After finally getting a dreamless night’s sleep, my friend gathered me and his party, and we set off towards the North.
I still had nightmares, but I was at least able to fall asleep due to exhaustion from the constant battles with monsters. Now that I was fully recovered, I could support the group with spells, allowing them to get in the killing blows once the beasts were disoriented.
The constant cycle of speeding up my mana’s pulsing from casting, then slowing it by consuming monster meat, was increasing my stores of internal mana by a significant amount each day.
My body was changing also. Now that I was no longer protected with a wall, I had to engage the monsters head-on with the humans and learned to enhance my physical body, just like them. My limbs and torso were becoming thicker with muscles, not enough to match any of the humans, but they kept giving friendly squeezes to my arms and smiling at my newfound strength.
Our journey started veering Northwest, until a snow-capped mountain range came into view, and then a walled fortress that was nestled between two mountains stood before us as we drew near.
The faces on the humans were jubilant, and I finally was able to translate the word the kept calling our destination. “Home.”
My friend took me past the gate, allowing me to meet the humans inside. To my surprise, they all had black hair, and the beards that these ones grew didn’t cover their chins as much or were anywhere near the thickness of the last tribe of humans that I met. Some of them even had differently shaped eyelids, which caused me to look quizzically back at my friend.
He started to grin as I looked at his brown hair and thick beard, then to the sea of black, and then back to him.
My friend led me to the gargantuan building that was inside the wall, and greeted the numerous people inside of it, taking a long time to embrace one of the older females. He then took the time to teach me the words for “Mother” and “Father”, allowing him to explain that his mother was from here and that his father was from a tribe further south.
The mention of family caused my homesickness to renew with a fervent vigor, and it must have been obvious, because my friend cheered me up by showing me around the multi-story building, then took me to a place that felt like heaven to me.
Inside of the heated room made of sanded wood planks, a stack of fire-roasted rocks was placed in a bin, allowing us to pour water over them and increase the humidity. The heat was able to soak into every crevice of my naked body, and I thanked my friend for the pleasurable experience.
He grinned at me, then after we left the “sauna”, we bathed, put on freshly laundered clothes, then went into a room that was covered from floor to ceiling with scroll-filled shelves.
I looked around, chiding myself for once calling these humans savages, and was directed to look at a map that my friend had pulled out.
On the West and East sides of the map were mountain ranges, the South side ended at the sea, and the Northern portion faded into unexplored land. From North to South, the land transitioned from rocky tundra to bountiful lakes and rivers, then to wide open plains, and finally a massive forest at the bottom.
My friend pointed out the three-headed river that connected it all, then how one branch started near the mountain range I originally came through. He pointed at me, then traced his finger from the mountain range to the river, then traced his finger down its path till it connected with the other two and went into the southern forest.
He then pointed at himself, then traced his finger from our current location to the middle river, then followed it down to the southernmost forest.
I looked at my friend in puzzlement. Why was he so far South? And if he knew where my home was, why didn’t he bring me there?
He started chuckling, then pointed to what I think was a calendar on the wall. He pointed to a specific day, and after a quick study, was able to determine that he was pointing out the current date. Winter would be coming soon, and then the flood of monsters.
My heart gripped with fear. I was on the wrong side of the mountains, and there was no way we could make the crossing during winter.
My friend then pointed to another date on the calendar, one that corresponded to a day late in spring, then pointed at me then spoke the word “home”.
It took a while to sink in, but once it did, I began to weep, he was going to take me home… he was… but, why? Why did he rescue me? How did he know I was trapped in a cage so far south?
I grew hysteric and tried to speak to him, asking him why, but he eventually calmed me down enough to hear his answer, “My god sent me.”
His god?
My heart was pounding in my ears with elation, and my breathing was growing rapid from the excitement that the gods did not abandon me here.
I gripped him by the arm, and started shaking my friend, “Who sent you? Zephoreas? Hydraviandor?
My friend shook his head, “No, I am Oskar, Chosen of Apheros.”
My euphoria was washed away with a new tide of confusion.
Apheros?
Apheros sent him?
Apheros, the god of trees, alcohol, and debauchery; sent him?
I stared at my friend, then fell into his arms when my mind refused to continue regular functions..
Nothing made sense anymore.
---
Arc
It felt nostalgic watching Travis walk across the Main Hall with his two buddies in tow. He was strutting just like I used to after signing a new client, and the grin on Lancel plus the timid look on Reidar reminded me of my two coworkers.
I gave out a nice deep metaphorical sigh of contentment, it wasn’t even a year ago that I had to start pressuring Travis to be more sociable, but here he was, unprompted, off to go have fun with his friends. I just wish I could join them.
Yes, technically, I was with them, but hanging from Travis’ hip doesn’t exactly count.
Hmm, maybe I should ask Travis to introduce me? Lancel is trustworthy, has been looking out for Travis since he was 10, and might even become his legal brother if Travis decides to transfer his wardship to Clan Hopkins after graduation. Reidar seems like a good kid as well, definitely an introvert, but he does loosen up once…”
“So, what do you want to do first?” An excited Travis asked Reidar.
The teenage spartan darted his eyes around, clearly not expecting to be given the lead, “Umm…, I haven’t gotten to see your poleaxe yet, despite hearing about it multiple times now.”
On second thought, Travis only met Reidar a few days ago. We should have him properly vetted first.
Travis grinned a bit too hard for my liking, “I’d be happy to show it off! C’mon, let’s head to the training yard, should be less people outside by now anyways.”
His assumption was quite wrong, in fact, there was a large number of people beginning to circle around the training yard, surrounding a bearish looking man and… Percy?
What the? I only stopped paying attention for like 5 minutes… what the hell did I miss?
I rewound my memories to play out the scene.
“Perhaps you’d like to rephrase your last statement.” An angry Percy growled towards an overweight knight named Breidr.
“Come now Percy, just because your clan is still a newborn doesn’t mean that you should have the innocence of one. We all know that there’s no chance that boy will graduate, and even if he did, why would he join your clan?”
Percy didn’t respond right away, just kept glaring at the rude man for a bit before turning to one of the guards, “Fetch us some quarterstaffs.”
I pulled out of my memory in time to see Travis scratching his right ear after spotting the crowd, “Sorry, Percy challenged someone to a duel.”
The trio looked around for a spot to watch, but Tristan spotted the group and barked a few orders to the guards to make room for them up front.
Lancel walked up to his brother, “What happened?”
Tristan shook his head, “The usual…”
“He’s going to get his ass handed to him, isn’t he?”
“Mmhmm.”
Percy and Breidr began to remove their torso coverings, allowing Percy’s lean bodybuilder physique to contrast against the powerlifter build of his opponent. The two then each took quarterstaffs, began to inspect their equipment, and stepped into the ring.
Travis, the gluttonous little bastard, was more concerned with another matter, “How’d that one guy get so fat? I used to be forced to take days off from physical training due to not being able to eat enough.”
Lancel and Tristan’s concentration on the duel was lost to laughter and many of the people nearby began to snicker as well.
Reidar was frowning at the hefty knight, “Waste of resources. My squad-brother would have a fit upon seeing him. You’re supposed to use mana-rich foods to supplement recovery from your training, not to force-feed your mana density higher.”
Lancel suddenly face-palmed, “I’m an idiot.”
“Yes, you are.” Tristan automatically replied.
Lancel scowled at his brother, but decided to share his realization with Travis, “I should have known you had a high mana pool from how much food you’d eat at gatherings or how everyone joked that they could bribe you to do their chores by feeding you lunch.”
Travis chuckled a bit before replying, “On a good day, I could earn an extra three lunches from helping out in town.”
The conversation had to conclude however…
Percy brought his staff into a guard position, eyes locked onto his opponent, then nodded.
Breidr grinned at Percy, then held his staff like a baseball bat and nodded as well.
The two amp up their internal mana, then dash to the center of the ring, Breidr immediately goes in for a large swing, but misses as Percy skillfully hops backwards.
Percy starts circling, making taunting thrusts with his staff and amps up his Fire and Air Mana to gather a forming cloud of ambient mana around him, but has to leap over a low swing from Breidr, forcing him to back up to the edge of the fighting circle.
Breidr gathers Earth Mana into a formation, then stomps his foot downwards to activate the spell, causing a small wall of Earth to pop up from the ground. He then makes a punching motion with his left fist, commanding the synced mana to make the wall fly towards the cornered Percy.
Percy grins, then pole-vaults over the Earth wall, at the peak of his vault, he shapes his gathered Fire Mana around his right fist and Air Mana around his forearm. Percy then kicks off the Earth wall to increase his speed towards his opponent.
Breidr tries to bring his staff up to block the incoming fist, but it shatters upon impact, and Percy’s fist strikes the man in the chest. The mana on Percy’s arm rushes forward with the motion, shoves Breidr back from the blow, smothers him initially with Fire Mana and then the Air Mana quickly follows after in a violent collision, making the mana cloud around Breidr instantly turn pink.
---
Travis
The two mana types that Percy gathered fuse with each other, and a bright light flashes in tandem with a loud crack of lightning. My eyes take a moment to adjust and my ears ring for a bit until I hear the sound of someone moaning.
I blink a few times and am finally able to make out a bleeding Percy walking over to the fallen man, pausing to pick up a broken piece of staff, then holds the splintered end to the man’s neck.
“Yield.”
The man stops his groaning, now growing frightened of the bloody image of Percy glowering over him.
Growing frightened of the sight as well, I march into the ring and enhance my voice so everyone can hear me, “That’s enough Percy, I think you’ve gotten your point across.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Puns? Really?”
Percy turns his head to me and starts chuckling, “Good one.” His posture relaxes and he tosses the broken staff aside while giving me a fresh grin, “Sorry for causing a ruckus at your party.”
I grin back, then peer towards the fallen unmoving man, “Is he going to live?”
“Only a mild shock, for a knight, should wear off once his body heals a bit.”
Reidar enters the ring, then approaches Percy, looking him up and down, “Just minor surface cuts and embedded splinters,” he then darts his head around, “is there a first-aid kit nearby?”
“I’ll go grab mine.” I rush into the armory, detach the needed pouch from my backpack, and enter a now clearing out training yard.
Reidar grabs the kit from me, summons a [Water Orb], then begins to wash the blood from Percy. Once finished, he pulls out a tweezer from my kit and starts removing the embedded material from Percy’s torso and arms. He then holds out his pointer and middle finger, visibly focuses, and starts tracing his fingers over the numerous small cuts, ceasing their bleeding.
“Reidar is a healer!? We need to recruit him for our adventuring party.”
I reactivate my mana sight partially, and am able to see Reidar’s fingers glow with a green light, “You use Wood Mana to stitch the wound back closed?”
Reidar nods his head slightly as he finishes, then grabs some salve and bandages for the larger wounds, “Yes, I chose field medicine for my support skill due to having an easier time shaping Wood Mana.” He then finishes and makes eye contact with Percy, “I take it you can amp up your internal mana yourself?”
Percy nods, then slowly amps up his mana in just his torso and arms, “No mana-rich foods for a day right?”
Reidar shakes his head, “Nothing went deep, you’ll be fully recovered after a few hours.”
---
The duel signaled the end of the party for a majority of the guests, and the guards were directing everyone to the Main Hall or assigning guest rooms for some of the closer friends of the Hopkins.
Barry approached our group and chuckled at Percy, “My wife is still going to be upset that you got your trousers bloody.”
“She can toss them if they’re too ripped up, Lucia made me start wearing cheaper ones after the last set got ruined.” Percy grinned, then turned to Tristan, “Speaking of Lucia, we should probably turn in before our wives get mad at us.”
Tristan nodded, then headed over to the training yard’s bathhouse and sauna to help Percy clean up, leaving Barry to address me, “Lancel said you needed a room for Reidar?” I nodded my head and Barry continued, “Alright, the single bedroom across from yours is still open, you’re lucky I reserved that one for you, we got a full guest house tonight.” He then headed off to assist the other guards.
The three of us stood in the now empty and eerily quiet training yard, the buzzing of insects around the light posts the only noise.
Lancel scratched his head, “I can’t remember why we came out here now…”
“You three were going to the archery range to throw axes.”
I scratched my left ear, trying to hide my grin as I answered, “Reidar wanted to see my poleaxe.”
Reidar inspected my weapon as I went over its creation and what I’ve been doing to train with it. He seemed impressed, and confirmed it when he commented, “I like the design, it’s very versatile, yet sturdy. I haven’t fought in a flood yet, but my instructors have emphasized the need to be able to change tactics quickly during one, since the variety of monsters can vary from one extreme to the other in only minutes.”
Lancel chimed in with his experience, “That’s partly why us humans mainly use the shield and spear. Even if piercing attacks aren’t very effective, we can usually slow down the monsters enough to call in the elves with their axes or dwarves with their hammers.”
Reidar nodded, “Spartans are expected to be self-sufficient though, hence why I carry a one-handed ax and hammer with me.” He handed my poleaxe to me, “This will serve you well, mages normally act as mobile artillery or as a fast-reacting counter for wall-breakers. The large amount of embedded Metal and Wood Mana will help you cast ranged offensive elements much easier or allow you to exploit whatever physical weakness a monster has at close range.”
I smiled at my new friend, “Thanks.” I then gave out a yawn, “What should we do now?”
Lancel grinned, “How about we hit up the sauna?”
I frowned at Lancel, but quickly hid it when Reidar eagerly replied, “You have one here? I’m jealous, it’s a 24-minute walk to the nearest one from my barracks, and my squad-mates rarely accompany me.”
---
The sauna experience wasn’t too bad, Arc recommended that I bring in a canteen of ice water, which helped out a lot since we ended up spending a long time in there talking. Reidar asked about my life growing up on a farm, then shared his experience growing up as an orphan ward of the Queen.
I was surprised at how mundane his childhood was. Yes, he was one of 12 orphan siblings that were assigned to a pair of retired/no longer fit for active duty spartans, but Lancel pointed out to me that while his family size was much larger than a typical Lakelander one, it was much smaller than most noble families and traditional Packer homes. He had daily chores, went to school for 8-hours a day, which was standard for a capital city child, and was encouraged to play with his assigned squad-mates.
Though when he turned 12, things changed quite drastically for him, he and his able-bodied siblings started training to be spartans. The school’s curriculum focused more on military tactics and survival skills, he reported for a morning set of group exercise drills and received individual combat instruction from spartans. He first learned to activate his mana when he turned 15, like me, and has requested to dual-specialize in Water and Earth Mana so that he can use Wood Mana to heal his injured allies.
The conversation later moved on to us recapping what we did after supper, causing it to take an awkward turn when Reidar asked me a question, “Did something happen between you and Caldia? Seleyna was concerned after you two left the dance floor.”
I slowly gulped when I noticed Lancel raising an eyebrow at me, “I, uh… had to tell her that I couldn’t…”
Lancel lowered his head, and gave me a brotherly pat on the shoulder, “There’s a reason most knight hopefuls don’t marry before they get knighted. I assume it’ll be just as bad, if not worse, for you?”
I nodded while giving out a strained sigh, “I wish I had the time; I feel awful for sidelining her, but I need to focus on becoming a mage.”
A hand then landed on my other shoulder, and while his words weren’t exactly comforting, I still felt the genuine attempt from the one giving it, “There’s still a chance Caldia will wish to engage in a courtship ritual with you after you graduate. It will only be a short wait for her, and a wise investment if she does. Your mage training will only take 3 years, that’ll be much faster than the average knight. Plus, mages are given a larger amount of downtime compared to a knight, so if you two marry, you’ll be able to assist her family in the training of wards and help elevate the status of her clan.”
Lancel gave me a big grin after hearing Reidar’s speech, “Should I have Marcia start planning the wedding for you and Caldia?”
Not enjoying the conversation, especially with Arc laughing in my ear, I decided to deflect, “Doesn’t she have to plan yours first?”
Lancel’s grin dropped like a sack of grain, and I countered with my own grin when Reidar spoke, “That’s right, will you be applying to adopt a ward from the Queen given your preferences after you marry? I believe your family is in good standing with the crown, so it shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
Lancel scowled, “You two are worse than Mom and Dad.”
---
Eventually we all grew tired, so Lancel helped us put on evening robes after showering. We then split off from him once we entered the main house and made our way to the guest house. Reidar and I stopped in front of our rooms, so I decided to give the happy looking spartan a pat on the shoulder.
“Did you have fun tonight?”
“I did.” Reidar closed his eyes and blissfully leaned into my shoulder pat, “I’ll admit that I was uncomfortable at first dancing with Seleyna, but I’m glad you made me do so, the conversations I had with her were much more pleasant than the ones I’ve had with other nobles.” He gave out a sigh, then made eye contact with me, “It’s strange, I normally dislike being around other people for extended periods, but for some reason I don’t mind being around you.”
I chuckled lightly at the admission, “It’s probably the shoulder pats, everyone in my village used to claim that my dad could calm even the most restless cattle, so I always tried to emulate him.”
Reidar gave me a smile, then turned to open the door to his room.
“Wait! Don’t let him go in!”
I tried to stop him, but Reidar opened the door before I could react, and then quickly shut it once we saw what was inside.
“Sorry, I forgot that Rufus and Rebekah went in there, I usually ignore it when couples do that.”
I tapped my left ear to express my anger at Arc, then looked to Reidar, “Umm, I’ve got a sleeping bag in my room, so I can sleep on the floor while you take the bed.
Reidar followed me into my room, but made a small protest, “This is your party, I can sleep on the floor, I’ve been trained to sleep on various surfaces.”
“Yes, but you’re a guest.” I countered as I pulled out the sleeping bag, then took off my upper robe.
The two of us stared at each other for a bit, before Arc gave me a solution, “How about you grab an extra blanket, and you two share the bed, but not the sheets?”
I repeated Arc’s idea, and Reidar nodded then took off his evening coat as well. He then looked around the room, but stopped when he viewed my nightstand, “Is that a symbol of Apheros?”
“Yep,” I picked up the carving that I took from Lancel a while back and handed it to Reidar, “This one specifically symbolizes the tenet to protect burgeoning life.”
Reidar stared at it intensely, making me wonder if he was ok, but he eventually spoke, “I didn’t realize that Apheros was a protector, I thought he was just a god of the harvest.”
I shook my head, “He is as well, but he’s also a defender of nature and a healer of the sick, so he’s often at odds with Torbolt and Ignitious for rooting into their domains.”
I pulled his attention away from the carving to point at a pyrography art piece that Issac gave to me, “My favorite story is about how he once went on a journey to explore the world to gain knowledge, wisdom, and strength.”
Reidar looked over the depiction of Apheros carrying a shield on his back, a spear in right hand, a book in his left, various tools on his belt, and a large cloak with a pair of deer antlers resting on his shoulders.
He must have been enthralled by Issac’s talent in wood-burning, because it took him a while to speak, “I see, most spartans worship Torbolt, so I don’t know much about the other gods.”
I gave him a pat on the shoulder, then pointed to the idol in his hands, “You can keep that if you want, that one’s just an extra.”
Reidar looked down at the carving and smiled, “Thank you.”
---
Reidar stayed until noon the next day, so we were able to enjoy each other’s company for a little longer, and I was even given a solution to a problem that I’d been having with my poleaxe.
“What you can do is get a Lightning Mana inscription, then you can magnetize your poleaxe to your back. I’ve got one for my shield, and it makes it much easier to quickly stow.”
“Won’t that get expensive?”
Reidar scratched his head, “I’m not sure about cost, but it’s likely not too high, I’ve seen many mages use it. I know the formation for the enchantment is simple, just a basic rotation, so you could probably find an older student to do it for you if provided materials.”
I had Arc add getting inscriptions to my “quest log”.
---
Lancel had to leave for training the following day, and I was definitely going to miss having him around.
I pulled Lancel into a shield-brother hug, “I don’t think I can ever repay you for all you’ve done these past few weeks. Not just saving my village and taking me here, but for not stopping me from applying at the Mage’s Academy or incessantly asking questions about how I was able to pass.”
He gave me his signature grin once we finished our hug, “I’ll admit, I have been mighty curious about how you learned to cast spells, or even just activate your mana.”
Arc whispered in my ear, and I couldn’t help but laugh before I answered, “I learned by watching you.”
Lancel’s face turned into a twitching mass of confusion, “Me? What? How?”
It was difficult to keep myself from falling over with laughter at the sight, but I pushed through, and gave him an explanation, “Well, I just copied how your mana would activate on some of your spear thrusts with my pitchfork, then applied the technique to my other chores.”
“So wait, you going on daily laps around the village, chopping wood for everyone’s fire, pitching the manure out of every barn…” Lancel looked deeply into my eyes, “When you said you were training to become a mage...”
I nodded my head while giving out the biggest grin I could still fit on my face.
“I think I need to sit down…”
---
The last few days before classes at the academy started went by quickly, I ended up spending most of my time helping out Gramps train in his new wards.
He was very appreciative, since having an extra set of eyes allowed us to individually assist in coaxing the ward’s mana to activate when doing drills. I also gave him some advice and mana exercises based off the training Arc gave me, and he got a good laugh when I mentioned that I had an easier time triggering my mana when weightlifting, since that was his go to method as well.
Eventually it came time to leave, and after saying goodbye to the remaining Hopkins, I left with Barry to move onto campus.
We got my room assignment, picked up the stored clothing in my locker, then headed upstairs to my future home for the next year.
“This is a first-year dorm? You private college students are all spoiled!”
I looked around the living room and had to concede Arc’s point, if I’m being honest, it was much fancier than my room at the Hopkins estate. The living room was larger than the one I grew up with, had a large patio door and attached deck that overlooked the training yard, no kitchen but it did have a soapstone bar with a built-in sink, and three Lakeland-styled sliding barn doors.
The walls and molding were forest green and eggshell white painted wood, the ceiling had brass squared-patterned molded tin, and the floor was covered in large smooth-finished stone tiles. I quite enjoyed the color palette but was even more impressed with the furniture.
Everything was extremely sturdy, with thick wooden legs, wood fiber cushions, and even metal reinforcements on the joints. There was no doubt that the couches and chairs could easily hold a person wearing armor.
It was all modular too, the table could be set to three different heights, the backrests on the couches and stuffed chairs could adjust all the way flat, the desk in my room could be lowered or raised by turning a wheel, and my desk chair could also detach from the legs to create a small table and floor seat.
Barry looked impressed as well, “Must be dwarven make, I know a few brands are famous for their specialty in making adjustable furniture.”
I started unpacking the clothes I stored in my armory locker, then heard the deep voice of someone entering the living room, “My roommate finally shows up.”
I stepped out of my room, followed by Barry, and gasped a bit upon seeing the orc. He was the same size as Darius, but the thick long arms coming out of his sleeveless arming jacket gave him an even more aggressive look. His grin helped offset the intimidating appearance, but it quickly faded when Barry fully stepped into the room.
“I was told that my roommate was a commoner as well…”
Barry let out a merry chuckle, “He’s a bit too pale and short to be from Clan Hopkins.”
The orc let out a bestial growl through his tusks, “I didn’t ask the help for its opinion.”
“Well isn’t this guy just a ray of sunshine…”
We were off to a bad start, so thinking back to the lessons Matriarch Rabiria taught me, I made a small inhale and introduced myself with pride, “Travis of Aelder Creek, Initiate Elementalist Mage.”
I extended a hand, but the green-skinned orc only raised an eyebrow at me, “I’ve been hearing a bunch of rumors about you on campus all week.” He then narrowed his eyes, “My dad used to hunt monsters with the Jarl of Lakewell Fortress… he was a good man and a great hunter, could even spot a monster on the horizon with his mana sight.”
My hand started to tremble a bit, so I slowly pulled it back, and was frozen from not knowing how to respond.
Barry came to my rescue though, “We should go get the second load from the horses.”
I nodded my head, then walked out of the dorm with Barry, “Thanks, I completely froze up there.”
Barry shook his head, “I’m not sure what you could have said, he seemed eager to find something to hate about you.”
“If that Jarl was such a great man, then why couldn’t he bother to take a quick 2-hour trip and use his supposed eagle-eyed mana sight to make sure there weren’t any spirited teenagers running around trying to learn magic?”
I gave Arc a rub on his handle with my thumb, then extended my right hand to Barry, “Guess it’ll be a while before we meet again?”
Barry took my hand, “I’m sure Hector will keep an eye on you, but I’ll be stopping by to deliver mail and to check up on you. Speaking of which, is there a good time for me to stop by?”
A snicker escaped from me, “9-11pm is my only scheduled free time every night.”
“Don’t you have any days off?”
“I get morning drill off on Woodsday so I can go to church.”
Barry gave me a wide stare, then pulled me into a shield-brother hug that I accepted eagerly, “If the workload starts getting to you, feel free to stop by the estate, you’ll always be welcome there.”
---
Arc
I watched Travis wipe his eyes after Barry left, “Looks like it’s back to just us two, learning how to use magic.”
“Hopefully the teachers here will actually know what they’re doing, unlike my last one.”
“Hey now, it’s not like I had much to work with, that group of monster hunters were the only spell casters I had for examples.”
Travis gave my pommel a rub, “We did manage to figure out enough to enroll here.” He then started to stretch out his limbs to allow the half-plate he was wearing to shift around, “I should probably take this off, then do inventory to make sure nothing is missing. Anything else I need to do before tomorrow?”
“You should first stop by the quartermaster and restock your first aid kit. Other than that, it’s just low priority items in your quest log.”
Travis started to head off, letting his left-hand drift over to my pommel and start scratching at the base of my handle, in the same manner one would scratch behind a dog’s ear.
I thought about telling him that I couldn’t actually physically feel his touch, but I didn’t want to ruin his (or my) happiness.