Chapter 05

**Chapter 05 - Meeting Bell Again (Rewritten)**

Lucius POV

Dungeon, Fifth Floor.

Walking leisurely and casting my spells at every enemy that appeared, I quickly reached the fifth floor. I collected all the crystals I could find and filled the bag I had taken from the adventurers of the Loki familia.

I spent the entire fifth floor without any surprises until I encountered two individuals of different sexes in a room on this floor. You might think they were up to something malicious, considering it was almost midnight, and there were hardly any adventurers in the dungeon. But these two, in particular, seemed to me to be the most naive people in this city, especially when it came to a relationship between a man and a woman.

Aiz noticed me, but I continued on my way, only briefly nodding at her as I passed the blonde who was cradling a white-haired boy in her lap. I wonder what concept drives anime characters to act this way. It only misleads teenagers who have never spoken to the opposite sex before. These meticulous details hardly help in a real-life relationship.

After that, I continued on my way and kept climbing the floors. When I was leaving the first floor for the gate, a boy resembling a rabbit, I mean, Bell, rushed past me in a panic as he exited the dungeon.

"Adventurer!" I called out to him, grabbing his attention. He briefly glanced at me, and then, like a switch, he remembered who I was, showing a very surprised reaction when he saw it was me who was calling him.

"You!! You're the one who gave me that grimoire??!!" He began to cry after declaring that.

"That book? It was a grimoire?" I said, smiling a little. I was blatantly lying, but Bell would easily believe my words.

"Yes, sir! You gave me such a valuable thing, I can't pay for it!!! How could you give me something so precious?? And I used it!!" He started crying even more now. I didn't know if it was because he thought it belonged to Syr or even to me, after I gave it to him.

"But adventurer, that book was yours; I just returned it when I bumped into you..." I said calmly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I guess you're right..., but still, thank you for returning it, even though it was very valuable!" He said and noticed my bag of valis that I was carrying. Many of these stones I picked up along the way from the first and second floors. Bell had knocked down several monsters without picking up the crystals in his excitement with his Firebolt magic while testing it, but I didn't waste those crystals. I was broke, so I didn't deny what I saw on the ground!

"You're an adventurer?! What's your name? By the way, I'm Bell Cranel from the Hestia familia," he said politely.

"I'm Lucius Drakenar, no family at the moment..." I replied.

"No family?" He wondered, confused, but I ignored it.

Since we were passing through the gate area and I saw the guard who tried to stop me, he stiffened when he saw me with Bell. I brushed off the dirt and dust I had accumulated during my short trip to the dungeon. My clothes were intact, showing that I was clearly fine and didn't need any help.

"Hello, Mr. Guard, I wish you a great night's work." I said mockingly, with a satisfied smile to provoke him.

But he didn't say anything, just stared at me sternly.

Returning to Bell, who was confused by my interaction with the guard, I spoke to him.

"Bell, to answer your question from earlier, I had a problem with my old family and left. I'm currently without a Falna," I said.

"You seem pretty strong, Mr. Lucius. I believe you'll soon find a family," he declared after hearing my situation. I thought he might invite me to Hestia for a moment, but I was mistaken.

"I hope so, Bell. Now, let me ask... can I take a bath at your place? I'm a homeless man, as you can see..." I said with a smile, showing my ragged and dirty clothes.

"EHHHH??" He exclaimed with that surprised expression I always saw in the anime. I think I've broken the boy with my carefree character or with the fact that a homeless man returns from the dungeon loaded with magical crystals.

'If he only knew that, in fact, I sold almost all of my crystals to the system....' I thought to myself.

"So, Bell? Can you take me to your house? It's a quick bath and maybe a night's sleep if your goddess doesn't mind... I'll be leaving in the first hour of the day," I insisted, seeing that he hadn't responded yet.

I might be abusing his kindness here, but I needed a bath after a week of living on the streets. In the first few days, when I was on the street, I took a bath in the square's fountain. But a housewife saw me early in the morning and yelled for some adventurers, calling me a pervert or something similar when I was just in my underwear in the fountain. Of course, I had to run as fast as I could. The adventurers would eventually take me to a God if they caught me. So, afraid of failing my mission, I never went back there.

People might wonder if I feel anger toward my former family after everything I've been through. If that's the case, if they asked me that directly, I would give a resounding NO. I don't feel anger. Honestly, I think if they didn't act the way they did, I would be stuck with an unfamiliar medium-sized family where their God would dictate every step I took. So, I'm happy to end up as a beggar when my memories returned. Of course, I didn't need to fall to the point of scavenging for food on the streets or sleeping without a roof, but as I always remember, I couldn't find any Gods for a week. If Freya had just looked at me from her tower last week, I would have failed my mission and had to return to my biological family, something I wasn't very excited about, or try a new God or Goddess like Hestia, who I know would accept me even with the expulsion from another God, but I would never have my spell system or my blessing with unlimited mental energy.

Bell accepted my request after some time processing the fact that I was still a homeless man who had given him a grimoire and was now returning from the dungeon with a bag full of crystals.

We continued walking to Bell's house until we heard a voice.

"Mr. Bell?" said an elven waitress as we passed in front of the Hostess of Fertility. She was taking out the trash at that moment and recognized Bell.

"Miss Ryuu?" he said, surprised as well.

"From what I can see, you were in the dungeon, right?" She said as she looked at the small adventurer but also studied me, as expected of a Level 4 assassin.

"That's right, Miss Ryuu. I'm coming back from the dungeon with Mr. Lucius after testing my new magic..." After Bell said that, another switch went off inside the boy, which froze him, and I and Ryuu looked strangely

at this.

But I remembered that his new magic and grimoire memories came from Syr. Bell, recalling this, jumped on Ryuu, apologizing while crying at the elf's feet, which even frightened her with the boy's sudden outburst.

Unfortunately for Bell, Syr had already gone home, and the pub was closing with the last customers. Ryuu was just tidying up things to close the place. If Bell had to apologize, it would have to be the next day.

I just greeted the elf, as I didn't have a friendship like Bell's, and it wouldn't make sense to strike up a conversation with her, knowing how closed-off she is, especially to strangers. After that, we continued on our way.

When we reached the church, Bell showed me the bathroom, and I wasted no time. I was relieved to finally feel clean after days of living on the streets.

Hestia was still asleep when we arrived, and Bell was a bit emotional about the encounter with Aiz as he daydreamed about the blonde adventurer. I found a corner and went to sleep for a while with Bell's permission.

Third Person POV

Abandoned Church, Early Morning.

When the window of the church caught the first rays of the sun, Hestia woke up, stretching her arms and yawning. She saw Bell dozing off on the couch like a rock. She hadn't even noticed that he had left last night after she fell asleep.

She looked at him for a few seconds, trying to remember something she was forgetting. Suddenly, she recalled the memories of the previous night and quickly tried to wake Bell up forcefully.

"BELL-KUN, BELL-KUN. BELL-KUN!" She grabbed him and shook him while he began to wake up with her shouts.

"Miss Goddess...?" He asked, yawning a little, tired from the dungeon and the Mind Zero he had just experienced a few hours ago.

"BELL-KUN, we have to find that man who gave you the grimoire; it's an item we can't afford!!!" She said hastily while still shaking him.

"But Miss Goddess, *Yawn* I know where he is..." He said, still half asleep, causing the goddess to stop her movements.

"Really?! WHERE? We'll have to apologize to him for you using the grimoire after breakfast!!" She said with a hint of guilt.

But Bell simply pointed his finger at her back. She followed his direction and turned her body, seeing the same shirtless man from yesterday, now with a clean face. His body was strong and sculpted, as she had the impression of seeing him at the door the first time. The same man who was dirty and even smelled a bit bad was now sitting between the wall and sleeping peacefully, drooling a little.

"EHHHHHH!!" Hestia exclaimed, releasing Bell from her grip, and cautiously entered her house without knowing how he had gotten there.

When Lucius woke up, he felt a gaze on him. When he slowly opened his eyes, he found a double-braided loli looking at him with satisfaction, her hands on her hips. There was a Bell next to her, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

Lucius, not understanding anything, just looked at her with sleepy eyes. They stared at each other for about 20 seconds until she finally decided to break the silence and started speaking.

"I've decided!! Bell-kun told me about your situation; you will be the newest member of my family!!" She exclaimed proudly, leaving no room for negotiations.

"Really?! Will you be the second member of our family, Mr. Lucius?!!" Bell exclaimed happily next to her, losing all his drowsiness. He didn't even wait for Lucius to respond before jumping to conclusions that the young man would join the Hestia family.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Lucius thought before going back to sleep, not wanting to understand what he was hearing.