Raining (Melissa)

Melissa Stamper was already out of bed and ready to pull out her umbrella when the rain stopped.

Curious, she peered outside to see Emma maintaining a spell formation which floated in the air. A shield covered the entire campsite which blocked out the rain.

George had just finished talking to Abe in his tent and was starting to walk to her tent.

Emma started chanting another spell.

"Good morning." Her body tensed up a little as his shadow towered over her.

...

Despite two weeks passing, they do not interact much with each other aside from a few words here and there. Normally she would be able to get a grasp of a person's personality by this point, but he is like a rock that moves slower than a sloth.

This haze of mystery surrounding him has only grew in her eyes despite observing his interaction and conversations with the group. He barely shows any emotion, and is is always when it involved Bernice or Emma, but mostly Bernice.

George looks like a normal person minus the scar which runs from his neck to his cheek, but he is abnormally cold and indifferent. Not to mention, his mysterious [Aura] and demonic magus are horrifyingly powerful enough to destroy even a forcefully upgraded weak danger two anomaly.

That is something only an SSS-rank adventurer could fully achieve but something an SS-rank would struggle to perform. That is the sheer power of anomalies. This does not include the fact that anomaly is a danger two and not a danger one.

Only the gods have the power to deal with a danger one anomaly, but they cannot descend into Vita due to the rejection force of planetary laws for beings at that level.

That is one of the reasons why the Northern Mountain Range has remained uninhabited.

It is also why Melissa is still terrified of George even if she hides it internally.

Adventurers as powerful as him are incredibly influential, well-known, and strategic weapons of mass destruction. No organization wants to offend such a person.

Shadow Hive is an organization that has existed for thousands of years and has a vast information network across the continent and even in the Syreni Dominion. Yet, the only information they can find about George Foster is his status as an E-rank adventurer.

Melissa is unwilling to use [Clairvoyance] on him because she is afraid he will detect it and be offended, but the Shadow Hive clearly told her that he is E-rank, the lowest rank possible.

...

George pulled out the meat and herb packets like he gave the others and handed it over to Melissa who took it in confusion.

"It was raining so I took the time to cook the meals for all of you."

"Um, thanks." Melissa did not know how to react. She awkwardly took the food.

"Put on a raincoat if you have one when we leave in thirty minutes."

Emma finished her chanting.

"[Evaporate]."

Another spell formed in the air and spread it's influence throughout the shield.

Steam rose up across the campsite as water evaporated.

The wet tents and wet ground rapidly dried up. Nobody was injured by this spell as it is specifically tailored towards rainy events and does not target living organisms. That is the power of computer simulations, able to change and create spells to specifically suit certain situations.

The campsite became a steamy sauna.

"[Wind]."

Emma chanted another spell as she manipulated the [Shield] spell to open a small hole.

Another spell appeared in the air as wind appeared. She aimed it at the whole and all the steam blew out. After this was done, the hole was closed up instantly.

The wind nearly blew out the campfire but luckily no loose objects were sitting in the open.

"If that's all, then excuse me." George turned around to leave.

"Um, George, would it be okay if we talked in private?" Melissa spoke in a low voice as she glanced at Emma a few times to make sure she was not listening.

"We can before we leave." He simply nodded.

"Okay, thank you." She gave him a grateful glance before closing the tent.

Melissa's mouth watered as she smelled the tasty meat.

Unwrapping the packages, she mixed the herbs with the meats before digging in.

'Delicious!'

Contrary to her normal outward cold appearance, she was expressing her normal behavior when nobody is around. She only maintains a cold appearance to look professional.

"Um, George?"

Melissa's eyes twitched as she heard the sound of Bernice coming out of her tent and calling out to George.

"Yes Bernice?" He answered back.

"Is Melissa awake?"

Melissa smile twitched.

'Please say no!'

"She's eating right now." George truthfully answered.

'George!'

"Thank you George~!"

Melissa's good mood soured a little as the sound of footsteps approached her tent.

Ever since Melissa joined the group, Bernice has gotten a little too close to her despite the efforts of trying to maintain a certain distance.

Aside from George, Melissa thinks of Bernice as the second most terrifying person of the group.

Her ability to make friends with anyone and forcefully uncover their secrets through mere social interaction could make her a top class interrogator.

Although Melissa likes Bernice, she cannot help but to be very wary of her.

She is afraid of someday spilling out a secret that could put her job in danger and get Bernice involved in unnecessary matters.

"Melissa~?" Bernice unzipped the tent and peered in at the eating Melissa.

"H-Hello." Melissa forced a smile while cursing internally.

'What kind of group did I join?!'

--------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

* As of 5/28/2021, I have made minor changes to the amount of time that has passed so far. I made a few errors and had to correct them. I have created a chart to list all this so I don't have to go through the chapters to figure out how many weeks or months have passed. It is a major pain.

* You know those story structure charts on the internet, where they talk about exposition, rising action, climax, and falling action? I tend to lose the willpower to work on chapters during periods of exposition and a little bit of rising action. I need to work on that part by implementing creativity in these periods so they don't become stale. It's been a past issue with my writing (cont.)

* I do really well when I am writing combat and action scenes (aka climax), but I struggle during exposition and rising action periods. A lot of what I have been putting into this story has forced me to be creative during these parts, but I think they are still a little stale. I suck at character development and creating personalities, but I hope this can improve that skill.