Familia Myth: Journey to Hero
is an Alternate Universe fanfiction of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? written by Kairomaru.
The basic premise is that besides changes in the backstory, Bell himself takes a more proactive role in his adventuring, actively learning from his advisor Eina everything she could teach him, resulting in him being a far more efficient adventurer earlier on. While he is still treated as a rookie, he is doing better than he otherwise would starting out.
This fic contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Ace: Bell quickly becomes known as the "Ideal Rookie" to the Guild Employees for his spectacular performance so early in his career.
- Adaptation Deviation: During this work's version of the Quest x Quest story, Naaza does not try to con Bell with sub-par potions, at all. Lili does check to make sure, but Naaza does not mind her caution.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Bell is more confident in himself, which results in him reacting differently to a drunk Bete bad-mouthing him at the Hostess of Fertility. In canon, he runs away crying. Here, he passive-aggressively orders a round of drinks for everyone in the Loki Familia while specifically excluding Bete, making a good impression on them and the employees of the pub.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Along with his canon abilities, Bell also gains the spell Vesta Enhance, which boosts all of his basic abilities for five minutes in battle.
- Lily reaches Level 2 after the adventure of getting to the Eighteenth Floor.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In canon, Bell and Hestia were merely friends in spite of Hestia's one-sided affections for her familia member. Here, they are in a relationship.
- Downplayed between Bell and Syr. While they are still friends, the con Syr pulled on him in canon colors his perception of her here.
- Freya appears to lose interest in Bell due to how the Miracle has changed his soul.
- Tione isn't interested in Finn, deciding to give herself a chance with Bell.
- Adaptational Wealth:
- Bell manages to land a windfall by getting an extremely rare Drop Item, which turned Hestia Familia around from barely getting by to being able to afford a full home renovation. And when Lili joins, she transfers the wealth she spent years saving to the familia, further improving their finances.
- Thanks to Bell helping Naaza develop a new potion by gathering special ingredients, Miach is able to bring his Familia out of debt, and Hestia offering them a garden to grow their own ingredients sets them on the path of earning more of a profit.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. Bell takes a month longer in reaching Level 2, but in exchange he's much stronger.
- Adapted Out: There is no war game against Soma Familia in this fic. Instead, Hestia and her Familia go to the Soma Familia and the goddess gets Soma to allow Lili to convert.
- All for Nothing: Subverted. At first, it seems like Lili will lose the wealth she accumulated to escape Soma Familia, but Bell manages to track down Kanu and retrieve her key and the other items him and his cronies stole from her.
- All or Nothing: Bell's Thunderbolt spell is a powerful magic attack that uses up all his Mind, triggering a Mind Down. If he uses it and it fails to deal with the target, he becomes a sitting duck.
- Alternate Universe: Prior to the story's start, the Ganesha Familia and Ouranos reveal the existence of the sentient monsters, Xenos. They lied about some details, but they make it clear every Xenos has the protection of the Ganesha Familia and that to knowingly attack one will be treated as an attack on the Ganesha Familia.
- Bait-and-Switch: Hestia is upset when Lili kisses Bell. Lili assumes it's because of jealousy, but Hestia is upset that she didn't join the relationship properly first before kissing him.
- Benevolent Conspiracy: Ganesha and Ouranos spread lies on how the Xenos came about to protect the Xenos. It seems to work as seeing the Xenos on the surface in Ganesha Familia clothing reduces the masses' fear of them and any Xenos found in the dungeons are brought to them and all Xenos are treated as a full member of the Ganesha familia.
- Born Lucky:
- Bell's first stroke of luck is finding a very rare monster with a guaranteed item drop worth at least a million valis.
- Lily is dumbfounded Bell is getting so many item drops from the monsters he slays in defiance of the normal expected drop rates. She lampshades this when she outright questions him if Hestia has "Luck" as one of her divine domains after Bell gains a second spell so soon after his first one.
- This seems to rub off on her, since her first status upgrade as part of Hestia Familia shows she has a skill that makes it easier to obtain item drops and materials from dead monsters.
- And made even more obvious when Bell gets the Luck Developmental Ability when he reaches Level 2 along with Hunter, due to having a Miracle thanks to his grandfather Zeus.
- Broke the Rating Scale: It's a truism that an adventurer's skills have a cap at S-999, forcing people to level up if they want to continue improving those skills. Thanks to Liaris Freese, Bell is capable of breaking the limit and push his skills to SSS-level.
- Cliffhanger: The last scene of Chapter 18 is Hestia getting a letter from Freya where Hestia learns that Freya noticed the change in Bell from the Miracle Zeus granted him.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Subverted. Eina thinks Hestia is upset over her closeness with Bell, but Hestia clears up the misunderstanding and explains she's actually quite happy to share him, giving Eina explicit permission to pursue a relationship with Bell in spite of her own relationship with him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Bell accidentally falls into the pond and sees the girls naked, Lefiya attempts to vaporize him with high level magic.
- Divine Date: The mortal Bell and the goddess Hestia enter into a relationship that quickly becomes sexually intimate. While Bell is initially worried about how others would take this kind of thing, Hestia quickly assures him relationships between mortals and the divinity are common.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: Defied. A Gnome trader in second-hand goods tells Bell he cannot afford to haggle, so it's either the listed price or no deal.
- Dual Wielding: To be a better Adventurer, Bell dual-wields knives in the Dungeon. It eventually earns him the skill "Dual Wield", which boosts his stats when wielding a weapon in each hand.
- Elves Versus Dwarves: Riveria the elf and Gareth the dwarf constantly needle each other because of their respective race, and this is considered progressively friendly by the standards of both their races.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Freya speaks of the possibility of her and Hestia becoming friends, she notes it would take a miracle for their relationship to change... which leads to her realizing that Bell's soul changed because of a Miracle.
- Farm Boy: What Bell was before becoming an adventurer. His experience in corralling chickens lets him capture and kill the Jack Bird early in his career.
- Foreshadowing: In the flashback in Chapter 1, Bell's grandfather gave him a drink that he said was as good as the Ambrosia of the Gods. Chapter 16 reveals it was the Ambrosia of the Gods when Bell receives a Miracle.
- Harem Seeker: Hestia, Eina, and Lili are willing to help Bell have multiple girls, settling at a maximum of eight. Bell is shocked at how willing they are to share him with potential women they never met. Ais, Tiona, and Tione make it clear they are willing to share when they meet him in the Eighteenth Floor, and Ryu starts to feel herself attracted to him after their encounter at the pond.
- Hope Is Scary: Poor Lili has had experience with Adventurers who seemed nice, but would eventually turn on her. As such, she is having extreme difficulty believing that Bell could be any different.
- Horrible Housing: Defied. While the church Bell and Hestia lived in started out rundown, Bell manages to earn a windfall, allowing them to afford some much-needed renovations and turn the place into something far better suited for living in.
- I Was Just Joking: Bell jokes to his party about fighting a second Infact Dragon that day and immediately says he was kidding when they encounter said monster.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- In spite of his better foundational skills, Bell still ends up needing to be saved by Ais from a minotaur and still develops the skill Liaris Freese.
- Even though Bell doesn't run off after being saved by the Sword Princess, Bete still makes fun of him when he gets drunk.
- Lili still turns on Bell, and Bell has to rescue her from her Familia's thugs.
- Bell reaches Level 2 by defeating the Minotaur trained by Ottar.
- Ryu is still the one to tell Bell about the history of Rakia and the Crozzo family.
- Bell's party still falls victim to the Takemikazuchi's Pass Parade in spite of them being overall stronger at that point in time.
- Hestia still joins the search party into the dungeon despite being more responsible.
- It Can Think: Like canon, there are Xenos, monsters capable of higher-order thinking like the various races. Unlike canon, all of Orario knows about them due to Ganesha and Ouranos making different decisions on how best to protect them.
- Living Emotional Crutch: When Ais is around Bell, she can forget her troubles with the plant monsters and irregulars and all other associated problems. Her own familia noticed that she's happier around him than without.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Much like in canon, Hestia hides Liaris Freese from Bell because he's a Bad Liar.
- Love Across Battlelines: Downplayed. It's generally ill-advised for there to be cross-familia romantic encounters. It's possible for it to work out, but the sheer complications are something everyone involved has to keep in mind.
- Mating Dance: When Bell meets Tione and Tiona at a public dance, he ends up finding himself as the filling of an Amazon sandwich. The fact that the musician was playing a spell song that increased desires while lowering inhibitions was helping.
- Moment Killer: Tione, Tiona, and Aiz are furious with their fellow familia members for interrupting their moment with Bell. The twins outright attack their own comrades over it.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: What Bell unleashes on Kanu and his thugs after they take Lili's things and abandon her to die.
- The Nose Knows: Aki is able to tell Tione and Tiona had sex with Bell the night before because she can still smell the fluids even after they washed up.
- One-Hit Kill: In his first day as a Level 2 Adventurer, Bell kills an Infant Dragon with one oversized Firebolt.
- One-Man Army: Bell can easily take down large groups of monsters on his own.
- Polyamory: In Orario, harems and polycules are a common sight. Some are centered around a god or goddess while others are between mortal Adventurers. It is Justified by the fact that Adventurers lead dangerous lives and they cannot really afford taking things slowly.
- Random Drop Booster: A lot of the Top Supporters in Orario have the rare skill called Harvester which boosts drop rates, something Lili gains upon converting to the Hestia Familia.
- Rags to Riches: Bell finding and turning in a rare and valuable drop item called the Jack Bird's Golden Egg allows the Hestia Familia to go from barely keeping afloat to being able to afford to renovate their run-down home of a church.
- Relationship Upgrade:
- Bell and Hestia have theirs early in the story.
- Eina joins them shortly thereafter.
- Lili has her upgrade after joining Hestia Familia.
- Tiona and Tione tag team Bell while they are in Rivira.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Tiona and Tione are all too happy to show off their bodies to Bell when he falls in the pond the girls are bathing in, and both Hestia and Lili say that they could have found a private place for them and Bell if he wanted to watch. Meanwhile, Ais appears to cover up with a blush - but Bell notes that her arms and hand are placed to bring attention to everything.
- Shoe Slap: During the Denatus, Hestia throws one of her sandals to one God who was suggesting to nickname Bell "Caerbannog", and tells her nephew Hermes to retrieve it under threat of getting hit by her other sandal.
- Shout-Out:
- Bell's beatdown of Kanu is very reminiscent of Stewie Griffin.
- When trying to decide on a title for Bell following his level-up, one god suggests "Caerbannog".
- Sneeze Cut: When Hestia needs to have business with a Soma Familia member to be allowed into their home, she thinks of Lili, causing her to sneeze. Lili for her part thinks it was Bell who was thinking of her.
- Supreme Chef: Because Hestia's domains are Hearth, Home, and Family, she is good at cooking, a trait Bell enjoys.
- Stepford Smiler: Lili makes it a point to put on a cheerful front to Bell no matter what has happened to her.
- Tangled Family Tree: Hestia lampshades the fact that because of Zeus' promiscuous activities, the family relationships of his pantheon are a complete mess.
- Tears of Joy: Lili cries happy tears when Hestia and Bell invite and welcome her into their familia.
- Tempting Fate:
- After Hestia learns she could lock falnas so that they are invisible until she updates them, she thinks nothing will happen to cause her Familia members to lose their shirt and expose their falnas until she gets the chance to lock them. Sure enough, Bell loses his shirt fighting the Strengthened Minotaur and the Loki Familia sees his abnormally high stats.
- Eina makes sure to have a talk with Bell about how unwise it is to make reckless jokes in the dungeon.
- Hermes does it when he thinks his scheme of setting Mord on Bell to make the latter learn about humanity's darker side won't explode in his face.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: Tiona and Tione are both interested in Bell due to his huge potential as an adventurer, alongside his kind nature and willingness to learn. And if the Amazon sandwich during the public dance is anything to go by, the Hiryute sisters don't mind sharing.
- What If?:
- Hestia Familia being in a better economic position allows Hestia to demand Soma let Lily transfer to her familia far earlier than in canon.
- Bell gets the title Rabbit's Foot following his level up to Level 2 instead of Level 4 due to his better record.
- The Miracle Zeus gave Bell activating and changing his soul causes Freya to lose interest in Bell as a romantic target.
- Wrong Context Magic: Breaking all known rules, when Bell levels up to Level 2, he gets two Developmental Ability slots, not one. Hephaestus suspects someone gave Bell a Miracle that was waiting to occur once certain conditions were met and tells Hestia to not let anyone outside her familia know, and even then, she should not be fully honest with them.
- Yes-Man: Freya is surrounded by people that tells her only what she wants to her instead of being honest, which she finds exhausting.
