章 2: Episode 1: Guilds (1)

[The year—1195, July 26th, Six years later]

Within a small cottage built by the lakeside of a town, a young girl by the name of Fei slept soundly in her bed like it was just any other day. She hugged onto her bolster while snoring.

"Zzz..." Enjoying her time in dreamland, Fei suddenly heard a loud knock protruding out of the door within her room. However, unphased by it, she continued to snore loudly, not budging at all.

"Fei, wake up..." A male voice resounded through the door, reaching Fei.

"Ugh... just give me five more hours!" she replied sloppily, not bothering to get up. "I still need more sleep for tomorrow's exam..."

"...Fei, you do realize tomorrow, is today right? And it's already past time-"

"WAIT- IT'S THE 26TH OF JULY ALREADY?!" Fei screamed in anguish. "NO I'M LATE!"

THUCK!

The moment she heard the voice of the man, Fei abruptly got up from her bed as she scurried out of it. Moments later, she stumbled down to the ground, however, ignoring it, she hurriedly stood on her feet as she made her way to the door in a rush.

Immediately after, she opened the door to see Damian at her doorstep. However, meeting him face to face, she didn't say anything as she rushed out of her room brushing aside Damian.

"AHHHHH!! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WAKE ME UP?!" she continued screaming. "I'M LATE, I'M LATE!"

"...I tried for like the 10th time this morning," Damian helplessly said. "It was you that slept like an elephant..."

"ARGHHH! WE'LL TALK ABOUT THIS LATER!" she said whilst slamming the door of the bathroom. "FOR NOW I NEED TO GET READY!!"

Damian looked at the bathroom door as he let out a sigh. "Hopeless..." Quickly, he made his way downstairs.

...

Getting out of the bathroom, with a last-minute preparation on her get up, Fei immediately rushed down to the first floor of the cottage as her eyes met with Damian and Kruz's who were sitting down and eating breakfast casually.

"Ah, Fei! Good of you to wake up! Breakfast?" Kruz asked.

"No time, no time! I'm late, dad!" Fei said as she raced to the dining table, soon after, she took a large bite of the freshly baked pancakes that was on a plate in front of an empty seat.

Right after she did so, she swallowed the food and quickly rushed towards the entrance of the cottage. "I'll be going now! Thank you for breakfast!" she said.

"Hmm, so she's going to skip huh? That's too bad... I made today's breakfast with more love than usual for today's big day!" Kruz said as he shook his head.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'll just eat her portion of the meal," Damian replied calmly whilst eating his food at a normal pace.

"Do you want some orange juice?"

"Yes, please," Damian nodded his head.

Whilst the two were conversing with one another, footsteps rang through the room as Fei came back. "HEY! DAMIAN! ARE YOU COMING OR WHAT?!" she said in a hurry. "WE'RE LATE YOU KNOW!"

Hearing the cry from Fei, Damian glared at her as he sighed. "Sigh... you..." Unable to say anything, he helplessly shook his head whilst getting up from his seat. "I guess I'll be on my way as well then. Thank you for the meal as always," he bowed to Kruz as he headed to the entrance of the building.

"Come on and hurry up!" Fei said.

"Good luck to you two~! Make sure you pass with flying colours!" Kruz cheered as he waved at the two who headed out. Soon after he let out a slight chuckle. "Man, it's nice being young huh?" he said whilst picking up the dishes on the table.

...

While the two headed out of the cottage, Fei ran as fast as she could over towards the Twin Pathway, meanwhile, Damian casually took a stroll as the wind gently blew around him. Moments later, Damian moved his head over towards a beautiful clear lake, resembling that of clear jade. He stopped to admire its beauty.

While doing so, he gave off a faint smile. "...clear as jade, much like to its description, it's as beautiful as ever huh?" he muttered as he quickly averted his gaze away from the lake. Soon he began to continue making his way over to where Fei headed.

...

The Lakeside Town—Yumin [9:58 AM].

Finally reaching towards the town, Yumin, Fei rushed through the stone pathway while avoiding the people walking on the streets. From behind her, Damian walked at a normal pace.

Yumin was a town located in the eastern parts of Libria. The town wasn't too small nor was it big. It was just a normal-sized town where most of its local residents knew one another very well.

Whilst Fei was running, she turned to look at the clock tower in the middle of town. There she saw that time was near 10 AM. "AHHHHH!!! IM AN HOUR LATE!!!" she screamed in the middle of town as her pace fastened like never before.

Hearing the scream, an old lady who attended a flower shop turned to look at the running Fei. "Oh my, what has gotten over Fei that she's not catching her breath?" the lady asked.

Damian who passed by the old lady by the name of Kana explained. "Ah, well... Today's the guild exam you see, and, well... It's past the time of the hour, so she's rushing over to the guildhall," Damian explained.

"Oh? Your guild exam is today huh?" Kana chuckled. "Best of luck to you two! Though, shouldn't you be rushing as well seeing as you're both late?"

"Eh, seeing as how we're already late, I might as well just conserve my energy."

"Oh, I see. But best hurry along!" she said.

"Right, will do." He nodded his head as he continued down the street.

By the northern part of town, there stood a building which was small. It had stone walls and a small balcony ontop. Although the outwards appearance wasn't unique, this building was recognized as the guildhall of the Yumin guild branch, built fifty years ago,

Fei hurried towards the entrance of the door as her eyes stopped on the sign beside the wooden door that read 'Yumin's Guild'. Quickly, she took a deep breath. "Phew... Orelia, please don't get angry!" she mumbled as she opened the door to the guildhall.