Making Connections

"Ow."

"You're very lucky with your skill, you know."

"Ow."

"You're also very lucky that I'm a benevolent Goddess that forgives her subjects!"

"Ow!"

"There! Done!" Hestia took a step back and admired her handiwork.

"My Goddess…" Bell groaned. "Did you have to sew the wounds so harshly?"

"Consider this the consequences of making me worry like that," Hestia pricked the edge of her finger and let a drip of her divine blood splatter on Bell's back. Her insignia, a hearth that spewed flames, tattooed itself over the Bell's skin. She ignored Bell's groans and writhing as she wrote down all the details that were inscribed on his back. Her stern face turned into a frown before becoming resigned as the pen in her hand stopped scribbling down on the paper. "You can put your shirt on now."

Hestia sat herself on the couch as Bell shuffled around to look for his shirt. She was… disappointed. Not in Bell! She was quite proud of her first child! He was a little reckless. A little reckless was putting it lightly— He was SUPER DUPER reckless! Hestia thought that she might lose him to that stupid, white monkey earlier! Despite the odds being stacked against him, he fought well and hard, defeating the monster in front of the crowd.

Hestia felt her already large chest blossom even more after Bell fell asleep in her arms on the way back home. Lugging the log of a boy was not something that Hestia thought that she would be doing as a Goddess, but she did it anyway- at least, until halfway. If it weren't for the green-haired elfven waitress, Hestia wouldn't know what to do; she was barely able to remain upright with how exhausted she had been. Bell was heavier than he looked, and the Big Busted Goddess was tiny.

She wasn't able to get the elf's name, sadly.

Back to her original train of thought...

Bell fought and defeated a middle-floor monster by himself and didn't level up!? Heavens! Give Bell his level up! Hestia would have thrown a hissy fit, but there was nothing that would do but make Bell worry about her. She had enough of him worrying about her. She was his Goddess! She was the one supposed to worry about him!

Hestia settled on sighing and resting her face on her palms.

"My Goddess?" Hestia looked up to find her child's red eyes looking at her. He was dressed in his shirt, which was quite cheap. The place they were staying at too was dirt cheap— not that Hestia disliked it 'cuz it was homey— but Bell deserved better! He worked hard in the dungeon, almost killing himself as he did so. He deserved so much more than what she could offer him.

The thoughts squeezed her heart in an unpleasant manner.

She jumped at the chance to get a child of her own, and it only hurt said child. Hestia was eternally thankful to the girl who gave Bell another two weeks of life; she assumed it was that Ais Wallenstein girl.

It was her own fault as a Goddess. She thought she could use whatever divine right she had left to save this child from the cross he laid on… but that was all stubborn pride and selfish desperation.

No. Hestia did not get the right to grieve over her choices. She granted Bell her Falna, she would have to see this through and give her sole Familia member all the support that she could. Although she sometimes wondered if Bell would ever leave her if another Familia offered him a place in their stronghold… she… she had faith that Bell wouldn't ever leave her side.

"It's nothing."

"If you need anything-"

"It's alright Bell, I've got this all covered," Hestia stood and patted her skirt down. "Are you going to be alright by yourself here?"

"I will be."

"Okay! I will get us some dinner and will be right back."

"Stay safe, my Goddess."

"Of course, Bell. You stay put," Hestia grabbed her purse and left Bell. She cast one last glance at the couch that Bell lay on before heading out the door.

"They live in such a dilapidated place?"

"His Goddess is new, so this is the best they got."

"Oh, I see," the woman nodded. "Do you have the gifts?"

"Gifts? You mean these?" the man showed the bag and jingled its contents. "Yep. Although I wouldn't call it a gift and more of a recompensation. It was our fault that Bell got hurt."

"Lord Ganesha used the word gifts, so that is what I shall refer to them as."

"Potato, po-tat-o," the man shrugged as he raised his fist to beat on the wooden door that led to the temporary house of the Hestia Famila.

"Who is it?" came a boyish voice, slightly muffled through the weathered door.

"It's Hashana!" Hashana greeted with a boisterous voice quite like his god's.

The door creaked open as a bandaged Bell greeted them with an amicable smile. "Good afternoon, Mr. Hashana," he greeted weakly, wincing in pain as the man shook his hand. "And Miss?"

"Shakti, Shakti Varma," the woman introduced herself, stretching her arm out to shake Bell's hand with much less vigor than her companion, much to Bell's relief. "May we come in?"

"Uhm," Bell turned his head to look into the room. "Sure, I guess…"

"Splendid!" Hashana did not wait for Bell to fully open the door, but instead, he pulled the boy into a one-handed hug and dragged him in. Shakti gave Bell an apologetic look, not that the boy saw it. "Where's your Goddess?"

"She went out to get some supplies for dinner."

"Oh, I see, we wanted to talk with her, but you will just have to relay our message to her then. Ganesha Familia has to keep the peace and all," Hashana said, his eyes showing a tinge of pain that Shakti knew all too well. The man sat himself on the couch without being invited to, much to Shakti's second hand embarrassment. The man just did what he pleased…

"I apologize for my colleague's rude behavior, Bell Cranel."

"Bah!"

"I-It's fine Miss Varma, please make yourselves at home. Would you guys like something to drink?"

"A beer."

"Some tea would be good."

"I don't think we have any beer. But we do have tea."

"Thank you," Shakti said as she sat beside her companion on the couch and elbowed him to stop his grumbling.

"Fine… I think tea every once in a while would be good…" Hashana mumbled to himself.

"I'll be right back," Bell quickly heated up a kettle full of water and cheap tea leaves before serving it steaming hot to both his guests. He nervously watched their expressions as they both took sips.

"It's fine," Shakti said.

"It's… tea," Hashana added.

That was a… good thing? Bell hoped, at least. He dared not ask. "So… Did you need me for anything?"

"Ah, yes, about that incident this morning," Hashan referred to the silverback monster.

"I hope I'm not in trouble or anything."

Hashana guffawed. Shakti had to continue for the man. "No, not at all. In fact, we are grateful for your help. We ran into a more pressing matter," she made a distasteful expression, as if the tea she sipped disagreed with her. "We have come to thank you and your Goddess for preventing the silverback from going on a worse rampage and hurting the civilian population in Daedelus street."

"Oh, ha-ha. It was nothing."

"Those bandages tell another story."

"I-I mean. Another adventurer could've done it."

"But no other did, and you had to step up to the plate," Shakti took another sip from the tea. "We heard that you lost your armor in a trip to the dungeon. We would like to get you another set, on us."

"Oh, umm, thank you, but I already promised a friend that we would go and buy my armor. I-It's not that I'm not grateful or anything," Bell blushed as he tried to get the proper inoffensive words.

"You have to stop staring at him so intensely, Shakti. You're going to give him a few holes," Hashana chuckled. "Bell, what she is trying to say is that we want to pay for your new equipment."

"..." Bell kept silent for a minute, debating with himself. It was a no-brainer to accept the award that the Ganesha Familia was offering. New armor would cost him weeks of grinding in the dungeon. Hestia gifting him the Hearth Blade was a godsend enough. And here he was, looking at a gift horse in the mouth. Why? Why was he hesitant on receiving the award? He earned it, didn't he?

Pride.

Pride was what stopped him. He didn't know why, but that is what it felt like. It was a queasy feeling. It made him feel like his skin peeled itself from his muscles, painfully exposing the blood vessels to the cold, acrid air. It was rather pathetic, Bell thought to himself. Here he sat, in front of higher leveled adventurers, hesitant to receive the award for helping people all because of mere pride. Bell swallowed, but did not swallow his pride.

"I'm sorry, I will have to reject your offer," Bell bowed his head, hiding the near painful gritting of his teeth.

"Why?" he did not see Shakti's expression, nor hear any discernible emotions in her voice, good or bad.

"I…" Bell tried to explain himself. He couldn't find the right words that wouldn't potentially upset them. "I just can't."

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" he heard Hashana's boisterous laughter and dared to look. Hashana was laughing his head off, while Shakti wore a soft and resigned expression. "He's just like you when you were younger, Shakti."

"Shut up."

"Don't look so worried, Bell," Hashana got up and slapped Bell's shoulder. "We all understand it. An adventurer's pride is a fickle thing. That's why the guild put some laws into place about helping other adventurers in the dungeon and all that."

"You… You guys aren't mad?"

"Mad? Bah! Why would we be mad over such a little thing?" Hashana laughed some more. The man really loved laughing. "In fact, we would have been a little disappointed if you accepted the reward."

"I wouldn't have been disappointed."

Hashana rolled his eyes at Shakti's terse interjection. "Yeah, yeah," he waved.

"A word of the wise, Bell Cranel, do not listen to all the things this buffoon says. Who knows what may become of you if you follow this meathead's footsteps."

"I'm hurt, Captain."

Bell cracked a smile of amusement at the two's interactions.

"On a more serious note, do not be afraid to come to the Ganesha Familia in your time of need, Bell. We owe you one and will be glad to assist you in any way possible," Shakti said.

"Thank you, Miss Varma."

"It was nice meeting you, but I am afraid we will have to leave. The Ganesha Familia is running low on manpower at the moment," Shakti stood with Hashana standing right after.

"Thank you for coming," Bell ran ahead of them and opened the door. He ignored the way his bandaged body silently screamed in protest.

"I hope to meet again, under less pressing circumstances," Shakti said before she stepped out. "Oh, and the tea was nice."

"Thank you. I hope to meet again," Bell said politely.

Hashana just gave Bell another slap to the shoulders as he followed his captain. With the two gone, Bell closed the door. He quickly cleaned up after them. Shakti had finished her tea, while Hashana barely drank half of the teacup. He swept the floor and washed the cups.

As he finished drying the cups, the door burst open. Hestia came in with a large grin on her face. "Bell! Look what I found at the door!" she held up a bag that jingled quite nicely. "It says it came from Ganesha. Ohohoho! I'm glad that that old elephant appreciates the hard work my heroic Bell put into cleaning his mess!"

Bell couldn't help but crack a smile. They got him there.

The very next day, Bell stood in front of the Tower of Babel. His pocket jingled with a healthy amount of coins but not too much. Besides that, he was dressed in his very best clothes. That said, his very best clothes did not amount to what the middle class adventurer wore on their worst day, but it was clean and fresh at the very least. Not to mention formal enough for what could be called a date.

Just the word alone made Bell blush and grin widely, to what Hestia amounted to as a "school girl in love." Bell trusted her heavenly wisdom enough not to question that phrase, and instead, wore it as a badge of honor.

"Bell~"

"Eina-sensei!"

"Drop the 'sensei!'" the half-elf blushed as she playfully slapped Bell's shoulder.

"But you've been teaching me so much!"

"Shush you!" Eina adjusted glasses.

Bell remembered a thing that his grandfather used to say: "Always compliment a girl when you meet them on a date."

"You look quite cute," Bell supplied immediately, trying his best to force down the blush from his cheeks and looking away.

"Oh? What part?"

"I like how casual your clothes are right now. T-That's not saying that your uniform is bad! It's just- like a breath of fresh air! You always look very pretty in your uniform after all and—"

"You can shut up now… Thank you. Now, come with me, we must go and get you a new set of armor if you want to test it out in the dungeon later in the afternoon."

Bell would've apologized to the half-elf woman but noticed her ears being tinged red. He smiled to himself at a job well done.

Both entered the Tower of Babel, the lid that kept the dungeon closed. Many people came through and from the great entrance, but the duo easily navigated through the crowd of people. They climbed up the spiraling staircase that led up to the higher floors of the tower. As they rose through the floors, Bell noticed that the decorations became more extravagant. He felt he was severely underdressed.

Ais felt a boil of emotions deep in her stomach as she watched Bell and an elf enter the Tower of Babel. It made her frown.

"Ais?" a familiar voice called out to her, one that Ais was slowly called a "younger sister."

"Lefiya," Ais greeted.

"Are you okay?"

Ais spared the Tower of Babel once again. By the clothes of Bell and the elf-girl, they were going to the upper floors of the tower, while Ais and the Loki Familia were going to the dungeon. Ais turned back to Lefiya, giving the elf a nod. "I am fine."

The two of them finally arrived at their destination: the fourth floor. Eina led him to one of the shops. It looked rather… poor compared to the rest of the floor. It didn't have that shine and sparkle that the rest of the floor looked dipped in. Bell found it quite reassuring to find a place that his set of clothes did not offend.

"Welcome!" they were greeted by a man of tall stature and burnt, red hair. "What can I get you?"

"Well, I'm here to get a new set of equipment."

"For you and your..." the man trailed off, eyeing Eina, who was a ways away looking around curiously. "Girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Bell gave the man an awkward grin. "She's my teacher."

The man glanced between the two before giving Bell a grin. "Sure she isn't. But that's neither here nor there at the moment. Now what do you need exactly? Just saying 'equipment' carries a vast number of possible options."

"I need some armor, a spare weapon, and possibly a shield," Bell listed.

"Alright, what kind of armor are we talking about here?"

"Some light armor, I guess?"

"The light armor is that way, check the crates on the far right. And weapons?"

"Short swords and daggers."

"That way," the man gestured to the other side of the room.

"Thank you," Bell nodded respectfully.

"No problem. If you need anything, just call for me and I will be right there."

Bell and Eina went to the light armor section of the place. Bell grimaced at the prices of the armor that displayed on the stands. The man talked about crates, so Bell walked past the many armor stands and arrived atthe crates. The price tags on the crates were much cheaper than the ones displayed. That said, they had less design too. Not that Bell cared much about fashion at the moment.

"Bell, try this one out!" Eina picked up a breastplate with built-in shoulder pads.

"Can we?"

"Of course," the shopkeeper answered Bell's question from the far side of the store.

Bell quickly put on the breastplate. He did some stretches but didn't like how it blocked part of his core's mobility. He took it off and apologized to Eina, who promptly waved it off.

"What's important is that you are comfortable in it and that it protects you," she said.

Bell tried on several more armors, from chain to gambeson to plate. So far, he didn't like the feel of any of them. They were either too restrictive or too open to attack. He was about to give up when he found something at the very back. He moved a couple of the crates to reach it but fell in love when he saw its simple design.

It was worn like a shirt with gambeson as the first layer. A steel plate covered the front part of the chest and neck, forming a gorget. An attachable pair of steel pauldrons lay at the bottom of the crate, along with a pair of armored boots and vambraces. It truly was love at first sight.

"Eina-sensei, could you please help me with the straps on this one?"

"Of course," Eina happily agreed and proceeded to tighten the leather straps that secured the chest plate and shoulder pads. Bell moved his arms a bit and asked Eina to readjust them to be a little looser. He gave them another experimental stretch before nodding himself in content.

"I like it," Bell grinned.

"Glad we finally found one that suits you," Eina sighed. "Now, for a weapon."

"Yep. Oh, can you please?"

"Right away," Eina undid the straps, letting Bell take off the rest of the armor. "Let me take that to the counter."

"You don't have to-"

"It would be faster this way," Eina insisted, and Bell let her. His teacher could be scarily stubborn. He wanted none of the smoke while still so sore.

He quietly moved over to where the shopkeeper kept the short swords and scanned through the glass pane. The swords were rested against the wall, kept by outcroppings of wood that stuck them in place. Some were sheathed, some were naked with their sheaths right under them, while others had their blade peeking out of their sheath.

"May I handle them?" Bell asked the shopkeeper.

"Go ahead!" the man shouted back.

Bell slid the glass pane to the side and picked up a sword that interested him the most. It had a sleek, curved design similar to a scimitar. The blade itself was thin, so thin that Bell feared that it would break under strenuous circumstances.

"That's a good blade," a female voice jolted Bell out of his musings. The person wore a cheeky expression, seeing Bell's surprised face. "Don't be so afraid there, rabbit." A divine presence radiated off of her, and Bell realized that he was talking to a Goddess. He had to be polite. Or, well, extra polite. His grandfather had taught him to always greet a lady with politeness, after all!

"Greetings, I am Bell Cranel."

"Pfft. Why so formal? Relax kid, I'm not going to bite," the Goddess eyed the blade that Bell was holding with her singular eye, the other hidden behind an eyepatch. "I know what you are thinking: how would such a thin blade fare in the dungeon? I will tell you, the material and craftsmanship used on that sword is good enough to survive a run in with a minotaur."

"I'm sorry, have we met?"

"We have not, but I do know your Goddess quite well."

"So you know Goddess Hestia?"

"Indeed, she and I are quite close friends. She's certainly something, isn't she?"

Bell gave the Goddess a grin. "She is."

"So, are you thinking of buying that sword?"

Bell gently put the sword back onto the wall. "Maybe not at the moment."

"Why not?"

"I have no experience with curved blades."

The Goddess nodded. "I see, in that case," she pulled a sword from the wall. It was a bastard sword, just longer than a short sword yet the hilt was built for a longer blade. "Try this one."

Bell unsheathed and admired the sword. It was double-edged and sharp at the end. Perfect for stabbing and slashing. It was perfectly balanced at the center, making it good for all round combat. "It's perfect."

"Not really," the Goddess said. "Just because it is perfectly balanced doesn't mean it's the perfect sword. It will not stab as well as a rapier, nor is it as swift as an arming, a katana would cut smoother with better technique, and a longsword has more reach. That sword is built for a good defense," she eyed Bell. "And your body type does not seem like a tank's build."

"I will make do. Thank you…"

"Hephaestus."

"Thank you, Goddess Hephaestus."

"No problem, little rabbit," she gave Bell a smile. Bell brought the sword to the counter to where Eina and the shopkeeper waited. The shopkeeper gave Bell a wide grin.

"I'm Welf," the man offered Bell his hand.

"Bell Cranel," Bell shook the man's hand.

"I see that you liked my armor."

"You made that? It's perfect!"

"Gee, you're making me blush," the man scratched the back of his head at Bell's praise.

"I'm serious. It's just light enough to keep me mobile yet sturdy enough to give me protection."

"Well, I'm glad you like it," Welf coughed into his fist as he brought a piece of paper to Bell's attention. "Say, since you like what I made, I would like to offer you my services as your personal smith and join your party."

"Sure!"

"Bell," Eina interrupted. "Did you think this through?"

Bell gave Eina an embarrassed smile. "No."

Eina sighed. There was still much to teach the boy.

I will be honest with you guys. I do not enjoy Eina as much as the next guy. I understand her character and all, but I do not find her as waifu material. Take from that what you will. That said, I think I did a pretty good job in writing her. Thoughts?

—Editor: you barely wrote her!—

Also, we've been going at a rather slow pace these past few chapters. …no, I do not count Bell's fight with the silverback a fast chapter. It happens in canon and doesn't change much to the story. I may not consider this a bad thing, I dunno about you guys, my dear readers. I would like to develop their relationships a bit more before we delve into more juicy stuff. *wink* Ais was a special *case. *sips tea* Also, timeline is not like canon at this point with Loki Familia entering the Dungeon the same day that Bell gets Pyonkichi (what an adorable name lmao)

I am quite perplexed on who the next girl is to be honest. Huhuhu… My heart says Lefiya but they haven't even met yet. The local Amazon is also a good choice but they barely got any interaction. Also, to the guy Mexican/Spanish wanting Riveria, she will cum, don't worry. It's a matter of when.

discord. gg/5TaUq3brxa