Frieren choosing the Adventurer class wasn't her own idea—it was Shichen's suggestion.
Frieren's already a mage; she doesn't need to pick the Mage class to become a great spellcaster. Those higher-tier spells that are easier for mages to learn? She can learn them slowly—or even skip some of them.
Compared to chasing every big spell, it's better for her to learn some practical skills.
After all, Adventurers can learn any kind of skill; it just costs more skill points.
Frieren doesn't have to worry about that. From the start, she had plenty of points.
Dumping a few dozen points at once, she instantly learned basic and intermediate magic—and even picked up a few mostly useless warrior skills.
Like One-Handed Sword.
"This world really is… something," Frieren murmured, feeling the magic and skills she'd just mastered.
In her world, magic requires slow study and true understanding over time. Here it's point-and-click—once it's learned, it moves like your own hand.
She wasn't exactly shocked, though. After so many manga and web novels, she already had a mental model for worlds with rules like this.
"So you really can learn magic and skills like this. Looks like Utaha and the others can, too."
Seeing the list of skills and spells on Frieren's adventurer card, Shichen couldn't help but smile.
"You didn't use me as a guinea pig, did you?" Frieren narrowed her eyes at him.
"How is that a 'guinea pig'? I clearly just wanted you to learn whatever magic you like."
"Boring. I still prefer studying magic at my own pace." Frieren shook her head.
"Do you? Then go ahead and forget those spells."
"No."
"Figures—you're just saying that."
Frieren does like researching magic herself, but if she can master spells at will, there's no way she's throwing them away. Her original world didn't have magic like this—at most, something similar, but never identical. Now, the spells and skills she's learned feel installed inside her; as long as she has mana, she can fire them off whenever she wants.
It never hurts to have more tools.
"Shichen, I think I heard a girl's name just now?" Megumin suddenly leaned in.
"What girl's name?"
"Utaha? You said that name, didn't you?"
"Oh, that. Yeah, I did," Shichen admitted with a nod.
"A girl's name?"
"Mm."
"…And she's connected to you?"
"Mm."
"Unbelievable! So what have you been doing behind our backs all this time? Didn't you say you had business? Sounds more like you were out meeting girls!" Megumin demanded, furious.
"You'll… find out in a moment."
"In a moment?" Megumin frowned and stared him down.
"Not telling yet—but soon."
"Ugh, you and your riddles!"
"I already told you to brace yourself," Frieren cut in, calm as ever.
"Frieren, tell me—are there more girls?"
"Not just more. Many."
"What…" Megumin's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe it. Only two months and someone else beat her to the punch?
"Shichen…" Yunyun looked at him, pitiful.
"Yunyun, don't let Frieren wind you up. It's not 'that many,'" Shichen said, ruffling her hair in reassurance.
"Really?"
"Really. And I'm not letting go of you," he added with a wink.
"M-mm…" Yunyun instantly felt at ease.
"Does your conscience seriously not hurt?" Frieren asked.
"My conscience? Nope," Shichen shot back, side-eyeing her. "But you might not like tonight's punishment."
Frieren's delicate face fell flat.
"Luna, got any good jobs lately?" Shichen turned to the guild receptionist, who'd been standing by.
Since Frieren had just become an adventurer, Shichen planned to grab a few quests so she could try out the new skills and spells. Stories are fiction; real monster-hunting is way more fun. Maybe once she gets a taste for it, she'll finally graduate from homebody life.
"Good jobs? Let me think…"
"Let's check the board together," Shichen said. "You three can hang by the bar. If you're hungry, order something." He left Megumin and the others and walked to the quest board with Luna.
"Just a heads-up—it's winter now, so there may not be many good options," Luna warned.
"Forget already how strong I am?"
Shichen grinned. "By 'good,' I don't mean easy money. I mean difficult."
"Right—you're tough. In that case, there are quite a few."
Most adventurers aren't much stronger than regular folks—especially here in the starter town, where they're all rookies. Being an adventurer is just a job, like any other—something you do to live. They fight the monsters that threaten people day and night, then spend their earnings here on drinks, living day to day with no idea what tomorrow brings.
Even so, once winter hits, even these short-sighted adventurers hole up at the inn to idle the days away—it beats dying for nothing. Weaker monsters basically hibernate; the ones still active are tough to handle. In Axel, the newbie town, adventurers aren't much stronger than civilians. Taking monster-slaying jobs in winter isn't far from suicide.
Better to laze around than die outright.
At the quest board, Shichen scanned the notices and found several good warm-ups for Frieren.
For example: Subjugate the White Wolf Pack attacking the ranch—bounty up to one million Eris.
There was also a One-Strike Bear that had woken from hibernation and was prowling the fields—two million Eris to slay it, five hundred thousand to drive it off.
Who knows how big the wolf pack is—but however many, nothing to fear. As for the One-Strike Bear, he could have Darkness support Frieren—teamwork training matters.
Though if there's a One-Strike Bear… who knows if there's a Combo Bear.
"Which job are you thinking?" Luna asked.
"Both," Shichen said, pointing at the wolf-pack notice and the One-Strike Bear.
"Got it—I'll get the paperwork started… but please be careful."
"Relax. We'll be fine."
"Mm."
When Luna finished the paperwork, Shichen took the slips and headed back to the bar area.
Frieren and the others were just chatting—they hadn't ordered any food. This time, Frieren wasn't stirring the pot; they were talking about how Shichen first met Megumin and the rest.
"Why'd you tell her that story?" Shichen asked as he sat down beside Yunyun, resting a hand on her thigh.
Yunyun straightened up.
"Frieren asked," Megumin said.
"Did she now?" Shichen glanced at Frieren, mildly surprised.
"Problem? We can't just sit here staring into space," Frieren said, face blank.
"Fair. Anyway—here. These are the quests I took. Thoughts?"
"Let me see… Subjugate a white wolf pack? Is that safe?" Megumin asked, nervous.
"And this One-Strike Bear…" Yunyun looked a little scared, too.
"Relax. I'm here. And Darkness can handle it."
"One-Strike Bear… heh-heh… heh-heh…" Darkness was already day-dreaming about getting hit by it.
"Mm?" Shichen shot her a warning look.
"Ahem. Don't worry, Shichen—I won't deliberately take a hit."
"Better not… And in these past two months, you didn't go looking for monsters to 'train' your ability to take blows, did you?"
"No… I was bored out of my mind," Darkness said, shaking her head.
"You can't just strength-train at home every day because you're bored," Megumin griped.
"What else was I supposed to do…"
"All right, all right—it's just physical training. It's not a bad thing," Shichen cut in.
"But Darkness is a woman."
"You know what she's like. It's like telling you you can't fire off a daily Explosion—could you accept that?"
"Absolutely not!"
"Then there you go. Okay, let's head out and deal with that wolf pack."
"Fine. One Explosion and done."
"Nope. You're benched today—this run is for Frieren's practice."
"What? Not fair!"
"If I let you nuke it, what happens to the ranch?"
"You're playing favorites!"
"I'll take you out to cast in the afternoon, deal?"
"…That's more like it."
"Frieren, you scared?" Shichen asked the quiet elf.
"What's scary about this? I'm just a little afraid of the cold. Maybe we should turn back?" Frieren said, pouting.
"In your dreams!"