Both of us, Charllem and I, go out of the house, and go to the front yard. Reiss gave both of us practice wooden longswords. It's gonna be difficult since I use a rapier, not longsword... Maybe that's why Reiss couldn't teach me well since he also uses longsword and not rapier. I then get into stance, pointing the tip of my sword straight toward her, my arms extended out, my feet planted lightly, but securely. Not planting my heel so I can move faster easier. 

Reiss is overseeing our little spar as a referee. He's grinning alot... Does he think I can somehow beat her, or is that because he wants to see me getting beat? He then shouts for the spar to start.
"Begin!"
Charllem suddenly lunges out at me, her sword at her side ready to strike. I parry her strike, though she moves it out of the way since I parried her weak with my weak instead of using the strong of the blade. She raised her sword for a downward slash, but I parry her, strong on weak this time, and try to counterattack myself.

I slash at her horizontally, and she parries it out of the way, so I spin my blade, and try to hit her with the back edge, but she blocks that. She goes back on the offensive, her strikes shaking up my core with how strong they are despite me blocking them. She isn't just swinging blindly, she's constantly attacking while keeping in mind the next strike, in a constant fluid motion. I can't even see an opening for me to counter.

Kynia on the sidelines meanwhile is happily nibbling on some grilled fish on a stick while watching us. She giggles once in between nibbles, and speaks.
"Kid..." nibble "Charllem may be a Great Sage Class swordsman like you..." nibble "But she's Great Sage on the precipice of turning Master." nibble "So don't feel too bad if you lose to her." 
She then goes back to nibbling.

That explains why Charllem hits so st- 
I couldn't even finish the thought before getting caught up in her relentless attacks. I suddenly found my back against the wall (A tree in the yard), before she raised her sword again for a downward slash. But dust went into her eye. My chance! I then slashed my sword at her arms, but not before she hit my left shoulder. Both of us then looked stunned for a moment, before she laughed gleefully. "A tie! It was a tie, haha!" I blush slightly, then laughed with her. A more composed and quiet laugh. 

"You would've won if there wasn't any dust getting in your eye, so you still won technically." I said.
"But it did, and we hit each other at the same time..." she said smiling. We then looked at each other's eyes for a moment. I was deeply mesmerized in her green eyes, green like emeralds, or green like the grass we're standing on if the light hits it right. 

"Someone's got a crush nya~" Kynia teased as she appeared behind Charllem. I didn't even see her move, although that could be because I was staring at Charllem too much. Charllem and I look away, still flushed.
"Wha- What? O-of course not... I'm 15 and she's 11. I'm already an adult while she's still a kid. Besides, we're both girls so..."
We both look at each other, and quickly away from each other now redder.

"Alright, alright. Seems like both of them tied, so why don't we leave it at that? Charllem, didn't you say you accepted a solo quest from the adventurer's guild, the one where you'll clear the nearby mines of monsters?" The giantess, Erin, said.
"If it's not too much to ask, could you bring Lili with you? I want her to have some more experience in real combat, and so she can go out more. She's always just in this village, and has never stepped out of it." Reiss said.
Okay Reiss, is that really necessary?

"S-sure!", she replies "If thats alright with you?"
"I-I-I... Yeah, I'll go!" I said, still blushing. I then notice Reigna looking at me with this weird look of disdain, her face contorted. With a face like that, is she really an elf? Or just a monster pretending to be one?

***

After getting our equipment, her in her usual blue half-plate armor and her large... Greatsword? Longsword? Whatever, it's a sword that's big, and looks like it's made of gold and sapphire in the middle, and me in leather and metal armor Lize let me borrow, with Reiss's old longsword. As we we walked, people greeted us with smiles and thanks, for helping with the Wyvern, though most of it, no, all of it was thanks to her. She smiled at them, and waved, while I would just bow shyly. 

Before long, we arrived at the area. Even from outside, I could feel a large amount of monsters by just how dense the mana being leaked out was. It was the first time I felt something like this.
"You ready?" Charllem asked.
"Yeah... Just a little nervous is all."
We then went in. 

I used my magic to light up the way, making a small orb of light that barely consumed any mana but was bright enough to light up 10 meters in front of us. As we headed deeper in the mines, an old mine that use to be the source of our village's iron, now left behind and as a result became a monster nest, I could feel the mana growing denser. I turned to Charllem, and she's profusely sweating.
"Are you alright?"
"I am. The mana density is just making me a little lightheaded."
I'm lucky I have a large mana pool, or I would be just like her now, maybe even worse.

A loud screech could then be heard from inside the mines, and the flutter of dozens of wings could be heard.
"Giant Bats..."
"I can use fire magic t-"
"It's a tight and closed off area. We'll grow dungeon sickness if you use fire."
Dungeon sickness? Asphyxiation maybe.
"Then I'll use wi-"

The bats then suddenly appeared in front of us. Charllem already rushed in to cut them down, and I quickly followed. She was holding them off with her sword, while I shot down the ones who were flying farther using rock bullets I made from magic. 
"Cover your ears!"
She swiftly did so, and I covered mine by creating a vacuum around my ears, and used wind magic to create an extremely loud and high pitched sound that instantly killed all the bats. 
"What kind of magic was that?", she asked with curious eyes, "And you didn't even use incantation, runes, or signs."
We then pressed further in.

***

We made quick work of the bats in the mines, but there were other monsters in the deepest parts that we still had to eliminate. After a while of heading deeper, eliminating any and all monsters we came across, we eventually found an open cave.
"This wasn't in any maps the guild provided." She said.
"Maybe the monsters carved it themselves? Or the maps the guild provided were old or inaccurate. That happens sometimes right?"
"It does. We have to go back and tell the guild of this, and bring the rest of my party to-"
A sudden ray of pure mana then came from below. I quickly felt it coming, and dived to get both of us down, but in doing so, we fell into the open cavern. 

We were surrounded at all sides, by corpses in armor and carrying weapons, and the one leading them was a flying robed skeleton, with a purple orb in his chest, holding a large wooden staff made of rotten, knotting roots.
"A lich!? We have to ge-" Charllem said before getting interrupted by another shot from the lich.
"Seems like he or she won't let us do that so easily."

One of the undead then come close, and I bash him with the guard of my sword, holding it by the blade. The broken bones then come back together.
"It's useless... Unless we kill that lich by destroying the orb in his chest, they'll just rise over and over."
She then mutters something under her breath.
"This was just supposed to be a simple solo mission."
I look at her, worried by her weary expression.
"It's no use to worry Miss Charllem. All we can do is fight. You keep the undead at bay, while I go try and kill that Lich."
"Even I can't beat-"
"There's no other choice... We'll just have to do it."

I jump, and begin running on air to the Lich. He shoots a barrage of his mana bullets, and I run around him, sliding and dodging his shots while I counter with my own magic. I then dash toward him, and strike at him with my sword from above, still holding it by the blade. An invisible force then stops my attack from hitting him, and I get pushed back by it. He goes on his own offensive, unleashing more mana bullets at me, now more concentrated and numerous like a shotgun. I get caught up trying to dodge his attacks, I didn't notice he moved behind me. He then shot a mana bullet point blank at my back as I was mid-dodge, and I go flying, hitting the cavern walls, spitting up blood, getting stuck in the crevice created by the impact of my body.

"Lilinet!" Charllem screamed from below. She herself was struggling to defend against the undead below. The Lich turned his staff toward her, and was getting ready to fire a shot. I get myself out of the wall, and use wind magic to shoot myself forward at him, hitting his staff, cracking the head. Inside was an orb.

"Lilinet! That orb is the source of his mana! If you destroy it, he'll be affected by physical attacks and won't be able to us magic!"
I cough up blood as I dash back.
"Then what the hell is that orb in his chest for?!"
"That's his life source! He can't use it for mana since taking even just a little will cause him to explode and die!"
Alright then. The orb in his staff, then the one in his chest.

I quickly burst forward using wind magic again, and he turns and aims his staff at me, quickly moving away himself. He starts to shoot his mana bullets again, and I quickly dodge them or counter some of them with my own mana bullets. I appear right in front of him, when suddenly a mana bullet hits me at the side, and I get launched again. I keep myself stable in the air, but I cough up a large amount of blood. I look up, and find his mana bullets already flying toward me once more.

I dodge all of them using wind magic, but the effects on my body are too much, and I fall to my knees and cough up blood. I'm coughing up too much blood, and my body is quickly growing unable to keep up... Since I'm probably gonna die otherwise, might as well use 'that'. I burst forward again,but one hits me again, launching me backward into a wall. He then goes closer for a point blank shot. Despite being almost unconscious, I look up at him, and smirk, raising my left hand at him, and creating a barrier arround Charllem.

"Bang."
A large explosion then erupts from my hand, and envelops the entire cavern in flame. The Lich is reduced to charred bones, as well as his undead. Charllem is safe thanks to my barrier, but I didn't make an effort to protect myself since I only had enough mana to make one for her if I wanted to do that explosion. My entire arm is burned, and I fall to the floor, coughing up even more blood.
I can hear her screaming, and running to me.... It's no use Miss Charllem...
I slowly lose conciousness.
Well, it seems I'm going to die again...