"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I swear I won't do it again!" Bella said, apologizing exaggeratedly as she descended the stairs to the basement where there was a small room.
"I already told you, you don't need to worry about every little inconvenience." Baal just laughed again.
The girl kept apologizing for the smallest things.
"At that moment, I was just surprised, you know? It sounded like I was being attacked by a dragon, that scream was so loud! Imagine my surprise when I realized it was the same shy girl from yesterday." He said, turning to her. She, however, looked away, embarrassed, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Anyway, you still haven't told me where your things are," she said, returning to the main topic. She had spent hours on end looking for this god's treasures and yet had seen nothing but dust.
He felt her curious and determined gaze for a few moments and then sighed.
"I gave you two clues and fifty years, and even after a few hours and an expected failure, you want me to reveal my secrets to you," he said mockingly. "Are all you mortals this impatient, or are you special?"
"Huh?" She stared at him in surprise and then coughed. "Well... I've always been a little anxious..." She scratched her head for a while. "But fifty years is a long time..."
"Exactly, long enough." He said triumphantly as he sat down on the sofa. "Now that we've finished talking about your greed and bad character, let's talk about the Falna and our relationship from now on." He invited her to sit down.
Gulp.
She sweated as she listened to his words. The subject was extremely serious to her, yet he treated it lightly.
'I guess it should be expected. A god can have many children and adventurers, but an adventurer can only have one god... really, I don't feel like I have any power here.' She thought unsure. 'Everything depends on his goodwill. I can't fail. I have to become an adventurer... it's my last chance.'
Baal cleared his throat, oblivious to her thoughts.
"First of all, as I said earlier. I don't intend to have a large Familia, nor a Familia of simple adventurers." He said casually and fleetingly as Bella felt her heart break into a thousand pieces.
Her dream died here.
What was the point of joining a god if she wasn't going to become an adventurer?
"Hmmm Mr. Baal... you know... I." She tried to speak uncomfortably, but he signaled her not to interrupt him, and then continued speaking in a serious tone.
"I want to offer you something far beyond what any other god will offer you. Something much greater than a simple adventure with a little gold and magic at the end. I want to offer you the greatest adventure, one that no one has ever reached the end of." His face darkened, his eyes sharpening.
"Not even the gods." Bella shuddered under the weight of his words.
"And what adventure would that be?" He laughed softly, returning to his calm demeanor. "I'm not going to tell you anytime soon, and that's the second topic, trust. I need you to trust me more than you've ever trusted your parents, family, or even yourself. But don't worry, I'm more experienced than they are by thousands of years."
The answer, however, did not calm her.
She frowned, and he quickly explained.
"I can't say too much, or I might prejudice you in the process. What I can say, however, is that compared to your current goal of becoming an adventurer and even the greatest adventurer of all time, it's a small goal. Conquering all the floors of the Dungeon and completing the three great quests is just the beginning of everything." Again, she shuddered.
Was he really sane? What the hell kind of expectations did he want to place on her? She was just a waitress, and he was saying that being as strong as or even stronger than Ottar was just an initial task?
"Let me see if I understand..." She said, sensing that he had finished speaking. "What you want to create is a Familia made up only of elite members?" She had many doubts, but at least that was what it seemed like so far.
"Until now, I was talking about you specifically, but from now on, I'm going to talk about the organization of the Familia." He pulled a sheet of paper from inside his cloak along with a pen, surprising Bella again.
'I don't remember having anything there…' She thought to herself and then blushed, remembering last night. 'Actually, I don't remember anything after that…' She blushed even more intensely.
"Look at this." He drew a small circle and then a larger one surrounding it. "My Familia will be divided into two distinct classes. What most aligns with your knowledge of Families and their gods would be the outer circle." He then wrote it down and pointed to it with an arrow.
"This Familia can be large, small, work as adventurers, or engage in other commercial activities. I don't really care that much. Its only function is to bring resources to me and serve the wishes of the inner circle. However..." He straightened his posture before speaking.
"They will call me god, and I will call them my children. I will be completely responsible for their actions and their well-being, and I am willing to sacrifice everything to save even the smallest of them, even if they are completely useless, they are my children." He spoke sternly and then pulled out a new arrow and wrote about the inner circle.
He then relaxed his posture again and said with a lazy smile.
"As for these ones here... well, they can die and I won't give a damn." Bella was even more confused by this explanation, her mouth opening full of questions, but this time she remained silent, waiting for an explanation.
"I'm not going to give resources to these ones, I'm not going to offer them welfare, and I'm not going to take responsibility for these rascals.
"If one of them, if you, happens to offend a more powerful Familia and they demand your life, I will personally hand you over to your enemies." He said even more sternly than before, which didn't match his relaxed posture.
"The inner circle will solve their own problems alone, not as a group."
"However..." He added with an air of mystery. "These people will not call me god, and I will not call them children. They will call me master, and I will call them my beloved disciples. And these, I will personally teach in the arts of the gods."
Bella was once again speechless.
"That's... a lot...to process" She stared at him silently, trying to assimilate the information."I need a break."
"Anyway, I'll make some tea and something to eat. After all, we haven't eaten anything yet." Baal said, suddenly getting up. Bella already had a lot to think about.
Unfortunately, Baal was not the type of person who said much, but the little he did say seemed very fast and incoherent.
After all, he was a god.
He knew much more than mortal minds could ever dream of.
"Poor thing, she's already like this and I haven't even gotten to the important part..." He muttered, laughing.