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[attr="class","vpostbg"]“Oooh, that makes sense! You’re some kind of sword fighter, then?” Lottie posited, looking at her individual blades, “Well, one way or another, that is incredible! I’d love to see you in action sometime! Um, against creatures other than boars in a hole, that is.” She giggled. Hikari’s demonstration of incredible strength had shown to Lottie in no uncertain terms how much growing she had left to do, and she had a long way to go indeed if she ever hoped to stand as an equal to the swordswoman. Still, Lottie was never one to be cowed by daunting odds.

Looking between the hole and the boars in the distance, Lottie suddenly felt… somewhat uncertain. While she was durable, it would still hurt like hell to get tagged by a stampede of rush boars, and she wasn’t exactly quick either. Still, she could position herself in a way that meant she wouldn’t be run over before she ever reached the hole. Nodding with a smile, she would reply.

“Sure! From the sounds of it, the boars should all fall neatly into the hole you created, but I’ll try to deal with some stragglers if the matter comes up.” She gave Hikari a thumbs up, walking past her and towards the boars…

A snort from the group of boars, and one larger than the rest would file out from the group and glare down at Lottie as she stopped. Seemed they had noticed her, which meant she could now taunt them – something she was very good at doing.

Leaning forward with a stamp, something which agitated the boars even more, Lottie would taunt them with wide open arms and a sharp, loud voice that was sure to anger them even further, “Come on! I’m right here, aren’t I!?” She taunted, clapping to further provoke them. The contents of what she said didn’t matter – they were unlikely to understand her, after all.

She did succeed in provoking them, however, her loudness and threatening stance sufficient for the herd to decide to charge her in unison! The plan had worked! Except… oh, they were fast. Shite, they were incredibly fast!

Yelping, Lottie would turn around and run for her life, fear and desperation evident in her face as the boars rapidly gained on her. She was definitely not the fastest, not helped by her choice of class in this instance, and she looked back to see the terrifying tusks threatening to gore her at any moment!

Still, Lottie was not one to panic in the face of fear. Remembering the plan, Lottie would kick off the ground and do an impressive leap over the hole just as the boars were about to reach her! Swinging for the fences as they were, they had no hope of braking in time to stop themselves as they all stumbled – first over one another, and then neatly into the hole. Having cut it so close, even if unintentionally, Lottie had managed to file them all into the Hikari-made hole for easy XP!

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[attr="class","vpostbg"]“A hole?” Lottie repeated quizzically as she looked at the tree, carefully inspecting it and coming to the conclusion that she was either blind or there was indeed no hole there whatsoever. Brow furrowing in confusion, she would look to Hikari, “Um… where, exactly?”

As Hikari marched towards it and unsheathed her sword, Lottie blinked, stepping back and waiting for… something to happen. Whatever it was, though, it definitely wasn’t this! She could only watch on in awe as Hikari suddenly revealed her talent for landscaping, carefully extricating the old tree from the ground and leaving a giant hole in its wake!

Lottie blinked repeatedly as Hikari finished her work in casually removing the tree, staring at the empty hole that had just been said tree for a few moments before looking at Hikari with that same perplexed expression. Until…

“That…” She began, before smiling and jumping up with a cheer, “Was so cool! You must be so strong!” She exclaimed, trotting up to her with barely contained excitement, “Does that mean I’ll get to do things like that when I get strong enough! Oh, I can barely wait! I’d so love to fight with you when I get some level ups in! Then I’ll really be able to protect you!” She nodded emphatically at that last statement.

Turning to the hole, she would speak once more, though this time she tamped down on her excitement somewhat, “So, how do we lure the boars? I can get their attention, run here and stick them into the hole, and then you smack them about?”

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[attr="class","vpostbg"]Lottie was hungry.

She had come to that realisation some time ago as she wandered the streets of London, taking some time off from missions and talking with people to simply go for a walk. For all of her peppiness and charm, Lottie wouldn’t truly describe herself as an extroverted individual, and very much enjoyed her time alone with her thoughts… even if most of those thoughts involved either fighting, fashion, or cars in some way.

But hey, that was part of her charm, right?

Stomach rumbling to remind her of her need for food, Lottie would walk around London to her favourite spots. Surely, at least one of them would be open… surely.

She was wrong.

Restaurant after restaurant, Lottie’s despair grew. Some were closed for the day, but most of them had just ceased existing entirely! In a cruel twist of fate, Earth-chan had wiped her go-to spots off the map, leaving her bereft of the Heaven of flavour. Truly, there was no worse fate than to disappoint one’s grumbling belly with nothingness, and one’s awaiting sense of taste with naught but air.

All but dragging her feet as she walked through a particular street, Lottie hoped- nay, prayed for some manner of salvation. Whether it be some new place she didn’t know, food falling from the sky into her hands, or an exceptionally good food cart turning the corner to deliver her from her hunger, she truly, dearly wished for food right now.

But none of that would happen, right…?

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[attr="class","vpostbg"]Lottie sighed happily as she trotted along the English countryside with a bounce to her step, the excitement bubbling within evident for anyone to see if they took so much as a moment to analyse her body language. Why was she so excited, one might ask? Because she got to beat up mobs for fun, of course! With her watch, she could keep going with no downtime between fights, and she certainly planned on making the most of it!

Rolling hills and verdant greenery abound, the sun hanging above in the sky, late into the morning. While hot, the winter air helped cool everything right down to ensure temperatures remained pleasantly temperate, combined with a few clouds to block out the worst of the sun’s rays. It was a rare day indeed when the English weather wasn’t miserable and cloudy at this time of year, and Lottie most certainly planned on making the most of it. She could practically skip in excitement!

But she couldn’t get ahead of herself. After all, another person had opted to join the mission – someone with a similar enjoyment of beating up mobs, she could only assume. But that just meant they’d get to fight even more mobs! So, she was okay with waiting.

And wait she did. Arriving at the designated spot, Lottie would be able to see a group of slimes downhill in the distance, waiting to be stomped for easy XP. Tempting as it was to face them alone, though, it wouldn’t be fair to the other person for her to just take them all on alone. And so she waited…

And waited.

And waited.

And waited…

Ugh, when were they going to arrive!? Try as she might, Lottie’s impatience and eagerness to fight were starting to get to her. While she likely had only waited a couple of minutes, it felt like an eternity to her. Pouting, she would simply resort to squatting down and tapping away at her phone, trying to stave off her desire for combat until her partner arrived…

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[attr="class","vpostbg"]It only took one wrong turn.

London was one of the few safe havens left in this new and altered world, granting people solace from the dangers beyond and a chance at normalcy. It was a stable and safe place for those looking to merely live their normal lives, and an apt resting spot for those who took to risking themselves in the world beyond.

But not all was fine and dandy, and Earth-chan had inserted their mischievous little hands into London in a way that ensured anyone who wandered without paying attention would be punished for their folly. It was so easy to slip into a wrong alleyway or corner of London and suddenly find oneself in some other place entirely, stuck in a predicament indeed…

Such was what happened to Lottie.

Lost in her thoughts as she idly wandered about this new London, Lottie was struck by just how silent it was. The lack of cars and people, as well as the altered geography, made for a far more relaxed place, and Lottie almost had a hard time believing this was the same city she had spent her whole life in. A part of her couldn’t help but feel this had been an improvement from before…

But there was still a lot to explore, and so taking a corner into an alleyway shortcut, Lottie would walk until…

“W-Whoa!” She suddenly stumbled, the brick underfoot shifting and changing as the buildings around her seemed to converge upon her! Tripping, Lottie expected to feel the pain of faceplanting onto the hard ground below, but she just kept… falling, until she suddenly landed. Groaning, Lottie looked up to gaze around her, seeing what she could only describe as some sort of fantasy prison dungeon, water dripping from the ceiling and architecture long since fallen into disrepair. Was this some kind of prank!?

Pulling up the System HUD, Lottie would try and check her location, only to see a message that simply said ‘Surprise!;3’ from it, and nothing else. Ugh! That Earth-chan was just insufferable, wasn’t she!? Pouting, she would suddenly pull up her phone, but a rumbling above caught her attention. Did another person fall into this gross dungeon too…?

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