Author´s Note1: This chapter will feature Bell´s and Ryu´s whole trip to arrive at Solingen, I wanted to put it in one chapter rather than separating it like in the original. The next chapter of this story will show Freya´s party, which takes place during the trip.
Also, the graphic scene warning for the end of the chapter, the graphic part will be marked.
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Ryu felt more and more relaxed while she walked with Bell. Maybe it was his presence or just his talent to calm her down. Whatever it was, she was glad he was there with her.
The landscape almost flew beneath them.
They didn´t run but walked at a quick pace, thankfully there were small streams here and there so they didn´t need to ration their water. From time to time, Bell looked over his shoulder, after a few hours he only saw Babel, not the city beneath it.
Except for two short breaks, they walked the entire day until the sun slowly started to set. Bell took a foldable map out of his jacket and looked at something he had in mind.
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"Since the sun is slowly sinking, how about we camp there for the night."
Bell pointed at first on the map and then forward, to a small forest. According to the map, this forest had a small lake inside.
"A good idea, since there is a lake inside. I have to bathe in it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, as an elf, I must bathe in a forest lake."
"Is that...a law?"
"An unwritten one, yes." A spark appeared next to Ryu´s eye, Bell decided not to dig further into this.
"I wouldn´t mind camping in the open, b-"
"We have to."
Bell saw pure determination in Ryu´s eyes.
That´s pretty adorable of her.
"And I trust you, that you won´t try to peep."
Bell looked seriously into her eyes. "I swear that I will never do something like that. Never will I betray your trust in me...that is unthinkable for me."
She looked at him for a few moments, then she smiled. "I know, you are someone worthy of my respect."
Ryu saw the determination in his eyes.
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While Bell and Ryu walked toward the forest, things happened in Orario too. Freya wasn´t happy about her ruined plan. But in her mind, a new plan was already forming. She would get the joy of seeing Bell and Ryu at a party, both dressed finely! And while both were away from Orario, the party still opened a lot of opportunities.
Her main topic for this evening now was Allen. Somehow let him talk with Anya a bit...somehow! And what to do with him and Chloe...much to do! And since Riveria would be there too, where to position Hedin? The Goddess of Love had her hands full with plans.
And while Freya made even more plans, some other people were enjoying their time in the city.
One of these people was a young woman, who couldn´t believe her luck so far, having met a very pleasant and friendly companion, who even became a friend at this point.
"Oh, Filvis, isn´t this sunset pretty?"
"It is, by all means, Lefiya."
Filvis enjoyed one of the rare, quiet evenings. She and Lefiya sat on a bench at a high place, looking over much of Orario. The wind was gentle and warm, there were no other people nearby so it was pretty quiet.
Both had a small bowl with strawberries in it, the bowl came with a very small magic item, which kept it cool, as well as tea. Lefiya had surprised Filvis when she showed her special elven tea from her homeforest, it was a gift that her mother sent her. As well as a small painting, it showed a young girl.
"Hehe~~ Fina has grown. Hah, I can´t wait to see them again."
"Are you related?"
"Oh, did I never tell you?! Fina is my little sister! Hehe, she looked like me when I was a child."
Filvis looked at the picture again, by herself she thought that Lefiya as a child looked adorable. She didn´t have any family that she could visit. Due to her hair color, everyone believed she was cursed and her family wasn´t very nice to her in the past...
Well now Filvis was cursed, but it wasn´t her fault...
She had accepted her fate, even when she wasn´t happy about it. All she had ever done was following Diyonisus´ orders and she had found a kind of peace in it. Diyonisus had accepted her how she was, even as a creature.
What Filvis didn´t know, was that it was secretly Dyonisus´ fault that she was now like this.
And Lefiya was never allowed to know it, otherwise she might start to hate Filvis. And this thought scared her to a point that surprised Filvis. Ever since Lefiya came into her life, something had slowly started to change in Filvis.
By all means, she had to make sure that whatever Diyonisus planned, Lefiya wasn´t allowed to get harmed.
While she was in thought, Filvis moved a hand down to pick up a strawberry. Her fingertips brushed against Lefiya´s, who did the same.
"Oh."
"Ah."
The hands of both elves twitched slightly backward.
"Sorry."
"You go first."
"No, you."
"I insist."
Eventually, both carefully picked up a strawberry from the sides. Why did Filvis feel so strange, just because she had touched Lefiya´s fingers? It wasn´t the first time that their hands had touched. Filvis trusted Lefiya, the younger elf had taken her hand first, showing her that she wasn´t disgusted at all by her.
Filvis brought the strawberry to her lips and enjoyed the taste. Strawberries were her favorite snacks, and Lefiya knew this. Lefiya glanced at Filvis out of the corner of her eye.
Hah, why do I feel so strange around her lately? Haaaah...Mother, why did you have to ask me in your letter if I by chance found someone I like?!
Lefiya liked many people, but not in a romantic kind of way. But now when she glanced at Filvis again...her heart felt a bit strange, it fluttered. Just like back then in the Education district, when she had a crush on this one teacher, her very first crush.
The feelings were different from her admiration towards Ais. Ais was her idol, she looked up to her and admired her a lot! But with Filvis...Lefiya felt different.
Wait! Isn´t that the strawberry that my fingertips touched? The fingertips I had touched my lips with? Does that make this an indirect k-k-kiss?! Hiiiiii!
For some reason the young elf didn´t understand for now, this made her embarrassed and happy. Even more when Filvis turned her face to her and smiled. And Filvis was a bit surprised to see that Lefiya´s ponytail moved left and right for some reason, how did she manage to "wag" with her hair?
"I can´t thank you enough for this day, Lefiya."
"Ehehehe~~ When do you have to get home?"
"I have the whole day for me. So if you want, we can watch the moon rise together."
"Gladly!~~"
Lefiya was happy around Filvis. She started to feel for Filvis, what Ryu felt for Bell.
She is so pretty.
And Filvis...something slowly got born in her heart.
Feelings of Affection.
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Small forests like the one they just entered, with small lakes inside them, weren´t that rare close to elven forests, for whatever reason.
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"Is there a reason why big elven forests have these smaller ones close to them?"
"It has to do with the nature of the elven forests and the holy trees. Some guessed that the giant, holy trees radiate a kind of life magic or magical energy. Which is the reason why these forests are filled with life so much."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense. Hm.."
"Bell?"
"I wonder, can holy elven trees grow everywhere?"
"I don´t know, but they grow in many places of the world. Each elven forest has one of these, but they are hidden and well protected."
"I do wonder, what would happen if one of these would start to grow in the Kaios desert. Would it get filled with life?"
"Maybe throughout hundreds, if not thousands of years."
"Hah, I would love to see an elven forest from the inside one day, and maybe a holy elven tree."
"You will most likely be able to see the outskirts, but the places where elves live, I can´t say. And the holy trees are as I said, holy, outsiders aren´t allowed to go near them."
"You mean from outside of the forest or only non-elves?"
Ryu looked at Bell for a moment, before her expression changed to a slightly ashamed one.
"I´m sorry, Bell. My people...the elves...they..."
"I understand when I heard the stories about how for example Rakia attacked the forests."
"Mh.."
"You don´t need to look like that, Ryu. It isn´t your fault."
"It is still shameful. They think so high and mighty about themself, then they act like this..."
Just when the sun was about to set, they arrived at the forest. From what Bell could see, the forest was about as big as one of Orario´s eight districts. The forest consisted entirely of deciduous trees and smaller bushes underneath, there were no paths through the forest, only a few animal trails. He heard a few birds chirping and some noises from animals inside the forest, but it looked nice.
"Bell, follow me."
"Alright."
Ryu took the lead, and naturally, she found the right way between the trees and bushes.
"Were you here in the past?"
"Hm?"
"I mean you find the way too easily."
She smiled slightly. "I am an elf, have you forgotten?"
"I´m sorry, it slipped my mind that this has to be something natural for you."
"Well, I lived in a much bigger forest than this one. Also, I accompanied Lady Riveria once to a different elven forest. Together with your advisor, her mother, as well as Ms. Lefiya and Ms. Filvis."
From what Bell heard, Ryu got to know Lefiya and Filvis. The three elves got along well enough, they were slowly becoming friends. They were close enough that Ryu tended to call both "My friends" when she talked about only the two of them, but so far not close enough to use just their names without honorifics. Syr had tried to explain to Bell how elves were, but it was complicated.
It was also thanks to Syr that Ryu got to know Filvis and Lefiya. Freya thought Ryu could need a few more friends, elven friends. Since she often kept her distance from them.
"Wait, did you say Ms. Eina´s mother?"
"Yes, she came with us, since she felt better than usual. She and Lady Riveria know each other from the past."
Even when Ryu was in love with Bell, she wouldn´t reveal more information about Aina. It was bad manners to talk about others like this without their permission.
It was pretty easy for her to move through the forest, Bell had much more problems due to his enormous backpack, but he refused to let her carry some of the stuff.
He was adamant that he couldn't allow a woman to carry too much when traveling.
Her ears were much sharper than Bell´s, so Ryu heard the faint gurgle of the lake, following this sound.
"Ryu?"
"Yes, Bell?"
He looked at her backside, there was something bind to her backpack.
"I wanted to ask before...why are you carrying a bow and arrows with you?"
"To hunt of course."
"You can hunt?"
"I do it occasionally in my spare time, it is very relaxing. I always give my best to kill an animal with only one shot, to let it suffer as little as possible. Also, Mama Mia sometimes wants local meat, she then can say it is the freshest meat possible."
"Hm."
"Are you surprised? That elves hunt?"
"No not that, Ms. Riveria explained the reason to me in the past. You have to take care of the animals in the forest when a few species just get too many or if there is a spreading illness."
"You know Lady Riveria?"
"Yes, from the time when we first arrived at the 18th floor and before we went into the dungeon together."
"What? You went into the dungeon alone with Lady Riveria?! How? Why?"
"She said she was waiting for someone from her familia, but this person didn´t show up in time, so she said she would teach her a lesson and went with me, she taught me a few things."
It turned out the person who let Riveria wait was Lefiya...the young elf had carried too much with her since she wanted to be prepared for everything. When she heard Riveria go with Bell in the dungeon instead, it was a shock and she had pouted from being upset.
The other elves of the familia couldn´t belive this either. Alicia had asked later if Bell dared to oggle Riveria or try to touch her in any way. Riveria had just sighed and said nothing, of course, Bell didn´t try this.
"Then you sure are lucky, Bell."
"If you say so, she was kind to teach me a few things, yet she was very, very strict. She had this special air around her, a bit like...I don´t know...royalty. As if she were..."
Ryu smiled over her shoulder...a smile that Bell could die for. "A princess?"
In the moment she spoke the last word, a small squirrel jumped off a low branch and landed on Ryu´s shoulder, sniffing at her cheek and ear. She gently scratched the squirrel´s head and smiled from the side.
"You should be more careful, little one."
To his astonishment, the squirrel remained on her shoulder and rubbed the small head at her fingers.
"Wow..."
Bell had imagined Ryu would softly "scold" the small animal to not go to others so easily. Somehow Ryu seemed much more relaxed today than usual. Maybe it was just the forest, that she felt like this here. She was a forest elf after all.
"I was taught how to use a bow, to hunt and fight, as well as how to use a sword and even elven magic that didn´t require a falna, back in my home forest. We took the duty to guard the sacred tree very seriously."
It was rare for her to just talk about her life back then, but it was somehow easy to talk to Bell like this.
"And when monsters appeared I helped to fend them off too."
"There are monsters in elven forests?"
"Sometimes."
"And they allowed you to fight with them? Wasn´t that...dangerous? I mean, you were a guardian of the sacred tree. And pretty young, also some kind of royalty?"
"I wasn´t a helpless maid or child, and I refused to let others fight for my safety. Elves treat their royalty a bit differently than humans do, they aren´t just subjects to be important. Every elf needs to be able to defend oneself. Also...please Bell, don´t call me royalty, it feels wrong..."
"I´m sorry, I won´t do it again, you have my promise."
"Thank you, Bell."
Getting called reminded Ryu too much of her familia, Alise, Kaguya, and Lyra had loved it to tease Ryu this way. And currently, she wouldn´t be able to bear with it.
Bell tried to imagine a younger Ryu out in the forest, hunting monsters and animals.
"Hm, you came to Orario before the dark times started...you were fourteen back then...and..."
"I left my forest at the age of eleven."
"Uff."
"It´s not like I had much of a choice, I couldn´t stand it there anymore."
"Were you good at hunting? I mean you were pretty young back then."
Ryu raised her right hand and the squirrel jumped from there to a branch again, and vanished in the tree.
"I often competed with others, but only a few gave their all. It saddens me to say this, but in many terms, elves treat their loyalty like everyone else. Status means a lot for elves. Even when I didn´t do anything so far, they expected me to fill this important role in the future. Hah..."
It seemed like Ryu disliked this topic.
"You surely can imagine, for a race that cares so much about status and such things...it was not easy for me to find someone to who I could talk to. There was no one, I didn´t even have friends back then. And my family...well let´s not talk about them..."
Ryu took a deep breath, it seemed like while she didn´t like the topic, something in her told her to tell Bell about all this. In a way it felt liberating.
"Everyone was so reserved around me. I was quite a free spirit by Elven standards, wanted to go into the forest often and see what was beyond the forest...something that many people disliked."
"But why?"
"Many elves don´t trust the outside world. They only had bad experiences with humans, since they never left their forests they only got in contact with humans that came to our forests."
"And those were?"
"Poachers, treasure hunters, lumberjacks and bandits."
"Oh."
"Yes, these were the only people that many elves had contact with."
She ducked slightly under a branch and continued her way after Bell passed it too.
"Over the course of time, I got more and more restless. I wish I had someone like Lady Riveria had in Lady Aina."
"Lady Aina?"
"Ms. Eina´s mother, she is related to Lady Riveria."
"Ahm, Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"You said you dislike how the elves were and treat their royalty, yet you talk about Lady Riveria like that?"
"Lady Riveria is a high elf and our prince-..forget the last word. I-"
"Ms. Riveria is a princess?!"
"Ugh...now I said this... Yes, Bell. Lady Riveria is the princess of all forest elves. But please don´t talk about this to anyone or in Orario. She wants her freedom like I did."
"Wouldn´t it be better then, to talk normally about her?"
"That I can´t do, High Elves are something special. I was just a very tiny kind of royalty and only in Ryumilua. Nothing that can be compared to Lady Riveria. Also, High elves are special."
"You said that twice now."
The tips of Ryu´s ears got slightly red.
"A-Anyway, it is how it is."
In the past, Ryu would have been appalled that she had told him these things so freely, but talking with Bell was...nice.
Something about Bell reminded her of Alise, she also never cared about Ryu´s status, only teased her with it.
And then there was the fact that Ryu was head over heels for Bell...but talking about this and that helped her to remain a bit calm.
They followed the animal paths and Ryu led Bell masterly to the small lake. There was a spot near the lake where the trees weren't growing that close to each other, but not a glade. The treetops almost completely covered the sky, only a small patch remained free.
Ryu looked left and right, Bell smiled while he watched her. She noticed his gaze and put on a questioning look.
"Bell?"
"It´s nothing. I´m just in awe how easily you find such a good spot, close to the water."
"Oh that? A matter of habit and experience. This seems to be a good place to rest, let us set up our camp."
"Alright."
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Ryu put down her backpack and leaned it against a tree, then she walked to Bell and helped him to put down his enormous backpack, they had learned at their first rest that he had trouble doing it alone. A normal person couldn´t even lift this backpack and Ryu had a bit more trouble than Bell with it.
Due to her leaning more to speed, she didn´t maxed out her strength to level up, also every person that was not Bell needed a long time to max out their status, so long that no one except him and Ottar did that.
Bell smiled while they set up the camp, Ryu...she was a master if he could call it that. She worked quickly and efficiently, first, they cleared the ground of stones and branches, made sure that it was flat and not wet, and then they spread the large tarpaulin that Bell had lashed under his backpack.
After they had finished with the tarpaulin, they stretched a rope between two trees, there they would hang some food so that no animal would try to eat it at night. Little by little her little camp took shape, their blankets and small pillows packed in a corner for the time being, while Bell unpacked the cookware.
"Do you want to start cooking right away?"
"Yes, I thought that would give you time to take a bath in peace."
He smiled in his mind when he noticed how she glanced to the side for a moment, Ryu said she didn´t need a bath badly...but her body betrayed her words.
"It is okay, Ryu. Go and take your bath, I will prepare the food as good as I can."
She sighed for a moment but smiled slightly. "Fine, thank you, Bell."
Before she went to take her bath, Bell filled a pot with water from the lake and put a small magic item in the water, it would purify the liquid.
At first, Ryu thought it was because she was an elf, then she remembered how Bell was, that he behaved like that with women...he was a real gentleman. Ryu took her backpack and turned in the direction of the lake, it was right behind the next trees, but she would walk a bit away from the camp.
"Bell...I trust you." She looked over her shoulder.
"I won´t peek on you, I swear on my grandfather."
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Far, far, far away, an old man suddenly got very agitated. As if someone swore an oath or something like that, on his name, about something unforgivable!
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Ryu nodded and left, Bell listened to her footsteps for a moment, but it wasn't like she was making much noise. After he was sure that that she was far enough away from him, he sighed...Bell was in love.
He couldn´t deny his own feelings towards Ryu anymore, but he had to hold himself back during their journey, helping her to meet her goddess came first. Bit by bit he took out the things he would need for today, he hoped it would work.
Bell had trained under Mia, Mikoto, and Haruhime to cook a bit, it became a real joy for him to cook for a woman he loved.
At first, he took out two magical heating plates and put them on a board, they would only get warm on top. After activating them, Bell put the pot with water on one of the plates, and the pan on the other plate. While they got hot, he took out other things and unwrapped the bacon he got from Mia, she told him to use it on the first or second day.
Bell cut the bacon into small pieces on another board and threw a small piece of butter into the pan, soon the faint hiss of fat filled the camp. He used a wooden spoon to move around the butter, while he noticed the first light steam coming out of the water, he needed to wait until it was boiling.
He took the knife and board again and started to cut down the mushrooms that he had cleaned before. Syr gave Bell the advice that Ryu loved all kinds of mushrooms, apparently her home forest had the most delicious ones. Mama Mia had prepared hacked garlic for him, since she didn´t trust his cooking skills so far. The mushrooms and the garlic went into the pan first, he moved them around with the spoon until they got a bit brown and sprinkled some of his spice mix on it.
Syr had shown him the best way to sprinkle spices, he took them between the fingers of his right hand, raised the hand so that it was next to his face, his arm at an angle and sprinkled them from there into the pan. It looked strange but Bell thought that Syr knew what she said.
After all, Syr´s food had always been very delicious and slightly tingled in an interesting way on his tongue, so she had to know a lot about spices! Syr´s food tasted as good as Mama Mia´s or Haruhime´s in its own way!
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Back in Orario, Freya suddenly felt her heart getting warm.
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When he was satisfied with the mushrooms, he put the bacon into the pan and moved everything around. Bell focussed completely on the cooking and tried his best to ignore the soft splashing sounds from the lake. Ryu went a few dozen meters away...but Bell had good ears. He didn´t hear the rustling of her clothes, but how she...washed herself. And against his will the moment on the 18th floor came to his mind again, where he had seen a bathing fairy.
He tried not to imagine it, but focus on his work. When the water started to boil, Bell unwrapped the noodles that were part of the package and put them into the water, stirring them from time to time. Now came the part when he needed a bit of flour on the mushrooms and bacon. After that came the part where he had to be careful, Bell opened a small can and gave cream into the pan, the sizzling sound changed and he moved it around to not let it get burned.
The smell that filled their camp was good in his eyes...or rather nose. He saw that the water was boiling again and prepared a small sieve he would need. When the pan was at the right point, he opened the last package. Inside was a kind of cheese he never saw or tasted before Mia showed him, it was grated by Mia beforehand. The cheese melted in the cream and gave more creaminess to it, he tapped the rune on the heating plate and lowered the temperature a bit.
"Mmmh...Bell...that smells wonderful."
He looked up and froze, Ryu had returned and wore a kind of robe. This one was also green and looked similar to Riveria´s usual one, but longer. Of course she wouldn´t wear her normal sleeping wear in front of Bell...not again at least...but this one was okay. She smiled slightly as the smell of the food filled her nose, she still dried her hair with a towel.
To see her not carefree, but relaxed...her beauty only rose in Bell´s eyes.
"Bell?"
"Oh s-sorry, we can eat if you want, it is finished."
"That sounds good, I´m sorry for not helping."
"It´s okay,"
She put her towel over the rope to let it dry and sat down on the blanket. Bell gave her a bowl, then filled it with noodles and the sauce.
"What is the name of this dish?"
"Ms. Mia said, Knight´s Pasta."
"So knights eat this often?"
"I don´t know, apparently the sauce is called "Knight´s sauce", I don´t know why."
Ryu held the bowl in her hands and raised it to her face, inhaling the scent. "Ah...it smells good...Thank you for the food, Bell."
For the first time during their travel...or rather ever since Ryu asked him to help her...shy smiled. Not a slight or light smile...a genuine one.
Woah.
Maybe it was the light, the fact that they were alone...but Bell fell even more in love when he saw that smile. She had the charm of a young adult elf...her beauty was hard to describe for him...just wonderful. And he surely didn´t mind that Ryu was a few years older than him.
The food tasted good and they enjoyed the warmth it gave them.
Bell was only focused on his thoughts during their meal, there wasn´t much to talk about during eating. But Ryu also was busy with hen thoughts, about what she did a few minutes earlier.
When she had found a place to take a bath, Ryu had looked over her shoulder again. She trusted Bell but it was a habit of her to not risk anything. Her ears twitched while she listened to the sounds of Bell preparing their meal. Her cheeks got a bit red when she slowly took off piece after piece of her clothes.
With a deep breath, she took off the last thing and stood there naked, covering her crotch and chest with her hands even when nobody could see her. Thankfully the water was not too cold, even if she said otherwise...Ryu loved to bath in a forest lake. It wasn´t completely dark outside, she leaned back and relaxed for a while, listening to Bell working.
Ryu felt...strange. So many emotions ran around in her head. She sighed, the trip wouldn´t be an easy one.
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After they finished their meal, Bell went to wash himself while Ryu cleaned the cooking tools. At first, Bell wanted to do that but Ryu insisted.
"Bell you will not do everything on your own, I will do my share and I won´t accept a no!"
This strict side of her...Bell even loved that. He had to accept it...he was head over heels for Ryu...this feeling had built up for a long time in him.
It was equally embarrassing for him to undress completely with Ryu nearby, not that she would peek...but Bell got fully naked with a beautiful, young adult elven maiden not even twenty meters away from him. If Bell was another man...wasn´t that innocent and pure...he would maybe touch himself now by that thought.
But Bell wasn´t like that, he washed himself quickly, as well as his used underwear, and returned to the camp in the clothes he would use to sleep. They showed each other a short smile when he returned, he hung up his underwear behind the tre, like Ryu did with her underwear on the other side.
Since there was nothing left to do and they wanted to start early, both looked at the map a last time, talking about their route the next day before getting ready to sleep.
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Bell was lying there nervous, he had a small travel pillow under his head and was wrapped in his blanket. Ryu slept on the other side of the big blanket. A small magic item was buzzing softly between them, it would scare away insects.
He slightly turned his head and looked into her direction...it felt strange. Bell had slept next to women already. Be it during Expeditions in the dungeon, in the living room of his familia when all fell asleep together, back in the past with Hestia sometimes halfway on top of him...even with Ryu in her bed at the pub...but now...it was different.
"Bell?"
He was startled...did she notice that he was looking at her?
"Y-Yes?"
"Thank you...for coming with me..."
"Ryu?..."
He heard her blanket rustling when she turned away from him...Bell heard the tiniest sobbing from her...
Ryu didn´t allow herself to cry...but her heart was in turmoil.
It broke Bell´s heart to hear her like this, even if she tried to be as quiet as possible. A burning conviction grew in him, he would make Ryu happy.
Ryu...I love you..
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Bell had seen various things since he came to Orario, the horror of the dungeon, the fascinating environment...beautiful women. But the sight before his eyes when he woke up in the morning...was one of the best.
As usual when he was traveling, like when he had done a few quests outside of Orario or landed in Edas village after he went to rescue Hestia, the first sounds of animals and shy sun rays woke him up. Blinking while he slowly opened them, his eyes got used to the brightness...then he saw her.
Dear heavens.
Ryu was still sleeping, laying about two meters away from him. In her sleep she had turned towards Bell, the sun came from behind her so it didn´t wake her up directly. From the first moment, he was captivated by her beauty, she looked so peaceful while she slept.
Her blanket slowly rose and fell with her breath, except for her head and a hand, everything was covered by the blanket. Just for a second, his eyes wandered over the blanket and he admired the outline of her body. And her face...after he heard her sobbing last night, Ryu now looked so peaceful and at ease.
Bell only had a guess, but he was the first man who ever saw the sleeping Ryu like this.
He couldn´t stop his eyes, they wandered to Ryu´s ear that was visible through her hair...he was always fascinated by them.
A slight movement caught his attention, maybe it was her hand, but something moved under her blanket. The blanket covered her from the middle of her throat downwards, but now...something moved up. A tiny head with reddish fur came out under the blanket...and yawned.
It was a squirrel...a tiny squirrel was under Ryu´s blanket and had slept there. In the past he saw how Ryu and Lefiya acted around wild animals, that they naturally trusted them...but this...this was on a whole other level! The more he looked at the peacefully sleeping Ryu, the more warm got in his heart.
But Bell was a healthy young man and he couldn´t help having certain thoughts. After he heard her sobbing last night. Bell wanted to comfort her. He wished he could gently brush the few hair strains out of her face...cup her cheek with his hand...maybe even...
Argh, grandfather! Why did you put these ideas in my head about kissing a sleeping woman?!
His face grew warm when he looked at her lips, with that inviting curve. But now was not the time, he also felt a bit guilty, watching Ryu sleep...but it wouldn´t be the last time.
Bell slowly sat up and yawned lightly, stretching his arms over his head. The squirrel yawned with him and crawled out from under her blanket. The movements and noises from Bell weren´t unnoticed by Ryu, her face twitched lightly, as did her ears.
That was a picture that Bell burned into his mind, not only did he have a thing for elves...but he was also fascinated by their beauty, especially their ears. It was just way too cute when Ryu or Lefiya did that, Ryu, mostly when she was confused and Lefiya when she was surprised or upset.
Yes, he admitted it, even Lefiya Viridis had a very cute side to her! But more something like...a sister maybe.
But Ryu...maybe it was because she was an elf or her serious nature...but that small gesture...let her look so cute in his eyes.
I want to protect her...to shield her from everything sad and evil...make her happy.
Of course, he knew that Ryu was very strong, but he couldn´t fight his nature.
"Nnnh..."
Her eyelids fluttered while she drifted from sleep to be awake. Bell averted his face, not because he didn´t want to get caught watching her, but because she was a woman in bed who was about to wake up.
It just wouldn´t be right to watch her while her mind wasn´t awake, she could move in a way that she didn´t intend to, and Bell didn´t want to embarrass her. Ryu´s eyes opened and got used to the bright early morning very fast, her ears twitched again as she noticed all the sounds around her.
It was the first time in a while that she slept in a forest, the sound of the lake had helped her to fall asleep. And for the third time in her life, the first thing she saw in the morning was a man...was Bell.
First on the 37th floor, then her bed in the Hostess, now here.
When did I become so shameless?...
He turned away from her and rubbed the back of his head, yawning. A faint smile appeared shortly on her lips, she thought it would feel much different the first time this happened in a forest.
Wait! Wh-What do I mean by first time in a forest?! Is this different from sleeping in a bed together?! Do I plan to do this more often?! Auuu...Lady Astrea...I could need your advice...
The squirrel next to her squeaked and looked at her.
"Good morning little one." She gently stroked the squirrel´s head and it jumped into the forest after rubbing its head on her hand.
Ryu sat up and yawned lightly, yawning in front of Bell...well more behind his back...after waking up was okay. She saw his head turning in her direction, a soft smile on his lips.
"Good morning, Ryu."
"Good morning, Bell."
She noticed that he averted his eyes from her, Ryu could guess why he was doing it.
Not looking at me because I´m still in bed and wearing my sleeping clothes...he is a gentleman.
"If you want to go first to the lake to wash your face and such, I will clean up the camp in the meantime."
"I would prefer it if you wait with that until I return."
"O-Of course...your clothes.."
"No Bell, my clothes are one thing, but I don´t want you to do everything for me."
"But..."
"No, but, I´m not a pampered little girl, I will do my share...okay?"
She saw him smiling. "Okay."
For Ryu it was one thing when Bell tried to be a gentleman and nice, she understood his nature to be nice to her. But she felt unwell if he would try to do everything for her, even if he meant well. At the same time, she was happy that he didn´t do it because she was an elf or even a woman...simply because she was herself.
Since she didn´t want to pull out her clothes in front of Bell, even when he was turned away from her, Ryu took her backpack with her, and her underwear that she had washed last night. Ryu didn´t look over her shoulder, she trusted Bell as she undressed and washed herself shortly. Doing that in a forest in the early morning was a bit cold but also very refreshing, in the past she had done it when she traveled through her home forest.
The worry of last night was mostly gone, it was the second day of their journey and Ryu was even more determined to see Astrea.
After finishing her washing, Ryu returned to the camp. As he had promised, Bell didn´t clean up everything, only his stuff. He looked surprised about the expression on her face, Ryu looked...flustered. Bell couldn´t know it, but she got deep red when she searched for her clothes in her backpack...and found something that shouldn´t be inside her backpack...
She had a good guess as to why this was there.
Syr...did you do this?!
"Bell, you can go."
"Thank you."
With a short smile to her, he went to the lake. Ryu cleaned up her side with the professional efficiency of an experienced adventurer. Even when they weren´t in the dungeon, she packed her stuff fast, there was no reason for her to slack off.
And...the faster they cleaned up the camp and had breakfast, the faster they could continue their travel.
After Bell returned, they cleaned up everything and had a light breakfast, containing mostly seeds and bread, together with two hard-boiled eggs each, they had to eat them today or there was a chance they would go bad.
.
.
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"I wanted to ask, these are not your usual boots, aren´t they?"
They had left the forest after a short while and were now in open grasslands again. Bell only glanced shortly at her boots, he thought it would be impolite to stare too much at her feet. Her boots were indeed shorter than her usual ones, not even reaching her knees. But she wore different clothes in general since wearing her adventurer gear would feel wrong for her.
"You have good eyes, these are elven travel boots, they have a very soft sole."
"So these are common for your people?"
"Not ones with such a quality, these were a gift from Syr, Chloe, Anya, Lunor, Mama Mia, and all the others at the pub, for one of my birthdays.
"They must love you."
Ryu sighed slightly but smiled shortly. "Even when Mama Mia likes to work us to the ground and they often tease me..."
Bell knew Ryu well enough to hear her tone, she loved the pub and everyone there.
"That reminds me I wanted to ask something else."
"Go ahead."
"How should I act when we arrive at the first forest? You told me that forest elves don´t like humans very much."
"A good question, if you hadn´t asked I would have told you by myself."
Ryu had a special smile on her lips, she couldn´t let go of the habit to help Bell and teach him. Not that Bell was like her pupil...but it was her habit of doing so.
"First you have to distinguish between forest elves and wood elves."
Bell looked curious. "I thought so far it is only a way to translate it into the common language."
"Elvish is a very complicated language compared to that of others, dwarves are very direct and the human tongue is...well..."
"Simple?"
"Let´s call it that." Ryu didn´t chuckle even when she was slightly amused, her "more-experienced-adventurer" "-like behavior came through.
"Forest elves like Lefiya, Filvis, Lady Riveria, and me live in the forests. Wood elves live with the forests."
Even when Bell didn´t ask anything, his look was enough for Ryu to hear the words in her mind "And the difference is?".
"We forest elves have our homes in the forests, simple houses or trees that were shaped with magic. The easiest way to describe it, imagine a house built inside a tree, without hurting the tree or killing it. We respect the forest and the spirits living there, we are having festivals to honor them."
"Spirits? Spirits live inside the forests?!"
"Not big spirits, but smaller ones, it is common to see Undines in the rivers and lakes, or Sylphs nearly everywhere. When we lit campfires for the festivals, the Salamander spirits float around and inside it."
"What are Sylphs? I heard the name of the other two before, but not that one."
"Sylphs are lesser wind spirits, they do what they want. Sometimes playing harmless pranks on people, they can be bold but never hostile, they are just "free-spirited"."
Ryu chuckled slightly after her last words.
Bell was always enchanted when she smiled or chuckled, it let her only look more beautiful.
"I´m sorry Bell, it is a sort of pun among elves. It only makes sense in elvish, I guess."
"I don´t understand enough of elvish for that, probably."
"You are learning elvish?" She looked surprised.
"As much as I can, it is not that easy."
"Do you have a special reason for that?"
"I am...thought it is an interesting language."
That was at least half the truth, he thought it was interesting and got always curious about it. But now he also had another reason for wanting to learn it.
So that maybe in the future if he found the courage, to tell Ryu his feelings in her language.
Elvish was a very lyrical language and saying "I love you" had a much, much deeper meaning than in the common language. It was a confession and a marriage proposal in one since elves only fell in love with one person during their whole life.
.
.
"Now that you have an image about forest elves, let´s talk about wood elves, the first obvious difference would be that they live much deeper in the forests than we do. You probably won´t meet even one of them, since they live mostly in different forests, the wild ones."
"Wild forests?"
"Those with more wild spirits, wood elves defend their forests and are openly hostile to everyone who invades their territories."
"But I thought the forest elves defend their forests too?"
"We do, but wood elves kill every intruder, even those who are just lost. No one survives, except those who are stronger than them. Another difference is the appearance, you have seen a few elves in Orario and how we dress. As you know, we cover most of our skin and don´t show them except for our loved ones.
And also...for the better or worse...we are all very proud."
Bell smiled wryly, he saw what happened when the pride of an elf was hurt and sullied by themself. Most elves were easily agitated, especially with lewd jokes or other things. Often enough he had to hold back Ryu or Lefiya when they wanted to act too hasty in some situations. Lefiya even chased him after she heard about the incident on the 18th Floor...but that was long in the past.
And it got worse after they fought the strange monster that was created by Evilus, Lefiya´s clothes dissolved in the acid. Bell saw a glimpse of her naked but, since her underwear had dissolved...underwear normally wasn´t as sturdy as a battle garment. He didn´t try to look but her skirt dissolved and flew up, later even her top dissolved. But as a gentleman, Bell had looked away...and she had almost knocked him out anyway.
So yes, Bell knew quite well how elves behaved that had their pride hurt.
Ryu continued. "And wood elves, wear nearly no clothes."
"Huh?"
"They are not naked of course, but excepforom pants, boo,ts and something around the chest of the women, they don´t have clothes. Maybe sometimes a bracelet made from leather, but not much more. Their clothes are made from leather and fabric woven from plant fibers.
It has y wild touch, they want to be one with nature."
"I...I see..."
"Bell...you are better not imagining something right now?" She raised an eyebrow.
"O-O-Of course not!"
He would never imagine a woman in short leather clothes that would reveal most of her skin. And of course not Ryu!...or Eina!...or Lefiya...or Ryu...or Ais, or Lily, or Ryu! Surely...not...well maybe...a little bit. But only a little bit!
"Is that so? we,ll then it's all right."
Ryu adjusted her backpack and continued.
"Since the elves in the forests don´t have much contact with humans, don´t say too much. Most of them won´t understand you anyway, since they only speak elvish, they are too proud to learn any other language. Leave the talking to me please."
"Sounds good."
They continued to talk for a while and after that, enjoyed walking in silence side by side. The mountains came closer and closer.
.
.
It was the third day since they left Orario when they arrived at their first destination, the sun slowly started to set. The outskirts of Seolo forest at the foot of the Alf mountains. From here they would move in an almost straight line, pass Alf´s Royal forest, then Wishe, to arrive at Solingen.
Yet since it could cause problems, they would move to the outskirts of the forests.
Even when Bely wanted to see an elven forest, he wouldn´t push Ryu to guide him into such a forest. But nature didn´t give them much choice, it looked like the mother of all storms was brewing and getting closer. Similar to the night when Bell had to sleep at the Hostess.
Was it fate? Or something else? In any case, it would be safer to seek shelter in the forest. Maybe the elves would give them a place to sleep? If Ryu were alone, of course, they would, but with Bell...
They had no choice, the small tent they had wouldn´t stand much of a chanceTheyey had to sleep very close to each other, which wasn´t alright for Ryu. Her heart and emotions were in turmoil for the whole trip, even her heart didn´t know exactly what it wanted. It let her head tilt towards Bell, yet jumped like a nervous deer when he looked at her in return.
"Bell, I hate to say that...but whatever you do, please keep your hands away from your weapons. I know that you aren´t like this, but they will be nervous. I also want to apologize if you don´t understand everything now, trust me...yes?"
"Of course, I trust you Ry-...ahm...now that I think about it...should I call you something different? Milady? Lady Lyon?"
For some reason, he saw a faint blush on her cheeks. "I guess...Ms. Lyon will do...But only as long as we are among the other elves!"
"Understood, My. Lyon."
"Mmmhh..."
It was more embarrassing for Ryu to be called "Ms. Lyon" by Bell than just "Ryu" would be. The Alf mountains rose before them in their full glory, the forest at his feet about six times the size of Orario.
"Wow...so large..."
"The Seolo forest has the usual size, most of the forests aren´t that much bigger Alf´s royal forest is about for times the size of this one."
"Four times?!"
"Yes, more or less twenty-eight times Orario."
"Wow..."
Far away from them, he saw a tree that was far bigger than the ones around it. They followed a narrow path between the foothills of the forest, which led them through a thicket of various bushes. Bell saw some rose bushes, butterfly bushes, hydrangeas, lavender heather, and a few others.
Bell knew a little bit about plants due to his past in the village, so it was a bit strange to see so many different kinds together. The roses were still in full bloom and filled the air with a pleasant smell, even though they came in various colors. Bell only knew red ones...but some were white, a few even blue..and he saw one with black blossoms.
Ryu only mumbled from the side. "So many grow here because it is an elven forest. They mark different paths."
Her eyes were focused on the path, Bell walked with slightly spread arms, keeping his hands away from his weapons.
He mumbled. "Where are they?"
"They know that we are here, trust me."
While Bell peered into the dark wood, he couldn´t help but feel excited, he walked into an elven forest! Finally! And at the side of a beautiful, dignified elven woman! The air felt different, he was in a forest in the past, but this one just felt...different.
Both kept walking until they reached a small clearing.
"Wait here, Bell."
Ryu walked a bit until she stood in the middle of the clearing, raising her voice.
Bell didn´t understand a word that Ryu said, it was about two sentences. But his heart jumped in joy when he heard her voice, not only was elvish a very lyrical language, it sounded so wonderful when she spoke it. He heard Lefiya once mumbling in elvish in the past, which already was beautiful.
Even when it was an insult towards him...but he didn´t know that.
Ryu continued, Bell now understood four words. "Aluna un ad Ryu Lyon, un dror "Knight"."
She said more but Bell didn´t understand anything of that, he was happy enough to listen to her, and couldn´t help but smile.
A few moments after Ryu was finished they heard nothing except for the normal sounds of a forest. Then Bell heard a voice from somewhere out of the forest, a sentence.
"Alun eldr."
Haaaa~~~I could listen to her voice like this for hours!
Bell tried to remain as calm as possible, but he felt it... He was head over heels for her...
There was a slight rustling, followed by movement between the trees. In the branches of a huge beech tree appeared two elves holding bows in their hands, two more on the ground, each of them carrying a spear of a style that Bell had never seen.
All four elves wore green and brown clothes, made from a cloth that looked similar to one of Ryu´s robes, their feet were in fine leather boots, similar to Ryu´s. They didn´t look cheap, but Ryu´s had a far better quality. Iwasre two men and two women, two of them blonde, one with brown ha,ir and the last one with green.
The archers jumped down from the branches and all four formed a line in front of Ryu...kneeling immediately. Bell´s eyes widened, not because of the act of the four elves...but Ryu´s reaction to it. She looked very uncomfortable and the tips of her ears got slightly red.
He could only guess she had mentioned something about her being a sacred guardian in the past. She told him it would help with the elves, but also make herself uncomfortable.
Ryu said something in elvish and the four elves got back to their feet. Bell couldn´t make out a leader among them, but one of the men turned around and jogged into the forest. Two of the others talked silently to Ryu, while the last one, a woman, eyed Bell.
The woman turned her head to Ryu and asked her something that Bell didn´t understand either.
"Alun, Ora ad un ele Orario, har dur elunja "Knight"."
The eyes of the three other elves widened and they looked at Bell with...respect?
He smiled friendly and bowed politely, his hands spread away from his weapons. He placed his right hand above his heart...and made a terrible mistake.
"I happy to eat your ears."
The three elves looked puzzled, then the women started to giggle. Ryu had never before looked as ashamed and displeased as now, in an instant she got deep red.
"Mr. Cranel!"
"I´m sorry, Ms. Lyon...did I say something wrong?"
"Yes..."
Bell pressed his arms against his sides and bowed down repeatedly. The elves said something again to Ryu, then they vanished into the forest again.
"Come, Mr. Cranel..."
They spoke about how they would address each other among the elves, but he now had the feeling she called him like that because he had embarrassed her.
"I´m sorry..."
He followed Ryu, in the moment that they got under the trees, they were enveloped by velvet darkness, but it didn´t feel unpleasant. The elves didn´t go with them, they remained on their post.
The sky rumbled heavily in the distance, and even when evening came, it got dark way too fast, because of the storm clouds.
"Ahm...what did I say?"
"That you are happy to eat their ears..."
"What?!"
"Yes...please don´t try to speak elvish if you can´t do it right...or we might get into trouble. And I mean serious trouble."
"Understood...I´m sorry."
"Hah...it´s okay."
"May I ask...what did you tell them?"
"I told them who I am and that you are my companion...my knight."
"Your knight?"
"The word for "knight" has different meanings in my language, in this context it means that you accompany me ... as a kind of bodyguard. Since I am a tiny royal among elves, it is just fitting that I am accompanied by a chamberlain or a personal knight."
"So I am..."
"If someone asks, you are my knight. I´m sorry if that is uncomfortable for you, but it will make our journey easier...okay?"
"Okay."
Bell squealed in his mind out of happiness. Not only was he Ryu´s companion on that journey...he was her "knight"! Bell couldn´t be more happy at the moment.
"Where are we going now?"
"Meeting with their village elder, we need to ask for permission to stay here for the night."
"Is there a chance they won´t let us?"
"Only if we don´t behave."
"And it could be a problem that I am a human?"
"I´m sorry, but yes. Also...this village elder is a bit complicated."
"Do you know him or her?"
"I know him..."
Ryu sighed.
"Oh and Bell before I forget it, try to be calm in every situation."
"Because of the elves?"
"No, well yes for them too, but the spirits living here could be offended otherwise."
I would love to see a spirit, so far have I only seen a few gnomes in Orario.
At this moment, back in Orario, Ais sneezed.
Right now, Bell Cranel was just a young boy wandering into a land out of a fairy tale. He had to memorize everything and tell Haruhime all about it, she surely would love to hear everything! And his familia too!
"Ry-Ms. Lyon, do you think maybe we could get some elvish spices or special ingredients? I bet Ms. Mia would love to get them."
.
.
Bell was in a magical land, the further they came the brighter the forest. While the canopy of leaves above them blocked the light of the stars and the moon, small floating light orbs drifted around in the air. It looked magical in here, he heard the sound of a small stream somewhere, and soon he even saw it, running next to their path.
"Elves tend to settle close to water, this stream runs right through the village."
It took away Bell´s breath when they arrived at the small elven village. Ryu had said the truth, the trees here were all bigger than the giant tree on the hill in Orario´s south. Some of the trees had stairs attached to the bark...but it looked more like they were growing out of the wood.
Slender, elegant pillars supported canopies, in front of the entrances to the tree houses...all of them part of the trees. Here and there he saw elves walking around, most of them only looked shortly at Ryu but stopped when they noticed Bell.
"It´s so beautiful..."
"You can see why they call it the "Spirit Village"."
"So these orbs..."
"Are lesser light spirits."
One of these orbs drifted slow towards Bell and , circled his head for a moment before it followed Ryu and eventually drifted away again.
Voices that spoke in elvish made Bell aware of the elves approaching.
Ryu wore a neutral expression. "Please remain calm now, Mr. Cranel."
"Understood."
Bell glanced curious to Ryu as more and more elves gathered around them. Most of them ignored Bell after looking at him shortly, while a human was rare here...they looked at Ryu with a strange amount of respect.
He guessed it had to do something with her last visit. She told him that she came here as a company for Riveria and that they fought Wyverns to protect the holy tree in this forest. That together with the fact that Ryu was a sacred guardian before, let nearly all elves here respect her deeply.
"Ah, Lady Ryu! We can even accept the presence of this barbaric human adventurer when it means to be in your presence!"
He looked hopefuatby the cheerful greeting of the elves, it pained Ryu that Bell didn´t understand how these elves talked about him.
"Please stop talking about my knight like this, you are rude. But I thank you for your compliments, I would like to talk to the village elder, where can I find him?"
A small figure came closer to the crowd of elves, carrying a staff that was even taller than the figure.
An elven child?
Bell looked curious, the elf that came closer was at least over a head smaller than the other elves.
"What´s with all this ruckus?"
When the "child" stopped in front of Ryu, he sighed. "It´s you again, who accompanied the tomboy who ran away from home."
"Elder Lilo, I´m happy to see you well again."
Is this kid important?
"You there! Human! I can tell by your expression that you just thought that I was a child! I´m not a kid, I have lived far longer than you can imagine!"
This was the first sentence that Bell understood since the small elf had spoken Koine.
"E-Eh?"
"Elder Lilo, please wait. My knight, Mr. Cranel, doesn´t have much experience with elves and he was never before in a village."
"Tch...first you ran away from home and then you traveled with a human...how far have we fallen..."
"My knight aside, we are here for a certain reason. We travel to the east and would ask to seek shelter from the approaching storm for the night. We will leave in the morning as soon as possible, in case the storm has moved on or stopped. Would you permit us to do so? And maybe give us a room like last time?
"Permit you?! The last time you were hear the holy tree nearly burned to the ground and.-...be quiet you! I know it wasn´t her fault-...where was I...right, every time you come here you want something precious from us. Tch! So how dare you come here again and-"
The other elves around the elder looked unpleased by his words, Bell kept quiet and waited a few steps behind Ryu...completely ignored by most of the elves.
"Elder! This is Lady Lyon you are talking to!"
"She saved our holy tree last time!"
"She is a sacred guardian!"
The small elf waved his staff angrily.
"Be quiet you all! I know what she did! But look what she has with her! She brought a barbarian into our village! Just look at his lusty eyes!"
Most of the elves had problems looking into Bell´s eyes, not because he was a human...but because they were startled by the rubellite color.
"But Lady Lyon is a guardian! She will have a reason to bring him with her!"
"If she trusts him, he is good enough to stay here!"
The elves tried to drown the elder out.
"Quiet! I am the village elder and it is my job to ensure the safety of this village!"
The short elf glared at Bell.
"You there, human!"
"Y-Yes?"
"We will let the guardian stay here for the night, but not a barbarian like you! You have to prove yourself first!"
Bell blinked and looked at Ryu. "Bar...barian?"
"It doesn´t matter now, Mr. Cranel."
"Ahm...how should I...prove myself?"
The small elf showed him a smug grin. "Only the purest people are allowed to stay in our village. I would have said bring me a unicorn or a single spirit, but I heard you were rude to our guards and I see how you look at the women here with lusty eyes. So bring me a herd of unicorns! But well...if that is too hard for you..."
Maybe it was luck, fate, destiny, or something else, but the elder was interrupted by...neighing.
The elves turned around and got big eyes when not one but seven unicorns came out of the forest and trotted in their direction...or rather Ryu´s.
"Haaaa! Why are the unic-...oh it´s because of you..."
The elder remembered the last time Ryu was here, unicorns had appeared too and came to Riveria as if she was a light sour,ce and they moths. Lefiya, Filvis, and Ryu were allowed by the unicorns to touch them, a great honor!
And it had meant a lot for Ryu, that the unicorns still saw her as pure. In Filvis´ case, she had almost cried...she did a bit.
"Ehe~~" Ryu smiled slightly and raised a hand to pet the head of the first unicorn...but it didn´t stop and trotted past her.
"Hm?"
The elves went out of the way when the unicorns came closer...to Bell. He had seen a unicorn before, but only as a Xenos in the dungeon and Ryu had explained to him that monster unicorns were completely different.
The unicorn looked at Bell with its big, dark eyes and neighed again. He stood still when it came closer, blinking and...rubbing its head against Bell´s.
"Haaaaa?! What is happening?!"
The elves could only watch in awe how the unicorns trotted to Bell and surrounded him, nudging their heads gently against him.
"Ahm...Ms. Lyon...I..."
"They seem to like you, try to pet them Mr. Cranel, gently."
Slowly, Bell raised his hands and petted the head of a unicorn with each hand. He was very careful because of their horns, but they seemed to like him. The small village elder could only stare in shock when another unicorn came out of the forest...a special one.
Like the other unicorns, it looked close to a horse with a horn on the head, completely white...but this one..was special. It was more slender than the others and had a feminine aura around her, the female unicorn walked slowly and it looked almost like...she was smiling.
The other unicorns made room for her as she came closer...lowering her head almost...shy.
"Why is she here?!"
"It´s her!"
"The unicorn queen!"
Even the elves that lived in this forest only heard stories about this special unicorn...and now it was here.
"The purest among the unicorns! Why is she going to that barbarian?!"
Ryu smiled pleased when the unicorn queen stopped in front of Bell, looking at him.
Don´t tell me...he even charmed this pure being?
The unicorn queen blinked slowly...almost sensual...and nudged her head gently against Bell´s face, he giggled because of the ticklish feeling. The other unicorns came closer again and nudged against the back of his head and arms...they seemed to like him.
At least..until Bell felt something wet against his ear.
"Irkh.."
One of the unicorns had licked Bell´s ear, another nibbled with its lips at his other ear.
"They even do that!"
The queen of the unicorns still gently nudged against Bell´s face...it looked almost like she was kissing his cheeks... And the one behind Bell...opened its lips and...put them over Bell´s hair.
"Uwe..."
The unicorn slowly pulled its lips back and moved forward again...it seemed to have fun playing with Bell´s hair...but he got his fair share of unicorn...saliva.
After a last soft nudge against Bell´s forehead, the unicorn queen turned around and trotted into the forest, nudging her head gently against Ryu´s cheek while she passed her, the other unicorns followed.
Silence fell over the village...every elf looked at the not-so-happy Bell.
The village elder sighed.
"Well..I guess...I can´t argue against that..."
.
.
.
"Ah, that feels much better..."
Bell dried his hair with his travel towel, the elves gave him a chance to wash his head after the unicorns "harassed" him. The village elder had to acknowledge Bell after what everyone had seen and they allowed him to enter the village.
Since it was getting late, and the thunderstorm now unleashed its wrath over the forest, both got invited to spend the night in one of the bigger trees, which had a few empty rooms for occasions like this. Of course, Bell and Ryu wouldn´t sleep in one room, that would be improper.
The elves had shown to him where he could wash himself, a few of them spoke the common tongue.
"I have to say I am amazed, Bell. You are probably the first person with whom they have ever done this...the elves here were quite shocked."
"And you were not?"
"I have seen stranger things in my life."
Ryu sat on an elven version of a couch, a cup of tea on a small table in front of her. It was almost like a small living room, with small doorways with curtains separating the separate bedrooms.
"Don't Elves build doors?"
"Only for the house or in special buildings, mostly a curtain is enough. Elves would never sneak in another one´s bedroom."
"I guess that makes sense then."
Ryu looked out of the window for a short moment, it was a downpour outside.
"We should go to sleep, I want to leave early in the morning."
He nodded.
"All right, good night then...Ms. Lyon."
Bell smiled shortly, he didn´t dare to just say "Ryu".
"Good night, Mr. Cranel."
Ryu felt a bit strange when she got up from the couch and went to the small bedroom. Bell slept a few meters away from her, only the walls of the tree and two curtains were between them.
They had slept next to each other more than one time during their journey so far...but somehow this felt a bit more embarrassing now.
Wishing each other good night in some kind of living room...sleep so close to each other...hah...why is my heart pounding again?! Oh...Lady Astrea...Syr...Alise...I could need your help...
With her twenty-one years of age, of course, Ryu didn´t have any experience when it came to love. Not that anyone had interested her before Bell was there. And he was five years younger than her! Five years! Which was the normal time two people should court each other before feelings of affection bloomed!
Ryu lay in bed and looked at the wall separating her from Bell, she sighed ...
Hah...
The journey would be easier for her if her heart would not let her feel unnecessary things. Due to her inexperience with matters of the heart, she took refuge in familiar territory ... tried to be professional.
But the evening had also shaken her to her core, that so many unicorns...even their queen...came to Bell...
Bell...
The sleep didn´t come easily to Ryu this night...she was a bit unpleased with herself, for thinking about various things when she should focus. And she got a bit afraid again when she thought about meeting Astrea again...
But she wasn´t the only one.
Bell was in his bed, looking at the wall that separated them.
Ryu..
Without knowing it, both looked exactly at the other´s face, only separated by the wall. Their beds also grew directly out of the wall, so...both were more or less in one big bed and looked at each other.
If both knew this, these poor pure souls would probably be embarrassed.
Good night...Ryu...
.
.
.
"So Tomboy, barbarian...the storm went away, you can leave now."
All the elves of the small village came to wish them goodbye...well mostly Ryu. A few looked at Bell, word had gotten around what had happened with the unicorns. With the few white armor plates, his cape, and the Hestia Knife at his hip, he looked a bit like a knight now.
My...knight...
"Thank you, elder Lilo, we will be on our way then."
Ryu turned around but Bell didn´t move.
"Elder Lilo."
She turned around again when she heard Bell talking.
"What do you want, barbarian?"
The village elder still didn´t like Bell for being a human, despite the fact what happened with the unicorns and that he was Ryu´s knight.
"Is there anything we can do to pay you back for letting us stay and permitting us to cross the forest? Even agreeing to give us a few spices and nuts for our travel? Our way will bring us past the Royal Forest and Wishe. We will travel a long distance...is there maybe something you want to send to the other elven forests? We could take it with us for you."
"Eh?"
The small elf blinked perplexed, Ryu was surprised, but Bell looked serious. Most of the elves looked confused since they didn´t understand what Bell said.
"Well there is something, but I won´t give it to you human." He looked at Ryu. "You can carry it."
She simply nodded and waited until the elder returned with a small bag.
"Give three of these seeds to each elder of the other forests."
"Understood, we will deliver it."
"Elder, you have to say thank you to Lady Lyon and her knight!"
"I don´t want to!"
"Don´t be a child now!"
"Who do you call a child?!"
It took a few minutes until both left the village and walked to the north. A few small spirits drifted behind them and accompanied them for a while. One of the Sylphs sat down on Bell´s shoulder...he could have sworn he saw something like a small, female figure with tiny wings...but only for a moment, the spirit looked like a small wind orb most of the time.
A spirit...is sitting on my shoulder...wow...
"Bell..."
"Yes, Ryu?"
"That way smart of you, to offer something like that, the elves will think differently of you now."
"I didn´t do it for that, I wanted to thank them for letting us stay and allowing me to enter the forest in the north."
She showed him a special kind of smile.
"Sometimes I think you are just too friendly for this world, Bell."
"I´m just doing my best to help people and make them happy."
The direction they had to take was easy to see, they just had to walk toward the northeast, so that the mountains would be on their right side. He still was fascinated by the enormous tree, thadwarfeded all the other trees.
"Does every elven forest have such a tree?"
"Only some, but the bigger ones like the royal forest have more than one."
"But they aren´t all abandoned?"
"In most cases, they are something like holy places, but sometimes there are circumstances."
"Like?"
"For example, in my home forest, there are a few of these giant trees, most are part of a small village. From what I heard from Lady Riveria, in the Royal forest there are two of them are home of something else, I told you before about the spider queen."
"Yes...and the other?"
"Fire dragons."
"Dragons? Living in a tree?"
"To be precise, they live in the caves under the tree, there is an old ruin under it."
"I...I..."
Bell had a strange expression.
"Bell?"
Ryu was a bit worried about his expression.
"I feel like I am dreaming..."
"Bell? What is with you?"
Suddenly, a wide, child-like smile spread over Bell´s lips.
"I´m sorry, Ryu."
"Hm?"
"I´m walking through an elven forest...together with a beautiful, elven Maiden...who is even something like a small princess...and there is a chance I will encounter dragons! In ruins below an old elven tree! It is like one of my stories! Like the ones about Argonaut!"
She was nearly blinded by his innocent, happy look.
"It is good that you look forward to it, but please don´t get carried away, alright?"
"I won´t!"
For the next few minutes, Bell just let his eyes wander around and looked at the forest.
"It is like a different world...it is so beautiful here."
She smiled slightly while she followed his gaze...sometimes she forgot about the sheer beauty of the forest.
And...
For the first time, Ryu did something that she scolded other people for doing.
Ryu looked at Bell from the side while he looked in another direction. Just taking in his profile, despite his child-like joy, Ryu knew that Bell was a young man...and adult by human standards...sixteen years old. She didn´t know why she did it...maybe it was due to what her friends had told her before she went on the journey.
Or it was Syr´s teasing that Ryu should get herself a fine man...the gentleman who offered to help her when he heard that she was worried sick.
Why do I think about Bell like this...I can´t be...Hah...I am in l...
Her upright nature forbade her to form the last word in her mind. She scolded herself silently and looked in another direction. Just like her friends at the pub, Ryu didn´t have much experience with men.
Except for beating them up and throwing them out of the pub...
Syr had even dared to tease her with a wink when she wished her goodbye for now, that she wouldn´t be mad or surprised if both came back different than how they were when they went on their way. The others had agreed with Syr.
Why is everyone thinking that...
Maybe Syy just teased her, since they were good friends she did it sometimes.
Ryu knew the way and it was easy for her skilled eye to follow the way northward. Her biggest problem right now was what Bell was in love with...her elven nature. Ryu always worked hard and didn´t like it when someone slouched around. And because of this, she couldn´t just relax easily. Over the months she knew Bell now, Ryu had taken a liking of him. He was earnest, honest, hardworking, and many other things. He cared a lot for his friends and Familia, and helped wherever he could...right now was the best example.
But...she couldn´t just be honest, not even to herself. Her brain just thought it couldn´t be that she...had feelings. In return, her heart screamed it out, let her blush and stutter again and again.
.
.
.
Ryu noticed that Bell had started to hum a melody ... not one she had ever heard. It was an easy, simple melody...but it sounded nice. There was something about that tune that she liked very much.
"Bell?"
"Yes?"
"This melody..I never heard it."
"Oh this is from my village. My grandfather always hummed it when we were busy with fieldwork. You know, like digging up the soil, sowing it, fertilizing it, watering it, and all other activities that arose."
"So you have much experience with being a farmer?"
"Yes, I always helped my grandfather since I was a child."
"Just out of curiosity, why didn´t you choose for your life to be a farmer?"
Bell leaned his head back and looked up to the canopy of leaves above them.
"Ever since I was small, my grandfather told me stories about Argonaut and his adventures, about other heroes and their adventures too. I loved those stories and I wanted to be like them. To search for the unknown, protect helpless people and such things."
Bell didn´t tell her that he also dreamed about rescuing a girl in a dungeon and falling in love with her...which actually had happened to him...and now that he went to help Ryu, on the 37th floor he even achieved to pick her up in the dungeon... And that he dreamed about wearing shiny armor and a brilliant blade.
Ryu frowned lightly when Bell´s expression turned sad suddenly.
"And also..."
She blinked...his expression hurt her a bit...it seemed he was sensitive to that subject.
"After my grandfather died...killed by a monster in the mountains...I had nothing left in that village. I never got to know my parents...or my aunt...but my grandfather told me they were amazing people."
Ryu felt sorry...she saw a tear glistening in the corner of Bell´s eye.
"Bell, I´m sorry...for asking."
"It´s okay...you couldn´t know it."
"Still..."
He shook his head. "I´m trying to see the good side of it. If I didn´t come to Orario, I would have never met all those who are dear to me. I wouldn´t have become who I am today."
And in his mind. And...I wouldn´t have met you, Ryu...
"Still, I would like to ask for your forgiveness. I shouldn´t just ask something so personal."
"It´s okay, Ryu. I forgive you."
It felt weird for Bell to say that to Ryu, but he knew how elves could be, she needed to hear these words. And he was sure she still wanted to make up for it. A faint red taint came to his cheeks when he thought how Lefiya, Eina and Ryu apologized to him in the past.
Elves were very insistent when they wanted to apologize, Lefiya had even told him to take his shirt off so that she could wash it, since she made it dirty.
"We still have a long way ahead, would it be okay if I asked about your childhood in the forest?"
"Of course."
Never...never before would have Ryu agreed to someone to that question, with the exception of her old familia, and Syr. Ryu kept the memories about her life for herself.
Why is it so easy for me to talk with Bell like this?
Something even confused her, why did her heart jump when he asked her that question?
Am I getting sick? Something with my heart? No it can´t be..I´m still young.
And so, Ryu told Bell about a few things of her childhood, how she was as a child. Bell chuckled in his mind since she didn´t change that much in some ways...but on the other hand how should she change, Ryu was still a young woman...for an elf.
I would have loved to know you as a child.
He couldn´t know that, but he didn´t want to know her as a child. It was thanks to Alise, Astrea and her familia, later Syr and her friends, that Ryu changed so much. Especially opening up to him as a man.
Bell tried his best to look calm and serious, to not show how much in love he was, it was a serious journey after all and not a lovers trip.
.
.
They went further and further to the north, Bell was surprised how long it took, and he told her that.
"Please remember that we aren´t walking as fast as we would in Orario. Also we aren´t going straight north-east, the trees don´t allow it."
Bell had to remember that this forest was around seven times as big as Orario. And it wasn´t just like one Orario next to another Orario, this forest was more on the long side. The trees around them got bigger and bigger, some were so big they reminded Bell of the tree labyrinth in the dungeon on the 24th Floor.
"The further we get in, the older are the trees."
It was like a new world for Bell, so deep inside a forest, with such giant trees...and they were still dwarves compared to the one that was their goal.
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"Now that I think about it, is there a giant tree that is the biggest one? Like the tree of trees?"
"Yes, there is one. Translated into the common language it would be the "World Tree", and it is a holy place. Before you ask, no I won´t tell you where it is, that information is forbidden to give outsiders."
"Outsiders?"
"Non elves. I´m sorry Bell but this topic is sacrosanct for my people."
"I´m not mad...I can just imagine a tree as big as Babel."
Ryu chuckled slightly. "It is not that big...but it is a sight, at least that´s what I heard. I never saw it."
She enjoyed spending time with Bell and chatting about various topics, it distracted her from her worries.
.
.
They needed eleven hours to arrive at their first goal, it was the giant river that flew through the forest and separated Seolo from the Alf´s Royal forest. There were two known giant bridges, both went for the northern one, since Ryu didn´t want to go straight through the Royal forest, this could cause enormous problems.
And here stood the mother of all trees in this forest, a titan among giants.
"Woah..."
Bell stopped and leaned his head back, taking the sight in. The giant tree of this forest was before them. All the other big trees looked like dwarves compared to that one.
"How...big is that?"
"Around...one hundred and fifty meters."
"Wow..."
The tree wasn´t just tall...it was also wide. The trunk was about thirty meters wide...and the canopy of leaves went far wider. Even from afar he could see an entrance in the lower part, this entrance alone was bigger than his old house in the village.
At the spot where the trunk went over into the main branches, he saw something like a small house built into the tree, the architecture was the same as he saw in the village before.
"You say...THIS is a smaller one?"
"Not exactly very small. All of the giant trees are at least this big, if I am correct, the biggest one in my home forest is nearly two hundred meters tall and fifty wide...but that is a big one."
"Elven forests are magical..."
"If you say so."
"Don´t you agree?"
As if to challenge her to contradict him, a little sylph spirit flew over her shoulder and disappeared into the forest.
"See?"
"Well I can´t argue against that."
.
.
.
In the last days, Bell had seen a few new sides of Ryu that he didn´t know before. Her worried, desparate face...which he never wanted to see again, he wanted to make her happy. A pleased expression, annoyed...and a few others.
But now.
Bell saw her furious for the second time in his life. The first time was with Jura, and there Ryu was enraged. Now she was as close as an elf could get to gritting her teeth in wrath. Elves didn´t own the giant trees, but they loved them. According to Ryu, most of these trees were inhabited by elves, but some were lost over the years and now the home of someone else.
Like the Arachne queen and her brethren or the fire dragons. The elves didn´t mind the spiders and as long as the dragons didn´t attack them, they let them be. Even stranger creatures lived in some of these trees in various elven forests.
But there was one kind of monster that the elves never tolerated, never accepted...never forgave.
Bell had learned that some monsters were especially hated by certain races, like kobolds being hated by most animal people.
At first, he didn´t understand the signs that Ryu noticed, but then...
"Bell, wait!"
"Ryu?...!"
His eyes widened when he saw her expression. Ryu wasn´t serious or angry...pure hatred filled her face.
"R-Ryu?"
"It´s...them...those...creatures!"
He followed her gaze, they were about three hundred meters away from the path to the entrance of the tree...which actually was a small village on it´s own. So they were still hidden between the trees, when Bell noticed a small figure.
The figure was humanoid, small, plump and...green. It had large eyes and pointy ears. It was considered the weakest of all monsters in the dungeon...and was the very first monster Bell had ever slain. After that he ran to Hestia to tell her about it.
Eh? A *****? What´s so special about it? They are the weakest of all monsters, Bell.
Bell had cried and ran back to the dungeon...
"A...Goblin?"
He looked at Ryu again and it looked like she had fire in her eyes...literally.
"In the sky of a now distant forest..."
"Ryu! Stop! Don´t!"
Bell stepped to her as he noticed how she grabbed her staff and started to chant. When his body blocked the view of the Goblin, Ryu glared at him for a moment...before taking a deep breath and calmed down.
"I´m sorry Bell."
"Everything...okay?"
"I got a bit heated up when I saw this monster."
"But...you never reacted like that in the dungeon."
"I told you, the dungeon and monsters outside are a bit different."
He looked over his shoulder but the Goblin didn´t seemed to notice them...it yawned.
"Could you explain it to me?"
Ryu sighed and lowered her staff, stopping her chant.
"We elves have a long history with Goblins. As you know they are actually pretty weak, but those in the dungeon never live long enough to develop. As you already experienced, monsters in the outside world are quite different since they also earn experience.
In their everyday life they do things and learn from it. Goblins are quite common in many places of the world, except those with strong monsters since they devour them. Not many elves take blessings from the gods so while they are one of the strongest races, they are never as strong as an adventurer could be."
They remained in the shadow of the trees for now, while Bell listened.
"Over the centuries, some of the giant trees got lost for my people, as you know. And some of them...again and again are occupied by...Goblins. Goblins are weak and cowardly creatures, but they are not dumb. One Goblin won´t stand a chance against an elf, even two...but five or seven overpower an elf.
Goblins don´t produce things on their own, they are still monsters. So they steal, ravage, and ravish what they can get."
"But that is not all?"
"No...they...eat...elves. And...rape them..."
That monsters devoured the mortal races was quite common, but it seemed elves and goblins had a long history. And when Bell heard the last three words, a desire to slaughter them awakaned.
"It happens even up to this day, that Goblins ambush small groups of elves, kill as much as they can, and drag the dead and living to their nests...to...and then devour some. Sometimes one elf manages to escape...and the things they tell... The ones that manage to escape are mostly women since they eat the men. Many of these then choose to...end it."
The hilts of her swords creaked as her hands closed tighter around them.
"Ryu.."
"I...simply...cannot..." She looked angry again.
"Ryu."
Her eyes moved towards his, looking into Bell´s calm, rubelite eyes. He wasn´t smiling but showed her a quiet, gentle seriousness.
"Bell, I..."
"You don´t need to apologize, everyone has things they are bad with and I can only guess how you have to feel about these monsters."
Slowly, Ryu nodded. It was a first in a while time that she drove so out of her skin.
"This is the only big tree in this forest, right?"
Again, Ryu nodded.
"Yes..."
She looked confused when Bell...winked.
"My grandfather used to say. "Hit two stones with a fly."
"Isn´t it "Killing two flies with one stone."?"
"Yes, but my grandfather thought it was funny to say it the other way around."
A very tiny smile appeared on Ryu´s lips.
"So, what are you saying, Bell?"
Slowly, Bell drew the Hestia Knife with his left hand.
"Our goal is to move further, but I can and will not allow these monsters to exist here and threaten the elves."
Ryu nodded and grabbed her swords.
"Let us cleanse this tree."
.
.
One hundred sixty-nine, so many Goblins lived in the giant tree. For normal people, even for elves, it would be dangerous to approach this fortress of wood. They could get lured into traps, getting ambushed, and more things. If the elves plan to wipe out these Goblins, they would need at least fifty people and even then they could lose some to traps. That was one of the reasons why they didn´t attack the tree so far. What made it even worse, the number of Goblins gathered in under four months.
Goblins in such a number would be difficult to handle for most people. Elves could get hurt, mutilated, or even killed, it would be a big battle.
But...
Two level four adventurers...that was something...different.
Bell and Ryu had fought often enough together in the dungeon, especially with only the two of them, to stay in their formation.
Not that it was necessary.
In Ryu´s eyes, Bell looked like a demi-god as he charged right towards the gate, yelling as loud as he could. Normal people would try to ambush the Goblins and kill as many as possible without alarming them all. Bell did the exact opposite, he wanted them all to come towards him.
His knife danced up and down, to need more than one strike was rare, and he managed to escape getting drenched in Goblin blood. Outside monsters didn´t turn to ash when they were slain and also they didn´t have a magic stone.
Ryu moved behind Bell, facing every Goblin that came from another direction, trying to ambush them. Her swords whirled around, and even when angry, Ryu fought calm and with experience. She felt a bit ashamed, that she got so agitated at the beginning, and even more that it felt good to cleanse the tree.
It wasn´t the fight or the slaughter that brought her joy, but it felt good to make sure the other elves would be safe from this danger...and that lives would be spared to fight them.
It was true that Goblins weren´t exactly dumb...but they also weren´t that smart either and they couldn´t fight their instincts to charge at the two adventurers en masse, especially with such a delicious elf, the Goblins could basically smell that Ryu was untouched by men...
What would have been a battle over an hour or maybe even a few for normal people, was over in about twenty minutes.
Both had moved together deeper and deeper into the giant tree, after making sure that no Goblin outside had survived. They kept the fights as short as possible, every strike of Bell killed a monster immediately. Even when they were monsters, especially disgusting at that, Bell made sure to give them as little pain as possible.
The Goblins had started to change the environment a bit, mostly by demolishing the walls or destroying elven furniture.
There wasn´t something like a Goblin boss or something similar, they just worked together in the usual way of monsters.
Ryu noticed that Bell kept an eye on her, of course, it was his job to always know where his rear guard was...but she noticed that he glanced more often at her than necessary. She wouldn´t scold him for that, it was Bell´s nature...he wanted to protect her.
Bell had many good qualities, he was gentle, nice, smart...even handsome...and other things. But Bell also had his problems, or it was better to say that women had problems with a few of his habits.
Sometimes...Bell acted without thinking when imminent danger appeared.
After they had struck down the probably last Goblin, Ryu´s ears twitched one time and Bell reacted immediately, knowing from past experience what this would mean since her ears were much sharper than his. When her head moved slightly in one direction, Bell reacted faster than Ryu could.
They had the same level but Bell´s status was abnormal on every level, so he in fact was faster than Ryu. Bell whirled around and raised his left hand, it was the first time he used magic in this fight.
"Firebolt!"
The electrical firebolt exploded out of his hand and flew upwards, killing the Goblin who was hiding on a small balcony. At the corner of his vision, he noticed something flying past him, he knew this form all too well.
"Ack!"
Time went by like honey, a simple arrow flew past Bell´s head and hit Ryu, grazing her left leg.
"Ryu!"
Ryu had experienced a few things with Bell for the first. For one, he had yelled out only her name, without honorifics, no man ever did that before. He had seen her naked and hugged her while she was almost naked. Other things happened with him for the first time. And now...something else. He jumped at her when he saw the arrow grazing her.
It was maybe her mistake to tell Bell that Goblins tended to poison their weapons. His mind went too fast when he saw Ryu stumbling a bit.
Horror visions of the 37th floor filled his mind, about Peludas.
Arrow...Ryu...thigh...wound...poison!
Before she could stop him, Bell caught Ryu in his arms, even if she hadn't fallen at all.
"Be-!"
Bell couldn´t fight his nature, he wanted to protect her and make sure she was okay. So he panicked when she got hurt...even with such a slight wound. Ryu yelped when Bell caught her and put her down to the ground, leaning against a destroyed couch.
"B-Be-!"
Her eyes widened when she saw what he did. Bell saw where her pantyhose was slightly ripped by the arrow. Survival came before shame, an old rule among adventurers. Faster than she could stop him, Bell pulled up her robe, revealing her legs that were covered by a dark pantyhose.
Bell´s eyes found the rip with a bit of blood around it.
And...
Bell ripped apart her pantyhose, revealing much of her left thigh.
"Eeeek!"
No chance to stop him, Bell leaned down, his right hand in the hollow of her left knee, his left around her hip...grabbing something he didn´t notice, but Ryu noticed it all too well!
Squish!
Bell´s hand clawed into the soft bun of her butt! She squeaked when his lips pressed on her now naked thigh, sucking at the light wound.
"Ptui."
He spat out and immediately pressed his lips on her thigh again. Ryu´s head jerked back with another squeak, her hands clutched into her cape and the couch. Her problem wasn´t the wound...she was a level four adventurer and immune to any poison that the Goblins might have been able to use.
And even a slight wound was no problem, she could simply clean it and use a potion, and the wound would be gone like it was never there.
But Bell...
"Mmmmnh!"
No...Ryu´s problem where Bell´s lips on her thigh and his strong hands on her body. Never before had a man touched her like this and Ryu reacted very sensitively to it. The thoughts raced in her mind as Bell already pressed his lips a third time on her skin. They had wandered for hours, and had fought the Goblins, Ryu wore her pantyhose to cover her skin.
Even if she was an elf and a high-level adventurer, she had sweated very slightly..so...
Hyan! B-Bell! What are you doing? Dear gods, don´t let him smell it!
If Bell would smell her sweat, she would die of shame...not that there was any unpleasant smell. In fact, Ryu had a heavenly scent for Bell! It was to die for! But Ryu also panicked due to his hands and that his face was so close to her sacred place!
Ryu Lyon, former sacred guardian of a holy tree, the youngest member of the familia of Justice, and follower of a virgin goddess. Formerly unseen and untouched by any men..twenty-one years old. A proper Maiden. Deeply in love now.
Got pushed down by a strong adventurer in an old ruin...with a pulled-up robe and ripped pantyhose...while he "kissed" her thigh again and again. His face close to a place that was not meant to be close to his face!
When it came to love and such things, Ryu was very inexperienced, innocent, and pure...so in her mind, Bell basically forced himself onto her. What made it worse, he did that to help her.
"Hyaaaan~~"
She couldn´t stop herself from making a noise...because...she was ashamed to admit it...it felt good to be held by him...feeling his lips. Her ears burned in shame that she made such a noise! For the first time in her life, Ryu experienced...pleasure.
"Ryu! Are you okay?!"
Her face and ears were completely red when she looked into his worried face, Ryu panted and was so ashamed because of her pulled-up robe, sitting with nearly spread legs here in front of Bell, even when everything important was still covered by cloth.
"Bell..."
"Ryu?"
She averted her face and covered it with her hands.
"You brute..."
"Eh?"
.
.
"I´m sorry! I´m sorry! I´M SOOOOOORRYYYY!"
Bell was down on his knees and kept his forehead pressed to the ground, apologizing again and again. A shadow towered over him, a flustered, angry, female shadow.
"And you should be! You should be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Cranel!"
Ryu only called him that way when she was upset.
.
.
After Bell had stopped sucking out the poison from Ryu´s wound, he had seen how she covered her face in embarrassment...then she glared at him.
"What came over you?!"
Bell was surprised by her sudden strength when she pushed him back, closing her spread legs immediately and pulling her robe down to cover herself. Never before in her life had she felt such shame.
"R-Ryu? I-I tho-"
"You thought what?!"
She pulled herself back a bit and got back to her feet, pulling her cape forward to cover her ripped pantyhose.
"That...you were...in dang-"
"This was just a scratch! I am a level-four adventurer, have you forgotten? No poison that these creatures use could harm me."
While Ryu did not have an extreme level of resistance like Bell, she still possessed the abnormal ability even if it only was on rank G.
"But I thought...you...I..."
"You?"
"I panicked...when I saw you getting hurt...and..."
"You just reacted."
"Yes."
Bell got a goosebump, he had the strange feeling of the whole tree shaking in Ryu´s anger. It was only partly because of what he did, but also that he reacted without thinking, she didn´t like it when people did that.
Her voice reached a seriousness that Bell had never heard before.
"So...you decided to push me down...pull up my robe...spread my legs...and rip apart my pantyhose... When you just could have given me an antidot potion? Do you do that to every woman in the dungeon, that gets hurt? Ripping apart their clothes?!"
Bell made a shocked face and all color vanished from it...only now realizing what he did to Ryu when her cape moved a bit in the wind. She immediately clutched her hand into the cape to keep herself covered.
I have...pushed her down...and...did all that..
What he did would be outraging for most women out there...except Amazons maybe...and Ryu even was an elf...
"Sooooooorryyyyyy!"
So Bell dropped again to his knees and used the secret technique of Takemikazuchi, advanced edition, to beg for her forgiveness.
.
.
"Bell, remain there and don´t turn around now."
"Y-Yes!"
He heard Ryu walking around him, then the rustling of clothes when she was behind him. Bell tried to ignore the sounds, since she had to take off her boots at first, definitely not imagining Ryu without boots and pantyhose, standing behind him.
After a few minutes, Ryu sighed. The situation was pretty similar to when they were in the dungeon together and Bell came back to rescue her in the Colosseum. While it was very chivalrous of him, it was also reckless.
"All right, please stand up..."
So he got back to his feet but kept looking in the other direction.
"Bell, you can look at me."
Slowly he turned around and saw Ryu how she was supposed to look, properly clothed, graceful, and dignified. Maybe it was the light in this tree, but Bell noticed again why Ryu was more beautiful than a few goddesses out there, in his eyes at least.
"I´m sorry."
"And you should be. But you tried to help me, so I won´t punish you...this time. If something like that happens again, I won´t be able to stop myself from slapping you. Please understand how shameful that was for me, what you did."
He bowed down one time and nodded.
"I appreciate your fast reaction, but you shouldn´t move without thinking for a fraction of a second."
"Yes..."
"You have enough experience for situations like this, should always take into account how strong your opponents are."
"Yes.."
Ryu was in her element. It was a reflex of her to cover her embarrassment by falling into her more experienced adventurer mode. But...Bell could see that her ears were still red. And...to his shame...he couldn´t forget the noise that Ryu made under his lips...that squeak...almost...a moan...
It had almost sounded like...a jolt of pleasure had shot through Ryu. Because of him.
That is impossible!
Bell didn´t dare to think more in this direction.
It was a good thing that Bell couldn´t see inside Ryu´s mind and heart. Shame aside from what he did...the feeling of being held in his strong hands...and that he had kissed her thigh...Ryu didn´t understand the shiver that had shot through her body.
A mix of feelings and thoughts rushed through her head, but in the end, her proud, elven heart only had one thought.
Filthy...indecent...lewd...and...he even called me by my name while doing that...like...l-l-lovers do. Only married people should do something like t-no wait! Not even married people should do something that indecent!
She meant Bell´s actions as well as her thoughts and the tiny spark that had felt good from getting her thigh kissed by him.
Ryu sighed. "As long as you understand it, let´s keep moving."
"Okay."
.
.
They moved through the tree again, looking carefully around in case more Goblins would be there, but they had wiped them out completely.
"It is good that they won´t ambush the elves of this forest now."
"Indeed, we have saved many lives today."
"But it sure is different to fight against monsters that don´t dissolve to ash."
Ryu nodded.
"Very different."
"Ryu...what about...the corpses?"
"Just let them be, the forest will take care of it."
"The forest?"
"Spirits clean the forest on their own in some ways, and so do the animals. Many Goblins will be eaten by wild carnivores and spirits will enter the tree again now, small fire spirits will burn the dead Goblins, so that diseases won´t spread.
I have seen this once...a fascinating sight, but I felt bad for the spirits."
"And they do that out of their own, free will?"
"Of course, they are part of nature and nature always gets into balance in some form. Maybe the elves won´t come here for a while, but over time they will, or wild animals will use this tree, this is the course of nature."
"Hah.."
"Did you expect them to just rot here and turn this tree into a stinking mess?"
"Not directly...I was just wondering."
Bell held the Hestia Knife in his right hand, with his white armor plates...the dark red cape...Bell looked like a knight.
My knight...
Ryu couldn´t help but think about Bell´s title she had told the other elves.
What is this feeling in my heart again? This warmth...
She wished she could have talked to Syr or Astrea, it would be easier for her to understand then.
Bell sure was a pleasant companion and always polite and gentle...well except for that what just happened. But he also did that only because he panicked over her wellbeing.
Which...was...kind of nice...if she had to be honest.
"Ryu?"
"Yes?"
"Shall...we go then?"
"Yes, let us continue our way."
.
.
.
When evening came, both got out of the forest and reached the end of the river, they would follow the hem of the forest now.
"Shall we camp here? We can start early in the morning."
"A good idea, Bell."
She smiled slightly and they started to prepare their camp, it felt nice to be called just by her name by Bell, without honorifics. Both had gotten used to it pretty fast and were a good team. After the first night, Bell didn´t try again to do everything. As Ryu had explained to him, they were companions and would do the work together.
"Bell, do you mind if I go to take a bath first?"
"Of course not."
They took turns washing first in the evening.
"What about the food?"
"I would like to show you something when we have washed."
"Alright."
While Ryu went to the river to wash herself, Bell set up the magic stone that produced heat like a campfire and gleamed lightly. But there was no smoke, which made it more pleasant. Pretty fast, Bell had stopped to feel embarrassed about the thought that Ryu was washing herself not too far away from him, it was a natural thing to do.
He let his thoughts wander around the last days, feeling flustered when he remembered what he had done to her in the big tree. Bell felt like it was a dream, he had visited an elven forest with such a beautiful woman.
After a short while, Ryu returned and still was busy drying her hair.
"You can go now, Bell."
He nodded and took his bag with him, they had gotten used to their nightly routine.
The water was quite cold since it was evening.
Would be nice to have a real bath with hot water.
He smiled by himself, of course, he didn´t imagine bathing together with Ryu. Bell blushed a bit when he remembered the moment again when he had pushed her down...she had smelled nice. There was a special scent, like a spring meadow.
.
.
"I´m back."
"Welcome back."
Bell put down his bag and sat down on the blanket.
"What are we going to do about food tonight?"
Ryu smiled slightly. "I would like to show you something."
She pointed towards the two bags they got from the elves. "This one contains vegetables and I would like to use them tomorrow, the other one has dried mushrooms and we should use them the day after tomorrow. But for tonight...I want you to try this."
Ryu slowly opened one of the leave packages, revealing the inside. It looked like something between a rectangular piece of bread and a cookie, only big enough to cover Bell´s left hand.
"Take one, I can assure you that this one will be enough."
Carefully, Bell took one of the two pieces, while Ryu took the other one.
"Is this a special elven cuisine?"
"Only elves produce these, but it is more a ration than real cuisine."
Smelling it would be rude, so Bell took a small bite. The texture was crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. While he was not a fan of sweet things, the pleasant taste of nuts and honey filled his mouth, not too strong, not too weak.
Ryu also took a small bite from her piece.
"This tastes good."
"I´m glad that you like it."
"And one piece will be enough?"
"Yes, one piece is enough to fill the stomach of an adult person. Well...maybe a dwarf wouldn´t have enough with just one piece."
"Elves are amazing."
"If you say so."
"How long will the others hold?"
"About two weeks, maybe three but then they would be a bit dry. As long as we don´t open the leaves. In four weeks they will be dry and hard, but still edible."
Ryu was glad to see Bell smile, they continued their meal.
.
.
"Bell?"
"Ryu?"
Again...her heart jumped for a short moment in joy when he called her by her name. He did that before, but now she got so hyper-aware of him again.
"I wanted to ask you since I am thankful that you accompany me...is there anything I can do to pay you back?"
"I don´t need payment."
"I have to insist on that, what you are doing right now is much more than just a favor. So please speak if there is anything you desire."
"Hm..."
For a few moments, Bell was in thoughts. There weren´t many things he desired...and it was way too early to ask for a kiss...also that felt kind of lewd.
He looked at the forest, then into the direction they would be traveling, then at Ryu again.
"There is one thing that comes to my mind."
"What is it?"
"Would you help me learn more elvish during our trip?"
Her eyes widened a little bit in surprise, but then she nodded with a pleased smile. Ryu liked it when people continued to work on their skills. And she just couldn´t help the urge to teach him things.
In the past, Bell had already turned out as an honor student.
"A good idea."
It will also help to prevent him from saying something so embarrassing again...
"Where do we start?"
"At first I need to know what you already can say, so please tell me the words you know."
"Ahm...I..."
Ryu raised an eyebrow, already in her teacher mode where she didn´t tolerate any slacking off.
"Bell? You want to learn it or not?"
"I do!"
"Then go ahead and tell me."
One by one...Bell spoke all the words he knew to Ryu, her ears burned! Most of them had a romantic meaning!
There wasn´t something lewd in these sentences...but Ryu wasn´t used to hearing this kind of words from a man...
"*Cough* Ahem...okay now I have a guess where to start. Now repeat after me, we have to make sure that your pronunciation is correct, some words will get a different opinion depending on the intonation or gestures that accompany them."
Ryu started with the common greeting among elves and told him how it changed when he did certain things with his hands. Like placing the right hand over his heart, bowing down with closed eyes, this spoke of much respect towards the other.
The first evening when Ryu started to teach Bell went on for a while, and both had much fun with it. Ryu could relieve cravings to teach someone something and she enjoyed that it was Bell.
Slowly...little by little...her heart started to open more and more...letting in this charming, brave, young man.
Ryu...started to enjoy the journey.
.
.
.
They followed the hem of the forest for four days to the east, instead of going directly into the direction of Wishe, they followed it longer than intended since they didn´t know how much water they would find.
The time went by pretty fast since they had something they could focus on. Bell was on cloud nine, nearly the whole time they kept talking, and he enjoyed hearing Ryu speak elvish. As she said, she started with simple greetings and pointed at every object they passed, telling him the elven name for it.
Of course, she asked him again and again what the name of this or that object was. After making sure he was able to pronounce it correctly, she went on to the next lesson. He learned fast the body parts like arms, legs, and such. Bell burned these words into his mind...it would help him to praise his loved ones even more.
A part of his mind imagined how he praised Ryu´s beauty.
Spending so much time with Ryu was pure joy for him, to see her the first thing in the morning, the last thing in the evening...spending every day together with her. If the reason for their journey wouldn´t be so dire, Bell would enjoy every second of it.
Bell noticed that Ryu was holding back a bit, especially when the time to sleep came. He didn´t need to ask her what made her so worried.
Bell did his best to cheer Ryu up, sometimes it worked a bit, but most of the time she remained serious. One day went over into the next and they kept moving to the Wishe forest.
Two weeks after they had left Orario, they arrived at the second forest, during the last two days, Bell noticed a shine at night in the south. It was the city Santoria Vega, which seemed to never sleep at night.
Bell was curious how much different the elves here would be from the other forest. During their journey they continued to work on his elvish skills, Ryu had ordered him to only speak elvish as long as he could, without using the common language.
He sounded more than a bit clumsy since Ryu spoke and thought in fluent elvish, while Bell still translated the words in his mind into the common language. It would take a while to get better, but it helped a lot to learn like this.
.
.
"Hah...hah...hah...Hiiii...no no no no no ...help!"
A small figure ran as fast as it could through the deep forest, completely in panic. Something massive crashed through the forest, smashing branches and bushes out of its way.
"Grooooooo!"
"Noooo! Heeeeelp! Pleeeaaaase!"
The small figure tried to run faster, but it was already moving as fast as possible. Nobody heard the screams and nobody rushed to help. Tears ran down the face as it desperately tried to escape.
But...the small elven girl wasn´t fast enough.
"Noooo!"
"Grooooo!"
.
.
The situation when they arrived at the Wishe forest couldn´t be more different from the first forest. No guards were there, Ryu spoke the greeting three times but there was no reaction.
"Shall we just go inside?"
"Yes, but be careful and your weapons sheathed."
"Understood...Ms. Lyon."
"Mh.."
Bell smiled slightly when he noticed the tip of her ear turning slightly pink...he loved that reaction from her. But he was prepared for a not-so-nice welcome, Ryu told him that while Wishe elves were a little bit more open to humans than other elves...they were still elves.
The best example was Lefiya, she didn´t trust Bell in the past, but that was mostly because of her crush on Ais and her thinking that Bell was after Ais. Well...she wasn´t actually that wrong, but Lefiya also was an elf that could admit when she did wrong to him...like she did more than one time.
He did his best to look as formidable as possible, Bell wanted to show that he was Ryu´s knight. So he followed his "Lady" through the forest. According to Ryu, the village was located deep inside the forest.
"Ms. Lyon?"
"Yes, Mr. Cranel?"
"Do we have to visit the village? Can´t we just continue our way?"
"While it would save us time, it would be rude not to visit and explain what we came for."
"Okay."
The forest was as beautiful as the other one, but it looked pretty different, due to the location. While the other forest was at the edge of the mountains, the Wishe forest ended at the sea on the north side. The canopy of leaves was not as thick as in the mountain forest, so they could see the sky almost continuously. Only towards the middle of the forest did the leaves form an impenetrable roof. What fascinated Bell most of all, although the sun didn't get down, it wasn't dark in the forest, it was amazingly light.
"It is like that for all elven forests, actually I never thought about it, it is just like it is."
"That i-...!"
"Bell?"
Bell suddenly stopped and looked left and right, frowning, the left hand placed on the hilt of the Hestia Knife at his hip.
"Bell, what is wrong?"
His expression darkened. "I can feel it...a woman is in danger."
Ryu looked a bit perplexed...there were words among those who knew Bell, that he had something like a sixth sense when it came to women in danger.
"This way!"
The change in Bell was dramatic, whenever he sensed a woman in danger, he would immediately jump to action. Ryu trusted his special sense and followed him, being aware that a woman in danger here would mean a fellow elf. She didn´t even hear screaming or something like that, but Bell seemed to know where he had to go.
On and on she followed him into the forest, away from the seashore. The trees flew by as they stormed through the forest. In this area it was not as bright as before, it got darker and darker as the canopy of leaves became even thicker. For Ryu, it felt like it was a bit cooler too ... almost like some kind of huge cave.
Ryu noticed a change in the trees itself, here and there were broken branches as if something big had rolled through. Bell noticed it too and looked around.
"Ryu, do you see something? Hear something?"
Both got quiet for now, Ryu focused on her ears and listened to the forest. There were no ground animals here, only a few birds...and...growling...in the distance.
"That way."
Not all of the forest was owned by elves, sometimes like in the mountain forest, monsters settled down here. They followed the noise that Ryu had heard until Bell noticed something on the ground and knelt down.
"Bell?"
"Ryu, here."
It was a ribbon, a pink ribbon. Bell was pretty sure this actually belonged to the hair of an elf. Ryu stopped next to him and looked in a certain direction.
"A monster went through here, do you see all these broken branches?"
"Yes, but in which direction did it go? This or that?"
Ryu crouched down and looked at the ground.
"This direction, it came from there."
"Alright, let us follow it. When the ribbon is here, it has kidnapped an elf."
"I agree with you, let us hurry."
Both followed the path as fast as possible...it wasn´t very hard to see where the monster went.
"What do you think it is?"
"Hard to say, but it only uses two legs, or there would be more footprints."
They followed the path deeper and deeper into the forest...until a cave came into view. The forest in this area was dark.
.
.
"Please...please...no..."
The small elven girl whimpered and tried to crouch away. A massive shadow towered over her and slowly came closer, giant fists opened and closed. Drool dripped down from the snout and red eyes gleamed in the darkness...an elven child was a true feast.
Other shadows lured behind the first, all of them massive on their own, but smaller than the first. One of them tried to come forward, but the leader monster whirled around and punched the other snout, marking his authority.
"GROWL!"
"Rrrrr..."
In a panic, the elven girl tried to crouch away, not caring about her dress getting dirty or shredded. Bones filled the cave ground...bones from animals and elves... She cried openly, sheer horror filled her mind. Just wanting to escape, she whimpered and sobbed, searching for an exit that didn´t exist.
With a thundering stomp, the monster came closer.
"Hiyaaaaaah!"
She got up to her feet and tried to run away. The cave was pretty big, only dim light filled it and the smell nearly choked her. Right when she made another step forward, a massive paw closed around her right ankle and lower leg, pulling her backward.
"Nooo!"
The girl tried her best to grab something to hold, but the monster behind her was more than three times her size. Another paw came and closed around her waist, lifting her up in the air. She screamed wordlessly in fear, getting turned around to face the monster's face.
Tears streamed endlessly down her face, her scream reached a new high point...as it opened its maw. Sharp teeth that had tasted the flesh of more than one elf came closer and closer.
I don´t want to die! I don´t want to die! I don´t want to die! I don´t want to die! I don´t want to die! Mama! Papa!
She kicked with all of her might against the nose of the monster, but it didn´t work.
Her feet entered the maw of the beast...
.
.
Right when she was sure it would bite her legs off, something flashed brightly at the side. A wave of golden light washed through the cave and illuminated everything. Suddenly everything was visible, the four minotaurs included.
She didn´t see what it was, but something moved very fast. An armored foot collided with the minotaur´s head, smashing it to the side, while a fist punched into the wrist, opening the paw this way.
The elven girl started to fall down but got caught in two strong arms before she could hit the ground, saved in a professional princess carry.
"Kya!"
She looked up with teary eyes, someone had caught her...a...human.
"Are you hurt?"
His elvish sounded a bit strange.
She didn´t answer, just cried and sobbed in horror.
The minotaur he had kicked away got back to his feet and roared in anger. Joined by three other minotaurs they charged at the human.
"Stay behind me! Close your eyes! Cover your ears!"
Bell gently put down the small girl and got up to his feet, facing the minotaurs. The girl backed away and leaned against the wall behind her, watching afraid. He countered the first minotaur's attack with his bare fist, as their fists collided, the bones in the minotaur´s paw broke and it screamed in pain.
Bell didn´t use his weapon to deal with the minotaurs, he just couldn´t. He was used to spilling and splashing blood and the sounds of battle, but the elf behind him was still a small girl. There was no way he could just kill the minotaurs with his weapons...that wasn´t a sight for a child.
His left armguard flashed slightly golden again, it was the "Golden Fleece" that Welf had made for him, hit at the right spot let it flash bright golden. With kicks and punches, he countered the minotaurs and started to push them back. Even if they were minotaurs, they were weaker than those in the dungeon...they were no match for Bell.
And with his skill "Ox Slayer"...it was almost unfair.
"Young Lady! Close your eyes! Cover your ears!"
The girl did as Bell told her. Shaking and growling filled the cave, she still cried and whimpered. The whole cave shook for a moment, slowly...little by little the fighting noises got more and more silent.
After a while...it stopped.
The small girl slowly took her hands away from her ears.
"Young Lady?"
"Mmmmmh..."
She was still shaking from head to toe, feeling that someone knelt down in front of her.
"Young Lady...I´m going to touch you now, please don´t be scared. Keep your eyes closed, I will bring you outside, the danger is over."
Slowly, to not scare her anymore, Bell took off his cloak and wrapped it gently around her body, lifting her up. He didn´t want her to get dirty and also not to touch her skin, since elves were very sensitive when it came to that.
She felt that she got lifted up, keeping her eyes closed while he gently moved her body. Due to her closed eyes, her ears were a bit more sensitive, she heard his steps and the change of sound as they slowly left the cave.
The human carried her a few moments more, before stopping. The girl heard other steps coming closer.
"Bell!"
"Ryu, I´m here."
"Did you sa-...oh thank the elders!"
Fluent elvish from a female voice reached the ears of the little girl.
"Young Lady, I´m going to set you down okay? Also, you can open your eyes now."
Bell knelt down and made sure that her feet were on the ground safely. Blinking a bit with teary red eyes, the small girl opened her eyes.
.
.
A human male in white armor and dark body suit knelt next to her, his left arm guard was golden.
"A...awa...awawa..."
She wasn´t sure how to react, still panicked.
"Are you alright?"
The girl turned around and looked up to a female elf who wore a green robe and travel boots...she looked worried.
"*Hic* *Hic* *Hic* *Hic*"
The sobbing from the girl came faster and faster when she saw Ryu. Ryu who knew this behavior crouched down lightly.
"It is al-"
"Waaaaah!"
The girl jumped into Ryu´s arms and buried her face in Ryu´s chest, crying from fear and relief that she was saved. Ryu closed her eyes and gently put her arms around the shaking girl, patting her back.
"It is okay...you are safe now."
"Aaah...waaah...waaah!"
The girl hickered and sobbed, not letting go of Ryu. While it was Bell that saved her, her fear let her seek something familiar. Ryu opened her eyes and still held the crying girl, looking at Bell.
"You saved her, Bell."
He just nodded, as soon as they noticed the cave, Bell dashed forward with all of his speed, even charging his legs with Argonaut for a moment. Ryu had no chance to keep up with him and had to follow him, in the time she needed to arrive, Bell had defeated the minotaurs and saved the girl.
Both remained in their positions for a few minutes, until the girl slowly calmed down. She had to cry out her fear and let go of it. It was a good thing that Bell had saved her in the way he did, the darkness of the cave and the monsters were pushed back by the whiteness of Bell.
While she would have a few dreams about this, it was always the light that saved her in the end, sparing her from having nightmares for a long time about the event. It also helped that she didn´t see or hear how Bell defeated the Minotaurs, if he had just slaughtered them, she would probably get trauma from the scenes. Dire situation or not, Bell always thought about those things, he wanted to save the girl...not traumatize her.
He watched how Ryu gently stroked the girl´s head with her right hand, holding her gently around her waist with her left. She looked so motherly right now to him...so gentle...so beautiful...
"Bell?"
"It´s nothing."
Ryu and Bell gave the girl all the time she needed to calm down and stop her tears. After a while, Bell noticed that Ryu hummed silently and started to sing something in a low voice that he didn´t understand.
In the moment she started to sing, Bell fell in love with her again...wanting to hear her voice like this forever.
"Little one?"
Ryu gently patted the girl's head, who slowly moved her face away from her, she didn´t mind that her tears were soaked into her robe.
"Shank you...sho much..."
The girl was mumbling.
"I´m happy that you are safe, but it wasn´t me who rescued you, it was my knight."
"Your...knight?"
The girl slowly turned her face to Bell, who smiled friendly but didn´t move to not startle her.
"Thank...you..."
As slow as possible, Bell lifted his left hand and showed her the pink ribbon. "Is this yours?"
"Mhm..."
She nodded.
"Then it is good we found it."
Ryu slowly got up and carried the girl.
"Do you live in the village?"
"Yes...but I don´t know the direction..."
"Don´t worry, I know where to go. Come, we bring you home."
"Thank you..."
With big eyes, the girl looked up to Ryu, who smiled like a big sister, she was good at that. But then again Ryu was like a big sister for more than a few people. They slowly started to walk, away from the cave and towards the brighter part of the forest.
"Would you tell me your name?"
Ryu tried to have a normal conversation with her, to lure her mind away from the horror.
"Fina."
"A beautiful name." Bell smiled from the side.
Only right now he noticed her chestnut-colored hair, she had green eyes and looked pretty similar to an elf he knew...
"Fina...Viridis."
Bell´s eyes widened and they wandered to Ryu, who looked also surprised.
He was surprised...by chance he had saved the life of Lefiya´s cousin...now that he heard her family name, they looked similar to each other.
.
.
""Fina!""
"Mama! Papa!"
As soon as Ryu and Bell came close to the village, guards spotted them and the little girl that Ryu carried. The elves were missing the girl and had prepared a search party for her, fearing that she got too close to the dark part of the forest. A few guards held swords and bows ready, but as they spotted the small girl, two adult elves came running out of the village.
Both had chestnut colored hair like the small girl too, and it was pretty obvious that the woman was her mother. She looked a bit like an adult version of Lefiya but also had green eyes instead of blue.
Ryu put down the small girl and let her run towards her parents, if Bell guessed correctly, she had to be about nine years old. The girl´s pink dress waved behind her as she ran towards her parents, jumping into the arms of the two elves.
""Fina!""
The parents hugged their daughter and cried happily to have her back. Bell waited next to Ryu and smiled, relieved that Fina was safe and back to her parents. The mother refused to let go of her daughter, while her husband got back to his feet and walked towards Ryu and Bell.
"Thank you so much, for saving our daughter!"
He was focused on Ryu, as Bell was used to. Ryu nodded slightly and pointed to Bell.
"It wasn´t me who saved her, but my knight did."
The man looked at Bell. "A...human?"
Bell nodded, put his right hand above his heart, and bowed lightly. "Nice to meet you, I hope your forest is healthy and growing."
The eyes of the man widened a bit, Bell had trained a lot to be able to greet properly in elvish.
"You saved my daughter?"
"Yes."
He noticed that the man was holding back a bit, while the elves of Wishe Forest weren't quite as bad towards humans as other elves, they nonetheless thought of themselves as something far superior to humans.
So the idea that a human had saved Fina was ... strange.
"Why did you save her?"
"She was in danger."
"But you..."
"I am a human?"
"Yes.."
He saw that the man gulped. "Th-Thank you..."
"No problem." Bell smiled.
Bell noticed the woman coming closer, holding her daughter on her arm.
"You saved our daughter?"
"Yes."
"Thank you so much! I can´t thank you enough!"
She was far more open with her feelings than her husband.
"Mama."
"Hm?"
Fina said something in elvish that Bell didn´t understand fully. The mother moved closer to Bell and Fina waved shyly to him.
Bell leaned closer...and to his surprise...Fina kissed his cheek.
.
.
At that moment, Filvis got startled in Orario, when Lefiya who sat next to her on a bench suddenly shouted.
"Nooo! Fina! I can feel it! Something horrible just happened!"
"L-Lefiya?!"
.
.
"Thank you...for saving me..."
Bell blinked perplexed and the elves looked a bit shocked. If Fina were an adolescent or adult elf, this would be outrageous to her people. Elves only kissed their beloved...their partner. But since she was still a child...a kiss was just as it was from a child.
She wanted to thank him for saving her life, nothing more. Ryu smiled next to him, Bell had a hand when it came to elves.
Slowly other elves came closer to them, and the guards relaxed when they saw how the parents and the child acted towards Bell.
The father looked at Ryu.
"My fellow elf, we welcome you to our village and I still want to thank you that you brought our daughter back to us. May we ask you for your name?"
Bell noticed the tiniest sigh of hers, but she smiled, Ryu knew what would probably happen now.
"Ryu Lyon."
"Would you want to stay at our home tonight? It is the least we can offer you for saving our child...and you too of course."
He smiled towards Bell. Even if they didn´t like humans completely, saving their beloved daughter wasn´t a small thing.
"Gladly."
Bell bowed again in his polite way. "If my Lady is fine with it, I agree."
The elves looked a bit perplexed about how Bell spoke about Ryu.
"Mr. Cranel is my trusted knight and companion, he accompanies me on my journey and has my complete trust."
If Bell wanted to play that game, Ryu could play it too. A tiny playful spark was in her eyes.
So Bell and Ryu were invited to the home of the Viridis family. And it wasn´t just the three elves here, the whole family contained a few more members, around a dozen elves lived in the house they were heading to.
Wait...does that mean...
He didn´t need to ask himself for a long time, when they entered the big house that was part of a tree, a very beautiful adult elf walked in that moment through the hallway.
Judging by her hair color, her face, and her eyes...this was Lefiya´s mother...no doubt.
Such a beauty...will...Ms. Lefiya...look like this...later?
Everything on her looked very familiar to Lefiya...but with an adult charm.
Holy!
He couldn´t help but be enchanted by her look, her chest was bigger than Lefiya´s, her face had a very adult charm, and her hips...those hips...a dream.
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Filvis startled again, because of Lefiya´s next outburst.
"Aaah! I feel it! My mother is in danger too! A vile, lust-filled beast is ogling her, no doubt!"
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Thankfully Bell remembered his manners and was aware that Ryu was aware how he had looked at the woman for a moment.
Bell could hear her thoughts towards him.
Bell...This. Is. Lefiya´s. Mother!
"Oh my...and who may you be?"
Lefiya´s mother smiled friendly, while surprised that a human was there, there would surely be a reason for that, especially when he came with her sister. Her sister explained shortly to her what had happened, that it was Bell who saved Fina from monsters.
"A human saving our little Fina..."
Bell didn´t understand how to take the smile of Lefiya´s mother. Ryu would later explain to him that Lefiya´s mother had always felt a bit uneasy that Lefiya went to Orario, Lefiya told her one day, after she became friends with Ryu and Filvis. The family invited them to a dinner, a small feast to celebrate Fina´s safety. The small girl insisted on sitting at Bell´s right, and Ryu was on his left.
The whole evening she beamed up to and asked him many things about Orario and how it was to be a human, curious how much less he could hear compared to an elf. Her questions were innocent and she was especially happy that Bell had found her ribbon, a gift from Lefiya that he later found out. While the two were cousins, Fina was more like a little sister to Lefiya, he also was told that Fina was eleven, not nine as he thought.
Ryu smiled and talked friendly with the Viridis family, explaining to them that Lefiya was part of one of the two strongest familias in Orario and one of the strongest mages in the whole city.
They could only tell them a little about Lefiya since they were in different familias. But the familia looked glad and proud that Lefiya was alive, healthy, and had become such a strong mage. When they explained about themself, all they had to know was that Bell was Ryu´s knight and accompanied her...something that felt less and less like a made-up story...
And Ryu noticed something else...how she looked at Bell. When she saw how he had acted to save Fina...how he acted with her...something in her heart told her...Bell would make...an excellent father someday.
Why am I thinking about that right now?!
Maybe it was the juice she drank over the evening...since she didn´t drink alcohol often...but...Ryu felt her heart getting warm whenever she looked at him.
But she wasn´t the only one, Fina blushed more than a bit when Bell talked to her, squealing from time to time and averting her face. It was pretty clear that she developed a crush on Bell...well she wasn´t the first to have this happen to her.
Later that evening, Fina smiled while she followed her mother to her room.
"Good night, Sir Bell. Good night, lady Ryu."
Sir Bell?
Ryu slightly raised an eyebrow, the way Fina spoke the title wasn´t out of courtesy...it was the way how someone talked to a knight.
So Bell ...is going...to become...my knight? This...might be...not too bad...
Every day...Ryu´s heart opened a little bit more for Bell...letting him inside the part of her heart that no one was before...the place...of a partner.
Hah...what is with me...
Both got two free rooms to spend the night before they would leave in the morning. The whole village was thankful to them for saving Fina and getting rid of the Minotaurs.
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"Sir Bell, Lady Ryu, good luck on your journey!"
Fina waved happily while Bell and Ryu left the village. A few other elves wished them goodbye. Bell´s existence and deeds would lead Fina to fall in love with knights, she would never leave her home forest but join the ones that protected her village from monsters and bandits.
Later finding a partner among one of the knights, no other elf would ever be an option...it had to be a knight.
While she had a crush on Bell, she would never follow him to Orario to search for him.
The elves were kind enough to fill their travel rations, and Ryu got her hand on two bottles of elven wine, one for Mama Mia...one meant as a gift for Astrea. Ryu felt strange when she saw Bell this morning, all the thoughts about him maybe being a good father later...that he was her knight...her heart and thoughts were in turmoil again!
The sight of Bell putting on his cape while wearing his full armor, how he adjusted the Hestia Knife on his belt...he was the very image of a knight.
A knight...for a sacred guardian?
She used her hood to cover her blushing ears and cheeks.
Kuh!
Ryu scolded herself in her mind for these thoughts. She needed to focus on the journey. Yes, she enjoyed traveling with Bell, and he was such a good companion, friend, and student. He was able to learn elvish pretty fast...even if his accent was a little ... funny, his gentle friendliness...
I love..NO!...not love...s-surely not love...but...hah...I do love him.
Before they left the village, Bell bowed before her in a polite manner and showed her a gentle smile, he liked to be her knight. And it wasn´t only a show for the elves so that they believed the story.
What is with me...
Ryu had the feeling she asked herself this question again and again and again during their journey. Sometimes she thought she was getting sick. From time to time her heart pounded a bit faster, and her cheeks felt warm as well as the tips of her ears.
And she noticed something on Bell that confused her a bit...it seemed he could read her to a certain degree...or rather her mood. She just asked herself how he managed to do that...was it that easy to see through her? Could he maybe notice that her heart was troubled?
They continued the lesson in elvish while they wandered through the forest.
"You are doing very good, Bell. I am surprised that you learn it so fast."
"That is only thanks to my wonderful teacher."
And again...
Bell´s heart jumped out of joy...whenever he praised Ryu in special ways...her ears wriggled slightly, and sometimes the tips got red. Ryu reacted in a different way than other elves to compliments. Eina just got red all the way up to the tips of her ears, without moving them.
Lefiya wriggled her ears happily while her cheeks got red, even when she claimed a compliment from Bell didn´t make her happy at all. But Ryu...it was a more dignified, adult way. The sight of her only slightly moving ears while they got slightly red...it was beautiful. Her cheeks remained the same but that made her even more precious for Bell.
And then there were the moments, like on the 37th floor, when Ryu´s whole head got red...this was beyond adorable for him.
"Flattering won´t bring you extra points."
Her cheeks burned and her heart raced.
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They moved deeper into the forest, there wasn´t a direct path so they sometimes had to search for a way when the bushes were too close to each other. East was their destination since the sea was in the north. The terrain rose a little, many low plants and some roots crept over the ground. An elevation blocked their way, so they tried to find a way around it. In no direction was there a better way to get up. So Bell did the only thing that seemed right to him.
With swift movements, he climbed up and turned around. Ryu could also easily climb up, but she had to spread her legs a bit for that, and Bell couldn´t let that happen.
He reached down and offered her his hand. "Ryu."
Ryu blinked one time and smiled lightly. "Thank you, my knight."
She put her hand on Bell´s and let him pull her up while she made two swift steps. On top of the edge, she didn´t find her balance right away and moved further forward than intended. While her left hand was still in Bell´s right, her right touched his chest plate while their bodies were only a hand wide away from each other.
He had moved by instinct to secure her and prevent her from tripping.
"Ryu...are you okay?"
"Yes...thank you...Bell.."
For a moment both found no words after that and didn´t move, just looked into each other's eyes. It wasn´t the first time that Ryu was so close to this man and touched him with both of her hands. It was by no means an unpleasant feeling, which didn´t surprise her anymore. But deep inside her ... deep inside her subconscious...she knew that it was only acceptable because it was Bell.
Eventually, Bell stepped backward and let go of her, subconsciously, Ryu moved her left hand a tiny bit forward so that their hands touched half a second longer. It was a very strange feeling when their hands parted...she wouldn´t have minded if it had taken longer.
Bell...
Ryu...
No one else was around, they were completely alone.
Wh-What am I thinking?!
"*Cough* Shall we continue?"
"Yes."
Unnoticed by them, a small green glowing orb was half hidden behind a tree, floating, as if it was watching them, accompanied by a slightly red one, a blue one and...a yellow one. When both turned around and continued their way through the forest, the orbs slowly drifted behind them without making a noise...curious about what they might do here.
Most spirits were friendly beings and some were "evil". Evil and nice weren´t fitting to describe them since they were forces of nature, a corrupted spirit mostly did evil things because of its own suffering. And some spirits...liked to play pranks...like Ryu told Bell.
And one of these spirits was actually a former greater spirit...a pretty "naughty" one...
While they walked further into the forest, both shared one of the elven bread rations, so that they didn´t have to stop walking. It was a good thing that Ryu wasn´t familiar with the customs of the Wishe Forest, for the elves here, sharing such a ration was something that only couples or family members did.
That also was the reason why the small sylph followed them, accompanied by a small salamander spirit..their true name was Volcani, but no mortal knew that an undine and a lightning spirit, these particular ones liked to play pranks on couples...and these two looked very much like one. Also spirits could feel things that mortals couldn´t, even if they tried to hide it from the other, the spirits felt the affection between these two.
That´s why this Sylph, the master pupil of the lightning spirit, made Ryu trip lightly so that Bell could catch her.
The small spirits decided to follow them for a while, if those two weren´t a couple, they would at least bring them closer together. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the spirits drifted through the forest and helped couples or people in love, just because it felt like this. It had started ever since the lightning spirit was able to take form again and regain a part of its consciousness. And for some reason, this small lightning spirit felt drawn to Bell a bit.
This elf and human had something special around them...as if they were close to another spirit...one of their kind...a greater one. The Volcani also felt that Bell was close to someone that had something of one of its kind in him.
In a few years, Ais would travel with Riveria to the Royal forest for a certain reason, she would be constantly swarmed by spirits, refusing to go away from her and even the elves were speechless about that.
A short spark flashed inside the thunder spirit...they had just the right idea.
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Ryu felt...very good for some reason. The moment that Bell had caught her whirled through her mind again and again...how gentle his hand felt...how close they were. While she tried to focus on the search, Ryu got distracted again and again.
Sometimes it seemed that the direction of the wind changed a bit, so that it came from Bell´s direction. Her nose caught some of his smell...it wasn´t a strong smell but...Ryu liked it. She would have thought it would be unpleasant but even that let her heart move faster a bit.
What is wrong with me...I need to foc-Hyau!
Suddenly she startled. When she had looked at Bell again, a feeling as if someone was gently blowing into her left ear appeared. Ryu´s ears were extremely sensitive, even for an elf. A shiver jolted through her body, but of course, there was no one there that could blow into her ear.
"Ryu? Everything okay?"
"Y-Yes, all good."
She tried to smile slightly but again this feeling came. Every time her eyes wandered to Bell, something happened, she felt her cheeks getting warmer.
What is wrong with my body...I need to focus...focus Ryu! Focus, me!
She tried to analyze her behavior and body reaction to Bell...but her normally so clear and analyzing mind was in turmoil.
I-It can´t be "that"...or...can it...?
Ryu glanced shyly to Bell while he followed a small animal path...she...gulped. No one who knew her had ever seen her act like this and she needed to use all of her mental strength to act normal around Bell.
In a corner of her mind, she heard a familiar voice giggling.
Ehehe...Ryuuu...did it happen?
S-Syr?!
L-O-V-E!
It was good that Bell walked in front of her...Ryu´s ears burned.
In her mind, a tiny Alise, wearing a devil outfit, appeared on her left shoulder, while a tiny Syr in an angel outfit appeared on Ryu´s right shoulder.
Go for him, Lion! Don´t let him get away!
She is right, Ryu! I´m sure Mr. Bell likes you!
He already held your hands and you did "that" in the dungeon!
Wh-What did you do in the dungeon?! You never told me, Ryu!
Why were the angel and the devil on the same side?!
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Unknown to them, a certain goddess of love was on the edge of her seat high up in Babel, watching them and being extremely excited about their behavior.
"Go for it, Ryu!"
Since the party was over, Freya had a lot of free time to watch both, and she squealed more than one time because they were so cute. So Freya would see everything of what happened next...
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Ryu experienced the same problem as other elves had faced before, especially those who fell in love with a human. Her brain fought against her heart, it was like a genius tactician against a beast that only acted on emotions and desires.
She was fine without a partner for her whole life so far, and never had much interest in love. But deep down inside her she was still a normal being...she wanted to feel love. A new side rose inside Ryu, a side that had slept for all of her life so far...her Maiden side came up more and more, all because of Bell.
Her heart raced and jumped with joy when she looked at Bell, saw him smiling...skipped a beat when he touched her hand. But her brain fought back and tried to be as calm as ever...in panic, she fled from those thoughts to her usual behavior and thinking.
It was as if multiple Ryu´s argued inside her, each representing a part of her being. One argued that Bell was the one, her heart had already accepted him. But her brain wondered if she even wanted to love Bell...thinking that her brain admitted that there were feelings inside her. Love sure was a wonderful feeling, but wouldn´t it distract her from everything important?
Her heart roared loudly that HE was important! One of the most important people she knew! And Syr told her that being in love would only make her stronger!
Haaah...
If she weren´t such a dignified woman, Ryu would curse Bell for being such a handsome, nice man...that he let her thoughts whirl around and even smile from time to time to her to make it worse. He was an honest person, never lied, worked hard, learned focussed, helped others, and had many more good qualities.
But how would her usual life change if she would get involved with him, what did someone do when there was love? He was in a dungeon familia, and she a waitress at the pub. Would she stop working there? Follow him? But what about her friends? What...if he didn´t see her that way?
Hah...this isn´t going to make it easier...
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What is with the light here? She looks so gorgeous!
Ryu wasn´t the only one that "suffered", somehow the whole forest felt weird to him...as if everything was flattering Ryu´s appearance. When he looked at her, her hair flowed lightly even when there wasn´t much wind here, and the light enhanced her beauty only more. As if tiny sparks of water were dancing in the air...she looked even more beautiful than most goddesses right now!
A smell like a spring meadow waved around her, together with the slightest touch of her body odor. And dear gods did Ryu smell good for Bell, not in a way that aroused him...she just smelled good. He caught himself having "naughty" thoughts about her...to gently hug her from behind, smell her hair, and kiss her neck.
The moment when he held her hand after she had tripped...it was burned into Bell´s mind. Her hand on his chest had ignited the fire of his love for her even more, Bell couldn´t help but notice how inviting her lips looked...he would love to kiss Ryu. When she was so close to him, Bell noticed how slender and vulnerable she looked.
Despite him knowing that she was very strong, it raised the desire in him to hold and protect her.
Hah...I love you...
As if Ryu had heard his thought, she glanced at him.
Is she...blushing?
Maybe it was just the light, but it looked like Ryu´s cheeks were slightly red. Without noticing it, both walked closer to the other. The wind spirit gently moved the air around them so that they would catch the other's smell often, while the light spirit let tiny sparks appear in the air, to move the attention of Bell´s eyes to Ryu, and hers to him.
Both looked as much at each other as they looked into the forest.
It wasn´t direct magic or an enchantment that the spirits wove around them, they only increased the information that their sense organs got. So both didn´t feel unwell from what the spirits did, since they also meant no harm to them. But they were so subtle that both didn´t notice what happened.
Their hearts pounded while they continued their way, longing to be near the other and hold them...at the same time trying to not do that, to focus on what was more important right now.
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For most of the day they continued their way, but it was getting late again. And the closer they came to the edge of the forest, the more nervous Ryu got. Once they reached the edge, they would be able to see Solingen in the distance...
"Hah..."
"Ryu, I´m sure it will be alright."
"You are right...but still."
The evening dawning and both had set up their camp near a lake, it wouldn´t make sense to continue walking in the night. Unconsciously, they placed their sleeping gear closer to each other than before. At first, both had slept at the edges of the blanket, now each of them would sleep about two hand wides more to the middle. They didn´t cook that day but just ate a ration, talking about this and that, not very important stuff.
Ryu caught herself glancing at Bell whenever he turned in a direction and didn´t look at her. Normally it would be rude to stare at someone from behind...but she couldn´t help it.
It wasn´t a bad thing...so why did her brain fight against the idea? Was it fear? To get rejected?
How would the others react to it?
Ryu gulped after asking herself that question.
Why do I ask myself this? Hah...Bell...what have you done to me...
When she looked at him, Bell smiled...it let her heart jump in joy.
Hauu...I behave like a young girl freshly in love...I have to pull myself together!
"Bell, I will go and take a bath!"
"Okay, I will take care of my equipment while you are away."
As usual, Ryu took her backpack and walked towards the small lake. At first, she took off her boots and socks, wriggling her toes a bit in the grass, it felt nice. Her cape was at the camp, she had taken it off earlier. One by one, she undid the buttons of her robe, eventually taking it off. She only stood there now in her pantyhose and shirt, which she always wore under her robe, under that, her underwear.
Just for a tiny moment, Ryu glanced over her shoulder toward the direction of their camp, Bell had never tried to peek at her and she trusted him that he wouldn´t do it. Ryu grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, after that taking off her pantyhose. Thankfully it wasn´t cold in the forest, her towel still lay folded right next to her.
Every piece of cloth that she took off was folded correctly and placed on a stone, which she had put a small blanket on top of before.
Now she just remained in her underwear, so Ryu moved her hands behind her back and carefully undid the ribbon that held her brassiere in place. Only when no one else was around, Ryu would become naked, well a few members of her familia had seen her naked when they bathed together in the past, and one time Syr when they bathed together too.
Mmmnnh!
She stretched herself for a moment, then she grabbed the short ribbon to bind up her hair, she would wash it later but now she didn´t want it to get wet directly. Many men...and probably some women too...would have given much for the sight of Ryu´s naked body...she was indeed a beauty.
After confirming for the last time that all her clothes were nicely folded, Ryu slowly made a step into the water. She carefully dipped her toes into the water to check the temperature.
Ah, what a nice, cool feeling...
Ryu didn´t use the tools to warm the water if it wasn´t too cold, a forest lake should be used as it is. Slowly she went into the water and enjoyed the feeling.
The lake wasn´t that big or deep, soon the water went over her knees, up to the middle of her thighs, but not higher. She scooped water with her hands and let it run over her body to get used to the temperature before she sat down.
The way she stood there, with the water running down on her nude body...especially her breasts, and down to her sacred place...Ryu looked like nature´s beauty incarnate.
"Hah...this feels nice..."
Ryu continued to scoop water and washed herself, standing in the water...noticing a small, gently glowing orb that drifted through the air.
A spirit? So this has to be a very clean water.
She smiled at the spirit and continued her washing, moving her hands to places on her body that no other person had ever touched, but well she had to wash herself.
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Bell sat crosslegged on the blanket and had a few tools next to him, to clean and take care of his equipment. Every adventurer cared for their equipment if they wanted to live, and since Welf wasn´t around, Bell would have managed to do it himself.
The first piece he always worked with was the Hestia Knife, no other part of his equipment was so precious to him. He looked closely at the Knife, eyeing the runes if there was some dirt in the carving. After making sure there was no dirt, Bell cleaned and oiled the blade, as well as using a whetstone at the cutting edge. Soon the blade of his Knife shone in a wonderful black, the runes glistened from the oil. Next were the handle and the scabbard, making sure they were clean and not damaged.
After he was done with the Hestia Knife, he placed it on a small extra blanket, next to its scabbard. With a loving gaze, Bell´s fingers wandered gently over the blade and the runes shortly flashed bluish-white. He always felt close to his goddess when he touched the blade as if a part of her was with him. Lately, he had given the Hestia Knife a name, since always saying Hestia Knife sounded strange sometimes. Hestia had approved of his idea and was incredibly happy that he chose this one.
His fingers reached the tip of the Knife.
"Vesta."
It just felt right that the Knife had a real name like Hakugen had. Welf had offered to name the Hestia Knife, but Bell had declined with a thankful smile, and Hestia too...with a horror-filled expression.
After Vesta was done, Bell took care of his armor, he made sure the "Golden Fleece" got polished like a mirror. He cared for his equipment in the order he got it, not wanting to prefer one above the other. His armor meant a lot to him, he believed it had a soul too, so Bell felt pain whenever his beloved armor got damaged. Unlike his weapons, when Bell dreamed about his equipment the armor looked different.
Vesta´s dream form looked like Hestia with white hair, Hakugen like a unicorn. But his armor...looked like a shadow of Welf, showing him a thumbs up.
"Don´t worry, It´s my job to keep you safe, buddy!"
Of course...Bell never told someone that he dreamed like that about his equipment.
Something small caught Bell´s attention as it drifted through the air close to him, a small glowing orb.
Is that...a spirit?
The orb shone yellow and drifted in this direction, then in that, just how it wanted.
"Hello there."
The spirit drifted closer and moved up and down in front of Bell´s face, before moving on top of his right shoulder.
"Are you curious?"
He smiled and continued to maintain his equipment while the spirit watched him, Bell didn´t notice that a second one joined it. And while he continued his work...Bell slowly drifted into some kind of dream.
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Ah...it is so nice here..
Bell sat on the blanket and just watched the forest. Majestic trees rose around the camp, thick bushes grew where there was space. The whole forest looked wonderful in its lush green, little fireflies were flying around here and there and Bell could hear the gentle rippling of the lake nearby. Why was he actually sitting here instead of looking at the forest? Bell looked down and saw that he was done maintaining his equipment. Ryu had told him she would go into the forest for a while to be one with nature ... or did she tell him that? He only knew it had something to do with the fact that she was an elf.
Maybe she wanted to talk to the trees or animals or something like that.
"What do you say, little friend? Shall we go?"
The small spirit drifted again in front of his face, moving from one side to the other...it was almost like a lullaby. Without him noticing it, a green veil covered the red color of his eyes...Bell was more dreaming than he was awake while he still noticed his surroundings...of course the spirit meant him no harm...it just wanted to play.
Bell got up to his feet and walked slowly a bit around, giggling when his eyes deceived him, he thought there were two spirits, one green, the other yellow. He heard the gentle splashing of the water and wanted to follow it...the spirits moved with him.
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Hmm...I think it is time to get out.
Ryu sat a while in the lake and let nature calm her down. She heard the rustling of something in the bushes nearby, a small animal...maybe a rabbit...or something else.
Unnoticed by her, a small blue and a red orb flowed behind her head, using warmth and cold to muffle her hearing, so that she wouldn´t notice the figure that slowly came closer.
Eventually, Ryu got up from her sitting position and raised her hands to untie the knot that held her hair in place. A leaf covered the sight of her butt from behind...but her front was uncovered. Ryu enjoyed the sun on her face with closed eyes and started to open the ribbon. Just as the first hair fell down...Ryu opened her eyes.
Eh?..
Ryu blinked...
She couldn´t believe the sight in front of her.
Bell...stood at the edge of the small lake...and looked at her.
Bell saw her...naked.
From the front.
"B-Bell?!"
Her startled yell let two orbs that drifted near Bell´s head flee in panic, as well as the two that were behind her head. Suddenly her hearing got very sharp again.
Spirits?!
Ryu noticed a green glow in Bell´s eyes, that started to vanish now.
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Bell had followed his desire to walk around in this dreamlike environment. But then he heard Ryu call out for him, he blinked a few times and the scenery changed a bit.
Bell blinked.
He couldn´t believe the sight in front of him.
Ryu...stood near the edge of the lake...and looked at him.
She was completely naked. He noticed her smooth legs with her wonderful thighs, plump, beautiful, delicious thighs...the very alluring hill between her legs...her godlike hips...that flat stomach and inviting waist...and those two beautiful mounds with the pink tips. Their form and size were beyond perfect...his eyes didn´t wander down from her eyes...but he noticed her naked body anyway.
And...against his will...got reminded again that Ryu´s natural hair color was blond...
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"B-Bell! What are you doing here?!"
In an instant, Ryu let go of her ribbon and covered her breasts and crotch with her hands. But there was no need for that, Bell closed his own eyes even faster and turned his face away.
"S-Sorry! I don´t know why I am here!"
"What?!"
Ryu´s legs shook a bit...not out of fear...but she was agitated. She noticed again the two spirits that had drifted around Bell...now accompanied by two other spirits and they all peeked at them from behind a tree.
Kuh...those little rascals!
She was sure it was the spirits who were responsible for that.
Ryu whispered angrily. "In the sky of a now distant forest..."
In a panic, the spirits fled into the forest. immediately, Ryu stopped her magic, of course, she wouldn´t attack spirits or harm the forest...but she had to teach them a lesson.
"I´m sorry Ryu! I am! I don´t know what came over me!"
She still held her hands in place but shrunk down into the water again.
"It´s not your fault Bell...but please...go now."
"S-Sorry..."
Her heart pounded like never before and a tiny part inside her squealed in shame. Bell had seen her naked! Only the loved partner of her should be allowed to do that! And only after their pledge! So it was too early!
E-Early?! What am I thinking!
Her maiden part was sure...now she had to marry Bell. After all, he had seen all of her! From the back on the 18th floor, now from the front!
There is no choice...I have to marry him now. Hauuu...Syr...Lady Astreaaa...I need you!
Ryu was helpless...her heart jumped still in joy, not that Bell saw her like that...but it had the feeling it had won a competition against her brain.
The poor elf needed twenty minutes to calm down enough to get out of the water. But she wasn´t mad at Bell, when she returned to the camp, Ryu talked to him.
Both had red faces and couldn´t look at each other at first, but Ryu let Bell explain why he came to the water. The more she heard, the more she was convinced...the spirits had played a prank on them.
Ryu was a bit angry at the spirits...but only a little bit. Since spirits felt things like affection...they wouldn´t have done that if Ryu wouldn´t...like Bell.
Th-Th-They felt that?
If she could, she would still bonk them on the head to let them think about what they had done. The only thing that Ryu was relieved about...that it was Bell who saw her...not some other man.
In the night when they went to sleep after Bell went to wash himself, it felt a bit cooler in the forest, so...they slept a bit closer to each other...only one meter apart.
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Mmmnh...morning...already?
Ryu moved a bit under her blanket and blinked. The early morning sun gently lit up the surroundings.
A squeak woke her up fully.
When she opened her eyes sleepy she saw a squirrel sitting in front of her face, sniffing at her nose. She blinked and the squirrel jumped away, revealing something else to his view.
Bell´s face.
He was still sleeping, resting on his back and for some reason only at arm´s length away. The first shy sunbeams fell on his face from the side, making the tip of his ear look red.
He looks like a knight...no...like...my...knight.
Ryu had never looked at a man like this, with his eyes closed and a relaxed face, one of his ears visible through the hair...Ryu was at a loss for words. His blanket rose and fell slowly with his breath. She felt the strong urge to caress his cheek...to see him smile...at her. Her heart started to pound again.
Ryu could only lay there and watch the sleeping man...the one she had feelings for.
A wish occurred in her, to see this face every day...so have him smile at her.
A few hair strains fell onto Bell´s face, slowly without knowing why...Ryu lifted an arm from under her blanket and reached forward...but she hesitated and pulled her arm back when she remembered who she was and that this behavior was improper.
What am I doing here...
Enchanted by the sight, Ryu´s eyes wandered down to Bell´s lips. Her face grew hot, that was lewd!
Ryu´s mouth became dry.
So...I ...fell...in love...
Her face and ears were red, her heart jumped around in joy. It finally got into Ryu´s brain...she was in love.
Hauuu...I am an adult...I shouldn´t behave like th-..
Something caught Ryu´s eyes...something that absolutely shouldn´t catch her eyes...
For some reason...or rather four small reasons...Bell had moved a lot in his sleep, the blanket only covered his feet and upper body and had slipped to the side around his hips. For the first time in her life...Ryu saw something...standing upright.
However, he did it...Bell´s pants had slipped down a bit and revealed a phenomenon that happened to him in the morning in all of its glory to Ryu´s eyes. She gasped and her eyes widened...
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
As fast as never before, Ryu whirled around in her sleeping position to look in the other direction. This time the spirits had successfully hid behind a tree to escape her glare before she noticed them.
Her gasp seemed to wake up Bell, with a pounding heart she heard him mumble and then gasp loud...when he noticed how he looked right now...just hoping Ryu didn´t see it.
But it was too late.
Both had seen the other naked...well Ryu saw Bell mostly...and they couldn´t ever forget this sight.
The following breakfast became very...very...awkward.
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In Orario, high up in Babel, Freya couldn´t help but praise these spirits.
"My name in heaven! Ryu, you lucky girl! His thing looks beautiful! It rivals Babel in its glory! He will make you very happy with this if you will be a brave girl! You two will surely have lots of cute children later!"
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On the morning of the next day, they finally got out of the forest.
And in the distance, they saw their goal.
Solingen.
Ryu´mood immediately turned into a frightened one.
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Graphic scene warning!
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While Bell and Ryu traveled to Solingen, things happened in Orario and the dungeon. Like often in the last time, Revis was on the 18th floor, sitting in front of this strange hill grave, she couldn´t name what drew her here.
When she sat here and looked at the grave, Revis felt calm and sad at the same time.
Again and again, she saw these strange images of young women that she didn´t know, the red-haired one more than the others. And that elf she had seen in the dungeon...why always her?
It let Revis´ headache return again.
At least here she found a bit of peace.
"Revis."
Her mood immediately became sour when she heard that voice behind her.
"Leave me alone, Valetta."
"Not gonna happen, Enyo wants to know what you´re doing."
"I take some time for myself, now fuck off."
Revis´ mood always got sour instantly when she saw or heard Valetta, she didn´t even know why. But she hated that woman.
Valetta snorted. "Not gonna happen, you don´t order me around. I soon have a job to do, as do you, now get up from your ass and come."
Revis didn´t even turn her face to Valetta, this woman didn´t deserve this honor.
"I´m staying here as long as I feel like it."
Valetta laughed. "What even is this place? Some shitty grave?"
Revis grit her teeth.
The pink-haired woman stalked forward.
"What a cheap, shitty grave. Who lies here, hm? What is this symbol?"
Valetta eyed the banner, Revis´ blood started to boil.
"A winged blade? Hm. Wait..."
Valetta´s face got brighter, and she laughed.
"This is that stupid Justice this, Justice that familia from back then, right?! So they kicked the bucket?! Hah!"
Valetta laughed louder and looked at the weapons and the banner. Revis´ blood screamed in her ears, it called for murder.
"Serves them right! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Valetta swung her sword and kicked at the same time. Half of the weapons fell over, while she sliced the banner in half.
Revis´ eyes widened, and her mind went blank.
The next thing that Revis realized, was that she was up to her feet, and her right fist collided with Valetta´s face, breaking her nose and shattering many of her teeth to splinters. The sharp edges of the nasal bones dug into the surrounding flesh, cutting it. Splinters of her teeth tore into her lip and cheek from the inside.
"Buha! Wha-!"
Valetta didn´t get time to ask what Revis was doing, nor cursing her. Revis shot forward and dealt punch after punch into Valetta´s face, pulverizing her jaw, shattering her teeth, and even letting Valetta´s left eye pop with a punch. The eye burst and gelatin flew out of the ruined socket, mixing with blood.
And Revis screamed the whole time while she attacked Valetta, her mind filled with raging murderous intentions, and the pictures of the women who owned the weapons. She still couldn´t say why this made her so furious, she didn´t even know the girls!
Not the pallum with the pink hair, not the far-eastern-looking girl with the long black hair. Nor the Amazon, or the sisterly woman next to her. Not the cute dwarf or the green-haired elf. Or one of the others.
Yet her mind got filled with rage when Valetta desecrated the grave.
Revis´ screams got louder, suddenly she saw the image of a smiling girl, with short, cerulean hair.
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
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Revis´ hands shot forward and she screamed two words, whose origin she didn´t know. But both started with the letter A.
Flames burst out of Revis´ hands and feet. Valetta screamed wordlessly, her tongue got cut by the broken teeth, she gurgled blood, saliva and mucus. She tried to fight back as well as possible, but not only had Revis surprised her, but she was a true monster...
The image of the girl with the cerulean hair filled Revis´ mind again, and then she saw an explosion, how the girl got ripped to pieces...and the laughing Valetta.
Revis screamed louder than Valetta, pressing her burning hands onto the face of the shouting woman. The fire on Revis´ fingers scorched Valetta´s skin, charred it, then it tore, and some of it melted. Valetta tried to free herself, but Revis didn´t let her.
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"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
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Valetta tried to free herself, but Revis used her right foot to kick right through her kneecap, breaking the bones and the joint. The pink-haired woman broke to her knees, Revis screamed even louder, and fire gushed out of her back, taking the form of two wings. Pure hatred stood in her green eyes, Valetta´s one eye saw a different person, a younger woman, in front of her for a moment.
She can´t b-
Valetta´s scream reached a new high when Revis pulled her thumbs back and rammed them right into her eye sockets, destroying Valetta´s remaining eye, and starting to burn the inside of her skull. Never had she thought pain like this was possible. Her head burned, the skin fell apart, and her whole body was in flames. No thought came any more to Valetta, there was only pain.
Then, Revis screamed again.
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"AAAAAAAAAAAALVERIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
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The following explosion ripped all clothes, skin, flesh, muscles, and everything that wasn´t bone from Valetta´s body, leaving behind a scorched skeleton, kneeling there with shattered limbs.
The wings of fire behind Revis had shielded the grave from the explosion, in an area of at least seventy meters, it was the only spot not scorched and burned. Even her own clothes got burned off, revealing her naked body, covered in round scars, as if a hail of burning orbs or something similar had hit her from one side in the past.
"Hah...hah...hah...hah...Nnngh!"
Revis held her aching head, it hurt like hell again.
After a while, she turned around and started to fix the grave. There wasn´t much she could do about the banner, but something inside her told her to repair as much as possible.
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Justice finally got served.
