《An Unexpected Christmas》 A Chance Encounter As you walk home from Tel¡¯Adre buying supplies preparing for Mareth¡¯s winter season you start feeling drops of snow. ¡°Surprised the demons haven¡¯t corrupted it yet¡±. You feel a sense of astonishment as it reminds you of the wonders you had in Ingnam as a child. As you get back to camp you take hold in your cabin and stare outside the window, admiring the snowfall as the world around you becomes coated with a blanket of snow. While appreciating the snowfall outside and reminiscing on your childhood you¡¯re interrupted when you hear one of your camp¡¯s traps go off. Hearing this, you rush outside with your weapon in hand, fully armored up and prepared for battle. Once you begin to look around you see a beautiful woman with shoulder length straight hair that¡¯s lighter orange in color standing before you. Her eyes were brown and full of determination, almost as they it was piercing through you. Her height was that of an average female and she possessed C-Cup breasts which were covered by her sleeveless green top and had thin white shorts which accented her toned butt. What was the most surprising about this encounter was that she was completely barefoot. After observing her appearance you ask her if she¡¯s some kind of moron dressing like this in the cold season. She noticeably takes offense to your scathing remark and is so visibly angry that her eye starts to twitch. Fueled with rage, she lunges at you with immense speed; you barely have enough time to raise your armament in defense of her attack. As she swiftly delivers her punch you''re shocked that not only does she possess extraordinary agility, but also an extreme amount of force behind her attack. You¡¯re sure if you were hit head on with that attack you would¡¯ve suffered a massive injury. Gritting your teeth and preparing your sword for battle you ask her a flurry of questions.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Who are you?! What do you want?! How did you find this place?!¡± She completely ignores your rapid-fire questions and dashes at you again. You tighten the grip on your sword and brace for impact, watching her closely in an attempt to analyze a pattern in her movements. To your surprise, this attack was much slower and less powerful than the first one, giving you enough time to react and raise your sword again to parry her attack and you were successfully able to hold your ground. Taking advantage of the situation, you push her back this time using the full force of your sword, putting a great amount of distance between the two of you. Deciding that there¡¯ll be time to talk after the battle you steel yourself. You notice the woman was growing sluggish, likely due to her previous attacks. After observing that she¡¯s obviously not used to battling, you remember how she stepped on a trap at the start of the encounter and you realize she can¡¯t see the traps clearly because most of them are covered by the falling snow. You decide to lure her around the camp into all of your traps so that she wears herself out and is possibly captured by one of them. While you stand around devising your plan, the woman starts growing more and more impatient by the second, and begins to charge at you again. Her attacks are becoming increasingly predictable and you successfully dodge and block them, frustrating her even more. CLING! Her leg was completely stuck inside one of the bear traps you planted, it didn¡¯t do much damage to her because it was dull but it succeeded in immobilizing her just a bit. She instinctively looked down, feeling that something had just attached to her leg, and you knew this was a chance to capitalize on. While she was paying attention to the bear trap that was on her leg you dash at her, baring your sword¡¯s handle you bonk her on her head as hard as you can, knocking her unconscious. Immediately after knocking her unconscious some black mist appears to leave her body, destroying her clothes along with it. As the black mist disappears into the atmosphere there¡¯s a small twinkle in the sky that appeared where it was rising and drops to the ground beside you, it¡¯s a new sword. ¡°That¡¯s weird, usually when a person¡¯s knocked out they don¡¯t send black mists up into the heavens that drop possibly cursed swords in freezing snow.¡± Surprise Attacks You turn back to the woman, glancing at her for a few moments before you realize she¡¯s completely naked and let out a scream. You instantly turn away and blush heavily, your face turning beet red, before realizing that if you leave her be for any longer she¡¯ll most likely freeze to death. Hesitating for a second, you eventually start making your way to her unconscious body and pick her up, trying your best to face the other direction. After managing to carry her back to your cabin, you lay her in your old bed roll next to the fireplace to warm her up. Watching her sleep peacefully, you can¡¯t help but feel an aura of purity emitting from her, and you begin to wonder why she suddenly attacked you earlier. Looking down at your blade, you notice it took a bit of damage from the fight. The tip was blunted, and the part of the sword you had used to block her previous attacks had a large dent in it. Wondering how you were going to continue adventuring with an obviously obsolete sword you start thinking about what you can do and then suddenly remember ¡°THE CURSED SWORD!¡± you blurt out as you hurriedly run outside to collect it from the snow. After a quick look around, you see the sword partially covered in snow nearby where the fight had transpired. You sprint over to it, tripping on your shoelaces along the way, before getting back up and finally reaching it. You extend your arm out, picking up the sword inside of its sheath and extracting it, pausing for a moment in awe of the craftsmanship. The sword is about 30 inches long, with a very pointed tip, you slide your finger slightly along the blade and it instantly draws blood, staining the yellowish silver blade. The hilt was green with pitch black stripes swirling in a spiral shaped pattern. Eager to test out the new sword, you run over to an open area and grip the handle as hard as you can, thrusting it forward in a smooth motion with all of your might, releasing a beam of wind along with it that left a tree in front of you with a hole through its side. ¡°This sword is a lot less cursed than I thought it¡¯d be!¡± you say as you walk back into the cabin, sheathing it along the way. You close the door on your way back in, glancing over to the fireplace to check on the sleeping girl-- only she wasn¡¯t sleeping, she was wide awake, staring back at you with a pouty face. Her demeanor had completely changed, almost as if she was a different person. ¡°You saw.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°You saw!¡± ¡°E-Eehhhhhh¡± ¡°What if I¡¯m no longer fit to be a bride? Will you take responsibility?!¡± She starts to get out of the futon and you immediately run outside in embarrassment.You start doing some breathing exercises to calm yourself before heading back inside to see her fully clothed. You breathed a sigh of relief as she was now the complete opposite of hostile, and was even adorable with the expressions she made. What threw you off even more was the fact that she was hysterically laughing at you as soon as you walked back inside. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe how quickly you ran away from me! Are you some kind of virgin?¡± This quip riles you up and gets you angry, but before you can respond back to her she says:This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Sorry, sorry, just a little bit of payback for calling me a moron earlier.¡± ¡°Oh¡­Sorry about that.¡± ¡°Sorry about attacking you earlier, I was myself, but I kind of wasn¡¯t myself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain what happened.¡± My name is Auxilia and I come from a place far away named Sveinar. It wasn¡¯t the most extravagant land, but it had everything we could ask for. It started off as a typical morning. The Valkyrie were patrolling around town, and I was sparring with my sister Glaria with the others watching over us, when suddenly there was a loud explosion. Being the adventurous set we were none of us shied away from some action, so we ran toward it with other soldiers backing us up. To our surprise there were only 8 people, so we underestimated them completely. All of them turned out to be extremely strong, much stronger than any one of us could¡¯ve anticipated for. We were already starting the battle with a heavy disadvantage because me and Glaria were fatigued from the sparring session and these enemies were clearly no joke. Especially the one further behind all of them who appeared to be the ringleader, he was cloaked in some kind of black aura that emitted so much bloodthirst I couldn¡¯t even see his face or make out his hair, but strangely his eyes, the only things that were visible were piercing yellow. Before I even have a chance to ask any questions a woman that had fiery red hair that stretched all the way down to her ass and a sadistic grin on her face suddenly charged up an explosion reminiscent of the one before, ready to send it at the fleeing villagers behind us. Before she had the chance to actually throw it Glaria gave Masami the order to throw out a giant wave to protect the villagers behind us. ¡°WATER WALL!¡± she yelled out, at the same time the fiery red haired girl was yelling ¡°SUPERNOVA!¡± and threw the giant fireball at the wave. To all of our surprise it actually almost penetrated the wall of water and got through to the villagers. Due to the interaction steam started to rise up everywhere and was especially thick where we were. Glaria used this opportunity to rush over to the citizens and helped them all evacuate safely whilst they had cover. Using this to my advantage, I swung my sword, releasing a gust of wind in an ¡°X¡± shape at the group before us. The ability used the steam so all of it went away when the blast finished, returning the battlefield to normal. The slashes had hit two of them, but as the smoke settled it appeared that one hadn¡¯t taken much damage, and the other was on the ground snoring as if she didn¡¯t take it seriously at all. The others appeared to have dodged, but they were still very confident in their abilities, especially that character behind them constantly emitting bloodthirst. ¡°Good job you two, but the fight is far from over, they haven¡¯t lost hope yet, but that doesn¡¯t mean we should be discouraged!¡± declared Yuzuki. ¡°They must have some sort of plan then?¡± questioned Hanako. ¡°If you guys have some sort of trump card you¡¯re gonna have to use it now, that took all of my magic out of me.¡± said Masami. ¡°Okay, looks like Glaria got everyone out safely. We can take the initiative after she gets back!¡± I spoke enthusiastically to my sisters. I noticed how we still haven¡¯t evened out the odds and I grit my teeth because of it, but I could at least have peace of mind that all of the villagers had escaped by now. ¡°This is boring, let¡¯s get this over with already.¡± the woman who had brushed off my attack earlier spoke loudly, clearly intending for us to hear it. ¡°Oh come now, patience is a virtue.¡± The intimidating figure cloaked in darkness said with a chuckle, lifting his hand into air and casting a spell on us that seemed to have distorted our surroundings. Just when I was starting to regain my strength from the earlier session, my vision started to get blurrier and I couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡°G-Guys! Where are you? What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I¡¯m right here, I can¡¯t see any of you though.¡± ¡°Those guys are fighting unfairly.¡± ¡°How¡¯d we let ourselves get caught by this?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be okay guys, we¡¯ll get out of this.¡± ¡°The fight¡¯s not over, use your warrior senses!¡± ¡°Just beca-¡± ¡°Before I could hear anything else I blacked out and woke up later. I wasn¡¯t in control of myself, I remember doing some things that I¡¯m not proud of, but that¡¯s when I stumbled upon you, and you defeated me.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s how I ended up here, now I need to ask for your help...Help me save my sisters, I have no idea where they are or what horrible things they¡¯re experiencing but they need to be saved.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been touched by your story, even though we barely know each-other, I¡¯ll help you rescue your sisters.¡± The most innocent smile you¡¯ve ever seen appears on your face and it makes your heart skip a beat ¡°Thank you! Thank you so much!¡± she exclaims A Rock and A Hard Place We rested up for a bit to recover our stamina. Afterwards we geared up and headed outside I asked her where her village was and where she thought her sisters could be. ¡°We could try the ¡°Glacial Rift but that¡¯s the only thing I can think of, it¡¯s where our village was.¡± ¡°Alright, at-least it¡¯s a start. Let¡¯s get going!¡± One short expedition later. ¡°I just realized I never got your name, I heard some of your sister¡¯s names but not yours.¡± ¡°Auxilia, what¡¯s yours?¡± ¡°It¡¯s-¡± ¡°Hold that thought! It¡¯s a Valkyrie!¡± The Valkyrie up on the rift usually attacked you and never wanted to hold conversation, so you didn¡¯t expect much from what was going to happen. Auxilia ran to the Valkyrie, waving. The Valkyrie readied her spear in notice of someone approaching, before realizing who it was and dropped it in shock. ¡°Auxilia!?¡± she called out, perplexed that she was here. ¡°You¡¯re okay now? ¡°I¡¯m fine now, I had help from this kind gentleman over here.¡± she says as she waves you over You walk over picking your nose, it seems that the cold¡¯s finally getting to you. The Valkyrie was still a bit uneasy and disgusted with you but thanked you accordingly. ¡°Back on track, you wouldn¡¯t happen to know where any of my other sisters would you?¡± ¡°I hate to tell you this but¡­Luna¡¯s...Well¡­¡± ¡°What? Spit it out.¡± ¡°She¡¯s spending all of the town¡¯s money carelessly, she¡¯s in the town hall.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nonsense! She¡¯d never do that.¡± She angrily says as she walks into the direction you¡¯d assume to be her village accompanied by the Valkyrie who informed you. We¡¯ve arrived at the village and there are a large number of Valkyrie around you, all of them ready to battle at a moment¡¯s notice, you¡¯re sure they¡¯d be attacking you right now if Auxilia wasn¡¯t with you. Despite feeling the battle lust of all the Valkyrie in one place you manage to shrug it off and follow Auxilia to town hall, the Valkyrie from before seems to have disappeared, probably went back to patrolling. Busting in through the front door Auxilia yells ¡°LUNA! What¡¯re you doing!?¡± You walk in immediately after and you see a woman with short silver hair in the front with a ponytail tied with a purple ribbon in the back. Her eyes were brown and she gave off this aura of maturity and care. ¡°What does it look like I¡¯m doing?¡± ¡°It looks like you¡¯re dooming the village! How has no one stopped you yet?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Dooming the village? I¡¯ve just been giving everyone what they wanted, sure it cost a bit more than we could afford but everyone¡¯s happy right?¡± ¡°You doing that doesn¡¯t really help anyone. You¡¯re giving them material things instead of what they actually need!¡± ¡°If they didn¡¯t actually need it why would they ask for it? Use your brain you idiot.¡± ¡°Huh!? Care to repeat that Luna?¡± ¡°I-di-ot¡± In a short burst of rage Auxilia dashes over to Luna as fast as she did in your battle and bonks her in the head, instantly knocking her out, the Valkyrie from earlier crowded around to see what all of the commotion was about but all business was already handled. ¡°She knows better than that, hopefully when she wakes up she comes to her senses.¡± Looking down at Luna you can tell that she was completely knocked out, hopefully the same treatment of knocking Auxilia out applies to Luna too so that this quest can be much easier, during all of this you seem to have faded into the background as no one is paying attention to you in the slightest and they¡¯re asking Auxilia what happened and why¡¯d she do that. ¡°I think she ended up in the same position as me, her not being in control of herself, and she needed a good hit in the head to get herself back.¡± she explains as she raps her head. ¡°When she wakes up she should be back to her normal self. Although we can¡¯t reverse what she did for the winter season we can hopefully make up for it later, right now the priority is to save the rest of my sisters though.¡± she explained to the Valkyrie present. ¡°We have to go when she wakes up, but we¡¯ll be back with the seven of us again.¡± ¡°Wait what¡¯s going on with her!?¡± shouts one of the Valkyrie As they turn to look at Luna they see a black mist being expelled from her body as her clothes start to disintegrate along with it. ¡°She¡¯s fine now, the same thing happened to Auxilia¡± you explain as everyone looks in awe at the event happening before them. As soon as the process finished Luna woke up and promptly apologized to everyone in the room for her actions. ¡°I¡¯m extremely sorry everyone, my actions were despicable and I promise I won¡¯t do anything so foolish ever again.¡± Having been careless with so many people¡¯s money made her despondent, but her sister was right there to cheer her up. ¡°I know it wasn¡¯t completely you who did it, the same thing happened to me, I did things I wasn¡¯t proud of but was completely aware of it and I almost lost myself because of it. We completely trust you Luna and this won¡¯t make us think any less of you. Now c¡¯mon, we can¡¯t stay here in low-spirits the others need our help too.¡± ¡°T-Thanks Aux, you always know what to say.¡± ¡°Now go get dressed, we¡¯re heading out to look for the rest of our sisters.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± she said as she walked behind her sister to go to their house to get her a change of clothes. She had a look of determination in her eyes to not fail. As the three of you exit the building the two girls tell you to wait around and meet them at the entrance. While they begin walk away and you¡¯re making your way torwards the entrance you spot a brown pair of boots and put them away in your backpack, not sure what they do or who they belong to, but assuming that this is an item from the mist like last time. A few moments later the three of you are at the entrance and regrouped, Luna¡¯s wearing a heavy light blue coat with white fur around the edges, dressing much better than her sister. ¡°I¡¯ve been hearing rumbles around the canyon for the past few days but all of us ignored it, assuming that it was the Yetis again, it could be one of our sisters though so we should go and check it out.¡± said Luna ¡°Alright, we¡¯re heading to the canyon then.¡± you said ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. Auxilia lead the way.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me what to do.¡± She teased as she leads the way anyway. It takes a while but the canyon is finally in reach. As the three of you approach the canyon you suddenly feel the ground begin to tremble. Snow starts to fall from the rocks above in response and giant boulders could be seen being hurled around from afar. ¡°What was that!?¡± you asked. ¡°I see no Yetis!¡± said Luna. ¡°Maybe it really is one of ours?¡± asked Auxilia. ¡°W-Whoa!¡± everyone yelled. All three of you are unsteady on your feet because of the sudden trembling on the ground but manage to not fall down somehow. You advance deeper towards where the stones were being thrown, trying your best to keep your footing through the impacts when begin to feel cracks on the ground beneath you and a large fissure splits the it apart, knocking the part that Auxilia and Luna were standing on deep into the crevice. Both of them let out a loud shriek and reached out their hands as you jump forward trying to catch them, but you were too late. ¡°AUXILIA! LUNA!¡± you screamed in shock as you watched them fall down the cliff. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about us!¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll find a way out.¡± ¡°Thank goodness I can control the wind. It still might take me awhile to get a gust big enough for two people though.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be out, just wait for us.¡± Immediately after, you spot a woman with long black hair tied in a single large braid. She was on top of a large rock formation floating towards you with her arms crossed and a confident grin on her face, sporting a black cloak with brown fur trails along the edges and black boots with heels on them to match, a very intimidating look all around.