Whilst walking with Amelie, Kotori had noticed the undergrowth was getting less thick and trails were beginning to show.

Soon, the steady sound of human activity began to grow louder and louder until Kotori realized that they were in fact inside a village.

She didn't notice earlier when walking in but the houses seemed to be carved out of the trees and it wasn't until she smack dab the middle of the village did she realize that she was in fact, surrounded by buildings.

Despite this, the village was quiet. Unlike the other villages that Kotori had lived in. This one seemed to not have that many people inside of it.

"So where is everybody," She asked Amelie

"Well, they're probably all out working?" she said scratching her head.

"Working?" Kotori asked with a suspicious look on her face.

If they were bandits, then that would mean their work was harassing innocent people for money

Realizing Kotori's intention Amelie immediately backtracked 

"No No No, not like that!" She quickly said

"I was joking earlier, we are not really bandits. People just call us that" Amelie said sighing

Kotori looked at her quizzically

"Well, there must be some reason why they call you bandits" She asked

"Look," Amelie said

"people, call us that because we look scary. We just live here. We've always been nice to people that come by, but whenever they see us, they throw down their stuff and run away before we can get a chance to explain ourselves."

"We're really not all that bad." She said glumly

"So, what does everybody do for… Work?" Kotori asked. To be quite honest, she wasn’t even sure if people had to work in this village.

"Ah that, most are probably dungeon diving" Amelie explained.

"Dungeons?" Kotori asked

Kotori who had been in a small village for her entire life so far had never heard of such thing. This was the first time Kotori has heard about anything like a “dungeon” in this world.

"Well, we'll just wait here for now" Amelie said after leading to a small gazebo that seemed to be made for public use. There was a well-worn table and chairs already set up, so Kotori obliged her and sat down.

Shu, who was on her shoulder, jumped down and took a nap in a sunbeam that shone on the table.

While they waited there. It was to Kotori's annoyance that Amelie was a very talkative person. She talked at a great length on many topics. In the beginning, Kotori humored her and kept up the conversation with her but eventually, her responses grew in her nodding and saying

"hmmm" and "yes, that seems interesting"

Amelie herself, didn't seem to notice Kotori's disinterest and kept talking. It seems she didn't have very many people to talk to in her village and the arrival of Kotori had unleashed a torrent of words that she had kept pent up inside her.

She talked about her life, about her favorite food and least favorite foods, her dreams, and even waxed on about her favorite way to tie her shoes. A subject that she seemed to be especially interested in.

As the day grew long and the sun started to set, people began to slowly trickle into the village. Amelie was right when she said that most of them looked quite scary. They mostly wore green mottle suits like Amelie. When they passed by Amelie, She would give them a cheerful wave and they would wave back respectfully. As soon as their eyes drew to Kotori who was next to her many of them raised their eyes but didn't comment further. Incidentally, most of them were men which made Kotori surprised.

"Where are the women," she asked

"Oh, you noticed that?" Amelie said, "They're with the Boss."

"You keep talking about "the Boss", who are they" Kotori asked Amelie. Much of the things Amelie had talked about involved a mysterious person call “The Boss” from what Kotori could glean, the Boss was quite an impressive person.

Amelie seemed confused at the question.

"Well… They're the Boss?" she tried to explain

"What's the Boss like?" Kotori questioned further.

"They Boss us around?" Amelie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Her face had a puzzled expression, as if she wasn’t quite sure what kind of answer Kotori was looking for.

Kotori was beginning to get exasperated and tried to reframe her question in a different way.

"I mean, what are they like as a person"

Amelie gave a look like she figured out what Kotori was asking.

"Oh, The Boss let's see… They're big and they're strong" She explained

"Anything else?" Kotori asked

"Umm" Amelie looked uncomfortable

Kotori was surprised

"Do you not know anything about the person who leads you" she asked

Amelie instantly protested

"No, I know a lot! The Boss is ummm tall and muscly"

"That's just the same thing you said earlier!" Kotori nearly shouted.

Kotori was starting to feel like the straight man in a comedy skit.

Amelie tried to give more descriptions that were synonyms of what she just said

[I guess, I just gotta learn who this person is for myself] Kotori thought Amelie was thoroughly unhelpful in demystifying this “Boss” character.

They waited there in uncomfortable silence as even more people streamed in. Soon there became a visible change in emotion among the men when a group of women appeared from a path in the undergrowth

They were an imposing group. They seemed verifiably amazoness in appearance. All of them were near two meters tall and their bodies were filled with rippling muscles. The way they moved was almost cat-like; their bodies seemed filled with energy. Kotori noted that their ears all had pointed tips like Amelie.

They mostly wore black cloaks and they carried a wide array of haphazard weapons. It took a moment for Kotori to realize that they were dressed as honest to god delinquents.

Amelie ran over to them and Kotori followed with Shu on her shoulder

"Welcome back guys!" She shouted towards the group

The imposing feeling the group gave off lessened as they began to happily greet Amelie. They gave her a lot of pats on the back. Many of them seemed concerned about her broken arm but Amelie explained that she hurt it in a fall. They seemed like quite a nice group of people.

Kotori smirked

[That's technically true I guess, but she is not mentioning I'm the one that caused it.]

Noticing Kotori one of them asked

"Amelie who's this?"

"Ah this is a girl I found wandering the forest, I felt bad for her and picked her up," Amelie replied

"Weren't you supposed to be watching the border side of the forest?" the person said

"I uh… had to bring her back" Amelie said absentmindedly shuffling her feet slightly

The tall woman sighed

"You really shouldn't drop your duties that much, it's not good." She said.

Amelie looked apologetically toward the woman and then spoke

"By the way where is the boss?" Amelie asked

The tall woman pointed towards the back of the group.

"She back there"

"Thanks!" Amelies used her free arm to grab mine and drag Kotori over

As they got towards the back of the group. Kotori found them walking towards a particularly tall and imposing woman with burnt orange hair. Standing over two meters tall she had a metal club slung over her tanned shoulder.

Her face was incredibly scary, and Kotori instinctively shirked away from her until she realized that Amelie was leading her to that woman.

The Boss seemed to be in a conversation with another one of the elves until she notices Amelie and Kotori approaching them.

"Amelie!" The Boss said, she had a very harsh tone for a voice.

"Yes!" Amelie yelped

"Who is with you! And what happened your arm" the Boss barked

Amelie quickly gave an answer

"Ah, it's a girl I found she was wandering the forest and I followed her to make sure she didn't get her, then I brought her back to the village. About my arm, I uh fell out of a tree."

"Amelie! You are a ranger how did you fall out of a tree!" The Boss said scolding Amelie.

Amelies eyes became downcast she looked away in shame

"Well... I"

"Hmm! I don't care anymore get out of my sight" The Boss ordered.

Amelie meekly began to walk away, shoulder hung in defeat. Kotori began to follow until she heard a voice behind her

"You there! I'm not done with you." Kotori stopped and then backtracked and brought herself to the foot of the amazoness.

Because of the difference in size, Kotori had to look up at the woman looming over her.

"What your name" The Boss asked

"Kotori" She replied strongly, not wanting to show a sign of weakness

"Why are you here?" she asked

"To get stronger" Kotori replied with no hesitation

Kotori had decided that it would be her plan to get as strong as possible. She never wanted anybody important to be taken from her again.

The Boss nodded obviously happy with her answer

"Good answer! If only that pup Amelie would be like you."

"Ummm, Boss?" Kotori said hesitantly

"What"

"You shouldn't be so mad at Amelie. I was the one who caused her to fall out of the tree"

"What! That girl was taken down by you" The Boss put extra emphasis on the "you" obviously shocked that Kotori was able to knock Amelie down

The boss gave a thoughtful expression and then spoke

"She's even weaker than I thought,"

"Well I used this" Kotori pulled out her flute and showed it to the Boss

The Boss looked confused,

"you took her out with this reed?" she asked

"No, I did something like this" Kotori said bring the flute to her mouth.

Kotori began to play the flute and used her only attack move

[I should really give this a name] she thought as a discordant note rang out into the forest

Many of the women in the bosses covered their ears in annoyance, some in pain

The Boss herself didn't move at all and listened intently

"Hmm, I see. It seems I underestimated you. You do have some teeth little girl" She said nodding, it seemed Kotori had gained her respect. The Boss then turned her head towards Amelie who was trudging away.

"I just wish she was stronger" she whispered.

In an instant the Boss's expression had changed the tough scowl she had on her face was gone and replaced with worry

"That girl gets herself into so much trouble and I can't watch her," she softly spoke to herself.

"Umm," Kotori asked "are you alright"

The boss's expression instantly reverted to its tough look.

"Of course, I am!”* She said gruffly, trying to regain her composure.

[I'm starting to think this Boss isn't so tough at all] Kotori thought after noticing how the Boss just looked at Amelie,

"Do you have any other business with me?" Kotori asked

"Not in particular," The Boss said trying to avoid eye contact, it seemed she was slightly embarrassed that she showed her soft side to Kotori.

It was at that moment that Kotori realized

This woman is an absolute TSUN