Is it wrong to find Heroes in the Dungeon? Chapter 1

Hello everybody! It is I, Iskander Mandoraekon!

I know, I know. It has been so very long since I've posted anything! Since 2021! I was surprised, yet not too surprised by that… I've been so utterly busy with work, getting into wrecks, dealing with hospital bills, losing my job, grappling with depression, finding a new job, and plain old Writer's Block!

I cannot promise that I'll update these on a regular basis (we've all seen my track record for such things…), but I can promise that I am back and more than ready to continue writing… especially now that I can actually type & write without feeling blistering pain in my fingers…

This story is a mixture between the Nasuverse Fate series and the world of DanMachi where Bell Cranel finds the Holy Grail in the Dungeon due to some shenanigans from those assmunching Mages. This was inspired by stories such as Heroic Myth by: Harouki, and Familia of Heroes by: GODZILLA IS THE KING.

I literally had nothing to do but read new and old stories, watch crappy tv, eat disgusting hospital food or use the crapper while I was in the hospital recovering from being T-boned by a jerkass that ran a red light while I was passing through the intersection back in June (Five days before my birthday of course, because the Abrahamic God hates me for being Pagan).

With a newfound passion for DanMachi and the hilarious struggles of Bell Cranel, I decided to make my own version of a Fate/DanMachi tale, though it was admittedly going to be a FGO one first before I scrapped that idea and just stuck to throwing Servants his way.

That's all for now. Please read my story. I'm already working on Chapter 2.

I do not own DanMachi or the Nasuverse. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, but would be rolling in money and having an actual life.

Prologue

It all started in a room.

An ancient room.

An ancient room covered in ancient and archaic scribbles from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, that would seem like any archaeologist's wet dream.

Despite the room's strange design, it hosted nothing except for a single golden cup on a single block of stone covered in the same archaic writings as the walls. This cup. Despite being made of seemingly pure gold, it had a rather plain design. No special marks decorated its surface nor the inside.

If anything, it resembled a simple drinking goblet of some forgotten medieval king or queen.

But despite the fact that any archaeologist would rather salivate over the ancient writings on the walls and podium rather than investigate a simple cup, this object was much more than its appearance suggested.

For this was the Holy Grail!

…Or rather, a copy…

Despite its plain outward appearance, if one could see beyond the veil that obstructed the sight of mere mortals, they would be able to see a soft glow of light surrounding the cup that belied the massive well-spring of power that lurked within and the set of runic script carved into its surface.

And like all artifacts left to gather dust in ancient tombs across the world, this Grail was waiting for somebody to find it. To claim it and all the power that dwelled within its confines.

To claim the Wish it held.

A Wish that would hopefully be granted through the actions of the human it could sense approaching the door to this ancient chamber.

For the first time in what seemed like an insurmountable amount of time since the Grail was placed in this ruin, the silence of the tomb was shattered by a dull thud sounding from the single, solitary door to this chamber.

A dull thud that was followed by another and another soon after before, finally, the stone door was smashed to pieces by the bodies of three men.

Of the three, only one man was still alive, standing back to his feet whilst his comrades remained still upon the ground, devoid of life due to the large bloody holes both possessed in their pectorals that passed through to their backs from where they had taken the attack of their enemy that had blasted them through the entrance.

"Y-You will pay for this…!" The survivor stammered in outrage as a single uninjured purple eye glared back at the entryway, where the silhouette of another man stood, concealed by the centuries old dust kicked up by the explosion. He shook his fist at the killer, "Do you know who I am!? Who my family is!?"

Despite his bravado, he still backpedaled in fear when the silhouette raised a foot and strode forward, clearing the dust cloud like a wraith, moving with the grace of a predatory animal that was at odds with it's emotionless face and revealing a tall man adorned in a white mantle and black light armor designed to look like a man's torso.

"Devereaux D'Orsay. Thirteenth generation magus and ninth-generation heir of the D'Orsay family of Southern France, second owners of the city of Avignon." The assailant answered in kind, a nondescript double-edged sword held loosely in his right hand. "Second child and eldest son of Claude D'Orsay and Jessamine Longbranch. Made the heir of your family solely because of your gender despite your older sister's superior talent in all fields of magecraft she and you have both chosen to study."

Devereaux paled slightly at the man's statement. "If you know who I am… then why are you attacking me!?"

"You pissed off quite a few, very influential people when you stole those experimental Grails from Clocktower." The man said calmly as he stared down the coward that had used his own men as human shields. "All so you could make use of a theorized wish for power. Ignoring the warnings made by the Wizard Marshall about the corruption that dwells inside the cup."

"My father won't stand for this!" The young man screamed in panic at the thought of having the attention of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Wizard Marshall of Clocktower and Master of the Second True Magic.

"Because of your actions and stupidity bringing shame to your family, Lord Claude D'Orsay has reluctantly disowned you from your family and given heirship to your younger brother, Arnaud."

Devereaux blanched at those words and let out a wordless scream of panic and desperation when the man threw his sword, leaping out of the way of the razor-sharp implement of death while raising his own arm to defend himself and unleash the spell he'd been gathering on the tips of his fingers during their conversation.

His nerves were on fire and crying out in pain from the chase he'd put on to push this idiot towards where he'd hidden the last of the stolen Grails despite the fact he could have taken him down at any point in the last two days. He'd had to cut through a horde of henchmen and lesser mages hired by Devereaux to hunt down both the nobleman and the six experimental Grails the idiot had the gall to steal from the personal workshop of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg in some idiot plan to create the Grail War to end all Grail Wars.

Despite the pain, the hunter continued gazing upon his foe as he dodged the man's hastily thrown curse and his thrown sword impacted with the golden cup, knocking it off of its pedestal and breaking it. He let nothing of the pain he felt show on his face to the gutless, entitled nobleman before him, and raised a new blade that had appeared in his hand towards the idiot who had ignored the warnings of the Wizard Marshall and the Queen of Clocktower concerning the grail shards of Fuyuki.

However, any thoughts died out as soon as he saw something odd and horrifyingly familiar happening next to D'Orsay.

Appearing in the middle of Devereaux's outstretched arm at the elbow, a small burst of malevolent and corrupted prana made itself known, bursting from the younger man's limb in a roar of sound and the squelching of meat and bone being rent from each other.

"W-W-What…!?" Came the shocked gurgling scream of the once proud nobleman as the forearm of his right arm flew away from his body in a spray of blood. He held onto his bicep in excruciating pain at the loss of his limb and the fact that the now-correlesced orb seemed to be sucking prana from his body, and grit his teeth, somewhat impressing his assailant at the fact that he was managing to hold some semblance of sentience despite the pain.

His mouth opened, but whatever Devereaux D'Orsay planned to say next was cut off as dust and prana were dragged into the aberration, causing it to expand, enveloping the entirety of the thief. "Wait! N-!"

"A hole left by the Grail…?" The sole survivor of the chase muttered before his eyes widened. "Shit!"

The reason for his panic was because the orb created by the Grail didn't seem content to stop with the absorption of the magus and continued to grow, unrelentingly and absorbing everything it came in contact with.

The sudden pull of what seemed to be gravity made the man jump towards the exit, his legs quickly covered in a strange glowing blue pattern as he attempted to escape the pull of the orb that was still encroaching on him. He could feel his muscles cry in protest at the action, but it was either the burning pain or winding up within the hole that took the life of D'Orsay.

Something he did not want at all.

"▂▂▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▅!"

The man cried out in pain as something tore into his back after the monstrous roar filled the room. The only thing saving him from having his spine perforated being the now ruined armor and blood-stained mantle covering him. A gray eye looked back over his shoulder as he gazed at the hole where the attack originated, only to see a black blur that looked remarkably like a dragon's claw disappearing back into corrupt energy.

That wasn't Devereaux D'Orsay…

None of the fields he was known to study possessed anything like that.

This was something completely separate from the cocky, arrogant nobleman.

His teeth ground against each other as he began straining himself to fight the pull as he felt himself being dragged even closer after that attack, though unfortunately, the damage done to his back wasn't letting him fight the pull as effectively as before, "Damn…" He snarled as his gray eyes glared at the now massive orb that was only three feet from him now. It was going to consume the entire room! "I won't let you take me! I'm not allowed to die until I've fulfilled my promise! To Sak-!"

"▂▂▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▅!"

Another roar that shook the ruin to its foundations was the answer to his declaration and the man swore he saw a fierce blood red eye with a draconian slit peer through the gloom. So he strained his body once more and pushed into the dirt of the tomb's floor, trying to create a more stable footing.

Unfortunately it didn't seem to work as the gravity surrounding the now much larger orb intensified and he was dragged ever closer.

Though to be fair, he wasn't truly sure if he'd gotten closer or if the orb itself had grown even more.

The man's expression became one of shock and frustration as a loose brick struck him in the head after flying from the wall and he flew towards the hole. His eyes widened into disbelief once he realized what had occurred. "Shit!"

Before anything else happened, the hole imploded in a burst of dust, closing itself off from the world.

Elsewhere, thousands of miles away across an ocean from the tomb, a tall, powerful-looking old man dressed in rich and almost medieval robes blinked as he looked up from the book he was reading through as he instructed his adorably tsundere apprentice in the use of his unique brand of magic. "Well. That most certainly happened…"

When his apprentice looked up to him in curiosity at his mumbled words, he simply waved her off and continued the lesson. He'd deal with the idiot's situation later…

Once he stopped laughing.

On an alternate Earth

With a groan of pain, the hunter opened his eyes to look at a star-filled night sky through blurry eyes.

His body was aching all over, his head was pounding worse than it ever had before, and his back felt like it was on fire.

Though that might have been the massive gashes stretching across it…

He was lucky to not have been ripped in half by whatever that had been.

Groaning again as he felt his stomach turn, and a hint of bile rise up in his throat, he turned to the side and dry heaved. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep that position for long due to the horrible pain in his back and collapsed once again onto his back, crying out in pain as the grass and gravel beneath him irritated the open wounds.

"-ady over here!"

The man blinked wearily. Was that a voice?

Tired gray eyes turned towards his left, wincing again as his muscles and nerves protested the movement. He could see several blurry shapes moving towards him from a large brown object.

Was that a wagon…? Horses?

"He's alive!" One of the blurs cried out as they reached him, what he assumed was a woman with pink-hair waving an arm towards the rest. "Agil, bring the medical kits! He's badly injured!"

"Aye!"

"Milady!" The pink blur said again as another joined her, another woman though he couldn't see her clearly, this one possessing crimson hair, wearing a white shirt and black pants. The newcomer knelt down and grasped the wounded man's hand as it rose slightly into the air from the grass. "Watch out! You might get dirty!"

The first of the women was clearly conferring to the regurgitated lunch he'd puked up on the side the woman was kneeling on.

"It is alright Lis." The woman answered back as she continued to hold the man's hand, her face now close enough for him to see that she had a ruby-colored eye and an eye-patch over the other. "It'll be alright. We're going to help you. Who are you?"

"Shi-."

Chapter 1: Holy Grail

-Four years Later-

Within the many alternative Earths of the Multiverse, there exists an alternative riddled with gods, monsters and eager would-be heroes hoping to stem the tide of monstrous evil in search of fame. The center-piece of this world is the city of Orario, the City of Adventurers.

Mortals of all ages and races, from Humans to Beastmen, Dwarves to Elves and all those in-between, travel to this city in pursuit of their desires and dreams. Be that fame, riches, glory or even the desire to protect the world from the evil resting at the center of the city.

For this is the city of Adventures. Populated by great bastions led by the gods themselves called familias, Orario was built over and all around a massive dungeon born from unknown means millennium ago that spawned monsters out and sought to snuff out the lives of all who lived on the surface because of an unknown hatred.

In the past this evil and its hordes of monsters were left unchecked save for the efforts of those few brave heroes who made contracts with the enigmatic Spirits of the world and fought back against the endless hordes, engraving their names into the fabric of history and legend for their victories and sacrifices.

It was only when the divine residing in the celestial ream "Tenkai" in the forms of the gods and goddess descended to the mortal plane and helped the remnants of those heroes seal the dungeon with the Tower of Babel and offered their blessings to the ones living on the surface were the mortals truly able to fend for themselves, and the contracts between Spirits and Mortals fell out of use in favor of the Divine Blessings of the gods, the Falna.

The grace and protection of divinity granted by the Gods to members of their family, or Familia. Within these Familia are Adventurers who make use of their patron's Falna to both make a living within Orario and its dungeon, and prevent the monsters that once terrorized the surface from ever returning to force their monstrous hatred and power upon the innocent and defenseless.

The power of the Falna increases with the more experience, regarded as excelia, these Adventurers gather with every battle they experience against the unending horde. This excelia is written upon their Falna, allowing a God to read about the growth their child has experienced like a story.

Currently within the dungeon, a new Adventurer barely half a month into his career in the form of a boy with snow white hair and ruby eyes that many might compare to a rabbit was making his own story, scraping together a living for himself and his goddess.

What he would find however would see to the reemergence of legends into the world. This is a tale of Heroes, Spirits, a broken goblet and a young boy dreaming of being a hero.

-Inside the dungeon, Fifth Floor-

Bell Cranel, first and sole member of the Hestia Familia, was paying attention to his surroundings as he stalked through the dungeon in order to not be caught off guard by any monsters that lived on this floor.

Today, the newbie Adventurer of only two weeks had decided to try going a bit further down into the dungeon than he normally did, against the advice given to him by Eina Tulle, his Guild Advisor. Although it has only been two weeks since he'd been accepted by Hestia and officially became an Adventurer, he'd already made it to the fifth floor of the dungeon. According to Eina, most newbie Adventurers, even ones with more experience than he had, stuck to the first two floors and didn't go further without prior preparation or after a month or so of getting comfortable with both the feeling of their God's Falna and to get used to fighting.

However, perhaps foolishly as he'd already admitted to himself, Bell felt that he was making enough progress that he could go a bit deeper since he could already handle the Goblins and Kobolds that resided on the first four floors with relative ease now.

That, and he kind of wanted a change in scenery…

"But even so, why haven't I seen any monsters yet…?" He asked himself as he looked around at the calm dungeon around him and scratched the back of his white-covered head, a look of confusion on his face that would have a certain goddess squealing about how adorable it was. The boy had been on the fifth floor for at least a couple hours now after convincing himself to move down the hole leading from the fourth to fifth floors.

But not a single monster had appeared to challenge him so far.

"Did someone else come through before me?"

It was very possible that another Adventurer or even a group of them had come through to either hunt monsters for some Valis, though there was also a chance that one of the bigger familias on an expedition had come through before him. Like the Loki Familia was known to do often.

Though he doubted that last option considering how early he tended to get to the Dungeon, he would have surely seen a Familia beginning an expedition.

"Maybe I should try heading back up? I might be able to get some goblins at least so today won't be a total bust." As Bell considered retracing his steps a bit, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye as he passed the entrance to a room.

It was located in a dead end path off to the side of the main path. A beautiful, if simple and broken golden chalice…that was just sitting there on the ground without a care in the world.

Bell blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes as he stared at the cup to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. When he was certain that he wasn't or that there weren't any monsters lurking in the shadows to leap out at him, Bell slowly walked up to the golden cup and carefully inspected what it was exactly he was looking at.

Whatever it was made out of, the goblet seemed to give off an aura of light that lit the dim light of the dungeon further until it was almost like he was standing in the shadow of the Tower of Babel rather than inside the dark Dungeon.

As Bell inspected his find, he noticed several intricate and beautiful engravings on the base, handle, and bottom of the bowl-shaped top. He wasn't a craftsman by any means, having spent the majority of his life working a farm before traveling to Orario following his grandfather's death, but even he could see that whoever made the cup in his hands had been a master craftsman.

It even seemed to compare in quality to the beautiful weapons and armor he sometimes gazed longingly at in the windows of Hephaestus Familia's shops, with the only flaw of its otherwise flawless appearance being the large crack extending from the lip of the bowl to reach nearly to its stem. Like a piece had been smashed away, though he could not see any fragments lying around the area.

It certainly wouldn't be able to hold more than a couple sips of any drink anymore.

"Hmm, maybe I could get a good price for this. Even if it's broken." Bell muttered to himself as he smiled. Even if it was not quite usable outside of maybe being a show piece, a collector might pay a good price for it and the Hestia familia could definitely use the income right now given their state of living in poverty.

However, as he was thinking of the Valis he might get for the beautiful goblet, the hand that was holding began to suddenly feel like it was on fire, the pain being bad enough to make Bell cry out and drop the grail like it was red-hot from the forge that made it.

Falling on to his knees in sheer pain, he clenched his left hand over his right wrist as he groaned loudly in pain. Just as the agony was becoming a little too extreme for Bell to handle as he curled up against the stone floor of the dungeon, the seeming eternity of suffering ended.

If he had been in his right mind, he would have been weeping for joy at the fact that the fifth floor seemed devoid of any mortal-hating monsters.

Out of nowhere, the burning pain dominating his right hand had completely disappeared. When it did, Bell slowly began to open his red eyes and unclenching his aching jaw.

After a few clenches and unclenching of his hand into a fist to see if there were any problems or lingering pain, Bell let out a sigh of utter relief now that the pain was gone and whatever had happened was over.

"What was that?" Bell asked no one in particular as he let out another sigh, before beginning to get up off of the ground. Whatever had just happened and the lack of any monsters to kill had made it clear to Bell that today wasn't going to be his day, and it would probably be a good idea to cut his losses and take the cup back to the guild to get whatever he could for it before calling a day.

"This is probably enough for today," he said as he stood up while twisting to put the goblet into his satchel. "I should head back and-!"

As he turned around to make his way back to the fourth floor and eventually the surface, Ms. Eina's warnings flared to life inside Bell's head and his fears came true as a giant brown-furred monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man appeared around the corner.

Minotaur!

A monster so powerful that it could easily defeat a Level 2 Adventurer if they weren't careful.

And rather than be on the fifteenth floor. Ten floors below this one! The monster that looked like it could rip him in half with its bare hands was somehow up on the upper floors where only newbies resided.

"URRRRROOOOOARRRRRR!"

In response to the minotaur roaring in Bell's face, he let out a not so manly scream that would have his late grandfather clutching his sides in pained laughter as the boy scrambled to dive out of the way as its hoof smashed into the ground where he'd been and left a small crater. "AAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

-Fourth Floor-

"AAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

A floor down from Bell, a golden-haired girl's head shot up to look towards the entrance to the fifth floor at the sound of the high pitched scream, abruptly stopping her conversation with a gray-haired man that stood over the crumbling body of a minotaur. Dropping what she was doing, she began sprinting towards the fifth floor.

There was somebody in danger.

And she had a good idea why that was.

-Fifth Floor-

Clutching the treasure that promised to give Hestia Familia a good payday for dear life, he bolted away from the murderous bull-headed monster as fast as he could.

Of course, in his all-consuming fear, the boy had no idea where he was running to. But in his panicked, reason-devoid mind that was seeking nothing more than escape, anywhere was better than being in close proximity to the Minotaur.

Unfortunately. As he turned another corner, Bell found himself with his back against a wall as he ran smack dab into another dead-end passage with the minotaur charging down on him. The Adventurer-killer having easily kept pace with the terrified rabbit.

"Hii!" He let out another shriek in fear as he held up the satchel in his hands as if that could somehow protect him from the monster but he knew it was futile.

And so, he could do nothing but beg with all of his might.

"Please! I don't want to die! Somebody! Anybody! Save me!"

The roar of the minotaur was interrupted just as it was about to swing a punch down on his significantly weaker body when a white and gold blur rocketed around the corner and slashed across the monster's back. The minotaur's survival instincts kicked in, as it took note of a higher threat than the boy it had been about to kill. The beast glared back to take in the sight of a young woman with flowing blonde hair and golden eyes.

After a short exchange of blows that left the Minotaur cut almost completely down the middle from shoulder to groin, before exploding into dust, a gentle, female voice spoke to the blood-covered Level 1 Adventurer. "Are you alright?"

Upon seeing his savior, Bell was caught off guard by just how beautiful the girl was. His mouth fell open as his red eyes fell upon an idol of many adventurers in Orario (and unknowing bane of Hestia), Ais Wallenstein. The Sword Princess of the Loki familia and a level five adventurer, which automatically made her one of the strongest fighters in the entire world.

Her slender body was dressed in a white and black sleeveless dress that was accented with blue lines, long blue boots that reached up to her thighs, and a silver set of armor that consisted mostly of guards that protected her arms, legs, thighs, and head along with a with a chest plate with a thin rapier like sword in a blue thin sheath attached to her hips.

The longer he stared up at her, the more beautiful she became and the faster his heart began to pound as he rapidly began to fall in love with her at first sight.

"Are you alright?" Ais asked again when she never got a response to her question. She bent down, putting one hand on her knee as she reached the other one out to Bell to offer to help him up off of the ground. Still though, Bell had yet to react to anything she said or did, simply staring up at her in a shocked daze with his jaw simply hanging open. Just as she was beginning to think about how he looked a lot like an Almiraj, sudden movement from Bell brought her attention back to him.

His body began to lightly shake as he began to make sounds as if he was about to cry, which Ais could hardly blame him for. After coming across the minotaur that had escaped from her and her familia, any Level 1 Adventurer would have been terrified beyond belief and for the boy she saved, it looked like it was all coming up at once now that the threat was neutralized. She opened her mouth to say something to him again in order to soothe his growing panic, but she never got to say it.

Overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him today, from the mysterious golden goblet, to the minotaur, to being saved by the young idol of adventurers, and him becoming smitten with Ais at first sight, Bell could no longer handle it.

Screaming, Bell quickly flipped around to be on all fours before immediately shooting up to begin running away, surprising Ais at the level of his speed. His screaming continued as he ran further and further away from the shocked girl, unintentionally hurting her feelings as he bolted towards the safety of the Dungeon's entrance.

Standing still in the spot he left her, Ais could only stare at his fading back in dumbfounded shock as he ran away, so caught off guard by that action that she didn't know how to react. Something that didn't help her already remarkable confusion towards social cues.

It wasn't until she heard footsteps behind her and the barking laughter of Bete Loga, her fellow Loki Familia Executive, that she finally broke out of her stupor, turning to face the twin Amazons of her Familia and the werewolf that was laughing at the imagery of Bell's blood-covered and terrified features.

-Orario, several hours later-

As night fell over the Dungeon city, Bell ran through the streets of Orario. A smile on his face as he raced through the busy streets, weaving between the moving bodies of the city's other inhabitants as he ran by the various street booths. Stopping as he exited one of the many alleys, Bell looked out at the area of the city that looked like little more than ruins.

The once hysterical boy had calmed down tremendously after leaving the Dungeon, and was now feeling better after having talked to his Guild Advisor, Eina Tulle.

The first thing he had done after leaving the Dungeon had been to seek the half-elven woman out, wanting to get as much information as he could about Ais Wallenstein. Though, he ended up giving the poor half-elf a heart attack when she learned her charge had not only delved to the Fifth Floor, but had also run afoul of a Minotaur… a monster that wasn't supposed to be that close to the surface.

The only thing he neglected to mention about the whole ordeal was his discovery of the golden goblet, though to be fair, he had completely forgotten that it was resting inside his satchel out of all the excitement and terror he'd faced mere moments after its discovery.

Eina, of course, promptly lectured him about how "adventurers shouldn't go looking for Adventures". Still, the eighteen-year-old half-elf was glad that he was safe, and happy that the Sword Princess had taken care of the rogue minotaur before it could hurt other adventurers.

Bell then left the Guild hall after asking Eina for any personal information that the guild had on the Loki Familia member, getting teased about his obvious crush on the beautiful girl,and cashing in what few magic stones he had for a measly amount of coins.

It wasn't long till he arrived at his destination, the tallest building amongst the old and rundown buildings of this section of the city, an old, rundown church that had the statue of a long-forgotten goddess set atop its steeple. It wasn't much in the way of a home by any means, but it was far better than when he had first arrived in Orario and was essentially homeless for the first three days since he didn't have the valis needed to rent a room at an Inn.

Walking through the once impressive entry doors, Bell laid eyes on the inside of the church. More than half of the wooden church pews were damaged or missing with only a few remaining more or less intact and the stone tiled floor was heavily damaged and eroded after being left to the elements for who knows how long with numerous pieces of rubble huddled up against the walls. All of the stained glass windows had long-since been shattered, either from neglect after storms or hoodlums throwing stones. In the back was a large wooden altar that was falling apart.

The church had an upper floor, but it was inaccessible due to the stairs that had once led up to it having collapsed sometime in the past.

Given how used he was to the sight, Bell paid no mind to the state of disarray that the church was in as he made his way to the side door that was behind the podium that opened to reveal a set of stairs that led to the basement of the church.

"I'm home, Goddess!" Bell called out to announce his presence as he walked down the stairs. "Are you here?"

At the sound of his voice, the only other inhabitant of the church tackled him in an overjoyed hug, squealing about her 'Bell!'

"Welcome home Bell!" Hestia exclaimed happily as she shot from the couch like a guided missile and tackled the only member of her Familia, her arms wrapping around his slightly taller frame and making Bell blush when her well-endowed chest pressed against his stomach. She wasn't what one would think of when trying to picture what a true goddess would look like. Though she was beautiful, her small stature and petite build made it seem like she was almost a child, had it not been for the aura that all gods had to differentiate themselves from the other races and, well, the well developed breasts that she possessed. She had blue eyes and long black hair that were tied into two long tails that reached down to the middle of her thighs, kept in place by two blue and white flower petal accessories with bell ornaments. The goddess was also wearing what she usually wore, a white minidress with two blue ribbons, one smaller one around her neck and a longer one under her chest and around her arms along with a pair of white gloves.

"You sure are back early!" Hestia said as she pulled back from the hug just enough to look up at Bell's face. "You usually get back after night has fallen."

"Yeah, I almost got myself killed in the dungeon today…" Bell explained why he was back earlier than expected, with more than a light amount of embarrassment in his voice as he scratched the back of his head.

"What!?" Hestia gasped in a panicked tone as she began to pat down Bell all over his body in an attempt to find any injuries he might've sustained, at one point even getting up to and practically sitting on his shoulders, "You're not hurt are you? I mean if you ever ended up dead it would totally give me a heart attack!"

"I'm fine Goddess, I swear!" Bell said as he gently grabbed Hestia and put her back down onto the ground before bending down onto his knee in front of her, "I mean I'm the only other member of the Hestia Familia, I'm not going to go and get myself killed and abandon my precious goddess."

"Hm, well I am glad to hear it!" Hestia said as a happy smile grew across her face in response to Bell's words, "Guess I'll just have to relax then, and trust that you won't get into trouble."

"Oh yeah! I brought you a special treat today! Tada! Are you hungry?" Hestia said, suddenly jumping up in happiness before spinning around and gesturing towards the coffee table in front of the couch with one outstretched arm, revealing a large bowl of jagamaru-kuns that were set on the coffee table.

"When did you learn-huh? What is this?" Bell began before interrupting himself, wanting to know when his goddess had learned to make the snacks before noticing something weird as he had begun to take off his armor and jacket.

"Hm, what's wrong Bell?" Hestia asked as she turned around, dropping the particularly proud and smug expression at being able to provide the food tonight for her and the only member of her familia that she'd gained when showing off her success.

When she had turned around all the way, she saw Bell staring down at his hand, which had a strange red tattoo on it that had been hidden by his now removed gloves. The tattoo consisted of three distinctive "strokes" separate from one another that, when all three were looked at together, made the distinct outline of a ball of fire.

"Bell Cranel!" Hestia exclaimed loudly with the tone one would expect from a disappointed mother as she bolted up to him and snatched his hand. "Did you get a tattoo while I wasn't looking!?"

"N-no! No I didn't, Goddess! I swear I honestly don't know anything about why I have this all of a sudden! Please believe me!" Bell exclaimed in panic, flinching at the sudden lack of personal space and the surprising anger of his goddess.

Hestia frowned at his answer as it rang true. Not only was Bell a horrible liar, but as a Goddess, she knew he was telling the truth. It was naturally and literally impossible for anybody not born amongst the gods to lie to a God or Goddess after all.

Only a God could lie to a God.

Unfortunately for her mental wellbeing, the fact that Bell was telling the truth only made her even more worried. Where had the tattoo come from and why did her cute little Bell suddenly have it. The more the tiny goddess looked at it, the more an odd feeling grew in her gut.

"We'll wait to talk about it later…" Hestia said as she continued to give Bell the gimlet eye just to make her adorable bunny sweat. He looked so cute when he was panicking. "Let's eat before the food gets too cold."

Bell was more than willing to follow his goddess's order as his stomach chose that moment to rumble, finishing stripping off his armor like he had been doing previously. Once finished, he eagerly dug in. The meal itself had been a fairly normal one. Filled with obligatory small talk, the Adventurer and his patron Goddess talking about their tiny Familia and Hestia's dismay about how no one else wanted to join their Familia, though she was quick to switch around and inform Bell that she was content with it just being her and Bell for the time being.

Their jagamarukun dinner soon came to an end and in light of Bell's newest body art, Hestia decided to give Bell's status an update, though neither one expected Bell's growth to be too much greater with how difficult it was to get excellia on the first five floors.

Humming a tune, Hestia was quick to straddle the boy's back as she pricked her right index finger, causing blood to be drawn. A small droplet of blood fell from her divine flesh and fell onto Bell's back, with the divine blood revealing the tattooed image of her Falna, the blessing she'd given to her Familia member, in the shape of a burning hearth that let out a light blue glow.

"HUH!?" Hestia exclaimed in complete and utter shock as the Falna changed to show two very unexpected updates to Bell's status. Her eyes bulged as not only did a skill appear on the Falna, the description of which almost had her gnawing at her lip in anger, but something extraordinary had filled the lower slot on Bell's back where Spells appeared on Falna.

"Hestia?" Bell asked, flinching in surprise at the sudden loud gasp of his Goddess, trying to turn his head back towards her to see what was wrong.

In a quick motion, Hestia peeled the paper off of Bell's back once the glow was gone and scratched out Liaris Freese to hide its existence, before sputtering out. "Y-you have a spell!"

Bell shot upright in surprise at her words with shock clear on his features, making Hestia cry out as she fell from his back and landed on her butt on the mattress, barely stopping herself from tumbling over the edge.

Taking the piece of paper from the partially annoyed Hestia, Bell stared at the piece of paper in utter shock, letting out sounds that suggested that he was struggling to find words. He was a Level 1 with only two weeks of experience. He hadn't been expecting to get a spell so soon! If at all! In his excitement, he didn't even notice the blotches of ink down at the bottom of the paper.

Bell Cranel

Level 1

Strength: I77 - I82

Defense: I13

Dexterity: I-93 - I96

Agility: H148 - H172

Magic: I0 - I50

Magic:

Heaven's Feel: Summons a Heroic Spirit in one of the Seven Standard Class Containers. Each Servant requires a constant stream of mana to maintain them. (0/7 Servants summoned).

Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time.

Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.

Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates.

Come out from the crown. Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom.

I shall declare here.

My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.

Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail.

If you will submit to this will and this reason… then answer!

An oath shall be sworn here!

I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell!

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Heavenly Scales!

(Open)

Skills

/

"M-magic! I have a spell!" Bell said in awed happiness as his red eyes remained riveted to the paper in his hands, driven to burn both the spell and the chant required to cast it into his memory.

His Goddess watched in a mix of awe, annoyance and amusement as the only member of her familia acted like he was a small child getting the birthday gift he'd always desired. She let him enjoy the moment for a couple of seconds before bringing up something he probably didn't notice in his excitement.

"Alright Bell, I know you're happy and all, but I need you to listen to me right now." Hestia said as she pushed herself up off of the bed, snapping Bell out of his excitement as he looked up to give Hestia his full attention. "I don't know what a "Heroic Spirit" or a "Class Container" that this "Heaven's Feel" talks about, but I need you to think about anything that happened recently that could fit the description of that spell and where this thing might be."

Bell looked up in thought and tried to do what his goddess told him to do, and tried to remember anything out of the blue that had happened to him between now and the last time he had gotten his status updated, which was yesterday. Unfortunately, the only things that came to mind were that ominous golden cup, the burning pain in his hand from touching, and the Minotaur that had attacked him.

Then his eyes widened slightly as his mind shot back to the burning pain he'd experienced in his right hand from touching that goblet he'd picked up in the Dungeon… the very same hand that now had that strange red tattoo resting on the back of his hand.

"Wait! I think I know something!" Bell said, his head snapping up from his thinking pose as he raised his branded hand, Hestia's blue eyes zeroing in on the tattoo she'd chastised him for. "The tattoo! It must have been made when I touched that goblet I found!"

"Goblet…?" Hestia asked in clear confusion as she tilted her head. She hadn't seen Bell bring a anything resembling a goblet into the basement when he arrived.

Bell's eyes widened as he smacked his head, having forgotten about the goblet he'd found and intended to sell in the excitement of being chased by a Minotaur, meeting Ais Wallenstein, getting chewed out by Ms. Eina, and then coming home to Hestia. "Right! I found a golden goblet with what looked like runic words on it in the Dungeon today just before I was attacked by the Minotaur! I forgot about it in all the excitement." He was quick to move over to his satchel and without any decorum, emptied the bag on the couch, his spare supplies and the aforementioned goblet tumbling out onto the threadbare cushions. "It isn't exactly fit for drinking out of, given the damage on it, but I thought we might be able to get a decent amount of money for it given how fancy it looks. Aren't there, like, collectors that are constantly looking for something like this for collections?"

He trailed off when he saw Hestia staring at the goblet, her blue eyes locked onto the offending cup. "Hestia?"

"Huh?" Hestia blinked as she looked back at her Familia member. "Sorry about that, Bell. But that thing is radiating a massive amount of magical energy… I blanked out for a second there…"

She then picked up the ornate goblet and began looking it over before looking back over at Bell. "You said you found this in the Dungeon? Was there nobody nearby that it could have belonged to?"

Bell shook his head. "There wasn't anybody around, nor was there a body, blood or equipment nearby to suggest somebody had been killed."

"And you thought it a good idea to just pick up something like this that was just laying around in the Dungeon?" Hestia asked with a raised eyebrow while Bell sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "If it wasn't a trap by the Dungeon, it might have been a trap set by more unscrupulous Adventurers to catch others off guard and rob them. I've heard that there's been some trouble with Adventurers from Soma Familia doing that in the last couple months."

Hestia sighed at her beloved Adventurer's lack of situational awareness, while it made him cute, she'd rather he came back to her alive. The tiny goddess set the strange goblet down and grabbed hold of the sheet of paper to take a look at the spell that Bell had gained. Most likely from the goblet he'd picked up.

"While I'm a little antsy about what this magic is, especially since it mentions summoning Spirits, I don't see any harm in giving it a try." Hestia said as she handed the sheet to Bell. At the very least, it would give both her and Bell an idea of what a Heroic Spirit was and if it was anything like the Spirits she'd heard stories about from the other gods.

The boy immediately perked up in joy at the idea of using his first ever spell, though Hestia cut it short with a glance around the small, slightly cramped basement as his hands reached for the golden cup. "Though, we should probably do it upstairs…"

Bell froze just as his fingers touched the cup before letting out an awkward laugh, realizing that she was right. The Adventurer really didn't want to pick up any resulting mess if things got crazy. He didn't know what casting the spell was going to be like, especially something that summoned a Spirit of all things, and it was probably better to do it in an area that was already a disaster rather than some place they would have to clean up afterwards.

A few minutes later, the goddess and her beloved mortal were standing in the space just in front of the altar in the ruined church above their home. Moonlight filtered in through the shattered windows and holes in the roof to illuminate the room.

Hestia stood off to the side next to the altar just behind her Adventurer while Bell was in front of the altar, right in front of a large clearing in the rubble that he had just made from moving the ruined benches and debris from the caved-in roof. He may not know much about summoning or magic in general, but common sense told him that if he was going to summon something, he should at least have enough space in order for him to do it.

Bell closed his eyes in focus as he tried to remember the lines of the chant, his childlike excitement at being able to use magic still at the forefront of his mind. Raising his tattooed hand, he began to chant.

"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time."

The moment he spoke, there was a clear noticeable change in the atmosphere. Bell didn't pay it any attention as he focused on the summoning, while Hestia perked her head up at the strange energy filling the air around Bell and the clearing he'd made.

"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."

A white light began to glow in the clearing Bell had made, making Hestia's eyes widen as a magic circle that she couldn't comprehend began to form out of the light, with the bright lines that made up the circle running across the floor to create the various patterns.

"Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates."

At this point in the chant, the tattoo began to glow a bright red, something that immediately gained Hestia's rapt attention due to her distrust of how it had manifested on Bell in the first place.

"Come forth from the crown. Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom. I shall declare here…"

The light of the magic circle began to intensify to such a high degree that wind began to blow out from the center of the circle, strong enough to make the old church creak.

"My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail."

At the mention of the Holy Grail, Hestia glanced at the damaged goblet Bell had brought home. Wondering if this was the mentioned Grail.

"If you will submit to this will and this reason…then answer! An oath shall be sworn here!"

Debris began to be blown around by the force of the wind, with some of the smaller pieces being thrown clear to the other side of the room or out the already shattered windows. Hestia had to duck quickly a few times to avoid being brained by some rubble while watching Bell continue his chant.

She was so glad she'd suggested summoning up here rather than in the basement!

"I shall attain all the virtues of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all the evils of Hell!"

"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Heavenly Scales!"

As Bell cried out the final line of the chant for his Spell, his red eyes opened to see the end result, only to nearly be blinded as the magic circle's light exploded out in an all-consuming white. The wind had also kicked up a great amount, tossing a few of the pews back and smashing apart the last of the windows, causing him to fall over from the unexpectedly strong gust.

When the two of them had regained their vision, Hestia complaining about her eyes, the two took notice of a humanoid figure standing in the dust kicked up by the summoning. Before they could say anything, the dust cleared to reveal the hidden figure.

The person standing in the middle of the clearing was a tall male, standing a clear foot above Bell's 165cm height, and he was dressed in an ancient style of leather and bronze armor that was colored mostly white, decorated with blue wave patterns that depicted the ocean's waves. His right arm was bare baring a simple leather vambrace wrapped around his forearm, showing a muscular but lean arm like those of a top athlete, while his left arm was covered in a crimson-colored cloth that had some form of mask with horns over it that was bound to the arm by red thread. His feet and calves were covered by plates of blackish-gray metal with a dark gray cloth underneath it, leading to a set of sandals that Hestia hadn't seen since ancient times.

The man appeared like a young man in the early days of his prime, with green eyes the color of the sea and blonde hair the color of wheat that went down to his shoulders.

"Servant Saber, Theseus, has come in accordance with your summons." The man said as he knelt on one knee and pressed his right fist to the bronze disk set on the left side of his armor. "I ask thee, are you my Master?"