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Year 16 AL, Any Port in a Storm


The odd trio had made it out of the tropical forest without further issue. Well, other than Lona's nakedness, that is. A sight Luka had remained steadfast in looking away from, as he kept himself at the front of the group with his pale-blue eyes locked on the path ahead.

At the moment they were back in the grasslands, with what appeared to be Iliasport in the nearing distance. The purple-haired boy eyed the oncoming port town with a mix of bittersweet excitement. On one hand, he was more than ready to dock the first boat over to Sentora but on the other hand, he was going to sorely miss his home of the Ilias Continent. It was strange to even imagine himself leaving it behind, but he was very close to taking that next step in his journey.

Sure, he had known in the back of his mind for many years that his role as Ilias's Prophet would eventually lead him away to Sentora and then later on Hellgondo. However, knowing that something will happen is much different than actively being in the middle of it happening. That and potentially, this could be his last time seeing his home...

...Forever.

The ball of melancholy grew inside of him, eating away at him somewhat. 'Come on, Luka. Don't think like that. Dying is a possibility, but it isn't guaranteed! Have some faith in yourself...' His inner thoughts berated, forcing him into a somewhat better disposition. '...That's right, think better thoughts. I've gotten this far, haven't I? And I'm only getting better by the day, I think.'

Well, that's what it seemed like, anyway.

At the very least, Luka knew that he wouldn't have been able to defeat two Monsters at the same time on his first day of traveling like he did earlier. So, there had to have been some good progress so far. 'Oh, speaking of...' He thought, reaching around to begin unzipping his traveling bag to retrieve his little book of Monsters. He thumbed to the next available pages before taking a pen to the paper, a sight that his so-far silent new friend Lona watched with some interest.


Unknown Rafflesia: Common Rafflesia

Strengths - Tentacles, intoxicating smell

Weaknesses - Quick to surrender

Intelligence - Average

Friendliness - Possibly friendly

Luka's Notes: Very bizarre Monster but seemed to be capable of listening to reason to an extent. At the very least didn't seem openly hostile.


Unknown Roper: Common Roper

Strengths - Tentacles, Physical power

Weaknesses - Easily distracted

Intelligence - Average

Friendliness - Hostile

Luka's Notes: Not quite as hopeful with this one. She didn't even hesitate to attack me or Lona. Tread careful around these ones.


"What are you writing there?" The soft voice of Lona asked. Luka forced himself to not turn to the Elf, for fear that he'd somehow see too much of her for the second, well, third time total. Happy to answer either way, the purple-haired boy replied in earnest. "It's a collection of all the Monsters I've met on my journey so far! I try to make one as soon as possible after each encounter I have."

From the back of the group, Alice watched closely as the former Dark Elf, who was still closely clutching the blankets to her body, drew closer to look at the book. "Oh, that's interesting..." She said, peering over the shorter boy's shoulder to glance at his writing. "...Do you have a page for me?" She asked innocently enough. To that, Luka simply flipped a few pages back and presented Lona with her own page.

"Here ya go!" He exclaimed, still keeping his pale blue eyes faced forward out of respect.

He felt the book leave his hands, the Elf taking the article from him and giving a low hum as she read it. "O-Oh..." She muttered, spurring his attention. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Lona answered it with her own quivering voice. "...S-Sorry about, uh, the Kiss of Ecstasy thing." A hot wave of red washed over Luka's face at the memory of the former Dark Elf tackling and forcefully making out with him.

"Oh! Th-That!?" He stuttered, an anxious laugh coming from his lips. "Ha-ha-ha, I-I had already r-ready forgotten about it, so don't feel bad! In fact, w-we don't even have to talk about it!" He proclaimed hastily, trying his damnedest to fly right past the subject. From the back, Alice just shook her head. 'Hopeless, absolutely hopeless.' The Lamia thought, although the event in question being brought up did irk her somewhat.

"R-Right..." Lona said, continuing to read as they kept walking forward, Iliasport slowly drawing nearer and nearer. "...Was I really that reckless in our fight?" The Elf asked, her lips forming a small frown when reading her "Weaknesses" section. The young Hero gave a small shrug, "Well, you did run into your own sword when you got it caught in a tree."

Luka's comment caused Alice to let out a quick and mocking snicker. Lona aimed a small glare at the Lamia behind her, as she thought the laugh was at her expense, but that was dispelled by Alice's next words. "You're one to talk; who was it exactly that knocked himself out last night doing the same thing?" Luka pouted, an indignant blush rising on his face. "H-Hey, I wasn't being reckless, my accident was because Angel Halo makes such awful and distracting noises all the time!" He argued.

"Angel Halo?" Lona asked, before recalling when Luka's sword had started making very odd and suggestive noises during their fight. Noises that had gotten her rather excited. "O-Oh, you mean your sword? Why does it do that, anyway?"

The young Hero shook his head, "I have no idea and, honestly, I don't think I want to know why." Luka sighed, his long purple locks swaying as he shook his head back and forth. "But it's served me well so far, so I can forgive its lecherousness." Lona gave a slow nod, though she was not entirely sure why he would feel the need to forgive his sword. She looked down at the book once again, seeing her questionable friendliness before reading what the boy wrote in his "Luka's Notes" section about her.

"Still weird to think that I met this girl when I was so young. I hope that maybe we could meet again, without as much kissing, that is..."

Lona blushed upon reading the tail end of the note, remembering with excruciating detail how kissing the purple-haired boy had felt. But now that she was finally a regular Elf again, something like that should in no way interest her. After all, she didn't want to fall into that trap once more, especially not with the boy who had saved her from it in the first place...

...No matter how fantastic Luka's lips had tasted.

An unwanted shiver of pleasure jolted the former Dark Elf, catching the unsuspecting boy's attention. "Are you alright, Lona?" Luka asked before seeing his book come into view by way of the Elf's shaky hands. "Y-Yes, though I am finished reading now!" She exclaimed, spurring the boy to take his book back.

"Alright..." He simply said, pocketing the book into his traveling bag as the trio continued on.

Soon enough, the three travelers were well within the entrance of Iliasport. At the back of the group, Alice swiftly changed into her Human disguise. Upon doing so, she spoke up, "Now this place, according to my Traveler's Guide, should be a bustling port town. So, therefore, it should have many fine imported cuisines. Keep that in mind, Luka, I don't want to miss out on any exotic foods!"

The purple-haired boy looked over his shoulder - the side on which Lona was not walking on - and said, "We will, we will. However, we really should get Lona some clothes first, right?" Alice's golden eyes immediately flared in annoyance as she either had forgotten the Elf's clothing issue or really did not care. "We? I don't remember offering to help you with clothes shopping for your Elf-friend."

Luka frowned, "Well, I'm going to make sure she's clothed before anything else. It's not as if she can just run around naked all day!" The blanket-wearing Lona nodded strongly in agreement, "I-I would rather not p-parade around wearing only this thing, please!"

The lavender-skinned Lamia crossed her arms under her breasts as she began to mutter something. Eventually, she spoke again, "Fine, we'll find your poor Elf-friend some clothes first. But after that, we're going to get me something decent to eat!" Luka waved his traveling partner off while giving her a reassuring smile. "Yes, Alice, I'll see to it personally."

Alice huffed one last time, "You'd better..."


The odd group of Ilias's Prophet, the Monster Lord, and a mostly naked former Dark Elf found themselves on the cobblestone streets of Iliasport. All around were decently tall buildings, many of them being at least two stories tall. Many boats could be seen in port, the waves below licking at the man-made shoreline. The smell of saltwater filled the air, and the calls of seabirds resounded throughout the city...

...However, something very quickly became apparent to Luka as they walked the streets of Iliasport. And that something was the fact that - like Iliasburg when he first arrived there - Iliasport seemed to be devoid of the hustle and bustle that one would expect it to have.

"I thought that port towns were supposed to be lively and full of personality or something." Alice complained as she glanced around. "This isn't anything like that at all! How depressing."

Lona, although thankful that there was nobody around to see her predicament, found the sight strange as well. "I haven't been here before, but I've always heard tell of how busy Iliasport is. This is very strange..."

Luka couldn't help but agree. He'd never been to Iliasport before, but he had expected a much different feel as well. Just by a few seconds of looking, one could tell that the coastal town was out of sorts. The streets were just about barren, the shops were closed, and - strangely enough - it seemed as if all of the ships were docked and empty at the moment.

'Why would it be like this?' Luka thought, the sight of Iliasport's seeming inactivity bringing him great worry. 'Oh no, don't tell me that Granberia is here TOO!' A mighty wave of paranoia hit him as the painful memories of his thrashing at the hands of the Heavenly Knight resurfaced. His pale-blue eyes looked about wildly, looking for any sign of the Dragonkin.

Alice took note of the boy's distress, "Hey, stop acting all twitchy. You'll scare anyone who's actually still around here!" Luka stopped Alice's comment, making him realize how unheroic he probably looked at the moment. Lona looked at the boy with a bit of worry as he shakily ran a hand through his hair.

"Y-Yeah, right, let's just see if we can find anyone. There's g-got to be a reasonable explanation for this..." He lightly hopped from foot to foot, trying to shake off the excess nervousness from his mind as he took a glance around the port town. Again, all of the merchant shops seemed to be closed, but the boy eventually spied one open storefront with buyable goods presented on the counter.

Luka sped-walked over to the shop, Alice and Lona following close behind - although due to her barely covered nudity, Lona was slow to catch up - until they reached the store. Walking up to the display counter, Luka placed his hands on the wooden counter and peered inside...

...At least, that's what he attempted to do, with his somewhat hampered height leaving his gaze restricted. The purple-haired Hero groaned, having to stand on the tips of his toes to get any type of look inside. "Do you need a stepstool?" Alice asked, a quick and oddly feminine giggle coming from her mouth as he aimed a glare at her. "Oh, my mistake. A booster seat, yes, that would be even more helpful."

Luka's face turned red hot at the comment. "I-I am not a b-b-baby!" He whispered indignantly, though any sense of dignity he had left was quickly stomped out by the small hop he did to get a better look inside. Alice gave a full-out laugh at Luka's expense as Lona took a couple of steps forward, a look of pity on her face.

"There's nobody in there, Luka." The boy cut off his next hop mid-height, his face falling at the observation everyone else in his party was able to make with ease. The young Hero pried his hands off of the counter, his hands shaking in shame. "A-A-Ah... I-I see..." He mumbled, his face even more red than before. The former Dark Elf frowned at the sad sight, while Alice just continued to laugh at his vertical misfortune.

"Oh, travelers?" A somewhat surprised but tired voice exclaimed from the side. All of Luka's party - aside from Lona, who took a quick step to hide behind Alice - looked over to the voice.

The fourth presence made itself known in the form of a middle-aged man stumbling a bit down the street towards them. The black-haired man wore simple tan merchant clothing and had thin bifocals on his face. His peach-colored face was a bit scraggly, as it appeared as though he had neglected to shave for many mornings. The man looked upon the strange group one by one, each observation becoming more and more bizarre to him.

First, he met gazes with the purple-haired boy who stood at perhaps half his height, if that. Despite the boy's borderline childlike visage clashing with the very grotesque sword on his back, he was by far the most normal-looking of the bunch. Although the purple hair was a very curious detail...

Next, the man looked at the just-barely clothed golden-eyed woman standing half a meter next to him. To say she was exotic-looking was a tame way of putting it, and this was with the experience the man had gathered after decades of seeing all types of weird personalities that came through the port town. Scantily clad women weren't in short supply, but they usually didn't have such strange tattoos as well.

Finally, the middle-aged man noticed the third person standing behind the first woman. This one appeared to be an Elf...

...Dressed in nothing but bed coverings?

Now, he had seen Monsters in Iliasport from time to time. Money was money, so he never turned a customer down because of such things. But usually, even the Monsters that came through would be wearing at least a little bit of actual clothing. 'Aside from that one jiggly slime that came through here trying to sell boomerangs...' He mused to himself.

All-in-all, the trio before him was definitely one of the oddest he'd seen. Looking at them all together, one could assume a couple of different things about their personal lives. After all, why else would an innocent-looking and possibly underaged young boy be traveling with a couple of obviously older-looking and well-developed women? The only thing left to ponder now was if the dynamic here was caused by the deviance of the boy's sexual preferences or the women's sexual preferences.

'Could even be both...' He hypothesized, finally coming to a stop in front of them all. '...Would certainly make sense. Birds of a feather flock together, after all. Espeeeecially the freaky birds.'

"My apologies." He said, holding out a hand towards the shop. "I usually try to be at my store here, but as there haven't been any customers all day, I was otherwise... preoccupied at the pub down the street..." He covered his mouth while letting out a quick hiccup, "...Is there anything I can help you with?" He offered.

Luka came forward first, a look of curiosity on his face. "Y-Yes sir," He said, a bit of his embarrassment still trembling his voice. "May I ask where exactly is everyone? This place looks like a ghost town and-"

"G-GHOST, WHERE!?" Alice suddenly yelled, causing everyone there to snap their gazes towards her.

Even Luka gave a glance towards the disguised Lamia, even though this meant that he was now also looking at the barely decent Lona as well. The white-haired Monster Lord quickly calmed herself, forcing a stoic look back upon her face. "...Erm, you can continue." She muttered, trying to look nonchalant despite all eyes now being on her.

The merchant looked at the three, not sure if he had too much or too little to drink in preparation for this. 'Yep, definitely freaky ones...' He mused.

"Anywaaays..." Luka said, drawing out the last word as he turned back to the taller man, mildly confused over his traveling partner's completely uncharacteristic outburst. "...Like I said, we were wondering why this place seemed so empty. Where is everyone?"

The merchant gave a heavy sigh, leaning up against his shop with a tired expression. "Ah, yes. Iliasport is usually not so desolate; however, recently, business has been down on account of the fact that there's currently no way to safely travel to Sentora."

Luka recoiled at the man's words, "Wh-What!? Why is that!?"

The man pointed a thumb over to the docked boats, his face sour. "Well, for whatever reason, anytime anyone tries to set sail for Sentora, a gigantic storm comes out of nowhere and stops them from crossing. Even on the clearest of skies like this," He said while waving a hand to the sky, "Any departing ships will find themselves suddenly bombarded by the worse type of weather imaginable. So, as of the moment, all trade and travel has screeched to a halt."

"Really..." The purple-haired Hero said, his eyes staring off to the side in thought. "...That is... concerning..." Luka's voice fell off as he started digesting the information. 'There's no way that these storms he's talking about are just happening by coincidence. There must be something else going on.'

Luka turned his gaze back to the man and gave him a small bow, "Thank you for the information, sir." The merchant nodded his head, turning into the alley in between the buildings to enter his shop. Luka jerked, realizing that he still needed to ask one last thing. "Oh, m-mister?" He said, shuffling up to the black-haired merchant.

Luka had to fight down a blush as he began trying to explain his other worry to the man looking down at him with a raised brow. "E-Er, my f-friend over here..." The young Hero whispered as he gestured to where he believed Lona was standing. "...Has recently had a - eh - what you may call a w-w-wardrobe malfunction earlier and is needing new clothes. Do you know of any clothing shops still open in Iliasport?"

The black-haired man looked from the blushing boy to the even more greatly blushing Elf who tried to hide behind the now-aloof-looking tattooed woman, trying his best not to look curious about what type of "wardrobe malfunction" happened here. 'Actually, I don't even want to know. Kids these days and their kinks. Never thought I'd miss the days when "Vanilla" was the standard, not the exception...' He thought, shaking his head wearily.

"I believe that there is a clothing shop still open on the east side of town. I can never remember the name, but it'll be on the main street right along the shore, so you shouldn't have to look for long." Luka gave another bow to the man as he exclaimed, "Thank you!" The purple-haired boy was waved off as he returned to his friends, still keeping his gaze averted from the former Dark Elf.

Lona looked down at Luka in worry, "So... what do we do now? We can't just swim to Sentora." Luka nodded in agreement to Lona's words. As funny an image as trying to dog-paddle across to the neighboring continent was, it wasn't a viable option, considering how far Sentora is. The young Hero lifted a hand up to his hair, pulling at some of this shoulder-length hair as he did.

Suddenly, Alice gave a low hum. "Hmmm..." Luka dropped his hand as he tried to look at Alice. However, it was difficult since Lona was still standing right by her. "What is it, Alice? Do you have any idea what this might be?"

Alice's demeanor became a bit strange as she gave her answer. "I can't say much, but a very strong Monster is the one causing the storms..." Luka frowned, he had figured that it would be something like that. He looked around the empty port town, his feeling bothered by the revelation. 'Iliasport is suffering because of this, that's easy enough to see. I can't just allow this to go on.'

"Well, I guess that I'll have to find this Monster, then." He said, causing Lona to look at him with some trepidation.

"Are you sure about that, Luka?" If this Monster can create storms that strong on a whim, then she might be too powerful for you..." The former Dark Elf said, her dull brown eyes filled with concern. Alice quickly supported this, "You'd be easily defeated, I assure you that much. You aren't even a match for her."

Luka bristled at how sure Alice seemed to be about this. If she believed it so easily, then was really he destined to be cut off so early in his journey? Had he traveled all this way for nothing at all? The purple-haired boy's frown deepened, 'No, I can't just give up and go running home. I made a pledge as a Hero, as Ilias's Prophet, to bring peace to this World. If I broke that promise now, if I allowed for anarchy to rule without even trying, then I would be letting the entire World down.'

"Even if that's so, I'm going to find this Monster anyway." Luka declared, which prompted Lona to finally walk around Alice to face the young Hero. "B-But, didn't you hear her? You'd just be going to die!"

Luka was finally able to face the Elf fully, his resolve to bring peace overpowering his meekness towards Lona's precarious clothing situation. "I know, but I'm a Hero, and Heroes have to fight when injustice is being done." Luka gestured towards the empty streets all around as he declared, "As long as that Monster is keeping the boats in port, then this town will continue to suffer under hardship! And I cannot allow for that!"

'Even if it does kill me.' Luka added in his mind.

Lona watched as the purple-haired boy made his little speech, her heart fluttering a bit at the conviction he had. But the worry inside of the former Dark Elf only grew as he started walking past her and Alice, who was watching Luka very carefully. "Now," The boy said, casting his pale-blue-eyed gaze around the empty street. "Let's find this clothing store, shall-"

"Hahaha! There you are, my Hero!~"

Luka froze, an immediate and gut reaction to fall ill coming upon him as a voice he hadn't expected to - nor wished to - hear called out for him. 'Oh boy...' Luka thought hesitantly as he turned towards a nearby alleyway. Predictably, the alley-dwelling Monster that had called out to him was Amira.

"W-WHAA! What is that!?" Lona screamed, pointing at the terrible creature that was slinking out of the break between two buildings.

Alice took one look at the Monster and immediately shut her golden eyes in frustration, "Oh for fuck's sake..." She hissed, rage flaring in her at the sight of the reverse-Lamia.

"Oh... Hello... Amira..." Luka said as nicely and politely as possible, having to quell the nausea coming up from his stomach. Luka heard Lona shuffle up to stand behind him, a bit too close, he noted, as the Elf briefly brushed up against his shoulder with her breasts. "L-Luka, do you know this... thing?"

The purple-haired boy inadvertently shuddered as the white-haired Elf whispered into his ear. "Y-Yes, I do. I met her back in Iliasburg a couple days ago..." He said, spurring the black shorts-wearing Monster to "slither" up closer, despite the entire party's mutual disgust.

"Now, do not be so coy with me, my darling! You can tell her all about our unparalleled, passionate love." Luka very slowly shook his head, "I-I don't qu-quite remember us having anything like that."

Amira sighed, "Oh my dear Hero. You can surround yourself with all the buxom beauties you so desire, but they could never compare to what we could have. I pray that one day you will see this." Lona started to sputter at the comment, covering her chest up frantically upon hearing Amira's comment while Alice's stewing anger finally reached its boiling point.

"You know, Luka..." Alice hissed while leaning over to the shoulder opposite where Lona was standing, her voice actually quivering somewhat due to her rage-rattled composure. "...I understand that you don't want to kill any Monsters, but there wouldn't be any witnesses here if you killed this one. And if there are no witnesses, you can argue that it never really happened."

Amira, shockingly, quickly fired back with a challenging gleam in her yellow eyes. "Shush, my rival in love, you are distracting my Luka! I have something very important - and possibly illegal - to tell him!"

Luka, having noticed Alice's glare becoming somewhat crazed, decided to cut it both literally and figuratively. "Oookaaay, hahaha, h-how about we j-just settle down for a moment, right?" He said as he stepped in between the two. He paused, looking towards the reverse-Lamia, as part of her comment just now hit him. "Wait, did you say possibly illegal?"

"Worry not, my Hero! For you, I will do whatever I must to assist you in your travels, and this will be very imperative information indeed!" She proclaimed, her forked tongue flicking out of her mouth happily. Luka cringed at the sight, before raising his voice to question her about it. "Alright, if it's that important then could you tell me?" The purple-haired boy asked.

"Ohohoho, for you, my darling, I will tell you anything you wish to know! She haphazardly stumbled forward a bit, "Though more intimate details about me can only be shared in private, over a candlelit dinner between us, you understand..."

Luka, trying his best to remain cordial as a flare of something potentially fatal came from his traveling partner behind him, answered in earnest. "E-Eh, is that r-right? Ha-Ha, well I'd probably not ever want that, but I would appreciate the information about my storm problem, if you don't mind?"

Amira clicked her tongue, "Ah, denied again. Oh well, you'll learn soon enough who the most desirable Heroine is for you in this little Story of ours. I'm a patient Lamia, I have no qualms with waiting." From his side, Luka heard Lona mutter "Story?" in confusion, a sentiment he shared but decided to leave well enough alone as the Reverse Lamia continued.

"Anyways, they say that far east there is a Cave. In this Cave lie the treasures of the Legendary Pirate Captain Selene." Luka raised an eyebrow at the green-head snake woman, not being familiar with such a person. "Who is that?" Luka asked.

Amira laughed, evidently happy to explain. "Aha, yes, the Legendary Pirate Captain Selene was a Legendary Pirate Captain, who forged her Legendary Pirate Legend one hundred years ago through way of having many great and numerous Legendary escapades across all corners of the oceans, and-"

"C-Can you just skip the backstory!? We don't have all day!" Alice snapped, unbridled venom pouring out of her voice.

Amira sighed, "Touchy-touchy. Fine, then, that will be a story for a different and more private time between me and my darling. Anyways, they say that one of her Legendary Treasures, the fabled Poseidon's Bell, resides in this very cave."

"Poseidon's Bell?" Luka mused out loud to himself. Amira merrily clicked her tongue once again, "Yes, my Angel-faced Hero. With this Bell, no ship will capsize, no matter how violent the storm and sea may be!"

Luka took a moment to digest what the freaky snake lady had just told him. The last time Amira gave him information, the truth had been a bit exaggerated. As before, she had led him to believe that the Four Bandits were a party of dangerous, city-threatening Monsters when they were just four orphan girls. However, if there was even a speck of truth to what she was saying here, then Luka still had a chance...

"However," Amira said, her tone becoming uncharacteristically serious. "The Cave is a cesspool for many powerful Monsters. Going there could prove as fatal as the storms keeping you from completing your quest, my darling. Many brave men have gone there to claim Selene's treasure and many never came back."

Luka frowned at the comment, but Amira quickly moved on. "That being said, I am confident that you will be able to beat the odds and retrieve Poseidon's Bell!" The young Hero somehow found the strength to smile gratefully at the reverse-Lamia. "Th-Thank you, Amira. Your information is, er, appreciated." The boy quickly regretted this decision, as Amira took this opportunity to swoon.

"Ooo, a smile like that, just for me? Perhaps I am one step closer to capturing your heart..." Amira mused. Before anyone, mainly Alice, could interject once more, Amira slunk away towards the boats with a laugh. "Haha! Until next time, my Love!~" She called, before throwing herself off the edge of the docks and splashing into the water.

"Oh, o-okay..." Luka said, watching with just a little bit of worry as the odd Monster disappeared into the water.

"I hope she drowns down there." Alice declared haughtily. Luka gawked at his traveling partner, "H-Hey, she might be very... bizarre. But we shouldn't wish death upon her. Besides, now that we know of this Bell, there might actually be a chance of me getting to Sentora! I say that we should check it out as soon as possible!" It was a slim chance, sure. But it was better than just giving up. Luka was determined and would remain steadfast in his goal of coexistence!

The relatively quiet Lona spoke up, anxiety riddling her voice. "Th-That's great, Luka. But can we please finally get me something else to wear but these sheets?" Luka only saw the former Dark Elf shuffle closer in his peripheral, though even this was enough to cause him to blush. "Y-Yeah, of course. We'll do that first..."


Thankfully, it didn't take long for the three to find the clothing shop in question. As the merchant had said, it was right on the main street bordering the shoreline. That, and it was the only shop on this stretch of street with an "open" sign.

Luka frowned at the observation, Iliasport's dire situation becoming all the more evident by these findings. That, coupled with the fact that the trio had only seen two different groups of people walking the streets, made everything all the more concerning. 'This place is tittering on the edge of dying out completely. We'll need to head quickly after this.' He thought.

The clothing shop in question was a small and unassuming little place, the entirety of the store being one room with many free-standing racks of clothes littering the place. There didn't seem to be very much available, but considering Lona's current position of having nothing at all to wear, they couldn't be very picky.

The trio entered through the front doors, all of them having a different reaction.

Luka looked quizzically around the place as he walked in. He hadn't any intention to purchase anything for himself, but so far in his journey, he found that he really enjoyed seeing all the different types of wares to be found in towns such as these. Back in Ilias Village, all the stores and vendors were more or less the same, and it wasn't often that traveling merchants would come through to show off something exotic. So, for the young Hero, even window shopping was an interesting endeavor.

Lona was curious as well, though mostly out of necessity. The blanket Luka had given her was comfortable enough - and smelled nicely of him as well - but was obviously inadequate covering. However, the former Dark Elf was a bit worried. She didn't happen to have any money on her, and she wasn't sure if Luka was willing to spend much, if anything, on clothes for her.

Alice was unimpressed, not particularly caring for anything being sold there unless it was edible.

"Anything I can help you with, travelers?" A light and feminine voice said, addressing the trio as they ventured deeper into the clothing shop. A somewhat short woman - though still taller than Luka, much to his subconscious dismay - came up to the group, her raven hair swishing below her shoulders.

The brown-eyed shopkeeper looked over the group, her friendly smile wavering just a tad bit as she really took in the traveling trio. 'The boy seems average enough despite the hair. But those women are a bit strange.' She peered at the white-haired duo in curiosity, taking notice that one of them was wearing only a blanket.

"Yes ma'am," Luka began, "My friend here is in need of some new clothes." He gestured vaguely in Lona's direction, the Elf holding the blanket a bit tighter to her body in response. Lona's dull brown eyes looked away from the storekeeper's gaze, her embarrassment getting the best of her as the young woman manning the clothing shop slowly nodded her head. "I... see that. Well, if you have any questions, just let me know!" She said, her face showing her confusion as she walked away.

Luka glanced at Lona in the most indirect way he could manage, "Well Lona, whenever you find what you like, just let me know!" He said, making the Elf in question look to him with a twinge of shame. "U-Um, about that. Luka, I don't really have any money to-"

The purple-haired Hero quickly waved away her words, "Don't worry about that! I'm paying for the clothes." Lona silently gawked at Luka, nearly not even believing what she heard. Her face grew just a bit darker from the blush that spread across her cheeks, "Th-Thank you, L-Luka..." Lona stuttered out before turning to look around.

As the white-haired Elf strolled around the store, Alice came up to Luka's side. "You're really going out of your way here, you know." Luka turned towards his golden-eyed traveling partner and faced her with a questioning look. "Why do you say that?"

Alice, still keeping her own gaze on Lona, replied. "This Elf couldn't possibly help you all that much from here on, and yet, you're dragging her along with us and buying her clothes. It's a waste of time, effort, and money." The disguised Lamia declared. Luka frowned at Alice's words, "I don't think it's a waste at all. Besides, she has helped me once in a fight already, and-"

"-She barely helped you-" Alice interjected.

"-But still. If nothing else, I wanted to repay that much. Besides, Heroes having a posse isn't unheard of, right?" He asked. Alice paused, knowing from very uncomfortable personal experience that this was indeed true. "Be that as it may, I still don't believe that this Elf can help you all that much. Realistically, the only way that she could become powerful enough to make a difference is by losing herself to Darkness again..."

Luka paused, looking over to Lona, who was eyeing some green dresses on a rack far off inside the store. "...Which, by the way, I believe that she is already doing." The young Hero's visage became shocked as he snapped his gaze up to Alice again. "Wh-What!? How? I thought being sealed had fixed that!?"

The disguised Lamia looked down at Luka, "Yes, it did. When she was sealed. But, it seems as if the Dark Magic I used to unseal her, put her right back on track to becoming a Dark Elf again." Alice said, further confusing the boy. "How can you tell?" He asked.

Alice folded her arms under her chest, "I can sense it. Ever since I lent her some of my power, the Dark magic inside of her has been very gradually growing over time. That's why her hair is white, unlike how blonde it was when she was sealed. The greater the Dark Magic in her becomes, the more she'll revert to her previous appearance."

Luka gazed over to Lona with worry as the "former" Dark Elf lifted up a green dress to her body, a small smile growing on her face. Indeed, Luka had idly noticed the detail, but he hadn't really put that much thought into it.

'Does that mean that she's destined to revert back either way, no matter what we do?' He thought, the depressing thought hitting him with a wave of grief. Lona had seemed so happy and thankful to be returned to normal; for her to be fated to slip back into Degeneration seemed so unfair.

"I-Is there nothing that can be done? Nothing at all?" Luka asked, a bit of desperation leaking out in his voice. Alice remained silent for a moment, her golden eyes showing a bit of uncomfortable hesitation. The disguised Lamia knew that there were no surefire ways of fixing Degeneration, it was a treacherous type of addiction, one that often led to a complete wiping of a Monster's identity in exchange for power.

To try and fight off something partially driven by natural instinct wasn't easy. However, there was a possibility...

"There isn't much that I know of that can be done. But, she seems to only be in the early stages, at least. So fixing it isn't completely impossible..." Alice said, giving Luka a small burst of hope at hearing that he could possibly help his Elf friend. "O-Okay, how can I do it, then? I'm willing to do whatever it takes!" He declared, not prepared for what the "solution" will be.

Alice seemed even more reticent now, eyeing Lona with a particularly brooding stare. "One thing I hadn't mentioned about Degeneration, is that it is often caused by a strong desire for men with a particular set of qualities, ones that the Monster herself finds most attractive. The harder it is to find men with these qualities, the worse the affliction gets as the Monster almost literally runs through men trying to satiate their fixation..."

Luka took in Alice's words with a moment of silence before replying, "So, it's like trying to scratch an itch that can't be reached? They go mad trying to find just the right partner?" Alive nodded, "More or less. As I said before, breeding is instinctual for Monsters so finding the right mate is imperative. Now, at the stage she's at currently, Lona probably wouldn't feel so strongly as needing to actually be impregnated, but her growing lust will still call for some sort of sexual gratification."

Luka cringed at Alice's wording, "O-Okay. So she needs to find a man that fits her preference and after receiving... gratification... she'll possibly go back to normal?"

Alice, very reluctantly, replied, "Yes, that is possible. Although, I believe that she already has a partner in mind..." Luka turned towards her with a look of befuddlement, "Really? But who could that possibly be?"

The Monster Lord was agonizingly slow in turning her head towards Luka. Her golden eyes shone with severe annoyance as they met his pale-blue ones, which still held confusion in them. However, without Alice having to say a single word, the realization began to dawn on him. Luka's face twitched, an incredulous and suddenly very exhausted look coming to his face as the truth came to him...

"No..." He gasped, "...No, no, come on... Y-You're joking, r-right?" Alice just continued to stare at Luka as he grew more and more red in the face, his stuttering worsening with each sentence that came from his mouth.

"B-B-But I, I-I c-can't just... I-I mean... There m-must be some other w-w-way other than m-me having to... again..." His words came out half-finished and choked, his despair worsening as Alice showed no sign of saying anything to the contrary. At that moment, Lona awkwardly shuffled up to the two with a collection of clothing tightly wrapped in hand.

"I-I tried to go cheap enough..." Lona mumbled. Again, Luka waved off the white-haired Elf's worries. "N-no problem, Lona! D-Don't ev-even worry!" His tone wasn't as confident now, however, as his mind was now stuck on more worrisome thoughts. He walked with the Elf up to the front counter of the store, presenting the items to the young store owner.

"Will this be all for you?" The raven-haired woman asked. Luka gave a large nod, "Yup!" Quickly, the woman rang them up. All in all, Lona's entire selection cost a bit more than what Luka had expected, but he paid without complaint either way. Upon being handed back the clothing, Lone spoke up. "Is there a place I can change here?" She asked.

The raven-haired storekeeper grinned, pointing towards a back corner of the shop. "Yes, just along the back wall, miss." Lona bowed and swiftly shuffled in that direction. Luka sighed, grateful that soon he'd be able to directly look at Lona without seeing too much of her curves.

"Sooo..." The young woman behind the counter drawled out. "...I know it's probably none of my business, but is there a reason why your friend is dressed only in a blanket?" Luka blushed, the rather detailed image of Lona's spontaneous nudity playing in his mind's eye.

"O-O-Oh, th-that? Well, you see, ahh..." He looked over to Alice, who seemed uninterested in helping explain. "...It's, err, complicated. Y-You see, th-things just kinda... happened... a-and... you... know..." He looked back to the shopkeeper, who had a very knowing smile on her face.

"Ah, I see now..." She leaned in close, putting a hand up to her own hand to muffle her words. "...Don't worry, I won't judge~" She said with a wink. Luka's pale blue eyes widened in alarm as he flapped his arms around. "W-W-Wait, I-I didn't mean anything like that!" He exclaimed, trying to force away the suspicious amount of red rising on his face.

The woman giggled at his attempt to mitigate the misunderstanding, "You don't have to lie about such a thing. You two wouldn't be the oddest duo of lovers I've seen..." She peered over to Alice, who had been shaking her head at Luka's behavior. "...Or, is it, trio?"

Luka buried his face in his hands, groaning loudly into his palms. Alice, surprisingly, had a bit of a red tinge herself, having to turn away to save face. Just then, Lona returned, none the wiser to what had just occurred. The white-haired Elf had a large smile on her face as she lightly jogged up to the group.

Lona's new clothing consisted of something a bit more conservative than what she wore when she was a full Dark Elf. The green top, while still leaving most of her midriff uncovered, did shield more of her breasts and shoulder. Though there was still a diamond-shaped cutout in the middle, showing off a bit of her cleavage. On both arms, running up from her hands to her elbows, was also a green sleeve that ended in a golden trim.

Hanging from the Elf's waist was a long green skirt that went down to her ankles. Along the bottom of this skirt was a line of white trim, matched by the white waistline at the top of the skirt. Finally, the last part of Lona's new outfit was the simple pair of brown sandals on her feet.

"Oh, thank you, Luka! I love this!" She proclaimed, giving a little twirl and causing the thin gold tassels hanging from her green top to become tossed around. The purple-haired boy's blush vanished, a genuine smile coming to his face upon seeing the Elf's giddiness. However, his joy faded a bit as he remembered what Alice said about Lona slipping into Degeneration again. The white-haired Elf noticed his dismayed expression, her demeanor souring a bit now.

"Do... Do you not like it?" She asked tentatively. Luka immediately covered up his troubled thoughts. "Oh, no no, I-I think you look very good in that, Lona!" It wasn't a lie. In fact, he honestly thought that she looked quite pretty in her new clothes.

The white-haired Elf looked down at her hands, wringing her fingers together as she whispered back to him. "Oh, I'm g-glad... that you like it..." Luka sighed, then noticed that both the raven-haired shopkeeper was giving him a very suspicious look.

"ALRIGHT, T-TIME TO G-GO, EVERYONE!" Luka loudly declared, stiffy marching out of the clothes shop as a giggling storekeeper, a confused Elf, and a very bothered Monster Lord watched on.


Just a bit more hijinks here, some fluff there, and now we'll be going from Iliasport to the Cave of Treasures, where Luka will encounter the next Heavenly Knight: Tamamo no Mae. Which should be a great amount of fun, I think. That, and we'll get a small little showing of the potential of Luka's Angelic Powers. Which will be, I think, an even more interesting aspect of his character here in Jeremiad.

If anyone is curious, the new outfit Lona is wearing is based off of the "Elf Archer" from Chapter 3 when Enrika is being attacked. I figured it would fit well as a replacement for what she was wearing before without making her just a clone of the regular elves. So think of that model, but with white hair.

espioll: Lona, and all subsequent additions to the "party", will by and large be temporary additions. Some will stay longer than others, but once Luka gets to the Monster Lord's Castle, he will be alone in his fight with Alice. So no, unfortunately no real powerups or anything, but we will get a good amount of characterization!

gUEST: Yeah, and she will add a bit more fun to the content here, I think.