Ash was silent for a moment, before she saw an eager and confident grin spread out across his face.

"Only one way to find out." he replied.

"Time for a little trial by fire, so to speak." he said.

"Nobody's willing to really spar with me, so we'll see how I do." he told her further, cracking his knuckles.

"Been spoiling for a good fight, though." he added.

"I suppose that would be the optimal case scenario." Ash admitted.

"That being said, we need to warn everyone about this." he told her.

"Just in case a fight DOES need to break out." he went on.

"But how do you want to go about doing this?" he asked her.

"I make good food here, but people are STILL wary of me." he muttered.

"I doubt they'll listen to me."

Ash nodded.

"All right." he replied.

"You do that." he told her.

"I... well... I should get back to the kitchen." he said.

"I'm technically on break." he mumbled.

"You'll know where to find me if you need me." he added.

Sorrel was out tending to some of the plants, when he received the silent missive.

He was silent for a moment, before sighing and quickly finishing up what he was doing.

"I'll be back soon." he told them, before leaving and making his way through the sanctuary. He quickly arrived at the office, knocked on the door, and entered.

"Hello, hello." he greeted Emi, stepping through and closing the door behind him.

"What's going on?" he asked her. "Normally you only summon me using the mark when we have a problem." he commented, walking closer towards her.

Sorrel looked at the note, and sighed.

"An attack..." he said.

"...I need to prepare." he told her.

"And we need to alert everyone here." he went on. "Making sure nobody knows this info came from Vic." he then added quietly.

"But this means I have preparations to do." he continued.

"And hope that, maybe, the nest nearby will deter them." he then mumbled.

"I agree." Sorrel responded.

"We need to get our defences ready." he said.

"...and quickly. There's no telling how close these bandits are already." he muttered.

"For now, I need to go and get the plants ready." he said further.

"Talk to you later." he finished, before leaving the office.

The group continued to make their way forward, before one spoke up.

"There it is." they said to the leader, pointing to the guild.

"The sanctuary. The ONE safe place in this miserable wasteland." they said further.

"And soon it'll be ours." another commented.

"WE deserve it."

The rogues froze when they heard the screech.

"....b-b-boss...?" one mumbled.

"Th-that.. that w-was..." they stammered, before the leader snapped.

"Shut it!" they yelled.

"Keep quiet and still!" they ordered.

"We need to see where it's going! If it's coming this way or not!"

The band of rogues immediately looked at her quickly and sharply, and readied themselves to fight.

"You!" the leader growled.

"This time you'll pay!" he snapped, before one of his followers spoke up.

"Us?" they asked.

"WE'RE the reason?" they asked further.

"Boss, maybe we should get out of here." the follower then said, before the leader smashed them in the back of their head with a fist.

"Silence." they snarled.

"All we need to do is direct them to the sanctuary." they said.

"Let them and the assholes inside fight, and when they lose, we scoop in and finish them off." they explained further, before looking back at Vic.

"But first... we deal with THIS one."