I was right about where this girl was dragging me to—the Adventurer’s Guild.
“I’m back!” she said as she flung open the door. All the adventurers inside turned to look at us.
“Hey, Yui! That was quick.” Apparently, the female adventurer who had taken me here was named Yui. A man carrying a giant shield approached her.
He was huge; he had to be over 180 centimeters tall. “So there really weren’t any free white mages in town, right?” he asked, sounding defeated.
“Nope! I found one.”
“Yup, of course you wouldn’t be able to— Wait, what?” His mouth was open in shock. “Y-You really found one? There really was a free white mage in town?”
“Yup! That’s why I said I found one.”
I felt the man’s reaction was a little dramatic, but also sensible. A supporter like a white mage could almost never be found alone. White mages specialized in healing and support magic, and while we could use offensive spells, they weren’t very strong. One could defeat a weak monster on his or her own, but at a certain point, defeating a monster alone became impossible. That’s why most white mages joined parties and focused on support. Of course, a white mage could also work as a merchant or farmer, but they couldn’t usually be found spacing out in the center of town in the middle of the day.
“Let me introduce you! He seemed to just be killing time in the plaza, and um... His name is...” Yui glanced at me. That’s right, I had never introduced myself.
“It’s Lloyd, and I am a white mage, but...” Was it really okay for me to be here? Anxiety began to fill my chest. The man with the shield had to be from Yui’s party, and behind him was a man with a bow and a woman with a staff. They had to be party members too, and they all stared at me with dumbfounded expressions.
“Uh, Yui? Let’s just turn down this quest.” The man with the bow stepped forward.
“Huh? Why?! I found us a white mage, didn’t I?”
“Well, I mean... I just don’t think we can take on an A-rank quest without her.”
He was right. Adventuring with party members you didn’t know well could be fatal. It really was best I didn’t join this party. I mean, why did everyone assume I’d be joining them in the first place? I hadn’t said anything about becoming a temporary member at all.
“Hey, I never said I’d—”
“But if we turn down this quest, what’s that client gonna do?! His whole field’s gonna be ruined at this rate!” Yui desperately pleaded with the three. If that were to happen, a lot of people would be in trouble. Still, there was someone feeling pretty troubled right here...
Yui and the others ignored that and continued their conversation without me. “Yui... Without her, we just can’t...”
“He’s right. I don’t think this guy can replace Crumb.”
Crumb... That had to be the name of the usual supporter for this party, the woman who couldn’t participate in this quest.
“I agree. I understand how you feel, Yui, but...let’s give up on this quest,” said the girl carrying the staff, and I could see she was squeezing the handle. The others looked quite pained as well. They all must have really wanted to help this person.
But there was a reason as to why they couldn’t. The more people who failed a quest, the higher its difficulty was rated. If someone were to die, that difficulty would almost certainly rise, and the higher the difficulty, the higher the reward whoever posted the quest had to offer. Worst-case scenario, that person might even have to take the quest down. If that happened, then nobody could take on the quest, and the client would never be saved.
Some might think that in that case, then there’s always the Hero’s party, isn’t there? However, the average person couldn’t submit quests to the Hero’s party without a pretty good reason to.
This party must have known all this, which was exactly why they were hesitant to just accept the quest.
“Hey, can’t you just let another party handle it?” I suggested. I didn’t think there was a reason Yui had to be the one to accept this quest. However...
“We can’t,” answered the girl carrying the staff, her expression gloomy.
“Why not?”
“This quest’s difficulty is not only A, but it must be accepted by a party, not an individual. In other words, being an A-ranked party is the minimum requirement to accept this quest.”
“Which means there’s no one else in this Adventurer’s Guild who can accept it! Taking on a quest with a difficulty higher than your rank comes with a harsh punishment from the guild,” Yui said.
“I didn’t know that.”
At first, I thought they could just borrow an adventurer from another party, but parties could only complete quests with those registered to it, and an adventurer who broke that rule would face heavy consequences. That’s why they had been looking for a free white mage who wasn’t an adventurer, and thus wouldn’t be penalized. I now understood why Yui had invited me here.
The expressions of the other adventurers listening to our conversation grew grim.
Somehow, things were starting to feel really awkward...
Personally, I also wanted to help them if I could, but I just wasn’t good enough. Based on their conversation, Yui and the others had to be rather high-ranked adventurers. It would be too much weight for my shoulders. The right move was to say my goodbyes and leave this place, but as soon as I opened my mouth...
“Wait. As long as his magic is as good as Crumb’s, it should be fine, right?” Yui had directed the question to the other three.
“Well, we might be able to complete this quest in that case, but...”
“That’s gonna be impossible, Yui. There’s no way there’s another white mage in town who’s as good as Crumb. If there was, we would have heard some rumors.”
Crumb had to be an excellent white mage. Even if I tried to cram all the intel I could about this party into my head, there was no way I could serve as her replacement given my skills.
“I really don’t think I can serve as her—”
“Ugh, fine! Whatever!” Yui suddenly shouted over me.
I sighed in relief. So, she was finally going to give up on...
“Lloyd’s magic just has to be as good as Crumb’s, right?! Come on, Lloyd! We’re gonna show Daggers and them what you’ve got!” With that, she took hold of my arm.
“Huh?” I couldn’t help but gasp at the shock.
“You guys too! Hurry up!”
“H-Huh?” the other three reflexively said in unison. They each wore the expression of a pigeon that had just been hit by a slingshot.
Yui dragged me into a forest close to town. Apparently, that was where she wanted to test my skills as a white mage. Not that I had ever agreed to do so...
At first, I had thought her other party members would stop her, but instead they had just muttered, “Well, as long as this will get Yui to give up on the idea,” and followed after her.
Apparently, this girl had never been a very good listener.
I sighed. Why did things have to come to this?
“Well then, Lloyd! You’re a supporter, so show us what you’ve got!” Yui’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me. She clearly had high hopes.
On the other hand, Daggers and the rest had pity in their eyes.
“I mean, even if you want me to, I don’t think I can just...”
On my way here, I had learned that Yui and the others were all S-ranked adventurers. I wasn’t too knowledgeable on the subject, but I was pretty sure that was the highest rank an adventurer could be. Just how was my magic supposed to live up to someone like that?
This sucked.
There was no way I could use magic on that level, which meant there was no way I could live up to Yui’s expectations. But given her high hopes for me, it was hard to admit that.
Once again, I sighed. Really, why did things have to come to this? I was overwhelmed with regret, along with guilt for getting her hopes so high. I was nervous too. Just what high-level skills were they going to ask me to prove?
I gulped.
“Hmm... For now, let’s start with buffs! Oh, but you have to cast them on all of us at once, not one at a time! You can just use whatever buff you want.”
“What?”
And why was I confused? Because what Yui had asked me to do was incredibly simple. Even someone like me could easily cast buffs on multiple people at once. Just what was going on here? What did Yui want from me?
I had no idea, so I looked toward Daggers and the others for guidance.
“Hey. There’s no way a normal white mage could do that,” Daggers mentioned.
Actually, it was pretty simple...
“I mean, look at him! He’s clueless!” said Cross.
“Yui, I think we really should wait for Crumb to come back,” Silica advised.
The three sent me sympathetic looks as if they pitied me, and that only made me more confused. Just what did any of them want from me?
“Um, Lloyd? Is that beyond what you can do?” Yui looked at me with worry.
“No, I can, but...” In one way or another, I was being tested to see if I was worthy of joining a party formed of S-rank adventurers. Normally, they’d ask me to do something hard, right? But what they had asked of me was simple. Almost any white mage could pass such an easy test. Even I could...
No, I had to be wrong. What they wanted was for me to go above and beyond.
“Hey, stop acting tough. You’re only going to give her false hope.” Daggers glared at me.
“He’s right. If you can’t do it, just say so.”
“Yes, that would be best.”
Even Cross the archer and Silica the mage stepped into the conversation.
“Uh...” I didn’t quite follow, but they must have been trying to get me to hurry up.