The moment they turned towards the direction of the sound, they saw that a woman was making her way through the streets. Seeing the sight, Damian questioned. "...what's going on?"

"I don't know," Roy muttered out as his eyes scrutinized the window that showed the town's crowded street. As he did so, he noticed the woman making her way towards the guildhall whilst shouting the words 'help'!

"Mmm... so, what's the update?" Fei asked as she ate her food in front of her.

"...that woman..." Roy thought to herself. "If I remember correctly... isn't that Maria? The older sister of two children who sometimes loiter around in the guildhall..."

"...w-what?" Upon hearing the mention of 'Maria' her eyes quickly turned towards the window. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" she shouted out, nearly choking on her food.

"Something must have happened for her to be acting like this..." Roy calmly said. "Let's check it out after-"

"SOMETHING MUST HAVE HAPPENED INDEED...!!" Fei quickly shouted out as she took larges bites of her food, gulping it down. Soon after, she stood up, swiftly rushing out.

"A-Ack...! Hey! Fei!" Damian stood up as he saw that Fei was making her way out of the tavern. "Where are you going?!"

"Maria's in trouble!!" she shouted out.

"You...!" Damian was speechless at the scene, however unable to do anything, he could only chase after Fei.

"...these two," Roy helplessly shook his head as he glanced at the dishes on the table. Among the dishes, some of them were only half-eaten, while the others were mowed down by Fei due to her earlier hunger. "...I guess take away would suffice."

Calmly nodding his head, Roy stood up as he made his way over towards the counter of which was tended by a young man, a worker of the tavern.

...

The Lakeside Town—Yumin [12:40 PM].

Rushing through the streets of Yumin, Fei hurriedly made her way past the crowds as she dashed into the building. Moments later, she glanced around the area in hopes of finding where Maria went.

Up ahead, she saw that Maria and Aina were having a conversation with one another. Though Maria's face couldn't be seen from behind, Fei could tell that she was nervous and worried through her shaky body.

"...Maria!" Fei shouted out as she hurried over towards the two. "What's wrong?!"

"...ah, Fei?" The one who responded first was Aina. "Weren't you having lunch with Roy and your brother...?"

"That doesn't matter! What's going on right now?" Shrugging off Aina's words, she persisted in asking.

"Fei..." Maria turned to Fei in a worried demeanour. "I-It's Teri and Anaya..."

"...huh? What about them?"

"T-They went to the Jade Forest's ruins..." Maria muttered out.

"What?!"

"...the Jade Forest's ruins..." Aina mumbled to herself. "That place is infested with monsters..."

"I've warned them, many, many times to not go there... but never listened!" Maria cried out. "And now look at what happened..."

Whilst the three conversed with one another, from the entrance of the building, Damian rushed in, huffing and puffing. "Oi, Fei! You..."

"Damian!" Fei turned to the tired Damian. "There's no time to be huffing and puffing! Teri and Anaya went to the ruins!"

"...huh?" Damian raised his brow at the sudden statement. "Zaross Ruins? The one in Jade Forest?"

"Apparently so..." Aina said.

"I'm worried that they'll get lost... or even worst...!" Maria's worries became more precedented as more time passed.

"Maria... please calm down," Aina said in a calm manner. "Let the guild handle this."

"...r-right!" Fei nodded her head as she turned to look around the area. "Where's Orelia? She should be able to take up the job!"

"Unfortunately, Orelia just went out to deal with other stuff..." Aina shook her head helplessly.

"W-What?! If Orelia isn't here... then..." Fei muttered to herself as she quickly heard a voice ringing out from behind her.

"Then instead of Orelia, there are other options." Turning around, she saw that Roy was calmly making her way over towards the group. "Aren't you forgetting something? You're a guild ranker yourself."

"Ah...?" Fei blinked at the statement as her brain quickly processed it. "Cough... right! I'm a guild ranker as well!"

"...Fei, you forgot that you were one...?" Damian glared at Fei. "We just finished the guild exam..."

"It was the heat of the moment! I swear!" Fei said. "But.. anyhow... even then, are we even up for the job? I mean... we've just finished the exam..."

"Hmm... who says you aren't?" Roy smiled. "If anything, just think of this as another exam if you wish."

"...hmm, you're right!" Fei nodded her head. "Wait- Hey! What do you mean another exam?!"

"Fei... that's not the point," Damian sighed. "But whatever. So... we'll be taking up the job then?"

"Yep," Roy nodded his head. "All in all, it'd be a good practice to experience sudden jobs like this where guild rankers have to ready on the fly."

"...right, right!" Turning towards Maria, Fei firmly stated. "We'll do the job and make sure to bring back Anaya and Teri safely!"

"That's the spirit," Roy chuckled.

"Thank you..." Maria held onto Fei's hand. "I'll be praying for everyone's safety in all this... may Sachiss be with us."

"Now then, shall we head out?" Roy asked as he walked over towards the corner of the guildhall, soon after, he grabbed onto his blue trident, Waver.

"...eh?!" Fei shouted out in shock. "What do you mean 'we'...? You're coming with us?!"

"Mhm, I'm accompanying you two," Roy nodded his head. "Did you think I'll let you go alone?"

"But... if you're coming with us..." Fei pouted. "That means you don't trust us!"

"Nope, it's not that," Roy shook his head. "Since this is your first job, and that I haven't seen you in action as of late, I'd like to take the opportunity to see your performance."

"Huh?" she raised her brow. "Why would you?"

"...what's the real reason?" Damian inquired.

"Aha... well, Zaross is infested with monsters and that they are quite a few powerful enemies," he said. "And just for extra measures, I'll accompany you in case one of these monsters appear and attack us. Outside of that, I'll just be a bystander watching."

"...very suspicious," she glared at Roy.

"W-What? What's suspicious about that?" Roy questioned.

"Nevermind that," Damian shook his head. "Let's just go now."