Aldritch and Sulika arrived at the front door to the guild a short while later. It was still fairly early in the day, so the number of people inside the building was minimal. Just the usual fifteen staff members who worked the face of the guild, a couple hunter teams either leaving for the day or returning from a night of dungeon raiding, and eight civilians waiting to speak to a receptionist about placing a request.

Auris citizens came to the guild every day for help. The guild got the occasional subjugation requests from farmers who have a pest problem, or escort requests from merchants traveling from one island to the other. Those were few and far between compared to resource requests, which counted for about 80% of the guild’s annual income.

But all eyes fell on Sulika and Aldritch the moment they set foot inside the building, and members of the guild’s security team immediately surrounded them. The security team comprised twenty-six full-time employees. Each one was wearing the finest metal armor money could buy and wielded weapons tailor made for them.

Sulika should have been nervous by the hostile welcome. Each member of the security team was above the 'level thirty wall' that almost all hunters struggled to climb, making them some of the most powerful members in the guild.

The most powerful hunters being pulled from active duty to serve as run-of-the-mill security guards was a topic that always spawned debate. Sulika didn’t like it. While yes, the guild does need its own security force in case hunters get out of line. They also needed those hunters out in the field, closing dungeons or protecting the mining teams. They were wasting their power out here… But then again, she’d heard the guild paid them extremely well to sit on their asses all day. If they offered her a similar deal, she honestly didn’t know what she’d do. On the one hand, the idea of sitting around the guild for twelve hours a day, with nothing to do but watch civies place resource requests, wasn’t exactly her idea of a good time. The other option was a thousand times safer, paid better, got the best equipment money could buy, and the extremely high risk of developing lung cancer because of dungeon diving was practically non-existent.

“Sulika Wysarie…” a short, chubby halfling woman with dark skin, short black hair, and vibrant yellow eyes grumbled as she approached them through the wall of guards. “What did I tell you about sticking your nose where it didn’t belong? Huh?” she said in a snarky tone. She grabbed Sulika by the wrist and dragged her through the wall of security meat blocking their way. The guards stepped aside to let her through without complaint, and immediately closed the path once they were clear.

Sulika glanced back to see Aldritch ignoring the twenty-five guards standing in front of him. She thought most people would assume it was all an act, and a few hours ago, she might’ve agreed with them. But now… Now she wasn’t so sure. In her eyes, Aldritch didn’t seem to care that they were there. He was looking around the guild lobby, not to avoid eye contact with them, but because this would be the first time, he’d seen it in the daylight.

Sulika gently pulled her hand out of the halfling woman’s grip and stopped following once they were thirty feet away from Aldritch and the wall of sand stopping him.

The woman turned to see what she was doing and found Sulika watching Aldritch with a concerned eye. “He’s the returnee you found, right?” The woman asked while moving to Sulika’s side. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt the big bastard. We have orders to guide him to one of the waiting rooms until the higher ups decide what to do with him.”

“It’s not him I’m worried about, Cora; I seriously doubt they could hurt him if they really tried. I’m worried about what he’ll do to them if they insult him.” Sulika explained without moving her eyes away from Aldritch’s towering form.

“Sir, if you would follow me?” A female human guard said. She held her sword, which was still in its sheath, in her right hand and used it to lightly tap Aldritch’s hip. The tap was mostly to get his attention since he was still ignoring them in favor of looking around the lobby.

“Hm?” Aldritch replied and looked down at the woman for the first time. “Oh, follow you, right? Lead the way.” He said. If the command or the tap had irritated him, Aldritch certainly didn’t allow it to show on his face. He followed the much shorter woman with a bemused smile on his face.

Though Sulika noticed he was still glancing about the room. “What’s he looking for?”

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“You sure you aren’t overestimating him? I mean, yeah, I’ve seen buffalo smaller than him. But you know as well as I do how Thaniea is the great equalizer. And besides, look at him following the new girl.” Cora replied, “So far, he’s a model citizen… Which begs the question; why did Eli recommend code orange? Do you know?” She muttered while staring at Aldritch with renewed interest. Sulika knew the look on the halfling’s face. Cora might’ve been the captain of the security team, but in a past life she was the head of the Auris dungeon investigation team. Over half of everything they knew about dungeons, and the demons therein, could be directly attributed to her and the team she led. Ever since she retired from active duty, the investigation team was just a shadow of its former self. They’ve changed captains twelve or thirteen times in the last three years and have the highest turnover rate in the guild. The main reason Cora was so successful in the position was because of her insatiable curiosity and willingness to ‘sometimes’ bend the guilds/city’s rules to find the information she wanted. A habit Sulika knew for a fact she hadn’t entirely broken, despite her new position.

“Wait a minute; Eli suggested you code orange him?” Sulika asked, shocked by the revelation. Code Orange meant ‘Potentially violent - Subject should be subdued and restrained on sight for the safety of guild personnel.’

“Yep. How about you? Think we should throw in some restraints just to be on the safe side?”

“Depends. Got any spare mooring anchors lying around?”

“Not since the dragon scare a few years ago. Bastard flew off with the last one.” Cora replied, playing along with what she thought was Sulika’s attempt at a joke.

“Then no, I don’t think it’s necessary.” Sulika said after taking a moment to think.

“Hey,” Aldritch shouted, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. They’d moved him all of ten feet before he stopped and threw a single hand up in greeting towards a Solaran elf receptionist. “My name is Aldritch of clan Blackshield. Might I know your name?” Aldritch asked the surprised elf.

Sulika recognized the man as Jassin Bronzetree, a relatively new employee of the guild who’d only been employed for a few months.

“J-” The elf’s voice came out too shaky to be heard. He quickly cleared his throat and tried again, “Jassin Yllathana-” the elf shook his head at the slip-up and tried again. “Sorry, I meant to say my name is Jassin Bronzetree. What can I do for you, sir?”

Aldritch shrugged a beefy shoulder. “It’s fine. I appreciate the translation. My Elvar is rusty anyway. Would you mind finding whoever is in charge of distributing the healer’s licenses and summon them here? I’d like to get whatever ‘this’ is sorted out as quickly as possible.” He said casually.

Jassin’s expression went from cautiously concerned to outright fear. He looked like he’d just been asked to assassinate the president of the guild.

“I’d really appreciate it.” Aldritch said, putting slightly more weight behind his words.

"I- Er- I'll try my best, sir." The elf said before fleeing into the crowd of people and disappearing from Sulika's sight.

“He knows threatening the kid won’t get him what he wants, right?” Cora whispered to Sulika.

“… I haven’t known him very long, so I could be wrong. But I don’t think Aldritch is threatening him. From everything I know about him. Aldritch doesn’t seem to be the type to threaten someone for something like this- especially since he’s only here because he wants to be.”

“That may have been the case at first, but not anymore. The moment he walked through those double doors, he lost the ability to leave until I give the all clear.” Cora said stubbornly.

“Cora, as a friend, let me let you in on a little secret. I just saw that man throw a fully loaded wagon with enough force to turn an ogre into ground beef. Now, I don’t know your team all that well. And while I'm sure they are all very impressive, I don’t think any of them stand a chance of stopping him from walking back out that door if he really wanted to.”

Cora’s face turned a few shades lighter at the new information. She stared at Aldritch’s back as they led him into one of the back rooms by the youngest member of her team. “Sulika… What the hell did you bring back through that portal?”

Sulika thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “I don't know. I thought I did, but I recently learned just how little I truly understand. My advice? Don’t keep him waiting. He's a big bastard, and I don't think he's had breakfast yet.” Sulika muttered to her friend. She patted Cora on the shoulder before following Aldritch into the back room, fully intending on waiting by his side until they sorted everything out.

She figured it was the least she could do after all the suspicion she showed him this morning. Thinking back on it now, she realized how stupid she was being. Someone with his level of power didn’t need to sneak around or lie to get what they wanted. He was fully capable of just taking whatever he wanted… The real questions on her mind now were, had she seen the extent of his power, or was there even more he hadn’t shown her? Why was he really going along with this charade? And lastly; What kind of hell did he go through to get so powerful?