«Ari»

Aizen exited the door and left me with the Grandmage Lynn and Dan.

Dan was a nice person, I kind of felt bad that he always got pushed around by Aizen, but she didn’t seem to have bad intentions, so I guess it was fine. The problem was.

“Dan… Why did you stop me?!” Lynn furiously exclaimed as he threw a hissy fit on the table. He was extremely drunk, I think they were playing a drinking game before I got here.

“Old man, shut it, you are going to die if you go, besides she isn't a bad person!” Dan exclaimed as he apprehended Lynn on the table, Lynn’s face showed readiness to leap out of the window if necessary. It was slightly scary. I was quickly becoming hesitant.

“Umm…”

“Yes?” Dan made a stiff smile with a gentle voice as he struggled to keep Lynn down, meanwhile, Lynn didn’t even hear me and was too busy gritting his teeth lamenting his lack of strength.

Dan wrestled with him on the table until the old man ran out of energy.

“Where is Yami?” I asked with slight worry.

Dan seemed confused. “I don’t know.”

I dropped my shoulders in disappointment, Dan seemed to be uncomfortable as he took a step back and proceeded to scratch his cheek. “I can look for her once I take care of the old man,” he sheepishly said.

I cheerfully and instantly nodded, which seemed to make Dan at ease, seeing his expression relaxed ever so slightly before returning to the power struggle.

I wonder where was Cecil?

My gaze drifted across the room as I wondered about Cecil. I saw various things, from bones to what seemed like some type of artifacts, items perhaps? It was kind of laughable how I thought items were amazing and then I was saved by Yami. Weird how quickly things change.

“I am the Master Craftsman.” Those words suddenly popped in my mind, at first I did not take her seriously, I still kind of can’t, but I have a feeling of uneasiness deep down inside me, I cannot tell what it is, what am I even worried about. Also, wasn’t the Master Craftsman male? Well, no use worrying about it. I shrugged.

Suddenly the doors busted open. “Hey brother, stop messing with Grandpa Lynn, it’s almost time to go.” A cheerful and childish voice echoed in the office. I instantly glued my eyes to the door.

“Dan?” I couldn’t help but mutter. We made eye contact and he smiled. I looked behind me, there was also Dan there? Two Dans? No, wait… The new Dan was wearing girlish clothes and did seem to have a better haircut, smoother and a lot fancier, although hair length was almost the same.

“Mia, why are you here?” Dan was unfazed, Lynn was now soundlessly sleeping on the table.

“Oh come on, don’t be so cold~” ‘Mia’ cheerfully said. Dan looked at Mia with doubt, Mia ended up pouting. “You know, you were summoned by the king to assist with the new court mage selection…”

“Eh, you can go for me, no?” Dan asked.

“Don’t be silly… I am not a boy, there is no way I would pass as you.”

“What do you mean by, bit being a boy?” I decided to ask not following the conversation any further. Dan was unamused and looked at me.

“This is Mia, she is my sister and... identical twin,” Dan emotionlessly said with a brief pause.

“Hi, I am Mia,” She cheerfully waved at me. “And you are?”

“... Ari…” So… Dan looks exactly like his sister… What… That’s… That… That sucks. No wonder why he was so depressed when we first met him, don’t worry Dan, I like how you look.

“Ari…” Dan addressed me.

“Yes?” I wonder what I did now.

“Why are you looking at me like a pitiful hurt dog?” Eh...

“Don’t worry Dan, you are manly in your own way!” I decided to go through with the compliment.

“That was unnecessary!” He exclaimed with a bit of embarrassment.

“Yeah, you are so cool, brother!” Dan looked at Mia without amusement and grabbed her hand.

“Eh? What are yo⁠— No! Stoop!” Dan started forcefully dragging her out of the room. Dan left the room with his sister, closing the door as they exited. I heard some bickering in the hallway. Then it became silent.

Dan nonchalantly entered the room and his sister entered as she quietly sobbed.

“Brother you are mean…” She said as she wiped her tears.

Dan at this point was sitting on the desk, making sure Lynn was sleeping. “It’s an agreement isn’t it?” Dan asked without moving his gaze.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“... Y-Yes… B-but, you better comply!” She exclaimed as she left the room, closing the doors behind her with a booming sound. Dan sighed and looked at me, he scratched his cheek and avoided eye contact.

“I am sorry about that…”

“... It’s fine…” I hesitantly reassured him. Dan’s expression softened again and finally looked at me.

“Thanks for understanding, well… Could you stay here to check on him?” He looked at Lynn. “I am going to go look for Yami.” I nodded without hesitation, Dan left and I was alone with Lynn.

Minutes went by, an hour went by, some more time went by. I was making random doodles in the air with my finger. It was getting boring, or rather, my patience had run out. I was bored since the start. I started inspecting the office and saw a small stick that could fit on the palm of my hand. It had a black tip, I touched it and it marked me with black ink, it was a marker. I just didn’t realize it was one because of the material it was made out of, it was made out of wood and something else. I thought they were made with animal hair.

Seeing I could make my doodles reality I wanted to try the marker. However, I had no surface to draw on, I looked near the desk and there was no paper, even on the desk, the only papers there seemed rather important. And then I saw it, Lynn…

“It will be okay… I think…” With a gulp, I let my desires take over me.

* * *

“Hehehe~” As I stupidly and mischievously laughed the door opened, Dan was back with slight confusion. He tilted his head as he saw me putting the marker back in its place.

“Just… What did you do?” Dan asked with slight worry as he approached Lynn. His face turned to horror. “Y-you can’t do that!” He looked at the marker… “Sigh… I would normally be mad, but I don’t care enough about the old man,” he nonchalantly informed me.

“Why would you be mad?” I decided to ask.

“Long story short ⁠— almost everything in the old man’s office uses mana, therefore the marker you used also uses it.”

“And?” I wasn’t clearly following.

“It lasts a lot longer and it’s incredibly hard to remove.” Oh… Well…. Now I kind of feel bad… “Don’t worry though, maybe he will learn to not get drunk on the job.” I nodded to Dan with hesitation, when I realized.

“Umm… Where is Yami?”

“Oh, right. Yeah… I couldn’t find her, and something else happened.” He scratched his cheek, I tilted my head wondering what could he mean. “I ran into the other Guildmaster…”

“So?” I urged him to continue.

“So… basically, Yami is about to get into a lot of fun things. Ari, she now has another guild card.” Eh… “Apparently she really wanted to be called Dark Shadow or something.” Ehhh?! “That’s what the dwarf told me though…” He added seeing my confusion.

“And… Who told the dwarf?” I asked with slight hesitation fearing the worst possible answer.

“Aizen.” Oh… “Yeah I thought the same, so it’s going to be fun.” Dan smiled. “Anyway, looks like we won’t be able to meet her for quite a while, is there something you want to do?” Dan suddenly put me on the spot. I had no idea what I wanted to do, or rather, a place I wanted to go to. Unfortunately, I didn’t know many things or places to go to.

“Em… Is there somewhere you would like to show me?” I decided to ask Dan. His eyes widened and he started thinking, I guess he did not expect me to ask him. He nodded to himself before looking at me with a smile.

“Well, would you be interested in learning about the Master Craftsman?” Eh?

“Why all of the sudden?”

“Ah, well… I don’t know much about anything else regarding stories, I am more battle oriented.” Is... that so? “Hey! Don’t look at me like that! I am actually very strong!”

“Why do you know so much about the Master Craftsman specifically?” I decided to ask, he didn’t seem to be the kind of person interested in that kind of things.

“Ah… Well…” He scratched his cheek. “His disciple talked a lot and I was forced to hear…” Ah… “Well, apparently he had a dragon. Isn’t that amazing?” Dan said with a smile.

I tilted my head. “Weren’t dragons extinct?” I mean, everyone knew, well Aizen is a dragon, but she is an exception. And Fifi wasn't a full-on dragon.

“I mean… that’s what the church wants you to believe, there are quite a few dragons around the world. I got to meet one.” Dan said with pride. “Although it was asleep the entire time…” So you only saw one as he slept…

I would’ve normally been surprised, but many things have changed since then… It’s quite amazing how much something can change in such a short period of time. I kind of wonder what type of person was the disciple. Hmm… well, no use. I don’t really care that much about the Master Craftsman, Yami is more than enough, although I wonder why Yami never talks about him? Well, she did proclaim herself as him, but I don’t recall her ever talking about the subject other than that time.

“Well anyway, I can see that you don’t seem that interested in the Craftsman.” Huh? Did I ever talk to him? Well, he was probably looking at my ever-changing expression from my thinking. “How about we go sightseeing?”

“To where?” I asked the first thing that came to mind.

“Well, I don’t know. We could go around the capital and finally the castle, I still need to meet with my sister.” Oh… now that I remember.

“Why was she sobbing?”

Dan sheepishly averted his gaze. “Well… I told her I wouldn’t hug her if she didn’t go, and she started crying…” Well… I guess it was better if I didn’t ask. “Anyway, let us go.”

He grabbed my hand and we exited the school building, the sun was up in the sky, I think it was mid-day. Dan first showed me the noble district and the houses and who owned them, I didn’t really care so it went into one ear and came out the other. He did show me his house, it was just as big as Firil’s. He also had a lot of monster parts as trophies, I guess he really liked battles.

Later we went to the central plaza around the guilds. Dan and I stood there, we could see the castle from afar, it was beautiful. I don’t see why Yami and Aizen squinted from the pearly whites, I personally thought it was very stylistic. Then I squinted.

“Is that what they meant?” I said as I saw an extremely bright light flash.

“I don’t know, seems normal to me.” Dan nonchalantly said. I felt the ground slightly shake, but as I looked around me no one seemed to notice or care for that matter. Then I saw a smoke trail coming from the side of the castle, I guess something bad happened. Aizen should be okay, I am sure she will come to pick me up.

Dan then showed me the third street, I think it was a more commoner oriented area, this one was filled with inns and some utility shops. I could see individual houses here and there, apparently, the slums were in between the commercial area and common housing area. It was surprisingly complex.

Dan showed me around some more and finally the castle.

“Stop!”

“Oh come on… It’s me, Dan!” He exclaimed at the guard in annoyance.

“Sorry Mia, you won’t be getting in.” The guard firmly said.

“I am not Mia!” Dan was annoyed. "Would Mia dress like this?!“ He grabbed his 'manly' clothes.

“Well, where is your Guildmaster card?”

“It’s⁠— Eh…” Dan became flabbergasted as he searched around his pockets.

The guard smirked. “Now get out of here before I call Dan.”

Dan was clearly bright red but decided not to pursue any further. He took me away by grabbing me with his hand somewhat roughly.

"I am going to get revenge on that f— person..." he muttered, I guess Dan really had a complex...

Once we were a certain distance from the guard he apologized to me, and we went back to Lynn's office. Surprisingly, the capital had a rather simple layout so I got to see most of it, there were some parts I guess he forgot about.