It was only a few days into the start of their journey that Roko and company came across their first town. A quaint hovel like many before it though with a concerning...infestation.
"I was really hoping to not immediately run into monsters of this variety." Roko scowled as he stomped onto a moving black mass while throwing a tomahawk at another one before reeling it back into his hands with a rope.
"This IS concerningly close to Galia." Momo frowned as she slashed down wave after wave of the eldritch black goop monsters, "This is the type that propagates using human women as hosts too right?"
"Yes it is." Helena sighed, as she shot down monster after monster, "But the villagers didn't mention any kidnapped women though, only that they were being attacked by strange monsters."
"Curious situation, that." Kaguya noted as she watched from afar, "They all seem to be coming from the woods. Perhaps this is another Aida situation where there is another indigenous tribe that have been attacked in the woods?"
"Ooo, I sure hope...not…" Corissa said trying to hide a soft smile from her face.
"Corissa, just because the situation's similar to Aida's doesn't mean you'll get to adopt another child like Aida." Helena smirked.
"I-I wasn't thinking that!" Corissa yelped.
"If you do adopt one, you can raise them with Varis instead." Roko scoffed, throwing a boomerang around to splatter a wide wave of the monsters.
"But how am I supposed to introduce them to Aida and Aranea then?!"
"They're still your children right? I don't see the problem." Roko replied.
"Roko totally the type to dodge child support payments." Helena smirked.
"Totally." Momo agreed.
"Is this even a question?" Kaguya shook her head with a a playful smile.
"The only one I remotely adopted was Aranea!" Roko snapped, "And she's more Corissa's child anyway!"
"Poor Corissa. Doing all the work."
"Right, I'm going to go chase the ones escaping into the woods now." Roko growled, "None of you follow me."
True to his word, Roko chased down the remaining few monsters who were running back into the woods. But unbeknownst to him, the moment he entered the shades of the trees, he realized a moment too late that the shadows were a bit too thick. And that was how the black oil monsters began raining down from the trees all around him, immediately surrounding and overwhelming him.
"Whoa!" Roko cried, flailing one weapon around to keep the monsters from immediately attacking him while his other arm dug into his bag for another, better weapon.
"Roko!" Corissa yelped and began running forward to help.
"Corissa, no, he said 'no one follow him'." Helena called out too softly for anyone to hear.
Unfortunately, Corissa was standing in the backlines with Kaguya so there was no way she could reach Roko in time. Her knight on the other hand burst forward in a blaze of flames and landed right next to Roko, sending the monsters skittering away with searing fire.
"Varis!" Roko gasped, the black knight's presence proving to be a greater deterrent to the monsters than he was.
Pulling out a tower shield, Roko bashed a pillar of monsters that were literally climbing over themselves to try and attack him. The two covered each others backs well as the seconds ticked down while the rest of their companions made their way to try and rescue them. Not that they were in any immediate danger now but the waves of monsters weren't stopping so extended fighting might be a problem. Thankfully, the fight ender soon latched herself onto Roko's back.
"Roko!"
"Corissa?!" Roko yelped, the princess' affection now literally weighing him down in the middle of the fight.
"Sanctuary!"
A circle of light extended out from below Roko that immediately disintegrated all the oil monsters that touched it, clearing even the ones in the treetops until there were none of them left as far as the eye could see.
"Phew." Roko sighed, his adrenaline suddenly leaving him as soon as the ambush ended.
"You're too reckless Roko!" Corissa cried, immediately going into scolding him.
"Sorry…" Roko mumbled, unable to come up with anything to defend himself with.
"You should be glad I'm here!" Corissa puffed out her chest proudly, "I got rid of those monsters in a split second!"
"We were actually trying to follow them to their nest…" Roko muttered again.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing!" Roko yelped as Corissa suddenly got angry at him again for some reason.
"Good job getting here quickly too, Varis!" Corissa turned to her knight and patted him on the steel helmet, "Nice assist."
"The light came out from around here right?"
A new voice drew the three of them around as a stylishly garish person stumbled around the edge of the woods and spotted them,
"Oh my, is that?" The person blinked, staring at the tree of them for a second before turning around and shouting out behind them, "Isla! You won't believe who I found here!"
"Who's that?" Helena asked as she and the rest of their party arrived.
"I dunno, but she seems to have recognized one of us." Roko frowned, "Anyone you know, Corissa?"
"No, not someone I recognize anyway." Corissa frowned.
"To be fair, your reputation and your face precedes you." Kaguya smiled, "Perhaps they recognized you anyway."
"Oh goodness, I hope not." Corissa gulped.
"Isla!" The person shouted again.
"I'm coming, goddammit!" A crabby female voice snapped back at the stranger as a short red haired lady stumbled into view next to them, "Can't be THAT interesting."
"Look! Look who I found!"
The red haired lady, Isla, turned to Roko's party and scanned the rather large crowd before she too seemed to recognize someone and her eyes widened in shock, "No way."
"S-She's running over." Momo hissed as Isla began running over in an excited glee, "What do we do?"
"How should I know?!" Roko hissed back.
But before their caution could plan any further, Isla was right next to them and jumped up and in a manner similar to Corissa, wrapped her arms around,
"Varis!" Isla cried happily, "I'm so glad to see you again!"
…
"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves." The flamboyantly garish person said as they and Isla settled down next to Roko's party for a nice picnic break, "I'm Perry. This is Isla. We used to be in a party with Varis long before he became Princess Corissa's retainer."
"I...I can't believe it." Helena said, still stunned, "I mean...I guess Varis must've been doing SOMETHING before he became Corissa's knight but...I didn't think he...uh...how do I put it?"
"Had friends?" Perry smiled, "That doesn't surprise me."
"How long have you and Varis worked together?" Momo asked curiously.
"Hmmm...let's see...we first found Varis when he was a wee lad." Perry laughed, "I say 'we' but our party's actually much bigger that just me and Isla. We've actually grown quite bigger now, Varis! There'll be some new faces if you ever decide to come back to us!"
Perry's casual update fell on distracted ears as Varis simply sat to the side with Isla rubbing herself all over his armored body with Corissa off to the side, trying to think of something to say or do to make her stop but ultimately still too stunned by the situation to do anything.
"Ehehe...Varry…" Isla grinned as she hugged Varis tightly, "Come back to us~"
"V-V-Varry?!" Corissa yelped.
"Were...those two particularly close in the past?" Roko asked, watching the two girls orbit around Varis constantly.
"Varis wasn't particularly close to anybody back then." Perry laughed, "But he never really made much trouble since he never spoke and was quite good at saving people so he became a favorite of some simpler folks. And the favorite of some more...anti-social folks."
"Who's anti-social?" Isla snapped, glaring at Perry immediately, "There's just no man that can compare to Varry. Speaking of, why'd you ever leave us, Varry?"
"Did you forget?" Perry laughed, "He left to become Princess Corissa's personal knight."
"Hm? Who's that?"
"I'm assuming that's the pretty lady hovering around next to you two."
Isla turned around and seemed to finally notice Corissa who quickly shoved her worried look aside to look as friendly as possible,
"H-Hello." Corissa smiled pleasantly, "I'm Princess Corissa of Cordis."
Corissa's words didn't even seem to register with Isla as the short red head stared Corissa up and down before beginning to circle around her to take a full body check of the princess before returning next to Varis and nodding to herself as she mumbled,
"I see, I see."
"Y-Your name is Isla right?" Corissa said as she extended a friendly handshake to the short girl.
"FUCKING COW TITS!" Isla roared as she smacked Corissa right in the boobs, "Dammit Varis, was this the kind of women you're attracted to?!"
"Huh?! Huh?!" Corissa yelped, covering her chest after getting slapped but more confused than hurt.
"What's wrong with meeeee~?!" Isla said, glomping back onto Varis' shoulder again, "I'm much more attractive than a whore like that right?"
"Careful, Isla, that's Varis' boss that you're talking about." Perry warned.
"Don't care. Rich pretty bitches get no mercy from me."
"Oh boy." Perry sighed, "Please excuse my companion. She can be hard to get along with."
"Well, she hasn't done anything to US yet." Momo laughed.
"More importantly." Roko said, "What were you and Isla doing around the forest?"
"Ah, well, we're on a job trying to extinguish some monsters." Perry smiled, "You've heard of them too right? The black oily things."
"Right, we were trying to get rid of them too." Kaguya nodded.
"So the village hired you guys too?" Perry laughed, "I guess this is kind of a big job for just the two of us alone."
"I mean, we're doing it for free." Helena shrugged, "We're all royalty here so it's not like we need to fleece some poor village. But hey, maybe I can get them to give a little more to you guys once we complete the job."
"You're a smooth talker aren't you?" Perry smiled, "But I'm not going to complain if you do."
"So what exactly do you know about these monsters?" Roko asked, "Not just about recent activities. Have you ever met monsters like this before? How about ones with tentacles and a mouth? Or ones that look like melted blobs of flesh?"
"Oh my, you're quite experienced if you've met monsters like that before already!" Perry cried, impressed, "Our group fights monsters like that all the time!"
"Wait, you all not only knew about these eldritch monsters but have been fighting them for ages?!" Helena cried.
"It's not just me." Perry smiled, "Varis has been right there alongside us exterminating their nests."
"I thought so." Roko nodded.
"Did you now?" Momo said, intrigued, "I don't think you've ever talked about that."
"I mean it's a pretty obvious possibility." Roko sighed as he stood up, "Thinking back on how Varis acts ever since I got to know him, he definitely isn't the type to attack random people for no reason. The fact that he attacked me on sight when I first appeared here implies he immediately saw me as a threat. At that point, I might be dressed strange but I look perfectly human. The only possible reason he would have for immediately seeing me as a threat was if he registered me as an otherworldly being just like the monsters he's been fighting all this time. Perhaps an advanced mimic or construct? Either way, I figured he knew more than any of us about these creatures so him attacking me actually made sense which is why I don't blame him for doing so on our first meeting. Am I right, Varis?"
Varis looked up at Roko who had walked up to right in front of him but didn't say a word.
"Still mute huh?" Perry noted, "I know your condition's kinda uncurable but I can't help but hoped that your new position would've allowed you to find some sort of miracle cure or something."
"Condition?" Roko frowned as he turned around, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's self explanatory isn't it?" Perry chucked, "Varis is for all intents and purposes, mute."
"I beg to disagree." Roko cross his arms, "I for one have heard him say a sentence once."
"Did you now?"
Isla's voice cut into the conversation with a cold curiosity. The red head finally moving away from Varis to study Roko curiously, "And what did he say?"
"Not much." Roko replied, "If I remember correctly, it was just a simple 'How did you know'?"
"Know what?" Isla's eyes narrowed.
"About his missing arm and leg I believe." Roko crossed his arms.
"I see, I see." Isla nodded, "I'm impressed. To think you'd figure out all that about Varis without me."
"So you're saying you knew?" Roko raised an eyebrow.
"Of course I did." Isla smirked, "I'm the nurse of the group."
"You're the nurse?!" Corissa gasped, "What's wrong with Varis?! What's his condition?!"
"Shut the fuck up cow tits!" Isla snapped, smacking Corissa in said cow tits again, "Shut you and your phat ass up!"
"Roko…" Corissa sniffed, distraught by the emotional abuse.
"It's okay, Corissa, we already knew you had a phat ass." Helena said, pointedly missing the point with a facetious thumbs up.
"Stop it." Momo said, playfully punching Helena in the arm, "Corissa! If you can't be friends, you can still be rivals! And then become friends!"
"Uuuuu...uuuuuuu." Corissa was still distraught but Momo's words slowly pulled her back together as she turned towards Isla, drawing on an energy that she had never tapped into before to shout at Isla, "I...I like Varis more than you!"
"Huh?" Isla said, casually cleaning her ears, "Was the whore trying to say something? I can't hear anything she says over the clap of her ass cheeks."
"I...I know more about Varis than you do!" Corissa said with a clearly unfounded confidence.
"Oh really now?" Isla's eyes narrowed at this petty competition.
"Varis' favorite food is creamy pulled pork soup!" Corissa declared.
"Oh?" Isla smirked, "And how did you get old mute knight back there to tell you his favorite?"
"He didn't!" Corissa puffed her cow tits out proudly, "I know because it's the same recipe his mom used when we were kids! And he's always a bit happier when I remake it for him!"
"Gah!" Isla stumbled back as if she was struck, "A childhood friend?! No one told me about this!"
"Hehe." Corissa puffed her already large chest out even further out in confidence, "You might as well give up now!"
"...Heh." Isla sneered, "But that's just a fun fact compared to things I know."
"Oh yeah? Then what do you know?" Corissa frowned.
"...I know why he's both mute and not mute." Isla said, "Why he can only drink soups from now on."
"W-What do you mean?" Corissa said, taking a step away from Isla.
"I guess you never figured it out did you?" Isla sneered, sensing Corissa's waning strength, "Varis' throat was slit and crushed. It hurts for him to say a single word!"
"W-What?!" Corissa gasped, the color draining from her face.
"You're her childhood friend so you must've known what happened to him right?" Isla pressed, "His village was attacked by goblins!"
"Y-Yes, I know!" Corissa said trying to recover, "I was looking for him for years!"
"Looking?! Then you weren't there to help when the goblins tore off his leg and arm and destroyed his throat beyond repair?!"
"Eeep!" Corissa yelped, cowering immediately into a curled up position, "I...I didn't mean to...I thought…"
"You thought he was okay? While you were living it up, getting adopted by a royal family and becoming a princess you thought he was OKAY?!"
"I...I don't...I didn't…" Corissa's wavering voice was now accompanied with shuddering tears.
"Seriously, it's been HOW long since you took Varis from us and you don't even know basic stuff like this?"
"I...I didn't want to force him to tell me what happened…" Corissa whimpered weakly.
"Is that your excuse for why you know nothing about him?"
"I-I know things!" Corissa said trying to pull herself together for a counterattack, "I...I know…"
Now it was Isla with the puffed up, much flatter chest who leaned into the distressed Corissa to deliver the final blow,
"You know I was his doctor once right?"
"Y-Yeah? So?"
"I know what he looks like under that helmet." Isla sneered, "And I know why he would never want to show his face to you."
This news sent Corissa reeling in shock. She was still as a stone as she tried to process this revelation. And when she did all she could do was run sobbing into the woods in utter shame and defeat.
"And there we have it." Isla said smugly, "Proof positive for who likes Varis more."
…
"Hey so…" Kaguya frowned, "I know this wasn't all that serious a competition but...did you really have to break doctor/patient confidentiality just to 'win'?"
"Geh!" Isla reeled back from Kaguya's accusation, "W-Well you know...all's fair in love and war, ahahaha~!"
"Didn't you take a Hippocratic oath?"
"Why would I ever take a hypocritical oath?"
"Also, you said he can only drink soups now?" Helena noted, "But I've seen Varis eat all sorts of things Corissa created. Not just soups."
"What?!" Isla frowned, "Did he figure some way around it?"
"I mean, his favorite soup has pulled pork in it right?" Roko surmised, "If she always made it with pork, that's a soft physical object for him to eat. If she's cooked for him numerous times and they've been together equally as long as you were with him, then it's hard to imagine he just decided to not make his discomfort known in some way. So perhaps...you misdiagnosed him?"
A long silence followed as Isla paused in mid victory celebration. Then,
"Well, whatever! What matters is that I won over those stupid cow tits!"
Isla began laughing awkwardly to herself while Roko's party just sighed and shook their heads.
"Roko, I think it's up to you to bring Corissa back now before she gets into any trouble." Helena smirked.
"Fine, I guess." Roko sighed.
"I'll come with." Perry laughed, "I can't help but feel partially responsible after all."