A Long Awaited Explanation

After a single night of break Nosora had no choice but to face Master Pops and all the rage he had to vent.

"You fool!" Master Pops shouted furiously, from the second floor only accessible by those ranked beta and of course Master Pops himself. "How could you lose our crest! That symbol represents our loyalty to one another! Not to mention how expensive it is to get one made! How did this happen!"

"I was protecting Daveil. The owner of Wake's Break. The Leviathan almost had him, but I was able to push him away from his demise. Only I got myself caught in the progress, and Daveil still lost a leg." Nosora admitted shamefully as his long blue hair nearly touched the ground when he bowed.

"Very well." Master Pops growled in a voice of annoyance. "We will have a new crest made for you. But if you want new clothes prepare to work for them. We've got plenty of quests as of late. Just try not to lose your crest again."

"Yes Master. "

********

A few hours later.

"Why you bone skulled little-." I shouted before Aceil interrupted me with an Ether infused punch to the gut.

"All skulls are bone you retard!" He argued fiercely.

"I'd watch your back, or are you as blind as you look, silver eyes?" Nosora taunted as he seemed to warp to Aceil's flank, using his Ether to increase his speed to inhuman proportions.

"I'd be more careful if I was you. Don't wanna flash the newbie, do you, hobo-man?" Aceil said distracting Nosora long enough for him to dodge his blow and land a counterattack of his own.

The short of it is, Draconum Familia was lovely as ever. Even Jex, the pyromaniac/self-proclaimed gentleman couldn't resist joining the fray, making our bout all the more interesting.

He may have been stronger than any one of us, but he never fought just one, as everyone of us enjoyed hitting him equally.

Kenki, Bastion, Lilac, and Kukiri all sat at the bar arguing over which of us was more childish.

I seemed to be the popular choice for some unexplainable reason.

Suddenly the massive, wooden, double doors leading in and out of our guild burst open as a petite elven figure stood outside cloaked in a garb of pure darkness, his long jade hair flowed out from the void of shadows which concealed his face. Over each hand was a dark fingerless, leather, glove.

"Heyo Shade!" I shouted as Aceil took a bite from my hand. "Just finish a job?"

Shade scoffed at me before dramatically flapping his cloak. "Of course, I did. What else would I have just been doing?"

"You should know." Jex said with Nosora's and my own free fist embedded in his face. "Okami just got back. She says she misses you."

Immediately Shade ran for the exit only to have one of our Beta ranked members leap from the second floor halting his exit.

"Shadey!" Okami shouted playfully as her autumn orange hair bounced energetically, along with the two wolven ears of the same color that sat on her head. "Come on! Where're you going? Didn't you just get back?" She added, her orange tail wagging with the equivalent speed of a typhoon.

"Away from you." Shade answered cruelly as he attempted to walk past her only to be blocked again.

"For reals? How rude. I dressed all fancy just for youuu." Okami said as she spun in a circle showing off every inch of her flashy corset dress patterned to look like autumn leaves with the exception of the guild's crest. "I think I heard somewhere that elves like leaves, and Autumn's colors are soo pretty, so I had this made. I think it makes my boobs look bigger too, don't you?"

"So fluffy..." Shade said under his breath as his gaze tracked Okami's fluffy tail.

"Huh?" Okami asked with a grin in spite of hearing him perfectly.

"I said. Go away." He immediately corrected as he made another attempt to escape.

Yet the second Okami 'lost her footing' due to her oversized boots Shade didn't hesitate to catch her.

"Oh, my hero. Saving me again." Okami exaggerated before Shade simply let her go allowing her fated fall to take place.

The brawl having ended, us combatants went to the bar for a drink where Kenki asked an appropriate question.

"Who's she?"

"Okami? She's one of our two betas, she uses highly advanced wind magic, not to mention she's capable of conjuring durable bronze leaves, which she uses as razor sharp projectiles." Kukiri answered as she attempted to drink from my mug only to be repelled by me simply pushing her to the side.

"For some reason she's always had a thing for Shade no matter how many times he turns her down. Outside of Master Frost she's definitely the strongest person here, yet she insists on pestering Shade." Aceil said covered in bruises and bitemarks, much like almost everyone else.

"What a waste I say. She's positively gorgeous, yet she only seems to like that guy. But don't worry darling I've moved on." Jex said as he flirted with Kenki though his face was far from charming in it's current condition.

"Yeah. I'm sure you have." Kenki said somewhat disgusted. "Let's hope you can do it again."

********

Somehow Robius and the others managed to continue with their exhausting charades all day, even as it began to darken outside.

I however couldn't stop thinking about the Jorōgumo and Leviathan as I paced around the brawl house of a guildhall.

The guilds ranking system exists so high ranked quests can be forwarded to high ranked guilds so the weaker guilds don't have to fight something they can't handle.

Azure Ursine is a mid-ranked guild and Draconum Familia hasn't had enough members to participate in the guild ranking ceremony which meant it was at the bottom of the ranks.

The only way a guild like ours or even the Azure Ursine receives quests like the Jorōgumo or Leviathan is if the high-ranked guilds aren't taking them.

Yet the only reason why that would be, is the high ranked guilds are simply not taking the quests, or the monsters are overwhelming them.

Either way Master Frost is probably the best person to ask.

But to do that I need permission from a Beta ranked member or higher to access the second floor which was no doubt gonna be difficult.

I looked to Okami as she teased Shade, hindering his escape.

Now or never.

I knew persuading a Beta ranked Sage would be almost impossible, not to mention I could see her aura and it was unlike anything I'd seen before.

Yet I had no choice, back at Azure Ursine, Master Tuma always said my greatest weakness was my curiosity.

"So, I was wondering," I said in a shaky voice to the autumn haired powerhouse I stood before.

"Yeah. What? Hurry up or Shade will escape." Okami said hastily as she held Shade down on the ground with one arm.

"What's on the second floor?" I continued.

"Oh yeah I keep forgetting you guys aren't allowed up there. It's nothing special, just the old man's office and a few relics. If you're so curious go check it out. Consider yourself permissioned." Okami declared casually, as Shade tapped the ground like he was in a Jiu-jitsu tournament.

"Get off of me. You're too Damn heavy!" Shade groaned weakly. "I'm...losing....consciousness."

"Whoops sorry bout that." Okami said as she released Shade allowing him an attosecond of freedom.

********

The second floor was just as Okami described. It was mainly a hall decorated with dusty relics such as, an old saber, a set of long bladed thrusting daggers called dirks, a suit of armor, et cetera.

Finally, there was a single imposing door. There was nothing special about it in terms of it's materials or size. But I knew what was behind it, and that was what made it imposing.

"I need answers. I have to do this." I muttered to myself in an attempt to muster my courage.

Like a Band-Aid, I pushed the door open in a sudden burst hopefully not sending Master Frost the wrong message.

"Took you long enough. I was wondering when you'd finally open the door." Master Frost said, cool as ever as he sat on a carved wooden chair behind a desk covered in paperwork.

He turned to me gazing at me expectantly with his frosty blue eyes. "What do you need?"

This is it. All of my questions about to be answered. But how do I even ask them?

"You're wondering, why you've been able to obtain such high-level quests right?" Master Frost guessed correctly as his stubble ridden face warped into a cocky grin.

"Yes. I need to know. Who's responsible? Are there simply too many monsters? Or are the other guilds to blame?" I asked after Master Frost broke the ice.

"Both." Master Frost answered to my surprise.

"What?" I asked in shock. "How so?"

"For some unexplained reason the monsters have been reproducing at astonishing rates. Unfortunately, the top-ranked guilds are being overwhelmed and the quests typically reserved for them fall all the down the food chain till they get to us." Master explained as he shuffled through his paperwork. "Of course, that does mean we get more profit... However-"

"The longer it takes to stop a high ranked monster the more people die." I inadvertently interrupted, letting my impatience get the better of me.

"Bingo." Master Frost replied.

"What can we do?" I asked.

"Absolutely nothing. As it stands, we're simply too low ranked to change anything." He answered as he placed a stack of paper into his desk.

"We're just gonna let this happen? This is our home!" I exclaimed in a raised voice before quickly lowering it in fear of retaliation.

Yet Master Frost only smiled widely.

"Robius was right to recruit you. You have strong spirit. It's true what I said, we can't do anything right now. But next week is the guild ranking ceremony. If we win or at least get in the top five. We may be able to change that." Master Frost continued as a part of his soul died upon seeing the rest of his mountainous paperwork.

"I guess that means we have to win." I said matter of factly.

"Obviously. However, it won't be easy. Your recent joining is the only reason why we're even eligible to participate. We don't have all of our members here though. We'll be outnumbered. It won't be easy." He continued as he went back to work.

"I know that. Of course, I know that...but still-"

Master Frost pulled a green crystalline pen from his desk, one I recognized as Runic Penultimate; a highly effective and highly expensive rune pen made from pure Etheruim.

The mere sight of it left me speechless.

"First things first, you'll be needing this. Remember what you said Asuma, we have to win. You better train if you want that to happen. Prove yourself a rank Epsilon Runie. Prove your yourself a member of Draconum Familia!"