As Jun lay in bed that night, the only thing she could think about was Sara's story.
Cecilia and Corin were in a team of 6. Arwen kept pushing them deeper into the forest, giving them barely any time to think, plan, or rest. Exhausted and deep into the forest, they'd finally set camp to rest, and that was when they were ambushed by a horde of goblins. The team had leveled immensely from Arwen's pressure and training, but despite the stats, exhaustion killed. Their scout was the first to fall, then their knight, leaving Cecilia alone to hold the onslaught back from the others. An axe and shield were great for keeping herself alive, but not enough to protect her friends. She'd been surrounded and her battlemage friends had been swarmed and killed. Corin only survived by luck, the goblin's spear that stuck in his chest, barely missing his heart. He had to play dead as he healed himself and Cecilia. It was only when Cecilia's weapon broke that Arwen showed up and eliminated the horde in an instant and congratulated Cecilia on surviving. He didn't say anything about their friends who had been killed.
"What do you think of Sara's story?" Jun asked quietly as she lay in bed petting Shiori.
Shiori's voice whispered in her ears even as the cat continued to lay on Jun's side. "Growth and strength come under pressure. Without struggle and a willingness to overcome, any growth made is fragile, and strength subject to shattering when it is needed most. A good teacher knows this and allows their students to struggle. A great teacher knows how to push them to their limits without them tipping over."
"Does that mean Arwen's a good teacher? Is that why the school lets him continue to teach?"
"I do not know the quality of this Arwen, but you can handle anything he throws at you. I am a great teacher after all.”
"The greatest," Jun whispered, scratching Shiori behind the ear. Her Master's purring soothed her stressed mind and she soon fell into a restless sleep. She dreamt of strange laughing shadows that chased her through a forest, their eyes filled with malice and hunger.
Jun woke up the next morning feeling far from rested as half-remembered smiles and hungry eyes haunted her thoughts. After laying in bed for some time in the morning light, Jun finally got up and dressed for the day, disturbing Shiori in the process. Since it was Seventh Day, she wasn’t required to wear her uniform but those were the only clothes she owned besides the robes Grandma Deedee had gifted to her, and those felt far too fine and fragile to be worn when she had serviceable and enchanted clothes to wear.
Picking up her bag, Jun left her room to find Sara waiting for her. As she looked at her roommate, she couldn’t help but glance at Cecilia's door, noticing it was still left ajar.
“Arwen’s existence is a sore spot for her,” Sara said as she noticed Jun glancing at their friend’s door.
“Sorry we brought him up…” Jun spoke softly. Knowing Cecilia’s story from Sara, she regretted dredging up such painful memories. She flinched lightly as Shiori chose that moment to wordlessly climb onto her shoulder.
“It’s a sore spot but she probably figured you should know who you’re dealing with. She just needs to work out her emotions for a bit. Don’t blame yourself, you didn’t know.”
Nodding, Jun cast another glance at Cecilia’s door and shuffled awkwardly. She wished she could do something to cheer her friend up, but she had no idea what might be best. "Thanks Sara. I should get going, I need to meet with my new team today."
"Good luck with that," Sara said with a small smile. "Learning to work with new people can be uncomfortable, but it's an important skill for every adventurer to have."
"Thanks Sara."
Sara nodded and waved in response as Jun hurried off with Shiori on her shoulder. After a hasty breakfast in the cafeteria, Jun ran to the courtyard by the front gate where she found Aya and Michael already waiting, though the twins were nowhere in sight. She spent a few minutes chatting with Aya and Michael and introducing them to Shiori before the twins showed up. One moment they were waiting for the others to arrive, the next Keira was standing next to them as if she'd always been there, while Cian silently jogged up to join them. Keira seemed entirely fixated on the black cat on Jun's shoulder and already had her hand halfway out to pet Shiori before she started and looked at her teammates. Cian audibly sighed and shook his head, though he didn't say anything as he watched his sister.
"May I pet your cat?" Keira asked, her eyes locked onto Shiori.
"She may," Shiori said so only Jun could hear.
"Sure," Jun nodded awkwardly.
While Keira eagerly, if awkwardly, pet Shiori, the other 4 eyed each other. "Are you all ready to go?" Aya asked, patting the staff she had strapped to her back. It looked similar to the one Jun sometimes saw Lane carrying around, with a large crystal embedded in a nest of wood. However where Lane's staff glimmered all over with magic, only Aya's crystal did.
"I am as prepared as I can be," Michael said. Instead of the school uniform like both Aya and Jun wore, Michael instead wore a set of dark brown pants with a leather gambeson and padded cap. A pair of leather gloves and leather shin guards protected his limbs, and a pair of oversized brass knuckles hung from his belt.
Cian just nodded. He wore the men's workout clothes for the school, over which was a chainmail shirt that ran to his wrists. A beaten steel helm with a simple nose guard and worn leather gauntlets and boots completed his armor. His spear was nowhere to be seen, but given how he pulled it out of nowhere during their fight with Arwen, Jun assumed he had some sort of magical storage.
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Keira didn't answer, too absorbed with petting Shiori. Cian nudged his sister and leaned in to mumble in her ear. "What?" Keira said, looking up with a start. "Oh. Yes. I am prepared," she said before turning her attention back to Shiori.
"Before we leave, we need to address one more thing," Aya said firmly as she fixed her gaze on Cian. The man shifted uncomfortably as Aya stared at him, his head bowed low. "Cian, we know you can talk. We've seen you whisper to Keira several times, but if you don't communicate with us, you're a liability."
"He's fine, he just doesn't like to talk much," Keira said, waving Aya off dismissively.
"It's not fine Keira. If he doesn't talk to us and we miss something, it puts all of us in danger!"
"Aya's right," Jun spoke up. She knew she didn't like to talk up as much as she should, but as she'd been learning, life didn't always allow for the luxuries of being shy and going with the flow. "I don't like attention or being in front of people, but that's not something we can always avoid. Being quiet and passive can help sometimes, but sometimes it just makes you a target."
Aya nodded appreciatively. "Exactly what Jun said. We're about to register with the IAG and perform a bounty. If we don't communicate, if anyone notices something but holds it back from the rest of us, it puts us all at risk."
Cian opened his mouth, but Keira put her hand on his shoulder and stepped forward. "Cian is not a liability. Don't insult my brother like that!"
"What Aya and Jun said is the truth," Michael said, stepping between Keira and Aya with his hands held out placatingly. He gestured at the thin scars on his neck. "Unexpected things can happened in the field. We can be caught unaware. As the healer, it's my job to keep people alive if someone gets injured, but if someone holds something back and risks the rest of us getting injured or caught by surprise, it increases the risk to all of us. Cian has advanced weapon skills which proves he is capable in a fight, but if he can only communicate with one person, then cannot depend upon him."
Keira narrowed her eyes angrily at the man, but stopped as Cian placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned in to whisper something to her. Sighing, Keira took a step back as Cian took her place. The silent twin hesitantly looked first Michael then Aya in the eyes as he opened his mouth for a moment before closing it. Swallowing, he opened his mouth again. "...I-I do not like my voice... but I will try to communicate..." he said quietly. His voice was soft and musical, like that of a young boy. Not the kind of voice Jun expected to hear from the muscular warrior.
Aya nodded as Michael gripped Cian by the shoulder reassuringly. "Trying your best will keep all of us safe," their healer said with a gentle smile.
Cian squared his shoulders as he nodded seriously. "...will do my best..."
"That's all we can ask Cian. Now, we're running behind schedule, let's get to the guild house before our advisor decides to come find us," she said with a grimace. Gesturing towards the gate, Aya led the way as the rest moved to follow.
Jun jogged forward with Shiori still on her shoulder until she was next to Aya and spoke quietly. "Do you think that'll be enough?"
Aya frowned but was disciplined enough not to move her head as she kept walking forward. "Not sure. Cian's skills are impressive, especially with how much harder Arwen pressed him when they sparred, but his difficulty speaking is a problem. It would be best if he could get over it, but I'm not sure we can rely on him. Do you think you could protect us with your barriers?"
Nervous energy filled Jun's chest. Taking on that responsibility was nerve wracking, but she'd already done it the day before. "I think so."
"Hopefully it won't be necessary, but I trust you to keep us safe. After all, I've still never beaten your barriers!" Smiling reassuringly, Aya side hugged Jun as they walked.
"Your skill with barriers and multicasting at your stage far exceeds many I've seen before, kitten." Shiori nudged the side of her head as she shifted to Jun's other shoulder.
Aya and Shiori's confidence in her abilities bolstered her spirit. As the International Adventurers' Guild Hall came into sight, Jun took a deep breath. They could do this. She could do this.
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Registration with the IAG was nothing like Jun's registration with the Academy. Professor Galimund and Arwen were already waiting for them as they arrived at the hall and handed each of them a bronze medallion with the IAG's symbol stamped on it. After that, Arwen handed them a single copy of the IAG's rules and policies, which Jun stored for the group in her bag, and they were led over to the bounty board by the guild staff.
The bounty board was simple enough. A large map of the surrounding area was broken up into grids, and each grid had a corresponding column filled with bounty notices. Each notice had a colored stamp in the upper and right hand corners and detailed the rank, task details, and reward. As bronze adventurers, they were only allowed to take up to Iron ranked tasks, though it was strongly encouraged not to do so before they'd completed at least 10 bronze ranked bounties. Unfortunately for them, as a student group at Forest's Edge Academy, they didn't have a choice in what bounty they took. Arwen had already selected one for them, though he refused to tell them what it was.
"Alright students! Let's go!" Arwen said with a wide smile as he led the way out of the guild hall and to the gate. Much like the first day they had met him, he set a fast pace that they could barely keep up with, and by the time they caught up to him at the gate, Jun and Aya were out of breath and Michael was covered in a light sheen of sweat. Keira and Cian annoyingly looked fresh and ready.
Exiting the city was nothing like entering, as Arwen directed to them to show their IAG badges to the guards. After a guard corporal jotted down some notes about the 6 of them, they were waved through the gates, and soon stood before the grassy field that separated the walls from the Forest.
"Right, this is where I leave you. Complete the bounty and return to the city before sunset, or camp outside the walls. Good luck students!" Before any of them could respond, Arwen tossed a rolled up scroll to Aya and vanished.
"He's pretty fast," Shiori muttered.
Aya fumbled and barely caught the scroll before it hit the ground and unrolled it with a frown. As her eyes darted across the scroll, her frown deepened more and more until she was fully scowling.
"Well? What does it say?" Keira asked impatiently.
Wordlessly, Aya handed it to Jun and started to recite it from memory as Jun read the text, her eyes widening as she realized what they'd been assigned to do.
> Iron Rank Bounty: Goblin Scouting Party around Forest's Edge
>
> A Goblin Scouting Party has been spotted in the deep grass around Forest's Edge. Aura gauges indicate a group of at least 10 bronze ranked goblins led by a single low iron goblin.
>
> Threat to the City has been deemed low and task has contracted out for completion to the IAG.
>
> Task: Verify the location of the Goblin Scouting Party and eliminate all goblins.
>
> Reward: Standard bounty per confirmed goblin kill. Looting rights. Bonus for any intelligence of value retrieved.