The First and Last Days

It was a day after the incident. Ais and Bell had arrived at Orario, the Labyrinth City. Bell was amazed at the sheer size of the place. Buildings several stories high loomed and overshadowed the wide busy streets. Civilians and merchants walked with the city guard and the adventurers. An electricity filled the air, filling Bell with a vigor and excitement that he never felt before. His eyes darted left to right, absorbing the food stalls, the inns, the taverns, the colorful restaurants and the delicious aroma that wafted from them, the street merchants and their funny entertainers, the carriage station with their noisy barkers, business buildings with their dull gray painting, mysterious establishments with no signs on them, and everything. There was so much to see! So much to take in!

If Bell was any less excited, he would've gone dizzy from the grand scenery of the busy city. But Bell had a good night's rest and a refreshing morning breakfast before a swim in the river to clean his skin of the devil's blood. His companion also had a hand in making him feel revitalized.

Bell stole a glance at the beautiful Ais. He knew she was a beautiful girl since the night they met, but she looked more stunning and radiant in the afternoon glow. It filled him with energy. "I could take on a dragon if I was with her," he thought to himself as he kept in step with the beautiful swordswoman.

"I'll buy a potion," Ais said suddenly, breaking Bell away from his trance. "Wait for me here."

"R-Right," Bell stuttered. He glanced at her wound. The once white cloth had turned red overnight from the blood. He stared as Ais disappeared behind the doors of a rather fine looking pharmacy. Bell sighed. She made his heart beat rapidly, like a thousand drums of war. He wouldn't call this love yet! It was… admiration, yes.

Bell shook his head! That's not what he was supposed to be thinking of right now! He was very grateful to Ais who had saved him. He also had things to do here in Orario, he wanted to be an adventurer too. And to be one, he had to join a Familia and gain a blessing from their deity. And to do that, he had to find a Familia that would let him join.

…It shouldn't be too hard.

Ais came out, fully healed and the bloody cloth gone and her wound as good as new. Her armor was still rather dirty and bloodstained but that couldn't be fixed by a High Potion. Her docile, golden eyes honed in on Bell, and she strode back to him.

"Bell," she said, getting Bell's attention.

"Yes!?" Bell stood at attention.

"Are you an adventurer?"

"Not yet but I want to become one!" Bell said. "I don't have a Familia yet. So, uhm, can you introduce me to your Familia?"

Ais tilted her head, but her face stayed emotionless. "I could."

Bell smiled.

"I don't know if you will be accepted though. Loki only takes in people she thinks are interesting," Ais continued.

Bell's smile fell.

"Did somebody say they need a Familia?" blue eyes appeared out of nowhere and closed in on Bell. Her grin was wide and expectant while her eyes were anxious, nearly desperate.

"I see… So that's what happened," Hestia said.

"What kind of monster was that, Goddess Hestia?" Ais asked. "It's my first time encountering something like… that." They were in a cafe, something that was new to Bell. There were books on the shelves and the counter served coffee, a hot drink composed of ground, dried beans that originated somewhere in the east.

"I could only assume that it was a 'Devil,' " Hestia, the Goddess of Hearth, answered as she sipped her hot coffee. "I heard that they were hunted by the Hades and Peresphone Familias into extinction though. This one must have been one of the survivors."

"So, uhm," Bell spoke. "What about the devil's curse?"

"I don't know anything about that, I'm sorry," Hestia said. "But if he cursed you, then it must be true. What was your curse anyway?"

"Well," Bell trailed off. "I don't think I could tell you…"

"Very well," Hestia sighed. She sighed. "But will you think about my offer earlier?"

"About joining your Familia?" Bell said excitedly. "Sure! I'll join!"

"...I thought you were going to join my Familia?" Ais asked with a tilt of her head.

"Oh," Bell gave Ais a sheepish grin. "Sorry, looks like I won't be able to join your Familia. I can't just let a beautiful Goddess be by herself."

"I see. That is fine," Ais nodded. She was a bit disappointed, not that it showed on her face.

"But!" Hestia said. "If you will join my Familia, there will be no secrets between us. Familias are built on trust, that means you will have to tell me your curse. I will not back down from this condition."

Ais glanced at Bell. He looked conflicted. He didn't want to burden his Goddess with the curse on him, especially since she was kind enough to treat him to some food. But on the other hand…

Bell threw his hands into the air. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened," he looked around. Seeing that they were pretty much alone, he gingerly pulled his shirt up. Violet symbols on his back showed as clear as day and Hestia gasped and her face paled.

"What… What kind of curse is this?" Hestia muttered. She closed the distance between them both. The shape on Bell's back looked like the Falna that the Gods would bestow upon the humans that join their Familia, except that it had a skull with its mouth opened wide. Roman numerals were in its mouth, showing the number 12.

"The curse was…" Bell said slowly. "That I would die after fourteen days if I don't…" he swallowed. "If I don't take the virginity of a woman. And I have to do it every fourteen days," his voice sounded like he was choking, trying to hold in his tears. But his face didn't look one bit distraught, he hid his fears well.

"I see…" Hestia said, her eyes still lingering on Bell's back even after his shirt hid the mark of the devil. "Well," she gave Bell a bright smile. "We'll figure things out! I know some of the older Gods that may be able to help you with your curse, I'll talk to them to find out what to do."

Bell's eyes widened, surprised at the kindness he was receiving. "Thank you Goddess Hestia!"

"Don't thank me yet," Hestia blushed at the thanks she received. "We'll take things one step at a time. Now," Hestia said. "Shall we start by giving you a Falna?"

"How do we do that?" Bell asked.

"It's rather simple," Hestia explained. "You just need to remove your shirt and sit in front of me. I'll cut myself and give you a drip of blood, giving you a Falna."

"Understood," Bell said and proceeded to take off his shirt.

"Wait, let's do this upstairs," Hestia interrupted before the shirt came off. "We'll be back, Miss Wallenstein." She reached out and grabbed Bell's hand and guided him around the bookshelves and up the stairs to the second floor. There was a walled off room with a door. They entered the room and Hestia closed the door behind them. "Please sit over there and remove your shirt," she indicated the mattress in the center of the room.

Bell followed her orders and stripped off his shirt. He sat cross legged on the ground.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, just give me a moment," Hestia shuffled around the room. She stopped shuffling around and Bell felt her standing behind him.

"Ow," he heard her mutter. Something dripped on his back. The liquid was quite warm.

Suddenly, Bell felt like his body was heating up. It was like a warm flame was put over him but it didn't burn. The heat traveled from where the liquid touched his back and to his head and limbs. It made him feel more awake than he had ever been. It was as if he had just come from a good sleep and had a cool bath in the riverside. He felt… refreshed. Alive.

"Done," Hestia said.

"Wow…"

"So, how's the feeling?" Hestia asked eagerly.

"It feels good," Bell said as he got up to his feet and flexed his body.

"Glad to hear it," Hestia grinned. "Welcome to the Hestia Familia, Bell Cranel."

"I will be in your care, Goddess Hestia."

"As will I in yours, my Bell," Hestia smiled.

It was almost two weeks since Bell had received his Falna from Hestia and registered as an adventurer in the Guild. Two weeks spent living in Orario. Two weeks spent fighting in the dungeon and training with Ais, whenever the latter saw Bell. Two weeks of defeating monsters and picking up magic stones to exchange at the guild.

Hestia had brought news about his curse and about the devil with tears in her eyes a few days earlier. It wasn't good. Not good at all. No matter who she talked to, they all said the same thing: "Bell will die in fourteen days." The devils were old enemies of the gods, who hated the gods and humans alike. They desired nothing but the destruction of humankind and heaven alike.

This incident was only a "minor" one but the spite of the devils could be seen through the curse. A maiden every fortnight? Madness… Pure madness…

It made Bell sick to the stomach.

Call Bell old fashioned, but he wanted to fall in love. He wanted the one he loved to fall in love with him. That included going on dates, eating at the restaurant, and long night walks. A pure love where sex only happened after marriage.

Sure, he had his delusions for a harem— thanks to his grandfather— but he knew better than that.

What's more, he had to take a virgin every fourteen days… It made him feel like scum. How many maidens was that per month? Per year? No. No. Bell will not have it. He had to find a way to get rid of this curse. He wanted a true and pure love dammit! He did not want to bed some ladies just because his life was on the line. That was crazy!

A few days ago, he was more optimistic about his situation. He was hoping for a cure. Bell thought that the gods, with all their divine power, could do something about it. But no, there was only one way to get rid of the curse.

Kill the devil.

Kill the devil who placed it in the first place, then the curse will be lifted. Until then, Bell had to fulfill the conditions placed.

Bell vomited when he learned of it.

So he had to hunt down the devil, or somebody had to kill the devil so the curse on Bell would be lifted. How long would that take? Months? Years?

Apparently, the Guild had dispatched a bounty on the devil's head and some Familias had kept an eye peeled for any sign of it. So it shouldn't take as long as if only one person was looking for a needle in a haystack. Maybe the needle is in the haystack, but several groups of people are searching for it, armed to the teeth. The news of a devil so close to Orario was shocking enough for some of the major gods in the city to pay for the bounty on the devil.

It was nothing that Bell had to worry about. Stronger people would be able to kill the devil. Those of higher levels would be able to handle the devil.

Or so Hestia said.

But Bell felt like he wasn't satisfied. Simply sitting around waiting for the devil to die did not sit well with him. He wanted to do something about his curse. He needed to do something about it. It was his problem, and while he accepted any help he could get, not being part of the solution was not something that he could accept.

"▄▄▄▄▄▄█████" a monster roared as Bell was picking up the magic stones that had dropped as he was killing the low leveled monsters. That didn't sound like any of the monsters that roamed this level. Bell perked up, all his senses on high alert. The sound of hooves echoing in the narrow chamber rattled Bell's bones as the monster got closer. "▄▄▄▄▄████!"

Red eyes of madness glared down at Bell as the monster turned the corner. It was a minotaur. It had the head of a bull and the body of a large man. It made an attempt to grab Bell.

Bell was able to backstep the bull's grab. His fight and flight instincts were flaring.

Run! Run!

They screamed at him. Bell nearly turned his heel and ran. He nearly lost his head in a panic. He nearly screamed as death stared him down. Should he fight?

That moment of indecision gave the minotaur enough time to land a fist straight into Bell's stomach. The boy was sent flying through the air and into the dungeon's walls, bouncing him off their rough surface and straight into the minotaur's other fist. Bell once again flew through the air and onto the hard floor.

"Gck!" Bell made an inaudible noise as he recovered from the blows. His sight was filled with black. He felt like his chest was nearly caved in, maybe a few of his ribs had broken. Tears from the pain flowed from his eyes and saliva from the edges of his lips. He wiped the darkness from his eyes with the cuff of his sleeves.

The monster was on top of him, its fist cocked back for a killing blow.

"I'm… not dying here!" Bell gritted his teeth and rolled over to the side, narrowly avoiding death. Dust flew into the air. Bell took this opportunity to throw some into the minotaur's eye, blinding it for a few moments.

"▄████!" The minotaur took a step back and tried to remove the dust from its eyes. Bell reached for his sword, only to find an empty sheath. He desperately searched for it, looking for where he dropped it. At last! He found it. It shone like silver in the darkness.

Bell ran around the minotaur and reached his fallen blade. He gripped his short sword with one hand, ready to kill and maim the minotaur. The minotaur was a monster of higher levels than the goblins that Bell had been slaying. He assumed that the skin of the minotaur was much tougher than what the steel of his sword could cut. It would be wise to aim for its eyes.

The problem was…

The minotaur, having cleared the dust from its eye, towered over Bell.

Its eyes were so very high up.

"▄▄▄▄▄▄████"

Bell avoided a swipe. He tried to close the distance, but the length of the minotaur's arms were too much for Bell and he had to avoid the other arm. He ducked under another punch and used this overextension to jump and grab the minotaur's furry neck. With a strength and dexterity that Bell didn't know he had, he pulled and swung himself over the minotaur until he was over the minotaur's head.

Bell held on tight to the horns of the minotaur as it roared and thrashed. Bell held his sword in a reverse grip and stabbed the minotaur's eye.

"████████████████████!"

"Rrrrrrrrrrrraggggggggggggggggghhh!"

Both man and monster roared as they struggled. Bell stabbed the other eye out and the monster was blinded. The monster threw its head back and smashed Bell against the wall. Bell grunted as he fell to the ground, somehow avoiding being trampled on by the blind minotaur.

"████████!"

Bell slowly rose to his feet. His sword was in his hand, the death grip that Bell had on it making it unable to fly out of his hand. The minotaur was blindly swiping at air, looking for Bell with no eyes. Bell repeated what he did earlier, except he climbed the minotaur's back. He put his blade to the beast's throat and sliced—

The monster smashed its back against the dungeon's walls, and Bell with it. Bell didn't let go this time but the blade broke. Bell made a decision to choke the beast. He wrapped his arms around the entire neck of the minotaur and squeezed like a snake.

The seconds dragged onto minutes and minutes felt like hours. The minotaur writhed around, trying to get Bell off its neck, and Bell hanged on for dear life.

"███████▄▄▄▄" the minotaur was in its death throes but Bell still didn't give it any space to breath. It took a good part of nine minutes to knock the monster out. The beast slumped to the floor. But it wasn't dead yet. It wasn't disappearing into a dark mist and dropping its magic stone yet.

Bell picked up the hilt of his broken sword, with only a few inches of steel left of the blade. He gripped it with both hands and stabbed the minotaur through the back of the minotaur's mouth and out its neck, the blade just barely able to pierce through the spinal cord and lucky enough to not hit any of the vertebrae. The coup de grace dealt and the body of the minotaur slowly disappeared into dark particles. The magic stone dropped but Bell was too tired to even reach for it.

Bell was about to drop dead tired on the dungeon's floors but gentle yet firm hands took hold of him. "You did well," a feminine voice comforted him. Bell's sight darkened and he fell asleep.