The next morning Thomas did his normal morning routine until he realized he was practically out of food in the shared kitchen. He had to go out to eat breakfast this time, the cheapest but best food was naturally the adventures guild. Wearing his new clothes, strapping his sword and pack on, he said good morning to old man Hue and stepped off to start his day.

Breakfast at the guild was cheap but fulfilling spread. Bacon, egg, sausage, and bread are the best way to start the morning. After eating his fill, there wasn’t much he needed to do until the time came for his lessons later on. He would say his goodbye to Tessa tomorrow. The only other person he was close to was old man Hue, but it seemed the man knew Thomas would be leaving soon. It wouldn’t be hard to break the news to him.

He went to a quiet corner of the guild and pulled out the book Tessa gave him. He hadn’t had a lot of time to study it since he got it. It felt like he was almost scamming her since she gave it in the hope of him getting better plants. Which, he would ultimately sell to her, but he was leaving. He would just talk with her about it and maybe try to give her some compensation for it.

The book was just as fascinating as before, the different types of plants had him hooked. He quickly realized that it wasn’t just about the plants in the forests around Les either. It had information about commonly found plants all around the Balmar Kingdom. Next to each illustration and explanation on how to harvest it, there was a small excerpt about some of its uses. He was so engrossed in his studies that he completely missed the fact that he wasn’t sitting alone anymore.

Sitting across from him was of course Abigail. It looked like she was working on something herself. He asked, “When did you get here? and how are you always so quite?”

“Am I quiet or do you need to pay closer attention to your surroundings?” Pausing to let that set in before she continued saying “I have only been here for a few minutes.”

“I probably do, but you have done it multiple times, you make no sound when you move. Either way what are you doing?”

She chuckled saying “I am just going over some information the branch director gave me. Rumors of a new dungeon that appeared near a town called Ruthmire. It was already on the list to stop at, so nothing really changes.”

Asking the obvious question “How many places are on that list to stop at?”

She chuckled answering “Well, practically all of the towns or hamlets we pass as we travel. That’s why I said it will take us a long time. Most of them we will only spend a night unless we learn something we need to look into.”

Thomas just smiled; a childlike joy sprouted in him. The adventures he always wanted to go on were actually starting. Abigail gave him a questioning look and he just shrugged saying “I finally get to see more of the world, and I am getting paid to do it.”

“Well, it will be interesting, hopefully we catch a lead or two on who and why they are operating down south.” She looked at him for a second before asking “How much do you know about how the kingdoms, Queendom and empire work together?”

Thomas shrugged and said “Nothing more than the average guy. That on the surface they all get along and there hasn’t been any wars, just minor skirmishes. The main ones who have any true animosity between them is Valarus Queendom and the Rathian Kingdom. I don’t really know why but yeah that’s about it.”

“We will need to get you some in depth knowledge about how they actually work. There is always the chance we will have to interact with nobles or other important people and understanding the background of their country could help.” After saying that Abigial summoned a book and handed it to him. “This should help some.”

Looking at the cover the title read Understanding the Interplay Between the Nations of Athera. Looking back at her he said, “Thank you I will give it a read.”

She waved him off and said “It will ultimately help me just as much as you. It should help prevent any blunders you could make when dealing with officials from a kingdom. Make sure you return it!”

Thomas nodded at that and said, “Sure sure. Well, we are both here, want to get started on teaching me how to ride?”

“Sure, let’s go!”

They left through the front of the guild and headed around to the back. The back of the guild had a tall walled off area, with large double doors and a smaller single door as the only way to enter from the outside. Opening the smaller door and walking in what greeted them was a rather large space. It had a stable against one wall, but the rest was just open space.

Abigail walked up to the man at the stable and spoke saying “Hey I am here to get Angel and rent one of the guild owned mounts. Got a gentle one for him to learn to ride on?” Pointing to Thomas as she mentioned him.

The old man smiled and responded “Oh you’re back to see Angel? I love Angel, she’s a sweet girl. For the lad I got just the horse for ya, he’s an olden like me. If you’re just trainin to ride, rentin will only three coppers ya can’t leave this area though.”

“That’s fine, he just never rode before. Glad you like my girl; she hasn’t caused any problems has she?” Abigail handed over the coin to him before Thomas could even try to pay.

The man nodded and said “No Angel has been a sweet girl. You are always comin around and seein her helps keep er happy. Let me get Jack ready for you lad. Miss you gonna take care of Angel or need me to?”

Abigail responded happily “I will take care of her. Please just help out Thomas, thank you, Mr. Sims.”

He nodded and walked into the stables.

Thomas turned and asked, “Is Angel your mount?”

Abigail just smiled and walked into the stable behind the old man. Following behind her he walked into the surprisingly large building. It had enough stalls that it could comfortably hold at least twenty animals. Thomas was amazed as Abigail walked up to a massive beast. He thought it was a horse, but it was so white and large it almost looked out of place in the stables. Not that the stables were dirty, no it was the complete opposite. The building was spotless and gave off the feeling of comfort. Even the stall that Angel was in was large enough for her to walk around comfortably. When she saw Abigail walking forward, the horse lowered her head for scratches. That Abigail gladly gave.

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Thomas slowly approached and he realized that its shoulders reached above his eye level. Abigail was lovingly petting the beast and summoning snacks and handing them to it. Thomas was looking at the magnificent beast when they locked eyes; he could see actual intelligence looking back at him. Making it clear that Angel is a true mana beast with intelligence at least smarter than any regular horse.

Abigail turned and looked at him saying “She’s been with me for a few years. She’s named after what she is, Angel. If you haven’t noticed she is technically a mana beast since she can use mana. I will get her set up why don’t you go to Mr. Sims to see if he can teach you a thing for two.” Abigail pulled open the half door and walked into the pin. That’s when Thomas realized that Angel wasn’t even locked in her pin and could leave if she wanted.

“She is beautiful, but you are right I should go learn how to put the saddle on and whatever else he can teach me.” With that Thomas headed deeper into the stables.

As he walked in, he noticed that the place was surprisingly empty for how big it was. There was only a handful of other horses and what looked like a large scaly lizard of some kind. That made him pause for a second looking at the beast curled up on itself. Until it opened one of its pitch-black eyes and looked at him. A deep instinctual part of him told him to move away so he did.

He continued walking until he saw Mr. Sims brushing down a much smaller horse. It was brown and its back only came up to his chin. Like any normal sized horse that he normally saw, not like the massive Angel. As he walked closer Mr. Sims spoke up “Hey lad, this here is Jack he’s a guild horse. Come on over let me show ya somethin.”

Mr. Sims showed Thomas how to fully take care of the horse. From saddling it to taking proper grooming care, proper food they need to eat and snacks to give a normal horse. He talked about what can happen if you don’t take care of the horse’s shoes. The other warnings as well, such as never walking behind a horse or any beast, if you startle it, it could kick. Thomas was fascinated and didn’t realize they spent over an hour just going over everything.

By the time they walked out Abigail was already running Angel around the enclosed space. They both stopped just watching the massive horse run around with Abigail on its back. The space they were in wasn’t that large but big enough that it at least could move around comfortably. They just stood there watching for a few minutes. The joy he saw across Abigails face showed him a side he only saw glimpses from her so far, the carefree look of someone truly enjoying herself.

Eventually Thomas turned to Mr. Sims and asked “She seems like she is having fun. She was supposed to teach me. Would you be able to help instead? I will of course pay; I don’t want to interrupt them.”

“ah lad don’t worry about it I will show you the ropes.” The older man said with a grandfatherly smile.

At that moment Abigail rode up saying “Sorry I didn’t see you were back. You ready?”

Thomas waved her off saying “Don’t worry about it. How about you take Angel out of town and ride around? Mr. Sims said he would show me the ropes.”

Before she could say anything, Mr. Sims spoke up saying “Miss take that beautiful girl out and let her run a bit I got him.”

She smiled and said, “Thank you I will be back soon!” With that she rode over to the double doors, dismounted and walked out leading the horse.

Thomas turned to the older man and said, “Sorry, I never interduce myself I’m Thomas.” Holding his hand out for a shake.

The older man smile shook his hand and said, “I’m Samuel Sims nice to me ya Thomas. Just call me Sam.” With that said, as Sam instructed Thomas dropped his sword and pack. Sam explained that it’s the best way to start learning.

Jack was surprisingly a well-tempered horse or so Thomas thought since it had to deal with his blunders. Riding a horse was easier and harder than he thought. Learning how to properly balance himself without disturbing Jack was easy enough, having good balance was necessary for any fighter. Sam was there giving tips and tricks to make it even easier. Even openly admitted that having an experienced horse like Jack would make everything easier. Getting Jack to move how he wanted wasn’t that difficult but had its own challenges. Sam also told him that a younger horse would need constant attention to keep it focused, because they had a tendency to wander.

By the time Abigail returned Thomas felt like he wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself while riding. They rode around together, until she told him to put his pack and sword on to start learning to ride with them. After doing so she gave him her tips like where to adjust his sword so it’s easier to ride. They went over other things like how wearing armor will make it more difficult and he would need to adjust to that change. She wouldn’t be teaching him any mounted combat because it had its own dangers and wanted him to be competent at riding first.

All in all, Thomas learned as much information in the last few hours as he could. He was surprised with how much he enjoyed it. It did raise the question where he was going to get his own mount to use or how he was even going to afford it. Abigail answered that question by stating they would rent one until they made it to Balwyn Hill. There they would spend enough time for him to buy one. She cut him off before he could say he didn’t have the coin for that by saying it would be a guild expense, as long as it was within reason.

It was already getting late in the day by the time they left the stables. They didn’t mean to, but they spent longer at the stables than they originally planned. After leaving, they ate at the guild and just had light conversations between them. Never really touching upon anything personal or related to their job.

So, they could let the food settle Thomas suggested going to the market. He was going to grab a few more days’ worth of food so he could stock his kitchen for breakfast. Abigail agreed but told him to only worry about the few days before they left. She already had their food needs taken care of for the journey to Balwyn Hill. He did grab a few items so he could have a decent few meals. Anything left he would donate to the others.

Making it back to the dormitory with Abigail they started stretching before their sparing session. When she brought out the stick, Thomas didn’t even try to hold back his groan. Their spar didn’t turn out any better than before. He ended up lying flat on the ground with stinging welts. Letting the pain wash over him he just accepted that this would be the new normal for him. A part of him was glad the only audience to his beat down was the few cats he spent time with around the courtyard.

Abigail spoke to him saying “We will keep training this way before we start adding to it. I will eventually teach you to start incorporating other moves into your sword style. I want you to have a strong base before we move onto the more fun stuff like adding in kicks, elbows and throws.”

He sat up saying “Well I am glad I have someone actually teaching me. As frustrating as it is that I can’t even get close to you, I am still enjoying the training. It will be fun to learn more so I can’t wait.”

“Anything else for me Thomas?” she asked as he lay there.

“No, you have anything else planned tonight?” he asked with a shrug.

“Nope, maybe go read a book in my room. Yeah, that sounds nice actually.” She said Thomas noticed she had a thoughtful look on her face.

He stood up and walked back with her to the front of the dormitory. Saying “Good night, Abigail.”

She replied saying “Good night, Thomas.”

She started walking down the street. He stopped her before she left asking “Wait where are you staying at? Just in case I need to find you or something.”

She chuckled and had a mischievous smile on her face, “Oh trying to get back to my room Mr. Thomas? I am at the Four Rose Inn, it’s just down the street from that restaurant I took you. Now good night!”

All he could do was chuckle at her obvious teasing. Waving goodbye to her, he headed to his room only giving old man Hue a wave as he did. When he got to his room, he pulled out the book he got from Tessa and the one from Abigail. Only debating for a moment, he picked up the book from Abigail and started reading.