"You idiots," Aline snapped as Paolo, Shinzo and Octavius walked up to them. "You scared us."
"Did you actually take down all thirty five examinees?" Luna asked.
"We went on a rage last night, it was fun," Octavius said.
Aline sighed. "Anyways, she's the master of Luna's attackers," she said, tilting her head to Ariel. "Do you have anything to say?"
Paolo shook his head. "I already passed my message."
Lamia shook her head, trying to get over what happened. Never had she hosted a rank rising exam, so brutal. And to top it off, only newbies had passed the exams.
She turned to them. "It looks like four out of the five here have passed. The Sandstorm Adventurers fail for having no flags."
Ariel gritted her teeth, glaring at the Cross Heart Adventurers.
Venos smiled. "Good job on passing the first phase. The second phase is a rank two quest. Each examinee gets different rank quests. When they complete their quests, the guild in the location they are in will change their ranks."
He started sharing the quests to the four adventurers.
"We're supposed to hunt down the Alba Pirates," Luca said. "That's a tough one."
Aila nodded. "They're the biggest pirates in Alba, there's no one who can compete with them."
Luca smiled. "We'll just have to do it."
His crew smiled at him. "Of course."
"Some pirate crew has taken hold of Ibari Island." Hyder yawned. "That sounds stressful, can we skip this one?"
"Of course not," Anika snapped.
Alston smirked. "This quest should be easy for us, we're supposed to stop this rampaging gang from destroying the town in their feud."
"I'm sure if it's Captain Alston, the quest is as good as done," Ifeanyi said.
Jason rolled his eyes. "Suck up."
"We're leading the royal family of Alba to Costa to meet their father," Paolo said.
Aline got all up in his face. "You mean we'll have the handsome prince on our ship for at least a week."
Shinzo rolled his eyes. "You're such a pervert."
"What did you say?"
As they fought, the royal family of Alba walked towards them. The prince bowed. "I am Prince Aziz." He pointed at the princess and the goat. "This is my sister Anisa and our travelling goat, Cairo."
Paolo smiled at him, bowing. "I'm Paolo, the captain of the Cross Heart Adventurers, it's nice to meet you."
"We'll be in your care," Aziz said, stretching his hands towards Paolo.
Paolo shook it with a smile. "We'll be sure to take you to Costa safely."
Lamia clapped her hands. "And with all the quests passed, the second part of the exam begins now."
.....
"I'm curious to know, but why exactly do low rank adventurers like us have to take you to Costa?" Paolo asked the prince.
"Normally, it would make sense to go for a higher rank, but to avoid suspicion that we've left the castle at all we chose to play it safe," Aziz said. "It's better no one knows that we're out at sea, the Ichi Army has been targeting royals."
"I thought they were a myth," Octavius said, preparing the sails of the ship.
"They aren't very rampant, but they do exist," Aziz said. "They recently attacked an Earthian Noble in the West Sea, but the Earthians put it under wraps. Smaller countries like Alba don't have the resources like the Earthian Nobles to survive an attack by such a huge army."
"Well you don't have to worry about anything," Paolo said smiling. "We'll make sure to send you to your father safely."
Aziz smiled. "Then I'll be counting on you."
Aline dropped the anchor into the water. "Captain, we're ready to leave."
"Octavius control the helm and get us out of here," Paolo ordered.
"Yes sir."
The crew pulled out of the harbor, Luna holding up her map of Alba. "Hey, about the Ichi Army, what if we get caught up in their attack."
"We just keep moving forward until something happens," Paolo said. "I reckon they'd have at least up to a thousand men if they were to chase us."
"That's a serious problem," Aline mumbled.
"Well it doesn't matter," Paolo said. "So Aline get me some food."
Aline sighed. "This guy…"
"I wouldn't mind fighting an evil army," Shinzo said.
Octavius laughed. "That would be fun."
Paolo smiled at his crew's cheery mood. "Alright then, to Costa."
...
Ariel stepped into her ship on the harbor, flinging the rubber that held her hair up to the floor.
"Those damn adventurers, what am I supposed to tell Commander Leon," she snapped, removing her black coat, revealing a biohazard symbol on her shoulder.
She picked up her communication hub.
"Yes," a gruff voice answered at the other side.
"It seems the royal family of Alba have decided to entrust their lives in the hands of some newbie adventurers…I was hoping we would be the ones but…"
"Don't worry about it, Ariel. I have a plan B, so for now, just head back to Hasab."
She grinned. "Yes sir."