CHAPTER 4: MEMBERS

'WHAT THE?!' That was the only thing Hestia could think when she was updating Bell's status. She had expected it would be the regular status update like last night, but she did not expect the abnormal growth.

Falnas are blessings given by the Deities to their children to help them fight monsters. Additionally, they could earn excelia to make them stronger but it would take a long time to earn points. However, to Bell's status, they were growing in impressively high numbers.

'AND WHAT IS THIS SKILL?!" she looked at the skill slot showing a new skill that may be the reason for this unknown growth.

Name: Bell Cranel

Familia: Hestia

Level: 1

Strength: I-27 to 77

Endurance: I-41 to 91

Dexterity: I-27 to 77

Agility: I-75 to H-125

Magic: I-0

Skill:

(Ritmiko)

(Iter Stulti): Reckless path, Fast growth as long the user is determined to reach one's goal. Stronger growth depends on the user's determination.

Magic:

Empty

'Seriously!? What kind of OP skill is this?!'

Hestia knows about her child's dream, but leading it to the extent of manifesting it as a skill was unbelievable. If the other Gods found out about his skill they would not stop pursuing him until they got him on their side.

She was now deciding whether she would tell Bell about his new skill or not. Hestia was afraid if she informed Bell about it, it would lead him to rely on it more and would lead to his death in the future, but Bell was the first child who accepted her to be her child, keeping a secret was not right for her.

"Hmm, Goddess? Are you alright?" Questioned Bell, a little concerned for his Goddess.

Hestia just shook her head "No I'm alright, just checking something."

Right, her child is Bell, one of the most important people for her. No matter what happened he would always offer a hand to help. Hestia now decided to not tell Bell about his skill, for the time being, when he was strong enough to protect himself she would explain about the skill.

When Hestia got off Bell's back and handed him the copy of his status, minus the new skill, Bell was surprised about his growth.

"Wow! My status went up to 50 points!" screamed Bell while excited. "Goddess, can you tell me why my stats went up?"

Hestia closed her eyes for a moment and then said "Bell listen, your growth is unheard of, I don't know why but I know this, whatever your goal is, focus on that, but do not be reckless." Her serious voice could only make Bell nod in understanding.

There was a moment of silence after what Hestia said. Bell knows how hard it would be if something happened to him in the dungeon, he was the first and only child of the Goddess of the Hearth and their Familia had a lot of debt that was needed to pay. If something happened to him she would be all alone once again.

"I promise, Goddess Hestia, I will not leave you behind and I will be careful." He said with an assuring smile, this earned Hestia to smile at him warmly.

"Thank you Bell, you are the best child a Goddess like me could ask for."

The warm atmosphere was cut off when Bell remembered something.

"Oh right, Goddess, do you want us to eat outside for today? I know a tavern I was about to visit." Hestia could only shake her head in disappointment.

"Sorry, Bell, but I have plans tonight. One of my co-workers invited me and the rest to try the new restaurant that was recently opened, and they said only workers are allowed, so I'm sorry." Hestia said while a bit disappointed that she could not eat with Bell.

Bell only smiled a little but was also a bit disappointed. "It's alright Goddess, maybe I could bring some food after I return."

Bell changed his clothes and wore his gray trench coat, waving his hand goodbye to Hestia and leaving the church. Upon leaving he was greeted by the night sky, bits of light were flickering all over above him, making a beautiful scenery.

As he looked at the moon that shone the brightest in the sky, he could not stop but wonder, what his master doing right now, before making his way to the Hostess of Fertility.

Somewhere, far away from Orario. A clad armored tanned man sat near a fireplace to keep warm from the cold of the night. All around him was filled with sand. The Keios Desert was well known as a barren wasteland filled only with sand and monsters that roamed the Desert.

His oak-colored eyes were focused on the dancing flame and his jet-black hair swished by the wind. He had to be on guard at all costs to complete his mission. Looking around the barren land, he could not see or sense anything yet, but still, he needed to focus, one mistake could lead to the failure of his mission, and life.

"Oy, Michael sense anything yet?" The man after hearing his name looked in that direction and saw a woman with two swords on her back, showing a huge grin. It was his captain.

"Nothing yet, Andrea. This must be a bust today as well." The man named Michael said while letting out a loud sigh.

His captain only wagged her finger. "Tsk. Tsk, Don't be like that maybe this time is different." She said with a happy and positive tone.

Michael only looked at her and just smiled. The Captain of his Familia, Andrea Garcia, is a charismatic person who would see the best in any situation. Calling her beautiful is an understatement, her face shows a cheerful, yet fierce look when she is serious. Adding to her looks there were many scars scattered all over her tanned body indicating she has experience in fighting. She was wearing skin-tight black pants, a red cloth wrapped around her waist, and a sleeveless Blue T-shirt, underneath her T-shirt were bondages that wrapped around her. On her left arm, there was a sun tattoo and was wearing a metal gauntlet with two gems in it.

Her light brown hair swished around as she looked at Michael with her reddish brown eyes with a hint of positivity in them.

"See, you don't need to be so negative in missions, just smile like you always do." She then walked closer to him and began to sit beside him while patting the mercenary's back.

"Haha, you're right…." Replied the mercenary while giving her a grin. "Oh by the way, how are the replacement swords?" he pointed to the two swords that were attached to her back.

"Terrible, I can't wait until my sabers are finished, I can't represent our homeland by using the swords of this country." She complains while showing the two swords "And they said these are made from the finest materials, even the twins can break this junk." She spat.

"A little bias there, it's your fault why your sabers are in repairs anyway." Uttered Michael while showing a toothy grin. "Oh, I forgot, where are the twins? I had not seen them when we were traveling here." He questioned remembering two people who would always be in trouble if they weren't supervised.

The captain thinks for a moment before snapping her finger. "They were ordered by Lady Mayari to go to Orario to investigate something."

"Orario…." He could not stop but think of the white-haired boy that he had trained and traveled with for the past months. "I wonder if Bell is doing okay out there." He said, a hint of worry in his voice.

Andrea, hearing what he said could not help but let out a teasing grin. "Oh, isn't that the student you have been training for the past few months? HAHAHA, look you, acting like a worried father, hahaha!"

In that remark, the mercenary's smile faltered and slightly became a frown. "Do I even have the right to call myself a father?" he muttered making the atmosphere gloomy.

Scratching her neck for a moment, guilty that it was her fault for saying something sensitive, Andrea tried to comfort Michael giving him a reassuring smile.

"You cannot change the past, or….the mistakes you made along the way, but focus on what is in front of you right now. People would look back on the past…but they would always move forward." Andrea admitted that she's not good at giving sentimental advice, that's not her forte, but she would give her all to help her friend.

Michael only smiled a little. "Thanks, but you are bad at giving advice." He mocked.

"Oh? If you want to hear something heartwarming try asking Cecil!" she yelled, while red in anger.

"HAHAHAHA!" Michael only laughed in return, making the once gloomy atmosphere into a slightly positive one. This caused his captain to chuckle a little.

RUMBLE*

Their laughs quickly disappeared as both the mercenary and captain felt a slight tremor from the ground. Michael, quickly looked at his surroundings and saw a large dust cloud forming in the east and was coming in their direction.

"Well guess this will be a successful mission now." Said Michael as he readied his sword and prepared to attack the incoming worm-like monster. "Maybe I'll get a level up for this, Hahaha!"

His captain just smirked as she held her two swords. "Oh, are you challenging your captain?"

Without a reply, the two charged the incoming monster and fight it.

Back to Orario.

The white-haired boy was walking through the busy street as he was nearing the tavern. When he was in the front wooden door of the pub, he was greeted by lively and cheerful cheers from numerous adventures and customers upon entering. Inside was a typical tavern that he had often seen when he was traveling, the only different thing was the waitresses who were putting trays of food on the tables.

Bell observes each waitress, and their movements are smooth and precise, there are no faults in their steps as they make their way from numerous tables. There were two people Bell noticed, one was a black-haired cat girl who was moving like a trained assassin, and the other was a brown-haired human girl who moved like an experienced hand-to-hand fighter, dodging people while holding a tray.

If someone asks how he knows it, he would simply laugh, remembering his master's teaching on different fighting stances that he uses for…his missions. His master had taught him to be observant of his surroundings telling him to use any means necessary to win a fight.

"Bell, you come!"

Cutting off from his observation as he heard a familiar voice calling him, he looked where it came from and saw the gray-haired waitress with a smile as she ran towards him.

"T-thank you for the food you had g-given me." Bell bowed while trying to fix his stammering, he could not help but be nervous about the cute gray-haired girl in front of him.

The gray-haired girl only giggled while waving her hand.

"No problem, as long you are happy." She said while showing a slight blush on her face. "Come on I'll show you where you going to sit."

Bell followed Syr leading him into the seats near the counter, he saw a dwarven woman who looked like the owner of the pub.

"Oh, you must be the guy Syr was talking about. The name Mia but people call me Mama Mia." The woman named Mia said making Syr blush.

"N-No, it's not like that. Please don't tease me, Mama!" said Syr trying not to look at Bell who only stared at Mia.

At first glance, the white-haired boy can tell that the owner is strong. If he could compare the woman's strength with his master, he would easily say his master would not stand a chance but would still fight her no matter the outcome.

Mia only nodded as she saw the boy stare at her with a very observant look, she could tell the boy was still a newbie adventurer but showed that he knew how to fight.

"Good, you're very observant, not most new adventurers are very analytical to their surroundings." Mia complimented the boy, but this only caused Bell to blush.

"T-Thank y-you, my master taught me well." He said while bowing, silently trying to fix his nervousness. It wasn't often to hear someone praise him other than his Grampa, master, and Goddess.

Mia chuckled seeing the boy blush. "Here, have a seat and take your order." She gestured to one of the chairs near the counter.

Bell, managing to recompose himself nodded and went to the seat and order the cheapest food they had, they were still in debt, so he was playing safe to save up money.

After Mia left to prepare his order, leaving only him and Syr. The two had a conversation about why Syr was working here and how she enjoyed seeing people happily enjoy themselves before returning from her work. When Bell was left alone, he rummaged his pockets until he found the badge he was gifted. As the white-haired teen looked at the shining badge, he could not help but question.

'Where are the other members of Master's Familia?'

Throughout his journey with his master, he met and encountered people who were acquainted with his teacher and also taught him a few tricks that he could use in exploring the dungeon. However, he never seen or met people who were a part of his master's Familia. When he questioned his teacher, he simply said that they were only a small Familia and only a few knew their existence. That was the only answer he got from him after confirming that the mercenary said his Familia was from another country.

He scratched his head as he tried to imagine what the other members of the Familia of his master looked like. He was too engrossed in his thought, he did not hear the door of the tavern open.

"Who are they?"

"Their attire is strange, are they from outside of Orario?"

"That girl is kinda cute."

When the boy looked at what the other customers were talking about, he saw two people who were wearing strange attires not common in Orario. One was a tall tanned muscular man with slightly long black hair who was over 6 feet tall and was wearing orange shorts that reached his knees, a red cloth wrapped around the waist, black sandals, and a blue sleeveless vest that only covered half of his chest.

The other was a tanned woman with black hair who was slightly smaller compared to the man. She was wearing brown sandals, a long red skirt with a slit that reveal her legs, underneath it was a black shirt, and white cloths wrapped around her chest. Both were wearing string bags on their back, and the most noticeable thing people noticed was the numerous scars plastered all over their bodies.

It was rare to see people with scars due to Falnas enhancing their healing process, preventing them from having long-lasting wounds, the only exception to this were people who fought monsters stronger than their current status.

The two newcomers walked in the direction of the counter and talked to Mia.

"Good Evening po, are there any rooms available here?" Asked the man.

Mia quirked an eyebrow seeing the strange greeting. "How many days are you guys planning to stay?"

"A few weeks or a month, is this enough?" the man then showed a bag of valis and gave it to the dwarven woman.

After counting the coins, Mia nodded and then ordered one of the waitresses to fetch two keys to available rooms. Seeing the newcomers were just tourists the other customers went back to their own business.

"You have a nice pla-"The man was about to compliment the establishment when his eyes saw a white-haired boy who was wearing a trench coat sitting near the corner, nothing unordinary, but saw the badge he was holding.

The man's gaze turns cold and serious as he stares at Bell, making Bell slightly shiver. Why was the man staring at him? What did he do? His questions were not answered as the man walked toward him.

Bell stared at the man as the man spoke with an icy tone. "Where did you get that badge?"