Ubel's Solution (1)
"..."
After sitting down, Ubel's gaze moved between Annie and Frieren, whose faces both seemed to say "unhappy" and "not in the mood." At last, she couldn't help getting to the point:
"I say..."
"What's going on with you two?"
She tilted her head as she looked at them, making no effort to hide her curiosity.
"I've been watching you from a distance for a while now. You're sitting here with such delicious kebabs, but you look... Well, how should I put it?"
"Like you're gloomy and miserable, as if the world were about to end?"
"Tell me!"
"What kind of troublesome thing happened?"
"I'm fairly familiar with this magical city, Äußerst, so if you've run into some trouble, maybe I can offer some advice?"
She didn't dare promise to help outright, especially without knowing why the two of them were sighing.
"Ugh!"
At her words, Frieren finally seemed to find an outlet for her pent-up feelings. She swallowed the last bite in her mouth, then sighed in utter dejection:
"Don't ask!"
"It's all because of that damn First-Class Mage exam registration!"
Hearing that it was about the exam, Ubel's face instantly took on just the right expression of surprise and confusion.
"What?"
"You still haven't managed to register?"
"There are only a little over twenty days until the exam starts. You'd better hurry."
Ubel had registered on the day she returned, and she had a rough idea of Annie and Frieren's abilities. In her eyes, registering should have been no trouble for the two of them. They certainly shouldn't have been sitting here sighing over it.
"Ugh—"
Frieren's shoulders slumped as she sighed again, looking even more dejected:
"We did go to register..."
"But they coldly turned us away!"
"Why else would we be like this?"