He let the urge to scratch his cheek take him, silently rubbing his face with the tip of his armored finger in an exaggerated manner. Any passing person would have probably guessed that the young man was being washed by nervousness, although it really wasn't that way in the least, as the reality of the situation was that his consciousness was leaning more onto the side of pure, utter confusion; while he didn't have real pride in his abilities, he thought of himself as a functional being both as a soldier and individual, and was sure he could improve even further given the chance to do so, but even then, to his name he had had nothing much besides whatever little money he had on his pocket right now and his current get-up; as for moral or immaterial matters (as well as manners) he didn't shine too brightly either, he had a lackluster story behind him which wasn't all that impressive, and going back to the situation at hand, he didn't even possess a substantial reason to stand were he did of all places. His confusion was directed more to himself somewhat instead of anything else, because such feeling came from the questioning of his own motives. He had no one to pin anything to or turn to, as he had come by his own; he had not a shoulder to turn to, as he left everything behind him, both figuratively and literally.

When you're born in the Empire, you only have two options. In the Empire, you either become a soldier in the army and a "knight" to the Royal Family with it, or work the barren fields as a farmer to try and produce anything that's remotely edible to fill the stomach if you're not already fishing or rising livestock (and that was a pretty impossible task all by itself); such were the conditions for anyone to live in the Cloudy Stronghold ever since the King disappeared and the Prince took his place, and with his reign, the phenomenon of imminent degradation; the hierarchy and roles of the people in the Empire were defined, and this young knight had been no exception, with the disgusting reality of knowing that there was no glory in any of those single jobs as either a soldier or a food producer, as the honor and pride of the knights had begun their downfall when the situation kept becoming worse, losing all warmth and sense of chivalry as the years passed by. Even back in his hometown, or whatever remained of it, he knew that everyone struggled to keep themselves alive for just another day, whether it was to keep a single pumpkin from withering before maturing due to the dead soil, or to hope for not crossing paths with Death Mantises, which even the most seasoned of Knights feared, for the foul creatures could easily cut through their armors like they were nothing more than flimsy sheets of paper. It wasn't a matter of happiness or prosperity.

It was a matter of survival.

Those who were capable of it, would work, no questions allowed. That said, of course, given the best scenario of having the strength to move in the first place, as the nastier possibility was to fall ill to the "Curse" that plagued the people of the Empire.

In the Empire, you either became strong or perished along the way. That had been the message taught and preached by the soldiers, and the words that were sternly believed by the people of the leftovers of the Empire once the weaker couldn't be afforded to be saved. Elders, children, men and women alike perished once they could not work, or became "sacks of rotting meat" which no longer had purpose or place to return to. Children were to start working before they could even be called young adults, and would exert their bodies to the furthest limit from day one.

And of course, putting 2 and 2 together leaves the horrid truth: The Empire was now dying- no, it was already ruined, collapsed, doomed. The population of the Empire and it itself had declined to the point where there was a better chance in striking a mine of gold before having more farmers to till the fields or new soldiers in the army.

It was bizarre to say that maybe his generation was the last, bizarre, but for the most evident part back then, true as well. The Empire was fated to perish. Practically nobody had stayed in the Cloudy Stronghold unless they were soldiers or part of the army, as everybody else had left as hope died and the Prince became more and more agitated with the passing of time. Having a meal was a luxury both to the remaining soldiers and the Prince, all while hoping to not develop the symptoms of the curse the following day and become dead weight to others.

The Titan's curse was the biggest fear and reason for everyone to pray, either silently or desperately, and wishing for such a miserable life to end was a plague in the soul and an unavoidable thought to not have each night.

…Or at least it used to be that way before that particular guild of explorers from the Windy Plains came and changed everything.

Still, for all the harshness and despair that copiously whizzed and filled the hearts of the people of the Empire, this young man had always had a certain knack for irregularity, as many of his commanding officers and superiors had often put in the past. He was no stranger to combat, having more than once faced (and many times almost dying to) the many monsters that roamed the hills and roads of the Cloudy Stronghold, more than once he gave his services to those plagued by the Curse. Many times he had stood in what was referred by his superiors as a desperate, foolhardy, true soldier's bravery.

Yet again, a part inside him told him that such wasn't the case.

Sure, he had joined the Imperial Army ever since he had been a young kid like many before him, and had worked from the lowest ranks up to the Knight rank through his work and merits, but even then, he had never had a reason to really do it in the first place, but also to not to do so either. He had thought at that time that maybe using those massive blades and heavy armor may have had a reason to them other than look imposing, and he went for it just for the sake of going for it. He wouldn't have minded living as a farmer or fisherman either.

Because he was the type to go through anything to the end, just like that. He would stand against monsters until the end if that were what was needed, he would accomplish whatever he was asked to the best of his abilities, but he had rarely ever done any of that out of his own desires. He was just the type of person who would haphazardly disregard anything just to accomplish something if he thought something would come out of it, whatever it could be. Even if he sometimes were to almost break down, he had a spirit that was like that of a flowing as a river, or so his companions said once: Unrelenting, unstopping, definite, but very surely amorphous, with no reason to go onward other than the sake of it being in its nature, both carrying and being carried at the same time.

He had never met General Logre, as he became a Knight during the absence of the right hand of the Prince, or had ever seen said Prince with his own eyes for that matter, having only heard tales of the missing General when he was a kid and in his time as a rookie, and only ever dreaming of meeting the famed Prince of the Cloudy Stronghold whenever he joined the troops to receive orders, as scarce as they may have been in all his years of service, or to meet the enigmatic General someday. But never in his life had he ever felt the need to do anything outside of following through with set routes and set agendas, if a result was promised out of it, there was nothing else needed to be said.

Or perhaps, it had just been that life for the Imperial Knight Jonathan had been dull until that moment.

Because when the General returned to the Cloudy Stronghold and reported to the Prince, after almost 10 years of absence, the few dozens of people who remained of the Cloudy Stronghold entered a riot. The people of the land closest to Yggdrasil couldn't even understand what was going on when the soldiers and Knights were called by the Prince and their Commander to repel the outsiders of the lands that were called the Windy Plains. No one could understand what was going on. The Prince never cared to make his intentions public outside of the General and those closest to him, so by that time, Jonathan had been just another of the few remaining Imperial Knights working for the Empire and had nothing else to their name. Ends wouldn't have means interrupting, that had been the Prince's policy, and the Cloudy Stronghold entered in a hostile engage against the south.

But now, in a somewhat ironic turn of events, with the Prince missing, having supposedly opened a hole into the freaking tree and fleeing inside himself, the people were very concerned, and for good reason, albeit another one altogether. Not only had Yggdrasil collapsed and disappeared without warning, now sir Logre had made an alliance with the people of Tharsis, causing confusion between most of the remaining members of the Imperial army. It was only due to the General's words that the remaining Knights had decided to follow through and now fight against their own Prince.

Jonathan didn't really care if the General's intentions were to stop the Prince more than actual fighting. By now, the Knights were familiar with the Prince's resolution, and knew for certain that Prince Baldur would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, all else be damned. The withering of Yggdrasil was enough of a bad omen by itself.

With all that said and done, it was certainly strange for oddball Jonathan to want to enter the very same guild that had stood and defeated the famed General that everyone in the Empire admired, the very same guild that in the beginning had made public enemies with the monarchic nation, and made a fool out of them by outsmarting them completely for all intents and purposes and making their way into the ancient Echoing Library through their superior air ships, and then even conquering the whole Labyrinth in their search for the Prince and the Medium. It was strange for Jonathan to feel anxious for trying to come up with the courage to enter the doors of the Explorers Guild and wanting to join the numbers of a bunch of strangers who would probably make fun of him or flat out freak out from having an Imperial visiting them. It may have been a baseless idea to think so, it could surely be just that he was an idiot for thinking strange things, but he had decided by now that it was anyone's guess.

And also that he couldn't afford to stop, that he didn't want to stop.

In all his years in the army, Jonathan had never truly felt anything. He had comrades, he had friends, hell, he even thought of his now practically defunct squadron as the people closest to him. But even then, he had been detached; he had been unable to do anything to change his world, watching how people died to the illness or starvation, having had to commit more inhuman deeds that he hoped to admit… he hadn't tried to change his world. He had no desire inside himself to burn, rebuild or keep his world, nor to see what lied beyond his known horizon, nor to change his sky's color, for he was a river that flowed as the world dictated, often times clear and calm, other times violent and unforgiving.

The Prince's words were absolute, and by that time, no one had known better but to go through with His Majesty's plan, most of the soldiers didn't even believe in his words, having lost all faith or simply not believing with his intentions, they had simply gone through with it just because the Empire had become that way…

…Until those outsiders came and put everything upside-down.

He took a deep breath and fixed his glasses, lifting them close to his bluish-grey eyes, and took a step inside. He wasn't sure what made him so anxious, if he was to be more honest he may have had found an answer, but he decided to not think about it and simply move onward.

The truth was, that the explorers who came into the Empire had ignited a little flame inside him, planting within himself a desire he had not had in the past, which was the wish for change, to change in his whole life as they had done to the Cloudy Stronghold in just a short period of time ever since their yellow-flagged ship invaded the Cloudy Stronghold's air space.

Those people had sparked a desire inside him, and now, he would follow through like the river he was.

When Jonathan received word that General Logre had decided to stand against the Prince and join forces with the Count from Tharsis, and through it also ally with with the Vessels and Sentinels, he didn't really know what to think, outside of knowing one thing for certain: Everything was bound to change. He didn't know if such change was for better or worse, but he was certain that things would be different, at least not only for the people of the Cloudy Stronghold. Naturally, he decided to search for the root of such change.

Jonathan wasn't surprised to hear that most, if not everything, was due to this particular guild of explorers, the very same guild that the General had come to know rather well during his absence. It was the very same guild that advanced from the Windy Plains, to the Scarlet Pillars and Sacred Mountains, and was the first one to reach the Cloudy Stronghold, making new bridges between the humans, Vessels and Sentinels along their trek, and just recently, had even set the roots of relations between the outside world with the Empire.

Without much difficulty, having such guild moving in and out in an incredible manner, practically coated in popularity, Jonathan found out its name.

And for a very odd reason, a reason he could not fully place yet, he now wished to join this guild. As soon as the first ships from the Windy Plains began tracing their routes to the Empire to either transport food or resources, Jonathan packed his things and climbed on one of the first airships destined to Tharsis.

And now, garbed in his familiar heavy armor, with his trusted Drive Blade ready at his back, he stood inside of the Explorers Guild. With people of all colors, sizes, armors, races, heights and attires racing in and out, it was nothing short to call this place bustlingly busy. But in reality, as crowded as it may have seemed, Jonathan could realize that almost everyone wandered with destination… and in groups. Groups came in and out of the tall doors of the main hall, some semi-organized, some marching like machines, others clumsily with most of the members yelling or laughing loudly. Voices filled the air, in a way Jonathan had never experienced before.

Back in the Empire, Jonathan had never seen such a congregation of people before, not with this unearthly riot of voices.

Of course, he had spent many moments with his squad members, he had even assisted and formed temporal teams with other units, he had marched in large troops as well, where numbers paraded and swarmed, much like here.

But he had never felt anything as close as this.

With diverted fascination, Jonathan let his eyes scout the place, slowly walking without destination, taking in the unfamiliar scenario with open arms. With a small smile on his face, Jonathan slowly walked around the marble halls of the Explorers Guild, not caring that some watched funnily his way, nor that these others didn't even note if he himself was looking back at them, or that some even smiled at him, albeit most gave him a dirty look. He was surprised however, when a voice that could only be referring to him reached his ears.

"You seem lost, may I help you?"

"Eh!" Jonathan yelped in surprise of the unexpected voice that had spoken too close for comfort. He turned around to find a slender girl with tan skin and short platinum-blonde hair fitted in various tubes of vivid blue fabric which kept her bangs away from her face, face that sported piercing blue eyes which were looking at him with a relaxed expression.

"What?" He deadpanned, too ungainly for his comfort. He gave himself a mental smack for his lack of manners. He had never really had a need for them, and the misuse of those was now showing. He hoped that his face didn't show.

"Is this your first time here?" The girl asked calmly, studying him with somewhat inquiring, yet warm eyes. Jonathan responded by nodding and fixing his glasses again in an awkward gesture. Taking a deep breath after to try to ease the tension, he collected his thoughts and straightened himself up. The girl waited for him to respond unperturbed, hands crossed behind her back and a small smile in her face.

"Yeah, I'm here to join a guild" He elaborated, more relaxed this time, trying to get on the girl's level.

"Well, I think you're in the right place" She giggled, with her armor rattling bit as she balanced her hips sideways, making her skirt flap softly in the wind. "I mean, this IS the Explorers Guild".

Jonathan wasn't sure how to proceed, so he decided to start in the beginning.

"I'm Jonathan, an Imperial as you can see" He responded and pointed out to the massive sword behind his back that stood out like a sore thumb. "Nice to meet you" He stretched his hand as politely as he could perform, with both of his arms fully covered beneath heavy gauntlets of reinforced alloy.

"Nice to meet you, Jonathan. I'm Haku, a Landsknecht, although I work as a Battle Medic. Star Dropper, you know?" The girl responded. Jonathan wasn't really sure what any of that last bit meant, and smiled sheepishly in answer. He took the opportunity to observe that the girl was clad in a set of armor that was worn on top of a dark, skin tight top, with the mail covering her chest and torso up front and back, but leaving her shoulders bare. She sported a round, small shield on her back made of a curious metal Jonathan couldn't identify, but what caught Jonathan's attention was that she also sported a leather satchel in her hips, of the same kind some of the other explorers sported, and from inside the satchel, Jonathan could see a long handle sticking out, which he supposed belonged to either a staff or a hammer. This girl was fully geared and ready for combat.

What followed were several seconds of silence, silence that Jonathan found mildly uncomfortable, seconds which Haku spent softly smiling all the time, apparently undisturbed by the almost-stranger's gaze that also studied her, just as she had been doing this entire time.

"So…" Jonathan tried to break the ice. "Would you know where I could find the Grandmaster?"

Haku tilted her face upwards in a thoughtful manner, placing a finger on her lips while pondering for a few seconds.

"You can ask for him in the Main Hall, although I'm sure you can find him on the training grounds. He does spend most of his time there actually, beating rookies senseless" The girl said after a few moments. "He's quite a martial artist nut, after all".

"I see" Jonathan listened intently, and decided to not let any more time pass. "Thanks, sorry for keeping you busy".

Jonathan decided to take his leave, but was interrupted by the small girl.

"Just one thing!" Haku chirped just as Jonathan began turning. "You said you want to join a guild".

"…I do" Jonathan simply nodded.

"The way you spoke, it seems like you already know which guild you want to join. What guild is it that?" She spoke a little too fast in those last sentences, becoming a little bit too straightforward as well in those bits.

Taking a step back, Jonathan a drop of cold sweat was forming on the back of his head, and that it menaced with permeating his sandy-brown hair. For one reason or another, he felt his personal space invaded.

"…Soulock" He answered slowly, unsure why he said it out straight.

However, he was unable to think anything else, as suddenly, the girl's eyes beamed so brightly that for a moment Jonathan thought that she would become a rare-breed and shimmer with gold sparks, he couldn't help but let the drop of sweat make its way through his nape as he took another step back as Haku merrily exploded.

"Are you serious!? Wow! This is great! The others will be happy to hear this!" Haku took Jonathan's hands between her own as she frantically shook them up and down in joyous glee. "What are we standing here for!? Let's go!"

With a strength that could surely match his own, Haku pulled Jonathan with her. He was surprised by the sudden tug and almost lost his balance at the shift of his gravity center. Unable to resist the girl's pull, Jonathan found himself walking, almost dragged by the energetic Landsknecht out of the halls of the Explorers Guild. He ran through buildings and streets with people bustling right and left, with the weight of his armor seemingly not even fazing the girl leading him as bricks, stones, lanes and walls flashed through his peripheral vision.

Eventually, Haku came to an abrupt stop, which almost made the heavier knight lose his balance again. Thankfully, his face never met the floor, but he still had to stop and catch his breath at the impromptu marathon he was forced to participate in. Not even being able to take in the scenery or find out where he was, he heard his "guide" vigorously knock on a wooden door.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Guys! Come on! You got to see this! Guys!" Her barrage of knocks instantly exceeded the hundred in record time. Jonathan had never seen anyone knock a door with such urgency until today.

Eventually, a voice came from inside.

"Darn it, Haku! Why is it that you can never-! Eh…?"

The one who had opened a door was another girl, this one with long raven-black hair pulled into a ponytail tied with a large red ribbon, said girl who was not sporting any sort of explorer equipment at the moment outside of a pair of bright orange goggles hanging over her chest, she couldn't be much older than the shorter, tan girl. She took only a few seconds to look at Haku and armored knight outside, analyzing the scene with sharp, critical eyes. Jonathan tried his best to incorporate and look at this person, but only managed to look at her out of the corner of his eye, as he was still recovering from his little tour around the city.

"By Yggdrasil, please tell me I'm wrong and you didn't drag anyone just like it again…" The black-haired girl sighed in a defeated manner, rubbing her face with an open palm.

"Heya, Arma! Check this out! This is Jonathan, and he's an Imperial!" Haku eagerly chirped like a child, nonplussed by the other girl's lack of reaction.

"…Yeah, right" The new girl, now identified as Arma responded sarcastically and took a more intense look to the slouched knight in heavier armor. "We've had enough of this, Haku, you can't just bring people like-"

"Hey! This time it's different! Jonathan WANTS to join!" Haku interrupted, with a glint of hurt in her voice.

Arma sighed again.

"You know what? Screw this. Maybe Flare or Runo'll hear you, but not me, you can count me out of this" She responded and moved inside the building. "I've enough problems with the rookies YOU brought as it is… And you still owe me cake dammit!" Arma shouted from the interior.

Finally catching his breath, Jonathan was about to ask what was all this about, but was unable to as he was pulled by Haku inside, who had followed the newly-identified Arma inside the building.

"Never mind that! Come on!" She happily took his arm and pulled him inside. Thankfully, this time she was a lot gentler (but still pretty abrasive). "I gotta present you to everyone!"

Taken aback and unable to resist the girl's vanguard, Jonathan complied.

Walking through messy hallways, and glancing at disordered rooms as he trotted, Jonathan was led by Haku into what he supposed was some sort of condo or department complex, however, unable to piece much else (mainly due to the fact of how vigorously the girl dragged him around, as gentler as she was compared to the first time), the pair reached a large hall, which the Imperial supposed was a sort of common hall.

The hall was large, he could tell that maybe it had 70 or 80 meters from each side, almost certainly a square room, and it was also quite tall as well, as he could barely catch the ceiling, maybe there were 15 or so meters between the floor and roof. There was a set of stairs on the right of the room, which climbed up to a balcony/hallway which ran on the right wall, then twisted to the right where Jonathan couldn't see anymore, sporting around 7 doors on the side he could see. On the lower floor, there were also a lot of doors (which a lot of them didn't even have doors to begin with, only leaving bare doorframes) around the walls, which he couldn't really tell were they lead, and on this hall itself there two large tables to his left, at the end of the room, which he calculated could easily fit 20 people each. Closer to him and to his right was what he could describe as a lounge full of sofas, cushions and pillows of all kinds and sizes.

There, he found two new figures he hadn't met yet. One was a girl with very pale skin and equally ghastly, straight hair, which covered her features except for her left eye, which stood out with a remarkably curious coloration between fierce azure and shimmering purple. Her attire was strangely floral in design, a pink dress with ends that seemed to be petals, adorned with darker accents. Her slim arms and legs, much slimmer than what human limbs were, made quite an impression, which coupled to her oddly-colored skin and visibly animal-like, long ears made her unequivocally non-human. Jonathan identified her as a Vessel. This girl was sitting on a bean-bag chair while reading some sort of book, with a lot of individual papers on her legs, as well as her feet and sides, which she was apparently reading very intently.

The other figure was also a girl, who also had a skin almost as pale as the other, but was contrasted by her blood red eyes and pinkish-red hair arranged into drill-like tails at the right side of her head. She had human ears unlike the Vessel beside her, but there was something inexplicably strange about how this girl looked overall. Clad in black leather, this girl didn't acknowledge the presence of Jonathan and Haku, deciding to glance at them with a bored look before resuming the lecture of whatever book she was reading, seemingly unaware that the two had entered the room. She was laying belly-down on a L-shaped sofa near the vessel, her bare legs were swaying up in the air, which coupled with her rather skimpy clothes accentuated her eerie skin color but nice figure, which unwillingly caught Jonathan's attention, but decided against it. And so, he decided to also ignore the odd girl, ungluing his eyes before he became apparently intrusive.

However, even if the leather-clad girl decided to also maintain that status quo, such wasn't the case of the fairer girl, who let out a yelp.

"EEK!" The Vessel girl shrieked, realizing the presence of the two new people after a few seconds of nonstop reading. "T-There's a stranger with Haku! There's an intruder in Cloud 9!" Bolting up from her sitting position and letting a bunch of papers that were previously stacked on her lap scatter in the air, the Vessel girl jumped out of the bean-bag where she was sitting, and took a run for her money, not before picking up a satchel that Jonathan didn't notice had been buried under the papers.

Jonathan tried to get an explanation from Haku, who only smiled in return and eagerly prompted him to sit on one of the many large couches that filled the hall. His armor was rather heavy, he noted, and even though the furniture creaked, he was unable to resist Haku's whims and ended up sitting. To his surprise, the sturdy sofa he was chosen miraculously resisted the combined weight of him, his armor, and his Drive Blade. However, his bulky armor just wasn't the comfortable type to use when sitting, all things said.

And just as the thought of addressing his situation crossed his mind again, Haku decided to leave him.

"Hey, this is Jonathan! He wants to join! Come on and say hi!" Haku happily blurted loudly and then redirected her attention to Jonathan just momentarily.

"Just wait here, I'll call everyone else!" She chided before disappearing through one of the many door frames of the upper floor, having reached the second floor in an instant, leaving Jonathan behind with the girls who had been previously inhabiting the hall to them.

At least, one of them graced him with direct presence, with the other having fled like a Mandrake from a fire.

Jonathan's cold drops of sweat would become bullets if this continued any further, but he decided to brave against it and go for it. Pulling his glasses up once again and standing up, he decided to at least try and be cordial as much as his abilities allowed, provided this new girl was up for conversation.

Sadly, she wasn't. Just as he opened his mouth, he could swear the girl's presence somehow faded.

The girl clad in a leather bikini top and matching short (real short) leather shorts apparently decided that he was not worth the time, as she continued to read the book from her laying position in the couch, couch she seemed rather comfortable of filling, apparently to the point of not even caring of his presence.

It was awkward the feeling of how she didn't acknowledge his presence, and conveyed that feeling without even looking at him.

As Jonathan was about to awkwardly say something, he spied out of the corner of his eye a mane of silver hair slowly appearing from behind an empty doorframe. He didn't really know what to make, but he couldn't ponder any further to her reactions when he tried to make visual contact with the Vessel girl who had previously fled.

And I repeat tried, because as soon as the Vessel girl's eyes made contact with the knight's, they opened wide in panic and she disappeared again behind the doorframe before he could even register the girl's movement. She was nimble, he could give her that.

With a sort of knot in his throat, Jonathan was unable to say much as the girl continued to repeat her previous actions, and each time hiding just as her eyes peeked out enough for eye contact. This awkward exchange continued for almost two full minutes, until more people came into the lounge.

"Oh, are you a visitor?" A new voice spoke softly from behind Jonathan.

"Ah?" Jonathan murmured lowly as he turned to face the new presence.

He was met with a woman of clearly animal features, from her face, covered in fur, to her long ears reminiscent of a rabbit, to her strange legs with joints that could only be part of an animal or beast; Jonathan identified the girl as a Sentinel. And she was not alone.

The Sentinel girl was accompanied by a young man with spiky, chocolate brown hair with a build very much slimmer than Jonathan's, who sported a light set of armor vest in his torso and travel boots on his feet, with his face expressing a bit of concern of the unknown heavily-armored man. The third person was a girl with bright orange hair beneath a large red bandana on her head, who sported a cheeky grin on her face and stood out from the rest as she carried two swords, both a broad sword and a rapier, each on their respective sheathes, judging by the designs of the hilts and thickness of the different blades.

"Heya! Who'r ya?" The sword-carrying girl asked in a friendly tone, giving Jonathan the impression that she was somewhat straightforward, and he hoped that either this girl or any of her companions were more reasonable than the typhoon that had been Haku.

"Eh…" Jonathan wasn't sure what he should respond. He wasn't even sure what he was doing here in the first place. "I kinda… ended up dragged here… by a girl named Haku"

And as soon as he said that, the Sentinel girl gave a dejected sigh, the young man furrowed his brow, and the human girl gave a weak "Oh".

"Dun take it-too har', brah" The sword-wielding girl continued. "Yah she's mighty-a han'ful, I reckon, but she's a great girl a' heart! So chillax!"

Her male companion gave a sigh even deeper than the Sentinel girl before. "Dude, good luck" He gave Jonathan a weak thumbs-up, followed by a pat on the shoulder. "Haku's the least of your problems now…"

Jonathan couldn't help but stand silently in place with an inexpressive face.

"Please excuse us" The Sentinel girl finally spoke. "My name is Mikoto"

"The name's Lara!" The bandana-girl, now identified as Lara, yelled proudly. "An' tis' guy's Rain. We two're Landys, 'tho he's a pansy Linker, while imma Sharker".

"Again with that!?" Rain retorted indignantly, kicking Jonathan's chance to make his introduction out of the window. "Just so you know! I'm always working with the questing! I may not be part of the Raid team, but even I can take the tougher bosses just fine!"

"Yah, while Sihlo patches ya all da time 'cuz you 'ant take da abuse." Lara competitively responded. "Dunno why she's puttin' up 'ith ya still"

"Hey! We get the job done! With flying colors!"

"Cuttercrap! Can't leave without Medic on ya, I reckon! Ya can't do ratshit without yer pansy 'preparations' n' stuff!"

"Well, excuuuuuse me, princess! I DO need to set up my Links, but it's thanks to my preparations that we actually can stand a chance!"

"Yah, yah, yah, yer just a pansy! Can't do anythin' without Arma or Amy setting off yer pansy links! I can dish a whole lotta pain wit' myself jus' fine!"

"Actually, WHY are we even on this again!? You're not even able to use any powerful skills yet! I already have my Master rank, WHILE you're still basically a rookie!"

"Pansy's still pansy!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE-"

By now, the two of them had gone into an argument of their own, completely disregarding the beast-woman and the Imperial Knight, with the latter standing out like a sore thumb, incapable of doing anything else, and out of the loop as he didn't comprehend a single word of what they were on about. Mikoto had been between the two when they had come into the hall, but had left her position as soon as Lara had introduced herself and Rain, knowing that the better position would be besides Jonathan.

"There's no stopping them once they start" Mikoto softly spoke to Jonathan. "And as much as I respect them, I know they can be a handful sometimes, but please don't think bad of them".

"I take it this is usual?" Jonathan went for the obvious, as a wave of tiredness had washed him into letting things come as they came and rolling along instead of confronting them.

The beast-woman took a moment to ponder, letting a soft hum out of her lips (or muzzle, if one were to be picky) as her ears relaxed and angled down, closer to her head and black hair. Jonathan studied curiously the Sentinel, as his knowledge on them was on a basic, practical level. He didn't know if he would come up as rude for observing, but he decided he would roll along with it if bad became worse.

"To be perfectly honest, when everyone's in, I guess it is" Mikoto's voice was filled with warmth. "Rowdy, loud, messy, lively; Soulock is many things, and even if I haven't been here for long, I think this is the best place for me to be".

Mikoto smiled unknowingly, and Jonathan couldn't help but notice that her eyes had a warm shine to them, noting how her furred face, marked with vivid orange streaks under her sharp eyes, revealed peaceful serenity.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. Again, I am Mikoto, a Bushi from the Sentinel, currently working on developing my Fortress skills, and while I may not be part of the vanguard, I'll be in your care. I'm pleased to be your acquaintance" She bowed respectfully.

"…Right" Jonathan sheepishly responded. "My name's Jonathan, I am an Imperial Knight, and that's pretty much it". A part of him wanted to give himself a smack being so bare-boned.

"An Imperial? It is a pleasure to meet new faces". Mikoto courteously followed. "Oh, excuse me, Whirlwind- I mean, Logre-dono is an Imperial as well to my understanding, but actually none outside the Vanguard team know the full extent of their capabilities, including me, so forgive me for being unfamiliar with your kin".

"Oh, don't worry about that" Jonathan's words came out more forcefully than he had intended. "I just-"

"HEY HEY HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!" Boomed a voice from everywhere- If Jonathan had to guess, he could bet the little en that he had on his pocket that that voice could only belong to…

"Haku-dono!" Mikoto exclaimed as both she and Jonathan turned their views to the inner balcony, where they identified Haku, who had returned from her trek. "I just summoned everyone! Runo and Akamaru are shopping but will return shortly, Kibbs, Wufan and Logre are not here though, but everyone who's in Cloud 9, gather in the foyer, because I have an announcement to make!"

Having spoken, more figures appeared behind Haku, which came down the stairs and into the foyer, where Jonathan, Mikoto, Rain and Lara (who had stopped arguing now thanks to Haku) and the leather-clad pale-girl were.

Soon, Jonathan identified a girl much shorter than Haku or the other girls, who sported short pink twin-tails and bright green eyes, another Vessel girl with an electric blue and black dress and long, white twin-tails, who should be around the same age of the other Vessel. Among them was also the girl with black hair who had earlier received Jonathan and Haku, who he remembered was named Arma. And from one of the rooms on the first floor came one final girl, this one almost as short as the pink-haired one, who also sported twin-tails, instead that this one's were shining gold accompanied by sky-blue eyes.

And suddenly, the amount of people that filled the room was almost doubled in an instant.

And Jonathan knew that he had a lot of curious eyes on him. He knew he was a stranger among these people. However, even before he could let those thoughts give place to anything else…

"Wait a minute!" The Vessel girl with twin-tails suddenly exclaimed. "Sihlo and Filia are not here!"

And everyone turned to each other. To Jonathan's surprise, Haku started counting everyone with her finger.

"For Wyrm's sake! Is that stupid Med still sleeping!?" Arma retorted, clearly annoyed.

"Hey! Don't talk shit about her!" Rain shot back defensively.

"Pfffft-! You were here, lovestruck idiot?" Arma retorted while rolling her eyes. "I'd have thought you'd be lovingly watching her sleep instead of being an eyesore. At least you wouldn't bother anyone if you were with that sleep-walker instead of paining us with your miserable presence".

Rain's face became red in a flash, out of combined anger and embarrassment. "Y-you…!"

"Hey, what are we going to eat?" The girl with pink hair suddenly voiced her questions.

"Actually, who was supposed to cook today?" The Vessel girl questioned. "Akamaru and Flare were supposed to cook today, but when I asked him, he said that Flare would take all of it on her own for today".

"Hey, it was Filia's turn today, wasn't it?" The girl with yellow pig-tails continued.

And suddenly all voices died down. However, the silence didn't last for long.

"Hey, ya guys wen' n' left a day straight sayin' ya had business or somethin' on who knows where jus' ta skip on da chores, dun think I didn' notice!" Lara spurted while accusingly pointing at the girl with golden hair. "Fair's fair, Flare! Ya skipped, so ya do 'em chores wit' added load!"

"Hey, Haku! Help me out here!" The short girl with the gold twin-tails and blue eyes, turned to Haku, who was feigning ignorance by whistling a song and averting her gaze whilst knocking the tips of her index fingers one at the other.

All eyes focused on Haku, who apparently didn't mind any of the gazes.

"Sorry, Flare" She winked while sticking out her tongue mischievously.

"YOU TRAITOOOOOOOOOR!" And with it, the girl with golden hair, now identified as Flare, strenuously screamed out of the top of her lungs, as she collapsed in an exaggerated manner.

"And with it, the 'Unyielding Fortress' Flare's journey came to an end, back-stabbed by whom she considered her most precious comrade and friend, leaving the world with a blood-curling scream as she breathed her last breath. It was not a betrayal out of anger, out of jealousy, out of disdain; it was a betrayal for the sake of betrayal, and with it, the kind of betrayal which hurts the most, the kind of betrayal which only those without a heart can pull out.

And so, a journey, a life ends, only for the winds of renewal to start blowing once again. A life is lost, and… a legend is born"

Everyone didn't notice the girl with pale blue hair and beast man with blood-red hair and wolf-like features who had joined the ranks.

"Oh, hi, Runo. How was shopping?" The pink haired girl asked nonchalantly.

"Not good, we're in the red numbers again" The new girl responded with fierce eyes. "We need to find a way to gather more materials…"

"Or stop wasting all money on equipment we can't afford, or overkilling the Amritas for that matter. That shit's real expensive and you keep buying them because…?" Arma sarcastically remarked.

"Because that stuff's awesome!" Runo responded energetically. "Seriously, gulp one of those and you feel awesome, I mean, those Amritas REALLY pump you up! And also, we really need to step up our game, we need to get Wynn to make Bravants!"

"Not that I disagree, but do you really have a reason to always use OUR guild money on those!? I wouldn't care if you paid them out of your own pocket, but I'd much rather spend our money on a meal and proper night of rest at the inn instead of having to put up with crappy food and blasted pieces of planks that can't even be called beds! But not you, Akamaru, your food's cool" She added that last bit with regard.

The beast man scowled and gave a death glare to the girl with a pony-tail, but said nothing.

"Are you crazy!? As much as Dalla's meals are awesome, her prices just don't fit! It's not fair that she charges the rookies so little while we have to pay a couple hundreds of En! Not even counting that when we need patching 'cuz either Sihlo or Filia are out themselves or they aren't with us, we need to let out even more bucks! Last time we brought Flare and Haku together we paid 540 en in one fell swoop! And it's going to get even worse!? No thank you!" The teal-haired Runo responded emphatically.

"How in Yggdrasil does wasting a couple bucks on healing is stupid compared to spending thousands in pieces of metal, you damn midget!? Runemaster!? You're a freaking Ruinmaster, with the way you eat through our expenses!" Arma shrieked.

"Dat's like da third time ye've used dat insult, Arma. Running low on ammo, much?" Lara smirked.

"What was that, you countryside pumpkin!?" Arma retorted.

"We do need to keep Runo away from the Atelier, though…" The twin-tailed Vessel girl said in a defeated tone while rubbing her forehead with her palm.

"However, it IS important to keep an eye on the equipment" Mikoto sheepishly commented. "Although that may not be my place to say…"

"So… what are we going to eat today?" The girl with pink hair repeated coolly for a second time.

"Who knows? Did you bring anything to eat, Akamaru?" Rain continued along.

"Nothing outside of some Medicas and Nectars for the questing squad" The beast-man responded while glancing at Runo. "When are you leaving, Haku?"

"AH! Now that I remember I still need Wynn to re-forge my sword!" The girl with pink hair exclaimed.

"You mean, MY sword, I only borrowed it to you, never gifted it" The girl clad in dark leather suddenly decided to join the conversation.

"But hey, I thought that you wanted to add Agility boosts to the sword? I don't remember finding such hammer yet, though" Haku joined the conversation.

"I thought we had obtained that in one of the quests?" Akamaru commented.

"Nah, that was the Lucky Hammer" The girl in leather responded. "But we don't even have the materials to even think of re-forging that yet".

"Where were you getting the materials for that sword again?" Haku asked.

"I thought that was in the Windy Archive?" The leather-clad girl elaborated.

"There's only wood in there, unless that sword is made of that or you're thinking of any of the monsters, I highly doubt that" The fairer girl explained.

"As you'd expect of our cute little Flora! You're so reliable and cute!" Flare suddenly joined the conversation, having somehow re-animated herself without anyone noticing, although no one seemed to care anyway.

"H-hey, I may not be part of the fighting teams, sure, but I'm the best when it comes to sorting out and memorizing everything you guys bring back when exploring! If it weren't for me, you'd all have crappy maps with how unreliable YOU are with the mapping!" Flora responded passionately, pushing one of her silver twin-tails behind her back.

"Aw, come on! I'm busy covering everyone's asses as it is! I can't just take my sweet time making such detailed maps when any monster could jump on us at any time!" Flare responded with a misplaced cheeky grin.

"That's why you need me on the vanguard squad!" Arma exclaimed.

"Ah, shut it, Arma. Filia does your job a hundred times better, and she's not bitching on every single little thing like you all the time!" Rain fired his shots. "Of course she's part of the vanguard now!"

"T-that's just 'cause I'm a late bloomer, you asshole!" Arma cried defensively. "Just so you know, when I get around perfecting my Bind Shots and get the knack of the Volley, you're all gonna be SO crawling to my feet!"

"But 'til then, yer preeeeeetty much useless, HA HA" Lara retorted with a grin of her own.

"Oh, screw you guys!" Arma cried, defeated.

"When are we eating!? WHAT are we eating!?" The pink-haired girl shouted emphatically once again.

"Maybe I can prepare something, Sol-san?" Mikoto warmly said. "Or maybe you'd prefer to go to the inn?"

"Uwaaah, Mikoto, you're so great…"

"So, yeah, last time those Moas got real bad on us…"

"Hey, has anyone been checking the requests lately?"

"Who wants to go for a drink?"

"Has anyone seen my staff?"

"For the love of-! Get off me, Flare!"

"Hey, where did you leave the Scrolls? The Burst ones?"

"Du-du-dud-dum!"

"Wha' was dat!? You pickin' a fight, wimp!?"

"Oh right, Haku. What was the announcement?"

Suddenly, dozens of phrases were said in an instant. Jonathan barely registered half of them, as everyone had been speaking among themselves in a disarrayed mess. However, suddenly all voices faded when the red-furred beast man asked for Haku's reasons for summoning everyone.

"Oh right!" Haku exclaimed as she clasped her hands.

"Hey, Jonathan, introduce yourself!"

And with those four words, all eyes sunk into Jonathan. Most were plainly curious, others were expectative, and a few were inquiring.

He was sure color left his face at that moment. He sheepishly scratched his nape with his right hand. At this moment, he had decided to not even feel intruded or shaken, and just went ahead.

"The name's Jonathan, I'm an Imperial, and I want to join Soulock" He simply said.

The silence that followed was awkward, awkward and heavy. For around 10 seconds, no one said a thing. In those moments, Jonathan felt that the air was becoming harder to take in.

"Ah, yeah, that's that" Haku easily chided, just like that.

"Hey, cool!" Lara chirped cheerfully.

"But HEY! It's US who're taking him!" Flare, the blonde girl abrasively exclaimed. "We need some serious punch on the front lines! You up to it, newbie?"

"Eh…" Jonathan groggily mumbled.

"Yep, I like you, so you're coming with us!" The girl decided and dragged him back. "Runo, go get Filia, we're going to kick some butt at the new Labyrinth!"

And with that, Jonathan was dragged.

"W-wait, just like that!?" Flora cried.

"On it, ma'am!" The Runemaster responded passionately as she disappeared through one of the many doors before anyone could say anything else.

"Are you sure about this, Haku-dono?" Mikoto asked the tanned blonde.

"Yeah, I mean, why not?" She responded nonchalantly.

"This is going to be really interesting, I'm sure!" Arma responded. "I mean, Logre pretty much kicked your asses that time, right?"

"Yeah, that wasn't fun" Haku sighed. "But we did get to see him blasting stuff up afterwards! The third floor of the Library was awesome thanks to him!"

"Hey, think the guy will be okay?" Amy, the leather-clad Nightseeker asked her senior.

Haku only responded with a soft smile.

…

"Hey, FLARE SKIPPED ON THE PLATES AGAIN, DAMMIT!"

And as such, another day on Cloud 9 passed by…

"Jonathan! How much 'till your next Drive!?" Flare exclaimed in excitement.

"Twenty seconds!" He responded. "Hey, Filia, how's the circle?"

"One more m-minute! Do you n-need me to r-reinforce it?" The Arcanist girl responded meekly.

"INCOMING INFERNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Runo shouted emphatically, only to be hit by the Cursed Locust's legs, which quickly placed a sickly purple aura around her.

"Heeeey, Runo!" The green haired medic threw a vial at the mage, which she quickly gulped. The purple aura which surrounded her immediately disappeared.

"Thanks, Sihlo!"

"No prooooob" The medic sang lazily.

"Hey, watch it! We need to get these things out! Let's focus on the bear first!" Flare cried.

"Girls, the Drive is ready!"

"PULL BACK!"

Jonathan wasn't sure in what moment it had ended like this. Before he had realized, he was fighting all manners of monsters alongside a bunch of misfits. Flare was in command and was always on point, but Jonathan had learned that she tended to forget about the back row, meaning that it had been upon him to keep an eye on the rear guard, but he had found respect on the Fortress' unyielding spirit. Runo was very obsessed with dropping her runes one after the other, and it was her who dealt the most damage alongside with him. Filia only needed confidence, as she was exceptional in disabling enemies, only that she stumbled easily, so it fell upon Flare and him to keep her spirits up. Sihlo, contrary to her sleepy demeanor, managed to keep the group healthy whenever things went south. Even now, the team worked through miracles, as they had left many battles near death.

But it had been these miracles. These miracles and hardships had made Jonathan truly enjoy himself in a long time.

Jonathan turned to the blue yellow-eyed bear, with his own spectacled eyes burning fiercely. He squeezed the handle of his blade once again and clicked on the hilt, inserting another cartridge on the slot located on the back of the mechanical sword. The sword's gears started revving up, with Jonathan quickly running towards the clawed beast. He had lost the count of times he had inserted a cartridge inside his blade, but didn't care any longer.

He had drove through his problems in the past, and now, he'd drive through for the future.

This was the only way he knew to move onward, but thankfully, he didn't have to search for different methods yet.