A loud thud echoed through the room where the girls will be staying. Serene was the first one to enter the room, like everyone else, she too expected for a poorly maintained room. But what welcomes her is a very neat, and polished room with almost unused quilts and pillows. It is luxurious.
Each of them will be having their own bed as well.
She gasped loudly and the others forced themselves to squeeze in between her, they had the same reaction as Serene.
"Wow," their eyes glistened as they admired the beauty of their room.
"LANCE!" Serene shouted and pulled herself to free herself from being sandwich to Lithea and Thenea.
Lance was about to close the door when she shouted; he waited for her and stopped midway.
"What is it?"
"Have you seen the room?"
"I have," he tilted his head, "what of it?"
"Geez," she smacked his head, "why didn't you tell me how beautiful and clean the rooms are?"
He raised a brow, "when have you ever given me the chance to speak?"
"Ah," she bit her lip lightly and looked at the side, "hehe."
He sighed, "Go have your day off."
She whipped her head back to him, "eh?"
"Just make sure all of you are back for dinner."
Serene nodded vigorously and dashed to their room.
Lance scoffed, "I honestly have no idea how to handle that girl."
He closed the door and proceeded to fall on his bed face first. Both Viv and Verin who's in the middle of sharing the pastry Lithea got them looked so confused as their commander groaned and rolled over before snoring.
"What the heck?" Verin muttered.
Viv finished his pastry in one bite and took a bite off Verin's.
"HEY!"
Inside the ladies' room, Serene has been babbling nonstop on what they must do while they're off duty. She wants to visit every pub, look at every store, and spend her coins on unnecessary things. All for her pleasure and satisfaction. She wants to play.
But Thenea who grew up in an overly protected household, and Lithea who only knew about reality through Master Chi's stories and warnings, didn't want to.
Thenea poked Lithea's cheek to get her attention and to stop her from listening to Serene's plan.
"Let's go shop at any boutique, and of course, let's try this village's delicacy. We must try everything and take note of what we like for next time. Oh, oh, we should—"
Serene's voice is slowly fading away from the two's hearing and the light mage starts revealing her plan to Lithea.
"Say, you want to come with me and check out the village?" she offered, "I'm sure you haven't had any chance to roam around and admire the streets."
Thenea indeed had never experienced such a thing, whenever Master Chi would take her and Mia to their annual shopping, they always went to the same stores and were never allowed to stroll.
She liked Thenea's idea. Besides, she's still not allowed to drink.
"Then we come back here and take a nice hot bath and talk about a lot of things!" Serene threw her hands up, eager to do her plans.
"Let's go do it?" Thenea held Lithea's hand. The priestess nodded and gave her a soft smile.
"Eh?" Serene blinked when the two clearly had their own conversation and wasn't listening to what she had just said. "What?"
"Come on, come on!" Thenea jumped off the bed and walked past Serene, "take care of the things while we're out, Serene!"
Lithea bowed at her a little and joined Thenea as she closed the door behind her.
Serene was too stunned and couldn't react. Once the realization hit her, her mouth fell agape, "EEHHH?!"
She slowly turned to where the door was and tried to steady herself to recover from shock, "YOU TWO!"
Thenea was holding Lithea's arm with both hands and giggled as she tried to push her along the hallway and make sure she won't go back to the room and drag Serene with them.
"Um," Lithea's sweat rolled on her temple.
When the two were finally out of the inn, they took the time to take in the beautiful weather and breathed in the air.
"Are you ready to begin our first stroll?" Thenea wore a determined face and it made Lithea snicker for the first time they've been together.
"You laughed!"
"Who laughed?" Verin said who just arrived.
"Lithea did!" she's too excited from the new member's first laugh. Even though it was stifled, she still considers it a big achievement as she's barely given them any emotion. She remembers how she remained stoic during her first mission, Thenea has been wondering how she did that.
"That seems to be an achievement seeing how reserved she is," he commented as he kept checking if his sword was well sheathed.
"Will you be going out?" Thenea asked him.
"Ah, yes." He turned to Viv and hooked his arm on the smaller guy's neck, "I am dragging him to take a stroll around the market."
"Oh!" Thenea clapped, "we too are to take a stroll."
"Then, let us go."
The four of them started their day by going to a weaponry shop when they noticed how Viv kept checking his knives. As someone who also uses blades, Verin took a closer look at his weapon.
"Hmm," he squints his eyes, carefully observing the metal, "it needs cleaning."
Viv looked at Verin, he seemed confused.
"Have you cleaned them before?"
He softly shook his head.
"Ha," Verin frowned as he stared at Viv's hair, "I didn't know you have a midnight hair."
Viv tilted his head.
"It's such a nice shade of purple."
Verin ruffled the shorter guy's hair, "come on. Let's go to the weaponry first and have them professionally cleaned."
Viv nodded and when Verin turned his back on him and started their wander, he unconsciously touched his hair.
'Midnight?'
The squad went on their way, laughing and enjoying the scenery the village had to offer. It's a high beaming sun, toasting them as they walk and adoring all sorts of delicacies and culture.
No words could describe the feeling of freedom both Thenea and Lithea are experiencing, had they known it would be this fun and exciting, they would have done so a long time ago. But as their upbringing had them tied up with duties and responsibilities, they tend to think for the better goods of not just them, but for the lot.
Thenea groaned, barely holding the shopping bags she had with her, "I want to keep roaming but my feet are sore."
"Then, let us go back to the inn. We can rest before dinner." Verin suggested.
"Okay," the mage cried, "come on Lithea."
The ladies started moving but Verin kept ahold of Viv and did not move an inch, "you two go ahead. We will have to fetch his knives."
Lithea nodded before bowing, "okay."
When the two arrived at the inn, Serene greeted them with eyes blazing, mad at how they left her alone in the room. Not even caring as they drag themselves through the hallway, looking forward for the pleasurable stroll they had in mind. To be accurate, what Thenea had in mind.
"You—"her voice reverberated in every corner of the inn.
"Um," Thenea hid behind Lithea.
"You dare come back with beautiful grins without as much of a remorse for leaving me behind and go on in your stupid stroll," she walked towards them, hair flowing like fire.
They gulped.
"And you did not even bring me something from the stores you have visited?!"
Lithea took a step towards Serene, not showing any hint of fear.
"What?!"
She raised her hand and presented her with a bag full of accessories they found while they're waiting for the guys outside the weaponry shop.
"Is that a bribe?"
"We bought that for you." Thenea giggled nervously.
Serene took the bag and checked its content, she gasped.
A huge emerald colored velvet jewelry box awaits her; her eyes sparkled unwittingly at the sight. Her anger immediately subsided as soon as her vision kissed the beautiful present.
"What is this?" she squealed. But the two did not answer, she took it upon herself to take it out of the bag and open the box.
To her surprise, it wasn't a set of necklace and earrings, but a pair of bedazzled rose brooch.
"A ruby encrusted on a gold rose brooch," her jaw dropped at the sight of the jewelry.
"Lithea found it and showed it to me," Thenea admitted, "we thought it would look good on your gloves."
Serene looked at the two and blinked a couple of times, "ladies."
Lithea and Thenea looked at each other, unsure of what to say with the person in front of them.
The rose mage sniffed, "THANK YOU!"
She bawled her eyes out as she ran towards the two and forced them into a tight hug, "thank you. Thank you!"
That night, the girls went in for a bath. Luckily, as they are the only guests currently vacating the inn, they got the whole tub to themselves. It is nice to indulge in a hot bath after a long day.
But as the girls were enjoying the moment of seeping themselves in the scented water, the guys went in to the other side and also treated themselves with a steamy soak. The peaceful and wonderful time the girls had was immediately ruptured from their loud voices.
The men and women baths were separated by thin wooden walls, and whatever was said on either side of the area can be heard depending on how loud their voices will be.
Serene groaned as she could no longer tolerate the boys destroying the tranquility. She was about to scream for them to shut up when her eyes glanced upon the bosom of the shortest adventurer, Thenea.
"Oohh!"
The two immediately looked at Serene's direction, but when they followed where her eyes were fixed, both of their faces turned bright red.
"Eh?!"
Thenea immediately covered her chest, flustered at Serene's boldness.
"Wow, Thenea I could have never guessed you have such nice breasts!"
The boys on the other side had their eyes opened, they all were frozen on their spot.
'What the hell are they doing in there?' they all thought.
Thenea chuckled nervously and decided to go along with her, after all, it was just them in the bath. Something they should not be embarrassed about as they all are naked together.
"Yours are quite big, Serene."
Serene laughed, "Yes! I am quite proud of them. They're my pride."
Verin shook his head, they didn't know what to do. Their faces are all painted in soft pink.
"Can I touch them?"
Thenea's request had the other side feel so confused, their pink faces had now become red.
"Yes, yes. Go on, don't be shy!"
The boys slowly lowered themselves to the water.
"Waaaaa~" Thenea giggled, she seems to be enjoying what she's doing. "They are so squishy!"
"Right?"
The guys gulped on their saliva and lowered themselves further; bubbles forming on the water as they let out a long sigh through the bath.
Meanwhile, Lithea just closed her eyes, not wanting to join the two. Her brows twitched, the urge to go out and get dressed is growing stronger by the second she's with them.
After the bath, the girls seemed refreshed when the group met at the dining hall while the guys looked drained. With all the fuss made at the other side, they couldn't possibly enjoy their usual bath. They were too busy trying not to listen to their absurd conversation while keeping themselves clean.
"Huh?" Serene stared at their faces, "whatever happened to you guys?"
They all flinched.
"It looks like you've seen a ghost."
Lance sighed deeply, "please," his voice is kind of shaky.
"Let us not speak of this matter furthermore," he pressed his eyes gently.
"What do you think is wrong with them? Serene muttered the question to the girls, they both just shrugged as a response.
"Let us eat," Verin said and called for a waiter to take their order.
Not a moment later, the food arrived and Viv's eyes sparkled for a short while, searching for sweets to stuff in his mouth. But when he found none, he frowned. And this did not go unnoticed to Thenea's eyes.
She poked his forehead and showed him a piece of candy. Viv immediately turned his frown upside down and tried to snatch the small candy from her.
"No," she said firmly, which caused him to sit up straight. "You will not have this, not until you are done with your supper."
He opened his mouth, about to protest. When it comes to his sweets, Viv can be very talkative, just to get it in his mouth. But Thenea already knew about his tactics and so she had to shut him up before he could start.
"You will do as I say."
Viv slouched and frowned, although she wanted to give in to his adorable face, she must not spoil him and give him whatever he wanted. With that being said, the knife user started digging out.
He took a single piece for every dish, and since Thenea wanted him to eat a lot of protein, he took a lot of fish and chicken, devouring everything properly and quickly.
Thenea sighed, "Eat properly."
Viv was in the middle of munching his meat aggressively when Thenea reminded him to do it properly, and so he automatically slowed his pace, sauce dripping down his chin.
The blonde girl stifled a laugh before taking a tissue and wiping his chin.
"Properly."
The other members were left dumbfounded with the mess he made. He looked so innocent while he savored his meal, but on the battlefield, she's as wild as a beast. And the way Thenea takes care of him is unbelievable, a total opposite of how they are with them.
Verin rested his elbow on the table, watching the two.
"What are you," he nodded to Viv, "her kid?"