“We should go our separate ways,” says the beast.

“But why?” questions Kepa Ying. She had abandoned her home and run for literal hours to follow this immortal, and the moment they reached a decently sized town he wanted to abandon her? That kind of treatment wasn’t exactly rare, but no one ever thought that such a thing would happen to them.

“More effective exploration. Two directions explore twice as much.”

Oh. Maybe she was just tired. Well, she was already angry enough from everything that had happened tonight, and the fact that it wasn’t tonight anymore, so she was going to take off and do something. Probably sleep actually.

First there were a few places to check for interesting things. She had to look in the weapon shop to see if there were any staves to compare with the beast’s, the medicine shop to see if she could ‘borrow’ a pill to restore stamina or stave off the need for sleep, and the card shop because they were shiny. Only then could she try and find a place to sleep.

Now that she thought of it, maybe she didn’t need to put any actual effort into this.

“Show me the weapons,” she commands the helmet. It obliges with a yellow line flowing forward through an alley to the side of a building. That was convenient. Unquestioningly, she followed the path into the secluded darkness.

“Well what have we here?” comes a voice from the side of the passage.

“Looks like a little lost brat with more treasures than sense,” replies another darkened figure.

Kepa Ying looks at the line again, and it’s pointing toward the blades hanging at each of their hips, as well as a path headed back behind her. She turns, and a man twice her size is blocking the way out.

“...,” he doesn’t say, simply looming ominously.

“Do you know who I am?” Kepa Ying bluffs, doing her best impression of a noble.

“No,” replies the first voice, “do you know who we are?”

“No?” she questions, not sure where this was going.

“Then we don’t have a problem. Take that demonic helmet and gauntlet, someone that young wouldn’t be able to handle the bloodlust anyway.”