It has been quite some time since Alum was tested. He stayed behind because he was still cautious and because the fresh air was nice.

 It reminded him of the ocean view he saw almost daily for a year. Back then, he didn't feel anything about it, but after meeting Noel, it became a fond memory.

 As he looked into the distance, he felt slightly excited. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but it was probably the anticipation of discovering or uncovering something.

 Maybe that was the reason he liked books; he could learn something from them, but at the same time, he didn't exactly feel excited. However, he was on-site this time, so he got excited, which sounded a bit childish.

 But considering that he basically didn't have a childhood. This much was fine, right?

 …

  …..

 …

 After spending more time outside, Alum finally decided to head back in. More people came out on the deck to watch the sunrise. In other words, it was getting crowded. Or… well, it wasn’t the crowd he minded. It was because some couples were very intimate, which made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

 Once he arrived back inside, he went to the room they were assigned and got himself a book he brought with him. It was also a part of his independent studies; he had a curriculum to follow… as strange as it sounded. He would also be tested with the others next month, so he couldn’t afford to slack off. Then, he found a note on the table stating they all went to the lounge.

 He headed there himself because they surely had a reason, for example, to meet the other parties in the same group.

 …After arriving in the lounge, he spotted his party members chatting over drinks and food with four other people. One of them was Sarah, whom he’d recently fought.

 “.....”

 Alum wasn’t sure how to call out to them since they seemed to be having a good time. The sun had just risen, and they were drinking? He sighed and walked closer. The drunk party members noticed his presence and called out.

 “Aa~lum! Over Here!” Jan shouted.

 (Strange… Jan was a quiet type who never yelled.)

 Alum personally never drank alcohol, so he didn’t know. But he was sure he'd still be the same even if he became drunk.

 Alum was seated with them, and everyone looked at him with curious eyes. Dalen was the first one to speak.

 “...Nice to meet you. My name is Dalen. A-rank and a spell caster like you… although I focused on shadow magic that weakened the opponents.”

 The handsome blond man suddenly greeted and introduced himself. He had sharp green eyes and looked like the type that didn’t talk much.

 Alum looked around and saw more faces. One was a pretty girl with green hair, and the other one was a tall and strong-looking man with blue hair.

 “Nice to meet you all. My name is Alum. D-rank… a control mage that mainly used the water element.”

 Hearing Alum introduce himself. The Phantom Dusk members looked at each other. (A control mage? Didn’t Turen and the rest say he was an attack mage? And based on Sarah’s assessment of him, he should have been one.) But that didn’t matter, and the girl greeted him with emerald eyes and a soft smile.

 “Nice to meet you, too. My name is Lyn. B-rank and a support mage that specialised in barrier magic.”

 Lyn’s introduction drew the eyes of the men in the lounge, which made Sarah pout a little. Following that was the blue-haired man.

 “Nice to meet you, Mr. Alum. My name is Keelen, an A-ranked frost knight, and my role is to protect Sarah when she’s doing reckless things….”

 Everyone was looking at Sarah as she turned away from their gaze and blushed a little.

 “Hmpf. I’m fine on my own.”

 The girls let out a soft giggle at Sarah’s response.

 Alum’s party members then turned to him and asked why he introduced himself as a control mage. He stated that he wasn’t attacking much but mostly interrupting movements and locking the opponents down.

 It wasn’t like they needed more firepower anyway. Jua was doing a really great job with that. And she was more precise than Alum; they all understandably nodded.

 Lyn tilted her head, and a small audible clap could have been heard. “Oh, right! I wanted to congratulate you guys for getting promoted to a B-ranked party!”

 That’s right. Night Ouen could now be considered a B-ranked party. All the members were B-rank now, which was the final condition for them to become a B-ranked party. And, of course, Alum wasn’t a part of that calculation since he was a temporary member that the guild had assigned to them.

 Sarah, Dalen, and Keelen followed suit and ordered more food and alcohol. The drunk Jan and Turen put their arms around Alum and had a grin on their faces.

 “Come on, Alum! Drink with us!” Jan said enthusiastically.

 Turen also tried to convince Alum.

 “Yeah, the food and alcohol here are really good, and we wouldn’t be able to drink after we landed in the evening, you know!?”

 Seeing how they were a little pushy, Jua and Nuli stood up. Jua grabbed Jan by the ear, dragged him to his seat, and scolded him. Nuli also did the same to Turen, and they apologised to Alum.

 “We’re sorry about them… they got like that when drunk,” Nuli said.

 “Don’t worry about it… actually, I’d like to try.”

 “See!” Turen yelled.

 But Nuli sent him a sharp glare that silenced him. Sarah quietly watched as she leaned backwards and asked a question that flew over their heads.

 “How old are you even?”

 It was a question she lightly asked because she found it funny that he hadn’t had alcohol until now. Alum looked at her and thought it was a valid question.

 “Oh? I’ll be 20 this year.”

 “.....”

 “.....”

 “Is there something wrong?”

 Lyn, who was listening, butted in. She gave Turen and Jan a cold glare.

 “Turen… Mr. Jan, did you just try to make a minor drink?”

 “... We didn’t know, right Jan?”

 “That's right….”

 Nuli and Jua dragged them away to let them cool down, and Alum was left with Phantom Dusk.

 “... I’m still a minor?” Alum asked while tilting his head.

 “*Sigh… well, technically, no, but you need to be 20 to drink.”

 “I see….”

 Lyn gave him a bright smile.

 “We’re in the same boat then!”

 “Huh?”

 “I’m 19, too.”

 Alum's eyes widened. It was a surprise; he thought she’d been around the same age as Turen and the rest since she seemed so mature despite her appearance.

 Seeing Alum’s reaction made Lyn giggle.

“He~he, I look mature, right? I guess I do since I have to watch over these overgrown kids.”

 Hearing this, Sarah retorted.

 “Hey, Lyn! Who are you calling an oversized child!?”

 Lyn just giggled and bore a smug smile on her face.

 “You and Turen, of course.”

 “Haa… said the girl who was crying when we left for Ilifel and came chasing after us as soon she turned 16.”

 “Noooo! Please stop bringing that up!”

 Sarah crossed her arms and smiled smugly with one eye open.

 Lyn’s eyes twitched, and she rested her hand on her cheek and tilted her head.

 “Aww… seems like this old lady has had too much to drink.”

 “Oh, little baby. I’m literally just six years older than you.”

 Lyn had a displeased look on her face.

 “Hag.”

 “.....”

 The two of them were glaring daggers at each other. Meanwhile, Alum joined Dalen and Keelen, who seemed to be good at staying away from trouble.

 Keelen didn’t seem like a talkative person, nor did Dalen, and well… Alum wasn’t either.

 “.....”

 Breaking the silence, Keelen asked Alum a question.

 “Do you like Teihein meat?”

 Alum was inwardly surprised.

 (Do people eat those?)

 “The B-ranked typhoon bird…? Is it good?”

 Dalen also joined in as he wanted to talk to Alum since they were fellow mages. He was especially interested in Alum ever since Sarah’s evaluation of him.

 “They are tasty; the guild caught some not too long ago, and they are served here on the ship as a delicacy.”

 “I see. It must have been expensive… then, I’ll have to refrain.”

 Dalen had a soft smile on his face and glanced at Keelen.

 “It’s fine. It’s on us, right, Keelen?”

 “That was the plan. So don’t worry about money; we are an A-ranked party, after all.”

 They then waited for Alum to reply with soft smiles on their faces.

 Alum wasn’t sure how to feel.

 His life was getting so bright it had become very unfamiliar to him, making him slightly uncomfortable. But it wasn’t in a bad way by any means.

 Over the past year and a half, his perception of the world had changed, and there was the colour.

 He met kind people like Noel. He finally saw how much care and love Emely raised him with. He became friends with Luna, Miu, Chely, and Rigeld.

 And even though he hadn’t known Amethely for a long time, She was precious to him, and he didn’t know he could care so much about another person.

 The members of Night Ouen, too, even when they didn’t know him at all, were so nice. And after a week, they became what he would consider his comrades.

 Seeing this in Phantom Dusk as well, he felt a ticklish feeling in his chest and was slightly embarrassed.

 Alum lightly scratched his cheek.

 “I… I’ll take you up on the offer then.”

 “I see. I’ll go order then.”

 With that said, Keelen smiled as he got up and headed to the counter.

 Now, it was just him and Dalen, excluding Lyn and Sarah, who were getting along fine after their fight.

 “I’m curious.”

 Dalen suddenly spoke to him.

 “About?”

 “About how you practised magic. You see… as a fellow mage. I was pretty stuck as far as progress went.”

 Alum began to ponder while he stared at Dalen, who seemed concerned.

 “I see….”

 “So I was wondering what kind of method you used for practice.”

 “... Mind if I showed you instead?”

 Hearing this, Dalen's eyes lit up.

 “Please do!”

 Seeing him excited about it made Alum a little embarrassed. But what he did next made everyone in the lounge get up, and they were prepared to fight.

 Alum released a tremendous amount of mana. And activated [World Aquarell]. And everybody in the lounge lowered their guard as they felt warm, robust, and at ease.

 But that wasn’t all. Around them were floating creatures made out of the water and looked alive. A landscape was formed, and colours started to appear as if this world had come alive.

 Alum had a soft smile on his face as he reminisced.

 Everyone in the lounge applauded, and some people rushed to see what was happening.

 Dalen looked around in a daze and then looked at Alum with wide-open eyes.

 The world that Alum created seemed so small yet colourful.

 Lyn and Sarah were also in a daze after witnessing this. They stood up and looked around them, touching the creatures made of water and getting a life-like response.

 Turen, Jan, Jua, and Nuli returned after cooling down. Witnessing this, they were surprised that Alum was the cause of it.

 Alum felt that his mana was running low and cancelled the spell. And as everything faded, the lounge returned to normal.

 Everyone was standing up and applauded yet again, thinking it was some sort of performance. And Alum, who wasn’t used to this kind of attention, got a bit bashful as he sat back down.

 He then turned his attention to Dalen. “Anyways… that’s how I practised magic… I used all my mana on one very complex spell.”

 “I see… thank you for showing me.”

 Alum nodded, not fully understanding why he was thanked.

 For Dalen. Magic was his life, and being unable to progress meant stagnation in his life. He felt very grateful to Alum for showing him something so beautiful that could be done with magic.

 His expression was soft, and he was relaxed. He looked at the youth yet again. And with a smile, he said. “Thank you.”