[Later]Marco and Alice were walking beside a river, Marco had a map and sometimes he would look at his watch, which had a compa.s.s inside, before leaving Grand Noah Castle, Marco found an incredible item, tobacco.
He immediately bought some kilos of it, surprising Alice, and then he made some homemade cigarettes with it, right now he was smoking one while finding the way.
Marco: According to the map, this is where we cross the mountain…
Alice: I"m fine no matter the environment, but are you prepared?
Marco: Aye, I think the 1st Gate is enough to warm my body, I can use claws to climb and my tail as a rope, I am ready.
Then, an old man pa.s.sed beside them, Alice turned in her human form and Marco and the old man made eye contact.
Old Man: Oh, you two. Heading to Yamatai?
Marco: Yep…
Then he took out the cigarette to exhale smoke in the air and put it back in his mouth.
Marco: We will take our leave now, bye old man.
Old Man: Hahaha… Bye youngsters.
Then the old man walked away, and Marco and Alice walked to the snow mountain, Marco was using the 1st Gate to get warm while Alice looked around with a cold gaze.
Alice: Hmph, snow.
Even if she looked with a cold gaze at the snow, her tail coiled and excitedly runned all over the ground.
Alice: Hmph. Snow, eh? Snow, huh? Snow.
Marco: ...Is this your first time seeing snow?
Alice: ...That"s right. But I"m not some child that would get excited at it.
Marco: …
Alice: …
Marco: "Well, unlike Luka I can resist a blizzard thanks to my immunity… I think it is safe doing this…" You can play with it if you want.
Alice"s face turned from cold to excitement in an instant, and used her tail to propel herself like a missile through the snow. In only a few seconds, she was already far out of view, Marco sighed in exasperation but he was still smiling.
Then he took out the cigarette and exhaled smoke before throwing it away, the snow immediately turned it off, he may be immune to a blizzard but the cigarette isn"t, then he waited in a nearby stone that was covered in snow.
Since the 1st Gate melted the snow, he couldn"t play like Alice, and just waited for her patiently.
[Later]
There was a incredibly strong blizzard, the trees were completely covered in white, the sky was black, and if you stepped in the snow it would reach the knees of a normal person, but there were two figures in the dark, standing like monolites.
And they were…
...Playing Poker?
Yeah… Marco and another one were playing Poker as if nothing was happening, Marco was alright thanks to the Poseidon"s Bell"s enchantment and the 1st Gate, while the other figure was a Yuki-Onna, in english: Snow Woman.
She had really long blue hair, jade white skin, and was wearing a sky blue kimono that reached her feet, and was being held from a blue ribbon at the abdomen.
Right now the Yuki-Onna was concentrated at beating Marco, who was wearing a poker face, thanks to Billy"s teachings, the G.o.d of Gambling of his old world, he was able to use some tricks without the opponent noticing.
But… How did this happen?
[Flashback]
Yuki-Onna: I"ll take your se-
*Pow*
Yuki-Onna: P-Please have mercy…
[Back]
Yeaaaahhh… That is literally what happened… Then Marco asked to play at Poker until Alice came.
Marco: I won…
Yuki-Onna: AAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!
She was angry that she couldn"t win against Marco, but she still continued to play, hoping to win. She picked the cards in the snow so she could shuffle them, but they heard something getting nearby.
Alice: Here you are, Marco.
Marco: Oh, hey Alice, how was your first day with the snow?
Alice: ...Good… Who is she?
Alice pointed to the Yuki-Onna, who just said.
Yuki-Onna: Don"t worry about me, we were just playing Poker until now, he was bored so he asked me to play with him.
Alice facepalmed and let out a sigh, then she said.
Alice: We can even leave now…
Yuki-Onna: Bye Marco…
Marco: Bye Oyuki, oh right, I cheated the entire time at Poker.
Oyuki: WHAT?!
Then Marco and Alice walked away from a shocked Yuki-Onna, they left the mountain and reached a forest near the village, Marco deactivated the 1st Gate, then they started to eat some grilled fish from Marco.
But while he was taking a fish out from the flames, he noticed a white spot in a nearby bush.
Marco: Hmm…?
The white spot came out from the bush revealing a Nekomata, a twin-tailed monster girl, she had heterochromatic eyes, the right one was red while the left one was green, she had pale skin and was mostly covered in white fur, and behind her there was a tail that was splitted in two.
Nekomata: Nya.
She was looking at the fish in Marco"s hands, with a concentrated gaze, Marco smiled and waved the stick that was holding his fish left and right.
Marco: You want this, huh?
Nekomata: Nyaa.
They had plenty of food so Marco gave the fish to her, the Nekomata came at Marco"s lap and took the fish.
Nekomata: Nyaa…
Her eyes lightened up in happiness and started to eat it while being in his lap, meanwhile Marco was petting her head, making the Nekomata lay in his chest while eating the fish.
Alice: It seems you like cats…
Marco: Well, I had one many years ago…
When the Nekomata finished to eat the fish, she cleaned her lips before reaching Marco"s hand, which was on her head, and licked it in appreciation.
Nekomata: ...Nyaa!
Marco let out a soft smile and watched the Nekomata walking away after giving out her version of a bye.
Then Alice and Marco started to eat out the other grilled fishes, and when they finished, they stood up again and walked at Yamatai Village since they were almost there.
Now the duo were approaching the entrance, but two girls in strange costumes blocked Marco"s way since Alice vanished.
They were surely elfs due to their pointy ears, the first one had a samurai armor over her chest and shoulders, her abdomen was naked and despite the big chest, she looked pretty thin, her left arm was holding one of the two sheaths of two different katanas.
She had black hair and looked at Marco with a merciless gaze.
Then the other had white hair which covered her left eyes, she was wearing a leather mask that covered her mouth and nose, a red scarf, and a kunoichi"s clothes, on her right arm there was a big tattoo of a centipede.
Samurai Elf: A face I have not seen before…!
Kunoichi: We will not allow hostile strangers into our land.
Marco: ...In what manner do I look hostile? I am unarmed, I just want to reach Yamatai Village.
Samurai Elf: To Yamatai Village, you say?
Then the Samurai Elf and the Kunoichi Elf checked Marco to find anything dangerous since he said that he was unarmed, but surprisingly they didn"t found anything.
Kunoichi Elf: You are alright, you can pa.s.s.
Marco nodded and walked away from the Elves, Alice slithered near him and talked.
Alice: So you avoided fighting with them?
Marco: Yeah, it"s not worthy bringing the Nine Tailed Gates out if I can pa.s.s unharmed.
Alice nodded in agreement and followed Marco to the village.
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
1st. Kick Gabriel"s a.s.s
2nd. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
3rd. Kill Illias
4th. Return to Lucifina"s grave
5th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and h.e.l.lgondo
6th. Turn back to Sabasa Kingdom
7th. Visit Kitsune Village using the Nine Tailed Cub System