“Huawahh!!” a loud yawn reverberates throughout the room, a muscular old man struts his way in,

His eyes scouting the people sat in the room,

“Where is Saito!?

Do not tell me he’s still sleeping right now, after keeping everyone else up last night with his music!”

“I actually slept really well, Giichi sir,” a brown-haired man who sat at a table with the Auburn-haired girl from last night, informs,

“Shut up Josh, I did not ask for your opinion,”

“But-” the man starts

“-Are you really going to argue with your poor old boss?

My old heart may not be able to handle the back and forth.”

“…..” Josh says nothing,

Giichi smirks pleased, beginning to whistle as he sits down with his breakfast,

….

“Hey, you, with the silver hair I forgot your name, stop staring at me please,” he catches my stare,

“Umm, you never met him before, Giichi sir,” Claude explains

“I didn’t?

Well in that case,

What do you think you are barging into my institute, stranger, get out!”

“No, boss I brought them”

“Them? Are all you of you strangers?” he peers at our group,

“We have had so many members, I tend to forget who’s who,”

Claude lets out a large sigh...

“This is our guild master, Giichi, he’s kind of, er, eccentric but means well,”

“Are these people your clients, Claude?”

“No, I am trying to, umm, temporary recruit them,”

……. The old man’s demeanor changes,

“We talked about is yesterday, Claude, it’s dangerous for us right now”

“Exactly why we need more people boss,”

“Hmm,” he eyes us earnestly this time

“You, familiar looking muscular man with the sword, can you fight with that or is it just for show?”

“I can, and we have not decided on joining whatever this is just so you know,” Apollo trying to sound extremely masculine,

(I think he’s intimidated)

“We were listening to Claude here, explain everything to us, before you interrupted,” Apollo asserts,

“What do you want to know?” The old man says knocking Claude off his seat, taking his place

…….

“I was telling them about the factions,” Claude grumbles,

“What could a baby like you know about the factions, ”Sir Giichi scoffs,

“It’s a good thing I came when I did or you would have said the wrong thing,”

“I was going to tell them what you taught me” Claude argues

“Ehh, with your bad memory, I doubt that”

“What do you mean my bad memory, you just now could not differentiate between strangers and actual members!”

“Are you really going to bully this old man, Claude?”

“…...-”

“-Can you tell us what we need to know already, or should we just leave,” Lyra interjects

“You are an awfully boisterous little one,” Sir Giichi says patronizingly

“I’ll freez-” she starts

“-So, Claude was telling us that because everyone likes the current mayor and how no-one can beat him, they decided to go after wealth and power instead,” Karina speaks over Lyra

“No one can beat him,” Sir Giichi says mockingly,

“I could deal with that fool easily,

But I digress,

It is correct that no-one will challenge him, not just because of his strength or because he is well-liked, it’s in part due to his faction,

The Mayoral Mafia,

You see, because of the mayor’s laissez-faire approach to leadership, this entire city is run by the people itself, we created a system of factions, to prevent all-out battle between every single citizen, which in turn gave birth to a constant competition for supremacy amongst the factions,”

“And this institute is one of those factions?” I ask

“Yes, but we existed before the concept of factions was a thing, Furlheim City aways had an adventures guild,”

“How many factions are there?”

“I know there are seven major ones counting this one, any other faction would be a subgroup,

My breakfast is getting cold,

Claude,”

“The Service group, are the ones who run the inns, diners and are responsible for most other acquirable services,” Claude takes over as Sir Giichi begins eating his breakfast,

“Overall, they hold the least influence or power here,

The Construction company, does just as the name suggests, they hold a lot of influence, but remain unbiased mostly,

The Merchant alliance are the wealthiest of us, I’m sure you have seen at least ten vendors since arriving here.

The Order, is the most secretive, no one knows their true agenda, only that they try to maintain the order here, by any means necessary,

The Hunters, the ones who beat you, do anything for money or prestige , they are always on the ‘hunt’ for superiority.”

“And what do you, the adventurers do?” Pinoki presses on curiously,

“We used to go out and explore the Southern Rocklands and Northern Frostlands for artifacts, as well as doing other smaller helpful jobs, but as of late, the Hunters have been taking our jobs, slowly trying to take our influence and replace us,

They even declared war on us.”

“Wait…” Sir Giichi still chewing,

“Is that why these people are here Claude?

I told you already, we are not risking any more lives, that includes strangers!”

“Boss, listen, we can’t compete with them how we are now, we need more people with us,

Their strength won’t matter as long as they learn the strategy for battle, even the hunters are bound to this rule.”

“Umm, excuse, none of us said we were open to allying ourselves with you,” Karina inputs bossily,

“Your city politics does not sound very appealing,” Pinoki agrees, “sadly I would have been interested in joining your guild if it was not for the complexity that comes with it,”

“The city is not that bad,” Claude protests,

“There are a few things I would like to know,” I speak up

“Depending on your answers I’ll join right now,”

“Ok, very well then, ask away,”

“The watch you were wearing last night,

Where did you get it,” I ask interrogatingly

“Watch?

You mean the artifact?

I can tell you about it, even show you our artifact room, but that information is only allowed for members of the guild” He smiles slyly

“Ahahah! You do know a few negotiatory tactics Claude.” Sir Giichi guffaws slapping the boy hard on his back, he lurches forward the slap echoing throughout the mess hall,

…. Amelia smirks a little, before catching a venomous gaze from her brother,

She promptly responds to his gaze by giving him the finger.

….

“Then I’ll join, as long as you can tell me where you found the ‘watch’, your faction conflict does not bother or concern me” I say dryly,

(I might be making another rash decision, but this is the only path I can see forward right now)

“You’re a weird one, aren’t you,” Sir Giichi comments,

“First time I’ve heard someone name an artifact,

Or maybe second, hmmm,

You know back in the day,” he gets into a reminiscing mood,

“Let’s save that story for another time,” Claude stops him, used to his boss’s long stories,

“Kage are you sure about joining them,” Karina questions,

“If you are, then I will as well, I did say I was going to follow you for a while and I mean it,”

“*cough* I’mwithKageonthistoo,” Lyra mumbles out quickly,

“….. “ Apollo grunts something his face full of food,” his expression doesn’t seem to be sold on the decision

“Hhhhh,” Pinoki sighs, “this better be fun,”

“The institute is always open to new members, but as I told Claude before, I’m not putting anyone’s life in danger,

For any reason,” Sir Giichi informs sternly,

“However, since we have been telling you a lot about us, I now want to know about you,

Where are you five even from?”

“Four of us are from Soterra, Kage, the one with the silver hair, is secretive about his whereabouts,” Karina replies,

“I told you I don’t remember where I’m from,”

“Okay~ And I said I believed you Kage,”

“If I was Lyra I would have an insult for you right now,” I retort

“Then think of one Kage, I dare you,”

……

Lyra whispers something my ear

“I’m not saying that”

“I already heard it,” Karina says gloatingly

……

“Hmm, you’re from Soterra? it is rare to see anyone from that kingdom these day,” Sir Giichi recollects,

“You know, we had member from Soterra back in the day, a headstrong woman she was, always knew what she wanted,”

….

Apollo perks up immediately “Was her name Emmaline?”

“You mean, Emma?

Do you know her?”

“Only in name, she’s the only person from Soterra I heard of that came to this city,

She is my mother,”

“You’re her child?

Then this must be fate for us to have met,

How is she now?”

“She umm died giving birth to me,”

……

“Sorry to hear she passed,” Sir Giichi sympathizes ,

“What about you father then, I’m assuming he did not take her death lightly, those two were always so annoyingly close to each other,”

“You know who he is?” Apollo asks surprised,

“You don’t?

Don’t tell me he died as well,”

“I don’t know, I never met him, or know he is,”

“Something must have happened to him then, he wouldn’t have left you, he was always so orderly and just with his decisions and actions,

A good man he was,” Sir Giichi reminisces

“Maybe he’s dead,” Apollo forces a yawn, trying to act nonchalant,

“If so then that’s a shame, he was brimming with so much potential, hopefully some of it passed on to you and your….

Half-Brother?

Cousin?” He gestures to me,

“Huh, You mean Kage? We are not related,”

“Really?

Then why do both of you resemble Raguel?”