Maple quickly made her way towards the city center, going through the alleys as a means of escaping the heavily crowded streets. She had over time become used to routes like this, her instincts telling her to stay away from the wider, open streets. The only place she has felt welcomed here in the capital would be the markets, where Erhard's word was respected by the group of merchants that do business and became friends with him.

Which is what brought her to the blacksmith's door and (with a confident stride) she entered with a bell ringing above her head.

"Hold on I'll-" The blacksmith paused and a small smile formed on his face when he saw who was at the door, "Thank the Gods you're alive. So, uh, did the armor hold up well enough?"

"Yup, it did a really good job!" Maple gave her own smile in return, the brightest kind that engulfed her face, "I was even able to kill the boss too!"

"Killed the boss? I didn't know that land had a Royal." Erhard simply shook his head for the moment, "Then again, I should expect Heroes to find the boss if there was one around. Go have a seat while I whip us up some tea."

"Great! Thank you!"

With a minor skill the smith started a pot of boiling water for their tea. Maple went to the back room, quickly bringing back a second chair for a side table which rested behind the store front. As for Syrup, the beast had shrunk himself down to the size of a small cat and settled himself in Maple's lap once she sat down.

Within a few moments Erhard himself came back with the tea set, pouring the water into what looked to be crude metal cups. The cups were Erhard's own creation. The man loved to smith as it was his livelihood, so the man decided that most of his equipment and everyday items would be of his own making. However, he was an armorsmith, so his other wares were not of the same quality.

With those in hand, Erhard took a scoop of an odd assortment of herbs into the hot water without care. He did not bother with a strainer when the pair of cups were placed on the table before Maple.

Maple herself picked up the utter barbarous tea and had herself a sip of it, "Ah… it's been so long."

"Well sorry I didn't pack any for you, but I thought some water purifier would do you well enough." The man admitted as he himself blew off some heat before taking a drink himself, "Though why haven't you complained about the making yet? Normally people don't like my Adventurer's Brew."

"Hmm, well it's got more taste than normal." Maple soon took another sip to judge the flavor before shrugging her shoulder, "Maybe only adventurers can enjoy it!"

"Ha, I would agree with you, yet my old buddies hate drinking it when they come over." Erhard had himself a small laugh before looking over to Maple's lap, "So what happened to the Rockjob?"

"Oh Syrup, he's right here!" Maple cheered before lifting the small creature over the table, "He's got a shape change ability, so he can get super small or super big whenever he wants!"

The Smith could not help but blink at the monstrosity with a new found confusion, "Uh, what in the world happened?"

"I… don't know. I think he mutated." The Shield Hero mentioned with an offhanded wave before hugging the reptile, "He's so cute though! Thank you so much for choosing him!"

"Yeah, he's cute right now." Erhard could only wonder how big does he get, "I take it you'll still be able to take care of him like this?"

"Yup! I just give him some of my supper after a day of farming." Maple gave the abomination a few scratches under each of its chins.

"Alright, if it works it works I guess." Erhard admitted as a soft ring sounded from the doorway.

The two of them turned to look towards the source, seeing the rather young man come into the shop. He had jet-black hair, tired if strong looking blue eyes about himself. Maple recognized the boy, Ren Amaki the Sword Hero.

"Hello there," Erhard announced while getting up from their seat, "Welcome to my shop, kid. So are you looking for a new armament or a piece of armor?"

"I wanted to look at your swords and get some armor." He responded with a brisk efficiency to it, "Where can I find the swords?"

"Over at the wall." Erhard happily pointed out.

Maple could not help blandly staring at the Sword Hero, as it was apparent Ren didn't even notice her. So with a brisk tiptoe she made it to the counter and watched as he wielded every single weapon he could lay his hands on. Though, why were they not blasting themselves out of his hands?

"Who's there!" Within a moment's notice he turned, dropping the sword that was in his hand to one instantly appearing in his a quick survey of the room he spotted her, "Maple? What are you doing here?!"

"Uh, having tea?" She shakily said while showing off the cup she was carrying, "How are you holding those swords?"

"You mean…" He looked between both Maple and Erhard, his face quickly becoming blistering red for a moment before a sigh escaped his mouth, "Fuck."

Both Maple and Erhard shared a look, both wondering what the hell he was thinking. Erhard was the first to put two and two together, "So you're the Sword Hero? Last I heard you were traveling into the Southern Mountains to test your endurance."

"I-I was simply escorting my last companion home." Ren answered while taking a step back, "I simply heard you sold good armor and thought I'd show up."

"So the rumors are true, you've been getting rid of your Champions." Erhard did not receive a response from the kid so he just continued, "Though that does leave a question, why the hell are you looking at my swords? I understand armor since the little miss needs it too, but she can't wield anything more but that shield."

"Did she not tell you?"

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I can tell when something is wrong here."

"Look." Ren simply gave a sigh, "I'll pay extra for the armor, just ignore my perusing."

The two once more shared a look, Maple simply shrugging her shoulders in response to whatever was happening.

"Fine, we'll keep our mouths shut but you need to tell us what it is you're doing."

The swordsman gave a nod, "Alright, I was copying your weapons. Whenever I wield a Sword of my choice it gives me a chance to add it to the selection of weapons I can use."

"Is that so?" Erhard walked around the counter and grabbed a shield that was resting upon the wall. He walked over to Maple and handed her the shield.

[Hard Steel Shield Unlocked]

"It gave me a new Shield!" Maple announced with a great smile upon her face, though soon she got a small bit of confusion, "How did you know about this? It's so cool!"

"You could do the same in Brave Star Online, but it's much easier here." Ren admitted with a sigh, "is that enough to make you happy?"

Erhard gave his own sigh as well, "It is, though I guess this is akin to stealing my intellectual property. You're going to pay double for that armor you hear."

"Alright alright." He admitted while walking up to the counter, "Do you have any spare pieces of plate? Maybe some Chain?"

"I'll see what I have, though it might be my only set meaning it will cost more."

With those words smirking Erhard went into the back, leaving Maple and Ren by themselves for the moment. The boy seemed bothered by the interaction as he began biting his lip, as Maple guessed he didn't like being caught.

However, she didn't want things to get so drab, "So, uh, how has your grinding been?"

"It's been pretty good." He answered quickly, "With all I've done I've already hit level 30. How about yourself? You got stuck doing those tasks right?"

"Yeah, though it hasn't been bad." Maple rubbed the back of her head for the moment, "I got to fight this really big plant monster a little bit ago. He was really tough, and I mean really tough!"

"Is that so? Any idea if he will spawn again?"

"Uh, I don't think he's going to come back." Maple admitted with a small frown, "If you kill one of the bosses they don't seem to respawn. I remember killing a whole lot of Horned Rabbits, but the Queen never came back."

"Is that so? Any idea why it would be like that?" Ren genuinely asked with a raised brow.

"Uh, maybe it's because it's real?" The Shield answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I mean, I'm not strong enough to fight any of the Bosses myself, so I haven't tried." Ren scratched his head for another moment with a good bit of confusion, "Hmm…"

"Well kid, here's what you asked for right?" Erhard came from the back with a small pile of gear in hand and a laugh, "This is going to be 400 silver."

"That's it?" His eyes widened a little while looking at moderately high value gear.

"Well you don't have any more right?" Erhard simply shook his head for the moment, "Look, I'd love to get some spite off ya but fucking you over that much isn't my thing. My thing now is that you gotta come to me whenever you need gear, along with any monster parts you get. I can make you and the girl here some nice things if you do that."

"You want to be my blacksmith?" A small look of confusion appeared upon his face, "How can you even think that?"

"How? Do you think I'm a brain dead fool?" Erhard shook his head, "I guess I was blessed with the misses if this is how the rest of the heroes act."

"Uh, sorry." His face went peet red once again, "I'll shop only here."

"Good, and if you ever do otherwise I'll be sure to tell every merchant about your little technique."

"Tsk, alright." The Sword simply shook his head for the moment, "I'll be heading out then."

As he did so, Maple felt a little bad for the fellow as did Erhard. While he did get himself in this situation, his leaving was going to put a bad taste in at least Erhard's mouth.

For Maple, well she was the one who called out to him, "Don't you want to stay for tea?"

"You sure?" He said while turning around to face them, "I mean you already got blackmail on me, you shouldn't drive it in."

"Oh don't be so sour!" Maple claimed with a pout, "Come on, the tea is really good!"

"Uh, uh-!" His face went red for the fifth time since he entered, "I'm not the most social uh, you see. I don't think you'd want me here any longer than I need to be."

"Pretty please!"

"Guh, uh-"

"I'll let you pet Syrup!"

Ren's eyes could only widen as he looked at the weird abomination Maple placed onto the counter. The three heads of Syrup looked towards him with suspicion for a moment before shrugging. An unacknowledged cue could be felt in the room, and confusion was completely written all over the Sword's face.

"Fine, I'll stick around for one cup."

"Yata! Did you hear that Erhard, do you still have some hot tea?"

"Of course, maybe we can get a good thing going here. You probably need more than just armor right?"

"Uh, yeah."

And with that the Hero of the Sword sat himself at the table, a small makeshift cup placed in front of him. He seemed a little skeptical at first taking in a sip of the drink. In the next moment, he spit it out faster than he could even curse.

"Guh!" The sword could not stop himself from catching his own breath, "What the hell is that?! I got fucking Poison Resistance from that!"

"Adventurer's Brew." Erhard laughed for a moment, "I guess not all the Heroes are like each other."

The Sword of course had his brow raised and turned towards the little one. Maple simply gave him a shrug and resumed drinking from the cup she was holding. However, in the next moment she frowned at an emptied cup infront of her.

"Uh, if you don't want it can I have it?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup! It would be rude if we didn't finish it!"

Ren could not help but feel a small drop of sweat coming down his brow, the slight hesitation in letting her drink it. However, whether by sick mortification or simple confusion he filled her glass up.

And just like that Maple took in the drink, a brow being raised, "Hey Erhard, is this one weaker than before?"

"Yup," He laughed again while shaking his head, handing another glass into the Swords hands, "Here's some lemonade for ya since the tea didn't sit well."

A rather stunned swordsman simply took his seat, sipping on the now dull taste of lemons. Such lemons were cultivated in the southern plantations in 5 acres long rows. Though the hero that created them forgot they were supposed to grow on trees and settled for making them bushes. Now this oversight could have been ignored if it was not for the case that this world's raspberry supply grew on massive thorn trees now.

Now Ren's mind was not thinking about how the lemons were grown, but you right now are probably experiencing similar confusions .He quite literally had no idea how Maple was able to drink what was essentially poison. Though there is a small side effect that Adventurer's Tea could help with dulling pain and increasing one's health. It was a healing potion-like substance that Adventurers drink on a daily basis. Not addictive, but if you haven't built up an immunity in some way you were in for a ride.

So everyone simply sat for a bit, sipping on their drinks while the day moved onwards a little more. Ren himself was simply one of the abomination's heads as it inched towards him on the table.

"So when were you thinking of heading out for the next task?" Erhard asked the Shield Hero with a drink in his hand.

"Hmm, maybe in a couple of days?" Maple answered with a raised brow, "Though I don't know how long it's going to take. Maybe a few weeks?"

"Well be sure to be ready in two weeks for the wave." Ren said with a sleepy expression.

"Huh?! The Wave is going to be in two weeks, no one told me!"

"You didn't know? Haven't you gone to the Hourglass?"

"Huh? What's this about an Hourglass?" Maple asked with a genuine confusion about herself.

"Did your game not have one?" He received a shaking of the head from Maple, "That's… odd. You sure about it?"

"Yup, of course we had events but those were sent by the admins to everyone in a newsletter." Maple answered with a stern nodding of the head before tilting it, "Is this Hourglass similar?"

"Uh, kind of. You see the Dragon Hourglasses are built in mechanics…"

It did not take long for the Sword to explain the Hourglasses, Maple trying her best to understand it. Erhard of course knew a little about them, but was learning a hell of a lot more from the Sword. He explained how they detailed the arrival of the waves and that once a timer runs out they would be teleported to the event. Those who went were members of their party, and their job was to kill the boss before too much damage was caused. Doing so would end the event and close all the "Reality Tears" that allowed the monsters to spawn.

"What about Guilds? Are they teleported too?"

"Can't say, never really tried it." Ren admitted with a lethargic shrug, "So when are you going to go to the Dragon Hourglass to sync up?"

"Uh, where is it?" Maple asked while drinking the last of her tea.

"In the Church."

"Guh!" And within a moment she began to cough, a quick moment later her body recovering from it, "Th-the Church!?"

"Yeah, something the matter with it?"

"I, uh, don't want to be there." The Shield answered timidly, "But I need to go there, don't I?"

"Sometime before the Wave, otherwise we are going to leave you behind." Ren answered with a straightforward if lethargic manner, "Well, I'm getting a little tired so I'm going to head out. I guess I will be seeing you all another day, thanks for the lemonade."

And with that the Sword Hero left, leaving the two in the shop slightly up heaved. After a few moments the smith simply sighed as he looked towards Maple, "I guess your time limit is two weeks."

"Yup…" Maple answered while resting her head on the table.

Erhard thought to himself for a moment before cracking a smile, "While I definitely can't leave my shop for a week, I might be able to help you in the Wave."

"R-really!?"

"Yeah, I'll need to get the old armor out and warhammer." He answered with a humorous laugh, "Who knows, maybe my old party would be willing to help you."

"Really, Yata!" Maple cheered while clicking through her options, "I will put you down as a member of the Guild then!"

"A Guild, just like the legends of old?" This time Erhard had his brow raised with a wonderment about himself, "And what would the name of it be?"

She could not help but crack a massive smile, "Maple Tree!"

~WOOSH~

This lizard creature is stronger than the entity anticipated. It was relentless on following where it had retreated and had once again confronted the Entity. This time it was prepared and with total control of the biomass, switching to its true form.

The fight was more energized between the two kaijus with more lasers and snapping vines attacking each other. It was to those who witnessed the battle, a war between titans. An opportunity came to the Entity as the lizard rolled from a vine attack taking its eyes off for only a second. With the delay in time, the Entity charged an overloaded poison attack and spit it on the others face.

The next laser from the lizard mouth was not as accurate with it going to the left of the Entity's face and only taking out a few vines. With this the entity charged another poison attack and made another direct hit on the lizard. Finally, the lizard fell into the nearby ocean.

Sensing others nearby the entity decided to retreat. It needed to recharge after the major hit it took from the laser crazy lizard.

And why did the lizard have a theme song when it moved?