A full month for an update is an atrocity isn't it? I know I said I had exams and all, but even then, a full month?!

So anyway, back to our poor neglected story here: I finally get the chance to introduce more QB characters! Well, one at least. Either way, I always feel like I'm making more progress when another character comes to the field.

"I really wish I could do more than just thank you for the ride, Mirim."

Mirim, Church's young and cheerful rescuer, shrugged as she proceeded to gather the first bushel of apples that she was supposed to sell. The two of them had literally just arrived in Alabaster Town about ten minutes ago. The place was not much to look at: it's buildings were made of stone and terracotta tile rooftops, the roads were paved cobblestone, and there was a rather large sycamore tree in the center of the town that was likely it's only main attraction. Other than that, there was a stone wall surrounding the settlement, though it was only about fifteen feet high, and probably nowhere near as thick. Even the gate Mirim and Church had come through would be a paltry defense against any real attack, being the half-rotten piece of wood that it was.

All of this aside, this had been the duo's destination, and Mirim graciously accepted Church's good intentions. "That's alright! You did more than enough by keeping me company on the way here."

Now that her wagon was stationed on the outskirts of the town, Church couldn't help but wonder how far away the market area was. "Are you sure you don't want some help getting all of that stuff to the market? I'd be happy to help you. Or why not just take the wagon up to the market itself?"

Mirim gave him one of her carefree smiles, a perfect blend of cheer and empathy. "Well, carrying all this stuff will make me stronger for sure: and the stronger I am, the more I can help my family! So it's worth the effort. Thank you for asking though."

"And here you were thinking you weren't responsible."

Church's praise elicited a brief giggle from the girl. "You really only have nice things to say huh? I bet you have girls chasing after you all the time!"

That comment brought back the memories of all the times Church had been verbally or physically attacked by the women he knew. Granted, most of the time he had done something somewhat warrant it, but the number of occurrences thus far was still unfortunate. "Yeah… you have no idea..."

At that moment, Church's stomach let out a loud grumble. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. Mirim looked completely appalled at the sound, as though it's mere existence was an affront to her own.

"Oh, you must be starving! Especially since you were on the shoreline for who knows how long! Here, take some of the apples!"

Church shook his head, clarifying that he was unwilling to do such a thing for a variety of reasons. "I couldn't do that Mirim, not after how much you've done for me as it is. Just point me to somewhere that I can get some food, and I'll work from there."

Mirim furrowed her brow in thought for a moment. "Hmm… oh! There's a tavern nearby! Of course, I'm not allowed to go in there, but I still know where it is! If you walk with me to the market, I can point it out along the way."

Nodding his thanks, Church nevertheless lifted two of the large baskets of produce from Mirim's wagon. "Alright, but if I'm coming with you, you have to at least let me carry one basket. I'd feel bad if I didn't."

The tavern Mirim ultimately led Church to after they had delivered her goods to the market for sale was not nearly as bad as Church imagined it would be. He had always imagined taverns to be little different than bars, with seedy individuals of questionable intent and integrity soiling the place. That said, Church had yet to actually enter the building, so for all he knew that was the exact nature of its occupants. Still though, the outside looked well enough off, with sturdy wooden construction and even a rather nice mahogany door on the front. Even the sign, with its typical 'stick an adjective to an animal' name was free of grime and general tear, so the place was either new or just kept in good condition.

Either way, as the duo stood before the Purple Pangolin, Church wondered if it was supposed to be some sort of joke. Were Pangolin's more common in this world or something? He certainly hadn't seen one thus far. Still, unusual nature of the name aside, it was time for him to part ways with Mirim, which was a sad notion in and of itself.

Sure, Church had met her only a few hours ago, but it had been a very pleasant few hours. Honestly Church thought she was too sweet for this world, but he hoped she could maintain that regardless of what came her way in life. It was always nice to meet someone endlessly kind and optimistic, and always a shame when something stripped that away from them.

"Thank you for bringing me here Mirim. You've really been good to me today, and I truly appreciate it."

The young girl in question gave him one of her trademark all genuine, all joy smiles. She kind of reminded him of Nowa, honestly. "You don't have to thank me. Helping each other should be expected of everyone. That's what my Mom says."

Church gave her a smile that he hoped was only half as brilliant as her own. "Well, believe me when I say the world needs more people like you to make it brighter. You'd better stay safe on your way back home, alright? After all, I hope to see you again one of these days."

Mirim's smile widened even further, something Church hadn't even thought was possible. "I hope to see you again too Mr. Church! You've been really kind to me too. In fact, I think there are more people like me in the world than you know. You're one of them.

Church wondered if she would still think that if she knew what he had once done for a living. To be fair though, Church liked to think he only killed evil people in his days as a sniper. Then again, there was a great difference between reality and the misconceptions of man, and personally Church was not interested in discerning which was true of him.

"I'm glad you think so Mirim. I'll try to live up to your standard of kindness. Stay safe now, alright?"

"I will. Thanks so much for talking to me on the way here. Good luck finding your friends!"

With that, Mirim gave him an adorable wave and trotted off towards the outskirts of town where her wagon was waiting. Church waved back, truly sad to see the bundle of childish innocence go, but now that he was alone again it made the reality of his situation more tangible. But, even though that was true, the growling of his stomach was enough to lay the issue to rest temporarily at least. His basic necessities needed to be sated before he could worry about anything else.

Still, as he reached for the door of the tavern, he couldn't help but hear the voice of his sister nagging him about going into a drinking establishment. She had always made it very clear that she thought the consumption of alcohol was 'downright asinine and completely stupid.' Truth be told Church wasn't quite as harsh in judging the matter, but he personally cared nothing for it. He was not fond of anything that could make him lose control of his sensibilities.

But he was sure that little twerp would find out about this somehow, even if he completely stayed away from anything close to alcohol anyway. He just knew that the moment he saw his sister again she would berate him for this incident she had somehow learned through magical means or some such.

Pushing the wooden door to the building open, Church had a hard time readjusting his eyes to the dimly lit interior, which was a huge contrast to the sun outside. But in order to avoid looking like a buffoon, Church found a chair ASAP, instead of standing right in front of the door blinking the stars out of his the table he chose at more or less random was not occupied by any other patrons, who likely would have found his straightforwardness strange.

As soon as his vision cleared, Church took to analyzing the interior to see if it was any worse off inside than it was outside. It was a relatively clean place, considering that it was most likely frequented by ruffians and drunkards, but it wasn't exactly pristine. There were still quite a few beer stains on some of the tables, and a good bit of the furniture could stand to be replaced. Strategically placed candles on the dark wooden walls gave just enough light to be comfortable in, and the main bar at the back was kept mostly clear of anything that would strike one as gross.

What caught Church's attention more than the place itself were the people within it. There were a few thuggish looking drinkers, naturally. The majority were were dirty men with unkempt beards that could have come straight out of some movie as evil henchmen. Surprisingly though, a significant number were also women, though they all seemed to be the warrior type. That said none of the girls in here that were obvious warriors or soldiers of fortune caught Church's eye. Not a one of them was within a thousand miles of the women he had met so far in beauty.

Besides them, there were a few commonly dressed people who were most likely just villagers. All in all, there was no one of note in the area, save one table in particular that currently seated three soldiers adorned in the black steel and white clothing of the Vance Army. Without their helmets it was clear that they were off-duty or at least on a short break, especially considering the obviously tipsy nature of at least one young male in particular. The dark haired, clean shaven individual looked a little young to be the leader of the group, but Church couldn't imagine him being anything else considering the lack of comment on his behavior by his two comrades.

Behavior that was clearly making many people uncomfortable for an obvious reason. Currently serving the table was a beautiful brunette waitress that, above every other woman present, was gorgeous in every possible light. In fact, the red vest and plaid skirt of her uniform was criminal in the sense that it did not do her justice. Long strands of chocolate brown fell to her waist, not obscuring her figure, but actually accentuating the swell of her wide hips and sleek thighs. The uniform that was obviously a size too small in the chest area struggled to hold back a sizable bust that at least rivaled Airi's.

Church initially berated himself for noticing this girl's ravishing good looks before anything else about her, but he quickly freed himself of blame with a little rationality. It was literally impossible to not notice someone's appearance when you first looked at them. It was not his fault the woman he noticed was both beautiful and sexy.

That said, the moment he was finished cataloguing the pleasing aesthetics, Church easily noticed that the girl's demeanor was not fitting of a waitress at all. She seemed much too nervous and shy to to be doing anything so social as her day job, going so far as to literally hide behind the fringe of her brunette bangs as best she could without blinding herself in the process.

Of course, this behavior could have been a result of the obvious ogling the aforementioned influenced soldier was doing as she tried to quickly take the orders of the soldiers at the table. For all the difference it made his eyes may as well have been glued to any part of the body beneath her neck, and more than once he pawed at the girl's skirt, even though she managed to move out of the way as inconspicuously as possible.

All in all it made Church angry more than uncomfortable. He certainly couldn't blame the guy for finding this woman attractive, as she most certainly was in the same league as the other girls Church had gotten to know since arriving here, but he had no right to be such a damn prick about it. Trying to make any kind of physical move on a girl without even knowing her personally was both rude and shallow.

That said, Church was still unwilling to do anything about it at the moment. Even if that asshole was making his pretty waitress uncomfortable, he wasn't outright hurting her or anything, so Church could hardly do anything about the situation and justify it to the other patrons in the tavern. Besides, he was fairly certain he was not a wanted man all things considered, but there was still the fact that he had been present at Vance Castle during a major incident. He didn't believe that news of it would have traveled fast enough and with enough detail for soldiers in this town to single out Church, but it was better to play it safe while he still had a reason to.

This was his reasoning as a fair less eye-catching waitress came to take his order, and Church had to question what on earth he was going to choose and how he was going to pay for it.

"I can't believe you let them get away, Hachi! Seriously?!"

Deep in the woods near Vance castle, two angels bickered over their latest mishap as they tried to extract the water out of their soaked wings.

"What makes you think I'd be strong enough to control both of them? You're the fighter Nanael, not me!"

Nanael, who had been in the vicinity of the massive splash caused by the debris that crashed into the lake, irritably squeezed the water out of her defective wing, albeit with a gentle touch.

"Only the maid was conscious, and she was barely standing! How hard could it be to keep them in line?!"

Hachiel scowled as she recalled the incident. When the wall had been destroyed at Vance castle, she had been quick to evacuate the area with her two charges. Nanael had been caught in the collateral of the destruction, so Hachiel had returned to the mainland without her in tow, confident that Nanael would catch up with her later.

Upon landing in the outskirts of a forest a safe distance away from the castle, Airi had been quick to pull Hachiel towards her and absorb the life force she needed to restore her strength. Of course, the wraith had needed to gather a lot of life force very quickly, so she could grab Melona and escape from who was both her rescuer and captor. Unfortunately for Hachiel, the quickest method for absorbing the life force of another person was through the mouth, so the pinkette angel had been caught in a forced kiss from Airi. Even worse was the fact that Hachiel could not truly say that she hadn't enjoyed the experience to some extent. To have been defiled by a demon was a terrible thing, but the redhead's lips had felt rather nice against her own...

Both flustered at her own thoughts and irate over Nanael's accusations, Hachiel was not in a good mood at the moment. She was not quite as soaked as Nanael but still a little damp, and just as irritated as her fellow angel, which was a very rare occurrence.

"The Swamp Witch's servants are creatures of unnatural strength! Do you really think I could have dealt with Airi so easily?! She is much stronger than me!"

Nanael rolled her eyes, having a quite credible reason for being so displeased. "Again, she was barely standing! You could have at least tried to do something useful! I mean, I fought a freaking lightning throwing harpy, all you did was rescue the bad guys!"

Silence quickly fell on the two friends: Hachiel looked hurt or angry… likely both. But in what was a a real rairty, it didn't take long for Nanael to realize the fault in her attitude. With anyone else, she wouldn't have really cared, but Hachiel was her best friend, and she wasn't exactly being fair to her.

"Hachi, I'm sorry… It's just… the more I screw up, the more doomed I feel. The Seraph already thinks the Underworld is all I deserve. All I'm doing when I mess up is convincing her. I know I shouldn't take it out on you..."

Hachiel sighed, but she offered her friend a reassuring smile. It was a rare day indeed when Nanael apologized, so it significantly improved Hachiel's mood. "We messed up Nanael. I won't let you take the blame alone. And I won't let you go to the Underworld, I promise. Now, do you need some help with the other wing or not?"

"Yeah... thanks Hachi. Really."

Ultimately the dish Church settled on was probably the most bland on the menu, but he felt as though it was the safest with his lack of knowledge of some foods or the quality in which they were served. In doing so, he ate nothing more than a half a cooked chicken. Whether or not it was actually tasty though was lost on him, as the majority of his focus had gone to the situation at hand.

He had lost Airi and Melona a second time. He had no idea what had become of them, only knowing that they were alive thanks to Daedalus. That said, he wasn't worried about their well-being, because they should have been in the company of two angels right now, one of which went toe-to-toe with the very woman who had beaten them so badly with nary a scratch to show for it.

No, the dilemma now was the fact that Church had no direction at all. He had in fact not had any direction since arriving in this world. He had no goal of his own. So far he had followed Airi and Melona on whatever travels they desired, and more or less sat around in Syrinidell with the lovely Elves that called it home.

Not once in all of his time in this world had he burdened himself with any goal of his own, save fighting Echidna, which he didn't count because it had been temporary and not an over arching end.

So now that he was without any company to actually tag along with, what was he to do? Daedalus had hardly given him anything to go one, saying little more than something about 'conquering hearts,' and Church had no idea what that entailed or how he was supposed to go about it. So, where did he go from here? He didn't even know enough about this world to plot a next destination simply out of intrigue.

Xhurch's musings were interrupted before he could reach any solid conclusion by a high pitched cry from the one table that had managed to demand his attention so far. Church was not foolish enough to believe this sound had been made by any of the soldiers in question. A quick glance in that direction proved his suspicion right, as the same wonderful waitress he had observed earlier was now being harassed in a much more straightforward manner. The previously tipsy squad leader looked completely wasted by now, and his lack of inhibition had led him to grab hold of the girl's wrist, likely unsatisfied with his touch on that particular part of the body.

"C'mon babe, what you're doing here is such a waste of such a hot body! How much do you get paid in an hour? I'll double it, just come back to the inn with me, yeah?"

His victim tried to break the man's grip on her arm, but even in his drunkenness, it was strong. "S-sir, please… I-I don't…"

Displeased with her hesitancy, the soldier tugged down on the girl, forcing her to drop the platter she carried and use her arm on the table to stop herself from landing in the offender's lap.

"Oh c'mon, how about triple? Seriously, I'll pay anything to get you naked and in my bed! Besides, why say no to a stud like me? If it's your first time or something I'll be sure to rock your world!"

The two soldiers at the table with this man had obvious looks of disapproval on their faces, though the female soldier's was more disgusted than anything else. But regardless of their thoughts, they still said nothing, further supporting Church's theory of who the leader was.

"N-no! Please, l-let go!"

Further angered by her rejection, the molesting sod was about to just strip the woman himself and do as he pleased. After all, he was a captain in the army that ran this town. He could do whatever he wanted, and anyone that tried anything on him would be arrested in a heartbeat.

That said, he wasn't on the lookout for incoming do-gooders or bleeding hearts. That said, he never saw it coming when a fist slammed into the side of his head, popped an eardrum, and dislodged a tooth as he flopped to the ground next to his chair in a pitiable heap. Needless to say he had not maintained his grip on the woman he had been interested in.

Church had to admit that the blow had actually hurt him a bit too. In a fit of indignant anger, he hadn't really held back in punching that jackass as hard as he could. From a bar fight perspective, he'd totally broken the rules. You were always supposed to get someone's attention before you clobbered them, or at least it always seemed that way whenever a bar fight broke out in a movie. But this guy didn't deserve fair warning. He had gone from being a sleazy prick to an outright molester, so Church had made him go from conscious douchebag to unconscious hospital patient. Provided this world had some equivalent of hospitals.

Unfortunately, his very open and very blatant assault of a Vance soldier had planted every pair of eyes in the tavern on him, including those of the fallen jerk's comrades. Naturally, Church could only reach one conclusion here.

"I... assume this means I'm about to have trouble with you guys?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation before one of the two answered, but when the female soldier did, Church was relieved by the shrug she gave. "We didn't see anything. But I'd get out of here fast if I were you. One of the customers just slipped out rather quietly: probably went to alert some other guards in hopes of a reward."

The second trooper cut in before Church could thank them. "But you probably won't make it far with how strangely you're dressed. Do yourself a favor and take this bozo's uniform. He doesn't deserve it anyway. 'Bout time someone whacked him…"

Church couldn't believe his good fortune: two soldiers who agreed with assaulting their superior officer? How awesome was that? But although he knew time was of the essence, Church still decided to check on the waitress that had been harassed. After all, he had only gotten into this mess for her sake, he had to at least make sure he had done it right. Turning to face her, he was immediately blessed by the blushing countenance of the woman in question as she tried to hide jade green eyes of a notably darker shade than the other girl Church knew behind her brown bangs.

"Are you alright, Miss? Are you hurt?"

The woman tried to look everywhere but at Church as she answered, and even so it was a miracle she managed to stutter out a complete sentence anyway. "I-I-I'm fine…t-t-t-thank you."

Knowing that was all he had time for, and content that the girl was unharmed physically, Church proceeded to sling the officer he had rendered unconscious over his shoulder. He'd have to find somewhere a little more secluded in order to strip him of his armor.

Making his way for the door, Church turned to wave a final goodbye to his audience, putting a little ridiculous flair into his words for the heck of it. He'd already established himself as a crazy person by attacking a high ranking officer, so why not have some fun with it? "Farewell common folk, excluding the fair maiden of course! My work here is done, and now I bid you adieu! You can put the meal on my tab, to be paid exactly four hundred and seventeen days from now."

The crowd was silent as they watched the strange, possibly downright insane man exit the building. As for Nyx, it took her more than three seconds to realize that the mentioned fair maiden was her, and she somehow managed to blush even more deeply than before.

As for the rest of the flabbergasted crowd, one of them finally managed to voice a question many of them were asking.

"What the hell is a tab?"

"You know, after all of this, I'm not surprised that Master is so angry with you all the time, Melona. Your incompetence really is astounding. Only Menace could honestly do any worse."

Far away from Vance castle, unwittingly on a road far from their third companion, two very bitter servants of the Swamp Witch attempted to mend their damaged pride by insulting one another.

"Right, because you did so much better? If you hadn't taken so long to deal with the stupid tiger bitch, we could have tag teamed my much stronger opponent and won!"

Airi rolled her eyes, the usually shimmering green dulled by anger and regret for a multitude of reasons. First off was of course the fact that they had been soundly defeated. Airi wasn't exactly a prideful person. In fact, she was far from it, rarely boasting about anything or looking down on anyone else. But she was still a warrior, and losing a fight still stung.

On a much more important note, she was feeling an unparalleled amount of concern for Church's safety. The last she had seen him, he had been standing atop the very wall that had been blasted to rubble by Claudette's magic attack. There was an extremely high chance that he was dead. And having grown significantly closer to him in just the past day before all of this started, Airi could genuinely say the thought of it filled her with dread. The idea of losing someone she considered important to her was already painful. But truly knowing what it meant to die allowed Airi to also feel terror on behalf of someone else. She could not imagine Church going through the same horrors she had in the underworld. She could only hope in that scenario that whatever hand that guided souls to the afterlife had been more merciful to him than it had her.

That was what she should have realistically been hoping for. But what she really wanted above all else was for him to be alive. They had just reached a new level of understanding with one another. Airi had discovered a man that was so kind at his core that he was worried by the root of his own motivations in befriending others. And she had also discovered someone that appreciated her more than anyone else had in her entire life. More than her old master, more than her new one, more than anyone that had only ever viewed her as a piece of property. She had hoped to learn even more about this man after returning from her mission at the castle. Now she could only fervently hope that he was still alive at all.

Still, she didn't let any of these tumultous thoughts and feelings slip to Melona. She knew the Slime wouldn't understand, so she simply allowed her agitation to forge ahead.

"That wouldn't have been a problem anyway if you had just managed to stab someone in the back properly! The one thing you're supposed to be good at, and you still messed up!"

Melona glared angrily back at her fellow Underworld creature. However, her anger was caused more by the idea that she had been temporarily captured by those damned angels, which was a severe insult to her pride. "There's no need to get all pissed at me just because you lost your stupid boyfriend again, Airi!"

Airi didn't actually have an immediate retort for that, but the bitter and furious atmosphere around her was enough to let Melona know she'd pressed a dangerous button. Not that she was scared of Airi of course, but there was no denying that the wraith was powerful. She still wasn't eager to get into a fight with her.

"Look Airi, din't give me that look. I know you think I don't give a shit or something, but I do, alright? And not even in that 'for my own entertainment' kind of way. I'm worried about him too. But face the facts. Based on what you told me, he's probably dead. Whether or not I cry about it doesn't change that."

"You don't know if he's dead! He... he survived that rockslide right?! Who's to say he couldn't survive this too?"

Melona crossed her arms, trying to level a look at Airi that let her know she was grasping at straws. But even so, she couldn't deny that Airi's own asinine hope applied to her as well. She did want Church to be alive, even if the chances that he was were slim. But moreover, the Slime was shocked that she herself actually cared at all. It went without saying, but Melona was supposed to care about just one person, and that was herself. It had been a long, long time since she had actually felt concern for anyone else at all.

And she couldn't quite place a finger on why she did now. Church was nice, yeah, but the world was chock full of idiots that were nice to people they shouldn't be. And he was admittedly handsome, but nothing of that nature would ever make Melona care if that person lived or died. So what was so special about this one person?

Melona did actually know the answer. To put it simply, she cared about him because he cared about her. Which was stupid and nonsensical and silly, but nevertheless true. He had been bent out of shape when he thought they weren't friends, showing that he cared to be her friend in the first place. This was made even more prominent by the fact that no one actually cared about Melona. She wasn't even human.

She was a creature, one that had gained enough intelligence over the years to accurately imitate humans down to the last detail, but ultimately still a monster that any normal person would treat as such. She was some beast to be slain for glory or for the mere sake of doing so, yet there was one man that treated her just as a person.

This was made even more stupid by the fact that Church didn't even know she was a Slime. There was every chance that he would look at her as some monster to be hated as well, if only he knew. But somehow, Melona could just tell that wasn't him. She'd become very, very good at learning who people were over the years. She managed to trick people with her transformations not because she looked like someone, but because she acted like them. Learning how people think and why they do what they do had been part of Melona's modus operandi for decades. And that was why she knew for a fact Church wasn't the kind of person to hate anyone just because of what they were over who they were. And that included her.

But even all of that didn't change the reality of the situation.

"Airi, even if he's out there, I don't think the Witch is going to give us another month to snoop around for someone she doesn't even know about. She'll start asking questions. That's the last thing we, uh, you, want. Right?"

Having actually just remembered this for the first time, Airi groaned in frustration and looked up at the sky. "Ugh… right… then what are you suggesting?"

"I didn't really have a suggestion… but, uh… I mean, Church isn't a complete idiot, right? He's gotta be smart enough to head for a settlement or something. You take a look around, find the nearest town, and we'll head there. That shouldn't take long. Not long enough for our Overseer to get suspicious anyway. But if he's not there…"

Airi folded her arms, her general optimism quickly failing as she reached the same conclusion Melona did. "We won't have time to look anywhere else…"

"Right… well then what are you waiting for?! The sooner you get started, the better chance you have!"

The Infernal Temptress offered a peculiar glance to her friend. "You sure are putting a lot of effort into making sure you say you instead of we."

The accosted slime crossed her arms in denial. "Well he's your boyfriend, not mine. Why should I care?"

Airi made no comment on this gibe, but it was clearly written on her face that she knew exactly how Melona felt about this situation. Still, the mention of Church being her boyfriend flustered her greatly. Her very new and fresh positive feelings for him made the comment that much more nerve-wracking. She knew it was too late to avoid getting attached to the man, but she was definitely still considering the implications of feeling anything romantic for him. "H-he's not my boyfriend Melona..."

"Well good for him: who would want a girlfriend that cheats on you behind your back and makes out with angels?"

"I-I wasn't making out with her! I needed spiritual energy to get us out of there! B-besides, there was no tongue involved whatsoever! How the hell did you even know I did that?!"

Melona smirked at her mischievously. "Because just now, you admitted that you did."

Airi jabbed a finger at Melona's face, her cheeks nearly as red as her hair. "You will never tell anyone about this! Especially not Church!"

"Pfft, seriously? You're that much of a hopeless romantic that you want him to think you're pure or unsullied or something? That's just precious."

Airi glared at her supernatural companion, unwilling to say anything further, lest she make the situation any worse. She instead ascended into the sky, now even more eager to find their lost companion so Melona would direct some of her merciless teasing on him.

Church confidently strode out of an inconspicuous alley, now clothed in the full outfit of a Vance soldier. Fortunately, the armor managed to fit comfortably over his regular clothes. Not that his jeans were of any importance, but he was very fond of his jacket.

As he exited out of the alley in which he had made his impromptu identity switch, Church spotted two soldiers jogging towards the tavern. Obviously, a minor bar fight, even if it did include a fellow soldier, was not enough of a disturbance to dispatch more soldiers: or more urgent soldiers, for that matter.

Not that Church was complaining. He was just glad that all of this armor had fit him so well. In fact, with a bit of modification for maximum comfort, Church could adopt the boots and gloves and whatnot. After all, he had been trekking through the world in his tennis shoes for quite a while now, and they weren't in the best shape.

All he had to do now was get out of town while making it look like he was patrolling or something. Of course, it would probably be wise to look around for signs of his friends first (which now included Nanael and Hachiel to some extent). Unfortunately, his luck concerning his female companions always seemed to include being separated from them.

Church figured he could at least look around the town. After all, there was no guarantee that his friends weren't here. What harm could a quick once-over do?

With that objective in mind, Church began his foray through the town, doing his best to look like a busy soldier whenever other troopers were around. He spent the better part of an hour snooping around, but there was no sign of anyone he wanted to see among the drab browns and dark greens of the common people.

Somewhat weary from his continuous search, Church decided to take a rest against the large sycamore tree that grew near the center of the town. Unfortunately, the shade of the tree prevented Church from noticing when another shadow cast itself over him.

Directing his gaze to the source of the disturbance, Church found a trio of vaguely familiar looking men scrutinizing him. The leader with the wayward mustache that looked like a second pair of eyebrows did so the most intensely.

"Can I... help you?"

The moment he said that the apparent leader's face scrunched up in both anger and recognition. "I knew it! It's you!"

Truth be told Church didn't know if he were being recognized as himself or as the soldier he was posturing as, but he couldn't believe it to the be the latter due to the lack of distinguishing marks on this armor. One way or another, he could at least tell that these people that somehow recognized him did not do so with any fondness.

Hooray for the fight scene that's not in this chapter! And the actual use of our… voluptuous waitress' name.

So, I think this is the first chapter that I've updated with an extra scene instead of just dialogue changes and whatnot. Sure, it was just a small flashback scene that included poor Hachiel being molested, but hey, with some imagination, I think we can all find that idea enjoyable.