Chapter 5: Self-Destruction
A/N: Yo wys, It's good to be back can't think of anything to say, have fun reading ig?
Oh acc, Fun fact, in chapter 2 of the series when Bell addressed Mikoto going to the pleasure quarters and he revealed Haruhime's identity, I accidentally wrote Miach's shrine instead of Takemikazuchi's shrine. No one seemed to pick up on that surprisingly.
Also, I realised I may or may not have forgotten to give a status update. I said he levelled up but not the scene regardless here are his stats.
Bell Cranel
Level: 4
Alias: Little Rookie
Str: 0
Vit: 0
Dex: 0
Agi: 0
Mag: 0
Magic:
Solar Eclipse
Firebolt
Skills:
Liaris Incrementum
Inheritor of Kronos's relic (not will but relic)
Blessing of time (single-use, allowing him to take any one spell from the future. Bell chose Di asla thanks to my idiocy. A quick cast poison spell)
Development skills:
Luck
Abnormal resistance
Escape
Aisha's POV
She opened her eyes to an unknown ceiling. It had been a while since she had a full night of sleep, usually, she would go late into the night going at it with some man and then passing out after taking money.
She remembered, 'right, I'm in a new familia. I'm not gonna have to sell my body against my will.' she reassured herself. Aisha had a strong libido, as in sexual desire. It took a lot to sate her, but part of it was because of the charm from Ishtar. She did like sex, but she disliked doing it with someone she didn't want to.
She turned around and felt some hard touch the palm of her hand. She tried to touch it and felt a rock hard platform. Her eyes shot open to see a patch of white in front of her. She looked down to see the face of an innocent rabbit asleep, lightly snoring away but it wasn't anything disturbing. She kept moving down to see her hand on his chest. The origin of the hard platform.
Now Aisha wasn't one to have outbursts, she wasn't childish like that, and this wasn't the first time she woke up with a man beside her, to begin with. She calmly collected her thoughts and tried to think back to what led to these events. She came into his room to try and tease him. She waited and waited but he was taking so long that she eventually gave up and fell asleep.
However, that did not answer how she ended up on the bed. Did Bell move her there? If so why did he not just take her back to her room? These questions floated about when she felt Bell stirring. She looked down to see his eyes open, his rubellite eyes looking at the ceiling tiredly. Gods what did he even do last night to cause him to be so exhausted?
"Hello, sleepyhead. Did you enjoy our night together?" Aisha asked. She couldn't help but tease him, it was the perfect opportunity. Bell sat up and looked back at her.
"Funny you say that I found you asleep before me. How in the world do you come to play a joke on someone and fall asleep before they even arrive?" Bell asked challenging her decision. Which indeed confirmed what Aisha could recollect.
"Hey, I ain't the one to be blamed because you were gone until 3." Aisha retorted. She had waited long enough for him, the rest was too long anyway. "Besides, why did you move me to your bed?" Aisha asked.
"shush, you loved it and you know it." Bell shut her down.
"I would've loved it if there was a bit more action involved," Aisha said with a flare in her eyes. She could not let her pride swallow this, she needed to get him to become flustered at least once. It was almost as necessary as breakfast for most people.
"If you wanted action, maybe try not to fall asleep next time." Bell laughed and got out of bed. It seemed that Aisha's plan had failed. Bell walked over to his wardrobe. The room wasn't heavily decorated, just a desk with a couple of books, some hero books lying on top of it, a bed and a wardrobe. There was his own bathroom attached to the room where he could shower and take care of his business if he needed to.
"man your room is bland. I moved in yesterday and mine has more things in it." Aisha told him, still lying under the duvet.
"well my room isn't going to smell heavily of aphrodisiacs," Bell quipped back. Ok, Aisha took some offence to that. "besides, my personality is just that boring." Bell told her.
'now that is one of the biggest lies I've heard.' Aisha thought recalling all the few times over the last 2 weeks Bell had joked around, acted up to Phryne and all his actions.
"Alright so." Bell called drawing her attention, "are you going to turn around or do you want to watch me change?" Bell asked. Aisha thought this would perhaps work.
"sure, I'd like to watch," she replied smugly thinking Bell would overreact. But Bell instead just proceeded to take off his shirt, revealing his strong and well-shaped abs. A few scars littered here and there that just added to his charm. Bell put on a black undershirt, like always. He paused and looked at Aisha who was still smirking, thinking he'll hesitate to take off his trousers.
Too bad, Aisha had already seen all of Bell before. Well, not the current Aisha but well, it didn't matter to Bell. He took off his trousers revealing his boxers, a plain black pair that reached 3/4s of his thigh, so it covered quite a lot of his leg.
What truly drew Aisha's interest was something peeking out of his boxer's end. Something that Aisha would recognise no matter how blind she was. A genitalia head. Rather the male genitalia. Now she understood why his boxers were so big but this, in turn, increased her desire to devour his purity. Imagining how it would feel to have the thing inside her.
"hey so how long are you going to stare? I'm done changing." Bell asked her snapping her out of her thoughts. Bell chuckled slightly. "for someone who has seen a lot of naked men in her life, you sure dazed out." he joked.
Aisha got up and put on her own clothes, mainly the purple cloth strap around her busty chest and the slightly see-through loose leggings. She saw Bell looking at her. "oh? what are you looking at?" Aisha teased. Or at least tried to.
"your beautiful figure." Bell honestly replied. Aisha for some reason felt a slight blush appear on her face, but cough to clear it away. She didn't expect him to be so honest. And once again, he had completely gone unfazed with her teasing.
Thankfully both Aisha and Bell were used to waking up early. Bell jumped through the window since it was the easiest way to the background to practice. Aisha thought she may as well spar with him since she had nothing better to do so she ran back to her room to get her weapon and then go to the back garden.
"So, you wanna spar?" Bell asked as he finished stretching. Aisha grinned, and Bell took that as a confirmation. It was honestly perfect for Bell, who had levelled up and was going to have to adjust to his abilities. Aisha was a perfect partner to do it with, no sexual reference intended.
Bell took a pose with his sword, his sword tilting up and from a lower angle, his free hand pulled back ready to act to hit away any attack from Aisha. Aisha drew her podao and got into her own position. Bell leapt towards her at an incredible speed, he thrust his sword towards her. Aisha barely reacted and redirected the sword to beside her. the contact between the two blades creating sparks that flew off.
However, Bell wasn't done. As he was leaning in, he suddenly changed the trajectory of the sword towards the ground, sticking it right in and used it as a pole of sorts to swing sideways and kick Aisha. Aisha raised her arm and took the brunt of the kick, it lowered the amount of damage but the force was enough to push her back.
"not bad. It seems you did level up." Aisha smirked. This reminded her of the fight they had before, and the kiss. She couldn't forget Bell's strength back then and the kiss but mainly the strength.
Bell didn't reply, not giving her a chance to recover he moved towards her. He ran low and fast and twisted his body as if to slam his sword onto hers. The force creating a sort of impact force as a bead of sweat dropped from Aisha's forehead. However, there was one thing she had been forgetting.
Bell was a dual-wielder. Although he didn't have another sword right now, he did have a knife. He drew the knife with his free hand and swung up extremely fast. Aisha spotted and tried to pull back, but she was a tad bit too late. While she herself was unscathed and wasn't cut, her chest piece was a different story. Bell's slash upwards, cut the middle joined in between Aisha's breasts, the cloth has already been a bit stretched as Aisha was rather voluptuous, but now the cloth being cut meant her breasts flew out into the open.
At the moment Bell was in battle mode, he didn't have the self-control to calm down, which man on the planet wouldn't blush if they suddenly had 2 watermelons right in their face. Bell saw her breasts fly open and became beet red. The second he landed he acted quickly. The back garden had fences but people could still see from the outside. Bell immediately took his shirt of gave it to Aisha. "c-cover-up, quickly before anyone sees." Bell told her as he blocked his own eyes.
Aisha stared at him with confusion. He had watched her change this morning, acting as if he wasn't particularly interested yet now he was acting as if he was embarrassed. Needless to say, Aisha was relatively embarrassed herself as she was not an exhibitionist but rather liked the general attention. She quickly used his shirts as a substitute chest cover.
Soon it clicked, however, that Bell was holding himself back and controlling his emotions in the morning, but since he was in battle he couldn't do the same. Long story short? Aisha had achieved her plan.
But what to do, now it was Bell who was half-naked. Bell's slightly sweaty body glistened under the sunlight which Aisha had to admit, was hot. She felt the temperature rise in her cheeks and her desire get stronger but she kept herself in check.
"well, that's enough sparring for now I guess. Keep the shirt I can just get new clothes for now." Bell said he didn't sound mad since it was his own fault. He slowly went back to the house muttering something about getting Welf to make her clothes with a Durandal attribute.
Later, everyone else woke up as well, Bell and Aisha didn't say anything about the incident in the morning. They went to have breakfast and weirdly enough, Hestia and Lili wanted to take up the seats closest to Bell. However, they usually would have the God of the familia sit at the single seat at the start of the table. Seeing no other choice Bell sat there instead leaving Hestia and Lili sitting with a downward look.
"ah right, Haruhime and Aisha san, can you come to the guild with me? We need to get you transferred to the Hestia familia." Bell asked them. He also had to announce his level up. They both only nodded. Lili taking the opportunity let out a heavy sigh that drew everyone's attention.
"We have two level 4s in our familia now. The tax is just rising and rising." Lili spoke in an exasperated tone as she glared at Bell as if to accuse him 'why are you levelling up so quick?'
After breakfast, Welf had to make some gear for Haruhime and Aisha so he got to that. Hestia went off to sell jagamarukun and Bell left for the guild with Aisha and Haruhime. Along the way, some were staring and commenting on the fact that Bell alone was walking with two hot girls.
"that little rookie..."
"he pulled in two of 'em..."
"I wish I was there instead of him."
And so and so forth. Bell just chuckled lightly as Haruhime blushed and Aisha didn't care.
"Really they just say whatever the hell they please." Bell sighed, but not in a way that he was tired. They eventually reached the guild where Eina was working.
Eina's POV
It was a typical day at the Guild, the Ishtar familia's collapse was being investigated. Freya familia were seen and have been punished for their actions with a fine. However, the concerning fact was that the Freya familia did not kill the deity Ishtar. They all claimed a black-haired warrior with red eyes did the deed. Now, there was a search of such a profile, yet there seemed to be none. absolutely no connections to anything. Some also claimed to have seen Bell Cranel there and so he also will have to be interrogated.
Speaking of the devil, Bell walked in with two girls. A renart with a beautiful innocent face that made Eina blush a little unknowingly, and an amazoness with silky black hair and... wow.
Eina's eyes bulged at the sight of Aisha's chest, they were probably slightly bigger than hers as well. Bell made eye contact with her and smiled as he walked up to her.
"good morning, Eina san." Bell greeted. It wasn't very often Eina saw Bell in the morning. Since Bell was one of the more... arduous adventurers who went into the dungeon earlier than most and came back later. This sort of personality was something Eina accepted as part of his charm and she respected him for it. However, that also led to her often warning him about being too reckless.
"good morning Bell kun. It's surprising to come into the guild with two beauties in tow," Eina replied adding a slight edge to her tone hinting at some level of aggressiveness.
"well, how else am I supposed to get them transferred?" Bell asked not even stuttering as she would've expected, "anyways. I came for two reasons. First, these two are Sanjouno Haruhime and Aisha Belka from today onwards, new Hestia familia members." Bell introduced them. Eina could hear the excitement in Bell's voice, not that she would blame him after all, Bell cared about his family greatly. Seeing that his familia was growing was a sight that filled him with great pride and joy.
"well isn't that good for you guys. If you mind me asking can you fill out these forms?" Eina said handing Aisha and Haruhime two clipboards and sheets. She turned to Bell, "and what was your second reason?" she asked.
Bell grinned, already giving Eina a feeling of dread that whatever it was, it's not nice. At least for her. He then pulled out a brown parchment paper. Eina instantly recognised it and bashed her head right into the desk making a loud thud. Bell was laughing until Eina leaned in and grabbed Bell by the collar.
"how many?!" she screamed, "How many times did I tell you NOT to go overkill. It's because that you are so reckless that you levelled up again." The entire guild had basically heard it and was staring in awe.
"um... uh, thanks?" Bell replied but it came out as more of a question since he had no clue how to respond to it. At the end of the day, it sounded like a compliment to Bell. Eina violently shook Bell until she herself got tired.
"seriously, what monstrosity did you face this time to level up?" Eina asked curiously. First, it was a raging bull. Then it was a perverted God's captain. Now what? She watched as Bell's face scrunched into one of disgust.
"a toad," he replied. Eina raised an eyebrow in confusion, "a disgusting toad that thought she was beautiful but actually was a humongous disease." Bell described. Eina's confusion kept increasing, what type of toad monster did he find? Aisha had started laughing from next to him, Eina had forgotten that they were even there and she coughed lightly, she had let her emotions get the better of her.
"he means my ex-captain. Phryne Jamil." Aisha cleared out the confusion. Eina's eyes widened, she looked at both Haruhime and Aisha's forms, ex familias was written as Ishtar familia. This stood as to prove that Bell was involved.
"y-you were involved in the collapse of the Ishtar familia?" Eina asked, she couldn't take the surprise properly and had to momentarily discard her professionalism to cope with the information.
"huh? Oh yeah, I kind of was, just a tiny bit," Bell showed a tiny measurement with his fingers as if it was supposed to make it better, " anyways that was horrible." Bell sighed.
Eina took in the things for a second before telling Bell that he would have to be interrogated because of procedures. Bell shrugged and said fine. And so, a lot had happened in a single morning, from the level up of the little rookie, the addition of level 4 Aisha Belka and level 1 Sanjouno Haruhime and finally, the admittance of the role of Bell Cranel in the incident with the Ishtar familia.
Soon, Shakti came over with Ganesha. Shakti was known to be one of the best interrogators around since she had a lot of experience with shady people at the entrance of the city. Ganesha was just there to check if Bell lied. But it was actually in favour of Bell since both Ganesha and Shakti were acquaintances of Bell so they wouldn't be unjust with him.
"So, let's start. How were you involved with the collapse of the Ishtar familia?" Shakti asked, masking her gentle voice with a stern and professional tone. She normally spoke in a slightly softer way with people that she considered friends and with Bell, she had to hide it.
"I was attacked in the dungeon by the Ishtar familia and kidnapped by them. It turned out, Ishtar had a great hatred for a certain God and wanted to charm me as a way to get back at her. Bell told her careful to not tell the name of Freya. Although it was very obvious.
"and who is this certain God?" Shakti asked.
"I refuse to answer that." Bell immediately responded, "that deity is currently fine and was never in the wrong, therefore, I do not believe they need to be involved." Bell told her. He had to play around with his words a bit but well, whatever worked.
"very well, what happened after you were kidnapped? Were you charmed?" Shakti asked moving on. She understood that Bell was intentionally protecting that deity he spoke of, and clearly wished not to speak of them.
"No, at first I managed to escape before she got the chance to attempt, but in the meanwhile, Phryne Jamil that, pardon my language, disgusting fucking frog basically picked me and was about to rape me." Bell described. Shakti was having a slightly hard time keeping up. He was changing locations every now and then and clearly he had a hard time. "well she would've been able to, but I managed to escape and waited until the night when Freya familia coincidentally attacked them too. Thus, I also joined in the fight because of a certain person called Sanjouno Haruhime who the Ishtar familia planned on sacrificing. It turned out she was a friend of my familia member, Yamato Mikoto so I took it upon myself to help her."
Throughout the entire thing, Bell had barely given any information yet made the story seem complete. Had anyone taken a closer look at it, they would seem the flawlessness in the entire situation, everything moved along too smoothly. Yet, Shakti couldn't raise any attention since her question had been answered.
"very well, thank you for your cooperation. I can guarantee your familia nor you will be sanctioned for this. You are free to leave." Shakti told him as she got up. Bell followed suit and left.
As Bell left and went out, he spotted Aisha and Haruhime waiting for him. They noticed him approaching. Haruhime looked at him with a worried look but he gave a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.
"Well then, what do you guys wanna do? Today is my break day anyways." Bell shrugged, even if he wanted to rush into the dungeon, his body couldn't hold up. He was tired, he needed rest.
"I'm fine with whatever you plan Bell sama," Haruhime replied her tail wagging left and right.
"Ah then, I wanna buy some clothes. after all, someone cut them up today." Aisha grinned and Bell only looked back in shame. Haruhime being too innocent couldn't pick up the mood and cutely tilted her head in confusion.
"w-well then, I guess it's shopping." Bell decided and so they left. He wanted to reminisce about Orario as well a bit. After the Phalanx had emerged, the entire city was practically ravaged. the Phalanx had set up a camp of their own.
Bell and the other two walked on his two sides just chatting along. Midway through Aisha stopped at a shop specialising in Amazoness clothing. Haruhime fainted the second she saw some of the clothes and so Bell was charged with carrying duty as Aisha looked around. She picked several outfits. Revealing and practically the same, but outfits nonetheless.
She went into the dressing room and told Bell to sit down at one of the couches. Haruhime had begun to stir so Bell just told her to keep her eyes shut if she didn't want to faint.
Then, the dressing room's curtain opened.
"how's this?" Aisha asked as she stepped out. Her usual chest band was gone and instead, it was actually more like a bikini top. It went around her arms and connected to her panties. Over the bottom, she wore a skirt that was just a criminal offence, it was so short Bell could sometimes see the green peek out.
"Aisha san. Are you picking out swimsuits or normal outfits?" Bell asked as his eyebrows twitched. Not that he minded but it took all he had to not gulp at that moment.
Aisha somehow managed to pick out on it though so she mentally noted to buy it. She soon showed a few more outfits, some were good as they really complimented her figure while others were a plain no. In the end, Aisha decided to buy 3 outfits. She went up to the cashier and Bell followed along, admittedly they were a weird sight. An amazoness followed by the up and coming rookie with a blindfolded renart on his back. What was someone supposed to make of this? Aisha was about to pay but Bell stepped in and put down a bag of valis. She looked at him inquisitively.
"think of it as a welcome gift." he just told her as they left. Haruhime was finally allowed to see the outside world again and they continued their way to a place with both male and female clothes so that they could both shop.
First, they did Haruhime's, Bell could tell she may need to go to some public events with them so a dress was crucial. They looked through many but chose a white dress that reached to her ankles and cream coloured gloves. She also wore cream coloured high heels, which she would need to practice walking in.
Aisha told Bell to choose as a wild factor. Bell chose two dresses. One was a black dress. It went up to her chest covering it but no further up. It flowed down to fully to the ankles but on the sides, they were cut off so when she walked, her legs were visible. Paired with black heels.
The second choice was a pink dress. It covered a majority of her body and went down to her ankles. A pair of pink heels to go along. She found it too girly, but Haruhime was insistent that it looked beautiful.
"Why do you have such a good fashion sense for women?" Aisha asked him. Truly it was something Haruhime wondered, the two dresses were absolutely gorgeous and basically made for Aisha. Bell grinned and shrugged refusing to answer.
As for casual clothes, Aisha already bought hers but for Haruhime both Aisha and Bell were insistent that she forgot kimonos. Because they were restrictive something a bit easier to walk and move in would be better. They ended up choosing a floral dress and a summer hat with white flats.
Now, however, it was Bell's turn.
Aisha grinned thinking how she would toy with him. And she really was, the first thing she returned with was a speedo for goodness sake. Bell looked at her weirdly as if asking 'seriously?' Haruhime blushed covering her eyes, but internally imagined Bell wearing it and suddenly became redder.
Next Haruhime brought a suit, a black blazer with similarly black trousers. In a red shirt and a black tie. Bell modified it a bit to fold the arms up and by the Gods did he look great. Haruhime clutched her hands like a mother and felt like she made the right, Bell liked it as well.
Bell himself brought a royal blue sit with luxurious patterns on it. A white shirt, and a cream coloured shoulder cape. (His white day outfit)
He looked like some outfitted royalty and both Aisha and Haruhime had to admit, he looked amazing in formal clothes.
Bell got the two suits and some casual outfits here and there.
"well, that was some nice shopping spree. Anything else you guys want?" Bell asked, he had enjoyed himself thoroughly laughing and joking around with the two. Aisha was a bit perverse but she is a unique character in the familia considering how no one else has the gall to start making sex jokes in public.
Haruhime surprisingly also had a rather... disturbing sense of humour. Bell remembered in the future she had never made jokes like that, was it perhaps because Aisha was also here now?
"I think that's about it. You pick something, you came along with our plans the entire day anyways." Aisha shrugged. This was her version of kindness, not normal but not enough to be called tough love.
Bell noticed the sun was dipping so he thought of showing his training spot with Ais. The city walls, but he didn't tell them what he was going to do. He just said this is my spot when I'm stressed or training was all he told them.
As they climbed the steps, Haruhime was the only one with slight difficulty. It was to be expected, she was a non-combatant and barely had her status grown. Regardless, they made it up to the top and even Aisha had to say, the view was well worth it.
Aisha POV
We started climbing the stairs to the top of the wall. the stupid fox ended up getting tired mid-way through. I ended up having to carry her, anyways what is so special at the top this better be worth it.
As we finally got to the top, I let Haruhime step down and saw the guy looking towards the edge. I turned to see what he was looking at with a smile and finally understood what he wanted to show.
The sun was slowly going down, as it crossed halfway into the edge it shone a bright orange on the horizon painting everything near it. A soft glow, not too difficult to look at but still providing warmth.
"wow..." Haruhime whispered. They were all captivated by the vision of the sun.
They stood in silence just admiring the view, Bell had sat on one of the stop tabs. He soon pulled out a pipe, smoke slowly wafting up from it.
"you smoke? Since when?" Aisha asked, wanting to tease the young rabbit about being too young but his look turned solemn indicating there was a story involved.
"quite recently actually. There is just too much shit going on for me to handle all at once. I mean it's been what, a few months of adventuring. I levelled up 4 times and had to fight stupidly strong beings, manage the familia and all that stuff. I have done enough to keep Finn, Riveria and Gareth san busy for at least a couple of years." he softly chuckled before pulling from the pipe once more.
Admittedly, his words were true. Aisha didn't know all the things that happened since she recently joined but from the things she heard alone, they were already amazing. A minotaur as a level 1, a fight against an abnormal goliath that she heard from Andromeda and then a war game against a homosexual pedo. Bell spoke again breaking her chain of thoughts.
"you know, many people prefer the sun. It provides warmth, light and safety for them. It signifies activity, hope. But personally? I prefer the moon. The small orb in the sun that seems so far away yet so close by. Shining brightly in the sky filled with stars and exposing the truth hidden in the dark." Bell began, his talking grabbing the attention of both Haruhime and Aisha. They could recognise the look of sorrow and guilt in his eyes, but they were too deep. Too strong for them to ask about it.
It seemed that even within his bright red, within the deep darkness a feeling of pain was tucked neatly away. Only visible to the moon when he looks up.
"well, that's enough depressing things." Bell said getting back on the walls and cleaning his pipe up, he turned to them, "ah don't tell Hestia about this. I don't think she'll handle my smoking habit well." Bell told them. Aisha burst out laughing.
What the hell was that? Why would you even show it to us if you wanted to keep it a secret?
They were walking back to the manor. The way back was just as it was when going out, chatting and joking. A couple of stories are being shared here and there. However when they returned they were greeted by a guest.
In the living room, were Finn, Riveria and Gareth waiting for Bell.
"Oh? Finn san, Riveria san and Gareth san, welcome. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Bell apologised.
"It's fine, it was us who came unannounced. Plus it hasn't been that long. I see that you were out shopping." Finn noticed the handbags in their hands. Hestia gave Bell a mean glare.
"uh yeah, I figured since it's my rest day I figured I may as well go and buy anything that these two needed. Oh, I forgot to introduce them, this is Aisha Belka whom you might know. And this is Sanjouno Haruhime. They are the new familia members of the Hestia familia." Bell introduced. Haruhime bowed while Aisha nodded.
It truly spoke volumes of the difference between Aisha and Haruhime, Aisha was more known, as a level 4, she didn't have many interactions with Finn and the others but both knew of each other and she didn't show them any particular respect. Meanwhile, Haruhime had only heard stories of Finn and the others, being trapped in the RLD and all so her view was more of looking at seniors than equals.
"Nice to meet you two. I'm sure the Hestia familia won't mistreat you like Ishtar." Finn nodded smiling. "well we came here to talk about just that."
Bell's eyes narrowed. He expected them to come asking, since, unlike the last time, Ais didn't come. Meaning they were in the dark, but the main decision was whether to trust the Loki's with the actual details. It wasn't that Bell found them particularly untrustworthy, it's just that with a sharp person like Finn and a book of knowledge like Riveria, they could spot the key points.
Bell's choices were as followed:
Either he told them the real story, of how he found out about Mikoto's struggles and went to orchestrate the entire thing with Aisha as well as getting Freya to help him out. Which would raise questions like: how did he know Aisha would help him? How did he get Freya to help him out?
Or,
He could tell the same flawed version that he told Shakti, the one where he infiltrated and planned the entire thing by himself. Which, first of all, would raise Finn's suspicions, no doubt about that. Second, would possibly make them spot the holes in the plan and worst of all, call him out with the fakeness of it and then make them even more suspicious of him because he intentionally tried to hide things.
This was a real bind that he was aware of but planned to ditch but, it was too late.
"How about we go to my office to discuss this then?" Bell asked the three. They nodded and followed along, Aisha was the only other person allowed to enter. Aisha saw the worry in Bell's idea and nodded to him as if to say 'I'll play along to the story.'
Bell stared wide-eyed but then let out a sigh of relief. As always Aisha, even now fully understood how he thought.
They entered his office, Bell sat in his seat at the front and they sat at three chairs placed in front of his desk. Paper was shifted about here and there suggesting he was busy with work.
"Sorry for the mess, I'm not that good with keeping things in order." Bell apologised. Finn chuckled lightly.
"It's fine, it shows you're doing your job as the captain. We got it tough huh?" Finn asked as Bell smiled and nodded. "now then. We all know that you were involved in the incident with the Ishtar familia. Hell, we have countless people from our familia saying they spotted you fighting people on the tower and countless other familia members of yours." Finn showed how much he knew.
This was an efficient and tactical approach, by showing Bell what he knew he could easily force him into giving details that would be more trustworthy. For example, had Finn not said the part of Bell's familia also being spotted, he could've said that he did it alone.
Bell understood Finn's motives, he worked beside him long enough to know exactly what he was thinking. However, what Finn had no way of knowing was that Bell thought similarly to him and would even know how to counter him.
"yes, you are right. We had a rescue mission under progress." Bell revealed. The three of them seemed to stiffen a bit as if to pay more attention to what came next. Was it because of their curiosity or because they wanted to catch him out on something he tried to lie about was something Bell didn't know? "Sigh, Sanjouno Haruhime. A renart princess from the east with deep ties with the Takemikazuchi familia and Takemikazuchi shrine. They were friends since childhood. I won't delve into Haruhime's tragic past of abandonment but, when my familia member constantly goes into that place looking for someone, do you really think I'll stay uninvolved?" Bell asked with an edge to his words adding a sense of consideration.
"so what led ya to essentially declare war on Ishtar? Surely, ya wouldn't go against such a massive familia just for one las-" Gareth tried to say but Bell cut him off before he did.
"I would." He interrupted. They all looked at him in shock, what Bell did was jeopardise his entire familia for a potential chance of finding someone that could've been a friend of one of theirs. "Even if it was merely a chance of that person being the same person, I would be ready to lay my life down," Bell told them convincingly. They all saw the intimidating blue tiger raise behind Bell. A testament to his aura. One of ferociousness and yet extreme desire to protect those who it wants.
"but that is so perilous why would you risk your familia's lives for that?" Riveria asked, his entire reasoning was through the roof, it made no sense to do such a thing. Bell held up to 2 fingers. They looked at him confused.
"One, the wish of my familia is my wish. I don't care what people might consider stupid or reckless, I am not bound by those foolish standards." Bell told her.
Finn's POV
I internally grinned. What a monster. Not only calling acting with safety, foolish, but also the dedication to respecting his familia to such a level. This level of unity doesn't exist in any familia. No place on this planet will have people so ready to forsake their lives because of each other's wishes.
But what really drew my attention was Bell's authority. This confidence he showed. The extreme level of trust. This boy... no this man, didn't simply create a normal familia. This is a familia made up of the complete, pure trust.
Saving a person just because one of your friends asked? Hahaha, what a delightfully stupid reason. But that is exactly what makes him unique.
"two, I had to do it to save the city," Bell told them. Save the city?
Normal POV
the three Loki familia representatives looked confused. Thus, Bell clarified. "Sanjouno Haruhime... has a power. Something so ridiculous, that it would elevate Ishtar's familia to the level of Freya."
Now, this took their attention. For something to elevate Ishtar to the same as Freya? Incomprehensible.
"Ishtar had this item called a killing stone, which could trap someone's soul. By sacrificing Haruhime, they would trap her soul and abuse her power endlessly to wage a civil war against the Freya familia. I'm sure that this shift in the power balance would end up involving you guys as well."
This entire thing was in fact to counter from Bell's side. He intentionally brought attention to the outcomes of what would've happened had he not messed with them, he changed the direction of 'how were you involved?' to 'what would've happened if you weren't involved?'
This meant that Bell could hide his meeting with Aisha, fighting as Wrath, killing Phryne and asking for Freya's help.
"How do you know these things?" Finn asked. One of the questions Bell would've not had to answer but well, if he wanted to do this he needed Aisha's help.
"I told him." Aisha jumped in well understanding her role. The focus shifted from Bell to her.
"I'm sorry, how were you involved?" Finn asked not understanding why a Barbella would betray Ishtar who charms them.
"when this one here was investigating Haruhime, he got caught by a bunch of other girls. He ended up getting chased until I caught him and took him with me. For some reason, the charm on me for a second when he mentioned that he was looking for that stupid fox. So after a bit of arguing, I ended up telling him a bit of stuff." Bell burst out laughing.
"don't listen to her. she was one of the people that chased me. She also pinned me down instead of actually arguing. Not to mention she attacked me when they came to kidnap me." Bell told them. Their eyes bulged for a second.
"YOU WERE KIDNAPPED?" Riveria asked, obviously the fact that he got attacked would change a lot of things. Such as the Hestia familia's movement being officially declared as self-defence.
"yeah, but that turned out to be the way I managed to infiltrate them and stop the ritual." Bell shrugged. He internally smirked. They had given enough of the story to avoid Finn's detection and go away without talking of the actual truth. "well that was about it, anything else you want to know?"
Riveria facepalmed for a second, "that was a very reckless young man. Had the coincidences not lined up, you may as well have been killed."
The genuine way that Bell disregards his own safety meant that he is extremely loyal. Bell only grinned in response.
"Yet here I am," he responded earning a laugh from Gareth and Finn. "it was genuinely interesting though. 10 out of 10 might do it again." causing Riveria to sigh.
"since when did you become so careless?" Riveria asked aloud.
"I mean I tried to come to floor 5 with only H stats, fought a minotaur as a level 1, declared war on Apollo familia. Hm, you tell me." Bell responded. It made perfect sense, he's always been reckless.
After a bit more laughing and joking around, Finn and the others excused themselves.
Finn POV
What an interesting conversation. Something clearly feels different.
"he seems...different," Riveria commented bringing Finn out of his thoughts before nodding.
"he just seemed more confident today. Usually, he would hold us at a distance, like a pedestal but today he even had the gall to tease you. Not that I mind." Finn grinned. Gareth laughed.
"the boy's growing, we all know by now he levelled up, at this rate he's gonna catch up to us by the end of the year." Gareth laughed.
" he's gotten much smarter too." Finn added causing Riveria to look at him, "he was hiding things from us. Think about our interaction, did he truly answer our question?" Finn hinted to Riveria. Who seemed to slowly catch up.
That's right, Bell sure told us the purpose, but didn't tell us many things. Not how Freya got involved. Not how he acted during the incident. And certainly not how he got the details. A member breaking the charm of a God just as a coincidence? Impossible.
While Bell himself has shown himself to be impervious to charms, his effects shouldn't carry onto another person. As far as they know, so either Bell is hiding some abilities or he lied.
Bells' POV
I sit back down on my chair with a sigh of relief. No one but Aisha was in the room anymore.
"heh, never knew you to be able to trick people," Aisha commented with a grin. I looked at her face with an expression that told her what she needed to know.
"We failed. Not miserably, it was probably the best outcome we could've achieved. Bypassing Finn san was rather impossible, to begin with." That's right. The way he looked at me before leaving, he clearly knew I was hiding something. At the very least he didn't act upon it but there is no way in hell he didn't let Riveria and Gareth san know.
"I should probably lay low for a bit," Bell said aloud but who was he kidding. The incident with the Xenos was going to happen soon enough.
"who are joking too? You laying low is impossible. Trouble will find you like always." Aisha laughed. She wasn't wrong. The only thing that Bell did is make himself stronger by incessantly going to the dungeon. This way he got much stronger before the Dix Perdix bull crap.
"fuck me and my life," Bell said as he slammed his head into the table. He got up and went up to Aisha, "Aisha san. You know why I wanted you to be in this familia?" Bell asked.
"because you love me?" Aisha jokingly asked, Bell's head snapped up and he blushed. She looked for a second with a bit of surprise. But then Bell started laughing, trying to mask her guess. Although she had an inkling of suspicion.
"well yes, that." Bell admitted, but not in a serious tone, " the main reason is because of the type of person you are. You are liberal. Meaning you were most likely open to go along with my whims and act as a crucial backer. Lili would be too hung up on taking the safe choice, Mikoto would be hesitant, Haruhime would follow along but I don't want to involve them anyways. You, however." Bell paused as he put a finger into her cheek.
The gesture confused Aisha. It wasn't anything weird, but a tiny poke to the cheek. "you have the leadership qualities in case I disappear for whatever reason and you are ferocious and right to the point. People like that are usually reckless like me, but you on the other hand are intelligent. You are a person I can trust immediately to cover me." Bell praised, Aisha felt some heat rise to her cheeks but she pushed it down.
"Thanks?" she grinned, "so you wanted to use me is that it?" Aisha asked him planning on making him stutter. Instead, he leaned in an uncomfortable distance to her face. She could feel his breath on her face. She couldn't help blush even though she's done similar things countless times.
She looked right into his rubellite eyes. Piercing into hers and exploring all her innards. "do you hate it?" he asked breaking her daze, "do you hate being here?" he asked. She only shook her head lightly, to the point she didn't even know if she moved her head. Bell grinned and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Long story short though, I'll be depending on you," Bell told her with a smile. "now then. Let's go to dinner shall we?" Bell pointed towards the door. As soon as he did, knocks arrived at the door.
"Bell sama, Aisha san. Dinner is ready." Haruhime spoke from the other side. Bell went up to the door and opened it. Haruhime looked surprised from Bell suddenly opening the door but she smiled as her tail started wagging. Aisha broke out of her stupor.
'hahaha, he's leading me around with a finger, isn't he? Would you imagine that this rabbit isn't as innocent as it seems?' Aisha thought. She went down and had dinner with the others.
That Night
Bell was laying on his bed, thinking about the next course of action. Hermes hasn't left for his investigation yet, Ikelos familia is still on high alert. It would be perfect to meet the Xenos and warn them right now.
He made his decision as he got up and jumped through the window of his room. He had to admit, having a window to the back garden was an advantage he could love.
He went into the dungeon killing everything in his way until the 20th floor. Where he remembered the pond they had to swim under. He went and emerged into a dark room. It looked empty but was anything but. He sensed countless presences nearby, watching him carefully.
"Hey, guys wanna have a chat?" Bell asked. He knew that he would be attacked but there was no other opening besides that. As he thought Lyd emerged with his sword as he blocked it with his knife. "I am not here to hurt you. If you want to live in peace and safe from the Ikelos familia we need to start planning now... Lyd." he said as the red lizardman froze.
"...who are you?" Lyd asked after a pause of silence.
"Bell Cranel. Call me Wrath, the executioner when others are nearby, but besides that Bell is fine." Bell introduced himself going in for a handshake. The gesture shocked all the Xenos, Bell saw that Lyd was being wary but knew that he couldn't suddenly have the same relation as the one he had from before. Bell sighed and dropped his weapons.
This was something that shocked them even more, this was a sign of absolute trust, the Xenos were all armed but Bell forsaking his weapons essentially was him handing his life to them.
"w-why are you doing this? How do you know of us? a-and my name?" Lyd asked confused. When you are in a situation where your type is being hunted, to the point that all you wish for is to only look up and feel the warmth of the sun but are unable to do so. That is the Xenos.
Intelligent beings, the literal definition of humans, yet they are trapped in the wrong bodies. Thus is fate, however, and Bell would not judge. He knew better. Bell smiled gently at them. He proceeded to pick up his knife raising their wariness but what happened next took all of them by surprise.
Bell cut his own arm. Enough to let Blood leak out. They all looked bewildered when he spoke.
"you see this? This is what happens when my body bleeds. This is also what happens when you bleed. So how are we any different?" Bell asked. Lyd's eyes widening. "We both feel pain, we both have desires and we both bleed the same red. So of course I will do it. If I someone as humane as you guys suffering there is no way, I'm letting it go." Bell told him with confidence. He needed to prove this matter once and for all.
"as for how I know of you guys." Bell looked down in shame. He looked guilt-ridden or at least tried to. Because he knew he would have to lie to them. "I... ended up killing one of your kind." They gasped in unison, Gros from the back was ready to attack but Lyd started talking instead.
"How?" was all he asked.
"I was on the 23rd floor when I spotted a monster coming towards me as it was being chased by other monsters, I ended up slitting its throat by instinct and then heard it speak before it died," Bell explained. The lie wasn't elaborate, but it was solid. There was no way of checking if what he said was real or not. Lyd seemed to tear up a bit, before suddenly hugging Bell.
"Oh, I hope they forgive you. It's fine, Bell I have never seen a surface dweller like you. I am so happy to have met someone like you. You guys come out here." Lyd turned to the dark where suddenly a bunch of Xenos started to pour out. They all huddled to Bell and started asking questions in a flurry.
"How old are you?"
"14."
"Wow, that's young. What weapons do you like?"
"Dual swords or knives."
"Can I shake your hand?"
"Of course."
"Are you single?"
"yes for now but I do have a love interest."
And so Bell spoke to them a bit before leaving. He had mainly two goals. One, to get Ouranos to side with him. Two, find Wiene and eliminate Dix Perdix.
Bell went up and exchanged the stones making sure Eina wasn't there. Rose had gotten used to seeing him early in the morning and twice a day, though she did question it.
"Hey~ Does Eina know that you are dungeon diving twice a day?" Rose asked Bell from behind the desk. Bell didn't respond but just took his valis.
"she doesn't. Are you going to tell her?" Bell asked menacingly. Thankfully, there weren't even that many people in the guild to sense the overwhelming pressure he was letting out but it still grabbed Rose by the neck.
"o-of course not. It's not like she could stop you. A-are you scared?" Rose asked stuttering. She tried to maintain her cool and as much as she hated to admit it, she was thankful for the barrier between her and Bell that hid her drooped ear and feared look.
"are you?" Bell asked, sending shivers down Rose's spine, Bell smiled. "It's not like I'm committing a crime." He walked off. Bell intimidating Rose, had no reason. He did it because of her usual cold behaviour. As a young adventurer, he had been curious as to who it was behind that counter.
Bell went to Maria's orphanage once more. He saw Maria wasn't sweeping by the foot of the stairs anymore. He found it a bit odd, Maria was a diligent person, she would get earlier than most and go to bed later than most. He had an inkling of suspicion that something might've happened when it was basically confirmed.
"Maria-kaa-saan!" he heard a scream from the inside. Bell jumped over the gate immediately throwing caution to the wind. He ran in to see the door closed, he went around to Maria's room window and entered through there.
He entered the room and saw it was empty he opened the door and in the living room, he saw Maria on the ground with Rye, Fina, Roux and other kids besides her.
"Maria san," Bell called out taking their attention towards him. Bell felt extremely confused.
"Bell-nii-chan," Fina called out with tears in her eyes. Bell knelt onto the ground. Maria looked really pale. She looked like hair at this point. She had this pained expression on her face. She somehow cracked her eye open.
"Bell san... did you come to visit again? Gods, cough, I told you to stop giving away so much money." Maria said in a weak voice. Bell could hear her pain as she spoke. What was the issue with her? Bell racked his brains trying to revisualise all the illness symptoms he had seen. Then he suddenly remembered the one.
His head snapped to Rye, he was evidently afraid. "Rye, did Maria san vomit or have diarrhoea in the last days?" He asked him. Begging that the symptoms weren't the same. Rye was catatonic, Bell cursed internally for expecting something from a child.
"yes, she did." Roux told him suddenly, "she tried to hide it but I heard her vomiting in her room's toilet the other day." Roux confirmed.
Bell looked distressed. He quickly stood up got some paper and scribbled something before giving it to Roux. "do you know where the Hearth Manor, my home is?" he asked. Roux nodded. "take this note and go there immediately. I'm going to take Maria san to Amid. She's going to be fine okay? But make sure everyone in your group is there and do NOT under any circumstances leave the house. Do you understand?" Bell asked a bit forcefully, but he had to show them that he was serious. Roux once again nodded.
Bell picked up Maria and ran right out the door, running at the speed of a mid-level 6 thanks to his boosted falna reaching over 999 every level. Within a few minutes, he had arrived at Dian Cecht. He kicked the door off the hinges.
Amid's POV
I was getting everything ready for the day. Setting up the counter. When suddenly the door bursts off, I accidentally jump in shock. I turn to see Bell Cranel, holding a woman. The woman looked really pale and seemed that she needed emergency healing.
"take her to room -" Amid tried to speak but Bell cut her off.
"We don't have time for that. Get a quarantined room ready, immediately." Bell shouted at her. At first, she was shocked, that he was telling the medic how to act. But knowing Bell, he wouldn't say something without a reason.
Amid immediately took her to the end room, the one with a hazardous sign and Bell followed and laid Maria down. Amid was about to ask her symptoms but Bell beat her to it.
"her symptoms are as followed: extreme paleness, severe vomiting and diarrhoea. I checked her pulse, it was dropping erratically. Worst of all, her innards are being constantly destroyed." Bell told her. Amid's eyes bulged.
"How is that possible?" she asked. She had never heard of an illness where a person is destroyed from the inside out.
"I don't know. It has a reliance on a poor diet which leads to the body slowly deteriorating and after an ignition like cause, the body starts to fail slowly. It is contagious so don't forget to wash your hands and everything else. I know the cure, so I'm going to have to borrow your supplies a bit. I'll pay back whatever is used in double as well as the solution." Bell told her. Amid barely could keep up with the amount of information. Bell spoke precisely as if he had seen countless of these cases before. She had a lot of questions for Bell, but she pushed them to the back of her mind because she didn't have the luxury called time right now.
"you'll have to constantly heal her to keep her alive, at the very least keep her lungs, heart and digestive tract operational. Under normal circumstances, the process would be much slower but she is a falnaless person so she is under more threat."
"how long is the potion going to take?" Amid asked. Although she was called one of the best medics, her mind reserves weren't endless. Bell looked down to the ground.
"about an hour. Assuming I can prepare everything in time." Bell told her. The reason for such a long time was because the chemicals and herbs involved had to be precisely done otherwise the entire thing would be pointless. "I'm going to bring a few people to help you, for now, get started and do NOT leave the room unless you want it to spread," Bell warned her before running out of the room. Amid didn't even understand what was going on anymore.
Bell's POV
I ran right out of the quarantined room. Fuck, fuck, FUUUUCCKK. This disease wasn't meant to be here yet. It's too early. At this rate, we have no choice but to generalise the potions to cure it. If someone like Maria san was affected, then adventurers can probably wait a bit longer but normal people would die within a few days.
I ran straight to the Twilight Manor, as the guards didn't even see me approach. I didn't stop, leaping in foot first and blowing the front gate open. No time can be wasted, if having to pay some valis would be enough to get the right response, I don't mind.
As I thought, from the sudden crash most of the familia was on high alert. The clock read 6 am on the dot, so they should be awake by now.
"l-little rookie?" one of the guards asked shocked. Bell turned to him in the most feral look he could give, his eyes blazing and warning him to not say another word. They didn't have time to waste.
Soon, Finn and the others came out.
"who is it?" Finn asked commandingly. They all stood shocked to see Bell standing in the courtyard, with the front gates absolutely demolished. "B-Bell?" Finn asked. He could see the urgency in his eyes.
"I urgently need Riveria san and Lefiya san to help out. There isn't much time left." Bell told them. "I'll pay for damages, hurry. I need their healing capabilities, I don't know how long Amid can hold on."
This told them enough, although Bell's intrusion was sudden, he was to be trusted. Riveria immediately spurred into action, going in to grab her staff and told Lefiya to do the same.
"What's the matter? Is it someone from your familia that is hurt?" Finn asked concerned. Bell shook his head.
"It's Maria Martel the woman who runs the orphanage. She got hit by a contagious, deadly illness. She is falnaless anyways so she might die, we need healers to be constantly healing her for an hour while I make the antidote. It's the only way. I didn't think it would appear in the city." Bell told him. In the mix of worry and anxiousness, Bell ended up telling Finn quite a lot. Regardless, there wasn't time for questions.
Riveria and Lefiya soon came out and went with Bell to the Dian Cecht. Bell grabbed Naaza midway through, however, a level 2 couldn't keep up with them so Bell just picked her up and ran. He saw people blocking the road. He took a deep breath in.
"MOVE. THERE IS A CRITICAL PATIENT YOU DOLTS." Bell screamed, causing the people to shriek in surprise but they ran so quick it seemed like winds passed by.
As soon as they reached the hospital, Bell took them to the special room where they saw Amid struggling. To keep a body running for an hour straight would put anybody under strain. Riveria and Lefiya immediately got to healing as Bell took Naaza to make the potion.
"hey, at least tell me the name of the illness," Naaza asked him. She had never seen Bell so worried and tense before. Bell took a breath before speaking.
"Internum exitium (internal destruction)" he told her.
A/N: and that's a wrap. I probably should've mentioned this before, but this story was actually sort of influenced by the writer of danmachi: Heroic Will.
I had thought they stopped writing but it seems they will make a comeback so I just plugged the name.
Obvs I changed it up and all. Try to ignore the weird spacing.
Bless.
