Starlight Necromancer

Chapter 52 - Introduction

Kyla sat down at the table, and Foster quickly did the same. With a gentle smile, Kyla looked at the man in front of her, "So... We didn't really get the chance to talk about that much stuff yesterday, but I'm sure you're a Martial Artist, right?"

"Yup, that's right. Although, that's not all there is to it. I've got a bit of a special class that lets me use some magic, and it also let me form a contract with this little guy." Foster explained, grabbing Aster from his head before holding it forward. It was important for Kyla to know about him if they were going to explore a dungeon together, otherwise she might end up trying to attack the small spirit.

"Oooh!" She let out with a broad smile on her face, "It's adorable! What is it?"

"He's just a nature spirit. I only recently formed a contract with him, though." Foster explained with a smile on his face, rubbing his finger over the top of Aster's head. With an excited expression, Kyla leaned forward to take a closer look at the small spirit.

"That's so cool! Clerics can't really form contracts with spirits, otherwise I already would have..." She said, extending her finger out toward Aster to rub his belly, while Foster lightly smiled.

"Is that so? Sorry, I don't really know much about religion, I was raised in a place where nobody really cared for it." Foster pointed out, and Kyla lightly chuckled, "Don't worry about it! Not many people are incredibly religious! And most of the gods have different ways for their believers to pray to them. For example, I'm a cleric to the goddess Melodia, the goddess of voice and song! She really doesn't have any churches built for her... sure, you might find a shrine in a larger temple, but for the most part, we show her our love through performance."

"Ah, that would explain the harp." Foster said, pointing at the instrument by her side, and Kyla quickly nodded her head, "Mhm, it's one of Melodia's signature instruments~! I do know how to play all of them, but the harp is my personal favorite, you know?"

"It is a pretty instrument, yeah. Honestly, I can barely even hold a note."

"Haha, don't worry, I was like that a long time ago as well." Kyla explained, "It took me until I was twenty just to master my voice, and then another one or two decades to master most of the instruments I had access to~! It just takes practice!"

"...What?" Foster let out with a wry smile, "Sorry if that sounds rude, but... are you not human?"

"Hu- Oh! Haha, no, no, I'm not human at all! I know I look like it quite a bit, but I'm actually an Aria!"

"...Act like I don't know what that is..." Foster said with a wry smile, and Kyla raised her brows surprised, "You see, we Aria are-"

"Sorry for being late!" Octer interrupted Kyla, just as she was about to explain what exactly an Aria was. Although maybe he kind of saved Foster, since it might be rather rude to ask about those sorts of things here... He actually really didn't know what was considered rude here and what wasn't.

Either way, he quickly looked at his friends as they both sat down, "Don't worry about it! Well, I guess everyone is here, so we should introduce ourselves properly?" Foster suggested, and everyone seemed to agree that this was a good idea.

"Then let me start, since you two probably already talked a bit, right? I'm Octer, and my class is 'Shield Bearer'. I have a few years of experience as an adventurer, although I kinda just did odd-jobs and hopped around different parties to make money, y'know?" Octer explained, "Obviously, I'm a tank, and I can use Martial Skills like 'Iron Skin' and 'Mock'."

"Oh! Those are pretty special ones, right? I heard not that many people have those!" Kyla said, happy to hear that Octer seemed to have such useful abilities, although Foster turned toward Lynol, not aware why those were 'special'. He had only seen the 'Mock' ability, Octer had used it during the fight with that huge wolf.

"Yeah, I know, I was kinda obsessed with magic growin' up, so I ended up training for skills that felt a bit more like magic, you know?"

"Oh, I totally understand what you mean!" Kyla said with a light chuckle, while Foster leaned over toward Lynol, "You can train to get different martial skills..?"

"What? Of course you can... It's how people usually get their most useful martial skills. A lot are given to you through the base skill, but they're usually just very... generic, basic, and low-power. You're just lucky with yours, since they were basically hand-picked by your predecessor..." Lynol explained to Foster, giving him a lesson about something he wasn't aware he even needed to learn about. At times like these, Foster hoped that he was as enthusiastic studying about things other than space, then maybe he would think about such stuff earlier next time.

"So, I'm Kyla!" She explained quickly, taking the next turn after Octer was done, "I'm a Cleric to Melodia, meaning that I cast miracles through sound! Mostly through song, but I do know about some miracles that are just based around speech as well~!"

"Oh, that sounds a lot like a bard..." Octer pointed out, and Kyla quickly nodded, "Mhm! Many people that follow Melodia do become bards, but due to some circumstances, I became a cleric instead! I was thinking about advancing my class a bit more into the area of magic when it finally reaches maximum level, so maybe I'll be able to cast some spells then as well, like a bard would!"

"Huh, so bards are magic users?" Foster asked, "I didn't know that..."

"Haha, not all bards, of course! Most just like playing music! But some bards do have the chance to expand their skillset into the magical realm as well~!" Kyla explained quickly. Although he was surprised to hear about this, his thoughts about that quickly faded as Lynol introduced himself.

"I'm Lynol. I like swords." He said rather bluntly, before both Foster and Octer stared at him confused, "Could you say a bit more than that, dude?" Foster asked, and Lynol rolled his eyes.

"Alright. I like swords, and also food." He added, and Octer let out a loud sigh as Foster pinched his friend's leg, "Dude, introduce yourself properly, you're being rude..."

"...Fine." Lynol gave in, and looked straight at Kyla, "I'm a Swordsman. My style of combat, despite the weapon I use, is based around fine control of my blade and swift, smooth movements. However, due to the nature of my style, it is unfit for particularly small targets, in particular swarm-type monsters. Since Foster's style relies on heavy and slow attacks as well as a steady base stance, and Octer is a tank with comparatively little offensive ability, the three of us are not a good fit for such a dangerous dungeon, as the one we are here to discuss today. And since you are a sound-based caster, you will only attract the attention of large amounts of enemies. This concludes my introduction, and is at the same time my farewell to you, considering that it is clear we are a particularly bad matchup for such a dungeon.." Lynol said in a blunt voice, basically trying to already make this whole meeting obsolete.