I took another sip of my drink. From where I sat, I could observe the whole café room without drawing too much attention. The problem was, I got nothing to do. Even the gossips I could overhear from other customers had lost their appeals.

I was supposed to meet my subordinates in our guild’s base in this town yesterday. However, they had not shown up until now. I knew them, there had to be a good reason for this lateness. That was why I chose to wait here, in the café just next to our base.

The boring wait made my mind wandered from one thing to another. This town, [Firzoa], was not too far to the place I called my first hometown, [Rahziel]. Unfortunately, there was a mountain between the two and going a round trip there would take days, even more if I considered a stay. Although, if I had known they would be late, I would have gone, leaving a message for them to meet me there instead.

(But I didn’t, so here I am, stuck without anything to do.)

I pouted, imagining if otherwise happened. I would have been in [Rahziel] by now, exploring the streets while reminiscing my childhood times there.

(Arz will be surprised, for sure. What will he say when he sees me again after so long?)

I smiled with the possibility to meet my childhood friend. Arz, that boy was always special from the time he had born. I still vividly remembered even now, the event in that stormy night. If my memories served me right, I hadn’t five years old yet by then.

In their family residence in the outskirt of the town, mother had gone to help the delivery and I had been tagging along. Because of her bright and sociable personality, many women had come to help Aunt Mirana delivering her first child despite the unfriendly weather. An expensive child, or so they had said.

The process was difficult. Not only it took hours, but also the-long-awaited-first-child-after-years-of-marriage was born dead. Auntie cried aloud non-stop at that, together with the many who were present.

Uncle Mahza, after recovering from the fact, locked himself in his study. It irked me, thinking he was leaving auntie in such sad situation. Although, it was nothing but my false assumption. Uncle returned to the room ten minutes later bringing a thick book and a staff. Ignoring auntie who was still crying, with everyone trying to calm her down, he began to read unfamiliar words from his book.

Miracle happened. A blinding light descended from the ceiling and shined upon the baby. Soon enough color returned to the face and, guess what, the baby began to cry! The miracle boy was then named Arz. Only later I learnt from father, who was the head knight of [Rahziel] at the time, that the town patrol and several residents had reported a strange phenomenon of a pillar of light coming down from the sky into the house that night, complementing the version I already knew.

Soon enough, the story of Uncle Mahza making a miracle became a hot topic among the townspeople and spread like a wildfire. Not everyone believe the story, though. Many of the townspeople responded with scepticism. Because for the most, ordinary people, Uncle Mahza was nothing more than a loner freak. A lucky one at that, for him to be able to marry a good woman like Aunt Mirana.

“Here is your cake, miss,” a waitress delivered my order and pulled me back to reality.

“Thank you,” I replied with a smile, before I took the spoon and had a bite. My eyebrows lifted, it was delicious, although still far from perfect. I remembered Aunt Mirana had often made a cake like this too, the perfect version one, which was the reason I ordered it in the first place.

Delicious foods, it had been a reason of my jealousy towards Arz, because with a such skilled mother he could have eaten them anytime. Even though my family had a professional chef at home, I still prefer Aunt Mirana’s foods. Those delicious masterpieces, along with the curiosity of what had become of the miracle boy, had been my drive to visit their house from time to time.

As Arz grew older, several distinctive traits became clearer. Like, his hair was black, similar to auntie’s hair. His face feature was a mix of uncle’s and auntie’s, but I think he resembled uncle the most. And his hazel-colored eyes were definitely uncle’s. While he did not mind accompany, he enjoyed solitude as much, just like his father. Although, unlike Arz, uncle was not really socializing. Arz was also a smooth-talker and attention-seeker when around girls. Cute, but annoying at the same.

Nevertheless, it could not be helped that we became close like a real sibling. One day, he shared me a secret his parents had yet to know, that he had awaken his magic talent. It was when he was still five, I think. Not the fastest record, but still very young nonetheless. Mages usually awoke their potential around ten, although it was different for every case. Since magic talent was related to intelligence, Arz was probably very smart. Well, he sure did outsmart other kids around his age.

Arz said he was especially interested in and since then I often found him either trying to make some L-shape objects I did not understand or drown in a book of magic. It was a wonder if he really could understand those difficult books when I, who was older, could not even read them. Not allowing myself to be left behind too far, I asked mother to teach me how to read. She was very happy, saying Arz had given a positive influence over me.

Arz also told me his dream to become an adventurer in numerous chances and, before I knew, it had become my own goal as well. I thought, I needed to protect my little brother and becoming a fellow adventurer seemed to be the best way to do it. For that, I too had to grow stronger.

Unfortunately, I did not have magic talent like him, so I turned to father to train me the art of sword. Father was delighted that I showed interest to the art and would train me personally whenever he had free time. Otherwise, he would send his subordinate to supervise my training.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

My training progressed smoothly and I became stronger. Yet, I still could not show Arz my good side as a big sister. He was too reliable. Rather, it was me who always get his help. One of the occasion I would never forget, when I broke Uncle Mahza’s rare and expensive material. I was cowering in fear when he once again saved me, admitting it was his deeds and receiving his father’s wrath in my place.

Experiencing the immense pain and even losing consciousness due to the pain, he still gave me an honest smile afterward, saying it was a man’s duty to protect a girl. What a show off, but also very cool at the same time. I felt my cheek became hot and my heart beat so hard at the time. When I told mother of what happened later, she said I had to treasure him.

Father and mother liked Arz very much, often praising him from time to time. I did not mind. In fact, I was proud they regarded him so high. But then they threw a crazy idea to engage us and even talked to his parent, which they agreed with too. I tried to refuse, using ‘I’m still too young for an engagement’ excuse. Fortunately, father could be reasoned with and Arz had been left blank in this matter.

My ideal man would be someone like father and my ideal couple would be my parents. In spite of that, I had to admit, I would not mind to have a responsible and fun person like Arz for my partner, if only he was not younger than me. At least his appearance had to be older before I would reconsider my stance. Until then, I would stay treating him as my little brother like before.

Thereafter, it came the time to part ways. Father was being recalled to the capital and we were going to move away. It was inevitable, as we were part of a noble house with great influence. Actually, father being placed in small towns was none other than so he could gain experience and leadership needed for when he hold a more important position in the future. I promised Arz we would meet again as fellow adventurers.

Therefore, I continued my training in the capital. Using our family connection, I had the best swordsman to teach me the more advanced techniques of the art of sword. And it turned out I was very talented in that regard, even more than father and my big brother. Father wanted me to follow his path, serving the kingdom by joining the knighthood. Yet, I had him understand I had another dream I wanted to pursue.

Two years ago, after graduating from my last teacher, I began my career as an adventurer. In the world where only the strong could survive, I rose in rank very quick. My name became well known and, from my noble origin and abilities with sword, people started to call me The Sword Princess.

Then, a year ago, one of the very few S-rank adventurers and arguably the strongest person in the world, the Guild Master of Fantastica had come to scout me personally. Of course I gladly took Master Dava’s offer. To repay the honor, I worked hard for the guild sake and climbed the guild hierarchy with another quick pace. Before I knew, I had been appointed as an Executive Member, the Fantastica’s top elite circle, and entrusted with a handful of subordinates.

From which I had selected one as a candidate for the next Executive Member Election. I would like to give him some pointers before the actual test while we head towards meeting place. However, if he and his party kept on making me wait like this, I probably need to reconsider on taking him at all.

(... Geez, what’s Rowd doing? Alright, it’s decided. If he doesn’t appear until tonight, he doesn’t need to appear at all. I’ll take Crystela instead. It’s a bit sudden, but if it’s her I’m sure she can manage.)

My train of thought was interrupted by a slender figure just outside the café. The [Firzoa] base manager was looking around inside with uneasy expression. Consequently, I waved my hand to let her knew my seat and she approached me with light steps. I gestured her to take a seat in front of me.

Leaning forward, she said in low voice, “Lady Alveria, I have a news regarding Master Rowd.”

“What is it?”

“I’m asking the headquarter to check and their reply has just arrived. Neither of Master Rowd’s, Loen’s or Vaiz’s guild marks give respond.”

“All three of them? Are you sure?” I asked in surprise.

The manager nodded. “I already asked them to recheck, to make sure.”

Everyone received a guild mark in their chosen body part when joining a guild. Through the guild tablet, the tablet keeper could check each member’s mark status. When the mark didn’t respond, it could only mean the said member was either dead or unconscious, and it was the guild’s responsibility to retrieve whatever remained from their fallen members and passed the news and belongings to their family.

I sighed, “And their last position?”

“In the forest just east from here, my lady.”

I dumbfounded. “There should be nothing that could endanger them in that forest. Is there anything unusual happen there lately?”

She shook her head. “Nothing that we are aware of,” she replied, now fidgeting at the possibility of something went undetected because of her incompetence.

I facepalmed. It was unthinkable for my chosen champion to be defeated in the low level forest, moreover when Loen, a very talented mage like Arz, was with him.

(They must be unconscious. The questions are, how and why.)

“Alright, Jeana. By tomorrow morning I’ll personally go there to check,” I told the manager. Waving my hand, I called a waitress and asked her to prepare my bills.