Aiden took a few breaths to calm his raging heart down. It was not the right time yet. As his eyes were closed, nobody noticed when they began to glow nor when the light faded, and it returned to their exotic-looking but an otherwise normal state.

"So, what quest did you guys pick?" He asked, changing the subject. Meanwhile, he also nodded towards Mary with a smile, who, understanding the notion, smiled back with a thankful expression, and turned to leave towards the back office door with the quest paper in her hands.

"Nothing too difficult, don't worry. It's just some monster hunting request." The leader of the group, Jack replied with a fake smile. It was clear he didn't want to elaborate on the matter and wanted to move on to another topic. "What about you guys? Did you guys regist-"

Unfortunately for them, Aiden didn't want to leave the matter at that. Interrupting Jack's words, Aiden asked again.

"What quest did you guys pick? The attendant seemed worried that it's not that simple of a request." His voice was calm, but towards the end, there was a barely noticeable, underlying coldness in his tone. While his demeanor hasn't changed, his words still sent chills down the group's spines.

Jack gritted his teeth, and while some veins seemed to bulge on his temple, he swallowed his annoyance and anger and forced to keep the smile on his face. It took him a bit, but he managed to answer with relative cool in his tone.

"It doesn't matter, kid. It's just some semi-intelligent species of fish-like humanoids that live in and around water. They want us to quell their numbers a bit, nothing more."

"And you are sure you can handle them? Based on what I heard they could prove troublesome, even for your experienced group. Are you not afraid of losing someone?" Aiden continued his questioning, not minding the ugly stares he received from the members.

"Tsk!" Jack clicked his tongue in annoyance. He could barely hold back his anger anymore. He had to take several seconds in silent forced contemplation to mask his bubbling rage before he could respond.

"Don't worry. We are all experienced with these creatures and know how they operate. You two just need to follow our lead and listen to our commands and nothing bad will happen. On the contrary, you two will have the chance to learn from this encounter and become much stronger as a result!"

With a surprised expression on his face, Aiden's friendly smile that seemed to be a constant resident on his face curved slightly higher. He slightly bowed showing his 'gratitude'.

"Ooooh, I see! I can only thank you for kindness then. Once we are all done here, we could head out, and do all three quests in one go, right?"

Seeing the boy's naive smile, calmed his anger by a considerable margin. With the same fiendish smile on their faces, Jack and his group smiled back at the boy.

"No problem, it is our duty as veterans to assist the young and inexperienced!"

At this moment, the back office door opened, and Mary came out with a much calmer appearance as before. She smiled brightly at Aiden, as she walked back and only gave a momentary apathetic glance at the group before speaking.

"The rank 2 quest has been registered under the 'Bloody Dagger' group. Aiden, you and Cole will also receive credit from it when you complete it, so don't worry!"

Aiden once again nodded at the girl.

"Thank you, Mary. Cole and I will come back in the afternoon to credit these to our name and finalize the creation of our group! Hope we can meet again then!"

Desperately trying to mask the rosy tint on her cheeks, she responded with an averted gaze.

"S-sure! I will be waiting for you!"

All the time, she completely ignored Jack and his group, she only talked and looked at Aiden, slightly irking the group in the process. However, thinking about the two prey that will be walking with them, made Jack quickly ignore this. He looked at the boys, and with the fake, friendly-looking smirk that he tried presenting as a smile, he spoke.

His tone was forced, as he tried his best to make himself present as a friendly expert trying to help the younglings.

"So, are you two ready to head out? We should go as soon as we can so we could finish before nightfall!"

Cole, who did not speak but continued to hide behind Aiden all this time, looked nervously at Aiden, waiting for a response. To his surprise, Aiden continued to remain calm and collected, as if everything was within his calculations.

Aiden nodded at the question, and as he responded, he slowly and casually began walking towards the Guild's entrance.

"Sure, we are ready. Come on you guys, let's head out! We have quests to complete!"

Seeing his receding figure, Cole quickly rushed after him. Shortly behind, the group of 5, the Bloody Dagger followed, cruel grins on their faces as they looked at the two unsuspecting prey walking in front of them.

---

"Aaand that's 4! Great job Cole!" Aiden cheered at the brown-haired huffing boy who just fell down on the ground, completely exhausted from his earlier battle.

He fought one on one against the brown, large frog-like monster. The beast resembled an oversized common toad, only that it had bone-like protrusions all over the back of his body. It wasn't overly strong or dangerous, as long as you were careful and avoided its relentless jumping attacks.

Aiden and the group that has come with could have easily deal with the beasts, but Cole wanted to at least contribute with 1 kill without any help. He didn't want to rely on others for all the work, he would never be able to learn from it and grow stronger.

Still, the fight took everything he had and then some. He was overly exhausted, he lied down on the ground while huffing heavily. He closed his eyes, but a satisfied smile curved her lips.

"I… I… did it! I… killed… one… Aiden!" he spoke in between two heavy breaths.

"Yes, you were incredible! Now, leave the rest to us, you just rest up, okay?" Aiden smiled at his new friend. His fight was honest, and after witnessing his style, he could now safely say that he had no bad intentions towards him.

He turned towards the group of five, that stayed a step behind them silently measuring both of them. With a questioning gaze, and an innocent-sounding tone he asked them.

"Why are you standing there? Aren't you the experienced veterans? Shouldn't you be showing us how to properly do these quests?"

Hearing the question, the group looked at each other with a predatory grin on their faces. They knowingly nodded at each other, they slowly circled around the two, entrapping them. They all slowly pulled their daggers and entered a battle-ready state.

Their leader, Jack, finally shed the mask of the kind veteran and revealed his true self. His ruffled, unscrupulous face morphed into a cruel, vicious grin. He licked his lips and raised his daggers pointing at Aiden.

"Don't take this the wrong way boy, we truly want to teach you both some a lesson. A much needed one… about the cruelty of life!"

He and his group laughed at his words and at the two unlucky sods they are about to rob. Their laughter was loud and unrestrained, completely ignoring the fact that their despicable act was taking place in daylight and just a couple miles away from the rood and the city.

Hearing their laughter, Cole set up nervously, reaching for the short sword that was lying next to him on the ground. As he grabbed the hilt and pulled the weapon closer, Aiden's calm voice resounded in his ears, almost making him jump in fright as he startled him.

"Don't worry, just stay still and watch the show. The reason I wanted them to come with us, was to get their quest as well. That way we can cash in a Rank 2 quest for free. These idiots pose no threat to us!"

Expecting the boys to be shivering in fright, the leader was shocked to see that the bronze-skinned, black long-haired youth was still staring at him with a calm, collected expression on his face. His exotic, golden eyes had no hint of fear in them. He looked at him as if he was looking at a poor idiot.

This contemptuous look irked him to no end, and with his plans already being revealed, he no longer restrained himself. He looked at his men, and with unmasked anger in his voice, he loudly shouted.

"Men, let's go and beat them up! Let's cut a few fingers while we're at it, and let's leave them as bait for the Sahuagin!" With that, we can get the credit for all three quests, and finally have the chance to rank up!"