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The war for Hargeon had been the mess one might expect, and then more. Though Alisa had successfully done her part and dealt with her opponent, she could do nothing to prevent her guild from being razed to the ground or their master from being injured. So she had failed her objective, alongside each and every member of Blue Pegasus, but also had recieved no word of the attackers having completed theirs. So this attack had been a complete waste of time and effort for both sides.
Yet Alisa had gained something, even if it clearly hadn't been worth the price. Resolve to find the thing she yet missed, the thing she needed most to prevent such an attack from ever happening again. And what she needed as the same as ever, the same as she'd been looking for when she first learned martial arts, then magic: Power. Then what was the difference this time around? Simple. Whereas before, she believed she could simply gain power from setting up training regiments, going at them hard, and then finding sparring partners to put that training to the test, she understood she needed experience. Not just combat, but life experience, the kind of resourcefulness a travelling mage could get by completing jobs, as many and as difficult as she could possibly find them, and strive to better herself in every possible way imaginable.
This would naturally require her to leave Hargeon for a good while, which she imagined might take no less than one or two weeks, maybe more depending on how it went. But she'd start it now, while still in the city, and would only leave once every quest in the city had been dealt with, the sooner the better. So she woke up with the first few rays of sunshine hitting the shutters, and opening her eyes gave her a fresh reality check of what had happened. She hadn't needed to sleep in a hotel in Hargeon ever since she joined Blue Pegasus. She knew her guildmates well enough to understand it would be fixed faster than humanly possible, but Alisa wanted to be even faster than that, so she presented herself with a challenge: Finish all these quests and leave before the Guild Hall had been repaired.
It didn't exactly mean anything mind you, but constant self improvement very often relied on these self rules, no matter how arbitrary they might be at any point.
But first things first, a cold shower, bringing goosebumps to her fair, alabaster skin and jolting her eyes awake at the first few drops. Truly, Alisa was an early riser, but even she had limits. Of course, the whole point of this journey was not to resign herself to unsurmountable walls, but see them as limits to be overcome. So she would push herself in each and every single way imaginable, starting with her very lifestyle.
Even her clothes took no time at all, as she already knew what she'd be wearing: Her favorite work outfit. White coat, skirt and boots over dark shirt and tights, topped off by a Blue Pegasus armband. After all it wasn't as if such a tight outfit gave people any chance to spot her guild mark. After that she'd slip her sword around her back. She could comfortably carry her Falcata either on her back or hip, but she avoided the latter unless she was certain she'd need it in a fight. Resting on her back let her carry it around with less chance of bumping into objects, even though it made her a bit slower on the draw.