38 Take us to church

The train drove up on the snowy mountain at full speed. Wind trailed behind it, brushing the snow from nearby trees. It came to a stop and the Oaka opened the door.

"This will be my final stop," said Oaka, "The next train will carry you to your next destination".

"Okay," waved Mina as she exited the train with Leira.

The two girls standing less than 5 feet tall stood outside the station to watch the train leave.

Mina's nose was stuffy and her face cheeks were fat. She was cold due to being equipped with a sleeveless tank top and a white skirt in admiration of Red Velvet and Christmas. She didn't mind the cold.

She stared over with her kitty brown eyes, "Please don't leave me again. Please".

Leira was cozy warm in her blue coat as the cold wind breezed through her long braids. She gave Mina a mischievous glare. Mina pleaded once again.

Leira pushed on Mina's shoulder, "I was just joking. Besides, we need to stick together to beat this".

Mina jumped, "And we need to find and save the other 7 players".

Leira nodded and watched as Mina relaxed, "So what can you do"?

Mina ran through the forest, flexing her axe. Leira demonstrated her bow shooting various targets. Mina asked if she ever ran out of arrows. Leira explained that her use count slowly refilled given her arrows were magically generated.

A ferret, the size of a large dog came in their way. Mina stopped Leira from shooting it.

No matter how much Leira tried to show how dangerous it was, Mina only got in her way. Quite typical actually. They both belonged to the hunter class. Whereas Leira was a ranger, Mina was a tamer.

Mina approached the ferret without her weapon drawn.

Leira observed from afar with her bow ready as Mina held her hands out towards the ferret. She made noises with her mouth and gestured her body very openly towards the ferret. This left Leira more than confused as to what Mina could possibly be doing.

Soon after, Mina was seen holding the oversized ferret, smiling. Only now that Mina was holding the ferret did Leira fully realize how big it was. The ferret wasn't merely big. It was roughly half the size of Mina. And she held it like it was just a baby. She ran towards Leira showing off her new pet.

Mina began jittering, "See! As a hunter... or tamer, I can understand animals and I am able to make small and weaker animals listen to me! This means I can save and speak to the cute one and use my super knowledge and strength to kill the monsters that threaten them! And one day, I can save the big one too like lions and bear, and then I can cuddle with all of the animals and I will be happy"!

Mina caught her breath as Leira stared at her with a blank smile. Leira made it clear that she was only comfortable with animals if they were domesticated.

Mina pouted and hugged her new furry companion very tightly as she began walking away next to Leira.

"Do you plan on keeping that?" asked Leira.

Mina hugged it tighter, "Yes".

The ferret began growling shortly after. This scared Leira into thinking it was going to attack. But Mina reassured Leira that the ferret was rather scared itself. Unfortunately, the two girls couldn't figure out why the ferret was scared.

A gust brushed to form a snowman that stood a little over 6 feet high.

The ferret's hairs stood as it growled. The snowman roared back.

"Fire-arrow!" called Leira, shooting a flame arrow at the snowman.

The flame engulfed arrow did a bit of damage and even paralyzed the snowman a bit.

Mina slashed her axe through the snowman, doing next to no damage.

The ferret jumped at the snowman but got stuck inside of it.

Mina pulled out the ferret right before the snowman worked up a little blizzard.

The ferret jumped into the snowman's face, allowing Leira to fire a few arrows into it.

However, this time when she fired the fire arrow, the flames were much more intense. It took maybe a minute for the snowman to melt.

The ferret ran to Mina's side while she dusted off her skirt. Leira kicked her legs up as a victory pose, cheering herself as MVP. Looking for threats, Mina spotted a church.

They quickly ran up to the big wooden doors of the stone church. They could already hear the choir from outside. The bells rang a harmony that they couldn't ignore. Rustles from the wind were faint as the girls were in their sanctuary.