It's strange, but there were no spirits at all this time around. In a way, it's kind of disturbing that there wasn't even a hint of a single spirit, after you'd just seen dozens upon dozens of them appear out of nowhere...
In your mind, there are two possibilities.
One: this guy just killed all the spirits that were there.
Two: all of the remaining spirits have hidden away because of this guy.
Either way... you sure are glad you're not his enemy right now.
- Solis: ...Here we are.
- Solis: Welcome to Buried Oasis, my hometown.
- Solis: Under different circumstance, I'd have loved to give you a tour, but...
- Solis: Getting your friend treated takes priority.
- Nino: Ah, yeah...
- Solis: Please, follow me.
You followed him through multiple confusing turns in the desert, taking paths that seemed almost random at times - especially since the empty expanse didn't offer any landmarks to infer your location with.
The way he moved, it's like he simply knew the way here by heart.
It's honestly pretty damn impressive.
Nino: why does this guy even want to help?
The man simply feels obligated to help you, according to his job as a guard.
His knowledge of the desert, his single-minded focus on assisting you and getting you to safety as soon as possible, and his knowledge on combating spirits...
It all speaks to extreme dedication for his work.
Well, even though you've made it to safety, you still hope he'll remain as untalkative as he was during your trip.
- Solis: Hey, auntie.
- Old Lady: Good day, young lord!
- Young Man: Hey, hey! Look who it is!
- Young Man: I don't suppose you're looking for a room, are you...?
- Solis: I am, actually, but not for me.
- Solis: Could you host these two in for a bit?
- Old Lady: Oh my, who do we have here?
- Old Lady: Sonny, you're not from around these parts, are you?
- Solis: They're travelers who lost their way in the desert.
- Old Lady: Aww. What cute little children you are!
- Nino: Er... t-thanks... ?
- Old Lady: Rest assured, young lord!
- Old Lady: We'd be more than happy to help.
- Young Man: Yeah, no problem at all!
- Young Man: I can make some space for them.
- Solis: Thanks a lot.
- Solis: I'll leave them in your care, then.
Nino: You might as well go along with the monster. It'd be more suspicious to keep refusing at this point.
- Solis: There's another thing, though...
- Solis: One of them has been injured.
- Old Lady: Oh my, that's terrible!
- Young Man: Let me guess... another spirit attack?
- Old Lady: There's been too many of those lately!
- Solis: ...Yeah. I've taken care of it, though.
- Solis: I also bandaged the girl's injury up temporarily,
- Solis: So could you help give her a more thorough treat-
- Nino: N-no need! I can handle that!
- Solis: ...Hm...? You sure you don't need a hand?
- Nino: Not at all! I might not look like it, but uh...
- Nino: I know my way around this stuff pretty well!
- Nino: And, I think she'd be more comfortable with me treating her, too.
- Solis: ...
- Nino: But, uh, um... there IS something you can help me with, actually!
- Nino: Could you get me some first-aid tools?
- Solis: ...That's all?
- Nino: Y-yeah! It's all I need, really.
- Old Lady: Oh, young lord, no need to trouble yourself,
- Old Lady: We've got plenty of medical supplies in stock!
- Solis: ...Alright. I suppose that takes care of it.
- Solis: Still. Don't hesitate to ask for assistance if you need it.
- Nino: ...Yeah, I'll keep that in mind... thanks.
- Young Man: I'll prepare a room for you guys right away.
- Old Lady: Mm, and I'll go fetch some medical tools from storage.
- Old Lady: Ah, and since we've finally got some new guests...
- Old Lady: I'd better set out refreshments in the lobby!
- Old Lady: Just make yourselves comfortable and wait here a bit, sonny.
- Old Lady: And take good care of your little girlfriend, alright?
- Nino: ...UHHH...
- Nino: YEAH. WILL DO.
Nino: With that much sincerity, it's probably safe to assume he's not trying to trick you, at least.
Meimona: Be flustered.
- Old Lady: Here you go, sonny.
- Old Lady: Something to help with that injury.
- Nino: T-thank you so much!
- Nino: And, um... am I gonna have to pay for this too?
- Old Lady: "Too"? Oh, you newcomers are so paranoid...
- Old Lady: I'm not asking for a single penny from you, sonny!
- Nino: Wha... really? Not even for the room?
- Old Lady: Well now, of course not!
- Old Lady: Don't worry, little ones. You're in good hands!
- Old Lady: We pride ourselves on being hospitable to our visitors here.
- Old Lady: So, until the little lady there recovers well,
- Old Lady: Feel free to treat this place as a home!
- Nino: ...Wow...
- Meimona: ...Thank you... very much.
- Nino: Y-yeah! We really appreciate all the help, um... miss!
- Old Lady: Oh my, what a charmer.
- Old Lady: I'm afraid a woman my age is a bit too old to be called a miss!
- Nino: Oh, uh, sorry?
- Old Lady: You better mind your words, sonny!
- Old Lady: We don't want to make your girlfriend jealous now, do we?
- Nino: ...UM.
Nino: Fail to conceal your flustered-ness.
- Nino: ABOUT THAT.
- Nino: YOU SEEM TO BE... MISUNDERSTANDING A BIT.
- Nino: THIS GIRL. SHE IS MY-
- Nino: I MEAN, IS NOT MY-
- Old Lady: Heh heh, oh my!
- Old Lady: Don't be so flustered!
- Old Lady: It was just a little joke.
- Young Man: Yep, we can tell that dating a winged is way out of your league, kid.
- Nino: UHM.
- Young Man: Your room's ready, by the by.
- Old Lady: Go on now, sonny!
- Old Lady: And take good care of the little miss!
- Nino: ...OK. THANKS A MILLION.
Well whatever. It's nothing to you, but...
...Meimona.
She must be so out of it if she didn't react to any of that.
Maybe you were being a bit insensitive by rushing her back then.
You really didn't know anything, though! You didn't realize she wasn't feeling well until way, way later.
Urgh, wait, would telling her that just make you come off like you're making excuses for your cluelessness? You don't mean to say that you were totally in the right, but you really do just want to explain yourself!
...And what if she takes it the wrong way, still?
Uuuuuuugh. This is tough...
Nino: Head to your room.
Just how upset is she with you right now...?
And... would she forgive you if you apologized?
Well, it would probably just bother her if you made this all about yourself.
Either way, this kind of low mood really doesn't fit her.
You like the energetic Mei, the lively Mei, the always-positive Mei, a whole lot more! You've got to cheer her up somehow, for sure...
--/-->
- Yuness: We found a cat!
- Meimona: A little cat!
Meimona: Reminisce.
- Cat: ...Meow.
- Bijou: Oh, wow! It's so fluffy!
- Marika: Looks like it likes you, Yun.
- Marika: Good for you!
- Yuness: Hehehe!
- Yuness: This cat is gonna be my sidekick.
- Meimona: Hey, I was the one who found it first!
- Meimona: It's my cat friend!
- Yuness: You thief, don't take my cat!
- Meimona: Nooo, you stole it first!
- Yuness: Ha, 'cause it came to me on its own!
- Yuness: It likes me more than you anyways.
- Meitham: Don't fight, you brats!
- Meitham: You can just share the cat.
- Meimona: I don't wanna split it in half!
- Marika: Mona, that's not what he meant...
--/-->
- Yosef: Since this is a feline, it must've come from the Cat Eye nebula.
- Yosef: That's quite the distance...
- Meitham: Guess that means this cat's a great traveler, huh?
- Yuness: Hey...
- Yuness: I don't like calling it just 'cat'.
- Yuness: We should name it something cool!
- Meimona: Ohhh! I wanna do that!
- Meimona: But, ummm...
- Meimona: Is it a girl-cat, or a boy-cat?
--/-->
- Layla: Uh... let me see.
- Layla: ...This animal is male.
- Meimona: Oooh!
- Yuness: How do you know, big sis?
- Meimona: Yeah, how, how?
- Layla: Um...
- Layla: Because of, uh...
- Layla: ...Well...
- Meitham: Pfffhahahahaha!
- Layla: Don't just laugh, help me out here, Sam.
- Layla: I don't think mother gave either of them the talk...
- Meitham: Heheheh... phew!
- Meitham: Well, y'see, kiddos. It's very simple.
- Meitham: Layla can tell 'cause of the fur color.
- Meimona: Ooooh, really?
- Meimona: So boy-cats have dark furs!
- Layla: Ah... yeah. That's it.
- Yuness: Huh, I see!
- Yuness: Of course boys would have the cooler colors.
- Meimona: Pfffft, more like boooring!
--/-->
- Yuness: Hey cat!
- Yuness: How about I call you Guillotine?
- Meimona: What, that's not a good name at all!
- Meimona: It's too spooky, Yun...
- Yuness: Yeah! So what?
- Yuness: That way, everybody would be scared of him!
- Yuness: And then, they'd wonder how powerful his owner is...!
- Meimona: No way! That's sooo stupid.
- Yuness: Fine then, let's call him Decapitator instead.
- Meimona: No! That's still too evil!
- Meimona: He's such a cute, harmless cat...
- Meimona: Ooooh, I know!
- Meimona: I will call you Grand Fluffy Prince.
- Yuness: That's way too long!
- Yuness: Also, it doesn't instill fear in your enemies, Mona.
- Meimona: It's fine, I don't have any!
- Meimona: Unlike Yun, everyone's my good friend. :]
- Yuness: Psssh, that's loser talk.
- Yuness: People are gonna bully you if you think that way!
--/-->
- Yuness: Hey! Don't steal Catapult again!
- Yuness: And don't put weird girly things on him!
- Meimona: That's not his name!
- Meimona: He's Mister Fuzzy Paws. Get it right!
- Yuness: No! Leave Cold Steel Junior alone!
- Meimona: Don't touch my Little Lucky Licorice!
You'd call Boyfriend something different every time, and none of it ever stuck for longer than a couple minutes, at most.
So he was just known as 'the cat', for a long, long time.
...That is, until the day you decided to leave home.
--/-->
- Meimona: Woh...
- Meimona: We're so high up, aren't we...?
- Meimona: ...But, but... I'm not scared!
- Meimona: Not at all! Because...
- Meimona: Because I have a Boyfriend now!!!
- Boyfriend: Meow...?
/\_____/\ . ./7 /7
/ . . . . . . .\ / /7 ./7
| \'7 o \'7 .|/ / /7 / . . . psssh...nothin personnel...kid...
\___|___/ . . . \
./ . . ._____/ . . |
/_/_/ \_______/
Ha ha I lost my mind making this one. I need to manage my time better perhaps. Please enjoy though, if you do it will all be worth it ( â—•â–¿â—• )
I enjoy
Thank you now it is all worth it
Nino: Stop overthinking shit and heal her already. You can talk when she's feeling better.
Mei: You will see them again, someday.
Mei: Considering what's happened so far... does it still seem worth it to stick with Nino?
Nino: Wait, the innkeepers were calling that guy "lord"... that might just be another joke, or some weird term of endearment around here, but he could also really be someone important!
Nino: I wonder what kind of lunch he's getting. Maybe it's SAND. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't you just love to eat some delicious SAND for lunch?
mmm, sand! yum yum yum. so tasty. so crunchy. so.. nutritious? Good for little Ninos. Possibly baked into muffins? Delicious sand muffins.
Mei: Are you feeling better?
Nino: Maybe consider letting her rest for a while.
Nino: See if you can ask around about the "young lord."
Nino: He's not going to feed you sand, is he?
Also, while this update was great, if two updates a week is seeming too difficult to manage, I think it might be better to go back to just Saturdays. Fewer updates is fine if it means the process will be more sustainable overall. I don't think anyone wants you to overwork yourself.
This update schedule is mostly manageable right now, aside from odd unexpected IRL delays that happen sometimes and make me complain. It's not going to be two weekly forever, though. I just want to temporarily speed things up 'till a specific point, after that I'll go back to the traditional Saturday only updates!
Making a webcomic involves a weird kind of mental suffering no matter what the schedule is, so don't worry about that part... but seeing comments/discussion after posting an update immediately makes me feel better, haha. :p
I'm kind of embarrassed to need to ask this: does voting do anything in this? I see people voting in the comments sometimes, but I've never been sure if it actually affects anything or if it's more just tradition.
It's more for the readers looking at comments. Helps indicate what's the most enjoyed reply usually, and is a way for you guys to give a nod towards each other's comments.
However I have used it previously to judge which comment suggestions were the most popular for certain things, like the items the party members picked out in page 200. I'm also possibly going to rely on it again in a similar way for picking the spirit's name from last page!
Whenever comment votes end up being relevant in that way, I always specify that in the post's pinned comment, so you don't have to worry about missing it if you're concerned.
Nino: Honestly tell Meimona of your worries about the situation and the harm that could befall you both upon being discovered, as well as being so far from your lost friends who could still be in danger as far as you know. A similar situation occurred when you where honest after Aria pushed you to be, so being honest towards Meimona and the rest of your nearest and dearest could do you a great service.
And God help us all, do not eat the sand, you have no idea what was there, and eating sand is unhealthy in the first place, especially when you have access to actual food.
Sand
Meimona: You... you don't have to remember this if you don't want to.
Nino: Heal her and give her time to recover before saying anything. If you really are concerned, the monster guy seems very honorable. Maybe you can ask him for advice? Regardless, just be honest when the time comes and trust that she'll understand. That's the best you can do right now.
Solis: Get the winged and hu- completely normal monster some refreshments.
Nino: See if kissing her will cheer her up at all.
...Uh, Healing, not kissing. Totally meant to say that instead.