Chapter 7: Marry Me?!
A/N: Jello! So, Kiri got sick, like deathly sick. So I'm just going to help him finish the Author's notes. The weird fact is he writes these just before he posts, allowing as much time for any notifications to pop up.
So to begin with, there was apparently a complaint a long time ago about how Bell's developmental ability was OP and personally, it was. I mean being able to see building composition and structural weakness seemed bollocks, to begin with, and rather than a dev ability it seemed more like magic. So we just tweaked it to nerf it a bit more.
Uh, another complaint was about the use of language and adjectives such as: "Madlad". No clue when he used that but sure we shall control the language.
Either way, I shall make my exit. The story is next.
Now within the manor itself, hums were quite rare. Not necessarily because the atmosphere was always tense, but because most of the time it would be the shrieks of the maids that worked there due to the resident deity being a huge pervert.
Well, thankfully he had been confidently tied up and bound to the ceiling with a rope. After the stunt, he tried to pull by trying to enter the women's bath for the umpteenth time ever Bell, who was expecting guests very soon, chose to take care of the minor thorn by his side before they actually appeared.
for the day most of the servants had been dismissed, they could choose to go and live in their quarters or go out and about and do whatever. The entire manor had more servants than capacity, which people would typically call stupid, but the main purpose was to allow them to work half the week each.
They all had their individual houses and families, and although they were free to rest and live in their own quarters, having half the week off was for them to live their lives as they needed to.
Of course, Bell made sure to provide adequate payment to all of the servants so that working only half a week wouldn't put them under a financial strain, besides he made so much more by just going to the dungeon.
Having finished cooking relatively what with the simple meal of a stew to accommodate Riveria's palate or as he would assume, he made it into a complexity-filled dish so that more flavours could be added on to intensify whatever they were tasting. Not to mention he made his own noodles with which they would be free to customise however they wish.
The only thing left was to wait for the guests which he chose to do in the front living room, as he assigned the maids who had chosen to stay behind to watch over the cooking, and she happily followed the orders.
For many of them, the job of being a 'servant' to another was arduous, many employers were straight-up disgusting with how they treated them and any nice people always had some issue or another. Bell, like any other employer, had his own issues and a packaged pervert called Zeus, but he provided them with far more privileges than one could think and treated them as if they were equals.
A distinctive feature noticed by all the workers in the house, and one that made him very dear to all their hearts. No matter their age, race, or past, he would treat every one of them with respect and as if they were friends. He was still polite and exceptionally well-mannered to those older than him, and for any younger than him, he always made sure to lend a helping hand.
Bell in the meanwhile went down to sit at the lounge.
"Mhh! Bh! Immhw"
Bell sighed and looked up to see the very annoying Zeus who had his mouth covered. Seeing the pitiful state of his grandfather made him feel somewhat remorseful, but honestly, he had it coming.
It wasn't even about giving out warnings, his grandpa had been doing this for the past well...16 years of his life. Probably even before that, as he had somehow built a name for himself as the perverted cheater constantly sleeping with others behind his wife's back.
However, pervert or not, grandpa is still grandpa.
Letting out a deep sigh Bell looked up to see the bawling Zeus that he most definitely knew was shedding fake tears, "If you swear to behave in front of Loki's children, then I'll let you out."
After that, the repetitive nodding was enough for him to cut the ropes and let the deity fall on his back on the marble floor.
"Boy...you're gonna...awaken something new in me...if you continue this," Zeus said in between huffs.
"Oh, it seems like you didn't have enough yet." Bell grinned cracking his knuckles. Immediately making Zeus recoil in fear with his hands up.
"No sir no, I'll behave."
Bell stared at his grandfather for a few seconds longer before once more sighing and giving his grandfather a potion.
"Drink this, I may have accidentally put on the ropes too hard," Bell handed to his grandfather with an apologetic look.
"Darn right ya did! I-" Zeus began complaining but before he could continue any further, Bell began walking towards the door.
Which immediately meant that the guests were there. Grumbling like a child, Zeus got up and downed the potion and sat down on his usual chair. Although he was glad that his grandson took after his gentleman-like behaviour.
Before they could knock, Bell opened the doors, revealing the 3 invited guests. Riveria, Tiona and Tione came with varying expectations evident in their expressions.
Tiona seemed bubbly and happy to be there as if she got invited to her best friend's birthday party.
Tione seemed a bit wary of Bell but not even to really act on it. Not that she would actually attack, but Bell probably would've died easily if eyes could kill.
Riveria looked like a frustrated, tired person. Unfortunately for Bell, he couldn't stifle his laughter and a giggle leaked out.
Immediately being the recipient of a stink eye from Riveria, Bell lifted his hands to seemingly fend her off.
"Is there something funny, Cranel san?" Riveria asked with gritted teeth.
Bell had no certain expectations but when he invited them for dinner this was not what he had in expectation.
"No, it's just that...somehow I feel like I'm the one that was underprepared now." Bell replied before letting out another laugh.
"Well we had no choice, we had made a promise with you but this was the condition of our dumb Goddess, so this was the only way to uphold it." Riveria frustratedly told him as she gripped the skirt end of her very beautiful and shiny dress, making her seem almost as regal as she was meant to be.
Only that she wasn't a Kingly palace, but the familia house of another where they were going to have friendly dinner.
It wasn't just her. Both of the Hyrute sisters had also dressed up.
Tione wearing a blood red one-piece reaching her ankles, bead jewellery adorning her neck as her hair was done into a bun.
Meanwhile, Tiona wore a deep navy blue one-piece, almost identical to Tione in all regards except the colour.
And then there was Riveria. The poor woman was evidently being forced into something she didn't prefer. From the way she walked, it was obvious that she was both used to and comfortable with that model of dressing, not that it meant she actually wanted to dress like so.
She was wearing a teal dress that looked like something Ms Orario would wear, a princess crown on her hair which had been neatly tucked and split to her shoulders. She indeed did look very beautiful, her pale skin goes well with the light nature of the dress. The dress was not too short nor long, seemed as if it was made for her.
Flashback
"Loki, why do we have to wear such dresses to a casual dinner in the world?" Riveria asked exasperated by the usual antics of her deity.
" Because, we gotta assert dominance here," Loki began, "I ain't letting Zeus' brat look down on us, so yer all gonna dress up and show em who's boss!"
"Loki, it's going to make us look like idiots. Besides, these dresses..." Riveria blushed, "these dresses are way too revealing! Didn't you mention that Zeus was a pervert?!"
"Eh, you'll be fine, if the boy was raised the right way y'all will be just alright. If he weren't well, feel free to smack him a couple of times. It'll give us a genuine reason to kick them out all over again." Loki deviously rubbed her hands, as if a predator were to be staring at its meal.
End of Flashback
"You all look very stunning if I may say so, especially you, Riveria san." Bell complimented looking back with a smile that indicated truthfulness in his words.
A light blush came to her face as quickly as it disappeared.
Tiona grinned before speaking, "You look very nice too Cranel kun."
Bell chuckled at the way she complimented him even though he was simply wearing a plain black shirt with sleeves, his usual gloves and black cargo pants. "Why is it that the way you guys address me reset every time we split? Please just call me Bell, we aren't strangers."
" I wouldn't be so sure," Tione murmured glancing to the side.
"Well, I'm not asking for trust." Bell replied turning around, Tione being reminded that he too was an adventurer with good hearing, "Actually I am. Trust me I didn't poison your food."
"Aw it's fine we got Abnormal Resistance," Tiona reassured.
Tione jumped to hit her sister in the head, "you idiot don't tell him our status, we don't know if he's friendly or not."
"Oh please, knowing that developmental ability seems hardly a fair trade to all the information you guys got about me. My 12 paths of the moon and a couple of my fighting habits," Bell shrugged. "Either way, I'm sure you all must be famished after a long day, please come with me."
As they followed him through the halls, they on occasion saw a servant here and there, either keeping the place a bit tidy or simply relaxing.
Eventually, they entered a room with a very large table. It seemed longer than the table that the Loki had, which made sense as the Zeus familia was rather large before. The regal carpet looked brand new as if it were bought that very same day. A variety of decorations around the room. The long table, which seemed to stretch for a long distance, had sets of evenly spread-out candles to light the room. A glittering chandelier at the top of the room shone a light on each corner of the room.
At the very back, was an arm resting bed where Zeus sat, wearing a pair of classes reading a book with a hard leather cover. It had been the first time Tione and Tiona had ever seen Zeus, and even Riveria had seen him after quite some time.
If Zeus' reputation as a pervert weren't so present, then one would mistake him for one of intelligence and knowledge.
"Oh welcome you gir-" Zeus began to welcome but froze at the sight of their outfits, seemingly pensive as if to choose his next words wisely, "Interesting choice of outfits, not that it doesn't suit you guys...but I'm gonna go on a limb here and say Loki."
Riveria sighed but nodded in response. Zeus was well aware of how Loki was, of course, she was going to be the one to tell them to dress up like this. She always had an issue with trying to one-up him, even when the Zeus familia in their prime was far superior to her familia.
"Well whatever let us get started with dinner," Bell shrugged moving towards one of the closer chairs and pulling it out, "Here you go princess." He said as he smirked.
Riveria looked at him with a blank stare while Tiona stifled a giggle. Noticing that it would be disrespectful to ignore him, Riveria began going to her seat and sat down, but not before she made sure to dig one of her heels into his foot.
He also proceeded to do the same thing for Tiona and Tione who reacted with less hostility than Riveria. Although Bell didn't mind her hostility and simply compared it to a fair trade.
As they all sat down, the maids brought in the dishes. A variety of dishes consisting of different levels of meat and poultry and flavours.
He had offered them dinner, even though they were part of the Loki familia, he had to show courtesy. Besides, although he had an endless grudge against the decisions of the familia executives and deity alongside Freya to kick out Zeus and Hera familia, he made sure to not allow that to hinder his opinion of them now.
That was then, this is now. He'd be immature to let a past event control his future opinions of them.
The food prepared was one he was rather comfortable with, taking both the amazoness who were used to rather intense and stronger flavours while accommodating the lighter palate of Riveria.
He created multiple dishes for them but made sure to allow for a variety and mix of poultry and veggies.
"OMG! This looks so good!" Tiona gasped as she stared at the seemingly glowing dishes. A low growl emanated from her stomach against her will.
While Tione and Riveria remained a bit more reserved, a similar glow was present in their eyes, expressing their evident impression of his craft.
If the food looked this good, how would it taste?
"I wouldn't make for a very good host if I wasn't considerate of my guests now would I?" Bell smiled.
Despite the number of different aromas they didn't seem to clash, almost like a mellow summer evening a sweet smell simply hovered in the room. As if they were in perfect harmony.
Although Tiona seemed to be raring to eat the food, Tione still seemed somewhat hesitant. Bell shook his head, realising he should've figured at least one of them would be like this.
"I can taste test any of the dishes if you are so concerned for poison," he stated cooly. There wasn't any reason to take offence anyways.
"It's quite alright, we aren't doubting you," Riveria smiled before glancing at Tione as if to somehow signal to her.
It seemed to work however as Tione retracted her sceptical gaze and simply chose to look at the floor instead.
"Then let us begin," Bell smiled as he got up and gave rather generous portions of food to everyone's plates.
"Hey what about me?" Zeus pointed at his empty plate.
Bell gave him a cold look of disdain as if to reprimand him for ruining the atmosphere. He signalled a maid to step forward, and she put down a packet of jagamarukun onto his plate.
'What is this injustice?! What have I done to you?'
"B-Bell how about some of that soup you made?"Zeus asked pitifully, he had been on a potato-only diet for the last 5 days.
To make things worse, Bell had told the servants to give him jagamarukun whenever he went to peep on them and they caught him.
Sure peeping on someone when they were bathing wasn't the prettiest thing...on pen and paper at least, but overall who could blame him?!
The girls of the house were youthful and glowing, flat or filled, he didn't discriminate! Thus, the least he could do to honour their bodies was to watch over them.
"Bah, you should be glad you even get to eat, if you want proper food then stop doing stupid things," Bell admonished his grandfather.
The guests were evidently confused about what the antics were about, but what they did know was that it seemed that Zeus had been stuck with a pretty limited diet of potatoes.
It only made them appreciate the food in front of them more.
"Bell, my dear grandson, the future hero of Orario, King of the world! Please let me eat something else! I've eating jagamarukuns for the last few days you only get plain flavour as well, it's not a sustainable diet no one can eat that all day every day," Zeus begged.
"Oh? But Ais sure can!" Tiona jumped in.
Bell sighed, "First, you can eat once you stop peeping on the girls, I have them reporting to me around the clock," Bell addressed Zeus before turning to Tiona, "Second, what? You mean to tell me that she actually eats those things all day long?"
"Yeah, it's her favourite snack. At first, she needed only one a day, but as the flavours kept increasing the number of jagamarukun needed for her also increased," Riveria shook her head. "At some point, her diet was just primarily jagamarukun and we more or less accepted it."
"I swear she's going to be diagnosed with some sort of deficiency one of these days," Bell muttered under his breath.
Riveria considered her meal choices before instinctively reaching for the soup in front of her first. She felt a gaze on her as she looked up to see Bell smiling at her with an 'I knew you would go for that look.
Moving on, however, she brought her spoon to the dish. A faint aroma rising from it, a delicate yet refined control over a vegetable-based soup.
As she brought the spoon to her mouth, a texture as smooth as velvet flowed down her throat. An easily swallowed soup not too dilute nor too thick. A refreshing taste that left a lingering zing that kept you wanting more.
She had been immediately impressed, such refined culinary skills were something that she had only seen in the elven royal family's head chef!
She looked to see Tiona and Tione both eating something different, though Tione at first seemed reserved, she had already begun eating with gusto. Their soups were completely untouched as expected, but the platter of beef that had been cooked to perfection was being emptied into their stomach.
Riveria endorsed a smile, thinking of how he had catered to their individual preferences. Although it did bring some questions.
'This man seems to be almost gifted by the heavens, he achieves perfection or a level of mastery in all areas,' Riveria realised, 'not just in combat, but also in the management of the home and cooking!'
While these traits weren't necessarily impossible to have, it was his age that brought up concern. A man of his level of expertise must have experienced things to learn, but no matter how much someone worked or chased there was a limit to how much they can get at 16 years of age.
She, however, chose to keep her thoughts to herself and began eating her own dish. Watching the way Tiona and Tione were eating the beef and other meat-based dishes did make her want to try some too.
It wasn't the first time she was eating a dish like this and it's not like she had a particular distaste towards strongly flavoured food, in fact, she liked it more than lightly seasoned food. She simply chose to stick to a healthier diet as it was what she grew up with.
The beef's taste was a stark contrast to the soup, while the soup was easy to swallow and appreciate over some time. The beef was more explosive, it felt as if it was melting on her tongue and capturing her tongue under a strong grip that wasn't willing to let go.
Begging for more, like a masochistic onslaught, she cut the meat once more and took in a small bite. Almost afraid that if the size of the meat was a bit bigger she would lose her cool.
Bell himself was thoroughly pleased with the results, his hard work had not gone to waste! Dinner ensued while Zeus was forced to nibble on the same type of food he had been eating for the past few days.
'A man may hurt, but he should never starve.'
That was the saying of a good friend of his.
After dinner, the maids were asked to help clean up the dishes. Although Bell could've done this himself, it would be rather impolite to leave to do dishes while his guests waited for him.
Instead, they were given tea, Bell making sure to deprive Zeus of his tea.
However, after repeated insistence, Zeus was finally given some tea. It was the first bit of flavour other than potatoes he was getting in a few days.
"I have to say Bell san, you're quite the cook. Everything tasted delicious," Riveria complimented Bell.
"Yeah! The beef was sooo juicy, what's the recipe?" Tiona asked. She had intended to take this to their cook and see if it could be replicated so she could eat it every day.
Bell smiled in response, "The honour was all mine, while I can't give the recipe I can offer to make it for you again sometime later."
The glow in Tiona's eyes was all he needed for confirmation.
The two parties chatted with each other, simply light-hearted stuff of no particular detail. Although Tione and Tiona mainly focused on getting to know his fighting style and preferences more.
It was obvious which of the 2 sisters was still wary of him. Meanwhile, all 3 had noticed a key discrepancy.
Throughout the entire interaction, if there was any bit of reminiscence or any bit of his past brought up he would clam up. As if he refused to answer as well as justify why he didn't want to answer.
It seemed a bit off-putting and rather suspicious but they could understand how he may not fully trust them. It's not like they do either. So instead of poking around a time bomb, they decided to talk around it.
"So Bell kun, I heard about 12 paths of the moon, what's the idea?" Tiona asked. Riveria felt her breath hitch, she had gotten careless! Now Bell knew that Riveria told on him, judging by the glance he gave that lasted only a moment.
"Oh just a technique I came up with," Bell flippantly replied, "Besides tell me something about you guys. The infamous Hyrute sisters, I've heard of you two for so long."
Tione took a proud pose and brought her fist to her chest, "Oh nothing much. We are just a couple of amazonian brutes. Our fists do the talking," Tiona shrugged, " But then again, Tione is trying to become more refined to earn the love of the captain."
Tione immediately turned crimson and hit Tiona in the head, "Y-you shut your mouth."
While Tiona felt like she was hit unjustly, Bell chuckled silently. 'Is this what it feels like to be in a familia?'
Bell focused back on the statement she had made though, " And I don't think there is anything wrong with the way Amazonians behave."
The two bickering sisters paused to stare at him as if he was an alien, they hadn't heard that one before. Usually, they got awkward chuckles or affirmations. Amazonians were basically treated like a brutish subspecies simply because they like sex a bit
This guy was a bit twisted clearly.
"I mean it's just the environment and natural instincts. Sure you guys have greater strength than normal but that's mainly from the amazoness from Telskyura, which no offence is a shit hole." Bell shrugged.
"You've been there before?" Tione asked shocked. Telskyura was a country of women, with most and any males mainly being slaves for breeding purposes. Not to mention the entry and exit of the country itself are heavily controlled, so it'd be very difficult to even step foot in the country let alone remain there for an amount of time.
"Sure I have. I've seen the things that go on there, so by no means would I blame any amazoness for their behaviour. In comparison, what Tione san is trying to do is more admirable in fact. Trying to get rid of an aspect of your life you've known ever since childhood is an arduous task but I can sympathise somewhat." Bell explained.
The two didn't know how to respond and Riveria only smiled at Bell's approach to finding common ground. While not necessarily focused on good memories, it did help build a foundation nonetheless.
Although she did end up noticing the somewhat sombre expression on Bell's face. The table was in a mixed silence.
Although one person's mind was on another thing.
'Hm... Strong? Check. Good at the boring housework? Check. Rich? Check. Cute? Check. A person who actually doesn't think of amazoness as sex dolls or brutal monkeys and actually treats like a person?..check.' Tiona realised. Things clicked and everything made sense so she suddenly stood up, her chair falling backwards because of the sudden force.
She leaned in towards Bell with a beaming smile on her face and said,
"Marry me!"
A/N: and that's a wrap, honestly, I take too long I know. Soon though, my business should stop after mid to end of October so I can start uploading at a faster rate. If you're waiting for BNHA, Ik I left it at a tough spot but gotta let it chill for a bit, I need to finish with things irl.