I wanted to get this chapter out early so you guys wouldn't have to wait! I also did a poll on Twitter about opening a Quest discord server so if you want to join, just use this link! :D

https://discord.gg/Hg6HDqd

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Quest

Chapter 3.2 [Thief!]

"Thief! You bastard! Get back here!"

Dream turned his head in the direction of the outburst. He quickly picked up on 3 key sounds, the first was several pairs of feet running towards them. One was lighter footed than the other two. The second was the sound of clinking metal, most likely coins given the amount of noise. The third was the sound of armor scraping along the road--guards--most likely pursuing the person with the coins.

Dream stepped back as they all rushed by him, it wasn't his business but he could tell the guards would lose the thief soon. They were too slow and the crowd was equally slow to react as the thief bobbed in and out through the gaps.

Beside him was George, a little stunned, but unharmed from all the chaos. He had a feeling George would call him crazy for interfering, but-- Dream took off running. He had a bit of an understanding of this town from all the searching he and George did yesterday, plus after parting ways with George he wandered the town a bit at night. He didn't have to worry about avoiding crowds at that time so it helped him map out the land a bit more.

"Dream!" Oops, looks like George noticed, he was only planning to help out a bit and then return later.

"Dream! Hold up!" George was lagging behind him as the chase exited the main part of the market. Dream slowed down.

"Wh-why are you suddenly running after them," George asked.

"Uh well...impulse? It didn't sound like those guard would be able to catch them so I thought--"

"What! We can't just chase after them for that, what if they think we are in cahoots with that guy!" Dream was silent at George's response. He hadn't really thought about that. Up ahead he could hear the chase receding, they were losing them while they talked.

"Well..." Dream shrugged, "Sorry," Dream and George slowed down to a walking pace before stopping altogether, "Yeah I guess I got caught up in the spur of the moment, we should maybe head back."

"That's a good idea, I'm sure the professionals can take care of it."

"Yeah..." They turned back and headed back to the market. Dream had a habit of doing things like this, it was sort of like a gut feeling that spurred him into action, but he couldn't really explain that to George. He figured it was best to let this one go and let the guards handle it, hopefully.

George and Dream carried on with their "window shopping". He still needed a new strap for his mask, he could tell this make-shift fix wasn't going to last very long, and he didn't need any more trouble because of people judging his abilities.

In about an hour of walking around, Dream did finally manage to find something durable. He'd be able to mend his mask later tonight.

"Let's head back to the guild now, we can look for a quest to do."

"Sure," Dream smiled.

~~~~~

When they arrived back at the guild, it was bustling with noise and chatter and was more crowded than normal. George couldn't even see the quest board due to the number of people around it.

"What the--"

"Is it normally this busy?" Dream asked. Hearing the large crowd of people was probably somewhat shocking to Dream. George was pretty sure he's only been in the guild twice, and both times were early in the morning when hardly anyone was around.

George looked at Dream and shook his head before quickly adding, "Not really, not this early, something big must be going on."

"Yo George!" George looked towards the voice and grinned, it was Aren. Aren was an adventurer like him, they both started around the same time except Aren was already an E-Rank adventurer. The two of them met because of a small gathering the guild held to introduce new adventurers to each other. Aren was really chill, and had some magic, if he recalled. He was sure they would have been great teaming up in a party but since they became an adventurer with a bunch of their friends and their party was already at max George couldn't really intrude. Like Em, Aren was a really nice person, so seeing them always cheered George up when he was having a rough time.

"Aren! How are you, do you know what's going on?"

"I'm good, I only arrived in town with my party just a bit ago. But it sounds like there is a new top priority E-Rank quest. Sounds like several small establishments were hit by a coordinated robbing earlier this afternoon."

"What?" George had a feeling it was connected to the incident he and Dream were briefly a part of earlier. He glanced at Dream who hadn't reacted.

"Yeah, they need help searching for these robbers and recovering the stolen items."

"Are you going to take on the quest?"

"Nah, some of my party members might, but I'm going to rest for the next few days. We ran into a bit of a scuffle with some bandits on the way back to Fulton and I got a bit injured, nothing too bad." George only just now noticed the bandages on Aren's leg, "What about you, did you make it to F-Rank yet?"

George sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck before realizing he hadn't introduced Dream to Aren yet. "Not yet, but now that you're here I should introduce you to Dream! We met yesterday and we've only just recently formed an official party today." George pointed to Dream who waved.

"Nice meeting you man, I'm Aren, they/them. How long have you been adventuring?"

"Uh, since yesterday morning."

Aren whistled, "Hope you like it so far, George is a good guy so I'm glad you guys are partying together. Let's sit down, I'll order us some drinks." Aren pointed to a table and George sat down. Dream followed behind. George watched as Aren went to order drinks.

~~~~~

"Maybe we should have given chase," Dream said.

"What, nonono, it's better that we didn't get involved. We aren't even E-rank yet. Yesterday was a fluke, getting involved could get us in trouble."

Dream frowned, just then Aren returned with 3 drinks, "Hope you don't mind juice, the guild is known to have awful alcohol, but spot-on juice."

"Thanks," Dream reached out to the drink in front of him, he was overcome with the sweet smell of apple juice again. Just like yesterday morning. He wondered where they got the abundance of apples because as far as he could tell he never smelled an orchard nearby. He took a sip.

In that moment, the doors to the guild slammed open and Dream was startled by the bursting noise; he was careful not to let his drink spill.

"Move out of the way losers! This quest will be completed by me, so give up while I'm being nice!" A loud, arrogant voice silenced the chatter of the guild. Dream's ears picked up on the subtle tensing of George's hands as he gripped his drink with stronger force. The air was thick with tension, and it wasn't just from George. He could feel it from most people in the area. This guy was surely someone greatly disliked.

The person who spoke began to tread through the guild, passing straight by their table. There was shuffling of feet behind them as the crowd at the back of the guild dispersed. That was where Dream knew the quest board was. The person was quietly followed by a few people, their steps laden with haughty arrogance. He could hear the clinking of armor on two of them.

"Ugh, not that prick," Aren broke the tense silence around them with a harsh whisper. Before Dream could utter even a word of confusion or curiosity, one of the people following the first stopped walking and turned towards them. This person had no armor, he smelled like smoked meat. It might be from the large bag on the guy's back, which was also thick with the smell of smoked meat.

"Oi what was that? You dare speak ill of Sir Numen? Don't you know who he is? He's the son of Marquess Roxus of the Northern territory of the Empire."

"Yeah and what of it!" Aren stood up, the chair clattered to the ground with a loud thud, "Just coz he's some noble that gives him the right to push others around? Nobody will say it, but I'm tired of letting that self-centered arse think he can push people around and silence them with money."

"Hey Aren, let's not cause any trouble--" George's voice was drowned out. The lackey snatched Dream's drink from his hands and before he could react, he heard its contents dumped over Aren. Dream scowled under his mask, he didn't know these people, but it didn't matter.

Dream stood up and grabbed the collar of the one who poured his drink over Aren.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing--" he struggled under Dream's grip, but couldn't push him off, "Oi, get your hands off me!"

"Dream--" George suddenly shouted, George stood up quickly. Dream's ears picked up the subtle noise of shifting armor. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he sensed an oncoming object being swung his way, he let go of the man and ducked. It was probably one of the other followers of that prick.

His mask began to loosen--shoot--he hadn't had the chance yet to repair it and he panicked. One hand reached up to hold it in place while the other took hold of his empty drink cup from the other guy. He ripped it from his hold and brought up the wooden cup and deflected another oncoming blow. He winced as the force pushed him back. The metal blade smirked off his cup and into the floor.

Dream stumbled back but remained standing.

"Alright! You know the rules, no fighting in the guild! Break it up or you'll be suspended!" Dream turned his head towards an unfamiliar voice. The feeling of danger disappeared and he set his cup down; he took this time to fix his mask before it could fall off, retying the make-shift strap.

"Guildmaster, I'm sure it's just a slight misunderstanding," The arrogant prick from before approached Dream and his friends. Dream was overcome with a feeling of disgust, "I apologize on behalf of my party members and will surely sort this out, you needn't worry."

"Good, please do. Carry on everyone." The commotion died down in the crowd and everyone quickly returned to their business.

~~~~~

George watched the whole event unfold. He was unable to do anything once again.

"My apologies, it seems my party members got a bit worked up in my stead."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, but to them instead," Dream pointed to Aren.

"Save your breath Dream, this prick is filled with only fake apologies."

"Now I'm hurt! You really think that of me?" He turned to Dream and didn't wait for a reply, "I'm actually quite impressed by your show of skill. I'm Numen Roxus, 3rd son of Marquess Roxus. Axel and Kisha are two knights I've hired, but you've held them off with only a cup. Very remarkable indeed," He pulled up a chair right in between him and Dream. How unfortunate, George was greatly uncomfortable by his presence, for a multitude of reasons.

"I would pay you handsomely, of course, but you'll definitely benefit more from working for me than hanging around some country loser and the son of a coward." George shrunk back in shame...he hated to admit it but he was r--.

"You're lucky the guildmaster intervened," Dream sat down, he spoke in a quiet tense whisper. The mask, though covering most of his face, could not shield them from the waves of anger radiating from Dream, "But no one gets away with insulting or degrading my friends. I'm already in a party and I won't join you."

He frowned, "Fine, it's your loss, but don't blame me when I make a fool out of you and your ragged party. I'll even let you take on this quest alongside my party, it'll be a race to see who finishes first."

Dream was about to accept but George hurriedly stepped in, "We can't; we're not E-rank yet."

Numen stared at George before laughing, "That's too bad, I gave you the benefit of the doubt George, but even if your old man is the coward of the century and the greatest embarrassment to the north, at least he had the talent and skill to become the youngest captain of the Imperial Knights by the time he was your age. It's already been a month and you haven't progressed at all, I don't even know why you bothered leaving home. You're really hopeless," he stood from the seat, "Well it can't be helped then. My offer still stands if you decide it isn't worth your time partying with a loser like that." He waved while snickering to himself.

George heaved a sigh of relief, thank the gods he finally left. He jumped as Dream slammed his fist on the table, "D-Dream?"

"What an asshole! How could you just sit there and take that," he grumbled.

"It's ok--" George started.

"It's really not, how can someone be so self centered? Let's show that prick what we're capable of," Dream huffed.

George's mouth opened and closed, his words failing to form. He didn't like the sound of that.

"I'm with you there," Aren sat back down. He grimaced at the drying, sticky mess in his hair. He stood back up, "Actually...I'll need a shower first. I'll have to catch you two later, but George, don't let those asshole's words get to you. They aren't true."

Aren waved to them and left both him and Dream alone at the table. George glanced over to the quest board, Numen and his gang were hogging the space. George flinced when Numen looked his way and made a face at him.

"George, I'm serious, we should take on this quest," George opened his mouth to interject but was cut off by Dream, "But hold on, hear me out," Dream waved his arms. He leaned forward on the table and drew closer to George, he whispered in a hushed voice, "I know we aren't E-rank adventurers so we can't officially take on the quest....but if we just happened to stumble in to the thief's den and needed to fight for self-defense then we could finish the quest before that prick could."

Dream sat back in his chair, no longer leaning, "Look, I don't know the history the two of you have, I'm sure it's not pleasant, and I'm not asking you spill every detail about yourself...But trust Aren--trust me when I say, that guy can't define who you are. So what if you aren't like your dad, everyone is their own person--you'll forge your own path--isn't that why we're here?"

George sat quietly for a moment. Everything Dream said made sense, he knew it in his head that he was his own person and that he could make his own choices. He knew he didn't have to be defined by his father's legacy or his failures, those weren't his. Even still, that didn't stop the doubts in his heads.

He became an adventurer to earn money for his family...but that in part was just an excuse. His father who so fervently denied anyone from talking or speaking about knighthood and was against the very idea of him becoming a knight. But just as Dream had said before, there were many ways he could be earning money for his family, but he stuck to being an adventurer solely to become a knight, even though his own life was at risk.

Once again, he was faced with the decision to take a chance. He trusted Dream, but was he ready to trust himself too?

~~~~~

Words: 2688

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