"Hey Lina, guess what?"

"What the hell do you want?"

"Do you want to know the date on Earth?"

"No, not really."

"It's the 16th of February over there."

"That means nothing to me."

"It means nothing to me as well."

"So why did you feel the need to point it out?"

"For the sake of a fake out."

"Wow, how funny."

Hahaha… what friendly banter. Hi, it's me, history's second-best combat maid, Madeleine here. I'd say the first, but you, Mel, and I have met my mom. I wouldn't be surprised if she could beat me in a game of Go Fish, fair and square. So it's Mel's turn to be the leader, and so she chose to make us pick up requests at the nearby Adventurer's Guild. I forgot she's an adventurer, and a high-ranked one at that. S-Ranked… or A, I forgot.

"Recently S-Ranked. The only way to become S-Ranked is to be at A-Rank then be referred by an influential person. In my case, my referrer was Merida. I guess that's one thing I can thank her for."

My girlfriend is an S-Ranked adventurer! You can write a novel about that! Maybe I should write a novel about that. Obviously, the main character would have to be me since I'm the one with the girl who is an S-Ranked adventurer. Maybe I'll start it off with 'Hi, slave girl here.'

"No one wants to read a novel inside a novel, Maddy."

"I would."

"You'd do anything, Myka."

Anyways, we're doing adventurer requests! Why? Because, in Mel's words, 'I want to do something easy for once.'

"Although it's a B-Rank request, it's literally just asking for us to search for a kid. Which reminds me, we're supposed to search in pairs. Why are you two with us?"

"There's no way I'm going to search with Myka."

"My heart is broken, so I wanted to watch the one who broke my heart while she's going around with her girlfriend."

"Madeleine, I'm going to need a giant hammer."

"Order coming right up!" I tapped the ground, summoning a random shadow clone, before dramatically pointing the hand that has the Ring of Lurking Darkness towards it to turn it into a shadow giant hammer for Mel, who immediately grabbed it. She wielded it before realising Lina and Myka had already run away.

"Damnit, I wanted to leave some bruises."

"You could always leave a bruise on me."

"I'm going to have to pass on that. I love you enough to not want to bruise you."

"Hit me baby one more time."

"Let's just do the request. Hurry up and explain it in your inner monologue before we continue."

"Aye aye, captain!" 

So the request we're doing is a game of hide and seek! "I guess that's one way of putting it."

There's a nasty scoundrel snatching up valuables, like golden coins, golden necklaces, and golden panties. "There's no way the thief is stealing that last thing."

All we've got to do is tie them up, real good, then hand them over to the authorities. "That was a surprisingly normal sentence. Where's the so-called punchline?"

There is a different option. If you have the money or the power, you can choose to claim the criminal for yourself! I've been meaning to re-use my criminal slave collar. "You kept that?!"

I think I'll use it for a pet cat we'll get. I've disabled the magic on the collar, after all. Kind of useless for slaving purposes. "I'd rather get a dog, honestly."

So yeah, that's it… which reminds me, I have a question. "Ask it away."

"Who is our target, and how will we find them?"

"Our target is a thief, and we're going to catch him through… through… I don't know."

"Aren't you a ranger?"

"Monsters are easier to detect than thieves, and anyways, knowing our luck, the thief is probably a Sacred Power holder who uses their Sacred Power to evade people."

"Huh, that's a good point. Should we just dance instead, then?"

"Why do you want to dance?"

"I'm feeling funky."

"..."

"Fine… do you want me to summon a bunch of shadow clones to look around the whole town?"

"That would be appreciated."

"Can I get a kiss?"

"Let me think about it."

"Mean." I tapped my foot on the ground, connecting my shadow to the shadows of nearby buildings, creating an area which my shadow clones can climb out. Roughly twenty popped up, all of them but two being a clone of me. "Spread out, shadow army! We have a thief to capture!" 

The shadow clones were about to speed off when suddenly Mel was hit in the head with a piece of wood, knocking her out. I was looking for whoever threw the wood piece when I looked on the wood block to find a note on it. Ooh, a note. I picked it up to read.

Huh… I cracked open the piece of wood, and there sure was a key. I pocketed it, sent the shadow clones back to the Shadowrealm, and picked Mel up. I didn't know Myka had money to book a hotel, but I won't complain. As much as I love the table, it'd be nice to sleep on a proper bed… although what about Merry and Mimi?

Meanwhile, in a random alleyway

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"No problem. Such ruffians are no match for me."

"Nyaa~"

"I guess you helped as well, Mimi."

"Nyaa~"

"So I must ask, young lady, who might you be?"

"I am Sofia Proch, the second princess of Trogen."

"Mimi, I think we may have run into trouble."

"Nyaa…"

Character profile: Seeker

Sacred power: Hide

Favourite game: Go Fish 

Description: The elusive thief of the city Guerre. Seeker is an orphan from Bellum, whose parents died whilst in service of Bellum's army, whilst on a campaign in a war against Trogen. Due to circumstances, Seeker eventually had to flee Bellum and ended up going to Sacre Pla, settling down in the city of Guerre, the Sacre Pla city closest to Bellum. Seeker made the trip undetected, using their Sacred Power to evade the monsters, bandits, and other dangerous things on the route. Due to their status as an orphan and an illegal immigrant, Seeker had to resort to thievery. As of recently, Seeker is well-off, having done a hit on Duke Langoix, earning them quite a lot of gold and the entire city's attention, eventually culminating in a request for their capture.

Chapter namesake: September by Earth, Wind And Fire

pojlk

As a music reference making author, I was obligated to make a September reference, especially since it's the 21st where I am. I hope you guys are excited for next year, where we'll get the second chapter named September.