Sword Astraea

Soothing

This is a commission. That means I can't control what goes on in the story. Feels like no one read the AN in chapter one

Bell, Astraea, and Lili sat in the dining room of the Stardust Garden. Lili nervously shuffled in her seat, and she wasn't disguised as a chienthrope anymore. Astraea's eyes bore into the prum with calculating precision.

The sun was starting to set, bathing the dining room in its glow. It had been a few days since the incident.

Lili looked over to Bell, whose eyes were hollow and puffy. His hands rested on the table, and his eyes stared at nothing.

Astraea cleared her throat to get Lili's attention. "Now, Lili, Bell here has told me what happened in the dungeon. But I would like to hear your side of the story."

Lili turned her attention to the goddess of justice and gulped. "Lili belongs to the Soma familia, and she can't leave. The captain is charging a 10 million valid fee just to be able to see our god. Lili is constantly abused by other adventurers and robbed. Lili is also constantly underpaid by adventurers, so she barely makes any money. So, I resorted to stealing from other adventurers just to get by and make enough money to leave. Lili wants nothing more than to leave the Soma familia."

Lili's voice started to crack, and her lip began quivering. "Lili didn't know those men would attack Bell. She never wanted any harm to come to Bell."

Astraea nodded and glanced at Bell, who still looked at Lili. "She's telling the truth, Bell."

"I know, but I still killed two people for her," Bell responded. His voice didn't have its usual cheeriness to it. It was flat and dead.

"Lili is sorry you got involved, Bell. I'll take whatever punishment you see fit."

Bell stared at the prum, who was starting to cry now. Her tiny body shook as tears streamed down her cheeks. Bell shook his head and sighed.

"Doesn't matter if you didn't mean to get me involved, Lili. I still killed two people to save you. Astraea, I'll leave you to dish out any punishment." Bell said.

Astraea nodded as Bell got up and walked away. The goddess then turned her attention back to the crying prum. She felt somewhat responsible for the situation she was in.

If her familia wasn't slaughtered, maybe she could've prevented it. Maybe if she hadn't left the city and stayed with Ryu. Maybe the two of them could've rebuilt the familia earlier and stopped things like this from happening.

But she didn't. Her familia was dead, and she fled the city soon after. Now Ryu was self-isolating herself at the Hostess, and Bell had just killed two people to defend himself and Lili.

In a way, this was her fault. But it also wasn't. But she was a goddess of justice. It was her duty to make sure those are treated fairly within the law and that those affected by evil acts get their justice.

"I've made my decision," Astraea said.

Lili sniffled and looked up at the goddess. Tears still streaming down her face. Astraea's face remained impassive, but her eyes held warmth.

"I understand why you did what you did. It wasn't out of malice but of desperation. You said you stole from adventurers before. Did you think about robbing Bell?"

Lili nodded. "Yes, Lili hates adventurers. They also steal and beat Lili up, knowing there's nothing I can do about it. But Bell was different. At first, I didn't know how to rob him because of how fast he was. He would've just easily caught up to me. But the more time I spent with him, the more I realized he wasn't like the others. He was kind. Even on that day before we went into the dungeon, he saw that I was tired and hungry. He fed me and made sure I got some rest before we headed down. That's how I knew he wasn't like the others."