“Oh, there is!” “Two kids, they are out so far.”

Mia spun around, putting herself between them and her sister who was still out of it, mumbling to herself. She saw the two approach from behind a twisted building, two humans, a man and a women. The two were dressed up in some type of leather armor and stuck close together, the girl intertwining her arms around the man’s arm.

“Hey~ you two alright?” The two stopped a bit of a ways away from the two, keeping their distance “Need help? No injuries?” she shouted.

Mia cautiously watched them, saving just in case. With the church showing up she couldn’t be too careful “Fine, taking a rest.” She answered back.

“What!?” the women yelled back.

“FINE! TAKING A REST!” Mia replied back, yelling. She wondered why they were keeping their distance like this, was it just a custom among adventurers? She didn’t interact with too many to know.

“Ah, kay~” the girl pulled the man’s shoulder, pulling him down so she could whisper something in his ear, he nodded in response, causing the girl to smile, letting go of his arm she began skipping over to the two, putting Mia on edge.

She stopped just a few steps away, a wide grin on her face “You two new around here? I’m Honey and that’s-“ she pointed behind her “Dem, C rank.”

Mia perked up “C-rank?” she was puzzled, didn’t that mean the two of them evolved? What were they doing here in the lowest ranks?

“Mhm!~” Her eyes darted between the two, hovering at Ria longer than she did Mia “erm…she alright?”

“Fine, just needs rest.” Mia reasserted herself between the two “Overwhelmed, fighting a lot of monsters.” Mia then watched Honey’s eyes hover over her, noting she was glaring at her neck, Mia instinctively covered it while backing up.

“Hoooh.” Honey smirked “Alright, well you two be careful.” She started to walk back to her partner “Some real messed up people roaming around, don’t stay out too late.” Upon reaching her partner, she pounced on him, returning her arms to their proper place. She gave the two a wave, then walked off together.

“…” Mia waited for them to be out of sight, before flopping down on her butt “what was up with them…” she wondered about their warning, but she could only think of one group she was warning them about “…Is it that bad?” She wondered just how much the church could get away with in another country.

They rested for around an hour, not facing anymore interruptions. At the end Mia patted her sister on the back, trying to get her attention.

“the sword is…hu-huh? What? Where am I?” Ria snapped out of it, putting her sword down and searching her soroundings until she noticed Mia, when she quickly grabbed a hold of her shoulders “Mia! No more! No more today!” she shouted, pleading.

“Y-yeah.” Mia agreed, informing her about her talk with Ami “will take it slower, no more long reloads over and over.”

Ria slumped over, heaving a heavy sigh of relief “Thank you…I don’t know how you stand that.”

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“Got used to it.” Mia smugly said, jolting in surprise when she felt Ria’s grip around her tighten.

“That.Is.Not.A.Good.Thing.” she pulled Mia close, staring directly into her eyes, Ria’s own eyes rapidly twitching.

“…Haha” Mia could only laugh in response “Oh right, when you were out…” Mia, in an attempt to change the subject, filled her in on the strange group and their warning.

“Hmm…” Ria let her go, retrieving her sword “Well, that doesn’t apply to us, does it?”

Mia crooked her head to the side “What mean?”

“Well…” Ria pointed her sword’s tip into the distance “We can still go and fight all we want, and if anything happens you reload. Simple?”

“Can you handle another reload?” Mia asked, remembering how Ria was just a few moments prior.

“Nope.” Ria shook her head “Just do it without me, and fill me in.” She thought for a moment, brining her hand up to her chin “but how will I know if something is up in the case of emergency…” a moment later, a grin slowly spread on her face “when you load when there is something wrong, just say banana and I’ll know something is up, smart right?” Ria said, smirking.

“Banana?” Mia asked, not sure she got it.

“Shit! That fast?” Ria took an offensive stance, pointing her sword out in front of her “Where are they coming from? How many? Do we need to run?”

Mia pinched her forehead, she couldn’t tell if Ria was joking or not “No, I was ju-“

“Eh? Do these things not work?” “No, they should, but they are beasts, so they probably smelled you.” “Hey! I took a bath on the ship before coming here.” “Did you actually use soap? I’ve been smelling something foal for awhile now.” “Shuddup! It is clearly the beasts.” “All of you, shut up! Change of plans, we do this quickly before those two come back.”

Slowly, Mia followed the source of the voices and turned around, seeing 6 robed figures coming out from behind a building, all wore the familiar church robes minus the one in the back who wore a gold trimmed cloak “I thought….wait…when?” her eyes swam around the group, confused.

“Oh, members of Gaia.” Ria chuckled, popping her neck “Perfect for blowing off st-“

“SILENCE YOU WENCH!” One of the members screamed, pointed a large wide-tipped spear at Ria “Do not disgrace the god’s name with your filth.” The others cheered him on, spouting similar vitriol, readying their weapons.

Ria scowled “Mia, how many times have we fought these idiots? Anything to watch out for?”

Mia snapped out of it, shaking her head and saving “No, first time, but…” she looked over the group, all of them minus the one in the gold trimmed cloak were cheering “Gold cloak, stronger maybe.”

“Scared? Talking amongst yourselfs? Escape is impossible!” the man slammed his spear into the ground, 2 others following suit. Their spears glowed, lines formed on the ground from their ends, spreading around the group and extended past the girls, once the lines finished converging, a wall of light was erected around the two groups.

“Now you beasts, come easily, your pitiful and heritical existence shall be purified and ra- EEEEHEE-HE-HEEE-“ The man screamed, a spear of ice flying past his face after it had collided and broke through an invisible barrier he had around himself.

“Tch.” Mia clicked her tongue; she was aiming for his face, but the barrier had thrown off her aim.

“Oooh, nice Mia. Stealing the march.” Ria smirked, pointing her sword’s tip at the man “So, escape is impossible…right?”

“i-i-i-HMP” the man coughed, stopping his clattering teeth and managing to calm himself down “A bluff and a fluke, purify this filth.” He tapped his spear on the ground, commanding the group to charge, spears pointed forward while the man in the back did not react.

“Alright, time for my fi-“

“Ria, step back.”

“Aww come on, I wanted to get so- woah.” Ria whined, looking back to complain but her complaints were quickly silenced, seeing about 20 blue flames hovering at Mia’s sides “After you I guess.” Ria bowed, stepping off to the side.

The four men that charged slowly came to a halt, seeing the flames “Hey, this was the lowest level… right?” “Yeah.” “Yup.” “That’s where we got off, yes.” “So, what is that?” “…Gaia protect us.”

Mia fired, the barrage of flames flying forward and exploding against a wall of light. The fire’s engulfing the wall.

“Ha-! See? A bluff!” The man shouted, watching the flames powerlessly slam against the wall that protected them “Gaia’s protection is absolute! Gaia protects us from these fo-“ The man’s speech was cut off, an ice spear flying into his throat and ripping off his head after it had pierced the barrier.

The flames died down, revealing a smirking Mia to the remaining stunned members.

“Didn’t miss this time.”