🎸

Liliam woke up with the feeling of wetness on her chest. Of course the cause of the sensation had been one over-sleepy drooling Trina which had dozed off with her head tucked between Liliam's boobs, proclaiming that there was no safer heaven for her bald head than the singer's twin peaks. Of course, this had been facilitated by the need to cram together into the same bed, as the other one had been occupied by the knocked-out Dwarf lady.

The wannabe singer could not help but feel amused at the antics of her new friend, which seemed to be something out of this world altogether. When her uncle had first approached her about “monitoring duty” for an escaped subject that originated from a demonic sect, this was most certainly not what she had in mind.

She thought that she would have to act like some sort of a gruff Guardian and Overseer to some sort of insane demoniac prisoner, but what she got instead was this lively young girl filled with energy and enjoying life everywhere she went.

While the girl was definitely crazy, it was the good sort of crazy, that's simply made you just want to get caught up in it, and go along with whatever insanity she was planning at that particular moment. And the amazing thing was that most of her insane ideas worked out quite well in the end.

For now, Liliam couldn't even express how grateful she felt towards Trina, as the girl had healed her ears and given her a chance at becoming a proper singer, something that not even her own family had been able to do. She just couldn't wait to go out and sing a little bit this morning, and see what Jin would think about it.

Suddenly, Liliam felt herself blushing, as stray thoughts about Jin’s manly frame came into her mind. They had been spending the last few days together talking about anything and everything, and she had suddenly felt herself become unknowingly attracted to the fiery nature of the boy, for reasons that she herself could not explain.

I mean, there was a logic part inside of her head that told her that the Hero-wannabe was as dumb as a rock, and that he had done some really stupid things in the past, but it had never been from truly bad intentions, even when it was about that Hall of Medicine fiasco.

Even if he almost got one of the Elders killed because of his brashness, at that particular moment he had truly thought that they were performing evil experiments and had tried to do something about it, which would take a certain amount of courage from a person. And especially during the last week, Liliam had been able to notice a shift in the young boy's character, as he became less and less hasty and increasingly calculated in everything he was doing, like going from a raging campfire to a slow charcoal-burn, just right for a barbecue, which meant that he was learning from his mistakes.

After pushing the still sleeping Trina away from herself and shaking the other girl awake, she finally had enough time to look at herself in the room's mirror, as she kept mourning the loss of her hair once again. Her uncle had been totally merciless and had not spared her either when everybody had gotten “processed”, but he had been unable to shave off that strange tuft of blue hair that she had been born with, since the blue hair seemed to be more resilient even then the razor blade itself.

The makeover had now left her looking rather strange, with only a small bundle of blue hair on top of her bald head sticking out in a rebellious way. She did not like the look even a little bit, but Jin had told her that it looked “sexy”, so at least that wasn't a total waste. She somehow seemed to like being complimented by the fiery boy.

🍄

Fungus stepped out of his room only to be met with the image of a totally disheveled morning-face Trina, which seemed to pay absolutely zero attention to her own appearance. But that did not seem to surprise Fungus anymore, as he had seen that display dozens of times already.

He could literally see everything if he wanted to, especially since he was a few heads taller than her, but the girl did not seem to care even a little bit. No, that's wrong, Fungus had to remind himself. Not the Girl, the Guy.

Because he now knew for a fact that Trina was just some poor old sob that had received the short end of the stick, and had gotten transformed into this young girl that stood before him. It was quite easy to forget that he was talking to a Male when he would hear her quip and giggle like a teenage girl, but Fungus knew that HE was doing it on purpose, using that behaviour as a strategic weapon meant to stab at the hearts of the other men that were unaware of the truth.

Still, poor Fungus could not help himself from falling into that trap as well, even if he knew he was walking right into it. Because the heart is a complicated thing, and it cannot help itself about what it desires.

It's not like this wasn't unheard of before. There were indeed stories around the court about how sexually straight Emperors or Nobles had suddenly fallen in love with some sensitive shemale dandy that acted more like a woman than man, and had brought their own houses to ruin in their maddened pursuits of the shemale trap.

Except that there wasn't a single ounce of femininity that wafted away from a casual Trina. Sure, she could use all of her female assets when-and-if she wanted to, but when there was no necessity for such a display, she would just simply revert to her “old male mercenary” behaviour and not give a damn about her own appearance or gestures. If any of the etiquette tutors at court would have seen her behave in such a way, they would have had a heart attack ten times over.

Which strangely, was an even bigger turn-on for Fungus then he had ever thought, because the greed in his heart told him that he could maybe somehow have his best Male friend AND his female love interest, as in capable-of-birth body, bundled up into the same container package and delivered right before his nose if he played his cards right. And who wouldn't want that, right? A person that totally gets you as a Guy, with all that entails, and even acts like one, but still being capable of bearing your babies? Definitely a rare specimen indeed!

If he had never met her, all of the girls in his life would have probably been just sheltered little noble ladies that would have never been able to UNDERSTAND him as profoundly as Trina does. It's why their teamwork was so good in the first place, they did not need to speak that many words to get what the other wanted to say or do. And it's also why it HURT every time he looked at HIM, since he knew that HIS own value as a love interest towards Fung was 0, if not in the negatives. Trina seemed to be more busy nowadays with simply fondling Liliam's “assets” in a playful manner whenever she could, which in hindsight Fungus would have done the same if he were to find himself in a girl's body all of a sudden.

Still, as they say, hope dies last, and persistence is the key to any endeavour, so he would continue to stick with HIM/HER for the foreseeable future.

🔥

Jin had woken up earlier than everybody else, and was currently enjoying some morning tea at one of the inn's tables when Trina came down the stairs while scratching her ass. He couldn't help himself but resent the girl, and also admire her immensely. Because Jin had been staring blatantly at his own shortcomings ever since the girl had “killed” his old Fire Tome.

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At first, he had hated her profoundly for that, but after he had sat for a while and thought profoundly about everything that had happened around that weird Book, he had been forced to acknowledge what everybody else had been telling him, which is that the Demon did not have his best interests at heart.

When they had sunk beneath the earth together, she had simply taken over the reins of the entire party like she had been born for that role, with even the Elder Windmage following all of her orders with incredible precision which showed that the old man was wise enough to acknowledge that the girl was even above him in certain aspects. When she had performed that role so naturally, it had become even more painfully obvious to Jin how lacking his own skills were in comparison to the girl.

Sure, he had enough “power” to set anything on fire if he wanted to, and even maybe contend with certain enemies a few levels higher than himself, but he had also suddenly realised that all of the things he used to be proud about were actually of little use in REAL combat situations.

No, a good head on the shoulders, the capacity to remain calm and inspire one’s allies and find the weaknesses of your enemies were the most important things when it came to group combat, and he knew that he came short on all of those aspects.

Personal Power can only support a person for so long, before it becomes overshadowed by Group Power, Hero or not. Sure, it could be used to tip the balance in one direction or another during a conflict, so Personal Power could not be totally ignored, but Jin had been forced to realise that he could never defeat all of his enemies on his own. Therefore, he had decided inside of his own soul to mend all of those “defects”, and instead of becoming a great Hero of Personal Power, he would become a “Great General” type of figure, a Leader of People instead, a person that would inspire and guide other folk under or near him to accomplish even greater deeds than he would ever be able to achieve on his own.

For that reason, he had been spending most of his time during the last few days trying to get accustomed with the nasty sensation of being in two places at the same time that the astral projection from the library gave him. He knew that this was probably the most important Skill to master at this moment, as it would allow him to access an immense treasure trove of Knowledge that would be able to improve his deficiencies in a much better way than he could have ever been able to, if left alone by himself.

And again, he felt a pang of jealousy and shame, as he realised that all of these new “benefits” that he now had access to had been obtained because of the wisdom of the girl.

She always somehow managed to make him feel insufficient, inadequate or unwise, even when she wasn't intentionally pointing out his flaws to him, and it HURT. But also Jin realised that it was all his fault in the first place, so that's why he had to work hard, no, harder than everyone else, to fix himself up and become the true Hero that he was meant to be.

He simply couldn't allow himself to be overshadowed by some simple bumpkin girl, just because she was slightly smarter or wiser than he was.

Besides that, Jin had also no apparent idea what Flags were all about.

⚡

Xibei put the really sharp pencil down, as he had just finished his illustration of the day, which depicted on the blank-paper notebook in front of him with rather high accuracy the figure of a small dwemmer golem with rather cute large eyes and a pickaxe in hand digging away at dirt.

The bard could not help himself from being amazed at the quality of the paper and pencil, which somehow never seemed to run out and also made writing and illustrating so much easier.

The adventures that they had been through during the last few days had been like a dream-come-true for the sheltered little Bard boy, who had dreamed all of his life of going on a Grand Adventure together with many other party members and Heroes in tow.

Everyday, he would take enough time out of his schedule to journal all of their small adventures and dialogues, hoping that someday maybe his writings would become some sort of Legendary Saga. There was Conflict, Intrigue, Hidden Powers and Ancient Mysteries, the Boldness and Brashness of Youth tempered by the Wisdom of the Elderly, stuff that you would usually hear about in songs and poetry that Bards like himself usually sang around the taverns of the world.

Logic dictated that this should have been the Saga of the Hero of the Flame, but somehow his Bard instincts told him that the Girl was of much greater importance in this whole narrative than silly little Jin. Could you even have two Heroes inside of the same story? Won't the Heroes wind-up butting heads if they are stuck in the same storyline together?

There had indeed been many previous stories that he knew about in the past that contained more than one Hero, but they always came in the form of a Major Figure accompanied by what someone could only call a Sidekick, and the way things were turning out at the moment, Jin was a much more likely a candidate for the Sidekick position rather than that of the Main Hero.

Still, Xibei rejoiced every moment that they were out here, even if he had to suffer through the baldness, the uncomfortable beds or clothes, the uncultured peasantry, or the lack of general hygiene and constant threat to one's well-being that this journey entailed, as they were all meager sacrifices to be made as a trade-off for participating in such a Grand Adventure of a Lifetime.

No pain, no gain as they say.

💨

Lingfeng couldn't help himself but read once more the notes that had been scribbled by the midget last night while sitting near one of the windows and enjoying the morning sunshine as it warmed him up. The consequences and ramifications that would occur if this whole list was true would be dire indeed, since it pertained to the involvement of many Noble Houses and even Royal Princes in the affairs of the Dark Cults or Sects, which could shake the foundations of all three Empires if revealed out in the open.

Ever since the girl had come into his life, everything had only been a series of headaches and tribulations. And especially now, since he knew the true reason behind it all, it made his heart ache even more than ever. All Gods be damned, it did not matter if this whole world was just a joke and entertainment for the Heavens, he would still try his best to help out the innocent people.

Maybe he was a fool, and the Gods would laugh at him in the end, but if he did not do this, he felt that he would be stepping on his own heart and Dao. So he would try his best again and again, even if it killed him. He just hoped that it would be sufficient enough to make even a tiny little bit of a difference.

⛏️

Carmine had woken up after all of the pink mammoths and dancing pony unicorns that had been swimming in her vision last night had decided to go away. Unfortunately, the midget with the huge glowing orange eye was still within her vision, so she decided to simply punch it away again, to maybe get rid of it just like the other visions.

🦾

*Ayeee*

Yi Gore went flying down the staircase and landed right on his head. As he sat there on the floor and Trina jumped right over him, he thought to himself that there was no better way to start a new day than getting beaten up by your beloved. Afterall, Yi Gore was a little bit of a masochist.

🤖

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