…

  The forest was dark, too dark for some. After all, it was mostly untamed. Sure, some regurly went out and mapped it for adventurers. Yet at the same time, the king didn’t want people to simply exploit it. it was a thing of nature, not meant for man to cut away.

  At least, that was the story. It was the truth for the most part, sure the guild had built bases there, yet it hadn’t been farmed and cut away like the woods of earth had. Not that the people of this world knew anything about that.

  Tatania gnced at the woman walking besides her. This person, if the information from her dad was to be believed, was a vampire. That did make sense, after all, how else would she not have aged a day since her father had invented Momon?

  She gnced back forward into the dark and rather dreary forest. While she did know why her father didn’t exploit this forest, and she respected him for it, she was slightly perturbed by how much he wanted to keep mother nature alive.

  Sure, the biosphere, the atmosphere, and the Hydrosphere to her knowledge, did rely on nature to stay as it did. Yet she couldn’t help but think he was being a bit stingy. The trees around her were tall and thick. The leaves and shade they provided blocked most of the light from hitting her.

  It was beautiful. It was very much untouched. They had long since left the carriage at the parking space outside of the forest. Hamsuke leading the charge as she had lived here for the majority of her life.

  As the group of four walked, she talked about the facts of the forest. What trees were nice to nap under, what rivers were nice to sleep by, that kind of thing. Tatania shook her head as a thought came to her.

  Was Hamsuke just listing off pces to nap? Surely, she knew more of the nd that she lived in. As if to back up her thoughts, Evil Eye leaned in to speak her mind.

  “Is it just me, or has the only facts that have come out of the oversized rodent’s mouth been napping spots?” she asked in a whisper.

  “I think so, yeah,” Tatania nodded her head.

  Evil Eye sighed in exasperation, and pulled her hood close to her head. The woman no doubt wanting to speak of other things, and wanting to do so herself, Tatania spoke up. For voice catching the ears of her conversation partner.

  “I was wondering, why are you coming with us? I know you probably want to learn more about how the national branch of the guild works, yet I can’t help but think you want to learn more,” she sated and looked at the other girl inquisitively.

  The vampire princess turned her head and peered into the face of the other girl. She wanted to make the other girl look away, yet all she did was make the arcane gunslinger raise a brow.

  “I was just wondering what and how the missions were done differently. Like, how would you two react to, “This,” or how would Mr. Momon react to, “that.” You know?” she asked.

  Tatania didn’t really know. Well, she did, but she felt that that might be seen as too professional. So, she said nothing and simply nodded her head. This conversation was going no where fast.

  “I simply wanted to explore the cave,” Tatania said, and Evil Eye turned to look at her, “it was my idea to actually take this mission request. Tob is an old forest, no doubt older than even the Sine Theocracy. Forests and old growths of nature are often older than many civilizations,” she expined, and Evil Eye hummed in response.

  “That’s true. Trees and mountains are often older than even the dragon lords, if you believe that,” Evil Eye said, “I remember my friend who had met a dragon lord,” she continued, despite knowing that said friend was a dragon lord, “He said that even the dragon lords weren’t the oldest things on this pnet, time was,” she said, and Tatania nodded her head.

  “How old do you think this forest is?” she asked with a cute tilt of her head, and Evil Eye couldn’t help but think of this girl as the child she was.

  “I’m pretty sure that this forest definitely old enough to drink, unlike you,” she said teasingly.

  The young neophyte scowled, and Evil Eye couldn’t help but think to compare her with Renner. The both of them seemed to give off the same air of surprising maturity and immaturity.

  “Could you not comment on my age, I get enough of that from Momon,” she said, and pouted a cute pout, “how old are you even?” she asked in retaliation.

  “It’s rude to ask a woman her age,” Evil Eye said while pointing at the girl, “But alright I won’t comment on it again,” she said, then let the words that Tatania said sink in.

  Wait, Momon, teasing her about age. Evil Eye let the words sink in for a minute, then two. Soon, Tatania was looking at her with concern. Evil Eye, who was now peering at Momon, was thinking a mile a minute.

  “Wait, he teases you about your age?” she asked then, suddenly.

  “Well, yeah? I am pretty young, and he is my senior in this job. It would be strange if the raven bck hero didn’t do that,” Tatania said while raising a brow at her conversation partner.

  Evil Eye was panicking on the inside now. Would her crush tease her openly now? Would she hate it if he did that? Would she like it if he did that?

  She pced her hands on the sides of her head and shook it. Tatania simply looking at her, confused as to what was happening. The girl who thought that she herself was a sociopath yet was obviously just Autistic, had never seen a person do this that wasn’t an NPC.

  “Are you alright? Do you need to sit down?” she asked as a breeze whistled by.

  “What if he teases me, and I don’t like it?” Evil Eye mumbled, and Tatania simply sighed in exasperation.

  “I know it came be strange to think of other like that, but I don’t think he will. After all, you have been doing this a lot longer than he has,” she said with a bnk voice, as if describing shapes and colors, “I have known him long enough that he respects his elders in work at least,”

  “So, he won’t tease me endlessly?” she asked, and Tatiana seemed even more confused.

  “Do you want to be teased?” she asked, and Evil Eye looked off to the side of the path, avoiding eye contact.

  Tatania simply rolled her eyes in exasperation and continued to walk on. The other girl, meanwhile, seemed to be in her own little headspace. Images of Momon dancing in her head. The girl was getting really flustered.

  “If you want to ask him something, just do so,” Tatania said, and Evil Eye looked at her once more, and tilted her head.

  “What do you mean?” Evil Eye asked, and the arcane gunslinger simply stared at the other woman.

  “What I mean, is if you want to ask him something, in retion between you own retionship with him, just go ask him. From the amount of time I have known him, he is kind of dense. Though he has gotten better,” she expined and looked forward once more.

  “No, I don’t think I do. I was just thinking what he himself thought of me,” the vampire said in a whimpering tone of voice.

  “Well, as an aside, what did you think of the capital? How does it compare to the rest of the countries?” Tatania asked.

  “It’s much more diverse. I don’t know how he does it though, the undead king I mean,” she said, “it’s just that from all I have seen in my life, what is going on in this nation should be impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible, just improbable,” Tatania said as the group made their way to a pitstop campsite, “you can even fight a god if you want to, given time.”

  …

  Zogsalken