She even preferred to wear the same dark blue gloves, refusing any other colored ones that were offered to her with a simple shake of the head.

“Just for future reference, throwing anyone, Triska included, around isn’t exactly a good thing to brag about,” Daniel mentioned with a fleeting look to Alyssa, the witch giggling with a small smile in response. Squeak glanced to Alyssa with a nod before looking back at the monster book with curious eyes as she was seeing monsters that she never knew existed inside the ever-growing guide.

“Aw, but I am a caring witch, Daniel, I’m out here as your protector aren’t I?” Alyssa asked sweetly. Squeak turned to her with a dull expression while pointing to herself, squeaking a few times with a raised eyebrow while Daniel glanced to her with a weak smile. Alyssa showed a dull smile in response and shook her head.

“I was his protector first, Squeak, not to mention that I’m the most qualified here. I’ve given him a comfy ride out here in the outerlands, I’ve agreed to be his trustworthy and dependable witch, and I’m a much better cook than Triska is,” she boasted with a smug smile. Squeak put her hands to her hips and squeaked many more times at the witch with a stern expression, with Alyssa showing annoyance to it while Daniel watched the ant girl curiously.

“Hey, take that back!” Alyssa yelled out.

“You don’t even know what she said, Alyssa, none of us do. We don’t speak ant girl,” Daniel pointed out.

“No, but I don’t like the way she said it,” Alyssa said with discontent.

“You mean the way she squeaked it?” Daniel asked flatly. Squeak pointed to Alyssa and squeaked some more, with the witch growling in anger at the ant girl.

“Seriously, I know she’s saying something that’s complete crap, just look at her!” Alyssa accused while pointing to the ant girl. Squeak scoffed and looked away from her before holding onto Daniel’s arm and pulling him closer to her, the boy jumping a bit as Squeak’s bosom enveloped his arm. Alyssa let out a small gasp before glaring at Squeak with bared teeth.

“Hey, let go of him, I’m his protector out here and if anybody is going to cuddle up next to Daniel it’s going to be me!” she shouted before she darted into the cabin. The yelling of the witch and squeaking of the ant girl were heard from inside the caravan along with Daniel’s futile pleas for them to calm down, all of which were lost in the serene surroundings as a few birds took off from a nearby tree.

Meanwhile, further downstream away from the caravan, Triska was seen standing near a river’s edge, showing an annoyed expression as she had her arms crossed before her. She was wearing her usual style of clothing consisting of a yellow shirt that was ripped down the middle and slender pants that didn’t cover the lower legs, even though this shirt was once brand new at Ashwood before the girl had purposely tore it slightly down the middle after she had purchased it. When asked why she wanted a ripped shirt, her only reply was that she liked it that way, with Daniel just nodding in agreement while the other girls had questioned if she had done so just to get Daniel to notice her breasts more. The girl had her trusty sword sheathed behind her, her dagger holstered at her hip, and an increasingly frustrated expression building by the moment.

“Ok, for the last time, Specca, get out of the water!” she yelled out with a stomp of her boot.

In the river next to her was another girl swimming gently in the current, with only her head popping up above the surface of the water while she had a blissful smile on her face. She had short teal colored hair that went down to her shoulders and green reptilian fins sticking out slightly for ears, a clear giveaway that she wasn’t human. Specca glanced to Triska, or at least the blurry image that she knew to be the temperamental teen, before she looked down with a pout.

“There’s no rush, Triska, Daniel said I could take my time and enjoy the water as much as I wished to,” she stated decisively.

“You’ve been in the damned river for over an hour, c’mon! We have places to be and monsters to meet you know!” Triska shouted. Specca shook her head and looked away with a scoff.

“No,” she retorted stubbornly. Triska growled then dropped her sheathed sword to the ground, the weapon clanking against a stone before the teen dropped her dagger down next to it as well. Specca glanced back to her with a raised eyebrow as Triska walked up towards the river’s edge and kicked her boots off to the side.

“If you don’t get out right now then I’m coming in and dragging you out,” Triska threatened. Specca giggled and looked at her amusedly, her eyes squinting slightly at the blurry figure she saw to be Triska.

“You can’t be serious; you can’t honestly expect to overpower a nixie while she’s in water. You may be a skilled swordswoman, Triska Raylight, but you’re not capable of taking me out of my element by force alone,” Specca laughed. Triska narrowed her eyes as Specca swayed around in the water with a cocky smile.

“Fine, we’ll play it your way,” Triska quipped, then jumped into the water with a splash. Specca giggled then darted back into the water, shooting under the surface to see Triska swimming towards her. Although Triska was a good swimmer, Specca was a goddess of the water. Almost literally, since the nixies were natural born water monsters. This was seen very clearly by Specca’s webbed toes, her aqua blue and light greenish scales that went from her knees up past her thighs and also from her elbows down to her hands. Her long slender reptilian tail also had the same colored scales as it swayed about behind her, coming out below the girl’s light blue petal skirt that had green trimmings, the skirt going down to her thighs. She wore her usual white sleeveless shirt and long blue tie, even in the water as she liked the dignified appearance of the human clothing and didn’t mind getting it wet in the slightest. Of course those were the only articles of clothing she wore however, but her private regions under her skirt weren’t able to be seen clearly by Triska while underwater, the human not possessing the perfect clear vision the nixie did while she was submerged.

Specca swam in circles around Triska, the human looking around to seeing the nixie gliding through the water smoothly and gracefully. Her scales even lit up slightly and caused the water around her to become crystal clear, as if the nixie cast out a slight aura while in her element.

“You can’t catch me, Triska, you couldn’t even if your life depended on it,” Specca taunted playfully, her voice sounding clearly through the water.