Chapter 3: Butler Mode

A/N: Yo wys. Just enjoy the chapter I can't find anything in particular to say rn.

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Bell stood in the Guild. At the moment in front of him stood The messenger God, Hermes alongside his captain, Asfi Al Andromeda. Bell was not pleased, at the slightest.

"aw, aren't we best friends? What do you mean by 'geh'?" Hermes asked going to slap Bell's back but his hand was promptly swatted away. Bell even from before never had a good memory of Hermes. Ever since childhood, he knew Hermes to be a sly person who would not hesitate to lie to achieve his goals.

Bell decided to just turn to Asfi and greet her instead. "Good morning, Asfi san. How have you been?" He asked.

"I've been good. It's been a while hasn't it?" Asfi asked. The last time she had met him was 3 years ago. As the Hermes familia were out on a mission and Hermes dropped by to meet Bell's grandfather, whilst they were talking about peeping on Bell's neighbour while she bathed, Bell came and effectively kicked Hermes's family jewels. An incident that made Hermes a bit traumatised about Bell.

"how mean of you Bell-kun, to ignore me. After all, I did for you when you were young." Hermes shed fake tears, pretending to feel hurt, even though this ceremony of Bell being cold to Hermes has gone on for a long time.

Bell still ignored him and started walking back towards the exit. He didn't want to speak with him, he couldn't care less about him right now, he would rather spend an evening with Bete than be with Hermes.

"Bell kun? Don't we have something to talk about?" Hermes asked, now his voice more serious than before. It was evident he wasn't playing about. Hermes's characterisation was almost comical in the regard that you could both instantly understand his mood and at the same time not know his intentions. " We haven't seen each other in a while. Why don't we sit down for a chat at a cafe? My treat." Hermes offered. Although his tone implied it was more of an order rather than a suggestion.

Bell stopped in his track, without looking back he spoke, "There is nothing to talk about Hermes. Our only connection was my grandpa, now that he is gone I have no reason to talk to you." Bell coldly responded and tried to once again exit. However this time Asfi had blocked his exit. "What are you doing?" Bell asked.

"Sorry, Bell. But this time, and only this time, I agree with my dumb God's suggestion. We need to have a chat." Asfi sided with Hermes. This was a first, Asfi had normally been forced to go along with Hermes's whims and pranks but this time she spoke with conviction.

Needless to say, the fact that the Hermes familia were so insistent on talking to an unknown adventurer drew some level of attention in the guild. Eina watched from the reception desk, with her hands put together. She would interfere, but she decided against it after hearing Bell talk of his grandpa, assuming there were personal issues.

"I don't think even you guys have the authority to harass a low-level adventurer. Especially one from the Loki familia." Bell told them, his monotonous loud enough for Hermes to hear from a bit far away. Normally, his statement would've been assumed as arrogance, but it was evident that he held no such prospect in this case. He could just turn around and see the commotion was gathering an audience, attention wasn't the most... desirable thing for Bell right now. "Fine, we're going to the cafe." Bell relented. Hermes smiled back and skipped along catching up to Bell. The people who were watching this entire interaction were weirded out, obviously but did not think much because it was Hermes. It's always Hermes. That one weird God.

Throughout the entire walk, Bell felt slightly uncomfortable with Hermes fishy smile it was drawing a few looks. He internally wished that he wouldn't see anyone from their familia. Not that meeting with Hermes was a bad thing, but knowing Hermes's character, he would say something risky if together for too long. But as always, fate really hated Bell, since he ran right into Riveria.

"oh? Bell what are you doing here right now? With Hermes no less." Riveria asked. They were heading towards the lone cafe in the eastern streets, he had forgotten however that Riveria does most of their shopping there. And today... was the shopping day.

"ah, he wants to talk to me for a bit," Bell replied maintaining his cool. He was quite thankful for his loss of emotions, in this case, no matter what happened at the very least he wouldn't feel nervous.

"hello nine hells san, thanks for accepting him into your familia." Hermes popped out from behind Bell. His voice was practically leaking the intent to mess with Bell, as always.

"h-huh? oh, that's... alright? he is quite skilled after all." Riveria wasn't sure how to respond, Hermes's comment insinuated that he and Bell had a very close relationship, of which the nature was still uncertain but it seemed like they knew each other from way before.

"Well of course he is, Bell has a lot of-" Hermes tried to speak but Bell immediately grabbed his mouth with full force. He forced his fingers through the two sides of the cheeks so that he wouldn't be able to speak anymore and would look very stupid indeed.

"that's enough, shut up before I make you... well then, Riveria san, I'll be going." Bell bowed and dragged Hermes away towards the cafe as Asfi just followed along. At the very least the interaction between Bell and Hermes wasn't very different, except for the fact that this was happening in public.

Riveria was left very confused yet certain that there was something Bell was hiding. It would take only someone like Ais, to not notice that Bell immediately cut Hermes off when he was going to say something about him. Although she understood his links with Hermes as Hermes was known to be a good friend of Zeus's it still didn't answer anything about Bell.

At the Cafe

Bell had a slight frown on his face. He was sitting opposite Hermes who had his usual happy go lucky smile that is more worrying than when he looks serious. A waitress came over to take their orders.

"Can I have bl-" Bell tried to order but was cut off by Hermes.

"A cup of tea, red velvet cake and black coffee right Bell kun?" Hermes asked with a smile. Bell didn't understand the importance of this, was it a way to say that he knows things about Bell?

"yes. Don't cut me off next time you bastard." Bell replied.

"Hahaha, you don't sound very threatening. I wonder what happened to the cheerful Bell that I once knew?" Hermes asked, his smile hidden behind his interlocked fingers. yet obvious of how he knew, he hit the nail on the head.

"He's dead. Long dead." Bell immediately quipped back. If this was under normal circumstances, people would usually see sparks flying off the two starings. The waitress was understandably uncomfortable, Asfi seeing this cleared her throat to bring her back to reality.

"v-very well, I will be back shortly." the waitress added before promptly taking her leave. Hermes leaned in as if he was about to whisper but spoke in a normal voice.

"Now shall we get on with the questions?" Hermes asked. It wasn't much of a choice, however, because Bell couldn't reject it even if he wanted to so he didn't reply. "Let's start with the obvious one. What the hell happened? When we were returning we passed by the town, there was absolutely nothing. The entire village was empty. Not to mention, you can't even understand my shock when I hear a certain familia requesting our assistance in looking into the background of a certain Bell Cranel." Hermes smirked. While he was indeed shocked, getting the answers that he wanted was his speciality.

"which familia?" Bell asked menacingly. He already had a hint anyways, since there were only 2 familias who would look into him. And considering he didn't know the one who lives atop Babel, the logical solution was Loki themselves.

"tsk tsk. You should know how I work Bell kun. I don't sell out my clients. The fact that I even told you that they are looking into you is already a big no-no for me. Anyways, let's move on." Hermes changed subjects. This was always the way Hermes behaved, he would give a clue and leave you hanging until the end of the matter. When you got hostile or too close to the truth, he would swerve the subject around. "So, are you going to answer my question? What happened? Why are your eyes blue all of a sudden? Which I'll admit, look cool as hell." Hermes told him.

" Since you won't answer my question, I have no obligation to answer yours." Bell stood up, coincidentally the waitress was bringing coffee and he immediately chugged the cup, left the money on the table and turned to leave. "Hermes. I will tell you this once and only once, don't bother me anymore. You always seem to have ways to mess with people's lives. In simple terms, I'm telling you to fuck off." Bell finished as he walked off. The waitress was beyond confused, she had gone for barely 5 minutes, yet all of a sudden a customer just, did all that.

Hermes stared at Bell as he walked off, "I can't just leave you alone Bell kun. For we are bound by fate." he whispered. Hermes also stood up not to leave, but rather to take his tea from the waitress who was frozen in place. He came and sat back down in his chair, he quietly sipped on his tea. "So? What is your take on all this, Asfi?" He asked without turning around.

"... his behaviour is strange. His physical conditions have changed dramatically. Although we haven't seen each other for only a short while, the way he carried himself suggested he was a veteran fighter which is impossible to achieve within a time limit of just a few years. Even with his experience." Asfi recognised. From just the way Bell constantly had his hand on his sword's hilt, his eyes darting around every now and then and the literal air around him it was hard to believe that he was just a 14-year-old boy.

"right? what's worse is that he somehow seems to have become colder. No, it isn't just as if he became a lot meaner, it's as if he no longer can be happy. The innocence that was once within him is gone. The ambitious young man that used to go around screaming 'I want to be a hero' seems to have lost it." Hermes spoke. He still held a smile, which didn't relent even after all these things had been pointed out.

"Gosh, what are you planning now? He doesn't seem like he'll be pleased with anything you do, now that he's...like that, who knows what he'll do to you." Asfi sighed. The one characteristic of her God that she hated, his scheming that always involved her.

"Oh dear Asfi, I'm not planning anything right now. I'm just thinking of having the sweet, naive heroic boy make his comeback. Besides, anything I do, surely Bell wouldn't mind, we're best friends forever." Hermes smiled at her. The seeming innocent smile said it all. Now there were two qualities of her God she hated, the other being his idiocy.

Bell had made his way to the dungeon. He ran through the first floor without paying attention to anything. The monsters there weren't worth anything anymore. He went straight to the 10th floor this time, amongst the mist a couple of orcs and a decent amount of imps appeared. Bell grabbed his single-edged sword and cut through them like paper, he jumped onto an orc as he stabbed the sword into its face and leapt off of it to the other orc, decapitating it.

He spent a bit of time thoroughly cleaning through the floors. Until he arrived at the entrance of the 13th floor. Now, it hadn't been long, well according to Bell's sense of time. He could once again attempt to go down a bit more. Or he could turn around and be sensible to wait a bit. As always, like the soloist he is, he decided to go down.

He was immediately met by a few dungeon worms, which he perfectly split into half. As a few almirajs came out with their tiny axes, they jumped to attack him but Bell dodged the first one's strike. As they second approached he literally punched it so hard, that it got stuck in the ceiling. The other 3 tried to attack him at once.

"Lightning flow." he cast as lightning surged into his sword. Bell swung it in a full 360 to cut all the monsters at once. He picked every stone up as he saw a pack of hell hounds come towards him. As two of them breathed fire, Bell jumped to the wall towards the left and ran across it. He then proceeded to jump off of it and turn mid-air, as he sliced off 4 of the hellhound heads. The last one tried to scratch Bell and succeeded as it grazed the unprotected part of his arm. Bell stepped back and cut off its head. He thought he was doing pretty well so he tried going down another floor. This ultimately ended up being a bad move. The second he descended, he was met by another minotaur.

'oh for Loki's sake... I forgot to bring the toothbrush I promised. Well, I guess I'll have to go back once more today.' Bell shrugged. and turned and high tailed it back. He came out to see it was basically evening.

Meanwhile Atop Babel

Freya sat on her chair swirling her wine in her wine glass once more. 'hm... he left the fight once more.' she thought. She had been watching over Bell-like usual. Except now that he somehow knew Syr was the same as the person watching from atop Babel, she didn't need to hold back. Today once more, Bell turned away at the face of a minotaur. Truly a concerning issue.

"Ottar," she called.

"yes, mistress," he replied.

"can you prepare a minotaur for him? It seems some sort of trauma or something is holding on him." Freya asked. It was more of an order but well, it's just how she spoke. It seemed she had completely mistaken Bell's forgetfulness as fear of the monster.

"as you wish mistress," Ottar responded as he left.

At the Guild

He went to the guild and Eina was working at the desk. She felt someone look at her so she looked around to see Bell, at first he thought she would commend him for coming back so early but instead, she narrowed her eyes.

"Why do you look so mad Eina san? do you need to go to the toilet?" Bell asked and promptly received a slap from Eina who was beet red. "ow." he deadpan responded.

"do you have no tact?" Eina asked as she massaged her hand which surprisingly hurt. "Of course I'll be mad you were gone for a long time again," Eina responded moving on from the fact that he was idiotic.

"eh? But I only went to the dungeon in the morning? Remember I came to give the stones and met Hermes," Bell pointed out, hoping she would remember the event. Indeed she remembered it.

"yes, that was yesterday morning Bell. Tell me, is the surface that boring that you stay down there so much?" Eina asked truly concerned for him. The fact that he spent so long in the dungeon and was just fine with it was a worrying thing on its own. A dungeon is a place where people fight for their lives, it's not somewhere they like to stay for long.

"well, there isn't anything to kill in Orario." Bell shrugged thinking it was a good excuse. Which wasn't the case.

"I am in charge of an adventurer, not a murderer. Seriously, you need to calm down on that aspect. Today is or rather was Saturday, a day when the Loki's are supposed to take a break. Good luck dealing with your captain when you get back." Eina told him.

"hm." Bell curtly responded not fazed by it, he couldn't lie he was a bit interested in seeing how Finn chooses to word what he says this time. Watching him desperately try to convince Bell to do something even he couldn't control was just about the most entertaining thing on the surface nowadays. Bell gave in his stones and got back 20,000 valis.

"as always you seriously earn a lot. But then again, you somehow manage to spend an entire day. why don't you use that money for something other than armour and weapons?" Eina asked. He seemed like the person who had no interest in experiencing new things, part of why he saved up so much money.

Bell left to go back home and entered the manor.

"Ah brat, ya finally decided to grace us with yer presence huh?" Loki asked suddenly coming out from a hallway. Bell only looked at her for a second.

"do you live in front of the door? How are you here every single time I come in?" Bell asked. This was a consequent time that she had appeared in front of him the moment he came back home.

"tch shut it. I got eyes I saw ya coming from ma office." Loki replied.

"you had eyes? I thought you just 3 slits on your body," Bell told her holding a hand to his mouth as if to fake shock.

"grrr shut up, I don't decide this... wait where is the 3rd slit?" Loki asked confused. Normally, it would've made sense for him to say 2 slits since a being has 2 eyes. However, soon she found him looking down. More specifically at her crotch.

"if you don't have a slit... does that mean you are packing? Not that I would be surprised." Bell asked. Loki had never once felt so irritated like she did at that moment, it felt like she was trying to argue with Hestia. She immediately wound back and went in for a punch which he dodged, but she fell forward onto him, Bell didn't lose his balance but ended up hugging her to prevent her from falling off. "hm. It seems you're drunk. I'll take you to your room." Bell said as he suddenly picked Loki up in a princess carry.

"o-oi brat put me down, I ain't drunk," she said while going red a bit. She hadn't been treated like a woman in a fairly long time, so this act was a bit of a strange one.

"but your face is all red?" Bell tilted his head which reminded her a bit of Ais. Eventually, Bell did reach her room, he opened the room and was hit by the intense smell of alcohol that she had been drinking prior. As soon as he looked at her, she looked away and started whistling. " I'm not Riveria san, I wouldn't get mad at you for drinking," Bell said as he put her down on her bed gently. Once again shocking Loki with the kindness he was showing. "anyways, I'm going to go and get lectured by Finn again, after that I might go out to eat so tell anyone who asks that. Not that anyone would." Bell told her as he left her room. He made his way down the hall and into Finn's office.

"oh Bell, you finally decided to pay us a visit." Finn smiled. It didn't seem very welcoming or kind but rather one with anger behind it.

"hm. I feel like an outsider if you speak like that." Bell pointed out.

"well maybe if you came home every day that wouldn't be the case. Because as things stand right now, you are practically treating us as outsiders." Finn replied. Truth be told, Bell's lack of presence didn't matter to most, Raul even started feeling like he lived in the room alone.

"I tried my best to fix the issue?" Bell told him, yet he didn't sound sure of himself. Finn sighed and facepalmed.

"anyways, I can't even be bothered to lecture you right now. Riveria will probably do it anyways. How was it in the dungeon?" Finn asked deciding to ask for something more important.

"I went down to the 14th floor." Bell began and already Finn knew this was something he had to address, "I beat the monsters fairly well but then I saw a minotaur so I decided to come back up." Bell told him. Finn sat with wide eyes. Bell had actually... made a safe decision. Now, this was new.

" Oh, good job Bell. You made the right choice." Finn commended him, happy with his decision. "ah right one more thing. I heard from Riveria that she saw you with Hermes this morning." Finn brought up the one topic Bell didn't want to talk about.

"tch."

'd-did he just click his tongue at me? Bell did?' Finn wondered.

"right, that clown." Bell began, "yes I was with him. You should know that he and my grandpa were good friends. So I regrettably had to tolerate his existence." Bell explained. For the first time, Bell sounded very displeased about a certain person. It made Finn wonder how Hermes got a person so indifferent like Bell to hate him. "we just had a temporary chat which began with him trying to ask me questions and ending with me telling him to fuck off from my life." Bell informed him. Once again Finn had heard Bell swear for the first time.

"He is a God, you know that right Bell?" Finn asked. Normally, Bell would show great respect to the Gods, unless he was friendly with them. He had seen how Bell acts with Miach.

"if that sorry excuse of an intelligent being wants me to treat him with respect, he should stop trying to mess up my life every time we see each other," Bell answered recalling a time when he made an unnecessarily young Bell fight against an orc on the surface without a falna no less.

"h-huh..." was all that left Finn's mouth as the room descended into silence.

"well, I'm going out to eat today. Bye." Bell informed him as he was about to take his leave.

"Oh right, Bell." Finn called out, stopping Bell in his track, he spun around and looked at him, "since you broke our rule of no dungeon in the weekends, you have cleaning duty tomorrow. No dungeon allowed as well." Finn told him smugly. He had thought that Bell would refuse the act of not being able to go into the dungeon like Ais.

"hm." was the only response he got instead as Bell just darted out of the room. It took him a slight bit to remember Bell doesn't go to the dungeon because he likes it in there, but because he loses track of time. He sighed at his failed taunt and sat back down to continue his work.

Meanwhile, Bell was heading to the Hostess of Fertility. He had earned quite a bit of money and well, he did promise that Syr Flova girl that he would eventually come. Not that it mattered much to him, he shrugged and may as well try some new food.

At the Hostess

The Hostess had been pretty busy like usual nights. The adventurers who wanted to relieve some stress or people just looking for food would come and just eat and drink the night away. Not many dared to mess around too much since the place was owned by Mia, an ex level 6 adventurer herself. Bell stood outside the establishment and looked at the building. A 2 story most likely with an attic. If he were to guess the waitresses lived in the building.

He walked in through the door. The place was filled with people, it seemed as if there were no space open. Groups, single tables, many types of tables were filled with people each either eating or drinking. Soon he saw someone approach. An elf with slightly blond hair that looked dyed no matter how you looked at it. Long outgoing ears that suggested she was a high elf.

Normally one would've questioned why a high elf was working in the Hostess of Fertility, but well he knew who this was.

"welcome, a table for one?" She asked almost robotically. As if she had been trained to not ask anything too outgoing. But it was obvious how she still wasn't good at handling strangers.

"yes, please. And if I may, could you come to take my order instead of someone else?" Bell asked. This was a rather normal request. A lot of the times, when customers had taken a liking to a certain waitress they would request them, to have a slight bit more connection of sorts. But what made the situation particularly strange was the fact that Ryuu had never met this person. Normally, they wouldn't ask for a waitress on their first day but she shrugged it off and guided him to the bar front. Right in front of Mia, just in case.

Ryuu's POV

she was shocked when suddenly the new customer had requested her specifically to take his order. She took a quick second to analyse the person. An average height male, around 5'9 ish. A muscular build, not too bulky but not slender either. Just the right amount of muscles where necessary. Soft snow-white hair, and cold blue eyes. This was the part that took her attention the most. The rather icy look seemed to exude a sense of confident carelessness. With no interest in seemingly anything in the world but the confidence in being able to survive just fine under most circumstances.

She guided him to a bar table right next to Mia just in case. She didn't fail to take notice of the way Bell carried himself. He was undoubtedly someone who was used to fighting, quite a lot as well.

As he sat down, she calmed her attention down feeling that she was still being disrespectful. "what would you like to have?" Ryuu asked professionally. Bell looked at the menu before turning.

"can I have whatever the speciality is since it's my first time here? and 2 mugs of ale." Bell ordered. She didn't expect someone so young looking to request alcohol, but well looks can be deceiving.

"I'll return momentarily," Ryuu said as she went into the kitchen. Bell took the time to look around the place, everyone just minding their own business as per usual. He felt the owner, Mia in front of him look in his direction now and then but chose to ignore. He felt someone trying to sneak up behind him and as they were about to hit a chop onto his head, he easily caught it. He made sure to not apply too much pressure, but enough that the person wouldn't escape.

"Sneaking up on a customer isn't the best thing to do right... Syr Flova san?" Bell asked without turning around. He knew it was her since she had been eyeing him for a bit of time. He turned and indeed it turned out to be Syr.

"hehehe, you caught me. How'd you know I was coming?" Syr asked.

"I told you to keep watching me from up there for a reason, the way you look at me. I'll be able to identify it from a mile away." Bell told her. Mia overheard this and was shocked beyond belief. The young boy who had come for the first time, seemingly knew of Freya/ Helun's identity?

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But still, thanks for keeping your promise. Why did you take so long though, I thought you wouldn't come." Syr pouted, acting as if they were the best of friends already.

"I told you I lose track of ti-" Bell tried to say but got cut off.

"Syr," Ryuu shouted from the kitchen entrance. She put down the food and immediately leapt to attack Bell, she threw her tray with her usual strength but Bell dodged it, letting go of Syr's hand. Ryuu went in for a punch but Bell caught it with one hand and with the other he brought his sword to her throat. Similarly, Ryuu had her foot right under Bell's face. They were both in checkmate. If anyone moved they could very well die. The entire place had gone silent, some stared with awe at the display of such skill.

"hey owner, what's up with all your waitresses trying to attack me today?" Bell asked without looking at Mia. She only let out a deep sigh which confused Mia. "why did you act out so much? Do you think I'll attack one of your friends right in front of her of all people?" Bell asked Ryuu. Which made quite a lot of sense. Ryuu didn't relent, however.

"then why were you holding her hand?" Ryuu asked with a narrowed gaze.

"Oi, Ryuu stop it. You don't know what truly happened, he did nothin wrong." Mia ordered her. Ryuu had always been extra defensive when it came to Syr, 9 out 10 times, her protection was with reason. However this time, it was the 1 off. Ryuu finally moved away.

"you know this truly is a wonderful place. First, a waitress tries to trick me and get me to come here to eat and when I do come, another waitress attacks me for no reason. Makes me want to come here for a second time, maybe I'll actually be able to eat rather than fight for my life." Bell spoke. It would've sounded sarcastic except his tone suggested otherwise.

"oh shut it, drama queen. You don't care and you know it." Mia smirked as she turned around to go back to clean the glass she was wiping. Meanwhile, Syr was explaining the situation to Ryuu. Who seemed to look more and more guilty as each second went by. Finally,

"I'm very sorry for attacking you. I didn't know you were a friend of Syr's." Ryuu said bowing.

"well, calling us friends is a bit of stretch." Bell shrugged.

"how mean, and here I thought we were getting somewhere." Syr huffed although not angrily.

"I met you two days ago, acquaintances are more suitable here," Bell replied. He would talk about her watching at him for a long time again, but figured there was a reason to keep it a secret so he didn't bother. They continued to talk and eat, Mia let them stay and talk with him as an apology for Ryuu attacking him.

"what? You are level 1?" Ryuu asked baffled. The way he had guarded against her, made it seem like he would be at least level 3.

"Yes." was all he replied with.

"wow, for you to be able to block Ryuu as a level 1." Syr complimented.

"well, she wasn't seriously trying to kill me. If she then there is no way I would've been unscathed." Bell credited her. He wouldn't go on blabbering about his abilities. They had gotten used to his tone, at first Syr was worried that he was bored but when asking him, he replied that this was his usual face anyways.

After dinner, he returned home and lied down in his bed, ready to sleep. When a knock came on his door. Confused at who could come at this hour he opened the door to reveal Tiona.

"Tiona what's wrong?" Bell asked seeing her a bit fidgety. She quietly handed the book back to him. "oh you finished already? Did you like it?" He asked. She nodded.

"yes, there was a lot of things... that made more sense," she replied with a smile. Bell unconsciously let out a small smile himself not that he noticed.

"I have more books would you like some of them? You still have another day of rest left anyways." Bell asked. Tiona brightened up even more after that. It seemed that she wanted to ask if he had any more of the type of books and she gladly agreed to the offer of taking 2 more hero books before promising to return them.

"Why do you have so many 1st edition books?" Tiona asked curiously as to how he had so many goldmines. The book of Argonaut revealed many more things that she had wondered about ever since she was young but never got the answer to. It felt like getting closure, but not forgetting it.

" I am a hero fanatic. I wander around here and there trying to search for this type of stuff." Bell explained. It was a lie. All the stories that he read were written by his grandpa, but he wouldn't reveal Zeus's identity right now.

"wow. let's talk about heroes together someday." Tiona offered Bell only silently nodded but had the small smile she was looking for. "well that was it, oh and Riveria's calling for you." she told him.

"I'll see her tomorrow morning." Bell shrugged but as he was about to close the door, Tiona spoke once more.

"she said if you don't go tonight you'll be punished." Tiona simply added making Bell hesitant on closing the door. He just gave up and thanked Tiona as he headed towards the library. Dealing with Riveria was not easy. There was the chance that she may ask about Hermes and he had enough of him already, regardless. He had learnt from last time.

At the Library

Bell slowly opened the door. Riveria furrowed her eyebrows and asked in an irritated tone. "Who is disturbing me at this hour?" She asked a bit angry her late-night reading session was getting interrupted.

"oh, I guess you don't want to see me right now then." Bell took the chance and turned to go back to his room but Riveria spoke once more.

"stop, come and sit." Riveria ordered as he simply followed her orders and sat in front of the main desk. "it's good that you came, I thought I would've had to show you why my name is Nine Hells." Riveria smirked.

"more like nine lectures," Bell whispered but felt her glare as if she had heard him so he turned to her instead. "What did you call me for Riveria san?" he asked even more monotonously.

"indifference is often mistaken for sarcasm," Riveria warned.

"That was the plan." Bell quipped back, his statement was indeed sarcastic. He knew why he was called in, well at least had a good guess.

" Well, whatever I expect this from you." Riveria shrugged but continued, " Where were you during dinner?" she asked.

"I was coerced in going into an establishment against my will and lose my money," Bell explained.

"Uhuh and the normal way to say it?" Riveria asked.

"A waitress from the Hostess of Fertility tried to trick me into eating there, but I called her out on it and still decided to eat there," Bell said in simple terms.

"there now was that so hard? Anyhow, it's good you had food at the Hostess, we go there pretty often after expeditions," Riveria informed him. "speaking of, we're going on an expedition in a couple of weeks."

"hm. nice." was all Bell replied with. Riveria had expected more of a response than that.

"you aren't going to ask to join?" Riveria asked surprised, she had thought he would ask her to let him go as well.

"Oh yes, let's ask as a level 1 to go on an expedition to the deep floors. Very logical." Bell replied.

"yeah, the level 1 who is on the verge of levelling up after just 2 weeks of adventuring? Also, speak with that sarcasm again, you won't leave unscathed." Riveria threatened.

"it's fine, Amid told me that all expenses are covered by the familia." Bell shrugged.

"but the pain isn't."

"good enough for me as long as my heart, brain lungs and limbs work," Bell replied. The room fell into silence. So far Riveria had not been able to get even a single point over Bell, while it was rather infuriating she knew she wasn't the best at arguing because of the conscious thought that here was a 99-year-old woman trying to argue with a 14-year-old boy.

"well, either way, you have your punishment from Finn tomorrow so I won't bother being the nine lectures this time," Riveria replied with a narrow gaze. She was still hung on the fact that he had called her that.

"Well, then I guess I'll call you eight lectures from now on then?" Bell asked tilting his head.

"I have a name you know." Riveria pointed out. She was getting her usual headache after talking to him. She had become slightly tired of his, well, shit. His behaviour always screamed zero fucks given but in a polite manner.

"hm, I'll think about it," Bell told her as he got up and went towards the door as he opened it to leave. "Oh and Riveria san? I don't appreciate you looking into my background. You already know what you need to know. Leave my past alone." Bell told her. Riveria's eyes shot wide. This was completely out of predictions. Now she knew Bell was sharp. Freakishly so, his intuition so far could be comparable to Finn's, but for him to become aware of their investigation was totally uncalled for since only Loki and her and Finn knew of it, not even Gareth.

"H-huh? How did you?" Riveria asked shocked.

"I felt that Gareth san wasn't involved. Finn was acting, as usual, it's naive of you to think I wouldn't notice. If you wanted to know something, you could've just asked me." Bell told her. It's not like he was keeping much a secret. Only the incident with Lady Nexus would stay hidden, the rest would be open for discussion.

"then, why can we not find your village?" Riveria asked, now that she had been promised answers, she would use the opportunity to get them.

"simple. Everyone in my village is dead." Bell replied without a shred of sadness or emotional hindrance. Riveria sat shocked beyond belief. How could he talk of the death of his family and more so casually? "and to answer your thoughts, no I didn't kill them. There was a monster stampede 1 week before I came to Orario." He told her which provided some level of relief but it was still surprising.

"a-aren't you saddened by their death? How can you speak so easily of it?" Riveria asked. she then covered her mouth realising she said it aloud. It was an extremely rude statement to accuse someone who lost a family that they weren't mourning. It was a very harsh comment but Bell took no offence.

"My heart isn't allowed to ache anymore, the well of tears has long since dried. Nothing will come out even if I tried to do anything." Bell replied. The response was cryptic and dramatic at best. But it hit Riveria like a wall. She couldn't even imagine Bell crying. Ever. "I'm going to bed. You don't look like you're in the state to ask questions anyways." Bell said as he walked off to his room to catch some zzzzs.

The Next Morning

Bell woke up to a knock from Finn, who was staring at him with the smuggest look on his face. He was holding two sets of clothing in his hand.

"hey, since you'll have to do chores all day I thought you may as well play the part. Do you want the butler suit or would you rather have the black maid costume? Personally, I think you should pick the latter." He grinned.

"...immature," Bell said as he grabbed the butler suit and closed the door. Finn stood there waiting for Bell to finish wearing his suit. Bell decided to change it up to his plans. Raul woke up in the meanwhile and saw Bell.

"oh my God..." he said. Bell finished off and opened the door, Finn took a second to look at Bell and even he had to admit.

"you look better than I expected." Finn praised him. Bell pushed his hair into one side. His clean and handsome face going amazingly well with his ice-blue eyes. His blazer's arms were folded to his elbow exposing his elbow down. The white buttoned shirt encased in a black blazer. White gloves on his hands just about covering his wrists. his black leggings are professional and made to fit so that his muscles are wonderfully brought out with a pair of black boots. He fixed his bow tie, but since it was so uncomfortable he took it off and threw it away, he unbuttoned the first button of the shirt, to expose a bit of his neck.

Bell tilted his head, looking slightly down at the pallum whose idea of embarrassing Bell was thrown out the window, no this suit only made him look better.

"so... should I be calling you master or something?" Bell asked.

A/N: and that's a wrap. Again I don't have much to say rn so hope u enjoyed reading this chapter, a bit on the short side but it does the job. If the SPaG looks better, its cuz uh... it is. I tried using Grammarly, so let's see how this turns out.

Bless.