After years and years of waiting, Sylvia’s childhood dream of exploring the world has finally begun. However, the first day of her journey didn’t go as smoothly as she had expected. Rain poured hard, and it only got worse as she had an encounter with some assassins. Thankfully she isn’t injured as she got help from a mysterious person, and now Sylvia has decided to visit the castle nearby.

  Not long after, Sylvia soon realized a problem that she had not expected.

  “Wait, I just realized… How in the world am I supposed to get money???” said Sylvia as she came to the realization that her parents didn’t give her any money at all.

  “There’s no way they can be this cruel, right?”

  Sylvia dug through her bag, tossing aside a half-eaten loaf of bread and a broken compass. No coins. Not even a single copper. Her stomach growled in protest.

  "I’m doomed," she muttered, flopping onto the wet ground as raindrops from the trees above pelted her face like tiny insults.

  “I guess I have no choice but to camp in the wild for today. The sun is still bright, so maybe there’s someone who's willing to help me?”, she soon picked herself up from the ground and paced herself to walk for what might be hours and hours on end.

  Sylvia kept walking, and walking. She didn’t like the idea of camping outdoors so she insisted on walking for as long as possible until her legs couldn’t work anymore. For what felt like hours, she soon found a pathway.

  “FINALLY!!! I was starting to get really tired seeing the green scenery everywhere, but it looks like I found a pathway!”

  “Oh wait I can see something in the distance, is that the castle? Maybe there’s someone willing to give me some work in exchange for money?”

  Hope filled Sylvia’s eyes as she dashed towards the castle while the sun was setting down. The night is imminent, but Sylvia is still left without a single copper coin in her name. She had to find a job fast so that she could at least get something to eat and a pce to lie down.

  As soon as she got into the castle, she didn’t waste any time admiring the scenery and immediately went to the nearest local to ask some questions.

  “Oh my, you look awful. Do you need something to eat, young dy?” said a woman who looks to be around 50-55 years old, worried seeing how bad Sylvia looked.

  “Yes… gasp please… gasp I could really use anything that’s edible right now,” said Sylvia as she was gasping for air after the intense run she had just done to get to the castle.

  “Well, come over to my pce. The house is nearby, but are you sure you don’t need any help walking? You look like you’re in very bad shape…” said the kind person worryingly.

  “No, no, no, it’s fine. I… gasp don’t want to trouble you even further. I’ll even repay you if you need any—” gasp “—help with anything!” Sylvia said, slowly catching her breath but quickly snapping back to her energetic self.

  “We could rest here for a bit if you’re tired, it won’t do your body any good if you force yourself to walk in that state,” the kind dy gestured.

  “I think that’s a good idea… I could really use a break, thanks for the idea! Do you mind waiting for me here?”, asked Sylvia.

  “Not at all. If you’re all good to go, let me know anytime. I’ll be standing near that food stand right there, — just call me whenever you’re ready.”

  After taking a small break, the kind dy soon showed Sylvia where her house was and let Sylvia in. The house wasn’t massive but felt cozy. A table with a flower vase sat in the center of the living room, fnked by sofas near a firepce. The stairs led up from the corner, and the kitchen was just off to the side. It felt like a family home.

  “Come take a seat, I’ll prepare the food immediately. I would like to ask you a few questions though, if that’s okay with you,” the kind dy said to Sylvia.

  “Oh okay, thank you again for helping me,” said Sylvia.

  After Sylvia takes a seat, the dy soon prepares a chicken dish topped with a sauce that Sylvia has never seen before in her entire life. It looks like a blue sauce, which made Sylvia question what it is. But before any words could come out of her, her hand immediately picked up the fork that was located near her pte and went for a bite. To her surprise, the fvour was not as strange as she had expected. It tasted like a mix of sweet and savory with a tint of saltiness, but the sweet wasn’t overpowering the fvor so the three fvors mixed nicely.

  “Woah, I’ve never tasted anything like this. Thank you so much for the meal, if you need anything from me I’ll gdly do anything to repay you,” Sylvia said as she was happily jumping up and down.

  “No problem, it was the least I could do. Now would you be willing to answer a few of my questions?” said the kind dy.

  “Sure! That’s the least that I can do after you helped me.”

  “What’s that neckce? I’ve never seen anything like it before, but it looks to be very valuable.” the dy asked, weirding Sylvia out.

  That’s strange… Earlier today I had an encounter with some thieves ogling at this exact same neckce, and they also said it was valuable. There’s no way that she’s gonna take this neckce from me, right? If she was really targeting this neckce, why would she make an effort to give me food that she made herself. She could’ve just led me to her house and knocked me out here, Sylvia thought.

  “Really? This was a gift from my father before I started traveling. It’s very important for both me and my family,” Sylvia excimed as she was preparing to protect herself from any surprise attacks. She started casting a protective barrier secretly, the exact same one that she used when she got ambushed earlier.

  “Sigh, I guess that encounter earlier really got you all worked up huh?”

  Not long after, the protective barrier that Sylvia casted earlier soon dissipated after the dy flicked her fingers.

  “Wha–”

  “I’m afraid casting a protective barrier won’t protect you from one of the strongest sorcerers that exists in this castle, my dear. Don’t worry, I don’t mean any harm to you,” the dy said.

  “Wait, how did you know that I went through an encounter earlier? Did you read my mind or something?” said Sylvia as she became increasingly worried.

  “I wouldn’t say it's mind reading. I can feel when people get nervous or tense. Earlier today, one of the castle informants told us that a group of bandits were causing chaos near the castle outskirts, so we put up that commission as High Priority. Not long after, the commission was taken and not even an hour in, the commission was completed by an anonymous person. I only had to connect the dots, you were in terrible shape when you came into the castle, and the neckce you had on you looked like the perfect target for those bandits. I used the word valuable merely to see if it had a reaction in you, and it did,” the dy expined slowly.

  “I see… So who are you exactly? You only introduced yourself as “one of the strongest sorcerers in the castle”, and you even dissipated the barrier that I put up earlier,” Sylvia asked.

  “Let me formally introduce myself, my name is Joanne deCasteria. A sorcerer that specializes in emotions, and my role for this castle was to defend and protect the people psychologically or physically. Now my job is to simply live my life and fulfill the role as the mother in my family. Now that I’ve introduced myself, you should now introduce yourself, young dy,” Joanne kindly asked.

  “Oh right, I’m Sylvia! I recently started my journey to explore the world and learn about all of its wonders.”

  “I see, I have to admit though your memoria capabilities are extremely potent. Being able to cast a spell without chanting deserves some praise, you might not realize it but most sorcerers would kill to be able to cast spells without chanting.”

  “Ahaha… Can I ask another question?” Sylvia said as she avoided Joanne’s remarks.

  “Ask away.”

  “You said that there are commissions in this area? Can you lead me to where the commission center is? I want to start making money as soon as possible so that I won’t have to burden you or other people.”

  “Hmm, I can give you directions to where it is. However, I must warn you that doing commissions te at night is dangerous. Stronger monsters tend to lurk during the night, bandits also tend to be more active so it’s recommended to do commissions during the day,” Joanne slowly expined.

  “I should be fine. I know I’m not particurly good at managing my spells and memorias right now but normally, the more dangerous the situation is, the stronger you get, right? Besides, I’d feel awful if I had to ask you for more help.”

  “Well if you insist, here’s the location. Please be safe out there. If you find yourself in a situation you can’t overcome, then run,” Joanne advised.

  Joanne gave the commission center’s location to Sylvia. Sylvia soon said her thank yous and goodbyes to Joanne before leaving the house. After leaving the house, she immediately headed to the commission center to get her very first commission. After entering the commission center, she saw how rustic it feels. The floor was made out of wood and tables were pced everywhere, adventurers were seen holding bags filled with coins. Overall, this commission center looked exactly like what Sylvia had in mind. She headed to the receptionist and immediately asked about getting a commission.

  “Hey, can you give me a commission that rewards me with at least enough coins for 1 night in the cheapest inn? I’m in a hurry right now so if you can choose it as quickly as possible, I’d really appreciate it,” asked Sylvia.

  “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, are you sure you don’t want to go through the registration process first? We can’t guarantee your safety if you don-”

  “Please I’m in a hurry, anything that revolves around registration can be done tomorrow. I need a shelter fast, but I need coins to do it so please give me a commission fast before midnight.”After the swift interaction, the receptionist gave Sylvia the easiest commission. Although Sylvia knew the dangers of doing commissions te at night, she had always preferred doing things on her own instead of relying on other people. When she was going to the commission’s location, she noticed that the commission was cssified as Low Priority. She had to kill a group of wolves that’s located up on a cliff, which seemed like an easy task to do which made her confident.

  “Defeating wolves? I know my memoria’s not refined, but this simple task should be easy for me to do. If I can tackle a few bandits, then this should be no problem!”

  She soon climbed the treacherous mountains, she had not pnned on this being a long fight so she didn’t prepare any sort of meal to replenish her energy. As she reached the peak of the cliff where the wolves were supposed to be located, she was surprised to not find anything there.

  “This can’t be right, I’m pretty sure this is the right pce.”

  “If this turns out to be a failure, then I’m doomed… I could ask Lady Joanne but she’d probably lecture me about doing commissions te at night. The st thing I’d like to hear before sleeping is a lecture, so I’d like to avoid that if possible.”

  As she was thinking, rge howls could be heard near her.

  “Oh god-”

  Sylvia barely dodged an attack that came from one of the wolves. It turns out that the wolves were hiding this entire time, trying to catch prey.

  “So that’s how you’re pying huh wolves, well I’m in a bit of a hurry right now so let’s finish this quic—”

  As she looked back, she noticed that there were more than 10 wolves located in front of her eyes, being led by one big wolf that looked to be the leader. Their eyes were bloodthirsty, teeths were dripping with saliva, it was clear to Sylvia that this was no ordinary wolf killing commission, this was a matter of life and death.

  “This is not good, I’m cornered and there’s no way I can jump down. I guess the only way through is—” as soon as she said that, she thought of her encounter with the bandits at the cave. She recalled all the feelings she had, anger, nervousness. She remembered the fire spells she used and how she managed to use a ring of fire, surprising the assassins. All those things accumuted, a medium-sized ball of fire appeared on her hands that appeared more blu-ish. “—by going through you myself!”

  Eyes filled with anger, she unched the blue fireball to the nearest wolf, knocking it down.

  “See? You don’t stand a chance against me!”

  Sylvia summoned in more blue fireballs, her emotions slowly losing control as the fireballs grew bigger. The wolves tried their best to dodge the first few fireballs, but the more they tried to dodge, the angrier Sylvia felt.

  “So THAT’S how you want to py huh, I get it.”

  One by one, the wolves were slowly knocked out.

  “You’re scary to most people, but if they knew your species were as pathetic as this, they would ugh.”

  The wolf leader, noticing Sylvia’s pattern, kept his distance and waited until Sylvia got exhausted. Her skin was starting to get blisters as she used more and more memoria, pain ncing up her arms. But she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop. The fire raged, mirroring the fury bubbling in her chest.

  “Why are you running away for, big one? Are you scared? Come here and fight me!”

  Just then, a fireball that’s the size of a basketball was constructed and the fmes got hotter. She then threw that fireball to where she thought the wolf leader was located and the proceeding impact caused a small explosion. She was evidently exhausted.

  Thinking that the fight was over, she calmed herself down. However, she could tell that something was far from normal.

  “No, something’s not right.”

  Soon after, she casted the memoria needed to make a protective barrier. She anticipated correctly, as the wolf was preparing to attack Sylvia from behind.

  “Gotcha!”

  The wolf was confused on why his attack was blocked. Before anything else could happen, Sylvia immediately closed their distance in and prepared one st fireball and forced it into the wolf’s mouth.

  “Even the big one is all howls but no bite, it's time to say good night~”

  The wolf soon exploded due to the high energy that came from the fireball

  “Wow I really let myself lose there, huh? Not to mention the blisters I got during that fight… I need to be more careful in the future.”

  Sylvia soon walked back to where the castle was to exchange the commission she had completed for coins. During the trip back, she noticed that her stomach couldn’t seem to stop growling.

  “Does magic really use up that much energy? Or was it because I was angry? I definitely need to prepare something that replenishes energy so that I don’t pass out mid-fight.”

  As soon as she came back to town, she exchanged the commission for coins. She was surprised that the center gave her extra coins due to her completing the commission at night, which meant that she could use those coins for another meal before ending the day off. Before bed, she bought a steak which tasted superb, and immediately headed off to bed, thus ending the first day of her journey.