Voyage Of The Villainess

"Here we are, Milady." Rein said as they stopped in front of a huge white building. The signage of \'Adventurer\'s Guild\' at the very top was plastered on it.

"When I went here, I had never visited this place so this will be my first time here either." Rein explained. "I\'ll go ahead, Milad. Please follow behind me."

"Alright." 

Rein went ahead and opened the door. Malaya trailed behind him.

When they arrived, the guild was rather large on the interior, with four more floors upstairs. Malaya peeked around and noticed that everyone was preoccupied with their own affairs. One thing all of the people inside had in common was that they all carried different types of weaponry. Some were simply drinking, while others were staring at a wooden board. \'That must be the Quest Board.\' 

\'Well, of course, they\'ll have one since they are adventurers. But let\'s go to the main receptionist now.\' Malaya glanced around and saw a place where there were people lining up. \'That must be it.\'

Everyone gave her strange stares as she walked through. Malaya, on the other hand, totally ignored it and continued on her way. "I\'d want to issue a quest," Malaya said, halting in front of the receptionist.

But the receptionist, a girl with vivid shiny auburn hair knotted in two pigtails, merely stared blankly at her.

"Um, I\'d want to offer a quest," Malaya said again.

"I heard you perfectly well; you don\'t have to repeat it; I\'m not deaf," Malaya was startled to hear a chipmunk-like voice.

Malaya glanced around. \'It couldn\'t be that girl since she never opens her mouth to speak.\'

"Below you," said the little voice once more. Malaya constantly looked and saw a bird with huge bright yellowy eyes glaring at her. What\'s more, the stated bird was wearing some type of gear with two little wheels instead of having feet.

"A bird?"

When Malaya said that, she suddenly heard multiple gasps.

"A bird? You call me a bird?!" The bird began pedaling its wheels towards Malaya with its wings. He stopped and started pecking Malaya\'s hands, which were leaning on the counter.

"Ouch!" Malaya immediately pulled back her hand.

"Mila..." Malaya immediately covered Rein\'s mouth when he almost called her Milady.

\'The fact that I don\'t have any disguise with me is troublesome. Being called with the title would only bring me trouble.\'

As if understanding Malaya\'s thoughts, Rein nodded at Malaya.

"Your hand," He grabbed Malaya\'s hand instead and inspected it. There was a small cut there now. He immediately brought out a band-aid from his sleeves and put it in Malaya\'s hand.

"Why do you need to hurt her?" Rein glared at the bird.

"I am not a bird. I\'m the strongest adventurer here and I\'m an owl." The bird stated as he glared at Malaya and Rein.

\'A bird and an owl? What\'s the difference? It\'s like those memes I\'ve read before. I\'m not a human, just a person. I have sons and they are all boys.\' Malaya wanted to facepalm. \'I got pecked just like that?\'

"Coco," The three of them looked at the girl who suddenly spoke. "Apologize to them. It\'s not right to hurt anyone like that."

"But..."

"They seem to be new here if they lack knowledge of that. I apologized for what my boss did to you." The girl bowed.

"Flora, they are slightly on the right side," Coco said as he wheeled himself towards the hands of the girl. To make her face Malaya and  Rein properly.

\'Is she blind?\' Malaya couldn\'t help but think.

"Yes, I\'m blind." As if the girl sensing what Malaya was thinking, she spoke.

"What \'s the problem with that?!" 

"Ah no! I apologize if I\'m being rude or something." Malaya said in the end as she gestured with both her hands. \'Why is this bird so angry with me?\'

"Tsk. Fine. I\'ll let this slide since both of you are ignorant here, especially you." Coco said as he put both of his tiny wings to his waist. 

\'This owl would be cute if not with his temper.\' Malaya thought as she glanced at the bird. 

"Hmm... roasted wings? Fried bird? Bird\'s meat fillet, Mayla, what do you think would be tasty for our dinner today?"

"Hey! Are you threatening me?!" Coco gnashed his teeth as he glanced at Rein.

"Oh," A grin formed on Rein\'s face. "I\'m just stating the dishes that I\'ll be preparing for our dinner"

\'What are you saying, Rein? And whose Mayla?\' Before anything could get worse, Malaya spoke up.

"We are here to issue a quest and I will pay 100 golds for it."

All of the people in the guild stopped from their talks and their other activities. All their gaze was fixated at Malaya now as the whole place was covered with an uncomfortable silence.

"Did you just say, 100 golds?" Coco said in disbelief.

"Yes," Malaya replied with a firm nod. "If that\'s not enough, I\'ll raise the price more."

"Stop!" Coco raised his right-wing. "That\'s not what I meant." He sighed.

"Human, you are talking quite a large amount here. What kind of quest do you want to issue with that amount?"

\'Even the largest sums of money issued by the wealthiest citizens of this city did not come close to that amount. Is this human bluffing?\' Coco glanced at the new strangers who stood in front of him. No matter what he looked like, there was nothing particularly telling that they were rich. Their clothes were tattered and dirty. Though the girl had this bright hair color, there were already other foreigners he saw that had other hair colors as wells. If things got worse, they might be some sort of criminals due to how much they were hiding their appearances.

"I want your help to find someone," Malaya calmly stated. \'No matter how much I need to give. I will give everything to find Dorris.\'

"I\'ll even give 1000 golds for that." 

"1000..." Malaya elbowed Rein to stop him from speaking this time. \'Milady, we don\'t have that much money now.\' He said as worry laced his voice.

"Hah," Coco released a breath of disbelief. "How should we believe that you have that much amount?" He scoffed, his stares baffled with doubt. "Especially to the people, who we don\'t know of. We don\'t deal with anything that was against the law."

"Hahaha! There are both of you!" All of the sudden, the door of the guild burst open. To Malaya and Rein, a familiar orangey head with almond eyes entered. Then she locked both of them in her arms. "I have been looking for both of you." 

"Iris,"

"Hey pumpkin, you know these two?" Coco said as he crossed his wings.

"What\'s with that horrible nickname, boss Coco," Iris said with a grin on her face. "Well anyway, I apologize boss Flora, boss Coco if these two cause you some trouble, especially this one..." Iris put more pressure on her hold on Malaya. "Has quite a problem in her head."

\'Oi oi oi! This crazy...\'

Before Malaya could retort, both she and Rein were dragged by Iris. "We will take our leave now, boss!" Iris said.

---⚓⚓⚓---

*Bam!* The door shut and Iris pulled them into some alleyway where no people could be found.

"Hah, seriously you two." Iris held her head looking at them. "To announce something crazy like that at the guild. Have you gone nuts? Don\'t you know that saying that kind of amount is no joke? But..." She paused for a minute as she looked at the two.

"Is it true that you will give 1000 gold coins? Tell me what I need to do, and I\'ll do that task right away."

Malaya wanted to roll her eyes but she stopped. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Iris," Malaya stated, not happy at all. "This is a mission that cannot be completed by a single person, which is why we are seeking the assistance of the adventurer\'s guild. If you will just hinder our plan, then this will be the end of our talk." Malaya started to walk away. Rein gave a short bow to Iris and followed Malaya.

"You must be looking at that maid of yours, right?"

This made the two stop at their tracks. "I know where she is," Iris said with a huge grin on her face. "And I\'ll lead you to her.. I don\'t need the 1000 golds, only the first amount, 100 golds will suffice."