Chapter 161: New Mission, Who Is...
Aires stood before the mission board, his eyes lingering on the audacious reward for the Orangefire Phoenix mission. A voice broke his focus. "I know, right? Everyone stares at that one."
He turned to see a young man, slightly taller, with black hair swept to one side and faintly crimson eyes. A bow was slung across his back, and his easy smile carried a hint of mischief.
"I’m Drake, but you can call me Eagle," he said, gesturing to his weapon. "And you are?"
"Aires," he replied, omitting his last name this time.
"You don’t have a nickname?" Drake mused. "Then you must be new."
"Nickname?" Aires asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, we use nicknames here. You see, here, we don’t see ourselves as slaves—we’re more like a mercenary crew." Drake shrugged, his tone light, as if their servitude was a minor inconvenience.
Aires nodded, intrigued by the perspective.
"Alright, since you’re new, let’s take a mission," Drake suggested.
"We can?"
"Of course," Drake nodded, scanning the board. "Though we split the reward, we’ll pick one with a big payout."
Aires waited calmly.