"Damn it! That's why I told you I wanted to scout first before moving through this crossroads!"

"Don't blame me! If it wasn't for you yelling at me, these things wouldn't have been alerted!"

"Elisa, you fucking bitch. You've been complaining the whole damn time that you hadn't been able to kill anything since we got here. If it hadn't been me, it would have been you with your constant complaining!"

"Stop being so-"

"Would you two just shut up and concentrate on the fight? We're all tired and those harpies keep showing up, if you want to fight each other do it when we don't have these things trying to kill us!"

"..."

"..."

At Neminah's unexpectedly angry voice, the verbal fight between Miriam and Elisa stopped, and they immediately concentrated again on defending themselves from the large flock of Harpies that had attacked them after entering their territory located on a cliff path.

Miriam dedicated her efforts to luring the harpies towards herself, provoking them and standing in the middle of the group, while Elisa cast intermediate spells on the harpies that approached them or those that Miriam hit and left out of combat, wounded or in a vulnerable position. All this while Neminah was in charge of using her healing magic on both combatants and provided them with support spells, such as [Increased vitality], [Increased defense] [Speed casting] [Reduced mana consumption], among others.

Half a day had passed since they started their journey. It was about mid-afternoon and they were on their way to one of the safe spots that Vistelia had pointed out to them on the map, one that they would use to make camp that same night.

The trip so far had been relatively easy. They had barely encountered any monsters. A couple of wandering orcs, a small group of mountain goblins, perhaps scouts in search of food, and a couple of mountain tigers. Nothing they couldn't kill with a blow. And that's precisely what had Elisa frustrated. Being so close to leveling up, the fact that Miriam had attacked every monster, knocked them off in one hit, and left them to Neminah had her extremely annoyed.

Of the group of goblins, while she had managed to kill at least one, the rest were dispatched by Neminah, something that, though she didn't say it, she didn't understand and it bothered her. What was the point of giving all that experience to Neminah at this point? It was better to wait to find bigger prey and dole out the experience at that point. But she decided to keep those thoughts to herself. The girl was not to blame. The real culprit was Miriam who, in her eyes, didn't know what she was doing.

"I really don't understand what went through Master's head to give the leadership to this idiot. We only have a week, at this rate we're going, it's going to be a complete failure."

"Nemi! Go next to Elisa and put up a barrier. I'm going to get rid of these vermin in one fell swoop."

At her command, Neminah ran towards Elisa, who looked like she wanted to retort, but didn't have time, before the smaller girl used her magic and deployed a dome of mana, just a little taller than Elisa, to protect them from whatever Miriam was planning.

With the barrier ready, Miriam slammed her fists together, and closed her eyes, concentrating on her ability.

As a member of the dragon race, she was gifted with fire magic. Although she was by no means an accomplished mage, thanks to Reilanis' constant training, she had managed to figure out ways to use her magic and integrate it into her fighting style. And this was one of those ways.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

With a loud battle cry, the spell began to manifest around Miriam's body. A great distortion was caused by the rapidly rising heat, then, crimson flames surrounding her and crackling, as she spun in a flaming tornado that grew larger and larger. Just when it seemed that the giant pillar of flames could grow no more, Miriam let out another scream, the name of the spell.

"[Blazing flames]"

The gigantic vortex of flames began to expand, covering a radius of 50 meters around, consuming everything in its path. The harpies, who had been trapped, turned into shrieking fireballs and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Fortunately, the space they were in was devoid of any flora, so there was no danger of starting any kind of fire. The place was a sort of rocky balcony on the great cliff that acted as a passage through the mountains.

In the middle of it all, Miriam stood, watching the monsters being consumed by her flames, and a little behind her, Neminah and Elisa completely unharmed inside the protective barrier that the smaller girl had created. Certain that it was now safe to leave, the dragon girl signaled the foxkin girl to release the mana dome, which she did immediately.

The 3 were gradually going through the dozens of burned bodies, giving the final blow to the flying vermin that had their bodies almost completely burned.

"Nemi"

"Yes?"

"How much did you make from all this?"

Nemi thought for a moment, pulling out her status window.

 

"A full level. And mana regeneration went up to level 3."

"That's quite a lot, I barely had enough for the next level."

Miriam replied in a cheerful voice. Then she pulled up her own status window.

 

"If we keep going like this, maybe by tomorrow you'll be on the same level as us."

"Really?"

"Yes. Although that depends on what we find further into the mountains."

Miriam looked up at the huge peaks that made up the Torias Massif. She thought how strange it had been to find so few monsters in a region that was normally teeming with life. "I hope this isn't something too big. If it is, we may have to turn back sooner than planned." Miriam thought, concerned about the strange situation in the mountainous habitat.

She decided not to give the matter another thought and began to gather the few harpy materials that could still be collected.

"Don't you think you went a little overboard with that magic?"

Of course, there was definitely someone who couldn't leave her alone for a single moment.

Elisa approached, with an angry expression, crossing her arms and looking at her with clear disdain.

"Overboard?"

"That stupid magic you used, you destroyed almost all of the monsters' materials, there's almost nothing that can be recovered. Besides, what would you do if you had hit us too?"

"Are you serious? Elisa, you stupid bitch."

"Hah!? Listen you little..."

"Sis."

Neminah's small voice reached both girls, who were, once again, about to fight each other. The expression on her face was sad and exhausted. Miriam felt that this was not the time or place for such a thing.

"Tch, okay fine. - With an exasperated tone and an annoyed sigh, Miriam decided she would answer Elisa's questions. Anything for her little sister. - You want to know? All right, I'll tell you. First of all, that 'stupid magic' as you called it, it was Mom who came up with it."

Elisa immediately regretted what she said, thinking that, with that, she might have upset the dragon girl. Miriam just snorted in amusement at the blonde's reaction.

"The reason I used it? How much MP do you have left?"

"How much MP?"

"Yeah, you should have about a quarter left right?

Elisa decided to open her status window to check.

 

As Miriam said, the amount of MP she had was about a quarter of the maximum.

"How did you...?"

"Because it is my duty to know. As the leader of this group, I have to be aware of what my teammates can and cannot do while we are on this mission. That includes what abilities they have, their uses, and how often they can use them."

"...Well, but what does that have to do with...?"

"It has everything to do. How long do you think it will take us to get from here to where we're going to camp? How many monsters will we encounter along the way? How long would we have to fight for? And then when we are resting, will you have enough MP to fight in case of a night attack? Elisa, when you were fighting alone, you had to take into account the MP expenditure of your spells so you wouldn't be helpless in the middle of anywhere. But, do you think that because you are on a party, you don't have to do the same?"

"..."

"You asked me what I would have done if I hit you guys too? That's simple, it wouldn't have happened."

"How can you be-"

"Because we know each other! She knows me and I know her. Do you really think I did this just because?"

"Then?"

"It's called trust, Elisa, something you don't seem to have. You heard me when I ordered Nemi to go with you and form a barrier. I did it because I trusted that she knew what I was going to do. That's why she didn't hesitate to follow my order."

"How can you be so sure? It could have been-"

"Stop making fucking excuses!"

Miriam's voice came out as a roar, far more annoyed than Elisa had ever heard her in their constant bickering.

The whistling of the wind was the only sound in the place, as the blonde held silence and an extremely surprised expression. The cub sucked in a breath of air and released it slowly, trying to calm down.

"These are all things that Mom and Vi have taught me, the basics among the basics for a group. Not just something a leader should know, but common knowledge for every adventurer. Not to mention that my top priority is that we all make it back alive."

They both looked into each other's eyes for a long moment, Miriam with an annoyed look, Elisa surprised and, oddly enough, embarrassed. The blonde was realizing that she had no answer to the solid argument the dragon girl had given her.

"Since you have nothing more to say, then go through the bodies and take anything that can still be used."

Elisa only responded with a nod after a short silence, retreating to check the bodies farther away. For the first time, Miriam had won in a verbal fight with Elisa, something that should have made her feel superior... but, "Why the hell do I feel more annoyed than I did before?"

"Sis?"

Beside her, Nemi was looking at her worriedly, tugging on her arm to get her attention.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think we should stay here too long."

Miriam glanced around, noticing that there were only charred bodies and bare rock. A place too exposed, with a smell that could attract other beings to them, added to how striking her magic had been. Miriam returned her gaze to the girl beside her and nodded.

"Right. Let's hurry then. We still have plenty of time before dark, but I want to set up camp while we still have daylight."

Nemi responded with a brisk "Yes!" and then quickly ran off to check the bodies on the ground. Miriam on her side kept a watchful eye on the surroundings.

"I really hope my bad feeling doesn't come true."