We were meant to do more. The guild master told us that. And yet neither of us were ready to do more.

  Oh, sure, taking extra training from him and then getting into the classes we wanted to get in was something that we could both do, but that wasn't going to be easy.

  Constantine took my hand. We were going to be cleaning the entire guild hall today.

  The entire guild hall…

  I didn't even know how much time that would take. You see, everything had a price.

  Constantine, look at me regretfully.

  “I am just sorry you had to pay the price together with me.”

  I wasn't sorry about that. Volunteer Day added something nice into our schedule. We did get paid for sweeping the streets.

  And not just that, but we also got paid for everything else that we were supposed to do during that Volunteer Day!

  Because as much as I didn't like to admit it, we were meant to be washing the monument as well and help clear the fountain. And now the rain made everything we did into a mess.

  All of our hard work...

  But that didn't mean that we could give up! I was sure that we could clean the guild hall faster and then go and clean the fountain.

  We were already paid for it, it was the least we could do.

  I was just a gnome, and Constantine was just a fairy. But that didn't mean that we were exempt from hard work!

  No, it just meant that we had to put in more hours than anyone else to prove ourselves!

  “This is going to help us with our stamina development,” I told Constantine, trying to find a ray of light in our dark situation.

  And it could have been worse. The Guild Master could have kicked us out.

  That was also the truth, but as much as I tried to tell myself that it was a mercy to stay in the guild, I couldn't do that.

  My knees began to hurt me from scrubbing the floor.

  Nor could I tell myself that I was making progress.

  As the adventurers around me began to form groups and to train, both Constantine and I continued to clean the guild hall with gusto.

  We were working hard. Scrubbing for all that was worth!

  When we entered a corridor, we saw a young maid doing the same chore, but she was doing it much faster than us.

  I blinked.

  Could she possibly tell us her secret? We both approached the lady, and we both waited for her to acknowledge us first.

  “Oh, how nice,” she said. She wasn't dressed as a maid. I had no idea why she was dressed so richly and yet clean the floor. Didn’t she worry that her clothes will get dirty?

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  "Are you going to be doing some mana control as well?"

  Mana control? What was that supposed to be?

  “Yes,” Constantine said, being faster than I in replying.

  “Mana control is something that is quite easy and simple to do," the maid told us. She winked at him. "If you want to learn, I can teach you, but I need a favor."

  Knowledge was never freely given. Both of us knew that. Should she ask for something, we would give her everything she wanted.

  "I need something delivered, but it has to be discreet. I can teach you later! Do we have a deal?"

  "Is it going to get us in trouble?" I asked, looking around. The last thing I needed was to get chased out of the guild for doing a small favor. The maid just shook her head.

  "No, it won’t get you in trouble," she said, as she handed us a love letter.

  That wasn't something I was expecting of her. But the love letter would probably get us in trouble if the recipient didn't want to get a love letter from her.

  We needed to learn how to clean the floor faster. We needed to learn mana control.

  We had to risk it!

  "Okay then," the maid told us, handing me the letter. "Go deliver this to Albert. You know, the tank."

  She was built like a pixie. And Albert, as much as I remember him, was built like an ox.

  Albert was one of the guild members. He rarely talked with us.

  No.

  Albert was and would always remain a B-ranked adventurer who would rise through the ranks to S, and he would without doubt become an SSS rank adventurer one day.

  Of that much we were all sure.

  We left her to her cleaning and made our way down the hall. Albert was training with the others.

  He was bashing his shield against a barrier.

  We didn't know if we should interrupt him or not, but I decided to risk it and go to him.

  I had to dodge someone who was throwing balls against the wall, and then I had to pass under a pair of wrestling adventurers, but as I finally reached Albert, he looked at me with a sneer.

  "What do you want, Guildie?" he asked, as he turned towards me.

  "I don't want much. But Flora has this for you," I gave him the letter and then made some steps away from him, so I wouldn't be within shield bashing range.

  He actually smiled!

  A soft smile which to the naked eye was practically invisible. But I saw how his face lit up! How he looked as if he was about to bounce in place.

  He opened the letter only to freeze.

  "This is no love letter!" he snapped, as he threw the paper at me. "She is telling me to keep away from her! What, couldn't she have said so herself?"

  Oh, for goodness’ sake!

  That wasn't very nice of her…

  But still, that wasn't my fault. I decided that, I should simply try to mitigate the situation.

  "I didn't write this letter," I was forward. Offering only truths, "And she promised to teach us mana control."

  Which was the truth of it.

  I didn't know just how much the truth was going to help in that matter, but I felt that Albert didn’t deserve to be lied to.

  Albert was twice my size, twice my height, and was just told that he was not good enough for the lady of his choosing.

  So, I was pretty much sure I was going to get a trashing!

  Instead, I got a pat on the back!

  "Yeah, well, she promises that to everyone. But the thing is, she's a witch. She uses runes for everything to animate objects," Albert said. "If you want some mana training, I can teach you! But now I'm really pissed off. I will avoid her. I don't need her!"

  Albert took his shield back and began to bash against the barrier.

  As I walked back towards Constantine, I at least was not beaten up.

  And so, without much effort, I got myself my first training lesson just a couple of hours later!

  Albert started the lesson by giving us a map! One with runes!

  "This is my old map," he said.

  The map’s paper was yellowish. The map had fingerprints on it.

  But, oh, I had never seen anything as valuable in my entire life!

  "It is a self-updating one, but you will need about two mana stones to power it. It's an old model."

  "And if you need a better model, you can exchange this map for another one, but beware. That will cost you an A-ranked quest! It will be cheaper and less bothersome to just buy the newer map. I think this map will be just good enough for you. I could also give you my bottomless bag on a discount."

  Constantine shook his head.

  "Bottomless bags make for lazy adventurers. If we can't do the logistics of a good inventory, then we don't deserve the loot."

  I blinked, trying to figure out what he meant, but I didn't argue with him.

  Maybe he was right. Or maybe he was just masochistic.

  At any rate, he was my party member, and we needed to trust each other.