My Last Hunt

Quests: Making A Team (part 17)

War between teams;

The reception man was doing his last checks on some papers, he did not look like he was in a hurry. 

Slowly those who were chatting lost interest and now they were waiting for the reception man to start announcing the result.

"Is he waiting for someone?" the leader of the first ranked team asked. He knew most of the other teams were not in a good condition either. He could expect that his team would not be demoted by more than ten slots and it was just a rough calculation. By looking at the condition of the other four top teams, he could expect that the demotion would not jump down one or two slots.

"I heard from some other teams that there was a new team registered at the last week. Yesterday they could not make it to the Guild before the evening and this morning no one has seen them when going for the last quest of the month. I am not sure if the small team perished," his second team member spoke and explained the situation. 

"Oh, I saw that newbie but we never crossed path later so I don't know if he has such grit to survive," he shook his head.

There were also those three teams which had been chasing Qiao and his two team members yesterday. Now they were certain that they could not have survived in the forest. 

They were critically observing everything around them carefully. The two team leaders were still looking at each other with the same thoughts in their mind. Perhaps the reception man was waiting for the last team to come back, but how would he know that they would not return. It was getting on their nerves to wait for the dead. 

"Who wants to tell him to not wait any longer?" A team leader was looking nervous now. He was about to stand up and ask why they were not getting the new slots when all the teams were there. 

The other team leader grabbed his hand and forced him to sit back, "There is no need for you to bring this topic up, let it be the way it is. Just control your nerves for a few more hours and then you'll forget it as if nothing happened," the other team leader whispered in his ears.

He nodded and sat back. 

The reception man got the records and analyzed them critically. By looking at the records it seemed the teams were getting irresponsible with the time. Losing a team member or two was getting common which was not a good sign. 

Compared to them the new team was much preferable. For a whole week they not only completed quests but were forced to stay in the forest at night and even managed to came back alive without losing anything much less a life. 

They came earlier during the afternoon when the other teams were yet to complete their last quests. After they recorded their present condition and the spoils of two days they were excused to properly rest. 

The reception man did not mind, there was much time for others to gather. He was already aware about them and was not waiting for that team.

He only wanted to know why they had stayed in the forest at night, but Qiao did not mention why they were forced.

Finally, when he observed everyone necessary was present, he began the meeting.

"Team one has lost its slot this time. Second team I won't mention your loses since you already know what caused your fall. Team three, four and five you have been the most pathetic, being a shame for the whole Guild. The leader of team three even lost a whole level. I wonder how you even managed to appear in the top five in the previous year?" the reception started to speak. He spoke his opinions about their performance and unexpectedly started from the top order. 

This was something they did not anticipate and it had a simple meaning attached to it. These teams were going to fall lower than anyone could expect. 

"I pity the teams who were previously placed under first fifty slots," he sighed deeply. "If this continues on, soon chasers would perish and no one would be willing to take it as career," 

Now the question was, if the reception man was unhappy about the performance of all first fifty slots who would he chosen as the top five or top one team for the privilege?

According to the rules, first fifty teams had faced a lot of loses and cause shame for the Guild. If he chose one of them, it would be questioning the worth of the Guild. 

"Call that newbie team, I will give them the first slot this year." he gestured at someone and this stirred everyone present in the Guild hall especially fourth and fifth team. 

"Did I hear it correct? Did the senior ask to call newbie team? But how come they are alive?" he stood up unable stand it anymore. 

"How come a newbie team is selected for the first slot? I do not see any of their member here and who knows if they are alive or not, I heard some rumors," he hesitated at the last sentence and stammered few times. 

All the chasers looked at him with questioning eyes at this moment. None of them had seen the newbie team around either and those who had met them were trying to look around to recognize them among the crowd but they could not. 

Qiao and the others were just informed and they came from the left side where the abodes of the chasers were in row. They did not fix their appearance and just came as soon as they got the notice. 

Before going to take some rest, Qiao had asked the senior that he may send someone to inform him if anything important came up.

"Mr. Qiao as I know, soon you are going to be level three. I am giving you this first slot. I hope you will continue your progress and if there is anything troubling you, you can directly talk to me or the upper level senior." saying this the reception man handed the slot which was shining gold. 

Then he looked towards the team leader who stood up to spout excuses, "And you will be questioned about your recent activities by the seniors if you do not come to explain it first," the reception man then started organizing the other slots. 

Qiao took the slot and looked at it with shimmer in his eyes. He was not anticipating to get the first slot even in his wildest dreams. 

He was not even aware about the benefits of getting this bright golden slot.