I didn't notice that I had published this part as '[15]' instead of the correct one. Not only that but I also published the wrong version. The one that was uploaded was an unedited version with several chunks missing. Mistakes were made but at least I noticed them. This just made me realize that I need to fix my schedule ;((
Sorry for the inconvenience. Here's the correct version.
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Asta, Noelle, Magna, and Iris had returned from their mission with a tense aura surrounding them. They all stood before Yami, discussing the details of what they had encountered. Unlike the others, Iris was more disappointed in herself, thinking she was incompetent and unworthy to carry her title. Of course, she was displeased with how the mission went, not enjoying the price that was paid. 'I could have prevented more than I did,' she thought, bitter about her performance. She didn't allow her inner thoughts to show, keeping a neutral face.
"It sounds like you guys were put through hell!" Yami burst out laughing after he had been informed of their mission. Despite knowing that someone he often frequented died, he didn't let that ruin his mood.
"But sir, someone died. I don't think that this is a laughing matter." Asta chimed in, appearing disturbed by his captain's lack of sympathy.
Yami stopped laughing and looked at the four that stood before him. He held his cigarette in his left hand, something he did all too often. "Being sad about it isn't going to bring the old man back, is it?"
Magna, being the person he is, didn't refute what his beloved captain said. Instead, he agreed wholeheartedly, knowing all too well that nothing would come if they were all gloomy. "We should all be happily rejoicing! It's what Old Man Seihi would have wanted!" Magna turned to look at Atsa, Noelle, and Iris. He began laughing a peal of forced laughter.
The three then followed in suit, trying their best to brighten up the room. 'Captain Yami and Magna are right. What good would come of us moping around?' Iris tried her best to show that she wasn't affected by any of the events. Her laughter came across as more genuine when her thoughts drifted to her family.
After the other members gathered around in the lounge area with them, it immediately became rowdy. Fights and arguments broke out simultaneously. Iris still wasn't in the best of moods, despite being around such a lively squad, so she avoided all the commotion as best as she could. Yami grew tired of his underlings breaking everything and scared them by also breaking down a couple of walls of the base. 'That's counterproductive,' Iris thought, smiling nervously at her captain's actions.
"Quit fooling around, you brats. Because of your actions, the Wizard King acknowledged you all and gave us a star to show that." Yami held up a gold star, proud of his newbies.
Since Asta didn't know what a gold star was, he voiced out his questions. Iris smiled softly, remembering how she was also the same when she first joined. Finral gave a thorough explanation of what those gold stars were as well as who was in the lead. This gave Asta motivation to put in more effort into gaining the lead, even if his squad was dead last.
"Alright, you brats, there's more good news. Here's your pay for the month." Yami put his hands on his waist after handing out everyone's pay. "Tomorrow you'll have the day off, so go on and do whatever." With that, Yami left the base as all of the members bowed to him, expressing their gratitude and respect for him.
Iris looked at the pouch filled with coins. Even if she was a royal, her parents never allowed her to spend much money. They had wanted her to live as normal as possible by giving her a reasonable allowance. Every time she received such an allowance from her job, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it. In the duration of the six months that she spent there, all she would do was save up money in hopes that she could later decide on what she wanted to spend it on.
She looked up, seeing Vanessa approach Asta and Noelle. "You got your first pay! Congrats!" Vanessa cheered, giving Asta and Noelle a closed-eyed smile. "If you're unsure of what to spend it on, then we should go to the castle town tomorrow!" Vanessa turned to look at Iris. "What do you say, Iris? Do you want to join as well?"
Iris was unsure of whether she should accompany them or not. She didn't exactly know Atsa and Noelle all too well, so this could serve as a bonding experience for them. It would certainly lower any awkwardness between them. 'I should use tomorrow to train instead. I don't need to buy anything, so a shopping spree wouldn't be logical,' she thought, wanting to improve from, what she deemed to be, a failure of a mission. "Sorry, I have something else planned for tomorrow so unfortunately, I won't be able to join you all." Iris gave them an apologetic smile.
Vanessa returned Iris' smile, understanding that she was someone who often did things on her own accord. "That's too bad but I suppose we can always go together another time." Vanessa turned to Asta and Noelle, wanting to hear their answer as well. Both of them agreed almost instantly with Asta wanting to see more things that he wasn't used to. Noelle agreed because she had nothing better to do on her day off.
Iris excused herself from the bunch, heading off to her bedroom. There had been an icky feeling in the pit of her stomach since the beginning of the day that had stuck with her. Perhaps this feeling was all guilt or it could also just be her feeling sorry for herself. Either way, it was dark out now, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to fall asleep. As much as she wanted to rest, she couldn't. The guilt she was feeling was slowly eating her alive. She hadn't had any of her other missions be as bad as this one in terms of what was lost. Perhaps she was being too hard on herself, but she couldn't help it. All her life she was raised to try and be the best, or at least the best version of herself. Yet this time, she couldn't do that and that thought alone angered her.
She stared at her dark grey ceiling, contemplating where she would train the following day. She wanted to see how far she could go if she used all her focus on maintaining an even distribution of her magic for an extensive amount of time. She glanced out her window at the same time that a shooting star grazed the night sky. "Make a wish," she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes, a small genuine smile finally making its way onto her face.
This particular night reminded her of the nights where she felt the most alone. In her childhood home, she was always surrounded by people, so there was no reason for her to feel alone, right? As much as she wanted to believe that, she couldn't. Sure she was constantly around several people, but none of them would bat an eye at her, for they had their own jobs to attend to.
The loneliness that she had thought that she had gotten rid of before, had made its presence known as she lied in bed. Iris still hadn't realized that she was forming bonds with people who would lay their lives on the line to protect those who they held precious. The more time she spent with her squadmates, the more she would grow to see that she wasn't alone, not anymore at least.
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The following day, Iris had felt more awake than the previous. She decided that she would try her best to look forward to her training and not let the results of them, no matter how unsatisfactory, bring her spirit down. After all, it was only training and nothing else. 'Let's get this over with.'
She quickly threw on some clothes where she could move freely in, with her Black Bulls robe draped over her shoulders. Stepping out of her sleeping chambers, Iris noticed that the base was quiet. At any other time, she would think that there was something wrong but considering that it was unusually early in the morning, she could only assume that everyone else was still asleep. She would be sleeping too if it weren't for her need to train.
Iris made her way out of the base, making sure that she had her grimoire and a broom for transportation. As she stepped out, the cool morning breeze hit her skin, sending chills down her spine. The sun shone brilliantly, not yet being the scorching heat that would later project midday.
She got on her broom, preparing to look for a secluded spot. She swiftly ascended into the air, the breeze causing her hair to flail around aimlessly. Not wasting any time, Iris immediately searched for a place where she wouldn't harm anything or anyone.
After flying around for about fifteen minutes, she spotted a plain, but grassy, terrain. Scanning the area some more, it was bare of any trees for a good distance. She made her way towards it, glad that it didn't take her any longer to find a place to train.
She placed her broom off to the side and prepared herself by doing quick stretches. 'What should I focus on first?' she thought to herself. 'Maybe doing some small spells will help to get me warmed up.'
Iris opened up her grimoire, using her nature element. She lifted her hand up and released a steady flow of mana. Vines protruded from the magic she gave off. They slowly became longer as they also grew in numbers. If anyone thought any better, they would think that Iris resembled a certain blonde captain that used a similar technique.
She whipped her vines around, causing slashes on the ground. Dirt flew everywhere with pieces of chopped grass following. Chunks from the ground were missing and misplaced off to the sides. She moved her hands, her vines moving along with the motions.'That was a little easier than I thought. Then again, I already know how to control this element. Better than the others at least.' Iris released her spell, thinking that it would be better to focus on the other three elements that she knew she needed to work on.
Her grimoire turned several pages before landing on a fire spell. She stuck both of her hands out, closing her eyes in the process. She gathered more mana for this spell. Iris no longer wanted to take her training slow and instead thought that she should go all out. A small bit of fire gathered in front of her, forming a sphere the size of a tennis ball. Slowly, the small ball of fire became the size of a boulder. The heat it gave off was burning. With Iris being at such close proximity, she began to sweat the slightest bit.
Thinking that she had gathered enough magic, Iris threw the boulder-sized fireball a good distance away from her. She made sure to guide it towards the ground and not let it continue its path forward. The condensed magic ended up exploding once it reached contact with the floor. It created a crater that was twice the size of the fireball. Since the heat it had been giving off was drying, its surroundings were wrung from their moisture. This left the plain, grassy terrain easily flammable.
A small breeze was enough to cause the fire to spread. It didn't waste any time getting its surroundings turned into ash. Iris slightly panicked seeing that she caused a fire. At first, it seemed that the fire wouldn't spread at all. That was proven wrong when the breeze had carried the fire, expanding its destruction even further.
Iris decided that she would try and use her water element to subdue the growing flames. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought, feeling uncertain of whether she would be able to put out the magic-created fire.
Iris held her arms out in front of her, gathering more magic than she had before. She needed to quickly put a stop to the fire to prevent it from damaging the terrain any further. It was no secret that Iris had difficulty controlling her water element. As much as it was a liquid that flowed freely, it required her to have a refined level of skill. To have impeccable control is something that she didn't currently have.
A sphere of water formed in front of her, twice the size of the fireball she had released earlier. Since Iris was moving fairly slow, the flames were now surrounding her and advancing at a rapid rate. If she didn't do something soon, it would eventually reach trees, causing the problem to worsen.
Iris' arms moved upward, motioning her magic-created water ball to follow along. She poured more magic, increasing the volume of the blue sphere. At this point, she was sweating profusely. 'I did this to myself,' she thought, mentally cursing her impatience.
She clenched her fists before opening her hand. The water sphere turned into a sprinkle of rain, making sure to cover as far as the fire could reach. Iris was panting heavily, keeping her concentration on the task at hand. The suffocating fumes were now replaced by the pleasant scent of a rainy day, leaving a small trace of the smell of burnt grass.
Surely, the flames died down with the downpour of the magic-created sprinkler. Iris looked around to make sure that the issue had been taken care of. After taking several glances around her, she fell to the ground, mentally and physically exhausted. Her breathing was still uneven as she felt a good amount of her strength drained. She lied on the small patch of grass that was salvaged in her small mishap. She chuckled to herself, slowly catching her breath.
"The Captain isn't gonna be happy when he hears about this."