When I woke up the following morning, I was still wondering about what Father had told me the night before.

To think that he had actually never finished his blacksmith's apprenticeship was quite a shocking piece of information, as by the quality of his craft, I thought he was one of the very best blacksmiths in all of Ereneth.

'At least I finally learned why he settled at the Frontier...' I thought as I went to grab something for breakfast.

I also understood his point about coming to terms with my brother Konrad, but there was simply no way to make it happen, at least in the immediate future, as our relationship was far too strained to be fixed by a single conversation.

I know that I carry part of the blame for alienating my brother due to my introverted personality, thus never showing much interest in him.

But that was mostly due to Konrad being too difficult to deal with in the first place.

Even if my foolish brother suddenly stopped his nonsensical aversion toward me, we still lived in entirely different worlds. Not to mention, I was still a wanted man, so it wasn't as if I could simply walk into Ereneth to seek him out.

So, for now, it was inevitable that Father's wish would remain unfulfilled.

"I'll be coming back late..." I then said to Mother as I promptly headed into the Forest right after breakfast.

Since I decided to stay at Bertha's house for the winter with my parents, as I had nowhere else to turn, I needed to do something about securing more food for the winter.

Even though I had plenty of money, there was no way to simply go buy some as the harvest season was long gone, and all the crops were now safely hidden away in people's houses.

That's why the only way to get more food was to hunt it myself. Of course, that had its own set of difficulties as most of the animals were already hibernating in their nests, awaiting the winter's arrival.

However, it was a much easier obstacle to overcome - for me, that is. With the help of my magic sense, I could locate the rabbits even inside their holes, provided they weren't too deep.

'Got you...' I smiled as I managed to locate yet another rabbit. I looked up, noticing it was already past noon.

'I'll need to start heading back soon.' I thought, being aware that the sun would set quite early this time of year.

***

Ultimately, I managed to catch nine rabbits in the following days before the first blizzard hit, signaling the arrival of winter.

But that was still too little to sustain me for the whole winter, so Bertha went into the village and exchanged several rabbits for a bag full of the local staple, ertiber - the pea-like crop that I hated oh so much.

However, I knew it was already enough to impose myself on the poor woman for the entire winter, so I shut my mouth, not saying anything.

Meanwhile, I worked on preparing some extra firewood as I wanted to make myself more useful.

Seeing that everyone was working hard, I didn't want to make it seem like I wasn't contributing anything.

Of course, I wouldn't do it the usual way as I was a mage, after all. Instead, I included it as a part of my standard training regimen, which I continued to dutifully practice every day.

Thus, each morning, I went behind Bertha's house and disturbed the serene atmosphere of the early winter Forest with a powerful-sounding swoosh as I felled one tree after another with the help of my sleek wind blade.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I then chopped the mighty trunks into neat little logs and piled them up into a big heap next to the house.

I used this as an opportunity to practice swinging the finicky blade, and by the month's end, I could use it as precisely as a razor to peel off the bark of a tree.

I moved the twigs and branches that proved too cumbersome to cut up to a big pile by the stream so that my father had enough material for his charcoal-making for months to come.

Soon, to the utter amazement of everyone, the wood pile was as big as Bertha's house and growing still.

This prompted my worried-looking mother to come to me one evening after dinner, and she carefully tried to convince me that I did more than enough and should rest - to which both Father and Bertha began enthusiastically nodding in approval.

'Well, if they think so...' For me, it wasn't that big of a deal as I would expand that essence anyway to train, so I didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Plus, they could sell any excess firewood in the village for some extra cash, but I guess for someone from a medieval-like backwater village, seeing trees being harvested on an almost industrial scale was a bit too much.

So, I then switched from cutting down trees to drying the already-harvested firewood.

I employed the very same process as when I dried the herbs—creating a funnel of hot air, to which I then drew the moisture from the wood and channeled it away, quickly drying it out.

Typically, such a process would take many months, sometimes even years, but with the help of my magic, the freshly cut firewood was now ready to use in a matter of days.

This brought up another round of utter amazement from my parents and Old Bertha alike.

These few experiments also served as a reminder of how beneficial magic could be for society at large if applied cleverly for everyday use instead of the current way where the nobles only hoard it for themselves to maintain their power and privilege.

'What an utter waste of potential...' I sighed, vowing to work hard to change that after graduating from the academy.

Like that, time flew by quickly, and before I noticed, winter had finally arrived, along with the day of my fourteenth birthday.

***

As I woke up on the morning of my fourteenth birthday in the dimly lit room, illuminated only by the faint glow of embers still smoldering in the fireplace, I couldn't help but shiver.

The chill of the freezing air that seeped through the cracks of Bertha's house as the first winter blizzard raged outside made me want nothing more than to cuddle under the cover.

Still, I forced myself to get up, enticed by the pleasant smell wafting from the kitchen area.

'What's this?' I wondered as I made my way over to the table where, to my surprise, I found a freshly made pie-like pastry.

It turned out my mother had outdone herself, and to celebrate our reunion, she made this pie for my birthday, sweetened by a bit of precious honey from Bertha's secret stash.

"Thank you!" I said to her, donning a broad smile as I had quite the sweet tooth, and this had made me very happy.

Although this year's celebration was significantly meager compared to the last one, I still enjoyed it very much, as being able to spend it with my family was all that mattered to me.

***

The rest of the winter turned out to be a pleasant and cozy respite, but with the first signs of spring outside, it was finally the time to begin my long-awaited journey to Grand Tower.

As I stood outside Bertha's small house, bidding farewell to my family, my heart swelled with gratitude for their unwavering support.

My mother hugged me tightly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Be safe, Darian. And remember, we're always here for you," she whispered softly.

"Thank you for everything..." I simply replied, knowing very well this might be the last time I ever see my parents as there was no telling when I might come back, if ever.

Both Mother and Father were reluctant to let me go, but they understood that there would be nothing awaiting me in this tiny village at the fringes of the Kingdom and that with my magic talent, I could accomplish so much more if I ventured into the vast world beyond.

I offered my father some more silver so that he could rebuild the house much faster, but he raised his hand, stopping me.

"You've given us too much already; keep it for yourself. You'll need it a lot more than we do. Not to mention, I also had some savings for a rainy day, so don't worry about us; we'll be fine." He chuckled, shooing me away.

Thus, I kept all my silver alongside the gold coins, which I never used so far, apart from buying the sword in Ostengard. Which brought my total savings to a whopping 61 gold and 217 silver marks.

This meant that despite my recent misfortunes, I was still one of the richest people in all of Ereneth.

'Alright! Time to hit the road.' I thought as I said my final goodbyes, walking away from Bertha's house without looking back.

There was no doubt in my mind that the next few months would prove to be quite challenging, but I was giddy and eager to experience all the new adventures I would undoubtedly encounter on my journey.