Chapter 2

Orario.Known as the city of opportunities, the Center of the World, but like every city, it also has its dark side.Numerous people came and went to try a better life. The vast majority wanted to become an adventurer for different reasons; whether for money, fame, women or for the simple fact of exploring the unknown.Among the lucky ones who managed to join a faction, a Family, governed by a God or Goddess, there also ended up being those who were not granted this luck and unfortunately, the remaining option meant being out in the open; starving; cold and several times; humiliation.Experiencing this scenario, at this moment, a child ran with all the strength of her leg muscles, she wore a black mantle with a hood covering her face.- "Come back here!"The merchant screamed running after the boy who kept running with several fruits being held in his arms. The child gasped a lot trying to escape from the tormentor who tried to recover the fruits he sold.The child looked up slightly, noticing an escape route. He accelerated feeling his legs hurt and a gnashing of teeth happened, he contained the grunt that was born in his throat. Around the corner, he entered one of the several alleys that existed in Orario. When the seller saw that child entering the alley, he simply gave up his persecution.- "It will be impossible to find this brat or brat in these alleys."He sighed defeated as he scratched the back of his head. It was already the third time that week that he was robbed. With a resigned grunt, the merchant turned his heels returning to his stall with slow steps and with a frown on his face for not being able to catch the person who fenched him. But the merchant and his compatriots were beginning to understand the way that child acted and the days when she acted. At some point she would be caught, it was just a matter of time.After a few more meters of running, entering several alleys to make sure he would have managed to escape from the human merchant, the child stopped running little by little while looking back. There was no one else in his pursuit. Walking to the partially broken wall, he leaned over his coast and slipped slowly sitting on the dirty floor. The child gasped a lot, she tried to catch her breath after the race she ran to escape from a full adult for having been stolen.- "It's been a long time since the last time I ran so much."A long sigh. The voice is that of a boy, he looked down, in his arms, at the fruits that would be his food.- "Are my parents angry with me? Probably. But given the situation is to steal or starve, so I think they would forgive me."He breathed deeply, having now calmed the heart that was previously beating furiously inside his chest. Calmly, he crossed his legs so that he could feed on what he had caught.- "We see... There are two apples, a tangerine and a pear... well... I think you can satisfy the hunger until tomorrow."He ate enjoying the taste of the fruits he had stolen. Among the houses, he weighed his current situation.- "No family would want a thief, so I'm digging even more into the well I'm already at the bottom."He sighed tired. His life has been from zero to one hundred very fast since he arrived at Orario. The momentary happiness he felt and enthusiasm for restarting his life in the city of opportunities was destroyed so quickly that he had little time to take advantage of his new beginning. And when he failed to join a Family, everything turned upside down and before he knew it he already wore a worn black mantle to cover his face and especially his flashy hair as he ran through the streets crowded with adventurers and Demi-human people with the fruit of his sporadic robberies.It had been three weeks since I had arrived in the city of adventurers. In the first week, he tried uselessly to join a Family, but was promptly refused by the stronger members who made the selection.He still remembered the words he heard and that left a mark on his heart.- "A useless like you should not and is not trying to join our Family!"- "Your skills are very low, you would just be a burden."- "I'm sorry, but we're not recruiting."- "What a child like you can do! Don't think we're going to <Masorra > to play! Get out of here, brat!"He sighed slightly as he raised his head looking at the sky through the walls of the buildings.- "They didn't give me any chance to show what I'm capable of, but soon judged me by my feature and size..."Once again he sighed, this time tired. The boy then got up, stretched his arms up stretching as he grunted feeling his bones squeak. He jumped twice and then smiled on his side.- "Let's look for what to do."He removed that black mantle from his body; revealing his white hair like virgin snow, his crimson eyes were opaque while his body was slender and of short stature. He wore black pants with several tears scattered around the fabric and was quite faded. The boy also wore a beige shirt that was quite dirty because he slept on the floor of the alleys and he wore a black shoe with the soles almost coming out.He was the perfect image of a street child who had failed to join a Family and who had seen the dark side of the city that was the Center of the World.The boy tambled the mantle leaving him hidden under some rubble of the wall on which he was staking himself.Having verified that no one would find his cover used for robberies, he left the alley as if nothing had happened minutes ago. With his hands in his pocket, he walked through the streets full of adventurers, they wore their heavy armor with their tailor-made weapons. Having that vision caused the boy to visualize himself in place of those people, but then a dejected smile appeared on his lips.- "Stond dreaming, you idiot."He mentally scolded himself as he shook his head to scare away that image of a non-existent future. The boy kept walking and at one point, he saw a woman of average stature and another woman - this being an elf with long emerald green hair - walking through the streets apparently looking for something.The boy frowned slightly, in his heart, something told him that that elf accompanying that other woman with short red hair was not strange to him.Where has he seen that elf? He thought looking in his mind for traces of the image of that woman who had a very strong presence. However, what was left to him was only the inconvenience, because he did not remember where he had already seen the elf, so, for his immediate understanding, if he did not remember he should not be someone strong or known.And even if he was at a reasonable distance, he knew - he can feel - that that redhead woman was a Goddess, the aura that emanated from her was something beyond imagination, as if she were on a podium that a human or any other race would never reach.He kept walking at a slow and calm speed so that he could better analyze that pair. And then, something caught his attention. A simple but ingenious smile.The boy noticed that the Goddess had stuffed pockets, probably full of valis. Swallowing dry, he pondered whether or not to do what he thought. But in his situation, after everything he's been through, thinking too much could lead him to death, as he almost took him. A resigned sigh. He drew up a quick and simple plan.- "Let's go..."He was aware that stealing was wrong and that stealing a deity was even more wrong, however, he needed money - even little - to stop stealing for a while - after all the merchants were more attentive to their attacks.Walking carelessly towards the two women who were talking about something, the boy demonstrated that among the countless skills he had, among them, were a surprisingly light hand. As he walked, he pretended that he was staggering so that his intention would not leak to that elf - which he was sure was an adventurer - and then as he approached the two he bumped into the red-haired Goddess.- "Sorry..."He asked looking at the floor.- "Don't worry. It was nothing."The Goddess said without caring about the entrão. She noticed that the boy with exotic hair continued with his head down as he continued on his way. He staggered a few more times.Shrugging, he turned to continue walking, but his elven coastguard stopped abruptly. The Goddess was surprised. But before she could verbalize her confusion, the powerful voice of her follower emerged.- "Stop!"And the next moment the boy who seemed bewildered kicked the ground starting a fast race among the people who were there.- "How fast!"The divinity was surprised by the speed of the boy, that physical explosion capacity was extraordinary for a child. A slight glow of enthusiasm adorned his slightly open eyes.While the Goddess was slightly admired by the boy's feat - who did not appear to have a falna - her elven follower, at the same moment, kicked the ground advancing quickly between people to begin a chase for the boy who had stolen his Goddess.A chill was born on the little one's neck. Looking back, he noticed that that elf was just a few steps away from reaching him. He widened his eyes in unbelieves.- "Shit! What is this elf? A level 3?"He closed his jaw indignantly. Wrong target, he thought. Focusing on the front, he tried to use people as barriers to prevent, at least a little, the elf from reaching her maximum speed and consequently catching him. However, his plan went down the drain, he was captured. The elf held him by the back of the collar of the shirt while lifting him from the ground a few centimeters, preventing him from running away again, if he could.The redhead deity came right behind, she was very panting for having run that distance, surprisingly five meters. The deity approached her follower and soon the elf asked.- "So, what will we do with him, Loki?"Loki is a goddess with light red hair and red eyes. She is commonly known for wearing men's clothes, at this moment, she wears an outfit that is based on jeans and a shirt that showed her belly. Their hair was tied in a ponytail.The little boy swallowed dry, his crimson eyes doubled in size when he heard who his theft victim was. He then looked at the elf from the corner of his left eye and returned to the deity next to the elf. And a feeling, which he had not felt for a long time, surfaced in his heart as if a volcano erupted. He was terrified.- "Shit! They are from the Loki Family! I'm going to die!"The fear in the boy's eyes did not go unnoticed by Loki who smiled on his side. Although something in his bull warned him that that boy was different from the others. She took this intuition into consideration when she looked at her follower and made a brief nod.The elf sighed. She understood perfectly.- "You already know what to do, Riveria."Loki pointed to the boy with a manic smile adorning his lips generating an exponential fear in the boy.Riveria is tall with jade-colored hair tied in a tail that reaches the waist, eyes of the same color and elf ears. She wears a green outfit with yellow edges, a white cape on top, a black belt, a yellow band, black leggings and long brown boots. She is exceptionally beautiful and can rival several goddesses.- "Okay."With a resigned sigh, she made a quick movement with her arm. The boy felt the air shock on his coast when he was thrown away, in his eyes, an analytical look, and then he felt the impact of his body against the cold floor of the alley. His quick recovery surprised Riveria, as he was already standing looking at her. The elf advanced, on her face, an expression that demonstrated her total intention. The boy felt, with every cell of his being, that it was impossible to win, and before he could even reason his right fist was already at the height of his face.- "Damn it!"It was a fraction of milliseconds. An instinct that dominated him. A way for your body to keep surviving, a state of reflection out of fear. And then the impact happened. A scream of pain echoed through the alley when the clenched fist hit the left arm raised in defense. Riveria felt something cracking. The boy, due to pressure and strength, was thrown with a certain brutality to the opposite side towards the wall.A mind-blowing pain on the right side, a reasonable amount of saliva mixed with blood being expelled through the mouth of the boy who felt the air in his lungs disappear. The boy moaned in pain when his body collided with the concrete wall. He felt the sensitivity in his dominant arm get lost, he looked, analyzing the situation, and his left arm was broken due to superhuman pressure.The emerald eyes widened slightly. Riveria was slightly surprised by the boy's ability to react, even if she was not at her maximum speed, yet the speed she was in would be more than enough to leave someone without falna or Level 1 totally unprotected against his attack.The boy staggered, truly this time, and the shock suffered charged its price faster than he expected. The force in his legs was lost and gravity did the rest of the service, he fell to his knees feeling, late, the tears forming in his eyes. The pain that still existed, hugged him tightly while his arm was flaccid.- "A single blow and did this damage!"The boy clesed his teeth preventing a scream of pain from emerging from his throat. He looked out of the corner of his eye at the elf walking calmly towards him. The aura that emanated from that elf was worthy of a warrior hardened by battles.So that's the pressure of an adventurer. He thought, swallowing the saliva with a taste of blood. However, he would not have survived those weeks if he weren't someone intelligent. He quickly analyzed the situation he was in and formulated a plan in his mind.- "Fects will probably not work in an experienced adventurer like her, but..."As a sign of apparent surrender, he sat on the ground dusty. The opaque look was fixed on the bright emerald look. And, slowly, he closed his right hand, as if he showed the frustration of having lost and consequently not being able to escape. The boy gathered a handful of sand that was on the ground and hid it in his right hand. He lowered his head, pretending to accept what would happen. Your intention once again, hidden. His plan was about to start and he only needed a chance.Riveria approached the boy noticing the damage she had done to his arm, she felt very bad for attacking a child, but she had understood the reason behind Loki's order. Or at least I thought I understood.- "Did she see something special in this child or is she just having fun with the misfortune of others?"She asked herself looking over her shoulder watching Loki smile in an enigmatic way. Another resigned sigh escaped between her lips. Riveria approached with the guard fully open, after all, what could a child do in that desperate situation and being at a complete disadvantage?However, that's exactly what the boy wanted.Leave her on her guard down.Previously, when he was thrown, he took the opportunity to analyze his enemy, still in the air, so that he could take some advantage, no matter how small he was. When he fell and stood up, his gaze fixed on the elf's legs, he realized that she was carrying a small dagger sheathed on the side of her left thigh.He had a chance, apparently. Because she was an elf, the boy deduced that it was very likely that she was a healer. However, this did not mean that she should be totally oblivious or inattentive to the surprise attacks of monsters or people, so he deduced that she used that dagger for emergencies.All this thought lasted a few seconds.And he wanted to take advantage of it. By any means.And now, he patiently expected Riveria to be close enough to him. When she approached at a distance that it would be impossible for her to dodge a right attack, he used his right arm as a whip to throw the sand in the face of the elf who was surprised by the surprise attack, the boy took advantage of those precious seconds of inattention to dive, roll and pick up the dagger that was on her thigh.And the next instant, he played precisely towards Loki who opened his eyes seeing the speed at which the blade flewed towards him.However.The blade never represented a real danger to the Cheating Goddess. Riveria had quickly recovered from the disorientation caused by the sand in her eyes and appeared a meter in front of her Patronal Goddess to protect her.But the boy had already taken advantage of that moment to run while holding his broken arm.He ran away.◇◇◇◇Moments ago.Loki approached his follower with a quick step.- "So, what will we do with him, Loki?"Riveria's voice was calm and serene as always. The elf asked if they should take him to the Guild or let him go on his way.- "He stole from me, but it's not like I judge him, since given the clothes he's wearing, he probably only saw the dark side of this city. I think I'll let him go."Loki thought as he looked at the boy out of the corner of his eyes. Although she found his physical explosion capacity surprising, it was nothing she had not seen in any of her children before they had her blessing.- "I'll let you go..."She thought, but the moment she would tell Riveria to let him go, she saw the crimson eyes being opaque. Finally she took a good look at that boy and realized that there was something behind those eyes, and a flash of curiosity hit her. And the expression she made culminated in her to change her mind. He seemed to know who he was dealing with, because he alternated the look between her and Riveria.Loki decided.- "Let's see what he's capable of, maybe he's not a rough diamond..."The deity smiled on his side with this thought. Looking at her follower, she communicated through her eyes.- Test him.- Are you sure?- Absolute.The elf sighed with that little conversation.- "You already know what to do, Riveria."Loki pointed to the boy with a manic smile adorning his lips generating an exponential fear in the boy.- "Okay."As an observer, she realized the small details that in the heat of the moment Riveria would not notice and if she noticed she would not care so much. But Loki saw the boy, from the moment it was released, look at and observe every move of Riveria. The deity felt that he was used to fights. And the moment he managed to partially defend himself from the attack carried out by Riveria, she smiled, an excited smile.- "He's really something. Of course, Riveria did not attack with everything, even though it was a level 4, she must not have used even 20% of the total force. However, this does not belittle the boy, not even a millimeter, because that is exactly why it makes his reaction time so impressive."Loki, even from a distance, can hear a big snap. Something had broken. And the next moment she saw the boy fly towards the wall of the alley.- "He held on!"Loki was surprised. The boy's physical capacity was also incredible, even without Falna.The red-haired deity saw the boy throw a handful of sand in Riveria's face, who was surprised by the surprise attack. He rolled, taking advantage of that brief moment of confusion to pick up the dagger that was on her thigh and then throw it towards Loki who opened his eyes seeing the speed at which the blade flew towards him.The wide part of the blade shone in contact with the sun. Loki let himself smile with that improvised 'attack' of the little rabbit.However, fear was never present in her expression, because she knew that Riveria would save her, her executive and deputy captain, held the dagger a meter away from her body.Loki saw the boy running.He took advantage of all that situation in which he created himself.- "Great. He managed to turn around even against a stronger opponent. He has a future. Hehehe."◇◇◇◇A moment of silence came up.And the moment Riveria would chase and capture the boy for an attack on the life of a deity, a shrill laugh echoed.She turned to see Loki laughing while holding her own belly tightly.Riveria didn't understand what was happening to her Goddess.- "The brat is interesting! Did you see what he did?! Who in the world would think of that! Hahahaha."- "Attack a deity?"Riveria uttered without understanding the reason for all that animation that Loki was having.- "NO! He had no intention of hurting me! Hahaha."- "How not?"- "Come on, Riveria! Remember the moves he made! You are smart enough to understand his purpose!"Loki said shrillly as a grandiose smile appeared on his lips, the normally closed eyes were open and they showed an unimaginable excitement.Riveria recalled the boy's actions, from the moment he received his blow colliding against the wall until his hand seemed to grab something, but she didn't care because it seemed that he was shaking his hand in frustration, however, he attacked her with a distraction attack and then took his dagger in a moment of sloppie and finally threw towards Loki who was watching everything from a distance.And the plug fell.The jade eyes tripled in size.- "It looks like you understand!"Loki said smiling.- "From the beginning he knew he couldn't win, so he formed a quick plan so that he could have a chance to escape. But, attack a deity in favor of his escape..."- "He also understood that you would protect me. That's why the moment he threw the dagger he started running in the opposite direction."- "The boy caught me."She felt ashamed of herself for having fallen into such an obvious and somewhat childish trap.- "Yes. And that's why I want it in my Family!"- "Huh?"Riveria looked without understanding, in fact, without wanting to understand the words she heard. But Loki quickly explained the reason for his decision.- "Think with me, my dear Riveria. If he, already at this age, was able to formulate a plan to be able to 'deceive' an adventurer like you, now imagine him with proper training and the right instructions?! He can be a big card up his sleeve against that Sensual Goddess! We can reign as the strongest Family with him as our member."- "I understood the concept behind it. But who guarantees that he will accept your offer after I smashed his left arm?"Riveria said she was skeptical.- "He's going. Trust me, he'll go."Absolute trust came from an intuition. Loki didn't know what it was, but those crimson eyes hid much more than they showed.- "If you're saying..."Riveria was not very confident about her Goddess, but if the deity said the boy would go, then he would go. Now how and for what reason, she had no idea.◇◇◇◇He had managed to escape from an apparently upper-class adventurer by trying to end the life of a deity.At that moment, he was sitting on the cold floor while he had just finished tining the knot with great difficulty in the frame he made so that his left arm was immobilized. He was shirtless, because he tore it with great difficulty, since he is left-hand, in favor of the creation of the immobilizer.- "Shit..."He grunted at the situation he was in, apparently the gods were giving him a well-deserved punishment for having attacked the life of a deity.- "Come on Bell, you have to think of something to get out of this!"He demanded an answer from himself. Normally he did not lose his temper so easily, but given the situation he was in, his calm and serene mentality faded at the moment when he could not know if he would survive that night or not.Bell looked at the sky thinking of a solution to his situation, but what he won was the sun in its full splendor bathing his skin with the weth of the early afternoon. He sighed restlessly.- "Yeah... it seems like I don't pass today."He laughed in mockery of himself. Lowering his head, he looked at his dominant arm thinking about how 'lucky' he was when the Elf of the Loki Family did not start a hand-to-hand fight with him injured like that. And also when she didn't call when he caught that handful of sand.- "I had everything to die, but she didn't want that... adventurers are really another level... I don't know if they are idiots or very confident in their abilities."Once again he allowed himself to laugh. Bell could be in the mud of disgrace, but he would still make fun of others. It was a characteristic of his, after all, he would laugh even at the 'worst' moment of his life.After all.If it was already bad, how much more could it get worse?And then.- "It looks like we found the little thief."He felt his hair shiver with that velvety voice.It was the elf named Riveria. She stopped at a reasonable distance from the boy sitting next to her, the Cheating Goddess was smiling.- "It took us a few hours, but we finally found you, rabbit!"Loki said energetic. She pointed to the boy who made a confused expression with the comparison.- "Bunny?"Bell did not understand, but ended up leaving it aside, since, in his position, he had no reason or the reason to counter a Goddess whom he warned against life and an adventurer with whom he 'fought' in a dishonest way.- "Yeah... it looks like you got the thief."He smiled tired.Loki once again noticed the boy's look, totally opaque. What did he experience to have that look? She asked herself.- "Yes, but we're not here to arrest him."- "Is it because then? Are they going to kill me?"- "No. You don't deserve to die for something so banal."- "I tried to kill you, if you don't remember."- "You tried to escape, it's perfectly normal for you to try everything to get an escape. I don't judge you."- "And you elf? I threw sand in your eyes."- "Actually, it only made me waste a few seconds, nothing more."— "Hahahahaha."Bell laughed nervously, those people were strange, maybe crazy. He couldn't distinguish it.Loki approached the boy sitting, she crouched in front of him.She allowed herself to analyze it.His snow-white hair had some blackened spots, perhaps due to dirt.Eyes that could be easily confused with precious jewelry.A slender body, but it was visible that he had his training. Because his right arm was worked as far as possible for his age.Your mind, very mature. After all, he knew how to use dishonest tactics and strategies to be able to excel over a powerful enemy.Hardly manipulable. Since he didn't lower his guard at any time in the conversation always attentive to the details of the words.She smiled widely to witness the boy's expression of confusion.How could she not grace him with his blessing?Her heart jumped a faster beat when she saw through those opaque eyes an opportunity to take the lead in the race to be the strongest faction.Loki got up, put his right hand on his waist and smiled.She reached out to the boy.Bell thought for long seconds. He decided since it was in the rain, why not get wet more?A smile on the side, almost minimal, appeared on the boy's lips.The boy squeezed without blinking.The cheating Goddess smiled.She pulled him to stand up.The boy a little shorter than her, reaching the height of her chin.She had found, in the midst of her wanderings, a seemingly blind and rusty blade and she would hit to remove the impurities so that she could cut the strongest steel.- "From today, you will be my son."And so a new life began for the boy who had lost everything.