Ethan

Ethan

First appearance: Retribution, chapter 3
Last appearance: Retribution, chapter 28
Appears in: Retribution

Latest status

Alive — dies and is restored during the final battle, then departs Riley’s party for less dangerous adventures

Ethan is the armored tank of a university-student trio traveling with Riley’s party toward Vaerwald. Initially brash and focused on catching up to Riley’s abilities, he grows steadily more thoughtful after enduring a brutal guild trial that reshapes his fighting style and outlook. Loyal and protective through the party’s escalating dangers, his journey is one of quiet maturation under pressure, ending with him choosing to step back from Riley’s path toward gentler, less perilous adventures of his own.

Abilities

• Earth magic affinity and a new spell, gained by completing the earth guild’s advancement trial — Book 2.5
• Stone Skin (defensive transformation ability) — Book 2.5

Book 2.5: Retribution

Ethan is a burly warrior wielding a great sword and shield, part of a university group from the UK traveling with Riley’s party toward Vaerwald. Initially impatient to reach Vaerwald and uninterested in sightseeing, he grows more invested after an ambush in which Riley reveals unexpected combat skill; he treats her revealed abilities as a game mechanic rather than a moral question, and shortly after learns she is effectively a celebrity adventurer, which he greets with blunt enthusiasm.

Motivated to close the skill gap with Riley, he seeks out weapon training and later volunteers for the earth guild’s advancement trial to help secure a meeting with the disillusioned fire mage Flare, despite warnings from Vivian about its severity. The trial subjects him to extreme, magically enhanced pain, but he refuses to quit and completes it, emerging with a new earth-magic affinity and a Stone Skin ability, along with a more thoughtful, quietly confident demeanor.

When Emma secretly tips off bounty hunters, triggering an ambush in which Ethan loses a hand, he confronts her directly, arguing the game carries real consequences and demanding she change rather than simply being punished or forgiven outright; he holds this position through the following chapters, alternating between tactical advisor, group morale-booster, and protector as the party investigates the fire guild’s undead trade and infiltrates the Great Library.

During the library infiltration he tanks damage for the retreating party, helps carry the injured Cecil, and holds a defensive line against paper golems and library defenders, ultimately dying while shielding his teammates in the final confrontation with the transformed head librarian. After the party is restored and Riley stands trial before the Council, Ethan is present for her sentencing; rather than continue adventuring with her, he chooses to part ways, telling her that traveling with her has become too dangerous for his taste, though the two remain on friendly terms.

Status: Alive → Alive — dies and is restored during the final battle, then departs Riley’s party for less dangerous adventures

Riley: Grows from a pragmatic travel companion into an admiring, protective ally who volunteers for a punishing trial on her behalf, then parts ways amicably after deciding her adventures have become too dangerous.

Emma: After she secretly betrays the group to bounty hunters, costing him a hand, he confronts her and insists she change her behavior, offering conditional forgiveness rather than either punishment or blanket acceptance.

Key quote: “I think I’m going to pass. Life’s a little too intense hanging around you – if you know what I mean.”

Appears in

• Retribution — 22 chapters