Episode 4: Back to Yumin (3)

"...D-Dad?!" Fei cried out in shock the moment she turned her back over towards the sudden voice by the entrance, quickly seeing her dad who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah, Kruz! Glad of you to make it!" Balmar joyfully clapped his hand. "Now with your arrival, we're almost a full house! Too bad Vell isn't here..."

"It is unfortunate that she just went out on a job not too long ago," Roy sighed as he helplessly shook his head.

"Well it's fine~ She'll be here in spirit!" Orelia chuckled. "I'm sure she's rooting for us from afar!"

"...yeah, rooting for us while in the desert lands of Gernif. I'm not sure how that would work," Aina glared at Orelia. "But anyway, It's nice to see you finally here, Kruz!"

"What brings you here, dad?" Damian tilted his head in slight confusion. "You don't often drop by the guild at this time or actually... ever."

"Eh? What do you mean I don't drop by the guild?" Kruz blinked at Damian's question. "I visit every so often, you know!"

"Huh? You do?" Damian raised his brow in doubt. "All I see in your daily schedule is: Sleep, cook breakfast, drink tea whilst reading the news and cooking dinner. What else do you besides that?"

"...cough. Damian, who do you take me for?" Kruz muttered helplessly.

"Like father, like daughter, I guess," Damian shrugged. "Both sides of the same coin."

"Hey...!" Fei and Kruz shouted out.

"Pfft..." Xander laughed at Damian's remarks. "Aren't you the same too?"

"Huh, me?" he questioned. "I doubt it. I'm just the odd one out here."

"Ahem, don't say that, Damian!" Kruz scruffled his hair. "You're just like us! Like father, like son I'd say!"

"Cough, d-dad..." Damian muttered out.

"Haha. Anyway, I'm just here to check up on how things are! I was curious whether or not you two passed," he stated. "Since I haven't gotten a single piece of news about the results, I was waiting quite anxiously you know!"

"...Kruz, you do realize you can always come here and find out yourself, right?" Aina sighed. "You're not that busy."

"But, in actuality... I actually am. All those paperwork that-" Kruz uttered his sentence as he was soon interrupted by Balmar.

"Ahem, ahem! Enough of that!" Balmar coughed. "Let's not talk about work and just commemorate today!"

"...hmm, trying to hide your deeds huh?" Kruz smirked. "I'll save you face."

"Pretty sure we all know what Kruz was about to say," Xander laughed.

"We celebrate!" Balmar shouted out, completely disregarding Xander's earlier statement.

"What's there to celebrate hmm?" Orelia pondered. "We don't have food ready... or heck, even beer!"

"Well, we want to commemorate the moment right? Why not take one happy picture together!" Kruz suggested. "In fact, I just got this cool thingamajig for this very situation! Let's see how it works!" he said excitedly as he took out a device that seemed to be a camera.

"...you mean a camera, dad?" Damian narrowed his eyes over to the device that he was holding.

"Well, whatever you call it! It's a cool gadget!" Kruz stated. "I don't know why none of you all recommended me this or heck, even told me about its existence! This is so much better than image recreation mana."

"Hmm, aren't cameras expensive?" Orelia tilted her head at the thought. "How did you get one when you didn't even know the existence of it?"

"Ah, it's a gift from someone!" he answered.

"You got a gift from someone?" Frey's eyes lit in curiosity as she heard the answer. "Who is it from!?"

"It's a secret!" Kruz chuckled.

"...another secret?" Fei pouted.

"Haha. Anyways, quick, quick! Gather around in a group and let's take a photo!" Gesturing over towards the guild members, they quickly bunched up together as Kruz prepared the camera in his hand, pondering on its mechanism.

"Now... she said something along the lines of pressing this button and then using mana to charge it up..." Kruz muttered to himself.

"Hey, dad! Hurry it up!" Fei shouted out impatiently.

"...ah! It worked!" Kruz cheered. "Let's get this rolling!"

"Huh? Dad, you're not going to be in the picture?" Damian asked.

"Well, of course, I am! I'll just use the wind to my bidding," he grinned, as in the next moment, a small gentle pulse of wind began to move about within the guildhall. Moments later, Kruz waltzed over to the group as he stood beside Fei and Damian who were together.

"Say cheese~!" Kruz said as a white light flashed out, indicating that the photo was taken.

...

Soon after the picture was taken, Fei as well as the rest of the girls quickly hurried to the camera, swiftly checking the contents. Meanwhile, the rest steadily made their way over to the camera whilst Roy silently watched from the distance.

At a glance at the photo, the expression of some was satisfied while some were unhappy with the way they looked.

"Hehe~ Another great picture!" Fei smiled in joy as she held onto the picture in her hand. "I shall cherish it forever!"

"Why's there only one copy?" Orelia raised her brow. "There's seven of us! We need six more!"

"U-Uh... From the instructions I was given... We'll need to head to a shop to get more copies..." Kruz uttered out.

"Huh? We have to go to a shop?" Damian blinked at the statement. "Why can't we just use image recreation or something? Just make secondary copies from it."

"No, no! Image recreation is such a long process!" he quickly refuted. "It's so much better to just head to the shop."

"Uhuh, if it's better to go to the shop, then when will we ever get the photo?" he raised his brow.

"Eh... just go to Brime or something and then head to this shop called 'Photographics', go in, ask the clerk and give him the photo!" Kruz lazily added.

"Maybe image recreation would be the better option..." Damian sighed as he turned his head away from Kruz. "Roy, Orelia, you both know the arts right?"

"Of course I do~" Orelia chuckled. "But, might as well just head to Brime to get our copies. It's just a day trip after all!"

"Oh- Are we going to go on a vacation?!" Fei said excitedly.

"A vacation for us guild rankers who have long been around for the past year!" she smiled. "As for you juniors, continue working hard and doing your jobs!"

"Ack- Hey that's not fair!" she pouted.

"Hehe. We deserve a break every once in a while you know~" Orelia teased.

"Mmm... then bring us souvenirs!" she stated.

"Fei... you're a guild ranker now! You can explore the world," Kruz grinned. "Take jobs from other cities and towns and do them!"

"Oh, right! I can actually go out and about in Libria huh?!" Her eyes brightened in excitement. "Alright, Damian, new goal! Alongside becoming an S-Ranker, we'll go and explore the world!"

"...sounds too tiring tough," Damian muttered out.

"No buts! We shall do it!" Fei nodded her head in excitement. "But speaking of tiring... I'm exhausted... can we go home now?"

"And you never listen to me about taking a break," Damian shook his head.

"Hmm, right. It has been quite a long day, huh?" Roy stated. "You two should go and rest."

"Aha. So you want to head back and have dinner, huh? Very well then, let's be off!" Kruz said.

"You're going to leave so soon, Kruz?" Orelia asked. "Fei and Damian can go back to the cottage on their own. Why not stay and chit chat for a bit?"

"Well, would love to, but isn't everyone here tired? Let's all rest for the night!" he stated. "In any case, we'll be heading off now, see you!" Waving goodbye, Kruz and his kids headed out of the guildhall, quickly making their way back home.

"...sigh, this guy," Orelia pouted. "At least he could have stuck around to drink with me or something!"

"...aha, you know I can always be your-" Balmar continued on as he was quickly interrupted.

"Nope! You had enough for the day!"

"But, Orelia... you do realize that you need to eat dinner too right?" Xander said helplessly.

"Ahh, let the adults enjoy whatever they want!" Orelia gestured against Xander. "Anyways, you haven't gone to see your mom right? Shoo shoo! She misses you!"

"Fine, fine, then I'll be going too," Xander bowed, quickly he headed out of the guildhall.

"Mmm! That's done!" Orelia stretched her arms as she began to make her way to the second floor. "I'll head off to sleep for a bit. Wake me up when dinners ready!"

"Eh- You're going to sleep already?" Balmar inquired.

"It's a tiring day for me! I wanna get some rest," she replied and, just as she was about to take a step onto the stairs, she was stopped by Roy.

"Wait, before that, I'd like to discuss something with you two," he said in a serious tone.