Stretching her arms, the orange-haired girl let out satisfied breathe. She felt absolutely refreshed. A pleased smile graced her lips as she just finished taking a nice hot bath after a tiring day. She pursed her lips, recalling how their world was supposed to be nothing but some fictional entertainment.
She shook her head. She shouldn't get worked up again by it, especially after a nice bath.
"Oh, Roselyn." She smiled at Erina, who acknowledged her as she entered the living room. "You've finished bathing," the pale-blonde girl noticed the girl's freshly worn nightwear. A cute light orange shaded nightgown that reaches her knees. It was adorned with adorable red ribbons.
Roselyn hummed, "yeah, a nice dip in the bath is what I needed." She sighed as she slumped down on the couch beside her. Dang, theese cushions were comfortable.
Avelyn nodded as she put her chin against her palms, agreeing with her. "Who knew after visiting the guild, we'll be attacked with such unexpected news," the brunette puffed her cheeks. She still was a little peeved that she had been reduced to a common love rival in the original game.
Hearing what Avelyn mentioned regarding their visit to the guild, Cynthia couldn't help but perk up. She was relaxing beside the brunette on another separate couch after she too had finished taking a bath. "Talking about that, how was your visit to the guild? Did anything interesting happened?"
Surprisingly, Avelyn merely sighed at her question. "Nothing much, pretty much an average day," she boredly said. Cynthia hummed, she would take it that they simply spend doing nothing-if the brunette girl hasn't started to grin mischievously. "Well, if you don't count our dear Rosey flirting with a certain boy~"
"A-Avelyn!" Roselyn shot up, becoming flustered when she heard her words. "I did nothing of the sort!" The orange-haired girl tried to deny it. Unfortunately, her friends don't seem to believe her.
"Wait what?! Who?! How?! Why?!" Cynthia immediately bombarded the young Thalias girl with questions.
"Really?! Spill the details! What happened?!" Erina also had squealed in excitement. She being the helpless romantic, joined Cynthia in badgering Avelyn with endless questions. Yet overwhelmed by the two blondes, Avelyn could barely explain anything properly.
Kathryn sighed watching the scene before turning to the white-haired girl beside her, "say Lily". The two along with Yumi were sitting on another separate couch, facing between the other mentioned two. "Mind telling us?" The green-haired girl referred to the events in which Avelyn practically splattered out.
"A-Ah it was with Callum..." Lily confessed.
"WHAT?!"
The shy girl shrunk back into the couch when Cynthia and Erina both appeared before her in disbelief. Both blondes had different expressions, Cynthia had her jaws dropped while Erina was bashfully squealing.
Lily could only nod her head. She was telling the truth despite Roselyn's claims of untruth in the back.
"You must be joking!" Cynthia snapped her head back at Roselyn. "Callum?! That cold bastard?!" She was gaping.
"Cynthia!" Erina scolded her. "Don't go insulting people, especially ones you barely know!"
Demising her scolding, Cynthia instead clicked her tongue. "C'mon! This is Callum! The guy who almost got us killed!" She scowled, recalling the previous event and their first encounter. Call her petty but she still won't like the guy. He just give her bad impressions, okay!
"That was Koda." Kathryn rolled her eyes, correcting her.
"But still!" Cynthia knitted her brows. "Roselyn, I thought you had better taste than this!" She raised a brow at the orange-haired girl.
"No, you got it wrong! I wasn't flirting!" Roselyn flailed her arms around. Her whole face had turned red from embarrassment.
"That wasn't what we saw~" Avelyn smirked, giggling into her palms. "They were-oof!" She got her face planted by a flying pillow. A flustered Roselyn had thrown that pillow, trying to prevent the brunette from embarrassing her even more. "It wasn't like that!"
"Then do tell us." Kathryn sighed, crossing her arms. "...before we start making more wild assumptions"
"F-Fine!" Roselyn finally gave in. "It was like this..."
~ Flashback ~
"Oh my, just the three of you?" Clara blinked at them. She noticed the reduce of number in their party.
"Yeah, they're still tired from all that moving," Avelyn informed the older woman. She along with Roselyn and Lily, was sitting together before they were approached by Clara. It was a pretty quiet day with not many members lounging around.
"Wah! So you guys found a place already?" A familiar hyper blue-haired male appeared before them. "Mind us visiting anytime soon?!" His ruby eyes glimmer in excitement and anticipation. "We could-agghhh!" He choked as his collar was pulled from behind.
"Sorry about him." His teammate apologised, still pulling on the blue-haired male's collar. He was on the ground, struggling.
The three girls sweatdropped at Atlas and Rafael. Roselyn awkwardly smiled, "i-it's fine."
Lily worriedly stammered, "b-but is he a-alright?" She pointed at Atlas who was now turning blue.
Rafael blinked before looking down at his grasp, "oh right." He finally let him go. Atlas completely dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
"So you guys don't have any quest today?" Avelyn glanced at their other two teammates who were sitting at a separate table. She tried changing topics as they ignored Atlas's cries of 'I live!' in the back.
Unlike Atlas and Rafael,-Koda and Callum don't see the need to be friendly with them. Better yet, they don't seem to even like them-telling from Koda's constant scowls and glares while Callum practically ignored their presence.
"Not at the moment," Rafael shook his head. He had asked to take a seat at their table, which they didn't mind. "As you can see, most guild members are absent here so the majority of good quests have already been taken."
"They don't seem to like us much," Avelyn lowered her brows, frowning.
Following her gaze, Rafael sighed at the sight of his other teammates, "Koda is quick to judge but he's a pretty nice fellow once you get to know him."
"And Callum?" Roselyn tilted her head. Her dark pink eyes curiously gazed upon the aloof-looking boy.
"Well, he's-"
"He's cold to everyone, don't mind him!" Atlas interrupted the darker-skinned boy. "But he's a good leader and pretty cool when he warmed up to you!"
"Atlas, please don't interrupt me." Rafael scolded before smiling back at them. "But he's right. Callum has always been cold with strangers..." The dark-skinned boy widened his smile. "...though you lot are probably the few guild members closer to our age."
"Really?" Roselyn hummed, her gaze still on the dark-haired boy. Then they must at least learn to get along and perhaps even becomes friends. If her gut is telling her is true then Callum isn't as cold as he made himself to be. He did help them, right?
Suddenly Callum, as if feeling her gaze, looked up as steel grey met with dark pink pools. She flinched when she was caught staring at him. Even more so when she had received a cold glare from him. Roselyn paled and buried her face in her arms. Either from both fear or embarrassment, she didn't want to say.
"R-Roselyn?" Lily asked in concern, noticing the orange-haired girl's action. Though she too paled at the sight of Callum glaring at them.
Whereas, Avelyn only scowled at the sight of it. She was talking to Rafael when she had noticed the boy was death-glaring at her friends. It was bad enough that Koda was already giving them bad looks. "Hey..." She turned to Atlas and Rafael, jabbing a thumb at their teammates. "...could you call off your friends, would ya? Before I'll poke their damn eyes-"
"A-Avelyn!" Roselyn heard her upcoming threat and tried to stop her. The orange-haired girl swear that the brunette has been spending too much time with Cynthia. "Please, it's nothing! Callum just didn't like me staring at him."
Avelyn furrowed her brows at her. "Eh? You were staring at him? What for?" Then thoughts began to come to mind as a cheeky smirk crawled onto her face. "Oooh? Don't tell me you're interested in him-"
"O-Of course not!" Roselyn became flustered. "I was just curious, that's all! I mean he did helped us once before." She tried to defend herself.
"Oh really?" The mischievous smirk grew wider. Avelyn dared, "then why don't you go talk to him? If you're really that curious~"
"H-Huh?" Roselyn froze, caught off guard by her suggestion.
Rafael frowned, "I don't think that's a good-"
"C'mon~" Avelyn ignored him, still urging her orange-haired friend. "Unless you wanna admit th-"
"Fine! I will!" Roselyn didn't let the brunette finish her sentence as she was already approaching the glaring male. She huffed at her friend's teasing. She'll show her.
Callum merely raised a brow at the approaching girl while Koda had thrown another scowl at her. "What do you want?" The brunette male aggressively questioned.
Roselyn stopped before them. Right...what do she say?! She had gone and approached them without thinking what she wanted to say. "I-I..." She was stumped.
"Hey Koda, I need your help for a sec." Rafael then suddenly appeared and asked for his brunette friend. Koda didn't even get to say another word as he was pulled away. The dark-skinned male discreetly pulled a thumbs up as they passed Roselyn. Atta boy.
The orange-haired girl internally thanked Rafael. She would be less nervous talking to Callum without Koda breathing down her neck. Wait...they never did properly thank the male. Great! She got a conversation starter!
"U-Um Callum...sorry to bother you but..." Roselyn fiddled with her fingers, growing more nervous now that she was talking to him. "..w-we never got to thank you properly for help-"
"I didn't do it for you," was all he said as he clicked his tongue.
"But still you-"
"Cut the crap. What do you want?" Callum cut her off, glaring coldly. Roselyn flinched a little. He wasn't wrong but...
"Why are you so rude?" The young Heroine frowned. "My friends and I have never done anything to you, better yet your teammate was the one who almost got us killed that day." She, no longer felt nervous but instead irritated. "We're supposed to be guild members so shouldn't we-"
Callum scoffed. "Exactly, we're guild members yet not all of us were personally expected by the Guild Master." He glared at her. "There's something not right with your...team."
Roselyn blinked, recognising his tone. It was a familiar tone that she has seen among many children in her village. Always directed at her. "Wait...are you seriously jealous? That we were well-received by Master Cyrus, himself?"
"What?" Callum was caught off guard by her with his eyes widened. "Don't be ridiculous," his glare returned.
"Oh my, you are!" She gasped. "So that's why you acted so hostile with us-"
"Shut up," Callum scowled. "You don't know what you're talking about."
However, Roselyn simply giggled before sitting down beside him. "Really? But that's not what I hear~" she found it hilarious. Despite how cold he carried himself, he was still a child much like them. Petty one in fact.
"I merely found it suspicious that something is going on between your team and the Guild Master," he clicked his tongue. "You're either deaf or delusional to think that there's anything else to it."
"If you say so," Roselyn hummed. "But to be honest, I don't think you should be jealous-"
"I'm not jealous." Callum glared but surprisingly she ignored it. She was no longer that fearful of his glares.
"-there's nothing special about us really," Roselyn smiled at him. Though she sighed when the boy gave her a doubtful look. "You know how all of my teammates are capable of magic?"
Callum kept quiet but Roselyn paid no mind to it. "Well, a relative of Cynthia...you know Cynthia, right?"
"The loud annoying blonde...yes." Roselyn sweatdropped at the description. "Anyway, Cynthia's relative is a good friend of Master Cyrus and he was worried about us starting a journey on our own so he asked a favour from Master Cyrus. That's all," she explained. Of course, she left out that most of them belonged to noble households. She may be trusting but she isn't foolish.
"Really?" Callum said dryly, raising a brow.
"Yeah and I'm from a normal village, living with my grandmother before I left for our journey to become adventurers. We merely wanted to increase our experience and improve our skills so..." The orange-haired girl let out a amused gigle. "...it's nothing that mysterious as you make it out to be." Roselyn found it funny that the boy had assumed that they may have deeper reasons.
"If you say so," Callum closed his eyes.
"Then how about you?" Roselyn asked, curiosity cleared in her tone. Callum reopened his eyes, looking at her questionably. She puffed her cheeks, "well, I told you about our story, now you gotta tell me about yours." She crossed her arms.
"I never agreed to such a condition", he leaned his cheek against his knuckle. He simply stated the reason for his distalste, she was the one who was spilling practically her life story to him.
"No fair!" Roselyn cried, flailing her arms. "C'mon, tell me a little bit about yourself."
"No."
"But I told you so much about myself!"
"I never asked."
"Rude..." Roselyn slumped her shoulder in disappointment. But she was glad that he had somewhat warmed up to her. At least he wasn't glaring anymore!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And we just talked for a while." Roselyn ended her tale. "Well, it was more like me trying to get him to open up while he was dodging my questions." She sweatdropped, thinking back about it.
"Oh, so that's what happened." Avelyn opened her mouth, forming an o. "But I seriously thought you two were flirting since it looked like you were having so much fun," she snickered, still trying to tease her.
"It wasn't like that!" Roselyn pouted at her friend.
"A-At least he enjoyed your company," Lily said, catching their attention. "I-If not he would have walk away or run you off," she pointed out, smiling.
"True." Avelyn nodded, hugging the pillow that Roselyn had thrown at her.
"Well, it seems like you three had a nice visit." Erina giggled, watching them with a fond smile.
"But seriously." Cynthia frowned, crossing her arms. "How dare he call me loud and annoying?!" She fumed. She had been nothing but nice towards him yet he's the one acting so rude.
"From all that, that's what you get?" Kathryn deadpanned. She was becoming tired of the girl's petty grudge against the mentioned male.
Cynthia frowned at her friend. Was she the only one who didn't like this guy? "Of course! He just insulted me, behind my back too!" She was scowling. If you wanna talk shit behind her back, you better say it to her face. She outta...
Yumi shrugged, "he's not wrong." Still not looking up from her book. She was reading even when Roselyn was telling them of their day at the guild. Multitasking.
The blonde girl looked hurt by her blunt friend. "Yuuumiiii!!!!" Cynthia was now whining at her. Okay, it may be true but she didn't have to agree with the guy. "But seriously, Roselyn, you could do so much better than that guy." The blonde returned to face Roselyn. She quickly dropped the whole Callum insulting her and wanted to address the real issue.
"I wasn't flirting!" Roselyn was getting tired of this. She buried her flustered face into a pillow.
Erina however scolded the blonde girl. "Cynthia, just because you are having trouble in your love life, don't ruin it for Roselyn." She gets that Cynthia wouldn't be getting along with Prince Anthony anytime soon but at least she could witness the blooming romance between Roselyn and Callum. She swooned at the thought of it. Awww
"Erina!" Roselyn lifted her face from the pillow. The orange-haired girl cried at the romance-loving blonde.
Yumi hummed, lifting her head from her book. "Well if you were really flirting with him, I imagine it more like you flirting with a wall," the pinkette commented, resulting in them bursting into giggles.
"Says you." Cynthia snickered before getting face planted by a flying pillow. "Okay, now you've done it!" The blonde girl began to throw pillows left and right in rage. Thus, they had spent the rest of the ending day, teasing and throwing pillows at each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ The Next Day ~
"C'mon Cynthia! We gotta go!" Kathryn called out to the blonde girl. Cynthia huffed back at her, "hold on! I gotta grab my sword!" She shut the door to her room before racing down to the others. It was a new day and she may have awakened a bit later than expected.
"Bye Ben! Take care of the house!" The blonde girl called out to the carnivorous plant on the way out. A snap of his jaws was all she received as a reply. Aww, he doesn't completely hate her!
Though as she made it out, Erina had greeted her with a shake of her head before locking up the house. Cynthia simply replied with a sheepish smile, "hehe thanks for waiting."
"I wanted to leave you behind." Yumi hummed, already walking away. The pinkette ignored Cynthia's cries and pouts as she silently walked ahead.
"Mou, Yumi! You don't mean that! You love me!"
~ Eden Radice Guild ~
Carla who's always there at the reception desk had greeted them with her usual bright smile. The girls had greeted each other before hopping over the Quest Board. They should find another quest to do, especially since their first one was kinda a letdown.
Though judging from the number of flyers plastered on the board, they would have plenty of options.
"How about this one?" Roselyn pointed to a flyer. It was a C-Rank Quest where the client needed adventurers to escort them. Cynthia groaned at the suggestion, "not another escort quest." She grimaced, recalling their first quest.
Roselyn sweatdropped, perhaps they should hold off any escort quests for a while.
"U-Um this one looks nice," Lily gestured to another flyer. It was a D-Rank Quest about helping a lady find a missing book. Cynthia rolled her eyes, "that's more like an errand."
Kathryn sighed at her, "c'mon, Cynthia. We can't be picky. Any will do," which the blonde completely ignored and shifted her attention back to the board.
A flyer had caught Cynthia's eyes, "ooo check this one out." She grabbed onto it eagerly.
"What's it's about?" Avelyn peeked over her shoulder. It was an A-Rank Quest involving getting rid of monsters for a village. Cynthia's eyes gleamed in excitement as she read it through. "Now this is more our speed," she proudly declared.
Though, she had scowled when she heard someone laughing behind her. She turned to an older man who was also checking out the Quest Board and pretty much was listening in on their conversation. She could tell with his so-not-sneaky glances. "Something funny?" The blonde girl crossed her arms.
The man was wearing leather with armour and what peeved her most was that he was looking at her with such a smug expression. "Oh, nothing. I just thought that you were joking when you said you could handle an A-Rank Quest."
Cynthia's eye twitched, "...." She wasn't impressed. Her scowl grew as the man started to laugh more, "wait, you're serious? You better stick to D-Rank or C-Rank Quests, girlie." The man's companions had also burst out laughing at his words.
The blonde girl was practically stemming from this man's jabs along with his friends. He, much like her, was a guild member of the same guild yet he dared to berate her based on her appearance rather than capability. She had Erina and Roselyn trying to calm her down but spoiler, it wasn't working.
She wanted nothing more but to scream her head off or even set the man's hair on fire-Okay, we get, you freaking arsonist. However, she didn't wish to make a scene...
"Listen here, asshole but I could care less what the fuck you think..." Cynthia clicked her tongue. "...nor do my friends therefore it's irrelevant thank you very much." She linked her arm with Avelyn who was also glaring at the man and walked away. Much like herself, her friends didn't take it kindly to the man's disrespect towards her.
"We're definitely taking this quest" the blonde murmured. And by the looks of it, her friends didn't need much convincing.
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Author Note:
Oh? What's this? Our girls are now off to another quest, yay! ψ(｀∇')ψ
Again, sorry for the late chapter. I had to face a constant old adversary...dun dun dun, writer block! Yeah, I had a hard writing for further chapters...
I am trying my best but I suck...
(Ｔ▽Ｔ) I am just happy that people are still reading this story! Love and hugs to you lot! And to be honest, I especially enjoyed writing this particular chapter because we get to explore more on Callum! And his interaction....especially with a certain someone (✪ω✪) ohoho~
Anyway, please do comment your thoughts! I enjoy reading them! And vote! Yes, give some love
So bye2 (❁'3'❁)