Her body trembled slightly, eyes twitched. "I'm Maya Cross"
"So, why were those guys behind you? I got a rough idea that you have taken their money, but why did you take it?"
Her voice hitched, and her teeth bit her lower lip. "Uh.. I'm a Battle Alchemist. I need the money to get the equipment for alchemy, that's why."
'What? Battle Alchemist? That isn't the class that the system reflected to me.'
He brushed his hair as he said. "Ah, I got it now. How much money did you take from them?"
Maya looked down at her hands, didn't answer at first, but then took a deep breath, and her voice came out low, almost a whisper. "50 Gold Coins."
His jaw dropped slightly, his eyes twitched as his voice came out loud, and his tone was shocked. "What? 50 gold coins?"
She gave a small nod, twisting her fingers slightly, teeth were still biting her lower lip.
A small sigh escaped through his mouth as he said. "If you don't mind, come with me. Maybe we both can do some quests and get some money."
Her head turned to him slightly, looking at him carefully. "But..."
He pushed himself to stand back up on his two feet, brushing his back to remove the dust from his clothes. "Don't think that I'm doing you a favor. In return for my help, you have to give me potions and help me in my journey."
Eyes shifted towards her. She was still sitting on the ground, legs tucked together, and her head was slightly buried inside her thighs.
"If you stay here, they'll come and hurt you again. Don't think much and come over."
She groaned under her breath, fingers went to her hair as she pulled them slightly. She took a deep breath and pulled herself back onto her feet.
Her body was weak, she was even finding it difficult to stand.
Leon placed his hand on her waist as a small smile crept up on his lips. "Don't fall, yeah?"
She looked down at the ground, her cheeks slightly turned pink in color as she muttered under her breath. "Wh-where are we going?"
"To the Dark Mage Tower." He said, voice low but firm.
A loud gasp escaped Maya's throat, eyes locked onto him. "You're a Dark Mage?"
He gave a small nod, agreeing to her statement. "Yes, I'm."
She took a small pause, voice came out a bit shaky. "What? I didn't know that Dark Mages were nice to people."
A small chuckle escaped through Leon's mouth as he started walking towards the main city. "Well, we also are humans, yeah?"
She trembled slightly, sweat appeared on her forehead, her heart started to beat loudly as she could even hear her own heartbeat, legs were shaking. "Wait, don't leave me behind." She said out loud.
---
Dark Mage Tower
---
When they both arrived at the front of the tower, they noticed that the Dark Mage Tower rose thin and crooked, its stone walls cracked and poorly patched. Faded runes clung to the surface like old scars, their magic long dead.
A dented iron door sat at the base, rusted and heavy, with a worn handle polished by years of use. No banners, no glowing sigils, only a crooked wooden sign with faded letters swaying in the wind.
A sigh escaped through Leon's lips as he said. "Well, don't judge us, yeah? We're not that rich."
She gave a nod instinctively, and she followed the trail of Leon as they both entered the tower.
When they entered, Synthia was resting on a couch that was placed next to the wall, and then her eyes fell on both of them.
She got up from the couch as she made her way to Leon, a small smile curled up on her lips, and when she reached there, her hands crossed next to her chest.
"Took you long enough to collect the low-level monsters?"
He took his hand to the back of his neck and scratched it slightly. His voice came out low. "Well, still I completed the mission, Senior Synthia."
Her eyes fell on Maya, who was standing behind Leon, and her hand was clutching onto Leon's T-shirt from the back. "And who's this girl?"
Leon's head turned slightly as his eyes fell onto Maya, then he looked straight into the eyes of Synthia. "She's an Alchemist, I thought that it would be nice for our tower to have a nice alchemist with us." He said, his voice was low but firm.
He took a small pause but then continued. "She can even be a great help to senior Sia."
Synthia's lips squeezed into a pout; she exhaled sharply. "Yeah, yeah, you're learning well."
A small chuckle escaped through Leon's mouth as he said. "All thanks to senior Synthia."
She turned towards the left and started walking, hands resting on her waist as her voice came out loud. "Follow me to the senior Sia, junior Ragnar."
He nodded slightly as he started following her trail and looked back towards Maya and waved his hand, gesturing for her to follow him.
She reconsidered her decision once, her fingers were shaking, sweat was getting welled on her face.
Leon and Synthia entered the pathway which led to the room of Sia, but before Maya could follow them, a voice fell into her ears.
"Oho? Who's this lady?"
She turned towards the direction from which the voice came. Face got completely drenched with sweat, body started to tremble, and her heartbeat increased tenfold.
Lady Valexeria was standing in front of her, arms crossed, a big purple colored hat was tucked on her head, a warm smile was on her lips, eyes had a glow buried inside of them.
Maya's voice hitched, but came out of her throat. "I-I'm here with Ragnar." She said as her body leaned in slightly, bowing.
"No need to do the formalities, girl." Valexeria's voice was firm.
She walked towards Maya, her steps were slow, and when she reached there, she put her hand on her shoulder. "You have a nice flow of mana in your core. Are you an alchemist by any chance?"
A/N
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