Chapter 03 - Dungeon
[Chapter Size: 2483 Words.]
Goddess Hestia's POV
Abandoned Church
"Bell-kun..." I said defeated, Bell was in a corner of the church crying for 2 hours.
He lost a magic book that wasn't even his, and we even retraced our steps to see if we could find the book, but all in vain. The small object had vanished and was nowhere to be found. Bell wasn't lying about the book, so it was obvious that the book was real. The young Bell even mentioned that he bumped into someone on his way to the church and got a little distracted at that moment, but he couldn't remember what the person looked like, except for having a star on their forehead, something that shouldn't be hard to find, even in Orario with such a peculiar tattoo. But we can only do that tomorrow; the day was ending as the sun was setting at this moment.
*Knock* *Knock*
A knock was heard at the door and snapped me out of my thoughts. I found it strange as I walked to the door since even though I had some acquaintances and was a goddess, hardly anyone comes to visit me, especially this late.
When I opened it, I was even more surprised because there was a young man with short, disheveled blond hair and a star drawn on his left forehead, a not very common appearance here in Orario. It didn't take Hestia long to realize it was the man Bell had described! His clothes were a bit dirty, as if he were a homeless person, and the smell was not very pleasant...
"Did he find Bell's grimoire and come to return it, or..." I imagined the reason for his visit in my mind.
"Can I help you?" I asked anyway to hear the reason directly from his mouth. There was a possibility that he could be a new family member. He seemed strong, despite the fact that this man looked like a beggar, but I wouldn't deny him.
"Ah, yes! Hehehe... I bumped into the boy who came to this church some time ago and noticed he had a book of his, which I accidentally took, here." He said awkwardly as he showed the book, but I felt some half-truth in that statement. When he finished saying those words, a shadow loomed over me, and Bell, who had heard the man, stopped crying and immediately ran to the book in his hands.
He practically jumped on the newcomer and took the book, not forgetting to thank him sincerely for it quickly.
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!" Bell shouted, bowing multiple times, and before the man could say a few words, my son ran to the couch and started reading the book as if it would disappear again at any moment.
"It was nothing, Mr. Adventurer... I guess..." He said awkwardly, looking at Bell, and when he saw Bell running to the couch and opening the book, he smiled while still looking at Bell, and his eyes shone as if he expected this kind of behavior from my son, which I found very strange...
"I am Goddess Hestia, and on behalf of my family, I would like to thank you for returning the book! May I know your name..." I wanted to know more about this young man who was a few years older than Bell, but I didn't finish my question because I heard a sound as if someone had fallen to the ground. I quickly looked behind me at Bell-kun.
When I saw him, he had fallen unconscious to the ground, and I was frightened at that moment and ran to him.
"BELL-KUN!! BELL-KUN!!" I said as I shook him and noticed that he had no injuries, just the fallen book. I picked up the book to see what he was reading, and then I was shocked when I saw a blank book.
[- GRI-GRIMOIRE!!] I quickly looked at the door and saw the man who had given Bell this grimoire, but he had already left...
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Lucius POV
Somewhere in Orario
Walking through the streets, I yawned as I looked at the early evening sky.
"I'll try not to mess with this world's canon, at least not with this. Bell needs the Firebolt spell to grow, and as I acquired it without buying it from the system, it was still available for me. So, I spent my points on it before going to the church.
"I stole it from this world's canonical MC, so it was fair for me to return another grimoire, right?" I said to myself.
I headed toward the dungeon as soon as I saw the boy faint from the grimoire. As I left the slums for the city center, I realized that time had passed quickly since leaving the abandoned church, and Orario had already started its nightlife.
Most adventurers were either in bars or in the Pleasure District at this point. There were some who had their own biological families and spent their time taking care of their spouses and children as soon as they left the dungeon, but this didn't work for the vast majority of adventurers. Since adventurers had the opportunity to get rich much easier than any average profession, they preferred a promiscuous life with drinks, prostitutes, or adventurers of the opposite sex who preferred this kind of lifestyle.
I passed by some bars as I approached the dungeon entrance. I saw the famous pub where Syr or Freya had given Bell the grimoire, but I kept going without paying much attention to it. I didn't want to interact with that crowd yet, not tonight. I had no equipment with me since it had been taken from me when I left my former family. I was wearing nothing more than dirty civilian clothes.
I was met with many disgusted looks as to why a beggar was out here on the main streets instead of staying in the slums. I knew I was a very attractive man to the opposite sex in this world, according to all the standards and requirements of the female sex, but I had dirt on my face and my clothes, and a horrible smell, so I was clearly looked down upon as a beggar as I walked. I didn't care much; I needed money and knew how to get it more easily, ignoring all the looks and comments people made when they saw me. I continued on my way to my goal.
In the area, there was a large building next to Babel Tower, with a huge door for the constant flow of adventurers. I ignored the strange looks and entered directly.
Passing through the corridor to the entrance of the stairs, I was lucky that there were no guards at that moment. With my appearance, I would have spent some time answering their questions until they released me or I had to threaten them, but seeing the empty entrance was a big surprise for me, something that shouldn't happen all the time. But I took advantage of the situation.
"Hey, look at this! A suicidal guy!" one voice said as I passed through the hall and started going down.
"And why should we care? It's this guy's problem, not ours," another said.
"Tsk, the guy is clearly a beggar wanting to end his own life; dying by monsters is a terrible way to end your life," someone said.
"Are there no guards in this place? Someone stop this suicidal guy!"
"So young, he's the same age as my son
."
"Why don't you do it?"
"I don't want to get involved in problems that have nothing to do with me!"
I paid no attention to all the gossip and comments about me and went through the big door with some strange looks, as if a beggar was going to certain death in the dungeon.
As soon as I passed through the doors, there was a large staircase leading to the upper floors. I started descending. There were still 2 or 3 adventurers returning, and they didn't pass by me without giving me a strange look, but I was used to it by now.
Finally entering the first tunnels, I chose one of the entrances to the first floor and began following the corridors as I remembered from my time here for years, even without the ability to nullify mana, I was still a level 1 adventurer.
Walking for a few more minutes in the tunnel, I started to see the first monsters to fight. I spotted 3 goblins, shouting at each other, a few dozen meters away. It seemed that, since there weren't many adventurers in the dungeon at the moment, they were getting bored and had started fighting among themselves.
I raised my hand and was preparing to finally cast my spell, or at least I thought I was, as I felt the fire beginning to appear in my palm. But this would have happened if I hadn't been interrupted at that moment when an authoritative voice sounded behind me.
"YOU!! What are you doing here?" said the commanding voice from the direction of the tunnel entrance.
When I turned my body to look in their direction, there was a guard and an adventurer looking at me intensely, especially the guard.
"I'm hunting monsters, as you can see..." I said, frustrated, my tone dripping with sarcasm as I raised an eyebrow.
'Why now?' I thought, frustrated. I was so close to showing this power.
"You?!" He looked at me with disgust as he uttered those words.
"You look more like a beggar from the slums trying to end your own life than an adventurer! I don't want to hear from my supervisor tomorrow that a beggar died in the dungeon under my supervision and died while I was on a quick bathroom break!" said the guard in a tone that didn't seem to allow for argument.
'So that's what this is about,' I thought. When I entered the dungeon, this guard was in the bathroom or somewhere else doing whatever, but then someone reported a beggar entering the dungeon. In the end, he was more concerned about his boss tomorrow than my safety or life, not that I could complain; we're in a selfish world. I had kidnapped a boy for my own benefit earlier in the day.
The adventurer beside the guard didn't offer his opinion, probably a friend the guard had asked to accompany him and find the "suicidal beggar" on the first floor.
I realized that arguing with these two would get me nowhere, and I noticed the guard taking his first steps toward forcibly pulling me.
"It looks like I'm going to have to resort to this..." I thought to myself, so I decided to act.
With my hand still raised, I pointed at the wall beside them and conjured.
[- FIREBOLT!] I exclaimed, and with a flash in the almost dark tunnel, it was seen.
Fire shot out of my hand directly toward them at high speed, hitting the spot I aimed for.
*BOOM!*
*CRACK*
The sight of the fire coming out of my hand and hitting a wall nearby them, making a bunch of rocks crack and fly in all directions, left them quite stunned and scared. They stopped walking towards me because they were frozen by what I had just done.
'Not every day they see a beggar shooting fire from his hands, is it?' I thought ironically.
After a brief silence that I made sure to maintain between our group, as I wanted to give them time to digest what had just happened, I decided to break the silence.
"Get out of my way before you don't even have a chance to receive a scolding from your supervisor tomorrow. Because in the next step you take toward me, I'll throw fire at you." I snarled in a cold voice. My threat was not unfounded; I'm someone who gets angry easily.
The guard looked at me with wide eyes and started to sweat, but he didn't like how I acted and decided to say something anyway.
"You can't talk to me like that or threaten me; I'm a guild employee, and you'll be in trouble if you do!" He protested.
'An arrogant guard, indeed,' I thought to myself.
"Whether I can be in trouble or not is my problem, but I can guarantee you won't live to tell the tale," I said angrily as I pointed my hand at him. This made them even more frightened, and the adventurer pulled the guard back to the surface, saying it was no longer his problem.
They may be adventurers of Uranus or another god to be guards here, but my firebolt is a threat to their lives, and the adventurer wasn't feeling comfortable messing with someone who could make him suffer.
I was actually thinking of throwing at them, not to the point of killing them; I was bluffing about that. But I just wanted to kill monsters here and showed my ability to protect myself, even without equipment. So I would hurt them a little if they insisted.
The guard gave in to his friend's demands, and seeing that despite my dirty clothes, I was at least a level 1 adventurer with magic. But what made him make his decision was my eyes, which didn't seem to be joking when I threatened to attack them.
Suddenly, I heard a growling sound behind me, and I turned to see what was happening.
I turned my attention to the goblins running toward me, since the small explosion had made them jump in surprise and see us for the first time.
Without wasting any time, I pointed to my target 10 meters away and cast my small spell 3 times.
[- FIREBOLT!]
*BOOM!*
The three of them evaporated instantly as the fire made contact. The chance of crystals dropping was 100%, so 3 crystals were on the ground. I walked away without looking back at the duo behind me and picked up the crystals.
At that moment, I received a system alert and decided to open the screen to see the points I had earned.
[Mission 10 Thousand FireBolt: Cast 10,000 Firebolts! | {Progress 3/10000} | {Reward: User Can Cast Spell Without Incantation.}]
[Notification: You Killed 3 First Floor Goblins: 3 Points Added!]
"What?! Only 1 point per monster? How am I going to get a spell above Rank 2 this way? Not to mention higher-ranked spells!" I asked myself in frustration. The best spells cost around 10 million points and many even more, not to mention the locked-rank ones with hundreds of millions of points for each spell!
[Notification: You Have 3 Goblin Crystals, Do You Want to Convert the Crystals into Points? 5 Points Each.]
[Yes/No]
"Interesting, this helps me a bit more!" I exclaimed, seeing my other point-earning option...
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