Friendship often comes in unexpected ways, I thought as I stared at the painting of me and my "former' best friend. Before I met him, I was the biggest loner in Rune Midgard. I lived alone. All I cared about was how to be rich, to be stronger. Before, as a swordswoman I killed monsters every single day, hardly saying a word. But he taught me how to smile. How to be happy. How to live life to the fullest. He made me what I am.

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I sighed as I killed the persistent savage. Fat, stupid beast. I picked up the item that it dropped. It's mane. I sighed again and looked at the sky. Judging by the sun's position, it's probably around noon. If anybody sees me here, they will surely wonder, what this young girl is doing here when most people will be sitting under the shade, perhaps having lunch, or, having finished lunch, taking a nap. They will wonder why this LITTLE girl is working so hard. They don't know my thirst to be the strongest AND richest person in Midgard. I will be someday, I swear. People are just too happy-go-lucky. They're too carefree. That's why the kingdom is falling apart with corruption and murdering maniacs. Because the people are too careless, too weak to protect themselves. And that is why psychos like that freak Skurai can just go around without anyone being able to defeat him. If that hero whoever-he-is didn't come around, we'd all be dead. And that is why I have to train. But the residents of Izlude, my hometown, laugh at my sheer determination. "Don't worry, the gods will protect us" They say. They will never understand me. And neither will you, the god who reads my thoughts. Wait, what am I thinking? Tch, it must be the heat. Gods don't exist. I opened my bag, dropped the latest piece of mane, and counted what I have. Exactly a hundred and fifty. I still have much work to do.

I strained my ears and looked for a sound, perhaps the loud puffing sound of the savage. Ah! There's one. I drew out my Ring Pommel Saber and ran towards it. Huh? What's this blur I'm running at? Aagh!!!

I opened my eyes the moment I felt myself land on something. Before I could look at what I fell at, a sound came from "it".

"Miss, do you mind getting off me?"

Stunned, I scrambled off 'it' and saw that 'it' was a he. I "hmphed" and spun around while he tried to stand up. I realized that I was the one who made the mistake, but my pride won't let me admit it.

"Sorry miss. I wasn't looking." The thief said, and without looking I knew he was grinning sheepishly.

I turned around and said sorry to him too. Since he said sorry first, I purposely brought down my 'high and mighty' pride. The thief had short red hair, and a light frame, just right for a thief. He is obviously a poor one (in truth I have never seen a rich thief, assassin, yes, but never a thief), since his clothes are cheap and worn out. He doesn't even have headgear. It contrasted heavily to my brand new clothing and shiny helm.

"Hey miss, you seem to be a strong swordswoman. May I know your name?"

What?! How dare this filthy THIEF ask my name? He doesn't even have proper headgear! But, well, I DID bump into him. It was my fault, but he admitted it was his. MAYBE he's not so bad.

"Well, my name is Yrouna..." I said.

"Hi, my name's Ebiel. You know actually I didn't think you would tell me your name since I am a thief."

"You're correct, I almost didn't tell you my name." Fine, I'll be frank then.

"You seem to be a nice person. Strong, too. Um, I you don't mind, will you join our guild? You see, we need more members to defend our agit for the War of Emperium."

A guild?! This thief, Ebiel, has a guild?! One with an agit, no less! I guess I underestimated him. He must be on his way to become an assassin. And he's inviting me? I must be dreaming. Only the strongest people get to be invited for the War of Emperium... And he hasn't even seen my skills yet. Wait, maybe he's joking? Maybe he's just making fun of me? Perhaps... he doesn't even have a guild at all? But that look in his eyes, I doubt he's lying. Should I accept? He just invited me right away just after knowing my NAME... that's suspicious, what if he wants to kidnap me? But if he does, I'll beat him to a pulp. Yes, that's it. But should I join?

"So... Miss Yrouna? Will you join our guild? I don't want to sound like a stalker, but I saw you fighting earlier, and well, you seem to be almost a knight, am I correct? So I went near you and wanted to ask if you'll join... So... will you?"

That explains it. What now?! It's a great honor, though.

"Yes! I accept!"

"Really? That's great Miss Yrouna! Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Yess! At least I am able to recruit ONE member for our guild! You see, we were instructed to recruit at least one member each so we can have twice a many members in the guild! Here's the official guild crest." The happy thief said, and handed me a weird object.

It is a crest, around as big as my palm with a squarish shape. Made of pure silver, it has the words "Rookies of Midgard" (what an ironic name for a strong guild!) emblazoned across the middle in fancy golden lettering. It had a golden border, and is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.

"This signifies your membership in the guild. To enter the agit, you have to show this to the guards to be let in, or else you'll have to fight the guards, which we wouldn't want since we hired them. Be careful, since it is very expensive and is the only one we can give you. You can't let anyone steal it because if you do, it will cause chaos in the guild and dishonor on you. Our agit is the one north of prontera. We just acquired it last week and we don't plan on losing it, that's why we're recruiting some important members. Do you get me, Miss Yrouna?"

Ebiel can really say a lot. I could do nothing but nod at what he said. He seemed relieved that he finally told me everything he has to say. And, after all, I am still shocked of being in a guild with an agit on a day when I expected nothing more than three hundred pieces of mane.

"Miss Yrouna, we have a meeting at the pub of Izlude tomorrow morning at sunrise. It's a secret guild meeting, and the moment everyone is there, we're leaving for a more secluded place to discuss our strategies. We're not doing it in the agit because our enemies will notice that we have increased our number and we don't want that until the next guild siege. Will you be able to come?"

"Yes, Izlude is my hometown." I replied emotionlessly.

"That's great! Oh, and one more thing" he handed me a transparent gem.

"I you need help, just look in that gem and shout out 'Rookies of Midgard' and help will come to you. Our wizards have enchanted that ball to call out to our guildmates in need of help."

I simply nodded. After that, Ebiel just confirmed if I would really go, and said goodbye. Instead of continuing on hunting for items, I decided to just go home. I really can't believe it. Have been chosen for the WoE! My bliss is unparalleled by any I have experienced before. I went home in a daze.

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I couldn't sleep tonight. I am so excited to meet my new guildmates. Before sunrise, I hurriedly dressed, got my equipment, didn't forget my official guild crest, and ran to the pub. But before I reached there, I saw a female novice getting bullied by annoying knights. Argh those knights! They're dishonoring the knight's guild, which by the way I plan to join, with their silly antics.

"HEY YOU!" I shouted.

The knights turned around and smirked.

"Who, us?"

"Yes, you! Don't you know you're dishonoring the knight's guild by what you're doing?! It's a disgrace! And I thought knights are honorable!"

"Silly woman! We became knights to be powerful, not to shower ourselves with stupid honor!"

That did it. THEY can't insult honor like this! They don't deserve to be knights at all. Honor is very important. In fact, it is better to die with honor than live in disgrace. And so, I beat them up. It took some time, but I did. All three of them. I may be a swordswoman, but I am exceptionally strong and those are exceptionally PUNY knights. They didn't train very well. Hmph, the knight's guild's standards are very low. Those knights are very weak. I could be a knight by now, but I still want to perfect the art of being a swordsman! I comforted the young novice and told him to be more careful next time. But, wait! I have a guild meeting to attend!!! And I ran as fast as I could to the pub.

"Please let them not have left yet!" I opened the door, panting. All eyes in the pub turned on me.

"So, the newbie has finally arrived." And I first heard the voice of the person that would change my life in its entirety.

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A/N: To those who even BOTHERED reading this exceptionally boring fic:

Hey peepz! I would like to thank you for reading this silly fic of mine. It's a bit confusing, I guess, but it'll clear up! You know, in a way, this is based from a true story I had when I played ragnarok. But my story is nowhere as dramatic as this. Believe it or not, the "Rookies of Midgard" is a real guild in pRO, Iris server. If I tell you what happened, it will spoil the story! Yes, I was a swordswoman, soon to be a knight, leveling up in savages (I was actually hunting for EE lolz) and I met, no not a thief I changed it, a swordie who invited me to their guild. The WoE patch wasn't there that time, I made that part up. And it all started there. I know the ending of this story already. PLEASE REVIEW people! I worked hard on this instead of studying this Saturday night! Please make me feel better when I'm cramming my studies tomorrow by reviewing a lot... PLEASE REVIEW!!!! ONEGAI!