'3 kilometer run around town, check.'

'Basic sword practice, check.'

'Oh, this fusion crystal ran out of mana.'

Ellis woke up early and got herself dressed. After that, she made a three kilometer lap around town while repeating {Wind} at small intervals, she realized that she had become much more proficient in the spell than yesterday. The knack of it had probably been assimilated into her brain after a good night's rest. Taking breaks were important after all.

For sword practice, she went to the quiet guild training field and hacked away at the training dummies while maintaining proper form. She brushed up her {Stream Blade: 12 Petals Blossom} and {Quint Strike} skills.

She went into the showers to refresh herself before having breakfast, her 2nd breakfast. A light breakfast just before early morning training and another one after training. This early morning training was a routine she usually did with Curtis.

"Morning Ruth," Ellis spoke in a muffled voice, bread in her mouth when she saw Ruth pass by. Somehow, being pulled by Guild Master Dean and Guild Master Rizal.

Ruth waved her hands lightly while her mouth moved to say an inaudible greeting before disappeared to the other side of the door.

'I wonder what's going on?'

Leaving the cafeteria, Ellis finished went to the park close to the guild. A flat grassland with few trees, shrubs and gazebos around.

Ellis burped, remembering the small cup of milk tea she had in the morning. Maybe she should have ordered something with alcohol— Curtis wasn't around to tell her off after all.

It was decided what she would drink during her next meal.

People would often come for a stroll around this park. The grassland was also part of the route Ellis would pass by during her morning laps. The empty playground in the early morning was now presently occupied by young children. There was a duo, a boy and girl chasing a group of fleeing goldfish.

Ellis thought of her past with Curtis.

She bent over to pull up a stalk of rye, twisting the stem between her fingers, she observed as the awns at the tip flailed about.

Ellis inadvertently sat at a vacant picnic bench under a tree.

'Curtis is really a loner. No, he had always been a loner.'

Curtis didn't really hang out with people— actually, Ellis was the same too. Besides Tia, she didn't have many other friends to idle with.

Speaking of which, about the confession written in Curtis' Spellbook— it made Ellis believe that Curtis had truly lost his memories. Those words were not written by her without a doubt. When she asked Ruth, she replied saying that Curtis asked her the same question too. Nobody had an idea who wrote those words.

Ellis recalled what Curtis told her before he was taken away by Hermit's party. It was him hinting at a possibility of what could happen in the future. But he nor she knew anything about it.

Ellis continued to practice magic while her mind preoccupied with these thoughts. She had brought along with her Curtis' spellbook despite not using it.

'At least there is something 'Curtis' to keep me company.'

Her practice went on like that for several minutes.

The sunlight weaving through the rounded leaves, landing on Ellis' nose. The sky streams in the horizon, and the imaginary sound of gushing water. And a peculiar person in the distance, wearing a dainty blue coat.

David.

Ellis pouted.

It was inevitable, David definitely had better looks than Curtis. That said, appearance alone wasn't the single lone factor that decided love.

"Ellis, hey.." noticing Ellis' attention directed at him, he called out to her, sounding awkward.

"What?" Ellis sneered.

"Just wondering, where exactly is Curtis?"

"None of your business."

"Look. Your business is my business, if something happens to you too, at least I can try help."

"Help? Since when?"

David sighed, taking a seat opposite Ellis, "It's unnerving to see you facing problems on your own. I'm not trying to act all-knowing here. But If you need a mediator or something, my ears are here for you to use. Everyone thinks that something happened between the two of you."

"You're misunderstanding."

"Says who. We all clearly saw you cry yesterday."

"..."

"Where exactly is Curtis, I'll go try to talk some sense into him."

"Uhh.. what?" Ellis was wondering if this person had a loose screw somewhere. His usual actions were usually inclined towards harassing her, but this— so this person had a good side to him after all. Too bad it was born through a misunderstanding of the situation.

"When you're troubled, I feel the same way too. More importantly is that, even if you aren't mine, your happiness is still my priority."

"Uh.." Ellis wanted to slap him so bad. She clenching her fist to suppress the urge.

"So where is he?" David looked at Ellis seriously.

Was this the kind of person David was? Annoying in his actions to help her...

Ellis never really had the chance to know him. So, in that sense, Ellis thought of David as a verbally rude person. She didn't think he could be verbally rude trying to help straighten her relationship with Curtis by sweet-talking to her in this manner! Obnoxious!

"You're not going to say, are you?" David placed both his elbows on the table.

Ellis exhaled, trying to calm her nerves while her brows were clearly twitching, "It's a misunderstanding. Curtis is out on a voyage."

"I already know that from what you said yesterday. But why alone? Isn't that suspicious?"

Feeling blood rush up to her head, Ellis yelled, "Just leave me alone!" she took her items and left the table.

"Hey, you can't just run away from problems like that!"

"I'll tell you again. It's all a big misunderstanding! You good-for-nothing-know-nothing a—" Ellis bit her tongue. The passerby's attention was drawn to them and Ellis face flushed even redder.

And David misinterpreted it as a blush. "If so, what kind of misunderstanding?"

Ellis stopped talking, turned around and strode away. The spectators thought these two were breaking up, some of them secretly cheered in their hearts.

David followed behind Ellis. He was about to grab her hand when—

{Wind}

—a powerful wind struck him, causing him to stagger backwards.

Ellis didn't turn around, "Just leave me be," emphasizing every word.

"You're really obstinate aren't you," David made a smug.

"Ellis!"

Someone yelled, Ellis turned around to look past David. David swivelled his head behind to source of the voice.

"You... Matilda?" David sized up at the dainty girl wearing a yellow one-piece dress in a checkerboard pattern. Thin laces tied around her waist and shoulders. She also had a translucent coat over her shoulder. Somehow, it did more to accentuate her sensuality then it did to hide it.

"Matilda?" Ellis looked at the girl, it was the person that comforted her during her time at Aldrich's office.

"Oh? Did I miss something?" Matilda glared at David.

David laughed," Of course you did."

"Ellis, let's go."

"Hm?"

"Wait, what."

"Just ignore him."

"Hey, do you even know what kind of issues she's facing!"

Matilda smiled, "More than you do. If not, I wouldn't even be here."

"How to do... hm?" David realized he couldn't move, his leg was grounded by something-- earth. Stone had engulfed his entire right feet.

"Just stay put, the spell will wear off after a while," Matilda made a snort, quickly pulling Ellis away from that impudent guy.

They left the vicinity of the park, making detours and taking unorthodox routes so that David wouldn't be able to find them that easily even if he tried.

"Er..so you're Matilda?" Ellis looked at the girl that had a similar height to her. With pale skin and jade-black hair, her eyes were like rubies. She looked elegantly beautiful.

"Yup," she fumbled around her mouth, "Where do you want to go?"

"Um, can I ask first why are you here?"

"What? You're going to ask that after I went through all the trouble to find you?" She laughed. "OK, ok. Well, there are numerous reasons for that, but really, I didn't want you to feel too lonely."

"Lonely?" Ellis looked to the sky.

"Another reason would be that this is part of my duty."

"Hm?" Ellis looked at Matilda, Matilda looked at Ellis, and their gazes met.

"I was called upon by my father to do this," she said nonchalantly without breaking her gaze. "Where do you wanna go? I'll accompany you."

"Hm.. um well," Ellis was supposed to focus on her magic practice, but, "I don't really know.. ?"

"In that case, let me help you pick a spot then. We'll go deal with the priority task first," Matilda walked with her hand behind her back, "Let's go to the clothing store."

"Priority task? Clothing store?"

"About David, he's just that kind of guy, don't take him too seriously. He just has that trait of him that doesn't know when to give up, in a sense, it has its own merits."

"You know David?"

Matilda nodded, "He's a friend of mine back in elementary school. A brute."

"Ah.." what a nice description.

"Oh, did you hear about the Magic Artillery Battalion? They arrived yesterday and departed just this morning," Matilda brought up with enthusiasm in her voice.

"Magic Artillery Battalion?' Ellis recalled Elanoire's face. "Is Elanoire is the chief?"

"Chief? She's the commander! I'm surprised you know her."

"Mm.. I met her yesterday."

The sound of Matilda's footsteps stopped.

Ellis was startled by her gaze, literally burning.

"What?" Matilda looked at her wide-eyed.

Ellis gulped.

"How?"

"She was trying to find Curtis," Ellis didn't know if it was the correct thing to mention about it.

"That makes sense. Too bad.." Matilda paused, turning around and continued walking, "The store should be right around here."

Ellis tilted her head at Matilda's actions.

They entered a fancy store accommodating a variety of female wear. Most of which were dresses. Wooden mannequins were posed with clothing on display while metal racks hung a multitude of dress choices. The receptionist came over to greet the two, and her eyes lit up when she saw Matilda.

"Take a look at this," Matilda held up a stylish medieval-styled dress. Elegant was the word to describe it at one glance. This was the kind of outfit worn during ballroom dances. The base colour was a deep red, coupled with milk-white while black laces crossed the area at the corset.

"It's beautiful," though Ellis didn't really understand the purpose of coming to the clothing store. In fact, she felt a little oppressed, remembering how her mother would bring her to clothing stores and stay for hours at a time. It wasn't a pleasant experience for some reason.

"You should pick one, I'll pay for it."

"What? No way," Ellis shook her head, but her eyes were sparkling.

'Puahfft," Matilda laughed, "Your eyes say it all. It's fine, just pick one, you'll need it when the time comes."

"Huh? When the time comes? I don't understand."

"I'll explain later," Matilda puffed her cheeks.

"Uhh.."

Ellis was directed toward another rack of dresses. All the dresses sold here looked like they had been specially made, no two dresses were alike.

"How bout' this," Matilda had another two dresses in her hands. Ellis looked at her figure in the mirror, a sparkling blue multilayered dress placed over her front.

"This is too frilly."

"This one?"

"The colours look off.."

"Then how bout' this? Your second choice… wow, I didn't think you would have good eyes for clothing."

"This.."

"So its a pick?"

Ellis really wanted to know what Matilda was up to..