When I return to Demarrer I see Kal and Damien waiting for me at the gates. We depart immediately to the mountain range where we first met. Damien was very carefree and I can hear him humming happily as we traveled… probably because he wasn’t carrying his own bags!

Kalibur was made to carry not only his tower shield, and ridiculously large sword… but his AND Damien's bags! Kal of course was kind enough to offer to hold my things… but everything’s stuffed in my magic bag so I ended up declining. Seriously though… I don’t even know where I would put half of this stuff.

We traveled… at a normal person’s speed and we ended up camping out before we reached the village at the foot of the mountain. Why are they so slow! If I was on my own I’d pass through the village by now. But then again… it’s not like it was much slower than when I was with Erin.

Setting up camp I found out something interesting… That little Imp Damien knows how to cook! Not only can he cook… but his cooking is really tasty! Kal and I ended up eating until our stomachs felt like bursting. I’ve been eating a lot less lately then before and it’s easier for me to get full now. Not having to possibly eat a place out of food to be full is a nice thing.

(Damien) “Uh… I knew you could...eat Kuro but isn’t that a little … much? I’ve seen ”

Hm..? It’s the normal amount I eat… it’s not THAT strange is it?

(Kalibur) “We were told by the Guild Master that you eat a lot… but we did not expect it to be… that much.”

… It’s about how much...they feed me at home though…? Lately I’ve been eating less also, it’s not like I have to eat as much as before. Now that I think about it… I don’t remember being that big of an eater before this…

The subject was quickly dropped, and we spent the next week traveling without any interruptions. That was until we came upon a bridge that went over a river. After we passed the bridge Kal told me it would only be a few days until we reached Lerwick.

At this point we were just making small talk to keep ourselves occupied, it would be nice to have a car or something to drag these slowpokes long though.

(Damien) “So, how’d it go with the Guild Master’s Granddaughter ya sneak? You know marrying into the family won’t get you better quests~.”

Damien just grins as he pokes my cheeks. Was it that apparent? I don’t remember her showing major signs until later…? But before I could reply Kal chimes in on the conversation.

(Kalibur) “I am also curious, the young miss was quite smitten with you.”

Seriously? Even Kal figured it out? And here I thought I was quick to pick up on it… Maybe she dropped some hints while they were traveling together? That has to be it, it’s not like… now that I think about it… She did show signs and I just didn’t notice.

“Uh yea… about that… it was brought up while we were in Reunion…”

(Kalibur and Damien) “A-N-D?”

What are you two? Bored housewifes hungry for gossip!? Why does it even matter to them! Even the way they’re staring at me reminds me of when Mia was younger! Every time I went to pick her up from daycare the mothers of the other kids would always ambush me like this. And they would just ask about all kinds of personal things!

“I turned her down… it wouldn’t work out in the end.”

Damien stops poking my cheeks and starts elbowing me… seriously what’s up with this guy? And Kal, why are you shaking your head like that!? What’s with those judgemental looks? It’s not like I did anything wrong...right? Right!?

(Damien) “Ha? You’re one of those aren’t you… I heard talks about how you’re always hanging around the little girl at your place.”

Wha…? Why do people think I’m a lolicon! I’m not into that kind of stuff, I like my women to be more grown up in various ways… Anyways I’m going to have to set Damien straight before more weird rumors start.

“She’s part of my family Damien. Lilly to me is something like a daughter. U-NDER-STAND!”

I aim to kick Damien in the shins, but he sees it coming and jumps over my kick… slippery little Imp. Of course the entire time he has this grin on his face. Is he just poking fun at me? This guy… really knows how to push your buttons doesn’t he?

What’s… that sound…? As we cross the bridge I can hear this low growling sound…? Curious I stick my head under the bridge to see...a large burly figure, about 7 or 8 feet tall. It’s arms were long and it turned to me as I peeked under the bridge... a troll?

(Troll) “TRESSPASSER!”

Calmly, I pull my head back and turn towards Damien and Kal… I’ll just ignore the fact that I can understand the troll… it might be...trolling me. Don’t trolls usually ask for tolls to pass the bridge… Maybe a roll of cash so it’ll be a T-roll~

“Uh… Guys… there’s a troll… under the bridge and it doesn’t like us on the bridge.”

At that moment the troll jumps onto the bridge and uppercuts me into the river! Oh crap! I… can’t swim! Flying into the air I suddenly plummet into the river with a splash. The current was strong and against my will get carried away by it. Is this how I die, carried away by the a river until I drown!?

Covering my mouth and nose with one hand I squirm around trying to grab onto a rock or log, anything I could find as I get carried off. Each time I would grab a hold of something I would be carried away before I could properly grip it. Damnit! This is bad I don’t know how much longer I can hold my breath for I need to get out air!

Reaching into my bag I pull out my metal chain and loop it into a lasso desperately and try to hook onto a log. Wrapping the other end of the chain on left hand and grab on with my right. With a sudden stop my arm felt like it was about to pop out of it’s socket… until the log went with me! The chain untangles from the log as I pull it up to try to have it slow over me. Barely the log passes me by and I let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment I started to breath in the water after I sighed... Huh? I… can... breath? Wait… How!? … Oh god… no one can hear about this… NO ONE! If anyone found out about this… I would die of embarrassment. Another black mark on my history for no one to find out about.

The fact that my mother… is an Azure Dragon… that lives in water… completely slipped my mind. It makes sense… that I can breath under water… I feel really… really dumb for not figuring that out. I mean how does it even work? I don’t have gills...I think... how does it even work!

Eventually the current slows and I can drag myself out of the river. Now, I need to wring my clothes dry just to be on the safe side. Taking off my cloak I notice something… it’s black...pure black… when I put it on this morning… It was a dark red cloak…

Note to self… THOROUGHLY wash things that come out of a monster's stomach… I mean it didn’t smell… so I assumed a quick wash would be enough… Ugh… never... again…everything get’s scrubbed down at least 3 times!!

After wringing the majority of the water out of my clothes I run along the river to try to meet up with Kal and Damien. It looks like I was carried pretty far down. Maybe they’ll go ahead without me? No… Kal would run after me as soon as he defeated the troll.

Shortly after I can see Kal and Damien’s silhouettes and meet up with them. They sure came quick! After regrouping we continue our our trip until nightfall. That night as usual we camped out and Damien cooked some stew.

There’s… no meat in it… I wonder if I have enough time to hunt something… maybe a… Oh…? I hear a faint rustle in the foliage nearby. How nice of them… to join dinner~

(Kalibur) “Looks like there’s going to be a change in the menu, we have guests.”

He picked up on them fast, I guess you don’t become a seasoned Adventurer with at least that much skill. Kal and I draw our weapons and prepare to engage. A wolf jumps out from the bushes to attack Kal, only to get swatted into a tree by his shield.

With a yelp it falls to the ground next to 2 more wolves, who decide that I’m the easier target and attack me. Shrugging for a moment I lower my body and slide under the first wolf, slitting its throat as I draw my shortsword. As I twist my body I kick it into the other wolf as I pass under it.

Reaching into my bag I grab a throwing knife to finish off the last wolf… but Damien tapped it on the head catching them both on fire…. At least I don’t have to wait too long for it to cook… Wait… shouldn’t we skin them first! I don’t want fur mixed in with my food.

After that Kal started to skin the wolves and he removed a… round candy from the wolves…? The God of Sweets strikes again! Seriously? Why give us candy when we kill monsters… it makes zero sense. Can’t I get something useful, I don’t know like some kind of magic item or money!

(Kalibur) “Here you go Kuro, one Monster’s Shard each.”

Monster’s...shard? They’re… not candy?

“Uh… what’s a Monster’s Shard Kal?”

What!? Did I say something weird? It’s not common knowledge ...right? Why are they looking at me like I said something wrong...or stupid…? You’d figure with how long I’ve been an Adventurer that I’d know about something like this!

(Kalibur) “You haven’t heard about the Monster’s Shards? Pretty much every monster has one of these imbedded into it’s body. The Guild usually buys them, the price depends on the size and luster.”

Wha…? You’re telling me… I left these in the bodies of those spiders!? Gah! Why didn’t I get an instruction manual for this world!

(Damien) “There’s also that… Scholars think that the shard is what makes a monster… a monster. Though they can’t seem to figure out if it’s formed because it became a monster, or it became a monster because of it!”

Damien… is being serious… did they switch him out during the attack…? No witty remark… no insults… It can’t be him!

(Damien) “Oh, Alchemists use them to make potions to recover magic power also, really useful for us Magic Casting types.”

That was interesting… looks like I could get a good amount of money for these… but then again… they taste good… I slowly slip the monster’s shard into the...food section of my bag and wait for dinner. Having some meat in the stew made it a lot more satisfying since… yea just eating vegetables sounds like a terrible idea.

Once we get to Lerwick we can get a nice break and just relax! It’ll be a nice little change of pace, I heard a few things about the town as we traveled. It was a nice quaint little town full of cheerful and lively residents. With a place like that, seriously... what could go wrong?