date

The author here, it seems the last chapter didn't make sense to some of you and I researched and found out why, all these time I thought the guild would need to check whether whoever entered the dungeon had a status or the guild set up a magical barrier to block any civilian from entering, this thought was reinforced as the only non-active adventurer I remember entering was Ryuu who certainly have a status

though it was also my mistake that "Why couldn't Xian just sneak in" As in the anime it was never mentioned why and how could civilian be blocked and adventurers can enter, so I picked the save option to give Xian a status, don't worry I'm not planning to shift this fanfic to an adventure one, think of it like Ryuu's story, Xian will be in the dungeon but most of the time she will only be at the surface

also please don't expect this fanfic to be perfect, there are bound to be plot holes, I will try to fix them but I can't fix all of them, I am just a new Author after all so please bear with me alright?

~~

"Hello, are you even listening to me!" Hestia snapped me out of my thought processes

"no, if you do not need anything else I will leave" I got up and made my way to Hostess of Fertility

-

At the entrance of the Hostess of Fertility, I recognized a familiar figure, a brown-haired catkin.

"Good morning, Anya," I greeted her from behind.

"Nya? Oh, it's you, Xian. Good morning, nya," Anya greeted me back with a smile.

"It's rare to see you outside at this time. Did Mama Mia send you to get the supplies, nya?"

"No, Mama Mia sent Ryuu today. I was out this morning to spar with Bell," I stated.

"That boy you and Syr are interested in? You really care about Bell, nya," she said with a teasing smile.

"I simply see potential. Don't mistake my intention."

"Say what you want, nya. Should I tell everyone that you were out with Bell today, nyahaha," she brewed a mischievous plan.

"Should I tell Mama Mia you broke some plates yesterday?" I said casually.

"NYAA, please don't tell Mama Mia that!" Anya begged with tears in her eyes.

We reached the Hostess of Fertility and were greeted by Mama Mia cleaning the tables and preparing for opening day. I went upstairs and rinsed myself of dirt and dust that stuck to my skin from the spar.

Heading down the stairs with my Hostess of Fertility outfit, I quickly got to work as usual.

-

Bell's POV

"So Eina, where should we buy armor?" I couldn't think of any good smiths other than the Hephaestus Familia, but they are out of my budget.

"Ah, I forgot to tell you, we are going to the Hephaestus Familia shop," Eina casually said.

"EHH, but Eina, I don't have the money to buy a single armor there!" I remembered the absurd prices of the Hephaestus Familia equipment.

"Don't be a wuss, you've only seen the expensive part of Hephaestus Familia. Come," Eina grabbed my hand and dragged me into the tower elevator.

-

"So, Bell, how did you and Xian end up sparring?" Eina asked about this morning's sparring.

"Well... it's a long story," I explained a simplified story of how I met Xain in the alleyway and ended up being her student.

"Being able to take down two level 2 adventurers in a second, she seems very powerful."

The elevator door opened with a ding, and we stepped out. We were greeted by many shops glittered with fancy armor and expensive weapons.

"I had no idea Babel had shops like this," I looked around in awe.

"Our destination is actually on a different floor, and to get there we need to move to a different elevator," Eina said while looking around.

I took a quick look at the pricing of some of the equipment, and all of them were absurdly expensive, reaching over several million.

"E-Eina, are you sure we could buy these?" I nervously asked.

"Of course not, this floor is only for high-class adventurers. Our destinations are much cheaper than this," Eina went to another elevator and waved me to get in.

We arrived on another floor, and upon exiting the elevator, I noticed that the atmosphere on this floor was much darker and narrower, but many more people were populating the floor.

"We arrived. This floor is where all the cheap equipment is," Eina said and walked up to a display of armor.

Checking the price, my brow jumped in surprise at how cheap it was compared to the floor before.

"This floor is for low-class adventurers. Beginner smiths sell their equipment here. No matter how cheap they are, putting a good name out is a good strategy," Eina explained.

"Let's look around and see if there is any good armor for you," Eina said, and we started to look around.

We finally found a good armor shop, and we decided to split up to look around efficiently.

Shifting through the boxes of armor, I found a good light armor set with a similar design to my current one. But looking at the price made me second-guess my decision to buy this.

"9,900 Valis, that's pretty much all I have."

"There you are, Bell. I found some good armor over here," Eina's voice rang behind me.

"Ah, Eina, I think I'll buy these instead," I showed her the light armor sets.

"You really like light armor, huh?" Eina sighed.

"Well, if that's what you want to buy, then let's go pay for it." Eina walked to the front of the store, and I grabbed the box of armor to bring it to the register.

"Thank you for coming with me to buy armor, Eina," we walked out from the tower, looking at the sun quickly falling and turning the day into night.

"Don't worry about it. I was the one who suggested this, and I had fun," Eina reached for a cloth she had been holding since we exited the shop.

"Bell, here, this is a gift." She unwrapped the cloth, revealing a green arm protector.

"Ah, but you don't need to buy me that," I tried to refuse.

"C'mon, I already bought it, and I have no use for it," Eina said with a mischievous smile, knowing I couldn't rebuke her reasoning.

"F-Fine," I hesitantly accepted.

"This is not for your sake but also mine, an adventurer could die at any moment in the dungeon, and I don't want to see you not returning to the guild after entering the dungeon" Eina smiled

"so please accept this as my way of making me worry less" she added

-

we split up after that ending the date

"Well that took longer than expected sigh" I looked at the setting sun and went quickly back to the church, while walking through the alleyway I turned to a corner and crashed into a person

"You're not getting away, you damn pallum" A man rushed at me and swung his sword

but compared to Xian's swings this man's swing is slower

I unconsciously unsheath my dagger and parried the man's strike with ease using his forward momentum to pin him to the ground before realizing what I just did

"W-who are you? are you her friend?" the man talked while looking at me

"Huh? I thought you were aiming that at me, I did it in self-defense" I said

"Then why are you protecting her!" the man struggled as he speaks

"because she is a girl?"

"Who the hell cares for that brat" the man tried to struggle for the last time

"Cut this out" A voice rang beside me, turning my attention I saw Ryuu holding a bag of vegetables

"It's bad manner to fight in town"

"Huh, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise!" the man struggled to no avail from my grip pinning his body

"This ain't your business lady, piss off"

"Silence" Ryuu leaked out a sliver of killing intent

"Ugh" the man finally stopped struggling and lay hopelessly in defeat

"Good job at pinning him down Bell" Ryuu shifted her attention to me

"Aha, it was nothing, I did it without thinking" I replied

"AH, right the girl" I turned my attention to the girl that I bumped into but she was gone

"DAMN IT, She escaped!" the man shouted under me

"Just let me go, I'm not gonna catch up to her at this point" The man sighed

I slowly let him go and he went back to where he came from

"Be careful Bell, Syr and Xian will be sad if you ever get hurt" Ryuu said

"Haha, I don't think Xian will be sad if I ever get hurt" I said, recalling her indifference during our sparring match