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Yes.
A white-haired GIRL.
Standing before him was a white-haired girl.
Looking again at the map, Anos confirmed there were no other people nearby. And the girl in front of him indeed had the same features Bell was known for.
White hair.
Red eyes.
"So… it really is Bell."
Murmuring to himself, Anos walked toward her.
At that moment, Bell was being chased through the forest by a wild boar.
If Anos hadn't arrived, her luck might have run out and she might have been killed by it unlocking an ironic achievement: "Almost defeated by a boar at age ten."
"Well then…"
A magic circle appeared in Anos's hand.
Boom!
A powerful gust of wind tore through the forest, sweeping away everything in its path.
"SKREEEE!"
Struck by the gale, the wild boar let out a miserable cry before being flung away into the trees and disappearing.
"Huh…?"
The girl named Bell finally noticed the boy who had suddenly appeared.
He looked like light.
Not because he moved as fast as light, but because of the aura surrounding him.
Warm.
Bright.
Yet dazzling to the point that she felt instinctively unworthy to stand beside him.
Looking at the boy who had saved her, a powerful emotion rose within Bell's heart.
Admiration.
"Are you okay?"
Anos extended his hand toward the girl sitting on the ground.
Seeing Bell like this felt strange to him, but he still offered his hand.
"Ah… um…"
Bell hesitated.
She didn't dare reach out.
Her hands were covered in mud.
"If I grab his hand like this… it'll get dirty," she thought.
That was the kind of girl Bell was.
Humble to a fault.
But—
"Tap."
Before she could decide, the boy who had saved her simply reached down and grabbed her hand himself.
"Looking at you… You've clearly had a rough time."
Anos glanced at the once-white rabbit who now looked more like a muddy brown one.
He had originally planned out an entire speech to convince Bell to join them.
Now it didn't seem necessary.
"Come with me."
He smiled.
A cleansing magic circle descended from the sky.
As its light passed through them, the dirt and sweat covering Bell's body vanished instantly.
She looked down at herself in disbelief.
It felt like stepping into a different world.
…
"So, Bell, you're heading to Orario too?"
Hestia asked the girl sitting across from her.
After Anos brought Bell back, they talked for a while and quickly understood each other's situation.
Bell learned that the boy who saved her was named Anos Kanzaki.
At first, she wanted to call him Lord Anos, but after he insisted otherwise, she reluctantly changed it.
Anos and Lady Hestia were traveling to Orario to establish a new familia.
Which happened to be the same destination Bell had in mind.
She wanted to go to Orario.
To become an adventurer.
To find encounters.
To walk the path of a hero.
"That's right," Anos said with a smile. "We're heading to Orario to start a familia."
"How about joining ours, Bell?"
"Eh…?"
Bell froze.
"Eh?! Me?!"
She pointed at herself in shock.
"Anos?!"
Hestia was just as surprised.
Did he really go out for five minutes and come back recruiting a new familia member?
For some reason, she felt a subtle discomfort when she noticed the way Bell looked at Anos.
Anos was her child, after all.
Anos calmly explained.
"Generally speaking, the people heading to Orario want to become adventurers, or work in adventurer-related fields."
"Our familia currently needs members. Hestia, we can't build a familia with just me alone."
"If we're going to recruit people eventually, why not start now?"
He gestured toward Bell.
"As you can see, our familia currently has only two members."
"You can join us."
"Or you can join another familia once we reach Orario."
Before Anos could finish—
"I want to join Anos's familia!"
Bell blurted out.
She had already made up her mind.
If she could help him in any way, he would surely be happy.
And that thought alone made her happy.
"…Uh."
Anos couldn't help but smile awkwardly.
"Bell, I think you should think about this more carefully."
Right now, he felt less like a recruiter and more like someone kidnapping an innocent girl.
"Joining a new familia and joining an established one both have advantages."
"In a new familia, there are fewer members, so resources are more concentrated. But at the same time, there aren't many resources to begin with."
"In an established familia, there's a clear system for adventuring and advancement But because everything is already structured, it's harder to receive special attention."
"I want to join the familia that Anos is in."
Bell answered firmly.
She didn't hesitate even a second.
Anos had already become someone she admired.
And unlike the encounter she would one day have with Ais, meeting him hadn't been humiliating or painful.
She hadn't been crushed by overwhelming inferiority.
So standing in front of him, she could still hold her head up.
"…Alright."
Anos sighed lightly and shook his head.
"Welcome to the familia, Bell."
Still…
He couldn't shake the feeling that he had just been targeted by something troublesome.
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