Over five days had passed, and Abel trained every day, honing both his magic and physical skills while learning about his job. He was later called in and briefed about his first mission, which, to his extreme surprise, was to help a group of knights explore a cave located not far from Lagu Village, his home. Of course, Abel accepted it.
However, it was strangely noted in the contract that Abel would have to accompany a special guest to meet the clients. Abel didn't mind this stipulation. The contract was set to begin the next day. Abel then attended the office and was given a record regarding the area. The cave was within Loch Lake, which was believed to be a tunnel connecting Lagu Village to Margram City in the Whiteford Kingdom. The anomaly was believed to be a small-scale mana anomaly, so Abel prepared for the worst.
After learning about his task, Abel was allowed to return home early. Despite his excitement, he tried his best to act professionally. As the day changed, in the early morning, he prepared to meet his client. When he reached the guild, to his surprise, the special guest who would accompany him was, in fact, Arieta, the girl he had met over two weeks ago.
"Ms. Arieta?" Abel greeted her.
"Just call me Arieta. We meet again, Abel," she said, greeting him with a warm smile.
After preparing their belongings, Arieta and Abel would take a train to Lagu Village, and from there, they would proceed with steeds as the place was unreachable by standard vehicle. As they walked together, Abel tried to strike up a conversation with Arieta.
"So, uh... Arieta, is it okay if I ask about our client?" Abel said.
"Sure, our clients are, in fact, my old friends. They have been surveying some locations, nothing out of the ordinary," Arieta replied.
Abel took a calm breath. "Well, that's good to hear. I'll try my best on my first job," he said.
"Don't worry, they are chill people. Besides, I will help you too with what I can," Arieta reassured him.
"Ahaha, don't worry, I'm trained for this. After all, I can't let down my clients," Abel responded.
As they reached the train station, Abel was about to scan their boarding passes, but Arieta stopped him. She then showed a badge and they were given free entry into the business class instead for both of them.
Abel just noticed that Arieta holds a Paladin's badge.
"Wait, Arieta, you are a Paladin?" asked Abel.
Arieta smiled with a little laugh, realizing Abel never knew who she was. "Yes, of course. You didn't know about it?" she said.
"Uh... nope, I wasn't told about this. I thought you were just a young girl accompanying me," said Abel.
"Haha, well, 'young girl,' huh... I'm amused," said Arieta.
"Uh, no, I mean, I'm sorry, I don't know how old you are," said Abel, blushing.
"Well, I'm 27 years old, technically," said Arieta.
Abel was shocked; he couldn't believe it. Arieta looked like a teenager, probably between 17-18, so young and almost indistinguishable from Abel in age.
"Uh... I'm sorry, but are you half-elf or something?" Abel asked.
"No, silly. But well, I guess it's just my father's side of the family that's unique. They are normal humans, but most of them live longer; some of my relatives died at the age of 170," said Arieta.
Abel was shocked; it turns out there were many things he didn't know about this world.
"I see, I'm sorry I didn't know," said Abel.
"Don't worry, I get that a lot. Anyway, let's get to the train," said Arieta.
As they boarded the train, Arieta and Abel sat next to each other. As the train began to move, Arieta noticed how excited Abel looked.
"So, I guess you're excited for your first job, aren't you?" said Arieta.
"Yeah, actually, and I get to visit my home along the way," said Abel.
"So you used to live in Lagu Village?" asked Arieta.
"Yeah, but I had to leave because they don't have any advanced academies there for me to learn," said Abel.
"Ah, I see. Well, if we get there early, I don't mind stopping by," said Arieta.
"Uh... well, I would love to, but isn't it important we get to our clients first? How about we visit my old home afterward?" said Abel.
"I'm sorry, but I will join my friends' group when we get there, so yeah," said Arieta.
"I see. How about one day I treat you to a tour guide of my village? It's a beautiful small village," said Abel.
"Sure, I would love to see that," answered Arieta.
As they arrived, unfortunately, they were an hour late, so they immediately took the fastest road, and by dusk, they had already met the client.
Abel froze on the spot, sweat running down his face. He couldn't speak a word, his mouth agape in disbelief at how this job wasn't classified as top priority work. As he gazed upon his client, File White himself—the legendary hero, champion, protector of the Whiteford Kingdom, mentor to generations of the Twelve Heroes, and the Ravens, a man who saved the world from the Outer God Zotho's influence, completely dismantled its grand scheme, fought the Outer God to a standstill, and ultimately destroyed the Outer God's body and soul until nothing was left. The entire world revered him, holding him in great respect. Even all four Grand Masters of the Paladin's Order always sought guidance from him. And now, this very person was standing right in front of Abel, in the flesh, having commissioned the task.
"Uh… sir… hero, I mean, Mr., I mean…" Abel stuttered, nervous to his core. All the dialogue he had prepared flew out of his mind. He expected a high-profile person for his job, but he didn't anticipate it would be a legend himself.
"Uh… hello?" File looked confused, seeing Abel's nervousness.
"Arieta, you didn't do anything, did you?" File shifted his gaze to Arieta.
"I didn't. Maybe you should tell Rifiqie or Ghani about such tasks," Arieta said as she noticed Abel still nervous. "I feel bad for him; guess his first job is quite overwhelming."
"Hahaha, reminds me of when you first joined the Archive Knights," File said with a big smile.
Arieta then slapped Abel's shoulder. "Hey, relax, Abel… this man may be a living legend among men, but he's still just a man, and pretty much a blockhead," she said.
"Uh, yes, I'm sorry, I just got shocked. Ahem, greetings, I'm Guide Investigator Abel, and I shall be your guide today," said Abel.
"Hahaha, nice to meet you, Guide Investigator Abel. I'm File White, but feel free to call me File," File responded.
"Anyway, I heard you were exploring a cave that's suspected to hold a tunnel between Fonta Aria and Whiteford?" Abel asked.
"Yes, here's the thing: I have some friends who say they need that passage cleared, which is not a problem, but they say their belongings may contain some mana-related stuff, I don't know, which need to be tested for some work in that cave," said File.
"I see. That's why you want me to investigate the area for the passage? Okay, I can do that, but I need some time to set parameters, as I don't know the condition as the deeper the cave goes, the mana condition inside may be different, and also I need to check the other end of the tunnel," Abel said.
"Sure, I've personally already cleared the cave, but I'm no expert when it comes to mana anomalies and how they react with certain substances," said File.
Abel then got to work. He, Arieta, and File explored the cave together. Every 100 meters within the tunnel, Abel marked making a checkpoint while checking the condition. Abel noticed at certain intervals there were some strange mana pulses.
Abel pulled out the detector and tried to test the damanafication on the strange liquid substance to see the reaction. After walking over 5 kilometers, at the 5200-meter mark, the liquid began to react and suddenly ignited, bursting into flames.
"What is that?" Arieta exclaimed in surprise.
"Hmm, I've seen this kind of thing in the records," Abel said as he looked around the tunnels, noting that this place was dry with no liquid present.
"It seems like a mana anomaly; most liquids here will burst into flame," Abel explained.
He then poured some water from his drinking bottle.
"No reaction from normal water, so it definitely doesn't just randomly target any liquid," Abel observed.
"Yeah, I agree, or else people would burst into flames since our bodies contain liquid," File chimed in.
"So the reaction is just towards certain liquids?" Arieta asked.
"Hmm... let me think... if water didn't burst," Abel pondered as he poured down some oils and a couple of alcohols until some perfume he threw burst into flames.
"I see, so I guess it's just targeting modified liquids," Abel concluded.
"Strange... how can a mana anomaly target something like that?" Arieta asked, looking confused.
"I think I have something in mind," Abel said as he began packing his belongings.
"But let's head back to the surface first; this needs to be done from above," Abel suggested.
The group agreed, and File was impressed with Abel's skills. As they returned to the surface, the day had already turned to night.
"Wow, night already?" Arieta remarked.
"I guess time flies faster within the cave," File noted.
"Hmm... I guess I'll read about this first," Abel said.
As they rested in the nearest guesthouse, where File had prepared three rooms for them all, in the evening Arieta could be seen walking down to the nearest store to buy some food. Abel decided to follow her and greet her.
"Oh, you haven't slept?" Arieta asked.
"No, I'm still checking the possibilities. It's strange, the result of the demanafication shows no sign of such an anomaly," Abel replied.
"So what does that mean?" Arieta asked.
"It's not an anomaly; it's almost like it was man-made," Abel said.
Suddenly, Abel realized something. He then opened a map and checked his coordinates.
"Could it be??" Abel looked puzzled.
"What is it?" Arieta's interest suddenly peaked.
"Could it be a magic pylon?" Abel speculated.
Arieta was confused, as magic pylons didn't turn liquids into flame.
"No, but I know what caused it," said Abel.
The next day, instead of exploring underground, Abel took the route from the surface. There he found a broken but still active magic pylon. While it didn't explain why it turned the liquid into flame, once the magic pylon was sealed by Abel, the anomaly stopped.
For the next five days, he continued working until they finally reached the other part of the tunnel located in Margram City. File carefully confirmed the job was done. Abel finished checking the massive long tunnel between Margram and Lagu.
On the sixth day, he finally completed his contract. Although he was called back to the Guild, he decided to visit his family back in Lagu City. He and Arieta parted ways as she followed File.