Dungeon Masters and Dragon Riders

Chapter 4: The Day in the Life of the New World; Everyday Life and Jobs

Alisa
Morning
Earth Mother's Temple

The temple of the Earth Mother looked like a modest but well-kept church temple from the modern world of sorts. It was like a mini-castle that was both convent and orphanage for those taken in. the dorms were on the other side of the temple, but on the other end were the worship altars and church.

The light of the sun poured into the room and burned the darkness away from the room. Alisa's eyes slowly opened from the warm light on her face. She rose up from her bed and admired the morning glow in her room. 'The morning sun,' Alisa thought with a smile on her face, 'I can't think of a better way to wake up in the morning.'

She pulled herself out of bed and stretched her arms to get the kinks out of her. She wore a light green night grown with green trimming around the waist, feet, and shoulders. Then she got changed into her adventurer outfit and left the room. As she walked down the stairs, she did her best to look dignified for the passing nuns and priests going by.

As she entered the main hall of the church, she took a moment to admire the beauty of the room. From the stained-glass windows, the sacred parchments, and statues of respected priests and priestesses from the past.

Alisa approached the main statue at the end of the hall where the grandest statue of a Priestess holding a weighing scale stood tall. Alisa closed her eyes and clasped her hands as she did her morning pray.

'Thank you, O Earth mother, for another day of endless possibilities,' she prayed to the icon of her religion and the source of her miracles, 'For the safety and warmth of your churches and the hope you give to others.'

"Doing your morning prayers, I see."

Alisa turned around towards the source of the voice to see the Mother Superior dressed in her nun clothing approached Alisa.

"Yes, Mother Superior," Alisa said as she bowed in respect of the highest official in her home.

The Mother Superior gave Alisa an approving smile, "Very good. Nice to see you're keeping up with the teachings of the Earth Mother."

"Thank you," Alisa said again as she headed for the door, "I have to go now to the guild for work. Have a good day Mother."

The Mother Superior watched at Alisa left. 'A few days ago, she escaped the jaws of death,' she thought to herself, 'It's a miracle now only that she survived, but can still smile like that.' She turned away as she thought, 'Wonder why she's so eager to go back out there? Could it be she has friends? Maybe found love?' that last comment had her chuckle, 'Maybe as a mother figure, I should ask her on it before Sister Eliza teases her relentlessly.'

At the Same Time

Na Dojo

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Ming's scream of terror filled the quite morning air as she shot up. She immediately hugged herself as she breathed hard from the nightmare she just had. The memories of her first mission kept hanging over her head no matter how hard she tried to fight them. The cold feeling from the cave on her body, the smell of feces and blood in the air, the sight of her party members filled with fear along with the death of her childhood friend Roudahn, and the sight of the goblins smiling as they raped the captured women they had, and was almost about to lose her virginity.

'The same nightmare,' Ming thought to herself as tried to calm herself down, 'Will it ever go away?'

Ever since that day, the same nightmare occurred for her. She wasn't sure if the nightmare hung around her out of guilt of her failure to protect her teammates, surviving the ordeal instead of Roudahn, or a combination of both.

After a few minutes of shivering, Ming finally calmed herself down. "I better get ready," Ming said to herself as she stood up revealing her pjs consisting of a white bandage bra and pink sweat pants, "The others will be on their way to train while I'm here shaking like a sapling."

She woke up in her room which consisted of a simple Japanese home with sliding doors and mats with wooden pillars similar to a training dojo. It had portraits of her and her family on different walls along with dressers with clothing and training gear nearby. Her bed was in the center of the room.

After grabbing a clean set of clothing and a few towels, Ming headed outside to the backyard. Hidden within a thick part of the forest was a simple stone well with a winch and a bucket. She placed the clothing on one towel, removed her bandages and pants, and sent the bucket down to the bottom of the well. After hearing the bucket splash in the water, she began to pull the bucket up. As she did, she nervously looked around every few seconds at every dark corner for signs of threats... for goblins.

'Every shadow... could conceal one,' Ming thought as the fear began to rise within her, 'One goblin... for every-'

CLANK

Ming jumped and yelped from the loud sound. She saw that the winch had stopped due to the bucket returning with the water from the well.

'Calm down, Ming,' she told herself as she took the bucket, 'One of father's lessons was control the fear. Bravery comes from facing one's fear. Not being fearless.'

She dumped the cold water on her back and slightly shivered from the blast of cold. 'I won't fail again,' Ming told herself as she dumped more water on herself, 'For my father and Roudahn. I will train until nothing can defeat me!' She stood up as she mentally told herself to never give up and find new strength. 'First things first, I have to get dressed and meet up with the others,' Ming told herself as she took a towel to dry herself off, 'Plus, find a way to apologize to Alex for kicking him.' She recalled how she accidentally flashed him at the guild hall. Ming blushed from embarrassment from the memory. She wanted to think of an excuse, but couldn't.

A little while later, she was fully dressed, and on her way to the guild hall. Her home was a traditional Japanese style house that was once a dojo for training. It was a single level house made from brown wood and paper sliding doors. The roof was triangular with rounded sides and made from blue materials. It was located outside of town near the forest.

'I hope the others haven't decided on anything yet,' she thought as she made her way to town.

Twilight & Ember
Hotel

The sunlight poured into the room via the two windows near the balcony. The room was a simple two room suite with beige walls, white carpet, and two dressers. On top of the dressers were a red bag and a magenta one belonging to the two occupants. To the side, there was a door leading outside to the hall and another to a bathroom. In the center of the room were two one-person beds and in one of them was Twilight.

The sounds of birds chirping outside slowly brought Twilight out of her sleep. She sat up while wearing a large light periwinkle night shirt and stretched her arms out to get the kinks out. She got out of bed, opened a window, and looked out at the morning sky. 'What a beautiful morning,' Twilight thought to herself, 'It feels nice enough to read a book in the shade of a tree today. But that will have to wait until after my day with the others.'

Twilight remembered they all agreed to meet at the guild to try and improve their adventuring skills slowly. She turned around to see Ember's bed was empty and heard the sound of running water in the bathroom. 'I better start getting ready,' she thought as she went for her bag and pulled some clean clothing so she can get changed after cleaning up.

As she looked through her bag, she suddenly became scared as she noticed something was missing. "Oh no! No, no, no," Twilight said as she started to panic, "Where are they?! Where are my-"

"Looking for these?"

Twilight turned towards the voice to see Ember with her hair down holding what the book worm had been looking for. There in Ember's hands were Twilight's Celestial Keys. Ember stood there with an unamused expression while still in her pjs which consisted of red nightgown that ended near her knees and left her back exposed in a V shape.

Twilight laughed nervously as she took the keys from Ember, "Yes, I was. Thank you, Ember."

"Sure. I found them by the sink," Ember told Twilight as she walked over to her own bag, "It must have fallen out of you bag last night." Twilight looked nervous from learning how she was so careless with her keys. "Let's just be glad Aquarius key didn't fall into the sink. Otherwise we'd be evicted for flooding the hotel," Ember said.

"Agreed. Aquarius would do who knows... what," Twilight started to say when she started to remember something Aquarius said before.

"Twilight, I approve of this young man to be your boyfriend."

Twilight's face went red from the memory of her Celestial Spirit approving of Alex as her boyfriend.

"WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT," Twilight exclaimed in shock.

"Not like what," Ember asked with a confused look on her face while putting on clean underwear.

Twilight looked at Ember realizing what she said and smiled nervously. "Oh... Nothing," Twilight answered as she put the keys away in her bag and ran for the bathroom. She took a deep breath to calm down before going to the sink. 'That was close,' Twilight thought to herself as she started to brush her teeth, 'I can't believe Aquarius said that! Of all things to say in a goblin cave! Since when is Aquarius an expert on love and dating!?'

As she brushed her teeth, she thought back to when she, Alex and the others were out shopping and remembered what she and Alex talked about. 'A completely other world,' Twilight thought to herself, 'Amazing... I thought such things were just legends or make belief. I wonder what it's like over there without magic. What sorts of books do they have? How do they communicate over long distances without magic letters?'

"OF ALL THE NERVE!"

Twilight was broken out of her train of thought by Ember's voice. She spat out the toothpaste and ran into the next room. "Ember, what's wrong," Twilight asked her. But what she saw made her stop in her tracks.

Ember was now fully dressed and holding a letter in her hand as fire rose from her hair as she glared at the letter.

"I'm guessing it's from your parents," Twilight asked thinking that's what was making Ember angry.

"No," Ember dryly said as she handed her roommate the letter, "But I dare say it's just as bad!"

Twilight took the letter and read it over. "Dear Occupants. We apologize for the lack of notice but this room is to be evicted in one week,' Twilight read out loud, "Due to an anonymous of royal birth visiting the city, it was requested the room be renovated to the individual's likings. We apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you and we wish to make it up to you. We have another room available and are willing to pay for it for one year. Unfortunately, it is a one-person room. We do apologize for this inconvenience. From, the Owner."

The moment Twilight finished reading the letter, her face was filled with as much rage as Ember's face. Her magical aura made her hair go from purple to orange as though it was on fire. "I don't believe it," Twilight exclaimed, "We're here for barely a week and we're being kicked out!?"

"Just because someone else wants this room," Ember exclaimed in anger, "Of all the inconsiderate, incompetent excuses! I'm going downstairs to complain immediately!"

"Hold on, Ember," Twilight stopped her friend, "I'm just as angry about this but yelling at the owner will only make things worse."

"OOOOOOOOOOO! If the owner of this horrible hotel was a goblin," Ember said as she tried to vent her anger, "I'd burn him to the point that he would be reincarnated as a smoking heap!"

"I'd very much like to set Aquarius on him as well," Twilight admitted, "But that won't get us anywhere. Let's just have breakfast, talk to the others, and see what we can do later today."

Ember looked at her friend despite her anger burning every part of her body. But Ember also knew that Twilight was correct. "Alright," Ember said, "I'll just burn whatever we hunt on a quest later and imagine it's the owner and whoever bought our room!" Ember then went to pack her things for the day.

"What a way to start the morning," Twilight admitted as the happiness she felt from the morning view disappear, "I hope the others are having a better morning then we are."

Alex
Guild

The room that Alex was staying in was a simple one. It was a small room with white wallpaper with red lines forming large diamond shapes with two gold colored old-fashioned lights in the center of the central diamonds on each side of the room. The table in the center took up most of the room and there were two green couches on each side. To the left of the table was the door leading to the hallway and the window to the right.

On one couch was a bag of clothing and items from the other day and sleeping in the other couch was Alex still wearing his clothing. Due to the lack of money, he could only stay in the small rooms of the guild, and couldn't even afford a blanket.

Alex started to wake up the moment the sun light entered the room. 'I miss my old bed,' Alex thought to himself due to feeling cramped on the couch. He opened his eyes, only to notice something odd. His woke up to a pile of fish bones all over his clothing and on the table. Knowing who was the cause, he looked to his left, "Ceruleas!"

There sitting on the table eating a fish as though it was another day was Ceruleas munching on a fish. "Good morning, Alex," Ceruleas said with a smile on his face, "Ready to train with the girls and catch more fish?"

Alex's anger disappeared as he remembered the girls were coming again. "Oh yeah, they're coming soon. I have to get ready," Alex said as he got up, "And how many times have I asked you to clean up your fish bones? You can't just leave them all over the room!"

"But there's no room for the thing you call a garbage can," the baby dragon explained, "There's barely enough room for both of us and your stuff. Although what we really need is fishing gear instead of clothing," he said innocently.

Alex sighed at Ceruleas' words and cute smile, "I should've become a fisherman. Not an adventurer," Alex said as he left the room to go to the bathroom.

"Maybe he should eat more fish," Ceruleas thought to himself noticing Alex feeling agitated, "It always makes me feel better." Ceruleas looked at Alex, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and then finally asked innocently, "What?"

"Why would I need to eat more fish," Alex questioned. "That's your thing."

A moment of silence went between the two, until finally, Ceruleas's hair stood on end with a shocked expression, "BWAH! You can read minds?! You read my mind!"

Alex sweat dropped at the flying cat's cluelessness, "You said it out loud."

Ceruleas realized that fact, and sweat dropped, as he nervously smiled, "I guess I did."

Once Alex was fully dressed, he put on his boots, as he opened the door, "Let's head to the Guild Galley and get some breakfast."

Ceruleas flew over and perched himself on the boy's right shoulder, as he shot his left paw in the air, as he cheerfully cried out, "YAY! Fish for all!"

"You just finished eating a fish! How can you want more!?"

Minutes Later

Guild Mess Hall

The mess Hall was flooded with Adventurers either starting the day or having come back from the job itself. They were enjoying the meals that were being served by the waiters, human or demis, that delivered them. The camaraderie between friends and comrades was shown as they had their meals to start the day. Though it was a lonesome one for Alex as he sat at his table. Though it wasn't as lonely as Ceruleas was rolling on the table, waiting for his food to arrive. Alex was waiting for the others to show up as he figured like before they would find him like they did yesterday. At the moment, the waitress walked over with their dishes, as she smiled, her cat ears and tail fluffing up, "Here you go, good sir." She then set the two dishes down gently, as she walked off to go serve others.

Alex smiled at the catgirl, while Ceruleas pounced at his dish, 'Cat ears! Cat Tails! Cat Girls! I'm in heaven!'

"I'm in a nightmare!" Ceruleas cried out as Alex was given his undivided attention, as he saw his blue cat friend grimacing at his dish, "This isn't the dish I wanted!"

Alex looked down and saw that his dish was a plain and measly bowl of what appeared to be oatmeal, and Ceruleas's fish dish was three scrawny sardines. He remembered, "Oh yeah, we don't have enough money."

"What happened to the money we had yesterday from some of the stuff you pawned off from the Goblin's Trove," Ceruleas reminded him. There was still a lot of stuff to go through, but it was enough to sell for money, and he did keep a little bit of the gear for himself until he could afford better gear.

Alex sighed as he had to remind the little furball, "We used half the money to rent that box room here to stay and sleep in. And then the rest we used to get you that all-fish feast for yourself. Remember?"

Ceruleas paled at that, as he sat down and sighed, "We need money all over again."

Alex took a deep breath, and pulled out something, "Well, that's today's agenda."

Ceruleas lit up as he blinked, "You got a job already?"

"Yep, we just need to wait for the others, and…" Alex began, until a familiar voice called out.

"Alex," Twilight called out from the entrance to the mess hall. He waved them over as she and the other girls walked on over to the table. Twilight sat down next to Alex while Alisa sat down and scooped up Ceruleas who was nibbling at a sardine, "So you two are starting out with breakfast today?"

"If you can call it breakfast," Ceruleas grumbled.

Ming seemed eager to start the day, as she pumped her fist, "So what do we have for our quest today? Something involving ruins?"

Ember adjusted her glasses calmly as she replied, "I just hope we don't crash and burn like we did with that Goblin nest scenario."

Alex sighed, "Well, you'll be happy to know that I found a job we can start safely today." He then pulled out the flier, as he explained, "It's a cleanup job at someone's house. Apparently, he's in need of the place sprucing up before he takes off. Says he has to…"

"Wait, hold on," Ember replied, not looking happy about it, "We're going on a cleaning gig? Isn't that a bit… low of our levels?"

"I feel like my skills as a fighter are being wasted on this," Ming replied.

Alisa thought on it and smiled, "Well, I don't really mind at all. It does seem like a break from what we went through, but still…"

Alex looked over the request with a neutral expression. 'It's not really a quest to help the girls learn to fight,' Alex thought to himself, 'They could use the cash and there would be more time for training once the job is finished.' He looked at his teammates. "I admit, this isn't the kind of job for combat training, but it's easy cash for supplies. And some of us are kinda low on funds right now. Myself mainly," Alex said to them trying to win them over, "Plus the job shouldn't take all day so we have time for training afterwards. But we're a party, so we should decide together."

All the girls look at each other with mixed expressions as the thought of a simple cleaning job. One that seemed like one not even intended for adventurers, even ones in training.

Twilight looked at the others and could tell they were not that motivated about the job. "He's right though. We need money just as much as we need experience," Twilight added as she agreed with Alex, "Besides, there are worse jobs than just cleaning someone's house. We could've ended up cleaning the sewers."

This bit of info made everyone shiver at the thought of working in the sewers hunting or cleaning. From the stench of trash to the darkness concealing discarded feces and giant rats. It was the kind of job that rookies would rather hunt goblins out in the open than in the dirtiest place in the city.

As the party thought about that option, Twilight maintained a warm smile as she waited for an answer. 'The client could have a huge library. Imagine all the news books that I've never seen before,' Twilight thought with joy at the idea of seeing new books to read and organize.

Ember looked at Twilight with a stoic expression. 'She's more excited for the books than job itself,' Ember thought to herself. She's known Twilight since the Mages Academy and knew that her friend's passion for books was as strong as ever. Ember sighed, "I have to agree with them. It's not the most experience fulfilling mission, but it's better than not doing any work at all."

"Ember is right," Alisha said as she nodded in agreement, "Even if we're not fighting monsters, we're still helping people. That's one of the things adventurers do after all."

Ming was silent with her arms crossed. 'Cleaning duty... How is that supposed to help me get better at fighting,' she thought to herself not liking the sound of this. Suddenly, the memory of her first job fighting goblins flashed before her eyes. The loss of her childhood friend, her teammates on the verge of death, her failure to save anyone, and almost becoming a sex slave for the goblins. The pain of that disastrous job caused all confidence to fade and turn into pain as she hugged herself. "I'm... I'm good with it," Ming said to the others with a quiet voice, "My father used to say 'training is everything and everything is training.'"

Everyone could tell from Ming's voice that she was conflicted about saying yes to a mission that didn't involve battle experience but also secretly afraid of going back into battle.

Ceruleas sat on Alex's shoulder eating a fish. "As long as there's fish involved, then I'm in," he explained in a joyful tone of voice.

"I guess that settles it," Alex said as he took the posting off the wall, "We're cleaning today."

In the Countryside

Walking down the trail to their destination, the two were surrounded by an awkward silence from the two not saying much to one another. When Twilight, Alisa, Ember, and Ceruleas were with them, the awkward atmosphere around them wasn't as noticeable. But it was impossible to ignore now that it was just the two of them

'Oh man... I knew things would be weird around use after accidentally seeing her naked at the guild,' Alex thought to himself as kept staring at the sky, 'But not this bad.' It was true that when she recovered from her traumatic experience with the goblins, she approached him asking to teach her his skills. But she was only wearing a blanket at the time and nothing else leaving herself exposed when it fell off her. He had apologized, but with the other girls off on their own quests, it didn't make things easier for him.

'Okay, Alex... Just bite the bullet and talk to her again,' Alex thought as he steeled himself, 'It's the only way to start gett-'

"I don't understand it."

As soon as Alex turned to speak with Ming, he found her close to him with a studious look on her face. She was mere inches from him causing a blushing Alex to jump from how close she was along with the memory from before in the guild hall.

"WHAT," Alex squeaked before clearing his throat, "I mean... what don't you understand Ming?"

"Why are we doing this," Ming asked not paying attention to Alex's nervous behavior.

"Like said back at the guild," Alex said, "Before we go adventuring again, we should gather funds to buy potions, antidotes, and other supplies we may need on the job."

"But you were ill equipped before and you still saved us," Ming pointed out, "I feel this quest isn't getting us anywhere as adventurers."

Alex stopped in his tracks looked at Ming and realized what her problem was. From the sound of it, Ming felt she was ready thanks to her father's teachings, and didn't need anything else to help her. 'She reminds me of the players back home that joined online parties who were under leveled and ended up dying right away,' Alex thought to himself. During his time online, he had seen players who thought they could handle higher leveled dungeons by working with more experienced party member. Some times that work, but other times the new players would either die right away and expect the other players to heal them, quit in the middle of the quest, or set off a trap leading to more problems for the others.

"There's a saying back in my... hometown. Haste makes waste," Alex told Ming with a serious look on his face, "When one jumps into something without a plan or rushes to get something done, it can end up leading to more losses, or mistakes that force one to start over. It's that kind of thinking from your first party leader that almost led to your deaths by the goblins before."

Ming's impatient face become one of hurt and anger from Alex's words. Despite the logic behind them, they made her see red at the thought of someone bad mouthing her childhood friend Roudahn. "Don't talk about Roudahn as though you know him," Ming shot back in an angry voice, "You weren't there! You don't know how it happened!"

"The others told me what happened before I got there," Alex explained as he remained calm in front of the angry girl, "That after Ember was stabbed, Roudahn recklessly fought off goblins by himself while ordering you to protect the girls. It was brave, but it lacked strategy. By distancing himself from you and the others, he left himself vulnerable to the goblins' vast numbers. Plus, the choice to use a long sword in a cave or think about how to fight with it in cramped quarters didn't help him. If he had known everyone's skills before going into the cave, he could've planned ahead by using Alisa's Holy Light to blind the goblins allowing him to kill them without worrying of them surrounding him."

With every word of criticism about Roudahn's leadership and actions, Ming grew more and more angry as her fists shook. Despite knowing what Alex said was true, she also knew that her friend's actions were out of care for her and their new party members. The bravery she saw in her friend despite the odds were true to her and Alex's words made him seem like a fool.

"But it wasn't just him though."

Before Ming could yell at Alex, he spoke again while remaining calm. "Your choice to fight off the goblins while the other escape was the same as Roudahn's choices. Brave, but not well thought out," he continued.

"What," Ming replied in anger at this, "I did what I had to in order to save the others!"

"Why didn't you help them escape by fighting off the goblins in a group? Twilight was still able to fight," Alex answered, "By choosing to fight alone, you put yourself into a similar situation as Roudahn. Surrounded by goblins and alone in battle. While you didn't have to worry about your attacks being stopped by the cave walls, you could've been forced to fight the goblins without knowing how many there were, and eventually beaten by their numbers and your fatigue. Plus if you had used the same strategy of blinding the goblins, the Hobgoblin wouldn't have overpowered you."

"I asked you to teach me how to be better," Ming said with venom in her voice, "Not ridicule my friend and me for putting our party ahead of ourselves!"

"I am teaching you," Alex answered, "Becoming stronger isn't just about gaining new skills and better equipment. It's about learning from your mistakes in order to grow as a person and find new solutions as well as finding strength with each other. You'd be surprised how strong a good supporter is compared to always going in headfirst without a plan."

Ming maintained her glare as her fists continued to shake. Despite the logic and wisdom in Alex's words, every other part of Ming wanted to use her martial arts to kick the crap out of Alex. Any respect she had for Alex was consumed by her rage. Just as she was about to spin around and send the first blow... she stopped herself and looked away from Alex. "Let's just get this job over with," she declared as she walked ahead of him still fuming. 'That's the last time I ask for that jerk's help,' she thought to herself.

Alex watched her march off as he sighed. 'Maybe I could've worded that a little better,' he thought to himself as he walked behind Ming. Once again, the awkward atmosphere surrounded the two teens, but was stronger than ever.

Twilight managed to catch up to him, as she attempted to defuse the situation, as she asked, "So this job… you never said who requested it. Whose home are we trying to clean up?"

Alex scratched his cheek, as he answered, "Well, I'm not sure if I got it right, but according to the job flier, his name is Radghast." Suddenly, Twilight grabbed his sleeve, almost tightly to get his attention, as he turned to look, "Twilight?"

"Radghast? You sure that was the name," Twilight asked, as Alex nodded. She suddenly changed moods, as for a moment her widened face of surprise turned into elation, as he beamed, "We're going to the home of one of the 12 Wizard Saints, Radghast the Brown Mage!"

Ember blinked, as she almost gasped, "Radghast? For real?" She then uncharacteristically smiled, "This is far better than what I expected of today. I think being cleanups would be an okay job for the day."

Alisa and Ceruleas looked confused on this, as the priestess asked, "Who's Radghast the Brown Mage?"

Twilight immediately explained, "Well, to be frank, Radghast the Brown is one of the 12 Saint Mages. And they are the primary leaders of the Mage's Association. They are in charge of governing the laws of Mages and magic users as well as ensure barriers around surrounding cities are up to the job in case the Fallen invade again. You might say the 12 Saints are the generals of said Magic Association, and the Association is the army behind said power."

Ceruleas blinked, "So being one of the 12 makes them great?"

Ember nodded, "Exactly. There are Sauros the White Mage, the leader of the 12 and the most powerful of the order. Glandaff the Grey, who's the 2nd most powerful of the 12. Daliah the Green Mage, and even Celestine the Violet. There are others, but Radghast is one of those 12."

Alex then asked, as he arched an eyebrow, "So despite not being the leader of the leaders, Radghast is still pretty powerful."

Both Ember and Twilight were silent, thinking on it, as Twilight puffed out her chest, "To be fair, I've always thought of each and everyone of the Saints is an amazing Mage. Radghast is one of the eccentric but unique of them."

Alex's eyebrow arched, as he asked, "Unique how?"

"He keeps a watchful eye of the forests," Ember replied, as they were reaching further in the forest, as they were walking down what appeared to be a dirt path, "He's actually a kind soul that loves the company of the forest and animals."

Alisa smiled, "Oh, so he's a follower of the Earth Mother?"

Twilight thought on it, as she replied, "I guess in a way."

Ember sighed, "Ugh, more Earth Mother nonsense." Alisa almost protested, taking offense on it, but Ember stopped, as she blinked, "I think we're here."

As they stopped, they looked to see their surroundings. The home of the great Radghast was actually a house built into a tree, or around it. Not far from it a few yards away was a shed and barn, where a few critters were making their homes. In fact, the whole place seemed lively of animals. It was like something out of a Disney film.

Alex walked over to the front door, and knocked on it, until an old man's voice spoke up, "Go away! I don't want any charities, wish wellers, or other stuff."

"Well, what about those who wanna take up the job you posted at the guild," Alex retorted for a reply.

The door opened as the figure revealed themselves. It was an old man dressed in brown robes, boots, a jacket and a wizard's cap. He had a gray short beard and a friendly expression on his face, but a look of isolated friendly face with his thick eyebrows arched up, but oddly had a dribble of something on the right side of his face. It almost looked like bird poop. Though to those who knew of him, he was Radghast the Brown Mage.

"Oh, someone from the Adventurer's Guild that answered my job request, eh," he stated, as he looked at them, and then thought on it, as he nodded, "Alright then, I have the assignments." He looked at Alex and Ming, "You two seem strong capable young people. I have a few things that need to be put up in the shed and barn. I'll hand a list of those things." He then looked to Alisa, as he stated, "I take it you're a Healer, so I'll need you to come with me on my medical rounds with my patients."

Twilight then beamed, "And me and Ember? What would you like us to do?"

Radghast blinked, as Alex replied, "They're Mages and Summoners."

The Brown Mage nodded, "Ah, perfect. They can organize my library. It's been a bit of a small upheaval in my work."

Ming huffed as she looked at Alex, "I think that's way better."

Twilight arched an eyebrow as she looked at Alex, "I take it things didn't go well?" Alex sighed heavily, as the Celestial Summoner nodded, "thought so."

Moments Later

Wizard's Library

The library was a single room on the second floor connected by the spiral staircase from the first floor. The room was filled with cobwebs in every corner and dirt in random places. Hundreds of books of different shapes, colors, and sizes were scattered all over the floors in piles. The four book cases of with five shelves each were bare save for a random book or two left open on one shelf as dust covered the pages and everything else. A few windows allowed for sunlight to pour into the room showing how messy the room really was.

Calling the task before the two hopeless was a mild description. Books were scattered everywhere in random piles or scattered on the floor. Alex and Twilight stood there as they took in just how big a job this was turning out to be. Before heading for the shed, Alex was asked to grab some of the tools that were upstairs mixed in with the books while Ming got started on the shed. Ember was looking through the house for any other books while Twilight volunteered to start in the library.

As Alex placed a few tools he found in the library, he looked at the books on the floor. "It looks like an earthquake happened in here," Alex said as he ran one of his fingers on a random book and collected dust on his finger, "But I have no idea when said earthquake occurred."

Twilight immediately went to work on cleaning the room. "This is horrible! I've had nightmares of this," Twilight said as she organized the books by subject with a look of dread on her face, "Books in disarray. No means of organization! How can anyone find anything like this!?"

"Wow. You really like books," Alex pointed out, "Don't you?"

"Of course, I do," Twilight answered with a heart filled smile, "Books hold the secrets to the past and can lead to wonderful adventures. There's nothing better than warming up to a nice book under the shade of a tree on a warm summer day." Twilight sighed as she imagined just that. The warmth of the sun around her, a cool breeze blowing while under a tree as the leaves shook, as she would read a book about anything. From a novel of different genres to a text book on a faraway land.

"I'll have to try that sometime," Alex said as he and Twilight got to work on their guild quest. "You know, when you think about it," Alex said a while later as the two were organizing the piles of books, "Since he works outside all day, he wouldn't have time to use the Dewey Decimal System for his library."

"The who and what," Twilight asked in confusion, "Is that some sort of spell made by a legendary wizard?"

"No. I don't know much about the person, but it's a system used in libraries from where I used to live to organize books," Alex explained as best as he could, "It uses numbers for each subject and the librarians arranged the books in numerical order."

"An easy method of organizing books using numbers," Twilight exclaimed with stars in her eyes, "Your world's libraries must be vast if such a method of organizing is needed."

"Compared to this one, most are," Alex admitted while looking through another pile, "As for keeping track of everything, we used computers to tell where a book was and if it was available for borrowing or not."

"And these computers are part of this digital era you mentioned before," Twilight replied as she placed a pile of books on the shelf and moved on to the next pile, "It's amazing... More than I ever dreamed of. Another Earth with new stories and new ways of life." Twilight's eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of a new world.

Alex could only smile at the sight of Twilight sounding like excited child enthralled by a story of fantasy from his world. "It's a great place," Alex admitted with a grin, "But Mid-Gaia, it's... it's more amazing than anything back home. Except maybe pizza."

"Who's this Pizza you speak of," Twilight asked, "Oh, is it the name of a legendary author of great books," she asked excitedly, "He must be someone of great status to mention him," she added as she imagined him to be a hero worthy of great deeds. When Alex didn't answer, Twilight looked over her shoulder, "Alex? Are you alright?" She walked over to see Alex, only to look in shock at the paled face Alex with a look of horror on his face.

"N-N-No pizza," Alex whispered with horror in his voice. 'What kind of sick world doesn't have pizza,' Alex thought in dread at his favorite food not existing in his new home, 'I must right the wrong! But how?'

"Are you okay, Alex," Twilight asked worryingly, "Is this Pizza person not a great hero of your world?"

Alex snapped out of his horrific train of thought when he heard Twilight's voice again. This time, she as near his face. So close in fact that he could even smell her natural beauty. He looked away while blushing, "It's... Nothing important," Alex admitted while trying to compose himself, "In this world anyway."

Twilight wasn't sure as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Alright. If you say so," Twilight answered, "Still your world sounds amazing." Twilight's happy expression started to fade as a thought occurred to you, "Do... Do you miss it," she asked wondering, "Your world?"

"Hmmm, maybe a little," Alex answered, "But this world is much better in my opinion. I feel... More comfortable here." He stared at a book for a moment, "Honestly, I feel like I never fit anywhere on Earth."

Twilight looked at him with a look of sadness. She could relate to feeling like she didn't belong somewhere. But for it to be the whole world. "And now," she asked as she placed her hand on Alex's hand on the book, "How do you feel now?"

Alex looked at Twilight's smiling face filled with light. Seeing her smile and feeling the warmth from her hand made him feel whole and happy. "I feel... Happy," he admitted with a grin.

The two just stared and smiled at each other. Each one filling the hole in their hearts from their experiences of fear and near death.

"Alex!"

The moment they heard the new voice, the two broke away while looking embarrassed. Alex looked over to see Raghast the Brown Mage's head coming out of the staircase below. "Your fighter friend could use a hand with some heavy lifting," he said as a few birds sat in the nest in his hair, "Could you lend them a hand please?"

"Oh sure," Alex said as he got up, "I'll be right back to help finish when I'm done in the shed, Twilight," he said as he headed for the stairs with the tools he found.

"Sure, thanks," Twilight said as she waved at him, "Be careful." Once she was alone, she had a bright smile on her face. 'He looked so happy earlier,' she thought as she continued organizing books on instinct alone, 'I'm so glad he's happy now here. No one should go through life alone.'

Suddenly, Ember appeared out of the staircase and saw her school friend, "Twilight. Alisa and I finished downstairs," Ember said as she looked at her friend, "How are things going up here?"

"Oh great," Twilight said with a cheeky smile, "Alex was asked by our client to help Ming outside so he should be back in a few minutes. He and I are almost finished here," she explained as she continued her task of sorting the library.

"I see," Ember said as she noticed her friend's smiling face. 'I've never seen her like this before,' Ember thought as she noted her friend's happy face, 'Could she be...' Ember decided to put her theory about her friend to the test, "Twilight... Would you by chance," Ember began to ask her, "Happen to like Alex?"

Twilight's face turned red as she stopped dead in her tracks while putting more books away. "What? Like him," Twilight exclaimed, "Well as a friend. But not like like him. I mean, he and I just met. The same goes for all of use. It seems ridiculously for someone to like to that degree right away! Why would you even ask such a ridiculous thing!?"

Ember had a sly smile on her face as she watched her friend's reaction. 'She's on her way there,' Ember thought while noticing Twilight's denial on the subject. "Well, it seemed to me that Alex likes being around you the most," Ember answered her school friend, "At least, that's how it looks to me based on the mall and here."

"Why would you think that," Twilight asked still trying to hide her growing feelings for Alex, "I'm sure he enjoys being with the others too."

"He luuvs you..."

Twilight paled as she jumped up from the voice behind her. It was Ceruleas who had cheeky look on his face as he said his reason for agreeing with Ember. Much to Twilight's embarrassment as she continued to blush.

Meanwhile

Outside

Radghast was going his rounds with the animals, with Alisa following after him. As she was following him, the forest was serene and beautiful to say the least. Even as they went through, she noticed that the forest was teeming with animal life, as she blinked, "This forest is so full of animals."

"Oh, there's more than just animals here, my dear," Radghast replied. "It also possesses monsters and creatures of magic." Alisa almost tensed up from the mention of monsters, but Radghast assured her, "The monsters keep to themselves, while the creatures are rather shy when there is no threat to them. But even so, nature in itself is a conductor of this magic."

Alisa blinked, "A conductor? You mean like to the Earth Mother?"

"Earth Mother? Oh, that's right, she goes by that name now," the Brown Mage mused, as they conintued further, "In ancient times, she was referred to as Gaia. The Titan of the Earth."

"Ah yes, the teachings did recall that past of her," Alisa replied as she remembered the teachings of the Holy Earth Mother's true origin. How she, as the Mother of the Gods, remained in the heavens and became one with the Earth, giving those of her blessings Great Defense and even more Powerful Support. But then she remembered in her past, the failure of the Goblin cave, as she sighed, "I feel like my blessings might not have been good."

As he was examining a fox nearby, checking his blood pressure, Radghast asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I started out as an adventurer about a week ago. It didn't exactly turn out as well. We lost one of our party members and he died. Another one was poisoned and almost died, and…"

"It was your first adventure. Your miracles are still being in development," Radghast explained, as they continued, "Give it time and allow yourself to be in connection with the Mother Earth." He stopped as he turned around, as he excplained, "The miracles and blessings given by the Gods and the Titans are all around us. You, me, the animals, the trees, the rocks, and yes, even through magic itself. It merely takes a moment of connection to unlock what is already inside of us. Sometimes, I…" But then he blinked as he looked horrified.

He quickly rushed over to what appeared to be a bush, as Alisa rushed over, as he cried out, "Oh no! Sebastian!"

Alisa rushed over to see what Radghast was cradling in his hands. It was a small brown hedgehog, no older than a child, with a light brown underbelly and an adorable button black nose with matching color eyes. Though it seemed to have trouble breathing. Alisa looked terrified at this sight, as she asked, "Oh no. what's wrong with him?"

Radghast shook his head, "I'm not certain. But I…" He then noticed something wrong with the forest in front of them, as if it was darkening. Losing its lifeforce. Radghast grew serious as he furrowed his brow, "Something's wrong. The forest is growing dark. Silent." He gently gave Sebastian to Alisa, as he advised, "We have to go. Now!"

And with that, the two raced back to the house with Sebastian in tow, as the forest behind them was growing dark. Or the sounds of countless steaks being stabbed into the ground. Almost like walking…

Not Far

Alex was walking over to the shed at that time, when he walked in, and saw Ming putting bails of hay in an automated conveyer belt for later use. Apparently, it was automated to feed animals that were in the barn. Ming took a look to see who had wandered in, only to see Alex. She huffed and turned to put another bail of hay away again, turning her back to him. Alex sighed, as he asked himself, 'How am I ever gonna talk to her?' He turned to look at the outside again, trying to wonder what to do.

Ming, on the other hand, allowed Alex's earlier words echo into her head. She sighed, as she remembered it was her fault that may have caused problems. Instead of watching the rear like she should have, she ran after Roudahn without thinking on this. And that's what led Ember getting poisoned and Roudahn killed. She set the bail down, as she turned to look at Alex, who still looked out the door, as she walked over, talking, "Alex. I'm sorry about this silent treatment. I do like you. Really. It's just that…"

But she noticed he didn't turn around or look to her, and that got her angry, as she stomped at his side, "Alex, I'm talking…!" But then saw the look on his face.

He was looking forward, his face paled with a blue shadow over his eyes, and sweating beads with his eyes wide open and his mouth shut in a freaked out manner. This was fear. Alex Killian, the young man that braved death… was scared. Ming blinked, as she looked at the door… and also was freaked out.

Standing there, almost about ready to pounce, was a giant spider of sorts. Its body frame was that of a Black Widow, only it was grey all over, with some of the legs having inner parts being black, with the front six legs having sharp points for the ends of its legs, with the top 'elbow' having sharp points. The back legs had two spikes on the elbows, while the bottom of the legs broke or split with two toes. Its butt was arched upward, with a pattern on it in green shaped like a three-horned crowned demon. Its face had eight green eyes, two in the front two on the sides one on the top of those rows while in the back were two green eyes bunched together. As it rose up, it revealed it was the size of two grey hounds with one standing on the other. It hissed out loud as it charged at them.

On instinct, Ming grabbed the limp Alex, and charged forward, tossing Alex's limp body up in the air, distracting the spider, as she slipped underneath. She then fiericely kicked it in the barn, as it staggered and crashed, as she got up and grabbed Alex as he fell into her arms, and then suddenly slid in, kicking the door open, as she threw Alex into a book case, and then got up and slammed the door shut. Once that happened though, Alex fell down to the ground, with the bookcase crashing down on them.

As soon as Ming locked the door, she allowed herself to sigh in relief. Only until Ember screamed, "MING!" she turned around to see a fuming Ember, and a distraught Twilight looking at both the books and the downed Alex, as Ember pointed out, "We just finished organizing that!"

"Sorry, no time. Spider," Ming huffed and puffed as she ran over to them.

Ceruleas flew in the air, as he blinked, "You guys ran here over a spider?" Suddenly, the back door crashed open as Alisa ran in with Radghast locking it behind him. Ceruleas blinked, "Huh, what…?"

"Spiders," Alisa replied, as Radghast was working to help a small hedgehog, "They were… following behind us."

"You too," Ming replied.

Ember sighed, not understanding this, "What is the deal with spiders?" She then looked down at the startled but frozen Alex, "And what's with him?"

"I think Alex is afraid of giant spiders," Ming rpelied. "When there was one near the shed, he froze up, paling."

Twilight blinked at this, as she asked, "The spider? How big was it?"

Suddenly, they heard the sounds of spiders climbing all around, and they saw the enlarged shadows, as they were swarming about. Ceruleas paled as they all huddled together, as Radghast was doing his best to heal Sebastian, with Alisa holding the little hedgehog, as the blue cat paled, "Ah I see. I guess that size would be enough to freak everyone out."

Twilight paled, "They're huge."

Though while the remaining members were in awe and frightened about the giant spiders, Radghast and Alisa were working to save Sebastian the Hedgehog. Though it seemed as the more spiders crawled up, the worse that the hedgehog was getting. Until…

Sebastian's gasp of air slowed down to a crawl… and he suddenly stopped. Radghast gasped at this, as Alisa held the little creature, "Oh no…"

Alisa looked saddened, as flashes of the Goblin Cave came flooding back to her, as she silently tried to halt her tears, "I don't understand…"

"Neither do I. I just don't understand," Radghast paled as he passed the frozen Alex, "It's not as if these spiders or the poison is Dark Magic.." But then he suddenly paled, as everyone looked at him, as he looked upward, as the spiders trying to get in, and then back at the hedgehog, "Oh yes. That's it. It is Dark Magic…" And then looked up, as he grimaced, "The Darkest of its kind."

Ember snapped out of it, as she replied, "Well, how do we get rid of these giant spiders?"

Ming took a deep breath, as she was about to go outside, "I'll try and fend off…!" But then stopped, as she realized the mistake, "No, I mean… I don't… I don't know what to do in this."

Ceruleas looked down at Alex, as he sighed, "If only Alex was back into it, we'd snap him back to normal. Then he'd have an idea about these giant spiders."

"Night Arachnids," Alex mumbled out.

Everyone blinked at this, as they asked, "Night Arachnids?"

And then he managed to blurt out something strange, "Night Arachnids. Species type: Arachnid/Insect type of enemies. HP: 70s. Attacks: Webbing of all kinds of attacks like Lassos or Traps, front claws can split into three-clawed pinchers for grabbing, while the butt has a venom barb that is capable of being retractable and regenerative in time. Regenerates lost limbs when molting. Babies are roughly the size of kittens and puppies…"

It was then that Twilight realized that Alex's knowledge of the game based on their world was seeping out through his fear. 'If he's in this state, he might still know more about this,' she thought, as she helped Alex still frozen with fear to sit up, "Alex. The Night Arachnids. What else to you know about them?"

"They're the offspring of the Queen Ongolia. Bred by the first Demon Lords, they are skilled assassins of Shadows, craving dark places to hide but were bred to hunt down the light. Even though it hurts them; they crave what is their weakness."

Ember and Alisa looked at one another, as she stepped up, "Everyone, shield your eyes." She then began to chant, as the rim of her right lens began to glow, as she chanted, brining her hands together, as a small ball of flame began to form, "Inflamera – INFLAME!"

Suddenly, the ball of fire was thrown into the air, and a bright light shined around the room and house. The spiders outside began to screech and roar, but it didn't seem to cause the spiders to leave. In fact, they tried to get in, as windows broke through, the pincher limbs trying to grasp the fire, even though they were slowly burning.

Twilight brought up her pendant as it transformed into her sword, as she held it up. Radghast held up his staff with a brown crystal on it, as they both called out, "ILLUMINATE!"

With both their weapons came a flash of light, as the room illuminated. This cause the spiders to finally scream out in pain.

Though as they fought back, Alisa held the little hedgehog still suffering close to her. She felt powerless, just like she did back at the As she held the little creature into her arms, her sobs were barely audible, as a tear streamed down, and landed on Sebastian's nose. And then without realizing it, she chanted almost like a prayer, "Hear me Oh Blessed Earth Mother… free this one of the darkness that has taken hold of him."

Suddenly, an eruption of light shined around her, and suddenly added to the light, causing all the Night Arachnids to shriek out. And strangely enough, everyone heard the voices…

AAAAAAH! LIGHT

IT BURNS!

And suddenly, the arachnids just jumped off and scattered, getting away as they could away from the very thing they craved. Once things had settled down, Alex immediately bolted up, "Agh! What happened? What'd I miss?"

Ceruleas flew over as he replied, "You blacked out and froze up around giant spiders."

Alex felt woozy as he nearly fell over, only for Twilight to catch him, as she blinked, "Guess we know you've got an irrational fear on you."

Alex shook his head, as he replied, "No, no. my fear is rational."

"No, it's okay, I have irrational fears of Ladybugs and Quesadillas," Twilight confessed. "My brother made me believe those black dots on their shells were eyes and that they constantly looked at me. And I'm afraid of quesadillas because they're so…" And then finished looking rather eerie out, as she gulped, "Cheesey."

Alex sighed, "Nooo. I'm actually afraid of giant spiders. That's a rational fear. They're not supposed to be as big as your freaking fist or the size of two grey hounds combined together. And… and…" He suddenly felt woozy, as he grabbed her, "I gotta stop thinking that, or I'm gonna keep fainting."

Later On

After the crazy ordeal, they were heading back to town, with their payment and more along the way. Radghast had explained the spiders were passing through, but must have stopped for a snack. Namely them. Though thanks to the combined light, it managed to cause them to run away in fright deep into the forest. He stated that he would follow where they were heading, and report it to the other Wizards. Though as he was preparing to leave, he gave them 10 coppers each, which was a pretty fair price considering. Though he gave them each a bonus.

Ember was walking in her arms a book. It was an old leather book with a golden yellow spine and tips to it, with the cover having a triangle with a circle in the middle with a line vertically down the center. She remembered what Radghast said to her when he gave it to her,

The Philosophastra Illustrans, or Englightening Little Philosopher. A beginner's manual for casting spells. But you'll see that there's more to it when time goes on and when you need answers, my dear.

With Twilight, a new ring was in her possession, as it had the emblem and shape depicting a lion and his mane.

The Key of Leo the Lion. It's been a while since this spirit has been summoned, but I believe this will help when you find the connection to its spirit.

Ceruleas was resting on Alisa's head, as she was looking at a new ring in her possession. It was golden but with it were three green gems in the shape of a star or a butterfly. But also with her, perched on her shoulder, was a resurrected Sebastian, now sporting a white spot on his brow and looking rather happy. And in Alisa's case, she was rather happy about it.

Purification. It seems that the Great Holy Mother Gaia has given you a new blessing this soon. The ability to purify poisons, natural or foreign. And in this case, you and Sebastian are now connected, as through your power, he's become your familiar. I entrust him to you, my dear.

Along with Twilight Halo. A holy ring that enables you to fully heal someone numerous times without exhausting your own power. Give it time my dear, because once it's fully mastered, you'll be able to heal without physical contact.

The last ones were Alex and Ming taking the rear but keeping quiet to one another.

Although Ming had saved his life and they managed to get out of it, there was still much tension between him and Ming. He blacked out during the spider's appearance, but he could tell that Ming was trying to fix the gap between them and his criticism. So now… he was gonna make it right again. He looked to Ming, as he spoke up, hoping to clear out what he had done earlier. "I'm sorry, Ming."

She looked to him, "Huh?"

"I also didn't take into consideration that hearing criticism about your friend who gave his life protecting you would open old wounds as well," Alex said looking shameful for his words, "I'm sorry."

Ming closed her eyes and shook her head in response. "It's alright... I admit it did hurt hearing those things earlier today. But you weren't wrong," she said with regret in her voice, "Roudahn's plan and my overconfidence caused more harm than good. And I'm sad that Roudahn lost his life despite his bravery." Ming's face was filled with regret for what happened to her childhood friend because of his and her own actions. "That's why I have to live everyday as best as I can," Ming continued as her regret turned into resolve, "Not just for myself but for him too. It's not much but it's the only thing I can do to make his death be in vain."

Alex stared at Ming's new resolve and will to live. Something he recognized as his own from his Earth. Even though he his parents were gone, no prospects of a job, or friends to support him, he kept living through life for his parents. Alex's determination to live was the same as Ming's without the loss of a friend.

"I'm sure he is resting in peace with that thought in mind," Alex said with his own determined expression. "I'll do all I can to help with that as well," Alex said as he held Ming's hands much to the girl's surprise, "I'll to ensure no one ends up in a situation like that. Whether they are in our group or not. And if it did happen again, I will make sure we all come out alive. Of that, I promise."

Ming said nothing as she stared at Alex's determined expression and was in silence.

'Did I overload her or make her have a painful flashback,' Alex thought even though he maintained his determined expression, 'Maybe I should've chosen my words more carefully...' What Alex didn't realize was that his words didn't have the affect he thought they did on her.

'Did he... Just,' Ming thought as she blushed while her inner self panicked, 'Propose to ME!?'

Suddenly, Ming began to imagine Alex and herself in a Chinese wedding with both of them surrounded by loved ones such as their party members and guildmembers. The air was filled with sakura leaves as they flowed around the two. The newlyweds each had a cup of saki that they shared with each other before-

"Ming... Are you okay?"

Ming's daydream ended as Alex's concerned voice pulled her back into reality. She saw his worried expression as she processed it along with the warmth from his hands. Suddenly, Ming broke hand contact as she collected herself. "Oh yes, I'm perfectly fine Alex," Ming said while hiding her blushing face, "We should hurry. It will be dark soon and we wouldn't want to be lost at night."

Bath House

Steam filled the night air. The bath area was similar to a Japanese Rock Garden hot spring with stone lanterns and grass and bamboo trees growing inside the rings of stones on the sides. The hot bath water was in the center of a circle of stones and was wide enough to fit twenty or more people.

In the bath was Alisa who was sitting at one side of the bath by herself. The priestess of the group was blushing red from the relaxing bath water that helped soothe her tired and naked body with her towel behind her.

'This is amazing,' Alisa blissfully thought to herself as she slid down to allow the water to rise higher up her body, 'I hope the others come in soon. I would hate for them to miss out on such a glorious bath.'

"Hey. Sorry for the wait."

Alisa looked over her shoulder to see the owner of the voice and smiled. "No worries," Alisa said while smiling, "The water is really relaxing!"

In entered Twilight wrapped in a towel that went from the middle of her breast down to past her upper thigh and her hair was down. The magic swordswoman walked towards the bath, she removed her towel showing off her amazingly toned body, and C cup breast as she entered the bath.

"Aaaaaahhhhh... Amazing," Twilight said as the warm water made all the muscle strain and fatigue of the day fade away, "This bath is top class."

As Twilight relaxed in the bath, Alisa stared at her friend's C cup breast in surprise. 'They're so big,' Alisa thought as she looked down at her B cup breast and frowned, 'While mine are so small due to my immaturity...'

"Gang way!"

The sound of a happy voice caught Alisa and Twilight's attention as they looked behind them. Running towards the bath was a naked Ming with a bright smile on her face. She immediately leaped into the air and splashed into the water. A wave of hot water splashed into Twilight and Alisa causing the two to close their eyes and feel the sting of warm water on their faces.

Ming burst out of the water with a smile, "Oh yeah," Ming exclaimed "Now this is bath!"

"Ming! You shouldn't run in the bath area," Twilight exclaimed as she and Alisa wiped the water off their own faces to avoid the water going into their eyes, "What if you slept and hurt yourself?"

"It's alright," Ming said with a smile as she crossed her legs while stretching her arms in the air, "Oh yeah... This is how you end a long day of work... A warm bath to relax the body and mind."

"I'm amazed you can say that while putting yourself at risk like child."

The sound of Ember's annoyed voice caught all three girls' attention who looked towards the entrance with a glare directed towards Ming. She was wearing a towel that went from her breast to her mid thighs, she had her glasses, and a towel wrapped around her hair as she tapped her foot.

"Although I will admit," Ember admitted as her glare turned into a slight smile, "It is nice to see you acting like your old self again unlike not long ago."

Ming looked away for a moment feeling sad from remembering her broken self from the girls' near-death experience. But then she smiled as a sneaky idea came to mind. "Thanks Ember," Ming said as she climbed out of the water, "But for the record, you're the rotten egg by being in last." This earned a glare from Ember again. But before she could respond, she felt her towel began to loosen much to her embarrassment.

"Come on, you don't need this," Ming said with a mischievous smile as she pulled on Ember's towel, "We're all girls here. You don't need to feel embarrassed about showing everything."

A blushing Ember fought back as she held her towel to maintain her modesty. "I can leave a towel on if I want to. Thank you very much," Ember exclaimed in embarrassment, "I take back what I said! You're still an immature child!"

"Don't be like that," Ember replied as she continued to pull on the towel as her way of changing the subject about their first failure of a mission, "It's not like we're animals entering mating season from seeing each other!"

Suddenly, Ember's feet slipped on some water from the bath. She was able to maintain her footing after a moment though and stop herself from giving into the pull of gravity but her glasses fell onto the ground. "Did you see that Ming," Ember said as she felt around her for her glasses while glaring, "I almost slipped and fell. This isn't a playground!"

Ming didn't reply though as Ember continued to feel for her eyewear due to her blurred vision. When her hand found them, she sighed in relief as she put them on. "You're very lucky that my glasses didn't break or you'd be helping me buy a new pair," Ember started to say as she looked towards Ming. Ember's glare turned into a look of confusion though.

There stood a frozen Ming along with a stunned Alisa in the bath were both staring at Ember in shock. Their eyes were locked on something in Ember's direction as though they were using all their mental powers to focus on something. Twilight however was just smiling at Ming and Alisa's reactions as if she knew what they were thinking about.

Ember blinked in confusion as she looked at the two frozen and focusing girls. "What's wrong with you two," Ember asked in an unsure tone, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Suddenly, both silent girls suddenly went starry eyed, and blushed like crazy. "WOW! What a bod," Ming exclaimed in amazement.

"You really do have an amazing figure Ember," Alisa added in an astonished tone of voice.

Ember looked confused as she looked down to see her towel on the ground next to her feet. The magician of the group's face turned red from a mix of anger and embarrassment as she realized she was now naked before all of them as her body became tensed.

"How dare you! You- YOU PERVERTS," Ember exclaimed her anger as she chased after Ming into the bath and tackle Ming and Alisa in anger, "You make Peeping Toms look like gentlemen! There should be a separate bath for perverted girls like you so mature women like Twilight and myself can truly relax!" Ember was so angry that the bath water failed to ease the stress of her body and mind as the water became hotter from her burning emotions.

Twilight just laughed as the three girls argued and fought in the bath. 'She says that,' Twilight thought to herself, 'But she's playing in the bath too. That makes her kind of childish as well.'

After calming down, all four girls were now relaxing in the bath with Ember being next to Twilight and way from the other girls. Alisa, Twilight, and Ember sat very lady like with the water up past their breasts while Ming sat cross legged. But all four girls were feeling the stress of the day and the argument fade away with their sweat and dirt from the day.

"Are you still angry Ember," Ming asked as she looked over with a carefree smile, "You should really take a compliment."

Ember looked away in a huff. "I will not take a compliment from two girls that act like perverts, thank you very much," Ember answered still not liking the idea of being stared at by girls while in the nude.

"Ming is right," Alisa said agreeing with the martial artist, "I'm actually really envious of you. You're intelligent and beautiful just like Twilight."

"Yeah. To be honest... I'm kind of jealous of both of you for the same reasons," Ming said as Alisa nodded in agreement.

This caught Twilight and Ember's attention as they looked at Ming and Alisa as they revealed the envy the two girls were hiding for their teammates.

"Oh, come now," Twilight replied in support, "Don't feel like that. Ember and I aren't perfect you both have your own strengths as well."

"Twilight is correct," Ember replied, "Neither of us can heal and perform martial arts like you two can."

"Right... But that doesn't help with our breasts," Alisa sadly said as she looked her small breasts, "But Ming and I are still growing. We could get an unexpected growth spurt later on in our years."

Ming chuckled from that. "You can wait, Alisa," Ming said as she looked at larger breasts of the two book worm team members, "I'll be looking for a faster way to go from a B cup to a larger size."

"Okay, so your breasts are a little smaller than ours," Twilight said in embarrassment from being stared at, "But you have a flat stomach from all your training. I bet the boys would be attracted by that."

"You think so," Ming said excitedly, "I always thought the boys would look at the breasts first when looking for a girl! That's the feeling I always got in town anyway!"

As the three girls discussed men's tastes, Ember's face turned red as she sunk into the hot water trying to escape the conversation any possible way she could. 'How can they talk about their beauty so much!? It's like they all just finished a beauty pageant or trying to sell themselves off to some vain boys who only cares about who's girl is the best looking,' Ember thought to herself, 'Not that I care about that! If I were to marry a man, he would be one that appreciates me as a person and not a- WHAT AM I THINKING!?' Ember's face became even more red as bubbles escaped from her submerged mouth. She burst out and caught her breath. 'I have to change the subject somehow,' she thought in alarm.

"Are you okay Ember," Twilight asked in concern as she and the others looked at Ember.

"OOOO! You want to see who can stay under the longest," Ming exclaimed in excitement, "I'm game!"

"No! I was... just wondering," Ember said trying to change the subject, "Say! Why were you so freak out and blushing while you and Alex were walking back from the job? Did he say something insulting to you?"

"Alex would never say something like that. He's so kind and gentle," Alisa said as she looked at Ming, "Don't you think so Ming?"

Ming however was silent as she stared off into space with wide eyes.

She suddenly saw herself with Alex in the bath all alone. The steam rising to the starry sky and shining moon. He was next to her with her arm around her shoulders. Ming was leaning against his strong shoulder while resting her hand against his well-toned chest. The two pulled apart as they looked deeply into each other's and began to-

"NOOOO! NOT HAPPENING," Ming exclaimed as she stood tall with body in full view of her friends while blushing and flailing her arms around, "I'm not ready for such nonsense like marriage and motherhood! I need more training to be strong! THE STONGEST THERE IS!"

Ember, Twilight, and Alisa stared at their friend wondering what Ming was talking about all of a sudden. As Ming continued, Twilight looked over the side where the men's side was located. 'I wonder how Alex and Ceruleas are doing,' she asked herself.

Meanwhile

On the other side of the bath house where men's side was, Alex was in the bath all by himself relaxing in the hot water.

'Wow... I've never been to a bath house before,' Alex thought to himself as he let the warm water soothe his tired muscles while he stretched his limbs out, 'The Japanese have it made...'

"How's the water, Ceruleas," Alex asked his dragon friend.

"It's good," Ceruleas said as he sat in a bucket floating in the bath water, "Wish there was some fish but this is still good."

Alex chuckled. "Is fish all you think about," Alex asked him.

"From morning to night," Ceruleas answered as he leaned on the side with a happy smile while the thought of fish flowed through his mind.

Later That Night

Guild Rooms

An awkward atmosphere hung in the air of the small guild room. Alex and Twilight stood still as they stared at the two benches one pillow and blanket for each of them. Both teens were blushing red from their new situation. There they were, two teens that only met a few days ago in a life or death situation, were now forced to share a room together. Sitting on the table was Ceruleas as he munched on a fish without a care in the world.

Apparently, Ember had mentioned the room situation in the other bath, and Ceruleas and Alex overheard the situation. When they got out, Alex offered to help her by letting her stay at the guild, maybe talking a situation with Z on it. In which he agreed to when they got there. After Twilight left to get some things, Alex had gone to straighten out the room for them both. But as that happened, and with Twilight done packing, both had at the same time, thought the same thing:

Alex blinked as he stiffened up, "OH MY GOSH! I JUST ASKED A GIRL TO LIVE WITH ME!"

Twilight stood up and straightened stiff as a board n her old room, as it suddenly dawned on her, 'OH MY GOSH! I JUST AGREED TO LIVE WITH A BOY!'

Now

Alex gulped nervously as he tried to break the silence in the room. "So... The room is uh... Small but cozy," Alex said trying to hide his embarrassment. 'What is happening!? I'm in some kind of romantic comedy story,' he thought in alarm as his mind raced with the new situation he was in, 'I'm sharing a room, with an incredibly attractive girl who knows I'm from another world, and she's okay with it! The fact that there's a girl in my room is mind blowing! What if I say the wrong thing and she doesn't want to see me anymore!?'

"Yes... It's very nice even for living quarters for one," Twilight replied shyly as she hid her blushing face, "You and Ceruleas were very lucky to take this room before the other rooms were occupied." She began to play with a lock of her hair out of habit. 'This is beyond all logical reasoning! I am currently in the same room with a person from a whole other Earth,' Twilight thought in alarm at her present dilemma, 'I should be asking him so many questions about his world but awkward atmosphere is too much! None of the books I've read have covered how to talk to a boy alone in his room! What should I do!?'

As the two teens continued to act shy around the other, Ceruleas watched the two as he finished the fish that was in his mouth. Seeing what the two were feeling for each other, the little dragon smiled while blushing in amusement, "Aren't you two so cute," he said in a mocking tone, "You two in luuuuv?"

The moment Ceruleas said that, the two teens tensed up from his words. "Just because we're living together, doesn't mean we're- we're- we're that," Alex exclaimed trying to deny the accusation.

"Alex is correct," Twilight added, "We met only a few days ago! We- We should get to bed! We have to be up early to be ready to have a good breakfast and for the early rush for jobs!"

"Twilight's right! Great idea," Alex agreed, "We should get some sleep!"

The two immediately laid down on the benches in order to sleep. "Good night Twilight. Good night Ceruleas," Alex said.

"Good night Alex. Good night Ceruleas," Twilight replied, "Pleasant dreams."

As the two teens closed their eyes, Ceruleas continued to sit on the table looking at the two. He smiled mischievously at this new turn of events. 'Oh yeah,' he thought to himself, 'These two are falling hard for each other.'

Later

The room was now silent as moon light poured into the room. Ceruleas slept peacefully on the table with fishbones around him along with some of Twilight's things in a bag.

As Alex lay on the bench facing the back of it, Alex was far from asleep. 'I'm in a room with a girl who is asleep right across from me,' Alex thought as he glimpsed over at Twilight sleeping, 'Oh man... I never thought this would happen. I thought having girls who were friends like Sakura, Khanni, and Nodoka was a miracle back on Earth! But to have four new girls want to party with me and one of them is sleeping across from me!? I mean, we're not dating or anything, and I would never do something evil to a girl! But is this really happening!?'

As Alex continued to try and handle these thoughts, Twilight was going through something similar as well as she lay awake. 'Why can I not sleep,' she asked herself, 'Using a calm and steady breathing technique should have put me to sleep by now. Is sleeping in the same room as Alex really that exci- Er uh new to me?' Twilight glimpsed over her shoulder for a second and assumed Alex was asleep as well. 'He would never do something malicious as attack a sleeping person,' Twilight tried to rationalize her feelings, 'True that the others and I just met him, but he seems like a nice person. He saved me and did not ask for a single thing in return. If anything, he is probably one of the most trust worthy people I've ever met.'

But both thought the same thing as they were wide awake but hiding it, 'SO WHY CAN I NOT SLEEP!?'

Ceruleas though, smirked as he cracked an eye, as he looked at one another, 'These two are so in luuvvv with each other.'

Next Chapter: Magic is In the Air; From Dusk to Sun-Dawn