I was reborn and became a weak magician

Chapter 8: Every new journey needs a destination

Adventurer Kokoro and Elinoy have formed an official party called Triumph, the reason they chose this name was that Kokoro did not plan on being defeated by any quest, monster or person. Surnames in this world are not that common and are mostly reserved for the nobles in the land, so Kokoro will refrain from using it in his introductions as his family is not royalty.

Ever since I saw what I was doing with my life I realized that there's a lot of things I've never seen in this country and nation. other than the variety of people roaming the streets, there was some interesting houses, tools and technology that existed. it was no light bulb technology there was stuff I have never seen like the sword imbued with magic, they cost nearly double the number of regular supplies though. The story for why items are imbued with magic is because of one of the great mages. He was a mage that used tools to use magic as he could use his body since he was a very weak man, his name is Eldrich and today he should be turning close to 120 years old. all the great mages are old so their magic abilities lack power, meaning they cannot fight, it is said that the average age for people to die is 60 years old. I have barely any money and my rank is low so I don't have a solid income yet, my meals are the same every day as I can't afford different types of meals, I luckily don't have to pay rent as the place I live was given to me by the king himself. The dungeon quest for my rank is low, not only that but while I was in my depressed state they change the ranking system just a bit. Bronze and silver remained the same, the ranks above those go as follows:

Gold (Gold rank)

Amethyst (Amethyst rank)

Xenotime (Xeno rank)

Holy Grace (Grace rank)

There is supposedly an individual who has achieved the holy grace rank but have been in this nation ever since it was announced, their identity is kept confidential to protect their reputation but their feats are told to everyone to keep everyone's morale high. I've got a lot of things I'd like to keep track of but I've got to get stronger so I may call myself strong, the great mages lived long lives and made great achievements and my sister got the acknowledgement of the difference between them and me... is my magic is weaker. Elinoy knows about my magic and it interests her, she just doesn't want to learn how to use it she claims she's more suit for regular combat and lifestyle. I've never seen her fight as I always take quests and go by myself, she gets her cut I get mine. she's just a freeloader at this point. Her race is Beastkin so I'd imagine her combat prowess is something well suited for adventurers, I'll ask her during today's guild meeting.

I spotted Elinoy atop a couple of crates near the back of the crowd, we haven't spoken to each other ever since we formed our party, so it was slightly difficult approaching her as I haven't spoken to anyone in a while so im going to just have to wing it a bit. "Lin-Lin!!" she turns to me and gave me a wave with a slight grin, seemed like she was excited.

"Hey, you don't look too enthusiastic about this ceremony," Elinoy says referring to my posture and facial expression. Ah, so it was just a ceremony of sorts, not interesting in any way." Why would I be enthusiastic about some people getting awards and stuff, that has nothing to do with me."  in my old life I received tons of awards for my studies, so the idea was not interesting to me. Elinoy's expression changes to a smug grin, she stands up and dusts herself off. It seems like she's got new equipment, I've still got leather armor, my coat and the dagger that I got from Yua.

In the midst of me analyzing my equipment, I heard the announcer call out a familiar name. "The party Triumph will be awarded by the guild master herself for their 100% quest completion rate in their silver rank," the announcer says with thunder in his voice. "May the members of Triumph please come to the stage for the mock battle display."

We were supposed to display our strength to everyone, it seemed as Elinoy knew because she had a smug look on her face. We made our ways to the stage and before I could even ask Elinoy about how we should fight I felt a bloodthirst so strong that without even thinking I put up a stone wall, then came Elinoy from my side her weapon wasn't drawn so I decided to take the punch but the hit was so hard I almost got knocked out, she is relentless with her attacks I began using water magic to slow her punches so I could dodge. Her combat was far better than I imagined, her attacks kept getting stronger and her aura kept getting thicker by the second. If I don't start attacking and bring up her guard I might just get beaten to a pulp, I pull my knife and throw a couple of quick jabs. if I injure her I can just heal her with magic so I need to go all out in this fight, but it wasn't as easy as that since her speed was a great advantage to her, the blood l**t I felt from Elinoy was suffocating. My movements felt slowed and my magic was losing its effect as the fight prolonged. I switched from water to fire but it did not affect her as her speed put it out quick, but I was just able to keep up with her. Elinoy took this as a real fight instead of a mock battle, her hair went from her polka-dotted white hair to a dark black as well as the white from her eyes, and her blue eyes went blood red, and even the floor had a crater due to the amount of force emitting from her body alone. Her aura changed completely I felt helpless like I couldn't do anything, within one blink she is right in front of me with her knives to my throat.

This wasn't where I was going to die though as a green barrier of sorts encased both me and Elinoy. "That's quite enough from the two of you," a female voice, firm yet soft-spoken voice says." There was a woman that walked up to us. Elinoy changed back to her normal self and put on a sour face. She was definitely in control the whole time, here I thought she lost control and went berserk. The owner of the firm female voice emerges from the crowd, everyone puts their hand on their chest as if to salute her. "Who are you?" I say completely flabbergasted by this whole ordeal.

"Me?" she says in her calming voice.

"I am Martha the current guild master for the guild that works for this nation, this was supposed to be a simple display of strength but you two went beyond that basic rule and will be punished, you shall get your reward after your punishment."

She looked weak but had a feeling of superiority in her presence. And just like that, the ceremony ended with everyone scared of our party as the guild master had to show u in person to stop our battle.

I was taken to the guild master's office and sat down one on one with her. She told me that Elinoy will be punished as I was not the cause of the problem, Elinoy is very troublesome to the guild and me doing all the work within the quests left her with an itch for combat. Martha wanted to give me a rank up as a reward for our success rate but everyone wouldn't be happy with that as rumours are flying around about me like I was hiring someone to take the jobs for me or I used unorthodox methods to come out the dungeons unscathed. From the crowds perspective, it looked like I was using a magic tool so they do not believe I have any combat prowess like Elinoy. With all this info I decided I want to trade the reward for a favour from the guild master herself. She wasn't apposed to the idea as she wanted to keep an eye on our party, as that topic concluded she brought up Elinoy's and my mock battle we had. Martha thought it was all planned to fight like that but I was quick in explaining the situation I had with her. That we are not close and know nothing of each other, other than the fact that I use magic. I had no idea of what she was capable of in terms of battle and fighting her today was a fight I won't forget as I felt myself in actual danger.

Martha told me that she knew quite a lot about Elinoy as she was adopted by Martha. She decided to tell me their story.

"Elinoy's parents were sold by her people, and she was abandoned in the wilderness to fend for herself. She was constantly battling to survive, I found her asleep on the ground with more scars than my heart could handle, I've given her what my mother has given me but I feel as if it was not enough to get her to open up to me. she would constantly cause problems with other kids and do all kinds of troublesome things so she never made any friends. For some weird reason, she has taken a liking to you. In her regular fights, she'd go all out but she went easy on you at the beginning, may I ask you to please take care of her in my absence,"

she puts her hands in front of her and placed her head on the ground, this position called dogeza in Japanese culture, it portrays etiquette. it surprised me a bit to see her doing this, I couldn't refuse her offer as it seemed like she had been trying for ages to get friends for Elinoy. The joy on Martha's face put a smile on my face, and from that moment forward, Elinoy and I became each other's, first friend.