Erin still had his bow and arrow in hand when he observed the situation. He suddenly looked at Techno who seemed calm for a person surrounded by the representatives of the 4 great forces in North Grove.
He then looked at the representatives. They all had faces full of concern yet he could not help but notice that they were not looking at him but the little girl holding on to his t-shirt. Erin looked suspiciously at the calm thugs who had suddenly stopped stumping towards him. He also lowered his arrow as he began to frown.
Christopher was ready for the mass arresting as he had brought 3 large police buses over. Tens of police men came over and locked every one of the thugs as a police van rolled up.
"You 5 can come with me." Christopher said coolly before scanning the Erin, Mevern, Cara and Alfred. As he got to Carlin, he paused for a second before turning back to Erin and Mevern.
"Lets go." Erin could tell that he was not getting out of whatever was going on anytime soon. He got into the van with Mevern by his side without resisting.
Erin observed as the buses in front turned a different direction.
"Where are they going?" Erin asked casually.
"They are going to the station North east from here where there is lots of room. Since you five are obviously not with them, we are just going to the closest station." Erin nodded casually as he heard this. Although he did not believe the man was being a hundred percent truthful, he did not want to assume he was completely lying either.
When they got to the station, Christopher gestured the 5 to his office.
When he opened his office, to the surprise of no one, two prominent figures where waiting for them. Mayor Kingsberg turned around and was met with a surprise.
"Oh Head chief! I thought you only went out to deal with some thugs...I did not know you would be having such unpleasant guest..." Anelisa stared daggers at Carlin who returned the daggers back. Major Kingsberg was also surprised by the size of people following behind Christopher but this shock was hidden deeply under his serious exterior.
"Well you may all have a seat then..." Christopher gestured as he pointed everyone to his table. Erin and Mevern were quick to sit down. The other three awkwardly sat down together and finally, Christopher sat down beside the major.
The office was silent for a long time. They all looked at each other awkwardly. Finally, Erin decided to break the ice.
"What do you all want. You don't have to be a genius to see that what happened with the thugs was staged." Everyone felt their heart tighten when they heard this. Erin crossed his hand as he waited for an explanation. Carlin was the first to talk.
"Well this did not go as well as planned. I will just get right to it. I am Carlin Afolabi, the vice guild master and representative of Power Rangers. Yesterday, a little bird with a mohawk told our guild master that Epic Trooper's guild master was planning to leave the alliance with your little girl's help. We just wanted to get to the both of you before they did." Cara was quick to respond to this statement.
"I don't know about leaving the alliance but we indeed were planning to scout you two in our guild. I am Cara Bright by the way, leader of the scouting branch and representative of Epic Troopers." Alfred scratched his head awkwardly as he heard the two.
"Lightning Warriors were also planning the same thing. Out of the three of us, we would be the most effected. Alfred Johnson is the name." After hearing the guilds say, Erin turned to the head chief.
"I will not lie, we were also given a tip although it was about the murder of the 8 last night. I was prepared to catch someone much more menacing....not a brother protecting his little sister." Chief Christopher said awkwardly. Erin could tell that he was not lying although it appears like the Major and Mayor had heard something different. Erin could not help but give out a big breath when he put together what had happened.
That Mohawk guy probably got a lot of money to stand there, say a few words and get arrested! He now truly understood the saying, life is unfair! After he got the story put together he clasped his hands together and said,
"Well, that was enough bullshit for the day, come on Mevern, lets go." The groups was surprised at sudden action. Carlin stood up and blocked Erin.
"Wait! I know what we did was wrong but, if you give us a chance-" Erin suddenly grabbed Carlin's hand and stared right at here.
"Move, or I will make you move." Carlin's eyes opened wide as she subconsciously moved away. Erin left with Mevern in hand and slammed the door shut.
The office was silent again. Suddenly Cara turned to the shocked Carlin.
"Are you ok?" She asked. Carlin slowly looked at Cara but did not say anything. At that moment when she examined Erin, she had realized something very important. He was not a 2 ranker, he was a third ranker.
After Erin had slammed the door, he was faced with odd stares from police men who were walking around the area. He gave them all an apologetic expression before leaving with Mevern on tow.
Mevern knew that she partly caused all the troubles and so she did not try to cause any trouble although she had her share of glances at ice cream shops and merchandise stores, she made sure to not bother Erin.
The rest of the day went by smoothly. Erin had napped all day while Mevern read history book on key events before the great expansion.
The next day, Erin was woken up by a knock on her door. He looked through the peep hole to see Carlin standing awkwardly in front of his door.
Erin rolled his eyes before going back to bed. Carlin continued to knock and ring their door bell.
"Erin, Mevern? Are you there? I come with gifts!" Erin forced his eyes opened as he woke himself up. Erin slowly opened the door and saw Carlin with all smiles as if he had not threatened her the other day.
"What do you want." Erin said tiredly. Carlin hesitated a bit before giving a gift bag to Erin.
"I come bearing gifts. I would like to apologize for yesterday. We truly did not paint a good light on North Grove." Mevern perked up when she heard the word gifts but as soon as she saw Erin's expression, she went back to bed.
"Oh really now?" Erin replied sarcastically. Carlin looked down guiltily.
"It's just that we needed your help."
"Yeah you a hundred others at this point. " Although Carlin could tell that Erin did not like her very much, Carlin did not falter.
"It has been really rough as of late...North Grove used to be a middle sized neutral city with a nice balance between the three guilds and the Mayor's office. Now there is a lot of stress on all of us. The civilians are already voting on which group would clear the dungeon first. We also have pressure from outside.
Many guilds are trying to enter Grove City in order to clear the dungeon. Luckily, they are being blocked now, but we cannot block them forever...We are going all in this time around. If we don't clear the dungeon this time..." Carlin put her head down as she tried not too think too deeply on the future.
"So what is your big plan Ms. representative?" Erin suddenly asked. Carlin looked up with a surprised expression.
"Really!?" Erin sighed and nodded. In the end it was early in the morning, and the quicker she says what she wants, the quicker Erin would get to sleep.
"Well, it is not what my guild master wants but...I feel like we should continue with the previous plan of an alliance. " Erin raised his brow when he heard this but let Carlin continue.
"We only have 3 2 rankers in our whole guild. And we are all low 2 rankers. This is about the same for the other guilds as well. If we just go separately, we will end up losing members that were never strong enough for the raid." Erin could not agree more. At his current level Erin felt like he would find it hard going through the forest dungeon alone. He had previously only wanted to observe the surrounding areas for clues. If a person lower than 2 rank were to go to an S ranked dungeon, they would just be asking for die.
After Erin heard her plan he could not help but think that she had made a good plan that would satisfy everyone. Erin could also tell that Carlin had done this behind her guild master's back. It was very obvious to Erin that although the representatives seemed to want the good of the guild and the city, the guild masters were getting greedy.
Even Christopher seemed to have been used by the Mayor and her husband as well. Erin could only think that people could never be satisfied. After Carlin finished her speech, she waited for Erin's reply. Erin looked at her mysteriously before looking at the gift basket. He took it and looked inside. Once he saw that it was safe, he gave it to the little girl sneaking peaks out of her bedsheet. Mevern excitedly open the basket and looked inside. Carlin giggled when she saw the cute scene.
She suddenly felt bad about her previous thoughts. She had never even thought of the girl and a child. She was only looking at the benefits the class would have on her guild.
Just as she was about to say something, Erin pushed Carlin out of their rooms.
"Wait wha-"
"I will see how I feel after I sleep. Then we will talk." He then slammed the door on her and plopped right to bed. Mevern continued to examine the gifts while Erin began to snore.