FujiwaraPhoenix

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

With fairly few options left in terms of escape, Misaki ultimately decided that the safest place was, in fact, Mie's entourage. They were a neutral party, which just as easily meant that they could turn them down (or in, assuming they wanted to keep trading with the town), but given that the alternatives were getting run down in the wilds or run through in the middle of the village, this seemed like the option with the highest chance of survival.

Once they had arrived at Mie's tent, the foxgirl (who was now starting to feel the pain in her hands from haphazardly lobbing the jug of water at Lazirha's assailants) took a few deep breaths before turning to look back over her shoulder. Given the commotion outside, it was likely that the hunters were still on their tail...

"Worse than trouble, I'm afraid," Misaki spoke, giving an apology as she bowed her head towards the merchant. "Two men just attempted to kidnap Lazirha, and I'm afraid they're still after us. I will give you my apologies in advance, but could I ask if you could give us some shelter until things settle down?"

It was a damn shame about all she had started to work on at this point, but labor could be redone and efforts salvaged; the cost of a life far outweighed such things in the long run.

@Rune_Alchemist

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Outskirts

As he followed the other two he had left the town with, Yu found that Eunice had decided to put her own piece into the offhand question she had thrown out.
"If it comes down to it," she began, "I can manage the healing. As Saito says, I do not expect that any healing beyond that will be quite as necessary. Of course, that would be on a normal trip, and given what had just occurred..."

"I suppose that makes sense; bit used to adjusting for people, but if that much isn't necessary..." the swordmaster shrugged, thinking to himself for a moment before the other two adventurers who had assisted them chimed in. Honestly speaking, it would have been odd if they hadn't chosen to follow along; with Eunice being who she was, the only reason they might not have was if they had contacts of their own to meet up with, and even then...

Well, if anything, introductions seemed to be in order regardless. It might have been naive from other points of view, but the streamer-turned-adventurer had no reason to doubt their intent in tagging along regardless.

"Ah... Shokatsu Yu. I'll be in your care," he responded, giving a quick bow in return. "Kokoma and..."

Given the elf's reaction, Yu could assume that either one of two things was the case.
One: the two were friends and were taking jabs at one another.
Two: the elf—Sefira—had slipped up during an introduction of her own and this was the result.

Given the elf's defensive reaction, the reasonable assumption was the latter; he had no reason to really extrapolate further on that note, though.

"...Sefira, then. Noted."

Stretching his arms as he walked, the young man considered Kokoma's offer for a moment before speaking his own piece.

"In regards to your offer... While I assume it would help with travel time, it's hard to say if we would all fit onto three mounts without actually seeing said mounts, right?" he asked, glancing back at the beast that the Shenke was riding for a moment.

Regardless of what she did, though, it did seem as if this party of five would be traveling together for the near future regardless. A week with complete strangers and an NPC-turned-human...

It certainly felt like something out of a light novel or manga, once he gave it a bit of thought.

"So... How long's everyone been adventuring?" he asked, taking care not to use the word 'play' in this context despite what he knew Eunice was aware of. "I think I'm at... Four... Years now?"

Of course, playtime didn't necessarily translate into combat proficiency, but Yu was curious about how familiar they were with the world that they all had found themselves stuck in regardless.

@Sho Minazuki@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR

---

Sen Rynta — Outskirts

The charred corpse that had once been a rabbit made clear that Myrtle's spell was undeniably overkill, and in some ways the resultant waste of perfectly good materials was no more beneficial. Regardless of if that had been the intent or not, the body of the rabbit was undeniably unsalvageable.

What might have been more interesting to the group, though, was how said corpse both did not disappear and did not automatically offer them any items—not that any could have been harvested from it in its current state anyways—to Myrtle. Killing another rabbit—possibly with less destructive means—would at least leave a corpse behind, but more importantly the previously-automatic system that gave them items was no longer in place.

@Hammerman@Operator Luna

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

"I... Er... Well, not... Quite...?" Misaki responded, shifting back and forth as she tried to figure out a way to explain how a hectic life on Earth would translate to a semi-agrarian society like the one they were in now before shrugging. The girl at her side seemed to have her own set of problems to work through, though, but if she had come to her own conclusions, then—

"...Oh."

And as if on cue, the two people that she had been monitoring up until now moved over and in no subtle terms attempted to threaten her to back away from Lazirha. A kidnapping, then; with a sharp gaze, the foxgirl shook her head and glanced at her sides. On one side, a clearly anxious Lazirha (though to be fair, it would be odd if she wasn't); on the other, the deer that had followed her until now. They were outside the young woman's home, though, which left precious little to defend either of them with. Everything except...

"Ah... I'd rather not be run through, thank you very much," she sighed, giving a slight nod towards Lazirha for a moment as she stood up and walked towards her boiling water. When the hunters moved to collect their target, though, the foxgirl would move with a burst of strength, picking up the pot over the fire and lobbing its contents towards Lazirha's would-be kidnappers' heads before tossing the actual vessel at whoever had avoided the most scalding water aimed at their faces. For what it was worth, though, the adrenaline from burning her hands would keep any residual pain from kicking in immediately.

"Run!"

To where, though, remained to be seen. The forest was risky, as they were hunters and by nature of their job knew the lay of the land, but heading into town was equally dangerous...

Would Mie be willing to give them respite...?

@Rune_Alchemist

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Outskirts

With the other two adventurers immediately identifying her and the scant few living harpies beating a hasty retreat, Eunice seemed to pause for a few seconds, half in shock about having her cover blown so quickly. She was wearing a robe meant to keep her from standing out, but—

"Voice," Sho responded simply, shrugging his shoulders as he flicked the blood off of his blade. "Yours is a bit distinct, after all. Hard to stay undercover if they can match your face to it, however briefly."

"...Right. I... Suppose that makes sense," the white-haired girl sighed, pausing for a moment as she pensively stared at the ground. "...No, no, I should have expected this after what you told me."

It was a bit embarrassing to admit that she hadn't foreseen something like this happening, but all things considered, making a mistake now when less people seemed to be aware of the situation (or of her location) was better than slipping up in the middle of town.

"Right. Well, then," she continued, taking a deep breath to calm herself before walking past Yu, "We'll continue south on foot for now. As much as I would prefer riding a horse or something similar, I do not own one."

"...A mount, was it?" Yu asked, pulling up his own mount listing... Only to find that a majority were seemingly unusable, and of the few that were, none were either low-profile enough to ride without causing a stir. "Never mind. Walking it is."

With that, he turned to the Shenke who had come to their aid and shrugged his shoulders.

"Honestly, it's hard to explain. I assume you saw the sky go red before all the monsters poured out? That's all we know on that front. If you're asking why we're here, though, I'm afraid none of us really have any answers to that question."

Seeing that Eunice and Saito were already heading off, though, the swordsman thanked the two again for the help before running after the pair—though, well, given the situation and who they were escorting, it wouldn't be surprising if the two followed them.

Not that he'd stop them if they did, though; who knew what else had changed in the world they had found themselves in?

...Maybe the more important monsters wouldn't just be vastly underleveled compared to them overall? That... Could prove to be an issue.

"Nice work back there," he called out towards the samurai, slowing his pace down to sheathe his weapon as the last of the blood dripped off of it. "So, path to Sen Rynta... I assume that crossing the Sunswept Plains and heading straight into the Iwen Forest is our route?"

"You missed a few towns in between, but yes, you have the right of it," Eunice responded without bothering to look back at the two for the moment. "The trip should take us a few days' time, I suppose?"

Nodding at the white-haired girl's response, Yu turned back towards Saito, pausing before snapping his fingers as if he remembered something else he wished to address.

"Right. Do you think we need to adjust the composition on this trip, or are we fine as we are now? I haven't attempted to change classes yet, but..." he trailed off, opening the menu to see that only two others were available to him—ones that he had on hand before the shift, yes, but it was better than nothing.

"...Might need to experiment once we find a place to relax, actually."

@Sho Minazuki@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

---

Sen Rynta — Outskirts

As it turned out, the outside of the town was, in fact, far from dangerous; with no threat to distract the townsfolk or those loitering within, people were free to use the nearby wildlife as training dummies. There was a non-negligible amount of carnage, and the smarter animals (and monsters) had taken the opportunity to flee from the direct vicinity of the town out of fear for their lives. Of course, there were a few that seemed to be too aggressive for their own good striking out anyways, but the possibility of meaningfully injuring someone with so many people milling about seemed... Low.

Of course, picking any sort of herbs in the area out here would be easy, and though they would not regrow immediately, in a few minutes' time they would return to their full size. Would that they were more potent, though, as all of them seemed to be meant for beginners to use and learn with.

The more valuable reagents would require trips elsewhere, and with that came far more inherent problems—especially with teleportation unavailable to anywhere yet unvisited at the moment.

@Operator Luna@Hammerman

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Misaki simply returned Lazirha's comment with a smile and a nod before refocusing her attention towards her current project—at least, for the moment. Granted, it was far from fun to watch water boil, and less so over an open fire, but as far as how good or bad her current situation was...

Well, the foxgirl would gladly take a boring day preparing materials over being thrown into life-threatening situtations like the others seemed to have had the pleasure of encountering.

Before she could lose herself in her thoughts, though, Misaki managed to catch sight of a few hunters drawing oddly close to the house. Remembering Narkissa's summary of her last encounter, the foxgirl almost instinctively straightened her back, sitting up straight for a moment as she mentally assessed the threat level of the current situation. It was hard to judge if they were hostile and all, but seeing how armed they were...

Well, if worst came to worst, she'd have to take the others and run. Warding off wild animals was one thing, but people? That was another matter entirely.

It took a moment for Lazirha's words to register, and another few to process, though. Thinking about things now, it was hard to argue that she hadn't technically spent the most time around the village and it's residents... Well, minus the hunters, at least. But given how the girl at her side seemed to be troubled, it only made sense to give an honest reply back.

"Hm... Well, I don't quite mind the town," she began, her head moving lightly from side to side, ears swaying back and forth as she did so, "But if I had to be honest, this sort of life isn't... Really my 'thing'. Don't get me wrong; the people here have been really nice and welcoming of me despite being a complete stranger and I'm very grateful for their hospitality, but I guess I'm used to a more... Fast-paced lifestyle surrounded by things to do? I don't think I could deal with a laid-back life for very long, though maybe that's because I'm still curious about the world. Maybe in that regard I'm still a bit naive, though, but, well..."

Of course, 'staying alive' and 'exploration' did not necessarily go hand in hand—quite the opposite, in fact—but if there was anything that dying once had taught her, it was that diving into something unprepared was tantamount to suicide... And if the last few days had taught her anything, it was that she was probably well out of her depth when it came to anything beyond what she was already doing now.

"...With that said, I think that there are people here who care for you, if Enli is any indicator. My parents were also protective of me just as much as they were anxious of my future," she continued, sighing as she let her shoulders relax for a moment. "Would that I could meet them again. But that aside, if you think it's boring here, maybe it's time to spread your wings and fly, so to speak. Not alone, of course, but I don't think it's a bad thing to want to explore and go on a bit of an adventure. Maybe you'll find something new out about yourself in the process? Though, well, I suppose it is a fair deal more dangerous setting out on a journey here in the first place anyways, but if the benefits outweigh the costs..."

Then there's no reason not to consider it, right?

@Rune_Alchemist

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Outskirts

Seeing that a pair of the griffins had managed to slip past Yu's initial assault, Eunice raised her staff in response before erecting a protective barrier around herself. It seemed that she had caught onto her current status as a priority target in the eyes of whatever foe it was that had sent the monsters after her in the first place. With a frown, the white-haired girl winced as the two monsters clashed against the shield and found herself pushed back from the force.

Though the rear was more than safe thanks to Saito's efforts, the group would have been hard-pressed to push past the wave of enemies without having to cut them all down—or, well, that might have been the case, had the arrival of a third party to help reduce the pressure placed on them in the first place. As Yu arrived back at the pair of griffins pressing down upon Eunice, the sound of another roar instinctively pulled the young man's attention towards it. Seeing a shadow flying overhead, the blademaster brought his blade up in preparation for an attack to come flying his way, only to see that it—or, rather, it's rider—swinging away at the monsters he was preparing to attack prior to their arrival. The scattered bolts of magic flying about overhead coupled with the monster's own attacks seemed to catch more than a few harpies and peppered away at the griffins, forcing both to draw back momentarily from the pain; one of the latter was soon run through with a lance, making clear that the duo who had arrived were almost certainly friendly.

Rather than immediately thank them for the help, though, Yu dashed towards the remaining griffin, who despite the attacks it was taking seemed fixated upon striking at Eunice, and summarily thrust his weapon into its eye. The monster reared back in pain too dire to ignore and brutally lashed back at the adventurer, only to find that its attack had all but missed the mark. As it swung wildly about in an attempt to find the opponent that had taked out its eye, though, Yu—who had used the sword lodged within the monster's head as a temporary platform—leaped further into the air before motioning with his hand. The blade seemed to shake for a moment before driving itself further into the griffin's skull, causing it to pause for a moment before falling to the ground.

With room to breathe again, Eunice soon turned her staff towards the remaining griffin in front of her and, after a brief pause, launched a silver bolt of magic from its tip. The spell quickly coalesced into the form of an ornate spear as it drove its way into the monster's body, leaving the others to finish it off.

"Are you two all right?" she asked, glancing towards the two swordsmen as she confirmed their health before nodding and breathing a sigh of relief. Of course, the timely arrival of the other two had turned a slightly problematic situation into more of a rote encounter, but she still felt obligated to thank them all the same.

"Ah... Thank you for your help," she said, bowing before looking at the other two again. "But we must be off; time is of the essence."

It did not cross Eunice's mind to think that her voice might be recognizable despite her outfit, but in what circumstances would that have been normal anyhow?

@Sho Minazuki@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR

---

Sen Rynta — Bramblewood Estate

It was no surprise that Anastasia found the appearance of Myrtle's residence rather overwhelming, especially given how it was multiple times larger than it already was in the game until then. The young woman's mouth was left agape, and as she was led inside, that awe simply left her dumbstruck.

The grandeur of the structure was undeniable, of course, but the real reason that she was here was that she at least had one other person that she knew in the game here now. Try as she might, Anastasia found herself simply unable to teleport to meet any of her other friends at the moment, scattered about the world as they were, and though the possibility of traveling with others to her destination was possible...

Well, being a stranger to all of them was not something she was entirely comfortable with, either.

@Hammerman@Operator Luna

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Once she had gathered everything required to start the process and returned to Lazirha's home, Misaki took a deep breath and began to set everything she needed up. In the middle of preparing the pot of water, though, the foxgirl found herself momentarily accosted by their gracious host, who had apparently returned from wherever she had gone. The curiosity, of course, was reasonable—after all, what sort of 'normal' person in this era would attempt something like this?—and given what she had taken...

Well, it was only right to answer.

"I... Hm... How to describe this..." she began, musing to herself before glancing at the shredded pile of plant matter in its bag before shrugging. "I suppose that the best way to describe this is... I'm taking the fibers that make up the plants here, cleaning them of any spare materials, soaking them to break them down into pulp, then breaking them down further beyond that. Afterwards... Well, assuming Narkissa finishes the frame I asked for, that pulp would be dried in the frame to create something I hope to be able to sell to Lady Mie, even if it's only at a proof-of-concept level. With that said, though, I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread that around the village—at least, not quite yet."

The other people living with Lazirha would probably understand what she was attempting with a glance, at least, even if they might not have understood the process in its entirety—granted, even what she was doing now was still half-fumbling about and piecing together bits and pieces of papermaking from memory—but the bargaining chip would most certainly lose it's value if the process came to light too early. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case, but who knew what would happen?

@Rune_Alchemist

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Outskirts

With consideration to their goal, Saito's suggestion seemed to be the most pragmatic, provided that they were given an opening to break through in the first place. Five griffins was not necessarily the most daunting set of enemies to have to face, sure, but their numbers coupled with the swarm of harpies did not make the task of slipping out of the city unnoticed any more possible.

"If you're heading the rear, I'll take the vanguard," Yu stated, flicking the blood from his sword as he glanced around. The griffins were almost upon them, but the adventurer was not of any mind to let them collapse upon the group so simply.

Running forward, Yu quickly closed the distance between himself and one of the creatures, who seemed to take his choice of action as a challenge. As it attempted to claw at his face as it drew ever closer, the swordsman slid underneath it, running his blade along the monster's stomach and through its body before swinging back around. With Eunice and Saito moving close behind, though, a pair of griffins seemed to fly around and attempt to strike from behind the group. Of course, that left three of the monsters approaching from the front and flanks, but with one of them injured, taking out at least one more would let them simply cut through the rest.

Of course, taking on all of them at once, even with the benefits that the transfer of his skills from the game unto his current form, was not something Yu had much confidence in either. But when the other two in front of him, uninjured as they were, seemed to dive after Eunice regardless of his aggressive position as the harpies harried away at them...

Well, it only made sense to double back and try to pull their attention away. If they were pursuing her, then it only made sense to keep her out of harm's way. The harpies, at least, he could cut down as he moved if they attempted to dive at him again—the bleeding monster lying off to the side from the last time one had attempted something like that proved how wise of an idea that would be to repeat.

@Sho Minazuki

---

As the battles continued on, Sefira would find that her initial volley of spells would provide a few of the people they happened to be aiding the openings they needed to either find more lethal blows or retreat to safety. Of course, with the thinning crowd of monsters, Kokoma's riding about would soon bring to attention another group—one that seemed to be harried by a few more than one or two monsters. The group of griffins and harpies was hard to ignore, especially when they were all apparently converging upon a single point. Whether or not they would intervene and lighten the burden upon them or finish up the rest of the monsters preying on the weak remained to be seen, though...

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

Emerald Odyssey — An MMO Isekai RP (Now Accepting!)

Shokatsu Yu

Aluvera — Inconspicuous House

Yu silently considered Eunice's words as she spoke; logically, there was no reason to stay in Aluvera beyond helping in recovery efforts, and given the amount of people already present within the city, there was no real reason to worry about its further safety. Being as strong as they were (or, well, as he presumed himself and the other two present to be), it only made sense to be a bit more proactive.

"I see no reason to stay put, so I'll also follow suit. I'll be in your care," he said, nodding his head as the other two spoke similarly. The slightest hint of a smile seemed to cross Eunice's face as she heard those words, but no sooner than that did she rise to her feet.

"Then we should depart soon. I fear the incoming rush of people might be a problem unto itself."

As she spoke, Yu brought the UI up and, just as Saito had seen moment prior, found that he could no longer fast travel across the world.

Or, well, to anywhere besides Aluvera, at least.

"...Of course it wouldn't be that easy," he spoke under his breath before standing up as well. "Right. Let's head out, then."

Once everyone had readied themselves, Eunice led the group out of the house, her hood up to hide herself from the public eye as they moved about. The streets were less barren than before, at least; a few people had cautiously come out of their homes to assess the damage, but not adventurers had yet seen them—at least, none as far as any of them could tell. That, at least, made the walk to the city's gates easier.

The wide expanse of land in front of them, developed or otherwise, caused Yu to instinctually take a deep breath; he had seldom been to the countryside, but seeing this sort of view for himself for the first time—at least, from this point of view—was shocking all the same. Of course, that view was soon tainted by the sight of a few of the remaining monsters from the earlier assault, driven out of the city by the legions of adventurers within. Though no small number seemed to be holding the guards at bay, there seemed to be a few hanging around the rearguard for whatever reason.

"I suppose that simply leaving was too much to ask for," Eunice said, unsheathing her staff and holding it at the ready as a few griffins and harpies seemed to notice their presence. "Be careful; they seem to be more organized than the ones you fought at the square."

The griffins—five in number—began to fly around before moving to pincer the group; the harpies, meanwhile, seemed to be watching from the skies, taking any chance they could to dive in and strike wherever they saw an opportunity to do so. With precious little time to think of a proper battle plan, Yu drew his sword and glanced at the others with him.

"Break through or cut them all down?" he asked, sidestepping a harpy clawing for his face before stabbing back, drawing no small amount of blood from its torso in the process. "Regardless of what we do, if we stay put, we'll just end up boxed in on all sides."

@Sho Minazuki@SilverPaw

---

Sen Rynta — Wellspring Park

Once Myrtle had accepted the request, Mini had taken a moment for himself to try and fiddle with his own UI—a moment that was almost immediately thrown out the window once the weather mage had casually lobbed a tornado into the air. With his eyes wide open for a moment, the Belva instinctively moved towards the tree for support, but only seconds later found that it didn't actually have enough force to draw anyone in. With no reason to panic now, though, he took a deep breath and shook his head before chiming in.

"Well, regardless of what you do next, I've gotta go find my friends, wherever the heck they are" he said, raising his arm and giving the two present a small salute, "So good luck out there."

And with that, he was off.

@Hammerman@Operator Luna

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Stretching her arms as she took a small break from stripping down the bamboo to its components, Misaki quietly glanced at how the deer had fared in its efforts to help her... Only for a piece of bamboo to unceremoniously land on her head. The hollow noise it made upon impact might have made for a good enough comedic moment for her to laugh, if the mild pain didn't keep her from doing so.

Rubbing the point of impact, the young woman made a mental note of how the creature had managed to do so in the first place before directing it to simply help break everything apart. Breaking everything into strips was simply her method of making things easier to process without having to pound everything down to a pulp from scratch, after all; if the deer was able to crush things into even smaller components, then that was all the better.

Once most of the bamboo was broken down, though, Misaki would gather everything up on top of the cloth and bundling it up before taking a deep breath.

"Next up... Distilled water, I suppose," she sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to the empty pot. Logically, it wouldn't be hard to set up a filtration device—something to catch the steam and condense it wouldn't require too much finagling, and with some spare bamboo to use as vessels to store the end product, she could probably get to turning the broken-down bamboo into pulp... Whenever that was done.

Would that she had something caustic to skip this step, but hoping for something like that in this situation would likely take more hunting than she had any immediate time for.

Maybe it was something to consider later tonight, but for now, Misaki simply set off to find some water to boil and whatever else she needed to set up the device in question. Assuming she found everything, the only thing left to do was set it up, turn on the flames, and wait.

@Rune_Alchemist