"This is great! I've always wanted to have a proper adventure!" Nell said excitedly.
"Is that so?" Simon gave a small laugh. "Have you never been outside the Stone Temple before?"
"Nope," replied Nell. "I've only been there two years, almost. The old geezer bastard keeps tellin' me to learn to read and write and fix my language and won't even let me go with the other novices when they buy stuff from town!"
"How come?" asked Simon. June felt curious about the boy's past as well.
"It's `coz I was born in a brothel. It's another type of prison, and the boss there is still lookin' for me." He glared at Simon after saying this. "That's why I told you not to bring me to the capital!" he added. "The boss' main office is over there, and I'd rather die than get sold off to some fuckin' perv noble bastard again."
"S-so... you were... a boy prostitute?" asked June, feeling sorry for the kid.
"It's called catamite, woman," snapped Nell. "I was about to be sold off to some fuckin' old geezer when they saw a mark on my ass and was sent to a temple instead."
"Oh, thank goodness!" June sighed. "I mean... the goddess' mark was on your butt?!"
"That's right, as I remember, all of the goddess' servants have the sign of the stigmata somewhere on their body," Simon said with admiration. "That means you're not just any healer, but an envoy of the goddess herself!"
"Hmph!" Nell looked smug. "That pervert noble saw it while they were dressin' me up. Turns out he was some goddess fanatic and decided to send me to the main temple instead."
"If that is so, then why is your boss still looking for you?" asked Simon.
"Well, who'd want some loose change from a temple when you can earn so much more selling a holy catamite healer to perverted bastards in the city?" said Nell with a snort. "They ambushed the cart I was ridin' while I was on my way to the temple of the Goddess of Healing. Good thing Will was travelin' near the area and decided to help me out."
"I guess the goddess was looking out for you as her envoy!" said June, her hands clasped in prayer.
"Will the huntsman?" Simon asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah, he was the one who took me to Weezer Village and sent me to the Stone Temple to train as a healing priest."
"Wow... Will truly is such a benevolent person!" Simon said, beaming with admiration.
"Hmph, some benevolent person he is!" pouted Nell. "I told him I'd much rather be an adventurer! I wanted to be a hunter like him, but he told me that I should learn to be a healer since that's my 'calling' and that I should learn to read and write since I'll be livin' with them tight assed priests in their shitty temple!"
"But, didn't you say that you can't read and write...?" asked Simon.
"Exactly." Nell looked at him stubbornly. "I refuse to do something people force on me!"
The two stared at the pouting boy in front of them.
"Ah, what a hardheaded youth you are," June said, shaking her head.
"Shut up, woman!" Nell snapped at her. "I don't wanna hear that from someone who threw my luggage away!"
"I thought we were over that already?" June snapped back. "And stop calling me woman! I'm only 17!"
"That makes you an old maid!" Nell said stubbornly to a seething June. "You shoulda been married off by now!"
"What did you say?!" June seethed.
"Now, now, why don't we just concentrate on our surroundings?" Simon said as they went farther away from the hanging carriage.
"Right. Monsters get attracted to noise, after all," June glared at Nell.
The three traveled the forest, following an animal trail they found. Along the way, June would point at edible fruit trees, mushrooms, and berries which added to their breakfast. It was about an hour later that they came to a small clearing. The three were glad to be able to see the open sky again.
"Can we rest here for a while?" asked June who was not used to walking long distances.
"Yeah, my feet are starting to hurt!" Nell agreed.
"Okay, we can place some blankets on the ground underneath that tree." Simon pointed at a tall tree with a dense canopy.
"Ah, thank goodness," said June when she finally got a seat in the shade. "would anyone like more fruits and berries?" she asked.
"Thank you, but I'm quite full now," Simon replied.
"Hey, how come we didn't see a single animal along the way?" Nell suddenly asked them with a pout. "I wanna eat some meat! We should be hunting and cooking meat on a proper adventure!"
"I was actually thinking the same," said Simon.
"What? You think this is a hunting expedition?" June frowned at both of them.
"No, I mean... this is the Twilight forest, isn't it supposed to be full of monsters?" asked Simon. "Yet we haven't even seen a single creatureall morning... I mean, I can hear birds in the distance, but how come we haven't seen any wild animalsyet?"
"Hmm, now that you mentioned it..." June's brows knitted together.
"That's right!" agreed Nell. "I couldn't even find where the horses that pulled our cart fell! I was hoping we could have some horse meat this morning!"
"You were planning to eat the horses?!" June stared at him in horror.
"It's still food!" Nell sneered at her.
"Perhaps the stronger monsters have eaten all the other animals in the area?" June seriously pondered.
"That's a scary thought," Simon gave a nervous laugh.
"Then let's go further into the forest to hunt for lunch!" Nell said eagerly.
"Do you even know how to hunt?" June frowned at the kid. "You should be thanking the goddess we haven't encountered any monsters yet!"
"June's right, we should continue looking for a way back up to the main road instead," said Simon.
"But we've been walking for hours!" cried Nell with a pout. "And I need meat for energy!"
"It hasn't even been an hour since we left the tree where our carriage fell!" June pointed out. "And aren't priests supposed to eat vegetables?"
"What a prejudiced bigot!" Nell yelled. "Stop stereotypin' me, bitch! You shoulda just stayed at home and get married and cook for your husband and make kids!"
"How sexist!" June gasped, pointing at Nell.
"You see how that feels?" Nell snapped back at her.
"Please, can you keep your voices down?" Simon tried to calm them. "At this rate, we wouldn't need to hunt for the monsters..."
"She started it!" Nell pointed back at June.
"This kid is so infuriating!" June started to yell as well.
"Okay, since it looks like it would be some time before we could leave the forest, why don't we try hunting for food?" said Simon, looking at Nell.
"Hell yeah!" said Nell with a fist bump.
"But looking for a way out should be our priority!" June protested.
"We'll just look around the clearing," Simon said. "We'll leave at once if we don't find anything.
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CHOICES:
What do you think should the three companions do?"
[Look for a way out] go to Part 61
[Capture some lunch] go to Part 62
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