"We have to hurry!"
After Haruhime had calmed down a bit, wiping her tears of happiness, they had to get out of the District. The fire was spreading more, but they couldn´t simply run away.
The Crimson Lotus was still mostly intact, except for the hole in one of the walls. So they decided to get Haruhime´s stuff, before the building started to burn too. Lena went first, Haruhime followed her.
Bell wanted to move but Miach stopped him.
"Bell, you can´t."
"Huh?"
"Nahza, please, help them."
"Okay..."
"Lord Miach, why can´t I go?"
"This is Haruhime´s personal room, the room of a girl."
"O-Oh!"
"I see you understand what I mean."
Aisha moved her tattered body. "You were in there before, boy."
"Th-That was something else! Lord Miach is right, I can´t go through Ms. Haruhime´s clothes and such!"
"Why so formal now? You just called her by her name."
"That was in the heat of the moment!"
"Geez...you just claimed her...anyway, I will go and help them."
Bell got fully aware now how much he had damaged Aisha´s clothes, but the amazon didnt seem to mind. Nahza glared slightly at Aisha´s and Lena´s appearance, then she glanced back to Miach, who smiled and waved slightly to her.
"So, Bell..."
"Lord Miach, I´m so sorry! I acted without thinking and put our familia in danger!"
"It´s okay, Bell."
"No, I really am so-"
Miach showed Bell his calm, handsome, gentle smile. "Bell, it is okay, I am not mad at you, in fact I am proud."
"Proud?"
"Yes, you helped someone in danger without thinking much about it. While it was risky, it was the right thing to do. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn´t done it. I am really proud of you, Bell. But..."
"But?"
"Please, tell me and Nahza first next time, okay?"
"Yes!"
"I am surprised that you fought against this amazon for so long, you are only level one and she is clearly above that."
"Ms. Haruhime used magic on me, I don´t know how to describe that feeling, but it was amazing."
"Enhancement magic hm?"
"It seems so."
Both men waited outside and looked around a bit, to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.
"I guess this destruction wasn´t you?"
"No, it looked like this when I came here."
"Hm, then someone destroyed this place really well."
"Yes...I hope no one got hurt or...killed."
"I hope so too, it doesn´t look as bad as in the dark times, but this place is still doomed."
"Lord Miach...do you think...there are more girls like Ms. Haruhime here? Who were forced against their will?"
"I hope not, it is hard to find out now. My guess is that the light we saw, was Ishtar."
"So...she was sent back to heaven by someone?"
"I guess, maybe it was that attacker, maybe someone else. It could´ve also been an accident."
In that moment, they heard a loud cracking sound and looked to the palace in the center of the district, a part of collapsed.
After only a few minutes, the women appeared again.
"We should get out of here."
.
.
While the Miach familia, Haruhime, Lena and Aisha left the collapsing Pleasure Quarter, others left this place too.
Alfia had watched over Bell from afar until he left, now it was time for her to go home and wash herself and her clothes, to get rid of this smell.
Most people were quite satisfied, there was only one exception.
"Hm..."
"Lord Hermes, is something wrong?"
"Bell lost."
"That was to be expected, his opponent was the leader of the Berbera, did you expect him to win against her?"
"Let´s just say I expected a bit more...I am a bit disappointed."
"But he held out until goddess Ishtar was sent back to heaven."
"And what if that hadn´t happened?"
"It was your idea to lure him here."
"Shhh, not so loud, what if someone hears you?"
Asfi rolled her eyes. "Can we go now?"
"Yes, I guess the show is over."
Hermes looked at Bell one last time. I hope you get stronger soon, otherwise you won´t be useful for us, Bell.
.
.
"Hm, so this is your home huh? A bit small and shabby..."
"Aisha!"
"What? Even the Crimson Lotus was bigger."
"Y-You´re rude to Mr. Bell and his familia!"
"Rrrrrr..."
Nahza growled at Aisha, her tail stood stiff and her ears were pushed flat to her head.
Aisha smirked. "What, you wanna go?"
"Right now I could beat you..."
"True, hah, well I guess we can let Haruhime here, it should be...alright."
"Huh? Letting me here?"
Haruhime looked confused.
"You should be safe here for now, Boy here promised to protect you after all."
"H-Huh?!" Haruhime´s tail twitched slightly, for someone who knew her it was a sign of joy.
Lena smirked slightly when she saw how Haruhime blushed and her tail wagged, she was easy to read.
She is already falling for him, no doubt. Well can´t blame her, he is quite handsome. Hmmm but he lacks a bit this kick of danger that Bete Loga has. Haaah...Bete Logaaaaa! I love youuuuuu!
In another part of Orario, a certain werewolf suddenly felt an icy chill running down his spine.
Haruhime looked uneasy from Bell to Nahza and then to Miach.
"L-Lord Miach, would that be okay for me to stay here?"
"Of course, we can´t let a young woman sleep somewhere where it isn´t safe. Also, Bell was the one to take you away from that place, so he has a responsibility for you now."
"Aisha...Lena...what are you two going to do? Where will you go?"
"We will take care of some things, we will come again in two or three days."
Lena leaned close for a second and whispered into Haruhime´s ear. "Good luck."
Instead of giving her a chance to say something else, Aisha just waved and took Lena with her. It was easier to just dropp Haruhime here and let them no chance but to take her in.
Miach chuckled slightly, he understood what Aisha did.
"Let us go inside for now, I guess you two want to take a shower, hm? Bell, please be so kind and carry her bags."
"Of course."
Haruhime held her bow and the quiver with the arrows, while Bell brought her bags inside.
.
.
"Puh...you tw-...Bell you really smell like smoke..."
Nahza was kind enough to not mention that Haruhime also smelled like that.
Bell was a gentleman, so he let Haruhime shower first, it was the most relaxing shower she ever had. Miach made tea and Nahza put Haruhime´s stuff in her room for now, thankfully not all of Haruhime´s clothes smelled like smoke.
After he took a shower too and threw his clothes into a tub of soapy water, just like Haruhime had done. Since all of them were pretty tired, since it was late at night, they decided to wait until morning to talk and go to sleep. Miach and Nahza wanted to surprise Bell, they had put some things around and cleared a room, it was supposed to be his room. Both had even put a simple bed, something left over from when the familia was bigger. Now they had three beds...but four people. Bell was adamant about letting Haruhime sleep in the third bed, he would sleep on the couch.
"B-But, Mr. Bell..I..."
"Please, Ms. Haruhime, I insist."
"But this is your bed..."
"I can´t let a girl sleep on the couch..."
It was the first time that a man was to her like that, it felt nice.
"Th-Then, good night, lord Miach, Ms. Nahza, Mr. Bell."
They wished her a good night, it didn´t sounded like she locked the door.
Haruhime felt weird as she lay down in the bed, it was really chivalrous of Bell to let her sleep here. There wasn´t much in this room except for her bags and stuff, a chair and a small desk. The bed wasn´t something special...and yet...it felt so good to lie here.
I am...free...free.
Small tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, tears of happiness. She moved around a bit and looked at the closed door. Bell was behind that door, on the couch. Just like she looked at the door, he did it too. Separated by just the door, their eyes would have met.
While she fell asleep, Haruhime felt as good as she didn´t in a very long time. And she had the best sleep ever since she came to Orario.
When she was finally able to fall asleep, Haruhime´s body eventually gave in to the huge exhaustion that she felt, she had trouble sleeping for a long time now, but not this night. This night...her hero was close by to protect her.
The morning only came slowly, Haruhime slept for a very long time. But after ten hours, she started to blink and mumble.
Fueh?...
Haruhime rubbed her eyes and yawned strongly. Turning her face into this direction, then into that. One of her ears was standing up, the other to the side, she rubbed her eyes and yawned again, standing up wobbily.
Still half asleep, she walked to the door and opened it to go to the bathroom.
"Mornin´ Lena...girls..."
Silence answered her.
"Fueh?..."
Haruhime opened her eyes...this...wasn´t the Crimson Lotus...
"Eh?"
She looked around, it was a small house and three people were here. A very handsome god with long, dark hair. A female chientrope who looked always tired and...Bell.
Haruhime blinked confused, slowly getting fully awake.
Miach coughed slightly and turned his face away, Bell got a bit red and did the same. And Nahza...she looked like she was a bit upset.
"Ms. Haruhime! I can´t allow you to walk around like that in front of lord Miach!"
When Nahza came towards her, Haruhime looked down on herself. She wore her nightgown, but it had slipped down on the right side, revealing her shoulder and nearly something else.
"Eeeeeeek!"
She covered herself hastily with her hands and ran to the bathroom.
Miach slightly scratched his cheek. "I guess she forgot where she is after sleeping so long."
Bell couldn´t say anything, Haruhime was really a beauty.
"Both of you, don´t even dare to look in the direction of the bathroom!"
Nahza´s tail swished around in an angry way. She went to get a few of Haruhime´s clothes and fresh underwear, before she went to the bathroom, knocked gently and gave her the clothes when she opened the door just slightly.
"Remember Bell, you always have to avert your eyes when a woman is still sleepy."
"I know that..."
After ten minutes, a very embarrassed Haruhime came out of the bathroom, fully clothed and looked very proper.
"G-Good morning..."
"Good morning, Haruhime." Miach smiled gently.
"G-Good morning." Bell was also a bit abashed.
"Haruhime are you hu-"
"*Gurgle*"
"Oh, that answers my question."
"Mmmmmh!" She got bright red again.
It was a simple breakfast, nothing that could be compared to the food in the Crimson Lotus...and yet it tasted so much better than all the food she ever had in Orario.
Miach and Nahza cleaned the dishes afterwards, while Bell and Haruhime did the table.
"So, I guess we should talk a bit about some things."
They sat down on the couch in the living room, Miach in his armchair.
An awkward silence followed. Haruhime just sat there, held her cup of tea, blew the steam away and glanced from one to the other. Bell looked like he didn´t knew what to say at the moment. Nahza just made sure that Haruhime didn´t glanced at Miach in a special way, she knew too well what kind of effect her god had on women.
"I guess it is up to me as the god, to break this silence and to make it easy for everyone."
Miach winked to Bell, he could see the trouble inside the young man. After saving Haruhime, Bell didn´t knew what to say at the moment. And Haruhime seemed to be the same.
"Haruhime."
"Yes, lord Miach?"
"You can sleep on it for a night or two if you want, it was all a lot I know, but I would like to invite you to join our familia. Only if you want of course."
Haruhime´s eyes widened a bit. "I..."
"I won´t force you of course, it is your free choice. If you say no and want to go somewhere else, we will let you stay here until you have found a place for yourself. You don´t have to make this choice immediatelly. And if you want to return to the Far East, we will help you with that too. Maybe not to the Mansion that you used to live at, but a friend of mine told me about a shrine where the gods there live."
The god´s eyes were filled with the same loving care that he showed for Nahza and Bell.
Haruhime looked to Bell, then to the god again. A happy smiled slowly bloomed on her lips. "I don´t intend to go back, I always wanted to see Orario when I was a child and now I have the chance to do it for real. If that would be okay, I, Sanjyouno Haruhime, would like to officially ask to join the Miach Familia as a fellow member. But I also have to inform you about something, I have a very special magic spell, it was the reason why the Ishtar familia kept me."
She bowed down in a very polite way.
"Then I have to ask my captain and vice-captain, I want to hear what they say."
"I have no problem with her, as long as she stays fully clothed..." Nahza nodded.
Bell looked confused. "Do you mean me with vice-captain?"
"Of course, Bell. Since my dear Nahza is the captain of course, that makes you the vice-captain. Also, since Nahza doesn´t go into the dungeon, you are the dungeon-captain, which means all members that join us and will go into the dungeon as a party, will listen to you. After they listened to Nahza of course. Oh and me."
The gentle, slight carefree demeanor helped to lighten the mood.
Bell smiled. "I have nothing against Ms. Haruhime joining us. I mean how could I, I didn´t even joined two weeks ago."
Miach smiled and gently put a hand on Haruhime´s right shoulder. "Then be very welcome in the Miach familia, Haruhime."
As if she couldn´t believe how friendly everyone was to her, Haruhime´s smiled bloomed like a flower...and she cried again a bit.
"Bell, would you kindly leave the room?"
"Of course."
Nahza squinted her eyes. "I will stay here and cover your eyes with my hands, lord Miach..."
Haruhime nodded thankful to Nahza.
"I would have closed my eyes anyway, except for the glimpses I have to make to give her the blessing."
"No looking at her skin!"
"Nahza..."
To be given shelter, food and such warmth...and now the blessing of the god that was also Bell´s, Haruhime asked herself if she deserved such happiness and decided to pay them back.
When she held the special paper afterwards, Haruhime felt warmth in her heart.
.
.
Haruhime Sanjyouno
Belongs to: Miach Familia
Level: 1
Strength: G 225
Endurance: H 180
Dexterity: G 204
Agility: H 199
Magic: D 599
.
Magic: Uchide no Kozuchi
.
.
Miach was quiet for a moment after giving Haruhime his blessing. When she was fully covered again, they all sat down.
"Nahza, Bell."
"Yes?..."
"Yes?"
"Haruhime, if you allow it, I will tell these two about your magic spell."
"It´s okay, they should know about it."
"So you two, you are not allowed to ever talk about what I´m going to tell you."
Both nodded and Miach started to explain what exactly Haruhime´s magic did.
Bell was a bit shocked. "My level went up? I just thought it enhanced me."
"It did, phew...this magic is something else."
Alfia had already explained to Bell that he should keep his status, skills and magic a secret from everyone outside of his familia, with her as an exception of course. That he never knew who could be an enemy tomorrow and that informations meant everything.
"That reminds me, Ms. Haruhime?"
"Yes, Mr. Bell?"
"Are you joining us as a non-combatant member?"
For some reason Haruhime blushed very slightly and her tail twitched.
"Ahm, no. I...wanted to explore the dungeon with you."
Nahza hid her smirk, it was obvious for her that this wasn´t about exploring the dungeon directly...but doing it together with Bell.
So she isn´t after lord Miach, good.
Miach nodded. "A party of two would be wise, always going alone will bring you soon to your limits, Bell."
"I never fought together with someone, but I´m sure everything will go well."
Haruhime smiled happy and her tail wagged a bit more.
Miach took a sip from his tea. "Do you fight in any way except from using your magic? Your other numbers a much lower than your magic."
"I trained with my bow and arrows, Aisha and Lena sometimes took me to the first floor so I could practice on monsters. Also, I used to carry the magic stones that they got."
"Ah, now I see why your strength is a bit higher than the others, except your magic."
Nahza grinned. "So, Bell. Looks like you got a mage, a supporter and an archer in one person. That´s pretty impressive..."
"It is!"
Haruhime wasn´t used to get praised. "I-I´m not as good as a real supporter and I can´t be compared to true archers, I don´t know if I will be of much help."
"Then you two should train in the dungeon...together..."
She put special emphasis on the last word. Since both had extremely fine ears, much finer than either Bell or Miach's, Haruhime heard a special emphasis in Nahza's words. Just as Haruhime noticed how Nahza acted towards Miach, Nahza noticed how Haruhime looked at Bell.
A kind of alliance of budding love formed between the two women.
"Hmm...Haruhime were you listed at the guild as an adventurer before?"
"No."
"Then we should do this, Bell, this is your first job as the vice-captain."
"Understood."
"Hm, but one question remains."
"Hm?"
"It´s about the rooms, we managed to get one free, but we can´t let Bell sleep on the couch all the time."
Nahza looked at her god in a very suggestive way. "We could always change the room situation..."
Haruhime´s eyes widened amazed. She is so bold!
"And how shou-"
A gentle knock came from the door.
"Nahza did you hang up the "Closed" shield?"
"Of course..."
The knock came again.
"Hm, Dian knocks in a different way, Bell would you please open the door."
"Yes."
He went up and opened the lock, then the door.
"Welcome to t-Mom?"
"Good morning, Bell. I was waiting for you."
"Irgh! I´m sorry, I forgot!"
"Do you plan to let me stay out here?"
"Oh, sorry!"
He hastily opened the door and made way for her. Nahza and Miach weren´t that surprised, Alfia came over from time to time. But Haruhime was surprised to see her.
"Ms. Cranel?!"
"Oh, Haruhime right? What are you doing here?"
Bell blinked surprised. "You two know each other?"
Alfia nodded. "Yes, I went to see her yesterday."
"Eh, why?"
"To see the girl that my son wanted to save, I got a bit worried when I saw the smoke still rising up from the City of the Night."
Alfia looked from one to the next. "So, care to tell me what happened?"
Bell gulped. "About that..."
"Look into my eyes when you speak to me, young man."
"Ahm...am I in trouble?"
"Depends on what you did last night. The whole city talks about a huge fight in the City of the Night, many men and male gods were seen on their knees, crying about the loss of this district. That it burned mostly to the ground and that the Ishtar familia was wiped out by the Freya familia."
"Oh, so they were it."
"And something tells me you were there too."
He took a short breath and then nodded. "I was."
"And why?" Alfia´s eyes wandered to Haruhime.
"I wanted to see Ms. Haruhime. I know you said I should leave it to you and I´m sorry for not listening to you. But while I was on my way there, I saw the fire and heard the sounds of fighting."
"And you got caught in the fighting?"
"In a way, yes."
Haruhime made a quick step forward. "Mr. Bell only did it to protect me! His opponent didn´t wanted to fight him, but she had no choice since lady Ishtar had charmed her!"
"So you fought and beat an amazon from the Ishtar familia?"
"I fought, but I lost. Ms. Haruhime stopped her long enough from doing anything to me, until goddess Ishtar was sent back to heaven."
"Which means if she weren´t sent back, you would be dead by now."
"M-Maybe."
"And you still went to help her, even if that meant risking your life."
"I didn´t knew there would be a fight and such a chaos, I just wanted to see her."
"And why exactly?"
"She was so lonely! I just wanted to talk to her, spend her a bit company."
Haruhime looked really happy, but Alfia´s eyes went dangerously small. "What exactly do you mean by "spend her a bit company"?"
"To talk with her about this and that, and nothing more."
Alfia looked into Bell´s serious eyes.
"Alright."
She wasn´t really mad, but Alfia had a not so nice night. After making sure that Bell and the others were safely at home, she went to her house, showered and went to bed. Then came the nightmares. She pictured how Haruhime probably felt, an emotionally hurt young woman, that had the first nice contact with a man, one that saved her life on top of that, risked everything for her.
What if she wanted to be really thankful to him?! Alfia got from their talk that Haruhime was probably a very pure girl and had no naughty thoughts at all...but still waters were often deep. She had horror visions, about Haruhime sneaking into Bell´s bedroom, if he had something like that, then whispering his name and when he got aware of her, she dropped her nightgown and crawled into his bed. He was an adolescent young man, there was no guarantee he could resist.
Then the next nightmare came, Bell´s kindness had awakened another side in Haruhime, her worldly desires. Alfia saw an image of Haruhime on all fours, her tail and ears standing up, crawling towards Bell with the eyes of a predator. There was no way a pure, white, bunny could fight back against a starved fox!
That was why Alfia came as soon as Bell was even a minute late.
There will be no cuddle snuggles under this roof, not on my watch!
Alfia looked at Haruhime. "How do you feel now? You are free, right?"
"I have never felt better in my life, thanks to your son."
"Then make the best out of it."
"I will, that´s why I joined the familia."
Alfia looked around. "Hm, this house seems to be a bit small for four people."
Miach smiled. "Bell was kind enough to offer Haruhime his bed."
It was the worst possible choice of words.
"You did WHAT?!"
Haruhime made frightened a step back, as did Bell. Miach´s eyes widened in shock about Alfia´s sudden scream. Thankfully their saviour was there, Nahza.
"Ms. Alfia, please don´t misunderstand lord Miach! What he meant was, we made a bedroom for Bell, but he never slept in it so far. When we returned from the City of the Night, he offered Haruhime to let her sleep in the bed, while he slept on the couch. There was no contact and both were properly separated from each other."
Alfia exhaled. "So it was like that..."
"Lord Miach, you can´t phrase your words like that in front of a mother!"
"I didn´t meant it in any specific way."
"Hah...you are still too carefree with women..."
Miach walked to Alfia and gently took her left hand. "Mylady, I never intended to shock you like that, I would like to ask for your forgiveness."
Instead of slapping his hand away or reacting smart in any way, Alfia did something that Bell had never seen her do before. She blushed heavily. As strong as she was, Alfia wasn´t used to the touch of a man and this handsome god had just something on him that made women weak, especially his gentle smile.
"Lord Miach!"
Thankfully Nahza intervened and pulled Miach´s hand away from Alfia´s. Alfia coughed slightly and pulled her hand to herself, getting herself under control again.
This god is dangerous in his own way, I have to watch out that Bell doesn´t become like him.
"*Cough* So, back to the topic. Your home seems to be a bit too small for four people."
Miach nodded. "Indeed, we managed to make room for Bell, but with Haruhime it will be a bit problematic. And I can´t ask Nahza to share her room with Haruhime, it is too small for that."
I have to prevent that they consider to let Bell share his room or worse maybe even his bed with Haruhime! I won´t allow this!
"Then I have a proposal."
"Hm?"
"I have enough room in my house and it is only five minutes on foot away. Haruhime could use one of my rooms to sleep there. Not moving in with me, just use the room to sleep."
"Eh, Ms. Cranel, I-I could never...I mean..."
"It isn´t healthy to let one of you sleep on the couch the whole time. You could think of something else when your familia earned a bit money. Just come to my house when it is time to sleep and come back here when you wake up."
"I don´t know, I..."
Haruhime went silent when she noticed the gleam in Alfia´s eyes, it wasn´t really a proposal... But it made sense, like that, Alfia could also scare away anyone from the Ishtar familia that might target Haruhime and try to kidnap her.
Miach nodded. "I think this is a good idea for the first days. Like that we have time to figure something out."
While they talked about a few things, Haruhime couldn´t take her eyes from Alfia. She noticed something about the way that Alfia talked and moved, something...familiar.
Could it be that...no, don´t be silly Haruhime, there is no way that was her.
.
.
"Hmmm~Hmmm~Hmmm."
Eina hummed while doing her paperwork, today was a good day. She had made a huge mistake yesterday and knew she would get yelled at today by her superior. But then a huge fight broke out in the night, the Pleasure Quarter got destroyed by the Freya familia. So there was an uproar in the guild and Eina´s mistake got completely forgotten.
The goddess Freya herself had to come to the guild, her familia would receive a huge fine.
"I see." Was all that Freya said.
And since even Royman got caught in the trouble with Freya, Eina did her best to shine at her work today, she needed some bonus points.
What made this day even better, her mother, Aina, felt better recently.
She noticed a movement and looked up, a familiar adventurer walked towards her, he had company.
"Ms. Eina, good morning."
"Bell, good morning."
Her eyes wandered to the girl that walked next to Bell, she really was a beauty.
The Renart bowed slightly towards her. "Good morning."
Eina nodded politely. "Good morning."
"Ms. Eina, I hope it is correct to ask you, we would like to regist her as an adventurer."
"Oh, a new member of your familia?"
"Yes."
"That´s good, now then Ms...?"
"Haruhime."
"Ms. Haruhime, I have the form here. Just in case, you can write Koine?"
"Yes, I can."
"Then please fill out the form, we don´t demand everything that is written here, if you want to keep some informations about yourself, we won´t force you. Also, once you are listed as an adventurer, it will be shown openly when you go a level up. But all the information we give to public, is which familia you belong to and your level, nothing more."
"I understand."
Haruhime wrote down everything that was needed in the form.
Eina looked at the paper. "Now let´s see, born in the far east, name...Haruhime. Do you have no last name?"
"No, not anymore."
Eina didn´t really knew what that meant, but it didn´t really mattered.
"Age eighteen, female, well that was obvious. Miach familia. Adventurer, level one. Alright, that should be everything. With that you are three adventurers in the Miach familia, even when Ms. Erisuis is listed as being mostly retired. With one level two and two level one adventurers, your taxes won´t increase and you won´t get issued with missions from the guild. I´m sorry to say that, but your familia is still on the lowest rank."
Haruhime and Bell nodded.
"So, you probably need an advisor too?"
"I-If possible."
"Of course it is possible, how much do you know about the dungeon?"
"Not much..."
"Then I have an idea, since you both recently started and Bell has also much to learn, I could do a double advise, so you can study together. I just need to get the approval of my superior for that."
Bell looked amazed. "Something like that is possible?"
"Yes. But only in cases with new or lower ranked familias, and only when two adventurers start at the same time or at least as close as possible to the same time. Just wait a moment."
Eina walked away for a few moments, then she returned.
"Okay, there is no problem. Bell you have to teach Ms. Haruhime what I told you so far."
"Understood."
"So then, I hope we can get along, Ms. Haruhime."
"Please take care of me, Ms. Eina."
Not that Eina had much chance to teach them, Alfia still did most of it. But she was now even more eager to take her rightfull place as the advisor!
.
.
They didn´t went into the dungeon on this day, that would wait for one or two days. At first Bell showed Haruhime where Alfia lived and she showed Haruhime the room where she could sleep. Bell was really thankfull to his Mom for helping them out like this. Haruhime needed these two days to calm down and she was too eager to help in the familia´s home.
Haruhime being there had a direct effect for the familia. When she was outside and gently dusted the windows, people got attracted by her sight. More than one young man came to the shop after she went in and out of it to help. They sold a lot of potions and other stuff in these two days, Nahza and Miach were visibly happy. The Chientrope already made plans to use Bell´s and Haruhime´s looks for better sales, a plan formed in her head.
And so a week after Haruhime joined the familia, the two went into the dungeon for the first time together, Bell wanted to give her as much time as necessary to calm down and relax. But not only for that, Alfia did the same as Eina wanted to do and teached both of them together, talking to them about vanguard and rearguard, since they were only two people. It was really helpfull to have someone show them the ropes.
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"Giiii! Giiii!"
"*Gulp*"
"Ms. Haruhime, I´m with you, take your time."
They were on the first floor, he noticed that Haruhime was pretty nervous. But he also had to admit, she looked really gorgeous in her outfit. It was a mixture of her usual kind of kimono and her training equipment. A triangular piece of leather was held by straps over her right breast, to prevent it getting hit by the string of her bow. The goblin didn´t charged at them, two adventurers were a bit much for a monster that attacked in groups when it had the chance. It only held a tiny club, a dungeon weapon and was hissing at Haruhime. Bell waited two steps behind her, his sword in his right hand, ready to intervene at any time.
She slowly calmed down her breath and took steady aim with her bow. Bell noticed how she turned her right ear away from the bow, also to prevent it from getting caught in the string.
"Huuu..."
Haruhime exhaled, then she inhaled just a little bit and held her breath.
Twing.
With a whistle, the arrow left the bow and hit the Goblin right between the eyes.
"Gergh!"
The small monster flew backwards while blood splattered through the air. It didn´t turned to ash, since the magic stone sat in the chest, but the Goblin was dead. They were a bit over thirty meters away.
"I did it!"
Haruhime turned with a proud and happy smile around to Bell.
"Mr. Bell, I did it!"
Her tail wagged behind her and her ears twitched from happiness.
Cute!
"That was amazing! Over such a long distance!"
"Did I...do good?"
"Incredibly good!"
A happy smile bloomed on her face, she was never praised before in the dungeon, even Aisha had held back with that.
"Hehe, now I have just to re-"
Haruhime spun around before she could end her sentence. Her movement opened Bell´s eyes for her beauty even more. She carried the quiver on her left hip at a slight angle. Her tail moved gracefully as she turned and in the same motion drew, aimed, and fired an arrow.
A kobold had appeared next to the Goblin, this monster didn´t even had time to yelp. The expression in Haruhime´s eyes was focussed and serious.
"Ms. Har-"
"Shh."
Huh?
She took another arrow and fired it. In the exact second when another Goblin came around, her arrow went into the eye of the monster.
"Huuu..."
"That was...wow."
"Huh?" Haruhime blinked and lowered her bow.
"How did you notice them so fast?"
Bell saw that her ears twitched.
"I can hear pretty well."
"Hm, I guess so."
He was really fascinated by the sight of her ears and tail, how he would love to fluff them.
"Shall we continue?"
"Yes, but at first let´s get your arrows back and cleaned. Please turn around for a moment."
"Understood."
Haruhime carried the backpack instead of Bell, this way he could move more freely. Bell opened the backpack and took out the knife and gloves meant for removing the magic stones.
"Mr. Bell, I can remove the magic stones."
"No, I will do it."
"But I am your supporter."
"You are my party member."
"Still, you are the leader."
"I can´t let you do this."
"Why? I am prepared for it."
Bell saw that Haruhime was slightly green in the face, digging into a monster's corpse didn't seem like a rosy prospect.
"I can´t let a girl do something like that, you might get dirty."
"You can get dirty too."
"I did that often enough before."
They argued back and forth for a few moments, but Bell didn´t gave in. The sounds of Bell removing the magic stones was enough for Haruhime, maybe it was a good idea that he was the one doing it. Thankfully most of the blood on the arrows turned to ash when the monsters dissolved. Haruhime had an extra bottle of water and a cloth to clean her arrows.
She guarded Bell while he removed the magic stones, he guarded her while she cleaned her arrows.
"So, let us continue."
From there on they made their way through the first floor. The strength of the monsters wasn´t important, but that Haruhime got used to the dungeon as a real adventurer now.
After the first hour, she got a bit more relaxed. They got a bit daring and moved further down, all too soon they were at the entrance of the seventh floor. Bell was used to move alone here, together with Haruhime it should be easier. She read his movements pretty easily, due to her sharp senses as a fox woman.
"Ms. Haruhime?"
They took a break between the 6th and 7th Floors, the stairs were more or less a safe space. While Haruhime´s status was normally too low for these floors, Bell was strong enough to deal with any problem that might come up.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to ask, was there a reason you learned to use the bow?"
"Aisha always told me I should learn to do something usefull except to stand around and wait until I use my magic. I don´t have the strength of a real supporter and I´m not good in melee, so I trained with my bow. It also helped me during...that time."
"Ms. Aisha seems to really like you."
Haruhime smiled gently. "I guess she does, and Lena too."
"It´s good that you found friends in...there."
"Yes, both really helped me. And now, I have a familia with nice people."
"I´m glad you like it in the familia."
"How could I not?"
My hero is in the familia after all.
Haruhime didn´t knew what was wrong with her, whenever she was close to Bell or looked in his face, her heart went a bit faster and her cheeks felt warm. It was really nice to spend time with Bell.
"Hehe, now, should we continue?"
"Yes, Mr. Bell."
The 7th Floor was still a challenge, they would need a few days to get used to each other. But Bell already noticed one thing, having another person with him made things much more easy.
Haruhime noticed new monsters even before he did, the fact that she carried the backpack made it much easier for him to move during the fights. She waited for the right moments to shoot an arrow, distracting the monsters at least.
But like that, the backpack got also filled faster, so they had to move up a few more times. They spent seven hours in the dungeon and only in the end did they took the money for all the magic stones and the few, small dropp items.
They stood at a small table in the guild, non of them said a word.
"Ms. Haruhime?..."
"Yes, Mr. Bell?..."
"Am I...dreaming?"
"I don´t know...maybe I am too."
"Is this...for real?"
"Maybe?.."
A small mountain of golden coins was in front of them, so much that it spilled from Bell´s pouch that he used for money.
"15.000 Vals..."
"15.256 Vals to be precise..."
"Wow..."
"Indeed."
Both looked at each other and blinked, then Bell started to cheer.
"This is AWESOME!"
Haruhime clapped her hands happily and her tail wagged. "I have never seen so much money!"
"Over ten thousand Vals, this is incredible!"
A few veteran adventurers chuckled when they saw the two newby adventurers cheering over such an amount of money. Sure it was pretty much for two level one adventurers to achieve something like that, but for the veterans it was still a cute sight.
"You are awesome, Ms. Haruhime! Without you I could´ve never made so much money on my own!"
"You're exaggerating, I've done next to nothing."
"No, no, no. You are really awesome! It was so much fun to go together with you!"
A few veteran adventurers noticed how happy Haruhime reacted, most of them thought it was a young couple that went together.
"What should we do now?"
"I think we should go home and tell lord Miach and Ms. Nahza."
"A good idea!"
Their first day together in the dungeon was a huge success.
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Nahza got big eyes, as did Miach.
"You two made over 15.000 Vals? Wow..."
"This is indeed amazing, good work you two."
Miach´s gentle smile and Nahza´s joyfull one made both of them happy.
The god looked at the money for a second.
"I have an idea."
His now three followers looked at him.
"I will go and meet with three friends of mine this evening for a drink. You three should go out and celebrate together, Nahza I don´t accept a no, you as the captain have to go with them. I know just the right place for you all..."
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There was a very famous pub in Orario, one that was mostly filled to the brim every evening. It was a bit expensive, but Miach insisted they should celebrate together. While Nahza didn´t went with them in the dungeon, she made potions and other items for them.
Bell was never here before, of course he passed the buiding on his way to the dungeon every day, but he was never inside. On his way back from the dungeon, he had seen that this pub was filled every evening, one or two times he saw one of the waitresses outside for a short moment, only women worked here.
"Shall we go inside? Lord Miach recommended it after all..."
Nahza wasn´t used to be among so many people.
Bell opened the door for Nahza and Haruhime, both smiles slightly to him for that. There was a faint ringing noise that made Haruhime's ears twitch, Nahza's moved just a little. Apparently there were little bells attached to the top edge of the door, similar to their familia's shop. Loud, happy voices came from the inside of the pub, most of the tables were filled. They saw people of all races, laughing, drinking and eating. Waitresses in green uniforms moved with experience between the tables. Bell was amazed how many mugs and plates they carried without a problem.
"Mew! Nyelcome to the Benevolent Mistress!"
A cat girl waitress greeted them, she was pretty small, maybe one and a half meters in total. She had brown hair and eyes, cat ears and a tail of the same color. Bell only noticed on the side that she had quite the rack...he really tried not to notice it.
"Good evening."
Haruhime was too amazed to react and just looked around in the pub. Nahza was a bit taken aback by the volume.
"Do nyou need a tyable?"
"Ahm...what?"
The cat girl sighed. "Are nyou a blockhead? Nyou came to mew, do nyou need a table?"
Bell had never heard a cat person talk like that before.
"Ahm, I guess, for three people please."
"Nyou are lucky! Mew have only one table free!"
Despite what she said, Bell saw a few empty tables in the middle of the room, all pushed together.
At first for Nahza, then for Haruhime, Bell pulled the chairs back and let them sit down, Haruhime giggled slightly because of his chivalry.
"Are nyou here for the first time?"
"Yes."
"Mew have only one rule. Don´t cause a ruckus, Nya! Or mew will throw nyou out."
"Understood."
The cat girl handed them a menu.
"Mew recommends Mama´s special today. Mameow Mia is Orario´s best cook!"
After looking on the menu what it was, all three of them ordered it, together with drinks. It was a bit expensive, but tonight should be a celebration.
Unnoticed by Bell, there was also an elven waitress at the pub, by sheer chance she never looked into his direction and he not in hers, since he was focussed on his companions.
When their drinks arrived, they clinked their mugs together.
"""Cheers!"""
They chatted about this and that, Nahza wanted to know how Haruhime dealt with the dungeon. Both noticed that Nahza was a bit scared whent hey talked about the monsters, but she smiled.
Bell noticed a human waitress with grey hair, she seemed to be very popular and to smile always genuienly.
"So, you are good with the bow, hm?..."
"I trained often to become good."
"Hehe, I would like to have a competition with you one day..."
"Ms. Nahza, you are using a bow too?"
"Yes, when I was still an adventurer, I was quite good. If things went different, I would have become a real archer..."
"Then I would gladly have a competition with you."
"But I guess at first you should level up, a level one against a level two isn´t very fair..."
Bell looked back and forth between the two. "I wonder, is this something that animal people are good in general?"
"Some races have a natural affinity for certain styles of fighting. Elves and we animal people have it usually easier when it comes to magic or archery. But dwarves for example are made for the front lines. Our ears help a lot to notice dangers early..."
"Oh yeah, I noticed how Ms. Haruhime did that today a few times. She spotted monsters and shot into their direction before I even noticed that they were there."
Nahza smirked. "Looks like her ears are not only there so that you can oggle them..."
"Eh?!" So he was noticed doing that.
Haruhime´s cheeks turned a bit pink. "Huh?!"
Before Nahza could tease them more, they heard the ringing sound of the door again.
"Our special guests have arrived!"
The grey haired waitress announced someone.
Bell, Nahza and Haruhime looked to the door, as did many other people.
A big group of real beauties entered the pub, it was as if the sounds got a bit lower.
The first one that entered was an amazon with a cheeky grin on her lips, as if she had just laughed about a joke from one of her companions. Her feet were bare and she wore yellow gauntlets around her ankles. Her legs were mostly bare too, around her hip was a short, pink skirt with a red scarf that she used as a belt. The skirt the skirt was cut diagonally at the bottom, her chest was covered by a yellow chestband, with a red edge on top. Instead of a deep cleavage on top, her cleavage was at the bottom part. Most of her hair was bound up. Her name was Iska Bra, just like the other women behind her, she was well known in Orario.
The next one was a human, she wore dark, leather boots, a long violet skirt that covered all of her legs, her belly button was free, her midrif covered by a white shirt without sleeves, in addition she had two black sleeves that went from her hands almost up to her shoulders. Her name was Ryana Lietz.
A beast woman, probably a werewolf, followed. She had brown skin and ash colored hair, ears and a tail. She also had long leather boots, hot pants, a long white belt, a very daring, green top and leather gloves, that was Neze Rankett.
Following her was a woman that could only be described as the big sister type. She wore a dress made from orange and white cloth, her lower legs were free and she wore leather shoes. Her gentle smile and appearance, let her really look like the big sister of the others, she was also the oldest of them and her name was Maryuu Reage.
"Soooo, where is our cute, little elven waitress?!"
These words came from the shortest member of the group, a prum with pink hair. She used a white top, a short, dark red skirt and leather shoes. Lyra seemed to always grin in a teasing way.
"Hah, I can´t wait to see her."
The woman behind the prum seemed to be grace incarnate. That she was from the far east was easily visible. She used a long, burgundy colored kimono with a beige jacket around one of her shoulders. Bell´s eyes widened in surprise when he saw her other arm, this arm was an argetlam, a silver hand. Made from an alchemistical process, the arm that she los was replaced with living metal. She was the first person that Bell ever saw showing that so openly. But the arm wasn´t pure silver. Symbols and fine lines were drawn on it in black ink. For someone from the Far East, especially a young lady of high rank, such a thing would be unthinkably outrageous! But Gojouno Kaguya loved being the "bad girl".
They were followed by the elves of the familia. The first one was fully covered from head to toe. She wore a long, dark dress with a cape around her, her face covered by a veil that only let her mouth visible. She had long, white hair and dark brown skin...a dark elf that went by the name Viana.
"Mouh, don´t tease Ms. Ryu like that."
Bell´s eyes widened when he saw the girl that spoke. It was her...the one that he had seen on the faithfull day...Lefiya Viridis.
Dear gods she is so beautiful...
Behind her, a bit shy, came another elf. She had black hair and red eyes, similar to Bell´s. This elf used a long, white dress and covered as much skin as possible. The best friend of Lefiya, Filvis Challia.
"Don´t be like that, Lefi."
"D-Don´t call me Lefi, captain!"
A grinning human woman with flaming red hair and green eyes followed the others. Long leather boots, short black pants, a white and pink shirt and leathern bracers were her full outfit, her hair bound up to a ponytail.
Alise Lovell.
Bell knew who they were, as did everyone else in the pub.
"The Astr-"
His words died out when she came into the pub...the goddess of Justice. Astrea.
All of her followers were beauties on their own...but they all looked a bit dull compared to her...except for the elf that caught Bell´s heart of course. She was pure elegance when she slowly walked into the pub, her feet only barely visible when her long white and blue dress moved a bit. The dress covered everything from her toes up to her chest, the light cleavage didn´t looked lewd in any way. Her shoulders were bare, but she used two, wide, white sleeves to cover most of her arms. An elegant ribbon lay around her neck, from which cords went down to hold her dress in place.
They heard whispers from the pub.
"Woah...the Astrea familia."
"Such beauties."
"The angels of Orario."
"Lady Astrea is as stunning as always..."
"Dude, don´t oggle their goddess, they will skin you alive!"
There was only one member missing from the familia...but not really.
Alise Lovell turned to her goddess. "Lady Astrea, your place is at the head of the table, right next to me of course!"
"Ehehe, then lead the way, Alise."
Now Bell saw why there were tables free in the middle of the room, they were reserved for this familia of beautiful women. The ones that wore jackets took them off, except for the dark elf, she sat down with her cape pulled around her.
Astrea smiled to her follower. "Viana, don´t you want to take off your cape?"
"No..."
The dark elf looked really uneasy with all those people around her. Only her familia members had ever seen her without the veil, she couldn´t bear with strangers looking into her face and eyes.
There seemed to be no specific order in which the familia sat, except that the captain sat on the right side of the goddess.
"Lefiya, would you sit next to me?"
"O-Of course lady Astrea! B-But why?"
"Hehe, you are our vip today."
"E-Eh?"
"You slew Udaeus after all."
"I just dealt the last strike, it was everyones work!"
Alise grinned. "Still, you managed to defeat Udaeus without me having to intervene, and your magic was really impressive."
So Lefiya followed the wish of her goddess, Filvis sat down next to Lefiya.
"Now girls, shall we order?"
They all answered their goddess. "Yes, lady Astrea!"
"Ehehe."
.
.
"Wow...the Astrea familia."
Bell was mostly taken aback by the special elf among them.
Nahza took a sip of her drink. "They are very famous in Orario. Lady Astrea is a friend of lord Miach..."
Haruhime looked amazed. "I heard of them too, they shall all be very brave."
"They sure aren´t cowards."
Many men looked at the familia, not that Bell could blame them. It looked like there was at least one woman that met the taste of any men in the pub.
The red haired captain turned around and looked around the pub. "Where is Leon? Kaguya you said she is already here."
"Maybe she is hiding from us?"
"Whaaaat? Why would she?"
Lefiya looked at her captain. "Because you always tease Ms. Ryu."
"Lefiya, her name is Leon."
"No it is not!"
"But her real name is too complicated to pronounce."
"No it isn´t, lady Astrea also calls her by her name."
"I am the captain, I do what I want." Alise grinned.
Bell was so captured by them for a moment, that he didn´t noticed the waitress that came to their table to bring the next round of drinks.
"Here is your order."
He looked up when he heard her voice...and his jaw dropped.
"Aaaah!"
Bell Cranel didn´t thought in that moment, his body reacted on it´s own. The waitress had just put down the mugs and her left hand was free. Bell´s body shot up and he grabbed her left hand with both of his hands.
"My saviour!"
.
.
The Astrea familia turned to the loud voice...and all of their actions stopped.
Ryu Lion stood there in her waitress outfit, her hand grabbed by a white haired human.
"My saviour! You are the one that saved my life! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The elf´s eyes widened when she noticed who the human was, she was focussed on her familia before so she didn´t noticed him.
And now...he held her hand.
And to her surprise, her body didn´t reacted in the usual way to slap his hand away or break his arm for that.
"E-Eh?"
"I am Bell Cranel! Thank you so much for saving me! Thank you!"
Ryu looked at her hand and his face. She had seen him the last time when she watched his fight against Aisha Belka. He looked by no means like a bad guy.
And then...Ryu got aware of the eyes of all of her familia members...all looking at them and seeing that he held her hand...and her goddess saw that too. They saw that he held her hand...a man held her hand.
She heard the first mumble from her familia...of course it was Alise. "Wow...a man holds Leon´s hand!"
"M-Mr. Cranel...please let go of my hand..."
Ryu looked beyond embarrassed and wondered why she tolerated his hands on her own. But this was her fate, no matter what happened or changed in her or Bell´s fate, they would always reach the point where he grabbed her hand.
Before Bell could do that, one of the familia members jumped up and stormed towards them.
"Let go of Ms. Ryu, you brute human!"
He let go and looked at the voice, even when she was angry, Lefiya Viridis beauty was divine in his eyes.
.
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Bell Cranel had finally met the Astrea familia...and what was more important...the girl that he had a crush on. The girl that owned a large part of his heart...the other...got slowly filled with the picture of a certain fox girl.
Bell had a huge problem without knowing it at this point...he fell in love with two young women...
And one of them glared at him at this moment.
.
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This would become an interesting evening.
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In another part of Orario, four gods sat together, drank alcohol and chatted about the last events and their familias. One of them nearly dropped his mug and looked shocked at another one of them.
"Miach...what did you say was the name of your new follower?...Could you please repeat it?"
"Her name is Haruhime. Do you know her, Take?"
Takemikazuchi eventually dropped his mug and his eyes widened in shock.
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Author´s Note: So he finally met the Astrea familia, let´s see how the evening will turn out. I will go two ways in this story, Haruhime will fall pretty fast for Bell, while Lefiya will take a bit longer. And the development between Lefiya and Haruhime will also take a while.
To answer the question of Kokiks100: No I won´t write a NaazaxBell story, for me she belongs to Miach, well except for the one Ero chapter they had.
The next chapter coming won´t be spirit child, but now for the Ero story. I am sorry to say that it won´t be the orgy one, and there will never be one. I tried it, I really tried for days and days, but nothing really came out. The story is as important as the H scene and the orgy was basically just fucking, not much more. It was just too hard to write it with so many girls, even when it were only five.
So the next Ero Chapter is for Alfia, called "A Mom´s needs." But it will be a chapter like Ais once had, with no partner.
For the last thing I want to announce a small thing.
When Spirit Child is finished soon, I will write a short arc for Like a Fairy, that plays right in the story and not after it. I got the idea from Lockheart25.
When that short arc is done, I will star the first story of the What If series, while Change of Fates continues.
The first one will be "Ray - Xenos lover".
These stories will probably be around the length of Riveria´s arc in Blood of Zeus, some maybe a bit shorter, some longer, I have to see that.