Chapter 33: Class

Chapter 33: Class

The group hightailed it out of the forest as quickly as they could, only pausing so Arwin could grab the scale he’d broken off the Wyrm. Anna had used just about all the healing magic she had to repair Arwin’s leg as quickly as she had, so she had to sling Reya’s arm over her shoulder and help her stumble through the trees.

Rodrick offered similar help to Arwin, but he refused it. He was dazed and completely drained of energy, but not to the point where he couldn’t walk on his own. And, even if he’d needed help, he was too curious about what class Reya had been offered to consider it.

They continued until they’d left the forest and put about ten minutes of travel between it and themselves. Reya and Anna finally flopped to the grass, lying flat on their backs. Rodrick and Arwin sat down beside them.

“I can’t believe we’re alive,” Rodrick said, laughing into the palms of his hands. “The gods damned Wyrm. Can you believe that?”

“What in the Nine Underlands was it doing outside?” Anna demanded, sounding considerably less happy. “Wyrms don’t go above ground! Everyone knows that!”

Arwin would have loved to correct her, but Anna was right. Everything he knew about Wyrms agreed with her claim. They were wingless, basically large dragon-lizards that relied on idiots stumbling into their nests rather than proper hunting.

“You’re right,” Arwin said. “I don’t know why it was so aggressive, but there’s nothing wrong with celebrating life.”

“You know what I want to know?” Rodrick looked over to Arwin. “How in the world did you take a bite out of a bloody sword?”

“With my teeth.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Rodrick said. “I didn’t see that wrong, did I, Anna?”

“No, he definitely ate his sword,” Anna said with a disbelieving laugh. “I figured we were kind of just going to ignore it. I’ve seen stranger things in life.”

“Have you?” Rodrick asked.

“No,” Anna admitted. “I was trying to be polite. Maybe it’s just a hobby.”

“Who eats swords as a hobby in the middle of a fight with a Wyrm?” Rodrick asked, aghast.

“I’m right here, you know,” Arwin said dryly.

“Don’t eat my sword, please. I like it,” Rodrick said.

“No promises.” The corners of Arwin’s lips quirked up in a smile and Rodrick hurriedly put his hand over the hilt of his sword, much to Anna’s amusement.

“Odd hobbies or not, we won’t tell anyone,” Anna promised. “It just took us by surprise.”

“It’s appreciated,” Arwin said, meaning it. It probably wouldn’t be a big deal if people figured out he could eat metal – a lot of classes could do some pretty strange things – but it would give away that he had either a Unique class or ability.

“Reya, how are you doing?”

Reya poked at her damaged armor. “Alive. It stings really bad, though.”

“Good,” Arwin said. “You damn near got yourself killed. You’re incredibly lucky to be alive, Reya. Don’t get me wrong – I deeply appreciate your help and you gave me the opening I needed, but you need to be careful. Your life is worth more than using it as a sacrifice to draw a monster’s attention for a brief second.”

Reya swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. I just didn’t know what else to do. It looked like you were about to lose and the only idea I had was... well, that.”

“As long as the lesson was learned, then that’s all that matters. Just don’t do it again. What’s done is done, so there’s no need to dwell on it any further. There are much more interesting things to speak on.”

“My class,” Reya finished. She touched her bleeding stomach again and winced slightly. “What do I choose?”

“You haven’t told us what you got yet,” Rodrick said.

Reya sent a glance toward Arwin, and he shrugged in response. Anna and Rodrick had returned to save his life when they hadn’t had to. If Reya wanted to trust them, it was her decision, not his.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any more healing left right now,” Anna said apologetically. “We could cover our ears if you’d prefer?”

“It’s fine,” Reya said after a few moments. “You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“Not a soul,” Rodrick promised, pressing a hand to his chest. “But I will be telling the story of how a girl without a class charged a fucking Wyrm like she was the Hero himself. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget that sight.”

Reya’s cheeks reddened. “Arwin needed a distraction to hit the Wyrm again, and it wasn’t going to do anything if we kept throwing rocks at it. I figured drastic measures were in order.”

“What, did you plan on getting stuck in its teeth while it chewed you?” Anna asked with a mixture of humor and admonishment. “You need to live through the fights you win, you know. Arwin was right.”

“I lived!”

“I’m not sure I’d say it stopped the blow,” Arwin said, sending a critical glance at Reya’s armor. “She got injured.”

“She should be dead,” Anna said. “Rodrick is right. Forest Lizard scales couldn’t have done that on their own. The smith made them harder whilst forging the armor. That’s a really impressive piece of gear. We’d understand if the smith isn’t interested in new clients right now, though.”

Anna sent Rodrick a pointed glance when she said the last sentence, making sure he wouldn’t push any more. Arwin kept a laugh from passing through his lips as Rodrick sheepishly nodded his agreement.

For a few seconds, he considered the two adventurers. He didn’t truly know them that well, but if he wanted to start a guild, he needed people. These two had more than proven themselves, and they weren’t aligned with the Adventurer’s Guild.

They came back to help me when they had no reward from it. If I can’t trust them, then I don’t know if I can trust anyone ever again.

“Are you in a guild right now?” Arwin asked.

Rodrick and Anna exchanged a surprised look before shaking their heads.

“No,” Rodrick said. “We’ve stayed away from them after our experience in the Adventurer’s Guild. I know there are smaller ones, but they’ve all got recruitment requirements that I haven’t met. They’d take Anna in a heartbeat, though.”

“Except I’m not joining them without you. They’d just use me as a mobile health station anyway. I don’t want to lose my autonomy.” Anna crossed her arms and shook her head. “Why do you ask? Are you part of one?”

“Technically, yes.”

“Technically, no,” Reya said, glancing at Arwin out of the corners of her eyes.

Arwin cleared his throat. “Okay, technically no. But in spirit, yes.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” Rodrick asked.

“I started a guild myself. It’s just a few people in it right now,” Arwin said carefully. “We aren’t official or anything, but there aren’t any of the restrictions that other guilds have. It’s pretty much just us right now.”

“The blacksmith is part of your guild?” Rodrick tilted his head to the side. “Damn. How’d you pay him to join? Are you secretly rich?”

Arwin burst into laughter. “Money is the one thing I don’t have.”

Not yet, at least.

“I take it this is an invitation to join, then?” Anna asked.

Arwin nodded. “Yes. I don’t plan to grow fast, but you’ve both more than proven yourselves. I honestly don’t know how much we can offer you, but I can promise that we won’t screw you over.”

“We’d be able to hire the smith if we joined?” Anna asked.

“I’d say so.”

“What about term limits?” Rodrick asked. “Is there a set amount of time we’d have to stay?"

Arwin hadn’t put much thought into that. He hadn’t actually been planning on recruiting new members quite yet, but the words had left his mouth before he’d properly thought through them. “No limits. Leave if you want, but I’d ask that you keep anything you find to yourselves. It’s not like I can enforce that, but I’d ask it nonetheless.”

Rodrick leaned in closer to Anna and whispered something into her ear. She thought for a second, then looked back to Arwin and gave him a small nod.

“If there aren’t restrictions on it, then I think we can tentatively accept. You’re the first one that hasn’t tried to cheat or otherwise get an upper hand out of partnering with a healer.”

“Is that common?” Arwin blinked in surprise.

“You’ve got no idea,” Rodrick said. “Half the people we join up with try to convince Anna to leave me and join their party. Bunch of assholes.”

“It’s a pain,” Anna agreed. “But you know what you’re doing. So, for the time being, we’ll join. It’s not an official guild yet from the sounds of things, so it’s really not that much of a commitment. I promise we won’t share anything you don’t want us to, though.”

Anna held her hand out and Arwin took it, shaking once. He’d never had trouble getting healers as the Hero, but every day he spent in his new life reminded him of just how different things really were.

“So, about that smith...” Rodrick hedged. “When can we meet him? I probably can’t afford anything he makes yet, but I’d love to have a look and start daydreaming.”

Arwin grinned. “The only people in my guild are Reya and I.”

“Wait, what?” Rodrick’s face creased with a frown. “But you said...”

“That you could meet the smith,” Arwin finished with a nod. Rodrick’s eyes went as wide as saucers as Arwin held his hand out. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m the smith.”