Hey everyone.
I hope you are all doing well. This chapter took a while to write, due to work and a lot of things were going on, and also changes in conversation.
So here we are, where Artemis makes her appearance and we will see how this changes out. And let's start with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danmachi nor my characters
Chapter 9: Artemis arrives
Bell, in his Bellerophon disguise, was walking down the street and greeting the people around. They greeted back and some few were thanking him for helping out with their new homes for their business that was near crumbling. He feels happy that things are going well so far, and just needs to deal with the big event that is coming up.
"Tonight is the night that I will Artemis. I'm nervous about all of this. I hope the plan works, if I could save her."
He kept walking a bit until he felt a small poke. He turned and saw Misha, wearing a pink sundress. He was surprised how cute she looked.
"Hello, Bellerophon~"
"Hey Misha." He smiled softly at her
She giggled "You seem to be looking around. Need a companion?"
A bit surprised, he nodded "Uh, sure."
She hooked her arm with his and both walked around. Her cheeks were a little red and surprised herself how she just did that. She led him to a few of the shops and looked around. "You have brought a lot of changes here in a short time."
He chuckled and scratched his cheek a bit "Well, I give credit for the ones that assisted me. I just did one end of the bargain and it is up to the other end to improve things here."
She smiled hearing this "You have a good heart."
"Just doing the right thing."
She giggled "I think you fell in love with the city."
"Maybe I have, or maybe I am doing something evil" He gives a mock evil laugh, making her shake her head.
They kept walking for a while, until they stopped at a snack stall. They ordered two potato snacks and walked a bit more.
They found a place to sit down and ate a bit.
"So tell me, from your skills you showed up more than a month ago or so, how long have you been adventuring?"
He looked at his snack and replied "Very long. I have learned from the best and have used it as ways to survive and to help others out. A lot of trial and error and here I am."
She giggled hearing this.
Bell then asked her "What made you become a Guild worker?"
She answered "I just liked to meet interesting people and help out a lot. My first advising job was this girl named Cassandra. She seems like a nice girl, but she has moments where he says a lot of things that don't make any sense.
"Interesting. Any idea of what she has said?"
"I can't recall as it is nothing more but talking about animals to various suns and moons." She began to eat and then swallowed "After a while, she gave me a note and had to let her go."
"Let her go?"
"Lord Apollo felt that she didn't need any more advice, once they were able to get near the Middle Floors. Although she was sad about it, we do keep in touch from time to time."
He smiled hearing this "Friendship like that should always be treasured."
"It is. It helps."
"Any other Familias you work with?"
"A few other ones that do come by from time to time, for some advice on handling some of the floors. However, I do believe Eina is the bigger expert in some of the monsters more than myself. I just provide some of the details when it comes to drop items."
"Huh…so that is your specialty."
She nodded "Yep, and I have been successful on that end, and give the percentage chance of the drops based on the floors. I would also ask Elfy, a member of the Loki Familia, of how each drops come by."
"I have come across the Loki Familia. They seem….interesting."
"Yeah, but Elfy is my bestie and we pretty much talk about things."
"Oh?"
"Oh yeah. We do tend to talk about you. How handsome and strong you are, for your age."
He blushed a bit "I'm not that good looking."
She laughed hearing this "Don't be so humble. You are a good looking man~"
He just continued eating as she liked this side of him.
Both finished it and she held his hand. He caresses it, making her blush. "I feel safer around you, Bellerophon. You are an amazing man with a lot of skills that you showed during the big attack."
"I'm not that amazing to be honest."
"You are, just the way you protected the people when the bomb went off."
He pointed out "And yet innocent lives were still taken."
"You minimize the casualties and you immediately take action." She took a nibble and continued "Whenever I hear the reports of death, I learn it is more of the selfishness of people than monsters. It saddens me that lives are lost in such a meaningless manner over greed, envy, lust, and anger."
"It is unfortunate that this is the way we as people think. However, not all of them like that. Take solace that some are willing to fight for justice."
She had a small smile "I do hope this Evilus organization ends one day."
"It will…."
They finished eating and left the place.
Bell felt being watched, but relaxed. They kept walking until they reached Misha's place.
"Will you be in the finale of the festival?"
He shook his head "I have other duties to attend to."
Misha looked at him and went for the kiss on the lips. He allowed it to happen and tilted his head a little. The kiss ended as she smiled "Thank you. Do take care of yourself."
"I will."
"Maybe in the future, I could invite you to my place." She gave a wink.
"Maybe."
She went inside and closed the door. Bell kept walking until he reached an alleyway. "Come on out, Allen."
He got down and was wearing his vizor. "I must admit, Cranel, you manage to fool nearly everyone."
He turned to see him and smirked, "I was taught by someone to let people find a better future for us, instead of putting a hero on a pedestal. Heroes come and go, and people tend to ask heroes to keep pushing them to do more things, when regular people have that potential to solve it."
"Oh? So you don't see yourself as a hero? I heard the Record Holder tends to save lives and such."
"I save lives, when the danger is great. Once it is over, I will just keep my head low and hope it will continue to inspire others, and unite themselves."
He rolled his eyes "Hmph. By the way, we found dead bodies on the 24th floor. A mixed familia working together on a mission. However, one is missing and we found the ears of the missing person, but no other body."
"I see."
"I advise you to keep your guard up, I have a feeling this bastard was behind those killings. He already injured one of the Gulliver Brothers in one raid in the past."
He agreed "I will. I am not going to allow him to get the jump on me."
"Good. The last thing I need is Lady Freya going on a killing spree if anything bad happens to you."
"Right. Do keep your guard up as well."
He didn't answer as he saw Allen leaving.
Bell thought "I will have to wait until he appears once more, and this time, I will make sure he is put down for good."
He stared at the Babel Tower, knowing he was somewhere in there, planning his next big move.
Later that night
Hestia and her familia were walking around, enjoying the final day of the festival. People were eating, drinking, playing games. This was going on, all while Ganesha's familia are keeping an eye around for anything suspicious.
Eli was carrying a stuffed toy, due to him winning a game, while eating a pretzel. "Can't wait to give this to Fina, she will love it!"
Aura was nibbling on her pretzel, enjoying the atmosphere.
Welf more lively, due to a drink he had. It wasn't alcoholic, but it seems to make him have more energy. He was thinking about making one weapon, two weapons, maybe three or more.
Lilli and Hestia were with Bell, enjoying the scenery.
They walked around, trying out different stalls from food to games to souvenirs. Just as they walked, they saw Hermes on stage. "It's time."
"Gather around, ladies and gentlemen. I have brought to you all a very special main event today. A grand prize of a vacation, all paid expenses if you are able to do one thing."
This got the attention of people as he looked at Asfi and nodded. She pulled the curtain and they saw a spear in a stone. Something about the stone was transparent. "This spear holds great power and the person that is able to pull it out, will win. So, any volunteers?~"
A man came up and looked muscular. "Let me handle this." He pulled it, but it didn't budge. He tried again and again, and his face was turning purple trying to pull up, but nothing.
The next person to go was Anya. She spat her hands, rubbed them and began to pull. She pulled and pulled, but nothing. "Meow, this is so rough. Letting it feel like the end of a catnip, meow."
Adventurer after adventurer tried, but failed. What surprised people is watching Ais giving a shot, as Lefiya was cheering on. "Come on, Ais!"
Ais was pulling with all of her level 6 strength, and yet it wouldn't budge at all. She then stopped, surprising everyone.
"Oh dear, this is tragic." He then looked at the audience "Anyone could claim this spear?"
"GANESHA WILL PULL IT OUT!" He came out with a pose.
"Uhhh….this is for adventurers. Not for…"
He tries pulling it out but it wouldn't budge on him. After a few tries he stops. "GANESHA COULD PULL IT, IF GANESHA USED GANESHA'S AMAZING STRENGTH!" A bop in the head and he was dragged out by an annoyed Shakti.
"Carry on."
He shook his head "Yes, who will give it a chance on pulling this spear?!"
Bell knew it was time. "I will go!"
Hermes had a big smile on his face "Let's see the Record Holder. Will he be the one?"
The white haired teen looked focused. He was ready for it. He gripped the spear and felt a familiar feeling he had holding it. He then pulled it.
"Orion."
He hasn't heard that voice in such a long time. He was able to pull it, surprising everyone.
Bell looked at the spear in awe and then not far off, he saw her.
Blue hair, blue dress, with a happy smile going right after him. Hestia stood and allowed it to happen. He told her everything about what happened with Artemis and who it was really standing there.
She ran up and hugged him. He was allowed to lose balance and both fell on their back, holding each other. He missed her. He almost cried just holding her close.
"I promise you, I will free you, Artemis."
One hour later, Hestia's Church
After arriving, Artemis was already hugging Hestia.
"It's good to see you, Hestia."
"Same here. How are you?"
"I'm hanging on." She had a sad smile.
"Hanging on?"
She nodded "Yes. You see, things haven't been well. My familia and I were in this temple we found. It seemed to be a very old temple, until we made the mistake of opening it."
She looked sad about this "The monster is pretty strong and we are at our wits end, as my familia have been trying their best to deal with it."
Hermes chimes in "Bell, Artemis sponsored this trip as a way to deal with the monster. She preferred if someone could pull that spear out and whoever did that, would be the familia that will take this commsion.. The spear chose you as the one that will potentially stop the monster for good."
He looked at the weapon in question and looked at Hermes "What I don't understand is, why the spear chose me?"
Artemis answered it "Bell, the spear chooses someone with pure intentions. Not for anything evil or selfish whims, it sees the good in the person. And I would assume you have a pure soul."
He looked at the spear again. "It wasn't pure back then, but now it is." "I would assume it would be."
"Then you will be able to stop the monster for good."
He nodded as Hestia got in it "Of course we will help you out. You are my best friend!"
"Artemis needs help, so Lilli can count herself in."
"Same here."
Aura nodded.
Eli then added "I will go in as well!"
"If the kid is going, so am I."
They turned and were surprised to see Allen, not far off the door. Bell was more surprised about this, considering he would be joining this journey and wondered if this will change the timeline drastically. "Are you sure about this, Allen?"
"Yeah, kid. I was ordered to keep an eye on you and my nephew from trouble. You already know what would happen if something bad happens to either of you."
Bell nodded "Well, Lady Artemis, I am in." He then got on one knee and kissed her hand. "As I, Bell Cranel will stop this monster."
She blushed a bit "I know you will, Orion."
Next day
Bell found the dagger he had kept and placed it on one of his holsters and nodded.
Hestia appeared, holding a paper "Bell, your last update showed one of your magic is already translated."
"Good." He places his new white cloak on with his new armor. "Then we are set."
They went to meet up with the others right at the wall. Bell saw the others wearing new armor, and did Allen, much to his annoyance.
"This journey will take at least ten days to reach the destination, in Elsus Ruins. We were able to get four dragons to be able to deal with the trip. All thanks to Ganesha taming them."
The dragons look pretty tame and in good shape.
"I will head with Orion."
Bell chuckled and went to sit one of them. Lilli was with Welf, Hestia was with Hermes, and lastly Allen, Aura and Eli were together.
"Alright, let's go!"
Ganesha then gave the signal and they were off. As he stared he thought "I wish you well on your journey, and hope you will succeed."
To be continued.
A/N:
I had to change the dialogue more times than I can count, until I felt satisfied with what I was able to get out of it. I also had to think of a few more things to add before this last draft.
I am beginning to ponder how far the story will go at its end game, but I know it would be taking out the Black Dragon as a big end game. However, I am wondering what to do in between prior to the big battle. I had to think ahead of the story and am making changes to it. So yeah, due to how much the timeline changes, as in we won't see Freya going crazy, I may have to start thinking of other storylines as it will help Bell level up until the right level to take out the Black Dragon for good. So we will see.
Until then, see you guys and gals later.
Next time: Bell and the others are nearing the place, saving lives, and learning more of the task. Don't miss it.