We arrived at the auction house area quicker than I had expected. I could sense Phildina was rushing to get here before night fell, as she didn't hold back this time. "Bleegh!" I threw up again, thinking to myself, I will never get used to this...

  "There, there," Phildina was there to comfort me again, patting my back with all the kindness and warmth she could muster. At times like these, I truly felt like she was an angel.

  "Where do we list the items?" I asked, starting to pull myself back together.

  "Over there," She pointed at a nearby building and then asked, "Do you have the eggs?" I was just about to respond when I noticed it. The bag is missing... "W-what's wrong? Don't tell me..." She asked, panic clearly written all over her face. We had come prepared. I brought a bag to carry the eggs in, but it was now gone, and I never suspected anything was amiss.

  "Phildina!" She gave an understanding nod, and then we both took off at breakneck speeds toward the Pegasus. Whoever did this will pay! I thought to myself grimly as we took to the skies.

  "I hope we'll be able to find him," Phildina said, but I wasn't going to let him get away. I will track and find him if it's the st thing I do! I thought to myself, steeling my resolve. We spent what felt like an eternity inspecting every nook and cranny from our high vantage point. I was determined, but doubts were starting to arise in my mind. What if we never find him? What would happen then? How would I gain their trust? And several other thoughts ran through my mind as I looked desperately, my heart thumping louder than ever before. The adrenaline rush was in full swing, and just as I was about to instruct Phildina to search elsewhere... What's that? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what seemed to be a blur moving along the rooftops a great way off from where we were. Who is that? And how is he moving so fast? I wondered, and that's when it occurred to me.

  "Phildina! I found him!"

  "Really?!" She asked, "Where?!" I pointed in the direction of the blur, and she started giving chase. I figured that whoever it was must have had an outrageous speed stat, and I was right, as even Phildina was having trouble catching up at full speed. We weren't going to catch him at the rate we were going, so Phildina took out a Zephyr's cape and used it. Zephyr's cape was a stat booster that would permanently increase one's speed stat. Once again, I was dumbfounded by her antics, but it would be useful in this situation, so I let it slide.

  As the gap between us shortened, I readied my bow and took careful aim. I knew that fast-moving targets were hard to hit, and though my skill stat was somewhat decent, the sheer speed of the thief in question would make my chances fifty-fifty at best. I took a deep breath and felt a familiar sensation running through my veins. It was a surge of power I had experienced before, a twist of fate I could only smile at. Sorry, NPC I've never met before, but you messed with the wrong guy, I thought as I released the arrow.

  I couldn't see his stats, so I wouldn't be able to tell how much damage he'd receive, but I knew he'd be finished if he were a thief css. This was because of their terribly unbanced stat growths that favored speed immensely while leaving everything else to suffer. In some ways, they're even worse than archers... I concluded as I watched my arrow pierce right through him. That must have hurt, I thought as he colpsed on the spot. The kill netted me 64 EXP, which was nice, but I was more interested in the bag he was carrying, so we nded on the roof where his body y and opened the bag to see the eggs still inside.

  "Are the eggs inside?" Phildina asked as she got off from the Pegasus.

  "Y-yeah," I replied, trying my best not to puke. Come on! You can do this! Mind over matter!

  "Great!" She excimed as relief washed over her face. It was nice to see, but something about her attitude... disturbed me. I intended to just slow him down but ended up killing him instead, and I was well aware of that fact. I didn't run away from it, didn't try to hide behind the excuse that it was an NPC or any of that. I owned and accepted it for what it was. I killed him. I almost felt like throwing up at the thought as feelings of intense self-disgust surfaced, but I controlled myself not to let it happen.

  When I thought about it, I always had the uncanny ability to turn off my conscience and act when the situation called for it, but Phildina was different. It was almost as if she were used to such sights, as she didn't even flinch at the sight of him dying. How scary, I thought as I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

  "Daphne, Daphne? Daphne!"

  "Huh? What?"

  "You were spacing out!"

  "Oh, sorry..." I said, scratching my hair bashfully and averting my eyes.

  "From now on, I'll be the one to carry the bag."

  "S-sure..."

  "What's wrong?" She asked, probably sensing the change in my demeanor.

  "Oh, i-it's nothing," I answered. "We should be going to the auction house now."

  "Right," She said with a puzzled look on her face. I didn't know much about her past, but my instincts spoke to me and told me that she was dangerous. They weren't always right, but I felt it wise to keep my distance as I approached the Pegasus that evening. As we took off, I could only hope that the others weren't like her.