A Dream Foretold.

Prologue Arc (2). Letters to Me.

Holding my hand, she ran into the crowd like a wild cat, dragging me like I was the wind as we swept through the crowd before a bright light blinded my sight, dimming out as the interior of the Guild revealed showed itself.

With walls of cobble and tables of wood… it looked incredibly old, not to mention the hanging lantern planted at the top which utilizes the usage of a special kind of stone that shone brightly despite being minuscule.

“Hello!” Alice shouted as we soon arrived at the counter which was, as you would expect, made from wood with a slight moss look painted over it. The entire place looked unmaintained like the people that gathered inside.

“Ara, if it isn’t Alice… and…?” a brown-haired braided twin-tailed girl said whilst dressed in a casual light blue blouse with a red scarf covering her neck and a light blue skirt up to her knee, her eyes were brown which was the normal eye color for people of no nobility origins.

“This is my partner, Amelia!” Alice said with enthusiasm that I had never seen before, it was as if I was looking at a different person, the shine on her face was brighter than usual and her eyebrows looked a lot softer than usual.

“Partner in what way?” I asked in an unknowingly irritated voice, despite not knowing why I felt annoyed, my voice sounded such and my heart also felt such though my mind doesn’t understand why I felt irritated.

“Carefree as always, Alice,” a manly voice called out from behind as we turned around before an orange-haired man wearing black armor with a black single-edged sword hanging on his waist, he looked like a knight had it not been for his weapon of choice.

“Interested in my weapon, little girl?” the man said as he attempted to place his hand on my head, only to be slapped away by Alice who looked as if nothing happened, “Are you perhaps interested in that ugly weapon?”

“It simply looks amusing, unique… what kind of weapon is it?” I asked before Alice replied with a calm voice, “It’s a katana from the east, said to have a sharp edge that could slash through a dragon though there are no shreds of evidence of such which is why it is only regarded as an ugly weapon.”

“Hey, it’s not ugly! Look, it’s blade is super beautiful like calm water with a dragon hiding inside!” the man refuted as Alice sneered before turning back to the counter with a carefree attitude that I have never seen before, it seemed as if she had abandoned her Princess self and turned into a free bird.

“Anyways, what’s your purpose for coming here? Are you perhaps going to have this girl registered?” the girl on the counter questioned before Alice nodded as she grabbed me by the waist before declaring before the girl, “We will be going on a harvest quest! Give me the easiest quest to do for today!”

“Hey… I didn’t agree to—” I was about to refute, only for my mouth to be covered by her hand as her right index finger signaled me to be silent with a wink, naturally the girl on the counter noticed as well but only sighed as she took out a papyrus from somewhere and placed it on the counter.

“Here, it should be an easy quest for you. The objective is to acquire at least one to two Caliyum flower (basically Camellia flower) which is said to bloom every winter, from our intel, the flower can be found commonly on the eastern side of the city, a few walks away… it shouldn’t have any danger,” the girl said before looking at me while Alice inspected the papyrus.

“Also, before the two of you can take the quest, the girl over there… Amelia, was it? You have to register as a Guild Member before being able to take requests which is a requirement in the Guild, to track all the orders, the flow of money, etc.” the lady said as Alice placed the papyrus on the counter before looking at the girl, “You can go ahead and test her ability to use the sword, I would recommend you take out Gilbert to handle her examination otherwise all the other examiners will be defeated in one go.”

As if hearing something crazy, the lady and the man both widen their eyes before abruptly placing their hands on the counter sounding a loud boom as they looked at Alice and inquired at the same time, “Are you crazy…?! This flimsy girl can fight that Rank C Gilbert?!”

“How about you test it out, then… I don’t think my Amelia has any trouble fighting even a Rank B by herself,” Alice said as I tilted my head in confusion, all of the terms confused me causing me to be speechless but from what I can tell, my swordsmanship apparently can compete against a Rank B.

Though, I don’t think I can even battle the lowest rank considering I have only trained swordsmanship for about a month… I wonder if Alice is making a mistake in her perception of me, there is no way I would want to fight a high rank…!

“Hey, are you serious…?” I was about to ask her, only for her finger to poke into my mouth like a lollipop, taking me by surprise as she winked at me… her finger tasted like skin which didn’t taste nice at all, without hesitation, I removed her finger out as she smirked.

It felt annoying to be played with by this annoying girl, but at the same time, it didn’t feel bad at all… rather, it was entertaining compared to the world I had lived in before meeting her.

“Anyways, we have no time to waste… I want to get her registration done by today then take the quest tomorrow!” Alice said as the lady sighed before ringing a bell on her counter as a bulky man with a great sword hanging on his back, held by a scabbard that was tied to his body appeared from the other side.

“Anyone calling for me?” the bulky man asked as he approached the counter before the lady pointed at Alice who was all smiles before the bulky man sneered, “It’s only Alice, what is up?”

“Well, you see…” the lady whispered into the man before the bulky man shouted, “You mean this flimsy girl?! Are you sure she won’t die from a sword slash?!”

“Of course not! I trained her myself!” Alice said with pride as she grabbed me by the waist once more whilst smiling creepily as the man sighed, “If she is trained by you then that assures me, but are you sure little girl that you can wield a sword?”

“I am a little sure… I have only trained for a month,” I said before their mouths fell to the floor as all of them looked at Alice at the same time, eyes wide open and pale faces… as if confused by their looks, she tilted her head and asked, “What’s up?”

“Sigh… I’ll trust your intuition this time, Alice…” the bulky man said before turning around as he waved his hand whilst shouting at us, “Let’s go to the training grounds!” before the four of us, including the lady on the counter, followed before a flat garden showed itself.

“Here, take this sword!” the man said as he threw a wooden sword towards my direction, instinctively, I jumped up and grabbed the sword before descending softly to the grass as the man unsheathed his giant sword which was about equal height as him.

“Are you ready?” the man asked as I pulled into stance, closing my eyes for once, calming my heart as I listened in to the sound of the wind before a lady’s voice called from the darkness, “You can do it, my lady…” as I opened my eyes before everything opened up.

The path of the wind, each and every sound of nature amplified whilst everything in my sight became closer as the man shouted, “We will start once the coin falls to the floor, be ready!” before throwing the coin up in the air as I placed as much force as I could onto my feet.

Held with both of my arms, the grip I had with the wooden sword tightened as I focused my view onto the coin as it slowly dropped to the floor in slow motion before…. CLANG.

Immediately after the coin fell, all the force kept within my legs released themselves, propelling myself forward as I swung my sword horizontally, slicing through a clear gap between two pathways of wind, reducing the friction as the force it carried moved through the air.

BAM!

A loud explosion echoed throughout the training grounds, as large gushes of wind blasted out after hitting the wall behind it with the bulky man becoming a display on the wall, a sculpture if one had to describe such.

No words could be said, there was only silence within the room as we looked at the man who was spilling clouds of bubbles from his mouth with the great sword he carried containing cracks. It was then when I realized, I was not normal…