This is getting really old, rewriting this story over and over. But this time is the final! With the help of Friita once more, and returning darling lastberri, we're gonna put an end to this adaption of the first Etrian Odyssey (and Untold) games once and for all! I'll refrain from adding author notes here on FFN, since it adds to word count. Notes, commentary, trivia, etc. are available on AO3.


Etria used to be nothing more than a small, peaceful town. It wasn't widely known amongst people, asides from rumors like a talented, soothing bartender, or a charismatic, influential leader whose management of the town is extremely efficient and reliable, those sort of rumors. However, it only began to gain traction when one day, a mysterious tree emerged in the center of the town, larger than Etria itself, and within its depths, a whole new world.

With new worlds, came new opportunities, new wonders, new careers - the age of exploration began almost as soon as the tree appeared.

Blacksmiths, scholars, cartographers, magicians, guild masters - adventurers.

Brave adventurers who seek not just the thrill of exploring this new, mysterious world, but fame, fortune, achievements, all the possible benefits to come.

It came with a price, however. Naturally, the mystery was well guarded. Various new species of monsters were discovered, along with undiscovered diseases and viruses, taking early adventurers down by surprise.

In the new age of exploration, many perished. Some were slain, some survived, some fell to illnesses, and some gave up completely.

Many things were accomplished, and many things were lost in despair. The cycle simply repeated itself, over and over. Adventurers die, adventurers live, adventurers come, and adventurers go. There was no end to this sudden boom of exploration, of adventuring. The deeper they managed to achieve, the longer the gap between each new discovery, and then, eventually, the newest information is forgotten, and their achievements reset back to zero.

It was an extremely slow process, one that kept being pushed back, despite all the results.

At this rate, did people really have any chance? Of reaching the end of this unknown labyrinth?

The Yggdrasil Labyrinth, they called it. An unknown world filled with nothing but danger, in which the goal of discovering every secret there was to hide, the dream of completely understanding the labyrinth itself - it was nothing but a hopeful dream, one that the most foolish of fools had.

It is an unconquerable labyrinth that no one had any hope of conquering, but everyone kept dreaming of.

And that very labyrinth, that unconquerable goal, will soon be defeated.

The future guild, the ones who have yet to gathered, the ones who will one day fulfill the dreams of many...

It is all part of a story that is about to unfold.

And it all began with one mysterious girl, who, out of nowhere, appeared in and settled within Etria.

This is the story of the Labyrinth's Cursemaker.

Let us welcome to the tale... Remilia the Hexer.


Standing by the entrance to the town's famous labyrinth, the job of a 'guard' was, needless to say, quite boring. Or, well, the more professional term would probably be 'tiring', but with no one around except one's own partner, there's really no risk, was there?

Either ways, the two guards currently in charge of, obviously, guarding the labyrinth's entrance, was having no luck entertaining themselves.

"...and so she says, 'have some pride! You're the soldier protecting us all, act like one!' and I think to myself," one ranted, "Lady! All I do and ever get to do is stand around here. Nothing ever really happens anymore. There's no pride to keep or show!"

The other soldier scoffed. "How silly. Your wife sure is some blind woman, if she thinks it's that simple."

"I know, right? Yapping all day, every day, about how I need to man up and be the man of the family." The first soldier sighed. "If things were more chaotic around here, maybe I'd have actual experience to back my position as a soldier."

"Haha, true. Don't say that out loud though," his friend said. "Don't want your words accidentally cursing Etria and bringing some kind of monster stampede or something. That'd be disastrous."

"Yeah, that'd be bad, wouldn't it?" The two laughed. "Maybe it'd be good excitement though."

"Hey, c'mon now, haha..."

The two straightened up when they felt a presence exit the labyrinth. Turning their heads, they saluted the person who just walked past them. "Thank you for your hard work!" they greeted together. When they received no response, the two looked up to see a strange, pale girl covered by the hood of her dark, gloomy cloak. She stared at them, then continued walking on her way.

Watching her leave, the two soldiers exchanged glances.

"We sure have some strange adventurers in Etria, don't we?"

"...I suppose."

The second soldier noticed the first soldier's hesitance. "What's wrong? She a friend?"

He shook his head. "No, it's just... I don't recognize her at all," the guard said. "Like... never seen her before. Did we... let someone that gloomy go into the labyrinth in the first place?"

His friend shuddered. "Hey, man, don't even begin with that. If they find out we messed up in keeping track of who we let through... heavens."

"Right... yeah, that'd definitely be an issue." Sighing, the soldier shoved the strange feeling he got asides. "Let's just pretend we're totally doing fine."

"Sure. ...I mean, we already do that all the time anyways."

"Hey, stop that."

Meanwhile, said strange girl didn't catch a single word from the two men she passed. Instead, she continued on her way, aimlessly, unsure of where she was heading towards in the first place. All she knew, however, was that she needed to find someone. Who exactly was her target, though? What did they look like, and where would she find that person?

She had no clue.

...admittedly, the girl could've used a lot more planning, but she had all the time, probably, so it wasn't like she was in a hurry.

Still, she had to work towards what she came to do, and so, the girl continued walking in a straight direction, coming to a stop at a crosswalk.

An aura of gloominess, depressing atmosphere, basically oozed from her. The tail end of her ragged cloak wavered around like shadowy tendrils, almost as if they were alive or made of some sort of crazy forbidden material. If that wasn't a clear giveaway for her class, the artifact wrapped around and hanging off her neck and chest was a dead giveaway - this girl was a Hexer.

Strange, yet powerful magic users, hexers relied on curses and forbidden techniques to weaken and eliminate their foes. They are one of the two classes in Etria that have quite the negative reputation, the other being Dark Hunters. Despite the usefulness that they provide, the ability to weaken one's opponents, many beginner adventurers tend to steer clear from hexers and dark hunters, and the same also went for powerful adventurers who grew cocky from their fame and strength.

One of the most eerie traits of hexers, however, are their lack of visible arms - that or they just couldn't be bothered to properly show their arms, hiding them beneath their depressingly dull cloaks. Rumors say that as a price for their black magic, their limbs are stolen away by the devil itself.

Some cases say your arms are taken, other cases say your legs are taken. Regardless of which, the belief is that you signed a contract with the devil for their powers, and thus you suffer from the price they desire.

Hexers are also known to have unnaturally pale skin. Whether this was actually a result of terrible health management, or another side effect of the contract with forbidden creatures, nobody ever really thought enough to question it. Hexers are dangerous, people became conditioned to believe.

Of course, none of this really fazed the girl. In fact, she didn't even know of any of that.

Her attire was purely just that - attire. She was a hexer, and that's all that she knew.

So what if people would avoid her?

...actually, now that she thought about it, some socialization could help her gather information.

The girl stopped walking and looked around. People everywhere were whispering to each other, sending small glances her way. Upon their eyes meeting, they'd quickly look away to avoid her line of sight, some even running off.

That... she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that.

But then, someone stopped in front of her. The cloaked girl looked upwards to see a beautiful woman just slightly taller than her, with hair a relaxing shade of brown, and a calming atmosphere emanating from her, in contrast to the smaller girl's suffocating aura.

"Hi there," the woman greeted. "I can't say I've seen you before. Are you new to Etria?" she asked.

How straightforward. Was this normal, for a citizen of this town to just up and approach a stranger and ask something like that?

"...mn," the smaller girl eventually voiced with a small nod, confirming the brunette's thoughts.

"I see. Can I ask for your name?" the woman then asked. "...that is, if you're lost or, well... yeah."

Lost? In this town? Even with this being her first time here, Etria seemed like such a simple place to navigate.

There's no way she'd be lost here, just what is the woman asking?

To that, she offered no response. "..."

...I see she's a shy one, the woman noted with a smile. That, or she's not one that trusts others. "I see. Well then... are you looking for something? A place? A person?"

That got a very slight, barely unnoticeable stir from the cloaked girl. The woman smiled as the smaller girl opened her mouth slightly.

"...town... leader," she muttered.

"The town leader. I see... town leader, huh?" The woman rubbed her chin. "Well, that's a bit vague, I guess, since Etria is really managed by the Radha as a whole. But!" She smiled and raised a finger. "If we're talking about Etria's leader, then it's gotta be that person... that person, you know? Radha's Chieftain, Visil! He's the one who really keeps Etria safe and sound, changing and adapting and everything."

The hexer seemed to recognize that name. If it showed, however, again, it was really brief and barely noticeable.

"But of course, I don't think you'll be able to meet him though. Unless he shows himself publicly, I hear hardly anyone's ever been able to arrange a meeting with him," the woman said. "You'd have to be a part of the Radha forces, or... well, you'd have to be a rather prominent explorer of the labyrinth." She sighed. "That's a terrible choice though. I'd suggest joining the Radha and hoping you get lucky..."

She paused, as the woman felt the hexer tug on her clothes.

"...labyrinth... explore," the girl said.

Blinking once, twice, the brunette eventually sighed, disappointed. "Oh, boy. I really should've kept my mouth shut," she muttered. As the girl let go of her clothes, she scratched her head. "Don't get me wrong, your methods are your methods, I'll respect that. But... honestly, becoming an adventurer is all sorts of dangerous. People take it for granted and underestimate the labyrinth, and they'll die, and leave behind those who loves them, those who cares for them, not thinking about how badly their deaths will affect those people... I hate it. I hate those sort of people."

The hexer continued to stare at her, almost as if she was thinking deeply about what the woman was saying.

In truth, she wasn't really sure what this had to do with her, however.

Sighing again, the brunette petted the hexer's cloaked head. "Oh well. I won't stop you if you think you can handle it. Just... make sure you be careful, alright?" Without waiting for a response, the woman turned away and pointed towards a rather shabby-looking building. "That there's the Adventurer's Guild. Or, uh, Explorer's Guild. It's where people go to for stuff relating to exploring the labyrinth," she explained.

Following her finger, the pale girl spotted it - a rather plain-looking building, with a banner depicting swords to symbolize power, she assumed.

"Two types of people go there - those who want to form their own teams and explore the labyrinth, and those who wants to hire others to help them explore the labyrinth." The woman sighed again for the who-knows-how-many time. "You go there, you make your own guild or find someone to hire. If you form your own group, you name it, pick someone to recruit, and you're all set to go," she said.

"...mn."

"Of course, that doesn't mean you'll be able to explore right away though," the woman added. "I believe you'll have to go to the Radha Hall and officially complete a test to prove yourself capable to them. You... can probably get more explanation from the guild when you go there, so I'll leave it at that."

"...okay." The hexer nodded and bowed slightly to the woman.

"...you're a polite one, huh? How cute." Smiling, the brunette leaned down and petted her head again. "Be safe now."

The hexer blinked. "...thank... you," she whispered, and walked off towards the building she was pointed to.

Watching her leave, the older woman smiled. "What a nice girl. If only..." she said, pausing, before sighing and shaking her head. "Such a young and adorable girl, becoming an explorer? How terrifying it is, this whole adventurer business... sheesh."


Ever since the Yggdrasil Labyrinth appeared in the midst of Etria, adventuring became one of its biggest passions for those who resided there, whether as visitors or as part of the community. Travelers from all around the world would come to Etria to explore the unknown, yearning to achieve greatness. The possible glory was like a honey trap, one that people simply could not resist, not while others had yet to conquer it.

And it really was foolish, how much they underestimate the dangers of the labyrinth. So many people had lost their lives, thrown away without a care and not knowing it'd be their end. But nobody looked at the negatives, they all stared fate in the face, dreaming of the positives that were mere illusions.

A certain girl in the Explorer's Guild agreed with this uncommon sentiment. It's simply alarming, how many people are led astray by their desires.

Yet, she was really not in any position to criticize anyone. After all, she herself was aiming to discover the secrets of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. Somewhere down the lane, she was sure to trip up and make a mistake, that was a possibility she considered.

Her reasons were different, however. That didn't matter though.

Rin Oriole of Etria, that was who she was, and one day, she'll discover what she was meant to search for!

...hopefully? The girl, standing behind her friends, sighed as her confidence scattered apart like a disoriented swarm of insects.

Noticing her sudden gloomy aura, one of her friends brought their hands up to her face, waving it around.

"Um. Hello? Heeeey? Rin. Riiiin Riinnn rinnnnn. Rinrinrin. ...rin-a-ding-dong rin-a-ding-ding-dong." (2)

"The hell are you saying? Stop that," another friend chastised the first one, swatting her hand down. "Are you feeling alright?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rin blinked as she was met with two concerned faces. (Well, one was concerned, the other seemed amused at their mishandling of her name.) "Oh. Um. It's... it's nothing," the orange haired girl replied.

"You sure? ...I mean, if you say so," the second friend said.

"Hey, hurry it up," two boys behind them, standing in front of a small table, called. "Don't get distracted, Valeria."

The first friend, a cute but mischievous-looking brunette with a sword and sheath in tow, grinned. "Awright, no rushy. Valeria Wren at your attention!" She put her attention back to them. "So, what do we have in plan?"

"Hey, this was your idea," one of the boys said, a bluenette with a larger sword than the brunette's.

"Good point. Then I should be the leader, right?" Valeria said.

"My ass, we're just saying you should be the one telling us the gist of our new party!" the second boy, a red haired boy similarly with a larger sword, yelled.

Sighing, Valeria shook her head like she was heavily disappointed. "You whippersnappers just don't get it. The one providing information in the party, is essentially the team leader, don't'cha think? It'd make sense to make me the leader, after all."

"Wh... whippersnappers?" Rin's second friend, another red haired person, but a girl with a shorter sword, muttered.

"Then what's your great plan, oh wonderful leader material?" the first boy asked.

Valeria grinned. "Glad you asked. You see, I've realized that before anything else, there is one crucial element that comes to forming a party... and that is the name!" she declared.

"...the name."

"That's right! If we want to become the very best like no one ever was, we'll have to come up with a god damn killer name for our guild!" the brunette explained. (3)

"And what name do you have in mind?" the red haired girl asked her friend.

"Good question, my dear Scarlet Ibis. And I have the perfect answer for that..." Valeria grinned. "Axyl! Sounds cool, eh?"

"Sounds stupid," the blue haired boy remarked, to her chagrin. "Something much cooler would be better. Something like... the Crusaders... yeah."

"Nah, that's even lamer," the red haired boy commented. "Let's go with something mysteriously confusing! Like, say, Plus Minus! That'll get people talking."

"The hell? You two have even worse ideas than mine," Valeria said.

Her friend, Scarlet, frowned. "C'mon, you guys. Is this really that important, like, at all?"

"Hell yeah it is!" Valeria replied. "I mean, can you imagine going around with a lame name like 'The Crusaders'? Ick, straight outta some kiddy mind. Only way you could make it even more embarrassing is tackling on some equally cringe name to describe it, like... Justice Crusaders, Amazing Crusaders... Stardust Crusaders... yuck." (4)

"Speak for yourself, moron!" the red haired boy retorted.

"The Crusaders is a name radiating with coolness! What's 'Axyl' supposed to mean anyways?" the blue haired boy chimed in.

"It has no meaning, and that's why it's cool!" Valeria said, and then turned to the red haired boy. "And what's with your idea? Plus Minus? Pick one and stick to it, dumbass!"

"The confusing aspect is the cool part!" the boy replied. "Takes one to know one, dumbass!"

"Yeah? Well, you guys are dumbasser than dumbass then!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

Valeria groaned. "Gah! You know what? Forget it! I wouldn't want to form a party with your lame asses anyways! No artistic sense in naming at all!"

"Rich coming from you!" the two boys yelled back, storming away from her.

Scarlet sighed. "There goes your 'great plan' today."

"Yeah, whatever," the brunette muttered with a pout. "Those losers probably can't tell cool from lame."

"Oh, get over it, Val." Scarlet scratched her head, before turning back to Rin. "You sure you're alright?"

"...mn, I'm fine," the orange haired girl said. "Something just... feels off today."

Valeria frowned. "What, are we going into curses now? We gonna curse today? Misfortune and bad predictions? Oh, tell me my future, good friend."

"Hey, stop that," Scarlet muttered.

Rin shook her head. "Not in a bad way, really. Um. I just... I'm not sure," she said. "It just feels like... maybe today, something big will happen."

Grinning, her brown haired friend patted her back. "Well, tell you what. If something really does happen today, I'll treat you to some good stuff at the bar."

"...um. It's just going to be omelette rice, isn't it..."

The brunette blinked. "No! Why are you assuming that right off the bat!?"

Scarlet smiled. "That's what you order, like, almost all the time."

"What was it going to be...?" Rin asked.

Valeria stared, before looking away, pouting. "...omelette rice."

"And we rest our cases," Scarlet said.

"Oh, shove it up your ass."

"Ugh. How vulgar..." the redhead scowled.

Suddenly, they heard the ringing of bells from afar. The door to their building must have been opened - big deal, it was probably someone showing up to hang out at the Explorer's Guild as usual. It was a mystery why the Explorer's Guild and the town's local pub didn't just mix and mash together for convenience, but nobody dared to question the people in charge of these buildings.

Then they heard the building's owner, the Guildmaster, speaking up.

"Welcome to the Explorer's Guild..." the gruff voice greeted non-enthusiastically. "Oh... a new face in town, huh..."

The three girls exchanged glances. A new face in town? That must mean...

"Potential party hiring!" Valeria and Rin said.

"Could just be another person looking for a job," Scarlet said. "Though I guess a new friend would be nice. Maybe we could even start our own party."

"Yeah, don't make it boring with your hypotheses," Valeria snarked, to her annoyance, before they rushed over to the lounge area of the building.

Why were all these shelves and books even here? These belonged in a library, not the convenient Explorer's Guild, sheesh.

The three came to a stop, along with several others who heard the entrance bell, staring in awe at the new person.

A gloomy looking girl in a cloak, her skin almost as pale as snow, her eyes sporting dark circles underneath.

Yikes... many of them thought. Whoever this new person was, she seemed like a depressing baggage, and a pain to deal with.

"Welcome, welcome..." the Guildmaster said. "This place is where people with no life come to hang out. We sit and wait for people who want to form their own guilds, or parties, to come and recruit us. That sort of stuff..."

Hey, Guildmaster, be a bit more appealing! many of the adventurers residing here yelled in their mind. She's a potential customer, damn it!

"You can look around and find whoever clicks well with you or whatever." Sighing, the Guildmaster waved the girl off. "That, or you can stay here and wait for someone else to come hire you. Take some time to think or whatever I guess..."

The hexer stared at him, unresponsive. As was everyone else, their breaths hitched, unsure about what to make of this girl.

"...already know what you want, huh... alright then. You're here to get people to join, I bet..." the Guildmaster grumbled. "Well, whatever... I'd still recommend going around, getting to know these guys. Best to get used to your new teammates, yeah..." He opened up a notebook, grabbing a quill and dipping it in ink. "Alright... name?"

Again, the hexer stared at him, unresponsive.

"Boy, we've got a weird one today, huh?" Valeria whispered.

"Shhh. That's rude!" Scarlet hissed.

Sighing, the Guildmaster closed his book. "Right. Shy one. Tell you what, go look around and talk to people first. You can come back after you pick who you want, and decide on a guild name together."

"...mn." Nodding, the hexer turned towards the crowd gathered (hiding not so cleverly) a fair distance away.

"Get lost, get laid, get some lousy marmalade..." the Guildmaster said, yawning, and waving her away.

Not sure how to respond to that, the hexer opted to ignore him and quietly walked towards the crowd. She came to a stop, staring at the group with an unnaturally eerie level of, well, eeriness.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, the crowd began to disperse, many adventurers making their escape to other areas of the building.

She looks like someone not to get involved with... many thought, upon making the realization that she was probably a Hexer.

Meanwhile, Valeria, Scarlet, and Rin, exchanged glances. They then made their way to the hexer, taking their seats around the closest table to her.

"So, uh," the brunette began. "Hi there. New to town?"

The hexer stared at her quietly, before she nodded. Then, she quietly took her seat at the same bench as them.

"Huh. I see... neat," Valeria concluded. Seems like quite the nice girl actually, but... wow, awkward.

"I'm Scarlet Ibis," the redhead next to her greeted. "This moron here is Valeria Wren."

"The hell? How rude," Valeria said. "I deserve a much better introduction than that, you jerk!"

"Caution against your idiotic behavior is a must for new people!" Scarlet retorted.

As the two girls then forgot themselves and got into an argument with each other, Rin smiled and addressed the newcomer to the town.

"So, um. My name is Rin Oriole," she greeted the hexer. "You are? ...that is, um, if you don't mind."

Staring the orange haired girl straight in the eyes, the pale girl didn't respond for a while, until she eventually opened her mouth slightly.

Then she closed it, looking down, as if in deep thought.

...maybe she can't afford anyone knowing her identity? Rin wondered.

"...Remilia," the hexer eventually spoke, to her surprise.

"Oh. Remilia... Remilia. That's... that's a nice name," the girl said with a smile.

Nodding, Remilia didn't care much about it.

At this point, the bickering girls stopped for a moment to take in her answer.

"Huh. Remilia's the name?" Valeria said.

"Definitely not a common name around these parts," Scarlet noted. "If you don't mind, where are you from?"

Remilia stared at her, unresponsive.

"...I guess you mind that, huh..."

A chuckle escaping her lips, Valeria got up. "Well, Remilia, if you're looking to enter the labyrinth, you've come to the right place, and the right group!" She pointed to herself. "See, compared to all the schmucks around here, the most formidable ally you'll find in this town is me! Valeria Wren, the greatest landsknecht of the future!"

"Oh, please," Scarlet mused. "You are easily the most reckless one here. If anyone's better than you, I am, because I know to keep a coolhead."

"If you think being all nerdy is cool, you've got another thing coming!" Valeria yelled.

Scarlet frowned. "You don't know what 'cool headed' means, do you?"

"Course I do! It's just looking cool, but with unnecessary focus on the head," the brunette confidently answered. "And I'm the epitome of coolness. Cool face, cool head, cool everythin'!"

"This one is hopeless..."

Rin watched them get into another argument again, laughing to herself. Remilia turned to her, confused. "Oh, um, sorry. They, uh, they do that a lot," she said. Satisfied with that explanation, the hexer nodded. Rin smiled. "You're... not quite talkative, are you?" The girl nodded. Rin chuckled to herself. "Yeah... I'm, well, I know how that feels. I also... don't like talking much."

"...hmn."

It wasn't like the girl's words meant nothing to her, but so far, the girl was still thinking of what to do, and her attempt at a conversation wasn't really helping the user of dark arts here. How should she decide who to gather for her party? And, how should she evaluate these... loud and noisy girls in front of her?

"So, um. I see you're a hexer, right?" Rin asked.

...a hexer? Remilia turned to her, her head tilted.

"Oh, um, sorry, I'm just assuming since... well, you're dressed as a hexer." Rin gestured to the girl's cloak. "Most hexers keep to themselves and wear ragged clothes. They also tend to be imbued with dark magic, or so I've heard," she explained, "thus why they wave around like a tail. I also hear that the artifact around your neck are like a symbol of a contract with the devil... which allows you to use hexes and curses."

Remilia looked down at the artifact around her neck. "...hmn."

"I read a lot about different classes, so I find other people fascinating." Rin covered her mouth. "Oh, sorry. Um. I hope I'm not bothering you with all this... rambling..." she said.

"...mn." The hexer stared at the orange haired girl, contemplating something.

This girl knows a lot about people and their abilities. She could be... quite useful.

"...do you want to know about me?" Rin then asked. She proudly showed her large pouch, which contained various jars of herbs and sealed vials of medicine. "I'm, um, a Medic. People who pursue the path of medics tend to focus on healing their partners and helping out with, well, illnesses and ailments received while exploring the labyrinth," she said. "Sometimes, being able to heal is extremely crucial to survival, and helping people survive is something I really, really admire, so... um, sorry, I'm doing it again." The orange haired girl sighed. "Sorry, I just... can't stop talking when I'm interested in something... I hope that's not too annoying."

Remilia slowly shook her head. That didn't even faze her for a single moment - she was more focused on the potential for this girl.

Rin Oriole, she was called? This girl was definitely someone she could use if she wanted to navigate the labyrinth as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"...say, since you're looking for party members to form a guild with..." Rin began. "Do you think, maybe... would you have me?"

Immediately, Valeria and Scarlet, both who had stopped arguing to listen to Rin chat away in contrast to her usual shy self, widened their eyes.

That pure faced bitch! Valeria hissed in her head. She got a jump ahead of us - I knew she was the most dangerous person here!

Clever, Rin... you're making good progress getting close with her, you are good at this... Scarlet thought.

"If, um, if you consider me... I'll do my best to keep the party strong and healthy!" Rin said.

Remilia tilted her head. So not only was she interested in having this girl, this girl herself was also seeking to join a team. It was a mutual desire on both ends, it would seem. Isn't that convenient...

"Now, hold on!" Valeria yelled as she stood up. "I object! I object to this, I object to everything!"

"...huh. But... eh..." Rin could only frown before Valeria ran to her and motioned for her to get up. The girl reluctantly did so, and suddenly found herself being held hostage by Valeria, a sheathed sword held to her neck (amusingly, or unamusingly; that was up for debate). "...eh."

"Mwahahaha! Foolish traveler, you have fallen for my trap!" the brunette laughed.

"Wait, wouldn't it be Rin who fell for your trap?" Scarlet asked.

"You shut your trap, smarty pants!" Valeria hissed.

"T-that was a trap!?" the medic locked in her arms wailed.

Clearing her throat, the brunette looked back to Remilia. "You see this poor, cute girl? Yeah! If you don't want her to die, you shall add me to your party too!"

"Die from what, a sheathed sword?" Scarlet asked.

"Sheathed or not, a sword is a sword, and by that principle, I am basically holding a sword to her neck," Valeria explained.

Remilia simply stared, not saying a single word.

The brunette frowned. "Y... you hear me? This girl will... suffer, yeah, from this deadly sheathed blade... so take me!"

"W-wording..."

Rin whimpered in her arms. "V-Valeria... this is mean..." she said.

The girl bit her lips. "Then... Rin! Cry for help!"

"Eh? Um. Okay... ehhh. Help me please... um, Re... Ms. Remilia."

...she did not know much about interaction, but even the hexer could tell this was a rather ridiculous performance.

Of course, there was some sort of charm of the medic trying her best regardless to act like a hostage, though.

"C'mon, Val, that's enough. Just let her go," Scarlet said.

Grunting as if defeated, the brunette fell on her knees, letting the medic go. "Curses... she was too strong..."

"T-that was a mean trick, Valeria..." Rin mumbled, rubbing her neck.

Remilia managed a small smile. Now that she thought about it, in this small moment, she (sort of?) got to know these girls, didn't she? It'd be okay to take them all in, wouldn't it? After all, she couldn't afford to waste any more time finding people.

"...Rin. ...Scarlet. ...Valeria."

The three glanced at the hexer. She nodded.

"...all three," she said.

"...wait, what."

Valeria and Rin exchanged huge smiles, then glanced back at the hexer.

"Holy shit! It's happening!" the brunette yelled.

"Today really is amazing!" Rin chimed.

Scarlet watched as her friends jumped with excitement, earning stink eyes from various adventurers around the area who wondered how talking with the gloomy newcomer would be. She shook her head. "...seriously...?" the girl could only ask herself quietly, still in shock.

"So, so, Remilia!" Valeria said. "If you're really set on taking us in, you gotta have a name for your new party, right?"

"Oh, not this stupid crap again," Scarlet groaned, and went promptly ignored by her friend.

"I was thinking if you didn't have any name yet, we should totally go for Axyl!"

"I still don't know what that symbolizes..." Rin commented.

"So?" Valeria asked. "Do you have any idea for your new guild's name yet?"

The hexer blinked. "...guild... name..." She looked down, wondering the significance of this. On one hand, did it really matter what the group would be called? What was important, was that they manage to get to the bottom of the labyrinth and be noticed. On the other hand, however, it did make sense that if they chose a terrible name, they'd be underestimated and maybe even treated terribly.

"Well? Well? I say we go with Axyl!" Valeria said.

"Let her decide, Val," Scarlet said.

Remilia looked back up, her lips opening. "...mortem... Mortem."

Her three to-be companions blinked. "Mo... modem?" Scarlet asked. "That's... a weird name. Does that have any meaning?"

"...ah... no..." the hexer began, but her quiet voice had been lost on the others.

"Modem... hm. It sounds kinda weird, but pretty cool too. Modem... the great guild, Modem? Hm." Valeria rubbed her chin. "It's okay, I guess."

"I'm, um, I'm really fine with whatever name we pick, so..." Rin smiled. "I think it's good."

"Modem, huh. I guess that's settled," Scarlet said and turned to Remilia, extending her hand. "Once again, nice to meet you, Remilia. Do take good care of us, and let's work together as part of Modem."

Remilia blinked. Ah... whatever. She took the redhead's hand and shook it, deciding not to bother correcting them.

Modem was an okay name, she supposed.


(1) In Japanese, 'Hexer' is 'Cursemaker'.

(2) From Kimura Kaela's "Ring a Ding Dong".

(3) Iconic line from the English dub Pokémon theme song.

(4) Third story arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders.