The time went on in the peaceful village, nothing really changed there except from time moving slowly forward. Alfia, Bell and Zeus enjoyed this peacefull life, but everything had to come to an end.
Eventually the day of Bell´s sixteenths birthday came and Alfia did her best to make the perfect cake for her Sweety, as well as the best food possible. They had done nothing much for the last week and just enjoyed their time together.
He tried his best to go to bed early, since they would start in the very morning on the next day, but Bell was too excited and nervous. Bell went out of his room again and sat down on the couch in the living room, looking around at his home, he would really miss it.
"Sweety?"
"Mom, you are still awake?"
Alfia smiled gently and sat down next to Bell.
"I just guessed that you would have trouble to fall asleep."
"You know me really well."
"Of course I do, I´m your Mom."
"Hehe."
"Have you packed everything?"
"Yes, I checked it twice afterwards and I will again in the morning before we start."
"That´s good."
"And you?"
Alfia raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think? Who showed to you to check everything twice after packing?"
Both went silent for a moment, then they chuckled.
"How long will we need to arrive in Orario?"
"About two days."
"Hm. You needed longer to get here, right?"
"Yes, but I had to steel my heart."
Alfia gently pulled Bell closer to her and leaned her head against his. "It wasn´t easy for me back then, Sweety. I was really afraid to see you at first, but dear heavens am I happy I dared it."
"As long as you are feeling better now. Haaah...I wonder who it will be in Orario."
"Don´t worry, Orario won´t run away. And there will be a time when you dream about having as much peace as you had here."
"Is it that loud there?"
"Much louder than our home."
"I really like our home."
"So do I."
Both talked softly for a while, Zeus found them half an hour later when he got up shortly to drink some water. As the good grandfather, he gently put a blanket over them, smiling by the sight of them sleeping leaned against each other, with their heads touching slightly.
What a good Mom you became, Alfia.
Zeus looked around the living room in silence for a moment.
It will become pretty quiet here soon.
Not that he would stay long.
.
.
"So, Bell, Alfia, do you have everything?"
"Yes, Grandpa."
"All packed and ready, Zeus."
"Bell, keep an eye on your Mom. You know that she is very beautiful, I can only guess how many men will try to court her or hit on her."
"Zeus..you k-"
"I won´t let them!"
"Eh?" Alfia looked up when Bell shouted out.
"I will protect Mom from all the men in Orario! I swear it! No one shall lay his hands on her!"
Alfia got a bit red when she saw how determined Bell was.
"That´s my grandson. The best would be to get yourself a club and bonk away all the men that will go after your young Mom. Protect her and her purity! And remember, strife for a harem! There is no greater joy for a man than to have cute girls all over him!"
"Understood, Sir!"
Alfia sighed.
"You have rememberred everything Bell? Don´t touch an elf before she allows you to do that!"
"Zeus...that goes for every women out there..."
Due to Zeus´ teachings, Bell would set off with three goals in his mind. Becoming a hero. Saving Alfia from her illness. And meet cute girls in the dungeon!
He gave Bell a few more tips, very important tips for his life in Orario. A few of them seemed to be very silly but Alfia said nothing. Bell was a healthy young man and his heart filled with love, he wanted to find a young woman on his own.
But Zeus had also given him good tips. He had sat down with Bell on the couch in the last evenings and talked with him about various Familias in Orario. And also about Bell´s skill "Blood of Zeus".
When Bell would join a Familia, the god or goddess would see his status and the skills. And Zeus told Bell that there would be some gods that would take advantage of Bell, so he had to be careful who to choose.
One thing was set in stone for Bell, he wouldn´t choose a big Familia. Names like Loki or Freya were out of question. For more than one reason. Bell admired the most on heroes their path "from zero to hero", so he didn´t wanted to get into a "made nest", where he would be one among many and had much stronger adventurers above him that would lead him around.
He wanted to strive into the dungeon with only a few people or even alone in the beginning. So Astrea, who only had women in her Familia anyway, and Ganesha were also out of question. It was a very unique way to choose a Familia, since most new adventurers would want to take advantage of the benefits of the bigger Familias that already went deeper into the dungeon.
One option for a bigger Familia could be one like Hephaistos´ or Demeter´s, those that didn´t had adventurers that went into the dungeon. Yet that could cause problems for the gods, since they weren´t listed as dungeon familias. While a few of Hephaistos´ children went into the dungeon from time to time or accompanied the Loki Familia, they had no real group on their own.
For Freya and Loki there was also a special reason for Bell. Even when he never met the two goddesses or their Familias, there was a spark in him that didn´t liked them for kicking Zeus and Hera out of Orario. Maybe it was to maintain the peace in Orario and show strength, but Bell had learned enough about gods that these two also did it to stay at the top. While most gods came down from heaven to have fun,
some wanted to rule like kings. Even when it were the mortals that let the gods do that or wanted them to do that. Since gods had no power on the lower realm.
But Bell was adamant about writing his own story. His will was iron, he wanted to be like his idol, Argonaut. Gathering friends and comrades along his way and strife forward to become stronger and stronger.
That was one of his reasons in search of a Familia. Another reason had long silvery-white hair and heterochromatic eyes. Alfia was Bell´s everything and he absolutely wanted to find a cure for her. When she tried to tell him he shouldn´t always think about her, Alfia gulped when she saw the fire in his eyes.
Zeus also told Bell the names of a few gods that he wouldn´t recommend to visit, since they wouldn´t have a good influence on him, like Ishtar or Anubis. Alfia already said she would obliterate the pleasure quarter if someone like Ishtar even looked in the direction of her little angel. And Anubis...as cute as the small goddess of death was, she was nearly always sad and gloomy, that would drag Bell down...also she lived in Orario´s big graveyard...
Bell also had to think about something else, just because he choose a Familia that he wanted to go in, didn´t meant that the god would let him.
And there was one special name that Zeus was adamant about Bell not joining this god. Hermes. He provided Zeus with informations and would deliver the letters between Bell and Zeus, but he still shouldn´t trust him. Zeus told Bell to make his own experiences with the people and while he would ask Hermes to keep an eye on Bell, he just knew that Hermes´ personality wouldn´t be good for Bell.
Alfia had only one real recommendation, she hoped Bell wouldn´t choose a goddess. But that was only because she feared he could fall for a goddess, she let the choice to him, but Alfia was really afraid that all the lonely women in Orario would try to devour her bunny baby boy.
"Alfia."
"Old man?"
"Here."
He handed her a package and a few letters, after that he handed Bell a letter.
"Alfia you know what to do with these. Bell, if you find a god that is trustworthy, one that you can absolutely trust, give him or her this letter, it will explain something about your status and skills."
"Okay...but won´t it be a problem if the god knows about you?"
"If he or she asks you in who´s familia you were before, you would have to tell the truth. The only person I know that is able to lie to a god is your Mom."
Bell looked at Alfia with big eyes. "You can lie to a god?"
She nodded with a serious expression. "In a way, it won´t work all the time."
"How?"
Alfia shook her head. "I won´t explain how I learned that, it´s too dangerous. Also you are a terrible liar anyway and you shouldn´t do it, it´s bad for your character."
Bell nodded. "Right, you told me it´s wrong to lie to people. Except when there is a special situation and the truth would only hurt them."
She had given him an example when it was better to lie. Like for example when he would find an adventurer in the dungeon who died, it was his duty to bring him or her back to the surface, it was the code among adventurers. It would be better to tell the Familia that the adventurer died fighting like a true warrior than to tell them he was just overwhelmed and died screaming in fear.
But the technique that Alifa used was tricky and she had to phrase her answer in the right way or the god would notice the lie, as they always did normally. The technique was as simple as it was brillant, when a god would ask her a question, she would give an answer while thinking about something else while phrasing it. Like when a god would ask her how she was feeling when it was obvious that she was agitated or sad, Alfia would say "It´s okay now.", while she thought about her current state of her illness.
That way she would tell the truth, but didn´t answer the question of the god. It wouldn´t be a lie, but the god would think she answered his or her question honestly.
A dangerous technique that she didn´t intended to use, in fact Alfia would try her best to avoid contact with gods in Orario. Yet she would absolutely use this technique to the extreme if she had to protect Bell.
They remained there longer than they wanted, but eventually they reached the point where Alfia and Bell went off.
"Mmmmh..."
"Bell?"
"Mmmm..."
"Sweety?"
Alfia looked a bit worried at him, Bell looked very uneasy.
"Mom, I´m sorry, please wait a moment!"
Bell dropped his big backpack, turned around and ran the way back to the house. Zeus was still standing in front of the door and watched them go. Alfia stopped and looked with a slight smile how Bell ran up to his grandfather and hugged him tightly for a long time. Of course one goodbye wasn´t enough.
"I will miss you, Grandpa."
"Hehe, don´t worry Bell, we will see each other again. And I expect many letters about your adventures. Who knows, when we see each other again, you might already have a girlfriend."
Zeus hugged Bell when he noticed the slight tears and how he trembled.
"Go now, Bell. A young hero doesn´t look back and faces his destiny!"
"Yes, Grandpa!"
Bell waved over his shoulder and ran back to Alfia. Zeus continued to watch them go until they vanished in the distance, where Bell waved to him a last time.
"Now then, time to lock the house and give the key to a villager, I can´t let Hera find me here... Now where will I go to, hmmmm..."
.
.
Bell and Alfia would need two days to arrive in Orario, they walked slowly since he was a bit weak again after Zeus had taken his blessing from Bell. Now the Falna had no effect and Bell felt like a normal mortal boy.
"Phew...I never thought the backpack would be that heavy."
"That was to be expected without a blessing at the moment. If it becomes to heavy, say something."
"Okay."
Both wore travel clothes, as much as Alfia loved her black dress, it wasn´t that comfortable to travel in. They had enough food for the journey, but would have to refill their water on the way.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"I don´t think I ever asked, what will you do when we arrive in Orario?"
"Have an eye on you."
Bell smiled wryly. "I mean aside from that."
"You mean like working?"
"Yes and...I never thought about that before...won´t you get into trouble when we arrive?"
She shook her head slightly. "Hardly anyone saw my face back then, except for Loki´s and Astrea´s children and Freya´s one child. And don´t worry, I don´t intend to walk into them in Orario."
"But won´t people recognize you as a member of the Hera familia?"
"No, I wasn´t a peoples person and didn´t really went out. It was...too noisy."
"But still...someone as beautiful as you to not be recognized..."
"Ehe, you really learned well from your grandfather."
"Hehe."
"About working, I still have more than enough money left to live comfortably."
Alfia showed him a pouch with a few gems in it.
"What are these?"
"You know that Valis are the currency that everyone uses. But as you can imagine, carrying even the platinum colored coins can become quite heavy and dangerous."
"Platinum colored?"
"Oh right you never used coins before. Here."
Alfia opened her purse, there were different sized coins in there, the two biggest coins were golden and the other platinum colored.
"The gold coin here is worth 10.000 Valis."
"Wow, I never thought it would work that way."
"What, did you thought people would run around with millions and millions of coins?"
"Ahm...yes?"
"Hah, no I won´t laugh. This is my mistake in your education. Okay, the platinum one here is worth ten gold coins."
"So, 100.000 Vals?"
"Yes. After that we use gems of various types and other things. For example, the red gems here are worth a million Valis, the blue one five million and the white ones ten million."
All in all, Alfia carried over one hundred and twenty million Vals with her.
"You have that much money!?"
Alfia closed her pouch and purse and put them away. "Yes, I was a level seven adventurer back then and didn´t really bought much."
"Wow, I guess you won´t have trouble to get a house for you."
"I guess."
Alfia smiled and winked. "Don´t you want to think about living with your Mom?"
"No, I will start my life with my future Familia. Staying all the time with you and so much money would lead me astray."
"Hmpf. I wouldn´t spoil you that much."
"Really?"
She sighed and then smiled again. "No, I probably would do that. It is better if you start easy on your own, it will help you a lot to grow up."
"I think so too."
"But!"
"Yes, I will visit you every day."
"Good, I have to make sure that you eat properly, I will not allow my son to eat junkfood like potato snacks. And you have to tell me about your experiences in the dungeon."
"Of course I will."
They had talked about this before. It would be better for Bell to not share a house with Alfia, as far as he knew, it was rare for people to not live with their familia. And he had decided before to not use the money of his Mom to buy himself fancy and strong equipment, it would feel wrong to start his dungeon crawling and using equipment worth a hundred million Vals, his sword was already good enough.
Alfia would give him the money without asking when he said a word, nothing was too good for her baby. But Bell really meant it when he said he wanted to go from zero to hero. She agreed, while Alfia was a monster in terms of becoming strong really fast, probably the fastest in the whole world, she had been weak at some point too. Bell had to remind himself that Alfia reached level seven before she turned twenty...
Since she would probably get no chance to do that for a long time, Alfia used the nights to cuddle with Bell and sleep at his side. Some people would probably think of this as weird, given Bell´s age, but no one else was around, so who cared. And like Alfia said, she needed to fill up her "Bell-Energy" before they arrived in Orario. Apparently it was something important needed to hold her illness in check.
And then, in the late morning two days after leaving the village, Bell and Alfia arrived in Orario. The tower of Babel had grown bigger and bigger the closer they came, it was the first thing to see of Orario.
.
.
"Wow..."
Alfia waited next to Bell, they were about a hundred meters away from the gate. He could do nothing else than look up to Babel, seeing it for the first time was quite the experience. For every person it was easy to see that Bell was basically a country bumpkin that came for the first time to a big city. It was important to take in the sheer size of Orario and Babel, his environment had changed completely compared to before.
This really is the center of the world.
There were so many things that Bell had to look at, every house that he could see through the gate was bigger than their home. And Babel, it dominated absolutely everything!
"It´s so huuuuuuuuuge!"
Bell tried to lean further and further back, but he couldn´t see the tip of the tower.
"How tall is Babel?!"
"I don´t know, I don´t think anyone has ever measured it."
"I wonder how far you can see from up there."
"Probably pretty far, if you can even bear with it."
"What do you mean?"
"Fear of heights for example, or the psychological shock, that lets you feel so small when you see how big the world is. This is a sight that only gods should take in."
"But Mom, you were granted sights that no living mortal has seen."
"Indeed and I could have done without a few of them."
"Like the Leviathan?"
"Please don´t remind me."
Alfia had once tried to explain what a feeling it was to face a calamity class monster like the Leviathan. That fight had shaken her to her core, especially since she was the one that had slain it. The roaring sky, the waves that smashed onto the land,
the fiercly glowing eyes, the deafening howls. It wasn´t entirely the memory of that fight, but what came after it...what defeated the whole Familia and the Zeus Familia. The one eyed black dragon was above the calamity level, probably a monster on his own scale.
Alfia had smiled when Bell had promised her one day he would finish what the Familias started, that he would owe this to the Zeus and Hera familia, as the only child of both.
"Sorry..."
"It´s okay, shall we go, Bell?"
Ever since people passed them in a distance, Alfia had stopped to call Bell "Sweety", she would only do that when they were alone.
"Okay."
Both went on and eventually passed the big gate, one of the eight gates of Orario. The guards didn´t minded them, visitors were very common in Orario, and the sword on Bell´s back told them everything they needed to know. Everyone would guess that a young man was accompanied by his mother to move to Orario to become an adventurer.
"Wow..."
Bell´s head kept turning left and right, he tried to see everything at once. Alfia noticed that Bell didn´t looked at the buildings, but the people. Gnomes, prums, dwarves, animal people, amazons and even a few elves, so many different races were here.
Oh dear gods! Look at those bushy tails! And the fluffy ears, I want to touch them! Woah, this dwarf looks like a walking wall! Wow...this elf is really beauti-...wait is that a man? Oh...OH! So this is a female elf! By the gods is she gorgeous! Th-These amazons are nearly naked!
Alfia noticed very well that Bell was mostly focussed on the women, she couldn´t blame him with such a grandfather. And she had to admit, even if that hurt her, that Bell was a healthy, growing boy...and these the first beautiful women beside her that he ever saw.
And she noticed by the movement of his eyes, that he really tried not to look at special places at the women´s bodies, but another part of him wanted to look.
Zeus...you corrupted my little baby...
It was easier for Alfia to think like that, to admit that her baby boy was growing up was hard...like it was for every mother out there.
"Watch out!"
Alfia could barely stop her step forward while she held Bell back too, a sudden movement had appeared in the corner of her eye. It was a child, a human boy of about ten years of age. He was followed by a probably elf or half elf of roughly the same age and a chientrope girl with blond hair and tail.
Other children followed them too, while they ran cheering through the streets.
"Hey, everyone! Don´t disturb others!"
A middle aged human woman with black hair tried her best to run after the kids.
"Oh, it´s the Hestia Familia again!"
"Here comes the Loli goddess!"
"Waaaaait for meeeee!"
Alfia´s eyes widened in shock, then her mouth in horror. A small woman followed the others, she looked like she was about to hit puberty, but her short, white dress was pulled up by her enormous rack.
"Dear heavens..."
She noticed that Bell´s eyeballs bounced up and down in the rythm of the small woman´s breasts.
"Bell, don´t look!"
"Geh!"
Alfia clapped her hand over Bell´s eyes as the woman...apparently a goddess...passed them and chased after the others.
"Hehe, always a sight when the loli goddess chases after her followers."
"To think a goddess would take care of so many orphans."
"Man her captain is a looker, a real Mil-"
Alfia covered Bell´s ears before he could hear the last word.
I knew it! Orario really is full of temtpations!
Things had happened after Hestia had no luck in starting her own Familia, she got to know a few orphans due to her work and visited them to play now and then, like that she got to know Maria. After getting a bit desparate, Hestia asked Maria and the children if they didn´t wanted to become Hestia´s followers. The blessing would help them a lot...and Hestia wouldn´t be so alone anymore. Like that, the small goddess got finally a kind of home on her own, the church that was formerly known as Maria´s orphanage, the woman acted now as Hestia´s captain.
In a short spark of her own genius, Hestia had listed her Familia at the guild as an allrounder familia. Like she worked part time in different locations, the older kids would do that too, it was a win win situation for both sides.
The small goddess´ eyes flashed to Bell and Alfia for a second when she passed them. Her and Bell´s eyes met and she showed him a beautiful, happy smile before her movement pulled her away. It was the first goddess that Bell had ever seen, well at least a real goddess, Alfia was kind of his goddess.
Both watched how the stampede of children followed by the adult woman and the small goddess disappeared at the next street corner.
"It really is louder here."
"I told you."
They followed the street until they arrived at the big plaza around Babel, Bell still wasn´t done gawking at the titanic tower.
Now came the part that Alfia feared the most. It wasn´t being close to Babel or in Orario in general...it was what they would do now.
"S-So B-Bell...I-I guess it´s t-time..."
Alfia felt really troubled, she had feared this moment.
"Mom, everything okay?"
"Y-Yes, nearly."
Bell noticed that she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. It was the moment that squeezed her heart, Bell would enter Babel and ask for the location of the home of a certain Familia. Alfia didn´t knew which one it was, Bell had made this choice completely alone.
"W-We will meet here again in the afternoon, okay? Okay?!"
"Yes, Mom, don´t worry."
"Easy for you to say, young man! Do you know what happens in my heart right now? How it feels that my little one wants to run away?"
"Mom...I don´t intend to run away..."
"But still..."
Never had she thought that she would have so much trouble to let Bell go out of her sight. But they were in Orario, who knew what kind of jerks would try to mess with him.
"You will stay on the main streets until you find what you seek, okay?"
"I promise."
"And don´t talk to strangers! Don´t trust any women in this city!"
People that passed the two had to smile or chuckle when they heard Alfia´s outbursts. More than one was amused by the sight of the so worried mother.
.
.
High up in Babel, sat an incredibly beautiful woman in a chair in front of a large window. Her beauty had no equal, even among the gods that lived on the lower world. Long, silver hair fell down like a waterfall on her bare back, the elegant curves of her body made her the dream of nearly every man...and many women.
Hm, what is this?
Something caught this woman´s eyes, a special appearence. No one knew it, but she could see the light of the souls of mortals. And there were some that catched her eyes, like the ones she saw now. The special one that caught her eye had a color she had never seen before.
It was nearly transparent and had no real color, only the outer edge was a fine line of silver and the grey of storm clouds.
What a fascinating color.
And then.
Yikes...what an ugly color...
The orb next to the fascinating one was of a dark silver and white, somehow this color looked like it promised danger. It circled close aorund the colorless orb, a bit of the silver seemed to encircle the other, as if it protected the other orb. The unspoken message was clear, whoever would dare to hurt the colorless orb, would be destroyed.
The familiarity between the two orbs killed most of her interest in the first orb. If the first orb would be complete without color, it would have sparked her interest completely.
.
.
"!"
Alfia suddenly felt a chill running down her spine and she glared up to the tower of Babel. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt eyes staring down on...Bell. She had already glared at the few women that had looked in Bell´s direction so far, but these eyes on him felt different.
I will protect my little boy´s purity at all cost!
It wouldn´t be the last time that she got this strange feeling, that someone looked at her son with lusty eyes. Every person that had seen Alfia´s outbursts because of her worry about Bell and had chuckled, went now silent and turned away...her eyes scared them.
.
.
Yikes...
Freya turned away from the window, it looked like the silver orb was about to transform into a fearsome dragon that bared it´s fangs, so much shook it from anger. Even this goddess was taken aback by the promised wrath of the silver orb, this was promised to be the anger of a woman that even she didn´t wanted to face.
It was a good thing that Freya hadn´t seen this orb before in the past, or she might have recognized who this was.
"Lady Freya, is something the matter?"
"No Ottar, everything is okay. Would you be so kind to get me some wine? Something extravagant?"
"Understood, the best wine in Orario for you, Mylady!"
.
.
Bell was really fascinated by Orario, the city was so big. And he had met so many friendly and helpful people. The location he got told at by the guild didn´t helped much for someone new in the city, so he asked a few nice looking people. And eventually he found what he had searched for, a small store.
Long had he thought about the familia he would search for, long about the god he wanted to ask. It had boiled down to two options and Bell had asked Zeus about the two gods. About his opinion of them and who he would advise him to ask. Zeus opinion and the fact about the size of the familia gave the crucial point.
He knocked softly at the door and opened the door slowly. He heard a soft ringing, bells were placed at the top of the door to tell the shopkeeper when someone was entering the shop.
"Excuse me?"
"Ah, welcome, come in."
A soft voice greeted Bell, the voice of a man. The shop really wasn´t that big, but the stuff that was sold here drew Bell´s curiosity in.
"How may I help you, are you looking for something?"
The young man in front of him was a god, no mistake here. He had long black hair and blue eyes, he wore a black robe, a tan brown stole that reached down past his shoulders, and brown shoes.
"I uh..ahm...well."
The god smiled gently. "Are you new in Orario?"
"Yes, I just arrived."
"Then welcome, do you want to buy something?"
"I uh..ahm...ah no."
"Are you lost?"
"No, I was looking for this place."
"Oh? Then how may I help you?"
Soft footsteps sounded behind the god as someone approached. The footsteps of a young woman.
"Lord M-"
The young woman was stopped when suddenly the customer or visitor knelt down on one knee and lowered his head.
"Please let me join your Familia!"
Huh?
The dog ears and tail of the young woman twitched slightly.
Both, the god and the woman were surprised.
"Pardon, young man. Could you repeat that?"
"Lord M-No. God Miach! I beg you to let me join your Familia! Please!"
"Oh my."
The woman behind the god, Nahza was her name, was more than slightly surprised. Nahza had long brown hair, purple eyes, dog ears, and a tail. She wore a skirt from which her tail sticked out and a peculiar shirt with asymmetric sleeves, with the left being short and the right covering her entire arm, in addition to a glove on her right hand. She seemed to have an perpetual sleepy voice and expression.
Ever since "that day" no one had asked to join the familia on their own, it were just Miach and her.
Miach looked a bit flustered while he looked at Bell. Bell had put one of his fists on the ground, the other arm leaned on his knee, he gave the perfect picture of a knight, at first he wanted to put his sword in front of him, put drawing it could have sent the wrong message...and he didn´t wanted to damage the floor with the tip.
"Ahm...may I ask why?"
The god looked a bit uneasy about the situation to his one follower, he wasn´t used to deal with such a situation.
"I want to join your Familia to become an adventurer!"
"But there are plenty of Familias out there."
"Yours is the only perfect one! I was looking for such a Familia. Also I heard from someone that you were the best healer in heaven!"
"Hm, that might be true. But I can´t use my pow-...please stand up first, young man. Where were I...right, I can´t use my power here. And why are you interested in healing?"
Bell rose to his feet and looked with fiery determination in his eyes at the god.
"My Moth-..my Mom. She has an ilness from the day of her birth. I want to save her, no matter the cost."
The young woman stepped next to her god.
"And you think we would just do that for free?"
She didn´t wanted to be mean, but she was protective about her god and the situation seemed to be fishy.
"Of course no! I will do everything to repay you! And I want to rise up with this Familia! To make my way from the bottom to the top!"
She frowned and looked at Miach, his expression let her stop her next sentence. Her god looked very serious with his still gentle expression.
"That is your wish?"
"YES! I want to become an adventurer! I want to save my Mom! I...I...I want to become a hero!"
Nahza got slightly red by the outburst and the child-like wish. But again it was Miach´s expression that surprised her. She saw it in his eyes since she knew Miach so well...this boy in front of them was dead serious. He couldn´t lie to a god and Miach noticed that he said the truth with all of what he said.
"You are aware that my Familia is poor?"
"Yes!"
"That I only have one follower so far?"
"Yes!"
"I won´t lie to you, that I have a huge debt to another god?"
"I don´t care! I will help to repay the debt! If that means to save my Mom and fulfill my wish!"
Miach swallowed. For him it didn´t looked like a burning determination anymore, it looked like a thunderstorm was gathering behind the boy. For a moment he looked at Nahza, as a god it was his choice alone normally, but since it were the two of them...
"Let me ask you this, you won´t ditch us for another Familia? A better, more wealthy Familia like the Dian Cecht one?"
She couldn´t help but play the bad cop, she was a bit scared for her god.
"No! I got informations about all Familias in Orario and this is the one I want to be in! Please let me join!"
Again Bell went down to his knee.
Miach´s serious expression vanished and he smiled in his usual, gentle way.
"Please get up, young man. I don´t like it when people kneel."
"Understood."
"Would you kindly tell us your name?"
"Bell Cranel."
Miach looked at Nahza again, who nodded.
"Bell Cranel, you are aware what it means to join the Familia of a god? That this is an important decision to make? It isn´t something you can take back tomorrow. Have you thought well about this?"
"I did, for a year now."
"Oh, now that is quite well thought."
Bell looked with hope to Miach and Nahza, the chientrope girl had to nearly avoid her eyes to not get blinded by the purity in his. Her senses were far sharper than that of a human, neither did he smell like he was lying, nor did his heart showed any sign of it. Well his heart was beating very fast, but not in that way.
"I beg you, god Miach and Mylady!"
Nahza blushed a bit. "M-Mylady?"
"Oh my, Bell. Are you trying to charm my dear Nahza?"
"I don´t!"
Nahza made a tiny step towards Miach, as if to say she belonged to him.
"I guess it is the best to calm down for the moment and talk about it in peace. Would you like some tea?"
Nahza turned around the shield at the door, so that it said "Closed" from the outside. All three sat down and talked for a while, about why Bell came to Orario and why he wanted to join Miach´s Familia.
"Your wish is really genuine, it is rare to see someone like you, Bell."
"Then..."
"Yes, I will take you into my Familia. But please remember, we are really poor and have to work hard. Your wish is to go into the dungeon, correct?"
"Yes."
"My dear Nahza here is the captain of the Familia, will it be okay with you to take orders from her?"
"Absolutely. I have no problem to receive orders from her!"
"Hehe, you are so honest."
"My Mom told me to never lie, that it would be wrong."
Miach chuckled and even Nahza smiled slightly, but she had a kind of sad expression. Nahza had the feeling that this pure young man wasn´t fit to become an adventurer, that he was too pure and had a too romantic sight of the dungeon.
"Alright, I see no reason why I should refuse your request. Bell Cranel, I, Miach, will take you in my Familia if you are willing."
"I am, thank you so much."
The god smiled by the joy in Bell´s eyes. Nahza wanted to say something but she got red again when Bell got up from his chair and suddenly took his jacket and shirt off, revealing his surprisingly well toned upper body.
"Ahm, Bell...what are you doing?"
"Isn´t that needed for the blessing?"
"Oh it is, I just thought you wanted to do that in another room."
"I´m sorry if I was too hasty."
"No, no. It´s okay."
Nahza mumbled by herself. "Why did he strip here so suddenly..."
She would protect her god from him, maybe he was a pervert or something like that.
Bell turned around and sat down again, showing his back to Miach and Nahza.
"Bell, have you trained before?"
"I did, for two years now."
"Impressive."
Miach pulled out a tiny knife from his desk and gently poked his finger with it.
"Now let us give you my blessing."
Nahza frowned. I still doubt he is fitting to be an adventurer.
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About two minutes later.
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"Dear heavens..."
"Lord Miach?"
"Nahza can you read hieroglyphs?"
"Only the numbers."
"Then...look..."
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Bell Cranel
Belongs to: Miach Familia
Level: 1
Strength: A 850
Endurance: S 914
Dexterity: A 870
Agility: S 903
Magic: A 872
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Abnormal Resistance H
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Magic:
Thunderbolt
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Skills:
Blood of Zeus
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It had taken Bell two years to get to this point and the further he got, the harder was it to get points, even when his skill helped a lot, according to Zeus and Alfia. Apparently other adventurers needed a longer time to go further up when they reached the A rank.
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"Ahm Bell...you trained for two years?"
"Yes, I did with my Mom."
"And you were in a Familia before?"
Bell turned around on his chair and handed Miach a letter.
"I was told to give you this letter. He told me that you are someone trustworthy."
"He?"
"Please read the letter, I was told to give it first."
The god´s eyes wandered slowly along the letter, looking at Bell from time to time.
After finishing it, Miach put the letter back in it´s envelope.
"Hah..."
Nahza looked curious. "Lord Miach?"
"Bell, is it okay if I tell Nahza? I don´t want to have secrets from her."
"By all means, please do. It wouldn´t be fair if she wouldn´t know it."
Miach turned to Nahza. "My dear, please listen..."
A long talk followed, Miach and Nahza promised to never tell anyone about Bell´s former Familia.
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Bell met with Alfia afterwards and registered at the guild, then she showed him the house she bought for herself in the meantime and visited his new Familia with him.
Things were looking good for Bell Cranel...or did they?
.
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Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap!
Things had looked really good for Bell so far, he made his first carefull steps in the dungeon...and now this happened. An enormous mass of muscles in form of a minotaur chased him through the 5th Floor. At first he had tried his best to fight against this thing, but it just shrugged off his attacks and the fist he barely evaded smashed stone out of the wall.
Why is a Minotaur here on the 5th Flooooor!?
He ran for his life, no one else was here. Corner followed corner, but the minotaur didn´t stopped and ran after him. Bell held his left arm, the minotaur had only had only grazed his arm, but it felt like a sledgehammer had fallen on it.
As if it was his fate or destiny, Bell Cranel stumbled into a dead end and fell to the ground after missing a crack in the ground. The minotaur towered over him.
Is this the end? Will I die like this!?
He couldn´t fight back with his arm, nor evade the monster. His back hit the wall, there was really nowhere to run. Bell was cornered.
This is t-
"Watch out!"
"Guhergh!"
A diagonal line appeared suddenly, the minotaur looked confused for a moment, then he was cleaved in half, blood rained down on Bell and bathed him in it. A silver light shined in the wound that went through thick pectoral muscles, across the raised leg, up the thigh, to the shoulders and finally out of it´s neck.
Bell couldn´t even scratch the skin with his sword, even if it was a really good sword...and now it was just cut in two.
With the dying roar, the parts of the monster´s body fell to the ground.
For Bell, time went like honey.
"Are you...okay?"
That´s when he saw her, a beautiful, green haired elf stood there, holding a sword in each hand, one silver, one made from wood. She wore white and green garments, along with a few armor parts.
His savior.
She was really beautiful.
Bell could only blink, red from head to toe with blood.
And then...
"Ms. Ryu, did you get the last one?!"
What appeared from the corner was the most beautiful girl that Bell had ever seen in his life. His eyes widened, she also was an elf, wearing a pink dress, walnut colored hair, blue eyes and holding a staff in her hands.
"Lefiya, yes, don´t worry."
Lefiya...what a wonderful name.
Bell Cranel didn´t knew it, but he was beyond lucky. The Astrea Familia was about to go onto an Expedition when a large group of minotaurs charged into the upper floors, followed by the Loki Familia who tried to stop them. Astrea´s children had no time to get an explanation, they immediatelly started to exterminate the monsters, lives of low leveled adventurers were in danger.
"Thank goodn-Eeek!"
The young elf´s eyes fell on Bell and she shreeked when she saw him bathed in blood.
"Are you hurt!?"
"N-No..."
Bell heard a new voice.
"Leon, got him?"
The green haired elf raised her voice. "That was the last one, Alise!"
"Good!"
Bell heard the other voice again, but not so loud as before, but she sounded really pissed.
"Ah the sword princess, you are too late, we already took care of your mistake..."
Who is the sword princess?
Not that Bell cared much about names at the moment. He was completely captivated by the beautiful, young elf with the staff. He had heard her name before...Lefiya Viridis...the "Thousand Elf" of the Astrea Familia.
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I am...in love.
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Authors´s Note: Hello everyone. So Bell has arrived in Orario now and things will start to get interesting. As someone guessed correctly, Bell joined Miach this time. Hestia will get her own hapinness.
So why Lefiya beside Haruhime that was revealed before. At first I want to apologize, I announced Lefiya in the past then took her back. In the end I came back to her for a few reasons, I didn´t intended to trick you.
I had various girls in my eyes. Mikoto. Elpis (a human version of Artemis), even Artemis herself. Ryu and Ais were out of question since they have their own stories. I even considered Nahza or Amid.
But I came always back to Lefiya. The main reason is the chemistry with Haruhime when she comes later. Two partners for Bell also means that they have contact with each other. The question was now, since this isn´t the harem story where I "twist" the personalities a bit so that they are okay with it, who would fit with Haruhime. She would surely get along with all the others and probably be okay to share Bell as long as she gets him too. But just two different partners wouldn´t do it.
I personally like Lefiya very much and for those who don´t like her, I will do my best that you like her after this story. °,...,°
One of the reasons why I see Lefiya fitting the most, it may sound ridiculous, but that are her slight Yuri tendencies towards Ais in the main story. I don´t mean that Lefiya and Haruhime will become lovers too, but I can see that Lefiya at least will like her.
You will see what I have planned for them all.
Bell won´t level up as fast as in the main story, Blood of Zeus isn´t Liaris Freese 2.0, so the story will go longer than a month to reach a new level and such.
But don´t worry, just because Bell didn´t met Ais here doesn´t mean he won´t have contact with her.
Also, Freya might not be fascinated by Bell now, but she will have something to do with him later.
To answer questions.
InsaneMakaioshin:
I guess most of your questions were answered in the chapter.
The black swordsman was a Kirito reference since they have the same voice actor. At first I wanted to show a darker, fallen Bell, that wants to hunt gods for a reason. But then I thought it would be confusing, so I went with Kirito.
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Edit: mugsagus had a good point, I changed a bit in the conversation with Nahza and Miach. Sometimes I just write what comes to my mind, but you were right about the way Bell talks feels strange sometimes. About calling Alfia beautiful and such all the time, this is intentional for later. Character development and such.