Tatsuo and the group are walking along a path spanning through a vast lush plain; with the silhouette of hills peeking in the distance.

Darren: So…

Darren: Does anybody want to tell me why we didn't just take a transportation directly to Port Veronica? – He complains trudging along behind the rest of the group.

Victor: Hey now, where would be the fun in that?

Sharon: That’s right! Where’s your sense of adventure Darren? We gotta explore as much as we can along the way!

“Explore what?! Besides the towns and cities, everything is basically the same! it’s all grass, trees and hills!!” - Darren retorts. He then turns to face Tatsuo.

Darren: You! You’re the guild leader right?! Please! Please, I beg of you! For whatever shred of common sense is left in your head, do something about those two!

Tatsuo: Hm? Just let them do whatever they want. I see no problem as long as we reach Odale.

Darren hopelessly falls to the ground.

Darren: No…! It’s no use…! There’s something wrong with all of you…!

Tatsuo: By the way, I’m not the guild leader. That title belongs to Henteko.

Darren: Who the hell is that??!!

Victor: Isn’t your thing that you’re really fast or something?

Darren: Yeah, that doesn’t mean I enjoy walking!

Victor: Right, so just run then.

Darren: That’s not how it works!

“Well, I’m hoping that we run into monsters along the way!” - Victor says, flexing his arm with the steam gauntlet.

Darren: You just want to use your steam gauntlet!

Sharon: You can just return to Argonaut and get yourself a carriage to the port then. It hasn’t been that long since we’ve left. You’d make it by today if you start right now…Maybe.

Darren: Then what was the point of me joining your guild??!!

Darren: We literally have transportation on us anyways! In your little ball thingies! Isn’t that why we got those vehicles from the scientist that calls himself a doctor?! Let’s use them!

“NO!” - Sharon pouts.

It was no use. Darren reluctantly resigns to the fact that the group wants to take their time heading to their destination and taking detours.

‘Maybe I should’ve joined Archer after all…’ Darren says in his mind as he sighs.

As Darren continues to bicker with Victor and Sharon, Queenie is keeping pace at a distance.

‘I…can’t be here…!’ - Queenie says in her mind, trying to figure a way to separate from the group.

Queenie (thinking): If…I just left right now…They won’t notice…right…? And if they do…What do I do then…? Run away without telling them anything…? Maybe I can come up with an excuse…Something like: I’m still not feeling well, I need to leave very fast…

Queenie (thinking): They seem like nice people. I don’t want to hurt them…But if it comes to it…

Tatsuo: Let’s ask Queenie what she thinks.

Queenie peeps, losing her train of thought – “Huh?!”

Sharon rushes over to Queenie, embracing her.

“QUEEEENIEEE~!” - Sharon says affectionately.

Sharon: Obviously you don’t mind right? You’re not a party pooper like Darren!

Having been caught off guard, Queenie is flustered and stutters between her words.

Sharon: Are you okay though~? You’ve been really quiet… – She looks at Queenie with a sad expression.

Sharon (frowning): Is it because we forced you to join our guild…?

‘No...Don’t do this to me…’ - Queenie whimpers in her head.

“It’s okay, Tatsuo forced all of us to join without consent too!” - Victor says reassuring Queenie while giving a thumbs up.

Queenie (thinking): Uhm...No…That doesn’t help at all…!

Sharon: Oh! You must be tired from all the walking! Since Darren is being a little grouch, let’s all take a break!

Sharon: Dr. Crogsbell was kind to offer us our own little shelter unit! It comes with windows, beds, utility and storage! I dub it as our first guild house!

Sharon tosses a marble at the ground which shatters…But nothing happens. The group looks at the spot where Sharon threw the marble in silence.

Sharon:...

Sharon: …Woops.

Sharon: I think I forgot to store the unit…

“That’s okay. We all make mistakes. But just in case, I think we should inspect the rest of the marbles to make sure we have things stored in them. Here, let me have a look.” - Darren says as he goes up to Sharon with his arms reached out.

“No! I know what you’re trying at! No marbles for you!” - Sharon hisses at Darren.

Darren: Alright! Fine! How bout you just put me inside one of those things so that way you can just carry me throughout your little adventure!.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Victor: Can’t do that. The marbles can’t store anything that has something called electricity running through it. It’ll cause it to malfunction. It’s the reason why we can’t store humans or living things inside since we have that electric thing inside of us. We’d risk something bad happening to you. If not, it’ll just kill you if we tried putting you inside of it. Or at least that’s what Dr. Crogsbell made it sound like.

Darren:...

Darren: Well oddly enough, now I just want to try it on a random animal or something just to see what would happen.

Sharon: …What…The hell is wrong with you…?

Victor (thinking): To be honest, I’m kinda curious too…

Tatsuo: We can always resort to building a home instead.

Tatsuo’s comment triggers Darren into a small outburst.

Darren: With what!? There’s nothing within vicinity to build anything! It’s just all grass and a couple trees!

Sharon: At the very least, we should try to cover as much ground as possible towards the next town.

With that, the group begins to move again.

“Shouldn’t we at least use the steam wheels to get there…?” - Darren whines, trudging along.

*Fast-forward till night time, the group has set up camp in the middle of a forest. The group is all seemingly fast asleep.

Queenie slowly gets up. She cautiously churns her head in order to be sure that everyone is asleep. After confirming nobody is awake, she carefully sneaks her escape from the group.

She slowly tip-toes away from the others until she is finally all by herself in the woods. She looks back behind to confirm that no one has followed.

No one in sight.

She suddenly hears Tatsuo behind her – “Are you lost?”

Tatsuo’s voice catches Queenie off-guard; her body jolts in surprise as she yelps out an “eep!” She slowly turns around, like a child getting caught by their parents.

Tatsuo: Don’t tell me you were trying to leave us. You’ll make everybody feel sad. Especially Sharon. I even went through the effort of putting you in our guild.

Queenie: I didn’t volunteer to be a part of your guild. I cannot be with you folks.

Tatsuo blankly gazes at her.

Tatsuo: You were the one that killed the mayor, weren’t you?

Tatsuo’s reveal of his knowledge took Queenie off-guard.

Tatsuo: And you…Have the amplifier core.

“H-how…Did you know that…?” - Queenie asks as she sweats nervously.

Tatsuo: My smell. I smelled your scent nearby when we were fighting the mayor, as well as his blood on you when we returned.

As Tatsuo was talking, Queenie could only stare at Tatsuo with an expression of disbelief and utter confusion.

“I can even smell the core on you right now. Inside the pocket of your left. It’s very faint, but I can still smell the mayor’s scent on it too..” - Tatsuo says pointing at Queenie’s left hip.

Queenie (thinking): I don’t know what kind of nose this crazy boy has, but it’s scarily accurate. He shouldn’t know what I have or what I’m wearing underneath this cloak. Should I try bluffing? But that may provoke a fight between us, which may also wake the others up.

Queenie (thinking): And I don’t want to engage in any conflict with them, or else I’ll have to…To these people…!

Queenie: If you knew this whole time…Why didn’t you expose me earlier back then?

Tatsuo: Because I wanted to talk to you. Now I’m not too sure about the core since I reckon that’s supposed to go to you, but I’m sure the city would be upset if they found out that you were the one that killed their mayor.

Queenie’s tries to figure out what Tatsuo’s intentions are..

Tatsuo: Join our group for a bit. I understand you have your reasons for not wanting to be with us…

Tatsuo: It’ll be temporary. At least until we reach Odale.

Queenie deduces that Tatsuo most likely wants her to take advantage of her providing enormous wealth for them. She wonders however, if there is another reason instead. She’s tempted to ask, but she opts to simply ignore it. Why should she care? And why did a thought like that pop up in her head? As if she was hoping for another answer.

Queenie: ...

Queenie: Fine. But don’t let anyone know about what I did, or about the core. Please keep this a secret.

Tatsuo: I won’t, I won’t. Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with me. I might just end up forgetting about it since I have a bad memory after all.

Queenie: …

Meanwhile in the background, Darren is hidden behind a nearby tree and some bushes.

Darren: ...

Darren (thinking): ...SH*T…!

Darren: Just what the hell did I get myself into…?! And that last part is a straight up lie! He’s got an inhumanly good memory! It’s pretty much perfect!

‘Why do these things happen to me?!’ - Darren exclaims in his head as he nervously sweats profusely.

A sudden realization strikes through Darren.

Darren: Wait a minute! Does he know I’m here…?!

‘With that abnormal nose of his, he should’ve–’ - Darren’s train of thoughts gets sidetracked as Tatsuo begins to speak again.

Tatsuo: And if anybody does find out.

Tatsuo: I’ll make sure they take it to the grave with them.

Queenie: O-oh…Okay…

‘This guy…He totally knows I’m here!!! That was supposed to be aimed towards me, wasn't it??! - Darren screams in his head.

Tatsuo urges Queenie to return: We should head back before anyone else wakes up.

Darren continues to stay still hidden behind the tree; his body still frozen in fear.

Darren: ...

‘I just wanted to take a piss…’

*Later on in the morning.

Sharon wakes up to find a short haired girl wearing a white hoodie along with light blue jeans, with a staff strapped behind her back standing before her. The girl’s clothes left a foreign impression on Sharon, but her attention was mainly focused on the stranger’s cute face.

“Uhm…I’m sorry…But who…?” - Sharon awkwardly asks the girl.

“It’s me. Queenie.”

Sharon gasps.

“Oh my gosh~!” - Sharon squeals in delight. Her excited voice wakes the others up abruptly. “You’re so cute~!” - Sharon says as she coddles Queenie.

“H-huh…?? …Queenie..??” - Victor stammers in confusion, his eyes still feeling groggy.

Sharon: So this is what you look like underneath that dreary cloak! It’s good that you ditched it! Although the clothes you’re wearing are peculiar themselves…

Victor: Yeah…It kind of looks like the same stuff that Darren wears.

Sharon: Other than that, you look pretty Queenie! Especially your eyes! The way they glisten… It’s like shiny crystals! My, Queenie, what made you come around?

Queenie: Well…Since I’m going to be traveling with you folks for a while…I figured I might as well open myself up a bit…I feel it’d be a bit too brooding if I kept wearing my cloak the entire time…

Sharon: Aaww…~!

Sharon excitedly turns to face Tatsuo: Tatsuo! Guess who this is–!

Tatsuo: It’s Queenie. – he answers before Sharon could finish her sentence.

“So fast!” - Sharon says in surprise.

Tatsuo: You do realize that I was awake before the rest of you, right? And I recognize her smell.

Meanwhile, Darren lies still in his sleeping bag feeling restless. Because of the event earlier at night, he was unable to get any sleep.

‘Just pretend that you're sleeping…!’

‘Just pretend that you’re sleeping…!’

Darren desperately repeats to himself in his mind.