"Is the mine really far?" an excited Rastel asked Roxanne who was busy giving her long shotgun some maintenance over a well-lit table.
"About 20 minutes or so to reach." She replied with a dry chuckle. The restless Rastel scooted closer to look at the gun closely.
Roxanne was sitting on a chair while leaning over to look at the disassembled gun carefully. If you looked closely at her irises, you would find that it was covered with a film of white light with a single black dot in the middle that showed the sign of a class skill.
She was wearing a short silver-grey skirt that barely covered her thighs but she also wore long stockings that reached up to cover her long legs.
There were strap-ons attached to the skirt that went over her shoulders and across her chest which laid over a black cotton shirt with long sleeves.
Together with her silver themed gloves and high-heeled shoes which matched her eyes, she looked impressive, to say the least.
"Are you a child? Why are you so excited over a dungeon?" she asked him with an amused expression.
"Veterans like you can't understand the restlessness I'm feeling right now." He said emotionally as he leaned over her shoulder to watch her work.
"No, I'm sure that's not it. You are actually just a child." She also replied emotionally.
"Now you are just bullying my passion, aren't you? Well, I refuse to be bullied."
"It is not up to you."
"Says who?"
"Says the bully."
"It doesn't work that way."
"No, that is exactly how it works."
"What are you guys bickering about?" Baluu's deep voice came from the doorway of the room they were staying in, his large frame covering the doorway.
The duo turned to look at him, he was carrying a bunch of little cakes in one hand while using the other to stuff his mouth with them.
A mischievous looking Myra was dangling from his back while reaching her hands out fruitlessly to try and steal one of the cakes over his shoulders, but Baluu wholly ignored her.
The both of them had gotten close over the feast and after that, Myra was always around Baluu pestering him in one way or the other. The bearman didn't mind it though and even loved the company. He was a very playful person himself.
Just behind Baluu though, was a poker-faced Vars.
When Rastel had logged in a few hours prior, he had not seen Vars anywhere when he went around the smithy.
Only Myra and Baluu were seen munching on one type of food or the other while playing around.
The Vars now though seemed calm. Rastel thought that he might bring up what they talked about previously but Vars acted like it never happened. He greeted Rastel the same as usual before greeting Roxanne.
"Hey Rastel, I want to take Myra out to see the town. Is that okay?" Baluu asked Rastel as he stealthily shifted a cake closer to Myra's reach so she could grab it.
The triumphant girl jumped off Baluu's back with a satisfied grin on her face as she chomped on the cake while running over to Rastel's side.
"Of course, I have no problems with that." Rastel replied with a smile.
He had to admit that Myra was rubbing off on him. The girl's cheerful attitude was endearing and everyone seemed to like her.
Lolo was used to feeding her the best that he could offer and even the grumpy grandmaster usually gave her lots of sweets. He said that it was to stop her from obstructing his work but his doting on her couldn't be hidden.
"Hero? Are you coming with us?" Myra asked through half-full lips.
"No, sorry. I have something else I want to deal with." He rubbed her head slowly.
He then looked down at her clothes and noticed they were a bit off.
Rastel was used to the game logic that you didn't need to change clothes except upgrading your gear. But now that he thought about it, he probably needed a few sets of clothes to frequently swap around. He realized that Roxanne had even swapped clothes constantly ever since he knew her.
The most important issue now was Myra though. As a young girl, he couldn't bear seeing her cuteness getting spoilt by shabby clothes.
'This is important.' He convinced himself before bringing out all his remaining money that only amounted to a few thousand kryts.
"Erh, Baluu. Could you do me a favour?" he asked the eating bearman.
"Sure." Baluu answered with a shrug.
"Can you help me get a few dresses and the like for Myra when you go out later?" He said as he handed the pouch of kryts to him.
Baluu took the pouch and threw it up and down a few times before nodding.
"Of course, I will get her something nice. You are coming, right?" Baluu asked the silent Vars who was standing by the side watching Roxanne work.
Vars just nodded his head slowly.
Myra looked back and forth with curious eyes before turning her attention towards Roxanne.
"Second big sister, what are you doing?" she asked curiously as she put her head on the table while eating her cake.
Roxanne turned to look at her and laughed.
"Why am I second?" she asked her.
"Because I already have a big sister but I want to call you big sister too." Myra answered innocently.
"How about you call me Miss big sister instead?" Roxanne said with a suggestive tone.
"Hey! Is this a fetish!?" Rastel was perplexed!
A bit later, Roxanne was done with her maintenance and the group left the smithy. The five of them stood at the entrance with Rastel and Roxanne on one side, then Baluu, Vars, and Myra on the other.
"Well, see you guys later. We should all be back before sundown?" Rastel said as he looked at the sun that was just reaching the middle of the sky.
"Of course, we will keep Myra safe." Baluu nodded.
Myra jumped up and clutched his thick neck and positioned herself firmly on his back to get a piggyback ride.
"Mister Baluu will keep me safe! But you are not Hero though." She added the last part quietly.
Baluu just laughed and turned around.
As they were splitting off, Vars was looking at Rastel sneakily but he got caught. When Rastel noticed it, he realized that the matter was definitely still on Vars' mind, he had only pretended earlier.
Thinking he was a bit too brash earlier, he went close to Vars and whispered to him.
"I am a very lazy person you see, and complicated things easily bore me out. If you want to tell me something, you should be shameless and tell me directly." He told him with a knowing glance before walking off to join Roxanne who was already walking off while putting a grey wide-brimmed hat on her head.
Vars looked at Rastel's retreating figure with a bit of thought but there was also a bit of relief under. He didn't stand around though and followed the enthusiastic Baluu and Myra who had already started their tour.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
In a small house located in the commercial district of Eadon, a small meeting was taking place. The members were beings of different races and they surrounded a large table at their center.
The huge forms of a tiger beastman and bull beastman stood at the head of the gathering. The form of the tiger beastman was obvious but his face was hidden under a wide hood and it was the bull beastman that was doing all the talking.
"There might be other teams aiming at the target also we should be vigilant. The presence of Helia and Baldur in Eadon has already been confirmed." The bull beastman had a deep bass to his voice.
"Helia? Helia from blue leaf?"
"How did blue leaf know about this before we did?"
"I don't know if we have anyone apart from the guild leader who can handle Baldur 1v1."
Voices of concern were raised from the members when they heard the names of the two people.
"Quiet!" The bull beastman slapped the table and it buckled under his strength.
Everyone shut their mouths immediately and he snorted in satisfaction.
"Their presence might not necessarily be a bad thing. Sleeping beauty is reportedly moving together with the gunslinger, Roxanne."
"One-hit One kill!?" somebody shouted in fear.
The mention of Roxanne's name brought about another wave of concerned murmurs but they quickly quieted down under the bullman's glare.
"If we can play the timing right, we can have them engage with Helia and Baldur first before swooping in for the kill. Remember that our objective is just to kidnap Sleeping beauty, once we have done that, we will retreat with all haste towards Eadon. They can't attack us there no matter what." The bullman said with finality.
Although he made it sound like there were no problems, the members of the meeting still showed concerned expressions.
The bullman glanced at the tigerman that stood beside him and the tigerman acknowledged the glance before stepping forward, taking off his hood in the process.
"Ah! It is Redbone!" a voice exclaimed and the crowd suddenly seemed excited.
The face of the large tigerman with orange fur and black stripes appeared with a smile, his charismatic eyes hiding deep scheming within.