Trevor was awake early the next morning. Despite having laid in bed for what felt like hours trying to get to sleep, he was feeling really good. While he wanted nothing more than to reunite with Adabelle, he basked in the glory of watching the sun rise from between two of the mountains as he sipped from his Vigor Bottle.

The young man wasn’t there long before he heard a door open, and he stood up to see Adabelle emerging from her room.

“Good morning,” Trevor said, walking back into the living space to greet her.

Adabelle’s eyes were half closed in her usual morning grogginess. They locked onto him despite this, and a smile graced her lips. “Morn’n,” she replied.

The woman shambled towards him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pushed him onto the couch. Trevor fell, realizing just how much stronger Adabelle was than he, but landed gently on the soft plush sofa. The young man shifted so that he was comfortable, and she clung to him.

“Trevor,” she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

In this state, she was dangerous. Trevor gently pulled away a little bit to prevent her horns from scratching his face, and she hugged his arm tightly. Once he was sure he wasn’t going to get skewered, he smiled down at her.

“You didn’t eat your Wake-Up Fruit this morning, did you?” he chided lightly.

“No,” Adabelle said. “Wanted to see ya.”

Trevor grinned. “Well, I’m glad to see you, too. Are you sure you don’t want to wake up first?”

“No, lemme cuddle,” she asserted.

“Take as long as you like, I guess.”

Snuggling in closer, Adabelle closed her eyes, and Trevor did the same soon after. Extricating his arm, which made her wrap hers around his waist instead, he began to run his fingers through her long, white hair while also scratching her back. The tail, which he was absolutely sure had a mind of its own this early in the day, wrapped around his wrist though it didn’t hinder him at all.

As he scratched her back, Trevor replayed the events of the previous night over and over again in his head. It had been as close to perfect as he had hoped, and the date had ended incredibly well. The feeling of her lips lingered on his, and he returned to that memory more and more.

Eventually, Adabelle turned over so that she was on her back and using his leg as a pillow. Her tail had refused to let go of his hand, which was now trapped between her and the couch as she yawned, stretched, and opened her eyes. As she saw Trevor’s smiling visage, she seemed to freeze.

“I distinctly remember going to my own bed last night,” Adabelle said quietly, eyes wide.

“And you did,” Trevor confirmed, gently removing an errant stand of hair from her face. “This morning, you came out of your room, tackled me onto the couch, told me you wanted to see me instead of eating a Wake-Up Fruit, and then promptly fell back asleep.”

“I should have eaten the fruit,” she said before hurrying to stand up. “We need to get down to the streets. We’re missing out on a quest.”

“A quest?”

Adabelle nodded as she stared at the tail wrapped around Trevor’s hand. She took it and started manually removing it. “Yes. Do you remember how I said everyone pitches in on the cleanup?”

“I do.”

“The king makes a quest of it as something extra for Summoned,” she explained. “Which may not be as important to you as someone who still only needs a few to level up, but every little bit counts for those of us who have been doing this for a while.”

“You didn’t have to explain it to me, I would be fine with it anyway,” Trevor said as he stood up and removed his backpack from his inventory. “Go get dressed, and let’s do this.”

Adabelle blinked before offering him a relaxed smile. “You’re too good, you know that?”

Trevor shrugged. “Just doing the best I can,” he said.

Taking his hand, Adabelle gave him a gentle kiss before hurrying off back to her room. “Don’t leave without me!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he managed to say before she shut her door, and he couldn’t help but grin as he touched his lips.

Trevor radiated happiness, and he felt that he would continue to do so for a long while. Adabelle emerged wearing the same white top and long, black skirt she had when she brought him soup, and he remembered the first time he realized he had a crush on her.

“You are cute,” he blurted, the words coming out the same moment as when he thought them.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, smiling brightly and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Are you ready to go?”

“I sure am, lady,” he said, offering his hand. Adabelle took it, and they headed out.

The castle was surprisingly empty as they walked through it, a far cry from the whirlwind of activity that it had been, and they took their time. Quest or no, Adabelle seemed to be moving slower than usual, leaning up against Trevor, and he was happy to take things at a slower pace. It helped that he assumed she hadn’t fully woken up yet.

When they stepped outside, he saw where all of the people were. Having seen large events on Earth, Trevor was surprised to see that things really were as described. There was an entire crowd picking up trash through the park, and he could make out people doing the same across the bridge. From what he could see, it wasn’t even all that bad.

[[King’s Quest! Cleanup in aisle city.Stolen novel; please report.

It’s that time of year again! The light show is over, the morning after has come, and now the city is trashed.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not really all that terrible. The people of this world are just different, and nobody wants to destroy their home with garbage. However, it is a festival, so we can expect there to be some cleaning up required, and by golly you’re one of the few people that can see my messages so you’ve been roped into it, too!

Lucky for you, this quest is worth two due to the king’s prerogative. Have fun!]]

“Oh, it’s worth two quests?” Trevor asked, surprised. “That is really good, then.”

“Exactly,” Adabelle responded, about to say more when something caught her eye.

“If it isn’t Lady Adabelle and her messenger boy!” Lailah exclaimed as she approached from the trees. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Lailah,” Trevor replied with a wave.

“Morning.”

“It’s a lovely day outside,” the elf continued. “The city is alive, and everyone’s working. However, I have to admit, that I’m not fully happy even with the double quest combo. Do you know what I need?”

Trevor looked at Adabelle, who smirked. “Gossip, right?” she asked, sounding like she already knew the answer.

“That is exactly right,” she replied, slipping her arm around Adabelle’s free one before glancing at Trevor. “So I’ll be taking her, and you can pick her up later.”

“No,” Trevor said. “I don’t believe you will.”

“No?” Lailah asked as if she had just been scandalized, arching an eyebrow. “Oh. No, is it?”

“It’s a fairly simple word, Lai, I’m sure you know what it means.”

“Wow, Adabelle, you really put some confidence in him, didn’t you?” the elf said, nudging the horned woman with her elbow as she waggled her eyebrows. “That just makes me want to steal her all the more.”

Trevor looked back at Adabelle, and she smiled apologetically at him. “I would like to spend some more time with my sword sister before we leave,” she admitted. “Because I'll be taking over for Jackson, I’m not sure when I’ll be back again.”

“Then that’s all it takes,” Trevor replied without hesitation. “Though, if I can make a demand? Not of you, but her.”

“Of course you can,” Adabelle said, picking up on the potential mischief.

“Of course he can’t, you mean,” Lailah scoffed.

Smiling, Trevor turned to face Lailah. “You may take her so long as you ask nicely.”

“Ask nicely?” the elf asked incredulously. “What kind of demand is that?”

“Should be easy then, right?” he asked. “Just ask nicely.”

“Messenger b-“

“Trevor,” he corrected, interrupting her. “You’ve been calling me messenger boy this whole time, I just want to hear you be polite for once.”

Lailah blinked before nudging Adabelle again. “Wow, you really did knock some confidence into him,” she remarked. “I didn’t think you had it in you on the first date, sister.”

Adabelle shook her head, face darkening, as she realized what the elf was talking about. “We-“

Trevor turned Adabelle to look at him and locked eyes. “I’d like it if she only gets to hear if she’s nice about it, please and thank you,” he said, his face burning up much like hers. “I’m trying to be selfish here.”

“If it’s for the sake of being selfish, then that’s fine,” she replied with a smirk. Adabelle's eyes sparkled, and Trevor had to pull himself away.

Lailah twitched, her curiosity quickly trying to overcome her playfully combative nature. Trevor really didn’t have anything against her, and even considered her an ally after her advice to the both of them. After all this time, he had the sneaking suspicion that he hadn’t been challenged to any duels on account of her calling him a messenger boy. Like Wayne had told him, no one wanted to duel the help.

Also, he liked teasing his friends. The elf, however, wasn’t going to take it lying down.

“Please, Mister Trevor,” Lailah sadly begged, bringing her hands together as though she were praying. She looked up at him with big eyes. “Please let me take my sword sister from your evil clutches. Please, set her free. She’s a young maiden, after all, unless you’ve-”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Trevor laughed. “You made it weird.”

“Doesn’t matter, still counts,” the elf said.

“Doesn’t count, it’s still snarky,” Trevor claimed.

“You want me to stop being snarky? I’m snarky to everyone.”

Trevor shrugged. “Guess you’ll disappoint your sword sister and miss out on how the date went. Too bad,” he said before looking at Adabelle. “Ready to go?”

“It’s a shame, but she’s brought it upon herself,” Adabelle agreed. She turned to Lailah. “I’m afraid we’ll likely never see each other again, as I’m trapped in his evil clutches and I’ll never be set free.”

“You two are mad,” Lailah said before shaking her head. “Fine, I get it. Trevor, may I please take Adabelle for gossip, cleanup, and drinks after?”

“Why, yes Lailah. Thank you so much for asking,” Trevor said, stifling a laugh.

Lailah stuck her tongue out at the young man before turning to Adabelle. “Come on. Ditch your boyfriend and let’s get going.”

“I’m going to work my way towards Klar’s to see if he has anything for me on the way back to Tosa,” Trevor said as he hugged Adabelle. He started grinning when Lailah labeled him boyfriend, and couldn’t stop. “I’ll probably be out and about for most of the day.”

“That’s fine, Trevor,” Adabelle replied. “But don’t stay out too late, we have an early day tomorrow if we want to make it back to the Halffle Inn before dark.”

“Of course,” he agreed, kissing her on her forehead. “I’ll see you later.”

“Be safe,” Adabelle said as she let him go.

“I will,” he answered before turning to Lailah. He offered his hand. “And if I don’t see you, thank you for everything.”

The elf huffed, but grinned and took it. “You, too. Be safe when you’re out there making deliveries; don’t want my sword sister getting sad because you tripped and fell or something.”

“I’ll be careful,” Trevor said with a laugh.

As soon as he started walking away, not even out of earshot yet, Lailah started making demands. “Okay, you need to spill everything. I need every little-“

Trevor chuckled as he got out of earshot and started walking across the bridge. A scream caused him to stop.

"HE TOOK YOU WHERE!?"

Trevor’s chuckle became a full, hearty laugh as he carried on to help with the quest.

Trevor pulled his socks and shoes into his inventory and retrieved the Stubborn Sandals he had purchased from Klar’s Magical Emporium. The pair looked like vaguely foot-shaped pieces of leather, but they stuck on the bottom of his feet comfortably and didn’t come off no matter how much he shook them. They were perfect for the task.

All he had to do was touch the garbage with his skin in order to pull it into his inventory. Thankfully, very few things were wet and gross, so he was constantly tapping his foot against anything that needed to be picked up for the quest to be completed. He was incredibly glad that he could separate the junk from the food still sitting in the section with the slowed down time stream.

It was fairly simple work, and he lost himself in the task as his mind wandered.

Every so often he would drop his trash off in designated areas, removing everything unimportant from his inventory, before getting back to the mindless work of basically kicking garbage into his inventory. It was an easy, anxiety-free job, which was absolutely perfect.

[[King’s quest complete!

Wow, your inventory is really full of garbage! It’s a good thing that you don’t have to clean that thing out manually, otherwise it would be a several day affair including several gallons of soap and a river’s worth of water. Pretty gross, but you handled it like a champ.

In fact, in just the few hours you’ve been working, you’re one of the biggest overachievers of the group! You must really love trash, or you just hate it when things aren’t clean. Either way, you’ve been a big help to the king and the citizens of Eskretet. They’re lucky to have you.

Enjoy your two milestones towards leveling up!]]

Pulled out of autopilot, Trevor blinked and looked around. He recognized that he was nowhere near Klar’s Magical Emporium, and shook his head.

“Well, at least the quest is done,” he chuckled to himself before turning around to wander the streets until he found his destination, picking up any errant trash that was left in his path.