The two of them immediately turned to Briona when she raised her voice to warn them. Riccardo and Cẩm Đan saw her glaring at them, eyes sharp with a clear warning that said: stop arguing right now — she wasn't going to repeat herself again. That glare made Riccardo and Cẩm Đan uneasy, and they both fell silent.

Seeing that the two seemed to calm down, Briona spoke up:

"Keep quiet while I'm speaking, and stay silent when I make a decision. Because once I've decided something, even if you don't like it, you'll still have to accept it. That's because when we formed the groups, we carefully considered each person's magical abilities and paired them with compatible teammates. So I hope you'll respect that."

Once Briona finished speaking, she continued reading the list of group assignments for everyone.
Even though she had just explained it, Riccardo and Cẩm Đan still looked dissatisfied — they kept glaring at each other, full of contempt.

That night, at Cẩm Đan's house.

Still unwilling to accept the situation, she punched the wall hard in frustration and screamed out loud:

"Seriously! Weren't there plenty of other people to group me with? Why did I have to be put in the same group as that jerk? This is so infuriating!"

While she was still fuming over what happened that morning, she suddenly heard a strange "clack... clack..." noise coming from the window.

"Huh? A crow? Why is it tapping on my window like that?"

Looking more closely, she noticed something in its beak. Curious, she ran over and opened the window to take a look.

The crow dropped what it was holding, and Cẩm Đan realized it was a letter. Inside was a message that read:

"Come to the castle in town immediately! Your first mission awaits. Urgent!"

After reading the letter, Cẩm Đan looked confused and surprised.

"Huh? Already starting the first mission? That's fast..."

Not only Cẩm Đan, but everyone else who received the message also quickly gathered at the castle.

At the castle in town, 1 a.m.

Briona: "All teams have gathered completely, right?"

Everyone responded in unison:

"Yes, ma'am!"

After hearing their confirmation, Briona interlaced her fingers and rested her hands under her chin on the table, looking troubled and tense. Then she got straight to the point:

"Good. Then I'll now announce the details of this urgent mission..."

"Your task is to recover the ancient manuscript that was stolen from our kingdom by an unknown individual. This artifact is incredibly precious and important. It contains vast knowledge recorded personally by legendary mages from generations past. If it falls into the wrong hands... it would be catastrophic. So no matter what it takes — I expect all of you to give it your all and retrieve that manuscript for us. Do you understand?"

Everyone replied energetically:

"Understood!"