Violent And Angry Mage

The slimes would jump on top of each other, trying to go over the wind walls. The Wind Mage, while maintaining the spell, simply pointed and cast: "[Gale Cutter!]"

Razorblades of air slashed through and toppled the entire pile. She only needed to cast it twice before the number of slimes thinned out to the point they couldn't climb over the walls anymore.

From there, it was like a tug of war. Sometimes the Magic Fencer gained ground, and other times she lost it. This would last until either she exhausted herself or all the man-eating slimes perished. Though, considering they've already done this before, all bets were on the Magic Fencer.

Good plan. Willow liked it. They kept to their strengths and took advantage of the single-minded behavior of the monsters. Already, they were better than most adventurers she partied up with.

Frankly, Willow felt a little redundant, having done nothing but watch so far. But it was a good thing. It was rare for her to just sit back like a White Mage was supposed to, so, all in all, everything was going well.

For now.

"And that's the last one!"

With a dramatic thrust, the Magic Fencer pierced a slime in mid-air, and it popped like a balloon. The ground was all brown and muddy from all the slimes she had killed, but as for herself, she was spotless. A swish and a twirl, and the rapier was back in its sheath.

The ginger head eased out a low, solemn breath. For a moment, anybody would've seen the perfect picture of a knightess, a woman of honor weighed by her duty to her kingdom, secretly awaiting the day a sublime fate would sweep her off her feet. It was the kind of romantic image that Bards would sing about, that writers would write about.

But then she broke into a childlike grin and threw a thumbs up.

"See that, Anne? Justice prevails once again!" And she winked. "I believe that deserves a round of applause!"

Anne the Wind Mage giggled and gave exactly that. "Hooray! You're amazing, Aire! Good job~!"

With nothing else better to do, Willow quietly clapped along. They were both goofy little goobers, but they really did good. The four times they've done this had gone off without a hitch. She'll humor them at least this much.

"And I see our stoic White Mage was impressed as well!" Puffing her chest and a hand on her hips, Aire the Magic Fencer swept her cloak like a cape riding against the wind. "Tell me, young White Mage, was I dashing, or was I dashing?"

"...It was okay."

"So cold!" Aire gasped, a hand over her chest. "You wound me, young Miss! As fellows of nobility, I would've thought you'd appreciate better vocabulary than that! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Again, I'm not a noble," Willow said flatly. This was going to be a thing, wasn't it? "Should a grown woman really be acting like this?"

"Youth has no age, friend. For as long as there is the Sword of Justice and the Lake of Evil—with the Goddess as my witness, I will be like the sun and strike down the shadows wherever they may lay!"

Willow sighed. The Magic Fencer was quite the character. She wished it was all just a phase, but no, this heroic wannabe had been acting like this for hours. She was starting to think that if Aire actually ever did stop, then she would just keel over and die. And really...

"...did you really just quote Mars Sunglass the Sun Knight?"

Aire went stock still.

At first, Willow thought she had been surprised or offended being called out like that, but when Aire turned her head...

Were those... Were those sparkles in her eyes?

"So you do have a sense of adventure! Do tell where you first heard it from—was it from the Chronicles of the North, the Songs of Sunshine, the Thirteen Victories of Rosarium? O-Or was it perhaps from the controversially acclaimed Romance By Daylight?" Aire awkwardly coughed into her fist. "I won't judge."

"Uh..."

"A-Aire!" Fortunately, the Wind Mage spared Willow the indignity of answering. She slapped her wrists on the Magic Fencer's shoulder with a pouty frown. They hit about as hard as cotton. "Please, you're being a bother to the White Mage. Can't you see you're intimidating her?"

Anne was a farcry from her companion. From under her hood, dull yellow locks swept over one eye, almost like they were trying to hide her from the world. The maid uniform under her cloak had seen a lot in its journey, the wear and tear at the skirt making it shorter around the knee yet easier to move around. A maid attendant following her lady, shy, soft-spoken, maybe a bit too pretty; it was hard to believe she was a willing participant in this wild journey, and had reached Silver rank at that.

Anne gave Willow an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry for her behavior. I-I know she's a bit much, so you don't have to listen to her if you don't want to."

"But, Lil—Little Anne," Aire whined. "She's the first person to recognize the great sayings of the great Knightess! A fellow connoisseur of the great literature, just like us!"

"Aire, please..."

"I take it you're a really big fan," Willow droned.

"But of course! In fact, my family is—is, um..." Aire sucked her lips, her eyes wide, just for a moment. "Every story about her was read by my family. Yes. Indeed! Achieving such glory for ourselves one day is the family dream!"

Well.

Willow now had a pretty good idea which family Miss Dashing hailed from.

Long ago, there was a self-made noble who returned to his roots and began adventuring again. To reconnect with the common people and to keep his skills from "rusting," he said. Sometimes noble sons and daughters were sent out not only to see the world but also to prove their worth as a mark of adulthood.

But when the less than pragmatic nobles heard about this, it became one of the biggest fads, treated it like a casual camping trip. It used to be that they were called 'Rusties' for staying stuck at the Bronze rank—less than useless basically—or, as the Bards famously quoted, because the only taste of adventure they had was the rust in their bleeding mouths.

But in this world, JRPG logic still applied. One didn't survive with such lofty dreams of justice and adventure without being someone important, after all.

As it just so happened, the Sunglass Family was quite known for their blazing red hair and their martial prowess. Descending from a legendary Knight, they were one of the few houses that espoused the codes of chivalry.

"U-Um, we've made excellent progress! At this rate, we might finish this quest in time for the next one. Ah," Anne looked to Willow bashfully, "if you're okay with that. We don't have to if you don't want to."

"...It's my job. So don't worry about it."

Aire nodded approvingly. "I admire your sense of duty, White Mage. Very well! We shall depart for the next slime nest post haste!"

She poked two fingers over her lips and blew a loud, sharp whistle. Then, a fair distance away, two riding birds popped out of the bushes. They chirped. Chirped and chirped and chirped, running toward them while flapping their happy wings. They were eye-catchingly pink and fluffy, like flamingo cousins of ostriches, big and fast enough to almost tackle Anne and Aire to the ground.

"Woah there, Quartz! Ahaha!" Aire laughed as one of them peppered her with light pecks, tickling and checking her all over. "I'm okay, boy. See? Not a scratch!"

Even though she hadn't been in the frontlines, Anne's riding bird kept going in circles, stroking at her shoulders, before snuggling against her head. Anne smiled and returned the gesture with a stroke of her own. "Okay, Ruby. We still have a long way to go. Can you please carry the White Mage and I along again?"

The mention of the White Mage broke it out of its reverie. It was shuddering, squeaking. The big bird ran around Anne and hid its face behind her back.

"There, there, Ruby. The White Mage is not a scary person."

Ruby peaked over the maid's shoulder. She looked at Willow, looked at her beaten and worn staff fixed with a viciously sharp end, and went back to hiding behind the maid, shaking her head.

"Pretty please? For me?"

Again, she shook her head.

"I could just walk this time," Willow offered.

"No, we couldn't do that to you. I'm sure Ruby will come around. She's not always so..."

"Scared? Cowardly?"

"D-Don't say it like that! It would hurt their self-esteem!" Anne cupped Ruby's head and began stroking. "Cherubs are quite sensitive, so please be patient with her."

Cherubs, the Birds of Elopement.

If the Humblewings were the most violent birds of them all, then the Cherubs were the most cowardly. They were the kind of birds that Bards sang and laughed about. With their never-ending endurance and powerful legs, they gather up everything they love and flee to high heaven the second they sense danger, ignoring all other orders.

The number of loving couples they've accidently helped to elope was legendary.

Most people preferred it this way. Caravans employ Cherubs to protect their goods and owners, and they always had the senses to find the nearest safe haven. Willow rode on plenty to know how they tick.

Enough to know that they really, really didn't like her.

Eventually, the riding birds settled down. Aire and Anne were atop their mounts, the one named Ruby now convinced for the fifth time today that Willow was totally a harmless person. However long that would last.

Anne held out her hand. "Okay. Now's your chance before she loses it again, Miss White Mage."

Willow stared at the girl's bare hand for a moment before nodding and accepting the offer. She stepped awkwardly onto the Cherub, managing to mount and then clutch at Anne's waist just as the riding bird gave one more worried glance toward her back.

The maid giggled proudly, taking up the reins. "Good girl. See? Was that so bad?"

Her animal just let out a depressed cry, her wings raised like how a mopey child's shoulders would when they crossed their arms, a gesture almost comical coming from a bird the size of a small cow.

Anne stifled another laugh. When the bird finally composed herself and relaxed, the maid gave a light kick and then they were running.

The river was beautiful at this hour. The flowing waters sparkled under the sunlight, so clean and clear that anyone would've been tempted to swim in it if not for the man-eating slimes. As they rode down the path along the river, the girl's words nearly escaped Willow by how soft and distant they were.

"It's amazing, isn't?" Anne murmured. "Even while tainted by Demontide, so close to the Evil Lake, the slimes still kept the river water clean. Despite their nature, they at least cared for the world around them."

Willow hummed. "Have you seen a Monster Spawner before?"

"Oh! Um," Anne stuttered, like she wasn't expecting a response. "I have not."

"Then you might change your mind. The things Demontide would do... It's not pretty."

"Even so..." There was something heavy in her voice—a shudder that threatened to spill out of her chest like a crack in a dam. Her gaze was on the sparkling river, filled with a will far out of place for a mere maid. "Even so, I wish this same sight could be shared everywhere else in Rosarium."

Willow's eyes narrowed. "...Are they still trashing the river at the capital?"

Anne snapped out of it, back to being the subservient and out-of-her-depth maid she was supposed to be, a brief tremble in her eyes. She faced the road, hiding her expression from view, but not before the White Mage caught the slightest glimpse of a blush.

"Please excuse me. I have spoken too much, haven't I?" A pause. "Are you sure you have no relation to the nobility? Not even the royal family?"

"I'm sure."

"But your hair..."

...Ah.

So that's how it is.

"My hair was originally brown," Willow spoke slowly. "It all started from a...magical incident. It had turned whiter ever since."

"Oh. What happened?"

Willow went quiet. It was a loaded question about a time she never wanted to think about again. A lot of things had happened. But if she had to sum it all up in the neatest, vaguest way possible, then...

"Let's just say I got too proud of myself and was reminded I wasn't really the main character of this story." She shrugged. "Typical wizard things. A tale as old as time."

"...I'm sorry."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it."

A strange conversation with an even stranger maid. Then again, if her [Mana Sense] was up to par, an ordinary maid wouldn't be running a spell over her hair, nor would they be throwing around competent wind spells while serving a house renowned for their martial arts, not without access to a magical education.

Anne had too much going on with her just to be Aire's accessory.

"What about you?" Willow asked. "Are you related to nobility? I'm sure a few bards must've tried to flirt with you, at least."

"A-are you teasing me? You're teasing me, aren't you?" Anne tried to look composed, but the hunch in her shoulders was too obvious. "I assure you, I am merely a maid attendant, following my Lady Aire to handle her every need. Nothing more, nothing less. But... I am flattered..."

"...Whatever you say, princess."