"Hah! Guah! Hya! Da!"
Bell jumped back and forth, from one side to the other, swung his talon gauntlet and the sword that Fels gave him around. Fels watched him in his "training", but most of what Bell did was try not to cut himself with his weapons by accident.
"That´s enough, you can stop."
"Huff...Huff...Huff..." Bell went down to one knee, sweating heavily.
"As I thought, you have no idea how to actually fight and not what someone would call a natural talent."
"I´m sorry...*Huff*.."
Fels slowly shook his head. "You don´t have to. Not even the great Albert Waldstein was a master on his first day. I also was once completely new to my craft."
Bell slowly got up to his shaky legs. "And what now? Shall I just train in the dungeon?"
"No, that would be too dangerous. I also have to think about your gauntlet. It would really stand out with that golden color and no one would believe for a newby adventurer to have such a weapon."
"I´m sorry for just putting it on like that..."
"You don´t need to apologize anymore, it won´t change what you did. It was probably also my fault to some degree. So let us see it as a tool for your work. We will expect much from you in the future after all."
"So what then about my training?"
"You will see that, follow me."
"Yes!"
Fels guided Bell away from the room where he had trained to move, all these rooms were basically Fels´ laboratory. In contrast to Bell, Fels didn´t have any desire to sleep anymore, but he could doze for a while, giving his brain some time to calm down.
"Where are we going?"
Bell asked since Fels told him to always ask question when he wanted to know something, it was important for their work after all.
"I´m not talented in close combat with weapons, so you will have someone to train you."
"And who might that be?"
"Someone with experience to handle new adventurers."
"Why won´t you tell me the name?"
"And take it away from me to surprise you?"
"Is that important for you?"
"Very much."
"Hm..."
"No, to be honest I won´t tell you her name. Maybe she will do that herself, but we have an agreement that I never tell anyone her name or alias."
"That sounds...mysterious!"
Fels understood pretty fast Bell´s character.
"But Mr. Fels, how can you bring me to the woman that will train me?"
"I already asked her to come here."
"So you knew I would fail in showing my skills?"
"The chance was above ninety percent."
"What does that mean?"
"Aren´t you aware what percent is?"
"No."
"Alright, I forgot for a moment that you come from a village. Percent has something to do with math. Let´s say you look at a glas, if it is empty it is at zero percent. Half full is fifty percent and full one hundred percent. This term is mostly used to tell someone for example how much of something you got already. Let´s say you have the job to clean a floor and you cleaned three of four parts of it already."
"So I would be at seventy-five percent?"
"Correct! You learn fast."
"I will keep it in mind, thank you for teaching me, Mr. Fels!"
"I will teach you many more things."
"I´m looking forward to it!"
"Do you like it to learn new things?"
"Yes, I really love it!
"Good."
Fels led him to the exit of the laboratory, there was someone waiting for them.
It was a young woman, a few years older than Bell.
And even when her outfit covered most of her body, one thing was clear for him.
It was an elf!
From what he could see, she had sky blue eyes and short, green hair. To say that she was beautiful would be like to say water was just moist. With skin as white as snow, her almost ethereal eyes, Bell felt as if he walked into a fairy tale.
Her attire included a green flower-shaped hood, a white sleeveless top underneath, and green bloomers. She also wore a pair of long, brown gloves and boots with a white sash around her waist where she kept a wooden sword and a pair of far-eastern short swords. Her nose and mouth were covered with a green mask.
Fels nodded slightly. "You´re here on time, as always."
"You said you need help with an important job."
"That I do."
The eyes of the elven woman flashed to Bell, he couldn´t even gulp, too fascinated by the sight.
"A Fairy?..."
"What?"
"Ah, oh! S-Sorry!"
It looked like she raised an eyebrow under her hood, but said nothing.
"So what is this job you need me for?"
"It´s about him. I need someone to train him and show him how to fight."
The elfess said nothing, but looked at Bell.
"I assume you wouldn´t ask me if it could be anyone else."
"Correct."
She looked at Bell. "Do you know how to fight in any way?"
"No, I´m sorry."
"Don´t apologize, everyone has to start at some point."
"R-Right."
"Are you always that nervous?"
"Sorry! It is my first time talking to an elven lady!"
"You can tell that I´m an elf even with my attire?"
"Ahm...yes?"
"Kuh..."
It looked like...she was a bit disappointed...with herself.
Bell blinked. That´s so...cute!
The elf turned to Fels. "I want the same payment as every time."
"Alright, three minutes for a day."
"Five."
Bell wondered what they talked about.
"I will talk to Ouranos, but I don´t know if he will agree on more than four minutes for a day."
She nodded.
"Bell, follow her, she will teach you how to fight. The training will go on until you reach the point where she says it´s enough, understood?"
"Yes, Mr. Fels! I will not disappoint you!"
This isn´t about disappointing me or not. It is about you learning how to fight, so you will survive in the dungeon."
"Understood!"
Fels turned around and went back into the depths of his laboratory.
"May I ask your name, young man?"
"Bell! Bell Cranel!"
"Alright, Mr. Cranel."
"And ahm, what is your n-..I mean...how shall I call you? Mr. Fels said your name is a secret."
"If you have to call me something, Wind."
"So, Ms. Wind?"
"That should be enough."
"Then thank you for teaching me how to fight!"
She nodded. "Don´t thank me, I´m getting paid to do this."
"Still, thank you!"
"Mh...follow me, we won´t train here."
"Do you have some place in mind?"
"I do, do you know the abandoned part of Orario, to the west?"
"I only saw it from afar, I just arrived in Orario recently."
"Alright, then put up your hood and let us go."
"Won´t we look suspicious like that?"
"No, many people in Orario walk around like that for various reasons. Also the weather isn´t perfect today, so no one will mind. Be sure to not take your gauntlet there out of your backpack before we arrive at the location, Mr. Cranel."
"Understood."
So Bell put on a normal travel cape with a hood. Under it he wore his normal clothes and a simple, light armor that Fels had given him, together with the normal sword at his hip.
.
.
They didn´t talk much while they walked, Bell didn´t know how to start a conversation. He really, really tried not to look at her visible thighs, but she was so beautiful! And Bell had already discovered that he had a thing for thighs!
And he noticed something else...elves smelled really good!
She led him to the abandoned part of Orario, many ruins were here.
"What happened here?"
"Time. People lived here in the past, but not anymore. Sometimes shady figures move around here that don´t want to get spotted."
"Ahm...so...like us?"
She stopped, then looked at him for a moment.
"...Yes."
When they were far enough into the ruins so that no one would spot them easily, she stopped.
"That is far enough. Take of your coat and put on your weapon."
"Understood."
After Bell armed himself, he looked at her, holding his weapons slightly away from him.
"That claw, what it is made of?"
"Mr. Fels said, adamantite, oricalchum and mythril."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That has to be expensive."
"Yeah..."
"And you don´t have any experience, right?"
"Yes. I mean no."
She unsheathed her two short swords.
"I personally never fought with such a talon weapon, but I knew someone that used something similar, so I guess the rules are the same. Show me how you can move the talons."
"Understood."
At first Bell spread his fingers, the talons gave him no problems. He slowly moved his arm around, what he couldn´t do was curling up a fist, but almost, so he could even punch.
"Hm, so the movement of the talons is the same as your fingers. I´ve seen caestus weapons before, but they had straight blades, almost as if someone had daggers attached to the fist. But this is my first time seeing such an elegant weapon."
"Mr. Fels said it is a masterpiece of his work."
"Show me with that stone pillar over there what the talons can do."
"Shall I just try to cut it?"
"Yes, swing your arm as if these talons were part of your body."
"Understood."
Bell didn´t have time to test the talons before, so the outcome shocked him quite a bit. Each of the talons had a length of twenty centimeters. When Bell tried to slash the rock pillar, they cut straight through it. He felt the resistance, but the cut was clean.
"Woah!"
The elf came closer and looked at the cuts. "The talons are strong and sharp, most blade weapons would´ve problems to cut so easily through stone like this. Next try to ram the talons into the stone, as if you´d try to grab something and pull it out."
"Yes."
Bell did as she ordered, the talons dug into the stone, pulling his arm back needed a bit of efford. But he managed to do it and ripped piece of stone out. Bell used too much strength and crushed the stone.
"Woah!"
"Hm, to be expected."
"Ms. Wind?! I just crushed stone with my hand as if it was nothing! Is that the power of a blessing?!"
"You just got your blessing, right?"
"Yes."
"Then this strength isn´t because of your status, but the raw power of your weapon."
"Woah." He opened and closed the talons, looking at them amazed.
"You have to be very careful with your weapon, Mr. Cranel. Normally a new adventurer wouldn´t have such a weapon. You could easily hurt yourself."
"Understood."
"Good. For the first day we will learn the basic pose when fighting with two weapons. We will also train how to breath. There will be no direct fight training today."
"Ahm, Ms. Wind?"
"Yes?"
"Is it wise to fight with sharp weapons? Won´t we hurt each other seriously?"
She shook her head slightly. "Don´t be worried, for that we will have the base training. And I´m experienced and strong enough so that nothing will happen."
"May I ask...which level do you have?"
"Four."
"Woah...amazing... It will probably take years for me to get that far."
"Over ninety percent of all adventurers are level one and will never rise up further."
Bell gulped when he heard that. "Oh..."
"This is your first day, let us work hard."
"Yes, thank you Ms. Wind!"
"Copy my pose for now. I will show you the basic pose to use two weapons."
"Understood, Ms. Wind!"
.
.
They trained together for two hours. Bell was completely covered in sweat and was out of breath. The elf looked completely calm, not a single drop of sweat ran over her body.
I wonder if elves are even able to sweat? I probably shouldn´t ask her.
While they walked back, he couldn´t help but wonder about something.
"Ms. Wind?"
"Mr. Cranel?"
"Isn´t it hard to breath with your mask?"
"No, it is made to let air through."
"Oh."
"Mr. Cranel I have to say you´re doing really good. I have never seen someone new that learned as fast as you did."
"Really?!"
"Yes, I had to show you the poses and how to move not more than two times and you were able to do it."
"Thank you so much!"
"This isn´t some false praise, you are doing good."
Bell half smiled half grinned. If the elf would be someone else, she would´ve thought that this looked really cute.
He used the small orb that Fels gave him to open the secret tunnel.
"Ms. Wind?"
"Mh?"
"Aren´t you going to ask how it came that a newby like me is working with Mr. Fels?"
"No, it is bad manners to poke your nose into other people´s business."
"Mh, understood."
Eventually they arrived at the living area, Fels already awaited them.
"How did it go?"
"He´s doing really well."
"Do you think he could go into the first floor of the dungeon?"
She looked at Bell for a moment, then nodded slowly. "The first floor yes, but not deeper."
"Bell, you heard her. Go and wash yourself, then relax a bit, then you can go and explore the first floor of the dungeon. But only the first floor!"
Bell´s eyes sparkled. "Yes!"
He waved over his shoulder when he ran to the shower. "Thank you, Ms. Wind!"
After he left, Fels turned to her.
"Ouranos agreed to your terms, follow me."
She nodded.
Fels led her to a room, there was nothing in there except for a cushioned chair and a very big mirror. She went inside, Fels was about to close the door behind her.
"It will start in two or three minutes. You have five then."
"Thank you."
Fels closed the door and let her alone. The elf went to the chair, took off her hood, mask and cape, folding them and sat down, her weapons rested on the folded cape.
If Bell would´ve seen her now, he would be even more stunned by her beauty.
Ryu Lyon sat there and waited, eventually the mirror shone slightly and a moving scenery appeared.
What Ryu saw in the mirror was a woman...a goddess.
Her goddess.
She couldn´t talk to her, nor did the woman know that Ryu looked at her. If the goddess would do something like taking a shower, the mirror wouldn´t activate.
.
"Lady Astrea..."
.
Ryu just sat there and watched her goddess taking care of the house she lived in now, she wasn´t surprised to see a few young women sometimes, most of them beast people.
Sometimes Ryu sent her a letter, but she still lacked to courage to go to her goddess and talk to her. So she sat there for five minutes, enjoyed the chance to at least look at her goddess.
Even when her vision became blurry after not even a minute and she started to cry heavily.
"I´m sorry...I´m sorry for everything I did...Lady Astrea..."
These five minutes to look at her goddess would be Ryu´s payment for training Bell for two weeks. Five minutes for two hours training each day. She could save them up, but never be allowed to look for more than ten minutes. As the leading god of Orario, Ouranos could use a bit of his arcanum, including the use of his divine mirror. But only to look at something for entertainment, not to get crucial informations.
To give this lost child a chance to look at her goddess until she found the courage to go to her was fair enough.
Ryu couldn´t know that Fels and Ouranos hoped for a certain development between her and Bell. Not that she fell in love with him, but that they became close enough to maybe work together on some jobs.
.
.
"Gurgh!..."
Bell´s eyes widened in shock when he looked at the goblin in front of him. He had expected more resistance, but the talons dug deep into the chest of the Goblin, let it twitch for a moment. When he pulled his hand back, Bell held the magic stone in his gauntlet, the Goblin dissolved to ash.
"Wow..."
It was so easy to kill this one monster! Then again it was the first floor and the Goblin literally the weakest of all monsters.
""Kriiiii!""
"Huh?!"
A trio of three Goblins, with two kobolds behind them charged at him.
"Oh no!"
One monster was easy, five were something else. And Bell got his first experience onto something. While his talons had cut through the small stone pillar, the kobolds actually managed to block his talons a bit. Dungeon weapons were appearantly much stronger than regular stone.
I will become stronger! I will become a hero!
He wouldn´t back down, Bell faced this immense challenge!
On his first day, he managed to clear the complete first floor!
Truly a heroic deed!
.
.
"Meh...it is so hard to get blood out of clothes..."
Bell knelt next to a washing bowl and tried his best to get rid of the blood that had splattered onto his clothes. Even when a monster turned to ash, the blood on his clothes remained. Thankfully Fels had given him a lotion that he should pour into the water.
His first day was really exciting! Training with such a beautiful, mysterious elven maiden! Then go to explore the first floor of the dungeon!
Bell couldn´t help but smile and grin.
"You did really good on your first day."
"Thank you, Mr. Fels!"
"Are you exhausted?"
"Ahm, yes. Pretty much."
"Then take a rest. Tomorrow morning you will train with the elf again, afterwards we will go to the guild."
"The guild?"
"You need an advisor for the dungeon. But it will be different from normal."
"Because I´m working for Lord Ouranos and you?"
"You work for Lord Ouranos, but with me."
"Hehe, right."
"We will talk to the head of the guild, to get you a secret advisor. So that the guild will know that every information of you is sacrosanct and forbidden from getting out. They won´t even take notes about you. Your advisor is not allowed to know anything about your skills, magic or status, understood?"
"Yes!"
"Good."
"Mr. Fels?"
"Yes?"
"May I ask...who were the Xenos that I talked to?"
Fels sighed.
"I knew you would ask that. Please have patience. You will meet the Xenos, but not for now, it is too early. But you will work with them later, okay?"
"Yes! I hope they´re nice."
"If you behave, yes."
"Then I will do my best!"
"At first take a rest now. We only have a few simple things here to eat. Neither Ouranos nor I have any desire to consume food, so starting tomorrow you should eat outside, we don´t have a kitchen here where you could cook. There is a well known pub close to Babel and the guild, they´re a café in the morning so you can eat there at any time."
"Isn´t that...expensive? I didn´t make that much in the dungeon."
"You will make more and of course I and the guild will pay you."
"But I didn´t to anything worth to get paid for so far...actually I just cost you money..."
"Learning and training are your first steps on your job. Every hero has to start at some point, right?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Rest now for today."
"Understood!"
Fels was about to leave.
"Mr. Fels?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have by chance a few books that I could read? Maybe a story?"
"I do have some old books. But now that you say it...I also have a special book that you absolutely should read."
"Really?!"
"Yes, but you can only read it once, it will become blank afterwards."
"Oh! That sounds mysterious, what book is it?"
"Do you know what a Grimoire is?"
"A what?"
.
.
"Bell please stop fidgeting around like that."
"But I want to try it out! I received magic, thanks to you!"
"I am aware, but don´t talk about your magic right now, no one except us is allowed to know any information about you."
"Yes! But what about Ms. Wind?"
"She can know it, since she will train you."
"Understood!"
Bell and Fels sat in an office of the guild, waiting for someone. Bell had never seen so much paper before. Books, forms, scrolls, pieces of paper, and all sorts of other forms of paper media were scattered everywhere. However, it was not chaotic, but perfectly ordered.
Eventually the door opened and a person came in. Bell had seen a few elves in Orario before, but never...a fat one. Or an elf that looked so old.
"So much to d-..Lord Fels?!"
"Royman, I need a moment of your time."
The elf closed the door and went to his chair. "Of course, what can I help you with?"
"Bell, this is Royman Mardeel, the head of the guild."
"Woah! N-Nice to meet you, Sir!" Bell bowed slightly on his chair.
"Royman, this is Bell Cranel. You never seen him and you never heard of him, understood?"
Royman immediatelly got serious. "A secret agent?"
"Indeed. I will not go into detail, the less you know the less you have to worry about. You have enough work already."
"Thank you for that, Lord Fels."
"Bell will work with me, but before he can work on emergencies, he needs to get stronger. He will need an advisor, a professional who knows how to keep quiet. There will be no records in any way and the advisor is forbidden from saying a single word about this. Since Bell will be at the guild often and even enter the restricted area, he will get a sigil that will show he is part of the guild."
"Hmm...hmmm...hmm...I understand...hm...I know the right person for the job."
"Good, I will take my leave then, so that Bell can get to know his advisor."
"As you wish."
Fels left through the secret door on the side, that both had taken before.
"Wait here for a moment, young man."
"Understood."
Royman left through the door too, Bell just sat there and looked around a bit, he didn´t dare to touch anything.
"The head of the guild...he probably has much work to do..."
Five minutes later the door opened again.
"Come in."
"Yes, yes..."
Bell turned his head to the door and his mouth dropped. Royman came in first, followed by an incredible gorgeous woman! She was a werewolf, with fiery red hair and a fluffy tail! Her ears twitched slightly when she closed the door behind her.
Cute!
In this one moment, Bell Cranel realized something, finally understood what his grandfather told him.
Redheads are the best!
His grandfather also told him something else about redheads, but Bell never understood what that sentence meant, something about rusty roofs and damp basements.
She raised an eyebrow when her eye fell onto Bell, then she looked at Royman again.
"What do you need me for, Chief? I have lots of work to do."
"And you will have a bit more to do now."
"Hah?!"
"Please have a seat, Rose."
She sat down on the chair that Fels used before, looking at Bell.
"What are you looking at, huh?"
"S-Sorry!"
Royman cleared his throat. "Rose, you will not speak about anything that is mentioned in this room. Understood?"
She nodded.
"Good. This young man here is Bell Cranel. He is an upcoming agent of the guild."
"An agent? What does that mean?"
"Nothing that you need to know, just that he works with the guild."
Fels had explained to Bell that due to his status, he was technically above even Royman in authority. But he didn´t really feel like that.
"Bell will need an advisor for the dungeon, you will take this role."
"Why me?"
"Because I know you can keep quiet. There will be no notes or records about him. You are forbidden to talk about him with every other person except for me."
"Oh?"
Her ears and tail twitched, she looked more curious now at Bell.
"You are also not allowed to ask him anything about his activities or his work."
Royman looked at Bell.
"Bell, you can talk about normal things or jobs with Rose, but not your special work."
Bell nodded slowly.
"When you´re strong enough, we will for example send you messages when trouble comes up in the dungeon, Rose will inform you then. With troubles I mean irregulars that hunt people and so on. It will be your job to deal with that."
Bell´s eyes sparkled again when he heard that.
"About other jobs, you will get them from "him"."
Rose raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Royman looked at her again. "Since this could cause problems with your superior and we want as few people as possible to know about him, you will get a promotion, Rose."
"Oh?"
"You will receive a special rank, of course it comes with a salary increase."
A please smirk appeared on her lips.
"You will keep doing your work and report the usual work to your former superior, but this way he isn´t allowed to ask what else you´ve done while you´re at work."
"Understood."
"So, since I have a lot of work to do, please talk with Bell in one of the rooms."
She nodded and got up, Bell followed her quickly.
.
.
"So, you´re a new big number, hm?"
"Ahm...I don´t know if I..."
Both sat in one of the rooms meant for advisors and adventurers.
She shook her head. "Not important. So, I´m Rose and starting today I will be your advisor, what do you know about the dungeon?"
"Not much, I went to the first floor yesterday."
"Without any advice?"
"I got a bit of advice for this floor before and I was only allowed to go to this floor."
"You have someone to teach you how to fight?"
"Yes."
"I assume you have the basic equipment?"
"I do."
"Good."
Bell was a bit nervous to sit here with her.
"Got something to say?"
"No!"
"It would be really nice if you could stop staring at my tail and ears."
"S-Sorry! I just never had the chance to talk with a beast person before!"
"Just so you know, relationships between adventurers and guild members aren´t allowed."
"Ahm...but am I really an adventurer?"
"Hm, technically you belong to the guild in a way. Still."
"Why isn´t it allowed?"
"It would affect the work of the advisors. It would break their hearts to see their beloved go into the dungeon and then never return in case they die."
"Oh...I guess that makes sense."
"So do your best and work hard. I don´t intend to lose my new position because you were slacking off."
"Understood!"
"Good. Then let us begin with the first lesson."
.
.
"Firebolt!"
A burst of electrical fire burst out of Bell´s hand and let a piece of rock explode.
"Awesome! Ms. Wind! I have magic! I can use magic!"
"Hm, short chant magic, that is rare." Ryu watched from a few meters away.
"Maaagiiic! Awesome!"
She saw how Bell´s eyes sparkled with delight.
"Do you have magic too, Ms. Wind?"
"I won´t answer this question."
"Oh, sorry. A bit too personal, right?"
She nodded.
Ryu still used her hood and the mask when she trained with Bell, it was their second day, after he was finished at the guild.
"That you learned magic so fast is a surprise."
"Mr. Fels gave me a strange book to read, afterwards I had a weird dream."
"A Grimoire?"
"Yes."
"Should you give me such an information?"
"Mr. Fels said it is okay. Since you´re my master."
"Master?"
"Well...he didn´t say it with these words...but am I not a kind of pupil for you?"
Ryu didn´t really know how to react to these words...and the honest shine in Bell´s eyes.
"Maybe trainer or teacher, that would be better."
"Understood, teacher!"
"For now you shouldn´t use your magic. Let us focus on teaching you how to fight properly first. Take the basic pose then we will begin anew."
"Hay!"
Ryu had a guess why Fels gave him a Grimoire so early, since he would become an agent of the guild, it would be the best to learn things early and fast.
.
.
"Phew...that was refreshing...but I really would like to take a shower.."
There was no shower in the laboratory, Fels had no need for one.
"Well, onward to the next lesson."
He jogged towards the guild, only ate something light on the way. Since he should learn as much as possible...and Rose was surprised just how fast Bell learned and memorized things...he would´ve a second lesson in the early afternoon.
So far his plans for the next two weeks would be.
Getting up in the morning, wipe himself down.
Having a very early morning lesson with Rose.
Two hours training with Ms. Wind.
A short snack and another lesson with Rose that would go until the early afternoon.
Then going into the dungeon.
When he returned from the dungeon and had cleaned himself and his equipment, Bell would have free time. Which meant he would help or watch Fels with his work or read something, Fels had some really interesting old books!
He arrived soon at the guild, it was busy as always.
Bell looked around but he didn´t see Rose. As he was told he put the pin on his jacket, it would tell every member of the guild that he was part of the guild.
"Hm, I should ask someone."
Since Bell was Bell, he walked by instinct towards the pretty half elf with the glasses. Rose told him the names of the front workers.
"Excuse me, ahm...Ms. Tulle?"
"Hm? Oh? Who do we have here?"
"I started here yesterday, I was told to meet Lady Rose for another lesson."
"Ah, hm okay. You can w-Irgh..."
"Miss?"
Bell noticed that Eina averted her face and covered her nose slightly.
"Forgive me to say that...but you smell..."
"Huh? But I wiped myself down."
"Don´t your place have a shower?"
"No."
"Mh...you shouldn´t have a lesson with Rose when you smell, even when it is just slightly. Her nose is far more sensitive then mine."
Eina saw how embarrassed Bell was.
"If you want, you can use the staff shower."
"Please! Let me use it!"
"Alright, follow me."
Eina led him to the part of the guild where no one except staff members were allowed to go to.
"This here is the big bathroom with the showers, no one uses it around this time, so you have it alone for yourself. Use this towel and just throw it into the basket when you´re done."
"Thank you so much, I don´t want to imagine what would´ve happened if I sat with Lady Rose in a room and would smell bad... Thank you very much, Ms. Tulle."
"Not for that, Mr. Cranel. You can use the staff shower every day, since you belong to the guild too."
"Oh thank the gods..."
She smiled and left.
He went into the bathroom when Eina left. There was more than one shower in here, it wasn´t a fancy bathroom, but not looking cheap either.
There were bottles with special soap for the body and the hair, a goddess had created liquid soap in the best, she got extremely rich with that stuff.
A hot shower, washing his body properly was wonderful, finally he felt clean again.
"Hah...that was wonderful..."
He stepped out of the shower, using the towel to dry his hair.
When he opened his eyes, Bell froze. His grandfather had told him about a certain situation that he wished for him to happen at least once in his life.
Rose was in front of him, her arms raised to adjust her hair.
And she was completely naked...
What Bell and Eina didn´t know, what they couldn´t know, Rose liked to shower during her break, so that she would never have an unpleasant smell on her body.
"Eh?!"
"Ah!"
Both blinked.
Bell couldn´t help but notice absolutely everything! Rose had an amazing body. The sight of her voluptous breasts with the pink tips, he alluring waist, the sensual hips and the red hair down there got burned into Bell´s mind...if he wanted to or not.
And of course...her naked thighs!
Rose was the first woman that Bell ever saw naked and one thing was for sure for him in that moment.
Redheads were the best!
Yet he was deeply ashamed that his eyes flashed over her naked body for a splitsecond, even to her womanhood.
"Eeek!" Bell immediatelly closed his eyes after that splitsecond.
"S-Sorry!"
In the moment that Bell noticed Rose, she noticed him too. Her face became as crimson as his, her tail wiped around to cover her crotch, while her hands shot down to cup her breasts.
"What are you doing here?!"
"Ms. Tulle said I could you the shower here, since my place doesn´t have one!"
"Have you ever heard about putting up a sign?!"
"This is my first time in such a bathroom!"
When Bell moved to the side, still with closed eyes, something moved. Rose´s eyes were drawn to the movement against her will.
They widened in shock.
"Cover yourself already!"
"S-Sorry!"
Bell needed both hands to cover himself.
The following lesson was more than just awkward, Rose demanded Bell´s oath to never mention or even remember that incident. And she told him with a straight face, if his body had reacted in any way, she would´ve chopped "it" off...
.
.
It wasn´t the only woman that Bell would make embarrassed on this day, even when the second one wasn´t technically his fault.
Since his home didn´t have a kitchen and Bell wanted to follow Fels´ advice, he went to the famous pub.
"Wow, quite full."
There were lots of people inside the pub, he heard laughter, cheers, everyone was eating or drinking.
"Meow?"
Bell turned his head when he heard someone meowing. It was a cat girl with brown fur, she was pretty small. And she wore the uniform of a waitress.
"Ahm, is there a seat free?"
"Follow meow dear customerrrr."
It was Bell´s first time hearing a cat person talking like that.
"Thank you.."
She led him to a place at the counter.
"Bye, Meow."
"Eh?"
He looked around confused.
"This area is where a different waitress works, they have a flowing area, boy." A dwarf next to him understood why Bell was confused.
"Oh, thank you."
"She will be here soon, they always notice a new customer."
"Okay."
Soon Bell heard steps behind him.
"Good afternoon dear customer, may I take your order?"
Bell turned around when he heard that voice...a familiar voice. His jaw dropped when he saw a beautiful, familiar elf behind him. She wore uniform just like the others, but this time her face was uncovered...and dear heavens was she a beauty!
"Eh?! You a-"
She looked away. "You´re mistaken."
"No, I´m not. I´m sure yo-"
"You´re mistaken, I don´t know you."
"Then why would you react like this?"
He saw that the tips of her ears were slightly red, she glared at him and leaned closer, whispering in his ear. "Don´t mention to anyone that I train you, understood? Not a word about my work?"
"U-Understood. Ahm...how should I c-"
"I will not tell you my n-"
"Ooooy, Ryuuuu! I need some help here with the table!"
"Kuh..."
Bell saw that she got more red, cheeks and ears alike.
"Not a word about this..."
"Y-Yes..."
The afternoon was as awkward as his lesson with Rose, but the food was to die for.
.
Like this, Bell´s life in Orario started.
When it was time for his first status update, not only Bell was shocked, Fels gasped loud and even Ouranos was extremely surprised.
After only one week Bell´s status was already past 300 in every status.
It was thanks to his skill "Heroic Desire", which let him grow faster as long as his desire remained to become a hero.
So Bell was really eager to continue his work with Rose, Ryu, Fels and in the dungeon.
In only one week, Bell was down to the fifth floor, his fighting style improved very fast.
.
"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Why is there a Minotaur on the fifth flooooooor?!"
.
Bell was about to fulfill a wish he had.
He would soon have a fateful encounter in the dungeon.
.
Revis had spied on the Loki familia...well more the Sword Princess again, it wasn´t just her strange curiousity, but also because it was an order from Enyo now.
She saw the familia splitting up when they chased a horde of fleeing Minotaurs, this would be the perfect moment to strike.
So Revis followed Ais Wallenstein, up to the fifth floor.
She would soon lose track of her, but then she heard a young man scream, something on that scream was strange. Something about that floor was strange for her. Since she had to look for the Sword Princess anyway and it was most likely that she would follow the scream too, Revis followed it.
When she turned around a corner, Revis heard a bone break with a moist cracking sound. There was a young man there, wearing a gauntlet with talons on one of his arms, blood was on these talons, minotaur blood. He really had tried to fight back, even scratched the minotaur slightly. But then the minotaur caught his arm and snapped it like it was nothing.
"AAAAAAAAARGH!"
Her body moved before she noticed it. Revis kicked with her full strength in the hollow of the Minotaur´s left knee, shattered it this way. The monster let go of the young man, fell halfway down. Her right hand touched the Minotaur´s neck, the left it´s snout...then she ripped the head off.
A fountain of blood shot out and bathed the boy in it.
.
.
Green and rubelite eyes met when the monster´s headless body collapsed.
.
.
.
.
Author`s Note: Hey everyone, thank you for all the Reviews, I´m happy that people are looking forward to the story.
To say it from the start, no Bell won´t fall for Revis just because she saved him just now.
The chapter may felt a bit rushed for some, the next will have a few time jumps until a few months have passed. The first three chapters are basically the prologue.
Yes the claw was a reference to the Emperor´s claw. I just liked the design, but it won´t be Bell´s only weapon, like a spear and so on.
Next chapter we will see what kind of secret work Bell will start to do.
Also, yes the story will be hard for Revis/Alise and Ryu. It will seriously hurt both and not only them. But maybe Bell can help them?
The order for the other short stories is.
Bell x Ardee
Bell x Ryu or Bell x Tiona (will see which one first)
Bell x Ryu or Bell x Tiona (depending on which one comes first)
I have three others planned too, Bell x Amid "My Dea(r) Saint", Bell x Artemis "10.000 years of love" and a small harem story "A true (wo)man?" Where Bell has to go to the magic school Orario, crossdressed as a girl, one of the girls as his partner will be Cassandra.