Ralphos sighed, looking at the morning sky with a red hue over the horizon at the camp. They had to hunt and eat a wild creature yesterday, they had no money and planned to sell the corpse in town.

“I shouldn’t have used Drive 1 Bisect, how am I going to carry all this when it’s in two?”, he looked over to the bearbeast and sighed again. He looked at his bulletblade, the curled up catgirl sleeping in the background with her tail wrapped around her.

“Get her killed, huh. That dwiff, such a cool guy. He let me walk away with this damn thing,” he flipped open the hatch and checked inside.

“Huh. It went up? Better go ask him what’s going on, maybe it’s broken. No way it should go up to 'that' number when it was only 3,500 before. How strange.”

Juno woke up, stretching, her ears going back. She looked at Ralphos lazily then got to work packing up camp.

“Hey, Morning,  Juno, you ready for today? Have any ideas how we’re going to sell this bear?”

“Geez, you look more human today, am I supposed to get used to that? Ah, ah, the ursine, it’s called ursine here. I told you that yesterday, remember, the ursine, it's an ursine. Cut it up with a ‘function’, that’s what the old Ralphos did. We’d walk away with the skins at least. I’m afraid I never tried skinning, but I’ll do my best,” Juno muttered sleepily her eyes almost closed and her ears wiggling.

Ralphos gave it a try himself, after watching her pitiful attempts to rouse herself. The bulletblade used as a skinning knife, a weapon that could probably level a country or castle at least.

“Drive 3 Kingdom Crush. Ralphos probably found a way to skin with that. I’m confused, how can it take out a mountain and skin a bear too?”, he complained as he realized how difficult this was going to be. Tearing the muscle away from the skin, a web of stringy flesh was there. He had to cut that, then circle around the body, then be careful that he didn’t stab through the fur the whole time. He didn’t want to bother making another fuss with Drive 3.

“Ah, screw it. I’ll just do ‘that’ later. It’s lazy but I’m hungry,” he said to himself as he went to get the remains of last nights bear meat. Juno was drying some organs on a sheet spread with salt off to the side.

They packed up and went into town. Ralphos had just rapidly used bisect to slash away the meat as best he could, he ended up with a bunch of patches of fur and skin. Maybe they would buy this? He hoped, and they did. It was enough money that they wouldn’t have to camp outside anymore. Ralphos went around, asking about Cruci with Juno, making no attempt to hide that he was coming for him. The villagers had a low opinion about him too:

“Cruci? You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t want any trouble, but…”

“That bastard. Always mumbling how it’s the lord’s fault he did this and that. Why doesn’t he take responsibility himself? I wouldn’t listen to my superior if he told me to kill innocents…”

“War, he’s like that because of the war. Young kid, it’s a shame someone so talented like him ended up in Locos. With our crazy lord, it’d be his career as paladin with the Sanctis Sancti or justice. You can guess which one he chose. Can’t wait until a Saint takes him out…”

“What’s a Saint?”, Ralphos asked Juno.

“Heroes of justice. The Sanctis Santi is a religious order that enforces law and fights demons who aren’t obeying the law. Troublesome demons are everyone’s problem, even in the underworld where I lived. Saints... they heal the sick, offer counsel, are selfless, travel the land bringing justice to all no matter their creed. They are a separate discipline from paladins, Cruci must be a paladin the way they are talking about him, but I doubt we can win. He wasn’t a normal paladin, at the very least he had one skill I heard Saints use, paladins aren’t supposed to be good at Saints special brand of magic…” Juno trailed off.

“Do you know any magic? You sound like you really like Saints,” Ralphos could tell in her voice.

“Oh, I wanted to be one. No, growing up, I was terrible at magic, that’s why grandpa gave me…”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to talk about it. Worst comes to worst, I’ll just Drive 4 him, no problem,” Ralphos smiled.

Then he saw a fishman with an ascott appear out of the crowd in the city. Standing here, his smug face and small dead eyes looked into Ralphos’s soul for an instant, before the fishman made for him. Ralphos felt an instinctual urge to run, but the smug grin on the fishman’s face made it hard for him to take him seriously.

“Oh. Seems to be a wandering kid and his beautiful attendant. Please excuse me, I had heard you were asking around about Cruci, you are not the only one who despises him. Do you mind if, I, introduce you to someone who can assist you? I heard from Afgar about that weapon, unfortunately it won’t be enough,” said the fishman.

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Ralphos was on guard immediately, and Juno was salivating.

“You have a little too much interest in me, you’re fishy, fishman. If this wasn’t in the middle of a town…”

“You’d gut me? How violent. No, I have one interest, protecting that girl there,” he pointed to Juno, “and any girls you come across. If you want the harem you gather to remain untouched, then I am your greatest ally,” the fishman was still smug.

“Harem? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” responded the dragon human prince.

“Just meet a girl with me. She’s right in this building here, that’s all I ask, and a moment to advise Juno,” said the fishman.

Ralphos was wary, but he couldn’t get it out of his mind the thought that he didn’t know how to use the bulletblade well enough. If he were to fight Cruci, and lose, he might die, and so might…

“Fine. Tell me your name, at least.”

“Escribo. Don’t mind it. Now, over here dear Juno, I don’t want Matt to hear us.”

Ralphos’s blood ran cold. He looked over at the fishman and the salivating catgirl walking away, unsure of what to do.

“Enemies I can’t beat, enemies I know nothing about, a mysterious ally who’s more like a final boss, and strange abilities I can’t control,” he thought of his dragon wings and ‘that’.

“Ah, this is the worst. Can’t I just beat them up already? Those assholes…” Ralphos looked to the sky.

Escribo came back after a while, Juno was munching on a fish with a ecstatic grin her tail swishing.

“That guy didn’t do anything strange did he Juno?”

“Ah, this guy’s nice. I think out of anybody you’ve met, even me, he’s probably the only one you can trust the most to do what he says he’s going to do. Just, be careful with that girl, okay?”, Juno looked worried, and Ralphos face strained as he realized what that meant. Juno told the truth, in a way he didn’t expect. There was a chance that even though things were going well now, he could still mess things up with her. No wonder. A submissive type like her was probably holding a lot of feelings back.

“Okay, okay, Juno, please stay here. That girl is a little...well, let’s just say that Matt will suffice.”

They walked away together, heading into a church.

“Stop using my real name, Escribo, it’s uncomfortable,” whined Ralphos.

“Oh, you must excuse me,” he patted Ralphos on his shoulder, “love and truth are the only things I care for. For love, I will respect your decision. However, should the time come that you disrespect the women around you too much, I will be there. Do you understand?”, Escribo showed him that smug grin.

“Ah, fine. I don’t want anything to happen to Juno either. Let’s get this over with.”

“See that ravishing blonde, with the golden long hair, light sparkling blue eyes, in the satin tight long nun outfit and those pale shiny white thighhighs with the scandalous silts far too far up her legs? She’s a bit of trouble, I will agree, but she should open up to you, if you don’t lie. Speak the truth, the best and most brutal truth to her, and she’ll fall head over heels for you. Don’t tell me she’s not quite the catch, even though her personality is troublesome at times. She’ll be your strongest ally I hope, teach you quite well, unlike what ‘that’ guy wanted. Be generous with her, won’t you?”, advised the fishman.

“Who’s ‘that’ guy?”, Ralphos said stunned. He would have ran at the sight of a girl like that, he had balls, but not enough to talk to one of those sparkling types. Even theater didn’t give him enough confidence for that! How far out of his depth could she be? He felt his heart sink.

“Don’t mind ‘him’. Not much you can do about him, or Royal Road for that matter. I suppose you remember the god saying something like that? Pay it no mind. After all, this is more of a ‘Harem’ story don’t you think? Petty things like revenge and violence, you disgust me. Now then, carry on, little boy,” the smug fishman rubbed his back and left.

Ralphos turned around in a shock but he was gone.

He steadied himself, looking at the blonde, praying serenely on a bench. Her hands pressed together, her sleeves going up a little too far past the wrist but close to her arms.

“Ah...this is the hardest part. Maybe I should wait...no! Cruci’s got to get justice somehow, and if I can’t do it, maybe that girl can.”

He walked up, trying not to look at her boobs then giving in. It’s not fair, she’s cheating! How am I supposed to win here! He thought of the shadow demon, his fight against Juno, getting beat up in that alley. If there was ever a time he needed courage, it was now. He approached her, and she made no movement as he closed in and sat next to her silently. She spoke first, her voice clear and calm like a deep pool.

“Oh, so it’s you. That fishman, he explained everything. Said it would be rather hard on you to talk to a beautiful girl like me off the bat, what, am I that intimidating?”

She looked at him with those eyes. Ralphos gulped.

“You know, I get hit on quite a lot. Never by a fishman, never thought they existed. Maybe he’s the only one in this world. Of course, being a Saint, my only love is justice. The fishman told me otherwise. What do you think, Ralphos?”

“Uh, I, want to kill Cruci. Or hurt him. Something. He’s a bad guy. I don’t know about you, but that guy made my catgirl maid cry. I thought I could take him myself, until that Escribo showed up. What did he tell you?”, Ralphos replied steadily.

“Me? I’m Saten. The best girl, he said, I don’t know what that means. You’ve got a country-class weapon that you don’t know how to use? How awful. I’ll have to teach you. As for the people he said you’d have to kill, I’m afraid I won’t let that happen. However, punishment is in order, that I agree. You have to promise me one thing, one tiny thing, and I’ll make you a veteran in battle and give you the revenge you desire. What do you say?”, Saten said.

“Depends on the thing. I’m not going to bend down just because you’re pretty.”

She laughed, covering her mouth a little with her sleeve.

“Good, good. If it wasn’t like that, I might just leave you behind and finish this myself. No, that’s not good enough. I’m the only Saint around here, one of the only Saints with a mind to change Locos and put someone else in that lord’s place. How about you?”