Moonlight Demon

Kaori

"... What do you mean?" 

"Uh, well, it's kind of a long story," Kaori started to pace back and forth awkwardly as Kasumi crossed her arms in front of her. She was trying to find the right way to say this without dropping too much on the crimson-haired woman at once. "Okay, so, you know how gods exist and stuff? Well, sometimes they talk to people. And one of them talked to me, and it looks like another is talked to you." 

She finished that statement off with a comforting smile, of course. 

Kasumi blinked. 

"Okay, uhm, let me explain a little more," Kaori waved her right hand and the stump on her left arm back and forth. "So, uh, a bit of time ago, I went through some stuff, and Lumina visited me in a dream. Like, actually," Kaori said, trying to sound convincing. "She kinda comforted me, you know? It was, anyway, moving on, so, like, before the fight in Pearl, I saw her again and she gave me these abilities that let me do stuff, and they kinda helped a little in the fight at Pearl. Um, so, what I'm trying to say is that gods can sometimes talk to people they have a strong connection with, and it looks like Alkoth talked to you. And, since he told you to go somewhere, uh, you should probably go there. Yeah, that's about it." 

As she finished, Kasumi blinked again. 

"... Let me get this straight," Kasumi started, "you're saying a god visited me in my sleep because he wants me to head to a random place for unknown reasons?" 

"Yeah, I mean, obviously, not for anything bad, of course." 

"Hm. Well then, that's interesting." 

That was it. That was Kasumi's response. As the sun started to appear over the horizon and Mizaki woke up with a yawn near them, Kasumi went back to where she had been laying and sat down. 

... Is that it?  Kaori thought. Wow. I'm better at convincing people that gods talked to them than I thought I'd be. 

With a smile, Kaori sat down as well, waiting for Akiven to wake up so that they could all get started. 

---

At midday, the group continued looking for creatures to hunt. Kaori, for once, was in a particularly good mood. She hummed a little song as the Saviors around her each took turns farming the creatures they encountered. Occasionally, one of them would let her claim a kill to share EXP, which helped her keep progressing as well. 

She was in such a good mood in fact, that she wasn't even looking at her missing left hand as much as she usually did. As Mizaki slammed a random orc in front of her with her hammer, Kaori cheered her on, a smile naturally finding its way onto her face. 

She figured Kasumi would be in a similar state, given their conversation, but as Kaori glanced at her, she saw that the older woman was instead, more depressed than Kaori had ever seen her in the short time they'd known each other. 

What?  Kaori thought.  But the talk we had went so well... 

Curious, Kaori walked up to her as Akiven and Mizaki argued about something in the background. 

"Uh, what's wrong?" Kaori asked. 

Kasumi side-eyed her, and then looked away, without answering the question. 

Hm. Maybe she didn't hear me. 

Kaori got closer. 

"Ahem," she cleared her throat, "what's wrong?" 

Kasumi scowled. 

She then gestured for Kaori to come with her as they walked a few steps away from the others. 

Then, Kasumi simply said:

"I'm not going." 

"Huh?" Kaori asked. 

"I'm. Not. Going," she replied. 

As she slowly made that statement, Kaori began to understand what she was trying to get across.

"Y-You mean... Alkoth...?" Kaori looked at her with disbelief. 

"Mhm. I'm good, let him know he should find someone else." 

"K-Kasumi, he's a god, I don't think that's how this... I mean, what, why?" Kaori gawked at her, baffled. 

"I can think of better things to do with my time than worry about the concerns of some irrelevant spirit in the sky," Kasumi replied. "Besides, it didn't seem like it was too hard for that thing to visit my dreams. Surely, it can do the same with someone else." 

Kasumi said this so easily that Kaori was taken aback. 

"But, Kasumi, the next big attack could literally happen at any moment, we don't have time for that!" 

"In that case, he should probably get to work, huh?" Kasumi responded. 

"Are you serious?" Kaori began to grow frustrated. "What is wrong with you!? We're talking about the world right now, you're seriously just gonna sit this one out?" 

Kasumi heard her and narrowed her eyes at Kaori. 

Then, she took a few steps closer to her and put her hands on her hips. Kaori reflexively took a step back and Kasumi took another step forwards. 

"And why," she said with a low, borderline threatening tone, "should I go out of my way to help a god that simply sat around and watched my daughter be taken from me? No. I don't think I will," Kasumi's eyes locked so intensely with Kaori's own that it nearly burned to look at her. "Admittedly, if it weren't for the fact that the Royal Council would hound me every day to get me to help, I wouldn't even be here at this very moment. Maybe these gods should go ahead and pick someone who actually cares." 

...

Kaori didn't respond to that. Instead, her anger turned into sadness as she watched Kasumi turn her back and walk away. 

Well, this sucks.  Kaori thought as she picked her bag up to keep going.  Maybe I can get through to her though... 

---

A few hours later, once more, the group was back out, finishing up and finding enemies to hunt. They found some decent-level goblins, around level 22, and Akiven took one down, allowing Kaori to come in and claim the kill. 

"Ah, this whole thing has been productive," he happily wiped some goblin blood off of his swords as Kaori checked how much EXP she'd gotten. 

By now, she had reached level 17, thanks to the help of the other Saviors. However, she decided not to allocate her points yet, leaving 6 points stored up. 

The reason was simple. Because she was now missing a hand and she couldn't exactly fight the same way she had before. She had no second hand with which to throw spells out or use a shield, or a bow. So, she opted to take some time to decide what she wanted to do later, leaving her current stats looking like this:

Level 17

MP: 60/60

---

Attribute Points: 6

STR: 15

DEX: 15

CON: 11

INT: 6

WIS: 6

L: 100

---

EXP: 0/200

Mizaki had gone up two levels, reaching level 29, mostly because she had killed the highest number of monsters out of all of them so far, and Kasumi went up one level, reaching 26. 

Akiven though, hadn't gone up a single level since they'd come out here. He was level 39 when they arrived, and he was still level 39 now. 

Come to think of it,  Kaori thought. With the monsters being half his level isn't he kind of wasting his time here?

Akiven caught her looking in his direction and wriggled his brows at her. Kaori looked away instantly. 

"This has been fun and all," he turned towards the group and said, "but we should probably head back soon. Don't get me wrong, I for one, absolutely love seeing attractive sweaty women with nice racks working out by beating up goblins, but," he shrugged, "if anything happens with the demons, we'll probably want to be in our homes when it does." 

"Yeah," Mizaki turned to Kasumi and Kaori. "We can come back tomorrow or something and keep going. What do you say?" 

"Sure," Kasumi said. 

"Uh, I guess," Kaori replied. "As long as we come back."

If we don't, well, I don't think going from level 14 to 17 will make that big a difference when it comes to the demons.

"Alright, everyone, to Jade!" Mizaki announced cheerfully and began marching back in the direction of the capital. 

---

Keiko

"Now!" Haruna yelled as she parried a blow from the creature that left it defenseless. Keiko nodded to herself and quickly stepped in, thrusting her katana into the creature's midsection. 

EXP Gained: 50

EXP: 180/180

Level Up!

And with that, Keiko reached level 16, pouring most of her points into her Dexterity. She genuinely feared how long it would take to increase her Dexterity on her own, by training, now that it was so high, but she figured she had to do it. The world needed her strength now.  It couldn't wait until she trained it up and put her points in afterward. 

Level 16

MP: 100/100

---

STR: 21

DEX: 30

CON: 10

INT: 10

WIS: 10

L: 5

The reason this sudden boost in strength was possible was, of course, because the creature was of a higher level than her own. It meant that not only did she get 50% more EXP from the Training Mode, but she also got more from killing a creature that was stronger than her, even with the reduction from shared EXP. 

Haruna collapsed to her knees. Keiko was at her side quickly. 

"No, I'm alright," she assured her. "It's just... It's taken a lot out of me." 

"Wait," Keiko looked at her abdomen and found a wound. "You're injured." 

"Ah, yes," Haruna nodded. "One of those wind blasts caught me off-guard. My mistake. It's a small cut, it'll heal in a minute." 

And so, using the basic Heal spell, that was almost universal, Haruna crawled over to the wall behind her and placed her back against it. 

"Do you need anything?" Keiko asked. 

"No, no. Let's just take a break, for a second." 

This, however, was why Keiko felt her shame increasing with every level she gained. She was putting in barely any effort at all, while Haruna was not only doing the work to kill the monster, she was virtually the only one putting herself in harm's way. 

"I'll..." Keiko suddenly said, looking away. "I'll go get some food. Berries." 

"Hm? We still have plenty." Haruna stated and Keiko nodded. 

"R-Right..." 

"But," Haruna sighed. "If you feel like walking a little, that's fine. I have to come with you though," she said, making an effort to stand up. Keiko helped her to her feet. "There are many dangerous creatures near this place."

Together, the two of them went into the neighboring woods, moving through bamboo trees and treading on dirt as Keiko remained in a pensive state. 

"You know," Haruna said, "I never asked but... Have you made any friends? Since leaving the Compound, I mean." 

"Yes," Keiko found a smile naturally forming on her face as she thought of Ash and Kaori. "I have." 

"Hm, I'm glad. You..." Haruna shook her head lightly. "You were always so, what's the word... Secretive, when you were at home." 

I think the word you're looking for is "lonely", Haruna.  Keiko said in her mind. 

"So, what do you and your friends do?" Haruna asked. 

"U-Uh, what?" Keiko hadn't expected the question. 

"Well, I've been on the road, I know sometimes people do some interesting things to pass the time, what do you do?" Haruna asked. 

"I-I, uhm..." Keiko blushed. 

Mainly, because she remembered that between all of the training and the fighting... They pretty much just talked and made out occasionally. 

"N-Nothing..." 

Haruna's brows shot up as a surprised smile came to her. 

"Wow. I hadn't expected you to have that kind of awakening," Haruna said. "So, which is it? Sex, alcohol, drugs, all of the above?" 

"S-SIYA!" Keiko turned away. 

Haruna laughed loudly before she walked in front of Keiko and stopped her. Keiko looked up, finding a nostalgic, kind expression as Haruna placed a hand on top of Keiko's head. 

"I'm glad you're having fun," Haruna said. She sighed. "I know we're not too close, but... It means a lot to me. Gods know, I've worried about you a lot over the years." 

"... What?" Keiko asked. 

"Oh, yeah." Haruna patted her head a few times. "Those times I'd walk up to the training room only to find you drenched in sweat, practicing because you couldn't do anything else. When I'd see you outside, sitting out covered in moonlight. I... well, I'm just glad you're finding your way." 

Keiko looked down. She would never have guessed that anyone, really, had actually cared about her like this. She had convinced herself of the exact opposite. 

She hadn't realized she'd had this person in her life like this until now.

"Anyway, come on," Haruna looked around and found a few berries, plucking them and placing them in Keiko's hands. "Let's keep bullying that thing some more. With your training, you might just be ready to fight it on your own." 

Hearing that, Keiko looked down at the ground. 

Okay. I won't keep holding anyone back. Time to show what I can do.