"Uhm…" Bell diverted his face from facing the giant woman of the Hostess of Fertility. "I'm sorry for causing trouble last time."
The tall woman named Mia sighed in response. "Well, fights like that aren't uncommon to see. At least you apologized though, most others don't. Nothing would have really happened if you didn't apologize, just don't start a commotion like that again."
Bell slightly grimaced. "Yeah, my goddess told me to tone it down a bit as well."
"Hm, well you should listen to her. Listen kid, I'm not gonna pretend to know you and why you acted like that. But you should just ignore them, an alive adventurer being made fun of is better than a dead one." She chided. "If you just focus on adventuring and getting out alive, that's better than what other adventurers can say. Just a small piece of advice."
Bell just hummed at that. He didn't know how much he could really agree with the 'be careful' mindset. Sure for the most part you don't want to do anything stupid, but then there's that dumb restriction of doing something that even the gods would find impressive to level up, so you kind of don't have a choice.
He guessed if whoever didn't want to level up should listen to that advice.
"Bell, you're fine right?" Syr said. The whole reason he even came here was to apologize for causing a commotion and causing trouble for Syr.
Bell tilted his head at the question. "Yeah, for the most part, why?"
"Well… You kind of look like you don't want to be here." Syr said shyly.
Oh, well that was obvious. Bell sighed. "Yeah, I wanted to stay home and play my board games, but I figured if I was gonna go out for any reason, I might as well go to the dungeon."
Syr blinked at that. "Board games?"
"Yes, board games."
"Oh… sorry, you just didn't look like the type…" She mused.
What does that even mean? Bell just shrugged. "Alright, well I just came to apologize, so I'll be taking my leave."
"Aww." Syr slightly whined. "I wanted to talk more."
"Sure." Bell deadpanned as he turned away from her. "I'll come back from time to time though. Just not tonight."
"Hmhmhm." Syr chuckled. "I guess I'll talk to you when you come again."
"And make sure you spend lots of money all right!"
Hm, maybe he shouldn't come back.
/
"BEHOLD! For I am Ganesha!"
Hestia huffed as she ignored the proud Ganesha's speech.
She crawled on the floor behind a table where most other people couldn't see her. She had to take as much food as she could. Sure she could live with potatoes, but she wanted more variety.
Though the real reason she was here was to hopefully talk to Hephaestus… But eating this food was a bonus.
Unfortunately, someone noticed her.
"Oh, it's good to see you are doing well, Hestia." That voice. Hestia turned her head, still kneeling down with a piece of bread in her mouth, and saw it was Freya, and she was wearing a very expensive looking white dress of course.
She quickly gulped the food in her mouth and stood up. "Freya."
"Oh, I apologize, were you in the middle of something?" She asked with a simple smirk
"Yes. I was." Hestia simply said.
Freya seemed to be taken aback for only a second, before going back to her usual self. "Hn, that type of attitude is what makes me like you so much."
Yeah, Freya was a weird one for Hestia. They never really interacted much, and when they did, Freya always gave off this weird feeling, she couldn't tell if it was a bad one or not. Maybe it's just because she was currently the goddess to hold the title of strongest familia right now. Well, Loki was competition, but Freya had the only level seven adventurer in her familia.
"Well, I'm not like that cause I hate you or anything, I just don't know how to react to you." Hestia bluntly said.
"Well, just be yourself around me. I'm as much of a goddess as you are." She chuckled.
"Hmm, well at least you're tolerable, unlike a certain someone…" She deadpanned as she saw a red haired figure walking down the huge flight of stairs.
Oh geez. "FREYA! And shrimpy…" The goddess Loki stated as she quickly reached the two.
"Well, hello there Loki." Freya said with her usual smile.
"Why are you here?" Hestia asked with a bored tone as she looked up at Loki, who was wearing a simple black dress with a red ribbon holding it together.
"Hmph, honey you know me, I'm Loki, I do whatever I want." Loki obviously taunted.
Well now that she was here, this was the best time to bring it up now she supposed. "Hey by the way, that sword princess or whatever. Tell her I said thanks for saving my child… Even though it was her fault."
Loki scoffed. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
Ugh, really? "Your child or whatever scared off a minotaur onto the upper floors, and my child was almost killed because of that!"
"Oh, that." Loki hummed. "Well, that's just how it works, it's the dungeon after all. And I don't have to tell my dear Ais anything for you, I'll just take that thanks for myself."
This is why she hated Loki. Before Hestia could say anything else, Freya cut in. "Oh, you finally have a familia, Hestia?"
"Uhm… Yeah, but it's only one member. They're off to a good start." Hestia hesitated. She didn't want to give too much information about Bell away, he was her only child that could get snatched up at any moment.
"Hm." Freya seemed to stare at Hestia in curiosity, until she turned back to Loki. "Anyways Loki, what's with that dress? Normally I see you in not so fancy attire."
"Oh, you know, I just had to come here and make sure I looked as best as I could to annihilate this pipsqueak here." Loki smiled as Hestia huffed.
"I don't know what you're talking about Loki, I have one asset that you lack." Hestia smirked.
Loki seemed to know where this was going. "Don't…"
"Oh that's right, you came in a fancy dress but it just looks like you're crossdressing. Where are your boobs sir!?" Hestia exclaimed.
/
"Hm…" Bell hummed to himself as he looked through the window of a small weapons store. Nothing interesting really happened today. When he went into the dungeon, he experimented a little to up his strength, but he didn't do it for long and only went to floor five. Maybe that reckless day killed his momentum, but he would eventually pick back up. Plus the fact he couldn't really check if his experiment worked, considering his goddess was in some weird god party… At least he thought, his goddess didn't really say where she was going.
But man, these weapons that he was looking at were over his price range as usual. The daggers he had weren't bad, they got the job done more or less, but the durability of the daggers were an issue. It was a good thing most of the weapon shops he visited always had these small daggers. Although, the first thing he should think about upgrading was his armor, because even if he couldn't use his dagger, he had his 'skill' to help him out.
"Bell?" Bell stopped spacing out, he looked behind him on the somewhat busy street to see a familiar dark blue haired god.
"Miach?" Bell asked. "I thought you would be at the party or whatever where all the other gods are."
"Hmhmhm, always so blunt, Bell." Miach smiled. "But no, I got an invitation, but I had to take care of familia business first. Oh, I guess that now you're here, have this."
Bell sighed as he saw Miach pull out two vials of potions from his cloak. "I don't understand why you're so persistent on giving me free stuff. I usually wouldn't mind, but we're both broke, you shouldn't just give free stuff out like that."
Miach chuckled. "When you put it like that, it sounds bad. Just think of it as a token of my appreciation for the few times you've purchased items from us and have visited."
Bell ruffled his hair in slight annoyance. "Fine, but just this once, because I had to use a couple potions for being an idiot." Bell reached out with his gloved hands and took the potions.
"Have you and Hestia been doing well?" Miach inquired.
"Hmm, these past couple of days have been a bit bumpy. But goddess seems to be doing fine, she's at the party where all the other gods are. Though I still don't know what it's for." Bell said.
Miach tilted his head before smiling. "Well, I guess you wouldn't know since you said you've only been in Orario for a couple of weeks. It's for Monsterphilia."
"Monsterphilia?" Bell satisfied a very small itch on his neck with a finger scratch. Another thing that revolved around monsters by the sound of it.
"It's a festival hosted by Ganesha and his familia every year. They tame monsters and hold a show in one way or another. It'll be held in three more days." Miach explained.
"Hoh? That's a little interesting. I didn't even know monsters could be tamed." It was interesting, especially because of the fact that monsters were apparently the biggest enemy of humanity. At least that's what his grandpa and Eina said. Plus it was pretty much common knowledge. He never actually met anyone who actively despised monsters as far as he knew. Either that or he was just overthinking it.
"Will you be going there?" Miach asked.
Bell shrugged. "Eh, maybe. I'm planning on going to the dungeon again tomorrow and doing the same thing I did today. Then I'll just relax at home or something. I just want to confirm something with goddess, then I'll probably pick myself back up." Until his goddess comes back. He wanted to confirm if his experiment worked, then he would start going harder on that strength experiment.
"Hm, well I have to get going now." Miach said as he patted Bell's shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Bell. And tell Hestia I said hello." Miach finished with a small wave.
"Yeah, nice seeing you." Bell waved back with his free right hand. After he left, he slightly looked up. "Monsterphilia eh?..."
/
Freya chuckled at the two goddesses catfighting one another. Hestia and Loki, they were a humorous bunch. Though that wasn't the reason why she was there. She wanted to find out which familia Bell Cranel belonged to.
"Look at your cheeks! I could stretch them as far as I like boobs for brains!" Loki exclaimed as she was pinching each side of Hestia's cheeks and stretching them as far as she could.
"WELW AT WEAST I HAVE BWOOBS!" Hestia yelled as Loki dropped her to the ground.
Loki huffed as she turned on her heel and started marching away. "Whatever! I'll let you off easy this time!"
"Be careful Loki, you might accidentally be mistaken for a guy by everyone else!" Hestia said as she held her cheeks.
"SHUT UP!"
"Hmhmhm." Freya gave a chuckle. "You two are always so entertaining to see."
"Hmph! She's so annoying." Hestia huffed.
She was about to ask Hestia something Until another goddess came. "You two were at it again huh?"
"Oh, hello Hephaestus." Freya greeted.
"HEPHAESTUS! I've been looking for you! Thank goodness!" Hestia exclaimed happily.
"If you're going to beg for stuff from me, buzz off." Hephaestus said bluntly.
"What!? Do I look like the type of person who would use another person's hospitality for my own benefit!?"
"Yes."
Freya internally sighed at the two as Hephaestus started listing all the things Hestia has done. She was waiting for one of her members to confirm who's familia Bell was from. Though she had a feeling it was Hestia. The small look of hesitation when Hestia said she had one member made her feel like she was hiding something. It was only a feeling though, it would be confirmed in a minute.
"Ok, I may have done all that before, but I have changed now!" Hestia said.
That was when one of her members came up to her and whispered to her ear. "We're confident we found valuable information in who's familia he's in."
"Well, as entertaining as this was. I will be taking my leave now." Freya stated.
"Oh? You're leaving already?" Hephaestus asked.
"Yes, I'm sure the men have had time to get a good look at me." As if on cue, a bunch of the males in the party started moving away from Freya. "Farewell."
This was a good step. Once Monsterphilia starts, she would be able to test him there. She could always ask 'Syr' to accidentally bump into him and invite him if he doesn't seem to be too interested.
The last resort would be bringing the monster to him, that would be a little tricky but she would find a way.
/
"Another dud of a day." Bell said to himself as he ascended from the first floor. Today was the same as last night. He did his experiment to up his strength, but he had to still wait for goddess to confirm if it did. But instead of just completely brushing off the day, he decided to just get as many magic stones from monsters as he could and went to the sixth floor. But it wasn't for long.
He was now heading to the guild, once he stepped out of the entrance of the dungeon. He wondered how long he would be winging this whole adventuring thing. It's not like he could make some long term plans right now. He was a starting adventurer with a goddess that just started her familia.
Oh, and there was apparently a familia… rank level… thing. Hestia familia was currently ranked I, because he was the only member and he was level one. But he didn't know what benefits he would get if he ranked that up. That and he didn't know how to rank that up. It sounded more like that would be explored once or if he gets more members in Hestia's familia.
Again, he didn't know. So long term plans kinda weren't an option right now. But he supposed it didn't matter, he would just go with the flow.
Bell shook his head as he snapped out of his thoughts. He looked up to see the guild. 'I got enough stones for my whole bag to be filled, so it should be quite a bit.'
He stepped inside and saw a few other adventurers, some of them doing the same thing he came there for, while some were just idling chatting.
"Oh, Bell." Bell looked to the middle lane of desks to see Eina.
"Hey Eina." He greeted as he walked up to her.
"What can I do for you Bell?" Eina smiled.
"I'm just here to exchange my stones for money." Bell said.
"Oh, well just go to the exchange area, you know this Bell." Eina said.
"I know, I just wanted to ask you something. Well, more like tell you something." Bell said.
Eina narrowed her eyes. "Knowing you, it's either something small or something you shouldn't do."
Bell chuckled. "Well, it's a small thing I guess. I was just wondering if you knew any places that sell armor for cheap."
He might as well find out now. His armor that he was currently wearing wasn't the worst, but now the monsters were starting to hit him in places where his armor wasn't. Like that war shadow thing actually almost caught him in the arm a few times when there were multiple.
Though frog shooter was still a dumb monster.
"What… You don't know?" Eina asked curiously.
Oh great, another thing he was supposed to know but didn't. "What is it…"
Eina stared at him for a couple of seconds. "Well, it's true your current armor set… Could use some work. Hey, how about this, are you doing anything tomorrow Bell?"
"Uhm… Not particularly." Bell said.
Eina smirked at him. "Ok, how about meeting me outside of the guild at seven AM?"
/Next morning/
'I don't know why she couldn't simply give me an answer… Eh, whatever.' Bell thought as he walked towards the guild he was just at yesterday with his casual attire. He had his backpack which held his valis, he emptied it just in case he had to hold something.
Which was probably gonna happen since he was trying to buy some armor.
"Aaand now we wait." Bell said as he stood awkwardly in front of the guild.
Luckily it didn't last long. "Hello again, Bell."
Bell looked at the voice which was obviously Eina. He was met with her wearing a white shirt with a ribbon just above her cleavage and a red skirt.
"Oh… Hey Eina." The sudden change was a bit surprising, honestly.
"Hehe, it seems I've surprised you huh?" Eina smirked as she leaned in front of him.
"Yes. You know you could have just told me where to go." Bell said.
"Hm, I feel like if I did, you would be more confused than satisfied. So I will show you myself. But besides that, what do you think of my attire?" She asked.
Bell blushed. "...What do you mean? Uh, you look good, I guess." He didn't really know how to really approach this kind of situation.
'Bell, remember. When you're complimenting a girl, look her in the eyes while you do it and stun them, then take that chance to clai-''
Yeah, maybe he shouldn't remember his grandfather's words.
"You guess? What does that mean huh? And why is your face so red huh?" Eina playfully grabbed his head, put it against her chest and ruffled his hair.
"I- Let go of me!"
It kind of went like that for a while, before he started following Eina in a certain direction.
"So, can you finally tell me where it is we're going?" Bell asked as he had his hands in his pockets, of course he had his gloves on as usual.
"Well, we're heading there." Bell quirked an eyebrow as Eina pointed her right index finger to the largest building in Orario. "To the Hephaestus familia shop."
"Babel tower. Hm, I see. Eina, let me tell you the definition of broke, you see-"
"Don't start! I know about your situation, let's just go in and I'll show you." Eina sighed. "By the way, is there a reason you're going for armor specifically?"
"Huh? Kinda. I know I'll obviously need a better weapon eventually, but I could just use my skill to grind for money if I really need a weapon." Bell explained.
"Grind… Uh, anyway, you haven't been overdoing it right?" Eina asked with a curious look. "You better not have gone to another floor without telling me. The only reason I accepted you going into floor six was because you kept coming back mostly unscathed."
"..." Going to the seventh floor while in a blind rage didn't count right? He probably could handle it to a degree now though, he was able to survive during his killing spree, but then he got a decent buff. But again, he'll wait till his goddess comes back.
He decided not to tell her, he was tired of getting scolded anyways.
They just had small talk for the most part, nothing really worth mentioning.
When they were in an elevator, they reached a floor that he swore the floor was polished with gold. They stepped out of the elevator, and looked at one of the windows with a silver chestplate with a price tag of twenty two million valis.
"Yup, a super expensive looking place. Must be nice being rich." He didn't even know why he bothered with that comment, this was just life for him.
"Of course the top of it is what attracts the most attention, but it's also one of the hephaestus familia's store fronts." Eina explained as she started walking down the hall.
Bell just huffed as he followed. Seriously, why were they here? Unless she was thinking of buying him something as a surprise. But he doubted that, and he was sure she wasn't cruel enough to just show a bunch of fancy equipment that was out of his price range and leave it at that.
Still, these things did look pretty good, so it was a little interesting to just look at them.
Bell hummed as he saw Eina enter another elevator. "Another elevator."
"Come on Bell, this is where you'll see what I've been talking about." Eina smiled.
"Sure." Bell said as he walked in and the elevator doors closed and went up.
Yeah, elevators. You could understand Bell's confusion on the technology of this world being so similar but so different at the same time.
He was a bit confused when he saw a lamp at first, but just thought of it as humanity just getting the taste of electricity. But nope, that's not electricity, that's a magic stone.
It was a small thing but it just nagged him for a while.
"Bell, come out!" Bell snapped out of his daze, as he saw Eina standing out of the elevator in a derker toned room.
"Sorry, I spaced out." He quickly stepped out as it closed behind him.
"So, I'm assuming you think that all these Hephaestus familia weapons are going to be over your price range?" Eina asked with a smile.
"Yup." Bell ended with a popping sound.
"Well." Eina walked up to a small wooden box covered in a white sheet with a simple looking sword on it. "You might be surprised."
Bell walked up to the sword, and noticed a small price tag on it. "One thousand valis? That's only like two potions from Miach's shop. That's not bad."
"See?" Eina said, glancing around. "All of these weapons are made by the lower level Hephaestus members. This is how novice craftsmen start, by getting good reviews by their buyers and so on."
"Huh, neat." Bell said. "So is there like an uncategorised armor section?"
"Right, you're looking for armor. Let's look around." Eina said.
Bell and Eina walked around for a bit, hitting a corner with heavy looking metal armor, though it obviously wasn't flashy.
Bell turned to a small lane the shop had. "I'm gonna go check in there."
"Oh, alright then." Eina chuckled.
Bell walked and continuously looked left and right. Light armor was the best thing he could find here. He obviously didn't want anything flashy when he had to be able to move swiftly to utilize his decay.
He was about to turn and leave into the next section, but saw someone placing a box on top of one of the small dressers. The man then simply walked away.
It gained his interest as he walked up to the box. It was a bunch of armor in a single small box. He leaned down and took a piece, it was the same as his other armor. Well, the piece was, it came with other pieces as well.
"Welf Crozzo…" Bell muttered. He took a look at the other pieces, and saw some for the shoulders and arms as well as leggings as well. "Heh, not bad. And the price is… Ninety-nine hundred valis. That's almost everything I have, I'd be left with a little over a thousand. Alright, why not?"
"Bell, I foun- oh…" Bell glanced up to see Eina walking up to him.
"I think I'm gonna buy this." Bell hefted the box of armor.
"Heh, I should have guessed you would have wanted light armor." Eina said. "Well, if you're set on it, go ahead."
"Yeah. So where do I check out?" Bell glanced around as Eina just chuckled as she walked away. Bell just assumed that meant to follow her, which he of course did. After a small moment, they were at what seemed to be the check out section. The same man who just put the box there was behind the counter.
"Hey, so I wa-"
"HEY!" God damn it, what now? Bell looked to the source of the voice which came from the elevator. He was a tall adult male who had short spiky red hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a blue scarf around his neck. He had a dark blue long-sleeve shirt underneath a black kimono.
Bell just looked on as the man marched his way to the front. He looked to the person who was helping them check out. "Hey, did my stuff make it into stock yet? I gave it to you yesterday."
The employee sighed. "Yes, we got it and it will be put out shortly." He said lazily.
"Alright, I just wanted to make sur- Oh, uh…" The redhead looked at Bell, before his full attention went into the box he had.
Oh fuck, was more drama gonna ha-
"Hmphahhaha! You mean you already put it out." The man laughed.
"Uhm… Can I help you?" Bell asked.
Eina looked confused as well.
"You already have, that's my armor, man." The man pointed to the box.
The man seemed to be pointing at it with pride, Bell put two and two together. "Oh, you're Welf Crozzo then?"
"Crozzo?" Eina said in surprise. "Like-"
Welf sighed deeply. "Yes, that Crozzo… Is that why you bought my armor? Look I'm not gonna make any magic weapons for you al-"
"Never heard of you." Bell turned to the person behind the counter. "Can I buy this already?" He didn't sound like a jerk, but it was another person just blindly assuming something. Though the way he said it was a little strange, like he didn't want to be recognised.
"Uh, of course, the tag says it's ninety-nine hundred valis." The man said.
Bell started to take out the amount.
"You… Haven't. So you're buying my armor not because of my name?" And there was now hope in his voice.
Eina still seemed confused. "Uh… Bell-"
"Look, I just found the armor and I like the way it looks." Bell said.
Welf looked at him for a while, before he started chuckling.
Bell ignored him as he gave the man the exact change, and Bell took the box.
"Hey." Welf said as Bell looked to see he was scratching his head. "Sorry if I sounded like a weirdo. But if you're interested in an offer, can I talk to you?"
Bell sighed. 'Why do I do things?'
/
Eina didn't know what to think as she waited by the elevator and saw Bell talk to Crozzo on the other side of the room. They were barely out of her hearing range.
But still, the Crozzo line huh? The Crozzos were well known for making magic weapons, that's what they were famous for. But suddenly that stopped.
Eina didn't really know the specifics.
Eina snapped out of her thoughts as Bell was walking up to her. "Did you finish your talk?" Eina inquired.
"Yeah." Bell said as he hefted his backpack. "I'm surprised all the armor fits in here. Oh, but yeah, he said he wanted to make a deal or contract with me."
"Oh?" Well, that was news. "And what did you say?"
"I don't know yet, I haven't really tried his armor yet, but he said he would make armor and weapons for me and give good deals for them as long as he was able to join my party… Though he sounded a little disappointed when I said I was only able to make it to floor six so far. Something about getting more rare material or something." Bell explained.
"So… He wanted to make a contract with you just like that?" Eina asked.
"Well, not entirely. He said we would talk more in detail about it later. He said he was busy tomorrow, so we would talk more the next day and meet up in front of Babel Tower around six AM." Bell said. "Plus, by then I'll see if his armor fits me or not, and if it's good. But I probably will accept."
Eina stepped into the elevator as Bell followed the same action. "Well, it's good to have more people in the dungeon with you, maybe you should even look for a supporter."
"A supporter?" Bell inquired. He looked really interested.
"A supporter helps you by concentrating on getting the monster's stones and of course, supports." Eina explains.
"Oh… Well that could help a little I guess." Bell sighed in what seemed to be disappointment.
"...Did you think supporter meant something else?" Knowing Bell, he was going to use a term she never heard of.
"Nah, just forget about it." Bell waved off.
Ok then.
"So, I didn't bother to ask, but why is Welf Crozzo famous?" Bell asked as they walked out of the elevator.
"Was." Eina said. "The Crozzo line used to make powerful magic weapons, until one day that just stopped, no one really knows why."
"Are magic weapons strong?" Bell simply asked.
"Very, that's why the Crozzo line was so famous, they were able to make them and sell them." Eina explained.
"Ugh, if they were that powerful then that means they were probably expensive as hell, so I guess it doesn't matter." Bell shrugged.
The rest of the way down was uneventful, just more small talk then anything, which Eina didn't mind in the slightest, when they got out of Babel tower, Bell said he was going to go home on his own.
"I really appreciated this Eina, thank you." Bell bowed.
"Don't worry about it Bell, just know I'm also your friend other than just your advisor." She said,
"..." Bell gave a warm smile. "Well, thank you again, Eina."
That smile looked really good on him…
"Well. I'll see you later." Bell said as he started walking away with a wave.
"Yeah." Eina waved back
/
Today was monsterphilia. Bell decided to go. Well not entirely, not because it revolved around monsters, if anything he would have liked to see that kind of performance they would do with the monsters.
But he had some idea that it would just be them flaunting their power or something, and it wouldn't be grand since it's early meaning it would only be, at most, about to start.
So he decided he would stick around for a minute or two and then head to the dungeon. Hopefully there were food stands around there and take some for his lunch when he goes to the dungeon.
Bell tried on his new armor, and it fit pretty well and didn't feel like it was going to get in the way. He wore his armor over a long sleeve black shirt, along with black pants. He had a simple belt that held a small bag that held his daggers,and wore boots.
The armor itself had pieces for his chest, upper and lower arms, and his neck area.
He looked at himself in the mirror. "Hm, I guess I look alright, maybe I'll get a black coat later or something."
He put his gloves on and grabbed his small bag that he put on his back. "I wonder when goddess is coming back, what is she even doing?"
Seriously, it's been three days, maybe she got another job other than selling her tatoes.
But anyway, he was ready to go an-
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Bell looked towards the stairs where the door would be at the top. 'That's weird, it's not goddess or she would have just opened it. It's not like we can lock that door anyway when you can just open the huge two doors in the front.'
Bell decided to walk up the stairs and open the door that led to the broken down floor of the church. And there was no one there as he looked around. He decided maybe the knock came from the front doors, which would make less sense but he checked anyway.
And again, there was no one there as he glanced up and down the street. "What the hell is this, a horror movie?"
"Bell?"
A familiar voice was heard as he looked to his left to see a certain waitress. "Syr?"
It was Syr looking the same as usual, but with casual attire being a plain white shirt and jeans.
She offered a small smile as she walked up to him. "Hello Bell, I didn't know you lived here."
"Who said I live here?" Bell quirked an eyebrow.
Syr seemed to be slightly taken aback. "Oh, I'm sorr-"
"I'm just joking. Of course I live here." Bell said.
"Oh… Well, uh, where are you headed today?" Syr inquired.
"Hm? Oh I'm just heading to the dungeon, gonna see if this armor can help me out in one way or another. But what about you, I don't ever really see you outside the hostess… Well, I've only ever recently met you so I guess that statement doesn't work." Bell really didn't know what people who don't go to the dungeon really do with their spare time. Probably just normal activities similar to his past life.
Syr chuckled. "I guess so, I was actually on my way to monsterphilia. Today is my day off."
"You were?" He asked "So was I."
She nodded. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Uh, I'm not gonna be there for long. I'm just gonna see what it's about, and maybe pick up some food." Bell explained.
"Aw, but if you want I can pay for you… If you want."
Well, he supposed it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't stop him from going to the dungeon today. "Sure, I can check it out for a bit."
Plus she was paying.
Syr smiled. "Great, but, I think I left my wallet at the hostess, we'll have to stop there really quick."
Bell shrugged. It was early in the morning, so it's not like they were wasting any time.
/
Today was the day, monsterphilia was happening today, and the day where she tested Bell would happen.
Freya hummed as she saw Loki and her child, the sword princess, standing right behind her as her goddess sat down on a simple table. "So, today seems to be a lovely day." Freya smiled.
"Haha, well today is monsterphilia, and I am with my dear Ais." Loki laughed.
The sword princess didn't seem to react.
"Yes, it seems to be such a splendid day, hopefully it stays like that." Freya said.
"Wow, so insightful." Loki chuckled as she grabbed the top of her cup of tea with her right hand and put it up to her mouth. "You also seemed to be out of Babel Tower a lot lately. So tell me." Loki's eyes narrowed. "You got another child on your sights?"
Freya's smile didn't falter. So Loki had some idea, who cared?
"Hm." Loki hummed as she drank some tea. "You sure are a crazy goddess. Is it a child from another familia as well?"
Freya just chuckled.
"Wow, well, what are they like. It's been a while since someone has gandered this much attention from you." Loki said.
"...He's very unique. In more ways than one, he can act cynical, but he can also be naive and sometimes kind." Freya started. The way he apologized so sincerely, after seeing a display of such anger towards one person for 'trash talking'. Obviously it was more than that, but it was honestly the only way she could describe him.
"Huh?" Loki raised an eyebrow. "Those things don't mix at all."
"In terms of strength, I'm not entirely sure… I have yet to see what he's fully capable of, but physically he's not the strongest it seems." Freya said. It was the best conclusion she could come to. Again, if he was stronger, he should have been able to go to deeper floors than six. And if his skill was any more destructive, then most definitely he should be lower.
"...You don't know how strong he is, but you know that his physical strength isn't all that? This sounds more like a gamble than a rare gem… Oh, but you have that, right?" Loki scoffed.
Freya nodded, she knew what she was talking about, the ability to see souls. "He was the most unique thing I had ever laid my eyes upon. Not only was his color unique, but he actually had two colors. One of them being a dull gray, but the other one was a color I had never seen before. A purely transparent soul, I just couldn't help myself when I saw it."
Loki perked up. "Two colors? What the hell does that mean?"
"It doesn't matter in the end." Freya simply stated. But at that moment, she saw the colors she just described walking down the crowd, that and-
She stood up. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have to go."
"Huh? You're just gonna go after-"
"Yes."
/
Loki sighed as she put a hand on her face while Freya walked away. "Honestly, I don't know what to do about her." Ugh, and she left her with the check. Loki realized that Ais was glancing down at the crowd. "What's eating you?"
Ais seemed to snap out of her stupor. "Oh, it's nothing."
"Hm." Loki let it go easily. "Well anyway, let's start heading down there too." Loki said as she looked at the check's total.
"Alright." Ais nodded.
"No need to save people today, it'll just be a nice relaxation." Loki chuckled as she raised her hand to get a waiter's attention.
"Save…" Ais mused. Loki gave her a look before Ais shook her head.
Yeah… Save… "Hey, Ais."
"Hm?"
"During that incident with the minotaurs, you said you only encountered one person down there?" Loki inquired as she took out the exact change for the check as a waiter approached.
"Yes."
"...And it was that kid with that weird skill at the hostess, right? No one else?"
"Yes… Why do you ask, goddess Loki?" Ais tilted her head.
Loki remembered the words from Hestia. 'My child was almost killed because of that!'
Loki gave a small huff of a chuckle as she gave the check to the waiter. "Wonder how she got her hands on someone like that." She muttered.
"Goddess Loki?"
She got up and slightly stretched, she then put her hands in her pockets as she started walking away. "Not that it's worth much, but his goddess says thanks."
/
"Geez it's crowded." Bell muttered as he walked besides Syr and made their way through the crowd to the colosseum where monsterphilia was being held.
And of course, it was as far from home as it could be.
Yeah maybe he shouldn't have come, but he already agreed to go with Syr for a bit. Then he would go to the dungeon.
"Well of course, monsterphilia is a huge celebration held every year, people get so excited." Syr said.
"Hm." He assumed all of the attractions and all the shows were held IN the colosseum. He really did hope it wasn't what he thought it was, and just people flaunting their strength against monsters.
But anyway.
"I'm guessing these stands are set up here for monsterphilia too eh?" Bell guessed.
"Yup, come on, I said I would buy some things for you, let's look at what the stands are selling."
Bell gave a small smile.
/
Freya sighed as a man fell with a loud thud on the floor with a large hooded figure behind her carrying a bag. It was time, and 'Syr' should have brought him here. Everything seemed to be going to plan.
She wandered around, glancing at the monsters that were caged in. A lot of them seemed not fit for what she was looking for.
It went like that for a little while until she saw it, a monster from the eleventh and twelfth floor. She smiled as she opened the gate for it. She looked at the figure behind her. "Do you have a size for this one, and would you look at that, he already has something covering himself."
"Yes, lady Freya." The figure reached into the comically large bag. Some people might think it was a dumb idea to bring someone carrying such a huge bag with them. But supporters carried sometimes even larger bags, so she doubted it would gain any real attention.
Freya sighed in delight as she used her charm on the monster. "Honestly, with his skill, you wouldn't really be a test, but I want to see what he does with this one simple thing. So, this will have to do."
/
"So, do we just go inside or something?" Bell asked through gritted teeth as he chewed on a piece of meat on a stick. They were standing in front of the colosseum after checking out a bunch of food stands.
"Yeah." Syr nodded. "We can ju-"
"AHH!" A yell interrupted her, as he looked to one of the many entrances to see a man run out, following him was a huge white fur monkey with broken chains that restrained its arms and chest with pieces of restraining armor around it…
What?
The monster roared to the skies as Bell just looked on.
"...What the fuck?" Bell said.
The monster made eye contact with him.
"B-Bell!? I think-"
It roared again as it jumped towards them, Bell looked to see Syr was just standing there.
'Damn it! Why are you acting like a damsel in distress? MOVE!' Bell yelled in thought as he quickly grabbed her right arm and quickly ran with her as it landed where they were. 'I'm gonna kill that thing!'
Bell looked at the silverback, which once again roared and threw its right arm blindly, probably trying to catch him or Syr, but barely missed Syr.
Emphasis on missed Syr.
Bell just concluded that he was the unluckiest person to ever exist. The broken chains that were still on it's arm, reached to Bell's legs and wrapped around them. He grunted as he fell.
"BELL!" Syr yelled as Bell used that moment to shove her away.
"Go!" Bell yelped as the silverback blindly thrashed its right arm to the ground. Even as Bell was thrown to the ground a few times, he quickly took off his right glove, and was able to touch the chain which decayed.
But again, Bell was super unlucky as the chains broke as the silverback had the momentum of his fist going sideways. The result was Bell flying through the air for seconds until he felt a huge amount of pain on his back as he crashed through something wooden.
Bell didn't check what he crashed into, all he knew he was near buildings and an alleyway. But that knocked the air out of him.
He grit his teeth as he looked up to see the silverback a decent distance away from him. How far did it throw him?
That didn't matter, he gasped for air as he hurriedly went to the small alleyway, hearing loud thuds getting closer behind him.
He quickly entered through and made it to the other side. His air finally came back as he gasped. He quickly looked up to see a sign. 'Daedalus street.'
He quickly snapped out of it, as he saw a huge shadow appear. He looked above him to see the silverback jumping down on him.
He didn't care.
Bell quickly back jumped as it landed in front of him. In that quick instance, he was able to jump on right arm, and quickly jump off of that to jump to its huge throat as he took off his left glove as well. He went to reach for its throat, and was met with steel.
Bell's eyes widened. 'It has a stupid neck piece!?' The neck piece itself wasn't durable, it was decaying like any other normal material, but it wouldn't finish in time.
Bell's worries were correct, as he felt something huge grab the bottom half of his body and was flung to the ground.
Bell coughed as he tasted dirt. But quickly rolled on instinct to dodge a stomp. Followed by being met by a huge right hand, Bell growled as he quickly took out a dagger with all fingers excluding his index, and quickly slashed at the monster's hand. If he tried to grab it, it could more likely crush his hand. But, it either hit a very hard metal part, or it's skin was too tough, as the blade's tip broke.
"FUCK!" Bell yelled as the monster decided to change it's grab into a punch, and formed a fist. Bell tried to backstep away from it, but at most, he was only able to minimize a little damage as not the whole fist clashed into his body, but still sent him flying to the top of the stairs beneath the sign.
Bell quickly got up. The armor was holding up well, but that still hurt like hell. Bell quickly turned into an alleyway, as he looked back to where he was to see a shadow emerge, he just barely dodged its sight.
Good. He caught his breath as the silverback landed. He would sneak up behind it, and hold onto the back of his head to touch the top which had no protection. That was the fastest way to kill it.
Bell looked from behind it, but gasped as he saw it sniff, and turn directly into his direction. Bell grit his teeth in frustration as he ran deeper into the alley, only for a chain to wrap around his legs. "GAH! NOT AGAIN!"
Bell did not wait this time as he quickly put both hands on the chains, but just like last time, due to terrible timing, the silverback was swinging down, so Bell was flung ahead of the street. He felt his body spin in the air, and was just able to make out some wooden boxes that were approaching. It didn't help him in any way though, as he crashed through them and then landed at a fountain that broke in half.
Bell grit his teeth in pain, as struggled to get up.
Suddenly, Bell's left eye saw red. He slowly put a hand on his left side of the head. He touched it and looked at his hand, he was bleeding.
How annoying. Bell stood up, as he saw the silverback jumping towards him in multiple jumps. Bell just stared at his hand a bit more, before he was overwhelmed with the sense of itch.
He scratched his neck with his left hand.
"...It's happening again." Bell looked at the approaching giant figure. A flash image of a minotaur popped in his mind.
The situation was like that minotaur, that goddamn minotaur again.
"Another monster that's not supposed to be where they are." He scratched harder. "Another thing that happened because it revolved around monsters." Bell felt like he understood now.
The silverback landed in front of him, and gave a loud roar.
"I get it now. And it actually pisses me off." Bell said as he casually started walking towards the silverback. "I don't care anymore, you need to die… You need to die by me."
The silverback didn't seem to care as well, as it threw both of its arms down towards Bell.
Bell quickly but surely jumped off the ground and into its right arm again, and jumped up to it's upper mouth. Bell swiftly placed a hand on each nostril of the silverback.
The silverback roared in pain, as it flailed around. Bell was able to keep hold for a few seconds, until he was flung off from the flailing onto the ground.
Bell quickly recovered. "I almost killed a minotaur… So why am I having trouble with you? I think it's because I was thinking too simply, I was trying to find the quickest way to kill you, when there are slower but better ways to do it."
He was so fixated on touching it's throat, because he was almost able to do it to the minotaur which was stronger, so of course that would mean this would be simpler. But a simple piece of metal on its neck prevented him from thinking straight.
Bell chuckled as he walked towards it again. "I'm so stupid. What the hell was I so worried about?"
The silverback didn't listen as it was seething in pain from the loss of its nose. Bell quickly took that opportunity to jump on its back, he quickly maneuvered around it, as he took out two daggers and held them in his hands.
They were decaying in his hands, but they got the job done before they were destroyed, as he plunged both of the daggers into its eyes.
It roared in pain angin, but quickly grabbed Bell with both of its hands, it then tried to toss him onto the ground.
But Bell put both of his hands on its right thumb, and was able to loosen it to get out of its grip. Bell put a good distance away from it and himself, as he saw the monster blindly swinging its arms around. 'You can't smell, you can't see.'
Bell just kept on looking. 'I thought that maybe that Bete person was right, I just needed to get stronger, that was the problem. But no. I see now, the problem is you, monsters.'
He walked forward. 'Nothing really changes. I'll still go to the dungeon, grind, get stronger, kill you monsters. Nothing has really changed. But one thing is more obvious now…'
The silverback slightly leaned down, panting from its blind attacks. It was leaning perfectly down that Bell could touch its neck, and the neck piece was still there. But it was almost broken. Bell smiled as he put his hand on it. In just a couple of seconds, the front part of the neck piece broke.
Bell laughed as he predicted the silverback to try to grab the presence beneath its neck, he jumped off of the arm again, and his original plan came to fruition.
He grappled the monster's throat with both of his hands as he snarled. "I HATE YOU!"
He felt a hand wrap around him, but it quickly stuttered and slowly fell limp. Then the monster exploded into a black mist as he was just able to land on the ground with his feet.
Bell laughed. It wasn't a crazed one, just a simple plain genuine laugh.
He felt his vision blur, as he could have sworn he saw a bunch of people coming out of their buildings. Though he couldn't hear well either.
'Oh geez… I hope Syr is… Ok.'
The next thing Bell saw was darkness.
A/N
Well, hopefully no one touches Bell's hands when he's unconscious. They're not gonna, but just imagine, you want to help a kid that potentially saved your life and all of a sudden a part of your body starts dissipating.
But yeah, this chapter was a bit overdue, I won't go too deep into it, but a lot of shit happened that prevented me from writing. Going from drama, to being so sick I felt like I was gonna die.
Fun times.
So yeah, Bell meets Welf Crozzo early, so look forward to more interactions with them. Honestly I wasn't the happiest with that scene, I felt like I could have written more detail. But I didn't want to get into Welf's POV in this chapter.
Not much more to say. Bell one hundred percent hates monsters officially now.
Till next time.