclaimed. "It'd drain my daily allowance!" Eina giggled at his reaction. Who wouldn't when faced with a cute and innocent boy like Bell?

"At least you had a partner to help," Eina continued.

"True. Goddess hardly ever lets me head to the Dungeon alone. Anyways, I came to turn in the magic stones Arden and I collected," Bell said.

"Of course, head to the Exchange over there."

As Bell dumped his and Arden's magic stones, the receptionist on the other side frowned at the number of magic stones from minotaurs.

"How did you get this many?" She asked.

"Arden helped? It was 50/50." Bell answered, not sure how he was supposed to explain a herd of minotaurs on the 4th floor of the Dungeon.

"The Klofna, huh? You're in good hands. I hear he's a bit brash, but he knows what he's doing. Here's the payment. 32,800 valis, split 50/50."

"Thanks!" Bell took the two bags and headed out, finding Arden waiting for him. As the two headed back, Bell recalled the events in his life.

'Even though my goddess told me the basics, there was still much I've yet to know about Orario.' Bell thought to himself. I lived a pretty sheltered life in my new home after she found me in an abandoned handheld cradle. My goddess took care of me as I grew up, and I saw her as my mother. Watching my familia make great achievements as adventurers, as well as listening to stories of heroes from a magic orb left by my grandfather, made me want to become a hero and adventurer myself. Although my goddess didn't like the parts where my grandfather somehow involved picking up girls and making a harem, and threatened to hunt him down once or twice. Well, just one girlfriend wouldn't be too bad, right? I told her I wanted to become an adventurer on my 14th birthday, and she would allow me to head to the dungeon with the rest of the Familia on one condition: That I trained with my brothers and sisters and reached Lv.2. I shocked everyone when I reached my goal in just one month. It turned out I beat the previous record of one year. It's been two weeks of adventuring in the dungeon since then. I promised to make my goddess, who raised me as a mother, to make her happy any way I could. No matter what hurdle I come across.'

"Here we are. Home," Arden said.

Bell didn't realize it, but if he stayed just a little longer at the Guild, he would've found Ais asking about his nickname.

It was the next morning. Bell was already on the way to the dungeon, Arden and another member joining them to watch over Bell as he intends to explore floors 10 through 15 of the Dungeon. Bell sighed recalling the events from last night.

"Heh... I never expected goddess would praise me so much," Bell said.

"You still got a long way to go," Arden said.

"Says the werewolf only one level above me."

"You two stop bickering," the third member said, "If you're gonna fight, do it in the dungeon."

Orlara Sylhana | Race: Half-Elf | Level 3 | Alias: Ranger

"Yes, Orlara-nee," Bell responded. Orlara had babysitted Bell at the request of her goddess when he was a toddler. She kept a straight face, but there were times where she couldn't help but gush over him. His innocent nature had a tendency to do that.

The two were going ahead and he was about to catch up when Bell stopped as he felt an intense gaze fall upon him, as if gravity doubled. It only lasted for a second, but he turned every which direction for the source.

'What was that?' Bell thought as he continued looking.

"Um..." a voice came from behind.

"Whoa!" Bell jumped slightly and turned around, seeing a girl with light gray hair and matching eyes. Wait... he recognized her.

"Is that you, Syr-san?"

"Yes. One and only."

Bell's eyes shined brightly in the light as he smiled and he hugged her.

"It's been so long! I've missed you!" Bell said excitedly. Syr had been his childhood friend when he was six. She was about a year or two older, and was the only person who played with him in his childhood. She had moved out at the age of 12 to find work.

"Hm. I've missed you too, Bell-kun. How have you been?"

"I reached Lv.2 a couple weeks ago. So... you're working as a waitress?"

"Yes. Also, you dropped this." Syr held out a magic stone no bigger than half of Bell's thumb. He picked it up and took a look at it.

"I thought I turned them all in yesterday..." Checking to make sure there weren't any other stones he forgot, he opened his pouch and found a hole that the magic stone could easily fit through.

"Ah, my pouch has a hole. Looks like I'll need to stitch it. Thanks, Syr-san," Bell said.

"Are you going to the Dungeon at this hour?" Syr asked.

"Yep. I thought I'd get to work early today. Arden-san and Orlara-nee are coming with me as part of my party. I'll be going now-"

His stomach growled, and Bell realized that he forgot to eat. Syr's eyes widened before she gave a short laugh.

"You always had a habit of forgetting breakfast. Here." Syr brought out a bento and placed it in Bell's hands.

"It's not much, but this is my breakfast."

"What?! I can't take this from you, I can get a quick snack from the stall-"

"I insist." Syr said with a gleaming smile.

'How can I say no to that...'

"If you say so," Bell responded.

"So, in exchange, you have to eat here tonight."

It was at this moment that Bell realized that he fell into Syr's latest trap.

"You don't play fair, do you...?"

"OI! Bell! What's holding you? If you don't hurry up, we're leaving you behind!" Arden yelled from a distance.

"I'll see you tonight then!" Bell said as he ran after the two other members. As soon as he caught up, he tried to explain his current predicament.

"So... I-"

"You were coerced into having a meal at the pub and failed to notice until it was too late?" Arden asked.

Bell could only look down in embarrassment. Arden tilted his head up and squinted his eyes.

"Pathetic."

'Not this again...' Bell thought to himself.

How long had they been here? Bell swung his arming sword down, slicing apart the fifteenth and final orc he came across. Seeing no other monsters spawning, Bell sheathed his arming sword and dagger. He noticed the former had cracked when he struck a Hard Armored. A bit bland of a name to give to an oversized armadillo monster. As Arden slung his axe over his back, he noticed Bell deep in thought.

"Something on your mind?" Arden asked.

"Yeah... you'll think I'll ever catch up to the rest of the Familia?" Bell asked.

"You're catching up to the two of us, if it's any consolation," Orlara responded while slinging her longbow. Bell chuckled a little.

"You're right. Still, I want to be up in the first-class ranks with the rest. I want to be the greatest hero there ever was, and make my goddess proud."

'That's a long ladder to climb, Bell,' Orlara thought.

"And he's gone into his fantasies again," Arden said. "Seriously, why are we stuck with babysitting him?"

"Because the members of our Familia who mainly take care of him are still making their way back from another expedition deeper down in the Dungeon. Deal with it."

"Ugh... and sometimes I wonder how you sound menacing with a calm voice."

"Not telling you. Still, we call him Sakleysi for a reason. Let him have his fun while it lasts. Ever since his 14th birthday, every moment counts to him now."

They both looked to Bell, who was making his way back up. Arden found it somewhat ironic that Bell was leaving the two behind when earlier it was the other way around.

'Now, that place that Bell was coerced into eating at...'

A Guild visit, magic stone/Valis exchange, and night walk later, Bell and Arden found themselves at the entrance to the Hostess of Fertility. Orlara went back home to report to the Familia executives on their progress. She left each of them 5,000 Valis to spend at the pub. Within, Bell could hear the various conversations, boastings, and achievements made by adventurers who have finished their day of work. He could see werewolves getting drunk, prums singing songs, dwarves cheering out "kampai," and other various races doing their own thing. The building itself was pretty fancy, so it must've been popular. To be honest, everything about it felt amazing.

"So this is the main street at night..." Bell said as he looked around. He had spent his childhood within the walls of his home, so he never had been out on the streets.

Bell and Arden made their way in and a quick look showed that all the staff are female, as well as some of the prices on the evening menu.

'This place might be out of my league...' Bell thought.

"Bell?" Syr was right in front of him. Holding down his surprise, he responded, "... Here I am."

"Yes! Welcome!"

She turned around and led Bell and Arden to the counter seats. It gave a good view of the pub's interior if one looked in any direction. Now what to order... and there was a plate of spaghetti in front of him just as the words came out of his mouth. The dwarf in charge on the other side of the counter gave a smile.

"So, you're Syr's childhood friend, eh? You're rather charming for an adventurer. Syr tells me you're a big eater, so I pulled all the stops and piled a little extra. And here's tonight's special as well!" Bell's mouth dropped at the amount of crab and fish there was while the dwarf kept talking. "Just give us a holler if you need somethin', and I'll have it comin'!" The dwarf left and Bell stared at the absurd amount of food he was supposed to eat.

"This is a misunderstanding, right?" Bell said.

"To be fair, you did eat a lot after you were done training every day back home," Arden said.

"You're not helping." 'And this is how my allowance dies.'

"Better eat up. We did clean the 12th floor of monsters until no more spawned."

"I'm pretty sure that was your idea."

"How about some ale?" The dwarf asked as she came back.

"Ah, no thanks, can I have some fruit nectar instead?"

"Sure thing."

She brought out a glass of mango nectar for Bell while Arden fished out 200 valis for a mug of ale, which she then took and placed the mug with an audible thump, which Arden immediately started chugging down.

"Well, let's see," Bell started. "The pasta is 300 valis, the drink is 200 valis, and tonight's special is..." He turned and saw the price, making his mouth hang open. "... 850 valis?!"

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Syr asked.

"I'm a little overwhelmed..." Bell responded.

"Bell, less talking, more eating," Arden said before stuffing his mouth with another cut of fish.

Syr took a seat by Bell as he ate his pasta.

"I thought I would just have a meal, but you make me have a buffet," Bell said.

"Oh, don't be like that. When you were a kid, you always wanted seconds."

"How do you still remember that, Syr?" Bell asked with a sweat drop.

"Secret. So, anything else?"

Bell had asked about the Hostess of Fertility, better known as The Benevolent Mistress. It had been opened up by the dwarfess behind the counter after she retired from adventuring with the permission of her Familia, and has been growing in popularity with adventurers recently. The dwarfess was named Mia, but employees called her Mama or Mama Mia, and only hires women. That explained why there was only female staff. Various races came to this pub for many reasons, either to boast, sing, have a good meal, share stories, or in Bell's case, get coerced into being a customer by a waitress with a cute face.

"More people means more possibilities. I get excited to learn new things every day."

"Isn't being friendly to everyone your hobby?" 'Not that I'm any different.'

"Of course!"

"Well, thanks for the food, Syr, Mama Mia!" Mia gave a thumbs up while she sprinkled a pinch of salt on the next order. Bell placed the payment of valis and Arden chugged down the last of his ale. Then the two got up to leave when the doors opened and a group of adventurers walked in, catching the attention of everyone present.

"Hey, is that-"

"They're all first-class adventurers!"

"Look at the emblem. It's the Loki Familia."

"The big leagues, eh?"

"Which one's the Sword Princess?"

It was needless to say, Bell was awestruck just like everyone else. Then he felt heat rising to his cheeks when he saw her. Ais Wallenstein walked in, her hair flowing behind her and wearing the same dress when she encountered him in the dungeon, minus the armor that would go over. She sat down with the rest of her Familia and got a small plate of food. She apparently ate lightly. Their goddess, Loki, cheered kampai and they all started eating.

"Bell?" Syr was next to him.

"Oh, right, I'll be leaving now."

"You have a good night, Bell."

Then the werewolf of the Loki Familia then spoke something that made Bell freeze.

"Hey Ais! Tell us that one story!" The werewolf said. "The one where the minotaurs got away and scared the tomato boy half to death!"

"... Tomato boy?"

"The one that ran away covered neck to toe in monster blood! He scampered off like a little bunny brat! Screamed like one too!"

'The gall of this guy to be plagiarizing the nicknames I give to people...' Arden thought. "Bell, let's go. The rest of the Familia isn't gonna be happy if we're late to curfew." That got Bell to snap out of his trance.

"Ah, right." Bell hurried next to him, and his cloak flowed behind him, getting the attention of Ais and a green haired elf. The name written was visible on his armor.

'That's him...! Bell, they called him...?' Ais thought as she looked to him walking off into the street next to a snow haired werewolf.

'That armor had the name Sakleysi on it... that must've been the boy Ais wanted to know about.' The elf thought.

As the boy in question continued to walk down the street, Arden looked over and found him downtrodden.

"I've seen you take worse insults than that, Bell," Arden said, "Don't waste your energy over what they think of you."

Bell smiled, and responded, "Yeah, you're right. I should focus on improving myself, and become the hero I promised my goddess to be, so I can be up in first-class with the rest of my Familia."

"Hold it, you need to go through second-class first."

"I know that!"

"You know what? You're gonna start training again. If you can make it to the 18th floor, I'd say you've reached the next step. But right now, let's just go home and get some shuteye. I don't want to be yapped at."

Bell still has much to learn...