She's a mysterious beautiful lady as dazzling as gold.
I feel my eyes getting blind looking at the lady as she smiled and went next
to Vince upon his immediate reply.
Vince welcomed the beautiful lady and… Bathed her in his gaze in exactly
the same way he did earlier with Jannet.
…They're really huge huh. I wonder what she eats to have them grown that
much.
Jannet moved behind and walked next to me as if switching places with the
lady.
She looked at me and shrug her shoulders expressionlessly in response.
I wonder if she means, 'Yareyare'? I don't really get what your thinking
with your usual expressionless face.
Or maybe she's trying to say, 'I don't want to think at all'?
The lady in front took a look at us at the back as I was thinking about these
things.
[Excuse me but, uhm, here is the [Hero], and a [Mage] looking girl over
here, so you must be the [Holy Knight], yes?]
[Eh? Oh… Um… Yes.]
[Fufufu~ I always thought that a woman holding a shield is a thing of
beauty. It's really splendid! I've always wanted to speak with you at least
once.]
[Eh? Me? Oh… Thank you so much…]
[Ara~ Ara~. For the [Holy Knight] whose power won't even bulge facing
pressure from multitudes of people to be blushing innocently. This lady has
come to like you more~]
[Uh…]
The lady laughs pleasantly as she keeps praising me.
I feel guilty thinking that she was some sort of a flirtatious beauty hitting on
Vince.
The lady suddenly clapped her hands as if she remembered something.
[Oh. It's a bit late but I am sorry for the sudden intrusion that made me
forgot to introduce myself first. I am called Katie. Please take care of me.]
Katie tilts her head and smiled after she introduced her self.
…Yep. As expected of a beautiful lady.
She has that brilliance that the boyish me or the bookworm Jannet will
never have.
[I'm Vince. She's Emmy and there's Jannet. Hehe. Nice working with you,
Katie.]
[Please take care of me as well, Katie-san.] (Emmy)
[…Hi. I'm a [Sage] and can use recovery magic.] (Jannet)
[Ara! I'm sorry for being rude earlier. So you have one of the highest class
too.]
[It's fine.]
Vince comes closer to grab her waist as he speak without even using
honorifics.
I don't think there is anything more embarrassing than seeing a guy put on
airs to hit on you, but he is the hero so she might have to tolerate it. As a
girl who's with this guy I can't help but be the one to feel embarrassed.
Jannet just lightly responded to her. It must have bothered her a bit.
[Anyway, let's eat out or something first. I only have enough to buy for
myself but let me treat you, Katie.]
[That's so sweet of you!]
… What the heck is wrong with you?
Or would I have wanted to say but we have Katie-san here so I'd rather not.
We've just had one of our childhood friends kicked out of the party and
Vince is just like this. It seems he doesn't really care about it…
We went to one of the most luxurious restaurants in the city that Vince
selected.
I can feel the piercing gazes of men all over us… But Katie-san is really
dazzling. She's like the sun as she brightens her surroundings with just
being there.
I can sense some curses coming as well from the men's gazes. Well, from
their standpoint, they must be thinking that we're Vince's harem. Well, we
can't be anything but his harem when you look at it right?
Huh? Don't tell me… Did Vince do it for this?
No no noooo. That can't be. We've known each other for so long already.
To expel one of us just for that is…
[Uhm, excuse me. What would be your order?]
[Oh, uh. Sorry. A course, please.]
[Thank you.]
I spaced out and forgot my surroundings as I think about these things.
I saw Katie-san looking at me grinning as if she finds something interesting.
Uhm. That's a bit… embarrassing…
At the back of the restaurant away from the other tables, I watch the food
we ordered being delivered to us and look at Katie-san as I wanted to ask
her something.
[Oh, Katie-san. What kind of stories would you like to hear about?]
(Emmy)
[That! I would like to hear about the things the hero party have been doing
until now and how far are you guys into it. Oh, it's not that I am trying to
gather information against you. I'm just a level 10 mage and that would be
too much for me.]
Katie shows her tag to us as she explains.
『Hammond』– Resident of this City, Katie.
Mage – Level 10
[I apologize if it sounded like I was suspecting you.]
[Oh no, it's alright. In fact, I am quite glad that you guys are not the type
who trust people who they barely know.]
Aww. Really, Katie-san. I can't even compare myself to your beauty and it
seems you're a very kind person too.
For someone like me who's worse enough to kick out her childhood friend
just yesterday… That smile is just too bright.
Vince swiftly drinks his pottage soup and leans closer to Katie as he joins
the conversation.
[We've been dungeoning for half a year here in Hammond and now we're
pushing on the eighth floor of the middle levels!]
[Oh oh, the eighth floor! Then it should be the Taurus' floor, right?]
[Yeah! You know your stuff! And here's Emmy who swats the attacks from
that freakin' Taurus!]
Katie looks at me with her brilliant eyes full of expectation as Vince shifted
the conversation to me.
Yep, that Blood Taurus.
[To be able to deflect the Taurus' attack even once is really amazing
already!]
[I think I'll be fine taking a few hits. I'm a level 23 [Holy Knight] but it still
hurts a bit even when I block it with my two hands holding my shield.]
[You're so cool, Emmy-san. I hope there would be more people like you
soon. A girl who is as competent as men doing the vanguard. You'll be their
role model]
[Ahaha, it's not like that.]
…Really. It's not something like that…
I'd rather slap myself for not being strong enough not to get injured when
we fought that Blood Taurus.
Strong enough not to let other people worry about me getting hurt.
I'm one of the top classes of the front runners in the deep levels of the
dungeon.
It doesn't matter whether I just received the class or not… I shouldn't be
having difficulties facing a monster in the middle levels in the first place.
I am… Weak.
[Oh, by the way]
Suddenly, Katie-san put her poisson1
dish aside and look at each of us
before tilting her head.
[–Why is that there's no priest in this party?]
I felt like my heart was clenched for an instant when I heard her question.
Priest. Recovery mage.
I find it hard to breathe…
Jannet looks like she wanted to say something but it was Vince who replied
in a loud voice.
[Hahaha, listen well, Katie! All of us can use recovery magic! Hero, Holy
Knight, even the Sage! That's why we don't need something like recovery
mages!]
He yells it so happily that I cannot help but turn my head from him and
frown.
Jannet remains expressionless.
I wonder how will Katie-san react…
I guess she'll just probably say [Ma~ma~, Then there's really no need for
recovery mages, yes~].
If an outside party dares to tell that…. I wonder if I can hold myself back….
[Ma~ ma~]
Katie san puts a fork on her fish.
As she tries to say her next words that might as well curse Russell… I can
feel my tension getting higher—
[That's, well, it does feel a bit inconvenient, doesn't it?]
—-ah, eh?
What the heck is up with that reaction…
It's far lighter than what I thought.
She looks like she lost all interest and kept on munching her fish. [N~ it
really is a delicious place, isn't it?]. It looked like she finds the fish much
more interesting than the recovery magic of us three.
Compared to the joyous atmosphere of the hero's party earlier, I think
everyone would be surprise with this change in reaction.
The disinterested response of Katie-san must have triggered something in
Vince as he had replied with a louder voice than before.
[Oi, oi! The three of us are like recovery mages already, you know? We're
good even without that Sai—… Priests or something! Nope. Rather, people
like that who can't even attack is just wasting our food and resources!]
[Vince, the others are starting to look at us.]
[Tsk. My bad.]
.
I warned Vince who screamed so loud with a stiffer tone as he returns to his
chair after standing up after he got agitated.
When Vince heard me, he sits on my side and I turned my head away from
him.
…What was the just now?
What do you mean by 'priest'?
What do you mean by 'recovery mage'?
Are all those words meant for the [Saint], Russell?
Jannet expressionlessly picks up the fish from the edge of the table to the
side of her plate. Was it dropped? Maybe her hand slipped?
Or maybe, deep inside, she isn't as calm as I think she is?
[Uhm… Well… This might be rude but… [Sage]-san, ah, Jannet-san?]
[…N? ah, me?]
[Yes. Did you learn the magic [Cure]?]
[…Un. I learned that magic when I was a level 15 [Sage]. I'm level 26
now.]
Katie-san nods her head upon hearing those numbers.
[Then, how about [Fireball]?]
[That's from level 1]
[As expected, isn't it~ it's a [Magi Class Sage].]
Eh? There's something in their conversation that I never heard even once
before.
[Katie-san, what is a [Magi Class Sage]?]
[You aren't familiar with it? Oh, it is true that [Sage] can use both magic
from [Priest]s and [Mage]s. But, at the end, it can only do half of the best
what a [Priest] and [Mage] can do.]
[…Half of… their best?]
[Yes. The [Saint] is the pinnacle of the priest class and [Magi] is the
ultimate amongst the mage. And a [Sage] can do magic from both classes.
Mages learn [Fireball] at level 2 but you learned it at level 1 which means
you lean closer to the Magi class. Her recovery magic might be lower
compared to priests but the [Sage] Jannet has almost the same abilities of
the Magi with recovery magic in addition to that which makes her class a
really splendid one.]
.
Even when I heard her say that it's a splendid class, my head is already full
of unimaginable things.
…Sages aren't capable of replacing priests. In fact, they're lower?
She must have the same doubts I have so Jannet asked Katie-san as well.
[Then, from what level do [Priest]s learn [Cure]?]
[From level 10. But the people being bestowed as priest classes are very
rare and for a specialize priest in recovery magic to reach level 10 is pretty
difficult but once they do, they are almost guaranteed to have blissful lives.
Cure uses a lot of mana but the priests who can use it receives donations
and offerings in various cities~.]
Ofcourse, there are some who prefer to remain as adventurers too~, and
with those words, Katie-san's story is finally over.
As if trying to prove his point that it's a bullish story for us was Vince
repeatedly stressing out that all of us can use recovery magic.
On the other hand, Katie-san beside him, did not reject his idea but praise
him instead saying 'Isn't that amazing that you can use recovery magic~'.
It sure sounded like a praise but… It seems that her view hasn't budge the
slightest and those words seemed… Empty.
As I look at Katie-san's smiling face, I can somehow feel like there are dark
clouds lingering over the heads of the party.
Something I can't explain in words… An unknown feeling of anxiety
creeps on me.
A [Magi] is an equal class with the [Saint].
And for healing magic, [Magi Class Sage] is inferior to a [Priest].
–Then, is the [Holy Maiden] an equivalent class of the [Saint]?
I can't help but be afraid to know the answer of that question and forced
myself to stop listening to the end.