Personia slowly walked inside. But when she opened the door and looked inside, nobody was there.
"Now that I think about it, I saw no one when I walked here," she found it strange since this place was not far away from Amon's and Roxanne's room. Usually, there were many people around here. At least a few maids, but no one was seen.
"Did they already stop searching for me?" Soon, a little fear started to come up. Personia was sure that it could not be an attack or something similar. She just thought that they stopped searching for her.
But she did not allow herself to fall into the same misery again. She decided to go to Amon and Roxanne's room, and when she arrived, no one was in front of the door. Her fear rose and rose. She had to be sure. If they decided to abandon her, then she had to be sure about that.
She opened the door a little and saw something she would have never thought could have happened. Amon was lying on his bed, crying. She knew what hardships Amon had gone through his whole life. She knew how often he was hunted out of a city just because he was who he was. But in all that time, he never cried. He was always strong, a powerful leader who always knew what he had to do. A leader who always caught the tears of his people, and now this leader was lying on a bed while crying. Roxanne was beside him, hugging him tightly. But his sadness switched in the blink of an eye to anger. He stood up and threw a table around along with the glasses that were standing outside.
"Fuck! Why can't we fucking find her?" He screamed through the whole room, and Roxanne appeared behind him, hugging him. She did not want him to calm down. This whole eight hours, he was stressed out and could not control his emotions.
"Let it out. It is not your fault. Nor her fault. Nobody is at fault; we just need to search for her." Roxanne made it clear that she would always be there and that she would always help him.
Personia could not see this anymore, she had to go in, and so she did. But when she stood inside the room, she had no idea what she could say.
But she did not have to say anything.
"Personia, you are back!" Amon ran towards her and hugged her. He had to make sure that it was really her and not just his imagination. But when he felt her in his arms, he was sure that she was the one and only Personia.
"I am so sorry for what I did to you and Roxanne. I was so afraid I— "Her sobbing voice was interrupted by Roxanne.
"You must not do something like this ever again. Even if you hurt me. You should never even think that we would be angry towards you." Roxanne had to say these words and interrupted Personia. She hugged her little body together with Amon now, and Personia felt all their love.
"For me, you are like a daughter, so you must never ever do something like this again. Ok?" Amon hugged Personia even tighter, making sure that she could never get away again.
"Uah, I am so sorry. I won't ever do this again." Personia cried heavily and promised herself that she would never ever do that again.
"He is right. For the two of us, you are our daughter." Roxanne's warm and gentle tone made Personia cry even more when she thought that she attacked her.
"Yes, you are also my parents for me, so please let's stay together like this for a while." Personia was still crying but not as hard as she did before. She just wanted to enjoy this moment.
But what no one would have imagined was that Personia would cry like this in just a few years, and then it would have nothing to do with her past.
---
Two days later.
Everything was back to normal, and Amon was just finalizing everything with Bruna regarding her joining the guild. Joining a guild was similar to getting employed by a company, so it was quite common for people to sign a contract.
"Okay, I think we've handled everything. Are you satisfied with your employment contract?" Amon sat there in a good mood, knowing that he would be able to spend time with his daughter again.
Bruna read the contract overnight, and it wasn't bad at all. She would receive a regular salary and, depending on her performance, even earn bonuses. Additionally, she would be entitled to two days of vacation per month, which was exceptional for a guild. Even if she didn't join as a spy, she would still accept such a contract and signed it.
"Of course, the salary varies depending on the department you work in. Firstly, you'll go through a little orientation in each of the twelve departments," Amon continued in a professional tone. He explained that there were twelve departments in the guild, each subordinate to one of the twelve coats of arms. Bruna would first visit a few departments with special assignments and then spend a month working in each of them. She had the option to remove some departments from the list if she wished, but that would mean she wouldn't gain insight into how they operate. The rest of the departments were mainly for completing quests. A few weeks would be enough for her to decide which department she preferred to work in. Once she made her decision, she could only switch departments once a year, on the second Saturday of the month. "Do you have any other questions?" Amon asked, hoping to wrap up the discussion quickly.
"Yes, which department will I work in first?" Bruna wanted to become a member of a department as soon as possible, and she didn't really care which one. As long as she wasn't part of anything, she couldn't move around the guild freely and gather information.
"Sure, you will start in the department of Bjorn, the seventh coat of arms. You'll begin your work there today, so get going," Amon replied, making his dismissive hand gesture to end the conversation.
Angry, Bruna left the room, unaware that Personia had secretly been listening to their conversation. Amon already suspected this, but Bruna didn't notice anything.
"Let's go," Personia said, and then left the room together with Amon.
---
Now, Bruna stood in front of a door, following the instructions she was given. She wasn't stupid; she had a feeling of what they were trying to achieve with the porting crystals. However, there was nothing she could do about it. To complete her last mission, she needed information, and she was sure that spending time in the guild, building trust among its members, and engaging in conversations would be the key.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Bruna knocked on the door, and soon a huge man appeared before her. The man was 210 cm tall and looked like a mix between a gorilla and a human. He had some facial features resembling a gorilla, but his body was furless. He carried a massive metallic hammer on his shoulder.
"You must be Bruna. Welcome to the seventh department," the gorilla-like man said in a neutral tone. He gestured for her to follow him inside, and when she entered, she saw a large smithy.
"In this department, everything we do is blacksmithing. We craft armor and weapons for the guild members, but we don't manufacture items here; that's the task of another department, we sometimes only create their raw form" the man spoke with a tone that suggested he had memorized these lines for a long time.
"Are you Björn?" Bruna had to ask. She heard rumors that the seventh coat of arms looked beastly, but she never imagined him looking like this.
"Yes," Björn answered bluntly. He was a man of few words, only saying what was necessary.
"Hey, Agnes, where are you?" Björn shouted across the smithy, and people stopped their work to look around for the woman named Agnes. Bruna noticed that everything in this vast room was related to smithing, and all the people were engrossed in their work.
Soon, a young woman descended some stairs. She had red hair and wore a sports bra on top and simple jogging-like pants. Her well-defined abs accompanied her large F-cup breasts, and she was quite attractive. The men in the blacksmith couldn't hide their glances at her figure. However, what stood out the most were her unique physical features—dragon scales visible on her back, accompanied by a tail with red scales.
"Is she the one?" Agnes asked with a somewhat aggressive tone.
"Yes, show her everything and see how well she performs," Björn replied, but now in a not-so-gentle but friendly tone. It seemed like the two of them got along well with each other.
"Good, let's start right away!"