Hello, everybody. DScribbleF is here with Chapter 4 for all of you. Sorry this update took longer than the other chapters, but you will not believe the week I just had. That International Baccalaureate Physics Standard Level exam was especially exhausting. Yes, it was as painful as it sounds. All I can say is may the Almighty bless circular motion and electrical circuits and may electromagnetic fields forever burn in agony.

Anyway, be grateful I managed to get this chapter out today. Until the summer begins, updates will probably become sparse, so if nothing happens to this story until mid-June, don't worry. I'm just really, really busy. Like, I can't even overstate how busy I will be.

But enough of the bad stuff. There's another great chapter for you to read in just a few lines, which brings into question why I'm still talking, preventing you from reading it. As I promised, Michael reaches Stornway and a new character is going to be introduced at the end.

Also, I just realized that I forgot to put the disclaimer in the last few chapters. I hope I don't get sued. Just in case...

Dragon Quest IX is property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.

What I do own are the characters that I make up, such as Michael and the new person at the end.

And now, time for reviews. I know I should stop stalling, but I like talking to you. See, now you feel guilty. Anyway, the reviews:

SodaPOP20: I'm happy that you enjoy the story so far.

Luckenhaft: You, sir, have earned my respect. And yes, that joke did end horribly. That doesn't stop it from being funny. Also, you'll see how things work out. It will be a little different from how things would normally work. I'll explain more at the end.

princessdaisy01: Fine! Here's the next chapter. Sorry to keep you waiting, your majesty. I hope this one is easier for you to read.

Finally, the moment we have all been waiting for: The story! (Mass applause erupts throughout the universe)


Act 1 - Part 3: Social Problems

It was a peaceful afternoon in Western Stornway. The sun was high in the sky and the sounds of nature could be clearly heard. A Hammerhood and a She-Slime were debating whether that one cloud looked like a ball of cotton. Nearby, a Funghoul was picking flowers for his mid-afternoon snack.

Then we showed up.

"So help the Almighty, Stella!" I gasped. "If you ever fly off without me a third time, I will grab you out of the air and stuff you into my bag!" I had finally managed to catch up with Stella after she had abandoned me in the mountain pass, three miles away. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to get back to the Observatory as fast as possible. Don't you?" replied Stella sarcastically.

"Yes, but I also want to get there while still being able to breathe," I countered.

"Whatever," Stella replied, clearly not caring. "Now let's go already. The Benevolessence isn't going to collect itself, you know."

"Fine. Whatever. I don't care," I said, pinching my nose in annoyance.

And on that happy note, we walked through the main gates and entered the city. The first thing I saw when we entered was a giant stone palace that commanded everyone's attention from the back of the city. Then there was the bustling marketplace with a number of stores, each filled with dozens of customers. Finally, something to my left caught my attention. There, outside of an inn, was Erinn and Patty. I would have gone to greet them, but they were talking with each other, and I didn't want to interrupt.

"Hey, Erinn, what's up?" I heard Patty ask Erinn. "Not nervous, are you, honey?"

From how intensely Erinn seemed to be studying the cobblestone below, it seemed she was. "I'm afraid so," she admitted. "I just can't see how a young girl like me can suddenly take over such a big and important inn. And surely everyone else will be thinking exactly the same thing…"

"Sure, maybe they will," Patty agreed, lifting up Erinn's chin so that she had to look at her. "But I trust my instincts – and you should, too!" I couldn't tell if Patty meant Erinn should trust her instincts, or Patty's instincts. "I know you've got what it takes, Erinn. Seriously, just quit worrying!"

Feeling a little better, Erinn simply replied, "If you say so."

Patty smiled, obviously pleased with her motivational tactics. "Now, time to introduce you to your new colleagues!" she announced, opening the door and practically shoving Erinn through it. "Hey, guys! I'm back! And I've brought a big, shiny ray of hope with me!" she called after her, before entering herself.

"This should be good for a laugh," Stella declared from in front of me. I almost lunged for her neck at that point, but there were people around, and I didn't want to look like a crazy man who was strangling air. That, and I needed her to take me back to the Observatory. "Come on, let's follow them in there and see how Erinn gets on." She glided over to the inn and quickly entered through the open door. I soon followed her, but not before taking about thirty deep breaths.

Inside, Erinn and Patty were standing before a table in the center of the room. Four others were in the room as well. After I quietly closed the door, a redheaded woman began speaking. "Honestly, Patty, what were you thinking?" By how Erinn was staring at the floor, I sensed that the effects of Patty's motivational speech had worn off. "This slip of a girl's going to run the inn, is she?" the redhead continued. "We're on the brink of closing as it is. Are you trying to finish us off?"

"Jeez, Ginny, calm down, will ya?" Patty asked. "D'you think I'd pick just any young thing off the street to run this place? Erinn here has innkeeping in her blood. She'll have us back on track before you can say 'welcome'!"

Ginny, not entirely convinced, continued doubting. "Didn't you say the same thing about me when you brought me here? And didn't you say you were going to find 'the one guy who can save this place for certain'? No offence, but I'm not too convinced this is the 'guy' you were talking about."

"Please, just give me a chance!" Erinn suddenly blurted out, taking everyone by surprise. "You won't find anyone who'll work harder than me. And I learnt all there is to know about innkeeping from my father!" This caught Ginny's interest.

"So your father was an innkeeper too, was he?" she asked. Erinn nodded. "And I suppose you're here to make your daddy proud, hm? Well, that's very admirable, but running an inn isn't as easy as showing up and promising to try hard, you know. And you can talk all you like about how much your father taught you, but we don't even know who your father was."

Patty gave Erinn a knowing smile. "There it is!" she said. "The challenge we've been waiting for. Now's the time to show her, honey!"

Erinn looked at Patty, confused. "Um…show what?" Then realization flashed across her eyes. "Oh! You mean this?" she said, bending down and pulling Edwinn's giant trophy out of her bag (I felt my bag become envious immediately).

To say that that had shocked Ginny and the other three would have been an understatement. "W-wait!" Ginny stuttered. "That trophy…it's…!"

Patty nodded with a smug smile on her face. "It sure is!" Patty said proudly. "Now tell me you doubt how good he was! And Erinn here shares the same Inncredible blood! Not bad, huh?" she asked.

What Patty got in response to her question made me laugh for some reason: Ginny and the others immediately dropped to the floor and began bowing towards Erinn. "Th-the Inncredible Inntertainer's daughter…oh…oh, my…!" Ginny said, clearly humbled.

Erinn just stood there, rather unsure on what to do. "Um, it's okay, really. There's no need to bow or scrape or anything."

Deciding I should make my presence known at this point, I went over to talk with Patty and Erinn. "Oh, Michael!" Erinn exclaimed, surprised to see me. "You came and visited just like you said you would! And so soon!" She looked down towards the floor again. "I'm afraid we've only just arrived ourselves, though. We're not quite ready to take any guests yet."

Patty turned to her. "Hey don't sweat it, sweetie. I'm sure Michael didn't come here to stay." Facing me, she continued. "I bet you came here 'cause you were worried about Erinn, huh? You wanted to see how she was getting along, right?"

"Of course," I replied. "I just happened to be passing through, and I wanted to make sure you were all right. After all, you helped me when I was in trouble and now I owe you big."

Erinn blushed. "It was nothing, really. Anyone would have done the same." I smiled, but didn't argue with her.

After a moment, Patty looked to me. "So, you're traveling all on your lonesome, huh, Michael?" I couldn't really deny that fact – Stella was invisible to her. "That sure is risky, honey. Why don't you hang around here for a while till the inn's open? Come by later and I bet I'll be able to hook you up with someone who could help you out, okay?"

"That would be great," I said. "When will the inn be open?"

Patty and Erinn just smiled at each other with a knowing look in their eyes. "Next time you visit, Michael," Erinn answered. "Now, go look around town while we get things set up."

I thanked them both, albeit a little concerned about how they just acted. As I left the inn, the six employees began to prepare the inn for guests, and I smiled as the door closed behind me.

As I walked away from the inn, Stella appeared in front of me. "'So, you're traveling all on your lonesome, huh, Michael?'" Stella mocked, clearly offended that I failed to mention her to Patty.

My smile grew at her ridiculousness. "You know they can't see you, Stella. It would be pointless and rather awkward to say that I had a companion already."

"Yeah? Well, don't expect any favors from me in the future," she retorted, looking away from me as I walked past. Needless to say, I was in a pretty good mood as I walked through the streets of Stornway.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the citizens of Stornway didn't share my current feeling towards the day. In fact, everyone seemed rather tense and a feeling of nervousness and concern permeated the crowds. Almost everyone had a sword or some other kind of weapon on their body, and, on several occasions, random people recommended that I leave Stornway immediately and to take care when traveling outside the city.

Curious to find out what was wrong, Stella and I hurried over to the message board that sat in the middle of town. When we reached the board, we found a large, official-looking notice tacked to it. I read what it said.

A mysterious knight in black armor is terrorizing our town. If anyone is brave enough to fight him, come to the castle. Anyone will do.

- King Schott of Stornway

"Sounds fun. What do you think?" I asked Stella.

"Sounds scary to me," she replied.

"That's really too bad, actually, because that's what we're going to do," I declared.

Ignoring Stella's various gestures of disagreement, I turned away from the sign and immediately ran into someone who was walking by, knocking me to the ground. Regaining use of my eyes, I saw that I had run into a seventeen-year-old girl with blinding red hair and an equally red dress. She had a wooden wand strapped over her shoulder.

I quickly got up and tried to apologize and offer her help off the ground, but she was already up and hurrying through the crowds towards the front half of the city. "What's her problem?" asked Stella. "She comes out of nowhere, knocks you down, and then doesn't even stop to see if you are okay! Some people are so rude!"

"I'm sure she had her reasons, Stella," I said, still staring at where the mysterious red-head had disappeared into the crowd. "Now let's hurry to the castle."

As we made to enter the palace gates, we were suddenly stopped by the guards who stood post. "State your business, wanderer!" one of them barked at me.

"I heard you had a little problem with a mysterious knight, and I decided to help you guys out," I explained.

"Ah!" said the guard. "Well, in that case, you'd better go inside the castle and find out more about it."

"Thanks," I said, walking past and entering the castle.

Once inside, my mind was blown away by the amazing interior: There was gold and thick carpeting everywhere. Even Stella seemed slightly impressed, whistling. "Now this is stellar!" she exclaimed. "I've definitely got more ideas for jazzing up the Starflight now!" It figures that was where her mind went to first.

Looking around, I found a staircase that led upstairs. "The throne room must be up there," I said. "Let's go, Stella." I headed up the stairs, but stopped halfway when I realized that someone wasn't following me. Turning around, I saw Stella was still fawning over the hundreds of valuables around the palace. She was clearly more impressed than I thought. Making sure there was absolutely no one in the general vicinity of us, I quickly ran down the stairs, grabbed Stella's arm, and pulled her up the stairs. She was clearly unhappy to have been torn away from the shiny things, but she didn't say anything about it.

At the top of the stairs, there was a second floor (much to no one's surprise) where a large door stood ajar. Through it was another large room. At the far end, on a raised platform, stood two thrones. The left one was empty, but, in the right one, sat a green-robed man with blond hair, a bushy beard and mustache, and a golden crown. He was clearly King Schott of Stornway. He was in a heated argument with a brown-haired young woman in a blue dress and a diadem.

"Och, Simona!" the king said. "How many more times do I have to tell you? You're not to go and see him!"

"And how many times do I have to tell you, Father?" Simona countered. "The Wight Knight keeps coming to town because he's looking for me! Don't you see? If I go to him, then everyone in Stornway can go about their lives in peace again!" I was surprised how similar the way the two royals spoke was to how the people on the streets spoke.

"You're being ridiculous, lassie!" the king retorted. "Do I look like the kind of man who'd sacrifice my daughter to that nefarious knight?"

"But, Father-!" Simona began to protest, but the King finally noticed I was standing by the door.

"Wheesht!" he told his daughter. "We have visitors. No more of your blethering! You there, approach the throne!" I walked across the room, trying to pretend that I didn't hear anything that they just said, and bowed in front of King Scott's throne. "I am King Schott, master of this castle, and monarch of Stornway. Did you come here because of the sign down in the town there?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," I answered.

"You did?" Schott exclaimed. "So you're going to help us defeat this Wight Knight character?" Again, I said yes. "Crivvens!" he exclaimed, again. "You want to take up the challenge to defeat the Wight Knight? Tell me your name!"

"I am Michael, Your Majesty."

"Well then," the King began to explain, "you'd better listen to what I have to say. Obviously, I have a reason for asking a passer-through to defeat this no-good knight." He looked lovingly at his daughter. "You see, that paddock only came and infiltrated my castle to try and snatch away my daughter!" Looking back at me, he continued. "He's had the nerve to demand that she be delivered to him at Loch Storn by a certain time. I'm convinced that it's some kind of fiendish trap. I reckon he's trying to weaken my castle's defenses by having me send my soldiers out to the loch with her. Then he'll attack! That's why I want to employ some likely lad – like your good self – instead."

Simona looked appalled at the thought. "Och, Father!" she cried out. "You can't possibly ask a stranger who's just passing through the place to do such a thing!"

Schott looked at her with a look that rivaled my own. "Wheesht!" he said. "I will not let that ruffian get the better of me!"

Simona looked at the floor in defeat. "It's very sad, Father…very sad that you won't even slightly consider my feelings on this." With that, she turned and ran out of the room, with the three of us watching her go, which made me realize that Stella was being unusually quiet now. She was probably scared of the Wight Knight.

After an awkward silence, Schott spoke again. "…Ahem. Sorry about that. My lass likes to do the right thing, and she seems to think the right thing is to go up there and meet him. Anyway, I'd be much obliged if you could away to Loch Storn and make sure he's not up to any trickery. Do you know how to get there?"

"Er…No, Your Majesty," I admitted.

"It's quite easy, actually," the king explained. "Once you leave Stornway, just head straight north until you cross the river. Loch Storn will be on the right. Now, be sure to give him a good thrashing if you find him, won't you? Just pummel the fiend into the ground!" I was shocked at the amount of hatred the king held for this Wight Knight, even if he did try to steal his daughter. The king, noticing the look on my face, calmed down a little. "Naturally, there'll be a braw reward waiting for you when you get back. I'm putting all my hopes on you!"

"I will try my best, sir. Worry not," I said, turning to make my leave, but the king stopped me for one last thing.

"You travel alone, is that correct?" he asked.

Glancing at Stella, I replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The king thought for a moment, then continued. "Now, I don't want to discourage you, but I feel that I should warn you that the Wight Knight has taken out dozens of my soldiers at once. I worry that you will have some difficulty facing him by yourself."

"What would you have me do, Your Majesty?" I asked, understanding his concern.

"That depends," he answered. "Are you mostly a physical or magical attacker?"

I thought about that for a moment. Being classified as a minstrel, I could use both physical and magical attacks. However, after reflecting upon it, I decided that I use my sword much more than I use my magic. "Physical," I answered.

"In that case, I would recommend that you find a magical attacker who would be willing to travel with you. I think a mage would do," the king decided. "Yes, I think that would be best."

A mage? Great. Now I have to go find someone who can use magic and is willing to risk their life. That should be so easy in a town of people who are scared half to death when the Wight Knight is mentioned. "As you wish, Your Majesty," I agreed, hiding all of my internal strife this will cause me.

"Good," the King said. "Well, with that out of the way, I feel a little better about this. Good luck to you." With that, he dismissed me.

When we were back outside the castle, and out of sight from everyone, Stella finally started talking again. "You heard the king. You need a mage if you're going to challenge the Wight Knight, and since we don't have one, we can't. Let's find someone else to help."

"Stella," I began to explain, "there is no one else to help. Everyone here as the same problem, and to solve it, we need to fight the Wight Knight, and to do that, we need to find a mage."

"Where are we going to find a mage is this place?" Stella asked. "It's not like there's a place where we can just go and find one. Oh, wait…"

When Stella said that, I remembered something important. "Patty!" I exclaimed, much to Stella's disappointment. "She said that if I ever needed someone to travel with, she was the person to ask."

"Fantastic," Stella said, emotionlessly. "Watch as I struggle to contain my excitement."

I ignored her. "But, will there be a mage there?" I thought out loud. "I mean, I don't even know if they're open yet. I guess there's only one way to find out. Come on, Stella. Let's head to Erinn's"

"Yay," she said, sulking. I smiled, and headed off towards the inn.


(No One's POV)

Five minutes after running into Michael, the red-headed girl entered the inn. Looking around the inn, which was surprisingly crowded for having re-opened five minutes ago, she hurried over to the front desk, where Patty was standing by herself with her back turned. Taking a deep breath, the redhead called her attention. "Hey, Patty."

Patty jumped and, having recognized the voice, quickly spun around. "Jessica, honey, is that ya?"

"Yeah," Jessica sighed.

"What are ya doing here?" Patty asked, now concerned for her friend. "Weren't ya traveling with those other guys, honey?"

"Yeah, I was," Jessica replied.

"Was?" Patty repeated. "As in, ya were, but aren't anymore?"

"Exactly."

"What happened, honey?" Patty asked, starting to get impatient with Jessica's lack of an explanation.

"Well," Jessica finally began, "they left me because they didn't like me."

"Why not?" Patty asked, really getting tired of this.

"They were afraid of...uh...my differences, just like everyone else," Jessica explained. "You should know this already."

Relieved that they were finally getting somewhere, Patty continued questioning Jessica. "Why would they be afraid of you?" Patty asked. "Ya can still use magic, just like all mag-" Patty stopped when she saw the annoyed look on Jessica's face. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm sure this must be difficult for you."

"It is," Jessica confirmed, also relieved that they were getting somewhere. "So that comes to why I'm here. If you couldn't tell, I have nowhere to go…again. So, do you have a room for me?"

"Of course, honey!" said Patty. "There will always be a room for ya here. How long d'you think you'll stay?"

Sighing, Jessica answered, "I'm thinking for…for a long time. I don't know what I want to do anymore, so I'm just going to stay here until I figure it out."

Patty gave her friend a concerned look and a room key. "Here ya go, Hon'," she said. "It's the same room as always. Ya stay as long as ya want, alright honey."

Forcing a smile, Jessica replied, "Thanks, Patty. Let's hope things get better."


Well, there you go. The fourth chapter of Michael's story. I hope it was a good one.

Also, here's our new character: Jessica. If you can't tell what her role in this story is going to be yet, I really can't help you. And that brings me to another thing. Now, I know that, when playing through the game normally, at this point, the hero gets all three of their party members at once. However, that is not how this story is going to work. Instead of pulling three brand new characters out of thin air, I'm going to stagger their appearances, which will give me time to actually get some characterization done. If you don't like that, and I don't know why you wouldn't, I'm sorry that's how I'm doing it.

As always, please point out any typos, errors, or inconsistencies that you find. I scoured this chapter for any, but, as always, I am only human.

If you enjoyed what you read, please follow, favorite, and review. It means a lot.

Until next time, whenever that may be, this has been DScribbleF.