It was even more than what Luciel had expected. 30, no, there could be even as much as 50 attackers that surrounded them. Luciel could hear Alica swallow hard at the sight of the generic bandits that appeared and one familiar face, that was full of arrogance and anger.  

Luciel and Alica moved back slowly, back to center of the field. If possible, Luciel did not want to kill. Her angelic teachings refrain angels from killing indiscriminately, but in this situation, Alica was with her. She will protect her from the bottom of her 'heart'. 

The man Belzac raised his arm and more men came up, carrying weapons that looked like bows, but could be carried around. They fired, small bolts mostly hitting the ground but some were deflected by Luciel's magic. Belazc ordered the men to advance.  

A piercing war cry echoed through the plain. Not even someone like that girl could possibly defeat his bandit henchmans. He was second-in-command and naturally, he had power among his band of merry men. Revenge will be sweet. 

Loud cries of pain brought the man back to reality as he saw that silver-haired girl easily wiping out his band of bandits. With each slash, there was a shockwaves that shook the plains.  

Alica kicked one of the bandits away and almost lost her balance as Luciel fought the group of bandits before her. Each of her slashes caused a tremor and Alica saw a few of the bandits flying several distances back.  

She swallowed as she blocked another blow from a random bandit. Things quickly turned ugly for the bandits. Alica was handling them easily for some reason, while Luciel repelled everything they threw at her. Magic spells to projectiles, all were quickly brushed away by a swing of her blade.  

"It's no use, run!!!" 

A bandit shouted in despair as Luciel came closer to their group. Whatever courage they had before was quickly extinguished in a instance. Blezac fell to his knees as his men ran away in all different directions.  

It was over so soon.  

"Luciel!" 

Alica was so worried, even though she could handle all that by herself. Luciel smiled back at her companion, nodding. 

Then everything happened so fast. One of the remaining bandits that was hidden took the chance and fired an arrow at Luciel. Alica jumped in the way, taking the arrow as it pierced her armor, now lodged in her shoulder. 

Alica grimaced in pain as blood started seeping out of her wound. Luciel blasted the area with her wind magic and caused anyone hiding flew away from the area. Luciel was almost panicking as she watched her friend pull out the arrow. 

For a moment there, Luciel was almost crying.  

"L-Luciel?" 

"Yes!" 

"Don't worry, it's...okay." 

Alica comforted the girl. She could still smile as Luciel tried her best to heal the wound with her magic. At least, Alica now understands more of Luciel's personality.  She was like a child.  A pure-hearted one. 

She patted Luciel on the head with her uninjured arm, wiping the swelling tears that were overflowing. 

The wound closed without any problems, though it felt raw whenever Alica tries to move her shoulders. She had to let it heal, or the wound would open again. 

"Thank you, Luciel. I'm glad that you're smiling again." 

"Unn." 

"It's okay, my armor blocked most of the damage...don't cry again." 

"I won't." 

Luciel blamed herself for letting this happen. She had her guard down before accessing the situation. She felt as if her mother hated her, it was a piercing pain inside of her body. Was her training inadequate? Her insecurities grew stronger as they quickly headed back to town, avoiding the main path. Most of the bandits were already taken out, but they could come back anytime. 

They reached the town entrance with no trouble, now approaching midday already. The guards were on alert, and soon ease back to their usual stance as the two girl approached. Luciel stayed a distance back as Alica talked to the guards. 

"Are you two okay?" 

"Y-yes, what's going on?" 

"Apparently, there were several tremors that shook the town. We thought it might be some dragon by apparently not." 

"Oh, we felt something like that also. Is it okay for us to enter town?" 

"Sure, just remember to report to the guild. Apparently the guild master wanted to gather any available adventurers to investigate." 

Alica could feel the cold sweat forming on her head. How could she even explain her way out of this, god. She prayed with all her might that they never found out the mass group of injured bandits all over the plains. 

Holding Luciel's hand, they headed for the adventurer's guild.  

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Inside the guild, it was quiet as the two girls entered. Everyone had their attention on them as they entered. Nyran took the basket of herbs from them and quickly urge the two to where the guildmaster was waiting. 

A elf that was taller than the two of them, she could be even taller than most of the men in the guild. Her attire was befitting of an guildmaster, accompanied by a suave coat that fluttered as she moved. Her hair covered one of her eyes, which the other one shone green, sharing the common trait of elves. Last and not least, she could possibly match Lucifer in bust size. 

That was what Luciel noted as they joined the ranks of adventurers.  

"Seems everyone is here, very well." 

The guild master stood up, acknowledging the group of adventurers. Alica felt like fainting. This was going to cause a major incident out of nowhere. What could she do? 

Alica waved for Nyran to come over to them. While the guildmaster was talking about their findings, Alica whispered to the two. 

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"What is it Alica nya?" 

"There's no dragon, Nyran!" 

"Nya? What do you mean?" 

"I mean, the tremor you heard was caused by us." 

"Nyaaaa?!" 

"Shh!" 

"I can barely believe thisnyaa..." 

"I'm sorry..." 

"Luciel, it's not your fault." 

"But..." 

"Just let me explain to the guildmaster nya." 

Nyran waved to the guildmaster and motioned her to stop. She blinked as she studied the two guild members next to her receptionist. She cleared her throat, telling the adventurers to prepare to receive requests for any monster invasion and the usual safety measures. 

"What is it?" 

''Nya, well, you see." 

Nyran whispered to the guildmaster. The elf nodded and nodded again, which her eye snapped to Luciel. She looked somewhat baffled, before returning to the usual aloof elven look.  

"Alica and your friend, come with me." 

Alica held Luciel's hand and the two followed the guildmaster up to her office. Nyran followed behind, carrying a stack of papers and a pencil. The officer of the guildmaster was simple, having a good stock of books and weapons by her side, the guildmaster settled down at her desk. 

"You two can take a seat. Nyran, please take the notes." 

Nyran nodded, her ears perked up as she readied herself to take any information from this talk." 

"Well, let me introduce myself first. I am Selvaria, the guild master and a elf as you can see." 

"Umm, Alica, Rank D. 

"I am Luciel, Rank E..." 

"Right, so let me get the points right first. Luciel, you're the one who caused the tremor?" 

The two nodded. 

"How?" 

Luciel looked away. Alica wanted to speak but the guildmaster held her hand up. 

"Luciel, dare I ask who are you?" 

Luciel kept quiet again, but she looked at Selvaria this time. 

"...Alica?" 

"She... she is a traveler that saved me yesterday. I don't know anything about her past." 

In her heart, Luciel was panicking. She was scared. Even when she was sent down, she wasn't that scared compared to now. Someone like her who just gotten used to being alone all by herself, one could say she was like a new kid at a school for the first time.  

She knew how to fight and defend herself. Her instincts led her so far, but how much can it help before someone gets injured again. Lucifer had not taken into account that her daughter was as human as a child mentally.  

Even magic could only help so far. 

She was scared of hurting Alica, someone who trusted and relied on her. She was afraid of revealing her identity will scare her friend. 

Luciel bit her lips so hard that she was bleeding. Alica cried out in shock. 

"Luciel!" 

The guild master was baffled at the sight. A elf like her had seen everything, but this was a first even for her. She thought the girl was emotionless, running several scenarios in her head at the possibilities. Only Alica so far had seen more than one emotion from Luciel. 

"Guildmaster, nya, I think Alica should explain first nya." 

"Very well." 

Alica held Luciel close as she started to explain. The events still fresh in her head, Alica briefly talked about their meeting and how she saved her and the nobles from the wolves. Next was today's events, about the man called Belzac and how he came finding them out in the fields when they were picking herbs and materials.  

"I roughly get what you mean. I had reports coming in about Belzac also, how troublesome." 

Sighing, Selevria turned to Luciel. 

"I have an hunch... but first, Nyran." 

"Yesnya?" 

"Go down and announce that the invasion has been investigated and is reported to be false. Get them to sign for their attendance and record it." 

"Oknya." 

With a bow, Nyran headed down and the door was closed. Now with the three alone in the room, Selvaria sighed. She pushed her hair and revealed a eye patch. Removing the eyepatch, she revealed her other eye, that was of a different eye color.  

"As a elf, I was trained to sense powerful magic sources as part of my training. I reached the level of a guildmaster rather quickly, to the chagrin of human beings." 

Alica could only offer a awkward laugh as Selvaria waited for them to speak up. 

"At first, it was really faint." 

Selvaria stood up, and went over to the girls. 

"I feel an immense power now after removing my eyepatch, from Luciel. There is so much power that it hurts standing to close to her." 

"Luciel?" 

Alica felt Luciel tugging her shirt. She was scared, trying to find comfort. 

"Guildmaster, could we possibly talk about this some other time?" 

"…She's not in a condition to talk, as I can see." 

"I'll talk to her, so please, guildmaster." 

"Call me Selvaria. I know what to do, Alica." 

The guildmaster went back to her desk and put back on her eyepatch, sighing in relief as the magic pressure was elevated. Luciel was still silent as Alica comforted her. Nyran came back with some refreshments, a tray of juice with a few glasses on in were set onto the guildmaster's desk.  

"Guildmasternya, the situation is okay. Some people are out searching nya." 

"Hmm, I need to make a trip to the guardhouse..." 

Selvaria stood up and patted Nyran on the head. She left, her hair trailing at the back as she left her office. 

"Nya, Luciel, juice?" 

Luciel took the drink and sip into it. She smiled sadly this time, nodding. Alicia was relieved, taking her glass as Nyran passed one to her too. They took some time enjoying the refreshment, saying their goodbyes to the cat receptionist before leaving.  

The reward today was barely enough to cover for their lodgings, but it had to do for now. Alica was determined to become stronger. Today's incident shouldn't have happened if she was stronger and courageous.  

Luciel was abormally stronger, she thought. But she was like a child that had all this power. She hoped that her companion would share her secrets, if she trusted her.  

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Back in their room, they had their dinner already and ready to wash up. Luciel was still quiet the whole time, only moving her head to either nod or shake to reply. Alica went to take a bath first, giving Luciel some space to herself.  

Luciel thought of what to do as her mind wandered.  

"Should I leave? Where can I go? Should I tell Alica? Can I just return home? I don't want to hurt Alica." 

"What should I do? What will mother say?" 

Plagued with doubts in her head, Luciel couldn't dare to do anything. She wished her parents were here to guide her, but she had no way to contact them. She felt her eyes well up as she ran through her thoughts over and over, all she can think that it was her fault.   

Luciel turned as she heard the bathroom door open, the hinges creaking slightly. Alica was in her sleeping attire, wiping her hair dry. She hurried over to Luciel's side the moment she saw the poor face on the angel. 

Her eyes were swelled up, tears flowing down her cheeks. Alica wiped the tears away, consoling the girl with a gentle tone. 

"Luciel, it's okay. Really, my shoulder feels better now." 

The arrow wound of her shoulder was still visible, the flesh still raw, carrying a darker tone compared to rest of her body.  

"I'm sorry... I should have... I should have...!" 

Alica just hugged her, the only way she knew to comfort someone. Luciel choked on her words, resting her head on Alica's bosom.  

"It's okay. I don't know who you are, or where you came from. But, you saved me and that matters, no?" 

"Yes..." 

"You can tell me whatever you want. I won't leave you." 

It reminds Alica of her family. Her big sister role helped in comforting the girl.  

"You won't leave?" 

"Yes, I won't. Nothing will surprise me anymore after what happened." 

Alica chuckled as she ruffled the girl's hair.  

"Unn." 

Alica could only wait until Luciel was ready to tell her secret. 

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Alica let Luciel sleep with her, combining their beds together. They were snuggled up together, wrapped in their blankets.  

Luciel had a dream as she slept. She was in the clouds, that resembled her home back up in the sky. A familiar figure stood in the light, drabbed in angelic attire and magnificent wings that she could tell from anywhere.  

She tried to move, but she was rooted at the spot. No matter how much Luciel wanted to meet with her mother, her legs didn't move. She yelled and scream but no voice came out. She kneeled out in desperation, the world slowly turning muddy and dark.  

"Mother.." 

Luciel cried, her mind was in a state of mess that she never faced before.  

She shielded her eyes as a small light pierced the darkness.  

Instinctively, she reached out for the light.  

It was warm and soft.