The blinds were closed, it was still dark outside. Seira was sitting on the large bed, by herself of course, with a number of books in her lap and a map of Fiore spread out across of her. She had been in Magnolia Town for over two weeks now, and enjoyed it very much. The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, the weather was exceptional, strangely enough, and it was the perfect place for a wizard like herself, that travelled around without a guild or any comrades. None of those things mattered to her yet and she did not mind being alone, as long as there was something to do for her. Even though Seira had lost her family at a young age, loneliness had never bothered her and she was surprisingly strong and also somewhat cold, since not many people could remain like that, untouched by the events of their past. Seira herself, however, hardly cared and only focused on herself these days. She needed money, not desperately of course, but it was the only thing she could focus on without regret. Nowadays there were plenty of rare and even unique items that could be bought for a large sum of money and she was highly interested in them. Seira knew that, if she wanted to survive as a mage, she needed more than just her magic alone and she was willing to improve if she found something that was worth all the money. Findings jobs could be dreadful, most work she did was rather simple as well and not exactly a challenge. Seeing how she didn’t have any comrades that could accompany her on more dangerous missions she was somewhat stuck with these simple tasks. It was much harder to make money this way, of course, and everything went by painfully slow but the young woman didn’t care. In return, it was safe, mostly quick and she didn’t have to fear for her life. Granted, Seira wasn’t much of a fighter anyways and she tried her best to avoid dangerous situations for now. Her magical potential was intense, extremely high and she could, without a problem, crush most of the wizards she met on her way if only she tried, but the girl had never been very competitive, and perhaps that was her problem. The atmosphere had changed lately and it seemed that something had come up that was disturbing the peace of Fiore. A creature going by the name of Cell had been terrorizing towns and citizens, all of them innocent, and the wizards and Rune Knights were unable to defeat it, making it an even bigger threat. Seira was absolutely clueless as to what was going on, but all she knew was that she didn’t want to have any part in it. Cell had announced that he would host some sort of tournament, and he challenged the strongest wizards of the country to come find him in the Sieghart Mountains, to battle him and whatnot. Ever since that announcement Seira had noticed that the people’s mood had decreased and many feared as to what would happen to them once Cell won over.

Of course there was no guarantee that he would, after all there were enough strong wizards that could most likely defeat him, but Seira still wanted no part in it. The Sieghart Mountains were very far away from her, and she studied the map that was spread out in front of her to check just how far away it truly was. It would be days of traveling to get there, and while it would be much faster to take the train you would have to take it to Baska Town instead, and then still travel another two days to the mountains. Seira had long decided that it wasn’t worth it for her and that she wanted to go into the opposite direction of where all the drama was. After checking the map and a few books, it seemed that Marigold Town and Hargeon Town were the next best stops if she wanted to make money and stay somewhat safe. Everyone else could deal with that monster from another world, but Seira was going to mind her own business. Even though she was tempted to find out what was going on, she realized that going there without knowing anyone, without comrades, meant that she was all on her own without help and if something happened to her there was no way she was going to get saved. She didn’t need that sort of pressure on her now and after studying the maps for a while she figured that after over two weeks it was probably time to leave Magnolia soon. It wasn’t like she couldn’t return anytime she wanted anyways, so separating from it wasn’t too painful. Hargeon Town was only a day of walking away from Magnolia and the next best stop. Hargeon was one of the few cities with a port and was relatively close to Magnolia as well. It also had a train station and was, generally speaking, probably a very pleasant place to visit. She knew she could find work there for a few days. Furthermore, another day’s worth of travel away was Marigold Town. Marigold was very welcoming towards their travellers and she knew she could find work there as well. When travelling through the south many wizards stopped by Hargeon or Marigold to find a home for a few nights as well as some jobs. Seira decided that they were the perfect places to visit and far, far away from the north, where all the bad things were going down. There was a guild in Hargeon Town, Blue Pegasus, that Seira didn’t want to interfere with so she decided to stay only for a few days and then move on to Marigold quickly. The Sorceress very much prefered neutral land over anything else, even though it was different with Magnolia since Fairy Tail was so friendly and overall tolerant and accepting of others.

Seira started folding the map together, since she did not need it anymore. She had made her decision and quickly looked through the books again that contained information regarding all the cities and towns in Fiore, as well as the guilds that were located in some of them. There was little information on the Sieghart Mountains, but she figured that it was an unfriendly terrain, with barely anything there, a place you only visited to train or wander or hunt. Perhaps even to hide a body, if it was worth the travel. Surely no one would find you there. Seira sighed and started packing her stuff together. There was a white envelope on her desk, another letter from Khalash had arrived during the night and she seriously started to wonder what that man was doing when everyone else in the town was sleeping. The owner of the Mag Drug Magic shop had contacted her many times before, often asked her for favours regarding his store and work and while he always paid her well and Seira had no issues with him whatsoever, she began to wonder what exactly he was hiding and what the people were he interfered with. Khalash was never willing to talk about the shady business he had and Seira figured that it was best not to ask any questions, because she didn’t want to anger him. As always, the letter was simple. He asked her to come to his store since he needed help with something and after getting ready for the day and eating some breakfast Seira went on her merry way to do just that. She didn’t even bother knocking on his dore anymore, knowing that he would sense her coming in and he did, as expected. He sat by the table and waved her over to himself, greeting her friendly which Seira returned with a friendly greeting of her own. “Thank you for coming, Seira. I’m very glad to have your help with this.” He pointed towards an unknown item, wrapped up in a cloth, that was on the table in front of him. Seira took a seat. “No problem, you know as long as you are paying me the right amount of money I can help you out, always. Were you given another faulty item, like the last time?” She asked, remembering that this had been the case before. “Yeah, well, I don’t know yet. You see, there is a sword inside this bag and I’ve been told that it is quite rare. I paid a high price for it, but I haven’t gotten to test its authenticity yet. With weapons like this you need actual combat to find out whether or not it truly is what it claims to be. A rare weapon won’t break that easily, it will be much stronger than common weapons that you can find nearly anywhere. I don’t have time to test it out, but I need to find out about its worth soon. If you could use this sword and find a sparring partner for the day, just to see how long it will last, then I would be grateful.”

Seira nodded in agreement. She was curious as to why he never had the “time” to figure out whether nor not the items he bought were worth the money he had paid for them, but she didn’t mind assisting if it meant earning something herself. Seira took the sword out of the cloth and inspected it carefully while leaving the shop. It was quite fancy in appearance, very thin and light so she could lift and wield it easily, with golden ornaments and even some jewels embedded inside it. She couldn’t tell whether or not it was going to last, of if it was strong, but the way it carried itself in her hand made it seem like it was indeed a rare weapon. Seira started searching the town for a sparring partner, but the woman had underestimated the laziness of the citizens. It was pretty much impossible to find a wizard that was willing to find her, someone who had a sword as well of course, and she searched for nearly two hours without any results. As soon as she was going to give up and return to the store, she was suddenly approached by a young kid with bright blonde hair and a wide grin on his face. He wielded a sword, but even Seira could tell that it was a generic, common weapon. “I heard you are looking for a sparring partner! My name is Tyler and I challenge you! Train with me.” He was straight forward in his approach, and although Seira was surprised by his sudden appearance the female did not hesitate and encountered his incoming attacks with her own. Tyler was quite skilled and his sword met with hers, blow for blow, and Seira had some problems with taking over during the fight. They exchanged many more blows and even though her weapon was “apparently” a rare type, it seemed completely equal to his. They were fighting for a good half an hour and Seira knew for sure that her rare sword should have broken his by now, which hadn’t happened. The fight eventually ended because Tyler ran out of stamina (as a wizard Seira had much more of course) and even though he technically lost he remained a good sport and even shook her hand afterwards. Seira thanked him before returning to the store with the sword. “I fought a young boy who had a common sword, that much I could tell. Even though I won, I only won because my own abilities exceeded his. This sword you bought didn’t even put a dent in his, and the blade isn’t sharp or resistant enough. I think it’s a fake,” Seira explained to Khalash, who was visually disappointed now. “Sorry, you should bring it back. Perhaps the gold and jewels that ornament it are the only things that are actually worth something.” Khalash agreed and gave Seira her reward before dismissing the woman.

[2019]
Quest.