""Hey, Rion, I'm back—"
Lie nearly dropped the basket of food at the sight before her. The last time she saw Rion, he had been sulking, frustrated. But now, he was blasting a slime to smithereens—all while laughing maniacally.
"HAHAHA! FOR MY CLOTHES!"
He fired another shot, and the energy blast tore through the slime. It quivered, bubbled, and then—POP!—burst into a wet, mushy mess, like an overfilled water balloon. It was only then that Rion finally noticed Lie.
"Oh, Lie, you're back! I did it!" he beamed, looking pleased with himself.
Lie couldn't help but smile. "Haha, I swear…"
—
The two of them sat under a tree as Lie pulled out their lunch from the basket. She handed Rion his sandwich—thick slices of ham and turkey stacked with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, bacon, and mayo on fresh bread.
"Whoa… where'd you get this?" Rion asked, eyeing the sandwich.
"The deli," Lie replied.
"Ah, didn't even know this town had one…"
They both dug into their sandwiches, chatting between bites.
"Well, it looks like you got the hang of firing pure magic," Lie noted.
Rion nodded, swallowing. "Yup! Took a while, but I did it!"
"A while? You do know you pulled it off extraordinarily fast, right? Most people take weeks to learn how to do that."
"Really!?" Rion's eyes widened. "Maybe my old self was already really good at magic, and it's just second nature to me."
"Maybe," Lie said with a smirk.
Once they finished eating, Rion stretched and stood up.
"That was delicious… but now it's time to hunt more slimes!"
"Good luck," Lie said, chuckling.
"Yup!" With that, Rion dashed off toward the field, blasting slimes one by one. Lie, on the other hand, took out a book and began to read.
Time drifted by, and soon, a rhythm settled between them—Rion taking down slimes, Lie quietly reading her book. Despite the imploding slimes, the atmosphere could've almost been described as tranquil. Eventually, as the sun slowly dipped lower in the sky, the plateau was bathed in shades of orange, yellow, and pink. Around this time, Rion, exhausted and panting, made his way back to the tree and plopped down beside Lie.
"You ready to go?" she asked.
"Hah… hah… Y-yeah," Rion replied between breaths.
The two of them then got up and made their way back to town.
—
"Now that I've gotten my revenge on the slimes, I'm gonna check out the guild and see if there are any quests that stand out," Rion said.
"In that case, I'll join you," Lie said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I don't have much else to do." Lie smiled.
"Alright then…"
After a short walk, they arrived at the guild's front doors. Rion wasted no time stepping inside, with Lie following close behind. He approached the front desk, where a man was stationed this time.
"Excuse me, I'd like to check for any available quests," Rion asked.
"Oh, you're an adventurer, yes? In that case…"
(And thus Rion's journey continues…")