A bit further into the conversation that the group was having about possible ways to work together for the next month, Rachel made a suggestion that would help the party grow, “If you want to expand your party, I think you should get a mage, scout, and porter. I can search for a porter through the guild, and for the mage we can go to the Mage Tower and see if we find anyone that’s interested. Finding a good scout is gonna be a bitch of a task, though.”

Foster raised his brows slightly, turning his head toward his friends. He slightly leaned in, and whispered to Octer, “Yo… what’s a Mage Tower?”

Octer slowly closed his eyes, and let out a deep sigh, “It’s an organization that helps magic-users in different ways. Research, education, that kinda stuff.” 

“Right, it’s like the Martial Alliance, which I’m assuming you three are a part of.” Rae pointed out immediately, but she was soon met with nothing but empty stares, “You’re fucking with me, right?”

“None of the places I worked had a Martial Alliance office.” Octer replied bluntly, and Lynol quickly added, “And I never thought it was necessary.”

“Never thought it was- The hell’s that supposed to mean?” Rachel asked perplexed, “Of course it’s necessary, the Martial Alliance can give you a shitton of ressources. You can even get training tomes from all over the place there. Especially in Arcadum, I heard they even have a tome with techniques from some calamity or whatever there.”

Immediately, Foster’s ears perked up, and so did Lynol’s. They looked at each other, and turned back toward Rachel, “Which calamity?”

“The fuck do I know?” She replied immediately, “But that’s not important right now anyway. You didn’t tell me what your excuse is yet.” Rae pointed out, looking at Foster.

He slowly stared back at her for a few moments as if his mind went blank, and slowly averted his gaze, “I plead the fifth.”

“Alright fine, I don’t have any fucking clue what that means, but go ahead, don’t tell me I guess. Either way, you’re gonna have to sign up with the Martial Alliance sooner or later. Preferably sooner. Also, what about you? You an official member of the church?”

“That I am.” Kyla replied immediately, “I’m a devout member of Melodia’s church.” She said bluntly, and Rachel slowly nodded, “Good, at least one of you knows how to do stuff. You, Foster, you just signed up, right? Meaning you got the booklet and map with all the info and stuff? It should have the location of the Martial Alliance in there, so you guys should head there as soon as you’ve got time. It might take a while to sign up. I mean, at least none of you are mages, signing up with the Mage Tower is even more fucking annoying, I heard.”

Immediatley, Foster let out a loud groan, once more dropping his head onto the table, “Seriously? Even more bureaucracy? And I guess that means I have to sign up at that shitty tower thing as well…”

“Hm?” Rachel let out confused, “What do you mean? I just said you’re lucky you don’t have to. You guys are all martial classes, so you don’t have to bother.”

“Actually… I’ve got a hybrid class or whatever. I can use magic as well.” Foster said bluntly, making his handler laugh out loud, “Hah, right! As if someone like you would end up being a mage. I’d be surprised to find out you can read, with the weird way you’re talking.”

“Fucking hell, why does everyone bring up the way I talk? It’s an old dialect, so what, dammit…” Foster let out with a loud groan, before pushing his hands into his hair, pulling out the small spirit that had been sleeping, completely wrapped up in his contractor’s ponytail. The moment that Rae saw the spirit, she looked back up, “Is that… a familiar?”

“Yup. His name is Aster, he’s a nature spirit. That proof enough for you?” Foster asked annoyedly, and Rae let out a loud groan, “Yes, fine, it’s proof enough for me. I have no idea how someone like you can learn magic, but that’s not important. If you’re not signed up with the Mage Tower, that means you don’t have a Familiar License. And if you don’t have a Familiar License, you’ll end up with a big fucking fee if they find out you have a familiar before you report that you do yourself.”

Not only Foster was surprised about that statement this time, but the rest were as well, “…What? That’s a thing?” Foster asked, and Rae crossed her arms again, letting out another groan, since she seemed extremely bothered to have to explain this, “No, but yes… urgh, I don’t know, it’s an Arcadum thing? The way stuff is handled here is a lot different sometimes, as you might have noticed. It’s the largest city on the continent, nearly three times as big as the second largest. There’s a lot of people here that want to do bad shit, and a lot of spirits just running around through the tiny corners of this place. It’s just something they wanna do to get stuff under control, I guess.”

“Huh.” Foster let out, “I mean, I guess that sounds reasonable enough. I still don’t like bureaucracy, though.”

Rae rolled her eyes, standing up from the table, “Want me to hold your hand while you gotta do that scary stuff?”

“…would you?” Foster asked with a slight squint, and Rae let out another loud groan, “You know what, maybe you guys won’t hit it big in the future after all. Either way, I’ve got to go now, and don’t worry, I’ve got the bill for today. But next time you guys are paying for your own drinks.” She said, walking over toward the bar, as the small party was left alone.

Kyla scratched her cheek somewhat awkwardly, as she looked at Rae’s back, “You know, I think she might be able to do a great job.”

“You were the most angry out of all of us, but you are the first to say something like that?” Lynol asked with a raised brow.

“Yah… so what?” Kyla replied immediately, “Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

Interrupting them before this conversation could decline into another fight between the two, Foster leaned backward, “Nothing at all, don’t worry. Anyway… I guess we should go sign up at the Martial Alliance now, and then I’ll head over to the Mage Tower and figure shit out there?”

Lynol shook his head, “Actually, I think you should go to the Mage Tower first, and then we are going to meet at the Martial Alliance.” He suggested instead.

Foster crossed his arms and looked at Octer, “You coming with me? To ask about… you know?”

“Erm, I- I might… I’ll think about it, I guess? Just… could you ask about it, maybe?”

Lynol and Kyla looked at Foster and Octer confused, “What? What are you talking about?” The party leader asked, and Foster looked at Octer, “You didn’t tell them?”

“Tell us what?” Kyla asked, concerned. Octer let out a deep sigh, “Last night, I was practicing my new martial skill in my room, y’know? That kinda thing. And while practicing… I apparently sorta used the magic side of it, and the skill got stuck, and I went to Foster to ask him for help to fix it. There, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

“Your skill got stuck?” Kyla asked with a deep frown, “What do you mean, ‘nothing to worry about’? Of course that’s something to worry about!”

Lynol let out a deep sigh, “Alright, I got an idea. Octer and I will head off to the Martial Alliance and sign up, and try to ask some people there to see if we can figure something out. Kyla, do you mind going with Foster to the Mage Tower and help him figure things out there? Maybe ask around for things like this together?”

“No, I don’t mind at all.” Kyla said immediately, and Lynol quickly stood up, “Good. Then that’s how we’re doing it, I guess. Let’s just head off right now. It sounds pretty serious, so figuring it out early would be good..” The party leader suggested, and with that, the group quickly split in two for a few hours.