🌾 Chapter 41 – Mission: Chill, Until It's Not
The grand hall of the Guild buzzed like a school assembly with a budget—students grouped in clusters, whispering, fidgeting, some already regretting not skipping breakfast.
Leo yawned, half-asleep.
Vellum leaned over, adjusting his hair for the fifth time in ten minutes.
Ari stood quietly beside them, arms crossed, eyes sharp—until they drifted briefly to the other side of the room where Elaria stood, calm and unreadable, fixing her gloves like she was about to slap someone with elegance.
Rayleigh stood lazily near the stage, hands in pockets, looking more like a tired substitute teacher than a war strategist.
From the podium, a loud voice echoed.
> "Attention! All squads are being assigned field missions. You are to act with discipline and responsibility… or at least pretend like you know what you're doing."
A few students laughed. One snorted too hard and got elbowed.
> "Squad 13—Leo, Ari, Vellum, Elaria… countryside surveillance. Low-level unstable magic signatures reported. Possible leftover distortion from recent events. Go. Observe. Don't poke the weird glowing stuff. Try not to die."
"Try not to die? That's our official briefing now?" Leo muttered.
> "I like this mission already," Vellum whispered dramatically. "Just the four of us... in the wild... under one roof... in danger... romantic tension…"
Ari turned to him, stone-faced.
> "If we end up sharing a room, I'm sleeping on the roof."
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🧳 Back at the Dorms...
Leo opened his trunk and stared blankly inside.
> "Do I even own countryside-appropriate clothes? Do they sell cursed-forest casual?"
Vellum, packing with the enthusiasm of a child going on a school picnic, posed with a pair of enchanted boots.
> "Too flashy? Or just enough 'accidental charm' to make Elaria fall for me near a haunted pond?"
> "You're more likely to fall in the haunted pond," Leo said.
From the girls' room:
Ari folded her clothes military-style, her thoughts racing.
> Countryside might mean fewer interruptions. Good time to watch Leo… maybe help him train… or at least make sure he doesn't do anything dumb.
Elaria, sitting on the window ledge, scribbled in her journal.
> "Country air clears the mind," she wrote.
"Also clears weak squadmates. Let's see how these three survive."
She paused.
Then doodled a very unflattering sketch of Vellum slipping on mud.
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🧠Internal Thoughts (Split style):
Vellum: I shall collect flowers. Offer them to Elaria. She will be moved. Probably not away from me. Hopefully.
Leo: Low danger level = time to secretly practice forbidden ancient magic that may or may not explode. Totally safe.
Ari: Countryside is nice. Fewer people. Better view. Easier to kill someone if they flirt with Leo.
Elaria: I hope there's something worth fighting. Or teasing. Or both.
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Ready to head out.
Ready for adventure.
Ready for… absolute chaos.
And none of them had packed any bug spray.
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Let me know if you want to:
Add more jokes?
Expand travel scenes?
Include more character teasing or hint at what the "low danger" really is?
The sun was just beginning to dip when the four of them stood outside the Guild gates, bags packed, nerves mismatched.
Vellum had two bags—one for essentials and one purely for aesthetic emergencies.
> "I don't trust countryside lighting. If I don't glow, how will she know I'm divine?"
> "If you do glow, we'll know you stepped in magical cow dung," Ari said, tightening her cloak.
Leo adjusted his satchel, fingers brushing against the faintly glowing cloth hidden inside. That runic scrap from the ruins still pulsed—slowly, like a quiet heartbeat.
> Countryside means fewer eyes. If there's a chance to test the ancient language magic... it's out there.
Elaria arrived last, tossing her small pack over her shoulder like she was going on a short vacation—not a possibly cursed surveillance mission.
> "You all look nervous. Cute."
> "I'm not nervous," Ari said flatly.
> "I was born confident," Vellum added, flexing a little too hard.
> "I think I forgot my toothpaste," Leo muttered.
Rayleigh strolled out behind them, hands still in his pockets.
> "Mission duration: three days. If you're not back in four, I'll assume Vellum tripped into a wormhole and the rest of you just gave up."
> "Wouldn't be the worst way to go," Elaria shrugged.
> "Hey!" Vellum frowned. "You're all way too comfy with that idea!"
Rayleigh opened the portal scroll and with a flick of his wrist, the air shimmered—revealing a wide dirt path lined with wild trees, hills in the distance, and the faint smell of something suspiciously fresh and ominous.
> "Go," he said. "Breathe some fresh air. Watch out for possessed goats."
> "Wait, what?" Leo blinked.
Too late. The portal shimmered, and one by one they stepped through.
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🌾 To the Countryside… and to Trouble (probably)
The guild behind them.
The hills ahead.
Four mismatched mages, one mildly cursed field trip, and absolutely zero sense of danger.
What could possibly go wrong?
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