Magi: The Tale of Faith and Hope

Adventure

"Wow, there's so much to buy~!" said Aladdin, looking around the large market in amazement. It reminded Faith of a more Arabian-styled version of the starting town in WOW or SAO... Yeah, she was gonna go with SAO since it felt like an adventure RPG, but with real life consequences... like actual death.

"Well, yeah," said Alibaba, "there's provisions, weapons..."

"Medicine, antidotes to negative effects, items that bolster statistics, and items that deal damage..." added Faith, ticking each off on her fingers.

"What statistics...?" asked Alibaba, sweat-dropping. Why did this girl have to be so weird?

"Oh, don't worry about that, it's nothing," she replied carelessly. "It's an inside joke."

"An inside joke?" asked Aladdin curiously.

"With who?" Alibaba asked, because it clearly wasn't Aladdin.

"Myself," she answered with a grin.

"..." Alibaba and Aladdin stared at her for a moment.

"Were you dropped on the head as a child?" asked Alibaba.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was. But up until now, everyone else had the good grace not to mention it!" said Faith, giving him a punch in the arm.

"Ow!" Alibaba winced, biting his lip to keep from crying. That actually hurt... a lot. "A-Anyway, as I was saying... the city nearest the seventh dungeon is a gathering place for adventurers."

"Ooh~" said Aladdin when something shiny suddenly caught his eye. "Hey, Alibaba-kun, how about this thing?" he asked excitedly, holding up a super long blade that had several strange side attachments built in.

"And what would you use that fancy-ass thing for?" asked Alibaba, sweat-dropping.

"I don't know, but I like it!" said Faith with a thumbs up, giving the bizarre weapon her seal of approval. "Give me a heroic pose, Aladdin!"

"Okay!" said Aladdin, raising the sword as he lifted one leg off the ground, as if he had paused mid swing. This turned out to be a big mistake because the weapon was too heavy, and he began to wobble off-balance.

"Hey, stop!!! That's dangerous!" Alibaba yelled as it swung his way. As he leaned back to avoid the blade, he felt himself bump into something. It was a girl carrying a huge basket of fruit. "Ah!" he cried in alarm and surprise as they all came crashing down. "I told you this would happen!!" he yelled with tears in his eyes, pale and trembling, as he eyed how close the strange weapon had come to skewering his head and/or the poor girl they had gotten involved in the mess.

"S—Sorry!" Aladdin cried, paling and flinching in shock at the damage he had done. "I'm sorry, onee-san, let me help!" he said, hurrying over to help the girl they had knocked over pick up the spilled fruit.

'Well, that was a disaster...' Faith thought wryly, moving to join the clean up effort, but neither her nor Aladdin's help was necessary. Before they could do anything the dark-pink haired girl had already tossed it all back in the basket and stood up again.

"..." she stared down at them with a slightly annoyed pout on her face.

'Ooh... She's cute...' thought Alibaba and Faith.

"Sorry about that," Alibaba told her with a goofy grin on his face, "he's such an idiot..."

"Are you hurt? Would you like some help carrying that?" Faith asked with a bright smile as she shoved him out of the way.

"...!?" Alibaba exclaimed indignantly as he glared up at her. That little...! "I can take it for you!" he offered the cute girl as he scrambled to get back up.