Getting pulled out of her thoughts by an arrow flying past her head, Kaitlyn came to a stop, taking a deep breath while behind a tree. The tree providing some temporary cover, Kaitlyn looked around, scouting the situation without poking her head out from behind the tree. 

Nothing. 

Lot of trees actually. 

What a surprise... 

Deciding to then poke her head out from behind a tree, Kaitlyn, not even half a moment later, struck an arrow out of the air that was coming towards her face. However, what greeted her was a small group of black clothed individuals, all wearing insignia showing their allegiance towards Nero. 

With another arrow flying towards her along with a swordswoman charging at her, Kaitlyn sighed, running forward to meet them all in battle. 

“For Nero!” 

Unimpressed, Kaitlyn listened as they continued to chant their battle cry from around her. 

Parry. 

Stab. 

...

Thud. 

The warrior’s body falling to the ground behind her, Kaitlyn furrowed her eyebrows in frustration as arrows began to come at her from multiple angles. 

Slice. Slice. Slice. 

A small pile of arrows forming on the ground near her, a branch included in there as well for some reason, a sigh could be heard escaping Kaitlyn’s lips as she thrust a sword backward, impaling the man running up behind her with a dagger. 

Looking down, seeing that he was one of the archer’s, just having run out of arrows, Kaitlyn looked around, scouring the dense, thicketed area for what she estimated to be the other two archers. 

“For Nero!” 

Surprised, Kaitlyn watched as a body fell out of the tree, one of the archers having committed suicide after having run out of arrows. 

“Really... annoying how they do that rather than run back towards their base...” Kaitlyn sighed to herself as she began to run towards the last person who was trying to relocate, “Zealous people...” 

Stab. 

Putting a sword in his back, Kaitlyn looked around, beginning to backtrack to make her way back through the tree-filled area back towards the path where the monsters would be. Her eyes peeled as she ran, scanning the area for where she might find people carrying out more ritualistic actions, Kaitlyn sighed, snapping a small twig beside her, “Why is everything so hard to find in a forest...” 

Having made it back to the path, Kaitlyn looked back towards the forest one last time before running off, going back to looking for monsters to kill. 

With the clouds increasing, blotting out the little bits of sun that had been peeking through the clouds, the wind began to pick up, blowing small snowflakes around that had begun to fall from the sky. 

Without the sun, though it was only midday, just a touch past lunch time, the world began to darken a touch, an overcast day that had a little snowfall. 

Chelsea, who was just fighting her way up the path, slaughtering any and all monsters that she ran into, looked up, her eyes squinting as she observed the weather. 

‘It’s... cloudy,’ Chelsea observed to herself, having noticed the most basic thing about the weather in her own territory, ‘It’s darkened slightly but everything is still clearly visible, maybe even more visible since there’s no glare. Therefore, that doesn’t need to be worried about. But... snow... that’s worrisome.’

Continuing to fight her way forward, leaving a trail of dead monsters behind her while other adventurers in her group fought ahead of her, Chelsea shook her head after pondering to herself while looking at the sky for a moment, ‘The clouds aren’t dark enough for a blizzard so it’ll be fine, we can just continue our killing.’ 

Her shoulders relaxing after remembering that she had informed all the adventurers what to do should snowfall get too heavy and what constituted snowfall that was too heavy, Chelsea raised her voice, yelling to get the attention of those near her, “I’m going to be taking a break to eat, anyone that would like to eat with me come over here!” 

Several adventurers making their way towards her while several others continued to fight on, Chelsea took a seat on a log as Jerod walked over, taking a seat on the ground across from her. Then, a few moments later, Thalia, Mercadia, and Jayce all sat down, forming a circle as everyone, from their small inter-dimensional space, pulled out the small pack of food that had been given in the morning. 

His gruff voice staring off the conversation, Jerod asked, “Chelsea, do you think that the snowfall will get too heavy?”

Stroking her chin while swallowing the food in her mouth, Chelsea cautioned, “I don’t think so. I think I mentioned that the criteria was that if you stood on one ledge and couldn’t see the other side because of snowfall, then that’d be too much. Personally, from my years of living here I don’t think it’ll end up that thick.”

With several of the eating adventurers nodding, Jayce reassured, “You remembered to mention it this year, no worries. I would’ve reminded you if you forgot... though I think you’d get an earful from Sasha or Dexter first.” 

Laughing while pushing her fiery red hair out of the way so it didn’t get into her food, Chelsea agreed, “For sure... I think this is one of the few years that I didn’t forget anything. Though... we’ll see.” 

Meanwhile, in another place, sitting on a rock that towered over the path the monsters were meandering their way down, Kaitlyn sat, staring off into the distance lost in her thoughts while munching on her lunch alone. 

The food in her lap looking the exact same as the food the others were eating, the pride of the Duchess’s kitchen, Kaitlyn’s mind began to wander once more, remembering the continuation of the conversation she had been thinking about earlier, picking up past Jayce’s explanation of how he knew he was feeling love. 

--------------

“W-Well... I don’t know...” Jayce chuckled, scratching the back of his head, a small embarrassed cough escaping his mouth as he finished up, “I hope that can be helpful...” 

“It was interesting to hear~” Chelsea laughed, having propped her face in her hands, her elbows on her knees, “I don’t feel this type of stuff really, so it’s... interesting to hear~ lovey dovey~ don’t stay up too late tonight~ You have a big day tomorrow~” 

Getting another handful of grass thrown into her face by Jayce and Sasha, Chelsea and Dexter broke down laughing before Chelsea added, “I look forward to having flowers thrown in my face later then~” 

Esiyx

Thanks for reading~!! Please leave a comment~!!

I wrote 2k words todayyy which is 2 chapters soo... might do a double release tomorrow?
or the day after? ... who knows... T~T we'll see we'll see
am tired thoughhhh arghhhh T~T washed all my sheets and stuff today so that was just... pain

wohooo fresh sheets though for sleeping

Thanks for reading~!!

Take care you reader peoples <3