The return trip lasted like the first, without encountering any kind of hitch, just a few wild animals. And finally at dinner time they arrived in Quisque.
"I would really like to take a bath" Allatu murmurs "ah who do you say ..." agreed Betty. "Okay, I'll go straight to the guild and then I'll join you" Asteri reassured him "are you sure? It's not a problem for us to do it a little later" said Allatu "don't worry, it won't take long" Asteri reassured them.
Arriving in front of the door there was always an air of celebration, entering one saw the usual spectacle 'always happy, well not that it causes me problems, always better than a gloomy environment' thought Asteri.
He walked over to Thalia's counter, who strangely couldn't find 'maybe she has a different work schedule?' Asteri reflected, walked over to another counter and handed over the small sphere containing evidence of the beasts from the mission "oh, the undead werewolves, you are the adventurer who shared half the reward with adventurer Gisette, right?" said the receptionist behind the counter.
"Exactly, I came to collect the other half" replied Asteri "certainly, she was ready here, here she is, it is with the points she has obtained that she has risen to grade E, which also happened to her partner ... that I don't see "the young lady was confused not to see Allatu" don't worry, I'll inform you of this, while I have your adventurer's plate here "
"Okay, since you are a couple it will not be a problem, the new plates will be ready soon, excuse me" the young lady gets up and goes to the door on the back.
'From grade F to grade E, what a leap in quality' Aurelion jokes 'hey, there's no need to rush things' replies Asteri. Waiting for the return of Miss Asteri, he looked around and almost simultaneously from the door of the guild some individuals entered. There were four of them completely wrapped in black cloaks which however wore one on them, a sort of crown of leaves on a yellow shield was drawn.
"Hey, isn't that badge them?"
"I really think so?"
Asteri heard two adventurers chatting next to him, he was intrigued and approached them asking "sorry colleagues, by chance could you tell me who I am?"
"How can you not know them? They are famous all over Kalos" answered one of them.
"Well let's say I'm kind of out of this world," Asteri clarified.
"Well that's okay, their name is 'the forest hunters', they are a faction that usually stands on its own in the middle of forests and woods, it's strange to see them out there"
"Oh I see, is it a good or a bad faction?" Asteri was even more curious.
"Neither, is a neutral faction as mentioned usually do not come out of their bases" replied the other adventurer.
"Ok I understand, thank you very much colleagues" the two nodded to Asteri with a hint of perplexity.
"How long has he been out of this world as he says?" asked one of the two to the other "that's what I know" Asteri could only smile ironically at the whispers of the two 'look, I can hear you' he thinks in his head.
One of the four figures looked around curiously, finally fixed his gaze on Asteri, he did the same and from what little he could see, he was sure it was a girl. In particular, Asteri noticed that she had a patch over one eye. They stared at each other for a few seconds when a guild clerk came to greet them and escort them to the stairs leading upstairs.
'Will they have a placement?' thought Asteri, but was shaken by his thoughts by the return of the guild clerk "sorry for the wait, here you are, adventurer" the clerk handed Asteri two plates, which unlike those of grade F, these were not of wood but of metal with your names engraved on it obviously "he figured, thank you very much" Asteri took the plaques thanking the saleswoman.
'Now we see what other missions we have on the bulletin board' Asteri walked to the bulletin board where the missions were hanging and on one of them he found one concerning that in a town near Quisque, a family of noble merchants had been targeted by a faction of assassins, the 'the shadows of Kalos'.
'Never heard from me but I expected it, it's a grade D mission, let's see if they accept it for me'
Asteri returned to the counter of the shop assistant and asked if she could take that mission, to which the shop assistant made a doubtful expression, but with Asteri's insistence, she went to ask in the room where the back door led. After five minutes Asteri saw that the four figures came down the stairs and while they were going to her exit the girl took a last look at Asteri, which he replied with a wink, turning the direction of the girl's gaze. 'Womanizer ...' Aurelion said in his head 'actually I did it on impulse, but it seemed amusing', the four figures left the guild.
'But it took very little time' reflected Asteri "here you are, Mr. adventurer, the mission has been successfully accepted" the saleswoman arrived, almost taking Asteri by surprise, bringing good news "oh thank you very much, goodbye" Asteri greeted the committed, leaving the latter lost in her thoughts 'who knows why they wanted to give such a mission to a degree lower than it ... after all I don't want such a beautiful boy to die'
Asteri came out of the guild with the acceptance of the mission in hand, but this time he had not noticed the gaze of someone on the upper floors of the guild. Unaware of this, Asteri headed for the inn where he was staying, wanting to warn the two girls that they will have to leave for a new mission ... once again.