Click.

Bell placed his forehead on the door, his hands still holding the knob. He had to refocus himself. The dungeon took priority. He was going to lead a group composed of multiple familias to the harrowing dungeons. He had to focus on the task at hand. And yet, he simply couldn't.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

There it was again. That feeling, gashing at the back of his mind. Where did it come from? What spurt it on? Was it… the dream?

Bell felt his head beginning to split in two as he was suddenly overcome with a headache. Whenever Bell tried to remember what he had dreamt of that night, a sudden migraine would seize his brain.

Forget! It's just a dream! It irked him to no end.

He stumbled backward as he let go of the doorknob. Placing his hand on the adjacent wall, he gripped his temples with his other hand as he made his way down the hall. He needed air, as ironic as that may have seemed as he had spent most of the early morning strolling about Orario. He needed air and—growl!

On queue, his stomach snarled in agitation, having been ignored for so long. Despite Bell's newly found endurance stats, they did not necessarily translate to fasting skills, and he most certainly was not trained for such an occasion. Thinking of lunch, his mind flashed to the image of Syr. A tinge of guilt welled up from within him. He admittedly had been dismissive of her (though, frankly, the situation called for it). She had done so much to help him through the Xenos incident. Her words were enough to steel his resolve to save Wiene and the Xenos, despite the heavy burden it demanded of him. Pondering that there was no better time to visit the Hostess of Fertility, he made his way back to the mansion's front door.

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Bell made his way along the Western main street. On goers and bystanders occasionally called out to him, but they seemed to be drowned out. They sounded warbled as if their voices were being held underwater. Bell felt hollow, numb even. Normally, their recognition of his achievements via his alias would give him a sense of pride, but not on a day such as this. Each step he took became heavier but it barely registered to him. The steps became stamps as he continued to the Hostess.

"Oh, Bell-kun! You came back!"

Syr waved cheerfully at the young boy as he approached the pub's double-doored entrance. The pub had a few customers, not as much as it did at night. They were still some adventurers but more often than not, they were simple citizens just wanting a good bite to eat.

"Hi, Syr-chan," he replied, his tone noticeably heavier than earlier. "I just wanted to ask if you happened to have any lunch for me..."

Syr's eyes widened with delight. Her meals really had an impact on the young boy's heart! (That notion was certainly true for Bell's stomach). Syr was beyond giddy that Bell had asked for her cooking. Indeed, food was the way to a man's heart. Their relationship was seemingly out of whimsical, albeit, cliche fairy tales. A young maiden cooking for her beloved as he goes off to dangerous and treacherous places. Though, it was simply out of kindness and pity that Bell couldn't reject her offerings of food.

"Let me cook you up something in a bit. I'll be right back!"

She quickly hurried off to the kitchen, her smile piercingly bright as she skipped about. She hummed an old hymn of love as she disappeared out of view.

"Syr?! Why are you back here?!" May cried out. "What are you doing to that steak?! You're wasting such high-quality meat! How is that color even possible?! What kind of ungodly smell is that! Do you even know what you're putting into the pot?!"

"Now, now May. All I put into the pot was my love," Syr retorted sweetly.

"If that's your love, I can't bear to imagine what your hatred is…" May muttered.

Syr simply ignored any and all forms of criticism, instead, she scooped a spoonful of her "love lunch" and thrust it towards May.

"May, be a dear and taste test this, will you?"

"Kyah—"

May went pale as every feline hair on her body stood up. Her eyes went as wide as the plates she was so used to serving. She immediately clasped her hands over her mouth, lest to make herself into a cat to the slaughter.

"Mmmofer mmmy mmdeed mmboody (Over my dead body)!" she cried. There was no conceivable way that she was ever going to put that stuff anywhere near her mouth. She saw what Syr's fraudulent food (potent poison) had done to adventurers. Even with their abnormal resistances, their faces traumatized her for life. Foam frothing from their mouths, their eyes reeled backward to reveal nothing but their scleras, their skin so sickeningly pale. There was no way that anything so detrimental would ever come close to her culinary taste buds. She immediately turned tail and fled from Syr and her pot of poison.

"Aww. Oh well, it should be ready now, I think." Syr giggled to herself as she found herself once again romanticizing how Bell would praise her for her cooking. All the while, charcoaled plum-colored bubbles continued to burst in that cursed blackened caldron. She really was a witch.

Bell gulped aloud as he overheard what had transpired in the kitchen. Though, it was frankly too late to turn back now. He felt his knees grow wobbly as he faintly heard seemingly demonic sizzling and popping amidst Syr's chirpy humming. He quickly scanned the room, looking for an empty seat. He spotted one at a table on the far left side of the pub, close to the wall. Bell made his way to the chair, weaving in-between tables and conversations.

"—incident at the main gate."

"Shakti arrested a man—"

"Sick bastard—"

"Ankusha having a lover—?!"

Bell felt it rude to further eavesdrop on their conversations, but he'd be lying if he wasn't intrigued. From what he could gather, there had been some kind of incident by the main gate of Orario which involved the captain of the Ganesha familia… and her lover?

He sat himself down on the chair, choosing not to dwell on it too much. The incident had already been dealt with. And that "lover" bit was most likely just an inflated rumor.

Bell scanned around the pub. Anya was out and about, balancing trays of food on her hands and delivering them to tables. Chloe was following suit with her fellow feline coworker, however, every so often, she took seductive glances at Bell, or more specifically, his posterior. Ruona was sweeping around vacant tables, and Ryu was taking a table's order. The boy and the elf briefly locked eyes with one another. Bell smiled at Ryu and gave a small wave to her. A small smile curled on her face as she returned his gesture with a small, courteous bow, before heading off to the back.

As Bell continued to scan around the pub, something caught his eye. Or rather, someones. Sitting at the front counter, their backs turned to Bell, were two men. Or at least, one of them could be assumed as a male based on his physique. The first man had black wavy hair. He wore a white button-up shirt with its sleeves rolled up, revealing bandages on his forearms. Overtop, he wore a black vest. Around his neck was a crimson scarf, and a black trench coat was drooped over the chair he was seated upon. To his right was a cloaked, hooded figure. His body was well hidden underneath the thick fabric, though, from Bell's angle, he could see that the man had a mask upon his face. It was tilted up ever so slightly, such that the spaghetti he ordered could get to his mouth. The other man was delicately cutting his steak into smaller squares before eating them.

Bell found himself staring at the pair. He had never seen them before in Orario, and he most certainly would have remembered if he did. Blinking himself back to reality, he called out to Ryu.

"Uh, Ryu-san."

"Yes, Cranel-san?"

Ryu approached the seated young boy. They hadn't necessarily interacted with one another after the Xenos incident. It was nice to see the boy back on his feet after such a harrowing battle. He seemed to have recovered physically.

"I was wondering, do you know anything about the two over there?"

He pointed towards the counter. Ryu turned to where Bell was pointing, and her eyes narrowed. Indeed, they were a peculiar duo. Their clothing choices for starters made them stick out like sore thumbs, even by Orario's standards. Though, it wasn't simply just the way they were dressed that caused them to catch glances. It was the air around them. Ryu couldn't quite put her finger on it. The closest thing she could relate the feeling to was that of being around authority, not dissimilar to royalty. Though, their mannerisms didn't exactly reek of royalty.

"There isn't much I know of them, Cranel-san. I only know they're apparently siblings."

"Oh, I see. Thank you Ryu-san."

Bell looked back at the pair. As he did so, a sudden headache reeled into his brain. He held his face, his fingers massaging his temples. His ears began ringing, so much so that he couldn't even hear Ryu calling out his name in concern.

There it was again. That feeling, gashing at the back of his mind.

Scratch, scratch, scrat—

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE IT?!"

"I told you, I DROPPED IT BACK THERE. I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE!"

"Yeah? That drop-item is more valuable than your life."

"THE FUCK YOU SAYING?!"

Two adventurers were having a fight amongst themselves. It wasn't uncommon in the pub in all honesty, however, with their tones being so hostile and their voices being so clamorous, their quarrel wouldn't go unnoticed, especially by a certain dwarven owner. Bell and the rest of the staff and customers all braced themselves for what was to come next.

The two had drawn their blades and were about to clash with one another. But before steel met steel, an irate voice yelled from the counter.

"HEY!" a gruff voice barked.

The adventurers froze in complete fear as they instantly recognized who the voice belonged to. Mia Grand, owner of the hostess of fertility and ex-captain of the Freya familia. In other words, immediate death for the two adventurers.

"If you lot are gonna fight," Mia began, her eyes glinting with wrath, hand clenched tightly into a fist next to her vein bulged face. "YOU SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE THE COURTESY TO TAKE OUT OUTSIDE!"

She raised her fist up slightly before sending it hurtling down towards the countertop.

BAM!

Wood chips, chucks, splits, and inevitable splinters. Everyone in the pub braced for it. The staff internally sighed as they would have to repair the counter, again.

However, the moment never came. Everyone had clenched their eyes shut. One, two, three seconds passed. Nothing. Slowly, everyone began to reopen their eyes. What they saw left them absolutely stunned. There, a few inches above the counter, the cloaked man had caught Mia's fist.

All of time froze in the pub. Everyone just stared with bated breath as the man just held the dwarf's fist firmly. The other man sighed as he tapped the shoulder of his supposed brother. Slowly, the cloaked man eased his grip on Mia's fist and let go. Mia stared at her wrist, then the man, then her wrist again. The slight reddening on her wrist told her that what transpired wasn't an illusion. This stranger had caught a blow from a level six ex-adventurer.

Rubbing the back of his neck, the more sharply dressed one smiled and laughed. "Our apologies. My brother and I are kinda hungry, and don't exactly want our food flying about."

On cue, an audible gulp could be heard from the masked man. Mia didn't know how to respond. There was no reasonable rationale to explain the two. Thirty minutes ago, the bandaged man had lazily dragged himself through the doors, sat at the counter, his back hunched over as he plopped his cheek against the wood. Moments later, the masked man entered and sat himself down next to his brother, in a rather more mannerly way. After the two had ordered (or rather, one ordered for the both of them) they simply sat in silence. When their food arrived, only the meek sounds of chewing and slurping could be heard from them. If it weren't for their attire, one could swear they would simply become entirely transparent.

Scooting backward, the bandaged man stood up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch. Fishing into it briefly, he pulled out a few valis and smiled. "This should sufficiently pay for the meal. Thank you, it was delicious."

Mia still couldn't respond. Having had his fill of food and fun, he grabbed his coat and began making his way to the exit. The masked man followed suit, wiping his cracked lips clean of sauce, he gave a simple nod as thanks to Mia and left. As the bandaged man made his way past the onlookers he passed by a certain white-haired boy.

Scarlet met crimson as the two locked eyes; locks of white hair dangling over both their eyelids. Bell felt a chill run down his spine, a small bead of sweat welling upon his forehead. His breathing became shorter and quicker as if he was hyperventilating. His heart pounded against his ribcage as if trying to escape his body. He felt his vision increasingly became a blur, a dizzying spiral of scarlet. And in that instant, he heard it.

Scratch, scratch, scratch. "Forget."

Bell felt his consciousness slip for a moment before Ryu called out to him.

"Cranel-san?" she asked, visibly concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. I—I don't know what came over me," he sheepishly replied. Bell looked up to see the two men leaving the Hostess together. Nothing but silence followed the pair as they walked out onto the street. Moments later, Syr came back from the kitchen.

"I'm back, Bell-kun! Here you go~"

Looking around the pub, she saw that everyone was visibly shaken, even Mama Mia.

"Hmm? Did I miss something?"

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Walking down the street, hands stuffed in his pocket, Abel let out a deep sigh as he stared up at the sky. The clouds were beginning to swirl and swell, the telltale signs of a storm brewing. A storm of hellfire was going to strike Orario. Abel looked around the street. Men, women, children, elves, dwarves, humans, pallums, and beast-people alike. All so unaware of impending ruination. Just as before.

Rubbing his bandage-covered wrist, he looked back towards the Hostess with a dreary eye.

"And so we begin again. What a cruel fate it is to be what you are."