After a few hours of travelling, they had now arrived at the closest town.

As they rode through the street, Rose was surprised at what she saw. With an extremely medieval like atmosphere, the town was in a very lively state. There seemed to be many activities being undertaken by the townsfolk, from washing clothes, to carting goods, with even the children being involved in such tasks.

Sir Romance looked at Rose. “Welcome to Aoser,” he said.

While they continued to be escorted by the men on horses, several of the townsfolk began to depart from what they were doing and gathered to greet them. Just like the rider had called him earlier, Rose heard them refer to Sir Romance as ‘King’.

The level of admiration they showed him somewhat shocked Rose, as she had never seen anyone greeted with such genuine love from so many people. Where she was from, maybe a few celebrities would get such a warm welcome—but even so—this felt completely different. Rose wondered what kind of King he must be to receive such a unanimous reaction.

They were eventually surrounded by dozens of people excited by his arrival. But soon, the crowd began to whisper as they looked at Rose atop the horse.

“Who is that?”

“I never thought I’d see the King travelling with someone again...”

“I’m so jealous.”

Sir Romance got off his horse and helped Rose down. As the people around continued to talk, he was approached by the other rider who also got down.

“After we found your horse, we guessed something might of happened to your carriage,” he said. “We’ve prepared you a new one, and stocked it with your usual requests.”

“I am more than grateful,” Sir Romance responded, with a slight bow.

As his attention then turned to Rose, he lifted and kissed her hand.

“It was a pleasure meeting you Rose,” he said. “You’ll be in good hands here. But be sure to rid yourself of that coat. It’s best to avoid unnecessary attention.”

Just like the first time, she blushed again. “Y-Yes. Thanks for everything you’ve done for me.”

Sir Romance looked at the rider. “Be sure that she’s taken care of.”

The rider nodded.

“Will I ever see you again?” Rose suddenly asked.

But as Sir Romance was about to answer, it appeared something behind her had caught his attention. Whatever it was, it made him lower Rose’s hand and caused him to walk back to his horse.

“I fear that you will,” he whispered.

He quickly got back onto his horse—which was now attached to the new carriage—and prepared to set off across the snowy road.

A girl—who was clearly out of breath—suddenly emerged from the crowd behind Rose, and then moved her to the side.

“Sir Romance! It’s me, Dahlia!” she yelled. “Has he sent me anything!? Anything at all!?”

But with how loud the crowd was, her voice was being drowned out. Appearing to not hear her, he set off and travelled toward the town’s exit.

As both Rose and the girl watched him leave, the crowd’s enthusiasm suddenly disappeared.

They then dispersed, and did not pay much attention to Rose. The other men on horses rode away too—leaving the area around her mostly empty. The rider who had escorted them to town walked up to Rose and the girl. But his high spirited energy had slowly withered away, and he now bore an exhausted look.

“Dahlia, I’ll leave this girl to you,” he said.

“Why? Who is she?” the girl replied.

“Someone the King helped out.”

He then walked away before she could say anything else.

It wasn’t obvious to Rose at first because of the man’s past enthusiasm, but there were clear heavy bags under his eyes.

With only two of them now standing there, the unknown girl turned to Rose. There was a small window of silence as she stared at her. She passed Rose the same confused look everyone else she’d met had given her.

“Have we met?” she asked.

Rose nervously shook her head, implying no.

There was another window of silence.

“So you rode in with the King?”

Rose nervously nodded.

There was a third window of silence.

“What’s your name?”

“R-Rose...”

The girl squinted as she scanned Rose.

“Okay…Rose. I’m Dahlia. Come. We can talk more at the Inn.”

She then began to walk off, prompting Rose to follow closely behind her.

When they made it to the Inn, there was only a few people inside. Dahlia took Rose to a seat at the counter, where an elderly man who appeared to be the Innkeeper stood. As he cleaned some cups—he looked at Rose—then at Dahlia.

“Who’s this one?” he asked.

“Someone the King helped out,” she said, while taking a seat herself.

The man took a moment to look at Rose. “Seem’s familiar.”

“Maybe she’s come here before,” Dahlia replied.

“Perhaps…well, did you manage to talk to him?” the man asked.

“No, I missed him. Again. And today was my last chance too. I get the feeling he’s been trying to avoid me lately...”

The man then poured a drink into a cup and handed it to Dahlia.

“There just might be a lot on his mind right now,” he said. “The King will eventually come through here again.”

“Yeah, I know. But how long has it been since I’ve received a letter? With those rumours that are going around, I’m worried that something has happened.”

“If anything ever happened to him, I’m sure the King would tell you right away. Protecting the castle might be taking up much of his time, especially since the bandit’s have been moving around a lot more than usual.”

Dahlia looked down. “B-But, it’s just one letter….”

There was a silence. Then, Dahlia drank whatever it was the man had put in her cup.

“How about you?” the man asked, as he faced toward Rose. “What do you drink?”

Rose had just taken off the bandit’s coat she had been wearing and paused for a moment. She didn’t know if he was talking about a normal soft drink or something with alcohol in it. But, the times she had been invited to a club, there was a cheaper drink she always preferred to get.

“Do you have lemonade?” she asked.

“Lemon?” the man said. “Let me check the back.”

As he went into the back room, Dahlia began to twirl her cup around. He then returned with another cup.

“Here. The Yellow Sting we call this.”

Rose took it and had a drink. She immediately shivered from how tangy it was, but still enjoyed the taste.

“That’s why it has sting in it’s name,” Dahlia said.

There was a short silence as she continued to drink.

“So Rose. What town are you from?” Dahlia asked. “Wait, let me guess. Quatim Port right? You definitely feel like a Quatim girl to me.”

“I’m actually not from here,” Rose replied.

Rose proceeded to explain what had happened, and how she had met Sir Romance.

“Really? You don’t remember how you got here?” Dahlia asked. “How’s that even possible?”

“Maybe she hit her head,” the Innkeeper said.

Dahlia began to tap the counter as she pondered. “You said you woke up in a flower field with a large tree right? Did you see a woman there?”

Rose nodded.

Dahlia and the Innkeeper looked at one another. They both then stared at Rose for a moment— eyeing her with a hint of suspicion. Rose began to grow nervous, as she wasn’t sure what the problem was.

“How about we get you something to eat?” the man said, breaking the silence.

“Anything in particular you’d like?” Dahlia asked.

Rose looked around. “Um….I’m not really sure what food you make here.”

“That’s fine. I’ll just make one of my specialities then,” Dahlia replied as she got up. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

As Dahlia went to the back room, the Innkeeper looked at a man sitting and sleeping near a burning fireplace. He grabbed an ice cube from inside a jar nearby and threw it at the man’s head. Right after, the man snapped out of his sleep and grabbed a small lute from the floor. He then began to play some music.

“That should help with the wait,” the Innkeeper said to Rose.

Several minutes later, Dahlia came back out with some food on a plate.

“Here,” Dahlia said. “Let’s see what you think.”

With a fork in hand, Rose took a bite.

“Hmm,” she said, as the taste hit her tongue.

But as she continued to chew with her head down, she became quieter. Dahlia and the Innkeeper looked at each other as Rose fell completely silent.

“Rose?” Dahlia said.

Suddenly, tears started to fall from Rose’s eyes. As each drop landed on her plate, she slowly looked up at Dahlia.

“T-This..is….so..so…nice,” Rose said, as she became increasingly more teary.

The Innkeeper laughed. “Now if that ain’t the most flattering thing I’ve seen and heard. Perhaps this one’s a Woahff girl.”

Dahlia smiled. “Go on, you can have it all.”

Rose nodded and continued to eat.

However—unknown to them—was that she was crying for another reason. To her, if the food tasted that nice, then it most likely meant all of this could not possibly be a dream.

The thought of being stuck in this strange place simply terrified her.

After Rose stopped crying, Dahlia sat. “Since you don’t have anywhere to go, you can stay with me if you want.”

Rose swallowed what was left in her mouth. “Really?”

“Why not. I stay and work here. I’m sure we can find work for you too.”

Rose started to look unsure. “What work would you want me to do?”

“Well, that depends on what you’re good at doesn’t it. Here in Aoser, everyone’s good in at least one field of work. Even the children.”

The Innkeeper approached the counter. “This ‘is’ the town of service after all.”

“Exactly,” Dahlia said. “So if you’re at least good at one thing, we can find you something.”

“Or perhaps you’re a jack of all trades like Dahlia here. She can go from cooking, to cleaning, to crafting or even a little hunting. Not everyone’s able to do that, so you get some more freedom if that’s the case.”

Rose looked at Dahlia. “T-That’s amazing...”

Dahlia shrugged. “There’s plenty I’m bad at too. Let’s see…well I’m not very creative. I’m more on the simple side. And I might be a girl, but I can’t really sing either. The last person who made me try, eventually paid me to stop. Could probably make a small fortune if I sang more.”

The Innkeeper leaned forward. “She’s not so good with people either. Ask her the last time she remembered anyone’s birthday.”

Rose looked at her.

Dahlia blushed. “W-What? Am I really the only one that find’s birthdays pointless!?”

She and the Innkeeper began to discuss among themselves as Rose watched. For Rose, Dahlia having any talents at all made up for whatever she supposedly lacked. Rose wasn’t really good or bad at anything. All she’s wished for was to be really good at at least one thing. She found that even anti social people were really good at, well, being really quiet.

Thinking about this, Rose began to feel a sense of envy. In her mind, she wished she was half as useful as Dahlia was.

“Something wrong?” Dahlia suddenly asked.

Rose snapped back into reality.

“N-Nothing,” she replied.

“….Alright, I’ll take your plate since it looks like you’re done,” Dahlia said.

After picking up the plate, she walked into the backroom. Rose slowly fell back into deep thought as the Innkeeper cleaned around his work space.

Suddenly, the Inn doors opened.

Two men and a woman walked into the Inn, while loudly discussing something.

“Drinks!” one shouted, as they all sat at a table.

The Innkeeper rolled his eye’s. “Where did those idiot guards go…”

He then started to look for some bottles behind him.

“You. Play something less boring,” the woman said, as she looked at the man playing the lute.

They responded with a grumpy look, but started to play a more energetic song. Unaware of what was going on, Rose was still facing the counter in deep thought.

“So. Do you reckon he was telling the truth?”

“I dunno. He looked freaked out for sure.”

“Maybe he ate something he weren’t supposed to in the forest.”

“Well if the chief ends up believing him, I think something will happen soon.”

“Yeah. It’s one thing to hear about that Wondering Knight again. But for him to also see Sir Romance there. Now that’s a big deal.”

Hearing Sir Romance’s name, Rose’s attention abruptly shifted to their conversation. For some reason, her first reaction was to look back at who was talking. It was then she realised they were all dressed just like the bandits that had ambushed their carriage.

She immediately turned round again, and hoped they hadn’t noticed her.

“What’s taking so long with those drinks!?” one shouted.

Rose then began to hear footsteps creeping behind her. She looked down and faced to her right, as she tried to hide her face. The sound of their footstep stopped to her side, and was followed by a silence.

“Who’d you get that coat from?”

The man’s voice was directed at Rose. She then realised that on her lap, was the bandit’s coat she had taken off. Sir Romance had warned her to get rid of it, but she’d forgotten to do so.

Not knowing what to do, she stayed quiet and pretended not to hear him.

He then grabbed her shoulder. “I’m talking to you—”

But as he turned her around, his eye’s widened. He then looked to his two companions.

“T-This girl’s got Baron’s coat!”

“What?” one responded. “You sure?”

“Look!” he said, as he lifted the coat from Rose’s lap.

His two companions stood up and walked toward them. Now, Rose was surrounded by three bandits.

“Where did you get this coat from?” the woman bandit asked.

“I-I…I,” Rose stuttered, but couldn’t say anything out of fear.

“Maybe she knows what happened to them,” another said.

“But who is she?”

“It doesn’t matter. We gotta bring her in to the chief.”

As one of the men reached to grab Rose, their hand was suddenly hit by a pan. When they turned round to see who hit them, Dahlia was to his side. She then hit him in the face with the pan, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Get your hand off her!” she said, pointing the pan down toward him. “You guy’s somehow always show up when the guards aren’t around. It’s annoying.”

She then looked over at the Innkeeper and shook her head, as if to tell him not to get involved. Even so, he appeared to carefully observe the situation.

The woman bandit approached her. “Still upset you’re no longer important?”

When she got close enough, Dahlia swung the pan one more time—but the woman caught it mid air, and then threw it to the ground.

“Stay out of this, the girl is coming with us,” she said.

Dahlia then went to slap her, but the third bandit caught her hand from the side. However, she then delivered a swift kick to his groin. He staggered back in pain, but did not fall to the ground.

“That looked like it hurt,” the woman bandit said, with a slight chuckle.

“You little!” he shouted, as he then approached Dahlia and punched her—causing her to fall to the ground.

“I’m sick of this place! We take the girl now and leave,” he said.

The first bandit hit by the pan stood up from the ground, and they all then approached Rose—who had remained in her seat. But behind the counter, the Innkeeper stepped forward as if he was about to intervene.

However, Dahlia struggled back to her feet.

“I told you not to put your hands on her,” she said.

The Inn door’s then quietly opened, but nobody payed much attention to whoever came in.

As the bandit Dahlia kicked inched closer to her again, Rose could hear footsteps approaching from the entrance. The bandit then raised his fist to attack again, but someone appeared and stood between him and Dahlia.

They were small, with a large bag on their back. Rose recognised them, as they were the first person she saw after waking up.

It was the mysterious masked person, who had been sitting atop the large tree in the flower field.

They walked past Dahlia and the bandit—taking a seat next to Rose. After taking off their bag, they placed it on the ground and against the counter.

There was a brief silence.

Suddenly, the masked person was surrounded by all three bandits.

“You’re real brave walking in here like that,” said the woman bandit.

“Have you forgotten you’re a wanted person?” said the one previously hit in the groin.

“You’re coming with us, along with that girl,” the third one said as he reached for their shoulder.

But the masked person grabbed his hand and twisted it, causing the man to yell out in pain.

“Let him go!” said the bandit woman, who was to their left.

But the masked person—still twisting the man’s hand—used his left hand and punched right toward the woman’s face. The woman closed her eyes and flinched, but when she opened them again, his fist hadn’t reached her and was only a few inches away.

“Ha..Haha. How about you fight us when you grow a litt—”

The masked person suddenly pointed out their two fingers, poking her in the eyes.

“Argghh,” she shouted, as she buckled backwards.

The last bandit suddenly wrapped their arm around the masked persons neck, causing them to let go of the man’s hand they were still twisting.

“Try and get out of thi—”

But the masked person kicked off the counter, and head butted the man behind him using the back of their head. The man crashed onto the floor, and laid still—now unconscious. The masked person stood up and looked at the remaining bandits one by one.

“You’ll pay for this!” both bandit’s said, as they then carried their unconscious companion and left the Inn.

After using their hand to brush of their hooded cloak, the masked person then walked up to Dahlia. They first looked over at Rose, who also looked at them. But without saying anything, they pulled something from under their cloak. Holding a wrapped up piece of paper, they reached their hand forward and offered it to Dahlia.

“A letter? For me?” she said, as she reached for it.

But before she could get it, the masked person quickly pulled their arm back and put their other hand out. They then made a gesture with it, seeming to ask for something.

“We can’t keep paying you just for beating up a couple of bandits here and there,” she said.

But the masked figure didn’t budge. Dahlia sighed and then turned to the Innkeeper who was still behind the counter. He nodded at her, and so she turned back to them.

“You can have a room for tonight,” she said. “And today, the foods on us. Just don’t go over board.”

After a few seconds, they retracted their arm and handed her the letter. They then went to the counter and grabbed their bag. After looking at Rose once more, they walked off and went up some stairs to the side.

Dahlia took a look at the front of the letter. “Huh? This is from…”

Rose sat silently on her seat, still shaken by the dramatic encounter. She squeezed her palms, and couldn’t help but feel useless once again.

First, it was Sir Romance that protected and cared for her. Now, she had gotten Dahlia involved in a fight and even injured. She was even saved by a mysterious person who she didn’t even know. Rose felt like she would only continue to be a burden from this point on, and felt regretful for even being there.

But suddenly, Rose had a strange feeling.

It was then she looked down and noticed something was stuck inside her hair tie. She grabbed her single braided hair and reached into the tie. Rose then pulled out what looked like a small piece of folded paper.

She unfolded it, and saw there was something written inside. It read:

Romance Fundamental

Trial 1 - Take the first step to create the change you desire.