Chapter 9

Starting from this chapter, it's the Snow arc.

Please look forward to it.

The morning of a miscellaneous duties handler in an adventurer party starts early.

Even though I occasionally sleep in and get woken up by Rain, saying this doesn’t really have much persuasiveness, but the earlier, the better.

The reason, of course, is to prepare for the day’s adventure.

Of course, it could be done the night before. I don’t forget, and the preparation for the 18th floor strategy was done the night before as well.

However, the miscellaneous duties handler is usually a supporter like me. At night, there are also many attackers, and some of them might come to bother you if they recognize you as a supporter—so to avoid trouble, many choose to prepare in the early morning when those people are still sound asleep.

In my case, I decided to do the most important floor strategy preparation the night before, and the preparation for other requests or material gathering, which involves revisiting already cleared floors, in the morning.

Some shops aren’t open in the early morning, so there’s also the possibility of unexpected situations.

For these reasons, the town is quite lively in the morning. It’s also one of the few times in the day when supporters are the center of attention.

I have some colleagues in the same line of work—other party supporters—and exchanging information with them is a rather enjoyable and meaningful time, but...

“Huh?”

Just as I was chatting with one of these acquaintances, a familiar back appeared in my field of vision, heading towards the market.

A girl who is never around at this time.

“Sorry, I’m going.”

I abruptly cut the conversation and followed her.

I could only see her back, but it looked somehow precarious, and I couldn’t just ignore it.

She slipped through the stalls and headed into a back alley.

There should be a few shops that sell tools for mages down there.

Following her and observing, I saw her staring intently at a magic tool displayed in a glass showcase of one of the shops.

“Wow, this is amazing... but the price is insane!?”

She exclaimed, then took out her wallet and looked inside—

“Sigh...”

She let out a big sigh.

“Hmm... a new rod?”

“Huh!? Monog!?”

“Hey. Sorry, it’s not Rain.”

Since it would be strange to keep hiding, I revealed myself and greeted her.

Her, Snow, the only attack mage of our Stormbreaker.

Snow, on the other hand, looked at me with eyes wide open in shock, as if she had seen a ghost.

“W-Why are you here!?”

“Well, that’s what I was going to ask you. You’re usually still sleeping at this time.”

“W-Well...”

Snow looked down awkwardly. Still, her gaze was fixed on the rod she had been looking at with childlike excitement just a moment ago.

Just as a sword, spear, or bow is a standard weapon for a warrior, mages also have their own weapons.

Most of a mage’s weapons are rods. However, these are not walking aids for the mobility-impaired but are designed to assist in casting magic.

The rod in this showcase is one of them. The price is indeed high... but not shockingly so. Mage tools, from rods to clothes and magic books, tend to be expensive.

“But why a rod? Don’t you already have a proper wand?”

“W-Well, I do...”

Snow looked away awkwardly. Clearly, she was hiding something.

“Did you break it?”

“N-No, I didn’t break it!”

Snow pulled out the wand she had at her waist. Indeed, there were no signs of damage.

However, that only made it more confusing why she was looking at the rod so covetously.

The wand she uses was already in her possession when I joined Stormbreaker, and it shows no signs of deterioration. In fact, it’s a rather high-quality item. It would be a waste to consider replacing it.

“Hey, Snow. If you’re having any troubles, you can talk to me—”

“Shut up.”

Snow cut me off and started walking away.

“Hey, hey! Where are you going!?”

“Shut up! I’m just going back to the inn!”

Seeing her clearly rejecting me, I couldn’t bring myself to follow her. She seemed a bit emotionally unstable, but she wasn’t in a daze, and her steps were steady. It didn’t seem necessary to force her to stay—though I was still worried.

If it had been Rain instead of me, she might have talked to him. But she might also resist showing her weaknesses to the person she has feelings for.

“Rod...”

I looked at the rod displayed in the showcase. It had simple decorations, but to the discerning eye, it was a rather excellent piece. The price, no matter how many times I looked at it, was still out of my reach.

There’s a trend that weapons are not that important for mages.

Unlike swordsmen, whose combat power is directly linked to the quality of their weapons, mages use magic to attack, not the rods themselves. They don’t hit enemies with their rods.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they are completely meaningless. Rods have a supportive role in enhancing the effects of magic, and using a good rod gives mages a sense of security. Magic is strongly linked to mental state, and if the caster is mentally unstable, the magic will also be unstable.

Mages, being human, naturally come in various types. Some are always calm and composed, while others have intense emotional fluctuations.

Snow is the type with intense emotional fluctuations. When she’s up, she’s up to the sky, and when she’s down, she’s down to the ground. She channels her emotions into her magic, and her current state is clearly reflected in her magic, for better or for worse.

—Mages should always be calm.

This trend is prevalent not only in the adventurer community but also in the mage community.

It’s better for magic to be consistent. Therefore, mages should always be calm and composed, and should not be swayed by emotions.

By this standard, Snow might not be considered a good mage.

However, I don’t think so. Her magic is lively.

It laughs with her, cries with her—showing expressions like a living being. As a fellow mage, albeit in a different role, I find it very endearing.

“Even if I say that, it might just be a consolation...”

The gap between attack mages and support mages is deep precisely because they are both mages.

Attack mages are always attacking enemies, gathering hate, and exposed to the possibility of death. In comparison, support mages, who support their allies from the back, are much safer.

It’s understandable why the feeling of “Why are they treated differently even though they’re both mages?” arises.

“Sigh...”

A sigh escaped my lips.

I thought Snow didn’t have any aversion to support mages.

But her reaction just now... maybe I just didn’t see it. Maybe I just didn’t want to see it.

“Maybe it should have been Rain here instead of me...”

Mages understand each other, and sometimes, they understand too much.

Thinking about having to face Snow again soon, I couldn’t help but sigh again.