Chapter 12 - To Merryside

When the sun rises in Esteria, everyone quickly jumps off their beds and prepare themselves for a hard day of work.

It was no different for the adventurer's of Esteria as the guildhall would always get the rush of adventurers early in the morning, looking for jobs to take on. Solo adventurers especially, since a certain brunette kept taking the good ones.

Fortunately for the adventurers, the girl was busy so she wouldn't be at the guild. But they didn't know that which lead to many adventurers just sitting at the guild with sweat dripping off their foreheads and eyes glued to the doors.

Now if Sora wasn't going to go to the guild, then where was she?

Well, she was at the field watching Rio shoot some slime down with his magic.

Poor slimes were exploding into droplets as they went colliding with several icicles, rocks and fireballs.

Watching the mage from behind, with her chin resting on her palms was Sora. She broke off from her regular routine in order to join Rio in his magic training now that he had his staff. Plus to gawk at him in his new clothes.

Now that he had his weapon by his side, Sora insisted that the boy change his clothes since it meant he could join her for some adventurer's job. Though it wasn't like he went anywhere besides the fields, killing slimes.

Still, it was a feast for the eyes: Rio now wore primarily black clothing, but what stood out in his ensemble was a snow-white coat that resembled the same jacket Rio wore during his arrival to Riverbank. He also had a haircut, courtesy of Sora, since his hair was starting to cover his eyes just a little too much for her liking.

Sora couldn't stop herself from staring dreamily at the boy, drooling while doing so and her mind projected images of the boy whisking her away like a princess and her prince. The girl was so lost in the world within her mind that she had not heard Rio calling out to her.

Eventually growing desperate the boy flicked the girl's forehead, making her reel back from the impact and just like an elastic band Sora then snapped back and shouted at her friend for once again striking her precious forehead.

"Why'd you hit me Rio?!"

Resting his staff on his shoulder, the boy stared the girl down and sighed. "I've been calling out to you all this time and you weren't responding, I had to get your attention somehow."

Sora puffed out her cheeks. "You never do this with anyone else; not even A-chan has ever been flicked."

Lying on the blades of soft grass, the two friends just stared at the sky in comfortable silence with only the whistling of the wind singing its calming tune into their ears.

As time continued to tick away, Sora looked back at the short time she had spent in Esteria. It had been a wild week, from meeting a familiar face, fighting a group of goblins and stopping an attempted kidnapping. With the rush of events, Sora had no time to actually process everything, so once she realised all that she's accomplished, she couldn't help but laugh at it.

For the time they've been away from Earth, Sora was growing more and more depressed as the days went on. But looking back at how she acted, she thought it was quite silly, but she didn't dare say that; after all, the boy next to her would scold her for thinking as such.

Speaking of Rio, Sora glanced over and stared at the napping boy. His peaceful face was a clear picture of a person void of any troubles, it was so calm looking that Sora couldn't help but inch closer to him. Eventually, she managed to place herself right next to him, with her face centimetres away from his.

As she lovingly stared at her friend's face, Sora wondered what sort of thoughts ran through the boy's head. Even though they've been together since their childhood, there are many things about Rio she could never easily read. To her, he was such a contradictory person: smart enough to easily pick up skills, yet never actually master them; kind, but can hold a chilling glare; brave, though is absolutely terrified of octopi and squids.

If she were to say one thing about Rio that was consistent: it was his willingness to help those in need, regardless of whatever happens to him.

Such a great virtue, but the lack of self-preservation often worries her.

Just the thought that he would do something without thinking for his own safety was so common in Sora's train of thoughts that she sometimes regretted inviting him. But it was her own personal desire that actually made her invite him in the first place.

As she thought about the future ahead of them, Sora heard a couple of low growls approaching them.

Quickly jumping into action, she grabbed her bow and aimed in front of her, tracing the movement of the grass with her arrow.

Then out of the thicket, a wolf sprang towards her, but Sora was faster as she struck the pouncing wolf straight at the head with her arrow.

As the body of the now-dead hunter fell on the floor, the rest of its pack then revealed themselves. One of the wolves then walked up to the corpse on the ground and poked it with its snout. After not receiving any movement, the wolf then bared its fangs at Sora, snarling viciously.

The rest of the pack followed suit, also growling at the girl. Before it was a hunt now it was going to become a brawl.

The pack slowly approached Sora, pressuring her to fall back.

She had an arrow at the ready, but she doubted that she could take on an entire pack. So when she struck down another wolf she had no time to prepare for another attack that was coming from behind her.

Closing her eyes, the girl prepared herself to be struck by the beast's fangs.

But a flash of white then dashed from behind Sora and hit the wolf back.

Opening her eyes, Sora was surprised to see the wolf now trembling on the ground. The rest of the pack were also now becoming more wary, even slowly backing away and lowering their gazes.

Sora watched the wolves in confusion but then turned her head when she heard some rustling behind her.

"We're getting attacked and you didn't even bother to wake me up?" Behind her with his eyes locked onto the wolves was Rio.

Sora giggled nervously, she completely forgot that Rio could fight now. Though she didn't bother making up an excuse since they were in the middle of something.

"Do you think you can get rid of them all at once?" Sora asked, hoping to end the situation at once.

"That's some high expectations. I ain't that good," Rio confessed.

Seeing as they were in for the long haul the two prepared themselves for a rather long morning.

------------------------------------------

That night, Rio and Sora met up with the other two outworlders they'd met. They were having a nice dinner together inside the inn, discussing their days.

Noel was particularly ecstatic that night since she hadn't had a good night out ever since she and the knights had been running around the city, looking for black market cronies.

So to celebrate she ordered a large mug of beer and swung it down without a care in the world, even letting some ooze down the side of her cheeks. She then ravaged the large meal they all ordered, taking entire legs of barbequed chicken and ripping the meat straight off the bone.

While the knight stuffed herself with everything she laid her hands on, the three watched in awe at her appetite. They knew she ate a lot, both on Earth and on Ortus, but never to the extent they witnessed at that moment.

"Do you need us to order more Noel?" Rio asked, panning over the multiple empty plates on the table.

"No, this is more than enough," Noel answered with a semi-full mouth.

"Oh good we'll actually be able to eat," Rio thought in relief.

Still, despite the fact that Noel ate for a group of five, the night was still enjoyable for the outlanders. After they ate their fill, they just sat around with drinks while chatting peacefully.

"Oh by the way-" Noel pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper from her side and unravelled it in front of the others- "look at this."

On the parchment, the three read: "Newly formed Houshou pirates has become one of the most active groups in escorts and trade!"

"Houshou?!" Sora tore the paper off Noel's hand and stared at the letters, not believing her eyes.

"I heard that a new pirate group has been making noise in the port town of Merryside, but I wasn't so sure that it could have been Marine until I saw this paper," Noel admitted. She had been looking into the pirate group for months; unfortunately, she never got any solid leads from her connections, so she wouldn't tell Sora and the others just in case she was wrong. She still wasn't sure, but the likelihood of someone named Houshou was slim in Merryside.

"Still, this is great news, now we're one step closer to finding the other members," said Rio. He then turned to Sora who was still glued to the headline along with AZKi. "I'm guessing you wanna head to Merryside now?"

Sora nodded at Rio, her attention still at the paper. It was registering quite slowly in her mind after all.

Seeing as they weren't going to be getting any input from the other two anytime soon, Rio and Noel decided to discuss the next course of action amongst themselves.

Noel told Rio if they wanted to catch Marine, who was situated in Merryside, then they would need to leave soon because the town was weeks away from Esteria and the crew may leave if they delay any further.

Rio agreed with the girl and proceeded to murmur about the money he and Sora had saved up along with AZKi's, since the former diva has agreed to join them on their journey.

However while mumbling on about finances, Rio realised that Noel was talking like she wasn't going with them. So he asked her.

"You aren't gonna come with us?" Rio watched as Noel's eyes dropped to the floor and her wide smile softened.

"Of course I would love to join, but my duties as a knight means I need to stay here," the girl confessed. She was dejected at the thought of not being able to see her friend and genmate, but her hands were tied when it came to her duties.

Although somewhat saddened by this, Rio understood the weight she had to carry and so with a comforting smile, the boy nodded at the knight, to which she nodded back in return.

------------------------------------------

That night in their bedroom, Rio stared at Sora who was sitting on her bed with her knees up, still clutching the paper.

"You gonna paste that on a pillow?" Rio teased.

"No, I'm just really happy," Sora responded.

She placed the flier on her bedside table and tucked herself in. "You can close the lights."

Following orders, Rio turned the lights off before heading to his own bed.

The two were now lying face up in their dark room, with only the faint light of the moon shining down through their window.

Rio tried to sleep, he turned his body to the side and closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would eventually just take him. However, the same wasn't the same for Sora who kept on staring at the ceiling. She just couldn't get her mind off the fact that they've found another member already.

"Get some sleep," Rio suddenly said from his side. "You're not gonna be able to do things effectively if you stay up all night."

Turning her head to the side, Sora smiled at the boy, despite his back being turned to her. For her, just his words of comfort were enough to calm her racing mind.

Deciding to take his advice, Sora closed her eyes and sunk herself onto her bed, slowly drifting off to sleep.

------------------------------------------

Days go by and everyone put some effort into making some cash for the journey ahead. It wasn't too difficult as they were now a group which opened up the doors to much harder jobs in the guild, not only that but they got some guidance from AZKi who was used to buying things for the road.

She recommended all sorts of things to the two just so they could save: she told them that foods that were meat were non-essentials since they knew how to hunt, so they replaced it with things like cheese or spices to be used in cooking or snacking; another thing she pointed out was to always bring back up weapons, she pushed both friends to buy at least a dagger to bring with them since they were both ranged fighters; finally she explained that the best way to live on the go was to get used to sleeping on the ground, thereupon she took the two out on the forest and made them sleep on nothing but a thin blanket. Although the last part was unnecessary since the two have already experienced sleeping outdoors during their earlier days in Ortus.

Once they were ready, the group met up at the entrance of the city where Noel was seeing them off.

"Be careful everyone," she requested.

"Don't worry Noel we prepared for this," Sora assured, flashing her junior with a bright smile.

Seeing her so confident made the knight smile back, albeit in a more concerned manner.

Turning to AZKi and Rio, Noel told the two that if they paced themselves they should be able to reach a nearby village in about three days; from there, they'll need to do some village-hopping for a bit before reaching their destination, but she did add if they could get a carriage it'll make the journey ten times easier.

"Do you think Marine will still be in Merryside by then?" Rio questioned.

"According to my connections, the crew anchored down there because their ship was damaged from a storm so they're stuck there for a while," Noel informed. "Not to mention they'll need to take on jobs, so you'll get there probably in the nick of time."

Once everything was sorted, the Hololive girls gave each other one last hug. Rio wasn't planning on joining that, it was their moment, so it was best he stayed out of it... or at least that was the intent.

"Rio."

Looking at them the girls were all staring at him.

"What?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Do you want to join us?" Sora asked innocently.

"No," he deadpanned. "Did she honestly think I would want to get in that? I mean no guy would refuse that, but I don't have the balls to do it."

"Well I think it's best we get a move on or we'll lose the sun," AZKi proposed, separating from the other two.

Noel nodded at the girl before also separating from Sora. "Good luck everyone."

The three nodded at Noel before turning their backs on Esteria and began to walk down the dirt road into the open world of Ortus.

Hololive was created to tell a story on Earth, but now, it's beyond that. Their tale will spread across the stars and this was just the beginning.

The beginning of a new story.

------------------------------------------

Dark clouds loom over the city, grabbing all those who wandered the streets, in their cars or from the windows of their homes.

For those who watched as the swirling vortex grew bigger and bigger, seemingly creating a hole in the sky that will burst with some horrific creature from another dimension. Yet despite their senses telling them to run, no one dared to move from their spot.

On top of a building, a young man with ashen hair watches the crowd below, his gaze soulless.

A door behind him then opens up and out comes Sora, who smiled upon seeing the man. She then glances to the side and saw a body burnt black.

"Was this-?"

"A revenant," the man said.

Sora joined the man at his side before also casting her eyes to the pedestrians on the streets.

"You sure you won't regret this?" the man asked.

"I already told you it's fine, we can't let that man get away with all this," she responded, eyes crossing.

"Now that's not a face the sweet Tokino Sora would make," the boy teased, smirking a little.

"Stop it, we have no time to be sweet or cute, you and I know that." Sora then started to walk back inside the building, but not before turning to the boy one last time. "You should head back inside, if someone sees you it could compromise our location."

The boy chuckled at her, it's not every day he could hear the warrior side of her. Still, it wasn't like it was the first time he'd seen the girl lead armies into battle. In all of his memories, Sora had always been a great leader, the endless star that shines the brightest in the heavens.

Looking up in the night the man smiled a little as his jade eye glowed. "Soon the abyss will open for this world and when that happens... your head is mine, you fake god."