Ch 11 – Ace’s choice

The two, still very much embarrassed, hurried their steps to rejoin the rest of the group.

They walked for longer than another hour, and sunset was almost upon them while they searched for a suitable place to rest.

Much to Bid's daze, Ace and Necro were avoiding eye contact for the whole time...

"Hey, Ace. Did something happen between you and the Necro girl?"

"Huh?" Ace blushed a lot, before stuttering. "N-No! W-Why would you think that?"

"Oh boy... Ace actually has a heart..."

"Stop!" Ace got a little angry. But she was way more embarrassed than angry. She had always known she also liked girls but... She never expected to feel like this.

The moment she saw that girl her heart started racing and she couldn't avoid staring at her. She had a gorgeous, delicate face and a dark hair that reminded her of the night sky.

And her eyes. God, her eyes were so beautiful. A deep purple red that seemed to glister. Calling her.

That alone was enough to make her legs feel weak.

But when she got angry was when Ace lost herself. The power emanating from her eyes, the thickness of her aura. Her heart was almost jumping out of her chest. Ace had the gift of Aura Vision, an ability that allows one to see the flow of mana around them. It was a very hard skill to master, but for some inexplicable reason, Ace learned it on her own while still a child. And just the mana that escaped Necro when she got angry was enough to blind her completely. A thick and dark mana, the same color as her hair, but gleaming with different flashes of Red, Blue, Green and Orange. As well as an unexplainable and colorless light, that she could not even explain. She very well knew the implications of that. 

And those implications enthralled her, completely bewitching her mind and making her fall in love immediately. 

Not only was that girl able to make her heart race as a woman, she was able to enrapture her as a magician as well. 

This feeling was a lot for Ace to handle for the first time. She had met plenty of powerful mages by her father's side, yet nobody's mana was able to captivate her like this, even during a high level casting.

She knew very well this girl was very special. She had fled from home exactly to find someone she would be able to look up to. Her parents wanted her to marry some disgusting prince of another country. She wanted to find herself someone she could actually love, so she let go of everything to venture and find that person. That's also why she joined the Adventurers' Guild. While the church was known to have the most powerful magicians, that was in reality just a facade, they were good at healing and purifying magic... but that's it. Adventurers who actually used their magic every day in life and death situations had far more refined and powerful magic. But they were very few and far between...

She actually had to hide she was a magician until she found a suitable party... Else the amount of invitations would be overwhelming. Not that that stopped the poachers... but far fewer parties were willing to stoop so low. 

Ace looked behind to see Necro was still blushing. 

She found her reactions incredibly cute.

Meanwhile Necro was still thinking about what happened... But thinking about her father made her remember what's going on there.

'I hope they are okay... By this time they should've already gotten there.'

Necro was very worried about them... heading off against the church was not a good thing. And her parents' words still haunted her a little... What did they mean with "Our families precede the church?"...

The kiss she just got made her feel strange... Her body was yet to come back to normal, there was still some tingling in between her legs and she felt a little hot.

'Maybe I'm really getting a cold...'

"Hey, Necro, you said you were considering joining the guild right?" (Mary) 

"Yes.."

"What kind of weapons can you use? I mean... You should at least have some idea... Right?"

"Oh... I was trained on swordsmanship and small blade combat."

"Really?! Then what are you? A squire? Or a rogue?"

"... Neither... I'm a magician..."

"HUUUH?!"

"What's the matter, Mary?" (Hal)

"This girl! She said she's a magician!"

Necro couldn't really understand why she was that surprised, Magicians were not that uncommon among adventurers, instead, most of them became adventurers since it was a good source of income.

"Huh! How come?" (Bid)

"Already knew it..." (Ace)

The rest of the party threw a sideways glance at Ace.

"It's a given, look at her clothes." (Ace)

"Still! How can a magician move like that!" (Bid)

"And have that much stamina to run away from that thing!" (Hal)

"You mean... you guys were watching me run for a while before helping...?" (Necro)

"Ah! It's not like that! You guys were just a bit far and running pretty fast... It took us a while to reach you." (Hal)

Necro became a little wary of them. However...

"It's true." As Ace held her hand while saying this, all her doubts vanished. If she was saying it was true then it probably is...

"Why didn't you tell us anything, Ace?" (Mary) 

"Unnecessary work" She shrugged. 

"Are you fucking real?" Snark Hal, shaking his head. 

Necro knew from before that this was Ace trying to protect her, and started to blush a little...

"It's late, where we camping?" Ace changed the course of the conversation to a more pressing matter/

"We haven't found a good spot yet..." (Hal)

"Hey!" Started Bid. "There's a clearing just a little far ahead!"

"Well... Apparently we found a place." (Hal) 

"Thank goodness! I was getting tired..." (Mary)

"This armor and shield of yours are too heavy..."

"It's not like I have the money to buy a Storage Ring that fits them..." 

"From this bad boy you'd probably have if you didn't drink all your savings every single time." Said Bid, tapping the roll of Fur strapped to his back. 

"Leave my drinks! You shouldn't meddle with a maiden's private matters!" 

"Here they go again..." (Hal)

"Are they always like this?" Asked Necro in a low voice.

"Yeah..." Responded Ace softly whispering in her ear. "Most of the time."

Necro flinched a little.

"Please don't talk to my ear like that... My body feels weird..."

"Ah! Sorry!" Ace took a step away from Necro, embarrassed. 

Necro, on the other hand, gave her a side grin and spoke back in her ear, mischievously.

"It's not that I dislike it... But it's hard to stand you know... My legs feel weak"

While caressing her neck with her hand. 

Ace's hair stood on end as she swayed, almost falling down. 

"I get it... Stop it..." Ace said, her breath ragged, her voice sounding funny...

'Oh my god. I'm so wet. How did she...'

She stared back at Necro, wondering. She knew for sure right there and then. She'd made the right choice for a partner.