--------///----Reina's POV----\--------

(Endis) " Whoa, wait a minute. You sure you want us to stay away from this? "

(Ganton) " Very. I'm not sure what we'll be up against so i'm only deploying parties that have raid experience. And from what we know, this organization is confident enough to traffic dragon eggs and gods know what else. I can't let parties that don't have this kind of experience partake in this event. And even if you weren't being accompanied by the hellion's daughter, i still wouldn't let you go so don't think that's a reason why. "

(Mina) " Hmm... So you can't take "parties"... Does that mean you can take individual agents? "

(Ganton) " ... I could... But what're y... "

Mr.Ganton seemed to get where Mina was going and looked over to Endis. Endis looked at Mina, completly caught off guard, which i couldn't blame him since she brought that up without really warning us.

(Endis) " You sure cous? "

(Ganton) " I have to question you aswell, are you sure with what you're suggesting? "

(Mina) " I'm sure. I'm pretty sure a trained assassin who also happens to be the kid of one of our best S ranked assassins, is qualified enough to join this raid. "

(Ganton) " ... Logically and with an unbiased opinion... You are correct... But again, are you sure about that? "

(Mina) " Endis? You up for going on a raid? "

(Endis) " I mean, yea. But what about you guys? "

(Reina) " I'm fine with it, just incase you're wondering. "

(Mina) " And since i brought it up i'm fine with it by default. "

(Endis) " ... I feel like you should be worrying about my safety way more then what i'm hearing right now. "

(Mina) " I'm not worried because i know you'll be fine. Besides you won't be alone so you'll have backup incase anything actually goes wrong. Which i doubt anything will go wrong in the first place. "

(Reina) " Isn't that a jinx? "

(Endis) " Yea! You're not supposed to say something like that cous! "

(Mina) " That's just superstition you'll be fine. "

(Endis) " Uhuh... Oh well. You've got our answers. What do you say Guildmaster? "

(Ganton) " Haah... I'll allow it. The raid starts in a couple of hours at midnight. Make sure you're geared up and prepared. The room that you all have been using still hasn't been rented but i'll say it is and put it under your names. Go get some rest, if something happens i'll inform you. "

(Mina) " Thank you. Let's go Reina, you can read some more while we're down there. "

(Reina) " That works for me. "

(Endis) " Welp, i'll see you two later. "

(Mina) " Yea, yea. "

We saw ourselves out with our books and made our way down to the room we've been using while we've been here. Me and Mina took the same bed but Mina went up to the top bunk while me and Jelly claimed the bottom bunk. Mina went head first into her books while i started taking my time with the book from the hermit. Jelly didn't know what to do so she just went around the room and cleaned whatever dust she found. At some point i took off my boots and put them under my bed while i put my Siellas on the desk. I didn't really have to change out of my hybrid or shorts since they wouldn't get in the way of me sleeping.

The time just passed with us reading and even Jelly got bored since at one point she just hopped onto my stomach and fell asleep. While we were reading, Mina hopped down and started to take off the arm guards, boots, her rapier and crossbow, and put them into the drawers of the desk and on the top of the desk in the room. Then she put her books in a drawer under the armor, which was where i put my book too.

(Mina) " I'm going to sleep for now. Night Reina. "

(Reina) " Really? You're not going to take off all your armor? "

(Mina) " I want to be atleast a bit prepared incase something happens, which i doubt is going to happen but it never hurt to be a bit prepared. "

(Reina) " Hmm. I guess you're right about that. Oh well, night. Try not to end up on the floor again. "

(Mina) " Can we please forget about that already! "

(Reina) " Shhh! Jelly's sleeping. And never! "

(Mina) " Ugh, just you wait till i find something to use against you... "

(Reina) " Whatever. It's never going to happen. "

(Mina) " I'll find something. "

(Reina) " Goodnight Mina. "

(Mina) " Goodnight... "

Mina went back up to her bunk and seemed to go to sleep since i didn't hear anything coming from her anymore. I just kept reading some more until i started getting tired. I made some decent progress and learned a bit more about the hermit's life with his slime, which he named Azure only because the slime was blue and he "Had a horrible sense for names" or so he said. He talked about how Azure helped him with getting into a better headspace and a better workspace. He even asked Azure questions and got some answers just like how we asked Jelly and the other slimes, thanks to that he found out that Azure was a boy, which gave the hermit more reason to care for Azure.

Thanks to Azure, the hermit got into gardening and actually making his home a home. Turns out that having a slime around was actually good for gardening since Azure ended up eating any bugs that tried to eat his plants. At first he was worried about weird side effects that might come up from him doing that but after days and weeks of nothing changing, he just let Azure do it. Their day's would just pass with the both of them just spending time with each other and just living.

Eventually a year passed with them just living together. Azure showed more personality and helped the hermit with more complex things like handling the garden, planting things like trees and other things that a slime normally wouldn't be able to do. He talked a bit how having Azure around made him feel like a parent again since from time to time Azure would do things that he'd expect from a kid. He even wrote about times where Azure would tug on his robe and point to something whether to ask about it or bring his attention to it.

Reading about all of this was nice and had me looking forward to raising Jelly. Though the more i read, the heavier my eyes got. Eventually i just ended up falling asleep with the book still in my hand. When i woke up the first thing i saw was Jelly, who was poking me on my cheek trying to wake me up. It was already morning since i could see the sunlight peering through the window and lighting up the rest of the room.

(Reina) " Mhm... Morning, Jelly. "

Jelly jiggled in response and hopped down so i could get up. When i did, i looked around and saw Mina's stuff still where she put it so i don't think she woke up yet. I decided to put my boots back on and head on downstairs and go to the bathrooms and wash up. Though when i left pur room and tried to go downstairs... The view i had of the lobby and the air around it seemed rather... Serious.There were crates on crates on crates, being moved into the training hall, which confused me since the crates themselvese seemed way bigger then the door which made me confused on how they got in the lobby in the first place. But then i saw people shifting the wood to let the crates pass into the lobby.

I kept looking at the scene until a crate that 2 beastkin were carrying crashed to the ground and burst open. When the wood on those crates broke open, i saw a corpse of what looked like a juvenile dragon, fall to the floor. Everyone in the lobby seemed to just freeze as we all stared at the white scaled corpse of a Vita Dragon, a dragon which has been recorded to be endangered on our continent, sprawled against the floor.

The sound drew the attention of people that weren't even in the lobby. Mina ended up coming out of the room, Mr.Ganton came out of the training hall and started to look at what we were all seeing, Endis came out behind him and did the same. Even the healers sent people to look at what was happening.

(Ganton) " ... Gods... Someone make a proper container and move this into the hall! "

One of the guild staff came over and made a small pen around the corpse and moved it into the hall. While that was happening, Mina turned to me and seemed to ask the question i had on my mind.

(Mina) " What the hells did they find while we were asleep? "

(Reina) " I have no idea... And i'm not sure i want to find out. "

(Mina) " ... It looks like we're going to end up finding out though. "

Mina had looked away when she said that so i had to turn to see where she was looking in order to find out what made her say that. Looking to where she was, i saw Endis coming up the stairs and he was even carrying Jelly, who at some point must've bounced down the stairs. Endis himself didn't look any different but his cloak had a part where it was clearly scorched. When he got up to us, Jelly hoppe onto my head and i per her a bit but i told her not to go far away without me noticing. She gave a little understanding jiggle but she didn't seem to like the tone i used, though she'd end up getting that tone if she did something bad again.

(Mina) " I knew you'd be fine... Your cloak though... "

(Endis) " Haaah... I'll get it fixed later... Still sucks that i have to get it fixed in the first place though. "

(Mina) " You're still alive so hush. Anyway, what the hells did you all find? "

(Endis) " Eeeh... we should probably wait for the guildmaster to make his announcement. I'll fill you in on whatever he doesn't cover. Besides i think you'd want to freshen up first. "

Even though he meant that at Mina, i couldn't hel pbut feel like a biit of that was aimed at mee too, even if it wasn't. Mina made a weird grumbling noise and waaded down the stairs, which i followed behind her since i was going to freshen up too. We made our way to the bathrooms in the training hall and saw that the crate holding the Vita dragon's corpse was only one of hundreds that had been packed onto the area Mr.Ganton had tested us on. There were so many crates that they were even touching the ceiling. I couldn't help but stare at the scene but Mina seemed more focused on dragging me into the bathroom. After we finished getting ready, we went out and met back up with Endis.

(Endis) " Well, the guild master is going to be giving a update in a few minutes. "

(Mina) " Do you know what he's going without a doubt, going to address? "

(Endis) " ... I got a few things i'm expecting to hear... But just wait for his address. I don't want to repeat something that he brings up. "

(Mina) " Hmm... Fine. "

We decided to wait for Mr.Ganton's address, but in the meantime, we watched a few more crates get brought into the hall but when the last of the crates came in, Mr.Ganton went up to the stage we got tested on and stood infront of the crates.

(Ganton) " ALRIGHT! IF YOU'RE NOT MEDICAL STAFF GET IN HERE! "

Mr.Ganton suddenly shouted loud enough for everyone on Astrum to hear. It only took a few moments for the training hall to get filled up by guild staff, parties that weren't looking at the scene from earlier and even people who seemed to have just come from getting healed. Mr.Ganton waited a bit longer but when no one else was streaming in, he got everyone's attention and started to tell us what went on.

(Ganton) " I see most of you that are here knew about last nights operation, however there are a majority of you that are clueless about what went down. First i'll address that. Last night at midnight, a raid against an orginization of smugglers had been carried out. Despite having an advantage, the operation lasted hours due to the strength and strategies employed by those we fought against. This orginization seemed to specialize in the smuggling of creatures such as the Vita dragon many of you saw earlier. As of now we don't know if this was a single branch or the main base of this organization... However we'll be coordinating with the local government to find that out.

Some of you may be wondering how we found out about this organization. To that, we had information from a trusted source that they had a dragon egg in their possession, which we now have in ours. Later on i'll be issuing an escort quest to return that egg to its parents. However given what we just saw, i may have to issue more then just a single escort mission. Another thing that some of you may be wondering is why all the crates have been moved here? They are here because this will be the safest place to hold all of these until the government can send over a convoy to sort through all of this.

I'll be expecting a convoy in two-three hours, so until then i want you all to be vigilant of whoever comes around here. If someone you think is suspicious comes ANYWHERE near these crates then i want you to let me know but still watch out for them. I'll be covering up this area so these crates won't be easily accessable, but for now go about your days! "

The crowd was essentially still as we all listened to Mr.Ganton talk. Even Jelly wasn't doing anything and actually seemed to be listening to what was being said, whether she understood any of it was a completly seperate thing. After Mr.Ganton was done talking, people slowly started to move out and talk amongst themselves about what just went down. Mina and i just turned to Endis, who just sighed and motioned for us to go back upstairs. We made our way back to our room and closed the door. Endis sat back onto his bd and let out a sigh.

(Mina) " Alright, fill us in on what he left out. "

(Endis) " Geez, if we're going to talk about what he left out then i'd might aswell be telling you about the whole night. "

(Reina) " Well, you could. "

(Endis) " ... Hmm... You're right... I'd might as well start with the pre raid meet up. "

--------///----Endis' POV----\--------

~ Damn... How many parties turned up to this? They don't look half baked either... I'm starting to think i'm underdressed for this whole thing... Eh, fuck it. ~

Looking around and just checking out the other parties that the guildmaster managed to reel in was starting to kill my self esteem, though not looking around was gonna be hard since we were all in a single building with a small 2nd floor where the organizers of the raid were. The parties that knew each other decided to take the time to catch up or talk about the coming raid. Some of the parties seemed to have some real high quality gear that, when i compared to my simple daggers and cloak, made me feel like a rookie. After some more checking out, i decided to just go sit somewhere and wait till the organizers were ready to start the operation. Though the cliche of some pompous asshole ready to start shit seemed to not take a night off despite the coming raid.

(Pompous asshole) " Show some respect you fu- AHHHH! "

The asshole in question was a two and a half, almost three meter tall titan of a minotaur beastkin who intentionally bumped his brick wall like arm into me. He fit all the sterotypes i've heard about minotaurs, which made him seem even dumber. Short fuse, Great axe on his back, iron shoulder guard with his midsection exposed while wearing full iron leggings, a bronze horn piercing to go with his simple brown fur and fiery red eyes and muscles that bulged from all over his body. Despite being an ass, i had to give it to him, it seemed like his muscles came from hours of training and actual effort, too bad he didn't train in discipline. From what i saw, there didn't seem to be any hidden weak spots i could take advantage of but that didn't seem to matter.

While i was doing my analysis, he tried to pick me up! That just set me off. I grabbed two of my daggers and cut off some of his fingers, which got him to let go of me as he crouched down and held his bleeding hand. The room instantly went quiet as everyone's attention turned over to what was going on. Though the interesting thing was the minotaur's own party didn't seem to really give a shit about his suffering.

Out of the four members which included, a female green scaled lizard beastkin, twin? male and female Birdkin with silver and red feathers and a female black spotted hyena beastkin, none of them seemed to be rushing to give him some help. The lizard seemed to be the assasin of the group since she wore light gear that covered her chest, parts of her legs, and had a cloak like mine, just not as cool as mine.

Her weapons seemed to be a mix of daggers and steel caps that must've gone on her claws. The birds didn't cover all of their top halfs since their wings, which for now were tucked in so i couldn't exactly figure out how long they were. Though the female was wearing a covering over her breasts and a bit of her midsection, they were both wearing hide leggings and had spears as their main weapons. The hyena on the other hand... Sorta just looked like a maniac with a pair of sickles hanging off her waist while her gear was basically hide from what looked like a mix between lamia scales and orc hide.

(Ganton) " What's going on down there? "

The guildmaster peered over the second floor railing and saw the scene, easily since the crowd had all backed away and left me and the asshole in a perfect clearing.

(Green scale) " Don't worry about it boss, Mirol started it. "

The guild master let out a deep sigh an djust looked over the scene again. It looks like he didn't notice that it was me the first time since when he did, he sighed again. I gave a small wave in his direction but i turned back to look at the idiot.

~ I was intentionally avoiding people to not have a situation like this happen but assholes always gotta find some way to put the spotlight on themselves. Annoying. ~

(Endis) " Try not to be a dumbass next time. "

The Minotaur, Mirol, didn't seem to care about what i said and seemed like he even wanted to get back at me for what i did since he looked up at me with pure rage in his eyes.

(Endis) " Don't get mad at me, did you actually think i was going to do nothing while you manhandled me? You're the one who started this mess. Not like anyone told you to be an asshole. "

--------///----Present----\--------

(Mina) " Wait! Are you telling me you seriously antagonized a minotaur despite KNOWING he wasn't paying attention to what you said? "

(Endis) " Uhh... Yea? "

(Mina) " Why? Just why? "

(Endis) " Why not? Dude was an asshole. He deserved some shit talking. "

(Mina) " ... "

(Reina) " ... Don't listen to him Jelly, he's a bad influence. "

(Endis) " Hey! "

(Reina) " I'm not wrong though. "

(Endis) " ... Anyway no more interrupting. You're breaking my immersion. "

(Mina) " Whatever you say. "

(Endis) " Thank you. Ahem, back to where i left off. "

--------///----Past----\--------

While the minotaur was clutching his hand, a healer came over and grabbed the fingers i cut off and started to reattach them. The minotaur stopped clutching his hand in pain but he still looked pissed. Though when he tried to move over to me, the green scaled lizard walked over and held the minotaur back. I couldn't tell earlier since they were sitting down, but the green scale was a good few inches taller then me and seemed like more of a threat since it looks like her muscles were more compact, especially her leg muscles which given her already smaller frame, gave me the vibe that she was probably a good assasin.

(Green scale) " Mirol, you just got you're fingers back. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to lose them again, right? And he has a point, you did practically ask for that. "

(Hyena) " Thoooough i wouldn't mind seeing that again. It was very satisfying seeing the oh so proud Milos scream like a newborn fawn. "

(Mirol) " Enough. Not another word Riva. "

(Riva) " Hmmm? And what're you going to do about it Mirol? Scream some more? "

The asshole didn't seem to like that as his nose flared up and i swore i saw actual steam come out of it. Though the lizard got in the way of both Riva, the hyena and the asshole.

(Green scale) " Can the both of you shut the fuck up! You're both making us look like a mess! Especially when you pull shit like this right before an important raid! "

That seemed to get the both of them to back off each other but they still showed some hostility towards each other. The lizard let out a sigh of relief and turned over to me. She seemed to actually analyze me for a few seconds, though when she finished she extended her hand out over to me.

(Hari) " Hey, sorry about Milos. He can be a hardass but deep down he's not that insufferable. The name's Hari by the way, what about you? "

(Endis) " Ehh, if you say so. And i'm Endis. "

Shaking her hand put a smile on my face since it seemed she was actually an assassin by trade and not just a delegated role. Though after i told her my name, she seemed to start thinking about something since her face scrunched up like she was lost in thought.

(Hari) " Endis... Endis... Where have i... I remember now! Aren't you partied with that princess?! "

(Endis) " Got it in three. Nice to see someone knows me. "

(Hari) " Still got it. And word about a princess getting B rank against Ganton spread like wildfire after it happened. Naturally info about the party members she was with spread too. But i didn't think any of you would be here, you did just register after all. "

(Endis) " I might have the plate but i'm not here as a member of my party, right now i'm here as a individual. I think you'd have some experience with that, wouldn't you? "

After i said that, she seemed to take a few seconds to understand what i just said. Though when she did, she gave me a toothy grin.

(Hari) " We're trading stories after this. Someone whose not only not afraid to make a minotaur bleed, but is also brother in blood is someone i want to know. "

(Endis) " Deal. "

After a few more minutes of just talking, the guildmaster and the other three coordinators of the raid, walked up.

(Ganton) " Alright! Everyone give us your attention! "

Everyone stopped talking and turned over to look up to him.

(Ganton) " The plan's ready so make sure you pay attention! We're splitting into four teams, i'll lead the frontal assault with four parties following under me. The group taking the back side of the warehouse will be led by Rudia, who will take a small team of two parties and an individual, the sides will be handled by Unvo and Huldin! The following parties will be coming with me! "

He called the parties that were following him and the othe coordinators did the same. I was with Rudia, who seemed like a catkin, who despite her small stature of under a meter and a half, gave off a vibe of strength.

(Ganton) " Everyone, make sure you don't destroy any of the containers! Their cargo contains a live dragons egg! If that's destroyed we are all going to be in trouble! "

That seemed to get everyone's undivided attention and i swore i heard some people literally gulp. After the teams were decided, we all started to move. Hari and her team were taking the right side but we came up with a little bet before we split.

(Hari) " Up for a Kill race? "

(Endis) " Oh i'm in! What's the winner get? "

(Hari) " Loser buys the winner new gear? "

(Endis) " Let's do it. Hope you don't mind buying some nice and expensive daggers. "

(Hari) " The same goes to you. And no lying about the count either. "

(Endis) " Right back at you, though how're we gonna make sure the winner doesn't lie? "

(Hari) " Hmm... Decapitate you're kills and put em in a pile. Whoever ends up with more headless scumbags wins. "

(Endis) " Oh yea, i'm definetly in. "

We shook on it and went our seperate ways.

--------///----Present----\--------

(Mina) " That's not fucked up in the slightest. "

(Endis) " Ehh, so what? It was fun. Now stop interrupting! "

(Reina) " Haah... What'd we get ourselves into Jelly?