The interior of the inn is just as I remembered. The moment you go through the front door, you can see a dusty reception counter. Instead of receptionists, though, there are five Soldier Daemons. One of them is eating some sort of meat off a wooden skewer, three of them are playing some kind of card game, while the remaining one is asleep.

   Upon seeing Khriswell and I, the Soldiers got up at once and brandished their weapons. Well, except the one that’s sleeping. That one had to be woken up rudely by its mates before also taking up its crude weapons. I waste no time in taking out Gravitas as well.

   “Well. There they are. Think you can do it?” I ask Khriswell without taking my eyes off the Soldiers.

   “I’ll try.” Khriswell replies.

   From the corner of my eyes, I see her slowly taking out her pistol from her holster. I risk sneaking a glance to look at her face. She has a rather tense expression. I chose to keep quiet since I don’t want to break her concentration.

   Instead of charging towards us like wild beasts, the Soldiers are standing their grounds. Now this is new. Low-Ranked Daemons like these tend to attack first and never ask questions. The fact that they’re being careful definitely surprised me.

   And all five of them are staring nervously and even fearfully at Khriswell.

   Now, I’m definitely not looking down on Khriswell. That said, she’s fidgeting her pistol like the complete beginner she is. It doesn’t matter that the Soldiers might not be able to use Appraisal to check out her Level. Anyone with eyes could tell that she’s not used to combat. And yet, the Daemons think that this panicking priestess is a much higher threat than me.

   Suddenly, Khriswell inhales deeply.

   “C-come at me, miscreants!” she says to the Soldiers loudly.

   The Soldiers flinched. They were probably surprised by Khriswell’s sudden outburst. Instead of charging towards her like she wanted them to, they’re perfectly content with remaining at their spots.

   “What do I do, Kotaro-san?” Khriswell asks me while speaking from the corner of her mouth. “They’re not attacking at all.”

   “Maybe it’s because they don’t understand the word “miscreants”.” I suggest.

   “...I’m asking for your opinion seriously here, Kotaro-san.”

   “And I’m replying seriously. If you want to taunt someone, keep it simple. Don’t use difficult words or you’ll end up confusing them.”

   “And, um, how do I keep it simple?”

   “In this case, I suppose a random shot will do. It doesn’t have to hit, but at least fire it towards them.”

   “I-I understand.”

   Khriswell lifts up her pistol with both her hands. She then aims at one of the Soldiers and pulls the trigger.

   BANG!

   The shot missed completely and hit a spot of the wall behind the counter instead. As for the Soldiers, they slowly turn their neck to look at the small bullet hole caused by the shot earlier. When they turn their necks back, I see desperation and resolve in their eyes. One of them yelled something in Daemonic, and all of them finally decided to attack.

   “Oh no oh no oh no, I need to reload!” Khriswell says hysterically.

   I stand in front of her and take up a stance.

   “Just take your time. Remember to tell me when you’re ready.” I told her.

   “Y-Yes, I understand! Ah, why do the bullets have to be small? That makes them so hard to grab!”

   The Daemons stopped their advances when I intercepted them. One of them is slowly but surely shuffling towards the left, while another one is heading to the right. Now Khriswell and I are being backed off to one side of the inn’s wall. Too bad for them that the exit is right behind us, so there isn’t much point in surrounding us.

   “I’m ready, Kotaro-san!”

   “All right.”

   I moved away from Khriswell, and that somehow encouraged the Soldiers to resume their attack on her. One charged at her, his short spear aimed at her stomach. Before the spear could pierce its target, Khriswell aimed her pistol at the Soldier’s head and pulled the trigger.

   BANG!

   The Daemon’s head was forced back by the head shot. A bullet hole appeared in the middle of his forehead, and blood came out from it. The Daemon died with a rather silly expression, and he disintegrated into dust a single second later. An Essence Gem appeared at the floor where he last stood. Khriswell started jumping up and down excitedly.

   “I did it! I actually did it! Did you see that-''

   “You can celebrate later. Just focus on taking the rest of them down first.” I interrupt.

   That brought her back to reality at once.

   “Yes. My apologies for acting in such a childish manner.”

   She proceeds to reload her pistol once more. This time, she’s doing it a lot calmer than before. Landing the head shot probably gave her some confidence-boost.

   BANG!

   A second head shot. Another Soldier went down. The remaining three got even more agitated and decided to attack at the same time. I stand in front of Khriswell again and point Gravitas at them threateningly.

   “Back! Back!” I tell them as I make sure that they won’t reach Khriswell until she’s ready.

   “Please move, Kotaro-san!”

   I move to the side as Khriswell requested. This time, she stepped forward and secured a kill before waiting for her target to approach her first. The moment she landed the third head shot, she swiftly hid behind my back to reload her pistol. She repeated the process two more times, and the two remaining Soldiers were killed successfully.

   Instead of being excited again, Khriswell puts her hands together and closes her eyes. She then begins to mutter something under her breath.

   “Were those prayers for the Daemons?” I ask after she opened up her eyes.

   She nods. “No amount of excuses can justify the fact that I’ve taken their lives. The least I could do is to pray that they’ll find peace in the afterlife.”

   “That reminds me, where do Daemons go when they die?”

   “The Sacred Texts of my religion mentioned that they and all sinners go to a cold, desolated place called Hell. They also receive judgment and salvation there as well.”

   “Huh. So, do the people who do good their whole life get sent to Heaven after their death?”

   “I believe that is the case. Honestly, I’m not so sure.”

   I raise my eyebrow in surprise. “You’re not?”

   “Naturally. After all, I’m not dead yet.”

   “But, those Sacred Texts of yours said so right? Isn’t it your duty as one who works for the Church to have undying faith over them?”

   “Well, I personally believe that one shouldn’t take anything that was taught at face value. That includes the very foundation of the religion you believe in.”

   “I can’t imagine how religious fanatics would react if they ever heard what you just said.”

   All of a sudden, Khriswell lets out a loud gasp. Her face has gone completely pale. She’s also trembling violently.

   “I beg of you, please keep what I just said between us!” she pleads frantically.

   I was going to anyway, but the way she’s panicking awakened something inside me.

   “Hmm, I don’t know~. I have very loose lips, you know? I might accidentally spill it one of these days.”

   “Please! I’ll do anything!”

   “Hey now, remember what I said about-”

   I was interrupted when she bends down and grabs hold of the hems of her skirt.

   “I’ll even show you my panties!”

   “For the last time, that was a joke! And so is this one!”

   Khriswell let goes of her skirt at once.

   “They were?”

   “Yes! I was just teasing you, okay?”

   Khriswell’s expression turned from relieved to embarrassed to pouting in the span of two seconds.

   “You’re such a bully, Kotaro-san!”

   “Sorry, sorry. Can you find it in your kind heart to forgive me?”

   “I refuse! I am going to be cross with you for the rest of the day!” she said angrily while puffing up her cheeks.

   “How about I get you a tiramisu?” I offer.

   Upon hearing the name of her favorite dessert, Khriswell begins to waver.

   “W-Well, if you’re giving me a peace offering, I can’t find a valid excuse to stay mad at you.”

   Man, this is too easy.

   “...You were thinking that I’m easy, or at least something along the line, weren’t you?”

   I avert my eyes.

   “I most definitely am not. More importantly, let’s get those Essence Gems back to the guild.”

   “...Yes.”

   When Karin-san handed Khriswell the reward for the quest, the priestess looked at the pitiful amount of Dilas with sparkling eyes.

   “Is it really okay if I take all these?” she asks Karin-san excitedly.

   The receptionist smiles warmly at her.

   “Of course it is. After all, your party was the one who cleared the quest. These belong to you and no one else.”

   “Well, in that case, I shall accept them.”

   “Khriswell completed the quest all by herself!” I say to Karin-san proudly.

   “Ah. Is that so? Well done, Khriswell-san.”

   “Yup yup, you’re totally the star of the show.”

   “I will inform the chef to cook up a feast for a rising star such as yourself.”

   “As for me, I’m going to make sure that everyone in this guild, nay, the entire town knows of your great achievement!”

   “I’ll have lots of fireworks prepared.”

   “Sounds good. We need enough to last at least an hour.”

   “Will the two of you stop blowing this out of proportion?” Khriswell demands loudly while blushing furiously.

   “I’d say what we’re doing is rather tame. Right, Karin-san?” I ask the receptionist with a straight face.

   “Exactly.” she agrees while concealing her mouth with her hand.

   Khriswell puffs up her cheeks like she’s the world’s biggest and cutest hamster.

   “The two of you are being bullies!” she accuses.

   “No we’re not. We were just trying to shower you with praise.”

   “Kotaro-san is right. This is how elder siblings pamper their younger siblings. Take it from someone who has six of them.”

   “And I have one.”

   I’ve never pampered mine before, and I have no plans to, but I have one nonetheless.

   “...In any case, there is no need for celebration, particularly not one which involves the entire town.”

   “Come on, don’t say that. This is the first time you actually managed to kill Daemons, right? We should celebrate it for real.” I tell Khriswell.

   “But-”

   “I still owe you a tiramisu, remember?”

   Again, just hearing the name of her favorite dessert made Khriswell’s rigidness crumble in an instant.

   “I, um, I know a bakery where they make the most wonderful tiramisu…”

   “Great, let’s head there right now. Well, we’ll be seeing you Karin-san.”

   “Thank you for serving us.”

   “Sure. Have fun you two~.”

   The bakery Khriswell brought me is located a few minutes walk away from the guild. The entire place is being manned by a single old lady and smells like fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.

   I hate to be rude, but the old lady looks pretty ancient. There were so many wrinkles on her face you could hardly see her eyes. Her hair is short, extremely white and a bit curly. She’s wearing a white apron over a blue one-piece dress with white puffy sleeves.

   The old lady breaks into a huge smile when she sees Khriswell coming inside her shop.

   “Hello there, young Khris. It’s been a while since I last saw you.” she says to the girl warmly.

   Wow, she sure can speak coherently for someone who looks like she’s in her eighties at the least. As for “Khris”, it’s a nickname commonly used by those who’re really close with Khriswell.

   Khriswell bows at the old lady.

   “Good day, Eve-san. I’m here for some tiramisu.”

   “Well, you’re in luck. I just made a fresh batch. Oh?”

   Eve-san finally noticed me, who’s standing next to Khriswell.

   “Are you a friend of Khris?” she asked me.

   I bowed at her.

   “Indeed I am. My name is Fudo Kotaro. Please call me Kotaro. Nice to meet you.” I introduced myself.

   “Oh my, what a most peculiar name. I am Eve Maria. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Now then, wait here while I go and get the tiramisu Khris wanted.”

   “While you’re at it, please get me some of whatever that’s making these smells.” I request.

   “That would be chocolate chip cookies. All right, I’ll get you some.”

   The tiramisu Eve-san sells come in round tins, while the cookies were packed into a small pouch tied at the end with a string.

   “Please allow me to pay for your cookies.” Khriswell tells me.

   “Sure. And I’ll be paying for your tiramisu.”

   Eve-san raises her eyebrow.

   “Is it a trend among youngsters now to pay for each other’s pastry?” she asks the two of us.

   “I’m merely repaying him for giving me a lesson on how to fight.”

   “And I’m paying because I teased her too much.”

   “Well, can’t really blame you for that. After all, Khris gives out the best reactions whenever she’s being teased.”

   “See, Khriswell? Eve-san here gets it.”

   “There’s nothing to “see” here, except for the fact that you’re being a bully, Kotaro-san.” Khriswell pouts.

   “I’m not being a bully, I’m just teasing you.”

   “Potato, po-tah-to.”

   After a few moments of pleasant bantering, Khriswell and I thanked Eve-san for our purchases and left the bakery.

   “Do you have any business after this, Kotaro-san?” Khriswell asks me at the entrance.

   “Nope. Why do you ask?”

   “I want to invite you to enjoy our pastries at this perfect spot that I know.”

   “Sure. Lead the way.”

   As I expected, the “perfect spot” she’s talking about is a park located in the middle of the town. In the game’s online mode, this is where you meet other players and interact with them. Right now, the park is completely empty, mostly because it’s still the middle of the day when pretty much everyone is still working.

   “Where should we sit?” I ask Khriswell.

   She points at one of the many trees planted in the park.

   “How about under that tree?”

   “Sounds good.”

   We sat down below the tree Khriswell chose. I waste no time in taking out one of the cookies from the pouch and bite into it.

   “Wow, this is so good just saying that I can’t find the exact word to describe how delicious it is…” I mumbled ecstatically after I was done chewing.

   “Exquisite, isn’t it? Eve-san had been a baker for seventy years, so its natural that she’s good at her job.”

   “Seventy years, huh? That would explain a lot of things.”

   Khriswell pulls out a fork out of thin-air and uses it to scoop out a small portion of her tiramisu. She then puts it into her mouth.

   “~~~~~~~~!!!”

   Drat, I’m blind. The expression of pure bliss that Khriswell is making right now is so bright it can melt away any amount of iceberg. If only, oh, if only they have cameras in this world.

   “Oh, how rude of me. Would you like some too, Kotaro-san?” Khriswell asked.

   “Sure.”

   Khriswell scoops out more tiramisu with her fork and puts the fork in front of me.

   “Here you go.”

   I open up my mouth and chomps in. After I pulled out, I noticed that Khriswell’s face was completely red.

   “Is something wrong?” I asked her after I swallowed.

   “I, um, I am so sorry…”

   “For what?”

   “For, well, the indirect kiss…”

   “Ah, THAT. No worries, it didn’t bother me one bit.”

   Usually, I would have stopped here. However, I’m talking to Khriswell here, so I begin to chuckle condescendingly.

   “Oh, you’re still bothered by something as insignificant as an indirect kiss? I guess you’re still a child.” I smirk.

   “I, I am NOT!”

   “It’s perfectly okay, you can grow up at your own pace.” I tell her as I pat her head through the priestess’s hat she’s wearing.

   “For your information, I’m seventeen this year! So please stop treating me like I’m half that age!”

   “Oh, so you’re older than me by one year? I thought you were much younger than that.”

   “...That statement isn’t meant to be a compliment, is it?”

   “Nope.”

   For the next few minutes, Khriswell pummeled my body repeatedly with her tiny fists while puffing up her cheeks angrily. Ah, what a heavenly reward this is. Once she got tired, she continues to eat her tiramisu.

   “Hey, Khriswell?”

   “Hmph!”

   “Khriswell, yoo-hoo.”

   “I can’t hear you right now.”

   “Will your hearing become better if I buy you one more tiramisu?”

   “...Only after tonight.”

   “Ah well, I guess it’s better than nothing.”

   I munch some more cookies. For some reason, I feel extremely at peace. And then it hit me. It’s because for the first time ever in my sixteen years of life, I’m just sitting here and doing nothing but chilling out and eating cookies. I let out a sigh of content.

   “It’s really nice to just kick back and relax every once in a while, isn’t it?” Khriswell asks me.

   I look at her from the corner of my eyes. She’s smiling warmly at me. I guess she can’t stay mad for long.

   “It sure is.” I agree. “Sure, we have to go back to our lives after this, but taking a break from literally everything is always important. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on something this obvious.”

   “Well, it’s no wonder. You were too busy with your job hunting Daemons.”

   I shake my head. “I was a shut-in before this. I HAD no job. Nor ambitions. Nor backbone. I got an excuse to ran away from my old life and just took it. Sure, I was practically forced to, but I never objected to it either. I’m nothing but a coward.”

   “I disagree. You’re just retreating, not running away.”

   “How are those two different?”

   “You’re acknowledging that you ran away. That’s a very important first step if you want to face your past. Until you are ready, you should take your time and keep on retreating.”

   “But, what if I never want to stop “retreating”?”

   The priestess shrugged. “That is your choice to make. It is your path, and no one else’s. Please do not let anyone decide what you should and should not do.”

   “Yeah, thanks for that.”

   “Please think nothing of it. As I said during the first time we met, I am always here to hear you out if you’re troubled by something.”

   “Thank you. I really mean it.”

   I reached out my hand to pat her head once more. It was done instinctively more than anything, but Khriswell didn’t protest this time.

   I let out another sigh of content. “Today is a good day, isn’t it?”

   “Yes, it sure is.” Khriswell agrees.