100 Chapter 97: A Change of View

Bell ran towards the Demeter familia in a hurry.

He then arrived at the gates and a farmer with a shotgun pointed it at him.

"Ahhh, it's Lars' little almiraj. Sorry about that lad." The farmer recognized him and Bell instinctively felt worried about the thing that was pointed at him.

"Y-yes sir, I need to talk with big bro Lars." Bell asked and he was granted entry.

Bell got led towards Lars and he saw that arachnes were harvesting fruits like machines.

Using their webs to collect them remotely while yawning.

"Ohh, he looks like an almiraj. Do you think he tastes like one too?" One of them saw Bell and he shuddered.

"Hmm, I think that's Alfia's nephew." A hellhound could smell her scent on him.

"Ohhh, then he must be here for Lars. Come here cutie." An arachne moved her fingers and Bell suddenly got caught.

"Eh?" Bell didn't understand what just happened and he was hauled like sack of potatoes.

"Lars, you have a visitor!" They dropped him off.

"I'm not cargo..." Bell was still tied up by the silk that was stronger than adamantite by weight.

"Ooh, Bell what are you doing here?" Lars made him stand up.

"Uhh, can you take these off me?" Bell deadpanned at him.

"Ohh, sorry. Those aren't tight at all. So other members of the familia get out of it quickly." Lars unraveled it with a snap of his fingers.

"Those other members are 1st class adventurers..." Bell was done with his logic.

Lars ignored that though. "So, what did you come here for? Is Alfia giving you a hard time?" Lars snickered.

"Yes... I mean, no! Auntie Alfia is training me hard. But I'm making huge progress. It's true, huh? That you're harboring monsters?" Bell couldn't quite believe it.

"They're xenos, Bell. They'll actually be in the next monster feria." Lars corrected him.

He then explained what was different with them.

Bell didn't know what to think of it still, so Lars had an idea.

"Oh, I know. You're a good boy, so how about I give you some responsibility?" Lars ruffled his hair.

"Huh?" Bell was confused. "I think you're gonna love her." Lars smirked at him and Lars snapped his fingers.

"Yes, my lord." An ANBU suddenly appeared and Bell blinked, he was starting to sweat at the sight.

'Assassins? What the hell?' Bell gulped. "Can you bring that shy one to us? She's still a bit afraid of adventurers right? I know just the right person to take care of her."

Lars grinned and Bell had a bad feeling. "By your will." The xenos disappeared and Bell looked at him with confusion.

"Bell, today. You're going to be a man." Lars patted his shoulders and he raised a brow.

"What do you mean by that?" Bell winced. "You're gonna be a dad!" Lars smiled at him and Bell froze.

After a few minutes, a vouivre arrived at the vicinity and she was fidgeting around in nervousness.

"Lars? What doing here?" She tilted her head and Lars smirked.

"You still haven't gotten a name right?" Lars remembered that Marie tried to give her one.

She tried to call her by Veldora, but it was too fancy.

"Eh? I get to name her?" Bell blinked in shock and Lars nodded.

"Umu, after all. She'll be your responsibility from now on." Lars grinned and Bell almost fainted.

"I didn't sign up for this!" Bell shouted and the vouivre winced. She then started to tear up.

"Bell, not like me?" She looked at him and Bell winced at her stare.

"N-no, that's not it." Bell looked at the side as he couldn't quite resist her pitiful look.

"Ahhh, you're making her cry. I wonder what Alfia would do to you if she hears of this?" Lars threatened him and Bell went pale as a sheet of paper.

"H-how about Vergine?" Bell's eyes twitched. "A divine spirit? Pretty good, but isn't that in conflict with her nature?" Lars sighed.

"Right... How about we shorten it to Wiene?" Bell looked at her and her eyes widened.

"Wiene?" She pointed at herself and Bell nodded with a strained smile.

"Wiene, Wiene!" She pointed at herself again while smiling at them.

"Ohhh, she liked it. Go on then, git. She's all yours now." Lars shooed him away and Bell blinked dumbly.

'There's no better way in changing your perception of someone than bonding with them.' Lars smiled fondly at the sight of Wiene bouncing around in joy.

"L-Lars, I can't take care of her." Bell winced. The abandoned church isn't that big.

And they're still trying to build the Hestia familia.

"That's what makes or breaks a man. If he can shoulder responsibilities that he otherwise wouldn't. I entrust her to you." Lars patted his shoulder.

Bell's eyes widened as he believed Lars' bullshit.

"O-okay... Is that alright with you, Wiene?" Bell asked her and she nodded.

"Don't make her cry, I'll tell Alfia to make sure you keep her happy!" Lars smacked him on the back and Bell nodded gravely.

Bell then started returning to the abandoned church with Wiene in tow.

"W-what am I gonna do?" Bell was suddenly burdened with a huge responsibility.

And he was pretty sure that vouivres are rated as level 3 monsters. Meaning she could snap his neck easily with one arm.

"Bell? What that?" Wiene pointed at a jagamarkun stand.

"Ahh, that's a jagamarkun... Want one?" Bell asked without thinking much, but he suddenly remembered that Wiene is a xenos.

A xenos for them. But a monster for the majority of the populace. And he's already feeling tons of pressure by being stared at by everyone.

'N-no... There must be a reason why Lars entrusted her to me.' Bell thought and he walked up to the stall with Wiene.

"Two jagamarkuns please." Bell asked with a stony expression.

"Huh!? Get out of here! You monster lover!" The owner threatened them with some tongs.

"Bell..." Wiene hugged his arm in fright and Bell gritted his teeth.

"Fuck you, cunt!" Bell flipped him off. Alfia and Lars always told him to not take shit from anybody.

"Un, fuck you!" Wiene parroted him and Bell was mortified.

"W-Wiene, don't ever say that to anybody okay?" Bell looked desperate.

"Hmm? Why?" Wiene tilted her head cutely and Bell clutched his chest.

'This isn't going to be good, at all.' Bell can already imagine what Alfia would say. Not to mention the goddesses back home.

"Come along now, promise me, okay?" Bell smiled stiffly and Wiene nodded.

Bell sighed in relief, forgetting that Wiene is actually just a kid that got reincarnated as a xenos recently.

__Abandoned church__

"Bell-kun? Where have you been?" Hestia saw him enter and he was with a xenos.

"Wha? Why are you with a xenos?" Hestia winced. The status of the reincarnated monsters is extremely delicate right now.

And Bell is just a level 1, he can't possibly defend himself from stronger adventurers if they gang up on him.

"Lars gave her to me. Said that it's to turn me into a man." Bell sighed as he sat down on their dilapidated couch.

"A man?" Artemis was confused. 'That scammer. He sure is crafty.' Alfia understood what Lars wanted to achieve.

"Are you fine though? There's even protests being done in front of the guild." Artemis was worried about him.

"We were fine, just got a little heated with a jagamarkun stall." Bell sighed again.

"Un, Wiene told him fuck you like how Bell did it." Wiene beamed and she thought she did a great job.

"Auuu." Bell's soul left his body as he wriggled around.

"He told the stall owner to fuck himself, huh? Interesting." Alfia gave him the side eye.

"It was at the heat of the moment, I swear I don't curse!" Bell pleaded immediately.

"Bell-kun, how can you teach Wiene something like that? I can see her soul, it's still pretty young." Hestia gave him a dirty look.

"How crass." Artemis sighed wistfully and Bell did an orz.

"So someone wants to be a sailor eh? Come with me to the 27th floor, I'll teach you how to swim." Alfia picked him up on the scruff of his neck.

"Tell Lars that he was right. There's tons of elf beauties in Orario." Bell accepted his fate.

Alfia chained him with adamantite and she was gonna give Bell the special swimming lesson.

"You're gonna be a great sailor after this." Alfia squinted her eyes.

"Nooooo!" Bell couldn't get out of her iron grip and the goddesses sighed.

"I hope he survives." Hestia waved at them and Artemis shrugged.

__The next day__

Bell had a thousand year stare in his cup of water and Hestia had to shake him out of it.

"I'm gonna drown! Wai, wha?" Bell snapped back to reality.

Hestia and Artemis prayed for his soul. As the culprit for his new trauma was eating calmly with closed eyes.

"Shut up when you're eating, boy." Alfia chided him like an alcoholic father.

"Bell, okay?" Wiene looked at him with concern.

"I'm okay?" Bell wasn't sure. But it was time to go dungeon diving again.

"Good luck, I guess?" Artemis and Alfia were on babysitting duty for Wiene.

Bell smacked his face as he psyched himself up. "There's no water on the upper floors, calm down, me." Bell did a guts pose.

"I think I'll try the 6th floor today. But I need a supporter." Bell remembered Eina's words.

And he agreed, the monsters starting from the 6th floor downwards begin to form groups.

Someone who has his back is needed. He looked around at the entrance of the dungeon for freelancers.

"Woah, that person can carry a lot." Bell looked at a tiny hooded person.

"Hmm? Adventurer-sama, will you like Lili to be your supporter?" She was a cherianthrope and Bell was expecting a pallum.

"Uhh, yes actually. My adviser told me I need one before going deeper." Bell nodded.

"Then you're on the right track, Lili has been a supporter for some years now." She smiled at him.

Bell noticed something awry. 'She looks uncomfortable with that. Or am I just imagining things?'

He chucked it up to nearly drowning yesterday and he shook hands with Lili.

"Nice to work with you, Lili. I'm Bell Cranel." He smiled and they started diving into the dungeon.

__Lars__

He was currently riding on Rachnera. One of the most dangerous arachnes from Monstro.

Even the fur on her thorax has a white skull mark on it. Her poison is so strong that it can even affect Lars.

And he didn't give a flying fuck to what anyone thought.

"Monster fetishist!" Someone threw a rock at him and it stopped in the air.

He then threw it back with his psychokinesis at supersonic speeds, blasting a hole through the ground near the attacker.

"Can't you see I'm enjoying the morning sun with my mount over here? The nerve of some people. DAMN!" Lars emphasized his curse and people started backing up.

"Ooh, I'd like that. Where's the saddle though?" Rachnera smirked at him.

"We still got to shop for equipment Rachnera, winter is coming." Lars squinted his eyes.

"It's still summer." Rachnera was confused. "You don't understand the veracity of the state of affairs that we are in this very moment." Lars shook his head wistfully.

"Fine, you just ruined the mood." Rachnera rolled her eyes and they went towards the Hephaestus familia.

Rachnera bypassed the gate like it was nothing and the guards pointed their weapons at them.

"Don't be a hero, bud. You ain't paid enough for this." Lars sighed at them.

"Lars? And an arachne subspecies? Isn't that a death stalker?" Tsubaki started sweating.

The multiple red eyes, sharp teeth, and black carapace that was harder than steel.

They have paralysis venom that can take down 1st class adventurers in seconds.

"Hi, Tsu-chan. We need some 1st class equipment from your familia. And we don't have time." Lars could feel it.

The news was spreading and he has to clean up his own mess. Otherwise, Orario will blame them.

"Oh, then come in?" Tsubaki led them to Hephaestus' office.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.