The banquet had started, nighttime was about to start, and, as it’s usual with any dinner between friends, a conversation started.

“So where are you from, Rick?”

“Um… I… This will sound weird, but I don’t have any memories at all! I just woke up a couple of hours ago, and I don’t know anything before that…”

“What? How is that possible!? Maybe you hurt your heard or something?”

Rick didn’t know whether to tell Shila of everything. Chumina, his abilities, and his belief that he was not of this world, all those topics could prove too controversial for a first conversation. Besides, he hadn’t seen an “Ally” screen that mentioned Shila, so he even pondered if she was an ally, maybe she just didn’t feel like she could fully trust Rick, and that’s why the screen had yet not appeared, all those were questions to which Rick had no answers. To continue the conversation Rick asked Shila about something she had mentioned before.

“You mentioned something called Mara… Mara-something?”

“You mean Maratrustra. Yes, I’m a mage of the school of Maratrustra, and as such I’m on a pilgrimage to achieve Maratrustra!”

“And what exactly is Maratrustra?”

“It’s a difficult concept to define,” Shila put her index finger to her mouth, something she would often do when asked a difficult question, “But long ago there was a man called Maratrustra, and he traveled far and wide, and in his travels, he gained true enlightenment…”

“So you are following Maratrustra’s steps? Are you visiting every place he went to?”

“That would be an impossible task for me, I think…”

“Why is that? Are beasts too strong in other parts of the world? I could help you, you know! Not that I’m strong enough… But maybe if I train I can get stronger!” Rick looked at the vast sky above him, “After all, it’s not like I have a place to return to, or at least not one I can remember…”

Shila accompanied Rick in his stargazing, and so did Benttotopotzki after filling his tiny stomach, “I appreciate your offer, Rick. The problem is not necessarily the strong beasts scattered throughout the world, the problem is our kind.”

“What do you mean… Our kind?”

“You really must have lost all your memories, there’s no way you wouldn’t know this otherwise,” Shila moved her index finger out of her mouth and made a small gesture to create a small illusion that could be seen by anyone near there. At first some particles started shining bright, those same particles started drawing something, it looked like a map, though it was not very well drawn.

“Is this a map or something…?” Rick asked a genuine question due to the map’s poor cartography.

“Pardon me for not being a good drawer, won’t you?” Shila said as she gently stretched Rick’s cheeks, “I know it doesn’t look exactly like a professional map, but you can see the divisions anyway, right?”

“Yes, I can see that there are like…” Rick started counting, using his fingers to count the different territory divisions in the map, “Four… Five… Six…”

Shila smiled while looking at Rick counting the divided territories in the map that was projected thanks to her magic.

“There are too many to count.” The girl sighed. “As the world is now, it’s not possible for me to travel to every sacred place I would like to… Ironically, when The Evil Lord was in control of the world… Maybe it’s just me, but I think everything was a bit more peaceful...”

“The Evil Lord…?” Rick asked, curious about the ominously named figure.

“Oh, yeah… I forgot you don’t remember anything! Well, it was the Lord of Demons, but he is no more. He was defeated a long time ago, not that I know much…” The girl changed the projected image to that of an old man that looked like he had lived a long life. “That’s my Master, and everything I told you is hearsay I heard from him… Not much is known about The Evil Lord, but it must have been a disciple of Maratrustra that ended the Evil Lord’s days!”

“Umm…” Rick wasn’t exactly convinced, “You sound like you don’t even know if that Evil Lord existed or not!”

“Of course he existed! It’s common knowledge! And that’s why I said that at least when he was around it felt more peaceful! After his death the monsters that were under his command scattered through the world, and you’d think that would have started a peaceful era, but it was the opposite!”

“Why? What happened?”

“To make a long story short, the same people that had united to stand against the forces of evil started fighting against each other for pieces of land! This state of turmoil has been like this for as long as I remember.”

“I see… I guess the one thing that made them stick together, their one objective, was killing the Evil Lord, and once they did… Well, I guess greed can be deadly.”

Shila moved her hand a bit and projected the map she had shown Rick previously.

“My Master’s command was for me to achieve at least a fraction of Maratrustra’s enlightenment. I’m on a journey in which I’m to achieve some level of awareness of my place in the universe.” Shila looked at the divided map. “And even though I am unable to go to every place Maratrustra visited due to all the wars that are taking place… I am to visit three sacred places that Maratrustra visited. That’s the least I could do in my pursuit of enlightenment!”

Just after Shila had finished her speech she blushed as she realized she had overreacted . Rick just looked at Shila kind of confused, he didn’t say a thing for what seemed like an eternity. They both looked at each other and then started eating, meanwhile, Benttotopotzki was already having its third serving of the night.

“Well, I mean… That Maratrustra pilgrimage of yours sounds interesting!” Rick was not particularly religious, at least he felt no attachment to the ways of Maratrustra, but also wanted to keep the conversation going. “So, is there any other religion around here or…?”

“There are certain other… Heretics devoted to false gods, I’m sure… I don’t see the point in wasting our time talking about them, though!”

And then there was silence, once more, but after taking a bite Rick and Shila continued their conversation, it was mostly about Maratrustra and telling some common knowledge to Rick, the more Maratrustra-related, the better. It seemed that, as long as the conversation was related to Maratrustra, Shila was willing to keep the conversation going. To Rick this wasn’t an engaging topic, but he could not find any other angle for the conversation to continue and Shila, whenever possible, tried to return the talk to that of her faith.

Shila reeaaaaallllyyyy likes to talk about that Maratrustra dude, right?

But worry not! All that chitter chatter seems to have made you two develop some sort of bond. At the very least you two are no longer strangers, and now have a topic in common! And that means that…

Shila has become your ally!

[Ally Rank: C-]

(Just remember that anything not related to Maratrustra might not be of interest to her… But I think you already know that!)

Rick was not even surprised anymore, he had gotten used to them by now and just dismissed it after giving it a read.

They were not close to finishing the enormous piece of mauloo meat, even after having a second service. It was getting late, and just as Shila was about to end the conversation, something that would have pleased Rick tremendously, she felt something. It was a trespasser. No, not one. There were at least three beings that had entered the range of her Vigilant Aura spell. And they were fast, very fast, before Shila had finished her thought process they were in an alarmingly close range.

“Rick, we have to go! Also, tell that pochie-!” Screamed Shila while she started running with all her strength.

Shila had not finished giving Rick the instructions to translate, but Benttotopotzki instinctively knew there was danger lurking and had already started his evasive maneuver, the one thing he was good at, or at least decent, running.

Rick took a little bit more time to react, if Shila and Benttotopotzki had done it instantly, then Rick’s reaction had been very slow. This seemed to be a life or death situation, and if it was, Rick definitively was the weakest link, perhaps not physically, that would be Benttotopotzki, but in every other sense.

Shila couldn’t see how strong something is, like Rick, but she could feel that the group approaching them at great speed had murderous intent and that they were fairly strong, that suspicion became evident when the chasers revealed themselves, three huge mauloos emerged from the woods behind them and continued viciously hunting for their prey.