Although Ren didn't have an ample chance to leave much of an impression on either Father Fareed or his eldest son who had helped him with bagging groceries from the food pantry, he took comfort in knowing that he would be back later that evening to meet them over a community potluck, back at the church.

From the First Assembly of Earth Mother to Vivine's house, May drove Ren home so he could put his food and essentials away before the event. When they quickly got to talking again, Ren was surprised when the woman— who still looked beautiful and strong for her age— finally revealed to him just how old she really was.

"Three-hundred! You're lookin' at a three-hundred year-old witch who's only a little bit past her prime, kid! I've seen this town grow from a simple coastal village, to the thriving community you see before you," Ren remembered May pridefully telling him, before she explained to him a little bit more about herself, and who she used to be when she was younger.

"Ya see, when I was like twenty years old, witchcraft was just beginning to be put under federal regulation— they started making us magi have to start paying licensing fees, and other bureaucratic-bullshit taxes!" May had explained to Ren, before continuing her story with a nostalgic look in her brown eyes. "To be permitted to practice witchcraft in the growing provinces, you used to have to agree to those laws, otherwise you would be put in prison or heavily fined… That is, if you were rich enough to buy your way out of legal trouble…"

"… Well, I was too stubborn and broke to stay in New Marina at that point, so I packed my shit and left the city to seek a better future elsewhere; just like every other magi who couldn't afford to pay the fine, or the licensing fees." May reminisced, even as she helped Ren with unpacking his groceries from her trunk and into Vivine's nearly barren kitchen. "That's when I found the village of Crescent Bay, which originally used to practice polytheism, so my magic was more than welcomed!"

"… Life became simple for me: I became the village witch doctor, and had fitted right into the community almost instantly! Buuuuuut, the honeymoon phase sort of wore off pretty quickly, after I figured out that Crescent Bay's villagers were a warrior tribe that had a nasty habit of raiding monster dens, and attacking thrill seekers who would come looking for harmless adventure out near the beautiful shores…"

"… Needless to say kid, I had to uh… 'Clean up house'— 'wipe the slate clean', if you get what I'm saying," May said with an uneasy smile across her face, as she walked back out of Vivine's house with Ren following closely by her side. "Of course, life becomes difficult once you're on your own… You have no hunters or gathers for meat, no farmers to grow crops— you get what I'm saying; I didn't want to do all that crap myself. That's when I begrudgingly accepted that I would have to take matters into my own hands… Again."

"You see, at first, I had to look locally for some manpower to begin putting the first stages of my plan into action: that prompted me to recruit the nearby surviving goblins from within the forest around the bay— I introduced them to what was considered 'modernity' back then, and how much better their lives could be if they would leave their nasty-old caves to move into the empty village that I cleared out," May said, as she drove down the dirt path leading back into town.

"Once the goblins had integrated into the empty huts of the village, I used their improved quality of living as an example to recruit more and more monster races around the area to join my cause— word began spreading fast like wildfire, and soon I didn't even have to go out to recruit; the monsters just started showing up in droves by themselves! That's when I found myself being unanimously elected to be Crescent Bay's first leader! That's right kid, you're looking at a walking piece of this town's history!" May quipped with a good-spirited smile on her face, as she momentarily pointed a thumb at herself while using her other hand to control the steering wheel. "With every local race of monsters united under me, each of them contributed their communal wealth and resources to Crescent Bay…. However, that of course brought with it its own unique challenges…"

"… You see, before they all integrated into Crescent Bay, each different race of monsters were constantly being hunted by the surrounding area's apex predators," May said with her smile fading away, as her voice became more serious as the dirt road finally reached the beginning of where the cobblestone road began. "I'm talking about armies of ravenous bandits, chimeras, sea beasts, demons, and even a few dragons! I knew my way around a katana, and had mastered a handful of destruction arcane arts, but I was only one woman trying to defend an entire town full of vulnerable monsters— monsters whose main motivation for leaving their lives behind in the first place was to have security for them, and their families…"

"… Together, we simply weren't enough to stand against the forces of evil that wanted to turn our growing community into their new hunting grounds, and if there's one thing that hasn't ever changed, it's that there ain't much in this life that's free," May said with a slight bit of cynicism in her voice, as she drove the young man through the beautiful streets of downtown. "I wrote a letter to the Adventurers' Guild— back when they were more of a thing— and requested an outpost to be placed in town. Not only did I offer to build the damn thing myself, but I had offered to pay them a lump sum of valuable resources from our town's treasury…"

"And so, adventurers from near and far began to show up throughout the decades that followed, and even then I knew from the start that as soon as we couldn't afford to pay the guild to keep supplying us with vital defenders, Crescent Bay would go back to the way it used to be: royally screwed… So while the town was being kept safe by the adventurers who were present at the time, I took a gamble by bringing the town's entire stock of gold ingots and precious gems with me, as I took my sorry ass all the way back to New Marina to open up my first bank…"

"… All it took for me was a few years of playing my cards right— and doing some dirty deeds on the side, of course— before building my banking monopoly in the heart of New Marina! I opened up my first branch office there, and then began hiring more and more people there to expand my business outward west— my own manifestation destiny that kept the money flowing into Crescent Bay, and into the pockets of the Adventurers' Guild," May explained with her smile returning, as she turned into an alley between two brick-and-mortar shops; driving carefully down the small road, until it opened up into a small back parking lot.

"Fast forward a couple centuries since I first got here: the population of threats within the area had finally dwindled down to zero— either they were slain, or fled from their hunting grounds to find homes elsewhere. With how many adventurers had come to Crescent Bay to seek their fortunes, many of them ended up settling down here once the problem had been resolved, and their services were no longer needed. Because of how honored they were for their bravery, the adventurers were welcomed by the locals, and were integrated just fine into the community that used to only be made up of monster-races. With them, the humans and elves brought their values and whatnot to the mix, and then next thing you know it… BAM! This place ironically became the one thing I had tried escaping from: a place that had willingly chosen to become an official town of the Moonlight Province, and with that decision came required taxes."

"… By then that point though, my roots had already been settled for good, so that time I didn't even bother fighting having to conform to 'modern civilization'. I was already wealthy by then, so I just swallowed up my pride and ended up paying back taxes, and all that other dumb bullshit to practice witchcraft… Which turned out to be all for nothing, because after a month I paid my dues, congress ended up revoking that bill, and passed a new bill that forgave the back taxes owed by those who fled from their homes to practice witchcraft— that was around the time when civil rights activists really started to become a thing," May explained in her calm-sultry, as she drove her sports car into an empty spot before shifting her transmission into 'park'.

"Anyway— to wrap a long story up, kid: I stepped down from being the town's leader to allow for democratic reforms to take place: elections, and all that political crap that I hate. Opened up a bank here to help stabilize the local economy, met a charming magi who knocked me up before skipping town, and now I'm married with two new children, and I'm in a poly relationship with a handful of men and some women in town," May summarized with a bored tone in her voice, as she reached over to unclip Ren's seatbelt before undoing hers. "… I forgot why the hell I even started talking about all of that stuff in the first place, kid; not sure if it's because I was trying to fill the silence, or if it was because you asked me about myself— either way, we're here, so… Let's get a move on: I'm tired, and you owe me a coffee after telling you my entire freakin' life story."


Following beside the curvy woman that stood at least a foot higher than he did through the back alley of the small parking lot, Ren inquired about the sorts of coffee shops that they had in Crescent Bay, to which May informed him that other than Guido's Tavern, the only place in town that serves coffee the way the young man was thinking was an establishment that went by the name of 'Cafe Moon Drop'— a place that May reassured Ren that he would be taking her, right after he was done shopping around at her eldest daughter's magic store.

Lamenting over the story he had been told, Ren was deep in thought when all of a sudden he was yanked back with ease by his wrist— nearly losing his balance, before being quickly caught by the same blond woman who pulled him back to the front of her daughter's shop. "Pffftt…! Where the hell were you going, kid?! Are you really that eager to buy a lady a cup of coffee?!" May teased with a wide grin across her lips, before immediately pulling Ren into a side-hug as she wrapped her arm behind his shoulders, so that he was facing toward the store front along with her.

Flashing an apologetic smile, Ren politely replied with, "I'm sorry about that," before beginning to read the blank printed store logo that was plastered on the glass paneled door before them. "… 'The Little Mystique Boutique'. Am I to assume that this is your daughter's magic shop?" Ren asked rhetorically, as the side of head began pressing up against the side of May's large breast as she squeezed him tighter against her body.

"You'd be correct to assume, kid! Come with me; I wanna introduce you to my other kid personally," May said with calm enthusiasm in her deep, sultry voice; walking with Ren still held close by her side. Opening the door for them both before stepping inside with the young man still seemingly attached at her hip.

Getting a better look at the gothic decorum inside— from the black-and-white checkered walls, to the red-and-black colored wallpaper— one of the first things that Ren immediately noticed about the small shop was the smell of burning incense that flooded the interior with its visible gray aroma. 'Smells like lavender in here… And something else that's… Vaguely familiar,' Ren thought to himself, after beginning to take notice of the pungent smell that the lavender was able to mostly mask in the air. "Ms. Yoriko… What is that smell?" Ren asked bluntly, as he turned his head toward his shoulder to catch her sniffing the air with an tempted look on her face.

"Mmmmm…~! That, kid, is the tantalizing aroma of halfling weed being smoked through a pipe!" May said with an intrigued-sly look in her eye, as the two of them walked past the unoccupied storefront counter. "Morgana's probably in the back getting lit… I'm going to go get her and have her introduce herself to you, while I go take a hit in her office!" May declared eagerly— speeding up her pace and practically dragging Ren alongside her, as she took him into an aisle that had a sign hung above that read 'Beginner Courses' above it, and hanging from the ceiling. "Mama's gonna be right back! Just look around, and don't leave the store until I'm back! Mmkay? Mmkay."

And with that said, Ren was able to witness more of May's magical abilities when she instantly teleported away from where she had been standing, all within less than a fraction of a second. The astonishment Ren would have felt in that moment was tarnished by the muffled sound of May's muffled voice speaking to a woman that sounded almost identical to her, all from the otherside of the wall that was closest to the front counter— reminding the young man that the only reason why the blond witch had cast that advanced spell was to get stoned in her daughter's office as quickly as possible.

'… I wonder if being under the influence of drugs helps magi be better at magic… Maybe that'll have something that'll answer that in one of these books,' Ren sarcastically thought to himself— smirking to himself with an amused look on his face, as he softly shook his head to himself while beginning to peruse the shelves for something that would catch his eye.

'Let's see what we got here… Oh! I think this is where I'm supposed to start off with,' Ren thought to himself with his excitement from earlier growing back, as his eyes read the words along the spine of one particular book that had the lengthy title, 'Beginner's Starting Point I: Intro to Understanding Thaumaturgical Science and Literature'.

'Thaumaturgical science and literature…? The hell does any of that mean…?' Ren thought worryingly to himself, as he gingerly pulled out the leatherback book off from the shelf. Flipping it open to the last page, the young man found himself staring at an alphabetical list of keywords with definitions and page numbers where to find them. 'Wait a minute… These aren't spellbooks, they're goddamn textbooks— all of the books in this godforsaken aisle are!' Ren thought disappointingly to himself, before adding up all of the different beginner's textbooks inside of his head. 'Twenty… I need to learn twenty textbooks' worth of knowledge, JUST to get around to learning how to make a flame appear from my hand?! And each one costs TEN whole gold pieces?! I need TWO freaking platinum coins for this shit?! Goddamn, that's…! That's-!'

"-All incredibly overwhelming, isn't it?" A deep, sultry voice spoke behind him in a slow cadence— causing Ren to immediately turn around. There, towering above him at around the same lumbering height as May, stood a breathtakingly beautiful young woman with a tiny waist hidden behind the confines of a white corset, and with an unfathomably round backside and pair of breasts that rivaled the busty blond witch's own curves. Dressed in a revealing black robe and witch's hat adorned with gold embroidery, the woman with long lavender hair and enigmatic purple bloodshot eyes stared down at Ren while chewing on a piece of gum— the smell of what the young man could only assume to be halfling weed wreaking from her promiscuous clothes.

"… You must be Morgana Yoriko, yes?" Ren asked with a cautious smile on his face, as he offered the stone-faced witch his hand.

With a slow reaction time, the lavender haired woman took a moment to finally look down at Ren's hand— silently analyzing it while chewing loudly on her piece of gum, before finally attempting to reach out to grab a hold of it. "… Shit, fuck— I missed," the vulgar woman muttered in a monotone voice to herself, after accidentally moving her outstretched hand right past Ren's— her fingertips unintentionally stroking upward against the middle of his toned pectoral muscles, as she retracted her hand to try again.

Letting out a satisfied sigh the moment her hand lethargically flopped into his palm, the tall curvy woman finally began shaking Ren's hand when she did her best to look him in the eye as she said, "Correct; I am Morgana Yoriko, and you must be Ren Ashta; it's an honor to meet you," before clumsy lifting his hand up while leaning forward toward him— unintentionally allowing him to see right down her robes' cleavage window and in between her massive bosoms, as she accidentally planted a kiss on the top of her own hand, instead of his. "Charmed to meet you," she said, while beginning to stand up straight as her swaying vision did its best to maintain eye contact with him.

"Uh… Charmed to meet you as well, Morgana," Ren complimented back— his pale cheeks growing pink, as he tried to push aside the mental image of seeing the large-chested woman's dangling breasts, and the lacy-black bra she had on underneath her robes.

Nodding her head slowly to herself as the thoughts slowly passed through her clouded mind, Morgana continued to chew loudly on her wad of gum while looking off into the distant at nothing in particular, before finally snapping out of her thoughts as she looked back down at Ren to tell him, "My mother… She informed me that you were interested in learning magic. But, from the way I saw you staring bug-eyed at that book in your hands, you seem to be having doubts about that now, I take it?"

'She noticed that while standing behind me for less than a second? Was she staring at me through the wall with magic, or something?' Ren wondered curiously to himself, as he took a quick second to stare at the windowless wall that seperated the shop from her office, before looking back up at Morgana's bloodshot puffy-eyes. "I'll admit… Twenty textbooks just to get the basics down does seem like a lot to have to memorize… Tell me, how long would it take for me to learn all of this material, and have it stick with me?" Ren asked with a glimmer of optimism in his stoic voice.

Without missing a beat, Morgana nonchalantly crushed his hopes when she replied to him saying, "About four-to-six years, depending on how high your aptitude for trigonometry and theoretical physics are."

Immediately feeling more deterred from learning magic than he did when he first added up the logistics of how much it would cost him to purchase the learning materials, Ren's uneasy smile dropped into a mortified frown as his eyes shot open wide. "F… Four-to-six years…?"

"Yep, that's what I said: four-to-six years," Morgana repeated back, before yawning as she reached to past her robes' short skirt, so as to adjust the top of her brown-stocking that was clinging snuggly against her large, curvy and exposed thigh. "Normally it would take that long, but if you're pressed for time then I've got some permanent and temporary buff-potions for sale that'll give you the edge you need to master the entire beginner's curriculum in about, oh I don't know… Three months? Give or take?" Morgana guesstimated with an indifferent tone of voice; shrugging her bare shoulders at Ren, and not thinking much as his eyes lit up with excitement.

'T-That's amazing…! Would something like that even be possible for me?' Ren thought to himself, as the motivation he felt for wanting to learn magic earlier returned full force. "That's…! That's great to hear, Morgana! C-Could you show me what you have in stock?!" Ren asked with a smile growing on his face.

"Therocially, I could, buuuuuut… There would be no practical point in showing you what I've got today," Morgana answered in a slightly reluctant voice, before shamelessly spitting her gum on the floor between her boots and Ren's. "Along with informing me who you were, my mother has also informed me of your current finances, and let me tell you something Ren," Morgana said factually, as she waved her hand above the gum— blue glowing-energy raining down from her palm onto the discarded wad, as she began to transform it into a white-glowing ethereal butterfly that began to slowly flutter its mystifying wings, as it floated upwards towards Ren's entranced face.

"… If the thought of having to buy the entirety of my beginner's learning material hurts your pockets now, then you most certainly aren't prepared to read the price tags that are on my premium goods," Morgana said unapologetically, while her violet eyes focused on the astonished look in Ren's gaze as her glowing white spectacle gently landed on the top of his nose.

"But in a true-trident neighborly fashion, allow me to bestow upon you a welcoming gift from yours truly," Morgana said in her deep and sultry voice, as she watched Ren flinch the moment the otherworldly-looking butterfly vanished into a cloud of light— leaving behind a small rolled up piece of parchment paper.

Catching the palm-sized gift with both of his hands, Ren gingery inspected the piece of paper before looking up at Morgana to ask, "… What is it?"

"It's a healing scroll; if one were to unravel it and gaze upon its contents, then the symbols within it would resonate within one's own psyche— tapping into the third eye, and subconsciously casting it for one time use," Morgana explained, before suddenly reached down to pinch her finger and thumb on the rolled up scroll— pulling it gently out of Ren's hands, before opening it up to lay it flat on the top of her wooden aisle of books.

"Of course, one would need to be literate in 'Thaumaturgic Runes' for that mental catalyst to even be initiated in the front lobe of the brain in the first place… So I'm just going to go the extra mile, and make it easy for you to use," Morgana said with a soft smile growing on her enigmatic purple-matte lips, while detaching the leather satchel from her belt to begin rifling through its contents.

Intrigued by what he was looking at, everything became clear to Ren what Morgana was in the midst of doing when he suddenly saw her bloodshot eyes light up, as she pulled out a baggie full of dried green-buds. "… Morgana, is that wee-"

"-It's weed," the witch interrupted without missing a beat, as she pinched off a piece of one bud before crushing it over the unraveled piece of parchment paper. "Not just any mere halfling weed though! What I have here is a magic-infused strain of indica that I call 'Stargazer Crush': I grew it myself," Morgana said proudly, before freeing her hands by sticking her baggie full of homegrown halfing-weed back in her leather satchel— clipping it to her belt, before carefully using telekinesis to begin rolling it up before Ren's very eyes.

Making sure to lick the parchment paper together with her tongue before telekinetically floating her freshly rolled joint in front of him, Morgana watched Ren frown to himself, as he brought it closer to his eye to begin inspecting it. "Is this… Safe to smoke? Like… I'm not going to get addicted to it, or have any magical side-effects?"

"Safe to smoke…? Ren, what I have to offer is only the purest and most naturally beneficial elixirs and products that serve only to better one's mental, spiritual, and emotional health. I, in no way, would ever give you or anyone else something that could harm them," Morgana stated in an almost offended tone, as if Ren's question alone was a personal attack against her. "… But you are going to want to have an ample supply of food available on stand-by, after you're done taking how many drags of it that you need to feel better."

"I see… Thank you, Morgana. I'll… I'll keep this safe, until I need to use it," Ren said reluctantly, as he wasn't at all a fan of the idea of having to smoke halfing weed, if by the off-hand chance that he actually needed to use the joint for its magical healing properties. Before even attempting to slide the joint into his pocket, Ren soon realized that doing so would cause it to possibly unravel or even break apart inside of his pocket.

Raising the rolled-up healing scroll between his finger and thumb, Ren stared at the magical joint with a perplexed look in his eye before looking up into Morgana's bloodshot gaze to ask, "Is there… Is there something you have that I can put this thing in?"

"Oh, absolutely. I've got mints for sale: you could empty the metal tin that the little candies come in, and put your joint in there for safe keeping," Morgana offered, as she gestured toward her shop counter with a raised thumb that was almost pointed in its exact direction. "I'll sell you one of those, a nifty little pocket lighter, and a bottle of ice-cold cola, all for two silver pieces. Do we have a deal, Ren?"

More excited about the prospect of a cold soda than he was about having a healing scroll capable of regenerating his body, Ren's soft-stoic smile returned as he nodded his head. "That's fine," he said, before following behind Morgana as she began to walk in front of him toward her shop counter; unintentionally giving Ren quite the show from behind, as he found himself staring at her melon-sized buttcheeks through her short-skirted black robes that showed off the silhouette of her magnificent curves.


New Character Reference:

Morgana Yoriko = Witch, from Goblin Slayer.


Author's notes: Originally I was going to start off this chapter by having Ren introduce himself to Priest/Cecile's older brother and father, but… To be honest, I wanted to keep the plot moving along, and didn't want to keep having to write introduction-after-introduction.

Plus, they were going to show up in the potluck chapter, along with the Zeppoli family and a bunch of other characters that I would have Ren meet during the beginning of the event. I'm not going to write out that whole hour-long interaction though, as I said earlier, that would probably get boring after a while. Instead, I'll quickly summarize how the introductions went, and what characters Ren meets, and what a brief description of them, and their role in Crescent Bay.

Pretty soon though, I'm going to have Ren getting introduced to Guild Girl, who will talk to him about how she's the sole owner of the Adventurers' Guild, after its last owner sold the rights to it to her grandparents for dirt cheap before bailing out of Crescent Moon. Her family basically got MLM'd into buying the company, and now she runs it from her parents' garage. Ren will become one of her first official adventurers on her payroll, after a major event happens soon that'll cause there to be a need of the guild once more.

Nothing too dire, more so exploration missions with mysterious enemies that are kept away from Crescent Bay by the local town guard. That, and Crescent Bay's residents have people like Guido, May, Father Fareed, and Naomi, who are all veterans when it comes to combat.

Having Morgana introduced as a stoner witch who sells potions and buffs is important for when we get around to Ren and his friends beginning to explore the depths of the future cataclysm that I can't go into without spoiling too much at the moment. Just know that this story will be a mixture of slice of life moments, 90's references and tech integrated into a post-modern DnD word, AND dungeon crawling with loot, enemies, and an unraveling mystery of the past.

Also, more of Ren's backstory will be revealed soon enough; a backstory that will explain how he's so physically fit for having had an 'office job', and why he'll have acrobatic and combat skills right off of the bat. Let's just say he wasn't a good person when Vivine sent that letter.

Anyway, that about does it for now. Happy New Year everyone!