Extra's Descent

Friday.

June 6, 2149.

"Alright, you may go."

"Thank you, Sir."

Thump!

Straightening her back and stomping her feet, Amelia flashed a salute to her officer before leaving the room.

She had requested for a leave of absence.

Due to her father's contributions, her superior officer accepted.

It was under the proposal of her becoming a ranker and venturing forth.

It was a good proposal.

Amelia would be well knowledgeable of the other races, once her ranker license gets verified.

She knew the army was setting her up as the next Grand Marshal.

And so the experience of becoming a ranker was well received.

Her next destination was the guild.

"Eh?! Amelia Constantine…?!"

The receptionist seemed to be in shock. After all, her family was well known throughout the entire human domain.

Thus, she was able to skip the long line.

The process was smooth. All she had to do was sign a few documents, take a photo, and wait for a few minutes.

"Here you go."

Just like that, she received her card that validates her identity as a ranker.

Now she had every permission to leave the human domain.

Although she didn't actually need one, being a general, she had a severe case of OCD.

She wanted to follow procedures.

"Ah, there he is."

From a distance, she could see a familiar figure. His previous long pale–white hair had been tied to a man bun.

And as always, he adorned a black blazer.

Typical Brandon.

Ever since Brandon had returned, the aura around him significantly changed.

The only reason she was able to recognize him back then, was because Ciel had already imprinted in her mind that she was about to see Brandon.

If she wasn't told that, she most probably wouldn't be able to recognize him at all.

He was way taller than back then. And his face seemed more chiseled.

He was even more handsome now.

Although she never voiced it out loud, she admitted it in her thoughts.

"Oh, hey."

He seemed to have just noticed her as she got near him.

"You got yours?"

"Yes."

She nodded.

"See."

She extended her palms for Brandon to see her card.

Grabbing something from his pocket, Brandon showed his card as well.

"Same."

She leaned forward and scanned his card.

"Eh…? Cid Kage?"

That was the name that was imprinted in Brandon's card.

An alias.

"Yeah."

"And you were able to bypass their identity checker?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"It wasn't that hard. I just told them I'm one of the refugees who lost their family. That, and my phone number for some reason."

"Phone… number?"

She tilted her head.

Brandon nudged his chin towards a certain direction.

Following his direction, Amelia turned her head and saw the receptionist blushing while looking at a small paper in her hand.

What in the world.

And the fact that Brandon seemed unaware of what he did had left Amelia in shock.

"Just gave her a fake number."

He shrugged.

Guess it was his perks for being handsome.

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp glare.

"...."

She definitely saw the receptionist's expressions crack. But quickly fixed it and turned around, as soon as she met Amelia's gaze.

"...."

It was then when another familiar figure caught sight of her. It was none other than Adrien Frost.

'Damn it. That's right, he works here now.'

After the calamity, Adrien was at a loss.

The Frost family, while still quite in power in the army, had lost their key central figure.

Lucian Frost.

Due to this, Adrien seemed to be pressured to take his mantle.

And immediately, he was given a high ranking position within the guild.

As soon as Adrien stepped down the flight of stairs, all eyes fell on him.

But it seemed like he ignored all the intention as his gaze quickly locked on Amelia.

Amelia's face scrunched the moment their gaze met.

She turned towards Brandon and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, let's go."

But before she could leave and drag him away, Adrien called out to her.

"Amelia? Pleasant surprise. Didn't know you'd be here."

"Tsk."

She secretly clicked her tongue.

'Surprise my ass…'

It shouldn't be a surprise at all.

As soon as Amelia had registered in the guild, her data should've been updated in their database.

Which should be the reason why Adrien made his appearance.

Amelia turned back around and awkwardly smiled.

Despite having distaste for Adrien, she shouldn't let the public know about it.

After all, they were both family members of those involved in the tragic event known as the incursion.

"Hey, Adrien."

She put up an act.

No longer could she act like back then where she would blatantly ignore him.

They were adults in the working world now. Admittedly, Adrien was a good connection, whether she liked it or not.

But if she had to be honest, Adrien changed these past few months.

He was no longer as arrogant as before, and he had stopped chasing her and Belle.

He was changing for the better, and was responsibly doing his tasks in the guild.

"Oh?"

He caught sight of Brandon.

"Who's this?"

"Uh… he's…"

She wasn't quite sure what to tell him.

***

Since Amelia seemed to hesitate, it was Brandon who spoke for her.

"I'm Cid. Adrien Frost, right?"

"Yes."

They shook hands.

Adrien's gaze switched to Amelia, then back to Brandon.

Shortly after, he pursed his lips.

"It seems like you two are planning on taking a quest. If I may ask, what's your relationship with Amelia?"

"..."

"...."

There was a tentative silence that occurred.

The two weren't quite sure how to answer his question. They haven't even gotten their stories straight if they would meet a ranker on the job.

"Are you two… uh…"

It seems like Adrien was able to come up with his own conclusion.

Now that he thought about it, there was no getting out of this unless he revealed his identity.

And he didn't want to do that.

But Brandon had an idea on what Adrien was trying to say.

After all the misunderstandings that occurred during the festival, Brandon was now aware of such misunderstanding occurring.

And for some reason, it always happened whenever he was with Amelia.

So…

"No, we're not."

Adrien winked.

"....?"

Amelia alternated her gaze between the two, perplexed.

"Pftt…"

Seeing her confused state, Brandon couldn't help but hold back his laugh.

Seems like Amelia was unable to comprehend just what the two were getting at.

Too innocent.

She was fun to tease.

"Well, I'm not gonna hold you two back. The request board is over there."

He pointed and walked away shortly after.

Even Brandon was quite taken aback at Adrien's sudden change in behavior.

"Oh, and…"

Adrien paused and turned his head back.

"It was nice meeting you, Cid."

"Thank you. You too."

Shortly after, Adrien headed back upstairs.

It seemed like he had only wanted to greet Amelia, an old acquaintance.

He had changed for the better.

'I hope it wasn't an act, though.'

Dismissing his thoughts, the two headed for the request board.

There were several requests posted on the board.

At the moment, they were ranked F.

Despite knowing how strong Amelia was, the guild had this kind of initiation.

It was for precautionary measures.

New rankers would immediately be ranked F, and could only take on F ranked jobs.

If they managed to complete the job, they would automatically increase in rank.

The next rank was E.

"Which one do you think?"

"Hmm…"

Pinching his chin, Brandon pondered.

There weren't too many requests that were worth taking in the F rank category.

But weighing the pros and cons, Brandon was able to pick a request.

"That one?"

"What do you think?"

"Well it's up to you."

"Alright."

After having decided, they submitted the request to the receptionist.

====

Please, we beg of you to help us. We had to leave our village in a hurry because of the calamity, and we left behind something incredibly important.

We need to go back to our village to get it, but the journey is too dangerous for us to handle alone….

Rewards:

5 copper coins.