Authors Note: A more edited version to make it look a little cleaner from when I posted it a few hours ago
Prologue: The Beginning of the Path
If so, I will become a "hero".
The boy still remembered the day he had made the "promise" in front of her.
Alfia's feet stopped.
I... I will become the last "hero".
Bell also stopped and said that to her profile.
That's why... Mom...
Nervous about the next separation between them and while holding back his own tears, he looked at his only mother in the world with his ruby red eyes.
Alfia's arms lost their strength and her fingers slipped from Bell's hand.
The wind shook the golden wheat, making a quiet sound.
What the twilight sky heard was by no means an empty speech, but a "promise" that the boy imposed on himself.
"..."
After a few moments of silence, Alfia opened her eyes and showed him the brightest smile he had ever seen from her.
"...Damn insolent child."
To the young boy, this would be the best memory he would have of his "Mother" and would stay in his heart for as long as he lived.
He would show her that "hope" existed, and would aim for the "dream" that she had believed in.
From this moment, the boy would walk the path of a "hero".
"Then tomorrow, I will start training you along with Zard. Since you've decided to become a hero in front of me, I won't let you stop now."
"O-Okay!"
"Still, what should we do for you? Should I throw you in the lake with large rocks in order to teach you what death is like, or should I throw you in the forest with monsters to teach you how to struggle against multiple enemies? I've never done much training myself so I'm a little stuck..." Alfia muttered.
"W-W-Wait, did you just talk about death? Isn't that a little too extreme for training?!"
"Don't be an idiot, Bell. If you really want to become a hero, crossing death a few hundred times is only natural, right?"
"Hundreds of times….!"
Although Bell had always been punished by Alfia almost every day, this was the day he truly realized just how brutal his mother could be to him.
As Bell was starting to turn pale, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his body.
Shocked, he looked up and saw Alfia embracing him with a smile.
"So let's stay together a little longer, okay?"
Slowly, his fear washed away as he looked up to that smile and replied earnestly.
"Yes!"
Bell never cried from then on.
He could not afford to cry no matter what.
Until the time came where he could show "hope" to the former heroes.
Bell and Alfia finally arrived back at the house where Zard and his grandfather were waiting for them.
Back to the place where they belonged.
Arc 1: Training
Alfia said they would begin training tomorrow, so Bell was told to rest and eat well today, as he would need that energy for tomorrow.
His grandfather and Zard had very different reactions to the news when they were told that Bell wanted to learn how to fight. When Zard heard about Bell's decision, he was extremely happy to hear that Bell was planning to become a hero, and decided to cook a feast in celebration. On the other hand, his grandfather looked at Bell sadly for what would happen to him with their "training".
"..."
"G-Grandpa, why did you go quiet..."
For the usually noisy Zeus to be dead silent only amplified Bell's own fear on what would happen.
Zeus continued to stare at Bell.
"Yeah. Sure enough, Bell's going to die on the first day, huh?" Zeus said with a far off look in his eyes.
There was an emptiness in his grandfather's voice that made Bell shudder, imagining what Zard and Alfia would do to him.
Alfia cut off his grandfather's silence.
"Bell, let's go to the bath before dinner. You ran around a lot earlier today, so let's get you cleaned up."
"Huh?!"
Bell was always embarrassed when Alfia told him to take a bath with her. He didn't feel like he was young enough to take a bath with his mom, yet Alfia always took him to the bath whether he went himself, or was dragged there by force.
In that instant, the silent atmosphere his grandfather made was broken.
"I want to take a bath with Bell too! I haven't taken a shower with the boy in a while!"
Zeus would always try to join them in the bath by running to the bath with them. It was very clear even to the young Bell that he was aiming to look at Alfia's naked body.
Which of course resulted in….
"[Gospel]"
One word from Alfia always ended his grandfather's attacks on her.
His grandfather was blown away along with half of the house and he landed several yards away, unconscious. Looking at the scene, Bell was reminded of the first time when this had happened, and how much he had gotten used to it compared to then, as he just looked at the scene with a sigh along with Zard.
Alfia dragged Bell along to the bath afterwards while Zard stood up to grab Zeus for dinner.
Once dinner was over and Alfia urged Bell to go to sleep in their room, she went into the living room where Zeus and Zard were waiting for her. Seeing Alfia come into the room, Zard decided to start.
"Hey Alfia, do you mind if I have the first few days to train the kid before you get to do it?"
"Why, Zard? I can at least train him along with you. Bell would learn better from both of us, right?"
With those words, both men just stared at her in silence.
"What? What are you two staring at me like that for?"
"Alfia, knowing you and how little basic training you did while you were in the Hera Familia, you'd probably have no idea what to even teach him in the first place. I can already guess you were planning on throwing him down the river, or throwing him to the monsters without even teaching any basics in fighting or surviving, right?" Zard guessed.
"...….."
Hearing the sharp and accurate words from Zard made her feel slightly embarrassed at how shallow she was thinking earlier.
"If we're gonna train Bell, we've got to train him from the very basics. Throwing him straight into life-or death situations can wait until he's got a grasp on how to fight. I know for someone with your level of talent, you wouldn't really need this, but we can't say the same for the kid right? So let me handle the physical training with Bell. I can probably get more through him than you can on this front."
"Physical training? So I should handle another type of training for him?"
"Yeah. Mages generally focus on mental training, and considering it's you we're talking about, you'd probably be better at it than I am. And if you do physical training with Bell, forget the first day, Bell would be dead within the first minute!" Zard said with a grin on his face.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha, well it's Alfia after all. She probably expected Bell to master every move within 3 seconds."
Zeus also laughed along with Zard.
Seeing them laugh at her like this irritated her, but she also knew that they were speaking the truth.
Alfia generally got her skills in real combat in the Dungeon or by learning instantaneously through witnessing other techniques and her own raw talent.
Her talent was so well known that she was considered an "Incarnation of Talent" when she was still active as an adventurer, and was well known as the person who had the most talent in the Age of the Gods.
So Zard had a fair point when saying she might not be able to help Bell as much with his physical training.
On the other hand, Zard had a long experience in teaching other adventurers on how to fight in Zeus Familia and was trusted by the other executives and the captain, Maxim, to handle training the younger members of the Familia. Zard was already an executive in Zeus Familia by the time Alfia joined Hera Familia as an adventurer, so while they both might've been at the same level of power, Zard had far more experience than Alfia.
"Don't get so bothered about it, Alfia. I'll still leave the mental aspects of his training to you.
"...….Fine, I'll teach Bell mental training and basic education."
As they confirmed their own roles for training, Zeus cut in for one last question with a serious tone.
"Zard, Alfia, what do you plan to do about Falna? Bell will need a Falna eventually if he wants to become stronger. If necessary, I can give him my Falna."
Zard and Alfia looked at each other, and confirmed their answer.
"No, not yet. Bell is still young and immature. If we gave him a Falna in this state, it would be like handing a weapon to a child who doesn't know what it is. Many young adventurers get overconfident and die because of that."
Alfia followed up on Zard's response.
"Besides, in the case of Falna, people who train earlier and get used to battle will have an easier type mastering it anyway. Let's focus on his physical and mental training before we give him one."
"Alright, if that's what you two want for now, I'll respect it. It's getting late, so we better hurry and rest up."
"Alright." Alfia responded.
After finishing up, Alfia left and went to Bell's room. Zard also began to walk to his room along with Zeus.
"I'll need to grab Bell early in the morning for training in the forest," Zard told the deity.
"Shade Forest? The place that's full of monsters?"
"Yeah. The forest is nothing special, but the conditions inside of it are similar to the first few floors of the Dungeon with how dark it can be and the amount of monsters."
"So you're going to train a kid in a forest with monsters and without a Falna? Zard, you're brutal."
"What? It's just a small little forest. It's nothing compared to the Dungeon."
"Oh man, I'm really starting to feel for that boy. I know Alfia would probably kill him in a single blow but with how you do things, Zard I wouldn't be surprised if he died of exhaustion from overwork after tomorrow."
"Can it, old man. I'm going to bed."
After saying that, Zard disappeared into his room as well.
"..."
Since that day 8 years ago, he'd never seen Zard and Alfia so happy.
Zeus still remembered the day when most of the members in his Familia along with Hera Familia were killed.
The despair and sadness on Zard and Alfia's faces upon realizing they had lost so many of their comrades and family in that battle had nearly broken them.
Both of them would continue to blame themselves through their own self-guilt. For Zard, who treated all members of the Zeus Familia as if they were his own brothers, seeing the corpses of both the members he had fought alongside with and the ones who he had personally trained made him roar in fury and sadness.
Alfia wasn't in a much better condition, as even with her bickering with many of the Hera Familia members including their captain, seeing their lifeless, cold corpses had truly affected her more than she ever thought it could. Her heart had felt dull and frozen. However, the breaking point for Alfia was after Meteria had died a year later in childbirth. Not only had she lost many of her comrades, she had lost the one person she had truly loved in her life due to that cursed disease, while Alfia herself lived on due to her high Status and Level.
Alfia's depression grew to the point where she couldn't bear to think about her sister's child and made her consider suicide in order to escape from the awful memories that she could never forget. Both of them left Orario and wandered around for 3 years with painful memories of their failure. However, after those 3 years, Zeus had messaged them and invited them to the village in order to see the child Meteria and David had. While Zard had a slight interest in seeing David's child, Alfia was simply too afraid to go and see him. However, as he kept pressuring her to at least see him once, Zeus's persistence won out in the end.
Zard and Alfia decided to head to the mountains in the north where the child was living with Zeus. Alfia did stay her distance though, as she planned to only take one look at how the child was doing before leaving.
However, as the child entered her vision, her heart nearly stopped.
That white hair, That face, That smile.
All of it was just like the sister that she had loved so much.
Before she realized what she was doing, she was already running down to where that child was as fast as possible.
When she had arrived behind him, the boy turned around to face her.
"!"
He looked at her with the rubellite eyes of that man, in awe of her presence.
After what felt like a eternity of silence, Alfia found her voice.
"What's your name?"
The boy blinked after hearing the woman's voice and slowly responded.
"It's Bell…Bell Cranel."
Even that small, quiet voice was so much like her beloved sister. Not being able to restrain herself anymore, she quickly grabbed him and embraced him, much to the boy's surprise.
While the boy was shocked, he realized the woman's arms were slightly trembling and he felt something wet on his shoulder.
The boy didn't understand why she was crying, but he felt sad watching her like that and also put his small arms around her to return her embrace.
Soon he also began crying with Alfia, while Zeus was watching them behind them along with Zard who had arrived a bit after.
Ever since the day they had met Bell. their lives slowly turned more positive and less immersed into self-guilt like they had back then.
Today, Zeus had felt an unusual amount of happiness from both Zard and Alfia about Bell's decision to become a hero.
"Thanks, Bell. Because of you, those two are finally ready to stop sulking in the past and start moving towards the future again."
Zeus was truly grateful for Bell for showing those two who had experienced despair to feel hope again, and strive for a happier future.
"Looks like I can look forward to the future these kids will bring," he said with a grin.
At exactly 5 AM in the morning, Alfia immediately opened her eyes, as it was her usual routine to wake up early in the morning.
She saw Bell sleeping peacefully by her side.
Normally she would let him rest as much as he wanted. However, today was the day Bell would start his training, so she would no longer be so lenient with him.
Alfia lifted her finger and flicked Bell as lightly as she could to wake him up.
"Ow!" Bell yelled as his eyes immediately snapped open and held his forehead in pain.
"Wake up, Bell. Today's the day you start training. Don't waste precious time by spending it on the bed."
"Ow ow ow….. Mom, you didn't need to hit me!"
"It's easier for you to feel pain, right? From now on I expect you to wake up 5 AM sharp along with me and Zard. If you can't do this, then I'll flick you twice as hard each day."
Bell quivered at the idea of being hit twice as hard, and quickly nodded his head to not make Alfia annoyed.
"Now go and get changed. Once you do that go downstairs, meet with Zard, and he will tell you what to do for today."
"Yes!"
Immediately obeying, Bell grabbed his clothes and left the room.
Once he went downstairs, he saw Zard packing up food in two packs, one large sized and one small sized.
"Hi, Uncle Zard. What are you packing in those bags?"
"Oh, Bell, you're already here. About the bags, these are the stuff we will be training with outside today.
"Outside? We're going out?"
"Yeah, for our training area today, we're going to Shade Forest."
"Ah, Shade Fore- huh?"
Bell almost thought he misheard once he processed what Zard had said.
"Um, Uncle Zard, can you repeat that?" Bell's voice quivered with a stiff smile.
"Like I said, we're going into Shade Forest," Zard repeated. "Here's your pack."
He tossed the small pack at Bell's feet as he began carrying his own large pack.
"That scary place full of monsters?! Why?!"
"I'll explain on the way, it's an hour walk from our place anyway. We should head out as soon as we can."
"..."
Bell would've argued further but he realized he really wasn't in a position to complain, considering he asked for this himself.
Bell reluctantly put the pack on his back and walked out of the house trailing Zard.
As they began walking down the road, Zard began to talk.
"Before we get to the actual training, there's something I want to talk to you about. What do you think you have to do to become strong?"
"Huh? Well I thought if I could train and fight, I'd eventually become stronger the more I did it? Uncle, didn't you and Mom get strong like that because you trained yourselves?"
Bell was slightly confused at Zard for asking a simple question.
On the other hand, Zard wasn't surprised at the answer Bell gave as he was still just a beginner.
"Well, for the basics, you aren't really wrong, but there's more to think about than just training your body up to get to our level, you know. There's a lot of important stuff to think about, but I'd say one of the most important things would be Falna."
"Falna?"
"Yeah. A Falna is a mark on your back that shows you've made a contract with a god. People who have made a contract with a god are considered part of that god's Familia. In my case it's the old man Zeus who I made a contract with."
"You made a contract with Grandpa?"
"You aren't as surprised as I thought. Did he already tell you he was a god?"
"Yes, Grandpa told me when you and Mom arrived in the house that he was a god. I didn't really think much about it though because Grandpa is Grandpa whether he's an old man or a god."
Bell smiled as he recalled the scene four years ago.
"Oh, so Mom is also from Grandpa's Familia?"
Bell only meant to ask the question but upon hearing that, Zard froze.
"...No, Alfia is contracted under a goddess. As for that goddess….. yeah it would be better for you to not mind it for now."
"Huh? Uncle, you're sweating."
"It's just your imagination."
What happened to Uncle? His face looks pale and kind of scared. What kind of goddess was she like?
Bell had gotten curious and slightly afraid of thinking about the goddess who could put fear into a giant man like Zard.
"A-Anyways we've gone off topic. The main benefit you can get from Falna is a huge boost in your physical abilities. You would definitely become stronger than an average person without Falna just by having one yourself."
When Bell heard those words, his eyes shined with excitement and he began to listen to Zard with more intensity.
"S-So then will I also get a Falna like Uncle Zard?!"
While Bell was excited about the prospect of gaining a Falna, Zard quickly shot it down. "Nope, not yet kid. You aren't ready for one yet."
"But didn't you say-?"
Zard cut him off before he could finish.
"Yeah, I said you will need a Falna in order to get stronger. I didn't lie about that. But Bell, in your case, you just aren't ready yet. It's not just you who thinks like this either. A lot of the new adventurers who gain Falna without really preparing themselves end up in a pretty bad situation because they think the power of a Status is all they need. I'll say this now: It just isn't. Learning how to fight and develop techniques and tactics are also equally as important to know."
Bell rebuttal was silenced by the former experienced adventurer.
"Bell, what do you think is the most important thing that's needed from an adventurer?"
Bell was confused by the question. Obviously if you wanted to get stronger and to reach your goal then what you needed the most was power. All the heroes he had read in his stories had amazing power to defeat the bad people.
Zard, looking at Bell's face could easily read the thoughts that were on the boy's mind and chuckled.
"Uncle Zard? Why are you laughing? I haven't said anything yet?"
"It's obvious what you were going to say just looking at your face. You were about to say something like power is the most important thing needed, right? Sure enough, you're still just a kid, Bell."
After saying that Zard began to laugh again. Bell's face flushed, realizing that he had gotten the completely wrong answer.
Zard stopped laughing and gave him the answer.
"What's most important is surviving till the end, of course!"
"Surviving until the end?"
"Of course. Think about it for a second and you would get it. How the hell is the power you gained useful if you've died being stupid and reckless in the end?"
"?!"
"People who go and say that they would die to achieve their goals are just morons to me. For me, the real fun begins once the struggle is over in the Dungeon and I grab a bottle of some good dwarven liquor to truly enjoy the party when everyone is back on the surface."
Zard let out a booming laugh, reminiscing about the old days.
"Ahaha…"
"And as long as you survive until the end, you'll always have another chance to keep trying for your goal. Once you die, you lose it all. Don't forget that."
"!"
Seeing that the message got through Bell, Zard continued.
"Well now that you get where I'm coming from, we'll go over the basics of how to fight when we get to Shade Forest. In the meantime, I'll run down the basics of Falna so even if you aren't getting it now, you will know what to do when the time comes."
"Ok!"
"The first thing to know is that anyone who gets a Falna starts at Level 1, which is the lowest Level, along with a set of basic abilities listed on their Status. These abilities are called Strength, Endurance, Agility, Dexterity and Magic. Got any questions?"
Bell shook his head and continued to stay in a listening posture.
"Good, Another thing about these abilities is that each Basic Ability is given a grade from I to S. Beginning with I, the lowest grade, goes from 0-99 before it upgrades to the next level being H which is 100-199. It pretty much upgrades after you reach 100 points in an area until you reach the S grade in the 900s with the cap of an ability being S999. Well normally anyway."
Bell frowned at the last part of Zard's explanation.
"Normally?"
"Ah, don't worry about it. It's not something you need to think about right now. Any other questions?"
Bell felt like Zard deflected the question but he trusted Zard when he said it wasn't necessary to know now so instead he decided to ask something else.
"Uncle, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"How can I get points in the Basic Abilities? Like can I just lift something to increase Strength or take a hit to increase Endurance?"
"Things that are just something you can do casually isn't enough to really bring points in your Status. To give you an example, just casually running around isn't enough to raise your Agility, or lifting something heavy isn't enough to raise your Strength. In order for it to be recorded as points, it has to be a real effort in order for the Falna to consider it worthy enough as Status points."
Bell was slightly disappointed, but quickly accepted the words Zard gave.
"Well, fighting a monster that is slightly weaker or around your level with some harsh training on top of that are both good enough to count, so I'd focus more on those sort of things if I were you."
"Ok!"
"Once one of your Basic Abilities reaches the D rank, you are given a chance to Level Up. This is a very important thing for people who have Falna to experience, although it'll be a while until you get the chance."
"How long does it take?"
"It depends on the person, but usually a few years."
Bell's eyes widened. "Huh?! Years?!"
"Yeah, it's really hard to accomplish. Most adventurers generally tend to grow at a snail's pace. Not only do you have to meet the condition of having a Basic Ability at D, but you also need to do a certain feat in order to receive the rank up. Without that, you'll never rank up."
"...…"
"Don't get so discouraged, Bell. As I said, it's a matter of how much you are willing to put into it. The more you put into it, the more your abilities will rise and your chance for ranking up will come closer."
With those words, some hope had returned to Bell's eyes.
"Also, the benefits that come with ranking up are massive as well. A Level 2 person is far stronger than that of a Level 1, even if they push their Status to the limit."
"Really?!"
"Yup, Ranking up resets your stats back to the I rank, but the Status you had as Level 1 stays with you in a hidden slot, and you gain a massive power upon reaching a new Level. Just like how there is a massive gap in physical abilities between a Level 1 and someone without a Falna, the same applies for Level 1 and Level 2."
While Bell was still a little depressed over the amount of time needed to Level Up, the rewards that you could get for training that long seemed amazing to Bell's eyes.
But a question suddenly popped up in his head that he really wanted to know the answer to.
"Uncle Zard?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you and Mom ever Levelled Up before?"
Zard nodded. "We have. We had fought a lot as adventurers in Orario and went through our fair share of experiences. Leveling up just came along with it."
"Uncle, do you mind telling me what Level you and Mom are at?"
To Bell this was an extremely important question, one that determined how strong he would have to be in order to reach his goal as a hero, to be someone like the former heroes who stood before him.
After seeing the serious look on Bell's face, Zard decided to respond to his will with honesty.
"Seven."
"...Eh?"
"Alfia and I are both Level Seven adventurers."
Seven.
When he had heard that number, Bell's mind had frozen.
He had understood from Zard's previous explanation that a Level 1 would be on a whole different level from a normal person like himself, and that each Level would only increase the gap by a massive gap. But to reach as far as Level Seven, just how strong were these former heroes compared to his weak self?
Being told such a huge power difference existed between him and the goal he had wanted to obtain, Bell's will faltered.
Zard did not miss that.
"I won't force you to do this, Bell."
"Eh….?"
"In the end, this is your choice. As that old man would put it, this is your story. I've got no intention of forcing you to do something that you don't want to do. It's certainly not an easy goal you can only accomplish in a day. So what do you want to do, Bell?"
"..."
Bell was never more ashamed of himself before now. He had known that it would be a difficult goal, yet he actually hesitated in front of the people he had wanted to prove himself to. It was truly an embarrassing moment for him.
But I already knew this wasn't going to be easy. Just because the goal is far away doesn't mean I should give up before I even start!
He recalled yesterday with Alfia's bright smile upon his choice.
He looked at the giant man who was looking at him with a strong look in his eyes.
Bell was fine with considering himself shameful and pathetic.
But the one thing he never wanted to do was to show off how pathetic and shameful he was in front of the people he respected more than anyone else.
He wanted to become a hero for the sake of catching up with the people that he loved, and to show them that hope still existed for the world.
"...Sorry for panicking there, Uncle Zard."
Bell looked up to meet Zard's eyes with a hard will of his own.
"I'm ready. No matter how long it takes, I'll make it to where you guys are."
Zard looked at Bell for a few seconds before breaking out into a large smile.
"Nice look you've got there. It reminds me of that guy."
"That guy?"
"Heh, don't worry about it. Well, we're close to Shade Forest now. Let's keep going."
"Yes!"
As they arrived closer to Shade Forest, Bell's fear of the place increased.
Bell had heard rumors of the place from the villagers, and was always warned to stay away from it. He could easily see why just by looking at the place.
Chilling noises of the monsters living inside the dark forest could be heard even from a small distance away.
All types of monsters lived within the forest, making it an area normal people generally tended to avoid. While each one of them were not particularly threatening compared to their counterparts in a certain Dungeon, and some even possible to defeat without a Falna, the amount of monsters is what generally made people go around this area.
When they entered the forest, Bell's eyes were obscured by the forest's shadows almost immediately.
"Whoa, it's so dark!"
"Of course, it's called Shade Forest for a reason."
Bell's vision was negatively affected to the point where he could only see a few feet in front of him and Zard who was right next to him.
"How do we even do training in a place like this?!"
"You're gonna have to get used to fighting in environments that aren't ideal for you, Bell."
"Huh? Why?"
Zard looked at Bell's eyes and replied to him.
"Adjusting quickly in conditions that are not favorable to you is an absolutely necessary skill as an adventurer. Don't underestimate this skill. People who learn how to adjust quickly in battle are always the ones who have the biggest advantage in battle. If you can adjust quickly, you can also see through your enemy just as fast by adapting to them. On the other hand, if you pause even for a few seconds, those few seconds could spell your death against a powerful enemy."
"..."
Bell had never heard Zard sound so serious before. It really showed him just how important Zard had made it to be.
Seeing Bell shrink back a little, Zard's face grew softer again and his tone went back to his usual light tone.
"Well for now it's time to start training. Bell, look into your pack and grab the weapons in them."
"Weapons?!"
After hearing that Bell got slightly excited and opened his pack. Inside the pack was some wrapped food, water, and 6 small knives.
"Huh?, They're just small knives..."
Bell couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice when he saw they were just small practice knives. It's not like he had particularly hated knives, but when he imagined training with weapons, he wanted to wield a sword like the hero tales that Grandpa and Alfia read for him.
Zard laughed in response to Bell's disappointment.
"What, so you don't like knives?"
"N-no I mean it's not like that but…..:"
"That's a shame considering it's your ideal weapon."
"Ideal weapon?"
Before Zard could say anything to respond...
"Graaaaaaaaa!"
A small green monster with a chubby body approached the boy and the man.
"A goblin?!"
"Hm, this is actually the perfect time for you to learn."
As Bell looked at the monster coming towards them, Zard muttered those words under his breath and opened his pack. He grabbed a sword from his large pack and handed it to Bell.
"Here you go, a sword, just like you wanted. Take it and try to defeat that monster in front of you."
"Eh….?"
"No time to waste, it's coming for you!"
"Y-Yes!"
As Bell took the sword from Zard's hands, he immediately felt a heavy weight on his body.
What?! This sword is so heavy! I can barely move with this thing!
It felt like his hands were on fire just trying to hold the sword and it took him almost everything he had to not drop it.
As the goblin continued to charge straight at him, Bell tried to attack with the sword only to barely swing it, missing his target completely.
The goblin on the other hand, jumped and kicked Bell straight in his ribs.
"Guh!'
It was an attack from the weakest monster but it was still enough to knock the young boy down on the ground.
"Graaaaaaaaaa!"
As the goblin had knocked Bell down, it landed on the ground to steady itself from it's kick for a few seconds before charging at him again. It continued to kick him in excitement, while Bell could do nothing but take the hits due to his movement being severely restricted by the sword's heavy weight.
He dropped the sword to try and escape from the goblin, but the spots on his body where he had received the kicks were throbbing in pain, which caused him to slow down. As a result, the goblin managed to catch up with him and attacked him once more.
Zard calmly watched the scene of the one sided beatdown, as if he already knew what was going to happen.
However, he did not intervene. Zard knew that a surface goblin could not do enough to kill Bell no matter what it did. He believed Bell needed to go through some pain to learn from experience.
After 5 minutes had passed, Zard walked up, put a little power in his legs and kicked the goblin away in a single blow.
The goblin was immediately blown into pieces as it faded away, its ashes carried away by the wind.
Zard grabbed a potion from his holster and began treating Bell's wounds.
"So, how did your first fight feel?"
"Haaaa… haaaa"
Bell was so out of breath with the one sided beating he had received that he could barely understand anything except the pain shooting through his body.
After the potion had finished its work. Zard grabbed the sword on the ground and put it back in the pack.
"Well, I think you get why giving you a sword isn't the best idea now, right?"
"...…Yes."
It was a painful experience but Bell finally understood.
The sword was simply too heavy for a child like himself to wield. With that weapon, forget making him stronger, it would simply drag him down, without helping him at all. Had Zard not been there to watch over him, Bell thought he might've really died there.
"Well as long as you understand, it's fine. This time, grab a knife."
"Ok."
Bell went into his small pack and grabbed a small knife inside.
"How does it feel?"
"...It feels really light, almost as if it had no weight."
Bell swung the knife a few times to test how it moved.
The weapon was small and light, and unlike the sword, it moved in a sharp, crisp way that made Bell look at it in wonder.
"Good. Let's move a little deeper in the forest for now."
"Got it!"
3 minutes after they walked in the forest...
"Graaaaaaa!"
"!"
"Oh, another one huh?"
Another goblin had appeared before Bell and Zard and just like the last one it began charging at them.
"Alright Bell, like last time, I'll leave this to you."
"O-Okay!"
Bell held the knife tightly in his hands and faced the goblin.
But as the goblin came closer to Bell, he began to sweat a little.
"Gaaaaaaaaa!"
The goblin charged in with a kick, just like the last one had, but instead of trying to fight back, Bell chose to retreat backwards, causing the goblin to miss.
"Goghaaaa?!"
Zard, watching this, sighed.
"Well, Bell is a coward in his core. It's not surprising he wanted to retreat, considering how much he hates pain. But he's got to overcome that when it's necessary."
In order to give the boy an opportunity, he gave out a piece of advice.
"Bell, running away is fine, but if you can, aim for the chest."
"Eh?"
"A monster's fatal point is the magic stone in their chest. If you strike it there, it's your win. But to do that, you've got to get close and hit it with everything you got."
"Hit with everything I've got….."
"So, what will he do?"
Bell couldn't stay frozen in thought forever with the goblin after him.
As the goblin continued attacking at Bell, he dodged its attacks by moving backwards whenever it struck. The goblin, getting irritated, kept putting pressure on Bell with broad swings from its arms.
"So he's going to retreat after all?"
Zard was not particularly surprised by this outcome, as it was a common one for new adventurers who didn't have much courage to reach.
However, something unexpected happened.
As Bell was starting to breathe more heavily due to the constant dodging, he eventually backed into a tree. The goblin, seeing it's chance, jumped and aimed it's leg at the boy's body, intending to hurt Bell in it's rage.
Zard was expecting the boy to freeze up and take the kick with nowhere to move backwards.
As the goblin was about to make impact, Bell's eyes grew sharper and he dodged to the side at the last possible second.
"Huh?"
Zard let out a small noise of surprise.
As the goblin was already in the air, it couldn't stop itself as it crashed into the tree, and collapsed to the ground.
The goblin began to stand up, dizziness overtaking it. But before it could fully recover from the crash...
"Haaaaaaah!"
Bell was already charging at it with his knife putting all the power and weight he could muster.
Too dizzy to move, the goblin could do nothing but stand there as the boy pierced its chest with his knife.
CRACK
"GYAAAAAAA"
It was a perfect hit to the goblin's chest, and the knife broke the magic stone inside with one blow.
With the magic stone broken, the goblin faded to dust, leaving behind a small magic stone shard.
Hey there readers, I'm Gold and I'm a new fanfic writer here and new on in general. I mainly wanted to write a Danmachi Fanfic of an IF route since I liked the idea of Bell being raised along with Zard and Alfia. It opens up the possibility of a different kind of Bell leading the events of Danmachi. Although I want to make him more stronger and skilled I have no intentions of making him OP just because he is raised by the strongest adventurers of the current time for this story. this is my first time writing a fanfic so I would appreciate some reviews and ideas people have to get what should I improve on.
I'll also add a Status Page for a Character at the end of each Chapter if I can to show off how strong the Characters will be in this story.
To start off we will do the strongest uncle in the world: Zard!
Zard
Alias: Gluttony
Affiliation: Zeus Familia
Level: 7
Basic Stats
STR: S999
END: SS1102
DEX: A895
AGI: A874
MAG C673
Developmental Abilities
Hunter: E
Abnormal Resistance: C (AN: This is a pretty high rank but to be fair he ate Behemoth)
Healing Power: F
Magic Resistance : F
Strong Body: G
Swordsman: H
Skills:
Deus Ambrosia: •Allows the user to gain a small amount of excelia from what the user eats.
•The excelia will depend on the quality of what the user is eating.
Anima Ambrosia: •Prevents the user from suffering from side effects of what they eat or drink.
•This depends on the grade of the user's Abnormal Resistance Ability
Glutton's Persistence
•Increases the users STR and END when the user is in a state of hunger.
•The effects rise depending on how hungry the user is.
Magic
Rea Ambrosia: •A fire element strike magic.
•Adds the users STR stat to the power of this strike.