“...where am I?” asked Sylvia. “What exactly happened yesterday..?”
Sylvia found herself inside a dark room, sitting in the very corner of the room. She tried her best to observe her surroundings but it was all in vain, her vision was completely obscured by the darkness in the room.
“Ugh— I don’t think I pced myself here yesterday.” Sylvia tried her best to think about what happened yesterday.
“I’m not kidnapped, am I? Whatever the situation is, I need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
Sylvia dusted off the debris from her clothes and got up from the ground. She decided to make the best use of her time. While she tries to find an exit, she’ll try her best to recall what happened yesterday. She constructed a small ball of light, bright enough to light the surrounding area.
“If my memory isn’t blurry, I think I did two commissions yesterday. I completed one of them which involved the slimes, but what was the second commission?”
It was at this moment that Sylvia had decided to look at her left arm.
“What—”
She hadn’t noticed it until now, but both of her arms were covered in bruises and burns. Although it was disturbing, this revetion allowed her to piece together what happened st night.
“It’s clear that I fought someone or something that I couldn’t defeat yesterday. These bruises were either caused by them hurting me, or I could’ve caused them myself by using too much memoria to escape out of the situation.”
It was at this moment that she remembered an item that she had acquired when she was about to go out for her very first official commission.
“OH! Chronicle of the Path! I could take a look at my learned spells and see what new spells I learned during the encounter, and maybe I could use that to piece together what happened yesterday!”
An item that Sylvia had barely used before finally came in handy. Sylvia opened her Chronicle of the Path and took a look at what spells she had learned.
— Chronicle of the Path —Learned Spells:- Fireball- Fming Daggers- Protective Barrier- Light Ball- Light Sshes- Agility EnhancementCommissions Completed: 1–––––––––––––––––––––––
“The st time I checked, I only had two spells which were Fireball and Fming Daggers. Looks like whatever I did in the second commission, it allowed me to learn four more spells. I remember that I used the light spells during my fight against undead enemies, but Agility Enhancement?”
Her Chronicle of the Path gave her a few more leads, but unfortunately it didn’t help her piece back together what happened st night.
“I need to go back to the Commission Center, they could help me rediscover what happened st night. I would also love to get the reward from the commission I did so there’s that too.”
Not long after saying that, she soon discovered the sun’s rays shining into a room in front of her. She picked up her pace and went into the room.
“Am I in a cave?”
Sylvia soon realized that she was in a cave this entire time. That completely dispelled any thoughts of her being kidnapped which made her relieved. She went towards the light’s direction and not long after, she could finally bathe in the sun’s rays and meet the wonderful blue skies.
“Finally, I was so sick of that cave! Okay time to head back to the castle~”
Sylvia took a look around her surroundings, trying to find a beacon that castles usually have to make it easier to find them and not long after, she found a beacon belonging to the castle she resides in now. It was about 1 km away from where Sylvia currently is.
“I do have this Agility Enhancement spell. It’d be a waste to not use it now, so let’s see what it does.”
She channeled her memoria through her veins, imagining the wind accompanying her every step as she runs through an open pins filled with flowers. As soon as she was done, she could feel her legs being lighter and her movements being faster.
“HOLY— THIS IS SO CONVENIENT!!!”
Sylvia celebrated her success as she sprinted through the forest. It only took her three minutes to cover the distance of 1 km.
“Ahhhh I should use that more often, it’s so convenient especially for my travels! Okay, it’s time to head back to the Commission Center!”
As she was walking towards where the Commission Center’s at, she noticed that many onlookers were looking at her with a weird gaze.
“...oh I completely forgot to cover my wounds, huh? No wonder I’ve been getting those weird gazes from other people.”
Seeing as she had nothing to cover her wounds, she’ll have to ignore the onlooker’s gaze. She focuses her attention towards the Commission Center and walks there, trying her best to ignore the people’s stare. She soon arrived at the front door of the Commission Center and opened the door. To her surprise, instead of finding the usual calm and collected receptionist, she’s met with a panicked receptionist who keeps walking back and forth.
“Uhhh are you okay ther—”
Before Sylvia could finish her sentence, the receptionist’s face immediately lit up and she immediately hugged Sylvia.
“YOU’RE ALIVE—” sniffs “—THANK THE HEAVENS.”
“Wha—” Sylvia was surprised by the receptionist’s remark.
Sylvia was evidently surprised by what the receptionist was saying. She was surprised that the receptionist had a massive reaction regarding her being alive, but she was also surprised that there were apparently rumors of her being dead. It all didn’t make sense to her, so she decided to ask the receptionist about everything.
“Okay uhh I appreciate that you’re concerned, but can you expin why you thought I was dead?”
“...huh? I gave you a commission involving a nearby dungeon. After I gave you the commission, we found out that apparently a high-level demon was located inside the dungeon. I sent a few of our best adventurers to help you escape but a few seconds after I sent them, a rge explosion came from the dungeon and a rge mushroom cloud was formed. Whatever happened there also caused a massive earthquake that vibrated strongly which could be felt all the way here. We thought that you had no way of surviving a spell that strong, but I just couldn’t accept that.”
“Wha—” As soon as Sylvia heard the story, she recalled everything.
I was the one who caused that explosion, not the demon. I used my Agility Enhancement to escape out of the dungeon, trapping the demon inside the dungeon. After I escaped, I unleashed my strongest spell that destroyed the surrounding area, leaving behind a wastend filled with nothing. I also said my final words towards the demon, which isn’t something that I’d normally say…
She recalled every single moment with perfect crity, signifying her memories coming back.
These wounds — I caused them. I used too much memoria during that encounter, combine that with my exhaustion and that’s the perfect moment for your memoria spells to go haywire to the point where it starts hurting the user. However, does using too much memoria to the point where you faint cause memory loss? That’s the only reasonable expnation that I have about my earlier predicament.
She has never encountered a moment where she had to use up most of her memoria before, so the encounter with the demon enlightened her about the numerous consequences if she were to over-exert herself.
“Hey are you okay? Do you need any help?” asked the receptionist worriedly.
“Ah sorry, I was just thinking about a few things.”
“Please take a rest and let your wounds heal, you’ve been dozing off whenever I tried talking to you.”
“I’ll take you up on that advice. Well before that, I’d like to exchange this commission first.”
“Oh right! Here’s your reward!” the receptionist said as she handed in 10 gold coins to Sylvia.
“Thank you, also may I know your name? It’d be kinda weird if I call you “the receptionist” for the entirety of my life.”
“Sure! There are two receptionists in the commission center, my name’s Suna while my twin sister’s name is Moona. As you could probably guess, I take on the shift from morning to evening while my sister takes on the shift during the night.”
“Alright! Pleased to meet you, Suna. I’m gonna go and take a rest now, see you ter!”
She said her goodbyes to Suna and left the building. As soon as she left the building, her stomach growled profusely, begging for food.
“I should probably get that sorted out. I should treat myself to a good meal first! I’ve been itching for something sweet tely — Savory foods are tasty, but sweets are on another level of heavenly~”
Sylvia went to the nearest restaurant and immediately ordered a carrot cake. She misses the carrot cake that her mother used to make, so she was hoping that she could get that feeling once again.
Now that I’m alone, I should sort out my thoughts. What in the world happened st night? Even after knowing everything, I’m still lost. Where on earth did that demon arrive from? Who brought me to the cave? What was their motive? So many questions remain unanswered…
Thoughts filled Sylvia’s head. She learned so much in the span of one day that she couldn’t even comprehend it.
Is that..?
A mysterious figure entered the restaurant. Sylvia instantly knew that this was the same person that saved her during her first day traveling.
“Hey miss!” shouted Sylvia.
“...”
The person didn’t answer.
“Uhmm if you come over here, I’ll treat you to whatever you want to order!”
“...then if you don’t mind.”
The mysterious figure soon sat in front of Sylvia and took her hood off. The st time Sylvia saw her, she had her hood up so this was her first time seeing what this person actually looks like. The figure has long, violet hair, bloodshot red eyes, and scars all over her face and arms. It was clear to Sylvia that this person has had numerous battles before. The figure was wearing the usual assassin clothes that she saw many times before and bck short pants.
“So, why did you call me over?” asked the mysterious figure.
“Well uhh I just wanted to talk to you.”
“...”
“Dang you’re not good at talking huh, I guess I’ll start! My name’s Sylvia and as you may know, I just started my journey a couple of days ago. I want to explore the world~”
“...how pure and optimistic.”
“I’ve had my fair share of troubles though, so I can’t say that it has gone very smoothly.”
“Serene.” muttered the mysterious figure.
“Is that your name?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a beautiful name, but it’s definitely not a name I was expecting from somebody like you. Don’t get me wrong though — I love the name, I could probably take a guess that your parents wanted you to bring hope to other people. You saved me the other day, so I owe you a big one!”
“Who are your parents?”
“...huh? That’s uhh, an odd question. Normally people would ask more about me as a person instead of the family that I’m linked with. My parents did say that I can’t reveal their names to anyone though, so I’m sorry but I can’t answer your question.”
“Excuse me, here are the foods you ordered. One carrot cake for you and one veggie soup for you.” the waiter cut their conversation to hand in their food.
“Okay thank yo— wait, are you sure one veggie soup is enough for you?”
“It is.”
“You don’t want to order something fancier? Again I owe you a big one, so if you want to order more then feel free!”“It’s enough.”
“If you say so. Say, are you an adventurer too?”
“...yes.”
“Oooooooo, can you show me what spells you’ve used before and what spells you’ve used the most? I want to see what a high level adventurer can do!”
“I guess.”
“Can we do it after we eat? We can go grab an easy commission real quick so that you can demonstrate to me the power of a high level adventurer.”
“Sure.”
“Hooray! Okay I’m gonna finish this quickly~”
They both finished eating their meals and went back to the Commission Center again to grab an easy commission.
“Hey Suna~ May I get an easy commission like killing slimes again or wolves?”
“I thought you said you wanted to take a rest—”
“Don’t worry! I’m not alone this time, I’ve got another friend wh—” as Sylvia looked back, she noticed that Serene was nowhere to be found.
“Wha— okay basically I have a friend who can help me, she wants to demonstrate what her spells are like!”
“I see… Okay then here’s a commission reted to wolves. Again, don’t over-exert yourself please, you still need to heal up.”
“Don’t worry! Thank you again Suna~”
Sylvia exited the Commission Center again where Serene unexpectedly greeted her.
“Are you done?”
“Wah— Don’t scare me like that. Where did you even go?”
“I didn’t want to interact with other people, if I can make other people do my bidding then why would I need to do anything?”
“...okay, weird logic but I don’t care about that right now! I want to see what your spells are like!”
“How far is the location?”
“Uhmm, 4 km? It’s decently far but I can enhance my speed to get there in record speed! I could bring you there, but uhh I’m not sure if I can enhance both of our speed so—” before Sylvia could finish talking, Serene grabbed Sylvia’s arms.
“Get ready.”
“For wha—” a second ter, Serene and Sylvia immediately disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving behind a gust of wind. Serene ran so much faster than what Sylvia could achieve before and in no time, they both arrived at the destination.
“Phantom’s Convoy. It allows me to travel extremely fast.”
“...wait what? We already arrived at the destination???”
“Yes.”
“Terrifying… If you wanted to, you could commit a crime and then escape from there unseen.”
“...”
“Anyways! Where are the wolves?”
“Right there.”
“Ah, okay then show me what you’ve got Serene! Maybe I could use your spells as a foundation for some of my future spells~”
Serene looked towards the wolves and held out her hand. In a second, she brought her hand even further up. Purple crystals were conjured up right below the wolves feet and they were immediately impaled in the heart, thus killing them.
“...okay that’s scary.”
“Violet’s Wrath. It allows me to conjure up crystals beneath the ground.”
“Got it! Thank you so much for everything~ I’ll definitely use this in the near future!”
“Do you want to go back?” asked Serene.
“I was thinking that we should go camping here! The scenery is nice, and I want to learn more about you! You’re extremely interesting, you seem out of touch with other people but you actually care about them, right?”
“...”
“Well, I’m gonna go set the camp up! You can stay here and rest up if you want. You did do the commission so it’s only fair that I do something in return~”
“Okay.”
As the afternoon rolls around, Sylvia prepares the materials needed to set up a small camp that consists of a campfire and chairs made of logs surrounding the campfire. Serene took this moment to observe Sylvia.
…you remind me of someone, but… who?
