I see Vivian’s question draw a bemused smile onto Gin’s face, and he attempts to stifle a laugh. “You saw it just now, didn’t you? His Arcane Roots? Intriguing, right?”

Vivian slaps Gin gently across the back of the head, whispering “Don’t give me that, Master. Who is this boy, really? Or rather, what is he?”

Gin shrugs. “Beats me. I just found him by the side of the road.”

“... You make him sound like a lost puppy...”

“Look, all I know is, I was on the road to Ridge Port yesterday, right, and then one second he wasn’t there, the next, he was.”

“What, like some teleportation spell? Hold on, high-level magic, inhuman amounts of potential…” Vivian shoots a glance in my direction before returning back to Gin, whispering, “Master, you’re not traveling around with a demonborn, are you???”

“Don’t be stupid, my apprentice, of course he’s not a demon,” Gin says nonchalantly. And at first, I think he’s admonishing her. Instead, he continues with, “Don’t you think that’s the first I’d check for when encountering something so suspicious appearing out of nowhere? To see if it's inhuman? Why’d you think I had him fight that half-ogre in the first place?”

Hold on. Gin thought I was the suspicious one…?

“Well, Master, considering that with your powers, you could have just as easily read his stats, yet chose to have him fight a half-ogre instead, I can only assume your reasoning was because you’re whimsical and enjoy circuitous solutions to simple questions.”

“Noooo. Well, yes, but it was also my genius-level plan to prove he wasn’t just using illusion magic or the like to hide his true nature. As they say, ‘Battle reveals the heart of the warrior’.” Gin says, striking a solemn pose.

“No one says that.”

“Ahem,” Gin coughs, “At any rate, let me tell you, the way I saw him fight, well, let’s just say it’s clearly apparent he’s never been trained in magic before, defensive or otherwise, let alone high level magic like a demon. I think we can safely assume he’s just a human boy, albeit a rather odd one.”

“... What are you still not saying, Master…?” Gin’s face grows pensive for a moment, and when he doesn’t reply, Vivian lets out a sigh instead. “In any case, there’s an issue with your theory. If he truly is just a child who doesn’t know any magic, shouldn’t he have died long before now?

Wait… dead? Me?

Why do adults always talk to each other as if children around them can’t hear? Is it because they assume the child won’t understand what’s being said? I’ve found this to be true back on earth as well- parents, neighbors, teachers- it just seems to slip their minds that a child is present. Well, I’ve just about had enough of it.

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“Why do you think I cast the illusion spell on him and this room, Vivian, to mask his-”

“Stop ignoring me and talking like I’m not here! I can hear everything you’re saying. What are you two even going on about? What do you mean I should be dead already?”

Vivian and Gin turn to me in unison, genuine surprise on their faces. Finally, it’s Vivian who speaks up, letting out a sigh before she begins. “You know about Arcane Roots, right, beansprout?”

“Uh, not really. Actually, not at all.”

“Master…,” Vivian sighs, “Okay, well, I don’t have time to give you a full lecture on the subject, beansprout, but here’s the short of it. Basically, a person’s Arcane Roots is what allows them to use magic, and Arcane Roots are typically characterized by two qualities.” Vivian holds up two fingers to emphasize the point. “These qualities are Aptitude and Potential. You can think of it like a fire, which has both a color and a size. A fire can be red, orange, yellow, blue, with increasing hotness. It can also be a small candle flame, or a blazing forest fire. In the same, Arcane Roots have a color, depending on a person’s Aptitude, which determines its ‘hotness’. In other words, the strength of your magic. Arcane Roots also have a size. This is the Potential, where a greater size indicates greater potential. Following so far?”

I nod, the exploding half-ogre comes to mind...

“So, is my aptitude great or something?” I ask.

“No, it’s crap,” Vivian replies flatly.

“Oh.”

“But your potential is the real issue. You see, monsters are drawn to things with high magical potential, and the bigger the potential, the more dangerous the monster it attracts, and the further away from which it will attract them. Think of it like insects to a candle, only instead of a candle, it’s an entire forest on fire. Your potential could easily attract calamity-class monsters, from miles away, due to its sheer size-”

Ah, is that why the half-ogres attacked in the first place…?

“- In fact, there are plenty of examples of entire villages being decimated by monsters lured by the magical potential of one of the village children-”

“W-wait, so is Ridge Port in danger? I’ve just been wandering around town-!”

“Relax, beansprout. Gin’s already taken the precaution of masking your potential with illusion magic-”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“-Usually, it’d be up to the mage himself to do it, but since you're completely oblivious…”

I let out a sheepish laugh.

“In any case,” Vivian continues, “That’s what I meant by you should be dead already. Usually, newbies like you, wandering around in the wilderness, would have been dinner for a high class monster long ago. You’re just lucky that Gin found you first before that happened.” She pauses, pensive for a moment, before then turning to Gin. “Master, I can see why you protected him. It’d be a waste to let him be eaten given his potential. But something’s still bothering me. How did he take down that half-ogre? You said he used a single cast of Magical Arrows? On average, you’d need three…”

“It was injured,” Gin shrugs.

“Still, it shouldn’t have killed it, let alone cause it to explode…”

Gin pulls Vivian into a chummy embrace, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Yes, quite mysterious, isn’t it? Well, just another reason to keep Jaxon around, right?”

Vivian brushes Gin’s arm off, then sighs. “Master, I’m sure you're aware, but you should have explained all this to him earlier yourself. In fact, isn’t that your whole job?”

“Well, I was about to, but then this and that happened, and I kind of just lost track of the timing. Hahaha!”

I look to Gin, then Vivian, contemplating all that was said. I didn’t quite understand all of it, but it does sound like Gin has been looking out for me all this time, albeit in his own quirky, convoluted way. Is that why he had been so persistent to become friends?

I lower my head. “Thank you, Gin! I’m sorry I was suspicious of you at the start!”

As I raise my head, I find Vivian waving her hand, as if disapproving of what I had said. “No, no, you were totally in the right to be suspicious. It just so happens that under his highly suspicious exterior, Gin is also a good person at heart.”

“I think that was a complement?” Gin says, laughing. Then turning to me, he continues, “Okay, enough of the chitter chatter. Too much talking gets boring. What’s say we go take down some bad guys?!”

I nod. “Let’s do it!”