Ooh, this guy was annoying.

Bell tried his best to let the obvious insults not get at him, he would just finish his food and go home.

"So what happened was a bunch of minotaurs were able to make it to the upper floors, we got most of them but one got loose. And a white haired guy who was obviously in over his head decided to try and take it on, but he didn't even manage to make a scratch! He was completely defenseless!" The werewolf laughed.

What? That was completely wrong.

"Cut it out Bete." Bell recognised the voice belonged to the elf woman, Riveria. "You're clearly drunk, it was our fault the minotaurs even got out onto those floors, the boy even fighting that thing was due to our mistake. Besides, I'm pretty sure Ais didn't describe him as defenseless."

Thank goddess, maybe now-

"HUH!? When did I ask for your point of view, old hag!?" Nevermind. "It's obvious Ais pitied how weak he looked, so tried to hype him up a little! The dungeon isn't a place for weaklings!"

Syr looked on in what seemed to be worry as Bell took a deep breath while gritting his teeth. He started to slightly scratch his neck, the itch wasn't as bad as when he wanted to kill the minotaur, but it was still there."B-Bell?"

He wanted to kil- NO! That was wrong, this isn't the same society that solely relied on heroes to save them, no symbol that was clearly an annoyance more than a help. And even if this guy was acting like an asshole, he could just take his frustrations out in the dungeon.

"He must have been so embarrassed! Imagine getting saved by a girl! Hahaha!" Bete laughed.

THAT DIDN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THIS GUY WAS ANNOYING!

Bete leaned in Ais' face. "Come on, Ais! Tell us the truth! He was a little pissy wimp wasn't he!? If someone like that came up to you and said he liked you, would you date him!? Or would you date me!?"

Bell finished the last of his food as he looked straight, not making eye contact with Syr. "How much is my total? I have to do something really quick."

Bell vaguely heard his total, coming around twelve hundred valis, as he was deep in thought. 'If this was back then, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Sensei always supported my decisions.'

"The guy is a total loser! Sure I talk tough too, but I could at least back it up!" That voice.

'But everyone in my village was so kind, some of them always telling me to look at the good side of things. And I've always done that even when my grandfather died, I looked at it as an opportunity to grow up and go be an adventurer.' Bell took out the valis and put it down on the counter. 'But then I got these memories, now I want to destroy, but I know that blind murder is just wrong. Maybe there's an exception down the line. But I won't know for sure if I act like I did back then right now. I lived most of this life in my village, and have only been in Orario for a couple of weeks. The fact that this is my first time in a restaurant doesn't help.'

"I mean, the fact Ais saved him just proves even SHE thought he couldn't handle it!" That voice.

'But even so, I doubt I could just up and kill him if he's hanging out with Ais, considering she's a level 5, he should be around the same range. Plus, even if I did kill him, I would have to deal with his familia, and I would probably get blacklisted. It just wouldn't be a good idea even if I was the exact same back then.' Bell stood up and looked towards the werewolf man. 'A part of me just wants to ignore him and walk out.' He started walking towards him. 'But I really hate how high and mighty he's sounding.'

"So c'mon, stop sugarcoating it and tell us what really happened!" That voice was annoying.

'I don't want to kill him… Well, not entirely.'

"Ais!"

'And I don't want to ignore it either.'

He was standing right next to him, the familia members noticed him, Riveria giving a slight sound of surprise while Ais just stared. 'I guess I'll improvise.'

Bete didn't seem to notice. "I'll take your silence as a-"

"Shut up." Bell finally said.

"Huh? Who the…" Bete looked at Bell, after a few seconds he smirked as he got off the table and pushed the chair he was sitting on away. "Hey. White hair, red eyes, HA! I was just talking about you little shrimp."

"Oh? That's nice, I couldn't tell because you kept barking so much like an animal." Bell said. "You really shouldn't spread false rumors around. You don't even know anything about me."

The happiness of his drunken state seemed to leave him as he snarled. "Tch, a scrawny looking guy like you doesn't even look like he could stand up to a goblin. What level are you eh?"

"One."

"HA!" Bete sneered again. "You expect me to believe a weak ass looking level one like you put up a fight against a minotaur?"

"Weak huh?" Bell said as he observed Bete's apparence. "Am I supposed to think you're strong just because you got some fancy shit on you? For all I know you could just be talking out of your ass." Obviously Bell knew he probably wasn't, but he didn't care.

Bete glared as he put his right foot on his chair, reached out his right hand, and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "You wanna go!? I can show you just how weak you are! Hell, my boots alone are probably worth more than what you've ever made!"

"Bete!" Bell didn't even look, it was Riveria. "Stop, don't start a fight here!"

"Oh, so in every way I'm inferior to you right?" Bell smirked.

"Now you're getting it, you moron." He huffed as he let go of his shirt and instead leaned against his leg with his right arm. "And even if it was true that you fought back, you were clearly too weak to kill it, so what the hell is your argument huh?"

Ok, that irritated him. He took a look at the boot that was on the chair, he seemed to have some praise for it… It should do. Bell took off his right glove off his right hand. "You know what I think 'Bete'?" He emphasized the name, since it was the first time he actually addressed him with it. "Someone who thinks they are above the majority of others, shouldn't rely on such high level looking equipment." Bell casually put his hand on the top of his boot's forefoot. He didn't know if it was because of his casual action, but Bete didn't react in anger right away.

"Hmph, well that's just the way it works, maybe on- WHAT THE HELL!" Ah, he must have finally realised the cracks forming on his boots. It really was some high level stuff, it was cracking so slowly.

Oh, he should probably mo-

Bete stumbled, probably out of surprise, but was able to slightly hit Bell with his boot that Bell touched. It tapped his forehead with the end of his boot.

And it fucking hurt. Bell stumbled back as he grit his teeth, Bete regained his footing as he glared at Bell. "YOU BASTARD! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" He seemed to sober up.

One of the brown colored twins with the smaller chest size looked confused and stood up to look at Bete's boot. "Did he do something?"

Bete seemed to ignore her.

Even though his head hurt, Bell still managed a smirk. "You were talking so high and mighty, a powerful high level adventurer that could easily destroy a minotaur, right? And yet a mere level one was able to damage your equipment."

A lot of people's attention was now on them. Actually, it already was before, but he wasn't paying attention until now.

"Oh shit!"

"Woah, he's right, it looks cracked."

"Maybe he was just lying about being a level one."

"I'm confused."

"Bastard! Come here and take a beating like a man!" Bete yelled.

Bell sneered at the response. "You don't seem to get it, do you? You stupid mutt." Bell wanted to get this guy off his pedestal. He was about to shout more insults until he heard a loud slam at the bar counter.

Bell looked to see it was the big woman who gave Bell his food, Mama Mia if he was correct. "HEY! IF YOU GUYS HAVE BEEF, TAKE IT OUTSIDE! STOP RUINING EVERYONE'S GOOD TIME!"

…Ok that was kind of scary if Bell had to be honest.

"Y-Yeah, please stop Bell." Syr was behind her.

Bell glanced at Bete, to see Ais right in front of Bete.

"Bete, stop, calm down." She said simply.

Bete scoffed as he looked over Ais' shoulder. "Whatever, I don't want to waste my time on a weakling." He seemed to calm down for the most part after that. What? Did he have a crush on her or something?

Bell scoffed back as he put his hoodie on and shoved his hands in his pockets and started to quickly walk out. "Eat shit, jump off a bridge, go away."

When Bell left the building, he decided to make a B-line to the dungeon. He needed to take his frustrations out more.

/

Ais didn't know whether to chase the boy or not, she quickly decided that she should calm down her familia member first.

Bete growled as he put his right foot on the chair and inspected the damage. "Geez! That's so annoying, how the hell did that fucker even manage to do that!?"

Riveria huffed. "That's what happens when you spew your mouth like that."

Ais hummed as she nodded. But maybe it was partially her fault, she could have corrected Bete's version of the story. But Bete seemed so persistent in his own story.

Finn got up and leaned in to look at the boot. "I do have to kind of agree though, that did do a bit of damage, and it didn't even look like he did anything in particular."

It was probably a skill to be honest. She didn't think it was magic, since most magic spells require chanting. But was he really a level one?

Tiona chuckled. "That guy was like a depressed version of Bete."

"Huh!?" Bete turned to Tiona who just chuckled. "Don't compare me to that little bastard!"

Ais sighed, this was a common thing with Bete to be honest. He really needed to work on his attitude.

"So." Riveria said, gaining Ais' attention. "Was that what you meant by him being able to fight back? All you told me was that he was able to fight back."

In Ais' story, she just gave an abridged version, just basically the same thing she told Riveria the first time. "Yeah, I only saw the minotaur's state for a second so I didn't want to make any assumptions on what that was."

But still, she tried to apologize to the boy right then and there about Bete, and about the potential kill steal from yesterday.

But he decided to quickly leave of course. Plus it might have been a little awkward considering the atmosphere that was caused by the drama.

"Hm." Riveria hummed. "He's a unique one, if this was my first time seeing him, I would agree with Tiona to be honest."

Oh, she was probably talking about how the boy gave a genuine apology after being rude. "Hmm." Ais hummed as she went back to her seat next to Riveria

"Oh, and why is that?" Loki suddenly popped up between her and Riveria.

Riveria didn't seem phased though, and if Ais was honest, neither was she. "A certain interaction, goddess Loki…"

"Oh? I see. But still…" Ais looked at Loki to see a genuine look of interest. "I wonder…"

"Goddess?" Ais said.

"Huh, oh it's nothing. Anyways, Ais let me check your body for injuries! What if Bete accidentally hit the table or that kid's weird ability spread-"

Ais hit her on the head.

/

Bell gritted his teeth. This isn't enough. He wanted to destroy more. Floor six wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough, so what did Bell do? He went into floor seven of course. The floors were not really too different, just different stronger monsters, like four whole new monsters.

But he didn't care, he wasn't here to strategically level up. Tonight was a destruction night for monsters.

Bell sneered as he forced open the mouth of a needle rabbit and shoved his hand down its throat. 'Why does it always come back to monsters? A whole argument happened just because I couldn't kill that god damn minotaur. That stupid fucking minotaur!'

Another needle rabbit charged in as the other dispersed, Bell threw his right hand toward it, as it used it's horn to stab said hand. Bell didn't care, he used that to keep it in place as he gripped it's head.

No potions, he didn't pass by his home to get anything, he would make sure he would be able to make it home. But for now…

A couple of purple moths came out of the wall along with more needle rabbits.

…He would destroy as much as he could.

/

Hestia frowned as she stepped outside.

Bell didn't come home last night. At first she thought he was just coming home late, but he wasn't doing any of his 'experiments' at least as far as she knew. And just the fact he didn't sound like he was planning on going into the dungeon last night, he only said he was going out to a restaurant.

Bell was a strange one, but even still, she thought she had him figured out to a degree, and now he pulls something like this.

What if he decided to leave her?

No, that couldn't be right, his equipment was still here.

Before anymore thoughts like that could pop up in her head, she heard light footsteps and grunting from a distance. Since the streets were empty right now it was really quiet, so it was easy to notice.

At the end of the street, there was Bell. And he was covered with blood! "Bell!?" Hestia immediately rushed to Bell's side. "Bell, what happened!?"

Bell groggily kneeled with both legs. "...I went… Into the dungeon." He sounded drained.

"You went into the dungeon, why?" He told her he was going out to a restaurant tomorrow. And you couldn't lie to a god or goddess. He could have just not mentioned it…

"...I had to… do something… and… oww…" Bell drawled, clutching the left side of his chest.

Hestia shook her head, that didn't matter right now. "You can explain it to me later. Let's get you inside, Bell."

"I have my gloves on right?" He quickly said before Hestia was able to make a move.

Hestia ched his hands to see that he did indeed have his gloves on. "Yes, you do, Bell."

"...Good, I… Don't want to hurt you…" Bell said.

Hestia held her emotions from bursting, and help carried him up. "Let's just get you inside. You have some potions left from what I saw."

"Hmm…"

Bell was barely able to walk, even with Hestia's support. "I overreacted… Last night." He said.

"Huh?" Hestia sounded.

"I went into… the restaurant like a… normal customer." Bell sighed. "But then… a member of the loki familia or whatever… just kept badmouthing me… it made me so damn angry."

From the Loki familia? Ugh, of course he had to have drama with her familia. Wait? Was it that Ais whatever!? "Was it that girl who saved you who said that?"

"No… just some guy named Bete… I don't really care anymore." He said.

Oh, that was good. That would have added salt to the wound, he expressed his anger for not being able to kill the minotaur, if the person who saved him mocked him for that… She shook her head, as she balanced Bell with her right side and opened the door with her left. Once they were in, she helped him downstairs.

Once they were downstairs in the room, Hestia helped Bell sit down on the edge of the bed, he looked down with his arms resting on his legs. "Uhm, let me get you your potions, Bell."

"Hmm."

Hestia went to the corner of the room, where Bell's bag was. She quickly searched through it, until she felt glass touch her hand. She pulled out a couple of potions that were gathered together, there seemed to be seven in total, she took them all, she didn't know how much she would actually need

Once she grabbed them, she rushed to Bell. She looked over Bell and checked him to see where the injuries were. After a few minutes, she used a total of five to heal him for the most part.

After she tossed the empty potion to the side, she sighed as she sat next to Bell. "Bell, you can sleep on the bed today, come on."

"...Thank you goddess. I'll explain everything… when I wake up… then I'm going to… get stronger." Bell said as he let his body fall backwards onto the bed.

Hestia sighed once again, the way he fell, he wasn't in a good position, so Hestia helped him out. "..."

Bell wanted to get stronger, that was obvious from the start, and the way he would find ways to up his abilities made it more obvious. But hearing it come out of Bell's mouth made Hestia want to help him. She had done nothing but whine and hold information from him.

The latter would still have to happen unfortunately… But hopefully not for long. The only reason she was doing it, was because if anyone found out about that skill, the other gods would want him. But what if they showed interest in his decay skill? Ugh, but there was also the fact that she didn't know what would happen if Bell found out. Liaris Freese was the name of the skill, and he got exponential growth as long as he maintained his feelings. If Bell were to find out about it, it could hinder his growth more than help, being self aware of the skill and trying to force your emotions didn't sound like a good idea. Especially how Bell loved to 'exploit' things.

She really didn't want to hold information from her only child, but this was for his good.

/

Freya sat in her quarters in deep thought. 'This new information is fascinating, yet troubling.' She was able to see the power of Bell Cranel's decay through the disguise of a certain somebody in the Hostess of Fertility.

Bell's decay skill was interesting. It was powerful, but at the same time, it wasn't. In a more simpler term, it had its limits, but if you were creative enough with it, it could be deadly. Bell had an argument with one of Loki's children, Bete if she remembered correctly. Apparently there was some false information about Bell, he was assuming when Bell fought a minotaur that he was completely defenseless.

Oh, the fact that Bell apparently fought a minotaur at the fifth floor was again, fascinating, yet troubling. Interacting with him was a delight, seeing him from his nonchalant state to a somewhat sheepish one. But anyway, Bell's words were vague, but memorable. "Well, she possibly might have saved me from a minotaur that was on the fifth floor. Which I'm grateful for, but at the same time, I wanted to kill that minotaur for myself."

Bell didn't seem to be a prideful one, she even upped and asked him if he was, but he just responded with a shake of his head saying it was his right to destroy that thing.

It was a strange saying, but it just intrigued her more.

And seeing Bell use his skill to somewhat damage Loki's child's boots which looked to be made out of mythril material affirmed Freya's earlier thoughts.

Bell was probably able to actually fight back against the minotaur, because of that skill. If it was able to even slightly damage mythril material, then it could damage a monster with tough skin.

But this wasn't good.

She couldn't simply unleash a powerful monster on him to test him. If he could touch a vital spot of a monster, or touch the area where a monster's magic stone was, he could kill a few of the higher level monsters. She doubted it would be as easy as one two, the higher level monsters weren't just stronger, they were faster. But if he relied on his skill too much, he wouldn't level up and grow. At least not entirely. But even he seemed to know his limits, which was good.

So she would still be able to test him, she just had to do some adjusting first.

She smiled to herself as she thought of the upcoming Monsterphilia.

/

Bell yawned as he stretched his arms up. He rubbed his eyes as he smelled food. The only food Hestia ever made with potatoes.

And following that came with Hestia's voice. "Oh, you're awake Bell!"

"Huh?" Oh right, he went all out in the dungeon. "Oh, yeah. How long was I asleep for?" he asked as he looked to see Hestia sitting on the couch with a plate full of her potatoes.

"Four hours."

"Four hours? What time did I come home?" He pondered. He didn't keep track, considering his unyielding rage.

"Around six."

Oh, well there you go. "Well, thanks for taking care of me, goddess."

Hestia chuckled. "Of course Bell, you are my only child after all."

Bell hummed as he regained his thoughts. "Oh, I guess I should completely explain myself huh?"

Hestia shrugged as she grabbed a potato. "Well, you kind of gave me an abridged version yesterday, so I can assume most of it, but you did tell me you would explain."

"Of course I did." Bell sighed.

Bell began from the beginning, telling her how he went into the restaurant and got his food. He didn't mention that it was kind of forced. She got a reaction when he told her he was chatting with one of the waitresses, the person who convinced him to go there in the first place.

"Oh, a waitress huh? What was her name?" Hestia's eyes narrowed.

"Syr, why?" Bell asked uncaringly. 'She's gonna say something dumb or weird isn't she?'

"So… Were you mad for this Syr person?" She asked.

"No."

"You sure?" She asked with more authority. "Do you maybe have feelings for her?"

"What are you, my love coach? First the subtle question about Ais and now this." He deadpanned.

"I just don't want my first child to be snatched up in any type of way!" She all but yelled.

"I told you I'm not gonna leave your familia." He said. Seriously, she was so attached to him. He could maybe understand a little concern but this was just getting slightly annoying.

"Hmph, I'm just making sure for myself." She huffed.

Bell sighed. "Anyway…" He continued his story, about how Bete badmouthed him and how he reacted in anger, and how he used his decay and damaged his boots.

Bell looked up when he heard what sounded like Hestia holding in her laughter. "...Uhm… Goddess?"

"Oh- Snrk- nothing." She muttered something about Loki or something. That was their goddess… Yeah Bell realised something that he didn't care to think about until now. In his memories of… What was it called? Greek mythology? Norse mythology? Tomura never really cared for any of that stuff, he just wanted to play his games and destroy what he hated. But in those games in the greek whatever the fuck it was called, whenever the god named Loki popped up, he was always referred to as a man.

So either that woman who he thought was Loki wasn't Loki, or history was wrong. If… the mythology thing was history, which Tomura never did too much research on…

Bell didn't know anymore. And it didn't matter if this was the past or whatever the hell, cause he didn't really care for that stuff at the time.

Once he finished his story, Hestia hummed. "Well Bell, all I can say is that you should have ignored him."

He didn't want to, but he knows she was right. "I know… I just couldn't help it." Bell said, glancing down.

He felt a hand brush his left cheek, to see Hestia smiling at him. "Well, just know that I'm here to support you, Bell. Don't listen to every negative thing thrown at you."

"..." Bell didn't know what to say to that. But not in a negative way, because she was right.

Hestia sighed as she pointed a finger up. "Well, since you came back from the dungeon. Status update, right?"

Oh, he completely forgot about that. Bell smiled. "Yeah."

Bell got himself in the same position he always did when he got his status updated as he took off his shirt. He realised he still had his gloves on, he would leave them on for now. He felt Hestia sit behind him as he heard some shifting, probably poking her finger to get some blood out and put it on his back. Sure enough, he felt his back slightly warm up as Hestia updated his stats.

A few seconds of silence until Hestia… Made some sort of noise. "Guhk! HUH!?"

"Uhm, what is it?" Was the only thing Bell thought to say.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds. "...Hey Bell, is it ok if I just tell you your stats this time?"

Ha, no. "No."

"Wh- What? Why not?" She exclaimed.

"What's the difference between you telling me and me seeing it?" Bell slightly turned his head. "Unless you're hiding something."

Hestia suddenly laughed. "Ahaha, no I would never do that, you're right I'll just show you your stats."

He felt a piece of paper on his back, and the warmth went away as Hestia took it off of his back. He shifted to an edge of the bed as Hestia gave him his stats, looking at him curiously.

"Hmm."

Bell Cranel - Level 1

Strength H110 - H130

Endurance I65 - H111

Dexterity H150 - H179

Agility G278 - F339

Magic I0 -

Skills - Decay: Has the ability to decay anything with all 5 fingers of each hand.

- L-/-F-/-

Oh, that was… really good. "...Geez, my agility and endurance going up kind of makes sense, but that's still a huge jump."

"That's why I wanted to tell you, to surprise you." Hestia pouted.

"Alright I'm sorry." He gave a half hearted apology as he still processed his stats into his mind.

"You don't sound sorry." Hestia said. "But anyway, as you can see your stats are increasing at an incredible rate. More than usual when you're doing your 'experiments'. Which I'm assuming you weren't doing, right?"

Bell nodded. "Yeah, I just wanted to take some frustrations out."

"Well, all I can say is that I think you have a real talent when it comes to this sort of thing, Bell. But just… Don't push yourself too hard." Hestia said.

Well, he didn't know if he could promise that last part. "Well, if I did that I wouldn't be able to level up. But I'll try not to worry you, goddess."

Hestia suddenly stood up. "Alright!"

"Hm?" Bell sounded.

"Bell, I'm going to be gone for a few days, alright?" Hestia said.

Huh, that was new. Again, he loved his goddess, but she never really did anything as far as he knew. "Where to?"

Hestia chuckled. "I can't tell you that dummy, but I'll try to find you as soon as I'm done."

"Why- Whatever." Bell sighed as Hestia went to the closet and grabbed a coat.

Oh shit, Bell just realised he should probably apologize to Syr for making a scene like that. UGH! But he didn't want to go out, he wanted to play his board games! If he went out he would just go to the dungeon then.

Damn it, why couldn't the dungeon or people be as simple as his board games?

A/N

I told you updates would be slower now that I'm pretty busy. But yeah most of the delay was me spending time with family on Christmas, and I hope you guys enjoyed yours. So hopefully not all updates will be this slow.

And yeah, I'm sure we all know what Freya's disguise is. Volume 16 hurt my head when I first read it.

But yeah, like I said in chapter one, Bell isn't just going to go on a killing spree just because someone calls him names. But I'm sure he'll find an exception down the line, it's just not gonna happen right away.

Also don't look too deep into Bell being confused where Loki is from in mythology. I just thought it would be funny to put it in.

By the way do what you will with Bell being able to slightly decay equipment made of mithril material I dunno. They're not really too specific on the materials but it's a little obvious what the world has. It's not specifically stated but you obviously have your standard iron, steel, and other common ores and metals. Metals and materials like orichalcum and adamantite which are very high class metals and are used in the making of Durandal weapons. And monster parts of course.

Why the hell am I explaining this to you guys, you guys probably already know.

Anyway,

Till next time.