Hephaestus Familia Premise Chapter 5

Hello friends and fans, Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter! With Monsterphilia past, and Bell’s domination of the irregular Silverback fresh in Orario’s mind, people once more take notice of Hephaestus Familia’s only Adventurer. But is that attention positive or negative? Some might think to take this unheard of power for themselves. Others may wish to nurture the growing flame in hopes of becoming allies with Bell and Hephaestus Familia as a whole. Bell continues to focus on becoming stronger and refining his techniques, always building and strengthening his foundation.

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Chapter 5 – Blazing Destruction, Refining Control

Bell was one more in the back training area of the Takemikazuchi Familia Home in the early morning. He was finishing up his sets of punches, refining his technique with Ikkotsu further. Sweat was running down his face and bare torso as Bell continued to practice the technique, slamming one powerful punch into the straw bundle with his right fist, followed by slamming an equally powerful punch into the bundle with his left a second later.

As the last punch was slammed into the straw bundle and Bell exhaled slowly. He thought back on his last Status Update that he’d gotten after slaying the Silverback.

-Status-

Bell Cranel

Level 1

Strength – C 682 > B 784

Endurance – C 664 > B 765

Dexterity – C 693 > B 795

Agility – C 659 > B 761

Magic – B 765 > A 866

-Magic-

Kindle – Incantation: “Ignite.” Fire Enchantment Magic

-Skills-

Megáli Flóga – Provides protection from heat-based Magics and makes all Fire Magics the user casts use less Mind while significantly increasing their power.

Íroas Forge – Fast growth. The greater the effort towards the user’s goal, the greater the effect. Removes ‘impurities’ from the user, such as Charms or Curses.

-Status-

“My Basic Abilities went up a lot.” Bell said to himself. “I need to keep working on my foundation and getting better with my techniques.” He clenched his fists in front of him, his determination and desire to achieve his dream was still a blazing inferno within him, acting as the fire to fuel Íroas Forge and its effect.

After a brief rest, Bell joined the Takemikazuchi Familia for sparring. He was paired up with Ouka, the Captain of the Familia, for hand-to-hand sparring today. Both young men gave each other a respectful bow before taking up their stances.

“I will push you to your limits today, Bell.” Ouka said with a serious expression.

Bell nodded to Ouka with a determined look. “I look forward to your instruction, Mr. Ouka.”

“Begin!” Takemikazuchi declared as he watched over the spar.

Ouka moved in swiftly, a jab from his left hand testing Bell’s defenses. A slightly weave of his body had Bell easily avoiding the jab as he took his chance to launch his own jab towards Ouka’s face. The Level 2 Adventurer easily parried the jab and stepped into Bell’s guard, raising his knee to strike Bell in the stomach. Bell backstepped, knocking aside Ouka’s hand that had been trying to grapple him, and pivoted out of the line of attack. Before aiming a low kick at Ouka’s leading leg. Ouka lifted his leg to dodge the kick, only to kick off his opposite foot and shoulder tackle Bell.

“Grk!” Bell had barely managed to get his left arm up in time to block, but Ouka’s greater size and strength pushed Bell back and broke his footing.

“Hup!” Ouka brought his fist straight towards Bell’s face while the white-haired young man was off-balance. “Guh!” Only for Bell’s right foot to come up and slam into Ouka’s stomach from below.

Bell caught himself with both hands and scrambled backwards to make some distance and get back to his feet. Ouka, only moderately hurt from the unexpected kick, rushed Bell and nearly decked him straight in the face by the time Bell managed to get back on his feet. Bell barely managed to move his head to the side, Ouka’s fist grazing his cheek, as Bell’s counter punch was caught by Ouka’s free hand. With his greater strength and experience, Ouka used his grip on Bell’s arm to spin and then shoulder throw Bell into the ground.

“Hup!” Bell kicked his right leg upward as he hit the ground. With Ouka still leaning forward from the throw, his head was in perfect range.

“Auh!” Ouka cried out slightly as Bell’s kick hit the top of his head, making him retreat a step back and let go of Bell’s arm.

Bell rolled to his right and hopped back onto his feet, retaking his stance just as Ouka came at him again. Ducking under Ouka’s punch, Bell fell back onto his training and he chambered his right arm before using his technique. “Ikkotsu!” The powerful punch slammed into Ouka’s stomach with a dull thud.

Ouka moved backwards, his feet skidding through the dirt and grass, for half a meter, but his firm expression didn’t falter in the least. He’d seen Bell’s strike coming and had tightened his abdominal muscles. The Ikkotsu was powerful, but Ouka was still a Level 2 compared to Bell’s Level 1, and had Endurance high enough to tank the blow.

“Not bad, Mr. Cranel.” Ouka nodded to Bell as the two retook their stances again, both ready to continue their sparring match.

Off to the side, Mikoto watched Bell and Ouka continue to spar, her purple eyes carefully watching every move, kick, and strike. Any time that there was a lull in the spar, she found her eyes trailing over to Bell, looking at his rubellite eyes, blazing with the fire of determination, the sweat that he poured into his every strike, and the way his body moved. Even watching droplets of sweat run down Bell’s torso, following the contours of his musculature… ‘What am I thinking about?!’ Mikoto shook her head once, her face a bright red as she pulled her eyes away from Bell. She fidgeted slightly, managing to not place her hand over her chest, even if her heart was beating powerfully within. ‘Bell-dono…’ Mikoto couldn’t deny that something about Bell had captured her attention…and more.

-Dungeon - Seventh Floor - Late Morning-

“Bell, Monsters are coming from the left corridor!” Lili called out as she fired off three bolts at the charging Needle Rabbits coming at them from the right side.

“I’ve got them!” Bell said as he saw the incoming Frog Shooters, Purple Moths, and even more Needle Rabbits. The Needle Rabbits diverted off to the left and right side, leaving the Frog Shooters to charge at Bell while the Purple Moths flew in the air, scattering heir toxic dust.

“Kero!” The lead Frog Shooter launched its tongue at Bell.

Shing

And lost the top half of it for the attempt as Bell’s katana sliced it off cleanly.

Bell rushed forward and his blade removed the top of the Frog Shooter’s head. A pivot on his heel allowed him to avoid a second lashing tongue and with a lunge and a downward swing, he split the head of the second Frog Shooter in half, vertically. The third Frog Shooter didn’t even have time to lash out with its tongue before Bell’s fist slammed into its singular eye, splattering it and staining the floor with the Frog Monster’s blood.

“Pyik!” A Needle Rabbit launched itself at Bell from his blind spot, horn aimed straight for the Adventurer’s chest.

“Hyah!” Bell performed a Kazaguruma kick and launched the airborne Needle Rabbit through the air to slam into the wall, before it exploded into black ashes.

A second Needle Rabbit came straight at Bell from behind. “Pik!”

Ching

Bell managed to block with his sword at the last second and stalled the Needle Rabbit’s charge. Snatching it out of the air he spun and threw the Needle Rabbit like a dart at another Frog Shooter, impaling the frog Monster straight through the head with the Needle Rabbit’s horn. Both Monsters died on impact, collapsing to the stone ground.

“Hup!” Bell leapt up, putting his Strength stat to work as he easily cleared the distance between himself and the Purple Moths as they fluttered near the ceiling. With a wide slash, he cleaved through three of the poisonous Monsters, sending their pieces down to the floor as he landed deftly on his feet.

“That was impressive, Bell. You didn’t even use your Magic!” Lili praised Bell with a grin, carrying eight Needle Rabbits that she’d slain over to the group of corpses that Bell had made of the Monsters he’d fought. “Lili will get to work!”

Bell smiled at Lili for the praise as he took up a guarding position for her. “Thank you, Lili. I’m trying to improve all of my skills, instead of just relying on my Magic.”

It only took Lili a short time to harvest all of the dead Monsters; collecting a Needle Rabbit’s Tusk in the process. And then the two-man Party was ready to continue their exploration of the Seventh Floor. Due to Bell’s hard work and rapidly growing power, they’d already traversed a large amount of the Seventh Floor and were very close to the stairs to the Eighth Floor when something caught their attention.

“EEEYYYAAAHHH!!!: A scream echoed through the Dungeon.

Bell was off like a shot, Lili easily keeping pace as a Level 2.

The two reached the source of the scream, the large cavern that housed the stairs down to the Eighth Floor, and saw an absolutely MASSIVE number of Killer Ants swarming up from the stairs. The sheer number of the insect Monsters had nearly filled up the cavern and more were still spilling out from the stairway.

Struggling to flee from the massive swarm was a Party of Adventurers, four people in all. Two women, one mage and one swordswoman, and two men, one a Chienthrope the other a Bull (judging by his horns, ears, and tail). All four of them were injured as well, the Bull man nearly carrying the other man who looked to be bleeding badly from wounds on his left arm and right leg. The scream had come from the mage woman as she had been knocked to the ground by a Killer Ant and had just barely been saved by the swordswoman who cut down the ant Monster.

“Lili, take care of them!” Bell said as he rushed forward, passing by the fleeing Party so fast that the other Level 1’s all blinked in surprise, even in their panic.

“Over here!” Lili called out to the four-man Party, waving them over as she set her large green backpack down as she started pulling out Potions to help the injured.

The Bull man ran over, hoping to help his injured friend. “We need to run! There’s too many of them!”

“He’s right! We killed dozens of them and there’s still so many!” The swordswoman said, her eyes wide in near panic.

“I’m almost out of Mind too!” The mage woman said, her breathing noticeably heavy from overuse of her magic and fleeing from the swarm of Killer Ants.

“Ignite!” Bell’s voice rang out and from behind the injured Party an intense conflagration burst into existence, heat slamming into their backs as they all instinctively moved away from it in fear of being burned.

Flames surrounded Bell like an aura, the bright yellow-orange flames crackling and snapping. The flames wrapped around Bell’s sword with a snap, the blade alight as if the metal itself was exuding fire. With a single, half-hearted swing, Bell unleashed a massive wave of fire that torched the nearest Killer Ants to death, leaving only their charred corpses to burn on the stone floor. The heat continued to rise while Lili poured a Low Potion onto the injured man’s leg; the four-man Party only staring in absolute shock at the inferno that Bell had become.

“Everything will be fine.” Lili assured the four-man Party with a small grin as she poured a second Low Potion on the man’s injured arm.

What none of them realized was that the earlier scream had caught the attention of another Party as well.

Stopping at the entryway to the cavern leading to the Eighth Floor was a six-man Party made up of Finn Deimne, Riveria Ljos Alf, Ais Wallenstein, Tiona and Tione Hyrute, and Lefiya Viridis. Having heard the scream, they’d all rushed towards it. The fact that it was in the direction of the stairs, which they needed to use, was a fortunate coincidence.

“I wondered why the temperature had risen so much.” Finn said as the Party from Loki Familia watched Bell unleash his magic, nearly filling the large cavern with fire.

“Bell!” Tiona beamed brightly, even though her voice couldn’t be heard over the roaring flames.

Riveria’s jade green eyes analyzed the magic in front of her as Bell fought, seeing the enchantment for the first time. “Is that young man truly Level 1?”

Tione had a little grin on her lips. “He is.” Her eyes never left Bell, even through the bright flames that nearly hurt the eyes to look at.

“…Bell.” Ais said softly, watching Bell burn his way through the massive number of Killer Ants. Her golden gaze easily followed Bell’s movements; seeing every step, every swing of his sword, and how his magic responded to his will and his motions.

Lefiya watched on as well, stunned that a Level 1 could wield such Magic. Especially a Level 1 that was supposed to still be new to being and Adventurer. But the way that Ais said his name and refused to look away from bell also made Lefiya pout slightly. ‘Is Ais…interested in that man?’

“Skree!”

“Kree!”

“Skree!”

The seemingly endless swarm of Killer Ants screeched and clacked their mandibles as they tried to overrun Bell.

“Hyah!” Bell swung his katana and a massive wave of fire burned dozens of Killer Ants to death in seconds. He took hold of his sword with both hands and brought the blade down on in an overhead swing, unleashing an immense pillar of fire down onto the swarm, roasting the Killer Ants caught in his flames. Every swing of his blade unleashed more fire, killing more and more of the swarm. The heat in the cavern continued to climb as the floor and walls were blackened from the flames.

But, as the more experienced Adventurers were quick to notice, none of the fire spread anywhere near the group near the entrance to the cavern. It was a show of control that Bell could unleash so much of his magic, spreading it throughout the large cavern, and yet not put a single other person in danger.

FWOOOSH

The loud roar of flame silenced another portion of the Killer Ant swarm.

Bell moved, slicing through a Killer Ant as if it was mere paper, and unleashed another wave of fire into the crowd of Killer Ants. With another slash he decapitated a second Killer Ant, pivoted to his left to dodge a lunging Killer Ant’s mandibles, and then cut it down, even as it was already engulfed in flames from the aura of fire surrounding Bell’s body.  With so many Monsters to deal with, Bell began to test out some ideas that he’d had for his magic, but didn’t have much practice in implementing.

“Focus…” Bell said to himself as the flames along his blade intensified. With an upward swing of his sword at a Killer Ant that charged straight at him, Bell watched at the Monster was lifted upward slightly by the intense and focused flames and its exoskeleton was charred black, before it cracked and shattered from thermal shock, turning to ashes before his eyes, along with the Killer Ant’s insides burning to nothing a half-second later, leaving nothing behind of the Monster.

“Impressive.” Finn murmured to himself, his blue eyes focused on what Bell had just done. It wasn’t every day you saw a Level 1 with magic powerful enough to basically erase a Monster from existence.

Riveria nodded in agreement, the motion caught in Finn’s peripheral vision. “He focused his magic onto his blade. It’s a matter of control for a Mage to be able to do so, but to see a Magic Swordsman be able to do it so easily, especially one that’s still Level 1 and doesn’t have the Mage Developmental Ability yet…” It was quite an unusual sight, even for an experienced Mage and Adventurer like herself.

“That was awesome!” Tiona cheered brightly, managing to get Lili’s attention.

“Eh? Loki Familia?” Lili blinked at the six Adventurers that she hadn’t noticed earlier.

FWOOOMMM

The intense roar of flames made Lili snap her gaze back over to Bell.

Bell’s sword passed through four Killer Ants without slowing down, the burning hot blade completely invalidating the normally tough exoskeletons of the insect Monsters. A tornado of fire swirled around Bell, nearly pulling in any Killer Ant too close to it, torching them until their corpses fell to the ground and shattered from the intense heat making their exoskeletons brittle.

“Hm?” Bell noticed that more Killer Ants were still coming up from the Eighth Floor stairway and wondered how many more there could possibly be. He rushed towards the stairs, swinging his sword in a wide arc to cover the hole in the floor that led down to the next Floor. The Killer Ants barely had time to screech before they died. ‘If only I could make my flames stay burning right there to block any more Killer Ants from coming up.’ He reached the stairs, littered with the torched corpses of the Killer Ants, and looked down, seeing more of the insect Monsters still coming up the stairs. “There has to be something drawing all of them.” He walked down the stairs, bringing his katana down in a powerful overhead swing, unleashing an intense column of fire straight down the staircase.

“Kree!”

“Skree!”

“Kreek!”

The Killer Ants that had been killed near the staircase connecting the Eighth and Seventh Floors screeched at Bell, clacking their mandibles threateningly.

“Hyah!” Bell charged forward, thrusting his blade straight through the closest Killer Ant and unleashing another column of flames down the corridor for a short distance. Another dozen Killer Ants collapsed to the floor as charred corpses. Bell moved forward and spotted the source of the seemingly endless swarm.

“Krek…” A Killer Ant was lying on the ground. Its body was injured, a large stab wound piercing through its abdomen and it was missing three of its six legs. The injured ant Monster was doing exactly what it’s kind were known for when injured, but not killed…using powerful pheromones to call for an insane amount of backup. Leaving it down here had only allowed the pheromones to spread further through the Eighth Floor, drawing in more and more Killer Ants to join the massive swarm that was chasing down the four-man Party.

Bell stabbed the injured Killer Ant through the head and poured his flames into the Monster. The entire body was engulfed in an intense blaze before becoming a charred, blackened husk a second later. “That should take care of the problem.” Bell said to himself before taking in the Eighth Floor for the first time. The area around here had been a little scorched from his magic, the floor and walls a bit blackened her and there, but Bell was still able to notice the changes in the Dungeon overall.

The ceiling’s height had increased from the three to four meters of the floors above to nearly ten meters high. Moss covered the brown colored walls and the ground beneath Bell’s feet was covered in short grass. The strong light from the phosphorescence above was similar to light from the sun as well, if not quite as blinding to look at.

“I think Lili and I can start on this now.” Bell smiled as her turned and made his way back up the stairs, canceling his spell and sheathing his katana.

When Bell reached the Seventh Floor again, he nearly ran face first into Tione’s breasts as he’d been a bit lost in his thoughts, going over his battle against the massive Killer Ant swarm.

“Well, aren’t you forward today, Bell~” Tione said with a playful smirk as she wrapped her arms around Bell’s head and pressed his face against her bosom. “Do you like my breasts that much?”

“Mmhmph!” Bell’s words, whatever they may have been, were completely muffled as his face was buried in Tione’s softness.

Tiona, not one to let her sister hog Bell, marched over and pulled him out of Tione’s grip. “Don’t suffocate him, Tione!”

Tione’s breasts bounced a bit from the sudden rough movement and she shot a look at her sister. “There’s no need for your boob envy, Tiona.” A slight flex of her pectoral muscles and Tione was able to keep her breasts bouncing.

“Leave your boobs out of this!” Tiona held Bell close to her chest with one arm while pointing at Tione. “And stop jiggling them around!”

“I’m not doing anything.” Tione denied, even as she flexed again and made her boobs bounce a bit more.

“Liar!” Tiona shot back. “Bell isn’t swayed by your tits anyway!” She let Bell stand back to his full height with a bright smile for him. “Right, Bell~” She leaned against him, her smile now bordering on seductive as she looked into his rubellite eyes.

Bell blinked and he felt his like he’d stumble over his words if he tried to talk right now. Thankfully, he was ‘saved’ by the approach of Finn.

“That was quite impressive, Mr. Cranel.” Finn gave Bell a polite smile as he held his right hand out for a handshake, his favored spear in his left hand and resting against his shoulder.

“Th-Thank you, sir.” Bell said, only stumbling over the first word at the fact that he’d just been complimented by THE ‘Braver’ Finn Deimne! “I just didn’t want those four to get hurt.” He looked around for the Party of four and saw them standing near the entryway to the cavern, clearly waiting for him to finish talking with the Loki Familia.

Lili was quick to trot over to Bell with a smile. “Bell! Take this!” She put a citrus-colored Mind Potion into Bell’s hand, not giving him a choice in taking it. The way she looked up at Bell, her gaze firm like an older sister looking out for a younger sibling, nearly made Finn chuckle.

“A pleasure to meet you, ‘Callidus’.” Finn greeted Lili with a genuine smile as he held out his hand for a handshake to his fellow Prum.

“The pleasure is mine, Mr. Braver.” Lili said as she shook hands with the ‘Hero of the Prums’ without issue. She may have been just a little starstruck, but she managed to hide it well.

Bell took the Mind Potion and gave it a few moments to start rapidly restoring his Mind. ‘I wasn’t feeling the early effects of a Mind Down yet, but I’d used up a good portion of my overall Mind during that fight. Are my Mind reserves growing faster because of Íroas Forge?’ He’d have to look into that soon.

“Bell…good work.” Ais said with a small smile after he’d put away the empty vial that had held the Mind Potion.

“Thank you, Ais.” Bell smiled back at her warmly. Not realizing that she was looking into his eyes and seeing the ‘beautiful and pure flame’ that she had come to like. Even if it reminded her of the ugly black flame that so often flared up within her. Bell’s flame was warm and helped snuff out the black flame when they were near each other. “Are you six forming a Party today?” Bell asked curiously, seeing Finn, Riveria, Tione, Tiona, and the somewhat famous ‘Thousand Elf’ Lefiya Viridis all with Ais.

Ais nodded once. “We’re going to be in the Dungeon for about a week…to pay off debts.”

Riveria spoke up, looking between Finn who was talking with Lili, and Ais who was talking with Bell. “We should continue on our way. Our plan was to make it to Rivira by no later than tonight.”

“Aww… Alright.” Tiona pouted a little before pulling Bell into a hug. “Stay safe, Bell! Let’s hang out when we get back to the surface!”

“Sure, I’d like that, Tiona.” Bell smiled at Tiona and returned her hug for a moment, making Tiona beam at him.

Tione pulled Bell into her arms next, a soft smile on her lips. “You’ve gotten so much stronger in such a short time, Bell.” She leaned into his ear. “Keep doing that and I might just have to reward you~”

Bell felt his face heat up as Tione let him go with a little smirk on her lips. “I… Okay.” He decided that the shortest answer was the best chance of not embarrassing himself in this situation.

“Goodbye for now, Bell.” Ais said as the Loki Familia was gathering near the stairs going down to the Eighth Floor.

“Be safe, Ais.” Bell encouraged her with a warm smile.

Ais felt her heart thump in her chest. ‘When was the last time I heard someone tell me to ‘Be safe’? Once I became the Kenki, I stopped hearing it.’ A soft, but beautiful, smile lit up Ais’s face. ‘It’s nice.’ Seeing Bell admiring her smile almost made her fidget, but she pushed past it to return his kind words. “You be safe as well.”

“I’ll do my best.” Bell agreed with a small chuckle as Ais walked over to her Party and they disappeared down the stairs, Tiona waving to Bell excitedly until they couldn’t see each other anymore.

Lili tugged on Bell’s sleeve a moment later with a teasing grin. “Your girlfriends are gone, so you should probably let those other Adventurers thank you for saving them.”

Bell nearly choked on his own breath. “L-Lili!”

“Hah!” Lili laughed a she motioned for Bell to go accept the thanks of the four-man Party that he’d saved.

-Orario-

In the city above the Dungeon, Bell’s deed of slaying the large, irregular Silverback had spread. After slaying a Minotaur at Level 1 and now handling an escaped irregular Monster so soon afterwards, Bell Cranel was not only the talk of the city, he was even getting the attention of several important people.

-Aim Ganesha ~ Ganesha Familia Home-

“At least Bell Cranel is from the Hephaestus Familia. We get along well enough with them.” Shakti Varma, Captain of the Ganesha Familia, said as she looked over a copy of the report provided on the escaped Silverback incident. “A Level 1 with that kind of power is unheard of though.”

“It is pretty crazy, Big Sis!” Ilta Farna, the Amazon Vice-Captain of the Ganesha Familia, said while rapidly nodding, sending her long wild red hair swaying around. “He’s only been an Adventurer for less than a month, yet he’s already slain a Minotaur and an irregular Silverback!”

Shakti couldn’t help but agree with Ilta. Bell Cranel was turning common sense among Adventurers upside down. To wield such powerful magic without even being a Mage, or having the incredible magical aptitude of the Elves, was very out of the ordinary. But she was thankful that said power was in the hands of someone that seemed to want to do the right thing and protect the people. Shakti felt a small little grin form on her lips as she handed the report off to Ilta, so that the Vice-Captain could read it over. ‘If he continues to grow at such an incredible rate, we may be able to count on his assistance in the near future.’ The Ganesha Familia could always use help with policing Orario and helping to subjugate Dungeon irregulars, after all.

-Apollo Familia Home-

“Ugh! Why does Hephaestus get to have such a cute and powerful new ‘child’?!” Apollo, the God of the Sun, Poetry, Archery, Prophecy, and a few other Domains complained about his half-sister’s luck.

He was a tall handsome man with fiery hair that looked as if sunlight had been condensed together with bright and wavy locks gliding over one another,. His hair normally looked red, but in the right angle of light, it was an almost prominence-like sun yellow. A bit of a Quirk among certain Deities that had multiple interpretations of their forms back in Tenkai. Apollo wore a crème-colored Greek-style robe and had a laurel wreath resting atop his head. His normally bright (and some would say arrogant) smile was nowhere on his face at the moment. He tossed the public report from the guild onto his desk with a grimace.

“Should we offer him an invitation to our Familia, Lord Apollo?” The Captain of the Apollo Familia, Hyakinthos Clio, asked from opposite side of the desk. He’d been the one that had brought the new report of the Monsterphilia incident to his Patron Deity.

Apollo considered that for a moment, before sitting in his plush chair with an annoyed grunt. “As much as I’d like that; it may not be worth getting on Hephaestus’s bad side. My sister can be quite…difficult, to deal with when she’s angry.” He let out a long exhale before looking at Bell’s picture on the report again. “But he’s so cute…and strong even as a Level 1…” It was clear to anyone that knew him, but Apollo’s ‘passion’ was beginning to act up.

-Pleasure District - Ishtar Familia Home - Belit Babili-

An absolutely gorgeous woman sat on what could only be called a throne in a spacious room that was lavishly decorated in fine silks, drapery, rugs, gold, silver, and with a marble floor. She had long purple hair done up in a bun on the back of her head and a golden tiara sat atop her head. She had a darker, bronze complexion…similar to an Amazon’s…with bright brown eyes, fine pale pink lips, and had the curvy proportions common to most Goddesses of Beauty, having a perfect hourglass figure. She wore a single red-orange piece of cloth around her neck that barely covered her breasts and a matching pareo around her waist that went down to her ankles. The jewelry that adorned her body was made up of golden bracelets, anklets and necklaces, to go along with the tiara atop her head.

This was Ishtar, Goddess of Beauty, Love, War, Sexuality and some other Domains, much like Freya. However, if anyone ever compared her to the Norse Goddess, she’d become incredibly enraged.

“Hmm…” Ishtar hummed before she took a draw from her long thin pipe. A second later and she exhaled a small cloud of smoke into the air above her head. “Bell Cranel, huh?” She mused as she looked at a copy of the Guild’s report on the Monsterphilia incident. Her eyes stared at Bell’s face for a moment before looking down at the information provided about how Bell had singlehandedly slain the escaped irregular Silverback while only a Level 1 with less than a month of experience. “And this was after you’d already slain a Minotaur on your own… Quite impressive.”

In Ishtar’s mind the boy didn’t compare to the ‘secret member’ of her own Familia; especially when it came to the ability that the girl in her possession had. But one couldn’t deny that Bell Cranel’s current power, and his rapidly growing strength, was an abnormality never seen before in Orario. “It’s no wonder so many of my Amazons are practically salivating at the thought of meeting him.” That wasn’t beneath Ishtar’s notice, but it also wasn’t her direct concern right now either.

She took another drag from her pipe and held it for a moment before exhaling again. “While I’ll be dealing with the ritual for the foreseeable future…” Ishtar let out an annoyed sigh at how long it took to find the materials through liaisons across the continent. Being that the materials required for the planned ritual were from the Far East, managing to find them, purchase them, and then have them shipped to Orario was a long and tedious process requiring third parties to be used. “But once the ritual is complete, my Familia will finally have the strength required to tear that bitch down from her pedestal!” She looked at the report again, her eyes locking onto Bell’s rubellite eyes in the picture, and a devious little smirk crossed her lips. “But…after she’s dealt with, perhaps this young man could be a prize for me to acquire~” Ishtar chuckled to herself. “A man like this is wasted on a Goddess like Hephaestus.”

-Valka’s Crimson Chamber ~ Hephaestus’s Office-

Hephaestus frowned as her Divine Intuition flared up and her hands clenched into fists while her eye glanced over at her set of special smithing hammers hanging up on the wall. “Why do I have the sudden urge to beat another Deity with one of my hammers?” She asked herself as she stood up from her desk and walked over to the hammers hanging on the wall, briefly running her fingers over each one. She didn’t know WHICH Deity (though she’d put money on Hermes, because she knew her half-brother), but Divine Intuition was always vague and many didn’t rely on it for that reason.

A knock on her office door broke Hephaestus from her thoughts.

“Lady Hepahestus, the new order of Damascus from the Steel Mining Country of Sharm has arrived!” One of her ‘children’ said through the door.

“Hah…” Hephaestus let out a breath to release her irritation. “Let’s put this aside for now. There’s work to be done.” She told herself as she opened her office door and followed after her Familia member to inspect the new Damascus that had been shipped in.

-Hostess of Fertility-

Syr stopped in her tracks, her normal smile falling from her face as she spotted a young woman with very similar features to her own waiting at the backdoor of the Hostess. The only real difference between the two young women was that the woman in the long black dress that hugged her body left her hair down, the long locks (the same color as Syr’s own) reached her bottom, whereas Syr’s hair only reached her mid-back when she let it down. Even their eyes were similar, though Syr’s were brighter and warmer, while the other woman’s gaze was cool and even.

“What can I do for you?” Syr asked her lookalike with a soft tone.

The other woman’s eyes warmed up just slightly before she spoke. “The Goddess would like to see you. It seems that you’re becoming close with Bell Cranel, the one that’s the current talk of the city.”

Syr did her best not to stiffen up at the other woman’s words. “I see.” She took a breath and let it out slowly before looking into the other woman’s eyes. “Does it need to be right now, or can I finish my shift, Horn?”

“Our Goddess calls, you should answer immediately, you know that, sister.” Horn replied evenly, though her body language tensed up for a moment, as if she had been annoyed or agitated by the simple question.

“But what did the Goddess say, specifically?” Syr asked her sister directly.

Horn stilled for a second before letting out a sigh. “The Goddess says there’s no rush; just that you come see her today.”

Syr smiled slightly. “Thank you, Horn. I’ll be sure to visit the Goddess after my shift.”

“See that you do, Syr.” Horn gave her sister a short nod, the smallest of smiles on her lips for her sister, before she left the Hostess and disappeared down a nearby alleyway a moment later.

“Hah…” Syr exhaled, not having wanted to visit the Familia Home right now. But she should’ve expected that her developing feelings for Bell wouldn’t go unnoticed by her Goddess. Love was one of her many Domains, after all.

A soft footstep behind her made Syr look over her shoulder and see Ryu, the Elf woman looking concerned for her friend.

“Are you alright, Syr?” Ryu asked softly, knowing that Syr normally only lost her smile and her upbeat attitude when something involving her Familia came up.

Syr smiled at Ryu warmly. “I’m fine, Ryu. Just have to visit a certain place after work.” She trotted over to Ryu and gently took hold of the Elf woman’s shoulders before turning her to face the other direction. “We should get back to work before Mama Mia thinks that we’re slacking off!” She giggled, gently pushing Ryu along.

Ryu walked along, hoping to help Syr put the upcoming visit out of her mind. “I can walk, Syr.”

That got a warmer giggle from Syr as the two waitresses returned to the dining floor and got back to work.

-End Chapter-

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Bell’s power and skill continue to grow!

The blaze is burning strong and the forge works the material within to its best state!

While the six-man Loki Familia Party were heading off on their week-long dungeon crawling excursion to earn enough money to pay back debts, they ran into Bell and got a firsthand showing of his increased power as he saved another Party of Level 1’s from a gruesome fate!

That swarm of Killer Ants never stood a chance!

But, two big incidents back-to-back from Bell has attracted the eyes of others…both good and bad.

The Ganesha Familia Captain, Shakti, is happy that such power is in the hands of someone that wants to help the people of Orario.

But others have their own ideas.

A certain ‘passionate’ God and a Goddess bent on tearing another down.

But is passion reason enough to risk destruction?

Is any ‘prize’ worth the all out war that could result in trying to take it?

Bell might also have something to say about his own fate. Can his Heroic Flame overcome the challenges in his future?

Keep reading to find out!

Let me know what you thought!

Until next time, later!