In the country of Kelner, life is difficult. When a war is going on between your 2 neighboring countries, you have no other choices but to face the consequences. People being slaughtered, villages being burned, towns being destroyed, conflicts between friends and families. Luckily, nothing like this happened in the town of Alucia. Yet, the people are not free from any problems.

Alucia, time before Asher’s bandits arrival: right now

‘’13… 14… 15 bags! Everything is here, Boss!’’ said a bandit.

The bandit then take one of the heavy bag full of food and another one full of money and carry the, to where they attached their horses, also joined by the rest of the bandits holding a bag each. However before they go, their chief had something to say to the lord of the town.

”Y-yes?” asked Lord Daniel anxiously.

‘’I see that you once again respected our ‘’bargain’’, well done. It’s wise, very wise if you ask me, for the sake of your people.’’ he said, with a unsettling smile on his face. ‘’See you next month, ahahahaha.’’

He then left to join his crew before leaving on horseback, his crew right behind him.

The lord turns around, to see the angry and upset expression on most of the townspeople.

‘’I’m… I’m so sorry everyone but please understand tha-’’ he gets interrupted because someone threw a tomato at him.

‘’Enough of your pathetic excuses!’’ said an angry man.

‘’You said that you would find a solution to prevent this from happening ever again!’’ said a woman.

‘’Yet, all you did is hide in your house like a coward!’’ said another man.

‘’We can barely have enough food to feed our families, we will may have not enough food one day!’’ said another woman.

‘’P-please, I swear to Naga I’ll find a solution, just be patient my fr-’’ he receives another tomato, covering his entire face this time.

The townspeople surrounded the lord, they had enough of this lord who does nothing but saves his skin and hides behind his gold and food.

‘’*sigh* This will not end well if I don’t intervene’’ thought a sage, she climbs on a barrel and shouts: ‘’EVERYONE, PLEASE CALM DOWN!’’

The townspeople stop their assault on the lord, he is now red from his head to his knees.

‘’What do you want, Rezzy?’’ said the first man.

The blond sage get downs of the barrel, she is strangely quite tall for a woman. In fact, she is the tallest woman in town (this is a tiny town). Her green robe matched her eyes but unlike other Mages and Sages, she doesn’t wear a hat.

‘’Everyone, I understand that you are all angry after Lord Daniel, and so am I.’’ Rezzy said calmly, ‘’however, I think wasting food in this way will bring no good for everyone in this town.’’

She is not done yet however, showed by her beautiful smile.

‘’I bring good news, I’ve find a solution.’’

Everyone is surprised, including Lord Daniel.

‘’You mean, you will kill them all for us?’’ asked another woman in the crowd.

‘’Well… I’m not exactly sure but maybe I could with the help of my-’’ responded Rezzy before being interrupted by a faraway voice that said ‘’It will not work!’’.

Everyone in the crowd turns around, the voice came from a tiny woman. Also blond hair, but she wears a strange outfit : a black robe who has a few purple eyes and lines on it, even on the back. The robe also has a hood, the buttons and part of the sleeves are yellow, the robe is also open in the middle where we can see that the lady also wear a shirt and a pair of pants that are commonly used to be wear while wearing an armor. It’s seems familiar. She also wears a pair of glasses.

The young blond lady comes closer, she stops close to Rezzy.

‘’Who are you?’’ asked Rezzy.

‘’The name’s Chloey’’ responded the young woman ‘’nice to meet you… Rezzy, was it?’’

‘’Indeed but why are you here, I know everyone in this town and I never saw you before.’’ said Rezzy with a curious tone.

‘’That’s because I’m on a trip, from far away from my homeland.’’ responded Chloey ‘’Anyway, about that plan of yours, let me tell you that it won’t end very well if you do it.’’

‘’Why?’’ asked Rezzy, not being happy that a total stranger comes and tell her that her plan sucks.

‘’You may be powerful, but this is still a single woman again a group of brigands. You don’t even have armor on you, a couple of hits from them and well… let’s say you won’t get out of this in one piece. And don’t get me started on their chief, he’s a berserker, he’s extremely dangerous, especially who doesn’t have that much defence.’’ explained Chloey ‘’However, I saw what they just did and I will not ignore this. I may be just a stranger for all of you, but I would like to help you, if you want of course.’’

‘’If you have a better plan, I suppose it’s okay’’ said Rezzy and she turns around and talks the crowd ‘’Everyone, we will dealt with them so please, leave us alone and get back to your lifes.’’

The crowd agrees and scathers, leaving the field. Lord Daniel was about to go but the tiny tactician grabbed him by the shoulder.

‘’Not so fast’’ said Chloey ‘’we have some business to discuss together.’’

‘’W-what do you mean?’’ asked Lord Daniel.

‘’Hello? Beating these thugs won’t be cheap and since you are the richest person around here AND the chief to boot, if would be nice if you would fund us’’ said Chloey.

‘’What’s your solution, by the way?’’ asked Rezzy with again the curious look on her face.

‘’Simple: we will make an army, a tiny, tiny army but still!’’ said Chloey, happily ‘’Which is why mister the Lord over here will have to pay for the weapons, potions and other stuffs that we need.’’

‘’B-but!’’ said Lord Daniel with an anxious voice.

‘’Why don’t we have a nice little chat over here, only you and me, mister the Lord?’’ said Chloey while grabbing his shoulders with force while also having a strange smile on her face ‘’This will take a little bit of time Rezzy, so you should take this time to find recruits for me, ok?’’

‘’If you say so, but do try to be easy on him will you?’’ responded Rezzy while turning her back. She was now on her way inside the town, leaving the lord and the tiny tactician alone.

A few moments later…

‘’Let’s see’’ thought Rezzy ‘’Who should I recruit first?’’

She just arrived in front of her own house and then went directly to the neighboring house.

‘’Him first’’ thought Rezzy ‘’after all, he will come, whatever that he likes or not’’

The neighboring house is by far smaller that hers, since hers is actually the second biggest after Lord Daniel’s, of course. On the door, there’s a wooden plate which is it written : Nym’s house. Rezzy knocks gently on the door.

‘’Nym, it’s me Rezzy, can you open the door please?’’ said Rezzy.

She waits a few seconds but no one answered.

‘’He was here earlier… maybe he didn’t hear the sound’’ thought Rezzy.

She knocks on the door again, this time a little bit stronger.

‘’Nym, it’s Rezzy, open the door please!’’ shouted Rezzy.

Still no answers.

‘’I swear… if he’s asleep again.’’ thought Rezzy.

Rezzy goes quickly inside her house and comes back in front of Nym’s door with a strange tome.

‘’Open Sesame’’ said Rezzy.

A strange mist comes out of the tome and goes inside the door, the door then opens by itself. Rezzy looks all over the tiny house but she couldn’t find Nym but she instead finds a note on Nym’s table:

Hi Rezzy,

If you are wondering why I’m not in my house, it’s because this strange chick who calls herself a ‘’Fire mage master’’ came and challenged me to a duel while I was studying. It’s not a death battle, I assure you, but I’m not sure how well I’ll performed… so bring a staff just in case. We’ll fight at the central place, see you there.

Nym

PS: I would like that you stop using this tome to go inside my house without my permission, would appreciate it.

PS2: I finished making that stuffed animal that I told you about the other day, I’ll give it to Est once your husband comes back from his trip with her and your son.

PS3: I would like to know why no one has invented a water tome, I don’t want to cheat or anything but she seems strong at first glance.

PS4: Why are you still reading this letter? I’m probably being turned into a firework right now.

The thought of her pupil fighting a losing battle make Rezzy shivers in all over her body. Since she took Nym under her wings a few months ago, aside from learning how to use magic, Nym has show no progress whatsoever. He can barely cast Fire, Thunder and Wind and his power is very weak. Sages do have high resistances but when Nym used his Wind tome on Rezzy, his attack turned into a breeze.

Rezzy immediately gets out of his pupil’s house and closes the door. She gets her Heal Staff in her backyard before going to the central place. As she arrives, she sees a lot of people scattered across the central place, while it is still a ‘’friendly’’ battle, some people can still get hurt especially if someone is using fire magic.

Upon seeing the battle, Rezzy knew it really was a losing battle: The fire mage was very experimented compare to Nym. In fact, this mage keeps saying weird things:

‘’In accordance with the principles of all creations, let the hammer of eternity descend unto him!’’

‘’FIRE!’’

The magic of the Fire tome is abnormally bigger than usual, no doubt this girl knows what she’s doing. However, Nym keeps dodging every single Fire spell that the Fire Mage throws at him. Rezzy realized Nym’s strategy: he wants to hold on until the Fire tome breaks. The problem is that the Fire tomes have 45 pages worth of spells, the battle will last for quite a while assuming it’s only the beginning of the battle.

However, the fire mage misstepped and she fell on the ground. Nym, realizing it’s now the chance to attack, opens his thunder tome and casts Thunder. The spell make contact with the girl, but it only manages to scratch her. Upon seeing the results of his attack, the pupil throws down his tome.

‘’… I concede defeat, it was a losing battle from the start.’’ said Nym with a disappointed look on his face.

‘’Ha! Told ya I was the best but I must commend you for doing a wise decision’’ said the Fire Mage while getting up ‘’Your proud may be wounded but you can be happy that I, the great Fire Mage Mugemin, has commend you for your efforts!’’

Satisfied of showing her true powers, the mage walks away leaving a sad Nym alone on the central place. The crowd also left after seeing an exciting battle with such a sad end. Rezzy approaches to her sad pupil.

‘’Nym, I’m proud of you, you know?’’ said Rezzy softly.

‘’I’m sorry that I disappointed you again’’ said the sad pupil.

‘’At least look at the bright side: you prevent yourself of getting hurt by accepting defeat.’’ said the sage to her pupil.

‘’…’’

‘’Nothing changed, huh?’’ asked Rezzy upon seeing his disappointment.

‘’No and I’m really wondering if there’s something wrong with me.’’ responded Nym.

‘’Wow, that was an amazing battle’’ said a familiar voice.

Both Rezzy and Nym turned around to see Chloey.

‘’Oh hi Chloey!’’ said Rezzy happily.

‘’You know her?’’ asked Nym to Rezzy.

‘’Oh yes, she does!’’ responded the blond tactician happily.

‘’You see…’’ said Rezzy to Nym.

After a few explanations…

‘’… and that’s why I wanted to talk you’’ finished Rezzy.

‘’I’m not sure… I will only be the way because of my… problem.’’ said Nym.

‘’What problem?’’ asked Chloey.

‘’Well, we don’t really exactly know what it is but it seems that magical training has no effect on Nym.’’ explained Rezzy ‘’Since he learned how to use magic, his power didn’t change at all, it is still very weak, no matter how much physical training and mental training I gave to him. Perhaps you saw this somewhere?’’

‘’Actually, I know exactly what is going on.’’ said Chloey.

‘’Wait, you do?’’ asked Nym, surprised by Chloey’s quick answer.

‘’Yes, you know skills, right? You can learn those eventually by learning something from your class.’’ explained Chloey ‘’However, some individuals can learn special skills from only birth or special occasions, we call them ‘’Skills’’ with a capital for this reason. And you just happen to have one: Aptitude.’’

‘’Aptitude?’’ asked both Nym and Rezzy.

‘’It allows you to be stronger after each and every victory against any foe, I can guarantee that you will able to even beat Rezzy while still being a mage if you have defeated enough foes. You just need a little bit of babysitting for the beginning and you will be fine afterwards.’’

‘’Wait, hold on a minute’’ said Rezzy ‘’How do you even see that in the first place?’’

‘’Oh, it’s a thing that tacticians have to learn, those ‘’Skills’’ take the form of an aura.’’ responded the tiny tactician.

‘’Holy cow, that’s awesome!’’ responded Nym ‘’I have to tell Tristan and Harve about this.

‘’Actually, you shouldn’t’’ said Chloey while grabbing Nym by the shoulder before he runs too far ‘’while it is nice and all, it would be better that we keep this a secret, for safety measures of course.’’

‘’Huh, ok then but I’ll still be going though, maybe I could ask them if they want to join us for your army.’’ responded Nym as he left to join his 2 friends.

‘’You didn’t tell that just to cheer him up, didn’t you?’’ asked Rezzy while looking at Nym on his way to Tristan’s house.

‘’Rezzy, when it comes to personal matters with my companions, I’m never joking’’ responded Chloey in a serious tone.

Alucia, time before the next attack : 26 days

Cleaning was far from being Nym’s favorite task but a request from Rezzy is an important request. She was gone since this morning to arrange the final details of the camp with Chloey and she asked Nym to clean her house before going. After everything was done, Nym closed the door behind him and went to join his 2 friends for lunch before they all go to the camp for the afternoon. With his sweater, his pant, his blue cape and his mage hat, Nym felt ready for a big adventure even thought the adventure is just… training.

Upon arriving to Tristan’s house, Nym could smell the delicious food of Harve.

‘’Hey! What’s up you two?’’ asked Nym to his friends.

Harve was busy eating with his chopsticks, but Tristan was only playing with his dagger.

‘’Oh hey!’’ said Tristan happily.

The thief with long black hair was busy between playing with his dagger and make sure that his loot pick doesn’t break on him on his next ‘’adventure’’.

As for Harve, he still had food in mouth but it did a gesture with his left hand that means ‘’Yo!’’. Nym will never understand how he can sits comfortably with his bigger sword and his little sword attached on his back. At least the young ninja with short black hair is very dangerous in battle between his shurikens, his 2 swords, his strange light armor and he can even climb walls very fast!

‘’Say’’ asked Tristan ‘’I’m not still not sure about that camp, I still want my freedom you know.’’

‘’Aw come on! you will still be able to sleep, just not as much as before.’’ responded Nym.

‘’Ha! I wish that was about sleeping’’ said the thief ‘’it’s about battling, you know I can’t fight at all and I don’t want too either’’

‘’Come on, just do a little effort, we need as many person as possible if we want to beat these brigands’’ responded the mage ‘’Right, Harve?’’

Harve who wasn’t completely done eating his rice balls yet.

‘’If you want peace, you must prepare for war.’’ responded the young ninja calmly as he continues to eat his meal.

‘’See? Even Harve agrees!’’ said Nym to Tristan ‘’And I beat these brigands has a ton of stolen gold that you can steal back from them.’’

‘’Whatever, I just hope I’ll be able to stay in one piece.’’ responded Tristan to Nym.

Nym took a look outside and see that it is time to go.

‘’Yeah but look at the position of the sun, it’s time to go to the camp.’’ said Nym as he quickly left the room.

He is soon joined by his 2 friends and they go to the camp outside of the town.

Upon arriving in the camp, the 3 friends noticed there was already a few peoples waiting: a cleric, a cavalier, a knight, a dancer and another mage.

Nym shivers, he knew that Mage: Mugemin, ‘’the Fire Mage Master’’. Why was she here of all places in town?

A few minutes later, Chloey and Rezzy came out of a tent and went to greet the recruits.

‘’Welcome, welcome!’’ said Rezzy happily.

‘’I would like everyone to sit down because I want to have your full attention for a few moments’’ said Chloey in a more serious tone.

And everyone sat down on the ground.

‘’*Ahem* Very well as I explained before to each and everyone of you when I talked to you, this is no laughing matter.’’ explained Chloey.

‘’As you all know, these brigands oblige us to give them a part of our crops and profits otherwise they will slaughter every single of us’’ continued Rezzy ‘’and in less than one month, they will comeback again.’’

‘’However, 2 days ago was the last time that they will do that ever again.’’ said the blond Tactician ‘’but they are too many for the 2 of us which is why we need your help.

‘’We know that most of you probably never went into an actual battle before but this is why you are all here today’’ said the blond sage.

‘’Yes, I trained and fought alongside many friends before I even end up in this country’’ said Chloey ‘’so training you will not be a difficult task, I assure all of you.’’

‘’Now, I would like everyone to form a circle’’ requested Rezzy ‘’It will be easier for everyone to introduce themselves.’’

Now, the tiny group of recruits became a circle.

‘’Say your name and something about yourself’’ said the sage happily ‘’For example: Hi everyone I’m Rezzy and I’m a sage. I’m also married and have 2 wonderful children.’’

‘’As for me I’m Chloey, your tactician’’ said the tiny tactician happily ‘’I’m also married and the mother of 3 children’’.

Nym was surprised, he didn’t know that Chloey was also a mother. He didn’t have time to think much about it because it was his turn.

‘’Oh hey I’m Nym! As you can see, I’m a mage and Rezzy’s pupil. I look forward to be uh, stronger with you guys.’’ said the young pupil happily.

‘’The name’s Tristan and I’m a thief.’’ said the young thief ‘’Don’t worry tho, I won’t steal anything from you, I have better things to do.

It was Harve’s turn but everyone had trouble seeing his face because he wears a strange mask that only covers his face hat, according to Nym and Tristan, he cannot take off at all cost.

‘’Greetings’’ said the young ninja as he bowed ‘’my blade is yours.’’

Nym was really not looking forward the next person because it was Mugemin. You could see a smile on her face as she holds her tome and hat in a badass pose while her red cape levitates on its own.

‘’It seems fate has smiled upon all of you, today.’’ said the fire mage ‘’My name is Mugemin! My calling is that of a fire mage, one who controls fire magic, the strongest of all offensive magics.’’

Nym took a quick glance at Rezzy to see that just like him, she saw that Mugemin was saying bullshit: Rezzy told Nym many, many times that fire magic is only stronger against beast while wind is strong against flyers and thunder is strong against dragons. There’s no magic that is stronger against each other except if we also talk about light and dark magic.

Up next is the cleric. She doesn’t wear that much armor either but have a pink scarf around her neck. She has a flower like staff and has green hair that is also shaped like a flower..

‘’My name is Flona’’ said the cleric very happily ‘’and I’m a member of a cult in this town, my heals are known to be the best, so much so that some people call me a goddess’’

Nym didn’t even look at Rezzy this time, he could see so much bullshit it was almost hurting him. Rezzy also explained to him that staffs are more powerful if your magic is powerful. Which means that if for example Flona needs a Mend staff to fully heal someone, Rezzy could easily do it with just a Heal staff.

Then there’s the knight. She also has blond hair, but she got a massive armor that protect her from the neck to the legs.

‘’My name is Light!’’ said the knight with an assured voice ‘’and I hope I can become an indestructible wall for you guys. Oh yes, I hope they will hit me hard, very hard! However I also sometimes miss my attacks so I’ll try to work on that.’’

‘’Was she… turn on on the thought of being attacked by brigands?’’ thought Nym. ‘’Why can’t we just have normal peoples?’’

Luckily for him, the sword cavalier Knil and his sister Aryl, the dancer are seem to be ‘’okay’’ for Nym. Kril, who is also blond and wears a green tunic, a green cap and brown boots, wish to be a bow knight one day. As for his sister, she seems to be a very happy person but she also likes to use a telescope and looks around in her free time.

With all the introductions done, it’s time for the first training session!

‘’Here’s what you have to do: Rezzy and I made exercises that you will need to do’’ said Chloey ‘’ but I don’t want that you do all these exercises only one time, I want you to do them until your body is screaming you to stop and trust me, I WILL see when you can do the exercises no more. But to motivate you, I’ll sing a song while Rezzy takes notes… but for now… GO!.

Every recruit started to do the exercises while the tactician and the sage were preparing to do their respective tasks.

‘’Wait, you never told me about that last part.’’ whispered Rezzy in Chloey’s ear.

‘’It will be fine, I know what I’m doing’’ whispered back Chloey.

And she started singing:

‘’Let’s get down to business

To defeat… the brigands’’

‘’Yes!’’ said every recruit.

‘’Do we have cowards

When we asked… for braves

You’re the noobest bunch I’ve ever met

But you can bet before we’re through’’

She stopped singing for a second because she saw that Tristan was slacking off outside the training area. She quickly grabbed him by the colt and before she threw him back in the training area.

‘’Mister I’ll… make a soldier… out of you.’’

Rezzy tried to hold her laugh as she was taking notes.

‘’Tranquil as a forest

But with fire magic… within

Once you find your strength

You are sure… to win’’

She stopped singing again because she saw that most of them were already tired.

‘’You are a fragile, weak and clueless lot

And you haven’t got a clue

Somehow I… will make a soldier… out of all of you.’’

‘’I’m never going to catch my breath’’ said Mugemin

‘’Say goodbye for those who knew me’’ said Tristan

‘’Boy was I fool for not training enough with Rezzy’’ said Nym

‘’This girl is gonna train us to death’’ said Kril

‘’Hope she will not be too hard with me’’ said Aryl

‘’Now I wish I know how to swing’’ said Light

‘’Be a soldier’’ said all the recruits

‘’You must be swift as a Pegasus’’

‘’Be a soldier’’ said all the recruits

‘’With all the force of a Bolganone’’

‘’Be a soldier’’ said all the recruits

‘’With all the strengths of a raging warrior

Mysterious side of the warrrrrrrrrrr’’

‘’Time is racing towards us

‘Til the brigands arrive

Heard my every order

And you will… survive’’

‘’You are all unsuited for a war

You could go give up and go home

But I’ll promise… I’ll make a soldier… out of all of youuuuuuuuuu’’

Alucia, 15 days before the next attack.

‘’Miss Chloey’’ said Nym ‘’I have a question.’’

‘’Yes, Nym?’’ said Chloey while she was doing paperwork.

‘’You see, it’s about of what you said about the ‘’Skills’’, a few weeks ago’’ said the mage ‘’ that only tacticians can see them in a form of an aura.’’

‘’Yes, what about it?’’ asked Chloey.

‘’It was a lie, wasn’t it?’’ asked Nym

Chloey, surprised by the question, dropped her feather.

‘’I knew it.’’ said Nym ‘’Since a few days, I can see a black aura around you. It’s only those affected by a Skill that are able to see who also has one like some sort of mark, right?’’

‘’… Yes you are right, I’m very sorry for that lie but it was for your well being.’’ responded Chloey.

‘’What is… your Skill, Chloey?’’ asked Nym who couldn’t resist the urge of knowing what kind of power she has.

‘’… Shadowgift’’ answered the tactician ‘’I can use Dark tomes without the need of being a Dark mage.’’

‘’Oh wow, that’s awesome!’’ said the young mage.

‘’But since you know our secret now, I have a favor to ask you: If you see any enemy with a Skill and I haven’t notice yet, please tell me immediately.’’ asked the tiny tactician ‘’These Skills are so dangerous, they can turn the tide of the battle in a blink of an eye and I don’t anyone to die because I was too slow to see them.’’

‘’Very well, it’s a promise’’ responded Nym.

‘’Good, but for now, you go back to training’’ said Chloey ‘’You still have a long way to go, just like everyone else.

‘’Ok, see you’’ responded Nym as he leaves the tent.

Alucia, 5 days remaining before the next attack

While the training that Nym got at the camp was useless for his power, Chloey has personally gave a special training to him, allowing his Skill to activate after each session. He is now more powerful, he recently put Mugemin at her place and he feels that he will be able to challenge his master to a duel in the near future.

Tonight, it was Nym and Harve that were on guard duty, Nym decided to patrol the dark forest, while Harve took care of the camp.

Nym was patrolling the dark forest for quite a long time now. He decided to take a break and sits under a tree. Everything was alright until his left foot made contact with something… hard. It was too dark for him to see at first until he founds that the hard thing was the handle of an axe. It wasn’t too long for Nym to find a body close to the axe.

‘’Wait a minute… ‘’ thought Nym ‘’that’s one of the brigands!’’

Nym couldn’t believe his eyes, the man was dead on the ground, killed by … an ice shard? But he wasn’t alone, Nym found another dead brigand a little bit later but something is weird: there’s no ice shard but the brigand has been cut really deep.

‘’What in the world’’ thought Nym.

He pulled out a Warp stone out of his pocket, it allow the user to warp elsewhere, useful for running away but it has a single use. He then created a fake bird and sended it to Harve. A few moments later, Harve joined his friend.

‘’Go and tell everyone about this discovery’’ asked Nym to his friend ‘’I think something is going on and I have a bad feeling about this.

The ninja nods and then jumps from tree to tree. Nym started to run towards the brigand’s camp.

As Chloey said, the brigand’s camp was a gigantic camp because their numbers were like 30 or 40 men. On his way to the place, Nym found even more dead brigands. Upon arriving, Nym noticed something strange: it’s calm, too calm. Nym expected to find a battle but the only thing he found is more dead brigands.

Nym sneaked inside the camp, he didn’t realize sooner but the time of the death for all those brigands has to be recent: there’s no odor. He finally arrived at the center of the camp, which is followed by a scream from a man. He can also hears 2 voices, Nym decided to take a look while staying hidden behind this barrel.

He was shocked: the man was the chief of the brigands since Chloey explained that he’s a berserker. He was tied and on the ground, surrounding him is 2 women who wear… maid uniforms? One has red hair and the only one has blue hair.

‘’Why are there maids here’’ thought Nym.

What surprised even more Nym is that they don’t carry any knives or staffs. Instead, the blue maid has some kind of spiked metal ball attached to a chain with a handle. The red maid doesn’t have a weapon.

The berserker screamed something incomprehensible because the blue haired just covered his mouth with an adhesive.

‘’Shut up!’’ said the blue haired maid as she strikes vigorously the berserker with the chain of her weapon ‘’How much time before you are done, Sister?’’

‘’A few more moments.’’ responded the red haired maid to her sister.

The red maid was busy doing some kind of magic ritual to the man. Nym wondered what those 2 maids were doing. However, he took a closer look at the berserker, he noticed something: he has a ‘’Skill’’! And so are the maids since Nym could also see an aura around both of them.

After a few seconds, the red haired maid stopped using her ritual and suddenly, Nym saw the man’s aura going out of his body. Then the red haired maid moved her right hand and the aura went inside the blue haired maid! Now, the man had no aura and the one from the blue haired maid was slightly… different in color.

‘’It is done, kill him, there must be no witness.’’ said the red haired maid.

The blue haired maid then quickly struck the berserker again, but this time with the main part of her weapon, killing the man in an instant.

‘’Let’s go now, Sister’’ said the blue haired maid.

But as she was about to leave in the opposite direction of Nym’s, her sister grabbed her shoulder.

‘’What is it?’’ asked the young woman to her sister.

‘’I can see someone’’ responded the red haired maid.

‘’A brigand that we forgot to kill?’’ asked the blue haired maid.

‘’No’’ responded her sister ‘’It’s a mage hidden behind a barrel’’

Nym was wondering why she was standing still and why she closed her eyes. Look like her ‘’Skill’’ is Clairvoyance (yeah Chloey forced him to study every single possible ‘’Skill’’ that she noted in her book). Nym decided to make a run for it.

However, in an instant, the maids jumped over him and blocked his escape route.

‘’How in the world?’’ said Nym ‘’Are you maids or ninjas’’.

‘’Your mother should have tell you to mind your own business’’ said the red haired maid as she prepared herself to use an attack.

‘’Sister, Sister… look: I can see an aura around this boy’’ whispered the blue haired maid to her sister

It seems they had some kind of private discussion, Nym could swear that they hear their names, something that start with ‘’R’’.

‘’No matter’’ said the red haired maid ‘’your ‘’Skill’’ is useless for the both of us, so I guess we will have to kill you… Paralyzia!

In an instant, Nym couldn’t stand up, he got paralyzed! He can’t even move his arms or his legs. Also… his ‘’Skill’’ is useless!? So they are after ‘’Skills’’?

‘’WHAT THE HELL!?’’ yelled Nym ‘’Since when can maids use magic and also, without tomes!?’’

‘’Please kill him quick’’ said the red haired maid to her sister ‘’I can’t stand him already.’’

‘’Al Huma!’’ said the blue haired maid while also opening her left hand.

4 ice shards appeared and flight towards Nym’s direction. But unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to stop them.

‘’Ikuzo!’’ said a familiar voice.

In a blink of an eye, 2 shurikens destroyed 2 ice shards. Harve landed close to his friend and took out his little sword.

‘’I am ready.’’ said Harve calmly.

With precision, he deflected with his sword the last 2 ice shards back to the maids! Surprised, the red haired maid casted a wind spell that quickly destroyed the ice shards.

‘’No way…’’ said the red haired maid.

‘’Our battle is only beginning, ladies.’’ said the young ninja calmly.

He took out a Restore Potion out of his pocket and gave him to Nym. The mage, now able to move again, got up and picked up his Elthunder tome on the ground.

Meanwhile…

Chloey was running as fast as she can with the rest of the army inside the dark forest. After Harve woke them and told them about the discovery and how it was weird because of the ice shards and cuts, he immediately went back inside the forest. Unfortunately, the preparations for moving out took longer than expected for Chloey.

Upon arriving, the brigands’ camp was completely destroyed and there was smoke all over the place. Rezzy used her Arcwind tome to clear out the smoke, they find out what was going on: Harve was busy in a close combat battle with a blue haired maid while Nym was busy throwing spells at a red haired maid who also throws sharp wind spells at him.

‘’Everyone!’’ yelled Chloey ‘’Stop these 2 women.’’

The 2 maids soon realized that reinforcements just arrived. They both jumped out of their respective battle to be close to each other. They soon got themselves surrounded between the 2 friends and the rest of the army.

‘’Look like the cavalry is here’’ said the red haired maid.

‘’You are going nowhere’’ said Chloey in a serious tone.

Upon repositioning her left foot on the ground, the blue haired maid felt something on the ground.

The Warp stone that Nym brought with him.

She quickly takes the stone, grabs her sister arm with her left hand and lifts the stone in the air with her right hand.

In an instant, they got teleported out before anyone had the time to react.

‘’S-shoot’’ said Nym weakly before collapsing.

He was soon imitated by Harve, who despite using his sword for support, also collapsed.

Rezzy, Chloey and Tristan rushed to their side to see if they were okay. They were both alive but Nym had many, many cuts and Harve had a few bruises and his left arm was very wouden.

The rest of the army stood there, in silence.

A few days later…

Chloey was in her tent, with a strange stone in hand. After a few moments, the stone started to slightly shine.

‘’Chrom?’’ said Chloey.

‘’Chloey!? Gods… do you know how much time we all waited?’’ said the voice inside the stone ‘’We thought something happened to you.’’

‘’I know, darling’’ said Chloey sadly ‘’but I bring dire news, I’m afraid.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’ asked the voice anxiously.

‘’Naga…’’ responded Chloey ‘’she was right, there’s a threat in this world and I’m afraid they are already more stronger… than I anticipated.