“Hey Ivo, wake up!” Something shook my side. I let out a grunt as I woke up from my slumber. My eyes were still blurry when a small light kept on flying through it. I scratched my eyes and blinked, and I was relieved when I saw the light to be Fayette. I hadn’t even gotten up yet when she landed on my chest. 

“Good morning!” She told me in her cheerful voice as usual. It looked like she had gotten decent rest and food. Her red hair was neat as well, who took care of her?

“Where did you go, Fayette, what happened?” I asked her, still half-asleep

“I woke up in the guild master's room, the guild master wasn’t there, however. There was a lady there, she said she was one of the receptionists here. She was really nice! Gave me food, offered me a shower, and told me about what happened at the festival. I was apparently out of magic, so my body just shut down. Anyways, after that, she asked me a few questions and even prepared a room for me. She never told me her name though.” She said happily, flying obnoxiously like usual. It seemed like she had already told this to Alberto because he wasn’t paying attention, he was just lying on his bed, waiting for something. 

“Well, I’m glad the three of us are here now and didn’t die to Stratford, while it is a shame that we couldn’t take care of Stratford once and for all,” said Alberto, still lying on his bed. I just nodded at that while Fayette still flew around randomly. Around us were a few patients, some were conscious and some were not. I noticed there were more empty beds than yesterday, did they get released? When are we going to get released? The doctor did say that we were going to get released today after we woke up. Most of the adventurers I saw yesterday that were on the beds weren’t here anymore, as expected of adventurers. 

“What are we going to do about getting to Arcanus and Cevine?” I asked the two of them. Fayette wasn’t interested in answering the question, Alberto closed his eyes. 

“I don’t know,” said Alberto. It wasn’t like him. He seemed down, depressed even. Is it because of what Stratford said? “Maybe we could find another quest, delay ourselves a bit more for money.” 

“It would take a long time,” Fayette said. “I say we just walk there!”

“We can’t exactly walk more than a thousand miles,” I told Fayette. “It would take us more time than simply doing a quest and getting a carriage.” She seemed down as I said that, but she knew it was true. Even though I asked this question, my man wandered away from it to Alberto. I felt like I wanted to know his past because he might go out of control during the fight. Stratford could use it against him and that would be dangerous, so if I knew his past, then maybe I can minimize the impact Stratford had. I reached over to Alberto and opened my mouth.

“Hey Alberto, you mind if I ask a que-,” before I could finish the question, the room opened. The doctor from yesterday walked in and stopped right next to our bed. I couldn’t read his facial expression because he still had his pointy medical mask. He checked a few papers and looked up at us. 

“Alright, you guys are good to go. I would recommend a few extra days of rest but it’s not like you guys will follow my recommendation anyway,” said the doctor, “adventurers,” I heard his whisper to himself as he shook his head. He motioned us to get out of the room, so we started moving as he went on to check with other patients. We thanked him as we got out of the way. I grabbed my ax underneath my bed and Alberto grabbed his daggers underneath his. 

“Can I use your necklace until I get a magic stone?” Alberto asked me on the way out. 

“Magic stone? What is that?” I asked. He looked at me like I was five years old. 

“How come you don’t know what that is? If you stick a magic stone into virtually anything, that thing becomes a wand or a staff of sort.” He then pointed to an empty circle on his dagger. “That’s where you put a magic stone at,”
“Oh, good to know then, how much does one cost?” I asked him. I didn’t really want him to keep my mother’s necklace, the only thing that I have that is related to a mother I didn’t even remember, but it was still my mother’s nonetheless. 

“It’s cheap, about 5 Virgos.” That is not cheap. We didn’t have any money then, so it was an uncomfortable problem for me. As we walked out of the room, the blonde receptionist that we met before was standing there waiting for us.

“Congratulations on completing your first quest. Because the contractor is not available, we have signed your paper. Please come to the reception table to receive your reward.” She said to us in a bored voice.

Alberto and I looked at each other. Fayette seemed to be happy. As a mercenary, I couldn’t exactly say I completed the quest. 

“But some people have died, the quest wasn't perfect!” I told the lady. She shook her head.

“The quest was turned into an emergency that involved multiple adventurers. The guild master has approved your quest to be rewarded, I’m just here doing my job,” said the receptionist. Alberto stopped me before I could say anything else. 

“Thank you, ma’am. We will head over to the reception table now,” He said as he started going. I couldn’t say anything after that. Alberto really just wants to get it over with. I wanted to take the money as well, but Issak always told me to do every job perfectly, then get the reward for it. The fact that I didn’t yet still get money for it left an uneasy feeling in my stomach. We got to the main hall. I could hear chatter about what happened at the Norone Festival. It was crowded like usual, this place is always crowded. We walked up to the reception table to find the examiner that tested us was there. 

“Good to see you people again. I believe I haven’t formally introduced myself yet. My name is Zeltan Vostum, and I am here today to relay a message for you,” he gave us an envelope, signed by the guild master himself. We opened and read the envelope. 

Dear Ivo, Alberto, and Fayette. 

I am the guild master of Lumen’s Adventures. I am here today to tell you that I am in complete support of your objective. You see, the Leora religion has been quite a pain these days. They took our cargo, attacked our cities, and already took over Cevine. The royal army is trying to take the city back to no prevail. The news that they have taken Cevine is true, now they call it the Theocracy of Leora. They are doing inhumane things to our King’s subjects in the name of their Goddess, and I could not just stand still. 

After we have read that letter, Zeltan gave us 3 notes, for each of us. In my note, it read: 

Chelsea is in Blackburn. Issak raised a good man. 

 How does he know about my objective? And Issak? Then a realization came to me. Goodwin! He had sent a letter to the guild master about my objective. But that didn’t answer the question of how he knew Chelsea was in Blackburn. But I did not care about the details much. Finally, a real lead on where my friends are, and we now have an ally. I looked over to Alberto and Fayette, it looked like they have more information on whatever they are pursuing as well. I closed the letter and put the note inside the pocket of my shirt. Zeltan then gave us 2 Hydras.

“Good luck on whatever your goals are.” Said Zeltan.