Part Twenty-five
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Bell sighed as he walked away from yet another Familia. His morning had been filled with rejection, just as the day before had.
The bustle of Orario's citizens passed around him, but Bell hardly took notice of them as he was lost in his own head. His eyes passed over the crowds, only picking out the people he desperately wanted to be like. A hefty-looking dwarf in resplendent armor laughed at an unheard comment from his human companion, and a trio of animal-people, all slightly different passed by him, happily recounting an adventure in the Dungeon. And an elf in brightly-colored robes and carrying a magic staff walked down the other side of the street, with beautiful women hanging off him on either side.
He wasn't going to give up, Bell reminded himself. He just needed a break.
A hint of golden hair caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he found himself following it without thinking. He weaved through the crowd, looking for the person he thought he had caught a glimpse of.
He saw a girl's back. It was her. The girl he had seen just two days before.
Sword Princess. Her golden hair trailing behind her as she was pulled through the crowd by an amazon.
He followed them, staying back. He didn't know why… no, he did know why.
They were both beautiful. It was hard to believe that either of them were among the most powerful adventurers in the city. The cream of the crop of one of the city's most powerful Familia.
He had gone to the Loki Familia the day before, just to see. He never really held out any hope of joining, and though he was turned away at the gate, at least they hadn't mocked him for asking.
"You really like this place, don't you Ais?" the amazon teased. The pair of them had stopped at a busy stand that sold snacks. Bell had gotten closer to them without realizing it, close enough to overhear their conversation.
"Mmh." Sword Princess- no, Ais, responded as the employee handed the pair their potato cakes, followed by a basket he could only assume held more of the same.
"Are you going into the Dungeon later?" the Amazon asked as they walked away from the stand. "If so, you should let me come with you…" Their voices trailed off as he looked away after them.
"Excuse me, but do you have an order?" Startled by the stall's worker, Bell turned his attention away from the now gone pair of adventurers.
"I-" His voice caught in his throat. He had been so intent on the girls, he hadn't noticed who was manning the stall. An equally beautiful girl with a child-like face looked back at him, her eyes widening as they met his own.
But that wasn't what had killed his voice. This girl- she was a goddess. He knew. It was like an invisible pressure, a sense of presence that couldn't be denied.
"Y-yes please," he finally squeaked out. If someone as famous as the Sword Princess liked this place, then surely it was worth trying. "Just one."
"One jagamarukun, coming up." The goddess seemed quite happy. "It'll just be a minute while fresh ones fry. Are you new to Orario?"
"Yes," Bell replied, trying to keep his eyes from drifting down to the goddess' chest. Child-like face she might have had, but other parts of her dispelled any notion of childhood immediately. "I arrived a couple of days ago."
"Did you come to become an adventurer?"
"That's right," Bell agreed.
"No luck?"
"Yeah." His shoulders drooped at the reminder of his fruitless quest. He was seen through immediately.
The goddess hummed to herself, looking him over.
Ding.
"Oh," the goddess started at the sound of the fryer. "The new batch is ready. I'll be right back."
The short goddess returned with his potato snack, and he handed her his valis in exchange.
"Thank you," he said.
"Have a nice day." The goddess replied with a smile. "If you're still looking for a Familia, come back in a couple of hours when my shift is done, and we'll talk, okay?"
Bell's hands froze in the middle of bringing the potato snack to his mouth.
"What?"
"I don't have time during my shift," the goddess repeated, "but I'm off in a few hours. If you're willing to consider my Familia, we can talk then."
"I will!" Bell agreed, despite his slight misgivings. Whatever the case, this was the most attention he'd ever received since arriving in this city. "A few hours, right?"
The goddess nodded. "I'll see you then."
Bell turned away from the stand and walked away in a daze. It wasn't yet an offer, but it was something. Maybe it was nothing, he wasn't even sure that this goddess' Familia was one for adventurers. He wasn't really sure what kind of goddess sold potato snacks, but he had to at least hear her out.
He munched on the jagamarukun as he walked. The Sword Princess had good taste in snacks, Bell decided. Very good taste.
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Hestia smiled at the red-eyed boy who timidly approached. He was already waiting the moment her shift was over and she had put away her apron.
"Hello," she greeted him. "I'm Hestia."
"B-Bell Cranel," the boy stuttered. "Hello."
"So, you're looking for a Familia, right Bell?" Hestia asked, quite unnecessarily. Just to get him talking, help put him at ease.
He nodded. "Yeah. I want to be an adventurer. Is that what your Familia does?"
"Mmhmm," Hestia agreed. "It is. Blair, my first familia member, he's an adventurer."
"Oh."
"What did you think my Familia did?" Hestia asked, with a sly smile.
"Well…"
"Perhaps you thought we sold potato snacks?"
"They were good potato snacks!" Bell blurted out.
"They are," Hestia agreed. "But I just work there. Not for much longer, just a couple of days. I'll be running my Familia full time from now on."
"Is it just you and Mr. Blair?" Bell asked.
"Yes," Hestia said. "I'm looking for more Familia members right now, if they're a good fit."
"I see…"
"So, are you still interested? We're still quite a new Familia, but my Blair has already gone down as far as the Twelfth floor of the Dungeon, you know." Hestia couldn't help but brag a bit. "Would you like to meet him? We can wait at my home if you'd like."
"That sounds good," Bell agreed, swept along in Hestia's exuberance.
"Wonderful, just follow me." Hestia led Bell down the street, chatting the whole way. "We'll talk some more, get to know each other a bit before Blair comes back from the Dungeon. We've agreed not to accept anyone into the Familia without both of our agreement, so make a good impression on him, okay?"
"Y-yeah, s-sure…"
"Oh, and don't mind our home's appearance too much. It's in the middle of being renovated and reconstructed in places, so some of it is still pretty rough. But everything is coming along quite nicely."
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Lili had seemed just a tiny bit hesitant about going down to the Eighth and Ninth floors with me, not that I blamed her. There were a lot of monsters on those floors, and with just the two of us we had to be constantly on guard. But they were ideal floors for me. The density of the goblins and kobolds served dual purposes for me. Firstly to farm Ability Pages, and secondly to complete my quests for 250 goblin and kobold kills for Class Augments. I didn't complete either, but I was well on my way, another day down there would more than do the trick.
Valorous Stand was a bullshit skill. A mass of goblins would charge me, and my speed and strength rose precipitously. A particularly nice incident was when a larger group of goblins attacked from down a hallway, and my Force Pulse broke the legs of an entire pack of goblins all at the same time, sending them sprawling to the ground screaming in impotent rage and pain.
But Lili didn't complain either, and soon enough was busy extracting magic stones as quickly as she could. But with so many, I often found myself stooping down to help her out after a particularly large encounter. I even got her to open up to me enough to show me the most efficient method to cutting out the stones of the kobolds and goblins.
Once Lili let down her guard a bit and started talking less like a beaten-down supporter and more like a person, she was really quite charming. And quick too. She instantly picked apart my technique and showed me how best to use my knife.
She clammed up when she realized she had been lecturing me, but I just smiled. It was endearing, actually. The real Lili peeking through her facade for just a short while before the mask slid right back into place.
So I was in a good mood when I returned home from the Dungeon. As I approached the church I could already see where our hired artisans had begun replacing stonework and windows. It wouldn't be more than a few days before everything would be ready.
"Hestia, I'm home," I called out as I opened the door down to the basement where we had been staying.
"Welcome home," Hestia called back. Strange that she didn't meet me at the door as usual, but I understood why when I entered our living room and saw the other person sitting uneasily on the couch.
White hair. Red eyes. A face too cute for his own good.
Bell Cranel.
My good mood evaporated in an instant, replaced by unease. I was totally unprepared for how hard seeing the main character of the series that so closely matched the world I found myself in was going to hit me.
"Hello," Bell said, standing up a bowing. "I'm Bell Cranel. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," I said by rote. "Since you're here, I presume you would like to join our Familia?" The words burned my mouth more than I ever thought. I had thought I was fine with this, but I wasn't.
He nodded earnestly. "I would. Hestia has been very kind to me."
Of course she had. Hestia was a kind person. Better than me.
I couldn't make a fair judgement of him. All I saw was threats when I looked at him. Visions of the anime danced in my head, of Hestia feeding Bell crepes and being so jealous of his affections. And I saw the danger of Freya, who sent a Silverback after Hestia in a fit of pique.
"Hestia." My voice cracked as I spoke.
She must have understood, because she quickly jumped up and grabbed my hand.
"Excuse us for a moment, Bell," Hestia said. "We just need a moment, you can wait in the kitchen."
The boy nodded, unease written on his face as he left the room, glancing back at us as he shut the door.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Hestia commented.
"I wasn't ready for this," I whispered, my eyes tight shut. "I thought I was…"
"You're scared," Hestia said, pulling me over to sit on the bed.
I nodded.
"You still haven't gotten over it." Hestia rubbed my arm with her hand. "I think you still see this place as a story. On some level, you just can't let go of it can you."
I clenched my teeth. She wasn't wrong. I wanted her to be wrong.
"I love you, Blair," she said, grabbing my head and forcing me to look her in the eyes. "Not him. You."
"I know this isn't a story," I replied. "But it's not easy."
"I don't know what it's like, for everything around you to be like a story you knew come to life," she said. "I can't help you with this, apart from reminding you that I'm the one here with you, not whatever facsimile of me you were exposed to."
"And the same is true of Bell," she continued. "He's not whoever you think you know. He's who he is now."
"But he may be," I replied. "If we do this… if we take him in, we're putting ourselves at risk."
"Like hiring a supporter you know to be a thief," Hestia rebutted, throwing my own choices back into my face. "One who you know might betray you and us for enough valis?"
"Touche."
"I want your genuine opinion, Blair. Should we do this?"
I just didn't know. There were so many reasons for or against.
"I can't decide," I admitted. "I can't separate him from who I know him to be able to be. But I trust your judgement, Hestia. So if you say you think he's a good fit for us, then I'll do everything I can to only care about the Bell who is here now."
Hestia smiled that infectious smile, and leaned up to kiss me. Our lips met, and my worries slipped away into the now familiar but still wonderful feeling.
"He's a good kid," Hestia said after our lips parted. "So I want you to trust me on this."
I shivered, but nodded against my own judgement. I still wanted to refuse, to say we should send him somewhere else, anywhere else.
"Just promise me one thing," I asked.
"Anything."
I drew in a deep breath. "By doing this, we're sure to be targeted by Freya at some point. If she acts too soon, before I can stand against them, I want you to promise that you'll give him up."
"Blair."
"I'm serious," I said, clasping her hands with my own. "I don't know if you knew Freya back in heaven, but I'm dead certain of one thing, and that is that she'd do anything to get Bell in the story I knew. As far as to go back to heaven to chase after his soul if he were to die."
Hestia drew in a shocked breath. Maybe the first time I told some of the story I hadn't covered that.
"I won't protect him over you," I said. "So promise me you won't try to make me."
Hestia stared into my eyes, and it felt like she was seeing my very soul, my fear laid bare.
"I promise."
"Thank you," I said, letting out my breath in a sigh of relief. I grabbed her and pulled her to me, bending over to kiss her again, and her body melted into my arms.
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Bell blushed as red as a tomato.
Could, could gods and mortals have this kind of relationship?
The door to the kitchen hadn't entirely closed behind him, and he had been getting antsy. He was just so nervous. He had spent a great deal of time with Hestia, and really liked her. But Blair was intimidating. He was a lot taller than either he or Hestia, and he had the distinct impression Blair did not like him much at first sight.
There was something else there too, but he couldn't place it. Whatever it was, he didn't like it.
So when he realized the door was slightly ajar, he had been tempted to peek, to see if he could hear anything, or at least see what they were looking like as they talked.
He never imagined he'd see the older man literally grab the goddess up in his arms and kiss her so forcefully. And the goddess seemed perfectly content to kiss him right back, considering the way her arms twined around his shoulders and pulled her even closer to him.
He crept back from the cracked door and tried desperately to forget what he had just seen. How was he supposed to face them when they called him back. Would they call him back?
Would they realize he had peeked and throw him out?
Did he even belong in a Familia like this?
"Bell! You can come back now." Goddess Hestia's voice called back from the room, and he swore he heard a breathless note in it. Like their kiss had only just ended.
Bell clapped his cheeks and hoped they weren't as red as they felt. This was his best chance at a Familia, and so he steeled himself not to react. Stoic, that was him.
He hadn't been peeking.
And it definitely hadn't been hot.