Knight Dave was a big man, bigger than any man Eric had ever seen before. Eric was in awe at how big a man can even be but maybe he stared a little too hard. Knight Dave was approaching them.

Before Eric could die off a nervous breakdown, Dave spoke,” Hey, Shine.”

“Hi.”, replied Shine visibly irritated.

“Have you changed your mind about joining my faction?”, asked Dave.

“No. I will never join your faction.”

“Oh well, maybe next time. My offer still stands and you’re always welcome”, said Dave before walking away.

“mY OfFeR STilL sTAnDs”, said Shine with Dave nowhere to be seen.

“Who does he think he is-”, he continued but Eric stopped paying attention.

“That was Dave”, said Orph catching Eric’s attention.

“They say he’s also an ability user with his super strength.”, he continued.

An ability user, no wonder he was so big thought, Eric, to himself.

They both soon said their goodbyes to Shine and went to the new orphanage.

On the way over there, Orph looked back at Eric and spoke, “Why does Shine not like you?”.

“Is my bad performance not enough for him to not like me?”, Eric asked back.

“No... No, this is something more... Did something happen in-between you guys?”, Orph asked back.

Eric looked at Orph for a few moments before sighing and replying, “I faced him in a tournament as a kid...”

“As a kid? I thought my orphanage was special regarding this.”

Eric paused and looked down, and spoke after sighing again,” It is special... I was stronger than the usual kids, so I guess... It made me cocky”.

“I was stronger, I mean not exactly stronger just because of my curs-”, Eric continued before looking up at Eric, then spoke again, “My blessing.”

Orph looked at Eric in silence for a while before facing forwards again.

“I get it now, somewhat.”, said Orph.

The rest of their journey was in silence.

“Look who’s back!”, exclaimed Bk trying not to fall down on the ground tired,

With neither Eric nor Orph replying to his statement Bk got up from his slumped-up position and spoke, “The builder got more men to work for him... with him but it’s not enough... it’s nowhere near enough...” and fell down on the ground, unable to take it anymore.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Orph sneered and spoke, “What would you guys do without me?” and took the ax from the guy who was cutting the trees and did his magic, which was cutting the trees in one big swoop.

“Well, it’s time to get to work.”, said Eric sprinting to where Orph was. Bk sighed, got up, and tried his best to follow.

With the extra help from the other people and the builder, they were able to get pretty far into building the cabin.

All of them, proud of what they did so far, took a break.

Orph approached Eric, who spoke after seeing Orph approaching him, "If it isn’t Orph, the slayer of trees.”

Orph laughed and picked up a stick and threw it at Eric and said, “Here! Catch!”

Eric barely caught the stick and looked at it, he then spoke up and asked, “A stick?”

“Not just any stick, a big stick... can also be used as a spear if you add those pointy things at it.”, replied Orph.

“Pointy things?”

“Yes! Pointy things!”

Before Eric could laugh, Orph continued speaking and said, "Look you were right before, we were trained to be the King’s knight, so I don’t really have any knowledge with weapons not called a sword.”

“I never really paid attention as to why we weren’t trained with other weapons, I mean the spear is probably the best melee weapon out there... with all its range.”, he continued.

Orph picked up another stick, but way smaller, and spoke, “Think of that stick as a spear and come at me.” and took his stance.

Eric looked at the big stick and thought that it was worth a try and charged right at Orph.

Orph having no experience in facing off against spears underestimated its range and got poked by it.

“Wow, you actually hit me!”, said Orph hiding his shock.

“Are you trying to mock me?”, asked Eric being defensive.

“Ha, no. But you see my point, right?”, replied Orph.

Eric looked at his big stick and thought about it.

Bk coughed and spoke, “I hope I didn’t interrupt a tender moment.” and laughed.

“What are you doing here?”, questioned Orph somewhat annoyed.

“The builders and his friends called it a day for today but I need help with something.”, replied Bk.

Bk gestured both Orph and Eric to follow him, which they both did.

“So, I want to create a farm.”, said Bk.

“That came out of nowhere.”, replied Orph.

“Not out of nowhere, I’ve thought about this but we need extra sources of income and this would be a good learning experience for the kids!”

“Are you sure?”

“I think so, yes. So, do any of you have any experience with farms?”

Eric looked over Bk’s excited face and decided to help him.

“My parents are farmers.”, said Eric.

“They are? Then would you like to give me some pointers?”, replied Bk.

Eric nodded and took his equipment out, showing Bk the way to farming.

“Wow, you’re good at this!”, exclaimed Bk.

Eric awkwardly laughed and spoke, “Yes... to someone who’s never seen farming, maybe but... but I’m just decent at it.”

Bk didn’t really know what Eric spoke about but was really thankful that he showed him the way.

Eric gave Bk the equipment and got out and took a breather, He saw a huge crowd of people in armor marching out of the city.

Orph looked over to Eric and saw what he was looking at.

“Those are the Viscount and his men; they’re going to save the princess from the dragon... It’s a tradition as far as I’m aware.”, said Orph.

Eric looked at the men going with slight jealousy, he knew he wasn’t ready but will he ever be?

“I don’t even think a dragon exists but no one has come back from this journey, so it might be something far more sinister or maybe it’s just a dragon.”, Orph continued.

Both of them went to their rooms this time, camping for two or three days in a row was a little too much for their tired bodies. The next day, there was an announcement regarding the knight internship.

“We’re going to hunt some slave owners and increase my reputation with the public! Now who wants to join me?”, screamed Knight Dave to the top of his lungs.

“At least he’s honest.”, thought Eric to himself.

He looked over at Orph and saw his determined look, Eric knew what they were going to do this vacation.