2 days later.
Bell stirred from his deep slumber with a sudden cough.
He was inside a makeshift tent. His back on some kind of foldable mattress.
Most cracks across his body, running all the way from his spine to his face...were gone.
His eyes opened groggily. Their luminescent red glow back like always. His face was no longer as pale as two days ago. Now, it shone with a healthy pallor.
Anyone who saw his life threatening injuries heal in a mere two days without any external healing magic or elixirs would loose their minds.
.
Bell slowly awoke fully. His eyes filled with confusion.
Where am I? The last I remember... I fainted before reaching home, right?
His guard was raised up in an instant after remembering till there. His muscles tightening unto themselves in caution.
... Bell got up from his resting position. His steps moving with wariness as he walked out of the tent.
He took a sudden step to his right in a split second after stepping out of the tent. A wooden arrow whooshing closer and burying itself at the same place his foot was a moment ago.
His vigilance was raised even higher. [Ittou Shura] rumbling under his skin like the first embers of a long dormant engine crackling to life.
Bell's eyes landed on the person or rather... The Goddess, who had fired the wooden arrow at his foot in warning.
She possessed a breathtakingly beautiful appearance with long, wavy hair of a pale blue hue that cascaded down her back. Her eyes were a striking shade of green. Along with a tall and slender physique with fair, porcelain skin that highlighted her elegance and status as a goddess.
"It is my honour to meet a Goddess out here in the wilderness. May I know your name... O respected Goddess?" Bell spoke with basic etiquette while taking in the wilderness surrounding him.
[Instinct] flexed across his awareness without shame. Golden paths to victory glowing in the hundreds.
Though Bell had an educated guess about which Goddess she was...from her hair colour, face and attire. It was still better to hear it straight from the other party.
"Seems like your Familia God has taught you well," she said, lowering her bow slightly. "I am Goddess Artemis, child. My Familia and I found you fainted on the streets of Orario. We have been taking care of you since then. But now that you have recovered... you can be on your way."
...Damn! What a polite way to say fuck off. I mean... I can understand her inhibitions against the opposite gender, but do you have to be so brutal?
Bell nearly slipped at her words. Feeling like he was some useless baggage that she wanted to throw away now that her responsibilities of helping him were fulfilled.
.
"Where are your other Familia members, Goddess Artemis? And where are we right now?" Bell asked after composing himself. His mind moving faster than ever as he tried to remember everything from the movie Danmachi: Arrow Of Orion.
"Oh... It's very early in the morning. Most of them are still asleep in their tents. As for where we are right now? We're in a jungle two days away from Orario." Goddess Artemis spoke. Her expression mellowing out at his small talk.
"You should thank Rethusa and Lante when they wake up later," she added, a hint of pride in her voice. "They were the ones who carried you all the way here, alternating on their backs."
.
"...I am Bell Cranel. A member of the Astraea Familia. Goddess Artemis, you have my heartfelt thanks for your earlier help. And I'll be sure to thank senior Rethusa and Lante when they wake up for their help too." Bell spoke sincerely.
After all...they had indeed saved his life. He would've probably been offed to another life if people from Evilus had gotten their rotten hands on him while he was out of commission.
So...he really considered Goddess Artemis and her Familia to have saved his life.
As a Divinity, Goddess Artemis had the ability to tell when a mortal was lying to her. So...her expression melted further when all she felt from Bell's words was sincerity and not a single lie.
Her guard dropped even further after he mentioned Goddess Astraea.
"I see. You are Astraea's child. Though I'm a little confused, why would your Falna be different from what I remember about Astraea's?"
Goddess Artemis titled her head innocently. Her voice resounding with a hint of confusion. She didn't believe he was lying because her senses told her that his words were indeed true.
"That... Uhm... Just consider it a uniqueness of mine, Goddess Artemis." Bell spoke vaguely. Making sure his words would be true in her senses even if they were unclear.
Technically the wheel was his own uniqueness, which resulted in a new form of Falna. Hence...what he was saying was not a lie indeed.
"Oh." Goddess Artemis exclaimed. Her expression becoming intrigued. But she didn't ask for him to elaborate. Knowing he didn't lie was enough for her.
Bell sat on a tree root nearby and asked with curiosity a moment later.
"Goddess Artemis... Do you know Goddess Astraea from Tenkai?"
Goddess Artemis did not reply. Instead, she put her bow down on the ground and climbed nimbly on a tree opposite to him. Sitting on one of it's many branches.
Starting to swing her legs idly after getting comfortable.
"Astraea, huh? We were good friends back in Tenaki. Whenever some male God tried to court any of us virgin Goddesses... Like me, Astraea, Hestia and Athena... We all would come together to kick that God's behind to teach him a lesson and simultaneously warn all other Gods to not even think about courting any of us." Goddess Artemis spoke with a hint of reminiscence in her tone.
Virgin Goddesses' gang kicking asses in Tenkai!?
No wonder no male God went after these Virgin Goddesses even after they came down to the Lower World.
Bell felt his life was really turning out to be quit legendary.
Goddess Astraea was his Goddess.
Goddess Hestia was his second Goddess.
And now he owned a life debt to Goddess Artemis.
Only Goddess Athena was left.
If she too got entangled with him somehow.
Then... Bell could already image being granted the title "God Slayer" at a Denatus meeting. That too not for Slaying Gods but "Slaying" Goddesses.
Bell even wondered... Was he Him!?
His wild thoughts were interrupted as Goddess Artemis started to talk about good ol' times in Tenkai with her friends.
Bell listened to her words now instead of running his mind in unhealthy directions. The stories of her and her friends adventures were quite interesting and mythical.
If he had to summarise one of them, it would go something like this.
I, The Moon Goddess Aimed My Arrow At A Bird. Who Knew It Was Zeus In Disguise. That Old Geezer Went Bald By My Arrow, Barley Escaping With His Life.
Hehehe!
Bell nearly failed to hold back his laughter. His grandfather...that old fossil, was probably there to peek at women nearby. Serves him right!
.
He was soon engrossed in her stories. While Goddess Artemis finally found someone to share her stories with. Her Familia children would fall asleep whenever she told them these outlandish tales.
Hence... time passed without their knowledge.
One speaking. The other listening.
...
Sometimes... The only thing someone needs is someone else to just listen to them.
No grand declarations.
No words of support.
No physical reassurances.
Can compare to the silence of just listening quietly to someone else's words.
True support does not resound like thunder.
It comes wrapped in silence.
Always there. Whenever you look back.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]