The Silver Warrior - Etrian Odyssey IV Fanfiction

A Late Night Meeting

Just as swiftly as they left their guild house, Kibigami, Logre, Shirota, Wufan, and Baldur entered the Count's room, as the other members of the Refulgent Guild turned their heads at their arriving guild members and prince of the Cloudy Stronghold.

"Heya guys! Hello Mr. Prince!" Anai called out, waving her hand in greeting. Shirota waved back while Baldur made no motion to wave back, but still greeted the purple haired Medic, knowing she'd probably pester him unless he actually said hello back to her.

Shirota wastes no time moving over to where Korey is, who smiles upon seeing her again, motioning for the dancer to sit beside him. "Boy, am I glad to see you again, Korey. Today felt like I was on a wild ride..." The Dancer greeted as she sat next to the brown haired Highlander, hearing him chuckle.

"That's usually exploring the labyrinth in a nutshell, Shirota. How does today make it any different than the last?" He inquired, causing the dark skin Dancer to giggle in return. "There's always a time and place for discussing such a topic, isn't it?" Korey's eyes gazed away, as if to contemplate her words for himself...

Well, when she puts it that way, yes. Yes there is a time and place for it. Just not now...

As Frederica and Shirota greeted each other, the Fortress couldn't help but feel like they were missing someone, looking around the room and recounting the numbers of guild members in the room. "What's keeping Albert so long? He should've been here along with Baldur and the others..." Sakuma groaned, rubbing her hand on her head as if feeling a headache coming on, before feeling Baldur place a hand on her shoulder in reassurance.

"Don't stress out about it." The prince declared. "He will arrive in due time. No need to worry about him too much."

"I wholeheartedly agree, Prince Baldur," The Count spoke, overhearing the conversation between the Imperial Prince and the Fortress. "After all, it's rare to see him stray so far from you, or Logre." He continued, noting the rarity the Imperial Scribe's quite rarity to not be around the two people he's known. 

Eventually, the late Imperial shows up, a bit out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, everyone. Had to... settle a little dispute that occurred at the tavern on my way over here." Although Baldur was a little confused over what he might have had to do over at the tavern, the Count easily dismissed his tardiness.

"It's alright, we wouldn't start without you." The Count beamed, as his dog, Margarita, barked as if in agreement. Taking a deep breath and took a few seconds to calm himself, Albert closed the door and leaned against the wall behind him as the Count begins the meeting.

"Now then, let's get to the reason I have brought you all here tonight," He begins, before taking a deep breath, likely to reassure himself of what he's going to tell the Guild standing before him. "As of two weeks from the day the Heavenbringer was defeated, the Explorer's Guild has been getting reports of explorers, both old and newcomers to Tharsis, being kidnapped-"

"K-Kidnapped?!" Kurita interrupted, her surprise quite warranted. The Count turned to face Kurita and nodded, before adjusting his attention back to everyone. "As much as I'd hate to admit it, the seemingly hundreds of reports of how these kidnapped explorers vary quite drastically. Sending guards to these spots just isn't getting us anywhere closer to finding who may be responsible for the kidnappings."

"If they varied so much, why not get the witnesses to just explain how it went?" Yukina inquired after the Count finished his explanation. "We tried doing so with a couple of them, Ms. Yukina, but with so many explorers around, anyone can claim they were witnesses and give us false information. Getting actual information could end up taking months before we'd track who kidnapped the explorers!" The Count argued, rubbing his hand against his head in an attempt to keep his anger in check.