Night 1

We came to a suitable place for camping. After about a half hour, we had set up all of our tents, including Flora’s. Sofia had started a fire, using Flora’s leftover firewood. Flora had even decided to graciously share her food with us, even going so far as to cook. Sofia insisted on helping, claiming to be a “master chef”. Meanwhile, Lucille and I had a conversation of our own.

“Hey Lucille,” I said. “As you know, I’m not from around here, so would you mind telling me a bit about Regnica? I feel a bit out of the loop most of the time.”

“Huh? Oh, sure,” she said, sitting down facing me. “Where to start...how about...the royal family. Regnica is a monarchy, ruled by the King, a man named Zain; his wife, Queen Cassandra; and the various noble families, such as House Vasquez. While the King has total control in the end, he does delegate quite a bit of authority to the nobility. The capital, Regnus, which is where the guild is based, is run almost directly by the Chancellor, Lord Vasquez. This allows for the King to focus on the entire kingdom as a whole.”

“What does the Queen do, exactly?” I asked.

“Queen Cassandra actually does most of the foreign policy,” said Lucille. “She was the one who rallied the other nations against the demon king, after all.”

“Whoa, hold up. Demon King?” I asked. Dammit. Of course there is a demon king, all the shitty generic isekai anime have a demon king involved.

“Yes, but he was defeated by the King about twenty years ago,” she said. “Anyways, most of the homes in the Noble’s Ward are just for show, and only really get utilized when during the High Summit every five years. Aside from then, most noble families are off at their own territories. The Vasquez only stay there because that is their territory.”

“High Summit?” I asked.

“It’s a meeting of the Lords of the noble houses, the King and Queen, and the heads of the twin churches. There they discuss the events of the past five years and form a plan for the next five,” she said.

“Uh, twin churches? I thought it was just the Church of Esther.” I asked.

“That is the most popular one, the church of Lady Esther, goddess of beginnings. That is the church I and the cleric we’re going to meet are from. However, there is also the Church of Lady Heather, the goddess of endings,” said Lucille. I remembered the name, being the chick I could’ve gone to instead of isekai’ing, to go to heaven or hell. “They are both important institutions in Regnica, and thus their Archbishops have a seat at the High Summit.”

“Dinner!” called Flora.

“Thanks,” I said to Lucille. “Guess we’ll have to continue later.” She nodded, standing up with me. We headed over to the pair of chefs. It looked like they had made some sort of stew.

“Eat up!” exclaimed Sofia. “It’s guaranteed delicious, after all, I made it!”

“That true?” I asked Flora.

“Yes,” she nodded, handing me a wooden bowl and spoon. “I merely provided the ingredients and a bit of assistance.”

“What’s in it?” I asked as Sofia filled my bowl.

“Various herbs and spices!” Sofia said, only a bit sarcastically. “Also, rabbit meat.”

Tentatively, I took a sip. “That’s actually really good, Sofia.” It was easily the best stew I’ve had, and was in contention for top 5 meals overall. She beamed, but also had a slight hint of ‘well, what did you expect?’ in her expression. The four of us sat down around the fire, eating and having a good time.

“So, Miss Flora,” said Lucille.

“Please, Lucille, Flora is fine,” she said.

“What’s your story? Why travel alone like this?” Lucille asked.

“Well, my parents are both farmers. I was their first child, but I was a girl, so they tried again for a boy to help run the farm. My mom got into an accident and miscarried near the end of her pregnancy,” said Flora. “They didn’t try again. Growing up, I did my best to help out, but I wasn’t much good at it. I was terrible at farming, and most of the animals hated me too, except for Hershel. The only thing I was good at was selling off our crops when we went into town. The first time my parents took me to the city after a harvest, I convinced a noble to buy the remainder of our stock. Since then, I’d wanted to be a merchant, and when I turned eighteen, my parents gave me hershel and their blessing.”

“Your parents sound like wonderful, strong people,” Lucille said.

“They are,” Flora smiled. “After I left the farm, I came to Regnus, with a few bags of crops to start me off. I eventually got the idea to take capital artisan goods to further out towns, and bring back food and materials from those towns. I built up a trade route, started making some good coin, but one of the towns on my route is going through a pretty severe drought, making more bandits, and I got a bunch of my stuff stolen. I barely had the money to get the goods I have on me now, so hiring a guard was out of the question.”

“And that’s how you got here with us,” Lucille said.

“Yeah. What about you guys? What’s your stories?” asked Flora.

“I’m a Paladin of the Church of Esther,” said Lucille. “When I was young, I was taken in by the church. There, I had two choices, be a nun, and stay cooped up in a cloister, or train to become a Paladin. I decided on the latter. After several years, I passed my three divine trials, and became a Paladin. I left the church behind, heading out as an adventurer, and eventually found myself in the capital. After a few months, I met Sofia and Flynn.”

“I see,” said Flora. “How about you, Sofia?”

“My mother died during childbirth,” she said. “My father, a great mage, raised me by himself. He didn’t want me to, but I learned magic by watching him and reading his books. I practiced fire magic in secret, but when he found out, he kicked me out. I ended up becoming an adventurer, because there wasn’t anything else I could do. After getting kicked out of several parties due to the, uh...collateral damage...my spells caused, I met Flynn.”

“Have you ever thought about making up with your father?” Flora asked.

“Of course...” muttered Sofia sadly.

“I see it is still a sensitive subject,” said Flora. “I won’t pry. How about you, Flynn?”

“Well, uh,” I stuttered, not sure whether to tell the truth. I decided on the partial truth. “the uh, land, I come from was very peaceful. It enjoyed many years of prosperity, and I grew complacent. One day, as I was away from my land, due to an, unforeseen accident, I was unable to return home. I ended up here in Regnica, far far away from my homeland, and I don’t know how to return.”

“Where exactly are you from? Maybe we can help,” said Flora.

“You wouldn’t have heard of it. It’s likely not on any maps, either. A real obscure place,” I said. Not exactly a lie, as I’m pretty sure America wouldn’t show up on any map in this world. I finished my stew, setting the bowl down. I felt like we had all grown a bit closer after confiding in one another about our pasts. As it was getting late, we all retired to our tents for the night.

Sleep came to me quickly.