A young man was stumbling in the Northern Town's streets, the tip of his hair burnt off and his clothes covered in black soot. He wore a grimacing expression, and the longsword hanging at his side seemed to have seen a better day, the sheath a little burnt.

'...That's the side-effect of playing around with Fire spells, heh!' Diamanes commented with a laugh at the expenses of his host. Glenn groaned as he wiped the soot off carefully, heading for his Dormitory in the Cleaner's Workshop. He wanted to cast Cleaning Touch, or even Cleaning Water to get rid of all the soot, but doing so would put him at risk of Mana exhaustion. The sun was setting rapidly, tinting the sky red and orange. Glenn had initially planned to come back to the Dormitory much earlier, but he had been a little too invested in trying to create spells.

Trying to create the Primordial Attributes using Astral Sorcery was a surprisingly hard challenge. Finding a mental image that embodied the idea of "Fire", "Water", or even "Air" or "Earth" was extremely hard. "Light" was even harder, even though Glenn had somehow managed to get the "Solar" element. He had tried to summon a Solar Flare, which worked, but emptied him of all his Mana and was a mix of mainly Fire element with a tinge of Light element. The Solar attribute had already been discovered a long time ago, and the power of the Sun was long coveted by the mages of this world.

Who wouldn't want to have a Sun as their weapon?

Nonetheless, even though he succeeded in creating the Solar Flare, it was extremely inefficient due to incredible Mana costs and a power slightly better than his Nitrogen Lance. The Solar Flare could only be stronger, for Fire was a much more destructive element than Ice. But the Solar Flare came a triple the cost of the Nitrogen Lance, making it impossible to use in battle.

"You still did get a new spell, though. A Solar Kamehameha of some sort! You just need to shoot Nitrogen Lance and Solar Flare at the same time, and you'll probably get something like a Death Ray, right?" Nelg cheered him up, still very excited at the effects of the spell. Indeed, Solar Flare appeared as a powerful laser that pierced and burned everything in its path, while blinding the world with an incandescent white light. To use Nitrogen Lance with it would mean using most of his Mana if not all of it, so that was out of the question, for now.

...Even though testing such a spell did seem like a cool idea.

"I couldn't progress much on the other elements, on the other hand, and that's a little depressing..." Glenn muttered with a sigh, wincing as entered the Workshop's lobby. There were still a few Fixers taking contracts at this time of the day, and they didn't fail to give him a puzzled gaze, as they usually did. They probably thought for themselves: "What the hell did the Crazy Hero do this time?"

Glenn couldn't blame them.

A dozen minutes later, he was in his suite and was sinking deeply in a warm bath. He used that time to recover his Mana, Meditating in the bathroom. When he opened his eyes, the water was black and cold. Glenn moistened his lips and used a handy Mundare Aqua, cleaning the water and anything that remained on his body.

Learning new spells was certainly nice. He should try and invest more time in creating spells compatible with the School of Words, to earn more credits with the Magi Brotherhood. He'd probably be able to unlock quite a few interesting magics doing so and learn much more than what he was doing on his own.

The young man's rest was interrupted by an inquisitive knock on the bathroom door.

"Glenn, there's a visitor for you!" Milena's voice came from behind the door, "...It's that assistant they gave you, Kevin!"

Glenn grunted and passed his hand through his hair, already exhausted just at the idea of having to deal with the perfidious sack of bone. He was still quite annoyed, almost angry at the assistant for throwing him at Josh. He could have refused the contract, in theory, but how could he? Knowing that this old colleague was killing innocents, with his mind and humanity lost.

"...Of course, I had to take care of Josh, damn it..." The young man cursed and pulled himself out of the bath. He lazily dressed himself with a comfortable black bathrobe, tying the linen belt tightly. With as least motivation as he could, Glenn left the bathroom and headed for the living room. The scrawny assistant, with his unibrow and thick glasses, was sitting at the edge of his seat, tense. He was holding his notepad tightly, his eyes strangely fixed on Liara, who was sitting on the other side of the table and looking at Kevin curiously.

Glenn sighed loudly, announcing his presence. He pulled his Exan-Egg from his dimensional pouch, which he now kept with him at all times, yes, even in the bathroom, and verified the time. He frowned.

"What are you doing here at ten P.M., Kevin? I don't remember inviting you."

Kevin flinched as he suddenly turned to look at Glenn, a slight surprise passing through his eyes. He looked up and down at the young man, stopping for a few seconds on his left, purple hand. The assistant opened his mouth, struggling to say what he came to say until Glenn slammed his hand on the table next to him.

"Ah!" Kevin fell from his chair, looking with trembling eyes at Glenn. The young man would have usually sighed and shrugged it off, but not this time. He needed to make it clear that he didn't appreciate what happened. He could understand why he was the one sent to take care of Josh, but his mind couldn't possibly comprehend why the hell would they want him to kill some stupid, weak monster beforehand.

'Show him, Glenn...take a few limbs while you're there...' Diamanes hissed, taking a lot of pleasure in what was happening. Nelg remained silent, observing.

"Listen, Kevin. I'll try to be as polite as I can," Glenn spat, pushing the chair away from Kevin. The assistant pushed himself up and took a step back, scrambling to adjust the position of his glasses.

"I...am not in a good mood, right now. Just seeing your face makes me want to try out some new spells," said Glenn with a soft voice while taking another step forward, towering over the increasingly pale assistant.

"So, speak now or don't; I don't care which, just do it and leave," Glenn finally stated, stopping his pressuring advance. Kevin gulped heavily and looked at his notepad, flipping a page up with difficulty.

"I — I wished to report on the cleaning up of the situation with Ex-Fixer Josh," Kevin stuttered, powering through his fear. Glenn looked like he was about to pick him up like some meat and slice him into very, very small bits. The young man remained silent and gestured at the assistant to continue, before crossing his arms.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"As— As you've asked, I called up Fixer Milena and Fixer Javier on the site, but Ex-Fixer Josh was already...taken care of. Instead, they got rid of the monsters and rifts that had appeared because of Josh's ritual. A few other Fixers have joined in the effort, making the clear-up much easier than initially predicted without your presence there."

Glenn pressed his lips together, listening coldly.

"F— Finally, I and the Administration of the Cleaner's Workshop wish to apologize for your loss and the terrible treatment you had to go through. If you like, I can recommend another assistant— "

Glenn smacked his lips, interrupting Kevin.

"Shut it," Glenn blurted out, Kevin freezing with the words. Glenn slowly, coldly grinned and walked up to Kevin, staring down at him.

"If the "Administration" wants to apologize to me, they can do so themselves, right? So go say that to them: if they want to repair the sliver of relationship between me and them, they'll have to come to this door— " He pointed at his suite's exit, "— and knock with their own hands. Now get the hell out of here, Kevin, before I change my mind and cave your face in."

Kevin nodded hurriedly, before practically running for the door. He left the suite without closing it, running for his life in the Dormitory's hallways. Glenn looked at the exit for a second and took a deep, silent breath. He walked up to the door and closed it, before sighing and collapsing on a nearby sofa. Liara and Milena had watched the whole exchange; one with curiosity, and the other with worry.

"...Are you okay, Glenn? I left you at the inn yesterday, but..." Milena asked slowly, but Glenn dismissed her worries with a wave of his hand.

"I'm okay; I'm just making sure what happened yesterday doesn't happen again," He shook his head and leaned back further on the sofa, muttering, "...Kevin is only the messenger, the ones who made the decisions are in the "Administration", whoever they are. I hope my message will echo loudly in their ears."

He closed his eyes, his lips pressed together. Silence took over the room until his stomach chose otherwise. The loud rumbling reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything despite the late hour, and so Glenn decided to remedy this issue. Milena looked at him for a moment, before shaking her head and sighing.

"You're probably going to be fine, but it still is a little worrying..." She mumbled as she left the living room for the guest bedroom. Liara was still sitting at the table, her chin leaning on both of her hands as she watched Glenn work in the kitchen. The young man mindlessly picked some ingredients and a pan. He threw some oil in the pan, letting it sizzle while cutting vegetables and beef-like meat into cubes. After making sure the plate was hot enough, Glenn first threw the diced meat in, waiting a few minutes before throwing in the vegetables.

It didn't take long to cook the simple meal. Glenn served himself a plate, before looking up at Liara, who looked at him with bright eyes. The young man sighed and took another plate out.

Soon enough, both of them were enjoying the meal, silently.

...As silent as the two entities living in Glenn's mind could be, anyway.

"Come on, I'm sure she can speak! After all, she said her name to Sahro, didn't she? Just ask her why she can't speak, perhaps that'll be enough!" Nelg suggested with excitement, while Diamanes laughed loudly.

'Haha, you can't even initiate a conversation! It seems like Glenn will remain eternally alone in this world!'

Glenn ignored both of them and only concentrated on the meal. He took two glasses and placed them on the table, before sitting back.

"Aqua," He muttered, creating water out of nothing and filling the glasses. Saying it created liquid out of "nothing" might be wrong, though. Glenn hypothesized that the spell condensed the moisture in the air, to create drinkable water. When he thought back to Earth and the water shortage some countries experienced, it gave this simple spell much more importance than it had in this world.

The young man quietly ate. Liara was almost done with her meal and seemed satisfied by it. Glenn pressed his lips together.

"...Liara, is there a reason you can't speak?" He asked as he turned toward the Black Heiress. Liara looked at him and smiled sadly, before shaking her head. Glenn laughed a little.

"You can't tell me why? That's fine. Is it some cultural thing, or a problem with your throat?" Liara nodded at the first suggestion and shook her head at the second. Glenn moistened his lips.

"Sahro knows about those cultural things, doesn't he?" Liara nodded once again with a small smile, silent. Glenn rubbed his temples and leaned back in his seat.

"...Are you a good fighter? I know you have some skills since you could wield Sahro's sword back when we saved you, but I don't know how good you are," The young man probed, rushing to explain himself when he saw the beautiful lady frown.

"— I'm only asking to know if we're going to fight side by side in the future! It's fine if you don't tell, uhm, show me, but I would feel much more confident knowing what my teammates can do, you know?" Glenn awkwardly smiled while Liara's frown melted away and she laughed a little. She stood up and headed for the training room. Glenn's eyebrows slightly rose, but he followed her, picking a training sword on the way.

"What, you don't want to use me against the godly beauty? Why? This is unfair!" Nelg complained, but it fell on deaf ears. Glenn stood on one side, while Liara stood on another. Her choice of weapon was...a little peculiar. She had picked a longsword for her right hand, and a spear in her left. The young man frowned at that but didn't say anything. He was more than a little curious to see the Black Heiress' fighting style.

"Ready?" He asked. Liara nodded slowly, the corner of her lips curved upward. Glenn drew a deep breath, and suddenly lunged forward, aiming to close the distance. Since Liara had a spear, she had a much longer range than him. The best thing he could do to restrain her movements was to close in and defend against her longsword, before attacking. Liara didn't waste a second and...threw the spear at him. Glenn hurriedly dodged to the side, the spear making his bathrobe flutter.

Oh, yeah, he was still in a bathrobe, that's right. Glenn couldn't spare a moment for that thought, though, as the Black Heiress had suddenly appeared in front of him, her longsword swiping horizontally for his neck. Glenn gritted his teeth and blocked the attack, the strength of the blow pushing him a few meters away. Glenn placed himself back in a defensive position, his sword held straight in front of him, but Liara had disappeared from his line of sight. If she wasn't in front of him...

Glenn ducked, feeling the brush of the sword past his head, before jumping back and putting more distance between him and Liara. The Black Heiress smiled as she held the spear she somehow picked up at some point, and lunged at him. With incredible dexterity, she stabbed Glenn with the spear, the young man struggling to defend against the attacks. He kept on taking one step back after another when his back touched the wall. At that moment, Liara's smile grew slightly and she lunged forward, stabbing with both her sword and her spear.

The young man drew a deep breath and held his longsword with both of his hands. He firmly planted his feet on the ground and swiped upward, deflecting the spear, before letting the longsword's blade slip on his left arm, opening up a long but superficial wound. His expression didn't change as he closed onto Liara and shoulder-bashed her, knocking her away. She flew back, still holding on to her weapons, but Glenn used his left hand to grab the spear and take it away from her. Liara rotated through the air and slashed precisely for Glenn's neck.

Glenn lowered his position and stabbed straight for her heart. Both of them stopped at the same time, their blades mere centimeters away from their skin.

They heaved for a moment, before dropping their stances. Glenn wiped the sweat off his forehead and sat on the floor, laughing.

"Haha, well, I've never seen this style of fighting before. I can't even imagine how deadly you might be with magic or Aura..." Glenn spoke in between two breaths. Liara smiled and held her sword out, a white glow suddenly covering it.

"White Aura?" Glenn asked, curious. Liara nodded slowly, before throwing the sword in the air. The weapon flew and shot through the room as if animated with its consciousness. Glenn whistled, impressed.

"Telekinesis, then?" Liara nodded again and recalled the longsword. She smiled and patted the dust off her clothes, before leaving the training room. Glenn stayed on the floor for a few more minutes, before casting a quick Cleaning Water to get rid of the sweat and dust. He then left the training room, satisfied.

Liara was as strong as she was beautiful.

Excellent!