The commotion at the entrance of the Hostess of Fertility had momentarily suspended the rhythm of the pub.
Outside, the midday sun of Orario beat down on the cobblestones, casting sharp, blinding glares off the glass windows.
Inside, however, the air was cool and filled with a thick fruity scent .
Staring at the strange young man in front of him for a few seconds, Bell soon came back to his senses.
His heart, which had been hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs for entirely different reasons just moments before, gave a fresh, startled lurch.
"Ah, no… sorry! It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention," he stammered, offering his own apology with a jerky bow, even though he was still flat on his backside.
It was the unvarnished truth; his head had been entirely in the clouds, or more accurately, precariously preoccupied with the phantom warmth of Syr's touch against his hand.
The memory of her fingers had rendered him clumsy, a liability to his own two feet.
As Bell reached out and grasped the stranger's outstretched hand, his sensitive instincts immediately flared, registering the tell-tale signs of a seasoned warrior.
The man's palm was not the smooth, unblemished skin of a civilian nor the delicate hands of an artisan.
It was heavily scarred, coated in hardened callouses…..the undeniable badge of honor for an adventurer.
As a fellow adventurer, though a fledgling one, Bell felt an immediate flicker of kinship and relief.
In the bustling, often cutthroat city of Orario, kindness from a stranger…..especially a fellow adventurer…..was a rare.
With a single motion, the beast-man pulled Bell effortlessly to his feet, setting him back on his balance as if he weighed no more than a sack of feathers.
"Bell! Are you alright?"
The familiar, worried voice of Syr cut cleanly through the low din of the pub chatter.
She hurried over from behind the counter, her hands frantically reaching out to steady him, her wide, expressive eyes searching his body for any signs of injury.
Satisfied that he was physically intact, she pivoted instantly, turning a sharp glare toward the stranger.
Her mouth opened, a reprimand already loaded on her tongue.
However, the words died instantly in her throat the moment she realized who she was looking at. Her expression scrambled, shifting rapidly from righteous irritation.
"Ah, Nikol…"
Syr didn't get to finish.
"Oi, Nikolaos! What's the hold-up? Get your ass out of the way and stop blocking the door!" a booming voice barked from the sunlit street outside.
"Michalis… manners," another voice scolded from the threshold, though it lacked any real bite, sounding more like a weary parent than an offended peer.
Nikolaos let out a long, weary sigh that rattled the air in his chest, a gesture that suggested this was a regular occurence.
Without a word of retort, he simply stepped aside, clearing the threshold to fully reveal the rest of his party to the patrons inside.
Two more beast-kin followed him inside, their features bearing a striking, undeniable familial resemblance to Nikolaos.
They were clearly kin, sharing the same facial structure and build, though the differences were distinct enough to mark them as unique individuals; their hair and eye colors varied wildly, as did the sharp, expressive curve of their animal ears….some tufted and feline, others longer and canine.
"Nyahahaha! You boys get out of the way! We're gonna eat until we explode!" a boisterous voice cheered, bursting into the space with the force of a gale-wind.
This time, it belonged to a cat-girl who practically bounced into the pub, her heels clicking rhythmically against the wooden floorboards, followed closely by four younger girls who shared her infectious energy.
The group of eight moved with synergy, the kind born of a long-standing, battle-tested team.
'Perhaps part of the same Familia,' Bell thought, watching them with wide-eyed, innocent curiosity, completely unaware of the sheer pedigree standing mere inches away from him.
"Hmm, what's this?"
The third man of the trio…..the one with long, snowy-white hair braided neatly into a heavy ponytail that rested against his broad shoulders…..stepped forward.
He leaned in, his curiosity instantly piqued like a hound catching a scent, his gaze narrowing as it fixed on the thick, leather-bound volume clutched tightly to Bell's chest.
For a fraction of a second, the noisy tavern seemed to drop entirely silent, as if holding its breath, the man's eyes widening in a sudden, sharp, utterly unmistakable realization.
"Hey, kid… where did you get this grim…"
He never got to finish his question.
Before the final syllable could leave his lips, he was shoved unceremoniously out of the way by the enthusiastic cat-girl.
Her eyes were wide, glinting with a manic, predatory sort of intensity as she locked onto Bell, her tail twitching with sudden, frantic, hypnotic excitement.
"What the hell was that for, Chloe?" Vasileios complained, stumbling slightly from the unexpected shove and catching his balance against a nearby table.
But Chloe completely ignored his legitimate complaint, her entire world having narrowed down to the blushing, wide-eyed boy standing before her.
'Hehehe, what a curious little treasure I have found,' Chloe thought to herself, her lips parting into a slow, grin as she leaned uncomfortably close to Bell, invading his personal space to inspect him like a rare artifact found in a dusty vault.
"What's your name, cute boy?... Did that big brute hurt you?" Chloe asked in a purring, theatrical tone, casually pointing a thumb backward at Nikolaos without breaking eye contact.
Bell instantly turned a violent, alarming shade of crimson.
His brain short-circuited entirely.
Being called 'cute' by this striking, dangerous-looking woman was a sensory overload he was entirely unequipped to handle.
Although she was aggressively overwhelming…..radiating an intensity that made his skin prickle…..Bell couldn't deny the objective truth.
She was undeniably, strikingly beautiful.
Her green eyes were mesmerizing, contrasting sharply against hair that was as pitch black as a midnight sky, perfectly mirroring the fur on her feline ears and the long, whip-like tail that swished curiously behind her.
More perplexing to the young adventurer was the overwhelming aura of quiet strength she radiated, an invisible pressure that practically locked him in place.
It was scary, sharp enough to make his instincts scream, yet strangely warm and compelling....bearing a very similar cadence to that of Nikolaos.
"B… b… Bell," Bell managed to squeak out, his voice barely rising above a whisper, terrified to move a muscle.
Before Chloe could lean in any closer to examine Orario's newest blushing spectacle, Syr violently broke the line of sight, physically jumping directly in front of Bell like a mother hen shielding her chick from a hawk.
"No, you can't… get away from him!" Syr yelled, glaring daggers at Chloe, her expression a mix of genuine panic and an uncharacteristic possessiveness that looked remarkably cute on her.
Syr's sudden, sharp outburst startled a few of the civilian mothers and young children seated at the nearby tables, earning her a series of disapproving, tight-lipped glares from the parental figures.
"Ah… sorry! My apologies!" Syr quickly stammered, bowing her head in a panic as she realized she was making a scene.
Off to the side, she could hear the muffled, amused snickers of her fellow waitresses who were leaning against the bar counter, watching the brewing romantic and social drama with undisguised, delighted interest.
It was abundantly clear they had zero intention of stepping in to rescue her; they were enjoying the show far too much.
Chloe, momentarily taken aback by Syr's uncharacteristic territorial display, blinked twice before a slow, knowing smile spread across her features.
In the five years she had frequented the Hostess of Fertility, she had never once seen the usually unflappable, gentle-natured Syr act with such reckless, emotional abandon.
Granted, Chloe had always harbored a lingering suspicion that there was much more to Syr than her mundane waitressing apron suggested...though, to be fair, she felt that exact same way about every single eccentric woman working under Mama Mia's roof.
Even so, seeing Syr utterly lose her cool was a rare, prime entertainment piece, and Chloe found herself physically incapable of resisting the urge to poke the bear.
"Hoh? So your name is Bell, huh?" Chloe purred, her eyes dancing with wicked mischief.
"Well, I must sincerely apologize for being so forward. I honestly had no idea you were already… claimed by Syr."
"It's not like that at all!" Syr instantly denied, her face flaring up into a magnificent, blazing mess of crimson that rivaled Bell's.
"Eh?" Bell responded, his brain completely flat lining.
He blinked rapidly, his head spinning as he struggled to process the conversational ping-pong match playing out around him.
He was completely, helplessly lost.
And Chloe, being an extraordinarily perceptive individual, instantly filed away this reaction, taking a mental snapshot of Bell's psychological profile.
'So… a hopelessly dense, incredibly innocent type, huh? How utterly fascinating,' she concluded internally with a quiet hum of satisfaction, finally taking a graceful step back to give the boy some desperately needed oxygen.
A few paces away, Cecil, Iselina, Schau, and Ulanda…..the remaining members of the party who had lingered near the door….seemed to pick up on the volatile, state of affairs between Bell and Syr almost instantly.
They began whispering among themselves, enthusiastically exchanging wild, unfounded speculations as they were lead by Lunoire to a large open table.
"Ugh, seriously? Enough with all this fluffy, romantic nonsense," Michalis grumbled loudly, rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful.
He hadn't walked all the way here just to stand around watching teenagers awkwardly stumble through their first crush.
He had come here for one thing, and one thing only: to eat a mountain of delicious food until he fell into a food coma.
'Though… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little jealous,' Michalis thought bitterly, his internal monologue abruptly derailing.
'How in the gods' names is this random white-haired kid pulling gorgeous girls left and right while we….'
Michalis violently cut off his own line of thought as Vasileios reached over and tapped him none-trivially on the shoulder.
"What is it now?" Michalis snapped, turning his glare onto his brother.
"Look closely," Vasileios murmured, gesturing subtly toward Bell with a flick of his chin. "Doesn't that thick, leather-bound book clutched in that boy's possession look suspiciously like Draco-nii's grimoire?"
Michalis squinted, narrowing his eyes.
"Huh… now that you actually mention it, it kind of does. Wait…no. It doesn't just look like it. That is it."
"Phew, okay, good. I knew I wasn't just seeing things," Vasileios muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But how on earth did he get his hands on it? I severely doubt Draco-nii just handed over a priceless grimoire to some completely unknown, Level 1 rookie wandering the streets."
"True," Michalis mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Maybe it's one of the old ones from back in the day?"
"Even so," Vasileios pointed out, his tone dropping into skepticism.
"I can't imagine any absolute newbie being able to afford one of those things on a whim. Those rare things are easily valued at five hundred million Valis a pop"
"Wait, what? They sell for that much?!" Michalis hissed, his eyes widening in shock.
"Okay, now this situation has officially gone from mildly interesting to extremely suspicious. Should we say something? Interrogate the kid?"
"Probably not. Sounds like far too much of a hassle," Vasileios replied flatly, waving a dismissive hand.
"A hassle?! Then why the hell did you bother bringing it up to me in the first place?!" Michalis snapped, his temper flaring.
"Just wanted to confirm my own thoughts with a second set of eyes," Vasileios replied with an unrepentant, teasing smirk.
"Why, you little…."
Michalis raised a hand, fully intending to smack Vasileios right across the back of his head, but Nikolaos...who had remained completely quiet throughout the entire exchange…..intervened with a single grunt.
"Stop acting like a pair of squabbling children," Nikolaos scolded, his voice carrying an unarguable finality.
He cast a sideways glance at the pair before looking back toward Bell.
"If you're genuinely curious about the boy's business, simply walk up and ask him. No… ask Bell directly, like a civilized adult."
"Ugh… fine," Michalis sighed, rolling his shoulders in defeat.
"Since Vasileios is clearly too much of a coward to ask himself, I'll play the bad guy."
Michalis walked directly up to Bell, who was still standing rigidly, entirely overwhelmed by the confusing social cues swirling around him.
"Hey, kid. Got a quick question for you," Michalis called out, his voice dropping into a casual, conversational register.
Startled by the sudden, stealthy appearance of the towering cat-man right beside him, Bell visibly flinched.
Despite being very sensitive, he hadn't consciously registered Michalis's approach at all.
"W… what is it?" Bell asked hesitantly, his voice tight with lingering nervousness.
"No need to get all stiff on my account; I'm not here to bite," Michalis said, flashing a surprisingly friendly, fanged grin.
He pointed a finger directly at the object tucked under his arm.
"I'm just mildly curious about the book in your hand."
Bell blinked, looking down at the heavy, mysterious volume as if he had momentarily forgotten he was even carrying it.
"Ah, this…?" Bell offered a nervous, self-deprecating smile, his shoulders dropping slightly. "Syr-san actually gave it to me just a little while ago. She said someone must have accidentally left it behind here."
He held the book outward, offering it up with an open, honest gesture.
"Is this perhaps yours? If so, I'd be more than happy to return it right now…."
Michalis didn't immediately take it.
Instead, he slowly shook his head, his mind rapidly piecing the puzzle together.
He turned his gaze away from Bell and cast a slow, highly calculating look over toward Syr. Even from a few paces away, he could read the micro-expressions on her face with crystal clarity.
He could immediately tell, with absolute certainty, that poor, naive Bell genuinely had zero idea what kind of treasure he was casually holding under his arm.
It was completely understandable that a greenhorn Level 1 like Bell wouldn't recognize a grimoire; such things were practically urban legends to the lowest tier of adventurers, reserved for elite factions and absurdly wealthy patrons.
However, Syr...who had been living and working in Orario for years, surrounded by top-tier veterans…..definitely knew what it was.
Even if Syr herself somehow lived under a rock, Mama Mia, or any of the other seasoned waitresses who doubled as semi-retired elite adventurers, would have at least recognized it.
'Ah,' Michalis realized internally, a wry, knowing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
'So that's how it is. Vasileios was right. Interfering here is a massive hassle. Besides, it's not rare commodity for us since Draco-nii can make it whenever'
Looking back down at the nervous, wide-eyed white-haired boy who was waiting patiently for an answer, Michalis shook his head once more, letting out an amused huff of air.
"Keep it," Michalis said simply, reaching out to give Bell a heavy, reassuring pat on the shoulder that nearly knocked the boy off balance a second time.
"Cherish that book, kid. Study it well. It just might help you survive out there along with your journey."
Before Bell could formulate a single syllable of confusion or gratitude in response, Michalis turned on his heel, walking away to join his companions who had already flagged down a large booth near the back of the pub.
What Michalis remained blissfully unaware of, however, was the expression of relief washing over Syr's features.
For a terrifying second, her grand, meticulously crafted plans had been standing on the absolute brink of total collapse with the sudden, inopportune arrival of the Bahamut Familia members. Had Michalis or Vasileios chosen to press the issue, the truth about the grimoire would have inevitably spilled out, shattering the fragile illusion she had built for Bell.
Fortunately for her, fortune still favored the bold.
Moving swiftly, Syr wasted zero time lingering in the danger zone.
Breaking away from Chloe and the rest of the watching crowd with a polite, hurried nod, she darted forward, gently yet firmly taking Bell by the sleeve of his shirt.
Guiding him with soft, soothing words, she quickly escorted the deeply confused, thoroughly flustered young rabbit out of the pub and back into the safe, sunlit streets of Orario…..leaving the dangerous, high-level beasts behind to fight over their lunch.