The 2nd Year

Note: Although this chapter would spoil quite a bit of the future narrative of the story (to be more specific, around Volume 6), you won't miss out on anything. I'd highly recommend reading up to the latest chapter first before reading this one, though. Also, I have something to say at the end of this chapter, so you better read through all of this.

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Within a random inn.

Cling!

Accompanied by the sound of chimes ringing, a wooden door was opened with great haste as the person who opened it hastily headed towards a certain part of the inn, ignoring the fact that there were no customers inside. In actuality, the person already knew why there were no people inside; thus, they just headed straight to where they were told to meet up.

After a minute or so, the person had finally arrived at the area where they were supposed to meet up. Seeing that only one more person was there other than him, the person could not help but let out an awkward chuckle as he asked the other person, "Did I come too early?"

In response, the other person replied with a light smile, "Not at all. In fact, you're right on time."

"Though I can't say the same thing for the others," the other person added as she tapped her fingers on the table in front of her with slight annoyance.

"Cut them some slack, will you?" the man said in response to the woman's words, making sure that the atmosphere around them was as cheerful as it be. "To be honest, it took quite some time to ask for permission to go out of the academy. Fortunately, the superintendent was there to help me out."

"That Dalton actually helped you out?" the woman looked at the man with slight surprise, to which the man responded with a giggle, "Well, I am learning a few things under him. I also told him the importance of this day; hence he did not hesitate in helping me out."

"How lucky," the woman said before going silent for a bit. Soon after, her gaze scanned the man from head to toe, making the man tilt his head in curiosity. Fortunately, it did not take long for her scan to finish, lightly nodding her head as she said, "From what I could sense, you're pretty close to ascending to a Rank 2 class, aren't you?"

"Argentum?"

"I could say the same to you, Herellia," Argentum replied to Herellia's question, taking this time to scan her from head to toe as well. From the energy he could sense emanating from her, it was apparent that she was nearing the limit of her current class.

After that, he could not help but let out a sigh as he looked at the only door of the inn before asking, "I wonder where those two are?"

"Two?" Herellia said, recalling that she had only invited one more person other than Argentum. Fortunately, it did not take long for her to find out who the second person was.

Cling!

As the door to the inn opened, two silhouettes revealed themselves to both Argentum and Herellia. One of the silhouettes was someone Argentum was incredibly familiar with, given that she was wearing her usual white dress. It was no surprise that this person was none other than Kurohana.

On the other hand, the other silhouette was wearing a light blue sweater and dark gray pants, complementing his eye-catching light blue hair. When both Argentum and Herellia looked at him, they already knew that Horell had finally arrived.

Making their way to where the two were, Horell decided to initiate a conversation with them as he said, "Yo! It's been a while since I've seen you two."

"How are you faring while managing the town?" Argentum asked as a response to Horell's words, prompting Horell to stop in his tracks as he let out a sigh. Soon after, he made his way to the table, sitting beside Argentum before answering, "I was trying to forget the stress that those stacks of documents gave me, but here you are, bringing it up back again."

"Speaking of which, the town needs some more funds if you want to proceed with the training of the military," he added, to which Argentum nodded and replied, "Got it. I'll deliver the funds to you as soon as possible."

"Ehem." Just as the two were about to engage in talks regarding the town they were managing, Kurohana decided to interrupt the two as she looked at the slightly annoyed Herellia and said, "Don't you think that type of conversation should be saved somewhere else?"

"Hehe. Our bad," Horell said in response to Kurohana, knowing very well what might happen to him if he went against her words. As for Argentum, he only shrugged his shoulders before looking at the sword tied to her back. Noticing his gaze, Kurohana looked at the sword on her back before laughing.

"I brought him here just for this occasion," she said, seemingly reading Argentum's mind. Not long after, she did a few gestures with her hands, retrieving the soul that was in the sword before moving it towards Argentum's body. While placing the sword near one of the tables, Argentum surprisingly accepted the soul without any hiccups, closing his eyes for a bit before lightly smiling as he said, "Thanks for doing this for me, Kurohana. Of course, I'll come back to the sword once this is over."

"Let's not sweat over the small stuff for now, Aurus." Kurohana lightly smiled as she noticed that one of the inn's cooks brought a three-tiered chocolate cake in front of them, which had the words "Happy 2nd Anniversary" hovering over the top of it. Reading these words, she went ahead and rummaged through her memories before asking the three, "Has it been two years since you three transformed into Animates?"

"To be more exact, it's been two years since we've established ourselves in your world," Aurus said in response to Kurohana's question before adding on, "From what Argentum told me, we'll be taking a photo to commemorate this?"

"Yeah," Herellia nodded as she replied before signaling to a man slightly far away from them to come to where they are. It did not take long for the man to arrive in front of them, looking at the four with an examining gaze before pointing towards Kurohana and asking, "Miss, could you move to the right of the red-haired woman for me?"

Lightly nodding in response, Kurohana, who was on Herellia's left all this time, moved to her right, eliciting a nod of approval from the man. Soon after, the man conjured an orb of light that hovered over his head before saying to the four with a light smile, "Alright, I'll be taking your photo now! Do whatever pose you see fit!"

"What pose should we do?" Herellia asked the others, to which Aurus looked at the cake for a bit before saying, "How about we do a peace sign?"

"That's a great idea!" Kurohana said in response, although Herellia was at a loss as to what a peace sign was. Noticing her confusion, Aurus said, "Just extend one of your arms out in front of you before extending your middle and index finger like this."

"Like this?" Herellia did what she was told, to which Kurohana and Aurus nodded profusely in approval. Seeing their eagerness to see her in this pose, a hint of red appeared on her face, wondering if this pose meant something else to the two.

As for Horell, he placed his right arm over Aurus' right shoulder before snatching the book that was affixed to his uniform to prop his right arm up. Knowing very well what the book contained, Aurus could not help but become slightly angry as he said to Horell, "You do know what you're holding, right?"

"Relax, will you, Aurus?" Horell answered his question in a playful tone as a light grin suffused on his face. "I'll make sure to put it back where it was. Look, the man's going to take a picture of us."

Seeing that the four were now posing for the photo, the man muttered a few short incantations as the light orb over his head gradually intensified in brightness. He was about to say something to the four before noticing the words on the cake in front of him. Seeing this, he changed his mind as he shouted, "Alright! Say 'Happy 2nd Anniversary'!"

"Happy 2nd Anniversary!"

Click!

(Wanna see how the photo turned out? Check the paragraph comment on this line here!)