Hey, everyone. I'm popping up more frequently than I thought, despite what I said but I just simply had some time to work on this and I felt like I wanted to show the readers what my ideas were like about Bell's backstory in IF Route. Anyone who's read IF Route up until now knows I never showed what happened before everything started in Chapter 6 and I mentioned I wanted to do a entire separate fic focused on it because I had a lot of ideas for it that probably wouldn't fit the main IF Route fic. Well here was the start of my idea to make Bell's past a entire fic.

I will however give two heads up before we start.

This is 6 months after Bell receives the Falna, so Bell is 11 years old in this fic. And yes he is a Level 1 here.

Second point, and I feel like this is the important one. Due to this story being set outside Orario, do expect OCs to be in the story to give the world more of a setting. It's not like a particularly want to rely on OCs but the harsh fact of the matter is there are barely any relevant characters outside the city because the author barely cares about anything but Orario. so if I want a cast, I have to make my own. If I can find them though, I'll use canon characters outside Orario as well. So while the main family( Bell, Zard, Alfia, Zeus) might be the core of the story, don't get too surprised if you see OCs in the story.


"I'm back, everyone."

A loud voice at the entrance echoed throughout the house. Immediately recognizing the sound Bell hurriedly went to the entrance to greet him. Seeing the large man walk in, he smiled.

"Hi Uncle. How was work?"

In contrast to the boy's excited voice, Zard let out a long sigh. "It was boring. I can't count how many times I wanted to fall only thing worth out of it was the reward."

"Ahahaha…..But it must've been a big job, right?. How much is in the bag?"

"About 300,000 valis. Well we should be fine for a while with the money." As he spoke he pulled out a book from his pack "I bought the book you wanted as well. Fulland of Water and Light right?"

"Yeah! Thanks, Uncle!"

Grabbing the book from Zard, Bell ran to his room as fast as he could. As Zard walked into the living room he was greeted by his god laying on the couch.

"Hey there, Zard. You came fast this time, It's only been 4 days since you left."

"It was just dealing with a group of rampaging monsters in the north. Didn't even take me half a day to clean them all up."

"Well, I suppose there's no need to worry about you when it comes to matters outside Orario."

Seeing his child safe and sound after a job was nothing unusual for Zeus, so he simply went back to the book on his lap.

"Where's Alfia?"

"Outside the house. She just finished training Bell for the day."

"Thanks."

Heading outside the house, he saw Alfia sitting down, reading a book in serene silence. She didn't even glance at him as he walked in and stood by her.

"Hey, Alfia. I got the medicine you wanted."

"Leave it here."

After dropping the medicine pouch, instead of leaving, he sat down next to her and began to talk.

"So, how was his physical training while I was gone?"

"He's advancing fine in terms of skills. Why are you asking?"

"Thought it was about time for Bell to get a glimpse of the outside world. There's a limit to how much he can get staying in the village anyway."

"So you're going to take him to the Wanderers?"

"Yeah"

"..."

"I know what you want to say, but he's going to hit a wall if he keeps relying on us for training sooner or later. He has to experience the world with his own eyes to grow stronger."

"..."

After a few seconds had passed, she nodded in approval. "...Fine. But make sure he comes back alive."

"Of course."

Although dissatisfied she couldn't handle this aspect of his training, she understood Zard's point as well.

"When will you be heading out for your next job?"

"Probably in two weeks."

"That's faster than usual."

Zard usually took jobs every two months or so. There were times where he took a job once a month, but two weeks was his fastest by far.

"No point in dragging it out. I'm not planning to look for a big job or anything this time. Just enough so Bell can get some experience outside."

"Well, that's fine."

Seeing no point to further conversation, she began to read her book again. Zard also stood up and headed to his room, to prepare for the day.


As the training and daily life continued, the two weeks had passed by in a matter of no time. Today was the day Zard had promised. But…

"...Uncle's late."

Bell was waiting outside with his light armor and his knives equipped. During dinner, yesterday, Zard had told him that they were going out, but he didn't receive any details about what they were going to be doing.

Stifling a yawn, Bell waited at the door for a few more minutes before it opened to reveal Zard equipped with his black armor. He held one small pack in his arm and one on his back.

"Sorry about that, just finishing some stuff. Here's your pack." As he spoke, he tossed him the small pack.

"No, it's fine. So are we heading to the forest today?"

Zard shook his head "No. We're going to the city of Flevale."

"Flevale? Isn't that…"

Zard nodded, confirming Bell's suspicions. "Yeah, one of the major cities in the continent. And the place where I usually get my jobs from."

Bell widened his eyes in response." Am I ready to go on those?! You told me that you wouldn't take me last time."

"Of course. I wouldn't take you with me if I didn't think you were ready. Besides for the first few jobs, I'm not gonna ask you to do too much. I just want you to look at the outside world and gain experience from it."

"Ok!"

Bell nodded, but a few seconds later, a question popped up in his mind.

"Um, Uncle."

"What is it?"

"Wasn't Flevale a little far from our village?"

"Well yeah, If you go by horse it'll probably take you 3-4 days. If you go by foot, it'll be double that."

"So we have to travel for 8 days?"

"No need to worry! I've got it all covered."

Zard let out a large grin as if to laugh off Bell's worries. But instead of reassuring him, somehow seeing that grin only made his instincts tell him to get away.

"Um,what exact-"

But before he could do anything, Zard grabbed him with one arm and held him under that arm tightly.

Bell's eyes widened. "Uncle?! What are you doing?!"

"Well, this is the fastest way to get to Flevale. With my speed we can arrive there in a few hours. Just make sure to hang on tight, alright?"

"Wait-"

"No waiting. At your pace it'll take us forever to get there! So let's go!"

Without giving him any time to prepare, Zard began running while carrying Bell. He didn't even gradually increase his speed for the boy, it was a full powered dash out from the gates.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh"

That was the only thing the boy could scream as they headed to the city of Flevale at an inhumane speed.


The City of Opportunities, Flevale.

It was one of the biggest cities known in the west side of the continent and had a large reputation to back it up. Many famous merchants and nobles lived here and made a business in the city, making it one of the wealthiest among the continent as well. While not on the level of some individual countries or a certain city, the city possessed its own military police as well, giving it a sense of security. For such a city filled with riches and opportunity, many people had come to the city to make a new life here.

A marvelous sight welcomed the pair as they entered through the city gates. The scenery highlighting the city's natural beauty, many types of races wandering around the streets in leisure, merchants happily doing business with their customers. It was on a whole different scale from the village Bell had always known, but it looked like a happy place to live in.

As Zard arrived in the city while still holding the boy, he looked around with a smile.

"Finally here, huh? Hm? Hey Bell, are you ok there?"

"...uuuu."

"...I'll take that as a no."

They had traveled at high speeds for hours after all. Even if Bell had some previous training, Level 1s couldn't handle that kind of speed for very long.

"Guess we'll have to postpone going to the bar for a bit. Well, I'm not feeling so great myself so I guess we can rest a while.

"Okkkkk…."

As Zard spoke, a burning pain throbbed at his chest and was increasing by the minute. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle at this point but it didn't change the fact that it could be an annoyance even at his best.

Grabbing the boy, he headed to one of the nearby inns to check out a room. The human innkeeper eyed them nervously, but let them rent a room without any problems.

Setting Bell on one of the beds, he took out a map of the city and left it by the desk on his side, before taking his armor he grabbed a small box from his pack and opened it. Inside were soft green herbs that he had stocked up on previously.

After the battle with Behemoth, Zard was inflicted with a deadly poison that severely damaged him from the inside. In order to deal with it, he used a special herb that was unique to the area north of Dedaine. Using it allowed his condition to stabilize. It wasn't a perfect cure, but it gave him the chance to live a relatively normal life, albeit with some handicaps, so he wasn't complaining.

The best way to get effectiveness out of the herbs was to rest as he took them, so he laid on the other bed and closed his eyes to recover his lost strength.


"...Hmmm."

After sleeping for a few hours, Bell's eyes began to slowly open. He began to drowsily look around in confusion.

"...What's this place? Huh, Uncle? We don't share the same….Oh."

Seeing the man lightly snoring in the bed next to him, had fully awakened him to what happened in the last few hours.

'We're in an inn, huh?

Looking outside, the night was already out with the starry sky shining down on the city. As Bell was wondering what to do, the map on his desk caught his eye.

Did Uncle leave this behind for me in case I woke up first?

Opening the map, as he suspected, was a map of the entire city. But among all the landmarks and areas on the map, there was one odd point that stood out to the boy

"A red mark? It's not a well-known area in the city either?"

Is this the place where Uncle goes for his jobs?

He would have woken up Zard and asked him, but he really didn't want to do that as he had already run hours and probably needed a good rest. At the same time, he hated the idea of sitting around and doing nothing more than anything else.

Mom always said to show some initiative and figure out things yourself.

Nodding his head, he grabbed the pack by his side and headed out of the inn. Zard did say he should gain experience of the outside world. Maybe he would get praise from him if he already started applying his words before they had even started. A smile grew on his face as he headed out to the city.


"Come on over, We've got new products from the famous Empire!"

"Hey, you guys! Let's head over to the after-party at the bar!"

As he walked down the streets of Flevale, most of Bell's small confidence had faded away. Seeing all the ruckus and excitement in the city just made it clear how different it was from the small peaceful village he had lived in. He tried hard not to stand out, but seeing a child out alone was bound to get some strange looks.

"Hey, boy, are you lost?"

A Cat Person boy, along with a chienthrope girl, asked the boy as he walked by nervously. Shaking his head with a weak smile "No I'm fine. Thank you!"

He hurriedly walked as the two gave him a curious look.

Why did I even run away? They were only trying to be nice.

But no matter how he tried to persuade himself with reasoning, he just couldn't stop himself and escaped from the place.

This is pathetic. After all that, I can't even get there without being nervous.

Thankfully as he headed to his destination, the noises from the city became quieter. But soon he realized something was wrong?

I'm….pretty far from the main areas of the city aren't I?

Even though it was already dark outside, the streets in front of him felt different from the happy air he had felt from the city before. It felt shadier and more dangerous.

Did I make a wrong turn somewhere?

But no matter how many times he looked at the map, it confirmed he was going in the right direction.

S-Should I turn back…?

This definitely didn't feel like a place where he belonged. Stepping back, he started to go back to the inn before a voice stopped him.

"Oh, a kid in this area? That's pretty rare."

"!"

A man's voice could be heard behind him. Slowly looking back, there he saw a human man who looked to be in his 40s with black eyes and black hair with a streak of gray. In his right hand, he was holding a paper bag, probably meant to hold groceries or something similar. He looked like a fairly normal man to the boy.

At first at least. Until he looked down and widened his eyes

The man, who saw the look of fear on the boy's eyes, raised his lips in a slight smile as he raised one of his hands.

"Wait, I know what you're going to say. I know I look pretty scary to kids, especially with this leg of mine but I'm just going home."

Yes.

Where the man's two legs should've been, one was missing. Instead of having a leg, he had a stick made of some sort of metal to replace the limb.

The man didn't look offended by the boy's gaze and continued to keep up his smile.

"First time seeing something like this?"

"A-ah, no I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it. I've gotten used to it by now. But if you feel sorry about it, do you mind answering a question?"

"Oh...yes."

Since he was being rude to the man, it would've been awkward if he had left without doing something as a slight apology.

"What's a kid like you doing in this section of the city?"

"Um, I was following a map my Uncle had left. But I think I went down the wrong path."

"Uncle? Wait…"

The man suddenly moved closer until he was right in front of the boy's face

"Wha?!"

"White hair, red eyes…Are you Bell, by any chance?"

"Huh?! How do you know my name?!"

In response the man just grinned "Yeah, I thought so. And that Uncle of yours must be Zard, right?"

"Y-Yes. Are you Uncle's friend?"

"Yeah you could say that. The name's Bernard. Bernard Haynes."

"Nice to meet you, . My name is Bell Cranell!"

Although his voice grew high pitched at the end of his introduction, Bernard didn't seem to mind and looked down at the map Bell was holding.

"It seems like you're going in the right direction to where Zard marked from what I see."

"Really?!"

"Yup. After all…"

Bernard's grin grew larger as he spoke.

"That's my place, The Wanderers."

"Your place? Wait, what?!"

"Well, for now follow me. I'll lead you there."

Staring at the man, dumbfounded, he slowly began to follow behind him as they went down the dark streets.


Thanks to Bernard's familiarity with the layout of the streets, they had managed to arrive at the building in less than 10 minutes.

But there was another problem that worried the boy.

The building that Bernard said he owned, The Wanderers, was a large bar. There were many people inside, some drinking from their mugs happily, some playing poker with others on the tables betting pouches of money, and some looking at a large board at the end of the bar, filled with papers he did not recognize. While Bell had never entered these sorts of places before, he knew a child like him was generally not supposed to be here.

And apparently the feeling was mutual as many people saw the boy walk in with Bernard and eyed him suspiciously.

I can't do this! I want to go home!

This was so much worse than being stared at by the people in the streets earlier. The views were much more concentrated than before and some even looked at him with disgust. Particularly from a scar faced man on the left side of the bar.

'Well for now, you can sit here."

"Yes….."

Pointing to a seat in front of the bar. Bernard walked over to the other side where a werewolf girl was and nodded to her. Seeing this, the girl nodded as well and walked out of the bar area. Then he began pulling out a glass and asked.

"What would you like to drink? Water? Juice? Or ale?

"Um, water, please."

Deciding the last option was a joke, he went for the safest option.

"All right. Here you go."

"Thank you."

Grabbing the glass, he took a large gulp all at once. Bernard smiled softly and began to talk.

"So, why did you need to come here to the Wanderers in the first place?"

"Well, Uncle said I was ready for the outside world and he would take me along for the jobs he does."

"Huh. So that's how it is. So he wants you to learn how to be a mercenary."

"A mercenary?"

Bell tilted his head. It wasn't like he was unfamiliar with the term, he thought adventurers used to be called mercenaries and the term referred to them. But the way Bernard made it sound as if it was different.

"Did Zard not tell you anything?" asked Bernard

"No, not really."

"That guy….Before sending someone here, he should've at least told you the basics.

Letting out a sigh, Bernard shook his head in disbelief.

Actually I was the one who decided to come here. Though I probably shouldn't say that.

Keeping his thoughts to himself, he continued to ask questions.

"So what is a mercenary?"

"Ah, well the meaning is pretty simple. It's a person who works for others in order to fulfill their client's requests. The requests can pretty much vary from anything as long as it pays"

"Anything?"

"Yes, I do mean "anything" whether it refers to jobs that are on the legal side of things or on the more unpleasant side of things. That's why when it comes to black and white view, this job can be seen as on the gray side of things.

"...Oh."

Sensing the fear in the boy's voice, Bernard continued on his explanation in a slightly softer tone.

"Well the first thing is that the mercenary themselves have to be willing to accept the request. So don't worry too much about that. If you don't want to do work like that, there's nothing forcing you to. Not many do those sorts of jobs."

"Right!"

"To find requests, the easiest way would be establishments like ours, where we gather up requests to hand out and post them on that board over there. You could also try finding requests by yourself, but that's really inefficient. It would be easier to find an area that hands out jobs or quests in cities."

"Oh, that board full of papers is where mercenaries find jobs?"

"Yup. Now depending on the type of place you go, those requests won't always be verified so there's a chance you could get scammed. Although we pride ourselves for being as legitimate as possible, so you don't have to worry about all that here."

"I see.

"Also-"

But before Bernard could finish his words, something had interrupted.

THUNK

The black haired, scarred man from earlier slammed down his drink and walked up to Bell and Bernard, as if he couldn't bear to hear them anymore.

The man looked at Bell with clear rage in his eyes.

"Hey, this isn't a place to play around, kid. Hurry up and get lost."

"Um…"

"You heard me already!

As the man's glare grew fiercer, Bell gradually lost his words, while Bernard could only sigh.

"Hey, Isaac, stop picking on the kid so much."

"Old man, are you really just going to let some kid go to mercenary jobs?! Do you really think our work is easy enough that a brat can do it?!" the man, Isaac, snapped at the man.

As his voice became louder, Bell took a step back in fear and bumped into someone's leg.

"Huh?"

Then a new voice came from behind him.

"Hey Bernard. What's going on?"

"Uncle!"

As Zard had appeared, Bell let out a sigh of relief, while Isaac looked in terror. Bernard greeted the man who had arrived with a smile.

"Oh Zard, you're finally here. Great timing as always."

"T-The Black Knight…."

Bernard brought out a bottle of dwarven liquor, while Isaac looked at Zard with awe.

Grabbing the entire bottle, Zard looked at Isaac with an amused smile.

"So you've got a problem with my kid being a mercenary?"

"W-Well that's…."

Now Isaac was the one backing away. The reputation of the Black Knight was well known to almost every mercenary out there in the nothing was officially confirmed about the Black Knight by the other cities and countries, the mercenaries here in Flevale were very aware that the rumors about this man weren't simple rumors.

But Zard just laughed in response to the man's fear.

"Don't worry. It's not like I plan on hurting you or your friends over there. But you don't really need to worry about this kid too much. After all, he's stronger than your little group hiding behind that table ."

What?!

Bell could only gape at Zard's words, while Bernard chuckled in response.

"..."

With those simple words, the fear in Isaac's eyes went away and was replaced by an even stronger shade of anger . His other friends rose up from their chairs and came to his side, glaring at the two of them. Even if they were in front of a legendary mercenary, this was an insult to their pride they couldn't take.

The other mercenaries looked with a mix of emotions in their eyes. Some had anger just like Isaac in his group, some had pity for the boy, and some looked on with interest, waiting to see what would happen.

"So you're saying we're weaker than some kid who's never been on a job before?"

"Yeah, that's right. If you want, you can attack him all at once. Although if you're afraid of losing, then you can just leave us be."

"Uncle! Why are you saying stuff like that! They're going to beat me up!"

Zard looked at Bell with a confused expression on his face as if he genuinely couldn't comprehend his words.

"Wait, Bell do you-"

"Fine! We'll take you up on that! Guys! Get him!"

Isaac cut off Zard, clearly not wanting to hear any more. With a red face, he threw his fist directly at Bell's face.

Huh?

Bell ducked immediately and dodged the punch. Before he could get up, another brown haired man threw another punch at him but he rolled to the side and managed to avoid the second hit.

Seeing the opening after the man's punch, Bell instinctively kicked him in the stomach.

"Guuuh!"

These people….

"Hey what are you guys doing! It's just a damn kid! Give him one good smack and finish it already!"

As Isaac yelled, two other men came to his left and right to block his routes. Both threw a punch at Bell from both sides.

"Try running from this, you damn brat!"

Not close enough.

"Hah!"

As the two closed in….

..Now!

At the last moment, where the two men couldn't stop themselves, he dropped to the floor as fast as possible. And with no way to stop, the two crashed into each other.

"Hgh!"

"Grh!"

These people….are kind of weak? They're leaving too many openings.

"Ghh…"

They're wide open again!

While the two were still disoriented, Bell jumped and kicked the first man directly in the face. The force of a Level 1 kick was enough to instantly knock him out.

"Uugh..."

"Mark! You little shit!"

As Bell ran to knock out the second man, the last man came up behind him and drew his sword.

"Hey, you're using a sword against a kid?!"

Some mercenaries shouted their concerns, but the man was far too blinded by his rage to stop now. He was going to make that kid pay no matter what.

Without any hesitation, he swung down the blade at the boy, aiming to finish this once and for all.

"!"

In response, Bell drew Desire and Dawn, his beloved black and white knives. But instead of going for a clash between weapons, he simply dodged to the left, avoiding the swing that was aimed at his head.

"Stay still, you damn brat!"

The mercenary's focus was dulled from his rage, but he continued to swing at the boy ferociously.

Despite that, not one swing hit the boy no matter how many times he swung his sword.

Almost as if the boy was dancing, he managed to side step every single sword strike. It was beautiful in a way and grasped the attention of everyone who was watching him.

"Damn you! Stop running around!"

The man's breathing grew heavier, his swings started to lose the power and speed it had. And the boy did not miss that opening.

Once the man stopped, Bell charged ahead at a blinding speed and aimed his knives downwards.

"Aaaaaaaah! W-what's this?!"

As he lifted his sword again, he felt a burning pain in his legs and collapsed. Looking down, he saw his legs were cut and bleeding.

"You've got to be kidding!"

He tried getting up with his trembling legs, but collapsed to the floor almost immediately. No matter how much he tried, the result was the same.

"Damn it!"

With the last man being unable to fight any longer, Bell ran back to the second man, who had just come back to his senses. Just like before, he ducked and cut his legs with his knives at a blinding speed just as he did to the previous man.

"Ack!"

"W-what the hell is this?!"

Isaac could only look in disbelief as he saw a small child take out four grown men in almost no time at all.

Once Bell had confirmed everyone else was down, he sheathed his knives and turned to Isaac.

"What the hell is with you?!"

Seeing the boy run up to him, he threw his fist in desperation.

Bell narrowed his eyes, and moved only a few inches to the left, just enough to barely dodge the punch.

Then he tightened his own fist and threw the hardest punch he could deliver right at Isaac's face.

With that one blow, Isaac was sent sprawling across the ground. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he laid there, unmoving, while the rest of his men groaned and nursed their wounds.

The fight was over.


"Whoa, what's with that kid?!"

"He won against all five?!"

"Bell Cranel…."

As the other mercenaries watching looked on with a mixture of shock and excitement, before returning to their respective drinks and games. Bernard simply let out a hearty laugh before turning to Zard.

"He really is a kid you've raised, Zard. Looks like we have a promising newcomer here."

In response, Zard simply smiled.

"Yeah."


And that's the end of IF Past Chronicles Chapter 1. I hope you liked it.

If you've read the main IF Route, I wonder if you can notice the differences between Past Bell and Current Bell?

And as you can guess, Bell is starting out on his path to be a mercenary. How will it end up for him? What kind of life did he live before he came to Orario?

Well until the next time if I ever make it(Or if I somehow manage to get some free time again)

See you until then

-Gold