As Sincir leaves Eleanor’s room, closing the door behind himself, the vision of Ena crouched near the wall, with her eyes red and her face crunched up, nearly has so he has a heart-attack on the spot.

  ...He’d ask her how much she heard, but he can tell she heard enough from her expression, already.

  “…I thought I told you to wait downstairs?”

  Ena sniffs, rising as she tries a smile which doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Sorry, but I was worried, since you always came down immediately…”

  Sincir sighs. “Forget it. Let’s just finish your training so we can head to-”

  As Ena suddenly steps forward and wraps her arms around him, nearly causing the both of them to fall, Sincir’s voice becomes caught in his throat.

  “…I guess maybe we should skip training, for today. You’ll want to be fully rested for the test tomorrow, anyway,” he murmurs, tapping her back a couple of times as he does so.

  Ena doesn’t answer. Being still in her uniform, she smells of the tavern’s kitchen and sweat… Not that he finds the smell particurly unpleasant, when it comes from Ena.

  After a moment, Sincir feels her nodding. After another moment still, she finally steps back, averting her eyes as she does so.

  “Sorry…” she murmurs.

  “Let’s just head to bed, okay?”

  Ena nods.

  Normally, whoever is on watch duty for the day would put out the nterns around the house, and activate some of their more mana intensive runes to st until morning. But this time, Sincir has Ena’s help, since she ended up not training, which makes the process much faster.

  As such, only a few minutes have passed by the time they reconvene in their shared bedroom, where he casts a cleaning spell over Ena and her clothes, before politely averting his eyes as she begins to change into her pajamas.

  Having changed already, he simply heads to bed in the meantime, lying against his pillow with his back turned to her.

  “Don’t forget to put out the light when you’re done,” he tells her.

  She doesn’t respond, and after a moment, Sincir feels the bed sinking under her weight...

  ...Considering the light is still on, he grimaces.

  “Hey, what did I-!”

  As Sincir turns in her direction, he realizes Ena has her face right next to his, leaf-green eyes narrowed, causing his voice to trail off.

  “…Yes?” he asks her, somewhat drily, after she doesn’t immediately move away.

  “…Sex demon.”

  “…I prefer incubus, if it’s all the same to you.”

  “…You’ve raped people before?”

  Sincir shrugs. “I’ve done a lot worse, but those days are over, now.”

  “Why?” Ena asks, still facing his eyes directly, “Why did you decide to become nice?”

  Sincir snorts. “I’m not that nice. And I never decided anything… I’ve been around for a while, that’s all. At some point, unless you’re hopelessly stupid, you’re bound to realize violence, physical or otherwise, tends to generate more violence. And since I don’t particurly enjoy having violence enacted against me or the people I… The people I’m responsible for, I try to avoid trouble where I can.”

  Ena stares at him skeptically. “Are demons allergic to the word love, or something?”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “What are you, the inquisition? I do the best I can, okay? But I’m not perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, and the longer you’ve been alive, the more of them you accumute.”

  “…I guess I can see that.”

  “Can you move away now?”

  Ena chuckles, turns away, and gathers her mana for a moment, before waving her hand as she creates a small gust of wind which puts out their light… And also drops to the ground the hanging ntern from which it was coming from.

  Once the obvious noise of broken gss has subsided, Sincir groans.

  “…I hate myself,” Ena murmurs.

  “Just remember to clean the broken gss in the morning… Before one of us cuts ourselves, preferably. Now go to sleep, already…”

  Ena sighs.

  In the dark, Sincir can feel her adjusting her position, and he’s not surprised when she comes to hug him, pressing her body against his back before covering the both of them with a bnket.

  “Night…” she murmurs tiredly.

  “Ena... I’m not your damn pillow…” Sincir groans.

  However, he knows it is hopeless. In the beginning, he forced her to sleep on her side of the bed, but after months of waking up with her on top of him, regardless of how many pillows he put in between them before going to sleep, he gave up on stopping her.

  Although he doesn’t mind cuddling while awake, Sincir hates sleeping with somebody attached to him like this, because it reminds him of being chained… Yes, it has been two millennium since then, but certain things never go away.

  Still, he has grown used enough to sleeping with Ena by know that he can at least withstand it by focusing on her smell, rather than on the memories of Varzath’s time as a sve that the restriction of his movements evokes.

  …He had hoped she heard the part about pretty girls and his perversion as well, but it seems that if she did, she decided to ignore it.

  Just his luck…

  As usual, it takes a while for Sincir to fall asleep under such circumstances, and tonight, he finds his thoughts moving in Esme’s direction and the danger he might’ve put her in by acting carelessly.

  He knows she often sleeps at the library, probably in the same couch they had sex on, but he doesn’t even know where she goes to grab food, and whatnot.

  He never bothered to ask.

  Still, hushing there without knowing anything about the enemy might’ve put her in more danger than doing things carefully… Besides, from how Victoria acted, he doesn’t think the vampires are all that bad, or he’d have not have let her go back that easily, to tell her friends about him.

  The truth is, he is hoping they’re open for a talk, since they’d make for strong allies…

  Shit, he can’t fall asleep at all…

  Next morning, Sincir is awoken at first light by the fact it shines against his room’s window. Ena has one leg on top of him, but her body sprawled in the opposite direction, and she’s still sleeping soundly.

  For a moment, he considers simply returning to sleep, but remembering he has a long day ahead, he groans and forces himself to rise.

  By the time he has finished dressing himself, and cleaning the broken ntern, Ena is still with her mouth slightly opened, and her limbs sprawled across their bed, causing Sincir to roll his eyes.

  “Well, I guess you like working at the tavern more than I thought. Anyway, I’ll tell you how the test went when I’m back with Eleanor from the guild,” he says out loud.

  Ena’s breathing stops, and a second ter, she jumps up, expression terrified as she quickly inspects the room until she finds him standing by the bed, an eyebrow raised in her direction.

  “…Morning,” he says, causing Ena to groan as she throws herself back against her pillow.

  “Sin, you’re such a dumbass…” she cries.

  “Eleanor is already awake, and she says it’s best to leave earlier, or there will be lines. Now hush, or we will leave without you.”

  After Ena murmurs something which might be a confirmation or a curse, Sincir leaves her to her morning routine as he reads downstairs for breakfast, which Eleanor must’ve already finished by now.

  In the house, the three of them also rotate the cooking, and by cooking he means breakfast, which is the only meal they really eat at home, rather than at the tavern… Though, now that both Ena and Eleanor will have quit working there, it might be time for them to change their routine, and perhaps even hire someone to care for the house shores and cooking, if they manage to make enough money from the guild…

  The window at the kitchen showcases their backyard, and Sincir can see Eleanor outside, already wearing her leather armor as she oils and sharpens her sword.

  Normally, they’d eat and then spend the morning with their physical training, but since he’s registering at the guild today with Ena, they’ll be skipping it, so Sincir allows himself to eat a bit more than usual…

  Eleanor is a surprisingly good cook, after all, though not as good as Ena.

  A couple of minutes ter, Ena finally comes to join him. Since she still doesn’t have an armor or a weapon, she is dressed in her training clothes, which Sincir absently inspects as she rubs her eyes and sits at the table next to him, with a vacant look on her face.

  She used to be such an early bird when they first met, but looking at her now, you’d think she’s one of Victoria’s friends…

  “…How long do you pn on staring at the food for? It won’t move itself into your mouth, you know?”

  Ena throws him a dirty look, but she does begin to eat, slowly at first, and then much faster once her appetite is stirred.

  Having already finished his food, Sincir watches her with a roll of his eyes.

  “It’s bad for you to eat without chewing properly,” he tells her, which is something the children of the orphanage were often told by Father Anders.

  “Yes, Father Sincir,” Ena murmurs with her mouth full, never taking her eyes from her food or slowing down her fork in the slightest.

  ...Yeah, he supposes he deserved this one.

  Once Ena is done, they’re all basically ready to go. As for what Sincir is wearing, it is more or less the same attire he wore for Victoria’s show the previous night, plus a dagger belt with two normal steel daggers he bought a couple of years prior, though he has yet to have a good reason to use them.

  At the door, as they’re about to head out, Ena takes a gnce toward his daggers and frowns.

  “You’re nding me one of those, right?”

  “No, I’m not. The guild will provide us with weapons for our test, so these are for something I have to do ter… And for the st time, you’re not using daggers as your weapons. I haven’t trained you to use them, and they’re a shitty repcement for a sword, more often than not.”

  “But you said they’re your main weapon, right? And I’ll also be using my magic to fight.”

  Sincir sighs. How many times are they going to have this argument before she understands daggers simply aren’t good at much more than assassination?

  “Back then, most of what I did required me to be able to carry hidden weapons with me. Learning to wield daggers was a necessity, not something I did for fun, or because I thought they were the greatest of weapons.”

  “But they’re cool! And they fit my fighting style!”

  Sincir groans, before throwing Eleanor, who walks slightly behind them, a hopeless gnce, all but begging her to say something.

  “…Many of the things we’re going to kill are taller than a human, and they tend to have tougher skin, as well,” Eleanor says at st, “I’m sorry Ena, but daggers won’t help you much in a nest, or against a troll.”

  Ena groans. “I can’t believe the both of you! Swords are so boring! I’m about fall asleep just thinking of wielding one to a fight! If not daggers, then at least let me use an axe, or a war hammer!”

  “You want to wield… a war hammer?” Sincir asks, incredulously.

  Under his gaze, Ena blushes slightly. “It was just an idea. I’m tired of fighting with a sword… Besides, Eleanor is already the sword wielder in our party, and I don’t want people to think we’re the same.”

  “But you’re okay with using the same weapon as me?” Sincir retorts, rolling his eyes as he does so.

  “You’re a guy, and you’re still a kid, so that’s different… Okay, you’re right, it’d be terrible unless all three of us were using the same thing. Daggers are out, then. What about a mace? There’s nothing wrong with maces, right?”

  Sincir groans as Ena continues to pester them with different weapon choices on their way to the guild. So early in the morning, Elderspire’s streets are basically empty, and most shops have yet to open their doors, while many of the night shift city guards are nearly about to fall asleep in their patrols, as they wait for their repcements to arrive.

  Ena’s voice all but echoes around them, but she seems unaware of it in virtue of her obvious excitement.

  For today, Sincir leaves her be. Knowing her, she’ll be nervous soon enough, anyway…

  And sure enough, the more they approach the guild’s main building in the city, the quieter Ena becomes, until she’s gone completely silent by the time they’re able to spot it around the corner.

  Though, Sincir has to admit, the Explores Guild in Elderspire is an impressive looking building, even if not as much as Inquiry. Two stores high, and occupying an entire block of the city, one might mistake it as a giant warehouse from afar, but its military purpose becomes clear after closer inspection.

  Built from dark wood, the building seems extremely sturdy, and easily defensible, given its design… Not that Varzath is much of a military commander, in spite of his past, mind you, but even he can tell it was built with a potential siege in mind.

  He wonders what…

  Sincir scratches his head. He did have a military commander, right? They must not have interacted much, if he doesn’t even remember their name or face.

  Well, he is sure he’ll have a chance to ask about them, eventually. For now, he should focus on building the foundation for his kingdom…

  The guild’s gigantic wooden doors are held wide open, revealing the building’s rge lobby, and leaking the murmuring noise coming from within; Even at this time in the morning, the Explores Guild’s main quarters in a city this rge is far from empty.

  As they enter, Sincir gnces at the rge map hanging from the guild’s lobby back wall, which showcases Adall’s continent as a whole, including unexplored areas (marked in gray), Danger Zones (marked in red), and human countries.

  Many of the adventures within - whom Sincir counts to at least a dozen groups sitting around the tables spread across the rge lobby - openly dispy their weapons, though none of them wears full metal armor… Or wields a fucking war hammer, for that matter.

  This being the third time he visits the guild, having come once when he first arrived at Elderspire with the girls, and then a second time during Eleanor’s enlistment, Sincir is not surprised by what he sees, and immediately heads toward the reception tables in the back, currently occupied by only two clerks, one of whom is busy with an angry adventurer seemingly unhappy with his payment, if his nearly shouted words are anything to go by.

  Unfortunately, the free cleric is somebody Sincir still remembers from his first two visits, and the person in question immediately grimaces as she spots him.

  For him the have the same person being free all three times he visited… He must be cursed.

  “Good morning,” Sincir greets as he approaches the reception, ignoring the look of open contempt the woman on the other side stares at him with, “I’ve come for a registration.”

  “Really, darling? Are you sure you’re not here to ask for breakfast? Because our fresh bread has just come out of the oven…” the woman murmurs, sarcasm dripping from her words, “Or maybe I could interest you in a cup of milk, instead?”

  The woman being around her thirties to mid-thirties, if Sincir had met her on the street, he’d have never guessed she works behind a desk all day, from her fit figure alone. Her hair is bck, tied in a loosen ponytail, and falling a little past her shoulder bdes still, while her eyes are a cold tone of blue, and her expression seems permanently stuck to a resting bitch face… At least when she’s not purposefully gring at any poor fool who dares approach her table, that is.

  With such a poor attitude, how she has not been fired yet is anyone’s guess, but Sincir refuses to run away from her, which would be obvious if he decided to wait for the second clerk to become free when this bitch obviously doing nothing.

  In fact, considering how much she seems to despise her work, and how poorly she treated him the previous times he visited, Sincir takes a certain amount of twisted pleasure in making her work... And he has no trouble meeting her sarcasm with an innocent smile, as though having not noticed it.

  “Oh, I didn’t know the guild served breakfast… Thank you, but we’ve already eaten. Only the registration will do, please.”

  The woman grimaces further. “For the record, we don’t. And I remember you from before… Didn’t I tell you we are not a fucking daycare?”

  Sincir gnces over his shoulder, noticing both Ena and Eleanor have stopped a couple of meters away from him, near the closest table from the reception.

  “…Yes, I remember you as well,” Sincir continues as he faces the ill-humored clerk once more, still maintaining his smile, “My fifteenth birthday was st week.”

  Given her obviously skeptical gaze, Sincir grabs his ID from his pocket and presents it to her; Since it has the official seal of Elderspire’s duke engraved on it, he doubts she’ll be able to refuse it.

  And sure enough, after a moment of staring at his ID, the clerk woman grimaces, shifting her eyes from it to him and then back.

  Sincir would bet a rge of money she is desperately thinking of a way to refuse him, and coming out empty.

  In the end, she finally sighs as she returns his ID, not even pretending she is doing any of this willingly.

  “I guess you’re old enough to kill yourself now… Congratutions, kid. Are you the only one registering? I’d rather not have to do this twice.”

  Sincir beckons Ena to step closer, which she does after a brief moment of hesitation.

  “This is Ena. She is registering with me.”

  “Eleanor’s friends, are you? With her attitude, nobody thought she had any,” the woman murmurs as she takes a couple of forms from under her desk, then grabs a quill, preparing it as she stares at the both of them once more, cold blue eyes bored-looking.

  The irony of what she said nearly has Sincir ughing out loud, but he manages to maintain his good, naive boy attitude as he answers, “Sincir, no st name.”

  “Ena, no st name... No, make that Reyphyra,” Ena murmurs, once the woman’s eyes shift in her direction.

  Sincir blinks. Since when did she...? Well, it must’ve been on that letter the orphanage got when she was left at their door.

  Gncing at her, Sincir realizes Ena has an uncharacteristically angry frown on her face, perhaps in virtue of the woman’s comment about Eleanor having no friends…

  The clerk writes their names down, one in each of the papers she grabbed.

  “Mage, or fighter?” she asks then, already moving her hands to write the next line when Sincir speaks again.

  “Mage, for the both of us.”

  The woman pauses.

  Until now, Sincir has prohibit the girls from using magic in public, Eleanor included, so she’s registered as a normal fighter. But since they’ll be tackling the nests for real, and most likely selling the crystals they gather at the guild, there’s no way they’ll be able to hide their abilities for long.

  “…Sureeee,” the clerk murmurs after a moment of facing his calm expression, then writes it down in spite of her clear cynicism. “Species?”

  “I’m human, and she’s a half-elf,” Sincir says.

  Again, it’d be hard to hide Ena’s heritage in virtue of her elven skin color and slightly pointed ears, so Sincir decided not to try. Having already asked Eleanor, he knows the guild has no connection with the elves, and as such, should have no reason to uphold their ws.

  “Pying with fire, aren’t you? Well, it’s not my problem,” the clerk says after writing down their species. Then, she turns the forms in their direction and asks, “Know how to sign your name? Or at least how to read?”

  “Both,” Sincir says, leaning forward as he does a brief read of the contract he’ll be signing.

  Among other things, it states the guild is not reliable for any crimes they might commit, for their possible deaths in the field, and for any equipment or monetary loss they might have, etc…

  It seems completing the contracts they accept and coming back in one piece is ultimately their own responsibility, and the guild will pay them for a job well done, but not much else.

  Basically, it’s mercenary work in a nutshell.

  Still, there are benefits to it, like tax exemption when entering cities under a contract from the guild, cheap lodging, discounts in associated stores, the ability to sell monster parts and crystal directly at a guild facility at a market rate, and, of course, the most important all, an easy access to contracts, and the guarantee they will be paid for their work, sometimes, even if the guild itself is not.

  All in all, it is not a bad deal, and so Sincir signs his name without much hesitation, before handing Ena the quill so she can do the same.

  The fact she doesn’t even bother reading it before sighing her own form is a testament of her trust in him… Or perhaps of her naivete.

  Although, Sincir does notice her hand is shaking slightly as she signs, so she might be simply too nervous to have thought of doing it.

  After checking their signatures, the clerk sighs. “Kid, I remember you came with Eleanor st time, so you know there is a test… Even if it is mostly a formality. Follow me.”