Shawn

Quest Title: Skulls

Difficulty: 1-2 Stars

Description: Collect the skulls of five skeletal warriors

Requirements: N/A

Quest Title: Escort

Difficulty: 3 Stars

Description: Escort Carl Astor to the Isle of Broken Bones

Requirements: Must have a party of six adventurers or more with 3 Stars

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Quest Title: Bandit Problems

Difficulty: 1 Star

Description: Either capture or kill the bandits camped in the Ash Plains on the Isle of Drifting Ash

Requirements: N/A

I read through several of the quests before finding one that seems interesting and taking it off of the board.

"Oh, that quest is a good one for new adventurers," I hear someone say from behind me.

When I turn around, I find the receptionist standing behind me looking at the quest in my hands.

"Well, most of them are not for adventurers with only one star," I point out.

She smiles and says, "That's true. Let's head over towards the desk."

We follow her to the receptionist's desk where she asks, "Would you like to register your party for this quest?"

"Yes," I answer while placing the quest on the desk.

The receptionist, I think her name was Leah, says, "Alright, please hand me your IDs."

All seven of us hand her our adventurer's IDs.

She takes our IDs and touches each of them to the quest pamphlet, causing each ID to shine with a golden light for a few seconds before fading back to normal.

"You are now registered for this quest," Leah says while handing us back our IDs.

I nod my head in appreciation.

"Thanks Leah," Aldred says before turning to leave.

"Good luck on your first quest, Shawn!" Leah says to me with a wave.

"Thank you," I say before turning around to follow Aldred.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

I pull up my hood, hiding my hair from sight.

As I begin to follow Aldred out of the guild, I hear the same two people from before talking with a new voice added in this time.

"Do you think it's true?" Whispers a male voice.

I walk slower and glance towards the voices.

The new voice belongs to a human, albeit younger than the first one.

"What do you mean?" The old human asks the newcomer.

"I heard that there is a prince somewhere on this island! A draugr at that!" The man exclaims in excitement.

I stiffen up upon hearing that before relaxing and continuing at the same pace behind the others.

Suddenly, the dryad once again notices me and waves.

I return her wave before speeding up a little bit.

Unfortunately, she doesn't just stop at waving this time and begins walking in my direction, confusing the two people next to her.

I hope she doesn't suspect....

Wait....

Where did she go?!

"Hello," a soft voice suddenly says from directly behind me as I feel someone poking me in the back.

I stiffen up again before turning around and reflexively reaching for my sword, only to find the dryad standing right behind me with a smirk on her face.

The dryad lets out a beautiful laugh before saying, "You seem interesting."

She then leans in uncomfortably close and whispers into my ear, "Your highness."

My mouth drops open in shock, but before I can say anything, or ask anything, she vanishes again, leaving behind the words, "We will meet again soon, young one."

I glance back towards the two humans and find her standing next to them again as if nothing had happened.

What in Aurora just happened?

"Are you okay, Shawn?" I hear Aldred ask.

I turn around and see everyone in my party looking at me in confusion.

"I will tell you about it later," I answer before catching up with them.

"A dryad?" Aldred asks while leaning against the wall of my room in the inn we had chosen to stay at.

I nod my head before saying, "Yeah, a dryad in the guild somehow found out my status as a prince right away, before I was even able to say anything to her."

Aldred scratches his chin with his brows furrowed in thought.

"I don't remember there being any dryads in our branch..." Aldred begins before seemingly remembering something and exclaiming, "Wait! I remember now!"

"Yeah?" I ask in expectation.

I know that dryads are supposed to have an incredible ability to sense the living, but for her to tell that I was undead royalty couldn't have been that easy. Otherwise, every dryad I ever meet would know that at a glance!

Aldred's face turns incredibly serious as he says, "I just remembered that there is currently a visitor doing business from another guild branch. I haven't met her myself, but I was told that she was a dryad with at least 7 stars!"

My mouth drops open in shock.

That dryad was nearly twice as strong as the Island Lord?!

"I'm glad I didn't do anything to piss her off," I mutter, feeling a shiver at the thought of what could have happened.

Aldred suddenly laughs before adding, "She seems to be pretty nice from what I have been told. Especially for someone of her power."

"That's good," I say with a sigh.

"Now that I think about it, why is she on this island anyways?" I ask after a few seconds of silence.

"I can answer that one," Amber says before standing up from the chair she had been sitting in and continuing, "I had heard that she was sent here to investigate the 'silent war' going on between the Guildmaster here and the Island Lord."

"Really?" I ask in surprise.

I guess the stronger Guild branches aren't ignoring that after all.

"Wait, if she has been here to investigate, then shouldn't she have done something already?" Josh asks from the bed.

Amber glances towards him and says, "That's just it. She has investigated, and she said that she would only interfere if the 'silent war' began to involve the commoners and everyday goings on of the island."

"Really? That's interesting," I mumble to no one in particular.

"Yeah," Aldred says before facing me and saying, "You should get some rest. This will be your first quest after all."

I silently nod my head.

The others take my silence as their cue to leave my room, leaving me alone for the night.

What did she mean when she said that she would see me again soon?

I glance towards the bed.

No use worrying about it now.

Time to head to bed.