Chapter 32: Let’s Go Shopping with the Exiled Marquise 4
Tepe and I both apologized profusely to Erica, somehow managing to get her forgiveness, then we looked at each other and nodded.
For some reason, I felt a strange sense of sympathy.
Getting scolded by Erica is scary.
When you share the same fear, a sense of solidarity is bound to form.
“Um… judging by your muscles, customer, I take it you’re a pure swordsman type skilled in Physical Enhancement, is that correct?”
Tepe, having been reprimanded by Erica, asked me for confirmation.
His assessment was accurate; I’m extremely bad at magic.
Rather than just being bad at it, it’s fair to say I can’t use any magic classified as attack magic at all.
I don’t know why, but Magicka just won’t come out from inside my body.
While I can construct Magic Circles without issue, the Magicka generated from them won’t leave my body, which is equivalent to being unable to use attack magic.
It’s not that none comes out, so I can use things like Purification Magic or create small sparks – what you’d call everyday life magic.
Perhaps as compensation, I’m good at magic that doesn’t require releasing Magicka externally, like Physical Enhancement, and I can boast a little about its strength.
As I nodded, Tepe nodded thoughtfully.
“In that case, have you learned any Skills?”
“A little Presence Detection, and according to my master’s assessment, it seems like I’ve activated some kind of Swordsmanship-related Skill.”
“Seems like, you say? You haven’t had it appraised at the church?”
“There are circumstances.”
Skills.
If magic is an imitation of a Divine Technique, then Skills are gifts from the gods.
At least, that’s what the church claims.
Unlike magic, Skills cannot be learned through study.
It’s said that most people learn Skills through accumulating practical experience.
Some Skills reveal their usage immediately upon learning, while others require conscious awareness to use, and still others are used unknowingly just by having learned them.
They resemble magic in that they require Magicka to use, but they don’t necessitate constructing Magic Circles or the like.
The amount of Magicka needed varies, but a key characteristic is that their consumption is extremely low compared to magic.
Some Skills can surpass ordinary attack magic, so there are even adventurers out there researching day and night for ways to intentionally learn Skills.
Regarding these Skills, for some reason, you can find out which ones you’ve acquired by getting them appraised at the church.
Apparently, the Skill Appraisal itself is a Skill, but strangely enough, it’s a Skill that only manifests in members of the church clergy.
This is likely another reason why the church insists Skills are gifts from the gods.
While I had the sensation of learning a Skill back when I was working as an adventurer in the Faltar Kingdom, I never felt any urgent need to get it appraised, so I never did.
It’s definitely not because I was stingy about paying the appraisal fee or anything like that.
So, that’s why my Skills remain unappraised, but then my role in this Farce came along, making it difficult to just casually visit the church anymore.
Erica, at least, probably can’t go. After all, from the church’s perspective, she’s the attempted assassin of the Maiden of Light.
Even setting foot on church grounds is risky for her.
It probably wouldn’t be that bad for me, but willingly approaching a dangerous place is something only a fool would do.
Although, from an adventurer’s standpoint, not knowing your own Skills is less about being a fool and more a matter of life and death.
But as things stand, I have no choice but to accept it.
And that’s why we don’t know our own Skills.
Towards Tepe, who looked like he wanted to ask, “What circumstances?”, I simply shrugged my shoulders, indicating I had no intention of answering.
“I see, circumstances. Well, that’s fine. Just seeing these muscles makes wasshi want to sell you a Sword, customer.”
I tilted my head at Tepe’s peculiar way of speaking.
It sounded as if Tepe was choosing which customers he sold to.
Seeing my reaction, Tepe looked puzzled for a moment, then clapped his hands together.
“Could it be you came here without knowing about wasshi’s shop?”
When I answered Tepe’s question, explaining that an Adventurers Guild employee named Lana had referred us, he nodded as if it all made sense, going “Ah, ah.”
“Sorry about that. That girl can be a bit of an airhead sometimes, so I think she forgot to explain.”
I didn’t really get an “airhead” impression, but the image of her being extremely jumpy was strong.
I see… so she’s an airhead on top of that?
“At wasshi’s shop, wasshi sells weapons only after taking a look at the person. Of course, there are times wasshi refuses service after looking.”
“And you can run a business like that?”
Erica voiced her frank question.
Tepe smiled in response.
“Thankfully, yes.”
His face was filled with undeniable confidence.
It wasn’t a face I disliked.
It was hard to believe this was the same person who’d just been complaining about having no customers and being bored.
“I believe you. After all, you guessed that much just by touching my arm.”
At my words, Tepe bowed his head with a calm demeanor that belied our first meeting.