Lefiya Viridis stood in the midst of the Monsterphilia festival beside her two Amazoness comrades, Tiona and Tione Hiryute. The twins made small talk to each other as all three of them waited for Ais and Loki to arrive. A melancholy aura radiated off of Lefiya as she stood quietly against the pillar they chose as their meetup spot. Throughout the last few days, the young elf had been extremely depressed. After that night in the bar, Bete's insults; despite not being aimed directly at herself, would not escape her thoughts.
'A coward who can't even take on a weak, measly Minotaur, isn't worth much.'
Even after all of the words of encouragement from the twins beside her, she couldn't help but agree with the werewolf's harsh words. How could she not? Throughout her classes at the School District prior to her arrival in Orario, she would often be called a prodigy. She graduated at the top of her class. She was level 3 and already was being trained with the intention to one day succeed Riveria Ljos Alf herself. Yet a minotaur, a level 2 monster, got the upper hand on her in battle. Every time her mind thought back to that moment, shame rose up within her at the fact that a rookie; who didn't even have a status at the time, had to protect her.
Throughout the past few days, the elf thought introspectively about what needed to change. She loved this familia and admired all of her friends so much. While they may have repeatedly told her that she was worthy to fight by their side, she didn't feel that way at all. The elf decided that from now on, she wouldn't worry about the artificial stuff like impressing the others, or even looking cool in front of her beloved Ais! She had been lucky enough to be granted the opportunity to fight alongside them and; may the gods smite her, she would do just that!
"Uhhhh, Lefiya, are you okay? You're looking pretty deep in thought there." Tiona spoke quizzically. She had been staring at the elf for the past couple of minutes and the poor girl didn't even notice. "You were staring so intensely at that barrel across from us, I thought you were trying to blow it up with your mind. Did you learn a new spell?" The amazoness asked excitedly.
Lefiya's pale cheeks instantly heated up as she flailed about in embarrassment at the tan girl's questions.
"No, no! I was just thinking about our upcoming expeditions." The young elf admitted.
A warm smile spread across both of the twins' faces. Tione made eye contact with her sister and they both shared a sigh of relief due to the fact that their anxious elf friend finally got over her depressed state.
A moment later the crowd began to bustle and numerous members of the Ganesha familia ran past them with great urgency.
A huge grin broke across Tiona's face as she glanced at her sister. "You curious what's going on?"
Tione matched her sister with a smirk of her own. She may not be quite as bubbly as her sister but they both shared a chaotic love of beating shit up. "You know it."
Lefiya vigorously nodded in agreement as well, determined to help out in any way she could.
*SWISH, TANG, SWISH*
Tiona, Tione and Lefiya stood atop one of the city roofs, keeping an eye out to see where their help might be needed. After finding their goddess, Loki gave them a rundown of the situation. Monsters escaped their cages and were running rampant. After Loki's direct order to help out, the group of women raced to the rooftops to get a better view, determined to help anywhere they might be needed. Except, once they got there all they saw was Ais Wallenstein zipping through the city streets below, decimating monster after monster. The sight made them rethink if their help was really needed after all.
"Uwah- It doesn't look like we'll get a turn after all." Tiona moaned in disappointment.
"You can say that again." Tione mumbled in agreement.
Lefiya couldn't help but be disappointed as well. Even if they don't have their weapons, they would do whatever they had to in order to keep the town safe.
*BOOM*
They heard an explosion take place a few buildings away. Immediately, all three of them rushed over to respond. They arrived at a large plaza containing numerous townspeople.
"Ais is too far! We're going to beat it. Lefiya, observe the situation and provide support!" Tione declared.
"Yes!" Lefiya shouted back.
The monster they dashed towards was a massive gangly tube that looked strangely plant-like coming from a crack in the ground towards the middle of the plaza. Despite their vast experience in the dungeon, none of the Loki familia adventurers had seen any monsters like it.
The tentacle-like monster shot out at one of the townsfolk. In response, both of the Amazoness twins flashed above it with absurd speed and released two powerful punches in sync that slammed it down to the pavement below. The ground it landed on shattered from the sheer force of the attack.
"Yeowch!" Tiona screeched, flailing her hand back and forth.
"How is its skin so hard?!" Tione forced out through grounded teeth, nursing her own first.
Taking no damage from the previous attack, the monster launched back up and zipped towards the twins. Lefiya observed the battle closely as the twins began to duck and weave in between the monster's various strikes. The twins' high leveled status was obvious to any onlookers as they seamlessly dodged and mixed in various barehanded attacks in spite of the beast's toughness.
'This monster is unknown. It hasn't noticed me yet and if it's so strong against physical attacks, it will most likely be weak against magic. I'll do a speed focused short chant, but I have to be careful!' The elf thought to herself. She focused her thoughts and began to cast her incantation. Even without a weapon, she would do this!
[Attack, Fairy Archer, Shoot Your Arrow That Strikes True!]
'Almost there.' Lefiya started to aim her spell towards the beast the amazoness's were fighting.
*CRACK*
Right beneath her feet, where the young elf stood, a crack erupted.
Time slowed down for Lefiya. Almost on pure instinct, she brought her right arm down to her side into a block at the very last second. A tentacle shot from the ground and whipped into her, launching her across the plaza. She crashed into a canopy that fell apart upon her landing.
Numerous other tentacles launched from the concrete below them as the tubes began to bloom into a terrifying sight. The bulbous heads on each tentacle showed to each be separate monsters as their ends opened up to show a grotesque venus flytrap-like creature. Each head had a large mouth that blared razor sharp fangs with an inner mouth that contained human-like teeth.
*Cough cough* Blood trickled down Lefiya's chin as she coughed repeatedly trying to catch her breath. Her whole right arm screamed out to her in pain from taking the full force of the plant monster's surprise attack. The same monster that surprised her, now slowly crept up to the elf's shaking body as the twins behind it were struggling with the other three that burst from the ground only moments ago. It opened its maw, for saliva to drip off of the human teeth of its inner mouth like it was excited for its meal.
The horrifying sight caused her very soul to quake as her body froze in pure fear. A familiar despair crept up from the depths of her mind. The same negative voice that repeatedly told her she'll never catch up to Miss Ais. That she would never be good enough.
Her left hand grabbed onto her injured right arm and she squeezed. The pain from the injury jolted her out of her thoughts.
NO! She PROMISED herself that she would carry her own weight!
With shaky legs, she lifted herself up off of the ground and stared firmly back at the plant monster inching closer to her. Still grasping her injured arm, she waited until the moment the beast was about to strike and jumped out of the way at the last second. She awkwardly tumbled across the ground as she landed. Her jacket was torn and her blouse was stained with her own blood. It wasn't pretty and many would have even said it was unbecoming of an elf to be on the dirty floor like this. But she didn't care if it meant that she could fight by their side!
" *Huff huff* Tiona! Tione! They react to magic. I can take them out… but I'll need both of your help." The elf resolutely declared as loud as she could muster.
Despite being mid battle with 3 of the monsters, both Tiona and Tione burst out into massive smiles at the usually insecure elfs' resolve.
"Of course!" They shouted in unison.
Just as Lefiya was preparing to dive out of the way of another attack from the fourth monster, Ais struck down to the plaza like a wind imbued comet. The fourth monster that targeted Lefiya dispersed into a cloud of dust but,
*SHATTER*
Ais's sword fell apart and landed on the ground in pieces. A shocked and panicked look appeared on her face, "I'm going to get yelled at." She spoke depressingly.
"Ais, protect Lefiya! They're strong against blunt damage but weak to magic!" Tione shouted.
The Sword Princess gave an affirmative nod and joined the sisters at the front.
With complete trust in her comrades, Lefiya gritted her teeth through her injury and spread her arms wide as she began casting her spell. Line after line, she echoed out her incantation . The creatures did their best to race to her as her magic concentrated around her, but they had no luck with the three first class adventurers blocking their path. A magic circle glowed around her, vibrating with power. Slowly as her incantation continued, a ring rose up from the circle and surrounded her. A rare spell that only she had access to, Elf Ring. This ability allowed her to mimic any magic used by an elf, so long as she knew the chant and effects of said magic. The area surrounding her dropped to an icy cold temperature as she came close to finishing a spell from the most powerful elf she's ever known. Familiar to the chant, knowing that it was coming to an end, the three executives dashed behind Lefiya, grouping all of the plant monsters together as they charged.
*Wynn Fimbulvetr*
Lefiya stood tall as she released her teacher's spell. Pure white light flooded the plaza in front of her, covering the monsters in an ice so cold that it was rumored to be powerful enough to freeze even time itself.
"Way to go Lefiya!" Both of the twins shouted in unison.
"Good job, Lefiya." Ais softly nodded in agreement.
With the large vibrant green plant monsters finally crystallized in ice, it looked like their job was done. Shards flew everywhere as the twins and Ais made easy work of their now frozen foes. Lefiya stayed vigilant just in case since the monsters seemingly came out of nowhere from the ground in the first place. Suddenly at the entrance to the plaza, a young child with wild brown hair, raced in with tears running down his face.
"Someone help!" He cried out.
His gaze quickly drifted to Lefiya and the rest of the executives and made a beeline to them. He eventually stops after nearly tackling the elf in a hug.
"Miss, please help! Big brother is fighting a Silverback in Daedalus Streets! He had to stay to protect us." He balled, rubbing his face in the elfs skirt.
Lefiya and the Loki familia executives urgently grouped up to listen to the boy's pleas.
Lefiya, Tiona, Tione and Ais leapt across the rooftops, listening closely to the directions of the boy whose name they now knew as Rye. He finally calmed down and was piggybacking on top of Tiona. Without his help it would've taken them way longer to find the church plaza.
They expected to hear signs of chaos and battle echoing down the streets but were instead met with silence. This caused panic to fill the small group as they were starting to expect the worst. Finally arriving at the plaza, the adventurers saw what looked to be the remnants of a bloody battle. A crowd of people surrounded the unmoving body of an adventurer in the middle.
A groggy Bell Cranel tossed and turned in his bed as he started to wake up from his sleep. He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something important, but the warmth of his pillow called to him. Every part of his body was screaming at him to rest. After all, he deserved it after that fight with the Silverback, right? Wait… Silverback. Suddenly everything came back to him at once. Monsterphilia, Silverback, Syr. Immediately after that last thought Bell shot up from his bed in a panic.
"Syr!" He shouted. Now wide awake, Bell scanned his room and saw his goddess sitting only a few feet away from him.
"Woah there, kid! Take it easy, baby steps." Loki's hands gestured for him to calm down. "After that arm of yours being healed, you're gonna want to take it easy here for a while."
"But Syr… and the children! Did they make it out okay?" The words left Bell's mouth with him still in a panic. Only a moment after did he realize he was holding his blanket with two perfectly good arms despite the fact that one of them looked like a bloody mess in the wake of his last battle.
"Don't worry, they're fine. It was actually one of the children who found Lefiya and the girls and told them about you." Loki elaborated with a smirk. Her chin rested on the knuckles of her fist, her eyes examining her newest familia recruit. "It's a good thing too, my girls are quick, but even they would've taken a bit to navigate through Daedalus Streets to find you. From what I heard, that arm of yours was looking pretty nasty. Oh yeah, and be sure to thank Lefiya for healing you." She said offhandedly. The goddess's face then took on a sterner expression. "It's only been a little over a week, and you're already picking fights with a Silverback? I don't think I have to tell you how crazy that is, right? You almost died, Bell."
The boy absorbed each of his goddess's words. At first, relief washed over him hearing about Syr and the orphans' safety, but after hearing his goddess's worry, he couldn't help but feel shame. Once again members of the familia had gone out of their way to save him. Heroes are the ones who do the saving, not the other way around! Bell's posture drooped as he slunk back down into the bed.
"I'm really sorry goddess, I didn't mean to cause trouble for everyone. I should've tried harder to find help. I'll be more careful from now on." The rookie adventurer quietly spoke in a heartfelt apology.
Loki kept her eyes sternly locked onto the boy's own. Or at least tried to. The boy's pure crimson eyes pierced straight through the goddess' ice cold heart like a knife. He was like a kicked puppy.
"Gah! Watch where you point those things!" His goddess said, using her hands to block her line of vision to the boy.
Bell curiously tilted his head not quite understanding what his goddess meant by that.
"Anyway, don't be too harsh on yourself kid. Familias are there to help each other when they need it, don't sweat it." The trickster goddess smiled to herself knowing her children would completely agree with her. "But!" Loki loudly proclaimed with a finger lifted into the air. "For the next few days until the lower level expedition, you are BANNED from the dungeon!" She finished, bringing her finger down as if her judgement had been passed.
The boy's eyes widened in response.
"But goddess-" Bell tried to interrupt.
"No buts! I have decreed it!" Loki fired back immediately. "And don't you try to sneak around this and get Raul's approval. Don't think I haven't been paying attention. You've been the talk of the familia with you going into the dungeon everyday by yourself. For the next few days just take a break and re-LAX."
"Yes, goddess." Bell heard the seriousness in his goddess's words and simply nodded in acceptance.
"Good. I might be busy the next few days but if you need anything, I'm sure any of the executives will help." Loki rose from her seat in preparation to leave.
"Understood, thank you goddess." Bell responded with a smile.
*Slam*
Loki closed the door to Bell's room on her way out. A few minutes passed by as Bell sat on his bed in silence, just letting the day's events sink in. When he first arrived in Orario not even a month ago, he wouldn't have guessed in a million years that he'd be fighting a silverback to the death in the middle of the city. Then again, he also didn't imagine he'd be part of one of the most powerful familias either. He looked down at his arm that was healed recently. He proceeded to clench and unclench his fist, testing his motor functions. He finally wound his arm in a windmill shape just for good measure. He was still exhausted, but the arm was good as new, like the injury never happened in the first place. He really had to thank Lefiya when he got the chance.
'I really hope I didn't cause them too much trouble.' Bell grimaced to himself.
His mind then bounced back to Syr. The worried look she gave him before exiting the church to escape was still fresh in his mind.
'I really should stop by the Benevolent Mistress to check in on Miss Syr as well.' The rookie concluded to himself.
Then after that the boy figured he should prepare his things to get ready tomorrow for the dung-... Bell deadpanned to himself and looked at the door his goddess just exited from.
'Crap! I forgot the goddess banned me from entering the dungeon for the next few days!' Bell thought to himself in despair. 'That's fine, I'll just take it easy and do something else to relax like she said.' The rookie put his hand up to his chin in a thinking posture and began to think about what he should do.
Seconds passed…
Minutes passed…
If anyone else was in the room with him, they may or may not have seen smoke begin to rise from the top of his head as he thought arduously about what he could do. Finally he exploded into a shout, "Have I really only gone into the dungeon everyday since I've gotten here?!"
Bell was beginning to accept the fact that he might need to find a hobby.
Later that day, Loki and Freya sat across from each other in an elaborately decorated room. Freya, as usual, was in a regal gown that accentuated her godly features to the extreme. She took a sip from her wine glass in a manner that just screamed elegant. Loki on the other hand was unusually serious. Her typical jovial demeanor was nowhere to be found.
"It was a crazy time today. Monsters break free as they wander aimlessly around the city and my cute little adventurer I just recently recruited was beaten within an inch of his life by a Silverback." Loki said in a matter of fact tone.
"Now Loki, I wondered what it was you called me out at this time for. You know I don't care about what happened to you today." Freya responded offhandedly as she crossed her legs underneath the table.
"You say that even though you're the one responsible for everything?" The trickster goddess flatly said, swishing her wine glass back and forth casually.
The goddess of love feigned a look of shock at her old acquaintance's accusation. "My, do you have any proof of that?"
"Hmm lets see, a lot of people were charmed all of the way down to their bones and heck, the Ganesha familia group guarding the monster cages were rolling on the floor after being swept off their feet. It's obvious isn't it? Though, I'm not sure exactly what you were trying to accomplish."
Freya lightly exhaled through her nose in a light chuckle. "I guess it does look that way. It is mostly as you say." She admitted.
"Normally I'd be debating on tattling to the guild, but your scheming hurt one of my own this time, Freya. Whether it's a rookie or one of my executives, watch yourself. I don't think war between us is what anyone in this city wants." Loki threatened. Her eyes menacingly focused on the goddess across from her with an aura that was truly worthy of a deity.
Freya took the threat in stride as she finished another sip from her glass before calmly placing it back on the table.
"The Hawk's Plumage."
"What?" Loki said with a puzzled look.
"That plumage you borrowed still hasn't been returned." Freya said as if it was obvious.
"Wha- that was when we were in heaven, when I too- *cough cough* borrowed it right?! You're gonna bring that up now?!" Loki said in a panic, beginning to sweat bullets.
"I do not care." The beauty goddess spoke with a smile on her face.
"No, I mean, even if you ask for it back at this point I…" Loki fumbled over herself.
"Well… if you would be so kind as to turn a blind eye to my actions this time, I wouldn't mind giving it to you. How about it?" Freya sweetly propositioned with an innocent smile.
'Gahhhh, she's always so hard to deal with.' Loki internally grumbled to herself.
"Fine! You have yourself a deal you crooked woman! It really ticks me off, even though you made my cute kids face off against those weird monsters!" The crimson haired goddess shouted in vain as she grabbed the sides of her head with her hands and buried her face in the table.
"..?" Freya looked confused at the last comment.
"What's with that face? It was there right? That tenth monster, the nauseating flower that was like a snake?" Loki asked, peeking up from the flat of the table.
"I only let out nine, you know." Freya rebutted.
"Liar…"
"No, really, there was no flower monster locked up by the Ganesha familia. I didn't intend to cause any real damage for the sake of a prank." The goddess of beauty elaborated further.
"...Then what exactly was that monster?" Loki lifted her head fully back off of the table.
"Who knows? I have no idea why something like you described would be there." Freya acknowledged in agreement.
The two goddesses sat there in confusion with their conversation coming to an end.
A couple hours had passed since Bell woke up. After he thought long and hard about what to do with his upcoming free time, he finally figured it out! The library! He was meaning to check one out since he got to Orario, but the dungeon had consumed so much of his attention that he completely forgot about it. And better yet, he'd heard from Line and the others during breakfast that the Loki familia actually had their own exclusive library within the Twilight Manor. Finding it on the other hand, was quite the chore but he eventually reached it after stopping to ask some of his peers for directions a few times.
Upon entering, he was greeted with a massive room containing rows upon rows of bookshelves that dwarfed him in size. He walked around with starry eyes never quite experiencing a collection as big as this. He knew the Twilight Manor was massive, but he didn't expect there to be an entire library only a couple of buildings away from his room!
Bell slowly began to make sense of the bookshelves that surrounded him. There were signs above every couple of rows, categorizing them by themes. As he gradually continued to investigate the library with a clear goal in mind, he eventually made his way to a bookshelf on the far back wall. His treasure was before him at last. In front of him was almost an entire bookshelf dedicated to heroic myths.
"This is so cool! Some of these are even limited edition!" Bell quietly said to himself as he reached for one of his personal favorites, 'The Argonaut'. In that same moment as he reached out, a small tan hand made contact with his own as they both happened to go for the same book. Startled at the accidental contact, Bell snatched his hand back in embarrassment. He swore there wasn't anyone there a moment ago.
"I'm sorry I-" The rookie started to apologize before he blanched as he noticed that the person beside him was none other than Tiona Hiryute, one of Loki familia's executives. The amazoness inquisitively tilted her head at the interaction.
"Huh, rookie? I didn't expect to see you here after that beating you took earlier today during Monsterphilia. You were reaching for 'The Argonaut' too? Wait… are you a fan of heroes?" Tione questioned, growing more excited as each was asked.
A little bit overwhelmed by the girl's energy, Bell could not help but shrink back slightly. The rookie hesitated to answer at the risk of sounding childish to one of the executives he admired so much, but eventually he stuttered out, "Yeah, I love them." For a brief moment her eyes lit up and Bell thought her ridicule was inevitable, just like the werewolf's, until Tiona busted out into a huge smile.
"I love them too! After all these years, the Loki familia finally has another member who appreciates heroes!" She exclaimed. Bell relaxed greatly after hearing her words and matched her smile with one of his own. Not only was she not making fun of him but she was a fan too!
"I'm surprised the familia has such a large collection of them, this is amazing." The rookie gestured his arm across the entire collection in front of them. "I thought that some of these didn't even have a printed copy in existence anymore."
"Hehe, exactly! Finally someone understands. Over the years I've been requesting as many of these as possible. I've even put forth some of my own funds when I had to." The tan woman proudly explained.
Minutes passed by as they both continued to stand there with Tiona proudly showing Bell the ins and outs of her collection. A casual enjoyer might have been lost at her in-depth explanations, elaborating on each of the stories origins, but Bell insightfully nodded along in amazement. He absorbed each one of the amazoness's words with great interest, ecstatic that he found someone who knew just as much as he did.
"You're incredible, Miss Hiryute! You're so knowledgeable!" Bell said in awe.
Tiona nodded in great satisfaction, "At last, someone who understands." Tiona wished her sister was here to witness this. "Hmm, but you can call me Tiona, rookie. Everyone does."
Bell paused for a moment, slightly embarrassed at the thought of addressing another one of the executives so familiarly. Gareth was already approaching his limits!
"Okay… Thank you Miss Tiona." Bell shyly responded.
Tiona amusingly watched as the boy in front of her squeaked out the words like his soul was being drained from his body in embarrassment.
"Haha, you're funny, rookie." The amazoness laughed out loud as she slapped Bell on the back in a friendly manner. The gesture seemed innocent enough, but to the level 1 adventurer, the force of her palm on his back made the Silverback seem like a friendly day at the park. The rookie had to use all of his willpower to act nonchalant as he reached out an arm to the bookcase for balance in order to not fall over. "Don't be so worried all of the time. We're all here to help. That grumpy werewolf is an exception." Tiona finished with a huge smile.
The boy nodded with a small smile of his own in understanding. After a moment Bell's eyes wandered to a sign on the wall next to the bookcase in front of the two of them.
*Notice*
Please check out
all books at
the front desk.
"Miss Tiona, I see here you have to check out the books. Do you know how long I can take one out for?" Bell asked, pointing towards the sign near them.
"Just take it." Tiona said nonchalantly.
"Oh oka-" Bell's brain screeched to halt. "Wait what? But Miss Tiona, the sign says right there" The rookie began to respond before his senior cut him off.
"You'll bring it back, no one will miss it. Just take it." Like a devil on his shoulder, the Loki familia executive made Bell's innocent heart waver. One of his seniors that he respected so much was telling him to break the library rules.
*THWAP*
Before Bell could even blink, a wooden staff made contact with the back of the amazoness's skull, slamming her chin into the library floor. To his horror, Riveria was now right behind them.
"How many times do I have to pound it into you? Stop being a bad influence on the new recruits." The regal elf behind them scolded.
Tiona shot back up from the ground with a shout, "Run while you have the chance, rookie! I'll hold her off for as long as I can!" Bell could only watch in a mix of shock and panic as the tanned woman next to him lunged at the elf, only to be met with another clean hit to the side of her temple that sent her flying down the row across from them.
"Impudent girl." Riveria shook her head disapprovingly.
Bell looked to where Tiona landed and only saw a cloud of dust and books with no sign of movement. His eyes then drifted back to the elf in front of him and let out a terrified shriek.
"I'm… I'm… I'm sorry." Bell's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, barely articulating the words due to the fear that filled him. He gently fell to his knees and dropped the book he was holding to the ground in front of him as a gesture of submission.
"Good, at least someone has manners around here. Follow me boy, I'll help you check out this book." The elf said with a motherly smile.
Bell robotically stood and followed the Loki familia's Vice-Captain to the front desk. He made a mental note to never get on her bad side.
It was the crack of dawn. Bell was once again in the courtyard of the Twilight Manor and could see the sun slowly peeking itself over the horizon. While Bell appreciated its beauty, he couldn't help but let out a yawn as he rubbed his eyes with his palms. Last night he stayed up later than usual because he couldn't stop reading about heroic myths. Tiona's recommendations ended up being exactly what he was hoping for. A chill went down the rookie adventurers spine when he thought about how much money some of those books must have been.
Bell began his morning stretches in preparation for his training. His goddess said he couldn't go to the dungeon, but that didn't mean he couldn't practice! As he unsheathed his shortsword, his eyes could not help but wander across the courtyard to a blonde individual who had already started her training.
'Wow, Miss Wallenstein is so cool! She's always here every morning.' Bell thought to himself in amazement. The rookie witnessed the Sword Princess slash and turn at superhuman speeds. A breeze blew by and the gust sent a leaf flying from a tree directly into the woman's path.
*Slash*
Bell's eyes only witnessed a single slash downward, but less than a second later the leaf dispersed into over a hundred pieces. The rookie gawked in astonishment at the raw skill she showed off so effortlessly. The blonde woman suddenly turned and met the boy's eyes with her own, finally acknowledging his arrival. Bell immediately looked away and tried to pretend he wasn't staring like a complete weirdo.
'Ahhhhhh, she totally saw me! Please don't say anything!' The boy thought to himself in a panic. He sloppily released a few uncoordinated slashes with his shortsword, completely unfocused due to his embarrassment.
Footsteps began to head in his direction.
Bell's slashing speed increased even further as his panic increased to catastrophic levels. 'She wouldn't be walking to me, right? RIGHT?' The sound of the footsteps steadily grew louder with each step. 'Oh no, is she upset? Maybe she's just walking past me.' The rookie thought in distress.
"Are you okay?" asked a gentle voice.
"I PROMISE I WASN'T STARING!" shrieked a startled Bell, not expecting the voice to be only a few feet away. He now turned and fully faced Ais Wallenstein who stood across from him. Moments away from bowing in apology, Bell paused and blankly tilted his head, "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"The silverback… you were hurt pretty badly yesterday from it." The human girl softly spoke.
The rookie's eye flashed in understanding, "Oh… yeah I'm doing fine now. I'm sorry to cause you all trouble."
The blonde girl had a troubled look on her face and shook her head, "No, we should've been there to take care of it." The rookie could tell his senior was beating herself up about this. "You did good though. Silverbacks are strong." She nodded in stern approval.
Unsure of how to take the flattery, Bell could only awkwardly smile in thanks.
Unnoticed until now, a young elf Bell recognized as Lefiya Viridis suddenly jumped out from behind a nearby tree, "I've had enough of this, know your place, rookie! Do you not know who you're talking to?" She shouted in a demanding voice while dramatically waving a book she had in her hands back and forth in front of her.
The crimson-eyed adventurer couldn't help but show a puzzled look on his face at this sudden declaration.
"Um, isn't this Ais Wallenstein?" Bell asked confusedly. Ais looked at the boy and nodded blankly in agreement, not quite understanding what was happening either.
"No… I mean yes… but that's not what I meant!" Lefiya grumbled, unsure how to proceed with the dense duo in front of her.
Bell still didn't quite understand what was happening, but he was happy the young elf ended up coming to him. He bowed deeply towards her, "Miss Viridis, thank you so much for healing me! I'm sorry for causing you trouble!"
Lefiya didn't expect the tides to turn so quickly on her. Her stern face wavered in the face of the boy's genuine apology.
"Of course, we're a familia after all. Also, we're even now!" She matter of factly said while haughtily crossing her arms.
"Haha, yeah I guess that's true." Bell laughed in awkward agreement at the proud elf's antics.
Ais blankly looked back and forth between the two bickering adventurers and a small smile broke out on her face, "I'm glad you're making friends, Lefiya. Be sure to take care of your junior."
Bell watched the elf in front of him freeze as she processed her idol's words. The rookie was beginning to wonder if he should be concerned as seconds went by. Was she even breathing?
"A request from Miss Ais!?" Like a puppet who had its strings reattached, Lefiya sprang back to life. She hugged the book to her chest in a tight squeeze and began twirling back and forth in excitement. "It's so rare for you to request anything Miss Ais. I won't let you down! Even if it's a low class adventurer like him!" The elf finished looking at the perplexed rookie.
Bell wasn't exactly sure what was going on but he couldn't help but feel a tad bit offended at her last comment even though she was technically correct.
Lefiya then proceeded to point directly at him, "Rookie, consider yourself blessed. I will imbue upon you my wisd-!"
"Lefiya, how long does it take for you to get a book?" Riveria said, appearing behind the young elf seemingly from out of nowhere. Before Lefiya could even react, the older elf lifted her up in the air by the back of her jacket collar with one hand. "Does it really help you if you forget your own studying?" Her teacher scoldingly spoke. Lefiya comically swung her legs back and forth attempting to rebel, only for her to give up a moment later and hang there limply in acceptance of her punishment.
Witnessing this, Bell started sweating bullets as the memory of the older elf in the library was still fresh in his mind from yesterday. The rookie backed up behind Ais instinctively for protection.
Seemingly satisfied, Riveria set the younger elf back down. A look of remembrance came across her face after she glanced at Bell.
"Lefiya, I was going to tell you at the end of training today but since Mister Cranel is here I may as well bring it up now. Finn, Gareth and I discussed it and we decided you would be commanding the next low level expedition alongside Raul in three days. It'll be a good opportunity for you to grow." The familia Vice-Captain finished.
Lefiya's face held a troubled expression at her teacher's order. Bell was beginning to feel a bit worried for the girl and saw that Ais held a similar expression to his own. However, after a moment the young elf shook the troubled expression from her face and replaced it with one of stern determination. "Yes Ma'am!" She firmly spoke with a nod. Riveria smirked at her students' response in satisfaction.
"Now let's get back to training. Either of you are welcome to join if you'd like. You need more than just physical powers to become strong after all." The older elf offered to both Bell and Ais.
Bell's mind debated the invitation momentarily as he thought about whether his desire to get stronger surpassed his fear of the Vice-Captain in front of him. But in that same moment, the blonde girl he once looked to for safety immediately took on a terrified look and stepped back frantically like a cornered animal. The majestic sword princess he saw training only minutes ago was not here anymore. Ais Wallenstein was now a simple human looking out for her own survival. Bell decided to not think about this one any further and shook his head silently in decline. Sometimes you needed to follow your instincts if you wanted to live.
"Huh, that's how you both choose to answer. Too bad then. Lefiya, we'll continue until breakfast." Riveria spoke with disappointment as she once again grabbed Lefiya by the collar and lifted her off back to training.
The courtyard was once again down to just Bell and Ais. They looked at each other in relief that they both survived another day.
The breakfast hall was bustling with activity as usual. Bell finished grabbing his breakfast and walked to his normal table where Line sat. Despite over a week passing by since he joined the familia, the rookie adventurer was still a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of members the Loki familia had. He looked through the crowd off to the side where all of the executives ate and for a second he could have sworn he saw Ais, Tiona, and the werewolf all on the floor in seiza position in front of a scolding Gareth. He must have imagined it.
Bell finally reached his usual table. The moment he sat down, Line and the others burst out into questions.
"Are the rumours true?! Did you really take on a Silverback?" Spoke a brown haired Chientrope who Bell knew as Morel. Line and a few others nodded in agreement echoing the same questions in their minds.
Bell's cheeks became flush at all the attention being focused onto him. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before performing a small nod that answered their question. The group of low level adventurers burst out into another cacophony of overlapped voices.
"See! I told you, Kalos!" Shouted Morel to the red haired human next to him.
"I still don't buy it." Kalos said with crossed arms. "I mean look at him, he can barely answer our questions, let alone take on a Silverback solo. Plus, he's only been an adventurer for what? Not even two weeks? There's no way." He elaborated, now pointing directly at the rookie in question.
"Calm down, Kalos. You're not wrong, but why would both Bell and Tiona lie to us about this?" Line rebutted in response.
Bell took an anxiety filled bite of his breakfast as he watched the table argue back and forth. 'Of course Miss Tiona would go around telling everyone!' He thought to himself.
This was how breakfast in the Loki familia dining hall typically went for the rookie adventurer these days when he had time to attend. Despite their seemingly crazy attitudes, everyone had actually been very kind after Line's introduction and for that Bell was thankful. Both Line and Morel were level 2 adventurers but Kalos happened to also be level 1, just like Bell. Though from what he's heard, he joined the familia about 9 months prior. Time passed like any other day with Kalos and Morel arguing back and forth with Bell chiming in only a couple of words when he could, and Line jumping in when it looked like their argument was getting a little too intense to diffuse it.
Breakfast began to approach its end. Bell was gathering his trash like normal when a familiar elf made her way directly to him.
"It's time! Come with me." She announced to him, completely ignoring Bell's look of shock at seeing her.
'I didn't think she was serious about that.' The rookie thought to himself. He wasn't exactly sure what was happening but with her serious gaze remaining on him, Bell shrugged his shoulders, 'Why not? What's the worst that could happen?' Bell waved goodbye to his equally confused tablemates and took off following the elf.
Bell followed her out of the breakfast hall in silence as his mind was filled with the anticipation of not knowing what she had planned. After they had been walking down the hallway for a couple of minutes, the rookie couldn't help but ask, "Um Miss Viridis, what are we actually going to do?"
"Lefiya. Call me Lefiya. I don't want non-elves to call me by my village clan's name." She responded in a matter of fact tone, now stopping their trek as they finally reached a couple of seats near the courtyard.
"My apologies… Miss Lefiya." Bell hesitantly spoke, still getting used to calling so many of his seniors by their first names.
"Don't worry about it." She said with a wave of her hand. "Now consider yourself lucky! Miss Ais has assigned me the important mission of looking out for you and I will not let her down!" She declared extravagantly. "And since we're on the topic of Miss Ais, may I remind you that she is 'The' Sword Princess! Not only is she insanely powerful but she's also super cool! Plus, she's beautiful, majestic and brave." The look in the elf's eyes slowly became more unhinged as her rant became more and more obsessive. "Essentially, let me remind you to think twice before casually speaking to her. You should already consider yourself more than blessed that she allows you to practice in the courtyard beside her." She feverishly continued. Bell could only watch in awe as the elf girl's words began to speed up so fast they were almost incomprehensible. In the midst of her rant, a lightbulb suddenly went off in the rookie's head in understanding.
"Miss Lefiya, you really like Miss Ais, don't you?" Bell innocently asked unphased.
Lefiya's pale skin turned bright red as flailed her arms about cartoonishly in response, "Wha, Like… Obviously! It's only natural that everyone in this familia likes Miss Ais, she's amazing after all!" She sputtered out. The rookie could only lightly chuckle at his seniors' response. He completely understood how she felt. All of the Loki familia executives were so incredible. With her rant finally at an end, Lefiya attempted to compose herself and flattened out any creases in her dress.
"Ahem, anyway, if I'm not mistaken, Gareth already gave you a tour of the Twilight Manor, correct?" She spoke.
"Yes!" Bell responded.
"Hmm okay, how well do you know the city? Has anyone introduced you to the Loki familia's usual shopping spots yet?" The elf further questioned.
Bell opened his mouth to respond but at the last moment paused to think about it. As he thought back to his entire stay in Orario so far, he realized he really didn't know the city all that well. Outside of going to the Benevolent Mistress every few nights for dinner, he mainly had just been going into the dungeon.
"Not really, I guess I haven't taken the time to explore the city all that much yet. Everyone doesn't get their equipment from the stores on the higher levels of Babel?" Bell sheepishly asked, realizing he may not have thought about as much as he should've.
Lefiya gave Bell a look of disbelief after hearing his words. "Maybe they were waiting to introduce you after the expedition then. They probably didn't expect that you would be trying to go into the dungeon on your own. As one of the biggest familia's in Orario, we have specific contracts with both the Dian Cecht and Goibniu familias. Dian Cecht provides us with all of our potions while Goibniu personally smiths all of our first class weapons. Due to our contract, you get a discount when buying their equipment and potions." The elf studiously explained.
Bell earnestly listened to every word as he nodded along. He wished he would've asked someone before he went shopping and spent all of his valis.
"That's great to know, but how exactly would they be able to tell I'm a member of the Loki familia?" The rookie asked.
"Exactly!" Lefiya replied back enthusiastically. "Outside of rumors going around the city, they can't! That is why I'll be introducing you to them today. Are you prepared? I'd like to head out now"
"Yes!"
The rest of the day was… eventful to say the least. Bell had his suspicions about Lefiya, but after spending the last few hours with her, it was confirmed. She was a klutz. Half of the day alone, was spent with her talking about how amazing Ais was and the other half was them zigzagging through the city trying to find the stores she referenced earlier. Going off her comments, it sounded like she normally would follow one of her comrades to the shops and never actually fully paid attention to the routes herself. On top of that, when they did finally reach the Dian Cecht and Goibniu Familia's, the rookie was shocked to see that the elf turned into a stuttering mess when introducing him. From what he could tell, while she definitely kept her elven pride, she seemed to lack… confidence? It definitely made Bell reevaluate his mental impression of how Elves usually acted, but luckily between both of their awkward explanations combined, the familias now recognized Bell as the newest member of the Loki familia.
They now sat across from each other eating lunch, in front of a well known sandwich shop. Breakfast was all but a distant memory to the rookie's stomach and he was ravenous. Despite Lefiya's prim and proper mannerisms as she cut the sandwich up with a knife and fork, Bell could tell she was starving too. Now that they were just relaxing, an awkward air hung out between them. Bell wanted to speak up and start a topic of conversation but his shyness overtook the rational part of his brain that was in charge of thinking up the topics.
"Um, Mister Bell, that day in the dungeon… with the Minotaur." The elf visibly grimaced at the memory. "Why were you down there without a status?" She finally asked.
Bell almost choked on a bite of his sandwich, not expecting such a direct question.
"It's okay if you don't want to answer!
I was just curious!" Lefiya frantically backpedalled, concerned that she might have offended him.
He shook his head in response, "No it's fine." Bell took a deep breath as he thought about where to begin.
"When I came to Orario, my dream was to be an adventurer." The snow white-haired boy began. "But I didn't realize how hard it would be to find a familia willing to let me join. Everywhere I applied, I got shot down." Bell continued as he depressingly recalled his first week in the city. "I tried to stay determined, but after a while my funds were running out. So, I either had to get a part-time job or make a living in the dungeon. I know it sounds crazy but I wanted to be an adventurer no matter what! Everything was going okay… until the minotaur showed up, and you know how that went." A shudder went down his spine. "That's why I'm so thankful to goddess Loki for allowing me to join. The same goes for you and Mister Gareth and everyone else who's been helping me. I won't let everyone down!" Bell finished confidently with a bright smile.
Lefiya couldn't hide her shock. The boy was so similar yet so different from her. The idea of having a familia turn her down has never even been an afterthought in her life. Yet this rookie who sat across from her, went through so much effort, just to get to the starting line. The sheer idea of it made her pride waver.
"I'd expect nothing less but such determination from my student!" She responded in praise. "This is only the beginning, from now on, if you need any help, feel free to come directly to me! You got that?!" She exaggeratedly pounded a small fist to her chest in declaration.
"Yes, Master!" Bell shouted in agreement.
"Also, I've heard the rumors, what is this about you going into the dungeon by yourself?" Lefiya continued to prod.
Immediately Bell began to sweat. "Yes, but I got Mister Raul's approval first." The rookie shyly rebutted.
"That doesn't matter! You're part of the Loki familia. You're on a team now! Understood?" The young elf stressed the 'team' part specifically. "It was already a miracle you survived against that Silverback. Only the gods themselves know how you actually managed to kill it. It's one thing to be crazy but it's another thing to do it all on your own!" She spoke with a concerned look on her face. Lefiya had seen some crazy injuries in her time on the deeper floors of the dungeon, but the condition she saw Bell's arm in yesterday was approaching the scarier end of them!
The rookie dejectedly put his head down, accepting his seniors' criticism. "Understood Miss Viridis. Goddess Loki gave me a similar scolding as well. I'll make sure I'm more careful." Bell responded.
Lefiya was flabbergasted that he still planned on going on solo trips. Even after all that, her words only partially got through to him. She let out a deep sigh. "Fine, the next time you're going by yourself, let me know. I will supervise you!" She proudly declared. "It'll be a good opportunity to see what you're capable of on your own outside of the expeditions."
Bell was blown away by the elf's kindness. Not a single other person in the familia so far had offered to join him in the dungeon. Having someone watching and instructing him would be such a great help.
"Thank you so much!" He enthusiastically said.
Lefiya smugly nodded, extremely satisfied with her students' excitement.
The beginning of a new master and student relationship had officially begun within the Loki Familia.
Author's Note: This chapter took me a bit to finish but I had a lot of fun writing it. I figured that anyone who is a member of the Loki Familia gets involved with their antics one way or another and Bell would not be an exception to this. No one is safe!
As usual, I appreciate everyone who is kind enough to Follow/Favorite or leave a review. Special thanks to Rexias and Manatris for reviewing this chapter.
As a side note, Rexias also has his own story posted that is a My Hero Academia x Jujutsu Kaisen crossover. Please go check out Breaking the Cycle, if you like either of those series!