Today was the last day before they were officially declared healthy again. Suffice to say the entire Hestia Familia, even Kojiro, were vibrating with energy for tomorrow. Right now the girls were being checked out one last time in another room, while Kojiro and Bell relaxed in the living room with Arash. The archer worked on some of his arrows, something that Bell never really observed before. It certainly was an opportunity to see the various drop items one could find on the deeper levels, as they were spread out on the table, each carefully refined and processed for his own arrows. Still, it wasn't exactly the most exciting, which was why Kojiro turned to him with a hum.
"Are you not going to ask?"
At first Bell had no idea what the swordsman was talking about. But seeing his teasing smile, he realized what he meant. Blushing, he kept his mouth shut and looked away. But he could sense Kojiro's staring, drilling into the back of his skull. In the end, he surrendered to the stare and sighed, still keeping his eyes away as he looked at the ground.
"...Is Aiz a better student?"
"Not at all."
The answer was so fast Bell needed a moment to process that. He looked up, eyes wide in surprise.
"Really?"
He didn't expect that. After all, Aiz was called the Sword Princess for a reason. Shouldn't she be a one in a lifetime prodigy that could pick things up with ease? Shouldn't she easily leave him in the dust as a better student, someone that'd make Kojiro way more proud than Bell? Yet here his teacher flat out said that Bell was better. Seeing his expression, Kojiro nodded casually.
"Bad habits are difficult to get rid of."
Bell couldn't help it. He had a giddy smile on his face as he sighed in relief and scratched the back of his head. Phew, any negative feelings he had towards Aiz vanished into thin air! What good fortune!
"Oh. Good!" It was then that he realized what he was saying. Implying that it was good that Aiz wasn't exactly doing well with her own training. Knowing how scummy he sounded, he panicked, his eyes wide as he frantically shook his head. "I-I mean, not good!"
"Don't worry, I understand." Kojiro paused, frowning a bit before raising his hand. "However, you should try to spend more time with her. Or at least make up. She seemed quite mad."
Bell felt a shiver down his spine.
"W-was she angry?" He asked nervously, having no idea why she would be mad. Kojiro hummed thoughtfully before raising a finger.
"I am not certain, but her wind was significantly stronger than it should have been." He chuckled at the memory. "It was quite dangerous! I almost flew off the wall, hahahaha!" At Bell's horrified expression, he shook his head. "No need for concern, she was quite sorry for what happened."
Well, that was good at least, Bell thought. But it still begged the question why she was mad. Did she dislike Ryuu and didn't want Bell to associate with her? No, that didn't make any sense, they seemed to get along just fine in the past. The only alternative was… He blushed before letting out a nervous laugh. Nah. No way she was being jealous. It was Aiz Wallenstein after all, she wouldn't be interested in that kind of thing anyway, especially with him. Maybe she just wanted to spar with him? At least that was the only explanation he could come up with. She seemed to have a lot of fun beating the snot out of him and they haven't exactly done that lately. Maybe Kojiro was right. On the other hand, with the dungeon being available to him and his Familia again... well, there was only so much time he could share. In the past he would choose Aiz in a heartbeat but...
"So. Are you and Ryuu together yet?"
Bell choked. Did Kojiro read his mind?! And why did he have to be so blunt?! With a conflicted expression he opened his mouth before closing it again. Blinking at himself, he looked away.
"...Errr... "
Yes, Ryuu kissed him. A peck, actually. By all means that meant being in a relationship. However...
"You're joking."
He flinched. It was the first time Kojiro had such a flat tone in his voice. The man stared at Bell with an empty look, causing him to laugh awkwardly.
"We... didn't say anything out loud... ?"
It was a weak justification. But neither of them said 'I love you' or anything like that. In Bell's mind, a man and woman should say that before assuming anything. For example Ryuu might want something more 'casual' and it would be very embarrassing if Bell misunderstood! Not that she was like that but the possibility remained and it was just one example of many complex versions of the thing called 'relationship'. Yet Kojiro was merciless in his reaction as he slowly shook his head with a disappointed look.
"Don't judge me, a lot was happening!" Bell struggled with his words as he touched the tips of his index fingers together. "I... think we are like between friendship and real... uh... "
"How does that even work?" Kojiro asked, exasperation entering his voice.
"We-we just take it slow! Have some more dates to make sure!" He was certain Ryuu thought the same, from the words she spoke on their last date. He started to hyperventilate as his eyes became circles while his mind went overdrive. "What if we do it too fast and then we end up breaking up in a week or two or marry but divorce because of differences we didn't find out or if we have a c-c-c-child that has to deal with separated pa-"
A hand covered his mouth. Kojiro gave him a weirded out look before nodding slowly.
"Young master, I am very concerned where you have those ideas from." The way his eyes looked empty told Bell that Kojiro had a pretty good idea where those fantasies came from. He mentally apologized to Kaguya and her set of books. Kojiro sighed and removed his hand. "But very well, if that's what you two want. It is your relationship after all, no matter what anyone else would say." He smiled, yet it wasn't exactly a nice smile. "It is your decision after all to delay things. You two have similar tastes in romance. No big deal."
"Don't sound so judgemental when you say that!" Bell paused, going through Kojiro's words in his head again and paled when he shot up. "What did Ryuu say when she came back?!"
"You will find out in the future," Kojiro said, humming to himself. Bell only began to panic more at that. Did she complain about something?! Or did she set high goals for him that he didn't know about?!
"Whaddya yellin' for?"
"Aaaah!"
He jumped away, only to calm down a bit when he saw Solaris and the other girls raising their eyebrows at him. His eyes wandered to Ryuu, who smiled a bit and gave him a small wink. He felt his face heat up immediately before clearing his throat, looking away as he felt Hestia glare at him with a pout. Solaris chuckled, ruffling Bell's hair before sitting down on the couch.
"Now then, since this is the last day before we can go back to the dungeon... " She clapped her hands together and pointed at the Astraea Familia. "Story time."
"Story time?" Lyra asked, tilting her head. Solaris nodded in excitement, her eyes sparkling.
"Hell yeah! There's a bunch of stories I wanna fact check! And you guys have been around during that time!"
The veteran Familia shared a look. Then one by one they all sat down with casual smiles, with Kaguya shaking her head in exasperation.
"I suppose we can stay at home today."
"I'm going first!" Solaris announced. Then, leaning forward with a serious frown, she pointed at Arash specifically. "Lord Quirinus and Alf's Royal Forest."
Bell blinked. So did everyone else. Kaguya gave his captain a flat look as she crossed her arms.
"I find it hard to believe that your country hasn't made like a thousand plays based on that."
"There can never be enough renditions," Solaris said without a bit of shame in her voice. Then she scoffed and leaned back on her seat. "Also propaganda, I want to know how it really went!"
"Well, we can try. None of us were there though," Alise said. But Arash chuckled and raised his hand.
"Romulus shared the story with me, so I guess I'll go first."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh a bit at Solaris' barely suppressed squeal. Bell wasn't any different- Not to mention... he always did wonder... how did Romulus and the others 'defeat' Orario?
/
Five years ago…
It was rare for Loki to call for a meeting herself. Usually it was Finn, the captain of their Familia, who started official business. The trickster goddess was a casual person after all, leaving most paperwork and the like to her captain and her executives. Part of Riveria wished Loki would put in a bit more effort in maintaining her Familia. But then she imagined Loki actually working, or rather ruining everything. So that thought quickly was squashed out. She glanced at her fellow founding members and hummed thoughtfully.
"What do you think Lady Loki wants from us?"
The dwarf rubbed his beard before shrugging nonchalantly.
"Dunno. Maybe it's because of Rakia? I heard Lord Hermes had a meeting with her recently."
"He did. Apparently he is actually worried," Finn responded as well, frowning a bit. Riveria nodded slowly. When that god was involved, nothing good came out of it. The high elf let out a long suffering sigh. Life these days was certainly chaotic. The new additions to the Familia, like Bete and the amazon twins. The after damage of the Dark Days two years ago. The most recent victims of Evilus... She remembered the sigh of the survivors. She grit her teeth at the memory. As if Astraea Familia didn't suffer enough already.
Soon enough, they reached Loki's office and entered. Weirdly enough, the goddess had her hands folded under her chin, looking awfully serious for once. Before any of the executives could ask what was wrong, Loki spoke up.
"Rakia is marching."
The trio shared a confused look. Finn crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.
"We are aware. Are the defenses of Orario not sati-"
"They ain't moving towards Orario," Loki interrupted them before letting out a sigh. She opened her usually closed eyes and looked straight at the elf in the room. "They're marchin' towards ya home, Riveria."
The princess blinked, not believing her ears. What? Rakia planned to conquer the High Elves. She couldn't help it. A chuckle escaped her before she shook her head.
"Hah. What arrogance. My home may not be the center of the world, but we have sufficient mages to deal with Rakia with ease."
Yet her confidence and amusement wavered when the usual foolish goddess didn't laugh with her. Finn narrowed his eyes, stepping forward.
"Lady Loki, what's wrong? What else did Lord Hermes say?"
"They got a new general. Called the Legiones." She pulled something out from behind her table and presented it to them. "It's Ares' new rising star."
The three executives leaned in closer. Riveria recalled some rumors. Romulus Quirinus. By all means, Riveria shouldn't be worried. It was just one of many Rakian, just another way to puff themselves up like a bird. So what if they won some battles these days? Yet... despite her past experience Riveria felt a shiver down her spine when she saw the drawn picture of the infamous man.
"I thought the same." Loki grinned as she pointed at Romulus' face. "My instincts as a trickster tell me that this kid isn't actually a fluke."
Riveria bit her lip. And her instincts were usually on point. By all means this was utter nonsense. Yet even as she left the room after Loki had nothing more to say... her thoughts lingered on her home.