Meroa couldn't get off the rig fast enough׳ dropping the fourty centimeters before it finished flooting dowd and running as soon as her foot touched the floot.

Pila their old maid was checking on Hatula when she got to her sister's suit, Molash was still online but the external monitor showed him in his personal space and not the guild hall, he was a good second in command and a better husband than Meroa's last string of dates could ever hope to be.

"How are you feeling?" Hatula's question catching her by surprise.

"He got away", was all she could say.

"Bastard", Hatula wasn't in a habit of trussing so hearing the word from her lips startled Meroa.

"They will pay for it" the words seemed to hurt Hatula as she closed her eyes.

"It cost a lot" her sister whispered after a pause, "I burned up seventy grands just so he couldn't loot me", falling back to the pillow in a vision of despair, "this will cost us much more in the long run" adding, "not saying the war is going too bad", she sighed, "but we aren't winning".

 "When will you start rebuilding a character", not sure how to bring up the subject she just shot the words out, "are you taking Suzan?"

Hatula shook her head, "I can't" closing her eyes, "Kofi may only be fifteen years old", looking aside, "but she put her heart into Suzan for the past three years and I cant do that to her or grandma".

It was what Hatula hoped to hear, though she knew their younger sister wouldn't refuse for the war effort it was too much to ask from a girl her age, giving up her prestigious school and friends just so the adults can bolster their political maneuvers for a couple more weeks.

"Are you making another ranger?" Meroa finally asked.

"I don't think so", was the surprising answer, "I want something more flashy", which made Meroa squint at her sister, "I'm too old to start a new legacy", was a flimsy explanation, and if I have to be a support in someone's party then I want something that can break some rules", then hatula smiled at a random thought, "maybe I should take up one of the crazy classes" to which Meroa gasped, "a whore or a stage artist or maybe even a peasant" Hatula's smile broadened as she spoke the words, "it would be fun to try and make an impossible peasant like in the legends and the high scores"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You are clearly out of your mind" Meroa could slap her delusional sister.

"Don't worry" Hatula snorted in dismissal, "I wont really do something like that without at least getting your consent and you are very clearly opposed to having any fun in the game".

"I am having fun in the game" Meroa couldn't leave the obvious taunt, "you know I am on 'vacation' status for the last ten days"

"I know" that mischievous smile again, "did you get his name already?"

"It's AllenP" Meroa shot back.

"That's obviously an alias or just a game name" Hatula closed her eyes after that and Meroa didn't want to start an argument just before her nieces got back home from preschool so she left the room.

When she incarnated Allen's voice rumbled softly through the forest clearing in deep conversation with two other people, looking around she found the insufferable RedFox21 sitting offline and fought the urge to stab him going toward Allen she saw a blue humanoid creature with four arms floating on a small cloud and a golden sword swirling in the air beside it.

"Then I tangled his spear and threw shockwaves shrough it until he dropped the thing" the sword made a twirling slash, "a pirates life are definitely the best"

"I must disagree" the blue thing said in a condescending voice, "all that violence cant be good for ones health and longevity"

Finally noticing her Allen called out "come and meet Lahav", pointing at the sword "and Ashashit" indicating the blue creature with his head.

"I thought your guardian of light was an angel" popping out the first thought in her mind.

"She had to go and rest but asked Ashashit to cover for her" ofcourse the AI needed rest, how silly of her, Meroa gave up rational thinking when dealing with the infuriating creature, because, why bother?

"Your gloves are gone" Allen's words made no sense.

"My what?" Dont indulge him silly girl.

"Your pink gloves from the first time we met", he replied, "Ashashit thinks someone stole them since we couldn't find them in the clearing"

Why was any of this important now?, "we need to move on" she said to derail the previous conversation, "let's finish the dungeon so we don't get the escape reduction", adding "there should be a safe point somewhere up that hill"

"We can't yet", he said after a while, "RedFox21 is still sleeping".

"I don't care" slapping him was a painful mistakenof her past, "he can die and be eaten by lizard as far as i'm concerned".

"I don't want my first customer to be eaten on his first day", looking her in the eye, "then he won't be able to pay me back this month"

"What customer?" Disbelieving his every word.

"I loaned RedFox21 some money" his nonchalance was so annoying.

"How much" maybe use an armored gauntlet.

"Two percent" smiling at her

"Two percent of how much?" Definitely getting a gauntlet

"What I had on hand at the time" that insufferable miserly cretin, couldnt he give a straight answer?

"Fine" finally coming to grips with her dragon induced anger, "I'll go and explore while you keep an eye on your customer"