19 Strange Encounters

After some wandering, whilst still keeping track of his way back to the inn, Kalin found himself in a large market. Unlike the rest of Den that he'd seen so far, the streets weren't narrow. Though still highly populated, the market was a colossal opening that had a unique liveliness that only markets can have. With a giant fountain in the middle, the entire market gave off a cheerful vibe. The market was filled with countless stands and boots, selling any objects imaginable.

Vendors displayed their wares in a variety of fashion. Some placed their wares on tables, while others spread sheets across the ground to display their own. There were some more permanent structures, such as tents and even shacks. There were even things that looked like a cross between a shack and a carriage that Kalin had never seen before. The 'nicer' places even seemed to have canopies to block the sunrays.

As Kalin saw and smelled the various goods for sale, he had a smile pasted to his face. Unlike in Sweetgrass, where he was fairly famous and people would stare and approach him, the majority of people here didn't pay attention to him. It was a new experience for him, being just another face in the crowd instead of the center of attention. He didn't hate this, however. He found the whole situation fresh and new.

Looking at the various stalls, the majority of great deals he saw were cheap imitations or fakes. Though hidden treasures appear in these kinds of markets, they are rare. A certain smell from one of the stalls selling food snuck upon him and grabbed him by his stomach, forcing him to buy some grilled cockatrice. The moment he received them, he took a small bite. Though it was good, it smelled better than it tasted, leaving Kalin a little disappointed. However, that didn't stop him from wanting to eat the whole thing.

Finding a place to sit near the fountain, Kalin started munching on the cockatrice kababs. They were slightly overcooked and a bit dry, but cheap. While eating, he watched the crowds walk by. There was a particular fat woman that caught his attention, possibly because she was fat. His eyes followed her for a moment before his thoughts were interrupted by a guttural rumbling noise. Upon inspection of the noise source, he didn't find a monster, however.

Sitting near him on the edge of the fountain was a teenage girl, a couple years his elder. She was wearing a slightly revealing, white, 2-piece robe with a circlet made of woven wood. She had quite a bit of jewelry on, numerous bracelets, anklets, necklaces both chorded and metal, and several rings decorating her fingers. She had numerous piercings on her ears, and one on her exposed navel. She held a large ornamental staff across her lap with a moon carved into the top and wore a pair of simple sandals. Although she wasn't flabby, she was very curvy and had a somehow soft look about her. She had long, flowing blonde hair and grey eyes. She had a slightly absent-minded look on her face as a small strand of drool dribbled down her mouth as her eyes were locked onto Kalin's food.

Kalin started to move his food around with his hands. Her head turned every which way he moved the food, causing Kalin to find her adorable. Though older than him, he couldn't help but feel like she was like a dopey dog, begging for his food and attention.

"Do you want some?" Kalin asked as he held some of the skewers toward the girl.

Awakening from her daze from his voice, the girl slowly turned her lazy eyes toward Kalin. Remembering that her sister told her to not talk to, or accept anything from strangers, she used all her mental faculties to process whether she should accept the food or not. After several long moments, the internal battle to the death ended with hunger prevailing over reason.

The girl slowly nodded and opened her mouth to confirm the question of Kalin. Though he felt it peculiar that a girl he just met expected him to feed her, it wasn't that strange to him. In fact, he had fed Rosalie so many times that he was quite adept at it. The girl eating the majority, the two of them quickly polished off the rest of the food.

Bereft of food, Kalin just looked at the girl that was staring at his face, unblinking. Their gazes locked until she made her move. Moving her hand atop his head, she started patting him on the head. Confused, Kalin just decided to accept the action of affection and sat there. She eventually seemed to forget what she was doing and started playing with his hair instead. After discovering it was extremely soft and pleasant to touch, she hugged him from behind and started rubbing her cheek against his hair. The odd atmosphere between them thickened as Kalin started to hear the light sound of snoring next to his ear, with her chin on his shoulder.

After ten minutes or so, Kalin was finally freed from the situation. A girl similar in dress to the sleeping one, approached them with hastened steps. She had similar blonde hair and eyes, though her physique differed greatly from the other. She had a more athletic look and more modest breasts. She wore her hair in a pony tail and carried a bow, though a matching staff could be seen inside her quiver. With a sharper and more serious look on her face, she marched right up to the duo sitting on the fountain's edge.

Seeing the approaching girl wearing familiar clothes, and a slightly angry expression, Kalin called out to her, "Are you companions with this girl? Could you help get her off me."

"Who are you and what did you do to my sister?" Came the response to Kalin's question. After completely ignoring him, the girl started the interrogation, after prying her sister's arms off his body.

After explaining the situation to the girl, she directed her anger away from Kalin toward to awakening girl. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

With an extremely puzzled look on her face, the lazy-eyed girl placed her finger on her chin and asked, "It was yummy?"

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the sharp-eyed girl turned to Kalin, "I'm sorry my sister's like that." and with a slightly troubled look on her face she asked, "How much do I owe you for the food?"

Kalin waved it off, saying, "It's not a big deal, I got paid pretty well from a quest today, so don't worry about it."

Exhaling half a sigh of relief, the girl couldn't help but ask again. "Are you sure?"

Kalin smiled, "Of course!"

After releasing the rest of her sigh, she looked at the face of the cute child in front of her. "I guess I'll have to thank you…"

"Kalin."

The sharp-eyed girl slightly smiled and said, "Thank you Kalin, I'm Artemis, and this is my twin sister Yami. You said you did a quest. Does that mean that you're an adventurer too?"

Kalin smiled, "Yep, I did my first quest today!"

Realizing that she took charity from a newbie, Artemis couldn't help but blush a little in shame. "Aren't you worried about saving money for rent?"

"My sister just bought a house," Started Kalin, "so I just live with her." Then with a sparkle in his eyes, "So you two are adventurers too?"

Surprisingly, Yami spoke, "Mm-hm. We started... recently." As if she had trouble remembering when, she gave up trying to explain.

Shocked at her sister willingly interacting with others, Artemis nodded, "Yeah, we've been working for over two weeks and finally reached level 2."

"Wow," said Kalin, "You're a level 2?"

Although there was no malice in his voice, Artemis couldn't help but feel ashamed. Rarely took adventurers a week to become a level 2 adventurer. They had taken almost 3 times that. Noticing the sword at Kalin's hip, and remembering her sister's strange attraction to him, she decided to make a desperate plea, "Could you please party with us? We really need help. Without a vanguard, we have already failed several quests. We could barely afford rent at our inn, and we'll probably be kicked out at this rate. I know it's shameless to ask, but can we party with you?"

Knowing that Lili and Mei wouldn't be partying with him much due to the difference in skill, Kalin felt excitement fill his chest. His spirit of adventure was tingling at the thought of helping these two girls and forming his first party. Excitedly, he said, "Yes! I'd love to!"

After convincing the sisters, one shocked and one almost sleeping standing up, they arrived at the inn. Artemis couldn't help but gulp when she saw how nice the inn was. The two of them had left their tribe about a month prior to make their fortunes as adventurers. As they had little money in the first place, that combined with their low success rate for quests, they had never stepped into such a fancy inn before. Artemis couldn't help but shiver at the cost of the food and started to regret asking for help. Although she wasn't trying to take advantage of Kalin, it might look that way to his sister.

Liliana listened to Kalin narrate his day, from the moment he left the inn to dinner. She and Mei had smiles on their faces as they heard the first 'great epic' of the adventurer Kal. When it got to the part of the story where he met the two girls, contrary to the worry of Artemis, the two of them had a reminiscent look on their faces.

Turning to Mei, Lili had a rare sweet smile, "It's just like how our party started back in the day."

Mei nodded, "I still remember I met you and Xana that day. She was pretty much in tears because you bullied her too much."

Not appreciating her friend's teasing, Lili just grumbled, "You better sleep with one eye opened tonight, or you'll be crying tonight." Causing Mei just to laugh at her empty threat.

Lili interrupted the laughing. "So, I see that you're not human, you're both spiritus."

Surprised that the diminutive girl named Liliana even knew what a spiritus was, she confirmed with a simple, "Yes."

Kalin had a questioning look on his face as Lili elaborated, "They're a race that's the closest bodied relatives of spirits. They are almost exclusively casters and use a rare type of ritual magic called 'channeling' that lets them borrow the powers of spirits or even gods." Almost on cue, Lili didn't wait to show off her knowledge. Then she added, "Don't worry nobody here cares what race you are," Pointing to Kalin, "we're both succubi," and toward Mei, "and she's a barbarian."

They continued to talk with each other, allowing Artemis to become a little more comfortable with her new acquaintances. After Mei settled the bill, they saw off the twins, as Artemis all but dragged Yami away.

"That girl's strong." Said Lili approvingly.

"Artemis?" Asked Kalin in response.

"No, that Molly girl. Don't let her personality fool you, her being stupid all the time is probably a side-effect of her strong channeling abilities. The other one's strong as well, but the dumb one's a monster. Her brain is probably using some of her thinking capabilities to keep her power in check."

"Lili," Corrected Mei, "it's Yami."

Kalin just watched the two leave, excited to go on a quest with his new companions.

"Oh no," he exclaimed, "we never set up a time to meet up!"