In such a diverse world as ours, it is important for all our students to learn the difference between a skill and a spell, as well as the importance of quick casting. A skill uses relatively little mana but is heavy on stamina, and can be cast immediately and repeatedly. However, skills can only be learned through repeated training, thus are most commonly found among the soldiers and adventurers of each nation.

Spells, on the other hand, are a much higher art and are learned from the experience and wisdom of our forebearers. Access to such tomes of wisdom is a pursuit best left to the nobles who can attend our academy. They can be cast in two forms, full spells for maximum power and efficency of mana, or quick cast at much weaker potency. If possible, mages want to avoid quick casting except in emergencies in order to best preserve their mana and to get the maximum effect.

-Archmage Tyrus the Bold, founder of the University of Sankore, deceased

“Hrmmmmm….”

Thistleman was musing to himself, while playing around with different designs of people using his Greater Illusion spell. Getting Diane to take the Ogre quest was one thing, she has been surprisingly gung ho in clearing quests, since they were directly involved with our income, which I had managed to convince her was incredibly important in maintaining her lifestyle. But not getting her killed in the process of getting his book was another thing altogether. Ogre’s are much tougher monsters, for that… he would need some meat shields, and with the bulk of high tier adventurers gone for the copious well-paid mercenary missions, not many of the remaining decent adventurers wanted to hunt some dangerous Ogres. Especially Ogres that, at the moment, were not disturbing anybody.

Now how to acquire said meat shields, without using some form of mind control? Well… he was quite excited to test out his new dose of inspiration, courtesy of a one Mr. Clover, the Saber Toothed Tiger cub. If he could come up with a reasonable design of a person, one who could accurately replicate the cute and vulnerable feel of the puppy, then perhaps he could use it to lure others in to taking the quest!

For this purpose, he studied… and studied… and studied. If anybody was watching him, they might accidentally get the impression he was being a peeping Tom, running all over the place at night and studying people! However, in this nightly process… he discovered something else as well. The power of a damsel in distress. While less effective on women, it seemed to have critical effectiveness on men.

Cute… vulnerable… and pretty… Hmmmm, adjust some curves here, emphasize some there…. Cast the projection onto the sidewalk and watch men’s reaction as she walked on by… disgust? Maybe I tried too much… oh, now they are running away? Wrong again.

Maybe a bit more balanced? Maybe if I refine the face, tighten the abs, emphasize the chest a bit… and to test again. Did that man just faint? And another is drooling…. Well, at least they aren’t running away now… oh dear, that man is now proposing to her? What a strange species…

However, the problem was the limitation of the spell. While Greater Illusion could replicate sounds, and do a fantastic job at making an illusion look real, it lacked… a physical form. That could very easily spiral into more problems…. Ahhh, what a headache…

Then, inspiration. Couldn’t he just make… another demon? If it could happen accidentally, what if he focused? Could he guide the creation process? It has been a little while since the incident with the hornets, and enough miasma had regenerated… although testing this in the city would be troublesome.

Time to make a quick trip to the forest and away from the city!

With enough recovery, Thistleman started using his shadow step much more effectively, and in no time at all he flitted his way well out of the city.

Now for a deep breath… he only had enough miasma to try this once. Focus… absolute focus, keeping the image clear in his head, the miasma poured out like a fire hydrant in a car crash.

“Damnit! This is harder than I thought! I need to focus my mana, guide the clouds… don’t allow any spread!”

The process wasn’t perfect… but it started to work. The miasma clouds were being forcibly condensed, and unlike before, Thistleman had exerted his will into his work.

Soon, a soft white hand began to form and reach out through the mist, then a slender arm rapidly condensing behind, followed by a soft and curvy torso, with long, firm legs. And a tail. And Black wings. Thistleman started getting a little worried, but he tried to maintain his focus. Then, her face… a beautiful woman’s face formed onto a slender neck, and while her eyes felt… manipulative, other than her long ears and a small horn hidden in her short, blue hair, she had come out mostly as intended. Mostly… other than the clearly demonic wings, tail and horn. Damnit.

And… she needed clothes. At least he came prepared. And at least there was some miasma hanging around for decency’s sake.

“Mmmhmm, Master! Thank-you for calling me into this world! I am ready to follow your… ah… every order!”

She made a very clear attempt to look absolutely vulnerable, her eyes flitting carefully towards Thistleman. Then, she was hit in the face with a nice Kimono.

“Get dressed. Ahhh… it didn’t work out quite like I had hoped, but still recoverable. I have a very special job for you, as I am sure you should know. To accomplish this job, I need to make sure we get some basic skills on point for you. Preferably, the change shape skill. Also, we need to practice a good cover story”

“Ohhhhh, I know, I know. You could at least play along with me, Master! I would like some more practice than just your memories from all of your… peeping. Oooohohohoho!”

Thistleman winced at the jab. Proud demons have no need to peep, they just take what they want! Meanwhile, the female demon abandoned her vulnerable look and her face showed a much more wicked intelligence.

“So… do you have a name for me, Master?”

“Yes… you shall be called Sayomi.”

Thistleman sighed as Sayomi finished getting dressed. Seems he would be running through a few more copper and bronze quests with Diane before he could get her to his book. Her growth is not going to go anywhere near as fast as he had hoped. Ah, may as well clear this excess miasma now too, don’t wanna warp these trees and leave evidence behind.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This morning, I woke up just brimming with energy! Even though it was a cold winter morning, today was looking like a wonderful day! The sun was out again, and I was ready to take on my day.

Since I came out here, honestly, I was terrified at first. Looking back at everything, if Thistle wasn’t with me this whole time… I probably would have given up a long time ago, and I definitely wouldn’t have made it this far.

I put a lot on him, and to be honest, I feel a little bad about it… but I am trying my best too! Every chance I get, I am taking on new quests. After all, I’m not going to be given anything from now on, so I need to earn my keep! Plus… seeing how scary things are out there, I know I need to get stronger. From all the other adventurers I have talked to, apparently they avoid any dangerous monsters until Iron plate and at most have a small encounter or two.

Although today, I feel motivated to take on a new challenge! Should I will try for an Iron Plate quest? My new Copper (S) rank has given me a lot more sway, and Elsie seems to recognize me a lot more when I am in the guild now! She is even treating me nicer… maybe when I get a little richer and more famous I can hire her to make Thistle’s life a little easier… hehe…

Diane makes a little giggle before rolling over and giving Clover a big hug.

Hmmm… he seems to be growing really quickly, at this rate he will be as big as me! Feeding him won’t be easy… I definitely need to work harder!

Thistle still isn’t awake yet? That sleepyhead! Alright, I suppose he has earned friendship rights by now, I don’t have to always act like a noble around him… aaaand….

“Thistle! Wakey wakey sleepyhead!! Come on! It’s time for breakfast and we need to get another quest today!”

“Mmmhhmm… it’s that time again? Ughhhh…. Alright, alright! I’m up, you don’t have to drag me by my hair!”

Diane quickly gets dressed in her usual purple dress, now with many more stitches than before, and hurries down the stairs for breakfast. Today she makes it pretty quick, as they have eggs and toast. After scarfing them down, she runs out the door with a second piece of toast in her mouth. She waves out to Ryme and Jotuun, who smile and wave back to her as the door closes.

She is so focused on getting to the guild that she doesn’t notice Thistleman giving a small thumbs up to someone after the door closes behind him.

As I ran in to the guild, it had emptied out a lot compared to the first day I was here. What used to be a bustling guild hall now only had a few copper and bronze plate teams, with some independent iron and bronze plated adventurers and a silver plate team. The size of the hall made it feel like a ghost town, which made my work feel all the more important! If I didn’t work so hard to help people solve their problems, then who else would?

Especially now that my father has started a war so close to here… so many of the remaining adventurers left because they wanted to protect their friends and family, or because they wanted to make some quick cash so close to home. Many sided with the count because of his reputation, but some said they heard disturbing rumors about him from his battle with my father and decided to sign up with him instead.

At least he won’t be trying to kill me any time soon… I hope that bastard loses!

I gave Elsie a nice wave as I ran up to look at the quest board.

“Nyah! Welcome byack Miss Diane!”

“Morning Elsie!!”

As I was looking at the quest board, Thistle walked up beside me, giving the quests a good look over himself. He always asks me about a bunch of them, and I tell him what they say so he can practice his reading. I am such a good friend, teehee!

“Hey Diane, what do you think about this one? It says something about some… ogres?”

“Ehhh?? Ogres? Well… I was wanting to try something a bit harder, like maybe an iron plate quest… but that one is a silver plate full party quest. I’m not sure I would want to…”

At that moment, the door to the adventurer’s guild swung open, and a desperate cry filled the room.

“Someone… anyone… please, help me! Some Ogres tried to kidnap me while I was picking berries in the forest, but when my brother came to protect me, they took him instead! I beg of you, can someone save my brother? I will do anything, so please… help me!”

A beautiful woman had entered the guild, her eyes were full of tears and her torn and disheveled clothes emanated desperation. Even her heavy breathing spoke to the effort she had to put in, clearly running all the way here.

The guild quickly filled with noise, as the once quiet teams burst into discussion at this new turn of events. While the copper and bronze plate teams showed looks of fear, the silver plate team stood up and approached the woman, with their only female member trying to slow them down.

“Miss, we are the Avengers of the Dawn, and we will gladly help you save your brother in your time of need! My name is Gungnir, I am the team leader and a former knight, and these three with me are Efrain, our sorcerer, Fido, a magic swordsman, and Emily, our ranger! You are safe with us. Please, what is your name? And where do you need us to go?”

A tall, well-built man with blond hair and azure eyes walked towards to woman, and placed his gauntlet on her shoulder reassuringly. As he introduced his team members, he pointed her towards Efrain, who was a surprisingly muscular man for being a sorcerer and who carried a short sword, then Fido, a wolf Canian who used a two-handed claymore embedded with a single mana crystal to improve mana flow, and lastly at Emily, a tall, plain-faced woman in green leather armor with a long bow and miniature crossbow on her side. She also wore a green cap which she kept all the way down, completely over her ears. She was also trying to suppress the White Knight complex affecting her team.

“Gungnir, stop! Think about this for a second! These are Ogres we are talking about, we don’t even have a healer or a scout or even a porter, and we should just wait and try to get some more people first! If we wait for Mythrandir’s team to get in, I am sure I can talk to him and Terra to get their support. This is too risky!”

“Emily, every moment we wait, we risk the death of her brother! No man can allow a lady to suffer so!”

“Ahem! Excuse me? But I was looking at the Ogre subjugation quest first, you all better not be thinking about stealing it from me!”

The nerve of these people! Even if I wasn’t sure I wanted to take the quest, the fact I was looking at it first meant I should have first rights to it! That is just… common courtesy! I wasn’t sure before, but now I am definitely going!

“Ruff, I see, you’re the little missy always causing a stir around here. This is no place for a copper plate, awooo! Let us men handle it!”

“Ah, but didn’t you say you needed a porter? Her and her friend are pretty small, but looking at his pack, they can definitely carry things for you… Please, my brother’s life is at stake!”

The woman takes hold of Gungnir’s hand, and leans in closely with tears in his eyes. The view… too perfect. His face blushes red.

“No worries, we will definitely save him! But still… I am not sure about these kids… and silver is the minimum requirement for this quest.”

As they were discussing the problems, Haraldr, now wearing a newly minted bronze plate, came running up to the group.

“Did I hear you needed a scout? I was the rogue for my… old team, and as long as it isn’t fighting the ogre’s, I can at least guarantee my ability to sneak and report to you!”

He subtly gave Diane a thumbs-up and a wink.

In the background of these discussion, a robed and hooded man approaches Elsie, before leaning to her ear and tapping on her shoulder, then walking away. Elsie jumps with a look of shock on her face, and then runs to the group.

“Nyah! There is nyo worry about her plyate, she is a special cyopper, her and her friends are allowed for this request!”

“What? She is a special rank?! Really… I wonder what her skills are like?”

The group of silver plates simultaneously step back in shock, before their sorcerer Efrain spoke to her.

“She is definitely good, I can vouch for that. She managed to take out a Giant Hornet nest after all, and even escaped from Direwolves!”

“In my entire career, I had only heard about special ranks from other city guilds… I would love to see what one is like in action.” [Efrain]

“Then it is settled! You have your porter and a scout, so now we can go save my brother! Oh, by the way, my name is Sayomi, I will be in your care.”

The way she batted her eyelids, the male adventurers couldn’t help but follow her out of the Guild, accompanied by the jealous stares of the lower ranked adventurers. The only person who was showing any apprehension at the current chain of events was Emily, but she wouldn’t abandon her team. They had been through too much together. She could only hope that her intuition was wrong.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was a bit of a hike until we reached the Ogres’ cave. Thankfully, with the sunlight staying constant, we were able to make it there without much incident. Although it was cold, like getting really cold. I definitely need to ask Thistle to buy me some winter furs when we get back in to town!

Although, the whole time it seemed like all the men were obsessed over Sayomi. The whole time she seemed so scared, that they just kept doing all they could to comfort her. The only ones who weren’t caught up over her were Emily and Thistle, which is probably why we ended up being our own little clique. Having someone new to talk to was quite fun, and I got to find out all sorts of interesting things from her!

Apparently, she had been part of this group for a few years, and they had grown from Copper to Silver in a decent amount of time. Normally Gungnir was much more cautious than this, and their party had never hunted down Ogre’s before, but they had lots of experience with all manner of other creatures.

Apparently, she was also a vegetarian, and only hunted monsters that threatened people. She wouldn’t say where she was from, but I started to notice that she seemed… really light, and her features seemed more refined than a normal person’s at first glance. Is it just me, or have my eyes been getting sharper?

We were able to identify the mini-dungeon well before we reached it, due to the nasty smell. We had Haraldr sneak up to confirm it, and outside were various creature bones and piles of… filth. Sayomi also spotted a small beaded bracelet in the bushes, and she tearfully insisted it was her brother’s. This really seemed to whip up the men, who began to prepare outside of the cave.

We had Haraldr move ahead of our group, while we followed shortly behind. He seemed proud of his new spell, which he bought with his half of the gathering rewards, concealment. With the help of the darkness, it made him almost disappear!

Inside the cave, though, was much worse than the outside. The smell of rotten flesh was overwhelming. As we walked deeper in to the cave, the initial silence was starting to become unnerving, broken only by the drip drip drop of water coming from the stalagmites. We kept our torches off for fear of alerting something, and passed by a couple of side junctures that seemed relatively empty.

After what felt like an eternity creeping through the darkness, Haraldr quietly hustled back to the group. He spoke in a hushed yet urgent whisper.

“I found some of them! Three Ogres… they are currently eating something in the room ahead. I couldn’t make out anything they were saying, but I think… they were talking about making some kind of fresh stew.”

“Ruff, what were they armed with?”

“Also, were they seated? And which way were they facing?” [Gungnir]

“Two wooden clubs and one crude stone axe. There was one standing at a crude, large table while another was mixing in a pot over a fire. The one with the axe was sitting by the wall on the far side.” [Haraldr]

“Then a quick ambush may be our best bet. Kill them before they can call for help.” [Gungnir]

“I don’t like this… maybe we should check the other paths first? Find a way around to get Sayomi’s brother and just get out before they notice us?” [Emily]

“You know, she might be right. You can never be too careful around here.” [Thistleman]

“We don’t even know where the other paths lead, and if Haraldr is right, we don’t have time! They might throw him in to cook before we find a way around.” [Efrain]

“Even so, do we want to risk alerting potentially other Ogres? What if this isn’t all of them? We should definitely listen to Emily.” [Thistleman]

“No, we strike now, hard and fast. Efrain, take the far Ogre with one of your spells. Emily, assist him. I will go for the Ogre at the table, Haraldr, stand back as support for me. Fido, you go for the Ogre by the cooking pot with Diane as support. Make this fast, and even if there are others, they won’t be able to find out we are here. We are the Vengeance of the Dawn!” [Gungnir]

I could tell from Gungnir’s quick planning he had lots of experience. To be honest, I admired him for it! I also agreed with his aggressive approach. If we kill them before the Ogres can make a sound, then it will all be fine! A quick stab into the throat will silence them nicely. We all, quietly, acknowledged our roles.

We stealthily moved to the entrance of the Ogre’s chambers, maximizing out caution. The smell of the cooking meat helped subdue the rancid smells from the entrance, and the chamber seemed, at the very least, cleaner. Seems even Ogres have some modicrum of decency…

However, the nervous strain was starting to take its toll on all of us. Every creak of our armor, every small sound of a pebble kicked on the ground… our muscles straining under the quiet approach. Small beads of sweat dripped down my face. At any moment… any moment now…

Gungnir gave the signal!

The speed with which he and Fido stormed forward took me by surprise, and it took everything I had to keep up with Fido. The front Ogre’s hardly had any time to react!

“Shield of Stone! Bull’s Rush!” [Gungnir]

“Bestial Fury! Lion Strike!” [Fido]

“Chains of steel, born of magic to bind my foes, I call upon thee! Bind Monster!” [Efrain]

“May the spirits of nature guide my arrow, strike true with the guidance of the wind! Elemental Arrow!” [Emily]

Working with such a well-coordinated team, and they are using so many abilities I had never seen before! I felt excitement coursing through my veins! I couldn’t wait to show off some of my abilities too! However, I failed to notice something I had not seen in a long time… a look of concern on Thistle’s face. He kept looking back at the path we came from.