Right as they were clearing the mass of people near the front steps of the guild hall two things happened, one before the other. The first was that Ethan began to slow his steps so much he almost came to a stop, this caused the group of "bodyguards" to move past him and block him from the view of anyone in front of them. The second was the sounding of a deep voice which belonged to a man flanked by several similarly armored individuals.

"And where do you think you all are going?"

The group came to a stop as one, their bodies side by side though they were staggered some on the ends, creating a shallow V shape if one was looking from the sky above. A woman in the center of the adventurers smirked a bit while placing a hand on her hip.

"Why do you ask?"

The armored man's eyes narrowed a bit at the obvious condescension in the woman's voice but otherwise maintained his cool. He simply lifted his arm to present a rolled up scroll before replying.

"We have been given orders to question anyone leaving the guild hall who looked... suspicious."

Upon hearing this the woman blinked a few times before she, and everyone else around her, exchanged glances. As one they all turned back to face the man, obviously a council guard, and instantly broke out in laughter. A couple even had to hold their stomachs due to how hard they were laughing. The commotion caused some bystanders to become onlookers and a soon several people had come together on either side of the two groups facing one another. Finally, as the guard looked like he was about to burst in frustration, the female lifted a hand asking him to wait a second.

"Sorry, sorry... It's just that... Well, we're adventurers. If we didn't look suspicious then wouldn't that mean we weren't doing our job very well?"

While some may be confused by her statement, most understood the undertone of her words. Adventurers were basically a sub-group of whatever race they belonged to. They were the Afflicted, mortals who had been mutated by the Inaness, or Inanimate Essence, that the Incra's brought to power their Autoarms and other destructive weapons. As those "touched" by the invaders, until rather recently, they were not only looked down upon, but also persecuted for being who they were.

While it had been some time since the establishment of the adventurer's guild, Adventures Untold Co., as well as various smaller guilds of the same purpose, the stigma that surrounded the Afflicted was still strong in many places. Thankfully Cloudcrest, due to its somewhat remote location, had become much more tolerable of the Afflicted, seeing them as those that could offer help and protection. Certainly there were Afflicted who chose a darker, less helpful, and certainly more destructive path, but thankfully the term Adventurer had pretty much become synonymous with Afflicted who wished to positively contribute to society.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The man looked around at the gathered peoples on either side of him and the adventurers, measuring the overall mood before looking back to the female and continuing.

"Perhaps, however, my instructions are absolute and I'm asking where do you think you all are going?"

The female, a tall Raginer with an atypical Raginer body, finally dropped her hand from her hip and then crossed her arms over her chest. Inhaling deeply she puffed out her bosom and set her feet shoulder width apart and looked like she intended to not only remain silent, but not move an inch from where she stood. The guard must have considered the same because he lowered his arm to his side and then wrapped the fingers of his opposite hand around the hilt of his sword. Suddenly the Raginer smiled broadly and threw her arms out and extended them from her sides.

"Where else? We're going drinking! Why don't you come along! It looks like you might provide some challenge!"

The guard tensed when the female threw out her arms like that but immediately took on a confused expression when her words registered in his mind.

"Huh?"

"Drinking! We are going to find a place to have some fun!"

"... Reaaally?"

He obviously didn't believe her, not only did his drawn out response scream it, so did his face which definitely no longer displayed a look of confusion.

"We would never joke about something as important as drinking, right everyone?"

She looked to either side of her and the collection of males and females pretty replied as a group though their words were a bit jumbled. The guard finally released the grip on his hilt and dropped the hand to his side before shaking his head and motioning over his shoulder.

"Get going then, enjoy yourselves."

Even if he didn't believe them he couldn't keep there indefinitely, so they nodded their thanks and walked past the group of guards. Once they were on their way the man looked over his shoulder to his subordinates.

"You two, follow them and make sure they end up where they said they would. Report back immediately if they stray."

"Yes sir!"

Two of the group saluted and turned before following the adventurers in the general direction in which they were headed. The adventurers themselves expected this and cast sidelong glances, as well as nods, to each other to signal everyone was on the same page. However, they simply kept on walking and talking to one another about seemingly random topics. The guard from before turned a bit to watch the group of six walk down the road and frowned when he remembered he thought there had been seven. After a moment he mentally, and physically, shrugged, figuring it must have just been a random person in the crowd as there were definitely only six adventurers who emerged from the bystanders. Shaking his head and grumbling something about getting old he returned his gaze to the guild hall's entrance to look out for anyone else who looked... suspicious.

At the same time the small form of a boy disappeared down an alleyway far to the right of the main road and where the group of adventurers, and their guard detail, had walked. Taking a deep breath Ethan moved as silently as possible toward Old Town, the real mission of the evening starting then.