Alincia

When I first took note of Marina’s disappearance, it was at lunch.

She wasn’t at her usual table. I never saw her take a different one except when it was already occupied by someone else.

I didn’t see her at breakfast either, but I thought she just had her breakfast earlier. Sometimes she’d do that as she liked to take morning walks in the gardens, or at the library reading some books. I didn’t think much of it.

But when she didn’t appear for lunch either, that’s when I was starting to get worried.

Was she sick, I thought to myself. So I went to her dorm room to check up on her.

Only to find out after knocking over and over, nobody answered. She wasn’t inside.

I thought to just blow the door open with my magic, but that would get me in trouble for sure.

And so I went on with my classes and waited until dinner. Only to find out that she wasn’t in the carefaria again.

I asked her class friends and they all said that she hadn’t made an appearance all day. Then I went to the gate guards and asked whether they had let Marina go outside. And it turned out that they hadn’t. By Academy’s rule, they had to note every single student that asked to be excused to go out to the city while it wasn’t the weekends or the holidays.

Something’s up. Marina isn’t like those lazy kids who would just leave by jumping over the academy’s fence with their magic. She would never leave her classes for no good reason.

And so, I decided to do something naughty for the very first time in my life. I’d do it, if it’s for a friend!

I sneaked back to her dorm room, and using my fire magic, I melted the doorknob, while being careful not to burn the entire door itself.

I gently pushed it open, only to find out that my suspicion was correct.

She wasn’t there at all.

To make sure, I even decided to sleep for the night there, N-not because I wanted to smell her scent or anything…

And when I woke up, she still had yet to return.

That’s it! She must be out there somewhere!

And then, I realized it. Two days ago, it was the weekend. I was at the library, miserably crawling over a pile of books as I rushed over an assignment that was due tomorrow. Marina came to me then, and she asked whether I wanted to go with her for a quest. I said no, since I was so busy and everything.

Ooh, I was so stupid! Of course! It all makes sense! She went out on a quest and never returned!

...Wait, that’s really bad then! Really, really bad!

I stopped hitting myself in the head and immediately ran as fast as I could to the Adventurer’s Guild, even blasting through the still closed main gate in the process, to the outrage of the guards.

All I had in my head was Marina, and how she must be in a trouble so big that even she—our resident genius mage—couldn’t handle on her own.

I’ve got to save her!

Naturally, the thought of her dying crossed my mind, but I threw it out of the window immediately. She won’t die that easily! She’s Marina after all, the genius mage who has learned three Master-level spells even though she hasn’t even graduated yet!

Please, Marina, please! Just wait a little longer! I’m coming as fast as I could!

----------

When I arrived, I slammed my hands on the receptionist’s counter. “Hey, you! Tell me the quest Marina Greenwood took two days ago!”

To my irk, the bored-looking woman replied by sighing, before arrogantly saying, “Look here, kiddo. We can’t just tell—”

“Look here, you boorish woman! I’m part of the Salamander House, granddaughter of the great Merlinus Salamander himself, Alincia Salamander! And this is official business of the House, so you’d better fess up immediately or else I’ll report you to him!”

Ha! With a mention of my family name, her bored expression instantly turned into a panicked one, and she promptly went through her book, trying to find the record that I needed.

“H-here! She’s taking a monster extermination quest to the Barton Mines nearby!”

“Hmph, there you go! That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

With a triumphant smile, I left the building, before immediately running towards the city’s northern entrance. The mines were located in the nearby mountain, and it would only take you around two hours on a casual walk to get there. Of course, I ran as fast as I could, not I couldn’t keep it for long before I was out of breath. Darn it, if only I knew how to ride a horse, I could just rent one! And carriages are too slow!

----------

When I got there, I was soaked from top to bottom with disgusting, icky sweat. My outfit wasn’t exactly designed for strenuous physical exercises after all.

But I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about now was Marina, and Marina alone!

I stormed in, casting a persistent Fireball spell to act as my lantern.

It didn’t take long until I was attacked by a group of monster bats, but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle. I took them all down in one sweep with a simple Flame Whip spell. 

There’s no way these small fries would give Marina trouble!

The receptionist said that it was a D-rank extermination quest, so the monsters would be D-rank at best. Even I could take on D-rank monsters just fine.

Those bats are just E-rank though. So there must be tougher monsters deeper inside.

And indeed there were, as I was soon attacked by a group of molerats, who were clever enough to try to ambush me from the walls.

The old me might have been overwhelmed, but now, after I trained so hard under Marina’s tutelage, my casting speed had far improved than before. I cast a Flame Wall around myself, fast enough before they could overwhelm me with their numbers. Ha, look at them trying to run away! Of course I didn’t let them do that, as I barraged them one by one with my Fireballs.

Still, this level of enemies… Marina shouldn’t be troubled by them at all.

So why? Why hasn’t she returned yet from this mission?

Don’t tell me that the miners had lied in their quest description and that there’s actually a really strong and high-ranked monster inside that is too powerful for even Marina?!

If they did, then they would feel the wrath of Alincia Salamander once I’m finished here! Just you see!

--------

But in the end, I didn’t find anything. Not a single hair or even a hint of her presence.

I must have killed every single monster there, but none of them were above D-rank. So the miners weren’t lying.

So what happened? Why was she gone? I-I don’t understand! I don’t understand at all!

...Wait, hold on.

This pile of rocks in front of me. It's a cave in, isn't it? It's blocking access to the rest of the tunnel over there.

And then, this hole right here… this shape doesn't look like any of the other holes the miners have made.

... Something's wrong. There's something fishy going on.

I looked around once more, with a keener eye this time around, and saw that there were many other weird holes all over this section of the mine. It was as if…

No…

These holes… it's done by spells!

A fight must have taken place here! A-and it's a long one, as there are so many similar holes around!

This is it! This is the lead I was looking for!

I redoubled my search. I processed every single nook and cranny, and thought hard on whether there's something out of place.

Wait, that's… those are vines and roots, aren't they, at that corner?

I ran over to them, and sure enough, I was right.

That's another out of place thing object here! No plants grew at all at the rest of the mine. Only here!

This is another sign of magic being used!

And then, I linked two and two together.

Marina—her affinity is Earth! She likes using Earth spells more than any other element!

This is it! This is where she had her fight. Against an opponent so tough that she had to go all out! She's in trouble after all!

And then, I found something that truly disturbed me—a giant hole, going deep down to the earth to the point that I couldn’t see how big it went.

At first, it didn’t even register my mind as I thought it to be a natural part of the cave. But then, now that I re-examined it, I realized how odd it was that the hole hadn’t been covered by the miners who worked here.

There was only one explanation. This hole was a new one.

Wait, this means that—

My face turned as white as a ghost. My joy from discovering the clues vanished to the wind, replaced quickly by despair.

Marina… she's—

N-no, that can't—

No! No! I don't want to believe it! I refuse to believe it!

"U-uwaaaaaaah!"

"I should've—I should've gone with her! If I had… if I had… then this wouldn't have happened!"

I cried for what must be a good 15 minutes or so, until I could cry no longer.

And then, my tears were slowly being replaced with rage. How dare they! How dare they take Marina away!

I looked down the hole with my fists clenched. I nearly decided to just jump down there and burn whatever monster responsible for her death until not even their dust remained. But I knew that if she couldn’t handle the monster, that I wouldn’t be able to handle it either. I would just be throwing my lives away. And she wouldn't want that. She would want me to stay alive and live a happy life, even without her.

...Wait, but what if… what if she's somehow still alive?

What if, she's still down there, alive but unable to escape? The giant molerat might carry her in it's mouth to be stored for food later, not knowing that she's still alive!

My eyes widened. In a flash, my face was filled with renewed hope.

T-that's right! She must still be alive! She's Marina after all! Even if she's outmatched in raw strength, she is smart enough to bide her time to survive!

I am such an idiot! What am I crying for? Why have I given up before she has?

Without wasting another second, I rushed back to the city. I'll do it! I'll form a rescue team to save her right away! I might not be able to do it alone but I can recruit strong adventurers to help me! A-rank! No, S-rank even! I don't care about the payment! I'll just use Grandfather's name again, even if I would get scolded for it!

-----------

Haa… haa… I made it...

When I returned back to Guild, I nearly collapsed out of exhaustion. But I persevered, knowing that Marina's life was in my hands.

I walked inside the building, and immediately went to the receptionist, pushing aside some elf girl that was standing there.

"H-hey! I wasn’t finished yet!”

"I… I want to put up a quest." I panted, slamming my hands on the table.

"Oh, i-it's you again, Miss Salamander." Noticing who I was, she immediately straightened her posture.

"A rescue quest. For Marina Greenwood. She's taken by a—"

"That won’t be necessary."

I looked behind me and saw a familiar face.

It was Elun.

She stood there with her half-taunting smile, walking forward with her staff on her right hand.

“Marina Greenwood is fine. She’s not in any mortal danger, like you might have imagined.”

“R-really? Then where is she? She’s been missing for two days, you know!”

“Of course she is. She’s currently with—who’s that hobbit’s name again, Thomas, ah right, yes, Thomas. She’s with him right now, going to his house. Or, to be more exact, his grandmother’s house.”

“But that can’t be! She hates him after all!”

“Oh? Is that your impression of her attitude towards him?” Her smile turned into a light grin. “Perhaps you don’t know this, being a kid and all, but there’s this thing called ‘playing hard to get’ that some girls liked to do to boys they are fond of.”

“You’re not saying that—”

“I’m exactly saying that. It seems she might have accepted his proposal after all, or at the very least, started to consider it, to the point that she’s willing to go to his home and meet up with the rest of his family.”

“T-that… that’s not… that’s not how Marina is!”

I shouted those words yet even I myself could tell that a clear seed of doubt had now been planted into my mind.

Has she really changed her mind? If she is, then why didn’t she tell me? I’m her friend, aren’t I?

“I’m glad for the two, really.” She continued, now actively playing with the ends of her blue hair. “You know, his grandmother tried to matchmake him with me before. Ha, as if I would ever be interested with a hobbit. He’s a bad mage too, which is all the more reason why I don’t want to be with him. For me, who has mastered many Master-level spells, I would never want to have a husband who can barely cast Advanced-level ones. Your sister gave the same condition too, right? Or rather, your grandfather did, though he set the deadline to be at his graduation?”

"Y-yeah, I think so…" I replied, recalling what my sister told me.

"No wonder that old gnome settled on some outsider instead. They tend to not have any pride in their magic after all, unlike us who was born in the Magocracy."

I stood silent for a short while, trying to process all the things that she just said.

“Y-you’re not lying, aren’t you?” I looked up, the warmth of hope slowly overwhelming my chest.

“Of course not. What would I gain by doing so? I’m not an ally of the Marjoram house.” Her grin returned back to a smile. “I’ve been honest with you all this time, no? I told you about your sister’s murderer. And I even told how I was humiliated by her. I wouldn’t tell that to just anyone, you know.”

She’s right. She’s been honest with me so far. And she’s also honest enough to tell that she’s hiding information for me only because my grandfather ordered her to.

“So, rest easy, alright?” She walked up to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Your good friend’s only going to be gone for a while. So you go back to the Academy like a good girl and go on with your school life as usual, alright? Take a bath first though. You stink, you know?”

“H-hey, you don’t have to say that!”

 -----------

Thanks to her, the boulder that had weighed my heart disappeared. I retracted my request of a rescue mission, and returned back to the Academy. Elun, as usual, already sneaked off before I noticed.

But I was still not completely calm. There were still some pebbles of worry inside my heart.

Is she really with Thomas? What if she’s really lying after all?

I went to check on whether Thomas was gone as well, and he indeed wasn’t there. And asking around, he too disappeared yesterday, just like Marina. I asked the teachers as well and they told me not to worry about it, as he indeed went home to his grandmother’s place, just like Elun said.

Still, I was still worried, until I got an idea.

Oh, I know! I’ll write her a letter! If she replies back, then I’ll be sure 100% that she’s really there alive and well!

And so I did, sending it off with the fastest courier available.

I still remained in disbelief however, on her decision on giving that hobbit a chance. She never mentioned anything good every time we talked about him, yet all of a sudden, she wanted to know him better like this? Did he do something that actually pleased her, something I didn’t know about?

The last time we talked about him was after he did that stunt where he challenged her to a magic duel, only to lose terribly. And Marina expressed her distaste about how he thought he could win over her heart just by strength alone. Was there something off about her then? I turned my head around, trying to remember every little detail of her expression as she recanted her tale.

And then, I remembered it—these words coming from her.

“I suppose if I’ll have to applaud him for one thing, it’s his determination, as misguided as it might be.”

There it is! There’s something she actually likes about him!

Don’t tell me that this is the turning point, that this is what makes her decide to give him a chance!

Aaarghhh, I’m too young for all this relationship stuff!

But if she’s happy, then I’ll be happy too! That’s what friends do after all! So I won’t complain!

------------

Elun

Hook, line and sinker.

Well, that girl is never that bright in the first place, so this is only to be expected, really. She didn’t even notice one of my sky fishes following her around.

An investigation by the Guild of Marina Greenwood’s disappearance would be bad. Highly skilled adventurers would be dispatched, and if any of them have a skilled tracker, they would know that it wasn't a monster that attacked her. They might even find out that it was a mage who she had a fight with, though I'm pretty sure that old crone is clever enough not to leave any traces of her own spell.

That gnome is lucky none of the Council mages have any other male children other than hers available for marriage, or else they might not just turn a blind eye to her scheme. Though thinking about it, he's the only one available for that. Even Alincia is already taken, and the person herself doesn't even know it—that poor girl. I'm glad that Mother isn't the type to matchmake me with anyone.

Well, now I'll just have to see if they are coming for her. And if they do, I would need to make sure that Alincia doesn't meet up with them. She'll definitely go with them if they tell her about the letter.

Aah, it's like I'm playing babysitter to her. Why can't she be more like her late sister? She might be an unpleasant person but at least she's sensible.