Having an instructor in the group opened a new world of possibilities when it came to questing. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Ki instructed Fina, “Go on. Show them how cool you are.”

We watched as the two argued back and forth for a moment, Ki having the upper hand for some odd reason. Finally, with a heavy sigh, Fina took out her guild card and displayed it.

Fina Schall

Summoner: Level 49

Status: Adventurer

Guild Rank: S

Restrictions: Magical Contract (1)

Guild Fame: 1,092,123

Kalli and I looked at one another. I had to suppress a laugh.

What are the odds that her one contract is with Ki?

Kalli’s bubbly giggle made its way to my ear through mate chat. Pretty high, I’d say. I want to know how she got that much guild fame. It’s a lot higher than ours.

She had a point. The fact that she had access to S-ranked quests also opened a new world of possibilities for us. With the ultra-high rewards involved in those quests, we could work off Kalli’s debt extra fast.

When we arrived at the low-rank quest board, I hesitated. Kalli and Run went to work rummaging through the C-ranked quests while I looked back and forth between Ki and Fina.

Kiki noticed my confusion and laughed. You want to do a higher-ranked quest, don’t you?

I nodded vigorously.

Why are we looking at these quests when we have an S-ranked person right here?

We had Kalli and Run’s attention now. They both turned their attention from the board back to us. Ki just laughed and waved me off. Woah there, cowboy. S-ranked quests take a small army to complete. I was talking about maybe convincing Fina to let us pick up a B-ranked quest.

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear and I let her know it, muttering in group chat.

…but we need money for Kalli’s contract.

Kiki raised an eyebrow at me. I’ve been keeping tabs on you. You took a job as an instructor at The Academy and you work for that smithy Masamune. Combine that with Kalli’s job and you should make the 1000 gold with plenty of time to spare.

I gaped at my self-appointed sister. Was she stalking me? In an effort to convince her to take on a more difficult quest, and not wanting to tell the entire group about my financial difficulties, I whispered, “I only get 100 gold per semester for teaching and Chogu hasn’t exactly told me what he is going to pay. B-ranks only pay 10 gold. Can we at least do an A-rank?”

Ki had no interest in hiding my embarrassment when she started barking at me in group chat. What do you mean 100 gold per semester? That’s robbery. That old goat needs to give you at least 300 gold. And the blacksmith, you shouldn’t agree to work if you don’t know what you’re going to be paid. I’m going to have words with both of them. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be called your sister.

You are the only one who calls yourself that.

We all felt Kiki’s theatrically broadcast her wounded feelings before she replied. Are you saying that you don’t want to be my brother? You’re all the family that I got.

Suddenly, I felt guilty. Even though I knew that she was probably toying with me, I felt bad making her think that I would ever abandon my sister even if we weren’t actually related.

I didn’t mean it like that. I’m glad that you’re my sister.

Raverly could seem to miss a moment to be shocked that I knew girls. Dude. She’s your sister? Since when?

The playfulness in Kiki’s voice was gone when she howled at the boy. Since I say so. Butt out before I make you agree to do things you won’t like.

Run, who was standing next to Ki, raised an eyebrow at her and said, “What kinds of things that we don’t like?”

She winked at the long-haired boy and said, “Try me and find out.”

Run wisely raised his hands in the air and shook his head, backing away slowly. Kalli watched intently and informed me. She’s scary.

Tell me about it.

She grinned. I kind of like her.

Me too.

Kiki turned her attention back to me. Don’t worry brother, it looks like I’m going to have to be your manager. I’ll renegotiate the pay for both of your jobs.

Was she about to put me under one of her contracts? Kalli took my hand in hers and gave me a gentle squeeze when I started to feel apprehensive. She turned to Kiki and said in group chat, Can you renegotiate our pay?

The negotiator cackled at Kalliphae. Honey, everything is negotiable. One thing that I’ve learned is to never settle. That and if boys make stupid requests, make them pay the stupid tax.

Kalli grinned at my adopted sister. Can you teach me how to do that?

Ki leaned closer to the redhead until they were almost touching foreheads. “Can I trust you not to misuse this power? Let’s go on an adventure together and I’ll think about it.”

It turned out that Fina Schall didn’t like being addressed by her last name. At 24 years old, she felt that she was still young enough to go by her first name, even for us students. We spent a little time looking at the quest board before Kiki suggested, “We should take them to the dungeon.”

Fina raised an eyebrow at the girl, “Do you really think that they are ready for that on their first quest?”

A dungeon sounded fun, so I defended our experience, “It’s not our first quest. We’ve been on an S-ranked quest before. We can do it.”

She still looked hesitant. While Kiki tried to convince her, I sent a question in group chat.

Why don’t we invite Fina to the group?

Kiki, who was still mid-sentence with Fina, replied. She is in a special group with the guild and The Academy. That way if anything happens to us while we are on a quest they know exactly where she is and can send help.

I was amazed at how thought out the group system could be. It made me wonder how many of our friends had left their groups to join ours, so I asked Kiki.

Were you in a group like that before you joined us?

Ki stopped talking to Fina for a moment to turn her full attention to me. I wasn’t in a group before you invited me. You probably didn’t notice but most of the other kids in school are intimidated by me.

If there was one thing I knew about, it was being the outsider.

You never have to worry about that with me. We’re family now.

Kalli beamed at Ki and chimed in. Me too.

Wendy’s singsong voice quickly followed. And me.

Joe spoke for the guys, who also agreed. Us too. You don’t have to worry about scaring us off.

For the first time since I met the girl, Kiki looked vulnerable. Her eyes watered causing Fina to ask if anything was wrong. She shook her head and spoke to all of us in group chat. Great, I’ve totally just gone team nerd.

Wendy giggled. And just what’s wrong with that?

Joe also laughed. Welcome to team nerd.

After a moment of silence, Rave cried out. I am not a nerd.

The laughter in group chat made it impossible to hear anything for a full minute. When it cleared, Kiki announced. That settles it. We’re all doing the dungeon.

As we walked to the dungeon I had to ask the question.

Is there really a dungeon in downtown Los Angeles?

Half of the group laughed. Kiki cleared her throat to calm them and explained. There are real dungeons all over the world. A dungeon isn’t just the basement of some creepy castle. The name can be applied to any den that contains monsters and/or treasure. The place we’re going to happens to be a fake dungeon. What I mean is it’s man-made. The guild made a dungeon and populated it with specific monsters and treasure to give rookie adventurers a place to train.

We turned another corner and approached a stairwell between two large buildings. On the way down the stairs, I felt sudden gusts of wind blowing up the stairs and a strong smell of motor oil. I gasped in recognition when we reached the bottom and I saw the subway tunnels.

Kalli leaned in close to me and asked. What is this place?

It’s a subway station.

She gave me a puzzled look. What is a subway?

I had to figure out a way to answer that wouldn’t further confuse her.

I know that we haven’t seen any before but a subway is an underground train. A train is kind of like a car, except they found a way to tie a bunch of them together and make it really long so that a lot of people can all travel together.

I was doing a horrible job of explaining.Kalliphae began to ask another question as a train roared into the station.I silently thanked the train when Kalliphae threw herself into my arms.

With a slight rumble and the squealing of breaks, the train came to a stop on one side of the station. I could tell from her the look in her eyes and the feeling she emitted through mate chat that she now had a basic understanding of what a train was.

Fina led us to the other side of the platform where there was no train. When we got to the tracks, she hopped down and motioned for us to follow her. Nervously, I looked back at the crowd getting off of the train and asked, “Won’t those guys say something about a group of us getting on the tracks?”

The woman gave me a knowing smile and replied, “There is a dimming charm in place near dungeon entrances. The unawakened get a sense of tunnel vision when they enter one. They will not notice you unless you address them directly.”

One problem solved, I asked about my other fear, “What about trains? We can’t just walk on the tracks. That’s dangerous.”

By now the other students were helping each other onto the tracks while I stood stubbornly on the platform. Fina, experienced from a history of explaining dungeons to new students, answered, “The trains will not run on tracks when the guild is present. The unawakened experience this as unexplained delays.”

Noticing that the rest of our group was already walking into the tunnel, I quickly hopped down and began to follow. I was kind of surprised that the other group was there with us instead of out on their own quest, so I said, “I thought we were limited to groups of four. Are we all on the same quest?”

Fina explained, “We decided to go to the dungeon with both of your groups today. Once inside, we will go our separate ways.”

I was unsure if I was starting to annoy Fina with my questions but she seemed to be dealing with me patiently. The subway tunnel was filthy but well-lit. We walked about half a mile before we came to an access panel that the other advisor stopped to open. As it was small, we all had to hunch over to climb through.

The room we entered looked like a locker room. In the center of the room were a bunch of benches that faced cubbies lining the walls. On the far side of the room stood a series of closed doors numbered one through ten. Several of the doors were red but the majority were green.

Fina smiled and announced, “Good. It’s not crowded today. I was hoping that lucky number 7 would be available.”

Turning to Kiki, I asked a question in group chat.

Is number 7 an easy one?

Kiki laughed and explained. Not necessarily. Dungeons rearrange themselves after every delving. She has no way of knowing what lies beyond that door. She’s just superstitious.

Not realizing that we were talking, Fina turned to address our group, “The dungeon always starts at F-rank. The deeper we go, the tougher it gets. We have all weekend, so be ready to practice as we go. We will sleep in safe rooms so you can get the most out of your training.”

I turned to Kiki again.

Safe rooms?

Ki snickered at me. What? Do you have a problem sleeping with girls?