While Raime and Amulak malded, the two of them collectively getting high blood pressure from the sheer inanity of a gamer farming monsters inside a dungeon, Lugh remained unaffected, the words of the scout just rolling off his back as he remained where he was. [b]“Relax, relax,”[/b] the swordsman said. [b]“Dunno what system you’re talking about, but she’s only worried cause she doesn’t know, yeah? I’ve just been killing those mobs off down there myself, really. Met some folks that told me about this spot, even.”[/b]

He nodded then tilted his head to the side slightly.

[b]“Still, just the two of you here? C’mon, I’ll introduce you two to them. Maybe with three, they’ll introduce us to a better spot and you can get your, y’know, farming stuff done. For whatever that event is.”[/b]
[sub][@Shovel][@Searat][@Psyker Landshark][@OwO][@Yankee][/sub][hr]
The voice of a boy sounded, annoyingly high-pitched and raspy. [b]“Um, three of them left, and one of them stayed. Really weird looking girl with cat ears. You sure she wasn’t a monster? She was there just a while ago though.”

“Is that so?”[/b] Man-Joji intoned.

Within the span of that short conversation, Ari burst into action, wriggling out of the carpet she had rolled inside by mimicking the same movements of a snake. If it had been a heavier one, or perhaps a fluffier one, the task would have been much more difficult, but the thinness of the material meant that it was easy enough to slip out without too much sound. Perhaps a couple of the adjacent rolls of carpets shifted during her movements, but such could also have been explained by them just having been moved while the cart made it across hills and rocks. There hadn’t been any pattern to the ordering, after all.

Or, at least, none that Ari noticed.

Sliding onto the front seat and eliciting only a dull neigh of acknowledgement from the old mule, the catgirl flopped herself into a vaguely uncomfortable position on the front seat right as Man-Joji checked the interior of the cart once more. But Ari was long gone, and the merchant’s steps, heavy and slow within the dilated time that she still experienced, drew closer and closer to the front.
Her eyes were closed, and her body was in a facsimile of relaxation, but her traitorous heart continued to pound while her mind danced with thoughts of what exactly a ‘robust’ floor was supposed to mean.

And in the light of evening, a shadow was cast over her, a cold stillness.

Man-Joji, the merchant, stood beside the front seat, not a word spoken since coming across Ari. He lifted a hand adorned with many rings and extended it towards the prone catgirl.

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel it closing in on her throat or her head, the space between the two becoming smaller and smaller, like a noose tightening around a criminal’s neck as the executioner continued to turn the wheel.

Then, the hand touched her shoulder, and shook.

[b]“Not a comfy bed, is it, Ari?” [/b]Man-Joji said, his tone…jovial. [b]“Come with me, I’ve got you Immortals two huts to rest in for the night.”[/b]
[sub][@GreenGoat][/sub]