Serah continued to successfully find and ritually offer the souls of sinners. She was so successful in fact, that Miss Zeffer doubted whether they were all sinners. But unknown to Miss Zeffer, Serah had an ace up her sleeve. Her little kitty, Shadow, happened to be a wonderful evil detector. She could instinctively smell the sin wafting off people's bodies and together, with Serah, they were able to find more than enough sacrifices for Serah's needs.

And as she continued to process the scum in the city, Serah's life also continued to move in other directions…

“That one looks good. Should we try it?” Nickie says as she points out a job on a copy of Mister Alfred-Russle’s job list.

Serah looks at it and furrows her brows. “No, that one looks too dangerous for you. It’s in the Redvine Forest. It’s probably best to avoid that place for now. Don’t you have any healer missions you have to do? Something a little more safe?” Serah asks with a raised eyebrow.

Nickie smiles. “We don’t have missions. We have field trips. There’s usually an armed guard that accompanies us as we practice our magic or search for various things.” She says, some pride on her face.

Serah felt a tinge of jealousy before letting out a sigh. “Good. I’m glad they’re treating you right.” She says before looking through the list again, hoping to find something the two could do together.

Nickie points out another mission on the list. “Why don’t we try this one? It shouldn’t be too bad if we find someone else to accompany us.” She suggests, somewhat open to the idea.

Serah raises an eyebrow. “Slay a water drake? That seems kind of difficult. I hear anything dragon related is very difficult to kill. We might need a whole team for this one.” She says as she leans back on the sofa.

A young man sitting on a table nearby, talking to a few friends suddenly perks his hears. He thought he heard the words ‘water drake’. He turns to look and his eyes widen when he sees Serah. Without hesitation he immediately stands up and leaves his group of friends to walk over.

“Did I hear the words ‘water drake’?” He asks as he leans in, shamelessly intruding onto their conversation.

Serah looks up at the young man and his blue silk shirt and she lets out a sigh of frustration. Why is this dude here? She grumbles to herself.

“Yes, we were talking about a water drake. You wouldn’t happen to be a lizard in human form, would you?” Serah asks without regard for the young man’s feelings.

The young man stands back up and lets out a bitter smile. “Unfortunately not. But some says I’m as strong as a dragon.” He boasts shamelessly with a puffed out chest.

Serah, unable to help herself, lets out an amused grin. “Who says that? Your mom?” She asks, continuing to poke fun.

The young man lets out a small smile of victory, seeing as he managed to amuse her. “May I know your name?” He asks, ignoring Serah’s question.

Serah lets out another sigh. Fine. It seems you’ll be around for a while. Might as well give you my name. She thinks in defeat. “My name’s Serah, and this is Nickie. Now if you would excuse us, we were in the middle of a conversation.” She says, continuing to push the young man away.

The young man smiles again. Nice. Got her name. He thinks, finding this scrap of information to be as valuable as gold.

“Yes, about that. If it’s a water drake you’re looking for, one of my teachers, Mister Thorak, happens to have a mission to collect some water drake scales for a robe that he is preparing to hunt a mountain dragon. I’ve already gathered a few people for the hunt; did you want to join?” He asks with a hopeful smile. In truth, he had already gathered the necessary people, and he was confident that they were prepared to face a water drake. But a few more people wouldn’t hurt… Especially since… The young man thinks as a blush forms on his cheeks.

“You’ve already gathered a team? And you’re Mister Thorak’s student? I’m Mister Thorak’s student.” Serah says, a little surprised.

The young man raises an eyebrow. “You’re his student as well?” He asks, a little surprised before letting out a smile. “Then we can claim the reward together.” He thinks, rather enthused. He didn’t mind splitting the reward with another person, if that person was Serah. As for everyone else on the team, he had already taken care of their compensation.

Serah’s brows furrow. Damn. I could get two rewards for this one. But I’d rather not interact with this dude… She thinks before pondering the matter and letting another sigh of defeat. “Damn! Fine! Why are you so pushy? Okay, we’ll join your hunting team! Are you happy now?” She asks, not sure why she was so agitated.

The young man simply heard the words ‘we’ll join’, filtering out the clear reluctance, and a bright smile appears on his face. “That’s great! We’ll meet here in three days! There’s some stuff we’ll have to prepare, but I’ll see you then!” He says before walking back to his friends with excited steps.

Nickie looks to the young man before looking to Serah, her mouth a little loose, and a little unsure what to say. Suddenly, she speaks her mind. “I think you might have to bang him.” She says, foreseeing the end of this matter.

Serah lets out another sigh and covers her forehead as she begins to feel a headache. “Freaking probably, right? It’s certainly going in that direction.” She thinks, clearly not happy about the matter.