Episode 5: Morning (2)

Walking out of the room from where Fei had slept overnight, Orelia grumbled slightly. "This Fei..." she muttered out. "It looks like she doesn't want to eat even her favourite dish."

"What can we even do?" Xander frowned.

"Just let her sleep for now. I'll give her a stern talk later..." Orelia shook her head helplessly as she began to make her way down the stairway. "In any case, since it's still morning, have you had breakfast? If not, then go have it downstairs."

"R-Right I will..." Xander nodded his head as he saw that Orelia was walking down the stairs. "..." Noting that she had disappeared into the distance, Xander couldn't help but turn around to the door that led into the room where Fei was sleeping. "...Fei."

Muttering out with a sigh, Xander turned around listlessly as he soon headed down the stairs, quickly moving to the first floor of the guildhall.

...

The Lakeside Town, Yumin—Guildhall [9:21 AM].

While slowly making her way down the stairs, Orelia rubbed the back of her neck in a tired manner. "What to do... What to do..." she uttered out in thought. However, her line of thinking was soon interrupted by a call of her name from the distance.

"...Orelia?" A male's voice protruded out. "How's Fei?"

"...?" Turning her head over to the direction of the voice, she saw that Roy was walking up to her. "Ah... Well, not good."

"Hmm... I see, so she's still like that from last night?" Roy questioned.

"Yeah..." With a reply from Orelia, she soon stretched her arms whilst letting out a yawn. "Anyway... There's nothing we can do for now. Just let her sleep till the afternoon and we'll go on with our daily lives."

"Right," Roy nodded his head. "Fei's been like this numerous times before, right? I'm sure she'll get into the mood."

"Well, she has been like this every time Kruz leaves... But this is the worst one yet," from the staircase, came Damian who sighed through his breath. "I don't think she's overreacting even..."

"Sigh... It's hopeless to think about it," by the counter, Balmar uttered out whilst wiping the desk with a table cloth. "Let's just hope she feels better later. Anyhow, Aina bought some food from the nearby shops, so go and have your meals and start your day. At this rate, we might fall behind on our usual routine."

"Ahem... Yep, yep!" Shaking her head away from the fatigue, Orelia swiftly made her way over towards a table situated by the corner of the room which was the usual spot where the guild rankers ate at.

Moments after, she sat down on the chair as she began to eat the breakfast which was a classic one that was made up of egg, sausages, bacon and the like, simple but delicious.

"Mmm~ Nothing beats breakfast in the morning~!" Enjoying her meal, Orelia soon noticed that besides Xander who had walked together with her, Roy had been leaning on the wall the entire time. "...huh? You're not joining for breakfast?"

"Nope," Roy calmly shook his head. "I've already had a small portion and that's it. Instead, I'll be going out for my usual patrol around town."

Soon after he had said so, Roy began to make his way over to the exit of the guildhall. However, before he exited out of the building, he stopped at his footsteps as he soon moved his eyes over to a black-haired man who had entered the building at the same time.

"Ah, Damian? Good morning." Confirming that the man was Damian, Roy immediately pointed his hand over to the table that Xander and Orelia were sitting at. "Orelia and Xander are over at the table having breakfast, so you can join them for a meal."

"...I see," Damian stated in a listless tone. "Is Fei still asleep?"

"Unfortunately so. You can wait around if she ever decides to wake up, but it's up to you," Roy shrugged as he slowly made his way out. "But in any case, I'll see you around later during lunch. For now, I'm going out for my morning jobs."

"Right... See you around," Damian replied with a sigh as he spiritlessly walked over towards the table by the corner, where Xander and Orelia were enjoying their meals.

"Ah! Damian, you've arrived!" Xander gestured over towards Damian. "Have a seat and take whatever you like. Roy only ate a few so, you can have his portions if you'd like."

"...ahh, well... I've got no appetite," Damian helplessly shook his head. "So, I just want to wait around until-"

"Jeez... You both are being difficult," Orelia furrowed her brows. "Eat!"

"But-"

"Eat!" Orelia frowned.

"Sigh... I guess I'll eat a bit..." Without wanting to argue, Damian sauntered over towards a sit beside Orelia and soon helped himself to small portions of eggs and bacon.

"..."

"..."

With every bite on the meal, the atmosphere around Damian grew gloomy.

"...this is just," Xander murmured out as he soon kept quiet, only eating the dish in front of him.

"..."

As the silence continued to prevail around the guildhall, small echoes of footsteps soon followed as a figure of a girl with tired eyes walked down the staircase. In the next moment, the brown-haired girl glanced around the area as her eyes met with Damian.

"...!" The moment she did so, the girl, Fei suddenly stepped back as she turned away from him. "...I came down at a bad timing."

"...Fei!" Damian stood up abruptly as he called out her name. "I-"

"Sorry Orelia... I'll come back down for lunch. For now... I'll just read up on something," shaking her head, Fei hurried up the staircase.

"..."

"...Damian..." Xander uttered out with a difficult expression.

"...I'll just do my task for the morning," chowing down the remaining food on his plate, Damian scurried over towards the counter and soon spoke with Balmar who was behind it.

"A-Are you sure?" Balmar muttered out. "Although today was supposed to be the first day of your guild ranker life, with things as it is, you can just-"

"Yes, I'm sure," Damian nodded firmly. "Just give whatever. I'll do it."

"I-I see..." Unable to reject Damian, Balmar moved his hand over towards a small stack of paper and soon took out a sheet and handed it over to him. "You can just do these for now since it's your first day. It's mostly simplistic tasks and the like, so you can do them with ease."

"Will do," with his hand taking the sheet, Damian immediately headed for the exit.

"...hey, Damian!" Xander cried out from behind him in hopes of stopping him. However, Damian left with no reply. "...seriously?"