Greetings babies! How are y'all on this fine day? Summer vacation's finally cometh, finals were hell and my brain feels like crappy mush, but at least it's all over now and I can finally relax and focus on the story and other stuff I've been wanting to do for a while now, so perhaps expect a new chapter every three to four days now instead of the typical five to six days wait, without further ado... happy reading y'all!

I do not own Danmachi

Chapter VII: Intervention

A week ago...

After dealing with the Ganesha Familia about possible penalties for public disturbance caused by their little sparring session, Bell, Ais, Lefiya and Bete made their way down the flight of stairs that led to the ground. They were spent from all the sparring, Bell had fully recovered thanks to Lefiya's healing magic, suffering from second-degree burns from the elf's offensive spell, the two others of the Loki Familia scolded her for going too far, yet Bell held no grudge against her.

Lefiya had yet to formally apologize to the white haired adventurer, finding great difficulty in attempting to do so, she just couldn't let the words out, was it her dislike for the boy? It could be, or simply just her nervousness and timidity at play, whatever it was, it kept her from talking to the boy and resorted to merely glancing at him from the corner of her eyes

"You're so tense, Lefiya"

Ais pointed out as she walked beside her, Bete simply grunted in agreement

"Ah! W-w-whatever do you m-mean A-Ais-san?"

The elf stuttered severely, embarrassed at having been put in the spotlight like that

Bell noticed the elf's dilemma and spoke up

"Lefiya-san... if you're troubled by what happened a while ago... it's fine, really, I won't hold it against you"

He sent her a solemn smile, which made the elf's face redden further, her gaze fixated onto the ground, unable to look the boy in the eye

She nodded timidly

'Ah...! My pride as an elf demands I apologize to him and make it up to him!'

Her eyes lit up, filled with resolve, she was about to apologize to the boy, but before she knew it, they were saying their goodbyes as they went their separate ways

"See you next week Ais-san! Lefiya-san! Bete-san! Thank you so much for training me!"

The white haired adventurer respectfully bowed at the three Loki Familia members before he turned around and dashed off into the lively streets of Orario

Ais waved him off as Bete just huffed in reply, meanwhile, the shy elf could only look at his retreating form, an arm outstretched out to him

'Ah... I didn't get to apologize to him'

Her shoulders slumped, which didn't go unnoticed by the werewolf of the Familia

"Hah? Don't tell me you miss him already Lefiya?"

The werewolf wore a playful grin on his face, the elf went wide eyed and her head snapped towards Bete

"Wha?! N-no no no! You've got the wrong idea Bete-san!"

The elf cutely stammered out, which earned a raised eyebrow from the Sword Princess

"Lefiya... do you like Bell?"

The elf almost croaked, then and there

An hour ago...

A certain Lefiya Viridis could be seen walking by some tents of the Loki Familia Expedition, she intended to speak with a certain blonde sword princess about something that had been bothering her for the past week, she walked until she found the Sword Princess' tent, announcing her presence and after patiently waiting for her approval, which didn't take long, let herself into the tent

The sword princess could be seen sitting on her bed, cleaning her rapier, eyeing the elf with curiosity

"What is it Lefiya?"

The sword princess inquired, the elf in question fidgeted nervously, clutching her staff to her chest

"Well... Ais-san, you see..."

She struggled to articulate herself properly, the sword princess raised a delicate eyebrow, confused at the elf's showcase of timidity

"Is something bothering you Lefiya?"

She prodded the young elf once again, this time Lefiya took a deep breath and then sighed

"I... want to properly apologize to that huma-Bell Cranel... for what happened last week..."

Ais' eyes slightly widened at this

"I think Bell doesn't mind, he told us didn't he?"

Ais attempted to persuade the elf girl that it was no problem, but Lefiya was adamant

"P-Please! My pride as an elf demands it!"

In order to convince the blonde woman, she resorted to her secret weapon, her feared puppy eyes, it was so powerful that not even Bete could resist it

'Kuh!'

The blonde princess had to shield her eyes from the source of power, lest she lose her sense of sight

"Alright alright, I think Bell's tent near Captain's"

The elf couldn't stop a smile from spreading on her face, nodding her acknowledgement to the blonde woman

"Then let's go now, Ais-san!"

The elf was surging with excitement, which she could barely contain

The sword princess merely shook her head in disapproval at the elf, confusing her

"Ais-san...?"

The elf shyly asked, confused at what her superior was disagreeing on exactly

"If you're so adamant on this Lefiya, then you should go find and apologize to him on your own..."

She said, taking up the tone of a teacher advising a student with a problem they can't address, the elf's eyes widened at her words

'A-alone?! I-I'm not sure if I can do that! It'll be really awkward!'

Lefiya was fighting an internal battle, one part of her just wanted to let go of this stupid need to apologize to the white haired adventurer, as he did explicitly say that he didn't hold it against her, but her more proud, elven side wouldn't let her neglect such a task, she had already prolonged apologizing to him for a week, which gnawed at the young elf for the remainder of the previous week, as she was pressed by her pride to go find the boy and apologize for getting carried away at their sparring session, but she tried to suppress it until the chance to do so presented itself, now was such a chance, so she decided to get this stupid thing out of the way already.

'Argh FINE!!! I'll go find him on my own'

Nodding weakly at the blonde woman, she excused herself to go find the white haired boy and apologize to him, she stepped out of Ais' tent and headed for the location of the captain of the Loki Familia's tent

Arriving at the location of the sizable tent, she saw multiple tents with no distinction surrounding it, unsure of which one is Bell's, she decided to ask a fellow familia member for help

"Good morning Raul-san! Have you seen Bell Cranel around?"

She approached the level four, Raul is a potential candidate to become the new captain of the Loki Familia, the current captain sees potential in the young adventurer and was told that he shall inherit the responsibility once Finn steps down

"Oh! Good morning Lefiya!"

Raul returned her warm greeting with a welcoming smile

"No I haven't seen Bell Cranel around, I was busy checking the supplies of the second battalion, he's probably in his tent"

He pointed to a certain tent towards their left, the elf nodded at him

"Got it! Thanks!"

She was about to carry on with her day, but the young adventurer wouldn't let her off that easy

"Oh...? Is this perhaps a lover's rendezvous?"

He teased the elf discreetly, making her shot up, fiery red adorning her face

"WHA?! W-W-What a-a-are you t-talking about R-Raul-san?! It's not like that!!!"

She barely screamed at the spiky-haired adventurer, embarrassed beyond reason at his teasing

"Uh-huh... what's this about then"

He decided to test his luck and ask her, but wasn't really expecting an answer

"W-well... I kinda went too far in our little sparring session last week..."

Raul's eyes widened slightly in surprise at her revalation

"Oh! I heard that you put too much mind in your Arcs Ray and threw it at the poor boy, who took your attack for some reason"

He sighed in disbelief, making the elf feel worse

"Yes... he didn't dodge, the gods know why... I haven't been able to properly apologize to him since, that's why I'm looking for him"

Raul nodded in understanding at her

"I see, well off you go then"

He shooed her, earning him a slight glare from the elf, but smiled at his help

"Thank you again Raul-san!"

Raul smiled at her

"Don't mention it! Now go take care of your little lover's quarrel"

The elf squeaked in indignation at him, eliciting a laugh from the male adventurer

The elf was now at the entrance to the tent of the albino adventurer, she nervously gulped before taking a deep breath and sighing before calling out to the boy

"Bell Cranel? It's Lefiya... may I come in?"

She patiently awaited a reply for a few seconds, but only received silence as a response

Her eye twitched

'Is he ignoring me?!'

Deciding to avoid jumping to conclusions, she called out once again

"Hello? Bell Cranel? Are you in there?"

Once again, after a lengthy span of silence, she received no verbal reply

Eyebrows furrowing, she decided to give in to temptation and just enter his tent

'Ah, screw it... I'm going in'

She slowly opened the flaps of the entrance to the tent, and peeked her head in

"Hellooooo...?"

Seeing the interior of the tent without a certain white haired adventurer, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration

"He's not making this any easier for me..."

She lowly grumbled to herself before shaking her head and leaving, deciding to ask the captain directly if he knew where the boy was, she'd normally just go and ask around, but she was afraid that some weird rumors might spread about her and the white haired adventurer, so she abstained from doing that

Finding herself by the entrance of the Braver tent, she took a deep breath before calmly announcing her presence

"Captain? It's me, Lefiya... may I come in?"

She patiently awaited a response from the blonde prum, which came after a few seconds of silence

"You may, Lefiya"

Hearing the prom's verbal approval, she slowly let herself into the tent, and found Finn talking with Raul

"Oh Lefiya! how'd it go?"

Raul asked her, which initially confused the elf

After she understood what he was talking about

"Ah! Uhm... he wasn't in his tent..."

She sighed at the inconvenience, which Finn became curious about

"Is there something you need? Lefiya?"

The captain of the Loki Familia asked her as she met the prum's eyes

"Ah... well, did you happen to know where Bell Cranel is? Captain?"

She asked timidly as the blonde prum sunk into his thoughts for a bit

"Hmm... no, I don't know where he is at the moment, but I did speak to him earlier..."

Her eyes sparkled in hope, hopefully she could get a lead on where the boy was

"He came in here earlier to ask Riveria and I about what he could do to help around, we said that there was no need to help around as our Familia can take care of things, but he was adamant, so we promised to tell him if there is something we need done"

The blonde prum told Lefiya, which made her raise an eyebrow at her captain

"He could be anywhere honestly... but if I had to guess, he might be walking around Rivira..."

She nodded at Finn, thanking the prum captain as she excused herself to find Bell

.

.

...

.

.

Lefiya had been walking all around the streets of the settlement, keeping her eyes and ears open for signs of the white haired boy, but couldn't find him anywhere, getting frustrated by the second, she decided to stop by a certain pub inside to rest and grab a bite to eat before resuming her search for the Hestia Familia captain

The elf had dropped by the Mistress of Plenitude, taking a seat on one of the elevated chairs by the counter, she was warmly welcomed by the owner of the pub

"Howdy there girly! I haven't seen you here before!"

Maria sent the girl a welcoming smile, befitting an accommodating host such as she, Lefiya returned the smile to her as she nodded

The pub had a pleasant noontime ambiance to it, adventurers from different races could be found intermingling, chatting merrily, laughing, and having lunch together, the adventurers here all intimately knew one another as a consequence of residing in such a small settlement, thus, they regularly have meals together and chat away the occurrences of the day. Despite the likely overpriced menu, she found herself finding the place quite enjoyable

"What'll it be?"

The pub owner pulled out a pen and a notepad from her pocket

"Do you serve grilled squid here?"

The elf asked as Maria looked up to the ceiling in a contemplative look

"Well, I do have some squid in the cooler, but I'll warn ya'... it'll be slightly costly as squid's quite hard to come by down here"

She explained as the elf nodded at her

"That'll be fine... I'm craving seafood today"

Lefiya replied, which elicited a hearty chuckle from Maria

"It'll be worth both wait and price! So sit tight!"

Maria waved at the elf, and disappeared into the kitchen to take care of her customer's order

'I can't wait... I'm starving after looking everywhere for that idiot'

Lefiya sighed before pulling out a small novel to read, she really enjoyed reading romance novels, it's a hobby she had picked up fairly recently after a fellow familia member introduced her to a romance novel, which got her hooked into the genre, so whenever she had some time to spare, she would feverishly read novels to quench her maiden heart's thirst for romance

A robed man sat two seats from her

"Thousand Elf?"

His basso profundo voice pulled her attention away from the novel she was so engrossed in a few moments ago

"Who are you?"

Her eyes narrowed at the suspicious character beside her

"I am not an enemy..."

He attempted to assuage her fears with his statement, which made her eyebrows furrow

He glanced at her, and saw her narrowed eyes, which meant she did not trust him, so he decided to come clean

"I assume you're looking for Bell Cranel aren't you?"

Her eyes widened at him for a split second before they abruptly returned to a narrowed stare directed at the robed figure

"Maybe, maybe not"

'He could be an enemy...'

She was disinclined to show any interest for now, as the man had yet to prove his trustworthiness

"Well, what if I told you that his life may very well be in danger at this very moment?"

Lefiya felt alarm bells go off around her, the man was getting more and more suspicious by the second, the atmosphere around them seemed to become more tense with each passing moment

"What are you talking about?"

She tried to get him to talk

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

The man asked her as she eyed him, she was on her toes just in case the man tried something

Her curiosity got the best of her, so she slowly nodded at the man, acquiescing at his request

"Fine... I won't tell anybody"

The man smiled at her, content with her answer, and then proceeded to speak

"Long story short... I met Bell Cranel earlier, told him that Evilus was poking their noses around the place recently, told him where they were sighted, and urged him to go investigate"

Lefiya nearly jumped out of her seat, positively furious at the man

"WHAT?!"

She harshly hissed at the man, but he remained calm and quiet

"Why would you do that?! I've seen firsthand just how dangerous Evilus is! Why would you send him to investigate on Evilus?! You've just painted a target on his head!"

She was whispering harshly at the man, after a few seconds of silence, the man responded

"I knew he was up to the task, he's a very promising adventurer and I'm confident in his ability to overcome whatever's thrown his way"

The man spoke in one breath, which didn't calm the angry elf one bit

"Did you perhaps do this to deliberately get rid of him?! Did you set him up?!"

The elf accused the man, which held up both of his hands in disagreement

"Woah... that I did not do, I gave him the option to go there on his own, he was also skeptical of what I had to say, but after I mentioned something, he dashed out of here without a second thought, completely voluntary, no foul play involved I swear"

Lefiya didn't seem entirely convinced, but decided to take what she heard with a grain of salt

"That's why I'm asking you to go check up on him, just in case, I'm sure he could use the extra help with the job"

He added, making her sigh in defeat

"Where is he?"

After her conversation with the robed man, who introduced himself to her as Brio Mue, she wolfed down her grilled squid, nearly burning her tongue, but also made her moan out in delight from the richness of the flavor, after she had filled her stomach, she sped off towards the forest west of Rivira in search of the white haired adventurer, if what she heard from the man was to be believed, she had no time to lose

Sprinting through the vast stretches of green, she came to a halt a few seconds later, focusing her senses for signs of clashing

A distant crash could be heard

'There!'

She set off towards the origin of the sound

She had arrived at the scene to find Bell getting kicked in the temple, onto a tree, crashing into it and uprooting it

"You'll be dead soon, so stop prolonging the inevitable"

She strode towards the bloodied white-haired adventurer, intent on finishing him off

'T-That's the woman we fought before!'

Lefiya grit her teeth in frustration, she was prepared to assist Bell, but she didn't think that it would be against an enemy of her caliber, the woman was far stronger than Lefiya currently was

Seeing the peril the boy was in, Lefiya began to silently chant

"Let loose a ray of light from the bow made of sacred wood, master archer..."

Her staff started to glow, something Revis failed to notice since she was too fixated on slaughtering the rabbit that she caught

Revis shot off towards the barely standing form of Bell Cranel, an arm outstretched, intent on shredding the adventurer into pieces, but Bell, in an amazing display of speed, dodged her grab and firmly embedded his knife into her forearm

"Shoot thy foe, fairy sniper..."

Lefiya's staff glowed even brighter, but went miraculously unnoticed by both adventurers

Revis glared at the last stand of the male adventurer, she was momentarily caught off guard, which Bell took full advantage of, wasting no time, he gave her a powerful kick to her knee, destabilizing her and making her forcefully kneel down, he then followed up with a knee to the face, breaking the red haired monster-tamer's nose and forcing blood to spurt out

"Kuh! You'll pay for that!!!"

Then not a second later, her arm went through Bell's abdomen, shocking the elf and almost making her break her chant, gritting her teeth, she pressed on with her chant

"Fire an arrow that won't miss... "

She pointed her glowing staff at the red haired woman, about to unleash its pent up energy upon her

Bell coughed out a generous amount of blood, delighting the monster-tamer with his sounds of agony

"You fought well Rabbit's Foot... but in the end, I won"

And she then raised her arm above the groaning white haired boy's head, about to deal the final blow, finally, Lefiya let out two syllables

"Arc's Ray!"

A powerful beam shot through the air, heating up the surrounding area from the energy of the attack. She had put as much mind as she could into the blast, fully knowing that had she held back in the slightest, both the white haired boy and her will be done for

The beam of pure devastation connected with the red-haired woman's raised forearm, obliterating it into nothingness and leaving only a steaming, cauterized stump and an agonized woman writhing on the ground in pain

Bell had been left with a gaping hole in his abdominal area, which was profusely bleeding, he was getting closer to deat's door by the second, something that Lefiya won't allow

"Bell Cranel!"

She had rushed to the severely wounded adventurer, finding him in a pool of his own gushing blood, her eyes became slightly bleary as she rushed to his side, quickly fiddling with her thigh strap for a healing potion, she uncorked it and helped administer it to the debilitated adventurer, struggling slightly for a bit, she finally managed to make his gulp the concoction down, which immediately went to work, closing up his abdominal perforation and fully healing up minor wounds around him, as well as restoring a good amount of his mind, she also decided to use a healing spell to aid the effects of the healing spell

"*cough* *cough* L-Lefiya...san...?"

The white haired adventurer weakly acknowledged the elf's presence, receiving a look of disapproval from the elf

"Don't talk! Save your strength!"

The warm glow from her palms were sputtering out and her head was getting lighter and lighter

'Kuh!... Keep... it... together...!'

Lefiya was getting dangerously close a mind down after putting a lot of mind into her attack, she had basically went all or nothing on that single attack, had it failed, both of them would've been done for, miraculously, it damaged her enough to cause a distraction

"You're gonna be alri-"

"YOU WORM!!!!"

The elf's eyes widened in horror at the venomous voice, her head snapped towards the source, finding a very angry Revis burning with killing intent, fully directed towards her

"YOU MISERABLE ELF! I'LL PAINT THE FOREST RED WITH YOUR BLOOD!!!"

'Cra-'

A powerful fist had collided with her delicate face, bypassing her level five defense and sending her crashing into a tree

(Author's Note: I decided to make Lefiya a recent level five in this story hehe)

The poor elf spat out blood, falling onto the floor directly in front of the monster tamer's feet, gone was her perpetual scowl for it was replaced by a sadistic grin, intent on causing pain and suffering to the elf

Her heel forcefully met her abdomen, knocking the air out of her lungs and letting a few drops of blood trickle down from her mouth to her delicate chin

"It'll all be over soon!"

She then started to apply more and more pressure and it was starting to become unbearable

"AGHHHHHHH!!!!"

Lefiya's screams of agony reverberated throughout the forest

'I-Is this how it ends...? Ais-san... Riveria-sama... I'm so sorry...'

She closed her eyes and accepted her fate, until the enormous pressure on her abdomen had ceased, her eyes snapped open in surprise, she found the red-haired woman raised high up into the air by the vindictive Bell Cranel

Traumatized and in disbelief by the entire situation, tears flowed freely from her eyes

"Kuh...Bell..."

Mind down had befallen her

-Fin-

How's the story so far? Any dissatisfactions? Think I could've done better on some parts? Criticism is welcomed. I honestly had a bit of trouble thinking about what to include in this chapter, if I should perhaps just make Lefiya stumble onto the fight with a fellow Loki Familia member by perchance, or through other means, anyway... I'd say it was an alright development... well sport, it's been a fine evening... cheers!