[17]

He had already begun to grow bored of the constant information spewing out of the two. He wasn't one for things like this and, although he had been constantly trained by his mother and father to take over the kingdom in the long run, he still didn't really like 'work' per say. Now, sitting here listening to the two finalizing the 'job' they were to take in replace for the monetary cost of the information on the location of Crow's Nest, his mind had begun to wander. Looking for anything that could keep his attention.

He brought his right hand just a few inches from his face, spread open his palm, and mumbled under his breath "<Fireball>."

He had no need to chant but only needed to visualize, however, saying the spell name was a great help in helping him visualize the spell itself.

The air above his palm seemed to swirl with faint red light before finally beginning to take the shape of a spherical ball. A small millisecond passed before the red light lit ablaze in the orangish-red hue of flames.

Controlling his mana as finitely as possible, the ball was nothing more than possibly the size of a marble ball any child would play with. Yet, its heat still radiated strongly as his body felt the warmth. Although he was a fire mage, it didn't mean he was immune to fire. However, he did grow a tolerance to it as he had practiced countless times. And that was why being a fire mage was a bit more dangerous than other mages, yet, he couldn't change it as that was the element his mana took a liking towards.

Remembering those moments he had burned his hands as a child and how his mother would scold him, a small smile placed on his lips.

"<Fireball>." He whispered once more as, this time, two more balls of flames sprung to life besides the other.

Controlling a spell was a bit different than controlling mana, as it required a bit more concentration and the ability to correctly predict its path of travel. However, he was a genius, wasn't he?

Soon, the ball of flames began to chase after each other as they spun atop his palm. Rotating together in a circular motion, they looked like three small suns gravitating towards each other.

Just as he was mildly playing with fire, he noticed, out of the corner of his eyes the mystic eyes of a boy Staring at him with a questioning gaze.

'What are you doing?' He could see the mouth of the boy move without an utterance of real sound.

He smirked, then, in a single motion, flicked his hand.

The three balls of flame traced the air with his control and soon blended into one. As it crossed the air, the ball of flames began to dissipate, in the end, leaving nothing more than the small warmth they had brought.

Yes, he had dissipated the spell, but it wasn't without rewards.

'Indeed, worthy of being my sister's first true friend.' He thought.

Although it was only a small joke, he didn't miss the small hint of caution the boy had shown. Seeing as the boy had immediately placed his hand on one of the swords strapped to his back. It was as if he had already been on high alert the whole time, it wasn't a simple thing to be prepared to draw your sword within the span of no more than a second or two.

With a small sigh, the boy removed his hand from the sword before narrowing his eyes at him.

However, just then, a soft voice drew the attention of the two.

"What are you two doing?" Maria asked, staring at the two boys who seemed to think she was just air. Did they really think she was as blind as to not notice a ball of flame flying just in front of her?

"I was just testing him." Arthur quickly spewed some nonsense and, surprisingly, Rain didn't refute.

"I see, did he pass?" Maria was a bit skeptical-okay, to be honest, she didn't buy it at all but she wasn't gonna delve too into it.

"Passable." Arthur calmly nodded, although he definitely knew she hadn't bought his lie. Having been with her for so long, how wouldn't he notice the trace of skepticism in her expression?

Being as cunning as he always was, he immediately changed the conversation "So, are you two finally done?"

He asked as he looked between his sister and the guild master.

"Yes, follow me to the site." O'Brien stood up as so too did the rest.

Arthur didn't really know what was happening but he played along as smoothly as if he did.

However, just as they reached the door, it slid open to reveal two new faces.

One was a regular guild attendant that spoke up "Guild Master, she would also like to seek information."

And the other was a young girl.

Arthur stared at the girl in slight interest. The first thing he noticed was her eyes of full crimson that he thought of as the color of blood, unlike the more pinkish nature of his sister's glare. Next was the full disheveled hair of daunting black that draped behind her and, finally, an overall dress of a white shirt and blue skirt.

'Interesting.' Was a word he had rarely used to describe someone. However, within the span of a day, he had met two such cases. Rain Clover, and this girl before him.

"Are you the guild master?" The girl spoke as her crimson eyes drilled into the guild master, utterly disregarding the rest of the group.

"Yes, and you are?" O'Brien raised his brows.

"My name is Ashe, I want information on where Crow's Nest is currently located." She spoke through a small hiss.

'Ashe? Very Interesting indeed.' Although Arthur wasn't a person who mindlessly wanted attention, he still did not like the fact that she had disregarded not only him but everyone else as well.

However, looking at everyone else, no one seemed to mind much, so he naturally decided not to mind much either.

"The same situation....fine, come with us. I'll fill you in as we go." The Guild Master muttered to himself for a moment, before finally nodding towards the girl.

What was the difference between three and four people anyway? One of the original three would just have to sit out and make room for this newcomer. Although he wondered which one would decide to do so, he didn't particularly care.

So, with one sentence from the guild master, a new face was added to the original three as the group walked down the halls.

Finally, at the first floor, Maria met up with her personal knight and guard and spoke: "This could take a while, tell the guards to return."

And with that, Ais joined the group.

Ais didn't worry about the safety of Maria, seeing as she was following the guild master. For someone to become a guild master of a branch, more than management, it required strength above all.

And, if the guild master couldn't stop an assassination attempt amidst the walls of his own compounds, the royal guards of no more than B rank wouldn't dare to think they could.

***

The underground level of the guild was entirely crafted out of stone, from the floor below to the walls that encased the big open space; it was all the smooth surface of a cream-colored stone.

This facility was a simple one, a training area for adventurers. With the various small arenas that spanned the area-amounting to a total of five arenas—it seemed like the perfect place for a fight to be carried. At most times, it would be bustling with all manners of activity, but, O'Brien had already personally ordered no one to be here at the time; save for the medical staffs.

However, this trio before them seemed to really draw all the attention onto themselves.

"Listen up! We are the Howard brothers!" The voice of the middle one bellowed.

"I'm Moe Howard!"

Right on cue, the other two joined in "I'm Larry Howard!"

"And I'm Curley!"

"We are gonna become the greatest adventurers known to men!!!" They bellowed together.

Everyone, including Ashe and Ais, looked at the guild master.

"Ummm...I forgot to mention....but....they have a bit of an eccentric personality." O'Brien lightly coughed as his eyes pointed at the trio.

Moe Howard, Larry Howard, and Curley Howard; This triplets were near identical from one another, all being men with a well-toned build of muscles and with brown hair and hazel eyes. One wouldn't be able to tell them apart if it wasn't for the weapons they carried. Moe carried a sword at his waist, Larry a bow, and Curley a—actually, he carried no weapon and was dressed in the formal mage attire of the mage guild.

"We're supposed to re-educate this three?" Maria asked, in an attempt to make sure.

"Indeed." O'Brien nodded in all seriousness.

"Hey hold on guild master! You're sending these little kids to fight us!?" The leader, or who they assumed to be the leader, Moe pointed at the group before releasing a fit of laughter along with his brothers.

"Hey, say, can we truly beat them up till they can't stand?" Arthur asked, disregarding the group.

"Of Course." O'Brien responded.

"So, as long as we don't kill them, it's enough?" Rain asked as his pair of mystifying eyes glazed over them.

"Certainly."

"What constitutes 'near-death'?" Ashe asked as she cracked her fists. She had already been itching to punch something.

"As long as their still breathing and all four limbs are intact."

Looking at the group of riled up folks on both sides, Maria couldn't help but think they may be either a little bit too excited or really want to punch something to test their strength. She slowly shook her head.

"When are we starting?" Arthur asked.

"As soon as you decide who goes first and who's going to sit on the sidelines." O'Brien simply stated.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors anyone?" Arthur turned towards the group.

They all agreed, of course before huddling in a circle. Ashe, although a bit unwilling, still followed their lead.

"Listen up, as the oldest by two minutes or so. I, Moe, will go first!!" The side of the trio was much more simpler, deciding to go based on age.

***

Arthur stood atop the square arena as he watched the dome of light that surrounded it.

"How did they attach a <Light Barrier> onto the arena?" His sister's voice echoed just behind him.

He turned around to see Maria and Rain looking curiously at the dome, while Ashe and Ais really didn't look much too interested.

"There are two ways to use magic within the world," Arthur began, more than glad to show his knowledge "the first is just as you've been taught; taking mana, chanting a scripture, and controlling it to form a spell."

To which Maria and Rain nodded.

"The last and second way, Magic Circles, follows almost the same theory as Magic Circuits, so much so in fact that Magic Circuits might have been based on the overall aspect of Magic Circles. The simple definition is drawing mana lines and feeding it a set of instructions to gather the mana elements in the air and reform it into a usable spell that isn't directly controlled by the person and may be activated using a catalyst just like Magic Circuits. Overall, there are not many that practice this field as it's difficulty even outclasses Magic Circuits."

"Although it allows the activation of magic without a caster, it's weaknesses are as numerous as the clouds. Anyway, one of-"

"Are you guys gonna just ignore me?" A voice finally entered into their ears as the three turned to face the person.

Arthur turned around to see his opponent flaming with anger.

"Oh? Right." He finally nodded.

He observed the movement of the man before him.

'He doesn't seem to put me in his eyes, much less acknowledge that I may be stronger than him. A cocky person—well, this is to my advantage.'

"Listen, boy! I will let you have the first attack!!" Moe drew his iron sword and pointed towards Arthur.

"Well, thank you." Arthur smiled and held his hand forward, he wasn't one to disregard a gift.

"<Fireball>."

In but a moment, a blazing ball flew through the air and towards the man.

"This all you got?" The man brandished his blade and swung down with both hands grasping its hilt.

His sword diagonally slashed the flames, as it was easily split apart.

However, there were more fireballs that followed after that one.

The balls of flames seemed to turn the sky into a hue of orange-red as they blazed towards Arthur's opponent.

"Dammit!" The man was immediately forced to give up slashing as he dodged to the side.

Thus began the chase around the arena as Arthur kept him at a safe distance while firing out his fireballs.

"Why don't you stop jumping around and fight me like a man!!!" The man bellowed as he dodged another ball of flames.

'That's stupid.' Arthur thought as his right-hand cast another fireball and, while maintaining a safe distance from his foe, fired it off.

He followed every movement of the man before him as he used his magic to his advantage.

He was a mage after all and his physical ranks weren't something to truly depend on. So, it was best to use his advantage even more so to gain the winning role. What would be the point of a mage who went headstrong to battle? Well, unless to become a cannon fodder in a battle of course, but Arthur wasn't very fond of becoming a stepping stone to anyone.

However, he was beginning to get sick of this man dodging all of his attacks.

He needed something that could both restrict his opponent's movement as well as deal enough damage to either win or give him an edge.

"<Flame Trail>." Arthur channeled the mana into the soles on his feet, before finally stomping onto the ground.

A red sea of light instantly engulfed the ground and continued to advance towards the man, like tidal waves, before finally enshrouding him in its reach.

Like a spark, starting from Arthur, the red light set ablaze with flames as the scorching heat moved forwards and turned the arena into a sea of flames.

That was the thing about magic, the ground didn't have to be flammable what so ever for flames to burn atop its surface, and neither was oxygen needed. The only thing that was of importance was the mana a person could channel towards it. That was to say, as a fire mage, as long as you had enough mana, you could burn anything at anytime in anyplace. Of course, it would be less effective on areas with large bodies of water, but it was still the same story as long as you weren't under the sea and there wasn't a storm of rain.

"That should do it." Arthur smiled.

However, his smile was short lived as he saw the man standing perfectly fine amidst the flames.

"What the?"

"I didn't want to use this against a little kid, but..." The man laughed slightly as a smile crept onto his lips "Do you like my <Rock Armor>?"

His usual slightly tanned skin tone was now replaced with an obvious brown. Slight chunks of dirt fell from his body and the rocky texture of rock was revealed to cover the entirety of his skin. There was indeed enough reason for him to feel smug, with a defense like that, Arthur didn't think any low-grade weapons would be able to penetrate the man's skin.

However, although he was briefly shocked, Arthur immediately acted. Not given the man a chance, fireballs began to flick out of his right hand.

Why was <Instant Cast> such a broken and godly skill? This was why! With enough mana, a person could rapid fire any spell they wished as long as they could control both the spells and mana correctly. It was truly godly enough to be called 'A skill that makes a Magus', because, once a person reached the level of activating magic without a chant, they would be at the level of a Magus. Yes, it was one of the few skills that could be learned through effort, however, Arthur had bypassed that regiment.

Directly firing magic with nothing but control over his mana.

But...

As the fireballs landed on the man, providing nothing more than fallen dust, they did very little damage and he continued to laugh to himself about his own skill.

"Did you really think those measly flames could burn through my <Rock Armor>!?" He laughed as he parted himself off, taking away the slight hint of blackened dust.

However, the man utterly failed to realize the impending doom that was creeping in on him.

Why was Arthur hailed as a genius young mage? Was it only because of his skill <Instant Cast>? Of course not!

Ultimately, he didn't realize, Arthur was proficient enough in magecraft to cast more than one spell at once. This was a skill that could only be developed through hard work, Multi Cast.

"<Flame Rope>," Arthur muttered under his breath even as he rained down flames towards the man.

A rope of faint red light began to escape from the palm of his left hand as it evaded the sight of the man.

Creeping along the floor, it blended in with the flames that had already spanned the area.

With Arthur's command, the red light moved as if it had a spirit of its own before finally wrapping around the ankle of the man.

"What the-?"

The light briefly flashed and then blazed in flames before beginning to crawl around the body of the man. Latching onto him, the flames began to make their way around the man's body as they wrapped and bound his arms to his waist and his legs together.

He was forced down onto the ground as his sword left his hand.

"Wh-what are you gonna do?" The man's voice quivered slightly, but it still carried a lingering will of fighting spirit as his head raised to look at the boy before him.

Arthur began to channel his mana into a new spell.

As the ball of flames grew larger above his hand, Arthur smiled "Hey, do you know the most fundamental rule of magic?"

Amidst the blazing hue, he could see the eyes of the man widening in slight fear.

"The more mana you draw into a spell," Arthur raised his hand as the glowing ball vibrated intensely and the air scorched in response.

"The more powerful the spell." He threw the fireball.

The man could do nothing more than watch as the ball flew towards his direction. With his arms and legs tied up in vines of flames, there was no escape.

'Why did I stop to boast?' His eyes widened at the gigantic ball of flames that now overshadowed his presence.

*Boom*

An explosion ripped through the air as the ball landed onto him.