A rose made of pure light stands in my palm. A powerful migraine starts throbbing in my head, but nothing can prevent this magic from happening.

This is not just a flower.

It’s a promise.

A promise of magic.

Making something like this out of pure [Light] spells is complicated. And Lucinda knows it. She is staring wide eyed at the rose in my palm.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done it, you know?

This is misleading. I like—no, I love magic. But this is the most adventurous thing I’ll be doing with it, chasing girls. This is as dangerous as I want it to get. There is never going to be a Joey Luciani slaying Dragons and saving princesses. However, I couldn’t help myself from telling Lucinda ‘See, I can probably do those things.’

It’s silly and immature. We belong to different worlds – by choice, obviously. But still different worlds. After talking to Domitilla and Lucinda herself, I know that my magic is strong. I suspect I might have given pause to the book too.

And I can feel it in my veins. I feel the thrum of talent in my mind. I can see some of the great deeds that I could have before me in the future.

But, again, I don’t really care. I like doing these little things with magic. If making a rose out of [Light] spells is worthy of an [Archmage], I might become one just for that. But I’ll never take on the duties of an [Archmage].

I’m on my way to rent a place for a bakery.

But I wanted to show Lucinda what I was capable of first.

It’s selfish and self-absorbed, the more I think about it.

But I like this girl.

She’s strong, gentle, and deceptively kind.

She took back something she’d said just because, and she apologized to me even though she’s terribly ambitious and arrogant.

I don’t know whether there is space in her life for me, but I just want to tell her that if magic is her life, I don’t mind sharing some aspects of it with her.

I look straight into her deep green eyes that could give the Amazon Forest a run for its money. Her shoulder-length hair makes her look a bit tomboyish, but that just makes her even more charming.

A sudden question pops up in my mind.

Would I duel someone for this woman?

Like, if some big shot [Archmage] came to my door to take my future wife away from me. What would I do?

“Do you want to go out with me?” I flash her my signature wink, “I promise I will behave and if an [Archmage] ever comes to my door to steal you from me, I’ll learn enough magic to blast him to pieces, ok?”

She bites her lower lip with a disapproving expression on her face.

That’s not good, is it?

“I’m sorry, Joey.”

Oh, man. That’s really not good.

My heart plunges.

But then I see something in her eyes. There is a flame there, a need.

“Why are you sorry?” I press, knowing that my window of opportunity will close very soon.

“I’ve wasted too much time already. I have to focus on my magic. And I’m bound to depart for the Nine Towers Academy. Nothing good can come out of us messing around.”

The only thing I hear is ‘I actually like you and I’m making up a bunch of excuses.’

This is tricky, though. If I push too much, she will just reinforce her own convictions. If I don’t push enough, I don’t get her.

Oh God, do I have to play that card? Really?

If dating was chess, I’d be a grandmaster.

Look at this.

“You are right, Lucinda. You are definitely too busy to date me, aren’t you?”

She looks at me confused, uncomprehending.

‘Why isn’t he pushing? I was ready to resist even more!’

That’s what she’s thinking.

“Tell you what, I think you need a friend more than a boyfriend and I still need you to close the deals and set up a place for my new bakery. I got an advance from Camilla and Clodia, but I still have to understand if I’m getting scammed or not.”

Look at that. Reverse the roles. Pull back, retreat. Get into formation again and be ready to penetrate enemy lines later. If I behaved like the hunter once again, she would just get her beliefs reinforced. The more you push, the more she drifts away. Instead, I pulled a mighty switcheroo.

My heart is beating in my ears, so strong I can almost feel them buzz. It’s terrible, but that’s the rush of adrenaline. This is a dangerous move. You dip your toes into the friendzone waiting for a new opportunity to arise.

Get the defense down before attacking again at the best possible moment. It’s an elegant and subtle move, something many my age still can’t pull off. But see, conquering a lady is like baking a Croissant – you need to give time to the dough for it to rise properly. And unless you want to eat a goddamn brick, you have to take into consideration the temperature and the humidity of the environment.

Ok, this simile is not the best. Let’s scratch that.

“I—ok?” she is off-balance.

“Perfect, what do you say, I leave you to your magic, work or whatever you are doing, and pick you up in three hours?” I flash a soft smile, no winks.

“What?”

“To check the places for the bakery and to visit Clodia and Camilla. They said they needed until this afternoon to come up with a proper offer. I thought I might visit a few places that could be rented and check how much the basic equipment is going to cost me.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” she nods, still confused.

Now, let’s avoid appearing too needy.

I dispel the rose and act as if nothing happened.

My feelings are now way out in the open. I just need her to come to her senses, but it will take a bit of time, I think.

“Perfect, I’ll come back here in three to four hours. Don’t slack off!”

I do a 180-turn and start walking toward Lucillus.

Feeling the door slowly close behind my back, I immediately pull out the Mana potion and start chugging it before I faint.

“Was that good?” Lucillus looks at me with a confused expression.

“Not the best scenario, but not the worst. The game’s still on.”

I flash him the wink that was meant for Lucinda.