From what Kenji, Misumi, and Amelia had discovered, Floor 1 of the Spire had eight districts. In order of difficulty, there was: Delilah’s Rose, Whitevale, The Rupture, Phantom Valley, The Underwater City, Eolana, The Hallways of Illusion, and Dark Castle. The final dungeon where Dead-Eyes waited lay at the very end of Dark Castle, in a place few Adventurers could reach on their own.
Thus far, their party had thoroughly explored the ruins and fields of Delilah’s Rose, and roamed the blizzards of Whitevale, where they clashed against frost golems, wolves, and trolls. The Spire held so many biomes, so many impossible locations, that it was hard to imagine it even existing in a fantasy world, let alone reality. There cities, castles, valleys, dungeons, and lakes, and strange magic lurked everywhere amongst the creatures that called the place home. No matter how many places he explored, Kenji always discovered something knew.
But the latest surprise came not from his first peek into the Rupture, a poisonous jungle riddled with an irradiated green ooze in the soil, the trees, and the water, but from the guildhall, where he—along with Misumi—was surprised to find a new member being presented to the guild. They stood in the doorway as Desmond lounged at his usual table with Sapphire, who looked bored and grumpy. Sinopa was away, however. But everyone who was present in the tavern watched as Flanigan introduced someone they all knew well, someone whose presence made Kenji’s jaw drop: Cleo.
“As you all know,” Flanigan said, standing next to her at the bar. “She’s a Priestess—great for support, but not so much with offense. She’ll need a party.”
As Kenji looked on from the doorway, his left eye twitched as Cleo stood before the guild, face dejected, and he pointed at her, taking on a battle stance. “No!” he exclaimed, causing everyone to glance in his direction. “Not happening! No kamideres allowed!”
The idea of seeing Cleo everyday made his stomach churn. She was rude. Deceitful. And just plain mean. No way in hell was she joining Rat’s Ass.
“What do you mean?” Flanigan asked, eyebrows lowered into an irritate line. “And what’s this kamidere crap? That some of your world’s mumbo jumbo?”
“You damn right it is! She’s rude and callous and has a god complex that comes out whenever she doesn’t get her way! I’ve watched tons of anime so I know how this works!”
“Huh?” Flanigan looked confused.
“Just please don’t let her stay!”
During his spiel about kamideres, Cleo’s expression didn’t change. She was like a scared little kid visiting a crowded market for the first time, and her parents were nowhere in sight. She wore the typical robes of a Priestess from the Cathedral, and her dark green hair was slightly disheveled. Bags were under her eyes, like she hadn’t gotten much sleep. Suddenly, Kenji felt bad for her, but he was cautious, knowing she always maintained a façade.
“Too bad, kiddo,” Desmond smirked. He was leaning back in his chair, both arms crossed. “Looks like she’s signed the paperwork and everything. Cleo’s a member now.”
Flanigan cracked his neck and put on a scary face—the same one he wore on Maintenance Day—and added, “That’s right. And if you don’t like it, you can take it up with me. But I don’t change my mind easily. Now apologize to the young lady right now.”
Being the odd one out amongst all his guild mates, Kenji didn’t bother arguing and he didn’t question Flanigan; after all, not even Misumi seemed to agree with him, as she smiled directly at Cleo, though he hadn’t the slightest idea why.
“Fine,” he grumbled with his head hung. “I’m sorry…kinda…”
“Kinda?” grunted Flanigan.
“Okay, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be so rude, and if you wanna give me cleaning duties or something—go ahead. I guess I deserve it.”
“Heck yeah, you do.”
But instead of holding the conversation on that topic, Flanigan instead brought focus back to Cleo, who still looked unhappy and afraid. Then, he told her anyone the guild would be more than happy to help her get started, and that she could join whatever party she wanted. Being a support class, she’d be of benefit to anyone. And when asked who she wanted to work with, Cleo shied away and refused to look anyone in the eyes, but she pointed a finger directly at the person next to Kenji.
“I’d like to join Misumi’s party…” she muttered.
A portion of Kenji’s soul crumbled away.
And naturally, his ego was bruised further when Flanigan belted out a hardy laugh, letting the noise roll through the tavern as karma came back to slap Kenji in the face.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he chuckled. “You’ll have a party to team up with and Mr. Grouch can learn some humility. Fantastic.”
And as the rest of the guild snickered quietly, Kenji hung forward like a zombie and admitted defeat, for he could not refuse Cleo’s request—especially after the scene he caused. Meanwhile, Misumi scurried up to Cleo and grabbed her hand, yanking her away from the bar with a gleeful smile. She was excited to have made a new friend.
“C’mon,” Misumi said in a spritely tone while Cleo was taken aback, momentarily stunned. “I’ll show you around the guild. But please try to smile—I haven’t been here long either, so you shouldn’t worry about being the new girl. We’re your friends now—all of us—and I promise you won’t ever feel out of place again.”
******
Before they delved into the Spire again, Cleo needed to get used to combat situations—which she had never experienced during her nineteen years of life. And of course, that involved training. Lots of it. The Priestess class, despite almost always avoiding direct conflict, was the easiest class to level up, and there were many level 100s in Duncaster. The only catch is that they could use support magic and nothing more, and they were the only class with fewer than ten skills when fully maxed. She was one such level 100, and while she was very skilled with her own magic, she hadn’t the slightest clue how to react to enemies or how to defend herself should the circumstances make it necessary.
Therefore, Misumi had the bright idea of bringing Cleo to the same spot she and Kenji first trained at with Desmond’s party: a glade by the river and beneath the shadow of a cliff, where woods surrounded the grassy oasis like nature’s barrier to guard the secret hideaway.
“This is stupid,” Cleo grumbled, slumped over and yawning with her disheveled hair. They had woken her up at sunrise and made her hike outside the gates of Duncaster, which she hadn’t passed through since she was little. She whined, “It’s too early and the sun is too bright. I’m gonna get sunburned. Can’t we just go back to the guild and sleep?”
Kenji fake-laughed in a maniacal tone like a villain who was about to carry out his master plan. “Oh no, that’s not how it works. You’re in our party now, and that means you gotta work hard and do what we do. You’re an Adventurer, after all.”
“But I’m not used to this kind of thing…”
“Oh yeah? Neither were we. But look at us now, teaching the girl who made us take a bath together and refused to make us Adventurers.”
With a throaty growl, Cleo leered at him like a murderer on the loose.
He jolted and took a step back, shivering beneath her icy gaze.
Amidst the autumn leaves and rustling forest, they fell silent as Amelia offered her two cents: “Perhaps it would be best to begin with evasion tactics. The best offense is often a superlative defense, or so I have been told.”
“That’s actually backwards,” Kenji stated. “But yeah, let’s roll with it.”
It hadn’t even been a full day since Cleo joined the guild, and already he was sick of dragging her around. She was a princess. A grumpy, sassy princess, and now that she wasn’t Head Priestess of the Cathedral, she didn’t bother wearing a mask. All that glittering personality she had came tumbling out like hot coals from an iron bucket.
Misumi finally spoke her mind, and her tone of voice caught not only Kenji and Amelia off guard, but Cleo as well. “Straighten up and don’t complain. You wanted this, remember? If you ever wanna say goodbye to life at the Cathedral, then this is how you do it. This is where it started for us, and this is where it starts for you, so let’s get to work and make sure you’re ready for the Spire.”
As Cleo’s eyes widened and she turned speechless, she glanced away to the ground, cueing Misumi to approach her and speak more softly:
“It’s just…” Misumi added in a quieter, meeker voice. She removed her hood and rubbed at her neck. “…if you’re not careful, the same thing that happened to Floris could happen to you. I never want you to get hurt.”
The shock of those words passed through Cleo in stages, causing her eyes to take in more light than before, her thoughts to lose speed, and her lips to stutter something nearly silent and incoherent. Then, she blushed. Her cheeks turned rosy red like a sudden wind chill had rolled through, and she couldn’t bring herself to look Misumi in the eyes. Seconds later, her demeanor went back to normal and her bitterness returned in full force.
“Fine,” she grumped, now staring deep into the forest. “But if I disappoint you, don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’m a helper, not a fighter.”
Once her initial hesitation was over and done, Cleo was guided through common evasive maneuvers she’d need in close quarters combat. Naturally, her party would do their best to keep enemies off her, but still, it was best to take every precaution they could. They also gave her a weapon that was right for her—a staff. Similar to Amelia’s, it provided a boost to her magic supply, and while it wasn’t too useful for offense, it’d work perfectly for defense. It had jagged end where several beads dangled, and was rated as a beginner’s staff for Priestesses, though she could obviously use a more powerful one given that she was level 100.
The hours of training turned to days as Kenji thoroughly enjoyed putting her through the ringer, while Misumi and Amelia trained with her as well, each using their own skills to teach her something different. When Cleo was ready, they decided to take a job—an easy one that involved hunting down goblins—and they finally had an opportunity to see her own Adventurer skills in action.
She could use spells like Buffer, which temporarily placed an invisible barrier around anyone she chose, and the passive skill Divine Blessing, which gave all members of her party the temporary benefit of Resilience; it greatly increased their resistance to poison, venom, and disease, making their travels through certain regions of the Spire, like the Rupture, much less daunting. With eight skills in total, she didn’t have much variety in the spells she could cast, but all of them were incredibly useful, and would most likely be lifesaving at some point.
They fought six goblins of their first job with her, and despite being afraid, Cleo held up well. She came out of the fight sweating and out of breath, but the shock wore off quickly. The trembling of her muscles faded. And after abandoning the old mine shaft, where the job request told them to find the goblins, she accompanied them back to the guildhall for a night of relaxation before taking another job the next day.
Cleo—once a Priestess at the Cathedral, now a Priestess in the guild of Rat’s Ass. While Kenji couldn’t stand working alongside her, she could hardly stomach working with him either, and thus, they were at each other’s throats on many occasions, though Misumi and Amelia warmed up to their new friend very fast. Perhaps, with the passage of time, all four of them could work together without griping, without rude remarks, and without arguing, but until then, Kenji would take every opportunity he had to push her buttons—and she would no doubt do the same to him.
