The Chaptermaster led the mage towards the range, politely directing her towards the dummy. He stayed back with the rest of them, addressing the recruits while the girl was walking towards the range.
“Well, recruits, it looks like your day has just gotten a little more exciting. As you may be able to tell, the young lady is a mage, and she has applied to join the Guild. Per the charter, she is required to demonstrate her abilities, so you are about to see something of a spectacle." He smiled paternally. "Don’t be alarmed, it is all perfectly safe.”
Despite the head adventurer’s words, Edwin saw the other recruits tightening their grips on their practice shields. He wasn’t worried about being injured as far away as they stood. Even if spells that destructive weren’t already banned, nobody would have taught them to a mage this young. A mage joining the Guild, though? He rummaged through Walter’s memories, pulling almost forgotten lessons from the shelves of his mind.
“Is that even legal?” Leodin whispered to Bordan.
“Yes.” Edwin answered, still deeply in thought and missing the curious looks both of them shot him.
The mage had arrived at the dummy. She half-turned and looked questioningly at the Chaptermaster.
“Whenever you are ready.” He called with a nod and an encouraging wave.
The girl turned back towards the dummy, studying it for a few seconds, then raised her hand.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a narrow, leaf-shaped jet of flame erupted from a point just in front of her outstretched palm with a dull roar. The flame was bright yellow, almost white, and where it touched the dummy, the wooden contraption immediately blackened and burst into flames. Edwin felt residual heat on his face, and despite the warning, several of the onlookers cried out in surprise.
Almost immediately, the flame started to shrink, the color shifting towards orange and the blinding brightness slowly fading. The girl continued for a few more seconds, then extinguished it. It left behind a bright spot in Edwin’s eye, as if he had looked directly into the sun. Several of the others blinked in discomfort, trying to clear their vision. The dummy was thoroughly charred black and still burned merrily.
The mage lowered her hand, tossed her hair back with a grandiose gesture and walked towards the spectators with a confident air.
“Very impressive.” The Chaptermaster said with a smile. “Please follow me and we will finish your application.”
Edwin frowned. While the amount of power she had put into the show was nothing to sneeze at, the display itself was a far cry from what Walter would have called impressive. She hadn’t even shown any spells, simply conjured a flame. Fire was by far the simplest conversion; it was a skill some young novices even learned without being taught. Looking around, he noticed the awed expressions on the faces of the other recruits. He was briefly puzzled, until he realized that it had probably been the first time most of them had seen any magic performed. Mages generally stayed amongst themselves and only used their gifts for very specific purposes around others. The only mages that performed their craft publicly were healers, and while magical healing was generally considered the pinnacle of the art by the professionals, Edwin figured that it wasn’t as flashy as burning a wooden doll. Healers were also rare enough that only the wealthiest patients, or those most severely injured, could partake in their skills.
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He was pulled from his ruminations by Leodin, who had a starstruck look in his eyes.
“Did you see that? That was so crazy! Have you ever seen anything like that, Bordan?”
“Can’t say that I have.” The old soldier murmured, studying the still flaming dummy with a pensive look on his face. “That sure was something else.”
The young marksman turned towards Edwin with an expectant mien.
“I always thought mages aren’t allowed to fight, why did you say that she can become an adventurer?”
“Did I?” Edwin asked, surprised.
Leodin nodded, crowding closer. He was joined by the other two recruits, even the surly Kollig seemingly interested in Edwin’s explanation.
“Well…” Edwin started, trying to think of a way out. He failed to find one and yielded to their curiosity. “Alright, so this is what I’ve been told: Everyone thinks that mages aren’t allowed to fight, but that’s not technically true.” He raised a finger, relaxing into Walter’s lecturing stance. “What the law actually says is that mages are prohibited from using magic against people except in self-defense. ‘People’ being the important word in this case. Adventurers don’t fight people, they fight monsters. And fighting monsters is not even mentioned in the laws.”
“So why don’t more mages become adventurers?” Leodin wondered aloud. “I’ve never heard of any.”
“There have been some, though very few.” Walter answered, smiling. “I do not have a specific number, but I believe there have been no more than a handful in the century the Guild has existed. It is a good question, and the reason is, in a way, both simple and complicated. There is a deep-seated belief that it is fundamentally wrong for a mage to fight, no matter against whom. Any members of the College that take up the Guild’s mission are seen as turning their back on this core tenet of our community, and while there will be no legal repercussions, they will surely be ostracized.” Walter shrugged, clasping his hands behind his back. “Add to that the fact that even the least capable Journeyman can make several times as much money in any of the respected professions as a well-off adventurer, and you have little incentive to join the Guild, and a lot of discouragement to do so.”
The other recruits were looking at him with eyes like saucers, Leodin with his mouth agape. After a few seconds he asked, “How do you know that?”
Edwin remembered where he was, shaking his head to banish the stuffy smell of Walter’s lecture hall and the creaking of its wooden floorboards under his feet as he slowly paced in front of the lectern.
He smiled at the others, feigning embarrassment. “Growing up I had a friend who was a mage. He liked to tell all kinds of stories. I think I asked the same question you did, once.”
“Well, ye certainly have a good memory.” Mennick’s voice behind him made Edwin jump slightly. He had completely forgotten about the instructor, assuming that he had gone with the Chaptermaster. “Ye’re right. There’s no law against mages becoming adventurers, they just don’t want to. I always figured they thought they were better than us, too good to do what we do, but yer version makes sense too I guess.”
Edwin half-turned, nodding at the old man. “You’re not wrong. A lot of mages think they’re better than regular people. They’re not completely wrong either.” He waved at the dummy that had finally stopped burning and now stood there like a charred memory of its former self. “We can’t do that. That doesn’t make them better people, or invincible. But some of them can’t see that.”
“Will she train with us from now on?” Leodin asked the instructor. Mennick ran a hand through his sparse hair and sighed. “I sure hope so, boy.”
The recruits looked at each other in puzzlement. Leodin made to ask further, but Mennick clapped his hands and cut him off. “Alright ye lot, show’s over. Ye haven’t finished yer laps, so three more each. That means six for you, Edwin, and ye better be back first!”
The four of them shuffled towards the range with no small amount of sighing and grumbling, only to be forcefully shooed off by the instructor. Not even a dazzling display of magic could get them out of practice, it seemed.