"h.e.l.lo?" She called out.

A heavy craahing sound ensued from the room behind the front desk as metal clanged out in a melodious avalanche.

"Dagnabbit!" A frustrated voice leaked out from the back room.

"Is everything all right?" Robin called out.

The s.h.i.+ny red face, bulbous nose, and bushy red beard of a dwarf poked his head out from the doorway.

"Fine, everything's fine!" The dwarf scowled. "I simply stubbed me toe on a pile of metal sc.r.a.ps is all."

The scowl lightened a bit as the dwarf introduced himself.

"I'm the owner of this here store. The name's Cog. What can I do fer you?" He asked gruffly.

Robin took out the parcel in her magic bag. "I was tasked to deliver this parcel to you from Fievel in the Ekkins.h.i.+re kingdom's capitol. Can you please sign here?"

She handed over the weighty bundle, as well as asked for his signature on the delivery quest form. Without this signature, Robin couldn't consider her quest to be finished. The Dwarf scrawled a squiggly line and lifted the parcel from the counter.

His scowl melted away, and an excited, jolly grin beamed from the face of the dwarf.

"No way, He found it!? Ahaha! Finally! I had almost thought my search would be fruitless!" He jumped off the stool, and scurried into the backroom, where yet another even louder avalanche of metal sounded out.

Robin, seeing that her errand was finished, then left the blacksmith shop.

"Now what?" Gerard asked.

Robin pointed down the street to the adventurers guild. "Now to turn this in." She said.

Once a delivery quest was finished, it could be turned in at an adventurers guild in any city to retrieve the reward. If it was a local quest, though, you could only get the reward at the local branch.

After recieving the reward, Robin, Ponzu, and Gerard, wandered the streets for a bit, buying street food to ease their hunger. Christian, Jasmine, and Keith were left to fend for themselves that day.

--------

At that time, Christian, Jasmine, and Keith were eating dinner on the second floor balconey of an open air restaraunt. Beautiful purple flowers grew along the railing, and down the front side of the eatery, making it seem a bit more welcoming than the other ones. But Christian's face sported an unamused scowl.

Jasmine and Keith watched him with smiles on their faces. While others would only see a simple smile, these two were positively radiating an aura of layered scheming and mischief. It was too bad that Christian's thoughts were preoccupied, otherwise he would have been able to detect this radiating aura. Sadly, though, he was unprepared for what happened next.

"Christian, if you frown for much longer, then the trellis flowers will wilt under your burning gaze." Keith joked.

"Buzz off, Keith!" Christian growled in a dangerous tone.

"Come now, Cousin! You've been pouting ever since we left the mayor's house. And don't you think I haven't noticed. Gerard and Ponzu have made themselves scarce after seeing your frown. Whatever seems to be the matter?" Jasmine asked, concerned.

Christian glared at her with a scrutinizing look, wanting to ask her what she and Robin had to talk about 'confidentially' that Robin couldn't just tell him. He stared at her, in all his pouting fury, before turning his head to glare out at the scenery.

"Nothing." He said. While he had kept it off his face when he was around Robin, his ill humor had been noticed in part by the rest of the company.

"What do you think of Hero Robin, Cousin?"

He suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Well, as the hero, Robin makes a wonderful gentleman: strong, brave, cool-headed, and knows how to make the most delicious sweets! I think we've become rather good friends in these few days." Jasmine replied with a smile. 'Heh heh, I can see what you're trying to do here, hoo hoo~!' She thought. "Why do you ask?"

Then Jasmine paused, and her eyes widened as if a thought came to her just then.

"Don't tell me that, to the Hero, you're actually still attract-"

"No it isn't that!" Christian immediately interrupted Jasmine, afraid that Keith might catch onto Jasmine's nonsense. But, it was entirely too late.

Keith frowned as if in serious thought.

"I can see why you would want to hide it, although it isn't altogether unheard of. The people would be scandalized, and if the queen were to know, it would probably break her heart. And, the King? He would probably almost murder you after finding out...But, as your best friend, I'd like to support you, even though I'm a straight man myself."

Christian hadn't understood what Keith was talking about until that last sentence. But, once he understood, he looked at Keith with a frustrated face.

"In all this time that you have known me, I haven't so much as looked at you with such thoughts. But now it has come to this? Keith, you traitor!" Christian glared accusingly.

"Well, I would have completely believed you if I hadn't chanced to see you two in the garden when we were staying at the mayor's estate." Keith shook his head, sadly. "It was as plain as the nose on my face that you've fallen head over heels, already."

"That's impossible!" Christian denied. "I'm a man. Please don't let your fantasies and misunderstanding cloud your better judgement."

"But, you can't help but think, 'If only he were a woman' Right?" Keith asked.

Christian stiffened a bit. How had he-

"It was as plain as the nose on my face." Keith sighed flatly. " Since it was written all over yours. I've seen many unfortunate soldiers falling head over heels for girls in the exact same manner."

"Then you must have seen wrong. Excuse me." Christian left for the restroom with an exasperated, yet otherwise calm face.

While he was gone, Keith looked over at Jasmine. "Do you think that got to him? He didn't seem that concerned." He asked. Yes, in order to thoroughly tease him, Keith had joined forces with Jasmine.

"No, we royals are taught well how to hide our feelings under duress. He's probably beginning to panic by now..." Jasmine replied knowingly as she took a sip of tea.

"It's a pity that Robin isn't a girl." Keith sighed. "Otherwise, in my opinion, they would be a perfect match."

"Hmmm? Ppffft! Cough cough!" Jasmine choked on her tea, as she realized that Keith was right. There was no one better at keeping Christian in line than Robin.

-------------

And, as Jasmine had surmised, Christian was pacing back and forth in the washroom, beginning to fear that what they had said was true.

If it was just one person, he might have disregarded, but having the same thing come from two people at the same time was beginning to erode his confidence.

"It couldn't be true, right?" He wondered to himself. "I just like him as a good friend. His character is good, and he doesn't sugar coat his words or intentions. There's no way that I'm actually a..."

A tiny voice in the back of his mind that if it was really was like that, then why was he so panicky about the idea of Robin getting married.

"Urgh!" He moaned as he put his head in his hands, agonizing over it.

"It can't be!"

-----------

Soon the time flew by, and it was the time for the contest to begin. Since each chef was allowed to have one a.s.sistant in the contest, Robin had chosen Ponzu to a.s.sist her. His cooking magic would be quite handy when trying to keep within the time limits.

"So, what is it that we are going to make this time?" Ponzu asked Robin as they headed over to their a.s.signed work station.

Robin glanced at Ponzu with a confused expression. "I didn't tell you?" She asked.

"I haven't heard a word since you agreed." Ponzu shook his head.

Robin rolled her eyes. "And back in the capital I remember explicitly saying that I was in the mood for sus.h.i.+. Don't tell me that you don't remember?" She asked.