The sound of curtains swiping open caused Alexei to roll over.

The blinding sunshine coming through the window bothered him greatly.

"Ngghrg... Turn off the lights-"

He groaned before slowly opening his eyes.

It was an unfamiliar room, in a very unfamiliar place...

The bed was strangely big for him to be sleeping alone.

Vixella stood idly, leaning by the doorway leading outside.

Rubbing his weary eyes, Alexei yawned, "Viiix...? Morning."

"Hm, good morning. Looks like you're not too good at drinking."

"Gah... I just end up drinking too much sometimes..."

He coughed and realized that his voice was coarse.

"Here." Vixella approached him and joined her hands before conjuring forth water with magic.

Alexei leaned in to drink all of the water in one quick gulp, "Y'know, you're an amazing person."

"About what? Last night?"

"What last night...?" Alexei then remembered something he didn't want to remember.

It was great at first until he realized the fact that he was simply having a lucid dream.

"Uhm, I mean about how you're able to use wind, light, and water magic... And that-"

"Hm, I'm not that good. I can't manipulate the other elements that aren't light too well."

Vixella, upon that remark, proceeded to conjure a little of each element on her fingertips.

"But I've been training under a newfound way to visualize the magic's intent as of recent."

"You have affinities with every element...!? Right, I've also totally forgotten about that."

Alexei paused to think, "You can also fight with a sword... Use healing and spirits..."

"Yep. But do you think the goal of becoming a 'rainbow mage' is a bit far-fetched?"

She then struck her hand horizontally through the air as the varying elements dispersed.

"After all, I don't have much in terms of genius nor talent... Just a lot of potential is all."

Alexei then laughed a little, causing Vixella to raise an eyebrow at him.

'What's so funny?' was what her face asked him who smiled back.

"You've worked hard, right? Then you're a genius at working hard, that's all."

"How moving. If I was younger, I would probably be moved by those words."

She looked out the door, "We also have a dungeon expedition to sign up for."

"Gah, you didn't have to let me down like that, Vix... Why are you always-"

Alexei sighed and scruffed his head before standing up to look for his clothes.

Vixella's eyes shifted downward, tracing past Alexei's toned frame until-

"Hm, you're not even dressed? Well... That thing of yours is quite big."

"What- What do you mean-!? And stop staring at it! You're scaring me-!?"

"What's wrong with admiring a man's prowess?"

She closed her eyes and turned away to laugh.

"Go ahead and get dressed. I'll wait right here."

...

Upon coming down the steps together, the slight shuffling of Alexei's plate armor alerted the innkeeper.

“Good morning, my dear customers... Have you had a good night's rest together? Everything okay?”

“Yes! The bed was comfy and---- Wait, together-!?”

Alexei began getting cold sweat as he grimaced.

The innkeeper, with a bright smile, clapped her hands before raising a finger to ponder.

“Correct? This is an inn for couples... If I remember correctly, she carried you in last night!”

“What...”

Ignoring the conversation, the amber-eyed mischief that was about to slip out the door glanced over her shoulder for the last time.

“HEY! You- You didn't do anything w-weird... Did you-!? Explain yourself...!!!”

Alexei quickly took chase after her who had disappeared out of the open doorway.

"It was rather you who did something weird- Wait, what's up with the sword-!? Aaah!"

SWISH! SWISH!

Alexei charged right behind her with his sword swinging left and right in rapid cleaving motions.

Although that wasn't anything serious as he knew Vixella would be able to dodge them.

"That's right Vix, you better not stop running-!!!" He shouted after her who had begun to laugh.

The two could then be seen chasing one another down the foggy and empty morning streets.

The innkeeper giggled as she walked out to watch them disappear beyond the street's horizon.

"What an interesting pair... But their gear... Adventurers...? I should tell the guild about this."

A few good days had passed by since the two had gone to register for one of the dungeon expeditions in advance.

Luckily enough, they had found a somewhat reliable party to group with. The party of four they tagged along with were all young boys.

Overlooking a cave entrance where a small checkpoint with adventurer teams scrambled about was present, the six paced forth.

The Leader of the group was called Sova.

He was the warrior who wielded a two-handed war-sword.

The Druid named Verd had a mace.

He was proficient in contracting nature spirits.

The Knight, SnooFie, had a Great Shield and a Longsword.

He was their main vanguard and tank.

The Ranger called Inferno was skilled in archery.

He maintained a supportive role for the group from afar.

Their party was relatively balanced.

It was of a good offensive composition.

It wasn't just their composition, but rather the varying personalities that compensated for each other's faults.

The current formation of the expedition platoon was Alexei and Vixella upfront whilst SnooFie guarded the rear and the rest were in between.

“Eeeh, I still can't believe Vixella's already Iron-Plate in less than a week."

Sova blurted out, hands behind his head, looking at the higher stalactites in the cave.

“Right, isn't she just amazing?” Verd ran up to the side and spoke happily.

“Cunt.” SnooFie grumbled out from the rear.

Inferno, who was watching the group's six, sighed. "Guys... Please..."

Sova paced up faster and took a closer at Vixella.

"Anyhow, did you forget to repair your armor?"

"This? Let's just say it's a reminder of sorts."

Vixella looked away, "So I don't be reckless."

Now, let's trace back a little. Why did Vixella and Alexei end up with some young teenage boys?

To create an expedition team, one required a group or 'platoon' totaling at least four people but two parties in total.

A party can only have up to four members. This required a party of none less than two to tag along with more parties.

If some wanted to form a bigger party, they would all have to form into a so-called 'platoon'.

Larger platoons can be formed, but each 4-man team, a squad, would still need a leader.

This rule was also made up to avoid having a full party and an extra someone no one cared about.

Since the start of adventuring, especially during expeditions, this rule had proven its effectiveness.

Deeper in the dungeon, they all came sliding down into an open area from a hole in the cave wall.

Vixella landed first into the dark and clicked her fingers, forming a ball of light that shot up to the ceiling.

It remained to hover there as it began to shine brighter to illuminate the cave for them to all see clearly.

It was a larger cave room that was split by a steep ravine that spanned about two meters wide.

Sova who skidded down after took a slight look around before smiling at the lantern hung on his hip.

"We don't even need these lanterns! Sure is convenient to have a skilled 'illuminator' around!"

Sova gave a thumbs up at Vixella who nodded thanks. "Support classes are always important."

After that said, the others had also scaled down out the whole and down the slanted cave wall.

“Ahm, a skeleton?" Alexei muttered out as he pointed over. "Should I take care of it?"

There was a single skeleton, although perhaps a bit too large to be called a skeleton.

Its armor was rusty, not to mention the chipped buster greatsword it dragged behind.

"No! Please, let us handle it, our party can rank up from this!”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sova butted in as the group of boys ran over to the ravine.

Alexei waved good luck at the boys who ran forth alongside each other.

The potential of Sova's party was extremely high. Although that skeleton-

But upon thinking of their teamwork from earlier, Vixella decided to let them go alone.

After all, there is no point to babysit kids who had the potential to become stronger.

Before coming down into this room, they had let the boys take care of the lesser mobs.

They did it flawlessly whilst leaving no gaps in the defense, coordination, and teamwork.

Their party had shown great synergy. So, she assumed that they should do just fine.

“We got this!” SnooFie, the knight of the group, proclaimed out as he hopped first over the ravine.

Despite seemingly dragging its weapon, the skeleton was able to use the buster greatsword without fail.

The blade mowed around at SnooFie but lost its straight trajectory as Inferno shot an arrow to intercept it.

Now cornering the skeleton's back against the steep ravine below, the boys made enough spacing for ideal attacks.

“From the looks of it, that skeleton's a goner.”

“I highly doubt that-”

“Maybe if you open your eyes?”

Alexei raised his hand and swung down to smack her.

CHOMP! Vixella who yawned caught the chop with her mouth before nibbling on it.

"W-What are you doing-!?" Alexei quickly retracted away his hand, "Disgusting!"

"Heheh, you liked that, didn't you? You blushed just now when I was sucking- Ack."

Alexei this time didn't fail to smack her in the head which sent her falling flat to the ground.

"Okay, back to bed." Vixella yawned and blinked a few times before closing her eyes shut.

"Ahm...?" Alexei squatted down to meet her, "Why are you tired anyway?"

"I went to the forbidden store this morning... It is a sacred place where only women may enter."

"I don't know what you mean but I won't pry any further... Still, are you going to sleep right here?"

"Indeed, the harsh battlefields have taught me that every second of rest must not be spared."

"And just what battlefields are we talking about? The world's been at peace for a while now-"

"Hush~! Dreamland is calling-!!! ZzzzZZzZZ..."

On the action-packed side of the ravine, Sova took the initiative and advanced into the skeleton's rear blind spot.

He swung an overhead with his two-handed war-sword, supporting it with his whole body to deliver full force.

However, by taking a half-step back, the skeleton retaliated by pivoting around to parry Sova with its large blade.

It then forcefully shoved its blade against Sova's, sending him and his attack away in that same parrying motion.

Sova was thrown and recoiled through the air before smacking down onto his back.

Vixella felt a bit uneasy as she took a step forward but was stopped by Alexei.

They both worriedly watched on as Sova groaned and slowly got back up.

The skeleton saw the opportunity and mowed its blade towards Sova who was still recovering, but-

"Cunt-!!! You ain't hurting the leader, boii-!!!" Snoofie appeared and raised his shield to block the attack-

CLANG! Snoofie's shield resonated as his form was tossed across the ravine by the immense impact.

Vixella quickly rolled over twice, "Alexei, I'd duck about now if I were you-"

"Oof---!?" Snoofie slammed into Alexei, tumbling them both away together.

They both rolled back a few meters before stopping with painful groans.

"C-Cunt..." The same one-liner came out just as the boy knight fell unconscious.

Alexei, carefully rolling SnooFie over to the side, quickly helped himself back up.

"Tell me faster next time... Also, can you start healing him already, Ms. Useless?"

"Sure~", she yawned with a wry look, "I think his bones are broken here and there... And-"

Vixella then began to idly point out specific spots on Snoofie's torso with an unmotivated face.

A slight whack then came by as Alexei suddenly kicked up at Vixella's bum, causing her to clutch it.

Vixella grumbled a little, "to think my future husband would mistreat his wife like this, I'm worried-"

“Hey, no one's going to marry you if you keep up that attitude."

Alexei frowned as he watched her begin to use healing magic on Snoofie.

"How can you say that when you're my first husband candidate?"

"Wait, Vix... I thought you said you weren't into guys?"

"Well, you'll be a cover to stop other men from approaching me."

Vixella grinned, "So I can enjoy going around finding girls to play-"

"The more I get to know you, the more I ask myself if I should just not."

Alexei, having somewhat gotten used to her demeanor, scoffed once.

"That aside, don't you think that skeleton's a bit... Uhm... Too strong?”

Slight seconds of silence then came by as Vixella began to conjure forth bubbly magic formations to heal SnooFie.

Although the external and internal bleeding had been stopped, it still took an effort to rearrange his shattered ribs.

In the background, the remaining boys alongside the skeleton were busy poking at each other from the distance.

It didn't seem too serious as both sides avoided each other's attempts to land significant hits and heavy attacks.

The light wounds and grazes the boys received were then treated by Verd's contracted forest spirits on the spot.

"Hey..." Alexei shuffled around, "Snoofie's going to be fine, right?"

"It'll take even me some time to rearrange his bones... But yes-"

THUNK! Verd successfully flanked and whammed the skeleton with his mace from the side.

Barely denting its rusted armor, the attack didn't seem to do much. The skeleton in return spun around with its leg out.

Verd gasped, having the wind knocked out of him.

The kick sent him reeling away into the background.

Watching Verd roll to a stop, Sova grasped his sword's hilt tightly.

"You'll pay for that, you damned walking pile of bones!"

Inferno, on the other hand, drew the last of his arrows. "Leader... Let's do it...!"

"Yeah, just like how we trained together. Let's end this together, Inferno!"

Planting his knee down, the archer of little words let off nine arrows in barrages with three arrows shot in each salvo.

The skeleton completely evaded the first salvo of arrows.

The second was blocked by the flat side of its giant blade.

The third, unfortunately, also did not find its mark anywhere.

No one except for Vixella, Sova, and Inferno himself knew of the tenth arrow which had blended into the many throwaways.

A CENTURY LATER

(Dramatic Fight Music)

The arrow bounced off the bascinet (open-face helmet) as it meekly fell to the ground.

Sova abruptly broke off from his charge upon seeing that their combined attack didn't work.

"Looks like they're out of cards? Alexei... Now's a good time for you to help them... I'll be done rearranging his bones in a bit."

"Ahm, I'm sure Sova will be able to handle it?"

"Y'know," Vixella whipped out her adventuring handbook and flipped a few pages.

She then showed Alexei the illustration of an armored skeleton: 'Death Knight'.

"Wait, what-!? Why didn't tell us earlier that it was a Death Knight-!?" Alexei immediately ran towards them.

At that same moment, Sova who was holding his sword high in a full offensive stance had overheard Alexei's shout and panicked.

Upon seeing an opportunity, the Death Knight charged forth before Sova could shift his stance back down to defend himself- "Crap-!"