The Beach

Finally having left the desert behind, we stumble upon a huge beach surrounded by tall orange cliffs.
Before we can even look around, Eris and None rush forward towards the sea.
"I'll make sure to capture a ton of fish! We won't be going hungry!"
"Big water! Big water!"

I turn towards Lunaris and say.
"You really did great turning that blanket into a nice light blue dress."
She lets out a laugh.
"What can I say? I'm great at crafting stuff to wear!"
"I agree wholeheartedly! Definitely a strength of yours!"
She blushes slightly after I say that, and we approach the two by the shore, sitting down on the sand to rest, when Lina walks forward to talk to Eris.
"I see you're finally more active! So far you had mostly just quietly walked alongside us, and cooked for us when we were hungry. What's up with that?"
She flinches and looks back at her.
"It's scary."
"Hm?"
"It's a scary group! You can be eaten at any moment! I can't let my guard down..."
"Ah... O-Okay...?"
After that, she goes back to focusing on fishing as Lina returns to us.
"What's up with her?"
I sigh and tell her.
"Just a misunderstand from a long time ago that she won't let go."
Lunaris nods and says.
"Yeah... It's also starting to annoy me."
After that, Lina look back towards Eris, who was trying her best to fish.
"Huh..."

Some time passes while we relax, when suddenly a boat lands, and a tall beautiful woman jumps out of it. She had long black hair in a pony tail. She was wearing armor, and had a katana on her waist.
She had turned around to fix some knot on her sail when she suddenly spots us.
Suddenly she rushes towards us, taking out her katana, as she readied for an attack.
Quickly I dodge out of the way and she jumps back, before shouting.
"Fiend!"
"F-FIEND?! WHAT DID I DO?"
'Is she crazy?!'
"Hmph!"
She quickly points to Makito and says.
"A dragon and her gang of beasts and mutant have kidnapped a cute innocent child! For this you will pay!"
When she says this, Makito can't help but blush as he keeps staring at her. Once again she charges in for an attack, only for Lunaris to dash towards her, before spinning around and attacking using her tail, knocking her to the ground.
"You dare attack our Rako?! You'll have to get through me! But remember, even if you do, you will still have a mighty dragon as your opponent!"
'...I don't need you to hype me up like that...'
"Ugh... I was too focused on the dragon... I can't believe I was defeated by my own failure to pay attention..."
'Defeated? Is she giving up already? ...Was that tail attack that strong?!'
I come back to my senses and approach her, quickly explaining the situation before she decides to attack again.

...

"I see... So it is merely an adventuring party..."
I nod with relief at her being able to easily understand everything, when she suddenly becomes annoyed.
"Tsk. Which makes my defeat that much worse! Agh..."
She kneels before Lunaris and continues.
"I guess... I have... To marry you now..."
She was glaring at her the whole time, with her face clearly filled with annoyance as she said this.
Lunaris takes a step back, shocked, and says.
"What?! Why do you have to? Besides... You seem to really hate that idea..."

She sighs and begins to explain.
"I've set off on a journey to find someone who can defeat me. I only want to marry the strongest! And so far... Tsk."
She looks away annoyed.
"You've been the only one able to do so."
Lunaris puts her hand up before saying.
"I barely did anything... You were distracted right? Wouldn't even someone weak be able to defeat you if you were distracted?"
Her eyes widen as she looks back at us.
"Of course... It didn't count... Great! I don't have to marry you! YAY!"
She suddenly has a huge sile on her face as if a huge burden was lifted.
Lunaris looks on at her cheering, and says.
"I can't help but think I should be very insulted right now..."

I look at her and ask.
"So what's your name?"
She bows for a moment, before replying.
"My name is Sasaki."
I nod.
"Okay... So where you going? You have a place in mind?"
"Anywhere, it doesn't matter. It just so happened I need to stop at this beach for maintenance, that's all."
"Hmmm. Okay."
Suddenly, as we talk, Lina shakes me and says.
"Yo dragon! I think I see a cave!"
I quickly turn around, excited.
"Really?! Where?"
"This way, follow me!"
She rushes off, and I quickly follow behind her, along with Lunaris and Sparo.

...

It doesn't take long for us to see a hole on the side of the cliff which Lina enters.
Following in her steps, we enter through it, seeing Lina spin around before saying.
"This is it! What do you think? Is it a great one? Does it have treasure?"
I look around. It was a decently sized room, with a hole in the ceiling which I could see leading to another room.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure. Well for a home I mean."
When I say that, Sparo tells Lina.
"Unless you like this kind of rock, there is no way that there is treasure here. It's just a random hole in a beach after all."
I nod in agreement, to which Lina says.
"Damn... At least it's easy access to the beach. I think that's cool, I love a view of the ocean, or lake."
'It does have a nice view though.'
I climb up the red rock and quickly check the other room. It was similarly sized, and though it was darker, I could still see through yet another hole in the ceiling that there was a third and final room.
It doesn't take too much effort for me to jump and grab onto the ledge, about to pull myself up, but stopping as I felt the ground.
It was completely dark so I couldn't see what was in it, but when I had started pulling myself up, I could feel something slimy on my arm. I quickly drop down, before looking at what was causing it.

Suddenly a shiver goes up my spine and I scream, shaking my arm wildly, trying to get rid of it.
"Rako?! Hold on I'm coming up!"
Just as Lunaris was climbing to me, I quickly drop past her and run outside to the entrance, dropping to my hands and knees.
Quickly they all come outside and surround me, as Sparo asks.
"What happened?"
I slowly look up at him and say.
"Disgusting..."
Lunaris crouches down and says.
"What was? I only saw slugs in the-"
"YES! IT WAS FILLED WITH THEM!"
"Really?"
Lina looks sceptical as she says this, until finding one of the slugs on the ground, having only just now dropped from my arm.
"WOAH! AWESOME!"
I look at her, disgusted, and she continues.
"There WAS treasure! In my village these slugs are super rare, and you can make a GREAT broth with them. It's absolutely delici-"
I quickly stand up and start walking away, causing Sparo and Lunaris to run to catch up to me.
"Wait, dragon lady! What about the cav-"
I spin around, staring right at her and say.
"There was no cave. Got it?"
She stops, awkwardly nodding, before saying.
"Then can I take the great food inside the... Not cave?"
"DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!"
Sparo walks beside her and says.
"I'll help her so she doesn't waste too much time."
"Fine, sure!"
With that, I turn back around, ready to join the rest as I hear cheering sounds from behind me.

...

As I return to them, Eris comes up to me with a full bag and says.
"I've got enough to last a while! No one will be eaten on my watch!"
'Eaten... Ugh... Now that reminded me of what Lina plans to do...'
I slowly nod at her, before seeing None trying to steal some fish from her bag, which Eris quickly stops.
"Hey! No stealing allowed!"

Sasaki was with Makito when she sees me, waving at me before asking.
"So, did you find home?"
"Yeah, how was it boss?"
'Ugh...'
I shake my head and say.
"I found hell."
When I say that, both of them look at each other awkwardly, and Sasaki continues.
"Huh? Okay... Anyway where are you going now?"
I look over at the horizon, and after a moment I say.
"I was thinking of crossing the ocean now..."
"Ehhh? Really? How?"
I point at Eris, making her flinch, and say.
"She can cast magic for us to walk over it."
When I say that, everyone around me starts complaining, which even None joins in doing, thinking it was fun.

I scratch my head.
"Well, it's not like we have a boat..."
'...!'
Suddenly I turn around and stare at Sasaki with big eyes, making her take a step back.
"Uhh... Hmm..."
She thinks for a moment and says.
"Okay, I get what you're trying to say. Sure, I think I can join your party."
"That's not... Well whatever. So we can use your boat?!"
I excitedly ask her that, causing her to take another step back.
"Sure... It's not like it matters to me where I go, and I was looking to cross the ocean myself anyway. I was just taking a little break here, since I got the opportunity."

As I rush to embrace her, Sparo and Lina finally arrive, as I hear her shouting excitedly.
"I've got my food secured for forever! I've also noted down the location so I can let the rest of my village know!"
Sasaki turns towards her and is about to ask, when I stop her.
"It's better you don't know."

As we all begin talking amongst ourselves, Sparo stays further back near the shore, looking over the ocean with a somber look in his face.