"Let's head back to the mansion!" With Rin's suggestion, the group made their way back to the shared mansion in the corner of Etria, near the middle of the night. And to Remilia's confusion, she was dragged into Rin's room just as they went up the stairs. "We're going to have a girls' night tonight, silly!"
What Rin wanted was to get to know the girl better.
Being the gloomy, quiet girl simply wouldn't do her any good, the Medic thought. That was why, since she seemed like she'd never do something for her own sake, Rin decided to take her friend's girly power into her own hands. "I'm going to help you experience more of life!"
"...Scarlet and Valeria... are girls too," Remilia asked, puzzled by why they weren't included.
"...never mind that," Rin said. The girl wasn't sure how to say it was only Remilia who probably needed this, without sounding like a total weirdo. "You are going to sleep with me tonight, and we can talk about many things!"
"...okay."
Rin blinked. Then she turned red. "W-wait, well, I didn't mean sleeping together like that! I, uh, I meant-"
The Hexer tilted her head, confused.
Ah, she doesn't get it. Rin sighed and waved it off. "N-never mind. Let's get on the bed." It was either a display for the family's wealth, or some sort of convenience, but all individual rooms' beds were large enough for two (or three?) people. As Rin waited for Remilia to (hesitantly) get under the sheets, she briefly wondered if Remilia even knew anything about the adult parts of life at all, considering she didn't understand innuendos. Ah, I... Scarlet will teach her later.
After crawling in after, she turned to Remlia. "So. Um. How are you feeling?" she asked.
Remilia stared. "...not sleepy. ...but I'll try."
"W-wait, stop. Not yet," Rin said. "Girly talk comes first. You seem like you've never interacted with someone more than just greetings."
...is that bad? Remilia asked inside her head, and nodded.
"God, how have you been living?" The orange haired girl chuckled. "Um... let's see. We could talk about our pasts..." She felt the girl tense, so she shrugged. "...but I guess you wouldn't want that. Then, uh... what sort of things do you like, then?"
The Hexer looked up at the ceiling. "...singing."
"Y... you like to sing?" Rin asked. "That's... a bit surprising. I didn't expect you'd like something like that... but that's good!" She smiled. "What if you sang for me?"
"No." The refusal was immediate, to her amusement.
"I mean, maybe later, one day when we're a lot closer. I hope that's fine with you."
"...maybe."
The girl nodded. But that was one damn short conversation, something she sighed mentally at. "...well, I guess that's that. Then, let's see... is there anything else you like?" she asked. "Say, certain food, or certain monsters, or... anything. Cute clothes, good books, anything."
Remilia pondered for a while. "...the local bakery... is nice."
"Is that... the Denali Bakery, or the Ganges Bakery?" Rin asked.
"...Ganges Bakery," Remilia replied.
"Oh... I think I've only went to the Denali Bakery before," Rin said. "Guess I got too attached to it to visit other bakeries."
The Hexer blinked. "...Ganges Bakery... makes good bread." She then looked to Rin as if demanding her visit. "Really good."
"O-oh, I see." The Medic gulped. Guess I'll go there later.
"..." She felt the Hexer stare hard at her.
"W-what is it?" Rin asked.
Remilia frowned. "...Valeria told me," she said. "About... you."
She did? The orange haired girl smiled. "What did she tell you? I hope nothing crazy, haha."
"...you... got no parents," Remilia said. "...where did you... come from?"
"...ohhhh." The girl chuckled. "Uh, Remilia, when someone says someone doesn't have parents, we mean that their parents passed away," she started. "What Valeria means is that I had parents, but they... unfortunately, passed away. I'm still Etrian, silly."
The Hexer blinked. "...oh."
Resolving that, Rin looked up as well. "Hmm... Remilia, should I tell you about myself?" she asked. "I feel it'd be unfair to wait for you to feel comfortable with talking about yourself, when I haven't told you anything about myself yet."
"...okay..."
"So... I used to live with my parents, when they were alive, of course.
They were really kind people, I really loved them from the bottom of my heart. I didn't know much about the world though, I was really young back then- and I was definitely quite the naughty kid, I think. I faintly remember many instances where my mom had to stop me from doing something, scolding me while my dad tried to calm her down and laughs sheepishly.
I think... those were probably when I was happiest, messing around and being with them.
...actually, there's not really much for me to tell. It's just plain stuff.
But... well, before I go on, I think my mom and dad were a rather well-known guild. They work as a two-person guild called... Plus Five, I think. I never really knew why they named it that though, or maybe I asked before and I forgot. But yeah... Plus Five.
They were a guild of two Medics, but they had experience in many other classes and techniques as well. That's why they could manage.
One day they left to explore more of the labyrinth... I think they actually got as far as some sort of a blue forest, but they wanted to discover the entire place before reporting to Radha, so they never bothered updating the maps... at least, I think that's what my dad said.
So yeah. One day they left to explore some more, but... they never returned.
From what I heard, their bodies weren't ever even discovered.
After that... I went to live at the orphanage, I guess. Scarlet and Valeria were orphans long before me, too, so I got to know them and... we got along quite well.
From time to time I still think of them, my parents, but I can't really remember that much anymore... guess I was too young, maybe.
Scarlet and Valeria are the same. They don't seem to mind their parentless state that much now, we all just... sort of get along and keep with the times. I think they're also, especially Valeria, looking forward to work with you. Valeria's always a weird girl, but she's been especially crazy around you.
O-oh, sorry, right. My story. What else? Um...
...actually, that's... pretty much all there was to say.
Sorry, that must've been a boring story. You can just ignore me, Remilia.
...Remilia?
...huh," Rin paused and smiled. The Hexer was already asleep, almost seeming so vulnerable that one would doubt her identity. The Medic smiled and pulled the cover a bit further up, properly making sure her leader was warm and comfy. "Guess I droned on a bit too much," she said and chuckled.
Then a yawn escaped her own lips.
The girl sighed and went back under the sheets. "Oh well. Good night, Remilia." She gently petted the Hexer's head. "Let's become a great guild together."
She drifted off to sleep few minutes later.
...
...
"...I'll try my best..." Remilia whispered.
Scarlet and Valeria looked around. "...they're not here yet?"
"Like I said, we should've just woke them up," Valeria said.
The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Come on. They looked so content, you might as well as have left them to their own dreams."
"True, true." Her friend looked back at the mansion. "Especially the boss girl, she looked like Rin's the first friend she ever had in... I dunno, ages."
"...is that them?" Scarlet asked, noticing two figures coming from the mansion's directions. They were the guild's leader and Medic. "Yeah, that's them."
The two Landsknechts waited for the other two to reach them. They noticed Remilia hesitating a bit, prompting their curiosity.
"What's the matter, Remrem?" Valeria asked.
"...I... I'll be..."
Rin smiled and patted the Hexer's back. "Come on, Remilia."
The girl narrowed her eyes at the Medic, but turned back to the two swordswomen regardless. Struggling to say something, the two briefly wondered what she wanted to say when she bowed courteously. "I-I'll... be in your care."
"...well, that's new," Valeria whispered.
Scarlet scoffed and elbowed the brunette, then smiled and pulled Remilia back up. "You're being too polite again, jeez." Chuckling, Scarlet petted Remilia's head and pointed to the labyrinth. "That's our line. Take good care of us, guild leader."
Remilia seemed a bit surprised by this, but ultimately she smiled and nodded.
"I'll... do my best..."
That's the end of Part 1. It was getting hard to write this as I went on, as we felt following a direct game play-through would be quite bland, something the original author HanaReiGirl attempted in the first two writes of the story. That's why, after some discussion, we've decided to go down this route. The recent chapters were a bit rough though, so this was the best we can offer here.
Now, we'll be doing a slight time skip and head on to Part 2... which in-universe takes place a good two weeks after, but from outside perspective will continue right after Fenrir's defeat. We'll also finally be adding the missing Ronin character, Senna. Here's an after-the-end scene.
A girl roamed under the dark green leaves, making sure not to get caught up in the vines hanging everywhere. She had one hand on her sheathed sword, ready to pull it anytime.
Then, the leaves behind her rustled. The girl quickly turned and pulled her katana slightly. "Who goes there!?"
A second later, a huge bear jumped out with a fearsome roar, its bulging muscles twitching with what seemed like killing intent, claws ready to shred.
Blinking, the girl chuckled. "Oh, it's just you. What're you doing here, you big lug?" she asked.
The bear scratched its head and let out a reply- a simple growl.
Nevertheless, the girl seemed to understand. "I see. That happened, huh?"
Another growl. The girl shrugged.
"Oh, nothing much. Just patrolling around the jungle." She smiled and bowed courteously. "After all, you never know what you might find around here. It's my duty to keep everyone safe."
The bear looked towards the distant, narrowing its eyes at a small hole in a fat tree with stairs leading up to who knows where.
"Hey, it'll be fine," the girl said and petted the bear. "After all, I have this small feeling that something good's going to happen really soon..."
Another growl. It was filled with slight doubt, but more happiness from the gentle caress.
"Yep. I'm sure something good's coming our way, big guy."