A Mission

"Since I doubt you would want to waste time on needless talks, I'll get straight to the point," Kyle says before he starts explaining what's going on.

Apparently, a powerful magical signature has been sensed near the border of the Trinity, Shasta, and Siskiyou districts. It's been appearing every week at the exact same time for an hour or so before disappearing. The Guild thinks it's a magical artifact and would like for Alex to investigate it for them.

"This doesn't that hard? Shouldn't the Guild be able to do it themselves?" Alex asks, confused. They're basically the strongest faction of the Trinity district. If they want something here, it's not hard for them to get it.

"Sadly that isn't the case with this one. The Life Foundation Guild is currently in a magically binding truce agreement with the Guild that rules the Shasta district and the Family that owns the Siskiyou district. The area the magical artifact appeared in is essentially a no-man zone for all three factions." Kyle explains.

"And that's why you want me to do it since I'm not part of the guild, therefore won't be under the same restriction." Alex guesses.

"Correct. We want you to get it if possible or destroy it if not. Though I doubt we would be the only ones doing this. The other two factions no doubt sense the magical signature by now and would likely be sending teams or people of their own."

"That would make this a lot more dangerous." Alex frown. "Do you at least know who will be there?" Humans are one of the most dangerous groups of people in the Abyss simply because of the variety of their power. If he can learn about them beforehand, he should be able to prepare against them.

"Not currently, no." Kyle shakes his head. "Though, we still have 5 days before the artifact appears again. We should be able to gather information about who they'll send by then."

"I supposed that's good enough."

Kyle blinks, looking surprised for a bit, "Does that mean you accept the mission? Usually, you would take more time to think about things like this."

Alex shrugs, "Some things came up. There are a few things I want to get that would be easier with your Guild's help."

"Ah, that makes sense." Kyle nods before asking, "Would you like to have us get it for you like usual or have it be part of the reward for the mission?"

"Make it part of the reward, if possible I would like part of it as the downpayment."

"That'll depend on what you want. We can't exactly make it part of the downpayment if it takes too long to get after all."

"Don't worry, it's nothing much. Just a few beginner books. I-" Before Alex can list what he wants, he is interrupted by someone calling his name.

"Alexxx!" He can hear Amelia call out before entering the room and seeing Alex. "There you are, how could you have just left me alone like that?" She complains and throws herself on the sofa Alex's sitting on with her head on his lap.

"Amelia, I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

"Oh," Amelia blinks as she realizes there are other people here too. She missed it because the back of the chairs they were sitting on are tall enough to hide them.

"Gasp! A busty elf!" Amelia cries upon seeing who the people are.

Alex groans inwardly, seeing their reaction. Kyle look like he couldn't care less but Lillian have a frown on her face. He can already tell this is going to be a headache later.

"Be more respectful to my guests." Alex chop the top of Amelia's head like he would do when they were little if she did something bad. He has always been taller than her so that's been his go-to punishment since they were young. Even now, Amelia only comes up to his shoulder at most.

Lillian's frown deepens at their interaction.

"Ow." Amelia exclaims despite him not hitting hard enough to hurt, "Fine, I'll behave." She agrees but from the way she's glancing at Lillian, he just knows she's going to cause trouble later.

"I see you already have a guest over. Should we come back another time?" Kyle ask. Kyle may sound like he's trying to be respectful but Alex knows he just wants this to be over so he can go back to sleep.

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll text you what I want later." Alex agrees. He wishes he can be as carefree as Kyle but he has work to do and a childhood friend to babysit.

*ahem* Lillian fake clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to stay behind."

Kyle shrugs, "If your mom trusts him enough for the mission, I doubt she'll mind you staying."

Lillian's face brightened with a smile like a kid in a candy shop after getting permission to stay.

"I shouldn't have to remind you to take care of Lady Gray right?" Kyle turns to Alex and asks.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to watch over her." Alex nods.

"That's good enough for me. I'll see you again tomorrow... maybe." He says with a yawn before leaving.