"Are you sure this is the place?" Nico said along with a bark from Champ.

"I'm sure." Jason said unconvincingly as he stared at the broken-down building in front of them. Plants and vines overrun the walls. The wooden planks creaked with the passing breeze in the dead of night. The building was on the far side of town, having no red orbs around to light the area but instead a single lone torch flickering on the front porch.

"This doesn't even look like a building." Kai said, tearing a piece of rotten wood from it. "If anything, this would be where the criminals hang out to play poker and deal drugs."

The front door on the porch swung open, revealing a wiry woman with a mature gait stepping out. She wore a bandage for a bra and harem pants like she just came from a page in Arabian Nights, having auburn hair running behind her back trailing off until a string tied them together at the end. Scars ran over her face and body, but instead of ruining her pale skin, they only served to accentuate her swarthy body.

"I didn't realize we were going to a beauty pageant." Kai whispered, earning a nudge from Nico.

"What's your business?" The woman asked, her voice commanding attention from the group. The pendant fixed on her neck flared golden as she stepped from the porch and into open ground with the streaks of moonlight above settling on her skin.

"We want to join the Band of Brothers." Jason said, stepping forward.

The woman paused, eyeing each of them as if they were grocery items waiting to be bought until her eyes met with Nico's.

"Sure," She beamed a smile, raising her hand to conjure a red mote. "But we need to do a little right of passage."

She dashed to Nico like a bullet, leaving behind broken pieces of wooden planks where she stood just before. Everything went by in the blink of an eye as Nico found himself lying on the ground, chest bruised and pinned down by the woman straddling him on his stomach.

"You fail."

"That was unfair." Saira said, crouching beside Nico to check on him along with Kai. "And get off Nico already- you're giving him ideas."

The woman pushed herself off Nico, giving Saira a quick smirk just before turning around to the rest of the group standing in awe at the strength displayed before them.

"As it stands, you cannot beat me in a fight." The woman glanced to Nico who was panting on the ground trying to sit upright. "This person didn't even stand a chance. You all fail."

"What?" Jason said, turning to Hena with a bewildered expression. "I didn't know there was a test?"

"Morgiana!" A burst of air slammed into the woman's body like a shockwave, sending her tumbling on the ground and colliding with Nico.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh my gosh," Saira went after Nico. "You okay?"

Nico raised a thumbs up as the woman was once again pinning him under.

The group trailed their gaze to where the burst of air came from, finding an elf stepping through the door of the broken-down building with a light green mote on his hand. His face was slender and feminine, more beautiful than handsome, with his blue robes and black hair waving against the strong wind spiraling from his mote like a tornado.

"Come on Delwyn." The woman said, pushing herself off Nico and brushing herself. "I was just having fun."

"I'm truly, truly sorry for her misconduct." The elf bowed to the group with a formal gait. "She can be quite troublesome when she doesn't take her medication pills."

"Don't listen to him." Morgiana dashed to the side of the elf like lightning. "I never take pills in the first place."

"Anyways," The elf coughed, swatting off Morgiana like she was a fly buzzing. He then took a quick glance to Hena, his face showing a slight surprise as if he remembered something.

"If you're looking to register to this guild, just step inside and you'll meet with Rupert."

"You're not from the Band of Brothers?" Jason said.

"No." The elf glanced to Morgiana as if threatening her to behave. "We're from the Blood Knights."

"So she wasn't even from the Band of Brothers." Nico said, standing up with the help of Kai, staring daggers to Morgiana while Morgiana instead gave him an innocent smile in turn.

"Cute dog, by the way." She said, glancing to Champ who was barking at her.

. . .

"There you are." A fairy said, pressing a stamp over a piece of paper before handing it off to Jason. He adjusted his glasses that complimented his olden appearance. "Bring this over to the Adventurer's Organization to confirm your registration and you'll be good to go."

"Wait, that's it?" Kai said, plopping himself onto a couch. The inside of the building was very different from its interior. It was fairly large, with a couple of dim torches lighting up the room. While on the outside the building was overrun by vines and rotting wood, the inside was fairly accommodating with a set of couches and a center table, even having a counter on the far side where the group gathered to meet with Rupert, the old fairy.

Kristine wandered her gaze around. "Am I missing something or is this place really this quiet?"

"How so?" The fairy said.

"I thought guilds were, you know, filled with guild members and all that."

"All the members are operating in Trillian. That is where our guild house is established here on the first floor of the tower."

"So this place isn't the guildhouse?" Jason said.

The fairy gave off a hearty laugh. "Gods no. This building is just a branch for guild affairs in Selsine. Given that Selsine is a fairly small town, guild operations here hardly exist if any at all. I'm just an old man here with nothing else to do but the occasional visits."

"Thank you, Rupert." Jason said, rolling up the paper now in his hands. The group gave him a wave goodbye as they headed outside and started on their way back to the inn.

They walked over bridges with the night breeze invigorating their senses, reminding them how high up they were from the ground as they peeked over the bridge. They made idle chatter, passing through the small town with the flickering red orbs lighting the way until they arrived at their lodging. They went inside and into their bedrooms.

"So what's the plan?" Nico said, sitting on his bed as he stared outside the window, the moonlight peeking through and setting the night scene inside the room.

"For now, let's save up some money." Jason said, closing the door behind him. "You guys do want to move to a big city right?"

A grin formed on both Nico and Kai's faces.

"Finally." Kai said as he climbed to the bed above Nico's. "I was getting tired of this rundown town. Nothing ever happens here."

"But moving to a large city will cost us a lot." Nico said, glancing to Jason.

"Then we'll just have to double our efforts in hunting down monsters." Kai said. "Twice the effort, twice the money. That's what my grandma used to say."

. . .

Jason bellowed out a lion's roar, taunting the pack of slimes to aggro on him. He then backed away slowly, herding the slimes into a small area just before calling out to Kai.

"Kai, now!"

Five white fireballs came raining down onto the group of slimes like hell rain. The composition of slimes was highly flammable, with Kai's fireballs very effective in taking out the monsters as if they were blobs of gasoline.

The slimes exploded, sending out blobs of goo in every direction, splattering goo all over the group except for lucky Nico.

"This isn't funny." Kristine said, wiping off the muck all over her body. It stuck to her clothes like glue.

"Nico help me with this." Saira said, calling over Nico as Champ licked the goo off her legs.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Help me wipe it off."

"Clean it off yourself."

"You squirted it all over me."

"That was Kai." Nico pointed to Kai who was taste testing the slime all over his hand. "I only helped in rounding up the slimes. Plus the goo will disappear soon along with the slime entrails, so no, I'm not helping you clean that off."

Nico's gaze then fell to Champ who was running around with Saira's two summons on the grassy field. "Should we really be bringing Champ along with us?"

The slime around them had started to turn to ethereal mist.

"What do you mean?" Saira said, moving to stand beside him.

"I mean, I'm glad Champ's out adventuring and all that, but I'm afraid he'll get hurt. Like, seriously hurt. Just today he was clubbed on the head by some goblin."

"Don't worry." Kai said, wrapping an arm around Nico. "We have Hena. Plus, if Champ didn't want to go adventuring with us, he wouldn't. He just really enjoys going out and having fun."

"And Champ can take care of himself just fine." Saira said. "Did you see what he did to that goblin after it hit him?"