{Eve}

She knew it was dumb to get her hopes up, but Eve had still wished she'd maybe, possibly, see another fairy adventurer amongst the people they encountered. A slight disappointment did sting at her heart when she saw that there weren't any, but she didn't really let it get to her. She'd be the first many others saw, and that was enough to keep the young fairy going.

"Hey!" Silvy, that one bubbly adventurer, walked up to their group, as they all got their belongings into a little circle, forming a camp in between a nest of old cars.

"Yes?" Cara asked, walking up to her. Another adventurer came from behind Silvy, that one boy in the black armor.

Well, it looked more so like Silvy had dragged the guy along, to Eve's eyes, but he was here nonetheless.

"How about after we explain the plan and all, in detail I mean, we talk a little about scouting? I'm sure you haven't gotten to do much of that in the Academy. A friend of mine used to go there."

Eve's brows went up as she listened to the sudden offer.

[Scouting? So, she wants to see if there are any monsters around? I could just fly up and check, though.]

"Hm... You are right about that," Cara nodded. "What do you all think?"

Their teacher put her hands on her hips and turned around, facing the students. Dylan was the first to respond.

"It seems like a good opportunity," the boy replied with a smile.

Eve couldn't help but glare at him just a little. Sure, it wasn't like she'd been in a relationship with Lisa already, or anything, and the woman was free to pursue whoever she wanted to pursue, but it still hurt to have her hopes, however small they may have been, crushed like that.

It was because she knew she was wrong to behave that way, however, at the same time she felt guilty. With a sigh, she turned away as Cara nodded.

"The rest of you?" The teacher asked, and one by one they all nodded. "Alright, sure."

"Awesome," Silvy replied, "come over, so you can hear the plan in a little more detail before we go scouting," she said, gesturing for them to follow.

With that said, the students all got up to go with her. Cara stopped them, however.

"Take your stuff with you," Cara told them. Eve raised a brow.

"Um, ma'am, are you sure?" John, the black-haired boy who dressed unusually well for a rugged adventurer-in-training, said beside her. "After all that time it took to get set up?"

"Yes," Cara replied firmly, in a way that left no room for discussion.

"She's right," Silvy told her. "One of 'em might steal your things behind your back."

[...] Eve blinked.

"Well..." Cara looked over at her. "I didn't expect you to be so forward about that, but yes, that's why."

"O-Oh." John scratched the back of his head with a wry smile. "I-I see."

With that said, they all wordlessly picked their bags right back up and followed behind Silvy. In the process, Eve noticed Rin picking up a much smaller bag than her main one and carefully tying it around herself.

She'd noticed it before but now she wondered how many coins Rin was carrying in there. She assumed it was a coin pouch of sorts due to its small size, though it was just a little bigger than the average.

She had to have been carrying a tone of varols for her to show that much caution. Eve had also seen it when they rested on the road, before arriving here. Even then, Rin always treated that thing with the same amount of care.

[Weird,] she thought, shrugging it off. [Why would you bring a bunch of money on a trip like this, though?]

With what they'd just heard, Eve was a little more concerned for her too.

Now that Silvy had mentioned it, Eve noticed a few of the adventurers in the other group had their eyes on their things.

... Well, either that or Eve had turned paranoid all of a sudden.

As they arrived, Vick raised a hand in greeting, as did a couple of the others, before they went right into it.

"Alright, so," Olen, the oldest of them, as far as Eve could tell, clapped his hands together. "Let's begin."

One of them, a gruff man called Callen, with a thick beard and even thicker body hair noticeable in the gaps between his pieces of armor, spoke up.

"Right, so," he said, pointing down at something. Eve floated up to get a better look at it and found a large sheet of paper sprawled out, displaying a type of crudely drawn map. It vaguely resembled the fortress in the distance. "There's a river right behind the fortress, and a door at the back. I suggest we enter through there."

"I agree!" Silvy declared, with a thumbs-up gesture. "Beasts are normally the outdoorsy type. The inside of the fortress is probably going to be mostly empty, save for any captives they might have."

Her explanation was reasonable enough, though, one woman disagreed. Elina, the one who looked like she was about to do some nude modeling held up her index fingers and said:

"Now hold on a moment. Right here," she tapped a line on the map, "they've actually got quite a few archers. If we don't deal with those first, we'll be exiting the fortress and running into a storm of arrows."

"Nah, that's easy. I can take them out," Vick said, tapping his swords' hilts. "As soon as I do, I'll do a little bird call and give you all a signal to exit."

"Assuming we don't run into too much trouble inside, of course," Olen added. "Sure, it might be relatively empty, but we shouldn't take it for granted. Even the simplest step in the process can go awry."

"Hm... Vick takes out the archers," Troph, the other one who'd escorted them there, said, "while we attack from behind and make our way into the fortress. What then?"

"At that point, we might have survivors with us, depending on what's inside," Elina said. "We'll want to make sure they get out alive, even if we do not. One of us should escort them back here."

If Eve was understanding this correctly, that meant whoever volunteered to do that wouldn't be fighting anything after they made their way through the fortress.

"Olen," Vick said. "How about you get 'em to safety? Don't worry, we can handle ourselves."

"... Eh..." At that, Olen seemed unsure.

"Come on, old man," Elina grinned at him. "Surely, you must welcome the time off?"

At that, he smiled.

"Not at all," he chuckled. "The older you get, the more important it is to stay sharp. Especially in short-lived careers like this."

Then, however, he sighed and nodded.

"Sure, sure. If there are any captives inside there, I'll get them out."

"Good," Elina replied. "Now, Vick, remember, these kobolds will likely be asleep. Therefore, I would prefer it if these archers were taken down in a manner that allows them to remain as such."

"It's gonna be hard, but I can pull it off," he asserted.

"In that case," Alerian, the man in the black armor with the brooding look, spoke up with a slow and lingering tone of voice, "I'll assist you."

"I'd appreciate it," Vick replied.

"Okay, then, so, they take out the archers, the rest of us infiltrate the fortress from the back. Olen escorts any survivors he finds, and the rest of us mop them up," Silvy summarized. "Honestly, sounds good to me."

"Anyone thinks of anything to add, we'll add it after we've scouted them out. This is a good little draft, though," Olen said to everyone and with that, Silvy gestured at the students.

"Alright, come on! Let me tell you a little about scouting."