Academist.

Her Class is 'Academist'. How ironic. I suppose that is why she's always studying.

"Some kind of mage then?"

She nods. "Yes."

I ponder for a moment.

…

…

"So what does that mean?"

And she sighs mightily and rubs the bridge of her nose… wait, why does this feel familiar?

"What do you do if you don't know something?"

"Ask questions?" I offer.

Lyra gives me a deadpan stare. "Yes. Now, I assume what you intended to ask is more details about the Academist Class."

"Uh huh," I nod.

"That doesn't surprise me. Most mages choose a more traditional-"

"Ah, so you're a mage then," I interrupt. "A backliner? I mean, I'm technically a mage and I'm a frontliner, so-"

"You need to learn to let people finish or no one will listen in return," she retorts.

I swallow down my unexpectedly sudden rage. Where did that even come from?

"I… I understand. Please, continue," I say through gritted teeth.

"AS I WAS SAYING, most mages choose a more traditional caster Class; mine, however, is more versatile despite its limitations."

"…What kind of limitations?"

Lyra looks toward the ceiling and taps her chin, clearly organizing her thoughts before answering. "Well, to start, I don't actually get any magic Skills from it, not 'normal' ones. Instead, I have a Skill that lets me learn magic from any element – although those outside of my own are noticeably weaker."

"Huh. That actually does sound pretty versatile… but wait. If you don't actually have, um. Like, 'shadow magic' or 'fire magic' or whatever, how do you know how to move mana or whatever?"

"Guess," she replies.

It registers that her smug smile is the first time since the reveal of my patron that she hasn't reacted to me with fear. This is good.

Yes, this is very good.

…

Why does she feel like a useful tool? Shouldn't I want to be her friend or something? Wait, I do want to be her friend! What the actual fuck is going on in my head!?

"You uhhhh. You…"

…

…

"You have no idea."

"No, wait a minute! I'm still thinking!"

My dormmate and potential party mate sighs as I rack my brain. All of my 'magic' is based around actual literal Skills… so how do mages learn spells without… that's it!

"I have no idea!"

Lyra manages to be comprehensible, even through both palms covering her face.

"We learn them! You know, from books or teachers!"

"Oh. Wait, is that why you're always studying!?"

"Yes, oh grand master genius, your wisdom astounds," she deadpans. "I'm always studying because I'm trying to get stronger. The strength of my Class is versatility, and the only way I can be that versatile is by learning more varied spells!"

"Huh."

…

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"Wait, can I learn spells too?"

"Probably," she answers before muttering under her breath, "if you weren't so dumb."

"I heard that, you know."

"And I don't even care."

I nod. Yeah, she's comfortable with me now alright. That's good.

But I still need an answer. Probably.

"So are you gonna join or not? Or should I just, I don't know, let you think on it more? There's gotta be something good about joining a hero party this early, don't you think? Even if it's just a chance at growing faster, or um. Maybe getting better access to books or something?"

Lyra sighs again, then deposits a whole stack of what look like leather-bound textbooks on her large desk – actually this whole room is pretty big, isn't it? It's almost as big as mine! I do wonder what those scratches on the wall are from though… was a cat here at some point?

"Maybe if I could understand them all. Half of them are a level of metaphysical understanding beyond me. I'm hoping that in another year or two I'll have taken a course that will help, at least a bit," she laments.

…

Huh.

…

…

…Wait a minute!

"Can I see one of them really quick? Maybe one of the hard ones?"

She gestures again at the stack. "Be my guest. Try the dark green one – no, not that one, the other one. I gave up on it over a month ago."

"Sure."

I pick up the tome and open it to a random page, showing a diagram and a wall of text.

…

…That is strangely familiar… or at least this one part…

"Isn't this just a three-phased manaform? I mean, look right here. That's the channel, that's the binder… this part has the actual spell effect, which it looks like this one is… continual light, probably? Yeah, that's it, because it has a stabilizing rune right there. It'll just work until it runs out of mana, but this one draws from the environment so it should just keep working forever. Well, unless the binder breaks, or someone breaks it…"

…

"You…"

"Me?"

…

…

"How the hells did you understand that!? Is that really what it says? How the…"

"The demon empress dropped this big heavy book on my head from nowhere months ago, when I was complaining about not having anything to read at that damned elf camp. There's literally nothing to do there but stare at plants or sit in the river! I figured she probably wanted me to read it or something, so I did. It didn't make a lot of sense, or some of it anyway… so I kept trying."

Lyra is stunned speechless for a moment, so I take the initiative.

"I bet I could help you learn stuff then. You know, even though I'm so dumb. Right? Dumb am I?"

She sighs. "Yes, you're dumb, but also useful somehow. Fine. If your condition for helping with this, I'll join. If that's what it'll take for me to get stronger, then fine."

"Fine!"

"Yes, fine."

"Good."

"Yep."

"Yep."

We stand in silence again, me with a big smile and her with that same flat expression she's been giving me for most of our conversation. Well, other than the incredulous one she had earlier, but I'm not going to count that.

"Hear that, Alice? We're not a party of two."

"Three, young miss," the maid replies as she materializes from the shadows in the corner, causing my new party mate to flinch. "Do not forget the young master – he has been directly instructed to join as well."

I sigh. "Fiiiiine, Joy too. Whatever. I was hoping you'd forget. I wanted to forget."

For some reason Olive seems particularly annoyed, but whatever. I know she's connected to… all of them, so of course she's loyal to them too.

Whatever.

"So, three then."

"Three," Lyra echoes. "So we have a tank, and off-tank, and a utility caster. We should seek a healer, and probably a specialist of some kind with a high damage output… maybe a rogue or scout."

…

For some reason, a rogue sounds like a terrible idea. What would stop them from trying to stab me in the back again? I can't just…

Can't just…

What can't I do? For some reason I feel like this is familiar, like I had some kind of usual pattern for dealing with being stabbed in the back… And 'again'!? I've never been stabbed by a mortal before!

"Maybe a scout then," I mutter.

"Alright, fine. A scout. Well, or something else. Why don't we ask around at the academy, or ask the advisors if anyone is looking? Or there's always the bulletin boards, although most of the time those just have postings for existing parties looking for specific Class varieties…"

She's silent for a moment, but not even I am dumb enough to miss the implication.

"You've been turned down before, haven't you?"

"Okay, fine!" she snaps. "Yes, yes, I've interviewed with parties about mage roles, but they all take one look at my Class and turn their noses up! And even so, we should look into getting a more specialized caster… huh. I wonder if we can find a mage with a high damage output as our fourth member? Or fifth, if we find a healer first."

"You know, I haven't missed you redirecting the conversation. But that's fine, I don't really care. Or I want to care, but for some reason I don't, not really… but that's fine. Maybe wanting to is enough, yeah? It'll be fiiiine."

Lyra gives me a dubious glance, but I just continue. "So we need a… huh."

"What is it?"

"Would an archer do? I mean, I know someone… she's pretty specialized though, and she might not want to join, but she's a pretty strong archer and has a bunch of stealth Skills or spells or something. And she's pretty smart too, I think?"

"You think? Wouldn't you normally actually… oh right, you are the point of reference, so everyone probably seems smart."

"Hey!"

"What, you know it's true. Outside of, uh, magic theory apparently. Whatever. I'm not going to pretend you aren't using me, and I'm definitely going to be using you, so it's an even trade. So, tell me more about this 'archer' of yours."

I nod. "So, her name is Shaya and she's a forest elf-"

"One of those xenophobes? How are you even going to get her to leave the forest, let alone work with anyone who isn't another 'one of them'?"

"Easy," I grin. "I'm half forest elf, and she's worked with me before. She even started teaching me the cant! And… oh."

I, uh. There's a complication. Probably.

"What?"

"So, um. Do you know eldra common?"

"Oh yes, I've definitely had the opportunity to learn it, growing up around humans on a human plane with every single reason to learn a language I probably won't use for the foreseeable future."

"Gods, you don't have to be so snippy about it, do you?"

"Just, get to the point," Lyra says, looking the least patient I've ever seen from her.

"Well. So uh. She…"

"She?"

"…Shaya doesn't speak interplanar common."

And the sound of my party member's hand hitting her forehead echoes in the room.

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