First was Claira as she placed her hand on the dark glass wall.

Name: Claira Ravenary. Class: Ice Mage. Race: human. Current power rank: 86

Health points: 100/100, Spell Points: 350/350, Spell Power: 162. Energy points: 50/50

Strength: 35, Dexterity: 43, Constitution: 31,

Intelligence: 64, Wisdom: 63, Charisma: 66,

Trust: 21, Faith: 24, Honor: 10.

Skills: Basic ice Magic, Intermediate ice magic, Advanced ice Magic, Grand ice magic, magic proficiency (Famed).

Abilities: Ice Flurry, Icicle Shards, Icy Forms, Ice Spike, Ice Spike of Orianel, Great Ice Breath of the Winter King, Winter Domain, Hollowing Hail of Nithihm. Icy Armor.

Blessings: Blessing of the Magic Heart.

The whole guild starts to murmur. But Jessica walks up after Claira, placing her hand on the wall too.

Name: Jessica Whitewail. Class: Priestess. Race: human. Current power rank: 81

Health points: 100/100, Spell Points: 350/350, Spell Power: 158. Energy points: 50/50

Strength: 32, Dexterity: 41, Constitution: 33,

Intelligence: 65, Wisdom: 61, Charisma: 62,

Trust: 21, Faith: 24, Honor: 10.

Skills: Basic Enchantment Magic, Intermediate Enchantment Magic Basic Holy Magic, Intermediate Holy Magic, Advanced Holy Magic, Grand holy magic, magic proficiency (Famed).

Abilities: Holy Guardian, Power Boost, Magic Boost, Hallowed Bindings, Divine Shield, Defense Boost, Heal, Greater Heal, Quick recovery, Protection Shroud.

Blessings: Blessing of the Mother Goddess.

Block walked up after her, and made a perfect impression of his cursed self, before placing his hand with the direction of Jessica.

Name: Block Mortimer. Class: Berserker. Race: human. Current power rank: 87

Health points: 325/325, Spell Points: 50/50, Spell Power: 16. Energy points: 300/300

Strength: 75, Dexterity: 64, Constitution: 58,

Intelligence: 42, Wisdom: 32, Charisma: 46,

Trust: 21, Faith: 24, Honor: 10.

Skills: Great hammer proficiency(trained), Great sword proficiency(trained), Great Axe proficiency(mastery), Light Armor proficiency(mastery).

Abilities: Power strike, Shield shatter, Deep cuts, Biting Blades, Mountain Breaker, Sky Splitter, fast step, snap redirected, Blurred Move, Fluid Motion, Galvanic Form.

Blessings: Blessing of the War God.

The crowd around Blake shuffled a bit as Claira and the others walked back over to beside Blake, and Quni looked a bit stunned as she walked back around the counter.

“Right, we will now update your ranks to B-rank, and will process your rewards, we will also process any additional rewards that you have rights to.” Quni said as she pulled up the tablet of stone Blake got his card from.

The overall process didn’t take long, and when they were done Quni turned to Blake, “Also we have confirmed your feats by Yari’s Yard, and we have your reward.” She says then places a large pouch on the table.

“Thanks, can I ask you to send half to the chief of Yari’s Yard.” Blake said before taking the pouch, then noticed the confused look on Quni’s face, “I told him that I would send him some money to help them recover after the goblin's attack.”

Quni’s expression falters with a light blush, while she covers her mouth and mumbles something to herself, then takes the pouch and removes about half its contents into a different pouch, and Blake realizes that she is actively counting gold coins out. Finally, he got the pouch back a few seconds later, and he lightly threw it up and felt the weight when it landed back in his hand. “Thanks, Quni, Can I bring a letter for the chief tonight, I would like to send it with the money?” He asked and got a nod from her.

He then followed his teammates and sat down, looked into the coin pouch, and started counting, while Claira was doing the same with their rewards from the dungeon. They finished after a few seconds, and Claira looked up to him, then the other two, and spoke “Ok, we are each getting five gold, sixty silver, and fifty copper.” She says as she slides different piles “We also have now a saving of five gold, sixty-seven silver, and fifty copper. We also need to pay for identification fees if we want the guild to do it. But I’ll negotiate that tomorrow when I return the Magic bag.”

Blake looks up after putting his cut into his coin pouch, “OK, in total my rewards are twenty gold for the troll kill, I already sent half back to Yari’s yard, so we each get an extra two gold each.” He said before passing the two pieces of gold to each person. “I have also decided to make a deposit from my rewards for the goblin tribe elimination into the group saving, the sum is twenty-three gold coins, which leaves me with seven for myself. Bringing our savings to thirty gold, sixty-seven silver, and fifty copper coins. If that is okay with you guys, I figure it is better to have more for the team to use.”

Block doesn’t react, but Jessica and Claira give him a nod. Before Jessica’s eyes lock on something behind Blake, and her expression shifts to mild discomfort, Blake glances over his shoulder and sees a group entering the hall, six of whom go and find a table while one runs over to the bar, and the last walks over to the mission board. “The one getting the drinks and food is Winry.” Jessica says as he watches them for a few seconds.

Blake focuses on the woman at the bar, her clothes are at best filthy and torn at the ends of the pant legs and sleeves. As she turns around Blake spots lightly elongated ears that are a bit longer than a human’s but shorter than an elf’s. Her hair is pale silver, and her skin color is dark, almost tanned, but her eyes catch Blake, as they are deep red ones.

“What race is she?” Blake asked leaning to the team.

“She is a Half-Elben, The Elban are cousins to The Elfs, but they are commonly called Dark Elfs.” Jessica says back.

“Right, I’ll be back.” Blake said as he waited for her to put down the food and drinks, she had in her hands, and felt a bit of anger as he saw them scold her for not getting them the food and drinks fast enough. He picked up the pace and stepped in, catching a plate that was thrown at her, looking at Winry and smiling at her “Are you Winry, my team and I would love to have a chat with you, care to join us at our table.” Blake said in a calm tone.

“What?” Winry stammered out.

“My team leader has decided to extend an invitation to you." He said as he reached up and pulled bits of food out of her hair, while he smiled warmly “This invitation comes with an equal cut of rewards, a fair portion of the workload, and an honest conversation about respect and responsibility as a fellow teammate. So, care to join us.”

“Ummm…” Winry starts to speak but she is cut off as someone yanks Blake back.

“Yeah, you have some balls newbie. Winry is a member of our team, and you have no right to speak with her.” A rough man about Blake’s height, dressed in a good set of chainmail with a great sword. “If you think I would let you steal one of my teammates then you are crazy.”

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Blake reached up and pulled the hand off his shoulder, “Are you afraid she will join my team, could it be because we plan to be fair with her, rather than whatever you are giving her?”

The man sucked his teeth, and glared at Blake, “You need to leave before you get hurt, Winry is on our team.”

“That is not your call, that is Winry’s call, she is a free and true adventurer within the guild and has the right to choose her team.” Blake said back plainly.

The man’s expression gets a bit redder and angrier, “Fuck you, I will take this up with your leader and we will settle this with a challenge.” The man lets go and starts to walk away.

Blake grabs the man by the shoulder, “I am sorry, But I can’t have you waste her time, if you wish to issue a challenge then issue it to me.” Blake said in a loud tone that got everyone in the immediate area to look towards him.

The man laughs and turns back around to him, “Go fuck yourself, you think you have a right to fight me.” He said and tried to move again, but Blake tightened his grip.

“I am the first rung of the ladder you need to climb if you wish to challenge her,” Blake growled at him, “and even if I was to let you, she will just order me to fight in her stead, so let’s skip the showboating and settle this.”

There lay a silence that hung in the air for a few seconds, and then most of the hall burst out into laughter for a good minute, but Blake doesn’t let go of the man, he finally turns and yells across the hall. “HEY, Claira, I am issuing a challenge, get your ass over here.”

Blake doesn’t look but hears her answer, “Blake, accept his challenge and kick his ass, I am busy!” she yells from over by their table. “I already briefed you on my conditions!”

“Yes captain, I will execute your orders.” Blake called back before yanking the man back to him, “So, you have issued a challenge, but I get to lay the conditions, When I win, Winry will be allowed to join my team, more over you will pay out a fair and equal cut of all the rewards that you have earned since she joined you. IF, you win, we will back off and we will owe you a single assist for a mission. Do you agree to these conditions?”

The man growls with anger and knocks Blake's hand off his shoulder. “I accept, get ready to get hurt, I have never lost a dual jackass.” the man says before walking towards the cage in the courtyard.

Blake turns back to Winry and smiles, “I am sorry, it looks like your team leader is being difficult, please sit still and watch, I understand you are classless, but our team doesn’t care, we want to be your friends.” He says in a reassuring tone, and he patted her head, before turning and walking to his table picking up his Halberd then going to the caged fighting pit.

As he walked, he could hear people placing bets against Blake, all the while they all gathered around the cage, as soon as Blake stepped in some adventurers locked the cage behind him. Blake looked over to his opponent, The man had taken his place on the other side of the cage and had drawn his sword, and Blake looked at him while raising his weapon to a guard.

“Hey, I forgot can I use magic?” Blake asked aloud.

Getting a bit of laughter from outside the cage. But the man sucked his teeth “Are you trying to piss me off, I am not holding back so if you do that will be an insult.”

Blake smiled wide and roared “Holy Shield, Holy Ward, Holy Blessing, Holy Bastion.” He placed his halberd to rest beside him, completely exiting his guard. Then raised his hand to the man and gestured for him to approach, “Come on, I’ll give you four free hits.”

“Aren’t you full of yourself? Fine then die!” The man said as he ran forward and swung down with his great sword, “Dragon cutter” He roared as he started his attack.

Blake watched the blade, even at the speed boost of the skill activation it was clear that this man didn’t actually know how to wield his weapon, the blade slammed into Blake’s shoulder but bit at nothing as the barrier of his magic stopped the blade completely, not dealing any damage.

The man hops back and swings again this time at his midsection, then roars “Mountain slicer.” but Blake does nothing to block, and again the attack does nothing, not even touching the scales of his armor.

Blake leans down a bit, before he taunts “Really, you can’t break my defense magic, Claira can do that with her basic attack, are you really a team leader?”

The man hops back, and growls then swings again aiming at Blake’s neck, “Devastation Blow” he yells and the blade speeds up and is again blocked by Blake’s magic, and Blake intently yawns.

Blake looks at the man and finally shifts to deliver an upward cut, then he smiles and speaks to the man “One more then I hit back, would you like to forfeit?”

“Go to helgan!” the man roared as he swung a new attack down on Blake, but the blade didn’t do anything.

As the man withdraws, he gets into a guard ready to defend himself, Blake raises his hand “Hallowed Binding” he chants, and the chains grasp the man and restrain him completely, Blake shoulders his halberd and calmly walks up beside the man and getting ready to decapitate the man, “Any last wishes?” Blake asked.

The man swallows hard and growls for a bit before he answers “Get it over with. I will not beg for mercy.”

“Ok.” Blake swings his weapon “Power strike” He bellows a second before the blade bites. the blade slips through the man and knocks him out in the process, the magic of the cage keeping those inside from dying. Blake turned around and walked out of the cage, and back over to Winry, smiling while reaching out a hand, “Right Winry, would you care to join us at the table, we have something to talk about.”

Winry falters for a second but nods and takes his hand, Blake carefully guides her over to the team table, pulling the chair out for her before he finds his own.

“Hello Winry, I am Claira Ravenary, Leader of The Raven’s Wing team. We would like to offer you a place in our team.” Claira said as soon as Winry was comfortable, then slid a piece of paper to her, “We are offering an equal cut of rewards for all missions and access to the team fund, you will be put in charge of the procurement of items, and securing of supplies for our dives and mission, are you with us so far?" Claira looked up at Winry getting a nod before she continued "you will be required to join us on dives, and only on some missions, lastly we will be paying for a room and food here in the guild so that way you will have a place to sleep and a source of nutrition, you will be sharing the room, but your roommate is nice. Lastly, if at any point you are uncomfortable with your terms with the team you may openly approach the subject with any of us. And if you are in need of help even in a personal matter we will help. Any questions?"

"Why?" Winry asked in a weak tone.

"Why what?" Jessica asked back.

"Why are you offering me this, am I a tool for some slit that you have against my teammates, or are you trying to make fun of me?" Winry asked back in a loud tone, nearly yelling.

"I told you already, we think we can all be great friends, and we will tell you everything on our first mission together." Blake said back with a broad smile, getting a flustered reaction from her.

"But I am classless…" she mumbled back half-heartedly.

"We don't care, and if you want to know why you will need to join us, what do you say?" Blake said back while leaning a bit in her direction.

"Just to be clear, a part of the reason is because you are classless, we didn’t make this offer on a whim or as a flight of fancy." Claira added in a harsh tone. "We pick you because it is you that we want, we don't care about classes, what matters to us is results, and we think you have potential."

"We are also going to be adding a sixth, so you will not be the only new addition, and she will need someone new to lean on," Jessica said a second later, "We really do think you are the best person to join our team."

Winry withdrew as she started to think about it, some inner turmoil over the decision making her look every way but at the team, until she finally looked back to Claira, a determined glint in her eyes. "I want a place to house my sister and feed her, if you can agree to that then I'll agree." She said with a point at Claira.

Claira extended a handout to her as she leaned across the table, "That is perfectly fine we can easily arrange that." She said and got a handshake from Winry.

"So, you sister, how old is she, and where is she?" Blake asked after they sat back down. "I'll pay for your meal tonight."

Winry seemed to space out then shuddered "I'll go get her.” she stammers out before running away and out the door.

Jessica stands up and looks at the team, “I’ll go see where Sarena is, and bring her here to meet all of you.” She said before she got up and left.

Blake looked over to Claira, and asked “So, how was that?”

Claira gave him a stern look, “I think it should be ok.” She said then leaned back, “She is clearly smart and has someone that she cares about, so she will not take any unnecessary risk.”

Block nodded gently before taking a drink of his mug.

[Yeah, even after our offer she still remembered her sister.] Blake thought as he nodded in agreement. [Getting a three-bedroom should be easy.] he waved one of the maids over and ordered food for everyone that should be here and waited while drinking his beer.

The door finally opens a few minutes later and Winry comes back in carrying a child behind her, the girl was actively struggling to get free, but more as a form of play and not intentionally. As they finally reach the table Winry grunts as she places the girl down, and gestures at an open chair, which she takes with a pout.

“Hello, so you are Winry’s sister?” Claira asked in a sweet tone, getting the girl to brighten up.

The girl takes her hood off, and she looks about eight or nine, while she shares the facial features of her sister, her skin is pale, her hair is a rich blonde, and her eyes are a deep blue. She smiles wide at Claira, then glances at Blake and Block, “Hello, I am Vinry, I am twelve, and I am a thief” she replies back with an equal amount of sweetness.

Blake narrowed his eyes, and tapped twice on the table, getting a nod from Claira, their system for his lie detection working, Claira spoke up a second after, “I will not pry into your lie just now, but if we are going to extend our protection to you, even at the request of your sister, we will reapproach the subject in private. Blake here has already paid for the food and drinks, so please eat up,” She gestured at Blake, and he gave the girl a smile. “And this guy is Block, while he is big, he is a nice guy, and they will protect you if you need someone.”

The girl eyes Block for a few seconds during which his eyes trail across the room at something or someone, then she looks to Blake, her eyes narrowing before going wide after a second, shaking her head she looks back to Claira, “I would like to join your team too, but my sister is too much of an airhead to help you and she is classless, I don’t know what you have planned or what you want,” She starts saying then points a finger at Blake, “But stop pretending you aren’t the team leader, you are clearly the strongest of the three of you, and I refuse to let my sister be fooled.”

The three of them and Winry stare at her with wide eyes, but Blake loses it first and starts laughing, slamming the table a bit, then smiling at her, the humor of being called out too much for him to contain, “Yeah, our team is not based on power ranks, we don’t care, we judge people based on experience and time in the team, I am the newest member so I am the rookie, until Winry and now you join,” Blake said and slid a plate over to her a bit more. “That aside, you care about your sister, and I think that is great as we will need someone strong and trustworthy to protect her when we are out on a mission. As she will not be going out with us every time.” he takes a small bite of his meal, “Claira is the team leader, and that is how it will stay for a while. Now eat up and drink, then we can get your rooms ready, and get you a bath. We can see to getting you equipment tomorrow. Right, Claira?”

Claira nods “Yeah, we will get you both equipped with not just adventuring gear but also town clothes and general goods.” She says with a cheery tone.

The girl reluctantly starts eating, before Winry smiles at them “Thank you again, and you don’t need to humor my sister, she is just overprotective, but she is smart.” Winry said before holding up her mug, “I look forward to working with all of you.”

“Me too, you both are nice people.” Block said back, with a wide smile.

Winry smiled back at him, “You really aren’t scary are you.” she responded with a warm tone.

Vinry narrows her eyes, but forcefully shifts to a cute smile, “Thanks, you are big, are you a barbarian?”

Just before anyone could answer Jessica burst in and ran over, panting a bit before she spoke, “Sarena is missing, she hasn’t been in the orphanage for the past three days. Blake, can you come with me, I want to go check the place she works.” she demands, grabbing Blake's hands and pulling him a bit, her expression showed a wide range of fears and thoughts, as her mind has run through what could be happening.

[So, if she is missing from the orphanage for three days it is likely that she started working in the brothel, but she will not be protected all the time. Jessica cares a lot about her, so she is panicked.] Blake gave her a reassuring smile and he stood and picked up his halberd before he spoke, “Ok, lead the way,” he turned to Claira, “Do I need to be careful or limit my actions?”

“Don’t leave bodies.” Claira said with a hard tone and glare, making Winry and Vinry shudder.

Blake smiles at her “I will do my best, but I can’t make any promises, if I can’t, I’ll avoid killing.”