บท 45: The Plight of June Dahlia, Part Four
"Hm... Well. This is a familiar situation," Mannon said. "Once again, we have people who could or could not be the ones who kidnapped you, this time because they talked about a 'golden-eyed girl'. And, there's a pop star involved, crying out for you to come help her. Wonderful. So, what do we do? Should we call the Mages Guild?"
Mannon looked at the letter Rin had handed to him as he spoke. Eli, Carliah, Harriton, Cara, and Maria were gathered around her, sitting throughout Mannon's office as they went over the issue.
"Obviously not," Elisa's aunt argued. Carliah crossed her arms, shaking her head. "Are we truly about to call for the Mages Guild to send investigators to Alera for no other reason than because they could, possibly, maybe, be connected to Rin's kidnappers? That would surely do wonderful things for both our guilds' reputations."
"I have to agree," Harriton replied. "Don't get me wrong, it might be the Scorned again, but if we send for Mages Guild help to be sent to random villages over minor things like these, I don't think that's going to make people's perception of either of us any better."
"On the other hand, however," Maria said, speaking up with that calm, polite tone she usually took during classes, "this situation involves a celebrity. If these are in fact the same people we've been looking for, then simply by being in their presence, June Dahlia is in danger. If we were to rescue someone with such a social status, that would certainly improve our reputation, no?"
To Rin, it was hard to believe that the main point of contention in this conversation appeared to be how exactly investigating this issue would affect the guild's image.
People's lives were at stake here. Sure, it could be a waste to send people to Alera only to find that the people June encountered had no connection to the Scorned, but, surely, it would be good to check, just to be certain.
Despite how she felt, it was lucky that the matter concerned someone like June Dahlia. The moment Rin had informed them earlier that it was June Dahlia who had sent her the two letters expressing those concerns, they'd suddenly taken the matter a lot more seriously.
"I have to agree with Maria here," Eli, the students' Physical Conditioning teacher, replied. "If it turns out that it's not them, we'll just annoy some folks. Our existence annoys motherfuckers. That doesn't matter. If it *is* them, then, we'd be screwing up royally in not sending anyone."
"Well," Mannon looked over at Cara, "looks like we're split on the issue. What do you think we should do?"
The ashen-haired woman looked down, hunching over as she contemplated the matter. Rin begged in her thoughts for the adventurer to agree with her here. Sure, there was a rather large chance that this would all be a non-issue, but Rin needed the peace of mind. She wanted someone to go out there.
And, thankfully, Cara agreed.
In a somewhat surprising way, though.
"I'll go."
"What?" Maria asked instinctively.
"I said, I'll go," Cara replied, standing up.
"Uh, Cara, you don't have to take this on yourself, we can just-"
"No, it seems like me going and saving the little pop star solves a lot of our issues here," Cara stated. "If I go, we don't have to bother the Mages Guild about any of this. Even though I am an adventurer, I'll just say I'm going on a vacation or something and if anything happens, the Adventurer's Guild can deny involvement. And, if it ends up being the case that they actually are The Scorned, I can take them out myself. Someone else might end up getting hurt if they get into a fight."
Cara shrugged as she looked back at Mannon.
"I'm not trying to be Ms. Helpful or anything, I really do think that me going on my own is just the best option."
Maria stood up suddenly.
"That is ridiculous!" She stated. "Fighting other people has never been your specialty. If you end up in a bad situation, you could end up getting yourself killed."
"I doubt that," Cara replied. "Even if they know some high-level magic, I still managed to take down all those mages when Rin got teleported. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle whatever they throw at me."
"And if you can't?" Maria asked.
"Then, I guess a Rank A adventurer dying at their hands would give both our guild and the Mages Guild reason to take this whole thing a little more seriously. Thank you for worrying, though."
The teachers took her words in silently. It didn't take a genius to see that Maria clearly disagreed with this, but she didn't say much beyond what she already had.
Rin, of course, was thankful that Cara had proposed this.
"I... I guess you could," Mannon said, scratching his chin. "What about your classes?"
"At this point," Cara replied, "a lot of the students are actively going to be taking missions. They can learn about monsters out on the field. They can skip out on my class for a few days and it should not affect their performance. They'll be fine."
Mannon nodded, considering her words.
"Well... I think this works. Everyone?" He asked, looking around the room.
"Eh, if you're willing to waste some of your own time, potentially, then sure. Go ahead," Harriton stated, putting his hands behind his head.
"I agree," Carliah added. "It is not up to me to tell you what to do with your own time."
Eli nodded along to her words.
It seemed like Maria was the only one with issues here. However, she remained quiet, which meant that this ended up being what they decided on.
"Alright then," Mannon said. "You'll be heading out to Alera. Around what time will you be leaving?"
"The sooner the better, no?" Cara asked. "Someone may be at risk here."
"Understood. Meeting dismissed."
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