He arrived at the warm-looking pub with a rustic wooden exterior and a welcoming sign. A strong female dwarf was behind the bar, and several beautiful girls in maid uniforms were interacting with the diners. A bell rang upon entering, and one of the waitresses came to greet him—an elf this time.
"Hello, anywhere you like, sir." She bowed. "Thanks for your patronage."
Bell bowed back. "Thanks for your hospitality." She blinked. It was a rarity to receive such courtesy from humans in general, let alone one so young.
"Bell!" Syr rushed past the elf and crashed into Bell. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "I didn't know if you'd be back, and you're so early," she said with excitement.
He shrugged. "I'm taking it easy in the dungeon for a while. I'm testing a new skill," he said, telling a partial truth.
"Ooh, what is it? I'm curious." She released him and jumped up. "Tell me. Please?" she asked with puppy-dog eyes.
"It makes me stronger," he said, smiling at her.
"Ahh, that tells me nothing," she complained.
She was gently whacked on the head by her far more professional colleague.
"It's rude to ask adventurers about their abilities, and you are blocking a customer," the elf said sharply.
Syr squealed. "Bell, this is Ryuu, my best friend. She acts tough, but she's a total tsundere," she said in a bubbly tone.
Ryuu glared at her lively friend for the unwanted comment.
Bell bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ryuu," he said.
Ryuu tipped her head in acknowledgment. "The same to you," she replied.
"Stop blocking the doorway," said Mama Mia. "Yes, Mama," the three of them said in unison.
"So this is the boy, then, Syr?" asked Mama Mia. "I didn't get a good look at him last time."
"What do you mean?" asked Syr.
"The one you wouldn't shut up about," the dwarf replied flatly.
Syr blushed. "That's not true," she protested half-heartedly.
She was ignored.
"Introduce yourself, kid. If Syr gets her way, we'll be seeing a lot of you, and Syr almost always gets her way. The name is Mama Mia. Good to see a new face around here," Mia said.
"Okay, Mama Mia. My name is Bell Cranel, and I've been training to be an adventurer for 4 years now. I'm from a small village, and I grew up on a farm. Uhh, that's about it. I like magic; I wish I had a spell," announced Bell.
"Nice to meet you, kid. The name is all you have to know about me. Got it?" Mama Mia asked.
"Yes, Mama," Bell responded.
"Same with the girls, unless they decide to share. Now grab a seat and order something before I kick you out," said Mama Mia.
"Eep, going," Bell said meekly.
He somehow ended up being served three massive meals. He couldn't even finish the second one, let alone the third. It was all fantastic, just excessive to a high degree, although there was probably nobody brave enough to tell Mama Mia that. His food ended up being 4,500 valis, and she charged another 500 valis for the takeout containers, despite him not requesting takeout. He felt like he got conned somehow again, but they all seemed like good people, so he didn't really mind. Greedy and slightly unethical, perhaps, but nice.
"What would you have done if I couldn't afford all that food?" he asked.
"Aha! I'm smart. You said you exchange stones after you're finished in the dungeon," Syr replied.
"I could have, you know, spent the valis, had a brief dungeon dive, or had bad luck. Restaurants aren't usually this pricey," said Bell.
"Hmm, I didn't consider that. The food was worth it, though, wasn't it?" she asked.
"The taste is, I'm not sure about price or portion size. I'll eat here all the time if I can actually finish all the food without stuffing myself," said Bell.
"That's perfectly fine! I'll make sure there's no confusion next time," she said quickly.
"Super," Bell said.
Syr asked if they could meet up again the next day, sometime in the mid-afternoon. Bell was happy to agree. She was beautiful, cheerful, playful, kind, flirty, and several years older than him. His grandfather was always going on about the advantages of older, more experienced women. As she had already proven during their interactions, she was quite physical, and she seemed to relish embarrassing him and making him blush. They were both happy with their new friendship.
Over the next week, they met up every day around the same time and told stories about their childhoods and about being orphans. Bell told her what a strong person she was to survive the hardships she had faced while remaining so upbeat and cheerful.
This caused her to briefly have a tomato-faced expression and run away, claiming that she had forgotten her purse. The excuse was abysmal, considering that the purse shook as she darted off.
'I guess she wasn't used to compliments,' Bell thought.
He found that strange, considering she was an attractive young waitress serving gruff adventurers at a bar with alcohol flowing. He failed to consider the Bell Cranel cuteness and sincerity factor.
Syr stopped running a couple blocks away and rested on the wall of an alleyway, out of breath. Her heart was still racing long after her breathing had settled. She'd never felt this way before. 'Was it true love?' she thought.
She had been teasing him from the moment she saw him, but she never expected his pure, innocent heart and joyful spirit to affect her so much. She wanted him as soon as she saw his soul, transparent and so full of life. She loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him, but that seemed like a simple infatuation compared to what she feels now.
Bell was worried that he scared her off, but the next day she was in their spot by the bar as usual.
Syr blushed. "Sorry for running off yesterday," she started.
Bell cut her off. "It's okay, you lost your purse," he said with a wink.
She giggled at him and seemed happy that she didn't have to elaborate. She hugged him firmly and looked into Bell's eyes. He gulped and tried to look away from the intense gaze, but before he could, she pulled him into a brief but passionate kiss. Her face immediately became red upon separation.
"Sorry! Bye!" Syr yelled out.
Before she could run off again, Bell grabbed her arm gently and stopped her in her tracks.
"Really, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm no good. I-" Syr attempted to communicate.
Bell interrupted her with another chaste kiss.
Syr froze in place.
Bell reached out his arms to give her a hug. "Do you want to go out on a date?" he asked Syr.
Her blush spread down to her neck and up to her ears. "YES!" She said before fainting in Bell's arms.
'That was unexpected,' thought Bell.
Bell shifted his arms to hold onto Syr more securely, and started walking in the direction of the Hostess of Fertility, just the next block over. Hopefully, he didn't die delivering her.
"Nya, whatnya got there white hair, nya?" asked the cat person.
"What have you done with Syr?" demanded Ryuu.
"Nothing, I swear," Bell replied. He would have raised his hands if he had access to them.
Mama Mia at the back piped in. "Set her down at the table and then speak."
"Yes, Mama," Bell replied. He placed Syr in one of the booths gently before turning to face the other staff members.
"Well, what of it, kid?" prompted Mama Mia.
"Err," Bell started.
"And speak up!" Mama Mia commanded.
"Yes, Mama! Umm, she kissed me and tried to run away," Bell said.
That got everyone's attention.
"And why is she unconscious?" Asked a much less concerned Mama Mia.
"I asked her out on a date, and she fainted, so I brought her here," he explained.
That caused a chorus of laughter, especially from Mama Mia, who looked like she was going to shatter the bar counter by banging her firsts. Ryuu giggled in a delicate, dignified manner.
The cat person pouted and said, "Nyaa, but nyI want white hair's ass nya."
Ryuu slapped her for being inappropriate.
"So, kid, what are you still doing here?" asked Mama Mia. "Syr is fine, even though we'll never let her forget about this moment," she continued.
"Umm, she fainted before we could think of a time or place," he replied.
"Hah, you're a good one, aren't you?" she said. "Fine, you can stay, but you have to eat something."
Bell nodded in agreement. "Something small this time please, I'll die if I see another monster plate in front of me, and then you'd be down a paying customer," he pointed out.
"Hah, true enough, kid. I'll even let you choose this time; I'm in such a good mood," said Mama Mia.
"How generous," he muttered quietly to himself.
He received a large but manageable portion of salmon and was immensely satisfied. Now all he had to do was wait for Syr to wake up. He wanted to confirm the time and location of their date in case she didn't show up at their regular spot tomorrow.
The pub had been open for half an hour before Syr woke up.
"Hey Bell, Bell! Ahhh-mmm," she started to panic and get louder before Bell covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhh, we're at the hostess," said Bell.
Syr slowly relaxed under Bell's gentle, but firm touch, so Bell released his hand.
"Why are we here?" asked Syr.
"What do you remember?" asked Bell.
"I ran up to greet you, and then-" she stopped speaking and started looking faint again.
"Please don't pass out!" he cried out.
Thankfully his slightly desperate cry was enough to snap Syr out of her dazed state.
"When should our date be?" asked Bell.
"Now!" Syr demanded. "I mean whenever suits you best," she corrected herself.
She tapped her index fingers together.
"Haha. My schedule is pretty open, we could go right now unless you're working."
Syr groaned. "Mama Mia, forgive me, I lost my purse!" she cried dramatically.
"Uh-huh, well, you better take the day off to find it," said Mama Mia.
Syr's eyes lit up. "Thank you!" she yelled.
"You're on dish duty all next week!" Mama replied.
"Okay," she chirped happily, pushing a bemused Bell out of the door. She felt all of the eyes in the pub watching their exit, so she spun around, stuck out her tongue at them, flashed a peace sign, and then returned to pushing Bell out of the door.
She linked arms with Bell and cheerfully dragged him to the market. Both of them tried to insist on paying. Bell protested that it was supposed to be the man who paid on the first date. Syr said that she needed to pay him back for the trick she played on him to get him into the Hostess.
"You didn't really trick me, and you could have just asked me to come instead of being sneaky, and I still would have come," Bell said.
Syr blushed. "My bad, payback for that then!" she said.
"You can cover us next time," Bell responded casually.
"Next time?" her heart stammered. "Okay," she said, admitting defeat with a smile.
Syr fell in love once again when he showed up unprompted to help her with dish duty.
"I'm the reason you fainted; it's only fair that I help out," he said matter of factly.
His logic wasn't the most sound, since it was a major overreaction on Syr's part that caused the fainting spell, but it was really sweet of him and it won him major props with the rest of the staff.
They continued getting together in the morning and had more dates when Syr was free. They had a shared interest in heroes and magic, although Syr focussed more on the battles than the heroes themselves. They discussed both passionately, along with other topics.
They both bemoaned their lack of magic. Bell admitted that he had done significant magic training. He could feel and connect to his mana, as well as manipulate it within his body. He had increased his mind capacity and mana efficiency.
"The only thing I can do with it is strengthen my body," he complained.
Syr paused, shocked at that bit of information.
"You can do what now?" she asked.
"Err, I can strengthen my body, only parts of it though," he said dejectedly.
Syr shook him vigorously. "Don't tell that to anyone else!" she demanded.
"Adventurers have been trying to strengthen their bodies with magic since the gods descended to Genkai from Tenkai. Nobody has ever managed to do it successfully. Nobody except for you, and you're only 14! All of the gods will want you. Please keep your abilities quiet," Syr said forcefully.
"Really," Bell asked doubtfully.
"Yes, now what does it do? Tell me, tell me," she said with noticeable excitement.
"Umm exactly what I said, strengthen my body, like make it more durable, faster, stronger. That sort of thing," Bell said.
"It takes a lot of concentration though. It's like moving my mana to my active muscle groups... Anyone should be able to do that with enough study," he said.
"Nobody ever has, not until you, not like that, or at the least, the information was never shared," Syr explained.
He blushed. "I guess reading those 30 books and doing all of their exercises worked," said Bell.
"Some are really weird, like trying to balance a leaf on your forehead with mana, or climbing a tree without your hands," he explained.
"I'm convinced that the author was a sadist," he complained.
"Maybe you could do it sometime in the future. You're already capable of so much," commented Syr.
"Maybe," Bell said with a smile.
"It would be really cool," he commented idly.
Bell sighed deeply. "I want a real spell, though, like a fireball or lightning bolt," he complained gently.
"If you keep trying, I'm sure you'll get it. I believe in you," Syr said passionately.
He blushed.
"Thank you," he replied.
They said their goodbyes and shared a kiss before parting ways.
Syr was walking shakily and thankfully made it to her home before she collapsed onto the floor.
She had managed to hold in her excitement until she had privacy, but after the door closed she let out a deep moan. Pure mana manipulation was theoretical and nobody knew what the effects would be.
Nearly all of the best researchers in the field of mana manipulation declared that body enhancement was impossible, and the few who considered it theoretically possible considered it practically useless and harmful to the body after prolonged use.
Bell was never informed about any of these magical limits and clearly, he did not pay attention to any of the warnings about untrained mana manipulation that were sure to be present in at least some of the books he based his training upon.
Was his willpower so strong that he succeeded where thousands before him had failed? How much power was locked in his adorable, unassuming body? What could he do with real magic? She shuddered. She needed to find out. She collected herself and took off in the direction of Babel Tower. She needed her strongest grimoire.