亚洲综合中美

“Not yet,” Dorothy didn’t back down. Awkwardly, the mother and daughter had a stare-off.

“Auic,” Staxius called, “-have you contacted Viola?”

“Yes,” a relieved reply, “-she’ll be here soon.”

“In that case,” he stepped closer to the visitors, “-Mrs. Remington, I’d like to have a word in private,” asked in a respectful yet monotonous tone, he walked over to the office.

“As you wish,” she rolled her eyes in anguish and followed.

“What about me?” Dorothy asked out of concern.

.....

“You’re with me,” Auic interjected, “-come here,” she headed for her office.

Silent, filled with extravagant commodities and a desk that had nothing but a faint glow. “Please take a seat,” he offered then sat in turn. With a push of a button, the curtains parted gently. “Now then,” formally sat with his face turned to hers, the eyes met, “-care to tell me the meaning of this?” the image of him holding a fireball earlier lingered in the subconscious. The purpose was the calm any unnecessary revolt should emotions take over, Carla would take time to think before acting.

“I’d like to thank you first,” the words seemed not to incline to part from her tongue.

“You needn’t force thyself on my account, Mrs. Remington,” he added since she struggled.

The little remark forced her to glare, though, her stare was met by one even colder and filled with murderous intent. Fight and flight could kick in at any time, her heart raced, her fingers felt tingly. “I do apologize,” she sighed and gathered her thoughts. “It was thanks to you that Dorothy can run around in the sun. Her mind is set on becoming an adventurer, the reason why it’s so hard to see her acting said way is simple. I don’t want to see her bedridden ever again.”

Meanwhile, in the other room, a similar situation unfolded. “Care to tell me why you want to become an adventurer?” asked Auic in a curious manner.

“I was bedridden for so long. Mother and father nearly went bankrupt trying to keep a failure like me alive. The reason I want to continue down said path; to repay the kindness they showed me. I want to go out and make the life granted to me something to be proud of. Nothing extravagant, I wish to help my parents repay the debt that has gone to my treatment.”

“So, you see, Lord Staxius,” Clara came to her decision, “-I’m not letting my daughter go out and fight any longer. It’s unbecoming a noble lady. Her coming to age party is to come in the next few months. Turning sixteen will mean her venture into the world of upper society. Many suitors will approach, many who will make her happy with whatever she wishes for. And for her to turn to adventuring without care for our practices is borderline selfish and uncalled for.”

“Can I please join; I only wish to repay what has been spent. I want to experience life outside of a caring house; my turning of age ceremony comes fast. Being a nobleman’s daughter is hard, I’ll be forced to marry into a family that is best suited for my family and not me. It’s all I want, to live my life the fullest for the next few months till it all comes to an end. A vivid dream, a fantasy of which Kniq holds the keys.”

“In no way will she join Kniq.”

“I will join Kniq.”

Simultaneously, both gave their opinion. ‘Seriously,’ he stared up, ‘-these two are impossible. This is supposed to be an adventuring guild, not some counseling office,’ without the two knowing, Staxius and Auic knew what went on in both rooms. Earpieces, courtesy of the Dark-guild – the situation, awkward at best, was now known.

“I’ve heard thy worries,” Staxius spoke, “-you want to keep her unharmed till her aging ceremony,” with a serious glare, “-have you spoken any of this to thy daughter, or is this your supposed authority as guardian or selfishness coming to play?” words as sharp as knives, Carla could but narrow her eyes in anger, her face tensed.

“D-DON’T-”

“I’d mine my tone If I were you,” the index pointed up, a full stop to the would-be screaming. Not very ladylike but part understood what it meant to be a parent. “Back to what I was saying, if you haven’t discussed this with her, then there’s no point. Either she’ll run off and ruin thy family name or go on quests without being an adventurer. I’ve two daughters myself, if the time came where one wanted to join me in my job, then I’d welcome with open arms. I’ve seen one of them get hurt; the feeling wasn’t nice, she nearly died on my watch,” the face remained still, “-still, I wouldn’t shelter them for my own sake. Tis their life to live, who am I to interject?” a reference to the two-versus-two when Eira got injured.

“I’d disagree,” she spoke out, “-why would anyone leave their daughter to fight. Even if it’s their will, they are but kids, not mature enough,” her point of view didn’t change one bit, rather, it was enforced.

“Listen,” with a deep breath, “-I’m not here to argue what is good or wrong. The thing at hand is whether Dorothy will join my guild or not. This isn’t about you, Mrs. Remington. Should I remind thy of who I am?” he stood, “-go speak this with thy daughter, the vice-leader should be in soon.”

“Fine,” she gritted then left.

‘I do wish I could take her by the neck and watch as the life slowly drains out her nose and mouth,’ he sighed as the lady left.

“Do it then,” said Adete, “-kill her, I’d like to see some bloodshed too,” meant to be viewed in jest.

“I knew you’d say that,” he sat back down and pulled up a screen from the blueish glow. Paired with the guild card, a connection was made; information and the guild in Arda, quests, and more were displayed. More members joined; the seal of approval would be given in a week after the Mages guild would be complete with the training regiment.

A few walls apart, Undrar came as fast as she could. They now spoke to both the mother and daughter. ‘If the girl was above sixteen and not noble, it would have been simpler. Take the mother out of the picture and let her experience what it’s like first hand to fight on the frontlines,’ he thought and waited. Mind drained from research on Angel’s Dust, he could but sit back and wait.

*The tower is where you’ll find the answer. Two demons have taken reign over this world. Direct subordinates to the new god of time, they are out to do but one thing, revive the Elder Gods and destroy the many realms in an attempt to unify all into a single rule, the rule of Kronos,* a voice whispered, flashes of a fight were on display, “-wake up,” another voice came from between the dream, “-Wake up,” it grew, “-WAKE UP.” The dream shattered, “-is it that time again?”

“Time for what?” stood with a smile, Auic. A glance at the clock revealed that three hours had gone by.

“You’re going to relish this new turn of events,” the smile she held wasn’t that pure, it felt like a smirk.

“Care to elaborate?” the half-asleep mind came too.

“We’ve agreed,” sat before him, Mrs. Remington and Dorothy, each had a subtle smile.

“We came to realize that all this has been thy fault from the start,” Auic went into greater detail, “-having brought over Marie earlier cause this mess. Dorothy had been tamed before her sister told about how Kniq lived as a family and the numerous adventures Avon recounted fondly. It brought her out of her shell, thus,” she stared over at the people in question.

“What’s the compromise then?” a bad feeling hovered in the air.

“Dorothy here will be working at Pandora for the upcoming months. Her mother remained adamant about not letting her go out into the wild to fight. Viola also agrees the girl isn’t physically suitable to fight for she’s weak and prone to fatigue. A side-effect caused by the curse,” from trying to figure out what had happened, the eyes opened instantly.

“Seriously?” he stared at Undrar and mumbled, the party stood behind close and seemed to laugh. ‘I swear,’ he looked down in amusement, ‘-I can’t, as revenge, they decided to place her responsibility on my head. This is going to be a pain,’ since the adventuring guild would settle in the next week, there wasn’t much to do else work at the shop. Any major tasks had been handled.

“What’s the verdict?” asked Carla.

“It’s no trouble, I’ll take in Dorothy as my assistant. She’ll be at the shop, safe from danger and paid pretty well. Does that suit thy criteria?” nothing could be done; the decision had been made. What was left was to take in the assistant and work her to the bone.

“Awesome,” said the girl, “-I’ll be sure to make it worth thy time.”

“I’ll be sure to pick you up tomorrow, it will be a sort of orientation of where you’ll work,” on those parting words, a supposed peaceful Sunday had been planned with instruction a newbie.

“Now then,” once the duo left, a dark aura seeped out, “-care to tell me who came up with the plan of sticking babysitting duty onto me?”

“Tis not that big-a-deal,” Avon dashed for a hug, “-she just wants to live life a bit before getting married off to some other family. I thought you enjoyed the company of small girls,” he referred to Lizzie, the twins, and Eira.

“That’s quite malicious,” he patted Avon’s head, “-but I also enjoy the company of boys like you,” the arms wrapped around the spirit’s body and squeezed.

“OK, OK, I GET IT,” Avon screamed in pain.

“Jokes apart, that was probably the best choice of actions. Good job to you and Viola. Tomorrow’s a day off, go enjoy thyself. I’ll go and deposit the Qaisar you’ve brought from all those monster-slaying quests.”

“As you wish,” on that, the party left.

“Auic, can I have the report on quests and the amount of Qaisar they managed to collect?” still sat in the office, the fox-eared lady, ran back out.

[Report for January]

[Quests completed: 30]

[Qaisar amassed: Gold-10, Silver-500, Copper-102000]

‘Talk about working hard,’ it was a quest every single day and a lot of monster slaying.

“Any monster drops?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not, they are unexpectedly rare,” Auic replied.

“Guess I’ll take the coins to the guild. I’ll meet you back at home,” stood in the storage room, three massive chests onto which had Gold, Silver, and Copper labeled. ‘Why do they have to be this big,’ a quick shake of the head followed by a teleport to the central guild.

“What are you doing here so late?” Diane was in the process of cleaning up coffee Melisa spilled.

“I came for a favor,” the tone remained monotonous.

“Go on,” she said without much thought and cleaned.

“You know the big chests where guilds are supposed to deposit Qaisar at the end of each month then bring here?”

“Yes, what about them?” her mop stopped moving.

“Can’t I just link the boxes with the deposit box here?”

“What do you mean by link?” intrigued, she asked wanting to know more.

“It’s simple. Each month, guilds bring in those boxes and deposit it at their guilds account where it’s processed and handed back out after a cut has been taken. Therefore, I’d like to create a shortcut, instead of me walking, I’d like to just raise a portal between the chest at headquarters and the chest here.”

“Teleportation,” she sighed, “-fine, guild master of Arda,” the tone felt a little woeful. “Ask Melisa about the depo chest for Kniq,” she had lost the usual flair and uninviting personality. Not wanting to pry though he noticed, a chat with Melisa later; without much trouble – the link was established.

“See you later,” a rather hard slap on Diane’s back, “-don’t look down. The guild assistant who always causes me trouble isn’t a person who looks down. She stares up and confronts whatever pisses her off. Wipe that woeful expression and replace it with one filled with disgust. It suits you best,” with a wink, he left.

“Screw you.”