Stella:

Her ears wouldn't be the same.

After Kristal shattered the eardrums of any poor creature close enough, Stella and The Silver Knight could finally go on their way to the Jólasveinarnir lair. Needless to say, that singing was an unforgettable experience.

By Stella's insistence, they were running toward their objective. The hero was doing so in a particular way with his arms stretched behind him, like a freaking anime character.

"That was a wonderful song, don't you think?" The Knight asked, taking the lead.

"Y-Yeah!" Stella was panting, struggling to keep up with the guard. She deeply regretted coming up with the idea. "Actually, after the screaming, it was kinda decent!"

That was true. After that auditory terrorism, Kristal sang quite decently. It was hard to hear because the Human's ears were ringing due to the damage inflicted upon them. Regardless, she could hear a few bits.

Hurting more than her ears was her entire body. Damn it, she was about to collapse! Her bones felt like they were about to crack, her heart was about to explode, and her legs were starting to wiggle like jelly.

She should have expected that, to be honest. After such an eventful day and not getting any sleep, it was a miracle that she was still standing-

Oh, wait. I spoke too soon. Stella tripped and fell to the ground face-first.

I shudder, thinking what will happen to the poor girl's face.

The Knight quickly dashed to her rescue. "Stella! Are you okay?!"

Stella slowly gathered enough strength to take her face off the dirt and then sat on the ground, panting. "Just peachy!" She weakly gave two thumbs up. "Just... Need time to catch my breath..."

The guard nodded. "Alright." Then he sat beside her.

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Stella appreciated that. She saw the hero pressing a button on his wrist, and a... holographic keyboard appeared? What?

The girl watched in awe as the Knight pressed a few buttons for... some reason, she had no idea what he was doing.

Regardless, she had never seen such a thing before. Was it really technology?

"I didn't know you guys had tech." Stella decided to break the silence. "I assumed you were still in medieval times or somethin'."

The Knight assumed his usual confident posture. "It's breathtaking, right? The best part is, all of this is MY creation!" She gestured at his entire armor.

The Human scoffed. "Bullshit."

The guard lifted his index finger. "I assure you, my sidekick! This is no animal's excrement! This armor, including my visor and gadgets, are all fruits borne from my brain!"

Stella had a hard time believing that. However, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing she found in this place, so it might as well be true. "If that's true, then you're a superhero in every way. Impressive."

The Knight gave a hearty laugh. "The Silver Knight is the epitome of heroism in Sayama! And I'm much more than a good fighter!"

Stella found the guard's ego a little much, but his enthusiasm did rub off on her. She even managed to regain the energy to go back to her feet!

"If that's true, I don't want to slow you down any further. My friend needs-" She stopped mid-sentence. Calling Lien a friend felt wrong, somehow.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The Knight, of course, picked up on this. "What's wrong?"

Stella tried to hide her insecurities with a big smile while she shook her hands in dismissal. "Nothing! Silly stuff, that's all!"

That didn't convince the guard at all. "Look, if you're unsure of going there, we can go straight to the queen and let other guards rescue Lien."

Stella crushed the possibility at the first chance she had. "No!" Then she felt bad for lashing out like that.

"I just..." She sighed. "I want to be there when she's rescued, okay? I have to."

The Knight slightly tilted his head. "Why?"

The girl started to stumble in her own words, embarrassed. "I-I... was responsible for Lien's capture. I panicked, and she had to get me out of the way. Now she's kidnapped, and it's... all my fault."

She half-expected to receive another lecture from the Knight, but he just sat there, nodding. "But you want to make this right and save your friend, right?"

Stella nodded. "I mean, can I even call her a friend? We've known each other for less than a day, and all I did was put her in trouble."

After all those different, scary creatures she fought and escaped from, the thing that scared Stella the most was the possibility of Lien hating her. It was a pathetic thought, but her feelings refused to acknowledge that.

Her eyes shifted to the Knight, silently begging for advice. However, she saw the hero with cartoonishly closed eyes and raised eyebrows. Why was he so happy?

"Knight..." She pointed at her own eyes. "Is your visor okay? You're looking too happy right now."

The guard shook his head. "Nope! This is genuine. I'm happy that you made a genuine connection on your journey. It seems like I didn't need to lecture you at all!"

"Yeah..." Stella wasn't as optimistic as him. "But I doubt she will want to see my face again after this blunder."

The guard started chuckling as if Stella had just said the dumbest thing ever. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed and somewhat offended.

"What's so funny?" She let a bit of her irritation seep through her voice.

The Knight tried to hold his laugh a few times, failing each attempt. After a solid minute, he managed to speak again. "I'm not laughing at you, I swear! It's just..." He took a deep breath. "You made me remember the first time I rescued Lien. She invaded the Spiders' tunnel system by accident. It was a mess! I could barely take two steps because of the chaos she left in her wake! Terrified Spiders, silk everywhere, and a howling Wolf pup trapped by a web."

Stella tried to hold the urge to laugh, but it was futile. It was so dumb, yet it made perfect sense.

The Knight continued. "Ah, her mother was so pissed. It took weeks to prevent an interspecies conflict, but everything turned out fine."

Funny as it was, Stella still hadn't seen the point. "Why are you telling me this?"

The hero shook his head. "I'm not finished yet. After I saved her for the first time, she practically treated me like I was her best friend. You know, she begged a lot to become my sidekick. Of course, capt. Tash would never accept such a thing. That's Lien's mother, by the way."

Stella raised an eyebrow. "So, you're saying I stole Lien's dream job?"

The Knight chuckled. "That, and that Lien has no hateful bone in her body. Trust me, that pup will hold no grudge against you."

"Even if we don't know each other very well?" Stella questioned.

The Knight stood up and lifted his hand to the sky. "There's no set-in-stone duration for the development of a friendship!" Then he clutched his chest with his two hands. "If you two can feel it in your hearts..." Then he stretched both his arms to the sky. "Your bond shall surpass even time and space!"

That was so... dumb and cheesy. But coming from the guard, it didn't feel phoned in. At first, Stella thought he was a bumbling, goofy guy, but he proved insightful and very good at raising someone's spirits.

Talk about not judging a book by its cover.

"That's the dorkiest stuff I have ever heard!" She chuckled. "Thank you. Again."

"Only a day's job for a hero of the people!" Then he went the extra mile by doing a couple of backflips until he landed in a four-point start stance. "Are you ready to save your friend?"

Stella puffed her chest and marched towards the Knight. When she got beside him, she imitated the guard's stance, ready for round 2 of their marathon.

"I'm ready! Time to kick some Ogre ass, sir!" The girl said mockingly.

"If we have no other choice!" He reiterated. "We must diplomatically deal with this stuff, first and foremost!"

Stella chuckled. "If I may be allowed to speak, I'd say that this is pretty lame! But orders are orders!"

The Knight looked at her with a skeptical emoticon on his visor but said nothing. Other than...

"Ready, set, GO!"

The hero and his sidekick started running again. Surprisingly, Stella was the one to take the lead now.

The Human had renewed determination in her eyes. The Knight's latest pep talk really reinvigorated her resolve. She was hopeful that Lien wasn't mad at her, but even if she was, it didn't matter.

She could feel the heat searing her body from the inside, but she ignored its pleas. As the first rays of sunlight bathed the sky, the Human was dead set on her objective.

Stella would never let another friend perish while she does nothing.

"Wait for me, Lien!"