๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ, she thinks, looking down at the black cape on her bed.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ?
"Well" she says, grabbing the cape, hugging it and squealing.
"I'm not gonna punch a gift horse in the mouth."
๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ.
"I also have goals of my own for this kingdom. So between all of these things, I'm gonna have to work my ass off to keep up with everyone else."
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ.
Her mind buzzes at the idea of how she'll fit into this world, the people she'll help, or those she'll possibly traumatize. A mental list of the latter already forming.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
She tries to sleep but sleep doesn't come as her mind is restless.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, she thinks...๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ? ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด?!
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ!
"Oh!" She perks up. "I can just ask Gordon, his room's next to me after all!"
She thought about getting up and asking him, but remembered that he spent most of the evening yesterday carrying her back to the base and using his mana for most of that time.
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
"Hmm" she hums in wonder "What should I do in the meantime?"
๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต..
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ.
She spends the next few minutes planning her workout routine.
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐บ main ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ.
She thinks for a while longer.
๐๐ฌ! ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ.
3 sets of :
70 calf raises
60 lunges (each leg)
20 pushups (on my knees to start)
15 bench dips
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ 30 ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ.
"Now to start."
She begins with the calf raises, and perhaps wonders if she bit off more than she could chew by the way her calves are screaming mercy on the 70th rep.
She doesn't know how she does it but she ends up finishing all of her sets.
However by that time she's wheezing so hard that Gordon comes knocking on the door to make sure she's ok.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
It is now morning at the Black Bulls Base.
Nalรฉ is currently having the time of her life soaking in the warm water in the black bulls bath.
"Hah" she sighs, leaning back into the steaming water.
It's nice to properly get clean after everything that happened yesterday.
One may be wondering whether she spent the entirety of yesterday in a bloody suit.
No. She ended up getting clean, and she borrowed some of Yami's clothes (which he begrudgingly lended).
Also, thanks to him, she's already accumulating debt.
He told her that the more she kept his clothes, the more money he'd take out of her paycheck.
She reckons that this is a scheme he's created to get some extra money for gambling but doesn't dare utter this thought out loud, less he increases the amount.
After the bath, she heads to her room and folds Yami's freshly washed clothes, so that she can quickly return it.
"I'm not trying to be broke", she mutters. "Yami has a gambling problem."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Gordon!" "Are you awake?"
The door opens to Gordon already clothed in his full getup.
"Good morning" He whispers "Slept well?"
"Yea, I slept well! Yami made me a bull, isn't that awesome?"
"It is," he says, smiling.
" Why are you wearing that?" He gestures at her towel clad body.
"Oh yeaโฆWould you happen to have a few shirts and stretchy pants I can borrow for a bit?"
"I don't have any money so I can't go shopping, I can't buy any clothes. And Yami is threatening to take my money if I keep his clothes for too long. Everyone else is smaller than me so their clothes wouldn't fit me."
"Oh."
" I have these two," he says, taking out a black shirt and black pants out of his closet.
"Thank you! I'll be sure to make it up to you. Bye!"
She sprints back to her bedroom, eager to return the other borrowed clothes to their rightful place.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
After returning Yami's clothes, she celebrates by zooming down the stairs and to the cafeteria , eager to meet everyone else.
"Hello! La! I'm charmy. La," says a tiny human sitting on the seat closest to the kitchen with a mountain of food piled in front of her.
"Hi there!" squeals Nalรฉ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ!
"Want some?" Charmy says pointing to her food.
"Yes!" "Thank you"
Nalรฉ grabs a seat next to Charmy, and starts feasting as well.
The only sounds in the cafeteria for a while are just munching , until the older woman asks.
"Where's everyone else?"
"Well, they're probably sleeping in."
"Oh I see."
"I'll be taking my leave now. The food was glorious! Thank you Charmy!"
"No problem La!"
"Say, can you tell me where the library is?"
"I need to go there in order to do research for my mission."
"Sure! Today it's down that corridor to the left of the cafeteria."
She thanks Charmy once again, internally squealing from her cuteness, and leaves her to her eating spree.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
After finding the library Nalรฉ decides to take a couple books back to her room for the week.
As she scans the pages of the first book, she finds exactly what she needs to cure Yami of his constipation.
๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐๐ ๐พ๐ ๐ถ ๐ป๐พ๐ท๐๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐๐๐๐น๐ ๐๐ป ๐ซ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ถ. ๐ผ๐ ๐พ๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐น ๐พ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐พ๐๐ ๐๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐พ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐พ๐, ๐ต๐๐พ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐๐น ๐๐ฝ๐๐ป๐น๐ถ๐๐. ๐ฏ๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐น ๐๐๐ถ๐ ๐ธ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐๐ , ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ป ๐ท๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ ๐๐๐๐๐.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฑ , ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต.
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ , ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ , ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ.
She reads on, tracing the words with her fingers.
"Oh!" She exclaims. "This one looks interesting."
"Sea Buckthorn can be found in semi-arid regions and near the sea. It is used to make medicine properly when the berries are crushed and filtered to make oil."
It helps with indigestion, and high blood pressure. Found in the common realm in the towns of Idiginia, Clasburn, Icoham and Sine. It's berries are orange in color and usually stand out from the surrounding foliage.
"I feel like a scientist!" She whispers clenching her hands in excitement and flailing around.
"Operation cure Yami's ass has officially commenced, ladies and gentlemen," she announces mimicking a news anchor.
She writes down her findings and decides to go looking for the other members of the black bulls. It isn't until a few minutes later that she finds someone she had yet encountered before.
"Um, hello there, I'm the new member. It's nice meeting you?"
Nalรฉ stands awkwardly in front of the underwear clad pink haired woman slumped on the couch.
The woman on the couch slowly opens her eyes, gritting her teeth in annoyance at the sunlight and looks at the one who's disturbed her peace.
"Ugh, it's morning already?" She groans throat dry.
"It is." Nalรฉ responds , handing her a glass of water.
"Thank you." She says in appreciation quickly gulping down the liquid that soothes her throat.
"Hah" she sighs in relief as she sinks down on the couch even more.
Now that she feels better she gets to have a better look at the new recruit.
Round brown eyes stare back at her as she contemplates. "How long are we going to stare at each other like this?"
The pink haired woman shakes her head and smiles in apology. "Sorry about that, I got distracted."
She suddenly stands up and reaches out her hand "I'm Vanessa, it's nice to meet you Nalรฉ."
Nalรฉ grabs at the outreached hand softly. "Likewise."
And they made out until the sun went down.
๐๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต ๐๐ข๐ญรฉ! ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ!
"I have some questions about the base. I'm going on my first mission tomorrow, and I'd like to be prepared. Would you happen to have the time to answer them right now? "
Vanessa plops herself back down on the couch and pats the seat next to her.
"Please, ask away."
____________________________________________________________________________________________
It is late evening by the time Nalรฉ finishes her scavenger hunt around the Black bulls base.
She ends up with these items:
A Map of the clover kingdom, A map of the black bulls base, 2 long knives as her weapons, Gauche's contempt, and a backpack full of supplies and food for her trek in the woods., as well as a special welcoming gift from Vanessa.
"All good finds, " says Nalรฉ as she pats her backpack in contentment.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Since she is rather new to this whole world, she's decided to ask someone to go with her on her first mission.
She didn't want to ask Yami, as he'd probably find a way to con her out of her money for his gambling.
Luck was a no go, since he tended to be too violent and she didn't have magic , nor could she fight well.
Tired of going through all the possibilities of partnering up with the other member, she decided to follow through with Gordon. She had promised herself to get to know him more, and this would be a good opportunity to do so, so she took the opportunity.
She visits Gordon once again, knocking on his door.
The door opens rather quickly.
"I'm here, he whispers
"I was wondering if you wanted to-Yes," he whispers, enthusiastically cutting her off.
She stares up at him , flabbergasted.
"You don't even know what I was gonna ask."
"Whatever it is , it's fine." He murmurs quickly.
๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ, he thinks.
"Um, rightโฆWanna come over to my room to plan out for my mission tomorrow?"
"Uh-huh" he nods.
"Be sure to bring a pen and paper, we have a lot of planning to do. My door's open, please do join me when you're ready" she says as she goes back to her room, leaving her door ajar.
Gordon stares at her door for a bit before jumping out of his daze. He gets what he needs from his room before heading to hers.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Nalรฉ looks up at the tall man who appears to be nervous entering her room.
She smiles, patting the space next to her on the floor. "Come here friend."
Gordon stalls, but only for a second, before sitting down next to her.
Nalรฉ unrolls the map of the clover kingdom.
"So, these are the two places we'll be going."
"This one" she says pointing to Ansstin, "is only about an hour's walk away, so you don't have to waste your mana going there. That should take us less than a day to complete."
"Do you think we should come back to the base to drop off the things we collect during that time , or is it better to go to the 2nd location right away?" She says turning to face Gordon.
"It's better to come back to the base and then rest before going out a second time. We can restock on storage, and supplies before leaving again." He murmurs, rubbing his chin.
"Good idea. We'll do that then. Onto the second location."
The two plan for the rest of the day, eventually falling asleep where they sat.
By their side lay two containers of food, no doubt put there by a certain tiny member of the black Bulls.
They had been so focused on the mission that they missed dinner time.