His next job was a fairly simple one, and he did not only take it because it seemed like the requester was an incredibly insecure woman. Apparently, she had been rejected from the prestigious combat school that trains mercenaries for the past three semesters and as such, wanted a real mage to spar with in a last ditch effort to improve. She had mentioned that if she failed again, then she would finally give up on going to the school which is why she was going through some extremes to become stronger. Houren could feel the passion behind her words although they were on pen and paper, and was determined to make sure that she succeeded. He could tell, even before meeting her, that she wanted this more than anyone else, but in the end, when it came to ambitious things such as this, simply wanting it just wasn't enough. You had to do something to differentiate yourself from the rest, you had to be stronger than everyone else. For today, Houren did not intend to train his client, Seheda Linas, only physically, but mentally as well. If she could do that, then he was sure that she would become a great mercenary one day. As he walked through the forest outskirts, he could see her in the distance waving towards him. He headed over towards Seheda, where she greeted him.

"Houren Vanadis, I take it? You're here to help me train today, right?" her tone did not seem insecure, but it was clear that she was intimidated by him somewhat. He was not a mercenary like her, but that was because he had not chosen to go down that route. He had chosen to become a mage, and in that regard, he was much more successful than her having proven himself as a valued member of the Fairy Tail guild. If you thought about it like that, then it was obvious why she would be somewhat intimidated by him; he was sort of like her teacher, or her role model, someone who she aspired to be. The thought of it made Houren happy, but for the life of him, he did not know why. "I've taken the test to enter the combat school for he past three years, but I seem to have failed every time. There's no rule that says I cannot take the test a 5th or 6th time, but this will be my last, I feel. I'm not as young as I used to be, and I'll need to find a new job if it turns out that I am not fit to be a mercenary," she explained to him, while Houren listened intently.

"But you really want to be one, right?" he asked.

She did not even need to answer for him to know; there was no reason why she would take the test so many times if she didn't truly want to take this career path. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't paid to know things like that, was he? His job was to make sure she made it into the combat school next time around. He would let her take the lead in terms of training, and it seemed like she was intent of dashing through the forest as though they were ninjas. Houren shrugged, that was as good as training as any. She was the first to dash, and he quickly followed behind her, warning her occasionally when it seemed like she would hit into a log or some obstacle. She eventually got the hang of the job and as such, they were able to continue the training exercise in silence. Houren had no reason to speak, as she didn't seem likely to run into anything anymore, and Seheda seemed to be focusing too much on the possible obstacles in front of her to speak, or at least that is what Houren thought. He was proven wrong when she finally began to speak, and unknown to him, it was to completely pour her heart out as to her current predicament.

"You must be worrying, I'm sure, why I'm trying so hard to become a mercenary even though all evidence seems to suggest that I would not make a very good one; in fact, it explicitly suggests that I am a very lousy mercenary. Is your curiosity not piqued?" she asked, not looking at him but keeping her eyes on the obstacle in front of her. Houren kept quiet, unsure of what to say but eventually he did speak as he knew that the conversation would not advance unless he did so.

"It must really mean a lot to you. I do wonder why. If I'd care to venture a guess, I would say that one of your parents' was a mercenary, and you want to follow in their footsteps," it was the cliched reason for someone to want to become a mercenary so badly. If she was the hero of some story, her mother or father was probably one of the best mercenaries of all time and she desperately wanted to be like them. And, if she was the hero of a story then in the end, that's exactly what would happen, but not after countless failures.

"That's close, but not exactly. My father had wanted to become a mercenary, but he wasn't able to pass the exam either. He raised me so that I could take the test one day and pass," she began to speak. "I have no dreams of my own. My father's dreams are my own so I want to make him proud. Even if you say its not my own dream, even if you say that my father is wrong to try and control me, I want to become a mercenary. I want to succeed," she was going to say more, but suddenly lost her footing and ended up tripping over a log. Houren immediately halted to help her up, but she seemed embarrassed as she accepted his hand. So embarrassed in fact, that she decided to end the exercise then and there and hand Houren his money. He could only wish her luck in the next exam.

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