There was an order to things. That was how Grodri usually liked it. He was a simple man that liked simple things. For example: Every other day he would go to the market, sell his produce, and buy from the baker's daughter. After eating lunch he would make sure that his fields were tended to enough before feeding his cattle, and further into the night, he would then go back home, pray for a good harvest, and go to sleep early after making sure that no monsters or beasts were dead set on eating his cattle. It was a simple pattern that he often repeated, only broken up by the village head on various occasions either due to an announcement of a new addition to the village or perhaps a noble visiting their quant town, although that one hadn't happened in some time. The last time he could recall it happening was 54 years ago, back when he was just a toddler hugging his mom's legs. There could've also been an emergency being called, like a monster sighting and all of them would have to pool their money to post for a hunter, or perhaps a festival was coming up and they needed his help with decorations. Other than that though, Grodri kept to his schedule. And he was happy.

Today, that had changed though. Rather than going and doing field work once again in the midmorning, he was caught outside his house staring down the road at something which caught him off guard mid-swing with his arms. The wind whipped his ears past his skull, and while his eyes teared up in the rushing air, his senses still managed to find themselves buried deep into the earth. His eyes wouldn't have been able to see any danger anyways, considering they had long since become useless once his Affinity manifested. It was also the reason he was pushed to the outskirts of town along with all the others like him. Their enhanced senses, while insanely helpful towards any growth of crops, also doubled as an advanced warning system. If anything were to happen, they would just dig as deep as they could go and send messages to the town via root network. However, before he did anything, he noticed that while the pounding footfalls of beasts or monsters had reverberated through the ground, there was also a sense of creaking coming through that felt familiar towards Grodri. This was no monster. It was but a carriage coming to town. Normally, this kind of instance wouldn't be too distracting for him, considering carriages passed through every so often on their way towards the city further on or heading the direction the carriage was coming from, either coming from the cities closer to the coast, the desert south, or the domains by the mountains. Normally, if a carriage was coming by, he'd usually just walk over, and say hi to the carriage driven. He'd then strike up a conversation to question them on their need for help with directions, or tell them where they might be able to stay the night for cheap. No, what caught him off guard was the pounding he had felt.

That, without a doubt, had to be a monster. There wasn't anything in terms of beasts that could hold that much mass or cause such intense footfalls. What confused Grodri the most though, was the fact that it was just calmly walking next to the carriage. Now, Grodri wasn't exactly sure why that would be something that would occur in the real world, besides the idea of wayward nobility showing off. There was also the fact that he had heard of [Tamers] before, so they might also be the reason behind a monster not feasting upon the driver's soul. However, he hadn't ever thought that the class could tame something that big. Plus, the class details weren't exactly known to him all that well considering he never really wanted to change his class from what his father had taught him. Eventually, he figured, he'd be able to farm all the land in the village and no longer rely upon the others forced to do so. His father had been the resident [Farmer] after all. He thought that perhaps the local [Lorekeeper] would probably know about [Tamers] class features better, but he hadn't talked to the crone in forever. Plus, he doubted he could get to her in time before they arrived. So, he put on a brave face, and walked on over, pulling his roots back together to from back into the shape of an Ev. If he couldn't get the news out, he might as well stall for time if it was something dangerous. At least long enough for other people to notice. So, with determined steps, he abandoned his fields and walked closer, his leaves changing back to the natural hair he'd inherited.

It wasn't until he was actually able to the carriage and the driver in the front seat, did he realize he had nothing to fear. Sure, the monster was definitely looking at him, more like staring really, but Grodri was more busy witnessing an old acquaintance coming to town. He couldn't care less how he had managed to tame such a thing, given his class wasn't suited towards it, but he probably figured it was another one of his gadgets he would be selling around town on the way through. However, it was almost too late when he remembered that he was about to bare witness to a flash much closer than what he was normally used to, so he closed his eyes in preparation. Something bright flashed through his eyes, along with the sound of thunder, and his skin feasted upon the sensation of heat and light. When the normal amount of daylight finally came through, he opened them again to see the familiar message of Marwall the Merchant spelt out in magical fire in the sky. It only took him about three minutes of roaming the grasslands past his farm before he managed to finally garner the attention of the bast.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Marwall! I didn know ya were comin' round! Glad ta see ya so soon, but...did ya not sell a lot in da city further on?" At this there was some fuss in the driver's seat as Marwall reigned in his alpicus. Meanwhile, the beast besides the carriage had fallen on its face in a dazed state before picking itself back up again and glaring at the carriage it had ran into. It growled a bit before focusing its eyes back on the road and sitting down.

"Marwall? What's going on out there? I was taking a nap. Are we already in the city?" At this, Grodri saw a thing pop out of the carriage blinds. It almost looked like one of those short bestial evs that sometimes roamed close to the town from the forests in the north. However, there was no fur covering their body except for some of the places that wasn't covered in clothing, and their lankiness managed to reach towards an average ev's height, at least for the village. He was sure that he had heard there were taller ones near the capital city, but he didn't really care all too much about that.

"Ahh, hello there. I take it tha da biggun o'er there is yours?" It glanced over to the aforementioned green beast, before looking back towards the ev.

"Wait...are you an [elf]?" Grodri looked askance before raising himself in pride. No one ever sought to compare his measly form with the originator before.

"Why, I do believe I am one of his evs, good sir. Why do you ask?" The thing looked conflicted before giving a response.

"Not seen too many evs in my time alive. Only heard about you through others, you see, and to answer your question earlier, yes. That is my friend, and no he won't eat you. He's thoroughly a plant, so he just needs water and sun." At this, Grodri was seen to be visibly relaxing at a familiar companion. It had been a long time since he had seen any folk similar to him, and it was quite exciting to see someone of the same kind as he. Most in the village tended towards either sand, dirt, stone, or just regular wood. His musings on the wolf's form were disrupted, however, when he noticed that Marwall had pulled out his infamous chalk board.

'Sorry for turning on that little marvel while you were right in front of me. Guess I was only paying attention to the village's distance and I thought it was around lunch time so you might be in town by now. You're not injured are you?'

"Not too much, ta be honest. Some spots flotin around beneath my green eyes, bu other than that, nothin much." Marwall's smile returned to his face.

'Good. By the way, this is my companion, Dave. We met on the road and I've agreed to shepherd him across to the next city.' Grodri stuck his hand upwards towards the thing looming over the seat.

"Pleasure ta meet ya then, Dav." Dave sat down next to Marwall, and reached a hand back before giving a handshake.

"You as well. I tell you, there hasn't been many people I've met who are willing to handshake now and again."

"Don't mention it. Little hospitality tends ta go a long ways. Anyway, how many marvels ya got this time Marwill?" The little bast thought for a second, paw cupped underneath his face, before he leaned over and checked under his seat. There, he pulled out his written documents, and started counting upon his fingers. Dave leaned over his to look at the paper as well.

"Seems to me, like just a bunch of-" At this, Marwall stuck a hand into Dave's mouth. Before showing his response on his board and sternly glaring at his accompanying traveler.

'Seems to me like Marwall's Mystical Marvels and Mercantile can go open for business for about a week before heading off.' Grodri nodded.

"Seems about right. Although, given ya have a passenger, I'd say ya probably want to spend less time here?" Marwall nodded.

"Well alright then. I'll go tell the Village Head then. Make sure no one's screamin monster, ya know." At this Marwall nodded, pulled his hand out of Dave's mouth, and waved goodbye.

"Why the [place of eternal damnation] did you do that for, Marwall? I was just goin-" However, Grodri could no longer hear their conversation, or at least the one-sided bits. He had already ran too far away to hear it, his feet tearing into the soil before the roots undid themselves and pulled him along the side of the road back towards his fields, and just as fast, past them. He was excited of course. Marwall had been giving this town his wares at a steep reduction in pricing from what they knew most other [Artificers], [Tinkers], and [Scions] charged. Unlike most merchants who would only go down if someone held [Bargaining] , he was already aware of the wealth disparity that existed among those who lived in different places. In that, Grodri was glad to call him a truly good merchant, as others that came to town simply did not care about their wealth situation and sold their wares at the national standard. There was also the fact that he sold Grodri a nice machine earlier on last Summer that helped water his fields, given that any [Aqua Mages] that arose here had long since left their humble village to help in port towns in far off places. That put him in Grodri's good graces once he had been able to gain some free time when Winter came around and his crops had to be encapsulated within himself. Of course, some of his wares did have some malfunctions here and there, but since Marwall was still there when he sold them, he was able to help with their repairs and tell others about the proper maintenance of them and the tools that they might need to fix any issues that could arise.

'Yep', Grodri thought, 'this was going to be another good day.' It may have started off strange for him before he had managed to finish up his fields, but at least it could start and any day that he was still alive was a good one in his mind.