I started to open my mouth to ask her why she’d stopped.
“Welcome to the Healer’s Guild,” she beamed.
“Thank you very much,” I replied, her cute mannerisms causing my voice to falter. As awkward as it was for me to admit, at that moment, for the first time, her kindness made me glad to have been reincarnated.
“Miss Lumina, is something the matter?” A voice came from a desk in the back that looked to be used for reception purposes. Its owner was an alluringly gorgeous woman of about twenty, if I had to guess.
“This boy became a healer at his coming-of-age ceremony, but he has no identification. I found him in distress and brought him to the guild.”
“His coming-of-age ceremony? Miss Lumina, if you’d only told us, an employee could have gone to meet him at the gate.”
“Oh, it was hardly an ordeal. I was nearby at the time. Would you mind preparing his identification?”
“Not at all. Allow me to welcome you again to the Healer’s Guild, young man. If you could just fill out a few things for me here...” She handed me some parchment.
“Oh, sure.” But I had caught little of what the stunning receptionist said to me. More than the unfamiliar touch of parchment, the girl who had escorted me there occupied my mind. She looked so young, but the way the receptionist treated her made her out to be quite high-ranking indeed.
“Can you not write?” The receptionist hesitated, noticing that I had frozen up. Concern crossed her face.
“Er, no, I mean, yes, I can.”
I finally looked down at the paper. There were sections for name, race, age, and birthplace waiting to be filled in. I wrote in everything but the birthplace, given I had no idea about the names of any villages in this world. Considering such villagers likely weren’t well-traveled, if I filled it in with nonsense, I’d be busted in no time once someone actually looked into it. For the sake of building good relations, it would be better for me to play the ignorant fool.
“So, about the birthplace,” I said with my most innocent face, “would just putting ‘village’ be okay? I didn’t know villages actually had names.”
“You... Ahem, well, if you’re unsure, that will do just fine.”
For a brief moment, her face had betrayed her heart. And it had demanded to know what the hell I’d just said. It was for only a split second, though, so I could have imagined it. Her current beaming smile certainly made me inclined to think as much.
Once I finished filling everything out, the receptionist disappeared into the back room with the parchment.
“At home, we got by just calling it...well, ‘village.’ Does this town have a name other than ‘town’?” I smiled at the girl called Miss Lumina.
“You’re certainly quite the ignoramus,” she sighed. “This is a city in the Republic of Saint Shurule known as Merratoni.” She did not hide the coldness in her gaze, which did nothing to help the trembling in my boots.
“I’ll be sure to study up,” I promised in apology, along with a bow.
“That would be best.” A moment later, her expression softened. Ignorant or not, evidently constructive mindsets were thought of highly here.
Some time later, the receptionist returned. “Now instill some of your magic into this, if you please,” she said as she held out a card to me.
Thank goodness I had taken the Magic Control skill. If I just centered my focus, it should come to me.
I closed my eyes and let the energy—or magic, as it were—within me flow into the card. It seemed to work, as the parchment began to reveal words.
Healer’s Guild - Merratoni Branch
Luciel, G Rank Healer
“Your card, please.”
She took the card, then withdrew to the back again. Her constant disappearances felt strange to me, so I decided to ask Miss Lumina about it.
“What is she doing?”
“Registering your card with the guild’s magic network. This allows you to use it at any Healer’s Guild in the world.”
“I see.”
Kind of like data in a server. The workings of such a network piqued my curiosity a little. I did question the usefulness of it in my case, though, since I had no intention of moving around or adventuring.
In the middle of my ruminations, the receptionist came back once again and returned my card. “My apologies for the wait. Rest assured, you are indeed a healer,” she confirmed. “You have both the Holy Affinity and Magic Control.”
Somehow, my skills had been exposed. By what brutal mechanism? I wondered.
“Then there are no issues, I take it?”
Miss Lumina’s guidance was done. All’s well that ends well. Except...this was not “all well.” Although I possessed the proper affinity, I lacked the Holy Magic skill, meaning I couldn’t actually use any spells yet. The obstacle this posed for my employment prospects was as clear as the sun in the sky.
Well, I had already embarrassed myself once... What was one more time? “I’m sorry, but I’ve never used Holy Magic before, so I don’t think I can yet,” I confessed.
“You what? What do you mean?” The subtle intensity with which Miss Lumina glared at me taught me something: beautiful girls can still be terrifying.
“Um, is that a problem? I do know of magic grimoires, but we had none in my hometown. And I was our first healer, so I’d like to be instructed.”
“Ugh, I nearly forgot. You’re an ignoramus.” She sighed dramatically but seemed to believe my words and her intensity dissipated.
My previous stupid remark really ended up saving my hide. Now if only these pesky tears would stay put...
Surely I could expect the guild to act as an agency for healing clinics, so I hoped they could help to point me in the direction of one.
“Uh, so, now that I’m properly registered, would it be possible for you to introduce me to a clinic where I might be able to learn while I work?”
“I could—”
“You have three options,” Miss Lumina interrupted the receptionist with a raised hand. “The first, grueling training. The second, go into debt. The third, work. Make your choice.” For some reason, she seemed to be pressuring me to make a decision. Perhaps this was a test.
“Could you please go into more detail for each option?”
“Hm. Your training will consist of rigorous study and casting to the point of magical exhaustion until you learn the art of healing. You will sleep, recover your magic, repeat. Should you go into debt, as there is no specialized education for Holy Magic, you will enter into a general institution and learn magic over the course of your three-year study. However, you will be indebted to the guild in the amount of one platinum piece that must be repaid. Lastly, you may learn Holy Magic during your downtime between menial chores for a year or more.”
The first wouldn’t kill me, but could very well be the most mentally draining. The second was basically a student loan, and I knew those dangers all too well. The third... I couldn’t say whether I would even have free time, but assuming the chores were sensible, this option struck me as the most viable.
However, I did have the Assess Mastery skill. As long as I could see my growth directly, no matter how grueling the training, it shouldn’t be too mentally taxing. Yeah. In that case, all I needed was the drive and I’d be on my way to an apprenticeship in no time.
I felt a fire spark inside me. “I’ll take the training course. And I’ll see it through to the end.” I bowed again.
I heard a sigh from the receptionist’s direction. She looked away when I raised my head. “I’ll handle things from here, Miss Lumina,” she said. “I’ll set him up with quarters where he’ll drill magic. You, follow me.” She walked out from behind the counter and down some stairs. I didn’t follow right away. Instead, I turned to face Miss Lumina.
“Thank you for everything, Miss Lumina.”
“The ‘Miss’ is unnecessary. Work hard and keep at it. I expect great things from you.”
“And I hope to meet those expectations. My name is Luciel, by the way, and someday I’ll repay you.”
“I hope to see that day. Now, you’d best be off.”
Needless to say, both her commanding presence and that captivating smile on her face would remain etched deep into my memory.
The sleeping-quarters-turned-training-room came with a toilet, albeit one straight out of a historical drama, capped with a lid, and with a pile of some weird, starchy scraps in place of toilet paper. However, it was a toilet nonetheless. The lack of a bath wasn’t surprising, although as a man born and raised in the prosperous nation of Japan, that discovery hurt quite a bit.
Furthermore, the lack of windows made the passage of time nearly impossible to track, even though I could check the clock on my status screen. This was clearly a room of torment. For the average joe like me, learning magic in such an environment would be downright Spartan. But I somehow managed to stifle my grumblings about any potential depression it might cause.
“This is where you’ll study. Read that grimoire and practice your magic,” the receptionist instructed. “We’ll bring you food every morning and evening. When your magic is drained, chances are you won’t be able to stand, so rest in that bed. When you wake up, you’re to get right back to it. Keep at it and don’t stop.” With that, she left.
Several minutes later, a thought occurred to me. “I never asked her name or introduced myself! I didn’t when I met Lumina, either. Come on, me, those are the basics of the basics!” I groaned.
After an appropriate facepalm, I shifted mental gears into hardcore work mode. I picked up the grimoire from the desk and sat down on the bed. Then, I commenced the pep talk.
“It’s all about the effort. Ten days. Ten days and you’ll learn magic. You can do this, Luciel,” I told myself. “Just think about it. There’s no danger, you’ve got food, no one to bother you; this is the perfect environment for concentrating.”
If I worked hard and things went well here, I could emerge as not just some chore-doer, but a real apprentice, or maybe even a full-fledged healer.
“First, get the basic spells under your belt. Once you do, even a world like this can’t hold you back from a peaceful life.”
With a clear goal and an action plan, I psyched myself up and opened the grimoire.