Gloria was annoyed.

“Wench, fetch me some water!”

Actually, to say that Gloria was annoyed would be like saying spells did stuff; an idiotic understatement. Gloria hadn’t been this infuriated since Torin managed to sneak into her room and cover every inch in magical lube when sh was twelve.

“Are you ignoring me peasant?! How dare you?! I will see you hanged for this!”

A large part of her annoyance came from the Event’s archways. In order to maximize the chances of them staying together their team had held hands upon entering the archway. Portals that randomized exit locations weren’t uncommon but it was held that physical contact would generally ensure that people ended up in the same place.

“I demand you pay attention to me this instant! I will not be ignored!!”

In this case though, their team had each been seperated, leaving Gloria seperated from her friends by possibly hundreds of miles in a location filled with enemies. It was quite annoying, though it did not even come close to the annoyance that began roughly an hour after arrival. Gloria had up until that point been enjoying her time. After all, fighting monsters in exotic locations was what being an adventurer was all about, at least to her.

“You insufferable ingrate, You are dead, do you hear me? Dead! You and your whole family will be execu-heuurk!”

That last line was the bump that broke the tanks shield. Gloria’s hand snapped out like a viperslaang and grabbed the prince by the throat, cutting off his words and his air supply. He struggled, his hands slapping at Gloria’s arm, until he noticed the look in Gloria’s eyes. It wasn’t the look of fury he expected, it was as if Gloria was looking upon a corpse.

“Listen, princeling, the only reason you are still breathing is because I’m worried that if I kill you then I’ll cause some kid of trouble for the Guild. Personally, I would rather rip your throat out and watch you bleed to death than listen to another word that comes out of your mouth, so if I were you then I would shut up or next time we fight a horde of monsters I’ll be using you as a shield. Literally, I will strap you to my arm and use your body to block the claws, fangs and various sharp bits of the monsters that try to kill me. Understood?”

The prince nodded, utterly shocked at the woman’s sudden violence.

Gloria, satisfied by the look of fear in the prince’s eyes, let him go and resumed walking towards the trunk. She had arrived alone on Yggdrasill near the tip of a branch and, with no real idea where to go, she had decided to head towards the trunk. In hindsight, Gloria might have preferred to jump off the branch and try and aim for another lower down. Instead, she took the non-suicidal route and ended up meeting Prince Nicholas.

Prince Nicholas was fourth in line to the throne and determined to bring back both glory and treasures in abundance. Unfortunately, he had both the personality and the general fighting ability of a particularly dimwitted swamp toad.

Gloria had initially believed that Nicholas must have some sort of use, why else would his country send him, but a quick discussion with the pompous ass had led Gloria to one conclusion; he was here to die. From the sounds of it one of Nicholas’s brothers had convinced the young Prince that the event would be an easy way to gain riches and glory and that Nicholas was the best equipped to do so.

It was clear to Gloria that Nicholass brother had set him up and had likely even placed an assassin amongst Nicholas’s retinue to ensure his death. It was also why, despite his insufferable demeanor, Gloria had yet to snap his neck. She hated the idea of doing some noble’s dirty work, even if she sympathized with their pain. On the other hand, it was their fault she was stuck with Nicholas and she couldn’t think of a more apt punishment than sending Nicholas back to them alive.

As Gloria marched onwards she kept her senses trained on her surroundings, wishing that Johann or Torin were there. Both their senses were better than hers and with forewarned being forearmed even a few seconds warning before a monster popped up would be an edge she currently didn’t have. That, and she missed her friends. She’d rarely been away from her friends for more than a day before a month ago, and then just as they were reunited they were separated again. At this point she even missed Torin’s craziness.

“I, uh,” Gloria swung her head around to glare at the Prince, who hesitated upon seeing her look, continued speaking nonetheless. “I would like to apologize.”

Gloria raised an eyebrow, surprised at the turn of events.

“I realize I may have taken that a bit far. You are clearly not one of my subjects, nor are you politically inclined, so the subterfuge was unnecessary. Unfortunately, I had to be sure in case you were an assassin sent by Harley.”

By the time the Prince had finished speaking Gloria was flabbergasted at the massive change in demeanor in her temporary companion. Gone was the spoiled brat that deserved a swift kick to the jellybeans and in his place stood a confident yet gracious man. The person was the same yet everything, from his expression to the way he held himself, had changed drastically.

“I expect you have a lot of questions, and I would be happy to answer any you have, but right now we have three Aphids coming in from that direction.”

Gloria was still surprised at the change in the Prince but on hearing the warning her gaze focused and her face turned grim. Facing the way Nicholas pointed Gloria heard faint taps and scratches coming in that direction.

“I’ll take two of them, you take the third.” Nicholas spoke, his voice calm and confident.

Gloria was unsure about Nicholas’ capability but she didn’t have the time to question it with the Aphids cresting the hill. As soon as they laid eyes upon the two travelers they charged, high pitched squeaks sounding out as they expressed their desire to destroy the invaders.

As they were rushing forth they were met with spikes of ice coming the other way, the spikes accurately the leg joints of two aphids and sending them crashing to the ground. With only one Aphid now charging her Gloria chose to go on the offensive, leaping forward and clocking the remaining Aphid in its face.

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The blow sent the Aphid careening into the ground, Gloria just barely able to dodge out of the way. Within moments it was scrambling to regain its footing but Gloria wouldn’t let it. Lengthening her arm to double its usual size Gloria used the extra length to deliver a devastating overhead blow that, while lacking in finesse, had the desired effect of crushing the Aphid’s head.

Turning around Gloria clipped her mace back to her side. Even as she was dealing with her Aphid Gloria had kept a part of her attention on Nicholas and his fight. Even though he was still fighting he was in no danger, both of the Aphids were stuck fast, their limbs solidly frozen to the ground and unable to so much as twitch. A few more ice spikes to the head and it was all over.

Gloria turned to her inscrutable companion and said “All right, explain. Everything.”

Nicholas hesitated before letting out a sigh. Then he explained.

The kingdom of Lander was a small one but relatively powerful thanks largely to a history of powerful kings. Succession was decided through combat trials on the day of the kings death. Nicholas was the second child of his fathers second wife with four elder siblings at the moment of his birth. By the time he was five two of his older siblings were dead and he now had six younger siblings.

It was after his mother died protecting him from an assassin that Nicholas realized that his survival was dependent on either being too powerful to kill or too weak to be a threat. For a five year old with no real political power his only hope was to seem as non-threatening as possible. So from an early age Nicholas had taken on the role of the spoiled and cowardly brat.

Secretly though, he had worked hard, spending his nights training relentlessly in order to become as strong as possible and one day avenge his mothers death. He didn’t blame his siblings for her death, nor did he blame his fathers inattentiveness, Nicholas knew that it was their traditions that were to blame. So, he had determined that as soon as he became king he would change his country into one he could be proud of, by force if necessary.

Nicholas found explaining all this difficult. He had never let anyone into his secret before but several factors had pushed him to trust Gloria. The first and foremost is that part of the reason for this trip was to make political allies. He was already twenty six and still a tier one ice mage which, whilst it was perfect for his cover, was not as perfect for his plan of defeating his siblings.

A political ally or two would give Nicholas access to resources that would boost his levels once his fathers health began to decline. To this end Nicholas had spent every moment from the event’s notification until his entrance into Yggdrasill studying the other participants. While most of the names were kept secret or weren’t even chosen until just before the deadline Nicholas did manage to get his hands on some, including a complete list of the Adventurers Guild’s participants.

With the names he was able to do some background checks thanks to the informants he’d built up over the years. Gloria in particular stood out to him due to her having the same race as his mother. The background check hadn’t pulled up anything of note but Nicholas remembered the name nonetheless.

When he met her in Yggdrasill Nicholas was almost certain that she was an assassin sent by his elder brother Harley. Harley had always blamed Nicholas for the death of their mother and he was also the only one of Nicholas’ siblings who had connections to the Rakshasa’s. It would make sense for Harley to have sent a Rakshasa assassin, knowing that the connection to his mothers race might make Nicholas drop his guard.

Gloria listened to Nicholas explaining his past, as well as his reason for trusting her. It was a lot to take in and it provoked a lot of emotions from her. She sympathized with Nicholas over the loss of his mother, Gloria knew what it was like to grow up without a mother even if hers abandoned her voluntarily and his was taken from him. She felt an odd sense of pride when he explained his plans to revolutionize his country. Gloria supposed she simply felt proud that a fellow orphan (or at least orphan-like) had grand ambitions and the relentless drive.

Gloria also felt intense disgust at the nobles. Family was so precious yet these pieces of ortrox dung were willing to kill their own just for a bit of power. Frankly, if Gloria weren’t busy as an adventurer she would have offered to help Nicholas kill the entire lot of them, the world would be far better off without power hungry assholes in charge.

All in all, Gloria was left with a far better view of Nicholas than before. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. My mother abandoned me when I was a baby and I don’t even know who my father was, but at least I’ve had Johann and Torin. I can’t imagine what it would be like without my friends.”

Nicholas smiled, his eyes filled with repressed pain. “Thank you. It is nice to hear that, but you do not have to be worried My life has not been pleasant so far, but I assure you the future will be much better. Once I have changed Lander into a democratic country I plan on leaving. I want to explore, to go out and have an adventure and make a few friends along the way.” Nicholas was looking off into the distance, a look of longing on his face.

Gloria smiled. “Well, when that day comes I’d be happy to help you find some adventure. It is what I do after all. Adventure I mean, not helping others find adventure.”

Nicholas smiled, nodding his head in thanks. “That would be wonderful, though I was wondering if you could help me in the meantime. I’m not sure if Adventurers get holidays but it would be immensely helpful to have a team of Adventurers watching my back when the time comes.”

Gloria hesitated. “I, uh, I’m not sure. I’d like to, you seem nice once you stop acting like an ass.” Gloria smiled wryly. “But I can’t speak for the rest of my team. Besides, I’m not sure if the Guild would be happy to let one of its teams get involved in politics. Adventurer Rule #8: No Politics. Adventurers are there to delve dungeons and protect people, not play politician.”

Nicholas started to look disheartened but Gloria had a suggestion. “I do have an alternative. I actually know another Rakshasa, one not involved in the Guild. The Guild brought her in to help me with my shape-shifting so she should be trustworthy and she’s really nice. I’m sure she would be happy to help you. If you want, I can try to get in hold of her.”

“That would be amazing. Other than my mother I’ve never known another Rakshasa, other than you of course. It’s a female only race and I don’t have any sisters on my mother side. I’d like to know more about the race and it’d be nice to hear it from a real Rakshasa.”

Nicholas realized what he had just said. “Uh, I mean, uh, from someone who grew up with other Rakshasa. Oh crap, sorry. I mean, uh-”

Gloria clamped a hand over his mouth to get him to shut up. “Relax. Damn, you’re worse than Johann. I realize I’m not a ‘real Rakshasa’, not one brought up with a Rakshasa mom teaching her stuff. I won’t be offended if you want to seek out a more official Rakshasa, mostly cause I was doing the same for years. I’ll try to get in touch with her. Now, can we get going? I’d like to see if we can get some of these treasures we were promised.” Gloria began walking, trying not to let Nicholas see the hurt in her eyes. Even if she understood, it still stung.

They walked in silence for a few seconds before Nicholas broke the silence. “By the way, what is her name, this Rakshasa?”

“Meliana.” Gloria replied distractedly, her focus on detecting any threats and trying to get her emotions under control. It took her a few steps before she realized Nicholas was no longer walking beside her. Looking back she found him staring at her with a haunted look on his face.

“Did, did you say Meliana?” He said, his voice hollow.

Gloria nodded. “Yeah, why? Do you know her?”

Nicholas looked lost for a second before he shook his head. “Sorry, it’s just that, that was the name of my mother.”