The silence blanketing the back of the horse carriage felt incredibly thick, as if the air itself froze from their colliding gazes. The sound of wooden wheels grinding against the rocky earth and the soft whinny of the draft horses up front became the only melody filling the void.
Venti didn't blink. Inside his head, Venti's consciousness seemingly exploded in thousands of fireworks.
Bell Cranel.
It wasn't just a name. To Venti—that name was the foundation of the entire story that set this world in motion. Yet, the logic of time he knew flat-out rejected the sight before him.
Fifteen years before the canon story begins. In this era, Bell Cranel had not yet been born and was still a fetus within his mother's womb, Meteria, who was currently safe under Alfia's protection.
However, the youth in front of him was real. He was a fourteen-year-old teenager, wearing full adventurer armor complete with a dull cloak covered in a thin layer of dust from a long journey.
How is this possible? Venti thought, his brain spinning at lightning speed. Which timeline did he come from?
As the pieces of the puzzle connected in his mind, the absolute shock on Venti's face slowly melted away. The stiffness in his body loosened. Instead, an explosive surge of enthusiasm began to take hold of him. The corners of his lips pulled upward, forming a wide, arched smile that nearly reached his ears.
"Whoa... whoa, whoa, WHOA!"
Venti suddenly exclaimed in delight. His melodious, cheerful voice broke the silence in the most unexpected way. He sprang forward, closing the distance between them in a flash without caring for personal boundaries.
"Amazing! What a truly amazing surprise in the middle of this boring journey!" Venti exclaimed, grabbing both of Bell's hands and shaking them with enthusiastic swings.
Bell jolted backward, his back hitting the wooden wall of the carriage. His eyes went perfectly round seeing the drastic change in the god before him. Seconds ago, this petite figure looked at him as if seeing a terrifying ghost. Now, he was smiling brightly like a little kid who had just found something incredibly fascinating.
"E-eh?! W-what's going on?!" Bell stammered, politely trying to pull his hands away but shocked to find the petite figure's grip far stronger than it looked.
"Nothing at all! I'm just really happy to meet a wanderer in the middle of the road!" Venti laughed crisply, releasing Bell's hands and dropping into a cross-legged sitting position right in front of the youth. "My name is Venti! Just a god and a bard who happened to hitch a ride on this carriage. And you... Bell Cranel, right? Nice name! Very... heroic!"
Bell blinked a few times, trying to process the rhythm of a conversation that had shifted gears far too quickly. The androgynous face before him radiated absolute innocence, as if the shock from a moment ago never happened. However, Bell's adventurer instincts told him that this bard named Venti was no ordinary person.
"T-thank you, Venti-sama," Bell replied politely, giving a slight nod. "I... apologize if my presence is disrupting your journey."
"Disrupting? Nonsense!" Venti waved his hand in the air. He propped his chin up with both hands, leaning forward until his face was only a few handbreadths away from Bell's. Those teal eyes stared inquiringly with a mischievous glint. "On the contrary, you are a savior from boredom! Walking alone from the north in dusty clothes like this... you must have an interesting story, right? Any bard would pay a high price for a good story!"
From the driver's seat up front, a heavy groan pierced through the partition curtain.
"Oi, Venti. Don't bother our passenger," Zald reprimanded in a flat yet warning tone. "The kid looks exhausted. Let him rest."
"Bothering? Nonsense!" Venti waved his hand casually. He propped up his chin, leaning his face closer with a playful look.
"Now, Bell-kun, tell me! Where are you from? The clothes under your cloak... the cut looks very specific with that sturdy white chestplate. That's not standard gear usually sold by amateur blacksmiths, is it?"
Bell looked down for a moment, looking at his white chestplate peeking out from the slit of his dull cloak, and the black Hestia Knife safely tied at his waist. He let out a soft sigh. There was no reason to lie to someone kind enough to give him a ride.
"These adventurer clothes... were made by a friend in my Familia," Bell answered softly, referring to Welf Crozzo. "And I... actually just came from the north, near the Dragon Valley."
Venti's eyes glinted sharply. I knew it. The appearance of this tactical combat gear, plus the dense aura of power... this kid comes from the future where Orario is in turmoil with outside factions, he cheered inwardly.
"Dragon Valley?" Venti lowered his voice, letting his cheerful tone dim slightly, replaced by a deeper intonation. "That is not a safe place for a kid your age, Bell-kun. There is a terrifying storm there holding back the apocalypse. What is an adventurer from Orario doing in such an extreme place?"
Bell was silent for a moment. His memories went back to the moments before the world around him distorted. His questions about the disappearance of the Spirit Storm still hung unanswered, but he decided to recount the last events he experienced honestly.
"It has to do with the School District," Bell began telling his story, his voice calm yet laden with confusion.
"School District? That giant ship Hringhorni?" Venti tilted his head, feigning surprise very convincingly. "That giant ship sails the ocean or docks at Melen port. What business does it have with an adventurer going to the dead lands in the north?"
"There was a major dispute... a political conflict and protest between Orario and the School District regarding the supply of orichalcum," Bell explained, his face turning more serious. "To prevent the relations between both sides from collapsing, the Gods agreed upon a proxy competition called the Orariopiad."
"Oh? A proxy competition? Sounds like a huge festival!" Venti clapped his hands once, prompting the story further. "Then what does that have to do with walking far north?"
"Initially, nothing," Bell answered softly with a sigh. "Leon-sensei—a knight instructor from the School District—secretly took a friend and me on 'Fieldwork'. A journey north to see the harsh reality of this world. But upon reaching the border of the Dragon Valley..."
Bell stared at his palms, remembering his teacher's sword swing.
"...he finally revealed that our adventure was actually a secret stage. Our duel in front of the Spirit Storm was broadcast live via the Divine Mirror, as the final deciding match of the Orariopiad."
The curtain behind the driver's seat twitched slightly. Zald did not turn around, but from the movement of his shoulders, Venti knew that the Zeus Familia veteran was listening intently. The words 'Dragon Valley' were a sensitive trigger for Zald.
"An instructor from the School District. The knight known as the 'Knight of Knights'," Bell replied. His ruby-red eyes stared straight at Venti, radiating respect when mentioning the title. "Leon Vardenburg-sensei."
A momentary silence enveloped the carriage.
Then, a rough, heavy chuckle was heard from the front driver's seat.
"Heh." Zald could not hold his voice back. He pulled the reins with one hand, while the other rested on his knee. "Knight of Knights? The knight of all knights? What kind of joke is that. Since when did that dwarf brat who always cried when Alfia and I beat him up dare to use such a cool title?"
Bell flinched. He looked toward the front with a highly confused expression. "Dwarf... brat? Forgive me, Sir, but Leon-sensei is a Level 7 adventurer whose strength is on par with the King of Orario, Ottar. He is the hero of the current era."
Now it was Zald's turn to fall silent. The horse carriage suddenly slowed down as Zald pulled the reins a little harder than he should have.
In the back of the carriage, Venti bit his lower lip hard, holding back laughter that almost exploded. He could imagine the expression on Zald's face right now. To Zald, who lived in the era fifteen years before the canon story, Leon Vardenburg was just an unfortunate junior, a snot-nosed brat who often became a living punching bag for the Zeus and Hera Familia members. Hearing that poor kid called the 'Hero of the Current Era' at Level 7 surely short-circuited Zald's brain for a moment.
"Level 7? Hero of the current era?" Zald snorted roughly from behind the curtain. His tone was filled with absolute disbelief, as if he had just heard the most absurd joke of the century. "Kid, did you hit your head on a rock on the road? The Leon Vardenburg I know right now is just a wet-behind-the-ears little brat who still often cries begging for mercy."
"L-little brat? Right now?" Bell gaped, his confusion now reaching its maximum limit. "Forgive me, Sir, but... Leon-sensei is a grown man. He is not a little brat..."
Bell's sentence hung in the air. He looked down, staring at his palms.
"Before everything disappeared."
Venti leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. His face returned to calmness. His brain worked at maximum capacity, assembling the scattered threads of information.
Dragon Valley. The fight between Bell and Leon.
The fight took place right in front of the Spirit Storm, with Leon's intention to teach Afterglow to Bell so the youth could cleave dragons escaping from within the vortex. Everything was broadcast via the Divine Mirror.
But how could he end up here? In this era?
Venti recalled the series of extreme actions he took in the north in the past. He infiltrated the Dragon Valley, took the essence of the Great Spirit Aria from the chest of the One-Eyed Black Dragon, and to prevent the monster from rampaging instantly, he exerted the power of his Authority of Time to cast Temporal Severance. That time-severing authority sliced the geographical coordinates of the region and isolated it from the flow of time, trapping the dragon in a stagnant time loop.
Venti closed his eyes.
When he tore the boundaries of reality with Temporal Severance, the power he unleashed was too massive. The authority of time has no physical spatial limits. If he cut the timeline at the geographical coordinates of the 'Dragon Valley', the cut would resonate through layers of reality to parallel dimensions or the future possessing a similar energy resonance.
In the future Bell came from, the natural distortion from the dragon this youth talked about apparently resonated exactly with the residual time tear I created in the past. Those two anomalies at the same geographical point collided, creating a dimensional vacuum vortex that suddenly sucked Bell across the river of time until he stranded in this era.
One plus one equals a minor apocalypse for the laws of physics.
The distortion from the dragon's snore in Bell's timeline collided exactly with my Temporal Severance slash from the past that tore the dimension, Venti thought, his eyes slowly opening, realizing the scale of the disaster he had accidentally created. The vacuum pull from my time slash sought an energy anchor point, sucked up Bell who happened to be standing at the exact same geographical point in his future, and then dragged him backward across the river of time until he stranded here.
A very clear and undeniable conclusion formed in the God of Wind's head.
The thing that threw Bell Cranel to the past from his original timeline, technically... is my fault.
Venti blinked twice. Virtual cold sweat dripped down the back of his head. He looked at Bell Cranel, who was now stranded alone in a world he didn't realize and without a clear direction. All of that was the result of the reckless Authority of Time maneuver Venti had performed.
In short... the one who made this kid get lost indirectly is due to my own actions, Venti thought.
As a god possessing control over the authority of time, he knew that if he truly intended to, he could find a way to reopen that time tear and return Bell to his original timeline to prevent the destruction of historical order. That was the safest and most logical action for a god.
Venti stared at Bell's innocent face, preparing to devise a plan for his return. Yes, I must send him home—
Venti's train of thought stopped dead in its tracks.
Wait a minute.
Venti glanced toward the front curtain, where Zald sat silently holding the reins. Zald could be considered the adoptive uncle of this white-haired youth. Then, Venti's mind drifted to the church on the outskirts of Orario. There was Meteria, currently heavily pregnant, carrying a fetus that would one day grow into the youth before him. And of course, there was Alfia—the super fierce aunt who was incredibly overprotective of her sister.
Not to mention, there was one other resident currently living in that church: a little girl with golden hair.
What would happen if this 14-year-old Bell Cranel from the future entered the city of Orario right now, then met his mother who is pregnant with himself, his fierce aunt, and—what would definitely shatter the youth's common sense completely—unexpectedly saw the girl of his dreams as a little girl?
The image of Alfia's expression of absolute shock, along with Bell's pure confusion whose brain would surely explode, flashed in Venti's mind like a snippet of the most epic and rare comedy theater.
A cross-generational family reunion that leaps across the destiny of time... Venti's eyes suddenly sparkled wildly, filled with a mischievous glint. An incredibly sly, prankish smile formed invisibly on his androgynous face.
As a Bard, an extraordinary dramatic tale was food for his soul. And letting the potential for a masterpiece this crazy pass by just for a boring reason like 'maintaining timeline stability'? That was a grave sin that would never be forgiven by a Bard! To hell with the fear of time paradoxes!
Unanimous decision! Venti's mind cheered gleefully inside his head. I am not sending him home now! This kid must join the Barbatos Familia with us. I want to sit in the front row holding a wine bottle when the four of them realize each other's identities! This will be the greatest epic ballad ever created!
While hiding his prankish plan behind a soothing, gentle smile, Venti leaned forward, then patted Bell's shoulder with a slow motion that conveyed warmth.
"Don't be so gloomy, Bell-kun," Venti said, his voice flowing so fluidly and warmly. "This world is very vast and always filled with surprises that defy human memory. You might feel lost right now, but Orario is a place where all sorts of strange destinies converge. I am very certain, once we arrive there later, you will find answers... and perhaps, an encounter far more precious than what you take pride in."
While Bell went back to looking at the overland route behind them, Venti closed his eyes and bit his lower lip hard, holding back the mischievous laugh that almost exploded out of his chest. His mind had already flown far, devising unpredictable scenarios about how he would introduce this "new member" to Alfia at the church later.
A soft little chuckle slipped right out of the petite wind god's lips.
"Ehe."
"Eh? Did Venti-sama say something just now?" asked Bell, who faintly heard the small murmur.
"Nothing at all, Bell-kun!" Venti turned quickly, waving both his hands in the air with an innocent, guiltless expression. "I just came up with a super epic line of lyrics to sing! Get ready, Bell-kun. The city of Orario you will see shortly... might just leave you truly astounded!"
-----------------------------
"Like my work? Catch up to Chapter 109 over on my Patreon!"
P - Gem_Blanks
Thank you so much for your support — you make all of this worthwhile.)