Chapter 42:

Rine stood, mouth agape, at the scene unfolding before him.

“It’s nice to meet you all. My name is Cort, I’m a friend of Rine. Let’s get along,” Cort said with a bright smile as he shook hands with Calvin and Amelia.

“Same here, I’m Calvin and this is my sis, Amelia.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Amelia said with a smile as bright as Cort’s.

The harmonious scene of three people meeting for the first time and getting along was happening before his very eyes, yet Rine still couldn’t wrap his head around it.

‘Who’s that?’ He asked himself, looking at Cort.

“...Isn’t that right Rine?” He was snapped back to reality as Cort called out to him.

“U-um, I’m sorry what were we talking about?”

“I was just telling Amelia how you recently broke through to the third grade,” Cort said warmly.

Still railing from Cort’s sudden personality change, Rine struggled to answer. “Ah yes.”

“Wow that’s great, and I thought I had finally caught up to you,” Amelia said with sparkling eyes.

“You mean?”

“Yes! I also broke-through, but only to the second grade.”

“That’s great, Amelia,” Rine said.

Their party was in the guild’s main hall, where adventurers of all sorts were currently congregated. The usual light and jovial atmosphere was replaced with one of nervous anticipation. They all knew that war was closing in on them.

Suddenly amid the turbulent atmosphere, a calm voice spoke.

“Attention all. Thank you for gathering.” A tall yet slender man spoke. Though quiet, Rine could still hear his voice clearly.

“Who’s that?”

“What’s wrong with you? That’s the guildmaster!”

“That’s the guildmaster? Isn’t he too weak looking?”

“Shhhh, Don’t say that out loud.”

Rine could hear the voices of nearby adventurers, but after learning of the man’s identity, he refocused on him.

‘Origin? Voice amplification? He’s probably a wind magician,’ Rine thought as he listened. ‘Which means he can probably hear us’ He glanced at the duo he heard talking earlier.

The both of them were quiet, not uttering a single word now.

“First allow me to commend you on your admirable courage. This day shall be a momentous one in your life as an adventurer, for you can proudly say that you have laid your life on the line for your country....”

Looking around the room, Rine could see that no one was paying any attention. Some were even brazen enough to yawn.

Perhaps sensing the same thing, the guildmaster got to the point quicker. “You will be assigned roles by an officer sent by the Wind palace, his name is Marco,” He gestured at the man standing behind him. “As members of the guild, you are expected to carry these orders out, but of course you will be compensated for your participation later on. The war is expected to last a few weeks at the minimum and a few months at most. I wish you well. Officer Marco, please take over.”

“Yes guildmaster, thank you. I will not take much of your time,” he said, addressing the crowd. “First and foremost, I will now conduct short interviews in order to determine where best to assign you. After role assignment, we shall transport you all to the fortress set up by the Wind Palace, so brace yourselves. Further instructions will be given after role assignment.”

After the short speech, the officer began interviewing the guild members closest to him. Rine watched the interview progress, and he could see that after a few questions, the guild members were given a badge and a letter.

“Everyone, I would like to make a suggestion,” Suddenly, Cort spoke to the party.

“Yeah Cort?” Rine replied.

But soon he became confused as he heard Cort’s suggestion.

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“My name is Rine! I’m a second-grade flame magician of the Iron Rank,” Rine told the officer as he showed him his guild badge.

“Second grade Fire magician?” The officer asked with an odd look on his face.

“Yes,” Rine replied, feeling slightly nervous.

The officer seemed to think something through before finally handing Rine a letter and a badge.

The badge was simple, only having the name of his guild and a number etched into it. The number was “57”

Opening the letter up and reading it, he found many details concerning the war. The name of their fortress was Sirocco and it was under the direct and constant protection of the Wind palace army. The terrain around the fortress was an open field stretching for as far as the eye could see. Behind it was the land of wind while at its front was the area separating the former from the land of fire. This was where the battle would be held. The army was split into many units, each having its own role in the battle. There was the vanguard, the archery unit, the scouts, the patrol unit, and the special unit...

Many of these units were further split into two groups, the magicians and the warriors. But it did not stop there as these units were also split into divisions. At the head of each division was a commander.

“Hey Rine, what’s your unit?” Amelia asked as she held her own letter. “I’m in patrol.”

But before Rine could answer Calvin pitched in. “Dammit, we are separated. I’m in the warriors' vanguard. Shit.” Calvin’s face was pale.

“I’m in the warriors' patrol,” Cort added before looking toward Rine.

With all eyes on him, Rine read his position out loud. “Magicians' Vanguard.”

Cort’s face hardened significantly.

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‘This wasn’t supposed to happen….’ Cort thought as he heard of Rine’s unit. Originally he had wanted to keep Rine away from the main fight, believing he was unready. It was for that reason he asked Rine to lie about his Origin Grade. He also asked Amelia and Calvin to cooperate should they be asked. Yet despite all his efforts...

‘He’s still in the vanguard.’ This made no sense to him. Why would the army decide to place a beginner magician in the vanguard? Look at Amelia, she was placed on patrol.

‘What’s the classification basis?’ Curious, he vanished into the crowd in search of answers.

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Lucy stretched lazily on her bed as she awoke from her sleep. She winced at the unaccustomed sight of sunlight peeking through her window. Ordinarily, she would have slept until the coming of night, but she couldn’t afford to do so today as she had an important visitor coming, an old friend.

After a relaxing shower, she dressed in light clothing, ate a hearty breakfast, and finally made her way to the library.

“Hey, dad!” She said as she entered the building.

“The princess has arrived,” Her father replied with a kind smile.

“Mom returned already?”

“Yup.”

“Alright, save some dinner for me.”

“Will do.”

Lucy wondered whether this would be the thousandth or thousandth and one time they had this conversation. But then again, it still felt nice, so why would they change it.

Seeing her father out, she began her routine of cleaning the library and sorting the books.

Due to its relatively small size, the library’s cleaning was done within a couple of hours. With a satisfied smile, she made some tea and sat down with a well-used book, and began reading.

So immersed was she that she did not notice the creaking coming from the main door. A hooded figure entered the library with silent steps, making its way toward the unsuspecting Lucy before stopping a short distance behind.

“Typical Lucy~ Always with her head buried in a book.”

“Typical Rain~ Always stirring trouble wherever she goes.”

The hooded figure let down her hood and a beautiful face, which Rine would find familiar, appeared.

“Here, I’ve prepared your cup,” Lucy said as she elegantly gestured toward the chair facing her.

Rain smiled as she sat down and felt the heat coming off the cup. Freshly brewed. She sipped on the cup as she glanced at her life-long friend. Though age had sharpened her facial feature, Rain could still see the chubby-cheeked little girl sulking inside.

“What of Cecil and Sophia?” Lucy asked.

“They’re outside; on guard duty.” Rain replied.

Lucy looked up from her book before closing it. “So how does it feel? Starting a war over your personal affairs, I mean,”

“Oh please, You know the people behind our palaces, petulant children looking for the best excuse to throw a tantrum. I swear to you, even if I were to obediently marry that fool, they’d find something else to fight over.” Rain Marks said, huffing.

“Is your fiance that bad?” Lucy asked.

“Don’t you already know him?”

“Why would I?”

“You definitely remember him. Remember John?”

“Pfft,” Lucy couldn’t help but spit her tea in surprise. Covering her mouth with a hand, she began to giggle.

“I’m glad you find my torment amusing.”

“Come on, he’s not that bad. Remember the poem he wrote to you?”

“Agh, don’t remind me.”

The two young women began to reminisce of days long passed. At times they would laugh, while at others they would sigh in regret.

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Rain couldn't help but stare.

Hours passed and the day was drawing to a close. She watched the orange-tinted rays as they joyfully bounced off Lucy’s hair. There were many times where Lucy’s beauty stunned her, and now was surely one of them. Usually, Lucy would tie her hair into a messy bun, but today she had set it free, the golden locks cascaded down her shoulders as they softly swayed back and forth. Every now and then, Lucy would comb some locks out of her eyes’ view, tucking them behind her ear. Every time she did so, she exposed her emerald eyes; eyes that bore no blemish.

Once Lucy’s mother had told the girls that Lucy’s eyes were special and that no matter the number of books she read, they would never strain or tire.

She was beautiful, Rain would happily admit that any day. What she wouldn’t admit to though, were the slight pangs of jealousy that would overcome her heart every time Lucy’s beauty was noticed.

“So, get to it now. I’m sure a busy princess hasn’t the time to visit me for mere pleasantries.” Lucy said as she leaned back into her chair.

After tea, they had decided to lounge around in one of the library’s private corners. Lucy had locked the building’s door so as to notify any customers of its closure.

‘Now comes the real talk,’ Rain thought as she braced herself for what was to come.

“Actually I did have something I could use your help with. Here,” she said as she handed her friend a piece of paper.

Lucy accepted it with calm eyes at first, but as she studied the paper further they seemed to grow more and more confused.

Finally, she looked up from the paper and said. “Hey Rain, where did you get this from?”

Rain smiled as she saw her friend’s confused expression. In truth, she thought it would be too boring if Lucy knew what the paper was straight away.

“Fufufu. So there are things even the great sage Lucy does not know about,” Rain said with a slightly teasing voice. Whenever she thought back to the lengths she had to go through to acquire that paper, her heart would always squeeze in pain, but at least now she had stumped her friend. That was, in some ways, enough. “Actually, I won’t lie to you. I went through hell to get that map, and yes it is a map. Furthermore, that is the only copy. Even if you were to scour the entirety of Himmel, you would not find anything similar. See that in the corner, that’s an ancient language known by almost no one.”

However, just as Rain wanted to go on about the rarity of her map, she was interrupted by the almost giggling voice of Lucy.

“Oh, poor Rain~ It seems you were duped once more.”

Rain felt her heart drop to her stomach

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