This is a reupload of this chapter as it's been somehow mysteriously removed from the story.

Author's Note: Welcome back! Thank you to everyone who took an interest in reading this niche crossover idea. I don't have much to say here this time except to always comment a review about it after you're done reading. Anyways, here's chapter 2.

P.S. Any major questions will be answered up here in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or ROTSH as they belong to their respective owners.

"Quotes."

"Reading and/or Thoughts"

Emphasis/Emphasis


Castletown, Melromarc

August 24, 2552, 0423 Hours

Kat's eyes shot open as her internal alarm clock woke her from her slumber. Taking a quick glance at her surroundings, she observed every micro - detail about the room she had taken residence in, carefully making sure the previous day hadn't been a dream. Coming to terms that it hadn't, she ran a hand over her face as she thought about Noble and the pain her sudden departure must've had on them.

Thinking about Carter and Six in particular, she mused over the fact that she and Carter had been the original two members of the team to still be around until that fateful night. Her thoughts then dragged to B312, Six, her long lost sister. She'd only gotten to see her for three weeks, but they were the best weeks she could've ever asked for. "It was good seeing you… Sophia." She smiled, taking a minute to remember her actual name.

Kat laid in silence, fondly reminiscing over her memories of Beta Company and how she thought they'd all perished during Operation: TORPEDO. Luckily for her, she got to see one of her sisters one last time before her own death. Shaking her head, she compartmentalized her emotions and climbed out of bed.

One quick look out the window let her know just how early she had woken up, and with the lack of activity outside, she doubted the others had done so too. Deciding to make the best use of her time, she tapped through each and every menu of her 'biological HUD', memorizing every little detail. The amount of information was staggering, and by the time the sun had begun to crest over the horizon, she had just about finished.

A short knock on her door then alerted her to someone's presence. "Madam Shield Hero, the king is requesting all heroes to his court. His majesty believes he's found suitable companions for each of you." The voice of a maid came through the sturdy wooden doors.

Kat, still wary of the king, grabbed her helmet and put it on, sealing it with a compressed hisss. "I'll be out in a second." She simply replied to the maid. Grabbing the sides of the dresser she used to barricade the door, she easily moved it aside and opened the door, revealing her towering presence to the much shorter attendant who took a step back in fear and awe. "Lead the way." Kat said with a wave of her arm.

Taking a moment to recompose herself, the maid smiled and nodded to the armored woman. Leading her back down a familiar set of hallways and corridors, she found herself standing in the same grand plaza before a set of grandiose decorated doors. Barely a few minutes later, the others arrived by her side, still clearly half asleep.

As the large set of doors swung open, a hail of trumpets blasted throughout the room announcing their heroic presence and jolting the others from their sleepy states. Now wide awake, the four of them stepped forward and were greeted by King Aultcrey for the second time in their careers.

Aultcrey nodded his head in satisfaction at their arrival. "Heroes, we've managed to gather the greatest warriors in the land. These brave souls will participate alongside you in your fight against the waves." He declared, motioning to the lineup of men and women who stood before them.

Kat intently observed each and every one of the figures. By digging into them, her intuition could tell her who was actually passionate about serving with them and who was merely forced here. It wasn't until her eyes landed on a female in what appeared to be light fitting leathers with pink hair and green eyes. She instantly made the connection of why this woman looked so familiar to her as she glanced at the painting hanging above the king's head.

"So you're one of the princesses. What's your play?" Kat thought. It quickly became apparent that she had been eyeing the girl for too long as Kat caught a playful wink directed towards her. Deciding later was better, she turned her attention back towards the king.

"Champions of Melromarc, the time has come to begin your journies." Aultcrey announced, his voice rumbling throughout the rather hallowed room. "Adventurers, choose the hero you desire to follow."

Kat watched as the dozen or so figures marched towards the four of them. She stood unflinching, waiting patiently as each individual lined up behind their intended party leaders. Taking stock of how many adventurers there were, it would've been logical to think that each hero would be given three squad mates. However, when Itsuki had three, Ren had five, and Motoyasu had four, she realized something must've been planned by that conniving asshole of a monarch.

Not letting this deter her, she took a step and addressed Aultcrey as if he was Colonel Holland himself. "Your majesty, there seems to have been some sort of mistake. None of your adventurers chose to follow me."

The old man raised a brow with an expression of concern. "I must admit, not even I expected this." Not a moment later, one of his advisors stepped forward and whispered something to his ear. Kat clearly saw a smirk flash on his face before it vanished in the same second. "It seems a rumor has been circling throughout the city. It speaks of the Shield Hero being ignorant and rather uncaring of this world. Legends tell us that the Cardinal Heroes will arrive with a firm understanding of our lands, something the townsfolk agree where she doesn't meet the criteria. Lady Kat, what say you?"

"So that's why they listened in?" Kat thought, rather unimpressed at this display. She stared unresponsive at the old man who called himself king before a voice piped up.

"I'll join your party, Lady Shield Hero." A female voice sounded with enthusiasm.

Turning to eye whoever offered themself, Kat saw it was none other than the princess herself. "Well shit." She internally sighed. "I guess if anyone should babysit her, it's me." Taking a step forward, she stood nearly three whole heads taller than the princess. Extending a hand forward, Kat nodded to the woman. "I appreciate the offer miss…?"

"Myne Sophia! But you can call me Myne." She answered with glee, grasping at Kat's hand. "Oh my. Lady Shield Hero, what happened to your arm?" Myne asked, looking the prosthetic up and down with a seemingly intrinsic curiosity.

Kat ignored her question. "I appreciate your support." Kat greeted Myne in kind, giving her a quick nod for her possibly voluntary position before turning back to Aultcrey who began with his final address.

"Does anyone else wish to join Lady Kat on her quest before we begin?" Aultcrey asked the remaining adventurers. When no one spoke up, he sighed, however Kat could tell this wasn't one of relief. "So be it. Lady Kat, it seems you'll have to take other measures in order to recruit party members yourself. Now that that's settled, each month, we shall provide the heroes with the funds they require. While the rest of you will receive war chests of six hundred silver, Lady Kat will be provided an initial sum of eight hundred silver coins. Heroes, begin your journey and save our lands!" Aultcrey boastfully announced.

The others nodded in excitement, apart from Ren, while Kat stood to attention and saluted the king directly, one of the only times she'd ever do so.


Standing at the outer gate of the castle, Kat couldn't help but admire the rather relaxed atmosphere this world gave off. Momentarily taking off her helmet with an all too familiar hiss, she took a deep breath of the fresh air of the medieval fantasy world. Taking this opportunity to analyze the castle defenses, she silently remarked on how surprisingly easy it would be to attack this place from the air. Unless they had magical AA guns, multiple bombing runs would without a doubt strangle the city into submission.

"I take it your world is quite different from our own, Lady Shield Hero." Myne spoke up with a cheery yet curious attitude.

"Quite. Where I'm from, we don't have just one world." Kat replied with a smile. She'd have to put up a facade so long as she was with this potentially conniving princess.

A look of confusion spread across Myne's face. "What do you mean? Were you able to teleport to multiple worlds?" She asked, trying to comprehend with her own logic how such a thing was possible.

"In a way." Kat replied vaguely, keeping any real knowledge away from her. "I should level up my shield as fast as possible. Got any ideas on where we can start?"

Myne's face lit up with excitement. "I do! Follow me, Lady Shield Hero." Myne confidently declared as she grabbed Kat's prosthetic and attempted to pull her along… only to nearly fall flat on her face before that same robotic arm caught her.

"Careful." Kat cautioned the young woman who clearly underestimated how heavy she was. Taking a step, she nodded towards Myne as she put her helmet back on and patted her on the shoulder. "Show me."

Passing through the bustling market of the Castletown, Kat noted how this level of urbanization was almost on par with that of UEG cities. As she followed Myne, carefully making sure not to run anyone over, she took the time to look at all the street vendors, some of whom were using magic which infatuated her. Where did they summon this seemingly sourceless energy? How would the physics of manually controlling raw elements work? Could she potentially use, or even control it? All those questions spiraled around her mind before a distinctive CRACK shot through the air.

Instincts taking over, Kat drew her magnum and defensively positioned herself in front of Myne, aiming in the direction the sound came from. Another CRACK broke through the air as she rounded a corner and saw a middle aged man whipping… "Is that a child?!" Kat angrily thought. Looking beyond the man, she saw a number of other children carrying heavy loads to and from a nearby cart.

Marching forwards, as the man was about to bring the whip down on the boy again, a giant, armor - covered hand came out of nowhere and caught the barbed tip before wrenching it from his grasp and thrown aside as a hulking, blue armored figure stomped in his direction, an unknown weapon clearly fixated on him. Grabbing the man by his shirt collar, Kat lifted him a solid seven inches in the air. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Harming a child?! You think that's a smart idea?!" Kat barked in his face, drawing the attention of the nearby crowd.

The man shrank a little before mustering up the courage to respond to this unknown woman. "W- why do you care?! They're j- just stupid Demi's." He sputtered, trying to defend his actions. Looking past him, Kat noted how each of the children had some sort of animalistic - like feature, whether it be a set of ears, a tail, claws, or some combination of three; and they all sat cowering in fear.

Storing that away to ask Myne later, she looked back at the man and brought him closer to her visor. "Don't think about doing this again." She hissed at him as she slammed a punch directly into his chest, breaking a rib or three. Unceremoniously dropping him on the floor, she slowly walked over to the frightened children and kneeled in front of them.

"Are you ok?" She asked in her most gentle tone.

They simply whimpered in response, barely able to formulate the most basic of sentences. Taking a page out of Jorge's book, she took off her helmet to show them that she was human just like them. "What's your name's? Mines Kat. Do you live around here?"

In this brief respite of kindness, only of the boys, older by the looks of it, replied. "Aaron. A- and no, we're from somewhere else." He informed her, his eyes averting Kat's own.

"Why're you here? Where's your parents?" Kat asked, subconsciously already knowing the answer. No doubt it was the same that happened to her parents, and all the rest of the Spartan III's.

It was then she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. "Lady Shield Hero, we can't do anything for them. It might anger you, but we have to leave them here. There's a place I know where I'll explain in private." Myne told Kat with a somber look on her face.

Kat sighed. Whether or not Myne was plotting against her, deep down, she knew Myne had to be right about this since she was a local. The shouting for guards and stomping of metal boots on stone caught Kat's attention as she closed her eyes and looked away from the children.

"… I'm sorry." She whispered before putting her helmet on and pushing Myne forward who broke out into a sprint.

Crashing through a nearby door, the pair entered what looked to be an armorer's store. Behind the counter was a bulky, bald - headed man sporting a leather apron hanging haphazardly over his clothing. Myne took a minute to sit down and catch her breath as beads of sweat dripped from her forehead while Kat barely so much as audibly breathed.

As Myne sat down, the man behind the counter raised a brow, curious as to what tired her out in the middle of the city. His eyes widened in shock as his gaze then turned to see this hulking armored figure standing in his doorway. "I- uhhh, can I help you?" He asked nervously, rubbing his bald head.

"We're not looking for anything, thanks." Kat responded casually while Myne still wheezed for air.

"You're friend seems to be a little out of it. Is she ok?" The man asked with concern, eyeing Myne up and down.

"She'll be fine." Kat assured him as she took a look around the shop. She ran a hand across a few pieces of the medieval weaponry, impressed by their designs even if they were far outdated by her standards.

"Heh, I thought you weren't looking." The man joked, outstretching a hand to the giantess. "Names Erhard. If you need weapons and armor, I've got it!" He proudly boasted with a wide smile.

Taking off her helmet, Kat held it at her side while shifting her weight to one leg. Now face - to - face, Kat grabbed his hand and shook it. "Kat." She simply replied, nodding at Erhard's introduction. "We ran for quite a while, got any water for her?" Kat asked, motioning her head towards Myne who was still catching her breath.

"Sure, looks like the little lady needs it. Gimme a second." Erhard nodded, disappearing into the room behind the counter. Barely a minute later, he came back out with a cup filled to the brim with cold water and handed it to Myne who chugged it down without a second thought. "So, what's wrong with her?" He asked Kat.

"We ran here from across the city. Had an incident where a guy was whipping a kid with animal features." Kat briefly explained to the man.

Taking a deep breath and steadying her heart rate, Myne finally found the strength to stand back up and hobble over to Kat and Erhard. "Lady Shield Hero, that was…" She paused for a moment to take another deep breath. "An example of slavery in Melromarc."

Both Kat and Erhard's eyes widened for their own reasons. Kat stood there stunned, taken aback by the abhorrent information. Erhard, on the other hand, stared at Kat in disbelief because he has one the of four Cardinal heroes in his shop.

"Wait wait wait, you're one of the heroes? As in, THE Cardinal Heroes?" Erhard asked to confirm her identity.

"Yeah, I'm the Shield Hero." Kat affirmed to the blacksmith.

Erhard let out a hardy laugh of excitement as he pumped a fist into the air, letting his excitement get the better of him. "Hell yeah! One of the heroes actually visited my shop." He said aloud before he calmed down and put on a more serious demeanor. "But that means you're the dud, aren't ya?"

Kat rolled her eyes. She may not have been knowledgeable about this world, but that didn't make her combat ineffective. She wished that sometimes people would differentiate her from the stories. "Not quite. I don't know anything about this place, but I live to fight." She responded sternly which made Erhard bellow out yet another laugh.

"That's good to hear." He said with a smile back on his face as he patted her on the back. "Now, about this incident. What happened?" He asked, rubbing his beard in a manner similar to the king's.

"Myne?" Kat asked, glancing in the red - heads direction who by now had recomposed herself.

"Lady Shield Hero, our world is home to two different kinds of sources, humans and demi - humans. As you've seen, demi - humans have some animalistic features like tears, tails, etc. I regret to say they're often used as slaves by the nobility." Myne briefly explained, her attitude shifting to that of sadness.

A weight felt like it was pulling on Kat's heart. Taking a seat on the interior bench, she buried her face in her hands, the guilt of doing nothing creeping up in her mind. She thought for a moment, pondering if she should take action in the future or not. "Myne, what's the punishment for freeing a slave?" She cautiously asked the princess.

Myne paused and thought about it. There had been few, if any, instances in which someone had actually helped free any demi - humans from captivity. "Normally it would be a hefty prison sentence, but for someone as important as you, you'd probably be released, but your reputation would certainly suffer. However, if you're caught doing it enough times, you might be made an enemy of the kingdom." She advised Kat who raised a brow.

Running a hand through her short cropped hair, she weighed her options. "I'm quite the self - reliant type, so my reputation doesn't matter. But if everyone was hostile to me then I'd be helping no one." She took a deep breath, this social issue clearly taking center stage of her mind. She was never one to take any political stances, but in the face of such a crime under the statutes of the UEG, she couldn't let this slide.

"I'm sorry, Lady Hero, but there's nothing we can do for them. The best we can do right now is make you stronger." Myne said, straining herself to pull Kat to her feet.

Compartmentalizing the issue for later like she's always done, Kat rose to her feet and stared her bright blue eyes into Myne's own green. "Yeah, like hell you care. Until you prove yourself, you're no better than a hinge - head." She thought with a disdain of trust.


Having made their way beyond the wall of Castletown and out into a field of rolling hills, the Shield Hero duo found an unoccupied area and began to search around for anything to level up. Almost immediately upon searching, Kat noticed movement on her motion tracker. Heading over to investigate with her magnum in hand, a bunch of strange orange balloon monsters began jumping from the tall grass.

Orange Balloon

Level: 1

Kat chuckled with confidence. The first balloon to get close enough was immediately roundhouse kicked into oblivion as it exploded with a loud pop.

+3 XP

Kat rolled her eyes. "Wow." She said aloud to no one in particular. As another two balloons closed in on her, she sent a punch to each of them.

+6 XP

Kat sighed. This was gonna take forever to level up at this rate. If she needed to be as strong as possible before the end of this month, she'd need something bigger, much bigger. "Myne, there has to be a better spot. I'm barely getting any experience from these things. Even at my level, I'm pretty sure I can handle larger creatures." She complained to the princess who was busy slashing at a couple of balloons herself.

"Oh, uhhhh well, the further we were to head into the forest, we'd probably come across some remnants of the first wave. But are you really sure, Lady Shield Hero?" Myne asked with a hint of concern that they wouldn't survive at their level.

"I'm sure of it. I live for war, a few stray animals won't be a problem." Kat reassured her, picking up the fragmented remnants of the balloon monsters. Thinking about it for a moment, she held one of the fragments to the gem of her shield and watched it get absorbed by the magic inside.

[Orange Shield:]

+2 DEF, +1 MDEF

Equip Bonus: +2 DEF

"God, even the stats are pitiful." Kat thought as she picked up the remaining fragments and fed them to the shield.

[Advanced Orange Shield:]

+4 DEF, +2 MDEF

Equip Bonus: +4 DEF

Kat scoffed and sighed. If progress were to keep up like this, then she'd have a very busy day. Watching Myne's every move, she intently focused on her swordsmanship and melee prowess. She did have to give the princess props, she definitely wasn't a newbie when it came to swinging a blade, but she left much to be desired. Once Myne had finished off all her balloon attackers and collected the fragments, Kat decided to hold off feeding them to her shield, thinking they could be sold for money or materiel. Pulling out a map of the local area provided to her by the king, she asked Myne what location would have a creature somewhere around level fifteen. Upon hearing her question, Myne scrambled around, taken completely off guard by such a high request.

"I can't quite say. I've never ventured out far beyond the edge of the forest." Myne informed Kat, tracing her finger along the edge of what was marked by a bundle of trees.

"Oh? I thought you were the best of the best. Just what in the hell are you planning to do?" Kat thought, trying to discern what plans may lay behind those innocent looking eyes. Truth be told, she wanted to desperately get rid of her in a way that it would be seen as an accident in order to not draw suspicion.

"Then into the forest we go. We still have daylight so I wanna go as far as possible. If we need to work through the night, so be it." Kat ordered Myne who's face began to glow as red as a tomato.

Myne waved her arms around in a desperate attempt to protest. Her plan wouldn't go as smoothly as she liked if they didn't head back to an inn for the night. "You clever bitch." Myne thought, gritting her teeth at the super soldier. "Lady Kat, we really shouldn't stay outside during the night. More dangerous and ferocious creatures roam when it's dark out. You may be safe with your legendary shield, but I won't be able to handle such things!" Myne pleaded with Kat, trying to deter her from straying too far from Castletown. "Besides," Myne paused, holding her stomach. "All that running and fighting made me really hungry."

Kat internally groaned, facepalmed, and cursed herself all at once. She found the princess to be a lot more annoying than conniving at the moment, but for the sake of the other heroes, she would continue to take on this responsibility. "Fine. Tonight we'll head for an inn, but tomorrow we work for as long as we can." Kat reluctantly agreed. "You better show your hand soon."


Standing outside the inn Myne requested, the princess looked at the Spartan with sparkles in her eyes.

"This place is sooo good! Trust me, Lady Kat, you'll be astonished with the quality of their food. It's exquisite!" Myne told Kat, beaming radiantly with positive energy.

Putting a step between the two of them, Kat decided to put out a small handful of five silver coins. She made sure to hang the pouch right beside her magnum in case anyone got the smart idea to try and rob her. "Myne, how much for meals and rooms for two at a place like?"

"It'll be twenty silver for the both of us, Lady Hero. This place is rather expensive." Myne informed Kat, or so she thought she was.

Kat squinted her eyes and dug into Myne's. She's dealt with over - bloated bullshit before and it seems to be no different in this world. Pulling her hand, and subsequently the five coins, away, Kat leaned towards the princess, using her height hulking mass to intimidate the much smaller woman. "Myne, how much is it really?" She asked in a 'don't bullshit me' tone.

An audible sigh was heard from her companion. Myne's face scrunched into what looked to be a moment of anger which was immediately replaced with a simple pout. "It's ten coins for both of us." She begrudgingly relented, furrowing her brow in frustration. "How is she this good?! God, I wish that idiot Motoyasu was the Shield Hero instead!" Myne internally screamed.

Kat calmly nodded and reached into her pouch, pulling out an extra five silver. Handing over the near dozen coins to Myne, the clinking of the minted cash caught the attention of a few nearby onlookers who Kat brushed off. "Go ahead and get us each a room and meal. I've got a few questions I wanna ask that armorer." Kat ordered Myne who, before she could protest, watched Kat turn and slip away into the starry lit streets of Castletown.

Stepping once more into Erhard's shop for a second time today, Kat saw the burly man oiling one of his many swords on display. As he turned to see what kind of customer would come in this late at night, when he saw Kat, he essentially tossed the sword to the side and leaned forward, ready to haggle over some goods.

"Well well well, look who came crawling back." Erhard joked with a smile spread across his face. "Whaddya need kid? You look good in the armor department, so perhaps you're looking for a good blade to round out that knight aesthetic you've got going on." He suggested to the blue armored Spartan.

"I'm actually here for materials. One of my shields needs light metal. Got any?" Kat asked the man.

Rubbing his chin, Erhard smiled even wider. "Light metal you say? Well, I've got a bunch all stocked up. How much you need?" He asked, expecting her to say only about five ingots.

"However much two hundred silver will get me." Kat bluntly stated, sending Erhard's jaw careening to the floor.

"Kid, do you know how much metal that is?" Erhard asked with a genuine concern look on his face. "You're asking for thirty ingots of light metal." He informed her, heading to the back and bringing out a tub filled with a strangely similar titanium - looking material. Setting it down on the counter with a grunt, he picked up a piece and held it in front of Kat.

"I can handle it." She confidently told him. "How much does each ingot weigh?" She asked, dropping her bag of silver on the countertop with a mighty thud and began counting individual coins.

"You're looking at about fifteen pounds per. You haven't even told me what it's for." Erhard pressed, trying to understand why someone would need this much metal.

"Can I trust you to keep a secret?" Kat asked, expectantly waiting for an answer. Erhard nodded, promising in his old adventurers honor. Satisfied, Kat pulled out one of her spare magazines and showed him the .50 AE of the UNSC. "It's ammo for my magnum. Each bullet takes half a pound to make, so with thirty ingots that's…" She paused, doing quick calculations in her head. "Nine hundred spare rounds."

Erhard swore he almost had a seizure hearing such a high figure before a smile took over once more. "Well I must say, you certainly know how to manage yourself." He complimented the taller woman.

"Quite." Kat simply replied. The pile of silver she was making inevitably led to a cause of concern, namely, how would she effectively shop if she had to do this bullshit all the time? Her question was answered when one of the coins slid off its payment pile and landed right next to the glowing green gem of her shield, subsequently being absorbed.

[Treasury Shield:]

Account: 1 Silver

The notification was sudden and unexpected, yet, it provided a solution to what could've been a long term problem. Following the failed coin's example, Kat grabbed another coin from her pouch and fed it to the shield, the notification updating to read the new amount.

[Treasury Shield:]

Account: 2 Silver

Nodding in satisfaction, she scooped handfuls of coins until her pouch was eventually emptied, with the current total, not including what was already piled in front of Erhard, was shown to be six hundred forty three. Thinking about wanting to take out a single silver, the coin suddenly materialized itself into the palm of her hand and updated the new amount accordingly. Having now 'thoroughly' tested what could be described as her bank account, she thought of summoning forty two silver and the coins flashed into existence contained within a small pouch.

Handing the cash over to Erhard, he simply watched in silent awe at what the shield hero had just done. Autopilot taking over, the man grabbed and pocketed the two hundred silver without question. Wondering how she'd carry all the metal, she wished she had a mobile inventory, thinking all the shield does is give her new ones with different effects. Feeding it one of the ingots of light metal, she found out that sometimes she should just shut up.

[Light Shield (Unlocked):]

+10 DEF, +8 MDEF, +6 AGI

Equipped Bonus: +5 DEF

"I should just take this world at face value at this point." She thought as she fed the remaining light metal into the shield. As Kat turned to leave, he was finally able to break himself out of his stupor.

[Advanced Light Shield:]

+20 DEF, +16 MDEF, +12 AGI

Equipped Bonus: +10 DEF

[Legendary Light Shield:]

+30 DEF, +24 MDEF, +18 AGI

Equipped Bonus: +15 DEF

"Hey, Shield Sis. What just happened?" He innocently asked.

"Something I've been experimenting with called status magic. So far, only us four have it to my knowledge, but it seems pretty handy so I won't complain." Kat briefly explained to the man after summing up what she has both been told and read up on. Stepping outside into the chilly night air, Kat, feeling a little stiff, cracked her neck and prepared herself for whatever cocked up plan Myne might have in store for her.

Arriving back to the inn her companion had requested, Kat easily found Myne sitting at a booth with a bottle of wine and half - emptied plate. Taking a seat across from the red head, she didn't even elect to take off her helmet and simply ignored the food and drink in front of her.

"Lady Hero, you're back!" Myne exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah, sorry for the wait. Needed to get some materials." Kat apologized, rubbing the back of her helmet in a display of embarrassment.

"It's not a problem, Lady Shield Hero! Our meals just arrived. I've already dug in as you see, I hope that's not a problem." Myne replied, poking at her half - eaten steak and another big sip of wine. "Care for a toast for a successful first day?" Myne winked at Kat seductively, trying to lure the woman in with her beautiful looks.

"I actually don't drink. Besides, wine was never my thing." Kat shrugged off her advance.

"Awe, that's too bad." Myne said, looking to the floor with a saddened expression. Internally, she was absolutely fuming that this woman was not falling for anything. No matter, she'd get her way.

"I'm gonna do some extra research on this thing's status magic. If you need me, I'll be in my room." Kat excused herself, standing from the table not having consumed a piece of her meal. Heading over to the front desk and obtaining her room number from the innkeeper, she made her way to her room. Once inside, she searched it for every possible means of entry, of which she only found two; the door and the window.

Doing as she did her first night here, she moved the dresser in front of the door, barring anyone from entering. When it came to the window, there wasn't exactly much she could do to safeguard it, but the need to wasn't really a concern. Thankfully, she only needed to sleep for a minimum of four hours a month to feel rejuvenated, and she got a full eight last night.

Pulling out one of the ingots of light metal, she set the bar on the ground and grabbed multiple of her tools from her hard case. Going into the night, she tested various techniques to see what material of her universe this closest resembled, all while keeping a close eye on her surroundings, anticipating a strike from the princess at any moment.


Author's Note: And there you have chapter 2! How do you guys think our favorite tech specialist is gonna handle the princesses, and by extent the kingdom's, betrayal? Leave your thoughts as a review. Now, don't expect an update like this so quickly for every chapter, that's just unrealistic.