Lucille looked over herself  in the mirror one last time; most of her body had been obscured by all the things Neo had bought for her.

 

Things like the leather armor, chainmail, and gambeson set on her torso, the chainmail and protective leather pants on her legs, as well as the plated boots and iron gauntlets on her calves and forearms.

 

No ounce of skin showed on her person, with the only exception being her face and neck- which was on purpose given that she wasn't planning on stabbing someone face to face, but rather do hit and runs, and protecting those areas would just obscure her eyesight and make it hard for her to breathe- the two vital things she needed in order to be a proper rogue.

 

Her gaze moved up to her head, where her orange hair had been tied into a ponytail, ensuring that it wouldn’t hinder her.

 

Lucille walked backward and eyed herself again, this time, she didn’t bother staring at one particular spot and instead looked herself over thoroughly.

 

A bit of pride bloomed in her chest at the thought that she looked like the perfect image of a Slayer, complete with body armor and accessories. She called her Pledge and placed the hand holding it on top of her chest.

 

The pose looked absolutely perfect.

 

She swallowed down a squeal but some managed to seep out of her mouth, she tried to cover it anyway, only to fail when her excitement drove her to jump up and down, causing the hands covering her lips to slip away and excited squeals to start coming out.

 

This went on for quite a while but eventually, the heroine did manage to calm herself down enough that she was able to leave her bedroom.

 

As she got out, Lucille couldn’t help but glance over to the pile of opened boxes in the corner of her living room, it was small- compared to the hill it was yesterday at least, - so Lucille didn’t feel the need to store them away and squeeze the items with everything else inside of her already packed closet.

 

For now, she was content on letting the pile be visible to anyone who would visit- which as far as she’s aware, would just be Zyra, Yhaine and… Neophyte and her friends.

 

“Oh no.” Lucille realized in dawning horror.

 

What would people like Prescine (a princess as well as the student council president for three years,) Zathania (the heir of a very influential house,) Laceresta (a future EMPRESS!) Fafnir (very powerful,) and more importantly, her majesty Neophyte (nothing more needed to be said,) think when they see the state of Lucille’s gifts? 

 

“Goddess-” Lucille was already sewing a basic shirt and pair of pants with her Light before she moved to start fixing the place, and when she got to the pile, the shirt had turned into Minor Strength and the pants into Greater Speed Techniques respectively.

 

She moved as fast as she could, putting a few boxes underneath her coffee table, some on the sides of the- already full, - shelf of her living room, while most were stored inside her bedroom closet, which got Lucille to reorganize everything inside as if it was some sort of puzzle but in the end, she did succeed and… realized that maybe she could have successfully put these all away last night if she just decided to use her head.

 

… okay, not the time-

 

Lucille closed the closet, grabbed her room’s key, and then proceeded to pump Greater Speed with as much Light as she could. She quickly got out of her dorm, locked it, and then briefly debated if jumping down the railing was a good idea- it was- it was a good idea- Lucille dashed forward and stretched out her arms, her hands squeezed the top of the metal railing a second later and she vaulted over the entire thing.

 

Lucille fell and landed on both her legs before immediately breaking into a sprint, she rushed across the entirety of Pledge Academy until she reached the Port on the opposite side of the building and… stopped once she got there.

 

Zyra and Yhaine weren’t even here yet?..

 

Lucille scanned the place; several portals with students lining up in front of them were built into the walls, they were organized in such a way that the space they took up wasn’t overlapping despite them taking up most of everything.

 

She turned to the side and towards the receptionist desk placed directly next to the door, “uhm… has her majesty Neophyte gotten here yet?”

 

The guy manning the thing- middle-aged, pot-bellied, with glasses on top of his nose, - wordlessly shook his head. He then pulled out a pen hanging from the collar of his uniform- academy standard, - and went on to start writing things down.

 

With the receptionist now busy, Lucille had no one else to turn to other than the wall, which she didn’t do, instead, she leaned against it. Walls don’t talk after all. Or do they?

 

Time slowly ticked and the more Lucille waited, the more anxious she felt, she closed her eyes in hopes of swallowing down some of her internal panic, which obviously didn’t work and when she opened her eyes again, Lucille was back to being an anxious wreck in the shape of a person.

 

Her panicked thoughts started to slowly spiral and more worries came to her as her wait went on, starting from something as innocent as wondering if the people eyeing her were judging her and thinking that she was an idiot for standing around (none of it was true, and they barely even cared about her presence in the port,) to worrying about Zyra, Yhaine, and even Neophyte being somehow KILLED!

 

GODDESS THAT LAST ONE FELT TRUE-

 

“Hey, uh, Lucille? You okay there?”

 

“Neo-” Lucille paused and for a second, her stare turned into a glare out of random irritation before she calmed herself down. Enough that she considered the consequences of badmouthing the person in front of her.

 

“Prince Bismuth,” Lucille wasn’t an idiot, and she knew that not every Everlast was as kind as Neo, so she paid respects to them when they talked to her.

 

Or she plans to, right now only Bismuth seems to be the one interested in holding a conversation with her, which only happened because his sister- Neophyte, - told Lucille to go to the tree at the center of the school and make a wish there during their lunch’s free time.

 

At first, she expected that she would just make a wish and then leave, but the presence of Bismuth had somehow gotten her to spend the entire 30 minutes of her free time after lunch talking to him.

 

This happened several times too.

 

Lucille thought that their conversations were a waste but Bismuth didn’t seem to think so, in fact, he tells Lucille that her presence has always been a calming feature of the tree- flattering, but Lucille didn’t think of herself as that special, and she’s sure that prince Bismuth was only saying it because she’s friends with Neophyte, - and that he always liked their conversations, no matter how dull or uninteresting they may be- “To others, I always thought you were interesting,.” He added that last part with a nervous glance her way.

 

“Please put yourself at ease,” a hand was placed on her shoulder and Lucille stopped bowing, she faced Bismuth, he gave her a kind smile, “you know I told you not to bother with the pleasantries,”

 

People were staring at them- at her, - and Lucille started to worry but she stopped when Bismuth walked and obstructed her direct line of sight with the onlookers, now there wasn’t anyone Lucille was seeing but him.

 

“Are you waiting for someone?” Bismuth said as Lucille followed him with her eyes as he moved next to her and also leaned against the wall, “Lucille?”

 

Lucille turned away from him, “uhm… well yeah,” she answered, “I’m waiting for everyone else to come by, I’m guessing you’re also waiting for your team?”

 

“No, they’re already here,” Bismuth pointed to one of the Ports and a few of the students waiting in line- a blonde girl, a black haired boy, and a boy and girl that looked similar to one another, - smiled at her and waved, “they’re just waiting in line for all us,”

 

“You went out of your way to talk to me?” Lucille turned back to the prince, who averted his eyes while wearing a small smile.

 

Slowly, Bismuth nodded, “yeah, I thought you needed someone to talk to.”

“She doesn’t, obviously,” Bismuth’s expression turned sour and he turned his head to glare at the speaker. Vicissi stood there, arms crossed and facial expression shifting into a… weird looking scowl?

 

Is his expression even called a scowl?

 

“Vicissi Nimbusegia, I’m guessing? Lucille told me about you-” Bismuth’s expression stopped being aggressive and he gently offered Vicissi a hand, who slapped it away, causing the prince’s smile to twitch. “Do you know who I am?”

 

“An upstart prince,” Vicissi growled before turning to Lucille, “he will take advantage of you, do you know that?”

 

“I… don’t think he will?” The heroine tilted her head in confusion, what was he talking about?

 

“Oh, so you’re so arrogant to think that you’re immune to Bismuth’s manipulations-”

 

Lucille raised her hands, “I don’t think that way Vicissi,” the boy huffed at her words, “and Prince Bismuth is kind, he’s not a bad guy,” Lucille defended, “and besides, he teaches me swordplay too,”

 

“Oh, so it’s not just Inferno?” Vicissi glared at Bismuth, “but also this guy?”

 

 “You make it sound like I’m cheating or something…” Lucille murmured.

 

“Hah!” Vicissi, in an out of character burst, gestured at her while looking around the room, “Look at her! She thinks I’d be jealous of her attention!”

 

No one replied to him and he was only met with silence…

 

But he did manage to get everyone in the Port to look at them and whispers started to echo out, people wondered who Lucille was, some asked if she was the daughter of some important noble while a few others denied those claims, rebuking that they didn’t know who she was and an eruption of murmurs spread across the room, all of them were centered around the girl someone from house Nimbusegia and a Prince were “fighting over” (according to them but Lucille didn’t think so).

 

Lucille wanted to shrink into herself and to her side, she heard a sigh, “you’re making a scene,” Bismuth’s words were clear for all to hear, “so leave,”

 

“Oh? And you’re not?” Vicissi huffed, “even when you deny that you’re not making an embarassment of yourself, it’s crystal clear you just want to get into her pants-”

 

Lucille's face turned red but thankfully, before things could get out of hand, someone intervened-

 

“Hey- what’s going on here?” Lucille let out a sigh of relief when she heard a familiar voice. She turned to Neo and gave her a shaky smile, the princess narrowed her eyes, then she eyed her brother and Vicissi, “Alright, both of you- uh- you need to leave her alone-”

 

“I’m already on my way,” Vicissi walked away with his head held high.

 

“Bis.” Neo turned to her brother with a glare, “I thought you two were-” Neophyte snapped her mouth shut, “did you seriously try to bully someone from the Flora territory?”

 

Prince Bismuth’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to respond but Lucille spoke before him, “he wasn’t!” She stood between the two siblings, not wanting them to argue further and strain their relationship, “uhm, he actually wanted to talk to me since he thought I was alone?”

 

“Oh.” Neophyte nodded, understanding on her face, “that’s great,” she gestured for Lucille to come close, and like a chicklet running over to a hen for protection, Lucille ran next to Neophyte, who looked around in barely hidden suspicion, “I’m… going to take care of my protege now,”

 

“Huh, so you really are helping her out,” Bismuth grinned and Neo nodded at her brother's thoughtful words.

 

To the side, his team snickered at the scene. He glared at them and they shut up.

 

Bismuth patted Neophyte’s back, “good for you, sister,”

 

“Thank you,” Neophyte beamed, which kept up even after Bismuth left, “so you’re talking to Bismuth now huh?..” Neophyte grinned at Lucille, who blushed, “he’s a good guy, don’t break his heart,”

 

“W-well hum-uhm-” Lucille stammered, “I don’t think he likes me that way,” she sighed, they’ve only known each other for a few days so she doubts that Bismuth held an ounce of romantic feelings for her, “and I think he was just worried about me being alone since we’re sparring partners and all,”

 

“Definitely, yeah,” Neophyte nodded in fake agreement, which Lucille caught and deemed as her being playful.

 

They both went to the receptionist desk and everyone else was already there to greet them.

 

Zyra and Yhaine were together, talking about something or the other, Laceresta was here while Zathania was somewhere near one of the portals, patiently waiting (and skipping, thanks to everyone letting her pass,) in line while Fafnir scanned the board full of missions on the wall.

 

Neophyte went to her Dragon, “found anything interesting?”

 

“Not as far as I’m aware, no,” Fafnir shook her head, “I was just looking around in curiosity, and besides, we already have our missions right?”

 

“I know, I just thought you were looking for something, a place to go to maybe?” Neophyte replied.

 

The princess looked over to the pieces of paper being stamped by a very stressful receptionist- the same one that Lucille talked to earlier, surprisingly enough, - who looked like he was rushing to read the various notes and files related to the aforementioned missions.

 

He stamped one in a clear and handed it to the impatient looking Laceresta, who violently took it from his hands- and ignored the way the poor guy flinched, - and said, “finally!” The Lioness faced Neophyte, “well, I’m going first, see ya!”

 

“Bye?” Neophyte waved awkwardly as Laceresta stomped away, expression eager and smile vicious, “Laceresta is really excited for this huh?”

 

“Aren’t you?” Fafnir asked.

 

“Pffft, no?” Neophyte shook her head and eyed the stack of notes next to the quest that she picked, “we’re going to have to do paperwork after this, you know?” Neophyte didn’t seem eager while Fafnir merely shrugged, uncaring, “since we’re hunting down Omegafaunas and all,”

 

“I’m fine with it,” the Dragon replied.

 

“Of course you are…” the Princess murmured.

 

Lucille walked over to her friends as the rider and mount went on to talk.

 

She waved at Yhaine, “I was starting to worry you guys died!” The laugh that followed her joke was forced, awkward, and full of pain. When her friends replied with nothing but silence, Lucille sighed, “I was overeager to get here,” because she thought she was late, “and I had to wait.”

 

“Well, at least you talked to a prince,” Yhaine replied with a grin, “lucky you,”

 

Lucille shook her head in exasperation, what was her friend even saying? What was everyone saying? Bismuth is just a nice guy!

 

“Vulnaza.” Zyra cut into their talk, “what do you guys know about it?”

 

“Almost nothing,” Yhaine replied seriously, “other than the place has one of Neophyte’s sisters married into it,”

 

“Princess Calcite, right?” Zyra asked to Yhaine’s nod.

 

“Yeah, I think she even has a child now too…” Yhaine answered.

 

“Two, actually,” Neophyte said as she held out a piece of paper, which Zyra took, “that’s your permission to go and do the mission the King of Vulnaza sent out,” another piece of paper went forward and Zyra took it again, “while that is my letter to my sister asking her to be hospitable to all of you,”

 

Neophyte gestured for someone on her right to go near and Karsten, who had been silent all this time, walked up to them, “and this, is your support, she has money on her so if you need something, ask her,”

 

Zyra nodded, “got it,”

 

“And that’s all I think?” Neophyte looked up in a murmur, “uh, yeah, that’s everything,” she nodded, “go to the Port and teleport to Vulnaza, you’re all good to go,”

 

Zyra nodded and looked around, “come on,”

 

Lucille followed after everyone to a line, they waited- not that long surprisingly, - and then went through the portal, and the scent of wet stone and nature wafted into her nose.