Adventurers of Gjallarhorn
Adventurers of Gjallarhorn
Had she picked up mind-reading or something?
I hadn't even voiced any complaints, but Bella had seen right through me.
Or maybe she'd just gotten lucky with a guess.
I spoke, still wearing an uncertain expression.
"Hm. Honestly, neither of them appeals to me. Hiding behind summoned creatures to fight isn't really my style."
"You don't need to agonize over it too seriously. Just because a staff chooses you here doesn't mean there's only one staff in the world that's compatible with you. Later on, if you get your hands on a new staff, you could grow into an entirely different class."
Bella's words took a weight off my shoulders.
In simple terms, it was a class change.
If I found another compatible staff later, I could switch classes.
Even if I ended up as a summoner-type mage now, there was a chance I'd discover a better class down the line.
"Then I'll give them a try."
With my mind considerably more at ease, I reached my hand out toward the magic staves.
First up was the staff — a Summoner's exclusive weapon. After that, the horn — a Shaman's exclusive weapon.
But after touching both staves, I found myself bewildered.
Zzzt!
Crackle!
Because both the staff and the horn had produced a rejection reaction against me.
Though it only amounted to a tingling shock like static electricity when I briefly touched them with my fingertips before pulling away.
"Both staves are rejecting me. Every staff here is equipment I can't use."
Wand, staff, horn.
All three magic staves prepared by the Adventurer's Guild had turned out to be useless for me.
Hannah spoke to me as I shook off my stinging hands from the electric shocks.
"Normally, about ninety percent of mages discover their aptitude within the Wizard, Summoner, or Shaman classes. You, adventurer, seem to fall into the remaining ten percent."
"What's the ten percent? Don't tell me I've got no talent and the staves simply won't choose me at all?"
"That isn't a thing that happens. Every mage in this world has a staff connected to them like a red thread of fate. It's just that mages belonging to that ten percent are born with a rather more special destiny. They end up wielding magic with more individuality than the three standard classes. For example, the staff I use takes the form of something like a fountain pen."
"What? A fountain pen?"
A fountain-pen-shaped staff wasn't a joke — it was an actual physical object.
Because the moment Hannah slipped her hand into her suit pocket, a staff exactly the size of a pen popped out.
The basic shape resembled a wand, but with a metal nib attached to the tip.
When Hannah applied force to the pen, actual ink flowed out.
"Wait, that's a magic staff? You can cast magic with a pen?"
"My class is Witch Writer. I can use exclusive spells that employ characters scribbled with this pen as a catalyst. Though, since it's such a minor class, there aren't many spells that have been developed for it."
Hannah lifted the pen and wrote the word 'butterfly' in the empty air with an elegant flourish.
The ink scattered in midair emitted a glow and vanished — and in its place, a truly fluttering butterfly appeared.
Of course, it wasn't a real living butterfly, but a familiar summoned via magic.
"Whoa."
Gotta admit, that was pretty flashy.
I mean, she draws a line in the air with a pen and a butterfly just pops out.
Is this what real magic looked like? Then what the hell had I been using up until now?
"This is how it is — the world is full of diverse mages, adventurer. You too will have a staff that's compatible with you, just like my pen."
"How do I find a staff that's right for me? Is there someone who can guide me?"
"There is. But it's not a person."
The answer came back more readily than I'd expected.
I'd figured I'd have to wear out my shoe leather hunting for a compatible staff. But that wasn't the case.
Because the being who could offer guidance about staves was right here in this room.
"Not a person?"
"Yes. The ones who can teach you which staff suits you are the staves themselves. Magic staves are imbued with enough ego to directly choose their own masters. Among them, the staves used by Summoners are especially prideful. To the point where they can directly express their will to humans through language."
"Express their will? Are you saying a staff can talk?"
"Precisely."
I had no idea what it even meant for a staff to talk.
Hannah personally addressed the staff and demonstrated its meaning to me firsthand.
"Staff. I shall undo the knot and permit you to chatter in this place for a short while. Introduce this incubus adventurer here to a staff that could be his match."
The central portion of the staff was tightly wrapped in cloth.
When Hannah carefully untied the cloth's knot, a crack was visible along the shaft.
At first I thought it was just damage, but then the crack split wide open, and a human voice burst out from within.
<Whoa-ah. It's been ages since I got to talk to a person. My mouth's been tied shut all this time — it's been suffocating.>
Hearing the chattering voice echoing out, I was left dumbfounded.
'A staff that actually talks?'
No tongue, no vocal cords, yet the split crack opened up like a mouth and a voice came spilling out.
If I filmed this and uploaded it to YouTube, it'd pull a million views easy.
Except this was the otherworld and there was no YouTube.
What a waste.
<You asked me to introduce a staff to that horned mage over there, yeah? Hey there, Horn-Mage! Stop spacing out and look at me!>
The staff suddenly addressed me, so I answered back.
"I'm not Horn-Mage, I'm Luke. Get a person's name right."
<Fine, Luke. I'm a staff born from the thirty-third branch of the Great Mother Yggdrasil. We staves have served as matchmakers between mages and their staves for generations. We're the only ones among staves who actually want to run our mouths, you see. I'll help you find your match.>
I hadn't even asked, but its entire family pedigree just came pouring out.
A staff I kind of wanted to nickname Speedwagon.
"Thanks for the help. So, what magic staff can I actually use?"
<To figure that out, you'll need to hold onto my body again. Earlier, your grip was too short for me to fully read your palm lines. Staves can read a mage's destiny through their palm lines, you see.>
"Palm lines?"
<Yeah, palm lines. While you're holding me, I'll read the palm lines touching my wood grain. Go on, grab me again.>
Reading destiny through palm lines? That sounded like some sketchy fucking fortune-teller.
And besides, if I grabbed it again, wasn't I gonna get zapped and tingled all over?
As I hesitated, the staff spoke up first.
It seemed the magic staves could control the electric shocks they gave off.
Sure enough, when I gripped the staff in my hand, I felt no more electric shocks.
It simply rested quietly in my grasp.
How much time passed?
After a sensation of my palm lines being tickled continued for a few minutes, the staff opened its mouth.
Secretary Hannah handed me a sheet of paper and a pen.
A normal pen from inside the office, of course — not a magic one.
The words truly had the cadence and rhythm of a poem.
Which also meant that, like a poem, interpreting it after hearing it just once was a goddamn pain in the ass.
Back on Earth, I'd graduated with a degree in Korean Literature, but poetry was the one thing I was absolute garbage at.
Especially classical poetry — every time I had to learn that stuff, it was pure hell.
"What's that supposed to mean? What does a wasteland have to do with my destiny?"
<Interpreting poems is something you mages are better at, isn't it? The mage over there who handles a pen will interpret the poem for you.>
The mage who handled a pen — that was referring to Hannah.
Hannah had silently sidled up beside me at some point and was now peering intently at the paper with the poem written on it.
"The staff is correct. When it comes to interpreting poems, the research materials left behind by mages are far more helpful than the staves themselves. That's because the poems containing mages' destinies actually follow specific patterns. Certain keywords overlap depending on the class."
Hannah abruptly leaned in close and began pointing at the words on the paper with her finger.
"Whoa."
But this secretary lady, she had zero sense of personal space.
Her glamorous, suit-clad figure was pressing in on me from right at my side.
She was fairly good-looking too, so as a man, I couldn't exactly not notice.
"What is it?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Please, continue your explanation."
"Understood. The words likely to serve as keywords in your poem, adventurer, would be wasteland, pilgrimage, world, and struggle."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I took <Theory of Fate Poetry> back when I was a student at the Magic Tower. For reference, my grade was an A+."
Trust just flooded in all at once.
An A+ meant she'd studied hard enough to straight-up abandon her youth.
"Wasteland, pilgrimage, world — I've heard of those before. But 'struggle' as a keyword is something I'm encountering for the first time. Deducing your class right here on the spot would be difficult. It'll take some time, so let me first ask Lady Bella whether I may use my work hours for interpreting the poem."
Hannah turned her head and looked at Bella.
Bella, sitting with her legs crossed at her office desk, had been silently observing our conversation.
"Lady Bella. May I interpret the adventurer's poem while attending to my duties for the time being?"
"Of course you should. He's one of only five mages in our guild, after all. Interpret the poem and place a custom order for a compatible staff for him. I'm rather curious myself about which class and aptitude Luke will prove suited for."
"Understood. I'll contact my mentors at the Magic Tower, receive the materials, and proceed with the interpretation."
"Have the interpretation work completed by next month."
"Yes, my lady."
And so it turned out that none of the three standard magic staves were usable for me, and Secretary Hannah would be finding me a compatible staff separately.
"Luke. I merely wanted to give you a gift to commemorate your Silver Tier promotion, but the conversation ended up running rather long. I can't give you a magic staff right now, but the robe and boots are yours. Congratulations on becoming Silver."
"My girlfriend's waiting outside, so is it all right if I head out now?"
"Yes. It's Kate, isn't it? How an incubus-nun couple came to be is truly fascinating."
"Honestly, I'm her boyfriend and even I think it's bizarre."
Bella told me that once the poem interpretation was complete, she'd leave a message for me through my assigned receptionist.
I pulled on the robe and boots I'd been given as promotion gifts right there, then exited the vice guild master's office.
With the fluttering robe draped over me, I finally felt like a real mage.
They'd promised to find me a compatible staff too, so starting next month, I'd probably finally have an actual class.
I'd finally be moving on from just endlessly spamming Water Whip as a water-attribute mage.
When I left the main building and headed toward the entrance leading out to the city, a nun with bright blonde hair came into view. Kate, who'd left the annex earlier, was waiting for me there.
Though she wasn't alone.
Just as bugs swarm around a bright lantern, adventurers inevitably swarmed around a nun whenever one appeared.
"Sister Kate! Here's a humble offering of 10 Copper!"
"Please, just form a party with me once! I haven't been able to set out on my subjugation quest for a whole week because I don't have a nun!"
"Pleeease party up with ussss!"
Today too, Kate was surrounded by adventurers and under a barrage of gift-offerings.
But for some reason, today Kate wasn't so quick to accept the gifts.
As if she had something to say before receiving them, Kate opened her mouth.
"Adventurers! I, Sister Kate, have something I absolutely must tell all of you!"
A collective murmur rippled through the crowd.
Kate shouted out to the adventurers in a voice so booming it could've shaken the guild hall.
"I've formed a Fixed Party! I'm in a fixed party with my boyfriend!"
In that moment, the gathered adventurers all wore expressions of shock.
"What?!"
"A Fixed Party?!"
"She's got a boyfriend too!"