“Come on, Sterling, you know I’m looking out for you, right?”
“You don’t have to get angry.”
I woke up to the sound of the boys chatting. I had fallen asleep on the bed in my suit. I woke up and looked over at the couch. Sterling was in Otto’s arms, the back of his head resting on his chest.
“Okay, I’m sorry I got angry, but you have to wear your necklace.” Otto apologized.
“Hm. Okay, but it’s not like anything happened,” Sterling said.
“That’s because she’s a goody-goody who doesn’t know how to use it.”
I propped myself up on my elbows and asked, “Who’s a goody-goody?”
Otto looked at me and said, “If she was someone like Sherrie, you would’ve already been mounted.”
“Hey, what? If who was like me? What the hell are you guys talking about?” I asked.
Sterling smiled and cleared up my confusion. “He’s talking about Terrie.”
“Oh, what about her?” I felt sweaty in my suit. I got off the bed, took off my blazer, and unbuttoned my shirt.
“I’m saying if she was like you, Sterling would’ve been fucked already,” Otto said.
“Huh?”
“He didn’t wear his anti-charm necklace.”
“Oh. You should wear it when you’re out, Sterling.” I said.
“Yeah, I know.” He said, avoiding my eyes.
“That’s what I’ve been telling him,” Otto added.
“Hey! And what do you mean if she was like me?”
“What? It’s true. She’s a goody-goody; she doesn’t know how to get men.”
“Goody-goody…” That’s not good. I need her to level up. “What do you mean she doesn’t know? All you have to do is ask. Ask them what favor they want in return for their experience points, and when they tell you, you do the favor, and then snu-snu. And if you’re wearing the bracelet, they pretty much don’t ask for a favor. Just snu-snu.”
“Hm. That’s one way to describe it.” Otto said with a wry smile.
“What? One way? My mother would describe it the same way, so would my sisters.” I said.
“Yeah, women are trash.” He said.
“Sherrie, it’s not good to say it like that. The favor is a sign of friendship, and not all guys will ask for favors.” Sterling reprimanded me in a kindly tone. “I never asked women for favors.”
Well, that’s because yours is curing your mother, and not everyone can do that. Quest, favor, whatever you want to call it, most men wanted something in return for their experience points.
I tried to think over the whole courting process in this world in more detail, but of course, it’s too complicated to sum up in a few words since all kinds of people exist in this world the same as on Earth, but…
Marriage and dating, though, can’t be compared perfectly to 16th/17th century Earth; it was similar in that it required the approval of the head of the house: the mother. Otto’s mother, for example, was being kind by listening to his opinions and letting him choose. In the case of love, you hope everything works out, or you have cases like Gala’s son. Also, since you’re not fixed to dialog options, you can try to seduce men, unlike the game. But seducing men was frowned upon. At least, that’s what I gathered from listening to the maids’ gossip in my house. Even the butlers agreed it was better to be straightforward about what you wanted instead of giving the man the wrong impression. Lots of men I’ve talked to had the same opinion.
“What, even my butler described it that way. It’s not just women.” I told Otto.
“Garth thinks that?” Otto asked.
“Well,” that’s not who I was thinking about, but “probably.”
“Ah, there are some men like that.” Sterling scratched his head. “It’s okay, Otto. Sherrie doesn’t mean it in any bad way.”
“Ah, yeah.” I didn’t mean it in any bad way. There’s probably some nuanced stuff that I’m unaware of that’s going on in the background. Stuff that was too complicated to ever be part of the game, which I don’t have the time to worry about. “You guys are being overly  sensitive. I’ve had men bring up the topic of favors, and they described it the same way.”
“Was it while you were wearing the bracelet?” Otto questioned. “Because if men are bringing up the topic of favors to you, they’re clearly hinting.”
“Oh.” I thought back to the times I’ve had men bring up the topic of favors. “No, I wasn’t wearing a bracelet.” The earliest I could remember it happening was when I was 14.
“Really?” Otto asked.
“Why? Why is that hard to believe.” I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s not. You’re reading too much into it.” He said and stopped making eye contact with me.
“Fine, whatever.” I looked up at the clock as I took off my pants. I’d missed lunch, but there were still hours to go before dinner. “I’m hungry.” I was hungry and sweaty. I was thinking of taking a shower, but I changed my mind. Hunger was gnawing at my stomach.
I jumped in the bathroom and washed my face. Then I put on some clothes I hadn’t sweat on and stepped out of our room.

***

As I ate my late lunch, 3 women walked into the restaurant. I recognized all 3 of them and was surprised to see them here. Many in the restaurant were surprised to see them.
All 3 of them were dressed entirely in white. White shoes, pants, shirt, gloves, and a long white jacket with a yellow cross on its back. They were the Knights Templar, the elite fighting force of the church. There  were around 100 of them, all above level 50.
A nervous waiter ran to their table. “We’re- Ah. We can move you to a larger table beside the window. You’re free to take anything from the buffet, and you can also order from the menu. The chef- I mean, the  manager- No. Ah, everything’s on the house. Please bless the restaurant  and the hotel!” The waiter bowed.
“We’re not Saints… What’s your name?” The broad-shouldered woman with the long black hair asked.
“Jeff!” His nervousness made him shout.
“Right, Jeff. Relax. We’re just here for a meal. We happened to be passing through, and the driver recommended this hotel cum restaurant.”
“Ah, yes! I’ll tell the chef.” And he ran off.

The broad-shouldered woman turned to her two friends and said with a wry smile, “He didn’t take our order.”
“He’ll come back.” The blond with the braided ponytail said, slouching in her seat.
“Maybe I’ll just go get something from the buffet.” The one with the short messy hair said.
But the waiter came back quite fast and put down 2 plates of steaks. “From the chef. There’s more coming. Oh, I forgot. Should we move to a  bigger table?” Jeff, the waiter, asked.
“No, this is fine. Thank you.” The broad-shouldered one said.
Jeff ran off to get more food.

A man came up to their table, bowed to them, and said, “May the lordess be with us.”
“May the lordess be with us.” The three echoed.
“I wish you to bless my daughter who has joined the queendom’s knighthood. Please, give her your blessings.”
“Blessings?” The blond said tiredly. “We’re not saints or priestesses. You should go talk to your church. And the priestess that serves it.”
“Mariam, he understands.” The broad-shouldered one stopped the blond from saying too much. “We wish your daughter the best. And may the lordess bless you and your daughter in everything you do.”
“Thank you. Thank you.” The man bowed his head twice. “I didn’t expect to see church members today, but…” He went into this pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“Please, stop.” The broad-shouldered one said with a firm voice. “It is as Mariam said, we’re not priestesses or saints. If you wish to donate, give it to your local church.”
“Ah, yes. Please have a great day. And I’m sorry to have bothered you while you were having your meals.”
“It’s no problem. It’s always good to meet a brother of the faith.” She said.
Jeff came back with more plates of food.
“I’ll leave you to your meals.” The man said.
“Thank you.” The broad-shouldered knight cordially smiled. Then she looked behind him, and her smile dropped. There was a line of people wanting to meet them.
“I told you we should’ve just bought something from the food stand.” Mariam’s blue eyes looked annoyedly at the people.
The broad-shouldered one grabbed Jeff by the wrist and said, “Is there something you can do about these people.”
“Oh, ah… I’ll talk to my manager.” He said.
“Thank you.” She gave him a smile.

But while they waited for the manager, they were forced to talk to the people.
A woman showed up at their table and kowtowed on the ground. “Please!” She begged.
“Oh, god. Oh, goddess.” Mariam, the blond, said in surprise. She moved her feet away, which was somewhat close to the prostrating woman, and  pointed it in a different direction.
“Please,” the woman started again, “my daughter has been sick for 3 months. She’s getting worse every day. She can’t get up from her bed anymore. I’ve talked to all the alchemists in the city; they don’t know what to do. Please, I’ve already appealed to my local church for a  healer, but I haven’t heard anything back. I’ve sent letters to the churches in the capital, Macme, Britamala, Pamduma, Sendai, and to the Cremeran. None have replied. I can pay… everything. Any price. Please, look at my daughter. If you’d just let a healer see her… please…”
The broad-shouldered one mustered up her most motherly and sympathetic voice to say. “I’m sorry, but we are fighters. There are no healers in the Templar. We might sometimes escort them, but we have no say in where  they go. It’s simply not in our power. The healers are for the high  priestesses to command. I’m sorry.”
She tried to explain it to her reasonably, but the woman began to cry and moan, “Please, please, please…”
“Listen, lady! We can’t do anything.” Mariam yelled.
“Mariam, don’t.”
“But, Danielle, we can’t do anything.” She frustratedly said to her broad-shouldered sister. She was getting hungry, and these people won’t  let her eat.
“The woman’s daughter is suffering.” Danielle, the broad-shouldered one, said. “Show some sympathy.”
Her words just made the kneeling woman cry even more. Thankfully, the manager showed up along with 3 staff members and Jeff.
And the manager said, “Please, everyone, our guests are trying to have a meal. Let’s let them eat in peace.” The manager waved her arms and got them to disperse. “Everyone, please, go back to your seats or your rooms, and let these women of the church enjoy their meals.” Two staff members helped the crying woman to her feet and moved her away.  “Everyone, come on. This is a hotel, not a church. Let them have a civilian life. Come on, now.” Most left the restaurant, but some went back to their seats, still hoping to catch them after they’d finished  their meals.
“Thank you,” Danielle told the manager.
“Yeah, thanks,” Mariam said.
“Thank you.” The short messy-haired one lowered her head.
“Ah, think nothing of it. The meals on us. Enjoy as much as you like. Can I just know if you’ll be staying for the night or just stopping by  for a meal?”
“Ah…” Danielle looked at her sisters. “What do you guys think? Are we staying?”
“I’m telling you now it’ll be better to sleep in the carriage. If you guys want to sleep on a bed, don’t say I didn’t warn you later.” Mariam  said.
Danielle sighed. “We won’t be staying for the night.”
“Alright, you guys have it tougher than I thought.” The manager said.
“Ha…” The three of them cheerlessly laughed.
“Well, anyway, thanks for the meal,” Danielle said.
“Yeah, no problem. Just ask Jeff here for anything you need.” The manager patted Jeff’s back and left.

I chewed on my food and watched the show. What are they doing here? Is something going on? They said they’re just passing by… I ate my meal slowly and eavesdropped on their conversation.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” The messy-haired one said, “what were you doing in Gekta, Mariam. You weren’t there to get rid of the cultists like us.”
“I was coming from Leofes.” She said.
“What were you doing in Leofes?” Danielle asked.
It seemed like they’d met up in Gekta. Gekta was a town in the Beast Queendom, populated mainly by Gecko people. You can get to it by traveling south on the Delaron River.
“There was a report of a black widow hiding there, so the high priestess sent me to check it out,” Mariam said, putting a piece of meat in her mouth.
“Black widows. And they sent you alone?” The Black Widows are a highly dangerous terrorist organization.
“Well. Num num…” She swallowed her food and shook her head. “It’s fine. She only wanted me to check. Plus, the intel was wrong. I staked out the woman in the report for an entire week and found no connections to the  black widows.”
“Oh, okay,” Danielle said and put a piece of meat in her mouth.
“Yeah, she told me not to engage even if it was true.” She said. “But it wasn’t.”
“So, I guess you got picked for guard duty because you weren’t doing much, huh?” The messy-haired one said.
“You guys got picked too,” Mariam said.
“Yeah, I wanted to hold off on our completion report till after the guards were announced, but Danielle wouldn’t do it.” She said.
“Izebel, lying to the church is a sin,” Danielle said.
“We weren’t going to lie. We were only going to delay our response by a few days… maybe weeks.” Izebel, the short-haired one, said.
Danielle shook her head. “It is an honor to guard her holiness, Mome Frances. We’d be disgraced if they found out we shrank away from duty.”
It sounded like they’d be escorting the mome around. But, where’s the mome going? Usually, she just stays in the Cremeran.
“But it’s so boring,” Mariam complained.
“Touring the world is a great way to gain some experience points.” Danielle tried to point out the positive aspects of escorting the mome. “There’s always faithful men willing to help.”
The world? Is the mome going to be traveling the world? I wondered.
“How many experience points are the plebs going to give us,” Mariam asked discouragingly; she wasn’t having any of it.
“Hey, maybe you’ll get noticed by Mome Frances, and she’ll reward you with some of the men from the tower,” Izebel said, letting her optimistic imagination run wild.
“Does that happen!?” Mariam asked wide-eyed.
“No.” Danielle, the oldest of the group, shot down their optimistic fantasies. “It is an honor to protect the montiff. No worldly rewards are given for the task.”
“Of course not.” Mariam dejectedly exhaled. “Why would I ever expect the church to reward me. Do we know the 4th person who has been given the  honor of protecting the mome?” She pronounced the word: ‘honor’ with much sarcasm.
“No.” Izebel shook her head. “We’ll find out when we reach Cremeran.”
I was starting to piece together what they were talking about. This happens every 4 years. The mome even passed by my hometown 4 years ago. It was a tradition for the mome to go to various cities and towns, wave to the people, give speeches, etc. It seemed these 3 had been picked to guard the mome this time around as she toured the world. And… they don’t  seem to be very happy about it. I smirked.
I remembered all 100 of the Templars. After all, I’d killed all of them  at least once. And I’ve been killed by them many times as well. They  were a fun bunch to fuck around. And by fun, I mean dangerous. One against the world, was the best route. And by best, I mean the worst.
I put the last morsel of food on my plate in my mouth and reckoned it’s probably best not to eavesdrop on them too much.