Changelog:
20,7,2023 - Error with Tsubaki race.
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"Hmm... This isn't right either..." Bell sighed, dropping yet another weapon into an ever-growing pile of cold, disappointed, hard steel. Swords, daggers, stilettos, hammers, maces, axes, clubs- An entire day had gone by in the blink of an eye as Bell and Haruhime had tried finding the right weapon for the young renard.
The blonde turned to the black-haired noble-woman, "Ms Kaguya...I'm sorry for being so useless..." She said, feeling tears on the verge of overflowing from her eyes.
"Don't worry too much about it, little one." Kaguya knelt next to the dejected-looking child, patting her gently on the back. "You're still young so it is to be expected that your options of weapon would be thin and few." She said, "How about you go rest for a bit? I have something to chat with Bell about."
Haruhime pouted with a drawn-out "Hauuuuu..." before nodding, her shoulders slumped, and then taking a seat under the comforting shade of a tree.
Kaguya coughed into her hand, composing herself as she turned away from the renard's lethal pouting face. Its effect made her question whether Haruhime's magic had some hidden passive effect that allowed her to charm people. The thought made her huff.
Propping herself up with her arms, she walked over to Bell, who was staring intently at the pile of weapons which, by no means, should be anywhere within a 10 meder radius of a child.
It had been a week since they had returned from their trip in Melen, and by now, the other members of the familia had finished their trip and also returned. The news of a new member had taken them by surprise, and they quickly grew fond of the blonde renard.
Neze especially was jovial at the prospect of another beast-person in the familia and often hung out with her whenever Bell was busy in the dungeon with Welf.
Ultimately it was decided that Haruhime's magic training would begin once she had acclimated to her new life. Although Haruhime had access to magic, the two dedicated mages of the familia, Ryana and Celty advised Haruhime to learn how to use some kind of weapon so that she could help out more in the dungeon.
-Which is how Bell, Kaguya, and Haruhime had ended up in the training ground of the Stardust Garden with a menacing pile of weapons at the center.
"I feel like I'm forgetting something..." Bell held his chin in thought.
"So, how is she?"
"We're...getting there." He said wryly. She raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking 'Are you sure?' as he shook his head in dismay.
She massaged her forehead, "Let's see..." Kaguya knelt down, un-piling the mass of weapons and laying them all out beside each other, "Have you tried a bow yet?"
"Ah!" Bell hit his palm with the bottom of his right fist as a 'ding' sound rung through his head, "I hadn't thought of that since no one in our familia uses a bow. As expected of Big sister. "
"Yes yes, feed my ego. " Kaguya huffed victoriously as she fanned herself with a smirk, "I'll check the storage room again, we might have one lying around."
"Alright, thanks." He nodded, then walked over to Haruhime, "Haruhime, have you ever used a bow before?"
The renard tilted her head, looking up at him. "Just a little. Although I was to be a shrine maiden, my biological parents had me take many classes which included archery, or Kyuudo in the far-east. Ah umm, I believe the one that I was taught to use is called a longbow." She said.
"I heard that far-eastern longbows are different from elven or human ones." Bell said.
"-They are disproportionate, with the upper limb being longer than the lower one. In addition, the grip is far closer towards the bottom rather than the center. More often than not, they are as tall, if not taller than the archer holding it." Kaguya explained in detail, cutting into their conversation.
Bell made an 'o' face, "Ohh, I see. Wait, how did you get back so fast? Isn't the storage room on the other side of the manor?"
"..." She stared at him blankly, "Anyways, there weren't any there."
"I see..." He nodded wryly, "Let's go to Babel then."
"Babel?" Haruhime tilted her head, "How come we are going to the dungeon..?"
"No, where we are going is into the tower itself. There are a few floors in the upper levels where you can buy weapons." Kaguya explained, "I don't have any plans today so I guess I'll come along."
"Oh umm thank you, Ms Kaguya." Haruhime bowed.
Sighing, "Haah... Being called 'Ms' by a child really makes me feel old..." Haruhime tilted her head at the black-haired woman's words. "It's nothing, let's get going."
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They arrived at Babel in the afternoon, navigated past the crowd of adventurers leaving the dungeon and stepped into the magic-stone elevator. Haruhime clung to Bell's leg shakily, doubting the safety of the unusual rectangular box she stood in.
"Is this your first time in an elevator?"
"Mm..." She nodded worriedly, looking around the box curiously. "Hey dad..is this really safe? We should've taken the stairs..." She grumbled.
"Of course it's safe, why wouldn't it be?" Chuckled the albino.
"The stairs are usually quite crowded and tiresome. That's the whole reason why these were installed into the interior of Babel." Kaguya added.
"Mmh..." Haruhime nodded wryly.
As Orario was the world's largest provider of magic stones, it was only natural that they would have the latest technology. Although elevators had been invented, the only place they had ever been installed in was Babel. There just weren't any other structures as tall as the tower, not to mention the expensive installation and running costs.
With the sound of creaking gears, the elevator came to a stop, the net-like door sliding open towards the left. Haruhime was the first to step out of the elevator, not wanting to stay another second inside the small compartment. Bell and Kaguya giggled at the sight.
Walking through the shiny, prim and proper hallways, few people around. Haruhime strutted to one of the glass windows. Looking at the various strong-looking weapons with awe, her excitement quickly fell as her eyes did to the price tags.
"S-so expensive..." She winced at the absurd number of zeros that painted the weapons.
"Hahaha, of course they are. Most of the weapons sold on these levels are targeted at first and second-class adventurers." Bell explained. "Okay, I have something else to do here so I'll meet up with you guys later."
"What an irresponsible father." Kaguya teased. "Come on little Haru, let's leave your negligent dad behind and go find you a good bow and arrow." The black-haired woman walked off with the renard's hand in her own.
Bell sighed to himself. "Now, time to find Ms Tsubaki."
After walking for a couple minutes, Bell stopped at a store. Above the door, a sign with the Hephaestus familia emblem dangled. Both the Gobniu and Hephaestus familia had rented out entire floors of Babel to showcase and sell their goods.
A light chime rang as he pushed open the shop doors, announcing his arrival to the rest of the customers, "Welcome!-" The tan-skinned clerk called out, "Oho? Look who finally decided to show up." Tsubaki said with a smirk.
"Good afternoon to you too."
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She rested her right forearm on the counter, "I was under the impression that you forgot all about me." Faking a hurt face, Tsubaki frowned.
"I've had my hands full quite recently that I hadn't found the time to come." He scratched the back of his head, "I actually came to see if you could forge me some light armor."
"Of course." Tsubaki said, eyeing his backpack. "I take it that you've brought some drop items for me to use?"
"Yeah." Swinging his brown satchel to his front, the half-dwarf moved away slightly to give him space. Bell reached into his bag and took out some varying ores and drop items found only on the deep floors. There were horns, blades, scales and ores of varying colors and textures.
"Hmm..." The blacksmith held her chin, squinting as she carefully examined the quality of the materials that her contractee provided. She held up a black scale to her one eye, "Ah feel free to take a look around, this might take some time."
"Alright." Leaving Tsubaki to do her own thing, he strolled around the weapons shop. All of the blades were beautifully crafted, forged by talented blacksmiths of the Hephaestus familia. There was a single weapon that caught Bell's eye.
-A simple, plain, insignificant longsword that rested on two hooks at the center of the shelf. Aesthetically, there was nothing special about it, at least when compared to the extravagantly-adorned weapons around it.
"If you see something you like, feel free to take a swing!" She called out from across the shop.
Taking that as permission, he carefully took the blade off of the rack and unsheathed it.
A dull silver shine to its blade, a flat rectangular cross guard, brown grip and a silver pommel. There was nothing special about it; simpler than the beginner weapons from the guild and plainer than all. -Yet he could tell that the weapon he held was crafted with passion and as well as any other weapon on the shelves.
He held the brown scabbard by the left of his hip, the blade stretched out in front of him. Imagining a monster in front of him, Bell took a few swings with it, feeling the blade leave deep gashes in the air.
...It's so light... Bell's eyes widened in surprise
"Woah there, don't hit me." Tsubaki chuckled as Bell was snapped out of his small trance.
"A-ah! I'm s-sorry." He quickly returned the blade to its scabbard and handed it to the blacksmith.
"Hahaha, don't sweat it." She slapped him 'lightly' over the back, making the rabbit groan.
Returning the blade onto the hooks on the shelf, Tsubaki smiled at the nameless weapon in awe like Bell himself after he straightened up. "A masterpiece isn't it?" She said.
"It's a wonderful sword, simple but practical." Bell commented, "Did you forge it yourself?"
Tsubaki shook her head, "Nope. I picked these fine diamonds off of a travelling merchant a couple months back." Crossing her arms, she bobbed her head left and right. "If I remember correctly the guy was called Eni...Emily...Emiy-something? Don't really remember." She shrugged.
"Is it okay to sell something with your brand even though it wasn't forged by someone from your familia?"
"Ah don't worry bout' that. The man said that they were 'Mere imitations', and that they were nothin' special." Tsubaki explained, "-He said something about bones of swords. Whatever that means."
"...Excuse me?" The albino tilted his head in confusion.
"Anyways, I looked over the drop items you brought over. Some high-quality stuff even among first-class drop items if I do say so myself. I could make you one fine set 'o armor with these." The blacksmith smiled contently, happy to work with such good materials. "Come with me 'round the back, if you have anything you'd like in mind I can draw up a few roughs."
Bell shook his head, "No, it's fine. I trust you with the design process."
"You sure? Well okay then." She nodded, "Swing by my workshop in a couple days and we can talk about this more in detail."
"Do you think you could hold onto the drop items for now?" The blacksmith returned his question with a mere thumbs up and grin, "Alright, until then." With a wave, Bell left the weapons shop.
...Now if I remember correctly, they went down...
Stepping off the wide stone stairway, Bell momentarily glanced over his shoulder at it. Did the guild not install safety railings on the inward side to preserve a historical monument? Maybe he would go ask Rose next time he stopped by the Pantheon.
Ignoring the minor stares, he stepped out of the stairwell lined with magic stone lanterns and into the open plaza where smiths mingled with adventurers, discussing contracts or selling equipment.
Scanning the area, Bell caught eye of Kaguya sitting on a rectangular stone bench on the outer end. Walking up to the pair, he found himself struggling to stifle a laugh. Haruhime's face was practically glued to the window, peering down on the labyrinth city in its entirety. Her tail was waving with excitement at the sight.
"You enjoying the sights?"
"Eep!" The renard jolted at his voice, quickly looking over her shoulder, "You're back!" Her attention no longer on the minute-looking city below her, she strutted over to him and captured him in a hug.
Patting her on the head gently, "I missed you too." Bell turned to Kaguya, "Did you guys find what you were looking for?"
The black-haired woman nodded, "Yes." Motioning to the bundled up longbow that sat next to her on the bench. She got to her feet, brushing the dust off her purple kimono. "You don't know how hard it was to find a far-eastern weapons seller, so I'll make you pay me back for my hard work." Kaguya said with a smirk.
"But you decided to come along by your own choice..."
"Did you say something?" Somehow, her smirk contorted into some cruel smile as she glared at him. Her voice was as prim and proper as ever, yet somehow her words sounded like a threat.
Fearing for his life, "N-no." Bell gulped. "Heeey Haruhime, why don't we race Ms Gojouno here home?" He said in an attempt to get back at her.
Kaguya snorted, "Jokes on you, I'm not Alise so that doesn't work on me."
The renard felt like she heard a 'tsk' from Bell, but brushed the thought aside.
"Let's return home." He said.
"Right right, Mr Irresponsible. But you're carrying this." Kaguya dropped the equipment, weightless to his hands, before walking ahead of him.
Feeling a tug at his jacket, Bell looked down, seeing Haruhime holding her hands out in front of her. "You…want to carry it?" He asked as the renard nodded several times with confidence. "Okay, okay I get it." Bell chuckled, handing her the quiver of arrows.
"Hhhk!" Haruhime groaned, feeling her arms pulled down by the sudden weight. She repositioned the sack in her arms a couple times, trying to find a comfortable way to carry it. Eventually Haruhime hugged it with her right arm and supported the bottom with her left.
"Is it too heavy?"
She shook her head, "No, it's fine, I can do it."
"If you're sure then. Tell me if your arms get tired." Bell smiled.
Cutting through the crowd, they arrived in front of the elevator only to find Kaguya waving at them with her sleeve covering her mouth as the door shut.
"Oh that little-" He flinched, "Haruhime! We're taking the stairs!"
"O-okay!"
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Author's notes:
Shinki here, thanks for all your kind words to the announcement of me not being unalive. Something I forgot to mention in that announcement that I was going to say is that I won't stop writing this story. If for some reason I do, then I'll make sure to tell you all in an announcement in that situation.
Anyways, moving onto the review answers~
mattin10076: segg will not come for at least...30 chapters. I apologize to all of you readers. I know this is an Alise x Bell story but there isn't going to be much romance until 3 arcs later-
Guest(is that you dusker?): I have considered writing a far-eastern centered arc which would revolve around Bell and Kaguya going to the far-east due to some business with Haruhime tagging along, and thinking about it now, honestly yeah that sounds fun to write. But currently I do not have any plans for that, though with your comment I'll think about it.
Bluerose1937: No, they are not the Hestia familia from the main story. The characters I chose are from Orario Rhapsodia, which has next to none material to work with besides of what the characters look like and some minor characterization.
Guipa: Lefiya being a little sister figure would happen in a way, but not directly. I'll let your imagination figure that out for now~
Comteqfr: Retcon here I come!
Hellwyrm: It's probably right for me to have more conflict with the Ishtar familia based on the conflict i've built up so far but... I really just don't want to try writing Ishtar and her familia. Idk why, it just feels like going there will be adding more unnecessary things for me to think about.
Mannarone69 (Ch.5): Retcon here I come!
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Thanks for stopping by! Oh and, I'll keep the announcement up for some time but it will eventually be deleted.