“Good morning Ileena, Flavia and Flamiris,” Sorilani greeted the three girls who were sitting in the kitchen and talking about something.

  “Good morning Sorilani,” Ileena greeted her back before turning her face away which was rather red for some reason.

  “Oh, hi Sorilani,” Flavia said with a smile, throwing her hand behind her head and smiling sillily.

  “Ah, bummer,” Flamiris blurted, pursing her lips before crossing her arms in front of her. “Right, good morning.” But then still greeted Sorilani who had just entered the kitchen where the three of them were.

  “S… sorry, did I interrupt something?” Sorilani noticed the girls acting a little strange, in addition to all three of them looking to be flustered for some reason.

  “No, not really. We were just talking about our next dungeon run,” Ileena said, adjusting her glasses.

  “About your next dungeon run?” Sorilani asked, putting a finger to her lips.

  “Yes,” Flavia sprung to add almost instantaneously. “We were talking about… how deep we could go the next time we go into the Magic Dungeon.”

  “Huh?” Flamiris perked up all of a sudden, a sly grin entering her lips. “Yeah, we were definitely talking about how deep we could go.”

  “Eh?” Flavia exclaimed, her bunny ears shooting up and her whole face becoming red for some reason.

  “Ahem,” Ileena coughed into her hand, apparently to clear her throat but it could be it was something else. “Would you like some tea, Sorilani?” She then asked.

  “Ah, yes. That would be nice. Thank you, Ileena,” Sorilani said with a smile.

  “One moment. Oh, and please have a seat,” Ileena said, standing up to go have some tea prepared for her.

  “On a topic about going into the Magic Dungeon, do you think I could go together with you the next time you decide to go?” Sorilani asked before sitting down.

  “Yes, of course,” Ileena answered without thinking.

  “For sure. It’ll be fun,” Flavia agreed too.

  “Hey, hold on. If Sorilani comes along the next time we’re going, that means one of us will have to stay behind,” said Flamiris.

  “That’s true, but since we have more club members now, we have to rotate, so others could go too,” Ileena told her.

  “Tss… I’ll be going for sure no matter what,” Flamiris declared.

  “You know we can go to the Magic Dungeon without Narias too, don’t you, Flamiris?” Ileena asked her, not being bothered by Flamiris’ previous words.

  “Eh? What do you mean by that? Are you saying you wouldn’t want Narias to go to the dungeon with us?” Flamiris asked.

  “No. What I mean is we shouldn’t rely on Narias all the time. We should work for it ourselves without him being there too,” said Ileena.

  “Hey, I am doing my part and we’ve done great on our last run, didn’t we?” Flamiris argued.

  “Yes, but how do you think our run would’ve gone if Narias wasn’t with us, Flamiris?” Ileena asked, wearing a calm expression on her face.

  “Ah, I mean… we would’ve done well… even if Crazy Mastermind hadn’t been with us,” Flamiris said, but she didn’t sound too confident and her stuttering proved it.

  “Now that I think about it, I think Ileena is right. Not to mention, I think we’ve made Narias angry for how reckless we were,” Flavia joined in the conversation, adding a rather unpleasant detail about it.

  “Indeed,” said Ileena, letting out a sad sigh.

  “Really? What… happened, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sorilani gasped in surprise.

  “Nothing,” Flamiris blurted, but averted her face away.

  “Flamiris,” Ileena said, shaking her head.

  “Ok, fine. I was reckless and didn’t want to listen to him which could’ve put our group in danger, but so were you. Both of you,” Flamiris admitted, but wasn’t about to take all the blame on herself.

  “Yes, I admit it too, Geez…” Flavia said, pouting her cheeks.

  “Oh my,” Sorilani gasped, covering her mouth with her right hand. “Why… were you so reckless?”

  “I suppose we wanted to show Narias how strong we were,” Ileena confessed, lowering her head.

  “Yeah, what Ileena said, but we’ve just caused trouble for Narias instead. We were so stubborn that Narias even told us that if we don’t listen to him, he’ll have us turn around and go back home,” Flavia added to Ileena’s confession.

  “Wow, that sounds serious,” Sorilani said.

  “On one hand, I am really happy that Narias has grown to become so strong. On the other hand, I believe we need to work harder and become stronger ourselves or else we will be the ones dragging Narias down,” Ileena added, placing the cup with the tea for Sorilani before sitting down in her seat herself. “And that’s why I think we should be going to the dungeon without Narias from time to time too, especially after what happened during our last run. I think because we are so close to Narias, we forget that he holds higher position as a Guide. If you think about it, we wouldn’t have acted the way we did if it was a different Guide other than Narias accompanying us. We certainly haven’t shown the respect that Narias truly deserves back then.”

  “Hey, I was… Tch…” Flamiris wanted to say something, but then clicked her tongue instead.

  “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I feel really ashamed of how I acted during that run. I need to apologize to Narias when he wakes up,” Flavia said, feeling and looking ashamed.

  “Ah, yeah. After he… wakes up,” Flamiris added, squinting her eyes before lifting them up to glance at the ceiling.

  “Huh?” Which just made Sorilani confused.

  “Anyway, since we have time, I think I’ll go train in the gym room now,” Ileena informed all of a sudden.

  “Hey, great idea. I want to lift some weights too. Will help me let out some steam,” Flavia decided to join her.

  “Huh? You want to go train now?” Flamiris asked, crinkling her nose.

  “Of course. We’ll be going to the Scarlet Sunset Hot Springs resort only in the evening and… Narias is still resting. Besides, Ileena is right, I can’t fall behind Narias, so I better train whenever I can,” Flavia said, her voice becoming more cheerful.

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  “Oh, in that case, I am going to train with you two as well,” Flamiris decided to join them too.

  “Oh wow. Do you mind if I join you three as well?” Sorilani asked, feeling inspired by the three of them.

  “Of course,” Flavia didn’t mind. “The more the merrier.”

  “Ok then, let’s go change and meet in the gym room,” Ileena said, standing up to go.

  {a short while later}

  “You can really lift heavy weights, can’t you, Flavia?” Sorilani was impressed by how much Flavia could bench press.

  “She’s a half beast-human after all,” Ileena commented, but her voice carried a slight envy within it too.

  “This is nothing. I can’t even compare to how much Growly can bench press,” Flavia said with an added sigh.

  “It’s still pretty impressive, Flavia. I can’t even compare to any of you,” said Sorilani, letting out a disappointing sigh.

  “Ok, my turn now,” Flamiris said after she changed the weights on the barbel.

  “But I must say, I was really surprised to find you having this gym room with this training equipment here. I have never considered to do any serious physical training before,” Sorilani confessed while becoming slightly embarrassed.

  “Neither did I until Narias proved how valuable it was,” Ileena said.

  “Yeah… ugh… that… hmph… Crazy Mastermind…” Flamiris was speaking in between her reps.

  “Hey, stop talking while lifting weights, Flamiris, or else you will lose focus. Now do five additional reps to make up for it,” Flavia instructed in a scolding tone of her voice.

  “Say what? I-“

  “Make that six,” Flavia stated, interrupting whatever Flamiris wanted to say.

  “Tch… one… two…” as rebellious as Flamiris was, she obeyed and starting doing reps like she meant it.

  “Last one,” Flavia instructed, watching Flamiris sweat for it.

  “Aargh… Yes, there. I did it. Oof…” Flamiris declared, throwing her arms down and panting heavily after she finished.

  “Well done,” Flavia praised her, showing a happy smile too. “You’re next, Sorilani.”

  “Ah, please don’t be so harsh with me, Flavia,” Sorilani said, smiling yet she shrunk back a little.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll remove some weights, so it’s not so heavy for you, Sorilani,” Flavia smiled back at her before starting to take off some weights.

  “Thank you,” Sorilani said, but still looked worried. She slid down under the barbell to lay down on the bench, took a deep breath in and started doing her reps. “One… two… oops… three…”

  “Keep going, you’re doing great,” Flavia encouraged her, with Ileena and Flamiris staying quiet until Sorilani finished her set.

  “Oof… finally…” Sorilani exhaled deeply after she was done.

  “In regards to what you have said earlier, Sorilani, it is thanks to the physical training that I did that I have won against you during the Solo Arena Battle Competition,” Ileena said before picking up extra weights to put on the barbel for her own set.

  “Ah, right. I was no match for you no matter how hard I tried,” Sorilani said.

  “You know, physical training really helped to improve my spellcasting and I could last longer too,” Ileena said.

  “Yes, I can see the benefits of physical training now. It’s just that… it makes me so tired and my muscles become so sore even after a short workout,” Sorilani shared a small complaint.

  “Tch, this is nothing compared to the training that Crazy Mastermind is doing. I hate it when we train and I reach the point I can barely move while he looks like he hadn’t even broken a sweat,” Flamiris shared a complaint of her own.

  “For sure. Narias can outlast even me when we do the Game of Tag training now. He has become really strong,” Flavia added, but she sounded cheerful instead of depressed.

  “Ok, I’m ready,” Ileena said, adjusting her barbel grip before starting doing her reps.

  “So, when do you plan to go to the Magic Dungeon again?” Sorilani asked after Ileena was done with her set.

  “I will submit a request for a dungeon exploration first thing in the morning on Monday and hopefully we will be able to get a slot sooner within a few days,” said Ileena after getting up.

  “Hey, if all four of us are going, we’ll need one more person to join our group too,” Flavia remembered it.

  “How about Narias? That’ll make five, right?” Flamiris suggested, grinning wide.

  “Flamiris,” Ileena gave her a scolding look.

  “It was only a suggestion, jeez… He can join as a member of the group and not as a Guide, you know,” Flamiris said, rolling her eyes innocently.

  “We could have Xefys join us as the fifth member of our group,” Ileena suggested.

  “Xefys?” Flavia scoffed, making a sour facial expression.

  “I don’t care as long as he does his part,” Flamiris wasn’t against the idea, but the other girls knew she meant what she said.

  “Oh, yeah. I think he mentioned he would like to go to the Magic Dungeon too,” Sorilani said, remembering it.

  “He’s a member of our student club and he’s quite strong too. Remember he put up quite a fight when he and Narias fought each other during the tournament,” Ileena reminded everyone.

  “But he’s annoying and talks too much,” Flavia shared what she thought of him.

  “Maybe, but if we want to grow as a student club, we need to learn how to work with different people,” Ileena threw in a rational argument.

  “Yes, but still…” Flavia wasn’t exactly happy about going into the dungeon together with Xefys.

  “You don’t like Xefys much, do you, Flavia?” Sorilani asked, adding a chuckle.

  “That’s because he thinks too highly of himself. He dared to accuse me that I have lost to Narias on purpose. I should’ve punched him right there and then,” Flavia revealed the real reason why she didn’t like him.

  “You don’t have to go together with us on our next run, Flavia. We can always ask Growly or Nicky to go with us instead,” Ileena suggested, more like a taunt than anything else.

  “Yeah, I’d rather let Growly or Nicky go in my stead,” but to Ileena’s biggest surprise, Flavia agreed to it.

  “Hey, it’s your turn, Flavia,” Flamiris told her when Flavia spaced out instead of laid on the bench to do her reps.

  “Yikes, sorry,” Flavia exclaimed, quickly lying on the bench and started doing her reps.

  “Hello ladies. Wow, you’re working hard,” before Flavia could finish her set, they were greeted by a cheerful girly voice.

  “Huh? Oh, hello Nicky,” Sorilani greeted her first.

  “Hello Nicky,” Ileena greeted her too before adding. “And Growly too.”

  “Hi,” Growly was short with his words as always.

  “Sorry, hello Growly too,” Sorilani added.

  Flavia was doing her reps and Flamiris was watching her, so the two of them stayed quiet until Flavia was done, offering their own greetings to the two of them.

  “I didn’t expect you’d be training so hard today, especially Ileena, Flavia and Flamiris,” Nicky told them, seeing all four girls covered in a mild sweat.

  “Yes, well… I thought I shouldn’t waste the free time by doing nothing,” said Ileena.

  “Yeah, we need to become stronger, so we can progress dee… ahem… further into the Magic Dungeon,” Flavia said, changing her wording at the last second.

  “Humph,” but Flamiris still showed a satisfied smirk which made Flavia still catch a blush.

  “Ah, yes, of course,” Nicky said before adding. “So then, since all four of you are working out here already, can I join you too?”

  “Certainly, Nicky,” Ileena said, with the other girls agreeing to Nicky joining them as well.

  “Sorry Growly, I guess you won’t be able to use the gym room right now,” Nicky said after turning to her boyfriend.

  “That’s ok. I’ll go do something else,” Growly didn’t mind.

  “Ah, you’re so sweet. Thank you, Growly,” Nicky showed a cheerful smile.

  “No problem,” added Growly.

  “I’ll go change and be right back, girls,” Nicky informed before rushing off.

  “By the way, Growly, we were talking about going to the dungeon next week, but without Narias this time. Do you want to come?” Flavia asked him after Nicky was gone.

  “Yes, sure,” Growly agreed.

  “Great, I’ll give you my spot then,” Flavia stated happily.

  “Can Nicky come too?” Growly asked.

  “Actually, Xefys said he wanted to go to the dungeon and together with Sorilani and Flamiris that will make five of us,” said Ileena.

  “Ah, ok,” Growly said, scratching his cheek with one finger.

  “You know what, Nicky can take my spot,” Flamiris offered suddenly.

  “Really? Cool, thanks,” Growly said, Flamiris words making him look happier.

  “Are you sure, Flamiris?” Ileena wanted to confirm.

  “Hey, I’ve already said I’ll give my spot to Nicky,” Flamiris stated in a louder voice.

  “Ok. Just double checking,” Ileena said before turning to face the bench. “Who’s turn is it to do the next set now?”

  “Huh? Hey, it’s mine,” Flamiris declared, stepping closer to the barbel to change the weights.

  “I’ll go train outside,” Growly said before turning to go outside.

  “See you later, Growly,” Flavia managed to add before Growly was gone.

  “Huh? Woah-nya!” Xefys exclaimed when Growly opened the main doors to go outside and almost hit him. Fortunately, Xefys had fast reflexes and reacted in time, jumping away from the doors to avoid getting hit. “Close one, nya.” Xefys laughed.

  “Sorry,” said Growly.

  “Is all good, nya,” Xefys said. He looked to be in a good mood too.

  “Well, let’s go train,” Growly said, closing the doors behind him.

  “Go train? I thought we’re gonna do some weight training today-nya?” Xefys asked, feeling confused.

  “We’ll train outside and then come back to do some weight training,” Growly told him, not moving away from his spot.

  “But why not now?” Xefys insisted.

  “Hmm…” Growly looked away to have a think. “We’ll go to the Magic Dungeon next week. Need to work on our teamwork.”

  “To the Magic Dungeon? Finally-nya!” Growly’s words made Xefys become excited. “Awesome-nya. So, what kind of training will we do?”

  “Hmph…” Growly looked up to think about it again. “Attack and defense training.”

  “Attack and defense training?” Xefys asked, not knowing what to think of it.

  “Yes. You attack and I defend. We’ll see who is stronger,” Growly added an explanation.

  “Hah, that’s easy. And I will definitely win,” Xefys declared confidently.

  “We shall see. Let’s go over there,” Growly said before pointing towards the direction he suggested they should go.

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