Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of the Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.
"I'd like to register to be an adventurer!"
Bell paused in his place, his eyes slowly peeling away from the packet of papers he was leafing through the young girl in front of him. She was small, incredibly slow. And skinny, little more than skin and bones in all honesty. If he had to guess, she was no older than eleven.
His normally pleasant smile faltered as his lips turned down at the corners.
"No."
The child (because she was a child, same as him) stomped her foot in what could only be considered a well thought out argument for maturity. "Why not?"
"You're a kid."
"So?"
"So, you are a child. No."
"But- "
Bell sighed before shaking his head slowly and retreating from the counter and beckoning the girl forth toward a back room. She followed without another word, nearly skipping in her step as she kept up just a pace behind.
A few of his coworkers raised a brow at him as he and his retainer made their way passed the guild employee's desks but he waved off their concerns quickly. It wasn't like he was actually going to register this kid.
He couldn't care less if this kid was the second coming of the Kenki, children had no place in the dungeon.
He knew that first hand.
He grimaced slightly at the intentional wordplay, slowly flexing the metallic fingers hidden beneath his uniform's gloves. He'd been foolish enough to abandon his futile search for a familia and enter the dungeon without a blessing.
He supposed he had paid the price for it.
The goblins were easy enough, kobolds were another story.
Honestly, Bell just felt blessed that of all the people to find him it was somebody who, while he would not say they were happy to lie, they were amicable to keeping it on the down low. Entering the dungeon without a falna was a criminal offense and he couldn't hope to get a job anywhere if people knew. Especially not with his condition.
The guild employee shouldered his way through the door of the first unoccupied private room and gestured vaguely over to the table.
"What's your name?"
"Ikali?"
Bell smiled as he pulled his own chair out and plopped down into the seat across from her. "Where are you from, Ikali?"
"Dizara."
"And your reason for moving to Orario was to be an adventurer?"
She nodded, her high pony tail bobbing with her head as she did. Bell paused and took the moment to observe the girl. She seemed a lot like he had a couple months prior when he had arrived in the city. Young, happy, full of life. The dungeon would ruin that.
Kind of.
He was still young, happy, and full of life, he had just had one less arm and a lot more chronic pain. To say he was unhappy would be to spit on all of Eina's work pulling him back together and he refused to do that.
But still, this hadn't been his dream, it wasn't what he'd seen himself doing when he was still growing up in his home village. He never got to achieve that vision, he barely even managed to reach for it before his arm was severed at its root, never to reach again.
His fingers drummed idly across the surface of the table as he pursed his lips.
"Do you have family here?"
She frowned at the question but shook her head regardless. He understood why, it was not a question typically asked when recording new adventurers. Name. Age. Familia. The actual information the guild required was minimal at best. A child's family mattered little in the eyes of the guild, only their familia.
"There was plenty of ways to go on adventures in Dizara. Plenty of ways far less dangerous than the dungeon."
"I know."
Bell groaned inwardly as he ran a hand through his hair.
I can't believe I'm doing this.
"Familia?"
Orario lived and thrived on the sacrifice of adventurers. The sacrifice of young kids like the one in front of him. Blood for blood. Life for magic. It was horrible and he despised the practice.
He could not deny an adventurer hopeful without proper cause. He had hoped by moving to a private room he could less openly try to dissuade her from her current course but judging by the determined fire burning in her eye, that wasn't likely.
So, he was stuck with his least favorite course.
Dungeon advising.
He'd shadowed Eina a lot while he was still recovering and being trained in her work. She didn't have much of any advisees to tutor while at work, but the few times he was graced with the modern wonder that is her lectures, he never wanted to go back.
Losing an arm was less painful than that.
Ikali would be his first and he'd make damn well sure she did not die down there.
Bell picked up the pen with his left hand, already grumbling at how many times he'd have to rewrite this form to get his hand writing to a point Royman would appreciate.
"Hestia."
His hand paused as it hovered over the blank space after 'familia.'
"I beg your pardon?"
"I am a part of the Hestia familia."
"The who?"
"The Hestia familia."
Bell clicked his tongue.
"Uh-huh."
His rubellite eyes fell back to the line on the paper but he still did not write the name down. Ikali was, blessedly, a very patient girl and did not once pester him to speed up. His shoulders slumped.
"And I'm guessing this 'Hestia' did not happen to be your god or goddess prior to coming to Orario?"
"No, I just met her."
"Wonderful."
"Did I.. do something wrong?"
Bell glanced up from the sheet of paper and smiled softly toward the girl when he took in her nervous expression. "No, sorry, you haven't done anything wrong." He sighed. "I'm just- the dungeon isn't safe for people with a lot of support. It takes lives far more easily than the stories will lead you to believe. Even with your other familia members it won't be easy."
Ikali fidgeted in her seat and her gaze dropped to the table. Bell's heart sunk.
"What is it?"
".. "
"Ikali?" He spoke softly, trying to not scare the girl off.
She mumbled something but he didn't quite catch the words.
"Could you repeat that?"
".. I'm the only member."
Bell smiled, tight and strained.
Great.
Bell waved stiff goodbye to the adventurer as they stepped away from the counter, experimentally wiggling his fingers at their back.
"Any better?"
He turned to his side. Eina watched his gloved hand with a furrowed brow before reaching out and taking it in her own, slowly working her way through each of the fingers and bending them. They seemed fine, but it wasn't like either of them had been overwhelmingly wealthy before the injury and Bell would raize the city before he let Eina go into debt for him.
She frowned, her eyes narrowing distastefully down at the hand.
"It's still stiff."
Bell tugged his hand away, slowly slipping it from where it was cradled in the half-elf's hands. "It's great, truly, Eina. You don't need to worry yourself so much, you've already done so much for me and- "
There was an awkward cough from the other end of the counter and Eina hastily retracted the hands that were reaching out again and jumped back with a yelp.
Bell blinked before adopting a large, inviting smile. "Bennett-san! It's wonderful to see you! How have things been going in the dungeon? I trust you haven't been doing anything your advisor would disapprove of, yes?"
The woman pouted through her blush. "I thought I told you to call me Iris?"
If Bell noticed the rather poor redirection away from her activities in the dungeon, he didn't say anything.
That doesn't mean he didn't give her the 'look' as she called it.
She sighed. "I've been good! I promise! I just.. get a little carried away sometimes."
Bell chuckled mirthlessly as he bent over to pull a form out from beneath the counter. Iris's irises followed his movement, already knowing exactly what piece of paper he was pulling out.
"H- hey! How do you even know if you need that?"
Bell cocked an eyebrow at the aurochian. He knew it may sound a little racist to say, but she was incredibly bull-headed. He wasn't sure if it was a part of her heritage or if she was simply born into a stubborn family and raised to be the same, but the girl put the 'ox' in 'stubborn as an ox.'
The aurochians were a rarer people on the continent, having migrated from halfway around the world. They were essentially half cows, with the same indomitable strength and the characteristic horns.
Iris just choose to make the resemblance a little too.. much.
It was easy enough to identify them with the spotted ears and the long tails, the fact that she quite literally wore a cowbell did nothing to stem that.
At his expression, Iris's face fell and she subconsciously folded an arm across her chest, grasping futilely at her other arm.
Bell did not pay any mind to the way her breasts were pushed up.
He didn't.
That would be untoward and unprofessional for a guild employee.
The half-cow let out a long, strangled sigh before slumping. Her cheeks didn't lose any bit of their pinkness as she nodded sullenly, embarrassed.
"There was an.. incident."
Bell hummed, pointedly ignoring the 'Incident Report' at the top of the form he'd already prepared with her adventurer information and credentials.
"What was it this time?"
"I saved a monster."
Bell froze, staring down at where his pen met the paper.
That was a new one.
He was used to Iris jumping in to help anybody in need, often putting herself at risk for the sake of others. He admired her greatly for it, especially since she actually succeeded most of the time.
But she also had the habit of not thinking before she did something.
("Sounds an awful lot like somebody I know."
"Shut up, Eina. I'm not that bad.")
If somebody asked her for help on the street, she wouldn't hesitate to stop and listen to whatever it was they needed.
She was kind. Too kind.
The incident report was largely an unnecessary formality when it came to adventurers as a whole, so much so that most attendants didn't even bother filling them out. Iris was a special case.
Eina was fairly certain that if Bell had found himself a familia he probably would have been far worse than the aurochian ever has. It was the main reason why she found their interactions so funny. It was also the only reason she found their interactions funny. She did not appreciate the way Iris looked at Bell whenever he wasn't paying attention. She wasn't quite sure what exactly the boy had done to earn such devotion from the older girl, but the half-elf could confidently say she didn't appreciate it.
"You.. saved a monster?"
The cowgirl nodded emphatically.
"Of course!"
".. what exactly did you save a monster from?"
The girl looked at him like he said what was (quite possibly) the dumbest thing she'd ever heard.
"Adventurers, of course! Who else, silly?"
Bell took a moment for his brain to buffer as he processed that before giving his best impression of everybody's favorite half-elf.
"You did WHAT?"
Iris gave him a look as she clamped her hands over her bovine ears. "Ow, ow, ow! Bell!? What the hell was that for? I have sensitive ears! You know that!"
Bell didn't pay her words any mind, far too busy dragging her by the hand to a private room in the back of the guild. If he weren't so worked up, he may have noticed how in his rush to grab the aurochian's hand, he used the wrong one. His only saving grace was the fact that Iris was nowhere near cognizant enough to notice the slightly irregular feel of his gloved fingers, her head stuck higher in the clouds than any cow had any business being. It wasn't her fault! She was holding hands with Bell. Bell! How could she be expected to pay attention to anything besides the fact that she was in elysium?
Iris was unceremoniously spun through the door of the room to where she hovered just in front of a chair. Bell, wasting no time, placed his hands on either of her shoulders and gently pushed her down into a seated position. Then, with a deep breath in through his nose and his eyes closed, he spoke.
"Tell me the story."
"So I was traveling through the dungeon, right? And I see the cutest little hellhound ever, and I think to myself 'hey isn't that the cutest little hellhound ever?' and it was just so true. It was the cutest little hellhound ever. It even had a bowtie! Adorable!"
Bell blinked. What kind of idiot would risk their lives just to put a bowtie on a hellhound?
"Anyways, it was backed into a corner, you see, and the adventurers were kind of just being all-around little buttheads. You know how I hate bullies, they're just so mean!"
Bell did know how she hated bullies, it was how they initially met, after all. It was not a secret that a lot of adventurers were, by all accounts, the worst. Just not people anybody really wants to know and certainly not people anybody likes. It only got worse when pretty women were involved.
Now, Bell was not blind. He lost his hand in the dungeon, not his eyes. So, of course, he knew that Iris was an incredibly beautiful woman. It was just a simple truth.
The unfortunate part about being a beautiful member of the aurochian race is that it makes lewd jokes far too easy.
'Take the bull by the horns.'
'Cows are meant to be milked.'
'Ride with the bulls.'
Bell had heard some pretty fucked things directed toward his friend and that was only within the walls of the Pantheon. He couldn't imagine how bad it could get when the night draws on and the taverns start opening.
Most people didn't want really say much in protest when people were being gross. The exception being Bell. He'd had absolutely no problem using his protections as a guild employee to lay into anybody who so much as looked at somebody the wrong way. He found it quite cathartic. In his position as an attendant, he was expected to put forward a certain image. Presentable. Kind. Welcoming.
He found most of the people he served in a day did not deserve any of that. The only thing worse than an adventurer is a tired adventurer who just spent the day in the dungeon.
Could he really be blamed for wanting a reason to yell right back at them?
Certainly not.
As it stands, Royman couldn't exactly fire Bell for protecting their female patrons and employees, not when there would surely be a riot if he did. So, the white-haired boy was well within his rights to yell at the first person he heard making a comment toward Iris.
The point being he was well aware of how Iris felt about bullies.
She did not like them.
"They were kicking the hell hound, throwing rocks at her- "
The hellhound is a her now?
" -just being all-around awful to her! The poor girl just looked so scared and she wasn't even fighting back, no claws, no fangs, no flames, no nothing! I wouldn't stand for it. Naturally, I used my swift wits to come up with a plan."
Uh oh.
Iris's plans were always.. interesting.
"I quickly wrapped my hair around my face to look like I was covered in fur, disposed of my illustrious cowbell- "
Till the day he died, Bell would swear he saw a single tear escape the girl's eyes at the thought of disposing of her little noisemaker.
" -roared to the heavens and charged them! Of course, they mistook me for a real minotaur because of course, they did! My disguise was impeccable! Unmatched! The cutie escaped while I tackled the two to the ground. Not wasting a moment, I rushed after the puppy, gave her a few good pets because she retrieved my wonderful bell like the perfect dog she is, and disappeared into the caves to fight another day."
Yeah. That about does it.
There was no way Bell was working the counter tomorrow. Not a chance. He'd take crystal exchange over another day of this. It had to be better than realizing the adventurer you advise is either hallucinogenic or the world is far more confusing than you originally thought.
Bell hated crystal exchange. He never should have done this.
"Oh come on, Bell-kun, I promise it'll be fun~"
He really wished people would stop trying to act so familiar with him. He barely knew them, just because he shows them kindness while on work did not mean he wanted to sleep with them! What part of that was so difficult to understand?
At the very least, Bell understood there was a very logical reason behind Aisha's incessant flirting.
Silently, Bell removed the hastily scrawled note from inside the pouch of magic crystals and slid it into his pocket before anybody noticed. His rubellite eyes flicked back up toward the amazoness's faux-smug grin and rolled in their sockets as he began counting the crystals. "We both know I don't want anything to do with that, Belka-san. I am in debt as is, I certainly cannot afford – nor want – your services."
It was a good thing Bell quickly tacked on the secondary reason for his refusal, Aisha was already opening her mouth to protest that 'money wasn't a problem' if that was his only reason. Sure, she flirted with him relentlessly to keep up appearances, but that didn't mean there wasn't a part of her that didn't want to see what he was like down under.
He was the man who didn't even hesitate to help her with her.. issue, how couldn't she want to take him for a test drive? It was only logical.
Bell smiled good naturedly as he slid the pouch of coin, she earned into the transfer case between them. "Your total is a respectable sixty-three thousand. A good haul for a quick solo trip. Do you have anything you wish to report?"
Playing along, Aisha rolled her eyes and snatched the bag up before meticulously counting the coin. "I should be making more than that at my level. Whatever." She scoffed derisively down at the back as if it had personally offended her. "And for the last time, I don't have anything to report! How many times do I have to tell you that?"
Bell merely smiled in response. "Just once per visit should do, Belka-san. It is protocol to ask, I will make sure your complaint about the procedure is lobbied with upper management. Anything else?"
"No," and just like that all of her previous frustration melted away as she leaned forward once again. Bell was never more thankful for the glass partition that separated the exchange clerks from the adventurers. "That is.. unless you have something you need?" She made a whole show of adjusting her arms to accentuate her breasts and Bell really wanted to gag. He settled for waving her away.
"You're holding up the line, Belka-san. If you have nothing else to declare then please step aside so the next person can take your place."
She huffed. "Fine. But don't think this is over."
Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Aisha.
"Next."
"Oh, aren't you just the cutest little guy ever!"
End me.
Bell stared blankly at the equally unimpressed guard before him.
"I have an appointment."
The helmeted.. man? Bell was just going to guess they were a man by their breast plate design. The helmeted person didn't seem all too caring about Bell's comment.
"Sure you do, kid."
Gods above he hated people like this. This adventurer was no different from all of the others in the city who'd passed him by without so much of a second look. If only he'd been able to wear his guild uniform, but nooo. Eina just had to go ahead and nip that idea in the bud before it after even started. 'It's not guild business,' she said. 'You can't go around using your uniform for things like this.' Stupid. How was this not guild business? Just because the guild pig didn't care in the slightest for some so-called 'unfounded rumors and slander' didn't mean it wasn't important.
(Bell was pretty sure the only reason Royman didn't investigate the claims was because he didn't want to lose his premium membership to his favorite brothel. There was nothing 'unfounded' about the unofficial vice-captain of the Ishtar familia coming and admitting what her familia was planning in detail.)
Bell sighed, already growing frustrated after a long day spent behind the counter of the guild and not having the patience to deal with some washed-up adventurer in the Loki familia who's pissy because he was relegated to guard duty for the rest of his life because he couldn't be trusted to do anything else.
"Look, I need to speak with Lady Loki. If she does not wish to abide by my standing invitation to speak with her, then you can go and tell her I'll get her another bottle of Soma next week to make it up to her. Good? Good."
The guard did not, in fact, scram. Props to him for not abandoning his post, Bell guessed, but it was slightly annoying. On the bright side, a face he recognized stepped out onto the front porch.
"Hey, Elfy!"
The brown-haired mage turned and cocked her head to the side at the boy waving at her, a soft and confused 'Bell?' escaping her lips as she head over to the gates. "Bell? What are you doing here?"
The two had met in passing some time ago when the young adventurer had stepped in to pay for Bell's kebab when he forgot his wallet.
Wow. Were all of his friends people he owed debts too? He should really get around to paying some of these people back.
"I needed to speak with Lady Loki but I'm not being allowed in."
"But you have a standing invitation?"
Doesn't he know it.
That's what he'd been trying to say this whole time!
"Here, I'll take you to her, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you again."
"Great! Thanks, Elfy! You're the best!"
The pink tint on the girl's cheeks went completely unnoticed as Bell scampered to her side, barely resisting the urge to bite his thumb at the guard's back after he passed. The man deserved it.
"S- so, what did you need to speak with our goddess about this time?"
The last time he'd sought out Loki it'd been for a mutually beneficial exchange, one that the goddess favored so much that he'd received permission to come and visit whenever he felt like. He supposed that was what happened when you become friends with the newly appointed vice-captain of the Soma familia.
He'd come with Eina to discuss the activities of the wine-loving familia with Loki after Iris had inquired after some supporter thief. As things would turn out, this supporter thief as the victim of a long-standing series of abuses of power under Soma's ignorant lead. The guild stepped in to correct of providing stability. There was still a bitter taste left in Bell's mouth after he was forced to argue to help Liliruca for the purpose of 'preserving the peace inside the dungeon' as the actions of the Soma familia was negatively impacting the work of adventurers and thus affecting magic crystal collection. It was gross and made him feel all different kinds of dirty, but it worked.
In the end, the former captain of the familia was imprisoned for a variety of charges that Bell couldn't bother to remember and Liliruca was placed in the role of vice-captain under the dwarf, Chandra Ihit. There were many positive changes in the familia thanks in no small part to Liliruca's hard work. Now, all members received tastes of failed batches of the divine wine if they so chose. As it would turn out, many didn't wish to partake at all, having hated the things it made them do.
They have a fantastic support group starting up for alcoholics.
Liliruca was one such person who refused the wine. She was never subjected to it enough to every become addicted, having not tasted it sense she before she faked her own death (which was a whole other slew of administrative problems). If Bell asked her for a sample she was more than happy to give it to him under the condition that no mortal is to ever taste it. She would not be responsible for ruining any other lives.
To make a long story short, he had access to the divine wine and Loki loved him for it.
"Oh! I wished to request her aid again with another familial matter."
"Really? Are you playing the hero again, Bell?"
Bell blinked. Where had that come from? He's never played the hero before; he gave that dream up when he lost his hand. He'd certainly never told Elfy about that dead dream, why would he have? It didn't matter anymore. The closest he could hope to get in achieving it is what he's doing with Ikali, and that wasn't much at all.
"Hero? I can't be a hero."
Now, it was the shorter girl's turn to be confused. "Didn't you save that Soma girl?"
"No? That was Iris."
"What about that orphan girl at the festival? I thought I heard a story about a young, white-haired guild employee plucking up a scared child and running from some hellhounds?"
"I mean, yeah but I wouldn't say I was her hero. It was Aiz who killed them."
The two, guild advisor and mage alike, turned from the entry into a side hallway, continuing to walk down until they reached a spiraling stairwell at the end.
"Weren't you responsible for the charges leveled against Apollo too?"
Bell tapped his chin in thought. He'd honestly forgot about that whole can of worms. What a creepy, creepy man. "I guess? But I don't see how that makes me a hero?"
"He was grooming young children and using promises of power to seduce them into his bed."
Gods above, Bell really hated Apollo.
"I just did what anybody else would do."
Elfy didn't seem convinced, instead choosing to busy herself by rolling her eyes fondly over arguing something pointless. Bell would never see himself in the same way everybody else saw him, it was a shame but there wasn't much that could be done for it past reminding him of the good he's done.
"So, what is it this time?"
"Hm? What is what?"
"Who are you saving?"
Bell had the gall to seem affronted by the accusation. "I never said anything about saving anyone."
As if she was going to believe anything else. "Bell, you're my friend and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you suck at lying. Like you're the absolute worst. Like so bad. Like soo bad. Like—"
"—like bad, yes I get it. Thank you, Elfy, but what's your point?"
"—my point is that you don't come to anybody for help unless it's for the sake of somebody else. You'd suffer endless pain if it meant not burdening others, but the second somebody else is suffering it's completely different. You, Bell Cranel, are a hypocrite."
Yeesh. What did he do to get on Elfy's bad side? What ever happened to the girl he met with a hole burning in her coin purse who just insisted she pay for his lunch under threat of death? What happened to the girl who described herself as 'beautiful' and 'capable of getting along with anyone and creating a good mood.'
"I—sorry?"
Elfy hummed as she waved her hand toward a closed door at the end of the hallway. "You should be. People are out there who care about you, you should accept help more often. I'm just glad you aren't doing something stupid to help whoever it is you're helping."
"I never said I was helping anyone."
"Terrible. Liar. Who is it this time? Another beautiful maiden?"
Bell huffed in indignation. "I've never even met her!"
"So, it is a her. Interesting."
Elfy certainly didn't look like she found it that interesting. In Bell's experience, most people don't grit their teeth when they find something interesting. They certainly don't grip their staves so tightly that the wood creaks under their fingers.
What did all of that even mean? Bell didn't know.
"Let me know if you need anything! I'm going to go do some target practice!"
Quickly, Elfy spun on her heel and stalked away, already muttering the incantation for her spell as she disappeared down the hallway.
"Uhhh.. bye?"
What was all that about? Why was Elfy so upset?
Seriously, what happened to that girl's so-called 'cheerful' personality? She looked like she was one spilled milk away from tearing somebody apart limb from limb.
He'd have time to think about that later.
Bell raised his hand to the door to Loki's office and rapped his knuckles against the wood. "Lady Loki? It's Bell, I was hoping to speak with you ab—"
"Bell-tan! How are ya? Ya got any o' tha wine?"
"Err.. no. Sorry."
Loki waved it off, apparently nonplussed about missing out on it. "Tha's fine. Whadya need?"
The white-haired guild worked glanced behind him, taking in the empty hall way. Even if nobody was in sight, this wasn't something he really wanted to talk about where others could potentially listen in.
"Could we talk in your office?"
Loki shrugged. "Course! Come on in, kid."
Bell groaned as he stared up at the tower before him.
This was going to suck. Majorly.
But he had to do it.
'I'm sorry, Bell. I am. But I can't risk my familia in a conflict that doesn't involve us because somebody is at risk. I hope you can find somebody who is willing, but it isn't us.'
There wouldn't be any help coming from the Loki familia. Bell couldn't blame Loki for her reservations, he worked for the guild, he knew how hard they'd crack down on them for something like this. With their past few expeditions resulting in heavy losses for the family, they really couldn't risk the fines that would come from open conflict with another familia in the city.
He just really wished it wouldn't mean going to Freya.
He hadn't even met the woman and he was already terrified of her. All the stories of the goddess of beauty and war were told with equal parts reverence and petrification. He had no idea what to expect going in.
But he had to do this.
There was a life on the line here, he didn't have any time for his own fears to hold him back.
"I beg your pardon?"
All he asked was for one, one day without being propositioned. Was that too much to ask?
"I said I'll send my familia to save this damsel of yours if you accompany me to bed."
Honestly, he'd thought he'd misheard the first time but nope. Freya actually wants to sleep with him.
"I'm fourteen."
She shrugged her shoulders delicately and brushed one of her bangs away from her cheek. "So?"
"So.. why would you want to sleep with me?"
Freya hummed as she placed a glass of wine down on the table to her left. Slowly, she leaned forward, one hand extending up to cup her chin as she smiled across at her visitor. Bell had to try desperately to maintain eye contact because wow her clothes (could you even call those clothes?) were revealing.
"Did you know that I have the ability to see the souls of you children?"
"Err.. no?"
Was he supposed to know that?
"That's no matter. Tell me, Bell, what do you think your soul looks like?"
How in the flippity floppity fuck was he supposed to know that? What do souls even look like in the first place? Are they all ghosty? Or maybe they look like a spirit animal? In that case Bell felt like his was surely look like a goose. Don't ask him how he knows, he just does. Most people would say his spirit animal was a rabbit, but in Bell's experience most people were also dumb as shit, so yeah.
Or maybe souls looked like.. a flame? That seemed kind of plausible, right? He felt like he'd heard reference to a 'soul flame' before. Like life force in a way? And when a person dies their flame is extinguished?
Or maybe he was dead wrong.
"No?"
Freya smirked and nodded. "I thought not. When you first arrived in this city you caught my eye, your soul was simply marvelous. Absolutely clear, unlike anything I've ever seen before. Then, something happened, I still haven't quite figured out what. But your soul changed."
Uhh.. okay? This felt like an invasion of privacy and for all of Freya's beauty, there wasn't much that could be said about her not being creepy. She'd been watching him since he entered the city?
"Now your soul is like.. an unborn star. So much promise of luminescence, so much hope for the life that star will provide—"
What in Gekai is she going on about? Stars giving life? What? Stars don't give life, they're just sparkly little dots in the sky. At most they make constellations but even that was a bit of a stretch. Whoever designed constellations really needed a pay cut because nothing ever looked like what they said.
"—yet all that was for naught, because the star's birth was cut off before it could ever truly begin. It's still there, still beautiful, still marvelous, but its.. different."
Bell swore, at that very moment, she was speaking in tongues. Like what?
"Err.. while this was very.. enlightening? I don't have any idea what you're talking about, I was just wanted to ask if you'd save the renard girl before she was sacrificed."
Freya nodded. "Of course, accompany me to bed and I will do exactly that."
Bell blinked.
"Can we just like go out to dinner or something? I don't really know you and it seems a bit quick? I don't know.. is that quick? How do relationships work?"
Seriously. He's fourteen. He doesn't know how this shit went normally. For all his speeches, his grandfather never actually said anything constructive about how to talk to or develop relationships with women. Really, the man was just a pervert with no social skills.
Freya gawked, taken aback by the boys blatant dismissal. Bell had never seen somebody seem so out of water, she was gaping like a fish and looking around the room in confusion, as if ensuring she was in the right dimension.
"Dinner?"
Bell shrugged. "I mean yeah? That's how things typically work, right? We get to know one another and see if we like what we learn, if not we go our separate ways with no hard feelings."
That was how it worked, right? He'd overheard Rose saying something or other about romance being dead and that was something she'd mentioned.
"Dinner?"
Was she confused on what dinner was? Why'd she keep repeating that?
Bell nodded. "Yeah, dinner."
The goddess of beauty blinked again. "Dinner?"
Was he missing something or.. ?
"I mean, we don't have to go to dinner if you don't want to? I've heard of something called 'bowling' somewhere in the city, never tried it because.. well.. I'm broke as shit, but it sounded fun. We could try that?"
"Bowling?"
Had she not heard of bowling? Did he need to explain it? He didn't want to sound patronizing by doing that.
Or.. what if this wasn't Lady Freya at all? What if it was just a parrot pretending to be Lady Freya?
No.. that was impossible, he'd had a full conversation with her, a parrot couldn't do all of that.
"Yeah. Bowling. Or if you don't like that we could.. go for a walk? Or.. feed some ducks? Or.. bake a pie? Eina has been craving pie recently. I don't really know, I'm just trying to come up with alternatives to sex. I'm not really comfortable with that."
Freya looked around the room and the down at herself.
"You're not comfortable with that?"
Bell shook his head.
"But everybody wants sex."
"Why would I want sex? I barely know you?"
"But everybody wants sex."
"Well, I don't. What I want is for somebody to save the Belka-san's sister's life."
".. "
"And to go bowling, but that's kind of secondary."
".. "
What the fuck is happening?
"Bell? What are you doing?"
He glanced over his shoulder to look at the absolutely flabbergasted looking off-duty waitress behind him.
"Bowling?"
Lunoire glanced between him and the pouting goddess at his side, the woman looking actually upset as she watched her bowling ball travel down the gutter at a snail's pace.
The waitress didn't even bother asking anything else, merely turning back around and venturing to find something else to do with her night off as yet another explosion in the red-light district shook the city. Mia had resigned herself to shutting the tavern down for the night after her familia laid siege to Belit Babili, as much as she loathed to do so. Lunoire had hoped to spend her night enjoying her new found freedom (a scares commodity under Mia's rule), but that would not be happening as a third wheel to whatever was happening in there.
"Bell, it's your turn."
The boy turned away from the door as some dust spilled from the ceiling as the ground quaked. He glanced over at the score-keeping paper and then to the pins.
He furrowed his brow.
"You got a strike?"
Freya nodded proudly. "Of course! Do you doubt me?"
Absolutely, you haven't hit a pin yet. Is what he wanted to say. Of course, he couldn't just say that. Freya was going to war for a game of bowling, if she wanted to cheat, he'd let her cheat.
"Not at all, I was just surprised is all, getting a strike is really hard. You must be very gifted at bowling!"
"Of course! Now get to rollin', I want to try to squeeze two games out of our time limit, got that? I don't want to waste any money!"
Bell deadpanned. Literally one of the richest goddesses in the city, but okay. What's worse is the fact that Bell was the one who paid for the whole thing because 'the gentleman always pays for his date.' A bunch of phooey, in his impoverished opinion. Bills should be split equally.
Oh, well.
At least it was fun.
He didn't even have to worry about his fingers hurting from the little holes in the ball because they were all metallic! Score!
"Bell-kun! I was so worried! Where were you? The city is under lockdown!"
The boy blinked owlishly over at his roommate. Eina was wringing her hands nervously as she stared over at him from across the room. Had she been pacing? Bell swore the floors hadn't dipped that much before.
Well. This wasn't going to go over well.
"I was bowling?"
"Bowling."
He winced.
"With Lady Freya?"
Eina's face was perfectly blank as she stared at him, her hand's not dropping to her sides but still stopping in their ministrations all together.
Uh oh.
Bell chuckled and took a half step back.
I'm in danger.
Bell's eyes flicked back and forth between the two short girls peering over the edge of the counter.
"Uhh.. welcome back, Ikali. Who's this?"
Ikali smiled, wide and bright and beaming. "My goddess!"
Bell blinked.
"She's a goddess?"
"I heard that!"
He glanced over at the short deity. "I would hope so, I said it out loud."
So, his customer service had taken a hit, but in his defense, it'd been a busy week.
How was he supposed to know inciting a war between two rival familias was going to result in so much paperwork? If he had known that he would have just hired somebody to kidnap the Belka-san's sister and be done with it. She would have needed to spend most of her life in hiding but it wouldn't been better for him and his coworkers.
With Ishtar outed for breaching the ancient code, she was exiled to Tenkai and gods who knew killing stones needed that much work to properly dispose of? Certainly not Bell. It'd taken several days just to prepare everything needed to remove any presence of the stone from existence. They couldn't afford to leave even an unbound shard unaccounted for, because even that little could be used to sever a soul.
Bell turned back to his advisee. "What can I help you with, Ikali?"
"We were hoping to put up an advertisement for new members!"
"New members?"
She nodded. "Mhmm! I need somebody to help teach me stuff! There were a few things we wanted to put on the flier, like we.. uhh.. well we don't have much to offer, but we don't have any debt yet and we're happy to accept anybody!"
Bell blinked.
Well, that's at least better than some familias.
"I'll see what I can do."
"You're the best, Bell! I love you!"
.. what?
The white-haired guild advisor watched with a blank face as Ikali skipped out of the building with a giggle, before turning and scowling at the half-elf laughing behind him. Eina was barely able to say a complete sentence as she folded in on herself, clutching her stomach as tears filled her eyes.
"Quit laughing!"
She did not, in fact, quit laughing. If anything, she only laughed harder.
"Damnit, Eina!"
"I beg your pardon?"
All he asked for one, one day without being propositioned. Was that too much to ask?
"I said I'll join this familia of yours if you accompany me to bed."
Seriously. Just one day.
"Belka-san. I am not sleeping with you."
She pouted. "Word on the street is you've been getting friendly with a certain goddess of beauty, are you sure you don't want to try to have a little fun before getting hitched."
Bell sighed.
How many times was he going to have this conversation?
And, more importantly, why were so many people concerned about this?
Ikali had brought it up during their last tutoring session. Elfy had mentioned it after she stumbled upon him during his lunch break again (which seemed to be happening a lot lately, how odd). Iris had been a bit more blunt about it, just walking up to counter of the guild and asking what was going on.
Hell, even Lunoire had stopped by the day after they saw each other at the bowling alley to ask him about it.
"There is nothing going on between Lady Freya and I; I can assure you that we are just friends. Although we are making a bowling team if you're interested."
".. so you're not tapping that?"
Bell blinked.
"No? Why would I be? I'm fourteen."
"So? I've had customers that age."
Gross.
Aisha, seemingly realizing the look of horror on Bell's face, waved his concerns off. "Oh, don't give me that look. I turned them away. I'm just saying it is possible for people to be active that young."
"Well, no. I'm not doing any of that."
Aisha shrugged. "Suit yourself, so this familia?"
"You actually want to join?"
"Well, Haruhime already joined up with her old friends from the Far East. I felt a bit awkward being around them, so I figured I'd strike out on my own, if this new familia lets me keep working then I'm all for it. Beats being around Hermes like I'd planned."
Hesitantly, Bell pushed a flier over the counter toward the Amazoness. "It's the Hestia familia. They currently have one member and are looking to recruit more. They aren't in any debt currently but they're living space is.. modest. All they really ask is that you help train their first member."
Aisha smirked. "Works for me!" She plucked the sheet of paper up before quickly scanning over it once more and turning toward the door. She cocked her head to the side and peered over her shoulder through her one visible eye. "Well, Bell-kun, if you ever decide you wish to get a taste for the spicier things life has to offer, don't hesitate to reach out. I want to see how I stack up against the goddess of beauty."
"For the last time I'm not sleeping with Freya!"
Silence.
All eyes in the guild turned to stare at Bell as he shrunk down behind the counter, stuttering out an embarrassed 'sorry' as he did.
Gods, he was becoming just like Eina.
A special thank you to everybody who has donated so far!We've already raised $140 in the first day alone!
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