[Bell Winters]
You know what? I'd been living in Orario for four years now and not once had I ever set foot in the Hostess of Fertility. The dining facility at the Hephaestus smithing district had served decent enough food that I never really felt the need to go out and eat elsewhere- the portions were always large enough for a growing boy with a falna, and the choices of ingredients let me know that for a world that didn't have Nutritional Science they were doing a damn fine job. There was always plenty of meat, good sources of carbohydrates, and a decent variety in the different types of dishes so that I didn't get bored eating the same thing every day.
The one thing that the dining facility didn't have was booze, and that was because Hephaestus didn't want to chance any of her children smithing while drunk. Apparently, that had led to either hilarious weapons or 3rd-degree burns, and sometimes even both.
There was no end to Vornir's grumbles whenever he'd been prompted to remember that little tidbit; he'd been in the familia when there was as much ale as you could drink (and pay for).
Something about 'drunk smithing being a man's romance'.
Regardless, the main reason I'd avoided the Hostess was that I didn't want to get myself on Freya's radar before I had the strength and capabilities to handle that particular bundle of sexy and crazy.
However, it appeared that since it was my 13th birthday- something I'd completely forgotten about- my desires for a small, quiet meal with my betrothed and closest friends were overruled by my Goddess. She didn't state it out loud, but I could tell that she was looking for a reason to get everyone together and have a celebration that included the whole familia; the schism I'd inadvertently created had been growing wider and wider with each successful mini-Expedition between the Hephaestus and Miach familias, and she wanted to bring everyone back together through the time-honored tradition of booze and food.
Granted I felt like forcing those that disliked me ('hate' is a strong word) to attend a birthday party in my honor, it wasn't like there hadn't been a precedence for it in the past- to my knowledge almost everyone that achieved Level 3 in the familia had their birthday celebrated at least once on the familia's dime. It just so happened that my time was now.
"Happy birthday to you~!"
"Happshy birshday toooo yyyyoooouuuu~!"
"Happshy birfday dear-"
"Winters-kun!"
"Schmifhing Princceeeee~!"
"Lllittlleee bbasssttaarddd~!"
"""""Happy birthday too you~!""""
The Hostess of Fertility exploded into shouts, cheers, and jeers alike as tankards were raised high into the air and subsequently downed with gusto.
A blush crept up my cheeks at being the center of attention within the Hostess, and it reminded me why I wasn't a huge fan of large social gatherings like this; I wasn't a loner, but there was only so much I could take before feeling a little out of sorts.
Almost half of the familia was here, though the majority of them were Level 1s and Level 2s who were looking to have a great meal and all they could drink on the familia's dime. The Hostess was a large place, but it wasn't like there was room for everyone here, and we certainly couldn't rent out the whole establishment no matter how much Mia Grand liked Hephaestus; those who had families of their own begged off and I can say I didn't blame them- nobody likes "mandatory fun" type functions.
Big Army had them, and just like Big Army so too did the Ranger Battalions- if I had to choose between getting gussied up in my Dress Blues and drinking at a stuffy unit function or wearing more comfortable clothes and dancing at a club packed to the brim with other party-goers then damnit there wasn't really a choice! If you happened to act a fool while intoxicated in the club the worst that would happen is your buddies rib you for the rest of time, but if you happened to make a fool of yourself in front of the Colonel or Command Sergeant Major then woe be unto you because your ass was grass.
If you're having a party then the main objective is to relax and destress away from the worries of work, and you can't really cut loose and have fun when your direct superiors are right in front of you watching your every move.
Now, let's be real and say that Lady Hephaestus is a laid back and relaxed Goddess, and she understands as much as any Divine can that mortals can sometimes act out and cause a bit of a ruckus when they're intoxicated. She isn't the type to hold it against you unless what you did was particularly egregious, and at that point you had a lot more to be worried about.
Now, seeing that I was only 13 and not really eligible to drink I didn't have to worry about that particular pitfall of this social function, but instead, I had to deal with the well wishes of my coworkers. Some of which were rather embarrassing.
My Goddess, who sat directly across from me at the main table in the restaurant, had a delightful smile on her face the entire time; her eye crinkled in amusement as members of the familia who had imbibed one too many drinks stumbled over to my chair to say a few words.
"Ah, ah, thought you were an annoying little shite, I did. Always ask'n people questions when they're busy wit' their o-own work. Though you done proved me wrong, boy! Growing up to be a fine young man and an even finer smith!"
The fact that they mussed up my hair with their alcohol-stained fingers made it worse, but I bore their kind and backhanded compliments with dignity and grace. My smile was tight, my eyes were even tighter, but I still managed to not clobber anyone in the face as the night wore on.
My betrothed and their mothers were a large part of that- Khemi and Sooka sat on my left and right while Naaza and Liliruca sat next to them; Naaza's mother, Mila Erisuis, along with her sister-wife Mushi, sat next to Naaza with Miach seated next to them. I didn't know they had been invited, but having someone else in this place who was calm and collected took the edge off- bless you, Miach-sama, you truly are too good for this world!
The gifts were quite nice, however; I'd forgotten what it was like to get gifts from people were actually from the heart instead of something purchased from a Big Box store and or re-gifted from Christmas the year before.
Khemi and Sooka pooled their valis together to purchase for me a finely made gold chain that held a number of gold rings that would hold small gold medallions in shapes that signified my current betrothed. The chain was fashioned in such a way so that if I attracted more wives into the pack I could add more rings accordingly.
"So no matter where you might be, you will always have something to remember us by, dear."
Ah, my dear Blackie, you truly are a wonder.
Naaza and Liliruca had worked together with Tsubaki to fashion some jigs that would end up becoming incredibly important for my armor forging later on. While I'd lived life in a world where a blacksmith could simply purchase a tool or jig off of Amazon and have it delivered to his door, here the blacksmith more often than not needed to fashion his own tools and jigs to do difficult jobs more quickly. In particular, they created a jig that would help me make bodkin-tipped arrowheads perfectly every time, a fullering jig that would help me quickly pound my longsword and shortsword's fuller evenly and precisely without fail, and a what appeared to be a jig that would help me correctly pound out the curvature of armor more efficiently.
The gifts were great, and I made sure to let them know how much I appreciated their love and hard work.
My Goddess offered me a small favor as my gift, and I immediately burned it asking her to look for Hermes and to ask his Child, Asfi Al Andromeda to tutor me for a little while with the Mystery Developmental Ability. I would even pay her a good sum of money for her tutelage.
However, a gift that I did not expect came from Vornir- the man offering me anything I'd like.
Of course, I asked him to go on some deeper dives with me to gather materials and to help me forge my first set of armor for Aiz Wallenstein; I'd want to do the vast majority of the work myself, but if I was going to fuck something up I'd naturally want him to step in to prevent me from ruining a whole bunch of hard work.
Eventually, the party began to die down, and people slowly trickled out of the Hostess and out onto the streets. I bid my Goddess and those that were remaining behind to drink some more a good night and I gave Naaza, her mother, and her mother's sister-wife a big hug before watching them leave towards their home on the opposite side of the city. Khemi and Sooka both gave me a pair of enthusiastic closed-mouth kisses before they walked towards their familia home down the main road- the two werewolves walking with a pleased sway in their step.
With everyone else left it was just myself and Liliruca standing out in front of the Hostess of Fertility, and I couldn't help the warmth rising to my cheeks as a few of the people passing by gave me some amused smiles; I'd never been one for PDA, but the werewolves didn't seem to care one whit about that.
I shook my head and offered the crook of my arm to Liliruca, "Well, shall we head home for the evening, Liliruca?"
Her face was a touch hot as well, but her embarrassment slowly bled way to some sort of quasi-vindictive delight as she looped her arm around my own and intertwined our fingers together. "Yes, I think I'd like that. I rarely ever have you all to myself, Bell-sama."
My eyes crinkled and I squeezed her hand firmly as we started off.
Though, we'd only gotten a few paces before the scraping of wood on stone caught my attention and I looked back behind me to see a large, mountain of a man wearing plain worker's clothing and a drab, unremarkable cloak; a light brown turban had been wrapped around his head and covered the left side of his face. The only thing that caught my attention besides the small amount of brown facial hair on his chin were the deep scars that were visible crossing over his sole visible eye.
"You're the Birthday Boy, right?" His deep, baritone voice rattled my bones; if he didn't appear to be genuinely jovial I would have been very on guard. Still didn't stop my instincts from screaming at me that this was a dangerous individual.
Rather than coming off nervous or rude, I gave him a firm, polite nod, "Yes sir, I am. Just turned 13 years old today."
A small, wry smile appeared on his lips as he brought the wooden mug of ale up to his chin. "13 and already a married man? I knew those tribal girls moved quickly, but to think that they'd have already staked a claim on you this early."
Rather than respond I just arched an eyebrow.
"Well, then, happy birthday, Bell Cranel," A snort escaped his lips and he saluted me with his mug, "Here's to hoping that you see many, many more."
I felt my spine stiffen up momentarily, but I forced myself to relax; it wasn't as if I wasn't already a household name in the city of Orario- the people put me on the same level as Aiz Wallenstein, the Smith Prince to the Sword Princess, so someone knowing my name was just something I had to deal with when I was out and about.
"Thank you for your kind well-wishes, Stranger," I wetted my lips as I shifted my stance minutely. Something niggled at the back of my mind the longer I looked at the man, and the more I looked over his features the more I felt something bubble up from the surface of my memories. The man looked familiar, like someone I'd seen before in passing, "Tell me, have we met before?"
He slugged the tankard back and drained it dry within a few moments, and when the mug came down he wiped at the remnants that had seeped past his lips with the back of his worn shirt sleeve. The stranger shook his head, "No, this is the first time we've ever met, Birthday Boy."
The man sat the empty tankard down on the table before pulling up his hood and striding away, a lazy hand thrown up over his shoulder as he walked, "Have a good evening, boy. Oh, almost forgot."
As he spoke I saw Syr step out of the Hostess' doorway with a big, puffy pout on her face, and before she could even speak the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin and flicked it at her with his thumb- the 100,000 valis coin arcing perfectly through the air to land in her outstretched hand. "Keep the change, girlie. Buy yourself something nice."
With that, he took a left turn into an alleyway and disappeared out of sight.
I was torn away from the side street the man walked down when Syr let out an explosive sigh, "Oh, thank goodness he paid! I thought we were going to have another dine and dasher- Mama Mia would have had my hide for sure!"
A small chuckle issued from my throat and I turned my eyes to regard the silver-haired waitress-cum-Goddess-in-Disguise. Let it never be said that if I didn't have foreknowledge of who Syr actually was I would have never guessed that she was Freya- Divines had a feel about them, one that you could never misconstrue, and the fact that Freya had managed to somehow find a way to bypass that and then proceed to flawlessly craft a persona that could hide in a tavern and inn was nothing short of astounding.
The number of Gods or Goddesses who would have stooped to bussing tables, handing out food and drink, and lowering themselves to serve mortals instead of being served are far and few in between. I know that she didn't do this for any other reason than because it was entertaining for her, but I'll be damned if she didn't stay in character 100%.
"Well, if the man had tried to leave without paying then I would have chased him down and brought him back for Mia Grand-sama's judgment," That was the truth- though with the vibes I was getting from that guy I don't know whether I could have backed up my words. Though if it had been the case I wasn't the type of person to just stand by when an obvious crime was being committed in front of me.
Silvery-blue eyes regarded me cooly; her mouth was smiling but her eyes were not. If anything the best I could tell was that she was looking at me... very carefully disguised... disdain? Or was it indifference?
The look passed in what seemed like a split second before she was all genuine smiles again, the waitress holding fist that contained the gold coin up to her heart, "Well I'm certainly glad to see that there are still fine people in this world who would do the right thing!"
The woman let out a soft sigh and then gave Liliruca and me a curtsey before she trotted off back inside the Hostess of Fertility.
I felt Liliruca's grip on my forearm tighten up as the Pallum girl began to drag me down the street. "No! Bell-sama! No more! You have enough!"
Her outburst wiped away some of the anxiety that I'd been feeling all night, and I couldn't help but laugh as I scooped Liliruca up into a Princess Carry and carried her all the way home. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my dear Lili. They come to me, not the other way around."
"That's what I'm afraid of, you're too nice, Bell-sama. Sometimes you need to tell those thieving cats to take a hike," She fussed about in my arms for a few moments, the embarrassment of being carried in such a fashion warring with her delight at actually being carried in such a fashion.
She eventually settled down after seeing that there were very few people around who could even see us on the streets at this time of night, so after a minute of walking she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my collarbone with a smile on her face.
When we got back to the compound Liliruca and I both split off to take baths in the separate bathrooms before she came over to my dorm room and clambered into bed with me. She was only wearing a t-shirt and panties but I didn't really care at this point, all I wanted to do was sleep because I had a very full day ahead of me.
When I woke up that morning I'd found that my briefs were all wet and sticky and there was a rather noticeable tent in the front of my underwear.
I was wide-eyed as I carefully slipped out of bed, making sure not to disturb Liliruca, and I walked over to the light that was just beginning to peek in through the blinds. I untied the waistband of my underwear and pulled it down, and I had never been more delighted to see an erection in my entire life.
It was... a little on the small side.
Though, I'm only 13.
I will get bigger.
Think positive thoughts.