Thump. Thump. A crushing sensation pressed down on the girl's chest. Her vision misted over as beads collected at the corner of her eye.

A young woman stood before her. who held her by the shoulders. She said with a stern voice, "I won't apologize. I know it's hard for you, but I don't want to see you like this." With a soft touch on her cheek, she lifted the girl's face. "Letty."

Their eyes met.

"Geez. You really cry too easy. You're already an adult, you know?" A gentle voice escaped her lips as she wiped away the tears rolling down Letty's cheeks.

"I... I'm sorry, Christa."

"And that."

"...huh?"

Her friend, the guild receptionist, sighed. "You keep apologizing for every little thing. Isn't it annoying?"

"S-" Realizing what she was about to say, Letty, bit her lower lip.

"Ah, were you about to apologize again, just now?"

"N- um..." Her cheeks turned red as she averted her gaze. "Yes..."

"Pffha ha ha ha!"

"Geez, stop making fun of me..." She pouted. "Hmph."

After having her fill of laughter, the young woman patted her shoulders and said, "Feeling better?"

"Eh?" Letty lifted her head and met eyes with her friend once more. The warm smile on Christa's face soothed her heart. Even the pressureon her chest had disappeared. "Mm..." She nodded.

"Now, go get them."

"O-okay..."

Taking a deep breath, she finally turned around. There, surrounded by a large crowd of adventurers of all ranks, the new recruits, Rika and Sylphia stood in the center of attention.

She cringed.

I... I think this might be too much. Look at that crowd, I can't possibly- While she was frozen in thought, someone grabbed on her shoulder, from behind.

"I said, go get them," Christa whispered into her ear and then gave her a push.

"Wa- wait!" Letty squealed, her low, breathy voice taking on a high pitch as she stumbled forward. "Geez..." She leered at Christa, who, in turn, simply smiled back. She sighed. But she's right... recruits are hard to come by these days. If I let them pass, I might never get the chance to find an apprentice. By the end of the month, the council is sure to demote me, and then, and then- Thump. Thump. She panted. No! No! I can't think of that right now. I just need to... to...!

She took her first step. That was always the hardest. But after that, it was only a matter of doing it again, and again, until the rhythm carried her along without her needing to think about it.

The little one whispered into the other's ear. The short girl is... Sylphie, isn't it? If my impression is right, she might be the leader of the two. If I can convince her to become my apprentice, then maybe her friend will join me too...! Two apprentices... exactly what I need to keep the council from penalizing me.

She was in the middle of a breath when she noticed Sylphia glance at her.

Eek! They saw me coming!

Her legs grew heavy. Smaller and smaller, her steps shrank. A few tense moments passed by with diminishing progress. And then, she realized - it was not just the two now; the entire gallery of adventurers crowding the receptionist's desks had all begun to stare in the same direction.

Hng!

At her.

Her chest tightened. Her heart rate skyrocketed. Panting heavily, she tried to clutch onto her dress to release the tension, but to no avail.

I... I cant... I can't! I can't do this...!

She let out a heavy breath.

This was a terrible idea!

She wiped the cold sweat from her temple.

I'm sorry, Christa... She then quickly took an about-face, before walking away. I really am useless, after all...

"Miss Letty!" a voice called out to her, freezing her in place.

In her panic, it was all she could do to tilt her head down and wish she could just disappear.

It was then that a streak of crimson wisped past the corner of her eye. Startled, she almost fell backward, if not for a gentle pull on her wrist.

Before she knew it, Rika was standing before her, holding her by the hand.

With a bright smile, the girl cocked her head and said, "We weren't able to thank you for earlier, were we?"

"...huh?"

She giggled. "So, thank you, Miss Letty!"

Her mind blanked out.

After a few moments, she felt strangely calm, like her mind rebooted from a sudden knock. With a sigh, all tension left her body. Her shoulders loosened up, and the trembling in her hands subsided. She then took a deep breath, and said, "M-miss Rika! A-and Miss Sylphie!" She swivelled her head between the two of them. "W-would you please... become my apprentices!?" With a clumsy voice, halfway indecisive about whether to scream or to whisper, she blurted out those words. They were simple words, for a simple request, but the moment they left her lips, she felt as if all the weight on her shoulders was finally lifted; that she had bared her soul, for others to see.

Even the noise from the rowdy adventurers dissolved into utter silence.

The little girl sighed. Glancing at her partner, she asked, "Well?"

Without hesitation, Rika nodded. "Mm!"

"Well then," Finally Sylphia laid her hands over theirs. "We'll be in your care, Master." She then looked to Letty and gave her a warm smile.

"Eh? Eh...?" Letty's eyes shot back and forth between the two of them. In her distress, she looked behind her, to Christa, who leaned her back against the wall and looked on, with a gentle smile on her face.

Rika chuckled. "Let's get along from now on, Master!"

"Ah... uh..." She faced them again. "I'm... looking forward to working with you!" she said, bowing so deeply that her hair swung over and hid her face. Despite that, it could not hide the tears falling from her eyes.

The moment the commotion died down, the room resembled more a wake rather than a guild hall.

"Tch... I wanted Rika to be my apprentice..." said one of the adventurers. Foam spilled down to his chin as he blankly chugged down a mug of beer.

"Ahh, I want to die..." another one, resting his head on his arm, said, "I even came up with such an embarrassing intro for myself..."

"I feel you, bro..." said yet another one, this time, face-down on the table.

In front of the guild receptionists' desk, Sylphia, Rika and Letty were filling out another form.

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"Ehehe..." Rika scratched her head. "Everyone's depressed all of a sudden..."

With one last stroke of the quill, Letty finally finished the form. She lifted the paper to her eye level and ran through it one last time. After a few moments, she finally gave it a nod and turned to Sylphia and Rika. "I have finished registering you as my Apprentices." She clasped her hands on her waist and bowed. "I... um... look forward to working with you."

She passed the paper to Christa, on the other side of the counter, who gave her a smile as she accepted the form.

"So... that's it?" Sylphia asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"In that case, can we take some requests now?"

"Of course." Her eyes shifted towards the receptionist. "Christa, please provide them with the available requests for apprentices."

"Understood, Miss Letty." the young woman then turned to Sylphia and Rika. One by one, she listed off each available request, down to every detail - each quest's client, description, location and even estimated reward. The requests varied greatly, ranging from menial labor, such as transporting items between villages, to escorting people travelling around the kingdom, and then dungeon diving.

All the while, the little girl stared at the receptionist as though she had fallen into a trance.

Eventually, Christa noticed this. She paused her lengthy explanation midway, and asked, "Um... Miss Sylphie, was there something that wasn't clear?"

"A-ah! No, sorry... I was just wondering, did you memorize all that? Err, I don't mean to be rude, I was just curious."

"Ah." She giggled. "Yes, part of our duties as guild receptionists include memorizing the active requests for the day. Each day, the scribes, such as Miss Letty, keep us up to date as to their status!"

"Oh..."

"So, Sylphie," Rika asked, "which one do you want to take?"

"Hmm..." the young girl rubbed her chin. "I really don't want to do fetch quests..."

"Mm? Ah, you mean the transport quests? Yeah..." Rika scratched her head, muttering, "I have a feeling I'll be the one doing all the lifting if we take that..."

"Hey." Sylphia jabbed her elbow into Rika's flank, causing her to giggle. "Actually, there's really only one type of quest I'm actually interested in."

"Oho?"

"Dungeon diving," she said, lifting her eyes towards the receptionist, "please give us that quest."

All at the same time, Letty, Christa and even Rika jolted in surprise.

In response, Sylphia cocked her head to the side.

"Um..." their master meekly muttered, "I... wouldn't recommend that quest for a complete beginner..."

"Hm? Why not?"

The receptionist crossed her arms. "Hmm... well, dungeon diving is a pretty heavy task and requires a lot of preparation... Also, it tends to be on the upper scale of the dangerous requests, so-"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "But this one is an apprentice-level request, isn't it?"

"Still... we'd normally assign it to the more senior apprentices, and usually to parties of five or more."

Her shoulders fell as she hunched forward. And with a bleak expression clouding her face, she let out a miserable groan, "Eeeeeeh...?"

"I-It's for your own good, you know..." Letty said, "without any experience in adventuring yet, you're only putting yourselves in grave danger."

"Experience, huh...?" Sylphia rubbed her chin. Then, she came upon an idea. "Ah! What if Miss Letty comes with us?"

Her heart jumped.

"Hmm..." Christa tilted her head to the side and gradually rolled her eyes up. "Yeeeeeah..."

Wait, Christa! She wanted to scream, but her voice would not come out. Instead, she flailed her arms toward Christa, and let out tiny squeaks. That's a terrible idea! I haven't adventured in years!

"Mm! That's a great idea!"

"Mmggghhh..." Letty grimaced.

"Right?" She winked at Letty. "It'll definitely shut up those old farts in the council that keep complaining that you're 'not a true adventurer'." She said as she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

"Then it's settled!" Sylphia pumped her fist in the air.

"Not quite." Christa crossed her arms.

"Eh?"

"Miss Letty can't keep an eye out for both of you, you know? Worse still, this is a dungeon dive" She leaned in over the desk, and with a stern face, said, "Don't underestimate how dangerous quest this could be! And even if it turns out fine, just learning how to prepare for a real dungeon is valuable adventuring knowledge that apprentices like you ought to learn!"

The girl shrank back. "I-I see..."

She then took a breath and looked the girl in the eye. "So I will give you this quest-"

Immediately upon hearing this, Sylphia's lips started curling into a smile.

"-but on one condition - you need to gather at least a five-member party first!"

"Huh?" Her smile crumbled into a frown. "F...five people? Not... three?"

Christa crossed her arms and nodded. "And I'm not backing down on this; it will be a tarnish to our guild's name if we just let new recruits walk to their own deaths." She then looked to the side and mumbled under her breath, "And it'd be a shame, since Letty just got her first apprentices..."

Letty bit her lips to contain her smile. Christa...

Meanwhile, the little girl clicked her tongue.

"Don't worry about it, Sylphie!" Rika patted her on the shoulder. "The more the merrier, isn't it?"

"Eeeh...?" Sylphia winced. "Says who? And where are we gonna get two more peo-"

At that moment, the adventurers behind them rumbled off their seats, like corpses coming back to life. "Heh, heh, heh..." said an amorphous voice of their conglomerated desires. They slowly approached the counters once more, gathering in number, and surrounding the girls.

"-ple..." the little girl let out a sigh.

Once more, the adventurers flung themselves onto the girls and pitched themselves for the quest.

"Miss Rika, I will protect you!"

"No one is better with a bow in this city- no, this kingdom!"

"Let me join your party, Sylphieeeeee!"

"It's time to show my fighting spirit, AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Their voices shook the guild hall once more, much to Rika's amusement.

Everyone is so lively all of a sudden... A subtle smile collected at the corners of her mouth. But that's better than how it always is...

While the adventurers clumped around the new recruits, Christa and Letty shared a knowing glance.

'Thank you.' Letty mouthed those words to her, to which Christa replied with a warm smile.