The Lakeside Town, Yumin—Guildhall [2:46 PM].
Within the guildhall, Maria impatiently paced about on the wooden floors whilst biting her fingers in anxiousness.
"Mm... when will they be back?" she muttered to herself.
"Maria, please calm down and have a sit," Aina uttered in worry. "You've been like this ever since Fei and Damian left..."
"I can't help but move around..." she said still in midst of walking back and forth. "Anaya and Teri could be hurt right now because of me!"
"Calm down, I'm sure nothing happened to them," she replied. "Roy is with them too, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
"But even then... the kid's safety isn't guaranteed!" Maria cried out. "Those rascals might have ended up lost within the ruins, so it might take ages for them to be found!"
"Maria..." Aina looked at the woman who was still pacing back and forth with solemness. "Everything's going to be alright. Trust me."
"Will it really?" Hearing the comments from Aina, Maria stopped in her footsteps. Momentarily after, she turned to Aina with a fearful expression.
"Yes, everything will be alright." Aina placed her hands on Maria's shoulder in reassurance.
"...right, everything's going to be okay..." she took a deep breath, calming herself down.
As the two conversed with one another, the doors of the guildhall opened loudly as Fei was seen entering the room. Soon after, her legs fell to the ground as she laid there.
"Ahh~ We're back!" Fei rejoiced.
"...Fei?" Aina was taken aback by Fei's sudden action as she hurriedly made her way over to her. "Are you okay?!"
"...huh?" Her head lazily turned to Aina in a confused expression. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"Well... you're lying on the floor... so I was worried that you might have been hurt..." Aina muttered out.
"Huh? I'm just fine! I don't get why you're worried..." Fei pondered on the words from Aina.
"Ahem... she was worried because any sane person wouldn't lay down on the floor the moment they enter into the building," Damian scoffed. "Who wouldn't think they'd be dead from fatigue if they saw that?"
"Hey, I'm just a little tired okay!?" Fei pouted as she sat up.
"...so now you admit you're tired?" he glared at Fei with disbelief.
"N-No! Nothing of that sort!" she quickly refuted. "I just uh... wanted to rest, that's all!"
"What kind of excuse is that?" he sighed. Quickly, he moved past the fallen Fei, making his way over towards Maria.
"D-Damian... are they alright?" Maria gulped. "I don't see them anywhere..."
"They're right here." From the doors of the guildhall, Roy entered the building quietly and from behind him, two kids hurried in, swiftly rushing up to Maria.
"WAAHHHH!! MARIAA!!" The kids cried out.
"Anaya! Teri!" she hurried to them, quickly hugging them in her arms. "You're safe...!"
"Sob... it was scary..." The two sobbed.
"Don't ever worry me like that ever again! Do you know how worried I was?!"
"We're sorry... we won't do it again..." Teri stuttered.
"It's okay now... all that matters is that your back safely," Maria continued tightly hugged the two.
"My, what a happy reunion~" Another voice resounded from the entrance of the guildhall, turning to it, the people within the building saw that Orelia had entered. While she did so, she forcefully picked up Fei from the ground.
"O-Orelia...! What are you doing?!" Fei exclaimed.
"Picking you up from the dirty grounds, of course?" Orelia replied. "I haven't mopped them today since I was preparing for today's exam, you know. In any case, why were you lying on the ground? This is no place to rest."
"U-Uh... because I was tired..." Fei stated. "I was too lazy to reach the chair!"
"Fei, Fei..." Orelia helplessly shook her head.
"Orelia, I see you're back huh?" Roy welcomed. "How did it go?"
"Paperwork and everything else is done~" Orelia chuckled in joy. "Though, this guild master of ours should have done all this in the first place."
"Aha... what can we do?" Aina said helplessly. "Balmar's quite busy as far as I'm concerned."
"Sigh... how long will he be in Brime for? Is he drinking or something?" Orelia clicked her tongue. "Laurence is such a bad influence on that guy."
"Hey, hey, aren't you one who's a heavy drinker too?" Roy teased.
"What? I'm a responsible drinker unlike Balmar and Laurence," she let out a cough.
"Sure..." Damian glared at Orelia.
"H-Hey, what are you looking at me like that for?" she continued to cough slightly. "In any case... it seems that you and Fei happily completed your first mission huh? Congratulations~"
"Ehe, it was of no problem!" Fei smiled excitedly as her face was down on the table in an attempt to rest.
"Mhm~" Orelia hummed happily. "Everything's solved and it's such a great first day for being a guild ranker, isn't it? Hehe."
"Yep!" she replied enthusiastically with her face still lying on the table.
"Fei... say that with your face facing Orelia..." Damian turned to Fei helplessly.
"Agh, I'm lazy!"
"You and your laziness," he shook his head. "Whatever, you do you."
"Yes, I do me!"
"Haha, anyways," Roy glanced over towards Maria. "You three should head home now, Anaya and Teri must be quite tired."
"Right... we will do so," Maria bowed towards the group. "Thank you so much for your help..."
"It's no problem. Take care you three," Damian said as the three left the building. "Sigh, well that's over with. Now what?"
"Hmm? You still want to do more jobs?" Orelia tilted her head.
"NOOOOO, PLEASE NOT ANYMORE!" Fei shouted out, finally moving her head away from the table.
"...cough. That's not what I meant..." Damian helplessly sighed. "You said something about paperwork, right? I assume it has something to do with us."
"Oh, yes, yes!" Orelia nodded her head. "But, we can't do much right now without Balmar. He has to be here."
"What about him that makes this important?"
"Well... he has some mana in which is required for this specific thing," Orelia helplessly said. "Unless we head down to the capital, we can only make do with waiting."
"Just what time is it anyway?" Fei asked. "Time feels so slow right now!"
"Currently it's 3:21 if, by estimation, Balmar should be back at four or so," Roy stated. "Well... that is if nothing happens."
"He isn't really drinking, right...?" Fei blinked.
"Of course not," Aina chuckled. "Well... that's what I like to hope."
"What was the main reason that he went out?" Damian questioned.
"No idea," Roy shrugged. "He hasn't said a thing to us, just that he'll be back this evening."
"Hmm... so everyone has no idea?" Fei pondered on the thought as she quickly stood up from her chair. Quickly, she made her way up the stairs of the guildhall "Then, I'll just go and sleep! Wake me up when Balmar's back."
"Yeah, yeah, go and have your needed sleep," Damain said in a lazy tone. "I'll just do whatever for the time being."