After confirming their plan, the woman and the masked man slipped out of the darkness—unaware that the entire scene had been witnessed by Bell from atop the eaves.
'The upper ranks of Evilus actually know that Freya is meeting with me tomorrow? Until now, only Freya and that person with no sense of self knew about it.'
The waitress certainly wouldn't leak something like this on her own. After all, this was directly tied to Freya's safety. And that waitress named Horn was Freya's shadow—she would never betray her like that.
So then, who leaked the information?
Bell's face twitched a few times before the realization hit him. The only person who could ignore Freya's safety and still accurately leak the information to Evilus... was Freya herself.
"Freya, you've really gone too far this time."
If the one who leaked it was Freya, then her motive was easy enough to guess. But that motive gave Bell a headache.
He could already imagine what kind of bloody scene tomorrow's meeting would turn into.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle a scene like that. But Freya's move was just too much—using herself as bait just to test his capabilities. Hadn't she already figured that out?
'If I'm not mistaken, tomorrow Freya will probably give the order for everyone above Level 5 to stand down, right? No, if she really goes overboard, she might even forbid them from leaving the Familia base.'
Just imagining that situation made Bell feel like he'd walked right into her trap. He was just an ordinary, weak adventurer—why did she have to force him to reveal his strength?
Taking a deep breath, Bell slowly exhaled, letting the frustration leave with it.
'But if I can avoid exposing myself, I should.'
The "Hostess of Fertility" wasn't some closed-off tavern. Even in the morning, people would be passing by. And if Freya appeared inside without hiding her identity, the chances of attracting attention were far too high.
If he revealed his power here, Bell could already see the headlines: "Hestia's child kills a Level 5!"
Bell was still very much against being in the spotlight. Once he gained fame, he'd become a target. He preferred working quietly in the shadows.
'In that case, I'll need to make some careful preparations.'
The key was the setup around the "Hostess of Fertility." If he wanted to handle this without showing off his strength, he had to rely on what he did best.
Sometimes, charging in with brute force was just a sign of carelessness.
Not letting others easily obtain information about himself—that was a rule every cautious person should live by.
After thinking for a moment, Bell flickered through the shadows a few times and appeared a kilometer away, right in front of the "Hostess of Fertility."
From the outside, it looked like a two-story building. But only the first floor housed the tavern—the second floor was where the waitresses lived.
The exterior design and scale were both quite refined—it had to be the work of the Goibniu Familia. In Orario, there weren't many Familias capable of constructing high-end buildings, and Goibniu was known for offering the best combination of value and practicality.
Of course, their prices were also the highest. But you got what you paid for. While their fees were steep, the Goibniu Familia's efficiency made it worth it.
Bell was well aware of this.
Back when his Familia first got off the ground and earned its first pot of gold, his initial thought had been to hire the Goibniu Familia to handle construction. But after considering that letting outsiders control the layout of their base could be risky, he ultimately decided to build it himself using Runes.
Maybe the design wasn't as polished, but with Runes, the place had a raw, natural charm to it. In some ways, it wasn't any worse than what Goibniu could offer.
Bell swept his gaze across the area.
'There are legit taverns nearby, along with a bunch of accessory shops and food stalls...'
The whole area gave off a bit of a night market vibe.
'This is a great location. Honestly, you couldn't ask for a better spot.'
The "Hostess of Fertility" sat right at a bend in Daedalus Street. Less than two kilometers to the left was Daedalus Square—the entrance to the Dungeon. Head a few minutes to the right, and you'd arrive at the Guild headquarters.
In other words, unless they were like Bell and deliberately took a different path, nearly every adventurer coming out of the Dungeon would pass by the "Hostess of Fertility."
That was exactly why the tavern had such consistent foot traffic, even during lunchtime.
'There's a lot more to deal with now.'
Bell felt a slight headache coming on but continued working through solutions in his mind.
Handling this issue wasn't just about covering the interior of the "Hostess of Fertility."
'I'll need to leave extra room in the setup. The other side is using barrier magic, so the area affected will probably cover the entire tavern. That means my setup has to exceed that range.'
'Given that, I'll have to expand the effective area and also layer in some illusions around the place. I'll need to discourage too many adventurers from entering as well.'
...
Bell needed complete control over the situation. He had to avoid drawing too much attention—and still deal with Freya's 'interest.'
Having thought things through, Bell got to work.
The Runes were deployed quickly. To avoid attracting attention, he embedded them into the walls this time.
As he worked, Bell stayed alert to the people around him.
When the crowds started to grow, he focused on setting up Runes along the streets first, then moved on to the surrounding area.
After nearly half a day, the foundational setup was complete.
Bell let out a slow breath.
'Now all that's left is tomorrow.'
...
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