Within hours Venturis was marching through the orchard, hunting down monsters. The battles weren’t always easy, but they managed. They even, as Adina had mentioned, found some new materials to collect and sell. It was during one of their collection periods that a deer wandered into their area. When Cherise pointed it out, they all froze and watched it. It didn’t seem to make a move at first, and then suddenly it yelled and charged at them.

They all quickly drew their weapons and jumped into formation. The young deer didn’t end up being as dangerous as they expected, and managed to kill it without too much problem, but yet Benji seemed unsettled as they slowly relaxed.

“Benji?” Natsuki asked, alerting the others to the look of unease on the Runemaster’s face.

“That was a Furyfawn…” he said quietly. “And where there’s a Furyfawn…”

A loud roar cut Benji off and the entire guild traded nervous glances.

“Maybe we should leave…?” Adina clutched at her staff and was already taking a couple steps back towards their airship.

Everyone nodded in agreement and after another moment of startled inaction, Logan led the way quickly back towards the exit. Just as they left the immediate area, a much larger, much scarier, much more dangerous looking, fully grown, purple deer burst out from the trees and wasted little time in charging after the adventurers.

“RUN!” Logan shouted, tearing off towards the door ahead of them.

No one wasted any time in following his order and they burst through the doorway that marked the halfway point back to the airship. They didn’t slow down as they did a U-turn back the way they came but on the other side of a thicket of trees, and past a pond that they had no way of crossing easily.

The deer, however, had apparently little trouble clearing the pond with a large leap, and landed directly in front of the guild, cutting off all exit.

“Back! Back!” Logan shouted as they all skidded to a stop, turning around and leading them back towards the door.

When they got close though, Logan turned them to the right, away from the door, and into a loop they’d mapped earlier. They ran through the trees, hearing the deer behind them. Logan’s change of plan worked though, as when they looped back around, the way was clear. The only problem now was that the deer was catching up to them.

“It’s going to catch us!” Cherise called out.

“Then slow it down!” Logan called back.

He heard frustrated grumbling from his sister, but she half turned and flung blinding dust at the monster. Benji followed it up with a fireball, and both attacks seemed to slow it down enough that the guild was able to slip around a corner. They could see the airship ahead, and it seemed to invigorate the adventurer’s to pick up their speed. The deer hadn’t stopped though. They could hear the stomp of its hooves getting ever closer, and Natsuki was sure for a moment he could feel the hot breath from its nose against the back of his neck at one point.

The raging monster pursued them all the way to the airship, and the entire guild practically collapsed onto the deck as soon as they reached it, aside from Benji and Natsuki, who quickly got to work getting the vessel into the air and out of reach of the creature.

They floated just outside the orchard for a bit, listening to it shout and rage while they caught their breath and wondered what they had just escaped from.

“So… successful training day?” Logan said, still slightly out of breath.

Considering she had literally nothing else to do, the Nightseeker got to her feet and followed the Dancer out into the streets of Tharsis. She followed him for awhile, wondering where he could possibly be heading off to, especially as the crowds thinned and he continued on into the quieter part of the city. It was also at this point that Natsuki finally looked over his shoulder, and Cherise quickly jumped to the side to stay out of sight. The act made her hiss in pain, forgetting for a moment about her injuries, but she managed to stifle it. Then she questioned why she was taking so much effort into not being seen.

“...Because it’s more fun that way,” she muttered to herself before peeking back around the corner and seeing Natsuki on his way back down the street.

Using the skills she had being a Nightseeker, Cherise managed to slink after Natsuki until he finally came to a stop in a large park area that was completely empty. She found a good hiding spot to keep an eye on him, and settled in to find out exactly what it was Natsuki was doing all the way out here.

Then he started to dance. The moves weren’t too dissimilar from the ones she’d seen him perform in combat, but these were slower, more… meaningful? Maybe not the right word, but it was the one Cherise was sticking to for now. She sat and watched the entire dance through, the performance being far longer than the ones she’d seen before. Natsuki finished, straightened, and then turned to face the exact spot Cherise was hiding. She froze, and her eyes widened.

“You can come out, I know you were following me,” he said simply.

Cherise huffed and made her way into plain view. “How?”

“You’re not as nimble as usual with your injuries. I noticed it as soon as you followed me out the door. I only want to know why.”

The Nightseeker shrugged. “I was curious.”

“And bored,” Natsuki guessed correctly, though Cherise didn’t offer him a reaction. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

“More fun this way,” Cherise answered with a small smirk before moving on to her own questions. “Why are you all the way out here? What was that? It looked like your battle dances, but, slower?”

Natsuki nodded. “I was practicing, and it’s easier to do with less distractions and lots of space. The dances I use in combat are faster, more energetic, but to pull them off correctly, I like to spend time practicing them at a slower pace. To make it more fun for me, I change it up a little too. I don’t just dance for fighting, you know.”

“Obviously…” Cherise said, her mind still lingering on the dance moves.

Natsuki smiled, just a little. “Did you want me to show you?”

“W-What?” Cherise asked, taken aback. “O-Oh, n-no, um, it’d probably, hurt with the, uh…”

“You should be fine. In fact, it might even help a little,” Natsuki assured.

“Well…” Cherise hesitated for a moment, fidgeting a little and playing with her hands. “If… You want to. I guess.”

“We need to be fully prepared for whatever comes our wa--”

“How are we going to be prepared for something no one has encountered, Jeong?” Mitch asked, tone short. The prince made a face, and his eyes narrowed further.

“So you’d prefer we charged forward at a constant pace, not considering the risks? This stratum is new, and we shouldn’t take it lightly.”

“I’d say two weeks is taking it very seriously! The last three days, we’ve done almost nothing but scout out the floor and catch fish! We’re moving forward!”

“That’s funny, I thought I was the guild leader here.” Jeong’s voice was cool as he’d regarded Mitch.

“What’s the point of being the leader if you’re afraid of everything?!”

“Better to be a leader afraid to needlessly put his guildmembers on the line than one that tempts death with a stupid stunt as means to an end.”

Though Jeong’s voice was still calm, to Mitch, it sounded as angry as any parent’s scolding. The boy fell silent, as his eyes did to the floor. So...Jeong was upset about that, too. By the time Mitch had gotten to look back up to Jeong, the prince’s eyes were still settled into a glare, and the air about them both was tense. It took a moment, but Jeong closed his eyes and let out a sigh through his nose, standing to place a shoulder on Mitch’s shoulder with a sardonic smile.

“But, if you’re really so skeptical of my leadership skills, then you may command, Mitchell. We leave on your command, alright?”

Mitch made a face at Jeong. Was he really mad, or...or was he mocking him?? The boy’s brows furrowed, and he’d taken a step back, not looking at any of his guildmembers.

Adina came up alongside Logan as they reached the stairs, but they skidded to a halt as a large figure ascended them.

"Little help?" It asked with a grunt.

As the figure came into view, it became obvious it was two figures, not one. A man, an explorer like themselves maybe, carrying a soldier over his shoulder.

"Oh! Yes, put him down here!" Adina jumped into action as the man lay the soldier in the grassy area Adina had pointed out.

"Ahh, thanks. Boy I'm glad you guys are here. Venturis, right?"

Logan blinked. "Uhh, yeah, bu-"

"How'd you know who we are!?" Cherise demanded, cutting off her brother.

Logan shot her a look, but if she saw it, she didn't react, keeping her hands near the hilts of her swords.

"Not how I meant to ask, but it is what I want to know."

The man stretched, seemingly unnerved by Cherise's demand. "Not to worry! I keep tabs on a lot of guilds, and you guys have been making waves, that's all. Not much, just enough to be noticed. Its not often a guild makes this much progress this fast."

"This is considered fast progress?" Benji asked.

The man nodded. "You bet! Few have mapped out this floor of the woods, even fewer have had accurate maps. Your maps and other information you've been collecting and sharing has been invaluable!"

Benji was quite taken aback by this. "O-Oh. Well. I'm glad its been useful."

Logan gave his Runemaster a smile, agreeing with the man, before asking another question. "So, who are you then? And are you down here alone?"

"Ah! My apologies!" The man flourished a small bow. "Name's Whirlwind. And yes, I'm a solo explorer. Dangerous, yes, but that's part of the fun, right?" He gave Cherise a wink, who rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad I was here though. Otherwise this soldier might not have made it... How's he doing?"

Adina quirked her head, still applying potions and spells. She finished her actions and took a breath before looking over. "He'll be fine, but he has to get back to town."

The group took a collective sigh of relief. "Good to hear," Logan said. "Guess we should get him back before exploring the next floor."

"Good idea," Whirlwind agreed. "But one more thing." The guild, except Natsuki, gave the man a curious look. "There's something bigger down there. Something really dangerous. The soldier had muttered something about a bear, covered in blood."

That send a shiver down Logan's spine. "Covered...?"

Whirlwind nodded. "May have been a trick of the eyes, but one thing's for sure, something was off down there. You run into that thing you better be prepared, either to fight or run."

“C’mon, kiddos, onto the boat. Nice and easy-like!” A large man, thick and obviously hardened from travel barked at a small line of children, waving each of them up the gangplank. Despite the smile on this man’s face, the children all seemed...distraught, and if one listened carefully, they could hear the faintest of jingling sounds from underneath the ornate cloaks they all wore. This was in a more...secluded part of the port, so not many people had been paying attention. Not many, save for the two children that had been hiding among the barrels a small length of the boat away.

“Aya...I think...I...don’t think this is the kind of trade ship we wanted to be on...” A small boy with a book and wand clutched to his chest murmured.

“Yeah, I’m...preeetty sure those guys are pirates, Desi.” The girl next to him replied back as she’d pulled her scarf up and over her nose. “We should probably help those kids.”

The boy blinked once at his companion, but it was quickly replaced with a grin. Despite the ‘probably’ in her previous statement, he’d learned in the short time that they’d known each other that when she pulled her scarf up, her mind had already been made. Desi couldn’t help but give an enthusiastic nod as he pulled his wand into his free hand.

The amount of chaos two tween-aged children could cause was...frankly? Both hilarious and terrifying. There had been yelling, swords drawn, magic thrown...the shackled children had been trapped behind a wall of ice on the far side of the boat as these two kids had worked at tying the last of this crew of pirates to the masts of the ship. Ayame dusted off her hands after tying the last knot.

“Phew. You can let those kids out now, Desi!”

WIthout a word, the wall of ice came down, and the five children behind it stood huddled together, teeth chattering in both fear and from the cold. “Wh-Whoops...sorry about that...” Desi murmured. “Show me you guys’ hands..?”

The children all wordlessly complied as Ayame strolled over, and one by one, the metal shackles around their wrists became cold and brittle enough for the boy’s companion to break the chains with a strike of one of her blades. “There! Now you’re...free...” The children didn’t give either of them enough time to speak before rushing off of the boat without so much as a word of thanks.

All of them but one. Aya and Desi both looked back at him, poor boy looking for all the world that he’d been staring down his death.

“U-Uh...you’re not...gonna run, are you?” Desi asked.

The boy shook his head.

“Are...are you scared of us...?” Aya asked.

The boy nodded.

Both children looked at each other, and slowly, Aya stepped forward, gently placing her hands on the boy’s shackles and beginning to pry them off.

“We don’t wanna hurt you, promise!” Desi began, nodding back at the pirates tied to the ship. “Those guys were just...bad and you and your friends looked like they were in trouble. We wanted to help! Really, we did!”

The boy continued to stay quiet, long ears drooping at the sound of one of his shackles snapping off. It took a moment, but when he spoke, his voice was quiet and strained from obvious disuse. “You...you guys help people?”

“We try to, yeah.” Aya answered as she went to work on the boy’s other hand.

“And we punish bad guys! Like those pirates!” Desi nodded back to the mast once again. “We’re the good guys!”

“Can...Can I help people too...?” The boy asked.

Aya and Desi both looked at one another and blinked, grins slowly spreading on each of their faces. “You wanna come with us?”

The boy nodded.

“Well, what’s your name? I’m Ayame! Or Aya!”

“I’m Desi...J-Just Desi.”

“M-Mordecai....”

“So, like my new trick, bro?” Cherise chuckled after they had defeated the nearby monsters. “Picked it up a few days ago, finally found a use for it!”

Logan rolled his eyes and groaned. “The least you could’ve done was given me a warning… I feel lucky to not have been crushed…”

“Aw, you’re tougher than that!” Cherise slapped Logan on the back. “All that armour and stuff. Plus, telling you would’ve ruined my part of the fun.” Logan looked like he was about to tell her off again so she cut him off. “Look, look, I just had to do it once, okay? Besides, now you know about it. The plus side is, I can use this to help distract enemies too! In case you need a break or, something. I dunno.”

Logan sighed and smiled. “Yeah. Alright. Just… be a little more careful? We’re doing better, but if we make a mistake…” He shrugged. “Just be careful?”

Cherise smiled at him. “Of course! You know me!”

“That’s what I’m concerned about…”