It was simply another day. Yet, it was another extremely boring day for Lucinda: she had come back from the shift at the Watch and now needed to start her magic practice after ingesting as much food as possible.

"Lucinda," her mother smiled at her as she crossed the entrance of the house.

"Mom," Lucinda forced a smile, tired to the tip of her ears.

I need a break, she thought to herself. But the tryouts for a spot as an [Archmage] disciple would begin in a matter of months. And she needed to land one of those spots with [Archmage] Titus.

She had chosen [Flame Whip] to practice but keeping the spell matrix of the complicated spell together was proving much harder than she had initially imagined. There was something too abstract in the spell that she could not begin to grasp. Even when she thought that she had nailed down the spell matrix line by line, something went haywire when she summoned it.

"Stop scrunching your face, you will get wrinkles," Valeria, her mother, said and went to hug her.

Lucinda sighed in relief as she drowned into her mother.

Valeria was a big woman who had worked all her life as a waitress—it was incredible how much money her mother had managed to make with such a lowly class; it was basically the only reason her family was able to afford a courtyard where she could practice. Even though they didn't live in the richest part of the city, it was more than what most people could ever hope for in Amorium.

"Come on, eat something and get to practicing," her mother smiled at her.

"Lucinda, are you home?"

She heard a male voice and saw a smile even wider than her mother’s.

"Dad? I'm in the kitchen!"

Her dad came out of a small room where he kept most of his work—a [Tailor]'s work.

"Hey, dad," Lucinda went to the diminutive man and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which made the man smile proudly at his daughter.

"You are becoming more beautiful every day, little plum," the man said merrily. "Are you sure you don't want me to make you some new dresses? I've come around some nice fabric that—"

"Emidius!" Valeria thundered, making the short man almost fall over. Lucinda's mother came over, waving a finger in his face. "I told you we need to save for Lucinda! Stop wasting our money!"

"Yes, darling," Lucinda's father gave his daughter an apologetic smile and went back to finish some work in the little room.

They were a funny couple, Lucinda's parents. Her mother was almost an entire foot taller than her father and much more overbearing than the man of the house, but they had still managed to fall in love with each other somehow.

…

Lucinda was in the courtyard with her eyes closed, focusing on the spell matrix for [Flame Whip]. She could feel her Mana at her fingertips, ready to explode forth. Nonetheless, she waited, trying to mentally recompose the spell matrix that she had by now memorized in full.

What am I missing? She thought, frustrated.

She knew that her talent was extraordinary, but she also knew that only a very few people had started learning magic at the same age as her. Was it her fault that she had only discovered her aptitude thanks to Augustus barely two years ago?

Lucinda sighed and refocused.

She really needed this.

She needed to succeed with magic and get a better life for herself and her parents.

She had wasted what most people would call her ‘prime years’ to get the base levels in a class and started to truly train only once most people had already crossed level 10 and were battling their way up to level 20, hoping to reach that milestone before their thirties.

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Lucinda, instead, had yet to reach level 10 in her class, weighed down by the harder road that she had picked for herself.

No one in her family had ever had any magical aptitude, in fact.

Lucinda Ennia Persa, her full name resounded in her head as she lowered her hands and looked around the courtyard, more frustrated than ever.

Persa.

It meant 'lost.' Just like all the time that she had lost. That's what her friends had started calling her, and that's what had stuck with her for all these years.

What could she hope for, really?

Do I have enough time?

It was a question that plagued her mind day in and day out, without giving her any peace, not even in her sleep.

I must learn the spell, Lucinda gritted her teeth.

What else would she be learning otherwise? Cooking like that foolish Human?

She had goals in her life. She needed to pay back all the problems she had caused to her family, and she had to do it fast. She couldn't afford leisure time, romance, and much less, dead weight.

"Hello?"

Lucinda whirled and found a beautiful woman with pink hair standing before her.

"Hello?" Lucinda frowned. "Wait, do we know each other?"

The [Mage] craned her neck and saw her mother observing them from the courtyard door, not having followed the guest out.

"I'm Flaminia Lemonia," the other replied, "I've seen you at Happy Bakery once when you came to see Joey."

"Oh, right, sorry, sorry," Lucinda apologized profusely. Before her stood the highest level [Baker] in Amorium, and she had barely recognized her. "I'm sorry, but my brain is scrambled by all the magic casting."

"Not a problem," Flaminia smiled toothily, "I understand what you mean too well now."

There was an air of mystery to the last statement that made Lucinda frown.

She understands? Why, does she have a [Mage] class too?

"Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Can I help you in any way? Are you here because… of the Human?" She dragged the last words.

Flaminia turned to look at Lucinda's mom, and annoyance flashed in her eyes.

"Come with me. We need some privacy to talk."

…

"Can you tell me now?" Lucinda asked, annoyed to have been interrupted in her practice so willy-nilly and brought to a pricy establishment that she had never visited before in her life.

"They have anti-spying runes here," Flaminia said plainly and shooed away the waiter.

"Ok?"

"Listen," Flaminia turned back to the purple-eyed [Mage], and her whole face turned cold, "I need your help. Joey's having problems. Have you heard about the duel?"

"The what?" Lucinda frowned.

"A [Corporal] challenged Joey to a Military Duel, and he accepted."

Lucinda's mouth almost fell to the floor.

"What?! Why would he? He's going to get hurt!" Lucinda barely caught herself and had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying more.

"Not only that, but he waged his own exile with the [Corporal]. If he loses, he's out of Amorium for good."

Lucinda shook her head in disbelief.

"Rotten roots, is he an idiot? Why did he climb that tree? What does he even get if he wins?"

"Nothing. The [Corporal] will simply stop bothering him," Flaminia replied.

"That's all?!" Lucinda looked beside herself again, but she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Flaminia… I cannot help you with this. I don’t know anyone in the military. What did you even come here for?"

“This might sound strange to you…”

Flaminia looked slightly embarrassed, and Lucinda couldn’t parse whatever was going on in the pink-haired woman’s mind.

She only saw Flaminia move a step forward and put her hand on her shoulder. Shocked, Lucinda tried moving back, but Flaminia’s grip was fierce.

“Listen, Joey is risking his life in some special training that he’s undergoing. I don’t know the specifics—he didn’t tell me, that rotten idiot. But I know that he is going to die if I don’t help him. What he asked me to do, though, is something beyond what my capabilities now. It… it’s hard to admit, but I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried, and I’m sure that if I just keep trying alone, I will have Joey’s death on my conscience. Lucinda, I could ask some other, higher leveled [Mage] in town, but what I’m about to tell you is extremely unorthodox. Like all that Joey does, essentially.”

Lucinda was wary, but her curiosity had been piqued.

Why me? Why does she think I can help with this?

“There’s magic involved?” Lucinda asked cautiously.

“Sort of,” Flaminia smiled back, “I’ll show you all that needs to be done, but I’ll probably need your help to make sure Joey survives. This might take until the day of the duel.”

“Wait, you’re telling me you need me for how long?”

“Almost two weeks,” Flaminia replied.

“Two weeks?!” Lucinda shouted but immediately stopped herself from uttering the rest. “And Joey will die if I don’t help?”

“I don’t know,” Flaminia shrugged. “I just know that without you, the chances of me getting this done are extremely low. And since it’s not a level-related problem, I need someone smart with me. You are a prodigy, right? You are definitely the best person to help me.”

Lucinda was stunned.

What was she going to do?

Two weeks?

That was more than enough to make her fail her upcoming test. She had been practicing non-stop to be able to impress an [Archmage] with a Tier 3 spell, and now that idiot of a Human had gotten himself in a life-or-death situation, and she had to help him?

If she was going to help Flaminia, she might fail her future, her parents.

On the other hand… Joey might die.

Was she ready to have Joey’s death on her conscience because she didn’t have enough time for it?

Lucinda huffed, pushed Flaminia away, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Rotten roots of the World’s Tree, let’s just go. I don’t want to think about how this Human is about to ruin my entire life.”