No this story is not dead, I've just been busy with college and working on other projects. Read the A/N at the bottom cause I feel like I need to explain somethings.
Bell let out an involuntary groan of pain as Chiron helped him sit down on the couch.
They had just finished with their second training session, and well… it went just as well as the first training session had, leaving Bell a black and blue mess. Of course, Chiron had already treated his bruises, but it would take several hours for him to feel like he could do anything without his body protesting the action.
"Although, it may be a little hard to tell right now, how are you feeling in regards to your magic Master?" Chiron asked as he walked around the coffee table, dragging a chair over and sitting across from Bell as the boy settled into the sofa.
Bell didn't need to ask what he was talking about. Several hours before, just after Bell had woken up that morning, Chiron had sent Heracles and Achilles to the Dungeon for them to collect magic stones while he trained with Bell. Though he made sure to tell Achilles to stay on the first five levels since it would be suspicious that a newbie adventurer being spotted going any farther.
Achilles had been visibly disappointed with the order but said he would follow it.
"Uh, I'm not sure? I think I can feel some sort of burning sensation, but I can't tell if it's from that or… everything else." Bell answered, wincing slightly as he attempted to get slightly more comfortable, deciding against it.
Chiron didn't respond immediately to what Bell told him. He took a few seconds to think it over while cupping his chin. Even if Achilles wasn't in any position that would require him to go all out, Bell was still supplying two Servants in combat with magical energy at once.
"I have to say, Master, you've impressed me."
"Huh? I haven't really done anything though..." Bell said, confused at the sudden praise from Chiron.
"Maybe, but you've already done more than you were able to a few days before." Chiron said before elaborating on what he meant when he saw the confusion on Bell's face. "Think back to a few days ago. When we first trained, you could barely last an hour into the training because of both the physical and magical strain. Now, two days and only one status update later, you were able to go several times that in both respects and still don't seem to notice the taxation on your mind, even with another servant. It's quite the noticeable amount of growth after just one training session, don't you think?"
"... Yeah, when you put it that way it does." Bell said with a tone of realization, having been too distracted by getting thrown around by Chiron like a ragdoll to have noticed it before.
"It's only been a one-time thing so far, but… you seem to have a real potential for both growth and as an adventurer."
"Do you really think so?" Bell asked, a sense of happiness and pride filling him at Chiron's praise of him.
"Yes, I do." Chiron said, smiling slightly seeing Bell get happier. "If you do somehow maintain this level of growth, I might have to stop holding back so much in our training sessions by the end of the month."
"Uh, well- I don't think that'll be necessary!" Bell said quickly, his face losing some of its color at the idea that Chiron put forward.
"Maybe, maybe not. We'll see when the time comes." Chiron said with a slight chuckle at Bell's reaction to the suggestion.
"Hey! Are you guys done training for the day?" Achilles' voice came from the stairs as began coming down them, causing Bell to jump in surprise at the sudden entrance. Once Achilles finished walking down the stairs enough for him to see Bell and the condition he was in, he received his answer. "Going to take that as a yes."
"You're back early Achilles. I thought I told you that you were to come back when you had at least a bag filled?" Chiron asked, interrupting Achilles' look of empathy at Bell's condition, before catching a bag of magic stones that Achilles had tossed his way.
"You did." Achilles said as he casually sat down next to Bell on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "But I did that in the first hour and got bored soon after. So I headed back here."
"If you did it that fast, you could've at least spent another couple of hours at least getting more money for the Familia." Chiron pointed out, to which Achilles' only response was to shrug.
"Even if I did, anything I did get would've only added up to pocket change in comparison to whatever Heracles is getting. So I thought I could come back here and do something more productive."
"Any income is welcomed." Chiron countered.
"Eh, I'll make up for it tomorrow when I go down into the Dungeon with Master." Achilles said, waving it off and moving on. "So what are you going to do now that Master is resembling a newspaper?"
"Well, I suppose I was going to delve a bit deeper about what being a Master means with Bell, and our nature as Servants," Chiron said, sighing at his student's nonchalant nature, and causing Bell to perk up slightly in interest.
"Oh? Like what?" Achilles asked
"Well, we're going to go over -" Chiron began, but was interrupted before he could continue to explain.
"Actually… I have something I need to ask about." Bell said somewhat hesitantly, surprising both Chiron and Achilles. "You said something about a 'Holy Grail' a few days ago, is it alright if you could explain about that a bit more?"
"...Alright," Chiron said after a second, of course, surprised by the seemingly sudden and random interest in the Holy Grail, but going along with it for right now. "I said a few days ago that the Holy Grail was known as the 'omnipotent wish granter', and is usually the medium that summons Heroic Spirits as Servants, correct?"
"Uh, yeah, and you also mentioned something about a 'Holy Grail War'?" Bell answered with a hesitant nod, recalling what his teacher had told him a few nights ago.
"Well, we can ignore that concept right now for a later date, especially since it doesn't seem to have any bearing on you," Chiron said before taking a second to think about how to explain the complicated subject. "Well, to start from the beginning, the Holy Grail, or 'the cup of God', is a powerful relic of a specific religion in mine and Achilles' world, and it is sometimes considered a Noble Phantasm, something we will get into later, of a particular figure in that religion. However, when the name is used when referring to Servants, that is not what we are referring to."
"It's not?" Bell asked in confusion, though doing his best to pay attention and follow what Chiron was saying.
"No. What it is used for instead is the name of a device capable of granting any wish of anyone who fights in and wins a Holy Grail War."
"To be blunt-" Achilles said, interjecting to help his teacher a little bit. "We aren't talking about the Holy Grail, we're talking about a Holy Grail."
"That is a good way of putting it. Thank you Achilles." Chiron said to one of his star pupils, who smirked in response.
"So is a Holy Grail something that is supposed to grant wishes?" Bell asked, making sure he was following everything correctly.
"Not quite, and each one differs in various ways. But that is more or less an accurate way of describing the general idea of them." Chiron said before elaborating. "However, despite the title of 'Omnipotent Wish Granter', all of them do have limits, and most of them are essentially just a collection of raw magical energy."
"So how are they supposed to grant wishes?"
"Well, think of it this way." Chiron began as he grabbed a nearby piece of paper to help show his point. "The magical energy of the Holy Grail is like this piece of paper, or maybe a clump of clay. Each of them has an infinite amount of potential to be just about anything, however, they all need someone to create something out of that potential and give it form. An artist creates a drawing. A sculptor, a sculpture. And someone with a wish upon the Grail, a miracle."
Bell blinked a few times in silence trying to wrap his head around everything he was told, which was quite a lot. But even though he was being told quite a lot on this subject, there was only one thing he needed to know.
"O-okay," Bell said after a second before asking the thing he needed to confirm. "But what does a Grail look like?"
"Huh?" Achilles said, surprised by the sudden and bizarre question, and even Chiron seemed caught off guard by it.
"You know, what does it look like?" Bell asked once again somewhat nervously. "I mean, you have to know what something like that looks like right?"
"Well… each Grail's true form can each look very different from one another, but that being said, the image one usually thinks of, and the one most Grails tend to look like, is that of a golden goblet." Chiron answered before frowning. "But Master, may I ask why you are so interested in the Grail?"
"Well… it's because I think I saw it." Bell said after a moment.
"Wait, what!?" Achilles said in shock and surprise at the claim, turning from his seated position next to his Master to more directly looking at him.
"Master, I'm going to need you to explain," Chiron said after a second of shock, his expression growing more serious.
And explain Bell did, he quickly told his Servants about the incident several days ago with the golden cup just before running into the minotaur on the Fifth Floor and accidentally summoning Heracles. How he had suddenly found the cup from seemingly nowhere, the burning pain he had felt, and of the bizarre vision he had seen.
"I wanted to ask you about it earlier, but… it didn't seem like the time up until now," Bell said after he finished explaining everything to his two Servants, who were processing everything that he had told them.
"...No, it's fine," Chiron said, still thinking about the event and what it was that it could entail. "Although I do wish you could've told me about this earlier, it does answer a few things."
"Like how Master was able to get by the magical energy cost of summoning us from the Throne in the first place since it was actually the Grail?" Achilles asked.
"Well yes, but it also explains how Master was able to even have the affinity to be a Master," Chiron said, causing Bell to gain a look of confusion.
"Wait, what does that mean?"
"Magic in this world has a very different system than the one I and Achilles are from," Chiron said before elaborating at the look that Bell gave him. "While there are similarities, such as using chants to use spells, the longer the chant the more powerful the spell, and the basic idea of using magical energy to power those spells, etc., there are many differences. For instance, in our world, humans require something known as "Magic Circuits" to use magic. They're something very similar to your nervous system, but instead of conducting electricity and allowing your body to move, it conducts magical energy and allows for the casting of spells. Their number and quality also determine the quality of a Master, and as a mage in general."
"...And you're thinking that the Grail gave me these things?" Bell guessed, trying to think about why Chiron was telling him about this all of a sudden, not that he wasn't curious about what other differences there were between the two systems of magic.
"Yes," Chiron said before his eyes seemed to glow softly as he looked over at Bell before going back to normal. "I'm sure of it. I was going to mention it later when the subject came up in your lessons and ask you if you could think of anything to explain their presence, but from what you've told me, I already have an idea. That burning that you felt after you touched the Grail is not something that usually happens. I can only assume that it was the Grail forcibly giving them to you in a way that was compatible with the Falna, allowing you the ability to summon Servants and maintain us in a way similar to how it works in our world."
"So wait, is it not possible to be a Master without these, uh, circuits?" Bell asked.
"Ordinarily and under most circumstances? No. Not to say there haven't been some rare examples of it happening, but they are rare and their quality as a Master usually suffers as a result."
"So I have a bunch of these circuit things in my body now?" Bell asked, looking at his hands as if they had suddenly turned a different color.
"Well, since their nature is spiritual in origin, nothing about your body has actually changed physically. So you don't need to worry about that." Chiron explained. "The only way someone would be able to tell they are there is by directly seeing your soul."
"Huh…" Bell said as he clenched his hands a few times to see if the information made the action feel anything different. When it didn't, besides the soreness from the earlier training, he would let his hands rest on his legs again before noticing that Chiron was deep in thought. "...But that isn't everything, is it?"
"No…" Chiron answered after a second. "As many questions as this answers, it also creates its fair share as well."
"For starters: what on earth was the Grail doing there and why did it give you the Command Seals?" Achilles said, chiming into the conversation once more.
Bell blinked a few times as he thought about what Achilles had said and realized that he had a point. Why did this holy and divine relic from another world appear before him? What reason did it have to give him to summon the legendary heroes from its world?
"I think that it's enough of that for now," Chiron said with a small sigh. "As much as we would like to have answers for those questions, the Grail by its very nature is a mysterious artifact. It will be a long time before we get them, if we ever do. So it's of very little use trying to dwell on it for the time being."
"Oh, okay," Bell said, a little disappointed that the conversation was coming to an end there, but not arguing against it knowing that Chiron was right.
"My, my, we certainly got off topic," Chiron said with a sigh as he scratched the back of his head. "And we still have so much to talk about."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Bell said, scratching the back of his head as well.
"It's not an issue, that was something we were going to talk about one day. It was better that we got it taken care of earlier rather than later." Chiron said before sighing again. "But this does mean we're going to have less time for questions if we're going to be able to cover everything."
"Isn't that just another reason not to wait and to get started now?" Achilles suggested.
"Hmm, a fair point Achilles." Chiron praised his elder student, causing Achilles to look a bit smugger than usual as Chiron turned back towards Bell. "Are you ready to begin Master?"
"Well, I don't have much else I can do right now," Bell said somewhat jokingly, gesturing to his still beaten and bruised body.
"Another fair point!" Chiron said with amusement before clearing his throat and beginning his lesson. "Now, where to begin? I suppose a good point to begin would be with the dreams you're sure to have..."
The Morning After
Bell opened the door to the Church, wincing slightly as the morning Sun suddenly came into view.
The morning was already an odd one for Bell. When he had woken up, both Achilles and Chiron were gone. As if he had never summoned the pair of Servants in the first place, but the Command Spells and the magical connection between him and them told him that they were still there.
And since Hestia was still gone on that personal business that she was insistent on not telling them about, it was the first time in a while he had been alone.
...Well, that wasn't quite true. Because while using his connection to Chiron and Achilles told him that the two were not nearby and in the general direction of the rest of Orario, it also told him that the other Servant he had was close by.
"Uh, Hey Heracles." Bell greeted the Berserker Servant as the dark giant turned around to face him as he exited the Church before silently staring down at him. "Do you know where Chiron and Achilles went?"
The only response Bell got to that question was Heracles continuing to stare down at him in more silence.
"...Right. Should have seen that coming." Bell said to himself in slight embarrassment, somehow forgetting his Servant's inability to talk.
"...I know he understands quite a lot despite everything…" Chiron's voice echoed in his head as Heracles continued to patiently stare at Bell. "But even if I'm somehow wrong due to wishful thinking, I know whatever part of Heracles that the Madness Enhancement hasn't corrupted would still appreciate the attempt."
With those words echoing in his words, Bell would sigh before moving over to a part of the Church's wall right next to the door frame before sitting down, his back leaning against that wall.
"So, uh… How has your day been?" Bell asked, saying the first question that had come to him, only to spend the next few seconds awkwardly staring up at Heracles, who stared back down at him in silence.
"Oh, yeah..." Bell said with a sigh, feeling slightly embarrassed at the repeated mistake. This was going to be a bit harder than he thought...
What was he supposed to talk about with someone unable to respond to him? A few seconds would pass as Bell struggled to think of something to say to the towering behemoth of a Servant, until…
"Oh yeah. I never thanked you, did I?" Bell said in realization as he looked back up to Heracles, who seemed to tilt his head in confusion as to what he meant. "For saving me. When I summoned you, you saved me from a minotaur. I mean, I also confused you for a monster and ran away in fear from you."
Bell let himself laugh slightly in embarrassment at the memory before continuing, "Thing's have just been so busy lately that I guess I just forgot about it, but I never thanked you for saving me. I guess that's mostly just from how intense Chiron's lessons have been, though since he's your teacher, I'm sure you know what's that like. So, thank you for saving me!"
Silence briefly returned as Heracles, unable to respond, said and did nothing to show that he appreciated the gratitude from his master. Had he been in control of himself, he more than likely would've said that it was unneeded and that he was simply doing what was the job of a hero.
Still, though, that silence didn't feel as awkward as the first couple. At least to Bell it didn't at least.
"You know, I want to be able to do that myself one day," Bell said without thinking as he looked up at the blue sky above them, suddenly it felt like he was having a much easier time talking to the Berserker Servant.
"To be able to save someone from a monster. It was actually the main reason I came to Orario and became an adventurer. Though that was mostly because my Grandfather told me that the best was to get a girl to fall in love with you. Hehe… Now though, thanks to Chiron, Achilles, and you, I get a chance to actually become a hero like the ones I grew up listening to stories about."
Bell let out another embarrassed chuckle as he remembered his original goal when he first came to Orario. Was it really only a half a week ago that that was his main goal before he encountered the Grail and that minotaur in the Dungeon? So much has seemed to happen in the past four days.
Over the next hour or so, Bell would continue to talk to Heracles, telling the Berserker Servant everything that came to him. He talked about his thoughts on Chiron and Achilles, how he missed Hestia, and more. More than anything else, even if he never directly said it, Bell made it clear just how excited he was at his chance to become a hero thanks to them, even if he seemed a bit embarrassed about how childish that was.
All the while Heracles would silently listen to everything that Bell told him about, and though he was unable to show it at all, he felt a deep happiness that Bell was opening up to him.
"Hey, Master! What are you doing?" the familiar voice of Achilles called out to them, causing Bell to jump in surprise and both of them to look down the street to see the Rider walking towards them.
"Hey Achilles." Bell greeted as he got up off of his seated position on the ground. "I was just talking to Heracles."
"Oh? What about?" Achilles asked in mild curiosity to which Bell blushed, remembering how he had admitted to Heracles about his original intent in becoming an adventurer.
"U-uh nothing much! Just whatever came to mind!" Bell responded, suddenly grateful for Heracles' inability to talk as Achilles raised a brow at the reaction. "Uh, W-where have you been? W-where's Chiron?"
"I guess you were kind of asleep when we left and Heracles couldn't exactly have told you where we went while you were talking." Achilles said, making Bell grateful that he accepted the subject change. "Well, Chiron went to the Guild to see if there was anything that he could do to promote his adventuring lessons, and I went with him just to get more familiar with the town before I came back here to get you so we could go to the Dungeon.
"Oh yeah. Chiron did say that we were going to the Dungeon today, right?"
"Yep, and that means we should get going now since you're all ready." Achilles said as he turned around and began to walk back down the sidewalk.
"Right!" Bell said as he began to follow after Achilles before realizing something and turning around briefly to say goodbye to his other Servant, who was staying where he had been all this time. "See you later Heracles!"
Even though Heracles didn't return the gesture beyond silently watching Bell as he turned back around to catch up with Achilles, even though he did nothing during their entire conversation, Bell couldn't help but feel better after telling Heracles that had been on his mind lately.
Perhaps it was a good idea to talk to Heracles whenever he got some more free time...
Later
Bell jumped back as a Kobold slashed at him with its claws, the monster doing its damnedest to try and slice open a hole in his stomach large enough for his intestines to fall out. However, it was too slow to make contact with Bell at all, just as it was too slow to avoid the counterattack Bell sent in return, his knife piercing through the Kobold's skull. The monster's body going limp as its brain was destroyed.
But Bell wasn't allowed to celebrate his kill as he was forced to avoid another dog-headed monster's claws nearly coming into contact with his back. Thinking fast, Bell yanked his knife out of the skull of the deceased Kobold, causing a spray of blood to come out of the skull and allowing for the body to fall down to the ground unimpeded.
With his knife free, Bell would slash at the one attacking him as the momentum from his dodge still carried him out of reach of the monster. The knife wouldn't inflict a lethal wound, but it would cut through the arm that the Kobold attacked him with. At the bleeding, it would let out a howl of pain before attempting to jump back to recover.
Seeing the opening, Bell would switch the hands holding the knife before leaping forward to try and stab the wounded monster. The Kobold would see the attack coming and attempt to try and jump back further to try and dodge the attack.
Had this been a week ago, or even four days ago, Bell may have been too slow and would have missed his chance to finish the monster off.
But this wasn't a week ago. And despite its brutality, the training Chiron had given him over that week showed just how effective it was as he was able to easily close the distance between him and the Kobold before the monster could flee.
Bell would then thrust his knife forward in a stab, piercing into Kobold's throat. He then jumped back as Kobold attempted one last slash at him in an attempt to wound or kill the adventurer before it died. Failing this, it fell forward, down to the ground, and died.
Bell would let out a breath of relief and some mild exhaustion. Still, there was a very potent excitement flowing as he realized just how much he had progressed in a mere week thanks to Chiron's training. The pack of Kobolds that he just finished fighting had been the sixth one over the course of the few hours that he and Achilles had been down in the Dungeon, and during that time, none of the Kobolds had even managed to land a hit on him so far.
"So how did I d-?" Bell began to ask as he sheathed his knife and turned towards his Servant and current impromptu supporter, only to jump slightly in surprise at seeing that there was one more Kobold left that was biting into Achilles' arm.
Well… "biting" might've been too strong a word there.
"Hm?" Achilles hummed as he glanced over at Bell from where he was leaning against a wall with his spear resting on his shoulder and a dog-headed monster that was snarling and trying to bite his arm off, even though it was making more progress breaking its own teeth than doing any actual damage to him. "Oh, yeah! You did well."
Achilles would then push himself off of the wall of the Dungeon he had been leaning on, and jerk his arm upward to tear it out of the Kobold's mouth, which almost completely destroyed the upper half of the monster's dog head in a bloody display.
"Give me a bit to get all of the stones and we can go find some more," Achilles said he used the hand that had briefly been a chew toy for the dog-headed monster to plunge it into its chest to pull out its Magic Stone, causing the corpse to turn to dust.
"Y-yeah." Bell said in slight disbelief at the sight that he had just seen and the casual and bored nature of Achilles doing it. It wasn't his first time he saw the famed hero's invincibility in action, having already spent most of the day with him down in the Dungeon, but he still wasn't used to it. He honestly doubted he ever will.
Achilles didn't take very long to collect all of the Magic Stones from the various corpses of the Kobolds, along with any of the drop items that were left after the rest of the body had turned into dust. Before long, he and Bell were once more walking through the stone halls of the Fourth Floor in search of more of the monsters for Bell to fight.
"So Rider, how are you liking Orario so far?" Bell asked after a couple of minutes to break the silence between him and his servant.
"Well, between all of the different ver-… kinds of gods here, Berserker, Archer, and you along with Hestia when she gets back and just about everything else, interesting would be an understatement." Achilles said with a shrug, catching and correcting himself mid-sentence in case anyone had been within earshot. "I just wish that I was allowed to go down to a deeper floor for something that resembles a challenge."
"Yeah… I guess fighting monsters would be a bit boring if they can't do anything against you." Bell said, sweat dropping somewhat at his Servant's boredom with something that most people would find to be life-threatening.
"Well, the monsters we've seen so far aren't exactly the strongest or most interesting to fight." Achilles complained some more before sighing and looking up at the stone ceiling above them. "And on top of all of that, there's practically an entire town up there with people capable of wounding me, so any one of them would be more fun to fight than these things."
"Hehe… yeah…" Bell forced a small laugh, not sure how else to respond. He also chose not to mention that Achilles was slightly exaggerating that number, considering one would have to be a Second Class Adventurer just to draw blood from the demigod war hero.
"Uh, can I ask you a question Rider?" Bell asked, wanting to change the subject to something he could talk about more easily and sate a curiosity of his.
"Shoot." Achilles said with a shrug of boredom since they didn't have much else to do while walking through the stone halls of the Dungeon.
"Well, Archer said before how you and Berserker are equal, so who do you think would win if you fought?"
"Oh wow, ask me a difficult question, why don't you?" Achilles responded somewhat sarcastically before beginning to think over that question.
"Is it really that close?" Bell asked after Achilles continued to think it over the next few minutes, surprised by how much thought Achilles was putting into the question.
"Well it wouldn't exactly be an easy victory for either of us, that's for sure." Achilles said, before shrugging after another couple of minutes of thought. "But that being said...eh, I'd say Berserker would win seven, no, eight times out of ten ."
"Really?" Bell asked in surprise as Achilles finally answered his question. "How come he would win so much if you guys are so close?"
"Eh, it's just because, as much as I want to fight the big guy, it's a pretty bad matchup for me if I'm being honest." Achilles said before elaborating on what he meant as Bell visibly grew more confused at that answer. "Well, Archer always told me that he and I were more or less equal in terms of skill. Plus, I always have my speed to match his strength. The thing that makes it a bad matchup is that, for once, my invincibility doesn't beat his immortality ."
"You mean… God Hand?" Bell asked, taking a second to recall the name of the Noble Phantasm and how its mechanisms worked from the Status Sheet.
"Yeah." Achilles affirmed with a nod before scratching the back of his head and continued to go on. "I only have so many attacks that can even affect him, and that number will only go down as the fight goes on. Meanwhile, since his divinity rank is higher than mine, anything he does is always going to hurt me no matter what if I don't avoid it. Ugh… so since I don't have a chance in a battle of attrition, my only real chance would be to try and blitz him and try to take out multiple lives at once. And with that…Eh? I can't really think of anything besides my chariot capable of doing that."
"What about your shield?" Bell asked, remember about the offensive side of that Noble Phantasm. "Wouldn't that be capable of doing the trick?"
"Well… you would think so, buuuut… let's just say I have reason to think my trump card won't be all that effective for once." Achilles said.
As Bell tilted his head in confusion, as to what Achilles was referring to make him say practically dropping a miniature world on top of a person wouldn't be effective, Achilles had a small reminiscent smile grow on his face.
He thought back to when he was alive, to a point only a few years after he finished training with Chiron and years before the start of the Trojan War.
At that time, Achilles had only just started fighting on the battlefield as a warrior, and he had just managed to take his first fortress with the help of Patroclus. It was a sign of growth of the younger man and a sign that he was starting to make his mark as a hero.
But later, during the celebration of the event later that night, a story spread throughout the camp, and it spread rapidly. It wasn't just any story either.
This time may have been early in Achilles' career as a hero, but the same could not be said for Heracles.
At this point, Heracles was very late into his legendary Twelve Labors, so much so that the story that had spread throughout Achilles' camp that night had been about the completion of his Eleventh Labor. During which, not only had he journeyed to the legendary Garden of Hesperides, and not only had he slain the feared and ferocious dragon that had guarded the Garden, the Ladon, he had briefly taken Atlas' burden upon himself.
For that brief amount of time, Heracles had held the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
"Wait, I don't get it?" Bell said after a second when Achilles had finished the brief trip down memory lane. "If you know it's a bad match-up, why would you want to fight him?"
"Well that's part of the fun of being a hero isn't it?" Achilles said, smirking at his young master, who only seemed to grow even more confused at his answer. "To fight against something in the face of overwhelming odds and somehow manage to find a victory despite that? That's something that's at the heart of each hero, no matter what kind of hero they were in life. Besides…"
Achilles paused briefly as he turned back around to continue walking through the halls before finishing his thought, "...That's something he basically stands for at this point. I can't think of a better way of showing my respect for him as a hero than by doing just that."
Bell stared at the back of Achilles as he walked away, with something that resembled awe as he found himself gaining new respect for the Hero of the Trojan War, finding himself beginning to agree with the points that Achilles had made.
"Huh… well would you look at that." Achilles said as he stopped as Bell managed to catch up to him.
Both of them looked down a long set of stone stairs that descended further down into the depths of the Dungeon.
"I didn't realize we were so close to the next floor's entrance…" Bell said, looking down the descent of the stairs to the Fifth Floor of the Dungeon before he turned and began to walk away. "We should probably go back to looking for more monsters."
"Hey, Bell… out of curiosity, what kind of monsters usually spawn on the Fifth Floor?" Achilles asked, not having moved but turning around to face Bell.
"Huh? The monsters?" Bell asked in surprise at the question as he turned back around toward Achilles. "W-well, from what Ms. Eina told me, besides some more Kobolds and Goblins, it should be Frog Shooters and-"
"Frog Shooters?" Achilles asked, interrupting Bell, repeating the name with disbelief that it was an actual name of a monster. "What in Hades is that supposed to be?"
"Well, I think they're supposed to be giant, man-eating frogs?" Bell answered, causing Achilles to give him an unimpressed look.
"Seriously?" Achilles said, sighing in complete disappointment. "Ugh, well what's the other thing?"
"I think War Shadows?" Bell answered before noticing how Achilles seemed to perk up at the name, and having enough foresight to continue before the Servant asked him to. "Uh, they're like sentient shadows that are resistant to physical attacks except for their eye… thing."
"Oooh really?" Achilles said in interest at the description of the monster, a grin rapidly growing on his face. "You know, since you've been doing so well against the Kobolds and Goblins, how about we go down a Floor? Since there are bound to be some more valuable Magic Stones down there."
"Uh- I don't know, Chiron and Eina said it was a bad idea for me to go deeper than the Fourth Floor on my ow-" Bell said uncertainly, knowing this was more to appease Achilles boredom than to get more money but was interrupted by his Servant before he could finish.
"But you aren't on your own. You have me here, remember?" Achilles countered with his smirk ever-present. "And I'm fairly certain I can handle a few frogs and shadows to keep you safe."
As if on cue and to prove his point, a Goblin would jump out from behind Achilles to try and attack him while his back was turned. However, Bell only had just enough time to process that the small monster was there before what appeared to be a flash of green light had bisected the monster, destroying its Magic Stone in the process, causing it to immediately turn into dust.
"So what do you say?" Achilles said, his grin as large as it could be as he wrapped an arm around Bell's shoulder, not even bothering to mention the Goblin that had just attempted to attack him.
The display was only enhanced with the knowledge that the Goblin basically had no chance of wounding him, even if it had managed to land a hit on him.
"You know… it might be worth a shot?" Bell said with resignation as he had nothing left to say to stop what was happening.
"That's the spirit!" Achilles said as he began to walk down the steps to the Fifth Floor of the Dungeon, with Bell hesitantly following after.
The Next Day.
"We're back!" Bell announced as he came back down the stairs of the Church, with Achilles close behind him.
"Welcome back." Chiron greeted them as he closed the book he had been reading as he looked to welcome his two Servants. He would then raise a brow as Achilles dropped the bag containing the gold that the two had earned today. "Was there an issue? You seemed to have earned less gold than yesterday."
"Nope." Achilles said as he took a seat on the couch next to Chiron, propping up his feet onto the table as he leaned back. "After we got a decent amount of stones, Master said he wanted to go browse the weapons in some of the stores."
"Uh, T-that was alright, right?" Bell asked somewhat nervously only just now realizing that not running the decision by Chiron first could lead him to get in trouble with his teacher.
"Well, you didn't buy anything did you?" Chiron asked, earning a shake of the head in the negative from both Bell and Achilles. "Then, while I am slightly disappointed that you didn't earn as much money as you could've, I don't see any issues with it. If anything, I think having a more short-term goal like working to afford a new weapon would be good."
"Whew." Bell let out a sigh of relief, happy that he wasn't in any kind of trouble with Chiron and finding out what would be a punishment in comparison to the already hellish standard training he has.
"Oh yeah, didn't that god we ran into earlier give you some kind of gift?" Achilles asked Bell as he looked over at him, causing Chiron to perk up in interest.
"Oh yeah!" Bell proclaimed as he reached into his pocket to pull out two vials containing a blue liquid before showing them to Chiron. "Lord Miach is a god whose familia is friendly with us, and he likes to give me potions for free sometimes… even though he's probably too poor to afford to do that."
"He sounds like a kind god. I'll have to make sure to meet him sometime." Chiron said, putting the book he was reading off to the side as he reached out and grabbed one of the potions from Bell to more closely inspect them.
As the one who was taught by the gods of his world in the art of healing, and even later personally training the one who became the god of medicine, it wasn't very surprising that Chiron was fascinated by the potions. Their ability to seemingly heal any wound short of losing a limb simply by drinking it or even pouring it onto the wound directly was beyond anything so readily available in his world. He wondered if, maybe by asking Miach to teach him, if it was possible for him to learn how to make them.
"Wait, is there a version of Miach in your world?" Bell asked as the thought popped into his head, prompting Chiron's attention to return to him as he lowered the potion. "Like how there are versions of Goddess Hestia and La- Hephaestus?"
"Yeah, there should be." Achilles answered though he raised a brow at the unfinished title of Hephaestus as Chiron's face became unreadable as he remembered that particular difference between the two worlds.
"There is, though, similar to Lord Ganesha, we never would've met him due to him being Celtic," Chiron said, pushing the thoughts of the Forge God/Goddess out of his head as he leaned back and hummed with thoughts. "From what I know, however, he was an extremely talented god of medicine. So much so that his father, Dian Cecht, killed him in a rage out of jealousy when Miach healed a wound that he could not be repeatedly striking at his head with his sword."
"H-huh." Bell could only say, his face growing a combination of green and pale at the thought of the friendly god he knew being killed in such a brutal fashion. It only got worse alongside the knowledge that his murderer was not only his father but also the god who was the very reason why Miach and his Familia were in poverty.
"By the way Chiron, what were you reading?" Achilles asked, looking back at his teacher.
"Oh, this? It's just something that caught my interest as I was walking back here after doing some more advertising for my adventuring lessons." Chiron answered as he showed Achilles the cover of the book, which showed the word "Argonaut" on it. "Luckily, I got it for free since the person who had it was going to throw it out anyway.
"Yeah, I can definitely see why that caught your interest." Achilles said after blinking a couple of times to see if he was seeing the title correctly.
"Oh, I know this story! My grandfather used to tell me it all the time when I was younger!" Bell said happily as he recognized the book, clearly being happy to see the familiar cover once again.
"My, my isn't that quite the coincidence?" Chiron rhetorically asked in amusement.
"So why'd you get it? Besides it having a similar name to something else I mean." Achilles asked, curious as to why his teacher got the book, getting a curious look from Bell at the mention of the name. "I mean, you know all about him even without the book, so I don't see much reason to have it."
"Well, while that may be true Achilles, I was curious to see what the modern stories paint him as. After all, Zeus knows how many different portrayals we may have had over the millennia." Chiron explained to the Rider Servant, who simply shrugged in acceptance.
"So what did you think about it, Chiron?" Bell asked, clearly interested in what the Servant's answer was. After all, it wasn't every day that you got to ask a hero what they thought about your favorite hero story, let alone a hero from another world.
"I found it to be an interesting story to be sure. Though there was something I found rather funny about it. Though it's something only Achilles and Heracles would understand without explaining," Chiron answered, causing Bell to tilt his head slightly in confusion.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, alongside its and the name of the titular hero, there are quite a few similarities between the story of 'Argonaut' and a few stories in the world Achilles, Heracles, and I come from. For starters, the scene of him confusing a windmill for a monster and attacking it is reminiscent of a scene from the story of Don Quixote. And on the other hand, the general synopsis of a man going to fight a Minotaur does bear some resemblance to another student of mine, Theseus."
"That's especially funny considering that Theseus is an Argonaut." Achilles said, snickering a bit at the connection.
"Huh? Does Argonaut mean something in your guys' world?" Bell asked, confused at the way the two were using the name.
"Yes actually," Chiron answered. "Rather than being the name of a single hero, it was the name of a group of heroes, widely considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, collection of heroes in all of history."
"You're just saying that because like half of them were students of yours." Achilles said, teasing his teacher as Bell's eyes lit up at the thought of a large group of heroes teaming up.
"So wait, if that's true, were you one of them Achilles?" Bell asked, looking at the green-haired Servant.
"Unfortunately, that would be a no. I was practically still a baby, but I know basically everything that happened since my dad was part of it and made sure to tell me about it when I was growing up," Achilles answered Bell before a small grin grew on his face. "Don't worry about not having one of them as a Servant though since you basically have the Argonaut… I meant that figuratively by the way."
"What does that mean?" Bell asked though he did laugh a little as Achilles realized the potential mistake he made and the clarification that followed.
"Well from the way my old man put it, had Heracles not been part of the crew, they never would've made it to the halfway mark."
"Peleus always did like exaggerating," Chiron said with an amused sigh. "Even if Heracles hadn't been there, all of the rest of the Argonauts were quite capable and I'm sure they would have managed to get by as they did after his departure."
"So Heracles, was an Argonaut?" Bell asked in slight surprise, though it felt weird to use the familiar word in that way.
"Yes, he was. In fact, despite how his feats during the journey were later eclipsed by his famous Labors, and the brief time he spent as a part of the crew, Heracles is the second or third member of the Argonauts people tend to think about when they're brought up. The first is of course their leader, and another student of mine, Jason." Chiron answered, and though Bell briefly had a look of amazement at the new information, it would turn into confusion.
"What do you mean by Labors? And why did he have to leave?" Bell asked
"Well, unfortunately, Heracles was left behind by mistake, and when they were about to go return from him, they received a message from the gods that it was their will that he be left behind," Chiron explained to Bell.
"Oh, well that kind of sucks," Bell said, frowning at the information, feeling the way the hero left the crew was a bit anticlimactic from the way the two had made it out. "But what happened to the rest of the Argonauts? And you didn't tell me what those Labors were?"
"That's something to talk about some other time. For now, you should probably get ready to go to sleep. You have to get up early tomorrow to make up for the money you didn't earn today." Chiron said, smirking slightly at Bell's reaction of surprise and sleep. When the master looked like he was about to argue against the idea, clearly wanting to know more about their world's Argonauts, Chiron would continue, "I would recommend being well-rested since I will be joining you and Achilles tomorrow to see how you have progressed. If you perform well, I'll make sure to tell you the full story of the Argo afterward…"
Bell's face lit up in excitement at the possibility of hearing one of the greatest stories of heroes in all of history from the Servant's world.
"... And if not, I'll have to make sure you get some more training sessions."
All of the color from Bell's face was drained at that, and his excitement gave way to fear as Chiron finished his statement. He quickly bolted up from where he was seated to go follow his teacher's instruction to go get ready to sleep.
"Do you think we should tell him about our stories?" Achilles said, watching his master run off with a look of empathy. "I mean, it's only a matter of time before he starts dreaming about them anyway. Might be a good idea to give him a heads up on a few things."
"I already had that in mind, Achilles, but I'm glad you were thinking ahead like that," Chiron said, watching as Bell went through the process of getting ready for sleep. "I'll probably get started on Heracles' after telling him the story of the Argo."
"Yeah…" Achilles said, frowning slightly, already thinking about several scenes from Heracles' tale that he wanted to warn Bell about before he had to see it. "That would probably be a good idea."
"What are you guys talking about?" Bell asked as he finished the process of preparing for bed.
"Just discussing a possible lesson for you in the future, nothing for you to worry about for the time being," Chiron answered as he pushed himself up off of the couch, making sure to grab the Argonaut book as he stood up.
"Oh, ok," Bell said with an eyebrow raised, his curiosity clearly not quite sated but decided not to ask for more at the moment.
"Anyways, Achilles and I should leave you alone now so you can get some sleep," Chiron said as Achilles stood up next to him. "Remember that my decision to give you more training depends on how well you perform tomorrow, so be sure to sleep well."
"You know Chiron, reminding him about that is kind of anti-productive." Achilles said with a slight deadpan tone after giving the now less colorful Bell a "night".
"Oh? How so, Achilles?" Chiron asked, not quite seeing where his student was going with this as he followed him up the stairs.
"Because, speaking from experience here, trying to go to sleep with that in mind has a nasty habit of giving nightmares, which does wonders in keeping you up all night." Achilles said before the door of the stairs was closed, leaving Bell alone for the time being.
Bell let out a sigh as he sat down onto the couch, partially to calm himself down and also because he was more tired than he realized.
Bell briefly looked over to the bed. With Hestia still gone, he could sleep on the bed that was usually reserved for her, but decided against it. Not only was he just more used to sleeping on the couch at this point, but Hestia said she was only going to be gone a couple of days so she should be back tomorrow and he wanted to keep her bed nice and neat for her.
Laying down and getting comfy as he grabbed a blanket to cover him, Bell would look up at the ceiling.
Closing his eyes and focusing for a few seconds, Bell, without really meaning to, found himself following his largest mana connection over to the general direction where Heracles usually stood when he wasn't in the Dungeon.
And the thought of the Berserker Servant led Bell back to thinking about the earlier conversation. A smile began to grow on the boy's face as he remembered what Achilles and Chiron had told him.
Despite Chiron's unmeaning threat of extra training sessions if he wasn't satisfied with how far Bell had progressed, Bell couldn't help but feel a little giddy at the idea of being told the story of the Argo.
It had been a very long time since Bell had heard about a new hero story, his Grandfather having told him most of them when he was younger. And now, not only was he going to hear one that featured a large number of great heroes but he could potentially learn more about Heracles.
Bell was already going to do his best tomorrow to try and impress Chiron regardless of the promise reward, but now? There was no way he wasn't going to pass with flying colors.
Bell let out a happy sigh as he finally got comfortable enough on the couch to start falling asleep. Slowly, he could feel himself falling into unconsciousness. And as he got used to the comforting darkness-
A sudden light would momentarily blind and stun Bell.
But even before his vision adjusted to the light, he could hear activity all around him. He could hear the sounds of effort, the movement of heavy materials, and others called out to each other. But the sound that was the most telling of where he was, was the sound of waves.
By the time he was able to see again, Bell had already guessed that he was at some sort of dock, and his regaining of sight had only confirmed it.
Looking around, Bell found himself on an unknown pier bursting with activity. All around him, dozens of men were moving boxes, barrels, and other containers of cargo onto a massive ship that had an ancient-looking design that Bell had never seen before.
But the workers that were loading things onto the ship weren't the only ones there. Alongside them, there were others around dressed differently and carrying weapons. Some of them were helping the workers load the ship, others were milling about.
Bell looked down at his hands and body to see that they were transparent.
What was going on? Was this a dream? This didn't feel like any kind of dream he ever had before so-
"Ah, there you are!" A man called out as he began approaching where Bell was with a large smile on his face, making Bell jump and cutting off his thoughts. "With how long you were taking, I was beginning to doubt if you were going to show up!'
The man walking towards him was young, fit, and handsome with blonde hair and green eyes. He wore an ornate white robe with light blue accents with a long green cloth decorated with golden designs that tucked underneath an orange fabric wrapped around his waist and acted as a belt. He also had an array of golden jewelry: two engraved bracers on his wrists, a ring on each finger, and a necklace. This outfit, along with the bejeweled and gold engraved sword that rested on his waist, clearly showed off that he was rich.
"I am sorry for taking so long, but there was no way I was going to miss my chance to help make your dream come true." A new voice said from behind Bell, causing him to turn around in surprise.
And he could only feel his eyes widen in shock as he let out a silent gasp as he saw the person that had spoken.
Unlike the other man though, Bell already knew exactly who this man was. After all, there was only one man with this appearance.
Before him was a giant of a man, heads and shoulders above even the largest and strongest of the dock workers. He had a long set of black hair that seemed to flow with a mind of its own regardless of which way the wind was blowing or if it was at all. The only thing he wore was an armored fustanella and a pair of wrist guards, and he carried a quiver of arrows along with a large bow strung across his back.
There was no possible way this man could be anyone else besides Heracles.
However, there were differences between him and his Berserker Servant. Free of the Madness Enhancement that changed his appearance to that of a monster, not only did he not have the protrusions from the elbows, he was leaner but no less muscular.
But just because he didn't have the appearance of a monster did not mean he was a normal human. In his natural state, he seemed like something beyond human, comparable to a living statue of a god, with a potent divine aura coming off of him only adding to that image.
As Bell struggled to process and comprehend not only what was going on, but the appearance of his Servant when he was alive, the events would continue without him.
"And I'm glad to hear it!" the man said to Heracles as they met right in front of Bell, wrapping his arms around the demigod in as large a hug as he could, which was returned very quickly. "Between you and me, even with everyone else on this voyage, I wouldn't be nearly as confident as I am in this without you here."
"I'm sure you would be able to figure something out without me," Heracles said as the hug was broken before turning to look at the docked ship. "So this is our ship right?"
"Yep!" the man answered proudly, clearly happy with the vessel's quality. "The Argo! I got the best shipwright I could find and made him make the best ship he could. Apparently, a few of the dockworkers are already calling us and the rest of our crew the 'Argonauts' after it. Personally, I don't know how I feel about the name, but some of the others like it."
Bell's eyes widened as he heard those names. At first, hearing the word "Argonaut" caused him to think of the hero his grandfather always told him about, but then he remembered the other meaning of the name. The one that Chiron and Achilles had told him about just before he went to sleep.
He recalled when Chiron mentioned a few days ago how Masters would often dream of their Servants' pasts. Is that what was happening right now?
But wait… if he was right and this dream really was showing him the legend from another world, then that would mean that this man was...
"'Jason and the Argonauts', huh?... That certainly has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Heracles asked after a second of thought, smirking down at his friend as he confirmed his identity for Bell inadvertently.
Jason looked surprised at the small joke Heracles made before letting out a laugh in response, "You know Heracles, you have a point there!"
Heracles' smirk would grow a bit as Jason laughed before looking around to see who was there.
"So who else is going to be on this voyage?" Heracles asked, looking to see if he was able to see any familiar faces among the crowd of heroes.
"Well, besides the Boreas twins, Atalanta, the huntress of the Calydonian boar, and a good deal of others, Asclepius and Castor decided to join up, though Castor insists the only reason is because Pollox wouldn't let him live it down. Oh, and she actually came along with him."
"Oh? Well if she's half of what he made her out to be, I might as well not even here." Heracles said jokingly, thinking back to all of the times Castor would brag and glorify his sister during the time they were training.
"Ha! Zeus himself would find it difficult to live up to all of the praise Castor has given her, but I'm sure she'll be a great help. If nothing else, you might finally have someone to box against, if you find yourself bored.
Heracles found himself grinning in both amusement and excitement at the prospect.
"Oh, and Polyphemus is here too. Along with Hylas, of course." Jason remembered, taking on a thoughtful look as he attempted to think of anyone else that Heracles would know.
Heracles would raise a brow at the information in slight surprise. The information that Hylas was here wasn't any new information, since he had personally sent him ahead. Polyphemus' presence on the other hand, now that was certainly new.
It had been a while since he last saw his brother-in-law, not since his sister's marriage. Of course, that was also true for his sister, Laonome. Not that he hasn't tried to keep in contact, but in this day and age, communication was a difficult thing to maintain.
He would have to ask him how she was doing at some point during the journey.
"So what's the story with that kid by the way? Is he one of yours?" Jason asked his friend, breaking Heracles out of his thoughts.
"No, but as far as Megara is concerned he might as well be with how fond of him she is," Heracles answered. "He was the Prince of Dryopes, but after I defeated their army, they gave him to me as a peace offering. I didn't really know what to do with him, but since he was a good kid, I decided to take him on as a student."
"Speaking of Megara!" Jason proclaimed suddenly, surprising Heracles slightly as he faced his old friend and offered his hand. "I hope it's not too late to offer my congratulations on the marriage."
"...Well it certainly has been a couple of years already…" Heracles said after a few moments, blinking in surprise at the sudden gesture, before smiling."...But it is never too late for a friend."
"Haha! Good to hear!" Jason exclaimed as Heracles took his hand and shook it, letting out another laugh as Bell struggled to process what he was hearing.
Who were those heroes that Jason had listed off to Heracles? Heracles was married, and his wife's name was Megara? He also had a student named Hylas that used to be a prince of a nation that Heracles defeated?!
There was just so much going on that Bell was struggling to come to grips with all of it, which was only worsened by the casual nature the two spoke about it all, especially the throwaway line about defeating an entire army.
"Come on! Let's go introduce you to everyone before we depart!" Jason exclaimed, pulling Heracles by the hand back off to the side, creating a bit of a humorous sight as the blonde barely even half the size of Heracles dragged him by the hand.
Heracles meanwhile, though he could've very easily resisted the tugging pull of Jason, simply let out a laugh as he let himself be led away by his friend.
At this point, Bell was so overwhelmed with new information that he almost missed how the world itself seemed to move around him so that he would follow after them. When he did notice, he tried to move on instinct, only to find himself unable to. It made it quite clear that, although he could look around, he was unable to go anywhere else that wasn't where Heracles was.
So for all intents and purposes, he had little choice but to watch as one of the greatest tales of Greek Mythology played out before him, whether he wanted to or not.
Though to be fair, despite how shocked and overwhelmed he was that it was happening in this manner, a large part of him very much wanted to.
First off, some of you are probably wondering why the Journey of the Argo is before the Twelve Labors since, according to most versions I know, Heracles went on the journey either late into or after his Labors. The issue with this is that it couldn't have happened this way.
Chiron died during the Fourth Labor, super early on in the overarching story. The problem arises when you remember that Chiron also had to have trained Achilles for nine years. If the Argo, a story that took place a generation before the Trojan War, and, therefore, Achilles, happened after or even during the Labors, it wouldn't have been possible for Chiron to train Achilles before dying to Hydra Venom. This issue is compounded when you remember that Achilles had a short life so that puts us on an even time crunch.
Basically, the only way it makes sense is if the Argo happened when Achilles was a child, there was some years between that and the Labors, and Chiron trained Achilles during that intermediate time before dying in the Fourth Labor after finishing training him.
Also, after looking into it a bit more, it seems Jason, Heracles, Asclepius, and Castor didn't train together in Fate. I'm not changing it for the fic though, mostly cause we all know that they're students of Chiron and that they're all around the same age since they were all on the Argo. It just makes sense if the time they trained overlapped at least somewhat and they knew each other.