A/N - What's Gucci my gamers welcome back to your weekly dose of fanfiction. Just wanted to say something before you get into reading. First thank you for reading and all the support. It still feels so weird haha. Second and most importantly I decided to retcon the idea of Syrikka just using a rapier and instead i'm switching her main to dual daggers. I don't know when but at some point all go back and edit the past chapters. And Finally i hope you enjoy reading and if you liked it oe have any constructive criticism feel free to leave a review. Alright that's all BBBBYYYEEEEEE!!!!!!
Chapter 6: An Adventure for Two
Bell opens the door of the cabin with all the luggage he needs kept in two backpacks he has over each shoulder. He turns to Syrikka and says "Welp it's off for us on our new adventure."
Bell was excited to see his friends and goddess again. It had been around a year since he was last with them and frankly was happy his goddess called him because he wasn't really prepared to have an extra mouth to feed during the cold winter.
As they start walking to their destination Syrikka turns her head to the left and looks up at Bell. "Um master how long will we be traveling until we arrive at your familia's home."
Bell dismisses the fact she called him master and looks down to her. "We travel inwards into the mountains for about two weeks and we'll pretty much be there. It is likely we will meet delays in this process so we may be traveling for about three weeks."
They continue to walk for a while, small talk here and there. Just simple things like favorite foods, favorite games, etc…, and eventually they shift into a new topic.
Bell looked down and spoke with curiosity. "So… it may be a little weird to ask this after I've already accepted to be your master but how do you typically fight? What weapons, what techniques, what skills, etc…."
Syrikka giggles and says to him, "I typically use dual daggers (A/N) with a rapier on my side in case of a need for a longer weapon, and I have one magical skill in which I can materialize strings that can cut monsters. Somewhat similar to the Legend of Rui if you know what that is."
Bell lets out a laugh "Yes I am quite familiar with that tale. When I was young my Grandfather would always teach me morals through stories, so we read a lot of old tales and legends."
Syrikka responds with curiosity "Do you have a favorite story you would read as a child?"
Bell looks to the sky and ponders his childhood, all the stories he would hear from his Grandfather. He spoke "Well, I can't say I have one favorite but I always think of the "Tale of Two Hearts". I've always admired the morals presented within it."
Syrikka laughs "I can't say I don't think you're a little childish but I too admire the complex morals it has."
Bell hesitates for a decent second, Syrikka wonders if she hurt his feelings by poking fun at him. He speaks again and says "If you don't mind could you tell me a little bit more about your friends back in Orario?" The sadness and nostalgia in his voice are overwhelming.
Syrikka looks at him with sympathy and pity. She can't help but feel bad for him, for she too knows what it's like to lose the things she cherished. "Well, I don't really know where to start. Ais is alright, she leveled up to level eight about five months after she took me in." She pauses and a frown attaches itself to her face. "I feel she is unhappy though, as if she's missing something, maybe even someone."
Bell was shocked to hear this. He is assuming that she still must have some attachment to him, which only piles on the guilt of him leaving without a word of goodbye.
Syrikka continues to explain "Anyways, Riviera is doing alright although she too is a little shaken by the death of a dwarf named Gareth two years back. I think she still may blame herself, or her weakness or something."
Bell was even more shocked to hear this, he wasn't expecting a high level eight dying. Curiosity taking over him, he asks a little crudely. "Wait what Gareth died, how he must have almost been a level nine?"
Syrikka looks at him surprised "You didn't hear? It was quite big news, once Ottar reached level nine Loki felt the need to not fall behind, so they sent Gareth on a solo exploration." She paused, "One he wouldn't come back from."
Bell responds and asks "I'm assuming Finn took that quite hard as well."
Syrikka says "It's hard to say really, the ones who have been around for a while say he is different. But the newer ones like me don't see anything wrong with him."
Bell scoffs "That sounds like Finn, he was always trying to be the stand up leader, never showing any weakness."
Syrikka sighs "The others are doing well. Bete is trying for level eight, the two amazon sisters right there with him. And Lefiya actually leveled up recently as well; she's a proud level seven."
Bell laughs and thinks to himself 'That little elf is still pushing forward huh.'
They continue the talk about her familia all the problems and good fortunes they have come through. Bell enjoyed his time reminiscing on the past, as well as learning a couple new things about his first student.
They spent the day traveling until the sun began to go down. They had made decent progress today with no real challenges and they stopped to rest for the night.
Bell turns to Syrikka and says "Can you get started on the fire I'll get going on the tent."
Bell turns around and pulls a small bag out of one of his backpacks. He unravels for them to see a setup for quite a small tent. Syrikka was surprised at the size, it didn't even look like it could hold one person let alone two people both with luggage. But she will trust her new master, and that he has come prepared. She turns and looks for branches that could be used for a fire.
Time passes and she is able to start a fire and even finds some rocks to make it look all nice and cozy. She turns around excited to show her master her beautiful work, and sees no one. She is alone and doesn't know where her master is. She looks around the camp, looks for foot prints, calls his name, searches through the surrounding forest and Bell is frankly gone. She sighs and turns back to the camp, it was getting cold in the night and she knew that she could keep looking tomorrow. Her faith is also amplified by the fact that he is one of the stronger people that she has met.
As she arrives at the campsite she sees a sight which frankly annoys her. She sees Bell sitting by the fire warming his hands. She walks up to him with anger in her eyes and speaks. "Where do you think you were?" She practically screams at him.
Bell asks, calm but confused about the sudden appearance of aggression. "Where have I been, where have you been? I went for a quick lay down in the tent and you were gone."
Syrikka complains "There's no way you were in the tent, you're over six feet tall (He's 6'1 rn btw), that thing is like four feet long I would've seen you."
Bell stares wide eyed, and then laughs furiously and he laughs for a while. "Wait, have you not seen the inside of the tent?"
Syrikka just kinda looks at him, she frankly is most confused now. Bell continues to giggle as he walks over to the tent. He turns to her and says "Well my favorite student welcome to your new home for this adventure." He opens the tent and she walks in, she finds herself in a humongous tent. There is a living space in the middle, two decent sized bedrooms and a small dining area.
She asks, amazed, "What the hell is this, how can such a big space be put in that tiny tent I saw outside."
Bell laughs, "It was a gift from Hermes and his captain. They gave it to me a little bit after I left Orario since I would be on the run for a large portion of my life. I really only use it to go back and forth between my cabin and my familia's home now." He changes the subject "Now, scurry off to bed we have another long day ahead of us.
Syrikka nods and smiles, she changes into her sleeping clothing and lays down in bed. Bell puts the fire out and does the same as her.
As they both drift into sleep Syrikka says one last thing "Hey master, thank you for everything. I know this is kinda hard on you."
Bell doesn't respond and decides to just fall off to sleep.
Chapter 7: The First Test
15 days later
The trip has been long but relatively easy. They have enjoyed each other's company and have grown closer as student and master. And now they are one day out of reaching his familia's home.
They were walking through the forest, all was normal and then he saw it. As Bell was walking he stopped and turns to see a tree with three big claw marks slashed. He has been in these mountains long enough that he knows only one thing could cause this. He keeps his eyes trained on the tree but calls out to Syrikka. "Hey come here for a sec." He commands as she listens, walking over to inspect the scratched tree. "What do you see here?" he asks.
"I would guess that it's some sort of monster who scratched a tree for whatever reason." She guessed.
Bell shrugged "Well you're not far off. This is the mark of an Onikuma, an ancient bear-like monster now native to these mountains. It has about the strength of a level two, so now this will be your first test in our training." Bell smiles (once again unnoticed because to remind you he is still in full cloak and mask.)
Syrikka's eyes widened in passion. She has grown closer to her master and this is her one chance to finally prove her strength. "I won't let you down." She says with eyes filled with the force of Ragnarok behind them.
Bell chuckles lightly at the similarity he feels with the girl, he then speaks. "Do you need help finding it or do you already know how?"
"Yes I know how, Ais taught me when I was starting out." She says proudly with her hands on her hips.
The girl lowers her body to inspect the ground. She sees footprints and soon begins to follow, she can tell it has been a little bit since the monster was here since the footprints were already fading away. Luckily enough the footprints appeared to be going in the direction they were already traveling.
Bell was making mental notes of her movement, how she ran, breathed, tracked, everything. But eventually Bell had noticed something odd, there was very clearly more than one Onikuma that came through here. This was very out of the ordinary as almost always onikuma traveled alone. He decided because he could kill mountains of these level two creatures it would be best to not intervene.
Soon they came upon quite a large cave entrance, both of them could realize that this was the den of the great beast. Bell turns to Syrikka "Are you ready" he asks.
Syrikka confidently scoffs "Just watch me master, I was born ready." She says as she turns confidently towards the cave. Just the talking of the two subordinates was clearly enough to wake the monster out of its slumber. It rises from the cave casting a deafening shadow all around them. It looks like the biggest living thing Syrikka has ever seen, and even though she wears the mask of confidence the nerves are starting to kick in. She unsheathes her two daggers and stares into the eyes of the majestic beast. She quietly mutters something to herself and touches the ground.
Her head snaps up and she launches herself at the mighty beast. The beast quickly reacts and raises its legs standing on two feet now. It smashes its paws into the ground of where Syrikka is. She is knocked back a little bit but has not taken any damage worth noting. Once again she rushes straight at the monster, this time the monster raises it's right paw and swipes at where Syrikka is trying to go. She dodges it and now has a clear line of sight into the belly of the beast. She sprints forward right in front of the beast and then… runs past it. Bell is visibly confused as he sees what appears to be the girl run straight up to an off guard monster and then run past it. Once she reaches the other side of the bear she mutters something and touches the ground again. The monster spins all of its weight on the paw which is now flying towards Syrikka's head. She quickly ducks under it and once again begins to run, but this time she drives her daggers into the stomach of the beast and once again mutters something. She leaves the knife in the stomach of the beast and once again runs off. The onikuma is plenty pissed off right now and just to kill this little evasive bug. It watches as the girl puts her remaining dagger away and pulls out a longer sword. Syrikka, having pulled out the rapier, turns her back to the monster and starts to jump up a tree. Once she reaches the top she jumps over the monster now a decent height above it. Floating up now right above the bear she screams out "LUBBOCK'S WILL." strings arise from the three spots she had touched earlier. They all shoot upwards connecting at the tip of the rapier. The strings had cut through the large bear-like creature but it wasn't dead yet. Finally when the strings disappear Syrikka shoots downward at the speed akin to her mothers. She cuts straight through the body of the beast and she lands on the ground. The monster explodes in black ash and a magic stone soon follows behind Syrikka and falls to the ground.
She stands up and looks around to see her master clapping. "Well done, your skills truly excite me. I feel that with a bit of training you truly can become a top tier adventurer."
Syrikka smiles brighter than the sun and exclaims "Thank you master."
Bell laughs softly and says "Although I would ask you to be a little more aware of your surroundings." He signals around her and she sees the remains of four other onikuma.
Her mouth is stuck wide open in shock, she looks at him "Did you do all this when i was fighting that one monster."
"Yes I did, but don't worry I saw most of your fight. Granted it wasn't a particularly long one." Bell responds.
They continue to chatter back and forth as they turn to start walking again, they walk until night comes. Syrikka looks into the sky and says "I'll get started on the fire like normal?"
Bell looks at the surrounding area and responds. "No not today, we're about an hour out so we'll keep walking."
Syrikka is surprised by this news but agrees and continues to walk again. They walked for a while but then her curiosity took over. "Um master what's your familia like?"
Bell looks up pondering, and then he eventually supplies an answer. "We are a group of runaways. Typically from some god or goddess who wanted to claim one of us. But because of this we are able to rival some of the decently strong familia's in Orario." he says proudly.
"Wow master, I hadn't really expected something like a familia of runaways." Syrikka says.
They continue on for about another half an hour until they reach what appears to be the mouth of a cave. Bell turns to her and says "Welp we're here."
Syrikka is a little confused but follows him down the path. But what she finds is nothing short of beautiful. As she walks through the cave they take a very narrow path, but once there out she sees a hollow mountain. A hollow mountain filled with water falls, an abundance of plants, and most importantly a very large castle in the center.
They both stand on a cliff looking down on everything and Bell leans his head over and tells her "Beautiful isn't it?" Syrikka is too entranced to respond. Bell speaks again and says "Well Syrikka Wallenstein welcome to the home of the Blodeuwedd Familia."