The Life of an Argonaut

Treacherous Paths

Bell looked at the sunrise, still hardly believing the previous day's events, that he was allowed to stay. Despite this seeming like a trivial thing to be excited for, the events that had occurred mere hours ago had left him on the edge. His first day was uneventful and was filled with a short tour and Mama Mia briefing him on his duties and chores. Number One. 25% of his earnings in the dungeon would be taken in as rent. 25% was a lot, but when you consider that Mia wanted 49%, he much preferred the quarter to almost half. Number Two. He would help out when needed or asked, this would vary from being a greeter to being a waiter, dishwasher, and the like. Two conditions for lodging at her place did honestly not seem that bad. But Bell had to wonder why Mia wanted a cut of his earnings and while it was only fair that he repaid her hospitality on the seemingly high chance what Bell speculated was correct, and his gut was telling him his speculations were true, Mama Mia could make quadruple the amount that Bell could gather in a month, in just a day. Both from The Hostess, and adventuring but, as Bell finally completed getting ready, he resolved to ask her after his dungeon dive.

Either way, it was best not to think about it too much, if Mama Mia wanted him to know, then he would know. With those final thoughts, Bell set out to make his first dungeon dive since his initiation test for the Loki Familia. He knew, that logically, that the Minotaur he slew was not a fully grown one, he knew, therefore, that if he tried to talk to an adventurer with a higher level than him about it, he would be shot down. He knew, that even with all of those benefits, he was lucky to be alive and he was lucky that this "Family Magic" kicked in when it did, also how had he never heard of family magic, sure his grandpa died a while ago, and sure his parents died fourteen years ago and only the deities up in heaven knew if he had any other family members and therefore he has no conceivable way of knowing his family magic because who from his family could tell him, but why did it have to be just from his family that told him about family magic, why could someone else not have explained it to him, like Loki for example? Before long, Bell arrived at the dungeon, thus stopping his rant in his head about the very convenient thing that is family magic. As Bell marched himself down to the dungeon, he made sure he paid attention to the level of sound, the atmosphere, and the like, for he knew if he did not, his story would just end up with the other hopefuls, never distinguished, never remembered, never chosen. That, was unacceptable for one that was raised of Zeus, after all, how many of his uncles and aunts had gone on to do tremendous things? Heracles, Perseus, Helen of Troy, Minos, and many more. Granted, the last two weren't exactly what he wanted to be like, but they were remembered. As for the first two? Every adventurer with a brain knew of them and almost every adventurer would revere them, and if not revere, then every adventurer would respect them. They survived, and for a time, prospered in a land in which gods were allowed to use Arcana.

Bell hoped one day, he could be considered alongside them, as a hero. But for now, he had to focus. One could usually tell how a dungeon trip would go by listening out for various things such as how many adventurers were currently on his level. While this could never be guaranteed without physically walking about and finding every adventurer, the basic principle still existed that, fewer adventurers meant more profit, of course, this had its variables, such as time of day, what level you were on, and the level of the monsters you were fighting, as well as their rarity. Of course, this had drawbacks, as this meant that there were more opportunities for Bell to get jumped, cornered, or randomly attacked by hordes of monsters, and not to mention if he were to get overwhelmed by the monsters, his chance of survival wouldn't be great at all. One could also tell, according to the mere atmosphere of the dungeon, how benevolent she would be. 'Adventuring 101, thank you Eina', Bell thought as he descended the steps into his chosen poison. The atmosphere seemed calm, but this was the dungeon, and Bell knew that the atmosphere could potentially last forever, or it could last for a minute, it was a coin toss, in which the stakes got higher the deeper he went. Bell was brought out of his musings by his first foe, a kobold on level 5, not uncommon, not too much of a threat. Bell dispatched the kobold with ease and moved on to his next enemy, a goblin this time. Unfortunately, until Eina gave the go-ahead, he was stuck at level 5, which was why he hoped nobody mentioned the fight with the minotaur, lest things get... a bit loud. At this point, he was dispatching the goblins and kobolds with ease, to the point in which he zoned out. It wasn't that he meant to, but the monotony of fighting things that he knew of since before his time in Orario was mind-numbingly boring. This would provide to be... costly. The Dungeon's benevolent façade slipped and revealed her true colours. The only reason Bell was still alive was that the smell of the great beast became overpowering. 

The Minotaur swung at Bell once more, and the mere wind of the attack staggered Bell. this wasn't a weakened Minotaur that his Familia provided as a test, this was a minotaur that was fresh from the middle floors, one that had no business being on level 5, Bell had nowhere to go, in his mindless killing of the kobolds and goblins, he was pushed into an almost corridor like opening in the dungeon, that's only exit was being blocked by The Minotaur. If there was a time for his deus ex machina to kick in, it would be now. Bell focused, trying to remember how he summoned his family magic in the past. He felt something in his chest, something that inspired confidence in him, enough confidence to inspire foolishness, as he rushed the minotaur, and Jotunheimr activated. The devastating blizzard crashed into the minotaur and brought it to its knees. This created an opportunity for Bell to escape, and he would normally take it, but, like seemingly all heroes, Bell's fatal flaw kicked in, and what a common fatal flaw it turned out to be, hubris. Goddess Nemesis would have his head for it, but Bell had the great beast on its knees. Him, a level one, keeled The Minotaur, why should he run, when he could end it? Why should he run, when he could prove to his beloved Familia that he wasn't weak, that he didn't need to rely on someone to stand. With one look at the Minotaur on its knees, he rushed it, and thus, his mistake had been made, and The Minotaur's weapon smashed into Bell's stomach, sending him crashing into the wall. Jotunheimr had stopped, and a battered Minotaur stalked over to him, every step the beast took seemed to send tremors through the ground, and a gasping Bell could only watch as the Minotaur advanced. The beast lifted its weapon, and Bell tried to parry with his dagger, but, Bell's shaky arms, his labored breaths, and his blade that was brought up hastily was no match for The Minotaur's brute force, and back to the floor his dagger went, and once more, the beast readied his battle-ax for another strike, to the now exposed Bell, and all Bell could do was close his eyes and hope that Hades would let him see his grandfather before giving him permanent residence in the underground. 

The blow never came, instead, a torrent of blood doused Bell and while foul, Bell couldn't help opening his eyes, to see a very familiar person standing in front of him, her sword gleaming with both the Minotaur's blood, and with the shine that came from hours of maintenance. Gold eyes stared down at him, with worry and anger. 

"Are you alright?" Ais asked softly, her worry taking precedence over her anger.

All Bell could do was laugh, laugh and sob over how close he was to his death. 

How close his pride had got him to death.

Finished

So it's been a while, but in my defense, I have no defense. Most of the chapters have been looked over, rewritten, and spell-checked (Finally) and I suggest if you haven't already, go back and read the story from the beginning, just to keep up with the events.