The walk from Aqualentis Lake back to Toadstool Town was you guessed it, uneventful. This was convenient, because I was carrying Lady White Heart in my arms on the way. Sure, she was rude and abrasive the first time we met, but A. She did save my ass and B. She is the CPU of Lowee, presumably. I think both of those factors outweigh my bias a slight bit.

Speaking of weight, she didn't even feel that heavy. I'm not sure if it's because she's naturally small (She's petite in general), the adrenaline from the whole WhaleKing incident or my running theory that I finally earned some points in Strength, but she really didn't feel that heavy.

Of course, by the time I got back to Toadstool Town I was tired. Walking through the town with her in my arms gave me some funny and disturbed looks, but nobody tried to stop me. I think the image of an early 20s guy carrying a girl who looks to be 13-14 at best is a smidgen disturbing to say the least.

Making it back to the hostel finally, I placed the passed out CPU on one of the chairs and headed to the front desk.

"Hey, so I know this is kind of weird, but…" I rubbed my hand on the back of my head. "Can you make sure that girl I brought in is alright while I do some errands? I'd rent a bed for her but I need to turn in some Quests first."

The clerk gave a shrug. "Sure, sure. Don't take too long, though."

Needless to say I don't think she was understanding as much as she was apathetic to anything that wouldn't get her fired. I'll take it, though.

Taking a brisk walk back through the front door and back into the crisp chill of Toadstool Town, I headed to the Guild, as I said I would. This finally gave me some time to think after this whole incident. The hell am I going to ask her? Why she saved me in the first place? The whole passing out thing? I wonder if she's going through something right now…

Heading into the guild, I turned in all my quests and got the subsequent rewards. Thankfully the Lord Lard quest acquired me a cool 5 Healing Potions, meaning that I didn't need to buy any at the store, hopefully.

Still, I had some time on me. I checked my profile.

Name: Koei Tech

Occupation: Adventurer

Class: Spellblade (Novice)

Level: 7

Guess the margins for levelling up ramp up quite a bit. Either that or White Heart stole my kill. Oh well, better than dead. Best head to the store before the lass wakes up anyway.

Quickening my pace as I headed to the nearby general store, I did wonder what White Heart would think of me carrying her the mile or so back from Aqualentis Lake. If I was her I'd probably punch me in the face and say I didn't need help. That's me, though. I'm not exactly as people say, "normal."

Heading into the general store, I decided to check my Credit balance and-

Welcome back Koei! You have: 7500 Credits in your account!

Damn! That's over double what I earned yesterday! Then again, the Lord Lard probably helped a lot with that. Still, priorities. Of course I bought a cheap digital watch (Finally, I can tell the time! It only took two days!), a change of clothes (Granted, some simple Lowee branded ones. Nothing fancy.) and a few luxuries (Roughly translates to another set of beer.)

Surprisingly, my Credit balance remained relatively intact, only spending 1500 Credits total. I am a very frugal person when I want to be. I took my backpack out of my Inventory, I placed my new Lowee wear and alcohol in and equipped my watch before taking a look. 2pm, huh. Wasn't it 10 when I left?

Time flies when you're nearly dying daily!

Returning to the Hostel, White Heart was still sadly out. Still, I had to make sure she was alright before I could rest. Buying two beds, I hefted her off of the chair and headed to the room.

Gently placing her on the bed, I sat and waited for her to wake up. And waited. And waited. Annnnd waited. How long has it been?

2:20pm? I believe the walk from the general store to the hostel was about 10 minutes so…

Did I mention I was impatient? Ah fuck it, maybe a cup of tea will help. Slapping on the kettle and preparing my cup, I did have time to contemplate my line of questioning. Do I go directly, asking why the hell she was literally throwing herself into ice lakes to save some weirdo who didn't even believe in her? Trying to be politely curious certainly didn't work out, but going for a second attempt couldn't hurt, right?

Then again, she did seem to have a similar attitude to me. Non-conversational, doesn't want to burden others with their problems, possibly putting too much pressure on herself…

I may or may not be projecting at this point. Hey, my personal experiences might help someone for once! Holy shit!

Still, I had to be careful. This was a CPU I would be talking to. I pray my unwavering politeness wouldn't well, falter. Lest I be executed for treason or some shit.

I mean she can already kick my ass, even if she was shorter than me. Not really surprising, but it did mean I had to give it 120%. Fuck, I needed that cup of tea now.

Taking a long sip, I took a calming breath. I was overthinking this. I always overthink things. Borderline paranoia. It's not like she'll kill me if I do manage to fuck this up. Maybe a shower would help.

One Steamy Shower Scene Later

You're welcome readers!

-A Certain Purple Pudding Lover

Huh, I just felt a disturbance. I wonder if that's related to these new clothes I'm wearing. Whatever. Now I have to find the nearest washing machine. This hostel already has most of the bare essentials, but a laundromat would be nice too.

Stepping out of the shower room, I looked around for my bag, only to have the reason why I took a shower in the first place be standing in front of the door.

"Afternoon, Lady White Heart." I said, attempting to remain calm despite the surprise. Her face was unreadable, giving me that same, blank expression. Maybe I should start calling this form of her Blank.

"I really don't care for that name outside of official diplomacy. Call me Blanc, please." She said, in a blunt, yet surprisingly polite tone. Wait, Blanc?

"I'm Koei. Koei Tech. A pleasure to mee- Wait did you say Blanc? Like the French word for white?" I took a moment to process that absolutely absurd name before blinking.

"Is there something wrong?" Blanc tilted her head. Okay, her politeness is disturbing. I expected her to call me a twat and rub lemons in my eyes at this point. Ah well, time to bite the bullet.

"I don't mean to be rude, Lady Blanc," I think I saw her eye twitch when I said Lady Blanc. "But why are you being so much more… polite?"

"Stress," Was all I got. Ah, there's the anti-social Blanc I barely knew!

"I see." I replied, placing my dirt and generic clothes down on the floor. This was going to be a long conversation. "You sure you're alright, though? You did mention this morning passing out on your job. And now that I know your identity, it worries me slightly about what you do in particular." I tried to sound concerned without sounding desperate to help. She needs to accept this on her own.

"It shouldn't be any of your concern, Koei. As the CPU of Lowee, I put the safety of all my citizens above all else. Even milk first weirdos like you." Ah, there's the backhanded compliments!

"Taste in tea aside," I brush off the insult as I am weird. "Shouldn't you have at least some safety for yourself? I know that the Console Wars involve gathering Shares, but surely you can take a day or two off to stop yourself from passing out like you did again."

Blanc's unreadable face became a readable glare. "No. I have to keep working."

I suppose it wasn't going to be easy. "Why, then? Why push yourself to your limit and end up passing out every day?"

Underneath her jacket, I could hear a fist clench. "Because I do what I do for the safety of Lowee. Nothing else in my life matters if even a single citizen is hurt because of my lack of action. And I won't have some tea drinking, spellblade using, other-dimensional fuckbag tell me otherwise. I almost regret saving your incompetent ass because you're not even a real citizen of Lowee, you just happened to spawn here! Now why don't you go fuck off back to your own dimension and DIE?!"

Blanc proceeded to storm out of the room, slamming the door hard. I stood there for a few moments, going over the conversation. Did I overstep my bounds? Was I too insistent on her taking a break?

… What did she mean about other-dimensional fuckbag?

A/N: Hello again, Hclegend here! Bit of a short chapter for today. I did say I wanted to slow down a bit, but the buildup to the conversation and reveal that Blanc knows who Koei is was eating away at me. Consider this "Chapter 4 Part 1" rather than a full chapter in of itself.

Granted I write this story as a series of disconnected scenes with an overlying plot rather than an actual story. Also, first fourth wall break! *ding!*

Not much Neptune love yet, but she'll turn up. She's the main character of the franchise after all!

Speaking of, if you're wondering at what point this story takes place in and why the lack of other CPUs... Well, we're in the midst of the Console War! That's my entire explanation! Hurray for Word of God!