In the early hours of the morning, Lena arrived at her flower shop.
Her flower shop was beautifully adorned.
By the entrance, delicate pink flowers bloomed, their petals glistening with morning dew that caught the golden light of the rising sun before dripping to moisten the soil below.
Inside, the display cases were crafted from wood, adorned with flowers scattered like stars. A rich fragrance, a blend of earthy soil and sweet blossoms, permeated the air.
“Alisa, I’ve been rather busy lately and might not be able to come to the flower shop often. So, I’ll be leaving the shop in your care for the next few days.”
After making all the necessary arrangements, Lena instructed Alisa, a shop employee, before picking up her bag and preparing to leave.
Having become an instructor for Celia’s squad, Lena would have little time for the flower shop during the day. Therefore, she had appointed an acting manager to oversee it in her absence.
“Don’t worry, Manager,” Alisa assured her. “I promise to take excellent care of the shop while you’re away.”
Alisa, the current acting manager, was a young woman in her twenties. She was both lively and conscientious, making her well-liked by Lena and the other staff.
Consequently, no one raised any objections to her appointment as acting manager.
However, at this very moment, the acting manager rushed forward, linking her arm through Lena’s. With a face full of gossip, she asked, “I wonder what you’ll be busy with, Manager? A romance, perhaps?”
It wasn’t entirely her fault for speculating. Miss Lena was famously beautiful, so much so that many customers would specifically visit the flower shop just to catch a glimpse of her.
Upon learning she was still single, bolder patrons would outright pursue her. Even after being repeatedly rebuffed, they never gave up.
Lena, naturally, knew exactly what Alisa was implying. She gently tapped Alisa’s forehead with her finger and said:
“Put away your romantic fantasies. I simply have some matters to attend to recently, and it has nothing to do with love.”
“Ah? Manager, you’re so beautiful, and so many men pursue you. Why don’t you consider it? I even heard that a Hero-sama has taken an interest in you.”
Alisa seemed somewhat perplexed.
“If it were me, I’d probably accept immediately. You know, people like us, without magic, grow old and unattractive so quickly. By then, we won’t be able to marry even if we wanted to.”
Magic stratified humanity into different classes. Those with magic enjoyed extended lifespans and eternal youth, while those without could only watch themselves slowly age and eventually perish.
Whether one possessed magic was determined at birth. Heaven was inherently unfair, but Alisa had no intention of complaining.
She simply couldn’t comprehend why Lena, a commoner with such excellent prospects, wasn’t rushing to marry a Hero-sama. Doing so would surely guarantee a happy latter half of her life.
A Hero! Such individuals were important figures, completely beyond the reach of ordinary people like herself.
“That’s a question for you young girls to ponder.”
Lena gently extricated her arm from Alisa’s grasp, then, bag in hand, headed towards the door. This time, Alisa’s eyes widened, and she momentarily forgot to stop her.
“What do you mean? Could it be that… Manager, you’re already married?”
“Take good care of the shop’s business. If you mess things up before I return, your wages will be docked.”
Lena paused for a moment, but offered no reply. She simply left those words hanging in the air before stepping out of the flower shop.
“Manager, wait!”
By the time Alisa rushed to the flower shop entrance, Lena had already vanished without a trace.
She couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination, but Alisa thought she detected a hint of flight in the manager’s retreating figure.
It was as if Alisa had stumbled upon a secret of her heart.
The other shop assistants, who had been observing nearby, also noticed this. One of them, while arranging flowers in her hands, spoke up:
“The manager is so beautiful, how could she not be married? Her children might even be teenagers by now.”
“Then why has she never mentioned it?”
“Who knows? That’s her private business.”
The shop assistant with the butterfly hair clip was Alisa’s good friend, Anna. As she trimmed a potted plant, she suddenly asked with curiosity, “Hey, what kind of person do you think could capture the manager’s heart?”
Many had pursued Manager Lena, yet none had ever succeeded. Even esteemed Hero-samas had met with undeniable defeat.
So, what kind of person could possibly become Lena’s spouse?
Alisa, on this matter, had quite a strong opinion.
“First, their status and position must be very high. Second, their personality must be exceptionally strong!”
“Given the manager’s personality, she’s clearly quite passive in love. Only someone strong-willed could make her understand her own feelings!”
“I can already imagine the manager being pushed against a wall by her partner, wanting to struggle but unable to, ultimately blushing and reluctantly agreeing to their unreasonable demands!”
As she spoke, she recalled some rather vivid scenes, then covered her blushing cheeks with both hands, overcome with shyness.
“Oh, I’m so envious…”
****
Meanwhile, after Lena had distanced herself from the flower shop, she underwent a transformation, donning a black robe to assume the guise of the Silverbloom Sword Princess.
Stepping into the Hero Guild, she found Celia and her two companions already waiting.
“Instructor.”
Acknowledging their greeting, Dorothy led them to an empty room on the second floor of the guild.
This space was specifically designated for instructing aspiring Heroes.
“Hurry, hurry! I want to go out and fight monsters!”
Before even settling down, Isha rubbed her hands together, loudly clamoring to battle monsters. In response, Dorothy merely offered her a faint smile.
“Today is a theory lesson.”
“Huh?”
Her mood instantly plummeted. Isha plopped onto a chair, muttering with a sliver of desperate hope, “We already know all this theory.”
“You know everything? Then can you tell me how many general categories monsters are divided into currently? And what are the distinct characteristics of each category?”
“Ugh…”
Dorothy’s sharp gaze fell upon Isha, who stammered for a long moment, unable to utter a single word. Finally, she straightened her back, legs pressed together, adopting the posture of an obedient student.
Seeing this, Dorothy nodded, a look of satisfaction on her face.
“Theory isn’t just limited to magic. Monster theory is equally indispensable. On the battlefield, only by knowing both yourself and your enemy can you achieve victory with the smallest cost.”
“You must understand, the greatest number of Heroes die each year at the hands of monsters.”
A Hero’s duty was to slay the Demon King and end the oppression the demon race inflicted upon humanity. However, most Heroes nowadays couldn’t even enter demon territory, forced instead to guard human lands.
Thus, the rampaging monsters had become the Heroes’ primary adversary.
Moreover, during the Hero assessment, Celia and her two companions would also need to contend with monsters. It was rumored that one such monster had reached the third tier.
Currently, all three members of Celia’s squad were at the second tier. Defeating a monster of that caliber would present a considerable challenge.
Fortunately, the Hero assessment was still half a year away, providing them ample time to train and synchronize.
Next, Dorothy began lecturing on relevant monster theories. However, within mere seconds, Isha, who had initially prepared to listen intently, found her head bobbing like a chick pecking at rice.
Tapping the table, Dorothy instructed her to stand up and listen.
Unexpectedly, even while standing, Isha managed to fall asleep.
Just as Dorothy was at a loss, dark clouds suddenly gathered above Vidona, and the distant sky shattered like a mirror.
A sudden premonition stirred within her. She walked to the window, only to see a pair of gigantic, magic-infused scorpion claws emerge from the fractured space…