Interlude 1: After the "Fluffy" Moment
This is just for those who want more detail. It is not required, however, for the progression of the story. This takes place between chapters 3 and 4.
This entire interlude is in 3rd person.
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(------------------------------------------------------------) -> line break
(...) -> small moment of silence
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Don't shy from commenting on a typo or suggesting an edit to certain things that didn't make sense to you.
I hope you enjoy reading this interlude.
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This... this is the first time the occupants of the Hearth Manor heard Nephelont cry after his birth.
Never has he cried afterwards, it worried them greatly. That was until today, when he revealed his reincarnation. A thing for Hestia to worry about later.
When his mother heard the news, she thought them unnecessary. They were not going to change how she sees him, how she cherishes her newborn child. Even if he was a reincarnator. Even then, he still felt the same to her.
His father, on the other hand, changed the way he sees him. He expects many things from his son. 'Just how many hero stories can I hear him retale?' He thought to himself.
A thought shared with the resident renard, Haruhime, whose tail was cheerfully waggling from side to side, enthusiastic to hear a full hero story from Nephelont. Maybe she can trust that he will not go overboard if she allowed him to brush her tail. Maybe once he grows up to be able to brush it. 'Maybe I can let him fulfill one of his wishes, on the condition that he does not go overboard'
Welf's heart was beating fast when he thought of his nephew. He just could not wait to talk to him about smithing. Maybe he already knows a thing or two in the field. 'He lived a life before this one after all' He reasoned with his inner smith.
Lily was being Lily. She was focusing on what she will have Nephelont for destroying the room that was his bedroom. She will have to wait until he was an adult, though. Lily is not so heartless as to overwork a child, right?
Mikoto was wondering what cultural differences his past life had with her country. 'Do they have a culture that of which resembles the far east's?' She was wondering. It has been a long time since the first gods descended to this realm, inferring a millennia gap between them. She may ask him that once he wakes up and feels like he wants to talk about it. (AN: I was uncertain if that thought was sound regarding its grammar. After a quick google translator shenanigans, I now know its grammar is correct. This note too)
"And he didn't even answer my question before sleeping" Welf said in a saddened tone. 'Maybe I have been too forward with that one?' He thought to himself, everyone having guessed he did.
"Welf?" Bell was out for blood. That was clear in his voice. If the one he was talking to was anyone but Welf, they can say goodbye to any chance of getting out unscathed. Even Welf may get some divine punishment for this, just a possibility, depending on his reasoning.
Welf, hearing recognizing that tone, turned to Bell's direction, slowly. He was so slow; others knew he was stalling for time.
What Welf saw when he turned to Bell's direction was enough to send a chill up his spine. It was Bell's face. Oh, how wrong that face felt on him. The rabbit turned into a monster in a second. His eyes were covered with shadows. The once cheerful, playful face of Bell's has turned to one that they did not see since that night. A disaster that they did not want repeated.
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*Flashback start*
That night was calm, like any other. They went to the Hostess of Fertility to celebrate. They gave their order after one of the Hostess' girls came to take it. Everyone was surprised that Bell... that Bell Cranel of all people would want to try some ale. It was the first time he ever tried his hand at alcoholic beverages. None thought of objecting to that as it was his choice to make. Oh, how big of a mistake they made.
A while later the food arrived. And after a little sip of his ale, Bell was already drunk. Some poor adventurer, who was also drunk, tried taking a bite of Bell's plate. Not any bite though, for he had chosen to take some of the sweets Bell ordered.
Bell was not happy with what the other adventurer did. He was drunk and his reasoning was gone, only his desires and instinct remain. What his desires wanted was that bit of sweets he ordered.
Seeing another person eating it in his place, his desires will not stand it down.
The next thing everyone knew was the adventurer being flung away into a wall outside the bar.
"NOBODY TAKES FROM MY PLATE" Bell roared with all of the fury burning in his eyes reflected in his voice.
Lady luck seemed to have smiled at the adventurer that night, as Bell's tolerance for alcohol was not high. When Bell wanted to hit the poor soul again, he fell to the floor. He was completely knocked out cold. From that day on, there was a public secret about Bell. It was such that nobody, deity and mortal alike, should ever touch his food, especially if Bell was drunk.
(AN: Yes, I am making him take after that aspect of his mother, Meteria. She was known to go in a fit of rage that even Hera fears if anyone touched her desserts and sweets)
*Flashback End*
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"Yes?" Welf's voice sounded like that of a scared prey. The memory of that night stayed fresh in his mind. Nobody defended the prey, for its predator was a fierce one.
"I believe we agreed to only ask our children that question when they are at least twelve at earliest, preferably when they are of age. Mind telling me why you revealed it to him now?" It was not normal for Bell to interrogate someone. He did not do it before, in fact. It was his first time doing so, it just happened to be Welf at the receiving end of it.
"You see, little brother, it was to distract him from trying to pry further" Welf waited a little for them to calm down. Once he saw that they calmed down to an acceptable level, he continued. "If there is one thing about Hephaestus that I'm concerned about, it would be her obsession with me. Once upon a time, Tsubaki tried to jokingly flirt with me. The idiot did it in front of a very much love-crazed Hephaestus. She was tempting the fates and the fates replied. Hephaestus almost killed her with one of her hammers, the ones hanging in her office. I was fearful that our daughter will get that trait when she falls in love and considering the children will spend a lot of their childhood together, I feared your son to be the subject of her potential obsessive love. I asked him that to take some drastic measures if necessary" Welf explained his fears to them. He feared for his daughter to be a yandere, a term not known to mortal kind, yet. He also feared for his nephew to be the target of such obsessions, if they existed. Hopefully they did not.
(AN: I see Hephaestus as a potential yandere. Reasons)
They were shocked at that side of Hephaestus, to say the least. Especially Hestia, who spent way too much time with the goddess of the forge to not know of this.
"We have other things to discuss, Master Bell" Lily, their strategist, was on point. Other things of interest were heard during the last hours.
"Nephelont knows things that happened before his birth. As Hestia detected no lies in his speech, that opens the path to some possibilities. Lily thinks most are irrelevant but two of them stick out more than the rest. The first one is the possibility that he has a power that allows for past visions. This is invalid, as his falna did not manifest any. The other is that he already knew before his death. The problem with that assumption is Hestia's lie detection. Nephelont said that he lived in an age where no god physically descended to the lower world, which Hestia confirmed to be true. How did he know about something that happened nearly more than a thousand years later?" She wants to know how that is possible. Maybe, if she has access to the method, she could probably keep her familia's captain safer.
"It does not matter anymore" Aiz firmly replies. Her tone leaving no room for argument.
"Understood. Next thing to be discussed is his mental age. He may possess the body of an infant but let us not forget that he is a grown up inside. How do you plan in treating him?" She asked Aiz.
"Nephelont is my son, regardless of circumstances. Bell?" Aiz was resolute to fill her son's life with happiness, no questions asked. She wanted to know her beloved, Bell's opinion. His thought process may need some straitening.
"I will ask him first. Let him become what he wants. I want to hear some of the hero stories he holds, though" That was it. He has crossed a line he should have not.
"We will have a talk after this, dear" Haruhime felt a chill for some strange reason. she was not meant by that, too. was she?
"You too, Haruhime" She was. she was caught in this whirlpool.
They both nodded their heads, fearful of what the mother would do otherwise.
"*yawn* When are we going to sleep?" A very droopy, half-asleep Hestia asks without regard for consequences. She was listening to this long enough. She wants to sleep now, consequences be damned.
"Before you end this conversation, I want to request something. A katana appropriate to my height when I become 3-4 years of age. Oh, by the way, I'm half asleep right now. Don't waste your breath, as I tend to forget what happens around me in this state" An ungodly drowsy Nephelont said in a groggy tone and immediately fell asleep thereafter, returning to his human form with his cloths on him still, unscathed as they were before.
"What did we... just witness? He said the truth, by the way" A shocked Hestia asked those present in flat tone.
"I... do not know?" A much alike shocked Bell answered in an undecided manner. He was not sure if he wanted to answer or ask a question of his own.
'He knows what a katana is. He has a cultural knowledge like my country's' Flowers blossomed inside a far easterner's head, her face blossoming into a beautiful smile on its own. She will always be ready to train him in the arts of using one of those unbelievably technique-heavy swords.
Afterwards, they separated. Each to their room to sleep. Thinking for themselves 'What would the future hold for us?'. Unbeknownst to them, a certain crazy woman has gotten interested.
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I hope this was to your liking.
Best wishes,
Draconic_Terror.