Chapter 2 - A Wild Minotaur Appears

"Are you okay?"

A goddess asked him and all he could think about was all the blood and guts that were covering his top half right now.

"Umm… are you sure you're okay?"

No, he's not okay.

Definitely not okay.

Bell wanted to scream out from all the blood and guts that were stuck to his clothes, his hair and his face right now.

It was disgusting, but the goddess who looked down at him prevented him from doing so.

And this goddess had a name. Ais. The sword princess. A woman who's looks he had not only fallen in love with at first sight, but also her strength as of now.

He'd run away if he could, because he was far too embarrassed to speak back to her, but his legs refused to move.

"Can you stand?" The goddess asked him again, offering him a hand.

No he could not. He was frozen by her beauty and was still in shock from almost dying to a minotaur.

"Ais, who is… tomato boy? Bwhahaha." A newcomer, a beast person, probably a werewolf by the looks of it had entered his vision and laughed at him.

His saviour then turned around to face the newcomer.

"Stop it Bete, this adventurer almost died because of us."

"Bwhahaha…" And the werewolf continued to laugh.

"…"

"…"

"Fine. Fine. I'll leave you to rescue that tomato boy. Bwhahaha." Then he walked off, his laughter could still be heard as he disappeared from view.

"Sorry, that was our fault. Can you stand?"

And the boy slowly stood up, refusing to take hold of the hand offered to him by the beautiful girl in front of him. He didn't want to sully her pristine hands with his own that were mixed with the blood and guts of the recently deceased minotaur.

Then a shiver shook his entire body, which embarrassed him even further. So to give himself time to calm down, he cleaned his mouth with a few swipes from his sleeves.

"Thank you." He said, hoping that she wouldn't recognise him.

"Bell?" Too late. "Is that you?"

It was too late for him to hide from her now. Plus, running away would just make him look like a coward and he'd never be able to win her over then.

"Yes, it's me. Bell."

Ais then seemed to let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding out on.

"Then I'm glad to have been able to save you in time. I would have felt terrible if you had died because of me and my familia."

"It's okay, I'm safe now. I guess we're even then." Ais tilted her head not understanding. "Huh, what do you mean?"

"For when I bought you that jyaga maru kun." He smiled and Ais laughed.

"Sorry about that again."

"It's okay and thank you for saving me."

Ais still felt horrible for having put him in this situation, maybe she could still repay him back properly.

She picked up a clear purple stone and offered it to Bell.

"The minotaur's stone. Take it. It's yours."

"Huh? But I didn't kill it."

"Yes, but it was our fault anyway." She pouted and that seemed to do the trick.

"Okay. I'll accept… but only if I get to buy you another jyaga maru kun." Bell smiled and rightly so. He was very proud of the line he had just come up with.

"Haha… sure." Ais laughed.

"But I'm curious, where did you come from? I've never seen you around or near the fifth floor." Bell asked.

"Oh, I just came back from an expedition with my familiar to the deep floors."

Bell almost jumped out of his skin. The deep floors? Weren't they filled with immensely powerful monsters? Just how powerful was Ais?

"What? Where? Just how strong are you?"

"Level five." Oh gods, level five!? That's insane Bell thought to himself. She was a literal goddess in power and beauty, which made him fall in love with her even more.

"Wait… your familia? Where are the rest of them?"

"Ah… they'll be here with us shortly. I just ran ahead. We accidentally let a monster party of minotaurs escape to the upper levels. So I had to kill as many of them as possible, before anyone died from our mistake. Luckily, I saved you."

Her sweet smile caused goosebumps to pop up all over his skin. It was unnatural with how beautiful she could be and he couldn't stop staring.

Ais's beauty just melted his brain and he was hopelessly in love with her now, but this wasn't the time to daydream. He still had to keep on training and get stronger inside the dungeon to have a chance of to join her and her familia.

"So Bell, what will you do now?"

"I guess I'll continue killing monsters in the dungeon." Ais smiled even wider at him than before.

"Okay, but before you do. Let me do this. Just stay still." The next thing Bell knew was that Ais seemed to unleash some kind of powerful wind and the next thing he knew was that most of the blood and guts had disappeared. He turned around and saw a funny imprint from all the blood and guts that had been blown away to make a silhouette of his outline.

"Thank you, but I think I'm going to stink for a while."

"Ah, I don't know how to get rid of that."

"Don't worry, you've done more than enough, and I should get going now."

"Wait, let me look after you until me and my familia can be sure that all the minotaurs have been killed. Okay?"

"Sure. I wouldn't want to face them again right now."

"You shouldn't, they're level two monsters and you're not strong enough yet."

And Bell had the craziest of ideas come into his mind.

"Well…" But then he got interrupted.

"Ais! Did you manage to kill all the minotaurs yet? Huh? Little bunny?" A beautiful Amazon appeared in front of him. Her skin a lovely brown tan covered only by the smallest amount of cloth possible and a dazzling smile that never seemed to go away.

"Bell-kun! What are you doing here?" The newcomer asked.

"Tiona-san!"

"Tiona." Ais nodded.

"Did Ais just save you from one of the minotaurs?"

"Yes. Yes she did and I'm very grateful to her for that."

"That's good to hear and I see you've joined a familia now." The Amazon congratulated.

"Yes, I have."

"Oh wow, who is it?" Asked the cheerful girl.

"Er… Hestia familia." Bell suddenly remembered that his goddess and Loki familia were not on good terms. That's why he was so hesitant to reveal his goddess's name.

"Hestia familia? Well I've never heard of them before. Are they new?"

"Yeah, and I'm the only member so far."

"Ah, that's tough, but at least you have a familia now right?"

"Right and I'm going to get even stronger!"

"That's what I like to hear!" She said, before giving him a punch that left a bruise on his shoulder. "How about we spar later?"

Bell winced, rubbing his shoulder, "Huh? Wait, what? Why?"

"Well if you're the only adventurer in your familia, then you need to be strong to be able to look after yourself in this dungeon. It's pretty dangerous by yourself you know, and I can teach you how to beat it!"

"Hey… Tiona!" Ais seemed to pout with the expression of someone who just stole her kill. She was not happy that Tiona was trying to steal her rabbit.

"Okay. Okay. We can both train him then, what do you say Ais? Up for a little training session with Bell-kun?"

"If he'll accept." Bell gulped.

Two beautiful women. A slim and well-toned Amazon girl with almost no clothes to hide her curves and a beautiful blond sword princess with eyes like golden gems. They both wanted to spend more time with Bell. Just him and them. If heaven existed, then he believed that he was about to witness it. If their outrageous offer became real.

Of course he would accept, what man wouldn't? His grandfather would be proud of him, if he were still around.

"Of course I accept. So when do we start?"

"Now if you want."

"Now? Yeah, you said you were going to continue getting stronger in the dungeon now, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"So let's go, but first we need to tell the captain. Otherwise he'll get mad at us."

"Okay."

And that's how Bell got his first double date with two beautiful girls.

.

When they stood before the captain and the adventurers behind him, Bell noticed that they all looked a tired and disappointed. Then the Prum captain leading them spoke up.

"Oh Bell, I'm surprised to see you again. Wait, did you run into a minotaur and then Ais and Tiona saved you from them?"

"Well, Ais did and then we met up with Tiona."

"Ah, sorry again. I hope we can repay you for our grievous error." The Prum captain bowed slightly, which caught a few of the party behind him to jump back in surprise.

"It's okay, Ais gifted me the minotaur stone and that should be more than enough to repay me."

"Captain, we'd also like to train with Bell-kun for a while if you don't mind."

"Huh?" And several other question marks could be heard throughout Loki familia. They had just come back from a deep level expedition after all. One that had failed terribly and almost took all of their lives.

Seeing how much trouble they caused him already, the captain thought that it wouldn't be too much trouble if he let the girls train with Bell Cranel for a few hours.

They were going to be training in the upper floors after all, probably between levels one to three considering that he can't have been an adventurer for more than a few weeks by now.

He'd need all the help he could get and this way it would also help to elevate some of the guilt he felt for letting all those minotaurs rampage through the upper levels too. Yes, all that seemed to work out in his mind.

"Okay."

"Eeeeh?" Several members in the party behind him complained, this was practically unheard of. They were first tier adventurers and he was going to just loan them out to another familia?!

"Then I want to come too! See what the rabbit's made out of!" A different female voice shouted.

"Huh? What's this? It seems like you've already met this youngster Tione. Tiona. Ais." A great and mighty looking dwarf seemed to speak up from beside the captain. He wore a horned helmet and shouldered a giant double bladed battle axe. Bell stared in awe at such a great weapon. It's not one he could use, but one hit from that would be more than enough to end his life.

"Oh, he's the one who bought Ais jyaga maru kun." Then a loud buzz erupted behind the captain.

"So he's the guy." Bell heard several whispers say.

Next to speak was the high elf on the opposite side of the captain and her beauty was on a whole other level. Just like Ais, she seemed to appear like a goddess herself. Cloaked in a cream-coloured robe with a sharp face and flowing green hair. She was a total knock out. So much so that Bell himself started to blush beneath her gaze.

"Ah, so you're the one the girls spoke about."

They spoke about him? Bell was surprised that they even remembered him.

"I object!" A different voice yelled over everyone.

All eyes turned to another elf, this one smaller and much cuter, with golden yellow hair that flowed down behind her and wrapped up in a ponytail. Blue angry eyes and a pink corset with white sleeves, a white garter belt and white stockings that complimented a set of cute pink heels. She was also held a long white staff with a spiral of golden leaves on top.

Bell was incredibly turned on by her outfit. The garter belt was what made her look sexy, which helped to make her entire outfit turn cute and sexy, but he didn't dare stare for too long. For this cute and sexy elf looked very angry.

"This pervert is just trying to kidnap Tiona, Tione and especially miss Ais. We should stop this kind of debauchery from ever happening!"

Bell paled under such accusations. He didn't have that kind of intention at all. All he wanted was to be able to train to get stronger and spend a little more time with these beautiful girls!

"Lefiya..." The taller and more beautiful elf, Riveria, warned.

"What?"

"What have I told you about jumping to conclusions?" Riveria cautioned.

"S-sorry lady Riveria," Lefiya apologised, "but this boy doesn't deserve our attention! He's just some human trying to seduce miss Ais!"

"Lefiya!" Riveria reprimanded, more harshly this time.

"…"

The smaller elf backed down slightly, but she still continued to glare daggers at Bell.

Then the beautiful elf with jade coloured hair, called Riveria, spoke to him.

"While I don't know you, Bell Cranel. I'd like to thank you for looking after Ais when you did. However, I have to ask. Ais do you really want to spend some time to train this young adventurer?"

"Yes, I do."

"B-but!" Lefiya spoke up again but was quickly shut down by a quick glare from Riveria.

"Okay, but only for a few hours. We need you all back home very soon to rest and recuperate, otherwise Loki and I are going to worry about all of you. Got it?"

"Got it. Thank you Riveria!"

"No worries, now you girls go have fun."

"Will do, thanks!" Tiona smiled and the three girls dragged a terrified rabbit with them as every other member of Loki familia gave Bell the death stare.

"Well it's about time the girl started showing a bit more interest than herself. This should help her to open up a bit more too." Spoke the dwarf, before he placed a hand over his beard to massage it.

"Sure, but let's hope that this doesn't cause too much trouble with whoever Bell Cranel's familia is." Worried the captain, his thumb had given smallest of tingles, but he didn't think it was enough to worry about for now.

Riveria smiled, because she had noticed a change in Ai's expression throughout the entire exchange. She seemed to want to spend more time with this boy. Maybe there is still hope for her yet to be a normal girl.

With that issue resolved, the group pressed on towards their home, the Twilight Manor.

So Bell, Ais, Tiona and Tione spent the next few hours running around the first few floors of the dungeon. They completely surprised everyone there, while Bell would enjoy this and remember it for the rest of his life.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially when he learnt that not only was Ais a level five, but so were the Amazon sisters too!

He would not let this time go to waste and listened to every single piece of advice they gave him.

Eventually, they gathered far more monster cores than he could carry, and their session came to an end.

Still, Bell was extremely grateful to them and then thanked them before leaving.

Today was a great day it seemed.

.

Later, outside the exchange window inside the main guild office, where all the adventurers turned in their monster stones to convert into valis…

"Oh, and where did you get this magic stone, you didn't steal this did you?" The clerk questioned him with a suspicious glare. He held up the magic stone that came from the minotaur that Ais has saved him from earlier.

"No, no I didn't. It was a gift from Ais Wallenstein after she rescued me from the minotaurs!" Bell tried to reassure him.

"Ha! That's one hell of a story kid, got any proof?"

"Er…no?"

"Then we'll be keeping this until you can."

"But I was almost killed by a minotaur today!"

"WHAT?!" A familiar voice yelled. Bell hadn't seen Eina approach him from a distance, but she definitely heard what he had just said.

"Uh ooh…" If the minotaur hadn't killed him, then his dungeon hunting advisor certainly would now.

Eina was a beautiful half Elf with a slim body, pointy ears, shoulder length brown hair and emerald-coloured eyes. She also had a very curvaceous body and curves that caught the attention of every male around her. The guild uniform she wore didn't help either. It consisted of a black vest, pants, gloves and shoes with a white collared long sleeve shirt underneath and a grey bow tie to top it all off. Each piece of clothing seemed to be moulded by her proportions, while the colour scheme gave her a prim and professional appearance. She couldn't help but look sexy and smart in it.

She was also one of the most beautiful and desirable women Bell had met seen since his arrival in Orario, but right now he was scared to death of her.

"The consultation box, Bell. Now!" Bell tried to retrieve all his valis before leaving, but the man behind the booth wouldn't give him his minotaur monster core back.

"I'll hold onto this until you can prove what you're saying." The man declared.

"Now Bell!" Eina yelled with a stomp. So with a heavy sigh, Bell took the valis he could get and followed Eina into the consultation box.

.

Eina sat down at the only desk inside the small consultation box. Her cold gaze sent shivers down his spine.

"Take a seat."

Bell sat down, nervous.

"Ugh Bell, just what is that smell?" Eina said as she pinched he nose and waved a black gloved hand in front of her.

"Sorry Eina-san. I ran into a minotaur on fifth floor and it almost killed me!"

"WHAT!" Bell almost jumped out of his chair as the angry half elf in front of him looked as if she was ready to kill him instead and finish what the minotaur could not.

"Why were you on the fifth floor when I told you NOT to go beyond floor three and where did that minotaur come from?

"Ah, well Finn told me that they were coming back from their expedition when a party of minotaurs appeared and then ran away from them. I got lucky and was saved at the last moment by Ais-san."

"Kenki? Bell… you were seriously lucky that she managed to save you in time, but that still doesn't mean I won't let you off for wandering blindly into the fifth floor! You got that?!"

"Yes, Eina-san." He sheepishly agreed, knowing that he had done wrong and had barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. He wouldn't be so lucky next time.

"Now back to the minotaurs, are they all gone, because this is super serious! If any…"

"Yes Eina-san, they're all gone. Loki familia took the rest of them out and then Ais-san, Tiona-san and Tione-san stayed with me to make sure I was safe as they trained me between floors three and five."

"Bell! You're joking right?"

"No." Bell blushed like a tomato before shaking his head. The memory of those girls was beautiful with their scantily clad bodies as they taught him how to dance and fight as well as they did. Eina seemed to have picked up his embarrassment and decided to tease him for it.

"Bell… why would they have taken an interest in you, and someone from another familia no doubt? Just what did you do to these three girls for them to spend a few hours with you in the dungeon? You wouldn't happen to have fallen in love with these girls and started a harem, have you?"

"Heh." His face was very red, and steam seemed to shoot out from his ears as he imagined all three beautiful girls all cuddled up to him. Plus, Eina seemed to have found her way into his mind harem too.

"Bell… a dungeon is no place for adventures like that and you better focus on staying alive in there. I will not have you perishing on my watch, just because you got a little excited. Got it?" Bell knew from the look she gave him that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

He had no idea how Eina instantly switched from her attempts to tease to become downright terrifying with those piercing eyes and angry lips that promised to curse him to the ends of the earth, if she ever caught him ignoring her advice once again.

"Yes Eina-san… but." And a glare shut him down. She obviously didn't want to hear anymore, even if he did have a valid excuse to stay between floors three and five with Ais, Tiona and Tione who looked after him. So, he never was in any danger.

Eina let out a heavy sigh.

"Just what am I going to do with you? Look, I'm going to warn you now. Inter-familia relationships are not a good idea."

"Eh?" Now that caught him by surprise.

"So who is it? Who do you like? Kenki? Or maybe one of the Amazon sisters? Tiona or Tione?"

Each of the girls flashed through his mind. Of course, Tiona and Tione both looked very exotic with their brown, smooth skin. Wore little clothing and were both very alluring to look at, especially Tione's generous chest that threatened to spill out from her tiny top at any moment.

But Ais was something else. Her beauty was equal to or above any goddess he had ever seen. Her beautiful golden blond hair and blue eyes had completely ingrained themselves into his mind. He would never be able to forget her.

"Kenki is it?" Bell was taken aback, how did she know?!

"Bell, I don't want to say give up, but you have to face facts. Otherwise this will be a problem for you." Eina advised in a kind voice. "Ais Wallenstein is the most popular female adventurer in all of Oriario. There are just hundreds of adventurers and mostly male who want to date her. I don't blame them either, she's both strong and beautiful. She even makes my heart skip a little when I see her."

Bell opened his mouth to ask a question, but Eina beat him to it.

"No, she isn't dating anyone as far as I'm aware, but Loki is a very jealous and possessive goddess. She most likely won't let anyone near her precious sword princess. Plus, you've already gotten a 'blessing' from a god other than Loki, right? To be in a relationship with someone in a different Familia would be difficult, to say the least."

First, Eina likes Ais? Is… No. No! He mustn't think of that right now, otherwise he'd just lose himself in fantasy land. A land of him, Ais, and Eina. No! Stop it! He told himself and focused in on Eina instead.

Maybe she was aware of it or not, but Bell always noticed how all the other guys seemed to leer or admire her whenever her back was turned and he couldn't blame them.

Eina was a perfect woman in Bell's eyes. Her form fitting black and white guild outfit couldn't completely hide her generous chest, but it gave her a sophisticated look that he liked. His preference was for elves who could look cute, sexy and smart at the same time. The fact that Eina was only half elf didn't bother him at all when she ticked every box that he wanted from a woman. Her ears were a bit shorter than the average elf too, but he liked them like that. They were very cute and sometimes he caught himself in a daydream about what it would be like to kiss or lick them. He even dreamed about being able to nibble her ears a few times to gauge her reaction. Bell wanted to see and feel how cute and cuddly she could be.

Plus, she had a very supportive personality that he liked, even if it got a bit too intense for him sometimes.

Due to her demanding nature, Bell was a bit scared of her sometimes. Especially when she taught him, and those lessons were so brutal that he felt like his tiny head might explode from all the information she tried to cram into his head. He still didn't understand why he needed to learn everything that she taught, but behind that terrifying visage of a demanding advisor, she also had a soft spot that she'd show every now and again.

Those moments of light encouragement or a small 'job well done' did wonders to lift his spirit after a particularly hard session. It was moments like these that showed him that she really cared about him and his survival. It was clear that she didn't want him to die, like she was trying to prevent a repeat of something similar.

This was probably why she pushed him so hard during each lesson until he almost lost his sanity a few times.

"Now, is there anything else you want to tell me or is that all about your dungeon date?" She teased, which forced his blush to return in full force.

"Eina-san…." But she only just giggled. She was having way too much fun at his expense; Bell would have to pay her back in the future.

Finally deciding that she should get serious, Eina changed topics.

"Okay, okay. But you better go home Bell, because you stink, and you look exhausted." Eina-san made an exaggerated motion with one hand to wave away the smell as the other hand pinched her nose.

"Okay, but what about my minotaur stone?"

"Your minotaur stone?"

"Yeah, the guy at the exchange counter took it from me and wouldn't give it back. Or the valis it was worth, because he thought I stole it. But I didn't, because Ais gifted it to me!"

"And you lack proof, right?"

"Yeah." Bell said as he let out a heavy sigh. That money would surely come in handy or to save up, so he and Hestia could finally move out from beneath the church basement. It was cosy there but cramped and it did nothing to block out the weather, like when it was raining. The memory of waking up to a wet floor was not one that he wanted to relive any time soon.

"Well, who else knows about this from Loki familia?"

"Erm.. Finn, Ais, Tiona, Tione and some elf called lady Riveria."

"Ah, I know lady Riveria."

"You do?"

"Yes, she's a friend of my mothers."

"..."

"Look, I'm not going to promise anything Bell, but I'll ask lady Riveria when I get a chance to send someone over to confirm your story for you. Okay?"

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

Eina smiled.

"Of course Bell, you're my adventurer and I want to see you safe at the end of each day when you come back from the dungeon." There was a lot of warmth in those words, probably more than anything else he'd heard since coming to Orario and they meant a lot to him. She wouldn't know, but this was the moment when Bell really started to develop feelings for her.

A half-elf advisor who would go out of her way to help him make his dreams come true.

To be a hero.

Then come back to a beautiful woman who greeted him with a beautiful and heart-warming smile, once his adventures were over for the day.

"Thank you again, Eina-san. you really are the best advisor I could have wished for!"

Eina blushed at that compliment, because no adventurer had ever complimented her for her work before. All she ever got were groans and complaints and maybe the odd joke, but never a compliment.

It was still early days, but Bell had already surprised her several times today. Receiving help from a familia as big and as famous as Loki was no joke. And while he may not look much, she really wanted to see him succeed. Despite what all the other girls at the guild thought with their silly little betting pool. So she decided to motivate him even further.

"Bell."

"Er…yes Eina-san? What is it?"

"Girls like men who are strong and can be relied on. So if you work hard, get stronger, then maybe, possibly… You know?

"…"

"Maybe if you make a name for yourself, Ms. Wallenstein might notice you?"

Bell froze at her words.

'And maybe you will too.'

She would have heard if his heart had a voice, but she heard him smile warmly at her instead.

"Thank you, Eina-san!"

Then he left the building.

.

Bell returned to the room underneath an abandoned church, which looked like it had seen better days. Nothing had been left untouched. The glass windows were smashed, while the door was ajar and looked like it was about to fall off.

Inside wasn't any better where almost everything, from the wooden benches to stone carvings and the white paint been damaged in some way. All of this mess was evidence of some form of vandalism, but this was where Bell and his goddess lived.

It was the nicest of places to live, nor was it the cleanest. However, this was the best they could do for now.

While Bell didn't mind for the time being, his goddess felt sad and guilty about their living conditions.

She was sad and guilty about not being able to do more to help him since he was doing most of the work to support them both, but Bell wouldn't hear about it.

He reasoned that their familia was still very new and they had plenty of time to make a difference in Orario and change their lifestyle.

Now, he was lying on his front, half naked from the waist up as his goddess sat on his butt and inspected his falna while she asked him about how his day went.

"Loki familia! And three girls? Just what are you doing down there, being a playboy bunny huh?"

"No kami-sama, I…" But she cut him off, before he could continue.

"Bell, I forbid you from making anymore contact with them! These girls are dangerous and like I said earlier, Loki is not to be trusted! Well, you shouldn't trust most other gods, but especially not her!"

"But…"

"No buts! And is that why you went to the deeper levels of the dungeon… to meet girls?"

They spent the next few minutes going back and forth about why this was not a good idea and how each race approached romance.

Elves had high standards and wouldn't let someone touch them who doesn't meet their standards.

Amazons would willingly throw themselves at strong men, because they wanted strong children and so on.

Hestia, his goddess, told him to simply forget about meeting girls in the dungeon and focus on becoming a better adventurer. To which Bell would then mention that that was what the Loki girls, Ais, Tione and Tiona were doing with him today.

Bad idea, because then Hestia repeated her rule to never contact them again, no matter the circumstances. Bell didn't listen to her of course and would make sure to meet them again, no matter how difficult that may seem.

A minute later and his status update was complete.

Realis Phrase was unlocked, and Bell's life was about to change. Along with the rest of Orario.

A storm was brewing, and no one would see it coming.

.

A.N.

Apologies for having to pull some lines directly from the official translated light novel, but I didn't want to change those parts too much. I want to stay as true to canon as possible, while skipping any unnecessary parts that the book already covers and only adding new parts.

Chapter 2: 5306 words (Including a few dots that act as transitions and dividers)