Aono stirred in her bunk bed. For a moment, she indulged herself by letting herself turn a little gooey then she pulled herself out of the blankets, extracting all the slime on the bed back into herself. And she saw that Sardu was already up and punching the air slowly, part of her regular morning drills. Chamu, on the other hand, was muttering something about terrible wombats forcing her to stay in bed, the kind of nonsense she typically said when she wasn't quite fully awake and lucid. Sardu responded by pausing her exercise to pull Chamu out of bed, forcing her onto her feet.

"What the gods! Okay, I'm awake." Chamu shook her head briskly and lightly slapped her own face, shaking off the last of her sleepiness.

Aono found herself blinking at a change in Sardu's status. "You got a class change to Guardian Ninja."

Sardu nodded. "Yeah. I've been wanting a class change for a while. As much as Muscle Ninja has precious memories for me, it also has some real gnarlies of memories attached. I like this new class, it's all about protecting people. Plus someone has to stop you from dying pulling stunts like yesterday, Princess."

Aono's expression turned pensive. "Sorry," she said before Sardu cut her off with a shake of her head.

Sardu said, "Nah, you saved lives. Keep doing that. Just, someone has to save your life too. That's not the only reason I took this class, but it helps."

"Such dashing words! Will you scoop me up in your firm, strong arms, too? I'll swoon!" Chamu said with a smile.

"Naturally." Sardu smiled back. "I'll protect both of you."

Chamu pulled Sardu into a quick kiss, then gave Aono one too.

..oOo..

"It was the Clawwing," said one of the survivors from the wrecked ship, a slender and petite tree folk, as he took a long swig from a steaming mug of mellowtea in the mess hall. "Gods-forsaken thing popped out of nowhere, scratched up the ship and us real bad. Killed our captain and the first mate, a bunch of us really. But we were lucky, we hurt it enough it ran. Of course, our ship was real fucked, enough we had to throw the cargo and the corpses overboard just to stay afloat. At least we gave the dead a nice send-off."

"So this Clawwing'll be a problem?" Sardu said.

The survivor shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe it's licking its wounds. Maybe it's raving for more."

The representative for the ship owner's interests, an animistic bear wearing a fancy ruffled collar and a monocle, shook his head. "If it's out and around, we should sit in dock until some scouts verify it's gone."

"I have to agree," the captain said, "I'm not going to risk my ship. I trust you'll smooth things out with the relevant parties?"

The representative nodded. "Such matters are part of my job."

Aono and her friends looked at each other. "I'm not about to ask you to risk yourselves transporting us," Aono said, "But we *are* registered monster hunters." Both Sardu and Chamu nodded.

"Be careful, the Clawwing is known to be of Elite rank," the representative said. "A newly discovered one that's already downed three ships that we know of. Four now with the ship we found."

Ranks were the System's way of ranking a creature's threat level relative to its level. Most Folk and various moderately dangerous Wild creatures were of Standard rank. The first two monsters Aono had fought were Standard rank, but the shadelings had been Minor rank, easy for a single level 0 Folk to handle singly but their overwhelming numbers had made them a substantial threat. Elite then Master were the ranks above Standard and often required teams to take down.

The first mate wirefolk leaning against the wall with crossed arms of entwined wire said, "There'll likely be a ship with a hunting party you can join if scouts manage to locate where it's hiding. That's a big if, mind, it's known to be an elusive monster, prone to fleeing quickly after doing its ravaging or when facing tough odds."

"In the meantime we dock at the nearest city until the chasm is more or less confirmed clear." The Captain's tone was decisive and firm.

"It can't be helped." The representative took out his money purse out of the bag attached to his belt, using telekinesis instead of his awkward bear paws. "Hopefully, dear passengers, you will either wait until we are ready to depart or accept a partial refund at standard rates for the distance not traveled."

Aono looked at her lovers and saw the same firm resolve in their eyes. "Refund won't be necessary," Sardu said, "We're gonna try and kill that gnarly dead so we can finish the journey."

"I sure hope you do!" one of the survivors said, "That blighted thing killed friends!"

A moment of consideration filled the representative's face and he telekinetically pulled out a notebook and pen. "We'll send full refunds with consolation letters to your provided next of kin should you die. The laws of the land housing our office requires that. Please name your next of kin and their address."

..oOo..

The city rested inside half of the skeleton of one of the gods' beasts, according to tales a vast three-headed lizard which had been cleft in half by SWORD, creating the chasm. The other half of the skeleton rested on the opposite side of the chasm. Many things in the city, including the buildings, were made out of bone, though a touch of paint added colors to the buildings.

As she waited holding a bag of travel rations, blocky things made out of mixture of various foodstuffs, Aono watched the farm animals lined up to enter the nearest meat harvesting facility, a stark block of bone with only doors large and small marring its surface. Now and then a batch of chickens, cows, cart lizards, or other livestock would exit the facility still woozy from the meat harvesting and healing process.

"I'm back!" Chamu said "I return bearing popcorn and some considerably more necessary supplies than that!" Indeed, she was holding a container of popcorn in one hand and a

"I return also bearing necessary supplies and some free play tickets," Sardu said as she arrived.

As both Aono and Chamu looked at Sardu dubiously, the ninja raised her hand innocently. "I got them all legit! I scared off this buncha toughs that were giving the old shakedown to a pair who turned out to be two of this play's star actors! As thanks, they got me those tickets."

Aono shook her head and chuckled. "I guess we have something to do while we wait for the scouts to find that monster. Might mean ducking out mid-play if a hunting posse gets formed, but if it's free, let's see it." She patted the small device that would vibrate if a hunting posse was being put together. They'd picked it up at the local hunters' lodge.

"Free play! Free play!" Chamu chanted.

Thus, they found themselves sitting in the decently packed audience of a fairly nicely set up theatre as the playwright, who apparently was a human with a fairly nondescript brown-haired appearance, spoke, "So I will give some background for this play. I'm glad that I was able to find an audience as lovely as you all. When I came to this unfamiliar world as the result of literal divine whim, I never thoughtful I'd end up becoming as successful a playwright as I am now. I had ambitions of being some sort of hero, a grand slayer of monsters, but that didn't work out. Nearly died to my first monster and ran away. I'm not even brave enough to leave this city!

"But I discovered that adapting works from my home world to local tastes was lucrative enough, and eventually I got to the point now where I'm now, producing a mixture of adaptations and more original works. This play you are about to watch is, similarly to some works from my home, about a secret war between legendary or outright mythic people gathered from across time by summoners to fight for an object of power. However, I have produced my own spin on the concept using figures you may recognize."

He stepped off the stage, and the first actors appeared.

..oOo..

"And then Guardian took Hexer's hand in her own hand and kissed her," Aono gushed enthusiastically to her listener.

Godswar, the rather intense looking gray rabbit Folk nodded along. She was wearing a hooded robe but what really attracted notice was that strapped to her back was a sword larger than her body. Not that she was all that large; she was a good three heads shorter than Aono when standing, though she was currently sitting and working on some knitting in her lap. And, indeed, her class was sword-related, but its name was quite dramatic. Sword of Undying Wrath Against the Wicked.

"And, it was kinda unexpected, this happened after Hexer was revealed to be the Crystal Siren!" Aono gestured her surprise emphatically.

"The one who had a whole song regretting the things she did as a monster?" Godswar asked.

"Yeah, there was some buildup there, too, and of course you can't hold anything someone did as a monster against them, but to think that Guardian would... actually, come to think of it, she turned out to be Aloria, so that'd be in character for her."

"The ruler famed for her wise rule just as much as the libido that brought her kingdom down... I can see it," Godswar said.

"Exactly! Anyways, then they combined their greatest attacks to strike down the Serene Staff that was responsible for the whole Serene Staff War! After a hard struggle, they won! And they kissed again while their Summoners applauded and that was the end of the play." Aono sighed contently.

"It sounded like an enjoyable play," Godswar said as she finished her knitting.

"So, if you don't mind, can I ask you what brought you into monster hunting?" Aono said.

Godswar took in a deep breath and recited, in what sounded like a well-practiced speech, "Monsters drove my people from our homeland over the cries of the dying and weeping of the children. I seek to hone my blade on monsters so that I may have the strength to help reclaim it, as well as destroy all monsters that would do the same to others. It is also why I named myself Godswar, so that I may bring that level of apocalyptic disaster to monsters."

"Wow. That's intense," Aono could only say.

"Many have the same reaction. As thanks for recounting that play, care for some traditional honeybread from a recipe of my homeland? I rented an oven to bake it today." Godswar pulled a wrapped package out of her bag as she smiled kindly.

"Oh, thanks," Aono said and was about to say more, only to be cut off by the rather twitchy platypus Venomous Spurmaster who'd been pacing around the hunters' lodge the whole time they had been waiting for the call to hunt the Clawwing.

While waving his arms the platypus yelled, "Why're you getting all chummy! We likely won't see each other again after this hunt! Some of us might even die! I have bets on who it'll be, too!"

"I'll bet on you, then. It's usually the ones acting like you that die," spoke the Waterfolk who had been playing cards with Sardu and Chamu. Said Waterfolk was shaped like a hyena but instead of flesh they were all rippling water. Their class showed as Call of the Depths.

"Fuck you!" the Spurmaster yelled as the Waterfolk turned their attention back to the game. He whirled around and pointed at a pangolin Folk who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor. "You there! Who're you betting on?"

The Seeker of Wisdom, as his class field displayed, said, "That would go against the path of kindness I seek."

"Fuck are you doing as a monster hunter?" the platypus grumbled.

"Sometimes the kindest thing to do is to remove the capability of some to harm others," the pangolin said.

"Pah, whatever." Said platypus pointed at the next person, a timid looking sundress-clad black mouse Folk with the class Bloody Slayer. "Who're you betting on? And that badass class doesn't fit you."

"Um-" the mouse paused before saying, "Y-you. Because I don't like you."

"Tch! Fuck you too." The platypus turned to the last waiting hunter, a hovering gem the size of a medium dog and with the displayed class Prismatic Lightmaster.

The Gemfolk vibrated slightly, emitting a harsh note, as they said, "You're ruining the mood here. I've had enough of this."

Before a fight could break out, there was the sound of a loudly cleared throat. A hovering, misty figure of a rabbit stood behind the counter reserved for the lodge's staff.

Aono blinked. The figure was a Wraith, one of the comparatively rare undead. She'd never seen one before, but she'd heard about how terrifying the undead could be if crossed, with them growing stronger the greater their grudges. Yet this one was just level 1, with the class Hunter Lodge Administrator.

The wraith administrator kept clearing her throat until all eyes in the room were on her. Then she said, "Everyone, the Clawwing has been located. Proceed in an orderly fashion to the docks. One of the captains of our hunting ships awaits there. Report directly to the blue ant named Horu and follow her boarding instructions. Once all have boarded the ship, the hunt will begin."

Immediately, all the monster hunters in the room began picking up their things. Right after Chamu and Sardu finished sweeping up the cards and handing them to the Waterfolk, the two headed directly toward Aono.

"Damn, that guy was a real asshole," Chamu complained.

Sardu sighed. "I'm worried about team cohesion, dears. But we can only do what we can do to offset that."

"I only hope that no one dies," Aono said.