April 14th 1244, 6:00 AM
Alice wakes up early at 6 AM to the birds chirping outside. She heads downstairs, contemplating whether to wake James up. But it was only last night he woke up, so she decided to let him rest. She freshens up in the bathroom and gets out to start her day.
She goes to the kitchen and pick up a clay jar and a steel cup. She pours herself a cup of Beer and drinks it. Just then, the sun begins to shine. She goes to the Bedroom James is resting in to check on him but when she enters the room, James is missing and so is his sword.
Just before panic sets in her heart, a gust of wins hits the room through the open windows and a loud thud following it a second later, almost like a sword being thrown to ground.
She looks to see James outside, on the huge lawn of Alice's house, picking his sword from the ground.
She rushes out the front door to stop James from overexerting his body. James see's Alice running towards him. He wipes his sweat with his sleeve and signals her to calm down.
James: Haha, you don't need to run like that you know?
Alice: YOU'RE STILL POISONED! You're not supposed to move your body excessively! You're DEFEINTLY not supposed to swing a sword in this condition.
James looks at her like he was waiting for her to bring it up.
James: Actually, I'm not swinging the sword.
Alice tilts her head in confusion.
Alice: I heard the Sword hit the ground and you picking it up. You can't lie.
James: Nope. I'm trying to swing the sword without touching it.
Alice: Woah, What?
James: I had a dream last night. I was fighting someone... I don't know who and my hand got tired. But instead of just not using my sword, my sword hovered in the air and attacked based on just my movements. I woke up a few minutes ago and immediately wanted to try it.
Alice is stunned. What kind of fight-acholic wakes up and just starts swinging their sword because they saw a move in their dream? Safe to say both disappointment and shock was visible on Alice's face.
Alice: Wow- I mean- Wait. So you made a skill? Or do you call it an ability? whatever but, does it work?
James: A Skill? No way. Only Mana Masters can create a skill. I'm nowhere near that level. All I've been doing is using Wind Magic to hover the blade above the ground.
James signals Alice to stand back as he demonstrates. He puts his sword on the ground and concentrates on the Mana Energy around the sword, the Mana, controlled by James's Energy Affinity, converts in wind, spinning beneath the sword in high speeds.
The sword is lifted off the ground with a blue-hued wind jet propelling it. The sword then begins to revolve around James, like a protective shield.
James: This looks cool. However, the amount of Mana needed to lift this off the ground, is just- SOOO not worth it. And as you can see, its slow and to make it react to me needs more concentration that its- simply not worth it.
Alice: Oh! Why are you using Wind Magic? Force Magic would work MUCH better instead.
James stops his demonstration and sticks his sword to the ground and leans on it.
James: I haven't learnt force magic yet...
James looks down, his eyes drifting into his unruly sea of thoughts.
Alice pushes him gently to get him back to reality.
Alice: Go freshen up, you can practice the sword later.
James gives his sword to Alice and heads to the house. He goes to the bathroom and creates a bubble of water made by his magic. He heats the bubble of water up before stripping his clothes and going into the water bubble to take a bath.
With his whole body, except his head, submerged in the water, James closes his eyes and sinks to his thoughts.
James begins to think of Alice's question. "Why are you using Wind Magic? Force Magic would work instead". His unique Energy Magic allowed him to learn skills that are established in mana and used by others. This, he learnt from his father who also had Energy Magic. However, since he awakened his magic affinity after his parents death, he had to figure out how to use Energy Magic on his own.
James had learnt 3 of the 6 Magic Affinities, this includes Fire, Water and Air. He could use skills from these 3 affinities with ease because in his mind, they all worked the same. Fire, Air and Water were all about Manipulating Mana that turns to Fire, Air or Water and at its core it was very simple.
But Force, Earth and Lightning were affinities he didn't know where to start from. He'd seen plenty of Earth Magic users and Force Magic users but he could never grasp the "how", when it came to manipulating them. As for Lightning Magic users, they were simply incredibly Rare. Only 2 or 3 in the entire continent have even been confirmed to have lightning magic, It is the pinnacle of Magic... Aside from Energy, of course.
James: Lightning....
James mumbled as he opened his eyes. He looked around the bathroom and the water bubble he was in and a more important and urgent question came to his mind.
"Why is this woman helping me?"
He was glad that she saved him but it's been 2 days and she shows no sign of being an assassin or a spy or having any form of ill intent.
"Was she just a nice person?"
James thought. But he knew, in his profession as an Empire's Adventurer, there are no nice people. There is always an ulterior motive, it could be gold, silver, or even a soul... So, should he trust her? He didn't make a decision yet but he knew to keep his guard up.
He put his hand out, forming a dagger of water and solidifying in ice.
James: (Mind Voice) This was a skill mom told me she made, The Ice blade. Even though they aren't here.... I still have a lot to learn... from them.
James finishes his bath and gets out of the bath with a towel on his hips only to find a set of new clothes kept on a stand near the bathroom door.
James: Wait- is this for me?
Alice comes out of the kitchen and nods,
Alice: Yeah, of course. Get ready soon, I'm making breakfast.
James: (Mind Voice) She's concerningly nice....
James takes the new set of clothes and goes to the room he was resting in to change. Once changed, he comes out and sits on one of the chairs around the tea table near the main entrance.
Alice brings two bowls with spoons in it and some steel cups and places them down.
Alice: Its soup, my mom's recipe. There's also beer in that jar if you want.
James: Oh thank you!
Both Alice and James have the soup and talk for a bit.
James: So, do your neighbors hate you?
Alice: Haha, I mean- they do but why do you ask?
James: I noticed that all the houses in the area are more like- mini castles and you're in like a simple house with a big lawn. The rich nobles in the area must really go, (imitating fake rich accent) "Look at that place, putting the area value of our house down"
Alice laughs,
Alice: You nailed that impression by the way. Haha... But yeah- I just wanted a house that reminded me of my childhood home, you know?
James: Oh wow. What about your parents?
Alice: They're travelers. They don't stay anywhere for a long period of time. In fact I'm not even from the Selvarian Empire. I'm from Kievan Rus.
James: Woah, no way. I would've never guessed that, wow.
Alice: I'll take that as a compliment. What about you? Where are your parents?
James's smile goes down just a smidge for a second and it comes right back up, as a fake.
James: They... uh, they died, yeah. Died when I was 11.
Alice: Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't know I swea-
James: No, no, its fine. It's been a while.. I mostly grew up in a orphanage in Fortuna, where I met Silvie and we grew up as siblings.
Alice: Ohh, so, she's not related to you be blood?
James: "The Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" or so they say.
Alice: Wow...
Alice looks at James for a moment, sets her drink down and asks James,
Alice: What do you think of the Adventurers James?
James puts his drink down as well, confused by the question
James: What do you mean?
Alice: You and I have been Adventuring for 5 to 6 years, since we were 15 or 16. You must've seen what Adventurers really are, disposable soldiers for the empire.
James listens closely
Alice: The Empire doesn't want to spend its own Knights and Guards on threats and lose lives so they instead either hire adventurers personally or they put up Ads on the Adventures guild banner and expect someone to clear it out for a good sum. This works most of the time..... But threats are getting stronger, people are dying more often these days an the empire doesn't care.
James: That's true....
Alice: Even I.... almost died on a quest recently... A Quest given to "The Highest Ranking Adventurer in the Empire". That's when I decided to retire. I don't want to be a puppet of this empire anymore...
Alice looks at James
Alice: And that's why I want to know, Why are you still an Adventurer? You're on the top 10 of the highest ranked Adventurers right now, and if I'm not wrong, paid incredibly well so, why?
James looks at her, pondering the question. He takes a sip of the drink and places it back down. He leans downs and puts his hands together
James: I couldn't tell you why even If I wanted to. Maybe Its just me throwing my rage to something, maybe I'm just a monster who likes to fight but I don't know. I like to think I'm helping people, but again, I don't know...
Alice's eyes glisten in reminiscence. A slight smile on her face
Alice: (Mind Voice) He really hasn't changed has he? All these years....
James doesn't remember but, James and Alice had met each other many years back, on a raid with 4 other adventurers. A raid that ended with death, dragons and... love.