"Seventy and six arisares." Katrina unpinned a quest sheet from the guild's quest board. "Well done."

"Well?" Kirin was looking on anxiously. "How much do we earn?"

"Thirty malagmium. This is actually quite a difficult request. Surprising you finished it in less than half a day." The lady used magic to draw a signature on a blank line at the bottom of the paper. "I'll be giving you the reward as soon as the requestor's survey is complete."

"Wait." Kirin cried. "You mean we won't be getting it now?"

Onyx parked on a chair, leaning back with his arms crossed. "They'll be needing to make sure we did our job right, stupid."

Kirin paused and collected himself. "I'm not bipolar but you've quickly improved my mood."

Onyx balled his fist.

"No worries." Katrina rolled the sheet to a scroll. "They should be sending a scout by today or tomorrow. You'll be receiving your reward by Sunday at latest."

Kirin sighed.

"What's the matter?" Faolan was using a black cloth to wipe red stains off his blade. "Do you need money for something?"

"We can lend you some." Alia offered.

Onyx coughed. "How embarrassing."

Kirin gave a growl. "You know whose fault this is, right?"

"Onyx," called Master Chrisholm, materializing from a two-meter tall portal that had suddenly appeared. His posture was commanding. Galaxies apart from the usual slothlike behavior he usually displayed.

Kirin blinked many times, seemingly mesmerized, and mumbled, "I didn't realize you were that tall."

"Hm? Oh hi. How's your day going, beautiful?"

Kirin jumped. "I-It's only my second day!"

Master cocked his head to a side. "Why are you such a tsundere when it comes to me? Whatever. follow me, Onyx. I'd like to talk to you."

Talk? About what? And couldn't they just...have that conversation where they already were?

What a pain.

Onyx dragged himself off the chair and did as instructed.

He followed through the portal.

Time stopped.

Then everything resumed as a ring of chains ascended from his head.

His eyes jumped from a corner to another. He was already in the master's office. A large white cube lit only by a black fireplace. Somewhere inside was a tinted glass coffee table surrounded by three red couches. Two shelves full of unused books have flanked a door. And sitting on a cushioned wooden seat, with his legs stacked on an empty, varnished desk, was Master Chrisholm.

"What do you need?" Onyx asked.

"Before that, may I ask what happened to the quest you took yesterday?" The master spun a pen between his fingers.

"I couldn't--"

"I see. You are aware that's a violation of the knight's conduct, yes?"

"Leaving a quest unfinished."

"Correct."

"Sumpa killed--"

"I know." Master Chrisholm lifted his feet from the desk and sat appropriately.

"Then you must know why it's unfinishable."

"On the contrary, you must know it has just begun." The master put the pen away, rested his elbows on the desktop, and twined his fingers together. "You know about the Guild Games, yes?"

"Your mess?"

"I wouldn't call it a mess." Master's eyes sharpened. "But, yes. The Sun Demon will be competing. I want you to go up against him."

"I would. I'd be glad to. Teach that freak a lesson. If only Coral Crown wasn't the only party allowed to join."

"Right, right. You'd be glad to. That's all that matters. Then, I'll have you exit Fable Eclipse immediately."

E-Exit?! Did he mean...leave? What an ass. He even said that so casually. If he dared open that stupid mouth of his one more time, Onyx might, gods forbid, actually rip his guts out.

"No."

"No?" A hint of displeasure shadowed Master Chrisholm's face.

"I'm not leaving my party."

"I see. Then! Let me tell you what'll happen if you refuse. I'll be disbanding your party and blacklisting all your names from all guilds in the adventurers' network. That way you won't ever be able to regroup. Heck, you won't even be able to take quests at all."

Onyx's fingers curled to claw his own palm. "You--"

Master Chrisholm smirked. "Only the top party will be chosen to compete."

"I'm not joining Coral Crown."

He leaned back. "You won't be. What you have to do is make sure Fable Eclipse becomes our guild's top party before the games. In three weeks' time, if you manage to overtake Coral Crown on the leaderboard, you four will be competing. If not, you either join Coral Crown to compete in the games or have your party disbanded. How's that?"

Onyx's eyebrows pulled together.

Master Chrisholm offered a short smile.

"We only have four members."

"Ahh." Master flailed a dismissive hand. "Allow me to handle that."

"Tsk." Onyx's teeth clashed as he stomped his path to the doorway.

"Onyx!"

The knight twisted the knob but waited to go out.

"Betraying your party...is also a violation of the knight's conduct."

Onyx exited and slammed the door close. Storming away, he failed to notice passing through vapor shaped like a man. "Katrina, give us the most expensive quest."

The lady glanced at Faolan, Alia, and Kirin, then back at Onyx. "Forgive me, Sir Night." She gently shook her head. "It is against my code to disclose rewards before completion."

"Well, then. Give us the most difficult."

The lady curtsied and proceeded to study the sheets on the board. "Allow me a second."

Alia stared. "What's gotten into you?"

Onyx seethed. Sweat nearly boiled on his forehead and his teeth nearly cracked.

Alia, Faolan, and Kirin exchanged glances.

***

Deemed hardest by Katrina, a quest to slay a cloud charger had brought Kirin's party to a spiraling staircase inside a tall, dark place.

Apparently it had become so common for cloud chargers to roost on the city's stone pillars that the citizens have decided to construct steps for adventurers to reach the top every time it needed purging. Much convenience, that was. But not enough to make up for the fact that killing said creatures still took much effort. To nobody's surprise. Cloud chargers were no lambs. In fact, lambs were merely meals that they snatched for lunch.

Wonder how fun one would be compared to the arisares from earlier!

"Who's bossing who now?" Kirin used a hand to fan himself. "But I'm not really complaining. I like you better with the way you're acting."

"What did you and Master even talk about?" Alia frowned at Onyx, worry twinkling in her eyes.

"I'm too pissed to talk about it. Okay?"

Yup. Frustration was clear enough in that voice's stiffness, indeed.

Faolan patted Onyx's back. "Is this quest to vent out frustration? In that case, I don't understand why you first asked Katrina for the most expensive. There must be something."

"Faolan," Onyx called coldly.

"Sorry." The redhead looked down at the steps they were climbing on. "We'll stop bothering you for now. But please tell us soon."

Onyx drew his weapon. "We're at the top."

Sunlight greeted as they passed through a wooden archway. At first, the pillar's peak looked just like a normal scene in a forest. With specks of mossy pine trees, patches of grass on thin, dry soil, and various ferns and shrubs. But then, as their eyes traveled to the edge of the stone, a steep drop let them recall where they really were.

Onyx was peeking with judging eyes. "If you're wondering how painful it'd be to fall from here, please, allow me to be the one to push you off."

"I'm not about to get myself killed!" Kirin scowled.

"Looks like you have some humor back." Alia looked around. "But the cloud charger isn't back here."

"The nest is." Faolan knelt by a bed of wheat straws, leaves, and twigs. Reaching inside, he picked up an egg and raised it to show everyone. "Part of our quest is to recover these and deposit to the guild--Ow!"

The egg rolled off of his hands and returned to the nest.

"What's the matter?" Alia rushed to look at the man's palms.

"It shocked me."

"Really?" Kirin jumped excitedly. "Wait. I wanna touch too!"

Onyx hissed.

"I'm fine, Alia." Faolan reached for the egg once more. "Please tell me it didn't break."

"It's okay, it's okay. I don't think it did--" A magenta zap travelled through Kirin's fingertips as he laid them on an egg. "Aaaaah!"

"Kirin!" Alia caught as Kirin lost control of his own weight.

Onyx palmed his face. "Stop touching them. The electricity makes magnetic waves. Once the parent senses them, they'll be rushing to come back here."

"Ahh." Carefully, Faolan reunited the egg with its two siblings. "Right. We should be preparing to ambush the mother before it returns."

"Crackle."

"Pardon?" Faolan turned towards the sound.

In front of them, a scaly head as big as the dead pig it had hanging from its sharp beak was glaring at the party.