Five minutes later, Loki sat on Bell's lap, grumbling with an annoyed look on her face.
"You mocked my figure. Let's see if you dare do it again."
Bell, with Loki perched on him, stared up at the ceiling in helpless silence. His face and arms were covered in bite marks—proof that Loki had just launched a full-scale counterattack using the second-hardest set of teeth on her body.
'Let's see if I dare next time!'
Right now, Bell wanted nothing more than to return the favor, leaving matching bite marks all over Loki. But that was something he couldn't say aloud, or her teeth would surely get to work again.
He rubbed his bitten face. A faint green glow of healing light flashed, and the marks quickly faded away.
"So, is everyone planning to go out for this year's Holy Moon Festival?"
"It's a rare holiday. We should at least enjoy it a little."
"In that case, I'll need to make some preparations."
Going out during the festival wasn't a problem. Bell just needed a bit of time to get ready.
"Safety devices again?"
Loki, resting her head against Bell's chest, was in a much better mood after venting. But hearing about his "preparations" reminded her all too well of his inventions.
"These are necessary safety measures."
Bell adjusted Loki's head slightly as he spoke, feeling the need to explain his reasoning.
"Even though Orario and Evilus still maintain their unspoken truce, that doesn't mean some lunatic won't try to cause trouble. I can't stand that kind of uncertainty, so it's best to take precautions in advance."
"And…"
"And?"
"Hmm… Festivals like this always make my nerves twitch. I can't shake the feeling that something big will happen, just like during the last Monsterphilia."
'That's because your condition is way too serious.'
The four goddesses all thought the same thing at once. They knew Bell's greatest flaw—his caution and paranoia had practically become an illness. Compared to ordinary Adventurers, his case was clearly worse.
Still, none of them rejected Bell's preparations. Given the current circumstances, they too had to consider safety.
After the conversation ended, Bell set Loki, who had been sitting on his lap, aside and immediately headed for the basement he had specially prepared.
In his first-floor room, he opened his wardrobe. Inside was an empty space, just large enough for one person to stand.
Knock knock knock!
Three light taps echoed against the back wall of the wardrobe. The wooden panel there slid aside, revealing a space large enough for one person to stand.
Bell stepped inside, and his figure quickly vanished within the enclosed space.
A spatial transfer Magic array.
One thousand meters below the same coordinates, Bell's figure reappeared.
Surveying the underground office space he had built himself, a profound sense of 'peace' welled up from deep within him.
"Indeed, staying within my own base is the most reassuring feeling."
This sense of peace was unlike anything he had felt before. They say construction and forging are a man's greatest slowdown zones. Back on TikTok, Bell had experienced that firsthand—things like knife-making competitions and wilderness building were exactly his type of enjoyment. As for the dancing girls? Frankly, even now, Bell couldn't see what was so appealing about them.
Building an underground lab within his own secret base only amplified that sense of security tenfold.
He removed his trench coat and tossed it by the entrance to the Dungeon, then continued deeper into the castle alone.
After winding through several turns, he entered a vast, empty chamber. Only when Bell closed the door did the entire room illuminate. At its center, a 3D miniature map shimmered into view.
Circular in design, with a towering spire rising from the middle—this was the layout of the labyrinth city, Orario. The holographic projection served as a complete three-dimensional map of the city.
This map was specially crafted by Bell. In addition to it, he had surveillance feeds covering corresponding areas throughout the city. This was part of his ongoing preparations for the inevitable confrontation with Evilus.
Bell habitually checked whether the image captures from every sector were functioning smoothly.
Swish, swish, swish! Countless scenes from Orario's night markets were projected onto the map, each area displayed as a small thumbnail of moving images.
"Hmm, no damage has occurred anywhere."
That, of course, was the expected result.
When designing these visual capture devices, Bell had even embedded Cognitive Obstruction barriers into them. This ensured they appeared natural and unremarkable to passersby, preventing any suspicion from being drawn to their presence.
Fights were common throughout Orario, and some inevitably led to property damage. However, such destruction was rare on the main streets—unless someone launched a large-scale attack against the city itself.
"The streets and alleys are essentially fully covered. Any activity out there will be recorded here."
Surveillance over all non-private areas of Orario was now complete. The next step was to replicate this system and assign its basic monitoring functions to the Guild.
Bell couldn't spend every day sitting here, watching the map himself. Professional tasks like this were better handled by 2.0-level specialists.
Take "Perseus," for example. She was perfectly suited for behind-the-scenes work—putting her on the front lines would be a waste of talent.
On that note, Bell thought it might be worth speaking with the god Hermes.
The Holy Moon Festival was approaching, and according to the tales he knew, Hermes was the one who had brought the arrow of the moon goddess Artemis to Orario. Reaching out to him now seemed like the natural course of action.
However, before negotiating with Hermes, Bell still needed to finish preparations for the upcoming Holy Moon Festival. Hestia seemed particularly enthusiastic, her excitement clearly showing as it would be her first time participating.
With that thought in mind, Bell promptly set to work.