As we rode the carriage home, I squinted at the spellbook in front of me. The road was bumpy, and the wind kept whipping my hair around, making it hard to concentrate.

"What's wrong?" Lori looked at me worriedly, glancing between the spellbook and me.

"It's... just so damn complicated," I groaned, closing the book and shoving it into my bag. "The weather's making it hard to concentrate."

"Complicated? For you?" she scoffed sarcastically. "Yeah right. You've always been the type to scream that you failed an exam with a ninety-six percent."

I glared at her and then glanced away. In a way, that did describe me in my previous life too, but I wouldn't admit it here in front of her.

"Sorry...that sounded pretty harsh. But I guess it's true though. I haven't seen you fail a single anything academic or magic-related since we were kids. I don't know!"

Lori smiled gently and patted my shoulder. The carriage could fit roughly six people, and the two of us sat at the front with Lori holding onto the reinns.

"Look, just remember to eat properly when we're back, alright?

I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Eat properly?"

She nodded firmly and gave me a sunny smile, "Yup. I don't know what they were feeding you at magic university but you're concerningly thin!"

I rolled my eyes and continued staring at my book, trying to focus on my spells.

There was something here that would be extremely useful for someone like me. Mana Bolt. It's a common brute force attack spell that could be rapid-fired. A good beginner spell for beginners. Simple enough to learn, powerful enough to kill monsters. It also had a painfully short effective range for a magic spell.

It was also massively mana inefficient, but I thought about what I supposedly did while I was completely drunk.

Unless I was mistaken, my mana capacity was supposedly monstrous for my age. So I should have been able to cast it several times without running out of power, at the least.

I took out my wand and aimed out the side. I visualized the symbols for Mana Bolt and aimed for a boulder.

I chanted the words quietly and concentrated. My mana gathered slowly inside my body. I closed my eyes tightly and focused all my attention on the spell.

And then I unleashed it.

My spell flew through the air, going in a weird arc before slamming into a nearby tree along the road. The impact caused the bark to splinter and break off. The tree fell over onto its side, blocking half of the road.

I frowned, staring at the splintered tree. I knew how to make things float in the air, but I didn't quite know how to move them on command yet. I'd created quite a bit of a public hazard by accident.

"You're such a doofus, Alice-chan." Lori snickered, slapping my leg lightly.

"Ugh..." I grumbled under my breath. "I mean, you're the one who told me not to go for the overkill spells, Lori. I'm getting some practice in with the fundamentals."

Lori gave me a strange look for a few seconds before laughing loudly and patting me on the arm again. "Good luck with that."

I sighed and tried to calm myself down. The spell hadn't gone as well as expected; it was supposed to hit a target far further away than this in a straight line.

I opened my book back up, readjusted the positioning of the spell, and clarified the mana pathway in my mind's eye. Then I began to chant once more.

This time I aimed for a small rock by the roadside. Once I finished chanting, I released the spell.

The Mana bolt flew forward with a satisfying boom, but my angle was still off.

The blast went wide and slammed against the opposite side of the road instead. I cursed as the ground shook violently, and dust and debris blew up in the air. The struthids stopped running to turn around and glare at me in sync.

"Hmmm...whoopsie daisy," Lori said, smirking at me. "Try aiming a bit higher next time?"

I scowled at her, and she giggled merrily.

"Oh come on, Alice-chan! Don't be so serious!"

I huffed and closed my book back up while waving off at the creatures staring at me. "Don't mind me, guys. I'm just practicing. And it's not like you need to worry anyway."

One of the birds raised its head slightly and cocked an ear towards me suspiciously. Then it started treading forward back on the road.

Lori stared at me intently for a minute, before tilting her head and giving me an awkward smile.

What's up with her?

"Come on, let's move out!" Lori called out cheerfully.

We resumed our journey, heading home.

"So how does it feel to be an adventurer, Alice-chan?"

I paused for a moment and then replied casually, "Honestly? Terrifying."

"Why's that?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Because I don't even know if I can fight yet."

"Oh come on!" Lori rolled her eyes. "Once again, look what you managed to do it drunk off your ass the other day! And then there was the Zlatan business. I thought they had me dead to rights!"

"Zlatan doesn't count," I corrected her dryly, "All of them basically gave up in front of a teenaged girl bluffing."

"That's still impressive if you ask me though! Besides, it was the smarter move instead of blowing up the Adventurer's Guild's building."

Not that I could have then, but that's beside the point.

I grunted and crossed my arms. "Lori, I didn't do shit."

Lori frowned and tapped her foot impatiently. "Listen, Alice-chan, I think you underestimate yourself. We both know you're strong. Stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"But that's not what I-"

She grinned wickedly at me, "I'm fast! I'm strong! I'm good with a sword! But I'm not the one who could burn an entire town to the ground in minutes! That's your talent, Alice-chan!"

Her grin widened, and she pointed her finger directly at me, "You're better than anyone else thinks you are! And people think you're pretty darned strong now! Now stop being modest and start acting like it!"

I blinked and groaned. Great, what would Lori think if she knew my conscious spell repertoire boiled down to a freaking levitation parlor trick and what amounted to a magic musket shot right now?

How could she possibly believe I'm stronger than everyone thinks I am…when I barely know any spells whatsoever??

I sighed and decided to drop it. At least until I got the hang of things.

"Fine, fine."

Lori smiled happily and slapped my shoulder playfully.

I ignored the pain and forced a smile onto my face too.

"Hey, what's that?"

I looked down and saw a young woman walking up to the carriage. Her hair was long and tied up into two braids. She wore a simple white dress with a red ribbon and carried a large basket on her back.

She made eye contact with Lori and greeted her excitedly, "Excuse me, may I trouble you for a ride?"

"Wh-" I started.

"Sure thing!" Lori replied brightly and opened the door of the carriage while hopping out. "Hop on in! We're going straight back to Halton."

LORI!? What the hell are you doing?! Haven't you heard of stranger danger?

I stared open-mouthed as she climbed into the carriage first, followed by the stranger. Lori shut the doors behind her, and the carriage moved forward.

I couldn't help but stare at the mysterious woman sitting behind me. She wore a pair of glasses and a veil covering most of her face, leaving only her mouth visible. I noticed that she was carrying a basket full of foodstuffs with her. There was fruit, bread, cheese, meat, and vegetables.

She smiled at me and softly said, "Hello there, child."

"Uh huh…"

What kind of game is she playing? Is she really just a random passerby? What is she doing in the middle of the road?

I narrowed my eyes and watched as Lori talked animatedly to the strange woman. After a minute or two I noticed there was a bit of familiarity between the two.

She was probably someone from Halton then.

The woman pulled a few coins from a pouch attached to her belt and handed them to Lori.

"Thanks Dora, I hope things are going well in retirement!"

Then, Lori turned to stare at me worriedly again. Just when her stare made me want to turn away, she whispered, "Are you alright, Alice-chan? Really, really okay?"

I nodded absently. "Yeah.... okay. I'm okay."

Toootally okay. I'm fine. I'm tranquil. Not really, but still.

I kept looking at the mysterious woman as we traveled on.

 

◆◆◆

 

A few hours later, the carriage slowed to a halt. Lori hopped out and helped the mysterious woman off the carriage. They walked together toward a gatehouse here at the entrance to Halton.

I stared at the woman who'd joined us halfway through our return trip.

It turned out that she was an actual retired adventurer and friend of Lori's, which thankfully, made me breathe a small sigh of relief when I realized she wasn't a stranger to Lori.

She was pretty tight with her identity and what she was doing in the middle of the road, though. She just seemed to meditate the whole way. Literally.

After a brief conversation between Lori and the guard stationed outside, he gestured for them to enter. They returned to the carriage, and Lori cracked the reins to take us inside.

Thank god. The second we were done here, I was absolutely done with Lori's nonsense for good. No more adventuring and no more getting tossed headfirst into danger. I wasn't going to have any more of this. It was straight-up abusive!

As soon as the carriage passed through the gates, though, everything did change. Just not in the way I wanted it to.

Suddenly, it felt like I was in a completely different place. It wasn't quite nighttime anymore either – it was almost dusk.

There were no buildings here -only grassy fields stretching as far as the eye could see. A thin layer of mist hung in the air above the land. Birds chirped softly in the distance.

It was peaceful. Calm. Tranquil. Quiet.

Just the way I liked it.

No humans anywhere in sight, just birds, butterflies fluttering about lazily….and insects buzzing around.

And then I spotted something moving in the field ahead. Something big. Very big. Bigger than anything I've ever seen before.

A gigantic monster towering high enough to block out the sun itself. Its body glistened wetly with sweat and dripped thick dark fluid all over the ground beneath him. He lumbered along slowly, his huge hands wrapped tightly around the neck of another dog-like creature struggling weakly in its grasp. His legs dragged heavily behind him, and he made little effort to hurry.

His skin was mottled purple, green, and yellow, and he had several horns sprouting from various parts of his skull.

My reflection suddenly appeared on top of the carriage as panic seized me.

The monster growled and snapped the poor creature's neck, before turning to stare at me.

"Idiot! Flare your mana!" My reflection screamed at me, pointing at my chest.

Flare my Mana? Why? How?

"I can't! I don't even know what you mean!"

"Well, obviously I know that, idiot! But you have to! Hurry up!"

Wait…what?

"Seriously? I can't believe this!! You're a joke!" she yelled at me.

Tic-tac-toe red veins popped out of her head as her eyes slanted and turned white.

Okay, now I'm getting pissed off.

"Shut up!" I shouted angrily at myself. "Who are you to call me an idiot?!"

"Wow, you're such a shitface! How did I end up like this?!"

"Fuck you!" I shouted at her.

"You stupid piece of crap! Do you seriously want to die here?!"

"NO! Stop yelling at me and tell me what to do!"

"I can't believe this..."

"Gahh! You know what? Fuck off!!!"

"JUST CHANNEL A SPELL DUMBASS!!!! DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU!?"

Okay. I'm done with her shit. My shit?

I raised my wand and blasted my ghostly reflection with as much energy as possible into a mana bolt.

Glass shattered against glass, and shards flew everywhere. The ghostly reflection cracked, and then the environment in front of me fell into tiny pieces scattered across the floor.

I guess it worked, but what the hell was that all about?

The world shimmered once more, and I sat alone in silence.

I shook my head and focused on stabilizing the mana flow inside my body. Once I regained control, I glanced around cautiously. I was in the carriage again, but Lori and the mysterious woman were gone. In their places, I found a bunch of broken glass.

I sighed quietly and leaned back into my seat.

Did I get hit by some kind of illusion or nightmare spell?

Nevermind that. First things first - where the fuck is Lorina?

I looked around. It was Alice's town....my town, alright, but it was covered by a thick fog. The streets were empty. No one was home.

... Okay. Now what?!