“Oh look! It’s an ice cream cart! Want one?” Eks chirped, running up to the cart. The cart was white with a yellow cloth over its counter. A yellow and white striped awning provided the cart shade. On the front of the cart were the words ‘Ashan Creations Ice Cream’ in black.

Viola caught up to the cat girl as Eks pulled out two bronze coins. “At least wait for me to answer before you pay,” the bunny girl sighed.

“Well, do you want one?”

“No, I’m good.”

“I’m getting you one anyway.”

“Why?”

“This brand is amazing. You have to try it. Two chocolates with sprinkles, please.” She handed the vendor the coins. He handed her two cones back. “Here you go.”

“I told you I don’t want it.” The girls had already began walking away from the ice cream cart.

“Try it! It’s good!” the red-eyed cat girl encouraged.

“If it is so good, why don’t you eat both,” the green-eyed bunny girl countered.

“I only want one. I got the other for you. Look, it has sprinkles.”

“I don’t want it.”

“I’ll kiss you if you try it.”

“Wait! What?!” Viola stopped walking, blushing. “W-Why would I want to kiss you?” she managed to stammer, Eks smirking at her reaction.

“You sure look like you want to kiss me.”

The bunny girl was approaching tomato red at this point. “I-I’ll take the ice cream. J-just drop the whole kiss thing.”

Eks handed her one of the two chocolate ice cream cones with sprinkles. Viola took a quick lick. “T-this is amazing! This really is a good brand!”

“So… How’s that kiss?”

“Kiss?! What do you… Oh crud!” Viola had been so flustered that she failed to notice that Eks had handed her the ice cream cone that she had been licking, an indirect kiss in other words. “Very funny!” she deadpanned.

“Want to switch,” Eks giggled, holding the pristine cone out. Viola took it and gave her the partially eaten one back. “Thanks for the kiss,” the cat girl teased before giving the ice cream cone a quick lick.

“Can you please stop that?” the bunny girl begged, blushing again, her heart racing. Honestly, her legs were starting to feel a bit wobbly at this point. “Why am I so darn flustered?”

“OK! OK! I’ll stop,” the blue-haired cat girl agreed. “So… Let’s go to the tavern next. We can get a quest there.”

***

Eks led Viola towards the back of Outset City’s tavern. The tavern was of wooden build, wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden ceilings. The two girls passed by quite a few wooden tables with their wooden chairs as they walked. Some of the tables were vacant. Some of them were not. One particularly rowdy man cat-called them. “Ignore him,” the cat girl said, continuing to lead the bunny girl towards the back.

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In time, the two girls stopped before a massive bulletin board. The board truly was enormous, and it was covered in fliers. The fliers varied in color, and the board itself was a dark blue. Each flier was held up by a red thumbtack, but there were also some thumbtacks that were just stuck in the board without a flier.

“What do you think?” Eks asked with a grin. “This is Outset City’s quest board. This tavern manages it.”

Viola stared with wide eyes for a moment. There were so many quests to choose from. “This is amazing!”

“Glad to see you’re so fired up. Why don’t you pick?”

“Really?!”

“Really.”

The bunny girl sported a goofy grin as she started to read through the quest fliers. There were just so many of them. “Alright, I can do this. Just need to pick a good one. It will be my first quest. I don’t want to bomb on my first quest. Let’s see. Giant rats. Sounds cliche. Also, isn’t that just a glorified exterminator? Rock toads. Less cliche, but sounds weak. A slime. Aren’t slimes supposed to be weak or something. Also, why just one slime. Slime Queen. That sounds more interesting. Molestation Man. What the fuck?!”

“What’s with that quest?!” Viola pointed to the offending quest as she spoke.

“Molestation Man. Be dominated by the Molestation Man. You interested or something?”

“Of course not!”

“I see. In that case, just pick a different quest.”

“I will. I mean, who would take that one?”

The next moment, an elven woman stepped up to the board, stepping between Viola and Eks. She had chin-length blonde hair, brown eyes, and light skin. She was dressed modestly. With a blush, she reached up and grabbed the Molestation Man quest before scampering away. Viola’s jaw dropped in shock.

“Did that actually happen?! Did she actually accept that quest?!” the bunny girl stammered.

“Looks like it.”

“...but why?”

“Horny I guess.”

“I-I think I’ll just go back to picking a quest.” Viola turned her attention back to the board, Eks watching her with interest. The board was as big as ever, and the quests were as numerous as ever. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. There was actually one fewer quest, but that didn’t really make a notable difference. The point was that there was still many quests to choose from.

“Dullahan, huh. Isn’t that a headless horseman? That sounds interesting but also sounds kind of tough. Maybe I should just go with the Slime Queen quest. It probably isn’t that tough. I mean, it is a slime after all.” The bunny girl’s lovely emerald eyes settled on the flier for the Slime Queen quest. She had a confident smile.

“This one! The Slime Queen one!” Viola called out, reaching towards the flier. Eks grabbed her outstretched hand in a vice-like grip.

“Not that one!” the cat girl deadpanned, quite visibly pale. Her red eyes looked almost lifeless.

“O… K…,” Viola stammered, clearly weirded out by the look in the cat girl’s eyes. “H-How about the regular slime one then?”

“Slimes are dangerous. I recommend something easier for your first quest.” Eks had her color back and no longer had that dead look in her eyes, a definite improvement.

“Slimes are dangerous? I thought they were weak.”

“Trust me. Slimes are very dangerous.”

“I guess slimes are much more fearsome than I thought. At least that is the impression I’m getting. As such, the slime quest is a no go. Well, there is that dullahan. Then again, I’m probably just going to get another ‘to dangerous’. I’m tired of looking through these things. Guess I’ll just go with this one.”

Viola pointed to the rock toad quest, inquiring, “What about this one? It isn’t to hard is it?”

Eks removed it from the board. “Let’s see. Defeat a trio of rock toads. Also has a map showing their location. This should be fine. Here.” The cat girl handed the quest flier to Viola, who quickly folded and pocketed it.

“Now what?” Viola looked at her friend, her green eyes inquisitive.

“Next, we need to get you equipped.”

“You mean like a weapon?”

“Yup. Maybe armor too. Come on. I’ll take you to the blacksmith.”