“I wonder if they had been swarmed by monsters…”
That was anticlimactic.
It’s even a little too quiet.
“Perhaps they barely made it out of the dungeon with their lives, escaping a monster they couldn’t win against.”
‘That is reasonable.’
“Are there monsters that strong in the dungeon?”
“Umm… as far as I know, no. Then again… the miasma is quite thick, so you would have to be quite skilled to adventure be here.”
Sounds about right.
Since I have Poison Absorption, I never really paid it much attention.
But judging from Arleaf, it seems like the deeper you go, the more toxic it gets.
It’d probably be hard for us get any farther.
Though it may be convenient for me since I get constantly healed, it would probably be more efficient for us to consider fighting somewhere else since we have Arleaf with us.
“Then before we get swept up by anything unnecessary, let’s head back.”
“Muu?”
“I think so too. It would probably be evening by the time we return. I could drop by the church as well.”
“Alright, let’s get going then.”
With that, we trace our path and return from the entrance of the dungeon and go back to the village.
As soon as we stepped foot into the village, Arleaf calls out to me.
“Let’s go to the church.”
“Yeah, alright.”
Would it be alright though, Veno?
‘It should pose no problem if thou art simply going to spectate. If anything suspicious happens, I shall warn thee.’
Gotcha.
And so, to the church we went.
It’s quite like what I expected out of a game.
As expected, their symbol isn’t a cross.
What is that? It’s like a heart wrapped in thorns.
And having seen how Arleaf’s family prayed, it doesn’t seem like this village is affiliated with my enemy’s religion…
‘Do not drop thy guard. I, too, shall be vigilant.’
Arleaf leads me inside.
Hmm… it feels very holy in here.
It’s not unlike the feeling you get when visiting Shinto shrines.
The evening sun peeks through the stained-gla.s.s windows, like something out of a fairy-tale.
“Good evening, Father.”
“Good evening, Arleaf.”
The man dressed like a priest looks up from his book as Arleaf greets him.
“This is… I have heard of you, Cohgray, the Poison Eater. I give you my sincere thanks for saving our village.”
“Uhh, umm, that nickname…”
“Yes, the rumors say that you are quite the monster to not only put your life on the line to try, but to finish everything on your plate. Of course, the rumors come from…”
You can see the veins bulging from Arleaf’s horsehead.
She has a smile on her face, and likely, it would be the same smile she’ll give to her father once she gets home.
Didn’t my nickname change rather quickly?
‘It must be the case that the young girl’s cooking is infamous.’
How awful.
“Now that introductions are out of the way, is there something you needed from the church?”
“Yes. I was hoping to change jobs.”
“I have heard talk of it. You wish to be stronger to help the adventurer Cohgray.”
“That’s right. Yukihisa and I were out hunting earlier today, and I believe I know what to expect in the future. Father, would you help me with the job change ceremony?”
“… is that right? I understand. Since Mr. Cohgray is the savior of our village, I would like to lend all my powers to him too. Normally, I would ask for a donation, but I shall waive it this time.”
Oh? How nice that she gets to change jobs for free.
Huh… didn’t know it costed anything though.
‘It seems so. Well… in thy case, we used the altar in the dungeon, thus it was free of charge.’
I guess what we should’ve done was come here, but we borrowed the altar without permission.
It might be dangerous for Muu and I to do so, but Arleaf’s an outsider… so I’m sure she’s fine.
“Then let us proceed with the ceremony. This way, Arleaf.”
Arleaf goes before the church’s altar… oh, there’s a stone statue of a dragon on it.
It looks kinda similar to the one at the dungeon, doesn’t it?
‘The apothecaries had prayed to the Holy Dragon before their meal as well. It seems like this is that dragon. If it is related to dragons, it may be easy for me to interfere.’
“Clasp your hands together in front of the statue and pray. Then, with a calm mind…”
Just like how we did, Arleaf stands in front of the altar and… oh, she’s not touching it.
She’s praying.
As she does so, a magic circle lights up at her feet.
Hmm? The light is slowly extending towards me?!
‘Hmm?’
Is this fine? Being detected would be dangerous, wouldn’t it be?
‘Let us see… hmm, I think you need not worry. I believe it is because she has a mentor nearby and thus affecting her cla.s.s change.’
Huh? Uhh, so does that mean… Arleaf gets to be a Poison-Wielder too?
Unlike with Muu, I can’t see her options or choose for her, so this is a little worrying.
As soon as I thought so, Arleaf turns around with a puzzled look on her face.
“Umm… there’s a new cla.s.s called Thaumaturge available…”
She calls out with a ‘What should I do?’ kind of tone.
I quizzically look over to the priest.
“It is not a cla.s.s that I would recommend… but at your current level, Arleaf, you should not be able to choose it though. I am sure that this cla.s.s exists, but…”
The priest brings out a book that was tucked away near the altar and begins flipping through the pages.
I nonchalantly get closer to Arleaf to speak to her in secret.
“Maybe this is happening because I’m nearby?”
“Perhaps so…”
I’ve told Arleaf that if possible, I’d like her to keep my profession a secret.
I can’t tell the priest about being a Poison-Wielder.
But, Thaumaturge… it certainly sounds like it’s related to Chemists.
I wonder what kind of spells she would get.
Hmm. I do have recollections of seeing Thaumaturge in games.
They’re also known as Shamans or Witch Doctors.
You usually see them in Western RPGs.
They’re close enough to Shamans that you can lump them together. They’re like Chemists, but with more of an inclination to sorcery.
I guess you could say they’re in the same discipline?
‘I have heard about them quite a long time ago…’
Oh, you know about Thaumaturges, Veno?
‘I believe it is a cla.s.s originating from somewhere far from civilization. However, I do not get involved with human cla.s.ses, so I know not of the details.’
The priest stops flipping while Veno and I were speaking.
“… I have found it. Thaumaturges… a cla.s.s from before Chemists were an established cla.s.s. It seems to be related to Chemists, but with more of a focus on the magical arts.”
Ooh, an ancient cla.s.s then.
“It may sound dangerous, but it is nothing wicked. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with dark magic.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. However, it is also said that you can progress to advanced cla.s.ses that deal with evil, so proceed with caution.”
Evil cla.s.ses? What are those?
Well, probably evil as in everyone will hate you for it, eh?
‘Cla.s.ses like Necromancers that involve the dead are likely to be cla.s.sified as evil in a place like this.’
Necromancy certainly sounds bad.
Then… what are Poison-Wielders?
‘Thou can use thy own judgement.’
… Poison-Wielders certainly sound bad.
Anything that has “poison” front and center probably doesn’t give off the best of impressions.
‘Is that a comment directed towards me, a Poison Dragon?’
That’s something to do with human nature, I think.
When we say poison, stuff like a.s.sa.s.sinations and other bad things come to mind.
Of course, like you’ve said before, medicine is also a poison of sorts, so I can’t make a blanket statement and say all poison is bad. It’s just hard to accept.
If it’s bad, it’s a poison. If it’s good, it’s medicine. It’s like word-a.s.sociation.
And so, Poison-Wielder.
‘Then thou could also say Medicine-Wielder… there would be no difference between that and Chemist then.’
That sounds a lot better.
“A profession of evil…”
Arleaf seems rather troubled by this.
“You could also advance into other cla.s.ses. Since it popped up anyway, there would be no harm in trying it out.”
“Would it be alright?”
“I think we are all sympathetic on not wanting to choose a cla.s.s of wickedness… but a base profession like Warrior can have paths that lead to evil as well. So too Priests, so too Mages.”
What would an evil Warrior be? Berserker?
‘That is a particular fierce advancement of Warrior. ‘Tis not a cla.s.s of wickedness.’
It’s kinda hard to explain what I mean. What is a wicked form of Warrior then?
‘For Warriors… something like a Dark Warrior.’
Well, that’s a straightforward name.
So I guess anything with “Dark” in the name is evil?
‘I am not too familiar. However, Dark Knights are also an evil cla.s.s, I have heard.’
Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
But they’re considered good in games.
I guess it must be different in this world.
‘I know of the conditions to be one. Once someone wields a cursed sword, they are automatically forced into being a Dark Knight.’
That’s certainly evil then. Do they turn out okay?
‘Cursed swords leech the blood of their users and eventually turning them into mere puppets. The price of power is their lives, leading to a deplorable fate. By the way, I have a few of them at my lair as decoration.’
If you have one now, don’t give it to me. If Muu becomes a Dark Knight, we’d be in danger.
“Muu?”
‘If I had one on hand, I would consider giving it to thee. Unfortunately, such is not the case.’
I’m fine without.
Wait, why would want to do that anyway?!
“Yukihisa? Were you listening?”
“Huh? Oh, what?”
I just noticed Arleaf was speaking while I was chatting with Veno.
“What should we do? I would have to wait a few days between changing jobs, that is if I were to have second thoughts. Should I play it safe with Priest or Mage? Or perhaps try out Thaumaturge?
“Hmm…”
Like a Chemist, but more proficient in magic.
I can’t say I don’t like the sound of that.
previously: // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // /ch029/ /next/
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