Chapter 3: New Adventurers

Alice ended up asking Cleo if she could spend the night, using the excuse that she was new to the city and hadn't gotten a place to stay yet, and that she was broke. She hated lying to her sweet friend, but she couldn't tell her the truth, not yet. Cleo was overjoyed with this, and here she lay in bed next to said friend, still deep asleep. Open quests, she had gotten a new main quest last night when Arthur showed them the odd rock,

                                                          -MAIN OBJECTIVE-

                       - FIGURE OUT THE ORIGIN OF THE CRYSTAL OF ENTROPY

She'd have to ask Arthur if she could join him whenever he decides to look into the odd-sorry, the "Crystal of Entropy". Alice decided to freshen up, she stared at herself in the mirror, she pushed her black hair back before pulling out the hair tie, her hair wasn't so long that it needed to be tied up, but she still chose to. The shower worked the same as the one she had back in her apartment. After having cleaned up Alice changed back into the clothes she wore here, not like there was anything else she could wear. Cleo's home wasn't far from the Adventurers' Guild, so they could head out shortly after she woke up. Alice took a seat on the couch while she waited for Cleo to wake up, despite her stomachs protests, it would be rude if she started rifling through someone else's kitchen. Soon enough Alice could hear movement in the bathroom, a few minutes later Cleo joined her in the living room. Cleo lived in an apartment, it was quite spacious. " Good morning!" Cleo greeted Alice brightly, one which she returned. Cleo fixed up breakfast for the both of them and joined Alice on the couch, and much to her surprise, Cleo turned on the TV. After they finished eating they made their way back to the guild. It was quite active by the time they arrived, when Alice reached the receptionist's desk she was greeted by someone other than Clair, " Your here, Clair has been waiting for you, shes just upstairs, final room down the hall," The lady says pointing to the stairs behind Alice. The duo made their way up, once they got closer to the end of the hall the chatter and noise from downstairs began to die down, Cleo knocked on the door, and without any delay, Alice let herself in. Clair was seated behind a desk littered with papers, this must've been her office. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with books, across from the wooden desk was a small table with two single chairs on the sides and a regular couch across. Alice and Cleo took their seats on the couch, Arthurs also here.

" Now that your Adventurers, you can start taking commissions and clearing dungeons, but you can also join a guild," Clair explained. Alice had no plans on joining any guild, cause she didn't know any and she'd prefer to just continue with Cleo...maybe an extra teammate wouldn't hurt. She glances over at Arthur who is conversing with Clair about something, " Arthur," she calls out to him, pulling his attention,

" Join my team,"

" No."

" Come on at least give it some time before answering," Alice knew he would say no, but she had to try. " Arthur, you should join them, you have been looking for a team these past few weeks," Clair tries getting Arthur to think more about it, but he seemed deadset on his decision. A sly smile overtakes Clair's mouth, " An order from the vice leader," She announces, Arthur sprung up from his seat, both he and Cleo are left wide-eyed in shock, Alice sits there pretending to look shocked(she has no idea why this is important) " As Vice leader of the Adventurers Guild, you, Arthur Vreinan, must join the team of Adventurers Alice and Cleo," Clair holds her hand open as a scroll materializes in it, she had made a contract that automatically bonded itself to Arthur, who looked displeased. He sits back down, supposedly having accepted his fate, " I'll join their team on ONE condition," Clair nods her head in agreement, the contract floats down to her desk as she readies her pen to make adjustments to it,

" Five months, if these two can reach Diamond rank in five months then I'll join them," Alice wanted to beat this guy. Five months. FIVE months to reach the highest Adventurer rank, Alice couldn't tell if he had confidence in them or if he was just stupid.

" I accept," Alice agreed to the terms, Clair let out a sigh and adjusted the contract, once she finished it rolled itself back up and flew to Arthur. Clair gets up from her desk and walks over to the bulletin board.

" For now you two can take this commission, it shouldn't be too difficult for the both of you," Clair says pulling one of the papers down and handing it to Cleo. Alice thanked Clair and they both headed out, " Oh wait hold on, I need to go get something real quick just wait here for me," Alice ran back in and skipped up the steps to Clairs office, Arthur was still here, good. She holds out her hand toward him,

" Give me a sword, I know you have an inventory, surely you have spare swords in there,"

"no."

"You WILL give me one," the two are locked in a test of strength, pushing back against the other, Alice struggles against Arthurs's strength, it was like being pushed by a wall, but she isn't gonna back down. Clair clears her throat rather loudly, getting the both of them to stop, Arthur reaches into his inventory and pulls out a sheathed sword, the sheath is a simple black with lines carved into it. The handle of the blade was simply tightly wrapped in black cloth, she slightly unsheaths the blade to get a look at it, it looked odd. One edge of the blade was silver, a strip of black ran down the middle, and on the other side was a strange green, like the blade had been made using an odd metal. " An odd blade for an odd wielder, fitting" Arthur looked smug after saying that, she would've hit him but chose not to, she settled with thanking Clair and not him and just leaving. When she met back with Cleo they set out to start their commission, Alice told her friend about what happened on their way there.

                                                              -SIDE QUEST-

               - INVESTIGATE AND SOLVE THE DISAPPEARANCES IN THE VILLAGE

Turns out, this world is advanced but not advanced enough for cars. They had reached the outskirts of the city and got into a horse-drawn wagon, they would be getting off at the second stop, our commission was to investigate the odd case where people have been vanishing into thin air, the remaining people believe it to be the work of monsters. When they arrived the sky was a pinkish blue, Cleo thanked and paid the people for letting them hitch a ride, even though they refused she sternly forced them to take it. The village was old compared to the city, it reminded her of those old, old villages. The homes were built from wood, and far off was a field of rice that was growing healthily. As they walked to the town hall, Cleo's burgundy coat waved behind her as she walked, according to her it was a mage coat, her orange hair went just a little past her shoulders, but they were pulled into a tail today. Cleo slid the door open, and Alice closed it on her way in. Sitting around a table were who she assumed were the elders of this village, they looked old, but not super old. The duo knelt down in front of the table, the lady to the left of Cleo smiled and gestured to the cups of steaming tea in front of them, they both smiled in return and slightly bowed in thanks.

" We thank you for coming all this way to help us," Spoke the old man across from them, he looked to be about 80, his face was wrinkly and he was bald. "I'm shure the commisshhion filled you in on the sithuation, we and the rest of the people here will do everything we can to assist you two," this time it was the man next to him, perhaps it was his son? The next to speak was the man on the very left, he appeared more...dignified? He just looked more scholarly than the one on the far right.

" I apologize for my father's abruptness and my brother's foolishness. My name is Fen Yu, my father is Haru, and Ren over there is my younger brother. This here is my wife, Leinan," Fen gently places his hand on Leinans arm, she was smiling, but shes in pain. You could tell by the look in her eyes, perhaps she had lost someone during the disappearances.

" My name is Alice, my friend here is Cleo," Alice quickly got through their own introductions, " As for the commission we have an idea as to where they might have gone, the dungeon." Fen frowned at this idea, and rightfully so. Alice learnt from Clair that the dungeon entrances have a barrier keeping the monsters inside, it detects the DNA of whatever is trying to pass, and if it's a hunter then it won't block them. So how could monsters have taken the people if they can't leave? They didn't, other HUMANS took them, or maybe they were hypnotized she wasn't entirely sure yet. After talking some more about the case Fen let them stay in one of the empty rooms in the town hall. Alice and Cleo unpacked their things before coming up with a plan for tomorrow. " We should go around and ask the people if they've seen anything, There's a chance one of them has seen something," Cleo says sitting next to Alice on her mat. Alice agreed to this plan and laid down, closing her eyes hoping sleep would come to her easily.

                                                             -MAIN OBJECTIVE-

 FIGURE OUT THE ORIGIN OF THE CRYSTAL OF ENTROPY

Reach Level 900

REACH DIAMOND RANK IN 5 MONTHS AND HAVE ARTHUR JOIN YOUR TEAM

                                                            -SIDE OBJECTIVES-

INVESTIGATE AND SOLVE THE DISSAPERANCES