Chapter 1

"Are you ready, Laelah?" I said that and held her arms while smiling at her.

Laela and I are childhood best friends, and we are here right now to pursue our dreams.

"Yes, Maeve, but I'm a bit scared and nervous." I could tell Laelah was scared and nervous, but I smiled reassuringly and told her, "I know it's scary and that's okay," I said reassuringly, "I'm here with you, and I believe that both of us can do it, and we're already here, so there's no turning back." I said this because I wanted to encourage her and remind her that we are in this together, that she should be confident in her own abilities, and that no matter what happens, we can keep going.

"Even if times become difficult, we must never forget that all of the people in our village are supporting us and believing in us. We have so much to be proud of, and a lot of people believe in us, and we can use that strength to push forward and believe in ourselves." I want to boost her morale and inspire her to keep going, no matter how difficult things may become. After I said this, Lilah began to smile and feel a little more reassured.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, you're right, and..." She grabbed both of my hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. She looked at me and said, "Thank you for everything, because without you, I would never have been able to make it this far, and I wouldn't be able to pass the exam," Lealah said with a soft smile and a determined look in her eyes.

I returned the smile and nodded as a silent confirmation that I'm always here for her, giving her hands a squeeze in return, and it motivated me to push myself even further. We worked hard over the years and were ready to take on this challenge.

We've arrived at the gate of the training academy. Two guards approached and inquired about our intent, to which we proudly told them we were here to join the academy and showed them the papers. The two guards took it and inspected it, then gave us a nod of approval, and after that, they congratulated us. They opened the gate and gave us directions.

We were now walking down the wide cobblestone path that led to the entrance of the academy, and as we got closer, we could see the magnificent structure ahead of us, where we would spend the next six months honing your skills as a sinner hunter. We entered the door to the academy and were immediately met with a long, marble-tiled room filled with tall windows, an intricately carved wooden desk, and the portraits of renowned sinner hunters from years past, and we saw a woman at the table. I think she is in her mid-50s. We moved forward to that table.

"Hello!" we greeted simultaneously.

"Yes?" She raised her gaze to us, and she was at her desk, filing up some papers. "What can I do for the both of you?" I pulled the paper out of my bag, which I had shown earlier to the two guards, and handed it to the front desk lady, which indicated that we had passed the exam with our identification cards. She took it and scanned the papers. She asked some questions for clarification, and we answered her questions, and she nodded with satisfaction. After some questioning and clarification, she stood up and started to walk to the door, which she opened, welcoming us in with a warm smile. "Follow me," she said, and we followed her. We were walking down a long hallway with statues on either side of us. It looked scary and felt eerie; we just ignored it so it wouldn't add to our fear and nervousness, and we just kept walking with only the sound of footsteps making noise. As we kept walking down the hallway, the feeling grew more intense. We've been walking for about five minutes, and we stopped at a large iron door with an engraved symbol. "We're here." The two of us took a deep breath, and then she opened the door, and with a final exchange of glances, we stepped forward, which opened up to a large room filled with various weapons and armor, and we saw that there were already many people. I believe there are about 50 people.

"Just wait here for the next announcement." We nodded, and we said thank you before she went back to her desk. While we were thanking and bowing to the front desk lady, we had no idea that they were all staring at us.

"Why are they staring at us?" she wondered. We exchanged glances with each other, as to why all these people were staring at us.

"Is there something wrong with our faces?" Laelah wondered.

"Just one answer with two choices—either they're all just mesmerized by our beauty or we're just late," I said, and we laughed.

We just walked in the middle of the room and didn't mind all the staring.

We were just talking when it came to our attention that three people were walking on it and heading to the center of the room. They were all wearing a full set of uniforms, each carrying a weapon of some kind, and they exuded an air of authority that made them appear to be the leaders. There's a woman on the right side of a middle-aged man. I think she is still in her 30s. She is beautiful and tall, with black hair down to her waist, and I also looked at the two men with her. The guy in the middle is around 50 years old and also tall, and even though he is in his 50s, he seems to be in good physical shape, while the other man, standing on his right, is taller and appears to be the same age as me. His hair color is blonde, and he has an athletic build.

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