บท 3: Helpless

Bell stood before the animal fearfully with a short rusty knife in his hand.

The bear, enraged, leapt towards him with its sharp claws. Flexible body, something positive to his name, came with his actions in the village, fortunately allowed bell, to use it, to slip past the animal while striking its sides, with the knife.

A shallow cut ran towards the bear's side, enraging the beast further. The look it now had was as if bell had murdered its entire family.

"Grhaaa...."

The beast roared to hide its pain. Seeing it not move, allowed bell some time to look around.

He scanned his surroundings, to find something usable. The rush of battle, deepened in his mind. No longer was this a normal fight but a fight of survival, of hunter and hunted, of prey and predator. The battle where one either kills or be killed.

He sweated at this ongoing battle of life and death. As a boy who never harmed anything more than a rabbit, this was his greatest trial.

'I too have to face this in the dungeon' he looked at the bear while despairing internally.

Meanwhile the bear screamed once more, before making its move.

"looks like it won't be easy"

Looking at his rusty blade, he idly remarked 'hang in there'

and so the bear leapt, again. The dance continued between two fighters. The creature's slow speed because of its huge size actually gave bell an idea, to attack while baiting on his blows.

However, the bear too noticed it, changed its pattern of attack mid-strike and after a while of back and forth, the first blood was spilled.

"Greh..." its claws made through bell's notice, hitting him.

Bell before leaving on his journey, made sure to buy some cheap armor, from his village. However, previously he disregarded the use of the armor as a waste of money, however, now that armor to him stood as a bastion between life and death.

'huff...' such extended battle slowly wore the boy out. His stamina was lacking as is were his strength, stopping him from making a decisive strike towards the ferocious animal.

The cheap armor bought from the village broke down at some point, allowing the bear's claw to finally wound him. However, before it could reach his skin he was dragged behind by someone.

"!" surprised he looked towards the person who dragged him, looking at the individual bell's face paled.

"Y-you...get behind, this is not your fight!" Even though bell was wounded, he still worried about the weak boy that dragged him behind and stood in front of him. The child's condition looked horrible when he saw him in the hut.

Body filled with slices, abrasions and a lost leg to add to that. At this condition, the boy would surely get himself killed. Fearing for the boy's safety bell tried to stop him and hinder the boy from partaking in this fight but before he could do so, the boy spoke with determination and cold calculative eyes,

"I...I can fight" spoke the child as his eyes lost its light.

Soon the bear regained its bearings, moved to strike, however, before bell could reach in front of the boy to protect him, the animal dropped down on the ground.

"Eh..." confused bell approached the fallen creature. Animals in order to surprise their foe sometimes act dead and so bell approached the bear carefully.

"Its dead" bell said shocked.

The bear looked fine just a moment earlier, however, now it laid on the ground lifelessly. Bell shook his head decided to forget why and went towards the boy.

In this world, humans had no power of their own. As Humans with falna could actually fight, so seeing that feeble boy was alone in the forest, he guessed the boy had no falna and so he never questioned if the boy had defeated the bear or not.

After all, according to this world's logic, there is now way someone without falna to ever defeat a bear with a single strike.

Looking at the boy, bell was shocked once more.

'His legs are fine?' Before when he entered the hut, the boy barely looked alive. However, now looking closely he looks to be a different person altogether.

Jet black hair, that feels as if made of obsidian almost reaching the ground, toned body as if of the descents of those fabled heroes, and a large monster dangling between his legs. Although his body seems skinny, the beauty of youth never left the boy's figure. While torn rags, which barely covers the child's body adorn him, still it never could reduce the child's beautiful appearance.

The child looked at him with his deep dark eyes and spoke his first words.

"Hello"

Even though the boy was covered in grime, his enchanting, beautiful appearance still made him blush.

"H-hello, my name is B-bell" bell spoke trying his best to act normally. The child looked at him briefly before smiling softly.

"I am Momon. Nice to meet you"

Bell was frozen still admiring the beauty of this child and being a little envious internally.

"W-what are you doing in this forest, all alone?" bell asked, concerned and confused on why someone would live in this dangerous place voluntarily.

"I...I don't know. I woke up and found myself here"

"You, found yourself here?" Bell was enraged thinking someone kidnapped him from his parents and left him here for dead.

"This is not a safe place." He spoke with concern for the boy's safety. After the encounter with the bear other animals might attack him, by tracking the scent of the bear's corpse. He also didn't want to leave the little boy behind without anyway to protect himself and so without thinking twice he smiled towards the child and offered.

"I am making my way to Orario to seek a Familia for myself and start my adventure. Do you want to come along?"

The child in front of him thought for a while before agreeing to join bell on his journey.

"Yes. Please take care of me"

-------------------

Bell came to know Momon possesses no memories except that of his life in this forest.

"So, you want to become an adventurer" asked the boy.

"Yes, I admire their battles. The dungeon beneath Orario filled with monsters of all kinds. Danger lies on all corner, the end comes with a single strike but the thrill of an adventure doesn't end. Come enemy, maidens cry for help and heroes jump without worry to their aid. Come battle heroes scream songs of valor and the enemy cowers beneath their feet. Cry they must, scream they must but the good always comes as the victor in the end. The labyrinth in the dungeon remain endless however not undefeated as so heroes are born every generations"

The boy smiled looking at his enthusiasm.

"....t-that's what my grand father said" bell said meekly. The boy little by little was growing on him. The child was extremely curious about the world and so to relish the child's curiosity, bell tried wracking his brains to answers his questions.

"Yes, but why is the dungeon beneath Orario" asked the boy innocently.

"The dungeon was there before. However, the people made the city around it to easily partake in dungeon activities. Because of the dungeon being in Orario, almost all of the gods live here. Soon merchants too, moved in this place for better business, slowly turning the city as it is."

After the forest incident, bell decided to hire a carriage to come to Orario, as the forest was closer to the city, the rest of the trip wasn't that expensive.

Bell and Momon passed through building gawking around their surroundings. The people smiled at them while some scoffed, seeing their sparkling expression.

He thought to ask Momon, on what he thought about the city. But when he looked at momon, his eyes looked somewhere else.

Another carriage holding a cage full of women,

'slaves' he heard Momon whisper. The tone in his voice sounded angry and disappointed to his ears.

However, there were truths of the world that even he, himself, aiming to be a hero shied away from and this is one of it.

Acting as if he didn't notice anything, he came closer to Momon and spoke,

"Don't worry. I won't let you suffer such fate" Momon was handsome so much so that some people might try to do bad things to him and so he reassured the boy.

The child just nodded, after some few minutes he dozed off into a deep slumber. The rest of the journey was rather pleasant.

------------

Few days passed, bell registered as an adventurer to the guild.

Eina Tulle, one of the receptionist of the guild became his advisor. Eina has a motherly attitude, always trying to help him to get in a familia. However, despite her recommendations the god's themselves had the final say on his recruitment.

Again, she asked him to drop his wish, to journey the labyrinth. She saw many adventurer's and new comers fall in the dungeon. She tried her best but it was never easy, seeing the life drained from their eyes. It felt despairing to send children who had their whole life in front of them, to their deaths.

It was mostly out of pity, she looked over Bell's body and sighed deeply.

Bell was the cute type not built of a warrior and so her worries increased again.

However, the boy was adamant on his decision.

She thought that rejections from the gods would at least stop the boy and let him reconsider his future but still he was here again asking for advice.

In a small part of her heart, Eina wanted the kid to succeed but seeing his naïve attitude and childish view of the world, she knew that the dungeons would swallow him, whole.

After few days, she finally relented and drilled the boy on the do and don'ts on the dungeon, hoping that, seeing the danger with his own eyes, would force him reconsider his choice.

------------

"I failed again"

Days went by, Bell still ended up with no one on his side, rejected by every Familia that he came across. His eyes then slowly went towards the child in front of him, lighting up his mood.

The child, however, smiled and welcomed Bell, beside him. It was night, the chilly cold temperature brewing in the surrounding. He held the boy close to his body, providing their warmth to the other.

Bell slept on the streets with the child in his hand. While normally, he would have cursed himself, for not being strong enough to be accepted by anyone, however, looking at the child soothed his mind.

Momon's company helped wash away his loneliness. After his grandfather, and his parents death he truly was lonely in this world, that prompted him to become an adventurer. After all, there was nothing to live for otherwise, a family was what he wanted, deep within his heart.

At first, he wanted to send Momon, to the local orphanage but the child insisted, on sticking with him. In the end, he relented towards the child's persistence.

As time passed, He himself, felt deep attachment towards the boy. When the world rejected him, the child held onto him, as his only solace in the pitch black darkness of the night.

Bell passed his day's on the streets, slowly teaching the child of this world.

The child knew nothing of this world. He wasn't surprised as he found the child in the forest.

It was again another day, passed without any significant accomplishment. However, he still had a place to call home, and that's enough for him.

A few days passed, Bell after getting rejected by Apollo Familia came back to same corner, where both of them, passed the night, however, this day was different.

"!" a smell of iron passed through his nose.

He quickly came towards the child, to closely examine his body. Pulling up his clothes, he saw a wound, decorating the boy's body.

"blood?!" bell calmed his nerves and as the boy slept, without waking him up bell washed his body, slowly bandaged and dressed his wound.

The child had a serene smile on his face, an innocence untainted by the world. An innocence that from this day, he wished to protect. Holding the boy in his arms, he swore to find a Familia or dive the dungeons just so to make enough to pull the child out of streets.

And with a new resolve deep within his heart, bell slowly closed his eyes, hoping for a better tomorrow.