Hi again,
So I have another chapter, smaller more toned down one though a chapter all the same. The last two chapters were a lot on me, some big things took place and they were some of the longest chapters yet, so it was relaxing to kinda sit back and type up a more laid back chapter to enjoy. I did also take a short break, which was on me, I needed one to get away from the main fic and write something else to keep my mind from going stir crazy. On the bright side, it is another Danmachi related one, called 'Red Roses, Blue Petals', its about Tsubaki and Shakti hooking up one night during a banquet. If that interests you at all, I implore you to check out and let me hear some feedback on it, I did debate including it into the main fic here though decided against it for the time being, though I suppose it could be considered in the same realm.
Anway, enough shameless self promotion, I am still very much focused on this main fic here and have even started writing the next chapter, which is one to look forward to I can tell already. Though, I shouldnt speak about it any further, ruin the surprise. I hope you enjoy this laid back, relaxed chapter, have an excellent day and stay safe and healthy. I know that Covid restrictions and such are lightening up in a lot of places, which is a great thing truly, still its important to be safe, it can get to anyone and enough people have passed.
Enjoy the chapter,if you do enjoy it, or dont, leave a review and let me know your thoughts on it!
After finishing up at the Guild, getting registered as an official adventurer and also scoring a advisor, Bell made his way into a district in Orario that he had only visited a few sparing times in the past. Walking through the streets that were lined with workshops and stores the white haired boy eventually managed to reach his destination, a small building built out of stones with a simple wooden door with a metal knocker.
Bell ignored the knocker and simply opened the door, knowing that the person inside was expecting him and left the door unlocked for him to enter freely and not disturb him if he was in the middle of work. The white haired boy walked inside the small stone building finding it significantly warmer than it was just outside the door, in the corner of the single room a forge ragged red fire. In front of that forge sat a blacksmith on a small stool, turning over the piece of metal inside the heated space with a large pair of tongs, properly making it so that each side was heated equally before going to hammer it out.
While continuing to turn over the metal the man turned his head, a few of her strands of red hair even brighter than the fire of the forge got it the way of his vision, though despite that he was still able to recognize the person standing in the doorway to his building.
''Heya Bell, come on in and make yourself at home. I'm in the middle of this but I should be done with it in a minute.'' Welf said while pushing his stool back slightly and sitting up a little from his slouched position, Bell adhered to the man's words and walked inside and looked around. The white haired boy had been there before, to get outfitted with his armour that was now ruined. It had not lasted very long in the dungeon, though Bell recalled upon their first time spent together in the building Welf had said something about wear and tear of items.
'If adventurers aren't making us blacksmiths cry every now and then, then they aren't really doing their job.' Bell believed the man's exact words were, which was a good thing as with what Bell had in his backpack there was a chance that the man would be brought to the verge of tears at the sight of his former work in pieces, literally.
While Welf continued to heat the metal for a few minutes Bell looked around the room, swords, shields and other weapons and armour hanging from the walls, supposedly they were failed projects that had failed to sell. Though to Bell everything looked pretty good quality and was surprised that it had not sold, though his viewpoint was a little bit skewed as anything was better than a kitchen knife to start with so it was hard to draw a proper comparison.
Supposedly Welf was talented in making magic swords, upon their first meeting in the building the red haired man had made some joke about being surprised that Bell had not come knocking on his door in search of magical weapons and instead only wanted some light armour. Bell did not press the issue much further as it seemed to be a sensitive topic, all the white haired boy did know in that end was that Welf had some natural talent for making the things though did not do so for some reason or another.
Welf stood up, walking over from the forge to his advil where he picked up a fairly sized hammer and started to swing it, raising it up and letting gravity take control as his arm came down and a loud 'clang' sound resonated through the room with each and every swing of metal against metal. Soon with some time it started to take shape, Bell did not know what it was supposed to be at first though with some minutes given to let it start being formed it was clear that it was going to be a knife of some kind. As the piece of metal cooled down drastically with each second out of the fire, soon it no longer burned a bright red and glowed less and less until it was nearly cold.
The blacksmith set it down, it was not turning out the exact way he had envisioned it and it was still always going to be there to return to afterwords, instead his focused could be dedicated to a valued customer waiting patiently, though the man reasoned that the boy was a little more than that, an acquaintance fit a little better, friend seemed too much of a stretch for the short time they knew each other. Either way it did not matter, there was still something the white haired boy needed and he was happy to oblige.
''So, what can I do for you today?'' Welf said with a small almost signature smirk, bending over a little bit and resting his arms on the workbench that separated the two as Bell stood on the other side of it. On the workbench there were various smaller projects, mostly failed ones that had been abandoned and fell to the waysides of work and focus.
''I was wondering...if you could fix this….'' Bell said in a bit of a hesitant voice, Welf was going to say something but before he could respond the white haired boy began to remove his backpack and opened it up, tipped it upside down and dumped out the contents of the bag onto the workbench. The pieces of armour, the few that were recognizable were Welfs work, the rest were small tiny bits and pieces, that is all that there really was. Some pieces were beyond repair, so cracked, fragmented and chipped that there was no mending the damage. Other pieces were simply non-existent, there were several pieces of armour that were missing entirely which could only be assumed to be destroyed in tiny miniscule pieces too small to gather or bother with.
Out of the small pile Welf could only see a piece or two that was repairable, even that the man did not feel very comfortable about as regardless of the repair job the piece would forever remain weak and breaks would come significantly easier.
''I don't know what 'this' is…'' Welf said with a small shake of his head, while picking up one of the bigger pieces and inspecting it, on the piece there was a tiny part in the corner that had a small fraction of his stamp. The red haired man did know that the armour was his work, simply making the comment was a bit of cheap humour in order to take away from the sadness of seeing the armour in such a state, if the pile of bites and pieces of metal could be considered armour by any means.
''It's the armour you gave me…'' Bell confirmed, while Welf nodded along at the same time. On the bright side of things the boy was alive to at least return it, meaning that the armour did do its job and managed to protect Bell until it met its inevitable fate. Such was the life that armour, weapons get worn down and their edges dulled, armour chipped and cracked until it no longer existed.
''Gods wept….what on earth did you do to the poor thing?'' Welf asked while placing his hands on the table and stretching a little bit, his body knowing even before his mind that a long day of work awaited him in front of the forge.
''I fought a Minotaur and it ended up getting ruined…'' the white haired boy said with the straightest face in the world that could be offered given the sentence, the boy did take a few seconds to think if that sentence was ever spoken in all of history. It was a crazy story in itself, being able to slay a beast of burden in a close combat deadly encounter. Bell would not even blame Welf if the man did not believe the explanation.
''Ahahaha...that got a decent chuckle out of me. But seriously, what did you do to get the armour so beat up?'' Welf asked, having let out a short laugh and shaking his head at the same time. Of course the man did not believe Bell, it sounded like the set-up to some cheap joke of cocky comment.
''I told you, I fought a Minotaur.'' Bell said honestly, straight faced as ever with a little bit more conviction and confidence in his voice. As those words came out there seemed to be something that clicked in Welf's eyes and entire posture, relaxing a tiny bit and letting his head tilt to the one side ever so slightly while his mouth hung open a tiny bit.
''Holy shit….you're serious…'' Welf muttered under his breath, in a slight bit of astonishment. The white haired boy did not have the appearance of one that could slay a Minotaur, though looks could be deceiving. Still the white haired boy was only a level one, perhaps there were circumstances that were not given some context which made the thing more believable. Still the red haired man was intrigued, interested and finding himself to be slightly invested.
''Yes! I did, I almost died…'' Bell admitted, being closer to death had only taken place a few times, though the situations were different to several extents.
''I bet...tell me about it..'' Welf said with a small smile, leaning forward and using his arms to scoop up the contents of the bag that had been dumped onto the tables surface and placed it into a small bin for the trash, the armour was long gone and there was no saving it, while getting attached to things that they created blacksmiths did need to know when move on.
''Huh…?''
''Well...there is no way I can fix this...though I have another set that is nearly finished...couple parts aren't done yet though I can wrap it up quick enough if you are willing to wait for a little bit.''
''Sure, I can do that!''
''Great, while I work you can tell me all about this Minotaur madness of yours.''
''Okay, so I was with Lili on the ninth floor…'' Bell started the story as Welf started his work, walking over to a shelf and pulling out a wooden crate that held the second set of armour that the red haired man had been working on, setting it down on the workbench the young man continued to listen to the story while making some eye contact every so often to make it clear that he was paying attention to the topic.
Welf heard all about the time spent on the ninth floor, the events leading up to it and running into a Minotaur on floor nine that was carrying a large sword. It was something that Welf had never heard of before, sometimes monsters did use natural weapons around the environment such as trees ripped from the ground and such, though a sword of that size and shape that Bell described was far from natural. It even sounded vaguely familiar from how Bell described it as Welf asked to know some more about what it looked like, taking an interest in the weapon that the beast wielded more than the beast itself.
Welf gave up a couple minutes later, missing a few pieces to connect the dots in his head if the sword was memorable or not. So for the rest of the story the red haired listened silently, while hammering out the final few pieces of the armour that were not finished in their entirety. The blacksmith listened about the fight, in as much detail as Bell could recount though there were some spaces that were foggy on the specifics, part due to some of the hard hits that the white haired boy had taken at the time.
In the end though, the Minotaur was slain and Bell stood the victor, Bell continued to explain that some of the Loki executives that were present brought him back above ground and to the place he was staying. All of which had been shared with him through Syr, as Bell was otherwise a tad bit unconscious at the time. Something that Welf could not blame Bell for being based on the tale told truthfully.
Of course there was some part that Bell left out, leaving out mostly everything involving the Goddess and the truth coming out that she was the one that had accepted the boy into her familia some time ago. Bell also left out everything involving Syr, though as the memories of the night flashed in his mind a tiny blush managed to sneak its way onto his cheeks. Still sharing the private, personal scene shared between the two that night felt incredibly wrong so Bell decided wisely to not share about the sexual scene they had that night.
''Damn, that's one serious story. One you would expect out of some old hero story…'' Welf said with a small shake of his head, as a child reading the stories were never really up his alley, instead running around swinging sticks and pretending that they were swords was much more his style. Still there was some appeal in reading about someone overcoming overwhelming odds, which was exactly what Bell managed to do as slaying a Minotaur while only being a level one was something almost inspiring, it also nailed home something that Welf was going to bring up later on that had been on his mind for some time.
It sounded a tiny bit far-fetched, though at the same time there were other people there able to validate the story and Bell had no reason to lie, Welf did have some sneaking suspicion that if the boy was lying it would not be hard to tell.
''Yeah...I still find it weird to think about a little bit…'' the white haired boy commented while scratching at the back of his head, which was the truth as thinking about it in passing it sounded exactly as Welf had said, a story. One some adventurer would tell over drinks in a backwater bar, where other adventurers would jump up and question the truth about the tale and soon an argument would break out, soon after a fight to follow.
''I bet, anyway...I don't think I will get this finished today...which sucks because I know that you said you can't go to the dungeon without any armour, your Goddess forbidding it and all.'' the man said with a bit of a shake of his head, the last thing Welf wanted or going to do was rush work, doing so could very easily cause silly mistakes and oversights, which in the case of armour made to protect someone in the dangerous depths of the dungeon such a thing could prove to be fatal. So Welf was going to need at least one more day in order to finish the armour, go over each piece one more time and give it his stamp of approval, so no one else could take credit for his hard work and also for it to be known that the piece is of quality and reviewed for its protection.
''Yeah…'' Bell said while turning his head to the side slightly with a small smile with the thought of the Goddess, having someone else in his life besides the people at the Hostess that did truly care for him was nice and warmed his heart. There were so many things about her that Bell could talk about, gush over each detail and share it with anyone willing to listen, though the boy did not want to rattle long for too long about the Goddess and it came off weird. Bell was simply pleased to have someone in his life that could grant a blessing, which just so happened to be one of the most powerful deities in all of Orario.
''Unless….you plan to go behind her back and sneak down without it.'' the man said with a small smirk, knowing the answer before it even came. There was no chance that the boy would do so, simply another opportunity to poke and prod a tiny bit for some cheap chuckles.
''N-no! I wouldn't do that...ever…!'' Bell interjected, of course Welf knew the answer and chuckled a little bit while shaking his head and waving his hands a little bit at the same time, in doing so noticing his thick leather gloves were still on his hands, which the man promptly removed. Finding his hands to be sweaty.
''Calm down...I was just messing with you...of course you wouldn't….who is your Goddess anyway? I don't think you mentioned it…'' Welf said while moving to put a away a few things cluttering the table, there was something about having someone else present in the workshop that made Welf at the very least a little self conscious about its tidiness, or maybe it was more the red haired man's desire to look busy while the boy talked.
''Oh, it's the Goddess Freya…'' Bell said a tiny bit sheepishly, waiting to see the response that Welf offered upon hearing the bold statement.
''Ahahah….damn, I wasn't expecting that, but it was a good joke. So, seriously who is it?'' the red haired man said while letting out a bit of a laugh, testing the waters and turning around to look back towards Bell, though seeing the look on his face something changed in Welf attitude and posture.
''I told you….it's the Goddess Freya…'' Bell said with the most blank expression possible, his voice held no lie and his words were true, the white haired boy was not a person that could lie very well in Wolf's opinion and not many people were foolish enough to claim to be in the Freya familia when they really were not. There was not much that one could hope to accomplish, sometime sooner or later the truth would come out and that would not be any good for the person that had tarnished the name of the Freya familia, that person could expect only a swift and merciless death if nothing else.
''Holy shit….you're serious…'' Welf muttered under his breath, the words sounding ever so familiar and different all at the same time, Bell was really telling the truth and was a part of the Freya familia. Of course the man had no way to really know, though it sounded plausible enough while giving it some thought, for a white haired boy that was able to kill a Minotaur at level one, being in the Freya familia only sounded right.
''Yes! I swear to the Gods…'' Bell admitted, knowing that the Gods would even take his side as his words were the entire truth and nothing else, which was a welcome change to the lies that had to be previously told and questions dodged.
''Wow….I really didn't expect that…..good for you I suppose..'' the man said while cracking a small smile, which were honest words as Welf was happy to know that the white haired boy was in a good familia. Though in itself that did raise some of its own questions, normally the larger familias outfitted their new adventurers with older equipment from past ones in the familia. If not that, at the very least provide them with funds so that they could purchase a set of good armour from a respectable shop.
''Thanks..'' the white haired boy said while scratching at the back of his neck with his one hand, Welf did manage to take the news surprisingly well, better then he had initially expected at least.
Soon enough the two ran out of things to talk about that were current and interesting, the work was taking longer than expected and Welf could tell that Bell was anxious to get going to go and see his supporter. Welf was not going to stand in the way of that, offering to finish up the work and get it to Bell as soon as possible so that he could return to the dungeon.
Bell was a bit hesitant at first, though eventually Welf managed to convince the boy to go and meet up with the small Prum and not keep her waiting. So Bell left, giving his gratitude to Welf one more time before leaving out the door and taking off down the street. Traveling in the direction of the dungeon, soon the sight Bell was waiting to see came into sight. There on the bench where the two had met, which seemed so long ago in the grand scheme of things, sat Lili.
As though she had a sixth sense she perked up a little bit and turned her head around in the direction of Bell that was approaching from behind, her small smile grew gradually as she leaped off the bench and ran over towards the white haired boy with her arms out ready for a big hug.
''Master BELLLL!'' the small supporter screamed out, her eyes lit up as they fell on the white haired boy as she ran over, there was a slight awkwardness in the way she made her way over, almost limping slightly. Which was the truth as she was still recovering from the incident with the Minotaur, getting tossed around as though she was a ragdoll was not great for her joints and she spent nearly an entire day in bed resting and recovering.
Though she still got up to go and see Bell the next day, check in on the white haired boy that had given her enough time to get away and also get help from the passing Loki familia. She was still upset with them, standing and watching Bell fighting in a deadly battle with the beast and doing nothing despite her pleas for them to aid him, save him.
In the end though it was not needed, as the white haired boy did manage to finish off the Minotaur all on his own, regardless of the end result though she was still upset at the executives of the Loki familia. She felt she was entitled to feel that way.
Still that was the last thing on her mind, she was simply pleased, overjoyed to see the white haired boy in good health. In comparison to how the boy was just a couple of days ago after the fight down in the dungeons depths, it seemed to anyones eye that Bell was as healthy as one could be with no traces of the near death experience that had taken place such a short time ago.
The wonders of potions and magics, which could bring people back from the brink of death. That was a good thing as it was a thought Lili could not bear, if Bell had died and left her alone, she did not know what she would have done with herself. Going back to working for jerk adventurers that could not care even a smidge if she lived or died, she even wondered in the back of her head if in the moment she would have been so overwhelmed that she would have attempted to join Bell in the beyond.
That was a sad thought, it contributed to the reason why she was crying softly in the moment. She had wrapped her arms around Bell's torso, she shoved her head into his chest and cried softly for several minutes. The white haired boy did try to comfort her slightly, hugging her back and placing his one hand on her head and patting it softly.
Though that only added fuel to the fire, she cried even louder into the boy's chest and squeezed even tighter, as though if she let go of the boy he would disappear from reality.
''I stopped at the pub to see you...but you weren't there…'' Lili softly mumbled into Bell's chest, she had done exactly that and showed up, it was awkward as an Elven woman wearing a green waitress uniform informed her that the white haired boy was not there and had gone for a walk. To some degree Lili questioned if the Elf was telling the truth, so she decided to wait, taking a seat and ordering a drink as otherwise the Dwarven owner of the pub asked her to leave. She waited for a few hours, had some drinks and even ordered a small salad to eat around lunch, which was surprisingly good.
If one positive thing came out of the time spent at the pub is that she found a new nice place to eat, the drinks were good and so was the food, so she could understand why Bell ate most of his meals at the place of business.
''I...I am sorry Lili...I took a walk that day to clear my head...I must have missed you..'' Bell admitted calmly, the short walk had turned into nearly an entire day-long hiatus from the pub, which probably troubled Lili to some extent. The white haired boy gave her a tiny bit tighter squeeze while speaking and when she returned, a lot had taken place that day that shook Bell's entire world. Still, Bell was pleased to have one consistent thing in his life away from the pub and such, that being the small supporter.
''I missed you...I am glad that you are okay…'' Lili said softly in a small murmur, she could have asked for no more in her life then Bell being alright in the end, having survived such a horrific and deadly encounter with a monster that had no business even being on that floor at the time.
''Me too Lili…'' the white haired boy said with a small shuckle as the small supporter finally pulled back, she used the sleeve of her cream coloured cloak to wipe away the tears and dampness of her cheeks, though if one looked at her they could still tell she had been recently crying. Her eyes were red and wet, despite that though she still wore a small smile on her face pleased to simply have her adventurer back in her life.
''Want to go to the dungeon?!'' Lili asked as she turned her head to the side slightly, she wanted to get back to their daily routine right away, she wanted to return to some semblance of ordinary life. She wanted to go down floor by floor, side by side, slaying monsters and harvesting the stones from within, stopping somewhere and sharing a lunch together before returning to the service and getting a nice payday.
Her one leg was still sore, though she did not care, she had dealt with worse and she would put up with it for Bell to spend some long awaited time with the white haired adventurer. Her pack was light too, so she wasn't too worried about trekking in the dungeon. She had yet to get her hands on everything she needed in order to replenish her supplies.
''Sorry Lili….my Goddess said that I can't go until I get some armour again...she wants me to rest a few more days anyway..'' Bell said in a calm and collected voice, performing a small shrug at the same time. The small supporter took a tiny step backwards and tilted her head back even further to look up at the white haired boy she was standing in front of, she nodded her head in agreement. She was not against resting and recovering for a few more days, if she did she could likely shake the limp that was still limiting her movement ever so slightly.
''Right! Right...sorry Master Bell...I wasn't thinking…'' the small Prum said as she turned her head to the side slightly and looked away from the boy, she had a small frown on her face, which was barely noticeable though Bell still managed to eye it. She was fine with staying above ground, besides the pay that it offered the dungeon was not a place that the small supporter particularly enjoyed spending her free-time. Still, that did mean that their time together was quickly coming to an end. Which left Lili wondering how she would spend the rest of the day, perhaps she would return to her apartment and sleep for a few hours before getting up and having something to eat somewhere, alone.
''Its okay Lili...do you still want to hang out?'' Bell asked while tilting his head to the side a tiny bit.
''Really!?'' the small supporter said a tiny bit too quickly, a little bit of a blush creeping its way onto her cheeks as she realized the quickness at which she responded to the offer, making her sound almost desperate. Which she supposed was the truth, the idea of spending even a little bit more time with the white haired boy brought a bright smile to her face. She contemplated for a minute in her head over what was the last time she smiled so much, without the white haired boy in her life, she gave up soon later.
''Sure, we can go for lunch or something...if you want…'' the white haired boy stated simply with a small shrug, doing anything with the small supporter sounded good so long as it was together and offered them some time to talk and such.
'Like a date…' the small supporter thought in the very back of her head, the thought creeping its way to the center front of her head over and over again, each time she tried to fight the idea back it only came back even stronger and made her blush a tiny bit more.
''Yes! Yes...please Master Bell….that sounds lovely.'' the small supporter said a little bit more calmly then her last comment, still though her voice did sound a tiny bit craving. She lowered her head down in some attempt to hide her blush, which brought its own small issue as her hood slipped back a little bit and showed off the ears she had due to her magic. Bell had extended his one hand and started to rub her head, his fingers grazing her ears a little bit and causing her to let out a tiny squeak.
''Alright, do you know any good places..? I only really eat at the Hostess….I kinda get tired of the food after a while…'' Bell said with a small smile, while the food and beverages were really good and not too expensive for the quality, someone could only eat at one place so many times before growing sick of it, no matter how good the food was in truth. Plus, Bell knew somewhere in the back of his mind that taking Lili to the Hostess to eat would not be the best option and could invite some questions and hostility, Ryuu especially was not very warm with the small supporter and some more time would need to be given before that wound healed.
''Don't worry Master Bell, I know the perfect place!'' the small supporter said in an excited voice, which was a half-truth as she knew several places in her head that would be good to take the adventurer and could not decide on which to go to. Some places she went to she only went because they were cheap, which those places were out of the question so she needed to think of the few places she did go on rare occasions to treat herself.
''Great, lead the way Lili.'' Bell offered, which the small supporter obliged. She started to lead her way down the street, without a clear destination in mind as she was still debating between a few places, trying her damndest to remember what type of food the white haired boy enjoyed and disliked.
''Oh, Master Bell...I was meaning to ask you...what familia are you a part of? Not that it's a big deal or anything...just wondering...if you don't want to share you don't have to..'' the small supporter asked, she did recall the time not too long ago that the Loki familia executives asked her which familia the boy belonged to and she was unable to respond, only giving up the Hostess as his place of residence.
''No, it's alright Lili. I am in the Freya familia.'' the white haired boy said almost a tiny bit hesitantly, tilting his head to the side and angling his gaze down to gauge the supporters reaction. Which was far from subtle. She stopped walking in the middle of the street, spun to the side to directly face him and threw her head back as she looked up at the white haired boy with a face of pure shock and awe.
''The Freya familia!? So you mean that….all this time I was….you were….'' the small supporter was not able to string together two really concrete thoughts, she did not know what she expected though it was definitely not the Freya familia. She thought that it was going to be a smaller one, far smaller, not one of the strongest and largest familias in not just Orario but the world over.
''Is something wrong Lili?'' the white haired boy asked, the reaction was slightly expected, Bell guessed that getting used to that sort of reaction was probably a smart thing to do. Welf and Lili were not the first ones to learn, although certainly not the last ones either.
''N-no….I just got caught up in my thoughts...apologies Master Bell…'' Lili spoke in a soft voice as she was caught up in her thoughts, the main of which being an incident that had taken place not too long ago. She could remember it as though it was the day before, she had her back up against a wall, cornered and trapped as though she was some animal being hunted and four short statured people faced her down. Dressed all in black, able to track and overwhelm her with ease, giving her a very simple set of rules to follow.
Stay away from Bell or die.
Though that was some time ago it still lingered in the back of her head, she had tried to follow the demands at first, she could do nothing else given the circumstances. She tried to avoid the white haired boy the best she could, successfully doing so for several days until the white haired boy found her and confronted her. In the end she did the only thing she could think of doing, running away. Still Bell followed, chasing her down into the dungeon and in the end saving her life from an otherwise certain death. She owed her life to Bell, though at the same time she was in danger staying near the boy.
Though her emotions had overrighted that threat, she had pushed it down into the darkest depths of her mind and had given it no attention. Though with the knowledge that Bell was in the Freya familia of all familias it resurfaced and dominated her thoughts in its entirety. If anyone in all of Orario had the ability to make such a threat it was the Freya familia, plus there was the evidence that her assaulters were Prums, or so Lili assumed based on their height.
Which left only one real option, in the Freya familia there were four brothers known around Orario for their exceptional teamwork and strength. Strong Prums were rare, the only one of real note in Orario was the Captain of the Loki familia, though Braver was only one man and things with the Freya familia connected too well. Dark armour, four Prums and Bell being in that familia, it all added up though Lili did have no way to know for certain. She could only make an educated guess.
Still she was pretty confident in her idea, the question lingering in her mind was if that was the case, how was she not dead. As much as it was depressing though, she did not stand a chance against many adventurers in a balanced engagement and up against anyone in the Freya familia she was so weak in compassion. The only solution that Lili could come up with was that something had changed, she had evaded Bell and the white haired boy was the one to save her and bring her back into the fold, so that was possibly the reason.
Still, it was all speculation and the small supporter had no way to know anything for certain. She had closed her eyes at some point while getting tangled up in her thoughts, though she opened them up as she felt a hand placed on her shoulder.
''You okay Lili..?'' the white haired boy asked a bit softer, Bell had crouched down to be eye level with the small supporter seeing that she seemed to be struggling with something in her head. Lili shook her head slightly to shake the thoughts from her head as she forced a small smile back onto her face, trying to push those thoughts from her head.
''Y-yes….I have a small headache...that's all..sorry..'' the small brown haired girl stated, which was the truth as she did have a growing headache with the thought that the innocent looking white haired boy was part of one of the greatest familias out there.
''Dont worry about it, no harm!'' the white haired boy said with a small smile, returning the charm that warmed Lilis heart and soul, seeing that smile made the small supporter feel that everything in the end was going to be alright.
''Thank you for understanding, l-lets keep going…'' the small supporter said with a tiny nervous laugh, she turned and started to walk down the street again and Bell followed along by her side. She finally managed to pick a place to eat, farthest from the Freya familia home. She felt a tiny bit uncomfortable the rest of the day, while she was with Bell she kept looking over her shoulder as she felt a little bit cold despite the warm weather.
''I almost forgot, I have something to talk to you about..''
''All ears…'' the small support said, a tiny bit fearful that the information could somehow be worse then the previous one. Lili was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was simply the prospect of adding another person to their party, some blacksmith from the Hephaestus familia. With Bell in the Freya familia, it was a little confusing why the white haired boy was not partnered up with other people from that familia. Though that was not a groundbreaking thing, Bell was not the first person who seeked to partner up with people outside of their own familia.
Still Lili was not against the idea, as they got into the deeper floors having more people was a good idea to share in the fighting and harvesting. So it was an idea that Lili at the very least agreed to entertain and talk further about later on, shelving the idea for further conversation later.
Even that night the small supporter could not sleep, she locked her door with the several locks that it possessed. She knew deep down that the wooden door and locks would do nothing to stop anyone from the Freya familia, almost anyone for that matter. All it would take is one light tap and the piece of wood would come flying off of its hinges. Plus, it did not matter as she had a large window, she was on the third floor of the building living in what was basically an attic space, though again that did little to stop anyone that wanted to get in through the window. Scaling up three floors and getting in through the unlocked window was an easy enough thing to do for any adventurer worth their weight.
Lili tried to distract herself from her thoughts by going over what lock she should go out and buy for her window, something she would be sure to do the following day.