A cold breeze passed through the room, causing Aurora to shiver and pull the cover tighter around her while she remained asleep. She began to stir and groggily muttered for Camilla, only to find her missing from the bed.
She realized what had occurred and frowned, a pouty huff leaving her lips. "You could have at least stayed till I woke up." With a grumble, she slowly sat up and stretched her limbs.
Once she felt limber enough, she made her way to the washroom and started to wash herself. She let the water run and lathered soap over her body. As she started to rinse herself off, she heard the door to the room open.
A familiar voice called out to her. "Aurora? Are you awake yet? I brought you some breakfast."
Aurora couldn't help but smile at her thoughtfulness. "I am just finishing freshening up, honey! I shall be out in a moment!" She started to quicken her pace, she quickly wrapped herself in a towel, and dried her face.
She applied a bit of powder to her cheeks and stepped back to look in the mirror. This look should work well for tonight! Hmm, but how should I do up my hair?
As she went to reach for the brush to start getting the knots out, she found it was snatched away, which prompted her to yelp in surprise. She turned around swiftly, shock visible on her face. "When did you sneak in here, Camilla!"
"Two seconds ago, when you were too busy staring at yourself in the mirror." She took a moment to admire the look of Aurora with the small bit of makeup she had on. "Any particular reason for the extra effort today?"
Aurora looked away to hide the blush on her cheeks. "Nothing important." She looked back at her with a shy look. "Would you mind doing up my hair however you like?"
Camilla's expression softened as she stepped forward. "Sure, just take a seat in front of the mirror. I have a great idea for a style that fits you." Once Aurora was seated, she started to slowly brush her hair, slowly untangling all the knots.
After a few minutes had passed, Camilla started on the braid. She started with a small braid on each side of her hair. After she finished, she put the remaining hair in the back into a bun. She then wrapped the two braids around the back of her head to form a band just below the bun.
Once done, she stood back and admired her work. "What do you think? Fancy enough for whatever you have planned for us?"
Aurora turned towards her with an ear to ear smile. "This is perfect. Thank you, Camilla!" She jumped up and wrapped her friend in a hug, rubbing her cheek against her shoulder.
"Hey! Hey! Calm down! You will end up ruining my work!" she quickly pushed her away to prevent the bun from coming undone.
"Sorry, sorry. Just got too excited, you know?" She stood there twiddling her thumbs. "So what's first on our list to do today?"
Camilla let out a short sigh. "How did you already forget? Was sleeping in the same bed that much more important?"
Aurora blushed instantly and looked away while fidgeting. "We should have done more than….." She muttered softly as her voice trailed off.
Camilla tilted her head slightly. "Did you say something?" After a moment of silence with no answer, she decided to reiterate their plans. "We first need to go to the Adventurers' guild so we can get our licenses and retrieve whatever Lord Amy left for us. After that, we should look for someone to train us with a weapon."
Aurora finally composed herself as she nodded in agreement. "Don't forget about our date tonight, dear~"
"You mean the outing that you keep calling a date? It's just shopping, Aurora. I don't know why it's so important to you."
Aurora grumbled as she pursed her lips. "And here I thought you would want to spend time with me even if it was not necessary." Aurora made an air quotation with her hands to emphasize the word 'necessary'.
"Aurora, that's not… that's not what I meant, and you know that. It's…just a lot going on right now, and I don't have the time to focus on things outside of keeping us safe." Camilla frowned slightly "Now, are you ready to go yet?"
Aurora shook her head in disappointment and headed towards the door, "Yes, yes, I'm ready to go." She pulled it open and stepped into the hall as she made her way towards the stairs. Camilla followed not far behind her.
Aurora stormed down the stairs and out the front door onto the street as she headed off in the direction of the Guild, not bothering to check if Camilla was with her. She kept her steady pace as she followed the mental path of twists and turns in her mind, slowly working her way through the tightly built city layout.
Aurora eventually found herself standing outside a decrepit looking bakery. It looked so old she could swear the building would collapse if she so much as touched it. Splintered wood, cracked bricks, broken glass shards, and various other materials were scattered or decayed. The last thing that caught her attention was a small sign hanging above the entrance.
The sign, faded from the years of neglect, was made of wood and handcrafted. Aurora could only make out parts of the name on the sign, due to the faded paint, which read 'The M..den's Fi..l Re..eat'. The longer she looked at the sign, the more she felt a pull to enter the mysterious building, regardless of its lackluster appearance.
She couldn't help but wonder why such a building was left in this condition, considering how well-kept every other building she had seen before was. She took a moment to look around, expecting to see Camilla close behind her; however, she was nowhere in sight.
After taking a deep breath, she decided to open the door in front of her and stepped through into what she could only describe as a bakery fit for nobility. 5 grand chandeliers were spread evenly throughout the main room. Several tables were elegantly set and decorated along the right side wall.
To the left were a few scattered tables next to bookshelves that lined the wall. At the far side of the room was a grand staircase that led up to a second level and possibly beyond. Tucked to both sides of the staircase were display cases housing all kinds of baked goods.
"What a bizarre place I've stumbled upon," Aurora mumbled to herself as she moved to inspect the bookcases. The books were organized into different topics, ranging from magic, cooking, agriculture, astrology, and all sorts of various fields of study. Magic was the largest section, taking up 5 entire bookcases.
Upon closer inspection, she realized they were sorted by the rank of the spells; however, it seemed like there were no spells higher than those an average-skilled mage would cast. Aurora decided to pick one at random to study and sat down at one of the tables as she whispered to herself. "Alright, let's see if we can finally learn some magic".
She ran her hand over the cover, the name Ice Lance embroidered on the front, before she opened the book. After skimming through the pages for a moment, she found the instructions for spell casting and began reading out loud.
"Ice Lance, basic spell Level: Basic- If one wishes to shape the mana in such a way to produce both the hard and cold solid projectile, first one needs to gather the mana in their mindscape, then one should carefully shape it so as not to let it go haywire.
Shape the mana to first form the coldness of the frozen wastes, conceptualize and visualize the cold of the winter night, then, when your mind is filled with such chilly scenery, you will grab the strings of mana of that very frost and weave it.
You must be careful since a single misstep will cause a spell to fail. In your mind's eye, form an image of the spear, and wrap the mana around it. Give it a shape. Once its shape has been given, launch it toward the target.
Congratulations, if you have followed these instructions well, you are able to cast the most basic of ice spells."
She leaned her head back for a moment, letting her mind calm as she focused on absorbing the knowledge. A few minutes passed before she straightened up, her eyes still closed, and began to picture a never ending blizzard in her mind. However, when she tried to feel the mana as instructed to shape the spear, nothing happened, much to her frustration.
After a few more failed attempts at the spell, she lay her head down on the table in irritation. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for magic…"