Chapter 3: A Huntress from Another World
The four adventurers continued to move towards the crowd.
"Why don't you thugs get lost already?" A female voice exclaims in annoyance. "I don't have time to deal with any of you!"
"Do you really think we care?" A gruffy voice retorts. "It's town policy that you have to pay us a small toll on your first visit here."
"You just completely made that up!" She argues in disgust. "And you're not even representing the authorities."
"Like I said, don't care. So either pay up or get lost."
"What if I don't have the money to pay?" The girl questions.
"Well then. You'll just have to pay us a different way." The man declares with a sinister tone in his voice. "With your body."
"You cannot be serious." She eye rolls in disgust. "That's the most disgusting and predictable cliche. I definitely saw that threat coming a mile away. And since you perverts have threatened to rape me..."
Just when the teens were about to get in front of the crowd, a bright light flashes, forcing them to cover their own eyes as they hear painful grunts and screams. When the lights dies down, they heard gasps from the spectators.
"What happened?" Magalyn questions.
"I'm not sure, but I believe we're about to find out." Davenas told his sister as the twins and their friends were able to squeeze their way through the crowd. What they say, however, both shocked and confused them.
A group of six individuals were frozen from the neck down by large blocks of ice.
"Whoa. They're literally frozen in ice." Miya comments. "Who could have done this?"
"I believe she did it." Her best friend pointed out.
Then they see someone, assuming it was the woman being harassed, had an annoyed expression on her face. She's a pale-skinned young woman with pale blue eyes and long white hair that is often pulled back into an off-center ponytail or braid on the right side and pinned with a silver, icicle-shaped tiara. She also has a scar which runs vertically down her left eye and face.
As for her outfit,it consist of a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sits in the front of her neckline and the hem of the dress is scalloped and stitched to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this, she wears a bell-sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar.She also wears a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings. Her boots are white, wedged heeled, and higher at the back than the front. They have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash is tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.
"Serves you right, assholes." The girl huffs with pride at how easily she subdued them.
Then she notices the four adventurers staring at her. Assuming that the boy of group was another one of the thugs that was harassing her earlier, she points her weapon at him.
"Hold it!" Davenas exclaimed, holding his hands up.
"He's with us!" Magalyn gets in between them. "So please, don't hurt my brother."
"So he's not with those guys?" She raises an eyebrow.
"We just got here." The twin brother explains in disbelief. "And why the hell would I be in league with a bunch of gangsters? Do I look like the criminal type to you?"
"Who knows." She shrugs, not keeping her rapier off of him. "Your could be a pervert in disguise. Wanting to fulfill all of your dirty desires."
"What is with girls accusing every boy in existence for being a pervert?!" He exclaims in his head. "They always overreact for something so stupid!"
"Well you did mistake a brothel for a tavern, Davenas." His younger sister pointed out.
"That was one time. ONE TIME!" He argues with his sister before facepalming. "I'm surrounded by idiots."
The Amazon and the Beastwoman were trying to hold back thei laughter, before Miya begin to crack out loudly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What was that?" The white haired girl questions the boy as red vien is over her head.
"You're a complete idiot whenever you interact with a guy who hasn't even done anything wrong." He continues. "For someone who hates men would want to violate any females body, you sure lack common sense. I mean, the way you're acting towards me right now proves it. And I've had enough of sexists falsely accusing me of a crime I haven't and will never commit."
The white haired young woman gasped in shock, before she became furious.
"H-How... How dare you!"
"Guys, I hate to break this argument up but I believe we should get going. Because I believe I hear the guards coming."
"Move aside, citizens!" A guard's voice is heard in the back of the crowd.
"Yeptimetoleave." The brown haired boy fast talks before sprinting away from the others.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Magalyn exclaims, following after him.
"Let's go, Miya."
"Right."
As the veteran guild members start running, the white haired girl was left behind in disbelief and anger.
"Hey! Get back here!" She declared, chasing after them.
Now all five of them are resting in an alley.
"That was too close." The twin sister pants in exhaustion from running.
"Furry close, indeed." The cat girl agrees catching her breath as well. "I really don't wanna end up in another cell."
"What happened the first time?" The brother asks.
"You don't wanna know." She told Davenas, giving him a look.
"Got it." He nods, deciding to drop the subject.
"Good. Now with that out of the way, who are you?" Glatyle questions the white haired girl that follow them.
"Who me?" The young lady asked, pointing to herself.
"Yes." The Amazonian nods. "We got you out of there before the guards showed up, so it's fair that we get to know your name."
"I suppose you're correct." She deduced, before smiling. "Very well, my name is Weiss Schnee. And might I know who you four are?"
"I'm Miya Cat and this my best friend Glatyle Krelyope." The female beastman announced. "And these two are the twins, Davenas and Magalyn."
"A pleasure to meet you, Weiss." Magalyn smiles. "So what brings you to Reflet Town?"
"To tell you the truth, I have no idea." Weiss admits, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not even sure if I'm in Vale anymore."
The four looked at her with confused expressions.
"What's Vale?"
"The capital city of the Kingdom of Vale." She explains before sighing. "This is gonna be hard to explain, but it's not on any the maps I've seen here. And for that matter, I don't think I'm on Remnant anymore."
This conversation keeps getting confusing by the minute as the adventurers were scratching their heads, puzzled.
"Hey, brother." Magalyn whispers, getting Davenas' attention. "I'm not even sure Weiss is from our world."
"I agree with you." He whispers back, agreeing with her.
"Hold on, another world?" Miya questions, whispering along. "Like the magic creatures we summon by using Null magic?"
"Null magic?" The twins whisper back, confused.
"It's also know as personal magic." She briefly explains. "There are six other types, but I'll explain it all to you later."
The two half elves understood and decided to drop it for a moment to change the subject.
"She seems lost and doesn't know how to get back home." The strawberry blonde teen pointed out, referring to Weiss. "Perhaps she should stay with us, till she can return home."
"And how exactly are we going to do that other than let her join the guild?" He questions.
"We don't know if she even wants to join or not." She retorts. "That's not our decision to make. She can tag along but doesn't have to join the guild. There are other ways to make money than just adventuring."
"She's right." The brown haired woman pointed out. "Forcing someone to become an adventurer is asking for trouble."
The brown haired boy sighs, admitting that they've made their point.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Weiss questions suspiciously.
The three jumped, realizing she's still here.
"N-Nothing!" Magalyn exclaims nervously. "We didn't say anything!"
"Hmm?" The white haired young woman raised her eyebrow, still suspicious.
"So... What are you going to do now?"
"No idea, other than finding an inn to stay for the night before hitting the road early in the morning." She explains her plan. "Although I don't think my current currency is going to work here, so I need to find a way to earn some money."
Just then, everyone's stomach began to growl.
"And of course this happens?" She sighed in frustration. "Haven't eaten since this morning to top it all off."
"Well, lucky for you, we're on our way to lunch." Davenas says. "So why don't you come with us? You can tell us everything you think we'll find it hard to believe."
Weiss agrees with him and smiles.
"Perhaps a meal is in order."
Now the group of five have made their way towards a cafe shop.
"Welcome." The owner greets as the five teens enter the restaurant. "Glad to see you two return. Oh! And you've brought some friends."
"Thank you." Miya answers. "We will like a table for five, please."
"Right this way." She explains, leading them through the cafe and towards their table. "Here are your menus and someone will be with you in a moment."
"Very well." The dirty blonde woman nods.
This is Aer, the owner of the Parent Cafe. She sports long black hair and wears a chocolate red maid uniform. And like Micah, she's no older than 14.
"So what kind of treat you wanna surprise us, Aer?" The cat girl asks with excitement.
"Well it's a frozen dessert that someone showed me the other day." She explains, before realizing something. "Oh, not completely frozen, though. It's meant to be served as a soft treat."
"Are you talking about ice cream?" The twins and Weiss asked in unison before looking at each other for jinxing it.
"Ice cream?" The Beastman and the Amazon questioned as they look at the shop owner.
"The three of you know about it?" Aer was surprised from this.
"We do." They confirmed.
"Oh my." She exclaimed. "I originally thought that the treat Touya introduced was from Eashen."
"Eashen?" Weiss questions.
"It's a country just northwest from here that's across the ocean." Davenas explains before looking at the owner as they continue following her to their seats. "And who's Touya?"
"He's an adventurer that's staying at the Silver Moon Inn. Apparently he's also from Eashen as well." The black haired owner continued. "He's full name is Mochizuki Touya, but he goes by Touya. Mochizuki is his family name."
"So family name first and given name last?" Magalyn questions, raising her eyebrow. "That must get confusing a lot."
"It's not that big of a deal, but you'll get use to it." The white haired girl shrugs. "So what flavors do you have?"
"Flavors?" Aer and the two adventurers questioned.
"Oh boy, this going to be a long lunch." The twins exclaimed.
--
So Davenas, Magalyn, and Weiss began to explain all of the different flavors of ice cream that can be made.
"Oh, I understand now." The owner thanked the three for the exclamation, even though she was still slightly confused with all the flavors and ingredients she never heard of or ever thought of using. "It might take some time to make all of the new flavors, but it's a great start. Now for your question, all we have is vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry."
"We'll take chocolate." Glatyle and Miya gave their orders. "Plus the usual."
"I'll have a salad and a pastry with some tea." Weiss announced. "And for the ice cream, vanilla."
"My sister and I will have soup, fruit, and bread with butter." The twins placed their orders. "And two strawberry ice cream."
"Certainly." The girl nods with a sincere smile. "I'll see to it that one of our waitresses brings in your meals."
"Thank you." Weiss smiles as Aer left their table and headed for the back of the cafe.
"So what's the usual you two get?" The strawberry blonde questions, curiously.
"I'm going to have a steak with fried potato sticks, grilled vegetables, and an ale." The tan-skinned woman answers.
"And I'm having a grilled fish fillet with mixed vegetables, flatbread, and also an ale." The cat girl added.
"Or you can just call them fries." Weiss says. "But aren't you a little young to have alcohol?"
"What do you mean?" The cat woman questions.
"Minors are not supposed to drink any alcohol until they become of age."
Everyone looked at her with lots of confusion.
"What's a minor?"
The white haired girl falls out of her chair in a comedic fashion, dumbfounded by their innocent question.
"Seriously?!" She questions. "Don't you know what happens if you drink too much of it other than getting drunk?"
The adventurers shook their heads.
"Not only am I in a world that heavily relies on magic than on science, I'm also on a world full of innocent minded people who don't know the consequences of drinking." She says in her thoughts, facepalming. "And I thought Yang would be THIS shortsighted."
"Say, while you explain more about your world you can tell us about your friends and your life."
"I think I can do that."
"And in return, we'll fill you in on about our world that's foreign to you, which I'm gonna guess you're illiterate to our writing like these two here." Glatyle says, referring to the twins sitting on the left side of the table.
"Unfortunately." The white haired girl nods. "And I'm guessing the currency is different as well."
"Correct." The bestman exclaimed. "Here we use coins and each one has a different value. There's copper, silver, gold, and the highest of all platinum."
"And one platinum coin is worth 10 gold coins."
"Wait... 10 gold coins?" Weiss's mouth was wide open. "If that's true then... That means..."
Pretty soon, she begins calculating deep in her thoughts.
"And the total amount is... One million lien!"
"Um, are you all right Weiss?" Miya asked, waving her hand in front of her. Unfortunately, she seems to be in her own little world, continuing to convert her world's currency with this one's.
"Well this is going to be a while." The brown haired twin pointed out.
"Agreed." His sister nods.
"I see your point." The other worlder exclaimed, coming back to the real world. "This world really is different from mine."
"Definitely." The strawberry blonde agrees with her. "So Miya what were you saying about Null Magic and the other six types?"
"Oh right." The catgirl realized as picks out a small pouch from her side and placing it on the table. Then she shakes it a little, causing seven multicolored shards to be revealed. "These are called Spell Stones. They represent the different types of magic we use around here. Other than Null magic, there's Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark."
"How do they work?"
"Well, how should I put this?" She thinks for an easier way to explain it. "They'll respond to whatever affinity you have of the element. I'm able to use Water, Light, and Dark. I can also use a few Null spells. Glatyle here can use Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water, so she's basically an elemental user. The Null spells she can only use are the ones to enhance her stamina, speed, and strength to use her close combat skills more efficiently such as Boost, Power Rise, or Excel."
"But I always prefer my Boost, Power Rise, and Excel over anything else." Glatyle answers, flexing her muscles. "Here, let me give you an example."
The young woman picks up one of the stones.
"Come forth, Wind." And just like that, the green spell stone lights up and showcases a small whirlwind. Their three foreigners were in awe.
Then they began applauding.
"That's impressive, Glatyle." Weiss praises.
"Why thank you." The Amazonian smirks pridefully.
"I bet anyone can learn to use it." Magalyn says.
"Unfortunately, not everyone can use magic, no matter how hard they try to learn." Miya sadly shakes her head. "In other words, there's a fifty/fifty chance that you'll end up being born with an affinity or not."
"So that's why you can't use the other elements?" Davenas asked.
"Partially." She shrugs. "As I said before, anyone born with no affinity can't use any magic whatsoever."
"Do you think we can try later?"
"We can do it now, while our lunch is being prepared." The Amazon crosses her arms, with a raised eyebrow. "Unless you wanna back out and end up booted from our party."
"We'll do it."
"Good." The cat girl smirks. "Weiss, you first. Let's see what you got."
"Huh?" The pale-skinned young lady was confused from this. She believed that magic didn't exist in her world. "Um, okay?"
"Pick a stone you wanna test out. Any will do."
"Alright." Weiss was looking at the 7 different colored stones, trying to decide what to use. "Are there any of them for Ice?"
"Of course." She nods. "That would be water magic. And given that you froze those meatsacks into blocks of ice from earlier, you must be a water user."
"Well, technically, I wasn't using magic." The white haired girl scratches the back of her head with a sheepish smile. "But I'll give it a go."
She grabbed the blue stone and hovered it over her glass of water. Taking a deep breath, she begins to concentrate.
"Come forth, Water." The stone glows and water begins to fill up her already poured glass a little.
"Huh. Well, that was easy." She smiles. "Now let me try to freeze it."
She began to concentrate again and made the water in her cup to freeze a bit.
"It worked."
"Congratulations." The cat girl applauses. "Now you just have 6 more to use."
"Okay." She says, picking up the next stone. Which was red. "Come forth, Fire."
A small flame flickers before her eyes.
"Wow."
"Come forth, Earth." A small pile of sand poured out of the orange stone.
"Come forth, Wind." A small gust of wind was blown.
"Come forth, Light."
Nothing happens.
"Huh?" Weiss was confused from this, the crystal didn't react. "Nothing happened."
"Try the purple one." Miya suggested.
"Very well." She answers, picking up the purple stone. "Come forth, Dark."
Of course nothing happened.
"Guess it was unavoidable."
"But you gotta admit, you can use all four elemental magic like I do."The Amazonian grins. "All that's left is to figure out what kind of Null magic spells you can perform. Buuut we'll worry about that later."
"Now it's time to see what magic the twins can use." Her best friend responds, moving the Spell Stones closer to the twins. "Who wants to go first?"
"I guess I'll do it." Magalyn raises her hand. She looks around at all seven of them, before deciding to pick up the Fire, Wind, and Light stones. "I'll start off with these three."
"Be our guest." She grins with much enthusiasm.
The strawberry blonde took a deep breath, before she begins to concentrate.
"Come forth, Fire." After speaking those words, small flames spewed out from the red spell stone.
"Come forth, Wind." A gust of wind came out of the green stone.
"Come forth, Light." A bright light shines from the yellow stone in the young woman's hands.
"Wow!" Magalyn exclaimed with praise. "I can use three attributes so far."
"Want to see if you have attributes for the others?" Her older brother suggested.
"No thanks." She told him, placing the crystal. "This is plenty for me. Your turn."
"Alright. I guess I'll pick the other three." Davenas announced, picking up the Water, Earth, and Dark crystal. "Come forth, Water."
Water started to flow out of the crystal, into his cup.
"Come forth, Earth." A small pile of sand and rocks poured on the table.
"Come forth, Dark." A purple aura comes out of the crystal.
"You did it, brother." Magalyn praises her older twins. "We can learn more magic in this world."
Then, two waitresses brought in the five teens' drinks and meals on serving trays. One set the drinks down on the table first, while the other set each of their customers' own plates and bowls of their lunches and desserts.
"Thank you for your patience." One of the women, a burnette, respond with a bow. "Hope you enjoy."
"Thank you." Weiss smiles.
The two waitresses went back into the kitchen.
On the table were all of the dishes and beverages they ordered.
Everyone then dig in their food before the ice cream they've ordered melts. Lucky for them, Glatyle uses water magic to delay the soft dessert from melting a little longer.
"This is the Cat's Meow!" Miya says with a giddy expression. "I never knew there was a dessert that melts in your mouth."
"Me neither." Glatyle agreed with her, enjoying her ice cream as well. "And you guys have this in the Sea of Trees?"
"Yes, but the continent we're from has another name. We called it Middle Earth." The strawberry blonde answered, taking a bite of her own dessert.
"Middle Earth?" The white haired teen was curious about the name. "That's a rather peculiar name for a continent."
"We didn't come up with the name." Davenas responds.
"Sorry. My bad." She pointed out as she continues to eat her ice cream.
"Not a problem." The strawberry blonde smiles. "After we're done, let's check out what Null magic we can use and learn more about our selves?"
"Sure, why not."
"Great!"
And so everyone continued enjoy their desserts.
This might be the start of a magnificent friendship.
To be continued...
