Chapter 2: A Hole
A/N: Yo wys. I felt like adding a bit more to this story than the others also because for Walking the wrong path I can max write about 10 more chapters, and it breaks my heart to finish that story so I am delaying that with this. Also, Whitewolf, no, I have unfortunately stopped writing the angel series because I was a dumbass and couldn't think of what to write.
So I had no choice but to scrap the idea.
Also, that one guy that started ranting over my reason to change his eye colour, like bro chill, it's a joke. No need to start telling me to stop writing, but if you want an actual reason, it's because when I imagined hollow/ emotionless eyes in anime, blue eyes seemed better than red. Look at Shiba Tatsuya from an Irregular at the Magic Highschool for a reference.
The Next Morning
Bell had returned as if nothing ever happened, Aki and Raul had a triumphant grin and Bell later found out that people had bet the night before that he had died, Aki and Raul were one of the only ones to say that he was still alive. He shrugged and just replied with " as I told Loki, as long as I don't die in some shady alleyway, I couldn't care less," which was justifiably a weird comparison. How in the hell is being eaten by a monster better than dying in the alleyways? Raul just shrugged and called it a 'Bell thing' something he came up with after seeing Bell's new... accidents.
Bell went back to training with Ais in the morning as well.
" Oh, it's good to see you're fine," Ais told him, her face as plain as ever.
"Riveria sama would've probably brought me back from the dead to kill me again anyways," Bell shrugged. He was also damn right. This time so that he doesn't get extremely hurt or loses his way, Riveria was watching over their sparring. Since Bell was extremely efficient with work, they could catch up for the wasted time rather quick anyways.
Bell changed his methods, instead of using his usual sword, he grabbed another sword from the racks and dual wielded. Which did not work, since Ais doesn't understand the meaning of 'holding back' as much as other humans, she ended up blowing that sword into pieces and Bell could only watch as the idea he spent all night simulating, literally get blown away by the wind. He had mixed feelings about... nothing, he couldn't care less about the sword and went back to sparring with his usual sword.
He appreciated this sense of danger Ais was building for him, also the fact that since he loved swordplay, the concept of him fighting with all his abilities gave a him a swelling feeling he couldn't describe.
Riveria couldn't help but sigh as she only watched two battle junkies hit it off. She knew she would have to heal Bell afterwards because Ais clearly didn't know to control her power and was almost ripping him to pieces, but also she couldn't help but wonder, how much dedication and determination Bell had to use to be able to use his sword like that, but well, she wouldn't be finding out the truth any time soon.
After Bell's... arduous efforts, to stay alive against Ais, it was time for breakfast as more and more familia members were waking up. Bell got healed up and as a way to mock him, Riveria put another small plaster with teddy bears into his appendix area. She humph triumphantly as if she had pulled off the biggest insult in the century.
"you're quite childish at times huh, Riveria sama?" Bell asked. That seemed to deflate her balloon as she started telling him how he was in no position to say that.
"Besides, I am 99 year old grandma at this point," Riveria shrugged.
"Well for a 99 year old grandma, you are quite beautiful," Bell told her nonchalantly, her eyes widened as Bell carried on speaking, "If it helps, Loki sama is over a few hundred years old surely, but she still acts like a 5 year old toddler at times. It's just as endearing for you as it is for her." Bell told her. Riveria quickly made efforts to stop him before she started bleeding from the inside. The compliments, turned her cheeks rosy and she felt butterfiles in her stomach, but she managed to bring herself under control.
They made their way to the dining hall.
"oh? Bell, good morning," Tiona said jumping up.
"well you're shining like the sun, good morning to you too, Tiona san," Bell told her. She stopped and became still like a statue before Riveria decided to speak up.
"Ah, by the way, Bell, we decided to get a present for you," Riveria smiled at him, as he cutely tilted his head in confusion. "do you not smell something?" she asked giving him a much needed hint. Bell sniffed a couple times and his eyes widened.
"what did you bri-" Tiona tried to say but was interrupted by Bell's squeal.
"COFFEE," he shouted as he zoomed past everyone, they all stared shocked at Bell's outburst, it was one of the last things people would expect from him. Finn and Riveria chuckled.
"what's up with him? He never acts that excited," Loki commented grabbing her pulsing head, that hurt from overdrinking.
"hahaha, I guess bringing in black coffee services was the right call huh?" Finn asked laughing.
"t-that scared me," Tiona said breathing out.
"well, hopefully he manages to find motivation to come home in time from now on." Riveria sighed. "I swear, if only Amid had something like this, that gets her excited like that." Bell happily waltz back as people stared at him with wide eyes, Tiona included, at his tiny smile.
"Ohh, Bell, you're smiling. Is Coffee that good?" Tiona asked.
"if someone were to tell me that I could only drink coffee for a year, I would," Bell replied.
"hey, let me try some," Tiona said, Bell handed her the cup.
"be careful, it's hot and-" he tried to warn but it was too late.
"YOWW, IT'S HOT... AND BITTER," Tiona jumped as the coffee fell from her hands, time seemed to move slow as the cup fell onto the ground and it splattered everywhere. "Oh... uh sorry," she said. Bell didn't respond, crumpling onto his kness and hands he only stared at the puddle of dark liquid.
"i-it's fine Bell, just get anoth-" Riveria tried to say but Bell raised an arm telling her to wait.
"we must mourn." He replied. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at him.
"pfft..."
Instantly, everyone broke into laughter. People had been paying close attention due to the ruckus, but even Loki, who was essentially dying of a headache burst.
"this kid's priorities are messed, hahahah," Gareth roared.
"Oh my me, I haven't seen something like this in time." Loki laughed.
"hey Ais would that happen to you if someone dropped your jagamarukun?" Tione asked only to get a glare in response. In the end, Bell was devasted and "mourning" for his coffee while, Tiona tried to apologise. It felt like speaking with a brick wall because he didn't respond at all. Tiona was feeling a bit bad, who knows, looking at Bell this dejected felt extremely wrong to her. Bell only walked off saying he wasn't hungry.
Bell POV
'hmm... that's interesting. I didn't have the reaction I wanted.' Bell thought. See, he didn't feel bad that the coffee was wasted, he remembered his obsession with coffee from his younger days and once when Zeus accidentally spilled his cup, Bell had locked himself in his room until the next morning, when he could drink coffee again. He shrugged and decided to go to the guild and have a chat with Eina before heading off to the guild.
Tiona POV
Tiona had become quite fidgety. She was thinking of what to do, while everyone carried on with their lives. Tione was the only one to notice.
"Is it still bothering you?" Tione asked snapping her out of thought.
"huh, uh.. yeah, he seemed kind... down?" Tiona told her. She had become confident with finding out what expressionless people felt, one miscalculation she had made however, was that Bell wasn't expressionless, but rather emotionless.
"did he? he seemed like usual, don't worry about it, I don't think he was angry at you," Tione tried to comfort her while confused at why her sister was so caught up with some new familia member.
"B-but... his smile." She muttered, " he lost his smile, he looked so happy when he was drinking coffee and then... I just had to ruin it for him." Tiona told her sister, who looked at with wide eyes. Soon it became relaxed and fixed with a wry grin.
"my, Tiona... is it possible, that you fell for him?" Tione teased. Tiona immediately blushed.
"wha-, no no, I haven't," Tiona told her. 'right?' she confirmed with herself. After all, she literally met the guy a week ago, and amazoness had an attraction to the strong, sure he was extremely skilled from what she had heard, but he was still a level 1.
"haha, well if you want to make it up to him that badly, how about making some breakfast for him?" Tione suggested.
"b-but, I can only cook the basic things," Tiona replied.
"don't worry sis, it's the feelings that count. Which I doubt he has any, but as long as he can feel that you are remorseful, he will forgive you... probably," she told her sister and walked off to talk to Finn.
Tiona was left standing until, she decided to take up her sisters advice and go to the kitchen.
Meanwhile in the Guild
"yo, Eina san," Bell said walking up to the front desk.
"ara, Bell kun, going to the dungeon?" She asked and Bell nodded in response. "How about we try to get back in 6 hours this time okay?" Eina asked with a menacing glare, Bell only looked at her.
"I will... try," Bell told her unsure of himself.
"good, now have a nice day. And... no further than the third floor," she told him.
"10th." Bell responded.
"what? no, you just began a week ago," Eina told him.
"12th floor."
"Bell that's not how you haggle." Eina told him.
"I promise not to die?" Bell tilted his head.
"your promise won't be enough to bring you back to life." Eina shut him down.
"But, my stats are high enough," Bell told her.
"Are all your stats at least 700?" She asked crossing her arms, Bell remembered how he wasn't.
"Give me a few minutes." he said as he ran back to the manor.
Bell entered and walked around.
"Oh? Bell you're back?" Riveria asked shocked.
"Eina isn't letting me go to the 12th floor." Bell told her.
"as she shouldn't. You just started adventuring a week ago," Riveria told him.
"So I came back to get a status update, she said I have to be over 700 in all stats." Bell told her, ignoring her point of starting a week ago.
"Bell that's what I'm saying. There is no way for you to be over 700 right now, even if you're over 500 for all of them." Riveria told him.
"but I faced a lot of danger this week," Bell told her.
"Bell, you weren't allowed below floor 3 this week, there is no danger you faced."
" I fought ms Wallenstein every morning, that is understandably life threatening enough. I wouldn't be surprised if I even levelled up by now." Bell responded, "besides what's the problem with getting a status update?" Bell asked confused at why Riveria kept trying to turn him away.
"sigh, I didn't want you to see this disgraceful side of Loki, but I guess you won't give up huh, follow me," She sighed defeated. Bell followed along, the smell of alcohol getting stronger and stronger with every step they took towards Loki's room. Riveria was evidently uncomfortable and had a disgusted sneer on her face.
"I get the point Riveria san, you don't have to push yourself." Bell told her, but she shook her head. He quietly followed her to see, Loki knocked out cold, her room filled with jars of something called 'Soma wine'
"sigh, whenever she drinks this too much she becomes hammered, so I didn't want you to see this but... she snuck them out and drank away." Riveria face palmed, Loki was understandably out of control.
"hey wake up," Riveria told her. She hit Loki's head again, which seemed to do the trick, but it didn't erase how drunk Loki was.
"huh? W-wha's hapsening?" Loki asked slurring her words.
"I don't care if you can't even talk, just give him a status update." Riveria told her.
"okay." Loki replied loudly, like an eccentric child. She got a pin and wobbled a bit on her finger but soon managed to poke a small hole and the blood flowed out. The bright light spilling out. Loki still rather drunk could barely sit still, but as she looked... her eyes widened.
"oi Riveria... check these numbers, am I really that drunk?" Loki asked in dsibelief.
"yes, you are that drunk, now-"
"JUST hurry up and read these," Loki interrupted. Riveria was rather taken aback by Loki's insistence but upon an inspection of his status, her eyes widened.
Bell Cranel
Level 1
Title: The Sacrificer
Str: 754
Vit: 704
Dex: 702
Agi: 999
Mag: 547
Magic:
Lightning Mastery
Skills: Chromatic Destiny
"w-what? He actually went up by that much, How?" Riveria said in a shaky voice.
"his agility is what I'm talking about..." Loki told her. Riveria's eyes moved down to see...
"999!? He maxed it out.," Riveria stated obvious.
"hey uh... not to rain on the parade, but how long are you guys going to maze around with my status?" Bell asked, snapping them back to reality.
"hey, just what did you do? I mean I get your skill, but you were banned from floors below 3 right?" Loki asked.
"well, he has been practicing against Ais every morning and as you know, she doesn't really know how to hold back." Riveria informed her.
"Oh. That makes more sense, but still... yer skill is overpowered. Don't tell anyone else about it kay?" Loki instructed Bell nodded in response. He left to go back to the dungeon.
Riveria and Loki only watched him as he made his way through the hallway.
"so... how's the investigation going?" Loki asked.
"... really bad. As far as the people we hired are concerned we know nothing. Not where he came from, nor any people he had interacted with. We know the general location of his village from what he said, but we found nothing there. Just a completely ghost village with not a single soul there. What's worse, people don't recall seeing a white pillar ascend to heaven," Riveria sighed. "it's shrouded in mist, nothing is certain, we know nothing about the direction we are going." Riveria told her.
This all started a week back. When Bell had first appeared to the Twilight Manor, Loki remembered when all those years ago, just during the expedition to kill the OEBD, a woman in the Zeus familia had given birth. She remembered Zeus being all fidgety about it, she remembered him having even stopped sneaking on the women bathing. When the child was born although she only got to see it once, from Zeus' drunken state, she clearly remembered its innocent features.
Soft white hair... and blood red eyes, that seemed to even pierce the heavens. This however... was not in her memory. Bell seemed to be the same child from 13 years ago, however, his eyes... without a doubt... no matter how drunk she was... were not blue. Definently not such a cold, emotionless blue. She first doubted herself, but the nagging feeling of a woman like her, that something was wrong constrained her for this investigation.
"hey Riveria, what are your feelings about this?" Loki asked curious as to what Riveria feels.
"I... can't say. He doesn't seem like a threat, but at times... his way of carrying himself honestly speaks volumes of his identity. I feel like whatever we're doing, we should not stick our necks too deep into things. It could very well turn nasty." Riveria warned. Loki took the words to heart, last thing she wanted was for her children to suffer. And for just her suspicion over things, it wasn't worth the trouble.
Meanwhile Bell had made his way downstairs.
As he was about to leave.
"hey wait, Bell," he heard someone call out, he turned to see Tiona.
"oh, Tiona san, How can I help?" Bell asked. Tiona became a bit pink.
"u-um.. I'm sorry for this morning," Tiona bowed.
"for what?"
"you know... the coffee issue," Tiona told her.
"oh, don't let it bother you much. I'll just wait until tomorrow to have some." Bell told her. Although he could have it again today, he was strict with the amount... one cup a day, he would not drink any less than that.
"um... as an apology, I made you this," Tiona told him as she handed him a packed lunch. " it's not much but..." she struggled to finish. Bell for some reason felt compelled to take the box. She felt the box being taken out of her hands.
"Thank you," Bell replied with a tiny smile. It was nothing special nor was it as grand as his normal ones. Tiona stared at him.
'Oh my... am I actually?... nah, he just looks like a cute little rabbit, I'm probably going dumb' Tiona doubted herself.
"It's no problem think of it as me paying you back, if you want I can keep making you these." Tiona offered, feeling glad that she was useful.
"oh no, you shouldn't trouble yourself like that, I can go without food for a long time." Bell told her. Tiona giggled.
"we can all go without food for a bit of time, it was just an offer," Tiona told him.
"thank you for the consideration," Bell bowed and left. Tiona regained her cheeriness, it was a win-win.
Bell made his way to the dungeon, he went past a particular tavern called the Hostess of Fertility. It seemed like a really popular place and the Loki familia seemed to be a regular as well.
Bell suddenly stopped as he felt a pair of eyes on him yet again. Throughout the entire week he felt a pair of eyes follow him around, sometimes it was filled with lust and desire and other times it was with plain curiosity. Normally he detected them coming from the Babel tower but this time, he could find the location. He kept a hand on his sword and looked around until...
"excuse me..." he spun his neck to see a girl, with grey bluish hair tied to a small ponytail wearing a maid clothing in front of him. Bell felt the same stare that he usually senses coming from her, he jumped back.
"ah sorry I didn't mean to surprise you. I think you dropped this," she said showing a magic stone. Bell looked at it.
"Impossible." Bell replied.
"eh?"
"That is not mine. Well then goodbye." Bell said walking away.
"wait..." she said.
"listen, right now you are very suspicious. I have neither told you who I am nor have I told you that I am an adventurer. Let this be the end of it and just keep on watching me from the top of Babel if it makes you comfortable." Bell rained out. He didn't want to interact with her longer than he had to, she gave off... very dangerous vibes. Syr seemed to have been taken quite a back by his sudden habit of speaking.
"But you are wearing armour aren't you?" the girl asked.
"even then I don't know who you are, and who's to say I am not an assassin?" Bell asked her.
"oh sorry for the delayed introduction, my name Syr Flova, nice to meet you." Syr told him.
'so she only hears what she wants to huh?' Bell sighed internally, so far Syr seemed to have been harmless.
"Bell Cranel. Now, that stone is not mine." Bell told her.
"Oh the-" Syr was saying. Before Bell's stomach growled. They only stared at each other. Syr giggled and told him to hold on, she returned with a pack lunch, "if you don't mind you can have my lunch." Syr offered.
"thanks for the offer, but I already got a packed lunch." Bell raised and showed his own box. Syr internally despaired, Freya... had regularly checked to see how Bell never has any lunch boxes on him and the day she tries to approach he suddenly pulls one out?
"then how about you have that for lunch and this for breakfast?" She asked.
"I am fine with one meal a day." Bell shut her down. He had not only found but also actually shut her down from every way possible. "But.. if you really just wanted me to come to eat there you could've asked, you don't need to sacrifice your own food for it." Bell told her. Syr's eyes widened.
"I-I wasn't trying t-to do that," Syr replied.
"right." Bell responded. "I have a bad habit of staying in the dungeon for too long so I don't know when you can expect me." Bell told her and left. Syr felt like she would've started crying with the way he was denying her advances. She was surprised by him not only knowing that he was being watched but also that Syr was Freya, although she probably dodged a bullet.
Bell carried on his way to the guild.
"I'm back Eina," Bell told her.
"oh, did you get your status updated? Are you ready to give up?" Eina asked.
"No, I am ready to go to the 12th floor." Bell told her as he showed her his status sheet. Eina looked and her eyes widened.
"999 agility? How is everything else besides magic over 700, you began adventuring a week ago." Eina screamed. Bell sighed and face palmed.
"there is no such thing as privacy anymore is there," Bell told her. She covered her mouth.
"Oops, I said it a bit too loud." Eina replied.
"yeah... I heard it." Bell responded. "anyways, with that I am going to go the dungeon. Bye." Bell told her and left without waiting for her response.
Bell bolted past the beginner floors, he didn't even need to bat an eye to most of the monsters from there, maybe if one got too close he just cut its head off or something. He had been getting better with his issue management, he can at least control himself when faced with monsters. This was also one of the reasons Bell tried to go deeper and deeper, at that point he believed that surface level monsters would no longer bother him as goblins wouldn't be seen in the middle floors.
Bell had reached the misty area in floor 10 and found a lot of orcs and imps spawning.
"Lightning spread" he cast as seperate bolts of lightning flew out and burned the orcs and imps. It didn't do much damage but that was because he was conserving his energy. He grabbed his sword and stepped forward on his heel and dragged his sword through their necks in an arc. He picked up the magic stones, normally people would find it tedious but to Bell it was a small relaxation period. Then as he was headed towards the 11th floor, an infant dragon appeared.
'well... this isn't good.' Bell stared into the infant dragon's eyes. Bell could beat it, but it would take the energy out of him. Still, as the infant dragon was getting ready to breathe fire, Bell started moving fast in zigzags, to confuse the dragon's trajectory as he closed the distance. It was getting hotter and hotter since the skin of the monster was 150 degrees.
It released it's breath and Bell dodged to the side, he jumped up at the time of vulnerability of the infant dragon and stabbed into the head of the dragon, which let out a cry of pain.
"Lightning, flow." He cast as the lightning coursed through the sword into the dragon, frying the dragon inside out. It collapsed and turned into dust only leaving behind a magic stone. Bell picked it up and put it in his pouch. He had to use quite a bit of lightning to kill the dragon so he decided this would be as best time as ever for lunch. Not that he felt particularly hungry though. He found a rather flat stone tab and decided to sit down for lunch.
He opened the box to see a typical bento box, some rolled omelets on the side, some salads and pasta on the right. Overall, a decent amount of effort had to have been put into the lunch itself. Bell took a bite and felt electricity pulse throughout his tongue, it tasted good... great even. Sure it wasn't anything special, but to be able to enjoy such a meal in the dungeon is indeed a treat.
He had some of the omelette, which were soft and delicious. The entire meal was very good, Bell finished the entire thing before mentally telling himself to thank Tiona once more and decided to go further down into the dungeon. He went down and some bad bats kept pestering his way so he opted to just light them with lightning. He comfortably made his way around, it seemed that he was a bit too strong for these floors, so he kept killing monsters. As he went, he suddenly saw the appearance of fire breathing dogs.
'hell hounds?' Bell thought and he realised he had strayed too far down to the 15th floor. He was surprised they didn't appear from the 13th or 14th floor but decided to turn back and at the moment he did he heard something...
'crack' Bell stopped to see a bipedal red cow type monster. It had red gleaming eyes and a nasty breath.
"did you need a toothbrush good sir?" Bell asked politely and not to his surprise he was forced to dodge punch to the ground. "guess not." he answered his own question. Now, no matter how high his stats were at level 1, they were still a level 1's stats, the minotaur being at least a mid level 2, should've been an adequate threat for Bell. Which, it was. The minotaur charged fast, Bell dodged it but the minotaur changed direction and almost skimmed his cheek with its horns.
Bell used his sword to cut the torso of the minotaur, which seemed to only anger the monster even more. It brought outs its arm and hooked Bell right across his body, throwing him into the dungeon wall. Bell coughed out blood.
'welp, this ain't good' he realised.
"lightning, flow," he said as his speed increased, his maxed out agility boosted further beyond as he encircled the minotaur and stabbed his sword into the middle of the minotaur's torso. It seemed he had missed the core however as the minotaur on shrieked in pain and spun to make him lose grip of his sword. Bell instead took the sword out and jumped back.
"grrrr..." Bell heard a new growl, as he turned to see a small pack of hell hounds there. The minotaur also dropped down about to charge, the two types of monsters blocked Bell in a pincer attack, Bell unable to go anywhere decided to deal with the hell hounds first, since him burning would not be a very good advantage. He dived towards the hell hounds and sliced them clean, although that meant he no longer had time to react when the minotaur charged at him, he barely turned to see the minotaur right in front of him and in the next moment a minotaur horn was gogued right into his appendix. Bell analysed the situation for a bit and then he shrugged.
'it's a useless organ anyways'
Bell decided to use his sword to try and cut off the horn, however, what he didn't learn was that a minotaur's horn is extremely tough. He kept smashing his sword as he hard as he could while bleeding and coughing up blood. He regardless cut through the horn and the minotaur stepped back. Bell looked at it, he didn't feel tired at all, even though he had been fighting for quite some time. He decided to think the process, he has enough magic to run constantly to the surface and the minotaur would not be able to catch him. He has a literal horn gouged into his abdomen and he is bleeding profusely.
'yep, I should really dip.' Bell thought to himself. He looked the minotaur straight in the eye as he sensed a hint of excitement within the monster. "goodbye, cow. I'll bring you a toothbrush next time." he said and ran out as fast as he could. He kept running and running, without waiting for anything. He arrived at the beginning of floor 1 and realised he is near mind down so he stopped running. But now the exhaustion caught and he could limp.
Bell walked up to the entrance and decided Amid would be closer than the manor. He decided to avoid the guild since Eina would make him sit down and scold him as he bled. He didn't want to die in a shady alleyway however, he didn't fancy dying while being scolded either, so he went towards Amid's place. People stared at him as he walked by.
'Please no one recognise me' Bell wished, however, Nexus loved to kick him in the balls, metaphorically of course and so as he walked her heard.
"Bell?" someone called out from behind.
'...great' he spun around to see Tiona and Tione.
"oh hello, Tiona san. How long has it been since I left?" He asked. Tiona giggled.
"that's your first question? It's been just about a day. How do you even manage to stay in there so long?" she asked.
"I don't know, I lose track of time very easily." Bell responded.
"Anyways, you have blood all over your mouth, are you okay?" she asked a bit concerned. Her sister just watched her.
"yeah I feel juuuust fine, might have a minotaur horn stuck inside me but well... that's life." Bell shrugged.
"wow, you really speak from the heart huh?" Tione asked.
"weird I thought I was speaking from my mouth but I don't know anymore, my visions becoming kinda blurry so I am going to have go get healed," Bell said as he turned and started walking towards Amid however, after a few steps, he collapsed onto the ground.
"OH- Bell, are you okay?" Tiona rushed over and asked concerned. Tione who was much calmer than her sister, told her he's unconscious. "he's looking really pale, you know what, I am going to take her to Amid," Tiona said picking Bell up on her back and rushing off to Amid. It didn't take long and they get there without wasting time.
"Hell- oh, take him to room 1, I am coming over immediately." Amid told Tiona recognising Bell. 'Riveria san told him to come here if he got hurt but he came this soon?' she thought to herself. She entered. She was going to take Bell's armor off.
"wait what are you doing?" Tiona asked interrupting.
"Taking his armor off, how else am I supposed to heal him?" Amid asked, but Tiona blushed. 'wait a sec, is Tiona blushing? An Amazoness blushing? Does she not realise it?' and indeed she does not realise it.
"O-oh, ok then... I'll wait outside." Tiona said as she left through the doors. Amid got to healing Bell and she removed the minotaur horn. Bell opened his eyes midway through. "Good morning."
"hi." Bell responded. "thanks for the heals." He told her.
"it's my job." Then the two just stayed in silence for a while.
"Who brought me here?" Bell asked breaking the silence.
"Tiona,"
"I see..." Bell replied. And it was silence all over again. They didn't feel awkward, well Bell couldn't and Amid simply didn't care. "alright that's enough," Bell replied.
"are you sure you want to get up? I'm sure if Riveria san learned you had a minotaur horn inside you, she would get pretty mad." Amid asked, Bell sat in silence.
"you know what, I'll stay a bit longer." Bell told her realising he needs to be in full health to even survive the lecture he was about to recieve.
"That's all I ask,"
soon after a decent amount of nothing said nothing done, Amid left his room to go back to the front. Bell got dressed up and the hole in his armor. It felt kind of bad, surprisingly, he didn't think he would like to armor so much that to see it have a hole tore him apart, which in this case was literal. It felt like a final relic for him, he didn't want it to get anymore damaged.
'I should get new armor. I have quite a decent amount of money saved up, I hope 130,000 valis in enough for armor. Maybe a shortsword to go along as well, who knows.' Bell shrugged. He still put on his under shirt which he wore under the full body armor and trousers. He carried the top part of the armor in his hands. He left out the door and went up to Amid, he anticipated Tiona to be gone since she was already busy at the time.
"How much for the healing?" Bell asked.
"all healing expenses are covered by your familia." Amid told him. Bell still put the minotaur horn he had onto the table.
"keep this as addition then, it's not worth much anyways." Bell told her. He walked out the door without waiting for a response. He headed back home, he was still new to Orario so he didn't know anyone good to go armor shopping for. His obvious choice would've been Raul who seemed to be home every time he was, but this time surprisingly he had gone to the dungeon. Bell hadn't really interacted enough with the other low level members to go and ask, 'hey let's go armor shopping' so he was left in a bind.
He returned home.
"Boo! how does having a minotaur horn in your gut feel like?" Loki said jumping out at him in front of the entrance. Bell was unfazed by it.
"hello, Loki sama." Bell bowed.
"tch why ya so upright all the time?" Loki asked.
"well, your pranks frankly... are predictable." Bell replied.
"What do ya mean, I put a lotta time into thinking these up." Loki responded. Bell turned as he was leaving.
"disappointing." Bell replied.
"WHAT D'YA SAY BRAT! GET OVA HERE," Loki screamed as she started chasing him, Bell easily outpaced her and disappeared pretty quickly by the time Loki was panting. "do-does he not realise us Gods don't got no falna to boost ma speed with?" Loki asked aloud. Suddenly, someone blew down her neck. Her spine tingled and she spun around to see no one. "I thought someone was there." Loki thought confused, however, when she turned back around, she was met by a bored Bell.
"boo." he said almost unaffected, and Loki jumped back in shock.
"Y-you. Ya really wanna play this game haah?" Loki asked holding her heart.
"I just returned because I had a question." Bell told her.
"I-I ain't answering nothing." Loki huffed pouting. Bell didn't respond but all he did was raise a bottle of ale. Loki's eyes opened a bit.
"I-I-I ain't that easy to trick understand?" Loki said holding herself back. Bell still completely silent raised a second bottle, Loki still denying it but she covered her eyes, so Bell popped a bottle open and put it infront of her nostrils, she couldn't stop breathing and smelt the smell of alcohol. It seemed to be quite good.
"Al-alright what d'ya need?" Loki asked giving in.
"who told you about the minotaur incident." Bell asked.
"Tiona, now give it." Loki said trying to grab a bottle but Bell stepped away.
"I am not done. Where is she now?" Bell asked.
"she's in her room I think." Loki replied.
"What does she like?" Bell asked. Loki stopped for a second and soon she had a wry smirk on her face, Bell looked at her as if to say if she added any unnecessary words, he would eliminate her completely.
"she likes hero stories as far as I know. Now hurry up." Loki told him. Bell plugged the bottle and gave it to her.
"by the way, Loki sama." Bell said gaining her attention.
"what?"
"Alcohol is bad for you so sober up." He told her as he left.
'he tells me that by handing me two bottle of good ol' ale?' Loki wondered confused. She shrugged and took off the cork and chugged a bottle until..
"pfft... this ain't Ale. It's freaking water," she said aloud spitting all of it out. Then it all clicked. She opened the second bottle and yet again it was water. The ale smell was just the residue from the bottle. She got tricked. The trickster got tricked. "DAMN YOU BRAT, I'LL MAKE YA REGRET STARTING THIS WAR." Loki screamed, Bell could hear it a bit and had a very faint tiny smirk on his face.
'pranked.' He thought as he approached the door of Tiona's door. He knocked a couple times waiting for a response and soon Tiona opened the door.
"hell- Oh Bell, are you alright now?" Tiona asked.
"yes." He responded. "I had a favour to ask." He told her.
"well go on." Tiona replied with a smile, happy she was being relied on.
"I want to buy some new armor, but I don't know any good places since I'm new to the city. Do you know anywhere?" Bell asked.
"hmm... ah, the Babel stores are quite good." she responded.
"Aren't they too expensive? I was looking for second class armor max." Bell told her.
"oh don't worry. you know what I already took the day off, get ready and let's go together." Tiona told him. Bell nodded.
"then let's meet up at the gate." Bell told her as he went to his room. Tiona closed the door and leaned her back against it.
'huu.. what is going on? Why did I say that? But it always gets hot around hi- Did I seri- no, no way right?' Tiona reassured herself. She would wear her usual clothes anyways so it didn't matter. Bell just threw on something casual, a black shirt and black trousers with black boots. He took his money and an extra item and headed out a bit earlier than the time he told her.
In a few minutes Tiona had also arrived seeing Bell wait.
"oh did you wait long?" Tiona asked.
"no, Tiona san" Bell replied. "let's go then." Bell told her. She walked along, trying to calm her heart down. They headed towards Babel in almost silence. It felt awkward for her. It was awkward. Regardless they moved.
"ah we're here." Tiona told him, they entered a small cubicle like tunnel that suddenly started moving up. Bell didn't react to it, "wow, you aren't surprised? Usually when people see this thing, they get scared or shocked." Tiona asked him.
"I guess it was slightly surprising. By the which floors are we going for?" Bell asked.
"Oh the weapons floors are from 5-6, armor is 7-8. Did you know these 4 floors are owned by the Hephaistos familia?" Tiona told him.
"4 entire floors? That seems quite... extreme."
"yeah but they have a lot. here's a hint, we are headed towards floor 8. Why not 7?" Tiona asked.
"because floor 8 is cheaper than 7?" Bell asked as an obvious statement.
"correct. but the reason for it is quite different to other places." Tiona told him. They entered a shop where there are rows and rows of armor, they price tags were all cheap. "These armors are made by Hephaistos familia, but they are the rookie members." Tiona told him. It clicked for Bell.
"Oh so these ones are so that her children can sell their works to lower level adventurers for lower prices and earn money while improving their craft." Bell told her.
"wow, you are sharp. But yeah that's it. So let's get browsing, what type of armor do you prefer?" Tiona asked.
"something easy to move in, light armor but it would be good if it was durable as well." Bell told her.
"hm, alright I'm sure we'll find something." Tiona told him as they started looking around. Bell came across a few crates and such that are very very cheap but the armor looked brittle. They kept looking until,
"hey Bell I think I found something..." Tiona called out to him. Bell went up to her and saw her pointing at an armor stand. It had a great set. The chest plate was painted black with golden outlines, the shoulder guards seemed to be well made, almost exactly for his size. The leggings also covered up to the knee, but wasn't suffocating and clearly was strong while decently light. While, the prices was only... 50k valis.
"that's a steal." Bell told her.
"I know right? My eyes never decieve me." Tiona smirked.
"Quite true, you do have beautiful eyes." he told her. Tiona stood shocked and had a blush on her face. Bell looked at the creator and it turned out to be, Jermila Kas. Bell bought the armor and as they left the store, he heard a small growl. He turned to see Tiona slightly red as she covered her stomach. Bell smiled unconsciously.
"let's take a lunch break. it's on me. where would you like to eat?" Bell asked.
"Oh no, It's fine." Tiona tried to back away.
"think of it as me trying to pay you back for the help with finding armor." Bell told her. Tiona gave in and they went to a nearby cafe, where they ate lunch and just talked about dungeon experiences. Tiona was steadily opening up to Bell. However, she was confused as to why Bell refused to talk about himself.
"Thanks for the lunch, it was really delicious." Tiona told him with a wide smile.
"I'm glad." Bell replied, "we just need one last stop I would say. can we stop by floor 6?" Bell asked.
"sure. there is a good weapons shop there." Tiona told him. They went into a shop called, 'Tom's war essentials' which had weapons upon weapons. Bell and Tiona looked around for the weapons. After a while of looking Bell found a sword, it was thin, with a black grip. It had a teal like hue and it had a black scabbared that made it seem like a stick but it was rather a hidden sword. Bell took it out as it shone, it wasn't particularly big, but it wouldn't be called a shortsword either. A medium size with a rather good endurance and maneuverability.
"oh, that's a good one." Tiona spoke up. Bell nodded.
"perfectly balanced." Bell told her, he checks the price tag to be only 40k. 'I expected at least 60 but alright.' He went up and paid for the sword. As they left it was becoming late afternoon. "thank you for today, Tiona san." Bell told her.
"stop with the stiffness already, just Tiona is fine." Tiona told him.
"very well, as thanks, I would like to give you this." Bell told her as he took out a thick book. "I heard you liked hero stories which I always liked as well. This is a limited edition version of the Argonaut's story." Bell told her.
"limited version?" Tiona asked confused.
"it's the only one that exists in the world and it goes into far more detail than any other book." Bell told her. Tiona's eyes widened
"no no, I can't take such a precious thing." Tiona said waving her hands.
"oh don't worry, I've read this already at least a few hundred times. I would be happy if you took it," Bell told her.
'happy? You can be happy? I didn't know that.' Tiona thought shocked, she accepted the book and needless to say she had quite a massive smile on her face the rest of the time. They returned back home where they were met by a very angry Riveria.
Tiona shivered and gulped audibly at the side, no matter how much she enjoyed her day, she couldn't help Bell out here. "s-sorry, I have to read a book right now, so... I-I'll talk later." Tiona said running off. Now it was just a menacing Riveria who was glaring at Bell as if she wanted to slit his throat.
"y-you know what, I forgot to give in my magic stones in today, I'll be back." Bell said as he tried to leave through the door but Riveria grabbed him by the collar.
"I hope you made your final prayers," Riveria told him, "although Loki's the one who turned her back on you this time." Riveria said pointing towards the staircase where Loki was sitting.
"L-Loki sama, you snitched?" Bell asked.
"shut up brat, you tricked me with alcohol bottles filled with water, that's the evilest thing a person coulda done." Loki shouted back at him.
"I was only caring for you health, you drink too much." Bell replied.
"you don't sound very caring right now, in fact you sound like you couldn't give a shit about playing me." Loki shouted back.
"Now... let's have a nice long chat... with Finn this time." Riveria said with a smile that showed anything but kindness. Bell resigned to his faste as he was dragged to Finn's office.
Needless to say the next 2 hours was a very painful period of time where Bell only gave one word answers to help finish the tortu- lecture even a bit faster. However, that ended up back firing as it pissed Riveria off more than imaginable.
"you were almost killed Bell!" Riveria told him.
"I'm alive." Bell replied.
"you... listen here have you for once considered your standpoint? Your armor, which was fairly good had a hole from the minotaur, now what will you do?" Riveria asked.
"I already bought more armor." Bell replied.
"with what money?"
"I sold my organs." Bell replied, they sat in silence just staring at each other, "sorry that was a bad joke. I had money from the entire week of adventuring, since I had no specific expenses." Bell told them.
"That still doesn't change the fact that you almost died." Riveria tried to convince him to be cautious. It's not as if she was proposing something outrageous but rather just a reminder for him to be cautious. Finn was listening along but was also doing his own work.
"Riveria san." Bell said, suddenly the air changed in the room, Finn looked up at the two sensing the difference. Riveria shocked by Bell's tone, which sounded a bit more expressed, not a particular emotion, but it was noticeable worthy nonetheless. "can we please drop this issue? I get the point, I need to be more cautious when in the dungeon. But there is something you are not considering. I, cannot level up without going on an adventure. My status is ready to level up, I need to take the risk." Bell told them. There was a moment of silence but Finn spoke up.
"I understand your view Bell, what you said is true as well. It's just I hope you understand where we are coming from as your familia members, and as your captain and vice-captain as well as friends, we refuse to let you die just like that. Understand?" Finn asked.
"yes... I'm sorry for snapping like that," Bell apologised.
"oh don't worry, I didn't even know you could act like that. It's good that you showed some emotion, means we managed to get you take our advice seriously." Finn smiled. Bell looked confused. He... showed emotion? He wasn't exactly sure that what he did was emotion, it was more of him just trying to shift his tone so that they could drop the issue already.
He shrugged and left through the door leaving Riveria and Finn sitting in silence.
"sigh, what the hell is wrong with him?" Riveria face palmed. Finn chuckled.
"you were getting too heated up, that's new for you Riveria." Finn told her. It was strange, Riveria never got winded up with such things, but with Bell it was just different.
"It's because he sounds so indifferent to everything, it feels as if no matter what we tell him, he doesn't care. It gets weird. Tie that in with how little we know about him, it's just down right frustrating. What in the world is he?" Riveria vented out her anger.
"well, I can understand your anger. And unlike Ais he isn't obedient like that, although I say we are his family, it feels like he keeps blocking us out. As if to keep a certain distance." Finn responded. They were indeed baffled, they had hired Hermes familia to investigate the area of which Bell came from, or at least something about him. They weren't suspicious but it didn't seem right to know absolutely nothing about him. However, the search came up blank, absolutely ntohing, no near villages knew of him, they even checked the ruined villages and even they had no trace of him. It's as if he had lied to a God about his identity and got away with it.
The one thing they knew was that his grandfather is Zeus, but that doesn't show why he is a mystery. Riveria sat down and wondered through her memories, going back in time, the attack of evilus on Orario, the return of the defeated Zeus and Hera familia and just before it, a birth of a child from a high level adventurer from Hera familia, Meteria, whose child had snow white hair... and red eyes. Certainly not the blue eyes they are used to seeing now.
"Well as far as we can tell at this point, not only is Zeus' geological location unknown. We know something drastically changed for Bell during a certain buffer period. But the cause is absolutely undiscernible." Finn concluded. It seemed their investigation had once again returned with nothing.
The Next Morning
Bell had woken up and practiced with Ais as usual, Riveria had some business at the guild so she ended up tagging along with Bell who was going to give in his magic stones and go to the dungeon.
"Ah, Riveria sama and Bell." Eina said noticing the two.
"seriously, we aren't in the forest, drop the sama already." Riveria sighed.
"yeah instead of sama, call her mama like everyone does." Bell told Eina. Whose eyes widened to an unbelivable degree.
"m-mama?" Eina repeated confused.
"you have the wrong idea Eina," Riveria tried to clear up.
"d-don't tell me, Riveria sama... y-you didn't have pre-marital sex did you?" Eina asked. Riveria just face palmed.
"well ignoring the idiocy here, Eina san, I need to update my information." Bell said cutting in.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IDIOCY YOU STARTED IT," Riveria asked frustrated by his carelessness. Bell just stared at Riveria with wide eyes and looked at her, for way too long.
"say something will you?" Riveria asked.
"I need to change my info?" Bell asked.
"NOT th- ok, that's it, Eina just do as he says before I end up with a headache." Riveria sighed.
"I have-" Bell tried to say.
"if you dare to utter antidepressants, I will take away all the coffee in the manor." Riveria threatened. Now that was a no-go, and even for Bell, he wouldn't risk it.
"um, yeah can you change my age?" Bell asked, switching his target of conversation to Eina.
"e-eh, um... you became older?" Eina asked. Bell looked at her.
"no actually, I became one year younger so I am 12," Bell responded.
'The lack of sarcasm actually makes it sound like he's serious.' Riveria thought as she stifled a laugh.
"Of course I became older, my birthday was yesterday." Bell told her.
"O-ok, I'll change it... wait, IT WAS YESTERDAY? WHY didn't you tell anyone?" Eina asked. She wanted to celebrate his birthday.
"what am I supposed to do? Go around with a massive pin that says it's my 14th birthday?" Bell asked.
"a-alright, it feels like you became meaner as you became older." Eina replied meekly. Bell finished about changing information and as he gave in his magic stones a voice called out from behind.
"Oh, Beeelll kun~" a voice mused from behind, he spun around to see a blond haired man wearing a stupid hat followed by a blue haired girl with glasses. Bell's face contorted to one of disgust from instinct while internally he felt a slight bit unpleased.
"geh, it's Hermes." Bell said aloud.
A/N: aand that's a wrap. Sorry it took so long to get this week's chapter out, I was a bit busy rescheduling stuff since I have a tournament coming up in august and well, I need to drastically improve my physical state if I want to stand a chance in it. Regardless, hope you have fun reading the chapter and forgive me for any SPaG errors and yh.
Bless.