A couple hours have passed since Tatsuo challenged the entire community in the guild hub. All the guild members and adventurers who rallied up to defeat Geld are moping around in the guild hub, dejected.
Random guild member: C-can’t…believe that we lost…
Another guild member: How was that even possible…?
The gloomy guild groups mumble in humiliation and defeat. On the other hand, Geld enthusiastically celebrates their astounding victory.
Sharon, jumping up and down while clapping excitedly, “Yay~!!! We’ve won! I don’t know how we did it, but we won!!!”
Darren: Err… Yeah…I wasn’t really expecting us to win…But we finished those quests surprisingly fast…!
Victor: Yeah! I mean, I know we have Tatsuo, but I was thinking that if we were to somehow complete all those quests, it would take us at least half a day. Especially since those quests didn’t sound easy either…But I’m surprised that it’s already done! Thank goodness too…! Here I thought I'd be standing for the entire day. But before I even knew it, we were done! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Sharon: It’s because of our teamwork! We played our roles well using each other’s strengths! Like how Darren delivered the materials from Tatsuo to you guys since he’s so fast, and how I did the delivery quests since I can have Windie fly me over people to avoid crowds! We were like one well oiled machine!
Victor: Yeah! Yeah! It surprised me how fast you were giving both me and Queenie materials! Even she was surprised too!
Darren: Same for me. Nah, Tatsuo was even more impressive. I was only going as fast as I was because of him. By the time I’d get back to the meeting point, he’d just shortly appear after with marbles on hand. It was honestly quite unnerving.
Sharon: Yeah! Just when I thought he couldn’t impress me even more! Like, I was really shocked when you all told me that Tatsuo and Darren finished their quests before I did! When I came back, I was thinking, “why’s Tatsuo and Darren just hanging at the lobby with you guys?”
Tatsuo: Told you we’d win it. But it only went as smoothly since it was all Queenie’s plan.
Meanwhile, Queenie stands by the sideline, enamored in her thoughts.The group enthusiastically talking to each other filters out of her zone. Her mind being heavily disturbed about something.
Queenie (thinking): What…? Did I just witnessed…?
Queenie (thinking): No…Something about this can’t be right…! This can’t be passed off so easily…!
Queenie (thinking): They probably aren’t thinking too deeply about it because they haven’t had enough experience as a guild…But the amount it took for us…No…
Queenie’s eyes roll over to Tatsuo, eyeing him out from the group.
“He…! The speed at which he finished those quests by himself is abnormal! You’d find only a handful of people that’d be capable enough to do that…! Seven blue quests in under two hours…?! I can’t even do that myself…!”
Queenie’s mind quickly flashbacks to what Tatsuo said earlier about how they just need to let him be by himself.
Queenie (thinking): I may be deceiving everyone here, but that guy is the most deceptive one out of all of us!! Just what is he exactly? Is he a blessed person too?
The outstanding performance of Tatsuo stroked the competitiveness inside of her.
Queenie (thinking): Now it makes me curious to see how fast we could’ve finished those quests if I actually contributed…
Victor: It’s funny, cuz it would’ve been game over if we had taken the gardening quest, or any blue quests that would be similar.
Sharon: He only grabbed from the ones made by the town people, which were made by Queenie and Darren, so we were safe from running into that situation anyways.
“Heh, heh. Now look at everyone here. They all look so defeated. Their suffering brings joy to me.” Darren says smugly grinning as he scans the room of all the spiritually crushed challengers.
“Yes! This is what it feels like to be a winner!” Sharon exclaims triumphantly while also grinning.
Darren turns to face some of the guild members staring at them. The moment he faces them, they immediately turn away, fueling him even more sense of superiority.
An adventurer suddenly calls out to the group. He eagerly runs up to them holding up in his hand the recruitment poster “quest”.
Adventurer: You..! You guys are recruiting, right?! Let me join you guys too!!
“Nope! This guild is closed for recruitment from everyone here! Now scram!“ Sharon harshly says, shooing away the adventurer. The adventurer trudges away, moping back to his table.
Victor: Ever since we turned in those quests, we’ve been getting a lot of guys like him wanting to join us…
Sharon: Like I care for these sorry lots here! They should’ve realized our greatness and joined us before they decided to butt heads with us!
Darren (thinking): Well…Those guild members from earlier may have started it…But it was Tatsuo who sparked the conflict.
Darren: We should probably do something about that quest.
Tatsuo: No worries. Leave it to me.
Tatsuo takes the recruitment poster and tosses it in his mouth, throwing everyone off guard. He begins to chew the poster.
Victor: Woah. Neat.
Sharon: Uh…! No! That’s gross! What are you, a Bjerk?!
Darren: That’s cool and all, but you do know that doesn’t get rid of the quest right? A worker here is just going to post up another one. We need to request them to take it off.
“It’s edible.” Tatsuo says in response to the three’s reaction. Holding a ripped piece of the poster, he holds it up to Windie’s face – “Here, have some.”
Sharon scolds Tatsuo, “Don’t feed Windie weird things!!!”
Moving on from the topic, Sharon begins to feel giddy with excitement: Oooh~!! With this, we HAVE to have a blue badge now! I can feel it…!
Victor: Right, the main reason why we did all this…
Sharon: Let's go see if anything’s changed!
***
*Moments later, Sharon is sat down on a chair with her head hanging low feeling crushed.
Sharon: Why…? How…Did this happen…? Why did our guild get suspended…?
Tatsuo: You heard the worker, it was because of suspicious activity.
Tatsuo’s comment stings Sharon emotionally, making her let out a woeful moan.
Darren: I bet you it was from all those guys before that complained about us cheating.
Sharon: Damn them…!! How could we have rigged it!? The rewards were confirmed by official staff members fresh! We did everything fair and square!
Queenie begins to speak, which raises the group’s attention in surprise.
Queenie in a soft voice: How…?
Queenie: How did we not get a blue badge?! - Queenie’s sudden outburst surprises the group.
Queenie mentally scratches her head in frustration, ‘How could they not acknowledge that?! Does no one here except me actually realize the absurd feat that just happened?! Or did it backfire on us instead and created doubt about our legitimacy…?! Alongside our actions of hogging the good quest the past days in addition…!‘
Queenie (thinking): Thinking about it now…If it wasn’t for the fact that I was a part of this group, I too wouldn’t believe it…
Sharon: That’s right Queenie! See! Even you know just how unbelievable this is!
Darren: Wow…Didn’t think she’d be that invested in this…
Darren (thinking): That’s odd…What’s gotten her agitated? Surely she didn’t really care during or before we were doing the quests...Or else she would’ve done more than just stand near the entrance with Victor.
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Unbeknownst to the group and Queenie herself, the scope of Tatsuo’s achievement alongside the results went against her expectations. Somewhere within her, she holds a shred of guilt, as she sees the way the cadence of events played out was all initiated by her. Because their victory got denied, it made her feel invalidated. Tatsuo’s feat overwhelmed Queenie to the point that it made her care about the result.
Queenie: I’m…Sorry guys…Unfortunately my plan didn’t work…It wasn’t enough to get you all a blue badge…
Sharon and Victor frantically comfort Queenie, reassuring her that it wasn’t something that they really needed, and that they would eventually get one.
Then, a guild worker walks up to the group. Much to their surprise, the guild worker congratulates them all, and presents them with a blue badge. The flabbergasted group is met with initial confusion, but is rapidly swept away with joy and excitement. The group switches out their badges and they celebrate.
Darren questions what is going on with the dubious sudden turn of events, but he gets quickly swept up in Sharon’s uncontained enthusiasm. Sharon brazenly flings her body onto Darren, tightly hugging him while heaving him up and down
Queenie questions the staff member to which she replies that the system has just updated again, and that they were no longer suspended as well.
Curiosity and skepticism linger inside Queenie’s head, ‘The system was updated…? Was it from the blue quests we did…? But then why did the guild get suspended then…? It doesn’t make sense…It doesn’t add up…Something else must’ve triggered the guild association to unsuspend and promote us…But what…?’
Queenie's train of thought gets interrupted by Sharon who has claimed her as her next target to cuddle.
“Oh my gosh Queenie!!! We did it! We did it! It’s all thanks to you!! Your plans! It worked!” Sharon exclaims, aggressively complimenting Queenie.
Queenie takes a pause, but decides to give in to the moment. The group’s enthusiastic contagion couldn’t help but infect her as well, as feelings of happiness slipped inside of her chest.
A relaxed smile forms on her face, “I’m glad.” She said in response to Sharon.
In high spirits, Victor suggests a celebration.
“Right here?” Darren questioned. “I mean…I’m cool with that. But these schmucks here are ruining the situation” He says as he eyes out the “background characters”.
Tatsuo holds a piece of meat in his hand, “Who cares. Let’s just eat.”
Darren: You’ve already ordered food?!
Victor quickly scans the background. He takes a piece of meat and walks over to a table with some guild members, offering it to them.
Victor: I know we said some mean things, and done some stuff to upset you guys…But by no means did we meant it to be personal.
Victor: If it makes you all feel better, we’re leaving this town tomorrow. So how about it? You guys can choose to sit here all depressed like the actual losers that you are. Or we can settle matters now and you can come celebrate with us.
The guild members hesitate for a moment. The guild members give in, taking the piece of meat from Victor’s hand, and they move on over to Geld’s table.
Darren: Woah man. What do you think you’re doing?
Victor: Hey now, why do we all have to be so bitter? It’d be awkward if it was just us having a party within all this misery. So why don’t we all just have fun instead? Besides, we’ve pretty much done this before already with Jayce’s gang back in Argonaut.
The jolly guild members abruptly seat themselves next to Darren. “Yeah little boy! Where’s the love at? You know if you stress yourself out right now, when you become an adult you’ll grow up to have wrinkles early like us!”
Darren hisses at the guild members as they laugh, “I’m not a little boy!!! And I’m already an adult!!!”
Sharon calls a waiter to order for food and beverages. Meanwhile Victor rallies up the rest of the guild members and adventurers to party with them. Queenie places a pouch of gold coins besides Victor. ”This one’s on me.”
“As your strategist for today, I must oversee everything to the end, right?” Queenie said with a quirked smile.
Victor smiles brightly at Queenie, and announces to everyone that everything was on them for the day. The crowd cheers in delight. The guild hub then breaks into a feast.
Everyone is having a joyous time. A giant group forms around the Geld members, everyone laughing and having a good time with Sharon and Victor. A crowd forms around Darren as he ends up having a verbal roasting competition with everyone. With every snarky comment he makes, the crowd laughs.
Meanwhile Tatsuo impresses the folks around him by eating a wooden keg. Over at the sidelines, Queenie sits by herself watching over everyone with a satisfied smile.
Some guild members approach her to talk with her, but she politely rejects them. She then notices a timid little girl attempting to approach her. It is the same little girl that Sharon saw back on their first visit at the guild hub. Queenie asks what she is doing here.
The timid girl trembles nervously as she musters the courage to speak up. “U-uhm…! M-my name is Aleina…!”
“E-earlier I saw you and the little kid with you g-going around town helping people with quests, r-r-right…?” Aleina said, cutely stumbling between her words.
Queenie raises a brow, but then pieces together that the little girl most likely thought that when she and Darren went around town to bribe people, she misunderstood it as them volunteering to help them instead.
“U-uhm…! Well…I guess you could say we were doing that…” Queenie was troubled as to how to interact with a child.
Aleina’s face brightens up. “T-then…! C-c-could you please do a quest for m-me…?”
Aleina presents Queenie a letter. “I have a friend…! W-we used to p-play together but he moved to Legania in Odale…! H-his name is Donovan…!”
Queenie: You can mail that out yourself with the mail service, can’t you…?
Aleina shakes her head. “No…! It’s too hard for me to understand! I’ve already sent letters out to him, but he hasn’t sent any back to me…! Which is why I thought, if I can get an actual person to send a letter to him…! You looked like nice people so…I thought….maybe…”
Queenie: Oh…I’m sorry…But we were only helping people with blue quests out…
“H-huh?! B-blue quests…?” Aleina said befuddled. “S-s-sorry! I don’t know…What is a blue quest? This letter isn’t blue…”
“I-i’m sorry!! Forget about it…! I-i’m sorry for bothering you miss…!” The little girl stammered with her nervousness reaching its limit.
After having thoughtful consideration, Queenie lets out a soft reluctant sigh. She takes the letter from the girl and leans in close to her. Queenie whispers to her, “Don’t let anybody know what I’m about to show you…Do you promise?”
Aleina nods affirmatively, her lips pressed against each other as her sincere way to show that she will keep her mouth shut.
Queenie places her hand on top of the letter, and a blue thin layer of crystalized substance begins to coat itself around it. Aleina watches silently in awe, enraptured by Queenie’s dazzling powers. She finishes, the letter now covered in a blue crystal veil.
Queenie: There. Now it’s blue.
Aleina smiles. “Does that mean you can now send it to Donovan for me…??”
Queenie smiles back at Aleina. “Yeah…I’ll make sure this gets delivered to him.”
Aleina dances with joy, and squeezes Queenie with the tightest hug she can give with her small body. She then scampers off, but not before thanking and waving goodbye to Queenie. “Thank you very much, kind miss…! I love you!”
Queenie coolly watches the girl tatter off.
“So are cute things your weakness or something?” - Tatsuo says, revealing his presence behind Queenie, alarming her a bit.
Queenie: …Did you see it?
Tatsuo: Yes I did. It’s okay. If you don’t want anybody to know, I won’t tell anyone about it. Not that I completely understand what you did anyways.
Tatsuo: Are you sure about this though? Weren’t you eager to separate from us after reaching Odale?
Queenie: Just a small side quest. That’s all. It won’t take that much extra time.
“Hmmm. I bet you were having similar thoughts when I announced that if we lost, I’d disband the guild.” Tatsuo said, egging on her.
Queenie (thinking): …What the hell is this guy? Is he freaking psychic or something?
Queenie: Well I suppose that now you know a secret about me, you can reveal something about yourself as well.
Tatsuo: Hm? Reveal? It’s not like I’m hiding anything really.
Queenie: Then what was that whole thing about secretly going alone to finish those quests by yourself?
Tatsuo: Oh, I just didn’t want anyone to come with me. Cuz you’d be holding me back instead. I mean if you really insisted, I wouldn’t mind you guys coming with me…But that might’ve lost us the competition.
Queenie (thinking): This guy is so blunt! I can’t tell if he’s conveniently hiding something about himself, or if that’s what he truly thinks!
Queenie: Is that so…? Then you wouldn’t mind telling me just what are you, it’s unbelievable to think if you were actually a normal human.
Tatsuo: Oh, that’s because I’m not. I’m a dragon man.
Queenie looks at Tatsuo dumbfounded. ‘HUH…???’ She thought in her head.
Queenie: A…A dragon man…?
Tatsuo: Yeah. I made a pact with a dragon. His name is Henteko.
Queenie (thinking): He just revealed that so casually??? Does he not know the possible repercussions if other people found out about this?!
Queenie: How come you never told us…?
Tatsuo: You never asked. Also I already told Sharon and Victor about it. Although, I don’t know if they still don’t believe me or not.
Queenie absent mindedly stares at Tatsuo, thinking to herself, ‘Well…I don’t blame them…I’m troubled believing it myself…Those beasts have reportedly been extinct…But it would make sense about the abilities he’s demonstrated thus far. And it doesn’t seem like he’s lying. Plus there’s that strange pattern underneath his eye… I had thought that was a scar at first, but maybe it’s scales instead…?’
Queenie (thinking): If it’s true then…!
Queenie (thinking): This would be my one and only experience encountering the closest thing to a dragon! I’m so tempted to study him! Should…Should I analyze him…? No! What am I thinking…?! How would I find the opportunity to do that without exposing my powers to the rest of them? And what if the power of a dragon is strong enough to break out of my crystals somehow? It’s too risky…!
However, given his nonchalant nature, perhaps Tatsuo would permit her if she simply asked him. Queenie’s thoughts gets interrupted by Tatsuo. “You’ve been staring at me for a while now.”
“Oh…!” Queenie peeped, snapping back to reality. “It’s nothing…Just astonished at how open you are with all of that…” Queenie said, shuffling back.
“Well, San and Archer did warn me about exposing that part of myself. So maybe I should be more careful.” Tatsuo says upon remembering San and Archer’s advice.
“But…You got some of that off your shoulders today didn’t you? Doesn’t it feel more comfortable? It’s suffocating to have to put up a front.” He tells Queenie, comforting her.
“Moments such as these…Where you can just be yourself.” Tatsuo gestures at the ongoing party in front of them. “They ain’t so bad every once in a while, right?” He says, turning his head at Queenie with a sincere smile.
The smile catches Queenie off guard. She mentally recomposes herself. ‘What the hell…So he can smile like that….’ She says in her head. ‘…And it doesn’t look bad either.’
Queenie agrees while also smiling. “Yeah…It’s relaxing.”
She stands up and walks on over to one of the quest boards. She calls out to the rest of the group. ”Hey guys…!”
The group brings their attention over to Queenie.
“There’s a blue quest we have to finish!” Queenie exclaimed, holding the blue letter in her hand as she extends it to the group.
And with that, the party at the guild hub went on throughout the day, until Geld finally left the town of Flavrence the following morning.