Immediately after he finishes casting, it jumps out of the bush. He readies himself, getting ready to assess the threat, but he notices it’s the Elf he met, or hasn’t met yet? He’s really not sure how to put it considering his situation.

“What’s a student doing all the out here?” The elf inquired, “We’re quite a ways away from the academy,” He pauses, thinking to himself, “At least I think we are.”

Salnys and the elf awkwardly exchange glances as the elf thinks to himself. The elf just shakes head, sighs, and holds out his hand.

“We should probably get to know each other before we doing anything else,” He comments, his face lighting up as Salnys accepts his hand, “My name’s Jonny, what’s yours?”

“I’m Salnys,” He replies, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too Salnys,” Jonny responds cheerfully, ”I’ve got to get you somewhere while I figure where the school is,” He chuckles to himself, then sighs, “I’m going to have to take you to a friend’s place, are you fine with that?”

Salnys nods his head, not really sure what else to do. After seeing that Salnys agrees, Jonny begins to walk. A while later, Jonny pulls the lute off his back and starts playing. It’s a soft, but playful melody. It’s an extremely pleasant melody, and it calms Salnys’s nerves.

After a little while of the song, Salnys starts to hear loud noises, it sounds like loud crashing, sawing, and men singing something. The sound gets louder the longer they walk, and after a bit, Jonny stops playing.

“Who’s this friend of yours anyway?” Salnys asked, after hearing Jonny stop playing.

“No one knows his real name, but he’s known as Barboza.” Jonny responds, looking pretty happy he wants to talk now, “Also, this is more my boss’s job, but I’m wondering. Why were you so far away from the academy?”

‘Crap,‘ Salnys thought to himself, starting to sweat, ‘I haven’t thought of a good excuse,’ Salnys becomes even more fearful after he remembers some rumors, he’s heard about a massive barbarian who took three men in a fistfight and won.

“I guess I was just too stressed due to it being the first day being back at school and everything,” Salnys says, “I just needed a breather y’know?” He’s sweating even harder now, and Jonny raises an eyebrow, but mercifully he shrugs and continues walking.

Jonny pauses, and Salnys’s heart skips a beat, “We’re about to my friend’s place; I’m going to go explain the situation and make sure he’s fine bringing a random kid to his lumber mill.”

Salnys seems a little apprehensive after hearing this, Jonny wasn’t even sure if Barboza was fine with him coming here?

“Relax, he’s a pretty nice guy,” Jonny remarks, patting Salnys on the shoulder, “I’m sure he won’t turn you down, he should have some extra space in The Lumbermill for you to stay in if our boss is too busy doing stuff.”

‘Alright tha-,' His thoughts were interrupted by an imposing figure walking up, pushing aside large tree branches with ease. It almost looks as if the smaller branches are afraid to oppose him as they snap the moment, he makes contact with them.

The figure. No, that doesn’t do him justice. The man standing in front of Salnys and Jonny is wearing no shirt, exposing his incredibly well-defined chest and abs. He’s sweating, albeit lightly, causing his body to glisten. His skin is tanned to a golden color, and he has a large, dark beard accompanied by furry eyebrows. His eyes are a dazzling blue, and his dark hair looks immaculate. He towers over both Salnys and Jonny, making Salnys feel like an ant in comparison to him, though Jonny doesn’t look at all threatened by the man standing in front of them. Lower on his body there’s a belt with a chain with various different trinkets and valuables attached to it, there are things like beaded necklaces, rings, and bones hanging from it. He looks menacing but isn’t in a threatening pose, instead opting to hold a more comfortable position with both his hands positioned on his belt.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Hi there Barboza,” Jonny says, unfazed by his sudden appearance, “I’ve brought a visitor with me, we should try to keep him safe until our boss visits next.”

Barboza looks over at Salnys, smiling, “Well then, welcome to The Lumbermill, I hope your stay here’s comfortable.”

Barboza is a lot more friendly than what Salnys was expecting him to be, he still wasn’t completely relaxed though. Barboza beckons Salnys to follow him and he does.

“Since you’ll be staying with us for a bit, I’d like to show you around,” Barboza says, yawning a little, then offering his hand, “I need to take a break anyway, I’m Barboza, what’s your name young one?”

Salnys accepts his hand, his grip is firm, but not overpowering, “My name is Salnys.” He replies.

“Well then, nice to meet you, Salnys,” Barboza responds, sounding happy to have met a new person, “Mind if I show you around?”

Barboza shows Salnys around The Lumbermill, he carries around a naked tree while showing him around. In the meantime, Jonny gets a map and heads back out. After getting a good look at it, Salnys realizes the scale of the operation may not have been massive, but The Lumbermill sure was, it was three stories tall with a few furnishings on the roof, though it didn’t look remarkable from the outside in any other aspects. Barboza showed Salnys what exactly the whole operation is, which is chopping trees, shaving off bark and branches, and then processing it into lumber. He says that the workers there are provided shelter, free lumber, and occasionally free food as long as they work there, though some workers do also work for a wage. After showing Salnys everything outside, he takes him inside.

The inside of the building is fully furnished, with many luxuries like seats with cushions and small drink tables with game boards. Farther in he’s shown the lavatories and some of the rooms the workers sleep in, though he is told that if he is staying the night, he’s staying on the third floor, separate from everyone. He is then shown the indoor workroom, which isn’t too remarkable, it just has lots of tables covered in wood shavings, and tools scattered across the floor. Salnys is then taken to the final main room, which is the kitchen.

“Tonight’s actually one of the free food nights,” Barboza remarks, he then proudly remarks, “The workers here consider me one of the best cooks in town.”

Immediately after, he reaches into some of the cabinets and heads into the pantry, gathering together many kinds of meats and vegetables, he then lights multiple fires, one of them being inside an oven, and another being inside a stone fire pit in the opening lounge room.

“Tell all the workers outside I’m preparing dinner, and to get ready,” Barboza says, “Also, don’t come back inside until I say I’m done, I can’t be giving away my cooking secrets to a stranger, can I?”

Salnys walks out and yells, “DINNER’S BEING PREPARED!”

All the work stops simultaneously, and then everyone cheers, giving each other chest bumps, and hollering, everyone seems happy, he’d almost forgotten his actual predicament.

Salnys thinks, ‘It seems lovely here, but I’m probably going to have to get to the town if I want to get any answers for what’s happening to me.'

The next 15 minutes pass by quickly, with all the workers rushing around, quickly finishing up whatever job they were doing. Finally, after 15 minutes, the door to The Lumbermill’s doors open, and everyone looks over in anticipation.

“DINNER IS SERVED!” Barboza yells, his voice carrying throughout the entire worksite.

Everyone charges in, clearly starving from their long day of work. Salnys opts to wait until everyone gets inside, as he doesn’t want to get crushed by the stampede of hungry workers. Though once the crowd clears, Barboza is still outside.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been pretty apprehensive since you got here,” Barboza notes, “What’s troubling you?”

Salnys is stressing harder now, and has a headache, not really thinking of a good response, he says, “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

Whoops, bad response. Barboza tenses up after hearing this and walks towards him, looking concerned.

“Is there something after you?” He asks, looking a little upset, “If so, I feel it’s best we get you back to the academy as soon as possible, I can only provide so much protection, and the academy is much better equipped for something like this.”

Salnys decides that the best way to respond to this is to just say, “Alright, I guess.”

“Anyway, the roast I made is calling my name!” Barboza yells, now charging inside. Salnys hears some of the other men inside topple over as Barboza runs through.

Salnys heads inside, and the moment he enters, he’s hit by a delicious scent. He smells different meats and vegetables, all the scents blending together beautifully, it almost brings a tear to his eye.