The Missing Enchantress (English Version)

Chapter 9

I was awakened by a certain noise. A commotion? Accompanied by a series of tapping sound. Whatever caused that noise, it was certainly annoying as it kept me from getting back into sleep. Come on, look what time it is, it’s still too early for me come out of bed. I slowly peeled my eyes and gazed at the window’s direction where the noise came from. Rays of the sun, leaked from the small opening space the curtains failed to cover.

Having no choice, I got out of bed to check what’ causing the commotion and that noise. As I spread the curtains wide, I squinted as the morning rays entered my room. And there I found a man standing behind the window. He gave an annoying smile as he peeked through the window. Yeah, it was just Asleif.

Meh! I should get back to sleep. I closed the curtains again and burrowed myself on the bed and wrapped myself into my blanket. I don’t have classes today and Lady Sherilo instructed me to take this day to relax and rest. If it weren’t for that stupid Asleif who made noises at my window, I wouldn’t be disturbed in my precious sleep.

Wait? Window? I sprung up from my bed immediately and checked the window again. And yeah, there’s no mistake, it was just Asleif with that ever-annoying grin in his face. I wonder what came to this guy’s mind this early in the morning.

I decided to open the window and let him enter. Maybe he had something urgent that made him get here this early to the point that he sneaked to my window when this room is at the fifth floor of this building. I peeked to the window to see how did he managed to get up here.

And as I found out, it may be as funny as it seemed but I forgot that magic does exist here. He created a super long ladder made of his ice magic. No wonder he was standing outside of my window when originally there was no some kind of foot hold for him to actually stand there. What an imaginative guy he is.

“Uh… can you dispel your magic right now? Someone might saw it and who knows what they would think and how would they view that,” I said.

“Just let it be, don’t worry about it,” Waving his hand to me. He was constantly darting his eyes at random to my room. Seriously? what does he think to my room, some kind of museum?

He crossed his arms, and brought one of his hand to his chin. He approached one of my drawers. Well, I don’t use a cabinet here for my clothes since I do own a small number of dress and clothes so they just fit in to my drawers. They were all given to me by Lady Sherilo.

“Just dispel your magic, they might think someone sneaked in to my room doing robbery.”

“Or they could think that, someone wants to escape with you and live somewhere to build a family,” he said as he winked at me.

I just rolled my eyes to him. Well, that’s typical of him. I just got used to his lame joke like that. The next time I looked at him, he was already opening my drawer. And that part… Wait–

I immediately approached my drawer and slammed it close. Seriously? There were plenty of things he could mess and check, but he ended up opening this drawer? I then pushed him away of the drawer. What’s wrong with this guy? Did he forget that this is a girl’s room?

“AW, that hurts Kiera. What’s wrong with you, that you are suddenly pushing people that harsh,” He protested.

I didn’t respond and just turned my back to him crossing my arms to my chest. That’s embarrassing you know? What the hell is he thinking? It was that time when I felt him hold me by my shoulder.

“Are you alright Kiera? Your face is turning red, are you sick?” he asked, with a face that seemed unaware of the mistake he made.

“No, I am not! D-do you… think tha-that’s alright for me?” I said, as I slightly face down.

“What?  What do you mean?” He asked.

“tch… can you please leave now? If you are here just to annoy me, then you can go now Aslief before I drag you out of here!”

“What are you so mad of? Is it because I accidentally saw your underwear? –”

Before he could continue and spout anymore words. I gave him a beating. Slapped him, punched him which made a series of clapping sound and then kicked him hard, throwing him away out of the door.

ASLEIF POV

I got kicked out of the room and got sent flying out until I crashed hard on the steel railings in front her room’s door. She immediately slammed the door as if she’s trying to deafen me with the sound it created. And here I am left sprawling on the floor, with my face feeling scorching hot from her slaps. I can tell, she left a red handprint of her hand in my face.

What’s that girl’s problem? I just accidentally saw it anyways when I opened the drawer, I did not intend to see them really. I could only sigh as I rub my scorching hot cheeks.

What I saw in her drawer flashed back in my mind. I felt my face getting hotter when it flashbacks. I shook my head, trying to shrug of that thought and memory. That was purely accidental okay?

“Are you alright Asleif? What just happened here? I just heard a crashing sound so I rushed here,” Lady Sherilo’s face was covered in worry.

I just sighed again and stood up straight while still caressing my cheeks.

“Oh, it’s you Lady Sherilo, my apologies for coming without a word today. I was just fetching Kiera… uh, remember that I asked for you permission about tagging Kiera along in a quest the other day?”

Lady Sherilo nodded. “And so, what happened?”

And there I told her about what happened. Though I don’t know as I told her about the commotion, her face and aura started to get dark as well. I stepped back and just swallowed a lump of mouth juices. She went silent which made me sweat. Who knows, where I would end up if I get beaten up again here.

“It… it wa-was pu-purely a-accidental, Lady Sherilo believe me!” I stuck both of my palms together, and just faced down as I close my eyes, begging her to believe me.

I heard Lady Sherilo sighing deeply, so I slowly peeled my eyes and looked at her.

“Just go on and be sure to fix this mess,” she said, and then turned around to head somewhere.

I could only sigh in relief at least, I wouldn’t taste another beating from Lady Sherilo herself. My only problem now is Kiera, Lady Sherilo said I should fix this mess. If I don’t fix this now, I’ll surely get myself into trouble later. I fixed my eyes to the door and just paused there for a moment. I mean, what should I do? I don’t even know what to say really. Who knows, that if knock right now, this door would get blown up with me. That’s pretty scary you know.

Anyways, I won’t be able to fix this mess if I chicken out right now so… While swallowing another lump of mouth juice, I was terrified but still knocked on the door.

“Uh eh… Ki-kiera…” I cleared my throat, “I-I am very so-sorry about what ha-happened. I ne-never intended to do that you know.” My god why am I stuttering so much.

“I-it was just, I am just fetching you since, I- I was planning to tag you along again in a quest. Th-that’s i-if you still want to go.”

But I didn’t hear a single response. Not even a single noise or something. I guess, she was really mad at me. But I wasn’t expecting to her like that. Lady Sherilo said she wasn’t that good at hand-to-hand combat really and she lacked physical strength, but what I saw earlier was different. It was almost like she turned into a demon and easily threw me out.

“Ki-kiera? W-what? a-are you still up for it? This is only a Ranked B quest so, I- I guess this would be a piece of cake for us.”

And the door suddenly opened. And it looked like it was opened forcefully to me so I instantly brought my hands up to guard my face and closed my eyes without even thinking of it. Yeah, with that I was ready to get hit. But the assault did not come. I peeked in between my arms to see what’s happening. I slowly brought my guard down and just stared at Kiera who was just standing in front of me with a dark face. She was slightly looking down. An awkward silence imbued between us.

“Uh… Ki-kiera?”

“Let’s go!” She closed her room’s door and head on ahead of me. I paused for a minute and just stared at her while she was walking away. That was surprising really. And she was fast to get prepared and get changed.

“What are you doing?” She turned to me.

“Ah, yes! I’m coming…” And I followed her through.

KIERA POV

I overheard Lady Sherilo and Asleif’s conversation inside my room. Well, it’s not that I was purposely trying to intrude in their conversation. But when I heard Asleif saying he would like to tag me to a quest, I felt excited and immediately prepped myself up.

“I can finally have some fresh air outside the academy!” I went bouncing towards the bathroom.

After preparing quickly, I paused for a while and waited for Asleif to knock on the door and try to ask me if I would still come. I am supposed to be angry right now remember? I am actually still angry. I wouldn’t be so stupid to embarrass myself I would come out there without being asked.

“Uh eh… Ki-kiera… I-I am very so-sorry about what ha-happened. I ne-never intended to do that you know. I-it was just, I am just fetching you since, I- I was planning to tag you along again in a quest. Th-that’s i-if you still want to go.” Asleif said.

I couldn’t help myself but smile after hearing him inviting me. Finally, I can get out of here, at least sometimes.

“Ki-kiera? W-what? a-are you still up for it? This is only a Ranked B quest so, I- I guess this would be a piece of cake for us.”

Rank B? Seriously?

Yeah, I suppose it is designed like that. Every quest has their own ranks depending on the difficulty of the quest. From what I have known, Rank D quests would be the lowest in the rank, which means it would be the easiest and where the weakest enemies would be present. They are there for those beginners who are just starting to take the quests. Rank A would be considered the highest for normal standards, but there is a much higher tier above that. the Rank S, where those who they call “Elite Wizards” are, they take quests that are extremely difficult and almost impossible to clear.

I opened the door and saw Asleif standing right in front of it. I can clearly see Asleif’s face being surprised. Or almost worried or something? His face was really funny, that I would c***k up if we just stare each other.

“Let’s go!” I closed the door and went on ahead of him.

When I turned around to his direction, he was just standing there. Stunned. Probably, surprised?

“What are you doing?” I said.

He could only shake his head. “Ah, yes! I’m coming…” And he followed me through.

We went downstairs and informed Lady Sherilo about our leave for a quest. We kind of received a bit of lecture from her about what happened, about that commotion before she let us go.

“So, what’s this quest all about?” I asked.

We were here riding a carriage, pulled by horses. This type of transportation here is usually used by merchants to transport their goods from town to town. Yes, we just hitched a ride here. We were pretty lucky the old merchant was heading towards the town we were heading.

Too bad, there is no any type of public transportation here like buses or taxis. Well, there’s a type of a so-called car here but, only those who were well-off in fortune had that. And to be able to let it run, you need a driver with tons of mana, since the vehicle runs using the user’s mana.

Well horses, are one way of transportation here. I learned how to ride them as Asleif taught me how.

“We must catch a certain man… he was known for kidnappings that caused the disappearances of many people.” he said.

“A man k********g people?” I looked at Asleif. This is a pretty rare quest anyways. I thought we would be fighting some kind of monsters somewhere deep in a forest or a dungeon.

He nodded. “Yes, incidents of k********g people disappearing had risen in the past month there. There are a lot of accounts that there are witnesses who saw the victim early in the morning but never returning home when the night comes.”

“So, he kidnaps his victims in the process. Wait… if there are witnesses who saw the culprit then why didn’t they do something? like try to catch the man by tracing where he goes and lives.” I brought my fingers to my chin.

“Yeah, that would be easier if catching the man was as simple as that.” he said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“They were not able to track the identity of the man, as he changes his appearance everytime.” He brought his open palm to the front and created random forms and shapes with his ice magic. Bluish light flashed as he activated his magic in succession.

“Okay, I get what you are trying to say…” I leaned on the pile of boxes behind us. “But if that’s the case, then how are they so sure that it is a work of a single person?” I asked.

He leaned on the boxes as well. “Well… while his appearances changes everytime, his crime pattern is always the same. He follows a really straight pattern and conditions when he performs the crime. First, he would be seen talking to his victim. Well, they say he shows a striking appearance that’s one point how he is able to lure all his victims. And then that’s it, when the next day comes, the lady he was talking to will never be seen anymore.”

“Well… that’s a bit clever… wait? – do you mean, all his victims were girls?” I straightened my body and looked at him.

“Yes… didn’t I told you? Oh, I guess I haven’t.” He looked at me as well.

I don’t know how should I feel at this point. I was very excited for this quest but now I am really nervous about this.

“And the reason why you tagged me in this quest, is that I will be the bait to lure the man out?” I asked.

He was surprised when I was the one who spelled that out for him. Does he really think that I would be that easy to fool? Easy to control?

He laughed awkwardly.

“Well, well… that’s a good idea Kiera, a real good plan… Why, I haven’t thought of that? Right! We should do that!” He patted my shoulders.

My jaw dropped on how he reacted and what he said. Seriously? My God.

Though after all the quests we took together, I have seen him fight. And he is actually reliable as he is really strong. In those fights he was the one who charges towards the enemy, inflicting and taking damage at the same time. All I can do as a healer-type, is to support him fight. I would heal his wounds and fatigue to keep him up. I would just take and fight into the fray, only to those who I think I can handle.

“Asleif, this is a Ranked B quest, right? That means, who we will be fighting this time is actually pretty strong. Why did you let me tag in this quest?” I asked.

“And why won’t I pick you?” he asked in return.

“You know, this time around, I might not be so helpful to you. I might just drag you this time. I am still pretty weak. I suppose, you have some pretty strong acquaintances, why not them?”

“You are not technically weak Kiera… you are a healer and you are strong in your own ways. And guys who charges into the fray like me, wouldn’t even survive if it weren’t for you, right?” He smiled.

I could only smile back to him. I know, he is just trying to boost my confidence here.

Upon reaching the said town, he immediately headed towards an inn and booked a room there.

“Do you still have rooms left miss?” Asleif asked the lady in the desk.

“Yes sir, but we apologize… there is only one room left with one bed.” the lady replied.

“Okay, we will take it.” Asleif, handed a bag of coins to the counter.

“WHAT?” I was really surprised that he took that room.

“Calm down Kiera, don’t overreact immediately…” Asleif hushed. He then directed his gaze towards the lady. “There is a sofa in the room, right?”

“Yes, it has sir.” the lady replied.

“You use the bed… I’ll use the sofa.” Asleif grinned at me.

I just went silent and followed him towards our said room. Well, he said he tagged me in this quest is so that I would experience this higher-level quest myself. But I guess, this is the first time he actually tagged me into a ranked B quest. I suppose he can take up to Ranked A quests but he wouldn’t allow me to participate in that I guess, that’s why all the quests we have taken together is only at ranked C.

He also told me the do’s and don’ts in a quest. That includes, not being picky of a place to stay and sleep. Well, he’s got a point. We won’t live in an inn forever; we were just taking it as our shelter for the meantime we take the quest. And on top of that, it is also cheap.