A fancy cafe on the upper floors of Babel. The sort that a newbie adventurer should never be able to afford... normally.
Of course, I was far from normal at this point.
Lili gulped and looked around the cafe, doing her best to not shift in place.
I didn't blame her. Just a casual look around showed that this was a place for the elite adventurers, the ritzy merchants, or those favored by people in high places.
First of all, all the furniture and decor were made of materials from the Deep Floors. There were pelts from monsters that only Level 5 and higher adventurers could kill. The tables and chairs were made of ores that could only be found past the 40th floor. And the food being served were made by adventurers with high level Cooking skills, and made with rare monster ingredients and herbs that gave a mild status increase for a short while after eating the dish.
To me, of course, it didn't mean much. After all, I had a completely cheat crafting system and my best buddy was the foremost blacksmith in Orario. But to Lili...
Lili let out a nervous chuckle and said, "Lili thanks Mister Bell for taking her to such an expensive cafe..."
I chuckled as well and said, "You're welcome."
Lili swallowed and carefully eyed me. "...Mister Bell will not make Lili pay, will he...? M-Mister Bell invited me, so..."
I waved my hand. "Relax. I'll pay for everything here... and more later too."
Lili slowly nodded. But then she caught what I said and blinked. "Later?"
I just smiled.
Lili started to sweat a bit and quickly stammered. "L-Lili is sorry for leaving without saying anything earlier. I-It just... L-Lili thought that she would intrude and so Lili left. Lili did not have any intentions to run away... Lili promises."
"It's fine." I relaxed and placed my arm over the back of my chair. "I don't mind. Besides, it's not like you could actually run anyway since you're using the lovely system my daughters made."
Fina and Bella didn't intend for anyone to notice it. And most people wouldn't be able to tell that Lili had a 'system' masquerading as a skill.
But it'd be impossible for me to not notice traces of my daughters and their mana lingering on someone. Well, that and there was the fact that Lili was carrying a lot of trinkets made by Pyrrha too which radiated a unique aura.
Lili let out a nervous laugh.
At that time, a waitress walked over to take our orders.
I ordered for us, picking out some fancy cuts of roast and some pricey wine. Then I stared at Lili.
Lili gulped and sipped on a glass of water the waitress had left behind. "I-Is there something wrong, M-Mister Bell?"
I hummed and smiled. "Nothing wrong per se. Just..."
"J-Just...?"
I had to resist the urge to laugh because it would completely terrify Lili. But man... it seemed like she really had a guilty conscience huh?
Anyway...
I reached into my shirt and pulled out a stack of papers before sliding it over to Lili. "Read those and sign them."
Lili let out another nervous laugh and said, "L-Lili is not in the habit of perusing strange documents, Mister Bell..."
"It's just the standard familia transfer forms from the guild. You can take a look if you want. But." I smiled wider while keeping my eyes firm. "You will sign them. Since you enabled my daughters to pick up bad habits, you'll have to pay the proper compensation."
Lili swallowed and cautiously pulled the papers over, giving them a thorough read.
I waited, sipping on my own glass of water.
After a while, Lili looked up and said, "Mister Bell... really wants me to join the Hestia familia?"
I nodded. "It's not that I want you to join. It's that you will be joining. You know too much and have too much now."
Lili looked like she wanted to run. But she realized that she couldn't. She wracked her mind for a while longer and then slid the papers back, shaking her head. "As much as Lili would like to, Lili is still part of the Soma familia so Lili has to receive permission-"
I pulled out another paper and slid it across the table. "Don't worry. I came prepared."
Lili froze and stared at the paper, her eyes wide.
I didn't blame her.
It was an affidavit from Soma himself saying that he was approving the transfer. And considering how that guy usually kept to himself and ignored his familia, it must have been a tremendous surprise to her.
Of course, it didn't take much from me to finagle that out of him. To begin with, Soma wasn't really a bad guy. He was just... well, a not very good parent or guardian.
But after I made a quick trip to the Soma familia headquarters, knocked a few heads around, tossed Soma some ingredients to help remove some of the more intoxicating properties of his wine, and then dragged their corrupt family head to the guild to report for various crimes like embezzlement, coercion, trafficking, etc. etc., it was a done deal.
Lili was quiet. After staring at the affidavit a bit longer, she sighed and then looked up at me. Her light brown eyes seemed to shimmer for a moment before she said, "Why, Mister Bell?"
"Why what?" I tilted my head.
"Why go through all this effort for me?"
Was it because she was serious? Or because she was genuinely confused?
Lili had dropped talking in the first person and was staring at me with a deep and searching gaze.
Seeing that, I sat up straight and got serious too.
Lili frowned and said, "If it was just compensation, you would not go through all this trouble. And I do not think Mister Bell is someone wicked enough to entrap a person into a familia... and I know that Lady Hestia would not allow it." She paused and said, "Mister Bell is being forceful, but..." She looked up and said, "...You are doing this to protect me. Aren't you?"
I blinked. Then I chuckled. "Well... He said you were quick on the uptake. But I didn't think you were this quick."
Cranel had mentioned that Lili helped him a lot in his timeline.
Since I'd never really interacted with her properly, I doubted it a bit. But piecing all of this out and even setting aside the intimidating setup I put on to keep her off-kilter...
'She's definitely someone to keep an eye on.'
And it also made me wish Cranel would tell me more... but after cornering the guy last time, he had vanished somewhere.
Lili was quiet. And then she said, "Then I'm right? Mister Bell is recruiting me to protect me?"
I looked at Lili and said, "Mm... well." I smiled and said, "I can't have the first customer of my daughters and my niece disappear in a ditch somewhere, can I?"
Lili blinked. Then after a moment, she laughed. The tension faded a bit from her and then she said, "Mister Bell... is not a very honest man, is he?"
"Hey." I frowned. "I'm extraordinarily honest. I just... omit information every now and then and decide to be particularly choosy about the truths I say."
It was a necessity when the verdict was still up in the air about whether
Either way, good habit to be careful about the words coming out of my mouth. And thoughts too.
Lili hummed, rereading the documents one more time. Then she looked up and said, "If Lili joins... will she be safe?" A faint hope. A slight yearning.
I gave her a warm smile and said, "Isn't that obvious? To me, family is everything. And when you join, you'd be a part of that."
"Family..." Lili murmured. Then she nodded and said, "Okay. Lili will... I'll trust you. Just this once... and only because I owe Fina, Bella, and Pyrrha a lot."
I pulled out a pen and handed it to Lili. "That you do. And rest assured. I always fulfill what's expected of me." I paused and said, "Unless you're coming onto me romantically, because that ship has sailed and left harbor already."
Tia was number one, and Freya was number two. That was the max.
Because while Bell Cranel might be a harem protagonist, I, Bell KRANEL was most definitely not. Even if the setup and settings were all there, I was more of a romcom lead-
Goddammit.
Okay, break that flag. We are NOT going for the usual heartbreak ending of a romcom where one girl gets left in the dust...
Lili laughed and signed the form. "It's okay, Mister Bell. You aren't Lili's type anyway."
I blinked. "Wait, really?"
Lili smiled and said, "Did Lili hurt Mister Bell's ego? Mister Bell is handsome and capable... and rich too. But... Lili doesn't like the forceful type."
"Rude. I'm totally gentle and caring towards women."
Lili gave me a blank stare. Then she looked down at the papers she had just signed and a look around the very expensive cafe that would bankrupt her if she was left to pay on her own, or if she damaged anything.
I coughed and looked to the side. "...Okay. Maybe a little."
Lili giggled.
At that time, the waitress came back with the food.
I paid in advance and then looked at Lili. "Alright. So tell me a bit more about yourself, Miss Arde. Just how and why did you decide to take up the offer of my lovely daughters and niece and get wrapped up in their little system game?" I paused. "No, before that, how about you tell me a bit about yourself. Dreams, aspirations, wishes... things like that."
Lili paused. "Before then, Mister Bell... can Lili ask a question?"
"Yeah, of course."
Lili hesitated. Then she said, "...Will you send Lili to fight? Are you recruiting Lili because of the war game?"
I blinked. And then I facepalmed.
Lili flinched. But then she looked confused. "...Mister Bell?"
"I have TERRIBLE timing as always... but no. I just came to recruit you because it's something that had to be done at some point... not to mention Fina and Bella were asking about you. And while I'll make sure you can defend yourself, you don't have to go into the dungeon with me and Welf if you don't want to. Tia is thinking about setting up an inn with all the new girls, so you can probably just help manage that if you really want."
Lili took in everything I just said. Then she laughed.
"What?" I frowned. "I'm serious."
Lili smiled. "Lili knows. And that's why it's so funny." She leaned on the table and rested her head on her hands. "No wonder Fina and Bella say their Papa always gets into trouble."
"What? Hold on, just what else have my daughters been saying to you?"
"Secret~"
"Oi!"
Lili laughed.
I sighed.
===
After the meal, Lili headed off to the church by herself to finish the transfer to the Hestia familia.
I was glad that it went fairly smoothly... though I learned that my daughters had quite the distorted opinion on me.
What do you mean I get into trouble? And that I flirt too much? No, where did you girls even learn what flirting means?! Plus, I don't ramble!
I grumbled and walked into the VIP elevator leading to the top of Babel where Freya's personal penthouse was. "Well, whatever. One thing done... Now." I watched the elevator doors close and then started thinking about the next steps. "...Time to clear things up with Freya."