Chapter 311

Bell Cranel had imagined Orario countless times.

In the stories his grandfather told him, the Labyrinth City was where heroes gathered, where adventurers descended into a Dungeon filled with monsters, where gods walked openly among mortals, and where a young man with enough courage could earn money, fame, and perhaps even have a beautiful girl fall into his arms after he saved her from certain death.

Reality greeted him with a wagon nearly running him over.

“MOVE!”

Bell’s red eyes widened as a loaded cart came rattling around the corner far faster than he expected.

He jumped backward, stumbled over his own travel bag, and barely avoided being flattened as the driver hauled on the reins and shouted several words Bell was quite certain his grandfather had deliberately left out of every heroic tale.

The wagon disappeared into the morning traffic while Bell remained against the wall, one hand pressed over his pounding heart.

‘I’ve only been here for thirty seconds!’

A fruit vendor nearby burst out laughing.

“First day in Orario, kid?”

Bell flushed bright red, adjusted the old backpack over his shoulders, and tried to recover whatever dignity he had left.

“Is it that obvious?”

The older man looked pointedly at Bell’s worn travelling clothes, the cheap knife at his waist, and the enormous expression of wonder Bell had been wearing while staring at Babel instead of watching the road.

Bell followed his gaze and sighed.

“…Right.”

The vendor chuckled and tossed him an apple.

Bell caught it awkwardly with both hands before fumbling for his small coin pouch, but the man waved him off.

“Keep it. You’ll need breakfast if you’re planning to spend all day begging gods to take you in.”

Bell immediately perked up. “You can tell I’m looking for a Familia?”

“Every skinny kid who enters this city carrying a weapon and staring at Babel like it’s going to propose to him is looking for a Familia.”

That description was humiliatingly accurate.

Bell thanked him anyway and continued toward the center of Orario with the apple in hand.

The streets became busier with every block, and he quickly forgot his embarrassment as adventurers began passing him from every direction.

A dwarf carrying an axe almost as large as Bell’s entire body strode by with three armored companions.

Two animal people argued loudly outside a weapon shop while comparing monster drops, and an Elf in a green cloak emerged from an apothecary carrying enough potions to bankrupt Bell three times over.

Then a group of adventurers crossed the street ahead of him.

Every conversation nearby dropped in volume.

Bell stared.

Their equipment alone looked more expensive than the entire village where he had grown up.

The woman at the front wore a sword across her back, while the others carried polished weapons and moved with the easy confidence of people who had been fighting monsters for years.

Bell’s heart hammered for an entirely different reason.

‘Adventurers.’

Real ones.

He had spent his childhood listening to heroic stories until Zeus complained that the boy could recite entire passages better than he could.

Standing among actual adventurers now made every ridiculous dream Bell had carried from the countryside suddenly feel possible.

He clenched his fist.

‘All right. Find a Familia first. Then the Dungeon. Then become stronger. Then save a girl from a monster and—’

Bell stopped himself before his imagination got too far ahead.

His grandfather’s teachings were unfortunately difficult to erase.

…

His first attempt lasted less than a minute.

The Familia representative looked Bell over from head to toe, asked whether he had any combat experience, and lost interest the moment Bell admitted he had never received Falna.

“Sorry. We’re only recruiting experienced adventurers right now.”

Bell bowed quickly. “Thank you for your time!”

He left disappointed but not discouraged.

There were hundreds of gods in Orario.

Someone would accept him.

The second Familia wanted healers.

The third only recruited beast people.

The fourth representative asked Bell to lift a heavy iron weight outside their headquarters, watched him barely move it, and immediately pointed toward the exit.

Bell’s confidence took its first serious injury.

By midday, his list of potential Familias had more crossed-out names than available ones.

Bell stood beside a fountain with his hands planted on his knees, breathing heavily after running from one recruitment office to another.

“Okay… this is harder than Grandpa made it sound.”

A nearby adventurer overheard him and laughed.

“If joining a good Familia were easy, everyone would be in Loki or Freya.”

Bell straightened immediately.

He knew those names.

Even people living far outside Orario heard stories about the strongest Familias in the Labyrinth City.

Bell had considered them before arriving, but standing in front of their enormous headquarters with no blessing, no achievements, and a knife that had cost less than most adventurers’ boots suddenly made applying there feel slightly ambitious.

Still…

‘Heroes don’t give up before trying!’

Bell found Loki Familia’s recruitment location that afternoon.

The line outside was enormous.

He waited.

And waited.

By the time Bell finally reached the front, the recruiter took one look at his blank registration history and shook his head.

“We aren’t taking completely untested rookies right now. Get some experience somewhere smaller and apply again later.”

Bell’s shoulders fell.

“Understood. Thank you.”

He bowed and left before anyone had to ask him twice.

Freya Familia went even worse.

He never made it through the gate!

One of the guards looked at the thin white-haired boy standing outside and told him, without any particular cruelty, “No.”

Bell blinked.

“I haven’t asked yet.”

“You’re here to join right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, no.”

The gate remained closed.

Bell stood there for several seconds before slowly turning around.

‘That one hurt.’

…

By late afternoon, Bell had learned several important things about Orario.

The first was that being willing to risk his life in the Dungeon did not automatically make a Familia willing to risk theirs on him.

The second was that nearly everyone wanted recruits who already had something useful to offer.

The third was that food in Orario was expensive.

Bell stared at the remaining coins in his palm before looking at the price board outside an inn.

Then he checked his coins again.

The amount had not improved.

His stomach sank.

‘I can afford maybe three nights if I barely eat.’

The grand adventure was beginning to look financially complicated.

Bell started toward the Guild, hoping someone there could at least tell him which smaller Familias were recruiting beginners, when shouting erupted farther down the street.

“STOP HIM!”

A boy carrying a woman’s purse sprinted through the crowd.

Bell reacted before thinking.

The thief was headed directly toward him, slipping between pedestrians while two city patrol members tried to force their way through from behind.

Bell stepped into the road.

The thief’s eyes widened. “MOVE, IDIOT!”

Bell almost did.

He had no Falna, no Familia, no proper training.

And the man charging toward him looked considerably larger up close.

Then Bell saw an elderly woman stumble after the thief, one hand extended desperately toward the stolen purse.

His feet stayed where they were.

The thief swung a fist.

Bell ducked by pure instinct, felt the punch brush through his white hair, and rammed his shoulder into the man’s stomach.

The result was not nearly as heroic as Bell imagined.

They both crashed into a vegetable stall.

Wood broke beneath them as cabbages, carrots, and several extremely offended onions scattered across the street.

Bell groaned beneath the thief.

“Ow…”

The thief recovered first and raised his fist again.

“You little bastard!”

Bell’s face went pale.

Before the punch landed, a boot slammed down beside the man’s head hard enough to crack the broken stall.

Both Bell and the thief froze.

A Ganesha Familia patrol officer stood over them with a deeply unimpressed expression.

“Would you like to continue resisting?”

The thief became remarkably cooperative.

“…No, ma’am.”

“Good.”

The officer dragged him upright by the collar while another patrol member helped Bell crawl out from under the vegetables.

The elderly woman hurried over once her purse was returned and grabbed Bell’s hands tightly.

“Thank you! That money was for my medicine.”

Bell’s bruised expression immediately softened. “I’m just glad you got it back.”

Then the vegetable merchant arrived.

He stared at his destroyed stall.

Bell looked at the wreckage.

The merchant looked at Bell.

Bell’s smile slowly disappeared.

“…I… can explain.”

…

Ten minutes later, Bell left considerably poorer.

The patrol officer had convinced the merchant not to charge him for the full stall since the thief had caused most of the damage, but Bell still paid for several ruined vegetables out of guilt.

He walked toward the Guild carrying two cracked cabbages the merchant had thrown at him after deciding they were no longer sellable.

At least dinner was handled.

Probably.

Bell examined one of the cabbages.

‘Do people eat these raw?’

His grandfather had taught him many things.

Cooking was unfortunately not high on the list.

The incident had left his elbow scraped and his clothes dirtier than before, yet Bell found himself smiling despite everything.

He had helped someone.

It had been clumsy, painful, and completely unimpressive compared to the heroic stories he loved, but the old woman’s relieved face stayed with him.

Maybe becoming an adventurer really could start from something that small.

His mood improved enough that he began paying attention to the conversations around him again.

Two adventurers walking ahead were discussing the Dungeon.

“Guild’s still checking the Irregular report.”

“I heard the missing expedition came back.”

“Yeah. Yōtōsai brought them out.”

Bell’s ears immediately perked up.

‘Yōtōsai?’

He had heard that name before!

Even in distant villages, travelling merchants occasionally brought stories from Orario.

The details changed every time, but the important parts remained consistent: a famous smith from Hephaestus Familia who created strange weapons called Zanpakutō and was also a first-class adventurer in his own right.

Bell hurried slightly so he could keep hearing them without obviously eavesdropping.

“The whole party would’ve died if he hadn’t reached them.”

“Apparently he killed the Irregular without even releasing a Zanpakutō.”

The second adventurer visibly doubted that.

“You believe everything people say. Next you’ll tell me he beat an entire Familia by himself.”

The first man stared at him.

“He literally did.”

“Oh. Right.”

Bell’s eyes widened.

‘An entire Familia?!’

His heroic imagination immediately supplied a ridiculous image of one lone swordsman standing against hundreds of enemies while explosions filled the sky.

Bell almost walked into another wagon.

The driver screamed at him.

“WATCH THE ROAD!”

Bell jumped aside with a panicked apology.

Apparently heroes still had to obey traffic!