Karla and Lara appeared to be having a conversation in the kitchen. Lara was initially very skeptical and nervous for the first few days. However, after experiencing good food, namely meat, and a good bed, she started to warm up to her new environment real fast. She especially liked that she now had her own room which was denied back at her original home.
For Karla, the presence of another female albeit young, proved to be a boon for her because she had someone to talk to casually. Yes, she had Raem, but their conversation had always been something of a worried mother talking to an ever-hungry son. With Lara, the conversation was much lighter. They mostly talked about cooking and other house chores which Lara was exceptionally keen at because that was what she was doing back at her original home.
However, not everything was smooth. Money and food became an issue soon. By the time Raem had adequately, but not fully, recovered, Karla discreetly informed Ewald that food was running really low. They would be back to drinking veggie scrap soups within a day. Thus, it was time for Ewald to act.
“We are hitting the guild today,” Ewald informed Raem and Lara in front of the decoy house.
“Right!” With a clenched fist, Raem was fired up whereas Lara had completely forgotten what a guild was and had to be told briefly about what they were.
“Raem, we aren’t going there to find jobs.”
“No? Then why?”
“We need to confirm Lara’s magical affinity. I think the guild does that for free, yeah?”
“They do?”
“Didn’t you read the giant sign in the lobby? It said, ‘Free magic affinity test!’”
“Doesn’t she have an earth affinity though?”
She said she did, and the guild registration paper said so. However, she was unable to cast any earth magic even after Ewald taught her briefly the basics of magic. If one had an affinity, something should have happened at least. Ewald, for his part, asked her to cast a basic wind spell just in case. It didn’t work, either.
“Alright then” Raem nodded after having been convinced. “Let’s go, Lara!”
“Yeah!” Lara was also fired up for no apparent reason.
“Oh, my, a new kid?” Sarah welcomed the trio with a smile.
“Lady Sarah, this is Lara.” Ewald introduced her.
“Oh? Oh! The one from before. You did find her then.”
“Yes. But there is an issue.”
He explained that her elemental affinity may have been wrong. She did take her registration paper out again and confirmed that it said she had an earth affinity.
“She is unable to cast a basic earth spell,” Ewald explained.
“What spell did you try?”
“Stoneskin.”
Sarah looked at Lara and asked kindly. “Lara, would you be a dear and try to cast stoneskin?”
Nodding, she had both of her palms pointed at Sarah and chanted, “Spirits of earth, hear my call. Protect the lady in front of me: Stoneskin!”
Nothing.
Placing her hand on her cheek, Sarah tilted her head. “Interesting,” She added. “Hubert!” Clicking her fingers, she called out for someone. A huge dude appeared.
“Yes, ma’am?” He replied slowly.
“Be a dear and bring me the set of elemental crystals, yeah?”
Nodding at once, the dude turned around slowly, glancing at the trio and walked off to somewhere.
Soon enough, the dude came back with a leather pouch. It had four colored crystals. Red, green, yellow, and blue crystals were within. Lara was barely tall enough to touch them on the counter. Thus, Raem took one after one to her hands.
Lo and behold, a crystal shone. A blue one shone.
“She has an affinity to water,” Sarah declared. “Looks like an affinity of four.”
Kamil scratched his head. “How did they get it wrong?”
Sarah shrugged. “Your guess will be as good as mine. I don’t have a clue.”
“Water affinity…, so she can be a healer?” Raem asked. A healer could prove to be more valuable than a support earth mage.
“She has got an affinity of four. She won’t be able to cast advanced water spells but, yeah, she can be a healer.” She pointed at herself. “In fact, I am a water mage also.”
“You are? Wouldn’t it be a waste for you to be a guild receptionist?” Kamil was the one who asked.
“I am here precisely because I am a healer. Not every group has a water mage, so they rush here in case someone is badly wounded and is closeby. I usually get to heal at least one person a day in the guild.”
“I see…”
Her attention moved to Lara who was looking at the shining blue crystal on her palm.
“Lara, since your affinity is four. You will never become a full healer. You will be what adventurers call ‘a first aid healer’.”
“A first aid healer…?”
“You will be able to heal minor wounds. But you won’t be able to save those who are critically wounded. You may be able to delay their death while being transported, though.”
“I see…”
The huge dude picked up the shining blue crystal from her palm which lost its blue light progressively as it got further away from her. He gathered the other three crystals and put them back in the leather pouch. Then, he walked away with the pouch.
“Now then, allow me to teach you two basic spells for you, kiddo. These two will come handy.”
The first spell she taught her was healing dose which was basically pouring a small dose of healing water on target. The water had to hit wounds to be able to heal. The healing wasn’t instant and it would merely help accelerate healing.
The second spell was antidote which was a general spell to cure most types of poison. It worked exactly like a healing dose spell but it had to be poured into one’s mouth or onto a wound itself.
“Are there any offensive spells?” Raem asked. As things stood, Lara would be no help at all in actual combat. She’d just stand there and heal when Raem got hurt.
“Low tier offensive water spells are virtually useless,” Sarah declared. “There are a few powerful ones in advanced tier, but she won’t be able to cast them.”
Kamil recalled the powerful water wave spell Elias cast before. He did see where Raem was coming from. If Lara wasn’t going to be helpful in actual combat, she’d be just a burden and another mouth to feed.
“Allow me to demonstrate how useless a low-tier offensive water spell is.” Having said so, Sarah had her index finger at Raem.
“Elementals of water, heed my call. Punish this child in front of me: water arrow!”
An arrow made of water appeared in front of her index finger and shot right at Raem’s face.
“Bwuh?!” He uttered as the arrow became a splash of water upon contact. He recoiled a bit out of being surprised. He touched his wet face afterwards.
“This is it?!” He uttered.
Sighing, Sarah replied, “That is it. One might as well not use it at all.”
Indeed, that was entirely useless. Kamil agreed internally. He glanced at Lara whose shoulders sagged. It couldn’t have been a good feeling to hear being indirectly told that she was useless. Well, perhaps that was true. As harsh as it may be, that was likely the case.
After all, they weren’t playing around. Their livelihood was at the stake. For Raem, he had to catch at least a rabbit by the end of the day or he and his mother would starve. At the same time, nobody would be completely useless. For the time being though, Lara was useless.
“Raem, we haven’t got all day. We have to go,” Kamil whispered to him, which brought Raem back to reality.
“R, right. We have to…”
Kamil answered him with a firm nod.
Waving Sarah and waitresses good-bye, they left the guild in a rush.
“Yeah, it’s almost noon!” Raem exclaimed.
“I came as fast as I could, but it’s already past noon,” Kamil added.
Huffing and puffing, Lara was barely keeping up with the two boys. In fact, it was the first time for her to run in many years.
“P, please, wait up -” Then she tripped. Raem and Kamil looked at each other, realizing that she was going to be a burden. For the time being, the best course of action was to leave her at the decoy house.
Upon agreement, Kamil added, “Raem, do bring your shield after dropping her off.”
“But it’s broken?”
“It is half-broken. I think it can still withstand a few hits from a boar.”
Raem narrowed his eyes. “Are we going after a wild boar? After what happened?”
“Just in case we can’t catch a few rabbits. And I have an idea.”
“Alright, I trust you, Milord.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Once Lara was left at the decoy house, Raem and Kamil met up at the city gate. Raem had a spear and a shield. His shield had cracks all over in the middle. Some pieces of wood were already a bit loose. One or two hits on the right spot, and the shield would shatter. Kamil was in his usual getup, a bow and a shortsword on his back.
“We’ve been catching rabbits around here, so I don’t think we will be able to catch any more of them,” Kamil explained.
Folding arms, Raem agreed. “Yeah, I used to be able to spot rabbits right away as soon as I left the gate. I don’t see them anymore.”
“We will need to go further away from the city which also increases the risk of running into monsters,” Kamil suggested, and Raem nodded along.
“Lara is a burden for now, but you are going to need her.”
That statement surprised Raem. “How so?” He inquired.
“I can’t be here forever. At one point of our lives, we will have to be apart. You should not hunt alone, especially when you are a swordsman. We need to train her to wield a weapon, like a spear or a bow. She is a healer, so it will be much safer for both of you to hunt together.”
Raem was in thoughts. He agreed with the assessment eventually.
“I agree, Milord.”
“She is a burden for now, but we will shape her to be useful in her own ways. Now, let’s go. We don’t have much time. Let’s just go further away and start from there.”
They ran for around 10 minutes away from Lux city gate. There were still farms and houses but the number was scant. Kamil scanned the area swiftly and drew out his bow at once. Raem knew the cue and got down to the ground. He fired a wind arrow.
“Got a rabbit.”
Raem dashed toward the target and quickly grabbed the rabbit. They were used to this and were working like clockwork. Kamil scanned the area again.
“Nothing here,” He concluded. His eyes glazed over a forest nearby. “Let’s go to that forest.”
Raem was fixing the rabbit onto a wooden stick he had. “Are you sure?”
“We need to catch a boar or something equivalent.”
“How will we do it?”
“I’ve been using a spirit version of wind arrows. I plan to use an elemental version. It should be much stronger. I might be able to even kill it with one shot if I aim for its head.”
Rabbits and wild boars were the most common critters to be found around human settlements. Rabbits often relied on stuff humans farmed because it was better quality food, and the boars munched on the rabbits and other small animals. There were other animals. It was just that the wild boars were ones that were actually capable of defending themselves from monsters in the area.
“Now, Raem, if we happen to run into a bear, we run like the wind, got it?”
Raem nodded affirmatively.
As they made their way carefully into the forest, it darkened quickly. Not enough sunlight was coming in. Cries from owls made it extra spooky.
“I don’t like this forest one bit,” Raem remarked as his eyes widely darted around to check for hostiles.
Kamil didn’t answer and continued to proceed deeper. There was nothing to hunt, which was a little strange. This was the first warning sign which he had forgotten to heed. It had been a while since his real hunting session after all.
“I think we should -” Before Raem could finish he tumbled over something. “What the -”
When Kamil looked behind him to see the commotion, he saw what Raem tripped over. It had thick brown fur. It looked like -
“Fuck,” He uttered. “A great bear.”
It was napping until Raem tripped over one of its fingers. It was only then he realized why the forest was so devoid of wildlife. The whole zone was likely the bear’s nest.
Growling loudly, the bear slowly stood up on its hind legs. It felt like it was at least ten times taller than him.
“Raem, run!”
“Milord, but -”
“I can cast levitate. You cannot! So, fucking run!”
Just as Raem turned around and started to run, the bear made a sweep which barely missed clawing his back. If the bear chased him, Raem was going to die. Therefore -
“Take this!” Kamil fired a wind arrow, and it literally bounced off its fur. It did its job however as the bear turned its attention to him. It opened its mouth widely toward him and a ball of fire was starting to form and enlarge.
“THE FUCK?!”
The bear was casting a fireball.
“Spirits of wind, hear my call. Get me outta here: Haste!” He started to run. He did consider levitation, but the forest was thick. He felt there was a good chance of him getting entangled while trying to force his way out. The bear tracked him as he started to accelerate. When it fired the fireball, it exploded just a meter behind him.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He screamed as he darted away as fast as possible.
He did recall the incident in his past life where a group of five seasoned adventurers took down a great bear. But it did not cast a spell, meaning this bear may have been something more powerful. Either way, he continued to run and soon he was out of the forest. Raem was waiting outside eagerly.
“Milord!”
“Raem, run. Keep on running!”
“What?!”
A fireball landed not far behind Kamil and exploded. Raem, too, started to run at this point.
“What the hell was that?!”
“A fireball! A fire spell!!”
“Are you telling me that the bear is casting that spell?!”
“Ye-” Another explosion right behind him which made him fly in the air for a brief moment. “-p! Raem! You alert the guards! It’s on me, and I am not about to lead that thing to the city!”
Raem made a distance away from Kamil and ran in another direction.
“Good, he still has the rabbit on the back! Spirits of wind, hear my call. Make me fly: Levitation!”
The bear shot two more fireballs, both of which Kamil dodged easily in the air. As it became clearer that the bear wasn’t going to hit him, its attention turned to its surroundings. It shot a fireball at a nearby farm house instead.
“Hey, hey!” He barked, but it wasn’t paying any attention to him.
The wooden house took the full brunt of the fireball and was enveloped in fire instantly. A young couple dashed out of their house, screaming. The man had a baby on his back.
Gritting, he chanted, “Elementals of wind, hear my call! Grant me an arrow!” The elemental version of the wind arrow looked virtually identical to the spirit version except it glowed slightly brighter.
“Take this!”
He fired the arrow. While it didn’t bounce off like the last time, it didn’t seem to have inflicted any kind of visible damage. It didn’t even bleed.
“Is that bear that strong?!”
He could see Raem alerting gate guards from afar at which point one of the gate guards blew a loud horn. Then he noticed a figure approaching fast in the air. It looked to be a blonde woman in a robe. It was easy to recognize who she was.
“Mrs. Harder!”
She cast about ten wind blades at once which the bear attempted to parry by clawing. About half of them were parried away, and those that did get through made some cuts on his fur. It still didn’t bleed however.
“Damn, that thing has one hell of a fur!”
Greta approached Kamil in the air after.
“Fancy seeing you here,” She greeted him casually.
“Mrs. Harder, what is that thing? Isn’t it a great bear?”
“That is a greater bear. Actually, a variant of it, a fire greater bear. Notice its red highlight on the fur? That’s an indication of its fire elemental affinity. I am guessing it has an affinity of six. It looks to have a decent magic resistance.”
“How are we gonna kill it? It’s going to cause a lot of damage if not stopped soon enough.”
“It will be killed. Fear not. The Fenchel house is not weak. We just earn time here by annoying it.”
There was confidence in her voice. She truly believed what she claimed.
And so their job of annoying it began. The two began circling it around like a pair of flies. Greta fired wind blades, and Kamil fired the spirit version of wind arrows. While none of their attacks did any meaningful damage, it did stop its advances. It kept on shooting fireballs at them, but both of them had too much advantage due to flight.
After annoying it for a while, the main force arrived.
“They are here,” Greta remarked as she flew away from the bear. Kamil followed her.
About ten men led by Noah Harder were matching toward the greater bear. He could recognize two of them. Elias Hunt and Theo Ros were among the group. Noah had a two-handed sword on his back while donning half plate. He always saw him with a sword and a shield back at the manor. The greater bear noticed them and roared at the approaching men. Needless to say, the men were undeterred. Theo seemed to have cast energize on Noah, and another mage seemed to have cast stoneskin at him.
Then Greta flew to the group and cast haste on her husband. It looked as if they were going to let Noah fight it alone.
“Is he that strong?” He mused aloud.
As Noah pulled out his two-handed sword out of his back, it was only then Kamil realized how ridiculously large the sword was. He held it firmly with both of his hands and charged toward the greater bear. At the same time, the nine people spread out and formed a circle around the bear with Greta flying on top of it. It was a trained formation.
As Noah swung widely, the greater bear had to parry. In doing so, its back was completely exposed, and the men weren’t missing that opportunity. The nine men were apparently all mages and were firing all kinds of fancy spells at him. Theo cast successive fireballs. Another cast boulders and threw right at the bear, Fancy light of red, blue, yellow and green were flying off toward the greater bear.
The bear withstood all of their attacks initially. Its thick fur held strong. However, as waves of magical attacks struck continuously, its fur began to literally crack. Cuts were made. Its fur burnt. Becoming extremely annoyed, yet not knowing what to do, it roared menacingly with all its might and stood on its hind legs, exposing its belly, Noah took a powerful step forward and swung his giant sword at it, cutting the bear’s belly right open. Pouring out his internal intestines, like noodles coming out of a bowl of red soup, it screamed loudly in pain. In its last act of defiance, it opened its mouth widely and tried to cast a fireball at Noah. But that attempt proved to be futile as Theo thrusted his spear deeply into its head from behind. The bear’s eyes quickly lost its focus, and its body went limp.
“VICTORY!” Noah shouted while raising his giant sword up in the air.
“Damn…, that was awesome,” Kamil remarked in the air. He didn’t do anything. Actually, he couldn’t do anything. They had clearly trained for an occasion like this. He descended down to the ground and walked toward the couple he saw running out of their burning house.
“Are you alright?”
“Y, yes,” The man replied with his baby in his arms. “But our home…”
“I am sure the Fenchel house will help you rebuild.”
“I hope so…”
Then he approached the group. They were already dissecting the corpse. Noah was the only one who wasn’t at it and was also the first one to notice Kamil.
“Yo, young master. Fancy seeing you here,” He said casually.
Upon hearing Noah, Elias stood up and turned away from the corpse. “Oh? You are here?”
Kamil explained how it all began. “It was basically me who drew the beast out.” His eyes were downcast. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t be. A dangerous beast like this cannot be allowed to live so close to a human civilization,” Elias explained. “If a farmer ran into it or if the bear ran into farmers, there would have been casualties.”
“If that’s the case…” He really hesitated to speak further. “Could I request for a reward? Like a finder’s reward?”
The men became curious as to what was going on and they all stood up, turning toward Kamil.
“We were in the forest because we were looking for food for Raem’s family. Would it be too much to request the bear’s arm?”
Elias shook his head. “A greater bear’s body is literally a box of treasures. Its body parts are used for weapons, alchemy, and such. Its meat is said to have magical properties even. We cannot share such. Instead, I will give you two silver coins. That’s about the price of its paw.”
“I will take whatever I can get. We caught only a rabbit today.”
Elias nodded at Noah who took out two silver coins and threw them at him.
“Thanks. I will see you guys later.”
Watching Kamil disappear into the city, Noah remarked.
“He’s pretty shrewd and way too mature for his age. I thought he was going to beg us to teach him skills and whatnot. Kids do that.”
Placing a hand on waste, Elias replied, “I entrusted Raem to look after him. But it looks like the table has turned. He is looking after Raem.”
“I was kind of worried about the future of the Fenchel house with lady Icilia,” Theo chimed in. “Not anymore.”
Elias had a bitter smile on his face.
Upon reaching the decoy house, Kamil spotted Raem waiting outside. He looked really nervous and was walking back and forth.
“Milord! You are safe!” He ran to him at once and patted his shoulders.
“Yeah, today was a rough day.”
“That is an understatement. What the hell was that bear?”
“I was told that it’s a fire greater bear. It’s been taken care of.”
“Man.” Raem put his hand on his waist. “The Fenchel house doesn’t joke around, eh?”
Kamil recalled the battle. It was indeed impressive. Their coordinated movements, it wasn’t something they could have mastered in a short span of time. Everyone looked confident and knew their roles clearly.
“Anway, here.” He handed the two silver coins to Raem.
“Whoa? Where did you get this from?”
“A finder’s fee from the Fenchel house. We may have caught a single rabbit only today, but this should do for a while.”
“Yeah, we are set for weeks more like.”
“Good.”
Kamil felt tired. He did cast numerous spells today.
“I am going home. Let’s meet up later.”
“Tomorrow?”
“No, in a few days.”
“Right. What shall I do with Lara?”
Kamil scratched his chin. “I want to teach her archery, but archery requires an upkeep cost.”
“Really?”
“Arrows, Raem. Arrows.”
Raem punched his palm. “Ah, right.”
“Well, help her with physical training first. The girl couldn’t keep up with us. And then spear training, I guess.”
“Right. Will do that.”
A spear was a good weapon for female warriors in general. It had the reach which helped women to keep a distance. And piercing was more effective than slashing when one had less raw physical strength.
Then Kamil went straight to his quarter in the manor. He slept like a log on that day.