Cooking Wars!
Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, Eve, Chung and Ara were in their normal dungeon lounge area. Just sipping mana potions casually.
"And then I said, oh no you DI-INT," Aisha went on about her conversation with her friend Speka over the phone.
Elsword yawned, uninterested. They were all up to their own things. Ara was sharpening her spear, Chung was studying his research notes, Eve was drinking tea in a civilized manner, Rena was fiddling with a leaf, Raven was practicing with his blade and Elsword was messing with self-buffs. Aisha, of course, was still going about her conversations.
It was pure silence. Eve was slightly irritated by this, and felt a need to break it. Sipping the last bit of her tea, she raised her head.
"We can't stay in Halls of Water forever, companions." Eve shrugged.
It was true though. 3 hours in the dungeon lounge isn't healthy.
"What?" Chung replied, finally looking up from his notes. "We've already saved Hamel and the El. What is there to do?"
Argument sprout, and everyone was yelling at each other around the dungeon lounge- including Ara yelling about not having her brother back yet and stuff. Personal problems varied.
Raven was just sitting on a ledge, not saying a word. It got so loud that the black haired man needed to speak.
"Eve is right. We are leaving and going back to our apartment. Now." Raven's serious tone frightened everyone. They walked out of the lounge, heads down.
Back near the apartment, something else happened. When they arrived, they heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, adventurers! You have (1) new message(s)!" The mailbox exclaimed.
"More mail?" Aisha rolled her eyes.
"Meh. Probably more taxes from Cobo." Elsword said glumly.
"You're right, for once. It probably is. I'll go collect our weekly fines, then..."
Aisha tiredly walked to the brown mailbox. She opened it and took out a white envelope. Tossing it to Chung, she said, annoyed, "You open it. I'm tired." Chung nodded, happily opening their weekly bills.
"I wonder how much enhancement stones you bought this week, Elsword." Ara said, bored. He was too exasperated to say anything back, simply replying with a snarl.
"H...Hey guys... This doesn't have any fines in here!" Chung's eyes lit up.
"Hm? What does it say!?" All of them peered at the letter.
"Get your face away from my hair!" Aisha yelled to Elsword.
"Get your hair away from my fa-" He paused when he saw a gleaming golden message from the envelope appear.
It said...
DEAR ADVENTURERS.
A message from your Ariel of Cobo. Black crow mercenary member no. 879 videotaped your daily lives, revealing each of your profound cooking abilities. We have found you adventurers exceptionally talented in the culinary arts, and would like you all to participate in the following events:
ELRIOS' 30th ANNUAL COOKING CHALLENGE, 2013
The event will take place tomorrow at Hamel the Capital, within your usual marketplace.
We hope for you to attend!
Sincerely,
Ariel
COBO Services Lead
Chung closed the envelope in disgust. "I knew I shouldn't have sold him the tape." He said regretfully.
"You WHAT?" Rena exclaimed.
"Now isn't the time, Rena! We have just been invited to Elrios' finest cooking competition!" Eve spoke, full of pride. "We should be honoured." She nodded.
"I don't know, guys. Do we really have the time?" Ara raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"We've saved Elrios already. We have all the time in the world." Raven replied. Ara quickly forgot about her brother, even, nodding to Raven.
"Saved or not, we're going!" Elsword yelled, punching the air.
"I think that's a smart decision from Elsword, for once." Aisha said, smiling slightly.
They began sharing recipes enthusiastically, completely naive to the reality of the competition.
No teams.