{Cara}

As the Rank A adventurer walked out of Mannon's office, she kept her head low. She was already planning out the trip to Alera in her thoughts.

[I'll be on the road for weeks if I don't hire someone to drive me there, so, I'm going to have to find someone who can do that.]

At the same time, she was wondering what exactly she could give to her students to keep them from running into the arms of monsters they hadn't yet learned about in class.

As she arrived at her office, she went straight to her desk where she pulled out a folder containing some of the material she'd discussed with her class over the course of the previous semester.

[Orcs, chargers, cheren, ghasts, ghosts, skeletons, kobolds, drakes, fire sprites, water sprites, eldersen... I've gone over most of the monsters they could encounter near Libera. I guess I haven't gone too into detail on eldersen. I could leave them with some notes on those before I...]

A slightly timid hand knocked gently at her door before Cara could even sit down.

"Hmph. Come in," she replied, pulling the chair back and taking a seat.

The visit she received was somewhat expected.

Rin walked in slowly, standing a fair distance from where Cara sat.

"What do you need?" Cara asked.

It was a formality to ask that, of course. Anyone with two working brain cells could guess what Rin wanted to talk about.

"I, uhm..." Rin paused. "I wanted to see if, maybe, I could go with you."

Her golden eyes, the same eyes that marked her as the Scorned's number-one enemy right now, looked back at Cara's own. It was easy to understand why this particular detail would stick in those psychos' minds. Looking at them now, Cara almost felt like they were pulling her into an ocean of gold. She'd never felt that way looking into anyone else's eyes.

Not even when looking into the ones of the woman she loved.

She'd known Rin since before she came to the academy, but she'd never quite felt as entranced by them as she did now. Had something changed?

Snapping out of it, Cara kicked her feet up on the desk.

"I think it's a bad idea."

"I know," Rin quickly replied, "but, I think if I were to accompany you that I might be able to-"

"But, if you want to go, then I'm not gonna stop you."

"-cause I've seen them before and... What?"

Cara sighed.

"If you want to come with me, I'm not going to stop you," Cara stated again. "Your friend's in danger, you want revenge on those assholes, and you could use the experience if we end up running into monsters on the way there. Those are some pretty valid reasons to bring you with me. So, again, I don't like it, because I don't want you getting hurt, but if you want to come... You're a grown woman. I'm not gonna stop you."

Rin brightened instantly. It was such a stark contrast, triggered so quickly, it almost made Cara scoff.

"Thank you! I-I promise, I won't hold you back out there!"

"Okay... Go get ready," Cara ordered. "I want to leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"R-Right!"

Rin got out of the office in a hurry. So much so that she didn't even bother to close the door. Seeing her be so excited to hear Cara's reaction made the ashen-haired woman chuckle.

All of her humor left her, however, when she saw that someone else walked into the office as well, just before the door would have closed on its own.

Maria walked in.

She took two steps toward Cara and already, the Rank A adventurer felt exhausted.

"Well," she said, with her arms crossed, "I see you're eager to thrust Rin into danger again. Why didn't you decline to let her go with you?"

"Because she's her own person and she can make her own decisions?"

"The decision to follow you into the far east is not a decision she understands the gravity of."

"And she'll learn, with me by her side to protect her."

"As you did so well before..."

Cara stood up.

Walking around the desk, she stood in front of the other woman, looking down at her.

These days, Cara just didn't have the energy for the usual song-and-dance they'd go through here.

"Maria, what the hell do you want from me?" She asked. "If you think this trip is too dangerous for Rin, then go and tell her yourself. You're training her personally, aren't you? She's way more likely to understand if she hears that she's too weak coming from you."

"I never said she was too weak, but..."

"So, am I too weak, then? You think the same thing is going to happen again?" Cara asked. "Last time, I didn't know that they had access to the Mages Guild's teleportation spell. Now, I know that. I will adjust my combat strategy accordingly. Is that not enough?"

Maria scowled, opening her mouth to respond though nothing came out for a couple of seconds.

"You... You... What will you do if it is not enough!?" Maria then got up close and grabbed Cara by her shirt, pulling her in so that she could better see the rage in her eyes. "What will you do if you fail her like you failed me?"

If this exact conversation had happened a year ago, Cara might have just lowered her head and apologized. Mainly because she hoped it would alleviate Maria's fury.

She was far too tired of this to do that, however. At this point, she'd mostly accepted that this was just how things were.

"... Then, I guess you'll have another reason to hate me."

Maria's hands, still gripping Cara's shirt harshly, shook. Tears popped up at the corners of her eyes.

The cinnamon-haired adventurer shoved Cara back.

"I won't let that happen. I'm not putting my apprentice's life in your hands again."

Before Cara could respond, Maria turned around and walked to the door.

There, she stopped.

"First thing in the morning, right? I'm coming with you. Don't keep me waiting."

With that, she slammed the door closed.

Cara let out the deepest sigh she'd had since... well, probably since the last time she talked to Maria.

[... Great,] she thought. [That's gonna be wonderful.]