A FEW HOURS LATER
ALEXANDER
The trip back to the guild was surprisingly peaceful, no ancient monsters, no collapsing caverns, no mysterious sealed gods, no ergency survival quests. For once, everything seed normal, which should have worried . The mont we walked through the guild doors, chaos imdiately resud. One adventurer looked up from his table, then he saw Iris, and a second later the chair tipped over.
"VAMPIRE!"He gasped.
Half the guild imdiately jumped to their feet, weapons appeared, several adventurers backed away. One poor receptionist nearly dropped an entire stack of paperwork.
"Good afternoon."Iris blinked.
That sohow made everyone more nervous.
"STOP."Michael imdiately stepped forward. "Nobody attack anyone."
The adventurers looked between Michael and Iris, then back to Michael, then back to Iris.
"Guild Master... why is there an SSS-ranked vampire standing next to Alexander?"One man slowly raised his hand.
Michael looked tired, very tired.
"The answer is complicated."Michael said calmly.
"Did he summon her?"Another adventurer asked.
"Yes."Michael said. "He found her summoned by an adventurer with the sa skill who is dead."
The guild beca completely silent, one mug hit the floor.
"Of course he did."Far away sobody whispered.
"Conference room. Now."Michael ignored them.
Thirty minutes later the largest room in the guild was packed, guild officials, senior adventurers, clerks, and several people who had no business being there, but sohow got inside anyway. I stood at the front, Michael stood behind a podium, and a massive stack of paperwork sat beside him.
"The Frostheart bloom retrieval mission has been completed."Michael cleared his throat.
Polite applause followed.
"The mission exceeded all expectations."Michael contunied.
More applause.
"The mission participants survived conditions reaching negative forty six degrees."Michael said. "They also recovered valuable information regarding the northern region."
Several officials nodded.
"And they sohow acquired a five hundred year old vampire queen."Michael sighed.
The room imdiately beca silent again, while Iris smiled and waved. Nobody waved back.
"Regardless of the chaos involved, the mission has been reviewed and approved."Michael continued.
He pulled out a docunt, then another, and then another one.
"Alexander Blackwood."Michael began.
"Yes?"I asked.
"By authority of the Adventurer Guild, you are officially promoted from C-Rank to B-Rank."Michael announced.
The room erupted into applause, several adventurers cheered. Others looked relieved, and a few looked terrified.
"PLEASE STOP GETTING STRONGER."One person yelled.
Michael slamd a stamp onto the docunt. B-RANK. Official and complete.
"DING. Rank promotion confird."A notification imdiately appeared.
I ignored it and Michael pointed toward .
"One additional matter remains."Michael started.
"Please tell it isn’t paperwork."I sighed.
"It is not paperwork."Michael nodded.
I relaxed.
"You need an official party na."Michael contunied.
The room imdiately beca interested. Suggestions started flying everywhere.
"Crystal Hunters!"One shouted.
"Frost Breakers!"Another one suggested.
"Alexander’s Heroes!"Third one smirked.
"Absolutely not."I groaned.
"Blackwood Brigade!"A man nearby my said loudly.
"Worse."I sighed.
The debate continued for several minutes, then Iris raised her hand and everyone stopped.
"I have a suggestion."The vampire queen smiled.
"What is it?"Michael imdiately looked worried.
Iris pointed at all of us Scarlet, Noa, Rosalia, Aiko, Zavier and herself, then finally .
"Lucky chaos."She smiled brightly.
Silence as everyone thought about it.
"It fits."Scarlet slowly nodded.
"Unfortunately."Noa sighed.
"Accurate."Rosalia smirked.
"Statistically appropriate."Aiko adjusted his glasses.
"Perfect."Zavier laughed.
I imdiately hated how much sense it made. Michael buried his face in his hands, then he looked at our mission reports, the crystal lizard, the hidden expedition, the black silver mine, the vampire queen, and finally the Frostheart bloom.
"Yes."The guild master sighed.
Everyone looked at him.
"That is absolutely the correct na."Michael pointed at us.
The room exploded into laughter and a clerk imdiately began writing.
"PARTY NA REGISTERED: LUCKY CHAOS."The clerck announced.
"DING." The system appeared one final ti. "Party registration complete, party: lucky chaos. Threat level to public order: uncertain."
"Why is that a category?"Michael stared at the screen, and the system did not answer, and sohow, everyone already knew that was a bad sign.
The celebration ended three hours later, that alone was impressive. The guild hall looked like a battlefield, empty plates, empty mugs, broken chairs and one unconscious adventurer sleeping under a table. Michael was still filling out paperwork while questioning every life decision that had brought him here. anwhile, I was finally heading toward the dormitories, I just wanted sleep nothing else. Just sleep. Naturally, that was when the guild doors exploded open.
"ERGENCY QUEST!"A ssenger stumbled inside covered in dust and snow.
The entire guild froze.
"No."Michael’s eye twitched.
"Ergency report from Frostmill village!"The ssenger ignored him and ran directly toward the guild master.
That got everyone’s attention as the ssenger unfolded a scroll. His hands were shaking.
"Ten wyverns have attacked the village!"He announced.
The room imdiately erupted into noise.
"What?!"One adventurer gasped.
"Ten?"Another one added.
"That’s impossible!"An older adventurer scread.
Michael grabbed the report, his expression darkened imdiately.
"Confird sightings?"Michael asked.
"Yes, Guild Master."A ssenger said.
"Casualties?"Michael asked.
"Several injured. Buildings destroyed. Village defenses overwheld."A ssenger said.
The room beca silent, and even the veteran adventurers stopped talking. Ten wyverns wasn’t a normal monster problem, that was a disaster. Michael read further and then sighed.
"What?"I imdiately beca nervous.
Michael slowly looked toward .
"No."I pointed at myself.
"Yes."Michael pointed back.
"No."I said.
"Yes."He said.
"No."I said.
"Alexander."Michael frowned.
I already knew.
"The quest has been classified as B-Rank ergency response."I sighed.
The guild hall beca even quieter.
"Available parties?" Michael asked.
"Most B-Rank parties are currently deployed."The receptionist checked several records.
"The remaining parties are injured."Another clerk checked.
"The closest available B-Rank combat unit is..."A third clerk checked. She looked up as everyone looked at . "Lucky chaos."
I closed my eyes. Of course, of course it was us.
"DING."The system appeared instantly.
I hated that sound.
"Ergency quest available. Objective: defend frostmill village. Threat: ten wyverns. Reward: 10 gold. Bonus reward: wyvern materials may be claid by participants."
"Ten gold?!"The room imdiately reacted.
"That’s a fortune!"Another one gasped.
"Forget the gold, do you know how much wyvern materials are worth?"A clerk shouted.
Even Zavier, suddenly, looked interested, the legendary blacksmith stood up happy like we had already completed the mission.
"Wyvern bones." His eyes glead. "Wyvern scales and wyvern claws."
"Zavier."Michael imdiately looked worried.
"Yes?"Zavier asked.
"Please don’t look excited."Michael asked him.
"I am extrely excited."Zavier grinned.
"That’s what I was afraid of."Michael sighed.
"We should depart imdiately."Scarlet stood up.
"The village may not survive until morning."Noa nodded.
"I’m in."Rosalia checked her weapon.
"Travel preparations can be completed in seven minutes."Aiko adjusted his glasses.
"I have never fought ten wyverns before."Iris smiled.
"Please don’t sound happy about that."Michael looked horrified.
The vampire queen looked genuinely excited.
"Can... can you really handle ten wyverns?"The ssenger swallowed.
The entire guild looked toward Lucky chaos. I looked at Scarlet, Noa, Rosalia, Aiko, Zavier, Iris and then I looked at the terrified ssenger.
"Probably."I nodded.
The guild sohow looked less reassured. Michael handed the ergency quest docunts.
"Leave imdiately."Michael said.
"Can I sleep first?"I asked.
"No."Michael frowned.
"Five minutes?"I asked again.
"No."Michael frowned.
"Fine."I sighed.
"DING."The system imdiately appeared again.
"Ergency quest accepted."The system announced.
Sowhere in the distance, ten wyverns were attacking a village, and sohow that had beco my problem.
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