Lugentz hummed happily as he disappeared into the back of the shop. Soon enough, he returned with the same grimoire I’d set my sights on last time I’d visited.
“One grimoire, as you ordered,” he said. “Will you be paying in full today?”
“Yeah.”
I retrieved twenty gold coins from my bag and arranged them on top of the counter. Once Lugentz had finished counting them all, he handed me the grimoire.
“Don’t forget that it was Hester who first asked me to set this aside for her,” he warned. “Don’t let her run off with it, now.”
“Oh, I won’t,” I said, chuckling. “Thanks. I’ll be back again if something else comes up.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, you know where to find me, so come by any time,” Lugentz said, seeing me off.
And with that, I left the Seven Fortunes.
The last time I’d stopped by the pawn shop, I’d balked at the idea of spending two platinum coins on Hester...but now I’d actually gone and done it.
Making an investment in her and Ralph’s growth was basically the same as investing in myself. I knew that I could only get so far on my own, after all.
Besides, Claus was probably building his own party of talented team members right now in the capital.
When the day came to get my revenge, I knew it wouldn’t just be a matter of me versus him; I had to have a party that could hold its own against his too.
I clutched the grimoire as tightly as I held this conviction, making my way home to our room in the Shangri La Hotel to show it to Hester.
When I entered the room, I found Ralph doing practice swings with his sword and Hester absorbed in her studies.
Ralph was always practicing his swordsmanship like this, and Hester had started working on her literacy.
Unlike Ralph, Hester was pretty smart, so I’d been teaching her how to read and write for a while now.
They both seemed pretty absorbed in what they were doing. They didn’t even seem to notice me walk in.
“Hey guys, can I have a moment? I want you to take a look at this,” I said.
Hester, who’d been concentrating at her desk, and Ralph, who was dripping in sweat as he swung his sword over and over again, finally paused what they were doing and looked over at me.
At first, they just stared at me with blank expressions, but Hester’s eyes quickly fell to the object in my hand, and she practically sprinted over to me with the realization.
“I-I-Is that...what I think it is...?” she asked.
“Sure is.”
“Hey, what the hell is that tattered old book? I wanna know too!” Ralph whined, butting in.
“I-I-It’s a grimoire! Chris... Did you buy this for me...?”
“Yep. I saved up some money this past month hunting stray cowbirds. I can’t have you guys farming goblins into eternity, so I figured we needed to get the ball rolling.”
“Oh, thank you... Thank you so much! After all you’ve done for us, you even bought me a grimoire...? I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough.”
“I’m not looking for thanks. If you want to show your gratitude, you can hit the books and work on learning magic so you can make yourself useful as a party member.”
“Yes, sir! I’ll show you just how hard I can study!”
Her eyes glistened, so moist I thought she might start crying. I’d never seen her so motivated before.
Back when I’d first met her—when she’d been trying to pickpocket me, that is—she’d just seemed shifty and anxious. Now, though, she was like a completely different person.
“Hey, don’t leave me out of this! What exactly is a grimoire, anyway?” said Ralph.
“To put it really simply, it’s a book that helps you learn magic. I haven’t read it yet, so I wouldn’t know, but I assume it’s got all kinds of magic-related instructions,” I explained.
“Seriously?! So that means Hester can learn magic? That’s...! Uh... That’s... That’s awesome.”
For a moment, Ralph had seemed almost every bit as excited about this as Hester, but as he spoke, he seemed to suddenly deflate like a balloon. His expression turned pained.
“What’s wrong, Ralph?”
“Well, I know it’s kind of weird for me to say this, but...if Hester learns magic, then I’ll become the only one holding us back, right? That...kinda freaks me out.”
“Pfft! Who are you, and what have you done with Ralph? You’ve always held us back, but with all your clowning around, I wouldn’t have thought you actually stressed over it.”
“I guess that’s true. But still...”
“We’re gonna fix your knee after Hester learns some magic. It just made the most sense to do things in this order so you guys can move up to bronze-level quests and start saving more money for the surgery,” I said, trying to reassure him as Hester and I made room on the desk to look at the grimoire together.
Ralph stopped his training and came over to take a peek at the book too, but I was pretty sure he didn’t understand a word of it.
“Before you can use magic, you need to learn how to manipulate your mana,” I read. “Picture it like water coursing throughout your entire body, and practice controlling its flow. Make it flow faster, then slower. Repeat this process again and again... That seems to be the gist of this part.”
“Okay... So, I just have to control its flow, like water?” Hester said. “I’ll give it a try.”