My First Sweeper Mission

Not long after the incident with Petra, the school announced the upcoming Rising Stars Tournament, where the top sixty-four first year students battle it out in front of thousands of influential spectators. This is my big chance to finally show everybody the true power of me and Pudding’s bond.

Thankfully, I’m already ranked among the top sixty-four highest ranked students, so I should be good to enter, right?

Wrong.

The other requirement is reaching part of the first-year graduation requirement early—achieving 2nd Order in one magic and one martial school, and 1st Order in the rest.

As painfully uncoordinated as I am, thanks to Petra’s help over the past several weeks, I’ve managed to get a grasp on each martial school’s combat philosophy and how to fight with its weapons of choice—allowing me to achieve 1st Order in all four schools.

The problem? That’s supposed to be the easy part.

The hard part is learning how to actively use martial aura, the primary requirement for reaching 2nd Order in any of the schools—and something I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do. It involves using mana to enhance your body from the inside, so I was never able to observe how monsters do it. And everybody’s explanations just don’t make any sense to me.

Petra on the other hand—

KAKUNK!

“YES! I FINALLY GOT IT! I CONJURED A BOULDER!”

Petra squeezes the life out of me as she picks me up for a hug, laughing and hopping as she swings me around.

“Petra. Please. I can’t breathe.”

She immediately lets go. “Oops. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. I’m proud of you, Petra. You were struggling so much before—now look at you. I just wish I were doing that well.”

“Don’t look so down, Nora. You’ll get it eventually.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Well, you know what’ll cheer you up?”

“...What?”

“We get to go on our first mission as Sweepers today!”

“Heh, you’re right. That does sound pretty fun.”

“Let’s go eat breakfast and head to the meeting spot.”

“Alright!” I smile.

***

In order for students to become fully-licensed Sweepers, they must complete a 1st Order mission or higher as a full party under a chaperone, so that they can learn how Sweepers operate. Homeroom teachers assign the groups, and students are given a full weekend to complete their mission.

I’m excited to have Lucas and Petra in my group… but our fourth member makes me anxious.

“Hey, hot stuff. You and me in the same party, I reckon that’s gotta be destiny. How about you?”

“Petra, are you really gonna be bothering Arthur the entire day?”

“It’s called flirting.” Petra glances in my direction. “Maybe if you understood that you’d be having better luck with—”

“I assure you I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Lucas blushes.

“All the more reason to watch mama and papa show you how it’s done.”

“For the record, I’m not a willing participant in this,” Arthur remarks.

Petra smirks. “That technique is what us pros call playing hard to get.”

I sigh. “I wonder what kind of chaperone they’ll give a group like ours.”

“No clue, but I bet they’ve got great hair.”

I gasp and spin around before tackling our chaperone with a hug.

“Vincent! I missed you so much!”

He pats my head. “Good to see you too, kid.”

“No way! Mistwalker is our chaperone?! This is gonna be awesome!” Petra gushes.

“On that, we can agree.” Arthur smiles.

“I wouldn’t be saying that if I were you, kid.” Vincent flashes Arthur a scary look. “I heard you’ve been giving my beloved apprentice here the cold shoulder. I recommend you stop if you want a good review.”

“Vincent!”

I turn to Arthur. “I-I’m sorry, Arthur. I… Vincent and I sometimes write to each other about how we’re doing and, well… it made me really sad when you and I stopped getting along.”

“I—” Taken aback, Arthur’s cheeks showing the faintest flicker of pink before he regains his composure.

He sighs and looks away. “I’ll conduct myself professionally for the sake of the mission.”

Petra puts an arm around Arthur. “Don’t think I can say the same.”

“Miss Redgrave!” Coldheart marches over. “No public displays of affection!”

She notices Vincent, then blushes and looks away. “Ahem. Vincent.”

Vincent does the same. “Ahem. Celeste."

Silence.

I get that it’s their first time meeting since the date, but just what happened that they’re still this awkward?!

Looks like it’s up to me to save the day!

I leap at Coldheart, hugging her. “Littleroot! Just what do you think you’re—”

“Miss Coldheart sure has done a good job looking after us! If only there was someone who could let her know how much she’s appreciated!”

She pries me off her. “You—”

Vincent chuckles. “It really does mean a lot to me that you’ve been looking after Nora while I’ve been gone, Celeste. Truly.”

“I—” She turns away. “I’ve only done what any teacher should…”

She glances back at Vincent with a smirk. “Now it’s your turn to do the same. Good luck, Vincent.”

“Thanks, Celeste.” Vincent smiles.

They gaze warmly at each other.

“No public displays of affection, huh?” Petra teases.

“Just get out of here already!” Coldheart snaps.

While everyone else walks off, I stay behind.

“Um, Miss Coldheart?”

“What?”

“I… really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You’re an amazing teacher, and I couldn’t have come this far without you. Just you wait, Miss Coldheart. I’m gonna win that upcoming tournament and make you proud. I promise.”

For a brief moment, she flashes a warm smile…

…before catching herself and turning away, her cheeks red.

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point. Stop dillydallying and go follow your group!”

I run off, though not before sneaking another glance back and finding her smiling again.

***

After Vincent finishes giving us a tour of the Sweepers’ Guild and a rundown of the ins and outs of being a Sweeper, he has us wait outside while he picks a—

“Here ya go.” He walks up and hands us a mission poster. These provide the details of the request, often including a picture, with the location, reward, and mission rank listed at the bottom.

“A Bearowl?! 3rd Order?! But—”

“Ah, you’ll be fine. Difficulty ratings assume only one Sweeper is taking the mission. There’s four of you. Besides, rescuing some lost cat isn’t going to teach you anything. This will. Trust me.”

Lucas gives me a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay, Nora. We have Vincent with us. What’s the worst that could happen?”

The other two nod along…

…the poor fools. They haven’t trained with Vincent like I have. They don’t realize that—

“Pfft, I’m not coming with you.”

“What?!” Lucas turns.

“I haven’t gotten a day off in forever. You’re on your own. Besides, you won’t learn anything with me babying you.”

Lucas, Petra, and Arthur all shoot each other concerned glances.

***

After riding our brooms out to the town that put out the mission, Vincent stays behind to relax at the local Sweepers’ Guild while we head into the forest to figure out which cave the Bearowl is residing in. Despite only recently migrating here, the complete lack of monsters indicates it’s already eaten a shocking number of local creatures.

Eventually, I spot Bearowl droppings, then some nearby tracks for us to follow. Along the way, I grab some herbs that I have everybody rub on themselves to mask our scent from the Bearowl.

“Man, Nora,” Petra remarks. “Is there anything you don’t know? All this jungle girl knowledge of yours sure comes in handy.”

“I didn’t grow up in the—” I sigh. “Nevermind.”

“You gotta admit, she’s pretty impressive, huh, hot stuff?”

“It’s… respectable.”

Arthur, who pretty much always smiles, has been wearing a frown all day. I can’t tell if it’s because he really just dislikes me that much now, or if it’s Petra’s constant harassment… actually, come to think of it…

“Petra,” I start, “if you don’t mind me asking, how come you like Arthur so much?”

“He’s strong and cute, what more reason do I need?”

“Huh…”

She throws her arm around me and rubs her cheek against mine. “It’s the same reason I like you!”

“Petra! Stop! You’re gonna make me blush!”

“Never!”

“Hm… I must say, Petra, your disposition has certainly grown warmer since you’ve started hanging around Nora,” Arthur comments.

“Guess she just has that effect on people.”

“Perhaps.”

Out of the corner of my eye, it looks like Arthur might be cracking a small smile. By the time I turn toward him, however, there’s nothing there.”

“Plus,” Petra continues, “mama bear instincts. Nora’s too precious for this world. Gotta protect her at all costs.”

“I thought you said I should learn to like a bad girl,” Arthur jabs.

“Sometimes I’m bad, sometimes I’m good.”

She turns to him with a smirk.

“I’m complicated like that.”

“Uh, guys,” Lucas interrupts. “I think we’re here.”

***

We trek through the cave until we reach a spacious area underground, though not spacious enough for Arthur to summon his dragon. We find the monster sleeping. Thankfully, it doesn’t smell us as we get closer—

My heart sinks.

The client misidentified the monster.

Whether it was an innocent mistake or an intentional move to avoid paying out a greater reward, one thing’s for sure—this creature is in a league way above any of us.