"Hmm~~~"
After returning home, Bell finally let his body relax.
With a light wave of his hand, he tossed his hooded coat into the four-dimensional space. Inside his home, he no longer needed to maintain the visual-interference state.
Still, just outside the house he had remained cautious. He wouldn't let his guard down completely in that area.
Once through the front door, Bell headed straight to the secret room beneath his first-floor bedroom—the hidden workshop even Hestia didn't know about.
The moment he stepped inside, he truly relaxed.
He lifted his arm and dropped onto the soft recliner he had specially prepared in the workshop.
"Ah~~~ Finally wrapped up all the troublesome business in Orario."
At last, Bell could completely unwind.
Total relaxation. No need to think about caution or strategy—just letting everything go.
After nearly five minutes of resting, Bell slowly opened his eyes. He took out a blank notebook from the four-dimensional space and began writing in Runic Letters.
"With Evilus—Orario's biggest problem—taken care of, We don't have anything left here for me to worry about. The only thing left is my own growth."
Now, Bell could finally breathe easy.
The total destruction of Evilus was the best outcome for him. Without those people stirring things up behind the scenes, he finally had a much better environment to grow.
Even so, he still had plenty of trouble on his hands.
"I revealed way too much this time."
"But no matter how much I exposed, the gods were going to zero in on me anyway. That was exactly what I wanted."
Yes—given his current level of power, being noticed by the gods was inevitable. That was why Bell chose to reveal himself, though not completely.
He exposed the identity he could afford to show.
What he kept hidden was his other, far more important identity.
Using the exposed identity as a decoy for the real one—this plan wasn't perfect, but it was enough to shift part of the attention onto the decoy and let him slip away from the role he'd been playing.
Still, it wouldn't hold for long.
"Two years? Or maybe one?"
"The exposed identity should at least shield me from the gods' attention for a year."
"If Hestia, Hephaestus, Freya, Loki, and Artemis help divert attention, I should be able to keep the truth hidden for about a year."
A year was still a bit short, but considering none of those gods were fools, a year was probably the absolute limit.
Still…
"A year should be enough."
It wasn't a long time, but it was enough for Bell to grow.
Whether in the past or now, what Bell needed most was time and an environment where he could develop.
As long as he had the right surroundings and enough time, Bell would grow quickly.
At this point in his notes, Bell paused for a moment.
"Less than half a year in Orario, and I've already reached Lv.6. I guess this pace is still barely acceptable."
"The speed won't stay this fast for the next level-ups."
It really was a troublesome issue, and even Bell felt a faint headache as he wrote.
"My growth speed is fine. For the materials to break through Lv.8, that Spirit will do. But the materials for entering Lv.9 require the 'Sword Princess'… and that's the real headache."
Bell could guarantee his own growth would remain fast enough. Given the chance, reaching Lv.9 within a year wouldn't be a problem. The issue was that the Sword Princess couldn't keep up.
Even his breakthrough to Lv.8 wouldn't be particularly slow—actually, it would be quite fast—but the jump from Lv.8 to Lv.9 was an entirely different matter.
After all, one of the requirements for him to reach Lv.9 was that the Sword Princess reach full accumulation at Lv.7. Otherwise, how would her parents ever allow her the conditions needed to reach Lv.8?
"Looks like the biggest issue going forward is still the Sword Princess."
"Her growth is too slow. I'll have to spend some time on her."
The truth was, Bell hated wasting time on things like this.
"That's exactly why I hate forming a familia."
A group of people who can't keep up is a real pain.
If you put effort into helping your familia improve, your own speed drops.
If you devote time to helping people of the same familia grow, you sacrifice your own precious time. No matter how you look at it, building a familia is completely inefficient. It's better to just solve everything yourself.
A companion's strength is a companion's strength—it's not yours.
Bell had hoarder tendencies and a deep fear of lacking firepower.
If it was something he could solve alone, the best option was always to handle it alone. Once people got involved, unexpected complications would follow—and Bell hated complications most of all.
So Bell naturally disliked familias with many members.
For Hestia's Familia, he alone was more than enough. Everyone else was unnecessary.
After recording the current situation, Bell put the notebook back into his four-dimensional space and lay there lazily.
"The gods atop the Tower of Babel are still watching the expedition team's progress."
"Hestia and the others won't come back this early, which means I've still got some time to rest."
"Hmm~~~ Alright. After more than ten days of running around, I finally wrapped up the Evilus mess. There's still a small loose end, but it's not a big deal."
Filvis and Lefiya were firmly part of the 'Orange Faction' now. Once he handled Filvis's strange side, she wouldn't be causing any trouble either.
"Looks like I can take a few days off."
With Evilus handled, Bell felt much more at ease.
These past two days, he'd hardly slept at all, juggling the Evilus mess and the expedition team's planning.
Now that the pressure was off, taking a few days to readjust felt necessary.
…
But while Bell relaxed, a village thousands of miles away was anything but peaceful.
...
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