"I still think we need to get you some armor." Frederich says.

"I don't need any." Kay replies. Their basic supplies have already been taken care of, namely food and a handful of other survival items, as well as a heavy backpack to hold them. Naturally, wearing nothing else to burden her, and also having proven herself quite strong, Kay herself ends up carrying such things, which works out quite well as she is also able to slip the handle of her weapon, let's call it an axe for the sake of simplicity, through a loop of fabric in underneath it. She must admit it is a little better than always having it in her hands. She's attracting enough unwanted attention as it is due to her mark, let alone frightening pedestrians by waving a huge metal blade around. As for the armor itself, she already owes people enough money and has no desire to compound that problem.

"Come on! Jerin can make you a great set... a super heavy one to go with the axe! You're strong, so you'll still be able to move around fine, and it will make you virtually invincible!" the armored mouse says, tapping on his breastplate with a paw to demonstrate.

Kay shivers, remembering Amon, or more accurately his body. The armor standing upright, undamaged even as his liquified remains puddled at the feet. "No. No armor." she shakes her head, trying and failing to push the image from her mind.

"At least let's get you some clothes! You can't be walking around like that!"

"Huh, why not?" she asks. "Why do I need clothes? It's not cold here, and it's not like they'll offer any real camouflage. Even if they help keep me a little more clean, it's way easier to wash dirt out of my fur than it is cloth. What's the point?"

"What's the point?" Fred asks, downright exasperated that someone would dare ask such a question. "That's how people will recognise and remember you! It's how you express yourself! It's what makes you special and memorable and what makes you, well... you! Look at my armor, for instance. Sure, it offers protection, but it's more about the image. When people see me, they see a defender, when they see my cape blowing in the wind, they see strength, and when they see my eyes through the visor of my helmet, they see determination, and that perception? Well, it becomes a sort of strength. It reminds me that I'm not just becoming a hero for my own sake, but for all of theirs as well! It gives me something more to fight for." he smiles proudly before realizing he's gone off on something of a tangent. "Now, you don't necessarily need to look strong, but you need to look like, well... something! Hey, Mia, back me up here!"

During this discussion the diminutive mage girl has remained quiet. In fact she's said very little ever since she had pushed her way into this little group, following just a little behind, regularly looking as though she perhaps has something to say, but can't quite work up the courage or find the proper words to bring it to light. Not that Kay minds this, of course. There's nothing wrong with being quiet, and while big talkers can sometimes earn themselves a lot of attention, they usually don't know when to shut up. Given the choice between someone who talks too much or too little, she'll take too little any day. Now, however, the mage is put into a position where she is forced to speak up, both of the larger mice looking to her expectantly. The naked mouse hasn't made any statement or request to support her own viewpoint, but the look in her eyes (all the more intimidating in their current state) says all that they need to.

"Well... she does already have the curse mark which makes her stand out. Perhaps a flamboyant outfit would be a bit... too much?" she says in a soft voice. "Plus, you know, pretty much all adventurers try to dress the part. Maybe by not having any clothes of armor or jewelry or tattoos or anything, that already makes her kind of unique?"

The voice rings out with little confidence, and whenever she's nervous, which is usually, she speaks in questions. Even when the actual words and situation don't call for one. She is the sort who has trouble saying so much as 'good morning' without seemingly asking for permission in the process.

"Huh, I guess that might be true." Frederich says, rubbing his chin. All this while he's been rather torn. On one hand, he wants Kay to be as impressive an adventurer as she can be, for a variety of reasons, but on the other, there's the looming fear of being overshadowed. As a result, while he does want her to improve herself, he's feeling less than motivated to press the issue. He smiles and nods his head. "Okay, fine, it's settled. I guess it's established that I'll be the best looking one in the group!"

Kay doesn't bother pointing out that Mia is both physically more attractive and that her outfit coordinates far better. Mia slightly suspects the same, but is afraid to even voice the thoughts in her own mind, let alone state them aloud. Meanwhile, Kay can't help looking about with suspicion. She's no genius, but she's no fool either, and is very aware of pattern recognition. She keeps her eyes for any unusually well dressed mice who might approach them, wary that they'll somehow force her to align with them, or worse, further increase her level of personal debt. Fortunately, there are none about, most mice, even adventurers doing their best to look good, but even their best tends to be less than impressive.

"Okay, first things first we need to take a simple quest. I know a good dungeon that's due to respawn." Fred says.

"Huh? Why do we need to do that?" Kay asks.

"Well, first of all, we're adventurers, and adventurers take quests." he replies, turning to her. "Now, I know, I know, we should do something more ambitious, but hey, we've just met and I assume you've never swung a... well, whatever that thing is on your back around before, right?" he looks to Mia. "And you... do you have any combat experience?"

Both of the mouse women look to one another, unable to properly argue with him. Even though Kay has carried a crude wooden club on a few occasions, she'd never had an opportunity to use it. As for Mia, she looks down and shakes her head. "No, I'm afraid not. I've seen fiends and dark lords in books, but I've never actually encountered any."

"Will this take long?" the naked mouse asks, that being the closest thing to a specific objection she can think of.

"Nope, it's pretty close to town. It'll give us a chance to practice fighting as a unit and earn you two some starting experience points."

"Fine." Kay sighs. "Let's get this over with."

Combat proficiency wasn't exactly a high priority of hers. Originally she was planning on heading off alone, with at best some scavenged weapon found on the way, just to defend herself in case of emergencies. That said, the more she thought about it, the more unrealistic she realized that plan was. There is going to be a lot of walking involved, and it it's only a matter of time before something dangerous spots her, and worse, it could very well spot her long before she spotted it. In a case like that, running away might not be an option, which either leaves fighting or dying. Neither are exactly ideal, but if given the choice, fighting wins out by a slim margin. That's only taking into account traveling outside as well. She has no idea what she'll find at any of the pillars of light.

As the three walk towards the edge of town, well away from the main gate, there's a brief silence. Mia has little she wishes to say, and is trying to decide whether it's worth actually saying it. Kay has nothing she wants to say, so it's a particularly easy decision on her part. As for Frederich, well, he always has something he wants to say, but in this case it's a difficult decision, which shows just how potentially prickly the subject matter is.

"So... that mark of yours came from a dark lord, huh?" he finally asks, speaking in a soft voice just to make sure no strangers about might overhear.

"Yeah." Kay replies simply. She feels no need to elaborate.

"Was it a strong one?" he asks, just as softly, looking to her.

"Yeah." she nods. She could have spoken further on the matter, but has little to say. While her village is rather crude in most regards, with few of the mice being particularly skilled, there were a few exceptions. Those three adventurers, for instance, were especially talented, and were it not for their loyalty to their home town, could have earned quite a bit of fame within a city like this. They had fought dark lords before... really, it's necessary to properly scavenge, as there are always strays about looking for sources of food and entertainment. In a proper fight to the bitter end, they would have had trouble, but fortunately dark lords don't tend to be very brave. All it usually takes is inflicting a few minor wounds to convince them it is not worth the effort, which will send them running. That's why Amon and the others decided to take on that... that thing. Even if they had gotten injured a little, well, they had Kay with them as healing support! A duty she had never asked for, but it was hard to refuse when she was picked for it. In truth, she hadn't exactly been pulling her weight so far as community duties go. Of course healing potions are known for doing very little beyond tasting sweet, but that offers a morale boost if nothing else, which is the first step in surviving a serious injury. As for what happened from there, they couldn't even touch that monster. It resisted all of their efforts to attack it, effortlessly, and tore through the strongest defenses of the mice. By all rights, it should have killed her as well.

Fred clearly has some follow-up questions, but looking into her face, he can sense her inner turmoil, and for once, knows better than to speak up. To everyone's surprise, it's Mia who does.

"Abilities like that are exceedingly rare. All dark lords are different, of course. Most of their abilities tend to be combat focused. Some can spread poison or even terribly infectious disease, and in some cases their magic has been known to blend and merge with the sorceries of mice, such as when the great sorcerer Rowan was able to utilize the powers of the dark overlord against it, but to actually impart a portion of it's power onto another creature? I've heard stories of such a thing, but never seen it in person."

The other two look to her with surprise. As it turns out, the small mouse can be surprisingly talkative when it's about a subject which interests her.

"Why would it do such a thing? We're the enemies of the dark lords, right? Why would it choose to make one of us more powerful, even if only for a little while, when it could just kill us?" the armored mouse asks. Even knowing little about the situation, he was able to fairly extrapolate the fact that it could have easily killed Kay had the creature so desired.

"Who's to say? Perhaps it seeks to take control of her body. Perhaps it simply wishes to torment her. Perhaps there is something it wishes for her to accomplish." Mia shrugs. "Either way, it wants something, and that something is likely not pleasant. These are not creatures known for their benevolence. One way or another, having that mark serves its desires."

Kay frowns. She already knew this, the dark lord having told her so much, even if the creature was vague about its actual intentions. Still, she could safely guess that her perception of the three pillars and the fact she finds herself so drawn to them is no coincidence.

"Well, it's settled then! We go out, find that dark lord and destroy it! Then, Kay will be cured, and most importantly, she'll get her name back!" Frederich smiles.

"Nope. Not happening." Kay shakes her head.

"Wait, she's lost her name?" Mia asks, apparently having not overheard that detail while shadowing the group at the adventurers guild booth. "So does that mean 'Kay' isn't her real name? Is this a product of the curse mark as well?"

"Yup, sure is." Fred says before turning to Kay. "And what do you mean 'no'? Don't you want to get revenge? That creature made all your friends and neighbors forget you, is slowly killing you, and most importantly, took your name! Don't you want to make it pay for that?"

The naked mouse, of course, had no interest in such things. She had no interest in most things, but especially not that. The world is a harsh place, and there's no way to take proper revenge on the rain for falling, or disease for killing or old age for sapping away ones strength. Sure, you can be angry about it, even try to lash out, but in the end? It won't fix the problem or even get rid of your anger. The world, again, is a harsh place and the idea that you can make it otherwise through power, anger and violence is a childish notion at best.

"Sorry, I don't mean to keep butting in..." Mia explains, even though she's not an outsider at this point and naturally has as much right to speak as anyone else. "Did you just say that her friends and neighbors forgot who she was? That the effect went further than Kay herself? Were these neighbors also in contact with the dark lord?"

Kay shakes her head. "No. It was just me."

"Wow. That's just... wow..." Mia says, eyes wide. "That changes a lot. Even basic memory manipulation on a single person is incredibly difficult, but to do it on a whole group, sight unseen? We're not talking about an ordinary monster here. If this creature can seriously alter the minds of multiple mice, without any physical or visual contact with them, I fear it is not the sort of entity which can simply be fought and killed. While I imagine there must be some manner of restriction on the abilities, we're talking about a being which can potentially kill creatures it has never even seen with little more than a thought."

"Oh, come on! Just because it can tamper with memories a little doesn't mean it could kill people the same way!" Fred says.

"As I said already, memory manipulation on even a single individual is exceedingly difficult. Borderline impossible. While again, I can't speak for the specific requirements and the nature of its powers, I will say this: Killing someone, in comparison, is incomparably easier." all three fall into silence once more for a few long seconds before she continues. "It's possible it's linked to the curse mark, however. It may only be able to use its magics on people connected to her."

"Like us, huh?" Fred says.

"I didn't ask you to come along. If you're scared, you can just go home." Kay says, more than a little hoping that they will do just that, but not realizing that if her goal was to push them that way, she took a terribly flawed approach.

"No way!" the armored mouse replies, sounding, much to Kay's annoyance, more determined than ever. "Okay, maybe fighting that thing head-on isn't an option right now, but we'll think of something! For now, well just put a tack in that for later!"

"Yes! If anything this just verifies my initial instincts. You are connected to a being of great and terrible power, and there is much to be learned from it! That's well worth any risk!" Mia similarly chimes in, looking equally determined.

As for Kay, she looks from one emboldened mouse to the other and sighs, shaking her head. So much for getting rid of the excess baggage. She would have felt a little bad about sending them away without repaying her debt anyways.

"Ah, we're finally here!" Fred says as he hops over towards the metal wall. At first the place shows no clear landmarks, just a region like any other. If anything, it was inferior to most, being tucked away in region with no room for construction. As he crouches down, brushing some dirt away, however, a wooden hatch is visible underneath, one of the dozens of hidden underground passages which litter the city. "The beginners dungeon is right down here!"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What's a dungeon?" Kay asks, and both look to her with surprise.

"What's a dungeon? It's a place full of monsters and treasure! Well, more monsters than treasure, but you can sometimes find valuable stuff in them, too! In this case, it's just low-level fiends. They operate on a rather low respawn timer, so even when you kill them, it doesn't take long for more to find the place and make it their home." Frederich says.

"Huh? If they keep getting killed, why do more of them keep going there?" Kay asks.

"I don't know. They're fiends. They're stupid!" Fred replies, finding the very question bizarre. Mia appears to agree. "Anyways, the exact numbers and strength can vary a lot. Last time I was down here, it was just a few beetles. I can easily handle them on my own, so with the three of us, it should be pretty easy."

"Okay... so why exactly are we killing these things?" Kay asks, a little annoyed with herself for asking so many questions, but so much of this just seems unintuitive, if not outright backwards to her.

"Weren't you listening? Because they're fiends! And they give good experience points!" Fred sighs.

"Beyond that, while individually they don't pose a significant threat to mice, they aren't entirely harmless. One of the primary jobs of adventurers is to cull their numbers to keep them from spreading into the city." Mia interjects. "It's not only for practical rewards, it's a valuable public service, which is why bounties are offered on such creatures. Not only does it offer combat experience, but money as well."

Kay frowns at the mention of money. She clearly won't be getting any of that, as her guild membership and food have already put her in debt to Frederich, and she couldn't even guess how much Mia spent in total between the weapon and other supplies. Not that she really wanted any money or has any need for it, but still. It would be nice to have some, in principle.

"That's right!" Fred says, slamming his fist into his paw. "Everybody wins! Well, you know, except for the fiends, but who cares about them?"

Kay's old village also had a fiend problem, of course. Not only were they regularly seen outside, but often would creep in through the walls and occasionally attack mice as they slept. The adventurers of the village, both the three exceptionally strong ones, and the more average skilled with considerably more primitive weaponry would regularly destroy such creatures whenever they found them, but the idea of actively hunting them down in their own territory for personal gain? It doesn't seem quite right. Still, she was in no mood to argue, and although she would never dream of saying such a thing aloud, she was rather eager to properly try out her new axe.

With the large panel pulled away, a dark passage leading downwards is revealed. Frederich leads the way, followed by Kay with Mia taking up the rear. It isn't too long before the little light spilling in front outside fades and eventually vanishes completely, however, leaving the three walking briefly in near total darkness.

"Close your eyes please, everyone. Light!" Mia calls out, raising her staff. The red stone shines brightly as a ball of energy appears within, engulfing the entire passageway in a luminous glow.

"Wow, that's amazing! Can you do anything else?" Fred asks her.

"Nope. That's it." she replies. Fred seems rather disappointed by that realization. Of course for Mia, it's far from a new one, but still, saying it out loud still hurts. Kay, of course is fairly impressed, having no real expectations of the pair. If she were the encouraging type, she would have said so. Of course she's not and instead simply remains silent.

The spell isn't entirely helpful. Frederich has a lot of experience hunting in such places, so his eyes are keenly adapted to seeing in the dark. Kay has little experience with such matters, but hadn't really noticed how dark it was, unaware that the curse changed more than just the appearance of her eyes. She simply assumed the place wasn't particularly dark, rather than thinking she has some unnatural ability to see within it. As for Mia, well, she very much needed it.

The tunnel is long and round, initially made by some other burrowing creature and widened by mouse construction so one could comfortably walk upright within it. While it looked precarious, the walls and ceiling made of rather soft dirt without any proper support structures, it proved much more structurally sound than it appeared. That isn't to say that the occasional cave-ins never happen, occasionally with tragic results.

Mia is rather slow, every few steps distracted by some manner of new root, weed or dried carapace of some strange fiend, each of which she goes on about at length, going into the history and biology of such entities, along with their possible uses in both magic and alchemy, leading Kay to question her earlier assumption that the girl was a tight lipped one. It seems she has little to say when it comes to social issues, but on matters of chemistry, biology, geology and, of course, magic? She can go on forever. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if those subjects didn't encompass virtually everything, always giving her something new to prattle on about. Frederich is actually quiet for once, seemingly focused on his goal. It's clear that he takes adventuring very seriously, even if he doesn't grant many other topics and ideas a similar level of respect. As for Kay, she's being Kay. Occasionally nodding politely to Mia, and relishing the opportunity to not have to speak. She's been forced to do far more of that lately than she's comfortable with.

"We're here." Fred says, as the three arrive at a t-shaped intersection, one path continuing ahead, the other into a much larger cavern. "Like I said, this shouldn't be too dangerous, but be careful anyways."

Both nod, Kay drawing her axe from her back. It really does feel nice in her hands. Mia holds her staff out in front of her, although it's not entirely clear what she intends to do with it. As a unit, the three step inside. Kay wasn't sure exactly what she was expecting when she heard 'dungeon', but it was a little more than this. At least a brief maze or something? Not that she can honestly complain. She has little desire to engage in exploration or puzzle solving. The room is a large one, the aura of unnatural light not quite reaching the far walls. Along those which could be seen, however, were countless small holes and tunnels of varying sizes, most not quite large enough for even the smallest of mice to crawl through. Nothing else, however. No signs of life.

"Huh, that's strange, they should have respawned by now..." Fred says. His plastic sword is drawn, but his expression is one of disappointment rather than wariness. That's when the odd, rhythmic clicking sound can be heard. Then another, until many sequences of it overlap. Countless shimmering eyes appear in the darkness. "Damn. I was hoping it wouldn't be centipedes. We-we can still handle this, just don't let your guard down."

The three slowly step forward, the aura of light following them, revealing the creatures. Their numbers are difficult to judge, their long many-limbed bodies writhing and twisting about one another. The armored mouse takes the lead, approaching them, sword and shield in hand, and to his surprise, Mia is right there alongside him. Kay stays back, deep in thought. What am I supposed to do? She asks herself, Just run in and start hacking away?

That's when she hears the heavy thud behind her, turning just a moment too late. Her body is encircled immediately by a creature resembling a string of bright red beads, with sharp, bent thorns for feet emitting from each segment which had fallen from above. She has no time to even raise her axe, reflexively dropping it in fact, as it wraps about her arms and torso. Far larger than the others, it encircles her body four times with plenty of its length to spare, it's round head leaning directly into her own, empty black shimmering eyes and blade like mandibles opening and closing just inches from her snout.

"Kay!" Frederich calls, but he has his own problems. The wriggling mass lashes out at both him and the mage. One of them darts towards him, taking advantage of his surprise, but Mia thrusts her staff directly into its path. It shrieks and sizzles as it comes in contact with the apparently red-hot ball of light, before he finishes it off with a single slice of his blade, severing the head from its body. While eager to turn back to help his imprisoned friend, that's not an option right now, as he needs to focus all of his efforts of guarding both himself and his ally, along with mounting some sort of counter-attack.

As for Kay, she feels no fear, only an odd sense of confusion. It seems as though the creature should be squeezing the life out of her in an unyielding grip. Instead, it feels strangely soft, pliable, little more than a light weight against her fur. In fact, it feels like she could move if she really wanted to. It turns out this theory is very much accurate. Such creatures, while having a somewhat dangerous bite, are surprisingly brittle. It doesn't simply break, it outright bursts as she pulls her arms apart, the fiend letting out a dying screech as the top fifth of its body falls to the ground, the other severed portions continuing to wriggle about without purpose.

This attracts the attention of both of her other allies who can only look on in surprise. It's only for a moment, but a moment is all that it takes for their multiple opponents to sense an opening. They're brought to their senses, however, when Kay charges towards them and shouts "Get down!"

The pair complies, just in time for the oversized axe to swing over both of their heads and bathe both the knight and mage in a rain of, well... whatever constitutes the inside of a centipede. Even having a close and personal look, the party is uncertain, beyond the fact that is smells quite unpleasant and feels even worse. They look up about to see five elongated insectoid corpses at their feet, the few survivors scurrying back into their holes.

"Um... was that it?" Kay asks, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She's not exactly the bloodthirsty type, but it felt like the battle ended just as she was starting to get into it.

"Yeah." Fred says in a flat voice, surprised and also a little disappointed, but for very different reasons. He was really hoping for an opportunity to show off his leadership skills and impress the others, and had things gone a little differently could very well have. Even with the distraction, he still had the situation well under control, but as it stands, he only destroyed one of the fiends where Kay took out six. "Now, we just need to retrieve any intact legs and take them back to the adventurers guild, to get our reward."

"That was amazing!" Mia says, bounding over to the naked mouse, catching her off guard. "How did you do that?"

"Uh, well, it was pretty easy. Turns out these things have a lot of pointy parts, but they break really easy." she replies, looking away. She never did handle praise very well. Not that she handled insults any better, of course.

"Heh, yeah, I figure that was a pretty good warm-up." Fred smiles, wiping his blade clean, his mood immediately recovering. Sure, he didn't exactly get to save the day, but there's always next time, and even putting that aside, it's good to know that the two mouse women can handle themselves if need be.

Even with the slow and rather disgusting process of breaking off and retrieving legs, it turns out Frederich was true to his word about the matter not taking too long. Most of the time spent on the quest was due to Mia constantly stopping to inspect and lecture about every little plant or mineral she spotted. It's not long before all three of them are once again standing before the adventurers guild booth.

"Congratulations on completing your first quest!" Helena smiles to the two mouse woman, seemingly making a point to leave out Fred. Not entirely surprising, seeing as how that was far from his first quest. "Now, as for your reward, please accept these 11 crumbs."

Kay blinks. "Really? 11? Is that all?"

"That's a good amount of money!" Frederich chimes in. "Especially when you consider how quick we managed to finish it."

Kay offers no response, only able to take his word for it. If anything, this just means that money is more valuable than she had thought, when one considers the piles and piles of the severed legs they had to retrieve to only cover a small portion of her membership costs, and a miniscule portion of the value of her axe. This isn't good news, and if anything, it meant that her debt to the pair is far greater than she had realized.

"As for you, I trust you are the newest member of Kay's party?" the spectacled guild-mistress asks the mage, looking to her with a soft, gentle smile.

"Indeed. My name is Mia. It's a pleasure to meet you." she says, giving a polite curtsey. "While still inexperienced, I'm honored to travel with these two mighty warriors, and will do my best to aid them in any way that I can."

Helena giggles, putting her paws over her mouth. "Aren't you just the sweetest thing? Someone could learn a thing or two from you about how to carry themselves with dignity." she casts an annoyed glance to Frederich. Technically, Kay could probably use the lesson even more, but Helena never liked him.

"So, what kind of experience rewards did we get from that?" Fred asks hesitantly, already expecting bad news.

"Ah, yes, let me see..." the silver furred woman humms to herself. "Well, there's the first time completion bonus, along with the natural protagonist class multiplier, not to mention amplified by the cursed mark. Hmmm..." she looks down at her feet, clearly in deep thought. "Yes, that's right. Now, Mia and Frederich both earn, after the experience tax, a total of 10,154 points."

Frederich freezes in place, eyes wide. Mia has less of a reference point, but even she looks surprised. As for Kay, she's never really had a head for numbers. "Excuse me..." Fred stammers, trying to remain calm. "Did you say ten thousand?"

"That is correct. Your level is now 10, and you are at 12,401 experience total, and you will reach your next level up at 20,000." Helena nods, turning to Mia, "As for you, you are also at level 10, with exactly 10,154 points of experience. Quite the achievement for a first time adventurer!"

"Wait, wait, are you telling me that she's the same level as I am? That all the questing I did before this was for nothing?" Fred asks, still caught between being ecstatic about his massive jump in level, and disappointed that he's equal to the beginner.

"No, you're still a little closer to the next level than she is. Similarly, while the experience point system is strong, actual experience and practice in combat does have some impact." the guild-mistress pauses. "Albeit a minor one. Still, you're hardly in a position to complain. Now, as for you..." she turns to Kay, "Your level is now 12, with 40,320 points of experience. You will achieve level 13 at 100,000."

Kay simply blinks. "Um... is that a lot?"

"Yes. It's a lot." Frederich replies, downright stunned.

"It is to be expected. Accelerated growth is a natural product of the curse mark, to compensate for the severely shortened lifespan. Although I must warn, this does exceed my expectations somewhat. It must either be a sign that the power of the curse is far stronger than I initially believed, or that you have far less time remaining until it consumes you than I had anticipated. Aside from sheer level, the statistical gains per level are also significantly higher than most other classes. You should find that all of your abilities have improved quite dramatically."

"I... see." Kay says, looking down, not really sure of what to do with this new information.

Meanwhile, Frederich looks down at his feet, his paws balled into fists, whole body shaking until he can contain his emotions no longer. "This is fantastic! It's absolutely amazing!" He blurts out, stars in his eyes. "I thought you seemed strong fighting the centipedes, but I can't wait to see what you're capable of now! I knew sponsoring you for membership was a good idea!"

Kay, as mentioned earlier, doesn't handle praise very well. Not that she handles many things very well. "Um... thank you?" she says, voice sounding borderline frightened. In that moment, she sounds much more like Mia than herself.

"Well, this calls for a celebration!" Fred smiles, leaning forward, arm rested on the desk of the booth. "I think we should get some drinks. Perhaps you would like to join us?" he asks, winking towards the guild mistress.

"I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work." she replies coldly.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes you do. You always do this. You see qualities that you recognize in other heroes, and think that by taking them on yourself, you'll somehow become one." she glares at him. "In this case, you're trying to create a harem. I can assure you, it is only a coincidence that your two comrades are both women. There is absolutely no sort of natural charisma or magnetism drawing them to you."

"I'm not 'trying', but you know, I figured if it happened organically, heh heh..." he chuckles nervously, looking to both of his team-mates. Mia is blushing bright, paws over her mouth, whereas Kay simply stands, arms folded about her chest, looking on with a disapproving expression. "Um, just forget it! We must be off! To, you know... adventure! Tally ho, and all that!" he says, before quickly fleeing the scene. Mia gives a quick bow to the guild-mistress before following. As for Kay, she simply meets eyes with the strange woman who watches her with the borderline hungry expression. There is much she wishes to know, but nothing she particularly wishes to ask. Instead she walks away without a word, following after the other two.

"Um. About what just happened..." Frederich says before being cut off by Kay.

"Let us never speak of it again."

"Heh, right, right." The armored mouse takes a deep breath. "Okay, so what's next? If we got that strong from a simple fiend extermination, just imagine how well much we'll advance from a proper quest. We could... we could..." he pauses. "I don't even know what! We can do anything! But it's gotta be something big. Real big."

"Um, if I may be so bold, I believe that Kay might have a suggestion." Mia interjects, raising a finger.

"Why would you think that?" The naked mouse asks, avoiding meeting the other woman's gaze.

"It's because of the thing you're always looking at." the mage says. Kay looks to her with a very poor effort at looking like she has no idea what the smaller mouse is talking about. "It happens all the time. Your gaze always seems to wander towards nothing, even when you're speaking to someone. At first, I thought it might have just been something in the background, a person maybe, possibly even a hallucination caused by the curse on your eyes." she frowns, looking down, clearing her throat. "But when we moved, whether a little or a lot, your gaze moved with it. You're clearly looking at a fixed point in the distance."

Kay similarly looks away. She vows to not raise her head, or take so much as a peek at that taunting green light ahead, but just can't help it.

Meanwhile, Mia clears her throat, an embarrassed expression overtaking her. "I'm-I'm sorry, that's your business. I guess we don't know each other very well, and maybe it's nothing. And even if it's not nothing, well, it's not something you need to tell us. You know, if you don't want to."

Kay continues looking down, closing her eyes, taking in the green glow through her eyelids. She still has little sense of the value of money, and even less sense of this ridiculous 'experience' system, but one thing she does know for sure: these two might not be her friends, but she still owes them. At this point, ditching them to continue on her own simply wasn't an option. They're either all going together or not going at all. That means there's only one real option.

"Heh, yeah. Yeah, I guess it's time, isn't it? I'll tell you everything. Well, everything I know, which isn't much." Kay says with a small smile. "Maybe it's something important, and maybe it's not. I guess that's up for you to decide."

The naked cream-colored mouse never was much of a talker, but sometimes talking is the only option. She explains everything that had happened to her, all the while the other two listen in with rapt fascination.