Maru managed to fight against Zareb and knocked him out. However, there's still the train. The train is heading straight for Era. If it doesn't stop, it's going to crash and cause a massive explosion fueled by the substance that Zareb stole. After that was done, Maru took the unconscious Zareb and moved inside to the conductor's cart. Once he got inside, he looked around for the brakes.

"Here we go!" Maru said. He managed to find the switch for the brakes and pulled on it. He hit the right switch as he could feel the brakes working. What he isn't sure of is if it can stop in time. "Come on. Come on." He tried to pull on the brakes, but the station was coming up. Maru held on as best as he could with the train slowing down. The train got into the station, but it was able to stop just short of the crash. "Phew... That was close." Maru managed to pull it off and stopped the train just in time. After that happened, he climbed out and could finally feel relieved that it's over.

"Maru!" Maru looked up and saw Aster was there. "Is everything okay? Where's Zareb?"

"He's right inside, unconscious." Maru said.

"You mean you were able to defeat him on your own?" Aster questioned. "Impressive. Many have struggled to catch this guy, but you were able to pull it off."

"Yeah... Wait. Aster, how did you get here so fast? Where are the others?" Maru questioned.

"Oh... I got here thanks to your little buddy." Aster said as he turned around and showed Sandy clinging to his back, but he looked awful. "Since he can only carry one person, I went on ahead of the others."

"I used every ounce of magic power flying as fast I could to get all the way out here." Sandy said. "I was flying so fast that I had to grip Aster with an iron-like grip."

"Thankfully for me you didn't use your nails." Aster said. "Anyway, you did great, Maru. Looks like you managed to stop all of this just in the nick of time."

"Yeah. I'm just glad that it's all over now." Maru said, but then he noticed something on the ground. "Wait. What's this? Writing?" All of them looked down and saw the same writing on the ground.

"It looks like some sort of enchantment." Aster said.

"Cast by us. That's why the train stopped in time. The enchantment helped slowed the train down." All of them looked and were met with a group of people.

"Who are they?" Sandy questioned.

"They're called the Rune Knights. They work for the Magic Council." Aster said. "How did they know about this?"

"Is the one named Zareb in there?"

"Yes, sir." Maru said.

"Good, but we need you to come with us." The Rune Knights act like a special police force. Asking to be taken away like this doesn't exactly leave a good feeling.

...

Later

Eventually, Gin and the girls were able to make it all the way to Era themselves. When they got there, they headed straight for the headquarters of the Magic Council.

"This is the Magic Council's headquarters?" Mary said with them standing right in front of the building.

"Sure looks like it. I never really thought I would be here." Gin said.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Yukina questioned.

"They didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure they're fine." Gin said. At least that is what they are hoping. All three of them just stood outside and waited. They saw the doors open up with Maru and the others walking out. "See? They look okay to me."

"Are you guys all right? What happened?" Yukina questioned.

"We're fine. They asked us to come by so that we could tell them what exactly happened back in Wolfbane and here." Maru said. "They got word about what happened. They had everything under control, but they do appreciate the help."

"In fact, they were rather impressed with us. We managed to take care of a serious situation, got a wanted criminal arrested, and did so with less damage than they expected." Aster said. "Now I also know why the Rune Knights were at the station. Thankfully, they were tipped off."

"Yes, and it's a good thing I made it in time." All of them looked to see Master Velvet was leaving the building as well. "I have all of you to thank for this. The people of Era should be grateful because you prevented a catastrophe from happening."

"Only because you alerted them in time, Master." Aster said.

"Perhaps. When I finally got word of what happened, I managed to get in contact with Gin and the girls here." Velvet explained. "They told me all about what was going on. Fortunately, there were some workers for the Magic Council at the conference. With a little of their help, they sent out their men to try and stop the train and prevent anything terrible from happening."

"Good thing. I wasn't really too sure if I could get the train to stop in time." Maru said. "Those guys work fast."

"What about Zareb? What happened to him?" Yukina questioned.

"Arrested. Thanks to Maru, he's finally being locked away and will be gone for a long time." Velvet said. "You all should be proud of what you did here."

"Does that mean it's over and we can finally go back to Amaryllis?" Mary asked as she's had enough of all the excitement today. "Honestly, this has all been a little much for just one day."

"Come on, Mary. It wasn't all that bad." Sandy said. "We managed to stop the bad guy and save a whole town. How can you not feel good?" He got his answer when she grabbed him by the neck and brought him right to her face.

"Do I have to remind you that you dragged me here against my will? I had no intention of getting involved until you brought me into this mess!" Mary argued. Regardless, they all did rather well and should be proud of themselves.

"I am proud of you all. You all faced a challenge, gave it your all, especially one that benefitted so many." Velvet said. "You all knew you could do something in a situation like this, and rather than being hesitant, you acted. You followed your hearts instead of just your heads. As long as you all stay out of trouble, I really have no complaints over what happened here." All of them did do rather well by catching this cold man, and the adventures ain't over yet.

...

Amaryllis

Now that all was said and done, all of them could finally return home. Mary certainly was glad to be home. When she made it back to her apartment so that she can forget about her problems for a moment.

"Oh man. That was all crazy." Mary said as she went straight to her bed and dropped down so that she could finally relax. "I can't believe we even got out of there since we're dealing with a killer. Those people are crazy for all of that." She lifted her hand and took a look at the guild emblem on her hand. "Definitely not what I expected from a guild. I thought they just did some odd jobs, but nothing like this."

"There's more to being a guild than just that." Sandy said. "What were you expecting?"

"I'm not sure. I just..." Mary was going to explain, but then she realized she was talking to someone that she didn't invite. "What are you doing here?! How did you get in?!"

"You left the door open." Maru said as he showed he was there as well. "We came by to see if you were okay after all of that. Quite the adventure we had, didn't we?"

"That's one way to put it." Mary said. "I can't believe you guys actually got mixed up in something like that."

"Well, Aster believed we could handle it, and it would seem that he was right." Maru said. "I know you got dragged into it, but I'm actually glad you came along. It gave you a better idea of what the work in a guild can be like."

"No one ever said anything about something like what we just went through." Mary said. "Besides, I joined the guild to try and make some money. We went through all of that and didn't get any sort of reward."

"But we did a lot of good." Sandy said. "Think about what might have happened if Zareb managed to achieve what he wanted. Era would be in complete chaos right now."

"Maybe, but a reward would have still been nice." Mary said.

"You can act like you don't care all you want, but I saw how you were back in our last job. You showed compassion and humility for those people." Maru said. "I don't get why, but you're only trying to hide it."

"Think whatever you want." Mary said as she acted like it didn't really matter with her closing her eyes and turning away.

"Do you want to know why we take jobs in the first place?" Maru questioned. Mary opened one eye to show she was listening. "It's because those people can't use magic and have a hard time doing what needs to be done themselves. True, they are more than willing to pay us for our services, but there's more to it than just that. It's about using your own abilities to help someone out and doing the right thing. It's nice to get rewarded, but that isn't why we do what we do, at least for some of us. It's about doing something for someone. You could be the one to make a difference in their lives. In doing so, it makes those people really happy. That's what we did back when we took care of those giant bugs. Even though we weren't hired to do anything about Zareb, we still did something because it was the right thing to do. We didn't get paid for it, but we ended up saving the lives of so many people so that they can continue to live their lives the way they like. You get what I'm saying?"

"I think so..." Mary said.

"You will in time." Sandy said.

"Just think of what it's like when you put someone else before yourself." Maru said. "I get you might have had it rough, even though I don't know your past, but haven't you ever done something like that before?" When he said that, it did have Mary think about something.

"Yeah, but that's why I have to put myself first." Mary muttered.

"What was that?" Sandy questioned.

"Nothing." Mary said.

"The bottom line is that this is how a guild works." Maru claimed. "We get work and might make some money, but there are more benefits than that. We get to go on fun adventures, make a difference in peoples lives, and sometimes that involves doing something like what we did now. I'm sorry if that's not what you signed up for, but that's how it works. Plus, joining a guild means you have a lot more friends that you just made. True, some guilds might not be all that close, but at least you know you got friends you know you can count on." All of that did sound nice, but Mary still didn't seem so sure about it.

"I guess she still needs some time to come around to it." Sandy said.

"Well, we can't force her to stay after all this." Maru said as he tried being understanding of how she felt. "At least you gave it a try. We'll be going back to guild and find another job if you're interested in coming. If you just want to stick around the guild for a while, that's fine too."

"You're really going back to work after all that?" Mary questioned.

"Yeah. That's sort of how it works, but I get if you just want to take some time off." Maru said. "Come on, Sandy. Let's leave her be."

"Okay." Sandy said with them showing themselves out. What Maru said really had an effect on Mary and had her do some thinking.

...

The Guild

Now that Maru and the others are back at the guild, it's back to business as usual for them. No rest for the weary. Maru and Sandy are looking over the jobs to figure out what to take, but nothing really catches their eye.

"You don't really see anything?" Sandy said.

"Not really, but there's got to be at least one good one around here." Maru said.

"How about this one? They just want to make sure some cargo gets transported safely." Sandy said. "After what we just pulled off, we might be perfect for the job."

"That might be, but maybe we should take a break from stuff like that for a while and try something else." Maru said.

"Looking for another job already?" Aster said as he came over. "Mind if I tag along for this one? I found myself actually enjoying working together on that last one."

"Same here." Yukina said as she joined in. "It was pretty nice working together on that. We acted like a well oiled machine. Gin, what about you? Want to join in?"

"Maybe next time. Some of those jobs don't require so many people." Gin turned down. "What about Mary? Isn't she going to go with you?"

"I'm pretty sure she just wants to relax after all that. She did seem pretty glad to be home now." Yukina said.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure Mary wants to stick around much longer." Sandy said. "Things haven't exactly shaped into the way she would have liked. She wasn't even sure at first that guild life was really for her."

"Really? She's going to walk away after she was already branded with our emblem?" Aster said. "I can understand if she has good reasons for wanting to leave, but Phoenix Flame doesn't really like quitters."

"Good thing I haven't decided on that." All of them looked to the door and saw that Mary was back.

"You made it." Maru said as he was glad that she decided to stick around.

"Well, as long as I'm here, but don't think I'm looking forward to whatever crazy adventure your going to get me into." Mary claimed. "I still need to make some money."

"Whatever works for you. I'm just glad you decided to stick with us." Maru said. It seems like the Phoenix Flame spirit hasn't exactly ignited with Mary yet, but she's hanging in there instead of just turning away.

"Just make sure the job you do pick pays pretty good." Mary said. 'This isn't what I expected when I joined a guild. I know I'm new around here and still have a lot to learn, but I suppose it isn't all bad here. The people here don't seem that bad. Maybe I will stick around despite the setbacks, at least for now.' She thought as her adventures in Phoenix Flame aren't over yet.