After parting ways with Jonathan and waving off Melody, Edward Crowley had resumed his walk towards the Guild Office of Creedwood, alongside his colleague Catherine Darlington, and her two servants, Vincent and Alfred.
Cathy was still embarrassed and embittered by the remarks made by the young spellcaster, something that he was quick to notice.
"Are you still bitter about lord Crowley's remarks, Milady?" Alfred voiced the question lingering in the air around the four.
"I can't help but find them demeaning..." the girl replied "As if he's treating me like a child... I won't allow anyone to look down upon me..." Edward let out a sigh at those words.
"Yet the point is, you still are so young..." he replied "It has nothing to do with you being a mage, let alone being a good or bad one." The statement made the young Darlington heiress's eyes widen.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"You make no mystery of how you're devoted to your magic, and to the Guild." The spellcaster continued "Yet, what I fear is that you may neglect to give yourself time to be your own person. It is vital for people like us to be able to enjoy the life we try to protect, so we can better build our selves and gain a deeper understanding of the future we intend to create, for ourselves and for the people around us. And at your young age, it may be of even higher importance..."
"You misunderstand me, Edward Crowley. It is not so at all." she replied, calmly and earnestly. "Listen, I do want to honor my parents and continue their good work, but I have wishes and dreams of my own. I can't just place them aside, let alone dissolve them and leave myself only with my duties! I don't think any human being is capable of that, and I know you're aware of that, as well..."
"And that is where we come in." Vincent added "We're here to create a balance between her duties and her wishes."
"We are devoted to making sure that our lady's life may prove fulfilling for her." Alfred concluded, to which Cathy smiled.
The two servants had not only the purpose to serve and protect their young mistress, but also to act as her mentors, particularly regarding magic. Edward was fully aware that they were the only family the girl had left, after her parents, both mages, like the rest of her family, had perished while on their duty as protectors of Albion, slain by an aberration while she was of but 8 years of age. The young Crowley had to recognize that, while affected by their passing, Catherine never failed to press onward with determination, showing a tempering beyond her years.
"I'm not alone, Edward, as you can see." she then stated "Besides, you have proven that I can count on you, and I'm relieved to know that. So, you can put your worries to rest." Edward smiled in kind.
"I see..." he replied "But I won't guarantee that they shan't come back to bug me. I have my own duties as your friend, after all."
"I can take it." Cathy readily retorted "Only, please make an effort to see me not as a child, but as someone you can rely on, as I see you."
"That effort, I shall make." The young Crowley replied, to which the Darlington heiress nodded, her smile widening.
It was then that they realized they had reached the doors of the Guild office. Catherine and her mentors stepped in first, followed by the red-haired mage.
Once inside, the four found themselves surrounded by adventurers of any kind, as well as familiars of the mages there present, scurrying about. The first thing they did was to step deeper in the crowd and seek familiar faces.
And familiar faces they did find. Firstly, a brown-haired hunter, surrounded by fellow adventurers of his.
"Ah, Edward! Good morning, my friend!" he jovially exclaimed upon noticing the spell caster.
"Good morning to you, Kain." he replied, with a beaming smile. Then, his eyes wandered to look at the hunter's fellows "You're with friends, I see."
He recognized them all. They were a young human woman with shoulder-length black hair tied in a braid and vibrant green eyes, dressed in a white shirt with short sleeves, a brown leather corsage over the same, green trousers and brown boots, carrying a bow and a quiver filled with arrows, latched on her back; a halfling woman with short fair hair and green eyes, dressed in a short sleeved beige shirt, two brown leather straps covering her shoulders, brown leather fingerless gloves covering her entire forearms, a copper-hued corset top, green pants and brown sandals, armed with two daggers; and lastly, a large, blue-skinned half-orc with short black hair and brown eyes, dressed in a sleeveless beige shirt, a brown sleeveless leather gilet over the same, ochre-hued trousers and brown boots, with an axe strapped on his back.
"Well, someone needs to keep an eye on this bunch of friendly troublemakers, now, doesn't she?" the halfling demurely jested "Especially a certain someone..." She smirked as her eyes traveled towards Kain, who was less than pleased with the playful jab she had thrown his way.
"Teach, can you not, please?!?" he exclaimed.
"Sorry, I could not not." she readily retorted, her smirk widening into a grin "Besides, you know it's true." The presents couldn't refrain from laughing at the halfling's attempt at humor.
"Well, glad to see you're keeping him on his toes, Alba." Edward remarked.
"Nothing you shouldn't expect when you're in this gig." Alba replied, with a nod.
"Good morning, Edward!" the human woman then greeted the young red-haired mage, with a warm smile.
"Good morning, Mina." the spellcaster replied, with a nod and a smile of his own, before turning to the last of Kain's fellows "Ready to break some heads, Fergus?" The half-orc, who had kept a straight, almost stoic composure, grinned, revealing his teeth, larger than that of the average human, albeit not as large as orc tusks, and gave him a thumbs up.
"You know I'm always ready for that, Crowley." he replied, confidently.
"That is, if there are heads to break." Edward then remarked "I'm sure Kain has already told you about our patrol expedition to Peach Green..." Everyone could only nod at that statement.
"Ah, yes." Fergus replied, rolling his eyes "The boring quest."
Of course, Edward had already met Kain's friends and fellow adventurers before. Alba Leavayne was born and raised in a free-spirited halfling community in the outskirts of Creedwood, and had always been one driven to the simple joys of life, as well as to adventure. That is how she had befriended Kain and her family, and even took the care of teaching the hunter to fight at a close range with two blades; Wilhelmina Harper, just "Mina" for short, was a girl born and raised in the city, who had always admired adventurers and read a lot of books about the topic. She was among the first people met by Kain when he first registered to the Guild; and lastly, Fergus Rukhsher, due to his half-orc nature, had always been met with disgust and distrust from almost everyone around him, and had lived a life on the run for a large part of his life, until he met the free-spirited hunter and was inspired by him to register to the Guild as an adventurer. There, he would have found a new home.
"Say, Kain..." Alba remarked "Had you found some game to hunt, at least you would have had some way to kill time, right?"
"You hit the nail on the head, Teach." the young hunter replied, with a nod and a thumbs up.
"Hmmm..." Mina mused, her fingers under her chin "Given the situation, would you think a troll would have counted as game?" It was then that Cathy, followed by her two servants, came to them and joined the talk.
"Well, for Edward, it would most definitely have." she stated. Alba and Mina smiled, while Fergus just snorted, rolling his eyes.
"Hello there, Cathy!" the halfling brightly greeted the young mage "You look as driven as ever!"
"You know I always am, Alba!" Catherine replied, with a bright and confident smile. Mina smiled warmly while bowing slightly.
"Young lady Darlington, gentlemen..." she said "Good morning."
"Good morning to you, miss Harper." Alfred replied on behalf o the three of them, while Vincent and Cathy simply smiled back. Eventually, a grin made its way on Fergus's face as he waved at her.
"Hey there, kiddo." he said, to which Cathy narrowed her eyes.
"Don't call me that, blue skin!" she replied, to which the half-orc growled, while keeping on his smirk. The two stared fierily at each other, tension rising around them, until the young Crowley stopped it, knocking the end of his cane on the floor.
"That is enough." he firmly stated, to which the young heiress and the half-orc berserker looked at the spellcaster, before letting out an exhausted sigh and accepting his resolution to put an end to that petty clash "Fergus, if you have energy to argue and belittle like that, you should save it for your battles." Fergus flinched for a moment to that remark, before letting out a sigh and shrugging
"Touché" he replied.
"If you wish to show your maturity with some witty remark, this is no way to do it, young lady!" In the meantime, Vincent chided her mistress in the meantime. The young heiress could only groan and sigh at words she knew she couldn't reasonably rebuke. Alfred simply bowed in apology on behalf of her mistress.
It was then that two more adventurers approached. One was a young man with ivory, almost platinum, skin, short silver hair and sky blue eyes, signs of the nature of an aasimar. dressed in an armor flashing silver, over a chain mail. Some blue drapes were flowing down the sides of his chest-plate, as he had a dual-headed halberd strapped on his back; the other was an older man, with the same skin and eyes, but longer silver hair, dressed in the same armor, but with the difference that a large blue drape was flowing down from behind his waist piece. He was armed with a sword and a shield.
"You have a lot of guts, for a little girl." the younger one commented, with a grin.
"Youthful recklessness, Darren. That is what it is." the older aasimar replied. Their statements further annoyed the young Darlington mage, who angrily turned to them.
"Oh, don't you two add to it now!" she blurted out.
"Sorry about that, Aaron, Darren..." Edward was quick to say, with a slight bow "Good morning, by the way."
"Good morning to you, young lord Crowley." Aaron replied, with a nod.
Aaron Conaill and Darren Ceallaigh were knights blessed by Lathander, through the dean of the Cathedral of True Dawn. They had faced a lot of fear and prejudice during their lives, but their heritage led them to become knights of Albion, and thus received the blessing of the Morninglord. Aaron was a bit of a mentor to Darren in the ways of the paladin.
"Oh, by the way..." Mina decided to ask the young heiress of the Darlington name "How is Melody doing?"
"Oh, she's doing great!" Catherine replied, her expression immediately lighting up "Her shop is going really well, too."
"I'm pleased to hear that!" Mina exclaimed, her smile brightening up all the more, as Aaron and Darren reacted with a smile of their own.
"Crowley..." The younger of the aasimar paladins then asked, turning to the red-haired mage "Your uncle is still busy with the expedition in the Far East, right?" Edward nodded at the question.
"It looks like work there won't be done any time too soon..." he replied "Too rich of a culture to study, especially in the isle of Hiten... We would need much more information before safely starting commerce with the people of those lands..."
"Well, he will surely have stories to tell when he shall come back!" Darren remarked, with a grin.
"Definitely, Darren." Aaron stated, with a serene, but much more serious smile on his face "But what we must hope and pray for is, first and foremost, that lord Thomas Crowley may come back to his homeland safely, as well as the Lord of Commerce, and the men with them." The alchemist nodded resolutely to that.
"Well, this still doesn't solve the issue at hand." Fergus remarked, in a bored tone "What do we do?"
"Well, we should stand by until we receive orders, or quests are available." Edward readily remarked "We can't stray too far from the office, but aside from that, we're free to do what we desire."
"Plus, if one needs to leave the office, he can always request a special communication necklace to be worn at all times." Catherine added.
"Well, we need to find a way to kill time in that case..." Kain commented, then, after some moments of thought, he came up with an idea "How about a card game? Cathy, would you care to join us?" The young heiress was caught by surprise from that request.
"You've been told from your mentors how to play, yes?" Alba asked, to which the girl nodded.
"Yes, they've told me." she replied.
"Great! It'll be a nice way to pass time while we wait!" Mina exclaimed.
"Well, always better than sitting around, doing nothing." Fergus remarked, with a shrug.
It was then, however, that some lights of magical nature began shining in the lounge. The voice of Guild Master Wildham could be heard.
"Attention: we have been reported a situation in the small town of Rockham."
"Rockham? That's about 10 miles away from here!" Kain commented. Wildham's voice continued its message.
"'It would seem that a small gang of Orc raiders have attacked a commercial caravan on the way to the town, and chances are that they may aim at the town itself next. The receivers in the lounge are to assemble a squad of adventurers to resolve the issue. The chosen warriors will then pick a horse from the steed stable at Knight's Cross and head to Rockham immediately."
The receivers were handed pieces of parchment upon which the data was collected, and then one of them, an half-orc woman with azure skin and brown eyes, spoke loudly.
"According to the information we have, the gang of raiders is made up of 8 to 12 elements. Edward Crowley and Leavayne's team will go to Rockham to engage and rout those bandits!" The 5 adventurers immediately headed out the door of the office and to the stable in the city.
"Ah, finally we're about to see some action!" Fergus exclaimed, filled with excitement.
"Hopefully we'll be able to get there before they can ransack the town or attack the people there..." Mina remarked, seriously.
"The local guards will buy us time until we get there. Let's not make them wait." Kain replied to her companion's comment.
"Well said, Kain." Alba replied to her friend's claim. But he wasn't quite done just yet.
"Also..."
The young hunter brought his fingers at his mouth and let out a loud whistle. In a few moments, three dogs were in sight, rushing towards their master. They had auburn fur and long, pointed ears. Once they were in front of their master, they stopped, panting and awaiting orders. Kain smiled and petted their heads.
"It's time to give hell to some orc raiders who are causing trouble, and we could use your help." he explained "Are you ready?" The three dogs nodded, to which the hunter grinned and gave them a thumbs up.
"Ah, yes..." Alba remarked, with a smile "Kain Wolfwood's fabled blink dogs."
"That's right." Kain replied, confidently "Might as well throw them a bone. They'll be a great help."
"Very well." Edward stated "Without further ado, let's make haste to Rockham." The adventurers nodded and quickly headed to the stable, where the horses used by the adventurers of the Guild were held.
Once they got closer to four of the horses, the quadrupeds took a whiff of their scent, and snorted while slightly bowing her heads in submission, accepting to let them ride them. After petting their muzzle quickly, the five adventurers hopped onto them, Alba sitting right behind Kain, and after grabbing the reins, they immediately began making them move at rising speeds along the street, until they were out of Creedwood.
From there, they rode to Rockham.