The Guildhall—Orelia's Room [8:42 PM].
Moments after dinner had finished, Fei hurried up the stairs of the guildhall without another word to say to the guilders. In the next moment, she headed into Orelia's room.
"...sigh. That's over with," closing the door from behind her with a sigh, Fei's body slowly moved towards the ground with her back now leaning against the door. "..." Soon after, her eyes glanced around the dim room with a seemingly dejected demeanour. "...today was supposed to be my first day. But... I blew it."
The day after completing her guild ranker's exam, Fei would've been one to look forward to the next day as it was the day where she would begin her duties as a guild ranker. However, nothing came off as expected for her as Kruz had left for a long journey on the very day of her accomplishment. Thus leaving her daughter with a conflicted feeling.
"...man," she muttered out whilst her arms moved towards her knees, hugging them. "You said you promised. But of course. I should've known that it was because you were planning to leave on some long journey."
Fei was no stranger to her father's discrete behaviour of going out for missions. Despite being constantly left in the dark, she waited patiently to be told of his adventures.
But even though she was used to such habits, this was the first time that Kruz had promised to tell her everything. And, it was the first time that Fei had felt such an inky feeling—As if she needed to stop her father from doing anything rash.
"..." At the thought, Fei frowned. "I became a guild ranker so you could tell me everything... But, you're still going to leave me in the dark like that?" Her eyes that had been left staring at the ground soon averted towards the small nightstand by the bed.
In the next moment, her eyes locked onto the small white envelope that was hanging by the surface of the table. "I've waited and waited... But, even then—" Standing up, Fei began to quietly make her way towards the nightstand. Then, her hands reached out towards the envelope as she gripped it tightly. "—why didn't you stop dad then? You should've gotten this feeling too..."
Anger. It was among the conflict of emotions she had felt at the uprising of the situation last night. Towards herself and to her father. Even to Damian who could have stopped all this, even if temporary.
"...sigh," shaking her head helplessly, Fei took a deep breath. "Alright! It doesn't matter whether you're here or not. I'll surely get back at you for this!" Clearing her head of her negative thoughts, the grip of her hand loosened. "If... If you want me to wait, then I will."
...
The next day—[July 28th, 7:30 AM].
Quietly slumbering away into dreamland within Orelia's room—the eyes of a young girl were closed sound asleep as her body was laid well-rested on the bed. Comfortable and relaxed, a small creaking noise of a door opening soon resounded through the room. In the next moment, a figure of a woman entered the room.
"Mm... Hungry..." Whilst Fei was mumbling out in sleep, silent footsteps slowly made their way over towards Fei and, soon after, the figure of a woman—Orelia, quickly arrived by the bedside of where Fei was sleeping.
"Mhm~ Wakey, wakey, Fei!" Orelia shouted out in a delightful voice whilst clasping her hands. "You know that today is the day, right?"
"...mm," as if ignoring the loud noise around her, Fei who was hugging onto her pillow tightly, quickly turned around to the other side of the bed—showing her back to Orelia.
"...Fei," at the sight, Orelia pouted. "Did you not get any sleep? Hmm... Surely you didn't! So..." with a smirk, her hands gripped onto the blanket of where Fei was quietly hiding under—In the next moment, she quickly pulled it off, forcing Fei down to the ground.
"A-Ack...!" Fei cried out in an abrupt voice as she stumbled down to the ground. "Who? What? Where?! Cookie monster?!" Shouting out at daybreak, Fei's head turned towards Orelia in a bewildered manner. "O-Orelia...? What are you doing in my room!?"
"My... Did you forget where you were?" Orelia tilted her head. "Hmm... Well, it doesn't matter! We're going on a vacation, Fei~ A vacation!"
"...a vacation?" Still, in a bewildered state, Fei blinked. "What?"
"Fei... Did you really forget?" Orelia pouted. "We're going to Brime! The city of entertainment~ We're going to enjoy our time there! So get ready! Damian and Xander are already waiting down the stairs for us. So chop-chop!"
"The city of entertainment?" Fei mumbled out as she rubbed her eyes. Soon after, she stood up from the ground. "Ah right... We are going on a vacation. But Orelia... Isn't that just an excuse to—"
"Hurry up and get ready!" Orelia stated as she grabbed onto Fei's collar, soon she began dragging her out of the room. "We got to reach there by noon to fully enjoy all the attractions that Brime has to offer!"
"...a-ack, Orelia...?!" Feeling her feet being dragged against the floor, Fei slightly struggled to be released from Orelia's tight grip, however—she failed to do so. "W-Wait... Orelia! W-Wait!!"
...
The Lakeside Town, Yumin—Guildhall [7:43 AM].
Whilst Orelia was up on the second floor forcing Fei to get ready, the rest of the group were down to the lobby waiting for the two.
"...well it looks like Orelia kept her words, aha..." Aina chuckled helplessly. "Here I thought she'd be kidding when said she would force Fei to get ready without a single break..."
"It's Orelia. She never backs away from her words," Damian stated in a tired voice whilst resting his head on the table that had both Fei's and his belongings that he packed last night. "Though this begs the question... Why are we going to Brime this early in the morning?"
"Eh... Who knows?" Xander shrugged. "Orelia's been pretty excited since last night. Then again... She's mainly excited for the vacation bit rather than anything else."
"Well... She does need a break from all the things she has done over the past months," Roy slightly smiled whilst leaning his back against a wall by the side of the guildhall. "I don't blame her for being this excited."
"True... She has been overworking herself," Aina nodded her head. "But... Couldn't the same be said for you as well? I've never seen you take a single break ever since you arrived at the Yumin Branch. Why not join them?"
"No thanks, it's fine," Roy coughed. "I have my own balance of relaxation between duties and my own things. So, I don't need to go out and about to other cities for a vacation or even a small break."
"...really?" Xander raised his brow in suspicion. "Don't you want to visit other places? Heck... I've never seen you miss a duty actually."
"It's nothing, really. I find duties relaxing as well, so there's that," Roy nodded his head. "Besides. I'm not exactly interested in visiting other places if not for work purposes. It just doesn't interest me all as much."
"I see..." Xander nodded his head. "But seriously though, take a break will you?"
"Yeah! Take a break!" Aina nodded her head.
"You two..." Roy sighed as he averted his gaze over towards the stairway to the second floor. "Well... I'll consider it, I guess. But not now. Let Orelia enjoy herself for the time being."
"Wait... You say that as if Orelia would be the only one enjoying herself..." Damian blinked in a dumbfounded manner at Roy. "You don't possibly mean that..."
"...we're done!" As Damian was about to continue with his sentence, a loud voice rang through the first floor, catching the attention of everyone. Soon after, the group all turned in the direction of it, noting that Orelia and a still seemingly drowsy Fei was standing by the exit of the guildhall. "Now then... Chop-chop! Damian, Xander—let's be on our way!"