A Minor Incident at the Guild

The guild NobleHearts was one of the biggest in the realm. Based in the Kingdom of Kiriti, specifically the capital Klaus, there was no doubt as to their power when it came to attracting warriors all over to join the organization. And of course, such a giant guild must be justified by having a massive central office. Apart from the castle itself, the building was the biggest in the entire town, made with smooth stone bricks and orange ceramic roof plating. The statue of the famous Guild Eagle was outside, as well as a banner emboldened with the NobleHearts logo: a red background with a heart stitched in golden threads that had a silver sword weaving in and out within the center.

Outside the main entrance inside were two individuals. Judging from their gear, they were warriors. One was a black hair man, with a long black and red trench coat but with a silver blue chest piece and gauntlets over the fine cloth as well as a steel halberd is strapped to his back. His hair was slightly longer than what most would consider masculine and start going borderline feminine, but he didn't seem to mind. The other individual was a brunette with a black cloak as well, but this time, the collar had an intricate web of silver support strands reaching all the way to her mid back region and wolf fur lined the fluttering edges of the cloak. Possibly the most noticeable feature though, was her sharply pointed pale ears sticking out of the silky hair strands. A brionac, a spear with a thicker head than normal, was in her right hand as she complained about the situation.

"Aw, why can't I go inside?" The woman whined, placing a gloved fist on her waist as she glared at her partner. Her fingers tapped against the handle of her spear impatiently, occasionally letting it spin around on its bottom as the owner glared at her friend in frustration. This was ridiculous. Months of working together and still these stupid rules applied? "Won't they let a friend of a member in?"

"Sorry Ailea, guild rules." The man shook his head, crossing his arms. His halberd strapped to his back slightly moved as he motioned to the door to the large building, pointing at the rule board pasted to the entrance. "You know that very well. I'm not allowed to go into your guild either, so it's not really unfair."

"Oh c'mon Erik! I want to see what's inside NobleHearts!" Ailea protested, waving her spear's top around. "I bet it's all cool! It's gotta be at least on par with Blizzard's stuff!"

"Well, I haven't been inside Blizzard, so I can't really compare either." Erik sighed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he turned around and glanced up and down the street. "Well, I suppose you could do our errands while I pick up a new job, maybe pay a visit to the blacksmith-"

Behind him, the guild's door opened with a massive smash as a black hair man in heavy armor slammed through it, the wooden entrance cracking under the force. Ailea flinched from the sound of brittle wood snapping and turned around with wide eyes, while Erik simply sighed at the common occurrence. He knew who it was.

The guild member also sighed as he turned to examine the broken door, muttering to himself about shoddy work quality as his hands roughly shoved, wedging the hinges back on in a rather haphazard way. He nodded, satisfied with the temporary solution before turning to notice a gaping Ailea. "Hello. How can I help you?" He asked with a rather puzzled, yet friendly tone.

"Oh…um…" Ailea stuttered, trying to remember her manners as she stared at the giant of a man. To be honest, it was really the giant armor that added to his overall size, but still! Her spear slightly shook in her hand as she leaned on it from shock of seeing this giant. "I…um…on my way…"

"Settle down Ailea." Her traveling companion turned and placed a hand on her shaking wrist, squeezing it assuredly as he looked up at the giant of a man. "Hey Chas."

"Erik!" The man in armor grinned, extending an armored hand and shaking the smaller man's hand vigorously. "Welcome back! I assume that your job went well?"

"As good as it could get." Erik slightly winced as his fingers were only just slightly crushed by the force behind the handshake, but shook it off and instead gestured to his traveling friend. "This is Ailea. I don't think you've met her before. Oh, and Ailea, this is Chasdom."

"Ailea?" His eyebrows scrunched for a second as Chas thought, and then realization dawned in his eyes. "Oh! I know you! Dekkar mentioned you often."

"Dek?" Her voice was still slightly quivering, but it stabilized as she drew upon her spirit. "Um, do you know Dekkar?"

"Know him?" At this, Chas threw back his head and gave a loud and hearty laugh. "My dear, I use to work with him! Even now, he and I are still good friends. Any friend of Dekkar is a friend of mine!"

"Ok-kay." Ailea shook her head as she cleared up whatever fears she had from seeing this behemoth man and stood up straight, spear firmly in her hand. "Well, as you know, I'm Ailea. Do you mind if I come inside?"

"Inside? Inside NobleHearts you mean?" Chasdom asked with a rather amused voice. "What's stopping you from doing so?"

"The rules. Erik says that we have to follow them!"

"Oh, ignore them. You're a friend, so you can come and go as please. And Erik, stop being such a stickler for things!"

"Understood guild master." He didn't even bother to hide his rolling eyes as Chas chuckled, the man ducking back into the guild office. "Well, there you go. You can come in, thanks to Chasdom's permission."

The girl with a fur coat blinked as something just registered in her mind. "Wait…what did you just call him? Guild…master?"

"Of course. Chasdom is the leader of NobleHearts, the most powerful guild in all of Kriti."

O O O

Inside, the guild office wasn't anything that Ailea had thought. Having traveled with Erik for months, she would've thought it was a somewhat professional guild, filled with professional warriors training nonstop. It would explain his proficient skill range despite being only a junior officer of the guild.

However, NobleHearts was a bar. Plain and simple. The woman from another kingdom looked in wonder at the rowdy and yet happy atmosphere that was inside the well-lit central room. There were several tables scattered around, filled with various bands of warriors drinking, eating, telling tales of monster slaying or coliseum fights. It was all so familiar and comforting, almost like her real guild Blizzard!

Erik was already moving away and talking to an official looking man sitting in a corner, taking out a money bag and counting coins. Guild membership always had a fee associated with it, but was well worth it as you get to use facilities all around the world under the banner. Some complained that NobleHearts' fees were a little high, but many within the guild simply shrug and pay up without much complaints. Perhaps this contributed to the rapid rise of NobleHearts.

Regardless, Ailea was awed by the guild's inside. After placing her weapon on the weapon rack right next to the door, the pointy ear girl began wandering around, looking at all the various billboards posted with job offers scattered throughout the room. "Wow…Blizzard doesn't get nearly this many offers!" She remarked with awe in her voice. "A lot of people must have faith in this guild!"

"Oui mademoiselle. There are benefits of being une in Kiriti."

Ailea blinked and turned around to face whoever was addressing her. Sitting next to a wooden table piled high with books was a lady in shocking white hair. She was sitting with a leg bent over her thighs, leaning back as she flipped through the book quickly. Her outfitted consisted of black wizard robes, neatly woven in with various pieces of armor attached to her shoulder and waist as they hug her body tightly, showing off various curves. Her startling blue eyes glanced up to see the guild's guest starting at her, and the white hair woman gave a gentle smile "Bonjour. Your name?"

"Um, Ailea of Blizzard."

Upon hearing this, the mage blinked and slammed her book shut with a casual flip of the wrist. "Ailea? Quelle Surprise! We have a guest Kara!"

"Wirklich?" Behind the massive stack of books, a man with blond hair and wearing silver plated armor poked his head around, seeing Ailea for the first time. "Ah, hallo Fraulein! Who are you?"

"This is Ailea." The mage introduced, leaning forwards and carefully examining the newcomer's face. "Oui, she does look to be the type Dekkar likes."

"Dek?" At the name, Ailea perked up, ears slightly tilting upwards in surprise. "Wow, a lot more people know about Dekkar than I thought!"

"How could they not? Additionally, word is that your relationship with him is…legendary." The man in armor smiled, standing up and extending a hand. "I am Herr Karadoras. This is Fraulein Selesnia."

"Karadoras? Selesnia?" The brunette immediately recognized those names and gasped, excitedly taking the man's hand and shaking it up and down. "Oh! You're the lovers of NobleHearts!"

"Oh, is that what they call us in Blizzard? Mince alors!" Selesnia laughed, waving a hand in the air as if trying to clear the embarrassing title from the talk. "Perhaps our relationship is as famous as Dekkar and you, but ca ne fait rein! We haven't seen him in weeks."

"Fraulein, have you heard anything about Dekkar?" Karadoras asked eagerly, crossing his arms and leaning forwards. "Perhaps you know better than us where he is."

At the question, Ailea fell silent and looked down at the floor, bangs shadowing her eyes in darkness. After a brief moment, she slowly shook her head and the two guild members immediately knew that Dekkar's location was a touchy subject. Karadoras and Selesnia looked at each other in awkward silence as they tried to figure out what to say. "So…Herr Erik is taking care of you?" The blond man cautiously asked.

"Yeah. He's doing a good job I guess." Without even bothering to ask, Ailea took a seat at the table and placed her head in her arms, hiding her face. A few of the tomes that Selesnia was reading were knocked off by the sudden movement, but the white hair woman didn't mind as she leaned over and patted Ailea's shoulder. Eventually, Ailea looked up and sighed, trying so hard to hide the red rimmed eyes. "I'm sorry…I miss him so much."

"Je suis desolee."

"Ich bitte sie."

The two chimed their apologies and Ailea gave a weak smile as she looked at them. "Thank you," She managed to say as she rubbed her fur topped sleeve around her eyes "I…I hope that he'll make it back soon. And safely."

Before either of the NobleHearts' lovers could add to that, all of Selesnia's books were shoved to the floor as somebody drunkenly staggered onto their table and collapsed on top of it. The mage's eye twitched as she watched her precious collection of texts get soiled by the stench of beer, and she shoved the drunk off the table. "Merde! You-!"

"'ey baby!" The drunk unfortunately wasn't even unconscious as he staggered upwards and threw an arm over Selesnia's neck. "What say you and me go…ugh…have a few drinks?"

If Selesnia looked pissed, Karadoras was about to pop an artery. His hand tried to grasp for the handle of a sword that wasn't there, and his face was bright red with anger. However, before either of the two could react, Ailea spoke out with a rather angry tone. "Hey, why don't you go bother somebody else?"

"Huh?" The drunk turned and saw the pointy ear woman glaring pointedly at him. "And…who are you supposed to be princess? A pointy ear mongrel?" He asked with a slurred voice.

"That's none of your business!" She shouted, slamming a hand on the table and making it wobble. Both Karadoras and Selesnia flinched as they saw wooden cracks appearing where Ailea slammed her palm on. "Back in Blizzard, Dekkar would take care of drunks like you in no time-"

"Dekkar?" The messy man laughed and wiped his beer covered mouth with his sleeve, all the while an arm around Selesnia. "You mean that guy who went to Epirops? The unknown lands? He probably got himself killed-"

At this, Ailea could not restrain herself anymore and lunged out from her chair, a solid fist slamming into the man's cheek. The blow knocked the drunk backwards and he toppled to the floor with a crash. However, it seemed to not have knocked him out as he stumbled back onto his feet with much difficulty. Some blood trickled out of his mouth as the offending man looked at Ailea with malice. "You'll pay for that!" He screeched, lunging forwards-

And being grabbed midair by a heavily armored hand, the man shouting as he was swung around to face the grinning face of NobleHearts' leader. "Well, well," Chasdom chuckled, a glint in his eyes. "What do we have here? I don't believe you're a guild member."

"He isn't." Erik slipped up behind the giant of a man and handed over what looked to be a wallet. "Look what I found."

"Hey, where did you get that?!"

"When you were stumbling over to Selesnia." The long black hair man opened up the small container and pulled out an ID card, smiling sadistically as he held it up. "Ah. Guildless. Just what I thought."

"Well then, you know what we do to intruders!" Chasdom bellowed and hoisted the man up, invoking a shriek from the drunk as the guild leader dragged him to the doors and kicked them clean off. With a roar, the black hair man in heavy pulled back and then threw forwards the parasitic man from the guild, somehow raising his foot in time to add a well-time kick to the drunk's bottom. "AND STAY OUT!"

"And this, Ailea, is why we don't usually let outsiders into our guilds." Erik sighed, gesturing to the cracks that were created by the woman's abnormally strong fist. Already, people were eyeing the duo, particularly noticing the long and pointed ears that Ailea bore. However, a pointed glare from their guild mate discouraged any further staring. "Let's go. Our next job is a bit ways off."