Shatter Sound

As the incomplete team Valhalla gathered at one of the comfy couches provided by the guild's lounge, a certain dark elf was ready to blow her top.

"We agreed to meet here at the earliest. It's almost noon and that tiefling is nowhere to be found!"

Antani's hand rested on her lover's thigh, "Ellamir, calm down. I'm sure she has her reasons why she's late."

"I think you and I both know the reason. She should know better than to spend the whole evening fucking when you have an important appointment the next morning!"

Stefano chuckled, along with an 'Are you for real?' expression on his face. The two lovers weren't exactly subtle about their late night activities. Hearing your friends fucking on the other side of the room was every bit as awkward as you can imagine. It's a good thing his faith in Mithra was unshakable, no matter how much noises the shaking the bed right past his bedroom wall made, Stefano harbored no impure thoughts. He considered moving soon. Maybe pass Gloria onto Yulia since she's been single for a while now, nobody would mind if a mermaid freeloaded in her place.

Having caught wind of Stefano's chuckle, Ellamir's ire transferred from the tiefling and onto their cleric who was right in front of them, leaning on the back of Gloria's wheelchair.

"You got something to say, pipsqueak?"

"Nothing." Then, Stefano looked away and uttered under his breath. "Cyclops."

"I heard that!"

Breaking off their little exchange, Yulia appeared, yet something seemed off. She was downtrodden, like her armor was weighing her down which shouldn't be the case, she wears that heap of metal like her second skin.

It was evident on her face too, as it contorted in utter tiredness. The odd thing though, is that there's a bit of happiness hidden underneath that guise of lethargy.

"The fuck happened to you? Did you and that succubus bang the whole day, or what?"

At first Ellamir wanted to mouth off on Yulia, but seeing her friend in that state transformed her anger into worry.

"No, we only did it once. But I'll tell you what, it's the best god damn lay I've ever had in my life. Succubuses are really something." Yulia managed to pull off a triumphant grin, even in the weary state that she's in. "Stefano, hand me a mana potion, please."

Rummaging through his leather pouch, Stefano took out a small flask with blue swirling liquid inside. "Catch."

With the potion now in her hand, Yulia uncorked it and voraciously gulped the liquid like someone who got stranded in the desert. She ignored its sour sweetness as she focused on the potion doing its magic.

The more talented the alchemist, the more potent the brew. And although Yulia couldn't thank the alchemist directly since they just bought the potion from one of Elaria's many markets, she couldn't help but appreciate such a fine potion since she could already feel her mana regenerating. Her usual upbeat demeanor slowly returned every second.

"Good shit!" Yulia exclaimed. She might have exaggerated it, but she would have arrived to the same reaction even with piss poor quality potions due to how mana starved she was.

"Was she really that good?" Ellamir's brows raised.

"Oh, You have no idea. I mean It was only simple sex, but the sensation that her drain gave me, fuck!" Yulia couldn't put the euphoria into words. The succubus' drain made her feel like it wasn't just her body that was being fucked, her soul was getting fucked into oblivion as well.

"You sound curious. Are you?" Antani glanced at her lover with narrow eyes.

Ellamir gulped. The way Antani worded her question accompanied by such a fierce glare made Ellamir jump to the conclusion that if she ever said yes, to which Ellamir would never do, Ellamir might wake up one night with her ding-a-ling below severed.

"O-of course not! There you go again, doubting where my loyalty lies."

"And where does it lie?" Antani followed up her previous question.

"What is it with all this questioning!? You know what, fine. To you, it's always been you!" Although Ellamir's words were soaked in ire, they were her honest feelings nonetheless.

"Good."

Satisfied with Ellamir's answer that placated her anxious heart, Antani dropped the matter.

Antani couldn't stomach Ellamir openly showing curiosity towards other women. Once, she can tolerate and easily let Ellamir off the hook, twice is a pattern. Antani really needed to put more faith into Ellamir, maybe it was just the dark elf's bluntness.

Or maybe, Antani was projecting into Ellamir because it was the Amazon that actually found the succubus drop dead gorgeous. The difference between them is that she's aware it's merely an infatuation, she's not the one asking out loud how good the succubus fucked. The gist of it is, she's not going to act on it and endanger what she and Ellamir have. And if the succubus ever becomes part of their group, Antani's sure that infatuation would simply fade, as friendship may or may not bud between them.

"Stop diddling! Can we go!?" Gloria chimed in, itching to blast stuff with her rune cannons.

The amused Yulia let out a soft giggle, Gloria's grasp on the common language was improving day by day. Albeit there would be a few slip ups every now and then.

"I believe the proper word is 'dallying', not diddling." Yulia corrected.

"Yeah, that! Now we go!"

As Gloria rolled out into the guild's quest board, the rest of team Valhalla followed close behind.

+++

Perusing the humongous guild board filled parches of quests. Their eyes all scoured the highest paying one.

Stefano called Yulia's attention as he saw something interesting. "Hey, Yulia. Come take a look at this."

{Platinum : Bring me two magma wyrm corpses

Reward : 30 gold

Additional info : Bring to me the corpses in one piece or I'll cut ya pay by half!}

Living in volcanoes, magma wyrms are as dangerous as fire elementals. Their price ranges from 40 to 50 gold.

"Augustia, you cheapskate. No one's going to take this quest if you don't pay properly."

Even though Yulia sneered, she planned on doing the quest to help her friend out. She owed her at least that much.

After doing a high paying one, that is. There are 5 of them now, and splitting 30 gold between them won't do it for the long haul.

After looking for a while, the other quests didn't seem that enticing, ranging from 20 up to 40 gold. They were now seriously considered to take on Augustia's quest.

The dark elf's eye searched high and low, looking for a quest that might contain trinkets additional quests as rewards, preferably accessories.

Ellamir's focus was broken by the old wizard behind her, appearing out of nowhere.

"Why if it isn't my favorite merry band of adventurers."

Ellamir made a 'guh' sound, she turned around to see the guild master, his grin haughty.

"Don't sneak up on others! The fuck do you want from us!?" Ellamir raised her timbre in disrespect.

"Yahahaha! Is that how you greet your guild master? Especially someone intent on propositioning you with a mighty lucrative quest."

"Are you planning on sending us to one of your crafted dungeons again?" Yulia questioned. She had no qualms with it as long as the pay is good. Smashing gigantic creepy scorpions is something that she won't mind for such a huge payout.

"Nothing of the sort. Although once my labyrinth is built, rest assured, you lot will be the first to know."

The livid Ellamir butted in, "Then spill it, just to let you know, I still want to rip you into shreds for that last trick that you pulled!"

"Yahahaha!" Caduceus couldn't contain his laughter. It seems that the dark elf enjoyed his little 'prank'. "You want me to do it again?"

Folding before the Guild master's threat, Ellamir gasped, before clicking her tongue and looking away.

Without Ellamir causing a ruckus, their guild master relayed his reason for approaching them.

"I have a special quest for you lot. Make haste into my office and I shall fill your party in on the details."

After giving his spiel, a magic circle appeared underneath their guild master's feet. Swallowed by a blinding light, he disappeared before them.

"Shitty wizard." Ellamir grumbled.

+++

Opening the door into the Guild master's office they were greeted by the sight of not only the old wizard, but also a striking lass.

The tribal garb she wore was a bit similar to Antani's, unafraid to expose skin for ease of movement. Does that mean that the woman was a ferocious fighter too?

Her hair, a dark waterfall while her skin was a deep shade of hazel brown.

"Her name is Shatter Sound." The guild master introduced their would be quest giver.

Although the peculiarity of her name made the party curious about her, what truly piqued their interest was the next piece of information that their guild master revealed.

"She is a werewolf."