The receptionist scanned the cores one by one, and after confirming their validity, announced with an overly sweet, fake smile:

“Quest complete! The guild thanks you for your cooperation! Shall I monetize the loot, or would you like to keep it?”

The girls looked at each other. Agatha would rather keep them, but Faith....

“Yeah, let’s keep them. It’s not like I need money.”

“Thanks...”

“Hmph. Without you, we wouldn’t get any to begin with, so it’s only fair!”

“Are you blushing?”

“No way! You’re blushing! Blushy!”

Suddenly, a large, muscular man butted in their friendly exchange.

“Hey, if you girls are finished, maybe it’s time to move away and let other people do their business? You’re making quote a queue...” His voice was friendly, but his crossed arms and cold, scrutinizing gaze left no room for argument.

Agatha bowed several times, quickly gathered the cores and put them in the inventory, and pulled Faith away before her hot-headed friend had a chance to argue.

“W-why!!? I was so about to give that baldie a piece of my mind!”

“No, you weren’t. ‘That baldie’ is Donovan. He’s one of the top fighters in the town. You should be nice to him, one day you might apply to his party!”

“No way in hell! I’d rather adventure solo! Or rather, I’d rather adventure with y...”

*....But really, what’s up with the monsters today?*

A hushed whisper came from a small group of hooded girls standing in the corner. They were chatting among themselves, nervously glancing left and right, and apparently trying to keep a low profile. Agatha, for once, was grateful for her enhanced hearing and with a quick hand gesture, motioned to Faith to be quiet.

Whenever Agatha made that hand motion, Faith knew things are serious. Not trusting herself to actually shut up when she was told, she covered her mouth with her palms just in case. Then, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible, she quickly ran her eyes through the crowd of adventurers, looking for the source of the magician’s consternation.

Not paying her any more attention, the elf silenced all the sounds coming from the rowdy party of warriors chatting nearby and focused her stream of consciousness on the suspicious group of women alone. Soon, new fragments of conversation reached her.

*Your wyvern was several levels higher, too? Something isn’t right...*
*Is some jerk pulling a sick prank?*
*Well, stronger monsters mean better drops...let’s keep it to ourselves!*
*Hush, we should talk about it elsewhere!*

Having reached a consensus, the group of witches left the assembly hall in haste.

Adventurers were a secretive bunch, and whenever there was a chance of profit, they were all too eager to capitalize on it before the competition. Parties were formed based on trust, rather than skill, and clashes over loot weren’t uncommon. Yet still, Agatha couldn’t shake the feeling that what these women did was wrong. They should have shared this information openly with everyone!

“Ummm...I didn’t quite catch what they were talking about....?”

Faith’s innocent remark brought her back to reality. Agatha gently pulled her friend by the hand and led her outside the spacious guild hall.

As they were walking hand by hand, Agatha quickly summarized what she heard. To her disappointment, Faith wasn’t nearly as shaken by these news as she ought to be.

“So what if the monsters are stronger? It’s not like we are weak!”

“Are you crazy? We were almost defeated by these slimes! If not for that weird girl saving us...”

“And taking one of the major cores! Ha, she just saw a chance to get loot, waited until we are weak, and moved in to secure it!” Faith swung her bamboo sword theatrically, and then added “We should do the same!”

“...Stop swinging that thing, one day you will hit someone!”

“Fine! I won’t swing it anymore! That’s because...” The little warrior grinned and pointed to the blacksmith stall. “Today they finish my real sword!”

Agatha furrowed her eyebrows. Real sword? Ah, that reminded her. A month ago Faith said something about commissioning a custom-made weapon...

“*Sigh* Feels good to be rich!”

“Doesn’t it! Soo..you can keep all the slime cores! I don’t really need them for anything!”

“...How generous of you.”

“H-heeehee! I know! Anyway, gotta go take my product now! See you later!”

And then she darted away like a chaotic thunderbolt of white and red.

*Was she embarrassed?*, thought Agatha, and tilted her head to the side, puzzled. *How uncharacteristic of her!*

It was no secret that Faith’s family was one of the wealthiest in the region. It was also no secret that they were disappointed in their eldest daughter, who chose to pursue the unrefined path of the melee fighter. They would rather have her study well-treaded paths of magic and alchemy, as children of nobility do. But once that girl put her mind to something, it was impossible to change it, and soon enough her parents yielded.

***

With inventory full of precious slime cores, and nothing else to do, Agatha decided that the best course of action is disposing of them immediately, then going home for a long and deserved rest. Fortunately, her teacher was also a skilled alchemist, and she’d always gladly buy whatever components her pupil would bring her. Sometimes they would even make potions together, though there was still much the young elven magician had to learn to be of any real help there.

That’s why she was rather excited to visit miss Journey today. Even though the sun was already setting, and she was dead tired after monster hunting in the woods the whole day long, she pushed herself that one last time and made her way to a large estate on the edge of the town.

***

The house looked nothing like what one would imagine a witch’s residence to look like; it was more akin to a rich merchant’s villa, like the one Faith lived in. However, no one questioned Tabitha Journey's wealth. Those who knew her respected her greatly, and Agatha saw no reason to be any different in that regard.

As long as she remembered, her teacher was the wisest and the smartest person she ever knew. That’s why she aimed to...

*Rustle, rustle*

Before Agatha could finish the thought, a sudden noise jerked her awake from her dreamlike state. She tightly clutched her left hand on the staff, while her right palm instinctively searched for the other person besides her.
It took her a couple of seconds to realize she was grasping at thin air.

*Ah, right, Faith isn’t with me anymore*. Agatha gritted her teeth and shook her head. *Focus, focus! What could that noise....*

“MEOW!”

“Whoa! A stray!?”

“Hiss!”

“Ah! W...wait!”

The cat didn’t feel like listening to this humanoid creature’s meek commands. It quickly darted past her, a piece of tuna hanging from between its fangs.

“Ingrate....” mumbled Agatha, and gently slapped her cheeks in penance. “Miss Tabi always feeds them, and that’s all the thanks she ever gets. Still, to think I got so startled by a cat of all things!”

She slapped her face a few more times, then stomped the ground, then swung her staff a few times up and down. After making sure she was awake for real, she continued her trek towards her teacher’s residence.

However, quite literally slapping herself out of stupor had a side effect of sharpening her superhuman senses again. She became aware of the presence of several people inside the house and immediately hunkered down to sneak under a nearby window.

*But if we go now, the Guild will....*

*The situation is urgent, we must search that dungeon at once, else....*

*That is only if you assume...*

It seemed that they were arguing about something with miss Journey. Agatha was a bit shocked to hear her beloved mentor speak in such a harsh voice, but curiosity got better of her, and she held her breath. Something told her she had to hear what this conversation was about. Some kind of sixth sense warned her that something very important was beginning, or perhaps already begun, and she had to be a part of it...

Suddenly, she froze. A pair of sharp, cold objects was pressed against the tips of her ears.

“!!!!”

“They are real...” whispered a subdued, though unmistakably girly voice “It would be a shame if someone cut them off. Now, turn around, hands where I can see them.”

Not daring to test the truth of that threat, the magician did as she was told, coming face to face with a curved dagger. The other blade was now caressing the lower end of her ribs, and the meaning of that motion was rather unambiguous.

*I will butcher you if you move even a little*

Trying to control her fear, Agatha gazed in the calm, azure eyes of her captor. A realization hit her.

“!!...You’re...!!!”

The person holding her hostage was none else than the shinobi girl from before!