We were still a year shy of the legal drinking age, but it seemed to be the one thing that Joey’s dad was lenient on. The rest of us chose not to partake, partially because I wanted to save room for pizza, and also because I felt weird about it after seeing Mom use alcohol as a crutch after the incident.

Duri and Annette were just being goody-two-shoes.

When I arrived, Joey was popping the cap off his third drink. There was clearly some placebo involved, because he was already stumbling around and talking loud enough that I heard him on the way up the steps.

“…And then Maycee told me that I wasn’t entitled to the rewarrrrrds because I didn’t block the hit in the right way, and I told her that if she wasn’t so—”

It went on. Duri and Annette were seated on the couch, cracking into a pepperoni and cheese pizza while Duri’s dog tried to chew at their shoelaces. They jumped up when I came into the living room.

“Ayyyyy, who’s this guy? Oh, wait, aren’t you that famous dude? I think he killed a B&B god? Right? The B&B God?”

I gave Duri a pity-laugh and snatched a slice. I’d arrived at the perfect time — everything was still hot.

“Guys, it’s only been a couple days. Maybe three.”

“I knowww,” Annette said. “But we’re all so busy that it feels like a long time. And weird stuff keeps happening. Yesterday, a girl came up to Duri in the middle of a grinding sesh and asked him to marry her.”

“She what? Why?”

Duri shrugged. “I still don’t know. I think it must’ve been a dare or something. Or a fucken weird quest.”

Joey captured me in a bear-hug. I narrowly escaped plastering his shirt with pizza sauce and oily cheese.

“Mannnnn, did I tell you what Maycee said to me yesterday? Listen to this.”

Annette rolled her eyes and interrupted. “No, Joey, no. Sit down, eat this.” She stuffed a hunk of garlic bread in his palm and pushed him into an armchair. He looked happy enough.

She looked back my way. “Actually, Joey might have the most interesting news. Even if a surprise proposal is very hard to beat.”

Duri looked hurt, but he conceded. “Yeah, it’s quite the story actually. A shame that he keeps repeating it though. When he gets round to telling you, it’ll be my fourth time hearing it. Some of the charm has been lost.”

“I bet.”

We sat down and ate more pizza. Played some games. Annette hid the remainder of Joey’s stash. My mind wandered.

When we were in school, we had weekends, public holidays and snow days. Sitting there with the three of them, I started to really miss that. B&B knew no such thing, which made it really tough to switch off. The game was always open, someone was always doing something, and progress could always be made. It was almost impossible to stop thinking about it until you were extremely well situated.

And that was a long way away. The final months of this year would be somewhat quiet, as most guilds would have gone through their selection processes and hired the best candidates by then. Those who didn’t get what they wanted would abandon B&B, and those with an offer would coast for a while, preparing for the Youth Olympics and the transition to the real game.

Yikes. The Youth Olympics. That will be…fun.

“So, how’s life in the Fields? Didn’t sound so crash-hot last time. Forty thousand krad well spent?”

Annette was first to answer. “It’s gotten better. There’s a lot of distance between the starter towns and the actual interesting stuff, but the world is starting to expand for me. I have a bunch of completed quests where I just need to hand in the items, but I’m saving them all for one big trip back to the spawn-town. It’s going to be the biggest dopamine rush ever. And I’ll get a new sabre.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot you were a melee character. Did none of us choose anything interesting? Really?”

Duri perked up. “Oh, me! I’m not a [Tank] anymore. Well, I am, but I’m building it different to most. I dropped a few points into Affinity on a whim, and now I get these really weird skill choices. I’m part-[Mage] and part-[Tank] now. It’s cool.”

I hadn’t expected Duri to go off-course, but I trusted it was a good idea. He was pretty analytical with that kind of thing — I was sure he’d done all the math.

At long last, I got to Joey. My expectations were high.

“Alright mate, show me what you got,” I told him. “I’m on the edge of my seat.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

He was back to his usual self. Annette had put him on the lemonades for now.

“Well,” he began. “You know that, er, team I told you about?”

“The one you kind of invited me to? For next year?”

“Yeah. I kind of completely and irrevocably tore it apart. Accidentally. Kind of.”

I grabbed another slice of pizza and settled down into the couch. “How?”

He took a deep breath. “So, we like doing raids, right? They’re cool. They give great rewards. They also build teamwork. Anyway, we went into this dungeon thinking it was going to be smooth sailing — we’d gotten the quest from a random shoe salesman, after all — but this shit was wild. There was like, twelve different types of enemies, and everyone started to get a bit overwhelmed.”

“Uh huh. Go on.”

“I had a light-hearted crack at one of the members for not using his skill at the right time, then I might’ve intentionally not protected him from an ogre’s club — you get the picture — and before long we were all basically brawling each other on the floor of this dungeon. Monsters came in and killed two of the members before the rest of us made it out.”

I felt bad, but it was undeniably funny. The worst part — or best part — was that it entirely made sense. The members of the team were all lumped together because their parents were old chums. Joey and his raid team didn’t know each other from a bar of soap. There was bound to be some square holes and triangle pieces that just didn’t fit.

“How did your dad take that? I bet you’re in the good books.”

He grimaced. “Mm. Not quite. There’s not much that any of us are willing to agree on, but the other four were quite certain that I was the one who started it. I ruined the potential of the Rascal Varmints.”

“Stupid name anyway,” I added.

“Right? I’d always thought that! Imagine a guild recruiter asking what team I was on and I have to tell him that! Anyway, I have become a normal Elthen Fields player. Less than normal, actually, I don’t really know how to fight solo.”

Annette interrupted, slamming down a plate of choc chip cookies for dessert. “That’s where Duri and I come in. We’re starting a trio raid team. Or a quad if we can find someone with a decent ranged-class.”

My thoughts immediately ran to Claire. I wasn’t quite sure how good her gear was, but she was certainly capable of using it.

Once this year is over, I could invite her in. Assuming I don’t mess up and make her hate me between now and then.

Then I thought of myself.

“Yo, wait a second. I’ve been getting all these guild offers lately, and aside from not offering me bucketloads of krad, the main thing holding me back from accepting any of them is that I’d want to be doing stuff with you guys. How about we start a guild?”

Duri paused with a slice of margherita halfway to his mouth. Joey coughed and accidently snorted some lemonade, which led to more coughing.

Annette just frowned.

“Did you seriously just go from starting a three-man raid group to a whole entire guild? That’s still almost eleven months down the track!”

“Yeah, but the paperwork takes six or so. Therefore, five months if we wanted it to be ready for the opening next year.”

Duri interrupted. His mouth was full. “Oo an’t be feriouf. We on’t know yack shi’ about guildf.”

“Care to chew there, buddy?”

He swallowed. “You can’t be serious. We don’t know jack shit about guilds. We’d have to get a frickin accountant. Submit tax forms.”

“I’m sure there’s a robot for that.”

I was ninety-nine percent sure that I was joking about the whole thing, but it was a fun concept. And I hadn’t been lying about my apprehensions for normal guilds.

“Look. I’m not saying that we need to set up shop right this minute and start recruiting. I’m just putting it out there that it could be a thing. It would be easier to join a big guild together and pray that we get put in the same raid team, but who knows? We’ve got two tanky classes, and two close to medium-range melee classes. I don’t like our chances.”

Duri nodded. “I wanted to be a [Healer] when I was younger. Maybe that would’ve been a good idea.”

I waved my hands. “No, no, that’s literally my point. We don’t have to worry about our class choices if we make our own guild. Sure, some fights might not be as supremely efficient as the big guilds do them, but we’d have strengths. And anyway, we don’t necessarily have to be a raid team, Esko told me he used to guard an orchard when he first started. We could make stuff and sell it, or, I dunno, run a courier business.”

They stared at me like my face was turning into a pear. It might’ve been a bit early to suggest not fighting, but I think my point still got across.

“Let’s table it for now,” Joey suggested. “I don’t want to make a stupid commitment only a couple days after screwing up my old raid team.”

“Agreed,” Annette said.

“Yep,” Duri concluded. “But I do really like the sound of it, and I would not be opposed to coming up with a name.”

I’ve got him. I mentally thanked Duri and asked the angels to bless him with good fortune.

“Stanley’s Soldiers?” I suggested.

“Too child soldier-ish,” he replied. “What about Selic’s Chosen?”

“Nyeh. Too grandiose. And it doesn’t mean anything to us.”

Joey sat forward in his chair, opening each box and searching for scraps.

“It should be something we all like,” he said. “My suggestion: Pepperoni Pizza.”

We all looked at Annette. She was the last holdout. The least willing to indulge.

She couldn’t hold out forever.

“Fine. I guess Joey’s is my favourite, but drop the Pizza. Just Pepperoni People or something.”

I smiled. I missed coming up with wild schemes together, and this was one that was looking better and better with every passing moment.

Starting a guild. Our guild.

Once it got late, I realised that I’d better not stay over. On top of the fact that I’d have to bunk with Joey once again, I also wanted a bright and early start. Claire wouldn’t wait around in Lord Piliton’s study forever, and I didn’t want her to complete the quest without me.

Not that it’ll be a one-day thing. Not for ten thousand krad.

“Alright guildies, I’m outta here.”

Annette scowled and wagged a finger at me. Duri and Joey cheered and came out the front to wave me off.

I forgot to tell them about my adventure into Asteroth. I was kind of happy that it never came up.

Mom and Dale were asleep when I got home. The house was dark. I brushed my teeth and hopped in bed, then scrolled through the torrent of messages on my Yurt.

There were requests for interviews. Some guy wanted to send me a baseball cap so I could ‘sign it before I got famous.’ A decent portion accused me of cheating. There were messages from people I vaguely knew in school, wanting to meet up.

Phew. This is a mess.

I was about to press ‘Mark All as Read’ when a message caught my eye. It was from a random number, but the content in the message preview intrigued me.

[The Gladiator is even more than he seems.]

Then a second message.

[Be careful.]