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"Hey, mord! Have you heard?" An adevnturer said after taking a sip from his mug, the light foam from the beer staining his lips.
"Of what? I Ain't much of a genie to answer that."
"Oh, Remember that old familia... Eh what was the name?"
"Horus?"
"Nah... Arte- no! Astrea!" He said, too drunk to realise the waitress that froze after she heard the name.
"Gale wind's familia!? What of them?"
"So, some guild employee visited their abandoned home, I think someone finally bought it."
W-what!? I suppose it was already time but...
"Hey Ryuu!"
The elf turned her attention to the dwarf "giant", who was counting a bag of money by the counter.
"Y-yes mama Mia?"
"I need ya to take out the trash, then you are free for the night."
"What?" The clueless elf asked.
"Just go!" She said.
"O-okay..."
After the elf was gone, another waitress complained.
"Nyaht? why does Ryuu get to leave when nyall of us are here stuck..." Chloe felt entitled to say.
"Shut it you dumb cat!"
Well... Did as asked... Now go and take that useless elf from me... She thought with a small smile spreading across her face.
Ryuu was confused, though she did obey Mia's orders. Stepping out of pub and into a dark and unlit alley.
She threw away the black bags of trash in her hands and was about to come back, if it wasn't for one voice she heard.
"Ryuu?"
She froze again... Why was she here? When did she go back... So many questions...
"L-l-lady A-Astrea?!"
She wanted to do something, truly she did, but her goddess was faster, running up and wrapping her arms around the Elven girl.
"Shhhh... Let's go home for now... Then... We will speak at length..." She said, calming the histerical elf down. "It's good to see you..."
Her small sobbing was all Astrea could hear, not that she exactly minded. At the gates of the stardust gardens, she could see that the efforts to renovate it were going smoothly.
The both of them ended up sat on the sofa, where the real talk began...
"Ryuu, my child... How have you been? And don't try to hide it okay? I can see you suffering."
"... I have been working at the pub... They saved my life... But I..."
"I understand... Ryuu, you are still hurting from what you've done... Right?"
"Y-yes... I regret that... But I've-"
"Shhhhh... It's all over now... Besides... Much has happened."
"Is it... To do with why you... Are back?"
"Yes, I have realised that... I cannot let their sacrifice be in vain... And my inaction has already made someone pay the price."
"Lady Astrea pleas-"
"I'm not finished, Ryuu, Evilus never went away... At least not for a long time... I want to rebuild our familia, but for that, I need you."
"But I... I... I'm tainted... I defile what you called justice... I am no better than-"
She once again was forced to interrupt, this time with yet another hug.
"Ryuu... What was our second rule?"
"...N-no one... I-is..."
"No one is..?"
"B-beyond redemption..."
"We have never broken that rule before... Redemption only come for those who want it... Now Ryuu, do you believe yourself beyond saving?"
"..."
"Wouldn't Alise and the others give you this chance?"
"..."
"Wouldn't you give them the same chance?"
"...Yes..."
"It's a step, Though for now, I need to know, are your friends at hostess treating you well?"
"Y-yes.." She said, a small smile appearing on her lips.
"That's great, You know, I had to pay Mama Mia a great sum to get you out of there."
"P-please don't-"
"I'm just kidding, you know, she even let me steal you for free, said something about a useless elf too."
"..."
"But okay then, I take it you don't want to leave them, is that true?"
She just nodded.
"If you wish, I can make a deal for your to only work part time, then you can go back to adventuring. What do you think?"
"That's... Great... But how would you-"
"Lord Ouranos will void your bounty."
"W-what?"
"Yes, though you can thank our newest member for that."
"A-A new m-member?"
"Yes, a victim of Evilus, it was thanks to him that I've realised my mistake-"
"H-him?"
"Yes, a human boy." She spoke with a bit of discomfort. "You will meet him soon enough."
"L-lady A-Astrea! A... A man? In the familia?" She picked up on Astrea's uneasiness, though she seriously missunderstood the reason why.
Well... I did want to see her reaction... Sorry Bell, I might need to clear things up a bit...
"Either way, Ryuu... It's so good to see you again..."
"It's... It's good to see you too..."
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"You know... We have been at this for a while now, you have remarkable skills young man." The cloaked mage said.
The young man in question, was helping the expert item maker to craft his very own camouflage against the prying eyes of the gods, a necessary security measure.
"T-thank you mr. Fells."
"Don't thank me, all I need to do is finish it with a drop of your blood... Kind of like the falna."
"Okay."
He pricked his own finger, letting the drop of blood fall and stain the dark inner purple cloth that was under the top black layer.
"Now, it's done, perfectly able to hide your magical signature." The mage said, with a hint of pride in his voice.
"It's very beautiful..."
"Thank you, good to know that my design skills are still sharp. Now, go and put it on."
He did just as ordered, dressing himself with the lightweight coat. It was a clean design. A slight detailed pattern went up around the sleeves.
"Hmm... Completely undetectable, and durable for the dungeon."
"That's great Mr. Fells... Though I need to ask something... What are you?"
He froze, very few high leveled adventurers would be able to tell that he hid something... And most importantly, how could a child do this?
"H-how?"
"I... have very good eyesight..?"
"O-okay... I-"
"FELLS. Bring him here." A booming voice came through the open door at the corridor, Ouranous had gotten involved and that made both Bell's blood and Fells' bones freeze instantly...
They both went into the chamber, Ouranos being the imposing deity that he was, sent Bell into a panic spiral of his own.
He... He can't... have actually discovered me... Right...?
"Bell Crannel, I ask you to not make questions about my assistent, by now it's already late, and I'm afraid Astrea cannot come here to take you to your new home... I want to offer you one of the guest rooms here at the guild's underground."
He appeared to calm down after realising he wasn't discovered, not that his secret wasn't already known to the gods.
"Now... Fells, go and prepare his room, I wish to speak to him more at length."
"V-very well." The mage went out by the corridor, leaving the panicked boy by the company of the elder god.
"So... L-lord Ouranos... You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yes. Let me make it clear, I know of the reason you need such apparel in the first place. Astrea trusted me with such secret."
Bell didn't respond, perhaps fearing for his life, after all, the entire purpose of the guild was and forever will be, to put a lid on the dungeon... To stop monsters... Always...
"I want you to know, there are others in rather similar situations..."
Those words confused him, though they proposed an interesting idea. Could there really be anyone like him...
"Yes... However, as much as I'd like to introduce you to them, I'm afraid that you must become stronger."
"W-Why?"
"Believe it or not, they have it even worse than you, they are not allowed to live in the surface, and I wish to change that."
"I...I..."
"You need time, I know that, rest assured Bell, all they want is peace."
"...T-then I will work... I want... No... I need to see them!"
"Very well, go to sleep, tomorrow is a long day, Astrea will be here to pick you up."
"Thank you, Lord Ouranos..."
He went back to the narrow stone corridor and, with a certain mage serving as his guide, he found the room where he would sleep for the night, though while he laid on the soft and comfortable bed that threatened to take him away to the land of dreams, the vision of an unfamiliar stone ceiling was stopping him from even closing his eyes...
I have escaped... Have I not... Then... Why do I...
He shaked off his harrowing thoughts, and focused only on the good memories he held dear... Of his grandfather... Of his previous life... Of his friends, Before all being captured and experimented on...
Though one memory seemed to work more than the rest, a gentle one, when Astrea had calmed him down for the first time, like the embrace of a mother she wasn't afraid of the scared boy in the woods, despite his cuts and the blood that stained his body and hair.
Though the image was sweet, it did indeed force him to remember his days in the woods... Were it not for his... New instincts, he would be dead or perhaps seriously injured, he was still unsure of what to think.
In the end, whenever he did manage to find sleep, nightmares were soon to follow, his only solace being the comforting words of his new goddess.
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"Are you sure of it?" An unknown voice inquired.
"Yes, we have little choice." Another spoke.
"A human... Who became a monster! Do you really think we will believe this bullshit!" This time, the one who voiced his concerns had a heavy and rough voice.
"Then, once he properly enters the dungeon, we shall test his character."
"Agreed." A new voice spoke, it's beauty and melodic way of speaking showed it's owner's grace.
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Bell woke up from a rather turbulent night, having Astrea with him helped when those same sleepless nights haunted his sleep when travelling to Orario.
His eyes were slightly sunken and a terrible hunger, he had not eaten anything in a while...
After he had dressed himself in his new coat, he wandered down the hall, untill the voice of Ouranos caught his attention.
"You are awake, good, come here in the throne room, Astrea is already here."
He hurried, running up to both of the gods in the room when he was greeted by the same warm presence that helped him.
"...G-Good morning Lady Astrea!"
"You do know it's almost twelve already right?"
"S-sorry... Couldn't sleep properly..."
"No problem Bell, now, let's go, this is your first time actually seeing this city up close, outside of when we arrived here." Astrea said before leading him through the cold halls that led to a hidden entrance near main street.
Revealing a world that he had only briefly seen, and once again his vision was filled with the colorfull crowd of the streetss of Orario, where adventurers and civilians shared a single space, at least until most dungeon dives occur.
"You must be hungry right?"
"Y-yes." Bell responded, feeling the light heat on his cheeks as his stomach voiced his complaints.
"Then come on, we will visit a cafe and then I will show you around the town. After that you will finally meet your captain."
"Ms. Ryuu?"
"Yes Bell, I talked with her last night... I'm afraid we had much catching up to do... Sorry if you felt like I abandoned you... I promise that you are not alone."
"Thank you Lady Astrea..." He said with a small glint of an emotion that he himself could not discern.
That was mine mistake Bell... I promise you... You are as much my child as Ryuu and the others.
The duo made it's way past the crowded streets and into a small cafe that held few clients, it was small, though only because the owners didn't prioritize expanding over their quality. There, a cow woman wearing the cafe's brown uniform greeted then, though considering how she spoke with Astrea, it was safe to say that she was a regular once. Perhaps before the dark times, but it mattered little to the hungry child.
"If I didn't know you better... I'd say you were pulling a prank!" The woman at the counter spoke while placing her blackish hair behind her horns and small hat that employees wore. "You must be special boy, she would never let a man into her familia before."
"T-Thank you..." He said as the praise threatened to make him blush.
"Never said it was a good thing."
"Eh!?" Bell was surprised, to say the least, though Astrea was quick to clarify.
"She is just joking. Right Helen?" The last words held a tone as sharp as a certain elf waitress' hidden knifes that she kept under her uniform's green sleeves.
"Yeah boy, just a joke..."
After they finished eating, Astrea went to pay for their food while Bell waited by the outside.
"I'm sorry... I don't know what happened to him, but if I offended him I can assure you it wasn't on purpose!"
"I know it wasn't, you wouldn't hurt a fly. You were always like that. I still remembered the child I helped back then."
"You always were so kind, glad to know that you are back."
"Me too.."
By the time that Bell and astrea were outside, the crowd had died down a little, letting Astrea show the city around more easily. Until at the end of their tour, were she showed him the old stardust gardens, his new home. There, Astrea taught him about the history of her familia, from her begginings to their sacrifice, and the burden that they carried, to help the citizens of Orario, to uphold justice, combat the crimes of hundreds in order to save thousands.
Astrea also asked about his own life, from his peaceful time with his grandfather to, although a bit reluctantly, the time his village was pillaged by a stray group of evilus and the week where he was kidnapped by the very same group. For Astrea, it was far from the first time she heard the horror story of a evilus survivor, that was part of her job as a goddess of justice, howevern it never got any easier to hear the details, from drugs made by monster's paralizing agents to the sensation of being cut open without any way to fight back.
To know that a child was the one that suffered such fate broke her heart, as she vowed to keep peace in Orario so many years ago, it was her inaction that led to this boy loosing his childhood and further than that, his very own humanity, her failure, one that she would try her best to correct.
In the end, their more serious talk ended when they heard the sound of someone at the door, Astrea new that, by now, Ryuu had already left her job, and Astrea was quick to welcome the elf, who carried their dinner in two bags.
"Please, let me carry these to the kitchen and set the table. I believe that you need to meet your new familia member."
"H-have you told him anything... About me?"
"Only what he needs to learn, you two are more alike than you think, you should speak with him."
"I don't..."
"Go Ryuu, both of you need this."
"O-Okay..."
She lightly opened the living room door, seeing the boy sitting on the covered sofa, once he noitced her, the white haired hybrid could only say shy greeting.
"H-hello."
"Hi... You are Bell right?"
"Yes... It is nice to meet you captain."
"..."
"..."
"...C-Call me Ms. Lyon..."
"O-Okay Ms. Lyon..."
"...We are not very good at this... right?"
"I guess. But... I'd like to know you... Lady Astrea spoke highly of you."
"...That... I suppose I could tell you a bit about my self..." She finally answered.
"I was born on the forests of Ryumilia."
"The one named after Ryulu?"
"Y-Yes, h-how do you know?" To say she was surprised was a faint understatement, shock was the elf, who could not entertain any reason for a human to know about the story of her homeland. It wasn't as if her teachers back then would mention or reference any material outside of the confines of elven culture, be it a legend or historical record.
"Argonaut, she was one of his companions on his journey."
She heard about the story, thanks to another companion on her journey, one lost far earlier than her other sisters, the kin of one very famous adventurer who still serves to keep the peace to this day... A similarity that, while mentioned by her Goddess, Ryuu didn't understand the full extent of the boy's fascination with the heroic yet sometimes tragic figures of old lore. Sure, those stories still had much to teach the younger generations, but few could see the importance of those old myths, whoever raised the boy must clearly have had a myriad of experiences, a wise person for sure.
"Well, continuing what we started.." She went on to explain her story, while completely oblivious to the prying eyes of the goddess who spied the two with a warm smile through the door's slight opening. I new you two would become friends... I should probably reheat the food before calling them to eat dinner...
"So... What about you? I don't think Astrea ever told me much about you."
"I... I was raised in a village... It was only me and my grandfather but..." He began the retelling of his story, the terrible tale of his life. Captured by Evilus, experimented on, traumatised, having to see the children of the village slowly diying as they were one by one taken from their shared cell, only for the leftovers of a failed process be discarded, piles of corpses, the stones forcibly inserted on their bodies, sometimes, depending on the monster stone that was used, the subject would survive for days only for visceral transformations to go wrong, 'This process is too invasive when compared to natural born creatures.' the man would say, making all of the atrocities commited by them simple mistakes, small setbacks for a grand mission, errors or miscalculations... Although it wasn't as if Bell told Ryuu about this, but his thoughts would always betray his sense of security when he was reminded of those days.
"...So that is what happened... after I ran... I met Lady Astrea... And then I joined the familia."
"Is that why you chose to fight?"
"...I don't want people to go through what I went through... But... I always wanted to help people... "
"Then, tommorow I wish to see your combat abilities." If the boy's intentions were truly worthy of the name of her familia, she would train him to the best of her abilities, besides, it wasn't as if she had much to do... tomorrow being one of her, 'Mia mandated', free days, a rare occurance that would usually coincide with Syr inviting her to go shopping or just her feeling down.
"Yes!" The boy responded, his resolve was showing, though that wasn't a bad thing, at least to Ryuu.
"Hey you two!" The voice of Astrea reminded the two of what time it is. "Food is getting cold!"
"O-Oh!" Both said in unison, "Sorry!"
They went then to the dining room, where Astrea was happy know that they were getting along. Both of her children weren't as healthy as she would like, that is, mentally speaking, though helping them would take time, for now, they had plans to disscuss, after all, the return of the familia and the news about the Gale were not ones that most would ignore.
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"Come on, you already chose your weapon, we already cleaned the training grounds, just try to hit me." The elf then readied her stance and prepared to see what Bell truly knew about combat, after all, the dungeon was unforgiving, that was something Bell was yet to learn, though he already knew about the nature of evilus.
The boy prepared his longsword, he wore a simple light armour that had been given to him by Astrea, it was a piece made by a dear child of the familia, though it was only for practicing her smithing skills. It was light enough for the boy, and since it wasn't made with any of the girls in mind, it could fit relatively well on him.
The boy was quick to attack, simple strikes that Ryuu easily dodge, her face was emotionlessly scanning his form and swordsmanship, she noticed that he had basic instincts, though his swordsmanship was lacking, after she was satisfied with how she understood the boy's attack, now all she needed was to see the boy's defense.
"That's alright, for now, focus on your defense, I will act with as much strength as a level 1, prepare yourself."
Bell did just that, he raised his borrowed sword and prepared to parry and deflect her attacks, and that was when he learned something that many others learned in the past, whether former members of the familia or her friends at work, "Ryuu Lyon, does not hold back". From piercing attacks and slashes, to blunt hits with her blade's pommel, Ryuu's definition of a "Normal adventurer" was definitively, positively very wrong.
In between that merciless storm of blows, Bell's sword was knocked out of his hands, in the end, Ryuu seemed to not care as she continue taking things to far, she ended up speeding up her attacks, and when Bell could not block or dodge, a certain instinct took over his movements and a motion he never practiced was performed by his hands, it looked a bit like a claw attck from a dungeon monster, but with a slight glint of purple mixed in. Thanks to an almost instant flash of Ryuu's memory, her attacks stopped and she could focus on the damage she inflicted on Bell, who by now was bruised and had cuts in his hand.
"S-SORRY!" She shouted as she realised her mistake, quickly going over to him and healing his wounds with her magic.
"You haven't really change... Have you my child?" A whispering Astrea said as she watched Bell's training, though It looked more like a one sided beating.
After the training, both him and Astrea would go to the guild, register him and formally reactivate her familia. A daunting task, especially with the gods that usually would end up hounding the surrounds of Babel, waiting to hear all the news and gossip among their own bored kind. They said their goodbyes to Ryuu and were waliking through the streets of Orario, Bell noticed that, since Astrea no longer hid her identity, many stares were directly aimed at then, Bell could even feel one that seemed to almost burn a hole through his chest, though he thought that was just the fact that he wasn't used to crowds.
In the end, they managed to reach the tower without any problems, taking a left turn, the duo then entered the guild's main hall, were they encountered again many stares and a certain half-elf speaking to a green haired high level adventurer.
"Astrea?" The elven mage asked, barely hiding her surprise.
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That's it for this chapter guys, sorry for those who expected Filvis in this chapter, though I can assure you that the next chapter will see the introduction of her character.