The Jester's fall

-7-

(Future Val: her fucking feet though-)

I stared at the wall of paper, tilting my head. Ah, to not be able to read this world's language. At least we can speak their language. I let Momon go and get a quest for us, looking over when he motioned for me to follow them. We went upstairs and sat with a group.

"Hello, we call ourselves The Swords of Darkness. I'm Peter Mork, the leader. Over to my left is our Ranger, Lukrut Volve. He's our eyes and ears in the field."He said, the said man waving at Nabe only for her to look away. Aw, he likes her.
"Our capable druid uses magic to heal us and manipulate nature. Dyne Woodwonder."He said, motioning to a friendly bearded man.
"And last but not least is the brains of the operation. Our magic user, Ninya the Spell Caster."He said, motioning to a cute young boy.

"Our Ninya here is a talent holder."Lukrut said, making me nod.

"Seriously? That's impressive."Momon said.

"Ninya has a talent called Magic Affinity. He's able to learn magic spells twice as fast as the average caster. Isn't that right?"He said, making me smile at the small boy.

"That's amazing."I said, seeing him get flushed.

"It's not like I did anything to deserve this. I'm lucky. Part of me feels it's actually kind of an unfair advantage."He said, looking down. I shake my head.

"Not really, it's just the hand you were given in life. As long as you use you hand to your advantages it's not unfair."I said, tilting my head.

"He's a famous Talent holder. We're glad to have him on our team."Peter said, looking fondly at Ninya.

"Well, here in E-Rantel, there's a more famous talent holder."Ninya said.

"That would be Master Balear." Dyne said.

"Who? Oh, how rude of me. This is Nabe, Lain, and I am Momon. Glad to have you all watching our backs. So. About this Balear guy. What kind of talent does he possess?"Momon asked, making me wave politely.

"You don't know? There's absolutely no way you guys are from around here then, and that actually explains a lot."Peter said, sitting down.

"Yeah, we actually just arrived yesterday."I said, getting a nod from Momon.

"Well, his name is Nphirea Balear. He's the grandson of a well known pharmacist in E-Rantel. He was born with a talent that allows him to use any and all magical items without training."Peter explained, making me look at him in aw.

"impressive." Momon complemented.

"That could be useful." Nabe commented.

"Agreed."I said.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we need your help. Our current objective is to destroy all the monsters that have wandered too close to the city."Peter explained, making a shiver run through me.

"You were hired to hunt monsters?"I asked, getting a head shake.

"Not really. It's actually an off the books expedition that we decided to take on by ourselves."He explained.

"What does that mean?"Momon asked.

"We're weren't exactly hired but the guild gets money from the city based on the strength of the monsters we defeat. We just have to collect our reward from The Guild."He furthered explained making me nod.
"So, you interested in joining us? Our plan is to start clearing out the forest just south of the city and working our way north. So what do you say? The experience will help you rise above a copper plate."He asked, making me smile.