As soon as the burly man left the room, Lyn buried her face into her hands and let out a painful groan. That was the tenth fighter they had seen today, and they were all—to put it lightly—absolute trash.

To her side, Irene pushed her maroon hoodie away from her head, revealing her dreadlocks and helix piercings. "Argh, who are these people?" she grumbled. "Lyn, are you sure they were from Dawn Avengers?"

The entire team of four was sitting behind a table at the end of a spacious training studio that Lyn had rented for their open interviews. Looking at the current standards of the interviewees, she might have wasted her money, while the rest of the team might have wasted their precious day-offs. Sitting next to Irene was Millie and Raph, the conjurer and healer of the team.

Lyn groaned again as she flipped through her notes. "There is a possibility that Em might be fucking with me. I did, kind of, well, piss her off majorly that day."

"Wait, Emily Enric gave you these contacts?" Irene scowled. "Yeah, okay, no wonder they all suck. I don't trust that bitch. Why the hell are you even in contact with her anyway?"

Lyn had to suppress yet another groan. Back when Lyn was still in the guild together with Emily and Irene, the two of them hated each other's guts—and this animosity seemed to have lasted beyond their Dawn Avengers days. Irene's daily rants and annoyed glares whenever she went out with Emily still made Lyn shudder. It's never fun when your best friend utterly hates your partner, especially when that friend is Irene, one of the most powerful fire mages in the country.

"I had to. Beggars can't be choosers, Irene." Lyn let out a long, disheartened sigh. "Raph, Millie, what do you think of them so far?"

Raph squirmed at the attention, his thick eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Erm, they're... okay, I guess," he said, although it did not sound like he believed it.

Millie seemed equally worried, but she maintained her ever-positive tone while combing her hand through her curled, voluminous hair.

"Hm, if we just need a fighter in our team to get commissions, does it matter if they're good? Can't we hire a mediocre one and call it a day?"

Irene immediately perked up at the idea. "That's a good point, Millie. Lyn, can we do that?"

Lyn shook her head. "No, we can't risk a bad fighter. They're gonna be up close with monsters during quests, it'll be a liability."

"That's okay, we can just get Raph to fix them up," Irene offered, waving her hand at the flabbergasted Raph.

"That's not sustainable at all," Lyn replied flatly.

Irene slumped back onto her chair and sulked. "Argh, you're so uptight. Stop meeting up with Emily; she's clearly rubbing off on you."

"Why do we need a fighter again?" Millie asked as she cocked her head to one side. "Shouldn't the two of you be good enough for commissions?"

Oh boy. Here we go. This was the dreaded question that had plagued Lyn's entire mind and soul for the past month.

"Yeah, I know, that's what I thought too, but it's Questers' standard practice to have at least one fighter on a team. The reasoning is that, while elemental mages can be powerful, our magical abilities are inherently tied to our surroundings. So there's always a very, very small chance that our magic would not work during critical times, even if we were to actively choose commissions that cater to our elements. Having a fighter is the only way we can ensure our combat capability at all times and in any environment. That's the idea, at least."

Irene rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. "That's so stupid."

"I agree with you, but we gotta do what we gotta do." Lyn shrugged.

A knock came on the door.

"Ooh, one more," Millie said excitedly.

"Dear God, let's hope this person is good," Irene mumbled.

The door creaked open, and a petite woman with a high ponytail peeked into the room. Lyn's heart leaped to her throat at that moment.

"Cinnamon!" she exclaimed as she jumped up from her chair.

Glued to the door, Cydney pushed out a small smile and glanced around the room. "H- Hello, Lyn..."

The other three team members stared at them.

"Cinnamon?" Millie repeated, her brown eyes twinkling in amusement.

Irene lifted her eyebrows. "Oh? The waitress at that cafe you always go to? The girl you've been telling me about? That girl?"

Before Irene could spill any more secrets, Lyn interjected with a cheerful grin, "Yeah! She's Cydney. She told me that she knew a fighter so I asked her to drop by."

"Oh really?" Irene smirked, while Millie giggled behind her. "Is that really the reason why you wanted her to be here, Lyn?"

"Shut the hell up, Irene." Lyn turned back to Cydney, who had finally left the door and made it into the room. "Thank you so much for coming, Cinnamon. So, where is the fighter you mentioned?"

Cydney gulped with her head lowered. "There's... no one," she muttered. "It's... it's me."

Irene snorted, while Millie and Raph exchanged strange looks. A stone of dread landed in the pit of Lyn's stomach. She knew of Cydney's conditions, and there was no way Cydney could make the cut.

"Oh Cinnamon," Lyn said warily, "I'm sorry, but you'd- you'd have to be able to do magic..."

Cydney did not answer. Instead, she unhooked her wristwatch. With one swing, the watch extended in length, changing its shape into a thin, grey sword that rested comfortably on her hands.

Lyn's jaw dropped. Next to her, Millie gasped and covered her mouth, while Raph choked on his saliva and Irene fell out of her chair, somehow.

That was an impressive display of transmutation—one of the most advanced enhancer magic. Most enhancer mages could only (as the name suggests) enhance the strength and capability of their weapons. Even Emily, one of the best fighters in Dawn Avengers, could, at best, enlarge the size of her sword. But Lyn had never seen anyone transmute a sword from something completely different, and with such ease and speed.

Irene managed to pick herself back up from the floor. "You... Lyn said you can't even do basic elemental magic, but you can do advanced enhancer magic, like transmutation?"

Cydney nodded. "Only... Only on this," she stammered, pointing at her weapon.

"Oh, is that some kind of a special magical item or something?" Millie suggested.

"S- Sort of..."

Lyn remembered how she had noticed Cydney wearing a broken watch a few months ago, and how she had offered to fix it but Cydney had insisted against it. It dawned on Lyn why Cydney kept the watch the way it was—it was her special weapon.

And right now, the cute, delicate girl that Lyn was so familiar with was wielding a deadly, needle-sharp sword. This image itself was causing Lyn to suffer from mild cognitive dissonance.

"Well, it doesn't matter how good you are at enhancer magic, you still need to be able to fight." Irene grabbed the sword by Millie's chair and hurdled the table. "Try fighting me."

Before Lyn could try to stop her, Irene sprinted towards Cydney and swung at her. With a casual sidestep, Cydney dodged the oncoming blade, causing Irene to stumble into nothing.

Hopping a few times to regain her balance, Irene lunged at Cydney once again. The petite woman effortlessly parried, and then, with a swift pivot and a twist in the arm, Irene's weapon flew out of her hand.

The sword landed on the floor with a loud and humiliating 'clang', while the room became silent.

"What..." Millie was the first to break the silence. "What just happened?"

"I- I don't know." Raph was equally perplexed. "It was too fast."

"Sorry..." Cydney whispered.

"That- that was just a fluke!" Irene picked up her sword, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm not going to go easy on you this time!"

The agitated fire mage charged towards Cydney again, this time with a noticeable increase in force and speed. However, no matter how much Irene tried, she could never land a proper blow on Cydney. Cydney dodged, blocked, parried, countered, and never once went on the offensive. The fight looked as if a child was fighting a swordmaster, and the swordmaster was just playing and dancing around.

The severe one-sidedness must have irked Irene to no end. "Argh, fight me for real, damn it!" she screamed. Lifting her hands, she pushed a giant ball of fire out from her palms.

Lyn had been paralyzed this whole time, but at that moment, she snapped out of her state of shock. With a harsh downward slap, a strong current of lightning blasted across the room, landing right in front of Irene. The force from the strike was so strong it dispelled the fireball and sent Irene flying towards the other end of the room. Small traces of fire landed all over the studio.

"Cinna!" Lyn cried as she rushed towards Cydney. "Are you okay?"

Cydney was coughing from all the smoke around her, but she managed a meek nod.

Lyn spun around and bellowed at Irene, who was groaning while struggling to get up. "What the fuck, Irene? Fire? During a duel? You could've seriously hurt her!"

She turned back to Cydney, lifting her face up and wiping traces of soot away. "I'm so glad you're okay, Cinnamon, but- but I can't believe this. You're a fighter! You can do such awesome enhancer magic, and you can really fight. Why didn't you tell me you're so good?" Her eyes traced Cydney's soot-covered body. "Seriously, guilds all over the world should be clamoring for you."

Cydney smiled wistfully. "Yeah, well, I- I can't do basic elemental magic..."

"What? That shouldn't matter at all! You don't need basic magic for quests."

"Really?" Cydney's large, black eyes lit up in excitement. "So... did I pass? Can I- Can I join the team?"

"Of course, you're perfect!"

"Erm, Lyn?" Millie piped in carefully. "Maybe... we should discuss as a team before confirming someone."

"Oh, right, of course, of course. Sorry, Cinnamon, do you mind waiting outside a little?"

When Cydney left the room, Lyn knitted her brows and scowled at Irene.

"Okay, first of all, what the hell was that, Irene?"

Irene had her hands in her hoodie pocket, hunching sheepishly. Ash gray soot dusted her dark skin and brown locks.

"Yeah, sorry about that," she mumbled as she stretched her shoulders, "but you didn't have to freaking strike me down with your lightning. My back really hurts now..."

"Whatever, you deserve it for lashing out at her."

"Argh, I'm sorry, okay? It's just, the way she fights is so... infuriating."

"That's because she's an actual skilled fighter, unlike the fighters we're used to," Lyn noted.

"I've never seen a fighting style like hers before," Millie mused. "She focuses so much on her defense, it's interesting."

"It is unusual, but it's really good!" Lyn continued her earnest commentary. "It's so different from those big, flashy moves that we saw the previous fighters do. She's quick, she's agile, she knows exactly when and where to hit. And not to mention, her enhancer magic is at a level that I've never seen before. She's just"—she could not help but let out a small, loving sigh—"she's just so perfect in every way."

"Yeah, okay, we all know you're in love with her." Irene rolled her eyes.

Lyn snorted. "And who was the one who had to resort to elemental magic while dueling, like a sore loser?"

"Okay, okay." Irene put her hands up in surrender. "Can we please stop bringing that up?"

Lyn looked at the rest of the team expectantly. "So, what do you all think of her? Should we let her into our team?"

"Well, I do think she's great, but..." Millie flashed an awkward grin. "Is it weird that she can do such advanced magic without being able to do any basic magic? I've never heard of anybody like that."

"It is a little weird, but it doesn't matter. She's probably just born a little different, that's all."

"Do we know where she's from?" Raph asked.

Immediately, Lyn's expression turned dark. "And why does that matter?"

Raph stiffened at Lyn's sudden change in tone. "It's just... erm, basic... background information?" he stammered.

"Well I don't know," Lyn replied curtly. "She doesn't like to talk about it."

"Oh... but what if she's, like... an international fugitive...?" Raph stammered as if afraid that the question would trigger an explosion.

It did.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Raph?" Lyn snapped. "Does she look like a criminal to you?"

"N- No... Sorry..." Raph mumbled.

Millie interjected the uncomfortable atmosphere with her wide, cheery smile and her beautiful, shiny teeth. "Raph just means that we don't know enough about her, but if you trust her, we'll trust her too, Lyn. Plus, she's clearly the best out of everyone we've seen so far, so she'll be great for commissions."

Raph looked at the olive-skinned woman gratefully. "You're... You're right, Millie. Thanks."

"Yeah, I agree," Irene concurred, however begrudging she sounded. "She's really good."

Lyn saw the confirmation from all three of her teammates, and her heart soared with happiness. She marched to the door and slammed it open. The petite woman was waiting outside the studio. Her ponytail bobbed to the side as she lifted her head to look at the grinning Lyn.

"Welcome to the team, Cinnamon Cake."