“Johann, this is not a good plan.”

“I know that, but any plan is better than nothing, right?”

“Wrong. A plan that will lead to our deaths is far worse than nothing. We need another plan.”

“I don’t know any other way to get to them, this might be the only way. Besides, you don’t know that the plan will kill us.”

Mary sighed. “I don’t know why you’re acting so crazy, but jumping off the branch and hoping to land on another without dying is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. What is going on with you?”

Johann frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I know I’m not … good, at judging behavior, but even I know you’re acting crazy. What is going on with you, why are you so desperate to get to Gloria and Torin?” Mary asked, her face creased with worry.

Johann couldn’t handle looking at her worried face. He sat down on the bark, staring at the branch far off in the distance and directly below them. “I … I don’t know. I just have this feeling, like something bad is coming. It sounds stupid and you’re right, the plan is crazy, but I can’t help but feel like something bad will happen to Gloria and Torin if I’m not there.”

Mary sat down next to Johann. “You’re worried for your brother and friend, I understand that. I’m often worried for my family back at the commune.”

Johann looked over at her in surprise. “Really? You never said anything.”

Mary gave him a small smile. “I’ve never been away from them before, of course I’m worried for them.”

“Then how do you deal with it?”

Mary shrugged. “Trust. I trust the family to stay safe and I trust that the protectors will keep them safe. You should trust in Gloria and Torin to keep themselves safe.”

Johann hesitated. “I don’t know if I can. There’s things out there that are too strong for them to handle.”

Mary thought about that for a moment before standing up. “Well then, the answer is obvious. We need to get stronger.”

Johann looked up at her in confusion. “What?”

“It is simple We cannot get to Torin and Gloria because the way is blocked by the beetle, correct?” Johann nodded. “Then the only way to get to our friends is to become strong enough to beat the beetle because, and I cannot stress this enough, I am not jumping off this branch. I am not even sure if that is possible but I am not going to try. Besides, if there is a threat that can take out Gloria then we will need to be a lot stronger to beat it.”

Johann frowned. “What about Torin?”

Mary smirked. “Oh please, I could beat him.”

Johann laughed. “Yeah, he’s terrible. All right, lets go get stronger.”

Elsewhere Torin suddenly sneezed as he released an arrow, making him miss the shot completely. Torin stared at the arrow sailing off into the distance in confusion.

“What the Hel just happened?”

----------------------------------------

Johann and Mary found a Ratatösk pretty quickly thanks to Johann’s sensing abilities, but as they arrived the two of them found a pitched battle underway between Ratatösk and a group of people.

For a moment Johann thought Ratatösk was struggling but after he paid close attention it was easy to see that Ratatösk was deflecting or dodging every strike with exactly as much effort as what was needed, never wasting an ounce of energy. Each deflection was just enough to miss him, every dodge was with only millimeters to spare.

The only way for Ratatösk to do that was if he either vastly overpowered or out-skilled his opponents. Mary made to move forward but Johann held her back. He didn’t know what was going on but it seemed as if Ratatösk had things under control.

Several minutes later the last of the group collapsed to the ground exhausted. During the intervening time Johann had been paying attention to the group attacking. There were four people, three men and a woman, of various races.

The woman was six foot tall with long flowing blond tresses and was clothed in expensive looking robes that accentuated her curves. She wielded a mages staff and used [Fire Bolt] as her main spell.

The men were all clad in an assortment of armors, two in leathers though one was sleek where the other was bulky and the final man was covered in plate armor.

The bulky leather was tall and broad with even longer and more beautiful blond hair than the woman. He (though with that hair the jury was out on pronouns) wielded a great-ax almost as big as he was. The man was undoubtedly a strength based warrior with how he seemed to swing the large ax with ease, as if it were made of paper instead of steel.

The sleeker leather wearer was just as tall as the ax wielder but far more lithe and with short black hair. He fought with a pair of scimitars, focusing on speed, and his blades seemed to be coated in something, likely poison, though Johann had no idea what.

The plate wielding man was extremely short and wielded a large two handed mace that seemed almost ridiculously large when compared with his size. He moved with a lot less grace than the bulky leather man but he had far more power behind his strikes, the few that landed on the ground making small craters.

After the four had finished fighting most of them just collapsed where they stood, sitting or lying down and catching their breath. The woman did not collapse like the rest of them, likely only facing mana exhaustion rather than stamina, and moved in their direction.

The mage had noticed their presence during the fight but had largely ignored them when they made no move to attack. Now that the battle was over she made her way over, Johann taking a step forwards to meet her.

“Greetings, friends, I am princess Meliandra of the Siren Islands. Thank you for not interfering.” The woman spoke with a soft and lyrical voice.

Johann gave a friendly smile but kept his guard raised. “Greetings. I’m Johann, this is Mary. We’re with the Adventurers Guild.”

Meliandra’s eyes widened and a grin broke out on her face. “Ah, it seems that fortune is smiling on me today! To have the Adventurers Guild’s strongest Druid and a Plant Attuned Healer here, I am truly blessed!”

Johann immediately retreated half a step, grasping his staff tighter as he began preparing his mana for a spell.

Meliandra’s eyes widened once again, though this time in horror. “Oh fiddlesticks, I am so sorry, I did not mean to alarm you! Everyone knows of the Adventurer Guild particiapants, especially the two of you. Anyone with a Nature, Plant or Tree attunement was of special note, given the details of the Event. I promise, I am not your enemy.”

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Johann studied her face for a moment, his face serious, before he cocked an eyebrow. “Did you seriously just say ‘Oh fiddlesticks’?”

The fretting Meliandra froze for a second before she forcibly regained her composure, looking almost regal apart from a faint blush on her cheeks. “No, that is impossible. A princess of the Siren Islands would never say something so embarrassing, therefore I couldn’t have said it.”

Johann stifled a chuckle at the sight of the flustered princess. She was not at all what he expected of a princess, but since his views on nobility were largely negative that was a good thing. She certainly seemed easier to talk to.

“I was obviously mistaken then. What was that fight about?” Johann asked.

Meliandra looked happy at the opportunity to change topics. “Practice. This Ratatösk gives out a quest to defeat the Giant Sloth near the trunk but the monster is very strong. The fight was training so we could work together better. Now that you’re here, perhaps we don’t need any more training.”

Johann raised an eyebrow. “You want us to help you fight the Sloth?”

Meliandra nodded. “If you are amenable to the idea. With your inclusion it would be far easier, especially yours Mary. As you can see we lack a healer, and any healer trained by the Adventurer Guild would be invaluable, never mind one with a Plant Attunement. Would you be willing to assist us?” By the end Meliandra had turned towards Mary, speaking calmly and quietly so as to put the surprisingly shy looking girl at peace.

Mary gave a small nod from behind Johann’s back.

Meliandra smiled. “Wonderful. Let me just take a moment to inform my compatriots and then you can come over and we’ll make some proper introductions.” Meliandra turned about and walked towards the three resting warriors.

As Meliandra spoke with the rest of her team Johann turned to Mary, shocked to find her with a blush as she fiddled with her sleeve and stared after the princess.

“Are you okay?” Johann asked with curiosity.

Mary seemed to snap out of a trance and looked at Johann and blushed even further. Johann’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he came to a realization. “Do, do you have a crush on the princess?”

Mary frowned in annoyance and slapped Johann on the arm. “What? No. It’s just that, well, she’s a princess!”

Johann frowned, lightly rubbing his arm. “And?”

Mary slapped him again. Then she slapped him again for good measure. “Don’t say that, she’s royalty!”

“Okay, ow! And who cares?” Johann skipped back a step to dodge another slap. “What I mean is, we’re not in her country now, or in any country. We’re basically in a dungeon, which means right now we’re royalty.”

Mary paused in her attempts to slap Johann and looked at him quizzically. “What?”

“Well, Adventurers are in charge of clearing dungeons, we’re specifically trained for it. This Event is located in another realm filled with monsters and loot. That makes it basically a dungeon, which means we have more authority and expertise than anyone else here, making us sort of like royalty.”

“See, told you these guildies are looking down on us!” A gruff voice sounded out

Johann turned towards the speaker, finding the bulky leather man walking towards them with a scowl. The rest of the four were with him, though they looked far friendlier.

“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. I said we were like royalty, not tha-”

“Oh, so now we’re stupid! Who the hel do you think you are! Oh wait, I forgot, you think you’re royalty waiting for us to lick your boots. Well, too bad! You’re just stupid guildies who think you’re better than everyone else but all you actually are is stupid little pieces of shit!”

The man was practically frothing at the mouth by the end of it. Both Johann and Mary were shocked at the hatred spewing forth from the man, Mary was almost brought to tears by the sheer negativity.

“Right, that’s it! Roland, get the everloving fuck out!”

The princesses words were just as shocking as those of the bulky leather the man, Roland, but in a much better way. Everyone was surprised by the force and vulgarity of Meliandra’s words, though none more than Roland. He seemed as if he had been completely blindsided by the princesses words, taking several moments to come up with a response.

“W-what?”

“You heard me. I’ve been willing to put up with your vulgarity and obvious hate of everyone you see as superior to you but this is too much. Now get the hel out and if I ever see you again I swear on my name I will make sure your head rolls.”

Roland looked round at the others but found no help. He had clearly made no friends among his group as the other two looked at him with disapproval. Seeing no support coming Roland’s face broke out in a sneer.

“You all just think you’re better than me! Fine, I’ll leave. I don’t want your dead weight slowing me down anyways, good riddance. Oh, and you better watch your back, Princess If you ever see me again I’ll show you exactly why I’m better than you.”

With that the horrible man left, walking away whilst muttering about ‘useless shits’ who couldn’t see his greatness. After he had left Princess Meliandra visibly relaxed and turned to Johann and Mary.

“I would like to apologize. Roland was a decent swordsman so we kept him despite his … abrasive attitude. I had hopes he would calm down, or at least keep quiet, but it seems that it was not be. It seems he hates Adventurers more than he hates everyone else. I truly apologize, that is not the introduction I wanted to give.”

Johann sighed. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s sad, but hateful idiots are in a greater supply than sensible and kind people.”

Mary glanced in the direction Roland had disappeared, uncertainty in her eyes. “Are, are people like him truly common?”

Meliandra semmed to almost visibly age forty years at Mary’s question. “Yes, sadly they are. I’ve had to deal with too many of his kind in my position as a princess. The worst ones who wear the mask of kindness, it is almost enough to make me lose my faith in people all together.”

Meliandra sighed, her eyes sad, before she turned towards Mary and smiled. “Which is why it is important to cherish those who are truly kind.”

Mary smiled, her mood buoyed by the princesses smile. “Thank you for the advice, I will take it to heart.”

Meliandra smiled a touch wider. “I am glad. Now, for proper introductions. This,” she gestured towards the remaining leather wearer, “is Ishtar Shalmanisar, who hails from Aladdinia. Our tank here is Happy Smiles.”

Happy removed his helmet with a sigh, revealing an angular face with a tired expression. “Before you ask, yes that is actually my name and yes, my parents are evil assholes.”

Johann winced in sympathy. “Sorry, that sounds truly awful. My name’s Johann Alltud and this is Mary Llidaceae. Oh, and that’s Malek.” Johann pointed.

“What?” Happy asked, confused as to why Johann was pointing at him.

The confusion lasted right up until Malek announced his presence with a small bark. Happy’s ingrained reflexes had him leaping forward and spinning 180 degrees to face the wolfhound who’s only reaction was to cock his head and stare at the man in confusion.

“What the Hel, how did that get there?” Happy asked, annoyance creeping into his voice.

“He is my wolfhound, Malek.” Johann answered. “And don’t worry, he won’t bite.”

Meliandra spoke up. “All right, now that we’re all acquainted let us discuss the terms of our party. I would like to nominate either Johann or Mary as leader. As Adventurers they have greater knowledge on fighting monsters and working in teams.”

Johann frowned and was about to speak when Ishtar beat him to it. “That is agreeable. Let those with expertise lead as I always say.”

Johann really didn’t want to lead, and wanted to say so, but Happy spoke up before he could. “Sounds good but if Malek scares me again I’m out.”

Johann attempted to speak up once again, and once again was prevented. “I don’t mind, but I think Johann should lead, he’s far better at it than me.”

Johann turned and stared at Mary, shocked at her betrayal. Mary simply smiled at him, perfectly happy to throw him under the cart. Looking at everyone else he found similar expressions on the rest of their faces.

“Fine, I’ll lead, but I want to make something clear before we move forward. Mary and myself are looking to complete as many missions as quickly as possible, so if I’m going to be leading then you need to be prepared to push yourselves harder than you ever have before.”

Meliandra frowned. “I understand that you are Adventurers and have had special training, but you really shouldn’t look down on us.”

Johann shared a knowing look with Mary and grinned. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”