Katsumi

I woke up just before dawn. When I sat up and looked around, I saw that the girl was still sleeping. Saizo had finished the first watch and Mobito took over. He nodded at me when he saw me get up and stretch.

"Quiet night?" I said quietly as I stood next to where he sat.

"Yeah," he said as he poked at the fire in front of him, "which is always welcome."

I looked back at the girl, "do the two religions torture often?"

"All in the name of what they believe is right and true," Mobito said solemnly.

"Are we really in danger if we see Churchgoers?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah. It's too late to worry about that now," Mobito said as he looked at me and then turned to look at where the girl was sleeping, "all we can hope for is that we don't run into them."

I crossed my arms and looked into the dark forest, "surely we're able to fight back against them — three experienced adventurers and me, the martial artist genius."

Mobito scoffed and shook his head, "I mean, technically you are a genius at learning the move sets, but learning it and executing the moves in the heat of battle are two extremely different things. We'll have to see how you do before we can call you a genius."

I smiled, but it wasn't a genuine smile. I was feeling conflicted with my original motive for going on this Quest. The more I got to know the two men, the more human I saw them. They were getting removed further and further away from the monsters that killed my parents as I originally envisioned them as. Nato was still an asshole prick, but the loss of his family had obviously destroyed him once upon a time. It doesn't excuse his actions since then but adds some context to them.

Mobito was more pragmatic and realistic than I first accounted him for, and his friendship with Saizo and Nato still doesn't make sense, but after travelling with them even for only this short time, I can see how they can make a good trio.

Finally, there was Saizo. For all I know, he didn't have any family waiting for him anymore. These other two men were the closest thing he had to family. If I went ahead with my plan to avenge my parents, then he will be left alone in this world. I'm not even sure how I can fulfil the revenge without Saizo finding out. He would probably come to resent me and possibly try to bring it back around to me.

My thoughts were interrupted by the first signs of light slicing through the branches and leaves of the trees behind Mobito and me.

I turned around and had to squint a little bit as one of the god rays shone directly onto my face. I moved to the side, gazed at the colours that bounced in the light rays and marvelled at their beauty. I may not have been able to see the sunrise directly, but I could still appreciate its influence.

"Well, we'll have to move on soon," Mobito mumbled as he stood up and stretched.

I nodded.

***

"What are we gonna do about the runt?" Nato grumbled as he lugged his belongings into his Inventory — all but his great sword.

All eyes were on the girl who stood behind me, using me as protection against their stares.

"Seems like you've made a new friend," Mobito said.

I blushed a bit, "she had a nightmare, that's all."

I placed the rest of my belongings into my Inventory and stretched, "is there a…Creator camp nearby, do you think?"

Nato shrugged and looked at Mobito and Saizo.

"I don't have any up-to-date intel about this particular Crimson Tower," Mobito said.

"Maybe we should ask her?" Saizo suggested.

They turn back to the girl, who retreated back behind me.

"It's still about half a day till we get to the Crimson Tower, yeah?" I checked with Mobito, who nodded, "why don't we start making our way there, while I try to get to know her and see if she can help us out."

There was a moment of pause as the three men seemed to communicate with each other just by looks. A unified, curt nod followed and Nato hawked and spat some phlegm.

"Right, I guess let's keep moving," Saizo said.

***

The party was silent as we continued on our journey. Saizo trailed behind at the back of the group to look after our backs, while Mobito and Nato chatted to each other about something or another at the front. The girl and I were in the middle. She walked slightly behind me and held on to my left sleeve tightly, almost as if she would die if she let go.

I turned slightly to look at her. She was terrified walking through the same forests that she ran through last night.

"You don't have to be too scared," I said softly, "you can trust Saizo — the old man — he's a good guy. He'll keep us safe."

She didn't respond. She held my sleeve as tightly as ever.

"I still don't know your name," I started, "I'd like to not call you her or the girl. It's really awkward to do that…"

I realised that I hadn't told her my own name! I placed my palm on my chest and said, "my name is Ryuu. You can call me Ryuu. What's your name?"

She watched me quietly and looked down at the ground in silence.

Damn, she's still too scared for her life. I couldn't think of a way to comfort her.

"Katsumi." I heard a faint voice from behind me. I looked back and the girl was still staring at the ground in front of her feet as she walked.

"Katsumi?" I asked her, and without looking up at me, I saw her do a little nod.

I smiled and tapped her hand on my sleeve reassuringly, "nice to meet you Katsumi."

She looked up and saw my smile and blushed. "My friends call me Kat."

"Am I your friend now?" I asked brightly.

She blushed deeper and nodded.

"I know it's scary right now, but you can trust me and the old man behind us. We'll keep you safe." I comforted the girl, "we'll make sure you get home safe."

She went completely silent and I looked back at her and realised that she had started to cry. I stopped and struggled to work out what to do next.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," I said weakly. Saizo had finally caught up with us and was about to ask what was happening when he also realised that Kat was crying.

"What did you do Ryuu?"

"I don't know! I said that we would get her home safe and she started to cry!" I explained.

"I don't have a home," Kat mumbled in between sobs, "not anymore."

Saizo and I looked at each other with concern.

***

"Gods damn it all to hell!" Nato grumbled as he paced back and forth.

"This has really changed everything," Mobito said while deep in thought, "unfortunately, it brings a whole new level of risk to this whole Quest."

"How so?" I asked genuinely.

"From what you've told us, Katsumi's whole branch of the Religion of the Creator was slaughtered by the Church of the Demon branch that is situated near the Crimson Tower." Mobito started, "the Church had raided the Religion camp and trashed it. Killed the men, and captured the women and children."

I looked back at where Kat was sitting, her hands covering her ears.

"That's what she said, yes."

"A violent branch of Churchgoers is the worst," Nato grumbled again, "they're rash, unpredictable, and terrifyingly brainwashed to their religion."

"We would be okay," Mobito said, "as long as we keep away from their religious politics, they won't care about us. But if they find out about Katsumi, we would be dragged into the whole mess."

"So, what do we do? There's no way we're just going to abandon her?" I growled at the two men while Saizo stayed silent.

"Why not? We don't even know her," Nato shrugged and pointed his chin at Katsumi.

"So? How does that make a difference?" I scoffed incredulously, "why don't you just be a decent human being and help? It doesn't matter if we don't know her, it's the right thing to do."

Nato lunged at me and nearly made me back away but I stood my ground, "the right thing to do is what gets people killed."

We stared at each other as the group fell silent.

"And no matter how important you are to Saizo, I ain't going to give a damn if something happens to you if you want to help the girl out," Nato said in a low, monotonic voice. He stepped back away from me and went back to where his great sword rested against a tree.

He hoisted it up and latched the scabbard over his shoulder and growled, "I'm sorry Saizo, but I'm only in this Quest because you asked me to. I didn't sign up to be a babysitter of an idiot."

I was about to curse at him before Saizo held me back and stepped forward. He positioned himself in the middle and held out his hands in a calming motion.

"Look, before anything more regrettable is said, let's just step back and all calm down for a bit."

Saizo looked at me and I sat back down on a rock near where Katsumi was sitting, still with her ears covered.

"Mobito, did you get any sort of intel as to where the camps are positioned near the Crimson Tower?" Saizo asked.

Mobito waved his hand up and seemed to have sent Saizo a screenshot of the map that he had in Paradigm as he spoke, "of course, but as I said earlier, it's not the most up-to-date information."

"We can safely assume that the Churchgoers would make the ruined Religion camp an outpost of some sort," Saizo said as he focused on what Mobito sent him.

"That is the assumption I'm working with, but we don't know exactly how far their new patrol lines are going to be with this brand-new outpost in play," Mobito stated, "we have to assume that any previously safe routes are now risky at best."

Saizo studied the map before he chimed, "and the terrain really makes it impossible to be able to sneak around the Churchgoer camp and outpost. If we continue, we have to probably encounter them at some point and hope for the best."

"What if we disguised her and pretended that she was a part of the party?" I suggested.

"And how are we going to do that?" Nato butted in, "did you bring some spare clothing on this journey, did ya?"

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but nothing came to mind, so Nato kept egging me on.

"Did you have some kinda cloth that would cover her hair in a way that didn't look suspicious? Or some kind of armour that covered her great big old brand that she got on her chest? Both are very striking and noticeable for her old captors that would probably be looking for her."

I was seething in anger at my inability to come back with a biting answer when Saizo sighed and looked at me apologetically.

"I have an idea," Saizo said and first emphasized to me, "you won't really like it," and to the other two men, "and you two might think it's too much of a risk…"

"What is it?" I said, almost too desperately. I looked back at Katsumi and despaired at how helpless she looked.

"We can pretend that we caught her," Saizo said gravely.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Oh, I like that idea," Nato chuckled darkly.

"What?!" I said louder.

It was loud enough to make Katsumi jump and look at all of us terrified. I apologised to her quietly and tried to control my anger.

"What do you mean Saizo?"

"It would make us entering the area a little bit easier," Mobito said deep in thought.

"Mobito, do you still have the Cloak of Hiding that you got last time?" Saizo asked him.

"Oh," Mobito said as he started catching onto what Saizo was suggesting.

"We need a distraction, but Nato would be perfect to set something up that can do the job…" Saizo continued.

"Oh?" Nato was starting to get into the conversation as well, "are you suggesting we do something like Epinoe?"

Saizo nodded.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"It's doable, definitely," Mobito murmured.

"Most importantly, it's fun," Nato said, "and that's what's sorely missing about this Crimson Tower Quest."

"It is a bit of a risk though," Saizo admitted.

"As long as the kid doesn't drag his feet and looks after the runt well enough," Nato said before he turned and pointed his chin at me, "what do you say, kid? You think you can protect the runt?"

I looked at the burly, bald man and then at Katsumi who noticed my gaze and looked back at me questioningly.

I smiled at her reassuringly and turned back to the three men who were all watching me, waiting for my answer.

I stood up and straightened myself to hopefully look a little more reliable.

"I do."