{Rin}

"You want to take missions?" Maria asked her apprentice as the two sat together at the Meditation Center.

Rin had been expecting to have to find Maria elsewhere, thinking that she would be out on some sort of vacation like the other teachers were. To her surprise, though, Maria was still visiting the academy every day. Just not quite as early as usual.

"Yeah," Rin replied. The weight of her statement hit her as she confirmed that for her teacher. She was actually going to start being a real adventurer. "I don't have enough money for the next term just yet."

"Really? What happened with the Arena stuff you were doing?" Maria furrowed her brows.

"I haven't gone back there in a while... I've had a bit on my plate lately," she said, waving a hand in the air.

"Is what's on your plate related to Xhez? Or, the Scorned?" Maria asked. "I told you, we'd take care of that."

"Nah, it was just the stuff with Xhez. As much as I hate those cult guys, I've tried to push them out of my mind."

"Good," Maria replied, sounding somewhat relieved. "I don't want you getting yourself into any trouble. Anyway, I do think it is a good idea. You should head to the guild's office and pick something up."

"Office?" Rin asked.

"Yes," Maria replied. "There's a little office located just a few streets north of the train station. It's how Liberan adventurers get their missions. Granted, you won't find anything on par with what you might find in Cradle, but you can still earn a few varols."

"Oh, nice. Um, got any suggestions?"

That fight against the adventurers who'd kidnapped Vortell let Rin know that she had progressed quite a bit. A part of her worried she was being too cocky, but she genuinely wondered if she was ready to take something on that was a little more difficult in nature.

Maria's response seemed to agree with that sentiment.

"Challenge yourself." She seemed sure of this advice, smiling a little as she looked back at Rin. "If you end up feeling too anxious, you can always take something involving the undead. With that Spirit Flame of yours, you'll always have a sizeable advantage against them. However, I'd say you are ready for the harder Rank D tasks. Perhaps maybe even a light Rank C mission."

"Seriously?" Rin was shocked. Maria nodded. "Do you think I've gotten that strong?"

"I believe so, but it's hard to tell based solely on watching you practice. That's why I'm saying you should challenge yourself. Not just because you'll make more money taking a slightly more dangerous mission, but because I think it would be nice to have a more accurate read on what exactly you can handle, after all..."

Maria leaned in a little and smirked as she whispered:

"... if you succeed at a Rank C mission, that just means our training gets a little more fun, doesn't it?"

Rin gulped.

"Anyway, come on. Before you go and get your next mission, let's spar for a bit."

---

"It feels so strange that there are still more parts of the city I have not seen! I wonder if Cradle is this big as well." Xhez gawked at her surroundings as she and Rin paced through a different part of Libera.

Before, Rin would have spent almost every second of this walk worried that someone might see through Xhez's disguise. Now, thanks in part to the upgrade that Xhez had received a few weeks ago, all Rin could focus on was how Xhez's eyes held a curious glint and how her smile perfectly encapsulated the wonder Rin could feel in her voice.

It was a heartwarming sight to look at. One that Rin had to tear herself away from once she noticed a building in front of her with a sign that read "Adventurer's Guild". The words were scribbled in small, almost meek letters, as though the building was trying its hardest to remain unnoticed.

"This is the place," Rin stated.

"What sort of mission will you be taking?" Xhez asked.

"I dunno. I might take something involving undead if there are any available. But, Maria said I should take something harder so... yeah."

The mention of "undead' made a few citizens nearby raise their brows and look at them. Casually, ignoring their stares, Rin walked into the office.

She felt like "guild hall" was probably more accurate but, she could only really see it as an office. It was cramped, with nothing but shelves and folders lining the walls. To the back, there was a desk with a middle-aged lady who looked bored out of her mind sitting behind it. Beside her, to the left, there was a set of stairs that Rin could see past an open door, and, to the right, there was a board with some papers pinned onto it.

She guessed that was where she'd be getting her missions from.

As she walked up, the lady asked:

"Adventurer ID, please."

"Uh, sure."

Rin reached into her bag and picked it up, handing it to the woman. The lady only gave it a cursory glance before she gave it back.

"I wanna take a mission," Rin declared. "How does this work?"

"You just rip one of those papers off and hand it over to me." The lady didn't even look at her as she explained, keeping her eyes on the paper she was writing on. "I write your name down and the mission's yours for a time," she added. "If you take too long to complete it, we'll assume something tragic happened and the guild will put the mission back up on the board... Along with a new rescue mission to go along with it."

"Oh... Okay. Thanks."

"Yeah."

Xhez stood behind Rin, scanning the room as Rin went and looked at the board.

To Rin's surprise, the missions on the board were mostly Rank D.

[Guess this is what Maria talked about. Most of the big stuff is over at Cradle. I guess Libera's surrounding monsters are mostly weak.]

[Rank D - Extermination - 1 Gold Varol - 1 Ad. Required]

[Eliminate a nest of Cheren located northwest of Libera]

Below the mission's description, there was a crudely drawn map of Libera with a few lines pointing toward where the nest was.

[Rank D - Extermination - 3 Gold Varols - 1 or 2 Ad. Required]

[Eliminate the Chargers located east of Libera]

One by one, Rin glanced at each of the missions, finding that, surprisingly, she considered most of these tasks to be easy by now.

It wasn't until she looked at one of the papers stapled onto the far right of the board that she found something interesting.

Xhez noticed her reaction.

"Hm? What do you see?" She asked.

Rin blinked, holding onto the paper to get a better look at it.

Thoughtfully, she replied:

"A raid."