Something Amiss

Not far from the Guild, Stan could see two people coming out of an inn holding hands.

When he saw who were coming out of the inn holding hands. All sorts of things went through his mind.

Seeing his girlfriend together with his best friend who is the current Vice-Guild leader of 'Radiant Light', being intimate. The first feeling was anger as he kept thinking why.

"She's cheating on me with my best friend?"

"No! She wouldn't do that."

"She's hurt and can't walk properly?"

"No! She doesn't look hurt at all!

"There holding each other so other would not bother her, I think?"

"Yeah, that has to be it. Right?"

Shaking his head to get his thinking right, he walked up to them. When he got close by Stan could faintly hear the words: it will be over soon. He just didn't know what it meant.

So he called out, "Honey! Ian! I got some good news to share!"

When Stan said this he slowly started to get excited again, and didn't notice he raised his voiced.

Many pedestrians who were walking around turned their heads to see what going on. As for the two who were being spoken to they reacted differently.

Ian was behaving like a kid who's caught stealing. While Stan's girlfriend, Cassie, she was frozen in place and didn't dare to turn around.

Their weird reactions didn't go unnoticed by Stan. He felt that something was amiss and dark thoughts began to appear in his mind. He was looking very ugly right now.

Even the pedestrians who where still watching took a step back when they saw this.

Ian managed to compose himself. He turned around a replied to stan with a warm smile, "Stan my man, you should take better care of your girlfriend. If I didn't PRETEND to be her boyfriend, she would be in trouble."

Ian didn't forget to explain the situation first and emphasizes that he only pretended.

Stan frowned when he hear this, but inside he was as happy as can get. He looked Ian in the eyes while thinking, 'how can I doubt him? my best friend would never do something like that.'

The question remains, what happened to Cassie? Stan needed to know who dared to harass his girlfriend. He needed to know who's head he was going to cut off.

With a that in mind, Stan holds Cassie in his embrace as he softly muttered in her ear with a voice full off concern, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. What happen honey? Who bothered you?"

In this touching moment, Cassie was feeling irritated. At first she flinched for suddenly being embraced. She even struggled a little to get out, but Stan wouldn't butch.

She was ready to scream against Stan so he would let her go, but that's when she noticed Ian looking at her. Seeing Ian's eyes that practically said play along, she knew what had to be done.

Although feeling a bit disgusted, she still decided to play along. Besides Ian just told her that she doesn't need to wait long anymore.

"Sob, Sob. H-h-honey, some man tried harassed me at the inn. Sob, I-I only was only treating them nicely. I didn't want to sleep with them!"

Stan wasn't doubting Cassie at all. No matter how strange she behaved and talked, Stan was just blind to it. He was blinded by love.

And hearing Cassie's sobbing voice while she stuttered because of what happen to her. Stan was welled up with anger only thinking about what he will do to those filthy animals that call themselves men.

When he gets his hands on the people responsible for making his girlfriend cry, he will make sure to take good care of them.

This was the moment for Ian to step in and intervene. He didn't want Stan to dig to deep into things, otherwise it will get messy.

"Chill out Stan. I handled took care of everything. Those idiots who harassed Cassie were just drunk."

Ian also made sure that Cassie was following along his train of thought, as he took a good look at her.

"Y-yeah don't worry honey. Ian took care of everything."

It sounded reasonable in the beginning, but when Cassie started speaking about Ian things changed. Her voice wasn't stuttering anymore and she sounded infatuated as she was looking at Ian.

Stan felt like something was amiss again, but he convinced himself that Cassie must be grateful towards Ian. Because his best friend would never do that. Right?

"Cough, Stan didn't you have something to share with us?"

Because things weren't going as planned. Ian decided to change the subject, but he was already aware of what Stan was going say.

Not long ago Ian received a message by magic that the fish was hooked, so now he had to play is part. Everything was going according to plan.

All this drama almost made Stan forget what he wanted to say. Of course he could never really forget it.

This could make the 'Radiant Light' Guild rise to a new level!

"Your right Ian. I got some great news!"

While Stan said this he took something out of his pocket to show it, and explained what it is.

"This is an [Explorer Permit], and with this we will be able to explore an Island for al its riches!"

Ian and Cassie were both surprised that Stan managed to get hold of an [Explorer Permit]. At least Cassie was surprised, Ian was only pretending to be. Still Cassie wondered how Stan got,

"Say Honey, how did you get this?"

Seeing his girlfriend acting all cutely with sparkling eyes, made Stan feel pride. So he decided to boast about himself while showing his muscles.

"That's right Honey, your boyfriend is so awesome that Chen Mo decided to share it with me."

It was difficult for Ian to keep himself from laughing out loud, because of what Stan said. But he couldn't keep himself from ridiculing Stan inside his mind, 'Stan, o Stan. Enjoy your last moments, idiot. Kekeke.'

Stan knew that others also needed to be notified on time, and some preparations were in order. Stan didn't forget his duties as the Guild leader.

"Also, Ian make sure the elites of the Guild are notified and make the necessary preparations that are needed before we set off."

With that said, Stan's duties as a Guild leader of shoving all the work to the Vice-Guild leader were taken care of. He now wanted to spend some quality time with his girlfriend.

Ian's lips twitched when he hear this, but he remained calm. As he saw Cassie in Stan's arms being taken away, he muttered in a low voice, 'Soon Stan. Soon your life will end.'

***

5 days later.

30 elites of the 'Radiant Light' Guild stood next to...….