The Lightning Mage

2 | The Unexpected Fighter

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As soon as the burly man left the room, Lyn buried her face into her hands and let out a painful groan. That was the tenth fighter they had seen today, and they were all—to put it lightly—absolute trash.

To her side, Irene pushed her maroon hoodie away from her head, revealing her dreadlocks and helix piercings. "Argh, who are these people?" she grumbled. "Lyn, are you sure they were from Dawn Avengers?"

The entire team of four was sitting behind a table at the end of a spacious training studio that Lyn had rented for their open interviews. Looking at the current standards of the interviewees, she might have wasted her money, while the rest of the team might have wasted their precious days off. Sitting next to Irene was Millie and Raph, the conjurer and healer of the team.

Lyn groaned again as she flipped through her notes. "There is a possibility that Em might be fucking with me. I did, kind of, well, piss her off majorly that day."

"Wait, Emily Enric gave you these contacts?" Irene scowled. "Yeah, okay, no wonder they all suck. I don't trust that bitch. Why the hell are you even in contact with her anyway?"

Lyn had to suppress yet another groan. Back when Lyn was still in the guild together with Emily and Irene, the two of them hated each other's guts—and this animosity seemed to have lasted beyond their Dawn Avengers days. Irene's daily rants and annoyed glares whenever she went out with Emily still made Lyn shudder. It's never fun when your best friend utterly hates your partner, especially when that friend is Irene, one of the most powerful fire mages in the country.

"I had to. Beggars can't be choosers, Irene." Lyn let out a long, disheartened sigh. "Raph, Millie, what do you think of them so far?"

Raph squirmed at the attention, his thick eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Erm, they're... okay, I guess," he said, although it did not sound like he believed it.

Millie seemed equally worried, but she maintained her ever-positive tone while combing her hand through her curled, voluminous hair.

"Hm, if we just need a fighter in our team to get commissions, does it matter if they're good? Can't we hire a mediocre one and call it a day?"

Irene immediately perked up at the idea. "That's a good point, Millie. Lyn, can we do that?"

Lyn shook her head. "No, we can't risk a bad fighter. They're gonna be up close with monsters during quests, it'll be a liability."

"That's okay, we can just get Raph to fix them up," Irene offered, waving her hand at the flabbergasted Raph.

"That's not sustainable at all," Lyn replied flatly.

Irene slumped back onto her chair and sulked. "Argh, you're so uptight. Stop meeting up with Emily; she's clearly rubbing off on you."

"Why do we need a fighter again?" Millie asked as she cocked her head to one side. "Shouldn't the two of you be good enough for commissions?"

Oh boy. Here we go. This was the dreaded question that had plagued Lyn's entire mind and soul for the past month.

"Yeah, I know, that's what I thought too, but it's Questers' standard practice to have at least one fighter on a team. The reasoning is that, while elemental mages can be powerful, our magical abilities are inherently tied to our surroundings. So there's always a very, very small chance that our magic would not work during critical times, even if we were to actively choose commissions that cater to our elements. Having a fighter is the only way we can ensure our combat capability at all times and in any environment. That's the idea, at least."