It was that day finally. Today was the Kingdom's Guild meeting.
Every quarter of the year, this meeting is held for each Kingdom. All Guilds were expected to participate in this mandatory meeting in their respective Kingdom jurisdiction.
The attendees must be the Captain, Vice Captain and/or Vice Captains, or an Executive if there was only one Vice Captain in that Guild. Other mages of council were also made to be present, though only as witnesses and observers—Sirus was head of such council.
The others to participate and complete this formal meeting were the Arcane King and the Royal King of the Valley, as the Kingdom had two separate kings to establish both strength and monarch. Since the Arcane King was away handling a very important matter, Sirus played a second role as his stand-in.
The Royal King was the face representing the meeting itself and was only present for one out of the four quarterly meetings in the Kingdom. If he was present, the meeting was of great importance. What determined that importance depended on the levels of urgent topics that were going to be discussed, the welcoming of new Guilds, and even the simple attendance of all Guilds at the meeting at the same time. This particular meeting consisted of all three.
The attendees for the meeting are as follows:
Rank 1 and S Class Guild:
The Golden Rose Knights
Captain – ???
1st Vice Captain – Lance
And 2nd Vice Captain – Love
...
Rank 2 and S Class Guild:
The Crimson Dragon Knights
Captain – Ark
1st Vice Captain – Ryoku
And 2nd Vice Captain – Zeke
...
Rank 3 and A Class Guild:
The Snow Lily Knights
1st Vice Captain – Sylva (stand-in)
2nd Vice Captain – Goro
And 1st Executive – Rin
...
Rank 4 and A Class Guild:
The Blue Phoenix Knights
Captain – Syemore
1st Vice Captain – Henza
And 2nd Vice Captain – Terek
...
Rank 5 and A Class Guild:
The Purple Panther Knights
Captain – Tubolt
1st Executive – Wilren
And 2nd Executive – Zayden
...
Rank 6 and B Class Guild:
The Silver Shark Knights
Captain – Jecht
Vice Captain – Snow
And 1st Executive – Marley
...
Rank 7 and B Class Guild:
The Green Owl Knights
Captain – Laylee
1st Executive – Maine
And 2nd Executive – Rowen
...
Rank 8 and C Class Guild:
The Black Wolf Knights
Acting Captain – Greed (stand-in)
Vice Captain – Code
And 2nd Executive – Ophelia
Or at least… For us, that was supposed to be the lineup.
The three of us stood at the bottom of the gigantic staircase that had multiple landings leading to a giant white castle above. This was the Arcane King's quarters, and this is where the Kingdom's Guild meeting was to be held.
Standing there were me, Code, and Havoc.
"Can someone please tell me why I'm here and not Ophy? She's the Exec, right?" Havoc asked, confused, and quite frankly did not want to be there.
"Well, between you, a lunatic, an ignoramus, and a shut-in, you were the best option. And Ophelia is nowhere to be found," Code responded, semi-annoyed.
"So you choose the autistic one," Havoc replied jokingly, talking about himself.
"Just—" Code reacted, composing himself first before going on. "Just shut up and be present and you'll be just fine."
"So where is Ophy anyway?" Havoc asked obliviously.
Code responded sarcastically to that, "Well, if we knew that you wouldn't be here, would you? Keeper, spare me, we're just talking in circles now."
"Ah fuck. Speaking of circles…" I said dreadfully, heaving a bit.
"What is it now?" Code demanded.
"Don't get mad."
"I asked what is it? Keeper, please."
"I have a hangover."
Awkward silence fell upon us as we all faced the stairs, reluctant to move an inch. Code stood the most still. But just as quickly, he grabbed my jacket with both hands and shook me back and forth. "You always do this shit! Why am I the only responsible one in the group? You knew—you fucking knew today was the day, and still you—"
As he went on, I got more dizzy… and let one out by a bush nearby.
Hurl.
Then silence as I walked back in place between Code and Havoc.
"Man, that was good. I feel a little better." I wiped my mouth and faced the stairs again.
"I am beating the shit out of you after this meeting," Code said, also facing the stairs.
"Damn, I kinda wanna go home," Havoc ended, facing the same way.
We stood there for a few more seconds in silence, facing the same direction, basking in the awkward silence of it all.
Defeated mentally, Code lowered his head. "Let's just show up and get this over with so the Kingdom doesn't abolish our Guild. Please," he said, begging toward the end.
After our mini-episode, we finally decided we were ready to head into the Arcane King's castle. This was our first time without Asura here. So as we walked up in silence, we each wondered if this would actually go the way we had hoped. And hopefully, not anything worse than our worst-case scenarios.
The meeting time was 1000. The current time was 0949. Meeting attendees for the Black Wolf Knights:
Acting Captain – Greed (stand-in)
Vice Captain – Code
Member – Havoc.