Year 5009 after the system day 6 of the sun season in the southern outpost during the afternoon.
"I appoint you as a general, Momo," as soon as Aurora's voice echoed through the many people who had gathered around the group of important people everyone became dumbfounded.
The usual scorned cursed human girl blushed at the stares of those around her, she had been sitting in front of Aurora who had spent a few hours testing the capabilities of the little thing who had her face drenched in drool not that long ago.
"It's astounding how this little girl is able to remember everything you've been teaching her without committing a single mistake, just how good of a memory does she have?" Mark asked while rubbing his beard amazed and proud of the human race.
"Yes, funny as how it may be, due to her being a cursed human, and thankfully for that as she has a unique skill that allows her to surpass even me in the future."
"What do you mean by that general?" Rondo asks, surprised as he believed that no one would possibly be able to surpass this girl.
"It's simple really, she owns the unique skill photographic memory, which allows her to never forget about a single thing she sees, so even the most complex formations I've been showing are already permanently stuck in her brain, that's how prodigious this little girl is."
From the low to the high ranked ones hearing that they couldn't help but feel that this girl who received a compliment from their general who rarely does it, and to such a great degree that couldn't help but be jealous not of what was considered cursed, but thinking of it as a blessing instead, as such, the men and women wanted to be cursed the same way as Momo to become generals too, since it was the only rank solely appointed by Aurora, unlike the others who could be obtained by merit and skills alone.
"Momo."
"Yes, Aurora?" The girl asks still blushing as she's not used to receiving such attention, especially compliments which is one of her weaknesses.
"Starting today the entire left-wing is yours to control as you see fit, even dispatch it to a different place if you deem it worthy with your... other extraordinary skill."
"Ah... are you truly sure about that? I literally just joined the army yesterday!"
With an extremely cold tone, Aurora questions her making those around gulp," so? Are you doubting my capabilities as the general pointed by the prince Julius to recognize talent?"
"Ah, no of course not it's jus-," as she was about to continue her justifications she gets interrupted," what are you still sitting here for, left wind waits for you go find Balthazar and let him know what transpired here today, now."
With fear mixed by nervous she gets up from the chair making it fall behind her which Ming picks it up and places it, where it was after his sister leaves the spot and then he places a hand on top of her hair and says," you came here for a reason, so you'll have to embrace your new fate, you're the one who told us to come here Momo."
"I-I... I understand older brother..."
"Good, let's go meet this Balthazar person, speaking of which what does he look like general Aurora?"
"Search for the black robbed men and ask where you can meet them under my name."
"Understood, come general Momo."
"Y-yes!" She follows the brother feeling nervous while blushing as he leads the way.
'Seems like I have a great rival for the future to come, I'll do my best to be appointed as a general in the future too," Rondo thought picking a book of the army formations from Aurora table and taking it with him," making Aurora grin that goes unnoticed by him.
A loud feminine voice coming from not too far away reached this place, "is this where I can meet Aurora!? The girl who I fought during the annual tournament!?"
Seeing a crowd of 30 people around she approached eventually meeting the one in the middle of them a blonde hair with blue eyes sitting on a desk.
"You... no, not you, who are you?"
"I'm general Aurora, and if my memory doesn't fail me you're that Ava girl, the explosion elemental mage."
"I came here to help the one who defeated me, but even if you say you're who you are. I would never forget those green eyes that were so terribly calm as we fought, so if you're who you say you are, who was the one I fought?"
A smile appeared on her expression and then she said," that would've been my younger sister Iris, a wizard owner of the rare ice element and a sword wielder."
"Is she around too?"
"Not quite, she's training under a swordmaster named Ray, it seems that she was not very happy to have lost in the annual tournament, so she's trying to hone her skills for a few years."
"Is that so? Quite a shame... well no matter. I already came here after all, where do I enlist?"
"Considering your skills... you can join the fire mage squad, if you do well you might rank up and become its leader one day."
"Alright, whom am I supposed to talk with?"
"I'm from the earth mage squad but the fire one is close by I can take you there," a man from the crowd says while lifting his hand.
"Sure, take me there," Ava starts walking passing in front of Aurora's table looking at her eyes from the side who is focused on the papers ignoring her.
'Wasn't this kid a peasant like me? She feels totally different from the Iris girl I fought, from the appearance they must be twins... even her sister already felt like a monster considering her age, but how about this one? I can't sense anything from her aside from emptiness... should I test her out? I don't really intend to fight under someone weak.'
Ava hand aimed underneath Aurora and a red circle appeared below the chair and the table and then as an explosion was supposed to happen, nothing did as darkness enveloped it.
An eerie expression gazed at the explosion girl whose body trembled slightly being stared at by an ominous human.
Ava bows her head and walks faster than before towards the man who was going to help her reach the fire magic squad, and as she did, a voice resounded by the little girl sitting.
"Next time you attempt that will be your last, don't consider this as a warning, instead contemplate it as the reason your life was extinguished."
Without saying a thing Ava kept moving, clueless of what had happened as she didn't notice any of the obvious elements.
As she moved away from Aurora the soldier said," she uses the unique dark element so your explosion was most likely devoured by it, even though not many understand the laws behind how her element works, but consuming a magic circle before it fully activates or even the magic that comes from it is something anyone can do. And if she wanted, you'd be dead."
"What!? Wasn't such an element for demons only?"
"We humans don't generally get it, but it's not only for demons, nevertheless it's for anyone really, even though from what I know she got it from the goddess Aria herself through the Saintess blessing."
"Perhaps there're others with the dark element in the Lumen kingdom territory, but due to the church they haven't shown up as they'd be called heretics."
"Could be, but if that's true then it's a matter of time till they do, due to the goddess giving such an element through a blessing the pope and the church are receiving protests from the citizens and since the Saintess is in favor for both disgraceful classes and any element, she might become the leading role in the future."
"Wouldn't that be interesting to see?"
"It'd be certainly a fair thing to pass throughout our kingdom, I also do not agree to the differentiation the church does and the exiling among other things they do to fellow humans."
"I understand... say I didn't catch your name and rank?"
"Oh, apologies Ava was it? I'm Hugo the leader of the earth magical squadron."
"Yes, I'm Ava, nice to meet you, a leader... does that mean you're like the strongest of them?"
"The strongest... probably not, but I'm the most cunning at making defenses and traps," he smugged surprising her with his declaration.
"How so? Doesn't the most powerful get a higher rank? That's what I heard before coming here, I even expected Iris to be the leader or perhaps a member of the ice magical squad."
"Aurora uses our squad mainly to create traps and defenses along with the nature element one, we often work together with them, as such the ones who are the most elaborate doing what she says are the ones ranking up the fastest, as for an ice squad we don't have one, the rare ice users we have work with the water one which is more abundant."
"Unexpected, but understandable, I suppose not many would have rare and unique elements so mixing them with the basic elemental squadron sounds... I see."
"It is as you've figured out, the young general thought about that from the very beginning while selecting them, we had to go through different and complex trials, but the fact that you have a special element and participated in the annual tournament, you'll most likely be exempted of that."
"What kind of trials were there? Just in case I have to do them, I'd like to know more about it if you don't mind telling me that is."
"Of course I wouldn't mind it! It was strange exercises apparently she learned them from her father, from stretching your aura, be it made of mana or elemental, to pinpoint multiple targets at the same time, and even battling opposite elements that we were sure to lose against making us think of different ways to deal with them, she eventually made a standard and everyone who was above it got to be part of the magician squad, those who didn't become part of the melee troops and learning mana and elemental coating on weapons."
"That sounds like a lot of organizing, and in a way, she started by checking everyone's aptitudes while training them at the same time?"
"Like a certain man named Balthazar mentioned while with her during that time, she's befitting of the title peerless general."
"Isn't that an exaggerated title? To master something requires decades if not centuries even if we don't live that long, I can't even fathom how hard it would be to master something called war."
"From the reports, she gives us from time to time her army is currently the biggest and also the one with the least casualties and most kills since the competition for the throne has started."
"That's normal though the more allies we have the easier it is to subdue our enemies, since she had a bigger army compared to the other 2 candidates that result is kind of expected."
"If you put it in such terms I suppose you're right, but there was something very captivating that she mentioned once."
"She captured your heart or something?" The man started laughing at such words to what he replied," no of course not, she's too young, I'm not into kids."
"Then? What was it?"
"Oh yeah right, she said that war was a ferocious and uncontrollable monster capable of destroying that which is most precious and that she had tamed it du-," as he was about to finish the sentence Ava shouted interrupting him," bullshit, she couldn't have possible tame war," she started laughing.
"Anyway, as I was saying, she had tamed it during thousands of years along with a different monster called death," upon hearing the rest of the words Ava went silently for a moment, and then she spoke.
"Just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Captivating isn't it? To the point of infinitely think upon such words without truly realizing their true meaning, alas I don't know the answer or the logic behind them either, but time will tell either they're true or not, till then I'll do my best becoming the greatest mage of Lumen capital."
"You jest, that title won't leave the leader of the magic institute that easily, the greatest of all the elemental mages in the kingdom."
"Him, uh... the man closest to have mastered three elements, and with the strongest firepower in possibly the entire world."
"Ryan old man, he was the one who taught me how to handle my explosion element, I'm a peasant but the truth is that my father is a noble, my mother a peasant, so I got to learn in the magic institute."
"That makes your father pretty wealthy, how is he in person?"
"Old... and peerless in what comes to understanding magic."
"Think he has any interest in joining one of the armies Ava?"
"Well... it's not impossible, but since he's kind of an old pervert, he'd probably join the princess Liliana army, kill the goblin king and marry her," she says with a disgusted expression as she imagines it.
"It would still be very reassuring to have him even if in a different army."
"Despite him being how he is, it would certainly make a variance, in fact, I'd like to see how the old man would've tested Aurora," upon hearing those words he reminded himself of the gigantic dark aura that completely hid the sunlight in the last fight against the few thousand monsters.
"I wonder about that, but it would certainly be quite interesting to see."
"Don't even bother imagining it, she'd stand absolutely no chance," he smiles at the reply pissing her off.
Year 5009 after the system day 6 of the sun season in the southern outpost during the afternoon.
"I appoint you as a general, Momo," as soon as Aurora's voice echoed through the many people who had gathered around the group of important people everyone became dumbfounded.
The usual scorned cursed human girl blushed at the stares of those around her, she had been sitting in front of Aurora who had spent a few hours testing the capabilities of the little thing who had her face drenched in drool not that long ago.
"It's astounding how this little girl is able to remember everything you've been teaching her without committing a single mistake, just how good of a memory does she have?" Mark asked while rubbing his beard amazed and proud of the human race.
"Yes, funny as how it may be, due to her being a cursed human, and thankfully for that as she has a unique skill that allows her to surpass even me in the future."
"What do you mean by that general?" Rondo asks, surprised as he believed that no one would possibly be able to surpass this girl.
"It's simple really, she owns the unique skill photographic memory, which allows her to never forget about a single thing she sees, so even the most complex formations I've been showing are already permanently stuck in her brain, that's how prodigious this little girl is."
From the low to the high ranked ones hearing that they couldn't help but feel that this girl who received a compliment from their general who rarely does it, and to such a great degree that couldn't help but be jealous not of what was considered cursed, but thinking of it as a blessing instead, as such, the men and women wanted to be cursed the same way as Momo to become generals too, since it was the only rank solely appointed by Aurora, unlike the others who could be obtained by merit and skills alone.
"Momo."
"Yes, Aurora?" The girl asks still blushing as she's not used to receiving such attention, especially compliments which is one of her weaknesses.
"Starting today the entire left-wing is yours to control as you see fit, even dispatch it to a different place if you deem it worthy with your... other extraordinary skill."
"Ah... are you truly sure about that? I literally just joined the army yesterday!"
With an extremely cold tone, Aurora questions her making those around gulp," so? Are you doubting my capabilities as the general pointed by the prince Julius to recognize talent?"
"Ah, no of course not it's jus-," as she was about to continue her justifications she gets interrupted," what are you still sitting here for, left wind waits for you go find Balthazar and let him know what transpired here today, now."
With fear mixed by nervous she gets up from the chair making it fall behind her which Ming picks it up and places it, where it was after his sister leaves the spot and then he places a hand on top of her hair and says," you came here for a reason, so you'll have to embrace your new fate, you're the one who told us to come here Momo."
"I-I... I understand older brother..."
"Good, let's go meet this Balthazar person, speaking of which what does he look like general Aurora?"
"Search for the black robbed men and ask where you can meet them under my name."
"Understood, come general Momo."
"Y-yes!" She follows the brother feeling nervous while blushing as he leads the way.
'Seems like I have a great rival for the future to come, I'll do my best to be appointed as a general in the future too," Rondo thought picking a book of the army formations from Aurora table and taking it with him," making Aurora grin that goes unnoticed by him.
A loud feminine voice coming from not too far away reached this place, "is this where I can meet Aurora!? The girl who I fought during the annual tournament!?"
Seeing a crowd of 30 people around she approached eventually meeting the one in the middle of them a blonde hair with blue eyes sitting on a desk.
"You... no, not you, who are you?"
"I'm general Aurora, and if my memory doesn't fail me you're that Ava girl, the explosion elemental mage."
"I came here to help the one who defeated me, but even if you say you're who you are. I would never forget those green eyes that were so terribly calm as we fought, so if you're who you say you are, who was the one I fought?"
A smile appeared on her expression and then she said," that would've been my younger sister Iris, a wizard owner of the rare ice element and a sword wielder."
"Is she around too?"
"Not quite, she's training under a swordmaster named Ray, it seems that she was not very happy to have lost in the annual tournament, so she's trying to hone her skills for a few years."
"Is that so? Quite a shame... well no matter. I already came here after all, where do I enlist?"
"Considering your skills... you can join the fire mage squad, if you do well you might rank up and become its leader one day."
"Alright, whom am I supposed to talk with?"
"I'm from the earth mage squad but the fire one is close by I can take you there," a man from the crowd says while lifting his hand.
"Sure, take me there," Ava starts walking passing in front of Aurora's table looking at her eyes from the side who is focused on the papers ignoring her.
'Wasn't this kid a peasant like me? She feels totally different from the Iris girl I fought, from the appearance they must be twins... even her sister already felt like a monster considering her age, but how about this one? I can't sense anything from her aside from emptiness... should I test her out? I don't really intend to fight under someone weak.'
Ava hand aimed underneath Aurora and a red circle appeared below the chair and the table and then as an explosion was supposed to happen, nothing did as darkness enveloped it.
An eerie expression gazed at the explosion girl whose body trembled slightly being stared at by an ominous human.
Ava bows her head and walks faster than before towards the man who was going to help her reach the fire magic squad, and as she did, a voice resounded by the little girl sitting.
"Next time you attempt that will be your last, don't consider this as a warning, instead contemplate it as the reason your life was extinguished."
Without saying a thing Ava kept moving, clueless of what had happened as she didn't notice any of the obvious elements.
As she moved away from Aurora the soldier said," she uses the unique dark element so your explosion was most likely devoured by it, even though not many understand the laws behind how her element works, but consuming a magic circle before it fully activates or even the magic that comes from it is something anyone can do. And if she wanted, you'd be dead."
"What!? Wasn't such an element for demons only?"
"We humans don't generally get it, but it's not only for demons, nevertheless it's for anyone really, even though from what I know she got it from the goddess Aria herself through the Saintess blessing."
"Perhaps there're others with the dark element in the Lumen kingdom territory, but due to the church they haven't shown up as they'd be called heretics."
"Could be, but if that's true then it's a matter of time till they do, due to the goddess giving such an element through a blessing the pope and the church are receiving protests from the citizens and since the Saintess is in favor for both disgraceful classes and any element, she might become the leading role in the future."
"Wouldn't that be interesting to see?"
"It'd be certainly a fair thing to pass throughout our kingdom, I also do not agree to the differentiation the church does and the exiling among other things they do to fellow humans."
"I understand... say I didn't catch your name and rank?"
"Oh, apologies Ava was it? I'm Hugo the leader of the earth magical squadron."
"Yes, I'm Ava, nice to meet you, a leader... does that mean you're like the strongest of them?"
"The strongest... probably not, but I'm the most cunning at making defenses and traps," he smugged surprising her with his declaration.
"How so? Doesn't the most powerful get a higher rank? That's what I heard before coming here, I even expected Iris to be the leader or perhaps a member of the ice magical squad."
"Aurora uses our squad mainly to create traps and defenses along with the nature element one, we often work together with them, as such the ones who are the most elaborate doing what she says are the ones ranking up the fastest, as for an ice squad we don't have one, the rare ice users we have work with the water one which is more abundant."
"Unexpected, but understandable, I suppose not many would have rare and unique elements so mixing them with the basic elemental squadron sounds... I see."
"It is as you've figured out, the young general thought about that from the very beginning while selecting them, we had to go through different and complex trials, but the fact that you have a special element and participated in the annual tournament, you'll most likely be exempted of that."
"What kind of trials were there? Just in case I have to do them, I'd like to know more about it if you don't mind telling me that is."
"Of course I wouldn't mind it! It was strange exercises apparently she learned them from her father, from stretching your aura, be it made of mana or elemental, to pinpoint multiple targets at the same time, and even battling opposite elements that we were sure to lose against making us think of different ways to deal with them, she eventually made a standard and everyone who was above it got to be part of the magician squad, those who didn't become part of the melee troops and learning mana and elemental coating on weapons."
"That sounds like a lot of organizing, and in a way, she started by checking everyone's aptitudes while training them at the same time?"
"Like a certain man named Balthazar mentioned while with her during that time, she's befitting of the title peerless general."
"Isn't that an exaggerated title? To master something requires decades if not centuries even if we don't live that long, I can't even fathom how hard it would be to master something called war."
"From the reports, she gives us from time to time her army is currently the biggest and also the one with the least casualties and most kills since the competition for the throne has started."
"That's normal though the more allies we have the easier it is to subdue our enemies, since she had a bigger army compared to the other 2 candidates that result is kind of expected."
"If you put it in such terms I suppose you're right, but there was something very captivating that she mentioned once."
"She captured your heart or something?" The man started laughing at such words to what he replied," no of course not, she's too young, I'm not into kids."
"Then? What was it?"
"Oh yeah right, she said that war was a ferocious and uncontrollable monster capable of destroying that which is most precious and that she had tamed it du-," as he was about to finish the sentence Ava shouted interrupting him," bullshit, she couldn't have possible tame war," she started laughing.
"Anyway, as I was saying, she had tamed it during thousands of years along with a different monster called death," upon hearing the rest of the words Ava went silently for a moment, and then she spoke.
"Just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Captivating isn't it? To the point of infinitely think upon such words without truly realizing their true meaning, alas I don't know the answer or the logic behind them either, but time will tell either they're true or not, till then I'll do my best becoming the greatest mage of Lumen capital."
"You jest, that title won't leave the leader of the magic institute that easily, the greatest of all the elemental mages in the kingdom."
"Him, uh... the man closest to have mastered three elements, and with the strongest firepower in possibly the entire world."
"Ryan old man, he was the one who taught me how to handle my explosion element, I'm a peasant but the truth is that my father is a noble, my mother a peasant, so I got to learn in the magic institute."
"That makes your father pretty wealthy, how is he in person?"
"Old... and peerless in what comes to understanding magic."
"Think he has any interest in joining one of the armies Ava?"
"Well... it's not impossible, but since he's kind of an old pervert, he'd probably join the princess Liliana army, kill the goblin king and marry her," she says with a disgusted expression as she imagines it.
"It would still be very reassuring to have him even if in a different army."
"Despite him being how he is, it would certainly make a variance, in fact, I'd like to see how the old man would've tested Aurora," upon hearing those words he reminded himself of the gigantic dark aura that completely hid the sunlight in the last fight against the few thousand monsters.
"I wonder about that, but it would certainly be quite interesting to see."
"Don't even bother imagining it, she'd stand absolutely no chance," he smiles at the reply pissing her off.
