“It’s bitter,” Sell said after taking a sip of beer.

“It’s beer,” Adion said.

They had continued their hunt for a few hours before coming back to collect their rewards at the Outskirts Guild. They then decided to grab a few drinks and get to know Sell better.

“Don’t they have anything less…bad?” Sell asked.

“Do they?” Adion turned to Rufus and asked.

“I don’t know,” Rufus said hesitantly, “I always just ask for a beer and drink whatever they give me.”

“Sorry, Sell,” Sahra said with a comforting smile, “We don’t have the most advanced palates, it seems. But I don’t think they’d have anything fancy at a place like this.”

“It’s okay,” Sell said, “It’s not that bad.”

“There’s fancy beer?” Adion asked. He had only begun drinking after meeting Villem, so he wasn’t very well-versed in the world of alcoholic beverages.

“Of course there is,” Sahra said, “There is a fancy everything. We should be experiencing more of that now that we’re rich. Too bad there aren’t a lot of options in this place.”

“You think there is plum beer?” Adion asked Rufus.

Rufus had a look of enlightenment on his face, “There should be. That would be amazing.”

“You guys are rich?” Sell asked.

“Well…maybe not compared to you. But we managed to come over a pretty considerable sum of money a while back.” Sahra said.

“From a mission?” Sell asked.

“In a way,” Sahra answered.

“You guys lie about just about everything, don’t you?” Sell said, shaking her head.

“Hey! It’s all Adion’s fault. We weren’t like this before we met him,” Sahra defended herself.

“You were also not this rich before you met me,” Adion countered.

“That’s true,” Sahra admitted.

“Will you tell me, Adion? Or will you also lie?” Sell asked.

“I would never,” Adion said.

“Oh? Then how did you get rich?” Sell asked.

“Secret,” Adion said with a smirk.

“That’s even worse than lying,” Sell said with a pout.

“It is?” Adion turned to Lomin and asked.

“No, but it’s a lot worse than the truth,” Lomin answered.

“There you go,” Adion said, turning back to Sell.

“Whatever,” Sell said and took another careful sip of beer.

“Why do you never turn to me for words of wisdom?” Sahra asked in faked offense.

“You’ll have to work on your storyteller abilities,” Benji said with a teasing smile.

“I’m a great storyteller,” Sahra said, “Hey, Sell. Have you ever heard the story of the peak Baby mage-”

Adion used his Authority over space to freeze Sahra, not completely, just as a warning.

“Adion…” Sahra looked at him awkwardly. “That’s cheating!”

“What did he do?” Sell asked, confused. Unless trained to sense space, it would be very difficult to feel what Adion did without being directly affected by it.

“Nothing,” Adion shrugged, “Sahra must be drunk and is imagining things.”

“Oh? You didn’t do anything?” Sahra asked, “Then I guess it’s fine to tell Sell about the time you-”

Adion once again froze her stiff. He saw Sell watching Sahra, tilting her head.

She can’t feel it, right? Not even a Diamond mage should be able to.

“I’ll just tell her later,” Sahra said, a little petty. Adion decided to drop the matter.

“By the way, Sell,” Adion said, “You were at the auction in Dorbarta, right?”

“Um, yeah. How did you know?” Sell asked.

“We were there too,” Sahra said, “Adion spotted you and seemed to have remembered you.”

Maybe I should just keep her frozen for the rest of the night?

“Well, what were you doing there? Did you get to buy anything?” Adion asked.

“No,” Sell shook her head, “I was there with some of the young generation of the Tyllen family. I was sent there by my parents to make some connections. Then I was supposed to travel to Ellia with them for the ceremony. I guess you know they’ve recently been promoted to a Noble family? Well, anyway. I didn’t want to waste my time doing that, so I came here to temper my Will.”

“Oh?” Sahra raised her eyebrows, “A rebellious princess? I’m impressed.”

“A little, maybe,” Sell said, a rare smile showing.

“I don’t know much about the Royal family in Iitha,” Benji said. Like the rest of the team, he had now gotten used to Sell’s background. Most likely thanks to the many things shown by Adion during the last months, having raised their bar for surprises. “Do you have any siblings?”

“I have an older sister,” Sell said, “She’s at Cyalis right now, making me have to take on this bothersome stuff that she would otherwise handle.”

“What year is she in?” Adion asked.

“Er, I guess she’s just started her 3rd year,” Sell answered.

Then she might be in the same class as Aiden!

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Do you know any of her classmates?” Adion asked.

“A few, why?” Sell answered.

“Do you know of anyone named Aiden?” Adion asked, excited for any news of his brother.

“I don’t think so…who is he?” Sell asked, “What’s his family name?”

Adion hesitated. He didn’t know if the Remori name would bring any trouble. After reading through the papers from Heavenly Light, he knew that the teleportation formation at the Remori manor had been taken over by the Valis Royal family. The name might be more well-known than he had thought initially.

But this was the first time he might have a clue of how his family was doing.

“Remori,” Adion said, “Aiden Remori.”

His teammates exchanged looks of understanding. But Sell looked as confused as before.

“Sorry, never heard. I only know of the Noble families,” Sell said.

“I see, it’s fine,” Adion said, a little disappointed.

Maybe I should give up on trying to train before going to Cyalis. I could just head there now and see everyone. If I do, I won’t be able to temper my Will on the Outskirts. But can’t I temper my Will and practice my magic just fine even so?

“You okay, Adion?” Rufus asked.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” Adion responded, still a little lost in thought.

I’m enjoying my time here, though, and I won’t get an opportunity to train while fighting beasts like this for a long time when I head to Cyalis.

“Who’s Aiden Remori?” Sell asked, “Your brother?”

Adion looked up in shock. How does she do that?

“Hahaha!” Sell laughed, “It seems I got you back.”

“How did you know?” Adion asked, thinking there was no point in denying it. It wasn’t a huge secret, anyway.

“Aiden, Adion,” Sell mused, “Sounds pretty similar, no? And someone a few years older than you in the same year as my older sister. It made sense, so I took a guess.”

“Oh,” Adion said, “I guess it isn’t that hard to figure out.”

“So you’re from the Remori family? I guess you’re not a Noble after all,” Sell said, “Where is it located? Why did you seem so sad that I didn’t know of your brother? You haven’t heard from him in a while? I guess you’re pretty far from home, then. Maybe not from the Empire at all. I see…”

“What do you see?” Adion asked, generally scared at what Sell might have managed to deduce this time.

“You’ve run away from home, right? Something like an arranged marriage or something?” Sell asked.

Adion breathed out in relief, “No, I didn’t run away from home.”

“Then what?” Sell asked.

“What, what?” Adion asked.

“Where are you from? And what are you doing here? Why are you so talented? Are you hiding your strength?” Sell rambled her questions.

“Haaah,” Adion sighed. Maybe I’m not good at keeping secrets because it’s so troublesome. Or maybe I just don’t like it very much.

“I’m from Valis,” Adion said, “I’m here to get strong with my friends, and I’m not very talented. I’ve trained a lot my whole life and gotten lucky a few times. And yeah, I’m hiding my strength.”

Worth it to see that face. Adion thought as he chuckled at Sell’s shocked expression. The others were surprised, too.

“I guess I win then, pay up,” Rufus said.

“That doesn’t count as a secret,” Sahra objected.

“You actually answered?” Sell asked.

“Well, you would have figured out everything eventually anyway,” Adion shrugged.

“So, how strong are you if you’re hiding your strength?” Sell leaned forward and asked, “Are you middle Bronze like me?”

“Well, I’m not going to start answering everything just like that,” Adion said, looking at his beer, afraid he would end up spilling too much information about himself, “I’ll leave it to you to figure out the rest.”

“Hmm. Are you going to Cyalis Academy?” Sell asked, “Even if you’re somehow middle Bronze already, they won’t let you enter the diamond class with that fire of yours.”

“I’ll make it into the diamond class, don’t worry,” Adion said, “And I’ll work on my concepts.”

“You have a lot of work to do,” Sell said.

“So you’ll let me study your fire?” Adion asked. He was really interested in learning more about the concepts Sell had grasped.

“Anything for a price,” Sell said with a smile.

“Then what do you want?” Adion asked.

“Hmm. Let me think about it. I should make it something good,” Sell said.

Sahra bent over to whisper something in Sell’s ear.

“That might be good,” Sell nodded.

I’ll just ignore it.

“So we’re going out hunting tomorrow too?” Rufus asked, directing the question to Benji.

“I was about to bring that up, actually,” Benji said, “I met Mashi earlier, and he told me that a mission had been posted where they hurriedly needed teams of Silver mages to join an expedition deeper into the Endless Forest.”

“Oh?” Sahra looked over at Benji, “What kind of expedition?”

“I talked to Belra at the reception earlier, and it wasn’t explained exactly what the purpose was,” Benji said, “Only that everyone wishing to join would have to gather here tomorrow morning. The pay is excellent, but I think we would be more interested in the experience than the money, no?”

“Sounds exciting,” Adion nodded.

“I would like to take part too,” Lomin spoke for the first time in a while.

“Yeah, sounds fun,” Sahra said, “Sell, you want to join us? Your fire is powerful enough to make you stand on your own.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sell nodded, “Who posted the mission?”

“I’m not sure,” Benji said, “Some family clan. I have heard from Mashi that expeditions like these have been common in the area lately. Not as many deaths as you would expect, and the high pay has made them very popular among the Outskirters.”

“I wonder what they’re looking for,” Rufus said.

“I wonder if we can steal it,” Sahra said with a grin.

“I like the way you think,” Rufus grinned back.

“Don’t even think about it,” Benji said, “This is probably a 1st-tier family clan we’re talking about, so don’t cause any trouble.”

“Ayeaye, boss,” Rufus saluted.

“Haaa,” Benji sighed, “Do you know what they might be looking for Sell? Maybe you heard something from the Tyllens?”

“I…guess I wasn’t the most social during my stay there, sorry,” Sell said.

“It’s fine,” Benji said with a smile, “I guess it’s none of our business anyway.”

“How long will we be going out for?” Rufus asked.

“More than a week,” Benji said.

“Oh? We will be going quite far then, no outposts to rest at probably,” Rufus said.

“There should be a few tiny ones,” Benji said, “But we can’t assume that we’ll be passing by them.”

“Will there be a risk of Gold beasts showing?” Adion asked.

“I doubt it,” Benji said, “But nothing is ever certain, so we should keep our guard up.”

“Then we should probably call it for the night,” Sahra said, “We have to make sure to get some rest while we can.”

“Mm,” Benji nodded, “You guys coming with us?”

“I guess I should get some training done,” Adion nodded and got up.

“Me too,” Sell said.

“Haah,” Rufus sighed, “I looked forward to a night of drinking, but I guess I should get some good sleep in.”

“Mm,” Lomin nodded.

The group headed out of the Outskirts Guild tavern and returned to the inn.

This will let me get some more practice in acting like a fire mage. I should stay close to Sell during fights so I can use her fire and examine what concepts hide within. Maybe I can sneak some fire away without anyone noticing and study it in peace?