Book One – Interlude – Momo’s Diary Entry

Dear diary.  My name is Momo, and I’ve just joined Warden. Today’s date is May 1st.

Umm, I’d never written in a diary before so I guess I should start from the beginning?

I apologize in advance if the diary gets wet or damp. I just finished reading my grandpa’s message, and I couldn’t help but cry. I tried my best to wipe away the wet spots, but even now, I still feel the tears coming.

I know you always said that I cry too much, but I can be forgiven just this once, right? I miss you.

I’ve always lived with my grandpa. My first memories were of him. He used to bounce me on his knee and I remember I would laugh and laugh so much. As to why I don’t live with him? A bunch of stuff happened, and he gave me his sword, bag, and enough money so I could reach Canary.

Oh, Canary is the name of a city in the Kingdom of Lando. It’s where my grandpa first joined Warden many many years ago. When I said I wanted to join, he jokingly said I should follow in his footsteps and join at the same office. Well, I’m here grandpa. I did it.

The trip here was scary and I cried a lot – something I desperately need to work on if I want to be as strong as my grandpa – but I survived it. But the slavery situation here is bad. Like really bad. It's worse than the other villages I had to pass through to get here.

Seeing Singi, like me, in chains and wearing those awful slave bracelets made me sad. They looked up at me with their big eyes like they wanted me to free them.  Little Singi girls and boys covered in scars made me realize that I had it better than most. Grandpa, I never did ask but, why are people mean to us Singi? Well, I guess it’s not just us. I also saw little Humans, Koena, Elves, Dwarves, and Kobolds all chained together and forced to walk with no socks or shoes.

Grandpa, I really did want to help. But I didn’t know what I could do. Sometimes, even now, I can’t sleep at night knowing what pain and humiliation they're going through. It makes me so mad that I want to kill, but I know that’s bad.

After a long journey, I finally reached Canary. It’s a beautiful city, but seeing all those slaves and even knowing how slavery is legal made it seem a bit too ugly to me.

I kinda got lost when I entered the city so it took me a bit before I actually found the Warden building. It was like you said: beautiful and wooden, with nary a bit of stone exposed. I always laughed when you said things serious like that. I kept wondering how a building could be beautiful, but I gotta agree now. It's amazing how someone could build something so majestic with only wood.

Whoops, I got a little off-topic. Anyway, I went in and I immediately got scared. But it wasn’t a frightened scared if that makes any sense. But I was scared out of excitement. I was finally here! Six long months of travel and being by myself, but I was finally here!

I walked in and quickly found a sigh hanging from the ceiling that said ‘Sign Up Here’ and so I walked over. The line was a bit long, but it gave me a chance to really look around.

Everything thing you said was true. People from all different races were all around me. It felt nice to look at other Singi and find them holding weapons and being their own person. But then the door opened and I turned to look at who entered. It was a girl, maybe a bit older than me, but she looked mean. She had black hair and red eyes like the setting sun and she went to stand behind me.

Grandpa, I was afraid.  Later, I realized that was stupid of me. I never should've been afraid of her in the first place.

Her black pants were bloody and torn, barely covering her thighs, and she had on armor but it only covered her chest.

Ha, I remember thinking ‘thank goodness I managed to sign up alright.’

Also, I know you said not to accept the coin pouch they give to all new recruits and I know you said it's a scam, but I’m sorry. I couldn’t decline it. But, I do have enough to pay it back. See, I’m not THAT bad with money.  Well, I'm kinda bad.  I don't have that much left, but I do have enough to last me a few days.

Anyway, after signing up I went over and picked out a quest. I know you trained me a little bit on using a sword, so I picked out one that involved killing rats in the sewers. I figured I could take them by myself, but I was very wrong.

So after picking a quest, you have to go stand in front of a large window that was divided into 8 smaller windows and I always found that a bit odd. Like, the entire time I was thinking, I just wanted to know why there were eight doors behind the window when it’s clearly one big room. It doesn’t make sense.

Oh sorry, I got off topic again.

I went to go stand in line and I found myself standing behind that girl, the one with the torn and bloody clothes and armor. I thought about what you said earlier before I left. You always said friends were an important part of adventuring. That’s also what you said to me in your letter.

So I had a thought: I could be friends with this person in front of me. Sure, she looked mean but I don’t want to be a person who judges by appearances alone.

So maybe I thought this could be a chance so I talked to her. I guess I came across a bit too strong, so she said no after I asked her if she wanted to make a party with me. I got to admit, I was a bit sad. I almost thought about crying but I didn’t have a chance to.

The girl in front of me, Servi, turned around and actually apologized to me for not wanting to join. Usually, I’m the one who has to say sorry.

Her reasoning was this: she didn’t have experience and didn’t want to be dead weight but if I would have her, then she wanted to join me. She even said that she shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a friend. Me? A friend! I was excited! Super excited that I even hugged her. I immediately regretted it. How could I just hug this random girl out of nowhere?! I thought she was gonna yell at me and call me weird for doing something like that, but it never happened.  I felt so happy when she hugged me back.

I really need to think about my actions before I actually do them. I guess I was lucky that she was the hugging type.

Since she was ahead of me, she got to accept the quest first so after it was my turn, I walked over to where she was sitting. I got to admit, I was expecting her to leave and ditch me, but she didn’t.

But something WAS a bit weird. As I walked over, I heard her talking, but nobody was around. I think she was talking to herself. I can’t really say anything about that, because I used to, and still do, talk to myself.

I asked her if we were ready but she said no. She wanted to get a new set of armor and clothes because she lost all of hers. She said she was attacked by a crazy woman who took everything she had.

I’m glad nothing like that happened to me.

So we went to the guild store on the second floor. Servi bought this super cool leather armor. It has a cloak and pouches and everything. I compared it to mine and don’t get me wrong, I love my outfit. After all, grandpa bought me this. But a red vest over chainmail over a white shirt? What am I even saying? I’m sorry grandpa, I should take this for granted.

After she bought the new armor, she then asked about clothes and a weapon, but the lady who was helping us said that she didn’t have enough money. So I offered to lend her some but she declined. She took out another loan of 50 dupla. I guess I got too excited and I asked if I could help her pick out of clothes and I was ready for her to say no, but she let me pick out two sets! Two!

What kind of girl allows a stranger to help pick out clothes? I guess Servi is that type of girl.  She did say that she didn't understand fashion, or something like that, and welcomed my help.

I picked out a beautiful red dress with heels and some overalls with a red and white shirt, and a pair of black heeled boots. She seemed happy with my choices.

But again you stupid cat, you need to think of what you wanna say and do before you actually do them. She might end up being your best friend, but you’re doing stuff that might turn her away.  What if she was just being nice?!?!?!

After getting her weapon, a stick, and yes I know, it was literally a stick, we went to pay for our rooms. Again, I offered to pay for her bath and meal, but she declined again.

Things were going good and great, but things were about to get real bad.

We said we would meet up in ten minutes, but I decided to go down earlier.

I was sitting on a bench close to the stairs so I could spot Servi when she came down. The place was full and almost every table was filled up with other adventurers preparing for their quests. Well, I was waiting when this girl grabbed me by the wrist and brought me over to a corner of the room where two guys were standing.

They blocked me from leaving and one held an arm out. I tried to say that I was waiting for a friend but they told me I should ignore that and go with them. I tried to say no, but then a woman licked her lips all nasty like and reached out a hand. I was so scared and I thought that something bad was gonna happen to me so I closed my eyes in fear. But then I was saved by Servi! She told them off, and the three walked away.

I’m sorry grandpa but I cried again. I thought that Servi would leave me because I weak so I told her too. But she shook her head. She wanted to stay and be friends with me and I was so happy. She talked to me for a bit. I started feeling a bit weird.  For some reason, it felt like butterflies were flying in my stomach. I felt happy and giddy because someone stood up for me.  I know I'm 18.  I'm an adult.  I know I should be able to stand up for myself, but it's hard and scary.

I hope the two of us can be best friends!

And I'm sorry, but I wanted to kill those three. I mean, who knows what would have happened to me if Servi didn’t save me. But it was more than a feeling. It was like an urge inside of me desperately wanted to lash out.  I managed to keep it inside, and I don't think Servi noticed anything.

Grandpa, am I a bad girl?  I know killing is bad, but they were probably going to hurt me.  What if they were slavers....

I should stop writing about that. It’s making me mad even thinking about it.

I lied, I have one more thing to say. I just hope that in the future, I will have the strength to save myself.

We went into the sewers and after a bit of talking with Arty, a Rank 10 who I don’t like (reasons for that later), we entered the sewers proper. You see, we had to walk through a tunnel to reach a small base, then go past that to enter the sewers. A bit confusing, I agree.

We walked for a while when we came up with a plan. Since I had the only proper weapon, Servi would take point and distract the monster while I attack from behind.

Oh yeah, we had to bring back sixteen rat claws. We both took the same one quest so it was actually 32 claws.

The first rat was the worse. Servi managed to get his attention, and the rat was already injured. Servi managed to dodge the attacks and I just froze up. I could not move and it felt like I was paralyzed by fear and the thought of actually killing and hurting something.

But Servi yelled, shouting that she trusts me which brought me back to my senses and I stabbed the rat in the back with my sword. Well, it’s your sword but I’m only borrowing it. I promise to give it back to you when we meet again.

I thought that she was gonna yell at me for freezing up during such an important moment but she didn’t. Instead, she used her stick to stab the dead rat in the face, pushing the stick further and further until it couldn’t go anymore. I wasn’t expecting that so I threw up. I then asked her why she did that in a tone that was far angrier than I wanted.

Calmly, she just told me that some monsters liked to play dead and we had to be sure that we killed them. In her words, she said ‘it was us vs them, and I’d prefer it if we survived,’ or something like that. I can’t really remember. But I will forever remember the lesson.

We then began collecting the claws while Servi walked away. She came back with a sword that looked too clean to be in the sewers and a dog tag. It belonged to a girl named Mireya. Poor thing. I didn’t see the body, but it must have been in bad shape.

Servi used her sword to tear off eight claws, finishing before me. I showed her my claws and she said I did a good job. After that, I offered to hold the claws in my bag. Well, it’s your bag grandpa, but I’ll return it to you. I may have accidentally told her it was enchanted with Dimensional Storage.  She acted like it was something normal and not rare, so I think we're okay. It’s a secret, but it’s not a secret secret.  I mean, it's not a secret in the first place.  It belongs to you so I wanted to hide it.  I'm sorry.

Oh yeah, she also asked me something weird. After we killed the rat, she asked me if I saw something floating nearby. I didn’t, but Servi said okay. I wonder what that was about.

So that was the first of the two rat encounters.

I lied. The second rat encounter was way worse. Ha, grandpa, I guessed I picked up that lying thing from you.

After killing the first rat, we walked for a bit and we heard the noise of fighting. Servi said we could either investigate and help, or leave them. At the moment, I thought that was heartless though I now understand why she said that.

We ran from our location and rushed towards the source of the fighting and to my surprise, I was much faster than Servi

I arrived first, out of breath, and saw a boy, maybe a year younger than me, in rusty armor fighting against a rat. He dodged and tried to attack but he was too slow. Then he yelled something to me and the rat tackled him. He slid and hit against the wall. He tried to stand, but I guess he didn’t have the strength.

Then Servi arrived, not even breathing slightly hard.

Seriously, this girl kept surprising me, but I’ll get into that later.

Then, I made another stupid mistake. I draw my sword and rush over to help the guy, but Servi stopped me. She explained that it’d be stupid if we rushed over and helped while the rat was alive.  It was almost like she had been in this type of situation before.

Like before, Servi took point and I attacked from behind. Or I would've, but Servi surprised me once again.

To sum it up, it was like she was dancing with the rat. She dodged each and every attack and I was stunned, leading to her to yell at me again. I broke out of my trance and charged in, preparing to stab it, but Servi yelled out and told me to dodge. I did so and just a moment later, the rat spun around so fast. From where I was standing, its tail would have hit me.

But how did she know the attack was coming? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful she let me know, but this came from the same girl who told me that she didn’t have any experience. Who told me she didn't want to be dead weight.

Anyway, thanks to her warning, I avoided the first attack and stabbed the rat in the back. It roared with anger and spun around. Maybe it attacked me before it spun, I don't know.  All I know was that I was sliding on the ground and my arm started to hurt.

I looked at my arm and my bone stared at me. I just remember crying out in pain and if I was alone, I would have died. In the end, it was Servi who, once again, brought me back to my senses. She managed to yell louder than my screaming and told me to focus on her voice and use one of the potions I bought. So I did just that. I drank half of it and poured the other half on my arm. I didn’t know which way would be better, so I did both. After it healed up, Servi yelled out to me again. She said that she couldn’t finish it, so it was up to me. Then she told the rat to shut up? Yeah, it was a bit weird. But I managed to get to the sword in time but I was too slow. Servi had to block an attack, and it damaged her new sword. But I managed to get to the sword and that’s the import part.

I stabbed it in again and the rat finally collapsed. I remembered what Servi said about monsters playing dead so I took my sword out and went over to the head of the rat. Servi told me to finish it, and I lifted the sword high and brought it down. It cleaved the rat’s face in two. I’m pretty sure there’s no coming back from that.

Then after that everything’s clear until it's not. I remember asking Servi if she was okay, then we checked on the guy. He got mad at us cause we saved him, and he had the nerve to call me Servi’s pet cat! Excuse me, I’m not anybody’s pet cat! He then pushed me, I fell on my butt, and Servi became angry. She quickly held her sword up to his neck. I’m pretty sure the blade was actually pressed against his neck. He spat and stood up.

She had a look in her eyes. Grandpa, I can’t describe the terror I felt and how effortlessly her motion was. With no hesitation, she had the blade ready.  She looked at me. I’m pretty sure that his fate was in my hands. If I had just said do it or nodded, then he would be dead.

She really scared me, grandpa.

I panicked and told Servi I was okay, and she put her sword down.

Then after that, he wanted us to give him a potion. I said no and he stared at my bag. I got a bad feeling so I held it close to me and fell on top it to protect it.

I don’t remember much after that. I heard him threatening me and then he was on the ground. Wait, I did hear Servi talk to someone, but she might’ve been talking to herself.

I think I fell asleep in a bed, but I was woken up a few minutes later by yelling. It was Servi and Arty, I think.....

AH! That’s right. I remember now. Arty said he wanted me to find someone better than Servi, and I remember getting angry. I even told him to shut up. Can you believe that?! Me telling someone something mean like that? Well, I did it. Afterward, I think I went to sleep, but I woke up seconds later. Me and Servi talked for a bit, and she said I did well considering it was my first time. She even rubbed my head like you used to do. And that was when those butterflies came back to my stomach. I tried to hide it but I think she noticed I was wagging my tail.

Hey, I can’t help it! I’m a Singi! We wag our tail when we're happy.

I then asked about the guy and Servi said she left him. That was probably for the better.

I desperately wanted to ask Servi a bunch of stuff. Like how did she dodge those attacks and how did she know the tail swipe attacking thingy was coming. And she was ready to kill that guy.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of her. But deep down, I feel warm when I think of her. It’s like something inside me is saying I should trust her. And that’s what I'm gonna do.

After we left, we ran into a stupid man who was torturing his slave. He ran away and the slave bracelet activated, killing him instantly.

Grandpa, I was so angry but yet again I was powerless. It might be mean to say, but if he and that adventurer who gave him the slave died, I would be happy.

Well, I used up too many pages so I’m gonna try to condense this.

We went to the guild and checked in, then I went with Servi who used her earnings to buy a meal and bath ticket. We went to our rooms and met up on the fifth floor. I gave her some shampoo and soap, and we went inside.

While I was bathing, something….embarrassing happened. I washed my tail like you taught me all those years ago, and I even sang the washy tail song you taught me, but something was different. My body became hotter and hotter and before I knew it, I was breathing hard. I didn’t know what to do so I kept washing. When I got to the base of my tail, I felt good. Really good.  I almost didn't want to stop, but I had too.  I didn't want to be late for dinner.

I finished washing my tail, so I moved on to my ears and hair. And when I switched to washing my body with the unicorn soap, my chest felt hot.  When I washed my lower body, my hand glanced against my private area.   When I looked at my hand, it had some type of liquid on it that I guess came from me.

Grandpa, I’m not weird, am I? I don’t know why this all started today.

I know you didn't have a chance to finish teaching me things before I left.  Maybe that was one of them? I want to ask Servi, but I feel like I shouldn't.

But it’s not as if I don’t like that feeling. It just startled me.

After that, I went back to my room and waited. Servi and I agreed to meet for dinner an hour later.

Dinner was nice. I accidentally ordered milk.  As soon as I realized how childish it was, Servi ordered a glass of milk as well. Either she liked milk, or she didn't want me to feel embarrassed.  We talked for a while, and eventually, we decided on how we’re going to learn our skills. Servi will stick to skills that would make her a better tank while I’ll get the ones that help me attack. In other words, she learned Protection, and I learned Lurk and Dazzler.

I know, Dazzler is more like a tank skill, but I figured I could throw the shadow ball next to Servi. That way the noise would be around her. I feel bad though. That meant that she would be attacked more and I don’t want her to be in pain.

I’m sorry in advance Servi.  I'll do my very best to stay out of harm's way.

After that, we went back to our rooms and we’re supposed to meet up in the morning.

So uhhh… I guess that’s it. I’ll try my best to write in my diary every night.

Grandpa, thank you so much for buying me this. I love it, and I wish you could meet Servi. She’s a bit scary, but she’s really nice to me.

When I get stronger, I’ll ask her if she wants to meet you.  I'm sure she'll say yes.

I wonder what she’s doing right now? Maybe she’s asleep? Maybe she’s practicing with her new Protection skill?

I know I already tried out dazzler.  It's only useful for monsters, I think, but it looks pretty!

There is one thing I’m afraid of though, and I know it’s stupid. When I wake up in the morning and go to her room or lobby, I hope she’s there. I hope she doesn’t decide I’m worthless and leave me. She said she shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a friend, so she wouldn't leave me, right?

I’ll just have to find out in the morning. Oh, before that, I should lay out the armor I got a while back. I was so excited about meeting a potential friend that I forgot about it. It’s a black sleeveless leather tunic with a pouch. I also got a pair of reinforced pants. Still, I only use your chainmail. I just can’t throw it away. When I wear it, it's like you're here with me.

Goodbye and sincerely, Momo.

PS – I’ll try my best to write regularly.  If I can, I'll try to find someone who can help me write better.  I wanna write like you can, grandpa.