Ghosts of the Future
Chapter 6: Ass-ertion
A/N: and the holidays continue and so I also neglect my homework and assignments to write for the dumb promise I made.
Anyways, its been a while since I last wrote the Ghosts of the Future, so I re-read my last chapter of it to remember the general direction of where I was going and holy hell do I feel annoyed. Like I remember writing it but it just takes the cake with how I added so many red flags in the ONE chapter and now that I think about it, a lot of what I wrote in that chapter I most likely brushed off as a problem for the future me.
Well its the future me right now and it is not pleasant. If you go back to the last chapter you will notice a lot of things, that the characters are most likely going to realise simply because it's so obvious.
Regardless, adaptation is key for survival and like an apex predator, I'm going to adapt from the icy arctics to the dry sahara.
What I mean by that metaphor is that, shit's going to change.
Bell's mind was running at 100 miles per hour. Thinking of the causes for why such a disease could pop up now. It's way too early to come out however, it's also true that he's been in close proximity to Maria more than in the last timeline.
Could it have been that she had died due to this very disease but it wasn't identified back then? He did remember her dying, and he and Syr taking up the orphanage together at some point, although he was busy fighting, he would give a fair amount of money, enough to hire caretakers.
Even then Maria had died almost a year after the present time. All in all?
This was simply to early.
But what could he do? Besides check over the orphanage for the origin of the problem, he really had no other way to tackle the issue. Not to mention how he had let a lot of things slip that people would most likely question.
The primary example of such an issue he created for himself was how he went to the Twilight Manor and told them that he knew the antidote for this unknown illness. He could only lie so much about it and if any God decided to get involved with this specific problem, it would be extremely difficult to keep it under wraps.
Regardless, his body moved without him needing to actively think of what he was doing. He had created the antidote, in powder form. It wasn't the most efficient, but it was going to immediately mix and melt with Maria's saliva so all she had to do was gulp her own saliva just once and it would be enough.
As he administered it he could feel the eyes of Riveria burn in the back of his head.
'So much for laying low I guess...' Bell chuckled in pity of himself internally. He had only a couple options now, he could either
come clean with everything even though it's simply too early for that.
Or,
He could run.
While that is cowardly, he did manifest the escape skill for a reason.
"Alright she should be fine for now. Amid san, please do check her condition over in a couple of hours," Bell said as he walked out of the room and washed his hands.
"Understood...but Bell san, how did you-" Amid tried to ask but was cut off. Or rather left hanging as Bell bolted leaving only a 'okwellgoodbyetimeformetogotothedungeon'
Before they could even ask him anything. One thing was for certain though. He had definently aroused the suspicions of a certain elven princess.
'It's just too weird.' Riveria thought as she stared at where he was standing.
Naaza only shrugged, Bell was becoming rather mysterious in himself. There wasn't much to say, she didn't know him well enough to really come up with a conclusion as to why he would act in such a way.
Bell's POV
'Whew, should be fine for now.' Bell sighed as he watched the sun rise on the horizon. It still had ways to go and since it was winter, the sun was going to rise slightly earlier anyways. Long story short? Bell had enough time left.
So he went to the orphanage to look after the kids. Immediately entering the front room, he found the younger children asleep while, the older ones were sitting huddled together. Some of the crying, the others putting on a brave front but in the end the fact that he had told them to stay at the orphanage was a good choice.
As he walked towards them, they didn't seem to notice his silent footsteps until he had come closer. Roux was the first one to notice and turned to stare at him with teary eyes.
'Poor child' Bell thought as he silently leaped into a hug with Bell. He could feel his shirt dampen with tears, but he didn't say anything.
"It's fine kids. Maria is going to be fine, she was given the medicine." Bell reassured them. As he had hoped, he saw their faces light up as soon more of them huddled towards him.
"Bell niisan."
The pitiful voice, and weak call had melted his heart. These children were too young to take care of themselves. He kept giving Maria enough money to handle herself in peace.
"Well it's a bit early but who's up for breakfast?" He asked. A few nodded while a couple's bellies growled at the mention of the meal.
"Well I guess I don't need to ask more then." Bell chuckled. He had made way to the kitchen and found enough ingredients for the kids. He decided to make a nutritious meal of eggs, bacon and a glass full of milk. They were growing after all.
As the smell of food permeated through the room, he heard a few more stomach's growling and let out a couple more soft chuckles.
"Can you guys manage the food for the younger ones?" he asked.
"Yeah, we know how to do it." Rye replied. Bell could tell he was feeling particularly upset so Bell knew he would need to talk with him.
After breakfast for everyone, he remembered he needed to have some himself. Bell didn't want to use up Maria's food, so he thought to get some Jagamarukun later on or something.
"Now kids. Since Maria is currently asleep, I think it's fair to let her rest for a bit. We can go check up on her later in evening when I return, but I have to go the dungeon. So, will you guys come to my home? My Goddess should have the day off today, so she can look after you as well as Haruhime."
They seemed to brighten at the idea of going to Bell's home and nodded enthusiastically.
So Bell left early in the morning. Later on in the day, a rumour would spread from the people that set up shop early in the morning, that the little rookie was seen walking with a bunch of children in tow, holding hands with them.
It was something for the future to find out though and now it seemed like a field trip for a class of kindergarden children arriving at the massive manor known as the Hearth Manor.
"Woah, Bell nii is loaded!"
"Talk about rich, this place is huge!"
The kids's comments did end up drawing a blush on his face. He would explain to them that he hadn't bought the place, but why would he go talking about fighting and beating people up to a bunch of young children.
"Well yeah I suppose I was lucky with this place." Bell scratched his cheek before opening the doors and walking into the hall of the home.
He spotted Hestia talking to Haruhime, going over how her new duties were and such things. Her eyes broke eye contact with Haruhime to see Bell and it turned into a glare.
"Bell kun? Where were you gone so early in the morning?" Hestia asked with a ominous tone in her voice.
"U-uh...Maria collapsed today. So I went over and took her to Amid's place and brought the kids over here...since they are too young to take care of themselves?" Bell replied. Technically he wasn't lying.
Just leaving a lot of crucial information out.
Hestia stared at him for a few more seconds, glancing behind him to see the bunch of kids huddled close to his legs, before she sighed.
'Curses for being the Goddess of hearth'
Hestia looked back at him, "Fine. I'll look after them. How's Maria doing?"
Bell bowed as thanks, "she's doing better. She should wake up in the evening so when I come back from the dungeon with the others I'll go take the kids and visit her." Bell sighed.
Hestia nodded and Bell went off to get his daily dose of coffee. The kids seemed a little scared at first but soon opened up to Haruhime. The renard doing job as good as any mother in the world.
Bell went towards the dungeon with Welf, Mikoto and Lili for a day at the dungeon.
In the dungeon
"Hey what floor are we on?" Welf asked stretching his back after killing the last monster.
"Floor 20, Bell sama, how much deeper are we going today?" Lili asked turning to him with her comically big backpack.
"A few more. Can you guys handle them?" Bell confirmed with his party. He knew they had to get stronger, but wouldn't push them too far.
"Honestly, the monsters aren't that hard to beat. Just high in numbers." Mikoto sighed as she massaged her own shoulders, "I'm looking forward to a nice long bath when we get back."
Bell and Welf chuckled at her. Typical Mikoto. "Oh by the way, where is Aisha san?" Bell asked.
"The harlot? She went to check up on her friends or something." Lili hissed.
"Lili... I'm going to pretend I didn't hear be rude to a fellow familia member of ours." Bell commented while cutting a monster vertically in one swing.
"No matter what she had done previously, she's one of us now. It's not good y'know Lilisuke." Welf shook his head.
"You be quiet Welf sama! I just know that woman is plotting something, she probably is getting thirsty from the lack of a-"
"Enough Lili!" Bell cut off shouting at her causing her to flinch, "Don't talk about her as if she's some uncontrollable sex fiend. She was charmed! Sure she may be Amazonian, that doesn't mean you doubt her nature just because of what she did before."
Lili took a breath in with her teeth squeezed together, "why are you defending her so much Bell sama?!"
"Because, no matter how you see her. I saw her when she was charmed. Do you think you could manage to protect an innocent person while being charmed? She did something that even though she was basically being controlled, she still stood up to protect Haruhime san. I can only respect her for that." Bell explained.
Mikoto nodded, "While I don't completely agree to her joining us, she did play a major rule in my friend's life. Haruhime considers her an older sister, it seems unfair for us to berate her of things she couldn't control."
Lili went quiet for a bit before huffing, "Fine. But if we get backstabbed in the future, don't come back to me to tell me I was right."
"Sure, now how about we focus on the horde of monsters coming at us?" Welf brought his sword and slammed it into the ground.
"Well fighting it is." Bell leapt in fighting off the monsters. It was all an easy job to pass with, Bell just seemed to dash at everything and cut its head off like he was cutting some butter.
"He's become freakishly accurate with his hits, what is Sword Princess training him to become?" Welf whistled at the sight Bell mericlessly exterminate any and all monsters coming towards him.
"I wouldn't know, though it feels like he is growing too quickly for us to keep up with." Mikoto commented. "Even with us increasing by massive amounts all of a sudden. I'm jumping by 4 or 5 days worth of points in just a single dungeon dive, it's just..."
"Yeah...I get what you mean.." Welf chuckled as he drew his sword and went in to attack once more.
To say the 4 were tearing the monsters apart would be an understatement. Bell with sword and knife, Mikoto's katana, Lili's wristbow and Welf's heavysword, they were simply obliterating the monsters around them.
*After a couple hours*
"Alright I reckon we made a decent amount today." Welf spoke as he stood in a group with Lili and Mikoto, while they waited for Bell to bring back the valis they made.
"We didn't go too deep, only until floor 24, but we did spend a couple hours, killing just about everything in sight." Mikoto nodded proudly.
As they were conversing Bell came back with 4 separate bags of valis. As he put them down onto the table with a decent thump, he grinned proudly at all of them.
"Guess."
Welf immediately took up a thinking pose, "I say...25,000 valis per person."
Bell looked to Mikoto, "With how hard Bell dono was going at it today, 28000 valis."
Finally looking at Lili, she stared back at him before sighing, "...32,000 valis per person."
Bell's face scrunched, "oh so close. 34,000 valis per person. People, we earnt well over 100,000 valis between us easily!"
Welf and Mikoto made a face of O and Lili shook her head.
"Bell sama, I don't think I need to remind you but just because we earned this much money, don'-" She tried to speak but got cut off.
"Don't spend money carelessly. Yes I get it." Bell beamed a smile at her. While Lili was shielding her eyes from the genuine smile he gave them, Welf only laughed.
"You need to learn to live a bit Lilisuke." Welf laughed. Before they all got up and began heading back to their manor.
At the Hearth Manor
had stopped working.
So many times, did she mentally fail to continue on function with the incessant torture these gremlins known as children managed to cook up.
Nothing was damaged, well except for her mental state, but she felt more exhausted than when she spent 2 days in a dogeza in front of Hephaestus.
Hearing the front door click and 'We're back' from Lili Hestia gathered what little energy she had and got up.
As Bell handed his bag to Lili, he went over to the kids who were now all sat on the carpet floor listening to Haruhime read out a heroic tale. They were clearly so drawn in to the story she was reading out they didn't even notice Bell and the others come back.
Bell snuck up on Roux who was by the edge and began tickling the poor child at the speed of a level 4.
"Wha- Haha-hahahaha-st-stop it!" Roux giggled and flailed about trying to stop the tickling, the other kids' attention now broken from Haruhime's tale they all turned to see Bell torturing Roux.
"Bell nii is back!"
"Does that mean we finally get to go see Maria kaa san?"
Bell listened to each of them asking and felt surprisingly overwhelmed. Who knew children could be such a loud bunch?
He remembered how he sure wasn't this way. Sure he used to pretend being a hero and go with his party to slay some epic monster but even in his childhood he was rather meek.
"Alright alright. We're going to go to Amid's place already calm down everyone!" Bell silenced them. Soon each of them quietened down and Bell smiled at them.
At the very least they were somewhat obedient.
And so once more, Bell Cranel, Level 4, captain of the Hestia Familia, left his manor with a gaggle of kids following behind him. They made a stop to pick up a basket of fruits and then got delayed by 10 mins for every street vendor fawning over the kids that were following him.
One even compared them to a parent duck and its ducklings with how they were following him.
Somehow being called a duck made him feel worser than being compared to rabbits.
Upon arriving at Amid's place, Bell was pleased to find her place was empty of any Loki familia and the lack of Naaza's presence. Sure they would question him, but if his past attempt was anything to go by?
Bell's life would be filled with enough drama to make them forget anyways.
What he wasn't very pleased to find however, was slightly irritated Amid, who he had forgot to say anything to. Bell knew Amid well enough to realise that maybe...just maybe he had messed up.
"So...you finally decided to return...Bell Cranel." Amid stared at him with a mini pout (which was most likely all she could muster) and a twitching eyebrow.
Bell understood how she may have felt so he decided to counteract it in the most logical way possible.
"Wait!" He dramatically put his hands up, "there's kids here!"
Silence seemed to envelop the room as Amid and him shared a stare at each other before she raised an eyebrow.
"and?" She asked, "I was simply about to say that Maria san has woken up an hour ago and I took the freedom of administering some pain killers to help with the recovery." Amid replied tilting her head to the side.
Bell stared at her dumbly.
Correction to be made?
Bell didn't knew Amid well enough apparently.
Snapping out of his stupor, Bell made his way to Maria's room where he found her sitting up but clearly she had not realised that he had entered.
Before the kids could rush her, Bell turned to them, "now kids. Don't overwhelm her, she has just woken up so she needs to recover." He whispered before handing Rye the fruit basket.
The child looked up at him confused as Bell gently pushed him to go towards Maria. Rye was hesitant at first but slowly made his way to Maria.
"Maria...kaa san..." he called out.
Maria's head spun to face Rye and she smiled gently at him although a bit weak, "oh my...Rye is that for me?" When she received a nod of affirmation she took the basket and set it aside, "why thank you very much. I appreciate the gesture."
Rye seemed to shake his head and his shoulders quaked. Although Bell couldn't see the front of his face, he could tell he was shedding tears by seeing the sudden look of fear on Maria's face.
"Rye?! What happened?" Maria asked worried for the child.
"I..hic...I didn't help...I couldn't move...When Bell nii burst in through, th- hic the doors and asked what happened...I froze up..." Rye continued to sob and speak in a way that made him barely understandable.
Maria's eyes softened as her worry slowly dissipated and she simply hugged the child. As the boy continued to sob in her arms, Maria consoled him.
"Rye...it's fine. We all get a little scared from time to time." Maria drew brushed her fingers through his hair, " but you had others to help you out didn't you? That's the point of it. Some of us are scared of things that others are not, it's friends during those times that help us. Besides you being frozen in fear just means that you were that worried right?"
Bell took this as his cue to enter, "the most important thing is that you learn from this...Rye." He added drawing their attention.
Maria turned her head towards him, "ah Bell san. Thank you for taking care of them in the while that I was..."
"Out of commission?" Bell finished for her to see her nod. "No problem, I didn't do much anyways, it was mainly Haruhime and Hestia to take care of them."
Maria bowed gently, "I would like it if you could extend my thanks to them."
"Will do. But where was I?" He wondered before looking back at Rye, "right. Listen, you said you want to be an adventurer right? Well it's your job to learn from the fear so that you can move the next time something similar happens. No-one is strong from the get go, it takes that little bit of courage and a will to become stronger."
Bell allowed the kids to talk to Maria before they decided to talk and encourage Rye to not be so put down by it. Bell looked at them with a gentle smile on his face before turning back to Maria with a stern gaze.
Maria felt his anger and slightly flinched back. "You know what I am about to say right? Maria san."
She didn't look into his eyes but nodded.
"Listen. The illness you had was lethal you know? It was unknown too, you're darn lucky I found you cuz I know what it was."
Maria looked at him shocked, "But...d-didn't you just say the illness was unknown?"
Bell shook his head, "I did. But that's not the main point. The illness stems from a poor diet and lack of exercise. It's mainly suppressed by anyone that has a blessing but since you were unblessed, it was lethal to you. It's highly infectious too, it could've spread to one of the kids who already have a weaker resistance."
Maria only looked down in shame. "Maria san, tell me...have you used a single valis of the money I give for yourself?"
No response came.
Bell sighed heavily, "Maria san look at me." he instructed and after a pause she did look up, "The kids need you. They aren't at an age where they can care for themselves, that's why your health is the main priority. The money I'm giving isn't charity, it's not from an adventurer to an orphanage. It's simply from me as their older brother figure and a friend to you. Just for you guys to live in better conditions."
Maria looked at him wide eyed, surprised at his words.
"I'm sorry Bell san... I thought that it was hindering your own livelihood but since you kept insisting, I kept it in a safe for the kids like Rye, who said they want to become adventurers."
'Ahh, so that's what was happening to the money...'
"Maria san... "Bell sighed disappointedly, "It's not like I'm going to stop giving you money anytime soon you know? I don't plan on dying either...I think. So use that money, and if you ever get to a point where the kids are at an age to become adventurers, then the Hestia familia will welcome then okay?"
As Maria and Bell continued their conversation, the kids seemed to get more and more bored within the confines of the hospital, Bell noticed this and chuckled while Maria blushed and apologised for their behaviour.
Amid told them that Maria was good to go and they could go back to the orphanage. Bell being the typical Bell he is, he helped her the entire way there even though she kept insisting that she was fine.
After reaching the orphanage, Bell stuck around until dinner and even made food for them. He didn't let Maria lift anything heavier than a fork and she spent the evening in her bed.
Although she did find it very worrying that he didn't eat anything.
However by the end of it, it was time to go.
"Well then Maria san, I'll visit again tomorrow morning." Bell informed her.
"Thank you...for everything Bell san. I do feel like I ended up taking your help too much." Maria bowed.
"Nonsense, in return however..." Bell looked around before whispering to her, "do keep the fact that I give you money a secret. It's not anything weird, I just go to the dungeon at night and that's just what I make then. It's a win-win since I get stronger and the children and you get to live slightly easier." Bell beamed a smile at her.
Maria stared in wonder. In this day and age, who was so benevolent and kind? People tended to be selfish these days, but Bell just ignored everything else. He gave his own earning away and called a win-win for God's sake!
Maria felt herself praying to God once more that such a wonderful man were to be blessed. Little did she know, Bell's life was never calm, and some could even argue that he was cursed.
Hearth Manor
Hestia was crying her tits off again. Crying how Bell didn't eat dinner with her.
'Better deal with this...'
As Hestia wept like a heart broken damsel on the sofa, Bell went on one knee and began patting her head.
"Sorry Hestia. I decided to have dinner out. Next time I'll have dinner home I promise." He said gently giving a smile.
Hestia looked at him for a second, stopping her wailing before she began squealing with glee.
"Man...he's domesticating her." Welf chuckled as he watched the scene unfold.
"Looks like I missed a lot of things today." Aisha said jumping in through the window leading down the stair case. They looked at her.
"Aisha san, there is this thing, I don't know if you heard of it before called 'doors'? You know you could just open them and walk through them." Bell deadpanned told her.
Aisha snorted, "hush you. Windows are mini doors anyways."
Now as much as he wanted to argue to that, he simply couldn't. Fundamentally speaking, windows achieved the same purpose as doors and were smaller in size.
...
'No...'
Aisha began cackling as she watched Bell enter a thinking spiral, not having realised windows were the same as doors at this point.
Aisha had seemingly missed dinner herself and Bell could guess why, so he went back to his room to freshen up while Haruhime quickly made some food for Aisha. As he changed into his pajamas and went out to the balcony, he spotted Aisha into something akin to a nightdress only that it was more of a kimono, albeit a bit on the shorter side.
Regardless Bell began laughing which caused Aisha to turn to him.
"What are you laughing at?"
Bell wiped a tear from his eye, "besides the fact that your nightdress covers more skin that your normal daily outfit?"
"Hush you, the fox made me it for me. So I kinda have to wear it now." Aisha replied before gaining a sly smirk on her face and going to his ear to whisper, "Normally though...I prefer sleeping wearing my babysuit if you know what I mean."
The fact that she practically moaning that into his ear was enough to get him to blush but the fact that she proceeded to lick his ear simply took it further.
The warm and wet feeling of her tongue swirling around the outside and bridges of his ear made him jump a bit before he looked at her with a deep red blush.
"Liked it?" She asked triumphantly as he blushed.
Bell looked a bit panicky before he turned back around, with the aid of the cool night air calming him down he spoke as coherently as he could, "T-that's not t-the point. A-a-anyways..." Bell took a breath in pausing much to Aisha's amusement.
Bell wasn't perfect.
" How was things with Samira?" Bell asked now recomposed. He didn't look at Aisha but he knew her eyes widened in shock.
"How did yo-"
"Know? Don't worry about it, I know a lot while I also don't know anything. But yeah, so what did she choose to do?"
Aisha sighed (whether in utter disbelief or in surrender he didn't know), "Okay Mysterio." She began and he quaked a bit at that name. He did not like it one bit. "Samira has chosen to join some other familia I would rather not mention. They are a annoying bunch and everything has gotten all secretly it's not pleasing to say the least but at least she got somewhere to call home."
Bell thought for a second, "oh so she joined the Hermes familia." As he waited for a response from Aisha but got none he assumed he was right, "That guy is gonna be so annoying to deal with, but hey babysitting is much better than selling yourself forcefully."
"Ah no, she was different. She actually liked fucking a bunch of different guys. Said it was having a new dish to swallow up everytime." Aisha corrected Bell causing him to have a fit of coughs.
"As I was saying...babysitting is better than having to sell your body."
"I remember at some point she had some weird pain or something so she had no choice but to use condoms with every customer, worst week for her apparently." Aisha continued.
"Look why are we still on this topic?!" Bell asked. Was she simply ignoring him? Is this what this was?
"I finally found something that gets a reaction out of you, no way I'm letting it get away just like that." Aisha grinned.
Bell facepalmed with dismay. He let his guard down for one second! That's all it took.
"Ugh, I'm going to bed. Night." Bell turned around and began leaving to go to his room. Effectively leaving before Aisha managed to get a hand over him anymore.
And so Bell waited a solid hour once more before going for his dungeon run. He immediately put his cloak on and got his sword on the sheath by his hip.
Leaping out of the window he landed on the crisp grass with a light crunch before taking off towards the dungeon. As he was approaching the dungeon, he put his mask on as his face was covered and his features changed.
Bell ran in without the guards noticing and began tearing through the floors. He had this desire these days to repeatedly try a different way of attacking. Somedays he would try to do acrobatics, chain his attacks into a dance or focus on each hits technique.
To say he was making money would be an understatement and to top it all off, he had his poison magic ability.
Using Di Asla turning his lightning blue blade into more of a purple shade.
And so Bell kept fighting and progressing in secrecy. He would often see Ais there and sometimes have some chitchat after which they went their separate ways. Ais wasn't very different except when she was pointing out how someone she knew also got a sword similar to Wrath's.
Honestly it was lucky that Ais was both sharp and a bit oblivious at times. With most it would've been conclusive despite the differences in appearances, but with her, just laughing it off and calling it a coincidence was enough. Or if you end up buying her a jagamarukun.
*3 weeks later*
Hermes familia had finally left Orario for their investigation outside of the city. Bell understood that this was the time that Ikelos familia would run rampant. But right now, he had bigger troubles.
"Why? Am. I. Tied. To. A. Chair?" Bell asked huffing a bit annoyed. What was a normal day of him returning home and going to sleep, he felt movement and was basically abducted while he was oh so tired, and now he's over here tied to a chair.
Having gotten an uncomfortable by a decent 4 hours of sleep, although his neck was hurting.
"Um, you do realise that that this chair and rope just can't hold me no matter how strong you make it right?" Bell asked. He could feel the rope straining against his muscles and he wasn't even trying.
Suddenly a beam of light descended directly in front of him, the sudden light making him wince as he saw Hestia wearing a dumb pair of glasses as she sat hunched over on a chair of her own.
" Ah I see you've finally awoken, dear subject of mine." Hestia spoke in an attempted deeper voice. Though all it did to match her stature is make her look comical.
"I've been awake for 30 mins actually." Bell replied but Hestia took it in stride. And by stride I mean she completely ignored it.
" We've been having problems as of late you see," She began still maintaining her voice, " Welf and Lili have successfully levelled up you see, and we had the thought that perhaps they could catch up you see."
"Was there any real reason to say 'you see' three times in one sentence?"
Once again. He was ignored.
"But you! Have levelled up! Again! In 3 darn weeks!" Hestia slammed her fist down to a seemingly non-existent tea table. "Yes it makes sense that you have been growing fast, but how is it possible that you are growing twice as much as your usual?"
Bell sighed, and literally ripped the ropes apart making Hestia jump but he simply sat down in peace not moving, "Liaris Freese, or rather Incrementum as I see it now, runs of emotions. One thing that's good to for all of us is that our emotions have been crystallised, there will be no repeat of charms, mental debuffs or anything of that sort. It could be possible that the skill has found some new source of dedication, of emotion to feed itself on." Bell hypothesised fully aware of the peril he was currently in.
"And pray tell what could that "dedication" be?" Hestia asked.
Bell shrugged, "Pssh, how am I meant to know? It's not like I actively fuel it, it could be using my desire to get stronger, my desire to become stronger or let's see...my desire to become stronger?"
"Ah I see, well another question if I may say, this is a personal question, so let me blunt...do you still have a thing for WALLENWHATSIT?" Hestia asked screaming the last.
Bell sat up from his seat, "aand that's my cue to go."
Hestia pathetically leapt forward only for Bell to dodge to the side, "I NEED TO KNOW!"
"And I don't care to respond,"
"This is an order from your Goddess, reply."
Bell groaned as he facepalmed, he was going to have to say it at some point anyways, "No. I don't, and never did. I simply realised that I admired her strength and not her as a person, done alright? Bye, I'm going to go dungeon diving."
"Wait what?" Hestia asked but was given on a cloud of dust as response since Bell took off.
Since Bell had escaped, he realised he didn't have his weapons on him, so he got back through the mansion window to his room, got his weapons and armor and left once more.
In the streets he decided to make his way to the guild with a copy of his status sheet. He made sure to keep Liaris Incrementum a secret, and decided to make Eina's week a much better one.
Nah who was he kidding, up until he had reached level 10, she acted relatively humanely. After which she would be on the verge of tearing his throat into pieces, just so she could prevent him from saying that he had levelled up.
It was a dark time and it went to the point that the guild had issued Bell a different worker to manage all the paperwork. Especially since Eina was always going to kill him if he made unnecessary trouble for him.
Bell chuckled to himself silently reminiscing about the past as he soon realised however, he had made it to the guild entrance.
Entering the place, he scanned the room to see Eina, " Eina san!"
Eina looked at him and smiled gently albeit it was a bit strained, she seemed to have slight bags underneath her eyes as well.
'Well this is a new development...' Bell thought to himself as he walked up to her.
"Are you alright, Eina san? You're looking a bit, well to be blunt, like shit."
Eina weakly rolled her eyes, "Yeah, thanks."
"No but seriously, what's going on?" Bell asked genuinely concerned. He couldn't help it, everytime he saw Eina, he simply remembered her last moments.
Tears threatened to well up in his eyes but he didn't fret over them.
After all, the well had run dry a long time ago.
Eina tried to keep up her smile but it faltered and soon fell into a slight frown.
"It's just...it's...complicated. The entire staff has been getting reports that the dungeon has been acting weird, as if shrills were ringing out, people crying to be helped could be heard. We have even sent several search parties, yet nothing came back." Eina explained.
"So basically the rumours were false?" Bell asked fully knowing why the search parties couldn't find anything. Of course they couldn't find anything, the cries were of intelligent monsters, being held in the Knossos. How could they possible hear them?
Besides would they even try to save them? Bell had learnt in the last run of his life, that people didn't care if the monsters were intelligent or not, the fact that they were not considered as special in any way, was something that enraged him to no end.
Regardless, this time he would make sure that this problem does not arise.
"The rumours were not false." Eina definitively said, "After all, the search parties themselves said to have heard the cries themselves. We had their deities confirm whether or not they were lying and well..." She never finished the sentence though it didn't take much to figure out the rest. Bell then decided to not give her the level up sheet. She needs as much peace as she can get.
Bell thought for a second. In the case of this fight, the best move possible move would be to make a move of his own first. Instead of being reactive he had to be proactive, so that he could catch the Ikelos familia off guard and literally send them to hell or do, something.
So he would hang around the dungeon for a good bit. But to have access to the Knossos he would need to meet Fels.
Now that was a wonder. How in the world was he meant to do that? One of the entrances to Ouranos' prayer room was through the guild but no way in hell are they gonna let him through. The other option, was a bit ambiguous as well as foggy since he only remembered touching upon a slight bit.
See, Bell remembered having discussed with Hestia in the past run, about how she had gone to meet Ouranos and she had informed him that there was an old passage way in the ruins of the eastern district. Where they used to stay, and that there was a magical door that couldn't be opened by force.
However, if he were lucky enough, then Lyd and the others most likely told Fels of the fact that he made contact with them, so it was worth the shot.
Moreover, the biggest advantage would be to reveal what he truly is to Ouranos. It's not a risky move, Bell knows for a fact that Ouranos is tight lipped and lonely enough that no-one visits him. So it was a safe bet to share, besides he would basically get a free pass from sharing the info if he were to be lucky.
Sure Ouranos may call on him from time to time, but besides that he would be able to dungeon dive, or work in any way he desires, which would be perfect for him.
Bell had made his way to the passage, somehow finding it and entered. Arriving at the end of the long and dark corridor he was met by a massive door. It had some sort of engravings on it, most likely in the language of the Gods and he couldn't read them. But what he did manage to do was deliver a full power blow to the door to test it out.
Now, the door wasn't anywhere nearer to opening and his hand hurt. But at least he knew that Fels was nearby. Bell had gotten at perceiving the being's presence after all. "Yo Fels, mind letting me talk to Ouranos for a bit?"
Moments of silence ensued before he felt the cold wind brush past his back, as it usually did when Fels made his entrance. He didn't bother turning back.
"It's good to see you...friend." Bell spoke without particularly addressing anyone.
"I have literally never met you in my entire life." Fels replied with their same androgynous voice.
Bell chuckled, "well obviously. You're nothing but a skeleton right now, you classify as dead." shaking a bit he finally turned to see the hooded figure of Fels, " I'm sure you at least have some hypothesis on who I am, can you lead the way?"
Fels seemed to think for a second, as if to wonder if doing so would be the right call or not, still he nodded and began and opened the door.
The entire journey was silent, Bell knew Fels wasn't a talkative being so didn't bother to initiate a conversation. Normally Bell wouldn't feel uncomfortable with silence, but the fact that he could constantly feel Fels calculative gaze on his back really didn't help. Bell didn't dare to look back as well, he simply continued forward, although given by how he unconsciously moved stiffly for a bit may have given away the fact that he knew.
Finally, he began to see the flickering flames of the prayer room. The rising staircase lying slightly dusted, showing the sign that no-one really descends from there. Yet, up on top, the same old chair sat. On it, with the dignity of a King and responsibility of a King, sat Ouranos.
The man responsible for constantly offering prayers so that the dungeon does not run amok. Bell held respect for the guy, even if he was deity, the fact that he managed to hold on and keep praying despite any situation, strip himself from seeing the outside world, just so the people of Orario stayed safe.
But the man was no saint. He was a God. The entire lifetimes worth of time he spent prayer were but mere seconds to an eternal being like him. Yet, like any living being, he treasured each and every one of those seconds.
"Hello, Ouranos sama." Bell greeted while lowering himself to bow. He didn't look up until he was told to.
"To think someone would've had to come back using that old maniac's gift. Really what has the future succumbed to..." Ouranos face-palmed.
"Don't tell me! Ouranos, he-" Fels spoke sounding panicked.
'As I thought...they were aware of that artefact.'
"Yes, old friend. It's as you suspect," Ouranos paused and sighed, " Which deity was it? Which deity gave up their life to bestow their purity to that artefact?"
Bell paused looking down before replying, "Hestia."
"The Goddess of the Hearth and pure flames." Fels titled.
"Now, tell me your name, messenger of the future?"
"Bell Cranel."
"How much time do we have?"
Bell shook his head, "I can't tell."
Ouranos's eyes narrowed but he said nothing. It was instead Fels that spoke up.
"Are you perhaps...worried for the butterfly effect?"
And the main issue was being addressed right off the bat.
The butterfly effect. The concept that a small decision/ action can cause a chain of events or a larger series of events to follow. Something inconsequential such as: kicking a small pebble down a hill resulting in an avalanche.
However, in the context of time manipulation, it didn't take a genius to figure out that things would get, very, very, very messy.
While Bell had already began making changing things here, he was initially skeptical about the changes that could've occurred. But with the fact that Maria had gotten the disease that wasn't meant to show up for another few good years, it was confirmed that he had to be the cause.
" Well no matter I figured you would make a few different choices here and there," Ouranos spoke.
"You expected me to do that?" Bell asked surprised.
" I have ears everywhere Bell Cranel. It's no surprise I've come across rumours of a masked man apparently being spotted at the top of Ishtar's tower, the night the supposed attack occurred." Ouranos calmly informed him, yet Bell had this inkling of a feeling that he was well aware of who he was.
Bell shrugged, "who knows? Besides I came here to inform you of something related to the Xenos." As he finished that sentence, Ouranos seemed more stern and serious than he was before, although the deity was expressionless to begin with but it wasn't a major problem, " I'm simply speaking to myself aloud that's all. 4 days from now, the Hestia familia will go into the dungeon and very 'coincidentally' come across a voiuvre that can talk. The captain being good natured and unwilling to allow the poor girl to fall to the hands of a disgusting monster trafficking Ikelos familia.
However, luck happened to be on the side of the girl. The captain along with the Hestia familia will guide the girl to floor 20, where she would join with the Xenos that are there. Later, he would 'secretly' join the monsters as they use their path to deeper into the dungeon and their next hideout. On their way, they would be attacked in surprise but the Ikelos familia however, Bell Cranel will use his nightly persona to eliminate all threats to the Xenos. Thus preventing the monsters from raging outside and the identity of the Xenos being found out."
Silence ensued. The plan was just a rough run-down, both Ouranos and Fels could tell. But they didn't want to question it for now. Well except for a few things...
"What did you mean by 'eliminate'?" Ouranos asked.
"Wrath is known as an executioner." Was all Bell replied with, but he could feel the judgemental look he was getting from Ouranos, "Dix Perdix is the descendent of Daedalus. He's been cursed to making progress in the artificial dungeon known as Knossos, my main reason for coming here today was to obtain the key to opening the gate to one of its entrances. The Knossos is also how they smuggle the Xenos and escape detection."
"How would you obtain a key for such a thing from us?"
"You already have the item, you simply haven't realised its purpose yet. Within your collection of items and other things you have one magic eye, that actually is a key. I have to come here to ask you to entrust that to me."
"...Why?"
"Because in the past run, the voiuvre child was basically my daughter," Bell replied without hesitance, "She died in my arms. Twice. The first time Fels managed to revive her but afterwards..."
"Wait. Fels revived her?"
"Yes. He had used his magic, Dia Orpheus, to revive her." Bell replied, Ouranos seemed to give off an amused vibe as he turned his attention to Fels. "What?"
"Oh nothing, just surprised Fels managed to pull that spell off after 800 years is all." Ouranos spoke not once tearing his gaze from Fels.
Not wanting to get into it and tucking the information into a neat little corner in the back of his head Bell shrugged and spoke once more, "Well moving on. Can I get the eye orb?"
"I feel like there is something you aren't telling us."
"Yes there is. But the person is such a wildcard I'd like to see what they cook up this time. If it becomes excessive I'll send them back to Tenkai." He replied with an innocent smile.
"So it's about Hermes." Fels deduced much to the enjoyment of Bell.
"I can neither confirm nor deny, now the key please? I have other things to do." Bell requested for the umpteenth time. However, much to his annoyance silence ensued as neither Ouranos or Fels moved an inch.
'Well that's a first.' both of them thought.
No-one, not even Freya had shown such behaviour in front of Ouranos. Ouranos was the peacemaker of the city, he very rarely acted so when he did, people listened. Yet here was...a man requesting something, and he's giving them...attitude?
Not sure how to react Fels silently took Bell to his storage room. Bell didn't seem like a man to care for the details or research but when he entered the room, his eyes shone like rubies, as if a glisten of life was added to them.
"Woah! Is this all the stuff you made with the mystery developmental ability?" Bell asked starstruck.
"Yes. It's my collection of 800 years, the most important ones of course. Any that peak your interest the most?" Fels asked curious as to the opinion of Bell.
Believe it or not, but Bell's existence was something unknown to Fels. All he knew was that Bell was from the future, well aware of the effects that come while 'messing' around with time and overall, a smart enough person.
His first impression seemed far from the truth as he had judged Bell to be a passionate but naive type of character. He had initially been interested in Bell when he began levelling up like crazy. And now his familia levelled up in general just about at the same rate, the incident with the RLD and now this.
The fact that Bell (this Bell) at least was from the future made a lot of the pieces in the puzzle fall to the right places. It also made a lot of things easier for them and harder for them. As obvious this Bell was different from the previous one, but the sudden change in behaviour may cause alarms to rise. Maybe he could disguise a few of his acts, but the sharper ones in the city who knew a bit about the him from before would no doubt find something to be fishy.
"Are you worried?" Bell asked, his voice ringing out as he looked over a few artifacts.
"Pardon?"
"Are you worried that I would make others doubt me?" Bell repeated now turning to face Fels. "I can feel it. Your uncertainty, your doubt. For a being with no skin, your expressions are easier to understand than I thought."
'Huh...that's new too.'
Fels seemed to chuckle lowly but didn't reply to that comment.
"I think I found the best piece." Bell spoke bringing Fels attention back to him.
"Oh? And that is?"
"This arm piece." Bell presented, it was a large bracelet type of armor, it covered the wrist and stretched back to coveer 2/3rds of a forearm. It looked like a coiled piece with a fine dusted gold finish.
"Ah the refractor. Indeed a good device, do you have any guesses as to what its special effect can be?" Fels asked curious.
Bell moved around the bracelet a bit more, "Lightweight. Extremely so. I don't think it is built to be able to take many blunt hits. It's properties are at least not on a physical level. If it was a vitality, strength, endurance etc type booster, I would've noticed since I tried this on. So the only possibility would be magic. To be precise...the ability to reflect magic projectiles."
"Impressive! You're the first to figure out the specific function of this device. How did you guess?"
Bell snorted, "Besides the fact that it's called a refractor?" Which fairly seemed a bit obvious, although he couldn't understand why Fels didn't call it a reflector, "I may have poured in a tiny bit of magic on this. Usually magic devices require a little bit of mana to active, but to my surprise I felt the flow of magic bounce back from the device, hence the idea of reflecting."
Fels nodded under his hood approvingly, "Well keep that. It isn't the device I consider to be the finest of my creation, but it is amongst the best."
Bell looked at Fels flabbergasted, "Are you sure? This is an incredible device, even with mystery I doubt you could create something like this as you wish."
Fels nodded once more, "It's more useful out in the field with someone that will definently use it than sitting here on the shelf. Oh and don't worry, if you channel mana while wearing this it won't disrupt your internal flow, I made sure to counter that problem long ago."
Bell couldn't feel more excited than this. This was something even he didn't know how to make, as much as he wanted to create, he only came up with schematics and blueprints, since in the future most of the creations required mystery to be used efficiently.
This creation wasn't something he had access to before but now he did. He sure would use it.
"You can call for its effect by calling out any set name, kind of like a magic spell. But no chant is needed just say the words..."
Bell's eyes widened upon hearing those words. Surely it has to be a joke right?
12 am Orario Same Day
Bell or rather wrath perched on the edge of a tower. Looking down into the poorer side of the town.
It's quite funny really, if he swivelled around and looked at the other side of the city not even that far from this street, lights were on, the city was bustling with it usual night life. Even without the red light district. But this street?
Daedalus street was known as the abode of the poor. Somewhere people in poverty lived or illegal activity ran. It was quiet, not a single light out probably because most couldn't afford to waste the energy.
It was eerie. And what better environment for crimes to occur than in an eerie, quiet and potentially dangerous atmosphere. Bell never considered himself of being a vigilante. A far shot from being a hero still, watching his friends and allies reminded him of how he could never be that hero.
The one to sweep in save the girl in the dungeon, and become acknowledge as the strongest. Yes by the end he was recognised as humanity's strongest, but what good did it do when the world's population dropped to like 2.5% of its original portion?
Shaking his head, his snapped himself out. This wasn't time to be self-berating, he had time to do that later. For now, he needed to observe. The Ikelos familia entered the knossos through the entrance in Daedalus street. Usually at night time, if he could track when they entered then he could plan better.
At the very least one positive news was that they didn't know of any of the safe spots the Xenos had. Most were caught mid journey to their next safe zone or when they first were born.
After a solid hour of not even breathing too loudly he spotted a dumb brown leather jacket with a pair of shanty goggle that made the guy look like he was an amateur alchemist on a budget.
'The least he could do is get a lab coat but nooo,' Bell rolled his eyes. But he kept his breathing and presence under control.
Despite Dix Perdix looking like a poor man's doctor pain, he was still level 5. Even if his technique was utter crap, his senses were just as sharp as any level 5.
Thankfully, Bell this time round managed to even out the odds a bit and make sure that he could combat Dix properly, being a level 5 and all.
But as soon as the door to the Knossos closed, the place where Bell was hunched over was now empty, with a small dust of cloud and a figure with a dark vest jumping from roof to roof.
As Bell approached the dungeon in high speeds, he spotted Eina being cornered by some two bit crooks. Something from one of the men's hands seemed to glint under the moonlight.
'Of course, fuck you too universe!' Bell cursed.
It just so 'coincidentally' had to occur that something he couldn't ignore occurred when he was going to the dungeon. Huffing in frustration, Bell changed the direction of his leap towards the alley they were cornering her in.
They seemed too weak to even notice him drop, he landed on the bald one's back, crushing it and not holding back with his strength. The ground underneath cracked and the man was thoroughly knocked the fuck out.
His friend didn't get much time to react, just barely turning around as a fist came rushing towards his face. His pointed nose didn't prove to be of any support as it immediately broke along with his face being slight caved in, as he was slammed into the wall.
The brick wall cracking but not really breaking, Wrath moved back from the now unconscious men. The guy on the wall now had some teeth hanging loosely and falling off.
Wrath spared a glance at a petrified Eina, who seemed to be putting up a brave front but was actually shaking a storm up. Wrath contemplated his words before sighing.
"Be careful next time." he said before promptly disappearing.
A momentary set back but it didn't matter, he could make it just in time. The Xenos as much as he knew had 4 main safe areas. The one in the 20th floor, the one on the 37th floor, the one in the 49th and finally the 54th.
They could eventually have more but since their highest level was Asterius who had been busy with training half the time, they couldn't really go too far in the dungeon.
A pity it is, using the safe paths would be fine. but to find the safe zones they would have to explore, and while there definently wouldn't be any fear of being hunted by surface- dwellers, the monsters would surely overpower them.
Today however, was the day they were supposed to rotate to the 20th floor. So he best get there. As he blitz through the dungeon, he went to the 20th floor and moved the rock aside.
The level 5 was really helping out now. He entered the room, to its usual darkness. He could feel their presences.
"Just me people. Just me." Bell reassured them. Soon the Xenos decided to come out.
"Wrath! You decided to visit!" Lyd exclaimed walking towards them. As did some others.
Not that they could see but Wrath sported a fond smile under his usual mask. "Hey guys miss me?" he asked as he spotted Gros scoff in the back much to his amusement.
"So? What brought the surprise visit?" Lyd asked.
Wrath paused to think for a second. This was going to be tough. Because he wasn't allowed to talk about Wiene just yet. But he had to warn them somehow.
'Damn it if I help the few that captured or killed this time, it could have bigger reprecussions in the future.'
Saving Wiene was something he had to do, not only because he couldn't bear to sit through the pain of watching Wiene die in his arms again but because he knew he had the power and strength to save them, a part of him longed to save those close to him.
Guess watching people you care about die time and time again really doesn't help with keeping a calm rationale.
But that's precisely why Wrath existed. An entity that wasn't meant to be. Bell might be worrying, brash and overall sacrificial but the moment he donned this mask he became something cold, calculative, listening to logic rather than emotions.
But even the evilest demon had a soft spot for his dear daughter.
And just for her?
He would throw the world right into the storm. Consequences be damned she ain't even born yet!
A/N: And that's a wrap. Took a while to write this but that's fine, we move.
An important question I had was please do tell me if this chapter was moving too fast or slow. I think I messed up the pacing a bit so it really irks me to not know for sure.
But you guys as the readers are most likely to spot it so if you do have an opinion, do tell me. Thanks for reading:).
Bless.
