On the large open space in front of the Superiors Guild stood the ASH gang trio. Dario had spent the last half hour regaling both Vira and Ava of his exploits in the Wildlands. Throughout his tale, Ava had listened attentively with an expression of childish wonder. Vira, on the other hand, focused more on analyzing his choices.

“I’m glad you put my lessons to good use at least. Going for the ogre’s eyes and balls were truly inspired,” the purple-haired woman praised.

“Hah, desperate times call for desperate measures.” Dario chuckled. “You drilled that into me enough times.”

“Mhm, and making that giant slime and ogre take each other out was pretty good too.”

He smiled cheekily. “I learned from the best.”

“Hmph, perhaps you should pay me up then.” Vira smirked. “If it weren’t for my advice, you’d be long gone.”

Dario snorted. “Let’s not go that far now. I’m pretty low on funds as is.”

“Aren’t you rich?” Vira asked with a raised eyebrow. “I heard you supes get big paydays. Besides, you should be rolling in gold, especially with the allowance you get from your mom.”

“It’s not allowance, damn it. I worked for every copper I earned at Haven — you know this.”

“Uh-huh.” She smiled mischievously. “From your job as a glorified pimp, right?”

Dario sighed. “For the last time, I was a host, not a pimp. My official title was Master of Ceremonies — the MC. There’s nothing pimp-like about that.”

“What’s a pimp?” Ava asked innocently as she skipped alongside them.

“Nothing you’ll ever have to worry about Ava,” Vira said. “Not on my watch at least.”

“Okie,” the little blonde girl chirped.

“Anyway,” Dario rolled his eyes. “I don’t really do much hosting nowadays, especially since I’m transitioning to monster-hunting. So... I don’t really have much at the moment.”

“Don’t you get a lot working for the Guild?” Vira asked curiously.

“I technically haven’t started yet, because of, you know, the whole losing my foot thing.” He grimaced.

“That’s still hard to imagine,” she muttered, glancing down at his feet. “And growing it back sounds really fucking weird. Ava, check again to see if his foot is really there.”

“Okay!” Ava said cheerfully. She then proceeded to hop up and down on his foot with child-like enthusiasm before eventually backing off. “Yup! It’s there.”

Dario shook his head and sighed.

“Just making sure,” Vira said with a smile. “Just following the old saying, ‘Trust, but verify.’ ”

“Uh-huh. Can we go over and head inside the Guild now?” he asked.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said eagerly.

Ava nodded just as fervently beside her. It was only then Dario remembered that the two of them had never been near the Superiors Guild, let alone gone inside it, so he could understand their excitement.

As the three of them approached the entrance, the two guards who were in the middle of conversation moved forward to intercept them.

“Halt!” they called out. “State your business!”

Dario had just pulled out his Status Band when he vaguely recognized the voice. “Wait a minute… James? Is that you?” Dario asked, his eyes widening in recognition.

Aforementioned guard groaned, “Oh please, not you again. I just started my shift!”

“Do you know this guy?” Vira asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, I tackled him through that door a while back.” He pointed at the entrance. “But he asked me to do it.”

“Wha— I most certainly did not!” James, the guard, glared at him. “You said you were just going to try and push past me!”

“And I did, didn’t I?” Dario said in amusement.

“Gah, whatever.” James threw up his hands in frustration. “Just tell me why you’re here this time.”

“I’m here as a Superior so I don’t really have to tell you anything to enter now, do I?” Dario raised and presented his Status Band.

“No, but you did bring non-Superiors with you, so it actually is our business to question your presence,” James said.

“They’re with me. These two are here to report on some strange kidnappings going on in The Slums, and I’m here because I have to check in with the Guild,” Dario explained.

“Hmm, alright. You can go in.” James nodded his head and looked over at Dario’s companions. “But those two can’t go inside. What they can do, however, is write down their statements on the forms over there.” He pointed towards a stack of papers on a table behind a nearby pillar.

“What? Why can’t we go inside?” Vira asked with narrowed eyes. “How do we know our reports will be taken seriously? We all know Superiors don’t really give a shit about The Slums. I really think I should go inside and talk to someone about this personally.”

“I’m afraid not,” James shook his head, steadfast. “I assure you that your reports of criminal activity will be carefully reviewed and an appropriate response will be dispensed. Those papers over there are made of Linked Parchment so anything you write will be seen by the people inside.”

Before Vira could angrily retort, Dario grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. “Just do as he says, Vira. I’ll go inside and tell someone that this issue should be taken seriously.”

The hazel-eyed woman angrily huffed in response. “You better.”

“I will. You know I care about ASH just as much as you.” At her narrow-eyed stare, he rectified, “Okay, almost as much as you.”

“Fine. Come along, Ava,” Vira ordered as she walked to the table. However, the little blonde girl stayed put in front of the guard.

“Are you sure I can’t go inside, mister?” Ava asked, looking up at James with sad puppy dog eyes. “I’ve always wanted to see the Guild. May I please take a peek?”

James face softened for a brief moment before looking away, awkwardly coughing. “...no.”

“Darn it.” The little girl snapped her fingers in frustration and trotted over to Vira.

Dario chuckled and called out to his travelling companions, “I don’t know how long I’ll be inside, so don’t wait on me you two!”

Vira hummed in acknowledgement while Ava cheerfully waved.

Dario and James looked at each other, one in amusement and the other in resignation.

“Just go in,” the guard grumbled.

“Good to see you again too, James.” Dario nodded at the man as he went inside.

He looked around and noticed that the interior of the guild was the same as when he’d first tumbled through all those days ago. In front of the newly refurbished door was the receptionist’s desk, and to the right was a sizeable lounge with various couches and tables. There weren’t many people around, as only about five people occupied the common room, some of them he vaguely recognized.

The receptionist, on the other hand, was someone completely new to him. It made sense since it was Psylink who had briefly taken the post the first time, and she was probably too busy with her duties as Guildmaster to be substituting again.

“Can I help you?” the dark-skinned, green-eyed woman asked, looking up from some paperwork as he approached.

“Uhh, yeah, I’m here to check in and inform management or whoever’s in charge that I’m ready to start working. My name’s Dario Sindred and I recently registered and joined the Guild,” Dario explained.

“One moment please.” She reached over to grab a nearby stack of papers and started perusing the contents. “Let’s see… Sindred, Sindred, Sindred…” she muttered as she looked over a list of names. “Ah, here we are! Dario Sindred… a Freelancer, huh?”

“Yup, that’s me.”

“Excellent.” She then picked up a cube-shaped Record Device and placed it before him. “If you will, please present your Status Band for confirmation.”

Dario complied and tapped his Band against the cube. The receptionist looked it over and nodded her head in satisfaction. She then took a moment to write something down on a formal-looking piece of paper.

“Okay, Mr. Sindred, you’re good to go. As a Freelancer, you don’t have to go under any mandatory training, however, you are still required to join a team with at least one veteran as a member to guide you. Are you aware of this?”

“Yes, I read it on the contract.”

“Good.” The woman nodded her head and steepled her hands. “As you are currently solo, you have two weeks to find a team that fits the criteria. Otherwise, a group will be assigned for you. Once you have a team, you must complete at least one task each month every month, as stated in the job contract.”

“Err, I don’t really want to spend any time looking for a team, so is it possible for the Guild to assign me one right away?” Dario asked sheepishly.

“That was actually what I was about to say next,” she said with a smile. “As it stands, there does happen to be a free slot on a team that formed recently. The non-veteran members are all brand new Freelancers, like you, so it might not be the experienced group you’d want, but—”

“I’ll take it,” Dario said, feeling both enthused and relieved.

“Excellent, let me just mark you down for that team.” She quickly jotted something down. “Alright, you are now officially a member of team V-33. That’s your team designation as you all haven’t named it yet,” she explained. “But, you have a team meeting two days from now in one of the conference rooms here, so you can discuss it with your team there.”

“Thank you,” Dario said.

The woman looked down once more and pointed at something with her finger. “It says here that you don’t have an outfit yet or a Superior name. Is that correct?”

“Err, yeah? Is that bad?” he asked uncertainly.

He had seen in the contract that it was one of the requirements, but he didn’t think he had to present it right away. If need be, he could always use the armor he’d worn when he first went into the Wildlands. As for the name... well, he had one in mind.

“Not at the moment, however, it is mandatory to have a costume and Superior name before completing tasks set by the Guild.”

“Oh. I kind of have a costume, I suppose, and a name too,” Dario said.

“Excellent. However, I’m not the person to discuss that with. In fact, let me set an appointment for you — if you’re not too busy right now?” She looked at him questioningly.

“No, I’m free today,” he replied.

“Good. I believe a designer of ours is available at the moment, and he should be able to provide you with an outfit, or help improve your current one.” She reached over and grabbed a small metallic device with a nearly transparent crystal embedded into its inner workings.

Dario recognized the object since it was similar to the few he’d seen on his mother’s office desk. It was a Call Stone and was apparently worth hundreds, if not thousands of gold, according to his mother. He had asked her about it once, but all she’d said was that it allowed communication between partner Call Stones and required depleted World Crystals to make, whatever that meant.

Regardless, he got to see it in action once more.

The receptionist pressed some buttons and spoke into it when the Stone began faintly glowing. “Walden, I’m sending someone new for you to look over. Are you available?”

“Yes, I’m just finishing up some things,” a male voice emanated from the device. “Who are you sending?”

“A young man by the name of Dario Sindred. He’s on team V-33.”

There was a sound of shuffling papers before the voice came back, “Ah, yes, I see it. Send him over.” The call abruptly ended as the stone returned to its normal state.

She put down the Call Stone and looked back at Dario. “Okay Mr. Sindred, please head on to room 24. Just go down that hall and take the fifth left turn. It should be somewhere in that hallway.”

“Alright, thank you,” Dario said, somewhat confused by the whole thing. He went to leave, but turned back to address a certain issue. “There’s also something I want to report.”

“Oh?” the woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, my friend outside is writing a report too, but I just wanted to make my own statement. It’s about some criminal activity going on in the city.”

“Okay, go on.” She pulled out a different sheet of formal-looking paper and started writing on it.

Dario proceeded in explaining to her the ongoing kidnappings in The Slums and how nothing was being done about it. He also told her of what he knew about those responsible and his own encounter with them, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation. To his relief, the woman seemed to be taking him seriously and was busily jotting down notes while asking him pertinent questions.

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” she said. “We’ll make sure to look into it.”

“Thanks,” Dario said gratefully. “There are some good people over there that I’d hate to see hurt.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said professionally. “Now, you still have that appointment with one of our designers. Don’t keep him waiting.” She looked down and continued working on some paperwork.

“Right. Thanks again miss…?”

“Siona,” she absentmindedly responded.

Dario expressed his gratitude once more before heading down to room 24. While traversing the opulent halls, he was again reminded of just how large the Superiors Guild was as the corridors seemed to stretch on for a considerable distance. It was one thing seeing the castle mansion from the outside, and a whole different thing experiencing it from within.

Eventually, he reached his destination and entered the assigned room, excitement coursing through his body at the prospect of creating a new Superior identity for the world to witness.

If only his childhood self could see him now...