"What? An Apex Mage? You encountered an Apex Mage!?" Blurted out Ifeus in disbelief. "Yeah, you can check with the Knight Mages if you don't believe us, we just turned all the bandits in before coming back to the Guild," I informed him. Knight Mages are Mages who work under the command of the nation's Royal family, the majority of the Knight Mages are located in the capital, but there are small outposts in every city as well. They mainly serve as guards and also as a police force, and they're the ones in charge of the various prisons in the nation. They basically cover the bases that Guild Mages don't. "It's not that I don't believe you, I know you wouldn't lie about this, but...it's just that it's hard to believe, I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that you encountered an Apex Mage and made it out alive," He responded in bemusement. "Truth be told, we almost didn't make it out of that battle alive, that Apex Mage was seriously powerful," Chimed in Rex with a grimace. "Hm

"You know, I'm starting to get kinda worried about Iris. It's been over a month since we last saw her, I hope she's okay," I remarked thoughtfully, as Lilac and I strolled through the city. "Oh, I'm sure she's just fine. There aren't a lot of things out there that can take down that gorilla, you know," Shrugged Lilac wryly in response. She says that, but I know she's worried too. I've seen her sleeping in Iris's room a couple of times over the last week, and she's not as energetic and upbeat as she usually is. Today's the 22nd of May, 505 PA, and a bit over two weeks had passed since that bandit Quest. I got paid quite substantially the following day after that Quest, which I used to buy myself some new novels to read, plus some snacks to munch on while I'm lazing about in my room.I decided to take a day off today and just laze about all day, but Lilac had other ideas. She insisted on showing me around the city, which I honestly couldn't care less about, but she wouldn't stop pest

"Well, that really sucked...I mean, I was the one who told them about your deduction regarding the fact that it was most likely an Apex Mage of the Space Class who destroyed the prison, and as soon as I finish, they suspect me and detain me for questioning. I don't think I've ever felt so insulted in my life," Sighed Ifeus with an exasperated look on his face. "Sounds rough," I responded absent-mindedly, leaning back in my chair. "More importantly, let's go on a Quest, To," Chimed in Lilac, shaking my shoulder a couple of times. "M-more importantly...?" Muttered Ifeus in dismay."Just to make sure, you weren't the one who did it...right?" I inquired, feigning a doubtful look on my face. "Of course, not!" He protested indignantly. It was the next day, the 23rd of May, 505 PA, and I was currently at the Guild. Normally, I'd have stayed at home and trained today, but since Ifeus was taken in for questioning yesterday, I came to the Guild this morning with Lilac since the Knight Mage

"So, you usually spend all year traveling around Sapio? Don't you visit any other countries?" I inquired, as I browsed through the store. "No, but not because I don't want to. It all comes down to cost...hiring Guild Mages to serve as bodyguards between cities, towns and villages within the same nation is one thing, but the price goes up significantly if I want to hire them for jobs that'll take me outside of the country. I've carefully considered it, and given my average earnings, the cost doing so would mean an overall loss for me," He explained with a wry smile. Today's the 25th of May, 505 PA, a couple of days after Iris finally returned from her training journey. Lilac and I decided to come check out Rekon's store, Iris wanted to join us but couldn't since she's been grounded. She did give us a list of things she wanted us to get here, along with money to pay for it. "Hey, what's this thing? It smells really sweet," Remarked Lilac, picking up a pink, flower-looking object. "H

"Not that I'm complaining, but weren't you supposed to be grounded for a whole month? It's barely been a week," Remarked Rex in bemusement. "No, it's been nine days, so well over a week," Responded Iris with a shrug. "That's still not even a third of a month, not even if it were February..."Today's the 1st of June, 505 PA, and I was currently at Solaris, about to depart on a Quest along with Iris, Lilac and Rex, our party's first official Quest. Lilac's looking even more upbeat than usual, is she really that excited about this? Personally, I'm less than thrilled, to put it lightly. My main issue is with Rex, of course, but he's not my only concern...I've never actually been on a Quest with Iris before this, she did tag along on some of my first Quests, but she was more observing me to make sure I could handle the jobs. Which was unnecessary, because most of my initial Quests were tasks like gathering specific herbs and whatnot, there was basically no real danger on those jobs.