Just like Wolf had guessed, it took three days to reach the who-cares-how-it's-called dump in the boonies where he’d left Anna. He managed to safely escort the two women, and the three of them arrived in the middle of the night.

The village gate was closed tightly, with two unlucky, half-asleep villagers on night watch.

If Wolf was alone, he would’ve jumped over the shoddy palisade which surrounded the settlement. However, the women were exhausted from the trip over, so he played it by the book.

“Stop! Who goes there,” one of the sleepy villagers said, and, after a bit of explaining, the barely awake sentries let Wolf and the two women into the village.

Wolf had already decided what to do with these two. He took them straight to an Earthmother shrine, where he woke up an old nun running the place. After giving her a more detailed story than the one he told the guards, the youth made a modest donation to the temple to take care of these women.

As for the women themselves, they refused to allow Wolf to see their entire lives. As a parting gift Wolf gave them some common necessities and a bit of money, all in the full view of the old nun.

Wolf believed they were entitled to a whole lot more, but giving a lot of money to powerless people was no different from killing them.

By the time he finished tying up loose ends, it was already morning.

Wolf went to the house where he was supposed to be staying, sat in front of the front door and watched the rising sun.

***

Anna woke up in the early hours of the morning, at least for her. Even before she opened her eyes, Wolf was on her mind.

That selfish shrimp left four days ago, she thought. He seemed really angry.

Where is he? Did something happen to him? He said he’d be back in two days.

Driving away grim thoughts, Annabelle hurried to check whether Wolf had returned.

Thank goddess, he’s not hurt, she thought as soon as she laid her eyes on him. Tears welled up, but before Anna started crying other thoughts invaded her mind.

He said it would take two days to complete the mission. What was he doing for two days? she wondered as relief and joy turned into anger. Is he trying to anger me to death to get back at me?

Strange, unreasonable thoughts swarmed Annabelle’s mind. Finally these thoughts manifested in the form of a thick stick, which Anna retrieved from her Ring of Holding.

After the sun had risen, and Wolf shooed away his annoyingly worried hosts, he sat down on the step to meditate, inconsiderately blocking the elderly pair’s home.

Wolf was too busy to sweat such fine details. He was close to wrapping up the eighth column and the thing fascinated him. The lines and dots grew denser the closer he got to the ceiling, but he still had no idea what he was carving.

Suddenly the ping of the Alarm spell drew Wolf’s attention. He released a sliver of his will and sensed Anna’s presence, her anger and even the stick.

Wolf observed, his eyes opened just the tiniest crack, as Anna approached. The young woman moved like she was on a warpath.

She swung the stick and smacked it on Wolf’s bum. Wolf did nothing. If she’d gone for the head he would’ve caught it, but he didn’t care about a spank.

The brutal blow broke the stick and made Anna vince from the recoil, but Wolf only felt a slight itch. He cracked an eye open and smiled charmingly.

“Good morning to you too,” he said, showing his teeth.

When Anna saw that wretched grin Wolf must have thought charming, she got even angrier.

“Don’t you good morning me,” she shouted. “Why are you two days late? Where were you? Why are you napping in the garden instead of sleeping in a house like sane people? I was worried sick about you! I ran all over town like a madwoman, thinking that something might have happened to you!”

The barrage of questions left Anna panting. Wolf on the other hand smiled, beaming with happiness. It felt really good to have a woman worry about you. Even if the woman was obviously likelier to cane you, rather than share your bed.

“What could’ve possibly happened to me?” he asked. “As for why I’m not inside. I came back late last night, and I didn’t want to disturb these kind people I guess.”

“And what were you doing these past couple of days?” Anna asked, intently staring at Wolf. She looked like she was a step away from tapping her foot.

“I went to kill some nasty people, and I found they had prisoners. I escorted the prisoners here, and that’s why coming back took so long.” Wolf tried to explain calmly, but Anna suddenly exploded.

“Are some mangy commoners more important than I am?” she shouted. “You crazy shrimp! What would I do if something happened to you?”

“Don’t call me that.” Wolf said with a stern look.

Anna was going through a growth spur. Even before it began, she was a head taller than Wolf. This was a sore point for him. Especially since he knew that his real body was even smaller than this transmuted one.

“I went out to kill some third rate robbers hiding in the middle of nowhere! There was no danger whatsoever. In fact, if losers like those could’ve posed any danger to me, I should just kill myself with a spoon!” Wolf shouted, letting half the village hear his yelling.

“You don’t have to shout. I can hear you just fine.” Anna mumbled in a sulky tone. Apparently all it took was a bit of shouting for Anna to calm down.

Wolf nodded, taking note of this phenomenon before speaking again in his normal voice.

“I’ll go to the village elder and tell him we’re leaving,” he said. “The old man arranged the lodgings for us, and it doesn’t hurt to be courteous.”

***

In a backroom of Anything Goes, nine men gathered yet again. Their faces were gloomy. After several moments of oppressive silence, one of them spoke.

“We spent a lot of gold to have that Alexandria fellow withhold information and wrongly estimate this mission as a five star one,” Count Baskerville said. “Originally everyone believed that at least a Seventh Order Mage was required to complete it, and even then success wasn’t guaranteed. Who would’ve guessed that those Cranesword bastards were actually that weak! We received multiple reports that the boy stated that they were too weak and undeserving of their reputation.”

“He’s faking it,” Marquess Hiragino said. “I’ve sent my scout to examine the site after that boy returned to the village. Those mercenaries were very proficient with traps and poisons, but they most likely didn’t have much experience fighting Mages.

“Based on scattered remains Fireball incinerated one bunched up group. Another died to what seemed like Bladestorm, which is a Seventh Order spell. Apparently those so-called veterans threw themselves into the path of the spells, dying in piles. While I agree that the Band of the Fox was undeserving of their reputation, I believe the boy has a Mage guardian, maybe even an Archmage.”

“Elric, how certain are you?” Marquess Beirut asked.

“Very certain, old man,” Elric Hiragino replied. “The alternative is that the boy can cast Bladestorm on his own, or he can cast spells while fighting dozens of enemies in melee.”

Marquess Beirut nodded, then stayed silent for a while.

“You’re right,” he said, dragging out the words. “The boy’s already impossibly talented for his age, on par with Duke Smith. So, Elric, how do you think we should handle this?”

“I’d say give up, but we can’t,” Elric said grimacing. “We didn’t bother hiding our tracks, and once he’s powerful enough, the boy will find out about this. He can’t put us on trial, since he’s not a noble yet, but there are other ways he can oppress us. Especially if he’s dubbed a Duke without a land like Smith.”

Marquess Beirut also made an awkward face.

“Elric, what do you think we should do?” he asked, not wanting to hear about what they should, but can’t, do.

“Since he has a high Order Mage guardian, we handle it the way True-Namer assassinations are handled. Hire a Sword-Saint, or a high Order Sword-Sage, to do the deed.”

“Where do we find one? Also, should we once again disguise this as a mission, while we still have that discount, or do we send an assassin after him and be done with it?” Count Farah asked.

“We try one more time with a mission,” Marquess Hiragino said. “If we’re linked with his assassination we risk prosecution. His talent is too eye-catching, and I’m afraid someone from Highseat might be watching. Nobody is forcing him to take the mission, while underestimating its difficulty is just minor offense compared to murder. As for finding the right person, I have an idea, but it might take some time.”

***

Two very old, very powerful men observed this conversation through a scrying mirror. They laughed in a manner ill-suited to their position.

“Sir, they are still thinking about using the discount. Haha!” Richard cried and laughed at the same time “Oh, gods, how could such stupid people be in charge of large families and huge estates? I think something in my stomach just popped.”

“How about you thank me for demoting your grandnephew and having him in charge of five star missions?” Lord of Steel also laughed like a madman that he was.

“Thank you Sir. It’s a good chance for him to increase the wealth of his branch of the family.” Richard stopped laughing, but his lips still twitched upward a couple of times as he said his thanks. Discount! Gods!

“You’re welcome Dick,” Smith said seriously, eliciting an immediate response from Richard.

“It’s Richard Sir. Oh Gods! They are talking about the limited time offer again!” A moment later something more important came to his mind. “Sir, why isn’t their private meeting chamber protected from divination?”

“It is,” Headmaster said with a grin. “I offered to personally install the Spell Formation for this fat kid’s father. He thought I was doing him a favor…”

***

After three and a half months on the road, Wolf and Anna returned to the Mage Academy. The pair submitted their reports, while Wolf also submitted nearly a hundred heads he’d collected. Much to the administrator’s joy, Wolf didn’t bury him with heads the way he did his colleague.

Wolf looked forward to seeing Wayde today. And he couldn’t help but smile when he saw the number of Academic Credits he had on his student card. Even though frustrating, this mission turned out just fine.

Anna went to check with Matilda how she did on the previous test and what was up for the one which was scheduled in a couple of weeks.

Wolf wasn’t such a worrywart, he went to his room with the desire to discuss a completely different topic with Wayde. A topic which would make Anna well and truly pissed if she’d learned about it.

As soon as he’d opened the door, Wolf saw his roommate half-lying half-sitting on the couch, reading a textbook.

“Hey mate, how was your mission?” Wayde asked as he closed the book and got up. “Is everything fine? Why the long face?”

“It was fine. There were a couple of weird things with Anna’s mission.” Wolf said then paused. He didn’t want to bother his friend with nonsense.

Instead he started talking about his frustration and problems with Anna. Wayde listened and nodded with understanding, not letting a hint of boredom touch his face.

“You already know there can’t be anything between you guys as long as she wishes to advance at the academy. Otherwise she might as well quit and be a housewife.” Surprisingly, Wayde was on Anna’s side, if there were any sides in this matter.

“I know.” Wolf said with a sigh. “But she could at least let things be the way they were when I slept over at her place for her birthday.”

Wayde’s lip twitched a bit when he heard that, but he let it go immediately.

“I have an idea.” Wayde changed the topic. “How about I take you to Sweet Dream? My mother runs the place. All the girls there are healthy, and I can guarantee our safety and privacy. You became an adult quite a while ago and yet you’re still a virgin.”

“Anna said that she’s fine with me going to brothels, but I’m not sure whether she meant it. She’s really jealous. I mean you noticed it on our mission.” Wolf argued weakly.

So weakly in fact that Wayde could see his roommate was begging to talk him into it. The Duke smirked and kept pushing.

“Come on! There’s just enough time for us to leave academy grounds before the curfew starts.” he said, going to his room to pick some decent clothes for a night out.

Quarter of an hour later, Wolf hesitantly walked as Wayde dragged him outside.