"I've finally made it, damn my legs are aching." He spoke after finally reaching Orario on foot when it was deep in the evening and the sun was about to dip behind the horizon, not much time was probably left before the night began.
The city walls of Orario were massive from up close, climbing them would probably take forever for anyone, though he understood his take forever was according to average human standards, not including those monstrous Level 1 or Level 2 adventures, not to mention those above.
"It's a really unique atmosphere permeating here." He mumbled under his breath as he watched carriages go in and out of the main gates of Orario, looking like some castle gates from medieval era.
People on foot stood in a line from the city gates stretching all the way to the place he was standing at. Without another word, he quietly fell in line and waited for his turn patiently, while letting his thoughts turn towards his choices and future.
'So, the question now is which Familia to join?' He thought while looking absently at the back of the burly man standing in front of him in the line, grumbling under his breath about it getting colder since the sun was about to go down.
When Gods came down to the mortal world they call 'Tenkai', It was not merely to guide and help humanity against the ancient monsters which roamed the land in the era long ago, It was also a way for them, who were eternal and changeless beings to experience transient things and changes of the mortal world, just like most mortals want to become immortal and changeless, Gods who were born changeless and immortal similarly wanted to experience what change and living in a transient world felt like.
It is the nature of mind to seek what we do not have, apparently it was true for mortals and Gods alike.
Hence, they descended from Heaven or 'Genkai' and gave mortals a chance to increase their strength and awaken skills by themselves, by bestowing a special inked tattoo referred to as 'Falna' to people.
It worked similarly to stats panels like those from MMO's, where you could increase your physical stats and magic by killing monsters, though it was never clarified in the Danmachi story about how it was made and it's inner workings.
When a God grants you their Falna, you are considered their Familia, or family since a person can only have the Falna of a single God at a time and you need to get it constantly updated from your Familia God to quantify and merge the gained 'Exelia' into an adventurers body.
So, which God's Familia should he choose to join? As far as he knew, at this time, the story had yet to start. There were the two kings of Orario, the Freya Familia and Loki Familia, then there was the Hestia Familia of Goddess Hestia, along with some other choices.
The first to leave the list should be the Freya Familia, since it was a Familia of simps who simped over their Goddess Freya, and there was always infighting happening inside Folkvangr, the headquarters of the Freya Familia.
The second to leave the list is the Hephaestus Familia, with that Familia being a production one and made up of blacksmiths, which was not what he had in mind for a Familia he would like to join.
That left the Loki Familia, along with Hestia Familia and some other minor Familia's like Takemikazuchi's or Hermes's. Though Hestia Familia was a great choice, since it was the Familia his predecessor chose, rather the only Familia willing to take him in.
But, he had to think critically, as much as Hestia was a sweet and loving Goddess, when it came to responsible and serious things, Hestia was not upto the mark, even though she got better after Bell joined, It still was not enough since his Familia choice could be the difference between like and death.
This was no longer a story but his reality, and he had no illusions about having any kind of plot armour like his predecessor, just look, he died by slipping and plating his head on a rock, where was his supposed plot armour as a protagonist?
Hestia, Freya and Hephaestus Familia's were not suitable for him, Loki Familia was indeed the best choice among them all, but there was a huge problem with choosing Loki Familia, since he knew himself well, his body and strength as of now were below average, with no training in martial arts, nor any innately awakened magic, hence as of now even if he wanted, Loki Familia would not take him in, since right now, he was not worthy.
"Watch where you're walking, kid." The burly man ahead of him grunted in surprise after something bumped into his back and tuned his head sideways and spoke in warning.
"Hmm.... sorry about that Uncle, I was lost in my thoughts." He was jolted awake from his thoughts and spoke after accidently bumping into the back of the burly man standing ahead of him after walking closer to the main entrance in the waiting line.
Then his yes wandered ahead to guards in medieval adventurers clothing asking questions and checking people at the gate just some paces ahead of his place in the line.
After waiting for some time for his own turn, Bell let the guards at the entrance ask some causal questions and check him, after which he was finally allowed inside Orario.
As he stepped into the city, his mind once again echoed with the same thought, 'Which Familia should I join?' as he set his first step on the soil of the dungeon city Orario.