The Mage Miss Shattered My Dream of Becoming a Knight

After the war ended, the knights were put on standby, and the mages started looking for work.

Rain got a temporary armed labor contract. Efilis got a bill for an extra performance fee, along with a bodyguard who wasn't very pleasant to talk to.

Later, they were joined by a pretty priest who wouldn't bend her principles, and a "freelance carrier" who had complete faith in shortcuts.

With four people together, surely at least one of them would know the way.

And so they set off along the Old Imperial Road, passing ruins left by the war, an academy too poor to repair its roof, borders where they had to relearn the rules every time they crossed, and many small places historians usually couldn't be bothered to record. The people there still believed that now the war was over, life would slowly get better.

They occasionally fought monsters, too. Magic could solve some problems, and so could a sword. But more often, they had to rely on ledgers, IOUs, old maps, and a few truths that weren't quite suitable for the official record.

They had no plans to save the world. The world didn't have the budget for it just yet, either.

As for what kind of knightly dream Efilis destroyed, that story begins with a heavy rain many years ago.

It was originally a private feud between two people, but the bard insisted on turning it into a love story.

And planned to charge an extra copper coin for it.