The Guild Captain and the Academy mages of Ravens Grave had arrived back at the Academy grounds not long ago.
They were all walking away from the Academy’s stables and heading toward the main building, crossing the full open field that separated the two structures.
As they made their way across the grounds, Aiden and Arianna found themselves walking together, while Kayden kept watchful eyes on them from a certain distance behind.
"Mind if I ask," Aiden said to Arianna, "how did you get Kayden to join this guild?"
Arianna giggled softly. "Isn’t it obvious? He’s in love with me."
"To be honest, I didn’t want to assume," Aiden replied, turning back to see Kayden’s eyes staring at him with that perpetually angry look.
Arianna continued with another giggle, "He’s been in love with me ever since we were kids, so I told him I’d go out with him if he agreed to join Ravens Grave."
Watching from behind, Kayden was fuming with anger, both fists clenched as he wondered what Aiden was saying to make his girl laugh like that.
"You don’t sound like you’re that into him," Aiden observed.
Arianna scoffed. "Of course not. I just need him to play his role well until the guild is at least number one in the rankings, then I’ll end the charade and be done with him."
"You do know we’re roommates, right?" Aiden said carefully. "Shouldn’t you be more discreet?"
"Oh, are you going to tell on me, pretty boy?" Arianna said playfully, then added, "Well, no matter. Even if you did, he can’t leave the guild now, not unless he shows proof to the Grand Magus of extreme unfair treatment by the guild captain and other guild members."
"That’s rather cruel," Aiden said.
"Why do you bother?" she replied, wondering what his fuss was about. "Hasn’t Kayden been anything but unreasonable toward you?"
Aiden smiled and raised both hands slightly in a shrug before walking away from her.
She had a point, Kayden had been a pain in the ass ever since they’d been paired as roommates, and besides, he decided to step away from the situation. It wasn’t his cross to bear.
Seeing Aiden step away, Kayden immediately walked up closer to join Arianna.
....
Soon after, the Academy mages were all walking behind their captain through the guild’s corridor.
Katherine opened the door to the guild’s main room, only to find most members either playing board games, chattering, or generally just idling about.
The only exceptions were Elena, who read a thick book, and Piers, who practiced sword forms in one corner of the room.
His magic wasn’t generally suited for battle, so he was learning swordsmanship under the captain’s tutelage.
When all the guild members saw their captain open the doors, everyone straightened up. Those playing board games quit instantly, and the chatter died down.
Katherine shook her head as she walked past the idlers, with the Academy mages following right behind her.
Elena and Piers, who had momentarily stopped their activities, walked toward the captain in formal respect.
"I didn’t think you guys would be back so early," Piers said.
"Heh," Katherine smiled, then turned to address the entire room. "Listen up, you slackers! These Academy mages just went out on a C-ranked Dungeon Break mission and turned the monsters into a mess. Guess what? The monsters were Kimian Kats!"
That instantly hit them differently. They all knew that even for experienced mages, Kimian Kats weren’t the easiest creatures to deal with.
"Now you’d all better start taking yourselves seriously in here, because I’d hate to see you become subordinates to the new ones someday."
She then turned back to the mages who had followed her in. "Darlings, you can stay in the guild room and check out the full wing if you want, but remember you can only be here until sundown. After that, you’re expected back in your dorms. I trust you know how the arrangement works until you become initiates."
"Yes, Captain!" they all said in unison.
"Aiden, darling, come with me," she added.
"Yes, Captain." Aiden nodded and followed her as they both went into her private chambers.
The general room fell quiet after the Captain’s words. Then one of the mages spoke up: "I’m going to the training hall."
"I’ll come with you," another said.
One by one, they all decided to get busy.
Seeing that the remaining Academy mages looked lost about what to do next, Piers asked, "Would you like me to show you all around?"
While Laela and Arianna nodded and agreed to this, Kayden sighed and turned back toward the entrance.
He was heading back to the dorms, hating the fact that the captain had called Aiden in alone and not with the rest of them. "What is even so special about him?" Kayden whispered to himself as he moved through the corridors.
...
Within the Guild Captain’s chambers, a spacious yet bland room with a bed placed on the floor in the far corner.
There were no seats or tables because she never held lengthy discussions in her private space.
"I’ll say this quickly so you can get back to your teammates," she began.
Aiden nodded, paying close attention.
"Suffice to say, I’ve seen enough of Piers’ magic to recognize transportation magic when I see it," she continued. "The way you killed that dungeon lord wasn’t fire magic either, nor was it a supplementary spell. I can’t make sense of what you displayed today; your fighting style, the different displays of magic. But clearly, you’re not an Academy-level mage."
She paused, studying him. "I also don’t think you’re from around here, from Xathia, I mean. That’s fine too; I wasn’t originally from Xathia either. But I want you to know this, and I tell you because I sense no hostility from you: Xathia doesn’t take well to mages they cannot control. I hope you always keep that at the back of your mind."
Aiden said nothing to clear her confusion whatsoever, knowing it would probably only make things more complicated. But he appreciated the advice and simply nodded after listening to Katherine’s warning.
"Alright, you may go now," she said.
Aiden left as directed. Arriving back at the general room, he didn’t see his teammates and assumed they had left the guild’s wing.
So he departed as well, making his way to the Library in the General Wing. After all, his daily mission for today and the side and special quests he’d been assigned earlier wouldn’t complete themselves.