Party Member Interviews: Ruby!

Ipa and I walked into the guild house and I shriveled up out of pure irritation. I knew it was coming... when were they going to say it? I watched all around, looking for people that would walk up to me and explain that damn mission ranking system.

"What's wrong? You look sick." Ipa said, putting adhesive on the back of the paper and hanging it on the wall.

"I look sick because I'm anticipating something disgusting," I mumbled to him. There she was! She's coming!

"Hi, there! I've never seen your face around here before, are you familiar with guilds?" I could feel my brain shrivel up in my head as I face-planted onto the table I was sitting down at. There it was, that goddamn guild speech I dreaded ever since I landed here.

"Please... don't talk... I know how a damn guild works. S is your highest mission rank, only for the most experienced adventurers... please... don't explain it to me... please... don't offer me any guild missions." I mumbled into the table.

"Sorry, my friend here is quite the downer. We aren't interested in missions right now, we're interested in getting party members if you could make the alert." Ipa said to the girl. I was still planted at the table with no motivation to get up at all.

"Oh don't tell me, only three S rank adventurers have been able to take on S rank missions and are the strongest people in the entire world, right? Holy shit, what a turn I couldn't have predicted." I said into the table again. The girl slapped me in the back of the head and hugged a clipboard tightly to her chest.

"Ipa, if you don't get this sorry man to shut his damn mouth I'm going to knock his teeth out." She said. I sat up with a frown and stared at a wall. I would prefer to keep my teeth, if at all possible.

"What, you never liked the anime and manga from our world with guilds?" Ipa asked me.

"I think I could recite the same damn paragraph that every guild-based anime and manga has word for word while completely wasted. If it wasn't for you, I would've never even stepped into this guild." I told Ipa.

-

Some time passed and before we knew it, we had three people we interviewed. All of them seemed to be attracted to Ipa and offered nothing to our team. However, I did learn a lot about different weaponry and classes in this world.

There was Melee, Ranged, and Magic, but there were also 'Ethers', which was a confusing class on its own. Just as I was a General Mage, there were General Melee, General Ranged, and General Ether. Each class has its own specification, lying in Attack, Defense, Healer, and Buffer. When I declared I was a General Mage, that meant I could do all of these things.

Attack Mages have a specialization with spells, and can only use offensive spells. Defense Mages are obviously for taking damage. Healers are for healing, and buffers are for buffing. It was pretty self-explanatory. However, hearing about a Ranged Healer was confusing, along with a Melee Healer. They made swords that you can hit other people with and heal them. It just looked like a foam sword.

The most outlandish class and specification for people were the Ethers. Ethers are the absence of a skill set or spells. All classes have skills and spells, but Ethers specialize in the absence of this, raising raw attack power and defensive power. Because of the lack of spells, there were no such things as Ether Healer or Ether Buffer.

The first girl we interviewed was exactly what I just said couldn't exist... an Ether Healer.

"So, my job is to like, heal my friends. I'm an Ether, so like, I don't think I could heal that well, but I'm like, pretty funny." I slammed my head into the table while listening to her talk. There's no way in God's Green... Erinautis... that I would let her anywhere near me.

"No. Next," Ipa said. The girl walked off with rosy cheeks and slammed the door behind her. The next man walked into the room, brandishing a large axe on his back and a huge shield, probably even bigger than me. Was it bigger than me? Geez, what a scary man... he might be promising.

"Hello there! My name is Archeon, and I'm here to interview for a position on getting close to Ipa!" I paused as he explained. Well... I don't judge.

"Awesome, so, what are your strengths?" Ipa asked him. What was this, a job interview?

"My strengths are these two guns right here! And, I'm a Melee Attacker. I'm pure damage with a few spells to help me do even more damage, and I'm looking to spend my use elsewhere. I'm a level forty, so I'd say I'm pretty strong." Archeon explained.

"Forty?! Holy shit, that's even higher than I am. Ipa, we need this guy!" I told him, but Ipa wasn't impressed yet.

"What are your weaknesses?" Ipa asked him.

"Sometimes I have trouble listening to orders." Archeon said.

"There it is. No. I refuse to have you. Listen, you could die one day because you failed to listen to my orders, and I don't want that on my back. Tell you what, you improve your listening skills, and we will accept you. Deal?" Ipa asked Archeon. He agreed and walked out of the room. Man... Ipa was really adamant on this.

Archeon left the room and a smaller girl walked in while holding her staff close to her body. She looked timid, we probably couldn't count on her at all.

"Um... hello! I um... I'm from Gaia... well, I was. Sieve destroyed my home and um... this is really making me anxious... if you're hunting Joro, I want to join up with you! I want justice for my family that was killed in Zyphilia…" The girl said.

"How old are you?" Ipa asked her.

"I'm fifteen... after I help take down Joro, I'll leave your party, but at least let me stay! I'm a Buffer Mage, I can help from the back!" She pleaded. I could tell Ipa was about to turn her down, so I interrupted.

More than anybody on this planet, I wanted him dead. I was supposed to protect this world as its Hero. I was labeled to be a villain because I didn't fight the people I'm now friends with... so that's it. I gave up, and I only want to kill Joro for taking my friends away.

"Buffer Mage? Ipa, we should take her. I was there when Zyphilia was destroyed, Joro froze it completely over. Her family might not be dead, but they could be unfrozen if we defeat him." I told Ipa. He seemed to consider my decision, looking at both the girl and me.

"You need to teach her how to properly buff us if she's going to be on our team. Come on, come sit by us and help pick out our party members. What's your name?" Ipa asked her.

With tons of enthusiasm, Ruby, our new party member, came to sit down next to us. She had a weird-looking staff that reminded me of a character from my world...

"Nice to meet you! Um... Ipa... and Anima?" The girl asked. We introduced our names as she asked and she sat down happily.

She wore a leather jacket with a red coloring and her whole theme seemed to be red, as she had pale red eyes and red hair with white highlights on it. Maybe she was the smile that this group needed, considering both Ipa and I weren't too nice looking.

"Next! Come on!" Ipa shouted out.