Chapter 50: Our Name Is Dawn
Stella looked completely unconcerned. As a descendant of the knight family Radna, she had a bloodline called “Ember” flowing in her body.
If anyone thought she joined the Adventurers’ Guild to work hard, they were completely wrong.
She just didn’t want to follow the old people in her family and do boring knight training.
To put it bluntly, she came here to slack off.
So now, asking someone who came here just to relax to do work? No way.
As Stella often said, ‘My dad and my grandpa worked hard their whole lives just so my generation can take it easy. What’s wrong with that? Nothing.’
Anna looked at Stella, who was acting so high and mighty, and her face turned very dark.
What kind of useless teammates were these?
Anna clenched her fists and said angrily,
“Without my order, no one is allowed to leave tonight. It’s almost time for our second attempt to defeat the Ice Bear King. Everyone stay here and make a plan. Stella, you may be from a knight family, but I’m the daughter of a duke. Just because of that, you should give way to me. If you don’t believe it, try it. If my father says ‘one,’ would your old man dare to say ‘two’?”
Stella, who had been acting proud just a moment ago, quickly backed down.
She wouldn’t dare challenge the daughter of a duke.
Lisa was also shocked by Anna’s words. They had been hanging out together for so long that she almost forgot.
No matter how unreasonable Anna was, she was still from a powerful noble family. Not someone they could easily go against.
The room fell into a strange silence.
Anna took paper and a pen, looked at the two on the sofa, and knew Stella would only cause trouble.
So she called Lisa over alone.
Lisa, suddenly pulled into this, held the paper and pen and hesitated. But seeing Anna’s serious expression, she nodded.
“Anna, what do you need me to do?”
“Draw the map… actually, forget it. The one you brought last time is enough. Right now, I only care about one thing.”
Anna stared directly into Lisa’s eyes.
“Lisa, can you understand the map you drew this time?”
Other problems could be solved.
But the biggest issue now was… they couldn’t go to the wrong place again.
If they made another mistake, their guild ranking might drop from top 3… to top 10.
If this continued, they might even fall to top 20 or top 50.
And in the end, they would hit rock bottom.
Anna might not be very smart, but she understood how guild rankings worked.
One failed mission wouldn’t ruin them, but repeated failures would definitely drag them down.
Lisa held the map, turned it around a few times, and finally found the direction marks.
“I… I think I can understand it. Anna, don’t be angry. I studied the terrain carefully this time. I promise I can lead us to the right place!”
Lisa remembered the harsh words Victoria had said before. It hurt, but she couldn’t argue back.
So she stayed longer that time, kept asking questions until Victoria got annoyed, and only then left.
With Victoria’s help, she could basically understand the map now.
Anna shook her head. “I don’t want an unclear answer like ‘I think.’ Just tell me yes or no. If you can’t, I’ll think of another way.”
Seeing Anna become serious, Lisa also stopped joking.
She used to be a poor student, but she knew she couldn’t afford to offend someone like Anna.
She always wanted to move up into higher circles, that desire started back then.
Now that Anna was truly angry, she knew how serious this was.
Even if she had to force herself, she had to step up.
Otherwise, if she got kicked out of the team, she would lose her chance to rise.
“I can. I can definitely lead us to the right place. But once we enter the mine, I’m not sure if I can still recognize the exact location.”
Anna took a deep breath. “So that means you can’t. I’m not blaming you. I just think we really need to figure out what to do next. It’s been more than a week since the Ice Bear King appeared, and we’ve wasted all that time…”
“...The next guild evaluation is coming soon. You know that if we fail again, our ranking will definitely be affected. Do you really want to admit that you’re worse than Peiya? You’re half noble, and I’m the daughter of a duke. How can we lose to a commoner? Our family pride won’t allow it.”
“I understand… I really do. That’s why I stayed up late to draw the map. But now I’m starting to feel lost. Before, things weren’t this hard for us. Anna, you always say I can’t draw maps well. But have you ever thought about this, who used to lead and plan for our team? As far as I can tell, your tactical skills have probably gotten pretty rusty by now, haven't they?”
“Yes...” Anna gritted her teeth and admitted it.
The cold reality along the way made her slowly realize.
She had to finally face the fact that Peiya was no longer there.
The Dawn Guild needs her to do something now.
“So… how about we stop trying to defeat the Ice Bear King for now? Let’s do some easier missions instead. Maybe those ‘find the lost kitten’ quests that often appear?”
Lisa’s idea was simple. Since ranking was important, they could just farm points in an easy way.
“No.” Anna refused immediately. “That would make us a low-level guild. I won’t lower myself to compete with those people for small jobs. If you want to do it, go ahead.”
Normally, only weak guilds took those low-level tasks to collect basic materials.
They sold the loot to raise their rank.
For Anna, doing that felt no different from moving out of a big mansion into a broken hut.
Only strong monsters were worth hunting for the Dawn Guild.
And without a doubt, the only thing that could prove her strength… was the Ice Bear King.
Seeing that talking didn’t work, Lisa spread her hands and gave up.
“Fine, then you decide. I’ll follow you. Stella, come here too. Use your ‘amazing bloodline’ and think of something. How can we defeat the Ice Bear King?”
Stella, who had just been scolded, surprisingly didn’t get angry. The three of them sat around the table, just like when they used to be a four-person team.
Across from Anna, there was an empty chair.
That seat… used to belong to Peiya.
Now it was empty, covered with a layer of dust.
Anna stared at it in a daze.
She suddenly remembered the old days. Back then, Peiya would sit there, drawing plans.
Sometimes she designed equipment, sometimes new alchemy potions, and sometimes maps for their next mission.
When she stayed quiet, it was easy to forget there was even another person in the room.
Now, she was gone.
But… was she really gone?
Not exactly.
Because all of them still held things that Peiya had made for them.
Lisa had her alchemy potions.
Stella had her greatsword.
And Anna was holding the guild handbook.
That book was written by Peiya.
It recorded almost everything the guild needed, even daily preparations.
It also listed nearby mining areas where they could find basic monster materials.
Each of those materials could be sold easily on the market.
Peiya once said they could collect extra and sell them to other adventurers during missions to earn some profit.
Before, Anna would never care about such small money.
But these past few days, she had been restless. She kept trying to prove that kicking Peiya out was the right decision.
Yet she realized something.
In exploration, leadership, alchemy, and even making money… she was worse than Peiya in every way.
But she wasn’t like this before.
So why did it suddenly feel like she couldn’t do anything anymore?
Anna held the handbook tightly, looking lost.
Lisa noticed she hadn’t spoken for a long time and quickly asked,
“Are you okay? If you can’t think of a plan, we can figure it out together. Stella and I have some connections with the church. We can borrow some powerful scrolls. Even if it’s embarrassing, we can just use magic scrolls to fight the boss. At least we can keep our rank.”
Anna shook her head.
“That’s not it… I’m just wondering, why did everything change in just one week? It’s even worse than when we first started the guild. Back then, no boss could stop the Dawn Guild. Whenever we took a mission, losing was not even possible. But now… we’ve been trying to defeat this boss for over a week. Why is it so hard…? It wasn’t like this before…”
Anna kept muttering, like she was lost in her own thoughts.
Lisa slowly let go of her arm, her expression turning dim.
“Maybe the boss just got stronger. Don’t lose hope, Anna. Do you remember what you said when you created the Dawn Guild? We’re the strongest guild. Everyone should work hard for it.”
Anna’s vision blurred.
She seemed to see a younger Stella, polishing her greatsword, preparing for a sword exam.
Lisa was holding a failing test paper, begging Peiya to help her cheat so she could graduate.
Everyone had something they were doing.
Then… what was she doing?
She couldn’t remember. Her head started to hurt.
Fragments of memory came back.
She remembered trying to plan how to build the Dawn Guild.
But the handbook she wrote back then was so messy that no one in the team could understand it.
Even she herself forgot why she wrote it that way after one night’s sleep.
It was Peiya who stayed up all night to fix it and created the version they still used today.
As these memories came back, Anna’s eyes suddenly focused.
She remembered.
Back then…
She was standing in the same place, holding a crystal glass filled with expensive wine, speaking excitedly to everyone.
“From today on, the Dawn Guild is officially established! Lisa, Stella, Peiya, you are all teammates I trust. From now on, without my order, none of you are allowed to lose to anyone. Do you understand?”
“If anyone dares to bully you outside, point at them and tell them. Behind you stands me, Anna de Anthony! Let them know the price of offending someone from a duke’s family. So don’t lose.”
“Because our name is ‘Dawn’, the rising sun that never sets. Everyone, let’s become the strongest guild in the world! Cheers!”
“Cheers!!!”