"Wow, it´s so big, much bigger than I thought."
Ryu leaned a bit backwards while she sat on Bell´s shoulder, looking up to the giant tower of Babel. Bell was as impressed as she was, only Ais giggled a bit.
Bell slightly turned his face to his other shoulder, where Ais sat.
"Ais?"
"I just wondered if I could fly all the way home if I started from the top."
"Wouldn´t you get blown away by the strong winds up there, with your tiny body?"
"Hm, maybe...I still want to try it one day!"
Ais´ eyes shone, when it came to wind and high places, she always got excited.
When it was their turn to enter the city, a guardsman with a strange mask on his face greeted them.
"Welcome, what brings you to Orario?"
"I want to become an adventurer."
Bell showed him the letter from the academy.
"Ah, I understand, and your companions?"
Ais raised her hand. "I want to explore this city´s food!"
"Oh, okay."
Ryu sighed. "We accompany him, we are his partners."
"Understood, are you part of a Familia?"
"No, not so far."
"Then good luck in finding a good one. My lord Ganesha is always looking out for people...and he is the best god in the city!"
A male voice came from the gate.
"Hahaha! You flatter me, William!"
"Lord Ganesha, good morning!"
"A good morning indeed!"
The man that stopped next to the guardsman was over a head taller than Bell, extremely muscular...and quite handsome. And he wore an elephant mask on his face.
"Oho, a promising new adventurer I see." The god grinned.
It was Bell´s first time facing a god aside from his grandfather and grandmother.
"G-G-Good morning, god Ganesha!"
"Hahaha! No need to be so stiff, you can relax! For I am Ganesha, god of the people!"
At first, Ganesha wanted to pat him on the shoulder, then he stopped when he noticed Ais and Ryu.
"Oho, what do we have here? It´s rare even in Orario to see such tiny woman."
Ais pouted and got up to her feet. "I´m not tiny! I´m thirty-one centimeters tall!"
Ryu also got up to her feet. "Ais, you are thirty centimeters tall, I am thirty-one."
"I´m sure I have grown!"
"No you haven´t, we both won´t get any taller anymore."
Ganesha smiled in a very charming way and dropped his silly act.
"Young man, you must really be blessed to be accompanied by a spirit and a fairy. I bid you my warm welcome, young ladies."
The eyes of the three widened in surprise, Ganesha was the first person to immediatelly notice what Ryu and Ais were. Ryu bowed slightly in a polite way.
"Thank you for your kind words, god Ganesha."
Ais smiled happily. "Thank you, big uncle!"
Ryu looked shocked. "A-A-Ais! That´s rude!"
Ganesha shook his head. "Don´t worry, spirit are free beings, wind spirits probably even more than the others. I hope you can find happiness and joy in Orario. Please just be carefull, my Familia and Astrea´s can´t watch every side street. People will surely notice you two and to my sorrow, there are some not so nice people in this city."
Bell bowed slightly, Ais and Ryu had to fly for a moment since the "ground" they stood on shook too much when he did that.
"Thank you, lord Ganesha, we will be carefull."
"If you are looking for a Familia, I alw-"
.
""Not happening.""
.
Ganesha stopped and turned slightly around, a woman stood there, a beauty without equal, according to someone. A second woman waited a few meters behind her. Next to the beautiful woman waited an old, sturdy man, with a blond, tall man behind him.
"Ah, Hera, mylady Empress, Zeus, little Maxim what brings you here this morning? And with such a strong guard."
Hera smiled slightly. "We are looking for someone."
"And who might that be?"
Now Bell saw the goddess too. "Grandmother! Grandfather!"
Every single guardsman, Ganesha and the Empress froze after Bell yelled out that word to Hera. About calling Zeus his grandfather, there wasn´t really much reaction for it, only the blond man behind him smirked slightly and the Empress tried to hide an amused smile.
But the goddess smiled gently. "Bell, you are finally here."
Zeus raised his right hand. "Yo, Bell, finally made your way hm? Ooooh and I see my lovely cuties Ryu and Ais are with you."
Hera´s eyes gleamed dangerous for a moment.
"Wh-What? They will be my granddaughters-in-law in the future. And you are of course the brightest star in the night, the most beautiful sunrise of all times."
The goddess smiled pleased by the words of her husband.
The two gods walked forward to Bell.
"Did you two came just to get us?"
Zeus looked at Hera, out of politeness he would wait until she spoke. She smiled to him, got remined once more that we could be very charming if he wanted to.
Then Hera looked at Bell. "Yes, Bell. You three were never before in Orario and even if you saw the map of it from Meteria, you would probably get lost. Also I don´t think Alfia gave you the exact location of her house."
"Isn´t it close to the Olympic Garden?"
The Olympic Garden was the home of Hera´s Familia.
"No, she likes to keep her distance, where it is more quiet."
Now Zeus winked. "And I couldn´t just let you arrive without coming to greet you. Also, I couldn´t let Hera walk alone. Remember Bell, never let a beautiful lady walked alone, you have to give her company and make sure she doesn´t get bored on the way."
Hera raised an eyebrow. "And you think my child wouldn´t be able to do that?"
Zeus smiled amouros. "The Empress doesn´t know you as good as I do..."
"Hmmm, that´s true..."
"Ahm, Grandfather, Grandmother..."
Hera´s smile returned. "Alright, Ganesha, we will take it from here, but don´t think I will let Bell join your Familia, there are strange people with you."
"How rude, my children are all completely fine, I Ganesha can vouch for that!"
The two gods were pretty smart, even when Bell wouldn´t join one of their Familias, words would spread over Orario, that Bell was the "Grandson" of the two strongest gods in the city. Like this they made sure that not too many people would dare to mess with him.
And Hera made sure that especially the goddesses of love stayed away from him, she knew how they liked to mess around with men and would not tolerate that Bell became a toy for them.
Ais and Ryu landed on Bell´s shoulders again and bowed slightly to Hera.
""Lady Hera, it´s good to see you again.""
Hera only nodded, it wasn´t like she had anything against these two, but she wasn´t very fund of them either.
Now the fairy and the spirit bowed slightly to Zeus, who winked at them.
While they started to walk, Bell glanced at the woman and the man that accompanied the gods.
"Ah right, Bell this is my captain."
The woman had only slightly smiled once, now she looked stern again, gave Bell only a short nod.
"N-Nice to meet you."
"Mh."
Zeus whispered to his right ear. "She takes a lot after Hera, don´t try to make her smile."
"Zeus did you just say something about me?"
"I would never dare."
"Good."
Zeus winked to Bell. "Bell let me introduce you to Maxim, my captain."
The tall man grinned. "Nice to meet you, little one!"
Bell´s hand vanished in the paw of that man.
"N-Nice to meet you."
Maxim looked at Zeus. "Really takes a bit after you, old man."
"I take that as a compliment."
Most people that they passed wouldn´t believe the sight. Not because of Zeus, he was quite sociable and was often seen in the city. But because of how Hera acted. In Orario there was a saying, that even the goddess Freya behaved more silly than Hera.
A few people had different opinions about Hera, but most would never dare to speak that out loud. Like Hermes would say, in the language of the gods, Hera was a "Yandere", the goddess Loki would describe Hera as psychopatic, extremely hysterical and crazy.
Bell´s aunt was the only one that would speak her opinion freely, that Hera was an arrogant tyrant and the most difficult woman to flatter.
And Alfia only dared that because there was no member of the Hera Familia that could forbid her to do that, even the Empress took a step back when Alfia got angry. Bell had always wondered why, but his aunt didn´t liked her goddess at all. For many people in general was it hard to like Hera. Part of the problem was her personality, the other was the Empress.
If Hera wanted, she could destroy the Loki or Freya Familia by sending just one member. Only Zeus´ Familia could hope to fight back and they would destroy Orario completely. Thankfully, Hera was smart enough to know that this would ruin everything on the surface and destroy her life here. Gods also had to think about the time when they got back to heaven.
Freya even believed that the relationship with Zeus was a sham.
The only people that Hera was ever genuinly kind towards, were Meteria and Bell...and Zeus sometimes.
"Bell, just before you ask, you will not join my Familia. Even with who you are, my Familia will stay female."
"Actually, I never intended to ask one of you to let me join your Familias."
Both gods looked a bit surprised.
"Hm, a shame, I would have welcomed you gladly."
"Thank you, Grandfather. But I want to find my own way. Also, I love you two very much, as my beloved grandmother and my strong grandfather, and I would like to stay like this."
It was rare to see Hera smile genuienly.
"Hah, Bell. Your pure, genuine honesty is so refreshing. You are so much like Meteria. Whenever I talk to one of you, I never have to fear you will deceive me or try to lie. That you just say what you mean."
Bell blinked. "I would never lie to you, grandmother. That would be totally wrong, also grandfather told me to never lie to a woman, especially someone as beautiful as you. He said that from all the women and goddesses he met over his long life, you stand out the most."
Hera looked to Zeus. "You told him that?"
"That you are so beautiful? Of course, I mean what I say."
There was a reason why Hera forgave Zeus his many infidelities.
After a while, they arrived at a house, Bell really would had trouble to find this one alone. It stood on the top of a small hill.
"So, Bell. We will leave you here, you know, Alfia doesn´t like to have too much people around."
"Thank you for showing me the way, Grandfather."
"You can always come to visit me at the Olympic temple."
It was the name of his Familia´s home.
Maxim, his captain, came forward to shake Bell´s hand.
"Even if you don´t join us, feel free to see yourself as an honorary member."
"Hey! I wanted to tell him that."
"I know, old man, that´s why I said it first."
"Pah! You young boys have no respect for me!"
"Of course we have and we know that you understand a small fun, that´s what makes us like you even more."
Hera also wished him goodbye, the Empress followed her.
.
"So, Ais, Ryu, shall we go?"
""Yes.""
When Bell turned around, he noticed a woman with silver hair standing in the door of the house, she had waited until the two gods left.
"Aunty Alfia, hello!"
His aunt smiled slightly, he was one of the few people she did that to.
"I see you found here in a way, how were your travels?"
"No problem."
Alfia looked at Ryu and Ais. "You two had an eye on my nephew?"
"Of course, Alfia, and we always will." Ryu looked serious.
"Bell means everything to us, Alfia."
Both had learned very fast to not call Alfia "Ms." or "Lady", she didn´t liked when people assumed this way that she was old, that was also the reason why Bell called her Aunty.
"Then come in and take a break, we will go in about an hour."
"""Yes."""
.
A few days later.
.
The day had started in the same way as the last ones.
Bell was as amazed from the big academy as he was at the first day. When his aunt brought him here, he was more than amazed. Orario was parted in eight districts and the academy was in the south-southeastern, the education district.
Of course not all of this district had buildings meant for education, but all of those buildings in Orario were here, plus many shops that specialized in that. And the academy with all it´s surroundings made up around one tenth of the district, the position was close to the wall, a part of the land behind the wall also belonged to the academy.
It wasn´t at all like he had expected it to be. He had thought the teaching would be strict and they would receive grades or something like that. But the philosophy of the academy was easy.
"Listen if you want to live longer."
When a young adventurer didn´t listened during class, the teacher just continued as long as they didn´t disturbed the others. No one had to attend a class, but the stuff that got teached there was too important to ignore it. Unlike the part of the academy where people went that wanted to work for the guild, the young adventurers couldn´t graduate from the academy.
After all their courses were done, the teaching was over and they had to go to the dungeon alone or with their Familias. But that would take a while.
There were classes where they got teached about the monsters on the first Floors, up to the fifth. This was one of the benefits of the academy, the young adventurers there didn´t needed to get adviced by the guild.
Then he got teached about what magic stones were, how they were the base of Orario´s economy, what could be produced with them and the differences. Also about dropp items, how much the known were worth about, so that they wouldn´t get ripped off when they sold them.
Other classes had other purposes, not only to prepare adventurers for the dungeon. Like teaching them surviving techniques, how to take care of their equipment, even about food, since it wasn´t easy in the dungeon to eat something sometimes, but also what their bodies needed.
And some teachers trained how to use weapons with them, and close quarters combat without weapons, which was unlikely to work against most monsters, but they had to be aware that not only monsters would maybe attack them.
But also about Orario in general, about the districts, the Familias that lived here and so on. Many teachers worked directly for the academy and belonged to the mortal races. But a few teachers were high leveled adventurers that held classes sometimes, and others were gods.
Since Ais and Ryu couldn´t accompany Bell to the dungeon, they got told that the dungeon hated gods, fairies and spirits, so it was forbidden for them to enter it, both went on their own to look around the city. Ryu searched for the big tree, which wasn´t really hard, while Ais was somewhere else.
Bell wasn´t really worried about them, despite their small size, they were really strong...much stronger than him.
The class about Orario and it´s history wasn´t mandatory and many didn´t went to it, instead they used their time to go to the first or second floor of the dungeon. For that reason, the classroom was pretty small. Together with Bell, there were only four young adventurers here. One of them was a dwarf about Bell´s age, that already grew a beard.
All in all, three young man and one young woman.
And in the moment that their teacher came in...Bell Cranel was enchanted.
It was a woman so beautiful, that he wanted to cry. She had long walnut brown hair that was gathered together behind her head in a dignified manner, along with deep indigo eyes that were a reminiscent of a sea of stars. She wore a long, white dress, with slight blue stripes at her waist. Around her hip was an elegant leather belt with golden stitches on it.
The shoulders and the area above her chest was free, her skin looked way too smooth to be possible. Around her neck was a slight blue and golden collar, that held two black cords, that vanished at the sides of her chest in the dress, probably holding it in place. What fascinated Bell was the front of her dress, technically her cleavage was really deep and yet not.
Mostly there was a slight cleavage, but then started a golden garment that had openings in the middle, that made a bit of her chest visible, it went down halfway to her belly button.
And yet this looked not lewd or cheap at all, all that came to Bell´s mind was...
Elegant!
This woman was pure grace and she looked so beautiful and gentle, her eyes fascinated him the most.
The woman walked to the front, where her chair was and stood there, smiling slightly.
"Good day, young adventurers. I am the goddess Astrea and I will teach you about Orario, the Familias and the life here. Also what you should try to achieve wh-"
Astrea stopped for a moment when her eyes fell on Bell, her smiled widened a bit before she continued.
"-when you want to get the eyes of certain Familias on you. You will have it a bit easier to join some Familias, but the god of that Familia has to decide if he or she wants you or not. If you try to aim for the top Familias, do your best."
To make them all feel a bit more relaxed, Astrea asked them to introduce themself and what they wanted to achieve. Their reasons were all pretty similar.
After the four were done, Astrea introduced herself completely.
"Ahem. So, I am Astrea, the goddess of Justice. My Familia is the...well Astrea Familia."
She giggled, it was a kind of joke that some gods tended to make. The sound of her giggle, it was like divine magic in Bell´s ears.
She is so beautiful, such grace, so lovely.
"My Familia is a dungeon Familia, which means my children explore the dephts of the dungeon. Some of my children come to the academy from time to time to teach about fighting with various weapons. But we also are taking the role of a security force in Orario, together with the Ganesha Familia. Which means if there are criminal organizations, our Familias take care of that, together with the guild.
For that manner, I am the high judge of Orario. When there are trials, certain gods preside over them, as it is impossible to lie to us. However, there are always mortals present and giving their opinions, which carry a lot of weight, lest we gods forget this perspective."
It made sense that the goddess of justice was the high judge, she had an understanding nature and always tried to help the criminals to make their lives better.
Non of the four young adventurers was part of a Familia so far and the Astrea Familia wasn´t often targeted by those that came from the academy. Those tried to get into the Loki, Freya, Hera and Zeus´ Familias.
Bell literally glued to her every word, answered every question she asked him politely and enjoyed this time very much.
When there was time for the class to end, Astrea smiled gently again.
"So, I will continue now with the afternoon class, if someone wants to stay, feel free, but there won´t be crucial informations for you."
The three others thanked Astrea for the class and left the room.
Only Bell remained.
"Ehe, so you are interested in the rest?"
"If that means spending more time with you, yes."
"Oh?"
Bell hastily clapped his hands in front of his mouth, he had said his thoughts out loud.
"I-I-I-I mean...ahm...Irkh..."
Astrea giggled. "Ehehe, you are really polite, Bell. Is it okay when I say Bell?"
"Of course, lady Astrea."
"Thank you."
Since they were only two people, Astrea took her chair and put it down in front of Bell´s table, so that the table was between them.
"So, Bell. Would you tell me a bit about you?"
"About why I came to Orario?"
She shook her head slightly, even that looked elegant.
"No, I mean about you. Where did you come from? Maybe your past. Why and when the wish to become an adventurer came up in you."
"I grew up in a village, it took me four days to get here. My mother and father moved to the village when they expected me, both came from Orario."
"Oh, so they met here in the city?"
"Yes."
"I enjoyed the peacefull life in the village. Sometimes my grandfather or my grandmother came to visit us, as well as my aunt."
"Do they live in Orario too?"
"Yes, my grandfather is god Zeus, my grandmother is goddess Hera."
"E-Eh? I-Is that a joke?"
"No."
Astrea blinked perplexed and looked into Bell´s eyes.
There is no lie in his eyes. How is that possible? Zeus and Hera his grandparents? He can´t be a demi god...but how?
"C-Could you explain this?"
"My father belongs to the Zeus Familia, my mother to the Hera Familia. At some point both fell in love and well...then I was on the way. My grandfather sees all of his followers like his children, for my grandmother it was similar with my mother.
I only learned after a few years that my grandparents are actually gods."
"Did that shock you?"
"No, but it surprised me a little bit."
"What did you thought about it?"
"Eheh...I thought it was really cool."
Astrea giggled again.
"It certainly is, and your aunt?"
"She is also part of the Hera Familia, I think...her alias was "Silence" or something like that."
His aunt is Silence!?
"Wow, that is quite the family you have there, Bell. But please continue."
Astrea leaned slightly forward, put her ellbows on the table, entangled her fingers and balanced her chin on the back of her fingers, smiling gently.
"Whenever my grandfather visited us, he brought books for me as a gift, hero stories."
"Hero stories?"
Bell´s eyes shone. "Yes, I really love them. All these stories about people who helped others, explored the world, fought big and strong monsters and-..."
"And?"
Bell got a bit red. "And saved maidens in distress...I thought it was really cool."
Astrea chuckled.
"After I learned about my grandfather and grandmother, they told me about Orario, about the dungeon."
"And then you wanted to come here?"
"Yes, I want to go on adventures and explore the dungeon."
"And save maidens in distress?"
"Yes, if I get the chance!"
"Hehe, you are so honest."
"My grandfather told me to never lie to a beautiful woman."
Astrea blinked and her cheeks got a bit pink.
"Oh? You think I´m beautiful?"
"Yes, very much!"
"O-Oh my..."
"Oh, I´m sorry if that was rude."
"N-No, it´s okay, ehehe. I´m just not used to it."
They continued to talk for a while, Bell told Astrea about Ryu and Ais, that they came with him. Bell stayed longer than he intended to, but it didn´t bothered him.
After a long while, Astrea looked up to the clock.
"Oh my, it has become really late, and here I force you to talk to such an old lady."
"You are by no means old, lady Astrea!"
"Ehe, kind of you to say that."
"I just mean it."
He is such a pure and honest boy.
Astrea really had taken a liking to Bell.
"But we should still stop for today, you live at the dorm of the academy, right?"
"Yes I do, since I don´t have a Familia."
"Hmm..."
"Lady Astrea?"
Astrea looked for a moment as if she were in thoughts, then she nodded to herself.
"Bell?"
"Yes?"
"Do you want to join my Familia?"
"Eh?"
A few moments went by.
"Ah ehm...could you repeat that please? I don´t think I understood you right."
Astrea got up from her chair, as did Bell. The light of the setting sun illuminated her from behind, it let her look even more divine.
"Bell Cranel. I, Astrea the goddess of Justice, offer you a place in my Familia, do you want to accept this offer?"
"Me? Are you sure? I am not really strong and have nothing special."
Astrea smiled gentle. "I am sure, during out interview you showed me your true character and I really like it."
"Interview?"
"Hehe, I´m sorry for not telling you. This is how we gods talk to possible children and you are more than worthy to get offered a place by me. By the way, you will be the first male to ever get this chance."
"Th-There are only women in your Familia?"
"Oho? Do I see a naughty spark in your eyes?"
"O-O-Of course not!"
"Hehe, you are so pure, I like that, I think you would really fit in my Familia. That is if you take my offer."
"Don´t your children need to agree too?"
She shook her head. "No, that is my decision alone. Believe me or not, but I have a good eye for people, especially those who are worthy of justice."
"Worthy of Justice?"
"To carry my name if you will. It´s my way of saying that you would fit perfect, I don´t think even one of my girls would have a problem with you."
"Hm.."
"If you want to aim for a stronger Familia, I understand that or if you need time to think."
"No, that isn´t it."
"Hm?"
"I just...can´t believe my luck to get this offer from such a beautiful, nice, gentle goddess...the goddess of justice of all people! I always wanted to be a hero, bring justice and peace to people!"
"A hero?"
Bell just blurted out everything in front of Astrea, he wasn´t ashamed, he felt he could trust her and that she wouldn´t laugh at him.
"This is my dream, to become a hero!"
Astrea´s smile got something special. "I like that dream, you really are perfect, Bell. So what do you say?"
Bell knelt down in front of Astrea. "I say yes, Mylady!"
When he looked up, he saw that Astrea´s cheeks were a bit red, he managed to let a goddess feel flustered by his gesture.
"P-Please, you don´t need to kneel in front of me."
"Don´t I need to kiss the back of your hand or something like that?"
"Mhmh, no. Oh well...if you want to."
Astrea really looked like the incarnation of purity and justice with the sun rays behind her, as she raised her right hand slightly, offering Bell the back of her hand. Really gentle and carefull, Bell took her hand.
"I gladly accept your kind offer, lady Astrea. And hereby offer you my sword and my hands."
He leaned forward and kissed the back of her hand. Bell always wanted to do something like that at least once. Due to the sun, he couldn´t see Astrea´s face when he looked up, but she smiled gently and a tiny shade of red was on her cheeks.
Phew...that made my heart flutter a bit, he really is something else.
Astrea didn´t mentioned it, but it was the first time that a man ever did that for her.
.
And so, after getting his stuff from his room in the dorm and informing the home director, Bell accompanied Astrea when she walked back to the home of her Familia...their Familia, the Stardust Garden. He didn´t had to worry about Ais and Ryu, both had a way to sense where he was, Ryu once told him it was a magical connection of their hearts. But they weren´t alone, a red haired beauty with green eyes accompanied them.
"Bell, this is Alise Lovell. Alise, this is Bell Cranel."
"G-Good day."
Alise winked. "Nice to meet you."
The young woman wore short, black pants, a kind of red cape around the left side of her hip, that reached down to her boots. A white and red shirt without sleeves and parts of her armor, her hair was bound up in a ponytail.
"Lady Astrea, let me carry your bag."
"Ah, thank you my dear."
Alise glanced to Bell and his bags while she took Astrea´s bag so that her goddess could walk freely.
"So, Bell right? May I ask the reason why you are coming with us?"
"Oh, I..."
"Bell, may I?"
"Of course, lady Astrea."
Astrea smiled to Alise. "Bell will be our newest member."
"Whaaaaat!? A new member? How nice!"
"A-Aren´t you concerned that I am a man?"
Alise shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I? My trust in lady Astrea is complete, if she says you are worthy of justice, then you are."
"Oh."
"What, thought I would nag?"
"Ahm...maybe?"
"Hehe, you are a polite guy, Bell. Well since we aren´t at home, I use this chance. Bell Cranel, as the captain of the Astrea Familia, I welcome you."
"Thank yo-..wait, the captain!?"
"Jup, that´s me, the lovely Alise Lovell! Ha! Even my name says that! And yes, I am the captain of the Familia, recently reached level six!"
"Wow..."
"What, don´t believe me?"
"No, I´m just surprised that my captain is such a beauty."
Alise suddenly got a tiny bit red. "Oho, a real charmer!"
Wow, he made Alise a bit flustered.
While they continued to walk to the Stardust Garden, Astrea didn´t thought about one specific thing. She thought it wouldn´t be a problem for Bell to join the Familia. But while his character was really nice and such...she forgot to think about that her girls had nearly no contact with men, especially in their free time.
Bell Cranel walked right into the direction of the home of a Familia filled with women that were all single...
.
"Girls, I´m home."
"Welcome back, Lady Astrea."
"Did you have a good day, lady Astrea?"
"Did your students behave?"
"Would you like to eat something?"
"Or would you like a bath first?"
"Shall Lyra massage your feet?"
"Hey, I heard that!"
Bell waited outside of the door, where the others couldn´t see him, Astrea had asked him to wait for a moment. The house looked really nice, with the large garden around it, there were many white flowers in various places.
Oh, I get now why she called it Stardust Garden.
It wasn´t unusual for Astrea that her followers were all over her and offered her help or things to relax, all of them really adored their goddess.
Alise moved to the side of her goddess. "Everyone, gather in the living room. Lady Astrea has something to tell us."
Most of the members did as Alise told them, only one walked further into the house to get two members that weren´t at the door at the moment. It was good that the living room was so big, since fourteen people were part of Astrea´s Familia, without counting the goddess.
When all sat down, Alise remained standing as it was her right as the captain. It wasn´t exactly about standing, but like this she was the closest to her goddess.
"So everyone, thank you for your warm welcome back. I´m happy to see that you are all uninjured from the dungeon. Kaguya, I´m proud of you and thankfull, for leading the others safely while Alise was at the academy."
"You flatter me, lady Astrea."
"Mhmh, praise where credit is due, and I´m really proud of my vice captain."
It took a moment to greet them all, she always took her time with that.
"So, my girls. There is something I want to announce to you."
They were all ears, when Astrea called them "my girls" there were always interesting news, mostly about new members.
"This evening, I want to welcome a new member for our Familia."
""""""Ooooh!""""""
"A new member? How exciting!"
"Hey Lefiya, now you won´t be our little one anymore!"
"I told you to not call me that!"
"Heh, a new member? I wonder who that is."
"Which girl catched your eye this time, lady Astrea."
Astrea giggled over the excitement of her followers. "Alise already met him and approved too."
"Oh in that cas-...him!?"
The goddess turned slightly to the side. "Would you please come in?"
"E-Excuse me."
Bell walked a bit nervous into the living room. In front of him sat thirteen pretty girls and young women, Alise stood on the side. It was hard to say who was more surprised.
"Eeeeeh!? A man?"
"What?! A man?"
"Lady Astrea!?"
"Oh my, how handsome."
"Phew, quite the looker."
"A M-M-Man?!"
Bell´s eyes wandered around a bit. the one who had called him handsome was a black haired beautiful human, wearing a kimono, by her voice he reckognized her as the vice captain that Astrea had talked to.
The next one was a pallum with pink hair and a cheeky grin on her lips. Next to her sat a wolf woman with brownisch skin and white hair. Next came an amazoness, with for them usual black hair and quite an interesting choice of clothes.
Then came two human girls, one looked like a sword fighter, the other maybe like a healer.
The next was a sturdy dwarf, it was Bell´s first time seeing a female dwarf, her face was round and friendly, yet she looked strong enough to snap his spine with just her hands. The next one was a human again, wearing a robe like a mage would.
Next to her were two additional healer, one elf and one human.
The last three were all young elves. One had blond hair and blue eyes, while she wore a robe, she looked more like a fighter. Then came an elf with brown hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a rosette pink cape on top of a white shirt and pink corset dress, a purple bow hang at the collar.
But the last member of the Familia really surprised Bell. It was also an elf, but she had wheat colored skin, completely white hair like him and red eyes. She wore a frilled white dress with a white coat with light blue edges over it.
A dark elf.
Bell had never seen one before.
"So, Bell. Let me introduce you to everyone."
Astrea moved her hand in the way that Bell had moved his eyes, pointing at every one of her followers.
"From left to right. These are Kaguya, Lyra, Neze, Iska, Maryuu, Noin, Asta, Ryana, Celty, Cecil, Laurier, Lefiya and Filvis."
He bowed slightly. "N-Nice to meet you."
"So, my girls. This is Bell Cranel and I invited him today to join our Familia."
Kaguya slightly raised her hand.
"Not that I want to discuss your decision, lady Astrea. May I just ask why a man? I thought you only wanted to invite women."
Astrea showed Kaguya a smile that all of her followers loved.
"Because he is worthy of justice, my dear."
And that was all they needed to hear, Astrea had invited all of them personally and while some of the girls quarreled from time to time, they never had a fight with each other. All knew that Astrea had a good eye for people.
Bell didn´t knew where to look at, so he looked from one girl to the other. The elf with the pink dress, Lefiya, looked a bit uneasy, she wasn´t used to men. The dark elf Filvis next to her, averted her eyes shyly, Bell would later learn that Filvis had a problem about her eye color and since they both shared the same color, she felt very uneasy.
"I know it will take some time since we are all used to the new situation, but please treat Bell like you would any other member, he is new in Orario."
Lyra the pallum smirked. "You must have something impressive on you, Belli, or you wouldn´t have caught lady Astrea´s eyes."
"B-Belli?"
The amazon, Iska, smiled. "Oooh I like that! It fits his cute face!"
"C-Cute?"
Some seemed to be more surprised than taken aback, the elves were a bit shy that a man was allowed to "invade" this female household, but some seemed to be really interested in him.
Neze, the wolf woman looked at Bell. "Say, Bell. This sword there is your weapon?"
"Oh yes." Bell looked down to his bagpack with his sword.
"It is a parting gift from my father when I left the village."
Neze whistled slightly. "Wow, looks expensive."
"He said he wanted me to be save."
Kaguya looked interested. "And can you use it well?"
"Ahm, I guess. I didn´t had combat training at the academy so far and only trained with my father."
"Y-You visit the academy?" Lefiya looked a bit shocked.
"Yes, I do, for a week now."
Astrea smiled. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Lefiya and Filvis also visit the academy, both are taking mostly magic related classes, they are my cute honor students. Alise and Kaguya sometimes are invited to give some combat related classes. So you will probably see them sometimes there."
Lefiya blushed a bit when Bell smiled to them, she moved closer to Filvis as if to protect her best friend from the male.
.
Alise smirked suddenly. "Lady Astrea, it should be time for "that"."
"Oh right, "that"."
Bell looked confused. "That?"
The others looked excited. "That! Yes, do it now!"
The elves of the Familia suddenly looked really abashed and averted their eyes.
Astrea smiled gently to Bell. "It is a tradition of this Familia that I give you my Falna in front of everyone, so that they can welcome you."
"Oh, okay. How does that work?"
Alise grinned and winked. "You need to take off your shirt and show lady Astrea your back."
"O-Oh..."
"Don´t worry, we have all been through that, you can cover your chest with a towel if you want. And if you are too shy to show your skin, say a word and we will all turn around, it was like that for our elves. Even with being a tradition, lady Astrea isn´t cruel. In fact she is the most gentle, nice and beautiful goddess there is!"
"Hehe, you flatter me, Alise."
"Because you deserve it!"
Bell just got slightly red. "I don´t mind if you look."
He took off his brown jacket and after that his shirt. It turned out that the girls had more problems as he had doing that. Bell had indeed trained a lot with his father before coming to Orario and his body was in good shape.
"Oh my..."
"Wow."
"Handsome."
"*Gulp* Six pack..."
The elves especially had problems to look at Bell. Laurier hid her face behind her hands, just parted her fingers enough to glance at him. Lefiya´s eyes were drawn to Bell´s abs, before she looked hastily away.
"F-Filvis, d-don´t look."
"*Gulp*"
Filvis´ cheeks darkened a bit, before she looked hastily away. She and Lefiya held hands, flustered, only glancing shortly at Bell.
Alise nodded approving, Bell was quite the looker. She smirked slightly when she noticed that even Astrea got flustered by this sight. She gently poked her goddess in the side.
"Lady Astrea, your job."
"Oh, eh, r-right."
Bell sat down on a chair, his back facing Astrea. Even the sight of his bare back got some girls excited. Alise handed Astrea a short knife, it was a very small version of the sword of justice that belonged to the goddess in heaven. The goddess gently poked her finger and let divine blood fall on Bell´s back, runes appeared immediatelly.
"Bell, did you had a blessing before?"
"No, you are my first, lady Astrea."
Mmmh!
Astrea didn´t understood why she got red from that sentence of Bell. Alise, Kaguya and Lyra showed a smug grin when they saw the expression on their godesses´ face.
After she was done, Kaguya handed her one of the special papers. Astrea waited a bit after she was done.
"Ahm, Bell...what is this?"
"Hm?"
"You said you never had a blessing before and I know that you didn´t lied, but...this is strange."
.
.
Bell Cranel
Belongs to: Astrea Familia
Bound to a spirit
Level: 2
Strength: 303
Endurance: 388
Dexterity: 315
Agility: 329
Magic: 266
Luck: I
Abnormal Resistance: I
Magic: Firebolt (short chant magic)
Skill: Blood of Zeus
.
.
Blood of Zeus: Grants increased growth and lightning elemental resistance.
.
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When Bell saw the paper, he was more than confused. "Eeeeeeeeeeh?"
"Hah, Bell, normally adventurers start with 10 at each stat and don´t have additional abilities or magic, but you are level two on top of that! But what confuses me the most, what is this bound to a spirit?"
"Oh, that should be Ais."
"Ais?"
"She is a childhood friend of mine, we lived the last seven years together and she was always present when I trained with my father."
"Hah, so it is like that..."
Alise looked confused at her goddess. "Lady Astrea?"
"It looks like Bell has the blessing of a spirit, which means he could rise in his status without having a Falna, that was also the reason why he was able to go up a level without doing that, it had been like that in the past before we gods came down to the surface. Like the hero Albert Waldstein. Bell, how long did you train with your father?"
"For three years now, he had to be very carefull at first, saying something about the strength of a level four adventurer."
"Your father is a level four adventurer?"
"Was, he retired to live in peace with my mother."
"Wow, you are nearly as strong as Lefiya already."
Bell smiled to the shy elf. "So we both worked hard, ehehe."
"Mmmh! You f-filthy man! Put some clothes on already!"
"Oh, right, sorry."
It really helped when Bell put his shirt on again, the sight of his naked upper body was distracting for more than one member.
"Hmm, Bell where is Ais now?"
"Ahm I think she went around the city."
"W-Wait!" Filvis perked up.
"Filvis?"
"So that tiny woman with the green glow around her!"
Lefiya also looked up. "Right! The one in the class of lady R-"
.
At the same time in another Mansion of a Familia.
"Woah, Riveria, this bath is so biiiig!"
"You say that about everything, Ais."
"Well everything is big for me, thank you for letting me stay over!"
"You´re welcome."
On her second day in Orario, Ais had met an adult elf with jade colored hair and eyes, giving classes at the academy for now. Ais had taken a liking to the elf immediatelly, she was really curious about the academy and the city, following Riveria around, sitting on her desk in the class and listening.
She was too carefree to notice how surprised the elf was that a spirit suddenly followed her around. Riveria hadn´t invited Ais to the Mansion of her Familia, the spirit just followed her. The elf felt a strong urge to care for this girl.
"Hmm, I would like to show Bell this bath."
Riveria looked down to Ais, the spirit sat on Riveria´s left forearm, so she wouldn´t sink too far in the bath.
"Bell?"
"My fiance!"
"Eh!?"
.
.
The Astrea Familia was really fascinated about their new member and Bell Cranel would soon discover the problems about living in a house filled with beautiful women. And the women living there would discover their own problems to have a man suddenly around them.
.
.
High up in the big tree in Orario, Ryu sat in a kind of meditation and comunicated with the tree, she loved it here. But after a week, she decided to go and look for Bell again, she felt that he had moved to another place. She flapped her wings one time and flew into the direction where she sensed Bell.
.
.
In the dorm for the women at the academy, a young black haired woman took care of her weapons and armor, while sitting in a dignified far eastern pose on her legs in her room. A knock from her door let her look up.
"Yes?"
"Mikoto, are you still awake?"
"Chigusa, yes come in."
"Oh, so father already gave you your present."
"Ehehe, yes. I´m so happy about that."
Both young women were from the far east, raised as orphans by a god, before they accompanied him to Orario, together with a young man named Ouka. They both loved the god very much, he was the father they never had. And while they went to the academy, both and Ouka received a sholarship since someone returned a favor to Takemikazuchi, they searched for informations about a certain someone, a dear friend since childhood.
"Hehe, it´s good you like it."
"Yes, I nearly like it as much as you do Ouka."
"Mmmmh! M-M-Mikoto!"
The ninja-samurai girl from the far east liked to tease her "sister" sometimes a bit.
She herself had no experience with love.
So far...
.
.
In another part of the city, a young woman with long golden hair, two pointy ears and a fluffy fox tail looked up when someone knocked at her door.
"Please come in."
It was an amazon in purple clothes that came in.
"Haruhime, you ready?"
"Yes."
"Good, take your coat. Samira and Lena will go with us into the dungeon, a small Expedition if you want."
"Understood, Ms. Aisha."
Aisha noticed by the movement of Haruhime´s ears and tail that she seemed to be a bit sad again. The amazon wished she could do something for her "little sister", but she couldn´t go against her goddess.
She really could need a hero to save her.
.
.
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Authors Note: So, the build up of the Astrea Familia is basically the same as in "Change of Fates". Since many people wanted to see how it would be for Bell to be in such a Familia.
And don´t worry, I would never forget Haruhime.
That Bell leveled up due to Ais being with him seemed to be logical, since the same happened with Albert and Aria.
The start with the school may not have been perfect but I somehow couldn´t make it better, since Orario´s academy where Lefiya and Eina went in the main story, isn´t exactly like a normal school or high school.
And since this is a Harem story, Bell will, well have a Harem.
But not his whole Familia, that would be a bit much.
About Alfia, Ais and Ryu, they will appear now and the, but be mostly side characters. Ryu and Ais have their own stories and Alfia plays a main role in Change of Fates.
And just before I get asked again, No Bell also won´t bang his aunt in this story.
