After coming out from the forest safely, Zeke and Alice were able to see the next city, Iliasport. Alice turned in her human form while Zeke took a deep sigh of relief. "Finally we are here…"

Looking up in the sky, he saw that the sun wasn't high anymore. "...And we are also in time for a small tour. Let's go, Alice."

And so, the two entered inside the port town. The smell of sea and fish assaulted their nostrils, coming from the nearby sea and the fish market a few dozens of meters ahead.

But there is some sort of… lack of joy here.

"For a port town, it isn't very lively." Alice commented, having Zeke's same opinion.

"I can see that…" He looked around while saying that.

The cause of this depressing scene was a storm that passed in every time a ship goes far enough in the sea. Even with the clean sky, a storm will come anyway…

This sounds really suspicious, what could cause this non-natural event? Let's see our options!

-Thor

-Ilias

-Stupidly Coincidental Storm

-Chuck Norris

-[Alma Elma]

Yes, it's that bat winged freak of a succubus doing this mess. Another Heavenly Knight, too…

...Well, shit.

"...Huh? Isn't that Luka?" Zeke noticed a familiar purple haired midget sitting in a bench a bit far away from them.

Zeke and Alice approached him and Zeke called out. "Hey, Luka!"

"Huh?" Luka raised his head and surprise was shown on his face when he found Zeke and Alice. "Zeke?! What are you doing here?!"

"I just arrived here, I didn't expect you to be here, though."

Luka got depressed again and sighed. "Yeah…"

Zeke raised an eyebrow and patted his shoulder. "What happened?"

Luka unsheathed his sword, revealing a broken blade with some corrosive substance coming out from the end. "I fought a Roper Girl before coming here, but her tentacles destroyed my sword… I'm stuck here because I wanted to buy a better sword, but it costs a lot here. After all, since there is no activity except for fishing, this place is getting poorer every day."

Alice raised an eyebrow and asked. "No activity?"

"I heard from the people here that once you sail in the sea, a storm will destroy your ship no matter how safe it might look. Then a… questionable information broker told me about a magical bell called Poseidon's Bell capable of putting the ship in safety even if there is a big storm, but…"

His gaze went to his broken sword, and Zeke understood in what situation Luka was. "So you can't go out because your only weapon is gone?"

"That sums it."

Zeke sighed and looked at Alice, she just shrugged. Then Zeke looked back at Luka and said. "Very well, I'll get the bell for you."

[Notification(1)]

Luka and Alice shared a surprised face and looked at Zeke. Luka stood up from the bench and asked. "A-Are you serious?"

Zeke nodded. "We also came here to go to Sentora continent, so we need to pass through the storm, and the only solutions we have is either the Poseidon's Bell, or wait for a submarine to come out from nowhere… If you are worried about the debt between us, just consider this up because I would do it even if you didn't ask."

Luka got worried and asked. "Are you sure you will be alright? If you want, I can accompany you…"

"We are ok even witho-" Alice opened her mouth, but surprisingly, Zeke interrupted her. "Yeah, you can come with us."

"Wait what?" Alice looked at Zeke with a dumbfounded face, and he looked back at her. "I'm not going to give up to a chance to have a fucking chef in the party, this guy will make you have a foodgasm with his food!"

"Is he really that good…?" Alice sized Luka up, but couldn't find anything weird about him.

"In the system's ranking, his cooking skills are A-ranked. Luka, you mind if you make dinner for us? You can use my food."

Luka blushed at the compliments he was getting, but he still smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's the least I can do. I already have rented a room so we can go there, I can ask the owner of the inn to lend me his kitchen. But I don't think all of us can stay in 1 room…"

"Great! About the rooms, I will rent another one so you can have the entire space for yourself at night, I'm not so evil to abuse of my friends." Zeke was happy to taste Luka's cuisine another time, while Alice didn't understand why was he so happy about it.

[Later]

"It hurts… But it's so good… But it hurts..." Alice had a full stomach, and there was her 3rd dish in front of her, with still some food on it.

Be warned that Zeke asked for an "Alice Amount" for her, so just a single dish was A LOT.

Since Zeke was used to this, he already had a great amount of food on his Inventory.

If Luka knew he just defeated the Monster Lord…

"Hey, you wanted more, now suffer in silence." Zeke spoke in response to Alice's complains. Luka chuckled at the two who were currently sitting in a table of his room, and asked. "How was it after Iliasburg?"

Zeke shrugged. "Some parts were good, others were bad, but I didn't received any permanent damage…"

'Almost.' Zeke left that out, remembering about the Rafflesia Girl. He shook his head and looked at Luka. "What about you?"

"Well, I took your suggestion in consideration, and I learned under an Adventurer. Since then, I got good at swordsmanship and I also learned a technique. After learning the basics, I went to Irina Mountain Range to deal with some bandits that were stealing from the city, there was also a Dragon and a Vampire, but…"

"But?"

"...They were all children less than 10 years old."

Zeke held back a laughter at the scene of 4 little bandits fighting against Luka. Still, if he went there, that means he got a red orb from them, which should be extremely useful later on…

...Well, when the time comes, he will see what to do.

"After making the bandits apologize at Iliasburg, everything ended great now that the bandits are working with the humans."

"...Humans hiring Monsters?" Alice asked with a hint of surprise, still holding her belly in pain.

"Yeah, I also got surprised first, but I am glad it ended that way."

"...You said that you wanted to achieve coexistence, how will you do it?" Alice asked another question, which Luka answered readily.

"I planned to go to Hellgondo and stop the Monster Lord."

Alice started to laugh at what Luka said, and Zeke shook his head. "Don't mind her, she isn't really one of the most optimistic people."

Luka shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I also know that the thing will be hard to accomplish, but I won't know if I don't try. You also said that I shouldn't hesitate if I want to do it! Also, you said you were going to try to do the same, does it mean you will also go in the Monster Lord's Castle?"

Zeke smiled and mysteriously said. "I have a method that will guarantee me the coexistence between humans and monsters. However, it takes a lot of work."

"What is it?"

Alice also glanced at Zeke, he never said anything about what will he do to do it.

"You will find out, one day or another." After saying that, Zeke stood up from his chair. "Very well, I think it is time to sleep."

"Alright, good night then." Luka said, waving at Zeke and Alice who were leaving his room and going into one beside his own.

Zeke reached one of the two beds on his room, with Alice taking the other. He opened the system and went in the Quest list, checking out the newest one.

[DON'T touch Fluffy Tail: Get the Poseidon's Bell before Tamamo-no-mae takes it with her. Reward: 50 Bonus Points, 1 Super Spin.]

...Right, Tamamo was also there. Sometimes he forgets about the important things… Now, how did Luka deal with another Heavenly Knight in the game?

...Meh, he will think about it when the time comes. Time to rest his mind now.