"What do you mean the inn is full?" The Fortress asked, banging his fist on the front desk.

Dalla, the innkeeper, was unperturbed by the wild-haired Fortress' threats, but had a frown on her face. "I'm sorry, but with all the new explorers and people coming to Tharsis, we simply don't have enough room."

"What if we pay more than those other guys?" He asked with narrowed eyes, prepared to bribe the shit out of her if he had to.

"That's not how it works."

"Okay, then how about we pay one of those fuckers to shove off and-"

A black male in Nightseeker gear appeared from the blue, hand quickly clamping over the Fortress' mouth, while offering Dalla an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him, he's really stubborn... ow! Hey, don't bite my hand!" Despite the sudden assault, he did not let release his angry fellow. "Let's go - stop bothering her, alright?"

The Nightseeker dragged the Fortress outside - a strenuous task, with all the armor the hot-headed boy was wearing. Outside of the inn, when the Nightseeker felt that he calmed down enough, he let him go.

"Kid, learn to calm down, will you?" The Nightseeker said sternly.

"Again with the 'kid', Mike?" He hated when Mikhael called him a kid - he was only 19, and Mikhael was 22. Was it the height? Probably. The Fortress wasn't exactly a tall person.

"If you're going to act like a kid, I'm treating you like a kid, Nate." The Nightseeker huffed.

"Any luck?" A voice called. Sitting on one of the public benches were their medic and arcanist. The Medic, a young male, read the frustrated look on Nate's face and frowned. "Oh, I see..."

Nate didn't like seeing his Medic be downcast. "Hey, Milo, don't sweat it, there's gotta be another place..."

"Doubt it." Mikhael said, sighing. With all the new adventurers and travelers streaming through Tharsis, finding a room at the inn has been getting harder and harder. "We should have made a reservation before we set out."

He and Nate head on over, taking a seat in an adjourning bench. They were utterly exhausted after their expedition in the Sacred Mountains, and Milo's medical magic could only carry them so far - they needed to properly rest away their fatigue.

"...we can sleep in the skyship." Milo offered, seeing as no one else had a solution.

"There's no bedding in there. The ship already creaks in the day, so it probably wouldn't be best to sleep there." Their Vessel said, shaking their head. But then, they brighten up, having their own solution to share. "Holly lives here, right?"

"Erm, yes. Your point, Xen?"

"How about we pay her a visit?"


Holly had a pot of tea heating up while she was stripping out of her traditional Runemaster garb. The winter like gear was dumped into a laundry basket, which she plans to do in the morning before her guild's next expedition. Turning toward the fireplace, she abuses her runes, setting the logs ablaze; it's unlawful to use fire runes in Tharsis since it was more dangerous than lighting ordinary fires, but hey, it was less time consuming and no one was watching.

The Runemaster is the only member of the guild that is a natural resident of Tharsis. Mikhael, Nate, and Milo were traveling explorers that wanted to check out the Yggdrasil near Tharsis, and Xen was from the Misty Ravine, part of the recent Vessel immigration. The trio lacked the five members needed to establish an official guild at the time, and they ended up recruiting her and Xen.

As she sat by the fire, enjoying her brewed cup of tea, she thought back on their early days in the Lush Woodlands...

..When a knock came at her door. Wondering who could be visiting her at this time of night, she set her cup down and went to answer her door.

To her surprise, she saw Mikhael through the peephole. She opened the door and he greeted her, grinning yet sheepish. "Evening."

"Mikhael? What's wrong?" She asked. Ordinarily, at the end of the day, she would part ways from the others to go to her own apartment while they stayed at the inn. Were they going to have a night-time excursion? No, his body was too relaxed, too tired to go out exploring.

Mikhael scratches the back of his head, looking off to the side. "Well... the inn had no room for us today... so..."

"Can we stay!" Holly recognized the voice to belong to Nate, who often shielded her during battles. Perplexed, Holly looked past Mikhael and saw that the rest of the guild was there, all looking embarrassed to be coming to her for help.

"O-oh my, of course, come in, come in." She encouraged. Her apartment was a bit small for all of them, but they can figure out a way.

Mikhael excused himself inside, leaving his blades leaning against a wall whilst carefully putting his coat on a coat rack (which Holly sometimes puts her Runemaster clothing on). Milo thanked Holly as he came inside, hanging his Medic coat with the other. Xen waltzed in putting their staff next to the swords, and Nate...

"Nate, you aren't taking off your armor?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Always pays to be ready!" He answered, which made no sense to her whatsoever, given how safe Tharsis is.

"Don't give me this, take it off." She insisted.

While she had to deal with Nate, the other three sit down, Xen sitting on the floor cross-legged while Mikhael and Milo sat on the couch. They look around her apartment, having never been there before: there was a small kitchenette with all the essentials, the living room that was ornamented with some stuff they recognize from their excursions (like flowers or monster parts), there was a small bookcase that is almost full, and in the corner was a bed, with flowerly bedsheets.

"Thank you." Holly said, who was in the process of stripping the armor off a pouting Nate. "Hey, by the way, whose idea was it to come here?"

"Mine!" Xen said, hand raised. "Back in my village, when one of us couldn't stay in our home for whatever reason, their friends open their doors to them - I believed that human culture would be the same."

"It depends on the person." Milo said.

Nate, finally stripped down to his plain clothes, came over, grumbling. "How dare you..."

"Oh quiet, you'll sleep more comfortably." Holly sighed, patting his back. "I suppose that now that you're all here, I should make some more tea..."

Soon enough, everybody was sitting or standing around, enjoying cups of warm tea. "We should get an official guildhouse, you know." Mikhael mused, sipping from his cup. A lot of the more big-time guilds had gotten into purchasing buildings in Tharsis to use as a base for their expeditions, while a lot of the smaller ones just settled for the inns.

"Oh, oh! We really should!" Milo said excitedly - the caffeine in the tea was getting him hopped up. "We could get beds, get a couch and oh, our own weapon room, we don't need Dalla's storage!"

"We wouldn't have to worry about stuff like this anymore, either. Like in the forest, we'll live off our own spoils and success." Xen stated, taking Mikhael completely seriously.

"That sounds like a nice idea, but how would that work out?" Holly asked.

Mikhael shrugged. "Dunno, just an idea..."

Finally, at around 10, they decided to turn in. It was a bit tough, deciding on who would sleep where. Holly decided to let Milo have her bed, being drained mentally from constant usage of healing arts; he thanked her with a cheerful hug before collapsing on her bed. The Arcanist insisted that they could sleep perfectly fine on the floor, but Holly wouldn't have that, making them sleep with a spare blanket and pillow. Mikhael stretched out on the couch, while Nate just slept leaning against a wall (while mumbling that he missed his armor).

As for Holly, she had to make do with sleeping on the floor, too. Though, as she went to sleep, she felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that her friends have a safe place to sleep...


Author's Note: I wanted to write an Etrian Odyssey story that was a bit more slice of life. Originally this was going to be a really long one-shot, but I decided to turn it into a short multi-chapter thing. I'm... still kinda new at OC writing, to be honest. But I'll try my best!