Talk:Scouting Mission/@comment-69.171.160.141-20130919070525/@comment-5166842-20130919133615

I'm pretty sure you've passed the window for this quest, but don't worry, it isn't at all necessary to getting Mercedes in the end.

What should worry you is Aelinore and Quina. I assume you'll want to do their quests, especially on a first playthrough, and that'll make it virtually impossible to get Mercedes. It's kind of unfortunate the way they have it implemented, no opportunity to lower Aelinore's/Quina's affinity after completing their quests.