AN: Yeah, this is definitely getting an M rating. It went soo much further than I expected but first, I'm too lazy to change it, and second, I like it this way anyway.

Bell continued walking down the path. His two swords were sheathed behind his back, and he held his dagger in his hand, in a backward form.

"It's rare to see an elf fighting in such a style." Riveria commented.

"That's true. I never really had talent for magic, so I only use basic spells while mainly focusing on my physical abilities." Bell said, smiling, "My parents drilled the knowledge of spells into my head."

"I see. Wind Felicital is a very complex spell, I'm impressed you know it, especially without a falna."

"Haha…" Bell replied, "My parents had a goal they really wanted to achieve, and they decided to push that responsibility upon me."

"That sounds… similar to me." Riveria said, smiling, "My parents wanted me to be the next queen, so they forced me to learn all the proper manners and etiquette. I hated it, so I ran away."

"The… royal… family?" Bell's tone changed, "I… see…"

He thought for a moment.

"You should, stay away from me." He said.

"Why?"

"Because if you stay too close to me…" Bell paused again, "I'll be forced… to kill you."

–––

Riveria was shocked into silence.

"I'm… part of the former branch family." Bell said, "My parents were exiled."

"They wanted revenge for what they believed was done wrong." Bell continued, "So… they trained me to kill every single member of the royal family."

"If you stay near me, you'll die."

–––

Silence filled the camp.

"I'll… leave now." Bell said, standing up, "There's something I need to do."

Riveria continued sitting there in silence.

"You know, I'm glad the members of the royal family aren't as terrible as my parents would make them out to be." He smiled, "Thank you."

He stepped into the forest, disappearing into the shadows.

–––

"YOU FOUND A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY BUT DIDN'T KILL THEM?!" Bell's father screamed as he hit Bell on the side of his cheek with a heavy blow, "YOU COMPLETELY USELESS, WORTHLESS, PIECE OF TRASH!"

Another blow, another scream of rage.

"I'm… sorry…" Bel thought for a moment, before saying, "Actually no. I'm not."

"WHAT?!" His father screamed, hitting him again.

"I trained myself to kill them because you said they were evil. That they were cruel." Bell said, a resolute expression on his face, "But you lied to me. They aren't cruel, they aren't evil. They're elves, just like us. And I won't pride myself in killing innocents."

"YOU SAY THAT, EVEN WHEN THEY DROVE US OUT? WHEN THEY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST US JUST BECAUSE WE WERE PART OF THE BRANCH FAMILY? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN HOW THEY KILLED YOUR MOTHER?" His father screamed.

"If that's how you view them, then you're just as bad as you believe they are." Bell replied, fists clenched, "A discriminatory, abusive bastard."

"I knew we shouldn't have let you live." His father said, "You shared too many traits with the main family. The only reason why your life was spared was because your mother begged me. But now that she's gone, I have no more reason to keep you alive!"

Pulling out a knife, he charged at Bell.

Reacting on pure instinct, Bell ducked below the attack, and punched his arm, dislodging the knife. He then grabbed it and slammed him from the hip to the shoulder.

As blood splattered over his body, he came to a realisation over what he had done, and fell to the floor, clutching his head.

Blood continued dripping down from his hair, but along with that, came tears.

–––

~The land of the elves, the palace.

"Your majesty! Someone requests to see you." An elven guard ran in, sweating.

"Who is it?"

"It appears to be… her grace, the princess."

"… Send her in."

–––

"Father, what's this I hear about the branch family?" That was the first thing Riveria said the moment she walked in.

"The branch family? You–Who–How?"

"Well, what would you know, I happened to meet one of them, and I heard some very interesting information." She said, a cold smile plastered onto her face, "So I was wondering if you would do a bit of clarification for me. Clear up the misunderstandings, you know?"

Riveria's father sighed.

"Sit down, then. This will be a long talk."

–––

"The branch family was inherently different from the main family. They learnt not to use magic, but mainly utilised their physical ability."

Riveria nodded. This made sense.

"My father, annoyed by what he viewed as a defect to his bloodline, as well as a potential threat, decided to remove them. In the middle of the night, he burnt their home to the ground, after poisoning their food."

"My brother was among those who died. I remember staring at the burning house, crying as I begged my father to stop, but he ordered for me to be taken away."

"After I became king, I tried to find any survivors, but none had lived, and I had given up hope, until now."

Riveria still stood in a state of shock, trying to process the new information.

"So… grandfather was the true villain here?"

Her father nodded.

"Thank you, then." She said, standing up.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"What else? I'm going to right the wrongs that have been done." She took her staff, in one head and pushed the door open.

–––

"He was here… and then he went that way…" Riveria said, waving a stick in the general direction he had went.

A bush rustled behind her, and she turned around to face two humans.

"Whoo! An elven beauty! I bet we could make a load of money selling her to the pleasure district." The first man said, He was bald, with a scar on his head. In his hands, he held a menacing club.

"You bet. But not before we have a little… fun with her first, of course." The bother man said, leering at her, "Elves are the best."

"Excuse me, I'm not quite sure what you are trying to insinuate." Riveria said, "But I suggest you get on your way, I'm a busy person."

"Aww, don't be like that. We only want to have a little fun." The man said, smiling.

"Yeah, just give us a bit of your time and we'll be on our way." The second man said, "And don't try to resist. The two of us are level 2 adventurers, you won't stand a chance."

This statement was proven when, as she tried to smack them with her staff, it was easily blocked, and thrown to the staff. She was then pushed onto the ground.

"Hmm… a feisty one, eh?" The other man said, "Guess we'll just have to… discipline you."

Then, a black sword buried itself in the mans back, and he fell to the ground.

"Feast, Ouroboros." The sword glowed purple as it flew back to the person's hands, "Foresight!"

His eyes glowed green as he moved, leaving behind glowing green trails.

The next moment, the second man literally fell to pieces.

It was as if three lines had been drawn down his body. In an instant, his head, torso and legs had been detached, flying through the air amongst geysers of blood.

"Are you okay?" The person said, looking down. Then realising who it was, turned to leave, but found his arm grasped in an iron grip.

"You have some questions to answer."
Bell sighed.

"Fine, just let me sit down."

–––

"How?" Rivera asked.

"What do you mean, how?"

"I mean, how did you kill them? Despite their attitudes and personalities, they were level 2 adventurers."

"That's your problem." Bell replied, "You believe that because they're level 2, we can't beat them. That's your flaw."

"?"

"Level 2's aren't that strong." Bell continued, "What if they levelled with the bare requirements for a level one? Compared to a level one with S in each parameter, the level one would win. Your mistake is that you believe level 2's are above us all, that they are invincible compared to us, the ones without a falna. That, is absolutely not true. Strength is not just physical, but mental. If you can hone your mind until it can cut anything, a status is nothing but a hindrance."

"That's a very interesting way of thinking." Riveria said, "But that doesn't change the fact that an advantage in physical strength is very important."

"Hmm, true. But, if you catch them unawares…" Bell made motion with his hands, "Bang, it's over."

"I see. This was very informative, thank you." Riveria said, nodding, "But what was

the thing that you needed to do?"

"That…" Bell sighed, "It's complicated."

"That's fine, I have all the time in the world." Riveria replied back, very well aware of his attempts to skip over the topic.

"…Fine." Bell said, "Starting with, what do you know?"

"Not much." Riveria answered, "I only learnt that the branch family existed yesterday."

"Okay, then." Bell sighed, "I'll explain."

–––

~Five minutes later.

"That's… horrible." Riveria said, "But what do you plan on doing now?"

"I… wanted to head to Orario." Bell said, "I would like to wash my hands clean of all this… maybe become an adventurer. But I'm not sure if that's feasible… it's still far away."

"I see. That's not a bad idea." Riveria said, "I was planning on going there soon myself."

"Really? Why?"

"Same as you." She laughed, "I want to return home once I'm stronger and change everything for the better."

"Ambitious." Bell said, smiling as well, "But honourable."

"Why thank you."

AN: Huh. This was shorter than I expected. This chapter was ultra-fast paced, which was something I did not intend for, but meh. The backstory plot-building-ish-thing was not full in this chapter, but that was on purpose, as more of it will become more important. How Bell can kill level 2 adventurers with ease will be expanded on much much later, so hang in there, okay?

Now, to the reviews:

Satellizersama: Currently, they are outside the borders of the elven forest, but still in the forest. (In the main series, Riveria is 99, by the way.) Right now, both her and Bell are much younger, so somewhere between the 18-20 range. For the maturing of elves, they have this sort of phase where there first 20 years of growth are identical to that of humans, but then they stop aging until they get much older. Like, a lot older. Thanks for being the first reviewer of this fanfic xD!

AsulAgila3456u: Me too! (Evil cackling noises, followed by gunshots and enraged screams of viewers.) Telling any of that would ruin a massive part of the plot, so just sit tight and wait.

(I'm not going to put that somewhat disturbing username, sorry. Despite the M rating, this is not R rated, so while there will be slight innuendo and references to other things, there will be nothing... uh... that bad. So yeah, hope you understand): Thanks!

Barut12717: Yeah, that chapter was short, but please keep in mind that was the prologue. This chapter was quite short as well but they'll get longer, I promise.

A massive thanks to everyone who favorited, followed or reviewed this chapter, and hope to see you next time!

(On a side not, I am genuinely shocked by how popular this was. Thank you everyone!)