A lout knock on my door woke me up this morning. The sun already stood high in the
sky. It's probably 11 am or malbe even later. I must've slept in. A second, a little more
aggressive knock forced me to jump out of bed.
I'll be right there, I yelled while putting on some clothes. Usually nobody dares to
come so far out into the forest just to visit me. Well usually people have no reason to
visit me anyway. But strangely enough there's someone right in front of my door.
Someone really brave on top of that. Normally nobody would dare to anoy a fire
caster. If you think about it, I probably should be careful. Maybe it's another strong caster.
After I opened the door a tall man whose brown hair loosely blew in the wind stood
in front of me.
Slightly behind him i noticed a woman. Her long black hair was braided on the back, her big dark eyes were fixed on the floor and her posture showed her nervousness.
In her hands she was holding a small black briefcase.
My vision than wandered back to the guy in front of me. He was so tall that i had to
look up quite a bit. Well im somewhat short which only made the situation feel more
ridiculous.
"Are you Sho?", the man asked with a voice way deeper than i imagined.
"Yes !?"
How could he know my name. I can't remember ever seeing him here. Also his clothes
and armor where high quality. No doubt he must be a hunter from another region.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Chris Caloman and this is my secretary Myla Rye. We'd like to
discuss something. Shall we go inside?"
"Huh? Ahh, yes please come in. "
I hurriedly stepped aside to let them in. The man entered without a second thought
The woman however looked a little hesitant. For a second she gave me a strange
look, then she followed her boss.
"We can sit in the living room."
I closed the door behind me and guided them to the living room. Well actually its just
around the corner so they would have found it anyways, but they politely waited for my guidance.
Since i live alone I didn't have enough chairs for my small table so i had to get one
from my bedroom.
Once we were all seated, the two of them on the other side of the table and me on the
opposite side.
"Now that we're all set I'd like to explain the reason for our visit. As a hunter, you have
heard of the fighter cooperation, right?"
"Yes, I've some loose memory of reading about it somewhere. But what business
might the fighter cooperation have with me."
"As you may know our cooperation tries to build a team of the best casters. And since
you recently became a firecaster, you are number 1 on our priority list. So we've come
here today in order to ask you to work with us. We would obviously pay you take care
of your personal housing space and offer other benefits such as trainig possibilities
on our companys training grounds. You'd also be able to work together with other
skilled casters."
"Wait isn't the base of the cooperation in the plains region? Wouldn't that mean I'd
have to move hundreds of kilometers from this village?"
"Correct. Thats why we'd like to gift you an apartment not far from the cooperation area."
"That's great and all but who would protect this village. You should know best that
monster attacks have become more and more recent every day. Many casters don't
even stand a chance against the weakest monsters."
"Naturally we would take this village under our protection. The necessery requirements have already been discussed with the person in charge. The only thing left is your answer. Will you join us?"
"Before I give you an answer I'd like to know what kind of stuff I'd be tasked with. I am
going to fight right?"
"Indeed, you'd be given missions from the task centers. According to the task you,
either with or without your squad, would have to complete the given mission. Most
missions are as simple as protecting small villages, that for whatever reasons, can't
defend themselves."
"Yeah I thought as much, however what I actually would like to know concerns the not
so probable missions. I'll get straight to the point; could I have to kill humans?"
"That's..."
The man fall silent for a second. It seems like he's debating on how to answer.
Actually I know the truth already. Judging by his reaction the answer is going to be yes. I mean obviously it is. These days more and more hunters go Insane, thinking
they'd be stronger than everyone. A particulary terrifying incident, which most people will
remember, was the attack on Dalju city. Roughly 4 years ago a group of very skilled
casters led by a water caster, almost completely destroyed the south west region of
Dalju city. After special forces arrived on scene one of the attackers was killed and
the other two fled. Rumor has it that oven today they're part of a hunter syndicate,
which sometimes attacks caster associations.
Anyways, the reason I asked even though I know the answer is because, dependeing
on the answer, I might decide whether to join or not. Would he deny it I'd probably
decline the offer. If he says yes tho, I will atleast give them a chance, since they were
honest with me.
"You see mister, we can't guarantee you not having to fight other people. As you may
know more hunters than ever decide to attack people weaker than them. Thats why
we and other companies have to aid police forces and sadly sometimes injure or even
Kill suspects that wont cooperate."
"Yeah makes sense."
"If that is an issue for you i might be able to ask the higher ups to not send you on
missions that include fighting humans.
But i cant rule out the possibility that the day might come when we need your support."
"I see, it would be nice if that day never came but ill not be delusional enough to
think it won't happen. Ok I join, please explain the conditions in detail."
With that a long explanation ensued. If been told when and when I have to workwhat kinds of missions there are, what to do while i didn't have missions, my
payment housing and stuff like that.
"So if you have any questions left mister sho feel free to ask. Ahh by the way could
you tell us your sure name. We asked lots of people but nobody knew it and well its
kinda unprofessional to just call you by your first name right away."
"No, no that's fine. I don't really have a sure name anyways. These days everyone
calls me Sho so i dont mind at all."
"Ok, Sho it is"
Over the course of our conversation he seems to have opened up a little. His
nervousness was almost gone completely. With his wide smile he somewhat looks like
a child that just got its favorite toy. Seeing that made me smile a bit aswell. Its the first
time i met him but I like him already. The woman however was just quietly sitting there
and writing some sort of protocol. I guess she's still a bit shy.
"Since it's getting dark outside i think we should excuse us for to day. If possible could
we discuss everything that's still missing tomorrow?"
I didn't even notice but it was actually already noon and the sun began setting. It sure
gets dark early this time a year.
"Sure. I'll bring you to the door, please follow"
After saying goodbye again they left
I should eat something maybe there are some of yesterday's leftovers.
Which Infact the were some. Whill eating i was going over all the wired things that
happened lately and the even wieder things that are bout to come.
Well whatever i thought and went to train a bit before going to bed.
This night i felt a little andous but also anticipated my future live.
I woke up while it was still dark. The nightfrost on the windows was slowly melting and
over time the first sunrays illuminated the dark and created a rainbow on my floor. It
was a beautiful almost magical morning
And because i was up early i decided on an early training session rather than a late
ane. Since magic endurance scaled also with your physical ability I made it a habit to
train at least five times a week letting alone going hunting almost everyday aswell.
Not long after I finished and had some breakfast Mr Caloman and Mrs Rye showed up.
I let them in and we sat down the same way we did the last time.
We talked for a bit, well me and mister Caloman did. Ms Rye still seems to be a little reserved.
After a while our conversation seemed to come to an end and as I guessed mister Caloman stopped talking for a second. I noticed him glancing over to miss Rye, than both of them nodded.
Than she started talking. I have to admit I was a little taken aback by her soft voice so much so that I didn't really get what she said.
I must have looked confused, because she repeated what she just said.
"Mister Sho, now that you are enlightened about the details, we would like to perform a mana check on you."
'A mana check', I thought. I've heard of them. These devices can measure your mana capacity.
Sadly even the oldest devices cost a fortune, thus I was never able to measure my strength properly. This association really is amazing if they can just carry such devices around with them.
"Ok", I said, trying to not show how excited I was.
Hearing that ms Rye opened the briefcase. Well she didn't directly open it. It opened itself once she put her palm on top.
Inside was a metal bracelet. On its sides where strange sings engraved. I know the signs stem from an old language which was used to create new spells, but I never learned how to read it.
As she took the bracelet out of the case it started to lightly glow and a holographic screen appeared.
"Mister Sho, please show me your hand."
I did what she said and within no time she had carefully attached the bracelet on my right wrist.
It felt cold and heavy.
She let go of my arm and leaned back into the chair.
"Now, would you please cast a simple spell?"
And as I've been told I casted the first spell that came to mind. It was the easiest fire spell I know. Usually I use it to lighten candles or the fireplace. All it does is to create a small flame in front of your hand. In my case I choose my left since I did want to damage the bracelet.
After roughly ten seconds she nodded and said, "that should be enough".
I immediately stopped the spell. She than took of the bracelet and looked at it. Honestly I was quite excited to hear the results. She showed the screen to mister Caloman, who responded with a smile.
"Mister Sho your current mana capacity is 3289, which for someone your age, is far above average."
I smiled. Usually people gain their second element around 2700 to 2900 mana. Considering that I gained fire roughly 3 months ago my progress hasn't slowed down, rather than that it seems to have speed up.
Once I started training at 15 it took me 14 months to go from 1000 mana (average starting point for wind casters) to around 2800. That would be an monthly increase of around 130 mana. In the last three months however, I gained roughly 500 mana, which is a monthly increase of over 165.
Honestly I couldn't be happier with my results. It's been said that, to gain the third element, it takes around 7500 mana. So I still have quite a long way ahead. Infact at my current rate it would take over two years. But still, I might become the youngest person to ever wield three elements. Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps. And it seems like I'm not the onlyone who's happy with the results. Mr Caloman couldn't hide his smile, he must have expected something worse, since he looked so delighted.
"I knew it was the right decision to recruit him, to young they said..." he murmured while laughing lightly, than his expression returned back to serious.
"Mr Sho, I'm glad to have someone with your strength on our team. I'm looking forward to your achievements in the near future. If it's fine with you we'd like to start our journey back to the cooperation in three days. Incase that is an issue we'll naturally adapt our schedule according to your wishes. So what do you think, is Friday doable?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. By the way, how do we even get there?"
"We'll fly. Ms Rye and I came here with an airship, which will take us back in no time."
An airship, huh? If heard of those, but to see and actually fly with one is just something else.
After that we talked about some random topics, even Ms Rye took part in the conversation, well she didn't say a lot, but atleast a few things.
Once it has gotten late they both left, but not without promising to return in three days.
The next few days flew by and with that the day of my departure arrived.