Vur and Tafel sat in the corner of the adventurers’ guild’s lobby. Stella was munching on a plum, dripping juices onto Vur’s head. Alice was standing in front of the commission board, muttering to herself as her gaze roamed over the documents. The adventurers gave her a wide berth, some even holding their breaths to stay silent.

“If that’s the way we’re going, then we should pick these up…,” Alice said and jotted down commission names in her notebook. “This one too. And this isn’t too far off. Huh, I didn’t know there was a wyvern nest there; we could solve that along the way. Since we’re going east anyways…”

“It’s really nice having someone who’s capable of proper planning,” Tafel said to Vur while looking at Alice. “Delphina used to do all the planning in Swirling Wind. I should’ve recruited her to help manage my kingdom.” They watched as Alice approached the receptionist’s desk, placing her notebook and identity card on top of the wooden surface.

“I’d like to undertake all of these commissions,” Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Um, guild master…, if you do this, there won’t be any commissions left for everyone else,” the receptionist said as he read over the list of missions that spanned three pages of the notebook. “B-besides, don’t you have a lot of paperwork left to finish?”

“I can’t accept commissions just because I’m a guild master? This is discrimination,” Alice said, placing her hands on her hips. “As for all those papers, they’re gone. You can go to my office and check.”

“But… an adventurer of your stature shouldn’t be accepting a D-ranked mission, right…?” the receptionist asked. He shrank back as Alice seemed to grow in size.

“I’ll fire you if you don’t comply,” Alice said, narrowing her eyes.

The receptionist gulped and nodded before reaching underneath his desk to retrieve some forms. “I understand, boss.”

Alice’s expression relaxed as she smiled.

“Isn’t that abusing her power?” Vur asked as he snacked on an apple.

“I don’t want to hear that from you,” Tafel said, rolling her eyes. She smiled at Alice as the petite guild master strode over to their side.

“I accepted some extra missions that we can accomplish along the way,” Alice said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“We don’t,” Tafel said. “It’s better this way. There’s a slight feeling of shame when you become an SSS-ranked adventurer with no missions completed under your belt.”

Alice glanced at Vur. Did he feel shame? Probably not. “That’s true. Why don’t you two check your levels while we wait?” she asked. While registering as adventurers, they didn’t write down their levels, opting to fight her to determine their rank instead.

“I’d rather not,” Tafel said. “I don’t want to see how far away from Vur I am on paper. I think I’d cry if I found out I was half his level.”

Alice turned to Vur. “Aren’t you curious?”

“Nope. I already know I’m the best,” Vur said and finished eating his apple, core included.

Alice pursed her lips. “If you say so,” she said. “I’d like a list of all your abilities if we’re going to party together. It’ll make strategic decisions much easier. Normally, I could construct a team based on our classes, but”—she squinted at Vur—“dragon isn’t exactly the most descriptive class description.”

“Strategic decisions? I’m good at those,” Vur said with a nod. Recently, he was beating Mr. Skelly in mock warfare more than he was losing. He furrowed his brow. “You’re a meat shield, right?”

Alice’s expression darkened. “Essentially, yes, you could call me that,” she said. Was it just her or did the shield on her back become heavier? “Though the official name of my class is guardian.”

“Guardian?” Tafel asked. “You’re not as slow as a typical guardian…” If she didn’t have the ability to teleport, maybe she really would’ve lost against Alice during their bout.

“I subclass as a berserker,” Alice said and shrugged.

“That’s…”

“Weird?” Alice asked. “I know. But it works, well, not against freaks like you, but it works against everything else.”

“Your body type—”

“Small people can’t fight on the frontlines? Is that what you’re trying to say?” Alice asked, glaring at Tafel. She adjusted her glasses before crossing her arms over her chest.

“You just seem more like the scholarly type,” Tafel said and cleared her throat. “I could totally see you calling down pillars of light to obliterate the enemy.”

Alice shrugged. “You get what you see,” she said. “But is this really your whole party? Where’s your healer?”

“Well, we never get injured,” Tafel said, scratching her head. “And Vur knows how to heal people. He can revive them too.”

Alice’s mouth fell open. “That’s broken! Totally broken! Unlearn that skill right now!”

“She’s jealous,” Stella said, swallowing her plum’s remains.

“It doesn’t make any sense!” Alice said. “If you’re serious about his ability to revive people, how can he beat me in close combat, cast black magic that I have to defend against with my all, and revive people? And don’t give me that nonsense about being a dragon.”

Vur’s forehead wrinkled, and his eyes glowed. The faint image of a dragon’s head materialized around him, shimmering in the light. Alice shuddered but resolutely stared him down with her hands balled up into fists in her lap. She bit her lower lip to stop her teeth from chattering. “You … were imprinted?” Imprinted by a dragon?”

“Bingo!” Stella said, clapping her hands together once. She tapped on Vur’s forehead. “Your aura’s making me dizzy.”

Vur’s eyes stopped glowing, and he snorted, turning his head away from Alice. A collective exhalation came from the crowd of adventurers in the room.

“I guess that does make you a dragon in the loosest possible sense,” Alice said and tapped her finger against the table. “A warrior class with a white mage subclass then? No. You didn’t use any skills to hit me, only unrefined punches and kicks.”

“Those unrefined punches and kicks knocked you out though,” Tafel said. “You don’t have to guess anymore. He’s a blue mage.”

Alice grimaced. “But to learn a skill, a blue mage has to be hit by the ability,” she said. “Don’t tell me he was also raised in the wild fighting beasts to grow up. If that was the case, the holy matriarch would never let him out of her sight.”

Tafel nodded.

“You three are actually from a different continent, aren’t you?” Alice asked. “Everything makes sense now.” A crease formed on her forehead as she looked at Vur. “But that doesn’t make you any less broken. What the hell were the dragons thinking when they created an abomination like you?”

“Honestly, I think they were bored,” Tafel said and shrugged.