“Come on Al, lets go check out some of the shops!” Natalie said, as she was leading Al by the arm. “ Al was happy about going on his first date with Natalie, and that she reciprocate his feeling. So much so, that he had forgotten about recent events. All he could think about was this date, and how beautiful she looked in her white dress. “Oh look, a clothing store! Let’s go inside.” She says as she runs inside, not stopping to let Al respond.

Al walks inside the store, and was immediately greeted by one of the workers. “Hello! Welcome to Family Tailors! Can I help you with anything?” The worker said with a smile. “Ah, thanks, but I’m just looking for now. I’ll let you know when I see something I like.” al replied. “Al come look at this.” Natalie shouted from a few rows down. The worker looked over to Natalie, and then back to Al, smiling knowingly. “Hehe, you two have fun, I’ll be over by the counter if you need me.” She walks over to the counter and sat down, while Al made his way to Natalie.

“I think this matches you.” Natalie said as she compare one of the shirt to Al. “Yeah, dark colors match you better than that white shirt you have on.” “What’s wrong with a white shirt?” Al asked. “Nothing. It just don’t match you overall.” Al was surprised to hear this. He thought the shirt look nice on him. “You tend to just wear whatever, so let me pick out some clothes for you.” She starts to search through the cloth racks, pulling out shirts and giving them to Al.

“Go try those on and let me take a look.” Natalie said as she start pushing Al towards a fitting room. Al just wanted to get it over with as he didn’t care too much for clothes. After a few shirts, he puts on the first shirt that Natalie handed to him. It was a nice fit and comfortable to wear. “As I thought, dark colors match you. Dark blue especially.” Natalie got up and started circling Al, looking him up and down. “Yep. Perfect. Just need some pants to go with it.”

After what felt like hours in the store, Al and Natalie finally left the clothing store. Al had bought the shirt along with some new pants of the same color, and wore it out the store, with his old clothes in a bag. Al looked across the street and saw a restaurant. “Have you ate yet? If not, do you want to go eat there?” “Sure. I didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning. Let’s go.” Natalie runs across the street to the restaurant without waiting for Al again. Al ran after her.

The new couple had a nice breakfast at the restaurant. They decide to stay there and chit chat for a bit. Natalie talked about the new kids that arrive at the orphanage and about the few adventurers that came by to donate items and gold. Al talked about the Leeble Protection group that he quested with recently. Their conversation was cut short when a large group of soldiers started marching past them.

The group of soldiers formed lines on both end of the road and blocked people from going into the road, and had moved everyone thing that was already on the road out. “Is there some kind of event happening today?” Al asked. Natalie then recalls something that was happening that day. “Oh yeah! It seems there’s a high ranking noble moving here.” “Oh really? Who?” “If I recall correctly, it is supposed to be the son of the minister of finance. I think his name was Jedin Ebonheart.”

“Is there a reason he came all the way here from the capital?” Al asked curious as to why a noble would chose to move from the capital. “It seems he was sent here to learn accounting. Don’t think there’s a better place than Trisdia. It is the main trading city of the Northern Kingdom.” Natalie replied. “But I heard some rather disturbing rumors.” “Eh? What kind of rumors?” “I heard that he hates childrens. One time he was walking the streets of the capital, and a kid ran into him by accident, and he glare at the kid as if he was an insect. The child and mother was terrified and stayed kneel down until he walked away and disappeared into the distance.” “Wow. he sounds terrible. I hope he never shows up at the orphanage.” Al stare at the coming carriages being escorted by a large guard of soldiers.

The carriage was nearing the restaurant that Al and Natalie were at. From that distance, Al could see that there were three individuals in front of the lead carriage. The one in the center was in full plate of armor and carried a large golden shield. Her golden hair reached down to her waist even though it was tied up in a high ponytail. To her right was what Al assumed to be a caster of some kind due to her long grey robes and her mage hate that hides away her face. The last of the three was wearing full black clothing and lightly armored. Her two swords strapped nicely on her back. She wore a masked that hid her face showing only her eyes.

“No way… Are they the three maidens of Marellda?!” Natalie shouted as she got up from her seat and pointed at them. “Oh my divines! It is! The Shield Maiden, The Sword Maiden, and the Staff Maiden. All three of them!” “The three maidens?” Al asked. “How could you not have heard about them?! They are famous and consider heroes!” She shouts at Al. Al didn’t pay much attention to other adventurers or their stories. “They are direct descendants of the great hero king, King Rickon the First, and are relatives of the current king.” Al was then suddenly interested in the three maidens, as he was a fan of the hero king.

King Rickon was the person who had reestablished the Northern Kingdom after it was nearly destroyed by the demon army who ran amok the land thousands of years ago. He was the one who gathered and then lead the remaining humans to fight and defeat the demon army with the aids of the elves, dwarves, and beastman. Al’s father would often told him stories of the hero king when he was a child, so he grew up looking up to him.

“I should really pay more attention to the news about the royal families and nobles.” Al said quietly to himself. Before Al had notice, a large crowd had formed around the road, cheering at the passing maidens. “I guess the noble is a lot more important that I thought since he is being escorted by such famous people.” Al then glance over to the three maidens again and notice that the Shield Maiden had stepped away from the front of the carriages, and off to the side and was glaring at Al. She had a hateful look and seemed ready to cut Al down without hesitation. Al then had a chilled rolled down his spine.

The Shield Maiden then got ready to draw her sword, but was stopped by the Sword Maiden who tapped her on the shoulder. The Shield Maiden then gave Al another hateful look before stomping off to the front of the carriages. The Sword Maiden gave Al a quick look, and then followed the Shield Maiden to the front. “I wonder what happened?” Natalie asked with a confused look. “I’m… not sure…” Al replied, but he can tell what it was about. I guess they are heroes for a reason. They must have sense the presence of Death on me.

“It’s almost time for me to go to work.” Natalie said after the last of the carriages and soldiers left. “Let me walk you to work then.” Al replied as he got up. “Ok.” The two walked to the Withering Tree. Natalie went on and on about the three maidens. She was a huge fan from how excited she was about seeing them. She only stopped talking to them when they reached the store. “Today was fun.” Natalie said. “I had a great time with you today.” “I did too.” Al replied. “When is our next one?” She asked with a smile. “The next time we both have time.” “Ok. Just invite me next time.” She then looked as if she was waiting for something. Al notice what she wanted and hesitated. He leans in for a kiss, but got too nervous so he settle on kissing her on the cheeks instead. She blushed and then ran inside.

After Al calmed down, he he decided to take a walk. As he reached the front of the temple, he felt his sword pulsing. He glance down at the sword, and then turn towards the temple. Death is calling for me. I was planning to go visit him later, but since he called me, I have to answer. Al walks into the temple, but the moment he got in, he was surrounded by shadow. He then stare at Death before he knew it.

“Al, I want you to avoid those three at all cost.” Death spoke quickly before Al was even able to do anything. “Is there a reason?” “They are fanatic followers of Marrellda and descendents of the “Hero King”. Their oldest enemy since long ago is me and my followers. And thus, you are their enemy. They will kill you if they get the chance.” Al now realise how much a threat they are to him. “Can I win in a fight one on one?” “As you are now, you will die before you activate any of your runes. You must get stronger so that when the time comes for you to fight them, you can kill them by yourself.” This statement landed hard on Al. Killing one of them would brand him an enemy to everyone, but there may come a day when that happens.

“Well, for now I have souls for you.” Al draws his runeblade. “There’s a lot of them this time.” The runeblade glowed and hundreds of light flew out of it and towards Death. “There is a lot this time. They are all mostly spiders and wasps. Nothing big this time?” Death asked. “No, not this time. I couldn’t kill the Arachne I encounter. It fled before I was able to finish it off.” “Oh, you fought the Arachne and survive? Interesting.” Death said, feigning ignorance of the fight. “I will grant you some new skills. They are the same runes as your runeblade, but you are able to cast it upon other people or yourself without using your runeblade. Keep in mind that only one person can have one rune at a time.”

Skills Learned:

Rune of Power

Rune of Speed

Rune of Ignore Pain

Rune of Recovery

“Now then. I want you to stay in your little inn until you are fully recover. You can go out for some minor tasks, but you must not remain outside for long. Do you understand?” “Yes.” “Good. Now go.” The next thing Al knows, he was standing inside the temple again. He quickly left and went back to the inn.