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The Magic Ork
chapter 8 Caden

chapter 8 Caden

The next two days pass by with me assisting Vegter in the forge. In those two days Vegter has closed down the shop. Also, I’ve gained lots of insight from observing Vegter smithing. At this point in time I feel as if I could make one of the tiny cups Vegter keeps making. I’m going to attribute this extreme learning speed to my fast learning ability. Today though there seems to be a change, since Vegter looks to be a little peppier today than he usually is. We eat our morning meal, some more meat and mushrooms, before Clara sends us on our way. As we walk, Vegter takes us down a different path then we usually go, eventually stopping in front of an unfamiliar house. Vegter knocks on the door and waits until an older looking ork lady opens the door. “is Caden in here Bessie” Vegter says quite casually to the lady. “yes, he’s right down the hall in his room. Been really put out after the accident” she says, gesturing down the hall.

Vegter walks down the hall, motioning for me to come with him. I am pretty confused as to what is happening here but walk down the hall with Vegter anyway. Vegter stops in front of the room down the hall, waiting for me to catch up. When I get to the room, I see an ork boy with what appears to be a cast, or a sling, on his left arm, lying in bed, looking out a window in his room. The boy seems not to have noticed us, as he continues to look out his window. “Caden my boy, how have you been” Vegter bellows. The boy looks startled for a moment, before looking over at us and beaming. “Vegter it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you. I’ve been alright, although it’s been boring sitting in bed all day” Caden says. “who’s the boy next to you” Caden says. I’m somewhat surprised by the boy (it seems his name’s Caden) calling me a boy, considering we should be the same age. I really need to check out how I look like in front of a mirror or something. “this boy here has been working in your place for the last couple of days” Vegter says. Huh, seems that this is Vegter’s mysterious apprentice. Caden looks a little put out by what Vegter says but smiles an instant later. “so why are you here Vegter” Caden says, his tone sounding somewhat amused. “well this boy is an outsider and doesn’t seem to understand the (^&*^&*^)’s currency so I came here to ask if you’d be willing to man the desk for me” Vegter says. Judging by the context of the mysterious word, it seems to be this place’s word for this village, or tribe, or clan. Caden looks contemplative for a second before saying “I accept your offer. It would be something to get me out of here so why not”.

We then move as a group to Vegter’s smithy/shop, with Vegter dragging me along to the forge, while leaving Caden to man the desk. And so, the day continues as such, with me slaving away at the bellows, while Vegter’s mysterious apprentice Caden works the desk outside. By today I’ve basically become a pro at working the bellows, leaving me more time to observe the way Vegter smiths things. I believe I can make certain things now, even though I’ve never actually forged something before. The hours go by and Vegter finally calls for a break. While I may have gotten better with the bellows, my arms still feel like noodles when Vegter calls for a break, although now my arms feel a little bit stronger than when I started helping Vegter out, just three days ago. I think this ork body may have helped me get stronger faster, so that’s a plus.

As we eat Caden comes and Vegter passes him some food so that he may eat with us. “how have you been doing these past few days Caden” Vegter says. “good, my arm’s been healing nicely. Flaminius says that I’ll be able to help you here again in another couple of days” Caden says. “so new guy what brought you to work here” Caden says after a few minutes of somewhat awkward silence. I try thinking of a possible answer as quick as I can. In the past I’ve gotten off saying that I’m just from the nearby forest but I doubt that’ll be acceptable now. “I’ve lived on my own up till now. Came to here because I couldn’t get food for a while and passed out inside this place, incurring a rather large amount of debt” I say. Most if not all of what I’ve just said is true so I didn’t really have to come up with much of a lie, just had to package the truth so that it’s acceptable. “well where’ve you been in the village since coming here” Caden says sounding cheery. “just here, Vegter’s house, and the chief’s place” I say. “wow, you haven’t seen much at all. We’re going to have to remedy that when ever you’ve finished your debt” he says sounding even more cheery. “that sounds like fun I say” I say. That really does sound like a fun idea, and it would also serve in getting me more well acquainted with the village.

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And so our break passes by, me returning to my life of manual labour under the thumb of the tyrannical Vegter, and Caden taking it easy in the desk up front. The day passes by, until eventually Vegter signals that it’s time to leave. Vegter and I escort Caden back to his home, not really talking much. Me because I could feel my ribcage destroy my lungs, and my esophagus drown in dust, and Vegter and Caden because they just didn’t feel like it or something. When we get to Caden’s house Bessie opens the door. “come in come in. it would be rude to just let you leave in the cold dreary night” She says to me and Vegter, as Caden walks in. “I would love to, but Clara is waiting for me and is I’m already late” Vegter says, leaving while dragging me along. We walk home to an angry Clara, muttering about how the food got cold because of how late we are. And indeed the food was extremely cold, with the trademarked meat and shrooms combo being almost inedible. I still force it down my throat though, because Clara looks like she could incinerate someone alive if anyone said anything at all about the food. After choking down everything on my plate and asking to be excused I jump onto my bed, but unlike in the previous night I don’t fall asleep instantly. I keep thinking over the days events, and the previous days before it.

The past couple of days have been really eventful, with me getting introduced to the Chieftain and his daughter, succumbing to hunger and accruing some debt, getting introduced to Vegter and the back breaking labour that is the bellows, and today, meeting Vegter’s apprentice. I haven’t really gotten any positive or negative vibes from him in the time that we have known each other, other then the fact that he seems like an extremely cheerful and happy-go-lucky guy. He didn’t seem very happy with the fact that he got replaced though. Oh and in all that has happened I completely forgot that I could even do magic, and that I should be checking for this place’s opinion on mages. I also haven’t really gotten any practice or experimentation in, so that’s a down. Now that I’m in a populated place I should start considering how I can improve my magic, and how it can improve my life.

Well I should try to create a list of goals, objectives, and activities so that I don’t live my life day-to-day. So top of the list should be finding out how people would react to my magic, and linked to that should be finding out any information I can on magic. I should also try to find some time to myself so that I may experiment some more. After that are some conditional goals that depend on what I find out in the information gathering, like whether or not I should try to get access to citizenship/membership, whether I should try to find permanent work with Vegter or not considering what I find during experimentation and how magic works. Also finding out general information about orks, the world, and such should also be on there. Taking a step back to look at my priorities I realize that my to do list looks less like a list and more like a mangled mess. Never was one to look ahead and make to do lists, so I try not to feel to bad at what I have. And with that my mind finally let’s go somewhat, and my body takes care of the rest, and I drift off to peaceful slumber.