In the last chapter, there was a grave mix up between "sheathed" and "unsheathed". Friita you dumbass, SWORD THAT ISN'T DRAWN sounds like it'd be an "un" word but UNSHEATHED wasn't the right word! ...then again I got it mixed up too and didn't think it was wrong. Hooray for my darling lastberri! (Fixed!)
It was as she expected - Etria wasn't that hard to navigate. Remilia found herself somewhat proud in being able to confirm this in her head, once more, when she and her new teammates had to head towards the town's central hub, the Radha Hall.
Prior to that, the process of establishing her own guild ended up being quite simple.
She was taken to the Guildmaster who seemed to lack motivation, wrote down her name and that of her new guild, and her now-acquaintances followed suit. And then... that was it. Turns out that was all she had to do in the Explorer's Guild - everything else was to be done at the 'Radha Hall'.
And thus they now found themselves headed to exactly that place.
"Greetings," a man greeted as they walked through the entrance. He was quite plain-looking, his combed hair a pretty shade of orange, sharp-looking frames in front of his eyes. "Welcome to Radha Hall, center of Etria's government. How may I help you today?"
"Hello," three of the girls greeted, while the pale hexer remained silent.
The man took notice of her and rubbed his chin. "Oh. I see there's a new face in town," he noted. "May I ask who you are?"
"..." it didn't seem like the girl had any plan to answer that.
Scarlet sighed. "This is Remilia. As you guessed, she's new in Etria, and she's also the leader of our new guild," the redhead explained.
"Oh, I see. Congratulations are in order then," the man replied and extended his hand to the cloaked girl. "My name is Quinn. I'm the subaltern in charge of official missions and quests as given by the government itself."
"...Remilia," the hexer said as she took his hand, her eyes showing no sign of being honored.
"She's quite the weird one," Valeria said. "But given we're all just starting out, maybe she'll become one of your best adventurers in Etria!" the brunette suggested. "...actually, no, that's going to be me."
"I doubt we'll become that popular..." Rin said, a nervous chuckle escaping her lips.
Quinn smiled. "And what may your guild name be?" he asked.
"Well, I wanted to go with Axyl, but it seems we ended up going with 'Modem'," Valeria answered.
"Modem? That's... quite an odd name," Quinn noted.
"Tell me about it."
"A-anyways," Scarlet interrupted, "we're here to accept our first quest. I hear it's a test to measure how capable we are, so..."
"Ah, yes, the test that all beginning guilds receive." The subaltern nodded to himself. "Before we proceed, let me conduct a small quiz - do you girls know what the most important part of exploring the labyrinth is?"
"Kicking monster ass?" Valeria said.
"Staying safe?" Rin said.
"No, stupids," Scarlet said. "It's knowing your way - if you don't get lost in the labyrinth, you'll be able to stay safe and defeat monsters without being ambushed. Isn't that right?"
Quinn chuckled. "You've got the right idea, but that's only close to it," he said. "The answer is, keeping track of your way."
"Ah... oh, that makes sense."
The redhead's friend frowned, scratching her brown hair. "Wait, I don't get it. That sounds like the same thing."
"Think of it this way," Quinn said. "Between memorizing the layout of a room, and having a map to help you navigate through the room, which one would be more helpful?"
Rin tilted her head. "Well... memorizing would let you make more space for important items, so... memorizing, I thought."
Scarlet shook her head. "That's a fair point, but the problem with that is memorization itself," she said. "When you want to explore the labyrinth, there's many things you need to keep track of. The further you go, the more stressful it gets, and the more likely you are to mess up somewhere down the drain."
Quinn nodded. "That's right. After all, the labyrinth floors themselves aren't just one small room - you'd have to make use of the entire floor layout if you want to, for example, run away to somewhere safe, or hide, or locate something in another area." He then flashed Scarlet a smile. "You sure are a clever one, Ms. Ibis. I assume you've been reading a lot about exploration?"
The redhead's face became flustered. "W-well, you know. If you want to be prepared to explore, you need to know everything that you can... that's, that's what the chieftain would be proud of, right?"
"Of course, the chieftain would certainly be proud of you," the man replied, to her delight. "Anyways, that little question has everything to do with your test."
"It does?" Valeria asked.
Nodding again, the man raised a finger. "To test your capability of navigating the labyrinth, you must show us that you can handle the first floor, at the very least."
Remilia raised her head slightly, piecing together what he was most likely going to suggest. "...map... first floor," she said.
Quinn blinked. "...why, that's right. It seems Ms. Remilia here already understood my intention behind that quiz just now."
"Whoa, really? That was quick," Valeria said. "Damn, leader. You're a smart one, aren't'cha?"
"It's not that hard to guess..." Scarlet muttered.
Rin put a finger on her chin. "Um, so... our test mission is to draw a map of the first floor?" she asked.
The man nodded. "That's right. If you can safely do that and provide us a clean draft of the floor layout, we'll know at the very least that you can explore by yourselves." He pointed outside the building. "You probably know the way to the labyrinth already, so I shouldn't need to tell you that - although, I guess since Ms. Remilia is new to Etria, you girls can lead the way for her." Smiling, his eyes followed his finger. "When you enter the labyrinth, there should be a guard stationed near the entrance. He will give you the materials needed and more details if you should require more explanation."
"Roger that, good sir Mr. Quinn!" Valeria cheered. Then, she turned around and ran out the building. "Let's get going, team!"
"Ack, wait! Don't just rush off... ugh." Scarlet sighed, growing frustrated. "Sorry about that, Mr. Quinn. We'll be on our way."
Upon entering the labyrinth, as the Radha subaltern had told the group, a lone guard stood near the inner entrance of the first floor.
A beautiful shade of green stretched across the ceiling, covering the sky - yet there was an endless amount of light shining into the labyrinth. A pleasant scent floated around the area, a cool, gentle breeze refreshing the group of girls. The atmosphere around almost made the lone soldier look like someone important to them, waiting for a beautiful reunion.
...well, then again, he actually is waiting for them. It was just to give them their materials for the test mission, of course, but still.
"Ah. You girls must be the next new guild to take the test," the guard said as they approached him.
"That's right, pops. So give it to us," Valeria said in confirmation. "What do we gotta do?"
Scarlet groaned. "Val, we already heard the gist of this from Mr. Quinn. We just need the materials to get started..."
"Oh, right. ...and what might those be?"
The redhead sighed as Rin chuckled, the soldier raising an eyebrow at them. "We need a map to fill in, silly."
Valeria nodded. "I see, I see... well, what're you waiting, big guy?" she then said to the guard. "Don't keep us waitin' now."
Remilia watched as the guard shrugged and pulled out two sheets of paper. They both had a huge, blank grid on them. He then handed over an expensive-looking tool that maybe resembled a writing quill of sorts, but looked nothing like an actual feather. "Here you go. Be careful with those. I can give replacements in case of anything bad, but try not to mess up - it's a waste of materials."
"I understand. Thanks for the tip," Scarlet said, taking the materials from the soldier.
"Is there anything else you'd like to ask about, before you're on your way?"
The redhead blinked, and looked back at her team. "Anything?" she asked.
Valeria and Rin shook their heads. Glancing over to Remilia, it became evident she had nothing to ask as well - if ever - and so Scarlet shook her head.
"Thank you, but we'll be fine from here."
"Alright then. Stay safe and good luck, kiddos."
As the guard disappeared from their view, the group came to a stop in a square-shaped area of the forest. Scarlet unfolded the blank grid sheets and held one up. "So, uh, I guess we need to make two maps? Or maybe this place is too big for one sheet?"
Valeria groaned. "Sounds like a pain..."
"Um. Maybe they're suggesting we split up," Rin said. "Like... someone take the left path... someone take the right path... and then we put the maps together?"
Scarlet nodded. "That actually sounds like a plan," she said. "But splitting up, huh... kinda risky, isn't it? Especially since we're literally greenhorns to this."
Remilia took one of the sheets from her. "...left."
"Oh. Um. Sure." The redhead scratched her head. "But I think it's best you hold on a bit though, we need to decide how we'll split up - obviously, two to two."
"Heh," Valeria snickered. "...tutus."
"Val, get a grip, or I'll seriously smack you."
Rin looked around. "I'm... happy and all that we've finally begun, but... how do we decide that?"
Valeria shrugged. "I dunno. Rather we take our picks." She rubbed her chin, before grinning. The brunette then went over to the medic and pulled her by hand. "I'm claiming Rin!"
"What-"
"H-hey!" Scarlet yelled. "Don't mess around! We need to think carefully first-"
"Time's a wasting away!" Valeria replied and took the other paper off of Scarlet's hands. "C'mon, Rin, let's kick some monster asses!"
Rin watched as her other companions shrunk in her vision, as she was dragged away. "Waaaah..."
Scarlet blinked. Then she scowled. "That jerk... always running off to do as she pleases!" she said. "God, it's always like that, so... so... frustrating!" She stomped her feet on the ground for a few seconds, before taking deep breathes, calming herself. "Oh well, oh well... everything will be fine. Yeah."
Remilia stared at her, having no input or comment to make at all.
"...sorry, shouldn't have let you seen that. That was embarrassing..." Scarlet mumbled. Shaking her head, the girl put a hand on her sword. "Oh well. I guess we'll go look around and map the floor together, huh."
The hexer nodded. "...mn."
...she's not a talker at all, huh. The redhead scratched her head. "So. Val and Rin kinda ran straight ahead, and there's a pitchfork path going three directions," she noted. "But... there's also this path to the right. Want to explore here instead?"
Shrugging, the pale girl began taking small steps to the right, but stopped. "...pen."
"Oh, a pen, right. Let's see... ah." Scarlet blinked, recalling the sensation of the inked quill slipping out of her hands a few seconds ago, courtesy of that annoying energetic girl. "...damn it, Val..."
"...mn. Fine."
"...it's alright? Do you have another pen?" Scarlet asked, but the hexer slowly shook her head. "...well. Maybe we should go back and ask that guard for another pen..."
Remilia shook her head, continuing her walk towards the right. "...no."
"Uh. Okay. Guess we'll just... manage somehow." Scarlet scratched her head, before following her new leader. Prideful much? she wondered. But more importantly... I wonder how we'll deal with this. Is she going to memorize the entire floor and then write it down when we get the pen back?
You'd need a damn good memory for that though... but who knows? I can never tell anything about her.
Smiling, Scarlet gripped the handle of her sword again, prepared to fight off any monster ambush.
...
Valeria swung her sword forward, an oversized hissing as it jumped at her, its face sliced cleanly in half as it rammed into her blade.
Then, a butterfly-like creature flew out of a bush and screamed at her. A staff swung down from its side, however, smacking the creature into the ground. Rin cringed slightly as an unpleasant noise entered her ears.
"Ugh... gross..." the medic muttered.
"Come on, that's nothing," Valeria said as she swatted her sword in another direction, the monstrous rat's blood splattering onto a patch of grass. "We're doing wonderful so far. What's the worst that could happen? Nothing."
"That just now..." Rin said. "That just now, was the worst thing to happen so far..."
"What, the monsters? Rin, we're in the labyrinth, of course they exist."
The medic glared at her friend. "The boot!" she said. "A lone, dirty boot lying around in the forest... that was such an obvious trap! You went ahead and picked it up anyways, that's why the monsters ambushed us!" (5)
Valeria scratched her head. "Really? We managed just fine anyways."
"That's not the worst part! The worst part is picking up some random dirty boot!" Rin interrupted. "Who knows how long it had been there, and what monsters might've done to it? Maybe it's been littered on!"
Blinking, Valeria eventually snickered. "I think you got your priorities a bit mixed up. Fits your class though."
"That's not... ugh. Valeria..." Rin grumbled, her cheeks flushed slightly pink in embarrassment.
Suddenly, another rat monster jumped out of another bush. Valeria swung her sword forward again, but it missed by a margin and only sliced off the rat's ears. It let out a screech, but, recognizing Valeria's power, it turned towards Rin instead and lunged towards her, its teeth prepared to bite.
Rin jumped back, surprised, her staff swinging down with a bit too much force. The rat was crushed to a pulp within no more than a second or two.
"Whoa. Nice one," Valeria said with a whistle.
"Eep... that felt so wrong..." the orange haired girl said.
"I dunno, that was pretty cool," her landsknecht friend replied. "I mean. it was all 'grawr', and you just smacked it down like 'fwoosh'. It was over in a second."
The medic shuddered. "You can make it sound cool, but it felt like... like, crushing a fruit... maybe." She closed her eyes, then paled, upon the thought of it forming into mental visualizations that she very much did not want nor need. "Worse, than crushing fruits. How are you so calm about this?"
"It's aaaall a part of adventuring, my friend," Valeria whispered.
"...that doesn't sound wise at all," Rin said.
"Don't be another Scarlet, you."
Rolling her eyes, Rin set down her group's paper and began jotting down a layout of the area they were in. "Let's see... I think... something like this, yeah."
"The mapping sure isn't as hard as I expected," Valeria commented. "Still, though... now that it's being recorded down on paper, the labyrinth sure is structured kinda... weird, huh."
"How so?" Rin asked.
"I dunno, something about it is just... strangely not natural," the brunette replied. "Like, this room itself is square. Almost feels like it's man-made or something."
The medic scratched her head. "Hm. Well... that does make me wonder as well, I guess. ...we can think about that later though."
"True. Monster ass kicking is more important!"
Valeria began to run off again, just as Rin finished noting down their area's structure. "Ah, wait, Valeria!"
The brunette paused. "Eh, what's the problem? Find something weird?"
"No, not that," the medic replied, gently slipping the map back in her pouch. "Don't forget to harvest materials from the monsters," she said.
"Harv... oh, right." The landsknecht sheathed her sword once more and trotted over to the scattered bodies of rat monsters and butterflies. "Yeesh, look at all these bodies. Would make more sense to just take them whole back to the town - some chefs might wanna stock up on rat meat, maybe."
"Um, I don't think it works like that," Rin told her, kneeling in front of some rat corpses. "If you don't harvest them fast enough, their bodies... um, well. They disappear," she said.
"Disappear?" Valeria asked, then she looked around. The number of monster bodies laying around was... actually, she had just noticed, but her friend was right - they had decreased, even though the two hadn't touched any corpses since slaying them. "How does that work?"
Rin blinked. "I'm not sure myself, but... scholars say it's something to do with the magic stones in their bodies," she said.
"Magic stones?"
"Um... something called grimoire stones? I've never seen one for real myself..." the medic said. "And I don't actually know much about it... just that, these bodies disappear around a minute or two, I guess?"
Valeria scratched her head, noticing some bodies turn to dust. "Whoa. Well... I guess we better get separating materials from the bodies then," she said. "On that note, this seems like something Scarlet would know a lot about. Maybe we should ask her about this."
Rin smiled. "Yeah, Scarlet knows a lot about these things, doesn't she? She's... quite amazing."
"Isn't she? That's my bestie for you!"
(5) Actual event around C1, B01F. The enemies would be 3 Clawed Moles, and you'd get a whitestone (EO1) / pyroxene (EOU).
