As Enora and I arrived in front of the adventurers guild, there was a flock of bird people blocking the entrance. They all had a spark in their eyes as they looked at Enora. I glared at all of the ones trying to get close.
"Is it true!?"
"You really beat Nychibi!?"
"Isn't she actually an S- rank adventurer?"
"No… there is no cri that's true"
"But you saw it… So criing fast…"
I was beginning to notice that the ones who said 'cri' were the parrot bird people. I wondered why I didn't notice before, but more importantly, I wouldn't let any of them take my girlfriend. I held onto her hand strongly as I held my other hand out to block any bird trying to get close.
"Make way you cridiots!" Just like that Annicri had come to our rescue as she stood between us and the horde. "Move or it will be your criking heads!"
The papabirdzy scattered as the fire in her eyes set their tail feathers ablaze. Only once the last one was gone did she turn around and smile at us. "Wasn't it a little excessive to threaten their heads?"
"Crikikikiki, that's nothin. It'll be alcri. Anycri, Lord Harken wants to cri you two again."
"Nope."
"So fastcri! Won't you go at least one more time?"
"Nope." My girlfriend was straight faced as she responded. "Well, there you have it. We are on a quest anyway. Tomorrow we will be heading out of here?"
"CRIIII!? Cri aren't serious? Didn't cri just get herecri?"
"And now we are leaving. That should be crieasy to understand?" As my girlfriend smirked I lightly elbowed her side. "Hey, that's rude. Say sorry."
"Yea that's rudecri! Ugucri…" Annicri put a wing to her eye as she faked tears. "I-I'm sorry!"
"Crikikikiki! No problem. If you cri love birds aren't going to come, it's unfortunate, but Lord Harken told me not to force cri. He did tell me to tell cri, he is sorry for whatever happens. And good luckri!"
"What's that cryptic message supposed to mean?" I couldn't help but chuckle at Enora's pun. "What?" I stared at her blankly. Did she really not notice? It took her a few seconds, but after she seemingly got it she pinched me again. "Ow!"
"Crikikikikiki! Cri are both hilaricri… I'm not sure what he meant. I gotta go. Lord Harken told me to report right away. With your answer. Cri ya!" Just like that Annicri was gone.
"I wonder what she meant?..."
"Who knows? We have a mission, remember!? No use thinking about something we can't know." Enora sighed after a brief moment. "True… I am just worried."
"Everything is gonna be okay!" I put my thumb up to reassure her. "Thank you…" She kissed my cheek before she finished. "...Dork."
"Hey!..." It was too late to reply as we had already walked into the wood tavern like swinging doors. Once they flung open I felt like a gunslinging cartoon character. I wished I had a piece of straw in my mouth and pants that are slightly too big for me. All the better if the pants had a large buckle on the…
"Ow! Will you stop!?" I mean it wasn't that I didn't want her to pinch me, but it wasn't the time for that! "I just had a feeling you were thinking of something silly again…"
I couldn't help it. This interior was too much like the wild west. There were even frames of killed monsters on the wall. The heads sticking out were kind of freaky. Especially the large bear head. It had a beak! There were so many whiskey bottles behind the bar too. There weren't many people here though. Just a few stray birds chilling at the tables. There was even a dwarf in line at the receptionist desk. "Wait. Haven't we seen that dwarf before?"
"He was the one that the Chibi knocked out before." I gasped. It was true, but the guy wasn't drunk this time. He was still noisy though.
"I told ye already to deliver these damn claws to that green kid!"
"But sir, can't you just wait for her to come back to your shop?" He slammed his fist on the desk. It was kind of funny looking. He was in a black apron, and he stood on his tippy toes to see over the desk. "I don't want that kid anywhere near me no more! You see this?..."
He pointed to a bruise on his face. "...That damn kid is gonna get me in trouble with the misses. She be thinkin' imma goin to a brothel…I ain't inta that kinda play! Just take the damn claws…I don't owe her nothin' anymore!" He threw glistening silver claws on the desk before storming past us and out of the guild. The few birds there started to laugh.
"Hahahaha, you see his face?"
"Crikikikikiki!"
"Shut up you lousy birds! Or take a request before I kill you…"
""Yes ma'am!""
Her blue feathers, and the way that she smiled at them made me think of another receptionist. We walked up to the desk hand in hand as it became quiet. She narrowed her eyes at us, but she maintained her smile. "What can I do for my sister's guests, and the talk of the city?"
"So you really are Vernie's sister!?" I knew they had to be related to one another. "That's right, I am Bernie."
"Hehehe…"
"Something funny?"
"N-not at all! I was just thinking you have a beautiful name!" She actually blushed a little. "Th-thank you, Miss…"
"You can just call me Melle! And this cu-..."
"I'm Enora!" She got loud as she cut me off. "Haha, you are both adorable. What can I do for you two?"
"We have this letter. We were going to go as guards of Belethor's cousin tomorrow." She grabbed the letter, and opened it. "Hmm… You are going to be working as mercenaries for a guild quest? Do you know what happens when the guild hires mercenaries that aren't affiliated?"
"No?"
"The guild will take a 20 percent cut, and since you are going to be receiving 20 Fallen Gold Coins for delivering her to Scalego's capital city the branch over there will take 4 coins."
"Why so high?"
"The guild enacted this a few years ago due to some problems we had with mercenaries; however, if you become an actual guild member…"
"Yes!" I quickly raised my arm like I was in grade school again. "Haha, it would be easy to process you, but this is a C-rank request. I know you beat Nychibi, so I could start you at least D-rank. I am not sure about her though." When she said that I deflated. I didn't even know magic or anything.
"Don't look so down. Even if you start at E…"
"If she starts at E neither of us will join. I can vouch for her."
"But I can't just…"
"Just let them both enter as D-rank." A golden bird suddenly appeared behind her and placed a wing on her shoulder. I could see Bernie blush as he touched her. "B-but sir…"
"It's okay. I can sense her magic power, and she is just as insane as the Twilight…"
"I-If you say so… I will process them, but it doesn't change the fact that they will be D-rank. If they join the guild there will be the problem that this is a C-rank request…." Behind us the doors were unceremoniously kicked open, and when I turned towards the loud bang. I was met with mean eyes. Hair as green as spring grass and wings like a forest, she stood there.
"There is no problem if I am in their party is there?" Nychibi grinned. Enora sighed before… "I knew I had a bad feeling…"