***
After agreeing that gaining experience was their top priority, the group decided to pick a mission that was relatively simple but offered high rewards and plenty of training opportunities.
Rouya also spent time looking through the Guild Mission Panel, discussing the options with Aislinn and Noir. One quest they considered was retrieving the Jade Glaze Water Lily from Jade Glaze Lake. This location lay in the middle of Green Groove Forest — a medium-sized woodland near Groove Town, which was two towns away from their current base in Meadow Town.
According to the details provided, Green Groove Forest wasn't very large, but it was home to various types of low‑level monsters. Travelling there to complete the task would give them both valuable combat training and experience points.
However, they hesitated to make a final choice, as there was another equally attractive option: a mapping assignment for the Moonlight Waterfall Cave in Heart Moon Forest. That forest was quite vast — much bigger than Green Groove Forest — though the cave itself sat near the outer edge. Being on the perimeter, it should logically only host weaker creatures, yet they couldn't be certain. That uncertainty made them reluctant to commit, even though the quest seemed far more rewarding.
"Why not just take both?" Ginger suggested confidently, genuinely confused why the three were still stuck deciding. "We can finish one and then do the other. There's no rule saying we can only accept one mission at a time, right?"
"It's not that simple," Aislinn replied, shaking her head while unrolling a small map drawn on animal skin. "Look here — this is Meadow Town. To reach Groove Town, you need to pass through two towns to the right. But look at this side…" She pointed to the far left of the map. "That's where Heart Moon Forest and the Moonlight Waterfall Cave are. It's three towns away from here."
"Then we can just double back afterward, can't we?" Ginger insisted.
"That would be too troublesome," Rouya interjected. "We don't have unlimited supplies to travel back and forth freely. What we should do is find a supplementary quest along the route between these two destinations." She went back to scanning the mission board, searching for something that could fit alongside either main objective.
"Found it!" Priscilla suddenly called out, interrupting Rouya's focus. Rouya looked over, confused, seeing how delighted Priscilla was with her discovery. "This one will serve us perfectly in the long run!" Priscilla added proudly.
"What kind of mission is it?" Aislinn asked, furrowing her brows with a sense of foreboding. She leaned in to see which quest Priscilla was pointing to on the panel — and nearly fainted on the spot. "Excuse me, Guild Master… are you absolutely sure this counts as easy? It's an entire ant nest! How on earth are we supposed to drive them all out?" she demanded, thoroughly exasperated.
"Ants are low‑level monsters, aren't they? And this is only a Red‑Tier quest," Priscilla explained as if it were obvious. "It's located at Swamp Mountain near Daybreak Town — just one town away from here. It's ideal. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of ants there. That's more than enough for us to train properly and get used to each other's skills so we can fight better as a team."
Even Rouya had to admit it made sense; she couldn't understand why Aislinn was reacting as if Priscilla had made a huge mistake. Besides, checking the map again, she realized this could actually work as a side quest on the way to Heart Moon Forest, where they planned to carry out the mapping mission at Moonlight Waterfall Cave.
"Wait… you already submitted the application to take on this quest?" Aislinn asked, hoping against hope for a 'no'—only to be utterly disappointed.
"Sure did! The system just approved it," Priscilla replied, beaming with excitement and pride.
"Guild Master, you're going to get us all killed!" Aislinn finally snapped. "There are only five of us, but there are ten, a hundred, even a thousand times more ants! Even if each one is weak on its own, their sheer numbers completely overwhelm us!"
"Oh… I honestly didn't think about that," Priscilla mumbled.
"You are way too reckless!"
"Actually… I think this might work out," Noir spoke up unexpectedly, sounding thoughtful. "We can just take them on in small batches and avoid fighting the whole swarm at once. Besides, I've heard ant honey tastes really good."
"Noir, you've got it all wrong," Rouya interrupted, surprised by this lack of basic knowledge. "Ants don't produce honey—bees do."
"Really? So even inside a game world, ants don't have honey? That seems pretty illogical to me."
"You're the one being completely illogical here," Aislinn said, at a loss for words. This might be a game world, but basic facts and common sense still applied. She took a deep breath and resigned herself to the situation. "Well, since the Guild Master has already accepted it, we have no choice but to prepare what we need. Low‑grade equipment will have to do for now; we can't afford anything higher‑level anyway."
"You handle the supplies and logistics. You're good at it, and I trust your judgment," Priscilla immediately passed the task to Aislinn, then hurried toward the headquarters door. "I'll go tell my boyfriend about our upcoming mission so he doesn't worry too much if I can't visit him for a while."
"Hey! Priscilla! You can't just leave! We still need you here!" Aislinn called out, chasing after her as she stepped outside.
"It's not like I'd be any help with preparations. I'd probably just end up being a headache for everyone," Priscilla stated matter‑of‑factly, without a hint of embarrassment.
Aislinn wanted to argue, but the words got stuck in her throat. She truly didn't know what to say to such a carefree, simple‑minded Guild Master—someone whose attention always seemed to drift off to something else the moment she started doing anything. She could only watch Priscilla's retreating figure and sigh.
Watching the antics of her guildmates, Rouya felt a sense of peace and warmth. Even back in the real world, she had never felt as relaxed and content as she did right now.
"I suppose we'll just have to manage without our Guild Master," Aislinn said, turning to look at Rouya and the others. "Let's handle the rest ourselves. I'll assign roles to each of you—and I hope none of you will abandon your duties the way she just did," she added, her tone stern and warning.
Ginger, who had been planning to slip away, immediately fell silent and obediently agreed. It was clear that the Guild Master's behavior had pushed Aislinn's patience to its limit. She couldn't risk making things worse, not when Aislinn was already this furious.
***