Chapter 4 - Training

Several days later, I took Bella out to train with me in the forest. Making her some make shift armor out of deer hide, she ran around the village the whole day after I finished it showing everyone her armor. Congratulating her, everyone in the village seemed to think she was adorable...which she was. I just wish she wouldn't have boasted that I made it for her...some of the other kids looked at me like they wanted to request armor too.

"You are on your way to being a ladies man just like your grandpa.", Zeus pretended to cry as she ran around bragging about her armor, "You are making me so...proud."

'No...I don't want to be like you. I don't need your women problems...I know your wife is still trying to hunt you down.', I thought ignoring his crying, 'Still though, I will be a ladies man with my adult body. Once Bella is safely in a good Familia, I can focus on my job and finding beautiful women to have a family with. For now though, Bella's training is top priority since at this point...she could be killed by a stick. Also, I don't want sleazy guys tricking her when I am not around.'

Staying next to me as we walked into the forest. Her excitement quickly faded as she became as scared as a bunny rabbit. The slightest noises made her jump on me like she was Scooby-Doo, and most of them time it was a squirrel or the wind.

"Bella, you do know that an Adventurer can't be so jumpy or skittish right? Both of us need to be focused on our surroundings as we can quickly get surrounded if we don't pay attention.", I scolded her, "When we get into a Familia, our teammates will expect us to have their backs."

"I am only three though...", she refuted.

"I am just saying, in the future you will need to be brave.", I chuckled.

Nodding her head, I let her back down and she did her best to stay calm. Reassuring her that I wouldn't let her get eaten, she calmed down a little bit more.

"So...so what are we going to do first?", she asked.

"Let's work on stealth, it can be an offensive and defensive tool.", I told her, "It can be used to take out intelligent enemies without exposing yourself to danger, and in the event you get overwhelmed you can use it to get away from a dangerous situation. Remember, if you can't win a fight runaway and regroup before fighting them again."

"Got it!", she said pumping herself up.

"Alright, we are going to start out with the weakest enemies in our area...goblins.", I stated.

"Goblins!?", she shrieked, "You...you sure we can take them?"

"Of course we can, and taking them out now means our friends in the villages won't have to worry about being eaten.", I reminded her, "Also...I just killed some the other day remember?"

Remembering that, she nodded her head with a smile. Seeing the sparkle in her eyes, she agreed to give it a try. Tracking down a small group of goblins to a small stream, we found them busy fishing and drinking water. Looking at Bella, she seemed eager to give it a go. Stopping her before she went running at them, I sighed mentally.

"We need to approach them quietly. If we don't give them a chance to fight back, we don't have to worry about getting injured.", I informed her.

"Right!", she agreed.

Following me down the slope towards them, Bella followed in my foot steps to avoid making any noise. Getting to the edge of the sandy bank, I drew my dagger as did Bella. Since there were only four of them, I motioned for her to take the two on the right while I took the two on the left. Nodding her head, she waited for my signal before moving. Leaping at them together, I easily decapitated my two with a single swing. Bella successfully killed her first one, but couldn't pull her dagger back out.

Panicking as the other goblin grabbed it's club, she let go of the dagger and cowered in fear. Grabbing the club firmly as the goblin held it back, it grunted as it tried to swing it forward. Looking back at me, the goblin felt like it was look at a giant. Letting the club go, the goblin bolted trying to flee for it's life. Throwing the club at it, the club smashed it's head into a tree killing it instantly.

"Are you okay!?", I asked Bella.

Leaping into my arms, Bella was shaking like a leaf. In that brief moment, she actually believed she was going to die.

"I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you.", I reminded her, "You are my sister, and it's my job to make sure nothing hurts you."

Slowly calming down, Bella eventually collected herself. Pulling her dagger out for her, I noticed that it was in quite bad shape. If her blade was sharpened, it would have come out easily for her and not gotten stuck.

'Hmm...this is something Bella should know about. If I remember right, Bell never took care of his gear till Welf explained to him the importance of maintaining his equipment.', I thought, 'Best I explain it to her now so she can save money in the future.'

Continuing to train her on stealth, we gathered up wild edibles as we went before eventually heading home. Getting back to our village, I was going to show Bella how to sharpen a blade when I noticed we had guests. Seeing Hermes, a young blue haired girl, and another man with him Zeus motioned for us to approach.

"Mael and Bella, you made it back just in time. This is my friend Hermes.", Zeus chuckled.

"You mean the God Hermes!", Bella shouted with excitement, "You didn't tell me you knew Hermes!"

"It must have slipped my mind, old age does that people.", Zeus laughed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Bella.", Hermes said reaching out to pat her on the head.

Before he could, Hermes felt an overwhelming pressure coming from behind her. Glancing to the young boy staring at him, he looked at Hermes like he would kill him if he tried anything. Pulling his hand back, the pressure subsided accordingly. Looking at his companions, it appeared that only he felt that pressure which startled him.

'I know how much of a lecherous man you are...when Bella gets older I will have to keep my eyes on you.', I thought, 'Keep your hands off of her.'

"It's nice to meet you too, Mael.", he said shaking my hand.

Putting extra force into my handshake, his face cramped up as he felt his hand bones start to creak. Letting his hand go after a few moments, Hermes commented that I was rather strong for my age. Telling him about my hunting expeditions, Zeus acted like a doting grandfather.

"Bella and Mael, why don't you take a bath? I will have dinner ready when you are done.", Zeus stated as we walked inside.

"Okay!", Bella said pulling me along behind her.

Hearing the bathroom door close, Hermes almost collapsed over the table.

"That boy...he is much stronger than he looks.", Hermes stated shaking his hand in the air to get the blood flowing again, "I was worried my hand would break."

"Come now, he looked normal enough to me.", his guard said, "Rural folk are cut from a different cloth than those raised in the city."

"Yeah...sure...", Hermes replied with a sigh, "He is quite defensive of his sister."

"They aren't biological siblings, Bella's parents left her in my care before they died. Mael...well he was left in a basket in the street when I fled Orario.", Zeus told him, "I don't know his origins, but he isn't a normal child. Two weeks ago he bumped his head, and since then he changed. I am not sure how to say it, but he is much more reliable now."

"I see...if only more children could change that way.", Hermes laughed before Asfi kicked him in the shin, "...anyways, I have come to see you because there is trouble brewing. Apollo and Thanatos are currently bedridden, something is taking away their divinity and they have been left in a very lethargic state."

"How long has it been that way?", Zeus asked with a worried tone.

"About a week ago they collapsed in the street.", Hermes stated, "Not only that, other deities with ties to the Sun and Death have also become bedridden. I came out here to check on you because I knew you had two little ones you were caring for. If deities with ties to Lightning were effected...those two would have been left alone."

Thanking him for taking the time to check on him, he assured Hermes he was fit as a fiddle. Zeus opted to keep quite about Mael's training as the day he went out to train coincided with Apollo and Thanatos collapsing in the street. Having raised the boy himself since infancy, he knew Mael wasn't a bad child and wouldn't purposefully try to hurt uninvolved parties.

"Something wrong?", Hermes asked.

"No, just curious what could be causing all that trouble.", Zeus sighed, "You weren't followed, were you?"

"No sir, I made sure to cover our tracks.", Hermes' guard replied, "I made sure to keep a close eye on our surroundings the entire way here."

"You should stay the night before leaving.", Zeus suggested, "The area is crawling with monsters at night."

"Of course!! It's not often I can share a drink with my old friend!!", Hermes chuckled pulling out some wine he brought, "How about we crack one open?"

"Just one!? How about all of them!", Zeus laughed.

Hearing the two of them laughing out in the dining room, I sighed mentally. Bella wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to them as she was more concerned about the bubbles in the bath. Washing her hair as she tried making a bubble beard, I felt like this was going to be a long night with those two drinking away. Once we were done bathing, we went to have dinner with everyone.

---Outside the Village---

Having followed Hermes party since they left Orario, several members of the Evilus group were currently hiding in the forest outside the village. Using a spyglass to look into the home Hermes went into, the man seeing the two deities start drinking smiled. Originally they were tasked with seeing if Hermes knew what was happening, but now they knew he was here for Zeus.

"It's our lucky night!", he chuckled putting the spyglass down.

"What is it? Hermes meeting with someone important?", his second in command asked.

"No, it appears we have located Zeus.", he told them.

"Didn't that old man die? Are you sure it's him?", his second in command inquired, "Why would he be living in a dump like this."

"Of fucking course I am sure!", the commander hissed, "Don't try arguing with me! I have seen him in person several times, and I am sure that is him. Looks like he came out into the sticks to hide away."

Relaying the information back to their superiors, the order came down to seize both deities. They could blame their deaths on a monster attack, and no one would be the wiser. Taking a single guard into the sticks was a poor decision for a deity like Hermes, he had himself to blame for the stupid move. Monster attacks in the rural areas of the world were normal so it wouldn't look too suspicious.

"What are they planning to do with the two of them?", the laziest member of the team sighed, "Zeus is basically worthless at this point, he has what one or two Familia Members left?"

"I don't ask those sort of questions, knowing too much gets you killed.", the leader pointed out, "Besides which, Zeus has a Level Seven warrior still living in Orario. He may be retired, but I still wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his wrath."

"Whatever...let's just get this over with. Sleeping out in the forest sucks ass...", the lazy member yawned, "I just paid a lot of money on a comfy bed, and I haven't used it yet..."

'Why the hell did they send him with us...all he has done is bitch the entire way here...', the leader thought, "We wait for the village to go to sleep, and then attack. Make sure you do your best to make it look like a monster attack. Also, be careful not to let anyone flee. The Artemis Familia is only a few miles from here, if they are alerted to our presence...we are dead."

"Understood!", his subordinates said as they started to spread out.

---Home---

Finishing our meal, I decided to turn in early because the two deities were already getting tipsy. Since the two old men were talking about lecherous things, Asfi went to sleep with Bella in her room. Laying in bed, I tried to tune the old men out but it was really hard when they were laughing like idiots.

'I am not sure I can live in Orario...I think I remember this was typical, and on a much larger scale.', I thought, 'Maybe I can just crash at the Fairy Tail Guild Hall every night...it would be better than dealing with drunkards. That said...they have a lot of drunkards there too...'

Going to plug my ears so I could sleep, I stopped when I sensed something was out of place outside. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I could almost feel death in the air. Getting up, I ran out of my room to get the deities attention.

"Mael, I thought you went to bed.", Zeus laughed, "Are you actually interested in what we are talking about?"

"No...something isn't right outside.", I told him, "I think we are about to get attacked."

Chuckling for a moment, he stopped laughing when he noticed I wore a serious expression. Taking my warning seriously he put down his drink and looked at Hermes.

"I think you were followed.", Zeus stated grabbing his sword.

"You are trusting your grandson?", Hermes said like I wasn't to be trusted.

"I am, if things are as hot in Orario as you mentioned earlier...the Evilus likely followed you here to figure out what you were doing,", Zeus pointed out, "They are masters of stealth, if they weren't we would have crushed them years ago."

"I will go check it out.", Hermes guard sighed as he walked for the door.

Reaching for the handle, that unease feeling spiked dramatically.

"Don't!!", I shouted.

Stopping before he opened the door, he glanced back in confusion.

"Something wrong?", he asked.

"If you open that door, you will die immediately.", I warned him.

"I think someone is just afraid of the dark.", he chuckled putting his armor on, "Let's see if your intuition is right."

Opening the door with his shield raised, a crossbow bolt slammed into the shield causing him to slide backwards. Running forward, I shut the door before they could fire another shot at him. Locking the door after that, I looked back at the man who had turned pale white.

'I almost didn't listen to the boy, and would have died...', he thought, 'I almost left my pregnant wife and two children without a father...'

"Snap out of it!", I shouted smacking him across the face, "Are you an Adventurer or a coward?!"

Snapping out of it, he looked over to his God who looked equally terrified. Realizing that he had let his God down, the Adventurer felt disappointed with himself.

"Now isn't the time to sulk, is there anyone nearby we can ask for help? We don't know the number of enemies out there.", I stated.

"Uh...", Hermes started to think, "Oh!! Artemis' Familia should be a few miles away!! They are out hunting trolls and pack of Hellwolves!!"

"How exactly do you intend to get a message out though?", the guard remarked.

Looking at Zeus, I gave him a nod which earned me a sigh.

"I am sorry Mael...I didn't want you to pushed into this so suddenly. If it were just Hermes and I, I would let them take me but they will kill everyone here to cover up their deeds.", Zeus said, "If you can send a signal out, do it."

With that, I started to think of a good way to signal for help.