Sofia used teleportation magic to reach the meeting point as quickly as possible, but even so, the client was already there.

‘Did she even sleep?’

It’s 6 in the morning. Her gaze reflected determination, and when she turned to look at our group, she smiled slightly. Her hair, tail, and ears are all white, but her eyes, like Sofia’s, are golden.

"Good morning, Miss Alexia," Sofia said, stepping forward and extending her hand.

"Miss? I think we’re the same age."

"No, no... I wouldn’t dare address a mage like you so casually."

"Oh... so you read about that. You’re diligent, but don’t think too much of it."

She pulled a collapsible bow from her back, and Sofia was startled.

"Are you seriously going with that?"

"Why not?"

The two locked eyes for several seconds.

Alexia, in the short time I’ve observed her, has a certain mysterious aura.

Sofia, on the other hand, seemed puzzled by the situation.

"Ha... I see. Let’s just head to the desert."

"Great! I’ll take the rear."

Falling back to join Lia, Alexia gave her a small pat.

"Your black hair is beautiful!"

Surprised by the compliment, Lia blushed.

"Uh... thank you."

Diana, for her part, seemed lost in thought and said nothing.

‘Well, I don’t think anything can go wrong...’

"Uh? What’s that?"

We all turned to see what Lia was pointing at, and in the distance, a massive amount of purple energy began to accumulate.

"Wait a second, isn’t that—"

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It exploded.

The light gathered and erupted into a massive explosion in what appeared to be the forest near the desert we were heading to.

Lia’s gaze turned to Sofia, who sighed.

"Alright, I think this situation is starting to get out of han—"

"I’ll go."

Alexia interrupted Sofia.

Again, the two locked eyes.

"But can’t you see the explo—"

"Yes. That’s exactly why I have to go."

Another silence fell, this time broken by Lia bursting into tears.

"Waaah! I don’t want to go! It’s dangerous! We’re going to die!"

Diana approached Lia and hugged her to calm her down.

I can understand why Lia started crying; that explosion was anything but normal. If it could be seen from this distance, it could easily wipe out a large part of an army, no matter how powerful they were.

If you’re caught in an explosion like that, no matter how strong you are, you’re dead.

While Alexia and Sofia argued, it happened again.

‘What?’

Another explosion of the same magnitude... from the forest.

"We’re not going."

"But I paid you!"

"This request upgraded in rank the moment those explosions started happening! We’ll return your money."

"Fine! Perfect! I’ll go alone, and then I’ll file a complaint in the city. The explosion happened in the forest! Not the desert... cowards!"

She had a point.

The explosion wasn’t coming from the mission’s designated location, but considering the amount of magic used in that blast...

Could we be witnessing a weapon capable of leveling half a city?

Certainly, technological advancements haven’t stopped in recent decades, with geniuses seemingly emerging from another world.

Novel ideas never seen before, concepts challenging everything that already exists...

Who the hell created and is using such magic? Are they trying to start another war?

Oh, another explosion just went off... and it seems even I’m trembling now.

My eyes landed on Sofia.

"F-fine! File your complaint... if you make it out of that forest alive."

"Are you threatening me now!?"

"I’m warning you! Don’t you see those explosions? It’s a new kind of magic, never seen before!"

"Couldn’t it be illusion magic? Look at the forest! It’s almost intact."

We all turned to look at the forest, and thanks to some support magic Sofia instinctively used, we could see that several trees were indeed intact, though the same couldn’t be said for the ground.

"It might be illusion magic... Nothing’s certain!"

"And if it’s not?"

"Since when is a search team full of chickens!?"

She had another point, but...

Lia hasn’t stopped crying. Though Diana is consoling her, it’s clear she really doesn’t want to go there.

‘What kind of mess are we in now?’ Clasping my hands, I pretended to pray.

"Francisca!"

"Yes!"

"What do you think we should do?"

My gaze shifted to Diana and Lia.

Neither of them was in a position to answer, and Diana made a gesture indicating she trusted my decision.

‘Why do the hard decisions always fall on me?’

Even Alexia was waiting for my response.

What I said here would decide our reputation, safety... and paycheck.

Wait a minute...

"Sofia."

"Yes?"

"How much did the request pay?"

"700 gold."

‘What!? And she told me she spent it all on shampoos and bath soaps! At most, that should’ve cost 20 gold. What a scam! My salary in this team is 50 gold... And normally, we take on missions nearly as dangerous as this one, but they pay 300 gold. So the best choice now would be...’

"We continue the mission."

Lia seemed to faint upon hearing my decision.

‘Sorry, Lia, but going broke is the same as dying.’