Ilaria had just eaten breakfast in real life, but that didn't stop her from going to the Barista Café as soon as she logged in. It was Saturday, the day after the guild event, and Amy had insisted on–practically forced–the early meeting. They would have talked the day before, but Amy spent the evening with Minerva, and it might had made her sister suspicious.
“How was the event? Did you get the yes?” asked Amy, as soon as they were seated.
“Yeah,” said Ilaria, not much mirth in her voice.
She finally did it. Last night Ilaria went to the Speed Dating event, and got Johnny's acceptance; which meant she now had him registered in her friends list, available for contact. Despite having succeeded in her goal, she couldn't help feeling defeated instead.
“What's the problem? Wasn't that the objective?” asked Amy, grabbing Ilaria's hand that was laying on the table.
“It's just that... I feel like he led me by the nose all the conversation,” said Ilaria, realizing how whiny she sounded.
“At the end he left with a smirk, like he was sure I would be dying to talk to him.” Anger boiled inside her whenever she remembered Johnny's insufferably perfect wink as he left the table.
“Wow,” said Amy, smiling widely. “That's great!”
“How...”
“Isn't it better if he's the one doing the seducing?”
“I...” Ilaria stopped whatever complain she was going to voice. Amy was right, she shouldn't care.
“Should I call him?” asked Ilaria, having cooled down.
“Not yet, wait until tomorrow,” said Amy, looking into Ilaria's eyes. “Who knows? He might send a message tonight.”
It made sense. Ilaria let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, withdrawing her hand to pick up her drink.
“How did it go with Minerva yesterday?” asked Ilaria, after sipping from her iced mochaccino.
“Great!” exclaimed Amy. “She's getting over it.”
“I still can't believe she agreed to go out with us,” said Ilaria, getting excited.
Even before the Christmas meltdown, she could count in one hand the times she had gone out with her sister without their parents being involved.
“I think Minerva has been ready for a while,” said Amy, playing with the straw of her smoothie. “She was just waiting for an excuse.”
“I see,” said Ilaria. “And what did it?”
“Let's say we caught her attention,” replied Amy, cryptically.
“Whaa...” As Ilaria was re-asking, the red button appeared suddenly on her display, startling her. She really should have been used to it already.
“Sorry, I just got a private call notification.”
“Kyle?” asked Amy, teasingly.
“Yeah,” answered Ilaria, deflated. “Diana isn't logging today, so it'll be just the two of us.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“Okay.”
Ilaria thought things were back to normal with Kyle after their Private Date, but it would make her more at ease having Amy with her.
----------------------------------------
The girls were meeting with Kyle at the central plaza, before deciding where to go for leveling. Amy was still clad in the leather armor she had worn for going to the guild hall, which made Ilaria and her dress look very out of place. It was weird that from the group, she was the one who didn't have any normal combat armor.
“Hi, my name is Amy,” said the elf, with a beaming smile. “I'm glad to finally meet you!”
“Hello, I'm Kyle. Glad to meet you too, Amy.” He lowered his gaze, blushing a bit.
Ilaria was sure he wasn't as red as he had been the first time they met; at least she was helping him in that aspect.
“By the way, I won't be able to party with you since I'm already at level 35,” said Amy. “I'll just tag along and give you some advice.”
The group discussed their options, finally settling for troll hunting. They couldn't take on the goblin boss without Diana, and it would be a waste of time to just grind on the normal ones. Ilaria hadn't seen trolls outside the date dungeon, although–from her experience–they wouldn't be much different in the wild.
The party took a return scroll to the Lizardmen Caves and kept walking further into the mountains, jagged rocky outcrops dotting the almost lifeless trail. It was windy, but not the hot, sandy kind that the Goblin Encampment had been. The mountains were cool windy, smelling of ferns and refrigerator fluid. Don't ask how she knew that last one.
“Here we are, the Troll Caverns,” said Amy, pointing towards an opening in the side of a mountain, from where a light blinked in the shadows.
“Groups of 4 or 5, no ranged attackers?” asked Kyle, as he withdrew his weapons from his blue backpack.
“Yes, as far as the first floor is concerned,” said Amy, locking eyes with the warrior.
Kyle turned around, evading Amy's gaze. “Just confirming.”
“Don't worry,” said Amy, laughing. “From what Ilaria has told me, you won't have any trouble.”
“And if you have... I'll be there,” added Amy, taking out her daggers.
The group entered the Troll Caverns in their typical formation. Amy–being a Rogue with uppercase R–activated her Stealth and went scouting ahead. Ilaria followed into the opening, taking a time to get used to the darkness. All the cave vibrated, or at least the low humming sound made it feel like that.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The mage stepped onto the pebbled ground, very conscious of her lack of sneakiness compared to her companions. The cavern, once her eyes had adapted to the lighting, didn't seem much different from the Lizardmen's; narrow rock passages, and torches every few meters.
“There's five of them in an opening, turning to the right,” said Amy, from somewhere ahead of them.
“Alright, I'll get them,” said Kyle. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
Kyle went ahead, Ilaria counting in her head before following.
The cavern widened into an oval-shaped opening, a bonfire in the far corner providing most of the light. Five trolls crowded Kyle, who was luring them towards the narrowest side. Ilaria went ahead without shooting, she needed to be sure the tank had aggravated them enough before.
After Kyle settled in his position, it wasn't much different from what they were used to from the date dungeon. Only two trolls could ever face the tank at the same time, Kyle alternating between Spear thrusts and Shield bashes. Ilaria followed behind, shooting whenever she had a direct line towards her foe, and healing at measured intervals.
The trolls changed places whenever Kyle pushed one with his shield, having the five of them in rotation. Soon enough they started falling one after the other, not ever getting in risk.
They advanced quickly for being only a two-person party, soon clearing the first floor. Amy helped scouting, never needing to get into the fight to protect them.
“I must say you have great coordination,” said Amy, reappearing from stealth after their last battle. “No wonder you have done so well in the Date Dungeons.”
“It's all thanks to Kyle,” said Ilaria, laughing. “I'm just riding his coattails.”
“No, you might not realize it yet,” said Kyle, serious. “But you're actually a really good mage.”
“Really?” asked Ilaria, not quite believing it herself.
“Yes. You are always aware of the positions and HPs of both foes and party members,” said Kyle, looking at Ilaria in the eyes. “And you aim really fast too; I only need to give you a sliver of space, and bam.”
“It's just because I'm used to you,” said Ilaria, this time her being the one feeling the warmth on her cheeks for a change.
“People think being a mage is easy, stay in the back and shoot,” said Amy. “But there's a lot more to it.”
“I see,” said Ilaria, smiling. “I'm glad that I haven't been dead weight all along.”
“Sorry, I should go ahead,” said Amy, apologetically. “I need to get ready for today's lunch.”
“Yeah, that's true,” said Ilaria. “See you later.”
“Bye!” An smiling Amy disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Ilaria alone with Kyle in the deserted caverns.
“Do you know each other in real life?” asked Kyle, breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” answered Ilaria. “Actually, we are eating lunch together today.”
“Then, are you leaving too?”
“She'll be coming to my house first,” answered Ilaria. “So I still have some time.”
And it isn't like I need to do my make up anyway.
“Enough for a DD?” asked Kyle. “I'll be going out in the afternoon, so it might be difficult to meet again later.”
“Alright.”
----------------------------------------
“Got it,” said Ilaria, watching a flaming hawk dropping from the sky.
“That was the last one,” said Kyle, setting himself on one side of the room to prevent them being surrounded by the next wave.
The first wave, ten direwolves, wasn't that hard as long as they were willing to use mana. They eliminated them before the flying foes' appearance, which Ilaria had just finished. Next wave would be several degrees harder so having a clean slate was comforting.
Third wave: Eight ethereal nightmares
“Horsies incoming!” exclaimed Ilaria, while taking cover behind Kyle.
The closest pair of nightmares charged towards them, Kyle blocking both with his shield and spear.
“Take a shot if you have the chance,” said Kyle, while getting ready for the next ones. “I can take a couple of charges without getting in the danger zone.”
“Alright.” said Ilaria, aiming over Kyle's spear arm.
“Fireball!”
----------------------------------------
Fourth wave: Seven heartbroken otterflies
Ilaria had finished their third nightmare when the announcement played. From the leftover horses, just one was anywhere close to dying. She had been aiming only over Kyle's right hand, since she didn't have enough mana to spam fireballs.
“As we planned, now I'm stepping back,” said Ilaria with a mischievous smile, as she broke into a sprint.
“Do as you must,” replied Kyle, rotating in his position to let the mage go towards the center. “I'll keep these horsies entertained.”
Ilaria, who had already set herself under the candelabra, aimed and immediately shot a force bolt towards the closest otterfly. It squeaked and fell back, unnoticed by the mage girl who was already shooting the one next to it.
Shoot, shoot, shoot...
“Fireball!”
----------------------------------------
Shoot, shoot, shoot...
“Fireball!” exclaimed a serious Ilaria while spinning in place. The otterfly fell down burning as Ilaria restarted the round from the rightmost one.
“I'll be going down soon,” said Kyle, preparing his spear to attack. There were five nightmares left, one of them within a sliver of its HP bar.
Ilaria just answered with a smile, not that the warrior could see it from his vanguard position. The mage kept counting otters in her head, dispensing Force bolts, waiting for the damaged one to come up. It was mechanical at this point, so much that she took the liberty to glance towards her partner.
Kyle thrust his spear towards his designated prey just before their charge would collide with him. The rightmost nightmare impaled itself, falling down while the other one impacted onto the warrior's shield and turned around.
The next pair of nightmares began their charge as Kyle dislodged his spear. With his health bar almost depleted, he knelt in place, turning his head towards the mage. Ilaria showed him what she thought was an encouraging smile.
“Fireball!”
----------------------------------------
“Those nightmares are just way too strong!” exclaimed Ilaria, pouting.
“They are level 27; it would be weird if they were a pushover,” answered Kyle. “We did better than I expected, we didn't even use potions this time.”
“Yeah,” said Ilaria. Potions were hard to come by unless you bought them with real money. It would be wasteful to use them for every date.
“I know I have said it before,” said Kyle. “You aim really fast.”
“You see, if you have seven otterflies in a circle, it's fairly easy to calculate the angle for shooting,” said Ilaria, tracing lines over her palm. “I was more concerned about forgetting which one I had to fireball.”
“So that's what worried you so,” said Kyle, laughing. “You looked like a zen master, frowning while shooting with downward eyes.”
Ilaria laughed, half proud and half embarrassed.
“The date almost got me to 21,” said Kyle, having his eyes somewhere in his viewpoint. “We gained a lot of exp today.”
“Yeah, solo grinding feels like a waste of time,” said Ilaria, who had hit 22. “And I guess I should log out for lunch now.”
“I'll probably try to use my other daily date; I can't let you outlevel me too much,” said Kyle, smiling bashfully.
“Don't worry about me; have fun,” said Ilaria, smiling.
“Are you using your second date too?”
“Who knows?”