14 The Other Guilds~!

Following behind Elise- to meet the stupid guild leaders... well I'm sure they aren't actually that stupid- I asked, "What are the various guild's names, and which ones will we be visiting?"

Looking around, Elise pointed at the various banners, naming the guilds one by one, "The black banner over there with the swords crossed is the "Void Knights" guild."

Nodding, Elise chuckled, "Yeah, I know the name is practically what a 5-year-old would name it, but that's just guilds in general~"

"That's true, even "Prophets" is a little... full of itself as a name."

"Mhm, mhm," Elise agreed with a cheerful hum, "Anyway, the blue banner over there, the really far one, is the banner of the "Azure Wind", and the one over there with the fist-clenching money... it's..."

Breaking into a wide smile, Elise took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, "The guild is called the "Tax Collectors"!!"

"Hah... gets me every time, what a great name," Elise murmured, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

Trying to suppress my laughter- which is hard normally, even harder now with this stupid tax collector guild- I asked, "Is there a story behind that name? Or was it just picked randomly?"

"Yeah, there's a story behind it, a pretty good one if I recall correctly," Elise explained with a content sigh before taking a turn down one of the side paths, "I shouldn't tell you it, I'll let Abi, the leader of the Tax Collectors tell you sometime when she has the chance, she loves telling people the story."

"Cool cool makes sense~ I'll look forward to that~"

"Also to answer your second question," Elise continued, stretching a little bit while walking, "We'll be visiting the "Tax Collectors" and "Azure Wind", not the "Void Knights" because their guild leader is kind of a douche."

"Huh... I guess we'll avoid him then, douches are a bit much after all."

Walking in silence with Elise, we just basked in the silence, enjoying the "scenery". If it can even be called scenery... just the vibes and stuff I guess. It is nice though... the sun's peeking through the trees, walking through practically a field of tents towards the headquarters of the first guild we're going too. Which I think is the Azure wind?

Hah... it really is nice though... there aren't too many people roaming around right now, just a few here and there, all busy with their own work so it's like we're in our own world~ I'm just going to continue following Elise around right now though... she seems like she knows what she's doing... *cough* and she's great in other ways *cough* I mean... she's also one of my few friends.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Elise exclaimed with a grin, "We're here~! Our first guild~! The Azure Wind~! Let's go find the leader~"

"Okay, don't try this on your own okay Lilith~" Elise warned, face morphing into a smug teasing face, "I'm a trained professional~"

Whaaaaatttt? I feel like Elise is going to do something very Elise again... I bet it's teasing... it's teasing, isn't it?

Taking a deep breath Elise shouted, "GRACEEEE ARE YOU HERE~?"

"Wait Eliseeeeee!! Why did you do that... that's rude... we don't want to disturb her or other people!"

"Nahhhhhh it's fine, Grace is one of my closest friends," Elise reassured, relaxed beyond comprehension, "This is just how we greet each other, I do it to Grace, and Grace does it to me~"

"Huh... Okie Dokie then!"

That's certainly... an interesting way of greeting your friends. Just loudly shout the other's name to grab their attention if they're within 5 f*cking miles... such an Elise thing to do.

Poking her head out of a nearby tent, a blue-haired woman asked, "Elise why did you call m- who's this~? "

"It's my bestie~!" Elise exclaimed, hugging me, "Meet Lilith~! And Lilith~ meet grace~ she's really chill~"

"Ohhhh~ is this the rumored Lilith~ you've talked about before Elise?" Grace asked with a curious tone, "Give me a second, and I'll be out~ just gotta clean up some paperwork."

Walking out, Grace pulled her hair into a ponytail while introducing herself, "I'm Grace... leader of the Azure Wind~ nice to meet you~!"

Shaking her hand- which was surprisingly warm, which is always nice as someone with perpetually cold hands- I greeted, "Nice to meet you too~! Grace said you were one of her closest friends~!"

"Well she's one of my closest friends as well~" Grace replied with a relaxed smile, before suddenly having that metaphorical lightbulb light up in her head, "Elise!! We should go bothe- I mean... introduce Lilith to Abi! I bet you haven't introduced Lilith to Abi yet!"

Breaking into a wide grin, Elise exclaimed, "I like the way you think! Let's go bother Abi~ I'm glad you'll come along Grace~!"

Of course Elise... you have to *try* and conceal your teasing urges at least a little you know. Who am I kidding, that won't happen~

"Nice to meet you Grace~ to get to know you better I guess... uh... I don't know... can you just tell me about yourself?"

"Yeah, I don't mind that at all~" Grace chuckled, sliding to stand in between Elise and me- which was surprisingly smooth... Grace and Elise being the same height probably helped that I guess-, "I'm kinda bad at questioning as well so I'll give you the quick run-down. I'm out of school now, a full-time gamer~ I know I know kinda a weird job... my hobby is cooking~! I don't know what else to say... I'm an only child, I'm currently 26 years old... Yeah, I don't know what else I can say, I'm a pretty boring person not gonna lie."

Doing a twirl to slide back in front of Grace- a "graceful" twirl if I may add... hehe-, Elise interrupted with an apologetic smile, "Lilith can you do your introduction while we walk towards the Tax Collectors guild? Rebecca and the other just messaged me that they are coming over here..."

"Oh yeah, Grace~" Elise continued with a playful smile, "Why do you keep trying to slide in between Lilith and me~? Are you trying to get between us~?"

"No, no, nope," Grace vehemently denied under Elise's gaze- I wonder why Elise's gaze is so sharp right now... meh I don't think it really has to do with me-, "I apologizeeeee! Let's go through~ to Abi's abode~"

"Yeah let's go~!"