On the evening of the day I accepted the guild battle challenge, I found several members gathered in the guild room I had come to.
We didn't make any appointments for the dungeon and as the majority of members were in the same class, there wasn't any particular need to gather here but it seems the girls purpose for gathering was something else.
"So nice. I really can't get enough no matter how many times I hug Mochi-chan. It's so fluffy and bouncy, and it feels so nice to hug it with its excellent elasticity."
"Yeah. But the strongest is Sachineko-sama, Mochi-chan is second strongest."
Was 2nd even strongest, I wonder?
The first thing that entered my sight was the huge, extra-large Michiko whose volume was clearly larger than any of the girls in the guild and the figure of Rika tightly hugging it. Then Karua who was hugging and squeezing ‹Mochi-chan› including Rika from behind.
It was priceless scenery to say the very least. I seriously wish there could have been a screenshot function.
In fact, I had discovered a machine that could record images in the Investigation department building when I was checking out on elective classes. I made up my mind to negotiate and get it in my hands soon.
"So relaxing. I can finally replenish Sachineko-sama-tium. I might become useless if I don't have Sachineko-sama to heal me. I definitely have to negotiate with Zephyr to hand over Sachineko-sama to me."
"Pardon me, Lana-sama. I would be direct, but please refrain from any of such acts, or else the guild will fall apart if you handle it wrongly."
My gaze shifted to the opposite direction of Rika and Karua hearing the terrifying line.
Unsurprisingly, Lana was there hugging Sachineko-sama who was supposed to be enshrined in the home shrine. So it was Lana who said that! I would have begun a war if Shizu hadn't rebuked her!
As you may have guessed, the ones gathered here were the girl group who wanted to play with plushies after school. For some reason, many of Eden's members were either lovers of plushies or cute things.
It seemed there were only these four members for today but there were also days when all the girls gathered together frequently.
Courtesy to them, the guild room was gradually turning into a lovely, cute room. They have racks and showcases exclusively for plushies arranged and the number of plushies were just increasing as the days passed by. They only numbered 10 in the beginning when Eden bought them but now, their number has exceeded 30.
“Just what will happen to the guild room if plushies count continues to go on like this?”, was something I was recently worried about.
"Oh, you're here Zephyr. You didn't go to Dungeon with your ‹Pri-4› today?"
Everyone's gaze turned to me at Lana's voice.
"Oh, I met them earlier. Rather, what the heck is ‹Pri-4›?"
"Lana-sama is talking about the four classmates sitting in front of Zephyr-dono. They have been gradually called such in the class ever since their self-introduction. In literal terms, it means ‹The Quartet filled with unnecessary high pride›."
Shizu answered with a straight face.
How pitiful, Saturn-kun and party. I never expected you guys would be lumped together in one group by classmates with such a nickname, wouldn't the prideful four explode if they come to know about this? Atleast, there's me who calls them properly by their names.
"I see. Also, I will absolutely not hand over Sachineko-sama, Lana."
"Why is it!"
No but or whatsoever. Absolutely no! I will just say this.
Anyway, it's time to bring out the main topic.
"In fact, I have come here to discuss things. The aforementioned four people have created a guild."
"Hmm."
Lana's response was quite lukewarm. However, even such reactions quickly take a backflip at my following words.
"So, they asked us, Eden, to have a mock guild battle with them一一"
That's right, it's our first guild battle ever since the E-rank exam. The next to react were Rika and Karua who were listening our conversation from sideline.
"You're going to do a guild battle, Zephyr? Have you already decided on participant members?"
"I would like to participate if possible."
Well of course, they were benched in the last E-rank exam even though they had trained a lot. They would want to participate in guild battle at least once.
Well, it was a guild battle I was challenged by them with a nearly accusing tone but it doesn't sound bad to fight considering the future.
No more than five members were allowed in the E-rank exam. At present, there are 13 members in Eden with the majority of them completely unfamiliar to the guild battle.
Guild battles would be necessary to increase our rank in future. In short, the best way is to let them accumulate as much experience as possible. This time the guild battle just happened to be godsend.
Actually, I wanted to rack up the experience with the fellow members but arenas weren't always free unfortunately, so it was impossible to practice anytime I felt like. It is especially hard at this time of year.
One of the reasons why it's usually not available was because one guild would need a lot of quest points to reserve the arena.
On this note, Quest Point 一 alternatively called as QP 一 are something given by academy when a guild complete a quest. Other than using them to exchange for items or equipment, quest points were also used for enjoying various facilities in this academy.
In addition to getting a discount on quest points if you're going to practice with the other guilds, depending on the time and goal, you may also be given priority on the arena.
We decided to do it on Thursday, after classes, though it's a relief we have an arena available to us.
By the way, this time fee was paid with Mir since none of us had quest points.
F or E-rank guilds have the privilege to pay with Mir in case neither hold enough QP when they apply for guild battle. In exchange, this system would become unusable when the guild rank rises.
Hence I had come here to decide on participants since we only have three days left. I guess I will take in Rika and Karua this time.
"I want everyone to experience the guild battle if possible equally. So, I will be relying on you this time, Rika, Karua."
"! Leave it to us! We will definitely stand upto your expectations."
"Yay. Let's do our best, Rika."
Rika and Karua high-fived each other as their faces cracked in a smile. Though it was a bit surreal scenery as they did it while holding the large-size Michiko in between.
"Hold on, what about me!?"
"Didn't your turn come last time?"
"But that was just one match, that much wasn't even enough to state the curiosity at all! And aren't you also participating too, Zephyr!"
Well, I couldn't rebut that.
It's not like there's absolutely no chance but, I guess it would be fine?
"Then I, too, want to participate. For future reference."
You too, Shizu. Well whatever.
Thus, we settled on the members who will be participating in the upcoming guild battle.
Saturn-kun and group were amateurs when it comes to guild battle but I'm not going to keep my hands.
Besides, three of our members were also amateurs so it should be fine, I guess.(?)