After breakfast is finished and the camp is packed up, the caravan resumes their journey to Ryoma. Several hours later, the merchant points towards the trees on the right.

: "This is the spot....roughly a kilometer that way is that old ruin. If it's going to happen, it'll be very soon....otherwise it should be a nice clear ride the rest of the way to Ryoma."

As luck would have it, there is some movement in the trees on the right. A minute or so later, some zombies and skeletons emerge from the trees and head towards the caravan that the Merchant and Stormy are in.

: "See what we mean? They're going right towards HER! It's all HER fault...this wouldn't happen if she weren't with us!"; he said as he began to intercept the first zombies approaching.

The archers and other mages began attacking the undead group approaching. Stormy begins reciting her incantation while the others engage the undead. Seconds later, Stormy puts her hands over her head, palms facing upwards towards the sky as a big white bolt emerges from her hands. A second later, the entire area is engulfed in white. Many of the zombies and skeletons drop to the ground, and the weapons of the rest of the adventurers also glow white.

: Swinging his sword, it disintegrates the zombie upon contact. "Hmph..."; he muttered angrily as he continued carving his way through a group of zombies.

: "That seems to help a lot, Stormy! Thank you."; he said watching the fight unfold. He points toward the trees and says to Stormy; "That might be the Lich, I'm not sure."

: "I'm on it!"; she said as she prepared her next spell. Before Stormy could cast her spell, she felt something hit her back, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She looked around and saw one of the mage adventurers glaring at her.

: "Just lie down and don't get up. The real adventurers will handle this from here."

Starting to get up, Stormy felt herself hit with some sort of attack spell. She looks over at the Lich and sees it facing her, roughly 50 meters away, with its wand pointed at her. Stormy begins to feel sick to the stomach for a few seconds before the Merchant pulls out a wand of his own and points it at the Lich, casting some spell that causes the Lichs' wand to get knocked out of its hand.

: "Shh...don't tell nobody."; he said smiling as he helped Stormy back up on her feet.

Stormy gets to her feet and begins casting her previous spell again. Before being knocked down again, the Merchant moves to block and takes the hit instead, allowing Stormy to finish casting her spell at the Lich.

: "Oops!"; he said sarcastically as he cast another spell at Stormy, but too late to stop her from finishing her spell.

Stormy points her hand towards the Lich and a white line emerges from her hand, attacking the Lich and causing it some damage. She felt a hit on her back again and she fell to the ground. Before she could get back up, someone kicked her in the head, knocking her out cold.

Some time later, Stormy wakes up to a splitting headache with the Merchant laying beside her. As Stormy begins to look around, she notices the caravan is gone, as are all the other adventurers. Stormy casts a healing spell on herself, mending her wounds before noticing the Merchant had not awoken yet. She rolls the Merchant onto his back and notices a fatal-looking neck wound. She checks for a pulse and doesn't find one.

: "Oh no!"; she said as she began to kneel over the Merchant, putting her hands together and closing her eyes. "I don't know if I can bring you back, but I have to at least try. You've been so good to me, it's not right for you to die like this."

Stormy begins fervently praying for a miracle to happen and revive the Merchant...but to no avail. A few minutes later, she goes to stand up and prepare to bury the body when her hand touches the bracers on his right wrist and it begins to glow red for a moment. A moment later, an apparition appears before her, looking like the Merchant himself.

: "Ah, good...you're awake. I'm sorry about this, but I had a feeling they'd try something like this. They're in for a shock when they try to report my 'untimely death' at your hands. See, what nobody knows is that this isn't my real body. For lack of a better description, it's a specialized golem. I'm actually in the back of the wagon, hiding in one of the big boxes. We're almost at Ryoma and when we arrive, I'll wait until they try to report my untimely death before coming out as if I've been sleeping in the back of the wagon. I'll make sure to let the Guildmaster know the truth, no worries. Thank you so much for everything. I'm sorry they did you like this, but after I'm through with them they won't ever be able to do something like this ever again."

: "Thank you, but what do I do now? Should I bury this golem?"

: "There's no need. Just take all the gear and keep it. The amount you make from selling what you don't need should be plenty of compensation for all of your hard work. I just wish I could transport you here myself, but...I could only do so much."

: "That's alright. I appreciate you looking out for me like this."

: "Not a problem, Stormy. Farewell and may your travels be better than this one was."

: "Goodbye, and thanks again."; she says as she begins to take the useful gear from the golem before heading towards Ryoma on foot.

A few minutes further down the road, she starts to get hungry and makes her way towards the trees to try to pick some berries. As she picks a few berries, she notices a small animal emerge from the trees towads her as a voice rings out from the road.

: "Look out!"

Stormy turns to face the source of the voice for a moment before whirling around towards the animal emerging from the trees. She puts out her hand towards the animal and begins to cast her spell, causing her hand to glow white. A moment later a white bolt emerges from her hand and the small animal falls to the ground.

Turning to face the young man, she pulls the hood back on her white cloak and takes a good look at him. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She was sure she'd seen him somewhere before, but can't remember when, where, or how.

: "Nicely done. You made short work of that thing. What was that anyway? Some sort of magic?"

: "Thanks, I guess. I'm just lucky there weren't more of them, as I can't fend off too many at once. Who are you?"

: "I'm Treo. Nice to meet you. What's your name?"

Stormy was about to answer before she saw his gaze shift to the trees behind her.

: "There's more of them. I'll hold them off."; he says as he maneuvers himself between Stormy and the animals emerging from the forest.

She notices a sword and shield materialize in his hands as if by magic, and finds herself smiling at how gallant he seemed. She was happy to see he was not like the other adventurers that betrayed her, and was actually kind to her.

: "I'm Stormy, and I'd be careful if I were you. I tend to be the instant target of any enemies whether I want to or not...it's a curse I have."; she said to warn him, worried for his safety.

: "I've got an ability that forces me to get their attention for all attacks, so I'm sure I'll be able to keep you protected. Just get that magic whatever ready, okay? Please?"

: He's wanting to protect her? How gallant! She notices how the animals go towards him instead of towards her. "This has never happened before!"; she says as she's stunned for a moment before collecting herself and turning her attention back to the animals attacking him.

With all of the attention on Treo, she can dispatch them with her magic easily. She casts a white bolt towards each animal and notices that none of the attacks are damaging Treo. Strage, she thought. After a minute or so, the last animal dies at their feet.

A pop up appears in the overlay of her vision:

Level 2 acquired

10 Skill points acquired

: Putting the level up information to the side for the moment, she turns to Treo. "How did you do that? What kind of ability is that? How is it able to override my curse?"; she asked excitedly, peppering him with questions.

: "What curse? As for me, I'm a Defender, it's an ability I have called 'Shield Other' that transfers any attacks from you to me and doubles my defense."

: "Wow! I've never heard of a Defender before, nor that skill. About my curse...I can heal nearly any injury, but at the cost of drawing the attention of any enemies nearby. Most of the time, I can barely keep heal going continuously until someone comes along and kills things for me. It's why I'm out here alone...nobody wants me in their party."; she says dejectedly.

: "Well, I'll be quite happy to party with you. I can keep their attention on me while you take them out with your magic. We seem to make a good team. What do you say? Care to join me?"; he asked, offering her his hand.

: After pondering her options for a bit, she takes his hand; "Sure. Thank you for having me!" As she took his hand, her heart skipped a beat and she began to blush. What was it about him that had this effect on her. She couldn't help but smile.

A pop up message appears in the overlay of her vision:

You have joined Treo's party

Acquired party passive skill:

Increased Experience Gain

: "Interesting. Being in a party with you will help both of us a lot. We should level up better than we would alone."

: "You think so? It would be nice if that's the case."; she said happy that there were even more benefits to being with Treo.

: "Hmm...."; he mutters as he stares deeply at her.

: Wiping her cheeks as she begins to blush; "Is there something on my face? Your stare is...intense."

: Shaking his head; "No, I'm sorry. I was checking out your party information and was curious what a 'White Mage' is. The term is new to me."

: "The description I have says that White Mages are specialized in rapid healing, buffing, & cleansing. When I asked the Adventurers Guild about it, they said White Mages are specialized in combat effectiveness whereas Priests & Priestesses take much too long to cast their heals & cleanses to be of use during combat. They said there are very few White Mages, but those they hear about are often sought after in groups. I've had no such luck due to my curse...until you came along."; she said with a slight smile.

: "Well, I'm quite happy to have you with me. Again, thank you."; he said with a smile as the two resumed making their way to the town of Ryoma.

An hour later, they see two hooded figures on the road ahead and approach slowly.

: "Drop all your gear and leave the girl behind and we'll let you live!"

: "How about you drop all YOUR gear and leave and we'll let YOU live!"

Two more hooded figures appear in front of them, as well as four more behind them for a total of eight.

: "I think not. You're out numbered 4 to 1. Boys...capture the girl and kill the boy!"; he commands as they begin their attack.

: Putting one hand in front and one hand behind, palm outwards as she begins to recite an incantation; "Bolt of Holy Judgment, attack my targets!"

A white bolt of light shoots forth from each of her hands towards each group, causing one hooded figure in each group to fall. Two crossbow bolts hit her, but do no damage nor do they interrupt her subsequent incantation. Whatever he's doing on his end, it's truly making it so that not only do attacks not focus on her anymore, but any attacks that do hit her have no effect at all! Two crossbow bolts also hit Treo, but does not appear to do any damage. Incredible!

: Swinging his sword towards the 3 remaining in the group in front, they become enraged and turn their gaze upon him for their next attack. "I can hold their attention while you attack. Don't worry, I'll defend you!" He turns to face the group of 3 behind him and swings his sword, causing them to also become enraged at him.

Other than the Merchant from the caravan, nobody else has ever gone out of their way to try to defend her. Such gallantry moved her deeply.

Stormy continues to attack while Treo defends, the battle is over minutes later as Stormy's display announces another level up.

Level 3 acquired

10 Skill points acquired

Treo and Stormy look at each other with raised brows in response.

: "Wow! Level 3 already...that was fast. Grouping with you is already working out quite well. Thank you!"; she said, smiling brightly, thinking back to the notice about receiving the 'Increased Experience Gain' from joining Treo's party.

Treo checks their gear and takes their ID cards, putting it all into his Item Box with the others.

: "At this rate, we should make enough money from all this fighting to buy what we need. Maybe even get 2 rooms in an Inn"

: "Sounds good to me. Thanks, Treo!"; she says smiling.

Soon the two resume their journey towards Ryoma.