Prologue (2): To the capital
"Sorry kid, but you can't join unless you are strong enough. I see you carry a staff, meaning you're probably a mage, so you could try to join the magician's guild, but... that's about it for your options, I think. We don't let children who need babysitting here, the magician's guild might take you if they see you have talent though. Alternatively, you could join the adventurer's training school, but that's hard to get into" (Man)
That answers the question of "why not?", I think.
"I guess I could join the training school, I'm pretty confident in my skills, and I don't have any particular need to become an adventurer as soon as possible, if my food and room are paid for by the school" (Ryuu)
"They are, if you really impress them. In other words, the top 25% of those who make it in get a full scholarship, including things such as meals and room. Otherwise, you'll need to pay for that yourself, and those in the bottom 25% have to pay the tuition fees too. If you want to enroll, you'll have to get to the capital soon. I think you'd need to get going in the next few days to make it, unless you want to wait half a year for next time" (Man)
"Well then, I'd better get going, I guess. Thanks for your help!" (Ryuu)
With that, I left the building and started on my journey to the capital, though it wasn't entirely uneventful. After a few days, I had killed a few weak magical beasts and gathered some herbs that I came across, and then...
"Hmm? I hear screaming in the distance. I guess someone is being attacked by some magical beasts" (Ryuu)
I was right, as I found out a few minutes later, when I came across a few covered wagons being surrounded by some mere horned wolves. They're monsters that, on their own, could be taken out by a small group of men armed with things like clubs, bows, spears, or even simple farming equipment, but they get much harder to take out in groups. This is a group of about a dozen, so I'm impressed that their four guards and a mage in back could last this long... no, wait, it's a group that was a dozen and is now eight or so that a group of six frontline fighters was fighting against, and is now reduced to four. I'd better help them. Hm... if I use any of my weapons, I'd out myself as abnormally powerful for a young half-elf girl due to my aura increasing suddenly. That's the main drawback of my being a walking armory, in that I'm practically incapable of using any of my weapons near others. I ought to get another one to use for situations like this. As it is now, I'll use magic, but what kind? Lightning magic, I guess, as it uses Wind, which is common for elves.
***** Merchant Guard's PoV *****
I've been an adventurer for twelve years, and never have I felt my life be in this much danger. At this rate, we won't be able to kill them all, or if we do, the merchant we've been hired to guard won't have enough guards for the rest of the trip, and so we'd have to turn back. If only someone would come and help us... I'm almost out of knives to use, and I'm not good at fighting multiple enemies at once. Our lone mage is low enough on mana that he is focusing on healing the injured and taking out anything that is about to seriously hurt us.
"Lightning Strike!" (Unknown Female)
My prayers have been answered, maybe... one of the horned wolves I was fighting was hit by a bolt of lightning, and then another one that one of my partners, a swordswoman, was dealing with got hit by the same bolt. Looks like we can fight more easily with just that. We might win this thing!
"Lightning Strike!" (Same Female)
"What the hell? Thanks, whoever you are!" (Bradley, a spearman)
Sounds like she cast it again, and either reduced the workload on my partner, or she killed all of his foes so that he could help someone else. I still have to keep my eyes on my opponent, so I don't know what she looks like. The wolf jumped at me, and I ducked under it and sliced its belly open as it raked its claws along my back.
"Lightning Strike!" (Female)
"Thanks! I think that's the last of them!" (Irene, our swordswoman)
"No, I still need help with my two!" (Van, our other spearman and party leader)
"Lightning Strike!" (Female)
"Not anymore! Ninya, go and heal everyone!" (Van)
"Will do!" (Ninya, our mage and healer)
I drank a potion, which stopped the bleeding, but it couldn't completely close the wounds on my back, so I was still lying facedown on the ground as I waited for Ninya to heal me or someone to apply a potion directly to the wounds. In the worst case, I would have to be carried on the cart until Ninya could recover enough mana to heal me, but I'll live.
***** Normal PoV *****
Well, I managed to kill those horned wolves, or rather, six of them, with lightning magic, so I guess I'll go and talk to them. I don't need the credit for the kills, though I would like some money or a ride, if they're going in the direction of the capital.
"Hello there. Looks like I managed to get here in time to save you, or at least most of you. If there's someone seriously injured, I could give you a potion or two, though I'd like to be paid back for it. The name's Ryuu, by the way. It's nice to meet you" (Ryuu)
"My name is Van. As you can see, I'm a spearman and I'm also the leader of our party. Ninya? Will you need some potions, or will everyone be fine without them?" (Van)
"I think it'll be fine. Still, you must have a lot of mana to be able to cast four combination spells like that. However, you seem to be almost out, maybe 50 or so mana left" (Ninya)
"Yeah, I do have a lot... As you can see, I'm a half-elf, so... anyways, I'd like to ask for a ride, if you are going towards the capital. If not, I'd be fine with just a few of the wolves as compensation" (Ryuu)
"No problem. We're heading all the way to the capital, so if it's okay with our client, I think you could get a ride. In addition, I'd be happy to give you all of the wolves you killed, because you saved our asses there. Oh, sorry, forgive me for my crude language, it's a bad habit" (Van)
"No problem, I'm used to it. I've been around enough soldiers that I have language unbefitting a lady... though I said lady, I'm really not much more than a simple girl with no parents" (Ryuu)
"If you're this strong, you could probably be an adventurer, in which case you'd be better off getting a request to guard someone towards your destination, right?" (Van)
"Yeah, the reason I'm headed towards the capital is so that I could enroll in the training school. I wasn't even allowed to try to register, because I'm too young or something like that. However, it seems like your mage is the same age as me, give or take a year, so I guess I wasn't given the whole truth" (Ryuu)
"That's not right... You're good, really good. If you can use combination magic like this, and were able to make it this far on your own, you must have the strength of a D rank adventurer... maybe a C rank, like us" (Van)
"Well, whatever, that's what I was told, so, if I miss the deadline to enroll, I'll see about trying to register in the capital. In the worst case, I could just tag along with you for a while, right?" (Ryuu)
Van seemed to be surprised by that, then he grinned.
"You know, I'd like that. If you come with us for a while, I'd be happy to give the guild a recommendation that they should let you take the test. They're always in need of a good mage, you see. Ones like you are pretty rare. So, can you help us cut off the horns and skin, and then burn the corpses? Sadly, we can't take the meat, as it takes up too much space and would spoil, but..." (Van)
"Oh, I can help with that, if you'd like. I can't dismantle them very well, but I can do one better, I guess" (Ryuu)
I went to the two corpses nearby that I killed, and then put them whole into my storage (a subspace where time doesn't flow created by spatial magic)
"Uh... um... uh... I... You can use spatial magic too? That's four elements, being two base, one combination, and one special... Thanks for that, I guess. How about this: We dismantle all of the corpses, you store it all, you keep the ones you killed, and we pay you half of what we get for the meat. Sound good?" (Van)
"Yeah, I'm fine with that. Same goes for the rest of what we kill on the road?" (Ryuu)
"Sure. Ah, how I wish we could have someone who could use spatial magic in our party..." (Van)
After a bit, Ninya, a young boy of about my age (whose voice seemingly hadn't really started to deepen, so probably a few years younger than me) had healed everyone, and then the ones who would normally be doing the dismantling asked where all of the corpses were.
"Well... Ryuu here can use spatial magic in addition to lightning, so... looks like we've got ourselves a larger profit this time. She's coming with us to the capital, and might become another member of our party if she can't register as an adventurer or enroll in the school" (Van)
"You're kidding... a random girl, not an adventurer, noble, nor member of the mage's guild? At this age? Four trained elements, including a combination element and the super-rare spatial element?" (Female knife-user)
"Would you like me to show you? Actually, I've never gotten my elements assessed, I just learned the few that I know how to use because I, or rather, my parents, could find a teacher for that element, and then wondered if I would learn it. As it happened, I learned every element I was taught, though... fire was slow, due to my being half elf, I think... might just be because my teacher for that was an archer, not a mage. I never got trained in wind magic, actually. My mother couldn't teach me, and I never found a teacher who could use it" (Ryuu)
"No, there's no need to show me, I think. So, how are we splitting the rewards and such?" (Swordswoman)
We talked about what we'd decided, the merchant was willing to give me a ride, if I'd protect him, and we set off towards the capital. Along the way, we killed some more magical beasts, and we rescued another group in trouble, though they were going in the other direction, so they didn't tag along. I learned a lot about their party, and, though I felt a bit guilty about it, I evaded most of the questions about my father by saying that I never really met him much, being raised by my mother and some friends of my family, and that he died in the war two months earlier, all of which was true, though not the whole story.
For their party, they have seven people. Their leader is the spearman Van, an elf who looked to be in his mid or late twenties, meaning he's probably around sixty or so, the mage, as I said, is named Ninya, and he's two months older than I am, while being about 20 cm shorter than me, his shoulder-length hair looking like it's made of copper. Bradley is their other spearman, a dwarf who was about thirty years old, and their swordswoman is Irene, a pretty and slender young woman with bright pink hair that was tied in a braid that reached to her waist. Two men(?), who had to be twins, both masked and hooded swordsmen, were the ones first injured in the fight, and I didn't know their names. They seemed to have their own circumstances that kept them from wanting to talk, so I didn't pry at all. Finally, Shion is the dagger user, covered from head to toe in loose black clothing, but it still couldn't hide her somewhat large breasts, which had to get in the way of her movements. I was wise enough not to enquire about that, but still, I couldn't help but wonder... and I also wondered how I could get mine to be even noticeable, which I also didn't ask her.