Tom P.O.V :

We both stood there, him on his knees, hands an inch from my neck and me on my ass. The cougar lay a foot from me, dead, my knife still embedded in its skull. For about ten seconds we just stared at each other neither finding the right words.

“How did it barely scratch you?” Ajax finally broke the silence “I saw it bine down. I know I saw it bite down.”

“Yeah, it sure did” I answered him after a few seconds “It’s also a level 3, maybe a weak level 4, I have 16 or 17 levels up on it and it also had to bite through leather. I know it’s nowhere near as sturdy as my guard armor but it’s not cloth either. More importantly, you can cast magic?”

He just stood there awkwardly, shifting his gaze guiltily to the side. He wouldn’t say anything, but I refused to let this drop after all he used a healing spell, a healing spell he could only have picked up from Kate using it when we were training three years ago, even if he only practiced it by himself he had to have been able to at least sense mana then to be able to learn it.

“Yes, I can” he eventually responded.

“If you can cast any healing magic you should have been able to at least sense mana if not chant three years ago, you learnt that spell from Kate” I confronted him, a little angrier than I would have liked to be but his mistrust of me despite spending all that time training him was fueling the fire.

“Yes, I did” he answered back, with more conviction in his voice this time.

“And you couldn’t have told me about it at that time?” I sniped back.

“I didn’t tell you about my stealth skill at that time either, yet somehow, after you knocked ME out, half the village knew about it” he lashed out. “I wonder why would I not tell you about a pseudo rare skill after that, mom made it very clear when Judy got her rare skill that those were meant to be kept to oneself.” The last part of his retort started out sarcastically but changed to a bit of regret towards the end.

I just stood there feeling guiltier than I ever remembered. Yes this was my fault, at least partially, I did inadvertently let it slip out to Jonny that he had a stealth skill. The only reason I did that though was because I freaked out after I laid him out, I was carrying him towards my childhood home unconscious when Jonny popped out of the smithy, seeing me carrying him he asked what happened. I blurted out that I slammed him with my shield, then mentioned his stealth skill to defend myself and frame the situation as the accident it was.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to reveal your skill, it’s just I panicked, I had slammed you with my shield after not seeing you for 5 years. I didn’t want it to seem like I meant to hurt you.” I rambled on, not sure what I could say, what I should say. Clearly I had hurt him.

“I hope you can forgive me for that. But being able to access mana is so much bigger than a stealth skill, even without money you could have gone to learn how to use it at the Healing Union for free. Not even nobles can take you from there.”

Even as the words left my mouth I knew they weren’t all that true, at least not anymore. With more and more healing nearing the age of retirement and beastkins elves and dwarves having been released from slavery not even those schools were safe anymore, aside from the one in the capital.

“I don’t want to be a healer, yes I picked up a healing spell because it is useful but healing isn’t something I can do, being so weak despite being so important, I’m too .. I’m too…” he seemed stuck, as if he couldn’t quite find the word he was looking for. “I’m too paranoid for that” he mumbled out, I barely managed to hear it despite my enhanced senses.

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“Par-na-o-eed , what is that?” I tried repeating the word.

He looked up, a mix of shock and fear? Was my being able to hear him, despite his low mumble, something that was disturbing to him.

“Yes, someone overly afraid of unlikely outcomes” He calmed down a bit.

I let the weird word go. We had more important things to talk about right now.

“So nobody knows that you can use magic?” I checked to be sure.

“No, I was careful, always making sure nobody could see me when I practiced my spells” he confessed.

“Spells!!! You know more than one?” I exclaimed.

“I can do the three Kate showed me when I pestered her about it, healing, cleaning and the light orb, other than that I focused mostly on manipulation and casting without chants” he explained, seeming to calm down the more he talked. He even created a small flame atop the palm of hand without speaking a word.

“You can use pure manipulation?” That was somewhat impressive if outdated, chanting and runic magic were the only two used nowadays, runic for speed and chanted for versatility, pure manipulation could do both but was highly inefficient costing up to four times for the same results according to what they taught us in the guards.

“It’s not like I had anyone to teach me either runic or any more chants either, so I did the best I could” he seemed a bit frustrated as he answered that.

That was when another fear gripped me. “You didn’t use any magic in the city right?”

“No, I was too tired from the trip, otherwise I usually practice a bit before bed” he didn’t seem to get my worries. “Why is there some kind of magic detection field around the city?” He seemed curious about this.

“That’s good” I breathed out a relieved sigh” To answer your question, no, there isn’t any kind of of magic detection field around the city, those are expensive to maintain and outside the capital and the three archdukes residential cities there are none in this kingdom”

“What I was worried about was you using it in my home or around the garrison, you see there … “ My voice trailed off, another possibility flashed in my brain so I quickly changed to that “did you ever use magic near Hatchet?”

His eyebrows shot up and he took a step back as I had closed in and put my hands on his shoulders demanding an answer. “I made sure not even he was anywhere near when I practiced my magic” his response was confident “but… he was near me when I got slashed by a kobold and I healed myself. Why?”

“Did he say anything to you?” I pressed further.

“No, but now that you mention it he did seem a lot more relaxed about the poison after I did despite me masking it as just patching it up.”

“That should be fine then, if he didn’t say anything and just let you go despite a perfect excuse to kidnap you he must not care about it, though I suggest you talk to him about it when you get back” I calmed down.

“Again why? And why should I not be using magic in the city if there is no magic detection field?” He was getting a little frustrated with me not answering his questions.

“Mana detection” the two words instantly got through to him “It’s a common skill, also one of the talentless skills, everybody can unlock it, all it takes is constant exposure to magic, it’s

why the few mages and healers we have practice right next to the training field with us, after about 10 years of daily exposure anyone, beside people having mana sense, will unlock mana detection”

This was also why groups were made up of 3 trainees and 1 senior, they needed someone who could detect magic.

“But how do you know Hatchet has that skill, why would you be worried about him and not anyone else in the village?” Ajax seemed a bit skeptical of all this.

“No way anyone else in the village has been exposed to that much magic, but as I told you mom sent me a letter about Hatchet agreeing to train you as a hunter. When I found out I looked into him, asked around. I found out he used to be an Adventurer some 20 years back, he quit after a job went sideways really bad, but before that he was a middle tier scout in a big city, no way he survives that without a way to sense or detect mana” it was common sense.

“Unlike our little corner of the world, where we only run into monsters underground or sparingly in the forest because of the enclosed space between the mountains, out there monsters move more freely, a scout without either of those skills will be useless. “

“I guess we should head back” He finally said after thinking about what I told him.

“Are you stupid?” I smacked him across the head “ Jimmy and Arthur saw me when I left the city, we’re not going back until you heal this little scratch on my neck so I can conceal it under my collar.”

“What?” He seemed surprised.

“We look out for each other, no way I leave in the morning fine and return with a half healed bite mark on my neck, Kate will learn you have magic tonight when she sees it, but I trust her not to spread it around” I huffed and pulled the knife out of the cougar. “Now come on might as well catch that deer while we wait.”