I slumped down in my chair in the alchemy club minutes after failing to find a teacher to teach me restoration magic. I looked through the job board for anyone that might be offering restoration training but found nothing, for some reason restoration wasn’t being taught by anyone and I had no understanding as to why.
“Are you alright Arthur?” I turned to my left where I heard a familiar voice ask. When I looked I saw it was Lydus standing just a few meters away with a slight look of concern on his face.
“Oh, hey Lydus. I'm just having some difficulty finding someone to teach me restoration magic. I looked through all the postings on the job board for magic teachers and I couldn’t find anyone. You don’t happen to know of anyone who might be willing.” I wasn’t really expecting anything from Lydus since he was an alchemist rather than a healer, but asking him for help couldn’t hurt.
“Found an interest in restoration magic eh? I actually know why you aren’t having any luck with your search.” I quickly straightened myself up upon hearing Lydus’s words and gave him my full attention. “When it comes to teaching restoration magic it is slightly different from every other type that the guild offers. You will need to become an apprentice to one of the healers within the city to receive any real training. Now I don’t know of anyone that is looking for an apprentice, but you never know what you might come across.”
Though Lydus didn’t have a solution for me he did have some information I was lacking. With that information I already knew of a place that might be willing to take another apprentice, in fact it was a place I had been to a few times to spend some time with one of the apprentices that was a friend. “Actually I think I know a place that might be willing to take me on.”
“You do? Good news then, and the best of luck with that.” Lydus gave me a smile and went back to his paperwork while I stood up and left the club and then the guild. I quickly joined with the common folk on the street and started walking south for the clinic that Calavia had been working at during the time we were friends.
********
Following the roads in the most direct way to the clinic took me around half an hour with all the foot traffic, most of which was in the western distinct. Like I remembered before the previous captain was exposed for his crimes the southern district was in rather poor condition, but the people that were walking around the streets and in the buildings looked far happier and more relaxed than before. Though their structures still needed some work their spirits seemed to be healing from the prolonged suffering caused by the old captain.
Eventually the clinic came into my view, its old wooden sign being one of the few objects on the street that had any paint or even color. A small line of poor yet happy looking people were standing outside its door. I joined at the very back of the line and waited until I was at the very front of the line, the woman I recognized as the owner of the clinic was the one directing and processing the clients at the very front. She looked up and with an eyebrow raised asked me a question. “You aren’t here for medical treatment are you?”
“No, I was wondering if you are taking on any apprentices at the moment.” I quickly answered, which surprised her for a moment.
“You are interested in an apprenticeship as a healer?” She leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed as I nodded. “Do you have any experience with restoration magic? Because that is how I and my employees treat our patients.”
I gave a small nod and showed what I could do by making a small cut on my hand and quickly healing it right back up. She took my hand and inspected where the small cut was just a few seconds prior before letting go.
“You do have some skill with restoration magic, I assume you learned all that from books though instead of actually healing people.” She said as she started writing something down on a piece of paper and handing it to me. “I am rather busy right now with all my clients, but that is a date when I will be free to conduct an actual interview with you.” I stepped outside the clinic before taking a look at the paper I was given.
The paper had a location and a time where the owner of the clinic would be in one day. It was a local tavern in the district that I had actually passed on my way to the clinic. I smiled and placed the paper into my bag before stepping back onto the street and walking back towards the western distinct.
‘Looks like I have a bit of time to handle sharing the hidden base of the Rusted Daggers with the southern city guard. I have some paper back home I can write everything I know on, then I can figure out how to get it to the captain without linking me.’
*********
I quickly found a cheap piece of paper and with an ink pot in hand wrote down as much as I could fit onto the page about the Rusted Daggers bandits and their camps. I started with the hidden camp within the cave where the upper leadership was and gave the two other long term locations I already knew of. Then I started giving information regarding their leadership and what they were capable of, by the time I finished with the first three leaders I already needed a second page.
‘I need an envelope or a piece of twine.’ I thought to myself as I realized I had no way to keep the pages together without holding them with my hands or magic. ‘The only other option I have is to slide it through a window or under a door.’ I looked at the papers and over to my own door, there was a small crack underneath that I could slide paper under.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
‘That is risky if I want to avoid anyone knowing I have the information. I know captain Tasius is a good man and would be more than willing to listen to what I have to say, but even he would be suspicious at this amount of information. That just leaves the windows, though I will need to check out the building from a distance before I try anything like that.’
Looking out the window for a general sense of the time I saw it was a few hours past noon, late enough to make a walk by to see if the window to the captain’s window was open.
*********
Outside the barracks of the southern district I made my move and started walking around the building in a wide arc. I kept to the west side of the building where I recalled the captain’s office being. Eventually I noticed the window to his office and it was slightly open, just wide enough to allow some air inside that I could take advantage of.
I soon left the area and found a good spot to stand just a street away, from there I watched the building until darkness came. Only then did I make my move.
With an old cloak over my back and its hood to cover my face I made my way towards the side of the barracks where the captain’s office was located. The streets were mostly empty at this time and a small handful of guards were standing around the barracks, they were mostly concentrated around the entrance with none on side which I took quick advantage of to get close.
When I was within around ten meters of the building and out of sight I looked up and smiled as the window was still slightly open. I picked up the papers and folded them so they would remain together long enough to enter through the window. With the folded papers in my left hand I used my right hand to manipulate the air around it to slowly bring them up and towards the window. Slowly but surely the papers made their way up and with a small flick of my wrist the papers slipped inside.
I didn’t wait to see what would happen next and quickly turned and walked away as quickly as possible. I didn’t even wait until I was close to the western district to take off the old cloak. From there I quickly made my way back to my home and entered through the door. I briefly considered climbing through the window but quickly disregarded the idea, the guards were far better here in the western district than the southern and suspicion wouldn’t do me any good even if it was perfectly legal to enter my own home through the window.
‘Now all I need to do is wait and see if the captain takes my information and uses it. Assuming Lar Tasius is the captain and it wasn’t someone else promoted to the role he should at the bare minimum send someone to investigate the claims and validate them before launching a proper assault on the Rusted Daggers.’
I sneaked a quick peek out the window on the streets below just in case someone was following me. For several minutes I stood there watching but all I saw was the dimly lit streets and the occasional group of guards passing by on their patrols. Soon I stepped back from the window and started getting ready to sleep for the night as it was getting rather late into the evening and I had work to do in the morning.
*********
Hours passed and the dream world that enveloped my mind and soul eventually faded into the real world, slowly I sat up from my bed and looked out the window. I saw the sun was rising from my bed and when I stood to get a better look I saw that it was around seven o’clock in the morning based on the sun’s angle.
Quickly I dressed myself in my new clothes I bought in the northern district and fixed myself a quick and easy breakfast for the morning. I didn’t want to spend much more time doing menial chores and I left my home for the street outside the moment I had a chance. Once outside I quickly joined those who were on the road and made my way towards the tavern the owner of the small clinic for my interview.
With the morning rush it took me some time to find the tavern but when I did I pushed past the common folk rushing towards it and made it inside. Taking a quick look around the interior I eventually spotted the clinic owner at one of the back tables for two having her own breakfast, specifically she was eating some bread and eggs.
I stepped past the tables filled with people and took the chair opposite of the woman much to her surprise. “Here already? I would have assumed you would have taken a bit longer, the time I wrote down to be specific.” She said in a half surprised and half annoyed tone.
“Sorry about that, I try to avoid being late and as a result I usually arrive at places ahead of schedule just in case.” I said quickly trying to avoid leaving a bad impression on the woman who might become my boss very soon. I noticed her eyes softened slightly at my statement and she didn’t look so annoyed by my early arrival.
“I suppose that is a good problem to have. Are you going to eat anything?”
“No, I already had breakfast at my home.” She looked at me strangely at my statement but didn’t say anything.
“Alright… So my name is Laelia, and why don’t you tell me why you want to become an apprentice at my clinic? While my clinic is perfectly functional there are certainly better positions in the city that most definitely offer better pay than I can.” Quickly she brought up why I wanted to join as her apprentice. Since I didn’t want to tell her about Calavia I instead chose to tell her half of the truth.
“I have an interest in learning restoration magic as I am an alchemist and healing potions are something I make almost every day. Since healing potions are just healing spells placed within a liquid containing it, becoming better at restoration magic would make my potions far more powerful.” Though I had no reason to be nervous I still felt that way. I was very interested in learning restoration magic for that reason, but I also wanted to see Calavia again and this would make for an excellent opportunity.
“You're an alchemist? Would you be willing to brew up some healing potions for the clinic as well if I take you as an apprentice? Sometimes we don’t have enough mana to keep our patients alive and even a small stockpile of five or ten decent healing potions could help save lives in emergencies. I will of course pay you for the potions, so don’t worry about compensation.” I could feel in her tone that she was very interested in the fact that I was an alchemist, the idea of easy access to potions likely helping that interest along.
“Yes, I am more than willing to supply you potions. Does this mean you are taking me on?”
“Not yet, I would like to have a demonstration of your ability in restoration first if you wouldn't mind.” She placed her fork back down on the plate and took a decent iron dagger from her pocket, without any warning she made a swift cut across the palm of her left hand that quickly started to bleed.
A little startled by the sudden self inflicted wound I reached forwards and began applying healing magic on the wound. I carefully guided the energy to the cut and directed it to start closing the wound and to stop the bleeding. I didn’t keep track of how long it took but with how sudden and surprising it was it felt like minutes passed as I healed the wound.