"Our next step is to head to the capital, Royales, and see if we can recruit more people from there," Herman explained to me.
After agreeing to join the Hero's party, upon urging from Dad and Mom, I reluctantly followed them out of my village. There, I had asked Herman where our next destination would be, and he cheerfully replied.
"We have two mages and a huntress in our party, so the long-range aspects are covered. But our party isn't very balanced." Herman frowned and pondered. "We need more close combat orientated people. Preferably a knight. You and Miranda can cover area of effect spells, which can take care of hordes and groups of enemies, but we also need someone capable of dealing massive damage to a single target."
"Sort of like an assassin?" I asked. Herman grinned.
"Exactly!"
"We also need a healer," Miranda added. "Perhaps a priest from the holy church."
"That's right," Herman agreed readily. "The healer is usually the most important person in a party. That should be our number one priority."
Despite the deep loathing in my heart, Herman turned out to be a nice and friendly fella. Especially when compared to the two foul-mouthed girls who accompanied him.
"Hey! Some help here?" Yvonne complained as she tried to shoot an arrow at a pouncing shadow leopard. "Quit chatting and help me out here!"
"I'm trying!" Miranda protested, but she was only able to shoot a single fireball at the shadow leopard. A small one, at that. The monster dodged it effortlessly. Cursing, Miranda then threw a thin web of lightning, but it danced away.
The multi-mage was capable of casting spells from many different elements, but they were all fairly basic and small spells. Sighing, I raised a hand and the shadow leopard snarled when it found its paws frozen to the ground. Before it could break free, I slew it with an icicle to its forehead.
"Great job!" Herman shouted while trying to fend off a second shadow leopard with his holy sword. An arrow pierced its shadow but didn't penetrate deeply, and Yvonne cursed under her breath. Fortunately, Miranda's fireball forced the shadow leopard to dive aside before it could maul the heaving Herman.
They really didn't have much combat experience, did they?
Throwing out a hand, I froze the shadow leopard's paws to the ground. It struggled to break free, but before it could dislodge its claws, Herman beheaded it.
"Nice combo!" he grinned at me. Despite myself, I couldn't help but grin back. Herman's enthusiasm was infectious.
While we traded a high five, Miranda and Yvonne squabbled behind us.
"Why can't you hit anything? What's the use of casting all those spells when you keep missing?!"
"What about you? Your arrows are pretty useless too! What's the point of being so accurate when you can't kill anything with those arrows?"
"What?! Of course I can! I was just…unlucky!"
"I was unlucky too!"
"Oh boy…" I sighed and clutched my head. Already I was beginning to regret my decision to join this Hero party. Herman gave me a sympathetic look.
"You'll get used to it eventually."
Seriously? This wasn't something that could be solved by getting used to it. The poor coordination and miscommunication between party members, not to mention incessant conflict, was going to cost us our lives one day. They would continue to get in each other's way in battle and lower our overall combat efficiency. I was tired of having to compensate for their poor teamwork. One day these bitches might backstab each other and…
I winced. Backstab? Why was that so…familiar?
"Klein? Are you okay?"
"Yeah. It's nothing."
We continued toward the capital, but the Miranda and Herman got tired soon. I had suggested that we hitch a ride in a convoy or purchase horses and a carriage, but apparently they had no money.
"We're just starting out," Herman had explained. "So…we don't have much cash on us."
"You're an adventurer, aren't you?" Miranda had asked. "Why don't you buy the horses and carriage?"
As it turned out, I didn't have enough money for four horses or a single carriage. So the point was moot.
"How useless," Yvonne had muttered. I had then turned to her.
"Are you sure you're in any position to criticize my usefulness? At least I have more money than the three of you put together. And I'm the only reason why we can afford to sleep in inns instead of being forced to camp outside."
That had shut her up.
In any case, the journey was hard on Herman and Miranda, especially since they were not used to trekking across hard terrain. Yvonne, to her credit, remained unaffected. As a huntress, the forest was practically her home, and she had spent her life traversing through such treacherous environments.
"I…I can't go on any longer," Miranda panted. Yvonne sneered at her.
"How weak."
Miranda glared at the huntress, but before she could come up with a caustic reply, Herman quickly intervened.
"Unfortunately, I'm exhausted as well. I think we can all use a break." He raised a hand in a placating manner before wiping the perspiration from his handsome face. Yvonne's expression softened.
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
Miranda muttered something under her breath, probably remarking on how Yvonne's attitude toward Herman differed from that toward her. I had noticed that both girls liked Herman a lot and treated him a lot better than they treated each other. And me, but I couldn't care less. I wasn't coming along to be popular among the girls.
"Unlike you, Herman is wearing armor. Of course it's natural he'll be tired. You're only wearing a stupid cloak and hat. It's not as if they weigh a ton." Yvonne's lip curled into a sneer. "Maybe you should take them off?"
"And expose my body shamelessly like you? At least I'm not so indecent."
"Enough, please," Herman begged. "If you have the energy to argue, then use it to recover."
Both girls turned away from each other with a hmph. Miranda took the chance to sit next to Herman, the both of them seeking shelter under a tree. Yvonne glared at Miranda sourly, but she felt that it was awkward to approach Herman now and she stomped off. Probably to vent her anger somewhere.
"You look like you're in good shape, Klein," Herman told me. "You don't seem tired at all."
"I was forced to travel with Master all over the kingdom to hunt goblins," I explained with a shrug. "And he doesn't use horses much. Says they will alert the goblins to our presence, so he prefers to travel on foot whenever we're near a goblin's nest. I'm used to journeys like this."
"Heh…" Herman looked impressed. He raised his bottle. "Drink up and make sure you don't get dehydrated."
"Sure."
We rested for fifteen minutes before Herman decided that we had recovered enough to resume the journey.
"Where's Yvonne? We should set off now."
"Hmph." Miranda folded her arms. "I don't know."
"I'll go look for her," I offered, seeing that Herman was still a little woozy. He nodded gratefully.
"Thanks. I'll be counting on you then."
I then proceeded across the forest, relying on my glasses to get readings of the foliage. It wasn't difficult to track Yvonne down and I stepped into the clearing.
"Yvonne, Herman says it's time to go."
"Fine." Yvonne had been kneeling on the ground and doing something, but she began to stand up when I called out to her. To my horror, I saw that she was peeling the wings off a dragonfly and feeding the poor, helpless bug to a swarm of ants.
"You…what are you doing?"
"Just having some fun," Yvonne replied dismissively. She smiled cruelly as she watched the army of ants slowly devour and pull apart the writhing dragonfly.
Unable to stand the sight, I stomped on the dirt, killing the ants and putting the dragonfly out of its misery. Yvonne turned on me and grabbed my collar.
"What did you do that for?"
"Do you really enjoy watching living things suffer?"
"What does it matter? They are just bugs." Yvonne sneered at me. "Don't tell me you feel sorry for bugs? No wonder they say you're a kind person."
"We are humans. This should be above us."
"Ha ha ha ha!" Yvonne burst out laughing. "Listen to yourself! Do you really believe that?"
She then placed a hand on her hip and bent forward.
"Let me teach you the cruel reality, Klein. In this world, strength is all that matters. Your ideals are just naïve and stupid. They are useless. Pretty words. People only respect the strong. The strong can do whatever they want."
She shoved me, but I smacked her hands away.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked coldly.
"You…!" she snarled and drew her hunting knife. "I'll teach you a lesson! I've enough of your condescending and arrogant attitude!"
Wow, like a certain motivated sloth I knew, she really ought to look into the mirror before accusing other people of such things.
"I'll teach you your place! Weaklings like you and Miranda should only submit!"
Pushing my glasses up my nose, I sighed. "You said that the strong can do whatever they want, right?"
"That's right! Are you going to beg for mercy now? It's too late, I'll have to punish you…"
Before she could swing her knife fully, I froze her entire body except for her head.
"Ugh! You…!" Yvonne struggled, but she couldn't break free of her icy tomb. She stared at me with wide eyes, horrified, when I approached.
"What's the matter? Didn't you say I can do whatever I want? And it seems that I'm stronger than you."
"No…no…! I was…I was just joking!"
I eyed her hunting knife, which was trapped in ice. "You didn't seem like you're joking."
"N…no! Of course I was! I never meant to use that on you! I was just…just trying to scare you! That's all!"
I frowned, but before I could say anything, I heard a voice from deeper in the forest.
"Klein! Have you found Yvonne yet?"
"Yeah!" I shouted back. I snapped my fingers and dispelled the ice. Yvonne crashed to her knees, tears of relief leaking from her eyes. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my voice. "There had better not be a second time."
She gulped and nodded before rising to her feet on shaky legs.
*
It took another few days, but we reached Royales without further incident. At the very least, Herman and the others were able to accumulate a decent amount of combat experience under my supervision. Yvonne was more subdued, having learned to fear me from our previous interaction, so that was also a huge plus
Whenever she was about to squabble with Miranda, all I had to do was shoot her a glare and she would obediently shut up. It also helped that she didn't argue against my instructions whenever we were in combat.
"Thanks to you, we've learned a lot!" Herman said excitedly as we strode into the city. "You've really taught us a lot, Klein!"
"Not at all. My master was the one who taught me all these."
"I thought all he did was slay goblins," Yvonne muttered, and then jumped when I glanced at her. I left it at that.
"So we should head to the church first?" Miranda asked. Herman nodded.
"Yeah, our first priority is a healer. I'm sure the Holy Church will recommend us a good priest to join our party."
"It's a miracle none of us got too badly hurt on the way here," Yvonne said. She nodded at me grudgingly, recognizing that it was thanks to my instructions that we avoided any serious injury. "But we can't count on our luck to last forever."
Luck, she said. Luck.
"That's why we are here," Herman replied cheerfully. "With a priest in our party, we don't have to worry so much!"
"If only mages can learning healing magic too," Miranda grumbled. Unfortunately, healing was in the domain of holy magic, which was exclusive to the priests and priestesses who had fully devoted their lives to the service of the gods.
We stopped in front of the grand, marble building belonging to the church, admiring its pristine architecture. Herman smiled and was about to pass through the gates when a voice called out to us.
"Um, excuse me, are you the Hero party?"
Turning around, we caught sight of Irene, who was clad in the blue, white and golden robes of the church.