Invitation

Feeling good from the successes at Peixa forest, I bought 3 peoples worth of meat skewers from a street stall, and headed back to the inn.

Entering the room, I saw Ralf and Esta sitting and talking to each other and upon seeing my face, Ralf, angrily approached me.

Oi! No communication, nothing, and disappearing for almost a week! Are you crazy!!?

.? But I did tell Esta though?

Yes I did hear it from her, but you didnt even talk about this even once with me!? Actually, if she hadnt woken up, you were definitely going to leave without saying anything werent you!?

But I did come back, so chill. And Im tired so let me sit down first.

I pushed Ralfs face away and sat down on the floor.

So, where the hell did you go anyway?.Youre not gonna suddenly leave this inn are you!?

Not telling. Anyway, eat something and calm down okay.

Taking my portion, I threw the bag of meat skewers to Ralf. He must have not eaten properly today cause his eyes instantly lit up and began devouring on the skewers having already forgotten his anger.

thank you for this Chris-san.

Dont mind it. Once you start earning properly as adventurers, you can treat me back one day okay?

SHO? BERE DID U GHO!?

Swallow before talking. Its vulgar.

So? Where did you go?

Was he that interested, I tried to turn the topic with the skewers but hes back to questioning. Well itd be a pain to fully explain and I want to quickly move to examining the plants so Id rather he left me alone but then again, if I didnt hes the type thatll keep bugging me forever.

Its a place called Peixa forest. I told you about it before right? Where I hid; I went there.

ehh a forest?.well I guess thats fine. So, did you spend another week there again? Why?

Just something I was curious about. That aside, what about you two and your adventurer work? Hows it going?

I tried to avert the topic by asking about their progress, but the happily eating faces quickly turned dark and clouded.

I may have made the mistake of turning this conversation to an even worse direction.

Its completely useless. We are just about managing to kill 5 goblins to make one silver everyday, but with the rent here being 4 copper, and food taking the remaining 6; we are literally on the edge. If either of us got injured and became unable to kill 5 goblins, well go hungry that day.

I see. Sounds rough. Well, keep working hard.

Say, wont you par

No chance. Impossible. I dont have the time.

Oi! I didnt even finish my sentence!

Considering his expression and panic from the mere thought that I might have disappeared, I can very easily guess what he was suggesting; and so I refused in advance.

[Please make a party with us.] Probably that.

Please make a party with us.

I ended up snorting on hearing the exact line, word to word. My reaction must have made him angry but he gripped his fists and simply endured.

My reply is the same. I cant. I do not have the time for it.

Dont lie! You can easily live even without working for a whole week and even have enough to treat us both to skewers! Please help us!

Thats because I worked hard before that to prepare. And if youre gonna use that tone after I just treated you to food, maybe I should take it all back.

..th-thats, Im sorry.

They really couldnt afford that, and Ralf became meek once again.

As they said, they can only make one silver coin after an entire day of goblin hunting. Having to split that between two people; even a slight discrepancy would send their live spiralling downwards.

And living together with them, its not like I dont sympathize..but I really dont have the time to be going around helping other people.

If there was a merit in it for me, I would have considered it.

Say, what was the result of [Heavens blessing] for you two?

What? Theres no way Id tell that to others. Like I said, you dont reveal that to others so easily.

Its fine isnt it? After all I did tell mine to you two. Besides, if I really wanted to hurt you I could kill you both while you were asleep whenever I wanted.

My job was [Magician] and skill [Mana restoration].

Oi ! Esta!!

Its fine if its Chris-san.

Oh, so Esta was a [Magician].

One of the basic combat jobs, and the rarest among them as well.

But, even if the suitable job comes up as [magician], its still pretty difficult to actually become one from what I understand.

You first must learn to control mana, then to learn how to chant spells perfectly you must go to a proper magic school or acquire a grimoire and learn to do so by yourself.

For grimoires, you also have to know how to read ancient texts sometimes and while you could find them in the market, they are far more expensive than normal books like the one I have.

And to go to a school, you either need to be a top level noble or receive a higher class magic related job. Among the basic combat jobs, [magician] is often considered the worst option for common people.

[Magician] ehmuch better than my [Farmer] but thats still an unlucky draw.

It is. But I havent given up. I began thieving to save money to buy a grimoire in the first place. So I havent given up on becoming one.

I see, so thats why you asked if I could read back at [Shichifukuya].

Yo-You still remember that..

It did make me curious after all.

Im sorry. And not to ask for another favor of you but..if by some chance I find a grimoire, will you please teach me how to read?

Yeah, sure. I dont mind.

Really! Thank you very much!

While an unfortunate job some might say, if she did learn how to use magic somehow, her actual potential would now be far off from other high rank jobs.

She could have an explosive growth in the future.

So, what about you Ralf?

I said Im not telling.

Ralfs job was [Holy Knight], his skills were [divine strike], [divine blessing] and [guardians roar].

Oii, why the hell are you blabbering it all to him! Esta!!

[Holy Knight].? What the hell is a [Holy Knight] doing here??

That was a high-rank job. The moment he got that, he should have been taken in under the imperial army that work directly under the King; and his life should have been set there and then.

Even if he didnt join the army, the top Clans of adventurers would have recruited him instead; hell even without those, he would be able to attract stronger people around him.

No matter how you think about it, a [Holy knight] working as a petty thief, living in the poor alleyways was a near impossibility.

Ralf, when he was young, had an accident and got a major injury to his thigh. Even now he cant move properly due to that.

..Now things are finally starting to make sense. So thats why Esta was the one who did the actual thieving and Ralf stayed back as backup. And when he was about to pull his sword, his balance and posture looked completely off because he was protecting his thighs.

Shit! Esta why the hell did you have to tell him everything!?

Considering the jobs you two have, it really is an incredible coincidence of misfortunes to end up with a duo that cant even kill 5 goblins in an entire day.

I have already accepted that I was born with shit luck. Abandoned at birth, we are both the same hence why we two stick together.

Ralfs muttered, weakly.

Even I could understand how much struggle it must have been to not even be able to move your legs properly in this harsh world because of an injury received as a child.

Until I was 16, I had everything in life. And was taught everything I needed; sword, maths, and language.

Im hardly in any position to be lecturing them but

If we could heal Ralfs legs, everything would change no?

Yeah sure but when I had it checked by the citys doctor I was told that a full recovery was impossible.

And so you gave up after that so easily?

Of course I didnt at first!! I have searching for a way to heal my legs even before I ever underwent the [Heavens Blessing]but I found nothing!!

And how did a mere kid, with no parents, no money, no education or connections so easily decide that it was impossible, I dont get it.

Wh-what.

Fine, at least we know that both of you have the potential at least. And maybe its stupid of me to do this purely based on the result of both of your [Heavens Blessing] but for the time being, I wont mind making a party with you two.

Still shook from my words, Ralf continued to look bitter.

On the contrary, Estas face brightened with happiness.

That said, as you are now, I have no intention of working together. Like I said before, I have things to do as well. If you cant even kill a couple of goblins, youre not worth my time.

..which is it damn it.

At the very least, get strong enough to easily kill goblins and then Ill make a party with you two.

But we cant! That was the entire reason we came to you for help in the first place!! This is putting the cart

We understand! Me and Ralf will definitely get strong enough to consistently and comfortable kill goblins!

Oi Esta!!

Then its settled. Once youve achieved that, well talk in detail about this.

I sympathize them both. I really do. But Im not going to coddle them either.

Im nothing more than a newly started bronze adventurer. I need to put all my time and effort into getting strong enough to beat Kalus.

But, I felt something in those two. A sliver of potential perhaps.

I felt it was worth it to make a party with them and gamble on that potential.

..Of course that too, is to surpass Klaus.

I turned my back on the two and began working on my own stuff. Ive only just returned, but I have a lot to do.

To regain the time lost on all the talking, I began with classifying the dried plants first and foremost.