Bell walked away from the Twilight Manor and through the streets of Orario, the earlier fiasco behind him, now his thoughts were torn in two parts, one wanting to join the Astraea Familia and the other wanting to keep searching for a suitable Familia in Orario.
He calmly walked to a wooden bench near a central fountain and sat on it casually, while thinking about other Familia's in Orario.
Ishtar was a no-no since she was a public bus, Hermes was a no-no since he was obsessed with a so called last hero, Takemikazuchi and Miach already were or were about to be deep in debts for their Familia children, Ganesha Familia was also a no-no since he did not want to be on the hit list of Evilus so soon.
As he was agonizing over his thoughts, he was suddenly reminded of the disdain the Loki Familia guards regarded him with.
His knuckles turned white from clutching his hands after being reminded of that. Apparently it had affected him more than he would like to admit.
He understood, being weak was not a sin, but staying weak and not trying to change and get stronger was the sin, whether in this world or on Earth.
Thus, after some long and agonizing minutes, he finally made a decision about what to do.
'Guess it's time for a brief goodbye, Orario.' Bell thought in his mind with calculation while keeping his gaze on the Tower Of Babel piercing the sky.
He got up from the wooden bench with a stretch after making his decision, and started walking towards one of the outer gates of Orario.
Now, that he had made a decision, he would go through with it till the end.
"Hello, Big brother, are you going to the Sword-Smithing city, Solingen?" Bell spoke gently while looking at a carriage coach who looked like someone from the Far-East.
"Little bro, you want to hitch a ride to Solingen? The one in the Far-East?" The Far-Eastern man asked after taking a look at Bell and hearing his question.
"Yes, that one, though I only have about 100 valis, would they be enough for a one sided trip?" Bell asked with a hint of anxiousness, knowing that 100 valis were nowhere near enough to hitch a ride all the way to the Far-East.
"Well, it won't be enough, but our contingent can still take you if you do some menial tasks for us during the trip, like cleaning the carriage, washing the dishes and even hauling water for us, what do you say?" The man from Far-East asked with an awkward face while rubbing the back of his head with a goofy smile while extending his other hand for a shake.
"It would be nice to work with you.....by the way I'm Bell Cranel, fifteen years old, what about you?" Bell said with a gentle smile while taking his hand and firmly shaking it.
"My name is Koenji, You can call me big bro Koenji, little bro Bell." Koenji spoke while feeling the kindness radiating from Bell and returned it by shaking his hand with enthusiasm.
"Bell, you have everything you'd need on you right? Cause the whole contingent is leaving in about fifteen minutes, so you can get anything you might have left behind or might need in the journey from the streets, because we won't stop in any village before reaching Solingen." Koenji wrapped one of his hands across Bell's shoulder like old friends and reminded him to get anything he might need in the journey.
"Umm... I have everything I might need in the journey big bro Koenji, I just don't have any food and water, you won't let me starve amidst the journey, right?" Bell felt a bit awkward by the enthusiasm by this Far-Eastern big bro but teased him nonetheless to see how he'd react.
"Bell, you just broke my heart with your words, how can your big bro let you starve on the journey to Solingen? There is no need for you to think about food and water, if your big bro can't even cover that then he'd rather become your little bro." Koenji spoke with mock hurt while clutching the left side of his chest, acting like Bell's words really got to him and patted Bell's shoulder reassuringly with the other hand across his shoulder.
_____15 minutes later_______
"Let's go Bell, it's time to move." Koenji spoke while sitting on the driving seat of his wooden carriage as the contingent of wooden carriages started to move in a line towards the outer gate near them.
Bell quickly jumped into the back of Koenji's carriage which had a lot of goods stored inside and looked towards the Tower Of Babel from his sitting position in the carriage.
'When I first came to Orario, I was weak, so weak that any passing adventurer could end me in a moment, now that I'm leaving it, I'm still weak, so weak that even now I can be folded in a pretzel by other people who do not have Falna.'
'But the next time when I'll be back, I'll be stronger, stronger than now.'
'So what if I won't have [Liaris Freese], so what if I won't have [Argonaut], so what if I won't have [Argo Vesta].'
'I myself am enough, to someday overturn this whole Orario.'
Unbeknownst to Bell, somewhere deep inside him, a *click* sound of a Wheel turning resounded.