Story idea by Eidos and writing by Camila Gramajo.
Second Chapter: Dhampir Daughter
A few days had passed since Bell's encounter with the minotaur. Luckily, in the following days, he and his daughter Meteria managed to avoid drawing attention in the dungeon or the city. It was nighttime, and the Hestia family was gathered once again after a long day of work and adventures. The goddess had just reviewed the status of both family members, and everyone was checking their progress when Bell broke the silence in which they found themselves.
"I think in a couple of weeks, I could reach level five. What do you think?" he smiled at the girl and the goddess, showing the status sheet that Hestia had given him.
"Do you think it will be convenient, Dad? After the minotaur incident..." Meteria said somewhat hesitantly.
"That's why, in a couple of weeks, the minotaur accident will be forgotten." Hestia and Meteria looked at each other and nodded in unison.
After that small conversation, the three of them prepared to sleep. Bell slept on the old sofa where they dined together every night, and the double-sized bed was used by Meteria and the goddess. At first, when they had just joined the family, Meteria would wake up in the early mornings due to nightmares and would get out of bed to lie next to her father. Bell would notice this but chose to pretend to be asleep and let his daughter hug him as she slept, just like when she was younger.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for Meteria and Hestia to become close. Little by little, the fourteen-year-old girl left her nightmares behind and began to share the bed with the goddess.
The next day, Bell was the first to wake up, as usual. He woke up his daughter, and both prepared to leave quietly, letting the goddess continue sleeping. Every morning, they would head to the dungeon first thing and spend the whole day there, returning to their abode after sunset. Father and daughter greeted the goddess in whispers and left.
Before heading to the dungeon, they decided to pass through the city. They needed to go to the guild to ask for recommendations from their advisor. The city was slowly waking up; the morning sun illuminated the wooden buildings, the shops were beginning to open, and people were starting a new day. They walked calmly through the cobblestone streets of Orario when a voice intercepted them.
"Hey..." Bell was the first to stop walking and quickly looked to the side. The girl with gray hair and eyes who had spoken to him jumped slightly in place, startled by the boy's quick reflexes.
"I'm sorry." He hurried to apologize, taking a step back upon realizing how close he was to the girl dressed as a waitress in a green dress and white apron. "Is something wrong?"
"Excuse me..." she spoke again in a soft voice. "You dropped this," she extended her delicate hand, holding a small magic stone.
Meteria, who had stayed a few steps ahead, walked back to her father's side to examine the stone. "I thought you exchanged them all..." she said, glancing at her father. Bell quickly realized that, like him, his daughter found something suspicious about the girl.
"It seems I forgot this one..." said the white-haired boy, taking the stone from the woman's hand. "Thank you very much," he smiled. Meteria understood that her father had decided to play along, so she also thanked the woman.
"Are you adventurers? Do you go to the dungeon this early?"
"Yes, we're beginners, but we like to give our best," Bell said.
"Wow! It's impressive to see such young and dedicated people," she gave them a warm smile. "Remember to come here to eat tonight! I'll prepare something special for you for being so dedicated."
Only then did Bell and Meteria take a look at the establishment behind the girl: a large two-story house. To the left of the entrance, there was a wooden sign that read "The Lady of Abundance" with a drawing of a crossed fork and knife. Neither of them had noticed the place before or at least had not paid attention to it. Since they tried to remain unnoticed, they didn't spend much time walking around the city. They spent almost all their days in the dungeon. The only times they wandered through the city were when they visited Hermes at the Traveler's Inn or went to the guild, as they did this time.
"Promise you'll come, okay?" The gray-haired girl insisted when both adventurers remained silent.
Meteria simply shrugged and let Bell make the decision.
"Alright... we'll come for dinner."
The girl seemed very pleased with the confirmation and bid them farewell warmly, wishing them good luck in the dungeon.
After that curious and unexpected encounter, the adventurers arrived at the grand guild building where they met their advisor.
"Eina!" Upon entering, Meteria greeted the half-elf woman behind the counter, wearing her typical guild uniform: a vest and shirt.
"Meteria! Bell!" Eina greeted them upon seeing them. She hurried to organize some papers and came out from behind the counter to greet them warmly. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon," she said while guiding them to one of the sofas where all three of them took a seat.
"We have no time to lose," Bell said.
"But you shouldn't venture more than necessary, okay?" The woman adjusted her oval glasses on the bridge of her nose. "We don't want a repeat of the minotaur accident..." Eina sighed, recalling the day Bell arrived completely covered in blood, almost giving her a heart attack from the shock. Since the Cranel family became adventurers, Eina had taken a special interest and concern for them.
"Don't worry, Eina, it won't happen again," Meteria said seriously, giving her father a reproachful look. Bell shrugged in place, somewhat intimidated by both his advisor's and his daughter's penetrating stares.
"For now, stay on the floors you're on. I don't think it's advisable to go further than necessary." Both adventurers nodded at the elf girl's instructions. "You're doing very well, so don't rush. You'll go down in due time."
They didn't talk much more and ended up saying goodbye to Eina, as both were eager to get to the dungeon. Sometimes they found it frustrating to hide their true strength and potential. Both knew they were capable of going much deeper into the dungeon, but they understood that doing so would raise too many suspicions. So, they had to be content with their small steps. Despite this, it comforted them to think that, although small, they were sure steps toward reuniting their family.
Not long after their visit to Eina at the guild, they arrived at the immense Babel tower and entered the first underground floor. Once inside Babel, Meteria handed her father his long-bladed sword. Thanks to her inventory ability, she could carry both of their weapons without arousing the curiosity of the greedy. In any case, she almost never used her weapons, like her daggers or her eclipse staff, as they wouldn't go unnoticed by the gods and other adventurers, being forged from materials from another world.
They descended the spiral staircase to the first floor of the dungeon. Bell led the way with his sword in hand. The walls were a light blue color, and the light illuminating the place was dim. Meteria walked a few steps behind her father, watching his back since many of her magical abilities were defensive. This allowed Bell to focus more on offense with his melee weapons, like the sword he was carrying now.
"Dad..." Meteria called out.
"What's up?" he replied without turning to look at her.
"Why do you think that waitress made up that the magic stone was ours?" Bell was surprised by the question. He didn't think she would still be thinking about it after so long. After a while, he shrugged and answered:
"I honestly don't know. I assume she wanted an excuse to talk to us."
"Mhm." Meteria stayed thoughtful for a moment after her father's response but quickly had to refocus as kobolds began to emerge. At least a dozen humanoid monsters with dog heads came out of the walls. Kobolds weren't difficult monsters for the Cranel family. Despite their numbers, they managed to take them down with relative ease.
Bell held the sword with both hands, took a long step forward, and, flexing his knees slightly, propelled himself to deliver a decisive blow against one of the kobolds. The sharp blade of the sword embedded itself in the monster's chest, killing it with a single strike.
Meanwhile, Meteria decided to use her magic: "Whisper!" she pronounced, and a blast of kinetic energy hit about four kobolds rushing at her, causing precise cuts. Thanks to her vampiric blood, the girl had the innate ability to manipulate the blood flow and blood of her enemies. Consequently, she used the blood spilled by the monsters after the cuts to create small dagger-shaped projectiles that attacked them with perfect precision. With a few more attacks from the blood daggers, she managed to defeat them, turning them into dust and dropping their magic stones.
The remaining five kobolds were exterminated by Bell, who swung his sword and decapitated them. Father and daughter high-fived for their good teamwork and collected the stones the monsters dropped.
"Look, a claw!" Meteria said, picking one up from the ground.
"How lucky, I found one too." They approached each other and combined everything they collected to store it in a small cloth bag they carried.
"Didn't you find her suspicious?" Meteria asked, leaving Bell confused.
"What do you mean?"
"The waitress."
"Ah, of course, I did." Bell closed the cloth bag and handed it to his daughter to store. "You noticed it too, didn't you?" Meteria nodded.
"I feel a strange energy around her... but I can't identify what it is. Are we still going to dinner?"
"I don't see why not..." Bell shrugged. "I doubt going will cause us any trouble. We'll just go, eat, and that's it."
The conversation ended there, and they continued exploring the dungeon. Luckily for both of them, they encountered several groups of kobolds, so they could return to the surface with enough magic stones to pay for their dinner that night. Before returning to the church where they lived, they went to the guild again to exchange their magic stones and items for valis. Father and daughter were excited to see the amount of valis they earned. It wasn't much, but it was enough to even invite their goddess to dinner.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the goddess at the church. After leaving their weapons, both decided to change clothes before heading to the bar. Bell was the first to be ready with his simple black pants and beige jacket. He was sitting on the sofa in front of the coffee table when he noticed the note on it. With somewhat clumsy handwriting and in cursive, Hestia had left them a message.
"Look, Hestia left us a note," Bell announced as Meteria came out of the bathroom wearing one of her tulle and lace dresses, midnight blue in color, reaching just below her knee.
"What does it say?" she asked while putting on her black boots that reached up to her calves.
"Not to wait for her for dinner; she's eating with some colleagues."
"Well, it'll be just you and me, Dad."
Bell and Meteria stood in front of the large building that was the "Lady of Abundance" bar. From there, they could hear the noise of conversations inside. The place was packed, with waitresses dressed in green going back and forth, bringing and taking plates to different tables.
The delicious smell of various dishes filled their nostrils, from soups and stews to roasted meats of the most diverse animals.
From the side of the main door came the gray-haired waitress they had encountered earlier: "It's the adventurers! You did come," she came out of the building to greet them. "I forgot to introduce myself earlier; I'm Syr Flova."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Bell Cranel," the red-eyed boy introduced himself.
"And I'm Meteria... Meteria Cranel."
"Oh, I see the resemblance," she said, smiling and inviting them inside. She guided them among the tables filled with various adventurers, from young to old, humans, elves, dwarves, and all kinds of races. Many people from diverse origins converged there.
Syr accompanied them to the bar, where two stools were waiting for them, and introduced them to Mia Grand, a tall and corpulent woman who was the owner of the place. She brought them their dishes. First, she served them a large mound of pasta with lots of sauce each.
"Are you friends of Syr? You look too thin to be adventurers..."
"We eat well," Bell commented with a nervous smile, calculating in his mind how much the dinner would cost since, being part of the Hestia family, they didn't have many funds and tended to save on expenses.
Mia seemed not to pay attention to what he said, as after a while, she placed a plate with a whole fried fish in front of them. "I brought you today's special," she said, winking at them.
"But we didn't order it," Bell blurted out a bit loudly, overwhelmed by the abundance of food in front of him.
"Don't hold back; you're too thin! You need to eat well to be strong!" she said, laughing as Bell sighed in his seat.
"Dad, don't worry about the bill. Let's at least enjoy the good food," Meteria said with a big smile on her face, the corners of her lips stained with red sauce.
"I see you've already started doing so, huh?" he laughed gently, remembering when Meteria was still a little girl who got messy every time she ate. He took a paper napkin and gently wiped the sauce off her face.
"Oops..." Meteria blushed, her white cheeks turning red with embarrassment.
"How are you doing? Are you enjoying yourselves?" The father-daughter moment was interrupted by Syr, who approached to check on her guests.
"A bit overwhelmed..." Meteria commented while Bell rolled his eyes, giving up, and took a good portion of the fried fish to his mouth, discovering it was tastier than he imagined.
"I see I'll be able to charge a lot tonight," Syr said as she watched Bell enjoy the fish.
"I'm glad for you..." Meteria said before taking another bite of pasta.
"Isn't it interesting to see how many different people come to the bar?" Syr asked. "When there are so many different people, there's a lot to discover, mysteries, or secrets behind each one..."
Bell almost choked on the piece of fish he had in his mouth after hearing Syr speak. On the other hand, Meteria became reflective about the waitress's words.
Certainly, it had only been a short time since she literally ventured into the outside world. But since they arrived in Orario, Meteria had been so focused on not raising suspicions about her past and becoming stronger every day that she hadn't taken the time to think about this new world before her.
Suddenly, a shout from the bar's entrance drew everyone's attention: "The reserved customers have arrived!" said one of the waitresses, a cat person. Behind her, nine people entered the bar. Suddenly, the tables buzzed with talk about the new group that had arrived.
"It's the Loki familia..." some whispered.
"The giant-slaying familia?"
Yes, look at the emblem..."
Then Bell recognized her, the girl with long blonde hair who was trailing behind everyone else was Ais Wallenstein. Suddenly, he lost his appetite, and his face went pale. It was the first time he had seen her since the minotaur encounter.
"Dad? Are you okay?" Meteria was the first to notice her father's state, and seeing that he didn't respond, she followed his gaze to where he was looking. She found herself staring at the slender figure of the girl in a white turtleneck dress with an open back. It took her a moment, but from the whispers of the other patrons, she realized who it was: the sword princess.
"What did you call him?" Syr asked, who, amid the bar's noise, thought she heard the red-eyed girl call Bell "dad."
"Yes, I'm fine, Meteria. I was just surprised by all the commotion at once," Bell excused himself.
"It happens every time the Loki familia comes. They're regular customers," Syr said after a while, seeing that neither responded to her question. "It seems their goddess really likes this place." Neither of them responded. Instead, they stayed watching the large table of the Loki familia for a while.
"Do you know someone who's a member?"
"No, no!" Both said in unison, louder than usual. "We've just heard about their goddess, that's all." Bell tried to speak more calmly to avoid suspicion, and Meteria nodded at her father's words.
"Hey, Ais..." a werewolf from the Loki familia started speaking loudly from the large table: "Thanks for killing the minotaur that escaped the other day..." He muttered an apology, but it was still audible to practically the whole bar.
"Wow! Bete apologizing? Do you have a fever?" a dark-skinned girl with green eyes spoke in surprise.
"I'm under threat from Riveria, okay?" The werewolf crossed his arms while a couple of members at the table laughed.
"I thought we killed them all. I don't keep track of how many monsters I kill, okay? Anyway, I would have loved to go defeat that last minotaur and laugh at the terrified face of that pathetic adventurer."
Now the whole table, except for Ais, laughed. This time not at the werewolf but at Bell. The rumor that had circulated was that Ais, the sword princess and a first-class adventurer, had defeated the minotaur and saved Bell's life, who then fled the dungeon covered in blood. Indeed, Bell had fled, but not from fear of Ais, but from the real terror of his daughter's anger.
"Besides, he ran away all covered in blood. What a useless adventurer! The sword princess saves him, and he runs away like a coward! Lately, there are such useless adventurers..." the werewolf continued.
Suddenly, Bell felt a threatening aura behind him. He quickly realized it was his daughter emanating that bloodthirsty aura. Her eyes had turned completely red and were locked onto the gray werewolf laughing energetically. Meteria couldn't stand hearing such bad things about her father. If it hadn't been for Bell pressing a hand on her shoulder with enough pressure to keep her seated, that werewolf would have already been sent flying.
"Calm down, Meteria... I don't care what he thinks of me," he spoke softly and low, trying to calm his daughter's murderous aura before anyone noticed. "Remember, we must remain moderate and not attract attention... ignore him..." When he could think of no more words to calm Meteria's anger, a female voice interrupted the werewolf's monologue against Bell.
"I already told you I didn't kill that minotaur..." The voice belonged to Ais, who had remained silent until then. "When I arrived, the boy had already taken care of everything. I didn't have to do anything..." The whole table looked doubtfully at Ais, as if believing she was joking. "Don't look at me like that! I'm telling the truth! That adventurer killed the minotaur by himself, I swear."
No one at the table believed her, but at the bar, Meteria managed to calm down, and her
murderous aura faded. In the background, someone said, "Did you feel that ominous aura? Oh, wait... it's gone now..." This time it was Bell's turn to glare at his daughter. She was always very calm, but there were situations that pushed her over the edge.
"I think it's time to pay the bill," Bell said to Syr, who had been beside them the whole time but distracted enough by the Loki familia not to notice anything.
"Huh? So soon? It's still early." Syr pouted and crossed her arms.
"Today was a long day, we're already tired," Bell said, faking a yawn.
"I hope you enjoyed the food..." Mia said, approaching as she saw they were about to leave.
"Yes! It was delicious," Meteria smiled cheerfully, completely forgetting that she wanted to kill a werewolf just seconds ago.
"I'm glad. Come back more often." Both adventurers smiled sincerely and promised to return. Despite the werewolf incident, they had a good time at the bar, and both Syr and Mia had been very kind and helpful.
After paying for their meal and particularly thanking Syr for inviting them, they stealthily headed to the bar's entrance, trying not to draw attention, especially from the Loki familia. They almost managed to go unnoticed entirely, but Ais, who was still trying to convince her companions that the unknown adventurer had killed the minotaur, noticed two white-haired heads leaving through the door.
The first-class adventurer hurried to get up from her seat and walked quickly to the entrance, but outside, she lost track of those two people. The barely lit stone street was empty: "Wasn't that...?" she wondered, but one of the elves from the Loki familia called her, and she returned to the bar.
Neither of the Cranel family members noticed that Ais had followed them to the exit. Both left "The Lady of Abundance" and, instead of continuing down the main street, slipped through the side alleys. They walked with full stomachs and happy hearts under the moon and stars' light.
"Did you have a good time today?" Bell asked his daughter. She turned to look at him and nodded energetically. The boy thought that, under the moonlight, Meteria looked even more like her mother.
"Except for that stupid werewolf..." the serene face of the vampire girl twisted into a true expression of rage.
"The good thing is you managed to calm down, but you shouldn't lose your temper again."
"I know... that girl Ais didn't take credit for what happened." Bell nodded. "I was surprised; I didn't think she would tell the truth."
"Neither did I..."