It was lunch time once again at Inanis Orbis and the usual quartet are now experiencing a change in setting. After working their butt off yesterday to clean the dusty and dirty former storage room that was given to them, the least they could do was use it as a hang out spot.
All in all, the room wasn’t too bad. Sure it was quite small since it could only fit four tables and a few chairs, but it was at least fully air conditioned and the best part, they have it all to themselves. Something they completely appreciate.
Seeing as this room is considered their base or office, Estelle took it upon herself to give the drab interior a little makeover. And thus the place was littered with stuffed toys and other fluffy paraphernalia.
The rest however didn’t seem to mind Estelle’s taste in room decor, and Sylvester especially really liked the idea of having a “front” so to speak, though Estelle didn’t really understand what he meant by that.
And thus, after being recently created and made official (kind of), the new mage organization known as “The Magician’s troupe” had their first “official” lunch meeting.
“Oh man, having our own personal space is actually quite nice. This is a good thing since we can’t really hang out inside our dorms together like this because of DA ROOLZ.” Sylvester commented as he chowed down on his cheap but filling meal of deep fried dumplings and rice.
“Yeah I agree. At first I kinda hated how small this place is, now it feels kinda cozy.” Artian replied.
“This is supposed to be our official uh, base, right? Then when exactly are we gonna be doing official mage related business here?” Rossa asked.
“Oh yeah you’re right.” Estelle replied in a muffled voice. She then paused and then swallowed down her food before continuing. “When are we going to be allowed to do those missions? Aren’t those supposed to be a big deal here in Inanis Orbis?” She said.
Artian and Sylvester then looked at each other and seemingly just remembered that aspect of the academy. They’ve been far too absorbed in their magical day to day college life that they had forgotten the biggest reason they were even in the academy; to learn spells.
Before anyone could talk, Rossa gave her opinion.
“I wonder if the missions are subject to those long processes Miss Karmen mentioned. So that may be the reason that we haven’t heard anything about them ever since the orientation.” She explained.
“Huh, that could be one plausible reason.” Sylvester nodded in agreement.
“But I do hope we get a word about it soo-”
Before Sylvester could finish his sentence, a loud and familiar ringing noise could be heard coming from their pockets. It was their IDs again.
“Well now.” Sylvester smiled. “I think we don’t have to wait any longer for word about those missions.” He said as they opened the envelope icon in front of their screens.
Disappointingly there was still no lightshow or any fancy presentation to go around with this letter, but it didn’t matter because the contents were exactly what they had hoped.
It was an announcement for the neophytes telling them that from that point onward they are allowed to take up missions and gain spell points.
The process for taking up a task was far simpler than they thought. They could either go to the twins or to their respective student representatives to ask for available missions.
They could also check the new icon or app that was added to their IDs to check for quests, but they would still need to visit the twins or the representative to take up the task as they would be required to fill up a form for documentation and legal purposes.
Once all of that was done, they would be guided accordingly towards whatever mission they have chosen.
As a safety precaution, students can only take up tasks that are judged to be within their current capabilities and in case something went wrong there was a procedure in place to tackle such an event.
All of that was well and good until Sylvester remembered that he was the student representative of the Magician’s troupe and he had absolutely no idea where to get these forms or what the safety protocols were.
He then hung his low upon this realization as Artian tapped his back while laughing.
“Seems like you’re going to get reallyyyy busy from here on out aren’t ya, mister Student representative.” Artian said in a humorous tone.
“Ms Karmen did say the student affairs will give us a hand in handling these boring bits but I wonder how much help I should expect.” He then looked at all three of his companions and returned a mischievous smile.
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“With how that message was worded it would seem that I am responsible for all you seeing as I am technically a leader. Oh wow a guardian of three VIPs it would seem. Does this mean I get to choose what missions we take hmm?” He declared.
“Enough of that.” Rossa interrupted and prematurely ended Sylvester and Artian’s jesting contest. “Let’s go see what missions we can take up.” She declared in a hurried tone.
“Wow you sure sound impatient.” Sylvester retorted as Rossa simply shot a glare towards him.
Before they could go and inspect their IDs, a loud knock can be heard coming from their door immediately taking their attention.
Sylvester then stood up and opened the door and saw nothing but a large stack of papers right in front of him. He stood there perplexed until he heard a familiar voice.
“Can you please just let me in now? These are heavy!” A female voice asked in an irritated tone, immediately Sylvester realized who it was.
“Ah sorry miss Karmen please come in! Oh and let me carry that for you.” Sylvester said as he stepped aside and offered his helping hand.
“Thank you Mr Clearsight, I was just going to ask you to help me with them anyway.” She said as she handed over the papers to Syvlester.
Once the weight has been shifted, Sylvester flinched for a little bit. It seems like he didn’t expect the papers to be that heavy. On the corner of his eye he could see Artian sneering at his display.
“Screw you Artian! You’re a muscle head who's only good at fighting!” He loudly yelled.
“Back at you, you Magical nomadic Hobo! I didn’t even say anything!” He replied while laughing.
“Are you two done? I have a lot of work to do so I want to get this over with.” Karmen said as she gestured for Sylvster to place the papers on a table.
“Now then, all these papers are missions that all four of you are allowed to take up currently. I would like you all to sift through these and then choose whatever mission you want to take up.” She explained.
“That’s a lot of papers.” Estelle said as she eyes the massive tower in front of her.
“Also don’t worry. If a task among these were taken already, the application form would simply disappear. No need to worry about duplicates or any of that. Unless of course that mission actually requires more people to tackle it.” She explained.
“So why do we need to sift through these papers again?” Artian asked.
“Because you would want to arrange them in an order you would like.” Karmen replied in a stern tone. “Oh and once you do make a decision, please give me the form and I will handle the rest. Normally, the representative and his staff would encode these applications themselves but we are still assisting you.” She explained.
“And with that, please take your time and don’t forget to read the fine print at the end before you sign.” Karmen said as she walked out of their office.
“Wow, she came and went just like that.” Artian commented.
“Ah enough chatter. We only have 45 minutes left before our next class!” Rossa suddenly declared. “We should at least go deal with this while we still have a bit of time. Less work for us after classes.” She said.
“You’re right.” Sylvester said as he took a peak at the topmost document. “It would be best if we manage to make a decision n-”
Suddenly Sylvester stopped his words as a serious expression slowly showed on his face. His three friends noticed this abrupt change in Sylvester’s demeanor so they immediately tried to know what’s up.
“What’s wrong?” Artian asked. “It’s kinda creepy when you just suddenly turn serious like that.” Artian joked, but to his surprise, Sylvester didn’t revert back to his cheerful and goofy self.
His attention was solely focused on that one mission application. He then took it from the top of the pile and read through it one more time.
“This, mission. I’m familiar with it.” He said as he handed over the paper to his friends for them to see.
“Rampant ghoul activity and no missing reports?” Rossa read out loud as she raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean you’re familiar with this?” Estelle asked as a more serious tone flooded the once cheerful room.
“Before I did the surprise entrance test. Literally hours before I entered the gates of Inanis Orbis. I fought and defeated an abnormally large ghoul.” He explained.
“Were you hunting it?” Artian asked as he took the paper from the table and read it himself.
“No, me and my parents weren’t there for any sort of fight. We simply found the ghoul by chance as it was leaking so much mana it was laughably noticeable.” He then paused and took out his smartphone and went searched the internet for any information.
“What are you doing?” Rossa asked as she peeked over.
“I’m just making sure this is the same dea-” He paused and continued to scroll through his phone, his eyes suddenly widening upon confirmation and letting out a loud sigh. “Still no missing reports. Just like last time. This is all too strange.” He continued.
“Yes. if a ghoul is leaking mana, then it means it must have fed on someone recently. A ghoul can only gain sustenance from the living after all. I was surprised at how similar these are to the ones back at Acqua, though your ghouls are a lot larger.” Rossa expressed her thoughts.
“Yes exactly.” Estelle then joined in. “And going by Sylvester’s words. It would seem that this has been going on for a while and there are still no leads?”
“Yup.” Sylvester then took back the paper and brought out a pen from his cap.
“It would seem that we have found our first mission.” He said as he began to fill up the form with no objections from his friends.
“It’s funny actually. The first thing I encountered before I met all of you will be our first official task together.” He said as he let out a rather dark laugh.
The group then read the full document in front of them only to have a quick realization on what exactly it is they were holding. For at the very end, near the part where they would sign, the letter wrote.
“Inanis Orbis will not be held responsible should a mission steer into unfortunate consequences but will do everything in its power to avert it. Proper and generous compensation will be given should the unthinkable happen.” Is what it said in the fine print.
The four then looked at each other with serious faces.
“This is a waiver, not an application form.” Sylvester laughed as he placed the paper back at the table.