19 A Grand Expedition Begins!

"Well, I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but...it wasn't." Roxline sighed as she rented a room from the guild receptionist. "We're also going to be partnering up with another guild, so get ready for that. Also, I don't like to repeat myself, so I'll only say this once: make sure this mess is clean by the morning. You all put the poor staff to work enough with your day to day shenanigans."

"Yes Vice leader..." Everyone in the guild hall reluctantly agreed and began cleaning up.

"You two." Roxline pointed to Aegis and I.

"The quest is gonna be first come first serve, but Lucia made it very apparent that she wanted you two on the team. Hit the hay and get ready for tomorrow."

I couldn't believe it. Lucia specifically wanted me on this mission. This is perfect! I'll be one step closer for joining her on expeditions! Now I just have to know what we do on an expedition exactly!

When I asked Roxline, she said that she'll explain everything when the team gathers tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited as I rushed to a room to log off when I realized something.

I turned back and asked Roxline "Hey, I have a healer in my unit that would appreciate tagging along for this. Do you think she can join-"

"It's first come, first serve. I'm not putting in any more effort than I have to." Roxline walked off and slammed the door. She's starting to be a real thorn in my side already. I hope she doesn't act like this the whole trip.

I stormed into Violet's room and caught her moments before logging off the game. I needed to tell her to keep her eye on the quest board for the expedition quest. As our eyes made contact, I noticed that her face grew red and she instantly hid under the covers. Judging by her liveliness, it looks like she's come down from the alcohol. So what was she so scared about? Was it how she acted earlier? Is it me?

"Violet, it's a bit too late to be scared of me and keep your distance. We're friends now. And friends stick together! They don't hide from each other either!" I ripped the covers away from Violet and she screamed in response.

I then saw her half naked body lying on the bed. Her undergarments were laced with purple and white and she hid her face behind her hands in embarrassment.

Ah crap...

"Can you guys cut it out? I was about to log off when-YOU AGAIN?!" Roxline saw the situation and immediately started to connect the dots. Once she collected all of her thoughts, she sighed and facepalmed. "Come outside for a quick chat."

"...Ok?" I agreed and gave Violet her sheets back.

As we were walking out, I told Violet to watch the quest board for the expedition quest. When Roxline and I stepped out, I immediately thanked her for understanding the situation.

"Oh I understand completely. That's why I got you out of there. If I sent a fireball your way in that room, that poor healer would've been collateral damage." The wizard started her spell and I made a run for it with no luck. She set off countless fireballs that landed direct hits on me. She ended up getting the staff involved as they both tried to break up the fight and put out the fires throughout the guild hall.

===

The very next day, I logged in and walked into the guild hall where Roxline and Violet were talking. Now that I'm not drunk, I can actually make out her features. She's slightly taller than Violet with basically the same frame as her. She had auburn, long, braided hair and a brown wizard's robe with a skirt.

As I approached the two, Roxline scoffed at the sight of me and Violet's eyes darted to the floor in embarrassment. Something tells me that they're still both mad about last night.

"About time you showed up."

"I'm almost ten minutes early."

"I was just telling Violet here that I'll let her join the expedition quest as an apology for your absurd behavior."

"All's well that ends well, I guess. I wanted her to be our healer anyway."

"And I've been trying to tell you that it was just a misunderstanding. We were both pretty drunk." Violet cleared up the air.

"Oh, really? In that case, I'll ease off a bit."

"But you didn't believe me when I told you..." I pointed out.

"Of course not."

How could I be in such good standing with the leader of the guild but in such horrible standing with the vice leader? I hope this doesn't ruin my participation in any major battles.

"AM I TOO LATE?!"

Aegis rushed out of his room and scanned the guild hall to find us all waiting for him.

"You're actually just in time. Follow me. We'll walk and talk." As Roxline left the guild hall, everyone followed.

While we walked through the town, Roxline explained the expedition quest. When a set of heroes has conquered a frontier, the battle for them doesn't end there. They then have to wait for a town's worth of people to come by and settle there. The expedition quest is that process. Settling down once everyone gets there isn't the problem, the problem lies with WHO gets there.

What makes an expedition quest such a big deal is that whichever guild gets there first, gets to have the town and frontier it resides in for itself. The only reason that Diligence became the guild for Jericho is because Lucia was the first to make a guild with a group of friends she met in another MMO.

One last thing to know is that a guild can only have one guild hall, so we're helping a sister guild get to the scorching sands before anyone else. We're basically just escorts of escorts.

"So who's the sister guild we're helping out?" Aegis asked.

As we reached the gate, Roxline pointed out the carriage along with the people standing near it. The group consisted of three heroes: a priest that looked like he didn't want to be there, an energetic rogue, and a Bloodfallen dressed in black. The rogue saw us and ran straight to us. His speed was quite notable.

"You must be the Diligence crew! Name's Hermes! I'm the leader of the guild 'LIGHTSPEED' how do you do?" The guild leader fervently jumped around shaking our hands as he introduced himself. I examined him closely to look at his level and noticed he was level 17

"Lightspeed?" Violet questioned.

"YUP! Because that's how fast we want to beat the game and everything it has to offer! We're speedrunners that are giving MMOs a try! LIGHTSPEED! We were spitballing ideas like 'Godspeed,' but everyone was saying stuff like 'it doesn't make sense.' I THINK IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE-" Hermes was immediately pushed away by the Bloodfallen.

As I got I closer look at him, I realized he was just as tall as me with skin like Violet's. He had short hair that was well cut. He shook my hand and ignored everyone else in the area.

"You must be Matthew! I am a huge fan of yours!"

"HA! A fan?! That can't be good." Aegis said.

"You're just jealous that you don't have any fans! What do you know me for, exactly?" I asked. You can't really blame me for asking. I did some crazy things in my little time here.

"Everything about you, to be frank! They call you the Boogeyman of Diligence! The Marauder of White! The Blood Fiend!"

"All of those are interesting names! Make sure to write this down, Violet. I may change to one of these."

"Ok!"

"Don't write that down!" Aegis barked at Violet.

"O-ok." Violet put her notepad away.

"OH RIGHT! I haven't introduced myself! My name is Gash. A pleasure to meet you! If you don't mind me asking...C-can I shake your hand?!" Gash extended his arm to me.

"Of course!" I received his handshake and the Bloodfallen made a girlish squeal. I don't know what his deal is. It's not like I'm superman or anything.

I looked over to the priest. As soon as we made eye contact, he kissed his teeth and looked the other way. It was very apparent he didn't want to be here.

"Don't mind him! That's Polk. He's not good with people." Gash pointed out.

"Alright you guys done having your fun? Because if so, we gotta get moving. Lightspeed will handle everything while we just relax. If you need me, don't." Roxline walked past everyone and entered the back of the carriage. She immediately closed her eyes. She didn't log off, so I guess she was just relaxing.

"Alright everyone, the key is speed and efficiency! We'll travel all together for day one and rotate which team gets to log off for a bit and which team travels every twelve hours. Getting to the rendezvous point is gonna take three days, so we'll need to always be moving. LET'S MOVE OUT!" Hermes pointed to the road ahead and jumped into the driver's seat of the carriage.

And so began our journey to the scorching sands.

Hang on, Lucia! I'm on my way!