Anika, her companions, and her fellow heroes arrived at the outskirts of town, moving warily and expecting monsters to jump out from around buildings. They had moved swiftly back to the temple before turning onto the road leading to town, taking time only to kill monsters on or near the road as they passed by. But the road into town looked suspiciously empty of monsters. The group looked around, seeing some signs of damage but nothing that could have caused the damage.

  “Um… they did say they actually needed our help… right?” Anika asked Yasima, who had led their charge.

  “The priest running the defenses at the dungeon was contacted by the gods. They said monsters spawned in town, and they needed assistance. With the eruption tomorrow in Asiwek needing all of our highest level warriors, we pulled everyone from the town or temple who could fight to form the defensive ring around the dungeon. They thought the town would be fine, so there weren’t any dedicated defenders here.”

  “Clearly someone has been defending the town. Maybe we aren’t needed!” Panu shrugged nonchalantly and put his sword back in his scabbard.

  “Everyone has magic, right?” Anika mused, “so everyone should be able to attack the monsters.”

  “Yes, but many townsfolk remain at a low level. Unless they use their magic for their job, it’s rare they advance much past level 10 through manipulation practice. If they aren’t killing monsters for experience, it becomes infinitely harder to level through magic manipulation alone. Most just haven’t developed their skills beyond mundane abilities.” Yasima explained.

  “The master crafters and artisans practice more! Master Tikal is higher level than me! They probably fought off the monsters.” Lily said excitedly.

  “I hope that is the case… I don’t hear any signs of people in the houses. I hope they did not need to run and are injured somewhere.” Yasima looked worried as she inspected the silent houses around them.

  “Then we will go investigate, my lady!” Panu said, gallantly offering Yasima his arm and gesturing down the road.

  Anika stifled a groan at Panu’s overly-gallant antics at a time they should be focused on protecting the town. She shared Yasima’s worry that the silence and emptiness of the houses indicated something could have gone horribly wrong in the town. They needed to be ready for anything.

  “Panu, get your sword back out! We could run into monsters any minute. Philip-”

  Panu interrupted, leaning closer to Yasima. “My sword is always ready, even when sheathed.”

  Anika pointedly ignored Panu. “-take the lead and Hawthorn can guard our rear.” Anika pulled an arrow out of her quiver and readied it against her bowstring, preparing for trouble.

  “Good idea, let’s go.” Yasima nodded and began moving forward.

  The party made it down the street and onto the broad street that ran perpendicular to the central town avenues before they encountered signs of life. On the middle avenue, near a restaurant, a Kaseta woman with white skin, white hair, and gold tinted wings attacked a small pack of three squirrels, blasting them into the side of the restaurant with Air magic. The squirrels died as they slammed into the wall, and the woman flipped hair over her shoulder before turning towards the town square.

  Anika stared, not quite sure she could believe what she clearly saw with her own eyes.

  Lily, however, did not experience shock.

  “Morigan! Hi!” Lily sprinted towards the Princess, who turned at the sound of her name to see the group. Lily plopped down at her feet to wait for the rest of the group to catch up.

  Anika blinked, trying to force her brain to think of something to say. Of all the people she had expected to see in the town, Morigan sat squarely at the bottom of that list. Morigan actually helping people and attacking monsters? That seemed about as likely as getting summoned to a strange magical world and having a talking capybara as a companion. That kind of lightning didn’t often strike twice.

  “About time someone showed up!” Morigan yelled imperiously. “Those wretched priests left useless acolytes around the temple. It’s not my job to clean up their mess!”

  Yasima led the group forward, “Princess, you have been protecting the town?”

  “You think I’m attacking squirrels for my health?” Morigan waved her companion, the scepter Storm, aggressively at them, “You people didn’t leave anyone else here!”

  “How did you know the monsters were in the town?” Philip asked innocently.

  “Some of those wretched monkeys manifested in my room! Invading my privacy! And some random women came to the temple, screaming about monsters. I could have ignored them!” Morigan’s voice raised in pitch, and Anika thought she may start a long raging rant like she had gone on in their past meetings.

  “Thank you for helping them, Princess, it was kind of you to do so. The people of the town owe you a great debt.” Yasima said sincerely.

  Morigan froze at Yasima’s words, her face still twisted in anger, flicking her eyes to the other Kaseta woman as if the words were a trap.

  “Good job, Morigan!” Lily cried cheerfully as she did her little hoppy happy dance in front of Morigan’s feet.

  “Yeah, looks like you managed to clean things up pretty well,” Panu sauntered over and clapped the princess on the back, like a team member who had just scored a home run.

  Morigan pushed Panu’s arm off her and stepped away, “Get off me!” She crossed her arms, but her voice and face held less anger than moments before.

  “Where uh.. where are the townsfolk?” Anika asked, tentatively, not wanting to trigger Morigan’s rage again.

  To her surprise, Morigan just turned back towards the center of town and began walking. “This way.”

  The group entered the crowded town square. Adults wearing haphazard armor pieces and holding both real and makeshift weapons ringed the outside and guarded entrances to buildings. Anika thought it looked like people also continued up into the administrative building and school, though the thick crush of people made it difficult to see.

  She pushed down a wave of anxiety at the sight of the crowd. She really did not like being around so many people. She felt Lily press against her leg and felt Lily’s Calming Aura settle over her. Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus on something else.

  “Aren’t you afraid monsters will spawn in the middle of all these people?”

  Morigan scoffed. “Monsters won’t manifest on top of other beings. Don’t you know anything?”

  “Morigan is correct. Chaos energies require an empty space to coalesce, and if there is not enough space, they cannot form. Our Anima interferes with the formation of Chaos creatures because we are constantly taking in the Chaos ourselves to transform it into our personal magics.”

  “Oh… right.” Anika hadn’t read that in books, but based on what she had read about the process of transforming Chaos magic into the ‘mana’ she used to create her Water magic, it made sense. “Who set this up and got all the people here?”

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  “Me, of course.” Morigan’s face illuminated with a haughty smile, “I am, afterall, a Princess. A born leader. And what you priests left in town couldn’t organize their own closet, much less a defensive plan!” Morigan’s smile turned to a scowl as she mentioned the priests.

  “You have talented administration abilities, Princess,” Yasima agreed. “How can we best assist?”

  “I should just leave you to handle the rest of this yourself. I’ve already done all the work!” Morigan let the words hang for a moment, before she continued with slightly less irritation in her voice. “You can sweep the town for monsters. I haven’t seen as many recently, but I’m sure there are still more out there. I will remain here.” She crossed her arms, looked pleased at being able to give orders that people would follow.

  “Of course Princess, we can clear out any additional monsters.” Yasima agreed.

  “Wait, before we go, what monsters have you seen here?” Anika asked, wondering if Morigan had fought off bosses herself.

  “Mostly squirrels and those awful monkey things. A few pantopu.”

  “I guess the further we are from the source, the less powerful the monsters that spawn.” Anika commented.

  “Possibly,” Yasima agreed, “That is good for the town, however. If the sun bears or water buffalo had manifested in the village, I would expect significantly more damage.”

  With the knowledge that the village mostly spawned lower level monsters, the group split up. Anika, her companions, and Sinaya took the east side of the village, as they had spent the most time working together, and Philip, Epona, Panu, and Yasima went the other direction. After the fast-paced inundation of monsters at the dungeon earlier today, wandering around the village and occasionally killing some squirrels or lidoks felt like a summer stroll through the park.

  They found the most monsters near the outskirts of town as monsters that had spawned in the fields wandered towards town. Luckily, the squirrels and lidoks didn’t exhibit much aggression towards other animals, so the pastures where herds of fluffy brown pigs and komopi, the six-legged goats Anika had finally learned the name for, didn’t interest the monsters. They roamed out into the fields, searching for any monsters fleeing from the dungeon area or that had originally spawned in the expansive farmland of the valley.

  As sunset began, the exhausted Anika trudged home with the group, except Lily, who napped on Hawthorn’s back. They skipped the center of town and headed back to the temple, assuming everyone else had already returned there, or would return soon. The nutrient dense snacks they had eaten throughout the day to maintain energy left Anika craving a full, hot meal. She wished she could eat some of her old favorite comfort foods… a big bowl of soup, or a warm chicken pot pie… maybe some terrible-for-her mac and cheese. And chocolate. She definitely wished she could have chocolate after a day like this. They had chocolate on Etalen, thankfully, but she doubted the priests had any of it prepared. Maybe a nice big mug of miyum before bed would do. The chocolatey chai mixture managed to satisfy the chocolate craftings most days.

  Upon reaching the dining hall, Anika nudged Lily awake to get food, and the capybara barely chirped with her usual mealtime excitement, a sign of her exhaustion. Panu, Philip and Yasima sat at a table, and surprisingly, Morigan sat with them, albeit at the end of the table away from them. It looked like they hadn’t arrived much sooner than Anika’s group, as they hadn’t yet finished their meals. Or they had decided on round two. Anika had a feeling she may need a second helping tonight as well.

  As they sat, Yasima spoke, “Good, you are back. The priests are conferring. Today did not go as anticipated, and they worry about what to expect tomorrow. Our experience today will save many lives near the Asiwek dungeon, but they must adapt the plan for tomorrow based on what we have learned.”

  “I don’t know how I am going to do this all again tomorrow.” Anika rubbed her hand wearily over her cheek and forehead, the bone deep exhaustion settling in even more now that she had stopped moving, with every muscle aching as if she had run several marathons.

  “If you’re sore, I can give you a massage.” Panu offered, winking at Anika.

  Anika looked at Panu and almost considered his offer. Then he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and she resolved to absolutely never take Panu up on anything of the sort.

  “Uh… no…. I’ll manage.” Anika muttered.

  “But you can pet me.” Lily said, ever willing to take advantage of attention.

  Panu laughed and reached over to scratch Lily behind the ears as she cooed contentedly.

  “You did not do much physical endurance training in your old world, correct?” Yasima looked at Anika with only minimal judgement.

  “Not unless you consider walking to class physical training,” Anika grimaced at her lack of experience.

  Anika heard Morigan scoff at her lack of prior exercise, but since the Princess didn’t actually speak, Anika decided not to take the bait and engage. Morigan seemed aloof, but if what Lily said about her emotions the other day was true, most of her actions really hid her sadness and loneliness. After all, Morigan had helped the people in the town today, so there had to be some good in the ornery princess, even if she didn’t want to admit it.

  “It takes two to three seasons for most acolytes to build the type of endurance needed for the hours of weapons and magic training we do in preparation for the dungeons, and that is even with mandatory physical exercise in our lower education. You have only been here half a season, so it is not surprising you are so tired.” Yasima stated matter-of-factly.

  “Wait… you’re telling me you aren’t absolutely exhausted after today?” Anika looked at Yasima in disbelief.

  “No.”

  Anika looked at Sinaya, who also shook her head.

  “I’m a little tired,” Philip said, “but I used to work all day on the farm.”

  “I’m very sleepy.” Lily mumbled, head nodding as she tried to stay awake to finish her food.

  “At least we leveled today… twice! I can’t believe we went from level 12 to 14 in a day. We must have killed thousands of monsters.” Anika had tried to count during the battle, but she’d lost track around 500. That had been very early in the day.

  “WHAT?!” Morigan finally gave up ignoring them to shout and stare at Anika in disbelief.

  “Uh… I mean, I could be wrong. Maybe it was only a thousand?” Anika hedged.

  “You are level 14? You were level 5 when you arrived! How are you possibly level 14 in less than 50 days? It took me over a year to gain that many levels!” Morigan’s voice rose to a fever pitch.

  “Maybe Anika’s just a better mage than you,” Panu said slyly, giving Anika a wink.

  Anika facepalmed. The last thing she needed was for Panu to bait the Princess when they were all barely getting along.

  “WHAT?!” Morigan yelled even louder at Panu.

  “It’s because of me!” Lily declared loudly, managing to perk up from her sleepy state, she made her way over to Morigan with less than her usual energy and enthusiasm.

  “I made us get more experience when we have a dungeon party! That’s why we should be friends and then you can dungeon party with us!” Lily managed to bring some excitement to her voice when discussing the dungeon party, before turning to walk back to her seat. She didn’t quite make it and instead faceplanted onto her remaining greens, asleep.

  “What does that mean!” Morigan demanded with slightly less anger, interest clear in her eyes.

  “We get bonus experience for everyone in the party. The larger the party, the more experience. And when Hawthorn joined, it doubled, because he has all Lily’s boons. So… today we were getting more than double the normal experience for monsters. And of course, everyone in our party also gets the buff, though it’s only half as effective.” Anika explained, hoping to placate the Princess.

  For once, Morigan seemed completely without words as she stared at Anika, then at Lily, then at Hawthorn, then back at Lily. Her mouth opened as if to say something, before she closed it and passed her eyes between the three companions again.

  Anika opened her mouth to comment, but turned her attention instead to the door, where Nilendi had just walked in. Most of the other head priests had gone to the Asiwek dungeon, but as the leader of the temple, Nilendi had stayed to defend this area.

  “Everyone fought hard today. We faced unexpected challenges that neither we nor the gods predicted. The energies from the dungeon spread further than we anticipated, causing monsters to manifest in Kanewek. We estimate monsters spawned in approximately a one to two kilometer radius from the dungeon, and thus will be adjusting deployment for the echo tomorrow. We hope the echo has less strength than the eruption today, but we have no way to know. The eruption tomorrow begins at noon. You will be notified of your new positions at breakfast. Please rest and recover this evening.”

  Anika looked at her tablemates with surprise, “That is a huge area… monsters could be all over! I’m sure we didn’t find them all today.”

  “I’m sure the priests are taking that into consideration in their plans.” Yasima seemed relatively unconcerned, which did make Anika feel a bit better.

  “I wonder where we’ll be tomorrow?” Panu idly commented while licking the remains of pastry jam off his fingers.

  “All I know is where I am going to be tonight… and that is sound asleep in bed… as soon as I shower, that is.” Anika reached over and picked up Lily, brushing off a piece of lettuce that stuck to her head from where she had fallen asleep, and then poked Hawthorn, who had spent most of the dinner napping on the floor. She hoped they’d both eaten enough.

  Panu looked ready to make one of his comments, so Anika glared at him.

  “And yes, I will be showering alone and the only person allowed in my bed is Lily!”