Mia looked at the bloody body beneath her, washing the blood and gore on her face with her wrist. Salty sweat rolled down her face and down the curve of her neck. Mia stood up, looking back at her party. Fren cleans his sword on the ground by drawing a semicircle. Risa, on the other hand, was leaning against her wooden staff, her chest pressed against it, showing off the curves that the flowing robe hides. The tall woman bit back her tongue and stopped the lewd comment from leaving her pink lips.
“Did anyone else hear a feminine, milky voice in their head announcing the killed?”
Risa's comment drew the other two's attention to her, and creeping shame began to show on Fren's face. Mia, on the other hand, nodded.
“Yeah! I notice that as well, very different from the cowboy voice I am used to hearing.”
“Not that I mind a sexy milf talking in my mind, but it's a bit surprising compared to the sweet girl that has been with me for a while.”
Fren coughs a bit as he raises his hand shyly.
“Um..I don't know why. But you guys heard Ailice voice.”
“Ailice?”
“Yeah, it's the name of the voice in his head..but damn, when you said it was a southern milf I didn't expect it to be this kind of milf, love.”
“….Gosh, just put me in a hole…”
The two girls laugh at the way Frenley's face turns bright as a tomato. Mia hugged her side as she laughed, while Risa covered her mouth with her hand. Fren played with a strand of his raven black hair as he looked at the floor beneath his feet. Counting the cracks on the stone and the filth that has accumulated.
“Haha, love, so you into sexy southern milfs that whisper in your ear while giving you a handy?”
“Ahhhh! Shut up! Don't act like you're any better with your rough cowboy taste.”
Mia seemed to stop laughing, noticing the way Frenley reacted to her joke.
“Alright, Mia, stop teasing Frenley.”
“Sorry, Fren, got a bit carried away there.”
Fren sighed as he opened up his arms to the tall woman, who walked towards him and accepted his hug. The two of them hugged for a few seconds before they parted ways.
“Sorry for shouting at you like that. But apology accepted.”
Frenley smiled softly at Mia, who in turn smiled at him. Mia stared longingly at the fey green forest eyes. Frenley felt lost in the way her warm brown eyes looked at him. The two were shaken by a soft cough from the side, and both turned to look into the warm brown eyes of the kitsune. Her arms were crossed as she looked at the duo.
“You sure you guys aren't dating?”
“Yes, we aren't,” Frenley said as he scratched the back of his neck, fighting the blush creeping up.
“We met like 3 days ago, that ain't enough time to even come to liking someone. Much less dating.”
“Huh…I believe I have a very different definition of friendship than you guys.”
“You don't hug your friends, love?”
“The hug is not the problem. Is getting lost in each other's eyes, that is. Whenever you guys start dating, each of you owes me 20 dollars.”
“Huh, why would we owe you 20 dollars? We aren't betting on anything.”
Fren asked, looking at the short woman.
“So when you both confess your feelings to each other, you will have a nagging voice at the back of your head telling you I was correct from the very start.”
“What happens if one of us, instead of dating each other, dates you instead?” The tall woman bent forward, looking Mia in the eye. “I swing both ways. Do you pay us 20 dollars?”
“Huh-What!?”
Risa took a step back at the sudden flirting. The silver-haired fox looked up at Frenley for help. Hoping to employ the reasonable man to calm down the tall woman. Her hope shatters like glass against concrete, as Frenley nods his head.
“She got a point, you know that, but dear, you're supposed to ask them first if they're into women or men.”
“Oh yeah, you're right, so tell me, love. What are you into?”
Mia said as she wrapped an arm around Frenley's shoulder, and the man, in turn, crossed his arms across his chest. Both looked down on her, enjoying the blush that spread across her face. The way her ears felt flat on her head gave her quite a cute look.
“I….like both girls and guys…”
“So we both got a chance, Frenley.”
“Yeah, we do…alright enough with the flirty mood. Let's explore this place some more.”
“Aww, but I was quite enjoying it.”
“Well, yeah, but if we continue, we're just gonna add more evidence to her claim we're dating.”
Mia looked at Frenley with a complicated look in her brown eyes. Frenley looked at her eyes, feeling a bundle of emotions in his throat and heart that were too hard to describe. He shook his head and pulled her arm off his shoulder.
“Let's take our time.”
“Yeah”
“I will be seeing my 40 dollars soon.”
“Ah, looks like you are working again,” Mia said as she turned her attention to Risa. “You know, you looked quite cute in red. Got any lingerie in that co-”
Mia didn't even get to finish her sentence before Risa hit her with the head of the staff in the leg. The silver-haired kitsune was shaking as she looked at the tall woman, her face completely red.
“Ouch! Okay, okay, I will stop! Don't hit me!”
Frenley shook his head.
“I am sure you are great friends with HR Mia.”
“I don't like the implications of that! Will let you know I am not usually this flirty!”
“I find that hard to believe.”
Risa said as she walked past the bewildered Mia and towards Fren, who was looking at the corpse of the grave keeper. Mia soon joined them, and a few seconds later.
“So this guy seems to appear only after we did something. We were walking for quite a while without even hearing him.” Fren said as he poked the figure's body with his foot
“I think I may have caused that- hey, don't look at me like that, I just grabbed a book for a second.”
“In other news, we know these things can talk. This place seems like both a grave and a library kinda thing.” Frenley turns around to look at his party members.
Risa touched her chin as she thought of something.
“It also said for the crime of stealing knowledge, maybe knowledge is a prized thing in this kingdom.”
“Maybe..how about we split up and explore this place and meet back at the entrance after a while?”
“Never split the party,” Frenley said while looking at the tall woman. “Better to face the horrors of the dark together than alone. We need to be there to help each other.”
“Yes, sir, I like me a protective man.”
“Says the one with the literal shield.”
Frenley rolled his eyes at the girl's banter, deciding to lead the party in a random direction. The girls walked behind him whenever they entered a new room, speaking as they did so. They would look around it, grabbing books and things off shelves to find more clues. Most information was useless, not even background lore, just random bits of personal info that serve no purpose for them.
‘I really need to chill with the flirting with Mia…I don't want another situation where I mistake friendliness for romantic intention.’
Frenley thought himself as they cleared room after room. Thankfully, this place didn't expand infinitely.
‘But you wouldn't say that about someone you want to keep as a friend….No no! I am overthinking it. She is just being friendly. I am sure she is like that with everyone… yeah, she is! She is the same way with Risa, and we just met her. It's not special treatment, but the way she is’
The girls had no clue of Frenley's self-sabotage. Risa's voice brought Frenley out of his own dark thoughts and Mia's own mind palace.
“I found something, guys.”
The two of them walked to where Risa was. Frenley's green eyes linger on the tall woman's figure for a few seconds. He fought to focus on the book Risa was holding.
“What did you find, love?”
The tall woman said as she bent over Risa's shoulder to get a better look at the book. That made the small woman look at the tall woman and poke her in the stomach with her elbow. With a soft ouch, Mia gave Risa personal space.
“Alright…so this book is from a guy who seems to have died a long time ago. This area is called The Wild Plains. He worked on the construction of a large castle, which they called Black Stone Fort. The writer of this book, among many others, was a prisoner of war and a criminal. Use as slave labor. But one passage caught my attention.”
Risa cleared her throat as she started to read.
“The Lord Warden came, with his minions. With the fort done, we were banished into the wilds. His purple-clad knights block the way down; we have built our own prison without knowing.”
Risa finishes reading as she closes the book. Looking at her party as she waits for them to digest the information.
“Interesting..so this is like Australia then,” Mia said, one hand on her hip.
“I have never heard of a more obvious boss location than that fort, and it was already obvious before. That will be our key to getting deeper into the kingdom and hopefully finding this Sun King.”
“I agree, Frenley, it also means that the soldiers we have fought so far aren't the true military force in this region.”
“They may just be the local militia for this place, but what the hell are they doing so far away from the city?”
“No clue, love, these ruins also make no sense to be so far away from civilization. But we don't have to know every single detail. Just enough to get a big picture of the story.”
Frenley nodded his head before speaking.
“Enough to do our mission..I am quite done for the night. Y'all down to call it quits here?”
“Yes, please, that boss fight took quite a lot out of me. How about we start exploring more of this forest tomorrow? There have got to be more side bosses in this place.”
Risa put the book back in her hand as she spoke to her party.
“You never know what loot we're gonna get after this expedition. It will boost our power level quite nicely, and the faster we can kill bosses, the faster we get to the main boss.”
Mia and Frenley nodded to Risa's comment as they all started making their way to the resting place.
Pov: Mia
Mia woke up in her face as the sun shone down on her face. The first thing she did when she woke up was save Risa's number. She got it out of the short woman as they reached the resting site. In seconds, Mia created a group chat for her party members. Sending a small kissing gif to start off. That in turn got her a response from Frenley. A small wave. Risa's message was about a cartoonish character saying, "Thank you for having me."
Mia stayed looking at her phone for a few seconds. Her finger lingering over Frenley's profile picture, the urge to privately text him good morning was strong, but not now; later, she will send him some messages and memes.
“Man, I haven't felt this way in a long time. But let's not rush things; the last thing I want is to push him away.”
Mia said to no one but herself, looking at her small apartment for a few seconds. Thinking about the way he changes whenever she teases him. Her heartbeat was filled with complicated feelings; she sensed a hint of affection for the smaller man. One that brought a smile to her delicate face.
“Maybe I should hang out with him more outside… he said he was going to the gym now. Maybe I shall go today.”
With a plan in her mind, Mia stood up from her bed, ready to tackle the day.