Posted!
Got a chance earlier than I had anticipated. Whew.
Got a chance earlier than I had anticipated. Whew.
"Wh-whoa-huh!? You're telling me you guys could afford enchanted equipment? Wow... That's amazing, you all gotta come from wealthy families, huh?"
"Actually, we found these clothes in a dungeon. We're not rich at all. Not in the slightest. In fact, we're pretty penniless right now, right guys?" She turned to the others to support her new lie.
"That's right," she added, nodding in agreement. "We're not rich at all. Just a stroke of luck finding these clothes, I guess."
"Umm... Did... Did you not intend to harvest its mana gem? It... It already looked dead to me."
"Mana gems…" She placed her hand on her chin. "Hey, guys, how about we give the gems on those ratmen we just killed to her? In exchange for her taking us to the city? If we hadn't destroyed them with our attacks anyway.."
“I’m not going to apologize for us defending ourselves. Considering that and the help you’ve given nonetheless, I think it would be fairer if we split the proceeds evenly between us and her,” she offered instead.


"Of course, please sit down," she told the mage and she nodded to Fredrick when brought her meal. When Zell arrived at the table, Fredrick brought his order too and she turned to Zell. "You have a good appetite in the morning," she commented.
Ready to dig into her own meal, the next to join them was James, also asking to sit with them. "The more the merrier," was all she said about it before taking a bite.
"Hey" He gestured to the empty chair "Can I sit?"
Ready to dig into her own meal, the next to join them was James, also asking to sit with them. "The more the merrier," was all she said about it before taking a bite.
"See I think that when we 'crossed over' we all were given a something extra, like Zell ability to teleport or Adam's green touch, I don't know by what or by whom but if I am right then that Falcon -It's a falcon right?- may be part of yours, what do you think?" He glanced at the wizard and swordsman "What do you think guys? you both are smart"
Zell was taken aback by being called 'smart,' and performatively checked behind himself to make sure James wasn't talking to someone else. "Smart? You've got the wrong guy," he said with his mouth full. He swallowed everything in one big (and painful) gulp, then continued. "But I have a feeling you guys are spot-on the money with your guesswork. And it all comes back to that message at the Adventurer's Guild. We need to open it. It could have all the answers we need. Not long now. We go to this temple. We kill a few evil spirits. Job done. We get to the message." Zell took another massive bite. "Easy."
It was a surprisingly inconspicuous building, situated down a street, built seemingly right in the middle of some large skyscrapers. The only sign that it was a lab, was the large ‘Camphor Laboratories’ sign hanging right over the sliding glass doors that led inside. A small pond was in front, along with a small geometric sculpture and some benches. The building itself seemed more clinical in construction, square with pristinely clean white walls.
“Here we are.” Frieda said, turning to the group. “The labs exterior is a little...boring but Camphor thought it’d stop people from bothering her if it looked like this. The interior is a lot more cozy…well, aside from the labs. Lets see…the others should be arriving soon…ah, here we are! Camilia!”
Once everyone was inside, the doors would slide shut and lock behind the group. The reception area was much better decorated and gave off a casual business feeling than the sleek clinical outer walls of the building. A large desk ran across the long rectangular, carpeted room. The walls seemed to be made of wooden paneling. A few tables were off to the right where a few snacks had been laid out and a little further down was a TV broadcast and…three other people sitting around a table.
"Yes, everyone. We have a few snacks if you're feeling a small bit peckish and feel free to ask me any questions." She seemed ready to answer questions at the least. For her own part, she went over and grabbed a cookie, happily eating it. "It's good."
With his luggage still firmly in his grasp, Richard simply moved towards the other group and flagged down their attention—however briefly—with a wave instead.
"I suppose we're apt to be coworkers—er, co-assistants?—from here on out. Name's Richard Evans; it's a pleasure to meet you."
With their ambush(?) dealt with, the only thing left now was the bigger, black-furred ratman. Lying near the tree which Sayu had knocked it into, the creature was injured. It began to stir and try and make an effort to move, but either it was too hurt or too dazed to be able to stand back up. The girls now had a new challenge ahead of them: What to do next?
Since they already slew the other two, would they kill this one as well? Or did they try to communicate with it? Perhaps they should think about the possibility of more of these things showing up, given the noise and ruckus that was just caused? If they did decide to put this one down, it was so weak and defenseless that basically anyone could do it - it wasn't able to offer any sort of resistance at this point.
Aria turned her gaze back toward her companions, her expression reflecting the uncertainty that clouded her thoughts.
"What...should we do with it?"
Sayu stopped in her tracks, turning to face Aria.
"Isn't it obvious? We should finish the job. Unless it decides to run away or surrender, I say we should strike it down while it's weakened."
She turned back to face the ratman, placing her hands on her hips. "What will it be? Can you even understand our language?"
"Jeez, this forest is so thick! I can't believe I lost sight of 'em...!"
A ... woman, no, a girl's voice?
And so, out of the shrubs stepped just that. A girl. Around the same age as Aria and Charlotte, a pretty young thing with short black hair, and some kind of armor. She also carried a long sword in a scabbard on her hip. Her cheeks were flushed and she looked to be a bit out of breath, as if she'd been running... However, once she emerged from the undergrowth, and stood in the clearing with the scene before her... Well, there was a brief pause.
A very long, drawn out brief pause.
"... Eh...?"
"I forgot to iuntrdduce myself, huh? Hi, my name's LAynea. I'm an adventurer from Krosana. Nice to meet you all, ladies." Her vocie was chipper and full of friendly, unbiased and just plain old nice cheerfulness. "So, uh... If you don't mind me asking... Are you a group of travelling entertainrs or soemthing? Did you... Get lost in the woods? Oh, and did you all beat up these ratlings by yourselves?"