The Kingdom of Eonis

[Bloodedge]

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7803/46372496555_988880f1b2_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2dDMaCF)

[Apollymi]

Consciousness would soon return to the once black haired young woman, but when it did she was no longer in the comfort of her her own bed. No, she was now standing on the outskirts of something which looked a great deal like the hub world of the game she'd just been playing. "Ugh... did I get kicked back to the lobby right when I got my loot?" she asked herself aloud, but soon there was something else rather strange. She when to type on her keyboard and found her high tech gloves removed from her fingertips. She was frowning intently now, "What did I fall asleep waiting on the reload?" she asked herself but by looking in the corner of her eye, she was able to pull up her stats sheet as normal only to be more surprised than she'd ever been. "Oh no!" she chimed aloud. "NO!!!! I WAS LEVEL FIFTY!! WHY AM I LEVEL ONE!?" she questioned aloud to the universe at large. The townsfolk moved around her as if un-bothered by her outburst, but she was seriously distressed. As she leaned her face forward into her hands, she was even more startled. Her hands didn't make contact with the VR Glasses she'd been wearing. Her face was bare, and over her shoulders fell a ponytail, blonde in color, instead of the usual raven color she maintained. "REALLY?!"

[Bloodedge]

A certain male player of the game known as Age of Eternity would also be having a rather surreal experience at the same time. He awoke in a tavern in Eonis Kingdom, not quite conscious of himself right away. When the haze wore off, he came to realize that he was no longer by his computer, or... anything he recognized in first-person view. He did recognize the setting, though. This very tavern was where he'd taken many quests in Age of Eternity during his earlier levels, but... why was he seeing it with his naked eye? What reason did he even have to be here? 'What the hell... is this?' he wondered while trying to overcome his groggy state. In the corner of his eye, he saw what he normally did on his game screen: the drop bar for his stat sheet. Merely focusing on this allowed him to see his level and other such information. "Level 1? The fuck!? Wait, but... why am I even..." He rattled his own brain in various attempts to make sense of the things happening here, but with the amount of anime and manga he consumed on a regular basis, he eventually had a very solid idea. "Holy shit! I'm an Isekai protagonist!" he said aloud, accidentally drawing the attention of other tavern-goers nearby. Quickly, the male had to cup his hands over his mouth and silence himself, though this came with the realization that he was now sporting a strange set of arm-wear. Just the same, his hair was now white and a bit shorter than he was used to. This was familiar. Not only had he been transported to another world, but he'd also been given the guise of the character he'd spent days upon days playing as. 'Is this awesome? I feel like this is awesome...'

[Apollymi]

The young woman outside in the hub world, she'd known as the Kingdom of Eonis was now pacing, a hand still clamped over her mouth as she began processing random reasons for her current state. 'I could be dreaming...' she thought initially. 'No, not possible, all the shock would have woken me by now,' she said clearing that idea. The more she paced around back and forth, the more stern her expression became. 'It could be some weird glitch with the glasses that put my consciousness into the game. I could just be data. No... that's a Kingdom Hearts fan-theory gone away too far...' she said thinking about it a bit more. She'd recently started reading and watching several series in her own life that had similar makings to such a moment. 'Did I just wake up in another world as my avatar? Did I just get reincarnated into a video game with no one controlling me? I'm a protagonist in a... what's it called.. i...is...isek.... Isekai!!!' she clapped her hands together against her cheeks. Her face reddened but the stern outlook remained. Of course, in doing this, she expected to wake up, but given that she didn't and nothing happened, she could only sigh. 'I didn't think those had female protagonists... well unless you count that one about the girl who fell backwards in history...' she thought to herself. 'I hated that one.' she frowned deeply, using this moment as one to help out her general disposition. 'Ah I guess there isn't much to do but... live this out. I'll be an awesome leading female character! I wasn't doing much else anyways,' she though resigning herself to the world she was now part of. "Welp, first things first. I need to make some money, get food, and shelter. If it's really like the game... some early missions shouldn't be that hard..." she mumbled aloud to herself as she walked in this familiar yet unfamiliar land looking for a notice board to take a low level quest from.

[Bloodedge]

The female brought into this world wasn't the only one having thoughts of money. After coming to the conclusion that this wasn't just some sort of imaginary happening, the young man in the tavern also thought of how he'd approach currency. There was a small pouch attached to his waist, and upon inspecting it closely, he discovered something very... very distressing. 'A hundred copper!? I can barely afford a night at an inn!' he thought. A heavy sigh escaped him, but he realized that in being only Level 1, he was destined to only have so much money. "Oi, you!" he said to the barkeep. "What's the news? I need a quest." The barkeep acknowledged the male as an adventurer, and while cleaning a single mug, he inspected the lad and wondered if he'd be capable of taking care of a very specific problem. "Well lad, there's a warthog problem in a town on the outskirts to the West. If you can clear that out, the farm owner there is willing to pay a few silvers," said the older, bald male with a well-trimmed goatee. The boy who'd been brought here by unknown means had his head sink, but he got up nonetheless. 'Fuuuuck! Of course he'd give me the recommended Level 1 quest. Fine, whatever. It's the best pay of the starter quests anyway,' he thought as he made his way to the tavern's exit, heading west toward a large farm past the kingdom's edge.

[Apollymi]

There was a large board outside of one of the buildings in this area, which contained news of open jobs which needed completing. These ranged greatly but one which stood out to the now blonde-haired girl described a very simple problem. "Warthogs on a farm," read the paper, a roll of this lass' eyes came as she pulled her hood up onto the crown of her head. 'Of course, first things first. Pig killing.' she sighed but she still pulled down the flier immediately turning until she was facing the opposite direction of the recently risen sun. She headed west on soft foot steps finding strangely on the road leading outside of town another traveler who seemed like an adventurer. The lad before her walked with purpose and she supposed he might have been heading in the same direction that she was going. With the hood still up on her head she swiftly closed the distance between them trying her best to soften her expression, still given her inability to properly interact with people she easily let herself fall back again. 'Oh shoot. I don't know what to say to anyone. What if they don't speak the same language as me? What if me being in this body makes my face look upset again? What if this world is full of online gamer guys who will help until you make it clear you aren't interested in them then will hunt you down and kill you in pvp because they feel rejected?' suddenly real world problems flooded this girl's mind, and even while consciously trying to change her facial expression she couldn't. Still she headed straight for the farm because it was the quest she was most likely to be able to complete while she got used to the weapons and fighting with her actual body.

[Bloodedge]

'Alright, killing Warthogs. This is pretty standard, should be about twenty or so after the first few are taken out. How's this gonna be if I'm doing it for real though?' the male wondered as he continued on his path toward the farm. After minutes of travel, he was at the edge of the kingdom without any knowledge of the young woman walking behind him. His pace slowed as the farm came into view. He could see it and the warthog infestation, and it was far worse than he remembered from the game. He couldn't even count the number of beasts infesting this large farm, but it was certainly not functioning on the wave-by-wave system of the video game. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. This was just like the game 'Age of Eternity' if it had been touched by realism. In realizing that, and further comparing it to the isekai genre of media, the male thought this might become something ridiculous rather quickly. "No way..."

[Apollymi]

Upon reaching the farm, the young woman crouched down. She'd seen this kind of thing in her own playthrough and knew the sorts of numbers to expect. Even so, she was more than surprised by how many there were. 'Well, I suppose this world is real enough... I shouldn't be making the assumption that we'll get to face them wave by wave...' she thought. The number was massive and she didn't think any straightforward manner of fighting would be good for the type of character she had currently. She also wasn't sure if she'd find it easier or harder to use her own weapons and skills in this way. 'Hm... I need a plan,' she said looking to her right she saw some rocks and she picked up a small pile of them. Doing this in early levels was a rogue tactic for being able to move around in hordes of enemies while shifting their attention around. 'Alright, if I throw rocks in randomly while hiding and moving around pretty swiftly... I should be able to kill a few before they realize I'm there,' she thought to herself. A single rock in her right hand, she held the naginata she used tightly in her hand, and light footsteps led her into the tall grasses surrounding the farm.

'I can't depend on that guy I saw. Maybe if he sees me working at it myself, he'll just do whatever he needs to do without making too much of a problem. If the worst becomes worse... I could use him as bait. I'd rather not do that, though. If this is the real world now, or to us we could just be killed. I don't want to purposefully get anyone killed who hasn't done anything to me,' the girl thought. Steeling her nerve, and deciding that this route was the only one to take, she threw a small rock. It bounced off the ground in front of a stray warthog and ricocheted making a bit of noise. The beast looked up at it the direction the rock had gone in, giving this girl the chance to strike. She moved forward as quickly as she possibly could, and aimed a swift strike of the naginata at the neck of the creature from behind. It would happen quickly enough that it wouldn't have time to react and she pushed forward with enough strength to actually kill the creature. But unlike in the game she now had to pull back enough to free her weapon. 'Ugh... this is too much. It requires just as much strength to pull out as it did to push in,' she thought as she freed her weapon and crouched hoping she hadn't attracted any extra attention.

[Bloodedge]

'This might not actually be something I can take at level one. I'm Kou now, but I don't even have his Alpha Skill to deal with these things.' As he thought through his approach, the male under the guise of his avatar 'Kou' saw something strange. This sound was unmistakably someone making use of stealth tactics the way he'd seen when playing Age of Eternity cooperatively. When he looked around, he saw nothing but a warthog moving toward a location filled with tall grass, only to fall within moments of approaching. 'I didn't see what took it down. Maybe a Rogue in the grass, or... maybe a Ranger? No, I think I would have seen an arrow or something. They wouldn't have needed the rock either, but... if there's someone else here...' Without thinking further, he lunged toward the horde of warthogs as they consumed the farmer's crops, purposefully making as much noise as possible to draw their attention. He succeeded in grabbing the eye of the horde at large, but his approach was not without tact. The angle he chose in this approach was one which singled out one warthog from the others, enough so that he was able to interact with it before fearing an attack from either side. 'I hope the Rider Skill works like this!' he thought as he met the first warthog head-on, hopping up while grabbing it by the tusk to spin himself onto its back. Once there, he held it by each tusk and used all his strength not just to hang on, but to try and control the beast's movements. In managing this to some extent, he kept it wildly flailing about in an attempt to throw or impale him whilst the other members of the horde swarmed inward, all eyes on this sudden intruder to their grazing session.

[Apollymi]

Finally freeing her blade, the young woman looked down at it and remembered something important. The tactic she'd chosen was a strange one considering the shape of her weapon. 'Right, early game I need to use swe...' she didn't get to finish that thought because something amazing was happening before her eyes. The lad she'd been scared to approach was now taking up the attention of most of the warthogs around the farm. He'd even taken to riding one of them while attracting the attention of the others. 'NANI?! That's a crazy thing to do. It's so risky, I guess he doesn't assume I'm someone bad...' she thought quietly. She'd rather not have gotten involved directly knowing the kinds of people who normally played cooperatively without knowing each other in life, but perhaps this was the best possible way. 'I can't turn down an opportunity like this...' she mused as she swung the large weapon around behind her, and gave it a few practice swings. 'Yep, sweeps for the naginata. I am going to need a better weapon though... I hated that it starts off like this. It's really limiting,' she thought having done this, she began to approach the outer edges of this particular group. Wide sweeps would see multiple warthogs beheaded at a time and she would be seen moving quickly enough to disappear from the line of sight of those who'd noticed their fallen comrades. 'If he makes a distraction like this for a while, I can thin the numbers a bit. I am sure he understands this,' she thought and with that she disappeared from sight once more into the tall grass.

[Bloodedge]

'Woah! I didn't expect to be doing this kind of thing when I logged in today!' the male thought as the warthog thrashed about in every attempt to launch him from its back. When he had a chance to see the group around him, he did take note of the fact that some had been slain recently. His random gamble was paying off, it seemed. Nevertheless, he couldn't just sit around and be a distraction; he had to do something as well. 'Alright, calm down you little fatty! I've got work to do,' he thought further, having a readout appear in his vision noting the Class Ability: Riding. He now understood how it worked, and made use of this knowledge by placing his left hand upon the beast's head. A magical rune emerged from his palm and set itself on the warthog, putting it under his control and calming it enough to be used as a proper mount. "Osu! Now you're in trouble," he said to none other than the rest of the warthog group. Now that he didn't need his right hand to hold onto his mount, he used it to unsheathe the iron jian-style sword at his hip. It was then that he was able to ride his tamed warthog around at the center of the horde while slashing and stabbing at every beast which grew too close, steadily thinning their numbers from within.

[Apollymi]

It seemed her partner in this particular endeavor had a bit more to do. She looked around to note that he'd begun properly riding the beast he'd hopped atop, and beyond this he'd drawn a weapon and was now properly thinning the number of beasts inside as well. 'Ah. Good.' she thought. "YOSH!" she whispered excitedly to herself. Another movement was made by this young woman and she lowered the weapon in a downward slash which took off the heads of several more beasts. What was more, as she moved again she got a new readout for her abilities. Class Ability: Shadow Step. She played this class before, and as such fully understood how this worked out, and knew that her body was invisible during the activation of this ability. Her movements were abused immediately after, as she was charged more directly by one who'd been watching her behead its comrades. Instead of running she slipped to the left of it, taking up space behind it, to lift her weapon upward and cut the beast from beneath its body in a single deft sweep. 'Finally...' she mused, now she was prepared for being in combat with a group. Though admittedly she preferred only to strike when she had the means to disappear again. 'I guess, I am a bit too much like this Miki avatar anyways.' she thought, as she continued to use her new skills to help thin the numbers quite a bit more from the outside working her way towards the lad atop his warthog.

[Bloodedge]

One by one, two by two, warthogs were falling by the combined yet separate efforts of the adventurers from another world. While the girl slayed warthogs from the outside of the horde using her Class Ability, the male took to using one of his as well. After running his blade through the head of the warthog he rode on, he used its body as a stepping stone to hop onto another and ride it around the pile of corpses before repeating the process anew. During his warthog-hopping, he finally got a look at the other person participating in this battle. The sight of her made him wonder what sort of individual this might be. 'Huh, that's weird. I've never seen an NPC look like that before. I wonder how much it'll be for whatever her romance quest-line needs.'

[Apollymi]

Yet another differing technique was used by this lad, as he began hopping from warthog to warthog while riding them between the masses. The bodies were piling up pretty nicely by their combined efforts, and this particular young woman had no problem with working with this lad as they were. While visible between constant killing she got a proper look at the lad from the front. 'Whoa! I'd say he was too pretty to be an NPC. I wonder if he's one of the options for a romance. It'd be pretty useful if he was... at least until I can get my Winged Dire Wolf back,' she thought to herself. It was a bit of a pragmatic view to have, but as a Rogue type she needed some extra bodies around to help her. To be fair, she'd rather have an animal companion but she knew it'd be a while off, if she could instead form a bit of a party... it might make her life a little easier. 'In the game, I was scared of parties because how crazy loner guys online can be when they find out a 'real' girl is in the place. But here, it should be a bit closer to real life right?' she thought to herself a bit of a stern look coming to her face as she swung on the last of the warthogs in her area killing it swiftly. The next, was a good distance away from her, but she decided to test the limits of her avatars form and flexibility. She planted the end of her weapon into the ground, and pole-vaulted over a mass of corpses to bring her weapon up after and slam it vertically down into the head of the last beast near her. Such an action took a bit more dexterity than most had at first, but she'd chosen a rather dexterous class to begin with so it was within her limits. 'Hm, I wonder if doing this sort of thing will make me tired?' she questioned as she scouted her surroundings to make sure she was indeed clear of any immediate danger.

[Bloodedge]

The other adventurer may have been wondering if she would become tired, but from so much hopping and warthog riding, the Saber Class male could feel the alteration to his breathing. There was no arguing how real this world was now, but he could at least take solace in the fact that the warthogs were cleared out. Well... all but one were gone by the time the blonde lass ended her last target, leaving the male to ride the final living one toward her before stabbing it in the head and descending. 'Is she one of those followers? I heard the game is different every playthrough, but I didn't expect an NPC to pop up like this. All of the ones I've seen had dialogue to go through before their companion quest happened,' he thought, still wondering what his options with this character were going to be. In the end, he decided to initiate the conversation. "Yo!" he said. "Thanks for the support back there. I couldn't have hoped to take those things on by myself. Are you here for the reward?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed this quest was much easier to complete with both of them doing their fair share of the work. By the time she killed the last of the warthogs she could see, the only one remaining was one the lad rode up to her on. Soon after arriving he killed the last of them and chose to greet her. 'Huh? I wonder if dialogue will be closer to normal compared to how it is in game?' she wondered only to have the lad before her greet her in a rather relaxed manner. She shot a look his way a bit more directly and tried for a more amiable appearance than she was regularly capable of. "No, thank you for the distraction. It would have taken me a really long time to get through a group that large without someone to draw aggro," she said her normal speech pattern slipping into this world without much of a problem. "I noticed you when I was coming here but... I don't usually approach people directly," she said truly appreciating this lad's help in the matter. "I did come for the reward, but you did do half the work. Do you want to collect it together? We can split it... then and both get something out of this work," she offered, figuring one didn't take adventures like this if they didn't need the money.

[Bloodedge]

The first statement he heard from this woman was one which took him aback briefly. Specifically, the fact that she used a phrase like 'draw aggro' was strange to hear from a video game character. 'That's weird. Is it just some sort of translation thing that makes it relatable to me?' he wondered, taking a moment to view the blonde in a way which showed her Class and stats the same way he'd previously seen his own. 'Huh... Same level as me, so she must be a companion that levels with me. This is a weird way to start her quest-line, but I guess it could be one of those random spawns. Yeah... like sacrifice half of your earnings from this random quest you're on to unlock a special companion. I hope this one has romance dialogue though; it'd suck to have to settle for other NPCs, and the princess is fuckin' tough.' Eventually, he realized he'd been standing there staring at the blonde for far too long while mulling over his own thoughts. She'd given him an offer, and he was to respond. "Yeah, let's form a Party. My name is Kou," he said while offering his right hand, though he seemed to have a weird reaction to the sharing of his own name. He hadn't intended to introduce himself as Kou - he specifically meant to say his real name. Alas, something about this world was forcing him to speak the name of the character he had the appearance of presently. 'Wait... What is my real name?'

[Apollymi]

'I don't really mind giving up half my earnings, but I wonder if this guy has a quest or something he's out for? It'd be nice if he was one of those trying to slay a dragon... it would guarantee companionship as long as his level isn't too much higher than mine.' there was a long silence following this thought after she'd made the offer to split the earnings with the lad, but she figured he just needed time to think it over. She also took a moment to view the lad's stats in the same way she saw her own. She now knew he was the same level and found it strange but she'd read about some pretty interesting companions that could be found in the world. 'Hm, I wonder if this is one of those intuitive companions. They usually come with romance options... at the very least he isn't stupid or anything so it should be fine to keep him around for a while,' she thought to herself. Soon enough the lad was extending his hand to her and introducing himself by the name Kou. She looked at him with that same forced smile upon her face. "Thank goodness. It would have been really awkward to have my first party invitation not work out..." said the girl exhaling a sigh of relief, and extending her own hand to meet his. "I'm Miki. It's nice to meet you, Kou." she said. It wasn't as hard a sell for this young woman to give the name of the avatar she was using. Such a thing was common for her in online games, to avoid people trying to call her by name.

[Bloodedge]

Luckily, nothing was said regarding the amount of time it took 'Kou' to respond. Such a thing only contributed to the idea that this was an in-game character he was interacting with. And yet, the fact that he couldn't remember his own name - specifically when trying to think of it - was bothersome. With that as an aside for the moment, the pair shook hands and created a Party, which showed its information in a digital manner through Kou's vision. "Great! Looking forward to working with you, Miki. Let's go find the farmer!" he said while moving toward the farm, though he stopped abruptly and looked toward the collection of warthog carcasses they'd left. "Oh, wait! We should loot these guys, right? We'll both make more money that way."

[Apollymi]

As strange as Kou might have thought it was for Miki not to question how long it took him to reply. She was also thinking similar things about him, of course, due to her own thoughts about this game world's realness, she just figured there was something like lag applied to his answer as calculations were made. She also got the notification within her vision about the forming of their party. It was a screen she'd never seen before herself, but she understood it well enough to continue without much thought. As they were about to head off towards the farmer though, the boy suggested that they stop and loot all the warthogs they'd killed previously. She looked at them too and sighed, it would take a bit of doing, but it was well worth it since they were splitting the rewards for the most part. 'Huh, I wonder if he's the kind of companion that comes with tool tips. That's a pretty good catch,' she thought to herself, as she was constantly forgetting about loot unless she was looking for something in particular. But that little fact made a lot of sense considering the type of lifestyle she was used to, "Oh? That's a good idea. Looting always slips my mind..." she said aloud. Her own first adventure in this game world did let her know what was good from these already. "Only the tusks and skins are really worth anything. The rarer pig-spawns are worth a good deal for their whole heads though..." she said, again her language choice would likely seem out of place, but she had a great deal of experience dealing with the pig types from this world, as they were most frequently spawned in the areas she frequented. With this in mind she stopped and looked out at all the corpses. She began working on the nearest ones, removing their tusks to pocket them in the pack beneath her cloak.

[Bloodedge]

Yet another thing spoken by Miki was very, very strange. It wasn't so odd to hear most of this conversation from an NPC, but her reference of rare spawns in such an immersive game as Age of Eternity was far from normal. As such, Kou's path toward the collectibles held by the warthogs was halted, as he truly couldn't wrap his head around this interaction. "Huh. That's pretty meta," he said without much thought. He had many other things to be concerned with though, so he too began collecting from the warthogs. In the meantime, the farmer they would have otherwise been looking for approached the new Party. He was an elderly man with a thick white mustache and glasses, using a garden hoe as a walking stick. "Finally, some young Adventurers came to help me! The Knights and Guards wouldn't bat an eye, even though I've been providing for the kingdom for decades! Thanks to you young'uns, I can finally leave the house and get back to work!"

[Apollymi]

"Meta?" she questioned at a near mumble. "Since when do companions know words like that... I know they are supposed to be intuitive but that's ridiculous..." she spoke to herself about this situation. She was in shock that the lad even knew such a word, and wondered if like the game the world adapted to her presence here. 'That'd be pretty crazy. I wonder if the guy at the game shop would play if he knew he'd get sucked in this hard? Ah well, it isn't like there is much to care about back there anyways...' the girl mused to herself. Her thoughts on this matter were strange but she considered this to be a rather fun way to experience her life. Even if she was already privy to how this story could potentially go. Whatever the case, she couldn't really think on it further as they were soon approached by the person who'd put up the quest. An old man with a mustache using a hoe as a cane. "Hai hai, it isn't a problem, Ojii-san. It's a shame about the Knights and Guards though... do you know why the warthogs were here though?" she asked, wondering if this would be one of those small bounties which could potentially lead to a quest-line. These sorts of things were at least good for money and base level loot, which would be good for them considering they were now sharing money and experience. 'Ugh, I sound like a helpful NPC...' Miki thought to herself, not knowing such a thing was likely how she was being taken.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was happy to continue looting warthogs during the elder's approach, considering it to be something of a discussion going on between NPCs while he wasn't locked behind a cutscene. "It's not so much a shame as it is a pity, young Adventurer. You'd think those who serve the kingdom would actually do some servin', but I'm too old to be heard. Those damn pigs have been roamin' these parts for years now, and they finally went and took down the fence I had to keep 'em outta my farm. I'll make sure it takes twice as long for them to get rid o' the next one!" the old man announced, taking further steps forward to offer a coin pouch to the girl who actually managed to address him directly. "Here's your pay for the job well done! It's only 150 copper pieces for each of you, but it's all I can afford if I want to keep my farm safe once you're gone."

During this time, Kou managed to finish looting as much as he could carry back into the kingdom. He joined Miki and the farmer with a few words to share with the old man. "That's fine. I just need to be able to sleep somewhere tonight without starving by tomorrow," he said. At that very moment, Kou received something akin to revitalization from deep within himself as a glow emanated from his person. Having completed a quest in a way, he felt the surge of power representative of an experience gain, boosting him to level 5 while his eyes widened from the sudden occurrence. "Woah, level five, huh? Starter quests are great!"

[Apollymi]

Being called 'Young Adventurer' was a bit surreal for Miki. Before she'd been transported to this world, she'd experienced this game in VR so it wasn't very different aside from actually having to do things for herself. Some of the speech though just seemed sort of scripted aside from the conversations she had with Kou. Still this old man's speech had some spunk left in it, and it made Miki smile. "Nice to see you still got some fire in you, Ojii-san," she commented while admiring him for his speech and his ability to bounce back from such an infestation. Of course, the amount of money they had to split was a mere 300 coppers total, but given they were also still looting warthogs this was hardly worth thinking about. Before she was able to speak on this though, Kou did, claiming he only needed enough money to move into the next day and not starve. "I was going to say the same thing... Arigatou Gozaimasu~" she mentioned finding it strange for someone from this world to have such a reaction. Obviously level one players were like this in general, but if he'd lived in this world his whole life it was kind of weird.

Beyond this after receiving their pay, Miki got to experience a strange feeling of gaining experience. This caused the widening of her own eyes, and like Kou she had a similar happy reaction to the occurance. "Yosh! Halfway to Alpha Skill!~" she chimed seemingly happy about it, in the same way she'd been when she'd done something similar in game. 'Hm, I am going to need to grind up some more cash... I am going to need a better weapon by the time I get my first lancer skill,' she pondered this point but soon after returned to looting corpses. There were no quests to offshoot from this one, but that was fine as well. At the increase to level five they could together take on something a little more difficult and thus more rewarding.

[Bloodedge]

"They're never gonna be able to put that out, I tell ya'!" the old man said with a rather comical shake of his fist. Kou took a moment to view his own stats again and recall the way he intended to distribute his upgrades over the next 45 levels. It was going to be an arduous task, but there was also something incredibly exciting about being within this world himself. The only downside he could think of was the potential of dying in the game, and meeting the same fate in life. As he stood there thinking this through, he came to a few conclusions regarding how this world should be approached to avoid that potential eventuality. "We should avoid going any farther West. Any more quests we take should be from the lower end of the kingdom, maybe the slums. Gearing up should be a quick priority as well," he said with a decent bit of thought going toward survival. "I don't like being partied up early, but you seem good enough to make the share system not annoying to deal with. We should be able to double our quest completion rate and balance everything out, and even take harder quests sooner. That's new," he continued, seeming to have fallen into blurting out thoughts he would normally share through his microphone when considering his future with other players of a game.

[Apollymi]

Miki also knew how she wanted to distribute future stats, in order to make sure she reached the prime form of her skill level. Of course, she had no idea why this was something she just knew, but that was fine as well. As she continued to make quick work of the corpses, it seemed that Kou had something to say about their future endeavors. His plan was for them to level up quickly, using the lower end of the Kingdom. This was a good plan considering that help was always needed in the places least looked. He also mentioned not liking to be partied up so early and Miki could agree. "Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan. I don't think I would have partied up so early either. It was just my plan to get enough money for gear and shelter. And instead of looking for people I was going to get a companion mount," the girl mentioned. "But I don't mind sharing with you... you're pretty capable. And I can't deny the damage you do will come in handy when we get into taking harder quests," she summarized the situation calmly. Though she didn't normally speak over mic this was about the sentences she would have typed in messages to people she spoke to, "I am alright with taking the lower tier quests to level quickly. I'd prefer not to take the Goblin ones though... Orcs are easier to kill and less likely to...ahem... present me problems directly," she mentioned, once again having her knowledge of the game from her previous life leak into her character's decision making. Beyond this she finally worked her way through a great number of the dead warthogs claiming a pack full of tusks and skins for sale.

[Bloodedge]

"I was gonna do the same thing. A nice mount would still be pretty useful though. I'll need to put money toward raising a Chocob-..." Kou paused, realizing he was about to refer to a certain creature by a name he jokingly called it in his home world, as it bore a striking resemblance to something in another game series. "... Filolial. I know how to make one as fast as it can possibly be, and it'll seat two people. It's one of the most effective travel mounts we can get until going Dragon hunting, and Filolials are also good against Dragons." Following Kou's explanation, he took pause. Miki said something very interesting about Goblin-related quests, sounding the way many girls in the human world did about such things since the appearance of a rather controversial series. Strange though this was, Kou responded in kind. "Yeah, I get it. Goblins are an easy grind for me, but I've seen way too many of those things lately. Besides, I've got this," he said, revealing the very same mask fragment he'd obtained from defeating the Goblin Lord when playing Age of Eternity normally. He wasn't sure why he had this fragment when he'd spawned as his character at level 1, but he couldn't rightly complain about it. "Orcs are fine by me, but isn't the path to their forest pretty dangerous?"

[Apollymi]

'That was pretty meta... I wonder if this game read other game activity on the system it was played on?' the girl thought only to nod her understanding of this lad's plan. He apparently wanted a Filolial and knew how to raise it to be the fastest it could be. He went on to explain that it could also seat two people making it good for the pair of them in the party together. He also mentioned they were good against dragons which was true, but him saying this only made her laugh a little. "I knew you'd be one interested in dragons. This really is a good start..." Miki mentioned, only to have the lad reveal a piece of material which was legendary in its own right, though only partly one. "Whoa, that's a pretty awesome find, isn't that an artifact? As a companion animal I want a Winged Dire Wolf. Though they don't actually fly, they change size pretty easily, are useful in direct combat with most creatures including dragons..." she said. In her own previous play through she'd basically used hers as a hunting dog. It intimidated weak foes, and was useful for tracking more illusive targets. Besides that since they weren't afraid of anything she raised hers to have several magical abilities which would be useful against dragons, because she had intended to take one on after getting to max level. "Oh I have an artifact too..." she said removing from inside her cloak a chain of gold with a skull like charm on it. From that charm could attach several long bones to make up a spine. Technically speaking this had been the loot drop from her kill of the Orc Lord when she'd been playing her game, but at present she couldn't really place why she had it, nor what it was used for.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Miki was also at least somewhat interested in Dragons. Her own choice in mount was one which was also highly-recommended for dealing with Dragons later in the game. More interesting yet though, was her knowledge of the artifact he held, even though it was nothing more than a fragment. She even had an artifact of her own, which was certainly not something that should be in the hands of a low-level character, and certainly not in the hands of an NPC this early in the game. "But... that's the Bones of Rathma. You shouldn't have that, unless..." He paused, shaking his head while thinking the only reasonable explanation for her possession of this artifact was that she, too, was a player. He couldn't just outright say anything without risking a very strange interaction if he happened to be wrong, but he had to say something to find out if he was right. A few moments to think was all he needed before he produced something he figured would be useful. Just the same, if he was wrong, he'd likely be able to initiate this NPC's romance quest-line. "Oi, do you know of a good romantic spot in the kingdom? I've got some ideas."

[Apollymi]

"You know what this is?" the girl's eyes widened as she realized. She didn't expect an NPC to have the sort of knowledge which would make it obvious that it was this. She'd been thinking that the system of this world was just overly intuitive and based on her previous experiences. But the fact that he actually knew what the object around her neck was, when she'd barely had time to know, let her know all she needed to, 'He had to have come here through the game... it's the only way it makes sense for him to have that artifact!' she thought this and while she did her expression soured, though this had nothing to do with anyone else. Though it was about to change a bit of surprise was in order. Rather suddenly, she was prompted to engage in such a way that would have been standard for a romantic quest line. "Ah!? Nani? Romantic? That's crazy..." she mentioned with all necessary surprise. 'He doesn't think I'm an NPC does he? I know I don't really look like one, and one shouldn't have an artifact... actually...' her face relaxed as she had a thought and she burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha!~ You could have tried something a little less drastic to figure out what you wanted to know... Kou." she said moving a little closer so she could mention something important. "I'm not from here either... but I figured this would be a fun life to live," she stated. It was surprisingly good luck or perhaps bad, that she and another player had been put into this game at the same time. It was as good a place as any to start a reasonable friendship.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was rather focused on Miki while awaiting her answer. Whatever she said or did in response, he would know for certain whether she was a human or an in-game character. The start of her reaction was like something out of a series he would watch in his spare time, but it evolved into a full response which gave Kou a very direct answer. Miki was not from this world, but thought to stay here just as he did upon arriving. "I'm into puzzles. I had to lead my way into the answer without wasting the mystery," he said regarding his method of approach. Still, a sigh escaped him. He may have gathered the information he sought, and even had the luxury of interacting with someone who shared his out-of-world experience, but he also experienced the disappointment of potentially picking up a one-of-a-kind NPC. "Good job though, dude. Looks like you spent a lot of time on that Avatar; I've never seen one so good. I was kinda hoping I could open up those dialogue options for a minute."

[Apollymi]

After her outburst, she was graced with a reply from Kou. He apparently thought this entire thing a way to figure out what he wanted to know, and thought it a puzzle of some sort. "Well, if it makes you happy~" the young woman said shrugging off his apparent strangeness. People were allowed to like whatever they wanted after all, it wasn't really that strange to enjoy puzzles. But beyond this there was a bit of strangeness in this lad's reaction to her. Firstly he claimed that she must have spent a great deal of time on her avatar, and referred to her as dude, such a thing was pretty normal considering most people who played video games in great amounts were male. Still something about that compliment made a small blush come to the young woman's face and she turned her head just a bit. "Dude?" she questioned this word choice only to think about it and realize why it might have been. His last sentence about how he'd wished to start those dialogue options made her feel strangely. Since they were both here together and probably stuck indefinitely, and they'd already committed to travelling and adventuring together - which was almost more binding in such a situation than anything else - she felt the need to confess something important. "Ano... this is a face scan. It took me a while to decide on hair color but I just look like this... so thanks," she said bashfully. She was the type of person who enjoyed compliments as much as the next person, though in-game she avoided revealing her status as a female because of how crazy people acted. She was already in a foreign world and felt no need to hide something so trivial. She thought such a thing would make it obvious without saying, since he enjoyed his puzzles.

[Bloodedge]

Following what Kou said to Miki, he witnessed the Avatar's face turning red with what he could only assume was embarrassment. Nothing could have been more queer than this reaction until Miki questioned his use of the word 'dude' when addressing her. 'Wait... no...' he thought, beginning to have it register in his mind that this wasn't a male-controlled Avatar. What's more, Miki confessed to using face-scanning technology to create her Avatar, changing only the hair color from her normal appearance. Kou's eyes widened quickly as he realized he'd been talking to a girl all along, and had accidentally been far more direct than he would have intended to be normally. "I uhh... yeah, well..." He stumbled over his remaining words until he suffered a total loss and the reddening of his own face, which he aimed to mask by turning away quickly. "Okay! Next quest, hup two, movin' on!" was all he could manage as he took long strides into the kingdom. 'Holy shit, I just said something out of line to a girl way out of my league!' he thought during this series of forward movements.

[Apollymi]

After confessing to having been a girl in more than just this avatar, Miki was confronted by a rather strange reaction in Kou. The lad seemed to be thinking about something and went on to stumble over several words as if he was trying hard to justify what he was saying. She didn't necessarily care about this, she expected such things, and she didn't have anything negative to say about the lad in their interactions so far. She could hardly blame him for wanting to carry on any of the romantic options that an NPC would have presented, especially considering it was only natural for him to think she was one as well. "Ano..." she started to try to say something, but the lad seemed content to move along. She'd seen the blush on his face, and wondered if perhaps something about this situation had embarrassed him as well. Regardless of the interactions to come, she couldn't say she disliked the idea of this lad so far, and his avatar was cute. Though she didn't know what he looked like originally, she'd been assuming it wouldn't matter much at all. 'Hm, I don't know what to say... but I couldn't not tell him I was a girl,' she thought to herself. "H-hai!" she said easily catching up to his movements towards the Kingdom. She was alright with them moving on, and had enough extra goods to sell that she wasn't particularly worried about the initial low cash payout. She was however a bit worried about her companion. "You're okay right, Kou? If you're the only person I know, I can't have you freaking out on me..." she said gently aiming to put any awkwardness behind them, not that she understood what his issue was at all.

[Bloodedge]

Forward and forward Kou went, content to move on to the next quest without acknowledging this situation at all. Perhaps in doing so, he could avoid it being brought up again in the near future. Sadly for him, Miki decided to confirm his mental stability from their most recent exchange. It was fair enough to say that them knowing only each other from the human world was reason to worry for one another's safety, but Kou was struggling to find the best possible answer. There was, however, something else on his mind the moment Miki referred to him by the name Kou. He suddenly remembered the moment they introduced themselves, when he intended to offer his given name as a human... and forgot it in exchange for his Avatar's name. "Yeah, I'm not freaking out. Say... what's your real name?" he asked just to be certain whether the situation applied to him alone, or if it affected anyone who crossed into this world.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou as well enough at least to answer questions. Though not directly, still because she was the sort of person who'd not let something like that get in her way, she'd aim to be helpful. He claimed he wasn't freaking out, and this was enough for her to feel like they could be alright. The secondary part of his question gave her a bit of pause. "My name... is... K....Miki..." she said, her mouth forcing her to stumble over the name of her avatar. "Oh? That's weird. It's like my name is fuzzy to me. Actually, now that I am trying to think about it, a lot of things are kind of fuzzy to me. I remember playing this game... a lot. And I remember stuff about the game... but I can't recall... stuff about me. Not really," she said while trying to think of herself a bit more solidly. Still she couldn't actually get her own name to come to the forefront of her mind, nor could she recall what her life was like in the time before she started playing this game. "Can you remember your real name?" she asked of him, wondering if it was simply the world at large trying to force them to integrate.

[Bloodedge]

As they moved deeper into the kingdom, Miki suffered the same fate Kou experienced earlier in the day. This came with an explanation of what she felt in her mind when trying to think of her human life. That fuzzy feeling was present in Kou's mind as well, and he also couldn't seem to remember his mind or much about his life. "I feel like I remember my name, but any time I try to think of it, it's gone. I can barely even picture what was around me while I was playing. It makes me wonder if we're here for a limited time, or forever. I'm pretty sure I didn't die back home or anything." Soon, Kou stopped in front of a quest board which happened to be the same one previously accessed by Miki. He viewed the list of potential quests, recalling their earlier discussion about the next leg of this adventure. "Are we sold on Orc quests? It's a long path; I'd vote for picking up a mount before going all the way over there."

[Apollymi]

Miki was less than surprised that this lad was experiencing the same type of fuzziness around his memories that she was. "Ah, I see. I figured it was just me because I was playing before as a VR experience. When I first showed up here, I thought maybe I'd just gotten booted from the game..." she said thoughtfully. "I also wonder how long we're here for, but I figured I'd make the best of it!~" she said seemingly having a very optimistic overview despite the fact that she'd basically been snatched from her bed and thrown into a life she'd only been experiencing third person before this. As they reached a Quest Board, Miki also stopped and looked at it. Was she really sold on the Orcs, as her eyes traveled over the potential quests they were now capable of taking, and recalling the ideas that they'd discussed previously she gained a new and better one for their adventure over all. "Actually, I have an idea, though admittedly it might seem a little crazy..." she mentioned her own expression souring, though she wasn't displeased at all. "Since you've already done the Goblin Path, and I've already done the Orc path we could try one of the other ones. I was thinking... Lizardmen," she said calmly. "They are in a different area, and we could still pick up the mounts ahead of time, but it would make this adventure different enough for both of us to be worth while. Plus, the Lizardmen I am pretty sure will lead to something that will make the Experience Sharing aspect more worthwhile. And then we can both get newer stuff... as long as we're prepared when we head that way," she concluded. She knew this idea was a bit risky, since neither of them outright knew a lot about the kinds of enemies they'd be facing. She was content with this though, because it meant their new adventure would be a proper new one, and such a risk was one she was willing to take, for new loot and new experiences.

[Bloodedge]

"VR? That had to be a pretty expensive setup, even for this game to run. You're committed," Kou commented, knowing at least how much one would have to pay before being able to play a game this demanding in virtual reality. They were of the same mind when it came to milking this world for what it was worth, for however long they were stuck here. Kou himself, even without clear memories of human existence now, knew there was hardly anything holding him to his home in Japan as it was. So, they would continue questing. Miki produced the idea that the pair of them undertake a new sort of adventure involving Lizardmen, since they'd finished two separate paths in their own playtime. He had originally avoided seeking the Lizardmen since he wanted to save the superior challenge to Goblins for later, but he also didn't have a single proper party member at the time. "Lizardmen are in the marshlands part of the map, yeah? Movement is gonna be hard, and they'll be really fast. I don't think they're as far away as Orcs, so I guess we've got a choice between gear and a mount. Or maybe you had something else in mind?"

[Apollymi]

"Of course, I wanted to have a good time..." she said. The expense of the system she'd originally played this game on, wasn't something which registered within Miki's mind. It like most things she owned, was simply a means to an end. She didn't much care about cost, because she'd been raised not to, of course, she still realized her own hard work was necessary which is why she didn't mind playing her purist runs or not purchasing the DLC before she completed a playthrough of the game. As they approached her idea about how to take on their present leg of the challenge, some logistics were being discussed, basically trying to figure out how to work out what they had going. A party of two should have an easier time of it. "Hai, they make their home in the Marshlands. I'm not sure what's beyond that though, but it's part of the adventure. As for what we do between gear and mounts I think we should still do both," she mentioned to clarify what she thought on this matter her hand came to her chin and she appeared to be in deep thought. "To be fair, we could spend money on getting the two mounts, the Filolial and the Winged Dire Wolf. At the very least a trained Winged Dire Wolf, will work as a third member of the party if it's leveled up properly, and the same could be said of the Filolial," she mentioned. "If that is where we spend the money, we could gear up doing blacksmith quests... I don't know where one is from here, but that would be an easy way to train the mounts and still get the necessary gear to take the Lizardmen. If you're okay with the grind of it..." she said. The path Miki offered was considered to be pretty arduous but she'd taken a similar one against the Orcs when she'd been going at it alone. She felt the long term rewards would outweigh the initial longer time spent grinding for gear and money. Additionally it would give them time to learn a bit more about the world at large and give them a good footing to higher levels.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka," Kou replied. It was rather interesting to him that a girl gamer had the wherewithal to go out and purchase a virtual reality setup to use with such a game as Age of Eternity. As Miki spoke further, he found himself staring absently at her and thinking about this rare occurrence. 'Is she really a girl, or is it one of those really weird guys? If she scanned her face... there's not a single blemish or discoloration. I have good skin because I have OCD, but girls who put that much into their appearance are never gamers,' he thought. Meanwhile, Miki went about explaining her plan to gain mounts and gear before approaching the Lizardmen. The way she thought to approach the situation was very 'grind friendly' for a gamer of the female persuasion, but if she was truly into such a thing, he had another idea. "That is a lot of grinding. If you're willing to do that though, I data-mined an Ultra Rare Mount that can only be picked up from another player now. Maybe even with us being in the game, we can check out the Auction House and see how long it would take to get one. Think that's worthwhile?"

[Apollymi]

Whatever misgivings Kou was having about Miki and her actual status as a living breathing female gamer, there was a bit of silence between them and it allowed her mind to wander. 'I wasn't really put off by the whole warthog thing... but I wonder if the world is level appropriate. Seems like if it is properly real this adventure could get scary...' the girl's mental tirade was cut short by an apparent idea that was had by Kou. "You data-mined the game? That's pretty cool... I didn't know real people actually did stuff like that..." she mused only to realize she had no idea what an auction house would be in this version of the world. "I heard you could get some pretty good deals at auction houses. I wouldn't mind something like that, especially if it'd save me a bit of money. But... do you know where it is?" she asked. The idea of an Auction House was something that allowed players to interact with each other and trade items they didn't need for coin or other items they wanted. Such a place might not actually exist within a world were the things they were looking for were standard. Though... it seemed like it should legitimately. As she thought this over her expression shifted to that of a scowl, but she was truly just trying to figure out if such a thing existed or not.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course," he said about his data-mining of the game. "I figured this game had too many secrets for all of them to be let out. It just so happens that there was a closed beta before release, and they got access to something the developers decided they didn't want in the game. Only that original wave of mounts exists, so it'll probably be a ridiculous price... but I think it's worth having the goal early to know what heights to reach for," he explained, knowing this mount was something most players couldn't dream of having. In essence, it was almost a combination of the mounts these two had in mind for themselves. It seemed Miki was interested enough in the mount, but wasn't sure where the auction house was. Of course, he'd quickly become familiar with its location within the game, so he immediately began moving in its direction. "There's two things an auction house will do for you. It'll either save you a lot of money, or cost you a lot of money, depending on what you're looking for. Either way... it'll save you a lot of time if you've got the money for what you want." Before long, they would be stumbling upon the are he remembered the auction house being located. However, there was a very sketchy building in its place. "Well... that's new."

Whether these two thought to actually enter this strange building or not didn't matter at all. No, they would be greeted strangely from behind by a man shrouded by a hooded black cloak, sporting a purple scarf around his face to cover all but his eyes. "Welcome, Strangers! Got lots of deals for ya'. Come on inside!"

[Apollymi]

"I understand... I didn't play it in Beta... I did pick up the guide book when I woke up the other day though... I needed to know some things. And by some things I mean like all the things... I don't think I know anyone clever enough to data-mine, though. Well, I guess I do now... that's pretty cool," the girl said seemingly happy. She realized she never really got to discuss video game related things with other people. And it was fun to nerd out a bit, even in this rather limited way. Either way, it seemed this lad knew where to find this auction house, and as such she followed along with him as he went towards it. "Hai hai, at the very least it will give me an idea of the rarity of the stuff I am looking for," she said calmly. But as they approached this new building they were greeted by a sketchy man, and if she was being honest, this building didn't look altogether 'safe' either. 'Hm, I wonder if auction house is considered a negative thing in this universe. It looks more like a black market, from a light novel,' she thought absently. Still if Kou was content to approach it, she would as well.

[Bloodedge]

Kou thought he wouldn't have been very surprised if Miki had played Age of Eternity during its beta stage, considering the sort of setup she claimed to have been playing it on. Alas, she was also not a participant. "Data-mining isn't that special. It's probably the simplest level of coding, just going into the game's files and looking for words," he said just before his attention was grabbed by the male who seemed to be a merchant of sorts. In fact, his voice and the words he chose to use as greeting reminded Kou of something very interesting. In turning to look at the man, his eyes widened; there was no mistaking this individual. "Holy shit, the merchant from Resident Evil 4!" he exclaimed, though the man he spoke of had already entered the building. Whatever 'sketch factor' the merchant had initially was gone the moment Kou recognized him from another game, and he followed directly into the shop. Various covered cages were within, as well as numerous chests and crates, weapon racks, etc. "Got lots of goods in today. What can I interest you in, Strangers?" the man asked, to which Kou merely viewed a warthog tusk in his possession before glancing in Miki's direction.

[Apollymi]

Kou claimed that data-mining was a low-tier skill and apparently one that required very little. But what he couldn't know, was that Miki in her regular life didn't have the sort of friends who would play such games. Nor did she directly know anyone who would take such an interest in things, enough that they might be even minimally motivated to look into them at all. "Eh, it doesn't have to be 'that special'," she commented complete with quotation marks made by her fingers. "You actually looked into something you were interested in... I don't know anyone else who likes games enough to do that sort of thing. So it's still cool!~" the girl claimed, somewhat admitting to a distinct sense of loneliness which she had as a person who enjoyed games but didn't have friends who did as well. As they moved along and were greeted by the shady merchant, it seemed that his voice was recognized by the lad as belonging to a merchant from another game. His words, made a slight memory click in the lass' head and her eyes widened as well. "Sugoi! It is!~" she squealed with delight, content enough to follow along to hear what else this merchant would say. As they stepped into the building it was full of cages which made more concrete this lass' earlier thought. "Definitely a black market, though I suppose that is what an auction house would translate to," she said aloud though it was unintentional. She had no idea what the lad was after, but it was likely whatever goods this man had to sell that could be useful to him, in general a mount or something like that.

[Bloodedge]

"Ah, gomen. We thought we were going to end up at a different spot where we could pick up a rare mount, and maybe unload some of our own stuff," Kou said to the merchant, still struggling to get over his fanboy moment. He also had a moment to be surprised by Miki's recognition of the merchant, but that was something he could bring up later if he felt so inclined. "Not to worry, Stranger! I've got rarer beasts than you can imagine, and anything you've got, I'll buy. So, what are ya' sellin'?"

Kou took another moment of pause. The words spoken by the merchant produced a powerful nostalgia that he couldn't just overlook, but a simple moment of elation was enough. "That's great! We've got a load of Warthog tusks, hooves and stuff. Got anything else?" he asked while returning his attention to Miki, wondering if she'd gathered any additional loot from the farm.

[Apollymi]

Miki was stuck in a moment of nostalgia as well, which only grew when the merchant asked about potential items for sale. Her eyes widened and shined with happy brightness that managed to overcome the normal disposition of her face. 'He said it!~' she thought which though in her head was almost palpable. Beyond this moment of fangirl elation, she was asked if she had anything else to sell. While at the farm she'd collected a great number of warthog pieces but a few other things were in her pack as well. A couple of small jewels, as well as a small satchel of berries from one of the nearby bushes. "Just this stuff. The warthogs here will eat anything, including things they can't digest so I found a couple of these while I was skinning stuff. The berries looked like something I saw in the guidebook so I figured they could be useful, though I'm not really into alchemy or anything," she said in offering towards this particular goal. She'd been thinking she might be able to do something with the extra, or at least guarantee they'd have money for food and shelter with a bit of the extra, but it wasn't as if they couldn't simply earn more so long as they were careful.

[Bloodedge]

Miki did indeed have more to offer the merchant. Kou took her offering as a go-ahead and placed all of his own items on the counter between himself and the merchant, assuming Miki would do the same with her items. "Oh, and I have this!" he said whilst reaching into his satchel to produce a small crystal for the merchant to inspect. "Ahh! I'll buy it at a high price!" the man spoke, triggering another nostalgia trip in Kou which made him incapable of keeping the grin from his face. "What sort of high price are we talking? We could use some information as well... like where to find a Ryuuko." The merchant had a strange reaction to this mention. He did, in fact, know exactly where to located something called a Ryuuko, and it was far simpler to find that it seemed to be. "Ah, of course. I have just what you're lookin' for. I can't sell you one, but you can take a chance at gettin' it for a hundred Silvers."

[Apollymi]

Miki placed all of her items atop the counter as well, for the merchant to look over. However upon inspecting the crystal offered up by Kou she heard a line of dialogue which brought a squeal from her person. She simply couldn't believe her good fortune in being apart of a moment like this. If nothing else, the highlight of her life so far here, was finding another gamer like herself, and speaking to the merchant who was essentially a walking talking nostalgia trip. "Squee~ Sugoi!" the noise escaped her before she managed to look abashed. Still there was the matter of the merchandise that the young man was looking for, which was apparently some kind of rare mount. Apparently the merchant could give them a chance to get it, betting a hundred silvers on such a thing. 'Oh... that is a lot. But he doesn't seem like a noob, and knew enough to have a pretty good idea of the preparation needed to get to dragons. With that in mind, I can assume even without knowing the manner of creature a Ryuuko is, it has to be something worthwhile,' she had this thought and was willing to go along with what the lad wanted in order to get this creature to help them out.

[Bloodedge]

As they discussed the Ryuuko, the merchant slid his offer for the pair's items across the table. Considering it a single sale, he offered enough to grant both Adventurers enough to leave them with just about 200 Silvers each after adding to what they already owned. Kou viewed this amount of coin and pinned it as legitimately being an excellent deal. Even though this place being a black market outpost was something to be skeptical of, he couldn't rightly deny the coin. "Alright, so we can get a few shots at this. Take a hundred of my Silvers right away, and show me what you're talking about," Kou said without much of a second thought. As the merchant cleared the table, he wore an unseen grin beneath his scarf. The emptied counter top would be filled by a long box-like device which held a circular platform at its center and various insignia around said platform to fill its most prominent side. "Got something of a game here for you Stranger. Just put your mana into it there, and your Luck will show what you win," spoke the merchant.

With a sigh, Kou stepped forward. He didn't seem very pleased to be doing this, but it was still potentially a better bet than the auction house he'd originally thought of. "Damn Gacha. No matter where I go, I'll never be able to get away," he groaned. Without further ado though, Kou placed his hand upon the platform and focused on it, channeling his mana through the device. One insignia produced a glow in response to this action, taking the shape of a two-headed hound surrounded by flames. This was a rare mount in its own right by Kou's approximation, but he wasn't satisfied. His eyes were on one specific symbol located at the center-top of the board, boasting the face of a dragonic feline of some sort. "Screw that. Your turn," he said to Miki while picking up a chip with his winning's insignia engraved on it.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Miki now had about 200 silvers to work with, which she took up as a good offer considering what she knew of general low tier loot like what she'd had to offer. In fact, she was more than a bit surprised she got so much, but perhaps dealing with a black market for such items was a good idea considering they could move products that regular merchants might not be able to. With this in mind she watched as a strange device was produced by the merchant. This looked a bit like an egg drop gatcha game and was presented as such. The words of Kou made it sound like he was familiar with the luck based game which was the gacha. 'Ugh, I was hoping it wasn't that... but, I guess I could feel a little lucky,' the girl absently pondered this point while the lad with her took his first turn on this game trying to win a mount. Whatever the lad managed to pull from this particular round, he didn't seem to like it very much. Miki looked around at the symbols, and though she'd have liked to experience the one at the top of the board, she'd accepted that this wasn't a very likely outcome. "Hai hai, I'll do my best!~" she chimed. After feeding her mana into machine she received an insignia from the device. it was a winged horse with an eagle's head, surrounded by ring of feathers. She wasn't sure if it was rare or not, but given it seemed to be winged she could at least assume it wasn't normal. "Ugh, seems like I haven't gotten much better at these..." she mumbled to herself, thinking about another gacha she'd played recently and had to play dozens of times to get the item she was looking for. Her generally displeased expression returning because the lass had a gambling streak and as such wanted to keep rolling until she got something she wanted.

[Bloodedge]

Kou watched the female member of the Party try her luck at getting a rare mount. What she received from her first attempt was indeed something uncommon in the video game. "A Hippogriff, huh? That's not bad. I'm not settling for this thing I've got though," he said as he stepped forward to take his second turn. His hand landed on the platform once again, and what he produced was the image of a lion with horns, surrounded by a serpent. He claimed this mount's chip as well, but still wasn't satisfied enough to stop. "Oi, how much if I sell you both of these back?" he asked. A gleam appeared in the merchant's eyes as he replied. "For the hound and the chimera, 350 Silvers, Stranger," the man said, much to Kou's surprise. He realized his Luck stat was quite high since appearing in this world, but such a rate, he could continue getting rare mounts and selling them back to keep trying for what he wanted.

[Apollymi]

"Hippogriffs are cool, but I read they were moody," she said before taking the opportunity to try again for another 100 silvers. This roll would indicate something else rather strange. This one looked a bit like a sea horse, with waves around its head. She looked at it with a raised brow and wasn't content at all either. "Eh, can you buy mine back too?" she asked of the Hippocamp and Hippogriff combo she'd gotten. They were a bit to specific for the kind of thing she actually wanted. If she managed to get her winged dire wolf or the special mount Ryuuko she'd likely stop but until then, given the amount the other lad's had been sold back for, she assumed she could make a bit of money off the whole thing. "I want to roll again too. I don't really know when to quit." Miki's words left her in a mutter, that being said, she wanted different things from this and didn't see the need to stop if she could have a few more rolls and an easier chance of getting what she was looking for.

[Bloodedge]

"I heard the same thing," Kou said upon giving further consideration to the mountable species Hippogriff. "Not as bad as Dragons with the intensity of their negative moods, but I think the cattiness of the Hippogriff might be just as annoying."

Miki also had the desire to sell the mounts she'd gained in her experience with this gacha-style draw. "For those, Stranger... 500 Silvers. Have your roll," the man spoke with that gleam remaining in his eye. At that time, Kou made his third attempt. This third time produced a chip with the marking of a horse's skull. He assumed this would meet the worth of what he paid, but didn't consider it to be a rare enough mount to grant him profit. Either way, it was worth another shot. For the moment though, he took a step back to allow Miki space for her next attempt.

[Apollymi]

"Cattiness is a good way to describe it... I don't think I need that in my life," Miki said about the hippogriff. Luckily enough the merchant seemed apt on the buyback, enough even that he claimed that her combined mounts were worth a whopping 500 silvers. Miki's eyes widened as she appreciated this kind of extra loot early game. "Sugoi!! That's so much, arigatou na." she managed, content to wait and see what her companion got next as a mount. It seemed that his roll was a bit less than stellar, because it granted him only a horse type token. Soon after, Miki had her own roll which she took placing her mana into this device once more, she created a new token. This one, had a bunny head complete with antlers upon it. She looked at the coin strangely for a moment. "Jackalope? Who would want to ride a rabbit?" she muttered to herself, assuming this particular roll to be a bust. She'd likely take at least one more roll, but only after allowing the lad his next turn.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, cat's are cool and all, but... I can't imagine keeping something I intend to ride that has that kind of attitude," Kou asserted, holding his chin betwixt his forefinger and thumb as if in deep thought over the matter. Miki went on to make her third attempt at obtaining a mount, and got something of a jackalope as her result. Her reaction to this was an interesting one, and one Kou could honestly sympathize with upon giving it his own consideration. "That's a pretty funny thing to even think of. I imagine they're pretty decent in combat, though. Anyway, my turn again." With that, Kou stepped forward once more. Time and time again, the pair rolled the proverbial dice in an effort to receive mounts. Eventually, Kou stood before the platform with a few gold coins in his pouch and another attempt on the horizon. Alas, he seemed exhausted from how many times he'd poured his own mana into the device. "Too many rolls. Waaaay too many rolls. I don't know if I have the mana to keep doing this."

[Apollymi]

Miki could only nod her agreement as they talked over the specifications of mounts. Cat-like creatures moodiness was a bit high, and they had higher intelligence but there was only so much a lower level player could hope to accomplish when trying to boss something like that around. "Exactly... dogs would be more useful for that sort of thing. Not that I am opposed to an actual cat..." she mused, thinking about it logically. Her jackalope turn over, there was more to be done and rolls between this pair would continue time and time again. Miki had a few gold coins to her name as well by the time they'd come to the last few rounds of trading rolls for coinage of mounts that they wanted. Still though their luck had been pretty good, neither had gotten a mount they desired and both were standing around looking at the podium. At his mention that he'd taken way too many rolls she also exhaled a couple of deep breaths and could only agree. "Hai, too many for me too... but I still haven't gotten anything close to what I am looking for," she said with a hand on her hip as she leaned away and tried to make sure she maintained clear sight. An exasperated sigh left her mouth after this as she thought over all possibilities. Normally she didn't party nor did she share, but perhaps for the sake of doing something and actually getting a bit more out of this than a bit of coin she could offer something different. "I have been thinking something. Probably a bit crazy but hear me out..." the girl started. "If this game is luck based... we could both activate it at once right. And try to roll for the highest possible thing, at the very least one of us should have a chance of getting something awesome out of the last roll, then we don't have to both waste the last of our energy on a potentially crap roll," she offered the lad, she didn't have much energy left herself, but if they managed to get an actual mount out of this it could be good. Even if she didn't get one right now, she had plenty of time to try for another one later.

[Bloodedge]

Both members of this Party were exhausted of their mana from the day's gambling. Recently, Kou had taken to watching the merchant during every exchange. His habit of solving puzzles of all sorts had him pick up an interesting theory involving everything they were doing. By the time Miki was suggesting that they pool their mana for a single roll of this gacha, he was grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, we could. If we pool our luck stat together, I'm sure we'll get the Ryuuko," he said with a glance at the merchant. As he raised his hand in preparation to place it on the platform, he spoke further. "This is our last shot at this, Ojii-san. Miki," he said while awaiting the placement of Miki's hand onto the platform, intending to place his atop it when it landed and begin fueling his mana.

[Apollymi]

Whatever Kou was learning from his watching of the merchant, he seemed to be fine with the idea that they could potentially roll together to get a better chance at something good. In fact, his words implied that he thought it possible for them to get the rarest mount if they combined their efforts on the last roll. "Sou ka, well, I'm all in then!~" she said without a second bit of thought. Even as the person who just offered up the idea she had no problem with this as an eventual outcome. She placed her hand on the podium then felt his atop it and began feeding it her mana as well. A smirk coming to her face. "This roll is yours and all, just don't make me walk when you get it!~" she quipped in her usual manner, content to wait and see what kind of roll they'd actually get.

[Bloodedge]

When the two placed their hands upon the mount-summoning platform, every insignia began to glow before slowly fading away. There was one exception to this, and that was the Ryuuko's symbol. However, when the others faded, the Ryuuko insignia glowed brightly and produced a diamond with the Ryuuko's image within it. "Congratulations, Strangers! You-" the merchant began speaking, only to be immediately interrupted by none other than Kou. "Managed to summon enough creatures and sell them back to you that we paid you enough for this?" he asked rhetorically, much to the surprise and strange satisfaction of the merchant. The man could only laugh while bowing to the pair. "Knew it. Everybody profits, so whatever... right?"

"Eheheh. I look forward to more business with you, Strangers." This was the final statement offered by the merchant, who managed to disappear into a dark smoke behind the counter. The summoning apparatus also vanished, leaving the Ryuuko's crystal to fall into Kou's hand. In spite of Miki's previous statement, he held the crystal out between them. "Alright, so I guess it's time to register our new ride. C'mon."

[Apollymi]

They placed their hands upon this podium only to have something very strange happen as a result. All of the other creatures began fading away, only to leave the one they'd been aiming for in the first place. Miki's eyes widened at this, but before the merchant could even properly congratulate them, Kou was explaining the mechanics of this game. The lad's words, while shrewd in their assessment, were indeed corroborated by the merchant. A giggle escaped Miki at this, "Wow, that's pretty clever of you. Both of you... I guess," she said. Having a great deal of respect for Kou's brain, as well as the merchant's business savvy. All of this happened and then the merchant disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Sugoi! He's so mysterious, I didn't think I'd get to enjoy a nostalgia trip so much~" she almost sang happily. Soon enough though the crystal for summoning the Ryuuko was within Kou's hand and he had something rather strange to say about it. Her face seemed to move in confusion. "Our? But it's your roll, so it's yours..." she summarized. She knew the base mechanics of this universe and knew it to be the case. In addition to this, she was quite into playing such games herself, and knew that people of the actual female persuasion were stigmatized by the 'gamer girlz' trope of individual who played games to get carried and get attention and she wanted neither of those things.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, right? That guy was amazing! I wonder if other games are blended into this as well; it'd be really cool to fight Diablo later on. You know... way later in levels," Kou said with a slight laugh. Moving on, he expected Miki to take him up on his offer to share this mount by registering it simultaneously, but she chose to question this and point out that it was his. Prior to responding, Kou shook his head firmly. "No way. We're both in this, so I'll share it with you. Besides, you're a girl," he went on, only to realize the likelihood of his closing statement being misconstrued. "Uhh! I mean, not like that. I just mean to say... it's a show of good faith. You don't seem like some random chick who picked up a controller and whatever console is popular just to get attention. But, I know it's gotta suck to not be like that and have everybody online assume you are, or treat you like crap... and I don't want you to think I'm one of those guys, or one of the guys who thinks you don't know what you're doing because you're a girl. This might be a weird way of saying that sort of thing since I'm offering to share something people would spend loads of their real money to get; I just thought it'd be a good way to solidify a partnership if we can both have access to something as great as this." His clause trailed on for quite some time, resulting in Kou rubbing the back of his head to clear the slight case of nervousness he'd given himself with his initial speech. In the end though, he wore a bashful smile and continued holding out the crystal. "So uhh... what do ya' say?"

[Apollymi]

"Or or, we could run into Deckard Cain..." she said remembering the narration of a certain character within the universe which she found to be an equal amount of amazing while she was running raids in a popular Action-RPG style game before this one. Moving on from this, her question about his offering of this mount as a shared item was answered a bit strangely. His words seemed initially encouraging but then trailed off into the level of crazy that normally made her log off and join a new server, not that she had such an option here. 'Jeez...' she thought but soon the lad was rambling rather intensely trying to clarify his last statement a bit better. 'Uh...' Miki just stared at the lad, and though her expression seemed displeased once again. "Sou ka," the girl said still staring at this bashful lad. Somehow even without knowing what his real face looked like, and without really having any other connection to him at all, she felt he was being sincere with his offer. His earnestness and understanding in this moment won her over and beyond that... he was willing to give her a fair shake as his partner regardless of all the other craziness involved with their current lives. She took a deep breath and nodded, making an active effort to shift her face, knowing it likely looked more severe than she meant. "Hai!~ I'll take you up on that..." she said as she reached out for the crystal in his hand aiming to register it with the lad whenever he was ready.

[Bloodedge]

It didn't initially seem like Kou's speech was ending very well, considering the expression on Miki's face. He sighed, but Miki soon appeared to understand his true meaning through some miracle following his rough approach to the topic. She even agreed right away to sharing the Ryuuko mount. "Really? I thought I was making things worse for myself," he said by the time her hand reached the summon crystal. One final application of mana was all it took for the crystal to recognize its two owners. In a matter of moments, both Adventurers from another world were made capable of summoning the Ryuuko. After using so much mana throughout the day though, Kou yawned. "Great! It's settled. Gomen though, I'm pretty tired, so maybe we should find an inn and regenerate overnight. This mount could probably handle the whole Lizardman quest for us, but I want some of that action to get my own level up."

[Apollymi]

One final application of mana came from Miki as well. While they did this, she chose to address the lad's apparent worry that he'd dug himself into a deeper hole while speaking. "Iie, I was just thinking... it was really nice of you to go out of your way like that. And give me a fair shot at being your partner," she said, having her own bit of bashfulness. It wasn't often that she felt like she could undertake any of her adventures with anyone else. And she found their banter comforting as a space for her to nerd out without judgement. Even if his delivery of his ideas hadn't been the smoothest, she thought him honest in his words and that was enough for her. Soon after this, they'd find themselves both capable of summoning the Ryuuko though Kou admitted to being tired and offered the idea of them finding an inn for the duration of the night. "Hai hai, sounds like a great idea to me. I am pretty tired too. And I don't want to miss out on the fun later either," she said, fully committed to this new life she had to live. Beyond not wanting to depend solely on a mount to be carried through combat, she also didn't want to risk herself or her new partner to tiredness, and she felt like they'd accomplished more than enough for a single day.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was soon made to understand what was going on in the mind of his partner, and he found it relieving. What's more, they were in a mutual agreement to retire for the night and return to their adventure the next day. "Cool. There should be an inn down the street," he said while making an effort to leave the black market. In no time at all, he would be setting foot in the nearest inn with a silver coin in hand. "One night," he said to the innkeeper, gaining the key to a room of his very own. "Yosh! It's been a great first day!"

[Apollymi]

It seemed they were on the same page, and the explanation of her initial look was taken in stride as well. It seemed like the pair was well on their way to a proper blooming partnership. As they moved along, they soon left the black market with the idea of finding somewhere to stay for the night since they'd both agreed on that next action. She also entered the same inn with a single silver coin in hand prepared to get a room. Soon, after watching the lad, receive his room key, she tried to get one herself. "Um-hm, it's been pretty productive too," she mentioned to Kou before returning her attention to the inn keep. "One night, please..." she offered in response she got a solid shake of the inn keepers head from left to right. "That lad there, got the last room we had open. Sorry lass..." he mentioned. The idea that there were no vacancies in this place was a bit of a downer, but this couldn't have been the only place to sleep nearby. "Hai hai, thanks anyways..." the girl managed not to sound to down about it. "There is another one nearby, no worries. I'll catch you tomorrow," she mused with every intention of simply finding another place to stay this night.

[Bloodedge]

Fully prepared to head to his own room, Kou paused only upon hearing the innkeeper claim he'd purchased the last vacant room. Miki wasn't too visually bothered by this at all, but her intention to go find another inn wasn't much appreciated by Kou. He threw his room key toward the girl while calling out to her. "Oi! It's fine, take my room. I'll go find another spot and meet up with you here in the morning, so you can just rest up right away." With that said, he drew closer to Miki until he was able to lean forward and whisper to her, avoiding the ear of nearby people. "The NPCs in game have mentioned this being the best inn around. You should take advantage; I bet it's even better if you can experience it yourself," he said, content from there to pat Miki on the shoulder and begin his walk toward this inn's exit.

[Apollymi]

Apparently Kou wasn't at all okay with the idea that Miki aimed to go and find another inn to occupy for the night. He went on to toss his key towards her, which she caught only to look bewildered by it the second after it made contact with her hand. Of course, the explanation he gave to follow made her eyes widen slightly, "Wait, but I couldn't accept..." she started. This was an exceedingly nice gesture on top of the others presented by this lad today. Her mind began to race through the possibilities as her need for this to be a fair endeavor was weighed against all other possible options in her mind. If this was the best possible place to stay, it wouldn't be good to send her only partner out alone somewhere else. Beyond all that there were several other variables which would make it less desirable for them to separate for extended periods of time. "Kou!" she said reaching for the lad, she'd utter a sentence which had never left her mouth before this moment. "Wait, just stay with me!" she said, and then it was her turn to look embarrassed. Her entire face flushed red as she quickly aimed to explain herself and all of the thoughts she'd had before this moment, in the hopes that this didn't sound like a strange proposition. "Look, we're both tired and there's a room here. There is safety in numbers so that's a plus. Besides, it's more economical that we both don't waste money on separate rooms. It will allow us to gear better and thus lead to better overall outcomes when we go out on adventures," she said quickly, managing to look abashed. In actuality beyond these points, she still didn't like the idea of their positions being forced, if she offered to share the room he'd been chivilarous enough to give up, she could feel like there was fairness in the outcome.

[Bloodedge]

Kou's path toward the exit was halted by the call of Miki. Her words took him aback at face value alone, and when he looked toward her, he also got a glance of the staring people nearby who all had very interesting reactions to the statement as well. "Uhh..." he muttered, his face turning red. Miki went on to explain using a logical approach to the situation. Kou could agree to the usefulness of saving an extra silver for later, but as he approached the girl, he couldn't keep himself from believing this was something awkward nonetheless. "Well yeah, I guess that makes sense... but that's a little extreme, isn't it? I mean, it's a one bed room, and... well..." Kou made every attempt to explain his point of view, but it was only becoming more embarrassing over time to even have such a conversation. This was especially true thanks to the inclusion of the others who heard Miki's outcry and were still staring at the pair.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Miki had succeeded in getting Kou's attention. Along with the attention of everyone else presently in the inn. This, of course, wasn't at all her intention, and the fact that everyone seemed shocked by what she said, made it no less embarrassing for her. He also pointed out that this was a bit of an extreme leap, and maybe it was, but it wasn't as if this would be the first extreme leap of the day. "Yeah, and I woke up in a video game," she said somewhat sarcastically. Only to shake her head from left to right. "Iie, that isn't really it or anything... It is a tiny bit extreme. But consider it from my perspective. You've already been nice and fair to me in this entire situation. I wouldn't want to take advantage. It is a single bed room, we could share it though, alternate bed usage, or sleep back to back it doesn't really matter. But I can't really keep taking things from you and call myself your partner. So, we can share it. Besides, I'd rather have someone trust-worthy nearby. This is still a new place and all... besides everyone is staring now and it's a little embarrassing," she mentioned a red tint still plastered on her own face. Aside from the embarrassment of the situation, she still had real-world fears of things that could potentially happen to her if she say, traveled alone or if someone knew there was no one nearby to help her out of a situation. And she still didn't have any real measure about the realness of this world compared to the game and there were certain things she'd rather not find out through first hand experience. "So... new plan. I'll buy us dinner right now, and you can decide later, so it doesn't put you on the spot. That way we can avoid all the intensity of people staring at us," she offered this as a plan to come to an eventual outcome.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed Miki only wished to avoid taking advantage of what Kou was offering, and in all fairness, she did have a point. Considering the brief discussion they had earlier, he could see how negatively one could take such a thing. Either way, it didn't sound like a bad idea in the first place; it was only a bit awkward. Kou gave this plan a decent amount of consideration, but before reaching a consensus, Miki made an offer to think about it over dinner. Kou was quite hungry, so this was considered a grand idea without a thought. He agreed rather quickly, and the pair went on to acquire sustenance. In the end, Kou made his decision and eventually set foot in the room he and Miki were to share for the night. A mighty exhale left him as he viewed the lone bed of this room. "Alright... shared room..."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough, Kou had at least agreed to the dinner she'd offered. Whether this was to be taken as a sign in the positive direction, Miki wasn't quite sure, but at the very least she felt like she'd properly communicated her point without it being taken the wrong way. Though she'd not mentioned it herself, Miki was also starving so the meal was rather comforting to her, and seemed to do wonders towards restoring her mood. Soon after dinner though, she was going back to her supposed room with Kou in tow. 'Sharing a room with a single boy, I kind of know. Somehow still better than having every male patron in this place know I am here alone,' she thought to herself as she also stepped into the room and had a look at its offerings. 'Yep. Just concentrate on the task at hand. It's just sleeping. No big deal...' she thought to herself. She took to looking around the room and found it contained the single bed, a small upright chair, side table, dresser. Strangely it also contained modern plumbing though with an old world feel.

"Hm, yeah shared room. Weird though I didn't expect it to be so modern... I don't really understand what time period this world is supposed to be based on... Actually..." she muttered to herself. But at least she could have everything she did regularly. It also made sense of why the NPCs mentioned enjoying this particular inn better than potential others. She soon began thinking back on the day's events, and if she had misgivings about the realness of this world, one thing that stood out to her was their first shared quest. Clearing the warthogs from the farm had been an early game quest she'd done before, but each of the beasts were released in waves. When they'd arrived on the farm it was simply overrun. Considering such a thing made her wonder what other real-world type mechanics the game had come to have with them inside of its world. Still there wasn't enough information to draw any conclusions. There were also several things that made it still feel like a game, gacha events, the meme merchant, the interaction with the quest givers. It was kind of confusing to shift through. And as Miki thought about it, she found herself staring out of the sole window in the bedroom, a somewhat displeased look on her visage, though she was only thinking.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, I didn't either. It didn't look like this in the game," Kou said as he, too, took in the view of very modernized features within the inn. Perhaps this was some strange conversion, leaking their world into the game when they entered. Either way, Kou was satisfied to be avoiding a very archaic lifestyle as much as possible whilst here in this world. As these thoughts flowed through his mind, he rid himself of his sword and other such things, though he didn't dress down much at all before sitting on the left edge of the bed. He noticed the return of a strange expression to Miki's visage, and thought to comment on it in case there was some sort of issue harbored by the lass. "You alright? You're doing that weird face again."

[Apollymi]

Obviously, neither of them had any complaints about modern amenities as being in the dark ages as people from the modern era would have been a bit daunting. Even so, as Miki stared out the window thinking about all the things right and wrong in this new world they lived in, her internal monologue was interrupted by Kou, who thought to question the look on her face. Miki's eyes widened as his question hit her ears and her face reddened slightly, she then managed to soften her expression just a bit while looking abashed. Since they'd be working together for a while, and because she'd rather avoid any unnecessary conflict or misunderstanding she thought to explain this, though she wasn't quite sure how. "I'm fine. That's just the face I make when I am thinking about stuff..." she said, it was a characteristic of her person which seemed to translate directly into her avatar. "People often think I am upset or angry a lot but I am not... I just look that way when I am concentrating. It isn't personal or anything though...Gomen," the girl said, seeming truly apologetic about this point. In all honesty it took a great deal of concentration for her face not to appear upset, and she'd had several misunderstandings in the past because of this, and thought to avoid them with Kou, if at all possible. Given his words though, her face had looked a bit like this before, so she thought to apologize if she'd made him feel upset at all. After saying that she went about getting ready for bed as well. She removed her cloak and shoes as well as all uncomfortable items from her person, including her weapon and the belt around her waist. After she was done with this, she also double checked the lock on the door, as a point of habit.

[Bloodedge]

Nothing was worth worrying about, according to Miki. The expression he'd witnessed was nothing more than her resting expression when thinking, and Kou figured that was fine. "Ah, I get it. As long as everything's fine," he said casually while flopping fully onto the mattress. Before he made a proper attempt to fall asleep, Kou watched as Miki checked the lock on the door. It was a curious effort, but one he could easily understand. 'This world feels pretty real. That's probably not good, but there's not much to be done about how people are anywhere,' the lad thought. He soon shifted himself to the side of the bed closest to the door, and slipped both of his hands between his head and pillow while laid flat on his back. One final yawn escaped him as his eyes closed. "Oyasuminasai."

[Apollymi]

'Thank goodness...' the young woman thought. It would have made all of their earlier time a bit awkward if the lad didn't accept this very strange facet of her. She knew such things would likely take a bit of getting used to, but it seemed that Kou at least was more understanding that most people she'd come across. After checking the door, Miki settled into the right side of the bed, instead of laying flat on her back, she lie, flat on her stomach, clutching her arms together under the pillow for extra support of her head. Her head was soon turned away from the lad but she appeared to be pretty comfortable nonetheless. "Hai, sleep well..." the girl murmured into the side of the pillow as she allowed her eyes to close and drifted off for a restful night's sleep.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai," was the last thing Kou had to say before he lost consciousness. A matter of hours later, he awoke some time earlier than he likely should have. Kou was an individual who had trouble returning to sleep after his initial waking, so he used this as an opportunity to bathe and return to a suitable state of dress. Still waiting on Miki's waking afterwards, he returned to his side of the bed in the very same position he'd previously been sleeping in, though he did nothing more than look over Miki's position to stare through the window at the rising sun. 'Still here, even after sleeping. It doesn't get more real than that.'

[Apollymi]

Miki found extreme comfort after falling asleep. And dreamed pretty heavily until the time of her waking. This was quite a while after Kou had already risen for the day and her waking would be marked by a gentle roll which caused her to fall out of the bed. Sometime between the loss of the bed and getting to the floor, she woke up fully catching herself even though her body made a slight thud sound as impact happened. Immediately after she managed to peek over the edge of the bed with wide eyes. "I'm good. I'm up... I'm..." she paused looking around the room seeming to be taking in the sights. "Still in a video game world, sugoi!~" she mused falling back to the floor with happiness in her voice. She remembered the other lad in the room and looked and found him staring out the window. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Kou... I didn't sleep too long did I?" she questioned having no idea how long she'd been sleep but knowing that her waking was about normal for her. She looked a bit tired with an obvious case of bedhead but otherwise seemed to be in good spirits after waking, in so abrupt a manner.

[Bloodedge]

Eventually, Miki stirred. Kou set his gaze upon the girl as she began to move, only to watch as she fell from the bed with a thud occurring as she made contact with the floor. Kou's eyes widened when he witnessed this, and widened even further when the girl rose over the bed with the look of someone who'd just been through a tornado. 'A girl who just woke up... and in the same bed I was sleeping in,' he thought, making a very conscious effort to silence his wandering mind. When he spoke, he did so hesitantly whilst a pink flush crept onto his face. "Uhh... no, not at all. You look like you uhh... slept pretty decently, though."

[Apollymi]

She'd fallen out of bed in front of this lad, and might have had the presence of mind to be properly embarrassed if not for the fact that she was still shocked by her current life situation. 'Still in a video game world, with a boy. I spent the night with him... and he's not being weird...' she thought to herself only to silence her own thoughts as the lad seemed to point out an idea he had about her sleeping. "Hai hai, I slept pretty good. But... sometimes when that happens I oversleep a bit... but once I'm up... I'm up. I just need like..." she thought about it for a few moments. "Like ten maybe fifteen minutes~" she said intending to bathe and get ready for the day in a pretty limited amount of time. Mostly she intended to do something about what she knew to be whirlwind hair and probably sleepy face. Soon after she was standing and heading towards the bathroom of this room, intending not to impose for too much longer while looking not herself. And then, exactly 15 minutes later the girl would emerge, redressed and perfectly put together. Every hair on her head in place and not a sign of her rather abrupt waking in her person. "Whooa~ That's better, you look like you've been up a while. You ready to get started on the day?" she asked as she grabbed her things and refitted them and her shoes on her person to be better suited for the day's travel.

[Bloodedge]

Kou never broke his gaze, but he began blinking sporadically when Miki mentioned needing up to fifteen minutes. He'd taken even longer to prepare for the day, so he had no problem with this whatsoever, but he still had to set his mind right. This was something he found possible while Miki freshened up for the day, likely due to the fact that she'd gone during the start of the awkwardness. By the time she returned, he was back to normal with something more purposeful to say. At least, this was the case after a single statement producing yet another blunder. "Wow, that was quick, and you look great. I mean... yeah, let's go," he said, making haste to pick up and equip the rest of his gear. Off to the outside of the inn he went after this, keeping his focus ahead until he passed the door with the Ryuuko summoning crystal in hand. "Alright, so first thing's first. Wanna see what we made?"

[Apollymi]

After emerging from the bathroom her travel companion had something of a compliment to pay her. She looked a bit surprised by this, but technically speaking it wasn't the first time he'd complimented her appearance, though he seemed to want to stumble right past it. 'That's pretty weird... I wonder why he does that,' she thought to herself, she'd give it a bit of consideration over time but for now she had little to say. "Hai hai!~" she chimed about leaving. Though it would have been normal to accept such a compliment, she felt strangely doing so given the stigma around girls who played video games in their home world. 'I do appreciate the compliment. But I don't want it to seem like it's all I am after. He seems pretty nice still, but I don't want to have another misunderstanding...' she thought absently as they made their way outside. Once away from the inn, Kou asked if she wanted to see their summoned creature mount. Her eyes widened and she nodded. "Hai! Let's see it. I've been super curious about it!~" she said, which was indeed true. She didn't know all of the mounts built into the game, so she was curious about the one called Ryuuko.

[Bloodedge]

Luckily for Kou, nothing was said in response to what he let slip from his mouth. He was able to make it outside without any issues, at which point there was a brief exchange regarding the mount they summoned. Miki was keen to find out exactly what would come from the crystal. Kou was curious as well, as he understood summons such as this were based on the player bound to them. Simply having both Miki and himself linked to the Ryuuko was going to make this rather interesting, and Kou didn't wait any longer to find out. When Kou applied a sample of his mana directly to the summoning crystal, it shattered and spread its shards across a shroud of energy which became the mount's form. What emerged was something similar to a liger from the human world, something previously unseen in this realm. It had very Dragon-like features, boasting both scales and fur that were white with a bluish-purple underbelly and accent scales. Upon summoning this creature, Kou stared into piercing golden eyes that matched the claws of the beast, and those eyes stared back into him. He wanted to hesitate, but he'd heard the better of doing such a thing. As such, he stepped up to the Ryuuko and placed his hand atop its head, looking toward Miki as the beast lowered itself. "I don't know about you, but I love it. Here; hop on."

[Apollymi]

Soon enough it seemed the pair of teens had moved past their moment of awkwardness and moved on to the summoning of their shared mount. Miki knew that mounts changed quite a bit depending on who summoned them, and she wondered innately what kind of difference she could expect in this creature as it was summoned by both of them. She got to see the large dragon creature which looked a bit like a liger, she also got to understand the kind of combination of the two of them. Miki also looked into golden eyes and soon enough reached out for the creature placing her hand atop its head as well. "Kawaii!~ It's awesome! It's like simultaneously cute and terrifying!~" she chimed though that wasn't at all an insult to the creature. She thought it amazing and felt like it was one of the best uses of her time and a good solidification of their bond. Moving right along, he asked her to hop aboard the creature who'd so recently lowered itself and so she did without any hesitation. Upon doing so she found herself rather easily straddling the creatures back, surprised by how comfortable she found such an arrangement. "Sugoi!" she muttered thinking this would indeed be an interesting adventure.

[Bloodedge]

Following Miki, Kou also hopped onto the beast's back, taking his place behind the young woman. Reins of magical energy appeared from either side of the Ryuuko's head in this moment, but Kou was having an issue that kept him from noticing and taking hold. There was only so much room forward on the creature, and only so much back as well. This left Kou rather firmly pressed against Miki's backside when the Ryuuko rose from the ground and righted itself. He froze up right away, thinking it may have been a better idea to pick up some sort of saddle to keep their lower halves separate, but it was too late to avoid the issue now. 'Kuso, this is just gonna become more awkward if we move long distances,' he thought. Aloud though, he made an effort to divert. "Uhh... to a... Blacksmith first then?"

[Apollymi]

After she was in position on the front of the beast, Kou joined her on the back. In doing this he was pressed rather firmly against her backside and this would cause Miki's eyes to widen. Inside, she was having quite the flurry of strange thoughts, but outwardly... not much about her changed at all. 'He's right behind me. He's so close. Kind of warm too...' she thought initially. 'What do I do, what do I do? I don't really mind this, I mean we did share a bed together kind of recently. He's gone all frozen in place...' she pondered these points. 'If I say something it could make it worse for everyone... but if I say nothing it could be taken wrong... this is such an odd place to be in.' she thought to herself having taken note of the magical reins which appeared only once the lad joined her, she had them in her hands when he mentioned the blacksmith and she knew where this was. "Hai hai, to the blacksmith!~" she said nudging the beast gently in the sides waiting for take off that she was hoping wasn't too fast. "Hang on!~"

[Bloodedge]

"Y-... Yeah," Kou confirmed as Miki took the reins and forced the movement of the Ryuuko. The beast's takeoff was fast, like the pouncing felines it shared an appearance with, albeit with the force of a Dragon's flight behind it. This resulted in a rather quick and bumpy first movement in which Kou held onto the only thing he could: Miki herself. "Whoa!" he uttered as his arms wrapped around the girl's midsection to keep himself attached. 'Bad, bad, bad! I hope this doesn't look as awful as I think it does. Though... it's not so bad,' he thought.

[Apollymi]

Miki got a rather interesting surprise in the takeoff of the beast, which seemed to be rather sudden. It was an interesting mix between feline and dragon and she was fine with this, even as her companion did indeed hang on. She didn't know what she'd expected when she'd said that, but the lad hanging on to her midsection was indeed a shocking thing. Her eyes widened, but she managed not to stiffen up too much. 'I guess I sort of expected that... ' she thought to herself. 'I can't say I mind...' she mused as they began their journey in earnest. With this in mind she continued nudging the large cat/dragon forward until they reached a shop with a blazing fire going outside and a large anvil on its sign. She pulled back on its reins then, urging it to stop. "Whoa, there's the blacksmith!~" she said happily. She seemed glad to have found it, though she was less worried about this, than the mental state of her companion, though she didn't comment upon this because she didn't want him to misunderstand.

[Bloodedge]

It didn't take long for the pair's new mount to reach the blacksmith, and Kou for one could not have been more elated to have reached it so quickly. 'Phew! I kept it together,' crossed his mind as he carefully removed himself from the beast's back. If nothing else, he could at least say it was an enjoyable ride, and the mount itself was most certainly living up to expectations and more already. "Nice, this is the good blacksmith!" Kou said when he got a look at which one they'd come to. "He's always got some great deals going." Interestingly enough, Kou didn't immediately move toward the blacksmith's shop. Instead, he continued to stand beside Miki and the beast she was on, holding out his left hand to the former as if offering it for support getting down.

[Apollymi]

Miki also enjoyed the ride to the blacksmith, though not for the reasons she'd intended to. Controlling this particular mount was way easier than she'd expected it to be given its status as a dragon of any sort, but it's also been pretty quick. That being said, she'd kind of enjoyed having Kou hang on to her, and more so than that, depend on her for the short period of time it'd lasted. "Hai, this one was always my favorite. And even if I didn't have the stuff for whatever weapon I wanted, he always had some pretty good grinding quests to get any necessary materials," she said of the blacksmith, their combined knowledge of this game seemed to be aiding them quite well in this world. Strange though this might have been, soon maybe even too soon, the boy dismounted but upon doing so, stayed near the beast with a hand outstretched to help her down. She let go of the reins and looked down at his hand, taking it to help in her hop down to the ground. She took for granted that she didn't need this extra help, but rather would accept it as a fairness in their partnership. "Arigatou na," she offered the lad thanks for helping her out in this moment and then placed her unoccupied gentle hand against the creature. "And you too!~" she mused, strangely she hadn't let go of the lad's hand yet, and hadn't seemed to have noticed this herself.

[Bloodedge]

"You're right. The only time I had to go looking for anything was when I needed to awaken a Legendary," Kou explained as he made an effort to move into the shop, but realized Miki's hand was still in his own. He stared at this meeting of palms with intensity and a reddening face. Without commenting on this, he pulled away and placed his arms firmly at his own sides while walking into the shop. There to greet these young ones was a large male with startling red hair and a beard connecting to his sideburns to form a strap. He was a hulking individual with a fire in his eyes to match that of the force, but what he wasn't... was the blacksmith Kou recognized. "Welcome ta' me shop laddie, lassie. What cannah do fer ye'?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed that they'd both had similar experiences dealing with this blacksmith, and as such they had no problem coming to a consensus. What they did have a problem with however, was their still connected hands. Miki hadn't initially noticed, but did by the time Kou was aiming to pull away. She immediately let go as well hands firmly planted to her own sides as she tried not to think about it too much. 'I was just holding hands with a boy... accidentally?!' she had this thought and wished to crawl into a corner and die. Of course, she didn't say anything aloud and instead also followed straight into the shop. They were greeting by a hulking beast of a man with red hair and a fiery look in his eye. Beyond this he had a really strong Scottish accent. 'This isn't the guy who is normally here... he's huge!!' she thought looking to Kou for the first time and wondering if this was the Blacksmith he knew at any point. "Umm..." this was what came out of Miki's mouth initially. "We're just trying to gear up, for an adventure..." she stated leaving the sentence open for Kou as she figured he had more of an idea of what he wanted.

[Bloodedge]

When Miki looked toward Kou, he looked to her as well. A brief and subtle shake of his head showed his lack of familiarity with this blacksmith, but business would move on regardless. "Yeah. We're going to the Marsh Kingdom, so we need the best gear we can get," he said to the smith. Both of these Adventurers received strange looks, starting with Miki, who the blacksmith looked up and down with a gleam in his eye. If this seemed strange initially, it would be stranger yet when Kou received the exact same appraisal with the same expression. "You'll want somethin' made ta' order then. There ain't a thing 'ere li'ah fer now, but if ye' want... grab up some materials. Fer the lass, Sacred Tree Sap. Fer the laddie there, plain ol' Magisteel," said the blacksmith, though Kou knew well that there was nothing 'normal' about Magisteel at all. He looked at the grinning Scotsman with wide eyes, finding this to be quite the tall order... but he'd do his part nonetheless, as it was certainly going to result in something legendary.

[Apollymi]

An appraisal of her person took place and Miki looked at the blacksmith strangely. This was the second time, someone in this world had looked at her like that and it made her wonder if it was a strange bit of programming of the NPCs or if there was something going on she simply didn't understand yet. She was made to feel less awkward about this, when the same treatment was given to Kou as well. 'Sou ka, well at least it isn't because I'm a girl...' the young woman's internal monologue was interrupted within a few seconds as the blacksmith claimed he didn't have anything on hand to give them. He stated that in order for the pair of them to receive anything they would need materials, hers was Sacred Tree Sap and for Kou a bit of Magisteel. Both of these items she knew to be particularly rare, and she knew where they came from but it was still something worth being discussed. She turned to the lad with her and began to speak with a frown on her face that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, "Ugh, I remember reading that the Sacred Tree was in the Fairy Forest. I never went there before for obvious reasons but it seems pretty straight forward. Do you know where to find Magisteel?" she asked of the lad knowing that it seemed like their adventure to the Marshlands would be taking minor detour so that they could gear up properly.

[Bloodedge]

Miki was familiar enough with the Sacred Tree to at least know where it could be found. Depending on how this went, there was a very real chance they could be in worse danger than they would be going to the Marsh Kingdom. If they could avoid combat with Fairies though, their trip to see the Lizardmen would be that much easier for it. As for where Magisteel could be found, Kou understood only one thing, which he voiced only after turning away from the blacksmith. "Magisteel is made from Magic Ore, which only appears after long-term exposure to Superior Demons and other things in that range. Magic Ore is rare enough, but to find some that's already been turned into Magisteel... I have no idea. Dwarves can temper it properly, but this one sounds like he's only capable of working with it after it's been refined. We should probably do that first since it's likely to be less dangerous. Maybe we'll even come out with something that might help against the Fairies."

[Apollymi]

The bits of information that Kou had to offer were very interesting. Apparently in order for the pair of them to get what they needed they would have to deal with both the Dwarves and the Fairies. It seemed that the fairies were considered more dangerous overall than the Dwarves. "Hm, I wouldn't mind visiting one of the Dwarven cities. Honestly, as long as we don't pick a fight with the fairies that shouldn't be much of a problem," she said. Thinking about it she could at least agree to visiting the Dwarves first to see what would be required of them long term was a pretty good idea. "So Dwarves, then Fairies, then we gear up, then the Marsh Kingdom?" she said having a pretty decent understanding of their current set of required tasks. And though it had a bit more longevity than she'd intended, it still felt fun to get immersed in this new world.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmm, yeah. The Dwarves shouldn't be too bad either. We should go to Dwargon! It's one of those places NPCs were always mentioning when I played, but I never went there." As the two worked out the specifics of their adventure plan, they would soon step outside and find the Ryuuko ready and waiting to be mounted. This time, Kou hopped onto its back first, taking the reins in his right hand while offering Miki a lift with his left. "Dwargon, Fairy Forest, Gear, Lizards. Sounds like a plan to me!" he said, content to begin moving atop the Ryuuko mount the moment Miki was situated.

[Apollymi]

"Hai, that place was always on my to visit list, but I hadn't gotten around to it... should be fun~" the girl mused as they made their way outside and found their mount still ready and waiting for them. This time, Kou took the front seat, and this was fine with Miki as she reached for his extended hand and hopped up behind him situating herself rather close to him. By the time the creature took off, she found herself holding on to Kou around his waist with her chest pressed into his back. This experience was altogether very different when not the one in charge of the creature, but she also expected this, though not how out of control she felt as the person in the back. That being said, she was of course content to travel this way for the duration of their trip.

[Bloodedge]

Taking off was much easier from the position of the driver, which was quite a relief for the young man who'd previously almost fallen off the Ryuuko. There was a rather unexpected hiccup though, brought about when Kou nearly lost control. The fault of this was none other than a sudden realization. 'What is this? It's... something soft...' he thought, coming to realize that Miki had taken hold of him to keep herself situated. Looking over his shoulder, he saw what he'd been feeling, and was most certainly not mistaken. 'Boobs on me!?' was the first thing to process in his mind, his eyes widening as a result before he quickly set his gaze forward. There wasn't much he could do; he had to keep moving and try to ignore what was happening behind him, though the speed at which the Ryuuko ran - and the slight bumpiness of the ride itself - was not exactly helping the situation.

Continue the Adventure Here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?856-Dwargon).

[Apollymi]

Eventually a few days after having left the first time, a young blonde-haired young adventurer by the name of Miki would be returning to the Kingdom of Eonis. Such a place looked strange to her, as a realization but she walked along without a care in the world. But she likely wasn't alone, she was likely with the boy she'd partied up with in the earlier part of the game. Beyond that point, this place looked a bit different than it had when they'd first come through. There were people crowding around store fronts, practically throwing coin trying to get food. This caused Miki's brow to raise slightly. "That's weird... I wonder what happened here..." she said thinking about it rationally in all the time she'd spent playing the game Age of Eternity, she'd never seen this Kingdom in such disarray before. Thinking about it in her head, she began to get terse. 'This reeks of side quest.'

[Bloodedge]

Kou walked alongside Miki as they entered Eonis. He was also taken aback by the state of the kingdom, and exactly how much things had changed since they left. He wondered if maybe something had struck the kingdom since their last visit, but this was something rather intense for a single occurrence. "A food shortage? Maybe it's something worth helping out with. We still haven't gone to the castle. We could probably get a good bounty and help out. Besides, I'm hungry... and I'd rather not go to war over food while we're here. Might be best to see our blacksmith first and maybe find out what we're walking into while we get our gear."

[Apollymi]

Miki and Kou began their discussion about the potentially helping with a food shortage in the Kingdom. At the very least, the way Miki figured it, it was bound to be good for their reputation building and at the very least get the Kingdom on their side as they tried to make their way up the proverbial ladder. "Yeah, if it's a food shortage it might be better to get ourselves equipped first then offer up our help. So blacksmith, for weapons and background information, then to the castle to offer a bit of help to what ails the Kingdom..." she said giving them a list of tasks as they walked through town obviously headed back to the blacksmith they'd left the previous time. They had the materials he claimed to need when they'd met him, and now they could only hope to cover the weapon upgrades that would get them to the next phase of their lives here.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah. And then... to find something to eat. I haven't eaten since... Well, the last time we were here," said Kou. During their adventures, he'd hardly given any thought to the need for food. Once they settled down a bit though, he began to feel the hunger setting in, and it was steadily growing as time passed further. It wouldn't be long now. They had only a few, potentially small, tasks to complete before Kou would have his meal, and it all began as they set foot in the half-Dwarf blacksmith's shop. The red-haired man had been awaiting the return of these two, and hadn't expected their journey to end so quickly. However, he seemed nothing less than pleased when he witnessed the pair entering. "Ah, me best customers comin' back fer a wee spell. Lotta songs being sung o' the two Guildless Adventurers an' their Heavenly Puss! What cannah do fer ye now?"

[Apollymi]

"Huh, I guess we haven't eaten since then..." Miki said. It was a very true statement that she sometimes forgot such things while she was wrapped up in things. They'd fought in a war, gotten through a labyrinth and spent two separate nights partying in those kingdoms and still hadn't gotten anything to eat. Just thinking about it now made the lass' stomach churn. "Yep, food is definitely on the list now..." she added as they walked into the Blacksmith's shop. Miki managed to look surprised by the greeting they received, she hadn't imagined that such information would have gotten back to Eonis so quickly. "Wow... I didn't expect that, are they really singing songs about us?" she asked almost rhetorically with blankness returning to her visage. "We uh... came back to get those weapons you were talking about. We have the necessary materials if you can work with them..." she mentioned making moves to extricate the two bottles of Sacred Tree Sap from her pack and give the man before her the spear she'd been using as it was obviously magically attuned enough to receive such upgrades.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course, lass! Songs, art, all manner o' things in yer honor!" the blacksmith confirmed of the praise surrounding this young pair. Kou seemed surprised, but he did also remember a morality alignment function in Age of Eternity, where positive actions could result in things that included praise from NPCs. The question presented by the blacksmith resulted in Miki presenting the Sacred Tree Sap, and Kou took the moment to produce the Magic Crystals he had in his possession, as well as his new sword. "Oh, some extra! I'll make ye somethin' real special wi'these!" he said while claiming the items offered to his craft. With everything in tow, he stepped into the back of the shop, where he kept a more appropriate set of tools for this particular job. Out in the open shop, Kou seated himself. "I wonder how long it'll take. Getting something crafted in the game takes about thirty seconds, so... that many minutes, I guess?"

[Apollymi]

Miki suppressed a sigh at the idea that the alignment of her character as 'good' made it so that strange pieces of art were being circulated about her and Kou's adventures. 'Songs and art, huh? I guess that will take the surprise and sting out of it later...' the girl's mind justified as it became obvious that their blacksmith could indeed do what they needed with their materials. "Hai hai, arigatou gozaimasu..." Miki said to the blacksmith. It did indeed normally take about thirty seconds for the blacksmith in game to work, it was assumable it would take this man about thirty minutes of their new time. "That seems pretty fair..." she said taking a seat as well she crossed her legs at the ankle and began thinking knowing she didn't have anything to say. "Hm, I wonder if it's going to be thirty minutes for both or thirty minutes for each? I guess it doesn't really matter but..." she gave only a soft chuckle. "Huh... I don't know what to talk about?"

[Bloodedge]

"Hmm. I'm guessing it'll be thirty for each. Just long enough that we shouldn't even bother going all the way to the castle." Kou spoke these words with a heavy sigh, and slung his left arm over the back of the chair he'd claimed. It seemed Miki had no clue what to discuss, but if he was being perfectly honest, Kou was in the same boat so to speak. "Uhh... I'm not sure either. I realized something a few minutes ago, though. We never named our mount, and that's pretty important. Naming mounts gives them bonus parameters, so we're giving ourselves a handicap by not doing it."

[Apollymi]

"Right, no use trying to go all the way to the castle. To be honest, I wouldn't like the idea of doing that without my weapon anyway... though we've met some pretty reasonable faction leaders so far, humans tend to be the outliers when it comes to having good manners in these types of situations..." Miki mentioned pretty blandly. Though she wasn't aiming to pick a fight with anyone, she'd rather be prepared to have one instead of walking into new territory like a lamb to the slaughter. As they moved along in conversation though, it came to Kou's mind that their mount was still without name and since giving names to creatures gave them better parameters it would be good to give the Ryuuko a proper name. "Sou ka, I guess that is right. Want to spend a while brainstorming names? Until we find one we both like?" she asked of the lad. She managed to look a bit quizzical as she tried to search her brain for an appropriate name for the creature. 'Alright Miki, keep it together... try not to make its name a straight up reference to something else... no need to repeat Dire Wolf, Youko~' she chuckled to herself. Still she thought to have a bit of fun with it. "What about Shredder?" she offered.

[Bloodedge]

Miki made an excellent point about the humans and their temperament. If there was anyone Kou didn't trust when he was weaponless, it was humans. Fairies and Dwarves were decently diplomatic, Goblins were only a threat in raids, and even Ogres and their evolutions were honorable enough to offer a weapon to unarmed opponents. Humans were another sort of monster entirely, and vindictive enough that any problem had with them would remain a problem for a long time.

As they spoke, the Adventurers reached a point of agreement about naming their mount. Kou gave this some thought, but could come up with nothing but ridiculous gag names right away. Such things would have been fine if he'd been playing the game, but here in this world, they needed something more... realistic. Miki's suggestion, while just about there, garnered a laugh from Kou. "Shredder? Are we gonna attack giant, radioactive turtles with it? I'd rather call it... Leeroy."

[Apollymi]

It seemed they were both in agreement about not facing the human faction of leadership just yet. And instead they both settled into the long haul of choosing a name for their Tiger/Dragon Mount. Of course, this chimera of a creature deserved a good name, and Miki had thought at first her offering would be a good one. But a laugh from Kou followed by his explanation made her chuckle as well, she hadn't even thought of it as a problem. "Damn, I was trying really hard for a not reference, and I ended up making one anyways... If we call it Leeroy we have to start feeding him chicken before every battle..." she said of their pet. She laughed a little harder when she expressed herself further. "It could... be a ... Catastrophe!~" she said trying to stifle a her laughter, the pun of this name was too much. She couldn't help but find this funny even though she knew it was really silly to even think like this she found this moment to be a great deal of fun.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course! Chickens can't be that hard to breed as a food source. Besides, think of the battle entry! We can ride up on it all like, LEEROOOOOOY, and then if we take a massive loss, we can comfort the mount by reminding it that it still has chicken! Flawless execution!" Kou continued about his first spoken idea for a mount name. Miki offered a second name suggestion, yet Kou couldn't take it seriously at all. If the first two shared between them were bad, this one was a level of 'punny', so to speak, that couldn't even be fathomed. "That's just horrible," he said, laughing again. "How about... Raikou?"

[Apollymi]

The giggling... was almost constant, and in the moment Miki was really regretting not being able to make the joke of calling their mount Leeroy. This world was too real for them to give their pet such a joking name. Given this she also knew that her most recently offered name was too much. "Oh hush... it's a great name... glorious even. Catastrophe has character as a name, it will help him become the best he can be. And then when he's rushing into battle we can be like 'OH SHIT IT'S A CATASTROPHE!' and it will be hilarious..." she said in joking justification of her most recent name choice. Beyond this she was offered another name by Kou and while it wasn't the worst of the group, she also had a particular reference for it. "I can't with Raikou. It was the most annoying catch for me of that generation. Just running, running, running, then I finally track it down, and have a pokemon with scary face at the front of my team. I work it down to one health, and it struggles itself to death. It would be a constant reminder of hours of soft resetting, it's traumatic," the girl said of the name Raikou. While it was strange to try and name something together, she still appreciated this moment of happiness and beyond that she'd settled into the comfort of it. By the time they'd gotten to this point, her position in the chair had shifted and she was now fully facing Kou, a smile on her face as she came up with another name. "Ah, I've been trying hard for a not reference, so why don't I just go for a different kind of reference, Xerxes..." she offered as a name for their shared pet. Perhaps it was because the last game she'd finished was one set in ancient Greece...

[Bloodedge]

Kou couldn't handle even the idea of naming such a mount as the Ryuukou "Catastrophe" by Miki's previous suggestion. It seemed though, she couldn't tolerate his follow-up name either. When she gave her reason, he remembered his own traumatic experience with that very name. "You know... I wasted an entire Master Ball on that bastard. Yeah, never mind. Raikou's a stupid name," he said in the end. As they conversation progressed, Kou's position also changed quite a bit. He was eventually leaned forward in his chair as he faced Miki, arms slung over his knees as Miki presented a name which wasn't so bad at all. "Xerxes... That's a strong name. Let's do it! As a warning though, I'm going to call him Leeroy as a nickname. I can't let it go~."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Miki wasn't the only one who suffered through trying to catch the legendary 'dog' pokemon. Kou soon enough shared his own story, in which he wasted a Master Ball on the capture of Raikou. "A Master Ball? That's tough... I always end up just keeping mine until the end because I refuse to waste it. I have item hording problems..." she commiserated. Upon sharing such mental instances of trauma caused by a single creature it was decided by the pair that it wasn't a proper name for their shared mount. Both seemed to be reaching a different level of comfort while they discussed things together, it was for Miki a moment which she wouldn't have really noticed what had happened but she couldn't help but feel more at ease while they sat this way together. Her final offer of a name seemed to be one which Kou could agree too, under the stipulation that he would nickname the creature Leeroy. "At the very least, Leeroy will make a very interesting battle cry. No one will even know how to respond. And if they do, we we'll be able to pick them out and make friends~" she offered with a chuckle. This conversation wasn't very intense but it was still quite fun to her as an experience. "So, we will call our Ryuuko, Xerxes. That's cool. I didn't know if I had another reasonable name left in my head..." she claimed feeling good about having chosen a name they could both like.

[Bloodedge]

"Do you mean you don't even use it on the legendary from the cover?" Kou asked. He had a habit of saving his singular Master Ball until he encountered the major legendary of the game, if only to avoid having to fight it at first. However, he had broken this habit multiple times, and wound up with that legendary in a normal ball instead. He wasn't at all satisfied with these outcomes.

They reached a consensus at last. The Ryuukou they shared as a mount would be named Xerxes, though Kou would continue to call it Leeroy at his leisure. "Yeah, I think Xerxes is a really good name for Leeroy. Err... That was the only thing I could think to talk about, by the way. I'm all out now."

[Apollymi]

When asked if she used the Master Ball on the legendary creature from the cover of Pokemon Games, Miki looked a bit abashed. "No... my OCD makes me catch all Legendary pokemon in Ultra Balls. So besides my first set of Pokemon all of them are in Ultra Balls," Miki explained of herself. "It's always a pain grinding up enough money, but its worth it so my boxes look uniform," she said having a strange need for order in those sorts of games. Whatever the case it seemed that the naming of their creature was the only thing that Kou had in mind to talk about. Miki felt it was now her own turn to think of something they could talk about. She was quite curious about the lad as a person... so she eventually came to a strange conclusion. "Alright, how about we play a game..." she offered. "Well not really a game... but it's more like an ice breaker that I have seen done a bunch of times. But I can alter it to fit us and not a bunch of stiff office workers..." she said after a moment of thought she had it.

"It's called 10 Questions. But for us I'll call it 10 Categories. Any random category named, we have to name our favorite of that thing, if we have one. Like... if I said noodle dish, we'd both have to name our favorites. And it's called 10 but it can go on as long as you have a new category to name... it could be a decent way to have something to talk about... and get to know each other a bit better," she offered. She didn't know if this idea would fly, but she thought it would be a fun way for them to get to know each other while they waited.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Miki in her human life played the game they discussed in a very specific manner for the sake of aesthetics. Kou couldn't say anything about this, since he'd done similar things in other games, so a casual shrug and a chuckle took the place of what would have been his words. It was then suggested by Miki that they play some sort of game to pass the time and have a topic of discussion. Whatever this was, it was clearly something done in friend groups, perhaps mixers or something of the sort. "Ten categories, huh..." he repeated. It was a weird premise, and one Kou certainly wasn't used to at all. However, he certainly had nothing better in mind. "Alright. I guess I'm game."

[Apollymi]

As they conversed, Kou didn't seem to have a problem with the level of ascetics that Miki claimed to need while playing that certain game in her human life. Somehow she found this comforting, to be honest, she'd never been able to discuss her gaming tastes with anyone so it was kind of refreshing in the first place. Beyond this point it was nice to not receive judgement for her playing habits. As they progressed past this point, her idea of an ice breaker game was accepted as well, which was strange to her because she figured she'd have to pick something else instead. "Alright, then, I'll pick one now... since we were just talking about it, Favorite Pokemon type," she asked the first question and it was not really a strange one considering their shared love of games apparently. "I like dragon type, except for Dragonite cause it looks stupid in the face..." she explained of her own personal favorite.

[Bloodedge]

And so, their little game began with the topic they had already been discussing. The category given was favorite Pokemon type, and Miki began by offering her own personal favorite. She chose the Dragon type, granting the exception to one very 'cartoony' member of the type. "Yeah... Dragonite looks like shit compared to its other forms. I was pretty upset when I found out, especially given how strong it is. I would have rather seen Charizard or something as a Dragon type," he added, sharing his own distaste for that particular Pokemon. Then would come his own favorite type. "I would say... I favor Ghost types. Whenever I get a custom Familiar here, it's probably going to be Aegislash." Interestingly, while Kou spoke of having a Familiar, something strange happened without him realizing. The pouch he kept on him since refitting himself in Dwargon began to move from the inside without any interference from Kou himself.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that she wasn't alone in her assessment about Dragonite as a pokemon, which gave her a great deal of understanding. "Right? I had one for completion sake but I was mad about it the whole time..." Miki mentioned. As they moved to Kou's favorite, the lad apparently enjoyed his ghost types. The ghosts were pretty solid as a group so Miki could somewhat understand this, "I can see that, Banette is probably my favorite from that group but Aegislash is pretty cool. I had him on the team for a little..." there was a pause in Miki's speech as Kou's pouch began to move on his side and it drew her attention. This happened mostly because she could see both the lad's hands and knew he wasn't reaching for it. "Uh... do you have telepathy?" she asked as she shifted her gaze down to the pouch so as not to alarm him. She wasn't currently armed but she didn't much like the idea of something strange emerging from his bag without knowing what it was.

[Bloodedge]

Kou nodded. The Pokemon named Banette was a favorite of his as well, at least partially due to its interesting lore. Before he had a chance to comment further, Miki asked if he had telepathy. As random as he was, he thought this game was simply going in a different direction now. That is, until the gaze of Miki fell upon his pouch, which he also noticed moving when he looked at it as well. "Uhh... no. No I don't," he said with shock in his voice and on his visage. Slowly, he reached for the still-moving bag and pulled it open. Once the flap was turned over, he took a tentative peek inside to see a glowing blue light, and within that light, a clearly drunken male Fairy with blue hair that grew out in all directions at the front and uniformly pointed backwards in the back. "I think... we got a straggler," he commented before tilting the back to give an open view of its interior. The Fairy fell out of the bag then, using his insect-like wings to stumble through the air onto the table beside Kou and Miki. "Huah... You woke me up..." the small creature said whilst rubbing his eyes. "Well... you were in my bag. Do we know you from yesterday?"

When asked this final question, the male Fairy ceased the rubbing of his eyes, looked up, and flashed a bright smile at both Adventurers. "Hehe, nope! I'm Puck! Pakku!"

[Apollymi]

The shuffling in Kou's side pouch was soon revealed to be a straggler of sorts. A small male fairy with blue hair and insect-like wings had taken up residence in Kou's place. Miki looked at the small creature and breathed a sigh of relief, for a brief moment she'd been afraid she'd have to fight something without a weapon. "Ah, it's a fairy. Okay... I was worried for a second there..." she mentioned returning to something closer to her normal relaxed state. While Kou questioned whether or not they'd met this little fairy in their previous day, Miki watched as he introduced himself. "Kawaii!~ He's adorable..." she said about the small fairy. "Yoroshiku, Puck~ I'm Miki..." she introduced herself as it seemed only fair, though it didn't make much sense for him to tag along with a couple of people he didn't know. "So, did you just fall asleep in there? Or did you tag along on purpose?" she asked the small male fairy to clarify his intentions. Because while they could take him back to the fairy forest, it might be a while considering the mess that would need cleaning up here.

[Bloodedge]

"... Hai. I'm..." Kou intended to introduce himself to this Fairy as well, but a tiny hand was raised to silence him. "Dakini-sama's ambassadors. I was there at the party, so I decided to come with you guys and make sure you keep your act together. Yep!" Puck said with a firm nod. Kou took a moment to inspect this Fairy's parameters, and upon doing so, his eyes widened. Something had occurred, and he wasn't exactly sure how. "You're... registered as my Familiar? Wait... PUCK!?" Closer inspection confirmed everything Kou wanted to know. This Fairy was also a player once. Sadly, no further words could be exchanged about this, as the Fairy named Puck flew back into Kou's pack and fell asleep immediately. Kou was left dumbfounded for multiple reasons. "Some Berserk fan made an avatar after Puck... and somehow made himself my Familiar..."

[Apollymi]

It appeared the small fairy knew of the pair as ambassadors to the Fairy Queen and wished to tag along with them to make sure they didn't falter. Whatever the case, it seemed he wouldn't need to be taken back to the Fairy Forest which male the whole of this fine. Until of course, it was discovered by Kou that the lad known as Puck had made himself into Kou's Familiar. "Poor little guy he wore himself out..." she said of the fairy known as Puck who was apparently a player. "I didn't know players could register as familiars. I'm a little jealous, I wanted a fairy follower while I was playing... I just hadn't gotten around to it..." Miki mentioned. Her obvious leanings in game play strategy was weird, but she didn't much care about it. "Also never got around to Berserk. I've heard things and based on image searches I am not going to like the character I like most so... I've been putting it off," she said thinking about it. Perhaps she should have given it a fairer shake, but Seinen genre needed a bit of tip-toeing into so she'd gone with something else as her first dive into the genre.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmm..." Kou muttered. It was incredibly strange that this player had latched onto him in such a way, but he supposed there was now plenty of time to question it later. At the very least, he'd managed to obtain a Familiar for free and without training, so they had that. "Well, I guess we have a Fairy now. As for Berserk... Well..." Kou took a long pause and sighed. He knew exactly what character Miki was talking about when stating she wouldn't be able to like her would-be favorite. "Griffith did nothing wrong. I'd have done it all too. Well... not all of it. Maybe. The morality is a huge question mark in that series, but now I feel even more like I'll never see the end of it. Anyway, got another of those categories?"

[Apollymi]

Miki soon got a crash course in the Berserk discourse and the reaction was about what she expected given the highly dubious nature of the online discussions surrounding the character known as Griffith. "Ugh... I like a little ambiguity as much as the next person, but... I feel like I should have given it a more honest try. To be fair, instead of hunkering down for that one, I read Rising of the Shield Hero..." she added for her own edification. Beyond this point it seemed that Kou was okay with their ice breaker game continuing, so Miki gave it a few seconds of thought and then asked another question. "Alright, who is your favorite deuteragonist? I ask because protagonists are too common. And mine for the record is Killua Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter. With a new strong liking for Bakugo from Boku no Hero Academia," she said offering up her first and second choice mostly because she currently wasn't sure which two of those she liked more.

[Bloodedge]

"I think it's worth a shot. You know, if you can get past the fact that everybody who's important has been brutally raped at some point in the series... some on purpose," Kou added for clarification. The series they spoke of was among his favorites, but about thirty years old. As he thought of this, he had to add something else to the clause. "Oh, and the hiatus problem. Ugh, nine years on a fucking boat..." he said with an expression of absolute disgust. Moving back to their little game, Miki presented the curiosity of Kou's favorite deuteragonist. Her own were interesting choices that he felt compelled to comment on first. "Bakugo is fuckin' great! Killua is awesome too, but I think my favorite of all time has to be... ugh, it's weird..." A pause ensued. He wasn't sure if his choice would even be a name recognized by his companion, but he blurted it out regardless in spirit of the game. "Kagami Taiga. He feels more like the protagonist, though..."

[Apollymi]

As they discussed what happened to be a thirty year old classic series, Miki found herself understanding a bit more of Kou's opinion about the series itself. Knowing something as brutal as rape happens to a lot of people is one of those things that makes or breaks series for girls like Miki. "Sou ka... well, I'm not really patient so that wait time would be a killer. But, knowing bad stuff happens ahead of time makes it a bit easier to process. You know like the warnings I enjoyed before diving into series that kill characters all the time," she said, having made up her mind that if the opportunity arose she'd give herself an ample try at Berserk as a series.

As they moved on to the choice of favorite deuteragonists, her own choices were commented upon favorably. She felt some strange satisfaction in this moment. She didn't normally get to have conversations like this with actual people she knew, so it was a fun change of pace for Miki. Beyond this, he claimed his own true favorite was weird, and mentioned a name she knew from a more obscure sports related manga/anime. "Huh? You liked Kuroko? I didn't think anyone was into that one... it's really obscure. You're right though, Taiga feels more like a protagonist so I didn't really think about him like that, it's a great choice," she said. Miki as a person strangely didn't have any set like or dislike of anime, and because she didn't have any friends outside of minor acquaintances, she had plenty of time to delve into anime, manga and games for long periods of time without interruption.

[Bloodedge]

"..." The other thing Miki preferred a warning for was another trigger for Kou. He thought back to one of his favorite arcs of the series, and addressed this matter once his thoughts concluded. "Oh. Right. Well, don't get too attached to too many people in Berserk. Or D.Gray-Man. Or Akame Ga Kill. Or... I'll stop," he said.

It seemed Miki was familiar with the series he referenced as having his favorite deuteragonist, and she even claimed it to be a good choice. "Yeah, the only thing that kept me remembering was that the series was named after Kuroko. Got another one, then? Seems like you're favoring the anime-related questions."

[Apollymi]

Of the things listed by Kou which contained the random deaths of a massive number of characters, she'd seen or read several of them all ready. She went on to add a few more to the list. "Or Juni Taisen, anything in the FATE universe," she added her own to let him know she was more than fully aware of the great number of series which forced you into accepting the deaths of pivotal characters.

"Well I guess that is better than series like Fairy Tail, where the main character is so non-existent you don't even see her for ages and it doesn't make any difference to the story," she said coming to her main problem with an entire series in a single sentence. Moving right along, she was asked if she had another category up, and it was noted that she spent a lot of her first few discussing anime-related things. Miki managed to look surprised her face flushing slightly. She rubbed the back of her head and shrugged. "Well, I actually don't get to talk about this kind of thing with other people very much... so all of the topics in my head are this... but I have a lot of them floating around in here..." she said pointing to the front of her head and offering a smile. "Oh I got a good one, Favorite Piece of Technology you wish you could have...." she said, of all the series she'd partaken of there were quite a few which had advancements she wished she possessed. "For this one... it's a bit weird, but I really liked the Air Trek super rollerblades in Air Gear. They were like weaponized toys. I think I'd like flying..." she said.

[Bloodedge]

"... Fuck Juni Taisen," was all Kou had to say about that particular series. He figured that sentence alone would summarize everything he meant, and was content to move on right away. Miki's next topic of choice was one which technically fit the bill of something different, though it still remained somewhat anime-related... especially given her choice of items. Kou laughed. "That's hardly not an anime question. A-Ts would be cool, but... I think I'd go for... Box Weapons from Reborn. Rings too, of course. Next?"

[Apollymi]

The phrase Kou used to describe his distaste in Juni Taisen was one which Miki understood. A brief chuckle came from the lass because she knew too well the sting of being given an entire episode of backstory about a character who dies in the last two minutes of the episode. As they moved on, apparently there was something in the series Reborn that Miki didn't really know about and she managed to look stunned at the assertion. "Box Weapons? Rings? What? Are you telling me there is something more to that series than a kid getting shot to death and waking up in his underwear?" Miki asked starting to feel like perhaps she'd cut a series a bit too short for once, normally she tried to tough through the boring parts, but that series seemed to be a total gag.

As for the next question, she had one waiting in the wings, but would wait for the explanations he'd asked for before she presented it.

[Bloodedge]

Instead of moving directly to the next topic as they'd come to do over the past few categories, Miki stopped to question the abilities found in the series Reborn. Kou was baffled, and jumped forward in a way which caused Puck to stir and grumble in his bag from the movement and following noise. "What!? You gave up before they introduced rings!? You have to sit through that first 61 chapters of shit before the series becomes one of the most amazing things I've ever seen! Alternatively, watch the anime... They put the first good arc somewhere in the twenties, then loop it back to that weird daily life shit. But trust me, it's worth it! They completely stop the whole Dying Will Bullet thing, and Tsuna starts keeping his clothes on and being an actual badass... when he's fighting, at least. They have rings that make flames, each one with a different ability. Remember Lambo? They all get sent 10 years into the future with that weird bazooka he has, but they get stuck there, and they get little boxes to put their ring flames in... and the boxes throw out different animals with the powers of their flames!"

[Apollymi]

A small jump happened when Kou moved forward apparently very excited to give Miki the information she sought. Miki seemed surprised to be learning such a thing and leaned forward to take it all in. Apparently she'd given up on Reborn a bit too early, and it was about to become exactly the sort of series she liked to watch and read. She could barely stay in her seat as Kou excitedly explained all that she'd missed. "Ugh I stopped at like chapter 30... it was just too much. I did give a few good moments and tried to push through in the hopes of seeing Reborn be a badass.... But 60 chapters to get to the point?! Who does that?!" she said seemingly outraged. She didn't want to leave this world, but if they made it back to their home world, she might give Reborn a thorough binge. Moving along her next question was up, and it surprisingly wasn't intrinsically linked to anime though it could be. "Alright Favorite Mobile Game..." she asked. Thinking about it more she decided to answer herself as well. "Actually, I really like Plague Ink. I name all my diseases dumb anime stuff and I infect the world with it so I can read all of the dumb tag lines that pop up," she said of the strategy take over game she enjoyed playing most on her mobile device.

[Bloodedge]

"Chapter 30, huh?" Kou asked, taking the time thereafter to remember the series during that time. "Uhh you could skip ahead from there, straight to chapter 62. Those other chapters are good stuff, so I would still go back and read them, but... they're not integral to the story. It's weird, I think the author just gave up on it being a gag series after checking her reviews." Miki thought to bring up the next category once they finished addressing Reborn. It seemed she was gradually moving away from the more anime-related topics, which was fine with Kou as it stood. Favorite mobile game was a strange thing to think of, but Kou had a good few on his list. "These are weird things for getting to know someone. I uhh..." He paused, scratching the back of his head when thinking to admit what his favorite mobile game was. "My favorite is... Moe! Ninja Girls..."

[Apollymi]

A bit of advice came from Kou about the chapter she could skip when restarting her binge of Reborn. And Miki was ever the type to keep such a thing in mind for a later moment. It was also mentioned that this was a weird game to play to get to know each other, and she agreed. That being said, she had no thing to talk about and she'd seen it work out for groups of stiff office workers and figured it could also work for a couple of high school kids. "Moe! Ninja Girls, isn't that basically a dating sim? I played a lot of those, I think I gave up that one because I didn't like how long it took for tickets to recharge..." she said, which was rather true. Still it was quite strange for a guy to be into that sort of thing. "I didn't expect guys to play that sort of thing... I learn something new everyday~" she commented. Besides this point there was the strangeness of this conversation which she also chose to address. "Well, the version of this game I normally see played, is two people from two completely different departments in a firm having to come up with 10 things they have in common. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to take the edge off of meeting new people... because it gives you a few topics to discuss," she said with a nod of her head. "You have any categories... I'm running out of diversity..." she posed as a question. She could probably scrape the barrel of her mind for more, but she was also curious about what Kou thought of in moments like these.

[Bloodedge]

"Uhh... yeah... that's the one," Kou said tentatively. He found it difficult to admit he enjoyed such a game, but he also found it surprising that Miki didn't expect it. He was actually surprised Miki played the game he spoke of, considering why he'd first taken an interest. Luckily, she moved on rather quickly to mention the more normal experience one would have playing such a game as what they were in now. She'd also run out of categories, and asked if Kou had any in mind. "Sou desu ka. Well... I guess I can come up with one? Uhh... we're gamers, so... worst experience from a game?"

[Apollymi]

They spoke about the games they liked playing on mobile phones and Miki didn't see anything potentially wrong with Kou playing a dating sim. She figured he liked the story or the characters and there was nothing wrong with that considering why she watched most series. There was also her guilty pleasures series, so she couldn't really argue any point about someone else's tastes. As they moved past this, Miki was confronted with a different kind of question, she thought about it for a moment and there were two instances she'd consider equally bad for different reasons. "Hm... the worst, there are two. One is bad for general reasons and one is a different kind of bad, both of them made me give up on a game," she said. "My solo worst experience was in this Bleach game. It was Dynasty Warriors style hack-n-slash so nothing too crazy. But you get to play with your favorite characters. I put in hundreds of hours on this game, like it was the best thing ever to me. I played it way too much. And right before I got the platinum trophy unlock, on my last mission... my game crashed. No big deal right? Reloaded the game... my save data was corrupted. I literally had to start over from nothing... I just didn't have it in me to take a game like that from the beginning again. So, much time lost and so much wasted effort... it killed my buzz for that type of game for a long while," Miki admitted. That one was not terribly harsh but it was a big blow to her early gaming career. Even as a causal losing that much data wasn't worth it to her.

"My worst coop experience was when I was playing GTA Online. I know... not the kind of game you play with other people. It encourages trolling and all kinds of other dumb stuff. But it was one of my early multiplayer experiences and it is the reason I learned some important things. Anyways, I set myself up, joined a 'nice' group and just played for fun with those people. We had this weird thing were if you messaged someone, they'd get a group together and lock out a whole bunch of random trolls so you could do your major sales and stuff without so much risk. Well... I did one of these, I was saving up for something stupid, like I dunno a Yacht. Anyways, I ran some missions with a small group of people, I didn't know everyone but it was cool... so I stop doing missions for a while to run a couple of things solo, for my 'business'. Let everyone know in chat so they can get some XP if they want to join up with me for a bit. Only a couple of people do... whatever. Eventually, one of the people I was playing with before comes back and feels like I dunno, I abandoned him or something... even though he didn't say he wanted in on my little business venture in chat. So... while I was doing something in a small mission. He blew up my car. Then my drugs, then just followed me around the map killing me. I went into passive mode, done with the whole thing, and changed lobbies. He showed up in that one... found me on the map and just kept killing me every time I spawned. Sending me annoying messages, telling everyone in the group I'd started it and it was pay back. The game got really toxic. I just wanted an imaginary Gang-Star life~ Jo-jo style. And the game became so shit for me I gave up on it completely. Unfriended everyone from that game, uninstalled it, and made it impossible to message me through my system network, because I was done. And I played solo games for a while after that..." Miki explained her two worst experiences as a person playing games so far in her life and shrugged it off. "What about you? What's your worst gaming experience?" she followed up. She didn't seem bothered about her story, but knew it was probably a bit heavy for general conversation. At the same time she couldn't really lie about it either.

[Bloodedge]

Miki had not just one, but two tales to tell about her horrible gaming experiences. The first was certainly something gamers of any classification could relate to, at least as a fear. Kou had a similar experience to share as his worst of all time, but first came Miki's tirade about a player-based experience in a game that had been very popular for the last five years or so. "You say GTA, and I'm pretty sure I already know where this is going," he said, though he continued to listen intently. True enough, Miki's experience was about normal for one who experienced the fury of trolls in the online community of that game especially. Hers was different in that there was some sense of retaliation in the troll's mind, but at the root of it all, it was the same old tale. "That kind of shit is why I gave up on GTA. Exactly what I thought it would be, for the most part. My experience is a lot like yours was with Soul Ignition. Well... it was sort of my fault. I was playing Darksiders II. Fuckin' loved that game. I went to the Crucible, sort of a survival mode for 100 rounds. It took a lot of grinding to get my build right, until I eventually made it to the boss at the end. I would have finished a legendary set if I beat it, but I had to leave to go to the store or something for my sister... so I left my console on. I usually don't do that, so when I got back home, I instinctively reached out to turn the system on like I always do... and JUST as I pressed the button, I realized I was turning it off instead. I hadn't even saved since before I changed my build to something better, and I couldn't even remember what it was. I got the 'Deathinitive' edition of the game as a present when it came out later, but I still haven't touched it since..."

[Apollymi]

Miki had said what she needed to about GTA, and it seemed that Kou could relate on the general level of unnecessary trolling done in that particular community. To be fair, it was so bad that Miki couldn't trust anything released by that company at all, and hadn't bothered looking into any more of their merchandise since. As they moved along, Kou told the tale which was one she could understand as a gamer and as a creature of habit. Though it was turned on its head, as he stated that it was his habits that were his downfall. Deleting your own progress accidentally like that was something she'd never even considered as an option. "Damn, that sucks. Like I can't even describe how bad that sucks... I feel for you..." she said and she meant this truly. He had to have felt betrayed, by himself, his console and the universe in general. As she sat quietly thereafter she found another question in her mind. "What's your favorite mindless game? You know, like something that you don't really have to concentrate on but that you could load up and play for a couple of hours at random just to unwind?"

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah... it was a bad day for me overall," he said, summarizing numerous unmentioned events during the mentioned day. With a sigh, Kou moved on. Up next for discussion was another topic of video games, particularly one which required no real thought to play... one which a person like Kou, in his human life, would commit hours upon hours playing, until he eventually blacked out from sleep deprivation. Of course, a game immediately came to mind. "Sims. No question, Sims. I would have said Minecraft a few years ago, but that got boring to me after I killed the Ender Dragon. Portal Knights seemed pretty fun too, but... no one to play with, and it's not an amazing solo experience."

[Apollymi]

Kou's thoughts about his bad day seemed to extend to something he didn't share. But since he didn't share it, Miki didn't push it... it wasn't really in her nature to pry and she completely understood what bad days could be like, both in and outside of games. As their topic of conversation shifted once again she found herself once more surprised by the sort of games that Kou enjoyed. He admitted to mindlessly playing the Sims for hours. While Miki played the Sims it was never really her go to for hours at a time. "Sou ka... that's pretty interesting. I play the Sims from time to time but I never really played for extended periods of time. My favorite mindless game is No Man's Sky. And yeah, I know its basically an unfinished space travel sandbox, but... there is something really randomly cool about traveling to planets, cataloging creatures and plants and learning new languages. I spend hours doing that even though I know there isn't much else to it. Before that I also played way too much Minecraft, but I feel like it lost its luster once I knew how to take care of myself... there wasn't any danger anymore after I figured out how to play properly..." she said missing the nostalgia of the old games she played when they were new to her. "Never tried Portal Knights, but it looked okay. I downloaded it while it was free... but I haven't gotten around to playing it," she mentioned of that. "Oh and Diablo 3. I occasionally just start a solo season in that because I know the story and I think it's fun to just play through and enjoy it again..." she said knowing that was one of her favorites. She wasn't sure she had an immediate extra thing to say just yet though, so she held her thoughts after adding this bit as she tried to rack her brain for more things to discuss.

[Bloodedge]

"No Man's Sky, huh? So basically... space Minecraft, without the crafting part. It's space mining. With spaceships." Kou had made an attempt to enjoy the game of which Miki spoke, but his entertainment was not long-lived. Overall, he could call it a mediocre experience after realizing how many resources throughout the random generator were repeated. "That's one hell of a guilty pleasure. I thought about trying that one after the updates. Actually, I played it thinking the updates would come soon after release... and they didn't. So, I gave up," he summarized. With that, he finally leaned back in his chair again. He didn't realize any earlier that he'd fallen out of his relaxed posture, but now that he did, he was quick to reclaim it. In doing so, he also took the liberty of continuing the discussion. "Diablo is great. I go back to play every season until I top the leaderboards. So... uhh... favorite... food? I like a good Udon with miso. Or... anything with miso."

[Apollymi]

"Fair." Miki said, she couldn't really argue about No Man's Sky being space minecraft. That being said, she also had no idea why it counted as a guilty pleasure. It was a pretty bad game, but it was also mindless and sometimes she didn't really want to think, she just wanted to do. "It's not that guilty of a pleasure... it's like a medium one..." she said with a joking tone and a quick nod of her head. "And it took a year or two but the interesting stuff is finally happening. Bases, actual ability to play together, etc... I kinda feel like they had to sell the game to complete it. Should have just called it a beta and taken donations..." she said of the game they'd been speaking of. Soon enough, Kou retook his comfortable position and leaned back, taking it upon himself to ask another question. This time he wished to know the lass' favorite food while positing that his own was Udon with miso and also anything with miso. She thought about it and she didn't dislike miso at all. "I like miso a lot myself... but I think my favorite food ever is Onigiri. It's one of the few things I know how to make myself... " she mentioned thinking about being taught how to make it as one of the few happy memories she had with her parents before. "I like it with umeboshi... okaka or miso. I guess what I put in them or get put in them, depends on how I am feeling," she finished up with a chuckle. Since they seemed to be on a swing towards things not entirely gaming related, she asked a different question. "Uh... what's your favorite....season?" she asked thinking about it she shared her own. "I enjoy winter... the snow is always really nice," she said, though there were other reasons for that as well.

[Bloodedge]

Miki defended the game in question by addressing the changes that had been made to it in more recent times. In Kou's opinion, it was something done too late by the developers to catch his interest. "A beta would have made it better, but... I dunno, I just can't get past the salt. Maybe one day, if that's even possible anymore." Kou sighed, thinking the one negative to being stuck in this world was the inability to complete various games and series. If he had to make a choice for worlds to literally delve into though, he would have picked this game regardless. Either way, the food topic produced an answer from Miki which caused Kou to nod in agreement. "Onigiri's a good one. Actually, I don't know what I said Udon for... Soba's my favorite. Guess I've just got a craving for Udon right now..." With a shrug, Kou moved on again. The topic of favorite season was presented by Miki, and she voiced winter to be her own. "Yeah, that. Snow is my favorite weather, and there's nothing better than falling asleep when it's cold outside and you've got a nice, warm bed to get into. Besides, summer sucks."

[Apollymi]

This pair continued talking and Kou voiced one of those unsaid thoughts. It appeared he might have been too salty to go back to the game in question. That was fine, because Miki understood this, beyond that though he amended his favorite food, going on to explain he seemed to just have a craving for it when he mentioned it, while praising Miki's own taste. A point of commonality was soon found as Miki mentioned her favorite season and Kou agreed with it. Even going on to mention a favored scenario and to mention that the summer sucks. "Ugh, you're right... it's too hot during the summer. Spring is alright except for the pollen and autumn is also alright because of the coolness," she said. Thinking about it more she supposed she had more life related questions for Kou as they'd not done as much talking before and she'd never really had these sorts of conversations before either. "Uh... Favorite Type of Music?" she asked of the lad, music was just as important as any other facet of life to Miki. Especially seeing she enjoyed the background noise when she was alone.

[Bloodedge]

"Ugh! Pollen is the worst. I don't have to deal with it often since I don't go out much, otherwise spring would be my least favorite. Stupid shit that's there just because it has to be, but all it does is piss me off," he ranted briefly, stopping because the talk of pollen reminded him of a character he disliked, not from an anime, manga or video game, but from a newer novel series. "... Fuck Dacian," he muttered, nearly under his breath. His favorite music was in question for the next category. This required a few moments of thought from Kou, but in taking those moments, he came to a firm conclusion. "I gotta say... I prefer alternative to anything. Yours?"

[Apollymi]

As they progressed in the conversation it seemed Kou had some very serious things to say about the pollen. Miki wasn't terribly affected by it, but she also had been on medication for her allergy season since she was a small child. A chuckle escaped Miki because she couldn't help it, it was funny how upset something as simple as pollen made the lad. His words about Dacian a character from a book were initially glossed over by Miki who wasn't used to anyone being able to reference such things. They discussed musical tastes and Miki nodded. "Alternative is pretty good. I think soft rock...and jazz. Jazz definitely for sleeping. And usually soft..." she stopped talking again and thought about the previous sentence. "Wait. Wait. Wait... Fuck Dacian?" she blinked a few times her eyes widening as she realized something. "You read Translyvania?! Really? It's like my favorite new novel series!!~" she seemed to be really excited rather suddenly. She couldn't help but find this to be the most interesting discovery of her day.

[Bloodedge]

The musical preferences of Miki were spoken, but the lass stopped speaking when she mentally looped back to Kou's random outburst from moments ago. His brow rose; he didn't expect the statement to be heard, much less understood. When Miki latched onto it, he was a bit taken aback. Still, he managed an eventual response. "Yeah... it's written by my favorite mangaka. Or... pair of mangaka. They co-wrote the novel too. I read through the whole first book, but that second one keeps getting pushed back for their other things. You know the first movie was animated already? It released the day before this happened..."

As this pair discussed the novel that had yet to become a series, their blacksmith returned from the back. In his right hand, he carried Kou's sword, which didn't look any different, but felt more high-quality to the lad's senses. His left hand held, slung over his shoulder... a large, mottled, green pillow, which happened to be the weapon of Miki. "Alright laddie, lassie. I've got yer weapons for ye!"

[Apollymi]

Miki in admitting that she liked Transylvania had technically admitted to something very strange. Her love of this particular novel and soon her love of the pair of mangaka that wrote them, though all of their works had a bit of an extra problematic aspect. "Yeah, all of their projects get pushed around like that... I am always waiting for the next volume of something... but when they are motivated they give so many extras it's worth it!~" she said of this couple of mangaka she enjoyed reading. The news about the animation of the first Transylvania book made Miki's eyes widened. "Oh no. I was... supposed to watch it. I was going to download it release day, but I got distracted by AOE," she said. "The Orc Lord showed up and I was gonna take it down then watch the movie... I can't believe I missed it," Miki said thoroughly distraught by the intersection of her favorite activities.

As she bemoaned the experience of her life, Miki was soon enough confronted by the blacksmith. Kou's sword seemed to have undergone some kind of quality improvement. Miki however was soon confronted by the sight of what had been a spear in the form of a giant pillow. "I... um... gave you a spear... and you're giving me a pillow," Miki mumbled her index fingers tapping together. There was almost no way for her to explain this shock, so she decided to test it, and whistled aiming to call the pillow to herself to make sure it was actually hers.

[Bloodedge]

Kou nodded when Miki spoke of the mangaka they both followed, and continued doing so when she mentioned missing the movie due to being brought to this world. "I missed it too. I was planning on watching it before bed, but... yeah..." This was all Kou could say. He deeply regretted his loss of this particular movie, as the sorts of things happening with the novel were set to be something amazing when translated visually.

Speaking of visuals, Kou was soon taking and inspecting his sword. Upon closer inspection, it did have a certain gleam to the blade that it was previously lacking. With it in his hand, he could easily feel the difference in quality. Miki, however, questioned her weapon. This was justified, considering she was offered a pillow in exchange for a spear, but the blacksmith merely smiled at the girl as the pillow responded to the whistle, and he released his hold on it to let it return to her as she desired. "Aye, ya did! That's the best I could get that weapon for ye, but ah think ye'll be surprised, lassie."

[Apollymi]

It seemed Miki wasn't the only one who missed out on the Transylvania movie. Kou admitted that he'd wanted to watch said movie before bed, and instead ended up traveling to this world as well. It wasn't really a big deal, and she was enjoying the experience of being in this world, but... that moment was a bit regrettable nonetheless. As they moved along in conversation the hour of fixing their weapons had come and gone, and now, as Miki whistled the pillow held by the blacksmith was released by that man, and traveled to her. She looked at it quizzically within her arms. The blacksmith claimed she'd be surprised by it. She gave it a gentle squeeze and it was soft but also felt strangely durable. She supposed in this way, it could double as a shield but, that wouldn't do much for her killing people with it. As soon as her thoughts switched to something more destructive, the business end of a broad spear began to shift out of the pillow. Sucking up the mottled pattern into it became a full-length spear a bit different from the one she'd brought but still very deadly. "Sugoi! It's one of those transforming weapons. I never had one of these before... Arigatou Gozaimasu~" she chimed seemingly happy with the outcome. She turned it back into a pillow and was content this way for whatever reason. She wondered what other forms it could take, but knew that such things were influenced by a great number of factors and it would be something she found out as she adventured. "How much do I owe you?" she asked of the blacksmith, as she figured though they'd gathered the materials there was still labor and the like to account for.

[Bloodedge]

Kou gave his own weapon a few test twirls while Miki confirmed the status of hers. He found his sword to be lighter than before, though perhaps this was due to it properly registering to him as a... "Legendary class weapon? Sugoi..." This was a true sword, and though it was presently a low-tier legendary item, it had a growth feature as well. The same could be said of Miki's pillow, which was already showing its powers. "Arigatou gozaimasu, uhh..." Kou only just realized that he didn't know what to call this blacksmith, but the red-haired male let out a hardy guffaw and gave his answer to both Adventurers immediately. "Dreyfus, lad. And I'll tell ye what... you two let me hang onto the rest o' that Magic Ore, an' I'll call it square!"

[Apollymi]

"Yours too?! Sugoi, sugoi!~" Miki said as she squeezed the pillow and noticed that it was holding her up, instead of the other way around. She hovered gently a few inches off the ground while holding on to the pillow in this way and this made her exceedingly happy. Moreover she was soon given the name of the blacksmith, who was aptly named, Dreyfus, and along with that the price he wanted for the Legendary Weapons he'd so recently crafted them. "Ano, I mean... if that's all you want I don't really have a problem with it..." Miki said, not really seeing an immediate use for Magic Ore and knowing that she could always mine for more if necessary now that they weren't locked into a single area of the map any more. Still she'd look to Kou as this bounty was in large part his own, she didn't see why he wouldn't have agreed considering that was a huge bargain considering the worth of two legendary weapons.

[Bloodedge]

The blacksmith's name was Dreyfus, interestingly enough. Kou was quite surprised at himself for not asking before, but now that he had it, he'd commit it to memory. More importantly, Dreyfus' only desire in exchange for the legendary weapons he'd crafted was to keep the remaining Magic Crystal from the crafting process. Miki had no issue with this trade, and as both she and Dreyfus looked to Kou, both would find him shrugging to say he had no qualms either. "If that's all it'll take, I can't give it a second thought. You've got yourself a deal," he said, reaching out to shake the blacksmith's hand while also sheathing his blade. With their trade done and their blacksmith thanked, Kou looked to Miki. "So... to the castle?"

[Apollymi]

Within a few seconds of her gaze being directed at Kou, the lad seemed to be fine with the trade between themselves and the blacksmith. Kou shook this man's hand and soon after Miki extended one as well as she floated on her pillow. When asked if they should head to the castle, the blonde lass nodded as she turned on her pillow and headed out the door. "Hai hai, sooner we take care of that the better..." Miki said. Assuming they left without further interruption, they moved through the city fairly easily and the difference as they approached the city surrounding the palace and the place where the blacksmith's shop was located was like the different between night and day. Though the lower rungs of society seemed to be suffering quite a bit, the nobles in the area were moving about as if it was business as usual. 'Hm... that, doesn't bode well...' she thought but she carried on regardless because it was for the good of the people.

[Bloodedge]

"Come an' see me again sometime!" These were the final words of the blacksmith Dreyfus as the Adventurers left his shop. Soon enough, they were traversing the noble region of the kingdom, the area closest to the royal palace. Kou quickly took note of the difference between this area and the more common region of the kingdom, and the more he saw of these luscious lifestyles nearby, the more angry he became at the state of things. 'Must be nice... being on such a pedestal that you can just ignore the problems of everybody on the ground down there. These people haven't missed a bite... and they're still wasting more and more every day. Fuckin' disgusting...' he thought as they continued toward the castle.

[Apollymi]

Miki was left feeling slightly uncomfortable by what she was seeing. Perhaps this was simply because she knew the difference in how the lower set were living. Perhaps there was another reason entirely. Regardless, she cast a lurking eye towards Kou because she was quite sure that he was upset. The lavish estates they passed with no one seeming any worse for wear, confirmed her thoughts about the food shortage not having reached this area. That being said, Miki wasn't dumb, and history said that if this area was so much better off, then they were likely the cause of the food shortage in some way. 'Hm, I wonder if we're about to make enemies of the Kingdom of Eonis.... I mean, I figured something like this might happen but, I didn't expect such an obvious difference across the Kingdom...' she thought as they found themselves standing in front of a large castle gate. It was manned as usual by a pair of well armored Knights both of whom held their weapons in cross formation to bar the path of the two travelers. "Halt! You approach the castle of the King of Eonis. What business do you have here travelers?" the Knight on the left questioned.

[Bloodedge]

The anger within Kou turned into an absolute fury as he witnessed more nobles enjoying their life and engorging themselves. His teeth were constantly grinding by the time they reached the castle, and a fire raged behind the lens of his eye. He barely saw the pair of knights guarding the castle gates, but he heard one of them speak, and noted that they were holding their spears out to block his and Miki's path. Nearly on impulse, Kou's sword was drawn the moment he reached the blockade of weapons. This draw led directly into an upward slash meant to cut through the two spears at the point where they met one another. If he managed this, Kou would continue trudging forward into the castle. "Move. You're useless."

[Apollymi]

By the time their approach was stopped by the guards, Kou's fury had bubbled over into something bordering upon insanity. Miki understood this at least a little, but it was brought to full light by the actions of the lad. The Knights were called useless but before they could speak on the matter the ends of their weapons fell to the ground around them and they managed to look shocked by the occurance. So much so that Kou moved right on by them and it would be Miki who floated up afterwards with less grit in her entrance. "We know a good blacksmith if you need to get those fixed," she offered as she floated by atop her pillow. She caught up to Kou with relative ease and spoke to him directly. "I can hear your teeth grinding..." Miki commented, she didn't know if she could diffuse this situation at all, but she could see several bad potentials coming from approaching the royalty of this area with an attitude like the one Kou presently possessed. "I get that you're angry... and I know this situation is shit, but... if we approach this too recklessly, we won't be able to help anyone..." she said, and her point was logical and even a bit detached. She didn't experience poverty in life, but she was also a caring individual raised by people who cared for those beneath them. Given this she didn't like what she saw either, but she knew many rich people didn't see the value in the people who worked for or under them.

[Bloodedge]

Into the castle, Kou went. He sheathed his sword, but he was ready to draw it at any moment. Even as Miki began speaking to him, he didn't calm down one bit. In fact, her claim that his fury wouldn't help anyone resulted only in his burning gaze being set upon her. "Yeah? Take your own approach then," he said before he looked away. Regardless of Miki's intentions, Kou had one method of approach he intended to use. Perhaps he was being reckless, but he doubted royals who allowed this sort of situation would listen to reason. If they did, they would have been doing something about the famine in the common region already. No, instead they were here in their safe-haven, in need of a more direct approach that Kou certainly intended to bring their way.

[Apollymi]

Miki soon enough was confronted with the burning gaze of Kou. She fully understood in seeing such resolve that he was going to act the way he wished to irrespective of anything she said. She had her own problems with what she was witnessing but she was quite sure her feelings about it wouldn't change what she would do. Still a bit of explosiveness was useful from time to time, and she was a rogue after all. If anything truly bad happened she could use any situation created by Kou as cover to help him out. "Yare yare daze... I'm not your enemy here. Do what you think is right..." she said with the same tone, she had the entire time. At the same time she held her hands up in mock surrender. She knew when she couldn't argue points, some things had to be done and she understood it. Though she would have rather tried something less abrasive, she was content to see how this played out. She floated along within the castle, trying to recall anything pertinent about this area, trying to figure out what had changed enough to cause the problem in the lower quarter but not enough to reach the the Royal Quarter and Castle properly.

[Bloodedge]

Kou hadn't intended to lash out the way he did, but... he knew things. There were certain facts he understood now, comparisons he couldn't stop making, and a loathing he couldn't get out of his mind. Either way, he pressed onward until he eventually reached the doors to the throne room. The doors themselves were as tall as Kou's house in the human world, and they looked too heavy for a single person to push open. Regardless, Kou had no intention of pushing anything besides the proverbial buttons of whatever royals lay behind this threshold. For the door, he drew his sword once again and slashed twice in an X-formation, causing the doors to fall before him in four sections. Now, at last, he could face whichever royal would be the target of his fury.

[Apollymi]

Whatever Kou felt about this situation, Miki didn't take his outburst personally. Instead she was content to watch as he cut an entrance for himself into the large throne room. Here there was seated at the fore, a young woman with long white hair and blue eyes. She had a double set of crowns upon her head, and wore black and white advanced robes. Held in her left hand was a staff with one end like a key and the other held a large gem with a single cross worth of stone missing from it. "Oh?! How dare you!? I am the crowned princess of Eonis, Madoka! And I demand you stop right there!" came the call. At such several guards surrounded the entrance standing around Kou and Miki managed to look disinterested the entire time. 'And now they're pointing weapons at us...' she thought, as her pillow lowered her feet to the ground and she held it in front of herself, to the chuckle of several of the guards. Something said by this young woman caused Miki's left brow to raise. 'Crowned Princess of Eonis is Aerona...' she thought, which led to one of a few reactions she could have had, which was checking the stats of the princess currently seated at the head of the room. 'Another one...' she said making a single identification. Just as well, Miki immediately became suspicious of not knowing where the other Princess was. She was one of the more important side characters and had her own fan following and if she was like Titania actually here she would be very dangerous.

[Bloodedge]

The person upon the throne was neither king, queen, nor princess. Well... the girl sitting there did claim to be the princess, just before demanding that the Adventurers stop. Even while the guards approached and drew their weapons, Kou continued moving forward. "Fuck you," he said during his approach. His sword remained drawn, and his eyes traveled from one guard to another as they crowded his path. "Any of you actually want to fight? I want answers to why most of the kingdom is dying of hunger, but everyone on this end is stuffing their fat faces with more than they can handle."

[Apollymi]

The guards were all looking around. Most of them never left the safety of the Royal Quarter, so no, none of them actually wanted to fight any adventurers. "You remember what happened when Princess Madoka fought Princess Aerona..." one of them whispered to another. 'Sou ka, so that is actually what happened huh?' Miki concluded, as several guards just casually let the adventurers pass, figuring the princess herself could likely handle them if she needed to. "What are you even talking about?" said the princess as she stood with the most indignant look on her face. "I just received a status report from the merchants, the farmers and the advisers and they said the Kingdom is functioning as it always does..." she said seemingly confused. Miki understood in this simple exchange exactly what was happening. This was a princess suffering from blind syndrome. Even as a player they hadn't considered the possibility of the people from this world lying to them, Miki upon hearing this sighed. "Yare yare daze. You can't actually be that naive. Of course, all of those people will tell you what you want to hear, they work for you... and it doesn't directly affect them," Miki said sounding quite annoyed rather suddenly. The princess stamped her foot and managed to look disturbed but as she looked around the room, the knights all avoided eye contact with her, as if searching for anything other than her face to look at. "But that... can't be true," she mumbled as she fell into her seat. "Well then... what do you know?" she asked them. If what Miki said was true, then no one within the castle was properly trustworthy for information.

[Bloodedge]

"Figures. You don't even check this shit for yourself, so you don't even know what's going on," Kou said, directing his fury toward the guards who'd so casually stepped out of the way and allowed his approach to the throne. Upon hearing that the guards had simply been withholding information from this princess, the lass seated herself on the throne again, swearing it couldn't be so. At the very least, she wished to know what these Adventurers knew, and though Kou had no nice words for anyone in this castle presently, he would gladly explain the situation at hand. "Ever, uhh... I dunno... looked out the fucking window!? We just got back to the kingdom an hour ago, and I've seen more people than I can count throwing their money at vendors just to get two bites for their kids! People are dying painfully out there, and nobody here is doing shit about it!"

[Apollymi]

The words of the male adventurer stung. She really wasn't aware of what went on outside of the palace. After working so hard to get here, her duties had locked her up within the space. She didn't see anything wrong with this initially. To live the life of a princess was all she wanted, but she hadn't at all considered what else she should have been doing besides just listening to the words of those around her. "If they were starving why didn't they say anything? There is plenty it isn't as if anyone needs to starve... there are people who are supposed to be seeing to everything like that in times like these. It wasn't supposed to be this way..." whatever this girl was saying about the nature of the people who worked under her. It was obvious she didn't know about what leadership in these sorts of situations was about. Miki had less harsh words for her, from the perspective of someone who'd already learned such a lesson. "One leads by example. If they don't see you doing things, they won't care to. Your guards and knights also aren't answering summons for help... even when the threat is to profitable farmland," she said remembering the first of her quests in this place.

"If your people starve to death, you won't have much of a Kingdom, and if they decide not to... well... revolutions get messy. Not saying they would... but if they did you'd have no one to blame but those you allowed to run wild with your authority," Miki mentioned, since there wasn't any immediate danger to her, by the time she gave this speech she was sitting atop her pillow floating in the air. Her right hand tucked under her chin with a seemingly regal countenance for at least a single glance. Between the verbal tongue lashing she received from Kou and the disappointed sibling-like speech she received from Miki, the princess stared for a few minutes, water welling up in her eyes. She began fighting to wipe the tears away but in the end it failed and she just ended up crying and trying not to in this situation. "I... really didn't know. I thought... it would be fun. I don't want anyone to die because I didn't know what to look for. What? What do I do?" she cried aloud much to Miki's surprise. 'Oh shit, is this like a super kid? I didn't want to make a kid cry...' she thought with widened eyes.

[Bloodedge]

Kou gritted his teeth again when this princess wondered why the starving members of the kingdom didn't say anything. Additionally, his fists clenched without much conscious thought behind the action, and he even began trembling. 'Dumb bitch... There's no way that many people never said anything. Nobody just lets themselves and their families go hungry like that. Nobody...' he thought. Before he managed to say anything, Miki addressed the princess with her own take on the matter. Her speech led Kou to look over his shoulder, glancing in Miki's direction through the corner of his eye. He had nothing to say, but that habitual stare had returned. Shortly afterwards, his stare was broken by the sudden stammering and crying of the princess. He looked to the white-haired royal in disgust, thinking that if this was going to be her reaction, it was an utter waste of nobility. "Gimme a fuckin' break!" he exclaimed while reaching out with his free hand, aiming to grab the princess by the collar and lift her to meet his gaze in the most direct fashion. "What do you do!? You get off your prissy little ass and help someone! If you have something, don't you think it should be your responsibility to help out the people who have less, the people who have nothing!? No, I bet you'd rather just sit here and live the best life you can, completely ignoring the people who would die over the things you toss out as scraps!? I fucking hate your kind! Here's what you'll do... You're gonna give us a bounty to fix the famine in this kingdom. We'll take care of the problem you don't care to even notice, you'll pay us for it, and we'll be better-equipped to actually help people because of it! Got me!?"

[Apollymi]

Kou's level of anger in this situation was indeed strange to Miki. She figured there was some underlying cause for it, but doubted it would come up in conversation. The tears of the princess didn't seem to move the lad in the way that most would have expected. Even so, he'd soon approached her and grabbed her up by the collar, yelling in her face as more tears streamed from her eyes. Whether he got through to her or not, her crying didn't actually stop tears streamed down her face. Miki watched the entirety of this situation and didn't move from where she sat for several reasons. Some lessons did need to be learned directly, and when confronted by fury there were a few responses to take which could potentially make the situation better. She waited to see what would come of this. Something in the mind of the princess broke and the sounds of her cries stopped she reached up and wiped her eyes a couple of times. "O--ooh. Okay," she said her voice a little off as she shuffled about it. "I get it... I messed up. You two adventurers should do what you can to end the famine. I'll pay you for your help to the Kingdom. And I'll order my guards and knights to share the food stores... I'll make sure they actually go out and hand them out. I'll go with them... just stop yelling at me..." she said. She was truly apologetic and she didn't know it would be so hard. The former crowned Princess Aerona, never told her the guards wouldn't do what she said, nor did she tell her people would lie to her. It was strange that she hadn't bothered to fill in any extra information.

[Bloodedge]

"... Tch!" Kou didn't much appreciate the apologetic speech of the princess. He'd much rather have seen immediate action, but he supposed this was the best he was going to get from such a crybaby. At the very least, the bounty had been promised to the Adventurers. Kou released his hold on the princess' collar to leave her behind as he made his way. "Whatever. We're going to fix this problem; we'll be back for the coin," he said, continuing his forward movement until he left the throne room.

[Apollymi]

Miki got to watch as Kou let go of the princess. Though he didn't appreciate what she had to say, he assumed they'd be paid for their work and trudged off to see to their actions. Miki shifted on her pillow and floated away with the lad, seemingly without anything to say. He still seemed to be fuming, but this was fine, she had nothing to say immediately about this, but she did have an idea of where they needed to go. 'Hm, I guess we'll just move along. He might say something eventually... or keep looking at me like I grew another head. Whatever the case he was pretty rough on that girl...' Miki thought absently as she move along beside the lad. 'I mean, logically as a player it's probably a guy, but that person gives off the vibes of a prepubescent girl. I mean, most people grow out of being a proper crybaby by the time they are teens. Even if they aren't young, maybe they didn't think about how real this world is, and they've been treating it as a game...' Miki concluded. 'I mean it has to be pretty easy to assume it's a game if you go through only the same quests and stuff that you did before,' Miki was theorizing in her head about the realness of this world. Given what she could assume based on the interactions she'd have so far, it was probably possible to completely shift certain things about the way people interact with everyone else based on what they chose to do. "I think... we should go see that farmer that gave us our first quest..." she said after a few moments of deep thought.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was still absolutely disgusted by his time spent in the castle thus far. The princess, while seemingly not so morally incompetent, had proven herself to be just as useless to the kingdom as he expected any royal to be. There was nothing he would enjoy more than finally escaping the castle, and it seemed he would soon have that wish granted. Miki followed along by floating with her pillow of a weapon. From nearby, she made the suggestion that they visit the farmer who'd given them their first official quest in this world. Kou agreed. In fact, he fully intended to visit that farmer as things stood. "That's exactly where I was thinking of going. Oh... and... gomen," he said, keeping his sights on the path ahead.

[Apollymi]

Miki continued floating down the same path that Kou took and her suggestion that they meet their earliest acquaintance from this world was met positively. Stranger still, the lad offered an apology with his eyes still forward. Miki managed to look surprised by this, it wasn't the first time anyone had lashed out at her, she was sort of used to it. But the apology was almost completely new, she clutched her pillow a bit tighter and managed something that looked a bit like a shrug. "Iie, don't worry about it..." she said softly. Her feelings hadn't been hurt by the occurance, but she was still curious about the lad's abject hatred of royalty. If he'd actually been an NPC she might have assumed the princess had done something to ruin his life. But they weren't from this world, and she could only assume there was something much worse looming in his mind when his anger was that targeted. 'I wonder but I guess... it's not something to worry about immediately. At the very least we have to go inspect that farm and see what we can do to help out...' she thought as they continued moving. Knowing the lad had the right destination in mind, she was content to move with him while she pondered her own thoughts.

[Bloodedge]

Onward the Adventurers went, with their shared destination being the farm at which they met on their first quest in this world. To right the wrongs of this kingdom, Kou would do whatever possible to ensure that the old farmer received as much benefit as he could manage. Kou's apology was met by Miki telling him not to worry about it, so he supposed they could simply move on from there. He wasn't exactly ecstatic about doing so, but there was a job to be done regardless. As they ventured out of the castle and toward the kingdom's outskirts, he rummaged through his bag while being mindful of the sleeping Fairy within. "So... I think the old farmer deserves something for all his hard work. He mentioned that the kingdom wasn't doing anything to help him out, when all he wants is to provide food and make a living. I'm going to enchant something for him to increase his Luck stat."

[Apollymi]

Miki wasn't really upset about Kou's behavior one way or another, besides her abject interest in what caused him to feel that way. In fact the more time they spent together the more she realized there were many things she didn't exactly get about his behavior, but she supposed that was all in the process of making friends. Whatever the case, he began to rummage through his pouch voicing an idea to help their friend the farmer. She had an idea which was similar and likely could be used in conjunction with his. "I was thinking something similar. I learned all the runes and their general uses, and I figured I could create a bounded field around his land. Help his crops grow at a higher quality and at a faster rate and also protect it from wandering creatures so he doesn't have another problem like the one that got us set up in the first place," she commented absently. It seemed like the best course of action for what the man could want. "Beyond that... we could probably check in and make sure no one else around is having the sorts of problems we can fix with quick work... if we create a surplus then it will fix the famine and likely shift the economy quite a bit. Change the power structure from top down to bottom up..." she said having a pretty firm idea of what would happen if they managed to make a few people used to hard work, into the holders of the real resources.

[Bloodedge]

"Hmm," Kou murmured as he located a small piece of silver in his bag. This was what he had intentions of using for whatever item the farmer would receive from him. It seemed Miki also had some form of assistance in mind for the farmer. The two things combined would certainly help the elderly male, and even result in a rather immediate fix to the kingdom's problem. Whenever they stopped, Kou would be sure to begin work on his own project, but for the moment, they were simply approaching the farm. It happened to be the case that the farmer was hard at work, still managing his crops in an effort to return his farm to the lustrous form it once had.

[Apollymi]

As they approached, Miki looked out over the farm and saw the man who owned it hard at work. A small smile came to her face as she watched this, she had previously thought this old man was pretty spirited, what she saw in the moment, confirmed this fact. "Hard at work already Ojii-san?" Miki asked as she floated nearer to the edge of the property. She was soon enough floating above a cardinal point on the land, and she'd find this aligned with a single fence post. Once she was there she floated over the edge of the fence and landed softly on the ground turning her pillow back into its spear form, allowing her to use the extra reach to carve the necessary rune into the land beneath the fence post. This rune in particular was Fehu... and it was aligned with wealth and by her approximation increase the regeneration and production of the crops created on the land.

[Bloodedge]

"Told ya' I'm a fighter! I ain't gonna let any setbacks bother me, no way, no how!" the farmer spoke once he'd identified the Adventurers who'd previously aided him. Kou waved at the elder, and shared a few words with him while Miki began her rune. "Ohayou, Jiijii. We're back to make sure all that fight you've got in you pays off," he claimed. With that, Kou took up a spot at a table by the farmhouse, placed the silver piece on it, and conjured a small hammer from the ring on his left hand. Again and again, he hammered at the silver, giving it form over time. He'd already taken the liberty of evolving its quality to A, the highest tier he could manage. "You're going to be the one to fix the famine in the kingdom, Jiijii." With these words spoken, the farmer seemed utterly shocked. These Adventurers had saved the life of his farm, and now, they were both here with new skills... skills being put into use for the sake of helping him along even more. As much of a fighter as he was, the old man seemed to be just about in tears at the sight of this assistance.

[Apollymi]

A grin came to Miki's face as she heard this old man's reply to her greeting. He had a tough spirit, and as a person she appreciated that a great deal. She balanced herself on the fence pole after completing her first rune, and ran along the fence to the east to place the next one. At the east, she placed a different rune, this one looked different like two letter 'L' turned on their side inwards to each other. It had the strange effect of increasing luck. Or rather multiplying the output of something if specific conditions were met. After marking this one as well she looked up to see this nice old man seemingly stunned by their shared idea to make him the end of the famine. 'Hm, I knew this was a good idea... he'll be really happy when we finish. And he's way more appreciative of it, than any on the upper side would have been,' Her mind casually thought of this as she moved to her next post and placed yet another rune. This one was Algiz, which would be used to protect what was within the barrier from physical and spiritual damage. The shielding was essential to making a proper bounded field.

'I somehow feel like this is the best possible use of my time...' she thought. Though her nature made her quite spoiled, she enjoyed the idea that she could help this old man in any way. She'd help the kingdom, she see him get to glory... all with only the sacrifice of her knowledge and mana. The last of the runes she applied in this way and at the final cardinal point, west, would be Uruz, which would be used to simply reinforce everything within the space of his land. His crops would see less damage, and only higher tier magic would even be able to threaten him, so he wouldn't have to worry about another invasion of pigs. With four of these marks in place, they didn't yet glow. They were missing the final component which Miki would add in the center of the property. She gave a word of passing to the old man as she came into the center of his property. "Don't worry about this, these will only really be visible when I activate them the first time. After that... you can think of them like white noise, they'll help you out a bit and make sure no troublesome creatures invade your farm again~" Miki mentioned. Before she took the last step in her action, which would be to create within the center of this place a rune previously unseen, called Wunjo. Placing this particular rune, which looked like a capital letter 'P' would make all previously placed runes glow sage green, and send them spiraling outward connecting to each other and then back to Wunjo. It was a critical junction and would allow the effects of the other spells to increase drastically. Around the entirety of the land, was a bounded field, which would help the man grow crops more effectively with a much higher output in both quality and number. And because of the protective runes she used, they'd be resistant to disease and physical and magical damage. Beyond that the land itself and the farmer while he was within it would be safe from those things, which was what was important to the lass. With this, the crops the man had already planted began to flourish, growing before their very eyes. 'That's good...' she thought to herself about the area. Such work had taken her a little while to complete but it was worth it.

[Bloodedge]

While Miki busied herself with the creation of numerous Runes, Kou continued his work on the silver ore. Each tap of his hammer added to the shape he desired from the ore. It was beginning to take a shape similar to a ring, but too large for a human finger. Seeing how much effort Miki was putting into the Runes around the farm, Kou chose to match that effort with his craft. He used every second available to him in forging this accessory, not stopping his hammering until Miki returned to the farmer with mention of her own completed job. "Just about..." he spoke softly, taking a moment after completing the object to pour his Mana into it for the enchantment. When that was done, he looked over the ring - which had become more of a large spiral at this point - and beckoned Miki toward himself. "Oi. Is there a Rune you could put on this to increase potency? As it is now, it should increase Luck by two grades, maybe a little extra. The old man's Luck stat is at D, and I'd like to make it A instead."

[Apollymi]

After she finished her work she was motioned over by Kou. She made her way to him on her feet with her spear at her side, in its actual weapon form. She was asked by the lad if she knew a rune to increase the potency of the Luck stat applied by his creation. She looked at it for a second and took a seat with him looking over the spiraling piece he'd created for the old man. She smiled, "Hai... I think I have that covered," she said reaching out with her index finger she drew with mana a small version of the rune Jera, which looked like to open L's facing each other. Her understanding of this would led her to believe as long as she knew what magic she wished to repeat, the rune itself would respond. She had used it in union with multiple other runes to create the bounded field, and in this case she'd use the glowing rune alone to boost the quality of the enchantment on the ring made by Kou. Doing such would allow the ring to raise another two grades, equal to the number that it was already capable of boosting. And it would settle into the spiral of the ring the sage green glow fading as it did. "Is that what you were looking for?" she asked of Kou, wondering if she'd done enough for it to be a satisfactory project for the lad.

[Bloodedge]

Miki approached the lad to hear his query, and it seemed she had exactly what he needed of her. A Rune was drawn onto the accessory Kou completed, then set in place to grant its effect. Kou inspected the item after this was done, and found that it was indeed now a three-tier increase to the Luck stat. In fact, it now seemed to go a little bit beyond such a rating, into a territory Kou was unfamiliar with. "Huh? This is reading weird as a parameter, but... I'm pretty sure it's something above A when I compare it to Jiijii's stats," he said, lightly confused. Either way, it didn't seem as if it was a failed project or anything, so he picked it up and carried it to the farmer. "Oi, Jiijii! Looks like your farm's all set. Take this, too," he spoke to the man, throwing the item in the elder's direction. Once it was caught, he went on to explain. "Link that up to whatever tool you're using. It'll increase your Luck enough that you'll always get the highest quality possible out of your crops. I figured you wouldn't want any sort of jewelry, so have it like that." The farmer was absolutely amazed by what he had seen placed around his farm, and now what he held in his hand as well. "You... You young'uns did all this for me to have a better farm?" he asked. Kou had nothing left to say; he would take his leave immediately with nothing but passing words for the farmer. "Because nobody at the top of this kingdom cares about your farm, is more like it. Keep that beat-em-up attitude, Jiijii. You're a good man."

[Apollymi]

Miki listened to the strange reaction Kou had to the increased parameters on the item he'd crafted. "Huh, I wonder if it'll get better?" Miki mused, unsure of how runes would fully translate within the world they were present in now. Soon after this Kou was tossing the item to the old man and she watched as he caught it. Kou went on to explain exactly what it did and how it would further help him out, and in that time the old man only chose to question the pair doing so much for him. To be fair to Miki this didn't constitute her doing much of anything, it cost her nothing to set up this barrier and to help the old man out. It also would long term help others which she felt was more than fair. A happy smile appeared on the lass' face as she felt as if the balance of the world had gently been nudged back in the right direction. "Mmhm, what he said," she agreed with the lad's parting words. Her own spear turned back into the giant floating pillow and she latched on to it, floating to his side to take her leave. "Ja ne, Ojii-san."

"Hmm, the farmer is producing again at a much higher rate, I'd say. That should fix this end... I think there is at least one more thing we should do, and that is visit the market," she explained. Having thought about this a little more... "If we make sure suppliers know they can buy products again, we can mediate the heavy pay outs people have been having for food. That will fix the other end of the problem... I think," Miki concluded, with a light of certainty in her eyes. She was fairly sure of the nature of free market economies given her upbringing. She definitely knew at the very least, that if people were paying all their money into food, novelty goods would stop being produced and purchased because they wouldn't have the disposable income. Having this happen would in turn create a huge problem for keeping jobs and lead to having even more of a problem feeding people. Assuming they weren't already too late they could keep economic calamity from falling upon the Kingdom.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah. He should be good to start providing for the whole kingdom in a few hours, especially with the rate his crops seem to be growing," Kou agreed. Now that they had created an opportunity for the old farmer to be a proper supplier, all they had to do was ensure the kingdom knew where to go, and what to do. Back into the kingdom they went, all for the purpose of doing exactly that. Just over an hour passed, and in that time, the Adventurers made enough people within the kingdom privy to the new food source, that those individuals would handle the rest by word of mouth. By the time they were done, some shopkeepers had even gone out for a restock, and returned with a plentiful bounty for their journey. At long last, Kou could have the one thing he'd been wanting for several hours... after one last trip to the castle of this kingdom. "And one more time with the crybaby princess player. I'd rather skip this part."

[Apollymi]

A nod came from Miki while they embarked upon a journey to make sure the market sales people knew where to find the best stock. The actions of the people as they came around to this point were indeed about what Miki expected. Several people went on to restock immediately and given their excitement she didn't have to worry about word spreading. 'Hm, that old man is going to have more people coming for him than he's going to know what to do with~' she thought, figuring exactly how it would work out. And after another hour of this sort of activity they could finally report back to the princess in the hopes of getting payment and actually being able to eat for the first time in days. A small chuckle came from Miki as she traveled alongside the white-haired lad. "Yeah, can definitely tell she's not one of your favorite people..." Miki said in her usual snarky manner. "She reads like a proper kid in her level of naive behavior. That being said, there are two types of crybabies in the world. And we'll get to see what kind she is..." Miki concluded.

Whenever they approached the castle they'd find the princess where she'd been before. But she wasn't idly sitting by. No within this room she was gathering a great number of carts and directing their packing and direction of travel for random places in the Kingdom. These weren't for the people who could by their own food, but instead for a great number of the very poor who were currently without the kindness of their betters. She'd spent the time they were gone, finding out everything possible about the kingdom, under the threat of executing people. Still she'd gotten the necessary results so she seemed to be happy. "Alright, now send each of these where they are going. I'm doing an entire tour tomorrow, and if I see any of you not doing as you promised... I'll have you executed!" said to several groups of Knights. All of them looked a bit wide-eyed but they nodded. "Hai!" and with that they began moving about. Miki looked at this with her left brow rising gently upward. 'Sou ka, so she's that kind...' Miki thought as she floated along. "Onii-san, Onee-san, you're back!!" this young woman seemed exceedingly happy to see them both and that was beyond strange.

[Bloodedge]

"Three. There are... three kinds," Kou said, simply adding to the number claimed by Miki, without any further detail. They were upon the throne room again, and the first thing Kou saw within was, surprisingly, an active princess. Kou stopped at the destroyed door to watch knights scramble about to follow the girl's orders. She stood in a new light, and yet, Kou seemed to remain unmoved. When she chose to greet the Adventurers in such a friendly manner, the white-haired male raised a brow. "I don't know you," he said, as if to both question and challenge this sudden familiarity in one phrase. "Job's done. Pay up. By the way, there's an old farmer, just outside the walls of the kingdom, who has the best crops this country can offer. Make sure your shitty knight patrol gets out there on their rotation."

[Apollymi]

'Three?' Miki sent a few further seconds thinking on it. Her own views of crybabies had them at two major kinds. Those who cried to manipulate others into doing what they want. And those who simply didn't know what to do when confronted with things they emotionally weren't ready for. The latter of that pairing would turn out better than the former, because all that was really wrong with them is they were afraid of disappointing people. Meanwhile, the former never changed because all they wanted were to have their own needs satisfied in some way. Whatever thought this lad had about crybabies, Miki easily concluded that the one he had on his list was worse... so it was immediately made type three.

At the same time, when they were greeted by the Princess she aimed for a very familiar introduction. She looked exceedingly wide-eyed when Kou challenged this, and her face immediately went puffy. "But but but..." the repeated trios of words let Miki confirm for herself exactly the sort of individual they were dealing with. "Type 2..." Miki murmured. Still the little lass to the surprise of Miki, steeled herself and squared her shoulders. It was true they'd both completed their tasks, and even if they didn't consider themselves any closer to her, she'd do her fair share of the work. "Hai. I know about that... Arigatou gouzaimasu..." she said seemingly disappointed. "As for your rewards, I have a small sum of gold for each of you, but if you wanted something else within my power to grant... you could have that too," she said producing two small sacks containing 100 pieces of gold for each of the adventurers which she tossed to them. Miki caught hers and eyed it, this was enough to put a pretty sizable dent in the start of their funding for their guild. As well as let them live and get armored. But she was offered something else as well, and she had a pretty good idea of something else she wanted after today. "Uh... I want one of those traveling Merchant Passes..." she said stoically. "I'll take one of those, as my bonus prize." she said flickering her gaze towards Kou wondering what he'd get.

[Bloodedge]

Kou scoffed when the princess reacted to his statement. He could have appreciated the girl's efforts, but the bitter taste in his mouth from meeting her had not yet gone away. Regardless, she came through with her side of the arrangement, offering a large sum of gold in exchange for their services. She also offered an additional reward to each of the Adventurers, prompting Miki to request the ever-useful Merchant's Pass. While they didn't have a Guild they were affiliated with, such a thing would be infinitely useful. What's more, having one alone would allow them to sell their wares for market value, instead of having to undercut legitimate vendors. Since she had asked for such a thing, Kou tossed his coin pouch about nonchalantly, while coming to a single conclusion. A stern expression would fall upon the princess from Kou as he made his wishes known, using a single sentence. "Make me a Royal Knight."

[Apollymi]

Strangely, the princess known as Madoka would hear out two very different requests from her adventurers. One of whom, wanted only a Merchant's Pass, which was by far the easier thing to want. The other wanted something which couldn't readily be given. Madoka's purplish eyes widened at the notion. "Onee-san, you can have your pass... I need only a few minutes..." she said, giving a simple nod in this place to a Knight who left to retrieve the thing Miki had asked for. "But you..." she said changing her gaze to Kou. "What you ask... you have to know, you're under level..." before the princess Madoka could finish her sentence a certain white-haired young woman appeared at her side apparently out of nowhere with her hand over her mouth. "Shhh... you talk too much, 'Princess' This is a simple matter," mentioned this young woman. Her body appearing in a solid black leotard trimmed in gold and fur. Her belts all checkered in white and red. Her eyes the deadest shade of light blue humans could possibly attain and atop her head a tiny little crown not unlike the one atop the princess' head.

"If you want to be a Royal Knight, you have to prove yourself to me. It is that simple... if you don't make the cut though... I might just kill you... but you are prepared for that aren't you Mr. Adventurer?" asked this young woman with the smallest smirk on her face. Miki's eyes widened as she took in the sight of this young woman, "Sugoi! That's Princess Aerona!~" Miki said as she held her pillow closer. She couldn't believe this particular young woman had appeared so randomly. She couldn't wait to see what would happen next. In fact, she was sure enough about the sort of man Kou was showing himself to be, that she shifted herself to Madoka's side atop her floating pillow, as Aerona took several steps forward to take up the now empty entrance hall with Kou.

[Bloodedge]

Madoka noted that his request was not something so easily granted. She claimed he was below the level that would be required of such a thing, but Kou didn't seem bothered by this information as well. In fact, there was someone else who agreed. Aerona, the princess of Eonis from the game Kou knew in his human life, appeared next to Madoka. Kou viewed this woman with a raised brow, but an otherwise impassive expression. He remembered his interactions with this character in the video game, and he didn't have the fondest memories. Her speech was even somewhat familiar to him from his previous play-through. "Hmph. Let's just get started," he said, taking a single step away from Aerona, and letting this movement lead into a series of side-steps which allowed him to circle her location.

Kou pulled his sword from its sheath, holding it in his right hand whilst the tip of the blade dragged the floor. A golden glow spread from his blade and traced the floor, which, over time, would create a proper circle of Magical Energy. If he managed to complete this, he would have something in wait for the princess. Otherwise, he was preparing himself for whatever she intended to do. "Aerona... Don't you want to pull some of your tricks?"

[Apollymi]

"Tricks? I don't think I know what you mean..." the Princess Aerona said these words, but she knew exactly what he meant. Though she wasn't familiar with this particular adventurer, she was very familiar with her own tactics. And what she most did, was execute those too stupid to realize where her strengths shined brightest. Still something would become very obvious as the lad traced a circle beneath him, and that was his magical inclination. Aerona was clever enough to have no inclination of crossing the circle, instead she aimed to test it. Her right pinkie twitched just a tad causing a large floating source to appear from nowhere. Though this weapon was magical in its nature it was used by her more like a 'meteor' weapon. Sending it flying in a figure eight motion towards the lad aiming to swing first into his right shoulder then across his back and into his left leg. All the while, if it made contact, it would inflict a poisonous damage which would succeed in killing him rather quickly if both points of contact were made.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah. Whatever," Kou retorted. He didn't seem at all worried about what this princess had to offer. No, he instead appeared to be focused entirely on this little test he was being given at present. Aerona's production of the weapon he knew her to possess, did nothing to deter him. In fact, his eyes narrowed when he saw it, and he scoffed. His circle wasn't quite complete by the time she decided to make her move, though it didn't need to be. Kou didn't have any sort of technique, or ability, which would make use of a magic circle of this size. He'd only been using a small amount of his Mana to produce a visual effect, all for the sake of keeping Aerona in place for fear of what the circle might do if she crossed it. The use of Aerona's weapon warranted the rise of Kou's sword, as well as the rapid movement of his eyes. His use of the Class Skill: Instinct allowed him to follow and predict the movements of the floating source, which further allowed him to deflect it from its first point of impact. Furthermore, this action let him predict its path of movement to meet it at its second approach as well. As this second parry occurred, Kou empowered his blade by use of Consecration while stepping toward Aerona. He wasn't ready to assault her quite yet. Instead, he intended to close the distance over time, keeping in mind her ability to manipulate the venomous source while preparing a grand assault on her person.

[Apollymi]

Aerona was soon confused by the lad not finishing his circle, and more over his lack of affront by the source coming his way. This particular weapon was deadly even when people knew what it was, and Aerona was quite proficient in its use. What was more, this would be shown most effectively after the lad deflect two attacks by the weapon, as it recoiled from the secondary attack, she wrapped the string of it around her ring finger just once, shifting its trajectory rather suddenly aiming now to slam the weapon into the side of the boy's body with only a quick tug of the string as a sign. All the while the string was growing ever long, and disappearing from sight as part of this young woman's power. Her plan to spin a web around this room and halt the lad's movements when she was ready. Such a plan was always in her mind and why she was fine challenging anyone to a direct fight. 'Hm... four more steps,' was the gentle guidance that crossed Aerona's mind. This time there was extra magical power involved though the lass stood her ground, it was obvious in watching her fight, that straight forward methods like these weren't her normal method of attack. 'Sou ka, Assassin Class is at a disadvantage in straight combat, she'd be better off trying to do something sneaky, or even setting a trap or two. Maybe she still will and it will be fine, but as it stands... Kou is definitely winning this,' Miki thought to herself, as she relaxed atop her pillow. She seemed to not be very concerned about the lad's safety in this fight, but she figured Kou wouldn't actually take a fight that he couldn't win himself.

[Bloodedge]

'Three more steps...' This was a thought within Kou's mind as he continued to focus on his own location relative to Aerona, as well as the placement of her source. As he watched it shift about and gathered where it would move next, his primary source of knowledge began to disappear. The thin line connecting the source to Aerona was gone in moments. Though he could always watch her finger and determine the source's path from it, he would also have to know the source's exact location to react. He couldn't possibly do both without becoming a sitting duck, as it were. Luckily, he had one final movement as a sign for the next attack, just before the string vanished. 'Left," he thought as his sword moved once more to deflect the third strike attempt. With that done, he took another step. "This is all you've got for a plan? Just gonna stand here, in the middle of my ring?"

[Apollymi]

'Three more steps...' the white haired lass kept track of this boy's movements. It was always fun to watch people try and wiggle their way out of the sort of situations she set them up for. Strangely this lad didn't seem at all concerned about Aerona, instead he seemed to be moving forward at his own pace, all the while simply using his superior combat skills to deflect her oncoming attacks. Eventually he would falter or he'd step into her trap, at this point it was only a matter of waiting to see what happened first. "I'm not planning anything. And your ring doesn't intimidate me..." Aerona said calmly. The bounce of her weapon from the last movement had sent it tumbling several paces away, and the string of it disappeared once more, this time it was wrapped around three of her fingers, and raised above their heads, only to drop in an attack which rained down from above onto the lad. It aimed to strike no less than four times, in a succession so rapid it would be hard to counter. "Meteor Drop," was the name of such an attack which seemed to be imbued with toxic aura as it fell upon the lad. This was the alpha skill applied to the assassin, meant to maim powerful foes in a short burst of extreme damage.

[Bloodedge]

'Two more steps...' Kou's footwork continued to develop into something greater, even when he wasn't necessarily moving forward. He refrained from standing in one spot. If he'd done so, he assumed he would fall into some sort of trap. Just the same, he had his own trap of sorts in the works, having long since known what the weapon of Aerona was capable of. Deep within himself, he worked through potential incantations, until one struck a chord within him. 'That one. I can feel it,' he thought, taking another step toward Aerona. The golden glow around his blade became something that looked more like the cosmos as he began, and worked through, his new incantation. "Let the 88 stars of the heavens shine now. Starlight Dreams," he chanted. The Meteor Drop Skill of Aerona came crashing down upon Kou only a few moments later, but he seemed too focused on what was ahead of him to even make an effort against it. At least, this was how it seemed. In actuality, he was betting on the next strike to be one using her source's poison effect.

The first strike in this assault landed on Kou's right shoulder, causing him to lose his composure from the impact, and stumble forward. It was during said stumble that the second strike landed, sliding its way down his back before the same area was pummeled by strikes three and four. Kou caught himself before falling by jamming the tip of his blade into the floor, and leaning on it. But, there was more to this. With Aerona's poison beginning to course through his body, he unleashed the Magical Energy that was already funneling its way down his blade. "Galaxia Blade!" he said as the light emitted and filled the entire entry hall of the castle, and then some. This spell was one possessing the ability to dispel dark enchantments within its area of effect, clearing Kou of the negative status ailment and leaving him with only the wounds. That much was fine. This wasn't all the spell could do, though. Whatever caused the dark enchantments Kou's Galaxia Blade dispelled, would suffer petrification leading back to its source, which, in this case... was Aerona herself if the poison effect was her magic. Whether this was the case or not, though, Kou's tactic left him with only one more step to take... and he intended to make it a grand one.

[Apollymi]

'Two more steps...' There was light in Aerona's eyes as she watched this lad progress forward, taking more and more steps towards her trap. Beyond this, she was completely unfazed by his antics, and strangely taken by the amount of damage he suffered as he tried to move through her Meteor Drop without seeming to defending himself. 'How cute!~ He's going to be crushed~' Aerona thought as each strike of her skill made contact, it was only after this happened that she realized something was wrong.

"WHAT?!" the boy's spell had some unseen effects. Rather he was more magically inclined than even Aerona expected. Something about Mages, always seemed to put her at a distinct disadvantage, and this was one such moment. The poison effect of her magic, seemed to be dispelled and what was more, the lad's magic retaliated against her. This had the strange effect of making obvious several things. The petrificaton which led back to her, had the strange effect of solidifying the magical thread which connected the girl to her source, which made obvious in the moment exactly the nature of the intricate trap she'd laid, while simultaneously making it impossible to trigger. 'Shit!' the connection between the young woman and her magic would be severed to stop the spread short, so she could move her body, but doing so would cause her to temporarily lose control of her source. It would only be a moment, but the lad was still closing in on her.

[Bloodedge]

'One... more...' This thought crossed Kou's mind as he cleared the poison from his body. What Aerona assumed would be the number of steps he took, and what Kou himself chose to do, were exactly one step off one another. Kou's count had been one less the entire time, and Aerona would discover this momentarily, now that her weapon had been reduced to temporary uselessness. His final step forward was performed simultaneously with a new charge of energy within his sword. A single swing of the blade unleashed a wave of Kou's Mana large enough to encompass the entire entry hall as well, though its aim was primarily to encompass Aerona.

[Apollymi]

The momentary uselessness of her weapon combined with the boy's tactics lead to Aerona being encompassed by a full wave of the lad's mana. The only thing she could do, to help herself out in anyway was to make use of a certain defensive support skill known as Mana Skin. This would give her a bit of extra fortitude at the cost of expending a large sum of her mana to help her remain after the wave subsided. Even so, she'd be left quite exhausted, several ragged breaths escaped her as she looked at the lad across from her with something akin to disdain in her eyes. They narrowed for just a moment and then the orb she'd used as a weapon returned to her person. She held it in her right hand and stood, dusting herself off as if unfazed by anything that had taken place. 'These adventurers piss me off. All of them are just so damn high and mighty. I don't want to admit it, but he's definitely capable as a Royal Knight. Wherever he came from...' she thought. Aloud she had only one thing to say and it was directed not at Kou but at the girl acting as princess for the area. "Do what you want..." she said a scoff escaping her as her body turned invisible and she left without another word.

Miki watched this entire battle intensely taking note of the words and actions of Princess Aerona. 'Sou ka, she goes a little too hard as a tsundere. No wonder everyone was complaining about how hard it is to win her over...' Miki thought with amusement. Still, Madoka stood coming down from her throne and Miki followed atop her pillow, a Knight met her at the floor and handed her the Merchant's Pass Miki had asked for. And she prepared herself for something else, "Sou ka, that's almost a ringing endorsement from her. Congratulations..." offered the princess as she produced from within her own robes a Sigil of the Kingdom of Eonis. "Here, this marks you as a Royal Knight!" she said offering it to Kou. "It will give you the authority to act on your own good conscience within the Kingdom," she said with general authority. She was not worried about this sort of individual having such a thing. And knew that if he wanted at some point he could come back for an upgrade. Simply possessing the Sigil would do something strange for the lad, and it would be bound to his person once it took it. "Onee-san, this is your Merchant Pass. It will allow you to trade at market price across all the Kingdoms and enter regions without paying tolls. It will also get you into some really interesting places to gather materials... but... you probably both know that since you asked for this stuff, gomen...." the young woman apologized with her cheeks puffy. "Arigatou na..." Miki said in response to the lass before looking to Kou.

Miki reached over to accept her Merchant Pass and swing it casually around her finger while looking over Kou. "That was pretty cool. You took a bit of damage to make that happen though..." Miki said directly to Kou. She leaned across her Pillow with her other hand extended and drew a Rune that looked a bit like a stylized X across his chest, this was the rune, Gebo and once it settled it would offer the lad a gift, in particular it would give him reprieve from his wounds, healing them quickly in exchange for Miki's excess stamina. This would serve to revitalize him a bit, he'd retain his hunger under the circumstances. The only noticeable effect on Miki being a stifled yawn caused by the exhaustion of gifting her stamina to heal Kou.

[Bloodedge]

Following the use of his Mana Burst Skill, Kou stood motionless and watched Aerona recover. She eventually decided to delegate to the other princess that Kou could be granted Royal Knight status, if that happened to be her wish. This exchange resulted in Kou being offered a badge of honor from the kingdom of Eonis, which he reached out to claim without hesitation. Once the sigil was in his hand, he could physically feel it being bound to him. He immediately scanned standard knights in the vicinity, and was able to see more than simply their combat stats. He could now see his own standing in the kingdom as opposed to theirs, and he knew this determined his ability to command other knights. "Right. That fixes the Party issue. You'll be the first," he said to the knight who handed Miki her Merchant's Pass, marking said individual with his sigil to have it appear on the knight's armor. Four others nearby would be chosen in this same manner, each wielding swords instead of other weapons. Kou had a very specific reason for organizing his underlings this way, but that would likely be seen at a later time. There was a mention from Miki that Kou still had injuries, and she was quick to apply a Rune to his person for the sake of healing his wounds. She didn't seem to be at her own maximum potential thereafter, but they didn't have anything else planned for the immediate future anyway. "Arigatou," he said to Miki. With that, his gaze was set upon Madoka again. "The next time I come back, I'll take the Holy Knight position. I'll be ready by then."

[Apollymi]

Soon after the lad received his Sigil, he went about making several Knights members of their party. All the ones he chose, used swords, strangely enough, but, Miki didn't have a problem with this, as more bodies, simply meant she had the ability to retain her sneaky abilities. Moving right along, she was thanked for healing up the lad which she met with a simple nod of her head. "Iie, don't mention it..." the girl said as she floated along. A group of five Knights would turn to begin accompanying the group, and Kou's words to Madoka would be heard. The white-haired lass would nod her head apparently excited by the news. "Hai! I'll look forward to it. See you when you get back, good luck on your travels, Onii-san, Onee-san!~" the young woman said. While Miki knew this was likely to irritate Kou, she figured they hadn't exactly been forthcoming with their names or anything so it wasn't really a big deal. Beyond this, it would likely be worse if the Princess Madoka had gone about calling them by their actual names.

"Hm, that's it for here right? Time for dinner?" she asked of Kou, an amused tone in her voice as she began to float off on her pillow.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was more than prepared to take his leave. He had his knight servants, Miki had her pass, and they both had a large amount of gold to carry them through their adventures and aide in the Guild creation process. Kou knew from experience in the game that he could summon his registered knights whenever he wished, so he was content to leave them behind for the moment. He was on his way out, only to take pause when addressed by Madoka again, in that familiar way he detested. "Oi..." he said, looking over his shoulder to aim his burning gaze at the princess once more. "If you call me that again, I'm going to do everything I can to tear you apart. My name is Kou, damnit."

[Apollymi]

As they left Kou had a few more words for the Princess, with a burning gaze in his eye. He said his own name this time, giving it to the lass, while making a threat about being called by the more familiar 'Onii-san'. Miki had her eyes shift towards the lad, but didn't say a word about it. It was obvious to her this was an extreme overreaction but there was no telling what his issue with being called that was. Whatever the case, she was content to leave this alone. All the while Madoka seemed shocked by the assertion, her eyes watering up at the threat, she'd not expected. "Hai... Kou-san," she said seemingly defeated. There were tears building up in the lass' eyes but she managed not to cry this time. She looked to Miki as the lass floated away and questioned her preference as well in this moment. "Onee-san?" she posed lightly. "Miki desu." was all the rogue lancer had to say as she floated off beside the lad. They were obviously headed back to town and while they did this, Miki amused herself by twirling that Merchant Pass around the fingers of her right hand. 'Hm... get some food, maybe start building towards some decent stock to go off and sell. Build more of a name for ourselves around...' she thought absently her brows furrowing under her concentration. 'Figure out if this man has any more trigger words, so I can warn people...' the thought of this made her chuckle. But unlike most, she was sure he had his reasons, and it wasn't in her nature to pry them out of him... after all she wouldn't want anyone looking into why she reacted to things the way she did. She decided in this moment, she would leave the lad his mental privacy and instead begin working on a plan to start making a bit of extra money.

[Bloodedge]

Some time later, the Adventurers would be found sitting down to a meal for the first time in days. There was a table just outside a local eatery that served all manner of dishes. Such a place would be where many residents of Eonis were now capable of seeing their saviors, and because of this, many pedestrians stopped, stared, pointed, and/or whispered when passing by. Seeming just about oblivious to all of this, Kou virtually inhaled a rack of boar ribs that had been offered to him without charge, due both to his status as a Royal Knight, and to his identity as one of their saviors.

[Apollymi]

Miki was also eating at this particular table, enjoying for herself a pork tenderloin, salad, and a glass of red wine, also all given free of charge. She was conscious of the fact she was being watched, but she was more used to such things, than she'd like to admit. "Hm, this is all pretty good... I'm mad I didn't have this last time~" she mused. Her eyes narrowed just a bit as people continued to point and stare at them. 'I suppose that isn't going to stop anytime soon... at least there is a good reason for it this time,' she thought absently. Still even as she consumed what would be considered a ridiculous amount of food for her frame, she was rather happy over all. "So... how long do you think it will be before people stop watching us eat?" she asked wondering if the novelty of such things ever wore off at all.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah. Maybe it would be a good idea to start hunting when we get back to the adventure. These boars are pretty easy to come by," Kou noted. The amount of warthogs they had slain during their first meeting would have been enough to feed them for weeks if they had prepared them for such a thing. For the moment, Kou continued to enjoy his meal, one massive bite at a time. Miki brought attention to the others who were staring at them, asking how long he thought they would be staring. With a face covered in sauce, Kou looked up and glanced around the area to confirm that there were, indeed, many individuals watching them eat. "Hm. I dunno. Doesn't matter to me, though."

[Apollymi]

Miki looked at Kou as he claimed that it might be a good idea to eat warthog while they adventured. And she really couldn't argue against this, as it was rather easy to kill and yielded a lot. "Hm, I could see that working out..." she said in acknowledgement of the idea. If they couldn't eat it all, they could also sell it, or feed it to their mount which meant that it was an almost infinitely useful food source. As she shifted the topic of conversation slightly to their current group of onlookers, it became obvious in one shining instant that Kou was not bothered by the attention given to him while he ate. "Sou ka..." she muttered. She never thought it possible to be so carefree, even so, seeing Kou this way made her feel a bit better about the entire situation as a whole. 'I've never been that carefree. But, maybe it's time for a change...' the girl's mind wandered to this point and a smile came to her lips. She was starting to understand what it was she enjoyed about Kou's presence the more they hung out together... even past the random triggering of the lad's temper. Miki continued to eat, finishing up the whole of her plate and then sipping on her glass of wine as if she hadn't the slightest care in the world beyond this moment.

[Bloodedge]

The pair continued to enjoy their meal, but they would soon find that humans from Eonis were not the only ones keeping an eye on them. A small group of hooded Lizardmen wandered into the kingdom, and they happened to be looking for these two for some time now. Upon finding them at last, the Lizardmen crowded around the table at which they ate, and knelt before them. "Saviors who ride the Cat of Ancestors!" spoke the largest of the Lizardmen. "The Adventurer couple who quelled the Lizardman assault on Dwargon. It is you, yes?" Kou looked up from his final few bites, viewing these Lizardmen with some amount of distaste. "Ugh," he murmured, looking away to take another bite.

[Apollymi]

Miki was happily sipping wine and had reclined into her chair while Kou finished his ribs. She'd been happily considering her own thoughts on their adventure, and doing some mental planning and spending of her own funding in order to start a potential business properly. But as she pondered these points the movements of some Lizardmen made her eyes widen just a bit then narrow. What was more, unlike the others who simply gawked in passing, these particular individuals approached the pair directly. There was a strange mention of their mount, recently named Xerxes, such a mention made Miki choke on her drink. "What?! Cat of Ancestors?" she muttered thinking about it, she supposed Lizardmen probably thought themselves descended from dragons so it made a bit of sense. Kou seemed content not to answer these creatures, and once again, seemed to have taken some sort of dislike to them. Which meant Miki had to directly address what was being said. "Hm, we are a pair of Adventurers, who have recently seen Dwargon..." Miki said tentatively. Something about admitting to slaying a bunch of Lizardmen to Lizardmen didn't seem like a good thing to do without knowing what they wanted. 'Start of a quest or start of a fight?' she aimed this question at Kou across from her, something about this interaction felt strange.

[Bloodedge]

Yet another bite, and Kou was chewing his last bit of ribs. He did this while Miki spoke to the Lizardmen, and sighed again when they looked as if they were seeking more of an answer thereafter. 'They're kneeling. Nobody kneels when they want to fight, unless they're into Sumo.' This was Kou's only response to Miki, and his attention then fell upon the leader of this Lizardman group. "None of them lived. What are you here for?" he asked of the reptile, prompting the latter to raise his head. "Then... we would like to request your assistance. We did not wish to interrupt your date, but it is an urgent matter that we had to find you for immediately."

[Apollymi]

'I don't know about that... I'd kneel if I thought it'd give me a better angle on killing someone...' Miki mused. That being said it was very true that they didn't seem to be the sort who'd do that type of thing. In fact, they seemed to be looking for more of an answer than what Miki provided them. She sipped her wine, content to see what would happen and Kou went ahead and answered in a more direct way. Prompting the leader of this group to mention that he'd not wanted to interrupt their date but that they were needed for a matter of utmost urgency. "DATE?!" the word fell out of Miki's face, as it turned an intense shade of red which challenged the sip of wine left in her glass. 'I've never been on a date before! Why do they think it's a date? We're just having dinner right? It isn't a date...' she had a mental tirade for several seconds only to look over at Kou and feel more heat rush to her face so that she diverted her attention once again. She should have realized from an outside perspective, two young people, eating alone both of them seemingly happy, probably looked like a date. But there was likely more than this at play to create such a thought in the minds of the Lizardmen.

[Bloodedge]

"... Our what now?" Kou blurted out. His eyes had widened, and he was lost as to how this assumption could even be made by the Lizardmen. However, the answer to both Adventurers' reactions gave some amount of insight. "But... you are the Saviors. You're the same as the Adventurer couple who saved Dwarf King Gowther," the primary Lizardman spoke. Kou thought about what he could possibly mean by this, and then... he remembered the events of Dwargon which occurred after they fought against the horde. He reddened immediately from his neck to his cheeks. "Oh... that's why," he said. Obviously, the Dwarves were rather... chatty. Perhaps the same could be said of even the Fairies. The primary Lizardman stood at last, choosing to address the issue directly. "If I may, Adventurers. We do not represent the attack on Dwargon. Our Chieftain is in danger by the very same people of our race who you defeated. We have reason to believe their leader lives, and will soon attack our homeland."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou was just as surprised as Miki about the status of their 'relationship'. It seemed that the Dwarves had taken quite a few liberties when explaining the situation that the pair had helped them out with. Given the personality of the Fairy Queen Dakini, she wouldn't be surprised if that woman had something to do with this image as well. Miki's gaze was eventually drawn back to the now standing Lizardman who chose to directly address the issue that they were currently being faced with. According to this man, they didn't stand with the Lizardmen who'd attacked Dwargon. And were instead here on behalf of their Chieftain who was in danger of being deposed by the same group they'd slayed in Dwargon. "Sou ka..." Miki said aloud. Such a thing was more in line with the sort of quest-line she'd expected when they'd first discussed dealing with the Lizardmen in the first place. There were obvious pros involved to taking part in such a thing, and most of them couldn't be understated. Still she looked to Kou.

'Hm, it looks like our third bit of approval just found us. Making good with the Lizardmen is a pretty good strategy...' she directed this thought to Kou, cementing the idea that she didn't mind participating in such a set of actions. Now that she'd eaten she even had enough energy that she didn't really mind it. And they had plenty of time to think of prizes and such to request from the Lizardman Chieftain once they helped him out. Not to mention whatever prize was to be taken from the 'evil' faction in this case.

[Bloodedge]

Kou expected some sort of quest to come from this reptilian group, but he did not expect it to be the sort of thing they were currently requesting. Miki had a good point that these Lizardmen could be their third approval toward starting their own guild, and even more importantly was the fact that their original intention was to visit the Marshlands. All in all, doing this task for the Lizardmen now would only be going through with the original plan. 'You're right. Lizardmen are strong, and they usually have numbers to go with it. Besides, we were going there anyway, before all this other stuff happened,' he replied to Miki via their shared mental bond. With that, his gaze returned to the Lizardman. "Alright. Guess we'll do it, but we'll need to get some information from this Chieftain of yours." Hearing this, the Lizardmen's leader figure bowed, prompting the rise of his associates. "Of course. If you're done with your date, we can escort you to the Marsh Kingdom immediately."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the pair was in agreement about taking on the quest line offered by the Lizardmen. It had been their original plan to do something different from what they'd started with when they played the actual game. Given this, Miki simply nodded her agreement with the lad about visiting the Chieftain and asking all necessary questions. Not much to her surprise there was an immediate agreement from the Lizardmen who claimed they would lead them onwards if they were done with their date. Once again Miki's eyes widened because she didn't know why they kept referring to such a casual outing as a date. "Uh... yeah. I'm good..." Miki mentioned still seeming to be embarrassed. The thing was, she didn't have any negative feelings towards Kou so she wouldn't have seen anything wrong with them as a couple, except for the fact that there was this weird assumption on hand about it. Strangely, she didn't think they needed anything else, and would leave under the assumption that the Kingdom of Eonis would be able to sustain itself with their tiny bit of interference earlier.

[Bloodedge]

"Uh... yeah. Me too," Kou added. Whatever these Lizardmen thought of the two Adventurers was certainly brought about by someone else, and Kou couldn't be sure exactly who was at fault. Perhaps they would know for sure one day, but today was one of adventure... again. The male had a glass of water next to his plate, which was now covered in bones. He picked up said glass to down its contents in one tilt. "Let's go," he said, rising from his seat. "Very well then, my Saviors. If you would follow us..." The Lizardman in charge of the others nodded to his group, prompting all of them to fall in line behind him and the Adventurers. He would then lead the journey toward the Marsh Kingdom, while his underlings ensured the safety of the Adventurers.

Continue the Adventure Here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?854-Marsh-Kingdom).

[Apollymi]

After their trip to the Marsh Kingdom, a blonde haired lass would return to the Kingdom of Eonis with a few people in tow. She looked around the place for signs of negativity, as they'd found on their previous trip, but it seemed at least on this end that there weren't any problems to be found. 'Sou ka, seems like the old farmer has done a good job. At the very least no one looks hungry...' the actual truth of the matter was a bit more complex. Multiple people they passed were well-dressed and the entirety of the Kingdom seemed to be bustling with trade. Food was being shipped off in large amounts and even the rest of the kingdom seemed to be benefiting from the surplus. "This place doesn't look as down as it did when we first came back from Dwargon and the Fairy Forest..." she mentioned as she floated along on her mottled pillow feet dangling gently off the ground.

But up near the palace, there was a young lightly armored girl with a sword staring at the gates. She'd been run off a few moments prior to this one and she was visibly upset. She'd wanted to become a Knight, but hadn't been allowed even to take a test. Something about Eonis not caring for her presence here. The girl was completely normal, a brunette with locks curling around her shoulders and a completely innocent face and disposition. She looked a bit shy of teens but her eyes showed an above average intelligence, the only thing slightly off about her, was the presence of a small set of ears atop her head, and a fluffy tail with rings on it like that of a raccoon. 'I'm going to be a Knight. Just wait!' she thought knowing eventually she'd be able to get around this. So she'd made a decision to wait here, and appeal to every Knight who crossed her path until she found one who'd have her as an apprentice.

[Bloodedge]

A pair of male figures accompanied the lass Miki, one being the very same Royal Knight who'd previously left with her. The other, however, was another ashen-haired male of a less honorable-looking persuasion. Kou was able to observe the difference in the kingdom's structure as well, while the other male - Karna - had no input to offer besides an open-mouth exaggerated yawn. "It's definitely a lot better. Now it seems like an ideal kingdom for a player hub," Kou said, setting his sights on the castle. "I guess that princess was actually good for something. Maybe. Either way, now that we're here again... I've got a promise to keep!" Kou's expression became a bit more serious as he began taking his path toward the Eonis Kingdom's castle, regardless of what the others intended to do whilst here in the kingdom. His intention was to locate Princess Madoka again, or even her less-personable sister or the King, all for the sake of keeping his promise to become a Holy Knight on his next visit.

[Apollymi]

Miki had to agree with Kou's assessment that this place was much better as a player hub, while not being full of starving people. "Hai hai," she mentioned about the place itself. It seemed that Kou at least thought their encounter with the princesses previously had been worth while, though she knew the lad hadn't really liked the player princess they'd found in this country. "Hm, maybe..." she said, knowing that she found something to be a bit off about the princess, and she couldn't figure out whether it was age or not. Still she followed along with the lad, and was going to leave when they got to the palace, knowing he intended to become a Holy Knight, she knew it wasn't absolutely necessary for her to tag along officially. But before she could express this something strange would take place.

The small girl in light armor would look up, hearing the steps of a couple of people approaching. She assumed any approaching the palace would be Knights and because of this she immediately moved to meet them. Most wouldn't have looked her way. "Oh! Ohayou gouzaimasu!~ Are any of you a Knight of the Kingdom?" she asked of the group. She looked a bit down-trodden, but mostly there was fire in the dark pink eyes possessed by the girl. Seeing such a thing outside of the palace made a tiny bit of concern prickle along the back of Miki's neck. Such a young girl being outside of the palace alone apparently seeking a Knight did not bode well. Unless this was simply the sort of quest which was marked by the return of any high level Knight. She'd never bothered with such an upscale title, so she wouldn't know how such a thing worked. As far as she knew, the only one who counted as a Knight in the group was likely Kou, and that meant this was his diversion to deal with. Even so, Miki would stick around for a few moments just to make sure her presence wasn't needed.

[Bloodedge]

The path toward the castle was fated to see at least one brief interruption this day, as the journey was along a route which led to another individual in the vicinity. The humanoid girl moved toward the group as they made their way, stopping to question whether any of the Adventurers were Knights of the Kingdom. Kou paused and looked at this girl, experiencing a moment of shock as he caught a glimpse of her eyes. He hesitated with his mouth slightly agape. As such, he produced no answer before Karna decided to have a bit of fun... which he did by pushing his way past Kou and stepping out ahead, meeting this girl head-on with a sly grin. "Of course! I'm probably the strongest Knight around! Can I help you with something?"

[Apollymi]

Miki watched as this small demi-human girl stopped all of them, asking if any were a Knight of the Kingdom. She looked to Kou and found him to be shocked by something, this was strange to Miki. She'd never seen such an expression on the lad's face, and decided it was in her best interest to stick around. With that as an aside, the plea of the young demi-human lass was one she was at least curious about in the moment because Karna took enough interest to make a claim which made Miki scoff aloud. She'd known this lad for the last few days, and he rarely took interest in doing anything just for the good of it. Knowing this, she doubted his reasoning behind speaking with the lass.

The little demi-human girl perked up just a bit when Karna walked up. He claimed that he was probably the strongest Knight around, and at present she had no reason not to believe him. Her tail wagged just a bit as she stared at his face. "Oh? Your eyes are a little scary. It's surprising you'd be a Knight but... I can get over that," she said with the honesty of someone who was used to telling the absolute truth about things. This statement made Miki have to stifle a snicker which led her to an instant appreciation of this demi-human girl, aside from finding her to be kind of adorable. The young girl with the raccoon-features looked around herself and moved a bit closer to the group to explain her circumstance. "I want to be a Knight's Apprentice because the King wouldn't let me take the test to be a Knight. When I asked why he claimed my kind wasn't welcome here," she said with a sad light suddenly appearing in her eyes only to be replaced by rage. A rage which Miki had only seen properly in Kou on their last trip here. "Who is he to say I can't be a Knight. But... I'm not strong enough yet to just show them anything... and none of the other Knights will let me be their apprentice because they are scared of the King," she explained the situation. It sounded a bit like an NPC sort of thing of thing to say, but the emotion of the plea and the way it was said, made Miki realize this girl was probably a player. And being discriminated against for being a demi-human. It was strange to Miki that they'd fix one problem in this Kingdom for another one to pop up, but she had faith in something else at this point, regardless of whatever Karna was to say in response to this girl's plea.

[Bloodedge]

Kou remained speechless. There was a certain familiarity in the eyes of the demi-human girl, but it surely had to be his imagination. Karna clearly didn't have this sense of familiarity, but he had something else driving him to continue his chat with the lass. What this was would remain undisclosed, and perhaps wasn't even something which mattered beyond Karna's own personal amusement. However, he gave her the reply she sought nonetheless... as well as the reply she likely didn't want. "You, not allowed to be a Knight? Probably because you're weak. Weak people aren't welcome in a lot of places. Or... probably because you're a raccoon. Could be that. Anyway, you can be my apprentice as long as you're willing to do everything I ever tell you to do, exactly when I tell you to do it~. What say you, Tanuki-chan?"

[Apollymi]

The conversation between Karna and this young demi-human continued. Karna provided some possible reasons behind why the King of this country might have rejected her as a potential Knight. If it was simply a matter of her weakness, that would likely be fine, but several other Knights had apprentices who were weaker than she was currently and no one cared. Beyond that the girl who was adopted as princess of this country showed up at level one, and again no one cared. It would be stupid if being weak was something which got her into this sort of things. "Knights believe the only crime in being weak is staying that way. I have no intention of doing that, and I am already stronger than several of the other apprentices I've encountered..." she said with a firm nod. This of course, meant that the only problem they could have, was with her status as a demi-human but such a thing didn't exist until the King returned himself. Whatever the case, Karna claimed he would take the girl on as an apprentice if she was willing to do everything he said exactly when he said it. And this pink eyed girl thought such an offer over for quite a few seconds, but then sighed turning her back. "Um, no thanks. That sounds super creepy," she said backing away. "I'll figure something else out, thank you for your time," said the girl. Supposing she'd wait for the next Knight that felt more right to try and learn from.

In all of this, conversation between Karna and the raccoon girl, Miki became firm in her belief that this girl, was a real girl from their original world. If only because that level of caution was about normal for girls who wanted to play but also didn't want to end up on the wrong end of a romance. 'She has all the makings of a person who didn't learn herself, but took some experiences she heard about to heart...' thought Miki, her gaze shifting back to Kou who still seemed utterly shocked, she offered him a bit of communication. 'I haven't checked yet, but I'm pretty sure this girl is a player like us,' she commented to Kou directly as if to snap him out of it and back to this whole thing.

[Bloodedge]

"Well, maybe you're destined to stay weak just because you're a demi-human~" Karna replied quickly to the tanuki girl. "Either sit down and take that as gospel, or get up and wipe out everybody who doubts you. Your choice," he continued. It seemed this girl had no intention of joining him as an apprentice, given how 'creepy' his offer was to her. All things considered, this was an interesting outcome, especially when considering that Karna never had been, and never intended to be, a Knight of the Eonis Kingdom. The only negative to Karna in this situation was that he'd missed out on the opportunity to have a servant at his beck and call. "Hoh? Shame. You would've become very strong... or died. You know, one or the other~"

Kou never stopped watching the girl with raccoon features, regardless of her interactions with Karna. It almost seemed as if he was ignorant to everything else happening around himself and the others, and in fact, he was. Even the message telepathically sent to him by Miki fell upon deaf ears, though when the demi-human girl turned Karna's offer, he dashed forward to reach out and grab the girl by her wrist. "Wait! I'm a real Royal Knight! I'm on my way to become a Holy Knight... I'll take you as an apprentice!"

[Apollymi]

What Karna had to say to the lass wasn't necessarily bad, in fact, Miki could respect his words. But it seemed the young woman was the type to not enjoy the kind of thing Karna had to offer. With this in mind, she'd rejected his offer to become his apprentice. 'Yep, I like her...' thought Miki in this passing moment. Of course, soon after this, Kou was approaching the lass making a claim. Miki wasn't sure if he'd gotten the message she'd relayed him, but he'd made up his own mind and that was fine. "That's a bit Spartan... Angry-eyes-san," replied the young lass, but as she raised her hand to wave him off, she was suddenly grabbed by Kou. The Tanuki girl turned back and looked at the boy who'd been silent during her initial conversation. She looked at him with those big pink eyes of hers. "Really?! You're not kidding, or creepy or anything right?" she asked him her little tail wagging in anticipation. Still there was something about this boy that looked very familiar to her. "Actually never mind. You look like someone I know so I can believe you..." she said.

Watching this whole thing happen, Miki got a strange warmness in her chest. It was a bit like watching a brother and sister come to an agreement. Having decided this she was cool with the entirety of it. She even would be happy to have some extra normal female company. Though somewhere deep down she wondered if having so many extra people along would end up changing the dynamic between her and Kou. Whatever the case, the lass began thinking a bit and as she did her face shifted.

[Bloodedge]

"Is it? Well, go figure~" Karna replied nonchalantly to the final words shared with him by the demi-human. Kou managed to cease any leave the girl may have intended to take, and even received a reaction from her. She first questioned whether he was serious, and even if he shared the creepy factor presented by Karna. Before Kou could even respond, however, she changed her mind while claiming he looked like someone she knew. Interestingly enough, Kou could say the same thing about this lass, and he'd even thought such a thing upon first seeing her. He nodded for the moment, taking a step ahead and keeping his eye on the lass he expected to be trailing behind him en route to the throne room. "My name's Kou. If nobody else wants to take you in, I'll do it. They don't get to decide your worth for you," he said during the journey to where he'd been on the previous trip. Who he would find upon entering the throne room, he did not know, but he'd see to it that he gained status as a Holy Knight regardless of the royal he had to speak with.

[Apollymi]

Kou stopped the raccoon girl from being able to leave, and made the claim that he would take her in if no one else would. A smile came to her face, as she heard from him a sentence she'd heard many times before. She nodded. "Hai hai, Kou-nii. I'm Hikari. Nice meet you!~" she said giving a little bow. If she could be taken in as someone's apprentice then she didn't have a problem with anything. And looking at the composition of this party she could even see another girl and that would be good as well. Given this she trotted along behind Kou while he was trailed by whoever decided to follow as well. Miki decided to and floated along on her pillow as they approached the throne room, and upon entering it, to the left of the main throne they'd find their former contact, a young lass named Madoka with long white hair and pale blue eyes. But something was amiss, unlike times previous this lass wasn't speaking or getting ready to accost the pair of them with overly familiar terms and gestures. No, instead there was someone more ominous that needed to be deferred to first and there was nothing that Madoka could do about this.

[Bloodedge]

"Same here. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Hikari-chan," Kou said while looking directly into the demi-human Hikari's face, offering a more gentle expression than he'd previously been shown capable of, as well as - interestingly - no issues with how she chose to address him. Miki and Karna were both traveling to the throne room alongside these two, but Kou seemed to have become indifferent to their presence. The one who gained his focus came only when they entered the throne room, and it was again Madoka the Princess. "Oi. I'm here for--"

"It takes some nerve to bring that thing back into my castle. We will never again abide creatures like those demi-humans. Remove it immediately!" spoke the voice of the King himself, who sat upon the throne brandishing a beard as white as Kou's own hair, and emerald eyes which gazed into the soul of those beheld. Kou knew this person from experiences in the video game version of this world, yet something about the man's demeanor was different. He stepped forward with great conviction. "King Eon... Your Grace," he said. "Holy Knights are exempt from judgement and rule, aren't they? I am Kou, Royal Knight of Eonis. I'm here to claim the title of Holy Knight."

It was Kou's belief that it didn't matter what the King himself decided. If he were to become a Holy Knight, he could take the demi-human girl as his apprentice, and none could question him. The King, however, shook his head. He would not allow this young Knight to achieve a higher status if his first intention was to make a demi-human his apprentice, and Kou could tell this was the case. As such, Kou found himself looking toward Madoka for answers.

[Apollymi]

A strange introduction took place in front of Miki and she was delighted by it. She had no understanding of why Kou was so much more okay with this little raccoon girl, (now aptly known as Hikari) calling him familiarly but it showed progress away from potential rage. 'Sou ka, maybe the Princess Madoka just also hits his radar wrong? Or he just really doesn't like her...' thought Miki. Meanwhile, Hikari could only smile, as she felt the warm and happy feeling of acceptance.

But all of this changed after entering the Throne Room. The King Eon was one which Hikari was familiar with, and this man had recently set her aside claiming she'd never be strong enough. And here he was denying the advance of Kou even though the lad was more than qualified to become a Holy Knight just because he had a demi-human in tow. When Kou looked to Madoka for an explanation from her of the situation that was taking place here. "King Eon is the seat of power in this place. As long as he is within the capital his word is law... gomennasai Kou-san," said the Princess. Unlike times previous when she showed off or was simply unknowing of what was going on here, there was a certain amount of defeatism in her voice when she expressed these things aloud. All the while Miki looked around the Throne room from the background of a person who'd only ever been here in game once, and then the previous time they'd come here together. 'Ano, this place is a bit weird, when everyone was taking advantage of Madoka's stupid, there wasn't this much fear involved here. I didn't come here much before but... this seems like a weird prejudice to suddenly develop. I've never saw where this spot had an issue with demi-humans before. Also, where is...' she gave pause thinking about the Princess who was native to this land, she didn't see her. And usually that lass could be found skulking about the Throne Room. "Where's Princess Aerona?" The question was aimed at Madoka whose eyes lit up only briefly like it was a great question and she answered it. "Onee-san, has decided to leave the castle with a band of Knights and continue her training, Miki-san," she said and though this seemed legitimate such a thing never happened within the confines of the game.

[Bloodedge]

The response Madoka had for Kou was less than favorable, yet clearly honest. There was nothing to be done so long as the King held power directly, as the only exception Kou could even think of was to find a higher-ranking Holy Knight to grant him the rank. Such a system had its flaws when rulers such as King Eon were in power. Holy Knights were of the realm, not necessarily bound to any particular kingdom. Because of this, any monarch could decide to disallow a Royal Knight from seeking Holy Knight status, all to keep said Knight under their rule. "Tch!" the lad muttered. "In that case... I invoke the right of exception by combat!" he demanded. The King scoffed at this notion. He could not reject something such as this without bringing his rule into question by the masses, and if Kou managed to be successful in the trial, he would be exempt from the hold of Eonis Kingdom. He would also be offered a single wish without question for his service as a Royal Knight; King Eon already knew what that would mean. "Wretched beast-loving child. Very well. Madoka! Summon my champion!" the King ordered while Kou took a moment to look in Hikari's direction. "No worries. You'll have your knighthood soon, and you won't have to deal with this shitty system for it. You trust me, yeah?"

[Apollymi]

Much to Madoka's general satisfaction, Kou didn't take her words sitting down. Knowing he was also player, she figured he would know the ins and outs of the system and take the better offer. She even knew that no matter who was summoned he'd have a good chance of winning. Her adoptive father's reaction to this challenge was just as surly as he had been since his return. She didn't know what was the matter with him, but it was becoming obvious that he was not the same as the man who'd adopted her into his fold. Even so, she did as she was bit and slammed the key-shaped staff she wielded as a weapon into the floor and made a single call. "Ser Gregor!" At her call a large clanking could be heard down the hall but only for a second. Then it was rattling within the throne room. This rattling seemed to be a giant man, in a large suit of armor, but even with his mass of muscles his body seemed to proliferate with magical power. He would turn and bow to his king, helm firmly in place, only to remove it once he'd won this fight, which he assumed by looking towards the boy who would be his opponent.

Meanwhile, Kou looked to Hikari and asked her a question. She'd watched as this young man's attitude had shifted, but he hadn't abandoned her nor had he gone along with the claims of her animal nature. No, he'd simply invoked an exception on combat and bet his life on this little instance for her instead. If she couldn't put her faith in a show like that, she figured she'd make a poor excuse for a Knight in the first place. "Hai, I trust you! Gambare!" she cheered the lad on before scurrying off to the left side of this particular room. She'd find when she reached the side wall Miki had already floated to a similar space and taken a more upright seat to watch the coming battle. Still there seemed to be a serious look on her face. Her mind traveling in deep thought and she felt the slightest bit unnerved by something, and it seemed to align with her looking at the King. 'Something really isn't right with that guy... I don't know if it's worth digging into fully right now, nor if it will be something Madoka will be able to handle on her own...' she thought her brows drawn together.

[Bloodedge]

Madoka did as her King instructed by calling upon his Champion, the greatest of Royal Knights within Eonis. To his credit, he was a hulking beast of a man, very intimidating to behold. However, Kou had resolved himself to take - and win - a battle against whatever servants the King threw his way. He meant to become a Holy Knight, so he had no intentions of losing to a Royal Knight of any caliber. Besides that, the lass Hikari placed her faith in him. He still wasn't certain why, but this approval gave him a level of conviction he hardly ever knew. "Ser Gregor! Kill this stain upon my kingdom, and when you're done... send that wretched demi-human with him!"

The King's announcement to his champion infuriated Kou before the match even began. He was well beyond caring what the reason behind the King's behavior was; for now, he only cared to face the issue head-on and discover the specifics when he was done attacking. Kou... or rather, the being within Kou, had numerous problems with the King's approach. He wouldn't have liked to take this out on a simple servant, but... this champion surely knew what he signed up for. "I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood..."

[Apollymi]

The hulking champion was given a set of orders from his King. And these included killing the challenger, and once he succeeded in that task, disposing of the demi-human child who'd accompanied this group into the throne room. He was a servant, he didn't question his orders, and if he was being honest, he enjoyed any moment that he got to act with reckless abandon. "Of course your Highness, it would be my honor!" The man claimed and with this he drew a great sword from his side which was longer than Kou was tall and drew it down. "Prepare yourself! For your insolence his highness has ordered your death. May the gods have mercy, for I will not!" claimed this 'Holy' Knight as his sword sparked with lightning that shook the room as it coated the blade and it vibrated with undue amounts of power. Ser Gregor raised this sword into the air and allowed it to course with all the power he would need, and then he looked to Kou, planning to make a downward swing which would engulf the lad and all those behind him.

Even so, Miki didn't seem at all worried for Kou, in fact, she seemed to relax even more, having already fully placed her faith in the lad's abilities. Meanwhile, Hikari managed to look aghast that something like her death would be ordered over something so simple as her wanting to become a Knight. Though she didn't know this lad for very long, she had nothing but the utmost faith in him, and given the look on his face, she could almost tell he believed in himself as well. And strangely even Madoka had something to say, as the final order given by the King was one which she simply couldn't agree with. "Father, such a thing is unnecessarily cruel!" the white haired girl stated, with fervor showing in her blue eyes. Her words, caught Miki's attention and made the look on her face shift slightly as she sent a piercing crimson gaze towards the thrones at the front of the room. 'Hm, she finally grew a spine... that's interesting. Too bad, this isn't a stand she needs to take...' thought the blonde lass as she rested an arm on her knee and held up her head with a hand.

[Bloodedge]

"I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to Death, nor to Life..." Kou continued speaking an incantation to bring a spell into existence. Though it was time-consuming, he intended to have no doubts of his victory in this match. Gregor went on the offensive with an attack of lightning magic similar in nature to his own Mana Burst technique. Still, Kou chanted away. "Have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet, those hands will never hold anything." An ethereal glow emerged from Kou's eyes as he reached this point in the incantation, and the same glow radiated from his body out to the rest of the throne room. Before he could finish though, Gregor's attack was encroaching upon him. Kou had no worries. He'd been considering a new Skill since approaching Level 30, and he managed to come up with one that would be useful here and now. He drew his sword and slashed outward at the coming wave of lightning, applying a technique called 'Full Counter' to take effect when his blade touched the wave. This simple strike reflected the magic of Gregor's attack, completely turning it around while enhancing its power tremendously by adding Kou's own energy to it. Whatever this accomplished didn't matter to Kou, as he intended to complete his incantation.

"So, as I pray... Unlimited Blade Works!" At the conclusion of his chant, Kou manifested a subspace within the throne room. The location seemed to become an endless battlefield at sunset, with all manner of bladed melee weapons in the ground as far as the eye could see, all fully solidified by the will of Kou's magic. Even more swords, spears, halberds, etc. were appearing in the air around Kou as he stepped forward and exhaled, raising his own sword overhead. "One chance," he said to Gregor, an impassive expression upon his visage.

[Apollymi]

Kou's chants continued and all watched as the bolt of lightning shot off by Ser Gregor was countered immediately by the lad's sword. It was throne back towards the 'Holy' Knight with more power than it'd left him with, leaving him surprised enough to have to mount an immediate defense. His body dropped to one knee behind the blade which he super charged creating a large wall of lighting behind it. This was no ordinary Knight. He was no mere human. Ser Gregor had never felt such disgrace as he did in his moment, falling to one knee to protect himself from an attack he did no see coming. The completion of Kou's spell cam before he fully stood again, and when he did, he was all but stunned by what he was witnessing. The lad's claim that he had one chance, would be taken in a strange way by Ser Gregor who drew his sword into the air. "I am the Thunderous Mountain of King Eon! I don't need chances!" claimed this man as he charged a mighty bolt of thunder even more powerful than his previous swing. It was as if he intended to bring down the lad and everyone in the throne room to make his point.

At this point, to Miki there was nothing but to wait, and so she did. Even as they were absorbed into Kou's spell she looked around the battle field and heard his words. Something about them softened her, though she'd been busy thinking about the situation of the Kingdom, she couldn't help but wonder what this lad had been through to give him such a disposition. Whatever the case, it only solidified how she felt in this moment. 'Sou ka, well, I guess that decision has been made regardless,' she thought. Meanwhile, Hikari looked on with wide eyes, such a feat was beyond her general understanding, but she knew if this lad won this, he was definitely worth learning from. Madoka hadn't expected to be dragged into whatever spell, and couldn't even bring herself to feel bad for Ser Gregor's future considering the man was so keen to try eliminating them all, here and now.

[Bloodedge]

Ser Gregor answered unfavorably. It was a shame that one would adhere to the will of a King so unfit to rule, but he was free to make his own decisions... just as he was free to face the consequences of those decisions, good or bad. In this case, Kou intended to be judge and executioner. Another deep breath ensued. Kou's aura shone once more, though this time, it carried his newest Support Skill's power. In this barren land of deadly weapons, Kou appeared to be surrounded by sakura petals and light. Those he considered his comrades - Miki, Hikari, Madoka and interestingly enough, Karna - would receive his protection and a general boost to their parameters alongside the aura's natural appealing traits. Those who were against him - King Eon and Ser Gregor - would receive just the opposite. The King himself was prepared to give Gregor another order, though when looking at Kou now, he faltered right away...

And then came the descent of Kou's blade. "A mountain with all the impact of an ant hill. If there's a next life, you should try making your own decisions." This was all Kou had left to say to Ser Gregor. The final movement of his sword had an effect on every weapon created by his spell. The blades that were in the ground rose and spun, until the tip of every blade in the subspace pointed itself at Gregor, aiming to pierce him a thousand times over with the full force of Kou's Unlimited Blade Works technique.

[Apollymi]

The words of Ser Gregor had no effect on the lad before him. What was more no words were spoken from the King and no attack would come from the Mountain himself. As he looked upon Kou, he felt himself weakening, his strength waning by a great deal. He could no longer course magic enough to continue charging, and beyond that it was completely over for Ser Gregor. He heard the words spoken by Kou as he felt the first of the blades enter his body, then the second and the third. Eventually, so many blades had entered this man's body, that he was incapable of sustaining his will to live. He bled out in this world of blades at sunset, an honorable warrior's death.

Meanwhile, Miki, Hikari, and Madoka, all managed to look surprised as they looked at Kou. Miki was unsurprising by his winning of this particular event, and more surprised by the increase in her stats. "Nice!~" she chimed, her face flushed just a little as she realized she found him to be more attractive than normal. It had to be an ability of Kou's which meant he'd taken a new skill that positively affected his allies. That was useful but more so than that, she generally felt better in this moment than she had in several prior to this. It was quite relieving. Hikari's tail wagged happily upon seeing this lad complete his task with little to no problem. Moreover she also felt better but had no reason to connect it to anything in particular. "Sugoi! Kou-nii, that was awesome!~" she said happily. As this happened Madoka frowned just a little, finding it strange that someone else got to refer to the lad as brother but she couldn't. It made her feel left out and she depressingly looked at her feet tapping her toes together. "Father, it seems your champion lost to Kou-san. The Exception by Combat has been decided..." she said, though she was happy about it she still seemed a little depressed. At the same Miki stared off into space, but it wasn't really that she was staring so much as she was looking at the King. Perhaps it would become obvious in a moment what was actually wrong here.

[Bloodedge]

And so, Ser Gregor fell. When he did, the world of blades created by Kou began to fade away, leaving the former Knight Gregor to spew his blood on the floor of the throne room. His first act thereafter was to face Hikari and smile, though as he did so, King Eon spoke in response to Madoka's statement, and Kou's victory. "... Very well. I suppose your desire now is to take the Holy Knight Selection Exam. Ser Gregor was as powerful as a Holy Knight Apprentice. That you killed him with ease... says you are capable enough as is," he said, gesturing to have one of the lesser Knights of Eonis bring forth a Crystal Holy Knight sigil originally meant for Ser Gregor. Kou claimed the enchanted crystal badge and scoffed. "That wasn't the strength of a Holy Knight. You're right, though. I'm ready." With that said, Kou took a moment to face Hikari again. The gentlest of expressions was upon his face as he held out his Holy Knight badge, awaiting her choice to place her hand upon it. "Let's get started, then. Touch it," he said. A moment of pause would come when Karna finally spoke up, seeming as indifferent to the goings-on as ever, though quite curious about one thing. "Holy Knights all get titles, right? What's it gonna be, friend?" he asked, to which Kou snickered whilst looking toward Hikari again. His answer would come momentarily...

[Apollymi]

The Thunderous Mountain, the man known as Ser Gregor was no more. Given this, there wasn't much to be done about any of the things taking place, the King even had to admit in this moment that such a thing was taking place, though it was contrary to his original desire. Whatever the case, Miki quietly watched as Kou faced the young lass with her animal appendages and asked her to get started being his apprentice. He'd already claimed the crystal sigil originally belonging to Ser Gregor, all that was left was for it to be applied to him instead. Hikari for her excitement approached carefully avoiding the blood stained floor. Her tail wagged gently her ears even twitched a little, but the gentle expression on the white haired lad's face, gave her all the incentive she needed to continue. Knowing she get to do this now, even without the permission of the Kingdom was exciting. "Hai, Kou-nii!" she said reaching out to touch the badge tentatively with her hand, she knelt. She awaited what would come next with those large red eyes of hers. The man she'd dubbed 'Angry-eyes' seemed to be having a bit of fun again, speaking about what the lad would name himself but that didn't come with an immediate answer. Regardless Miki hadn't said a single thing, her eyes were glued on this scene, but it was almost like she wasn't really seeing it happen before her.

[Bloodedge]

Kou awaited Hikari's choice, and his patience paid off as she placed her hand upon the crystal badge. Only when this happened did he choose to announce his title as a Holy Knight. "White Hawk of Light," he said as his Mana pulsed through the crystal, producing from it a hawk of light, naturally white in color. The hawk hovered over Kou, facing Hikari as the ashen-haired lad began speaking to her. "In the name of the Warrior, I charge you to be brave," he began. The moment this speech started, the energy from within the crystal began flowing into Hikari, and so too did the light of the Nexus. "In the name of the Father, I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother, I charge you to defend the innocent." In this moment, the hawk surrounding Kou spread its wings, embracing Kou and Hikari simultaneously before fading into both parties. "Arise, Hikari, an Apprentice Holy Knight of the Band of the Hawk!"

During this exchange of knighthood, King Eon remained displeased with the occurrences of this day. His eyes began to travel around the throne room, landing on various Knights belonging to Eonis alone. They knew what his desires were, and all were at the ready for the moment he spoke an official order into existence.

[Apollymi]

Hikari after placing her hand upon Kou's badge, got to hear the title he'd chosen for himself. She was quite fond of it herself for unknown reasons, and found it to be fitting. Beyond this a hawk of light escaped the device and wrapped them both, and he spoke the words necessary to make her an apprentice knight. She was quite surprised by this, as it seemed sort of small for it to be something withheld from her within the Kingdom. Even so, it seemed much more meaningful now. And when she rose now she was a Holy Knight Apprentice. "Arigatou, Kou-nii!~" she chimed very happy about it. This happy moment was observed by Madoka, who was more than a little miffed that she didn't get to praise Kou in such a way, but perhaps such a thing would come at some point in the future.

Of course, Miki watched the whole of this and she'd seemed spaced out, but she wasn't. Everything about this exchange felt right to her, and in turn felt right to the nature of the universe. She couldn't say what it was, but it was like the White Hawk he'd named himself after appearing in such a way was proof of his rightness in the moment. Just the same as this, she noticed the encroaching darkness from all sides, seeming to make the throne room dim greatly as it spread out, the core of this 'darkness' the wrongness of the moment was centered upon the King and his other Knights who surrounded them. 'Sou ka, that's what that awareness is like... I was wondering what it really translated to... it makes sense now,' she thought. She'd felt a similar sense of foreboding when they were first approached by Sharrkan the fake Dragonoid. And also when they were first approached by the Berserkers he'd created. Knowing this, she had a good measure of how the magical prowess and the sight of the balance of nature worked for her physically in this universe. She also knew by virtue of this, whatever next came from the King would likely not be something any of this group would whole-heartedly agree with and as such she averted her gaze directly towards the King, eyes plainly waiting to see what he would do.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai! You'll join our Party too, right?" Kou asked, having offered so much even after only recently receiving this demi-human's name. He still hadn't bothered addressing why he felt so attached to Hikari in such a short amount of time, but he also wouldn't be receiving the freedom to do so just yet. This was, of course, the fault of King Eon. "Now that that's over... I, King Aurelius Eon, first of his name and ruler of Men, hereby banish the White Hawk and his company from Eonis! If they be seen in our midst, let them be killed on sight!" the King announced. Kou's attention was finally pulled away in this moment. The Knights of Eonis were closing in, and among their numbers were those who previously swore fealty to Kou when he claimed the title of Royal Knight.

"And there's the part I've been waiting for," spoke Karna. He didn't seem bothered at all by any of the current events. In fact, his demeanor and statement even implied that he'd been expecting this turn of events. As he stepped forward, he spared a glance in Miki's direction. "Is it your turn, or mine? King long-life over there is gonna transform pretty soon regardless. Oh, and you could have just asked. I think I know enough about your kind to have told you what that feeling was."

[Apollymi]

"I can join your party?" the girl asked as if it was simply the most wonderous thing she'd ever been offered. Her little tail wagging in the breeze like she was super excited by the idea. Before she tried to hide her excitement in light of her new title and standing. "I mean... if you want it would be an honor," she said trying to be more firm but failing at it because her tail was still wagging and now even her little ears were twitching. Quite frankly the sight was beyond cute, so much so that even Madoka thought it was outrageous. 'I'm being shown up by a cute raccoon child. And Kou-san doesn't even like me...' she frowned deeply. Moreover there would soon be even more to frown about. As the words of the King would reach everyone with them in a matter of seconds. He claimed to want to banish the entirety of the Band of the Hawk from Eonis and further claimed they'd be killed on sight if they resurfaced here. He even went on to call numerous Knights in to back up his threat. Madoka couldn't help but be alarmed. "Father that isn't fair. You can't do that..." she exclaimed with about as much conviction as one could expect from a stereotypical teen girl.

In the meantime, Karna seemed properly ready to act, going on to state that this sort of reaction was about what he expected from the King. He even shot a cheeky few statements at Miki. The first of which asked if it was his turn or hers. And the second of which mentioned that she should have asked about the strange feeling she'd been pondering since entering the throne room, as he apparently had the answers she sought. "I mean, I have room to test out a few new skills I didn't get to try out in the Marsh Kingdom, we could share... unless you really want to handle it," she offered up, which was strangely nice considering their general dynamic. "And I like to figure stuff out on my own. It isn't much fun if I run around asking people every time something new happens," she asserted about her own motivations for getting a feeling for the moment in her own way. Of course, this changed nothing in general about what she thought and she knew that the room full of Knights would need to be handled in the next few moments as such she stood from her seat atop the pillow she'd been resting on at the edge of the room, and waited for the start of the commotion.

[Bloodedge]

Kou began to chuckle. Alongside Hikari's response, he noted the movement of her tail and attributed it to her satisfaction. "Of course! If you're going to be a Holy Knight too one day, it'll be great to have you along!" This acceptance allowed Hikari to enter the party immediately, with which she would be gaining 20% of all experience alongside Karna, while Kou and Miki retained 30% each. At this moment though, King Eon's intentions became blatantly clear. Kou stood at the ready to fend off his former, yet unused subordinates, but it seemed Karna and Miki were in the process of working something out among themselves.

"Share? Not much point to that. I could kill them, the King, the rest of the kingdom... the rest of you. Have your fun, Oujo-san," Karna said, offering Miki the opportunity to deal with the King's guards herself. In granting this though, he found himself looking directly at Aurelius Eon, sporting a sinister grin as he did so. "We're killing the old fart, right?"

[Apollymi]

Kou's moment with Hikari was in fact one of the most exciting of her young life. She was happily invited into the lad's party, and by accepting she gained part of the EXP share of the group, at 20 percent along with Karna. This was more than fair to her, and it seemed like she would be earning her keep pretty soon because the announcement of the King made it obvious that he intended to kill this group here and now. "Arigatou, Kou-nii!~" the girl said as she shifted her stand into that of a guard, but it seemed like her prowess wouldn't immediately be necessary.

Karna and Miki had more of a conversation. The lad's explanation of what would happen if he chose to act now, and his claim that he could take out everyone given his current form made Miki laugh and shake her head. "Oooh, look at you strongest guy in the room~" Miki replied flippantly. If she was being honest his constant reference to her as Oujo-san was kind of annoying, but she'd been called worse and felt no need to comment on it at present. She was given the okay to have her fun with the King's Guard which she did, in the following moments in a way that wasn't completely obvious, initially. "Hai hai, isn't that nice of you..." she said to Karna before she opened the palm of her hand and then rather suddenly pulled back all four of her fingers. It was like she was motioning for someone to come towards her, but it wasn't aimed at anyone specific. Doing this allowed something strange to happen, every weapon held by every knight pointed at Kou or Hikari would rather suddenly leave their hand. This was the use of a support skill gained by the lass called 'Snatch' which fit perfectly into the rogue aspect of her build. Beyond that, the active version of the skill had been used, and everyone she'd taken a weapon from had also been robbed of their mana and stamina and would experience leg buckling exhaustion when they finally noticed. "Fox Hunt..." she said aloud thinking about the ability. And when everyone looked around in the confusion they would find them in a nice and neat pile beside Miki. And when they all looked at Miki the pillow at her side would be transforming into a large boar spear with a decorative hollow opening at the center. She'd then take this spear into her hand and thrust it forward, aiming to decapitate every Knight in the room who would have caused them any problem. "Assault Hunt..." she said aloud remembering what this ability had been called in game, and should it strike those it was intended to meet it would leave their heads all rolling together in a pile before the king. As for the last question posed by Karna, she shrugged. "I mean it didn't sound like he was going to let us leave this room anyways. That is the usual MO with the whole Corrupt King Storyline. Who knows maybe they'll make you an actual Knight and everything after you take him out~" she commented with chuckle.

[Bloodedge]

"What? It's only the truth," Karna said with a shrug. He truly wasn't concerned with anything at all, as far as combat was concerned. In fact, he was convinced within his own mind that he could successfully face off against the Dragonoids who bested him originally... at least on an individual basis. Of course, there was also something else about his present incarnation which he required to face anything up to par with his strength. This was something he didn't intend to disclose, but as Miki began dealing with King Eon's Knights, it crossed Karna's mind and brought an even wider, toothier grin to his face. "Oi, oi..." he said as Miki made use of her skills to rob Knights of their weapons and power, all before beheading the entire group of them artfully enough to pile their heads before King Eon. "You're exciting the shit out of me, Oujo-san!" Karna appeared to be absolutely ecstatic, while King Eon appeared distraught. He didn't expect the Knights of his court to be dealt with so swiftly, even though he didn't expect them to actually succeed either. The composition of this Party as a whole was more than he could afford to buy time against. His rage built within, and his eyes began turning red as he gripped the arm of his throne. "Petulant children..." A dark and corrosive aura soon surrounded the King, but again, one such as Karna stepped up to Miki's side without concern. "So yes, we kill him? I don't think I've stretched enough, though, and I don't care about knighthood. You can have this one too, unless you wanted to give your boyfriend or his new pet a turn?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed for a moment at least that Miki had succeeded in using the abilities she'd wanted to use before but hadn't gotten an opportunity to showcase. Moreover there was a very excited utterance from Karna who apparently was quite taken with the outcome of her skills usage. This was a strange reaction to Miki who hadn't expected to get anything close to praise from someone like him. She managed to seem somewhat sheepish given she wasn't expecting such an appraisal. "Ano... that's a little embarrassing. You should calm down a bit, yeah?" she muttered managing to seem a bit pleased with herself nonetheless. "Sugoi!" this was the only response from Hikari who liked the amount of skill being shown by Miki though they hadn't formally been introduced yet. "Kou-nii, the other girl in your party is really strong too. Is she a Knight like you? Did you help her out?" she asked wondering about the sorts of developments she could expect being attached to Kou.

Beyond this, Madoka was watching this entire situation unfold in a manner she hadn't expected, the attention she'd tried to get from Kou was subverted and while she sulked she watched as Miki managed a feat that she didn't think herself capable of, even at a much higher level. "I thought you were just a warrior, Miki-san?" she questioned wondering where she'd gone wrong in her skill set. "Iia, I am a rogue," she said, and though there was a bit more of an explanation than that, there currently wasn't time for it. The King was apparently very unhappy about the death of his Kingdom's Knights, and as he began to fume, corrosive gas seemed to leak from his person. Miki got a whiff of this much like her earlier musing as a darkening circle around her vision which let her know what sort of danger the King would be to all present. Strangely, Madoka just seemed to be confused by the whole thing. "Father, you can't be that upset when you're the reason they attacked. Calm down, please." Madoka tried reasoning with the man but Miki could see it would be fruitless. Besides that, Karna had now stepped up again and was speaking to her directly. He made the claim that he wasn't stretched enough for all of this, and would thus hand over the kill of the King to her as well. He even decided to differ to her in case she wanted to give Kou or Hikari a chance to do some damage instead, his choice of reference though, would get a properly flustered response out of Miki. "B-b-b-boyfriend?!" she managed to seem utterly confused by the assumption. "No, really isn't like that... I mean, if he wants to fight it's fine, but you can't just say stuff like that. And I don't care about being a Knight either it wasn't in my original plans for this adventure," she said hurriedly, seemingly to be properly embarrassed her face fully reddening and her heartbeat getting just a little faster. If honesty were on the table, it should be obvious to all that she had a certain fondness for Kou which could relate to something like being his significant other, but there was no such obvious placement the other way, and as such the situation was with them as partners in their endeavors and adventures nothing more.