Sword XIV: The Date

"Holy crap! This puts my old hammer to shame!" an excited Lisbeth said as she analyzed the gift that she'd just gotten from Ragna and Argo. "You're really sure it's okay for me to just have this?"

"Who else were we going to give it to? You're our blacksmith after all. As far as payment goes, just stop expecting me to treat you to meals and-"

"Oh, TRUST ME. After what happened last time the last thing I'm going to do is let you treat me to food," Liz said with a bit of a scowl which Ragna only rolled his eyes at. The expression from the blacksmith quickly faded into a more playful smirk. "Still, now you're giving me a gift like this. You sure you're not the one that's sending the wrong message?"

"Ugh, both a' ya need ta get a room already," Argo cut in. Even if the two girls were obviously joking as they laughed at this, Ragna was still glad he'd taken Liz aside into a much quieter alleyway. Helped keep the wrong idea from getting out. "Still, pretty obvious that yer new toy's gotta be of a higher grade than most smithing gear around here. Some jealous competitors probably gonna try ta make ya hand it over. I'd be careful."

"I know. But I gotta be able to show off something if I'm going to get ahead of the Midnight Anvil smithing guild," Liz reminded. "They already managed to steal quite a few of my customers and now that they're practically absorbing the small groups in order to expand they've more than doubled in manpower. My feminine charm's only going to get me so far."

"It's what keeps me coming back." Ragna had meant that as a half-hearted joke, but Liz's blush told him that she'd taken it seriously… at least for a moment before realization clearly his her and she laughed it off (with a still crimson complexion).

"Huh, guess Raggy's got some more flirting to him than we thought," Argo said, causing 'Raggy' to scowl at her as she used Hazama's taunting nickname for him. "But yer sure you want to leave our special find with Liz? I hear the Midnight Anvil guild's been lining up their best cuties at the front desk. Might find the apple of yer eye there ta give that hammer to… but you'd probably have to work on yer sweet talk a bit."

"Says you; I could get any date I wanted; gifts or not." True Ragna knew he was boasting at best, but he didn't think either of them would call him out on it. While this appeared true enough with Liz, Argo did have a mischievous gleam in her eye now. Even if Ragna knew he could keep her occupied on combat today so long as he reminded her of the Col they could be making, he still had to fight off a shiver of what she could be planning. "Back to business, I probably won't be back for upgrades for a while. Haven't been able to find any of the materials I need on this floor, so all the reason for this place to get cleared."

"No kidding, but let's hope I can keep everyone just a little more prepared with this," Liz told him. "I got the list of what you need, so if I can find them out in the market I'll message you so we can get your gear in top form."

"Can always count on you." It wasn't flirting on Ragna's part, he meant it here. "See you around."

"And stay away from those cuties in the Midnight Anvil! You're not allowed to break up my business any further!"

"Argo's the one that brought it up, not me," he reminded as he headed out of the alleyway with his snickering info broker while his Blacksmith headed the other way to return to her shop. "So? Today's your last day with me, what are we hitting?"

"The better question is, who are ya hittin' on?" Argo asked with a mischievous smirk. "Can't let you talk such a big game without any proof. Haven't so much as seen you talk with a girl when it wasn't about combat, so I gotta see these supposed pickup skills of yers."

"You're sure that what you want? You have me here and this is one of the few chances I've got to go all out." Ragna needed to be careful; if he sounded too against the idea, Argo would pick up on that and then there'd be no end to the hounding she'd give him. If he could softly press her weaknesses though…

"You kiddin'? This would be worth more than Col," she answered, though her sharp smile made it clear she was expecting for him to fail. "I've seen you get dances from the girls in your guild, but that's just by proximity. Now I wanna see what happens when ya actually try to get a date."

"But-"

"And don't worry about dungeon clearing, I already know how you work. All ya need is a good few hours at full tilt and that'll more than make up for. Besides, you got all day to yerself tomorrow; you can sleep the whole day away if need be!" Her smirk then turned sharper. "Unless of course ya were tryin' ta get… Biblical with a gal."

'So that IS an option here,' Ragna considered, though also knowing enough not to speak the thought aloud. "Not what I would try to do, especially not on a first date…" Was he… actually considering this? It wasn't something he'd ever tried before, but it wasn't as if the prospect entirely sacred him… and if it got him a little credit and he played his cards right, it could help to keep Argo in line. "I'm not going to budge on this; I get to choose who I'm trying for and if it turns out that they're in a relationship I get the chance to change targets. I'm not here to stir up some damn drama."

"What happened to any date you wanted?" Argo asked with a smirk.

"For such a casual date, no girl is worth that kind of trouble," the Reaper answered in kind. "You got a problem with that and I'm ending it here."

"Fine, fine. I guess I'll get my show either way," Argo answered. "But obviously, yer not allowed to ask anyone from the guild. They gotta be fresh; so we'll head to the town plaza and you can take your pick there. Any extra stakes ya wanna put on this?"

"Nah, any more than this and it'll feel like I'm using her as a means to win. Right now it's…" Ragna struggled to find the right phrasing. "Just… doing what I normally do, but you're just insisting on being a witness."

"What ya normally do, right," Argo repeated with an obvious eye roll. "Well let's head over mister Casanova, don't want to keep the lucky girl waiting!"

'This could be a problem, why'd I suddenly feel the need to mouth off like that? Aren't I supposed to be keeping a low profile outside of my guild and the raid bosses?' Ragna self-chided as the two headed for the plaza. 'Either way it's done. I just gotta put up with this crazy shit for one day and hope that I don't give her too much ammo to use.'

Later -The Plaza-

'Twenty minutes and nothing. Argo must be having the time of her life right now,' Ragna thought, not even glancing Argo's way to confirm his suspicions.

It's not that he was constantly getting turned down for the twenty minutes he was trying, it was that he couldn't fully decide on a target. He remembered Kagura one time (drunkenly) telling him that you missed all the lines that you don't cast or something like that (hard to tell with how much he was slurring his words), but with Argo judging him from afar he figured that he had to make his one shot count. Any of the girls here would be an attractive prospect and (thankfully) he knew that this was what the characters actually looked like outside the game. There were a few girls that he figured he could take a chance with, but shortly after he'd committed to the idea they'd left before he could actually head over to talk with them. Others were having conversations with their friends but made it very apparent that they were already in a happy relationship.

'My ego's going to take a hell of a hit after this, but I guess that's what mouthing off gets… me?' Ragna considered as he glanced towards one of the benches.

While most of the groups had come and gone, there was one girl there who had been sitting there for around ten minutes. They hadn't opened their menus or anything, just sat there and it seemed like their gaze was slowly falling downwards. Ragna had figured that they were waiting for someone, but there didn't seem to be any sign of them. He wasn't considering trying to get a date with her, but…

'Argo's going to take it that way no matter what I say, but whatever,' Ragna considered as he headed over to her before crouching down so he could meet her gaze when she looked up. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Huh…?" came her voice as she looked up in surprise to see Ragna. He saw that her edgy pixie (short hair style; thin on the sides, heavier on the top) silver hair had a hair clip hidden in it to give it that specific color. Her eyes were an emerald green not unlike his left one which contrasted against her fair and freckled skin. She was wearing a heavier style or armor, implying her role as a tank. She looked more surprised that someone was talking to her than if anything was wrong. "Can I help you with something?"

"Not really, just seemed like you were sitting by your lonesome for a while and wanted to make sure everything was alright," Ragna told her truthfully, though he had to ignore the feeling of being watched by Argo.

"It's nothing," she insisted. "I've just been going since breakfast and this was my first chance to sit down. I guess I was just zoning out when you saw me."

"…That right?" Ragna responded as he slouched casually. "I guess that means that you haven't eaten lunch yet."

"It does, but I was just going to eat some of the food I'd bought yesterday," the as of now nameless girl explained. Ragna didn't say anything for the brief pause that followed. "Were you… hoping to join me for lunch?"

'Lunch? With you, any chance at dinning with you would transcend any feast fit for the gods! Just your mere presence and divine beauty would feed a thousand men with the vigor and spirit to wage any war for your approval and-'

Ragna had to fight off a grimace at just the thought of him flirting with some of Kagura's mannerisms. God dammit; he was doing this his way.

"Yeah, that's right," he told her. "But you can save your leftovers. I'll take you to a restaurant around here; my treat."

"Huh, straight as an arrow and right to the point," she observed before smiling at the Reaper. "Alright, I think I'll take you up on that offer. But do you mind if I pick the place? There's a restaurant around here that I've been wanting to try."

'She probably wants to pick the place so I don't just lure her off somewhere when she isn't looking. She's got a good head on her shoulders.' "Fine with me, Miss…?"

"Call me Alba, but you could've just looked at my marker," she reminded.

"Felt kind of rude, introductions and all of that," Ragna said, figuring he didn't often have chance for good first impressions so he needed to make it count. "You can call me Ragna."

"And what about your friend?" she asked with a smirk, looking to where Argo was watching. Ragna heard a small shriek as the hooded girl ducked out of the way. "Is she going to be joining us?"

'This lady's sharper than I expected. Argo's pretty careful in her sneaking.' "She's from my guild and tends to follow me. I mean I can tell her to back off, but chances are she isn't going to listen… especially because of the bet we just made."

"A bet… to get me on a date?" she asked, her smile gone and her features sharpening. "…You're rather upfront about this."

"The bet was that she wanted to see if I could get a date, no one specifically. As for why I chose you, it… well it looked like you could use some cheering up," Ragna kept solid eye contact, not shying away under her judging gaze. "You want to call it here, that's fine. I don't mind… but maybe I could take you to lunch to make up to you?"

"…Funny, most if the time people wouldn't be honest about this sort of thing and would make that offer to save face, but with you I don't see anything but sincerity," Alba said as she relaxed her gaze. "Alright, I'll give you a chance at lunch after all. But you're starting off on the wrong foot, so you've got plenty of ground to make up."

"I still think you're being pretty forgiving since I'm not getting slapped in the face and told off outright," Ragna admitted, not that he was complaining. "You choose the place, so go ahead and lead on."

At her nod, Ragna opened the menu to send a quick message off to Argo.

Tail us and we'll both know about it. I think this more than proves my point since we're still having lunch after all is said and done.

The response didn't take long.

All right all right, but I get details later. DETAILS. She might just be taking pity on you!

You're just a sore loser.

Just go on your damn date. I don't know how you managed to woo her, that wasn't even flirting!

And yet I'm the one with the results.

When the follow up didn't come, he smirked as he closed the window before following his date to their choice of eatery. Getting the last word against his mischievously sly info broker seemed like something Ragna would ever tire of.

Later -The Restaurant-

"Welcome, table for two?" the waitress of Alba's chosen restaurant asked as the two stepped in. "We have a nice table right by the windows if you'd prefer."

"Sounds fine, to me. You?" Alba asked as she looked at Ragna, awaiting his response.

"No complaints on my end. Nice and sunny out anyways," he answered in affirmation as the two followed the waitress and took their seats. 'Weird, place actually seems pretty empty. There's a pretty wide pathway in the middle of the buildings with a… dart board at the end? What's that about?'

"We have a special today of Shepherd's Pie that can be filled with either Mutton or the vegetarian option. The gravy inside is our own personal house blend and will go well with a glass of Crimson Architect; out own house blend of red wine."

'Sounds fine, and I guess compared to my own cooking these past few days it's probably going to be my best shot at a good meal. But since this is the one meal I can treat myself with I should probably read over the full-'

"Two of those please, one for each of us." Ragna raised an eyebrow as his date decided for him, but didn't protest otherwise. The waitress nodded and headed off, leaving the two alone for their discussion. "Sorry to cut in like that, but I've kept hearing such amazing things about the food here that I had to make sure we gave it a try… I also get the feeling you don't know how popular the pies here are."

"First time hearing about it, but I'm hardly one for gossip," the Reaper said bluntly. "Most of the time I try to get whatever's cheap or spend what money I can on ingredients so I can try my own cooking. The latter of which has not gone well."

"Oh yeah? Someone from my friends list told me that cooking is one of the hardest things to get into for the game. Apparently not only do you have to build the skill up from scratch, but you also need to unlearn everything you thought you knew to adapt to the system and make new ingredients," Alba said. "A couple of people said that they were professional chefs outside of the game and they seem to have the hardest time out of anyone getting used to the new system. The more you knew the harder it seems to be."

'That… honestly makes me feel a bit better about the whole shitstorm. Not by a wide margin, but better all the same,' Ragna figured. "I learned that the hard way; most of my earlier recipes were completely inedible and now that I've finally got my hands on a cookbook it's only starting to get slightly better. Hence why I'm inviting you out to eat instead of cooking for you outright."

"And it appears that it's a major blow to your pride; as hard as you're trying to appear nonchalant about it," his date said, her eyes turning analytical. "In fact… I'd say it's weighing you down more than any death threat in this game."

"What are you, a therapist?" Ragna asked somewhat crassly, especially for a first date.

"Yes actually, I was in the middle of studying to become one at my University when I got trapped in here. I was actually joined in place of one of my friends for the first day so I could try to see how well I could read different emotions through the textures. Wasn't even a gamer, but since then I haven't exactly had a choice."

"Really? I'd say you've still got enough of one. All of this constant fighting can't be good for most people's psyche and the constant threat of death has gotten to just about everyone here. I think you'd do a damn good job even if you just stayed back and listened to them, gave 'em someone to talk to. That's gotta be pretty damn valuable."

"That's kind of you to say Ragna, but I've already tried to put that talent to use. While I can hopefully say that it's helped a little for some people, it's hard to keep them encouraged when the constant threat of the death is still looming overhead. I think a large reason for that might be how early it still is in the game and… how many we've already lost. And that's part of why I was trying to fight; so I give them some hope by making any progress I can towards clearing this game."

"Damn, and here I thought you were goodhearted just for giving me a second chance," Ragna said, adding a bit of humor with a small smirk. "That's pretty amazing, so how do you try to help on the frontlines?"

"By way of being a Tank; I wear the heaviest and thickest armor, don the biggest shield I can find, and equip the best accessories that are focused solely on raising my defense. Aside from that I have plenty of healing items for my team and Agro drawing skills so that the enemy keeps their attention focused solely on me. It's not uncommon that I don't even use my longsword and have my team step in."

"…That right?"

"What about you? How exactly does Ragna take care of business out in the field?" she asked, leaning in while expecting an answer.

"Two-handed sword, I try to be fast on my feet, kill the enemy before they can even think of killing me. If I'm working with someone I have to be careful and keep an eye on them, but I play solo most of the time anyways," he answered.

"But you're in a guild; you said as much when I asked you about that girl from earlier," Alba noted, though not in poor taste at Argo. "Is your guild leader really that lax?"

"I am," Ragna informed, both of his attitude and his position. "Unless something big comes up like the floor three raid, everyone's free to do what they want as long as they're careful and contact me when they need help. It's worked before and I trust everyone enough that it'll continue to work now. Besides, with the kind of risks I take its probably better that they don't work too close with me."

"You… were part of the third floor raid?" Alba asked. "I heard that the raid was performed by only the best teams in the game and you're saying that your guild was good enough to be part of it? The Grim Reaper himself… herself… I keep getting mixed up on the details of the Reaper, but regardless they were supposedly there."

'Right, Sakura was using a scythe for that fight. That's probably where all the confusion is coming from. Add the fact that the boss was using a scythe and was a Reaper itself and you have one giant mess in the works.' "So what can you tell me about this Reaper then? What have you heard?"

"Just that they're an amazing force in combat and that seem to possess a bizarre form of power that hasn't been found anywhere else in this game. Some think that they're a cheater that hacked the game from the inside while others think that they were inserted into the game by the government in order to clear it and save lives. Those that think that power is legit have been scouring the first floor in attempts to replicate it, but have all come up empty."

'There'd be nothing for them to find. Not unless the game itself added something and I have to hope the chance of that never comes up.' "That's just what everyone else is saying. What about your own thoughts?"

"Simple; I have to wonder if they're sitting right across from me." Ragna was able to keep a straight face and he didn't have to do it for long until their meat pies and wine arrived. "Looks like you were saved by the bell."

"I got nothing to hide." Which largely wasn't true, but the details of Ragna's origin hardly mattered at this point (he thought). "You want an answer from me, go ahead and ask."

When his date didn't say anything, he proceed to thank the waitress before the two started to dig into their food in relative silence. Maybe it was the fact that his own cooking still wasn't up to par, but damn if this wasn't the best food Ragna had eaten since he got here. "Not sure what my expectations were, but that's a hell of a lot better than whatever I was thinking."

"These pies alone are certainly worthy of all of the compliments this place has been getting," Alba agreed before taking a sip from her wine glass. "This is pretty good too, might want to give it a shot."

"Might as well," the Reaper agreed before taking a sip. The Reaper was hardly one for drinking, but he had to admit that this stuff still had a pleasant enough taste. "Not bad, goes well with the food just like she said. Most of the time I didn't serve my food with wine, or at least I didn't try to pair them up."

"What kind of food did you make then? Out there I mean," Alba asked, referring to outside the game (which oddly enough still applied to the Reaper). "What was your specialty?"

"Barbecue mostly, though I had to learn a thing or two about making sushi since… well my old teacher had a fondness for the stuff. Other than that, I guess I used to do just about everything. Now I can't do anything."

"Everything, eh? Must be why you're having so much trouble adapting if you knew so much about cooking. You just mentioned a teacher though, is he the one who taught you how to cook?"

"That's right, but he taught me a lot more than that. Survival, swordsmanship, Ars M… combat techniques with unarmed fighting. I learned a lot from the guy, probably helps that I can apply most of it here."

"It sounds like you're much better off thanks to that training. I'm sure if your teacher could see you now, they'd be proud with what you've managed to do."

'You don't know Jubei. Old cat would probably belittle me for being sloppy or some shit. More I think about it, the more sense it makes that he's that crazy Kokonoe's father. And after seeing how nightmarish Platinum was, I'd say I got out pretty unscathed all things considered. Still, I hope he's doing better now that he's forgotten about me… along with everyone else.'

When Ragna didn't say anything for that long moment, Alba just gave a casual shrug as they finished their pies in silence. They both gave a content sigh at the end of their meals, though they still had some of their wine to finish off.

"That's the one upside of this Death Game; I finally get to take a break from my constant diet of Instant Noodles and coffee," his date said before taking a sip from her glass.

"That can't be healthy," Ragna said, thankfully the tone he said it made it clear he was more concerned than judgmental.

"I'm a college student living on a tight budget with plenty of classes and not enough time to cook for myself… not that I would know where to start," she admitted that last part a bit ashamedly. "Last month when I decided to give it a shot I nearly burned down my dorm."

'Another Noel… Nah, I doubt that her food's that bad. Besides, she at least knowns that she isn't making great food to start with.' "It's like that with a lot of people, but give it some time and you'll eventually get the basics down, though I guess in here isn't exactly the right place to cook. Even cracking an egg's a game of chance in here."

"…You're not kidding, are you? Then again you do seem to be the person with firsthand experience since you've tried the system out," she said before glancing over to the side and seeing several servers of the restaurant were coming out, far more than what were needed to wait tables. Not that it seemed that they were coming out to do that in the first place, as the each stood in line at the alleyway leading to the dartboard. "I never heard anything about this. What do you think is going on there?"

"A contest of some kind?" Ragna had to guess with the dart board.

One of the customers from the restaurant dressed in common armor walked down to the end of the hallway opposite the wall. One of the serving girls brought up a tray filled with darts and offered it to him, leading for him to take one as he stared down his target at the end. Bring the dart back, Ragna saw them charge the classic throwing skill up before letting the dart fly, hitting the target just outside of the bullseye. As the grabbed the second dart, Ragna then noticed that the two servant in the center of the line started juggling knives between them to disrupt the participant's line of sight. Even after charging the skill they took much longer in their aim before letting lose the dart and striking the board. One the next dart the group closets to the board began juggling knives between the area and while the dart still hit the board, it only managed to stay on the very edge after being struck by one of the knives. On the next attempt there was no such luck as the dart crashed into one of the knives and all of the objects involved shattered.

"That's three solid hits, meaning you've managed to break even with your bill," the waitress told the challenger. He only gave a silent if disappointed nod as he headed to the front counter to pay for his tab. This waitress might've taken notice of Ragna and Alba watching the events because she headed to their table. "Would either of you like to try our special promotional challenge?"

"A dart throwing contest where each throw becomes harder… What are the stakes?"

"Your bill. Missing on the first attempt or only getting two of the darts will lead to a price rise which will be higher the worse you do," she explained. "Getting three will result in the same bill, four will cut the bill in half, and getting five will earn you a free meal. Getting 6 and you'll obtain a high grade healing item and getting all 7 will net you our challenge's grand prize."

"Eat for free, eh?" Ragna considered with a sharp smirk forming.

"Keep in mind sir, that you're only eligible for this contest once per week, so make sure your one shot counts."

'Guess my dream of free food isn't that easy… dammit, I guess Tao rubbed off on me more than I thought,' he though as his smile faded. As much as he wanted to jump right in then and there, he at least wanted to portray some semblance of manners. "Did you want to try?"

"Don't act like you weren't eagerly smiling like a madman just a second ago. I'm not brave enough to get in the way of whatever that was," she said with a flirty smile. "You said you were going to pay anyways, so I say go for it!"

"If you say so… but madman?" Ragna almost felt insulted, but with a knowing look from Alba he decided to shrug it off as he went for the challenge. Stepping up to where the previous challenger had stood he took hold of the dart and gave it a quick toss in the air as he got familiar with its weight. Eyeing down the target, he pulled his arm back before nailing the bullseye, easy as could be.

"Hey, don't go trying to show off," the former challenger said. Ragna turned to face them at the counter where they had just finished paying. "There's no way you'll be able to focus down a target that difficult to hit without the skill. You can't-"

Thunk! went one of the darts, once again hitting the center of the dart board and passing through the knives without issue… or even looking that way.

"…Just try to wing the challenge. It'll eat you out of your Col if you don't take this seriously and-"

Thunk!

"Okay, I'm just going to shut up and leave now," they admitted with embarrassment as Ragna flawlessly matched their own attempt and showed no chance of slowing. The rest of the restaurant gave a small laugh at their expense, something that rubbed Ragna the wrong way.

"If it's so damn easy, why don't the rest of you show us how it's done? Put your money where your mouth is." Silence. "Yeah, that what I thought," he finished as he nailed his fourth shot.

"Not to repeat what he just said, but are you really doing this without your skills? They're only here to help you so why not try them?"

"You all have your way of doing this; I have mine," Ragna told her as the knives picked up in their tempo and left little room for him to take the shot. Not that it stopped him from nailing another bullseye and earning his desired free lunch. 'Truth is that I can't hit anything when I try using the assigned skill. Not that I'd practice with it much in the first place; I like to be right upfront in combat.'

Ragna considered stopping the contest there and missing on purpose as the group were now throwing flat shield through his path as well, leaving only the smallest of chances to hit the target. Maybe just act like he was getting too cocky and he couldn't deliver. But then he remembered that it wouldn't exactly work with his highly analytical date so he decided to go for it after all and nailed the sixth shot. The entire restaurant was silent as Ragna took the final dart for his seventh shot. True, he could've done a lot more to show off here thanks to all of the skills and precession he had yet to show, but going an admittedly lazy route he only threw the dart cleanly through the obstacles and stuck his seventh bullseye.

"Holy crap! He managed to do that without breaking a sweat! And he didn't even have to use a skill to help his throws!" someone from the restaurant exclaimed, making Ragna wonder why they felt the need to shout the obvious.

"Lunch was already a great treat, but free food and a show? I think you've earned those points back that you lost," Alba informed her Reaper date, somehow both coyly and honestly. "That a result of your training?"

"Yeah, got a good sense of coordination." 'Especially when I had to manage with half of my body shut off,' Ragna considered as the servants dispersed after they'd given him a small round of applause. The only one that was left was the supposed head serving girl who'd been offering him the darts he'd thrown. "So I get the grand prize?"

"Not only that, but you've also managed to obtain the third tier of our hidden prize by getting all bullseyes!" she informed excitedly (as much as an NPC could show emotion).

"Hidden prize, eh?" Ragna repeated with a cocky smirk. "Was there a prize for hitting the target without using a skill?"

"Unfortunately no, but it was still an impressive showing from you regardless," she said as one of the male servers came over with a bangle upon a steel tray. "This is the prize for hitting the target all 7 times. This accessory piece is said to bring great protection from physical attacks and provides resistances from negative effects. It also gives a slight bonus to your attack potential, but it's negligible in comparison."

"Still useful," Ragna figured as he grabbed it off the tray. "What about the bonus prize?"

"That's up to you. You can choose any one piece of equipment to obtain that's of similar grade to this one. It can be a weapon, an armor piece, anything of the sort. So what'll it be?"

Ragna didn't answer right away and considered his options. Asking for a piece of general equipment for himself was clearly out, he was too closely associated with the gear he still wore and even if he was laxer on the matter it was clear that his equipment could be taken to all the heights of the endgame with enough time and effort… also, Liz would likely take insult if he wore anything she hadn't worked on. There was even a nice gesture to be made if he decided to ask for a similar bangle to the one he'd just obtained so that he and Alba could have a matching set, but for him to try something like this on something as simple as a first lunch date seemed a little… personal. Even still, it would be a little selfish if he took both prizes for himself, especially when he didn't need either of them.

"I think I'll take the best large shield that you've got," Ragna finally decided. The maid nodded before heading off.

"Are you trying to win me over with gifts now?" Alba asked him slyly.

"Why? Is it working?" the Reaper asked with a gentle smirk. "That and… you talked earlier as your role of a tank, how you wanted to help people by listening to their problems and managing their mental states, whatever you're able to do. I just want to help with that."

"Really?" Abla asked, not sounding unconvinced, but… 'Why can't I read him. Nothing about his expression says anything, like I'm looking at a blank canvass.' "Then… thank you, Ragna."

"Don't thank me just yet; I don't have any idea how good this new shield is supposed to be. For all I know, your old one might put this once to shame."

…An idea which was clearly disproven once the serving girl returned with the protective piece, Alba took a look at its stats, and her jaw nearly hit the ground.

"Is this even allowed on this floor?" she demanded from Ragna who only glanced over at his numbers. If he'd gotten a two-handed weapon from that… He shook his head. With as strong as he was in combat, a (statistically) better sword wasn't going to do that much. "I… I can't take this…"

"Sure you can, I'm still counting on you to put it to good work," Ragna told her as he noticed that several patrons seemed much more eager to participate in the restaurant challenge for their own rewards from the bullseye grand prize. Figuring that this place was about to become a lot louder the two headed to the entry way, only to see a familiar face entering as they did. "Heathcliff."

"Grim Reaper…" the champion from the last floor said analytically in kind. Following him were both the spear woman Roselia and fellow sword-shield user Kuradeel. Heathcliff seemed to take notice of the rise of excitement in the restaurant along with the shield that his date held. "Was that a contest prize?"

"Yep, just won it myself," Ragna told him passively, not boasting for the moment. "Best of luck, pretty clear you wanted to give this a shot."

"Thank you then," Heathcliff answered evenly as the two men passed each other. Roselia seemed to give the odd suggestive wink to Alba while Kuradeel remained stoic. Unable to come up with a response, she simply followed after Ragna.

"And here you wanted to head in and win the contest yourself, only for that red coated Reaper to beat you to the punch," Roselia said to her team leader, almost taunting him. "Maybe it's only fair, seeing as how you showed him up in the boss raid in the last floor."

"Only you would worry about petty details like that," Kuradeel spat back with venom.

"…On the contrary; I do tend to have a very prideful side," Heathcliff admitted with an eager grin starting to form. "Now… let's first see if these pies are as good as the rumors say they are."

Outside

"Ooooookay, if there was any doubt of who you were earlier, that was just completely destroyed," Alba said as the two started walking the streets away from their choice of dining. "So you really are the…"

"Yeah, and like I said earlier I don't have anything to hide," Ragna said as he raised his right glove and formed a fist. "I don't understand all the details what this power really means, but if it can help me to clear the game then that's good enough for me." That much wasn't a lie, even now the power of Ragna's Azure Grimoire still seemed mysterious at best… and maybe it was better that way.

"…Still seems a little weird that you didn't lead with that when you were asking me out," Alba noted.

"What? Did I need to bring up my reputation to have a chance?"

"I didn't say that," she tried to tell him before glancing to the side. "Looks like someone else recognizes you."

"Someone…? Oh no."

"Ragna!" came Klein's call as he rushed over to the two. While it wasn't anything to do with Klein himself, Ragna had wanted to keep a low profile and had reasonable doubts about Klein's ability to keep himself tight lipped (for now he should just consider himself lucky that the rest of his team wasn't here). "Didn't realized that you were in town. Haven't seen you since we celebrated after floor three."

"Sorry, I've just been keeping busy," Ragna said, clearing his throat as he tried to make clear that he needed Klein to clear out.

"I'll say," the red head said as he put his arm around Ragna in comradery. "Never knew you were one for dating, and with a girl outside of our guild no less! Nice to see that you're doing more than going around and brooding all the damn time."

"…Thanks," Ragna said sarcastically and very irately, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to escape this one.

"Anyways, nice to meet you. I'm Klein, second-in-command to this guy and former leader of the Fuurinkazan guild," he said, letting go of Ragna for the moment and turning his attention to his apparent date.

"Which would make you swordsman I heard about from the third floor raid. The one that stepped in for his own tank and fought off the boss's minions after your guild-mate was almost one-shot. I remember a couple of people bringing you up."

"Really? So my reputation is growing," Klein said, turning cocky with a smile. "Aw man, that's awesome news. I gotta tell my girlfriend next chance I get."

'Girlfriend?' Ragna contemplated silently before he remember the girl Klein had been flirting with (okay, flirted by) during the third floor raid. 'Is he just calling her his girlfriend now or did they actually decide to make it official? You'd think he'd have told me given how he usually is.'

"Anyways Klein, you can call me Alba. Just a bit of small time tank," Ragna's date said, finally making her own introductions.

"Tank eh, probably means you didn't get a lot to do out there. Ragna already likes to do just about everything on his own and if there's one thing he seems to hate its having people take hits for him. Guy can singlehandedly stare down five of the toughest monsters in any field or dungeon without flinching, but any time he has to watch someone else fight off blows he's the one that looks hurt."

"Is that right? I never knew the Grim Reaper was really so heroic," Alba said with a growing sense of admiration… and a touch of teasing.

"I wouldn't call it that," Ragna muttered, hoping that he wasn't blushing (he was). "We didn't even head out into the fields, we just went and got lunch."

"…You mean that you actually went out and invited a girl for something that wasn't combat based? Who are you and what did you do to my guild leader?"

"Nice one, Klein," Ragna groaned as Alba giggled beside him. "Anyways, be careful out there."

"Trust me I know, especially on a floor like this. I've had more than a couple of close calls with my guys. In fact we just skimmed through so close of a fight that I had to give them the rest of the day off just to rest their nerves." His expression had barely turned serious before he gave a goofy grin. "I'll just have to see you tomorrow during the tournament! Maybe we'll do a double date!"

"Klein, I'd have to get a second date first aaaaaaaand you're already running off without listening to me," Ragna observed as the Samurai had already left. "…Well that happened."

"He's a strange one. Is he really your second-in-command?"

"Considering he disbanded his entire guild just so that he could be part of mine, it would be insincere if I had him be anything less," Ragna explained. "And yeah, Klein's kind of a weird one. Shy around girls yet constantly looking for his soul mate, quick to frighten and even quicker to excite… But you heard how he guarded Agil when the shit hit the fan. He won't give up on any of us… You'd be hard pressed to find a better man here. Truth is, he'd make a far better leader than I would, but… I dunno. I guess he thinks he's helping me by giving me the job."

"And is he?"

"…Too early to say for sure, but yeah. Maybe he is." Ragna turned to Alba seriously. "It's back then."

"Back? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"That feeling that I got when I first saw you; I could practically feel that air of depression around you. Even if you somehow managed to hide it when I walked over to you." Ragna did his best to choose his words carefully, difficult given how blunt he constantly was. "Look, I'm sure that you've got your own issues that I've got no business hearing about, but what I saw in you was really damn worrying. Like… I'm actually afraid to leave you along after seeing it. I know we just met, but are you willing to talk it out? Even if it's just to prove me wrong?"

Alba sent a harsh scowl his way, making the Reaper wonder if he'd pushed too hard and screwed up… but in the end, he didn't back down either as the two stared each other down. All until Alba finally relented and broke the eye contact.

"…If you know a quiet place we can talk."

Town Inn

Ragna had gotten a couple of looks when he'd order a single room with Alba, but with the discussion he suspected he was in for it was easy enough to shake those stares off. The room that Ragna had bought wasn't all that big, only a single bed that Alba sat on while Ragna grabbed one of the table chairs so he could sit across from her. The drapes on the windows were closed, barely letting a few rays the early afternoon sunlight leek through. It had been a few minutes since the two had sat down, Ragna waiting patiently for Alba to speak and giving her the time she needed to organize her thoughts.

"…The irony here isn't lost on me; a therapist getting her own therapy session."

"Everyone needs help; I know that after being too damn stubborn about it for so long," Ragna told her as he briefly thought back to his more reckless decisions. "Just don't worry about your pride for right now and tell me what's on your mind. I'll do what I can to help, even if it just ends up listening."

"Right… well, obviously you heard earlier how I played tank for a group of players and how I came in here with friends from University? Those two were obviously the same group and… well I found out that they'd died during the night, and in a way I was to blame for it." Ragna didn't start with the questions just yet. "We'd actually started doing really well in the fields, managing to win pretty handedly against the tougher monsters out there. We'd made it through several encounters without getting hit once. You can probably guess where things went from there."

"That your group got overconfident and they wanted to take on a bigger challenge?"

"Exactly. It all happened yesterday, we'd just come back from the fields and we'd even managed to take down one of the named monsters. Heck, Ryota… Shinji was saying how easy we'd probably made it look." Ragna guessed that she was respecting her friend by using his name from outside the game. "There was a lot of chatter, but soon everyone started talking about how ready they were for the next thing. How much they wanted to head into the actual dungeons where the real rewards were."

'Not a good idea. If there's one place that they shouldn't start their dungeon exploring, it's this floor,' Ragna thought, realizing all of the traps and ambushes that had already been reported. "What did you think about the idea?"

"I was dead set against it from the start. Up close and personal with the monsters like that, you get a good sense of just how hard those things are actually hitting you and how dangerous it really is. Even with my larger shield, most of them hit like a semi-truck. I tried talking them out of it, just to explain we were safer with what we were already doing, but…"

"They weren't having it?"

"Most of them weren't already but it was our leader, Hiroto that was the real voice pushing for us to try the harder area. A few days ago, he'd gotten to into a duel and lost badly to that… woman we saw back at the restaurant, the one with Heathcliff. She insulted the hell out of him, saying that he wasn't worthy of the fields and was better off staying in town where it was safe. Back outside the game Hiroto was a good friend, but… he had a prideful side to him. He always needed to get the last word in, no matter what it was for. He refused to have anyone show him up, and that's when he said we were going into the dungeons tomorrow and that was final. The others tried to convince me and tell me we were hitting one of the easier dungeons to the east, but I still had to argue with them. In the end…"

"You told them that you weren't doing it?"

"Right, I told them that there was no way I was going along with anything so reckless. I had the only teleportation crystal in our group and I was our only tank. I figured that was enough to keep them at bay and we all went to bed for the night… And when I woke up in the morning… I saw… And maybe if I had been there…"

No tears. Ragna suspected that she'd already spent hours crying over this earlier that morning, not that he could blame Alba, not after what she went through.

"When you found me, I… I don't know if I was on my way out to end it… But I know I was at least thinking it…" She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I had a good time at lunch, but… I'm still at such a loss."

"If you were at such a loss, why did you bother going out with me?" Ragna asked. "I would've expected you to tell me off quickly."

"I don't even know; maybe I thought that I needed someone to talk to. Maybe it was nice that I finally found someone to have an actual first date with. Maybe I wanted to give you a chance to talk me out of being so reckless." A brief pause. "It didn't hurt that you're pretty hot."

Ragna didn't let his pride get in the way of present events (though he still made a mental note to inform Argo later).

"What about now? How are you feeling now that you've told me?"

"Just as lost as I was before… maybe a little better but…" She shook her head. "How am I going to move past this?"

"That's one answer I don't have for you," the Reaper admitted, knowing full well that he still held on tightly to his past despite everything he'd done in its wake. "But I know that if you have any chance of actually moving forward, you shouldn't try to do it alone. That and I'm too worried to leave you like this by yourself."

"…You think you can help me?"

"I can try, but I think there's someone better fit for this than I am," he admitted. "There's a girl named Leefa that's a part of my guild who… she lost someone too. She's fully dedicated to making sure that she can get as many people as possible out of this Death Game alive. If you're willing to hear her out and I can stay content knowing that she's with you, then maybe something can start to work itself out."

"You're sure it won't be a bother to her?" Alba asked quietly.

"I dunno, let me check," Ragna said as he fired off a quick message, getting a reply back almost instantly. "…That didn't take long, and yeah. She'll be by soon and then I'll be off. I have another promise that I gotta keep and hopefully I'll find out how we're supposed to escape this damn floor on the way. Take all of the time that you need to… I've got this."

"I'm… pulling for you. Grim Reaper," Alba said before leaning forward and delivering a small kiss to Ragna's cheek. "That's… for luck… and giving me a chance."

"Heh, you gave me one first, remember?" he reminded with a soft smile.

Later -Plaza-

"Took ya long enough! One date! That's all it was supposed ta be!" Argo mouthed off at Ragna the instant he returned. "And what's with that scowl! Figured you'd be grinnin' from ear to ear after yer date! Or was I right and it was just for pity!?"

"You done? You're just wasting time now and I want to get moving," Ragna told her forcefully. It was clear that Argo had more to say, but held her tongue for the moment. "You wanted details; I'll give 'em to you on the road. But right now, I need you in business mode."

"Huh? What happened?" Argo asked as confusion seemed to overtake her

"On the road. Right now, I need you to tell me about a dungeon to the east. One that's supposed to be easy to clear. Heard of it?"

"Yeah, I think I know the one that you're talking about. That's just about the only dungeon that I can recommend to anyone; monsters will ambush ya in there but as long as you're careful and don't rush in it shouldn't be too risky to get to the end an' grab a quick drop along the way. There's not even a dungeon boss in th' back."

"And the encounters, how do they compare to the named monsters out in the field?" Ragna asked again.

"Not even the same class. Even if you were ambushed an' flanked it shouldn't be anywhere near as hard. Most of the problem should be if yer too low leveled." Argo analyzed Ragna's scowling features. "I don't like that look. What's wrong?"

"A story that doesn't add up," Ragna told her with before tossing her the bangle that he'd won from the contest. "We're heading over there for some investigating. Something tells me it's not that simple after all."

"Huh? You really think somethin's up with that place? Figured you go after the tough fights for the big rewards. And the heck's with this thing?" she asked as she checked the item's stats and… didn't seem to hate what she saw. "I like good presents as much as the next gal, but why the sudden generosity?"

"Same answer to both," Ragna said with a deadly scowl as the two headed off. "I'm not letting anyone else die on this damned floor."

Next Time -The Rat: Part Two-

SHAMELESS PLUG FOR MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

I'm Storm VII on YouTube and I've been working through some Let's Plays over there. I'm doing Persona 4 Golden, Super Mario Galaxy, and later today I'll be uploading a vid on Final Fantasy VII REMAKE (covering my favorite part of the game, so stay tuned).

So full disclosure, I was going to have this chapter include the dungeon raid, but as time went on I realized that I needed some time to develop a proper full chapter for Ragna and Argo to get involved with and to build the drama. I'm leaving Alba off to the side for now, but if you guys have any ideas for how to keep her involved (even if it's as simple as getting her to join Rebellion ) or other characteristics I can include feel free to share your thoughts in the reviews. Speaking of which, let's handle the ones I got this batch.

The Unplanner: Yeah, but I'm thinking of something towards how much Ragna can actually do in this world.

Matthew Cruz: It fit at least.

P3R50N5: There was a time limit, and that boss fight's a few floors up.

pendragonZx: Thanks.

ArmantusCumPinnae: I already have plans for Christmas (I say in summer). And maybe I'll add in some of the characters from the games.

Lightkirinhuruname: Calm down there.

Wlyman2009: Yeah, for some reason Argo seems to be denied a lot of screen time for most of the media she's in.

Lovnag: I like writing their dynamic myself, and at the moment I haven't committed nor am I convinced of the harem angle for this story.

Shirosaki Kizoru: Yeah, this fic could use some more attention.

Az-Bebere: Once again, I have some different ideas for Christmas.

TheEmeraldMage: Been a while, and thanks for the review. Ragna and Rachel can have some good character moments with each other but... it's far from a perfect record.

That's all from me! Until next time!

Ciao!