The sun came up around 6:35 AM. The light illuminating through the room's small windows gradually broke away the corrupting darkness to reveal a naked girl fast asleep. Though she dozed off on her back with the cover-up to her stomach, none of that remained. During the night, Servi had somehow curled into a ball and kicked the blanket off the bed. Her shoulder-length black hair, still as soft as it was when she went to bed, brushed against her nape when she gently moved.
Seeing that she was slowly waking up, Itarr spoke. She wanted her voice to be the first thing Servi experienced in the mornings. And for today, she went with a standard greeting she had performed over the past month.
Good morning, Servi. Did you sleep well?
Uncurling from her sleeping position, Servi fully extended her body. From raising her fingers to the sky to curling her toes, she looked like a cat who woke up from an evening nap. Even though she was immortal, it felt good to stretch.
“Good morning, Itarr. Yeah, I slept well,” she said as she finished up her stretching. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and dangled her legs over the edge of the bed.
I’m glad.
Servi hopped up and walked over to the small windows, still naked. From this height and such a small opening, no one could see her.
“Yep, as I figured,” she muttered, prompting Itarr to ask why. “You see that line? How much you wanna bet that’s the line to be assigned a mentor. At least, and I assume, that’s the end of the line, but it’s wrapped around the building. It’s gonna be such a long wait…. Gah, it’s not like I even need one,” Servi rubbed her head and sighed. Servi's goals included finding hers and Itarr's memories back while making Momo stronger. The mentorship program seemed like the best way to accomplish the latter, but standing in line for most of the day wasn't something Servi wanted to do. It brought a certain kind of anxiety to her heart, and she didn't know why.
Are you going through this for Momo?
“Yeah,” Servi walked back to the bed and laid back down on the heavenly pillows. Running her fingers through her black hair, she continued speaking. “She’s really the only reason. If I were by myself, I probably would’ve been gone by now.”
Where would you go?
“Don’t know. Maybe Keywater?” She turned to lay on her side, and the wooden walls stared at her. “Hell, I don’t even think I know anything about the geography of this world,” Servi sighed again. “And it’s not like I can go to someone and ask where I am and what other countries are around me. Stuff like that is supposed to be common sense.”
I see. I really hope we get our memories back soon. It’s been a whole month, and ever since we got here, I haven’t remembered a single thing…. Itarr sounded depressed, but she wasn't the only one. Servi had started to feel the troubles of navigating in a world where she knew nothing. All of the information that she desperately wanted to know, like the world and countries, and cities and towns, as well as any cultural events or holidays, was probably really common to everyone else but her.
The two laid there for a while until they heard a knock and a heartwarming voice that forced the dark clouds away from Servi's mind.
“Servi? It’s me, Momo. You awake?”
And there she is. I quite like Momo. Even though she doesn’t know me, I think I love her. But based on what you told me about that emotion, I’m not sure if that is what I am feeling.
“I like her too. She’s such a great friend. As I said, love is almost impossible to describe. It’s such an abstract emotion that comes in an almost infinite amount of ways. There’s also a lot of different ways to show it.”
I see….
Servi got up off the bed and absorbed it. Then she used Telekinesis to move the propped-up mattress and blanket over to where they used to be. Deciding on pink underwear, Servi used her ring to put them on and then equipped her leather armor. Once the green cape fluttered behind her, she attached her pouches and shield. Doing a quick check to make sure her sword was in the shield's sheath, she smiled to herself. Checking everything off, she opened the door to see a smiling Momo.
She was in the same brown sleeveless armor. Her grandpa’s bag was still slung over her chest, and his beloved long sword remained faithfully at her hip. But something was different.
“Your hair is different. It looks nice,” Servi blurted out.
“Thanks. I wanted to do something a little different, so I put my hair in a ponytail. I wanted to do twin tails, but my hair isn't long enough.” Sure enough, Momo had a cute ponytail. While talking to Servi, she bounced ever-so-lightly that her hair danced along with her tail.
“You’re very welcome. I looked out my window, and the line was super long. I’m afraid it’ll be even longer if we eat breakfast.”
“Yeah, I saw that too. I think there’s a stall nearby that sells some fried meat if you wanna get that,” Momo offered.
“Sounds good to me. You ready?” Servi asked. She saw Momo nod, so she stepped outside her room and closed the door behind her. Servi reached into her pouch and used it as a proxy to bring her key from her ring. Locking it, she put it back and stored it.
“I’m so excited!!” Momo quietly squealed with excitement. Servi walked behind her as they descended the stairs, and she had the perfect view of her ponytail. It fluttered with every step its master took, and Servi could do nothing but smile.
Momo's cute when she acts like this. Servi wordlessly thought.
When they reached the lobby, their jaws almost dropped at how packed and teeming it was. It was a sea of bodies all crowded and bashing against each other while the poor employees did their best to stop and any fights before they began.
Far in the distance sat Claire. She was behind the sign-up desk, and she was in charge of signing up a long line of potential people who wanted to join. Said line snaked out through the right door, turning right to go down the street before taking another right. Servi could only guess at how long it really was.
It’s impossible, right?! I’m just a single person, and I gotta take care of all these people who are probably ungrateful?!! It’s not fair!! Claire thought.
Internally, she whined, and no one could blame her. But regardless of her internal feelings, she kept a professional smile as she answered any and all questions while performing her duty.
“I kinda feel bad for her,” Momo's pink hair whipped left and right when she slowly shook her head. She had an empathetic look on her face.
“Me too. You know, I like Claire. Why don’t we do something nice for her?”
Momo smiled at her friend. “I want to as well. She’s always been nice and helpful to us. But what can we get her?”
Servi held her finger up to her chin and thought about it as they walked outside. As much as they wanted to, they couldn’t jump ahead in line, and like everyone else, they needed to wait. “How about something sweet?”
Now outside, the two gasped at the sheer amount of people. The line to get a mentor was different from the queue to sign up. The mentor line exited through the left door and took a left. It took the first left at the intersection, going all the way to the end of that street before taking another left. The end of this line is what Servi saw from her window when she woke up.
The Warden building took up a lot of space since Five whole floors offered many services inside, and the area near the building was empty. Other than the building itself and the sewer's entrance, there was nothing else around in this spot of land.
Servi started walking and tried to find the end of the line while Momo brainstormed a list of potential gifts. While searching, she saw Arty huddled against the wall, still holding the two parts of his spear. He locked eyes with Servi and just stared. A moment later, he turned away to face the wall.
“Hmm… How about some chocolate? It’s not that expensive, and it makes a good gift. I know I like to eat it when I’m stressed out.”
“Chocolate, huh? Sounds good to me. Do you know a good place?” Servi asked as they made the first left. Up ahead, she saw where the line continued to snake around to the left at the intersection. If what she saw this morning was still accurate, then the end of the line should be around this upcoming corner.
“I don’t. But we can ask around, right?” Momo said. Turning left at this intersection, they now came to the part of the street that Servi saw from her window. If they turned ninety degrees to the left, they would see the back of the Warden office. Up high, there were three rows of windows a bit spread apart. Servi’s room would be one of the windows on the bottom-most row.
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Like she thought, the angle from looking up at the windows was terrible.
“Yeah,” she replied to Momo’s question as her eyes finally spotted the end of the line. It was about three-quarters of the way down this street.
“Hey, there’s the end!” Servi excitedly said. “Race you to it?”
“A race? Sure, why not,” Momo smiled and stopped moving. Servi did the same.
“I’m gonna count down from three. Go when I say go, okay?”
“I got it!” Momo replied.
“Three! Two! One! Go!!!” Servi yelled a little bit above her normal speaking voice, and the two friends darted off.
Servi didn’t dare to use her full speed, and at first, she kept pace with Momo. Her hair and tail flapped backwards, and she steadily got faster and faster, even surprising Servi.
She wasn’t this fast a month ago. She’s really grown.
Servi picked up the pace a little bit, but it was too late. She spent too much time thinking to herself. The distance between the two gradually grew, and the armored-back in front of her shrunk. The only way she could win was to use her full speed, and she immediately decided against it. The moment that thought crossed her mind, the race was over, and a victor was crowned.
“I….win…..” Momo said, panting. She was the first to arrive at the end of the line to the noise of light applause of a few people who cared to watch. The sudden burst of speed required all she had, and she was tired. The morning sun was already sweltering, getting close to 34 degrees Celsius. Of course, the leather armor she wore also didn’t help prevent her from sweating. It only made it worse.
“Good work!” Servi said, congratulating her friend on the well-earned victory. She took her place behind Momo, who turned around to face her. She had a rag in her hand that she used to wipe away her sweaty face.
“Thanks! You’re really fast! I thought I was gonna lose,” Momo replied. The white cloth ran over her left cheek before moving to the right one. It quickly turned from dry and pristine to wet and damp in a matter of moments. She then put it back in her bag.
The next moment, Servi heard Momo’s stomach rumbling, and her face went red.
“Damn, I forgot about breakfast,” Servi lightly stomped the ground in false anger. Momo was about to respond when they heard a small bell. They both turned to the noise and saw a man pushing a large stall on wheels. The words ‘Lucky Lucky Chicken’ were written on the sign in large, white letters.
“How lucky for us!” Momo said as she touched her stomach. “I was hungry,” hearing her body growl a second time a moment later, Servi chuckled as Momo's face took on a red hue for the second time.
It seems like she gets embarrassed a lot. Itarr noted.
The food cart slowly made its way to the friends as they discussed what they wanted for breakfast. Momo eagerly bought three chicken sticks and a bottle of milk. Servi purchased the same. Before the owner left, Servi asked him if he knew a good place to get some chocolate. After thinking for a moment, the stall owner told them of a place called Madam Canary’s Sweetie Tweety. The two friends thanked him as he made his way to the other line of hungry people on the other side of the building.
“How dumb am I? We literally talked about Madam Canary's yesterday,” Momo said after swallowing a bit of her food. It was fresh, hot, and juicy as some of the flavorful liquid squirted on her face next to her lips. Instead of using a napkin or rag, she used her tongue to clean it up before going back for a second bite. It was childish in a way, but that just added to her charm.
Servi didn’t bother taking bites. Instead, she sunk her teeth into the chicken and pulled it off the stick in a manner that was not unlike a rabid dog. The whole thing went into her mouth, where it was crushed and pulverized and chomped and ripped into small pieces that went down through her esophagus before reaching her stomach.
“You were hungry too?” Momo asked, taking a sip of her milk.
“Definitely. I was starving.” Servi ripped off the last stick of chicken after speaking and quickly devoured it. As she chewed, she broke the empty skewers in half and put them in her pouch, secretly absorbing them. “I’ll throw them away later. I don’t wanna lose my spot." She pointed behind her, where a few more people were starting to add to the line.
Momo did nothing but nod since she had a piece of meat in her mouth. Following it with another swig of her milk, she spoke. “When do you wanna go to that Madam Canary place?”
“How about after we meet our mentors? Since it’s the first day, I imagine today would be mostly introductory stuff like meeting each other and getting acquainted. Besides, at the pace this line is moving, we’ll probably be here for hours.” Fifteen minutes had passed from when the race ended, and the line had barely moved more than a few steps.
“You’re right. But I do hope we can give it to Claire today.”
“I do too. All we can do is hope and wait.”
Momo smiled. “Yeah. There isn’t much use in worrying about it right now,” For some reason, Servi’s heart was filled with anxiety over waiting in such a long line, but Momo’s smile washed all of that way. She felt like if it was required, she would be able to stand for days on end.
The two friends stayed in line for another thirty or so minutes before it started moving.
“Maybe we won’t be out here for as long as we thought,” Momo yawned and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Let’s hope," Servi replied.
And they got their hopes answered. From that moment on, it steadily moved, albeit slowly, for an hour or so until they were meters from the front door. From this position, Servi moved to the left just a little bit to peek out. She saw that the sign-up line was still going strong. If anything, it looked like it got even longer.
“She’s really gonna need that chocolate. Maybe even a beer,” Servi joked.
“Definitely. This one time, I went with my grandpa to help his friend, the one with the horses, and it was almost the worst experience of my life,” Momo turned to Servi.
“What happened?”
“He owned this shop, and some of his employees got sick. So he asked us for help. So me and grandpa worked there for a few days, and everyone was just so mean. They always say the customer is always right, but they are so wrong.”
“It was bad?”
Momo nodded. “Really bad. I almost get what Claire is experiencing. I bet some of the people who wanted to join are rude as heck. I can imagine what she’s going through, and none of it is good.”
“That sucks. Well, Claire will certainly be surprised tonight.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait,” Momo said as the line continued to move forward. About fifteen or twenty minutes later, Servi and Momo were finally inside Warden. They were finally out of the hot sun, but that didn't mean the inside was any better. The sheer amount of bodies packed together inside, all sweaty from the heat in addition to the doors being held wide open, produced a rank scent. It wasn’t just the long lines, but also the groups of those from Rank 9 to Rank 1 trying to find a quest. The tables and benches were also packed, and more than once did a fight almost break out.