When the two adventurers arrived back at the village, they were met with a cheering welcoming party, glad that their hopes about the adventurers were confirmed.
"Congratulations on defeating Timitt!" The village elder said. "But weren't there three of you this morning?"
"Yeah. One of us was defeated while fighting." Wrottzen replied.
"That's nothing to worry about." The Elder replied, "Adventurers simply revive at the Cathedral."
"He's right, remember those PKers!" May said excitedly. "We have to contact Bojohn and tell him what happened!"
Activating the telepathic link, Wrottzen called Bojohn and said, "Buddy, you there?"
The following seconds were tensed before hearing Bojohn's reply of "Yeah, I'm here but where are you?"
"Thank goodness you're OK. May and I are back in the village. We defeated Timitt the Valley Lord!"
"That's great man but what do we do now?" Bojohn asked. "I'm all the way back here in Syr and it'll take me a couple of weeks to get back to the village, maybe longer since I don't have you two with me."
"We'll just have to make do with this situation." Wrottzen replied. "Gather as much information and healing items as you can before heading back toward us. Once you're here, we'll continue to Hudson."
"OK. I'll have a lot to tell you when I get there! I'll get everything together tomorrow and set out right afterword."
"Great! We can't wait to see you. Contact us if you need anything."
Immediately after Wrottzen hung up, May asked, "Is he OK?"
"Yup Bojohn's fine. He said he'd be joining us in a couple of weeks."
"That is great news!" The village elder said, "We will plan a feast for his arrival. Until then you two are welcome to stay in our village."
"Thank you Elder." Wrottzen replied. "We will accept your generous offer. Now if you don't mind it's getting late and it has been a LONG day."
"Of course, of course. Don't let an old man keep you. Rest and relax, you deserve it."
Wrottzen picked May up once again and went to their rooms.
"Thank you for carrying me." May said once comfortable in her room.
"You were injured." Wrottzen replied, "I didn't have a choice."
"Two weeks is a long time to wait for Bojohn. What are we going to do until he arrives?"
"I don't know what we'll be doing everyday but I was thinking tomorrow we could both experiment with different builds. Maybe get you used to a Magic Staff and myself used to a Bow, in case we ever need to do something like this again."
"Tomorrow?" May whined.
"Yes. Is there a problem with tomorrow?"
"It's just we've been traveling and fighting nonstop for nearly two weeks now. After yesterday, I don't know how much more I can take."
"It'll be fine." Wrottzen said, patting his teammate on the back. "I know that the danger seems real, heck it was real enough to shake me a little bit too, but just remember: It's still a game. We can still be revived and fight again, Bojohn is proof of that."
"OK, but do we still have to leave the village tomorrow?"
"I guess we don't have to rush things." Wrottzen replied, relenting to his comrade's wishes. "How about we just go find the equipment tomorrow morning, and then we can do whatever you want in the afternoon. Deal?"
"Deal." May said.
"Good. Now what would cheer you up the most tomorrow?"
"Hmmm" May thought for a moment before replying, "Well…There is one thing I can think of, but you probably wouldn't go for it…"
"I said whatever you wanted and I meant it. Now what is it?"
"Whenever I got stressed about things IRL, I used to get my friends together and we'd have a big girl's night."
"Girl's… night?" Wrottzen replied. "I'm sure I can find some villagers who would be happy to have a girl's night with-"
"No!" She said firmly. "Just you. You're the only one who understands what I'm going through right now."
"Yeah… But-"
"You're as close as I can get to an IRL girl and you said whatever I wanted, or are you a man that backs out of his word?"
"But… Fine." He relented. "We'll have a girl's night."
"Thank You!" May said, joyously hugging the Guardian. "You don't know how happy you've made me."
"Yeah, well get some rest." Wrottzen replied nervously, "You don't want to be tuckered out for girl's night."
"Same to you, OK?"
"OK." He replied, walking toward the door. "Night."
The next morning the two adventurers walked around town, getting hushed stares and murmurs as they went.
"What's up with everyone today?" Wrottzen asked. "I thought they knew that a couple of adventurers were in town."
"Word probably spread about our victory over Timitt." May replied, "We're stars in this village now, we'll have to get used to that."
"The hero worshipping stares I can adjust to, but I don't think I'll ever get used to the way some of these guys are looking at me."
"You're an attractive woman who just saved their town, of course they're going to leer a little bit. Wouldn't you?"
"True, true." Wrottzen agreed before the two parted ways to weapons stands on opposite sides of the road.
"H-Hello Miss!" The young cart owner stammered. "What can I help you with?"
"I'm looking for a bow and a few arrows, nothing too fancy, nothing too shoddy though either. Do you have anything like that available?" Wrottzen asked.
"Of course!" He replied quickly and pulled out two bows. "These are a couple of our best models. The one on your right is a longbow, great for sniping opponents from a distance. The one on your left is a shortbow, they lose a little range compared to their longbow counterpart but they are much easier to handle and transport."
"Sounds like the shortbow is the one for me." Wrottzen declared, "Can I handle it to see if I like the feel?"
"Of course!"
As Wrottzen inspected the bow and put it through the motions, the cart owner began to make small talk.
"You and your friend are the talk of the town you know."
"I've noticed." Wrottzen replied off-handedly.
"I heard that the whole village will be celebrating your victory once your friend returns. Two weeks is a long time to wait for a celebration."
"I get what you're saying. I would have liked to have the celebration the night after but we have to wait for Bojohn."
"This Bojohn… Is he your boyfriend?"
"Nah just a friend." The adventurer said before handing back the bow. "I like the feel of it but it's a little more than I'd like to spend."
"Interesting…" The owner murmured before getting back to business. "I can take off about 1,000 Gold but not a cent more."
"If that's the case, I think I'll take it."
"Very good! Very good!" The owner replied before handing Wrottzen the bow. "I hope you'll come again soon!"
On the other side of the street, May was just finishing up her transaction as well.
"What'd ya get?" Wrottzen asked.
"Just an ordinary Oak Staff. It's not that powerful but it'll get me through the motions. You?"
"I got a shortbow and a few arrows." Wrottzen replied, showing his comrade the new weapon.
"Cool, but what's this?" She said, gesturing to a note that had been tied to the bow.
"I don't know." Wrottzen replied before untying the note and reading it aloud. "Miss Adventurer, thank you for your patronage. I wanted to write this note to tell you what my mouth could not. Your beauty knows no bounds and your crimson hair waves behind you like the petals of a pristine rose, which you are. If it would so please you, would you allow this humble cart owner to escort you to the feast?"
Wrottzen's eyes went wide in disbelief while May simply laughed hysterically. Looking back at the politely waving cart owner, all Wrottzen could manage was a blank wave back before returning to the rooms. He was just about to enter his room when May took him by the arm and said, "It's time for Girl's night remember?"
What did I do to deserve this? Wrottzen thought before resigning himself to his fate.
The two entered May's room and took a seat before Wrottzen asked, "What do you do at a Girl's night? I'm not really experienced with this sort of thing."
"Well it's mostly a lot of talking, so let's start off simple." May said, "I'll brush your hair while you tell me a little about yourself. We've been traveling together for half a month and I know next to nothing about you."
As May took out a brush and began stroking it through Wrottzen's hair he asked, "Where should I start?"
"Anywhere! How about with your username. How did you come up with the name Wrottzen?"
"Let's see… I didn't want to use my real name but I wanted something cool. Bojohn just modified the name of a TV character for his, but I simply took the word 'rotten' and added a couple of letters, then Boom. Wrottzen is born."
"That's creative." May said, "All I did was use the month I was born."
"That's just fine too." Wrottzen replied. "Wasn't it the end of May when we got stuck in here? How old did you turn?"
"I just turned 19. I'm finishing up my senior year of highschool." May admitted. "What about you? When's your birthday?"
"Not until September. I'll be turning 20 and I'm just finishing up my freshman year of college."
"Cool, we're about the same age!" May said, before presenting Wrottzen with the brush, "I did you, now you do me."
Taking the brush, Wrottzen replied, "I could make a dirty joke right now but I'll hold back."
"Oh yeah, just like you want to get dirty with that cart owner."
"Shut up!" Wrottzen said, face turning red. "That was a misunderstanding."
"So, do you have anyone special waiting for you on the other side?" May asked, as the brush began to go through her hair.
"Just my family."
"No girlfriend?"
"I haven't had a girlfriend in all of my 19 years on Earth." He admitted. "A buddy of mine had a saying: 'There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but I'm in the desert, alone'"
"That's awful!"
"It's not that bad. In life there are just some people who draw the short end of the stick. I drew the short end of the love stick." Quickly changing the subject, Wrottzen asked, "How about you? You've probably had tons of boyfriends."
"No, only a couple, but none at the moment." May said. "I get so shy that I don't know how to talk around guys."
"Then what about me?" Wrottzen asked, "I'm a guy, what makes you so comfortable around me?"
"My head knows you're a guy, but I don't think my body can get past these mounds on your chest."
"Gah!" Wrottzen cried, dropping the brush, startled at May's quick turn and chest grab.
"Oooo. You're sensitive there." She smiled evily.
Grabbing a pillow off the nearby bed, Wrottzen cried, "Cut it Out!" and struck her companion away.
"Oh is that how you want to play?" May replied, grabbing a seat cushion to use in lue of a pillow.
"Bring it on Sister!" Wrottzen said, taunting May into attacking.
Soon, any worries the two may have had drifted away, replaced only with laughing and horseplay until the dead of night, when the two fell to the floor and went to sleep, exhausted.
AN: Hey guys! A little lighter chapter this time around(We needed it after the Timitt fight) and some character development. Hopefully you all enjoyed! Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts.
