Here's the new chapter for today. Thank you!

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Elven Wine

The next day, it was a dark day as the thunder and lightning were heard from the background. Inside the Theater Vancoor, Jack and his Acht squad were in their locker room sitting at the table thinking. Jack laid his head on his hands as his arms stood up, Felix tapped his finger against his head, Sonata sat there quiet as a mouse without moving, and Miranda looked at them back and forth to guess what they were thinking about. All the guys' eyes were closed with for Miranda's. A big clock hanging on the wall ticked as the sound echoed through the room. They were all silent until...

"JACK, YOU GOT A NEXT MISSION!" Daniel yelled as he charged in like a bull. The men screamed as they fell back and hit the ground from their chairs from fright. Miranda giggled as Jack stood up and dusted himself off. Daniel rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Jack walked over to him and took the slip from his heads. "Thank you, Daniel." He told him. "Wow!" Daniel exclaimed as he ran inside and looked around.

The locker room was more like a luxury room. The floor is polished wood, a big redwood chest in the corner, big full bookcases on the other side, purple curtains standing open on the windows, a big, long mirror in the other corner, and the walls were painted blue. "Cool." Daniel said in awe. He turned around to Jack and questioned, "How come you got a cooler room than ours!" They winced at his exclamation. Jack sighed as he put his hands on his hips. "That's because we ranked up through most squads than you do." He answered simply. "But that's not fair!" he screamed out as he fell on his knees and held his head while it was shaking. He looked at the others and nodded to tell him 'Do something.'

Jack sighed as he bended to reach Daniel's eye range. Daniel looked as Jack said, "Listen, the only way to get to the top is to work hard and don't fear anything someone might dish out. You need to do the work with the Sergeant and only way to do it to work together. So, don't try being afraid instead of being brave." Daniel smiled as he stood up along with Jack and said, "You're right, Jack, I'll do my best and become a sergeant like you!" He ran to the door as Jack said, "And Daniel?" He turned and said, "Yes?" "Tell Sarge that he need to lay off the drinking for a while." Daniel nodded as he ran out of the room.

"So, who is it from?" Miranda asked as Jack sat down. "Let's see…it's from Giske." "Giske, you mean the pub owner?" Felix asked curiously. They all looked at him suspiciously. He caught their look and he exclaimed, "I knew him from my friends, of course!" They looked away as Jack read the slip. "'I need you to pick up the famous elven wine in the Forest Metropolis and bring it back to me without breaking it or drinking it.'' Sounds easy." He looked at it more until he stood up and exclaimed, "Whoa!" "Whoa, what?" Miranda questioned as they looked at him. "Oh, yeah, this is what I'm talking about!" Jack exclaimed happily. "What is it?" Felix asked. "He's paying us 15,000 dagols for the mission." Jack told them. They were all bugged eyed at that.

"Whoa." Miranda said under her breath. "It must be really famous if he pays us to deliver it to him." Felix said as Jack nodded. "Anyway, we should visit him and he'll tell us the rest. Okay, team, let's go." He commanded as they stood up and walked out of the Theater Vancoor. They stood in front of the pub as he told them, "Remember this, Giske is sometimes a little harsh that's because of the beer he drinks and if he gives you a sharp eye, don't give in or you'll be running away with the tail between your legs." They nodded as he opened the door and they walked in.

The room was the same as always, people smoking in the room, girls flirting with the other men, and Yuri trying to not break out. "Hey, Yuri, how's it doing?" Jack greeted as she smiled back at her. "Oh, everything's fine. It's just a little slow today." She said. He looked behind the counter to find Giske gone. "Where's Giske?" he asked. "He went to the bathroom. It'll take some time before he can get out, you can rest while you're here." She said as she pointed to the chairs at an empty table. They sat there for five minutes bored as they heard shouts from two drunken men. "I think he passed out drunk and can't stand up." Felix said as they ignored the harsh cursing from Carlos, who hit his head on his beer jug.

Miranda was really tearing up inside as she saw men staring at her like some fresh meat. "Jack, could we please come by another time?" she whispered to him, who was next to her. "Why?" he asked. "These guys are giving me looks." She said as a guy wolf-whistled at her. "Don't worry. If a guy comes and even tries to touch you, then I'll slay his head off with my Blaze Sword." He said. "Now, that would be entertaining." Felix said as he sipped on some cola he bought. A blonde, rich, drunken guy came up behind her and whispered in her ear, "How about we go to my place and stir something up?" She let out a surprised yelp as he touched her shoulder. "Felix, give me that!" Jack yelled out as he grabbed Felix's wand. He pushed Miranda down as he pointed the wand to him and let out a freeze spell. The man's entire body was frozen in ice as the other men stared at Jack in fear and surprise.

Jack pointed the wand with the sword by his side and shouted out, "If any of you come over here and touch her, I'll make sure you'll see where the sun don't shine! Got it!" After hearing that, the men sat down and talked like nothing happened and not even looking at Miranda. He sat down and gave Felix his wand back. Miranda smiled at him and mouthed out, "Thank you."

Giske came out drunk as usual saying, "T-There w-would be no b-bloodshed in my p-pub!" He walked out over behind the counter as they stood up and walked over to him. "Oh, hey k-kid, you got my r-request?" he asked Jack. "Yep." He replied. "O-Okay, here's what y-you do. Y-You need to carry f-four boxes of famous elven wine. I p-paid for it already so t-they should know. You j-just get it, bring it here, and I-I'll pay for your service. Got it?" he told them drunkenly. "Alright, you can count on us!" he said. They ran outside and to the Lumpus Gate as Miranda let out a big relieved sigh.

They walked through the bridge and stood before the journey pig. "Okay, here's what we do, we go there by pig journeying, go to Forest Metropolis, find the brewery, pick up the boxes, pig journey to here, and deliver them to Giske, any questions?" Jack explained. "Well, I have one. When we pick up the boxes, does the pig journey really let us carry the boxes and us at the same time without breaking them?" Miranda asked. "Yep, it can. The three of us had to carry three liquor bottles for David." He told her. "Alright, I guess we should go." She said. He nodded as he touched the journey pig. It flashed as they were surrounded by light rings. In a flash, they were gone.

Another flash appeared as they stood in front of the journey pig statue in another place. "This way." Jack said as he ran with the others behind him. As they walked towards the gate, they found Mikey standing guard. "Hey, Mikey." He greeted him. "Hi, Jack, how are you doing?" he asked him. "I'm pretty well." He told him. "Good, well, I'll see you later." He said as he grabbed his book and ran down the road. "He's a nice kid." Felix said. "Well, he's smart, too. Almost like you." Jack said. "That smart, huh?" Miranda said. She looked at Felix as Felix bowed his head.

"Well, anyway, let's get the package." Felix said as he went in first with the others behind him. As they entered, they saw the dark elves having fun with the card game at the table and Franz practicing his moves with Clarence. "Hey!" Jack greeted as Franz and Clarence were trying to punch and kick each other. "Hey, Jack!" they shouted as they kept battling. "Where's Serva? Isn't he with you?" he asked Clarence. "He's over there cuddling with his girlfriend." Franz said as he lifted his hands in karate style. "Franz!" Clarence shouted. "What? Everybody around here knows that he has a big crush on Marsha." He said as he jumped from Clarence's punch.

"Oh, so he has a crush on Marsha, huh." Jack said in a really interested tone. "Yep, everyday, he would sit and watch her without her knowing and when he fights, he'll still look at her and get punched out like last time." Franz told him as he laughed at the end. "Really?" he questioned as he looked to see Marsha sitting at her counter and with Serva on the stairs watching her with a sad face. "Damn, he's been love-struck." He said. "No, not that, more like love-punched." Miranda said as she walked beside him. "Hmmm." Jack said while he was thinking. "I got it!" he exclaimed.

He turned around to his squad and commanded, "Sonata, come and help me move the boxes, Felix and Miranda, do something about Serva and Marsha. See ya!" He and Sonata ran into the next room as Felix and Miranda stared at the door wide-eyed and dropped jaws. She let out a small laugh and said, "Well, orders are orders, shall we." She ran over to Marsha as Felix sighed and walked over to Serva. Sonata and Jack were in the cellar as Chatts walked out of the room to his room. "Do you think it's wise to let them intrude in Marsha's and Serva friendship?" Sonata asked. "Are you kidding? They were meant to be. When I was in the knights and came here, he was almost trying to sneak over near her and hide behind a vase. I say they're a perfect couple." He told Sonata.

12 minutes later, Sonata and Jack came back in from loading the boxes near the pig. Miranda and Felix ran to them with exhausted faces. "Whoa, you look tired." Jack said. "When you try to match make then you'll be tired, too." Felix said. Serva and Marsha came over holding hands as Clarence, Franz, Coco, Haynn, and Rika came over. "You're going soon?" Coco asked. "Yup, we're need back at Radiata." Jack said. Serva and Marsha were staring at each other's eyes with Rika giggling at the sappy moment. Franz yelled out, "Come one, you two, get a room!" They blushed and turned away as the group laughed. Haynn said, "You know you look like you just got married." "Yeah, if you want, we can have Miranda start doing the vows." Jack said as he pointed to Miranda. They got really red as the gang laughed more with Miranda giggling a little.

"Man, I'm beat." Jack said as they were walking on the bridge. Each one was carrying boxes. "I'm beat trying to get Serva to be a man. I told him to cook for her, he almost burnt the room. I told him to give her flowers; he came back with poison ivy." Felix said. "Marsha told me how she likes him as a friend and how sweet he is. I thought she wouldn't stop talking." Miranda said. "Well, we're back home." Jack said as they passed Lumpus Gate.

They stood before Carl's Pub with the boxes as they walked inside. It was real empty and quiet. "Ah, there you are." Giske said as he pulled out another bottle and drunk it. "We got the wine." Jack said as they piled it on the counter. "Good, good. Alright, then, you're pay will be at the guild. See ya." Giske said as they turned around and walked out. They went to the guild, picked it up, split in fours, and went home. As Jack went home, he looked at the table to see a cracked eggshell. "Wha?" he questioned. "Argg!" a bird hawked loudly. He turned to see a small, pink feathered bird with a long neck and a small beak. It looked at him with its small ruby eyes as its talons were short. It spread its wings gracefully like a swan as it bowed its head loyally. Jack smiled as he petted the bird and rubbed its rub gently. "What should I call you? Well, you're a girl. I know! I'll call you Cherry!" he exclaimed as Cherry tweeted cutely.

"The target has been captured; we'll take her there for a while." A man's low voice said as the boy smiled evilly. "Excellent work." A man's quiet voice said. "We need more women in order to do this thing." "How much more, sir?" "The more, the merrier." "You can't do this to me you know!" Rachel yelled as she struggled through the chains' grasp. She was hanging against the wall as the boy walked over to her. "We can and we will. Guards, take her somewhere else!" the boy ordered. "Put me down! Just you wait! You'll be sorry!" Rachel yelled as she was unlocked from the chains, dragged by the guards by hand, and into the darkest room. The boy turns to the guy and said, "Now, let's continue."

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And that's that. R+R!