“Like we’d tell you!” Ralph shot back. “You can’t trick us into showing our hand.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is. I told you mine, didn’t I? Besides, if I’d wanted to kill you, I could’ve done it in your sleep any number of times.”
“My class affinity is mage, and my skill is MP recovery,” said Hester.
“Hey! Hester!”
“What? I don’t mind telling Chris,” she replied.
So, she’s a mage, huh? I thought.
Mage was one of the basic combat classes—and it was also the rarest one.
But even with a mage affinity, it was extremely difficult to actually become a mage. For starters, you had to be able to command and manipulate MP perfectly and with ease. Then, to actually use spells, you also had to either attend a magic academy or get your hands on some grimoires to study on your own.
If you went the grimoire route, then you had better be well acquainted with ancient scripts—otherwise, you’d be out of luck. And while you could find basic magic grimoires at the markets, they sold for much steeper prices than Otto’s autobiography did.
That didn’t leave a poor mage with many options, since magic academies were also off the table for all but the wealthiest of nobles and the kids who’d received advanced magical class affinities at the Heaven’s Blessing Ceremony.
Generally speaking, that meant that mage was the worst of all of the potential basic combat class affinities that you could receive.
“A mage, huh? Well, that’s a whole lot better than being a farmer, but it sounds like we both got pretty useless affinities, huh?”
“I guess we did. But I do think I have a lot of potential. I actually became a pickpocket so I could save up enough money to buy a grimoire. I haven’t given up on becoming a proper mage yet.”
“Right... Is that why you asked if I could read, back at the Seven Fortunes?”
“Th-That was months ago. I’m surprised you remember.”
“You seemed like you wanted to ask me something else too at the time, so it kind of stuck in my memory.”
“Sorry about that. I know it might be kind of weird for me to ask this now, but...in the one in a million chance I get my hands on a grimoire, could you teach me how to read it?”
“Sure. I don’t mind.”
“Thank you!”
It was hard to call getting a mage affinity anything other than a stroke of bad luck, but as long as you could learn some magic, a mage had the potential to be as powerful as even a more advanced combat class.
There was every chance that Hester might undergo a radical transformation in the future.
“So, what blessings did you get at the ceremony, Ralph?”
“I already told you, I’m not gonna answer that.”
“Ralph got a paladin affinity,” Hester answered for him. “His skills are divine protection, divine strike, and protector’s roar.”
“Hester! What’s wrong with you?!”
“A paladin...? Wait, then how’d you wind up here?”
Paladins were an advanced combat class.
Getting a paladin affinity was like winning the lottery, since it meant you could work directly in the king’s service as a member of the Royal Guard. Even if you didn’t join the Royal Guard, you were pretty much guaranteed to be immediately recruited by the top adventuring clans. And if you didn’t want to join one of those clans either, then no problem—people and work would naturally flock to you.
So, it was pretty inconceivable that a paladin would ever end up picking pockets with the rest of the outcasts in the city’s backstreets.
“Ralph hurt his knee pretty bad as a kid. The lingering pain makes it difficult for him to walk,” Hester explained.
“That does explain some things...like why you sent Hester out to do the actual pickpocketing while you waited alone in that abandoned house. And when you threatened me with your dagger, you looked like you knew what you were doing but you were also kind of off-balance. Guess that was ’cause of your knee, huh?”
“Ugh! Thanks a lot for spilling all my secrets, Hester.”
“You guys are probably the only party of combat class affinity wielders to struggle so much against goblins. Man...talk about a slew of bad luck.”
“Our bad luck started a long time ago. Both of us were abandoned pretty much as soon as we were born. We’re both so cursed that we’ve had to team up just to make a proper living for one person,” Ralph grumbled, in a tone that was uncharacteristically pitiful.
It couldn’t have been easy for him to make a living in this cold, hard world when he couldn’t even move freely—and all because of a knee injury from when he was just a kid.
I’d lived a pretty comfortable life, up until this year when I’d turned sixteen. I’d always been in good health, and I’d had the opportunity to learn not only swordsmanship but also arithmetic and reading and writing.
Honestly, I was in no position to lecture them about anything.
“Does that mean that you could turn your life around if only you could heal your knee injury?” I asked.
“Yeah. But the local doctor examined me and told me it would never fully heal. I’m gonna be stuck limping my whole life.”
“You’re gonna give up just ’cause of what some doctor said?” I asked.
“It’s not like I never tried to fix it! I’ve spent a lot of time looking for a cure, even long before I ever went to the Heaven’s Blessing Ceremony. But it was all for nothing, ’cause there was none!”
“You say that, but you were just some penniless orphan without any connections. It’s no wonder you didn’t turn up any leads. But you assume there isn’t a cure just ’cause you couldn’t find one? That just sounds crazy to me.”
“W-Well, I...!”
“Anyway, I think you both have a lot of potential. My parents disowned me after the Heaven’s Blessing Ceremony, so I know it’s a little weird for me to put so much stock into it like this, but I’ve changed my mind. I’ll join a party with you two.”
Ralph made a sour face, as if he were offended. Hester, on the other hand, looked absolutely delighted.
“There’s just one catch: I won’t join you yet. Like I said before, I’ve got stuff I need to do. I don’t have time to mess around with anyone who can’t even slay goblins comfortably.”
“So...which is it, then? Are you joining us, or not?” asked Ralph.
“What I’m saying is, my minimum requirement for teaming up is that you two get strong enough to comfortably slay a goblin.”
“But the whole reason we’re asking you to team up is ’cause we can’t comfortably slay goblins! You’re getting this all mixed—”
“It’s a deal!” Hester interrupted. “Ralph and I will work on getting strong enough to slay goblins comfortably!”
“Hey! Hester!”
“That’s that, then. We’ll have a real discussion about forming a party together once you’ve accomplished that,” I said.
I felt no pity for them, nor any desire to protect them.
I’d only just leveled up from rookie to bronze, and I couldn’t spare even a small fraction of the effort I’d need to surpass Claus. The only reason I was even considering teaming up was because I could see them becoming assets down the line.
I was taking a risk on that bet, and the conclusion I’d come to was that forming a party with them was the right choice—in my quest to surpass Claus, I mean.
With that, I turned my back to them and returned to doing my own stuff.
I’d only just returned to Realzahd, but there was heaps to do. To make up for the time I’d lost talking to Ralph and Hester, I started to sort through the dried plants I’d brought back.