Chapter 4
After Stella did my nails (making them look pretty sweet in the process) and after three days, we eventually got news that the rubble was cleared from the pass, which meant it was finally the day for us to leave for Stornway. And Erinn and Patty were preparing to leave. "Okay, I'm off," Erinn said before she looked at Ivor, who was looking at me the whole time. "Hey! Ivor?" Erinn smiled at him.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"While I'm working at Stornway's inn, you and my dad are in charge of the inn here, okay?" Erinn smiled at him.
"Heh. Very well. I'll do my best to give you a run for your money, Erinn," Ivor smirked at her with seriousness in his voice.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now I say we should go now," Erinn smiled as I went with her and Patty, Stella following in her ball of light form, her being perched atop my head and being confused about the fact that I couldn't see benevolessence but I could see everything else in the divine realm.
We followed after Erinn and Patty the whole way to the pass, me and Stella stopping at the Starflight Express before we continued after them. Stella opened up the door and we ventured inside, us seeing that it was powered down after it got hit by the beam of dark light. "Dammit, this thing is low on juice... I can only assume that the only way to get this thing off the ground is if we get much more benevolessence. The Almighty is sure to help us out if we get enough," Stella smiled.
"Well, then I say we head off to Stornway and see if anyone there needs help. Also, if we do find benevolessence, you're in charge of lugging it around with us. Okay?" I asked Stella.
"Very well. Besides, if you can't see the benevolessence, then you need me by your side," Stella smirked.
"Indeed. Now why don't we go off to Stornway? I say we also go try to see how Erinn is doing," I smiled as we were about to leave... but then we gasped at how the door opened to reveal three different people emerge into the Starflight Express. And the weird part was that they actually looked to be able to see the interior of the train itself!
"Um... excuse me, ladies. Does this train belong to you?" the male of the group asked. He had a bald head with yellow eyes, wore robes that looked to belong to a monk, and having a wand on him.
"Um... it belongs to me... how are you able to see me and the train anyways? Are you all of the divine realm?" Stella asked them.
"No, we're not... we just happened to find some strange white feathers and, after we ingested them in a brew, we were suddenly able to see stuff that we didn't think we'd be able to before," said one of the girls, her having her hair in a ponytail of brown and looking to have a very nice face in terms of complexion. She also happened to have freckles on her cheeks, which made her even more adorable. The only thing that wasn't adorable about her, however? The fact that she was dressed like a knight in shining armor. Obvious paladin.
"White... feathers? YOU ATE MY WING FEATHERS?!" I exclaimed at them in shock and disgust, making them gasp at that.
"Your wing feathers? What are you... wait a minute... oh no... w-we didn't eat the wings of a Celestrian, did we? Oh goddess..." said the final girl, her looking shocked and very afraid, but me also noting that she was the youngest of all of them, at least 12 years old. And she also had some magic beads on her as well as a wearing a very cute tutu on her of multiple different colors and holding a whip by her side.
I noticed that she looked very shy and scared, so I calmed down and sighed. "It's okay... they fell off of me and you found them fair in square. Tell me, who are you guys and what are you doing?" I asked them.
The guy with the bald head smiled and went first. "My name is Carl and I'm a Sage. I'm the eldest of these two and I'm their cousin," he smiled.
Then the girl with the paladin look to her went up. "My name is Harley. I'm a Class 4 Paladin and hoping to become a Class 1 Paladin," she smiled as she held her shield with a smile.
Then the shy 12 year old came forward. "A-And I'm Ina... I-I'm a Luminary in training... I love dancing... but I'm trying to work over m-my shyness," she smiled with a stutter and a small voice, which I smiled at.
"My name is Mariana. I'm trying to return to the Observatory because I fell from there and lost my wings. The only way for me to head back is by this train, the Starflight Express. But it's out of juice because it got damaged from some kind of dark lights that assaulted the Observatory. And the juice in question is benevolessence, which it is the duty of a Celestrian to collect. It's the concentrated form of gratitude produced by the humans of this world," I explained to them.
"So we need to find benevolessence, do we? Well let's go find some! I heard the king of Stornway is looking for some help with some kind of issue. We were about to head over there before we got sidetracked by this magic train," Carl smiled.
"Understood. Let's go off to the kingdom of Stornway!" I smiled as we went out of the train and proceeded on our way to Stornway... but not before I saw someone appear before us that I didn't recognize.
"Wha?" I asked, seeing that it was a spirit and that she looked incredibly distraught. Especially with the cloak covering most of her body. "A spirit?" I gawked, getting her attention.
"Y-You can... you can see me?" she asked. I nodded my head at her, as did my new allies. She then looked around and sighed. "Please... save him... save my love..." she said before she left, her spirit disappearing. She had just warped away.
"Who was that?" Harley asked.
"I have no clue... but she seemed to be pretty surprised that we could see her... but she didn't mention who her love is, so how are we supposed to know who to look for?" Stella asked.
"We'll dwell on it later. Right now, Stornway," I said.
We then proceeded to the northwest and then towards the kingdom of Stornway itself, us actually coming across a bunch of different monsters in the process, including Winksters, Hammerhoods, She-Slimes, and Funghouls. None of them lasted long against our abilities, however, and we soon came to the kingdom of Stornway itself, us seeing Erinn and Patty just arriving and entering the inn itself.
"This should be good for a laugh. Let's go see how our little miss Inny girl is doing," Stella smirked as she flew over to the door and we had to follow after her. We then opened the door to see that Erinn had presented the Inny and that an older woman, most likely related to Patty, was in shock by it.
"I-Is that... the Inny?" she asked.
"Won by Edwinn himself. The first Inny in existence. And little Erinn here has his inn-running blood. Now do you get it?" Patty smirked as I smiled at what happened next. The inn staff all got on their knees and bowed, Erinn looking bashful at that.
"Oh, that's alright. Y-You don't need to scrape the floor and kiss my feet... come on, you're embarrassing me," Erinn said as I smirked at her and she noticed me.
"Oh! Mariana! Who are your friends?" Erinn smirked.
"I found them on the way over here. We're teaming up for an adventure. This is Carl the Sage, Harley the Paladin, and Ina, a Luminary in training... and they happened to have some of my feathers in a stew, so they're able to see Stella all on their own," I smirked at her, saying the last bit by whispering into her ear.
"Really? How odd... I'm going to do my best at this inn. Oh, by the way, this inn apparently has a bank in it. You can store your money here in case you need to save them for a rainy day. Neat, right?" Erinn smiled.
"I'd say so," Harley smiled. "Now that we've seen you get worshiped by these guys, I say it's time we go see the king about this issue he needs resolved." Erinn immediately blushed at that once again and I smiled at her.
"Don't worry, she's just trying to make you blush," Ina smiled at her as we then went out of the inn and proceeded towards the castle, where we happened to see a notice on the bulletin board.
"Hmm... it says, 'The King is looking for brave soldiers to defeat the Wight Knight. Please see King Schott for further details'... Wight Knight? Never heard of that before. But it sounds like danger," Carl said.
"Indeed. And danger is what an adventurer lives for. Let's go see what the details are," I smirked as we proceeded to the front entrance to the castle and were stopped by some guards.
"Halt! Who goes there?" the one guard asked.
"We were hoping to speak with the king about getting hired for the Wight Knight job. We saw the bulletin board," I explained.
"Oh? Brave souls wishing to defeat the Wight Knight? Go on in!" the soldier smirked, us going into the castle and smiling at the interior looking quite fancy. We proceeded up some stairs and saw the king sitting on his throne next to a younger woman and a woman around his age. Obvious princess and queen.
"Excuse me? King Schott? We were wondering if we may have the honor of going after the Wight Knight," I said, hoping I was being respectable enough in front of him. I didn't have much experience with patriarchs after all.
"You wish to rid us of the Wight Knight issue? You're all very brave. That guy attacked my soldiers and wants to kidnap my daughter Simona! You must defeat him before he can try to steal Simona again," the king said with worry.
"Father, do you really think violence is the answer? Maybe the Wight Knight is just confused," Simona said to him, me immediately seeing some tension between them.
"He tried to kidnap you, Simona! I can't lose you to someone as terrifying as him!" the king said with concern.
"So where can we find this Wight Knight?" I asked.
"You can find him at Loch Storn. It's to the north and at a peninsula to the east," King Schott said.
"Understood. We shall depart immediately," I said to him.
"Oh, before you go, I should tell you of something," the king said, me immediately stopping in my tracks. "The Wight Knight is coated in armor, so I suggest getting an upgrade to your weapon of choice. And remember that if you defeat the Wight Knight, your rewards will be plentiful," the king said.
"Thanks for the heads-up, my king," I smiled at him as we then proceeded out of the castle and I wondered where I could get some weapon upgrades... and armor upgrades.
"I think you should go to the local armories to get some weapons for our adventures. I highly recommend the swords," Harley smiled at me.
"Of course you'd recommend the sword. You're a paladin," Carl smirked at her as he punched her shoulder playfully. That made me laugh as I then proceeded to the place that would have these items.
