I was following the lady for what seemed to be the last time, fondling my new, yellow card… Or I guess it is more appropriate to call it a plaque. It only has my name on it. I wonder how long it will be before this world develops some more restrictive identification. If they do, I feel like it would be a heap of trouble.

“Uhm, mister Yian, are you free this evening?” She asks me. It gives me a little whiplash, as it sounds like she is going to invite me to a date.

“uhhhh…” I brick a little on the response.

“You see, I have a daughter that is about to come of age and would love to introduce her.” What is this? Am I now cursed to be accosted by people who have unwed daughters for eternity? I quickly wrack my brain to come up with an excuse.

“Ah, I already have promised one girl I’d marry her, and I think that is plenty.” Yasia is useful for the first time since we left… Though I immediately felt guilty for thinking so.

“Surely a talented young man like you will find the time and money to easily sustain more wives…” She almost complains at me.

“I am sorry, but I will decline.” I say. I hear a ‘hmph’ emitted by her, but she stops talking about it.

As I am guided back to where Kassa and Patir sit, I flash my yellow card to them. Kassa seems distracted and Patir looks like he expected it all along and just nods. Seriously, a little praise would be nice though.

“Then, allow me to escort the last mem… ah?” As she started talking, Kassa rose and maybe the lady saw something that surprised her. Did she catch Kassa’s identity?

“This person is incredibly important to me.” I try to eliminate any problems before they arise, and put on a slightly threatening voice.

“Ah, yes, I understand. Please, follow me.” She directs at Kassa and Kassa complies. The two people leave for the door leading to the back.

“So, runner?” Patir asks. “I feel like there’s a story behind that, care to tell me?”

“I just really like running.” I said, not wanting to figure out another lie. Patir simply nods but looks a little skeptical.

“What name do you think Kassa is going to choose?” Patir then asks. It shocked me a little, that question, and I realized how much I would like for her to choose my name. The lady would recommend the father’s name or profession, and I thought it gave me a warm feeling, as I imagined her recognizing me as her father. I tried to dampen the thought, realizing she has a real father she lived much longer with.

Kassa almost never talks about her past, but what little I have gathered from her indicates that it was harsh. She is normally bright and cheerful, but a few times I have come across her sniffling or crying out for her parents in her sleep. I hope she will be at peace with it someday.

“Should we start looking for requests?” I ask Patir. That fight, though one-sided, did allow me to let loose a little and I felt like moving my body.

“Better not. We left Yasia at the inn, and I don’t know how long I am comfortable leaving a young girl like her alone.”

And only a few moments after I had been happy for her existence, she is causing trouble again. I feel like I am starting to have less pity for her, as I did when she first took herself hostage, and begin to curse a little how cowardly an act it was.

“Right…” But I feel like I can’t be too mad. It was my own fault, letting her believe we were going to marry for so long. If only past me had put his foot down, but that guy always seems to make terrible decisions.

Patir and I spend time chatting, but we also hear some rumour flying about. People are apparently coming back early from the dungeon. There are strangely few monsters, it seems.

Patir whispers to me “Is this somehow your doing?” I am confused. He catches that.

“Look, first no monsters attack the village when you are there. Then, we encounter no monsters on our travels and now monsters are waning as soon as we arrive in the city. Can’t be a coincidence.”

His logic makes sense, but I know it isn’t true. I have delved into many a dungeon without affecting the rate of monsters appearing. At the dungeon I cleared with Ahorn, monsters were reappearing just fine. Heck, now that I think about it, prior to that, monsters were appearing for me too. What could have changed after that?

A plausibly culprit suddenly appears in my head. Is Dixy responsible? I don’t know how that would work, but I will try to take Dixy outside the city tonight. Then I will come back into the city without her a while before the morning reset comes, and see if the dungeon is still affected. It leaves me having to leave Dixy on her own, but it will hopefully only be for a short while.

Eventually, Kassa returns. She is smiling and looking cheerful again, guess they treated her right. She proudly flashes the blue tag hanging around her neck. It has the two lines indicating 2nd rank. My eyes move to the name on the plaque.

It reads: “Kasa Free”. At first, I thought her name was misspelled, but thinking about it, I can’t actually think of a symbol that would match her name. Guess there are some issues with this weird way of writing.

I am a bit disappointed that it wasn’t inspired by me, but after asking her, she explains her reasoning, suddenly switching back to a solemn mood.

“I thought to make it my father’s name, but I felt like that would leave everyone else out. My mother and the rest would be forgotten. So I instead wanted just Sylvester, but I thought it was a bad idea, given this whole thing.” She gestures to her outfit, that hides her nature.

“So instead, I went with what we should have been all along. If we were free, that fate would never had fallen on them.” I put my hand on top of the hood and pet her a little, thought it feels weird with the cloth in the way.

I feel a little guilty for wanting my own name taken, after she explained such a lofty reason, but at the same time, I feel a bit of pride. We head back towards the inn and Yasia.