[Alice POV]
It had been a day since Mother and Brian left to the dungeon so Brian could name Mother as the dungeon master. I really didn’t like eating alone with Father, but I had no choice. Mother and Brian should come back tomorrow luckily, so this will only last one more day.
“Alice, we are heading out for the day.” Father told me during breakfast.
Outside? Where? Why? What is wrong with Father. He’s been acting strange ever since he came back from his journey to see Grandfather.
“As you wish, Father.” I answered him. “May I ask where we are going?”
“We are going to visit the guild. It’s time for you to register.” Father told me.
Guild? As in the adventurer’s guild? And he is going to have me register? Why? Why now?
“May I ask something?” I carefully asked. I want to become an adventurer so I could easily leave the town without much suspicion from the guards, but I need to know why Father is acting like this.
“Of course. Ask away.” Father enthusiastically replied.
“What happened to you? Did Grandfather say something? Is he forcing you to act this way?” I asked, letting my true feelings out. That’s the only thing I can think of. If Grandfather ordered him to let me go, Father would have no choice but to agree.
“No. This has nothing to do with Thomas.” Father answered.
“Then why now? Mother has been saying that I should be an adventurer for years, but you always said no.” I argued. “What changed?”
… I really should keep my act together. If I act like this in front of Father, he might still go back on his word.
“You know what did.” Father said.
“No, I really don’t.” I argued.
“He did. Brian. Did you hear what he can do?” Father asked me.
Brian did something? … Which part? He has done so many things. And he just casually lets everything go. And no one ever reacts to anything he does. It feels like everyone just assumes he can do everything. Is it because he has the system support? Or perhaps because he is a summoner? Or because he is a dungeon founder?
“... I’m not sure what you mean, Father. Brian has done many things, but is there an individual thing that you are talking about?” I asked, getting back to my proper noble act.
“So you didn’t hear.” Father said. “Do you know that we were attacked by sprites on our way back here?”
“Yes, I heard about that.” I answered.
“And did you know that some of the expedition died?” He continued.
“Yes. I believe that you and Brian went to the funeral fire for them.”
“I see. Well the part you didn’t know is that there were actually five deaths, but only four were burned in the fire.” Father said. “Because Brian resurrected one of the dead.”
…. that can’t be true, can it? No, if it is Brian he can do it, right? He already gave me a magic attribute, something that no one has ever been known to do. Resurrection might only exist in the legends of the hero and the saint, but it still exists. If Brian can do something that has never been done before, doing something like resurrection is possible.
“But how does that change anything?” I asked Father.
“It all comes back to the prophecy about the return of the behemoth. I always knew it would have to be someone from the Alewatch line that would eventually take that behemoth down. And with your brother’s hair being light brown, instead of blond, I believed it was destined to be you. Your brother may not have a blond haired child, so I thought it would have to be you. That is why I pushed you to be the magician from the prophecy.” Father explained.
“Then what changed?” I asked.
“I thought that because of the prophecy, I would need to keep you safe. That’s why I would never allow you to go outside and hunt monsters. I know it would help you grow, but I couldn’t take the risk. But now that I know that Brian can resurrect people, if I can get him to take you with him, I can have you level up with no risk of death.” Father explained. “That is why I want to get you registered. I want you to go with Brian and level up during your travels.”
YES! I want that so much. Can I really do that? Can I go see the world? Can I be with Brian? He even proposed to me. He did say he didn’t know it was a proposal, but it counts right?
“Yes. Then let’s go to the guild right now.” I demanded. I kept myself from yelling just to make sure Father wouldn’t change his mind.
“Just eat your breakfast first.” Father said. “The guild won’t run away.”
“Lord Watchman, we’ve been expecting you. Welcome. What may we do for you?” A receptionist welcomed us at the guild.
“As I said in my letter, I’ll have my daughter register today.” Father said to the receptionist. “Have you prepared everything for it?”
“Yes, we are ready for it. Please come with me to an upstairs room.” The receptionist said as she led the way.
They were expecting us? They are ready for us? Did Father send them a letter about this?
“Now, Miss Alice, please show me your status.” The receptionist asked as we were in a private room.
I looked at Father for approval and after he nodded, I said: “Status open.”
| Name: Alice Watchman |
| Race: Human |
| Level: 10 |
| HP: 180 |
| Mana: 730 |
| Strength: 90 |
| Defense: 120 |
| Magic: 360 |
| Skills: |
| Dark Magic LV.2 |
| Mana Control LV.4 |
| Magic Boost LV.3 |
| Quick Cast LV.2 |
| Fast Mana Recovery LV.3 |
| Card Summoner LV.1 (extra) |
“I see. May I ask about your extra skill?” The receptionist asked.
“The new guild master has that skill as well. You can ask him.” Father answered.
“Ah, I see. I’ll do that later then.” She said, not realizing that her fiancé wouldn’t give her the answer as he deemed it a secret that he shouldn’t spread without permission.
“Here you are, Miss Alice.” The receptionist said as she handed me my guild card.
“Thank you.” I responded as I took a look at my card. With the pressure from Father, I was made a D-rank adventurer. It’s the highest rank they can give without outside approval. But Brian got to C-rank straight off the bat because they got permission for him. I must work hard to rank-up so I can be the same rank as he is. “Can you recommend some quests for me so I can rank-up quickly?”
“I’m sorry Miss, but this town really doesn’t have any quests like that.” The receptionist told me.
“But… but then how can I rank-up?” I asked.
“The best way is to either leave town and head to one that has higher ranking quests. Or take part in emergency quests. I’m sorry, but those are really the only choices you have.” She said.
“But I can’t rely on that.” I argued. “I need to rank-up faster so I can make a party with Brian.”
“Miss, you don’t need to be the same rank to be in a party together.” The receptionist told me.
… I don’t? YES! Now there is nothing in the way.
I was still celebrating in my mind as a group of young adventurers ran into the guild. If Brian was present, he would have identified one of the adventurers as Kurt.
“Kris, Kris! A large monster has shown up in the south-west plains!” He told the receptionist.
“Kurt, please don’t yell like that.” Krisha tried to calm the adventurer down.
“But there is a big fight and they need help!” Kurt kept yelling.
… a fight? Wouldn’t that count as an emergency quest? Even if I don’t need to be the same rank as Brian, I want to be. That would make us closer.
“Father, I want to go and help them.” I said to Father quietly.
He puts a hand on my shoulder and quietly responds. “I understand, but I don’t want you to go. Not now, when Brian isn’t here.”
“But people are in trouble.” I argued.
“And what can you do to help? Use some small spells on the monster? You could even be in the way.” Father said. “You are not used to combat like this.”
“But I can help them.” I argued. “I can also summon Mana to help.” I added.
I still have that card with me. I always keep it with me. It’s never more than an arm's reach away. And Mana is a powerful magician. I’m sure she could help.
“Ah, yes. I forgot you still have that. Perhaps we should go then.” Father said.
“We?” I confirmed.
“I’m not letting you go alone.” Father said to me. “So either we both go or neither of us go.”
“Then we have to go.” I said to Father.
“Lord Watchman, if you really are going, please be careful.” The receptionist said as she came up to us. “From the report I got, it seems like the monster is B or even A-rank.”
“Thank you for the warning. But as the lord of this town, I must act in situations like this.” Father said to her.
“We thank you for your assistance, Lord Watchman. The guild master will be heading there as well, so you could wait just a second for him.” She told us.
“I suppose we should. We need some horses for transport as well.” Father said.
“But that will take too long.” I argued. “They need help now. I’ll summon Mana and we can fly there.”
“No!” Father yelled. “You are not going alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll have Mana with me.” I said as I rushed outside.
“Dark Magician Girl.” I call out to Mana. I still don’t completely understand why I need to say this title instead of her name to call her, but I just do it.
“Tadaah!” She called as she appeared from the card that she always appears from. She is always so flamboyant and energetic.
“Mana, there is a fight to the south-west. We need to get there and help.” I told her.
“Oo. A fight. We better go then.” Mana said as she stepped behind me. She then placed her arms around my waist.
We had tried this once before. By holding me like this, Mana could still fly with her magic and I could go with her. I could also cast dark bullet while we were flying like this, so Mana said we could use it to attack flying monsters. Even if I think Mana could do it easier on her own.
“No! Don’t go without me!” Father yelled out to us as we flew off.
“There! I think that’s it!” I called out to Mana as I spotted a large monster that was fighting a few adventurers.
The monster had a long body-structure. With its tail, it was over 7 meters long. And it was moving around at very high speeds. It was running around the adventurers and the shield user was struggling to keep his shield between them and the monster.
“Nicely spotted.” Mana complimented me. “Now let’s get its attention from the air so the others can take a second to regroup.”
“How do we do that?” I asked.
“Attack it with dark bullet.” Mana said to me. “That should make it look at us.”
I see. So just attack. I can do that.
I took a second to aim before casting the spell. “Dark Bullet.”
A small lump of darkness flew down, towards the monster. But as the monster was moving too fast I completely missed it.
“Dark bullet.” I casted another one, just to miss again.
“Dark bullet. Dark bullet. Dark bullet.” I cast many more dark bullets, but all of them missed. This monster is moving too fast and I’m not sure it has even noticed us.
“You can’t just attack where it is.” Mana said to me. “Attack where it’s going to be.”
“But how do I do that?” I asked.
“Look at how it moves. Then consider the speed of a dark bullet and attack.” She said to me.
… why do you make it sound so easy? It shouldn’t be that easy. It isn’t that easy. It can’t be.
No. She wouldn’t lie to me, would she? I have to try. The adventurers have spotted us and are calling us for help, so we need to do it. I have to do this. I will hit this thing.
I took a second to look at the movement of the monster and then tried to predict where it will be. Yes. I can do this.
“Dark bullet.” I shot out the next spell. This time I wasn’t aiming at the monster, but at the other side of the circle it was running. The spell didn’t land on the monster, but on the ground just ahead of it. I guess I shot too far forward, but at least the monster stopped running in circles after it noticed the spell that almost hit it. Now is my chance.
“Dark Bullet.”
The next one hit it straight in the back. Hitting a still target is so much easier than hitting a moving one.
“It’s looking at us.” I said to Mana.
“I know. That was the goal.” She responded.
“But what will we do now?” I asked.
“We just have to let that thing take the next move and react accordingly.” Mana said to me.
As that monster was staring at us, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I think that thing wants to kill me. Hopefully we can get through this alive.
Brian. If I die, you will resurrect me, won’t you?
[Alice POV]
It had been a day since Mother and Brian left to the dungeon so Brian could name Mother as the dungeon master. I really didn’t like eating alone with Father, but I had no choice. Mother and Brian should come back tomorrow luckily, so this will only last one more day.
“Alice, we are heading out for the day.” Father told me during breakfast.
Outside? Where? Why? What is wrong with Father. He’s been acting strange ever since he came back from his journey to see Grandfather.
“As you wish, Father.” I answered him. “May I ask where we are going?”
“We are going to visit the guild. It’s time for you to register.” Father told me.
Guild? As in the adventurer’s guild? And he is going to have me register? Why? Why now?
“May I ask something?” I carefully asked. I want to become an adventurer so I could easily leave the town without much suspicion from the guards, but I need to know why Father is acting like this.
“Of course. Ask away.” Father enthusiastically replied.
“What happened to you? Did Grandfather say something? Is he forcing you to act this way?” I asked, letting my true feelings out. That’s the only thing I can think of. If Grandfather ordered him to let me go, Father would have no choice but to agree.
“No. This has nothing to do with Thomas.” Father answered.
“Then why now? Mother has been saying that I should be an adventurer for years, but you always said no.” I argued. “What changed?”
… I really should keep my act together. If I act like this in front of Father, he might still go back on his word.
“You know what did.” Father said.
“No, I really don’t.” I argued.
“He did. Brian. Did you hear what he can do?” Father asked me.
Brian did something? … Which part? He has done so many things. And he just casually lets everything go. And no one ever reacts to anything he does. It feels like everyone just assumes he can do everything. Is it because he has the system support? Or perhaps because he is a summoner? Or because he is a dungeon founder?
“... I’m not sure what you mean, Father. Brian has done many things, but is there an individual thing that you are talking about?” I asked, getting back to my proper noble act.
“So you didn’t hear.” Father said. “Do you know that we were attacked by sprites on our way back here?”
“Yes, I heard about that.” I answered.
“And did you know that some of the expedition died?” He continued.
“Yes. I believe that you and Brian went to the funeral fire for them.”
“I see. Well the part you didn’t know is that there were actually five deaths, but only four were burned in the fire.” Father said. “Because Brian resurrected one of the dead.”
…. that can’t be true, can it? No, if it is Brian he can do it, right? He already gave me a magic attribute, something that no one has ever been known to do. Resurrection might only exist in the legends of the hero and the saint, but it still exists. If Brian can do something that has never been done before, doing something like resurrection is possible.
“But how does that change anything?” I asked Father.
“It all comes back to the prophecy about the return of the behemoth. I always knew it would have to be someone from the Alewatch line that would eventually take that behemoth down. And with your brother’s hair being light brown, instead of blond, I believed it was destined to be you. Your brother may not have a blond haired child, so I thought it would have to be you. That is why I pushed you to be the magician from the prophecy.” Father explained.
“Then what changed?” I asked.
“I thought that because of the prophecy, I would need to keep you safe. That’s why I would never allow you to go outside and hunt monsters. I know it would help you grow, but I couldn’t take the risk. But now that I know that Brian can resurrect people, if I can get him to take you with him, I can have you level up with no risk of death.” Father explained. “That is why I want to get you registered. I want you to go with Brian and level up during your travels.”
YES! I want that so much. Can I really do that? Can I go see the world? Can I be with Brian? He even proposed to me. He did say he didn’t know it was a proposal, but it counts right?
“Yes. Then let’s go to the guild right now.” I demanded. I kept myself from yelling just to make sure Father wouldn’t change his mind.
“Just eat your breakfast first.” Father said. “The guild won’t run away.”
“Lord Watchman, we’ve been expecting you. Welcome. What may we do for you?” A receptionist welcomed us at the guild.
“As I said in my letter, I’ll have my daughter register today.” Father said to the receptionist. “Have you prepared everything for it?”
“Yes, we are ready for it. Please come with me to an upstairs room.” The receptionist said as she led the way.
They were expecting us? They are ready for us? Did Father send them a letter about this?
“Now, Miss Alice, please show me your status.” The receptionist asked as we were in a private room.
I looked at Father for approval and after he nodded, I said: “Status open.”
| Name: Alice Watchman |
| Race: Human |
| Level: 10 |
| HP: 180 |
| Mana: 730 |
| Strength: 90 |
| Defense: 120 |
| Magic: 360 |
| Skills: |
| Dark Magic LV.2 |
| Mana Control LV.4 |
| Magic Boost LV.3 |
| Quick Cast LV.2 |
| Fast Mana Recovery LV.3 |
| Card Summoner LV.1 (extra) |
“I see. May I ask about your extra skill?” The receptionist asked.
“The new guild master has that skill as well. You can ask him.” Father answered.
“Ah, I see. I’ll do that later then.” She said, not realizing that her fiancé wouldn’t give her the answer as he deemed it a secret that he shouldn’t spread without permission.
“Here you are, Miss Alice.” The receptionist said as she handed me my guild card.
“Thank you.” I responded as I took a look at my card. With the pressure from Father, I was made a D-rank adventurer. It’s the highest rank they can give without outside approval. But Brian got to C-rank straight off the bat because they got permission for him. I must work hard to rank-up so I can be the same rank as he is. “Can you recommend some quests for me so I can rank-up quickly?”
“I’m sorry Miss, but this town really doesn’t have any quests like that.” The receptionist told me.
“But… but then how can I rank-up?” I asked.
“The best way is to either leave town and head to one that has higher ranking quests. Or take part in emergency quests. I’m sorry, but those are really the only choices you have.” She said.
“But I can’t rely on that.” I argued. “I need to rank-up faster so I can make a party with Brian.”
“Miss, you don’t need to be the same rank to be in a party together.” The receptionist told me.
… I don’t? YES! Now there is nothing in the way.
I was still celebrating in my mind as a group of young adventurers ran into the guild. If Brian was present, he would have identified one of the adventurers as Kurt.
“Kris, Kris! A large monster has shown up in the south-west plains!” He told the receptionist.
“Kurt, please don’t yell like that.” Krisha tried to calm the adventurer down.
“But there is a big fight and they need help!” Kurt kept yelling.
… a fight? Wouldn’t that count as an emergency quest? Even if I don’t need to be the same rank as Brian, I want to be. That would make us closer.
“Father, I want to go and help them.” I said to Father quietly.
He puts a hand on my shoulder and quietly responds. “I understand, but I don’t want you to go. Not now, when Brian isn’t here.”
“But people are in trouble.” I argued.
“And what can you do to help? Use some small spells on the monster? You could even be in the way.” Father said. “You are not used to combat like this.”
“But I can help them.” I argued. “I can also summon Mana to help.” I added.
I still have that card with me. I always keep it with me. It’s never more than an arm's reach away. And Mana is a powerful magician. I’m sure she could help.
“Ah, yes. I forgot you still have that. Perhaps we should go then.” Father said.
“We?” I confirmed.
“I’m not letting you go alone.” Father said to me. “So either we both go or neither of us go.”
“Then we have to go.” I said to Father.
“Lord Watchman, if you really are going, please be careful.” The receptionist said as she came up to us. “From the report I got, it seems like the monster is B or even A-rank.”
“Thank you for the warning. But as the lord of this town, I must act in situations like this.” Father said to her.
“We thank you for your assistance, Lord Watchman. The guild master will be heading there as well, so you could wait just a second for him.” She told us.
“I suppose we should. We need some horses for transport as well.” Father said.
“But that will take too long.” I argued. “They need help now. I’ll summon Mana and we can fly there.”
“No!” Father yelled. “You are not going alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll have Mana with me.” I said as I rushed outside.
“Dark Magician Girl.” I call out to Mana. I still don’t completely understand why I need to say this title instead of her name to call her, but I just do it.
“Tadaah!” She called as she appeared from the card that she always appears from. She is always so flamboyant and energetic.
“Mana, there is a fight to the south-west. We need to get there and help.” I told her.
“Oo. A fight. We better go then.” Mana said as she stepped behind me. She then placed her arms around my waist.
We had tried this once before. By holding me like this, Mana could still fly with her magic and I could go with her. I could also cast dark bullet while we were flying like this, so Mana said we could use it to attack flying monsters. Even if I think Mana could do it easier on her own.
“No! Don’t go without me!” Father yelled out to us as we flew off.
“There! I think that’s it!” I called out to Mana as I spotted a large monster that was fighting a few adventurers.
The monster had a long body-structure. With its tail, it was over 7 meters long. And it was moving around at very high speeds. It was running around the adventurers and the shield user was struggling to keep his shield between them and the monster.
“Nicely spotted.” Mana complimented me. “Now let’s get its attention from the air so the others can take a second to regroup.”
“How do we do that?” I asked.
“Attack it with dark bullet.” Mana said to me. “That should make it look at us.”
I see. So just attack. I can do that.
I took a second to aim before casting the spell. “Dark Bullet.”
A small lump of darkness flew down, towards the monster. But as the monster was moving too fast I completely missed it.
“Dark bullet.” I casted another one, just to miss again.
“Dark bullet. Dark bullet. Dark bullet.” I cast many more dark bullets, but all of them missed. This monster is moving too fast and I’m not sure it has even noticed us.
“You can’t just attack where it is.” Mana said to me. “Attack where it’s going to be.”
“But how do I do that?” I asked.
“Look at how it moves. Then consider the speed of a dark bullet and attack.” She said to me.
… why do you make it sound so easy? It shouldn’t be that easy. It isn’t that easy. It can’t be.
No. She wouldn’t lie to me, would she? I have to try. The adventurers have spotted us and are calling us for help, so we need to do it. I have to do this. I will hit this thing.
I took a second to look at the movement of the monster and then tried to predict where it will be. Yes. I can do this.
“Dark bullet.” I shot out the next spell. This time I wasn’t aiming at the monster, but at the other side of the circle it was running. The spell didn’t land on the monster, but on the ground just ahead of it. I guess I shot too far forward, but at least the monster stopped running in circles after it noticed the spell that almost hit it. Now is my chance.
“Dark Bullet.”
The next one hit it straight in the back. Hitting a still target is so much easier than hitting a moving one.
“It’s looking at us.” I said to Mana.
“I know. That was the goal.” She responded.
“But what will we do now?” I asked.
“We just have to let that thing take the next move and react accordingly.” Mana said to me.
As that monster was staring at us, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I think that thing wants to kill me. Hopefully we can get through this alive.
Brian. If I die, you will resurrect me, won’t you?
