Private Guilds

Another day, another practical lesson. Everyone, even Evona, has been learning skills steadily. Iori specifically was learning a plethora of skills. She learned more skills than Kaito had in three days compared to Kaito’s eight months.

“Hah! Learned another one!” Iori announced, learning yet another skill.

Kana and Iori double high-fived each other in celebration.

Kaito and Evona sulked in jealousy as they watched Iori’s success. They found solace in each other, knowing that they were both being outdone by Iori.

“I’m so proud of her…” Kaito said in a sarcastic tone.

“Evona’s happy Iori is our friend…” Evona added to their sulking.

Iori and Kana realized their sulking and walked over to cheer them up.

“Come on, guys!” Kana reassured, “Wizards just learn skills more easily. If it makes you feel better, Iori has even doubled the amount of skills I have learned!”

“Wait, really!?” Iori responded. “I thought you knew more since you just taught me that last spell.”

Kana scratched her head sheepishly, slightly pained by Iori’s comment. “Yeah… that was actually the last spell I’ll be able to teach you since you just learned all the spells I know.”

“I guess that means now we’re all going to get help from the instructor for new spells,” Kaito mentioned.

“From… him?” Iori responded hesitantly.

The group all turned towards the instructor, who was teaching the practical classes for the rest of the week’s course.

He was buff… too buff. Overly large with an intimidating face to match. He was standing on the colosseum’s stands with his arms crossed, watching over all the students like some sort of army sergeant.

The instructor suddenly turned towards the ‘slacking off group’.

Everyone stopped staring at him as quickly as possible. Kaito and Evona got up from their sulking position and began stretching to act like they were doing something.

“At least we’ll have someone less intimidating for tomorrow’s class,” Kana announced.

“How do you know that?” Kaito asked.

“Apparently, strong adventurers from the Flaming Tiger Guild are teaching us tomorrow,” Kana explained.

“There’s a place called ‘Flaming Tiger’,” Kaito responded, thinking all guilds were named after towns and cities.

“No, silly, it’s a private guild,” Kana clarified. “We’ll also be learning about them tomorrow.”

“Then let’s give it our all tomorrow!” Iori encouraged everyone. “Let’s learn a bunch of skills together, Kana!”

“Y-yeah, of course,” Kana hesitantly responded.

Kaito looked at Kana’s expression. She seemed uncertain, or somewhat defeated. Was something about the instructor tomorrow scaring her? Kaito would have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

____________________________________________________________________________

Guilds!

Kaito learned that there is more depth to them than just accepting missions and selling monster drops.

There are two types of classified guilds: public and private guilds.

Public Guilds are like that of the Giora Guild. They are publicly owned, allowing official adventurers to use their services freely.

Private Guilds, like the Flaming Tiger Guild, are privately owned. Groups of adventurers can start a private guild if they accumulate 10 members. Most adventurers do it to have an established place for all their buddies, but they do come with their own benefits.

These benefits include: a guild building, access to personal missions, and, to an extent, fame!

Private guilds are also assigned a personal, trained priest. They are issued by a Holy Church so that each private guild has the means to appraise its members.

The school’s one-week program is a popular means of getting adventurers recommended for a guild, which is why well-established and new adventurers alike take the course.

*            *            *

“So that’s what’s up with that guild that is supposed to visit today,” Kaito deduced.

“Yep, the Flaming Tiger is very popular, so everyone is going to try their hardest to meet and impress them,” Kana explained.

Just as their conversation about the Flaming Tiger started, a bunch of squeals were heard in the hallway, just outside the classroom. The exact type of squeals you’d hear from fan girls.

The classroom instructor sighed. “Class, please welcome the Flaming Tiger Guild. They’ll be teaching you all for your practical lesson today. Please come in!”

On the signal, five strong-looking adventurers walked into the classroom. A dashing man with red hair, a girl in a dark robe with overly long hair, a short kid with a shield way too large for his body, a taller, burly lizardman, and finally a ‘well-proportioned’ lady in ninja clothing.

The giggling that was present in the classroom before the group entered was now straight-up squeals.

“Ace!”

“Omg, it’s actually him!”

“It’s the Flaming Tigers!”

A bunch of students couldn’t contain their happiness, yelling out all their thoughts. The red-haired guy, who looked like the group’s leader, simply waved. Kaito, jealous of his popularity, looked at the group frustratingly, while Evona covered her ears from all the noise.

“Settle down, class! If you behave like this, you might as well say goodbye to your chances of getting into the Flaming Tiger,” the instructor implored.

The students, biding the instructor's warning, went silent, allowing the group to properly introduce themselves.

Just as Kaito had thought, the red-haired guy, Ace, was the group’s leader. He was also the second-in-command of the whole Flaming Tiger Guild.

“Alright, everyone, now that introductions are done, would you all please stand up?” Ace ordered the class.

Everyone gradually stood up, except for Kaito. He was stalling, not wanting to follow Ace’s instructions. In the end, Kaito didn’t get up in time. Ace looked towards the girl with long hair, their mage, signaling her to use a spell.

A large magic circle encapsulated the whole room, causing everyone to be teleported to the colosseum courtyard instantly. Kaito, still sitting down, fell right on his butt.

The group’s practical class was set to start much faster than they anticipated.