“So, this is the place, huh?” Miri asked Anne.

  “Yep, this is where my guild, Golden Lion, is based at,” Anne replied.

  Currently, Miri and Anne had arrived at the private guild hall where Anne’s guild was supposed to reside at. Gazing at the building, Miri had to take a moment to register what she’s seeing in front of her.

  From the looks of it, this building seemed more like a mansion than an adventurer’s guild hall. The size of it was grand and the style of it was luxurious—the exterior was a combination of pale limestone and golden furnishings, brilliantly shiny glass panels reflecting the orange-and-green sky, immaculately trimmed bushes and hedges of blue and purple leaves surrounding its perimeter.

  But perhaps the most noticeable feature of it all were the golden lion statues. There’s just so many of them, of various sizes and positions, all scattered all through the vicinity of the mansion. Even calling this place extravagant and grandiose would be an understatement.

  And both Miri and Anne were going to just walk straight into it.

  “Well, here goes nothing,” Miri said with a sigh as she and Anne entered.

  Right at the entrance, they saw what appeared to be some sort of butler—a man in a black suit, greying hair, and a dignified posture.

  “Excuse me, young ladies, but you cannot enter the premises without an invitation,” the butler said to the two women with a somewhat posh tone.

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  “Invitation? What are you talking about? She’s literally a guild member here,” Miri said, pointing her thumb back to gesture at Anne.

  “It’s me, Reginald. I’m Anne. Anne Brightwood. Don’t you remember me?” Anne said, seemingly feeling a bit hurt that the butler of the very same guild she was working in didn’t even remember her face.

  The butler adjusted his monocle a bit in order to see her more closely. “Ahh, yes. Miss Brightwood. You must excuse me, there’s been quite a number of you going in and out of this place. I can hardly keep track.”

  A number of them? Miri thought with a furrowed brow. What did he mean by that? Does this place take in a lot of guild members?

  “I’m here to report back,” Anne said. “I nearly died when my party and I tried to fight a giant scorpider during one of our quests. Thankfully, this woman here happened to come by and save me. Now, I’m here to let them know that I’m okay.”

  “Very well. Come this way, miss,” Reginald said before guiding Miri and Anne inside the guild hall.

  If Miri thought the exterior was extravagant, the interior was even more so—with even more walls of white stone decorated with gleaming linings of gold and velvety drapes of red. And, of course, more statues of golden lions. What is it with this guild and golden lions? Sure, the name of the guild was literally called “Golden Lion” but having this many statues of it just seemed a bit too excessive.

  Once they’d passed through the foyer, walked up the stairs, and strolled down the corridor, they’d finally arrived at what appeared to be a large meeting room. However, right before Miri and Anne were about to step into the room, they could hear some sort of loud chatter from a group of people coming from inside.

  Peeking through the gap left by the slight opening of the door, Miri could see that it was a group of three young men—all wearing extravagantly designed knightly armor, each with a different main color of red, blue, and green.

  “Man, I’m so glad that our cleric went and got herself killed off,” the red-armored knight said with a grin as he took a sip from his goblet of wine. “Saves us the trouble of firing her later.”