I couldn’t help breaking into an uncomfortable grimace as I watched the remains of the fragor frogs splatter like that.
What a brutal way to go...
I was astonished by how powerful Hester’s magic was—and, honestly, also a little bit afraid.
That was no beginner-level magic.
It was a relief that Hester was on my side right now, but watching her in action like this drove home the importance of strategizing about how I’d face a mage when the time came.
“Hester’s just taken out two fragor frogs,” I said, tearing my attention from their remains to check up on Ralph.
“I got mine too,” he replied.
Sure enough, the fragor frog that had been leaping over was now lying on its back, dead.
From the looks of it, Ralph had slashed open its stomach before it even fully landed. He must have been pretty panicked, because it wasn’t a very clean slash. What’s more, he was absolutely drenched in fragor frog blood... But hey, at least he’d managed to finish it off.
I might have butted in a bit to give some tips, but that didn’t change the fact that the two of them had taken out three fragor frogs handily. I had a feeling that this would do wonders for their anxiety. From now on, they’d probably have no problem hunting similar monsters.
As I took out two fragor frogs that were leaping over toward me, I watched Ralph and Hester continue to fight more of them from a distance.
“Damn, we killed it!” Ralph exclaimed once the fragor frogs had all been finished off. “The quest parameters were to slay twenty, but we slew a whole thirty of those things!”
“Um, let’s see... Each fragor frog is worth two copper coins, so that means...we’ll earn six silvers, right? That’s three silvers apiece!” Hester said, taking Ralph’s hands in hers.
Now that Ralph and Hester had cleared the field of every last fragor frog, they’d reconvened to celebrate their earnings.
Until now, they’d only been saving up five coppers a day (after living expenses). Today, they’d earned over ten times that much. I’d been in their shoes once before, so I was painfully familiar with how that felt.
“See? I told you this would be no problem for you two,” I said.
“Hey... Chris?” Ralph began in a whisper. He looked down at the sword he was clutching in his hand as he spoke. “I think...I might actually be improving!”
He’d been anxious out of his mind before they’d started their battle with the fragor frogs, but now that he’d defeated them easily, he seemed to have gained some new confidence.
I knew this would help, I thought. Nothing like a little practical experience to show you what you’re capable of.
Honestly, though, I had a really hard time understanding why Ralph seemed to think so little of his abilities.
“You’d better be. Otherwise, I’m putting all this effort into coaching you for nothing,” I replied. “Personally, though, I just don’t get what all your anxiety was about.”
“Are you kidding me?! You always cream me when we spar... No matter how much I train, I only ever manage to beat you a fraction of the time. Whose confidence wouldn’t be shaken after a record like that?!”
“I think you’re just underestimating me. Sure, you may have better stats than I do, and sure, I may have a lowly farmer affinity, but I’ve been practicing sword fighting ever since I could walk. Obviously I’m going to be able to hold my own against a newbie—especially one with an injured leg.”
“It’s okay... I get it now! This experience today opened my eyes. It’s not that I’m weak... It’s just that you’re really strong!”
“Well... I won’t argue with you there. Have a little faith in yourself, though, will you?”
For a moment, I considered telling Ralph that there were plenty of people out there who were stronger than I was...but I didn’t want to harsh his vibe, so instead, I tried to offer some words of encouragement.
Ralph might have been an idiot, but he was surprisingly prone to overthinking things.
It was hard to strike the right balance with him. I didn’t want him getting a big head, but I didn’t want him getting all discouraged either.
“Your magic seems to be coming along pretty well too, Hester. That was your first time using it against real foes, and you took them out no problem. With magic that powerful, you could probably even handle silver-level quests,” I said.
“Oh, no! I’ve still got a long way to go! My magic may be powerful enough now, but if it hadn’t been for your guidance back there, I think Ralph and I would have been done for. I need a lot more practical experience, so I’d like to keep building upon it by hunting all different kinds of bronze-level monsters before attempting any higher-ranking ones.”
It seemed to me that Hester was taking this all a little too seriously, but at least I didn’t have to worry about her getting ahead of herself and getting into trouble.
She was quick on the uptake when it came to learning magic, and it seemed like she had a pretty good grasp of her own strengths and weaknesses too.
Unlike Ralph, I had a feeling that she’d continue to steadily improve even without my guidance.
“Well, you’ll be on your own from now on, so you two just keep going ahead and completing more bronze-level quests,” I said.
“If we can do it like we did today, then we should have no problem taking on all kinds of quests!” Ralph said.
“That’s right! Just as long as we don’t let our guard down, I think we’ll be able to handle quests on our own just fine,” Hester agreed.
“Just remember: Our current goal is to save up five platinum coins. Once we’ve accomplished that, we can get Ralph’s knee healed,” I said. “And then, we can finally start working together like a real party.”
“Feels like it won’t be long now till I can get that surgery, huh? Back when we were only saving up five coppers per day, five platinums felt completely out of reach... But now it’s like I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!”
“Let’s work together to make it happen! I’ll put in everything I’ve got!”
As the three of us chattered away in the fields to the city’s southwest, we reiterated our goal of saving up five platinum coins. It felt like a motivational refresh.
It would take a bit more time before we managed to get our hands on that amount of money, but at the rate we were going, I knew that we’d have no problem saving up for the surgery.
Seeing Ralph and Hester’s growth firsthand had reassured me of that.