With monsters bringing danger to the land, the most favoured approach of nations is to build vast, well-defended cities for their people to live in; only the needed infrastructure, like farmland, is often kept outside and also under heavy guard. It is a safe approach to protecting the population, but leaves large parts of Gamindustri to roaming Monsters.
While it is also true that the CPUs and the Guild do their best to exterminate as many as possible, it is adventurers who commit the most outstanding of deeds; they are the people who walk far away from civilisation, exploring parts of Gamindustri no human might have been to for generations. They are without doubt the most courageous of us all, but also the most tragic. Statistically, every second adventurer will not return home.
-Excerpt from "Between Gods and Monsters - The People of Gamindustri"
When the woods around her cleared up, Christine knew she was almost home. The train soon passed Menai's protective walls and entered the city proper.
She had returned at last.
A happy smile found its way onto the woman's face over the familiar sights all around; this was where she grew up, her hometown.
The window slightly reflected her own gaze back at her, a mature face framed by dark red hair and dreamy amber eyes; the sight made Christine chuckle. She was clad in a white tunic and sleek, blue shorts that allowed her to move freely no matter what kind of athletics she wanted to do; it had been necessary on her journey without doubt.
Her feet, wrapped in black socks and protected by a set of blue boots with white trim, rested on the violin case she carried around everywhere; there was no better place to put her trusted blade, really. Christine did think about just wearing a sheath, but the case was much more useful; it doubled as storage for things that did not fit into her backpack.
It really had been five months again.
The thought came up uninvited, but it made her reflection become a bit wistful. She sometimes forgot how fast time could pass when one was having fun; the beginning of her first journey felt like yesterday, even though it had been seven years ago.
Now she was back home again, the thought making the redhead smile; though a big reason for this was also her filled bank account. The Guild and government really were considerate with the wide-area satellite coverage; Christine killed hundreds of actual monsters on her last journey alone, earning money for each that perished. It was not at all enough to retire, but she did not have any debts and enough left to make do for a while.
Menai had not changed in the slightest while she was gone, she noticed after leaving the station. Large plumes of smoke rose from the vast industrial district, everyone hard at work in their factories just as usual; a group of businessmen walked past her, their black suits neatly trimmed, talking among each other. Christine just smiled at them as she passed by, which made the group nod at her before returning to their discussion.
It was as orderly as she remembered it being; a nice change of pace to the chaos that lingered outside. She could have taken the bus to make it back to her place faster, but Christine much preferred to walk and take in her surroundings. It was a nice day, with sunlight basking the whole city and its white, greyish, red, and brown houses.
The massive form of Menai's Basilicom was still visible over the other buildings, a behemoth grasping into the sky on cogs and wheels; the only other colours around were the lush browns and greens of trees, and beds of flowers arranged on both sides of the road.
Where Planeptune's skyscrapers were magnificent, Lowee's vast fields of huts and bungalows snuggly and Leanboxian resorts relaxing, this neat and efficient arrangement of houses made the woman feel at ease.
Christine dodged a ball that came flying, dodged it again when it came back after being reflected from the wall behind her and waved at the child that ran toward her shouting "I'm sorry!"
She waved the girl off and smiled. "No harm done, just be more careful in the future." The little one smiled back and nodded, then she took the ball and the whole group went back to playing. This was one of the less used streets, so children often played here; the Basilicom actually made it a low-traffic area because of that.
Thinking back, Christine could remember playing tag around this place as well when she was a girl.
The redhead walked on and soon reached a housing complex, the one she had been aiming for; it was rather close to the train station after all, but also not far from the industrial district.
Additionally, these buildings were not in the Basilicom's possession; the real estate was divided between a small group of citizens. She was rather glad she choose this place, considering how nice her landlady was. The older woman even offered to clean her place once in a while, which basically allowed Christine to journey for as long as she liked.
With that in mind and a smile on her face, the redhead entered and rung the first doorbell to her right; she had to wait only a few seconds before a tall woman with short, brown hair opened up.
The first words that woman spoke were almost routine to them by now: "Oh my, you're back."
She did not change much at all; standing more than a head taller than Christine, Erika Berg was an impressive sight just as usual. Her hair had grown a little longer than shoulder length and she was clad in a pair of blue jeans as well as a slim shirt, which did nothing to conceal her muscles. Christine was used to the sight though, so she just nodded in confirmation. "I just wanted to drop by and say hello, Ms. Berg. Am I interrupting?
The older one just rolled her eyes and motioned for Christine to come inside. "When do you ever interrupt, dear? It's not as if there's much going on in my life anyway. Come on in, I want to hear what you've been up to."
Christine chuckled and complied, leaving backpack and violin case next to her shoes besides the door; her landlady might look like an amazon and was as strong from her daily work at Xanadu factory, but she was a gentle being overall. "Been there, done that; just the usual, really. If you're really that interested, I can give you the manuscript once it's ready."
"I'm looking forward to that." Now it was for Erika to chuckle; the brunette was the only person Christine allowed to look at those manuscripts, mostly as thanks for looking after her place while she was absent. The redhead carried several small booklets full of notes about her recent adventure, so she would at least get one decent-sized manuscript out of them. Probably two or three, considering the previous volumes.
She sat down at the kitchen table and got a glass of cold juice handed to her, then the older woman took the opposite seat with a wide smile. "So, how long will you be around this time? The usual month to write your manuscripts and off you go?"
That was actually something Christine had hoped to get around for now. She absent-mindedly rubbed her thigh and shook her head. "Nah... no, not this time. I'm staying at least three months, probably longer."
This got her a surprised look from the brunette, who took a swig from her own cup. Orange juice really was refreshing on a summer day like this one. "Really? That's surprising... you're not getting sick, are you?"
She knew well how unusual this was for her; Christine never stayed longer than a single month, the time lately spent writing for all the people that seemed to enjoy reading about her adventures. She always grew tired of the city very quickly once that month was over.
But...
"Oh well, I just reached my limits at this point. I'm already twenty five, so maybe I should start looking for a nice man or woman; I can't stay an adventurer forever." Her words were the truth, if not everything there was. Erika just nodded understandingly. There was only so much one could do as an adventurer; traveling with others was interesting, but most people could not keep up with Christine or were unwilling to plunge as deep into the wilderness as she did.
Being on her own had been fun and all, but it also led to the long scar on her thigh she just realised she was touching again.
Fenrirs were rare Monsters, but nonetheless terrifying opponents. At least six times as big as the regular Wolves, the one she fought had actually been leading a particularly vicious pack of its smaller brethren. She almost lost the whole leg from its attack and was lucky that had happened closer to a city than her journey usually went. Bleeding out in the wilderness did not sound like an end Christine would favour.
She had no desire to go out again.
::
The two of them did some catching up, but Christine soon excused herself to go and work on her manuscript. It was on a whim that she started doing this, but it was a nice thing to do; people liked the stories and it gave her an additional income.
Before she did anything else however, the redhead unpacked; her dirty spare clothes were quickly sorted out and brought down to the washing machine in the basement; the remaining food wandered into the fridge and what few souvenirs she brought went into the cabinet alongside her sword. At the last stop, Christine cast a glance at the pictures she placed in there as well.
It was her own face that looked back, years younger and with her hair far longer. The younger Christine was cheerfully smiling into the camera and surrounded by her friends from the Guild.
Ah, yes. She remembered the time right after her graduation; it had been nice and relaxing until she started adventuring. She stopped wearing dresses even earlier, but her long hair had to go as well at this point; it was too much of a hindrance when fighting alone, not to speak of how long it took to care for. A shame, seeing how fond she was of it.
Following the trip down memory lane, Christine got started on her manuscript; while copying her notes however, the redhead kept thinking about her situation. Skill alone was what saved her against this Fenrir; the very same skill that made her uncontested in a duel against basically anyone.
She wondered whether she should start visiting the guild; she got along well with most of the agents and people knew her as the perfect first opponent for basically anyone new; no matter how good they were or how highly they thought of their abilities, Christine could push them down a few notches with a crushing defeat.
On the other hand, most people kept their distance to her because she was unreached in her swordsmanship. She had no idea whether that was intentional or not, though.
Shaking off the thought, Christine went back to writing. It was not long before she was interrupted, though; the doorbell rung, making her quickly stop to open for the landlady, who smiled at her apologeptically. "Sorry to interrupt you already. I just remembered, there was a young lady asking for you last month."
That was not exactly the interruption she expected; thinking back, the redhead could not remember having saved any of her fellow adventurers from trouble recently, so she wondered who that might have been? "I... see? Did she say what she wanted?"
The brunette only shrugged in response. "No idea, really. She left her phone number and said to call her once you're back. Here you go." She was handed a strip of paper and looked at it while Erika nodded to herself. "Anyway, I'm off to buy groceries now. See you around, dear."
They exchanged waves and Christine closed the door, still wondering just who might be interested in her. The few friends she stayed in contact with all knew how to reach her, so it was none of them; but who else might it be?
The redhead wandered back into her living room and slumped down on the couch; she would have liked to return to her computer and carry on, but this was an intriguing prospect right there. After all, curiousity brought Christine to explore Gamindustri in the first place.
She cast another glance at the open text document and the booklet holding her notes, then looked down at the paper in her hands.
There was no helping it. With a quick flick of her wrist, the redhead brought out her cellphone and snapped it open. She needed a moment to type in the number, but her call was answered almost immediately.
"Hello?" The voice did belong to a woman, so this was probably the right person; one normally noted one's name when accepting a call to prevent misunderstandings, though.
No matter, she would know soon enough. "Ah, good afternoon. The name is Christine Cooper; I heard you have been looking for me last month?" There was a short pause on the other end; she hoped this really was the right number, calling the wrong person could be very embarassing.
"Right, I almost forgot I left my number there. Just a moment, please." There was a faint sound of paper being shuffled around, then the woman on the other end continued: "I'm glad you called after all. You see, I was looking for a challenge and heard you are a skilled swordswoman; are you interested in having a few matches?"
Straight to the point, even though it sounded a little weird. On the other hand, a lot of people dueled Christine before, none of them capable of winning. "Um... I don't mind, really... though I didn't expect this to be about combat practice, to be honest."
The other end responded in an exhausted huff; Christine also realised she never got their name. "For the record, I did try to meet you in person first."
A faint hum of embarassment was registered over the jibe; she deserved that one. "Right..."
She kept quiet for a moment, then added something that was probably important; the memories of her childhood came back up and reminded Christine. Not even the instructors in her classes on swordfighting had managed to defeat her after a certain point. "But still... I should probably warn you, ma'am: I never lost a duel in the last ten years."
Now the other woman chuckled in audible amusement. "I know."
. .
. .
They talked a little bit longer and agreed on a meeting place; she also learned the name of her soon-to-be opponent. Christine had been looking forward to a good duel for a while now; fighting Monsters was completely different from practicing with other humans.
Now that they met however, the redhead was... conflicted. They met at the local Guild HQ and were wandering through the lower corridors. Almost everyone they walked by cast glances after them, the reasons for that being twofold; for one, about everyone here knew Christine. For two, the woman leading her through the building was gorgeous.
She stood about as tall as the redhead herself, who was already big for a Lastationite woman. Added to that were her smooth skin and well-rounded figure, as well as the ebony hair that she donned in twintails. Her black skirt swished around her calves at every movement and contrasted well with both her skin and the light blue and cream colours of her shirt.
Each step she took seemed precise and perfectly measured; Christine could not deny that this appearance alone already made her attracted to the beauty.
She had introduced herself as Noire both the previous day and a few minutes ago; her red eyes were filled with confidence and vigor when they shook hands and got going. Christine was quite confident in her abilities herself, but other thoughts distracted her for the moment. Maybe this was one of those fated encounters she used to envision? That they met in battle now, only to find something deeper connecting them...
As if. The redhead sighed inaudibly while shaking off her musings; this was not what she was here for, even if it would be nice.
The Guild made sure all its members had enough space and opportunities to exercise and compete with each other; as far as Christine saw on her travels, each main building had at least two gyms, a shooting range and a magic chamber. They were currently on their way toward the arena she used to duel in, though; it was the perfect place to test their skill against each other, seeing that singular cells could be rented for a set time. In fact, it was a clever way of controlling battles between human combatants; the events were recorded by security cameras and the medical wing was nearby in case something went wrong.
The two women still wandered toward their destination and a steadily growing crowd was following them. Noire noticed it as well and cast a glance her way. "You sure are popular around here."
The redhead nodded a bit sheepishly and hoped she was not blushing. Not that she minded being in the center of attention, she was used to that. Though this was still a bit different.
When they finally reached the large hall, most of the separated cells were empty. White light shone down from the ceiling, all lamps placed in equidistant intervals to make sure conditions were equal everywhere. Aside from that, the greyish walls were bare in here.
Noire walked up to the counter with her usual stride. "I would like to have the main cell for thirty minutes." Christine raised an eyebrow at that; most cells were ten times ten metres big, which was usually enough space for a fight in close combat. The main cell, basically what all the others were grouped around, had thrice this size. Thirty minutes was the minimum time available as well; this would apparently be only a few matches. Or one long match.
"No problem, here you go." The key was handed over while Noire placed the regular fee on the counter, then the clerk smiled at her a bit mischievously. "And good luck. You'll need it, ma'am."
"Oh? We will see about that." A few out of the crowd on their heels snickered, but neither woman paid them any mind; Christine motioned toward where the main cell was located and the two got going again. Right outside of the rounded-out room however, Noire quickly went over to the terminal while the redhead produced her blade and double-checked it once more. Lastation-made weapons rarely gave in easily, but she did not want to risk anything.
"Do you mind if I turn spectating off? This is not supposed to be a show."
"I don't mind at all. Sorry, everyone!"
There was some muttering from behind them, but no one spoke up; she could not really blame them, though. People liked watching a good fight without greater risks attached to it. The two dozen men and women took it in stride, though; they waved her goodbye and left them to their own devices.
Noire seemed to be done and waved her over, not yet drawing her own blade from the sheath at her hips. "I'm ready when you are... although, why a violin case?" That was the first question anyone asked.
Christine already suspected it to come at some point, so she just said what she always did: "First I did it to have some more room for provisions. And it stuck, so I never stopped."
"Hm... interesting." The other woman gave her a nod and motioned for the entrance, then walked inside; she followed a moment later.
They would start now; Christine felt her anticipation rising, knowing that this opponent would be unlike anyone she ever faced before. She had no idea how she knew, perhaps through intuition, but there was no denying it. One could tell from how Noire held herself; the confident smirk, her evenly paced stride, the practiced motion of drawing her blade and bringing it up in a single movement, all of those confirmed what the redhead already knew.
The doors closed with a clicking noise and they were alone in the circular room, swords drawn. The noise signalled the beginning of their match and Christine slowly inched sideways to gauge her opponent; Noire moved in the opposite direction, her blade held defensively. She was doing the same.
They drew a full circle around the room before the other woman struck. But when she did, she dashed forward on high speed; Christine quickly adjusted her weapon, taking one, two, three hits and then another two from a slightly different angle. Each parry forced her a step backward, closer to the wall, but Noire retreated out of range before she could move to retaliate.
The black-haired woman held her blade in a defensive stance and they measured each other again. Christine had trouble getting a feeling of how her opponent fought, which was bad. She had to feel the flow of battle to influence it properly.
Neither of them spoke, but Christine acted the moment her opponent moved for another attack, quickly dashing forward and striking thrice at Noire's center. Her swings came with force, but were deflected effortlessly while the other woman took a step back, then used the distance to put more force into her next swing.
Christine leaped aside with all the speed she could muster, barely evading the sharp steel; the redhead turned her fall into a roll and came back up to block another flurry of strikes. Getting back to her feet with the fourth and disengaging with the fifth attack, she tried to disrupt her opponent with a feint to the right. No such luck though, as Noire ignored the movement and struck again with force. Her blade was smashed aside and she could feel the impact in her whole arm.
She had to get some distance, but trying to cartwheel away from her opponent only brought her a strong shove right before her feet left the ground. Christine heavily impacted with the floor and felt the force press all air out of her lungs. Beads of sweat began to roll down ther forehead, now that she was no longer moving.
Above her stood Noire, breathing evenly and without even a trace of sweat. She merely blew a loose strand of hair out of her face, then smiled down at the redhead while holding out a hand to her. "I think you're holding back on me."
It took her a while to register the gesture; Christine had trouble comprehending what just happened. She was beaten just like that, without even a sign of effort. She always thought she was rather strong, but this, this was incredible and devastating. Her skill with a sword was something she was proud of, to see someone defeat her this easily... almost hurt.
Slowly, the redhead began to register the words spoken to her and took the offered hand. Noire might be on a wholly different level, but she had been right just now; Christine was holding back.
The other woman took a look around while she caught her breath and took a stance again. "I want to see your full power this time, although we have to be careful not to destroy the place."
She slowly calmed her breething and felt for the power within herself. Christine knew it was there, just waiting to be given form; energy began to surge through her body, joining together from every cell before exploding outward. Her very soul erupted and began to sing the song of battle.
Noire just watched as the aura seeped out from her skin, a clear blue as deep as the ocean; it rolled around the adventurer like mist, brimming with power. She could feel it, the incredible strength it gave her.
"I thought so." The other woman smiled while saying this; had she really expected her to have Awakened? Christine had to ask about this later, when her power boost was not actively draining her stamina. She took another slow breath, then raised her blade again and calmly measured her opponent. There was nothing like this strength, for just one in a million people possessed it.
"I hope you truly are as strong as you appear. This might end messily if you aren't."
Noire had made no attempt to use her own Awakening up until this point and Christine's warning did not make her do so, either; either she could not do it or thought she did not need it. Whatever the case, Christine pounced the moment the last word left her mouth. Everything started to slow down; the redhead began to percieve her surroundings at speeds unavailable to any mere human.
She threw herself forwards with a quick slash, meant to disarm her slowed opponent. Only that Noire was not any slower; she swiftly adjusted her stance and parried the slash, then the follow-up strike and the next ten stabs Christine threw out in a heartbeat. It forced her back several steps and the redhead quickly circled around for another attack; Noire continued to deflect the heavy blows, but was pushed back without a chance to counter any of them. Miniature shockwaves from her strikes hit the walls and ground, leaving fine lines etched into them.
It was a veritable rain of steel that came down on the other woman, yet she left not a single opening in her stance no matter how often Christine struck. She did not think anymore, she just felt the flow of battle and moved further; her opponent had to make a mistake eventually.
When she lined up her next strike and already prepared for the following two, their blades met and the sheer force behind Noire's parry forced the redhead's weapon aside; she lost her grasp on it and it rocketed away.
Even with her heightened senses, Christine could barely even register what happened before the other woman slammed her sword's butt into her stomach; pain exploded from Christine's center and every last bit of air was pushed out of her chest. Had it not been the force of the punch to send her to the ground already, she would have fallen anyway; her mind drew a blank while she desperately gasped for air, pain rolling through her.
She had no idea how long she was just lying there, trying to get her breathing under control. No one disturbed her in the time she needed.
She lost.
That was Christine's first coherent thought as the pain subsided slowly, ever deeper breaths forcing oxygen into her lungs. The world had returned to its regular speed, her Awakening cancelled the moment she could no longer keep it up.
Noire stood a bit to the side, sword lowered and the other hand on her chest. The other woman seemed to calm her own breath at the moment; however, Christine could not see even the slightest bit of sweat on her. She wondered just how anyone could be that strong; the redhead's clothes were soaked from how much she had been sweating!
They remained for themselves a little longer, then Noire looked over and smiled at her; Christine was not sure why the other woman looked so proud, but she smiled back anyway. There was a strange warmth within her.
This was her first defeat in a duel, but, instead of being disappointed as she always thought she might be, Christine was happy that she found her better at last. Noire calmly walked closer and offered a hand to the redhead, who took it gratefully and was pulled up to her feet. "How do you feel? Any injuries?"
She thought about this for a moment and carefully felt over her sensitive abdomen; it did tingle in pain, but only very little compared to how she felt a few minutes earlier. This hit she got was strong enough to break the Awakening's defensive layer, yet the defenses apparently slowed it down quite a bit. "No, I don't think so."
Noire looked as if she wanted to say something, but appeared to reconsider before continuing: "Good. I guess we have neither time nor the ability for another match, so let's get going."
::
Of course it was a known fact that duels should not be held in new or fancy clothes; chances for those to get torn up were simply too high. People that came to duel also brought a change of clothes for the same reason; the Guild featured a large bath for combatants to wash up afterwards. It was a real blessing to take a hot shower after such an exercise; such were Christine's thoughts on the matter.
She took her time under the water, more than ten minutes overall; traveling around in the wilderness came with the disadvantage of having to make do with what she found. The redhead made it a habit of spending as little time as possible on hygiene ever since a few wolves and boxbirds surprised her during a bath. That was... an experience she much preferred not to ever repeat.
After drying herself and donning another set of clothes, she met up with Noire and the two of them got going; for some reason, the other woman wanted to see her place. "There is something I want to talk to you about in private", was what she said about it.
So now they were back at Christine's place, her visitor curiously looking around the living room while the redhead herself was... nervous. She had dismissed the thought earlier, but what if Noire was actually interested in her as well?
In the end, she decided those thoughts had to wait until she actually knew what this was about. Christine closed her eyes for a moment, then showed a big smile again. "But really, this was an incredible fight. I never saw anyone that strong or fast before."
In fact, that last blow from Noire had dented her blade; high-quality steel from a renowned blacksmith, bent out of shape where any normal sword would have broken into pieces. It was impressive.
The black-haired woman turned her head and smiled in return. "Yes, that it was indeed."
And then Noire began to glow, her silhouette basked in silver light. The casual clothes melted into a new form, becoming an elaborate black dress. Her hair became lose and turned silvery while the cloth draped around her immaculate, rosy skin.
Her aura hit Christine the very same moment, this basic understanding of a higher being standing in front of her; she felt it before, though never at this intensity. It made sense, seeing that she never stood right in front of her Lady.
The redhead was speechless, managing little more than keeping her mouth shut while staring at the CPU before her in awe. It was the same features but more regal, the same red eyes but basked in an ethereal gleam.
"You did not manage to land a single hit on me," the mesmerising figure spoke in a deep and enamoring voice; Christine could only continue staring. "But that was to be expected. Nonetheless... it has been a long while since I saw a human being fight with the same ferocity I am used to seeing from Purple Heart."
Black Heart paused here while the redhead tried to parse what was said; she was supposed to match a CPU in something? Could something like this even happen? She felt her legs shake and quickly sat down on the couch, her Lady's watchful gaze never leaving her. Christine was astonished beyond words and the presence of a goddess did its part in suppressing any words she might speak.
Black Heart, however, smiled. "I can see that this was a bit much all at once. You can probably guess that I have not come just for a friendly spar by now."
It did make sense, although she was still busy trying to get her thoughts in order; Christine never thought that a CPU's aura could be this oppressive despite being gentle, even though she heard other people talk about it before.
When she did not answer, the ruler of Lastation continued: "Now that I know your abilities are not just exaggerated, I want you to become one of my Makers. InterZip left a hole in the group with his death, but I believe you would make a wonderful addition to it."
"...Huh?" Was she dreaming? Not only was her goddess standing in the same room after thrashing her in a spar, she offered her a place among the Makers? Only the very best in the whole world could even hope to be called to service. Christine only blinked at her Lady a few times and slowly managed to get a hold of herself; thankfully, Black Heart gave her the time to do so.
"I, I don't know what to say... my Lady." This was the first thing she got out after a while filled with silence and controlled breathing and after pinching her arm hard; the stinging pain proved that no, she was not asleep. This was actually happening!
"Then take your time." The CPU remained standing in front of her, arms held loosely. Christine took her up on the offer and closed her eyes for a bit; it did not help with the feeling of power in front of her, but her quickly beating heart began to slow down at last.
Once she felt ready, the redhead opened her eyes again and slowly got up; her legs were still shaky, but she could stand. Black Heart was where she last saw her, patiently waiting for her to respond. Yet she did not know to say; a chance like this would definitely never come again, but was she really good enough for the Makers? Considering that her Lady was unlikely to be wrong, she would guess so. But then again, they had never met before.
"I thought only those the CPU trusts are appointed as Makers... I mean..." She stopped when Black Heart's lips curled into a smile. The goddess smoothed out her dress while slowly walking around the room. "Of course we have to be able to trust our Makers. With how we choose however, there has yet to be a single person we can not end up trusting. I doubt I made a mistake in choosing you, even if this is our first meeting. I read your books; they say a lot about you, even if you rarely speak about yourself."
Instead of being surprised once again, the redhead quickly pushed the feeling aside and sighed before moving toward where the Lady regarded a few pictures of her family.
Christine already decided to quit being an adventurer. Nonetheless, this sounded like an adventure she would like to pursue. This time with others who could keep up and under her Lady's orders. Which sane person would not agree?
With that in mind, she bowed deeply before Black Heart, her aching body returning to her attention only now. "I would be honoured to serve, my Lady."
"Then stand. My Makers do not bow to anyone." Her voice was calm, but also warm. Christine quickly straightened up while a smile began to form on her face as well. The CPU was looking at her again. "I will return to Nordral in a bit and take care of the necessary paperwork. Get everything in order and decide on a name, we can talk about the details later. I want you over there in a week at most."
Christine quickly nodded while an old thought returned from the depth of her memory. There was no real need to think of a name here, she realised. "Actually, I think I already know which name I want."
"Oh?" The Lady regarded her with a mixture of surprise and curiousity, motioning to continue. Christine herself was a little embarassed now, considering that she just went with it on a whim. That did not stop her from speaking, though. "I would like to be named 'Falcom' while serving."
Black Heart thought about the name for a moment, then nodded at the redhead. "It sounds well enough. Is that a nickname people used to call you?"
She heard a rumour that many Makers chose their names because of that, which was apparently true. Christine shook her head; she never really had anyone to call her by that name. "Not really. I just like how it sounds is all."
She sheepishly scratched her head while the CPU just shook hers. "Seriously... but very well. Falcom it shall be."
Christine nodded happily. This was probably the best day she ever had, even though it meant she had to leave her hometown at last. Not that it would make much of a difference with how rarely she was around before. Everyone should be excited and happy about the whole thing.