In the world of Aries, there were three ways of selling items. The first was the auction house. For a small fee, players could register their items and put it on sale for a maximum of three days. They could go back to check if the items were sold and receive the payment. The second was the trading board. Each town had a trading bulletin board in its square where players could view ads of items being sold. Those interested would contact the players themselves and later meet up to trade. The last was setting up a stall in a town's free marketplace. Not every town had a free market. Lamont was one of the few towns that had one. It was also one of the biggest ones.

"Pumpkins sell like hotcakes," Lyria said happily with a huge grin.

"Woah. Sold them all already?" Astrid was busy checking out the items for sale when she was approached. "That was fast."

"Did you buy any ingredients yet?"

Astrid laughed nervously. "Not yet. I got distracted by the armor for sale."

"Let's go buy some potatoes."

"I think I saw some sold over there."

Astrid led the way. As they walked over to the stall, she spotted the white haired mage from the other day. He was flanked by a knight and a priestess, both appearing to be of high level.

"They're from the Black Rose guild, right?" Astrid overheard a nearby player.

Black Rose...

Astrid heard of their guild before. They were one of the top guilds in Aries, excelling in teamwork and player versus player combat. Their guild often raided dungeons and showed up top in the rankings. Some of their members even got featured in Aries' monthly magazine.

"Lyria? Is that you?" The short haired priestess recognized Lyria within the crowd.

"Pio! It's been so long. How are you?" Lyria said happily.

Astrid's jaw dropped upon seeing the unexpected reunion.

"I knew it was you!" Pio was as happy as Lyria.

"I didn't know you joined Black Rose."

"Remember Yaya? She took me in as her student."

"No way! Yaya did? I'm happy for you, Pio!"

Pio's companions stood behind her quietly. Astrid did the same. Just as the short moment of silence became a little bit awkward, someone spoke.

"Are they your friends, Pio?" the knight asked.

Pio nodded. "Yeah."

The knight laughed. "I see. Nice to meet you! I'm Sed. Go on, introduce yourself, Garth."

The mage yawned. "I'm Garth." Astrid did her best not to stare too much at him.

"I'm Lyria. Nice to meet you too."

"I'm Astrid."

"Did you join a guild as well, Lyria?" Pio asked.

"Yeah. Actually, we just created it today. It's called Noctis Noir."

Pio looked genuinely happy. "Woah! Congratulations! Who's your guildmaster?"

Lyria placed her hands on Astrid's shoulders and pushed her forward. "Astrid is our guildmaster."

Astrid was a little embarrassed to have everyone's eyes on her. "Lyria is our second-in-command."

Sed smiled. "Is that so? Well, I hope our guilds can form an alliance. If you need help, call us anytime! We'll be glad to provide assistance to Pio's friends." He held out his hand in front of Astrid. "A handshake of diplomacy."

Astrid took the handshake. "Thanks. We appreciate it."

"We have to get going now. Yaya and Jasmine are waiting for us. See you around!"

"Bye, you two!" Pio waved.

Garth did a slight bow before turning to leave.

Astrid was still in a daze after they disappeared from sight. The past few minutes felt like a strange dream. "Lyria, what just happened?"

"We just allied with one of the strongest guilds in Aries! That's what happened." Lyria cried tears of joy.

"Anyway, let's go buy the ingredients before we forget our purpose of coming here."