"And where have you been!? I was gracious enough to only start counting you late AFTER you were already 30 minutes past schedule!" Cecilia bites down on Andrew, chewing both his ears off as he and her patrol around the city's west-side.
"How late was I then?" he asked with an awkward smile on his face that made Cecilia want to clock him right in the jawline.
"You're an hour and a half late!"
"Without grace pe-"
"WITH grace period!" she shoved her half-eaten footlong against his cheek, smearing all sorts of condiments on it.
"I can't believe a lady like me is the one adjusting to you. Be glad that I know you. Nobody else would be this kind you know." Cecilia placed her other gloved hand against her not-so-impressive chest that she pumps up while she praises herself with her head held up high.
"You're a lady?" was the only thing that Andrew manages to pick up through Cecilia's rant. That earned him a tender combination of her fist to his face.
A plugged-up bleeding nose later and Andrew is able to continue his patrol with a now extra-pissed Cecilia, who kept staring daggers at him any time he tried to start up a conversation.
The shift's as much as the two of them thought it would be, mundane and borderline irrelevant.
Andrew knows the importance of keeping the presence of soldiers patrolling the city as a means to instill a sense of security to both citizens and shopkeepers, but he also thinks that there's no one stupid enough to attack Mires because of the city's prized Anti-Magus Soldiers.
Currently, Mires' Military College has produced over 5,000 of these Anti-Magus Soldiers, or abbreviated simply to, 'Anti-Mages'.
The namesake might be confusing since Anti-Mages are actually mages themselves, strictly mages. They're able to cast spells like any other mage, but they've been taught how to effectively pacify other mages, witches, and sorcerers.
A single Anti-Mage can handle 10 well trained normal soldiers singlehandedly, with the best able to overpower 50 all at once. So, unless an enemy number exceeding 10,000 appears then Mires and its citizens have nothing to be really afraid of.
Although the existences of witches that could rival Anti-Mages do exist, they're few and far between, mainly because witches are often self-taught and a professionally trained Anti-Mage would have no problem putting down a home-schooled witch.
The ones that do pose a threat to an Anti-Mage are witches that are in a coven or the coven leader. Because unlike solitary witches, coven witches have shared knowledge of spells and experiences of other witches.
In the world of magic, there are three basic forms of spellcasting, all taught in Mires' College to Anti-Mages. The first form is through runes that proc with the use of a specific trigger, mostly in the form of sound. The second is through incantations that activate once the spellcaster finishes reciting the spell. And lastly are magic circles, often the hardest of the three basics because not only could you create them using simple chalk, but a skilled enough mage could create one by simply drawing on the air. And with a multitude of different circles with each having their ways of activating, it's truly saved for those who are willing to put the time to study spellcasting to its fullest extent.
Cecilia crumples up the wrapper that came with her footlong while she licks the condiments off her fingers.
Meanwhile, Andrew is buying himself a sandwich. It made Cecilia lean in, pressing elbow-to-elbow and acting all buddy-buddy with the man whose face she just punched-in not too long ago.
"You know I might forgive you if you buy me a sandwich. I'd take a grilled cheese like you did." With a cattish grin to her, Cecilia starts nudging Drew until he concedes- which he does, calling out to the fry cook to make his order a double.
"You're forgiven. See it's not bad showing a lady some kindness and thought. Even though it's just a small thing, it's worthy enough of my forgiveness!" Cecilia jovially begins slapping Andrew's back as the two of them wait for their grilled cheese to finish frying.
Andrew doesn't want to say anything, but his face clearly shows that he's holding back on Cecilia. He's thinking how easy it would be to just say, 'Just a small thing, kinda like your chest!'
But he didn't.
Andrew, in all his training, had the nerves of steel, limitless patience, and virtue to hold himself back from absolutely destroying Cecilia's self-esteem.
The two grilled cheese were finally wrapped and both were handed to Andrew as he gives the cook the Lira for the two sandwiches. He then gives one to Cecilia.
"Here you go, Cecil." Cecil takes the grilled cheese and opens it, eating it immediately while it's still steaming. "Careful it's hot." And that's why Andrew's waiting for his to cool down.
"It's fine. Grilled cheese sandwiches taste better right after they get done making 'em you know? Also, I didn't really notice it until now but, you have grown. You're way taller than last year." Cecil who was using her other hand to measure the gap between her and Andrew's height showed that Drew's a foot taller than Cecil who's only 5'0".
"You think so? Maybe I didn't get taller. Maybe you just got shorter?"
And that was how Andrew made it so that his patience and virtue were all for nothing. He was once again clocked by Cecil who didn't pull back her punch this time.