____ 1 Day Later ________
Bell awoke with his head on Goddess Astraea's lap, his hands splayed across the white dress over her thighs.
He pulled his head away from her lap in the bumpy carriage and looked up at her face, she seemed to be a picture of serenity and gentleness when asleep.
Bell remembered last night, she had offered that he lay his head on her lap to sleep— the constant shaking of the carriage making it hard for him to fall asleep.
He took another peak at her sleeping face, pulled a new jacket he bought with her money from his sachet and laid it gently over her sleeping form.
Bell slipped from the back of the carriage to it's front, where Koenji was handling the horses with a practiced motion.
"Big bro Koenji, breakfast should start in some time, right?" He asked with while holding onto his stomach, feeling it being almost empty.
Bell had noticed it from earlier, that his diet seemed to have increased by at least 50% from the moment he was granted Falna.
If the difference was so huge for merely gaining Falna, he could not even fathom how much a Level 5 adventurer would eat regularly to stay in top form.
A normal Familia might just go bankrupt by the valis it takes to keep a Level 5 or Level 4 adventurer sated and full of energy.
"Hmm.....Bell, it's seems your appetite is increasing, no wonder since you're at that age. As for the breakfast, well it should be starting in a hour or half at most, when most people in the contingent are awake." Koenji spoke with certainty after guessing Bell's age from his looks and calculating the time while simultaneously driving the carriage at the same time.
Bell did not clarify this misunderstanding and let him believe what he thought was true, while slipping back inside the carriage to check on his Goddess.
"Goddess, You're awake, I hope my sleeping habits did not make it harder for you to sleep?" He asked with worry and a tiny bit of self flame.
"No...No, It was peaceful child, to have you sleep with your head on my lap, I had a refreshing and peaceful sleep." Astraea caught the hint of self blame in his words and clarified it with a graceful hand wave.
Bell did not know when, but he and Goddess Astraea had grown a lot closer over the days, It started when Bell became her new Familia member, and increased when they spent some days living together.
Though Bell understood from her body language and his speculations that there was a deeper reason for the sudden closeness from her.
It was simple, she still had not fully recovered from having her beloved Familia destroyed, It was a scar so deep that even time had merely numbed it, not made it recover or go away,
Hence, she unconsciously closed the distance between herself and him, not wanting to loose him too like her former Familia members.
He understood the reason for her acting like this, that was also the reason why he couldn't say no to her, because denying her like this would result in her getting hurt, but not denying her closeness was taking advantage of her vulnerabilities.
Fuck....What was up with him always getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Bell wished he was like those Chinese Xianxia protagonists and villains, who manipulated others without even a blink.
He would've even changed his name from Bell Cranel to Fang Cranel if it helped become coldblooded like that guy from *ReverendInsanity*.
But he knew that was just wishful thinking, he was who he was.
Goddess Astraea kept looking at his zoned out face with a gentle smile.
But he was pulled out of his thoughts by the gentle stop of the carriage along with their whole contingent.
Bell quickly held onto Goddess Astraea's hand and helped her down the carriage, since it was breakfast time, and only heaven's above knew how hungry he was.
He went with Goddess Astraea to the gathering place the people of the contingent were setting up after stopping, and first of all greeted the adventurer hired by this contingent to act as a guard.
Miss Popy, Peak Level 1 Adventurer.
With her, Bell was a 100% sure that even if they ran into goblins like before, they would get absolutely decimated before even making it to the contingent.
So, he kept his focus on the people who were setting up the food table, gulping the saliva bubbling in his mouth.
There, Bell saw a special dish which people had hyped so much, apparently even saying things like not having tasted it was having lived with regrets.
Unfortunately, whenever Bell wanted to have it, it was always poached by others, with not even it's gravy left behind.
Bell swore, today he had to taste that golden chicken curry, or he'd write his name backwards.
Who dared to stop a determined and dignified transmigrator to have his chicken?
I ask who?!
He watched as the breakfast was set up and people starting coming in doves from the carriages all over the contingent.
Bell kept his eyes on the chicken like a hawk, determined to have a piece no matter what today.
He gazed at his left, a uncle with glasses was also keeping his shining bespectacled eyes on the chicken, like only it existed in his life, like it was the only reason for him being alive.
Bell then gazed to his left, a short boy was standing there, looking at the chicken like a mouse that had just heard the word cheese, his saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, his gaze like looking at a naked women teasing him to rush towards her.
Then Bell looked behind him, a person probably the age of his grandfather was doing squats on the grass, with his walking stick resting over his shoulders, like a makeshift wight lifting rod. Yet his gaze was stuck on that chicken, like it was a panacea which could make him live for another 200 years, his gaze was stuck on that chicken even when crunching sounds of bones resounded from his fragile body.
A drop of sweat dropped down from Bell's forehead to the grassy ground.
The competition was even more fierce than he expected.
He could even hear people cheering from the background, roaring,
Cranel Bell, Cranel Bell, Cranel Bell.
But he would not write his name backwards today, as that blindfolded strongest person used to say.
Nah, I'd Win.
Bell let go of Goddess Astraea's hand and kept his gaze on that damn golden chicken.
Today either that chicken went down..... straight in his belly, or his dignity as a transmigrator went down.....straight into the drain.
He waited as the people were finally allowed to grab food after setting everything up.
The moment the it was announced that people could now grab food, all three of Bell's opponents moved fast, so fast that even Bell felt his head spin.
Bell swore even the peak Level 1 adventurer Miss Popy did not move as fast as the three of them.
What? Were those three running on hydrogen?
But Bell was also a old hand at this, he stayed on the same spot as those three overtook him in moments, running towards that golden chicken.
Yet Bell smirked at them, then roared in a cackling voice.
"Auntie Meria.... Your boy is running around here."
The young boy, who was the fastest among the three turned pale at his words, like a snake was suddenly wrapped around his torso.
"There you are Mario, I couldn't find you earlier, where had you run off to?" A women jumped out from the crowd, built like a tank, seven foot tall with a wight of 400 pounds, yet she moved faster than all three running after the chicken.
She reached the young boy at the front in no time, caught him from the scruff of his neck like a small kitten and dragged him back into the crowd.
The bespectacled uncle and grandfather uncle both glanced back at Bell, flashing him thankful smiles.
But Bell merely grinned in response.
Suddenly, the bespectacled uncle's foot slipped on the grassy floor after he resumed running towards the chicken, his glasses falling off his eyes and being thrown far away from him.
He stumbled here and there, searching for his glasses.
Bell merely gave a sneer in response, did they think he grew up by eating soft rice?
He had already splashed water in that area, turning the soil there into mud, making that area very slippery, that too when only the table was set up and people were still in their carriages.
For that, he even had to bear the embarrassment of getting away from Goddess Astraea by giving the excuse of having to pee.
The grandfather uncle sidestepped through the slippery area with supernatural flexibility for someone his age and nearly laughed in glee as the golden chicken was very close to him.
The grandfather uncle looked back at Bell and spoke.
"Good boy, I must thank you as your elder, not many children respect elderly these days."
Bell merely gave a mocking grin in response and spoke.
"Grandfather, It's too early for you to thank me, wait a moment, then you'd be thanking me for the rest of your life." He spoke with a smug grin as he flashed a secret hand gesture in the air.
Suddenly, the grandfather uncle, whose focus was on Bell, bumped into someone, and flew sideways due to the momentum of his body, falling over an old lady his age standing close to that place.
Roses seemed to bloom in the air for the grandmother and grandfather as they rolled across the ground for some time.
The grandfather uncle felt his heart beat once again after who knows how many years while looking at the grandmother auntie beneath him, while the grandmother auntie seemed to share the sentiment, a subtle blush on her old face.
Bell slowly walked beyond all his competitors with Goddess Astraea chuckling softy besides him, having seen the whole scene happening in front of her.
He pat the shoulder of the one who had pushed the grandfather uncle.
Yes, It was Koenji.
Koenji was his last trump card to win.
Bell walked towards the golden chicken like a king who owned the world, smug grin plastered across his face.
It's smell was enough for Bell to nearly faint in craving.
As Bell reached his hands towards it.
Suddenly, a wild axe was flung from somewhere, directly slicing through the whole food table, along with his golden chicken, making it fly for a moment, then fall to the dirty ground.
Bell stood frozen for a moment, his smug grin frozen on his face.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!!!" Bell roared at the top of his lungs, his shout echoing across the whole gathering.
"Who?! Who?!!!" Bell roared at the surroundings, feeling the urge to kill for the first time.
"Your M@#$%^^$@@$%**^%$#@@@!!$%^^&&*%$$#@"