“They are… flying away,” One of the metallic golems speaks with pauses and a voice that sounds like it has been put through several filters to make it sound more robotic.

“But they have… no wings! Fire is supposed to… burn and destroy, not help... take off into the sky,” the other golem says, in a similar voice, but much deeper.

“Little girl, if we burn you… Will you fly?”

“No!! Please, don’t burn me!” I say and take a step back. A step back turns out to be a step down the grand staircase—the only part of the Guild building that remained—and I tumble backward, landing into the water with a splash.

“Gah!” I gasp for air and rise out of the water.

“You’re scaring a child… E1, shame on you!” one golem scolds the other.

“I am most sorry, T1,” the other golem bows in apology.

“Not to me! Say sorry to the… girl!”

“I am most sorry… girl!” E1 says to me and bows while I remove my hair from my face to see better.

“You should… do something to make it up to the… girl,” T1 says to him.

“I will… remember to do that,” E1 responds and looks at the sky again. “But the Guild left us! Without even… helping us!”

“Yes, they acted like… bad people,” T1 nods.

So, apparently this sudden departure was a surprise at least to these two also. And it doesn’t seem like they’ve ever seen rocket thrusters, though they have no problems with being metallic sentient robot-golem-things.

“What sort of magic was that?” I hear a familiar voice from behind. I turn around and see Casper float up to me from behind. His feet are hardly an inch above water. The water slightly dissipates beneath his held-together feet. Even when he stops the movement, his feet don’t touch the water – it keeps gently swirling below his soles.

“Magic,” the grizzly bear growls a single word, probably answering Casper, though it is hard to tell.

“Well I’ve never seen such magic in all my years,” Casper says and crosses his arms. “What sort of magic removes the top a girl’s skull and has metal rods pop out of it?”

“This kind of magic!” the grizzly bear brings up his gigantic paw and unveils a single curved black claw, the size of my forearm. “I can split a skull in half and shove metals inside!”

“It’s not the same though, is it?” Casper asks with a slights smile, tilting his head and crossing his arms.

“It is same enough for me!” the bear growls.

Casper sighs, looks at me and says, “I’m surprised you’re still fine.”

“Same goes for you,” I reply. I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m underestimated, though what surprises me is how calm everyone present here is. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about the dragons?”

“What’s the point?” Casper shrugs. “I’m completely immune to any water magic, so they can’t hurt me. But at the same time, I can’t so much as scratch any of them, so I can’t do anything about this mess either.”

“So, you’re giving up?” I ask.

“Again, what can I do? For something like this, I’m not sure if the Royal Army will be enough. I suggest you stay close to Mr. Claw here. He’s probably one of the only two Palladium-ranked adventurers in a hundred-mile radius.”

I look at the intimidating animal beside me. He has no weapons or armor on him. Just the last clay jar of honey in his paw. Ah, but looking closer at the bear’s chest, I do see something metal, buried deep in his fur. It seems silver, but it’s hard to make out with all the fur.

“Grrrr,” the grizzly growls at me, not appreciative of my long stare.

“Ah!” I exclaim and turn back to Casper. “Have you seen my sister?”

“Who? Ah, Cyra, No, I haven’t sorry.” Casper shakes his head, though he doesn’t seem too concerned. “I did try looking for her, but with all the dragons and the flood and debris… She’s probably long dead.”

“You… gave up easily,” I say readjusting my judgment of Casper’s character. “I thought you liked her.”

“Meh, I like a lot of girls,” Casper shrugs. “Sure, she was pretty as a picture, but there are still a ton of girls out there! One more, one less...”

“Yuck!” I grimace. This guy is a total jerk!

“Well, you can all stand here all you want, but I won’t give up that easily!” I announce at take a glance at my status screen to check on my mana reserves.

Mana Points 1024/1805 (+4/sec)

Alright, good enough!

“Oh, really?” Casper tilts his head at me with a smirk that asks to be slapped. “And what exactly are you going to do?”

“I have no idea yet!” I say with utter confidence. “But I’m going to fix this… somehow! Even if takes me all day, I’ll keep spamming my spells as fast as my mana regenerates!”

“You are a good… girl!” One of the metallic golems says to me. “I like you! And I owe you a… favor! I will… help.”

“Really?” I ask happy to finally see some decent beings in this town.

“Oh… yes!” E1 confidently knocks on his chest with his elastic appendage, with a round sphere and three claws at the end. It kind of reminds me of one of those doll machine claw cranes. Only this one is much more thicker and looks like it can actually hold on to something.

“My specialty is… support magic!" E1 announced proudly. "I can cast a spell that… will keep you at… full mana for... ten seconds! Watch!”

My eyes widen in horror and I scream, “NO, WAIT—!”