"S ranked Elite? Alright follow me." The captain replied and started to lead her away to one of the carriages.

"Since you're the only S ranked mage we have, we'll be stationing you with some warriors to form a small hit and run squad that will be invading the keep while the rest of the army distracts the cultists."

"So do I just like, kill them all?" Shiro asked as her enthusiasm for such an easy quest was at an all-time low.

"Ah? Er yeah." The captain replied a little surprised at her response.

"How many people are in the squad and when do we leave?"

"Including you, there are 5 people in the squad. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

"Mn, who's going to be the leader of this squad?"

"You can decide that by yourselves. Also, nice enthusiasm but try to turn it down a notch. Invading Silvermoon Keep isn't an easy task and many had already died." He warned.

"Mn, sure." She dismissed him nonchalantly.

His lips twitched slightly in irritation due to her nonchalant reply but chose to ignore it. After all, they were seeking out help from the local people.

"Yo, we got a midget in our squad now huh?" A blond-haired teen said as he poked his head out from the carriage. However, the moment he saw her face in detail, he paused in shock.

"Alex, either get your ass back in the carriage or get out." An impatient voice shouted out.

"Hush Nathan. I am currently burning the image of a goddess in my eyes." Alex replied as he stared at Shiro.

Shiro's face darkened as she had the urge to not only chop his legs off for calling her a midget, but also associating her with a god.

"Hais… Alex, get the others out. You have a new teammate. Her name is Shiro and she is an S ranked Ice Mage."

Four people stepped out of the carriage as Alex was the first one to introduce himself.

"Oh goddess Shiro, I'm Alex Crowford. An S ranked swordsman." Alex said with a slight bow. He had short blond hair, blue eyes and a rather handsome face. His physique was more on the thin side. Currently, he was wearing a uniform much like the others in the carriage. The uniform consisted for a white robe with gold highlights, a black shirt and some pants. On top of this, there are some light pieces of armour around the chest, shoulders, arms and legs.

"I'm Nathan. An S ranked swordsman." Nathan followed up with a simple introduction. Unlike Alex, he had dark blue hair that reached his back in length.

"My name is Emilie."

"And mine is Felicia."

"We're both archers and twins." Emilie and Felicia said at the same time. They looked almost identical except for the fact that Emilie's hair was longer than Felicia's and that Felicia had tied her hair up into a ponytail.

All four of them had the same uniform on, so Shiro guessed that it was mandatory for letting others know of their identities.

"We don't have a healer?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We do have healers but none that are capable enough to actually join this party." The captain sighed.

"Well you five get to know each other. I'll see if there are any more S ranked combatants. Also, uniforms are in the carriage. You can pick one that suits you."

Watching the captain leave, Alex walked up to Shiro.

"Goddess Shiro, may I know if you are currently seeing anyone?" He asked.

"No. Also, don't call me a goddess." Shiro replied.

"So who's the captain of this squad? We can't just attack without a proper chain of command." She asked.

"Well me and Felicia don't want to be captains so it's either Nathan or Alex." Emilie replied.

"Out of you two, who has experience in being a party leader?" Shiro asked as she looked at the duo.

"I have some experience in leading the party, goddess Shiro."

"I was in his party." Nathan said whilst pointing at Alex.

"So Alex is the leader? Alright. When we're fighting, I'll follow orders to some extent. Though my main task is to just kill the cultists ok?"

"No problem!" Alex smiled.

Sighing slightly, Shiro looked for a uniform in the carriage but frowned when she saw that none of the uniforms was for her size.

"Are there any uniforms smaller in size?" Shiro asked whilst poking her head out.

"Unfortunately, there aren't any more uniforms smaller in size. The one in your hands is the smallest one they have." Nathan made an apologetic face.

"Hais, forget it then. So what's the plan you have so far for breaking into the keep?" Shiro asked.

"Godd-"

"Okay before anything stop that. Call me goddess one more time and just watch what happens!" Shiro glared at Alex. 

However, she didn't release any killing intent since her control was slacking a little. She needed to keep a tight seal on her intent until her control returns. 

"Ah er… then what should I call you?"

"Just Shiro is fine. So what's the plan?"

"Well, we'll most likely be entering through the underground tunnel that they had been digging for the past few days. It'll lead into the dungeon under Silvermoon Keep and we'll kill our way out from there." Alex replied.

They discussed a few of the tactics for fighting in a group. Both Nathan and Alex will be at the very front with the twin archers at the back. Shiro will be assisting on both fonts since her class was more suited to that job.

"But Shiro, you're a mage. You can't possibly beat a warrior in close range, S class or not." Nathan rejected the thought.

"Hou hou. Really?" Shiro smiled.

"Yes really. You should be behind the archers since the twins still have some close quarters combat potential with their arrows. But you can't possibly use your magic at close range without the danger of harming yourself.

"Well in that case then we can go for a little spar then. You try to get close to me to prove that mages aren't able to use any magic at close range."

"If that's what it takes to make you understand the difference between mages and warriors then so be it." He narrowed his eyes and unsheathed his sword.

"Great." Shiro smiled and clapped her hands. Hopping off the carriage, the other 3 made some space for them to have a small spar.

Small occasions like this wasn't rare in the army since small conflicts would arrive every so often. Strength is what matters so they would fight it out to settle the scores.

"Go missy. Teach him a lesson hahaha."

"Don't hit her face! Or else you can wait for the rest of us to hit you after this fight!"

The surrounding soldiers cheered in humour as they circled the group and spectated the match.

Nathan took in a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes. A battle between two s ranks wouldn't be anything like the lower ranks since they were some of the strongest in terms of combat prowess.

"So do you want to start or shall I? I'll let you choose." Shiro asked with a small smile.

"Hmph." Nathan only scoffed at her casual attitude and dashed towards her.

*Click

A few ice spears appeared in the air and instantly shot towards Nathan.

"What?!!!"

Everyone was surprised at the cast time. The same went with Nathan but he didn't stay shocked since he was the target.

His sword flashed slightly as he swung it in front of him.

Switching between a normal grip and a reverse grip, he was able to cut down the ice spears with ease.

"Hou, not bad kiddo. Got some capabilities there." Shiro laughed as she stomped down.

A huge magic circle expanded out from her and covered the entire area.

Jumping upwards before the circle could even take effect, Nathan managed to avoid having his legs frozen stiff.

Twisting his body in mid-air, he blocked a few ice spears that tried to hit him when he didn't expect it.

"Whoo!! Go!" The crowd cheered in excitement.

Landing on the ground, Nathan pivoted on his foot and swung his sword horizontally.

A huge wave of fire shot towards Shiro.

She only flicked her fingers as a huge wall of ice erected in front of her and blocked the fire easily.

However, the fire was only a diversion as Nathan had already closed in on her with his sword gliding towards her.

Unfortunately for him, she was long prepared as she was still relaxed about this fight.

Before the sword could make any decent progress towards her, a sheet of ice materialised and blocked the sword.

'What?!' He thought in shock.

Quickly adapting to the situation, he pivoted around her ice block and swung his sword upwards.

*DANG!

What happened next shocked everyone as the small mage was actually able to pinch Nathan's sword.

If she had used magic then fair enough, they could still wrap their head around that. However, she had used her own strength to stop his sword dead in its tracks. Not only that, but she had actually pinched the sword accurately.

The amount of strength needed to clamp a moving sword with just their fingers was something that should be outside of a mage's power and yet, Shiro had done just that. 

"Shame, you should really work on your arm strength." Shiro said whilst giving him a side glance.

"I would break the sword but you need it so I'll let you off with that. Now then, it's my turn." She grinned.

*BANG BANG!

In a short moment, Shiro had disarmed him and slammed her palm into his chest.

"GAH!"

A single hit of her palm had actually launched him into the air.

Flicking her wrist, the ice spears shot towards him and imprisoned him in the air.

"Well? Do you give up?" Shiro smiled as she sat on an ice spear and floated in front of him.

Crossing her legs, she waited for his reply.

"… I yield." He replied after a short moment of silence.

*Clap

"Great." Shiro smiled and let him down from the makeshift prison she had built.

With her role as the all around supporter that will assist on both fronts, the party discussed a few tactics that they could potentially use.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, there were no more S ranked adventures so they could only stick with the members they had now.

###

Setting off for Silvermoon Keep early in the morning, the girls and boys were in separate carriages. However, Alex seemed to be infatuated with Shiro as he was walking next to the carriage.

Even when she would glare at him or attempt to hit him, he would make a perverted face that instantly repelled Shiro from making a move.

Her logic being, 'If I hit him, it would probably be more of a reward than actual punishment'.

Which, unfortunately, was completely true since not only did he fall in love with her appearance but also her fighting style.

"We'll be arriving shortly at the Keep." The driver shouted out as the team looked out the windows.

"Huh, I didn't expect the f*cker to be so big." Shiro muttered while looking up at the tower that seemed to pierce into the heaven's themselves. Not only that, but large walls and smaller towers surrounded the main building with layers upon layers of protection.

"Language." Felicia called out from the opposite window.

"Urg. But how else can I express my current thoughts about the tall bastard?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

During the trip, she had gotten to know the twins a little better with Emilie being the rather childish one of the pair and Felicia being the 'proper' kind of lady.

"Perhaps you can say tower instead of the vulgar language you're currently using." She suggested.

"Eh~, but that doesn't have the same feeling." Shiro responded.

"Fufufu, don't worry about it Shiro. Feli is just like that." Emilie laughed.

"I'm saying this because you are young. If you don't correct yourself when your younger, it's harder when you grow up. Not only that, you'll scare away your potential suitors. What if you don't get a husband?" Felicia replied.

'This miss had already reincarnated. At this point I don't think I can be classified as a youngster anymore.' Shiro thought to herself.

"If you can't find a husband, this one will gladly take you as my wife!" Alex cried out.

"Scram! Like hell I want to marry you!" Shiro retorted.

"Even if she did want a husband. I don't think a masochist like you would be on her list of candidates." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Che, as if I'm a masochist. I'm only willing to let Shiro harm me for fun. No one else."

"That's the definition of masochist. Dumbass." Nathan scoffed.

Shiro ignored the duo's banter as they were arriving at the camp.

She almost see the depressing aura of the army as they failed day after day.

'Well it seems like they need something to boost their morals up.' Shiro thought to herself. Not that she'll take that role.

Her concerns lay with stopping whatever was happening in the tower. Nothing more, nothing less.

That and the fact that she could see a god damn shadow dragon resting at the top of the tower.

'Seems like I may have found the final boss for this trial.' 

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