- Bells' POV -
"Come back when you get stronger!"
*SLAM*
"....."
"....another rejection."
"How am I going to do this, grandpa..."
I have been wandering in Orario in hopes that I find myself a familia.
....to no avail.
'I think I'm going to sit here for a while. All these rejection has gotten me becoming tired mentally.'
I came from a village far from here in the west. The reason why I came to Orario is because of a dream, a goal I wanted to achieve.
Becoming a hero.
However, reality struck me hard upon how difficult it is to just kick start this journey in the first place.
'I guess its not all sunshine and rainbows to have everything going the way you wanted.'
I thought upon this situation of mine. Solemnly taking in the reality of it all.
'But, I promise myself and grandpa that I would have myself becoming a hero.....one day.'
'So, stand up Bell, there's always a next time if today rejects your efforts.'
I slap both my cheeks as to wake up from negative thoughts that I had going in my mind.
I was about to stand up from my position, stilling myself for a better day to come.
However, all of the sudden, a shadow loomed over me.
A huge shadow.
"Hey there kid, ya got rejected? Let me guess, this isn't the first time?"
A booming voice said. I looked up to see a man standing in front of me.
Well to say a man would be an understatement.
What I want to express is that, as of right now, a titan is standing over me, with its golden eyes seemingly glowing vibrantly.
"U-Um, h-hello there, Is there a-anything that you want s-sir?"
The titan smiled widely with pride to his being.
He then took out his hands in front of me, with his hands having to be bigger than my head itself, probably asking for a hand shake.
"Nah, just wanted to livin up the mood of a man who works hard to make a living."
The titan spoke with the tone of confidence.
I took his hand as a lever for me to stand up.
Then he started to spoke once more.
"The names' Aurelius. Nice to meet ya" The titan said with a wide smile.
_____________________________________
- 3rd person POV -
"The names' Aurelius. Nice to meet ya" Aurelius said with a smile.
Bell then proceeded to shook hands with each other, as they continued doing so, properly greeting one another.
Well, much to the dismay of the smaller one having his hands almost crush.
Bell flinch upon the force that the big man have towards his hands.
*flinch* "h-hehehe, y-yeah...t-thank you." Bell said as he try to hold in the pain of his hand.
Afterwards, they let go of each others hands. Bell continued the conversation.
"My name is Bell Cranel and yes, this is not my first time being rejected in this city." Bell said with slightly slumped body posture.
"Is that so? tell me, why is it that you're eager to join a familia in the first place?"
"Well, it's because of a dream I wanted to chase since I was still very young."
"Really? What is it exactly?" Aurelius ask with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it may be childish and naive of me, but I wanted to become a hero." Bell said with a slight smile.
"I've been in this city for a couple of days now, searching for a familia to join...."
".....but, I wasn't able to find any to join really." Bell said with a sad look on his face.
"Every time that I ask to join a familia, they either say "you're too weak" or "I should just be a cleaner"."
"It sucks to be honest."
Bell said with frown on his face.
As bell was upsettingly taking in his problems, Aurelius, out of no where, laugh haughtily.
"HAHAHAHA! BEING A HERO! HAHAHAHA!" Aurelius said with laughs in between as if mocking the little rabbit boy.
"I'm sorry kid, it's just funny that you worked hard to get yourself in a team, with just a goal as naive as being a hero. HEHEHE!" Aurelius said as he wipe his tears from the heavy laughter he let out.
"Look, kid, all I have to say is that to be a hero, feeling solemn, down, depressed or any of that shitty feelings is not in the repertoire."
Aurelius said as he put on a prideful smile.
"To be a hero, you need to put on a smile towards the problems you're facing. No matter how hard it can get, always put on that smile. It will do wonders for your confidence."
"Really?" Bell asks.
"Yeah, totally!" Aurelius said, full confidence.
"Besides, a hero must as well work twice as hard in order to save others."
Aurelius said as Bell looked at him in wonder.
"So, what if you failed today kid? there's always a tomorrow."
Aurelius then proceeds to put his hands on his shoulder.
"For as long as you are still breathing, do what you must in order to get what you want." Aurelius said as he instills confidence in the young rabbit.
"Do you understand that, Bell Cranel?" Aurelius ask the now awoken rabbit.
"Yes! I Understood!" Bell replied with a renewed will, tears forming from the big mans' words.
"Good to hear kid! Now how about we take a stroll around the area for a bit of relaxation eh?"
"Nnh!" Bell nodded.
As they were about to set of, a voice suddenly spoke from the dark alley.
"Did I hear that someone wanted to join a familia?"
The two men then turn their heads towards the source of the voice.
"Well lucky for you young man, I have been looking for one my self."
Then a silhouette emerge from the darkness.
A young looking woman emerge from the darkness, with black hair tied in a twin ponytails, wearing a white dress just above knee height.
'Yup, here she is. Lo and behold....'
Aurelius can't help but smirk upon this opportunity.
'Goddess Hestia.'
____________________________
Bell and Aurelius looked upon the little girl, with Bell having an expression of slight wonder to his face.
"A goddess....right in front of me." Bell said in awe upon the appearance of the goddess.
"Yes, indeed young man. I am a goddess. In fact, I am Goddess Hestia of the Hearth." The goddess, now known as Hestia, said proudly.
Bell, hesitatingly for some reason, proceeded to ask the goddess.
"U-Um, pardon me goddess but did you say that you were looking for a familia member?" Bell ask Hestia.
"Indeed, I am looking for a member to join my familia...my family." Hestia said with a proud smile.
Bell, smiled brightly with joy, proceeded to be ready to confess his action.
However, before doing so, bell couldn't help but ask a question that suddenly lingers on his mind.
"U-Um goddess. May I ask you a question before I proceed to accept your offer?"
"UmU, ask away."
"Well, why do you wanted to recruit me of all people?" Bell ask.
"Well simple really, you seem like an honest person young man." Hestia answered with an assuring smile towards Bell.
"Well, one reason also is that I'm looking for my first familia member hehe." Hestia says embarrased by her status.
"PFFT HAHAHAHA!" Out of nowhere, Aurelius laughs haughtily.
"HAHA, and here I thought you were recruiting him from fully out of kindness HAHA." Aurelius said.
"It's seems like the both of you are in a similar situation HEHEHE." Aurelius said wiping away his tears that formed because of laughing too hard.
"Tch, such a rude child." Hestia pouted upon the big mans' remarks.
"Well I'm one to talk saying stuff like that towards you both."
"What do you mean by that Mister?" Bell ask, confuse upon his words.
"To tell you the truth, I too am searching for a familia here. I just arrived in Orario today not too long ago." Aurelius answered.
"Really?! I thought you were a seasoned adventurer with how big your stature is." Bell said, shocked by the revelation.
"Don't let looks fool you kid. Not everything that you see is what it says to be." Aurelius said, giving a bit of wisdom towards the rabbit boy.
"Hmph! So much for that high tale of boasting of yours." Hestia pouts once more upon the big man.
"HAHAHA, I'm sorry about that goddess, I can't help but laugh between both of your little conversation." Aurelius says, apologizing towards the little goddess.
"In all seriousness goddess, would you allow both of us to join your familia as your first ever members?" Aurelius ask Hestia for the allowance.
*sigh* "First you laugh at me and then you ask for me to join my family....how shameless." Hestia said while letting out her breath for the boldness of this overgrown child.
"But, I know you're not a bad person big man. With how you lighten up this little ones' mood, the prideful act that you have is just a part of your charm as a person, am I wrong?" Hestia ask, confirming her understanding of this big mortal in front of her.
"You betcha! what is life without keeping your head high and standing tall? Negativity only serves as a nuisance on a person." Aurelius affirms the goddess' understanding.
"Hihi, well that is great to hear." Hestia said.
"Before we officially declare our familia pseudo-formed, I wanted to know both of your names." Hestia ask while holding out both hands, signaling towards both them to hold it.
Aurelius and Bell then proceeds to hold Hestia hands.
"My name is Bell Cranel."
"Aurelius."
""We accept the invitation on joining your familia.""
Hestia smiled, satisfied with her new members.
_______________________________
After they're declaration, all three of them decided to head out of the alley and stroll together through the city.
As they are walking, they talked about what to do first.
"Lady Hestia." Bell called her out.
"Hmm?" Hestia replied.
"Now that we're a family, what is the next course of action?" Bell ask expecting a good plan coming from his goddess.
"In all honesty, I don't know."
Bell shocked upon her answer, dropped down comically on the ground like those comedic anime falls.
"Well, logically speaking, considering that Lady Hestia here doesn't have a base, then we should start with looking for one?" Aurelius suggested.
"How exactly?" Bell ask trying to make sense upon Aurelius' plan.
"Well we can start with abandoned buildings. For example, an abandoned church maybe?" Aurelius said.
"Where are we suppose to find that mister? We barely know the ins and out of the city." Bell said.
"Actually, I do know one place. In fact, exactly like Aurelius said, an abandoned church." Hestia said all of a sudden giving a suggestion.
"Really?! That's awesome! where is it Lady Hestia?" Bell ask enthusiastically.
"Not far from our location actually. Just after the left turn in front of us here." Hestia said.
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Bell said as he started to rush to their location without knowing actually where.
"Wait Bell!" Hestia shouted for the impatient rabbit.
"HAHAHA, what a lively kid he is. To think he wants to hunt monsters in a dungeon with that kind of personality." Aurelius laughs upon Bells' excitement.
*sigh* "Tell me about it. Say I wanted to ask you Aurelius. How old are?" Hestia ask, curious about this huge child age.
"I'm 21-years-old Lady Hestia." Aurelius answered.
"Eh?! Really?! I thought you would be older." Hestia said shocked upon the information.
"HAHAHA, like I said before, looks can be deceiving." Aurelius said.
They continued to walk together until they arrived at the abandoned church.
"Well it looks a bit worn out but still in good condition." Aurelius spoke upon seeing the state of the abandoned church is in.
"Well I checked the insides of the church before this and it's in an okay condition."
Hestia said as she prompted her two children to follow.
"C'mon you two, I'll show where to stay in this church." Hestia said.
They went into the church and saw that its condition is still quite good.
The three of them then go ahead and went to the door near the praying area.
"Well through this door is where we will stay from now on." Hestia said.
Hestia open the door that leads down towards a room.
"Well here we are!" Hestia exclaimed proudly.
The room it self isn't big at all. In fact, it is small.
Not too small for Aurelius however. So all is good.
'Just like I remembered in the anime.' Thought Aurelius upon seeing the room.
The room itself isn't too small for someone like Aurelius. Enough for him to have breathing space.
In the room, there is a sofa placed against a wall and a bed in the middle, also against the wall, next to the sofa. There is also a pair of doors of some sort, probably a drawer. Than there's a door way that leads to the kitchen. Right in front of the stairs that leads either up or down from this to the churches hallway, there is a bathroom. One thing to note is that this room has a big candle holder for, obviously, light. So essentially, it's a complete set.
"Alright then, let's start to properly make both of you join my familia." Hestia said as she jumped onto the bed.
"Okay now take off your shirt!" Hestia ordered the two men.
"EHHH?! WHAT FOR LADY HESTIA!" Bell shouts with a red beet face.
"Well to give my blessings of course! How else would I want make you apart of my family?" Hestia said Ignorant to the thoughts of the rabbit.
"W-Well, it's a little bit inappropriate L-Lady Hestia...." Bell says embarrassed.
"Don't be silly Bell, I'm just going to give a falna."
"A falna?" Bell ask.
"Yes, a falna.It's essentially a blessing from us gods to you to surpass your mortal limits. Think of it as a way to get stronger surpassing human capabilities so that you can fend off against monsters easier." Hestia answered.
"Oh okay." Bell said.
"Alright now, come here Bell, you first." Hestia said prompting bell take his turn first.
"Hnh." Bell nodded.
Bell than started to take of his shirt and proceeded to lay on the bed.
Hestia then got on Bells back and decided to drop her blood on his back.
After the blood touches his back, a picture of a cauldron with a lit fire appears.
"So that's how a falna is given huh?" Aurelius said upon witnessing the process of bestowing falna, even though he already knew the process.
"Hmm" Hestia nodded. "It symbolizes our attachment between mortals, as if we are connected." Hestia said, explain the meaning of the process.
Hestia then put a paper on bells' back and made a circle like pattern with her fingers on the paper. The paper then glows for a moment of time and dimmed.
"Alright Bell, you're all done." Hestia exclaimed with a smile.
"Here you go, your stats paper Bell." Hestia gives Bell the paper.
Bell, upon taking the paper, look upon the contents of it.
________________________________
BELL CRANEL
LVL 1
STR > 0
END > 0
DEX > 0
AGI > 0
MAG > 0
MAGIC:
SKILL:
__________________________________
"Woah. What does all of this all mean?" Bell ask, having no clue what any of the words shown means.
"Well, this is the baseline of the stats that you would progress through." Hestia said.
"Is that so? then what does every each one of these means? "STR"? "END"?" Bell ask confused by the seemingly gibberish words on the paper.
"Hihi, well I'll tell you right now what all of it is."
Hestia then started explaining each and every one of the words shown.
As they were busy being teacher and student, Aurelius couldn't help but thought about his wishes.
'Well I know reinforcement won't manifest after I reached level 3.So that leaves me with the skill that I would receive prior to my wish. A skill that is similar to Bells [Liaris Freese]....or so the angel said.' Aurelius thought.
'Then there is the extra gifts the angel said that I received. I wonder what it is? if its more skills then, don't mind if I do.'
As he continued to think about the possibilities of his gifts, Hestia then called his name.
"Aurelius, it's your turn now, strip!" Hestia said happily awaiting his second children to bestow her blessings.
"Hnh" Aurelius noded.
Aurelius then proceeded to put down his shield and lay it upon the nearby wall. He then took off his shirt set it aside on the sofa. What's left is his upper body naked, with his huge, chiseled muscles lay bare on display.
Bell and Hestia is in awe on how such a body is possible.
"Woah! Your body is that like an unbeatable warrior mister!" Bell stated in shock.
"Yeah! What do you even do to get such a physique?!" Hestia said, also in shock,
"Well I had to survive in the wild since I was still a 12-years-old." Aurelius said.
"Why?! What happened?" Bell ask.
"It's a long story." Aurelius said.
Aurelius then proceeded to tell his background story.
Needless to say, they bitter asking him for it.
"I-I'm sorry Aurelius, I should've not asked." Hestia said hesitatingly.
"Y-yeah, we're sorry for asking" Bell said as well.
"It's fine. I don't need to hide secrets about myself if I want to join a familia. That would betray your guys' trust if I do." Aurelius said with a reassuring smile.
"Well then, how about we get started with the ritual?" Aurelius said.
Hestia nodded and proceed to make space for her second child.
Aurelius hoped on the bed. His feet went way off the length of the bed.
Hestia then mounted the back of her overgrown child. She then started to do the same process as she did with bell. A picture, the same one that appeared on Bell, manifest.
She then put the paper on his back as she did the circle pattern again to print the contents onto the paper.
She then took the paper and see its contents.
"Oh! This is surprising." Hestia said.
"What is it?" Aurelius ask.
"A skill and magic right of the bat. You're very lucky Aurelius. I heard from my friend that children that receives falna rarely gets even one of them. You however got two!" Hestia said happy with this resolve.
"How lucky can I be, huhuhu." Hestia boasted her pride.
"Is that so? then, can I look into the contents?"
"Sure thing! here." Hestia happily gives the paper to her child.
Aurelius then took the paper from her hands.
He then proceeds to see what is wrote down on the paper.
_____________________________
AURELIUS
LVL 1
STR > 0
END > 0
DEX > 0
AGI > 0
MAG > 0
MAGIC:
- TAUNT
SKILL:
- VIRTRUS TRANCENDENS
_______________________________
Bell then decided to peak at Aurelius' status paper.
"It seems like taunt is straight forward as far I can tell." Bell said.
"Yup. As the name suggest, it allows the user to lure the enemies, either monsters or non-monsters, to attack him first." Hestia said.
"That's cool, it will pair nicely if I have a shield in hand."
"But...."
Aurelius then moves on to his skill.
"....what about my skill?" Aurelius ask.
"Well it essentially says that your strength, endurance and magic stats would go higher than its set limit. Plus, It also says that your strength and endurance will get a 2x excelia gained upon killing a monster or train according those 2 stats." Hestia explains.
"I heard as well that it's rare for adventurers to have more than one stat to go above its limits. I believe its 999 for each stats?" Hestia said.
"Is that so, then it could come in handy then." Aurelius said, happy for his skill
"Don't let that get through your head now Aurelius. Even with such skill, you could die still when entering a dungeon, Hmph!" Hestia says.
"I know, I know. I'm not that stupid."
Aurelius then proceeded to put his paper on the desk near him.
"Well, that concludes this session." Hestia said
""Hnh."" nodded both Bell and Aurelius.
Hestia then smiled, looking at her to children.
"Aurelius, Bell...."
Hestia says as the two men locked their gaze onto their goddess.
".....welcome to my familia."
______________________________
Authors note:
Hey there guys, Author here.
I just want to let you guys know that the reason why Hestia didn't sense a lie on MCs' backstory is because of it is immune towards the lie detector of the gods.
This only works for his back story however, anything else is as it is.
As for his skills currently for level one:
Virtrus Trancendens
-Allows the user to pass 999 stats for Strength, Endurance and Magic.This skill also will have a 2x the excelia gained towards Strength and Endurance upon killing a monster or training said stats. Note that the multiplier stacks with any multiplier skill as long as the other multiplier skill do not allow any stacking upon its multiplier.
Taunt
- It's self explanatory. it's basically like the taunt skill that Iron from solo leveling used.
Well that is all from me, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!