Chapter Two: Starting Point

            Geoffrey yawned and stretched his arms as he came downstairs in the early hours of the morning and looked for his third-in-command, Moonstone. His bright green eyes then fell to the right corner of the inn and saw a young woman sitting on a chair with long silvery-white hair that curled at the end twirling her dry, feather quill in her slender and pale hands. She wore a short and furry white coat over her shoulders and a petite white dress made out of silk reaching her knees. Her bright and vivid blue eyes wandered back and forth as she read some papers on the round, oak table. Next to the stack of papers was a white cup half filled with coffee.

He came up and greeted her, “Good morning!”

Moonstone nearly jumped in surprise from her chair, but smiled as she saw her leader take a seat across from her. “Good morning to you too, Rey!”

Geoffrey raised a brow, “Rey?”

“Yeah, from Geoffrey. Or do I call you Geoff?”

“Eh, whichever works I guess. I’d just rather be called Geoffrey though.” He shrugged. “So, any good jobs?”

The high wizard shook her head, “None yet that’s classified as ‘good’ for us anyway…Kill a Garm? Oh we can do that, just not for a hundred zeny.”

The black haired man chuckled and looked at the papers in front of him, although they were upside down. Some of the papers he had read before Moonstone flipped them over were quite disappointing, indeed. “Find the chickens in Mt. Mjolnir for fifty zeny…the hell…Hmm, search for a lost necklace in Glast Heim for six zeny…Moron. Deliver a message to a Pronteran soldier stationed in Aldebaran from his beloved wife and earn a lottery ticket? Do they take us for idiots or what?”

“The world has gone to the chickens…” Moonstone said without looking up at Geoffrey.

“What is up with chickens nowadays?”

“I dunno. They taste good though.” Geoffrey stared at her in amazement while she continued to look over for missions. He’d never have expected her to say that. Nevertheless, she’d surprise people every now and then. Occasionally, she’d begin to speak but stop after reading the rest of the paper she was just looking at. Geoffrey soon got bored and got up to order breakfast from the inn lady. After ordering, he sat back down and looked out the window.

He would peer over to his comrade every other minute to see that she was still flipping papers over. His eyes wandered back to the window, where some people had begun their new day walking to work, setting up their vending carts, or simply taking a jog on this cool fall morning. There weren’t a lot of them, however; it was only five forty-six. Geoffrey usually tried to get up early morning to make the most of his days. Every time, Moonstone would always be awake before him. Once he tried to wake up at three a.m. and Moonstone was still up before him. “Maybe she doesn’t sleep.” Ellian commented once.

The mercenary band included Moonstone, Ellian, Tym, Kandee, and of course Geoffrey himself. Previously, there had been two guys who applied to join his group six months ago and had been accepted. Yet Geoffrey only met them once and never saw them again. His images of them were bleak, but he knew that one had silver spiky hair and the other had red hair; both of them had sunglasses. As they were missing, no one counted them as a part of the group and was completely forgotten afterwards. Having people join a mercenary group was difficult, especially if you’re new and only received fame in the past few months. Geoffrey was lucky to have Ellian, an old friend of his, to aid him and getting the other three’s job applications before others who might have hired them instead.

Thirty minutes passed, and Moonstone wasn’t even halfway through the stack of papers, and Ellian and Tym were going downstairs to join the two. They all greeted each other after Ellian and Tym ordered their breakfast. Soon, they began to chat about the war, weapons and other gear, food, and other topics. Soon after, their breakfast came and everyone started to eat.

“Where’s your sister?” Moonstone asked Tym, who sat next to her, as she sipped her cup of coffee.

“Sleeping.” Tym replied. “She’ll be up in three hours or so.”

“Not an early riser is she?” Ellian chuckled.

“No, no she isn’t.” The assassin shook his head and took another bite from his piece of bread.

***

“Aha!” The female wizard exclaimed. It was eleven o’ clock in the morning, Kandee had gotten up two hours ago and took a walk around Prontera, Ellian was out buying groceries, Tym was at the armory, and Geoffrey had his head on top of his folded arms, which lay limp due to the lack of circulation flowing through his arms, on the table until Moonstone had spoken.

“You finally found something?” Geoffrey asked in delight and Moonstone nodded. “It doesn’t involve chickens, right?”

Moonstone glared at him before replying, “No, it doesn’t include chickens.”

“Oh good…What is it?”

“It says to kill a bunch of monsters at a small village near Aldebaran. Someone was reported using dead branches to summon countless monsters until a nearby hunter scared him off by firing an arrow. He missed, but the convict fled…and some of the monsters around the guy were pretty powerful to take on alone. He barely escaped to report it.”

Geoffrey yawned, “How much does it paaay…?”

“Thirteen point nine million zeny.”

Geoffrey’s jaw dropped, “Wow, that’s one rich village…”

“The price is quite appropriate for this job, really. However, I’ve never heard of Styx Village before. Seems a bit suspicious, but it doesn’t seem that the monsters listed here are much of a threat to us together, save for the Baphomet and Dark Lord.”

“Baphomet and Dark Lord?” Geoffrey scowled in agony. “We need a priest or priestess if we want to take those on! I don’t doubt our abilities, however I’m certain there will be a lot of casualties.”

“I agree. So…do you accept this job?”

Geoffrey scratched his head, “Is that the only one you found that pays well?” To his dismay, she nodded. “What about the others?”

“None of them even pay more than half a thousand.”

“Fine…we’ll take it. I’m sure the others will agree to it as well. But now we need a priestess…damn you chickens. Damn you.” Moonstone stifled a laugh as her leader shook his fist in frustration.

***

After discussing the mission over and sending a reply to their employers, they set off to Prontera Church in search of a priest or priestess. When they entered, the wanderers were greeted with a warm welcome by the bishop and his servant, who was an acolyte in training.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.” The bishop greeted. He had short brown hair and wore plain white robes with gold linings around the edges. The man also had small round spectacles that lay on the bridge of his nose. “What can I help you for today?”

No one seemed to want to answer him, so Ellian spoke up. “We- we were wondering if it was possible to have a member of your Holy Order to accompany us on our mission.” She explained. “The trip is quite far, dangerous- and the job itself is more likely ten times as dangerous. I do not think we’ll be able to accomplish it without a priest or a priestess to support us.”

“I understand.” The man replied. He looked at their clothing and gear, they were obviously mercenaries. “It isn’t often mercenaries come and ask for our help. Usually, it’s the other way around.” He made a slight chuckle. Their eyes were completely focused on him and his servant, making him slightly uneasy. “We can send you one of our best priestesses, for a small fee.”

“What fee?” Tym asked.

“Three hundred zeny a day for her service.”

Geoffrey frowned; they only had ten thousand zeny in their pockets. The mission would have to be cleared as soon as possible. “Does it really need to be that expensive?”

“We’re running short of money lately. I’m sorry, at a different time, I wouldn’t have charged so high.”

Suuuuuuuuuree… They thought sarcastically.

Geoffrey sighed and accepted the offer. A slight upward curve was formed at the edge of the bishop’s lips. “Vinn, fetch Kimjee for me immediately, please.”

The boy named Vinn nodded and ran off in search of the person. He came back a minute later with a priestess following from behind. They all looked at her. She was five foot five, had loose, long, and straight brown hair, she had wide hazel eyes as well. The priestess must have liked brown a lot, for her dress, shoes, and cap were colored brown. She grinned and waved to the party, who continued to stare at her.

“S’up Bish?!” The brown clad woman said in a high pitched tone. “Heard you got something for me?”

The Bishop winced at her loud voice and faked a cough, “Ahem. Yes, Kimjee…these…travelers (the Bishop pointed to Geoffrey’s group)…they need assistance.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve been wishing to go on a…pilgrimage- er- lately, correct?”

The happy priestess nodded excitedly and replied, “I get to go with them?” The Bishop nodded. “SWEET!” Kimjee shouted loudly throughout the entire church, and everyone else in the building turned to look at her. She gulped, “I- ah- I mean, thank you ever so much, Bishop Paul!”

“You’re very welcome, Kimjee.” Paul smiled. Everyone kept silent and watched Kimjee in awe as she started to dance. Paul and Vinn shook their head in disapproval of her behavior.

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your feet!” She sang. The mercenaries wondered if she was always like this. For their sake, they hoped not.

***

“Are you all set?” Moonstone asked and leaned on the side of the doorway of the priestess’s room. Kimjee finished tying her brown bag filled with clothes, ornaments, and other items for the journey.

Kimjee nodded, “All set Moony!”

Moonstone’s eyes twitched, “Um, could you just call me Moonstone for the time being please?”

“Okay…Stonemooney.” Kimjee grinned and happily left the room. Moonstone sighed. It had been two days after they met the hyperactive priestess; tomorrow, the group would leave at five or six in the morning to cover a lot of ground. Geoffrey and Ellian thought it would be best if Kimjee stayed with them at the inn the night before so they wouldn’t have to stop by the church early on to pick her up. When they said their goodbyes, it seemed to Moonstone that half of the people in the church were glad of her departure and the other half (mostly children and adolescents), were sad. Some were even crying.

It was seven o’ clock at night when Moonstone and Kimjee left. Much to Moonstone’s surprise, she kept quiet for most of the walk. However, she was extremely excited, soft squeals of delight could be heard every now and then behind the white clad wizard. Moonstone made a slight inaudible chuckle and thought, She’s not bad after all.

In a matter of hours, their journey would begin, and both grinned despite the events that lay ahead of them.