"I can't believe he doesn't recognize me. I am not that forgettable, am I?" Peonie brushed her smooth hair aside to talk to the elven knight beside her. They were both waiting outside the forge for the inventor to finish her gun.
Roana didn't bother to acknowledge Peonie. Her eyes were lost somewhere above the market stalls. Behind them, the forge roared as Petunia haphazardly forged a makeshift firing pin block.
Peonie pulled at her wrist. "Come on! You remember me, right?"
Roana finally acknowledged Peonie, just to shake her head.
"B-b-but you were chasing me and everything! …Ugh, maybe I need a gimmick, something that will make me stand out more. Should I lean more on my religious side? Or… go full gambling addict…?"
"I don't care."
Min and Yoshio peeked from the concealing foliage of a nearby bush. "So, what's the plan?" Min said.
"First, I need a distraction." Yoshio stepped back, unsheathing his sword and planting it in the mud.
"And what will…" Min paused as she turned around. Her muddy body tensed up as Yoshio shot her a manic smile. "Oh no, you won't!"
"Relax, think of it as a roller-coaster ride." With a click of his wrist, Yoshio turned the sword. A hurricane gale began to blow out of the weapon, aimed right at the naked woman in front of him.
"You asshooolleee!" Min yelled as her feet left the ground. The current was so strong that she flew over the air like a leaf in the breeze.
The vendors, bakers, and all marketgoers pointed upward at the naked woman sailing over their heads, her buttocks cresting along the straw roofs, legs and arms flailing wildly as if she was attempting to imitate a bird.
Mercifully, her ride was comparatively short as Min's hands managed to hold onto the spinning blade of a towering windmill. Her fingers gripped the cloth as it carried her upward.
Min gulped as she looked down, seeing her muddy legs flailing above a crowd of onlookers. From that angle, they could see the full moon, maybe even peek into its, err… craters.
Great… Her legend grew even more lewd. The naked adventurer stifled an embarrassed yelp as she closed her eyes.
Peonie rushed to the front of the crowd. "Min, what are you-, no wait, need more personality… By the Holy Goddess, the Three Gracious Sisters and all the Major Spirit-"
"You are pushing it too hard." Roana placed her hand on Peonie's shoulders.
"Isn't she the goblin hater from before?"
"Let's go and gawk at her!"
"Yeah! We never did settle the bet if her nipples were rose or salmon colored!"
"You know? This is very distracting!" Petunia said, leaving her forge to go look up right where the sun didn't shine.
"Now's my chance!"
Yoshio rushed into the forge, blade aloft. He brought it down on the prototype gun and… an explosion of light emerged from the metal. The shockwave sent him flying through the air until he was caught by a blade of the towering windmill.
Yoshio stabbed his sword into the cloth, hanging onto the hilt. As the two adventurers hung on, the gun's metal glowed red, but the P9T was ultimately unharmed.
"That was it? You failed!" Min yelled, turning her head sideways to stare at her reluctant teammate, strands of her black hair whipping against her forehead. "You humiliated me for nothing!"
"As if that's hard to do…" Yoshio clicked his tongue. "Some wards are protecting the damn thing."
"Wards? Any idea on how to destroy them?"
Yoshio returned Min a blank stare. "… You serious? Sure, give me a bag of mana crystals and a couple of weeks and-ack!" The fabric gave in to the sharp steel of Yoshio's sword. The adventurer was left at the mercy of gravity and plummeted straight into a pigsty.
The crowd took a step back as his fall sprayed mud all around, and especially, all over his clothes.
"Urgh, are you serious?!" Yoshio yelled, grimacing as he looked at the mud clinging to his armor. The crowd laughed; even a frolicking piglet chortled. "Shut up!" He snapped back at the crowd, the piglet squealing and running to hide.
"Hah! How does it feel? Who's the clown now?" Min said from above, earning her a glare. The wind began blowing remarkably fast, the windmill picking up enough speed that her fingers could no longer- "eeck!"
Min fell bum first into the mud. The shockwave travelled across her spine as Min's legs were splayed apart. The pain finally released in a high-pitched yelp.
A crowd was grinning as they looked down at Min, most eyes aimed at the little slit where her legs intercepted, but some also paying attention to the pink nubs peeking out from the thin layer of mud.
Yoshio also smiled like an idiot. Min punched his forearm. "Very mature, idiot."
The giggles became chuckles as more and more people joined the mocking crowd. The two adventurers gulped, their eyes going wide. They turned towards each other.
"Tactical withdrawal?"
"Tactical withdrawal."
---
The two adventurers retreated deep inside a nearby river, both showing only their eyes across the waterline.
"Why are you cleaning up? I thought you wanted that mud buff?" Yoshio said.
"Well, there's a limit to how much mud I can tolerate, you know?" Min replied.
"Now what? We can't destroy the stupid gun. Even if I eliminate Petunia, her invention will live on…"
Min submerged fully for a couple of seconds before emerging back up again, her hair now clean of any muck.
"Hmm… What if we sabotage her presentation then? If we make her lose face, then no one will want to buy her guns?"
"Well, lead the way. Losing face is your specialty."
"I hate that you are right." Min sighed.
"I'm always right."
"Sure… once in a blue moon."
"Have you seen the night sky here? That means I'm right half the time."
"Shut up."