Mysterious Partner

After what was a minute of simply standing there, Azraea finally placed her hand on the mirror. It was then that something very strange happened. The mirror glowed pitch black, and began to crack in a violent storm of energy. The same aura began to coat Azraea, who's eye now began to flash in a scarlet colour. The black energy retreated into the mirror and it shattered in seconds. Glass shards littered the floor.

Azraea looked like she had woken up, and she looked around, panicked. What just happened? What was that result supposed to mean? Erika looked just as surprised, but she quickly composed herself.

"That was…" she stuttered, "That was amazing. I've never seen such a mana signature before…"

She began to mumble to herself. I walked over and placed my hand on Azraea's shoulder.

"You alright?" I asked.

She nodded, I could feel her trembling a little. I probably would too, if something like that came out of me. Just what was that?

"I wasn't able to get a good reading of your potential…" Erika commented, "Ah, don't worry about the mirror by the way. I'll get that cleaned up and ask the Capitol branch to send a replacement. Now, onto the next stage; your rankings."

She ushered the both of us out of the room and closed the door behind us. Erika then called over a uniformed man and pointed him toward the room. He quickly got a broom and walked into the room. Most likely he was a cleaner.

Erika moved on and walked over to a locked chest on a table. She took a key and opened it. Then she pulled out two necklaces. One was a bronze tag, the other was a gold tag. She handed me the bronze one, and Azraea the gold one.

"These necklaces are your key to the other guild branches." Erika told us, "They tell officials and other adventurers what rank you are, and so they can know who they're talking to. The rankings go as follows: Iron, Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Hero. You'll be allowed to take quests that are at or below your ranking."

"So I'm nearly the top rank?" Azraea asked. Erika nodded.

"I've decided to put you there." she answered, "This is mainly because whilst I couldn't properly measure your power, it was clearly Gold rank, or maybe higher. Now let me show you the quest board."

Erika pointed at a bulletin board above the chest. It had many slips of paper with differently coloured stamps. The colours seemed to match with the rankings. They were neatly ordered by colour.

"Whenever we get a new mission request, we'll put it up on the board along with the difficulty that we think it should be." Erika explained, "Simply take the quest notice with you and bring it to us when you complete it. We'll make sure you get paid accordingly."

"So I guess that we should only do Gold or lower?" I asked her. She nodded.

"That's recommended." Erika replied, "But you're free to take on any quest if you have the confidence."

Erika clapped her hands together.

"Well that's the end of the sign-up process." she announced, "Feel free to do whatever from now. Take on a quest, or maybe enjoy yourselves at the bar, make some friends. I probably wouldn't advise taking on any quests right now, since it'll be night soon. Monsters get especially dangerous at night. I'll be seeing you."

She waved and walked back to the room. Most likely to check that everything had been cleaned up. Azraea suddenly tapped me on the shoulder, a bright smile on her face.

"Well no time to waste." she called, "Let's go enjoy ourselves. Round on me."

She picked herself back up fast, it was honestly quite amazing. You'd think that the energy she released earlier was a joke. Nonetheless, I followed her up to the bar. She leant on the counter and knocked on the wooden surface quite hard.

"Two ales." she called to the bartender; a man in a similar uniform to Erika. He nodded and grabbed two wooden mugs, putting them under a tap and filling them with a brownish liquid that foamed at the top. He then placed them down in front of us.

"Two coppers." he said. Azraea reached into her purse and handed him two copper coins.

"Drink up." she told me.

I stared at the mug in front of me. Normally I wouldn't have been able to drink, but this was a different world right? Different rules. I picked up the mug and drank a little. It was a little bitter, but it was good overall.

When I looked over to Azraea, her drink had already vanished. She called for another, handed over a copper coin, then downed her next mug like it was water. When she slammed it down, her face was going a bit red. Was the drink strong or was she just weak to drink?

Again and again, Azraea kept going. By the time that I had almost finished my drink, she had downed at least six mugs like it was nothing. Her face was really red. She turned to me.

"I…" she mumbled, "I challenge you to…I challenge you to a duel!"

She was clearly drunk. Her voice was all slurred and I think that she'd fall without the counter supporting her.

"What kind of duel do you propose?" I asked.

"I want to see if you can out drink me!" she shouted, "Right now, I want to see you drink. You've been holding back."

"Heh." I smirked, "Challenge accepted. Prepare to be out drunk."

"Bartender!" Azraea called, "Ten ales!"

She put ten coppers on the counter and a platter of ten ales appeared on the counter. I finished my current drink and grabbed the next mug. Shouldn't be too difficult. I took a small sip, then downed the drink in a matter of seconds.

The taste hit hard. It was much more intense than how I was drinking it before. I put the mug down and grabbed another. I downed that one, and the next, and the next. About four drinks in I was feeling woozy. Nonetheless, I kept drinking.

Seven mugs in and Azraea looked surprised that I was still standing. Really I felt like I was going to drop, I started seeing double. I wasn't planning on stopping though. I drank another, and another.

As I slammed down the tenth mug, I unleashed a great cry of victory. Azraea seemed like she was being beaten, then she had more drinks. At about twelve drinks, she was looking really tipsy. I caught something out of what little I could see. It looked like the shoulder of Azraea's dress was coming down a little. I wanted to point it out, but she might call me out as a pervert.

As time passed, she never seemed to notice. I really wanted to point it out. But I didn't get the chance. Azraea looked like she was about to order another drink, but then her head slammed on the counter. I could hear her snoring. She'd passed out.

This was…troubling. I have no idea if she has anywhere that she's staying or not. I had no idea what to do with her. Either way, I made my way over to her, and slung her over my shoulder. She wasn't too heavy honestly. I started staggering as I walked with her on my shoulder, but I knew I couldn't drop her.

Suddenly, I heard a slurred moan come from Azraea.

"Out the building…" she mumbled, "Left on…first crossing…first door…house…"

Was that her way of giving me instructions? It was all I had to go on though. I left the building with a stagger and carried Azraea to the left. I kept going until I saw what looked like a crossing. I went left again, then saw a door right on the corner. That must have been what she was talking about. I pulled at the handle, but the door was locked.

I put Azraea down for a little bit, and went through the pouch under her skirt. There was a bunch of random items, but I found a key amongst them. Must be it. Only one way to find out.

I took the key and put it in the door. I twisted it, and it unlocked the door. The door swung open with a creak, and I carried Azraea through. I took her with me until I found a bed in one of the rooms, then I laid her down on the bed and staggered back. The world was turning black and the last thing I heard was my body hitting the floor.