She was my fellow fool? ONE OF MY PEOPLE! I stood stock still for a moment causing her to give me a faintly concerned look. Then I put my ha
She was my fellow fool? ONE OF MY PEOPLE! I stood stock still for a moment causing her to give me a faintly concerned look. Then I put my hands on her shoulders and she froze as her hand twitched. Then tears poured out of my eyes and her expression distorted in complete dumbfoundment.
"My people . . ." I had found a fellow Fool! My fellow Shounen Protagonist in Training!
"W-what?"
"THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE WORLD TO BEAR WITNESS TO A PAIR OF FOOLS!" I shouted to the Heaven's. The World deserved to know that it was about to witness the BOMB that was the two of us!
"I . . . like the enthusiasm . . . now why don't you take me to your Familia's compound." Ah, so desperate to awaken to her true potential. Why couldn't I see it before!? She wears the face of an arrogant young master, yet is secretly a protagonist like myself!
I turned to her and gave her a massive smile.
"The two of us. We're going to change this world." A dark current floated through her eyes before she slightly tilted her head and smiled.
"I love the sound of that." She's so committed to changing the world for the better! She's just like me for real!
Rank 2: Meeting a Mentor - Increases training speed when training with you.
Another stage of the Hero's Journey . . .
This was perfect! I didn't know her combat level, but teaching her to fight would only be made way easier by this! We started walking towards the church and Belle followed closely while asking me some questions. Questions I was happy to answer!
"So you're only level one correct?" I gave a nod.
"Yep, but I'm pretty good with a sword and blowing things up!" She looked intrigued at my words as we moved.
"Oh? You're capable of using magic?" I smiled at the girl who stuck close to me.
"Yep, only some basic fire magic but I'm way better with a sword." She raised her eyebrows lightly at my words before she continued to speak.
"Magic is a rare talent. You should really focus on that. I can handle the frontline from now on." Aw, she's worrying about my future! She's so nice!
"Well we can train together then, I'd love to see what you can do!" She nodded with a smile.
"Of course we can spar together. I'd love to see your skills with the blade as well." She let out a slight hum that turned deeply confused as I stopped us outside of the church.
"Home sweet home, it's not much. But it's ours." She turned to me with incredulity for a moment before collecting herself.
"So you live in a Church then?" I nodded at her words and threw her a thumbs up.
"Yep! It's peaceful and secluded so nobody bothers us here." She seemed to ponder it before nodding.
"Alright, I guess it's time to meet your Goddess then?" Hestia walked outside at that very moment and pointed at us.
"You've come home with a girl!?" I gave a small smile to Hestia as she pointed at Belle. Belle gave a joyful smile and a light wave.
"He has!" She then hugged my arm and gave a smile to Hestia who seemed to be incredulous at the display. "He said you'd have a spot for me in your Familia, so here I am." Hestia slowly peeled her eyes to me with a pout. I had to say something!
"I told you I was going to look for a new friend, didn't I?" Belle actually looked surprised at that which only increased my confusion. Was she not a shounen protagonist like I was? We were going to be part of the same Familia so that by default made us friends, right?
Ah, she's probably just confused that I was looking for someone.
"Oh yeah, sorry for not mentioning it Belle, but a friend of mine said I should look for a new party member and I just happened to run into you. Must be fate, right?" She looked intrigued for a moment and her eyes glanced towards Hestia before she nodded.
"Perhaps it was fate that drew us together." I smiled at that. Hestia gave a light sight that turned into a faint smile.
"All right then. Let me give you my blessing." She started grumbling lightly as she went into the church which only confused me. What was wrong with Belle, wasn't she perfect?
"All right then Belle. Let's officially make you part of the team!" She gave me a happy smile and a nod.
"Of course, I'd love to join you!" There's her Shounen side! She was probably just nervous meeting Hestia. I'm sure the Fool and the Sun will get along great soon enough!
We entered the church and Belle was already stripping her top off. Hestia seemed to panic and covered my eyes much to my confusion.
"Hestia, you can't give her a blessing if your hands are on my face . . . at least I think you can't."
"Step outside for a minute alright!" I let out a small sigh. I didn't want to miss this magical moment but I gave her a thumbs up before turning around and stepping outside. I looked up to the noonward Sun causing me to wonder about what was going on inside.
Belle POV
This was interesting. A fledgling Familia, I could easily insert myself into it without much trouble. I knew that the beginning would be difficult, however the long term pay off couldn't potentially exceed joining a large Familia and having no influence there. The Mage could also be a good future asset in my pursuit of power.
Of course if he stopped being useful I'd be able to easily scoop up the position of Captain from him and take this Familia by the reins and claim it as my own. I smiled softly at the thought. Grandmother had told me about the terrible things the Loki and Freya Familia had done, and she'd had me trained in martial arts, assasination, and plenty of different knife skills.
Grandmother was amazing, but she couldn't give me her blessing. No link was allowed to exist between the two of us after all for our plan to work. I'd worm myself into Orario, become far stronger than my Aunt and allow for the Hera Familia to make its return in full force.
Then I'd crush the two Familia's that dared to take advantage of the sacrifices of past heroes who faced against the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
I wasn't a very good person, but they were far worse. I'd always had trouble with my emotions, being able to so easily change them like a wheel of different masks I could select. However my true self showed a faint affection for 'Andrew Ariti' . He clearly wasn't the same type of person as Loki and Freya after all.
He was almost a storybook character with his extreme actions and odd emotions. . . though I wouldn't be surprised if he died soon enough. A shame. I'd take advantage of him and his Goddess for the time being though.
I would have to be careful of her ability to sense lies however. He was a Fool as he made clear, easy to deceive. A Goddess would not be so easy.
"Alright Goddess, I'm ready!" I gave a happy smile, and I truly was happy. My path to power started now.
"Alright, lie on your stomach." She let out a faint sigh before continuing as her warm ichor dropped upon my back. "You're lucky my Andrew found you, he really is a great guy to pick up some random girl without bad intentions."
My expression flattened. I suppose it made sense that this Goddess had a close relationship with her sole Familia member before my arrival. She wasn't completely wrong however. I'd been careful to avoid the 'Entertainment' District so as to not be harassed or worse.
"He is quite nice. Please call me Belle, I'm glad to be here Goddess . . . ?" She spoke up at my leading question.
"Hestia, you can just call me Hestia. He needs more friends anyways . . though I'd prefer it if it wasn't a girl." She muttered the last part but I easily caught it. Grandmother had trained me well, it's part of the reason I was so comfortable challenging my new Familia member in a clash of steel despite his most likely increased status.
However I was also Isabelle Cranel. I wouldn't lose to some random Level One.
"Alright, here's your status Belle!" I was handed a paper and clicked my tongue at the lack of skills.
Level 1
Strength: 0 I
Endurance: 0 I
Dexterity: 0 I
Agility: 0 I
Magic: 0 I
Skills:
Magic:
"Speaking of the Falna I totally forgot! I need to update Andrew's status as well!" Perhaps this Goddess was incompetent? Something to keep in mind, I'd have to keep them safe until I was strong enough to not need them.
She burst through the door and dragged him in as I threw my top back on.
"Hi Hestia! Hi Belle!" He gave me a hug, and truthfully I didn't hate it. "Glad to have you as part of the Family!" I gave a nod and a smile to him. This would be a good chance to look at his status myself. Taking a peek at his Magic could potentially be useful in case he ever decided to turn on me.
"Alright Belle, I'll need you to step outside for a moment!" What? That got in the way of my plans . . . whatever. This wasn't a major setback.
Andrew Ariti POV
"What? Why?" Hestia gave me a sorry look and seemed to be a bit embarrassed for a moment before Belle spoke up.
"I can step outside for a moment if you need me too." Hestia let out a sigh and thanked our new Familia member before she softly pushed me onto one of the pews where I took off my shirt and she ran that same warm liquid down my back. Belle was already gone as I looked over the edge of the pew. She was fast!
"What was that about Hestia?" She grumbled a little bit as she shuffled the paper lightly.
"I don't want anyone seeing your status just yet, especially not her. Y-yeah, and that's b-because it should be a surprise!" Ah, how could I have been so FOOLISH!
"You're absolutely right, Goddess! That's an amazing idea!" I shot up and she handed the paper to me with a smile. She truly was a genius! My Sun was amazing! Especially with the new power surging through me as a reminder of how great she was!
Level 1
Strength: 65 I -> 132 H
Endurance: 31 I -> 72 I
Dexterity: 42 I -> 85 I
Agility: 33 I -> 74 I
Magic: 0 I -> 35 I
Skills:
μακρινός ταξιδιώτης: Increases Excilia gained.
Magic:
"I feel stronger already Hestia, thank you!" I gave her a hug then held her upwards to the sky! She seemed resigned to her fate as she hung limply in the air. I set her back down and thanked her again.
"Knowing you're always looking out for me makes me feel safe. I love you Goddess!" Her eyes widened and her face blushed like a tomato before she punched me in the stomach and pouted.
"Yeah, yeah. I know you do." That doesn't mean I'm not going to say it! I loved my treasured companions after all! My smile widened at her words causing me to plop a hand on her head and laugh.
Then I threw on my shirt and stepped outside, I found Belle leaning against the wall and she smiled at me upon noticing my presence.
"Alright then. It's time for the first official meeting of the Hestia Familia!" I pointed a finger at the sky with a radiant smile. Belle looked curious and raised an eyebrow.
"Hm? Shouldn't we just get some weapons and go to the Dungeon?" I blinked dumbly at that and shook my head.
"No. I made a promise I wouldn't go to the Dungeon for a week." He narrowed her eyes at that before her expression went blank and shifted into a smile.
"Alright." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
"Sorry, I know it can be exciting to want to go on a Dungeon dive. I think it would be good to do some preparation first too!" She blinked at me and smiled softly.
"I suppose preparation would be good. Though considering where you live, do you even have enough Vali's to last a week without making money some other way?" Hestia's head dropped in shame for a moment as I smiled.
"We have about 52,000 Valis left over after buying potions using the money from the last delve in the Dungeon." Her eyes widened and she looked at me like I was insane before coming to a realization.
"You caught the Jackbird? You must have bought a lot of potions . . ." The what?
"The what?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"Small golden bird monster on the first floor? Dropped an egg when you killed it?" I blinked and looked at Hestia who shrugged.
"Uhm, no. I killed a Dungeon Chameleon." She stared at me for a moment and slowly nodded her head without saying a word. A flat look on her face.
"Anyways, we have plenty of money so let's go shopping for some stuff! I need to commission a new Best Friend Sword after my old one broke anyways." She let out a hum and nodded at me.
"Alright then. I suppose we should get you a new weapon then." I actually looked at her with some surprise.
"Well we need to buy you weapons and armor as well!" She smiled at me.
"Some armor would be useful, but I have no need for a weapon." My eyes opened slightly as she flicked her wrist revealing a small black dagger with a jagged blade.
Hestia's eyes widened at it before turning to Belle.
"That's a high quality weapon, how'd you even get that?" I looked at Hestia in surprise. How could she tell?
"It was a gift from my Grandmother." Hestia blinked her eyes in surprise before smiling.
"She must have been quite the adventurer back in her day or something like that!"
"Or something." She smiled with nostalgia at Hestia's words, as though recalling her Grandmother.
"After that would you be alright with facing off against me? I'll make sure to hold back of course. I don't want to hurt you by accident." Her smile fell at my words and Hestia gave me a weird look causing me to look confused.
"My status just got updated right? So I'm stronger now I think . . ." Belle smiled at me.
"Don't worry, this is only your first week so that shouldn't be a problem." I nodded at her. That actually made a lot of sense! I smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"Awesome! I won't use magic though. That might set everything on fire." She nodded at my words with a faint smile again.
"Anyways let's go to Babel and find some stuff! I have a backup knife you can use as a sidearm if need be, but I'll need to commission a Best Friend sword so we should go there even if you only use one knife." Her eyes danced with amusement at my words while Hestia just looked confused.
However I didn't give them the chance to react as I rushed into the church and grabbed our FUNDING! I quickly made my way back up and presented the pouch full of money as though it were some secret treasure causing Bell's eyes to widen in intrigue.
"Well then, let the Hestia Familia's second official shopping trip begin!"
If you'd like to support me or read ahead you can do so on my p . a . t . r . e . o . n . c . o . m/BobOfTheHedgeField