Waking up, the feeling of my body returned to me. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was back in my room. Through the few cracks in the curtains, streams of light seeped into the room. It seemed that I had been asleep for a whole night.  

Sitting up in bed, I noticed that laying beside me was Alice. Looking at the peaceful expression on her face, I took a while to enjoy the moment. After a few seconds, she began to stir. Opening her eyes, she propped herself up on her elbows. 

Alice: Morning. 

 leaning over to her, I Drew her into a passionate kiss. When we separated, her cheeks were dyed a rosy tint. 

Alice: what was that for? 

Solomon: nothing, I'm just glad I'm here with you. 

After being attacked by my teammates yesterday, I had been really nervous. Though I had realised during the fight that they weren’t betraying me, I still had a nugget of doubt in my heart. But after looking at the innocent face of Alice, all of my doubt became dust in the wind. 

Door: knock knock 

The sudden noise brought us out of the romantic moment. 

Solomon: WHO IS IT? 

Gareth:  IT'S ME! 

Getting up from our bed, I walked over to the door.  

Solomon: what's up? 

Opening the door, I left the room.  

Gareth: first, I've got to apologise. It was my idea to attack you yesterday. 

Kneeling down, he lowered his head, apologising profusely. 

Solomon: it's fine. Though I don't understand why, I know you had a reason. Please, explain to me why? 

Grabbing him by the shoulders, I lifted him to his feet. 

Gareth: thank you, really. 

Solomon: we're teammates, right? I trust you. 

Gareth: that's right. Okay, so the reason I planned this. Being that in this next mission we have to put ourselves in a lot of risks, I wanted to test our strength. The best way to do that was to have the weaker members attack the stronger ones. 

It did make sense, but I didn't understand why he couldn't ask me. 

Solomon: but, why did you not just ask me? 

Gareth: if we fought like that can you honestly say you wouldn't hold back? 

It seemed that Gareth had thought deeply about this. In reality, I would hold back when fighting my allies. But, if I didn't know why they attacked me,  then I would have to fight properly against their full strength attack. After all, I was still only a little stronger than them. If they coordinated better I would be hard pressed to beat them. 

Solomon: I get that, but why did you include Pluvia then? 

Needless to say, she was stronger than me. Even in the end, I could only force a draw with brute force. 

Gareth: as the newbies were here, I thought she would hold back most of her strength. I didn't account for the newbies being knocked out. It's my mistake. 

Solomon: well, it's too late to complain now. How is everyone? 

After an intense battle the night before, I was worried that the team would be tired. 

Gareth: full of energy. After recovering from the yesterday, there ready to go. It seems the fight got everyone's blood boiling.  

Solomon: that's good, have everyone gather in the dining hall. I want to say some things before we start the mission. 

****************************************************************************************************** 

In a grand mansion in another part of the guild district, a meeting was currently being held. A group of 5 men sat around a table in a dark hall, with only the dim light of candles lighting the room. 

Burly man: DAMN, HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? 

Standing up abruptly, one of the men slammed down on the table with his fist. Under the strain of his fist, the marble table began to crack. 

Skinny man: sit down Gaston, there's no point getting angry. 

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

From the opposite side of the table a tall, gangly man spoke up.  

Gaston: SHUT YOUR MOUTH, THIS IS YOUR FAULT ANYWAY. WHAT ABOUT YOU TWO? YOU AGREE, RIGHT? 

Turning to two of the other people on the table, he addressed them.  

Old man: I don't care for your blame games. I think that Slade's not in the wrong, just that he got unlucky. 

GASTON: GAAGGHH, WHY CANT YOU JUST ADMIT IT BILL. AND WHAT ABOUT YOU SAM, YOU CAN'T EVEN BE BOTHERED ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT THIS? 

Clearly angry with the other people's reactions, the Gaston called out another of the men. The man called Sam looked completely ordinary, being quite short with no defining features. The one thing that ruined that image was the young girl sat on his lap. He had one hand on her back, and the other around her shoulder, keeping her still. But the weirdest thing was how he had bitten into the girl's neck. 

Taking a moment to separate from the girl, the ordinary looking man spoke up. 

Sam: why are you so angry Gaston? it's only a couple dead G ranks, nothing we can't replace. 

Gaston: THAT'S NOT THE POINT, WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST GUILD IN THIS CITY. HOW CAN WE ALLOW A G RANK GUILD TO PUSH US AROUND? 

Clearly still enraged, Gaston continued to holler loudly. Until the final man on the table spoke up. 

Last man: be quiet. 

Though he only spoke softly, Gaston instantly shut up.  

Gaston: sorry boss. 

Sitting down in his chair, Gaston waited for the man to speak.  

The boss was a stereotypical businessman. Wearing a neat suit, with a plain tie, his whole appearance screamed professional. But contrary to his dress, his hawk-like eyes betrayed his true nature. Cold, cruel and calculating. 

Boss: I don't care for your anger, this is the time to plan, not argue. leave your personal feeling outside.  

Gaston: yes boss. 

Lowering his head, he looked like a child who had been lectured by his parent. 

Boss: as you all know, recently this wings of freedom guild has had confrontations with us. Due to this, our face has been dragged through the mud. For being able to do this to us, I give them credit. But, now we will crush this thorn in our side. 

Slade: how do you plan on doing that. As they're being watched by the Tranquilatis animi guild, even with Ragnarok's backing we wouldn't get away with attacking them directly. 

Boss: that's true, but there is one method we can use that even they can't see. 

Slade: hmm, what method? 

Bill: guild war. 

Gaston: what, you can't be serious? But what about the cost. Is this G rank guild really worth that much? 

Other than the boss, they were all concerned with this method. 

Boss: come forwards. 

Turning behind him, the boss called out to a dark corner of the room. Curious as to who it was, everyone looked over. 

A young girl with deep, ocean blue hair and eyes walked forwards. Wearing a plain blue robe, and holding a wooden staff with a blue orb on its head. This was, of course, Aries. 

Boss: this girl has met with the wings of freedom guild. Tell them. 

Aries: in my last mission, I was with some of the members of this guild. 

Slade: okay, so what's the point? 

Boss: tell them. 

Aries: that mission was their second mission. 

Gaston: WHAT!? 

****************************************************************************************************** 

Back in clearwater mansion, everyone had gathered in the dining hall. 

****************************************************************************************************** 

Solomon: so, now that everyone's here, I have a couple things to say. 

Sitting at the top of the table, I looked at my teammates sat on either side of me.  

Solomon: first, I understand about yesterday. I'm not upset or anything.  

I could tell from the looks on the newbies faces that they were slightly scared of my reaction. But after hearing me, they noticeably calmed down. 

Solomon: secondly, we'll be going on our mission today. As you newbies know, this will be a major test for you. If you pass, you will become an official member of our guild. I will pre-warn you, during this mission I will be taking major risks. Though I won't ask you to take them with me, as a result the mission could become harder. 

After the week I had spent with these newbies, I felt that they were trustable people. Being that they were only one mission away from being our teammates, I wanted to be more open with them. 

Solomon: if you don't want to be part of this, I recommend you leave now. 

Looking at each of them in turn, I observed their reactions.  

Nicholas: we'll follow you. 

Standing up, Nicholas declared this to me. Looking at his intense expression, I saw a burning fire in his eyes. 

Tony: normally I would avoid situations that put me in more danger than needed. But there's something about you that interests me. I'll take the risk, for now at least. 

Looking at tony, though his reaction was different, he still chose to put himself at risk. In his eyes, there was a deep sense of intrigue. 

Solomon: good, then let me get to the final reason I called you here. This mission I'm planning to separate from the rest of you. 

Gareth: WHAT!? 

Alice: ARRRGGGHHH, NOT THIS AGAIN! I thought we already agreed about this. 

Solomon: no, I don't mean like before. This time I won't be working on my own. 

Speaking up, I explained myself. 

Solomon: to get the rewards I need this mission I'm going to have to do something dangerous. If I do something dangerous with everyone helping me, then the reward will be spread between all of us. To get what I need we'll have to put ourselves in huge danger. But if we split up the danger we have to face for the reward will be much lower. 

Pluvia: I agree, it's the safest method. So, how do you plan on splitting up? 

Speaking up, Pluvia vouched for me. Though after my explanation, no one was too opposed to the idea. 

Solomon: being as I'm not confident in taking on everything myself, I want Gareth to go with me. 

Gareth: huh, me? Wouldn't it make more sense for you and Pluvia to go? I'm not really strong enough to help you. 

Speaking honestly, Gareth didn't think he was able to assist me. 

Solomon: if she was to come with me all the rewards would go to her. I only need a little help. With my strength now, the worst situation would be being surrounded by weak enemies. With your powers and equipment, you can fight for longer than me. 

From our conversations before, he had told me that he could fire his gun for hours before having to recharge if he used ammo. 

Alice: if Gareth's not up for it, why don't I go with you? 

Solomon: your powers aren't really suitable to work with mine. And I also need you to complete the main mission for me. Even if I get a great reward, without the main mission being completed it's worthless. 

Gareth: fine, I'll do it. 

Having sorted out everything, we were ready to start our mission. 

Solomon: all right then, everything's ready. So everyone, are we ready? 

Standing up, I held my hand out. 

Everyone: YES! 

Following me, everyone placed their hands over mine 

Solomon: FIGHT! 

Everyone: FIGHT!