The same dream as before came to Ryuji. In the darkness, a girl stood looking at him. Her silhouetted lips moved, and at that moment, he knew what she was saying. She was saying-

"Free." His eyes shot open as he said the word on his mind.

“What?” Rhea shocked by his sudden awakening, jumped back.

Ryuji fully woke up and tried to rise out of his makeshift sleeping bag. As he did, the pain hit him like a truck, and he fell back down.

“Don’t move so fast! I’m not so good at healing magic, but you should be able to fix it yourself now.”

“Sacred High Heal.” His body regenerated, and Ryuji could move again. As he glanced around, he saw that they were outdoors in some grassy field and that it was night.

In front of them was a nice and cozy campfire. The full moon was out, and thanks to that, Ryuji could clearly make out the beauty sitting away from the fire.

Rhea had ditched her expensive armor and now wore fancy red silks.

'Does this girl own anything that isn't red?' He looked at her up and down and only then realized how filled out she was.

Everything about her body seemed perfect to him. From her chest to her bottom, even her legs. To Ryuji, she was the picture of beauty itself.

Absorbed in the scene before him, he almost forgot about the events that had just transpired.

“Did I kill him?” Ryuji faintly remembered doing something super awesome and wanted to know if that was a dream or not.

“Of course not. I killed him.” Rhea acted as if Ryujii had just spoken utter nonsense. Ryuji's dreams and self-esteem were crushed by reality. “Although I definitely couldn’t have done it without you. You healed me and incapacitated him so I could land the final blow. For this, I am eternally in your debt.” She bowed deeply towards Ryuji.

In his head, fireworks were going off in celebration. She got up from her bow and looked Ryuji in the eye. Her usual fiery eyes appeared uncertain. “Why did you save me?”

Her doubtful face made Ryuji worried. “Did you already forget that we’re friends? Friends save friends it's common knowledge. Not to mention you saved me first, remember?”

“Still... do you do dangerous stuff like this all the time?"

"Nope, only when cute girls are involved." Ryuji smiled at the blushing knight and decided to ask the obvious question. “So, how long was I out?”

“Two days.”

“WHAT!?” His smile dropped, and a face of pure dismay replaced it. Rhea giggled and pointed towards the horizon. On it, Ryuji could see a faint glow despite it being night.

“Cacim is just over that hill. If you walk, it’ll take you about an hour to get there.”

Ryuji was glad to have made it to his destination, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. “Where are you going?”

“It was my mission to take down a roaming evil god, but I didn't expect it to be a Dark Moon. I need to go and report this as fast as possible.”

“Report it where?” Ryuji had a bad feeling it was somewhere far away.

“I'll be going to the global delegation in Mallan.”

“That’s on the other side of the world!”

She looked down at the ground. “Yes…yes it is.”

“So, this is goodbye?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I caused you nothing but trouble." Rhea rose up and smiled. "I hope you find your friend.”

A sinking feeling was all Ryuji had in his chest.

'I can't just let her leave, right? If she goes, I'll never see her again. She was so nice to me. She became my friend. Right now, she's the only one I have in the whole world. Can I really just let her walk away like this?'

He reached out and grabbed her hand. It was soft yet fully calloused from swordsmanship. He looked up full of desperation and pleaded. “Please let me adventure with you!”

“Why? Why would you want that for yourself? If you're with me, more enemies like Zephyr will surely appear. What will happen to you then?" He could tell that she really wanted to say yes, but her compassion wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't bear to think of what might befall Ryuji if he tagged along.

“You’ll save me, won’t you? After all, you’re the Sword Saint, right?.”

“I didn’t save you last time! You had to save me!” A fist slammed into the ground, and fresh cracks were made. She seemed to be loathing her weakness.

“Who cares if I was the last one to save you? You can just save me next time. Then I'll save you. Friends save friends, it doesn't have to be one-sided.”

Ryuji's logic made sense to her, but she still didn't understand why anyone would want to be with her. “But! But…I’m cursed.” Her voice trailed off as tears rolled down her face. She had heard those words so many times that she truly believed them to be right.

“I don’t care. I don’t care if you’re cursed! Hell, I’m cursed!" Ryuji put his face directly in front of hers. "Look, I just want to be with you more. I want to know you more, I want to be your friend. I want to talk to you every day, I want to see you every day!”

Ryuji's determined and hopeful face made her look at the ground. Quietly she uttered a response.

“You really don’t care if I’m cursed?”

“Not at all. With you and me together we can beat all kinds of ass!”

“You really don’t mind being my only friend?”

“That just makes it all the more special!”

“I’m not really good with people and I don’t really know anything about friendship.”

“It’s okay, I don't really know that much about it either, but we can learn together and grow together.”

Rhea took Ryujis's hand and placed it against her tear-stained cheek. She then pulled on his arm and gave him a big hug. Ryuji's mind was overloaded by the realization of how soft and warm girls are. His brain no longer processed thoughts, only static. He put his arms around her and embraced her.

“Hugs really are nice huh?” Rhea interrupted his brain meltdown.

Ryuji couldn't hide his nervousness. “I-I tried to tell you earlier before we got interrupted.”

“Oh?”She leaned further in and hugged tighter while giggling. “How’s it feel to be the nervous one for a change?”

‘Jokes on you I’ve been nervous nonstop since we started talking in that wagon!’

“I-It’s not so bad ya know.”

Rhea backed away and released her grip on Ryuji. She looked at him with a kind smile. “If you’re going to be with me you have to go through the proper channels.”

“With you? Proper channels?” Ryuji's face was as red as Rhea's garment.

“Yes, if you want to adventure with me you need to be the proper rank. I took a peek at your card while you were unconscious. You need a rank way higher than that.” Rhea looked at him disappointedly.

“Why did you look at my card? What else did you look at!?”

“N-nothing. Ahem, you need to go to the Academy for adventurers.”

Ryuji was a little upset that was just glossing over it but decided to let it go. “There’s an academy for that?”

“Yes, it's in the capital of Dengal. It's very selective though so you need this.” She handed Ryuji a pendant on a chain. Engraved on the pendent was a phoenix. “You need to get there within the next month. The classes will start after that.”

“Can I take my friend too?” He really didn't want to ditch his new friend just to go to some school.

“Of course!”

“Hey… when and where should we meet up?”

“The class takes a year, so how about in a year and two months we meet in the river city of Priscillaca?”

“Sounds good!” Rhea got up and gathered her swords, and prepared to leave.

As she did Ryuji, felt a wave of nervousness. 'What if she doesn’t show up? What if I don’t make it there on time? What if my friend doesn’t want to go? What if-'

“Can you pinky promise me?” All negative thoughts blew away as Rhea leaned forward towards Ryuji, pinky outstretched. Her hand was shaking badly as if it was taking all of her courage to keep it there. Ryuji stared at her dumbfounded.

“I-If you don’t want too that’s okay. I just thought that you might be joking around. Maybe you won't show up. Maybe I'll never see you again."

Ryuji slipped his pinky around hers and held firm. “I swear we will meet at Priscillaca.”

“Yes!” A radiant smile that could outshine the sun blazed on her face. A few tears could be found at the corners of her beautiful eyes. The image burned itself into his mind.

‘It just dawned on me. This, this is the kind of fantasy I wanted. One filled with laughter and a beyond cute girl. I swear I won’t break my promise!’

The feeling of her warm hand and the softness of that hug was all he could think about as she left, and he headed closer and closer towards his fate in Cacim.

After arriving, he couldn’t contain his excitement. He beelined it straight for the royal house in the city. Cacim was your pretty standard city in Dengal. Loads of brick and wood houses cramped together. Paved stone roads for coaches. An outer wall for defense and impoverished living standards.

'Where the hell is the king's court?' After some walking and questioning, he made it to the center of the city where the king and his court resided. It was a big ornate building that reminded him of medieval architecture.

"Hey guard, now I know this might sound weird, but the king is waiting for me."

The guards looked at him with angry expressions. He was pretty sure he was about to get arrested when they suddenly gave him permission to pass. "I can't believe that it actually happened! Now we lost the bet, damn!"

He walked past the sad guards and made his way to the hall. To his surprise, the king was still up even though it was fastly approaching midnight.

The king sat upon his throne with a tired look. “What do you want adventurer?”

Ryuji had a hard time remembering exactly what he should say. “I’m uh… the fortunes hero?” He half expected to just be kicked out. Just then the king erupted in elation.

He was laughing maniacally like he had heard the funniest thing ever told.“I knew it! I’m not crazy! Those dreams were real! I never told a soul about them. I just tell my guards to let anyone in here who’s an adventurer. I even stay up every night as late as possible in my audience hall. It finally paid off!”

Ryuji felt very uncomfortable and felt very bad for this king, who was plagued by dreams. “So, do you have something for me?”

“Huh? Oh, yes, of course. Guards bring out my daughter, please!”

“Daughter! What for?”

“She’ll be going with you of course.”

“Riiight.” He didn't know how he felt about a father just giving his daughter to some random guy. ‘Kinda feels a little weird, but hey, it’s his kid. Can’t be any worse than an arranged marriage’ He felt awkward waiting so, he drummed up some conversation. “So, is it normal for children of kings to do this?”

“She is my third daughter. She didn't really serve a purpose so, it was either this or send her down to Hofel and have her become a holy woman.”

“Is she even trained?” Ryuji had doubts about an aristocrat becoming an adventurer.

“She has received formal training for the last 15 years. I assure you she will be a great asset to you.”

’15 years? That’s as long as my time here!’

“What is it, father?” From the right of the throne came a girl. She was slightly shorter than Ryuji and had short jet black hair. She seemed to like the color green as her entire outfit was seafoam green. Ryuji figured it might be because her eyes were jade green.

“This here is the hero!”

“Hello, I am Ryuji Koyanagi. I hope we can be friends!” His voice broke halfway through from his nerves. ‘Ugh, I am…lame, oh so lame.’

“I am Marie North. I hope you live up to your title.” Her voice sounded cold and grating. Her eyes lacked any trace of life in them as well. But it didn’t bother Ryuji in the slightest. In fact, it had quite the opposite effect.

‘Ah, she’s like a Kudere! I can’t wait until she gets all affectionate with me!’

His face apparently showed this excitement as Marie picked up on it. “Mr. Hero, I believe you are having disgusting thoughts about me. Just because I serve you does not mean I’ll be doing that with you.”

“No! I was not thinking about that...yet.”

“Ah, so it’ll happen later then. Ill remain ever vigilant.”

“Can we please just leave? Having this kind of discussion in front of your father is very unsettling.”

They left the king's presence and headed for an inn. Ryuji had turned down the offer to sleep in the king’s house as that would be super awkward. Although now an even more awkward situation had arisen. One room, two people.

“Well um, goodnight then!” Ryuji darted to his bed as he didn't want any awkward situations on their first day meeting each other.

“Hold it. I need to see something, right now.”

“Uhm you see I’m very shy so could you- “

“Keep your pervy thoughts to yourself please.”

She reached into his pocket and took out his card.

“Let’s see, D rank and…level 21.” Her eyes turned sharp and a scowl made an appearance. “Only level 21!” The upset Marie stomped on the floor as she restated his pitiful level.

“Well, what’s your level missy!”

“I’m level 45!”

“Oh… oh yeah?” The last part was inaudible as Ryuji had no comeback. Levels measured how much potential you had left. The higher your level the more tapped into your inner potential you were. By becoming level 100 you would reach maximum potential. Those who went beyond that limit were known as gods.

“I trained for 15 years and when you finally arrive, you’re just a big disappointment.” Her tone took on one of someone who had a life of misfortune after misfortune and that this was just the most recent one to her.

“You can go back if you want.” Ryuji was a little upset at being criticized. 'If she's so cool she can just go home. Won't want to make her stay with a loser like me!'

Her voice softened. “Go back? I never want to go back." Though very quickly she changed it back to the usual cold tone. "Being with an addle minded hero is better than being with an addle minded old fool.”

Ryuji could tell that she had some pretty bad family issues and that he would do well to leave them alone. “Well, I’ve had enough beratement for one night. I’m going to bed. I’ll fill you in on what we’re doing tomorrow.”

As they lay in bed both felt disappointed. Both were looking forward to meeting the other and both felt the harsh pain of reality.