The entire L.F.T.O group sat at the table eating breakfast in the dining room.

Bromy was eating cereal, he looked the most tired.

JohnWillStab was eating toast.

“So yeah, Glumington officially joined the jGuardian alliance,” John said excitedly.

“Finally… it’s been like… three volumes…” Bromy sighed.

“Now, now, Rome was not constructed within one day!” Bonifacius exclaimed, he was eating an omelette.

“Most importantly…” John began.

“Curstl said she would look into the uniform matter for us…” John finally said.

Bromy’s exhaustion seemingly melted away as different kinds of uniforms went through his mind.

“We’ve gotten a few blueprints already…” JohnWillStab said reaching into his pocket and pulling out three images.

“Hmm…” Alex looked at the pictures feeling almost nostalgic.

“I’ll be rooting for miniskirts for the both of us, Jordan!” Alex thought, looking up.

Thal breathed a sigh as he heard the words Alex thought.

All three designs looked pretty normal.

“These all look awful…” Crown remarked.

“No, they don’t!” John and Bromy exclaimed in unison.

Crown looked at them in confusion.

Alex shook his head.

“They’re alright I guess…”

Alex cleared his throat.

“But hear me out…” he began.

“Miniskirts!”

The room went quiet as JohnWillStab slammed down on the table.

“I REFUSE!”

“NOT FOR YOU DUMBASS!” Alex replied.

“I would not typically consider miniskirts to be battle attire…” Bonifacius replied.

“They did it on TV!” Alex complained.

Bromy stood up, visibly upset.

“I ALSO REFUSE TO WEAR A MINISKIRT!” he exclaimed.

“Hey, man… you’re free to wear whatever you want, but don’t drag us into it!” John said placing his hands on his hips as he shook his head.

“Exactly!” Bromy agreed.

“Where would we even get miniskirts in a fantasy world?” Revenberry questioned.

“Don’t even entertain his ideas…” Thal advised.

“Et tu, Thal?!” Alex demanded.

“Ita!” Thal replied.

Nobody questioned why or how Thal knew Latin.

“Ceasaaaar!” Bromy announced, again, nobody laughed at his reference.

“…”

“I dunno, seeing John try to act all serious in a miniskirt could be kind of funny…” the Thief remarked.

“It would not!” John exclaimed.

“It would be funny… but you know what wouldn’t be funny?! Seeing Bonifacius wearing a miniskirt!” Bromy finally exclaimed.

The whole table went quiet.

“I’m sorry Jordan, he has a pretty solid point…” Alex thought breathing a sigh.

“I withdraw from the uniform selection…” Alex exclaimed.

He stood up from the table and dramatically run up the stair.

“A-Alex?! Where are you going!?” Revenberry asked.

“I MUST MOURN!” he yelled in response before everyone heard his door shut close.

A few seconds of silence passed as the people present in the dining room ate their breakfasts.

“Perhaps we could arrange for a miniskirt for Alexander if he truly wants one?” Bonifacius asked.

“…”

“I don’t think that’s what he wanted, Bony…” Crown replied wryly.

They finished their meals and got up from the table.

“Right, guess I’ll head out!” John exclaimed before taking a step towards the door.

“Where are you heading?” asked the Thief.

“Just going to train a bit,” John replied glancing down at his stats.

Dexterity: 47 + 2(Gloves)

Perception: 45

Stamina: 47 + 4(Boots)

Athletics: 67

Strength: 56 + 1(Gloves)

Weapon skill: 51 + 5(Hand Hooks)

Magic: 18

Intelligence: 24

Luck: 33 + 1(Ring)

Charisma: 5 + 45(Tits)

As soon as he stepped outside, he was met with Llime, the rabbit-frog working for the jGuardians.

“Hello, John… Curstl as a new quest for your guild…” she announced.

“Again…?” John thought, not understanding the concept of a job.

“Alright, what is it?” He asked gesturing for Llime to enter their base.

Llime walked into the dining room and approached the table, once there, she opened up a previously rolled-up map and pointed to the marked region.

“The Lost Coat, a small, coastal zone on the east of Arlepia…”

“A suspicious white fog started popping up recently, people who go into it never return…” she explained.

“Fog?” Bromy thought.

“Wasn’t that where we found the weird cloud-looking ships?” Revenberry asked.

“It is…” Bromy nodded.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” he thought.

Llime crossed her arms.

“You’re meant to go into the mist, kill whatever is in there and return to pick up your payment…” Llime explained.

“Wait, we’re getting paid?!” The group asked in unison.

“…yeah…” Llime nodded uncertainly.

“Considering the threat, Curstl recommended you all go as one group…” she added.

“I guess that’s a good idea…” John remarked.

“Alright… well, if you don’t mind, I’ll get going…” Llime said disappearing with a puff of white smoke.

“The smoke smells like pineapple…” Bromy thought.

JohnWillStab looked at the group, “Alright, guess we should call Pedecree for a lift…” John remarked seeing that it was still early morning.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll just shining-step everyone there!” the Thief explained.

“I dunno… I mean you don’t have infinite stamina and we’ll probably be fighting some sort of monsters…” John remarked.

Bromy nodded.

“Mm, if you get hit by a any of the fog-zombies they’ll control you with their stand!” Bromy explained jokingly.

JohnWillStab felt a chill run down his spine.

“Fuck that, I’m not going!” John exclaimed.

“It was a reference… you never cease to disappoint me, John…” Bromy shook his head.

JohnWillStab breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, according to the tales of that zone, a race called the fog-kin once inhabited those lands! Perhaps they returned!” Bonifacius explained.

“Mm…” Bromy nodded.

“F-Fog-king?” John asked,

“I didn’t finish all the quests there, but didn’t they go extinct?” Revenberry asked.

“We even saw the empty ship!” she added.

“Indeed, they have… perhaps they are mist zombies!” Bonifacius exclaimed.

JohnWillStab felt a shiver run down his spine.

“I hate scary shit in the fog…”

The Thief looked over to John and smiled knowingly.

A few years earlier, On John’s twentieth birthday...

JohnWillStab sat in his living room.

A small cake, as well as a bottle of lemon-flavoured liqueur, stood on the table.

“Trust me, it’s not that bad!” the Thief exclaimed walking up to the TV.

“I dunno… I’m not a fan of horror movies…” John replied.

She switched the TV on and placed a disk into the small box below it.

Moments later the screen went white as from what was now revealed to be white mist appeared words.

“The Fog…”

“By Steffan King…”

“A-a-are you sure this isn’t that bad? Because Steffan King is kind of a famous horror writer…” John remarked gesturing to the screen.

“I’m sure, I’m sure!” she assured John.

“Besides, I’m two years younger, right? So, I should be scared more easily! And I’m telling you it’s not scary! So, quit being a baby!” she exclaimed walking over to the couch John sat on and sitting down beside him.

They watched the movie carefully.

“Oh no, a storm wrecked my boathouse…” the character exclaimed.

In the distance, over the mountains, a massive wave of white fog slowly moved towards his town.

“Oh look! It’s just fog! Let’s go, my son, we have to go shopping!”

“THAT’S THE FOG!” John exclaimed.

“Y-yeah…” the Thief nodded.

A few minutes later.

“Oh no! We’re stuck in this adult toy store with a bunch of strangers because the fog is outside!”

Another character walked up to the door.

“I will go out into the fog…”

“DON’T DO IT!” John cried.

The Thief watched John uncertainly.

The character walked out into the fog and got eaten by a giant spider-like creature.

“NO!” John exclaimed.

“Dude… It’s a movie…” the Thief reminded him.

“Y-yeah… you’re right…” John was breathing heavily.

Later that night. JohnWillStab woke up, hearing a knock on his door.

He got out of bed and walked up to it.

“W-who is it?” he asked.

No reply.

Suddenly he heard the sound of his lock being picked.

“…I even offered her a spare key…” John thought walking back as he saw the white mist slowly moving in from under the door.

John’s heart practically stopped as the door flung open revealing a wave of mist.

JohnWillStab let out a terrified shriek into the night as the fog fell down revealing the Thief, barely able to contain her laugh as she stood there with a fog machine.

And so, JohnWillStab’s only irrational fear aside from salt deprivation was burned into his mind.