Noctis Noir

Astrid went back to the headquarters before Luna, who wanted to go for a quick walk in the woods and maybe kill some monsters. She found Christina sitting alone in the living room, reading the new issue of Aries Unlimited.

Christina turned her head. "Oh. Hey, boss."

"Christina," Astrid called her name. "We need to talk."

"Is something wrong, boss?" She paused. "Oh, is this about your sandwich?"

Astrid frowned. "So you were the one who ate it?"

"Yeah. Amelie said I could eat anything inside the fridge."

"I see. Anyway, I heard you tried to scam Amelie and Lyria."

Christina didn't look happy. "That is quite an accusation. Do you have proof?"

"I've seen the golden turtle hat you got in exchange for a sheep hat. That golden turtle hat is worth three hundred million gold on the market and you gave a cheap sheep hat in exchange for such an expensive item? That doesn't sound fair."

Her expression didn't change. "Amelie said I could have it. She gave me her consent."

"Amelie knows nothing about prices."

"She should make herself aware of it then."

Astrid continued. "You also tried to scam Lyria by trying to sell her a pendant that wasn't what you claimed it to be."

The knight shrugged. "I thought it was the real thing."

Astrid didn't buy it. She summoned her menu tablet and hit the expel button.

Christina was shocked. "But why, Astrid?"

"Keeping you in this guild is going to tear it apart. I'm sorry, but we have to let you go. Now, leave."

Christina's expression turned dark as she walked towards the exit. She looked back and glared just before closing the door behind her. "You will regret this."

Astrid drew a sigh of relief as soon as Christina was out of the instance field.

It won't be long before Amelie will realize that Christina is out of the guild. When that happens, thing are going to get messy, Astrid thought as she stood at the front door.

***

Around an hour passed before Luna arrived at the headquarters. Lyria followed just five minutes after. Astrid was planning out equipment combinations during their arrival.

"Sorry for worrying you guys," said Lyria.

"Me too. I don't like her, but I'll try to tolerate her for Amelie's sake and also for the guild's sake. I hate seeing our friendship getting ripped apart like this."

"I guess I'll try to tolerate her too."

A drop of sweat trickled down Astrid's cheek. "I appreciate your decisions, but I just expelled her."

They blinked twice before saying anything. "What? Oh."

Luna drew a sigh of relief. "I'm actually really glad that you did that."

"Wait, does Amelie know?" Lyria asked.

Astrid shook her head. "No, she doesn't. I'm worried about how she'll react to it."

"I'm home!" The door burst open and in came a cheerful Amelie. "Potato gave me some meat, so we're having steak tonight!" She waltzed into the kitchen to make dinner. By the time she finished preparations, Anna arrived.

"What is that delicious smell?" Anna followed the scent and ended up in the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready!" Amelie served the steaks she made.

Everyone gathered at the dinner table and started eating dinner. Astrid, Lyria, and Luna glanced at each other occasionally, waiting until Amelie noticed the missing member. It wasn't long before she did.

Amelie stopped eating and looked around. "Hey, where's Twinnie?"

No one dared to answer. Everyone at the dinner table remained silent for a minute.

Amelie began to get worried. "Twinnie sure is late. I wonder what's keeping her. Maybe I should just save some food for her."

Lyria and Luna pushed Astrid forward. The guildmaster took a deep breath. "Amelie, about Christina..."

"Yeah?"

"She's not coming back."

"What?"

"We expelled her from the guild."

"How could you expel her!?" Amelie was furious. "She didn't deserve to be kicked out like that!"

Luna lost her temper and raised her voice. "Stop being dense, Amelie! The girl obviously scammed you. She was about to scam Lyria too! Plus, she knows that I like Tank, so she's trying to draw his attention away from me!"

"And she also ate my sandwich," Astrid added.

"You called me dense! The nerve!" Amelie placed her hands on her h.i.p.s. "We're not friends anymore!"

Luna's anger escalated. "Seriously, Amelie! Were our years of friendship worth nothing? Did we go through so many things together just to have it break apart easily like this?"

Anna stood in between them. "Now, now... Let's all just calm down and settle this peacefully."

Luna drew out her sword. "Let's settle this like refined ladies."

Amelie readied her staff. "Very well."

"You seriously need to redefine your meaning of 'refined ladies'!" Anna exclaimed. "Lyria! Astrid! Aren't you going to stop them?"

Lyria raised a hand up. "We'd rather stay out of this."

"This will be interesting." Astrid rummaged the fridge for some popcorn.

"Fine! If you're going to fight, at least wear the new battle costumes I designed for you!" Anna threw clothes at them.

The girls moved outside where there was more space to fight. Luna sent the battle request to Amelie, who accepted it without hesitation. They stood meters away from each other in a wide field on the floating island where their headquarters stood.

"May the best player win," said Luna as she switched to battle stance.

"Ditto," replied Amelie.

As soon as the battle began, Luna thrust her sword into the ground and activated Ground Break. Amelie, being the clumsy mage she was, lost balance immediately and fell.

"No fair!" she shouted as Luna jumped on her to lock her movements. Her staff flew meters away from her.

Luna cracked her knuckles. "Prepare yourself."

"No!" Amelie used her head to slam into Luna's forehead.

"Ouch!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

Amelie cast an instant freeze spell while Luna was distracted and pushed the frozen Luna away to grab her staff. When she got her staff back, she cast her ultimate spell. After the huge explosion, she was surprised to see Luna still standing.

"You forgot I had Endurance! That spell won't kill me in one hit!" Luna quickly recovered her health with a potion. She rushed towards Amelie and punched the mage on the face. She was about to follow it up with Ground Break, when she was pushed away by a fire ball.

Amelie rubbed the reddened part of her cheek where she was punched. "How dare you reduce my face's coolness!?" She raised her staff like she was Moses splitting the red sea. "Eat my bolts!"

Luna ran around to dodge the fire bolts going towards her. Amelie continued firing bolts until her mana bank was at half.

After three hours, the match still wasn't over. Astrid, Lyria, and Anna set up a nice picnic spot complete with a mat and a basket full of sandwiches.

"More tea?" Lyria offered.

"Thanks." Astrid brought her cup nearer for Lyria to refill.

After one more swing of her sword, Luna collapsed on the ground.

"Ha! Give up already? Well, I still have a lot of energy left..." Amelie's voice trailed away. She also collapsed and joined Luna on the ground.

"We'll... settle this... another time..." Luna struggled to speak.

"I won't... lose to you..." Amelie spoke with her face against the ground.

Astrid stood up. "I guess it's a tie."

Lyria walked over to the two fallen warriors and healed them back to full health.

"Come on, let's all go inside and talk about the vacation," Astrid suggested. "You've been looking forward to it, right?"

"You all go ahead. I just want to be alone." Amelie didn't move from her position.

Astrid was about to say something, but decided not to. Perhaps Amelie needed time to think and calm down. She nodded and followed the others back inside the house.