The store’s bell rung brightly as the front door was opened, an exhausted Elise dragging her feet as she finally returned home, bruised and battered as she clambered to a seat, nearly crashing facefirst onto the floor as the massive tank flopped hard into a chair.

“Haaa… I-I’m back… everyone…”

“Hells, I thought I said to be careful and stop breaking- oh! Elise, you’re back!”

Peeking out from a back room, an expression of muted frustration quickly shifted into one of pleasant surprise as Prim beamed at the sight of her friend, finally returned.

She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, the halfling working up a sweat as she worked on still further projects, business not quite booming enough to keep her at the front counter for any length of time.

“You finished with all that training you had planned already?”

“M-More or less, yeah… this solo stuff is a lot more s-stressful than Monica made it out to be, m-my heart’s still racing…”

“Speaking of the devil, have you heard anything back from her? We still haven’t registered for the event or anything, and she’s the one that has to handle all of that.”

“Oh, was she not h-here with you…?”

“Nope, she’s been gone since before the last time you were here.”

“Oh, gosh… h-hopefully she’s ok, you don’t think anything happened, do you?”

“I’d hope she’s fine but… I don’t really know anyone more danger-prone than her. For all we know, she’s either off soloing some endgame fight by herself or lying dead in a hole somewhere-”

And perfectly on queue, their guild leader poofed in out of thin air, a tiny chorus of angelsong signaling her respawn, falling a few inches out of the air as she plopped down onto the countertop, tails swaying as she blinked rapidly, clearly just as surprised as the both of them were.

“E-Eek?!”

“Gah!”

“…ah, so that’s what happens after you die here, got it.”

An equally disoriented Silk fell in after her, landing squarely atop her head with a squeak, quickly sliding down the oversized brim of her witch hat and teetering down to the counter beside the mage.

“Oh, you’re both already here as well, wonderful! I was just about to message you both to say I’m back, but… well, I’m back!~”

“I noticed, and I wish I had more than one person willing to come in here without crashing into things. And more importantly, where have you been, we’ve been trying to find you for days now!”

“I thought I said I was gonna be busy for a while?”

“That’s all you said!”

“Well.. I was busy.”

“…”

“…what?”

“…are you even gonna share why you were busy for so long?”

“I guess I could, but aren’t secrets so much more fun though?”

The crafter sighed with an exhaustion befitting someone three times their age, cradling her head in her hands as the caster merely swung her legs and smiled obliviously.

“E-Ehe… welcome back Monica, glad to see you’re doing… well?”

Her hat and cloak were all covered in a thick coating of ash, most of the webbing lining it charred beyond recognition, soot clinging to what little exposed skin she had as she looked about as burnt and singed as she usually did.

“Well enough for someone that just died, I guess. But enough about me, how’ve you both been doing? You were both preparing for the event too, yeah?”

“Not much here actually, got the shop here up and running finally, and mostly been spending time helping out…”

Prim trailed off, suddenly realizing somethings may be best left unmentioned.

“…a friend of mine, yeah.”

“Oho, making new friends without us?~ Do we get the honor of meeting them?”

“Oh…! A-Any friend of Prim’s is a friend of mine, are they s-still around?”

“No no, they, uh, already logged out, you both just missed them! And more importantly, Ms. Guild Leader here is almost late for getting us registered!”

“…registered? For what?”

The halfling strode out of their back room workshop, forcing a written notice into the fox’s hands.

NOTICE TO ALL GUILDS PLANNING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE UPCOMING EVENT:

All guilds participating will be required to register with a tournament official a minimum of three (3) days prior to the event’s start date. All participating members will need to be present at this time for official registration, and all unregistered players will be barred from participation.

“…wait, 3 days prior? Doesn’t that mean-”

“Yes, today.”

“Guh, why didn’t either of you tell me then?!”

“I-I did send you several dozen messages about it after Prim told me…”

“And I sent probably twice as many as she did.”

“What? No, I’d have seen if you had, I’m not blind…”

She flicked open her menu quickly, scrolling to her messages… and scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling some more, just as quickly closing the tab again.

“…oops, ehe~”

“Look, we have time still, so both of you get up and let’s get over there before it gets any more crowded in town”

The smallest of their party almost entirely lifted both the others as she shoved them back out the door, ignoring their stammered protests as she took the responsibility of meeting their deadline into her own hands.

----------------------------------------

The registrations were being held in a tucked away corner of town, a large space cleared off with several tents lining the outermost reaches, groups of players being shepherded around by staff members manning the event.

Pushing their way past the mountain of bodies, the members of Primonilise forced their way into the event plaza, scanning over the area as they tried to find the officials.

“Geez, I thought there weren’t supposed to be many guilds yet?”

“There wasn’t really any reason to open a guild before, so everyone started opening their own all at once as soon as the event notice went out. It was this bad right outside the store for most of the first couple days after that.”

“It’s n-nice to see so many people this excited about the game, at least.”

Monica and Prim stuck close behind Elise as the sea of bodies parted around her, neither of them really able to see much as they let her handle finding their destination.

Most of the players around them simply rushed towards either one of the tents or back towards the entrance to leave again. Others however had amassed in patchy groups, trying to entice players to join their guilds, last moment recruitment calls being shouted over the already noisy sounds of the packed plaza.

One of these groups was particularly louder and larger than the rest, having attracted a sizable number of fresh-faced players to their ranks as they called out to the hordes of passing adventurers.

In the middle of this centralizing mass, standing atop the edge of a fountain, a small group of players stood above the rest of their number, led by an almost insufferably overbearing Paladin in armor so meticulously polished it seemed like newly-blown glass.

“To all you aspiring and hopeful guildless adventurers, fear not! For the most prestigious of all guilds is still accepting all last minute applicants willing to join the one and only guild that has faced the mythical Spider Queen herself and lived to tell the tale! We of Night Castle will turn any of you into the heroes you dream of being, so line up now!”

“…survived the Spider Queen, huh? Maybe I should remind them how that actually happened, I could probably launch him back to the first dungeon from here…”

“As much as I’d personally love to see that, if you start a scene around this many people, aren’t you just going to get mobbed again? That’s why you’re still trying to stay disguised in town, right?”

“I know, I know, but… I really want to hit him again.”

“Then just save it for when you find him in the event, then.”

The rough cloth of her starting hat wriggled as her vulpine ears twitched in annoyance, grumbling like a scolded child as they ignored Night Castle’s crowded recruiting mob and passed around it.

Past the throngs of advertising guilds, they finally found the registration booths, most of the tents already occupied by parties of all sizes. Wishing another registered guild well as they left, a newly free staff member spotting the three of them and waving them over to their booth.

They wore a simple white and silver suit along with a mask bearing the company’s logo, identical to each other admin they’d seen in the event area. Holding the entrance open for the trio as they entered inside, they let the flap close behind their group as they moved behind a small desk, a pile of paperwork neatly stacked and ready beside them as they bowed to their new guests.

“Welcome, and thank you for playing Shadowed Land: Argathy! I’m assuming you’re all here to secure event registration for your guild, and I’d be happy to assist you.”

They spoke with a practiced nicety familiar to anyone who’d ever dealt with a customer support hotline, any expression or emotion they were feeling obscured behind their mask, giving them a disconcertingly inhuman demeanor.

“Yes yes, that’s right. I’m, um, the guild leader for Primonilise, and would like to register our party for the event coming up.”

“Splendid! Then as the guild leader, you’ll just need to fill out these couple forms quickly with some basic information.”

A sheaf of papers was pulled from the stack and extended towards her in a frighteningly fast and robotic manner, the kitsune taking the bundle and slowly rifling through it, consulting with the other two as she filled everything out.

It took an unexpectedly long time, but after just over an hour, Monica sighed loudly, handing the paperwork back to the clerk, everything finally accounted for.

They eagerly accepted the forms, thumbing through them once again at a freakishly fast and practiced pace, confirming the contents of the files before glancing back up at her with a nod.

“Wonderful, this all looks to be in order. Primonilise is hereby fully qualified to begin registering its applying players.”

“Ah, well… the three of us here will all be registering, if that’s alright?”

“Of course! Please go ahead and equip anything you’ll be using for the event, and I’ll scan you each in individually.”

Monica slipped her chitinous cloak and hat back on, with her flame-kissed boots tucked underneath, while Elise tried to make enough room to equip her full suit of armor and shields together, Prim nearly being pushed outside as she stayed out of the way, not needing to change out of her normal gear at all.

One by one, the staff member looked them each over with a palm-sized device, scanning their player information along with their equipment, inventory, and ability lists, making notes of everything important.

“And… there we are, you three are all set to go.”

“Wait, that’s it? That… really wasn’t so bad at all, huh. Well, if we’re good to go then, I guess we’ll just go ahead and-”

“Ah ah, before you go, I’ll just need to get some kind of information on your remaining guild members planning to enter.”

“Hm? There, uh, aren’t any others, us three are the whole guild…”

They made a discontented noise, grumbling quietly.

“Oh, well, that’s going to present a bit of an issue I’m afraid.”

“Wait, why? I thought you said we were all set?”

“You three are all set, yes. However, your guild itself is not. As mentioned in the event form you were given earlier, guilds must adhere to certain size restrictions.”

“Yes, it said a guild can’t enter with over fifty people, I read that part.”

“Correct. However, a guild also cannot enter with below four total players.”

“…four?”

“Four.”

They paused for a long moment, thinking. Eventually, she crouched low for a second, standing up again with Silk held in front of her.

“…can I enter them?”

“Chkchk?”

“Summoned familiars are not counted as separate players, I’m afraid.”

“Dammit. Well, um… hmm.”

She flopped back hard into one of the seats in the tent, brow furrowed deep with frustration as she glanced at the other two.

“Well, unless either of you knows someone we can steal, I think we’re boned.”

“O-Oh no… the main notice for the event d-didn’t mention a minimum size…”

“All it said was that any “properly qualified” guild could enter… and yeah, none of us know anyone to scout this late, I don’t think.”

“Ugh… wait, Prim, what about that friend you mentioned? Are they in a guild?”

The collected crafter’s expression rapidly drained of color, having failed to even consider the idea being proffered to her.

“Oh, um, I’m not sure they’d care to join actually, you wouldn’t want them-”

“I’d be fine with just about anyone really… can’t you just call them over to check?”

“Yeah, I’m s-sure they wouldn’t mind just being invited, right?”

“No no, I insist, it’s-”

She slowly backed away from the pair, both of them closing in on her, twin pairs of puppy-dog eyes boring into her skull as they pleaded with her, unaware of what exactly they were requesting of her.

“P-Please ask them, Prim?”

“Pretty pleeeeeeeeease?~”

“…you don’t get to blame me if you’re angry about meeting them…”

The tank and mage cheered, high-fiving one another as they successfully guilt tripped their melee into a worse idea than they could understand it to be, Prim stepping outside the tent to send a quick message to her first and only customer.

----------------------------------------

It took about another hour for them to arrive, Prim pacing anxiously at the entrance as she constantly peeked out to look for them.

“Who exactly is this friend of yours to make you so antsy? You’re acting like we invited your mom or something… it’s not your mom, is it?”

“What, no, it’s not my mom. Just… promise me you’re not going to throw a fit when they get here.”

“Um, alright…?”

Monica glanced over at Elise and Silk, all three of them shrugging at one another.

As they spoke, a voice called from outside, Prim jumping several inches off the ground as she hurried outside, the sounds of hushed and intense words being exchanged outside of earshot before she finally peeked back in.

“…they’re here, and they said they’d be happy to join.”

“Thank gods, that means we qualify after all.”

“Well, just… don’t say I didn’t tell you you wouldn’t like it. Okay, c’mon in.”

She gestured behind her, nervously stepping back into the booth with the others and gesturing behind herself to her as-of-yet unnamed friend…

…and from behind her, Glass slipped into the tent with them all, idly glancing around the surprisingly roomy space before spotting Silk, Elise, and most importantly, Monica.

“…oh! I remember you, you’re… Marisa, yeah? You were that strong person I fought before, right…?”

Monica blinked several hundred times in the span of a few seconds, dial up noises ringing out of her ears as she tried to rapidly process a multitude of thoughts rushing through her head all at once.

“…Monica?”

Prim cautiously prodded at her friend, Elise rapidly glanced back and forth between the Gloom Mage and Brawler as she very quickly pieced the situation together in her head, and Silk put themselves between the two, little limbs outstretched in concern.

Eventually, the kitsune slowly stood up from her seat, still completely silent, the crafter thinking to themselves for just a moment that she had taken the sudden re-introduction remarkably well, all things considered.

And in the next instant, a halfling, elf, and spider were left having to leap for her as she lunged forwards like a hawk, all four limbs flailing wildly as she hurled all manner of obscenities at the airheaded boy in front of them, the three of them using every last ounce of strength they had in them to hold their bloodthirsty guild leader back as Glass signed themselves into the paperwork presented to them, officially marking Primonilise’s first perfectly welcome new member.