[Meer Calendar, 15 June, 1 Years Before Demon War]


    [City of Heles]


    The sun of Heles City looked exhausted.


    He started to lie down and made the sky of Heles City turn red.


    The sun looks tired, why is the sun tired?


    Isn''t he a mighty light that watching humans from the sky.


    "Anna..." a faint voice sounded, but she didn''t care.


    Isn''t he the mighty light that illuminates all beings in the Meer continent.


    Isn''t he the mighty light, Zelos the God of Light.


    "Anna..." Now the voice was louder and seemed angry.


    Anna felt a shake from her shoulder. Her body that started to sway woke Anna from her daydream.


    "Silvie... what''s wrong?" Anna asked with her head tilted.


    Anna looked at her childhood friend.


    Silvie have long brown hair flowing over her chest showing her cheerful and smooth face. Beautiful blue eyes, perched under thin brown eyebrows, looked worried for her best friend.


    Clean white skin looks red from sunburn. Even so, it does not reduce its attractiveness in attracting the opposite sex.


    "What''s wrong!? You''ve been daydreaming and staring at the sunset for a long time. I called you many times but you didn''t answer." Silvieined.


    Anna and Silvie weren''t kids anymore they were 17 years old. In the City of Heles, a 17-year-old girl must marry and start her own family.


    But these two beautiful girls have not found a partner yet.


    Silvie was unmarried because she was busy working in her parents'' clothing store, even so Silvie had suitors whose queues were longer than the most famous potions shop in town.


    While Anna…


    Anna would only marry after two things. One, a boy her age who didn''t yet be mage could defeat her in a sword fight. Two, she would only marry after be mage.


    "Anna!!! You''re daydreaming again!" Silvie shook Anna''s body harder.


    "Oh! Yes? Yes? What were you talking about earlier?" Anna wake up and asked.


    "Why are you daydreaming like a woman who has lost her mind?" Silvie asked anxiously.


    "It''s nothing Silvie" Anna sighed and looked somber.


    "Is your mana flow not active yet?" Silvie stared with a sad face.


    "Yes, not yet." Anna looked down sadly.


    Silvie hugged her best friend tightly. Silvie knew Anna desperately wanted to be a mage but shecked teachers, money, and talent.


    Silvie saw her friend who kept getting up early to practice swordsmanship until the night.


    Anna really wanted to be a mage. She didn''t want her life to just stop in this city.


    Anna wanted to be able to fly and shoot fire like the mage she had seen as a child.


    "Anna, it''s time for us to go home, your parents will be worried if you arete." Silvie looked at her with a smile.


    "Hmm." Anna just nodded.


    Her body was very tired. Anna continued to train until she passed out but the mana flow in her body didn''t show the slightest reaction to getting up.


    This made Anna very frustrated.


    Anna and Silvie parted ways at a crossroads. Anna dragged her tired body into her house.


    From the outside this house looks warm andfortable. It is built with white bricks and has mahogany decor. This house only has one floor.


    Tall, boxy windows allow enough light to enter the home and have been added to the home in a fairly asymmetrical pattern.


    This house is equipped with an old kitchen and two bathrooms, also has a small living room, three bedrooms, a dining room, and a basement which also serves as a storage area.


    The roof is triangr in shape and covered with ovepping tiles. A small chimney is next to the house.


    The house itself is surrounded by a simple garden, with mostly grass and a few small trees.


    "Anna where have you been? Don''t tell me you''re practicing swordsmanship again!? I told you not to be a mage! You''re an adult! You''ll be 20 years old soon! You want to be a spinster? Huh!?" an angry voice came from inside the house.


    He is Anna''s father, Gilbert Morris.


    "Gilbert, let Anna rest first" a soft voice came from a middle-aged woman with white hair, fair skin and a pretty face.


    She looked more like a noble''s daughterpared to a simple housewife. The gentle smile that always formed on her pink lips made Gilbert''s neighbors and friends jealous of him.


    She is Anna''s mother, C Morris.


    "You shut up woman! I am the head of this household, I am in charge!" Gilbert snapped at his wife.


    "Okay... we can talk while we eat." C smiled softly.


    "Humph!" Gilbert sat on a chair at the dining table with his face still angry.


    "Anna, let''s eat first, you must be hungry" C held Anna''s hand and brought her to the dining room.


    The dining room of Anna''s house has a round table two meters in diameter with 4 chairs arranged around it.


    On the dining table there are various kinds of food that are still warm. C always re-cooks their dinner and gets up early to make their breakfast.


    Anna who was tired just sat and ate her dinner.


    Gilbert began to speak again.


    "Anna you as a woman shouldn''t think too much about mana. You want to be a mage? Heh! Why do you want to be a mage? Can you really fight?


    You better be like your mother. Look at your mother she has no mana but she makes a good wife. Every time wee home there is always warm food.


    Whenever you need anything, your mother is always there.


    The house is always clean. Your brother can focus on school without having to bother about food and clean clothes.


    Not like our neighbors. Have you seen their house? Like a wrecked ship. Albert alwaysined of hunger whenever he was on guard duty.


    Look at me whenever I have a guard duty I can brag about my wife''s food in front of other colleagues.


    I even got a promotion for often giving the captain of the guard your mother''s good food. Now I be the vice-captain of the guards.


    See a family with a mage wife, neglected. Their children are starving, their house is a mess, and her husband is cheating on her with a maid.


    Would you like your family to be like that? Huh?..." Gilbert continued to babble as he ate.


    C, who was highly praised by Gilbert, just looked down in shame with a flushed face. She loved being praised by her husband but not in front of their child either.


    Anna just bowed silently, she no longer had the energy to argue with her father.


    Actually their family is a happy family.


    Gilbert works as a wall gatekeeper, while C works as a housewife.


    Anna has a younger brother named Artur who currently attends a Mage school. Artur managed to get a schrship at the most famous mage academy in the human alliance, the Military Academy.


    After he graduated from his school, Artur would leave and live in the Military Academy dormitory. Gilbert was very proud of his only son and boasted about him.


    Whenever Artur came home, he always shared his experiences during school.


    Anna wanted to be able to fight with a sword in her right hand and a staff in her left. Anna also wanted to be a great mage.


    However, Gilbert''s love and pride in C made him think that the ideal and good woman for the family was a woman like C.


    Submissive, diligent, gentle, and stay-at-home.


    Anna doesn''t hate C, she''s just disappointed in C.


    Ces from a mage family, both of her parents are mages. Anna never knew why C didn''t activate her mana flow and became a mage or why C wanted to marry Gilbert who was only a wall gatekeeper.


    Hearing Gilbert still raving and praising his wife, Anna quickly finished her dinner.


    "I''m done" Anna ignored Gilbert and rushed into her room.


    "Hey Anna! I''m not done talking yet." Seeing Anna rushing to her room, Gilbert wanted to catch up, but C grabbed his hand.


    "Gilbert, maybe she''s tired" C said with a soft smile on her lips.


    "Huft... C you know best how pathetic a child in a mage family is"


    "I know Gilbert... I know... but Anna is now an adult, she will understand" C looked directly into Gilbert''s eyes reassuringly.


    "Humph!" Gilbert sat back in his chair and continued eating his dinner.


    Both of C''s parents are mage. both have busy work schedules. They didn''t have time to take care of C, so C lives alone in big house with her maid.


    Even so, C is still happy because she still has both parents. Her Mage parents also make C feel proud.


    Until they decided to divorce. C''s father already had another lover, his own toon partner. Meanwhile, his mother was pregnant with another man''s child.


    They separated because they hated each other, didn''t even want to be in the same ce.


    C who is their child is considered as a symbol that they once loved each other. C is hated by her parents.


    Little C lives in a big house alone.


    Her maid chose to follow the new master in another house.


    This was a normal life for Little C, but something was different.


    She had no parent anymore.


    Maybe she didn''t have them in the first ce.


    Therefore C chose to marry Gilbert, an ordinary wall gatekeeper.


    She wants to have a family with a clean house even though it is small,


    Food that is warm even though from cheap ingridient,


    and a gentle mother even though just an ordinary person not a mage.


    Reminiscing about her sad past C just sits back and waits for Gilbert to finish his meal.


    She is satisfied and content with her current life. Times have changed, humans are no longer at war with elves.


    Women no longer need to take up arms. It is time for women to do their real duties, take care of their family and educate their children.


    Anna''s room is located not far from the dining room, only one room after the kitchen.


    Its location close to the garden in the back yard made the moonlighte in from the window beside the bed.


    There was no furniture such as dolls, posters, or other items that a girl of Anna''s age might have in her bedroom. There is only a bed and a cupboard containing only a few clothes.


    Anna didn''t have a passion for collecting fine dresses or beautiful clothes, she just needed clothes that didn''t interfere with her training.


    She also doesn''t like to preen so Anna''s room doesn''t have a mirror or a table which is usually filled with cosmetics for women. In the corner of the room there was only a basin filled with water and a grindstone inside it.


    Anna changed her clothes and sat in front of the basin. She didn''t have the energy to take a shower and it was already getting cold. Yet she still had the energy to polish and sharpen her sword.


    This was the only sword that Anna had, she worked in the Silvie family''s clothing store for months and saved up to buy this shabby sword.


    Even so, Anna loved her shabby sword very much. Anna always cleaned and sharpened it so that the shabby sword turned back into a sharp sword.


    Satisfied with looking at her sword glistening in the moonlight, Anna returned to her bed. She need to wake up early and go back to training.


    Even so, the exhausted and irritated Anna couldn''t sleep. She spun around her bed to find a morefortable position.


    It wasn''t long before Anna''s bed was crumpled, then there was a knocking sound from her window.


    knock knock knock


    Anna stood up and walked to the window. Outside the window, there was a handsome young man with red hair, it was Tristan Ryan.


    Even though Anna doesn''t have time to hang out with her friends, Anna''s pretty face that is simr to her mother''s attracts some men.


    In fact, some of them were Anna''s loyal pursuers. One of them is Tristan.


    Anna opened the window.


    "What''s wrong Tristan, it''s alreadyte night?" if it was someone else, Anna wouldn''t answer and called Gilbert to kick him out.


    "Anna, I have some good news, maybe this is your chance to get a [Mana Potion]!" Tristan whispered cheerfully.


    Anna likes Tristan because it was he who supported her to be a mage.


    Coupled with his handsome face, Tristan is one of the boy that Anna thought would be her husband. But unfortunately, Tristan''s sword skills are still far below Anna''s.


    "Is this true? You didn''t lie to ask me out right?" Anna frowned suspiciously.


    "For Zelos'' sake, I''m not lying. I heard it from the caravan that just arrived this afternoon.


    They found a red bear while crossing the outskirts of the Bog forest. This red bear is young and alone with no parents." Tristan swore by the name of the god of light.


    "Then why didn''t the caravan go after it?" Anna was still suspicious.


    "The caravan is carrying a lot of luggage and they are in a hurry to get to town before nightfall." Tristan gave an answer.


    ''the caravan probably doesn''t want to bete to meet the buyers'' thought Anna and dispelled her suspicions.


    "Okay I believe" Anna nodded.


    "Good! I, Roko, Lina, and Vivi are going to the forest to look for that red bear. Do you want toe with us?" Tristan invites.


    "Bog Forest? Isn''t that dangerous?" Anna is worried


    "Anna, if you want to be a mage, you have to be brave!" Tristan whispered louder with burning eyes.


    Anna was stunned to hear Tristan''s words, Anna would never be a mage if she was a coward.


    "You''re right. I''ming with you. Where do we meet?" Anna answered with also burning eyes.


    "Tomorrow morning, in front of the east gate!" Tristan replied.


    "Okay. See you tomorrow" Anna closed her window without giving Tristan a chance to answer.


    Silvie once told her to be cold with men so they would feel challenged. Since it was Silvie the Town Flower''s suggestion, Anna would follow it.


    Anna returned to her bed, but she couldn''t close her eyes. The reason this time was different, she couldn''t wait for tomorrow''s adventure.