Well, an Etrian Odyssey IV Story. It's not very long, but it isn't too short either. With so many great ideas in my head, I knew I had to get them on paper somehow. Enjoy, I guess.
Zoran Klemen, 19 years old, green haired, blue-eyed, a green goatee covering his chin. He is the sniper and the leader of the Wagon Guild, which is currently the only guild to ever step foot on the third labyrinth. At the moment, he is leaning against the wall for the guild's own private lavatory given to them by Dalla, the innkeeper. The perks of being the most successful guild that the town of Tharsis has ever seen is recognition from certain people, one such result is how his guild was given their own reserved rooms and a separate bathroom.
Said bathroom is allowed only one occupant at a time.
Kathleen O'Quinn, 18 years old, strawberry blond haired, blue-eyed, a signature red bandana to go along with a prominent fang in her nearly flawless set of teeth. She is the landsknecht and was supposed to be the leader of the Wagon Guild, until Zoran introduced himself as leader to Ciaran, who officially recognized his position in the form of a guild card before Kathleen could even begin to interject. At the moment, she is occupying the guild's individual latrine, enjoying a nice bath.
Well, not really. Her bath has long since ended. She is now taking her time admiring her features. Her teeth, her eyes, her hair, her-
"Hey, Kath. You done yet?" A muffled voice asks. "I've been waiting out here for about fifteen minutes. Kazuma told me that you'd be out of there once I came here." That's right. Her childhood friend, now boss, is one of the four people that she's sharing this bathroom with.
"Alright, alright, give me a second." The landsknecht gets herself in a presentable state and steps out. Zoran is leaning on the wall next to her, wiping his goggles.
"So," Zoran starts, examining his goggles from above. "What do you think we should do about those big-ass turtles? Ever since we froze the lakes, they've become impossible to avoid. You have any ideas?" The sniper then removes a rolled up piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to Kathleen. The cave map. He handed her the page for the second floor of the Golden Lair. Zoran has always been a talented artist. His maps are needlessly pretty, but they are simple enough to understand.
Kathleen stares at it for a moment before shrugging. "Not one. Why? Are we going back in there today?"
Zoran turns to face her. "Of course not. We still need to bring Wynne to the Dense Bushland and pick up small flowers. I just wanted to know if you had an idea."
Kathleen furrows a brow as she walks away. Zoran merely shrugs and steps inside the bathroom.
Zoran, while able to keep a calm, collected attitude, is also a bit reckless and wild when in a thrilling situation. The young man was born to unmarried parents, who were both, at the time of his birth, around his age. Neither of them care about him or each other anymore. This has caused Zoran to label his existence as "unnecessary" yet "extremely lucky". Because of this mindset, he has no fear of death and plans to live his life like no other man would ever dream of. His current status as a celebrity (well, sort of) certainly has him satisfied. According to some people, like Dalla, Ciaran, and the guild master, the name "Wagon Guild" is widely known and has caused many foreigners (like himself and Kathleen) to form guilds and come to Tharsis to accomplish feats similar to their own. Of course, it's only the name. Zoran can walk outside right now and not a single person will recognize him.
As a child, he lived with his mother, who is now a University Professor at who-knows-where. He and his mother lived in a small house in a relatively safe and quiet neighborhood. Not very far away, Kathleen lived. Since his mother was often busy with whatever it was she did, the two would often hang out and do different things. It has been sixteen years since the two first became friends, and now they are out risking their lives for some stupid glory and a few feelings of accomplishment, and Zoran loves every second of it. In spite of their untroubled origins, the two are unfazed by danger. Before their days as explorers of Tharsis, the two had done everything together. Going on adventures together, nearly getting killed together, have taken assassination contracts once or twice, have seen each other naked once or twice, have sunk a ship. Yes, as young as they are, they've done a lot of crazy things already.
Zoran finishes his bath and scurries out, seeing their runemaster, the quiet but deadly Nela.
"Sup, Nela." Zoran says, patting her blue haired head as he passes her. Nela Kozar is a mysterious blue haired runemaster that Kathleen and Zoran had encountered outside of the Dancing Peacock. She is arguably the most invaluable part of the squad. Her ice magic prowess has become a great weapon for the guild, and they would undoubtedly be less successful without her. She had been sitting on a crate at the entrance, seemingly lifeless. Zoran, for some reason, decided that speaking to her was a good idea. About two months later, she's become the most valuable asset the squad possesses.
"Hey." Nela responds, her sleepy facade ever present. She blinks at him a few times before returning to... whatever it was she was doing. While laconic and, at times, blank, she would sometimes give Zoran the impression of a cute little girl. Of course, she probably isn't much younger than him, but she is nearly a foot shorter and her sleepy eyes would sometimes charm him. Of course, he's never told anyone that before. Nobody has ever teased Nela before, maybe he'll try to do so tonight.
"You haven't moved from that spot in a while, Zoran. Are you okay?" The runemaster suddenly asks. Her strange accent present. Zoran turns his head around and gives her a smile.
"Huh? Oh, yes. No need to worry about me." Zoran hurriedly gets himself out of her sight. Despite his recent thoughts, for some reason Nela can be quite unsettling.
After greeting Dalla and eating breakfast, the guild reaches the square.
Zoran leads them to the fountain before spinning around with a wide grin and his fists on his hips. "Alright, team. This is where I believe we split up. You have a job to do, don't you, Kazuma?"
The group's medic happens to be another one of Kathleen and Zoran's hometown friends. Kazuma Kagome, who had been their hometown's doctor's assistant, often found himself caught up in Zoran's antics. He isn't even supposed to be in Tharsis right now, but a series of events had caused him to remain at Zoran's side as medical support. Clumsy and incredibly delicate, the young man takes extreme caution while in the labyrinth. While he understands that he is vulnerable while in the danger of the labyrinth, he also realizes the danger that his friends would be in if something were to happen to him. In spite of this, he often feels as though he is unimportant due to Nela's healing capabilities while walking throughout the labyrinth. She can't heal in the midst of battle, though.
"Yes, actually. I sort of took a job to water the flowers surrounding the Grand Court."
Kathleen raises an eyebrow. "The Mark Grand Court?" Kazuma sheepishly nods at her question. "That'll take you all day to finish!"
Kazuma scratches the back of his head. "I didn't really have a choice in the matter."
Tasia, the group's dancer, suddenly raises a hand. She introduced herself as a sword dancer from the grandiose nation of Dorluga. Tasia Lusk, with dark skin and purple eyes, states that her people all sport different appearances, with varying complexions, hair colors, eye colors, and even size. She is incredibly friendly and smarter than Kazuma can ever imagine. Friendliness usually leads to fear of anger, and nobody has ever caused Tasia any anger.
"Do you have anything to say, Tasia?" Zoran asks.
"Yes. You said that there wouldn't be any exploring done today, so I am scheduled to dance for the Dancing Peacock tonight." She says. Well, if there is a recognizable face among the Wagon Guild, it's Tasia's. Bringing her around can often be a pain due to her familiar friendly face.
"Not a problem. Are you doing anything, Nela?" Zoran asks the shorty. That last term can be interpreted both ways. The runemaster looks up from her juice box.
"No." She dully states.
Kathleen pats her on the shoulder a few times. "Seems like you'll be coming with us, then!"
Nela sucks on the straw in her juice box before responding. "Where?"
Zoran gloomily watches as Kazuma and Tasia separate from the group without even a single word. He hasn't even dismissed them yet. "Well, first, we'll be visiting Wynne at the Atelier. Then, we're going to escort her through the Dense Bushland to pick up some flowers. We bring her back safely, and we get a reward. Simple?"
Nela simply nods and returns to her juice box. Zoran turns his heel and walks towards the Atelier's direction.
The three share a rather comfortable walk, though Nela's insistence on letting the juice box last is getting on Zoran's nerves, the sound of straw sucking breaking the comfortable silence. The man slows his pace down a bit so that he is now next to Kathleen.
"I'm gonna guess that you want to talk to me about something?" Kathleen asks.
Zoran looks over his shoulder, Nela is intently examining the back of her juice box before drinking again. "Yes, actually. Where did Nela get that juice box?"
Kathleen shrugs. "Beats me. She's really cute, though, isn't she?"
Zoran rubs his temples. "It feels like we're bringing a small child around town with us."
The landsknecht looks over her shoulder to find Nela watching the two of them closely. "I think she's onto us."
Zoran smiles. "So? She isn't going to do anything about it. Not only am I her boss, but she's our friend."
Nela suddenly speaks. "You're talking about me."
Zoran slightly jumps at this, causing Kathleen to giggle lightly. "But then again, something about her kinda makes me scared of her," The young man then turns around to find Nela's face directly under him. "Whoa! Ooookay, well, uh, do you need anything, Nela?"
The runemaster stares at him for about five seconds before distancing herself again. "Not really."
Zoran stares incredulously before turning back forward. "See, unsettling."
Nela pays them no mind and returns to her juice box.
Wynne struggles to find a comfortable position behind the counter. The recent days have been boring. They've been full of new explorers with no stories to tell and only come to arm themselves. Her boss wouldn't want to hear that, so she can't even express her boredom.
"Wynne? It's us, half of the Wagon Guild."
Wynne's ears perk up at the sound of 'Wagon Guild' and she vaults over the counter. Standing under the Atelier's entrance are Zoran, Kathy, and Nelly.
"Wagon! Wagon! It's really you! Ya won't believe how bored I've been recently!" She says, bouncing.
Zoran grins and takes out a piece of paper in his pocket. "Actually we came for this! it's good news that you've been bored recently."
Wynne examines the paper until she realizes what it says. "Oh, actually we're fulla small flowers now. Ya don't need ta do this," She puts on a sad expression for a second before replacing it with a determined one. "Actually, never mind. I'm so bored! Howza 'bout ya bring me with you ta da Dense Bushland anyway! I've never been ta any a' dem labyrints before!"
Zoran takes on a pensive expression and puts a finger on his chin. "Well..."
Wynne takes him by the shoulders and begins to shake him. "Please! I'm incredibly bored!"
Zoran smiles. "Alright, alright. But stay out of trouble, and obey everything we tell you to do." Wynne is very popular with the townsfolk. It'd be very bad if something were to happen to her.
"Yes!" Wynne almost jumps high enough to hit the ceiling. "Oh, but don't tell my boss. He'll kill me if he finds out!"
"Well, come with us. We'll go straight to the outskirts of town and take off."
Wynne feels herself shaking. "Oooh, dis is so exciting! I've never left Tharsis before!"
Kathleen puts her hands behind her head. "Easy now. You don't want to attract any attention. People will think we're kidnapping you."
Wynne shuts up immediately.
"Excuse me? I'm here to volunteer to water the flowers around the Grand Court."
A middle aged man with an impressive toothbrush moustache and chin strip combination. He examines the young boy for a second before allowing him inside. "Yes, yes, very good. Let me escort you inside."
Kazuma, despite having visited this place multiple times, still has not gotten used to the impressive architecture and the regal design of the place. Walking into the Outland Count's office has become a very common thing, and it doesn't even feel like a blessing anymore. This is his first time being here by himself.
The two reach the Outland Count's office, and the Count himself raises his eyebrows at the boy's presence.
"This young lad is here to water the flowers outside, sir."
"Interesting. You may leave, Helmut."
The man bows out gracefully. Kazuma finds that man very impressive. It's a shame that he can't grow facial hair. Kazuma is 18 years old, but he definitely doesn't look like it.
"So, you're here to water flowers, am I correct?" The Count suddenly asks. Kazuma gulps.
"Yes, sir."
"Alone? I don't believe I've ever spoken to a single member of the Wagon Guild before. Where are the others?" The Count asks.
"Tasia, our dancer, is at the dancing peacock right this moment. I'm not sure about the other three, sir."
"Are they out of town, exploring?"
"It's possible, sir."
The Count gives him a look of disbelief before shaking his head. "Hmm, well. I suppose if you really want to do it, I'll leave you to it. If you want to leave, tell me now," Kazuma gives him a blank stare. "Very well. Miss Celestyna, please escort this young man to the gardens, if you will."
A young woman clad in a maid outfit gives the count a nod and walks towards an exit, prompting Kazuma to follow after her. The maid opens the door for him. Kazuma exits with a quick thank you and freezes at what he sees.
This will definitely take all day.
The skyship, being as small as it is, usually doesn't have enough space for five people. There are only four now, and Zoran feels as though there is even less space than usual. Wynne is very excitable. She jumps and runs around the basket. A few times Zoran has had to calm her down. Nela, now without juice box, finds satisfaction in leaning against the end of the basket and letting the wind hit her face.
Zoran has become pretty great at landing the skyship. After the discovery of the third Labyrinth floor of the Cerulean Woodlands, Ciaran decided that just teaching Zoran to steer the ship was for the best. Landing is incredibly simple, and in a place like the Dense Bushland, his expertise was undoubtedly apparent when he landed the ship without a single scratch. Nela exits immediately, followed by Wynne, who runs out into the open.
"Wow! I've never been ta any a' dese labyrints before!" She exclaims. "It's so beautiful!"
Zoran walks past her, Kathleen and Nela in tow. "Yeah, yeah. We're not even up to the dangerous part yet."
Wynne blinks a few times before hurriedly catching up.
The guild leader examines the field around him. There is now way out, everything is messy. There are fallen trees everywhere and ripped flora. In the middle of the great mess is a Bloodbear. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem, but now, it's a blessing.
"You have an idea." Kathleen says.
Zoran grins. "Alright. You three, stay close. This is going to be incredibly dangerous."
Zoran steps forward a bit, and then takes out his bow.
"That's not dangerous, you're just going to kill it." Kathleen says.
Zoran shakes his head. "No, no, that isn't quite it. The man takes aim, closely estimating where the arrow might land. Five, ten, fifteen seconds pass, and then Zoran fires. The arrow sails across the field, and then whizzes over the Bloodbear's shoulder. The monster whirls around and bellows, causing Wynne to feel her spine rattle from the bottom up.
Zoran runs towards a pile of trees and shouts. "Follow me!" The other three oblige as the crimson grizzly charges after them. It can't run very fast. Zoran stops and waits by a tree stump, the other three reach him and watch.
It's getting closer.
"Zoran, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Kathleen asks.
The young man just watches. The Bloodbear suddenly stops in its tracks and sniffs the air, and then turns to his left and demolishes a pile of broken trees, eating some of the honey and the sap, and then leaves, completely forgetting about the group.
Zoran lets out a breath before turning back to his group. "Ready? Let's get on with it.
Kazuma checks his wrist watch. Only ninety-three minutes have passed, and Kazuma has only finished watering four of the twelve patios, each of them larger than a normal house. Only the best for the Mark Grand Court. It's really hard to believe that this entire building and its vast surrounding area is home to only one man and his dog. Of course, Tharsis is nowhere near povertish, but this is absurd. All of this for one man? The boy wonders to himself long enough that he does not catch himself steadily drowning a less than impressive plant. Of course, he does not even think about it as he continues on with his watering.
"Wynne, are you alright?" Kathleen asks. Wynne jumps a little bit from the question and scratches her head.
"I'm fine. Let's move on!" Wynne cheerily says, leaving the carnage of mutilated, arrow-laced, frozen monsters behind her. Maybe she'll forget about them once she starts picking the flowers.
Zoran looks down at his map. Everything seems accurate. There are bodies of water here and there, he had opened a treasure chest containing a pair of bracers. There should be a gathering point somewhere around here.
"Zoran." A soft voice calls. The sniper looks up from his map and looks at Nela, who merely points across a small pond. There is a flower bed across the body of water. Escorting the young Wynne there shouldn't be too hard.
"I see it. Come on, we have some flowers to pick." That sounded stupid even in Zoran's mind, but he couldn't think of anything better to say.
The small group hurries its scaling of the small pond and approaches the flower bed. There is absolutely no danger, but that only makes Zoran even more cautious.
"Quick, pick a few flowers, and then we'll move on to the next batch," Zoran commands Wynne. "Staying in one area for too long is dangerous." The girl nods and picks up as much as she can and tosses them into a basket.
Zoran stares back down at his map. "There should be more this way." The sniper looks ahead and finds another flower bed resting beside a small waterhole.
Kathleen walks to his side. "This is really easy."
"You think? There are only three of us and we're cruising through the place," Zoran replies. The two stare down at the path ahead of them. "We seem like the bad guys, huh?"
Kathleen furrows her brow. "What do you mean by that?"
"What I'm saying is that with all of these new places we're exploring, we're bringing a lot of explorers with us. Those monsters haven't done anything wrong, yet we have to kill a large number of them due to our need to survive. In the end, we're the ones who seem to be the true villains here."
"I don't get what you're trying to tell me."
Zoran's calm, content expression is replaced by a more serious one. "What I'm trying to tell you is that bad guys never win. Each time we advance in our explorations, these monsters just seem to get tougher and tougher. There will be a time where we don't succeed, and it may very well cost us our lives."
Kathleen gives him a hard stare. "Don't say that. The Wagon Guild leaves every other exploration team behind here in Tharsis. We mustn't die, and right now, we seem nearly invincible."
The sniper shakes his head and looks down at his map. "Is there really an end to exploring? We really don't have a finish point. It's either we die or we retire. I doubt we'll live old enough to retire with all the danger we have ahead of us. This isn't like anything we've done before, Kathleen. I know we've loved exploration our entire lives, but this is the Yggrasil Labyrinth. There's no easy way in or out."
"What's with the pessimistic thinking all of a sudden?"
Zoran shrugs. "No clue. I decided to think realistically for once and it tastes terrible."
Kathleen brings a palm to her forehead. "I feel like the only thing you think about realistically is your birth."
"My unnecessary birth doesn't have a bad effect on my life. I mean, I am a daring explorer, aren't I? I have great genes as well." Zoran gives her a cocky grin.
"Say what you will about genes, you've never had a girlfriend in your life."
Zoran gives her a conceited huff. "It's because I've never tried to get one before. There are a lot of beautiful ladies around Tharsis. If I really wanted to, I could easily pick one up."
Kathleen grunts. "I'd like to see you try."
For some reason, Zoran takes this as a challenge and rotates his body so that he is facing her directly, now walking sideways. "Oh, yeah? Fine. Give me one month and I'll have the perfect lass walking around town with me every night."
The landsknecht smirks. "Alright then. If you can't back up your words, I'm taking your spot as guild leader."
Zoran shakes his head. "I'm the official leader of this guild, Kath. You can't just impeach the Zoran."
"I could easily ask Ciaran to put my face on our guild card."
The sniper's cocky smile droops. "Fine, then. What happens when I win?"
Kathleen thinks for a second. She can't really think of anything that would be an up to Zoran and a down to her. "Isn't the reward of having a girlfriend good enough already?"
Zoran scratches his chin with his thumb. "I guess. What is today?"
"The fifteenth of Dormouse." Nela suddenly interjects.
Kathleen gives a forceful nod. "Alright. If you can't get a girlfriend by the fifteenth of Taurus, I'm the new guild leader."
Zoran claps his hands. "It's a deal, then."
Seven patios done, another five to go. Kazuma, now regretting his decision to water flowers for a single person, checks his watch. It's been nearly three hours After finishing the patios, he has to water the flowers that cover the perimeter of the Grand Court itself. It seems that by the time he's finished, the second or maybe third patio will need watering again. Sighing, Kazuma returns to his work. Doesn't the count have subjects to do this for him? It'd be easier if he were to get any help. Looking around, he sees another normal looking person watering a flower bed several tens of yards away. Though he is incredibly skinny with dark arms. A vessel perhaps? Vessels in Tharsis are usually standoffish and do things for themselves. Shrugging, Kazuma returns to his work.
Wynne picks a last few flowers as she places them inside the overfilling basket. Satisfied with her amount, she laughs slightly.
"I tink I got enough. Is it time ta go home now?"
Zoran smiles. "I suppose it is."
"Great!" Wynne begins to walk back with her basket in hand, whistling. In the shadows, a Deathstalker and two accompanying Fanged Vines are concealed, watching the young girl closely. As if silently communicating, the Deathstalker lunges forward, the Fanged Vines following suit nearly at the same time. Nela, sensing the danger, grabs Wynne by the wrist and pulls her back.
Zoran immediately takes out his bow and fires a volley of arrows. It seems that only the Fanged Vines are really taking any sort of damage from them. Kathleen lunges forward, cutting through any attacks that the vines throw at her. In no time, Kathleen reaches her target and attacks with a series of horizontal slashes, eventually causing any more attacks to cease, and the Fanged Vines fall in defeat shortly. Thus leaving the Deathstalker, which is awkwardly attempting to retain balance with its eight legs while staying away from Kathleen's attack. Nela, now standing in front of Wynne, fires a quick ice spell in the Deathstalker's direction. The Deathstalker stumbles back a little bit after the attack. After regaining its senses, it is bombarded by a massive chunk of ice, knocking it out.
Zoran walks over to Wynne, who is crying. "Waah! Wagon! D-dat was scary! I... I felt like I was going ta die!"
The sniper scratches his head. "Really? We sort of wiped the floor with them."
Wynne wipes her eye. "T-tanks, Wagon. I think I've had enough a' dis labyrint thing. Let's go home."
Kathleen smiles and leads them out. That's another mission completed.
Kazuma walks around the corner of the Manor. The last stretch. It's about time, the sun is pretty much behind the horizon, the orange sky looming overhead, tinting the town of Tharsis in an orange hue. Starving, tired, and most importantly, lacking in feelings of accomplishment, Kazuma hurries across the walls of the manor. Just a few more yards... Finished!
The medic reports back to the entrance of the Grand Court, where he meets Helmut.
"Ah, yes. Have you finished?" The man asks.
"Yes I have. I've watered every patio, every flower bed, and I have scaled the building."
"Marvelous," Helmut assures. Kazuma looks over Helmut's shoulder to see the Outland Count watching them. "Your reward is to be 1500en. Surely you'd like that reward?"
"Yup." Kazuma couldn't care less about formalities at this point. He just watered flowers for several hours without eating. Forget formalities.
"Indeed, as I expect so. Now go do it again. Thes-"
"No."
Kazuma quickly turns around and walks away. Enough of this. He should just go to the Dancing Peacock and rest up there to tell random strangers his problems. The explorers there are always interesting anyway.
The Outland Count inwardly chuckles to himself as he turns around and returns to his desk.
The three explorers (along with Wynne) walk down the streets of Tharsis, the Atelier visible in the distance amid the dusk.
"Are you sure your boss wouldn't realize your absence?" Kathleen asks. "There were probably a lot of customers who panicked form your inexistence."
Wynne freezes. "Oh, um. I'll uh, I'll worry about dat later. Tanks a lot for da flowers and dee experience! I had a lotta fun today! Your reward is in da Dancing Peacock!" Wynne quickly dashes towards the Atelier.
Zoran laughs softly to himself. "The Dancing Peacocks' right around the corner. Tasia's performing tonight, isn't she?"
"That's what she told us." Kathleen says.
Zoran, Kathleen, and Nela enter the Dancing Peacock in comfortable silence. As they make their way to the main area, the place gets increasingly louder, and eventually they see a crowd of young explorers. Curious, Zoran pushes his way through the crowd to find Tasia and Kazuma conversing on a couch, the latter looking very stressed. It appears Tasia's dance has just finished.
"Well," Zoran enters the conversation. "You getting it on, Kazuma?" The aforementioned medic turns red.
"Hey, don't embarrass me, Zoran. We were just about to leave anyway."
Zoran raises an eyebrow. "Wait, she's finished?"
Tasia rises from the couch. "Quite. We may all return home now, correct?" Her current attire, a tank top and a long skirt, while still suitable for dancing, doesn't seem like the type of costume that she'd wear if she were to dance.
Kathleen nods. "Yup! I think I may just take a nice, long, bath when we get home." Kathleen elongates the word 'long' just for Zoran to hear.
"Tasia just happened to earn a lot of love from the spectators in the form of flowers. Out of everything they could have possibly given her, they gave flowers." Kazuma grunts.
"Why are you acting like that's a bad thing?" Kathleen asks.
Kazuma looks away. "Nothing. I just need a good night's sleep."
"Get up, we're leaving." Zoran grunts. The five exit, leaving a large crowd wondering who the other four people not named Tasia were. Nela, having been silent for most of the night, watches Zoran closely.
"Kath, you done yet!? I've been waiting damn near an hour for you to get out!" Zoran exclaims. He gets no response from the other side, prompting him to knock. "If you don't answer, I'll open the door just to make sure you aren't!"
No response.
"I'm really going to do it!"
Zoran hears a slight rustling from the other side of the door. The young man takes out his keys and juggles them, making a loud enough sound that Kathleen can hear them.
"I'm in here damn it! Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Zoran can hear from the other side. The man smirks slightly to himself.
"Fine, then. Besides, it's nothing I haven't seen before anyway."
"H-hey!" He hears before he enters his dormitory. Maybe he should just go to sleep in his exploration clothes, all sweaty.
Well, maybe he shouldn't. But he could always recap his day in his thoughts. He began the day waiting for Kathleen to get out of the bath, much like now, and every morning and night. After eating breakfast, he and his group split up at the fountain. Then he, along with Kathleen and Nela, escorted Wynne to the Dense Bushland, made a bet with Kathleen, found a pair of bracers that should fetch a pretty penny, survived, and came home to have some of Dalla's wonderful cooking. He'd have to ask Kazuma about his day. The poor guy's had a miserable mug all night.
Kathleen opens the door slightly, revealing herself wrapped in a towel. "I'm finished, it's your turn, boss," Zoran's eyes widen at the sight. "Oh? You're blushing. I thought you said it's nothing you haven't seen before." Kathleen smirks.
Zoran closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath before standing up and walking towards her. "Move." The sniper opens the door and walks past her. The landsknecht giggles softly at his inability to react.
The sniper enters the bath, locking the door, and leans against it. Today was such a boring day.
This was pretty fun to write, since I actually had great ideas in my head while I was writing. Etrian Odyssey IV, being the great game that it is, I made me feel like I needed to write about it. So, why not write about the quest where you take Wynne to the Dense Bushland to pick flowers? I didn't dwell too much on the game's actual features while I wrote this. In the Dense Bushland, there is a single Bloodbear, much like the one that I had described, and the player must have it follow him or her to break through the trees blocking many parts of the cave itself. Of course, I thought that'd be incredibly hard to write, so I just didn't worry about it.
For anyone (and I hope anyone means more than two or three people) who actually reads my Etrian Odyssey III story, the next chapter is in a good amount of progress. This story is actually a result of having no ideas for it. While I have the plot sort of planned out, I'm trying to find ideas to proceed in the game story without being boring.
Well, that's it for this story. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I appreciate it.