12 Chapter 11 - Giovan and Ember

"You're early." Entering the front door of the guild in the morning, Lukas was greeted by Karen. She was sitting in one of the chairs with her legs elegantly crossed. In her hand, she held a cup of tea.

"You said the meeting was 11 a.m, and now it's 10:30. I didn't arrive too early."

"I did? I was wrong. The meeting is at 1:00 p.m."

"What?" Lukas couldn't believe it. Karen looked at him and then smiled. "Just kidding, the others should be here soon." Lukas sighed with relief.

"And where is that girl? I think her name is Noelle."

"She's sleeping. I'll wake her up before the meeting." Karen took another sip of tea. Noticing that Lukas was staring at her, she lifted the cup. "Would you like some?" Lukas just turned his face away and walked towards one of the chairs to sit down.

Then he continued to stand there until the meeting started. It was kind of awkward.

"They haven't arrived yet." Long minutes passed, but no one had arrived yet.

"They should be almost here by now. Probably the car gave some trouble on the way. That always happens."

"Always happens?"

Lukas sighed and crossed his arms. After a few minutes, a noisy car stopped in front of the guild. Then the door opened, and a cheerful man shouted. "We're here, Karen!" The man removed the top hat he was wearing and placed it in front of his chest.

The man, who appeared to be middle-aged, had a long moustache on his face. His hair was long, down to his shoulders. His build was average, nothing to be surprised about. The most surprising thing was his clothing.

A purple suit with a black bow tie and black pants. His top hat was also purple to match the suit. Lukas stared at the man for a while, and the man was staring at him too.

The two exchanged glances until the man gave an even brighter smile.

He then put the top hat back on his head and approached.

"You must be Lukas! It's a pleasure. My name is Giovan. But you can call me, but you can call me 'Gi' if you like." The man held out his hand. A white glove covered his hand. Lukas held it, and they greeted each other.

Then, soon after, a woman appeared.

Unlike Giovan, she looked... Normal?

Brown hair tied back and a casual outfit. A basic black shirt with a brown bear design and black knit pants. She had light green eyes. She was a beautiful woman.

Mainly because of her large breasts.

Lukas stared at them for a while, but that would be not nice, so he looked away.

"Giovan, I already told you not to come in like that. Oh, it's the new kid." She said with indifference after noticing Lukas.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He said.

"Hey, why didn't you say hello to me and say hello to her? That's unfair!" Giovan protested, but Lukas ignored him.

"Karen, is it just them?"

"Oh, yes. That's Giovan, eccentric but quite competent. That's Ember, and she's his younger sister."

"Younger sister?" Lukas looked at the two and could find no resemblance.

"Don't you see our eyes? They are the same colour." Giovan brought his face closer to Lukas.

"Yes, I see, but you are too close."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Giovan stepped back and straightened his tie. "So, shall we begin? Where is that idiot?"

"Don't say that about Noelle, idiot brother." Ember kicked the back of Giovan's leg, making him kneel on the floor.

"I told you not to do that, Ember!" Lukas could only smile bitterly.

'The other members are strange people as I imagined. But like the Karen and Noelle, they are quite competent.' Lukas looked at the numbers floating above their heads.

####

After Noelle woke up, a table was set up downstairs, and they locked the front door. Karen sat on the end, and the rest of the members sat in random places at the table.

"So let's begin our morning meeting. First, I would like to introduce our new member again. Please stand up." She signalled for Lukas to stand, and he did so.

"His name is Lukas, Lukas Ortid." Lukas was surprised and looked at Karen.

"But I don't remember saying my last name?" He said.

"I had to do some research to put together your 'file'. How did you want the association to register you without having your last name?"

"Oh, sure..." Lukas cleared his throat.

"Well, let's continue. I sent a message warning everyone; Lukas has two abilities, as you all know. Telekinesis and Pyrotechnics. Since Giovan also has telekinesis skills, I would like you to train Lukas. What do you think, Giovan?"

"Oh, I think..."

"Wait for a second!" Lukas protested.

"What?"

"I'm not going to train with this guy. Don't worry; I have my ways to train my skills." Lukas remembered the academy system.

"But It's good to have some opponents to test your skills, right ?"

"I also have opponents to test my skills, don't worry."

"Okay... What about your other skill? Pyrotechnics."

"I'll practice that too, don't worry."

"Right." Karen smiled, satisfied and then opened a folder and pulled out a piece of paper. She dragged the paper across the table, and Lukas picked it up and began to read the whole thing. It was his association registration document.

"I took a copy of the document to give to you. So you can look at it to see if all the data is correct or if you want to make any changes."

Lukas read the document carefully, and everything was correct.

"I think everything is fine."

"Good! I thought I had some data wrong."

"But it's surprising you have all my data and measurements..."

"I have my ways of finding that out."

"I see..."

"But now let's get to the most important matter: Our dungeon visit. Noelle, please."

"Yes, ma'am."

Noelle stood up and then brought out an old laptop and projector. She placed it on the table, and then some images began to be projected on the wall. The window curtains were closed to improve visibility.

"This is a D-RANK dungeon that recently appeared in the Jacksonville metropolitan area. As you can see, we already have all the dungeon data, and it is not a big dungeon. But look at those images." Some images from inside the dungeon appeared.

"On the walls in the deeper rooms, these crystals grow all over the wall. They're not very expensive, but the association is paying the good value for many of them." Karen smiled.

"You want us to act like miners?"

"Exactly, Lukas!" She pointed her finger at him. "Sure, there are enemies inside, and it's the perfect time for you to test your skills."

"Of course."

"And before I forget, you will come to the association building with me after leaving the dungeon. They need to test your skills to rank you and give you your ID."

"Right." Lukas nodded, and then Karen began to explain some more things about the dungeon.

After a lengthy explanation, finally, everyone was ready to head toward the dungeon. With difficulty, everyone got into Giovan's small old car and drove off towards the dungeon.