{Xhez}

Thankfully, the sprite had gotten just enough rest. Her eyes blinked open and she looked up automatically since she was used to this by now, to find Rin looking down at her with the starry black sky behind her golden eyes.

"Uh, Xhez? Are you awake? I can't really tell."

"Yes," Xhez said, before giving a little yawn. "It is nighttime," she noticed.

"Yep," Rin nodded. "We're still out in the field. Just wanted to give you a chance to come out and see everything before the mission starts."

"Oh, I see," Xhez replied from within the bag, before stretching her legs a little. Rin stepped back and Xhez promptly exited her small home. She landed on the cold grass gracefully and quickly looked around.

They were on a hill of some sort. The air was as chilly as ever, and down the hill, Xhez could see some form of settlement with many small orange lights dotting it. It was honestly a surreal sight. A hint of civilization nested between the rural woods.

"We're pretty far from the others, but don't talk too loudly. Just in case, you know?"

"Of course," Xhez nodded and then, the two of them sat down, side by side. "How long has it been since we talked?"

"Just a couple of days," Rin replied. "Gorgeous out here, isn't it?"

"Agreed!" Xhez replied with a big smile. As pretty as the sight ahead was, the view wasn't the only thing that had Xhez smiling. Ultimately, she was just glad Rin was still keeping her in her thoughts.

"Maybe," Rin said, stretching her legs casually, "once I get a bit of a break from the Academy we can come out to see these sorts of places on our own."

"I wonder how many views like these there are to explore," Xhez said.

"More than enough, I'm sure," Rin said with a chuckle. "I wish you could see the adventurers, by the way."

"Adventurers?"

"The ones on the mission we're here to watch," Rin explained. "They're... I don't know," Rin sighed. "They look like..."

She paused for a bit, and Xhez blinked.

"Yes?" She spurred Rin on.

"... They look unreal," she giggled. "As in, I can't really imagine myself being one of them."

"Hm... I am not too sure I understand," Xhez said as she tilted her head. "Are you not already one of them?"

"Well, kinda, I guess, but... I don't know. Maybe someday you'll see some of them and you'll see what I mean."

Xhez wasn't sure that day would come. To her, Rin was just as much an adventurer as any of the others she'd seen so far. Regardless, the two of them sat for a while longer, admiring the view, until someone a voice called out.

"Rin?" The two of them heard, and instantly, Rin was reaching for the bag.

"Shoot, shoot, come on," she said, and Xhez nodded before jumping back into it.

She didn't hear the conversation that followed, but what few words they got to exchange left Xhez wondering.

[Hm. Maybe there is more to see than I could imagine. I wonder how much of it I will be able to see.]

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

---

{Rin}

The person who called out to her, in the end, was Cara. The teacher walked over to the spot where Rin was, a concerned expression on her face as Rin took Xhez's bag and stood up in a hurry.

"Rin? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I was just... looking at the..." She pointed at the fortress.

"Ah, alright," Cara let out a relieved sigh. "It's not the smartest thing you could do, to go out on your own like that through these sorts of places. Well, until you have more experience, anyway."

[... I wasn't really alone, though. Not that I can tell you that,] she countered in her mind.

"If you're done, then, come on. Not much good can come from being out here at this time. Even with your level of strength right now."

"Right..."

Cara then looked over at the fortress herself. She admired it for a little while, with a wistful look that made Rin ask:

"Sooo, when was the last time you went on a mission like this?"

"What, a raid?" Cara raised a brow.

"Sure."

"Hm... About five years ago," she replied. "Come on, I'll tell you on the way back."

With that being said, the two of them began heading back to the others. While they walked, Cara casually told the story of the last raid she participated in.

"I think it was about a year before, uh... Something," she waved a hand dismissively, "I hadn't gotten a mission done on my own in a while. By that time, Maria and I would pretty much tackle everything as a duo, but she was out on another mission with someone else at that point, so, I took the opportunity to try my hand at something on my own. Well, kind of on my own, right? It was a raid, after all. But, there was no one I knew who went with me, is what I mean."

"What was the mission about?" Rin asked, curious.

"Zombies," Cara replied. "There was an old factory by Cradle that got cursed by some disgruntled mage worker with a bad attitude, and it slowly became overrun by zombies. So, adventurers were called in to deal with them. The mission went well enough. Not much happened, honestly."

"Sounds wild, though."

"I'm sure you'd find it to be pretty intense if you were there, but, for me, I'd seen enough of those things by then to where it wasn't that big a deal."

"When am I gonna get to fight those things?" Rin asked with a cheeky smile.

"Do you want to?" Cara asked, in disbelief, with a smirk of her own.

"Well, I am getting pretty sick of kobolds."

"... Alright then," Cara chuckled. "I'll let all the teachers know to spice things up for you."

[... Did I just do something stupid? She's joking, right?]

As they walked, Rin realized there was a good opportunity here. She had something she wanted to ask about, after all.

"Hey, teach'," she said.

"Yeah?"

"So, you know that box I got? With my brother's things."

"Oh, yes," Cara nodded. "What about it?"

"... There was this knife in it," she said. "It looked really weird. And, there was a badge too. I was wondering if you could take a look at them. See if you recognize them from anywhere."

"Did you take them here?"

"Yeah."

"... Okay, I don't think that's very smart of you but sure. I'll take a look at them. After the mission, though. For now, I want you to focus on learning."

The two of them returned to the makeshift camp. Here, the adventurers looked like they were prepared already. One of them was looking at the camp with some sort of telescope, and Vick approached him.

"Are they asleep yet?" Vick asked the man.

"Some of them are. Shouldn't be much longer before the rest of them are down too," the adventurer replied.

The other rookies were here too. Some of them were chatting casually with the more experienced adventurers, and Rin noticed that a few of them were looking toward her.

[Hope I didn't get too many people worried about me,] Rin thought.

"Okay," Silvy clapped her hands. "We'll be getting started soon! Ah, I'm excited!"

"Don't forget the fundamentals," Olen, the older adventurer, told her. "Even if they're just kobolds, they're still dangerous."

The looks on the other adventurers' faces told Rin that they didn't really agree. Rin shared Silvy's sentiment, though. She was very eager to see them in action.

"So," Rin spoke up, "how are we going to watch? Are we just gonna watch from here?"

"No, no," Silvy shook her head. "There's a spot right by the fortress where you can get a clear view of everything without being in the middle of the action. You'll all just be there. You'll miss out on the stuff that happens inside, but you'll see most of the mission play out anyway."

"Oh, alright," Rin replied.

With that being said, Rin remained with the other rookies as the night stretched on. They waited for the kobolds to fall asleep and as they did, Rin thought to herself:

[You know... I could ask these guys about those psychos too. Maybe they've seen them before. Or,] she quickly added, [I could take a look around the fortress once they're all dead, to see if I find anything that belongs to them. That'll have to be after the mission, though. I don't wanna distract them.]

Sometime later, the guy with the telescope whistled.

"They're down to two more lookouts."

"That's good enough, I'd say," Elina stated with a shrug.

And, with that, the adventurers all stood up.

"Well then," Olen said, "I suppose it's time to dance. Come along, rookies. We'll guide you to your viewing spot. Then," he smiled, "you can watch the pros at work."