Act V

On the next day, a small party of adventurers has come out to trim out the nearby monsters that have been a little difficult to handle. The group composed of Artix Von Kreiger; the Paladin and slayer of the undead, Robin ate Hood; the great archer of the woods and leader of the merry women… and jimmy, and Regis Felliand; riftwalker, and the Hero of Lore by countless times. The day seemed to be going strangely smooth and progressively. Even more peculiar, Regis and Robina are working in unison instead of bickering at each other. Robina was firing arrows all about as Regis tears portals for them and himself before throwing himself to make a mess of slashes and arrows all around the enemies. This repeated quite often which actually left Artix behind a little but not so much since he was more skilled with slaying the undead. Still, Artix was mostly distracted from the sudden confusion of Regis and Robina working together when they were arguing very much since the last time he saw them.

"Uhhh, Robina, Regis?"

"Yes Artix?"

"Have you guys solved your issues already?"

The very moment Artix had finished his question, Robina and Regis looked at each other then snapped their heads back at Artix before both of them quickly took one step to the side away from each other.

"Uhhh no… we just thought it would be more professional to argue after the quest."

"Y…yeah, it's for your sake. We felt a little stupid for having you see that."

Robina would only smirk slightly before giving a gentle tease to Regis.

"Well, one of us more than the other."

"Oh don't you start that now."

Robina would continue as if to lecture Regis as he was starting to loot on the fallen monsters for gold or even items to bring back to the Hunter's Paradise.

"Please Regis, clearly you've been the one starting all of the bickering from before. All I do is reply-… Are you even listening?"

"Nope."

Robina started to throw mini tantrums as Regis continues to loot the monsters. Artix did not feel awkward from their arguing, but more on how they seemed to change quickly since the incident at the catacombs. By now he felt like he's been left in the dark as of this moment, but did not want to raise a question, thinking that he rather not add fuel to the fire, or whatever it was going on about. By the time Regis had finished looting the monsters, it was time for Robina to return home, to attend to the training to become a princess.

"Listen guys, I need to get back to Surewood. Artix, you can go with Regis to have the items merged for equipment to sell."

"It's fine, I can come along with ya, Robina."

"Oh no, you don't have to."

"Regis will be alright, I haven't seen Jimmy in a while now."

Robina was wary now that Artix was insistent on coming along, she looked to Regis for help by means of eye contact. Regis seemed to understand what she meant and returned a nod to her before yelling out with a finger pointed elsewhere.

"Artix, it's a Dracolich!"

Without a single hesitation, Artix drew his sword and ran straight into the direction Regis was pointing at.

"UNDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

As soon as the paladin was clear from the two's line of vision, they would suddenly burst out in fits of laughter.

"He seriously ran out the forest!"

"That's Artix for you. He will even go off into the unknown at just the very mention of undead."

"I should probably go before he comes back."

"Considering Artix's pnature, you have all the time you need."

"Hahaha, I'll see you soon alright?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later, princess."

From Regis's simple little tease, Robina would place her finger below one of her eyes and lightly pull down the skin and stick her tongue out, making some sort of face.

"Blehhh, I told you not to call me that."

"Force of habit. Now get outta my sight."

Robina would disappear into the forest once more, leaving Regis to deal with getting the materials to Hunter's Paradise on his own. He was soon interrupted by voice from the back, Cysero. Considering his timing, Regis was paused at a moment, wondering if he had seen the entire thing from the back."

"Yo Regis."

"Cysero, were you here just now?"

"Nope, and that was mean to pull a fast one on Kreiger. But I gotta admit; that was really funny."

Cysero would jump out of the bushes and approach Regis with a face of sorts. Well, the mouth only since the rest of his face is tucked beneath all of the brown hair of his.

"So, what's going on with you? I heard that you're now Princess Victoria's bodyguard."

"Yep, that's true."

"And you are sleeping in the castle?"

"Uhh yeah, but it's primarily because my house got blown up."

"Yeah, doom sauce. I heard from Warlic."

"Ohh, what else did you hear?"

"Well I also did hear that you've been looking for some nasty stink bombs. What could you possibly need them for?"

Regis felt a little bit up on the ropes with Cysero's questions. He was looking for a reason to escape the conversation from his curiosity. Unfortunately, Cysero is not as single-minded as the Paladin Artix. Regis had to think quickly and find an excuse to leave as well to cash in his loots. Immediately, Regis made some sort face and pointed his finger elsewhere like what he did with Artix.

"Cysero, look! Your missing sock is over there!"

Unfortunately, Cysero's glance did not change from being fixated on the riftwalker before him. Well, his eyes could not be seen, but Regis could tell that he was not fooled by his bluff.

"Really, you're gonna try that on me too?"

"Uhhh, I was counting on it. Hehehe"

". . . What are you hiding? You can trust Cysero."

"Uhhh. Actually, you're quite of a jabber-jaw, no offense. And, it is not exactly in my place to tell you."

"Hehehe, alright. I'll lay off. But I will find out what you're hiding Regis Felliand, soon."

With that, the suspicious Cysero walks away backwards while making a "I'm watching you" gesture before tripping on a tree root and falling against his back. He got up and backed away once more into the shadows of the forest. Regis had a feeling that he is not going to hear the end of this matter just yet. However, it was useless to start worrying about it now. He stops for a moment thinking why he should even be worried. Perhaps it was because that as eccentric as Robina may be, she's still a good friend. It would be a little underhanded to give away her secret just like that. He shrugged his shoulders to the reasoning and started is journey to the Hunter's Paradise. While he was on his way, he would be stopped by the faint sound of moving shrubbery. It was not a second before a purple-haired rogue would jump out of the tree with her scimitar forward, only to be blocked by the half-drawn sword of the Riftwalker. The rogue would then jump back an stomp lightly on the ground.

"Sheesh, you've gotten pretty good."

"It's nice to see you too Valencia."

Regis would sheathe his blade back into the scabbard as Valencia; the rare item hunter did the same. She began to lightly hit him on the arm as she began to pout.

"You're so mean you know that Regis? I haven't even heard from you."

"Well, that's because you keep trying to either swindle or swipe from me."

"Ohhh, that's right, teeheehee."

"Don't teeheehee me."

Valencia was in a funny flirtatious mood as usual. She opened her eyes halfway to see a full bag of looted materials on Regis pouch straps and looked upon him and raised her index finger."

"Alright, I'll make up for those wee little things. How about you give me those loots and I will trade them for this."

Valencia scrimmages within her pouches and pulls out what looks to be a bangle of some sort. It was in a rather golden in appearance and could be worn from the wrist to four inches up the arm. Several blue gems could be seen with intricate designs imbedded unto the bangle. Pulsing could be seen within the designs as well indicating they provide some sort of charm as do most items. Still, the total appearance of the bangle seemed to be very intricate to him.

"What's this?"

"Something worth the amount of hides you're going to give me. And I haven't really paid you for your troubles either."

"Which is…?"

"A piece of treasure I suppose. C'mon, maybe you can give it to Robina or something since you two seem to be such pals."

"Well I could-… whoa. Where'd you hear that?"

"A lot of people have been talking about it lately; from you two playing in the forests, to chasing each other out of Warlic's tent. And, you two been around each other often."

"Well, there's a good explanation for that actually."

Regis paused for a moment to recall that only he knew the Robina is Princess Victoria and stopped.

"What is it, Regis?"

"On second thought, it's nothing."

"Alrighty then, well tell Robina I said hi."

"Sure."

Regis made his way back to the castle after meeting with Valencia to continue with his bodyguard duties in the afternoon as Princess Victoria was to continue with her activities as the princess. As he enters the main corridor he was called upon by a familiar aged voice, King Alteon.

"Regis, Regis."

"Your majesty, what can I do for you?"

"Were you informed that my daughter's birthday is next week?"

"Is it?"

"Hahahaha, indeed it is. As her guard, I'm hoping that you would to the masquerade ball celebration."

"Ohh, uhhh I don't think I could."

"Nonsense, it is the least I could do for all of your services."

Funny enough, the conversation seemed pretty much one-sided as he ended up with the invitation from the king himself to the Princess's birthday ball. It was also humorous to him that he just got something he could use as a gift for Robina. "Such timing…" he thought to himself. After a word with the king he would come to stand by Princess Victoria for the rest of the day. Later on, they found themselves within the piano room once again. Of course, the tables have turned since Regis is the one learning how to play at this moment in time. Yet, he continues to make the most basic mistakes which in turn were humorous for Victoria to watch him struggle.

"I swear. I trained my dexterity very well, and yet I can't seem to push the right keys."

"Ha ha ha, it's because you keep to rigid. You're not fighting some Doom sauce monster."

"Please don't say Doom sauce."

"Right; he he, sorry about that. Shall we proceed?"

"So you can make fun of me?"

"Alright then. . ."

In her dress, Victoria stood to her feet and stretches herself from the stiffness before coming to face him. Her posture bent down toward him as she placed her hands behind her back while having a rather active smile on her face.

"Well, why don't we try dancing then?"

"I'm sorry. What?"

Regis raised his eyebrows for a bit as she asked for him to dance with her. He was not exactly sure why would she ask such a thing at this moment, until she came to continue her words which just rung in his head as reminders. He felt pretty dumb after immediately forgetting his conversation with King Alteon.

"My father told you about my birthday party, didn't he?"

"Uhhh yeah, he did."

Victoria extended her hand towards Regis as she was offering to be his partner for the day. Regis looked away for a moment before looking back upon the maiden that stood before him. He was slightly embarrassed since he actually doesn't know how to dance in the first place and cannot find a way to tell this to Victoria. Instead he lightly puffs his cheeks and replied to her.

"Uhhhh, there's no one to play the piano."

The issue that was presented to her was not even an issue at all. In fact, she tilted her head towards him, seeing through his sudden change of topic.

"You don't know how to dance do you?"

"I uhhh… Yeah, I don't."

She began to giggle slightly, looking like an actual girl in front of Regis himself. It was an entertaining idea that she would have to teach him a lot of things outside his comfort zones and that she had to balance with her life as a ranger. Still, she continued to offer her hand to have Regis dance with her. It was still disbelief to Regis that Victoria would act this way, but all he could was just smile and oblige to the Princess's request. He took her hand into his before allow her to pull him to his feet. From there, she would come to stand in front of him to give a small tutorial.

"I thought you would know how to dance since you come to the festivals and such."

"Uhhh, yeah I actually just stand around smiling like a dork."

"You really are hopeless. Here, give me your hand."

As instructed, Regis would provide Victoria his hand unto hers and followed the proper form of a simple Waltz. The two would begin to dance without the sound of music, and went with her counting. With the dexterity he has as an adventurer, he had no trouble to avoid stepping on his partner's feet and picked up on the steps quickly.

"One two three, one two three… You're getting the hang of it."

"Hehe, yeah… I think."

Regis would be facing down, looking at his feet before Victoria would nudge at him slightly.

"When you're dancing, always look at your partner in the face."

Regis would oblige for the moment and meet his eyes with hers. The two danced more to the song of silence apart from the sound of their footsteps touching the ground. The day would continue onward till its end as the two would now bow to each other as the end of the tutorial. Princess Victoria would already place the piano back upon the right setting before prompting her bodyguard to escort her to her room. As they reached the doorway, they faced each other again to say their good nights. It would have been a normal greeting if a memory had not struck against Victoria's mind.

"By the way, I did fall asleep after the piano lesson the other day and I can't remember how I got to bed. Did you carry me?"

The princess would come to ask the Riftwalker for an answer as she had an eyebrow raised from curiosity before Regis would reply to her in a rather awkward manner since he did not know how to react.

"I didn't do anything weird. I just carried you into your room is all. It is a bodyguard's duty after all… G'night Princess."

He would take a bow and walk away quickly, almost looking as if he was waddling. The sight of the hero of Lore waddling away was amusing for the princess and had her giggling.

"I told you to stop calling me that, G'night."

(Sorry this took a while but the post caught up with me writing should have worked faster here XD)