Mikella and the rest of the Arcan family rested well on the first day in Alissa’s home. Despite the condo-like appearance, it was much larger than it appeared, having at least two extra rooms for Zeke and the girls to rest. It almost became a worrying situation when Clara wanted to room up with Zoan by themselves and leave Mikella out, but thankfully Alissa stopped her in her tracks before things could get awkward.

  She wasn’t sure whether she just wanted a room with Zoan all to herself, or that little brat wanted her and Zeke to room up for some reason.

  It was a comforting sleep, to say the least. Her body was exhausted throughout the travel, and she wasn’t really sure but the supposed otherworldly jet lag was a juggernaut to go through. Still, she was completely rested the next day. Though personally she could easily go throughout the night without feeling an ounce of exhaustion. Her body has advanced to the point where sleep was mostly a luxury rather than a necessity… but damn it she wanted to just lay down for a bit longer.

  Still, when the two decided to get acquainted with the city, particularly the stores where they sell weapons before meeting up with the team, she got ecstatic. But first there was another topic with Alissa they needed to talk about.

  Mainly, who’s going to take care of Clara while they are away?

  It was natural to assume that Zoan would be the one, but in her state, it was nearly impossible for her to take responsibility while she looked like a child herself. It was also natural to assume that Brucey would take care of her if any danger were to arrive. However, once again, it was kinda hard to pin the responsibility to a familiar that kept on taking naps on an hourly basis, much less actually taking care of someone.

  So they all naturally assumed that Alissa would be the one to take care of them. At first, Alissa showed the kind of expression that any single woman would when told they would be taking care of their relatives and a pet of sorts.

  “You got to be fucking kidding me.”

  However, despite her grumbling and her scowling, it wasn’t as though she was going to refuse. Instead she was going to take it as part of her job and agreed to take care of her. Luckily enough, Clara seemed fond of her despite her grumpy attitude. She had become confident by leaps and bounds throughout the year, but she was still hesitant on meeting new people all of a sudden, especially without her best friend Ana around. Still, she looked fond of Alissa, and she didn’t even flinch when Alissa glared at her. It wasn’t at her specifically, she just had that ‘resting bitch face’ on a constant basis.

  That wasn’t enough to deter Clara from treating Alissa fondly, even asking her questions like a student would.

  Mikella stayed around for a bit more to see the interactions, finding out that apparently Alissa wasn’t really so antagonistic to go along with Clara’s whims. Still, she made sure to keep her in check, which was perfect for Mikella. Despite her grumbling, Alissa was actually a rather caring parent.

  Now if only she would just stop scowling at every second.

  Eventually the two adults left, leaving Clara, Zoan, and Brucey with Alissa for a time to get their weapons upgraded. Alissa didn’t really need to leave the house either way, her work mostly consisting of writing and sending reports of the current circumstances.

  When they left the home and the residential district, they came into the mercantile district with loud sounds and overlapping voices swallowing their hearing. Wares were shouted out at them, and people were constantly getting in and out of shops. It was like going into downtown for real, the lights from the runes flashing at the store even going at a colorful pace.

  “Zeke, what do you think about Alissa?”

  The two were quiet during the walk, still trying to get the town’s locations into memory. Once they were done and knew where to go, particularly for gear, Mikella asked for Zeke’s opinions.

  “She seemed a little scary, but she’s not a bad person, I think,” Zeke shrugged. There was concern in his eyes, however. “I’m just wondering what’s the deal between her and Val. And why hasn’t she mentioned it to us when we were going to come here?”

  “She probably didn’t imagine that Cronus would ask her estranged twin sister to help.”

  It was weird to connect ‘estranged’ to the word twin, but that’s the best thing Mikella can offer. She can’t ever imagine separating from her own sister for as long as Val and Alissa had been, but she knew that sisters treat each other differently depending on the circumstances. Apparently, their situation was a lot worse than the norm.

  “I sort of understand why Val did the things she did, though,” Mikella said earnestly. “Born in a noble family without magic in a magic country? Even if it was like that, they still had no right to treat her like that.”

  “Honestly, I’m just thankful that she still came out of it alive and well,” Zeke shook his head. “In most fiction that revolve around noble families, they normally just kill her off, wouldn’t they?”

  “I… guess you have a point. But then, where did Cloud come in?”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Zeke tilted his head, taking the question into heart. “Good point. As far as I know, even Cloud had some issues with his family… maybe the two met up like that?”

  “...And then Val went and got married without including Alissa,” Mikella’s head lowered. “Honestly, I’d be kinda mad if Clara got married without telling me.”

  “That’s…” Zeke showed a grimace, probably not willing to go that far in the future in his head. “There’s probably been some issues that made it difficult. Remember, the two were entirely separated in different dimensions. That’s way different than living halfway across the world without the internet.”

  “That’s… that’s a good point, actually,” Mikella winced. “Oh well, let’s put that aside for now. Whatever happened between them isn’t any of our business.”

  “Right,” Zeke nodded. “And I think I spotted a blacksmith shop near here. You got any plans on what kinda spear you want?”

  “I haven’t a clue. I figured I could just head in there and sort of feel what spear fits me best.”

  Zeke tilted his head left and right, understanding her point a bit. Mikella was the sort to just feel out the weapons rather than think about it. Though just as the idea of a spear was forming in her mind, she heard someone curse out loud and fling something at them.

  Or rather at Zeke. His instincts flared as he conjured the same looking turquoise barrier in front of his face as something was about to hit his face. Unfortunately, that very something crashed right through the magical construct like glass and promptly smashed his face in.

  It resulted in a loud thunk as Zeke landed on the ground, the force enough to possibly break a wall or two to cracks.

  “Zeke!”

  Mikella knelt down quickly, noticing that the hostile object was actually a bulky hammer. It was a one-handed cylindrical hammer that upon closer inspection looked heavier than the average hammer. Blood was pooling from the impact on Zeke’s head, mostly from the force trauma as bits of skin were torn off from it.

  However, despite everything, Zeke looked… more depressed than hurt. His eyes were droopy, and his face was looking like a very sad donkey she remembered from a children’s cartoon.

  “Uhh, Zeke?”

  “...I forgot I don’t have my barrier anymore,” Zeke said sadly, looking away in shame. “I would’ve been able to block that…”

  Thankfully, the wound on his head was literally nothing to scoff at. In fact, his healing was already taking over, restoring his wounded head to completion. However, now Mikella was worried about his self-esteem. Normally he practiced with his barriers so much that he can instinctively call upon it if an attack was going after him. But now that backfired on him.

  “Godsdammit! What the fuck happened to my hammer!?”

  Mikella instantly scowled when she turned to find the person in question responsible for the hammer throw. Contrary to the constant cussing, it was actually a young woman dressed with a large white T-shirt, though covered in black grease, with large cargo pants with suspenders down her chest.

  Her long black hair was wild and unkempt, and she had a red and black bandanna as she picked up her hammer. She cussed again, realizing that the same hammer actually had a dent.

  A dent. Right after hitting Zeke on the head. Now that she thought about it, Zeke had an unnaturally large Endurance after all the crap he went through, so his defenses were nothing to scoff at.

  “Who the fuck in their right mind messed with my hammer?!” The young crazed woman turned back to the two, realizing the culprits. “Was it you fucks!?”

  “Excuse me?” Mikella said, helping Zeke stand up to his feet. He could easily do it, he was just still depressed over the loss of his barrier. “He was the one that was hit by the hammer.”

  “And look at the poor thing!” The woman protested, showing the slightly dented hammer. “It was a good one too! Treated me well for years!”

  “Then why the hell did you just chuck it out of the store?” Mikella’s anger slowly rose. “We were just minding our own business before your stupid hammer decked my husband on the head!”

  That word somehow managed to get out of her mouth a lot easier than she expected. Being an Arcan family now, they had to keep with the role. She expected to have some difficulty, but apparently that was unnecessary.

  “Well, it doesn't look like it did much, did it?” The woman scoffed. “Your hubby there looks right as fuckin’ rain. It’s not good to accuse someone like that, y’know?”

  “He healed himself right then and there!” Mikella snapped back. “And if you think you can get away with–”

  “Wait, hold up,” Zeke suddenly said, stopping Mikella by the shoulder. It looked like his depression streak was over. “I think this is the shop we were looking for.”

  Mikella looked back at him in bewilderment, but then took a closer glance at what he was pointing at. It was indeed a shop filled with what looked like armor and weapons being displayed out at the front of the store. Mannequins wearing some well-decorated armor and weapons in their ornate sheathes. The scent of smoke from the furnace within wafted in the air, as well as coal and steel that was thick in the store.

  “Oh, you’re customers then?” Suddenly the woman smiled like everything that happened just now disappeared in a heartbeat. “Well come on in! Any customer of mine gets good service, better than any other smithy in the entire damn country!”

  Mikella looked at the woman with a look of shock and awe. The audacity of this woman to pretend that she hadn’t just chucked a damn hammer at her husband’s head.

  I’ma stab a bitch, Mikella promised. I’ma stab a bitch real good.

  It was then that she heard a whisper from Zeke, who was making sure not to be heard as the owner of the store, the crazed female blacksmith, was walking towards the store with the waiting customers behind.

  “We can use the incident to get a discount or something,” Zeke said.

  Despite being hit in the head and having more than enough right to get angry, instead he opted to get a good chance. They just received their gold from Cronus, and a little extra from Alissa for good measure, so they had a fair amount. But it was a good idea to take any chances of a discount, especially from a blacksmith since enchanted weapons and such can get expensive quickly.

  Making sure to summon the inner frugal suburban girl she had trained all her life in the other world, Mikella will do whatever she can to haggle this blacksmith out of everything she owned and then some.

  I’m not gonna stab a bitch. I’ma rob her of everything she’s got, Mikella smiled deviously, the plan already in place in her head.