PH1RE'S P.O.V
The inside of the guild was just as impressive as the outside. The halls were lined with trophies, plaques, and weapons displayed in glass cases. Mr. Thorne had informed us that the Red Ravens were a small guild, relatively new compared to other guilds, but they seemed successful. Edward had stayed behind to "fix" the damages Gwyn had caused, so Mr. Thorne led us further inside.
Eventually, we reached a set of large double doors at the end of the hallway. Gwyn burst through them without hesitation, still pulling Maya along with her.
"Dad! Dad! We have new members!" she shouted as she entered the room.
We followed her inside and found ourselves in a spacious office. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and a large desk sat near the back of the room. Behind the desk, a man with dark hair lay face-planted into a mountain of paperwork.
Noticing this, the guild members averted their gazes.
"New members?" said a feminine voice from the corner, where a woman was calmly signing documents.
"Thorne," she said when she noticed him in our midst.
"Lydia," Mr. Thorne replied with a look of thinly veiled contempt.
The tension in the room was palpable as Mr. Thorne and Lydia exchanged looks, clearly sharing a history that neither was eager to revisit. Lydia had striking features—sharp, confident, and just a bit intimidating. Her long, violet hair flowed down her back, and she wore a simple yet elegant outfit that contrasted with the clutter of paperwork she was handling.
"Thorne," Lydia repeated, her voice cool and controlled. She glanced at Gwyn, who was still pulling Maya toward the desk, and then at Bryn, who was practically bouncing on his feet in excitement. Her gaze finally settled on me, taking in my appearance with a quick, appraising glance. Her light blue eyes lingered on me for just a second, but that was enough to make me feel as though I was being weighed and measured.
I hadn't felt this intimidated since I met Mr. Thorne and Adrian for the first time.
"Thorne!" shouted the guildmaster, suddenly raising his head with such speed that he groaned, presumably from the whiplash.
"Lydia! How long have I been asleep?" he asked, taking note of everyone in the room.
She made a show of pondering his question before responding. "Four minutes since you woke up."
"I guess I should've asked how long I stayed awake. Wake me up next time," he complained.
"Apologies, but you kept insisting you weren't tired," Lydia replied with a faint smirk, her voice calm and collected as she signed another document.
The guildmaster sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair, revealing a pair of tired, bloodshot eyes. Despite his fatigue, he looked quite handsome. His muscles bulged against his clothes, his figure clearly powerful and commanding. Yet, despite his intimidating appearance, I didn't feel the same fear that others had instilled in me. What was the difference between him and the others who had put the fear of God in me? Appearance-wise, he had all the traits required to be intimidating.
"Thorne, I got your letter. I was going to write back; you didn't have to come all the way here," he apologized, his voice sincere.
"You didn't read the letter, did you?" he deadpanned.
"Huh! Of course I did, it said... it said..."
"It said that he was coming with new members" said Lydia.
"Yes! It did. Where are they?"
"Right here, Dad," Gwyn said excitedly, finally releasing Maya's hand. "They're going to join us!"
"New members, huh?" Godfrey muttered, rubbing his eyes as he looked us over. "Welcome to the Red Ravens, I guess. Just don't cause too much trouble. We've got enough of that already."
"You can call me Godfrey," he finished with a smile.
"Is that it?" Lydia asked, her expression blank.
"Well, I can't exactly make some grand introduction..."
"Make it less lame at least," she sighed.
"Take our new members to their rooms," Godfrey said, waving us off.
"I'll see you in the morning!" Mr. Thorne said, closing the door behind us.
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After the somewhat chaotic introduction, we were led down another series of hallways. Gwyn, Bryn, and Ethan guided us to a pair of rooms that would serve as our temporary quarters.
"These are your rooms!" Gwyn announced with a flourish, as if revealing some grand secret.
Maya and I exchanged a look before stepping inside. The rooms were simple but comfortable, each with a bed, a small desk, and a wardrobe. A window on the far wall let in the fading light of the day.
"It's not much, but you'll get used to it," Ethan said, leaning against the doorframe.
"Plus, you'll spend most of your time training, so you won't be in here much anyway."
"Training?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah! You'll need to get stronger if you want to keep up with everyone here," Gwyn said, her tone matter-of-fact.
"It's Imperial law that an adventurer must have mana at the D class at the very least. You're both fifteen, right?"
"Yeah! Wait, how old are you?" Maya asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Seventeen," Gwyn answered, sticking her tongue out playfully.
"Same," Bryn chimed in when our gazes shifted to him.
"It's rude to ask the age of someone such as myself," Ethan said dramatically.
"We know you're twenty-one!" Maya and I said in unison, causing a rain cloud to metaphorically form over Ethan's head.
"I forgot you could both just calculate that," he sulked.
"Hah! So you aren't nineteen!" Bryn teased, pointing a finger at him.
"Shut it!"
"How do you both know Ethan?" Gwyn asked, intrigued.
"We're from the same orphanage," Maya replied.
"That reminds me, why are both of you here anyway? You're meant to wait until you're sixteen before leaving. I'm sure you both could have gotten to Class D by then. Why hurry?" Ethan asked, his tone shifting to one of genuine concern.
Maya and I exchanged a quick glance, both of us unsure of how much to reveal. The cheerful atmosphere that had filled the room moments before began to fade each second that we spent silent, replaced by an awkward tension.
"We didn't really have much of a choice, you'd figure it out eventually," I finally said, my voice subdued. "It's best you hear it from us."
"Hear what from you?" Ethan pressed, a hint of concern creeping into his voice.
"The orphanage... It's gone," I answered, the words heavy in the air.
"Gone as in...?" Gwyn began, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Destroyed, burnt to the ground. No longer of this world," Maya added, her tone matter-of-fact, as Ethan's face contorted in horror with each description.
I stared at Maya, ready to reprimand her for being so blunt, but she shrugged it off. "It's better to rip the band-aid off," she explained.
"Ethan, are you okay?" Gwyn asked, noticing his paling complexion.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ethan replied, though his voice lacked conviction.
"What about the rest of the children?" Ethan asked, his voice strained.
"They're safe. By now, they've probably been distributed into other orphanages or something," I answered, watching as he let out a sigh of relief.
"But the Sisters, they all died," I added softly, the words causing Ethan to collapse to the ground as if the weight of the news was too much to bear.
"Ethan!" Gwyn exclaimed, rushing to his side.
"They died—"
"Protecting us all," Maya interrupted, her voice firm. "It's because of them that no one else died."
Ethan took a moment to process this, his eyes unfocused as he tried to comprehend the loss. "I see. And who... who attacked?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"The Cerphurian military," I answered, the name carrying a bitter taste on my tongue.
"I see... Excuse me," Ethan muttered, rising to his feet with unsteady legs.
"Ethan, you okay?" Maya asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Yeah, I'll see you both later," he said before walking away, his steps heavy with the burden of grief.
"Well, that happened..." Gwyn said quietly, still processing the news.
"I've never seen Ethan like that before. That place must have been really important to him. I'm going to go fight him!" Bryn announced, his enthusiasm completely out of place as he bolted out of the room.
"Excuse me, I have to go stop him," Gwyn said, giving us a quick nod before hurrying after Bryn.
Silence settled over the room like a thick fog, neither of us knowing what to say. I finally broke the tension. "You can have this room, I'll take the next one," I said, turning to leave.
"What were you about to tell Ethan back there?" Maya asked, her voice halting my steps.
"Nothing," I replied almost immediately, a little too quickly.
"You idiot! If you had surrendered yourself, they would have killed everyone regardless."
"You don't know that," I shot back, defensive.
"The nuns did! Why don't you? It wasn't your fault, so quit acting like it was," she said, clearly holding herself back from shouting.
"I—" I began, but she wasn't listening anymore. She had already turned away, lying on the bed with her back to me.
"..."
The next moment, I heard her soft snores, her way of telling me to leave. I complied, quietly slipping out of the room and into the one next door.
As I lay down on the bed, the scent of lavender in the air, my mind raced with thoughts. Maybe Maya was right—I did have a habit of making everything about me.
I had made a promise to Sister Claire, even if I die I had to die happy. But how do I do that in a world that's about to go to war. And even if that wasn't the case;
What does it mean to be happy?