Bell Cranell
Level One
Strength: I-82 → H-121
Defense: I-13 → I-43
Utility: I-96 - H-140
Agility: H-172 → G-226
Magic: I-0
I was currently back at the church, reading the paper that showed Bell's stats.
"Um... Goddess. Are you sure this is right?" Bell was currently reading his stats. "I only got hit once today, but my defense stat went through the roof!"
"..."
"Goddess? Goddess?"
'Hmph!" Seemingly in a bad mood, Hestia walks up to the closet, pulling out her uniform before walking to the door.
"I have something to do for my part-time job. Have fun spending the rest of the day by yourself!" Stomping past him to the exit, she slammed the door so hard the church shook.
Apparently, Bell had received a new skill called Liaris Freese after being saved by Ais Wallenstein, a famous level five adventurer. In order to repay her, he had vowed to close the strength gap between them. The skill Liaris Freese would increase the speed of his growth as long as his feelings for Ais lasted.
"Geez, really Bell. Looks like she's in a bad mood!" I grinned lecherously at him.
"..." Bell looked confused and crestfallen, like a child scared by their parent's anger.
Hoping to cheer him up, I hugged his back, smiling reassuringly.
"Don't worry about that! Since we made so much money in the dungeon today, I'll let you treat me to a meal! You won't let me down, right Bell?~"
"Ehh. I guess it's fine." He scratched his head awkwardly.
...
By the time we got ready, the sun was slowly setting. Adventurers roamed the area, enjoying the hustle and bustle of Orario's nightlife. Bell and I were currently roaming main street, looking for a well-known pub, the Hostess of Fertility.
Apparently, Bell had met one of the serving girls there, who made him promise to come to eat here tonight.
"... This should be it." Bell pulled on the sleeve of my shirt, dragging me to a large two-story building made of stone. An enticing aroma gathered at the entrance.
Woah. The place was packed full. Bell wasn't kidding when he said it was popular!
"Bell?" A serving girl with gray hair greeted him. A nametag on her apron identified her as Syr. "Welcome!"
We follow her inside, heading towards a corner seat.
"Please be seated. Just tell me when you're ready to order!" She winked at Bell, causing him to blush.
Oh, are you embarrassed already, Bell? To be fair, it wasn't hard to fluster him.
Despite how late it was, customers still entered the pub in a steady stream. Bell had ordered a large plate of pasta, which I quickly nabbed and began eating. What? I was hungry and couldn't help myself!
"Hey Bell, you're really don't want any?" I asked him with my mouth stuffed full of food. "I don't mind feeding you if you want." I held out my fork at him.
"I-I'd like to pass on that…"
Bell politely declined. Ugh, how disappointing.
"You don't have to mind it so much, you know? You treated me for today, so I'd like to pay you back~"
"Um… in that case-" As he was about to respond, our conversation was interrupted by a wave of commotion near the front of the bar.
"Hey...isn't that Ais!?" Waves of awe echo through the crowd as a blonde girl walks inside the bar.
"Ooooh!"
"Hey, that's the Loki Familia!"
Bell suddenly flinches in his seat upon their arrival, staring intently at Ais, who walks by us towards a large dining table.
"B-Bell?" I tried calling out to him, but it was no use. His attention was focused entirely on her.
The Loki Familia really did look impressive. Instead of just a human composition, I noticed an elf, a werewolf, two amazons, and even a dwarf.
I grinned at Bell, who was still staring at them.
"You're really interested in Ais, aren't you?"
"Um, yeah, I know it seems that way, but…"
"Exactly. You're in love with her!" I teased him playfully.
"N-no! I mean she's my type but…"
"So wait, are you perhaps, actually in lov-"
"Stop! I don't want to talk about this now! Let's finish the meal and leave." Bell started eating, forcefully putting an end to my accusations.
"Hey, Ais! Tell us that one story!". Someone from the Loki Familia calls out, his voice ringing clearly across the room.
"Yeah, you know, the one where you hunted down the minotaur that escaped the seventeenth floor and was about to kill tomato boy!"
Bell suddenly stiffens in his seat, clenching his fists tightly, looking embarrassed.
That day I first met him… he was covered in blood. Were... they talking about him?
"It's weak adventurers like him that give us a bad name. Trash is trash! You shouldn't have wasted your time on him!".
"Bete, are you drunk?" someone from his familia asks him, but the gray-haired werewolf continues, uncaring.
"I don't understand why you even saved him? Did he catch your fancy? If that boy came up and told you he liked you, would you accept him?" He pauses, a nasty smile slowly forming on his face.
"Of course you wouldn't! A weak kid like him who's so nauseating to be around could never be with you! There's no way you would return his feelings!"
Bell stands up slowly, turning away from me so I can't see his expression, but his posture makes him look so weak and alone. His body trembled. He definitely knew what the beastman was talking about.
I couldn't take this anymore. Couldn't he see how much Ais' opinion meant to Bell?
"But really! It's been so long since I saw someone so pathetic, so-"
Raising my hand, I forcefully blasted him out of the bar.
Hahaha! Take that annoying wolf dude! He'd landed on his butt just past the door, looking at me with huge surprised eyes. I wasn't done yet! I wanted to thoroughly punish him for hurting Bell.
Angrily walking over to him, I held my palm up and closed my fist, as if tightly gripping something. Similarly, Bete's body floated up as if it had been grabbed by a large, invisible hand. Acting quickly, before his familia could come to the rescue, I dropped Bete, who was now cursing me with profanities, into a garbage bin outside the door of the bar, closing the lid on top of him.
"Hmph!" I exclaimed with a pleased expression, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Who's the trash now! Right Bell?"
"...Bell?!"
Bell was nowhere to be found.
...
I was currently running around the streets of Orario, asking bystanders if they say Bell.
A kind looking man with dark blue hair motioned to me, and I ran right over in an instant.
"Did you see someone with white hair run past here?!" Too panicked for formalities, I grabbed the man by the shoulders and shook him back and forth.
"Yes…" He replied.
Guiding me by my shoulders, he turned me around and pointed to the tower of Babel looming threateningly in the distance.
...
The presence of the dungeon was becoming much stronger. I didn't notice it much on the earlier floors, but as I descended deeper and deeper in search of Bell, I felt it was much more suffocating than before.
"Die, die, die…" Each time a monster lunged at me, I pierced it with a column of air, or squeezed it until it dissipated into dust, dropping a magic stone on the floor.
How many floors had I descended now? I lost count. The dungeon constrained me until I could barely feel any of my aura, much less sense for Bell. If this continued, I would have to start using my divine powers just to stay here.
The walls around me kept shifting around, closing behind me, forcing me to go deeper.
Another monster had spawned in front of me, but this time it had a goatlike head with a glinting purplish exoskeleton. Unlike the other ones, I somehow wasn't able to squeeze it until it disintegrated, so I opted for a more brutal way of combat.
Holding out my palm, I aimed and sent a fast flying spear of air hurtling right into it. Yes! A direct hit!
"Huh?..."
Too fast for me to react, the monsters tail suddenly pierced into my body, lifting me through the air and smashing me into the dungeon wall. I gasped. It felt like my side was on fire. I coughed once, tasting blood.
I tried standing up, but it felt as if my entire body was broken. This was bad. The dungeon was continuously draining my energy. If I died here, I didn't know the consequences it would have on my actual body.
Seeing an opportunity, the monster rushed right towards me, but this time I was ready. Not taking any chances, I brought all my remaining power to bear, blasting at him with a beam of white light. A deafening boom split the air around me, as the dungeon walls in a 30 meter radius disintegrated from the pressure.
"..."
The smoke cleared, and the monster was gone.
Phew! I was almost out of energy, and the dungeon's aura made it hard to recharge quickly. It was probably in my best interest to head back and hope I had somehow passed Bell along the way.
"Hu-" Something shifted right behind me, and I felt a heavy ram me in the back, sending me barreling across the floor and gasping for air.
As I lay on the floor, the thing came at me again, but I was completely helpless this time.
My blood smeared streaks across the ground. I couldn't process what was going on, only that my body was being continuously battered around.
Oh no... If Bell met one of these things, he would be in trouble. I desperately extended my aura outwards, trying to sense for him.
….
...
There! He was kilometers above me, on an upper floor. Using the last of my power, I willed a portal outside Hestia's church and blasted him in.
I felt lightheaded. I was smashed into the ground once again, but I couldn't even feel the pain. Instead, it seemed to be coming from a long ways off…
...
"...es.." Huh?
"..u, i..iot" Oh Someone was mumbling near my ears.
I shifted around, eyes still closed, but smiling. I felt so safe with their presence near me. I held my arms out and and reaching out blindly, I managed to grab something soft. Pulling it towards me, I nuzzled it with my head, before grinning and falling back asleep.
...
When I woke up, I found myself on a large bed, squished between the wall and something that was holding me firmly. I turned around, finding myself face to face with someone who I was very familiar with.
My creators face looked cute as ever, though his soft hair was tousled beyond recognition, making it seem like he was stressed out about something.
I lept on his body, pressing myself onto his legs, but not saying anything.
"...What is it?"
He sat up, looking displeased. But his face was filled with an emotion I rarely got to see; relief. Normally I wouldn't get to enjoy this kind of relaxing, comforting atmosphere around him.
"H-hey." I nervously greeted him. I knew he wasn't happy about this.
"...You know you almost died in the dungeon right? I had to spend lots of resources saving you and repairing the damage."
"A-ah… thank you."
A period of awkward silence elapsed, before he continued further.
"Why didn't you use your divine power to save yourself? It would have saved me the trouble of dragging you back here."
"Oh, really? I thought I wasn't allowed to..." I looked at the ground, dejected.
"I shouldn't complain that you took my words so seriously, but… Haaaa…" Letting out a sigh, he leaned back against the wall.
"You should prioritize your safety, ok?"
Wow! This was one of the rare times he showed me any signs that he cared at all. I couldn't let this pass.
"Ah-hah! I knew you cared! You were watching me the whole time, weren't you?"
"You're annoying. Don't get the wrong idea, you idiot. You're too expensive to be damaged in any way."
The god looked like he was fuming, very similar to a child that didn't get his way.
"Ahaha~ getting so embarrassed. You're so cute." I couldn't help but tease him some more.
"T-thats not the case! You're wrong!" He looked flustered, but coughed and attempted to get the conversation back on track.
"A-anyways, you know that gods aren't supposed to enter that deep into the dungeon right? Something in there has a deep grudge against Ouranos and his kind."
He suddenly looked pleased, as if thinking of something.
"Why don't you create a familia and have them act under you? This way you won't be exposed to as much danger."
"...If you put it that way, I guess it's a good idea." I replied, hesitant.
"Still… what was that thing that totally destroyed me? It totally outclassed all the high level adventurers I met recently, even Ais. If that thing comes up, isn't humanity totally doomed?"
The creator god gazed at me worriedly.
"It was a juggernaut, created by the dungeon itself for the sole purpose of killing you. It can only exist for a temporary period of time because of how much energy it uses, so you don't have to worry about it coming to the surface."
He looked at me directly before continuing.
"Anyways, it only happens if the dungeon is worried strongly about something. I wouldn't get too wrapped up in one of these incidents, since even if you die, I can reform you and send you back. Now get back and go form your familia. I've saved all the high tier magic stones you can exchange for money". He spread out a dozen bag overflowing with magic stones of various sizes.
"Oh really!" I perked up, pleased know I would at least have some money now. The stones were all of high quality, and from my past experience trading stones with Bell, I knew each one was worth at least 75,000 valis. There had to be at least ten thousand in total!
"Woah~ Thank you!" I lept at the god, hugging him in pure joy.
"It's fine. Now go, get out of here and stop pestering me." He replied, struggling out of my grasp.
Oh, right. I should head back and see if Bell was alright. Now that I was used to it, I could feel his aura just fine, so I wasn't too worried. I gathered all the bags into a large pile, before stepping inside a portal that would take me back to the lower realm.
...
It turned out my magic stones were of exceedingly high quality, which meant after I sold them all to the adventurer's desk, I walked away with a sum of 400 million.
Using my newfound wealth, I had someone buy me an existing mansion near the Apollo familia after paying the owner exorbitant sum of 200 million valis. I wasn't too worried about valis, since it seemed like strong monsters were worth 100k each. Once my familia was established, it wouldn't be hard to start earning much more.
As for my familia members, I asked around, hoping people would be interested, but considering I was a relatively unknown goddess, nobody would join, no matter how much I begged.
By now it had been almost two weeks since I came back. I was so busy with recruiting I had yet to met Bell, but from sensing his aura I knew he was fine. I was currently sitting on the second floor balcony of "Cafe Wishe", a popular coffee shop near my home, trying to spot some promising young guys who wouldn't mind being part of my familia.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp…
"Fuah!" I had finished my eighth cup of coffee by now. What? To my defense, it was really good coffee!
It was pretty dejecting trying to collect members. Despite the fact that I was now wealthy, not many people were willing to risk joining my familia, instead hoping to join the larger, well known ones. My only hope was to try to recruit on a one on one basis.
...
…..
…..
Oh?! Someone caught my eye. It was a young man, maybe around 18, who had a solid build, with an average looking face accompanied by black hair. Sure, he didn't look like much, but his aura was way out of wack from everyone else. Maybe it was worth recruiting him?
Since there was a large crowd and I wasn't willing to lose track of him, I decided on the more direct route, and lept straight down, aiming for his back.
Oomph. Instead of his back, it seemed I had stomped directly down on his head, knocking him straight onto the floor. Oops…
He got up quickly, turning around and glaring at me.
Uehhh, please don't look at me like that.
Without any care, I kneeled down on the ground before him, pushing my head directly to the ground.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! But please… join my familia?!"
He looked a bit taken aback at my sudden prostration.
"Rather than apologizing, how about you give me a proper explanation. What are you doing?"
"I'm a goddess! I was just hoping to collect you for my familia…"
"Never seen you before. In consideration of that, I refuse."
"What?! I mean, I'll give you a signing bonus of 50 million valis?" I clung to his body like a koala, my chests pressing against his face.
"Get off me you little…" Pushing me off him with a noticeable blush, he looked at me, sizing me up.
"If you'll really give me the 50 million valis, I'll join your familia, whatever that is."
Yes! At last! Two weeks of searching bore fruit!
"Speaking of which, what's your name? I'm Kaito by the way."
...