All right. Let me recap this for myself a moment. So, Tuesday, we logged into Panarena with our new ally, Anhe, to try and do some preliminary quests (I think), but instead ended up on a mini-epic quest to claim a new beast of burden that turned out to be more than a simple beast of burden, and we ended up with the dog-beast Fyu Dongtian, one of PFO's more advanced NPCs. Then we claimed a quest from the bounty board, a quest from General Dai-Gong, who may or may not be plotting to seize the throne of the Emperor of Xuanpu. One of the servant girls who works for him then asked to meet with us, and after she said her piece we got attacked by -- Ninjas? Mercenaries? -- and then regrouped to head for the Mines of Xizi-jiang, where we rescued her sister, fought a demon, and gathered intel for the General's quest. Having done that, we were now on our way to the Monasteries of Shushi-mei, both for our quest and because our rescued NPC, Yù Míng, had asked us to take her there. Apparently the monks were a neutral party in whatever was going on, at least for now. Oh, and we were breaking our self-imposed curfews to stay up most of the night to do that and at least talk to the monks or something before heading off for the night -- for the morning? The day? … whatever it would be, I guess. Also, Rachel-Ariana is moving into Andrea-Healina's place this weekend as per an agreement their families have been working on. So yeah. Lots going on.

Anyway. Fyu made excellent time to the Monasteries, and we found ourselves there in around one Panarena hour, whereupon we had Fyu take a well-deserved rest while we escorted Yù Míng to the monks. She was received at once, and some of the servant girls there had her come with them while we ourselves were directed to a waiting area. Ariana and I immediately spotted several objects that were possibly clues for our quest, and we checked these out together, finding that at least one of them, a letter from the emperor, bore further investigation.

It is truly suspicious, Honored One, that X seems to have become more ambitious and less reserved in his dealings. My spies tell me that he has even gone to the lengths of hiring mercenaries for some unknown purpose. Do you suppose, Honored One, that he will truly do me harm? X has been a faithful servant for all these years, and I cannot fathom the reasons for his betrayal, if betrayal it is. I need your help to determine his motives. Please receive the messenger who bears this letter with all courtesy, as if he were myself, and when time gives you favor to reply send him back with an answer, I pray you.

“I guess 'X' is General Dai-Gong,” I remarked softly as we read the missive.

“Most likely,” Ariana agreed. “So the emperor is suspicious of him, and the general is suspicious of the emperor...”

“And the attackers we've had so far have refused to directly identify who they're working for,” I mused with her, crossing my arms over my chest. No matter how many times I did that here, I could never get used to the sensation of -- well, never mind.

“That's the most suspicious part, isn't it?” she said to me.

“I agree, it is.” I nodded back. “And Fyu didn't recognize the badge we showed him, though he hinted it could be some sort of adaptation of one that exists,” I remarked.

“We need to take a closer look at it, then.”

“We do.”

“Psst!” Heali whispered over to us, and we returned to the others as two monks came to greet us. They wore purple-black robes with an embroidered gold shoulder-sash overtop them, and their heads were clean-shaven. One of them, who seemed older by many years, bore one of those special staffs with the ornate metal loop at the top and six dangling rings, three hanging on each side of the staff.

“A khakkhara,” Anhe murmured softly.

I guess that makes him... the abbot?

“Honored guests, I am Abbot Zhu. Thank you for bringing Yù Míng to us. We will see that she is taken care of, and we will send messages to her family of her safety.” the elder man said to us, and we bowed our heads.

“We are glad to have helped her, Abbot Zhu.” Anhe replied.

“She has, miraculously, kept hold of her family pendant, despite her rough treatment.” the other monk said, and I blinked.

Heh? Come to think of it, we forgot to check if she had that or not, I thought to myself.

“And she has told us the details of her kidnapping.” the man continued. “She was passing by a certain building in Zan, where she overheard things about the conflict that may yet come. Those within were discussing whether they should continue to support Dai-Gong, or repent and resume their allegiance to the emperor. That was all she found out before she inadvertently let out a gasp of surprise, and then she was captured.” the man said with a frown.

“They handled her roughly, but seeing the medallion they could not tarnish her. Yet they found ways around such a rule without actually breaking it, according to Yù Míng's account. They then hauled her out of the city by night and took her to the Mines, where she was forced to endure until at last they decided to be rid of her by offering her to the beast below. Yet she says you have defeated him!” the abbot said with wonder.

“We did, Abbot Zhu.” I replied.

“It is well, then.” the abbot nodded. “And now, honored guests, let me confide in you. All of this has put us in a terrible position: the general's legions and the royal legions look to us for guidance; whomever we decide to aid, that cause is right and just, and the other side is going against the will of the divine. Such is the way it has been, so it will always be. Yet I cannot decide if my emperor is right or if the general is right. Or if, perhaps, there is a third choice.” he said to us, and we looked around at each other.

Th-this is shaping up to be some quest, I thought to myself as I took a deep breath.

“Forgive us, Abbot Zhu, we are not certain ourselves. But we are investigating all these things, and when we come to a conclusion we will do what we can to let you know.” I said. The abbot nodded, and our quest log updated.

Optional: inform Abbot Zhu of your decision after investigating the remaining sites.

Decision, huh? Whether to side with the General or the Emperor, or to take a third option like the abbot wondered... I mused to myself.

“It is well spoken. Them I will await your word on such matters. For now, rest here tonight, honored guests; my servants shall come and show you to the guest house soon.” the abbot told us, and with that he departed.

“Our objective here cleared, and we got that optional quest,” Lizzy remarked.

“Hmm? It cleared already?” I wondered, double-checking. Sure enough, our monastery objective had completed.

“That works for me,” Healina said, stretching her arms out. “I wonder if they have a hot bath here,” she then said, her face lighting up with a soft smile.

“Maybe,” Anhe shrugged. A servant girl then came and showed us to our quarters, where we found several beds and a hotspring outside in the back.

Needless to say, the six of us were in there shortly after a brief meal, relaxing to the fullest and enjoying each other's company. Yù Míng even showed after several minutes; apparently her quarters were the house facing across the hotspring from ours. We didn't get much more information out of her related to the quest, but she did tell us a lot about her life as a priestess and bits about her family. After a couple hours she bid us goodnight, and the six of us donned some soft night clothes as we prepared to sleep a bit.

I sat on one of the couches and curled up into a comfortable position, and Ariana came to snuggle up beside me. Maryn took one of the other couches, as did Healina and Anhe. Lizzy went straight to one of the beds and promptly fell asleep. Ariana soon fell asleep on my shoulder, and the rest of us talked quietly amongst ourselves.

“I wonder how the game keeps us logged in while asleep?” Anhe softly wondered.

“If they didn't have the acceleration, they probably would log us out; but I guess there's some sort of protocol or criteria they have here which prevents that,” I returned, wondering about it myself.

“Hmm... Lana, you have that badge or whatever, right? Mind if I look at it?” Healina asked me. I brought it out of my inventory and tossed it to her. She caught it like a pro and looked at it closely.

“What do you think?” Maryn asked her after a few moments.

“Bronze, with some gold filigree, I think, for the characters. A mountain centerpiece, two lightning bolts on either side, and I guess this is a divine figure of some sort at the foot of the mountain?” she told us, passing it to Anhe for inspection.

“That could be either a spiritual person or a divine,” Anhe nodded. “I guess divine from the lack of clothes.”

“They are pretty much naked, huh?” Healina giggled softly, as did the other two.

“Nice.” I said with a soft smile.

“She curled up on you like a cat and went right to sleep, huh?” Anhe then said to me, and I looked at the sleeping Wood Elf who was sleeping beside me.

“She really did,” I said.

Come to think of it, this might be the first time I've seen her sleeping face, I thought to myself, feeling a rush of feelings swell inside me as I gazed at her, thinking how beautiful she looked.

“We should probably get to sleep as well,” Heali said.

“Go ahead and hold on to that badge,” I said with a yawn.

“You got it, leader!” our healer smiled back. “Good night, Lana.” she then said, curling up herself to get some rest.

“'Night, Heali.”

“Sleep well, everyone.”

“You too, Anhe.”

“'Night!”

“Goon night!”

“Go to sleep, brats.” Lizzy mumbled from across the room. We quietly giggled, and then shut our eyes for sleep.

***

When I woke up, everyone else was more or less awake too. I checked the real world clock from the menu interface. It was about two-thirty in the morning. Midnight of every fourth day in Panarena lined up with midnight in the real world, according to the design.

So we have about eighteen hours or so; that's about ten for activity and eight for another period of sleep. That should be fine, I mused to myself as I got up, rubbing my eyes. Boy does *this* add a whole new meaning to the “falling asleep while gaming” thing...

“Hey.” Ariana said to me with a smile. I smiled back, and gave her a hug.

“Hey.” I replied as she hugged me back.

“You make a nice pillow, by the way.” she remarked.

“As a girl, anyway,” I returned softly, grinning, and she giggled.

“I bet it would be the same in real life.” she whispered back.

“Maybe.” I shrugged.

“What the plan, boss?” Lizzy called from across the room.

“Yes, what are we going to do? It is just after two-thirty in real life, from what I see on the menu,” Anhe added, giving us a curious look.

“Hmm... well, I guess we have about ten hours Panarena time to do something, maybe twelve, and then another round of sleep so we can wake up about six-thirty or so.” I put forth, and the other four looked around at each other.

“The more sensible thing would be to just go to bed, but our minds are probably too active now to get to sleep without some more activity first.” Healina shrugged.

“True.” Maryn nodded. “In which case Lana's idea is more practical,” she continued, “So let's pick an objective and go for it until we have to get off.”

“Nearest quest marker to our current position is...” Lizzy mused, opening up her map and quest log. “It's halfway between here and a city called Hangol, to the northeast of us. The objective there is to gather intel on some mercantile meeting in a shady underground market... sounds like fun to me!” she remarked with a faint grin.

“Underground market... smugglers, I bet.” Healina said.

“And the people who use them.” Maryn added.

“In which case we might get a glimpse of someone who's wearing one of those badges,” I then said.

“Oh, true!” Heali agreed. “Let's get ourselves ready and set off, then. We don't have time to waste!” she said with a wink.

T-technically... I began to myself internally, musing on the irony. But I shoved that aside to switch to my new gear, and when the six of us were ready we headed out to where Fyu was waiting for us. We bade farewell to the monks, and to Yù Míng, before heading off in a northeastern direction to find the mysterious underground market.

Fyu made good time to our destination--little less than an hour. We only had to stop a couple times, but that was because a couple of conducive side-objectives appeared, ones which clarified the location of the place in question. We soon arrived at a deep valley bordered by a small mountain range, partially obscured by dense jungle. The semi-hidden trail wound its way downwards, ending near the roots of a mountain where a small stream burst forth to make its way along the bottom of the valley. This natural entrance had a small grove of maple and ginkgo trees, and further away stood a large cypress.

“There's a couple of watch-posts in the trees,” Ariana said as she used her far-seeing skills to scout ahead. I looked at the display she projected for us, thinking about the guards and all the possible dangers that might be in there, and then suddenly had an idea.

“Hey... why don't we go in with our casual attire, keep just a couple weapons handy? You think that'd make them less likely to be hostile?” I suggested. Some of the others exchanged a curious glance with each other. Maryn's face partly lit up at my words; she seemed agreeable to it, at least.

“Hmm...” Lizzy scratched the back of her neck as she pondered the thought. “I like it, but it's risky. Two of us should remain armed as we are; I nominate you and Maryn. The rest of us can play-act as merchants under your protection, which isn't a complete lie since we're crafters as well. I don't know if Anhe has any crafting skills, though...”

“I do a lot of gathering, but I have yet to take up an actual craft skill.” Anhe told us.

“So you kind of count.” Lizzy nodded.

“If you say so,” the other girl said.

“Hmm.” I nodded back in response to Lizzy's suggestion. “That does make a bit more sense; we'd probably be equally suspicious if we were all unarmed. Let's go with that plan,” I said, and with that decided, Lizzy, Heali, and Ariana exchanged their gear for more civilian attire. Anhe blushed, and then smiled awkwardly.

“I... do not have simple attire, really...” she said, her face coloring.

“Here!” Healina said, pulling a robe out of her inventory and handing it to her. “Just wear it over your gear.”

“Ah! Okay,” Anhe nodded back, doing so.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

We then continued to the entrance of the underground market. I had to admire the carefully orchestrated double meaning of the phrase. The guards let us pass without a second look; once inside, Fyu pulled us to the stables, where we disembarked and readied ourselves to head in.

“Be careful, masters,” he rumbled to us softly. “I shall keep an eye out, and alert you if anything suspicious happens.”

“Got it; thanks, Fyu.” I nodded back to him, and we took our leave to head into the markets.

W-wait, how will he alert us? I suddenly wondered, and then decided we would know if the time came. Lizzy nodded at me when we got to the central plaza, tapping Heali and Maryn on the shoulder and heading off with them to the left. That left the rest of us with the option of going straight ahead or to the right. Ahead of us was the main thoroughfare of mercantilism, with all sorts of goods, supplies, and gear available. To the right was an ascending staircase; from what Ariana could read on the sign, the upper levels had more exotic goods and rarer items for sale. On the left, where Lizzy and the others had gone, was a descending stairwell; this, Ariana told us, apparently led to the shadier parts of the markets.

“Slaves, and illegal stuff, I bet,” I whispered softly.

“Definitely,” Ariana said. “I get why they went down there themselves, being older, but we're not children. And we should really stick together here.”

“I agree,” I nodded back, “But for now we'll let them play the adults in this situation.”

“Agree.” Anhe nodded. She looked ahead then, and then to the right, looking back and forth between the two paths a couple more times before turning back to us. “I understand too that they might think something suspicious would be down there, but maybe whatever is hiding is hidden in plain sight. Let us look on this level.” she suggested to us.

“Gotcha.” I nodded back, as did Ari.

The three of us then casually strolled along the market paths, keeping our eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. There was quite a lot of things for sale; it reminded me of the old street markets and fairs we used to go to with the grandparents. In some parts there were taverns, entertainment stages, and even inns. Further ahead we saw another descending passage with a sign hung over it; the characters were boldly painted in red.

“Some kind of warning sign?” I wondered as Ari pulled up the translation guide.

“That's a passage to an underground player-versus-player area called the Untold Deeps,” she told us.

“Ohh! I have heard of that place!” Anhe said with excitement. “There are lots of huge caverns and wide passages down there, and underground oceans. And it goes on under all of Panarena, from what I have read.”

“Cool!” I remarked with interest. “I bet there's even a world boss or two lurking down there in one of the caverns!” I said with a smile on my face.

“La-na!” Ariana said, gently tugging my ear.

“Ahh! Oh, right, the quest.” I sighed, and Anhe let out a giggle.

We returned to looking around for suspicious goings-on, picking up a bite to eat from one of the merchants as we did so. It was a tasty meal, but there was an unusual sort of flavor to it that didn't quite agree with me. I saw Ariana wobble, and reached out to steady her, suddenly noticing a debuff effect on myself as well. Anhe turned to us; she seemed unaffected.

One of her passive skills, or something she trained up? It doesn't matter right now!

“A-Anhe... call... L-Liz--” I said as I felt a weird, fuzzy sensation in my head.

D-dang it... stupid trick t-to... fall... f-for...!

Ariana suddenly went limp, slipping into unconsciousness, and as I joined her in unwitting sleep, the last thing I heard was Anhe shouting out our names.

***

When I woke up again, Ariana was next to me. We were both tied to chairs. My gear had been taken, and I was wearing a simple knee-length tunic. I looked around; there was an alcove that seemed to function as a storage closet a few paces away. Inside it I could see my gear and weapons.

So I don't have to go very far to get it once we escape... they didn't take Ari's stuff because she didn't have it equipped. Anhe, where's Anhe? I suddenly wondered, not seeing our newest member tied up with us. Maybe she couldn't help us the way she wanted and had to run; or maybe there were too many of them and she had to rezz up at a waypoint... or maybe she's still around and they only fought her as a distraction until they hauled us away to -- wait, my quest log! I then noticed, seeing that it had updated.

Completed: investigate the underground market.

New objective: escape with proof of your interrogator's allegiances.

Interrogator, huh? I mused to myself as I heard footsteps. Ariana then woke up, looking around and then seeing me tied to a chair next to her.

“Lana?” she asked quickly, hearing the footsteps as well.

“We have to get out of here with some sort of proof of their allegiance. Let's play along a bit and see what happens,” I whispered to her, and she nodded back.

Two figures then showed up at the entrance of the room, and a third appeared, this one carrying a chair which he situated in front of us and then scooted off to the corner. The more elegantly dressed yet more physically grotesque of the two remaining figures then took the chair, while his plainly dressed assistant (or so I guessed) stood by his side. This man then suddenly brought out a little table, setting it before the seated man and placing a few sheaves of parchment upon it, along with an ink-block, pot. and brush. The fancy interrogator then readied his writing utensils, and then cleared his throat.

“I do beg your pardon for my very rude abduction, but there are things that have come to my attention, and because they have done so it is my duty to find out more about them.” he said to us. I suddenly noticed that, on the left side of his coat, there was another one of the strange badges.

“Where is our friend?” I said at once, partly to buy for time but mostly out of genuine concern.

“Your friend who was somehow resistant to our paralysis poison was diverted, and we were able to bring you here without resistance.” he told me with a smug smile.

So she's basically all right, and she's probably regrouped with the others by now. I noted to myself.

“You've made a mistake, you know.” I said to him with an equally smug smile. I then noticed that, in addition to the badge he wore on his coat, there was a unique amulet around his neck. “She'll find our other allies and come looking for us. Your best option would be to let us go peacefully, before the invite themselves over.”

“Oh, I am sure they will do so. But we have doormen enough to remove uninvited guests from our parties,” he returned to me, smug as a cat.

“You think you're so great because you got us with poison; but I bet your guys wouldn't stand up to a real fight. They certainly didn't seem to when they attacked us in Zan.” I retorted at once, and he seemed quite offended by that.

“I admit, that was not our best plan. But it led us to you, and so you need not fear for the Wèi family any longer. They are no longer of importance to our plans: you are.” he said to us.

“Oh?” Ariana asked him. “Why would that be? And what kind of information do you think you'll get from us?”

“Because I can tell. You are working under official orders from someone. I want to know who. And you are going to tell me.” the man replied.

“You're working for someone too, aren't you?” Ariana said. “You act like you're a king, but I think you seem more like a head servant.” she quipped. That really offended him.

“How rude!!” he squawked.

“I don't want to hear that from a poisoner who tied us up,” I returned with a shrug, leaning back in my chair a bit.

“Oh-ho? So if I untie you, you might talk? Do you think I would fall for that so easily?” the man returned, his leering eyes gleaming at me from above his crooked nose.

I made no reply, quietly sighing and letting out a yawn as I continued to lean back. Ariana ceased replying to him as well, gazing away casually towards one of the walls. The pig-like man made an angry face at us, and then shook his head. At that moment I suddenly felt a sort of quivering tension from the ropes.

Waaaiiit a sec... my Strength stat is around eighty right now, and my Dexterity is nearly one-hundred... can I--can I *break* these ropes?? I wondered to myself.

“Bah, I will soon have the answers I seek, whether you give them willingly or not. Fu Shan, fetch the potion of truth-telling!” he ordered, and the man who had brought in the chair bowed and scurried off. The interrogator then turned back to us with a sleazy smile. “Soon, my pretty flowers, your tongues will talk of what I want to hear!”

Now!!

With a yell, I expended all of my strength in a sudden stretch, and the ropes burst asunder, much to the interrogator's shock and that of his assistant. I then kicked the table towards the two of them, bowling them over, then grabbed by chair and whacked them in the heads with this to render them unconscious. After I was sure they were out I seized the assistant's dagger and cut Ariana free, then went over to the two of them again to retrieve the amulet and the badge. Our quest log updated, and Ariana high-fived me as we retrieved my equipment and stuff from the alcove.

“That Strength stat really pays off, huh?” she remarked as I threw off the tunic and donned my proper gear.

“I bet Lizzy would have been even more impressive, or Maryn,” I replied.

“Hmm... Maryn has more Vitality than Strength, though; the two of you might have an equal measure of that stat.”

“True,” I agreed as I buckled on my daggers once more. “Anhe is probably set up similar to me with stats, though probably more Strength focused than I am.”

“Oh, I bet.” Ari nodded, switching to her battle gear as well.

“Well, we've got another badge, and I guess this family crest as well.” I said when we were both geared up. “Let's scram!”

“Let's do that!” she nodded back, and we ran out of the room, bowling over Fu Shan on our way out. We disabled quite a few guards in our escaping the place, and were nearly at the main door when a whole host of them suddenly appeared in the room and surrounded us.

S-snap... I hope we hang on to the evidence if we die here, I hoped to myself with grim amusement.

“Well, I kind of wondered what it'd be like to die here, anyway...” I remarked softly.

“T-true...” Ari reluctantly agreed. “Might as well be--” she started to say, but then the front door burst open, and Fyu's head appeared in the doorway, letting out a ferocious growl that stunned the guards.

“Fyu!” the two of us exclaimed at once.

“Hurry, masters!” the dog-beast said to us as he withdrew his head, and we ran out, finding the others in the waggon behind him. They had all switched to battle gear. We jumped into the waggon, and began racing out of the underground.

“You okay?” Maryn asked us worriedly.

“We're fine,” I nodded back, “And we got the objective!”

“I saw that in our log,” the other girl smiled back. “Let's get out of here and find somewhere safe to log out!”

“Once we get out of here we'll go to Yu!” Healina said.

“Huh?” Lizzy wondered.

“Not you, 'Yu' -- spelled Y-U.” our healer returned.

“Why me what?” the smith grinned back.

“Oh shut up.” Heali smirked at her.

“That will take me well into the night to do so, masters,” Fyu warned us.

“That's fine, Fyu.” Maryn said.

“Very well! Hold on!” the dog-beast said as we galloped at a breakneck pace through the already swarming and now practically chaotic streets of the underground markets.

In about ten minutes we had made it to the entrance, and we bulldozed past the poor sentries who tried to stop our escape from the place. We raced up out of the valley, and then made our way east. Fyu kept going at top speed for nearly an hour (Panarena time, of course), and then slowed to a more relaxed pace.

“Masters, if I keep this pace, we can be at the Port of Yu in nearly sixteen hours.” he then told us.

“We spent two hours there, all told,” Lizzy said. “That'll be safe for us, and then we can find or make a camp to log out at for the day.”

“We'll be doing some waggon sleeping.” Healina noted.

“That's fine,” I shrugged, and then looked over at Anhe, who seemed glum. “Hey. Don't worry about it. It all turned out for the better, in a funny sort of way.” I told her with a smile, and she looked up at me. She still looked sad, but she did nod back.

“Next time, I will not fail to keep you safe.” she told us in an unusually emotional voice. I couldn't think of a reply, but Ariana smiled at her.

“We'll keep you safe, too, Anhe.” the Wood Elf said to her, and Anhe nodded back again.

We traversed through the rugged countryside of Xuanpu in an east-northeast direction as best we could, heading towards the coast of the Jade Sea where Yu was situated. The six of us talked idly for the next several hours as Fyu pulled us along at a steady pace, discussing school, school-work, possible trips for our club, future adventures in the game, speculating on new members in-game and for the club, and personal life stuff -- well, except me, of course. At least, insofar as I could help it... until a certain October holiday idea the girls had discussed some time earlier was put forth.

“Y-you're really going to do that to m--ahh, to Sean, for Halloween?” I asked them anxiously as they giggled.

“Of course! We have to!” Lizzy said.

Ughhh... really??

“And he can blame Maryn, it was her idea after all!”

“Y-you're not -- I mean, I bet you'll never get him into a princess outfit no matter how much Ari pleads!” I said, wondering what kind of goofy and desperate expression was on my face right now.

“Hmm? You're really concerned for him, huh?” Lizzy remarked innocently. “We wouldn't be trying to butt into Ari's happy real-life romance, would we?” she winked subtly.

“I'm just saying! He seems like the stubborn kind of guy when it comes to that sort of thing,” I managed to say without “hiccuping”, as I thought of it.

“She's right,” Maryn nodded back. “I guess we'll have to go with raggedy man-servant!” she grinned happily.

“True!” Healina giggled. I sat back with a quiet sigh, settling for that. Anhe looked over towards me curiously.

“You know a lot about them for only being in game with Ariana,” she remarked to me.

“Hmm?” I returned, looking back at her. “We talk over the phone a lot too, and sometimes when we're along here. Of course I know things,” I replied.

“Hmm...?” Anhe mused with a semi-suspicious tone. “Now I definitely want to meet you in real life.” she said with a soft smile.

“R-really?” I asked her.

“Really!” she said with a brighter smile.

Wh-what would you say if you already had? I wondered internally as I smiled back, shrugging gently in answer.

“Maybe.” I remarked. Ariana then laid her head on my shoulder again. It was getting dark in Panarena again, but all of a sudden I saw something in the distant horizon.

Gleaming in the fading light of the sun and the encroaching light of the stars, there it stood: the seaside estate with white walls and the hip-and-gable roofs of silver and gold could be seen, and beyond it the greenish-blue expanse known as the Jade Sea. There were no lights on in the place, but it still glowed radiantly from the natural lights of the sky.

“Ari!” I softly nudged her, pointing towards it, and the others looked as well, taking in the sight with awe.

“There it is,” Anhe whispered, almost reverently. Lizzy let out an impressed whistle, and Fyu turned briefly to look at it as we passed by it.

“That estate has been abandoned for many long years,” he told us. “It fell into the emperor's possession, and he incorporated it into Dai-Gong's jurisdiction, hence the general's offer for your quest, masters. We are passing its outermost bounds, now.”

“Th-the territory extends all the way out to here?” I asked him with wonder.

“It does indeed,” replied Fyu, who returned his attention to the road. “When you win the estate, you shall see its bounds for yourselves.” he added.

“Whoa,” I remarked.

“Definitely gotta have this as a main base for the guild, and Cloverbell can be our retreat home.” Lizzy remarked.

“I agree with that.” I nodded back. “Cloverbell is more suited to peace and quiet than lots of activity.”

“Definitely!” Ariana agreed. “Though I can't imagine us being a super large guild no matter how much I think about it.”

“We need to see Cloverbell at least once ourselves, too,” Maryn sat, patting Anhe's shoulder, and the other girl nodded.

“I want to see it too.” she agreed.

“We'll go back when we can,” I said in reply. “For now...” I yawned, leaning back against the waggon with Ariana.

“Let's get our last bit of sleep until Fyu parks us somewhere,” Lizzy nodded, and we drifted off to sleep as our faithful dog-beast gently hauled us along in the waggon.

***

As I stirred awake a few hours later, I could smell a different in the air. It was like the air at Seacrest or Floraline; we were near the ocean. I looked out at our surroundings. Fyu had halted near a grove of bamboo surrounded by berry bushes and was now unhitched from the waggon. Yu was still a distance to the northeast, but we could walk to it from here. Lizzy and Maryn were setting up tents, and the other three were just now waking up. I slowly got up, helping Ariana to her feet, and we hopped out of the waggon to help the others with the tents.

“I assume the time is near for your departure to the other realm, masters?” Fyu said to us then.

“We'll get these set up and then head out, yes.” I replied.

“I understand. Again, fear not; I shall be here when you return, as will these tents.” he said in turn.

“We shouldn't be more than a couple of days,” Healina said to him.

“It is well, masters. I will rest, and no one will trouble me.” Fyu told us, stretching himself out for a moment and then situating himself into position for a nap.

“Rest well, Fyu. You earned it.” I smiled.

He opened an eye in reply, and then closed it again. Assured of his well-being by his own words, we then logged out for the time being. As I “woke up” again in the real world, I felt remarkably well-rested.

Well, we know that we can do this, then, in a pinch, I thought to myself as I looked at the clock. It was nearly seven. Time to wake up, I thought bemusedly, and went to get myself ready for school.