After getting back Micky settled in and got a meal and some sleep. He wasn’t actually sure which order that was in, he was just vaguely aware that he got both. He then went into a deeper sleep and got up to have breakfast when that was over.

The guild had decided that it was best that today be a recovery period for the class. So instead they were going to have actual instructional classes. It was just lectures, but they would be some of the most anticipated parts of the entire class. Not everyone was literate, so they would get to learn to read and write among other things. There would also be something akin to story time, and in addition to all of this they would hire more people to instruct part time.

So it wouldn’t look weird that Micky ducked out on this particular part of the class to go to his tutors. Of course Micky still had some classes he would be attending with the rest of the class. But both Prin and he would also receive other instruction outside of that.

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Micky found himself walking the streets as he was traveling to his first appointment. It was of course his one on one magical instructor. The guild had hired out a [Tribal Spirit Healer] to teach Micky on an individual scale. While it was true that she wasn’t a [Mage] she would be in the magical class tree. It was going to have to do. Even the Giantess wasn’t a [Mage] but a [Magic Berserker Shaman], and would be even less useful to Micky.

The [Magic Berserker Shaman] class was a mix of the spirit channeler tree which was a sub tree of the summons greater class tree, and a magic berserker class tree which was a part of the ‘magic swordsmen’ magic fighter class tree. Why the class tree was called the magic swordsmen class tree was something of a [Arcane Mage] blood feud. There were mana arcane scholars that wanted to change the magic swordsmen class tree name to magic fighter or magic warrior. However, the historians fought back and wanted to keep the original name. So they compromised by calling it the magic swordsmen magic fighter class tree, which is quite the mouthful.

On the other hand the [Tribal Spirit Healer] was a ‘pure’ support class and also a part of the sorcerer class tree. This class tree was a cousin to the mage class tree. And they combined into the wizard class tree at some points and with some classes. So the [Tribal Spirit Healer] was the closest thing to a [Mage] that they could find in the [Town] or likely in the neighboring area. In addition the [Tribal Spirit Healer] was several promotions up from the base class. Meaning that she had much more experience than any true [Mage] they might find.

So Micky found himself knocking on the door of the most dreaded person he could think of. The type of person that would make him run in fear had he met them in [The Village]. It was the person that would shush crying babes and make children and adults alike, and even that one vindictive [Witch] hide under their covers in fear.

It was the town’s gossip. Worse, she was the town gossip, and Micky was shaking in his boots. You have to understand that the village’s gossip was part of what made Bob, well, Bob. And to be specific that was just a village gossip, specifically his mother. She was able to all but brainwash an entire village that Bob was such a good little child even though he went around terrorizing the other kids his age, being the bully for his age group.

So the fact that he was knocking on the door of the town gossip was a point of utmost terror for Micky. Because he knew that she could utterly destroy him, and he would never know it was her that did it. Just a few well placed rumors and the town would be chasing him down with pitch forks and he would never know why all of his assets had suddenly been transferred to her name.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

So you might now understand why Micky had a right to be scared. The door opened quickly enough and a surely woman opened the door. “You it hu? Well don’t stand there letting the air in all day get in here.” Micky obviously complied like a servile butler that had been serving the family for years.

“Now turn around so I can get a look at ya’.” Said the woman. Micky still following her every command, doing his best to pull off his servant impression… or at least the good obedient son/grandson considering her age.

“The name’s Yolanda Mooresen, you can call me Yolanda.” She said.

Micky nodded along. “Oh, don’t be like that. I’ve got a pot of tea on, follow me.” Said Yolanda.

Micky followed behind her, not wanting to upset the person that held his social future in her hands. He was only in this town for something like six months, but never underestimate a rumor. He had heard once that a powerful warrior tried to run away from a false rumor that had gotten him chased out of the country. The man could outrun the light from the sun, but three countries over and he found himself in a tavern. Once he was there he overheard a couple of men talking about the rumor he had tried to escape. The powerful warrior up and [Dead] from embarrassment right then and there.

Micky would not underestimate this woman.

Suddenly the old woman whirled around on Micky, “I think you’ve got something of mine boy?” Said Yolanda as she showed off a gold wedding band on her finger.

Micky froze like a deer in the first rays of dawn. His eyes went wide, blinded by the light. His throat ready to be sliced open by a predator, or a flying arrow.

Micky could practically feel the exasperation like the temperature of the room. It wasn’t really hot or cold though. Yolanda pulled out a ring and Micky recognized it. It was the plane gold ring that he had picked up with the rest of the loot. Micky go to keep it and the other valuables from the loot, though the enchanted items got divied up. Micky also had first crack at the lineage they had found, and would get to scribe it out first, before the others took turns to copy it down.

The two that were with Micky felt bad for just leaving him like that, more then the instructor yelling at them. They hadn’t actually meant to just leave him to it, they had just run and expected the whole team to have escaped. After the fact they had realized how stupid that was, in hind sight someone was going to get caught if they did it like that. It should have been Prin, but Micky had to play the ‘Hero’ in shining bronze armor. So they had given up all the baubles that Micky ended up carrying anyway, at least until they redistributed the weight around.

Micky pulled out the ring from a pouch. He hadn’t sold it like the rest because it was a wedding ring. He figured he would put it in the guild and see if they could find the owner for it. Or at least he had planned too…

When Micky pulled out the ring that matched to the one on the old woman’s finger she touched the two rings together. When she did that a runic script slowly snacked its way across the surface of the two rings from where she touched them. Well, I guess it was enchanted after all.

The old woman almost looked like she was going to fall down in tears. “Ah, I had been missing this for almost a year now. I thought it lost. I have other mementos, but this is the precious symbol of our marriage.” She said, and did not sound so much like she was going to burst into tears anymore.

“That stupid son of a pig, and his rock headed ideas. He had the darn thing enchanted so that I couldn’t find it or him if I didn’t know where it is. Oh sure, he also had it enchanted so that it should find it’s way back to me should it get lost. But I wouldn’t be able to find the darn thing if I didn’t know exactly where it was. So I had it on the shelf above the kitchen sink. Now mind you I knew that it would likely fall into the sink one day. Had quite a few close calls… But it was the place I knew where it was, so I left it there. And low and behold it fell down that bowberry drain.” She said, almost sounding pissed. Luckily Micky was pretty sure she wasn’t pissed at him.