Big Crow, seeing his brothers disperse, sighed lightly. He lowered his claw which was just about to slash at Radiant Shield.
"Adventurers, you have won. Let my brothers go and I tell you what you wish to know. There is no need to hunt us down."
Liam and his friends looked at the boss in surprise. They expected the real fight to begin now but instead it ended just like that.
Since they were still trying to accomplish their quests, they could only agree with Big Crow. Liam put his swords away as he addressed the boss:
"Alright. Speak."
The smaller crows wore expression of embarrassment as they returned from the forest, saddened by the fact that their big brother had to lower his head.
"My brothers and I never wanted to be bandits. However, as beastkin of the crow tribe it is impossible to live among humans. Do you know how many people see us as bad omens?"
Silent Acacia rolled his eyes. He couldn't help but interrupt:
"Ok, ok. We are not here for your sob story."
Big Crow glared angrily at the hunter, but he wasn't intimidated.
"Whatever. If you wish for answers, I will oblige.
Since a while ago we have been doing dirty work for someone. I'm not proud of it but we need to eat as well, don't we?"
"Were your ambushes on merchants also under that person's order?", asked Bloody Edge curiously.
"Yes... he told us to cause some chaos. But he never revealed his identity, calling himself Dust."
"That's it?"
"I don't know much more. I can give you the location we usually met though. Here."
Big Crow handed over a small letter. As soon as Liam took it, his quest updated.
"Are you satisfied now?!"
"Sure."
Big Crow scrunched his nose. Looking at his brothers he signalled with his eyes and the Seven Crows left into the forest.
"Do we just let them go?", asked Silent Acacia.
Liam pondered for a moment before nodding his head. He wasn't without suspicion as the crows didn't make use of the void during the fight. Maybe there was more to come in the future.
Quickstep followed the Seven Crows with her eyes, asking a question:
"Ok, what now? Do we follow the quest?"
"Let's postpone it for later. We still have an appointment."
"Right, the..."
"Shh."
Quickstep frowned, glancing at Liam. He didn't want to cause unnecessary displeasure, messaging her directly.
[Bleary Mirage: Let's keep the world boss a secret for now.]
[Quickstep: Why? Can't we even trust these few people?]
[Bleary Mirage: You never know. They just need to boast to their friends and the cat is out of the bag.]
Quickstep glanced at him shrugging her shoulders. Braag drew her attention.
After the Seven Crows left a treasure chest had appeared in the middle of the clearing. The dwarf had already approached it to collect their reward.
But he was rather disappointed when the item appearing in his hand was only surrounded by a blue sheen. At least the crows had the decency to leave behind more than one uncommon equipment.
The party members distributed the loot, most if it going towards their new additions while unwanted items were thrown into the guild treasury.
Afterwards they returned to the city, taking the teleporter back to Duabalis where they met up at the guild headquarters.
By now the crowd had slightly thinned. People were coming and going. Most of the new guild members visited the headquarter once after joining, before forming parties and leaving for quests.
Only Cyclone, Balm, and Sun's Knight hadn't left the place all morning. It might look like they weren't doing much but their chat windows were basically glowing with activity.
When Liam and the others arrived, it took Cyclone a few seconds to notice them.
"Huh, you are back?"
"Yeah. How is it going here?"
"It's horrible!"
Cyclone let out a deep sigh, allowing her body to slack, almost falling form the barrel she was sitting on.
"Is the recruitment not going well?", asked Silent Acacia with a surprised expression.
"Of course it is! It's going too well! I'm drowning in work!"
"It is really exhausting.", agreed Balm, allowing herself a break.
Only Sun's Knight continued unperturbed, his eyes moving left to right and right to left.
"Haha, you're in your element.", joked Radiant Shield bumping his friend's shoulder.
"Yes. Now is the time when we can secure the most talents! Every second counts!"
"So serious?"
Noticing that Sun's Knight didn't show any inclination to answer, Balm spoke to Radiant Shield:
"It's ok. We are already at 339 members. Although the speed slowed down a bit since the other guilds cleared the dungeon."
"Oh, someone was successful?"
"Yes. After the surprise brought by Nest of Flames it seems others increased their efforts. A few guilds finished in quick succession.
Star Gazer was third, maybe overtaken by Wave of Bones. It's hard to tell. Surprisingly a guy called Fat Tiger followed, even faster than Earthquake. Afterwards a bunch of others also succeeded."
"Not bad, but they won't catch up to us."
"Who knows. Star Gazer is clamouring in the global chat, wanting to buy a land lease for a ton of money. He is already advertising his guild 'Galaxy', promising immense benefits for everyone willing to join."
Cyclone fidgeted, clearly showing unease as this topic was brought up.
"Expert, are there other ways to get a land lease? How fast can Star Gazer be?"
"Of course there are. But none of them are easy to accomplish. Still, let's not underestimate the competition."
"Right. We need to make the best out of our lead. How about that thing you mentioned earlier?"
"Ready when you are."
"Ok. Let's max out the members and then we should go!"
The friends talked a bit more before dispersing. Liam reminded them not to go too far while deciding to do some blacksmith work himself.
He paid a visit to the auction house, buying some recipes and equipment for the guild treasury before entering the smithy.
However, it didn't take long until Cyclone posted a notice in the guild chat, telling everyone to gather.
Liam laid down his work and went back to the headquarter. Since he was already prepared, he was naturally early, gathering with his friends towards the rare. A casual conversation was going on while the friends waited for more members to arrive:
"Silver Blade, Fortune. How was your exploration?"
"Great!", answered Silver Blade with shining eyes. "Crunaboul is so beautiful! We visited some elven cities, did a short quest for some Aharner and even found a beastkin village!"
Silver Blade wore a bright smile looking like a young girl telling her favourite fairytale, elevating everyone's mood. Fortune was amazed as well, stating that she wanted to cut a separate video out of their discoveries.
Thus, the mood was great, not even broken by the occasional nosy member. Gradually the newcomers stopped trickling in, prompting Cyclone to address the guild.
The young woman jumped on a barrel, overlooking all the guild members. For a moment she was choked up, knowing that these people were the foundation assisting her in fulfilling her dreams.
Her friends were infected by the emotions, Balm naturally the most. She also jumped on a barrel, standing next to Cyclone.
Drawing strength from her best friend, Cyclone began to speak:
"Thank you all for coming!"
But she quickly noticed that the excitement was too big. The guild members kept talking amongst each other, only a few noticing their leader.
"Hey! Please look here!"
Cyclone waved her hands, which helped somewhat but still wasn't enough.
Suddenly she waved her wand. With a deafening crackle, lightning struck. Since the place was so crowded, she didn't want to hit a random member. Therefore, Silver Blade suddenly felt the hairs on her neck stand up, feeling targeted.
She reacted incredibly swiftly, raising her shield just in time to block the lightning.
"CYYYY!"
"Heh, sorry..."
Cyclone apologized with a wry smile. She didn't dare to look at the seething Silver Blade, letting her eyes wander over the guild members, whose attention had been drawn by the commotion.
"Thank you very much for coming everyone! Welcome to Dream Avenue!"
Joyful applause erupted spontaneously. From the few conversations many guild members could already feel that they were surrounded by talents. They looked forward to the guild's future, confident that it would be extraordinary.
Cyclone had to concentrate not to choke again.
"All of you are great talents and our guild can be glad to have you. Now in order to celebrate the guild's founding and the get to know each other we planned a small outing."
Those words steered more excitement, leading to discussion among the players. But some found it strange that Cyclone didn't continue talking.
"Guild leader, where are we going?", asked a red-masked thief in curiosity.
"Haha, that's a surprise."
"A surprise? Mysterious."
"With so many of us there aren't many possibilities."
"Right. What else can it be but a world boss?"
"Maybe we'll attack a territory?"