A Quest

"Haahhh, what the hell is this?!"

"Huhh?"

I jump a little. What's going on? I think I was talking to my new best buddy Ravana... I must have zoned out.

What's the demon lady doing here?

"Yooouuuuu, I thought you don't talk to strangers! What are you doing over here, chumming it up with Ravana?"

"B-but, Ravana isn't a stranger! He's my friend!"

I can practically see smoke coming out of her head. Oops. I guess I made her mad? I don't really understand how, though...

I mean, hasn't everything happening been pretty reasonable?

"Your friend?! What do you mean! Have you even met each other before today, even once?"

"Well, n-no... but..."

I glance at Ravana for help, but he's sitting there looking a little uncomfortable. I guess he's not good at confrontation.

"Siiiiighhh... ok, lizard. I think we got off on the wrong foot. What do you say we start over?"

Huh? What's she talking about.

"Hi, my name is Roxy. What's yours?"

Her hand is outstretched, and shes smiling. Not in the super creepy way she was before, just a gentle smile.

"Um... my name is Lintel?"

I tentatively grab her hand.

"Great! And now we're friends, not strangers, right?"

Huh. I mean, I guess that checks out.

I can't find any faults in her logic. Nope! Not one!

Wow, I didn't realise it was this easy to make friends. It definitely wasn't back home. Actually, I don't think I had a single friend back at the village.

But now look at me! I have my best friend Ravana and my new friend Roxy who I still don't know how I should feel about!

This has quickly gone from being the best day of my life, to the worst, and then right back to the best.

"Alright, so lizard, what I wanted to say before was that I had a job for you."

It kind of bothers me that she calls me lizard, despite knowing my name. But I guess that's what friends do!

"You want a taste of adventure, right? Well, I have a job that needs two people. It may not look like it, but I'm an adventurer too, you know. But alas, I'm all on my lonesome. What's a girl to do?"

Oooh, that's what she meant by "help me out" earlier.

"It's a good deal, right? And you don't even need to be particularly skilled - I just need you to be there. You get a taste of adventure, I protect you, and I get my job done. It's a win-win, right?"

Well, when you put it that way... how can I say no? It makes total sense.

I am a bit annoyed that people assume I'm weak though. I mean, I may not be the strongest, but... I'm plenty skilled!

Sure, I've never been out with the hunting party back home. They never let me. Instead, my responsibility has just been watching eggs, day in, day out. It's boring as hell, and earned me the name "eggsitter" among my peers. It's totally embarrassing. But my sis has been training me with a sword! So I should be able to hold my own in a fight.

But what Roxy is proposing seems like a really good deal. I can get experience, and she can protect me if I get into trouble.

Ravana is narrowing his eyes, but hasn't said anything. So that's fine, right?

There's no reason to decline, right?

Not a single one!

Actually, I'm getting excited. Hoo! My first adventure!

The first step of the journey of Cytchenrok, Lintel!

The beginning of my legacy!