Continue the journey.

"I wonder... What encouraged each of you to become an adventurer? It's a dangerous path most wouldn't follow," asks Masumi to break yet another silence. The terrain is becoming easier to traverse now. Fields of grass replace a lot of the gravely soil and rocky hills, though the map Monarch gave you is still proving to be invaluable.

Eva responds first. "I really couldn't stand the whole nobility thing. My dad was already never around, and I saw how crappy a lot of other nobles were. People at Redbloom were mean, life was boring, and I felt like I was living in the shadow of a man who wasn't even present. So I threw it all away, and I never looked back!"

"Brave," she replies.

"I guess. I am pretty great. A real self-made girl, one could say. Adventuring is also kind of attractive, isn't it? Fighting monsters, opening treasure chests, becoming more powerful... Yeah it's really risky, but what isn't?"

"Good answer!" Niki shouts. "Same here. I mean, the last part. I always itched with wanderlust, exploring the outskirts of my hometown. I got into all sorts of trouble. I really just wanted to see everything and be the strongest I could be."

After a pause, Amara speaks up next. "And I just wished to follow in my mother's footsteps. I thought that if I could be even half as wonderful as her, I would be happy."

"And look at you now!" Eva nudges her with an elbow. "A famous archpriest and maybe even more beautiful."

"I do not know about that..."

You chuckle. "I was kinda forced into it. One day I was in my room, the next my body was augmented with all sorts of weird magics, and I walked right into town thinking this was some sort of RPG I was trapped in or something. For a lot of people on Earth, being an adventurer is a classic fantasy. Meeting elves. Fighting dragons. Casting spells."

"Specifically elves, hmm?" Nyllia asks.

"They're probably the most recognized fantasy race anyway. Though overall in modern pop culture, cat girls might actually be just as famous."

"What about bunnyfolk?" asks Eva.

"Not famous enough. Maybe if we ever go to Earth, you can change that."

"And kitsunes?" asks Masumi.

"Pretty big actually, especially in Japan."

A brief time of silence goes by before Masumi slowly shifts her half-lidded eyes towards Nyllia beside her. She doesn't speak, though something unspoken is certainly said, as Nyllia reacts with a quiet noise of contemplation.

"I think I became an adventurer for many reasons," she explains. "I thought I lost everything on that dreadful day. Honestly, I became so obsessed with revenge, that I think there was another path I nearly followed that would have ended in blood. When I found those cultists, they were already dead. In a twisted way, I am grateful, but I was lost in the darkness for a time after that. I was just a child when she died, but I could not stop thinking about how I ran away. I could never run again, no matter what."

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," you whisper.

"It is fine, really. That was many years ago. I think... for a long time, I was only fighting because I had to keep moving. If I were to have stopped, my own grief would have caught up to me. I was not completely aware of this fact, but I believe I was only going through the motions, despite how famous I had become. I had learned to hide myself behind the cover of shining armour."

"You know, I think we all probably need therapy," says Eva.

"Woah. Sudden self-realization," Niki responds.

"You need it too!"

"Now who needs something like that when you have Kyle here?" Masumi says with a subtle grin.

"Mmmm. I appreciate that, but that's not exactly how I'd word it," you reply. "But I definitely am here for all of you. I wouldn't have gotten this far without everybody."

Nyllia smirks. "As corny as it may sound, this love is our power. We care deeply for one another. Do you remember that day you caught me bathing in the woods?"

"I couldn't ever forget--Ow."

Eva bonks you on the shoulder. "We were having a sweet moment. Why are you a peeping tom now?"

"I was not peeping, nor was I Thomas."

"Neither could I," Nyllia replies. "I think about it all of the time. In that moment, I was naked, but my mask... For some reason, it fell off, and I do not think I could ever put it back on. I could not stop thinking about you. I may not have understood those feelings at first, but I am a different person now. No, that is not correct. I am a real person. My true self."

You feel Masumi's hand around yours. When you turn, she looks to you with the same woolgathering smile she often has. "May I let you in on a little secret, Kyle? Other Demon Kings, or any sort of rulers, do not have what you do. I care deeply for Lady Vex, but I'm only one woman. You have many. If your future victory over whatever is to come could be traced back to one thing, it would be this. Bonds are powerful, Kyle. Remember that."

"Hey, if we wanna get there before night, we better pick up the pace," says Niki as she leaps up the nearby hillside for a better vantage. "Not that I'm scared of the dark. But some of us have better eyes than others."

"Elves have the best sight," Eva says, "But bunnyfolk have the best hearing. So I'm not helpless."

"To be honest, I'm just excited to get to this place. What if there's some sort of like, giant cave dragon underground? Bek would be pretty jealous though if he wasn't here to see that."

Speaking of which, maybe I should check in on the other parties.