Aria rose from the caressing sheets of Master’s bed, feeling fresh and rejuvenated. The brightly lit room proved the day was still far from over. The sun, in fact, was only a bit past the peak of its journey for today. She walked towards the door and opened it slightly before peaking out into the hallway.

Checking Master’s door, a sign that hung on it read ‘Unavailable’. Aria glanced at the magic book on Master's desk, but decided to explore the guild a bit instead. She went down the stairs at the end of the hallway and went towards the guild hall. It was bustling with people, as expected. It was about as busy, or busier, than it had been when Leo and Wendel brought her here the day prior. As she walked into the guild hall a bit, Aria heard an abrupt ‘oh!’ to her left where the receptionist counters were.

“Young lady what are you doing here? You… oh! You’re the one that came in with Mr. Leo and Ms. Wendel right?”

Aria nodded. Her eyes widened slightly and her lips formed a small smile. “Mhm! Master is taking care of me right now but I don’t know where she is so I’m just looking around.”

“Master..? The Guildmaster is? Interesting.. Well, the Adventurer’s guild is no place for one such as yourself to roam about without supervision! It’s dangerous right now,” said the receptionist. She held a hand out towards Aria, who grabbed it.

“Luckily, today is one of my few days off. I only came to work because I had nothing else to do. Though, my coworkers insisted I take it easy. So I had been doing nothing but menial tasks.”

Ms. Receptionist smiled, happy that she found something to distract herself. She led Aria back up the stairs into a break room for employees. Within a few minutes she had cups of tea prepared for both of them.

They sat across from each other silently enjoying the tea’s aroma, the gentle taste that seemed to soothe the soul mellowed Aria. The distant bustling of adventurers in the guild hall simply faded into background ambience.

“Do you like it? It’s mellowleaf tea,” said Ms. Receptionist.

“Mellowleaf tea?” said Aria. She tilted her head in curiosity.

“Mhm,” The receptionist set her cup of tea down and cleared her throat. “It’s a gentle drink that soothes a person, physically and mentally.”

"I like it," replied Aria.

"I'm glad you do. But first things first, I guess I should introduce myself as I am not talking to you as a receptionist. Right now, I am Charlotte, a humble person, or so I’d like to think, that works as a receptionist in the Central Adventurer’s Guild of Uroth."

“Charlotte? Uh, umm it’s nice to meet you too! I'm Aria,” said Aria.

“Yes, It’s a pleasure to meet you.” said Charlotte with a nod.

Charlotte was a receptionist at the Adventurer’s Guild that Leo and Wendel have frequented for work. Meaning, she must know more about them. Aria placed her cup of tea down. It wasn’t as if she was obsessed with Leo or Wendel. They were simply the first people she met, and they were nice. So she kind of likes them. That’s all.

“Ms. Charlotte, can you tell me what you know about Leo and Wendel? They… helped me but all I know about them is that they’re nice people and work as adventurers.”

“Ah.. Mr. Leo and Ms. Wendel huh.. You aren’t wrong about them being nice people. They’re known to be a lively duo, a lot of people have had nice experiences interacting with the two. As for what I know, I only know them in a professional setting but they are high-ranked adventurers. As such, they are very strong and reliable compared to the average person."

Aria nods and waits for her to continue.

“They have accomplished some notable achievements, and while they are not out of this world like the rare achievements of the few S-ranked adventurers that exist, like the Guildmaster, such comparisons… simply aren’t fair to make. It’s best to think of them as unnatural humans. Regardless, the feats of the lively duo definitely aren’t anything to glance over. Take the Xilisks they encountered recently for example. Surviving an adult Xilisk… is impossible to say the least. And slaying a young Xilisk in the process… well to put it bluntly: It is not something that happens every day.”

Aria thought back to the fight with the young Xilisk. It was cool to see them in combat, but it didn’t really seem like the battle was anything out of the ordinary. Plus it was before the adult Xilisk showed up, but that's besides the point. While it might not have been a breeze, they sure seemed to have control over the situation when handling the young Xilisk. The adult Xilisk however… well, she experienced firsthand the terror of an enraged adult Xilisk. Without a doubt, it’s not something you even think about going against. One attack from the Xilisk sent them flying nearly to their deaths. Not to mention it was through Wendel’s defenses. She’s really not sure how they managed to escape with herself in tow unconscious.

Still, she already knew this; Wendel and Leo are strong adventurers. She picked up her tea and took a sip. They began chatting about random things until Charlotte brought up the topic of Aria’s future. Or more specifically, what she wanted to do in the future.

“What I want to do in the future?” repeated Aria.

“Mhm, is there anything you’re interested in becoming in the future?” said Charlotte.

“Well, I want to be a magic knight adventurer!”

“A magic knight adventurer?” said Charlotte. A hint of confusion showed on her face. “Well, that sounds difficult! What is it? A warrior that dons magical equipment? That’s not too unpopular among higher ranked adventurers.”

Aria nodded as Charlotte tried to interpret her meaning. Charlotte was right about one thing at least: Master said it would be a difficult journey. But she wanted to become one. Why? Well, she simply wanted to. What other reason does she need?

“But first, you’d have to become an adventurer.”

Become an adventurer? Well, doesn’t she just need to do some jobs here to do that?

“How do you become an adventurer?” asked Aria.

“You have to fill out some papers and undergo an assessment,” replied Charlotte with a wave of her hand as if it were common knowledge, but her hand froze mid-air. She stood up abruptly, startling Aria.

“What’s wrong?” asked Aria.

“Speaking of papers, I just remembered something... I have to give important paperwork to the Guildmaster! I can’t believe I forgot to bring them today. Sorry Aria, but I’m going to have to cut our little chat short here. The papers should be at my residence, so I’ll be gone for a bit to bring them back. We’ll chat more when I return, okay? Just stay up here and don’t roam around!”

Aria nodded in acknowledgement as Charlotte got up and rushed out of the room. It must’ve been an important matter as her usual professional tone faltered while she panicked. With the shutting of the door, Aria was by herself with an empty cup of tea. She pouted, regretting the fact that she didn’t get to hear more about the process of becoming an adventurer. Well no worries. They were sure to discuss it further.

Should I just practice some magic for now?

Aria got up to head towards the door when she noticed something weird. She noticed an unusual trace of matom that wasn’t there before. She looked around and noticed the room was darker; the corners of the room actually exuded darkness that grew. Eventually it was covering most of the walls and ceiling. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt sinister.

She cautiously backed up to the wall farthest from it, she could try running for the door, but something told her that wouldn’t turn out well. Suddenly, she felt coldness wrap around her ankle and looked down. The same sinister darkness was protruding from the shadow of the table she previously sat at and wrapped itself around her leg. She tried to jump back to get away from it but it was far too late.

“Wh-What is this?” blurted Aria.

She kicked and struggled to free her leg, to no avail. She hesitated to grab it with her hands but forced herself to. A gasp escaped her as her hands phased through the darkness she stumbled and fell backwards.

“Ow! What’s happening?”

Maybe I can burn it away?

She tried to conjure [Heat] or even some sort of fire, but her panic morphed the spell into a weak sputtering mess that wouldn’t help at all. It faded as Aria cut off the spell to retry it.

Focus… focus! Concentrate on the spell!

“[Heat]!”

The familiar glow returned with vigor, burning away the darkness at a rapid pace. The darkness that wrapped itself around her leg broke and released her. Her skin where it gripped her was wounded, but already healing thanks to [Weak Regeneration]..

Aria increased the strength of [Heat], and took in the surroundings. The darkness was all but covering the room completely. Luckily, it refrained from entering a certain radius around her thanks to [Heat].

That's good.

"Tch. To think you'd already be able to cast magic. As expected of the Guildmaster's kid," said a man's voice.

Guildmaster’s kid?

The voice came from the center of all the darkness, where a hooded figure began walking towards her. He was dressed in dark clothes that were black as charcoal, with a mask hiding the bottom half of his face.

"But no matter, you're still no match for me."

He lifted his hand where Aria saw matom gather. The darkness around the room seemed to get more aggressive in response to the man’s matom.

"What do you want from me?"

"Eh, you'll find out soon enough," said the man. "Now that I found you, it's only a matter of time. Let's go."

The door to leave the room was swirling in the darkness created by the stranger. With a wave of his hand, it eased open.

Aria smiled inwardly. Everything would be okay if he was just going to lead her out like that. There were plenty of people right outside that would help her.

It'll be alright.

It wasn't until her body relaxed at this thought that Aria realized how tense she was. She let out a breath.

Relax, keep your focus on [Heat]! Keep the darkness away.

"We're just going to walk out into the hallway?" asked Aria. "You'll get caught in no time. There are tons of adventurers outside along with Master."

He burst out laughing at Aria’s statement, confusing her.

“Sorry sorry, your thinking was so innocent and naive I couldn’t help it,” said the man. “Unfortunately for you, this doorway already leads to a different location, perks of learning some forbidden magic. This room and the hallway are currently disconnected, anyone trying to open the door from the hallway right now would find it impossible. So don’t waste my time. There’s no chance of escape anyways.”

I can’t go through that doorway no matter what.

The man said there was no escape, but Aria didn’t intend on going with him without a fight. If there was no escape, she’d just have to make an escape.

“Oi.”

Just now, the darkness became more active and reacted to the man’s matom. It’s clearly connected to him.

If I beat him… maybe the connection will sever and I’ll be able to get out of here! So what will I do? [Water Sphere]... no. The darkness didn’t like [Heat]. So maybe [Fireball] is better.

She didn’t get to learn more spells from the book yet, so she obviously never tried casting [Fireball] before. But that was okay. She understood the process. They all followed the same pattern. She’ll just have to give it her all.

“Time’s up.”

Already picturing her visualization of a [Fireball] she rapidly gathered her matom.

Now that I think about it… I’ve never seen a [Fireball]. Agh whatever!

“What do you think you’re doing—?” he said while taking a step forward.

The instant he moved, Aria finished gathering her matom. Maybe it was a little rushed. Perhaps it wasn’t exactly controlled either. But it’s not as if she had the liberty to take her time.

She released it.

“[Fireball]!”

Her hand aimed at the man, and two pillars of fire spiraled out from it. They swirled around each other, forming a double helix.

It was as if the world slowed down. She watched her spell spiral out, burning the darkness away as it flew. They spiraled, gradually getting closer to each other. They spiraled until they finally collided with each other, halfway towards the man.

The temperature in the room rose steeply and the fiery projectile shot towards him leaving a trail of scorched wood in its wake.

But just as slowly the time seemed to pass while she launched her spell, the events afterwards became a blur.

There was a large explosion as the spell landed. And as a result—

Fire. Everywhere.

Aria stumbled back before falling on her butt. She didn’t mean to make it so destructive. She meant to just knock out the guy, hurt him a little bit so he’d let her go.

She didn’t want to— She didn’t mean to— She didn’t expect this to happen.

Her surroundings flickered the different, warm colors of flame. Red, Orange, Yellow. The flames were enveloping the room. Even if the guy wasn’t a threat anymore… she wouldn’t be able to escape her own destruction.

She looked at her trembling hand with wide eyes, flinching as it twitched towards her.

『 Congratulations, you have learned a new spell [Fire Bolt]. 』

F-Fire Bolt? That’s n-not [Fireball] aha ahahaha.

Aria giggled in spite of herself.

She shut her eyes to shield herself from the view of her destruction, the fire caused by her. She remained there for a few moments when a voice spoke up.

“You done yet?”

Aria’s head jerked up as she looked towards the source of the sound.

It was the man, completely unscathed. She looked around in confusion, but the fire, the destruction, it was all nowhere to be seen. The smell of burning wood was no longer present and her skin shivered at the sudden absence of heat.

She stared at the man as he walked over.

Huh?