"Sanguini intervened with our mission..."
As Lia spoke, I was hit by a whiplash of hazy memories.
I was sure that I had heard this name before, but couldn’t remember where.
Until Eva and Claire’s banter resurfaced in my mind.
’The fiance of the vice guild leader of the Sanguini.’
Those were Eva’s exact wordings when Claire asked who the fuck they were, or something.
From their story I know that Claire had smashed her phone and one shard of it caused a man to bleed, which led to the fight.
So if that hurt man is the vice guild leader’s fiance, then I can finally understand why the mood around the room got somber.
Everyone knew what that entailed.
And that the Sanguini’s intervention cannot be a good thing at all.
"What did they do?" Claire hissed, rage bubbling within her as she kept up her cold facade of calmness.
"Well you know that we had taken up the mission in Lazbi, for clearing the tier 3 labyrinth breach." Lia explained as Claire nodded, wordlessly cueing her to continue.
"Yeah, so it’s gone. Sanguini took the mission from us as their authority as a guild supersedes ours as a team." Lia sighed.
Claire narrowed her eyes in frustration, rubbing her eyelids as she sighed, "Haah, we had that coming ever since we became a team instead of a guild.
I can understand that it’s a frustrating matter, but... you made it sound like it was something really bad, you know? It’s not a big deal, we can find another one."
"No, that’s the problem Clay!" Katie cut in, snarling in hate, "That was the last tier 3 mission left!"
Jaq nodded, "As I already suggested before, we should just give up on the missions. Tier 2 is too risky."
"I concur." Eva raised a hand slightly, already informed about this news.
"And money? Labyrinths are shut down, no tier 3 is left, what are you gonna do about the money?" Lia scoffed at Jaq’s suggestion.
"So? Throw our lives for money? A single monster from 50 floors above can flatten us like pancakes, with a single hit! Our life is more important than money."
Everyone in the room looked at each other, wondering if it was the same for others as well. And Katie was the first to show reluctance to Jaq’s words.
"Uhm," Katie murmured, "I still have some debt left..."
Lia sighed, "I need to pay for my cousin’s tuition and the bills are due as well. I can’t just delay it all."
Eva, who always seemed like the woman of sufficient wealth, nodded.
"Me too." she said, not elaborating her reasons.
Her agreement to the money issue surprised me, as I really thought she would prefer to be safe than to take any risks, especially when she was supposed to be a healer.
A kind hearted sweetheart that is a little naive and sweet, that’s how fantasy healers were supposed to be... no?
But then again, in this world women act like men, and I haven’t noticed many male healers in the Earth’s fantasy.
Keyar–
Sane male healers, at least.
I cut off my train of thought and refocused back to the ongoing chatter, erasing the thought of the cursed animated series I had watched in my early days.
And the moment I refocused, I was graced with sweet melodrama that was playing live.
"Eva?!" Jaq looked at Eva as if she had betrayed her, "You just agreed that tier 2 is too dangerous!"
"It is," Eva nodded with a wry smile, "But money is important too."
I turned to look at Claire, who had been silent up till now.
And sensing my gaze, she looked back at me, a sad smile on her lips. "Sorry." she lipped, without speaking anything.
What’s she sorry about, though?
"I need it as well, who doesn’t?" Claire turned to look back at her friends, her voice stern and levelled. Fitting of the leader position that she held in the team.
Claire turned to look at Jaq gently, "Look Jaq, I know you have saved a ton of money, and you don’t really have anyone to spend it on. This mission, this money, it doesn’t mean much to you."
Jaq could only nod speechlessly as she didn’t expect Claire to address her like this.
"We are a team for a reason. This is not a guild, there are no rules, no regulations that you need to fulfil no matter what."
Claire began, leaning onto her bed.
"If you feel that this mission is too dangerous, then skip it. Don’t come. There is 2 weeks till I get this shit fixed up as well," Glancing at her plastered limbs, Claire chuckled.
Hearing that, others laughed a little as well.
"So you have one more week to think, for the rest of you as well. Make up your mind and we will submit our request."
The girls laughed, as Claire flashed me a bright smile, as if bragging that she handled it so coolly. Though, she did.
And just like that, the depressive mood slowly vanished as the girls engaged each other in light conversations, occasionally involving me and Eva as well so as to not make us feel excluded.
Then, they left to ask about Claire’s discharge, leaving me and her alone inside.
"I thought the mission was a government hiring? And there is no choice for you guys?" I narrowed my eyes at Claire, "Then how are you all discussing whether to take the mission or leave it?"
Claire chuckled at my questioning tone, "The missions are indeed organized and put up by the government, I didn’t lie to you about that. That’s the official way of picking up missions, whether you are solo, team, or a guild."
She clarified, before continuing, "And it’s not like we didn’t have a choice to reject, but we did indeed get a mail personally, asking us to help out in this mess.
And if we ignored that mail, our reputation as well as future choices would have gotten fuc- I mean ruined."
"Then how is there a choice now?"