Day Three of the Dungeonless Week I'd woken up on time as usual, but to my surprise Hestia was awake as well. I had a good feeling about tod
Day Three of the Dungeonless Week
I'd woken up on time as usual, but to my surprise Hestia was awake as well. I had a good feeling about today because of her presence, but her being awake made it great! She still looked a bit sleepy but I could fix that.
I grabbed her and jumped out of bed causing her to let out a yell.
"HESTIA, THE TIME IS NOW!" I heard a shout of panic from the hatch as well. The scream echoing through the church floor. It would seem that Belle is awake now as well! We must seize the day through the ancient power of waking up before anyone else!
Though now that I think about it I think she slept in until nine in the morning yesterday. After all, she'd taken quite some time to actually come down the stairs while I'd played board games with Mr. Dagda.
Well it seemed she was awake now, so that could only mean one thing. We had a Dungeon to train for! Though I seriously wanted to look into getting my Best Friend Sword back. My Best Friend needed to reincarnate through the hands of a blacksmith, as was their fate!
My Best Friend Sword always had the same soul, as soon as I picked one up after my old one broke its 'soul' entered the blade. That was just how it worked! My Master said my swordsmanship felt 'alive'. The way it reacted and adapted to everything thrown at it made her call it that, so that meant my sword was alive too!
However I couldn't bear with abandoning my blade, so I simply had them reincarnate into each new vessel I acquired for them! My sword spoke to me, but I hoped one day it would actually be audible instead of just metaphorical.
Despite the claims of many others around me I wasn't crazy! Probably. The chances of being insane are low, but never zero!
I pulled Hestia up the ladder and hopped onto the church's wooden floor. After setting her down she let out a sigh and practically hugged the ground. The sun isn't supposed to be on the ground! I picked her backup and set her on her feet.
"Andrew it's probably five in the morning . . ." Hestia grumbled out and Belle gave a weary nod.
"Well yeah, it's five-fifteen. Anyways, are you ready for an awesome day Belle?" Whenever I awoke it was either five-fifteen or something was wrong. It was my own internal alarm system!
Belle threw me a light glare before she paused. Then she let out a light laugh.
For some reason I couldn't help but feel that her cute laugh came from the bottom of her adorable heart!
"Sure, thanks for starting the day Andrew." I feel like something has changed, but I'm not really sure what. Instead I planted a hand on Belle's shoulder.
"Anything for my treasured companion!" Hestia clung onto me from behind.
"I'd do anything for you too Hestia!" She was like a cat and rubbed her head against my side. I meant my words too, for my companions I'd do anything. Even bring them back from the depths of hatred and despair so that they could be their true selves!
Thus was the Shounen way.
Belle stared at me for a moment then spoke with words that surprised me quite a bit.
"Even if I asked you to kill someone?" I spoke without hesitation.
"The moment I found out why, I'd make my choice." Hestia looked at me with shock as I crossed my arms at Belle. I wasn't sure why she'd suddenly drop this sort of question on me, but it needed an honest answer.
"I see." I gave her a smile.
"Belle, I don't like killing but if it's what needs to be done . . . then I'll do it." My tone was grave. I knew I had to take ending a life very seriously. It was a big deal to cut someone's life short by your own decision.
"Enough of this talk about murder! My Children can't be having important conversations like this at five in the morning! I'm getting breakfast!" I thought Hestia would be more opposed to her being as kind as she was, but I suppose being in a world with death monsters changes people's perspectives.
Wait, was I the weird one for thinking Belle asked me a weird question!? Ah, that's a little embarrassing. However that doesn't mean you should go around murdering people without a second thought!
Honestly I'd been opposed to killing a lot in the past but my Great Sage of an older cousin hit me with a series of questions that had stumped me!
'What would you do in the face of someone who was ideologically opposed to positive change? What would you do if they allowed themselves to drown in malice and slapped away any hand that tried to pull them out? What if each time you reached in to try and save them someone else got hurt instead?'
Those questions made me realize that some people cast away their Humanity in pursuit of hating others.
However I still believed that anyone could become good, as long as they were willing to change. Sadly not everyone was willing to walk that path. Which was my greatest sadness. After all, if everyone simply held love and compassion in their hearts instead of hate, wouldn't the world be a better place?
I wanted to be able to pull people out of that pool even if they slapped me away again and again!
That was the world I fought for, and I was sure as a Fool Belle would join me too!
If only I could save the Dungeon as well. I wasn't sure if it was fully sentient but I truly did believe that anyone could become good. However with the sheer hatred in the air I wasn't sure if I would be able to reach its heart in order to save it. Yet, I had to try!
That didn't mean I would stop fighting though. Just because I wanted to save someone, didn't mean I wasn't going to beat them up and make sure they wouldn't hurt anyone else first!
'Wanting someone to be Good is different from enabling them to be Evil.'
Wise words from the Great Sage.
She also tried to talk about some concept called 'Morally Grey' but I didn't really listen. After all I would just be super strong and use the power of friendship to save all of my friends!
Tough moral decisions? I'd rather just live happily with my friends and make the world a better place!
I'm snapped out of my thoughts as Hestia returns with a basket in hand. Belle on the other hand simply stared at me while I zoned out.
I let out an awkward cough as I realized I was trapped inside my own head for a moment there!
The Shounen simply got to me!
"Let's eat!"
Inside of the basket were little pork buns that were still lightly steaming with warmth. I smiled and handed one to Belle who showed her rabbit nature once again in the way she unleashed on onslaught of tiny nibbles and caused the pork bun to practically evaporate away from reality.
Rest in peace my Pork Bun friend. At least your death was swift. I started eating mine and after gulping down some of the meal I turned to my Family and asked a question.
"Anyone have anything they'd like to get done today?" We still had about 4 days until our first Dungeon Dive as the Hestia Familia, so I really wanted to get all the chores out of the way first! Hestia spoke up at that with a faint sigh.
"Well I looked into getting us a new place to stay, however a place that could hold our Familia would be about 800,000 Valis while we only have 44,500 Valis. It would be a lot cheaper to set up a temporary room for Belle while we got ourselves sorted." Belle seemed to cringe at the idea of us being poor and I patted her on the shoulder.
"Don't worry Belle! If you prefer we can keep renting you an inn for a while, you are way more important than a few Valis!" She let out a strangled groan that seemed to turn into a faint blush.
"You aren't going to let me pay you back, are you?" I raised an eyebrow in mock confusion.
"Pay me back? Belle . . . your mere presence is enough to pay me back!" I pulled her into a hug. She let out a small eep at my words, but she didn't resist. Truly Belle was an adorable rabbit!
"H-hey! My children can't have a hug without their Goddess being involved!" The Hestia Ballistic Missile surrounded us and her warmth enraptured the two of us.
Then Hestia paused, and let out a motherly smile at the two of us with a faint sigh.
"I'm not sure what it is, but you look happier Belle." She flinched lightly but then nodded.
"I just realized something important I suppose." I let out a smirk at that. She must have had the realization that she was actually my sister in Shounen. In other words she truly was part of the Family!
I knew she'd come around sooner or later, she was acting a little weird before but that's probably because she didn't realize I was a fellow Shounen protagonist!
"So you've finally realized it then Belle?" She paused and then nodded.
"I suppose I have Andrew." She gave a light laugh that somehow sounded like it was dripping with money. Yet at the same time it was so genuine.
I stood up and pointed a finger to the Heavens! A mere church roof couldn't stop me from pointing to the sky after all! Though the Dungeon couldn't either to be fair.
"Hestia! I declare to the Heaven's themselves that we accept Belle as our sacred companion, forged through the will of the twin Fool's and your radiant Sun warming our hearts as one! We are the Hestia Familia, we are Family, we are Friends, and most of all . . . we are going to have an amazing adventure together!"
Gotta throw in a Shounen speech. I could keep going but instead I stuffed my mouth with a pork bun. They were delicious after all!
Rank 6: The Ordeal - Awakens a special Magic within the Fool Arcana.
Lightly chewing the food in my mouth for a moment I gulped it down in a satisfied sigh. Then I raised an eyebrow at the Rank up. Magic for my fellow Fool? Amazing!
I have fire, she has . . . well I have no idea! We shall figure it out at some point, of that I'm sure!
"I'm going to head on over to the Tower of Babel, hopefully that Welf guy is somewhere and I can pay him to make me a new sword!" Belle stood up at that and Hestia let out a small sigh.
"I'd come with you, but I need to borrow Belle for today. I'm going to be stopping by the Guild to properly register her as part of our Familia."
I threw them a thumbs up before bolting out the door with a pork bun in my mouth. My next words came out muffled but I tried to speak nonetheless as I grabbed a pouch of 20,000 Valis.
"Alright, you two have fun! I have a blacksmith to fatefully encounter!"
It was barely six in the morning as I ran down the street, the wind in my hair and the pouch in hand allowing me to experience the early morning of Orario once again. As I ran over to Babel I saw a woman in what I could only assume was a made outfit lock eyes with me for a moment.
She started to reach out to something as her jaw dropped slowly. She looked enraptured for a moment and I decided that some random drunk or high maid was not going to be on my to do list for today!
Then I paused and let out a sigh. Oh who am I kidding. Of course I was going to help out someone in need! She seemed to have stumbled into the street in my direction, but something made my heart accelerate in my chest and caused my eyes to widen.
A carriage was moving down the road at about twenty miles per hour! (Thirty Two Kilometers per hour for the non-cheeseburgers) That was decently fast, and more importantly it was enough to get someone seriously hurt!
I knew what it felt like to get hit by a moving vehicle, and I was scared of even risking that for a moment . . . so I moved. I practically flew towards her, my body spiraling in the air and flipping with her as I managed to hold the back of her head so she didn't ragdoll in my princess carry.
I was afraid of getting hit by the carriage, that was for certain. But since when have I ever let fear stop me? Bravery was not the absence of fear, but pushing forward despite that!
If it was a monster I could fight it, but if I attacked the vehicle I risked harming the person inside! I didn't want to do that!
I threw a light glare at the coachmen who had stopped before he would have hit her, and he threw a glare right back.
"Kids these days, just walking in the road and having no respect when I stop for them." I faintly blushed at the realization that the only danger this woman was in was from falling on her face.
"Ah, sorry." He let out a harrumph and the carriage began to move again as the twin horses made their way forwards.
I held the woman whose breath was faint and eyes were wide as she ran a hand along my chest.
I-Is she in shock!?
"Are you alright Miss?" She blinked at that and gulped.
"Y-yes." I let out a sigh of relief, then I softly set her on the sidewalk and pointed a berating finger at her.
"Stay safe! The road can be dangerous when it's still pretty dark out, always remember to look both ways before crossing the street and watch out for the little drop. Ok nice meeting you but I've gotta go so see you later!" The final sentence rambled out of me at rapid speeds, I wasn't going to miss my Blacksmith due to this random act of kindness for some random grey haired girl who didn't understand that traffic accidents were a big deal!
"WAIT!" I froze and turned 180 degrees mid stride and then raised an eyebrow.
"W-what's your name?" I planted my feet and pointed a finger at the sky. Screw being late, I had to give a dramatic line to this girl first!
"I'm Andrew Ariti, someone who's going to change this city for the better!" I didn't give her the chance to respond as I finished my rotation and bolted off towards Babel!
Normally I wouldn't be so desperate to run away from a potential new friend, but I had to get back to Hestia and Belle.
I'd missed them already!
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