(Author: This is from the perspective of the silver-haired girl in the duo introduced in the previous chapter.)

To Sheena, the silver-haired girl, Elle was a special person. Elle, the golden-haired girl, was her childhood friend, and they had sworn to become adventurers together.

At age ten, both received their respective jobs.
Sheena became an Assassin, and Elle a Magic Swordsman.
Both were advanced classes, the type of jobs that any aspiring adventurer would yearn for.
Delighted, they formed a party and became adventurers together.

Once they started their journey, Sheena and Elle grew rapidly.
They increased their skills at a rate far surpassing other adventurers, defeating powerful monsters one after another.
As a result, in just five years, they achieved B-rank status, known as high-level adventurers.

Sheena and Elle never doubted their abilities, believing they could reach new heights together.
It wasn’t arrogance but rather a certainty, built on a foundation of advanced jobs and solid effort.

Yet, for Sheena and Elle, that Cyclops monster was their first encounter with a real, life-threatening danger.

“Why is there a Cyclops here?!”
“I don’t know…but I know we’re in real trouble…argh!”
“Sheena?!”

It happened just after they had defeated a mission monster in Ville Forest and felt a sense of relief.
A Cyclops, a B-rank monster, had suddenly attacked them from behind Elle.

Sheena quickly noticed the attack and shielded Elle, avoiding a fatal blow.
However, the Cyclops’s club grazed her, leaving a deep gash on her left leg.
Though Cyclopses were slow, escape was impossible like this.

“Leave me, Elle, and escape on your own…!”
“I could never do that! We’re together, no matter what happens!”
“…Elle.”

No one understood Elle’s stubbornness better than Sheena.
Injured herself, yet unwilling to leave, Sheena’s heart ached for her incorrigible partner.

As they spoke, the Cyclops drew closer, raising its giant club high.
Just as Sheena and Elle braced for death, the next moment changed everything.

“Aah!”
“What?!”

Suddenly, they felt themselves lifted.
In their delayed vision, they saw flaming red hair—a beautiful, blazing color.
Only then did they understand that someone was holding them.

The person who had saved them gently lowered them to the ground.
By the time Sheena and Elle tried to thank the girl, she was already facing the Cyclops.

“No more of your rampaging.
I’ll end you here!”

The Cyclops roared, but the girl didn’t falter. What followed was astonishing.

A girl, likely close in age to them, was overpowering the Cyclops alone.
From her fighting style, it seemed she was a swordsman—a common class, unlike Sheena’s and Elle’s advanced roles.

“She’s…incredible…”
“She’s completely dominating it…”

A common-class girl was defeating a foe they, advanced-class adventurers, couldn’t handle.
Watching her, Sheena felt pure admiration.
They had seen adventurers of lower ranks surpass them before, but never someone so young. It was almost surreal.

Then, the real shock hit, revealing emotions Sheena had never felt.

As Sheena received healing from a black-haired man, likely the girl’s companion, another Cyclops appeared.

When they feared this truly was the end, the man confronted the Cyclops.
Seeing him move, Sheena felt both surprise and hope.

“Maybe, like that girl, he can handle a Cyclops…”

That hope led Sheena to ask.

“Are you as strong as that girl?”

But he only answered, “No, unfortunately, I’m not like Flare. But…”

Though he admitted he wasn’t strong, he still charged at the Cyclops.
As the monster’s club swung down—something miraculous happened.

“Come, Tetra—Form Shift!”

A girl with cute, sky-blue hair appeared by his side, her fist sinking into the Cyclops’s chest and launching its massive body into the air.

In disbelief, Sheena felt she was witnessing the impossible.

People don’t just appear out of nowhere, and only one class could manage such feats.

“pup-puppeteer!?”

Sheena and Elle shouted in unison.

The puppeteer—a job often dismissed as useless, some even calling it the lowest class.
They’re known for manipulating puppets to divert enemies, a poor substitute for tanks in battle.
Nothing in common knowledge suggested they could actually damage enemies.

And yet, here was this man’s puppet, dealing significant damage to a B-rank monster.
Why could he control a human-sized doll with such skill?

Once, Sheena had seen a puppeteer in battle, controlling only a small, seventy-centimeter puppet.
She’d heard that manipulating multiple puppets or larger ones compromised precision, rendering them ineffective even as decoys.

But this man moved his human-sized doll with ease, its every action precise and effective.
Was it truly possible for an “inferior” job to face down an enemy they couldn’t defeat?

They took pride in their advanced jobs.
It wasn’t arrogance, but the belief that their potential was boundless because of them.
And yet, seeing an “inferior” class surpass them stirred envy within her.

But the surprises weren’t over yet.

“Take this!”

The man himself joined in, attacking the Cyclops alongside his puppet.
The Cyclops, now targeting the puppeteer, swung its club repeatedly.

Yet he dodged every blow, standing unfazed against the menace.
Watching him, Sheena’s heart raced.

Once, Sheena had dreamed of becoming an adventurer.
Of being the kind of heroic adventurer who vanquishes foes and earns the admiration of all.

But he was different.
He was supposed to be weaker than anyone.
So why couldn’t she tear her gaze away?

This pulsing feeling in her chest—so much more intense than what she felt for any hero tale—what could it be?

First, she had been shocked.
Then she felt envy.
Yet somehow, without realizing, that feeling blossomed into pure admiration.

“He’s…incredible…”

Just then, his doll landed the final blow, felling the Cyclops.
As the man exhaled in relief, Sheena’s mind spoke aloud:

“So…cool…”
“Huh? Sheena?”

Elle said something beside her, but she didn’t catch it.
It would take her a little more time to understand the reason for this feeling of admiration she couldn’t quite name.