《Medical Wolf》 Ch. 1 Birth, a Memory Best Forgotten Being reborn sucks! Let¡¯s just start off with that fact, there is nothing pleasant about it. Sure since you start off in a warm dark place, it might not seem like the worst thing in the world. The only problem with that line of thought is that it doesn¡¯t take into account how boring it is to just grow inside of a womb, plus your fingers and toes get all pruney. Besides the lack of activities you literally have no clue as to what¡¯s happening, you can hear muffled talking and touch stuff, but it¡¯s all slimy and you can¡¯t see anything. Being stuck in a womb does nothing except drive home how powerless you are to do anything. Then there¡¯s the process of actually being born, some people might describe it like a water slide, and they¡¯d be right, if they were talking about one of those closed over slides and you happen to be about three sizes too big to fit through it. It¡¯s kind of like being a potato that is getting mashed, the only way you survive it is due to the fact that your bones are really flexible. Then after the grossest most uncomfortable waterslide everyone¡¯s ever ridden is over there is the light. The light, it is soo uncomfortably bright, it hurts your eyes even before you get out of the womb, and then when you¡¯re fully in it, ugh, it¡¯s like you just got hit with a flash bang grenade. It¡¯s hard to focus, your head hurts and disorientation is a serious problem. I had a concussion once when I was a kid and this felt very similar. Of course being born might just give you a concussion to begin with so I¡¯m not 100% certain it¡¯s all the light¡¯s fault it sucks so much. Then comes the people, if you don¡¯t scream right away, which believe me you are going to want to, they hit you with a hand that is 3 times the size of your bottom. Believe me, if you haven¡¯t gotten all of the gunk out of your lungs by this point you will regret it, coughing out placenta while screaming in pain, is not fun. Sorry to rant, I¡¯m John by the way, and in case you didn¡¯t pick up on this little fact, I was just reborn and I don¡¯t want to go through this experience ever again. I guess I should tell you a little bit about me, and why my story is worth knowing. First off, I¡¯m from Earth, and before you ask, I am not sure which one, I assume whichever one you are reading this in, but the multiverse is a tricky place. If you have Iphones and Laptops, and Hitler lost WW2 it¡¯s probably close enough to my earth so that the differences don¡¯t really matter. Back on Earth I was med student and closet Otaku, I was about 3 months from graduating and starting on my career as a doctor. Life was pretty good, until I went out drinking with a couple of my fellow med students¡­ Then it went to shit. We were at a bar called Murtagh¡¯s, and I¡¯d had more than a couple of drinks. It was a bar a little ways off from campus, but still close enough that a lot of college students found their way there. When we left the bar fairly drunk some vaguely homeless looking dude tried to rob us. A lot of people would just give up their wallets just to avoid the trouble, but I wasn¡¯t most people, instead I was a 6¡¯4¡± white guy from a middle class suburban family who¡¯d never really been forced to deal with the depths of desperation that my mugger was dealing with. So my first response was to tell the guy to "Fuck off." Apparently he was a big believer in manners because one gunshot and a lot of bleeding later I was stuck in a womb. I wasn¡¯t a pure soul floating around waiting to be reincarnated, I didn¡¯t get to meet god, all I remember is the flash, the bang, the pain and then the stupid womb. Which brings us back to the present after getting roughly toweled off (yeah, being born leaves you kinda sticky) I was handed off to what I assume is my mother, not quite sure yet, the light is still way too bright, so I¡¯ve had my eyes closed this whole time. Then after a bit of complaining something started to poke my face, once it entered my mouth I was pretty sure I knew what was going on. I wasn¡¯t really very thirsty, but I figured I was going to have to eat sometime. For the record, breast milk is weird, most people don¡¯t really think about it, but try drinking warm milk and you will get a little bit of what I am talking about. On the plus side breast milk is also a lot more filling than I would have expected, after my first meal, eyes still closed by the way, I was handed off to someone. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I felt a light tapping on my back, which I could only assume was someone trying to burp me, but I ignored the sensation and instead reveled in the feel of the nice silky fur someone had put on their shoulder. It felt great, so soft, I ran my tiny hands through the fur and brushed my face against it. It was the first nice thing to happen since being reborn. I decided to open my eyes and take a look around, maybe get a better look at the fur. That¡¯s when I noticed I was surrounded by wolves. Yeah, that¡¯s right, wolves only they were standing up and wearing pants. The one standing directly behind whoever was holding me looked huge, I would probably put him at around seven feet tall, with muscles that make the hulk look like a little girl. He had dark grey fur covering his whole body and scars all over his chest that looked like the result of swords meeting flesh. His face was like a giant wolf¡¯s and his intense blue eyes seem to be staring into my soul. I tried to duck my head behind the shoulder it was resting on, but a couple of problems came up. First off I had very little control over where my head went since my neck muscles were so weak. Did I mention being a newborn sucks yet? And my chin seemed to be stuck on the shoulder. I started to cry in distress hoping to alert whoever was holding me that there was a giant monster behind them, but they just seemed to think I had gas and started thumping on my back a little harder. Meanwhile the giant wolf tapped whoever was holding me on the shoulder, they turned around and the next thing I felt were giant hands lifting me into the air. As I was being pulled away from what felt like the only safe place in the world I got a better look at the person holding me. First off she was stacked, second off the fur on her shoulder wasn¡¯t just something to keep me from spitting up on her, it covered her whole body. Finally whoever she is, she most definitely is a wolf person just like the monster that I was hoping wouldn¡¯t eat me. As the massive hands oriented me toward the monster I started to cry, I mean honestly who hands a baby over to a monster, my parents are the worst. The monster started to grin as he lowered me toward his mouth. He did it slow enough that I could count his teeth, guess what, he had a lot of them and they were all sharp. So much for this life, looks like I will be reincarnating again real soon. Then his tongue came out and licked my face, right between my eyes and ears. Wait, how big is his tongue?? I lifted my arm, which was still not an easy feat and touched my triangular ears. That sure as heck was odd since they were not on the sides of my head, but instead were perched on top. I brought my hand down toward my face and felt my snout. Looks like the thing blocking part of my vision was my nose and mouth not just some vision problem associated with being a newborn. The Monster lowered me down to his shoulder and I once again felt the silky smooth hair I had thought was just some random fur. Well ladies and gentlemen, it looks like I am some kind of Wolf man and the Monster holding me could very well be dear old dad. He gently patted my back and I felt something rise up. I let out a tremendous burp and then proceeded to pass out. Being a newborn is tough and finding out you are some kind of monster makes unconsciousness seem like a great idea. Ch. 2 Waking up When I regained consciousness from my nap, no I didn¡¯t faint I just decided to suddenly take a nap when I hit information overload. Anyway, after waking up I realized I was hot, like uncomfortably hot, and surrounded by fur. Normally I would be covered in sweat, but I am pretty sure like most canine species I didn¡¯t have any sweat glands, oh joy! Time to make like a dog and start panting. I opened my mouth and started to do my best impression of a creepy mouth breather. It helped a little bit, but I needed to get out of these furs so I used my mighty infant muscles and struggled to escape the furs surrounding me. I pushed with all my might to try and get beyond the giant walls of fur only to have the wall on my left suddenly shift away from me. Wait a sec, my mighty thews shouldn¡¯t be capable of moving that much blanket so¡­ crap I was probably nestled between my two parents. The good news was that apparently I had slept for a while and everyone was unconscious, the bad news was that now I was stuck between two giants and I was slowly overheating. I struggled to escape from the center of the two massive bodies, but newborns suck at doing anything besides lying still, crying and pooping. Looks like it¡¯s time to wake someone up, I decided that crying would probably get the fastest results so tried to build up some tears. I thought about my death; dying outside of some bar trying to protect an empty wallet, it just seemed pathetic. I should have just handed over my wallet I mean honestly who cares about a couple of credit cards that would just be canceled once I got home. I died because of a stupid sense of bravado. I had simply never been in a situation like that and I had reacted foolishly. I was used to intimidating people with my size and I had never really met someone that simply didn¡¯t care about how big I was. To say I was a bully would be wrong I didn¡¯t use my size to get one over on anyone else, I just used it to end arguments. Generally when people see a big dude who looks pissed they tend to back down, or at the very least they end up wanting to use their words instead of their fists. It was all so dumb, so pointless, my whole life had failed to prepare me for a mugging, it taught me the wrong lessons. I wanted to save lives and make something of myself yet instead I died in a botched mugging half-drunk with people I¡¯d only talk to if I was looking for a lead on a job or wanted to go grab a drink. I just couldn¡¯t get over my last few moments on earth if I had acted faster I might have gotten the gun away from the mugger, or if I had simply given him my wallet he would have likely let us go. Instead I had talked shit and looked angry and he killed me for it. It left me feeling powerless, I thought I could take care of myself, I lived my life with the assumption that my size would stop everyone from messing with me. I¡¯d even been so naive that I thought if I was ever mugged I¡¯d be able to get out of it because no one really wants to kill someone else, so they¡¯d hesitate and I¡¯d be able to defeat them like some kind of comic book hero. I was an idiot, I¡¯d taken pride in my size thinking that was all that mattered in a fight, I¡¯d been wrong. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I could be at home right now goofing off, playing video games or watching anime, instead I was some kind of monster, surrounded by other monsters and to top it off I was so weak I couldn¡¯t even get away from my loving parents whose body heat happened to be killing me slowly. I felt so pathetic, my life had ended because I was ill prepared to face someone willing to kill. Everything I¡¯d done and worked for was gone in the blink of an eye. The tears started to fall, then came the whimpering, finally came the all-out whaling. That seemed to wake them up, I felt the fur to my left start to shift and then I got my first real glimpse of my new mother. She was beautiful, her fur was a dazzling pure white. Her eyes were a light shade of jade green and her muzzle was small and seemed almost delicate, ending in a coal black nose. She lifted me up and started to gently rock me back and forth. She began to croon at me while I wallowed in my misery. I buried my face in her shoulder and just let myself go. I am not really proud of how I dealt with my death, but come on how many people can honestly say they remember dying over something so stupid, a mere point of pride. It took me a while to recover as I grieved for my lost life, the whole time Mom just kept rocking me back and forth. Honestly I¡¯d never felt as safe in my entire life. She continued to just croon at me, occasionally rubbing my back. It took a while but eventually I cried myself out, and when I calmed down Mom brushed away my tears and then proceeded to groom me. Ugh tongue bath is not fun, at least not when its¡¯ your mom doing the licking. After she finished she pressed me to her chest and I got my second meal of the day, hopefully when I grow up I will be able to repress the memories, early childhood is not something you want to remember. After the meal I was burped again and then my diaper was changed, yeah, didn¡¯t really notice I was wearing one until Mom took it off. Talk about embarrassing. I also discovered that I was a boy during the changing session so at least one thing hadn¡¯t changed. After the new diaper was on it was time to go back to bed, Mom laid me down on her chest and then proceeded to fall asleep. As I lay there helpless I decided that in this life I would be strong enough to protect myself and those I cared about, never again would some random thief be able to take anything from me again. I was going to learn how to fight and more importantly I was going to know how to act. Never again would I be caught posturing when action was called for. This life would not end like the last one, I would make sure I was strong enough to accomplish whatever goals I set for myself. --------------------- AN: Short chapter, but no worries they will start to get longer. Ch. 3 My First Day So, the Sun on this world pretty much sucks, it¡¯s way too bright for my adorable infant eyes¡­ I say this because a shaft of sunlight was beaming straight into my eyes as I tried to orient myself after waking up. For the record, I am not a morning person, I¡¯ve never been one and I¡¯ll do my best to stay that way. Mildly disoriented and partially blinded by the light I reached out for something to cover my eyes. I felt some fur and attempted to lift it, but my hands kind of suck at doing what I want so I just ended up running my hand through the course fibers without really accomplishing anything. I felt the same coarse fur underneath my back and eventually after my eyes adjusted to the light and I could see the straw that makes up our roof. Apparently at some point my parents laid me down on their bed and started doing chores or whatever giant wolfmen do when they aren¡¯t sleeping. I did my best to roll onto my side and after a monumental effort on my part I succeeded. From this new position I could see a little more of my home, and I have to say it¡¯s kind of primitive. The walls are apparently made of sticks, lots of long thin sticks. The floor is hard packed dirt and the furniture leaves a little something to be desired, though strangely enough it still looks nicer than the rest of the home. Ugh, looks like I wasn¡¯t born into some noble¡¯s family instead I was going to have to live my life as a peasant¡­ Joy¡­ I did my best to scoot around a little and I could just barely see into the kitchen, there was a table in the center where mom is apparently slicing up some meat. She threw the bits into some kind of bowl and then cracked the biggest egg I have ever seen, adding the contents to the mix. She whipped it together with what looks like chopsticks and then poured the contents into a frying pan. I couldn¡¯t make out what she was doing after that, but the most heavenly aroma assailed my nose. Damn looks like Dad, who was sitting in one of the chairs in the kitchen gets to enjoy some high class bacon and eggs, or maybe an omelet. So not fair, he gets a real meal, and I get milk. Who do I talk to in order to upgrade my meal service? I need to not be a baby as soon as possible. I know some women who paid a lot of money to be on all liquid diets, but I think they would have changed their minds if they found out they were only going to have breast milk and cheat days were not possible. I made some noise informing the world that I was displeased with life in general whilst simultaneously announcing to my parents that I was currently awake. Dad got up, walked over to me, gave me a sniff, then picked me up way too fast. I felt my stomach drop as I rocketed into the air, and ended up making a mess in my diapers. Don¡¯t look at me like that, gravity and a lack of bladder control are to blame, I¡¯m only a day old, it¡¯s not like I have any real control over these things yet. Dad¡¯s face contorted into a snarl, although he didn¡¯t make any noise when he did it, so I guess I simply offended his sense of smell. Once again, not my fault. After he changed me which was an awkward experience for both of us, he carried me over to the kitchen where Mom was putting the finishing touches on the omelets. They smelled heavenly, I put a smile on my face and did my best to indicate that I would like to have some omelet for breakfast as well. My mother upon seeing this smiled back, she has a nice smile by the way, a simple quirk of the lips, no scary teeth, and then she promptly misinterpreted what I wanted. Hello again breast milk I didn¡¯t miss you, but it looks like I will be stuck with you for longer than I¡¯d wish. While we all ate our respective meals together, some enjoying the experience more than others I decided I needed to make a plan for this life. The last one felt like a waste, like all I had done was study my life away. First things first though, I needed to learn the language. So far beyond some crooning and a couple of yips and growls I hadn¡¯t been able to pick up any words. Hopefully that¡¯s just because my parents are quiet people as opposed to us not having a language, or dealing with some kind of body language thing. I don¡¯t want to have to try and express complex thoughts and emotions by standing one particular way over another. Next on the agenda is to make money, I know money isn¡¯t the key to happiness but it is the key to not living in a shack with a dirt floor. I¡¯m guessing this world doesn¡¯t have a lot of technology, so hopefully I can invent something simple that will make some money and get us into a nicer home. Maybe Dad is a blacksmith, that would be awesome, then I would have access to a forge and could potentially make what I need for the future. Finally I need to find out if there is magic in this world, because come on, what kind of rip off would it be if there are wolf people and no magic. Maybe I should start meditating or something, after all that¡¯s the way everyone learns magic in the books. Of course I never meditated in my life and all I know is there is something about breathing and thinking of nothing¡­ Let¡¯s put a pin in the meditation thing until I have a better understanding of the world, or maybe just wait until things get boring. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. That¡¯s all I was able to come up with during breakfast, but I¡¯m sure something else will occur to me before too long, like moving around better. Add that to the list! Anyway Mom picked me up and laid me back down on the bed, which now that I got a better look at it, is made up of straw and furs. Ugh. Money is definitely something I want as soon as possible, but until then I think I should probably work out. I did my best to move around as much as possible, but my energy quickly ran out. Meanwhile Dad left to go do dad things, and Mom went outside. Maybe to the garden. Not really 100% on what she was doing out there, but at the very least I knew she was close since I could hear her moving around. Did I mention my senses are now amazing? I could hear and smell so many things, like the fact that there were two other people besides Mom and Dad here for my birth due to their lingering and weak scents. Their smell didn¡¯t permeate everything like Mom and Dad¡¯s. I could hear Mom moving around outside the house at least 50 feet away from where I was lying down. Even my eyesight seemed to have improved since if I tried to, I could clearly see every individual grain of straw in fine detail as they hung above my head. Getting used to this new body was going to be difficult so I figured now would be the best time to get started. I focused on gaining control over my individual fingers which was not easy. Every single time I tried to move just one finger my whole hand would move. It was like trying to bring down your pinky finger without moving your ring finger at the same time, take a second and try it out, go on I bet you can¡¯t do it. Well imagine that except instead of that only happening with one finger it happens with every finger, oh and your arm moves too. To say the least it was very annoying. I spent a couple of hours absorbed in that task until I finally made some progress. I got my fingers to move without the whole arm following along. Sure it might have been every single finger at the same time, but that¡¯s better than your whole arm. Eventually Mom came back in the house, she smelled like springtime after a hard rain and I could see she had some dirt on her hands. She went into the kitchen to wash up, I know this because I heard the sound of water splashing around, and then she came to pick me up. I promptly soiled myself, what, gravity has that effect on me. So I was treated to a changing and some food. After that little embarrassing moment passed I think I got my first peak at our language. She started to howl, but not the kind that wolves do in the wild, where it¡¯s loud and you can hear it for miles, this was more of a quiet, conversational howl. It sounded kind of like the crooning she was doing earlier only vastly more complex. I could hear so many different tones, it was like listening to a complex piece of classical music, only with wolf sounds instead of instruments. Naturally I have no idea what she was saying, but at least I know we have a language that I can eventually learn. Also it¡¯s beautiful, I could listen to my mother talk for hours since it¡¯s almost like someone is singing. I let her know I was happy with the conversation by smiling and a laughing. Well I guess some people would describe it as a giggle, but damn it, it¡¯s hard to laugh as a baby, it just comes out too high pitched. Anyway we conversed for an hour or so with her poking and tickling me throughout the conversation until I eventually got tired and fell asleep. Once again, I was born yesterday and being awake is hard. The next six months went by a lot like that, I slowly gained mastery over my body, I can crawl now by the way, and stand if I have something to support me. I spent time with my parents and found out they are very quiet people, rarely wasting words. Mom does talk to me most days which has allowed me to start sounding out words. I think I have mom and dad down, but I am not 100% on that. My vocabulary consists of maybe 5 to 30 words at this point, although at least 20 of them are guesses. I also think I have figured out what my name is, it sounds like Nopea, not sure what it means, but hopefully it¡¯s something cool. Beyond slowly gaining control over my body and adjusting to my heightened senses I haven¡¯t really been able to do much. Every day is fairly similar to the last with mild variations, learning the language is tough, but I think I finally figured out the key. The pitch at which you say the word changes the meaning, No and Bad are two words like that, where no is said in a higher pitch and bad is said in a lower one. Hopefully this is the key to actually understanding this crazy language. ----------------------------------- AN: Don¡¯t expect too many chapters about Baby John, childhood should only be 3 chapters away. Ch. 4 Visiting a Town The day started off much like every other day so far, I woke up to the smell of Mom¡¯s cooking, eggs with a little meat and some salt if the smell is anything to judge by. I made a noise to get my father¡¯s attention, he got up from his chair, changed me and then brought me into the kitchen. I sat down in his lap and we waited for breakfast. I can only imagine it¡¯s getting on toward fall at this point since I have been alive for around six months, and the days have slowly been getting cooler. I lost track of the exact number of days because frankly it doesn¡¯t matter at this point, one day is just like the next, pretty boring. On the bright side I got my first surprise in a long while this morning, Dad didn¡¯t hand me over to mom this morning as breakfast was being served; instead he cut up small portions of egg and started trying to feed them to me. I eagerly took my first bite and got a taste of heaven. After a diet of milk for six months, anything is a welcome change. At one point I had even tried tasting my feet just for some variety. I ate as much as I could, which amounted to 6 whole chunks of scrambled eggs, then mom snatched me away and it was back to breast milk. Looks like today is the day they start to ween me off of my liquid diet, Hurray!! Soon enough it will be all solids for this growing boy. That however wasn¡¯t the only change in routine as instead of being placed on the bed like normal, Mom put me on some kind of leather contraption. I was confused until she strapped something on herself and then connected us together. Is today the day? It looks like it is since both Mom and Dad start to walk outside with me attached. My first glimpse of the outdoors beyond a couple brief glances when the door was opened and frankly I am a little underwhelmed. I mean I know I couldn¡¯t expect much living in a little shack and all, but still I expected something more than what looks like a bunch of post-harvest fields. All I can see are chopped down wheat stalks bordering a forest, there is a small dirt road bordering the fields and the forest and a cart filled with products from our farm. As I suspected Dad is a farmer, so it looks like I will have to get a blacksmith to make things for me instead of making them myself. Right next to the house there appeared to be a vegetable garden and what looked like a chicken coop. I tried to get a better look at this world¡¯s version of chicken and I have to say, this world sucks. Our chickens are half the size of my dad, three and a half foot tall vicious looking monsters. Fuck that noise, no way am I ever going to collect eggs from those things. Not only are they huge but they have talons, think Jurassic park velociraptors and you can kind of get the picture. I have a whole new sense of respect for my parents. But I¡¯d really like to know why everything in this world look like it wants to eat me? Mom walked us over toward a cart filled with grain. It looked a little weird though, kind of like a rickshaw. Where the heck are the horses supposed to go? No, Fuck, we are too poor to own horses which means¡­ yup, there goes Dad grabbing the front and pushing the cart. Great I can see my future now, collecting eggs from velocichickens and then helping Dad deliver produce to the nearest village. It looks like I need to figure out a way to earn money before Mom and Dad start teaching me the family business cause I am a city boy and farming looks like way too much work. Mom and Dad took turns pushing the cart and the miles just rolled by. I took the time to become familiar with my surroundings because frankly what else was I going to do. The road was dirt and it had deep grooves in it that our cart was only making deeper. The forest looked old as in very little underbrush lots of big tall trees. What kind you ask? Deciduous I would assume due to the large leaves, beyond that I have no idea, after all we are not on earth and my one botany class taken 5 years ago didn¡¯t cover alien flora. I asked my parents about them and the response I got was Araaaua, so that may mean tree, forest, or the particular type of tree. I¡¯ll let you know when I figure it out¡­ stupid language barrier. After around 8 hours and a brief stop for lunch we finally arrived at a town. Bright side, at least it wasn¡¯t some dinky little village, so when I get older I should have a decent place to make some money. As far as first impressions go, things could be worse, there was a large wooden palisade surrounding the town and two guards standing at the gate. I couldn¡¯t see over the wall, but it stretched out quite a bit, at least half a mile. The two guards seemed to be well equipped both were wearing a set of leather armor, I¡¯d say they were standard issue, but the body types of the two guards precluded that possibility. One of the guards was a wolf like my father. Though he didn¡¯t have Dad¡¯s mighty thews he was still a really big guy. Maybe half a head shorter than Dad, he wore a sword on his belt and had a round shield on his arm. His fur however was black with hints of brown and he stood at attention as soon as he saw Dad approaching. The other guard couldn¡¯t have been more different, he was short, like this world¡¯s chickens short. He stood maybe 4 feet tall and he had an axe strapped to his back. While most of his armor was leather, he had on a silvery metal set of gauntlets to break up the theme. As far as his build goes, some people might describe him as thick or big boned, but that would imply that he looked somewhat athletic, to me he just looked fat. He also had a beard that covered most of his face and if I had to call him anything I would say he was a dwarf. The only thing that ruined the image of this classic fantasy character was the set of giant rams horns coming out of his forehead and the rather goatlike face he was sporting. I don¡¯t think I can totally cross dwarfs off the possible species I will meet, but it looks like I am on some kind of beast person world. As we got closer Dad and the wolf guard started singing a duet, or having a conversation, who can tell? Then we got waved through and I saw the first use of stone outside of Mom¡¯s kitchen. They had cobblestone streets and some of the nicer buildings also seemed to be made of bricks. I was also pleasantly surprised by the smell of the town, it didn''t reek of shit. Instead I was overwhelmed with scents, from coal to bread, it was too much for me to separate out. Having a super nose is tough, I could separate everything out, but most of my scent memory is from a human nose which is somewhat inadequate. My new sniffer could pick up so many nuances within a scent that frankly all the old scent profiles were fairly useless. Bright side though it looks like wolf people keep their towns cleaner than humans did in the dark ages. Once I got my nose under control I started to focus on the sounds of the town and there were a lot of them. I could hear the sound of a hammer ringing off an anvil, mixed with hundreds of conversations in different languages. Apparently Wolf speech was not the dominant tongue as I was able to pick out far too few of our unique howling speech. Great, looks like I will have to learn more than one language. I wonder if they have Rosetta Stone? Probably not, computers seem to be at least a few centuries away if the architecture is anything to judge by. While some of the buildings were made from brick, others were some kind of wattle and daub, and still others were made from sticks like my place. Apparently no one has ever made a 2 by 4, either that or logging was a dangerous occupation. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Dad continued to push the cart along the street until we arrived at a large building. This one was made of bricks, and gave off a Babylonian sort of feeling. I think they¡¯re mud baked bricks and not stone. Regardless, it was one of the biggest buildings I had seen in town, it looked almost like a warehouse. Dad shouted something in a language I am sure was not our standard wolf speak and one of those little goat dwarfs came out of the building. They started conversing in a language that had a lot more consonants than I was used to. The goat dwarf was dressed in fairly rich attire, he had on a bright blue tunic made out of some soft looking fabric and pants that billowed out instead of hugging his legs. He made several expansive gestures and looked like quite the flamboyant character. Throughout the conversation, which was fairly one sided, since Dad was fairly quiet, seeming only to answer the Goat dwarf¡¯s questions. I was once again reminded that Dad is a quiet man, not given to mincing or wasting words. Dad went to the cart and pulled out a sample of the grain we had brought, I¡¯d call it wheat, but frankly I¡¯m not really sure what wheat looks like... also it was blue which I''m pretty sure is not the color of wheat. The fancy little man examined our product and then produced 2 pieces of silver from a pouch on his belt. Dad frowned and began walking back to the cart, he grabbed the pull bar and started pushing the cart away. The little man let dad get about five feet away before he yelled something. Dad stopped the cart said something and the little guy gave him 4 silver looking coins. Dad frowned and after a couple of seconds the Goat Dwarf added around 20 copper pieces to the bunch. Dad nodded, and gave the money to Mom, he shook hands with the Goat dwarf who then yelled something into the building. A couple of burly looking Goat dwarfs came out with sacks and started unloading our cart. We left the workers to their task and headed back out into the town. After a bit of wandering we arrived at what looked like a market square. Along the way I saw way too many types of people, there was a Pantherman almost as big as dad with semi human facial features. He smelled musky with a hint of spiciness that I couldn¡¯t really place and he wore pants and a vest with a sword belted to his waist. He had a few scars on his body that told me he had used that sword for more than just intimidation and he made me want to hide. Of course it is pretty hard to hide when you are strapped to your mom¡¯s chest so I dealt with my anxiety by focusing elsewhere. There were a lot of Goat dwarfs, they outnumbered every other race by at least 5 to 1, so I think you could safely say this was their city. They were all fairly uniform in height, I saw maybe 4 inches of difference between the tallest of their species and the shortest. But what they lacked in height difference they more than made up for in the variety of colors they displayed. One was completely black, yet he walked hand in hand with a female? Who had red fur. Looks like color doesn¡¯t really matter to these people, so that was a positive. There was also a pack of wolfmen that walked by. They all wore leather armor like the guards at the front gate, so I imagine this was a patrol of guards insuring the safety of the town. Leading the patrol was a Goat dwarf who was also wearing leather armor, though he had a metal helmet which made him stand out. They passed us by without acknowledging our presence which seemed to bother my father a little bit as I saw the hackles of his neck rise up a bit as they passed us by. As we continued on our way we saw this big breasted cow lady? Not sure, I think I saw horns on the top of her head, but honestly I was kind of entranced by her most prominent features. Her twin peaks were difficult to ignore as they were not made to human proportions. There was also some kind of rat man. He was taller than the goat dwarfs, but still shorter than your average human male. Maybe 5 feet tall, with a thick hairless tail and prominent rat like features in his face. He had a somewhat feral look to him, and wore only a simple loincloth, belt and spear. I think he might be a barbarian, but it is kind of hard to tell, there doesn¡¯t seem to be very much of a taboo about nudity. Most people seemed to be wearing some kind of leather pants, with a vest, that was also made of leather. I didn¡¯t really see anyone wearing any cloth, so I am guessing there are not a lot of cotton or hemp farms around. I¡¯d have to remember that for when I get older since there could be some money to be made with cotton or whatever the equivalent was here. When we arrived at the market square there were a lot of vendors hawking their wares in what sounded like the second language my father had been using with the goat dwarf that bought our grain. Mom and Dad browsed the stalls, which allowed me to check out the produce. The vegetables look fairly normal, I mean sure the carrot looking thing is blue, and the fruit shaped like an orange? Is actually violet, but hey the shapes all seem normal. There was a red lettuce and some kind of purple star shaped fruit. I did my best to remember what everything looked like in case I ever found it growing in the wild. As we browsed the stalls my parents seemed to get really excited when they ran into a spice merchant. They talked in what I am assuming is the common language I¡¯d been hearing my Dad speak. I don¡¯t think it was the Goat dwarfs racial tongue since the merchant was some kind of lizard man and I kept hearing all of the consonants I had begun to associate with that language. At the conclusion of their conversation my mom handed the merchant fifteen pieces of copper and in return they received a giant bag of salt. To give you an idea of how big, I am a six month old baby and the bag had to be at least 3 times my size. Who needs that much salt? After getting the salt Mom and Dad browsed through a couple more stalls, they bought some fruits from a couple of vendors before finally deciding to leave. We made our way back toward the merchant that bought our grain and upon arriving found our cart waiting for us completely empty. Dad threw the salt and fruit in the cart and we made our way out of the city. Upon exiting the town¡¯s gate Dad seemed to wish the black wolf farewell and the wolf seemed to either salute Dad, or praise god, not really sure which. He lifted his chin in the air, exposing his throat and spread both hands to the side. Dad just nodded at him and we left the town without any fuss. I was kind of disappointed, my first outing into civilization and nothing exciting happened, we sold some grain, bought some salt and then left. No magic, no excitement just a boring day doing some grocery shopping. ---------------------------------------------- AN: Next chapter will be out tomorrow and our mini hero will get his first glimpse of magic. Barring writer''s block I should be able to keep releasing a chapter a day. I have been working on two versions of the next chapter, so let me know in the comments if you guys would rather have a lot of description for afight scene with some goreor less description that simply captures the essence of the brutality without going in to great detail. Ch. 5 The Road Home We made much better time on the way back home, Dad didn¡¯t need to switch off pushing the cart with Mom and it looked like we were approaching the halfway point after only an hour. Pushing an unloaded cart is apparently a lot easier than one fully loaded with grain, who would have guessed that? I¡¯m pretty sure we stopped for lunch somewhere around here, the sights weren¡¯t very familiar, but the scents were. I closed my eyes and really focused on my sense of smell, midway through our journey we stopped for lunch, so if I could catch a whiff of that I¡¯d know how much longer it would take to get back home. It¡¯s not like there was a lot to do once we got home, but after hanging off Mom¡¯s chest all day I was a little sore and looking forward to getting out of the harness. Plus despite all of the new sights, sounds and smells the whole journey was pretty boring and it was difficult to think with the constant jarring of Mom¡¯s every step. As I focused on the smells around me I caught the scent of something familiar. It kind of reminded me of how that Pantherman had smelled, kind of musky with a hint of spice and strangely enough iron. Wait a second, iron, why would there be iron in the air? I thought about it for a second and didn¡¯t like the conclusion I came to. As we kept walking the scent came in stronger and I noticed the source seemed to be ahead of us and in the forest. I made some noise to get Mom¡¯s attention, but she simply tried to comfort me, thinking that I was bored. I needed to think up a strategy to get her to realize that we might be in danger, I thought they would have picked up on the scent, but their noses simply didn¡¯t have that same sensitivity as mine. I was now smelling a lot of iron and multiple Pantherman scents, which screamed bandit to me. I needed to alert my parents without distracting them, so I decided to use my words. To date I really only had about five words I was confident in, Mom, Dad, my name, yes and no, none of which had I said very often. I had another twenty or so that I thought I might have figured out, like good and bad, tasty and gross, you know simple things. Not bad for someone who couldn¡¯t ask any questions, but not really enough to try to convince my parents there was danger afoot. So I did my best to remember all of my words, then I poked my mom to get her attention and said, ¡°Mom, bad¡± and then pointed toward the woods. She looked at me and then seemed to try and comfort me, I not sure what she was saying, but her tone implied that everything was okay. I shook my head and said, ¡°No, Mom Bad¡± I pointed to my nose, inhaling deeply and then pointed out towards the woods. I repeated, ¡°Bad bad bad bad bad¡± and pointed once again toward the woods, right into the underbrush next to the road. Mom started to look concerned and began talking quietly with Dad. Dad frowned then stopped the cart. Mom kept talking and after a brief argument in which I imagine Mom finished with a ¡°because I said so¡± Dad took a deep breath. He then stomped his foot on the ground and a wave of earth moved out in a circle from him. When it hit the spot I was pointing at I heard some growling and Dad started to bear his fangs. Three Panthermen stepped out from the underbrush and glared at us. The biggest of the three drew a sword, while the other two seemed to be duel wielding daggers. Dad called out to them in that other language I didn¡¯t know and the one with the sword responded. Looks like he¡¯s their leader. Makes sense, size is an asset in the bandit life as it indicates more strength and greater access to food. The bandit leader yelled something back and I could see Dad tense up even further. At this point Mom started to unclip me from the harness, she put me in the back of the cart and went to join my father in front of it. He growled at the bandits indicating he wouldn¡¯t give in to their demands and the leader simply nodded. As if the nod was a signal the bandits started running toward us and I could see dad really start to focus on them. His breathing became rapid, almost like he was hyperventilating and then he exhaled while once again stomped his foot on the ground. Whereas the last time he did that a circle moved out from the impact point, this time it looked like a directed wave. It started off fairly small but the farther away it got from dad, the taller it became. By the time it reached the bandits, the wave was already 4 feet tall. The bandits tried to run over it, but as soon as their feet came in contact with the earth they started to sink into the wave. Somehow the earth that made up the wave had taken on some of the properties of water. It swallowed them up and I could see bits of their bodies as they were rolled along the ground for around 20 feet. They didn¡¯t enjoy the ride as they were beaten into the ground along the wave¡¯s advance. When the bandits started to get up, they were all bleeding from multiple cuts and scrapes. Thanks to my enhanced eyesight I could see that one of the dual wielding knifemen had dislocated a pinky thanks to the little ride Dad gave him. However the worst injury probably belonged to the leader, his nose was bleeding like a faucet and if I had to guess I would say it was probably broken. Either way I knew the first thing I was going to ask dad to teach me when we could start to properly communicate. Dad didn¡¯t really give the bandits a lot of time to recover. After the wave hit them he was on the move, running toward them at full speed. By the time they had gotten up he was only ten feet away. Before they could even bring their weapons to bear Dad had jump kicked the least injured Pantherman in the chest. He flew back 12 feet and looked to be down for the count. Dad quickly recovered from his jump kick as he used his victim to arrest all forward momentum. After landing he immediately spun to his left and engaged with the rather stunned leader. He feinted a punch toward the leader¡¯s face and as the leader tried to block it, Dad grabbed his sword arm and then kicked the Pantherman right in the balls. Based on the strength of the kick and the fact that the Pantherman rose up two feet in the air I was fairly confident he wouldn¡¯t be able to father children in this lifetime. As the kick elevated the Pantherman into the air, Dad ripped the sword from his grasp and shifted his focus to the third bandit. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Unfortunately Pinky seemed to have recovered enough of his wits at that point to know he needed to do something or he would be the next to die. He threw one of his daggers at Dad who didn¡¯t really have enough time to react. Dad tried to use the sword to knock the dagger off its¡¯ trajectory but was too slow to interpose his blade. It ended up sinking up to its¡¯ haft in Dad¡¯s stomach. If the fact that 3 inches of steel were now buried in his stomach bothered my father he didn¡¯t show it, instead he simply bared his fangs at the third bandit, sword in hand and murder in his eyes. Pinky snarled at my father and began to circle around him, obviously hoping to agitate the injury his knife had caused. Unfortunately for him he failed to keep track of his surroundings and thus Mom¡¯s more cautious approach went completely unnoticed. By the time the bandit had completed a quarter of a rotation around my father his back ended up completely exposed to my mother. She took advantage of his poor battle sense and leapt at his back. Her foot connected with his lower back which sent him stumbling toward my father. Dad took advantage of the situation and jammed the sword through Pinky¡¯s heart. His thrust was incredibly powerful as the sword not only slid through Pinky¡¯s ribs, but it can out through his back. Pinky fell to the ground and apparently the sword got caught on some bone because he took it with him. Dad grimaced and turned toward the bandit leader who was only just recovering from being turned into a falsetto. He snarled at my Father and his claws came out. Dad seemed to tense up as if preparing to engage the Pantherman in a contest of strength. Then he reached down, grabbed the knife from his stomach and whipped it at the Bandit leader. Dad¡¯s aim was true as the knife pierced the Bandit¡¯s neck. The Bandit leader seemed to be shocked, he pulled the knife from his neck and clamped his hand on the wound. From the blood that sprayed out I could tell my dad had hit an artery, the chief had less than a minute of consciousness left before blood loss was sure to knock him out. The bandit snarled something at my father and then charged. He didn¡¯t get more than 4 steps before collapsing to the ground. Did I mention that you really aren¡¯t supposed to move when you have a cut artery? No? Well you shouldn¡¯t, it speeds up the blood loss tremendously. With the Bandit leader dead, Dad walked over to the first bandit he had kicked. The bandit was still alive, but he wasn¡¯t moving. My guess is that his rib cage collapsed, piercing a number of very important organs. Dad stomped down on the remaining bandit¡¯s neck before he finally showed a grimace of pain. Mom ran over to him and helped him walk back to the cart. She laid him down and I was able to get a good look at the wound. Blood ran freely from the wound though I didn¡¯t smell any gas which at least meant Dad¡¯s intestines probably hadn¡¯t been perforated. The wound didn¡¯t look pretty but at least with enough rest he should be able to recover. Unfortunately I couldn¡¯t be sure that he would get enough rest to fully recover, peasant farmers were not exactly known to have a lot of leisure time. I used the side of the cart to support me as I made my way over to Dad, the whole time Mom just stood there, staring at the wound. I needed to snap her out of the shock she was apparently feeling so she could bandage the wound. She continued to stare at the wound as her breathing deepened then she finally started to move, placing her hands on each side of the puncture. Then a low white red light began to emanate from her hands and I saw my second bit of magic. The wound began to heal, first the blood stopped flowing, and then the flesh seemed to reconnect, though I could tell that the reconnections were not perfect. Finally the top of the wound began to be covered over with what looked like scar tissue. Clearly Mom could use some kind of healing magic, though I don¡¯t think she was an expert since I could tell, the abdominal she healed would always be weaker than the rest do to the improper connections made throughout the muscle. Regardless of how skilled Mom ended up being, she still had some kind of healing magic, and Dad had earth magic. After the healing was finished Dad stood up and stretched, wincing a little in pain as he was still not 100% despite the healing. Mom and Dad the spoke to each other briefly before they left to go loot the corpses. The weapons were piled in the back of the cart, along with their shoes and clothes. They then dragged the bodies back into the underbrush and we continued on our way. I don¡¯t know how ethical it is to steal from the dead, but at the very least it is better than taking from the living. Plus those guys had tried to rob us, so I couldn¡¯t really fault my parents for the cavalier way in which they dealt with the dead. The only thing that really surprised me about the whole affair was that we didn¡¯t seem to be heading back to the city to report the bandit attack, instead we just continued on our way back home. -------------------------------------------------------------- AN: One short chapter left then we have a time skip and theMC will actually be able to talk to people. I also want to let you guys know my tentative release schedule. I will try and get a chapter out every day for at least the first month, but I can''t guarantee that since I am only 2 chapters ahead of what''s currentlyposted. I appreciate the comments and hope you guys continue to enjoy my story. Ch. 6 The Aftermath When we got home, it was already starting to get dark. Mom brought me into the house along with the groceries. I¡¯m not sure where Dad put all of the weapons but they didn¡¯t end up anywhere in the house. Maybe we have a barn I didn¡¯t notice when we left this morning? Hmm, well, when I can walk that¡¯s something I¡¯ll definitely investigate. Mom set me down on the bed then proceeded to put away the groceries, which gave me a chance to think without the constant jarring from every step she took. This little trip into town made me realize that there is still way too much about this world that I don¡¯t know about, and the biggest mystery right now is my parents. Why in the world are two people capable of doing magic working on a farm? And where in the world did they learn to do said magic? Plus Dad is definitely some kind of kick ass martial artist, how is he not in the military? There are simply way too many unknowns in my life right now and the only way to find out answers would be to learn our stupid language. Why can¡¯t everyone just speak English? Or why couldn¡¯t I be granted the ability to just understand every language? Stupid rebirth¡­ Well despite how frustrating wolf speech is, it¡¯s all I have to work with, so I need to start practicing more. The other thing I need to do is meditate again. I tried it several months ago and after about a week of nothing happening I kind of gave it up. Now that I have proof that magic is real, I have a huge incentive to pick up the practice again. After all meditation leading to magic is one of the basics of a fantasy world and I now know definitively that I am in a fantasy world. I guess my To Do list hasn¡¯t really changed all that much, I still need to learn the language, I still need to learn how to move around better. The only thing that really changed was that I need to meditate in order to learn magic. Oh and I need to learn more about my parents/ make sure they really love me cause Dad is super scary and Mom can certainly take care of herself. I continued to just lay on the bed for another couple of minutes before decided that there was no time like the present to start working on my magic. I sat down in the lotus position and closed my eyes, hands held to the side like any stereotypical yogi about to hand down some wisdom. Then I realized how unnatural that would look for a six month old and instead just sat chis cross applesauce like any good kindergartnerlearns to do. I closed my eyes again and tried to clear my mind¡­ it didn¡¯t work. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I don¡¯t know if you have ever tried to really clear your mind of thoughts, but I lasted around 3 seconds before a random thought intruded on the silence. Plus it was also really hard to shake the excitement of potentially learning how to use magic which may have had a negative effect on the whole clearing my mind thing. I spent maybe 45 minutes while Mom prepared dinner and Dad did Dad things outside simply trying to clear my mind. I got close a couple of times, lasting maybe 10 seconds in one stretch without any stray thoughts intruding upon the silence of meditation, but overall I¡¯d say the session was less than successful. Mom went outside and howled something at Dad, I assume it was along the lines of ¡°dinner is ready¡± before she came and picked me up. We ate dinner in relative silence, Mom fed me a couple of boiled vegetables that she mashed up, followed by some breast milk. After dinner Mom put me to bed and she and Dad went outside to talk. I can¡¯t say for sure what they were talking about, but I think I may have freaked them out a little bit by warning them about the bandits. After all what kind of baby is capable of recognizing danger and warning people about it¡­ All I know for sure is that my name came up several times during their talk, and I am pretty sure they didn¡¯t want me to know they were talking about me since they had their conversation at the edge of my range of hearing. I was kind of concerned but there was no anger in their voices and no fear, so I wasn¡¯t too worried that they would abandon me or anything like that. When they finally came back into the house I immediately said, ¡°Mama¡± and raised my arms as if begging to be picked up. Mom cocked her head to the side for a second before she complied and picked me up. I wrapped my arms around her neck and pressed my cheek against her cheek. I held the embrace for around 30 seconds before I released her from the embrace. I then said, ¡°Dada¡± and held my arms out. He grabbed hold of me and I treated him to the same experience. After letting go of him I pointed back to the bed and he set me down. I then proceeded to try and go to sleep. My parents stood over me, watching me for maybe 5 minutes before they joined me on the bed for the night. It took me a while to fall asleep, but as I did, it was to the constant deep breathing of my new parents. --------------------------------------------------- AN: Short one today, but I felt like there needed to be a little bit of a wrap up before the time skip. Next Chapter will be after 5 years have passed,look forward to some questions getting answered, oh and some actual dialogue. Also a little hint, the names of the characters will have meaning and an impact upon the story, they are not arbitrary or put in there because they sound right. Ch. 7 Five Years Later The flame is bright and burns eternal, its'' heat fills me, it traverses my body never stopping always hungry. It burns a path throughout my body, starting at my stomach where I fuel the flame, it branches out from there. The flame is a part of my body and thus I can control it so long as my will is strong and my intent is clear the flame will obey. I focus on the fire that courses through my hand and will it toward my fingertips. The pathway doesn¡¯t extend to the tips and I feel a burning as the fire eats through my flesh on its¡¯ way to the tip of each finger. I ignore the pain as giving in and acknowledging how much it hurts would halt the process. Every time I expanded the path in which the fire followed it hurt just as much, the pain was unbearable at first, but eventually after a year of continually pushing myself I was able to maintain my focus despite the pain. When the fire reached my fingertips I checked how much was left in my hands, they were practically empty. I released my control over the energy in my hands and allowed the fire that I had blocked off at the wrist to finally continue its route through my body. As the fresh fire entered my hands I felt a tingling sensation in my fingertips blood was finally flowing into them again. I looked at network the fire flowed through and it was extensive, flowing down to the balls of my feet all the way up to my cheeks. I hadn¡¯t yet been able to steel myself enough to advance the flames into my eyes and I kept it away from my brain, but barring those two critical areas the fire was able to traverse my whole body. I opened my eyes and got out of the lotus position and took in the predawn air. The smell was my favorite part of waking up so early. The condensation on our crops made them smell amazing like fresh cut grass mixed with baking bread, it was a little odd, but so intense. I breathed it in then shook off as dew had started to gather on my fur. I looked out at the fields and felt a sense of pride at all my father had done. He had gone from a single plot of Whim which is what our version of wheat is called, and turned it into five plots of Whim, three plots of Potus, a kind of tuber that while red in color tasted like a potato, and a single field of Cotton. Okay it isn¡¯t actually called cotton it¡¯s called zrexia, but it is basically cotton, big seeds that are a bitch to remove, you can turn the fluff into clothing, it is even white, though the seeds are blue instead of brown, so I am sticking with Cotton instead of that foreign word. Yeah zrexia is a Vuohiese word since my people never grew it before we came into contact with the Vuohians. For those of you wondering what I am talking about, the Vuohians are the little Goat dwarfs that own the nearby town of Meadow Rest. Long ago they didn¡¯t get along with my people the Susi but eventually with threat of the northern savages most of the beast races came together in peace. We are ruled by a council of races, my people are the preeminent warriors among the races and thus we have a lot of clout on the council. The Vuohians on the other hand are merchants and craftsmen, they might not have a lot of power on the council, but they are on average a lot wealthier than any other race. They might not have the same power as my people, but their influence could be said to surpass ours. The good news is that our two species have been allies for centuries, the bad news is that my mother and father no longer have the backing of our people, we are outcasts and they have yet to explain why. But I suppose that¡¯s enough ruminating on the problems of Galtea, it¡¯s time to focus on the more immediate problem¡­ Today is the first day in which we begin to harvest our crops and that means tons of back breaking labor for yours truly. Sure I was big and strong for my age, standing at four and a half feet, weighing somewhere around 120 pounds, can¡¯t exactly be sure since my folks don¡¯t exactly have a scale or measuring tape. I was big even for a child of my species, but still isn¡¯t 6 still a little early to make your child start harvesting wheat. First thing I do when we finish the harvest is let Dad know about ¡°the idea I just had¡± an actual scythe, instead of these stupid inefficient hand scythes. I walked into our old home and decided on the method by which to wake the field hands, a young couple of Vuohians and their 5 year old son Gurt. For some reason the couple, Kurt and Westra, had trouble adjusting to waking up so early so I had to be a little creative in how I woke them up. It¡¯s not my fault they don¡¯t wake up to my simple presence, and Susi would jump out of bed if they heard someone entering their room. So I walked into our old kitchen grabbed a pot and spoon and slowly crept toward the sleeping couple. I held the pot as close to Kurt¡¯s ear as possible, after all I am pretty sure he is hard of hearing, and proceeded to hit the spoon against the interior of the pot as hard as I could and as rapidly as I could. Kurt jumped out of bed startled and frightened, and when I say jumped I mean he flung himself forward over the foot of the bed and as he gained his feet and started looking around I started to laugh. As his eyes started to lose their wild look I felt a shoe hit the side of my head. Apparently Westra didn¡¯t appreciate my less than gentle wake up call. Kurt¡¯s eyes narrowed as he looked at me and said, ¡°Damnit Swift Aattoson you could have given me a heart attack, you should know better than to wake a man up so suddenly.¡± I simply smiled at him innocently laughter barely suppressed and said, ¡°Sorry Uncle Kurt, I couldn¡¯t help myself, you¡¯re always so hard to wake up I simply figured this might be an effective method.¡± He glared at me and looked like he was about to say more when his wife cut in, ¡°Swift, you know it isn¡¯t right to prank people before the sun is even up.¡± She looked at me and I could see the disappointment in her gaze. I got a little embarrassed at my immaturity and replied, ¡°Sorry Auntie Westra, but today is the first day of the harvest and I needed something to brighten my day, I shouldn¡¯t have made yours worse just because I was dreading the coming day. I¡¯m sorry Uncle Kurt.¡± Westra was right, but farm life sucks, and it isn¡¯t often I get to have any fun. Sure I can play with Gurt, and I often do, but playing with a 5 year old is often more of a trial of patience as opposed to actually being enjoyable. Kurt continued to glare at me for another minute before relenting, ¡°Well I suppose it is my own fault for asking you to wake us up early this morning, should have realized it was an open invitation for this kind of behavior. But at the very least I am definitely awake and ready to start the day so at least your little prank had that much going for it. Of course to make up for your little prank I expect you help your aunt Westra for a candle with separating the cotton seeds from the lint, after you get done with all of your other chores of course.¡± I nodded, agreeing to the punishment, then asked, ¡°So why did you guys want me to wake you up so early anyways?¡± They both smiled, and Westra answered, ¡°It is an old Vuohian tradition that on the first day of harvest you wake up before the first rays of the sun touch the fields you honor the Goddess Belisia, tiller of the fields and patron of farmers.¡± Kurt nodded his agreement with the explanation, and said, ¡°Since it is Gurt¡¯s second time helping with the harvest, he can help guide you through the ceremony. Swift will you help us honor our goddess?¡± He said all this with a straight face, but his eyes has a wicked gleam that I didn¡¯t trust. I don¡¯t think he was totally over my little early morning prank. I tried to avoid whatever he had planned and responded, ¡°I don¡¯t think I should, after all my family honors the old gods, and Father Sun doesn¡¯t like when we perform rituals in the dark.¡± I started to walk quickly out of the door when I felt a powerful hand clamp down upon my shoulder, I looked over at the owner of that powerful hand and definitely saw a wicked sparkle in his eyes as he said, ¡°Nonsense, while Father Sun might not like it, I am sure Mother Earth would be thrilled. Please Swift I must insist you join us for this very simple ceremony.¡± I wasn¡¯t left with much of a choice, I had been caught, and while I could outrun Kurt any day, there was no way I would be able to overpower him and escape, so I simply nodded my agreement knowing I wasn¡¯t going to enjoy the result. We walked outside and Gurt gave me a sympathetic look, apparently he knew what was in store for me and it wasn¡¯t going to be fun. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. We went outside to the first field of Whim my dad ever planted and Kurt stopped us at the edge of the field. He removed a single stalk of Whim, roots and all and returned to us, he then bowed his head, next Westra grabbed a stalk and removed it from the field, returning to stand beside her husband, she then bowed her head. I think I was starting to notice a pattern, then Gurt elbowed my side, so I went and grabbed a stalk around the same size as the ones Kurt and Westra had taken. I looked back and saw Gurt shake his head, then hold up six fingers. I looked back at him confused, before he gestured for me to take another stalk. I frowned, but then grabbed 5 other stalks of Whim then returned to stand beside everyone. Gurt was next and after a little searching he grabbed one of the smallest stalks of Whim I available. When he returned to my side his father spoke, ¡°Belisia Goddess of the farms and fields, Tiller of the plains, guardian of hearth and home, we honor you today on this blessed harvest day by eating of your grain, untouched by the fires of civilization, pure as you intended. We also welcome a guest today, one who has never partaken of the fruits of your service, he honors you with a memorial to all the years he missed.¡± Kurt then took a bite from the Whim, eating the entirety of the head. Westra and Gurt followed suit, which left me no choice but to take a bite out of one of mine. I chewed it up and swallowed the uncooked grain, which while not exactly a treat really wasn¡¯t that bad. I then bit the heads off of all the other stalks then looked over at Kurt, as far as revenges go, this one was pretty tame. That¡¯s when I noticed Kurt hadn¡¯t stopped eating the Whim, he was still making his way down the stalk of Whim, only a few inches from the roots. Judging by the expression on his face he wasn¡¯t enjoying the flavor. I looked over at Gurt and finally understood why he had chosen such a small stalk, oh this was going to suck. I took a bite out of the stalk of grain and it tasted like rope, the texture was similar to the head of the stalk, but all of the sugar was apparently in the head of the stalk, this tasted like an extremely bitter kale, and I had to eat five of these things. I powered though the five stalks, and didn¡¯t cry, not even once¡­ Why is my face damp, well that¡¯s because of sweat obviously¡­ what do you mean I already mentioned my people don¡¯t have sweat glands, it¡¯s sweat just accept that fact and move on. By the time I finished ¡°honoring the goddess¡± my stomach was starting to hurt. Not only was five entire stalks of Whim a little much for someone my size, but I am pretty sure my stomach isn¡¯t designed to eat the entirety of a stalk of Whim. When I finally finished Kurt nodded to me and said, ¡°We thank the goddess for watching over our crops and hope she will continue to bless us in the years to come.¡± Kurt smirked at me which I noticed quite clearly now that the light of the false dawn began to brighten the skies. I took note of his expression and vowed that next time the prank would be entirely focused on Kurt, then I¡¯d just run away from him instead of taking his stupid punishment. Westra saw my darkened expression and said, ¡°Thank you Swift, it is not often we allow outsiders to participate in our holy rituals, I hope you understand the honor we granted you by allowing you to participate.¡± I responded with a sincere yet plaintive tone, ¡°I am happy to have been allowed to participate, but why couldn¡¯t anyone have warned me about having to eat all five stalks, I would have gotten smaller ones had I known.¡± Westra smirked and said, ¡°Well we can¡¯t exactly give away the secrets of our goddess to the uninitiated, especially when said uninitiated boy decides to wake up his loving aunt by banging a spoon on her favorite pot.¡± I looked at her with a pained expression before nodding and heading back to my family¡¯s new home. It was made of sun baked bricks and was a project my father had started 4 years ago. The house wasn¡¯t finished yet, but it had a roof and three rooms, Dad was working on building another room because I was about to have a baby brother or sister soon. I entered our new home and went to my room to change my clothing, I put on a set of leather work pants and then walked into my parent¡¯s room. Dad woke up as soon as I entered their room, he sniffed the air, then said, ¡°So it¡¯s almost dawn eh?¡± I nodded my head and went into the kitchen to start breakfast. I wasn¡¯t exactly a gourmet chef in my last life, but Mom has been teaching me how to cook and I make a mean batch of scrambled eggs. I relit the fire and placed the cooking rack over the flames, I then placed my pan on the rack to let it hear up. While the pan was heating I cracked an egg into a mixing bowl and began to cut up some sausage. I put some lard into the pan and let it melt, this was followed by the pieces of sausage. While that was frying I cut up a vegetable similar to a bell pepper and a couple of small mushrooms. The resulting pieces of vegetable were thrown into the mixing bowl. I flipped the pieces of sausage and the proceeded to whip mix the egg together with the vegetables. That all got poured into the pan and after a little work with a spatula, something I had carved myself since they apparently didn¡¯t exist on this world before I came along, the scrambled eggs were done. My parents came out of their room shortly after the eggs were done and I dished them up two helpings. I gave myself a small portion in the hopes that it would settle my stomach, but I wasn¡¯t able to eat more than a few bites before I was almost overcome by the urge to vomit. Dad looked at me and then my plate. I sighed and pushed the leftovers in front of him. He grinned and said, ¡°That worried about the harvest? You should eat son you will be hungry all day if you don¡¯t.¡± I rolled my eyes and said, ¡°I wish I could Dad, but Kurt was displeased with the way in which I woke him up, so he generously offered to allow me to participate in one of his people¡¯s pre harvest rituals. I ended up eating five entire stalks of uncooked Whim before the ¡°ritual¡± ended.¡± Dad just laughed at my misfortune and Mom had to hide a smile. Mom looked at me and said, ¡°You woke them up with a pot didn¡¯t you?¡± I nodded my head and Dad laughed even harder. Mom just sighed and said to my father, ¡°I told you that your weird habits would brush off on our son. Aatto It¡¯s your fault if he can¡¯t finish out the day.¡± Dad just nodded his head and grinned. He gave me a conspiratorial wink and said, ¡°Well it¡¯s about time we start to harvest the fruits of our labor, let¡¯s grab our tools and get to work. Son you¡¯re making lunch today so make sure you stop work soon enough to get the food ready.¡± We left our house and went to the barn, grabbed the tools of our trade and walked up to the first field. Kurt¡¯s family was already waiting for us, we handed them some hand scythes and then proceeded to harvest our Whim. It sucked, I could talk about how back breaking the labor is, how repetitive, how boring, how monotonous, how utterly awful it is, but I will spare you the details, just know that harvesting whim takes forever, we didn¡¯t even finish the first field and we¡¯d been at it all day. 14 hours of work and we didn¡¯t even finish one field. From experience I knew that the next 6 weeks were going to suck. We would be doing the same long days every day until the harvest was in, then we would have to process what we harvested, you know separate the wheat from the chaff, or I suppose it¡¯s the Whim from the chaff. This of course would be followed by harvesting the Potus and then finally the Cotton. I was in for a long month and a half. --------------------------------------- AN: little bit of a longer chapter, I wanted to introduce the changes that occurred over the last 5 years without it being an info dump. Next chapter will be post harvest when the MC will actually have some free time again. Oh and for those who didn''t catch all of the names, our MC is Swift Aattoson, I''ll make a character list after I finish introducing everyone. Ch. 8 Training day With the harvest over it was time to return to school, and by school I mean my dad beating me up every day. He liked to call it training, I liked to call it my daily torture session. Now don¡¯t think my dad is some kind of abusive monster, because he isn¡¯t. Still though his teaching methods left a lot of be desired. Basically every day at dawn dad would take me outside and show me the basic forms as he called them. It mostly consisted of how to distribute my weight, how to move in order to avoid an attack and how to move in order to press an attack. The attacks themselves consisted primarily of kicks, that it reminded me a lot of Tae kwon do, or at least what anime told me Tae kwon do should look like. It was a lot of spinning kicks. Then we would go over defense, which was a lot like judo mixed with tai chi. The emphasis was on efficient movement and using your opponent¡¯s weight against him. When I was younger and asked dad why our fighting style didn¡¯t emphasize our speed and strength more, I got a slap to the back of the head. Then he told me, ¡°There are too many people and monsters that are stronger than us, there are also those who are just naturally faster. We do not emphasize our physical superiority because that is a crutch we do not need or want. Our people developed this fighting style so that we would not lose should we meet someone stronger or faster than us. The only way you should ever lose a fight is if someone is more skilled and when I am done with you, there will be no one more skilled.¡± It made me proud of my new people, that they would be so humble, then later that year I saw a bear man, he stood eight feet tall and looked to weigh around six hundred pounds. That was when I realized that maybe my people aren¡¯t exactly humble, they were just realistic in their world view. Anyway, after reviewing the forms and basic stances along with answering any questions I might have about them it was time for the physical fitness portion of the morning. This consisted of Dad starting to run in whichever direction he wanted and I would have to keep up. The first couple of miles were always pretty easy, our people are really good at running, Olympic gold medalists don¡¯t have shit on us. We would be doing close to three minute miles, which is great if you only have to run a couple of miles, but maintaining that pace for at least an hour, more if Dad was feeling particularly spry was a gut wrenching pain. We would normally take a small break after my morning vomit, then jog back home. We only went a measly fifteen miles per hour on the way back. Our morning runs did have a pleasant side effect though, I now knew much more about the surrounding 10 miles. We were only 2 miles away from a river, it bordered the road for a while then shot into the forest. The forest was an old growth deciduous forest, think of all those old films about Robin Hood and you will have the right image. Lots of tall leafy trees with little to no underbrush. Apparently the forest was relatively safe, no magic monsters or anything like that, just our smaller cousins, known locally as Susikin. I like to think of them as little wolves, they only weigh up to 80 pounds and look a lot like wolves from Earth except for the opposable thumbs of course. They would hunt in packs, but would typically avoid my father and I as we were both bigger and faster. Their only advantage was numbers but they respected my kind too much to press their luck. To the North where the river meets the road is our nearest neighbor, he is one of the Cow people who are known collectively the Lehma. Tukeva has a nice little family, a wife and two kids, his youngest daughter Alistuva who was a year older than me, and his son Urhea, who was around 3 years my senior. Our families got along fairly well, and we would visit them often during the winter. Tukeva apparently brews a decent ale, along with growing some of the best weed in the district. Yeah yeah, it wasn¡¯t actually weed, but that¡¯s what I am calling it after my Dad smoked some and got high as hell. A few miles north of Tukeva¡¯s farm is the village of Gladeston, that¡¯s where we do a majority of our trading. To the east is the forest I mentioned earlier and to the west is a lot of open plains. Apparently there are a lot of dangerous herds of Lehmakin and settling in their territory is dangerous. I haven¡¯t seen any personally but apparently they are a couple thousand pounds of mean murderous cow. Think Cape buffalo on steroids. Finally to the south is the town of Meadow Rest, that¡¯s where we sell most of our crops every fall since the prices are better than what we can get in Gladeston. After our run is when Dad claims is the best time to spar, he likes to say, ¡°If you can¡¯t run to the fight you won¡¯t make it in time, and if you can¡¯t fight after the run then you shouldn¡¯t have shown up in the first place.¡± After doing a light stretch Dad proceeds to beat the hell out of me. He likes to leave openings in his defense that I can exploit only to counter my attacks and call them too slow. Of course if I don¡¯t attack then he proceeds to wail on me claiming I need to be more aggressive, or that my defense is sloppy. I¡¯m six year old, yet he claims that isn¡¯t an excuse and that I shouldn¡¯t be such a baby. Sometimes I hate my dad. After sparring we go to collect Gurt, and our lessons begin. Gurt and I are taught reading and writing which you would think I would be really good at. Unfortunately you didn¡¯t count on the fact that we use pictographs. Yeah¡­ so far I have learned around 70, which makes me illiterate, Gurt has like 10 down, so I don¡¯t feel like an idiot. Still though it is fairly depressing, I am going to have to introduce the alphabet to these people. After our reading and writing lesson we are put through a guided meditation and this is the brightest part of my day. I have been meditating for the last 5 years and thus I am way ahead of the curve. Dad wouldn¡¯t start teaching me how to properly meditate until I turned 5, so I still haven¡¯t learned how to use mana yet, but I am way ahead on creating my manna channels. Apparently everyone is blessed with a manna core in the center of their chest, right around the stomach. When you eat food any ambient mana stored in the food is absorbed into your core. In order to store more mana/actually use any of it you need to build mana channels so that it can be released from your body. The bigger your channels and the more of them there are, the more access you are given to your mana and the more you can store. By starting this process while I was still in diapers my manna channels are fairly large since they grow as you grow. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. One of the biggest issues from which my race suffers when it comes to being a mage is that we get close to our adult size by the time we are 8 years old which means that we as a race never really have mana channels the same size as those from other races. Sure we can develop them throughout our lives, and we live a long time, but we tend to miss out on the natural growth that other races enjoy. In fact most races don¡¯t start to teach their children about mana until they are eight or nine years old since a child with magic could be a nightmare. My people start early at five, and only those who are deemed mature and responsible are taught, meaning if you are a bad kid you are going to suck as an adult magic user. Even starting early generally isn¡¯t enough to become a powerful mage for the Susi suffer from one other important defect, our mana core are smaller than everyone else¡¯s. Thus my people developed small magics, things that didn¡¯t require a lot of mana, the earth wave my dad used drained almost all of his mana. That¡¯s why I haven¡¯t tried to do any magic yet, I have used every extra scrap of mana to expand my mana channels, putting them everywhere in order to compensate for my smaller core. But no matter how much I train and meditate I will never be able to level mountains with my magic. Gurt on the other hand is going to be a great mage, he is learning early and his people have some of the biggest cores. Which means that I am going to have to be efficient in my use of mana if I want to equal him. Father guided us through our meditation, ¡°The flame is bright and burns eternal, its¡¯ heat fills you, it traverses your body never stopping always hungry. Feel it flow from your core, the source of your power, feel it as it spreads, follow the channels as they bend and twist throughout your body. Do you feel it boys? Can you feel the network of channels? Now go to the ends of the network, find the places where your channels stop and your flesh begins, and then guide the mana into your flesh. Expand the network as much as you can. Do not let the pain distract you, pain just lets you know that it¡¯s working. Remember boys, don¡¯t use too much of your mana to expand the channels or you could suffer a collapse. Your mana channels are young which means they are flexible and able to expand, but if you use too much mana to expand there will not be enough left in you to keep the channels open. Everything you have worked for will be undone. Be patient, be careful, but do not slack, put as much into the effort as you can.¡± My father¡¯s advice guides me as I continue to expand my channels, I empty out my core in the process, while making sure that the actual channels themselves stay filled with my mana. The pain is of course intense, like someone has stuck a burning hot needle into my body and is moving it around. But it¡¯s a pain I have long since gotten used to. Today is a leg day, so I have been focusing on adding more channels to my calves, they have not appreciated it. Finally our two hour meditation session was over and it was time for us to do our chores. I go into the velocichicken¡¯s cage and gather any unfertilized eggs, of course in order to do that I have to fight off the tiny dinosaurs. I think this in one of the reasons I have been receiving martial arts training without it I would have been scratched to hell. In order to gather any eggs you have to keep your head on a swivel, the velocichickens will rush you from multiple angles if you¡¯re not careful. When they leap at you, that¡¯s right they can jump around 3 feet in the air, and they are always attempting to disembowel you, you need to sidestep the attack and lightly strike them as they pass. It¡¯s important that you hit them hard enough to remind them who is in charge without doing any serious damage. If you actually hurt one of them badly, they all go into a frenzy and won¡¯t stop trying to attack you for hours. So after checking for eggs, there weren¡¯t any, I leave the coup/giant cage, and throw in some meat. Yeah no grain for these chickens, they are carnivores. After that¡¯s done I need to help mom and Westra in the vegetable garden. Gurt and I end up weeding the garden while Mom and Westra tend to the plants, ensuring that there are no parasites among our produce. After weeding comes lunch which is a simple affair, homemade bread and a vegetable soup. Then it¡¯s time to hunt. Frankly after the harvest is over there isn¡¯t a ton of stuff to do, sure we have to prepare the soil for the next crop, and we have to get our produce to the market, but Dad handles those things, especially now that Kurt is there to help him. So at least once every other day or so Dad and I will go into the woods or plains in order to hunt some meat to break up the monotony of vegetables and grains. I grab my dad¡¯s spear from the barn along with my own, I check my sling to ensure it is still in good condition and check the pouch on my hip to ensure I have plenty of ammo. Then Dad and I proceed to jog to the woods. --------------------------------------------------------- AN: I''ve been reading slip hero lately, good story, though the MC is a little too passive for my tastes. Anyways after reading it I realized my story would get stuck in the same sort of trap if I wasn''t careful. A story about a healer can be interesting but it kind of bogs down if all he does is heal the some wounds over and over again. My MC will not end up being a battlefield doctor, and while he will definitely be a healer when he goes into a war zone it will be to deal death, not save lives. You can also expect the chapters to get longer, I will be shoot for 3k words per chapter, but that may delay the releases a little bit, expect them every two days instead of every day. Ch. 9 Into The Woods Upon entering the woods we entered into stealth mode, aka I followed in Dad¡¯s footsteps and tried not to make too much noise. I generally fail, but hey I have gotten a lot better than the city boy I used to be. We advance in relative silence with only the occasional misstep made by yours truly. Dad first started taking me on hunts last year, when I asked to go before that he said, ¡°Son right now you are just a tasty treat for most of the predators in the forest, you need to be a little bigger before I bring you in there. After all the goal is to hunt some prey, not kill off a bunch of predators looking for an easy meal.¡± It didn¡¯t take us long to run across a game trail, and that¡¯s when I got to take the lead. As the Susi age their ability to pick up scents decreases, that¡¯s one of the reasons why Mom and Dad didn¡¯t smell those bandits, but I did. That¡¯s why I was taking the leads, I would have a better chance at sniffing out a fresh trail as soon as we found some recently made tracks. We followed the game trail for close to a quarter of a mile before we finally found our first hint of prey. It smelled like deer, well, they weren¡¯t actually deer, more like some kind of deer impala hybrid, but it was close enough to the same thing for my purposes. I signaled to Dad that I had caught a scent, he caught up to me and checked the trail for signs of recent activity. He pointed out the fresh hoof print and held up four fingers, two index fingers, and two middle fingers. This indicated that we were in fact looking for deer, and a male at that. The two middle fingers indicated long dewclaws, which normally help with traction, but in the male of the species could be used to cause extra damage with a hoof strike. I was going to have to be extra cautious when finding the creature since it would be more aggressive than the female would normally be, plus it had those horns. Yeah these ¡°deer¡± didn¡¯t have big branching antlers, they instead had sharp horns that curved backward and had a sharp cutting edge following the curve. If you got gored by one of those horns it would take a miracle or some quick healing magic to survive. We followed the trail the deer left behind, I focused primarily on the scent, but every now and then Dad would stop me and point out the signs of its¡¯ passage. We didn¡¯t speak as neither of us wanted to alert our quarry that it was being hunted. It took close to an hour of moving carefully and quietly in order to catch up with the deer but the effort was worth it. It stood close to the edge of a meadow, eating the acorn like nuts that were scattered about. It stood tall, maybe 5 feet in height, 7 if you counted the horns. Its¡¯ flanks were thick from eating all summer and fall, its¡¯ coat was just now starting to fill out in preparation for winter. There was a lot of meat on its¡¯ bones and it would provide meat for our family for several weeks, not only in juicy steaks, but also in the jerky we would inevitable make. Dad held up 3 fingers which let me know exactly what I needed to do. He wanted to use me as a beater, I would make my way downwind from the deer, thus letting it catch my scent while he moved to the opposite side. Once the deer caught my scent it should start making its¡¯ way toward my dad thus putting it in the perfect position for an ambush. I slowly made my way from tree to tree getting downwind from our target. I made my gait as smooth as possible so that no sudden movements would accidentally startle the deer. Once I was in position I waited five minutes for Dad to be completely set up, then I started to vigorously scratch my fur. This should ensure that my scent travelled quickly toward the deer, hopefully spooking it toward my father. I could see bits of my fur drifting toward the deer as the lazy breeze made its¡¯ way toward the deer. I saw the deer¡¯s nostrils flare as they caught my scent, and then I saw the deer do the unexpected, instead of avoiding my scent rage seemed to boil its¡¯ blood and it started walking toward me. I know I hadn¡¯t been spotted yet as I was mostly concealed behind an old growth tree, but the deer definitely had my scent and it looked like it wanted to kill me. We must have chanced upon this particular deer as it entered into its¡¯ rutting period. Basically it was currently full of testosterone, it wanted to mate, and since there were no nearby female deer it would vent its¡¯ frustration by trying to kill me. Now there was no way I was going to let some horny walking food kill me, so I loaded my sling and readied my spear, preparing myself for an epic battle. As the deer got closer I stepped out from behind the tree and started twirling my sling. The deer caught sight of me and began its¡¯ charge, horns lowered as it prepared to disembowel me. I waited until the deer was only twenty feet away from me before I released the stone in my sling, then I quickly stepped back behind the tree, not waiting to see the results of the strike. Like I said, there was no way I was going to let food kill me, and one of the ways you let food kill you is try and stand up to a charge directed your way by said food. I heard the stone connect with flesh and bone which let me know my aim was good, when I heard less than half a second later a large crashing sound I knew my aim was perfect. I quickly stepped around the tree to see the results of the sling throw, and by seeing the unnatural angle of one of the deer¡¯s legs I knew my stone had connected with its¡¯ knee. I quickly dashed out from behind the tree and thrust my spear into the deer¡¯s chest, aiming for where I knew the heart would be. My spear sank into the deer¡¯s flesh and I felt its¡¯ heart trying to beat around the spear¡¯s head. The heart was quickly torn up and I could see blood gushing from the wound. The deer spasmed and its¡¯ jerky movements tore the spear from my hands, I stepped back a few paces and let the deer die. Dad caught up quickly after the death of the deer with a grin on his face. He said, ¡°Looks like you got your first solo kill, you know what that means right?¡± I replied, ¡°Yeah, yeah, I have to clean the whole thing myself right.¡± Dad continued to grin, ¡°Of course, we can¡¯t buck tradition can we?¡± I said, ¡°For some reason I get the feeling this tradition is made up and you just don¡¯t like cleaning up carcasses¡± He laughed at that and said, ¡°No no, of course not son, it is a time honored tradition, you clean what you kill unless you receive help, since my presence made no difference in this hunt, you get the honor of cleaning your kill.¡± I sighed knowing there was no way I would win this argument and got to work cleaning the kill. It was bloody, it was messy and by the end of it there was a pile of offal that would quickly draw scavengers. I wrapped the usable organ meat in the cavity that used to hold its¡¯ stomach then tied the legs together. We inserted a large stick between the tied legs, hefted the stick to our shoulders and made our way back home. Along the way some Susikin found us but a few stones launched from my sling discouraged them enough to search for easier pickings. When we arrived at home, Mom had a big smile on her face. We brought the deer into the barn and hung the body on a hook set up for butchering. Mom rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a big knife kept in the barn for just such occasions. She said, ¡°Looks like we are going to have some good food tonight. Aatto, go invite the Taikas over for dinner, there should be plenty of meat, and ask Westra if she will bring over some of her delicious baked beans, they should go nicely with the deer ribs.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She then turned to me and said, ¡°Swift, go wash off in the river before you start to attract any flies, and make sure you bring a change of clothes so you can wash off your pants. Then when you get home, you can tell me about the hunt, based on how covered in blood you are your Father didn¡¯t help kill the deer, which means he didn¡¯t help with the cleaning either.¡± I nodded my head in agreement and said, ¡°Could you make the deer extra spicy tonight? I don¡¯t want Dad to totally enjoy the fruits of my labor.¡± Mom smiled and said, ¡°Sure, so long as you catch a fish or two while you are at river so your father has something to eat when the spice finally overwhelms his tongue.¡± I nodded, grabbed a couple of fishing spears, went into the house and grabbed a new pair of pants then went over to Gurt¡¯s place. I arrived just as my Dad was leaving and told asked Kurt, ¡°Is Gurt free? I¡¯m going to the river to wash off and figured I¡¯d do some fishing while I¡¯m there. Can Gurt come too?¡± Kurt pondered the question for a few seconds before nodding and saying, ¡°Sure, just make sure you stay out of the forest, Gurt is still too small to enter without an adult around to keep him off the menu.¡± I smiled and yelled, ¡°Hey Gurt let¡¯s go.¡± He ran out of the house with a grin on his face and we slowly started jogging north. I had to match my pace to Gurt¡¯s short stride and lower endurance, so it took us fifteen minutes to make it to the river instead of my usual eight, but having Gurt along would make things easier. When we reached the river I dropped the spears and my spare pants then dove in. The water wasn¡¯t particularly deep here, so I had to make the dive a fairly shallow one, but it felt great to get the blood off my fur and cool down from the still warm fall day. I swam around for a couple of minutes, letting the slow moving current wash away some of the blood before I really started to scrub. It took me a few minutes of vigorous scrubbing before I finally got rid of all the blood on my fur, then my pants got the same treatment. I put the wet but now clean pants back on and yelled to Gurt who was still on the shore, ¡°Throw me a spear, then get on in here, we need to catch some fish.¡± Gurt tossed a spear to me before asking, ¡°why are we fishing anyway, didn¡¯t you just kill a deer?¡± I replied, ¡°Well, Dad made me clean it all by myself, so I asked Mom to make it extra spicy tonight.¡± Gurt laughed knowing my father¡¯s aversion to spicy foods, he said, ¡°That¡¯s just mean, you know he is going to get you back for that right? He will probably double the length of the run tomorrow just to make sure you don¡¯t get to enjoy the full effects of the deer.¡± I thought about what he said for a second and then said, ¡°That¡¯s probably why Mom wanted me to do some fishing, so that Dad won¡¯t kill me tomorrow.¡± Gurt responded, ¡°Probably, you are lucky she was looking out for you.¡± I realized something in that moment, ever since I had gotten a kid¡¯s body my impulse control had really gotten much worse. I didn¡¯t use to pull so many pranks, especially with people who had power over me. Either I was subconsciously trying to live my life to the fullest, damning the consequences or being in a child¡¯s body just naturally reduces your ability to foresee the consequences of your actions. Guess I¡¯ll find out when I get older. When Gurt got into the water it was close to twenty feet upstream from me. From long practice, we had determined it was easier to put some distance between us that way he could scare fish downstream toward me and I could scare fish upstream toward him. I advanced slowly upstream working my way toward Gurt, eyes peeled for any movement that would indicate where the fish might be hiding. Gurt stayed relatively still in the hopes that any fish I scared might just swim close enough for him to spear. My slow advance upriver was apparently fast enough to startle one of the hidden trout. It shot upriver toward Gurt who made a stab at it. Unfortunately he wasn¡¯t fast enough and the trout was able to rocket past him. I sighed when I saw him come up empty. He gave me an apologetic shrug and I continued on with my slow advance. I spotted another fish not too far away from me, so I crept closer to it. Despite my stealthy advance the fish seemed to sense my presence and thus started making its way upstream. This present Gurt with another opportunity which he took advantage of. With a quick thrust of his spear he managed to snag the slower moving target. He almost gave a triumphant cheer, but I hissed at him before he could fully open his mouth. He looked a little chagrined at being reminded not to scare away the fish then handed me his spear. I gave him mine and brought our catch ashore. I quickly cleaned our catch and put put the flesh on a stick I quickly whittled for the occasion. I then threw the guts into the river a little upstream of Gurt in the hopes of attracting more fish. I then made my way back downstream and we repeated the process all over again. By the time an hour had passed we had caught three decent sized fish and missed another 2. It was good enough though, so we made our way back home, fish in hand. Dinner was excellent of course, say what you will about my mom, but one thing no one could possibly deny is that she is an excellent cook. The ribs were spiced to perfection, and by perfection I mean Dad ended up crying after his second bite. Muwahahaha, that will teach him to not help with the cleaning of a kill. The beans had enough fire in them to keep things interesting without overpowering the flavor, and the salad mom made was light and refreshing. I didn¡¯t have any of the fish, but then I didn¡¯t really want any either, not with those tasty ribs available. After dinner our two families played a game of cards, it was a local game that reminded me a bit of spades, though the number of cards in the deck were wrong and there were only 3 suits. Still though it was fun, and after the games ended and everyone went to bed I began to meditate again. I had a goal and one of the ways I was going to reach that goal would be by surpassing the limits of my species. ------------------------------------------------------------ AN: Next chapter we have another time skip, the MC will use some magic and one of the main antagonists of the first arc will be introduced. Unless of course the Magic portion of the chapter lasts longer than what I am picturing, then it might it might take an extra chapter before an antagonist is introduced. Also, someone asked if there will be any romance, the answer is yes and she will be introduced when the MC visits the Wolf Clan. Ch. 10 It鈥檚 Time to Magic Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear meeeeee, Happy Birthday to me¡­ Hurray, it¡¯s my birthday in case the song didn¡¯t give that fact away, I¡¯m now 9 years old, and I¡¯m huge. I¡¯m about two inches shy of my father¡¯s seven feet, and while my frame hasn¡¯t filled out all the way I¡¯m no gawky little kid, I have long lean muscles built up from hours of running and sparring. Beyond having an adult¡¯s body I also have an awesome amount of magical stamina, well at least when compared to my dad or mom. While my dad can perform an earth wave maybe twice before he runs out of mana, I can perform the same feat no less than eight times, and my father is considered strong for a mage amongst our people. Of course Gurt can perform the earth wave at least 25 times and he isn¡¯t even done growing, so it¡¯s all relative right? Still though amongst my people I will be considered a prodigy which will make all the babes line up to meet me. My people value strength, whether it is physical or magical, power is a man¡¯s best friend. Today I also get to show off some of that strength as Dad has decided to teach me his most advanced technique. I already learned how to split the earth, we do a weak version of it every year before planting our crops. Yeah using magic instead of plowing the fields is pretty awesome, and also why my dad has been able to build such a large farm in such a short time. I knew how to do an earth pulse, which is what allowed my dad to find those bandits, I could create earth spikes, pitfalls, earth walls, but today Dad would teach me how take the essence of the rock and apply it to my skin. You might not think that¡¯s very impressive, but that¡¯s because you are thinking, ¡°Swift, Stoneskin is like the basic of basics when it comes to earth magic. It¡¯s like the first skill you learn in every RPG, how can you be such a noob?¡± And to that I say, stfu noob, this is real life not some RPG, I don¡¯t gain levels, I don¡¯t have stats, the Skill is actually called essence manipulation and it¡¯s hard. I actually have to understand how the magic works, I don¡¯t just shout out stoneskin and then my defense goes up. The fact of the matter is that body modification magic is dangerous and difficult you need to take understand how every bit of your body moves, otherwise you will be frozen stiff from putting too much essence in the wrong spot. If you don¡¯t do it right, ¡°stoneskin¡± can cripple or kill you. The trick of it is to only apply the stone¡¯s essence to the outer layer of skin, if you go too deep the essence can get into your blood and then you have the worst blood clot of your life. It takes a lot of skill with mana manipulation in order to do it right. It also requires a lot of knowledge of the body in order to not apply the essence in the wrong spots which would freeze up your joints. This skill is difficult and dangerous, Dad rarely used it even in when he was outnumbered and defense was at a premium because way too much could go wrong. But Dad also knows that I¡¯m a genius when it comes to mana manipulation and thanks to lessons from my mom my knowledge of our bodies is at a level where I should be able to properly apply the skill. Thus today is the day when he would finally allow me to test it out. Of course Mom was on standby in case I messed up, after all it¡¯s a good idea to have a healer on hand when trying anything particularly dangerous. But my focus was mainly on Dad as he began to guide me through the spell. ¡°Okay Son, go to your core, and gather the energy you need, it should take half the content of your core, once you have it let me know.¡± I gathered up the mana then nodded, keeping my eyes closed so that I would not be distracted by any visual stimuli. I had the image in my head, half the mana in my core separated out and lightly condensed, the flames I normally pictured were a little brighter in the section I had staked out to be used by the spell. ¡°Alright now send the mana into the nearest stone and let it absorb the strength inherent in the stone. You will know when it¡¯s done because it will move differently, it will be slower, more obstinate, harder to control, let me know when it gets to that point.¡± I put my mana into a river rock I had brought for just this occasion, I let my mana sink into the stone then moved the mana throughout the structure of the stone. I kept swirling the mana through the stone and I could feel it begin to slow down. Chunks began to form in the mana, it became thicker, like adding cement into water. After close to a minute the mana didn¡¯t want to move anymore, I had to put way more effort into getting it to move even a little bit. I nodded to my father letting him know the mana was ready. ¡°Okay Son, now comes the hard part, you need to draw out our mana from the stone and start applying it to your skin. Start with your feet and remember to keep the contact light and shallow, if you go too deep we might have to remove your foot, so be careful.¡± I kept his words in mind as I applied the mana to the top layer of my skin. It felt weird, I could feel the skin tighten as it came in contact with the mana. It was also incredibly strange as the skin that used to be sensitive became completely devoid of any feeling. I could sense the increased weight but I couldn¡¯t really feel anything else. I moved the mana slowly up my feet making sure to keep the application of mana especially light around my toes and ankle as both would need their freedom of motion in order for me to walk properly. I moved the mana up my entire body, allowing the mana to linger on my shins and forearms, thickening the stoneskin there more than anywhere else. I considered allowing it to linger on my stomach, but kept Dad¡¯s warning in mind and decided to wait until I was more comfortable with the skill before experimenting. When I was done applying the coat of mana to my entire body I was left with a little remainder of mana, so I opened my eyes and shot a questioning glance at my father. He never mentioned the possibility of their being extra mana. He smiled and said, ¡°The little bit of extra mana should be released back into the earth.¡± I nodded which felt odd and released the remainder safely back into the ground. The result was interesting as it left a thin layer of stone on the ground approximately two feet in diameter. Then I stood up, which was significantly harder than it used to be. The stoneskin was clearly weighing me down, it was almost as if I had just gained an extra sixty pounds. I could still move and all that, but I was going to be slower. Dad interrupted my contemplation of the adjustments I would have to make by saying, ¡°Stretch out son, see if you applied the essence anywhere too thickly so that next time you can do better.¡± I did as he bade me and stretched everything. My shoulders had lost a little of their range of motion and my knees felt a little stiff, but overall I¡¯d say I did an amazing job. I told my dad as much and he just smiled. Then he freaking lashed out at me with his claws. I wasn¡¯t expecting the attack so my reaction time was slow. His claws left furrows in my skin and I was lightly bleeding by the time his attack was finished. I jumped back and assumed a defensive position, he just grinned and leaped forward. He started with some basic attacks slashing at me, trying to cut me with his claws. I did my best to avoid his attacks, but the stoneskin slowed me down, I was forced to block at least half of his attacks. Fortunately I was able to interpose my forearms between myself and his slashing attacks. The stoneskin was thickest here and he wasn¡¯t able to draw any blood. Then he kicked things up a notch by beginning to dance around me. Normally I could keep up with him, but being saddled with an extra sixty pounds was slowing me down way too much. It¡¯s not like I couldn¡¯t carry sixty pounds easily enough, and it¡¯s not like my top speed had slowed down all that much, it¡¯s just that I couldn¡¯t accelerate as quickly, I couldn¡¯t move my body at the speed I was used to. Thus Dad was able to dart in and out of my range before I could properly react. He kept slashing me with his claws, leaving small furrows in my flesh, some deeper than others. After close to six minutes I was bleeding from more wounds than I could count, my pants were torn up and after one attempt at a counter my nose was broken. The good news was after six minutes I was finally able to keep up with Dad, the bad news was that I could keep up only because the stoneskin had completely faded away. Of course, that¡¯s when Dad held up his hands to stop our little sparring session. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. He said, ¡°Good job son, six minutes is great for your first attempt, though when you become truly skilled you should be able to make it last for ten before you need to reapply the essence. Make sure you take note of where the cuts are deepest as that will let you know where you need to apply more essence next time. Now heal up and then change your pants we need to get to town so we can properly honor your mother for birthing you on this day nine years ago.¡± That¡¯s right, on this world your birthday is supposed to be spent honoring your mother for giving birth to you. You get no presents, no party, instead you need to give your mother a token of your affection. It¡¯s kind of like mother¡¯s day, except she gets one for every child she bore. Does it make me seem selfish if I say that I prefer the earth tradition and miss my presents? Oh well, doubt I¡¯ll be able to change this particular custom, so I need to focus instead on the myriad of small cuts all over my body. Mom and Dad headed back into the house and left me to my healing. I sat down and then focused on the most painful wounds first, Dad had gotten me real good on my ribs, so I channeled my mana to that wound first. Once I infused the wound with enough mana, I gently moved the flesh together my hands and began connecting the severed muscles together. The way mom taught me to do it was to make sure all the parts match up, muscle to muscle, fat to fat, skin to skin and then do something that amounts to cauterizing them together. It was painful and not exactly the best method available as it left some pretty nasty scars. My method amounted to basically using mana to stitch the flesh together. It left the wounds somewhat tender and not fully healed, but it also allowed the wounds to heal properly and thus I wound up remaining scar free. My method was also less mana intensive, but it took longer and required a greater amount of focus and knowledge. After healing my rib wound, I moved on to the cuts above my right knee, and then to the cuts on my stomach. I made mental notes about where my defense was not thick enough in order to avoid making the same mistakes twice, and after close to an hour I was finally finished closing up all of my wounds. I had used up another quarter of my mana, but I wasn¡¯t very concerned about it. We were going to visit Meadow Rest today to celebrate, so I would be able to replenish my mana on the run into town. I opened my eyes and then got up again then headed into the house. There was a plate of eggs left on the kitchen table for me, it was a little cold, I didn¡¯t care much, fighting and using mana works up quite the appetite. I wolfed down the food, then threw on a different, non-shredded set of pants then headed back outside. I jogged over to Kurt¡¯s home, which he had upgraded over the last three years. No longer was it a simple one room shack, it was now a real house. Sure Kurt hadn¡¯t gone to the effort of building out of brick like we had, but the stick method when done right can be plenty cozy. He had turned our old place into a three bedroom house, the walls were double layered, the gaps filled with insulation. The roof was no longer made with straw, but instead was made up of bark shingles, the kitchen had been upgraded to house a clay oven and there were a couple of chimneys for the fireplaces. The floor might still be made of hard packed dirt, but overall the place was much more comfortable than when my family had lived there. I opened the door to the house and let my parents know I was ready to go. They were dropping off my little brother with Westra since he couldn¡¯t keep up with us on our run to the town. The little three year old Auttaa Aattoson was a handful, adorable, but a handful. He had gotten my mother¡¯s coloring, so he had a gorgeous coat of white fur, he had blue eyes and would do his best to get into all kinds of trouble. He was a little bundle of energy and I totally got why my parents weren¡¯t bringing him with us. Carrying him for thirty miles would not only be wearing on us, but he would also be sure to get bored and start complaining. Sure he didn¡¯t have a great vocabulary, but what he lacked in words he would easily make up for with volume. We said goodbye to the Taikas and I wished Gurt luck. He was going to need it after all since aunt Westra would more than likely pawn looking after little Auttaa onto him. I knew from personal experience, looking after Auttaa could be worse than a training session with an angry father. He just had way too much energy, and was somehow able to run pretty much anyone ragged. Gurt had a sickly smile on his face as he wished us a safe trip. He had seen me taking care of my little brother way too often to have any illusions about what he was in for. With one more wave at the Taikas we took off south toward the town. We took things at a nice slow jog, only moving around fifteen miles per hour, which allowed Mom to keep up without too much effort on her part. The run was uneventful as we were moving too quickly to attract the attention of any predators and without a cart to tow no bandit would even think of attacking us. Three large Susi moving fast were more trouble than they were worth to any bandit. We arrived at the gate to town without any fuss and were greeted at the gate by a Susi and Vuohian. The Vuohian had on a neutral mask as we approached the gate, he seemed remarkably indifferent to our approach. The Susi on the other hand appeared quite hostile, he bared his teeth at us and let out a low growl. I looked to my father to gauge his reaction, but he simply maintained a neutral expression and said, ¡°I see time in the guard hasn¡¯t made you any more polite Suututtaa. Aren¡¯t you supposed to ask us why we seek entrance into Meadow Rest, instead of snarling like an idiot?¡± The little Vuohian snorted at my father¡¯s words while Suututtaa merely deepened his growl. He spat out a response, and looked to be just barely restraining himself from attacking, ¡°Why are you here kieltaneet? You know you are not welcome amongst the Susi any longer, take the Saastuti and your spawn and leave.¡± My father kept his voice even, as he responded, but I could tell he was pissed when I heard on of his knuckles pop. ¡°Suututtaa, you know this is not the land of our Clan, it belongs to the Vuohians, and I am more than welcome amongst them. If you turn me away at the gate for no other reason than your own prejudices then I don¡¯t believe you will keep your job as a guard for very long. In fact I can assure you that you will lose said job before the day is out. Now, unless you have some reason to hinder my family¡¯s entrance into town, I suggest you get out of our way.¡± I wanted to diffuse the situation, but I didn¡¯t understand why the guard was so hostile. He knew my mother and father that much was obvious, but I didn¡¯t know what he called either of my parents, the words didn¡¯t make any sense. He called my father something that had to do with ownership, but I wasn¡¯t really sure exactly what he was saying, as for my mother, I couldn¡¯t even try to figure it out. I just know that based on the contempt he used when saying the words, they weren¡¯t kind ones. I looked at the Vuohian guard and said, ¡°Your fellow guard seems to be quite rude, is there any reason we cannot pass good sir?¡± The guard smiled and said, ¡°No kid, you guys can come on in, this guys just new and apparently doesn¡¯t yet understand how guards are supposed to act. Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll be sure to educate him later.¡± I responded, ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± And gave him a shallow bow, then I grabbed my Dad¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Let¡¯s just go inside, we shouldn¡¯t waste our time on this guy.¡± Dad looked down at me and nodded, then grabbed Mom¡¯s hand and we walked past the still hostile looking guard through the gates and into town. ------------------------------------------- AN: Well I''m about a fifth of the way done with the first arc, so get ready to meet some antagonists. It should be obvious now that being an outcast is going to come with some annoying problems for our MC. Hope you guys liked the first taste of healing magic the MC can use, there will be more to come later. This was also the last big time skip, Swift now has an adult''s body, or close enough to not matter, so the adventure is about to begin in earnest. Ch. 11 Meadow Rest Meadow Rest really hadn¡¯t changed much in the time I had been away, it was still a mix of different architectural styles and building materials. From shacks like my old home, to brick houses like my current residence the place really hadn¡¯t changed. We walked through the town along the same path we had taken when I was a baby. The cobblestone streets were uncomfortably hard on my feet, there was no give to the ground which made me miss shoes. I mean sure my feet could take it, but that didn¡¯t mean I enjoyed the experience. We arrived at the merchant house that we sold our grain to and my father yelled out, ¡°Raha you greedy bastard get out here!¡± Based on his words I would have thought my father was angry, but he had a smile on his face and his tone was light enough to be considered playful. The Vuohian that came out was dressed just as garishly as I remembered, he had on a silk vest that was a deep almost royal purple, and his pants were baggy and gold in color. In a world where most people wore leather Raha certainly stood out. Even his horns were decorated in a gold paint. Raha replied with a mock serious expression, ¡°Aatto you idiot wolf, how am I supposed to maintain a dignified aura if you insist on destroying my image with your crude greetings? I believe last time we spoke I told you to refer to me as his grace Raha, heir to the Onni dynasty, Glorious leader of the great merchant house of Raha.¡± My dad laughed and said, ¡°Sure I remember that particular request and like I said then, that has to be the most pretentious set of titles a man could have. Who renames the biggest merchant house in the country after themselves, if that isn¡¯t vanity I don¡¯t know what is.¡± Raha smirked, ¡°What? It¡¯s tradition, when taking something over you are supposed to rename it. Why do you think slaves always get a new name? It¡¯s to remind them of their new station, which is why when I took over the Golden Lotus Trading Company I renamed it. They needed the reminder that they belong to me now. Anyway, what brings you here into town?¡± Dad pointed at Mom and me and said, ¡°Just celebrating my darling wife¡¯s surviving the birth of our son.¡± Raha blinked and paused before saying, ¡°Has it really been so long since I saw you son, just a few years ago he was a baby strapped to his mother¡¯s chest¡­ My how the time flies. And Nolata it¡¯s great to see you again, you really must come to town more often. I am constantly surrounded by men, which is fine, but I am rarely graced with the presence of a beauty such as yourself. It becomes ever so dreary without you to brighten my life. Honestly you must take the time to visit more often.¡± Mom smiled while Raha continued to barrage us with statements and questions that he gave no time for us to answer. ¡°And Aatto how have you kept such a strapping young man away from the city for so long, he looks nearly full grown, a veritable giant. How old are you young man? I¡¯d wager you must be at least 13 years old to be nearly your father¡¯s height. Is he working you hard out on that farm of his? I¡¯ll bet you barely have any time to yourself if your father is anything like he was when we were younger. Always training so hard, he even forced me to run, can you imagine? Well I was younger then, easily impressed, foolish really, but I have since learned how to say no. You won¡¯t force me to run ever again, you hear me Aatto!¡± He struck a dramatic pose pointing squarely at my father¡¯s chest. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the little man¡¯s diatribe, I think if we let him be he could talk to us for the next hour without needing a response. He looked startled at my laughter and my father interjected, ¡°You were too young the last time you met little Raha here, but if you let him he will talk your ear off.¡± Raha indignantly exclaimed, ¡°I¡¯d never talk a man¡¯s ear off, I am merely an excellent conversationalist, it can¡¯t be helped if you are simply too slow to keep up Aatto. Now your wife I always found was an excellent partner for a conversation, always willing to listen, easily capable of keeping up, constantly interjecting the perfect thing in order to keep the conversation rolling. Yes, you two really must take me up on my offer, come work for my company, and move to the city away from your little farm. You know I will pay you much better than whatever you are making from that plot of land you own.¡± Dad shook his head and said, ¡°You know why we won¡¯t do that, it would bring us shame to be a burden upon our friends, so once again I must decline your offer. Besides we are happy on the farm, it might not be as glamorous as life in the big city, but it is honest and we are able to live in peace which you know we would not be able to do in Tehoton. Even here amongst your people we suffer for the ¡°shame¡± we brought to the clan, I will not seek out more for a little bit of money.¡± The last bit was said with so much bitter scorn I was taken aback. Whatever my father did to become an outcast he didn¡¯t feel any shame over his actions, that was for sure. Raha looked at my father and said, ¡°Who cares about the money? I just want you to come back because I miss your company, I moved my headquarters out of the capitol so that I would be able to see you guys upon occasion. After all, you two are some of my closest friends and I miss you both. Come on, if not to Tehoton, at least move into Meadow Rest, I¡¯m sure your sons would prefer life in a town over that on a farm.¡± My father simply shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry my friend, I know you would do your best for us, but we are content, besides if you wish to see us more, just come out to the farm and pay us a visit. I know our place isn¡¯t up to your exacting standards, but I¡¯m sure you will survive the experience.¡± My mom chimed in, ¡°Yes, you simply must come out and visit, we don¡¯t see you nearly often enough. I¡¯ll even bake my mother¡¯s muffins for you.¡± Raha, looked at her with such longing in her eyes, ¡°I haven¡¯t had those muffins since before you guys got married. If they¡¯re on the table then how could I refuse such a wonderful invitation?¡± He smiled and I could see a glint of greed in his eyes, apparently Mom¡¯s muffins were a much sought after treasure. Upon seeing Raha¡¯s now slightly glazed over expression my father interjected, ¡°Well now that you have accepted one invitation, let¡¯s see if you¡¯ll accept another. Nolata, Swift and I are going to do a bit of shopping then have a nice dinner that she doesn¡¯t have to cook, would you care to join us?¡± Raha¡¯s eyes cleared as he focused on the moment instead of past muffins eaten and said, ¡°I¡¯d be delighted, let me just inform the staff that I¡¯ll be out for the day.¡± He headed back into the building and I looked up at my father and mother and asked, ¡°So how do you guys know this weird little guy? He doesn¡¯t exactly seem to run in the same circles we do¡­¡± My mother bowed her head slightly, but my father looked me in the eyes and said, ¡°Raha was a childhood friend of ours, when we were cast out of the clan he was one of the few that stood by us. He offered us his protection, he advanced us the money to buy our farm, and he ended up caring more for us than any of my so called brothers. Raha for all his eccentricities is someone deserving of your respect¡­ Remember that¡­¡± I nodded my head, another piece of the puzzle that was my parent¡¯s past revealed to me. I would have to pump Raha for information when he comes to visit, he seemed like the loquacious sort so it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult of a task. The only difficult part would be leading the conversation in the right direction and keeping him on it since he seemed to like to go off on tangents. Raha returned to us and took us all around the town. He bought Mom some new cooking ware, specifically a new muffin tin along with new mixing bowls and a whisk. He then bought a pack for me as according to him, ¡°Young and grateful children should carry heavy things for their mothers.¡± I would have been upset, but the pack really was very nice, and I might be able to keep it¡­ so yeah¡­ I ended up carrying the bags with a smile on my face. After our shopping was complete we ended up at a restaurant Raha recommended. It was called the gilded spoon and it looked expensive. What made it look so expensive you ask? Well for one thing the exterior was painted brick with large glassed windows, the floor was made of polished wood and the tables had a uniform appearance you just don¡¯t see in a society before mass production is discovered. We went inside and were immediately greeted by young Vuohian hostess, she had black fur covering her body and was wearing a white vest and pants cut to accentuate her feminine figure. She greeted us with a smile that showed off her pearly white teeth and said, ¡°Welcome to the Satisfied Susi, I¡¯ll be your waitress, Ilo, is it just the four of you?¡± My father opened his mouth to speak but Raha beat him to the punch, ¡°Yes, just the four of us tonight, and be sure to put everything on my account tonight. Is the back room open right now?¡± The waitress smiled and said, ¡°Of course Mr. Onni. If you all will follow me.¡± We made our way toward the back of the restaurant passing by the twelve sets of filled tables to finally reach the only empty one. We had arrived midway between lunch and dinner yet the place was still full, Raha certainly knew how to pick a good place. When we got to the back of the restaurant Ilo opened a door and a small room with paintings covering the walls is what greeted us. For a second I thought there wasn¡¯t a table, but then I noticed there was one set really close to the ground. Surrounding the cushions were pillows where the chairs should have been. It reminded me of a Japanese tea house, minus the whole sliding paper door thing. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. We took our places around the table which allowed me to notice that there was a depression under the table which meant I didn¡¯t need to try sitting in an awkward fashion and could instead just lower my legs down under the table. It was actually comfortable even if I hadn¡¯t really sat very often without a chair back, the pillow was soft and my tail was unconfined. After everyone was seated Ilo asked, ¡°is there anything I can get you folks to drink before I explain what¡¯s on the menu for tonight?¡± Raha responded, ¡°An ale for me and¡­¡± he looked at my father who nodded, ¡°and Aatto here, a glass of port?¡± he looked at my mother who nodded, ¡°for the lady and a half glass of ale and water for young Swift there.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if I was going to enjoy the ale here, especially watered down, but then again water was notoriously hard to get clean in the middle ages so I doubted that it would be all that much easier to get clean here. Ilo left to fetch our drinks and my father said, ¡°So Raha, you apparently come her often enough to be remembered, is the food really that good?¡± Raha smiled and said, ¡°Now would I take my friends anywhere but to the best of restaurants? Of course the food is good, its¡¯ actually made by an old Susi warrior who had a knack for cooking. This is actually one of my favorite restaurants anywhere, even Tehoton doesn¡¯t have more than one or two places that can compare.¡± Mom spoke up, ¡°Wow, that¡¯s high praise coming from a gourmand like you. Is there anything that particularly stands out?¡± Raha thought for a second before saying, ¡°Well you know of my fondness for sweet things and I have to say they make a Daifuku that is out of this world. They also make a sauce that will knock your socks off, order anything that comes with Teriyaki sauce and it should turn out pretty good.¡± Yeah I know those aren¡¯t the actual words that Raha used, as this world doesn¡¯t actually have Daifuku or Teriyaki, but when our food actually came out it was close enough so as not to matter. I got the velocichicken and riisi by the way, it was really good. I¡¯d have to see if I could convince Dad to start growing some Riisi when we get home, so that this could become more of a staple in my diet. Everyone really enjoyed their meal and when Ilo came back to clear up our dishes Raha ordered some dessert. ¡°Ilo darling, can we get a plate of Daifuku and some hot cha for the table?¡± Ilo smiled and nodded, ¡°Of course Mr. Onni,¡± she said then left with the dishes. Dad thanked Raha for the meal and tried to get some specifics about when he would be able to visit the farm. My mother and I just sat in a comfortable silence, enjoying the banter of two good friends. Of course this moment of peace couldn¡¯t last, we heard a commotion from the front of the restaurant and then the door to our room opened. Instead of being greeted by our cute little waitress Ilo we were met with the snarling visage of an angry Susi. He stood close to seven feet tall with dark grey fur of a similar shade to my father¡¯s. His thin lips were curled back revealing a sharp set of yellowing teeth, his shoulders were broad, almost filling the doorway and his cool blue eyes held not an ounce of kindness. His attention focused immediately upon my father and he said, ¡°Kieltaneet, get out, this room should not be sullied with your presence especially since I will be using it for my meal.¡± My father stood up and said, ¡°Hello Uhmakkuus, it¡¯s good to see you again. Unfortunately I am having dinner with my family and you are not welcome to join us, please leave before I am forced to remind you of why you never used that tone with me when you were younger¡­¡± Uhmakkuus snarled at my father and spat out, ¡°That was when we were children, I am fully grown now and while you have been living in shame I have been fighting, gaining honor for the clan. While your skills have been rusting in the back end of nowhere I have become one of the best warriors in the clan. Threaten me again and I will remove your tongue after I have soundly thrashed you first.¡± Dad replied, ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try to make good on that threat, but we are not in the streets and this is not the proper place to settle our disagreement, I suggest you wait until we are finished with our meal, then you may have the room.¡± Uhmakkuus looked like he was about to say something when a massive hand landed on his neck. The owner of said hand was the biggest Susi I had ever seen. He had at least 8 inches on Uhmakkuus and enough muscle to wrestle a bear. He also had more scars than I could count along with an eyepatch that gave him a rakish look. The only thing that stopped him from looking like the scariest mercenary I¡¯d ever seen was the white grease stained apron and white chef¡¯s hat perched atop his head. His deep voice rumbled out, ¡°I¡¯m sorry dear customer, but as you can clearly see this room is occupied, you will need to wait until they are done before you can use this room.¡± Uhmakkuus did not seem like the most intelligent Susi, and he proved it when he vociferously protested the hand upon his neck, ¡°How dare you peasant lay your hands upon me. I am the third son of the Jalo clan, and if I wish to have the room it is your responsibility to clear it of these Kieltaneet. Now do your duty, or do you wish to join them?¡± The giant Susi chef laughed and said, ¡°Boy I don¡¯t belong to your clan, I am a member of the Soturi clan, and they would back me to the hilt if some little nancy boy from the Jalo tries to make me do anything in my own shop. I will serve whomever I want for however long I want and if you wish to further protest I will show you exactly why people don¡¯t make trouble in my restaurant. Now either get out of my shop, or sit down and wait your turn.¡± He sneered at Uhmakkuus and tightened his grip upon the neck that was almost completely ringed by his hand. Uhmakkuus stared at the giant chef and then lowered his ears before saying, ¡°Fine enjoy the food, for I won¡¯t be visiting this shop ever again, and you can bet that no member of the Jalo shall either.¡± With that he left our sight and we were left with the presence of the giant, and our waitress who had appeared at some point after the chef arrived. Ilo said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, he just wouldn¡¯t accept that he would have to wait until a table was ready. He said he smelled trash in the back room and would dispose of it quickly so that he could be seated with his entourage. Then he just walked right past me.¡± The giant simply nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s okay Ilo, most of the Jalo are arrogant fools that believe the world owes them whatever they desire. Some of course aren¡¯t so bad, but in general they are bigoted fools. Anyway, how is my best customer?¡± Raha perked up a little bit and said, ¡°Oh I¡¯m doing great, my friends came to visit me from their farm and we have had a fun little shopping spree. It¡¯s Nolata¡¯s birthing day and we have been celebrating it in style. This is her husband Aatto and their son Swift.¡± The giant smiled and said, ¡°Greetings and happy birthing day, my name is Vasara Nuijason it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all.¡± My mother spoke up and said, ¡°The pleasure is all ours, your food has been wonderful, I¡¯ve never tasted anything like the sauce you used. However did you make it?¡± Vasara smiled and said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s a trade secret, sorry, but I hope you folks enjoy the rest of your meal, your dessert should be out in just a few minutes.¡± He smiled at us one more time and walked back toward the kitchen, Ilo following close behind. I spoke up, ¡°Okay, that is the second time I have heard someone call you Kieltaneet and I still don¡¯t know what it means besides the fact that it clearly isn¡¯t a compliment. Are you guys going to tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± My mother and father exchanged a glance and then sighed in unison. After a few seconds of awkward silence my father finally said, ¡°It is a derogatory term some people use to label those who have been cast out of a clan. We both used to be members of the Jalo clan before we were cast out for breaking a taboo. That is all you need to know. Should someone call you a Kieltaneet simply ignore them, all they do is show off their own ignorance.¡± My mother nodded and a somewhat heavy silence reigned. Raha tried to restart the conversation, but the mood had been ruined. We finished our meal in relative silence and then it was time to head home. I don¡¯t know what my parents did to become outcasts, but I was one step closer to finding out. ----------------------------------------------------------------- AN: Sorry for the extra long wait, I am busy with finals right now so I can only write here when I am having writers block on a paper. Hope you guys liked the chapter, the next one will be called "Offered a Job" I''ll let you guys speculate as to what it will be about. Made a Map AN: Sorry if I got your hopes up everyone, but this isn''t a new chapter, I made a map of what the continent looks like and figured I would share. I might have to rewrite some of the descriptions of the basic geography in order to make it fit properly with the map I drew. There are some minor spoilers on the map in that there are cities here that are not yet mentioned in the story, and yes, they will be important for the progression of the story. I should have a new chapter out either later on today or Saturday and please keep in mind I suck at drawing so things are not exactly to scale, Gladeston and Meadow rest are around 25 to 30 miles away from each other, the farm is around 4 miles south of Gladeston and Meadow Rest is close to 400 miles away from Tehoton. Hope this helps, with the coming chapters. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Ch. 12 Water and Trees A month has passed since my birthday and all of the spring planting has been completed, and right now the family is in maintenance mode. Most of what we have had to do is weeding and watering our crops, though I¡¯ve had the pleasure of gathering firewood for the next year so most of my time has been spent in the woods chopping down trees. The task used to be Dad¡¯s but I¡¯m big enough now to do it on my own so for the last two weeks my hands have been covered in blisters. I¡¯m not upset about it though since honestly I like chopping down trees a lot more than carrying a big bucket around to water our crops. I really need to remember how to set up proper irrigation. I think I know how to do it, but the only way to find out is to potentially ruin a field which my parents have not agreed to. I haven¡¯t pushed them on the issue because frankly it would be a lot of work and if I get it wrong, which is very possible, it would have been a huge waste. So for now I chop and chop and chop until a tree falls, then I remove its¡¯ limbs and then drag the trunk back home in order to turn into smaller pieces that are easier to burn. I¡¯ve also been practicing my magic while I¡¯ve been alone in the woods. I¡¯ve been trying to create a water blade, and no that doesn¡¯t mean some kind of sword made out of water, or ice. The ¡°blade¡± I have been trying to create is what they use when cutting stone, an industrial sized water cannon that releases water at such high pressures it can literally cut through rock or even metal. Unfortunately my water blade has all of the power of a super soaker. I think the biggest problem is caused by the fact that I have to pull the water out of the air which doesn¡¯t allow me to build up the pressure necessary. The good news is that I now always have a source of clean water so the lack of progress hasn¡¯t depressed me yet. But today I am going to try something new, I am heading to the river to cut down some trees and I am going to try combining the power of the river with my water blade. It took me 20 minutes to jog there with my axe and pick out a tree close enough to the river for this to work. I took close to thirty swings to notch out the back of the tree so that it would fall toward the forest instead of toward the river. Then I sat down off to the side of the tree and concentrated on my mana core. I gathered around half the mana in my core and then decided to gather half the mana in my channels. Since my growth spurt ended my mana channels have stabilized so I could finally use all of it without enduring a channel collapse. I forced the mana out of my hands and into the river, surrounding as much water as possible without leaving any holes or weak points. I went over the construct I had created multiple time, it amounted to a giant bag of water, but I had to make sure there were not any weak points. Once I was sure that the container I had crafted was sturdy enough to handle the stress I was about to put it through; I created a small tentacle of water and a weak point at the end of the tentacle. I aimed the tentacle at the tree I had previously notched and then I compressed my mana as much as possible. The resulting explosion of water completely soaked the tree, it even formed a small gash in the bark, but ultimately it was a failure. The entire tip of the tentacle had failed instead of just the small weak point I had made. The weak point went first obviously, which is what caused the small gash, but the rest of the tip failed before it could do any more damage. I sighed and then reabsorbed as much of the remaining mana as possible. I¡¯d lost maybe a quarter of the mana to the process of reabsorbing it and another quarter due to what I had asked of the mana. I gathered the remainder of my mana and once again sent it into the water. I gathered half of the previous amount of water which allowed me to double the thickness of the mana walls, layering the tip of the tentacle with an especially thick layer of mana. I made the weak point and then once again compressed my mana as much as possible. A thin jet of water shot out of the tentacle, cutting into the tree and rapidly eating a line through the wood. Then suddenly the water pressure seemed to drop. I took my focus off of directing the water and noticed a geyser of water coming from the side tentacle shooting straight up into the air. I¡¯d sprung a leak. I stopped compressing my mana and examined the spot where the water had broken through. I sent my mana sense into the construction and found the hole quite rapidly. Apparently the water rushing through the tentacle had been eating away at the construct. The entirety of the tentacle had been wearing thin. If I had kept the pressure on another leak could have sprung in any number of other places. I regathered the mana I¡¯d used and decided to call it quits on the experiments for the day, I needed to think about the results and probably come up with a different delivery system. Two to three seconds of water blade were not enough for my purposes. If I couldn¡¯t get at least a minutes worth of use out of it then it would be usable for neither battle nor industry. I might be able to get a blacksmith to create a steel tube with a nozzle at the end for me. If it was thick enough then I probably wouldn¡¯t waste nearly as much mana. Of course in order to do that I was going to need money, which at the moment I currently lacked. I finished chopping down the tree, lamenting the fact that I lived on a farm which severely limited my ability to make money. Sure I¡¯d crafted a few useful household items, like a spatula, whisk, forks and spoons, bowls and plates, mostly using wood or clay. Dad and I had built a kiln a few years ago, which is how I was able to create so much table ware, but I doubted most of it would sell well enough to make me the money I needed. My bigger inventions, like indoor plumbing could potentially make more money, but would really only work if I was building a house from the ground up. The rooftop cistern I¡¯d created for our place really only worked because of my earth manipulation skills and the fact that we had a slate tile rooftop. Even then it wasn¡¯t able to hold very much water since too much weight would collapse the roof. Someone else might have been able to do better but I was studying to be a doctor, not an engineer so a small cistern was the extent of what I had been able to manage. I started removing the branches from the tree with swift swings of my axe. I needed to think of something that would make me some real money, the problem of course being that I don¡¯t really know exactly what has been invented yet. There were obviously a few things that would make me a ton of money, like an abacus, or printing press, but frankly I couldn¡¯t be sure if my family simply didn¡¯t have the money or need to buy these things. I had built a rough wheel barrow, which had some potential as a money maker and when in town I didn¡¯t notice a wheel barrow store, but then I kind of figure you would have to ask a carpenter to build you one. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I really did need to explore the town more on my own, but Mom and Dad rarely let me leave the farm. It was remarkably frustrating, biding my time, allowing myself to gain full control over my magic, learning martial arts and growing up. I wanted to do so much, but if I acted too early I wouldn¡¯t be prepared to deal with the potential consequences of trying to live my life according to my old value system. After all can you imagine a six year old fighting an adult twice his size and winning? That might happen in manga and light novels, but here it would just get me killed. After all my dad regularly trounced me when we sparred and I could tell he has been holding back. After reaffirming my plan to remain anonymous until I was older and had learned enough to defend myself against all comers I looked down at my handiwork. The tree had been completely delimbed and it was time to take it home for further processing. I grabbed the tree close to its¡¯ midpoint, and lifted it up to my shoulders. Sure the thing weighed close to three hundred and fifty pounds, but I¡¯m hella buff. It took a minute to adjust the tree so that it sat balanced upon my shoulders, but afterward I was able to head home at a quick trot. Okay, so jogging home with a three hundred and fifty pound log on my back was a mistake. I got about half way before my shoulders tried to fall off my body. I ended up leaving a half mile long furrow in the ground as I had to drag the damn log home. I guess I over estimated my own strength, but hey, life would be boring if you never tried to push your own limits. I left the tree trunk by the wood pile and grabbed some food from inside the house. Mmmmm velocichicken jerky, it tastes great¡­ errr, well great might be an exaggeration, but it is quick and edible so I went with it. After scarfing down my midmorning snack I began to meditate. You absorb mana faster while you meditate, plus I needed to figure out exactly how much I had just messed up my muscles. As part of my consciousness focused on taking in all the available mana, the majority of my focus went to examining the muscles in my neck and shoulders. They were in fairly rough shape. I had micro tears throughout the muscles in my neck, which wasn¡¯t so bad, that¡¯s just the result of a hard workout, what would have been annoying were the tears in two ligaments in my neck and one in my left shoulder. I¡¯d like to give you the technical names of them since I spent an entire quarter learning all of the ligaments in the body, but frankly they don¡¯t quite sink up to a human equivalent. Sure we are built along similar lines, but frankly wolf head vs. human head does some interesting things to the neck¡¯s structure. I sent my mana into my neck and focused on reconnecting the tears in the ligaments. I left the tears in the muscles to heal naturally because frankly that¡¯s really the only way to improve your muscle mass. If you heal the muscles with magic, they just return to their original size and strength. Trust me, I spent a month healing tears to my muscles and gained not an ounce of muscle mass. No freebie training cheat for this guy. After healing the ligaments I felt a lot better, I was still sore of course, but I could get back to work, so I started chopping the tree trunk into firewood. I would have used a saw, but we didn¡¯t own one. When I asked my father about it he said they were too difficult to maintain and cost too much since it took a smith a long time to properly shape a saw. I sighed and started chopping the tree up into manageable chunks with my axe. Oh trusty axe, I spend way too much time with you. It¡¯s sad to say but lately I¡¯ve spent more time with Mr. Axe than with anyone outside of my immediate family. Gurt might be able to match the time I spend with an axe, but it would be a close thing. Does that mean Mr. Axe is a better friend to me than Gurt? I hope not since he is a terrible conversationalist, all he says is whish and thunk, super boring. Ugh, my mind tends to wander chopping wood and random worthless thoughts just pop in to my head. If there was someone else to talk to it wouldn¡¯t be so bad, but with everyone else in the fields I¡¯m left to do my work alone. I should probably go back to figuring out how to make money. I could probably make a ton of money if I could get my water blade to work properly since smooth planed wood would sell really well. I mean yeah, a well-equipped carpenter could do it, but creating a 2 by 4 with a hand saw isn¡¯t easy, especially with the shitty level that hand saws are bound to be at when made out of low grade steel. I think my next task will be convincing dad that we should start a fish farm that way I would have access to enough water to continue refining my technique, without having to run 2 miles just to do it. Plus effort free fish once we get the farm set up. I might even be able to sell them in town and start making some money, and if I ever get that irrigation thing figured out it would be much easier to implement. I¡¯d finished up about half of the trunk when I finally heard, ¡°Lunch is ready!¡± Ahh Mom, sometimes you say the sweetest things. I stopped by the well and washed my hands off, then I dumped the rest of the water over my head because frankly chopping up a tree is a great way to overheat, plus I had wood chips in my fur. I shook off what water I could, then vigorously ran my hands through my fur to get rid of the remaining water. It didn¡¯t completely work but it was close enough that I was only a little damp when I went in for lunch. ---------------------------------------------------------------- AN: Sorry for the long absence guys finals were annoying and long. Fortunately this little break allowed me to recharge my mental juices and get a little ahead. I ended up changing the chapter a little bit from what I had initially intended because I realized I needed to set some things up. Next chapter is finished and will be posted within the next 10 hours, just doing some proof reading and adding the finishing touches. The job offer will actually show up in the chapter after that when Raha comes for a visit. Ch. 13 A Conversation and Construction As we sat down for lunch, which consisted of some bread and a nice salad I said, ¡°Hey Dad, I¡¯d like to take some time off of harvesting lumber, I have something in mind that I think could save us a lot of time and effort, but I will probably need a about a week to get it done.¡± Dad asked, ¡°Okay¡­ what exactly will you be doing with a week off?¡± I said, ¡°Well, I was planning on digging up the Northern field and turning it into a fish farm¡­¡± Dad responded, ¡°What¡¯s made you want to start a fish farm? I¡¯m not opposed exactly, but I don¡¯t know how to raise fish and I doubt you do either¡­ Is there any particular reason you want to try this?¡± I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts and decide exactly what to tell my parents. I looked at my mother who was busy feeding my little brother. Auttaa had turned into an adorable little white wolf though he was definitely a picky eater. Sure he could feed himself at this point, but that didn¡¯t mean he did a good job of it. If mom didn¡¯t help him eat all his bread would be gone and the salad would probably end up on the floor. At two years old he was developing quickly, but like all two year olds he was a handful. I smiled at the scene and said, ¡°Well Dad, the reason I want to try and farm fish is so that I can make some extra money. I figure I could run the fish into town and sell them which would make a decent amount of coin, plus with the pond I am planning on building it would be easy to try my irrigation method. You remember the one I told you about last year. I figure that when I¡¯m done with the pond we could give it a shot with one of the fields as a test of sorts. If it works out then we could eventually set it up for all of the fields and save ourselves a lot of time and energy.¡± My father sat in silence for a few seconds thinking things over, which allowed my mom to chime in, ¡°Well that¡¯s an interesting idea¡­ I think I like it, this way even if you can¡¯t water the plants properly the work you do making the pond won¡¯t be wasted. How do you plan on getting the water into your pond?¡± I answered,¡± Well I had a little bit of inspiration today, the soil is relatively soft going from the river to our house, I know because I dragged a log for close to half a mile and you can see the furrow it left in the ground. I figure that it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to remove it if I modify the earth wave a little bit. Then when I get close enough to the river I can build a gate and then connect the future pond to the river.¡± Dad finally spoke up, ¡°Why install a gate?¡± I answered, ¡°Well, that¡¯s because I want to be able to stop the water from rising too much and keep the fish from swimming out of the pond and back into the river.¡± Dad thought about the idea for a little while, he scratched an itch behind his ear and then said, ¡°How will you feed the fish? They have to eat something, also, how will you keep the water clean, if the water becomes stagnant the fish will probably die. Plus a bunch of stagnant water will breed insects something our farm could do without.¡± I answered his objections with the plan I had worked out, ¡°I agree that we don¡¯t want a bunch of stagnant water right next to the house which is why the pond will constantly have water entering and leaving it. I am going to build a drainage path for the water so that the excess ends up flowing back into the river. That will keep the water from getting stagnant and I will probably be able to build a water wheel if I set things up right.¡± My mom arched her eyebrow and said, ¡°Honey I don¡¯t know a lot about water wheels, but I am pretty sure they only work with a river that flows quickly, there is no way you will be able to build a useful one with the amount of pressure you will get from a fish pond.¡± I smiled and said, ¡°I have an idea that I think might work, but I¡¯ll have to experiment a bit with it first. Regardless of any potential water wheels we could use to grind up the Whim, I can promise if I do this right the water will not be stagnant and we should be able to get fish to live in the pond.¡± Dad nodded his head and said, ¡°Well, you have me half convinced, but how much land will this pond end up using?¡± ¡°It should take up most of the Northern field, so close to two acres. I figure since we haven¡¯t been able to break ground on that field it will be perfect for me to use. Plus if we do decide to expand, there is still room to the south, so the pond shouldn¡¯t stop our growth. Besides think of all the readily available fish we will have if I can pull this off.¡± I said in what I hoped was an enticing tone. Dad considered my proposal for a second and said, ¡°If you can pull this off in a week, then fine, if you can¡¯t then it will have to wait until after the harvest. Just make sure you let me know before you start filling it with water, I don¡¯t want you to have missed something and then we wind up flooded out of house and home.¡± I exclaimed, ¡°Yesss!¡± and did a fist pump which my little brother decided to copy. I beamed at him and said, ¡°Thanks Dad, I¡¯m going to go get started on it right now, if I only have a week, then I am going to be pretty busy. And don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m 98% sure I can do this without destroying our home.¡± I ruffled the fur between my little brother¡¯s ears and ran out the door. I heard my dad mutter something as I left, but I was already too far away to make it out clearly. It was probably along the lines of being 98% sure I¡¯d wind up with a tanned hide if I flooded the house, or something like that. Who can say? But I will definitely reinforce the side of the pond that ends up facing the house. What? It just a simple precaution, I¡¯m not worried about the giant Wolfman that is my father beating me black and blue, it¡¯s just a normal precaution. I ran to the north a little bit and took a look at the future pond. While the 2 acres or so of land were relatively flat, there was a small depression on the eastern end. It should make the digging process a little easier, but I would definitely need to shore up the edges of the proposed fish farm as the winter rains might cause some flooding if I didn¡¯t design things properly. I¡¯d have to build the banks up at least two or three feet above the waterline in order to make sure we don¡¯t lose our house to a flood. I¡¯d also need to design a breakout point in case there is flooding so that the water has somewhere else to go. I sat down in the depression and began cultivating. Magic was the only reason I told my father that I could do the job in a week, and my experiments this morning had depleted most of my stored mana. It took me twenty minutes to pull all that I could from my surroundings and the food I had ingested, which filled me up close to half way. I could have continued to cultivate, but it would have been slow as I had already pulled all the mana I could from lunch. I got up and focused on my mana. I willed it into the earth and prepared it for my first spell. I say spell because frankly I don¡¯t really know what else to call what I was about to do. I suppose I could call it a skill or a technique, but if it involves mana it should be a spell right? Anyway my spell was a simple one, basically I created a wedge and put it in the ground I set it up to move in a particular direction, southwest specifically and I set it for a certain depth. When I released the spell it would begin moving forward for as long as it could. Based on the amount of mana I had infused into the spell it should be able to go for close to two hundred feet, I¡¯d set the width for around ten feet. I stomped my foot which released the spell and a wave of earth could be seen moving toward my house. I¡¯d set the depth for around two foot down and as the modified earth wave progressed toward my home a path of rich dark earth was revealed. The earth wave acted as a bulldozer, tearing up the grass that had previously covered the field. A lot of loose earth and grass spilled over the backside of the earth wave, but by the end of the two hundred feet a four foot high earthen berm was left over. It wouldn¡¯t be easy moving the left over dirt out of the pond, but it would be a lot easier now that the earth wave had done all the hard work. I¡¯d used up close to a quarter of my total mana releasing that earth wave, but if I managed my levels properly, ate a lot, and cultivated when I could, I should be able to repeat the spell at least 8 times per day. Looking at the land I planned on clearing out I¡¯d need to perform the feat at least 40 times, which means I should be done with the initial clearing efforts by day 5. My plan should work, but I might have been a little bit optimistic, on my time frame. Looks like I¡¯ll be busy for the next week. I sent another earth wave out right next to the previous one, thus exhausting my mana. I ran to the barn and grabbed my wheel barrow and our biggest shovel. I pushed it back to the recently cleared land and started filling the wheel barrow up. It took close to 100 trips to get rid of all the dirt from the first bit of land I had cleared, and it took close to three hours to accomplish the task. Frankly if I wasn¡¯t a 6 foot 10 inch giant wolf man that had been training in martial arts and working hard as a farmer for the last 5 years of my life I never would have been able to accomplish all that I had. Fortunately I was all of those things, so while tired I knew I could continue after a short break. I sat down on the now significantly enlarged earthen berm and began to meditate. I needed to recover mana and stamina as fast as possible, for which meditating was ideal. I spent close to fifteen minutes recovering and cultivating before I moved on to the next section. ¡­ I spent the next 5 days doing the same thing over and over again. My days consisted of waking up before dawn to clear two swaths of ground, followed by eating breakfast with the family. Then I¡¯d clear another two sections, meditate for 15 minutes to recover stamina and mana, then clear another two sections. Then it was lunch with the family followed by more clearing and meditating. By the end of each day I was exhausted both physically and mentally. Then only reason I was able to keep up the pace was due to the training I¡¯d been undergoing since I was a child. When day 6 arrived I ended up digging a path the river. It might have been two miles away, but it was a cake walk compared to the work I had just put in. All I had to do was create a small but powerful earth wave, two feet across and two and a half feet deep. Each wave only took a fifth of the energy that my previous waves had taken, and since the wave was so much smaller most of the loose dirt ended up on the banks of the future stream instead of inside it. I was able to get within two hundred yards of the river by the time night fell and while tired from using so much mana, my body was actually in pretty good shape. I jogged home that night stopping every hundred feet or so to drop some stones I had collected into the future waterway. When I got back I quickly ate some dinner and then went to my room, barely acknowledging anyone on my way there. I quickly removed my pants and flopped onto my bed, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. On the seventh day I rested¡­ Just kidding I worked my ass off. I got up before dawn again and finished advancing my little creek bed all the way to the river, now only 5 feet separated the river from having access to my pond. After cleaning out the channel of any excess dirt I then did something I had only tried a few times before. I fused a section of dirt into a solid mass. Basically I was taking all of the sand and silt in the soil and turning it into a mix of sedimentary rocks, sandstone and siltstone. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Now this process would normally take either a long time or a lot of mana but was hoping it would be much easier for me because I planned on cheating. Normally when a Mage tries to fuse the soil into a rock he simply applies manna, in the form of pressure and heat in order to complete the process. It kind of works, but frankly in my view it was inefficient. That¡¯s why yesterday I had dropped stones along the waterway, they were limestones, and my plan was to fuse them with the soil thus making it easier to form the rocks I needed as the limestone would act as a cementing agent. The first thing I did was crush up the limestone into a chunky powder, which was fairly easy thanks to a couple of rocks I¡¯d taken from the river. Then I spread the bits and pieces along the trench I¡¯d dug. I added my mana to the mix of limestone, sand and silt, I focused on forging a connection between the three elements and after only a couple of minutes and a small expenditure of mana I now had a siltstone riverbed. I repeated the process every hundred yards and after close to three hours I was back home, hungry and tired. Breakfast was already over and my parents were working in the fields again so I made myself an omelet. When I finished eating I went back outside and examined the hole that would eventually become my fish farm. The original depression on the east end was now close to 8 feet below the expected waterline. The rest of the pond was somewhere between 4 and 6 feet deep, it might be too shallow, so I would have to watch the temperature of the water over the summer before trying to plant any plants or add any fish. I was going to have to wait until the harvest was over before I tried to do anything serious with the fish farm, but I¡¯d made an excellent start. Now I just needed to build a sluice gate and then I should be able to connect the pond to the river. I grabbed my axe from the barn and then jogged back to the river. I¡¯ll spare you the details of how I made the sluice gate, let¡¯s just say it involved a couple of trees and a lot of chopping. When it was done it looked, well I guess crude would be the best way to describe it. I¡¯d over engineered the thing so it would be unlikely to break, but it would also be impossible to operate for anyone smaller than me. I¡¯d have to build a new one eventually, but for now it should work well enough. I cleared away the dirt between it and the river and didn¡¯t notice any water leaking past so at the very least my sluice gate was water tight and functional. I ran back home, dropped off the axe in the barn then went out to the fields and grabbed the family. I brought them to the northern field which was now a giant hole with thick banks surrounding it and said, ¡°Well I¡¯m basically done, now I just need to test it out and see where any improvements need to be made. What do you say Dad, is it good enough for a trial run?¡± My father walked around future pond site, he checked the earthen banks, hopped inside and checked the depth then jumped out and said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t look finished.¡± I nodded my head and said, ¡°That¡¯s because it isn¡¯t. There are still a number of improvements I plan on making, like turning the banks into stone instead of earth, creating an exit for the water to insure it doesn¡¯t become stagnant, planting some weeds and lilies. There is a whole range of things I need to do before it will actually become a viable fish farm, but I think it¡¯s gotten to the point where I need to test it and see if it can hold water. Then I will need to see how hot the water will get without the addition of new water. After all, if it gets to hot the fish will die.¡± My dad grunted and said, ¡°Alright son, you can add some water, do you need our help with anything?¡± I smiled and said, ¡°Actually yeah now that you mention it, I could definitely use your help. We need to monitor the water flow, make sure it doesn¡¯t eat away too much of the earth on its way to our pond, we need to manage the level of the water and be able to shut off the flow quickly if anything goes wrong. I could also use some help gathering a particular type of stone since it will speed up the process of turning the bank into stone instead of dirt. I will also probably need some help dredging out the pond since I think the water will be pretty muddy upon arrival.¡± My dad laughed, and said, ¡°Woah woah woah, that¡¯s a lot of help, this is your project, I¡¯ll give you some more time off to get it done, but most of that stuff is your responsibility. We will help with the initial filling of the pond, but the rest of that is on you. But because it is your project and because you are doing most of the work, you get the lion¡¯s share of the reward. If we end up being able to use the water to irrigate our fields like you thought we could, then everything else that pond produces is yours. Sound fair?¡± I nodded, ¡°I can work with that, but what if I need help on a major improvement?¡± My dad smiled, ¡°You can pay us fair value for our labor. You said you wanted to make some money from this fish farm, which I am okay with. But if you want it to be a money maker for you then you can¡¯t expect too much help from us.¡± I smiled and said, ¡°Okay Dad, then I guess all I will need from you guys is two things. First I am going to need you to work the sluice gate dad, it is heavy and I don¡¯t think Mom is strong enough to do it on her own, so you will be in charge of opening and closing it. Mom, I will need you to watch the banks of the trench I dug, I just need you to make sure there isn¡¯t any single point where the water breaks through. Autta and I will watch the pond, I will have a fire going, and as soon as you see smoke I want you to close the gate. Mom you need to come get me if you notice any big problems, and Dad you need to close the gate if the water starts to work its way around the gate. Does that work for everyone?¡± My dad nodded and my mom said, ¡°Sure son, just make sure Auttaa doesn¡¯t get into any trouble. And make sure he doesn¡¯t go into the water, I don¡¯t want to have to deal with a mud covered toddler.¡± I nodded then I took dad to the river and showed him how to operate the sluice gate. It was a simple design, in order to open it you just had to lift the logs out of the holder I had constructed. Simple easy, no problem for a fully mature Susi, anyone else though might have some issues since each log weighed close to 300 pounds. I looked at my dad and I said, ¡°Okay, give me twenty minutes to grab Auttaa and start a fire then open the gates. When you see the smoke close the gate, I imagine it will take a couple of hours so if nothing bad happens after the first twenty minutes of filling I¡¯ll have mom bring you a spear so you can do some fishing while you wait. Sound good?¡± Dad nodded and said, ¡°Sure son, but if I get any fish you don¡¯t get any. Think of it as a charge for my services today.¡± I frowned, and whined, ¡°Come on Dad, I give you this nice rest day where all you have to do is hang out by the river and you won¡¯t even share your catch with me¡­¡± My dad chuckled and said, ¡°Of course I¡¯m kidding son, your mother would never let me deprive you of good meat.¡± My continence brightened a bit and I said, ¡°Ha Ha dad, very funny, I actually thought you were going to take this whole working for me thing to some crazy extreme.¡± Dad smiled and said, ¡°I won¡¯t¡­ but your little brother might when he gets a little older and you want him to help you out. Just try and keep in mind that not everyone is as generous as your old man.¡± ¡°Sure thing Dad, now give me twenty minutes then open the gate¡± I said. I ran back to the pond picking my little brother up on the way. I built up a medium sized fire and gathered some green leafy branches. All I would need to do is drop them on the fire and I should get plenty of smoke. Then we waited. I let my little brother play around the outside of the empty pond, keeping an eye on him to ensure he didn¡¯t make his way inside the giant pit. It took close to twenty minutes for the water to finally reach me and when it did I knew I was going to be here for a while. I¡¯d been hoping that the water would come gushing forth and fill the pond in no time. Instead the water was slow, moving at maybe 6 miles per hour, it was like filling a pool up with a gardening hose, eventually it would get done, but it wasn¡¯t going to be fast. Which meant I needed to get my dad, it would be a waste of his time to simply sit at the mouth of this new tributary. I picked up my little brother and ran along the new stream. I met mom about a mile along the water course and stopped briefly. I said, ¡°Hey mom, I don¡¯t think I will need you guys any more, in my head the pond was going to fill up much faster, but at this rate it will take at least a day if not longer. So long as nothing breaks I shouldn¡¯t need your help. Thanks though, I¡¯ll go tell Dad he can head on home. Have you noticed any problems before I go?¡± She replied, ¡°Not really, it¡¯s only been an hour so who can say, but so far the banks seem to be holding up just fine. The water is really muddy though so I can¡¯t be certain how much of the banks are being eaten away.¡± I thanked her, dropped off little Auttaa and ran the rest of the way to the river. When I arrived I said, ¡°Any problems so far?¡± Dad replied, ¡°Nothing so far, lining the sides of the entrance with stone was probably a good idea. But I have to ask, why are you here right now? Shouldn¡¯t you be watching the pond? Making sure the banks don¡¯t overflow and ensuring there aren¡¯t any problems, that might, you know flood our house?¡± I gave my Dad a somewhat sheepish grin and said, ¡°Well I would, but the flow rate of the water is so little that it will take at least a day if not two in order to fill up. I realized if there were any problems I could probably shut off the water flow myself and I don¡¯t want you to waste your entire day here at the river.¡± He smiled and said, ¡°I figured it would take that long, but I will stick around here for today just in case. Besides I haven¡¯t taken a day to relax and fish in a while so I don¡¯t mind staying. You just go on back to the pond, and I will be here just in case you need me.¡± I simply nodded, after all if dad wanted to take a day off, who was I to stop him? I ran back to the pond and started cultivating, after all even if Dad decided to take some time off, I couldn¡¯t until this project was done. It took two days to fill the pond, in that time I deepened some of the shallower parts and did my best to separate the dirt from out of the water. Thanks to my efforts the water was relatively clear, it would take a couple of days for all of the dirt to settle on the bottom. I¡¯d also spent some time turning the section of earth facing our home into stone. It wasn¡¯t easy, but with all the time I had to just gather mana it was mostly just time consuming. With work on the pond finished for now my family celebrated by having a bit of a barbecue. We had the Taikas come over, cooked up some fish and just sat around the new pond. The good news was that even if the fish farm didn¡¯t work out, at the very least we now had a swimming hole, so there was always that. -------------- AN: Sorry the chapter took so long, I got stuck writing about the sluice gate and literally got bored trying to write the scene. It took me a couple of days to get back into things and I ended up reworking some stuff in the process. Next chapter Raha is coming to visit and it marks the beginning of Swift''s move out into the world beyond his farm. There will also be some action so stay tuned folks. Ch. 14 Raha Comes for a Visit It took a couple of months to get the fish farm completely up and running, but with the aid of some fish traps and a lot of work in my down time I was able to get it working. We also managed to water one of the fields with the run off from the pond. Of course that meant that over the next winter we were going to have to set up all of the fields so that they could be watered the same way. So we had a lot to do, but that just means that next summer was going to be a lot less work than this one. Today was nice because it was a rare day off. Our harvest was in and my dad, Kurt, Westra and my mom were all heading into Meadow Rest to sell our crops. They were taking two carts filled to the brim with produce and grains so I got to watch the kids and take care of the house while they were gone. Now I would normally just stay home and mind the house, but I wanted to thank my parents for helping me out with the fish farm and I hadn¡¯t really had the opportunity to do something for them yet. Today I would change that. Today I was going to hunt a Lehmakin you know, those bulls on steroids I¡¯d briefly mentioned. We¡¯d never gone hunting for them before but today I was going to do it. Dad always said it was too dangerous and that the reward simply wasn¡¯t worth it, but then Dad had never had my barbequed ribs before. Now I wasn¡¯t exactly a great chef before I died and while I have improved over the last decade living here I¡¯m still no master chef. But if there was one thing I could cook it was burgers and ribs. My old mother taught me how to do ribs right, she even taught me how to make barbeque sauce from scratch. And after almost 10 years I finally had all of the ingredients to make my mom¡¯s sauce again. The only thing I needed was the proper thing to put it on. I would have preferred pig, since pork ribs are better in my opinion, but the closest pig was deep in the forest and came with giant tusks. I figure an overgrown and aggressive cow would be easier to take down. So I had Auttaa in my backpack and Gurt at my side as we made our way east to the plains. Oh wait, you guys don¡¯t know what the plains look like do you? Well, if you are picturing Kansas you wouldn¡¯t be far off in that there is a lot of relatively tall grass, most of it coming up to my knees. Of course the grass is blue instead of green or golden, but still it¡¯s the thought that counts right? Oh and the plains aren¡¯t exactly flat, there are a lot of flat stretches, but there are also a lot of low rolling hills. Frankly it looks pretty cool in my opinion, it almost makes me want to sing some country western songs. Well it would if I knew any¡­ all that blue grass, that¡¯s a thing in country western right? Anyway It took a close to an hour of walking straight west before we came upon some tracks of what I could only assume were Lehmakin. Frankly I would have been worried if I planned on hunting the beasts with just my spear. They were huge, and deep, the animals that made those tracks must have weighed well over 3 tons. We started following the tracks and frankly it was some of the easiest tracking I had ever done in my life. It was like following a road, all I had to do was stay amongst the disturbed earth and I would easily find the beasts. That was the good news, the bad news was that there were at least 10, of the beasts in the herd. I couldn¡¯t be certain on the number, but based on the number of different hoof marks I had been able to pick out, 10 seemed about right. We followed the path made by the giant beasts for close to two hours before I smelled something I was hoping I wouldn¡¯t until the end of the hunt¡­ blood. The scent was relatively faint, but with the wind blowing in from the east I knew it was ahead of us which meant predators had come for the Lehmakin. I couldn¡¯t bring my little brother into a situation where he could become the victim of whatever kills Lehmakin so I halted our little hunting party. I said quietly to Gurt, ¡°There is blood up ahead, which means it is far too dangerous to bring Auttaa along. I will build an earth tent to keep you too safe, while I go on ahead and check out the source. If anything comes for you two use your mana to dig a hole and hide, I¡¯ll be back within two hours, I need to scout out what¡¯s ahead.¡± Gurt said, ¡°Okay, but make sure that your careful, and don¡¯t take on something unless you know you can beat it. I don¡¯t want to have to tell your parents that I let their son die while I hid in a stone tent.¡± I smiled at Gurt and took Auttaa out of my backpack. He had been relatively silent for the trip so far but once I set him down he start to make some noise. I set him down on the ground then kneeled next to him and said, ¡°I am going to be gone for a little bit, Gurt is going to be in charge. Make sure you listen to him and if he says to be quiet, be quiet it isn¡¯t because he is mad at you, it will be because something dangerous is approaching, okay little brother?¡± Auttaa nodded his cute little head and said, ¡°Kay¡± then he started to dig a little hole in the bottom of the earth tent I¡¯d set up. I smiled then left the small tent and started jogging toward the scent of blood. The first thing I noticed was that the earth had been greatly disturbed, something had gotten the Lehmakin to run. As I got closer the scent became much stronger, I even found the blood trail and based on the amount I¡¯d say that whatever had been cut was probably already dead. The tracks veered to the right to go around a small hill, I decided to go up the hill instead of around and hopefully avoid any straggling predators. It took less than a minute to get to the top of the hill, though I crawled when I got near the top so I wouldn¡¯t present my silhouette to whatever was below me. As I reached the crest of the hillock I took a moment to scan the plains below. The first thing I noticed was movement, whatever was attacking the Lehmakin wasn¡¯t done. The creatures were huge, they had horns and tusks and stood at least seven feet at the shoulders. There were three of them and they were circling a single moving figure. The only thing is that the moving figure looked like a man on a horse, which would mean that the Lehmakin were the hunters. I looked back along the path they had taken and I saw still bodies littering the way. There were dead humans, dead horses, and eight dead Lehmakin. At that point I had a choice to make, I could ignore the plight of the horseman, harvest the body of one of the dead Lehmakin and safely make my way back to my little brother and my friend. Or I could race down the hill and try to kill three giant monsters in order to save some guy on a horse. The smart play would be to just mind my business, but then what in the hell was the point of training for the last nine years if I couldn¡¯t save someone that was right in front of me. I raced down the hill and gathered my mana. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to kill these monsters with just my spear, not unless I got a lucky strike and somehow managed to pierce one of them through the eye and get the spear lodged in their brain. No my best bet was to try and kill the beasts with magic. I did as much prep work as I could in the short time it took me to reach the circling Lehmakin. The closest one to me was very obviously a male and it was suffering from multiple stab wounds. The horsemen must have been able to injure the large beast, but they had by no means been able to put him down. The beast still hadn¡¯t noticed me and I made sure to approach as quietly as possible. From the distance of only ten yards I could tell that Lehmakin were hunters, their eyes were forward set, instead of side set, so they could focus on their prey. While they may have once been herbivores clearly they had made the jump to omnivore at some point. I unleashed my spell about five yards in front of the Lehmakin and it worked quickly. The Lehmakin had no idea as it continued to circle, oblivious to the changes I had made to the ground in front of it. It took the beast a mere two seconds to step into my trap and then the ground underneath it collapsed. The Lehmakin lowed in distress, as it started it¡¯s fall, but that came to a brutal end as I heard its¡¯ neck snap upon impact with the hard bottom if the pit I¡¯d dug. That¡¯s right I dug a pit trap beneath the topsoil so that the Lehmakin had no idea what was coming, it was how I was planning on bagging one without using my spear. Of course my entrance into the fray didn¡¯t go unnoticed by any of the participants, the horseman looked up and charged toward the opening I presented in his encirclement. I also noticed at this point he was riding double with someone else and his heavy armor implied that he wasn¡¯t on a hunting trip gone wrong. The lance he pointed in my direction also gave me cause to worry, but frankly that was a secondary concern when compared with the now two pissed off Lehmakin racing toward me and after the horseman. I gathered more of my mana and prepared another pit trap about ten yards in front of me, I made it longer and hoped I could get both of the beasts to fall in it. If they stayed on course I should be fine, but I would need to slow the one on the right down a little bit or it would arrive too early and would spring the trap allowing the last one to avoid it. So I threw my spear at the advancing Lehmakin, hoping the strike would slow it down just enough. While the spear ended up hitting the frontrunner it didn¡¯t do nearly enough damage to slow down the advancing Lehmakin. If anything the pain of a spear in its¡¯ back seemed to goad the beast on to greater speed. Meanwhile the horseman continued to advance with his lance leveled at my chest. In order to dissuade him from running over me, or hitting me with his lance I created a couple of stone spears in front of me aimed directly at his horse¡¯s chest. This seemed to disturb him as he veered off toward the right, which fortunately allowed him to avoid my trap. The Lehmakin advanced unperturbed by my display of magic. I advanced closer to my pit, I walked over it onto the other side and sent a small earth wave at the closest beast. I figured that while a spear might not slow it down hundreds of pounds of earth suddenly appearing in its¡¯ way might. My supposition proved correct and the beast slowed down enough that the two Lehmakin should arrive at my location at approximately the same time. I backed up over my pit again and stood next to the two stone spears I had conjured. The Lehmakin continued toward me, blood in their eyes, hell bent upon my destruction; that is until they reached my new pit. Then they both disappeared into the earth. I heard two simultaneous and loud cracks and then the bellowing of a bull in distress. Apparently the fall wasn¡¯t enough to kill one of the beasts. I approached the edge of the pit and saw the dead body of one Lehmakin and then the other stuck on its¡¯ side, one leg obviously broken. Looks like I¡¯d have to hop down and cut the beast¡¯s throat, or maybe I could try and send a spear into its¡¯ brain. As I contemplated how best to kill the lamed animal I noticed the sound of hoof beats getting closer to me. I turned my head and noticed the rider was approaching me, lance once again leveled at my chest. Whoever the rider was, he sure was persistent. I walked back to the spear and broke a chunk off, then I used some mana to mold the broken piece into a rock close to the size of a softball. When the horseman got within twenty five feet of me I threw the rock as hard as I could at his shoulder. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. A human pitcher at best could throw a baseball around one hundred miles per hour, I¡¯m pretty sure I matched that speed without exerting my full strength. After all I was going for accuracy as opposed to power. Either way when my improvised projectile hit the rider he was knocked spinning out of his saddle. The horse kept coming for about twenty steps before it slowed down to a walk. I took the rest of the spear and launched it as hard as I could at the Lehmakin, shattering its¡¯ skull. With that unpleasant task taken care of I approached the fallen figure, or should I say figures. Based on what I could see they were both roughly human shaped, one was close to six feet laying supine on the ground, the other was closer to five and a half feet tall. The bigger one looked to be carrying a lot of muscle, or at least his full body plate mail suggested as much, the smaller one looked like he or she was still growing. As I got closer I could hear the big one moaning, I¡¯d probably shattered his shoulder with that throw, the little one didn¡¯t make a single sound. When I got within a few feet of the unfortunate duo I could hear a rasping breath coming from the smaller of the two while the larger one started cursing me. Well I assume he was cursing me, after all he was almost shouting and there was a lot of hate in his voice. He pulled a knife from his belt and started waving it at me, so I held up my hands and pretended to want to talk to him. Then I moved at my top speed and grabbed the hand with the knife, I squeezed as hard as I could and I could feel the metal bracer starting to give. He could to, probably because his bones were starting to grate on each other. With a firm grip on his functioning arm I took the knife away from him, then proceeded to take away any other weapon he might have on him. I wound up with a boot knife and the sword on his hip, the lance was too far away for me to worry about, having been dropped when the armored man took a tumble. My next move was to disarm the quiet small one, the man protested while I did so, but quieted down when he saw that I wasn¡¯t going for the kill. After I had their weapons in I pile I removed their helmets and saw something I hadn¡¯t seen in a while¡­ Human faces. The bigger of the two looked to be somewhere between forty and fifty, there was some grey in his primarily brown hair. The smaller of the two was also clearly male and clearly hadn¡¯t looked in a mirror for quite some time. He had a wispy little brown mustache to go along with his brown bowl cut hair. He had clearly started puberty recently and either didn¡¯t know how to shave, or was deluded into thinking that his mustache looked cool. I remember when I tried to grow one when I was thirteen, I thought it made me look older, it didn¡¯t¡­ maybe I will let that memory go, needless to say he clearly had the unique blend of confidence mixed with inexperience of a young teenager. I sat down next to him and sent my mana through his body. It was worrying me that he was unconscious and I wanted to make sure he didn¡¯t have a concussion. What I found was much worse. He had a small cut on his hand that had clearly gotten infected. It was inflamed and his body was doing a piss poor job of fighting off the infection I could feel the heat radiating off of the boy as the last ditch effort of the body¡¯s immune system slowly cooked the boy alive. The first thing I did was give the boy some water as he was clearly dehydrated. It wasn¡¯t easy since he wasn¡¯t conscious enough to swallow on his own, so I ended up using some mana to force the liquid into his stomach. Then I sent mana into his bone marrow to stimulate the production of antibodies. After putting in a little work to strengthen his immune system I then focused on the source of the infection. I sent my mana into the wound, focusing on feeling the difference between the antibodies and the infection. It wasn¡¯t easy to do, but I was eventually able to puzzle it out, the bacteria felt foreign to the body, like it didn¡¯t quite belong. I used my mana to start separating out the bacteria from everything else and after close to twenty minutes of gathering the bacteria I pulled what I could out of the wound. After I pulled as much of the infection from his body as I could, I debrided the wound and focused on reconnecting the skin and flesh so that it wouldn¡¯t get reinfected. After I finished my mini bout of healing I looked up to see the older man staring at in in disbelief. I then walked over to him and sent my mana into his body. He tried to recoil from my touch but I wouldn¡¯t let him I grabbed his good shoulder while keeping my other hand on his bad shoulder. With my mana inside him I could feel the various wounds on his body, not only was his shoulder wrecked from coming into contact with a flying rock someone threw at him, but his leg had apparently been gored at some point by one of the Lehmakin. I sent my mana to close off the wound, reconnecting all of the tissue, then I went to work on his shoulder. It was painful for him as I had to drag pieces of bone through his flesh in order to get them back in the right spots. At some point during the procedure he passed out, which I was frankly thankful for. You can only take so much yelling in the ear before you really start to get annoyed. After I put his shoulder back together I focused on repairing the damage fixing the joint had caused. There was a lot of tissue damage, but I was able to repair it, well most of it, I had to stop before I ran out of mana, but another session with me should get everything back in working order. For now he would just have to tough it out. After my little healing session with the humans was over I tracked down the horse that had managed to run off and brought it back. The horse didn¡¯t really like my scent as its¡¯ nostrils were flaring when I approached, but it calmed down enough as I spoke sweet nothings and approached it properly. You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race, or in this case gets the horse. When I returned to the site of the ¡°hunt¡± the two invalids were still unconscious, so I loaded them on to the horse strapped them in and then made my way back to Gurt and Auttaa. When I got close enough Gurt saw me coming and made his way toward me. When he got within ten feet of me he said, ¡°What in Alamaailma¡¯s darkest pit have you gotten yourself into Swift?¡± I smiled and said, ¡°Honestly I¡¯m not too sure, I found these two getting attacked by what I can only assume were Lehmakin. Apparently their entire party was killed by the beasts as I saw a string of dead bodies, both Lehmakin and whatever these guys are. Anyway there were three Lehmakin left and only these two, so I stepped in and killed the Lehmakin. After that I healed their injuries and brought them back. They should be relatively fine when they wake up, but we have some stuff to do. First we need to tie them up since the big one tried to attack me, then we need to go back and get some of that meat before it goes to waste, plus we need to grab their weapons since I forgot to bring them. After that we can return home with food and whatever the hell these guys are.¡± I beamed at my little companion and he glared up at me. He said, ¡°Let me see if I have this straight, you saved the lives of beings that tried to kill you, after killing three of the deadliest animals on our planet? Do I have that right? And now you want to bring them home, but only after getting some Lehmakin meat¡­ Swift are you an idiot?¡± I raised my eyebrow and said, ¡°No¡­ why do you ask?¡± Gurt shook his head and said, ¡°Because you clearly fought three very dangerous animals in order to save the lives of two northern barbarians¡­ you know, those guys that come down from the north, attack our villages and are in general monsters¡­ You need to kill these two¡­ they will only bring you grief otherwise¡­¡± As he trailed off I simply shook my head and said, ¡°Sorry Gurt, I put a lot of effort into saving their lives and I am not going to throw that away just because you think they are northern barbarians. Besides we found them in the east, not the north, so maybe you are wrong. Either way I am bringing them home, so help my tie them up so that we can gather some meat and skin.¡± Gurt sighed, but then complied. We bound the two arms behind their backs, feet together inside the stone tent, then I put Auttaa in my pack, grabbed the horse and we made our way back to the hunting site. I built a small travois for the horse to drag back home then loaded it up with meat. I kept the meat from spoiling by draping a couple of skins over the pile. I then loaded up my bag with the best cuts of meat I could find among the dead Lehmakin. I would have brought back ribs, but frankly it would have been a waste. There were better cuts of meat that I couldn¡¯t leave behind, so sadly, my dream of ribs would have to wait. After loading up our bags and the travois Gurt and I grabbed the weapons and made our way back to the stone tent. By the time we got back the two humans had returned to consciousness and were discussing something. I couldn¡¯t make out any of the words, but it all sounded vaguely like Spanish. When they saw us arrive the two looked both startled and afraid. I tried talking to them in every language I knew, even the ones from earth, but they didn¡¯t seem to understand. Instead the older one just glared at me and the boy just stared, fear evident in his features. I shrugged and then loaded the two back on to the horse, tying them to the beast. It was a little awkward as I had to untie them and let their arms come to the front as it would have been impossible for them to stay on with their hands behind their backs, but I managed. Then I got us all moving back toward home. I had to let Auttaa walk as much as possible since carrying him and the weapons was awkward, but we eventually got home. The journey normally would have taken us only two or three hours, but encumbered as we were it ended up taking five. When we got home the sun was already getting low in the sky and things had changed quite a bit at the farm. It wasn¡¯t a burned out wreck or anything, but there were a lot of people in and around my house both Susi and Vuohians. I was worried about bandits at first, but then I saw my dad walking freely amongst them and realized we simply had a lot of guests. Looks like it was a good thing I¡¯d gotten so much meat. When we got close enough to home someone noticed us and I could see their face change from curious to hostile. The Susi glared and pulled out his sword. He snarled and yelled, ¡°Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with those savages?¡± ----------------------- AN: hope you guys liked the chapter, next chapter is going to delve a little into Susi culture, then I think I might do a side story from the human''s perspective. Side chapter is only a maybe though since it might not come together properly, but get ready for a rumble as there is a lot of racial hatred between the Susi and Humans. Ch. 15 Trust I came to a halt and said, ¡°I live here, and who are you to question me about anything? This is my home and I will do whatever I want here. As for the people behind me, I found them out on the plains, now if you will excuse me¡­¡± The grey furred Susi continued to glare at me but stepped aside. I continued on toward home but a crowd slowly started to gather around us eventually impeding our advance. Now I have been the center of attention before and dealing with crowds normally wasn¡¯t a difficult thing for me, but when the crowd happens to be primarily made up of pissed off wolf men even the bravest person can get a little intimidated. Of course while I was nervous, the humans positively reeked of fear. It was the exact wrong response as their fear made the crowd bold. Several of the Susi started advancing toward the humans and I was forced once again to intervene. I spoke out with all the volume and authority I could muster, ¡°What the hell do you people think you¡¯re doing? Get out of my way or get off my land! And you three had best back away from my prisoners or there will be hell to pay.¡± I got some confused looks from the crowd and one of the three closest to my prisoners spoke up, ¡°Prisoners? Why would you take these barbarians as prisoners? There isn¡¯t any point. When you see a barbarian you are supposed to kill it since they will kill you if you don¡¯t. Tying them up is a mistake that we will correct for you boy. Come on men, let¡¯s end this threat before it becomes a real problem.¡± The crowd rumbled in agreement and started advancing again, so I snarled, baring my fangs at the crowd and said, ¡°These are my prisoners, I spent a lot of time capturing them and even more time ensuring their survival if you try and ruin my efforts, I will bury you.¡± The Susi that spoke up earlier responded, ¡°Oh yeah? I¡¯d like to see you try whelp.¡± He bared his fangs at me and took another step. I stomped on the ground pushing out a large chunk of mana which I sent directly under him. He smirked as he took another step toward me, or at least he tried to take another step. He got his foot up but then the ground gave out beneath him. He fell close to seven feet and the look of surprise on his face while he did it was priceless. Of course a seven foot hole wasn¡¯t going to stop him from doing anything so I decompressed all of the earth I had compressed making the hole. The Susi ended up buried up to his snout. I could see the earth moving as he struggled to escape so I once again compressed the earth, only this time I compressed it around him, not enough to crush him, but enough to halt all of his movements. When I finished my demonstration everyone just stared at me, half of the onlookers had their mouths agape, which would normally be funny, but I was a bit too tense from all the adrenaline coursing through my veins to see the humor in the situation. I spoke up in as menacing a voice as I could, ¡°Now get out of my way so I can see my father.¡± I glared at the people in front of me and they quickly backed up, pressing into the crowd. Eventually a path opened up and I was able to make my way home. Of course the crowd, the magic and the raised voices had alerted my parents to my presence so they were able to meet me at the door. I smiled when I got close and said, ¡°Sorry for being late, we would have gotten back before you guys but a few unexpected things happened.¡± Mom and Dad reacted almost exactly how I expected them to, they just looked at me, then looked at the men I was towing behind me, then back at me. My dad arched an eyebrow and uttered a single word, ¡°Explain.¡± I related the story of the hunting trip that had taken a left turn and they were quiet the whole time. I could see Raha wanted to ask several questions throughout the story my dad silenced him before he could utter a single word. When I finished the tale and related to them the trials I had undergone getting through the crowd, I could see my father¡¯s eyes burn with anger for the first time. He looked down at Raha and his voice came out in a deep growl, ¡°Your men threatened my son¡­¡± Raha looked up at my dad and said, ¡°Out of the entire story that is the one thing you came away with, that my men after seeing northern barbarians and attempting to deal with them happened to threaten an unknown Susi leading said barbarians into their camp. Did nothing else stick out to you? Like the fact that your son claims to have killed three Lehmakin, or used advanced healing magic to save both barbarians or that the amount of mana he used in order to do those things would have required someone of another race as Susi simply don¡¯t have enough in the tank to accomplish half the things he just claimed? Aatto I think your son may have lied to you about some of the details of his story, and we still have no idea where these barbarians came from.¡± Dad looked down at Raha and said, ¡°My son would not lie to me, and he is more than capable of doing everything he just claimed. If you doubt him feel free to check the camp, one of your men is probably still buried up to his neck in the earth. In fact we should all go as I am going to have to beat senseless whoever threatened my son. No one threatens my family¡­ ever.¡± I looked at my mom and said, ¡°Can you watch over these guys while I go with Dad? I don¡¯t want them to come to any harm, after all I put a lot of work into fixing their various ailments. Oh yeah, and can you do something about all of this meat? I collected a lot from the Lehmakin.¡± She nodded and said, ¡°Okay son, but what should I do about the beast they are sitting on?¡± I took the metal bit out of the horse¡¯s mouth and said, ¡°If you give it some left over stalks from the whim harvest he should be content. As for the people, leave them on the beast until we get back, I don¡¯t want them running off or doing something stupid because they¡¯re scared.¡± I left my mom with those basic instructions, my bag filled with meat and then I started to jog in order to catch up with my father. He had murder in his eye and I was somewhat looking forward to him dealing with the cocky guard. The trip into camp took less than a minute at the furious pace my dad set, but by the time we arrived most of the crowd had dispersed. There were still a few people around the Susi I had buried. They were currently digging him out and their progress was pretty good, he was free up to his waist. I took a second to look around the camp while there wasn¡¯t an angry crowd surrounding me and it looked fairly well ordered, the tents were set up in orderly rows, although the sizes varied greatly. They were made of a canvas like material that had been dyed black and were currently propped up by metal rods. There were a couple of fire pits set up, though only one of them currently had a fire going. As for the people, a lot of them were on the borders of the camp, they hadn¡¯t quite left yet, but a lot of them looked ready to bolt. When we got to within ten feet of the buried Susi his friends bolted and the half stuck bully started to desperately claw at the ground, trying to escape. I could see how dilated his pupils were, I could smell the fear on him and it made me sick. He wasn¡¯t afraid of my father, he wasn¡¯t afraid of Raha, he was afraid of me. It was my presence that had him desperately trying to escape. What in the world had I done to him that had him so frightened, I mean sure magic wasn¡¯t exactly common among my people but I¡¯d only created a pitfall¡­ My father addressed the trapped Susi, ¡°You threatened my son, on my land, tell me why I shouldn¡¯t kill you right now?¡± The desperate Susi responded, ¡°I just did what anyone else would when confronted with the enemies of our people, I wouldn¡¯t have seriously hurt the kid¡­ I get paid to keep everyone safe, letting those barbarians into camp would have been in direct opposition of my duties. If I had known your son was such a strong magic user I would have let it slide, but how was I to know? He isn¡¯t even fully matured yet¡­¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The Susi started kept trying to work his way out of the ground, even as he spoke with my father he kept trying to free himself. He didn¡¯t even focus on my father, instead his eyes were on me throughout the entire conversation, fear evident in his expression. I quickly tired of his desperate wriggling so I walked right up to him and said, ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m not going to hurt you and neither is my father.¡± I looked at my dad and waited for him to nod. I had to wait for a couple of minutes while he worked through his anger before I got it. ¡°But you need to understand that while you are on our land you will act as a proper guest, meaning you will not start any trouble while you are here and you will not harass anyone we choose to allow onto our land. If you can accept those terms I¡¯ll get you out of there.¡± The Susi nodded his head quickly and I reached down under his armpits then stomped on the ground. I released some more mana with the stomp, pushing the earth away from the trapped Susi, then hoisted him clear of the hole. I set him down on some solid earth and said, ¡°Now as a guest it is only polite to introduce yourself to your hosts. My name is Swift Aattoson, the giant standing behind me is my Father Aatto Perinneson and you obviously already know Raha¡­¡± The Susi seemed to calm down a little now that he was no longer trapped in the ground. He brushed off some of the dirt that now caked his entire body which had turned his grey pelt into a brown one taking a little time to steady his nerves no doubt. Then after he seemed to get control of himself he addressed my father, ¡°I¡¯m Muuntaa Taisteluson of the Soturi clan. I apologize for my previous actions, had I known your son was a skilled mage I would not have acted so precipitously. I was informed we were going to the farm of one of the clanless, I didn¡¯t expect anyone skilled in magic or martial arts, so I took charge as is my duty as head guard. But while I acted hastily, I still am obliged to find out what you plan on doing with the barbarians.¡± My father responded, ¡°I have yet to decide, my son just dropped the problem off on my doorstep, literally. I have yet to decide what shall be done with them, especially since my son has yet to explain his own plan for them.¡± I hadn¡¯t really thought about it much beyond simply aiding the first humans I¡¯d seen in a decade, but that response wasn¡¯t really going to fly in the face of so much obvious opposition so I made something up. ¡°Well, when I first found them they were alone, their party had been wiped out by a herd of Lehmakin, at the time I did not realize they were from the north, so I acted as anyone would and intervened. When I saw they were injured I once again did my best to help them. It wasn¡¯t until I brought them to my friend Gurt that I realized they were Northern barbarians, although thinking back on it I should have realized it immediately. Anyway, now that I have put so much time and effort into keeping them alive and bringing them home I think it would be a waste to simply kill them, so I think the best solution would be to have them pay off their debt to me by helping out around the farm. Yes, now that I say it aloud it makes perfect sense, we needed more workers in order to expand and I think these two will do nicely.¡± I laid out my hastily made plan as if it were a bout of sudden inspiration, hopefully my dad would go for it. He seemed to ponder the possibility for a few seconds before speaking up, ¡°Son, that doesn¡¯t really sound very feasible, those two are dangerous, if given half a chance they will try to kill us, and I don¡¯t want to put Auttaa at risk¡­¡± I responded, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that, but if Auttaa stays in my room, we could lock them in his room at night, which should keep him safe, and during the day I¡¯ll watch them to make sure they don¡¯t cause us any trouble. Besides, without any weapons they shouldn¡¯t be able to do much harm, I don¡¯t think either can use magic as I saw no signs of it with the Lehmakin, and they are only physically as strong as a Vuohian¡­¡± My dad thought for a little while longer and was about to say something when Raha interjected, ¡°Aatto, you can¡¯t seriously be considering this? The Barbarians are known for being vicious when cornered, they are deceptive and dishonorable. If you keep them alive they will slit your throats in the night and then make their escape. They are an unacceptable danger to you and your family. You have to kill them.¡± My dad looked down at his friend and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know Raha, my son paints a reasonable picture, I could use the extra hands, and it seems like he is set on this course, besides killing the unarmed and injured doesn¡¯t sit right with me. So Swift, if you really think you can manage the danger, I will let you keep the two barbarians, but if they step out of line even once, I will put them down. Is that understood?¡± I nodded, ¡°Sure thing Dad, just give me a week or two to work on them before you step in, after all, I doubt they will be perfect immediately. But I promise that if they present a danger to anyone, I will kill them myself.¡± Muuntaa objected immediately, ¡°Sir you can¡¯t honestly expect you son to be capable of doing something that our people have failed to do for centuries? Barbarians cannot be around our people without becoming violent, every time it has been tried they always try to kill us in our sleep. Every Single Time. Even when there is relative stability on the border they still send in people to infiltrate our lands and kill us. They have wiped out countless peaceful farming communities and raided our towns and cities. They are monsters, untrustworthy and untamable, put them down now, before you end up regretting it.¡± My father answered him immediately, ¡°My son is capable of doing anything, if he thinks he can civilize the barbarians then I will believe him. My son has yet to fail at anything he has put his mind to. I will choose to believe in his ability and intelligence over the collected wisdom of our society any day of the week. If you have a problem with that then feel free to leave my lands.¡± Muuntaa shook his head then addressed Raha, ¡°Sir, I cannot guarantee the safety of your work crew with two savages about, I suggest you find somewhere else to build your new villa.¡± Raha simply shook his head then addressed my father again, ¡°Are you sure about this Aatto? You are placing a lot of faith in a boy not yet ten years old. It seems like a foolish thing to do¡­¡± Dad just looked at Raha and said, ¡°I trust my son, he wouldn¡¯t do anything to seriously endanger his family. Besides, the last time I trusted him, I got a cool new fish farm, and my crops will be watered so much faster next year. I am willing to bet he does something equally great with the barbarians.¡± I smiled and said, ¡°Thanks Dad, I¡¯ll do my best. Now I better get back to the house, I don¡¯t want to leave mom alone with the prisoners for too long, she might kill them for being intractable.¡± ----------------------------------------------- AN- So I had this really cool duel scene all planned out in my head, but I ended up realizing I couldn''t use it and have the character be true to who they were. I also planned on revealing an important detail about Swift''s family, but I realized the revelation would take the story to a place it wasn''t ready to go to yet, so I guess the important thing to take away from all of that is that you can''t really trust these Author''s notes since even I can''t seem to predict what will actually happen in the chapters to come. Next chapter is the first POV switch of the novel... probably... Ch. 16 Captured My name is Julius Uerius and this quest has not gone well. Originally I was supposed to return with the heads of twenty beastmen in order to assume my rightful place at my father¡¯s side. It should have been simple, I was allowed to bring my guards with me; men who were more than capable of taking down a pack of Lupusi yet now all I had with me was Rufus. It all went wrong the moment I got sick. We were already deep into the wolves¡¯ territory having come from the east by sea instead of the west by the mountains. My people normally didn¡¯t come by this route, claiming that there were deadly beasts living on the plains, but I had dismissed the stories. I made a mistake. We¡¯d gone hundreds of miles inland along the plain before we ran into our first problem. Water was scarce amongst the tall grass, especially at the height of summer in the center of the plains. We would run across the occasional oasis, but they were rife with animals, not all of them friendly. I was scratched at one such oasis by some kind of fish while I refilled my canteen. The resulting fever left me weak. As my men and I searched for another oasis to camp near we were set upon by some sort of giant cattle. These beasts were huge, easily twice the size of our mounts with horns and tusks and a hunger for flesh, their initial charge killed far too many of my men. Our lances were able to hold them off and my ice magic was able to kill two before the mana drain knocked me out, but I knew as I slipped unconscious that I wouldn¡¯t be waking up. It was to my great surprise that not only did I eventually wake up, but to a stone roof no less. I tried to get up, feeling better than I had in days, only to discover my hands were bound as were my feet. I took a second to take stock of my surroundings, the stone roof above my head was slanted and low to the ground, reaching a maximum height of only 6 feet, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stand anywhere except in the center line of the building. The ground was bare and my only companion who was similarly trussed up was Rufus Ira, the head of my personal guard detachment. I addressed him as soon as I could properly marshal my thoughts, ¡°Centurion report!¡± Rufus responded, ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, but we have been captured by a Lupusi. After you lost consciousness, you fell from your horse, I was able to get you on to my mount before you were trampled, but most of the men fell in your defense. We made a break for it, but the damned monsters picked us off, we didn¡¯t make it very far. The last of your guards tried to buy us some time to get away, but they only bought us a few seconds. We were quickly surrounded by the last three monsters and frankly I doubt we would have survived. I prepared to sell my life dearly when suddenly our captor attacked the beasts. It appeared and then suddenly the monsters just kept falling into pits. After it took care of the monsters I tried to take it out so as to preserve the secrecy of our mission. I failed sir. I expected death once again, but then it did the strangest thing, after it disarmed us, it healed you sir, then it healed me. The method it used was strange as well, obviously some form of beast magic, clearly inferior to our own, but it seems to have worked well enough. My shoulder was shattered yet now I can move it about with only a little bit of pain. As to where we are currently, I don¡¯t know. We are obviously still on the plain, but beyond that, I couldn¡¯t say.¡± I thought about all that Rufus told me and I was left with a very unpalatable decision to make. We could either attempt to escape from our captor right now, and somehow try to make it hundreds of mile across a waterless plain without our gear or mounts, or we could remain captive and leave our fates in the hands of some Lupusi who could clearly use magic. My first instinct was to try and free myself, then run, but the more I thought about it the more impossible the option seemed to be. We simply wouldn¡¯t make it, without our weapons and armor we would wind up food for the first predator we ran into. We needed to somehow either get our gear back and some mounts or submit to captivity. I laid out our options as I saw them to Rufus and asked for input his response was less than helpful. ¡°Sir, I¡¯ll do as you command, but yeah I don¡¯t see a lot of other options. Without my sword or at least a knife I¡¯m no match for one of them Lupusi. If we could get free I might be able to get us across the plains without you dying, but that¡¯s only if we managed to avoid all the predators. I don¡¯t think we would be able to manage that, since the only thing keeping them away on our way here was our numbers and size. Without those two advantages I¡¯d say nine times out of ten we end up dead somewhere along this gods forsaken plain.¡± So it looked like captivity was our only shot at survival. Not good. One thing was certain though, my identity needed to remain a secret. If they knew who I was then the best treatment I could expect would be a slow death. After all, Father would never negotiate for the life of a failure. Despite being the first born son, I had younger brothers who would easily fill the void I left. No, my only shot would be to remain anonymous. If they took us as slaves we might eventually be able to steal some equipment and escape. I could still complete my quest if I was patient. ¡°Centurion, for the time being we must submit to captivity, so from now on you shall be Rufus of Bellum and I shall be Julius of Bellum. Do not defer to me in public, I shall be your son and we shall do as our captors say until an opportunity for successfully escaping them presents itself. Until such a time, try to avoid drawing any attention to my unique status. Is that understood?¡± Rufus responded, ¡°Yes sir, I¡¯ll do my best.¡± It was only after our conversation ended that I noticed the shadow of a figure looming over the entrance to the slanted structure in which we currently resided. I was startled at the sudden appearance of such a large and brutish lupusi showing up right in front of us. I think the fear I was feeling showed because the beast halted its¡¯ advance and crouched down at the entrance of the structure. It started growling and howling at us, I think in an attempt to communicate, but neither I nor Rufus understood a word it said, then it seemed to switch languages. The words had far too many consonants to be real, but at least it almost sounded like a language. When we still showed no response it switched its¡¯ method of communication once again. This time the words actually sounded like something a human might say, they were all gibberish but at the very least they sounded somewhat human. The Lupusi seemed to try another few languages, but those quickly ended, my guess was that he wasn¡¯t fluent in whatever they were. Only one of them sounded vaguely familiar, almost like a degraded version of my own language, ¡°Buenos dias, Me llamo Nopea Aattoson, C¨®mo te llamas?¡± I decided to ignore his attempts for now as being able to communicate with him would likely not help in our escape just yet. Rufus seemed to come to the same conclusion or at the very least decided to follow my lead. We both stayed silent, so the beast shrugged its shoulders then dragged us out of what I now see was some kind of stone tent. He then untied my legs then hoisted me up onto the back of Rufus¡¯ mount. Apparently the horse had survived and was now being used to carry meat for the Lupusi. Which I guess could be considered good news since it meant it was unlikely I would wind up on the menu. Then the Lupusi retied my legs so that I could not escape, nor fall off of the horse. He did the same to Rufus and then he started leading us away from the only stone structure I could see for miles. Where ever we were going it was unlikely to be close. I spent most of the journey observing our three captors, one was a white Lupusi, very small, probably the big one¡¯s child. There was also a Hircum, potentially the mate of the big Lupusi as it kept whining at the big one. How the two mated I have no idea, but who could say when it comes to monsters. They kept walking, in relative silence, every now and then their child would whine and the big wolf whom I was beginning to think was called Nopea would pick it up. Based on the repetition of certain sounds the three uttered I believe the Hircum was called Gurt and the white was called Auttaa. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Regardless of their names, the little one slowed everything down to a slow walking pace. So far being a captive wasn¡¯t so bad, the ride was smooth, but they never once stopped to take a break which was unfortunate since I had to piss. I did my best to hold it in, as we would surely stop before night fell, so I did my best to endure the discomfort. When we finally came upon the Lupusi¡¯s camp, things did not go well. At first a sentry growled at our captor, our captor growled back and the sentry eventually stepped out of the way. Then a mob began to gather, wolves and goats gathered around us with only the will of a single Lupusi to keep us from them. Frankly I couldn¡¯t even be sure that our captor wanted to keep us from them, after all, we might simply be the main course, he might have just healed us to keep our meat from spoiling. My worries and concerns mounted, and I could feel myself sweat from sheer nervous energy. Several of the wolves advanced on us and our captor growled a warning at them. Then the biggest of the trio growled back and began advancing. I was sure we were done for when I felt the telltale tingle of magic being used. Then the biggest Lupusi fell into a hole and was buried so that only his nose and mouth remained above ground. Apparently our captor was very skilled with magic as his spell took next to no time at all. I felt myself shiver with anxiety, and then with a glare and a growl he cleared a path through the mob. He led us up to a small farm house, it was hard to tell in the fading light, but it seemed to be well constructed, made up of mud bricks and wooden shingles. There were two large Lupusi backlit by the door to the house. The larger one had to be at least seven feet tall, he was broad, muscular, and heavily scarred. He was clearly a veteran of many fights and his glare was nothing if not intimidating. There was also a smaller white Lupusi standing next to him and from her smaller stature and the way she leaned on the big one I could only assume she was his mate. Our captor seemed to report all that had happened while he was out, his smaller companions allowing him to do the talking, though the littlest one ran up to the white wolf and was quickly snatched up. I think I may have been a little hasty assuming that my captor was the little white¡¯s father, based on the way the female was holding him I¡¯d now say he was more like a big brother or uncle. In either case once our captor was done speaking the dominant male barked out a short response. What he meant I have no idea, but that¡¯s when I finally noticed there was a third figure waiting for us. The third figure was another one of the Hircum, though he was dressed flamboyantly. Where the Lupusi I had seen were almost uniformly wearing leather vests and pants, this Hircum was in light and bright silks. He spoke at length to the dominant male who seemed to basically ignore him. The big male responded to the little Hircum, but the whole time he seemed to radiate anger, as if he was barely restraining himself from instant violence. He strode off into the night followed by the Hircum and our captor, while we were left with the two whites and our original Hircum. She disappeared for a couple of minutes then reappeared with some hay. She dropped an armful in front of our horse who immediately started eating. Meanwhile we were left just sitting on the horse, staring at the roof. Eventually she and the little Hircum started unloading the primitive travois of its¡¯ skins an meat, bringing them into the house. We were relatively unsupervised and it would have been the perfect time to escape, you know if there wasn¡¯t a camp full of hostile wolves less than four hundred feet away. So we sat and waited until eventually the trio that left us returned. They helped to bring the meat indoors before our original captor let us down. He untied our legs and then brought us inside. He took us to a small room with a small stone depression in the floor that also had a hole. He then proceeded to piss and shit into the depression, which was awfully embarrassing to watch, but then he did something amazing. He lifted a lever and water washed the waste away, down the hole at the bottom of the depression. I was shocked, I mean I knew some powerful mages had places to do their business indoors, but those all required magic to operate. I hadn¡¯t felt any magic, which meant that however he had managed it, it was mechanical in nature. He then walked to a raised stone counter, turned another lever and proceeded to rinse his hands with the water that came out of some sort of spout. I¡¯d never seen anything like it, he then motioned for us to do the same, so under his uncomfortably watchful eye, we took care of our business. Then he made us wash our hands in the water coming from the spout. An odd ritual, but if that¡¯s what it took to piss indoors without the aid of a servant I¡¯d gladly repeat it. Then we were brought into what was obviously the kitchen and fed some meat, probably from the giant bulls of the plains. After eating our captor brought us into a small room obviously designed for a child, motioned for us to stay put, then shut the door. My guess was that these would be our quarter, at least for now. I wonder where they¡¯d put the horse¡­ I took the opportunity to talk once again with Rufus, ¡°So, we are now captives on a farm with what looks like a small army of Lupusi camped outside it. Not exactly an ideal situation, but at least our captor seems strong enough to keep us safe. I¡¯ve frankly never seen such effortless and quick magic. Can all beast do that, or is he special?¡± I asked. Rufus answered, ¡°Honestly I¡¯m not sure. On the battlefield they certainly don¡¯t, in fact they rarely use magic, although the Hircum certainly use some powerful spells. If I had to bet I¡¯d say that our captor, who I think is called Nopea is something special. We should do our best to stay close to him for now, everyone else looks pretty hostile.¡± I agreed with his sentiment, everyone besides Nopea and the little white wolf seemed to be glaring daggers in our direction whenever we showed our faces. Best to stick with the one person that not only could keep us safe, but didn¡¯t seem to actively hate us. With that decision behind us we both went to sleep, the floor was hard and the lack of blankets made it cold, but both of us were tired enough not to care too much. Sleep came quickly. ----------------------------------- AN- Well, this is my first switch to a different POV, I wanted to give everyone a little bit of background on the character and give some insight into why the two prisoners will be acting the way the do in the following chapters. I''m going to keep writing some more today, but I wouldn''t expect another chapter out for at least a couple of days. But then again who knows, I am terrible at predicting how long I will continue to be inspired. Also, feel free to leave a review, I am done with the setup for the story, all of the key characters in this first arc besides the love interest have been introduced, or at least mentioned. Let me know what you think. Thanks. [th_113_.gif] Ch. 17 Revelations I didn¡¯t get a lot of sleep last night as I spent most of the night either delivering meat to the camp, Raha purchased a bunch of it from me, or preserving some for later. I didn¡¯t get the chance to find out much about the large group of people camped out near our house, beyond the fact that they were primarily construction workers and in the employ of Raha. Apparently he was building a villa near our place so that he could visit whenever he wanted and stay in style. I didn¡¯t have much time for my new prisoners beyond letting them use the bathroom and getting them feed with some hastily prepared Lehmakin steaks. By the time I finished taking care of business I was exhausted. I carefully crawled into bed which my little brother was currently sharing with me. Tomorrow I¡¯d need to work out a different arrangement, but tonight I was too tired to care. When I woke up the next morning, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and everything was perfect¡­ just kidding. I woke up to the sound of chopping, it was still relatively dark in my room as only the dim light of false dawn penetrated the shutters on my window. I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but I knew I needed to get up and get to work. I quietly got out of bed, leaving my little brother to his fitful sleep and made my way to the prisoner¡¯s room. I figure if I am going to be tired they should be too. I woke them from their sleep on the floor and indicated that they should follow me. I took them to the bathroom, allowing them to do their business then we made our way to the kitchen. I took out the ingredients to make an omelet, along with all of the cooking implements required then presented them to my prisoners. Both just stared seeming to not understand what I wanted from them. I cracked an egg into the bowl I prepared then handed the other egg to the boy. Understanding seemed to dawn on him as he walked to my side of the counter and cracked the egg on the bowl just as I had done. Well I say just as I had done, but he was a little off. His first couple of attempts at cracking open the egg were too feeble, resulting in nothing happening to the egg. Unfortunately he seemed to get frustrated and instead of gradually increasing the power of his attempts he went with full force. The egg didn¡¯t just crack, it shattered, resulting in half the egg on the counter and half the shell in the bowl. It became obvious to me at that point that the boy had never done any cooking. I presented him with a rag and had him clean up his mess. Meanwhile I focused on using a bit of eggshell to fish out the shattered remains of the egg from the mixing bowl. Once my task was finished I handed the boy another egg. This time I held on to his hand and showed him how much pressure was necessary to crack an egg. Then I showed him how to add it without getting egg everywhere. Once the eggs were in the bowl I started cutting up some meat into small cubes. I sent the boy back around the counter and indicated that the old man should come and help. He walked around the counter and I presented him with the knife I¡¯d been using to cut the meat, indicating that he should finish what I had started. He took the knife and started cutting into the meat, not like a chef would, or like a hunter, but instead he cut like someone used to knife fights would. Now you are probably asking yourself how I could tell the difference and the answer is simple, it¡¯s in the grip and the stroke, a chef will hold a blade by the handle sometimes, but just as often they will hold a knife by the blade, their goal is quick efficient strokes. A hunter will typically cut with quick strokes designed to get through the entirety of the meat in one cut. His grip on the knife will be solid, with no give in the grip so that it can¡¯t slip out of his hand. A knifeman on the other hand has a much more delicate grip. They aim for soft spots and if they hit bone they don¡¯t try to drive through, instead they pull back. I might not be conveying it properly, but each profession uses a knife differently and it shows in their grip. By the way the old man was holding the knife I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to learn that he had killed a number of people with a blade. The other part of the test was to determine whether or not the old man was stupid. I went back to work whisking the eggs together all the while the old man was chopping up meat into rather neat little cubes. Say what you will about how the man held a knife, he certainly knew his was around one. When enough meat had been cut up I stopped him and handed him some vegetables to slice, then I put the meat on a frying pan and started cooking. All the while I pretended to ignore the potential hostile with a knife at my back. He worked his way through the vegetables and then I took the knife back from him. After cooking the meat I lightly seared the vegetables before making some omelets for everyone. By the time I was done cooking the whole family was up and eating. While Dad and everyone else dug in to the food I¡¯d prepared I questioned them about what had been going on in my absence. ¡°So, why in the world is Raha here with a giant group of people, I heard something about him building a villa, but beyond that I¡¯m confused¡­¡± Mom smiled and said, ¡°Well you know your father and Raha have been friends since they were children and despite our banishment, Raha stood by us, he even bought the land that we built our farm on. What we didn¡¯t know is that he recently bought the land surrounding our farm. Apparently he thought for years that we would eventually give up and move into town to be around him more. Since we haven¡¯t done that yet, nor do we plan to, he caved and decided to build a place near us so that visiting will be easier.¡± I looked at my mom, then my dad, and said, ¡°You¡¯re telling me that Raha is building a home out here just so he can hang out with you guys more often? That¡¯s insane, why doesn¡¯t he just stay here with us? Why go to the expense of building a house out here?¡± Dad shook his head and said, ¡°Because the little fool has more money than he knows what to do with and he said if he was going to be out in the boonies he would make sure to have all of the amenities he was used to. I¡¯d say he was being a snob, but frankly that¡¯s just how Raha thinks, money doesn¡¯t really matter to him, he will pay any price to have things exactly how he wants them.¡± I gave my parents a puzzled look and said, ¡°If Raha is so bad with money, how did he become the head of a merchant house?¡± Dad laughed, ¡°You know he is heir to the Onni clan right?¡± I replied, ¡°Well sure dad, but what does that have to do with anything?¡± Mom and Dad both smiled while looking at me with pity then Dad said, ¡°I guess this is our fault since we haven¡¯t really explained to you the politics of our land¡­ The Onni clan is the leading clan of the Vuohians, they have a seat on the council of races and are the wealthiest single family in our entire country. If Raha wanted to he could buy a dozen trading companies and still have enough money left over to build a villa out of pure gold.¡± I looked at them and I was stunned, ¡°Why in the world would such an important person be friends with the two of you? I mean no offense, but he has so much money, and you two are just farmers, living on the land that he apparently bought for you¡­¡± My dad sighed and said, ¡°I think it¡¯s about time you found out a little about our family history. Frankly I¡¯m surprised we were able to keep this from you for so long, but with all the Susi around it is bound to come out eventually and we would rather it come from us. Your mother was a maid for the Jalo clan, her father was the head chef and her mother was a doctor we had on retainer. She ended up working in the main house with her dad. She had a simple life until of course she met me. She was one of the few people I could interact with where I didn¡¯t have to worry about unintentionally offending them or making the clan look bad because I misspoke. She was one of the few people and the only woman I ever really felt comfortable around. This desire to be around her naturally blossomed into something more as I got older. It was awkward at first, but eventually I realized that I never wanted to be without her. Unfortunately a match between myself and a maid wasn¡¯t something my family would find acceptable, a mistress maybe, but for a wife, never. I might have been able to eventually wear people down but we were discovered too soon. The other issue of course was the color of her fur, it is such a beautiful and pure white, but far too many people would find it unacceptable for me to marry a white Susi.¡± I interjected because I was confused, ¡°What do you mean the color of her fur made her unacceptable?¡± This time Mom spoke, ¡°Among the Susi many look down upon those with pure white fur, they call us Saastuti meaning Sun Cursed. There is an old legend that Father Sun stripped a fallen hero of his color as a mark of his displeasure. Nowadays many of our people believe that the Sun Cursed should never marry, that we should never have children. We are typically looked down upon and discriminated against. When your father proposed to me he knew that he was risking everything to be with me. Frankly I almost said no, and should have said no, but I was selfish, I wanted to be happy so I agreed to the marriage and Aatto had to fight to remain the heir of the clan.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I interjected once again, ¡°Wait¡­ heir to the clan?¡± Dad chimed in again, ¡°Yes son, heir to the clan, my name and title before my banishment was Aatto Jalo, heir to the Jalo clan, my father Perinne was the clan head and held a seat on the council of races. We were the most important and powerful Susi clan in the country. I was supposed to take over for my Dad when he eventually stepped down. But I fell in love and love made me reckless and hasty. My brothers found out about Nolatta and I and they acted before I could gather enough support to keep my position. I could go in to the political maneuverings that led to my banishment, but it basically came down to my younger brothers playing on the bigotry of old men. When it was announced that we were not welcome in Jalo lands, Raha stood up for me and welcomed us into Onni territory. He found a place for us and gave us the money to start our farm, and well¡­ you know the rest of the story.¡± I stared at my parents, mouth agape and tried to process everything¡­ it took a while. ¡°So, just to make sure I have everything straight, Dad was the heir to a powerful clan before you two were banished. And Raha stood up to the Jalo clan and offered you a safe haven?¡± My mother nodded, ¡°Yes that is basically correct.¡± I raised an eyebrow, ¡°So does all of that mean that I am also banished from Jalo lands, or am I able to go there?¡± It was apparently my dad¡¯s turn to respond because he chimed in, ¡°Actually you are technically still a member of the clan, our people do not punish the children of those who transgress against custom and culture. While your mother and I are clanless you and your brother are potential heirs to the Jalo clan. Of course you cannot claim such until you have been presented to the council and been recognized by them. But you are more than welcome to travel to and through Jalo lands.¡± ¡°Oh, okay, cool. Is there any way that I could get the banishment lifted from the two of you?¡± I asked. Dad sighed, ¡°It says good things about you that you would try to get our banishment lifted, but it is impossible. We were banished by the council with the approval of the clan head, only they are capable of lifting the banishment, and they never would. They will however recognize you as an heir of the clan should you wish to present yourself as such. Not everyone on the council wished me banished and there are enough member who remember me fondly that you should have no problem claiming the title of an heir.¡± I looked directly into my father¡¯s eyes and said, ¡°You say I would have no problem receiving recognition, but what of Auttaa? He is white just like Mom, what sort of reception could he expect to receive?¡± Dad winced and I had the answer to my question, I spoke up again before he could say anything else, ¡°I suspected as much. The council couldn¡¯t accept my mother and wouldn¡¯t accept my brother, why would I ever bother to allow them to have any power over me? They sound like a bunch of bigots.¡± Dad sighed, ¡°You are right that the council isn¡¯t very accepting of differences, but the council has helped to guide our Jalo to great heights, they may have had a problem with your mother, but in general they are wise leaders who have done their best to keep our clan strong.¡± I looked Dad in the eyes, taking note of how they just begged me not to dismiss the council and asked, ¡°Dad, you keep saying our clan, but they kicked you out, why do you still have so much loyalty to a group that did their best to ruin you?¡± He smiled wryly, ¡°Because I was born as the heir to the Jalo clan, I was raised to consider its¡¯ interests as more important than my own. I deserved to be banished, not because I married your mother, but because I put my love of her ahead of the interests of the clan. In many ways I failed them and they were right to replace me. While I am not sure if I want you to pick up the mantle of heir to the clan, I also do not want you to dismiss the possibility. You are my son and it is your birthright.¡± I nodded my head, acknowledging the statement and his sentiment, then I looked at Mom. She sat next to Dad, holding his hand in silent support, but I could see in her eyes that while she was supporting my father there was something she was holding back. So I asked her, ¡°Okay, so Dad has mixed feelings about me claiming this birthright, what about you Mom? You look like you have something to say¡­¡± She exchanged a glance with Dad, and a lot of meaning seemed to be conveyed to him with that look. He nodded as if to acquiesce to whatever the look meant then she said, ¡°Well my son, personally I want you to take up the mantle of heir, not only because it would give you the resources to accomplish all of your goals, but also for a more personal reason. The council didn¡¯t want me to be your father¡¯s mate because they looked down upon me, they felt I couldn¡¯t give him strong children, they thought there was something wrong with me. Frankly I want you to go and prove them wrong. You are the strongest mage our people have ever seen outside of legends, and while you can¡¯t stack up to the upper echelons of the Vuohians, or the slower growing races your physical power more than makes up for that. In my eyes you are proof that what your father and I did was the right thing, and as heir you would be a constant reminder to the council that they made a mistake.¡± I gave my mom a horrified look, ¡°Oh my god Mom, that is the most selfish thing I have ever heard, you aren¡¯t concerned about the welfare of the clan, you don¡¯t care about the potential danger I could face, you just want to show the council that they were acting like a bunch of bigoted assholes¡­ I love it.¡± I gave her my biggest grin. She shook her head and said, ¡°Of course I am worried about how people will react to you, but Swift your father and I have known for a long time that your aren¡¯t an ordinary cub, you are special. Frankly you¡¯re too smart for your own good. If you had been an ordinary child we wouldn¡¯t encourage you to do this as it would be too dangerous. But you aren¡¯t an ordinary child and living on this farm for the rest of your life would only make you unhappy. That¡¯s why your father and I agreed to you building the fish farm, we both know you would eventually want to leave and so having money of your own would make that a lot easier. I know there will be dangers in the capitol but I think you will be more than capable of taking them on, when you are ready of course.¡± I scrunched up my face, puzzled by exactly what she meant when Dad chimed in, ¡°You look confused Son, simply put, we don¡¯t expect you to leave and claim your birthright right away. And if you don¡¯t want to ever claim it, that would be fine with me, but we both know that eventually you will want something more than this farm can offer you. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve done our best to prepare you for the life you will eventually lead. Of course we have obviously been remiss in explaining the politics of our country so that¡¯s something we will start on in the near future. At the same time I don¡¯t expect you to leave for a couple more years so we have time to fill any gaps in your education.¡± I looked at my two parents, surprised at just how much the two of them had hid from me. I mean sure, I knew they were more than simple farmers, but heir to a clan and political refugees¡­ ¡°Uhm¡­ can I have some time to process all of this, I think I need to reevaluate some of the plans I had for my life. I also need to get started on training these two regardless of what I eventually decide. I think I¡¯ll take these tow and go scare some more fish into the fish farm, although first I think I¡¯ll do my morning training and force them to tag along. It would be a good idea to figure out what their limits are, and how far I can push them.¡± Dad nodded, ¡°Sure Son, take as much time as you need, we aren¡¯t in any rush, we just didn¡¯t want you to get blindsided by this information. If you want to talk some more, we will be with Raha, discussing exactly what he plans on building and where. Also, with all of these people here to help with the construction there is a good opportunity to make some money, so you might want to think about what you can offer them while you are training with the two barbarians.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Okay Dad, I¡¯ll mull it over along with a few other things.¡± Then I pointed at the two humans and indicated that they should follow me. -------------- AN: Sorry this took so long to get out, I got stuck on the whole revealing his parent''s past thing... I rewrote it a couple of times but I''m still not exactly happy with it, so if you guys have any suggestions on how I can improve it, let me know. I''d especially like to know what isn''t working about it. If I get some good suggestions I will probably rewrite it. Having said that, I''d also like to know who suspected the link to the Jalo clan, I tried to leave hints throughout the story so let me know if this seems to come out of left field or if it explains a lot. Hope you guys are having fun with the story and hopefully the next chapter comes out a little faster since there aren''t any big reveals I need to worry about doing justice to. Ch. 18 Captivity The Lupusi Nopea brought us outside after feeding us a surprisingly good breakfast. Of course I had a hand in making said breakfast so naturally it turned out well. I mean sure I had trouble breaking open the eggs initially but that¡¯s just because we don¡¯t have eggs that big where I¡¯m from, and besides I¡¯ve never cooked before in my life, I¡¯m just naturally talented at everything I try. Once outside he had he sat down and started to meditate, which left Rufus and I with nothing to do, so we both ended up sitting down leaning up against the house. After maybe ten minutes of meditation he had Rufus come over and began to heal the remaining injuries Rufus had sustained protecting me. Then he had me come over and after physically examining the scarred over cut on my hand he began sending his mana through my body. It honestly felt amazing, it was cool and refreshing, almost like having cool water injected directly into your veins on a hot summer day. Then he had us both get up and got us to start stretching, an activity I naturally disdained but when you are a captive it¡¯s wise to comply with simple requests, so Rufus and I stretched. Then he made us start to run, and when I say run I mean run, not jog, or trot, or sprint, but run. We had to go at the kind of pace you are supposed to be able to keep up for miles, but most people can only handle for a couple of minutes before they start to get tired. I am not most people, I lasted a solid 8 minutes before the pace started to get to me. After 12 minutes I stopped noticing my surroundings. At twenty minutes of running at the blistering pace he set I started dry heaving which seemed to make the beast slow down. He slowed to a walking pace and looked back at Rufus and I. It was like he was checking to see how much I had left to give and comparing it to Rufus. He snorted then before I could finish regaining my breath, but after I stopped almost throwing up, he picked me up and slung me onto his back. Then he started running again, only this time it was even faster than before. Rufus kept up though I could see he was struggling. We quickly arrived at river and he proceeded north along the bank of the river. Now that my stomach had settled I could see that the countryside we were in was beautiful, the water in the river glistened and sparkled in the sunlight, it was so inviting and I was so thirsty. I tapped the Lupusi on the shoulder and when I had his attention I mimed getting a drink of water. He snorted again and said something that I almost understood. From the context I gathered it was either no or later, since he continued along to river, neither stopping nor slowing down. By my estimate of our speed and how long we had been running we¡¯d probably gone over 5 miles at this point, yet even after carrying me for the last mile and a half the Lupusi showed no signs of slowing down or needing a break. Rufus on the other had was sweating rivers, his cheeks were flushed and his breathing was heavy and labored. I think the only thing keeping him going at this point was pride. He just didn¡¯t want to admit that Nopea could run him into the ground so he kept pushing his limits. By the time we had hit what I think was six miles in under 35 minutes Rufus was gasping for air and was starting to fall behind. I tapped the Lupusi on the shoulder and pointed back at Rufus, who had fallen at least 100 feet behind. He grunted something and slowed to a stop. He set me down back on the ground and I almost collapsed. Apparently my legs had fallen asleep from being carried for so long. By the time Rufus caught up to us he was gasping for breath, my legs had regained feeling and I¡¯d had the chance to check out our surroundings. We were still next to the river, the opposite side of the bank was covered in trees and there was a lot of flatland to the east. We were currently on a rather crude road, it had deep ruts from all of the wagon traffic and was cleared of all vegetation. When Rufus arrived he pointed at the river, which I took to mean that we could get a drink. I helped Rufus down to the river and we slaked our thirst with the cool clean water. Heaven dripped down my throat as the soothing water filled my stomach. I wanted to drink until I burst, but Nopea stopped me before I could do more than drink a few mouthfuls. I glared up at the beast as he stopped me from drinking anymore, and I would have complained but Rufus spoke up before I could say anything. ¡°That one just saved you from a sore stomach. I doubt he is done with us and if you drink too much now, you will surely be throwing it back up the next time he forces us to move.¡± Rufus¡¯ statement brought me up short and I looked between the two of them. The Lupusi nodded as if agreeing with Rufus, and then once again indicated we should follow him only this time he growled out a single word in that strange language I could almost understand, ¡°Seguir.¡± Then he started jogging north again. Rufus having caught his breath began to follow at the reduced pace the Lupusi set and I started jogging as well. We moved at that lower speed for maybe ten minutes before we came upon a small farm. The inhabitants were out in the fields tilling the soil in preparation for the next planting season. It was a perfectly normal fall scene, except the tillers of the soil happened to be a group of giant Bovem. The biggest of which was at least eight feet tall with horns sprouting from his head that could have gored their way through both Rufus and I at the same time. The beast was massive and while his expression lit up upon seeing Nopea, it quickly darkened when he noticed Rufus and I. The Bovem started advancing toward us when Nopea got in his way, he said something in that guttural language that I couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of and the Bovem seemed to calm down slightly. He indicated that we should approach the giant and while I felt some trepidation I didn¡¯t let that stop me from approaching. When we got close enough Nopea seemed to introduce us he said what I imagine was the giant¡¯s name then pointed at me and looked expectant, so I spoke up, ¡°Lucius Uerius.¡± Then he pointed at Rufus who said, ¡°Rufus Ira.¡± The giants name by the way was something like ¡°Tukeva¡± and the others that were introduced we, ¡°Alistuva, Urhea, and Pelko¡± I did my best to remember the names, because frankly they didn¡¯t seem like the forgiving sort. For while the big one was no longer breathing fire, he didn¡¯t look fond of us at all. There was a mixture of disgust and rage in his features and I¡¯m certain that if Nopea wasn¡¯t there the giant Bovem would have likely crushed us to death. The younger looking couple didn¡¯t have quite the same hatred for Rufus and I, but they certainly looked at us distrustfully enough, with just a touch of fear in their features. What Rufus and I could do against those monsters unarmed and unarmored was a complete mystery to me, but they certainly seemed to think we meant them harm. Nopea spoke to the family some more and seemed to reach some sort of agreement with the group. Hopefully it was an agreement not to kill us on sight, but who could say. All I know for sure is that after the conversation ended he brought us over to the freshly tilled earth which cause me to sink a bit with each step, then he started to punch the air. Now normally a display like that would cause me to laugh, I mean what was this wolf trying to do, but the more he punched the more I could see how much power was going into those blows. Then he adding in some kicks and I was soon mesmerized by the performance. The Lupusi flowed from one attack right into the next, his attacks were smooth and powerful, with enough speed to make dodging a risky proposition. I knew after maybe five minutes of watching him work that I didn¡¯t want to fight this monster¡­ Of course soon after this thought crystalized in my head he called me over saying a word I once again almost understood, ¡°enfoque.¡± Ugh if only he had called for Rufus, things would have been much better but he called for me, his stare never leaving my face as I came close to him. He drew a line in the dirt in front of me, then stepped back a few feet and drew another line which he ended up standing behind. When the Bovem saw this they approached the two of us, stopping around fifteen feet away from us. The giant ended up dragging his foot along the ground, creating a circle around us, then he said, ¡°Slass¡± and Nopea moved. I couldn¡¯t tell you how exactly he moved, but I was flat on my back within a second of the announcement. I felt my head ringing and my vision was a little messed up due to all of the flashing sparkling lights clouding it up. Then Nopea placed his hand on my forehead, and I felt his mana flooding through me, repairing the damage he had just caused. In less than a minute my thoughts had cleared up and I was finally able to take note of the fact that Rufus was by my side, glaring at Nopea. When Nopea took a step away from me, Rufus helped me up and said, ¡°That Wolf is dangerous, he moved so fast that my eyes had trouble tracking him. One second he was behind his line and the next he was shoving your head into the ground. Are you okay sir, I know he healed you, but I can¡¯t tell how effective it was.¡± I looked up at my chief guardsmen and said, ¡°Well the headache is gone and I can think clearly again, so I think I¡¯m alright, but I hope he doesn¡¯t want me to do that again.¡± Rufus helped me out away from the center of the circle and Nopea called out, ¡°Rufus, enfoque¡± I watched as Rufus began to limber up his shoulders as he approached Nopea, which seemed to put a grin on Nopea¡¯s face. When Rufus got to the line the Bovem once again said, ¡°Slass¡± and I got to see the move Nopea used against me from a different angle. He was fast that was for sure, and he stretched out his paw reaching for Rufus¡¯ forehead before I could even blink. I thought that was going to be the end of the fight, but Rufus surprised me, he managed to duck out of the way of the attack and wound up slamming his fist into Nopea¡¯s gut. I started to cheer, but then I noticed that when Nopea jumped away he didn¡¯t look injured in the slightest, meanwhile Rufus looked like he had just punched a brick wall. Nopea began to circle Rufus, who was forced to constantly turn in tight little movements in order to keep him in his sights. Then he moved again at that same ridiculous speed, racing forward almost faster than I could track. He feinted to his left before quickly jumping to the right and striking out at Rufus¡¯ stomach. The blow connected, and I thought that would be the end of the fight, but Rufus stood firm and swung back at Nopea¡¯s face. His fist connected but it quickly became obvious that it was an ineffective blow as Nopea jumped back with the strike. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Once again Nopea was out of striking distance and Rufus was forced to make turn in a small circle to keep up with him. He jumped in once again, performing the exact same attack, only Rufus was ready for it this time. Instead of allowing Nopea to be the only one moving, Rufus jumped forward, closing the distance between the two faster than Nopea expected. Rufus once again struck out with his fist, connecting with Nopea¡¯s face. This time the blow was much more effective as it appeared to stagger the Lupusi. I cheered for Rufus, celebrating the strike, but when I looked over at the Bovem and their smiling faces I felt my heart sink a bit. They wouldn¡¯t be smiling if they were sure of the outcome. Nopea shook his head as if to clear it, then he started circling again. He jumped in once again and did a different variation on his previous move, instead of feinting once, he feinted twice, once to the right, once to the left, then he jumped forward straight at Rufus. The wily old veteran seemed to expect this move because instead of trying to cut off either of the feints he instead leaped backwards. Unfortunately his leap backward wasn¡¯t nearly as impressive as Nopea¡¯s charge forward. Nopea¡¯s fist met Rufus¡¯ guard before he even hit the ground. Rufus was blown back a couple of feet and tried to recover. Nopea didn¡¯t give him the time to do so. He quickly reached down, grabbed Rufus¡¯ ankle and jerked it up. Rufus fell to his back and looked like he wanted to stand up and continue the fight, but Nopea was on him before he could move. He reached down and grabbed Rufus¡¯ forehead just like he had mine earlier and a wave of healing energy rushed through the older veteran. Nopea then helped Rufus up and sent him out of the circle. He then called out, ¡°Urhea, enfoque¡± and the second largest of the Bovem stepped into the ring. The fight that followed was a marvel, it was a battle of speed and technique against pure strength and resiliency. Nopea was able to land significantly more strikes, and the sound of bone meeting flesh every time he made contact with a fist or foot was so loud it was almost deafening. Of course it might have been nice if it had deafened me, for while I was trying to enjoy watching the fight, Rufus was complaining and giving me a running commentary. ¡°The Wolf was toying with me the whole time, he pulled his punches and gave me easy predictable patterns to figure out. You had best take note of how he is moving Sir, for this is a warrior without a doubt. His movements and attack patterns are something only a capable fight could pull off. Look at how he has been targeting one side, relying only on his left fist for most of the attacks. The wolf is imprinting an image of attacks only coming from the left so that eventually when he attacks from the right it will be a show stopper.¡± I replied, ¡°So Nopea is setting the big one up for a fall?¡± ¡°Yeah he sure is, he knows that ordinary attacks won¡¯t bring down that giant, there is just too much muscle to hit anything truly vital, so he is forcing the Bovem to crouch a bit and protect his right side, it¡¯s slowly opening up his left for what I can only imagine will be his strongest hit.¡± Rufus was right, not two minute later, after a particularly vicious kick to Urhea¡¯s abs he quickly dodged the counter, leapted into the air, and brought his right fist down on the bovem¡¯s jaw. Urhea ended up dropping like a sack of Potus, thus ending the fight. Nopea then kneeled down beside the fallen Bovem and sent a wave of healing energy through the beast. The repairs required were apparently a little more extensive than what we had needed because it took a solid five minutes before the Bovem was able to stand again on his own two feet. After helping Urhea back to the side of the ring Nopea got into the center once again and said, ¡°Tukeva, enfoque.¡± And that was how we spent the next two hours. Nopea spent the entire time in the center of the circle, he would call us up one by one and we would fight. Personally I simply did my best to not get knocked out. It didn¡¯t go very well, I lost to the exact same move five times in a row before I was finally able to get the timing right and dodge it. Of course even though I finally dodged his first strike I wasn¡¯t in a great position to block or dodge his follow up. After going seven rounds with the Lupusi it became quite apparent that I was no match for him unarmed. Then I went over our fights and imagined carrying a sword¡­ Things didn¡¯t go much better, I was confident I could last at least a couple more seconds, but that was it. Rufus on the other hand was able to eventually get Nopea to stop playing with him. While he stilled pulled his blows he at least stopped using such predictable attack patterns. I counted it as a win, Rufus merely wished he had a sword. After saying goodbye to the family of Bovem Nopea lead us once again on a run. This time it was slower than our first run, but it was still much faster than I was truly comfortable with. It took us a little over an hour to return to his farm, and I was able to get a much better look at the countryside now that my vision wasn¡¯t narrowed with fatigue. Of course just because I could focus on the landscape now that exhaustion wasn¡¯t ruining my ability to see didn¡¯t mean that I was actually able to see anything worthwhile. Our run was long, boring and monotonous, the scenery was relatively unchanging throughout the experience. The river stayed on our right as we made our way south, taunting me with its¡¯ cool and inviting appearance. The plains to me left continued to be a grassy expanse, relatively flat with the occasional hill. The forest on the other bank remained somewhat dark and intimidating, it looked wilder than the forest I was used to. But we pressed on until arriving at the little farm house. Our approach allowed me to check out the extent of the land being cultivated and frankly I was impressed, two families had managed to farm what looked like 15 acres, which was close to double what could be expected from a typical human farm. And not only did they have an incredible amount of land being farmed, but they also managed to create a pond to irrigate their fields. I knew the pond was artificial because the small stream we had been following was too straight to be anything other than man or I guess in this case Lupusi made. The only thing that really stood out and made the farm look odd was the large encampment just east of the fields and south of the farm houses. While the rows of tents were in a neat enough order they certainly didn¡¯t fit in with the rustic appearance of the farm, especially the gaudy tent in the center of the encampment. It was huge and dyed gold, it stood out like a sore thumb. But the residents of said tents obviously didn¡¯t care that they were ruining the perfectly peaceful scene of a prosperous farm. Instead the occupants of said tent were busy off in the woods, cutting down trees and bringing them into a rather large pile just north of the artificial pond. Nopea signaled for us to follow him as he made his way toward the ever growing pile of lumber. I ran up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, he looked down at me and I mimed drinking water. He responded with one word, ¡°Agua?¡± And I nodded me head, so he went indoors and brought us each a mug of water. I drank the water slowly, savoring each drop as it soothed my parched throat, being especially careful not to spill any. When I finished the mug I repeated the word he said before, ¡°Agua?¡± then mimed refilling the cup, he responded with, ¡°Mas?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant but hopefully it meant more, so I said, ¡°Mas Agua.¡± He once again nodded and went back inside with our empty cups, returning with full ones. After finishing a second glass we brought our mugs back inside and then followed Nopea to the growing pile of lumber. ---------------------------------- AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I''ll be switching back to Swift for the next one. Oh and in case you guys haven''t noticed yet, Julius is going to be an important character, though the impact of his actions won''t really be felt until the second arc. Let me know in the comments below how you are liking the story''s progression and please rate my work. I finally got into the active top 100, though I would like to make that the top 50. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, now I''m going to get started on the next one. Ch. 19 Agreement After a morning of sparring and training the two humans, it was time to find my parents. I¡¯d used the jog to think things through and had come to a decision and it was time to let my parents know what I wanted to do. So I got the humans to follow me over to the construction site where I hoped to find Raha and my parents. When we got close enough to the growing pile of lumber I started to look around. Normally I would have tried to smell them out, but with all of the scents of unfamiliar Susi and Vuohians it was unlikely I¡¯d be able to pick out their scent. So I started looking and found not a single familiar face. Looks like it¡¯s time to interrupt someone and ask around. Look, I know I¡¯m a guy and all and asking for directions is the worst, but frankly I¡¯d rather not waste too much time massaging my own ego, so I stopped the first Susi that came close and asked, ¡°Excuse me, have you seen Aatto or Raha?¡± The Susi in question a big guy who¡¯d just gotten done carrying most of a tree responded, ¡°I saw em in the camp bout an hour ago¡­ Do you need somethin from em?¡± I nodded politely, ¡°Yeah, my dad told me to meet up with him when I had an answer to his last question. I figured out the answer so¡­¡± The Susi responded, ¡°Well, best not keep your Da waiting, I know I was always in for a whooping if I kept mine waiting too long.¡± I gave him my thanks for the information and headed into the camp, making sure that the two humans stuck close to me. I didn¡¯t really need to worry too much about them wandering off though. With all of the hostile glares directed their way they stuck to me like white on rice. By the time we made it into camp I could hear the steady stream of Raha¡¯s voice. I couldn¡¯t quite make out his exact words just yet, but the pitch and timbre of his voice were distinctive, higher in pitch than a normal Vuohian male and unending. I followed the voice to its¡¯ source and as I suspected they were all in Raha¡¯s tent. I entered the tent without knocking, because frankly I was certain my dad had already heard us coming and besides, where in the world do you knock on a tent? So the humans and I entered the pavilion like tent and frankly it was somehow even more spacious on the inside than it looked on the outside. There was a set of four camp chairs spread around a table, I was actually surprised by this initially since I didn¡¯t expect Raha to be that practical, but then my eyes fell on the sofa and the large bed¡­ So much for practicality. My eyes danced around the room, noting the dresser, the rugs on the canvas floor, the full length mirror resting next to the dresser, and I knew that in order to get everything here Raha must have brought a cart just for his personal tent. My eyes finally settled on the figures of Raha and my parents. Raha was seated on the couch next to my mother he was dressed in bright silks once again, this time a green and gold number which stood in sharp contrast to my mother¡¯s utilitarian leathers. Dad was seated on one of the camp chairs and the three appeared to be deep in conversation, or Raha did at least as he continued to speak without acknowledging our entrance. I waited near the entrance until Raha looked up at me and said, ¡°And what brings you here Swift?¡± I spoke up, more respectful of the wealthy scion of the Onni clan know that I knew exactly what that meant, ¡°Sorry to interrupt you guys, but I came to a decision this morning¡­ I want to take up my birthright. I know it might be difficult and you guys won¡¯t be there to help me, but I want to force the council to acknowledge the fact that your marriage wasn¡¯t a mistake. I want to show those bigoted old men exactly what happens when you get rid of outdated ideas and embrace change. So I hope over the next year that you guys will teach me everything I need to know in order to not only survive the politics of the council, but thrive.¡± Dad looked me up and down and said, ¡°Are you sure about this Swift? You don¡¯t have to take up this legacy you can stay out of politics and live your life however you want.¡± I nodded, ¡°I know Dad, but frankly I don¡¯t like the way the council treated you guys and I don¡¯t like that people in power would discriminate against my little brother. I want him to have the freedom to do whatever he wants and the only way he gets that freedom is if I am in a position to make people respect his choices. Besides, you were right in that I don¡¯t want to live on this farm for the rest of my life and being an heir to the Jalo is a good way for me to be able to accomplish my goals.¡± Mom got up and walked over to me. She gave me a hug and whispered into my ear, ¡°We are proud of you son, and when you eventually take over the Jalo clan as its¡¯ leader make sure you grant us clemency so I can see the smug faces of the councilors that kicked us out.¡± I chuckled and whispered back, ¡°Of course Mom, I¡¯ll make sure you see their distraught faces when I make the announcement.¡± I ended our hug and gave her a confident grin. Raha stared at the three of us, his mouth hung open and it took a couple of seconds for him to compose himself. He looked over at my dad and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me that you told him your secret. I even gave my men specific instructions not to bring up your past around the boy. It looks like that was pointless now... Oh well, so, you plan on going before the council and staking your claim eh Swift?¡± I replied, ¡°Yes sir, I don¡¯t like the way the council treated my parents and I want to show them it was a mistake to disregard my parent¡¯s potential. Plus I have no intention of allowing the men who are leaders of our race regard people like my mother and brother as anything less than equals. The only way I can change people¡¯s minds is if I am in a position of power, so I need to take up my inheritance. Now, knowing my goals and motivations, will you lend me your assistance?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Raha briefly paused to consider my request before responding, ¡°What sort of assistance would you require?¡± I replied, ¡°Honestly I shouldn¡¯t need much, at least not with what I have currently planned. What I would need from you is introductions and information. Right now I know too little about the council and their current policies, alliances and factions. Insight into that would greatly help my planning and I am sure you have better access to that information than my parents currently do.¡± Raha responded, ¡°What makes you think I have an extensive information network? And why would I know anything about the Jalo council?¡± I laughed loudly right in Raha¡¯s face and then began counting up with my fingers while saying, ¡°Please Raha, First of all you are the heir to the richest family in the country. Second off you own one of the biggest merchant houses in the country. And finally the Jalo council banished one of your friends, if you didn¡¯t already have an information network in place around the council you would have developed one in the last ten years. You might enjoy your comforts, but you are no fool, if you were, I doubt your family would allow you to retain the position of heir¡­¡± Raha then looked me straight in the eyes, his entire demeanor changed and it was like he was seeing me for the first time. I finally had his complete focus and I needed to make sure I didn¡¯t waste this opportunity. So I spoke up once again, ¡°Raha, I know that my father¡¯s banishment upset you, and I think you would be quiet happy to have the new heir to the Jalo clan owe you a favor or two. I cannot promise that I will succeed in attaining the position of clan head, but I believe I am capable of gaining control if given the opportunity. I am asking for a small investment that could yield huge results. What do you think Raha, will you invest in me?¡± Raha continued staring at me as he said, ¡°And what besides the fact that you are my friend¡¯s kind makes you worthy of even a minimal investment of my resources? Your parents may speak highly of you, but that¡¯s the only thing I know about you. Why are you worth any of my time, and why should I risk pissing off the Jalo clan by sponsoring you?¡± I answered, ¡°I¡¯m worth your time because I have more mana than any Susi my father has ever met. I am worth your effort because I was trained by the former heir of the Jalo clan in hand to hand combat, I am resourceful, inventive, and I won¡¯t need your money as I will be making my own. That is why I am worthy of your help and as to the risk, I ask you what are you really risking? By taking in my parents you already pissed people off, helping me isn¡¯t going to make those people hate you any more than they already do. Whereas helping me gain a position of power allows you to have a friendly connection with one of the heirs of the most powerful Susi clan. I say the risk is well worth the reward¡­¡± I let him think over my proposition, the silence was heavy but I held my head up high while Raha was lost in his own thoughts. My mother looked like she was about to speak up on my behalf, but I shook my head indicating she should remain silent while Raha thought over my proposition. The young human began shifting his feet, obviously uncomfortable with the tension in the air. I patted him on the head in an attempt to calm him down, but I think the training I gave him earlier made him even more leery of me as he flinched slightly at my touch. I continued to pat his head despite his flinch, and then I returned my attention to Raha. Raha gave me one last appraising glance before he said, ¡°Alright, I will give you the information you want on the council members, it doesn¡¯t cost me anything and my reputation won¡¯t be put on the line because of it. But you are going to have to prove your claims if you want me to introduce you to anyone. I¡¯ll need you to demonstrate to me your mana capacity, your martial skill and your ability to problem solve. If you can prove your abilities in these three areas before I return to Meadow Rest in a month¡¯s time I will give you all the support you need.¡± I smiled, ¡°Excellent, did you have anything in particular in mind or am I going to have to be creative?¡± Raha smiled back and said, ¡°Oh I think a martial competition can be arranged between you and the guards, which should allow you to demonstrate your skills. As far as magic goes you will just have to surprise me. As for your problem solving skills, well you now have a problem I suggest you solve it.¡± He chuckled at his own joke and my parents looked a little disappointed by his response. I on the other hand was more than happy with the tasks he laid out for me. I smiled and said, ¡°Sure Raha, that sounds reasonable, just let me know when the martial portion of your test is ready and I¡¯ll be happy to participate. I¡¯d also like to talk to you about one other thing before I go, it¡¯s your new home, I was hoping to see the design you had for it¡­¡± ---------------------------------------------- AN- Hey everyone I posted a poll to find out if I should change the name of the series, a couple of reviewers don''t like the title and I was wondering if that was the general consensus. If you think I should change the name post your suggestion in the comments below and next chapter release I will have a poll for voting on my favorites. Also I finally hit 50k words and I can accept donations so I need to post a schedule, so here it is, I will have a chapter out once a week, normally on Mondays, though Tuesday is possible as I am terrible with deadlines. Right now I am trying to write a few extra chapters so that I don''t need to miss a release date and so that I can offer early releases if someone actually ends up donating any money. Oh, one more thing to be excited about, Swift will be leaving the farm soon and going to the big city, get ready for conflict and bandits galore. Ch. 20 A job offered Raha showed me the designs for his new villa and I had to admit I was impressed, it was huge, with large windows and high ceilings. While only one story it had a spacious kitchen, three bathrooms, eight bedrooms and a large dining room and a grand salon I¡¯m assuming to allow him to entertain guests. It was way too nice for the neighborhood, but hey rich people tend not to care about that sort of thing. Of course despite the size of the proposed building there was a lot of room for improvement. Sure the place was big but it lacked a lot of basic amenities. There was no indoor plumbing for one thing, the kitchen while spacious was very inefficient no center island for one thing and no hanging cabinets. The bedrooms were plain and the whole thing was blocky, no real sense of style. I said as much after examining the plans and I could see Raha get angrier with each word. When he responded to my critique I could hear the barely suppressed anger in his voice, ¡°Really brat, you think the design is so bad? What would you know about architecture on this scale huh? The only buildings you have seen are the house you live in and a few of the poorer homes in Meadow Rest, a provincial backwater. This house will be elegant and refined, if I could get anyone of note to travel out here I¡¯m sure they would be impressed.¡± I laughed, and not kindly either, my laughter was almost pitying. ¡°Raha while I¡¯m sure you are an excellent merchant I think you may lack an eye for good architectural work. The building you are planning while large and imposing lacks any refinement. The design is boxy, the rooms are plain and honestly the size doesn¡¯t make a lot of sense. Sure you need to be able to entertain guests, and you might even be able to impress some of the villagers in Gladeston, but as you said no one of consequence will come out here to visit anyway. Why build a giant structure that you will rarely use and then have it wind up drafty in the winter and too warm in the summer. There is so much room for improvement on this design, I¡¯m sure I could come up with something better in a day or two.¡± Raha smirked, ¡°Alright boy then consider this a test of your problem solving skills. Design a building that I will admit is better than what we have planned currently. If you do you can consider that portion of the test completed. And since I am feeling generous, if you manage to impress me I will even pay you for the work. Let¡¯s say two gold Kulta, what do you say Swift?¡± I smiled at Raha and said, ¡°Well thanks Raha, I¡¯d be glad to design a new home for you and I¡¯d gladly accept your conditions, of course if you want it built properly you will have to pay me a little more for my services but two Kulta for my design work sounds reasonable. My only question is will you provide me with paper and a writing instrument or do I need to improvise something?¡± Raha smiled back, his expression was not nearly as friendly the word smiled implies, he said, ¡°Oh Swift I think it would be best if you improvised, after all this is a test of your problem solving skills.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Okay, fair enough then I will be on my way, I¡¯ll let you know when the plans are ready for your inspection. Oh and make sure your foreman knows not to start building just yet, I don¡¯t want him to have to tear anything down, it would be a waste of time and manpower.¡± I smiled sweetly at Raha then looked to my parents, ¡°Well, apparently I have some work to do. Mom, Dad, I will see you both at home, I hope you have a fun rest of your day spending time with Raha.¡± My parents both looked confused as they waved goodbye to me. They were probably still wondering why I¡¯d taken such an aggressive stance when dealing with Raha. After all he was a friend of my father¡¯s and had been our benefactor for my entire life, even if I didn¡¯t know it until recently. Frankly even I wasn¡¯t completely sure I was right in pressing my case like that. However I think the reason was because I didn¡¯t like the fact that Raha seemed to have hidden depths that my parents just didn¡¯t see. They seemed to think that he had done everything out of the kindness of his own heart, and based on how he treated them that might be partially true, but I just couldn¡¯t believe that was all there was to it. After all Raha didn¡¯t exist in a vacuum, he had to answer to his clan and council, and by taking us in he made several enemies. That doesn¡¯t just happen because they were friends as kids, I¡¯m pretty sure the fact that I could become the leader of the clan one day played a role in his decision. Basically I didn¡¯t feel like I could show Raha any weakness or I might wind up a puppet for him and his clan. I motioned for the two humans to follow me and we headed out of the tent back toward the construction site. I knew right away that if I was going to design a better home for Raha I needed to know exactly what the construction capabilities of the crew were. After all I didn¡¯t want to be forced to make the entire thing by myself, and designing within their capabilities would draw less attention to the fact that I was apparently a better architect than whomever designed Raha¡¯s proposed home. The next two days were a bit of a blur, I spent a lot of time talking with the foreman, a Vuohian named Vankka then drawing my new design into the ground. I knew that comfort was very important to Raha so the first thing I designed was a basement, that way he could put things down there during the summer to keep them cool. I also put in a small bedroom with the same purpose in mind, it got uncomfortably hot during the summer and having a bedroom that was at least ten degrees cooler would be a welcome relief. It could be accessed by a trap door I put in behind the bar. Next came the first floor, I designed the entryway to have a small room where one could remove their shoes without tracking in dirt from the outside. This led into what I dubbed the grand entryway, a large two story room with a stairway leading to the second floor. It was the first sight to greet you upon entrance, off to the left was a lounge area with a bar included, to the right was the dining room capable of seating twelve people. There was a kitchen behind the dining room with an island in the center for food prep, along space for a stove and oven. I even added a refrigerator¡­ kind of¡­ it wasn¡¯t really anything like a modern refrigerator, but instead more of a large cold box. It would be made of stone and if you threw in some ice it should keep things reasonable cool for several hours. Behind the lounge would be a study, lined with book shelves and a nice desk; it would be a place where Raha could conduct business, or bring a few intimate friends in for a drink. Underneath the stairs I designed a bathroom with indoor plumbing and between the kitchen and the study was a bedroom designed to be the servant¡¯s quarters. The second story would be made up primarily of bedrooms, I put in 3 guest rooms with two half bathrooms to service them and a master bedroom with a full bathroom attached. I gave the master bedroom a balcony that overlooked the fish pond and designed a large walk in closet. In the attic I put a boiler room which would allow me to utilize the plumbing to dispense both hot and cold water. I also put in two large cisterns that would be filled by rain water, and just in case it didn¡¯t rain enough I put in an access point to the roof from the boiler room in the attic. By the time I finished the design two days had passed. While I was busy with the design work I kept the humans, whose names I finally learned were Julius and Rufus, busy helping out Gurt. He wasn¡¯t exactly pleased with having to watch over two potentially murderous savages, but he was pleased with the prospect overseeing the work of the two as opposed to doing it all himself. After I had added the final touches to the design I spent a couple of hours and used a little bit of earth magic to make something that was bound to impress Raha then went to his tent to show off my design. It took little convincing to get him to come out to the construction site, after all my parents were there and I don¡¯t think he wanted to disappoint them. Besides that I could tell he was curious as well, after all I promised him a better design than something a professional came up with how could he not be curios. When we arrived at the construction site I showed him my plans, or at least I tried to, he seemed to be entranced by something else. The scale model I had built seemed to have done its¡¯ job. I looked at my parents and I could tell they were equally impressed. I was a little confused, I mean sure I¡¯d designed a pretty cool house, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯d done something so outstanding that they should be in awe of the design, after all I was still an amateur architect. The three of them approached the model and stared for a while, I began to get a bit impatient so I asked, ¡°Well, what do you think? This is my vision for the house, you can also remove layers of the model to see the basic floor plan of each level, or you can check out the blueprints I made off to your right.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. I pointed at the ground I had leveled and drawn the floor plan on. I¡¯d used magic to create them so the design was very clear, the lines were straight and distinct. Of course none of them looked up from the model. Raha finally spoke, ¡°You actually made this in only two days? How did you make such a lifelike model in only two days? It¡¯s all made from stone, it should have taken weeks to carve this¡­¡± I was confused for a second then replied, ¡°Actually it only took me a few hours to make the model, most of my time was spent designing the building and talking to the foreman¡­ What¡¯s so impressive about the model?¡± My Dad answered, ¡°Normally creating something like this requires either a skilled craftsman and several weeks or a mage with very impressive control over their mana. The detail you put into this model is beyond the level anyone your age should be capable of¡­¡± I got a little nervous but tried to respond as calmly as possible, ¡°Well you know I started cultivating at a younger age than most of my peers, so it doesn¡¯t really surprise me that I can control mana better than them. Besides you guys know I¡¯ve never really had too much trouble shaping mana and by extension the earth how I want.¡± Mom nodded, ¡°That¡¯s true you have always had a gift, I remember you surpassing my healing skill by the time you were seven.¡± Raha took his eyes off the model and looked at my parents, ¡°You mean you two were serious when you were bragging about your son to me all these years?¡± Dad looked back at Raha, ¡°Well of course we were. In all the time we have known each other how often have I lied or exaggerated?¡± Raha had a stunned expression, ¡°I just figured as new parents you might have been seeing things he did in a more favorable light¡­ I figured it was just you two being proud of your son¡¯s accomplishments¡­ So he really did dig out and supply this pond in only a week?¡± I answered, ¡°Well, yeah, I just used a bunch of earth waves to dig out a deep enough hole, then used a series of them to connect it to the river. Honestly the most difficult part was building the sluice gate since I didn¡¯t have the right tools it was pretty crude. I mean sure I was able to turn it into something reasonable after a couple of weeks, and the banks and bottom of the pond were dirt until about a month ago when I was finally finished changing it to sandstone¡­ Is what I¡¯ve done really so impressive? I mean I always figured I was ahead of the kids my age, and I knew my mana capacity was higher since I started developing it so much earlier, but you look way too surprised.¡± Raha laughed for and not happily, it was more of a release of pent up stress than any true mirth. When he finished he said, ¡°Is that impressive¡­ oh my boy to answer your question yes it is extremely impressive, frankly Susi shouldn¡¯t be capable of doing what you have done. A skilled Vuohian mage might be able to do it, but it would take at least four master Susi mages to accomplish what you did with the pond in only a week. Your father was fairly skilled before his exile, how long do you think it would have taken him to do what you did? At least a month, if not longer. You my boy are a rarity amongst Susi. The thing that really puts you over the top though is the control you apparently have. No one who hasn¡¯t been practicing control over mana for at least 30 years should be capable of putting in the details you managed on this model. Cutting the stone so precisely is just too difficult.¡± I spoke up, ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t cut the stone, I simply formed it out of the earth, it¡¯s much easier to do that then to try and carve something like this¡­¡± Raha laughed again, ¡°Formed it out of the earth, once again you astonish me boy, turning dirt into stone isn¡¯t easy, it is energy intensive, frankly it would take less effort to carve it rather than form it.¡± I shook my head, ¡°That¡¯s only if you don¡¯t have the right ingredients¡­ if you add this stone to the mix it makes the whole process a lot easier and less energy intensive.¡± I held out my hand and showed Raha some pure limestone I¡¯d used to form the sandstone model. Raha looked at the stone with disbelief clearly evident on his face, ¡°You¡¯re telling me this stone makes it easier to form stone? Really?¡± I nodded, ¡°Yeah it takes me close to a tenth of the energy with that type of stone present as opposed to when I try and do it without.¡± Raha took the stone and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to get someone to try and verify your results, but if that¡¯s the case I think we could make quite a bit of money selling this to mage run construction crews. Either way you display of control is enough to impress me, added to the power you must have possessed in order to make the timeline you claim with the pond, I have to consider the magical portion of my test completed. Moving on the actual design you¡¯ve made, I have to admit I¡¯m a bit confused. The house looks nice enough on the outside, but there are a lot of things I don¡¯t get about the interior design¡­¡± I took apart the model and showed off each level, explaining the rooms, the plumbing and the purpose behind all of the improvements I made over the original design. Raha appeared to be suitably impressed, as I walked him through each room, he didn¡¯t ask a single question though out the presentation and at the end he said one thing, ¡°Looks like you passed the problem solving portion of my test. I¡¯ll go talk to the foreman and you can tell him about the changes that will need to be made.¡± I smiled at Raha and said, ¡°I actually already spoke with the foreman, I discussed the changes I planned on making and figured out what was feasible for his crew. There are of course a couple of improvements that his men can¡¯t do with their current tools, I could do them, but we will have to discuss the price of my labor. Still, you should talk to the foreman, he can give you a list of the improvements he is currently incapable of doing without my assistance, and the price of said improvements without my assistance. It will give you the information you need when we negotiate a price from my time and effort¡­¡± Raha scowled knowing that my improvements were going to cost him more than he liked, all the while I gave him a wolfish grin. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry Raha, my rates are reasonable, and the work I do will last. Go talk to the foreman, he can explain all the technical details of my proposed building and explain the hidden costs that hiring me will cut down on.¡± My parents laughed all the while Raha scowled, Mom said, ¡°Raha, I haven¡¯t seen you this upset about a deal since Aatto tricked you into training alongside him. You haven¡¯t even heard the price and you¡¯re already upset. I¡¯m sure our son wouldn¡¯t gouge a family friend.¡± She directed her next comment toward me, ¡°After all a friend you take advantage of while they are weak is not one who will back you when they are strong. Swift isn¡¯t foolish enough to do something like that to you.¡± I smiled up at my mother, ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t Mom, I will be giving Raha a friends and family deal for my services, I¡¯m more than willing to settle on a reasonable price to make the improvements to his home that will put all of his other houses to shame.¡± Mom smiled and Dad said, ¡°Glad to hear it, now let¡¯s go home, I¡¯m sure Raha has a lot to discuss with his foreman.¡± ---------------------------------------- AN: Hey guys I''m going to stick to the once a week release schedule for now, as I''m currently busy working on a new story. http://royalroadl.com/fiction/7636 it''s a bit of a departure from the style of this one as I am trying make it into an action packed high pace story. I need the practice for some of the future chapters I have planned for this story. Check it out if you like my style of writing, I''m shooting for daily releases on the new story at least for the next week or two, then I''ll reevaluate based on the response I get from my readers. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, leave a review if you haven''t already. Thanks [th_108_.gif] Ch. 21 Preparations pt. 1 The next couple of months while Raha¡¯s house was constructed were a very busy time for me, I was constantly either training, studying, or using my magic to speed up construction. In my very rare moments of free time I did my best to talk to the Susi amongst the work crew and on guard duty. Living on the farm and deep in Vuohian territory had left my view of the world a little skewed and I wanted to find out how my kind thought¡­ It wasn¡¯t pretty, they had a fairly casual view on the value of life, the most important thing was the strength of the clan and your position within it. My people loved to fight and hunt, they like to push themselves and challenge those who they thought were weaker. They did not appreciate differences, they simply tolerated them. I wasn¡¯t going to be walking into civilization where the rule of law was sacrosanct instead I was going to be walking into the middle of a pack of wolves and I was going to have to prove that I was the alpha. If I managed that I had a shot at changing a few things, if I didn¡¯t they were going to eat me alive. Despite that rather bleak discovery my plans didn¡¯t really change very much while I was at home although I did realize I couldn¡¯t just let the humans walk home, they would be killed on the road without me along to protect them. So after my visit to the capitol I was going to have to walk them to the border and then send them on their way. Speaking of the humans I¡¯d made some progress learning their language which was called Ilati by the way. I wasn¡¯t by any means fluent, but I¡¯d learned enough to have simple conversations with my captives. I let them know that we would be travelling together soon, though I had yet to be able to properly convey that I would free them at the end of the journey. I tried but they looked more scared than anything else by the end of the conversation, I¡¯d need to try again to explain things since I¡¯m pretty sure there was some sort of miscommunication going on, you can be the judge because while it was a busy time in my life there were three incidents the really stood out to me. First there was the fight; it happened a few days after construction started on the new house, I¡¯d just finished leveling the ground where the construction would stand when Raha stopped me from doing anything else. He grabbed my hand and shouted, ¡°Ladies and gentlemen I have a brief announcement to make. As part of an agreement between Swift and myself, he needs to prove his martial prowess, in order to do that I have decided that a small exhibition is in order, so in two hours he is going to battle the captain of my guard until one of them either yields or is knocked unconscious. There are a few rules to the battle that will be explained to you fine folks before the bout begins. So grab some food find a place to sit and get ready to watch a fight between two warriors.¡± Some cheering broke out right away as Raha was basically offering the workers an extra-long paid break. I also heard the quiet whisper of bets being exchanged, I was apparently not a favorite to win as most of the initial offers were two to one against me. I looked down at Raha and said, ¡°A little more notice would be appreciated next time you want me to fight¡­ Do I get to know the rules of the match before we start or will they also come as a surprise?¡± He looked up at me mischief and a hint of malice clear in his eyes, ¡°Well of course you will know the rules of the match ahead of time, I¡¯ll be announcing them to the crowd right before your match. After all a true warrior is always ready to fight.¡± Great, Raha was stacking the deck against me, probably because I¡¯d passed the first two trials in under a week. He was also probably a little sore about the prices I¡¯d set for some of my services. Magically clearing and flattening the foundation of his house had earned me ten silver hopea, and that was the least expensive thing on the construction list. Of course I¡¯d saved his crew close to six hours of leveling so it was a net gain for him, but I don¡¯t think he liked giving out lump sums like that for simple things. I responded to Raha¡¯s goading, ¡°You are right Raha, a true warrior is always ready to fight, I on the other hand while trained by a true warrior have rarely tested myself and never in a real battle. I do not have the instincts of a man who has trained for twenty years so I find myself less prepared than I should be. This is a valuable lesson and I appreciate your guidance. I will go home, eat and rest so that I do not disappoint you in the coming battle.¡± Raha grunted, I don¡¯t think he was ready for that response, and thus he had no comeback ready. I walked home remembering the abuse I¡¯d suffered for antagonizing Raha in our previous meetings. I claimed I¡¯d only done it to discover more about the character of the man, my father responded with an extended sparring session to prepare me for a life of constant battle. Only after the bruises practically covered me from head to toe did he explain that Raha¡¯s character was well known to my parents. I¡¯d thought them naive and dad proved me very wrong. He explained that my tack with Raha while sure to pique his interest would also make him hostile and inclined to test me. I¡¯d basically managed to push all of Raha¡¯s buttons I was likely to suffer for it soon. Then came Mom¡¯s lessons in etiquette. They went on for hours, from how to properly use silverware to how to recognize a man¡¯s rank based off his bow. It was simultaneously exhausting and boring. It reminded me of my study sessions in college, except instead of learning about Plato¡¯s ideal republic and how souls and people come in three flavors, bronze, silver and gold, blech¡­ I was instead learning about how I could insult a Vuohian simply by staring into his eyes for too long. Yeah that¡¯s right, they regard it as a challenge if you maintain eye contact for more than ten seconds. Of course that also lead to how Susi can be pissed off if you angle your tail down and to the left while bowing to greet them as a stranger. Stupid etiquette lessons¡­ Needless to say I apologized to my parents for antagonizing their friend and they in turn toned down the lessons a little bit. Anyway back to the fight preparations. I got home, ate a big meal and then began meditating. I¡¯d expended quite a bit of mana leveling the earth so construction could begin and I needed to regain as much as I could before the fighting started. I also used the time to heal all of my injuries. While they were mostly small bruises and strained muscles I wanted to be able to move without anything holding me back. When I headed back to the construction site there was a crowd waiting for me. It was a little shocking how much had changed in two short hours, it was almost like walking into a baseball stadium ten minute before the game started, people were still milling about, finding their seats grabbing food and just gossiping before the game started. I even heard some more betting take place, apparently Mom found out about the odds against me and planned on making some money. I just hoped I¡¯d be able to live up to her expectations. As I got close to the stage on which my martial prowess would be judged I did my best to clear my head. I focused on remaining calm and keeping fears and doubts from affecting me. One thing my father taught me was that before a fight the worst thing you could do was doubt yourself if you went into a fight thinking you were going to lose then by the gods you would find a way to lose. That isn¡¯t to say you should approach every fight overflowing with confidence, but you need to know that no matter who the opponent is, no matter how much stronger, faster or more skilled they are, they are still mortal, they make mistakes and they can be beaten. He never taught me to use a weapon because to quote him, ¡°You my son are the weapon, a sword may extend your range, a mace may increase your power and armor may improve your ability to take a hit, but I want to train you to be as strong as possible and not to rely on crutches.¡± So I entered the circle in the clothes I wore every day I centered myself and prepared to prove that my father had trained me well and that I could win against a man who¡¯d been training for at least two decades longer than me. I wasn¡¯t exactly overflowing with confidence, but I knew that at the very least my father was likely more skilled and I had gotten the occasional hits in on my father. While my experience was bound to be less than my opponents, I was probably faster, my knowledge of Susi biology was better and my reaction speed would be superior. I had advantages and I needed to make the most of them if I was going to win. Plus I had magic, I kind of doubted that Raha would let me use it but if I could then I¡¯d likely win without any trouble. I entered the arena, well I entered the flat space that everyone surrounded while sitting on logs, but hey in my head it was an arena because drama and gravitas and all that jazz. I looked at my parents sitting in the front row, really the only row, but still it was the front row, and I gave them a thumbs up. As I approached the center of the ring Raha got out of his seat next to my parents and joined me. The guard captain Muuntaa joined us in the center of the ring and I sized him up as he approached. He was wearing light leather armor, it was well worn and something he was probably used to fighting in. It covered most of his body and would likely limit the effects any impact. He was tall, not quite as tall as my father, but he still had an inch or two on me, he was also built along different lines. While I was tall and lean, with muscles designed more for endurance and speed, Muuntaa was covered in bulky intimidating muscles. I realized right away that if I let he close with me he would be able to use his strength to its¡¯ greatest advantage. He grinned at me for while he didn¡¯t seem to be holding a grudge I think he was looking forward to our fight. I knew that feeling was correct when Raha started talking and Muuntaa¡¯s smile just got bigger and bigger. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, today we will have a match between Muuntaa Taisteluson, the captain of my guard and wrestling champion of the Soturi clan and Swift Aattoson prospective heir of the Jalo clan. There are a few rules to the match that I will relay to you now. Number one, no using offensive or defensive magic, Swift is a skilled mage and Muuntaa is not, this is to be a martial contest and in order to keep things fair he may not attack or defend with magic. Rule two is in regards to the battle field, earlier today Swift began preparing the foundation for my new home, the earth that he worked so hard to prepare shall be the extent of the battlefield. Should either contestant leave the area for more than ten seconds the fight will end and he shall be declared the loser of the bout. As I do not wish to hamper the contestant too much, there will be no time limit, the only way to win this fight is to knock your opponent unconscious, keep them out of the ring for ten seconds or force them to admit defeat. Now contestants if you both agree to the rules as I have stated them please go to opposite sides of the ring. The match will begin on my mark.¡± I sighed knowing that my biggest advantage had been taken away but he didn¡¯t take away my ability to use healing magic as it was neither offensive nor defensive in nature so there was always that. I walked to the side of the foundations that my parents and the Taika¡¯s were seated. When I got within a few feet of them Gurt said, ¡°I bet all my money on you Swift, give him hell.¡± I smiled at the confidence my friend had in me and I felt it surge even more when Dad chimed in, ¡°He is slower than you and his endurance is worse, pick him apart Son, your mother bet all of our money on you as well.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I started lightly jumping up and down, doing my best to get the blood flowing through my veins, I¡¯d need to move fast and often if I was going to beat the burly guardsman so I began regulating my breathing as well. When Raha left the ring he yelled out, ¡°Ready¡­ FIGHT!!¡± I charged toward my opponent as fast as possible, I wanted to see how fast he was capable of reacting and hopefully get in a hit before he properly got his guard up. As I closed the distance between us I decided on my target and threw a left jab straight at his right eye. He swayed a bit dodging my first strike and responded with a slash aimed at my extended arm. I pulled the arm back before he could connect and was displeased with the information I¡¯d gathered so far. Muuntaa was apparently out for blood hoping to bleed me instead of break me. Not exactly the strategy I figured the stronger Susi would aim for. Fortunately my attack was more exploratory in nature and I had enough speed to avoid his counter, had I attacked with my full strength I likely would not have been able to retract my arm in time. I launched a series of strikes aimed at his eyes and body, he dodged the strikes aimed at his head countering where he could and absorbed the strikes aimed at his body. He was obviously confident he could take the hits I was dishing out and he might have been right. Throughout the exchange of blows I did my best to move in and out of his range, ready the whole time in case tried and grapple with me. I was definitely faster than him, unfortunately I wasn¡¯t hitting him hard enough to do any real damage. My strikes were simply too light, sure I could hit harder, but that would slow me down, and I didn¡¯t want to test my grappling skills with a wrestling champ. I kept up my assault, allowing myself to fall into a pattern of left, left, left, right, head, head, head, body. I wanted him to get used to my strikes so that he would try too hard on a counter and I could potentially exploit the opening. I varied the time between each attack, but kept the targeting the same. It only took him three sets before he attempted the counter I was hoping for, a right cross aimed at my head while I went in for a strike at his body. I was ready for him though and shifted my forward momentum, dodging forward and to the left, throwing off the timing of his counter. As his fist sailed past I aimed a punch at the back of his head, put all of my strength into the blow and was struck in the face by his spinning backhand. I hit the ground and rolled for a bit before I pushed myself back up and jumped to my left dodging the kick aimed at my formerly prone body. I jumped back to create some space between us but I was not in good shape, my vision was blurry and my sense of balance was impaired. That hit had rattled my brain and it was going to take me a minute to recover. Of course there was no way I had a minute to recover as Muuntaa was already charging at me again. I jumped further back and started running away, all the while sending mana into my head to check the damage. The blood vessels in my brain had compressed and my nervous system was firing way more often than it needed to, so my first step was decompressing the blood vessels. It¡¯s a relatively simple task when you have mana to play with, but tough when you have to dodge an attacking giant while simultaneously trying to not fall over. I managed it before Muuntaa was finally able to close with me but I was going to have to recover from the other effects of the blow naturally as I no longer had time to focus on healing and instead had to defend against Muuntaa¡¯s powerful strikes. He focused most of his attacks on my body, I did my best to brace myself and block the blows, keeping my hands up and my muscles tensed. I would have tried dodging but my coordination was still off and I didn¡¯t want to risk giving the large grey Susi a bigger opening. Each hit felt like a sledgehammer was being driven into me. My human body would have been broken after the first blow but I¡¯d been training my entire life against someone just as powerful as Muuntaa. I felt my ribs flex with each blow and my internal organs shake with each strike to the stomach. But I¡¯d taken beating before in training and I wouldn¡¯t let a few blows finish me off. Sure he had surprised me with his counter and he wasn¡¯t letting up anytime soon, but then neither had my father. As I focused on defense and recovery Muuntaa continued to rain down blow after blow, they were powerful, they hurt a lot, but I would survive. Eventually I felt my balance fully return, I¡¯d dealt with the worst effects of the blow with my initial healing so I didn¡¯t have to suffer under the attacks for too long. When Muuntaa threw his next punch I tried a move my dad warned was risky but if I was fast and my opponent was swinging as hard as he could it would cripple the guy. As another right cross came toward my body I grabbed his wrist with my right hand and pulled it along my stomach, my torso pivoting the whole time continuing the motion and fully extending his arm. While I was doing that with his right arm my left elbow was hurtling toward the point in space where his elbow would be when fully extended. I felt bones snap as I shattered his elbow, the pain must have been excruciating because it caused Muuntaa to pause for close to a second as his body processed the damage I¡¯d just caused. My next move was only possible because of that pause and something a buddy of mine taught me who¡¯d joined the army while I went to college. Now I am sure most people are familiar with the carotid arteries; they¡¯re in your neck and supply blood to your brain. Fun fact Susi have a set of veins just like them, I knew this from expanding my mana channels throughout my entire body, it gave me a lot of time to examine my innards. Now my buddy once showed me one drunken night how you can use the knuckles of your two index fingers to cut off the blood supply to the brain by firmly pressing them into the carotid arteries right under the jaw and then twisting up. This method is extremely effective, in fact I only lasted 2 seconds before passing out. It could have been that the alcohol aided in shutting off my brain so quickly, but med school quickly disproved that theory. When blood flow is completely cut off from the brain it can remain conscious for up to 2-3 seconds. Knuckles to the carotid artery happen to be a very effective method of cutting off blood flow to the brain. So after I broke Muuntaa¡¯s elbow and got behind him I took a risk. I could have gone for a standard chokehold and tried to crush his windpipe between my forearm and bicep, cutting off his supply of oxygen and eventually forcing him into an unconscious state. But while I was trying to do that he would likely be clawing the shit out of my arms. A chokehold might work on humans because our nails suck at doing deep damage, but when your nails can sever tendons it becomes a lot riskier. Who knows it might have worked out, I might have crushed his carotid arteries in the process and he would be out in those 2-3 seconds we talked about earlier but if he managed to get his hand in there I had no real shot of choking him out. So I jammed my knuckles into his neck right beneath his jaw then twisted. If he hadn¡¯t been reeling from the pain of having his elbow shattered I doubt the move would have worked, he might have moved or twisted his head thus making it difficult for me to place my knuckles so perfectly but he paused and I took advantage of it. He started to reach for my hands and run forward in order to get me away from his back, but I was already in the process of jumping onto his back, he wasn¡¯t getting away from me. By the time he got his hand on my wrist he was already blacking out. I rode his limp body to the ground and then released the pressure, I then grabbed him by the throat nails digging into the skin underneath his fur and yelled, ¡°He¡¯s unconscious which I believe makes me the winner.¡± I looked up at Raha who nodded his head in confirmation, he looked stunned by the sudden turn of events. Here I was getting wailed on by the head of his guards and then in less than fifteen seconds I¡¯d knocked said guard out was poised to kill him. It had to have been shocking to say the least, and by the silence of the crowd I think they were all very surprised. I took a second to enjoy my victory and the rush of surviving the onslaught of punches delivered by Muuntaa then I got serious and started working on the fallen guard. I sent mana into his elbow and began examining exactly how bad the damage was¡­ It wasn¡¯t pretty, I¡¯d broken his Ulna into three pieces, knocked his Humerus out of joint and torn his ulnar collateral ligament. There was some other damage done, but those were the big problems I had to fix. I focused on fusing the bone back together first, without a solid Ulna I wasn¡¯t going to be able to repair anything else. I slid the bones back into place, coating them in mana so they would cut the already damaged muscles they¡¯d slid into. Once the bone fragments were back in place I used my mana to speed up the natural healing process. I go into the technical details of what I was doing, but the last time I tried that with someone that hadn¡¯t gone into medical school they¡¯d hit me in the arm called me a nerd and we went back to drinking. Quick side not, is it bad that so many of my flashbacks involve me drinking? Oh well, it was college, any the process involves chondroblasts and osteoblasts and a lot of other technical terms you won¡¯t hear outside of a biology class. Needless to say I got the bone put back together and then moved on to putting the Humerus back into its¡¯ socket. The process is normally pretty painful, but fortunately for Muuntaa he was still unconscious, so he won¡¯t have to remember the pain of having a joint put back into place. After that I moved on to ligament repair. If I didn¡¯t fix it now he¡¯d never be able to be a serious guard again, two fully functioning arms were kind of required for the job. So I used my mana to shift things around a bit and reconnect the broken pieces this involved a little something called fibroblast cells and a lot of mana. But after maybe five minutes of work I was finished returning Muuntaa¡¯s arm to functionality. He¡¯d be a little tender for the next few days and he would be really hungry but he¡¯d also make a full recovery. I got up from my kneeling beside Muuntaa, opened my eyes and found my parents smiling at me. Well, my mom was smiling at me, my dad was smirking at me instead. He said, ¡°I told you that you needed more experience your setup was too obvious and that¡¯s why you took that backhand.¡± I nodded, ¡°Yeah I know I should have realized that someone with that much experience would recognize a setup like that. Looking back I¡¯m pretty sure I was banking on him being a little overconfident and not giving me any credit.¡± Dad nodded, ¡°Understandable, but if he¡¯d been fighting with daggers instead of his fists you would be dead right now. Try and avoid underestimating your opponents in the future¡­¡± I nodded again and said, ¡®Yes sir.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------- AN: Sorry for the chapter delay it''s longer than i thought it would be so I decided to split it into two parts. This is the first half, the second half will come soon, I''d like to say before the week is over, but I''m a little busy searching for a new job and apartment at the moment so I might not be able to finish as soon as I''d like. Btw, part two picks up when Raha joins the conversation. Ch. 21 Preparations Pt. 2 As I agreed to be less reckless Raha joined the conversation, ¡°Well done Swift, you have managed to beat the head of my guards using an interesting technique. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen someone knock a person out with two fingers before. You¡¯ll have to tell me how you managed that¡­¡± I nodded and replied, ¡°It¡¯s simple really if you know how our bodies are designed, we have two major blood vessels providing blood and oxygen to our brains. I used my two fingers to cut off the flow of blood, without any new blood providing oxygen the brain shuts down rather quickly. I could show you where you need to press on a Susi, barbarian, or Vuohian, not sure about any of the other races since I haven¡¯t had to heal any yet. You could also kill a person by cutting either of the spots I targeted, they would bleed out in less than a minute, and lose consciousness in seconds.¡± Raha rubbed his neck, obviously a little uncomfortable with the knowledge, he said, ¡°My, my Aatto, what have you been teaching your son? Back in the old days you emphasized breaking bones and targeting joints, I don¡¯t remember you every targeting blood vessels¡­¡± Dad put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close and said, ¡°No you¡¯re right, those are the things I target when I fight, but Swift is an accomplished healer more skilled than any I¡¯ve met. He decided to try and take my style to the next level by targeting something called pressure points along with joints. He says he got the idea from spending so much time examining his own internal organs. He¡¯s done his best to understand exactly how we heal and the purpose behind every organ in our bodies. When he was about seven he surprised me with the move you just saw today. I let him get my back once in training to show him why it¡¯s a bad idea to attempt a chokehold on a Susi and then I was out like a light. While Swift¡¯s style is similar to mine when an opportunity arises he tends to go for those pressure points. He isn¡¯t overly skilled at their application just yet, but by the time he¡¯s twenty I fully expect him to have developed his own unique martial style.¡± I nodded and chimed in, ¡°I think a lot of my moves would be easier if I was already grappling with someone, but Dad¡¯s training emphasizes avoiding grappling, he says that there isn¡¯t a point in getting locked up with one opponent because that will just get you killed on the battlefield. I get his point as being mobile and wearing down your opponent makes sense, but I¡¯d like to practice my grappling more, all I ever do with Dad is practice throwing my opponent.¡± Raha nodded, ¡°Well I think I can arrange for someone to help you out on that front. Now that you have passed the martial portion of the test I¡¯ll have Muuntaa work with you on your wrestling skills. He probably won¡¯t be too hard on you, after all you did fix his arm after you destroyed it so¡­¡± I bowed my head in acknowledgement, ¡°Thank you, I look forward to having a new training partner. Speaking of Muuntaa we should probably get him back to his tent, he is going to need some rest and a lot of food to recover from the healing I administered.¡± Raha responded, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll have a couple of my men put him to bed. In the mean time I believe you have some work to do on building my basement.¡± I shook my head in mild exasperation and said, ¡°Sure, sure, I¡®ll get started soon enough I just need a little rest before I get started. I¡¯ll go talk to the foreman and get him to clear the area so I can get to work.¡± I walked away from Raha and my father and said, ¡°I¡¯ll see you for dinner tonight Dad.¡± As I turned away to go see the foreman Dad waved to me and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be late Son, your mother is making velocichicken tonight to celebrate your victory.¡± I turned back and exclaimed, ¡°Has Mom picked out the Velocichicken yet? Because if not make sure it¡¯s Bessie, I have been wanting to eat Bessie for the last three years. Every damn day I¡¯d go in to collect eggs she¡¯d attack me. Every day¡­¡± Dad smiled, ¡°Sorry Son, I think Mildred is on the chopping block today, Bessie is still our number one egg layer and she keeps the males in line.¡± I sighed, ¡°Damn.¡± In case you hadn¡¯t guessed I was the one allowed to name the velocichickens and I named them in English. When my family asked why they had such odd sounding names and I just told them the damned velocichickens deserved nonsense syllables instead of real names, which they seemed to readily accept. I continued on toward the foreman a little depressed, but hey velocichicken would be a break from the constant Lehmakin we had been eating so it wasn¡¯t a total loss. Vankka was in the midst of a small crowd that had yet to disperse. When I got close I could see the exchange of coins take place, apparently the industrious little foreman had made some money betting on me. He smiled as he collected from what I assume was the last of his debtors and said, ¡°There he is, the man who made my day! How are you Swift? Muuntaa didn¡¯t hit you too hard did he?¡± I gave him a wry grin and replied, ¡°Well I feel like I have a better understanding of the life of an anvil, but I won so I¡¯ll accept the bruises with a smile. I see my fight was beneficial to you too¡­¡± The little Vuohian gave me a hug then took a step back and beamed up at me, ¡°Yes indeed, apparently when Raha announced that you couldn¡¯t use magic the guards assumed you would be helpless. They were more than willing to bet on their captain and after seeing you work I was more than willing to take their bets. You my boy have made me close to a gold Kulta today, if Raha is as generous with his guards as he is with his work crew I think I took a month¡¯s salary from them. Hehehe today has been a very profitable day for me. So what brings you over anyway? I figured you would have gone home to celebrate with your family¡­¡± I nodded, ¡°Nothing would please me more, but the day isn¡¯t done yet and Raha expects me to work until it¡¯s over. I¡¯ll be celebrating when I get home tonight, but for now we need to get back to work¡­ So do you think you could start clearing out the rest of onlookers and get your crew ready to move some dirt?¡± Vankka shook his head briefly before replying, ¡°And here I thought we¡¯d get the rest of the day off. Too bad, but yeah I¡¯ll start gathering the crew, are you going to get started on the basement?¡± I answered, ¡°Yeah, we need to get it all set up before we can start working on the actual house. How has the gathering of limestone gone? Do we have enough to finish the basement or do you need to send out another party to get more?¡± Vankka replied, ¡°We should have enough, based on your estimates, maybe even a little extra. Do you think you will be able to get started on the transformation before the end of the day?¡± I shook my head, ¡°I really doubt it, I¡¯ll probably be able to clear out most of the basement, but I doubt I¡¯ll be able to do anymore before sundown.¡± Raha smiled, ¡°Great well then I¡¯ll start gathering the crew, I assume you¡¯ll be here meditating until I get back?¡± I shook my head, ¡°Actually I need to go grab someone before we get started, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± I searched amongst the remaining crowd until I spotted him. Gurt was still with his parents looking excited to see me come over. It looked like he was about to give me a hug when Westra blocked him out and gave me a hard squeeze. She was the first to speak, ¡°Congratulations Swift that was an amazing fight though you had me scared there for a while.¡± Kurt spoke up next, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you were able to stand up to that monster¡¯s blows. It¡¯s pretty obvious your father hasn¡¯t been holding back too much while the two of you were training. I¡¯ll have to see if he can teach Gurt to do more than just a bit of magic¡­¡± I shrugged, ¡°Yeah Dad hits pretty hard when we¡¯re sparring but he always claimed the only way to be ready for battle is to go all out in training. Obviously he was right¡­ Anyway, I was hoping I could borrow Gurt for a couple of hours, I have a large hole to dig and Gurt could really make that a lot easier. I¡¯ll give him half my pay for the time we¡¯re working on it.¡± Gurt spoke up before his father had a chance to say anything, ¡°Please Dad? We don¡¯t have anything to do today that we can¡¯t do tomorrow and I could use some spending money¡­¡± Gurt looked between Westra and Kurt giving them his best impression of puppy dog eyes. Apparently it was effective because the two exchanged a glance and Kurt answered, ¡°Sure Gurt, you can help your friend just make sure you don¡¯t over exert yourself, you are still at a fairly delicate stage of development.¡± Gurt nodded, ¡°Of course Dad, a little coin isn¡¯t worth messing up my development.¡± I also chimed in, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure I monitor his mana expenditures, after all Dad would kill me if I allowed his best student to lose progress because I was being selfish.¡± Westra spoke up, ¡°Alright boys, do a good job and make sure you are home in time for dinner Gurt.¡± Gurt and I replied at the same time, ¡°We will! Thanks Auntie/Mom¡± I pointed to the foreman and the growing crowd of construction workers and Gurt and I headed over. On the way I explained to Gurt, ¡°So I¡¯m just going to need you to do some earth waves, it should be pretty easy, I¡¯ll show you where to start and how powerful to make the waves. You shouldn¡¯t need to do more than 5 or 6, then I¡¯ll be able to take over from there. Any questions?¡± Gurt nodded, ¡°Yeah, how much am I getting paid for this?¡± I scratched behind my ear while responding, ¡°I¡¯m not really sure, I¡¯m getting paid for building the entire house in a certain amount of time, but also on a per section basis. The sections don¡¯t really make me that much money, the real money comes from completing the building quickly. The fair thing to do would be to give you a percentage of that total based on how much time you save me compared to how much time it takes me to finish. For example, if you saved me 5 hours¡¯ worth of work and I end up taking 200 hours to finish the building you would get 2.5% of the total I¡¯m being paid. I could also just pay you what you and I agree the work is worth. Now I¡¯m getting paid 2 gold kupari if I can get the house I redesigned built within a month¡¯s time, so if I work 6 days per week at least 10 hours a day I¡¯d use about 260 hours of my time. If you end up saving me 5 hours that would make you¡­¡± I paused to do the math, 5 of 260 is 1.9% 2 gold kupari is 36450 Copper kulta 1.9% of 36450 is 690 something, let¡¯s just call it 695 which would come out to¡­ ¡°1 Silver kupari, 2 Silver hopea, 2 Copper kupari and 2 copper kulta. That¡¯s if it takes me 260 hours, if I have to work more it would make you less money, if I work less it would make you more money. Or we can just agree that amount is fair and that¡¯s what I¡¯ll pay you.¡± Gurt stopped walking to think things through, I calmly waited while he came to a decision. His face was scrunched up while he thought, but I could easily see the when he reached his decision because his face smoothed out and a smile blossomed. He answered, ¡°Well let¡¯s just to the fair thing, I¡¯ll just do the percentage based on how much time I save you, that way no one ends up feeling like they were cheated. After all I might not be able to help as much as you thought, or I might be able to help you out more than you thought. We¡¯ll just do the fair thing and when the house is built you can pay me what I earned.¡± I held out my hand and we shook on the deal. When we made it to the group of construction workers I introduced Gurt to everyone and then explained, ¡°Okay everyone so today we are going to be digging out the basement, I¡¯m sure Vankka filled you in on the basics of who will be doing what, so I won¡¯t be going over that instead I just want to give you all a word of warning. Gurt is going to be casting earth waves to make the job easier for everyone, but he is less experienced than me and probably more powerful so make sure you stay clear of the site until Vankka sends you in to remove the excess dirt. We don¡¯t want any accidents we can avoid and I don¡¯t want to have to reattach any toes because you decided to move early and the spell wasn¡¯t done. It¡¯s a waste of my mana and it will not be a pleasant experience for you. Now Gurt and I are going to go get ready, and I am going to turn you back over to Vankka.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I walked away from the crowd while Vankka started telling everyone to grab their tools and took Gurt over to the center of the southern section of the basement. I pointed to the northern edge of the proposed basement and said, ¡°Make sure you aim your earth wave at me and have it die out right as it¡¯s about to hit me. I¡¯ll have some mana in place to stop it if you put a little too much juice into the attack, but do your best to keep control over your mana and try to make the earth wave as wide and deep as possible.¡± Gurt nodded and I headed over to the other side of the basement I sent my mana down right at the edge of where the basement should start, creating a wall approximately six feet wide and six feet deep. It had been a while since I¡¯d seen Gurt perform this bit of magic and I wasn¡¯t really sure what he was capable of. When my mana shield was in place I signaled Gurt and after a deep breath he launched off an earth wave. Now I don¡¯t want to mislead you by saying that it was the biggest earth wave ever, because I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t, but it was by far the biggest earth wave I¡¯d ever seen. I mean sure I¡¯d made some impressive ones myself when making room for the fish farm, but I¡¯d made my waves have endurance as opposed to size. I thought I had prepared well enough by making it so that either dimension was large enough to cover his wave regardless of how he spread it. Apparently I underestimated his ability to channel mana because when he released his earth wave it was close to ten feet wide. I couldn¡¯t be certain until I actually saw what he managed to carve out, but the amount of earth he was able to move was intimidating. I quickly sent out more mana spreading it as widely as I could without sacrificing the integrity of the shield I¡¯d already made. I also jumped back once the wave got within a few feet of me which was a wise move as I felt his mana impact upon mine. If I hadn¡¯t jumped back when I did I probably would have been buried or at least caught up in the wave. Either result would have been embarrassing/potentially dangerous so it was a smart move not one made because of how frightening a giant wall of rocks and soil can be when it¡¯s charging straight for you. Anyway now that the earth wave was finished I jumped on top of the fresh mound of earth that covered my previous location and looked at what Gurt¡¯s earth wave had accomplished. It looked like someone had done a bad job digging a giant trench. The walls of the trench were at least 10 feet apart and the bottom was at least 4 feet deep and it went the entire length of the basement which was around 30 feet. I was stunned Gurt managed to move around 1,600 square feet of dirt in one earth wave. Keep in mind that¡¯s square feet every square foot of earth weighs close to 100 pounds, so Gurt managed to move 160,000 pounds of dirt in 10 seconds. I nodded to Vankka to let him know to get the crew moving then I walked over to Gurt. As I got closer Gurt started fidgeting, apparently he was nervous about something. He started looking around almost refusing to meet my gaze except for a few quick peeks. It was at moments like these that I was reminded that Gurt was only an eight year old boy. I stopped a few feet away from him and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong Gurt? You look really nervous for some reason¡­¡± Gurt gulped and replied, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Swift, I know I was supposed to stop the earth wave before it got to you but I put a little too much power into the spell and it got away from me. I didn¡¯t mean to but I haven¡¯t really done an earth wave in a while and I guess I¡¯m a little out of practice. Plus you know I don¡¯t have the best control over my magic¡­¡± I nodded then placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, ¡°Gurt, I¡¯m not mad about you almost taking me out with an earth wave, I¡¯m just surprised at how big it was. I mean honestly I can only move about half of that amount of earth at any one time and Dad says I¡¯m a prodigy. I don¡¯t know if that level of magic is normal or not for a Vuohian, but I¡¯ve never seen anyone use that much power¡­¡± Gurt¡¯s emotional shift was kind of funny to watch as he went from nervous to surprised, proud and then bashful all in the space of about 30 seconds. I spoke again while he regained his cool, ¡°Seriously Gurt I think you are strong enough to be able to get a scholarship to one of the magic academies. Which would mean you could come with me to the capitol when Raha and I go in a couple months, although we will have to talk to your parents about it, but I doubt they¡¯ll say no. Also I¡¯m definitely going to have to pay you more, if you can keep up those earth waves we¡¯ll be done in no time.¡± I sent a pulse of mana through Gurt to check on his mana reserves and got a couple of surprises, first off his mana core was huge, significantly bigger than my own, his channels were developing nicely and apparently the earth wave he¡¯d just launched off had barely drained his reserves. Based on the amount of mana I found in his core he should be able to launch off at least another 8 waves of the same size without it affecting his current level of cultivation. Basically Gurt would be able to do the entire basement without any help from me beyond containing his power. Gurt spoke up again, ¡°You¡¯ll really pay me more? And you really think I could make it in one of the academies?¡± I nodded, ¡°Yeah Gurt to both questions, your mana levels are very high you¡¯re a year younger than me, your species matures slower than mine and you have the capacity to do more magic than me already. Don¡¯t get me wrong you need to work on your control and diversify your skill set since the last time I checked you could only do some basic earth manipulation spells, but still I think you have the potential to become incredibly powerful.¡± Gurt seemed at a loss for what to do so he started nervously scratching behind his ear, ¡°Do you really think it would be okay for me to go with you though? I mean that capitol is so far away and my parents don¡¯t have the money to send me all the way off to the capitol¡­¡± I nodded, ¡°Sure they might not have the money, but I will have plenty when we are done building this house for Raha so I¡¯d be happy to cover your expenses while we travel to the capitol.¡± Gurt was so surprised, he asked, ¡°Really, you¡¯d pay for me to go to the capitol??¡± I answered, ¡°Well of course I would, you¡¯re my best friend after all and it would be nice to have someone I can trust coming along with me. Besides if you feel like you need to pay me back I¡¯m sure it will be pretty easy once you graduate. After all powerful mages can make a ton of money with little difficulty. So yeah don¡¯t worry about the money I¡¯ll take care of it, you just need to get your parent¡¯s permission.¡± Gurt¡¯s head sank into his hands, ¡°Ugh that¡¯s almost harder than if I had to come up with the money myself. You know they never planned on me leaving the farm, when they tell me anything it¡¯s always been for us to earn enough money to buy some of the surrounding fields off your parents and start up our own farm.¡± I nodded sympathetically, ¡°Yeah your dad doesn¡¯t really like surprises but I¡¯m sure they will understand, after all their son could wind up becoming a powerful mage and providing them with all the money they¡¯d ever need. We¡¯ll talk to Raha to find out exactly what it costs to attend one of the academies and what their standards are. Of course first we will talk to your parents to find out whether or not it¡¯s okay for you to go after all there is no point to doing anything else if your parents aren¡¯t open to the possibility of you going.¡± Gurt nodded, ¡°That makes sense¡­ Okay that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do, but you¡¯ll be with me when I ask right? They tend to listen more when you¡¯re around¡­¡± I nodded, ¡°Sure thing Gurt, I wouldn¡¯t let you wander into the Ursakin¡¯s cave without backing you up, especially when it¡¯s my idea. Now I¡¯m going to let you cultivate while we wait and you can think about what you want to say to your parents while you¡¯re cultivating. The crew should be done removing all the dirt in another twenty minutes so take a peak around then, I¡¯m going to help with the dirt removal process.¡± And the next 4 hours proceeded just like that, Gurt would break up the earth and the crew and I would remove it from the construction site. If you¡¯re wondering how we got it dug out so quickly then you need to remember that you¡¯re dealing with 40 motivated Susi all of whom are heavily muscled and at least 6 and a half feet tall moving close to ten pounds every five seconds. When you have a crew that big you can get a lot of earth moved in a short amount of time. Frankly I was really happy that I enlisted Gurt¡¯s aid for this project as I never would have been able to get it done so quickly on my own. Without his seemingly endless mana we probably would have accomplished a third of the work. I¡¯d have to see if I could teach him my water blade. If I could we might be able to do as much as a saw mill. But that idea would have to wait for now because the sun was starting to set and all that was left to do was remove some of the remaining dirt in the basement. I ended up walking over the Vankka and saying, ¡°Well Gurt and I are done on the magic side of things, all that¡¯s left is removing the remaining dirt in the basement which you and your men are more than capable of doing. Tomorrow I¡¯ll be back to turn the walls into something a little more sturdy than hard packed dirt and if we have enough limestone to spare I can even build some of those stone support columns we were talking about. Anyway, I¡¯m going to take Gurt home and head to dinner, see you tomorrow.¡± I held out my hand and Vankka stopped working to shake it. He responded tiredly, ¡°Sure thing Swift I¡¯ll get things ready for tomorrow then send the crew back to camp. You might want to wash up before you head home though, you seem to have gotten a bit dirty¡­¡± I chuckled then grabbed Gurt and headed for the pond. Vankka wasn¡¯t kidding when he said I was a bit dirty, one of the earth waves Gurt had sent my way had a little extra umph to it and I ended up getting showered in dirt. Upon arriving at the pond I jumped straight in, executing a shallow dive. The water was cool and refreshing, exactly what I needed after a long day of hard labor and an intense fight. I relaxed for a couple of minutes floating on my back and letting the cool water soothe my tired muscles. Of course I couldn¡¯t spend the rest of the day in the pond as Gurt so graciously reminded me when he yelled, ¡°Come on Swift, we have to talk to my parents and maybe eat a Lehmakin, I¡¯m starving¡­¡± I got out of the pond and shook myself dry, or dryish. Then I grabbed my clothes put them on over my still damp fur and we head over to Gurt¡¯s place. We walked right inside when we got there but to our shared surprise no one was inside to greet us. I asked in a louder than normal voice, ¡°Anyone home? Auntie Westra? Uncle Kurt?¡± Silence was my only answer. I cocked a quizzical eyebrow at Gurt and asked, ¡°Think my Mom invited your parents over for dinner?¡± Gurt answered, ¡°Probably, I mean they aren¡¯t here so they must be at your parents place.¡± I shrugged my shoulders and we headed over to my place where we were once again greeted with an empty home. Something had to be going on that was well outside the norm, neither of our parents were home and food was not ready even though Mom was supposed to be preparing a huge meal to celebrate my victory. I didn¡¯t like some of the possible reasons for their absence so I grabbed a couple loaves of bread for Gurt and I to munch on then said, ¡°I think we need to go search for our parents¡­¡± ------------------------------------------ AN: Sorry for the near month long hiatus Moving sucks and not having a job is almost worse. I''ve spent too much time searching for a job and sleeping in on couches. It makes the whole writing process somewhat difficult. My living situation still isn''t settled and I still am jobless so updates will be irregular for now. I also need to thank someone for giving me my first donation it really helped and made me feel bad for not updating more often this last month. I''m going to try and get something set up so those that donate will get chapters early and probably some bonus chapters that I haven''t found a way to properly include in the story yet. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. Ch. 22 Escape Rufus POV My name is Rufus Ira, son of Maximus Ira, second in command of the Grand Consul¡¯s Guard. I am currently in charge of ensuring that Julius, his son, remains alive, and ever since we arrived in this beast infested land that task has been anythin but easy. After the young lord got sick everything went tits up, my guard detachment was annihilated by beasts then we were captured by one of the wolfmen. I mean one of the Susi, the young lord insists that we do our best to learn their language and that we call them by their names if possible. So I¡¯ve been captured by the young Susi, Nopea, and am currently unable to properly protect my charge. I¡¯d like to believe that rested and fully equipped I could take Nopea in a fight, but I honestly doubt it, I might get lucky and be able to exchange a killin blow with him but I can¡¯t be certain I¡¯d actually kill him. He is by far and away the best healer I¡¯ve ever come across. Which make him more durable than I¡¯d like any enemy to be. The problem isn¡¯t so much that he can summon vast amounts of power, he can¡¯t, not even when compared to my young charge, it¡¯s how quick and precise his magic is. Julius if given time could kill 100 men with a single spell, Nopea could not match that feat. Instead I imagine he¡¯d go about killin those hundred with a combination of magic and martial skill. He would send out earth waves to disrupt their formations killin the men off one at a time, always staying a step ahead of them. The young Susi has the endurance to wear down any hundred men, slowly whittlin away at their numbers advantage until the advantage didn¡¯t mean enough and he could just jump in and kill the rest. That it might take a while I have little doubt but he would get it done just as sure as Julius. Nopea is quite simply dangerous which actually frightens me because it is clear that he is still being trained by his father. While Nopea is a competent killer his father truly frightens me. I thought my sparring session with Nopea was rough, but watching him train with his father was eye opening. It was quickly apparent how much he held back against me. I mean I know he was performing the same moves over and over but I thought that might just be because he was still mastering his forms¡­ That was not the case, watching his fight, with his father showed me that he was not only fast, but free flowing, he chained moves together I¡¯d never even seen before. The fact that it was obvious that his father was not only able to keep up with Nopea but was able to consistently put him down was a frightening proposition. I just hope that I have found myself amongst a family of marital geniuses because if this is the average level of the Susi warrior then the next time my people go to war against the beastmen we will lose and lose badly. The only good thing to come out of the trip so far was that Julius had gotten a lot stronger in the past few days, not so much physically as he was always a strappin lad, but he has grown in maturity. Sure the little lord had been pushed before, but only so far, he¡¯d always been held to human standards which while reasonable didn¡¯t exactly bring out his full potential. Working the fields alongside the Susi had shown the boy how far he could actually push his endurance. Fighting Nopea showed the boy how far he still had to go as a warrior, hell it showed me how far I had to go. I know I¡¯d plateaued over the last few years, I¡¯d stopped trying to improve and instead focused on maintaining. This disaster of a trip at least reminded me that there is always room to improve. And it showed the little lord exactly how big the world really is. If a farm boy is capable of beating him senseless we can now be certain he won¡¯t be pressing for war against the beastmen. And I can be certain he will seek to overcome his weaknesses. Unfortunately I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to stay here much longer Nopea has been picking up our language just as we have been learning his and a rather limited form of pidgin has emerged. What we learned today was rather disturbing. Apparently when the right little goatman leaves we¡¯ll be goin along with him. He said somethin about takin us home, but I think he means he¡¯ll be takin us to the home of the little goatman which I do not look forward to. We need to escape as soon as we can and the instant an opportunity presents itself we are gone. I discussed the matter with Julius and he agreed albeit reluctantly. When the first opportunity presented itself we would make a run for it. That opportunity presented itself a lot sooner than either the little lord or I expected, just a day after our talk everyone seemed to gather up by the pond, everyone except for me and Julius. I¡¯m not sure what drew them all up there but this was the first time no one was watching us or within shouting distance since we arrived. I spoke up, ¡°My lord I think now is the time to leave there seems to be some sort of event happenin and while I doubt we will be unguarded for long I also doubt we will get another chance like this.¡± Julius¡¯ face screwed up in concentration trying to think things through, it didn¡¯t take him long to come to a decision. He said, ¡°You¡¯re right Rufus, this may be our only shot, should we grab the horse or some food?¡± I shook my head, ¡°No sir I don¡¯t think that would be wise, I want as much lead time as possible, if we go into the house they will smell it and if we grab the horse our tracks will be too easy to follow. Our best shot at escaping is to slip away quietly, make it to the river and hopefully lose them there, just like we discussed earlier. If we can keep ahead of them for more than a few days we will have a real shot at escape, if we can¡¯t then there is no way we get away they just have way too much endurance.¡± Julius¡¯ face got a little pale, obviously he was remembering the last time Nopea took us on a jog. Neither of us was in bad shape but running all out for an hour does not make for fond memories, nor does it mean we have a high likelihood of success. There was no way we could outrun our pursuers, the Susi just had too much endurance, our only option would be to outthink them. I just hope they aren¡¯t as good at tracking as they are at everything else. We headed northwest toward the river both of us carried our tools, Julius with his shovel, me with the hoe. I couldn¡¯t be sure either would come in handy but it was better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. We made it to the river next to the inlet for the pond there was forest on the other side of the river which was perfect for our purposes. With no sign of pursuit, we could get a little tricky with how and where we exited the river. I plunged into the slow moving river the young lord right on my heels and we made our way upstream. It wasn¡¯t too difficult for while the river was moving it didn¡¯t go up past our stomachs. We got out of the water, leaving a rather obvious path but I wasn¡¯t worried about that at least not right now. I broke off a branch to use as a means of disguising our trail and then I started walking deeper into the forest. I made sure Julius was following in my foot steps and then I picked up the pace a little bit, we didn¡¯t have a lot of time to lose our pursuers fortunately after only a few minutes we found a game trail. Upon seeing the trail I said, ¡°Alright Julius, it¡¯s time to head back to the river, make sure you only step where you¡®ve stepped before, we don¡¯t want anyone to know we backtracked.¡± Julius nodded and slowly made his way back toward the river, taking great care to only step in his own foot prints. I did the same all the while sweeping up our prints. I made sure to miss a couple of boot marks as we made our way back to the river, I wanted to make sure they knew we headed through the forest without leaving too obvious of a trail. Once we got back to the river we made our way toward its center and started swimming downstream. The nice thing about our route was that it allowed us to rest while moving at a decent clip. The only downside was that it was cold enough to start wearing down our endurance after a while. Only an hour into our journey downriver and muscles were starting to cramp up. I forced myself to endure the cramps as we¡¯d only gone about four miles downriver and we needed to get at least six or seven before leaving its scent concealing safety. The next hour was unpleasant to say the least, the cold water just sort of ate away at my strength but I knew that every mile further downriver was a mile further away from our captors. The goal was worth suffering a little for, I was favorably impressed with Julius, so far he hadn¡¯t complained even once. I knew that while this was unpleasant for me it had to be much harder for him as he didn¡¯t have the same experience I did in managing pain. I slowed down a bit to allow him to catch up to me and I said quietly, ¡°We¡¯ll be getting out at the next game trail, you¡¯re going to need to remove your clothes and especially your boots before we leave the river, can¡¯t have any distinctive marks showing where we truly left the river.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Julius nodded and with teeth chattering lightly replied, ¡°Sure thing Rufus, then once we get out we head west for sixty miles then cut north right?¡± I smiled, ¡°That¡¯s right milord, then once we hit the Great Tela Forest we skirt its edge and head west until we hit the Gap and head north. It won¡¯t be a quick journey, but if we can avoid our pursuers for the first few days we¡¯ll have a decent chance at escape.¡± It didn¡¯t take long after reviewing our plan for me to spot a game trail leading right to the water. I pointed it out to the little lord and we swam to it. I made sure to start removing my clothes while I was still hip deep in water, Julius stopped beside me and did the same. I kept my undergarments on but that was it, everything else I wrung out and then draped over my shoulders. The boots that we had left on in case we needed to exit the river suddenly were now taken off, laces tied and then hung around my neck. Once I had everything situated I gingerly made my way out of the water doing my best to avoid cutting my feet on any hidden branches or sharp rocks. While I might seem like I was being overly cautious Julius and I were planning on walking halfway across a continent, starting the journey with an injured foot seemed like a bad idea to me¡­¡± I had Julius leave the water first, I followed and did my best to disguise our exit point. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but then I never was much of a woodsman, I focused my time on killing things, not so much on avoiding pursuit or tracking. Fortunately I¡¯d spent enough time on it to at least have the basics down and I¡¯d say I did a pretty serviceable job of covering our tracks without making our exit point unnaturally free of the tracks of its normal visitors. Julius led us along the game trail for the first two hundred feet or so then I signaled for him to stop. He paused and I took over the lead and set a faster pace. I figured at this point if we hadn¡¯t lost our pursuers our only hope would be to put as much distance between us and them and hope they gave up. I led us down the trail doing my best to step on places clean of debris attempting to make as little noise as possible. Even if the Susi weren¡¯t nearby we were still in the middle of an unknown forest with no armor and little in the way of weapons. I wanted to keep as low of a profile as possible in case there were any predators nearby. I quietly asked, ¡°How are your feet doing?¡± Julius answered, ¡°They¡¯re fine.¡± I asked again, ¡°Any cuts?¡± Julius replied, ¡°Not so far, they¡¯ve been jabbed a couple of times but nothing has penetrated the skin yet.¡± I nodded to myself after coming to a decision and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s put our socks and boots on, They aren¡¯t dry yet, but we need to pick up the pace a bit and we can¡¯t do that while making sure we don¡¯t hurt ourselves. Just let me know as soon as you start to feel any warm spots on your feet, we are going to have to do a lot of walking and it would be a bad idea to try nursing blistered feet while we are on the move.¡± We sat down and I wrung out my socks one final time in an attempt to get them as dry as possible, then I wiped off my feet then put on my socks and boots. They were damp, but we¡¯d probably get at least an hour of walking before any blisters started forming. I would have preferred for us to be running of course but running in a dim forest is always a bad idea, even on a game path roots and underbrush could trip you up and cause a broken ankle. That was the last thing we needed, so until we reached some open plains we would be walking quickly. The walking pace also allowed me to keep an eye out for food. We completely lacked supplies which I regretted, but I wanted as much lead time as possible. Having the Susi think we were still in the fields would give us more of a head start than if they smelled us in the house without anyone else there. We¡¯d eventually be able to hunt and build up our supplies but we needed to distance ourselves from any possible pursuit first. So far the little path we were on was fairly barren of edibles, but I knew that eventually we¡¯d run into something¡­ A few hours later after the sun had set we did exactly that, we ran into some wolves¡­ In case you were wondering, they were not the cute and cuddly type of wolf, you know the well fed ones you see in the Royal Menagerie and think, aww¡­ They were the mean, bite your face off type of wolf, the ones that haven¡¯t been fed in a while and think you look like dinner. My only consolation upon meeting these vicious beasts was that we didn¡¯t come across them an hour ago when we still hadn¡¯t dressed. At least now if I died, I would meet my maker fully clothed and fighting. I gripped my hoe tightly and prepared for the onslaught, I said to Julius, ¡°Guard my flanks, I¡¯ll try to take them out, you just make sure they don¡¯t hamstring me. I¡¯ll try to buy you enough time to cast something strong enough to kill them.¡± He nodded and began chanting. ¡°Gel i vent ajuntar a el meu rabia¡± A small globe of ice began forming and that was all the attention I could spare before our fight with the pack of wolves. I did a quick count and knew we were fucked, there were nine wolves snarling in the pale moonlight. I kept my head on a swivel, doing my best to make sure I didn¡¯t lose one and find it at my back. I also tried to find the alpha amongst them, figuring that if I took him out the rest might back off. Unfortunately I am not an expert on wolves and they all looked like the same scary four foot, grey furred slobbering monster. I could see flashes of long sharp teeth and the reflection of the moon glinting off their eyes. So much for our great escape, gone less than a day and eaten by wolves¡­ I made myself as big as possible and started yelling mostly nonsense at the wolves, trying to make myself look like too much trouble. I wanted to buy as much time as possible for Julius, if I gave him a couple of minutes he would be able to cast something strong enough to take a couple of the wolves out. It didn¡¯t work, the wolves just ended up looking more agitated, snarling and biting the air. One of the wolves growled and began advancing. I guess I found the leader, either that or the most aggressive one. I continued to puff out my shoulders while I realigned my feet. When the wolf got to within eight feet of me, I lunged forward, extending my right arm to its max while holding as close to the end of the hoe as possible while still maintaining my grip on it. The wolf jumped back but it didn¡¯t understand exactly how great my range was and I still connected with its¡¯ face. I felt the crunch of bone as I think I broke the wolf¡¯s cheek. It yelped as it fell back an extra three feet beyond its projected landing spot. The other wolves snarled as their leader was violently thrust amongst them. They started spreading out, circling us and I knew I needed to make a move to finish off the leader otherwise we were not going to make it. With swords we would have been fine, with a shovel and a hoe we would never survive attacks from multiple angles. So I made my move, I used my hoe like a halberd, I lunged forward again and brought the edge down upon the wolf I¡¯d just injured. It jumped forward in an attempt to reach my throat so I pulled my arm back in while continuing the attack. I ended up striking the wolf on its spine, right next to its¡¯ back legs. The blow was powerful enough that the wolf went spinning and I was able to narrowly avoid it biting my face off. The wolves continued to growl and snarl and I roared at them hoping to display my dominance. Once again it didn¡¯t work two of them started advancing toward me. Then I heard a howl from behind us. I spun around and saw teeth, claws, and rage. -------------------------- AN: Hey everyone hope you liked the chapter, I''ve finally started up a patron account so join up and you will get to see the next chapter a week early. I''m going to be doing my best to get out at least four chapters per month so sign up if you want to be a week ahead of everyone else. There will also be some exclusive content like a character list that hints at future developments and some side character POVs that I haven''t been able to work into the story without ruining surprises or going back way too far. I''d also like to thank two guys for donating this last week I was able to buy groceries this week thanks to you, let me know if you''d like your names published. Ch. 23 Rescue Gurt and I ended up following the scent of our parents all the way to the river where we ran into Westra and Kurt. I waved when they came into sight and they waved back. When we got into shouting distance of them I yelled, ¡°Where have you guys been?¡± Kurt yelled back, ¡°The barbarians ran away and we have been trying to track them down.¡± My face scrunched up as I was puzzled by that bit of information. I¡¯d just told them less than two days ago that I would be escorting them home and they end up taking off. It just didn¡¯t make sense, why brave the wilderness and potentially hostile residents of a country not your own when you could have an escort home. Apparently something was lost in translation, either that or they didn¡¯t trust me. Gurt and I jogged the last little bit until we could hold a conversation without shouting and I asked, ¡°So where are my parents now?¡± Kurt answered, ¡°They are still searching for the barbarians, right now your father and mother should be searching upriver for them. We found a false trail that threw your Dad off for a while, then he realized the barbarians were trying to lose any pursuit and so he ran off north as that¡¯s the direction of their homeland.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Well I guess that makes sense, but if Dad went north then I¡¯m going to check to the south just to make sure they didn¡¯t pull another fast one. Gurt you should go home with your parents, I¡¯m going to have to run if I want any shot at catching them. Kurt would you mind telling my parents where I went if they return before I do?¡± Kurt replied, ¡°Sure Swift, just do your best to stay out of trouble and remember the barbarians are desperate enough to run away, they probably won¡¯t return quietly so you may have to put them down. I know you put in a lot of work saving them, but if they got loose they could seriously hurt some people and then that would be on your conscious.¡± I said, ¡°I know, and if it comes down to it I will do what¡¯s necessary, but I think they probably didn¡¯t understand that I planned on taking them home, they are probably just scared and thus acting out. If I can¡¯t calm them down and bring them home peacefully I will do what I have to, but I really hope it doesn¡¯t come to that.¡± I jumped into the water and crossed the river without waiting for a reply, frankly I didn¡¯t want to hear any more advice that I should kill the only two humans I¡¯d seen in this world. Sure I¡¯d been a Susi for the last nine years now, I¡¯d come to love my family and gotten used to my new body. I can honestly say that I actually enjoyed my life now even more than my old one. I mean sure the tech base sucked, but I got to play around with magic and I was so good at martial arts I¡¯m pretty sure I could make Bruce Lee my bitch. And on top of all that with the aid of magic I could actual heal sicknesses that modern medicine didn¡¯t have a shot at curing. I went into medicine because I wanted to be able to help people and in this world I really could do just that, but I also missed my old world. I missed being able to just relax on a Sunday, watch TV or a movie. I missed being able to order a pizza and have it delivered to me from miles away. I missed driving my old Toyota, I mean sure it couldn¡¯t break 100 mph to save my life, but it was reliable and sure as hell made my life more convenient. Most of all I missed the people in my life, my friends, my old family, I missed humanity. So I honestly doubt I would be able to kill the two humans that ran away. I mean sure we hadn¡¯t really had any meaningful conversations but they were a reminder of who I used to be and there¡¯s no way I could just kill them out of hand. I faintly heard Kurt yell, ¡°Be careful Swift.¡± But I ignored him and pretended that I didn¡¯t actually hear what he had to say. I needed to catch up with those two humans before they hurt someone, or got themselves killed. I moved quickly down the bank of the river, it was often overgrown with brush and I was forced to avoid a lot of low hanging branches but I still made good time, hopping into the water where necessary. I didn¡¯t try to find their exit point through sight, I mean sure I kept my eyes open for any obvious signs but I was primarily relying on my nose to track them down. It was the only method that would allow me to move at a pace fast enough to actually catch up with the escaping humans. Now normally when trying to track something by its scent you want to have a fresh sample of said scent in order to help the dogs pick it up. Fortunately for my quick search method I was a little smarter than your average dog, so I was smelling for things other than just their personal scent, like metal, leather, or river water where it shouldn¡¯t be. That last one led me down a couple of false trails but eventually after an hour of searching when the sun finally sank beneath the horizon and the moon was beginning to rise I finally caught a whiff of their actual trail. It was the smell of wet leather that really stood out. Once I found their trail it was easy to follow, I couldn¡¯t really see any tracks but the smell of leather and eventually sweat let me know I was on the right path. I was also able to really pick up the pace as the humans were moving along a game trail so I didn¡¯t have to go crashing through the underbrush. I started jogging along the path as it headed generally westward slowing down briefly every now and then to confirm I was still on their trail. I could tell I was getting close to the humans as their scent was getting rather fresh, but then I caught a whiff of something that instantly put me on guard. It was the scent of Susikin¡­ this world¡¯s equivalent of wolves. I wouldn¡¯t be too worried if it was only one Susikin, but I was getting multiple scents, apparently a pack had caught wind of my humans. I stopped moving forward for a minute and did my best to discern how many Susikin I¡¯d have to deal with. My nostrils flared as I took a lot of quick breaths, I walked around the path for a few seconds, stepped off it in both directions and eventually came to a count. Ten Susikin, four females and six males, don¡¯t ask how I know that, you won¡¯t like the answer. After determining the size of the pack I started jogging again. I wish I¡¯d brought a spear or something to help ward off the pack, but it looks like I¡¯d have to rely on my fists, my claws, and my magic. Fortunately I fought with those three things more than any other weapon, so even though I wasn¡¯t armed I in no way felt helpless. I picked up the pace a bit when I caught the faint noise I¡¯d learned to associate with battle. I didn¡¯t sprint, but I did pick up the pace even more, I also thanked Sister Moon for shining so bright tonight, allowing me to see the forest floor well enough to maintain such a fast pace. That¡¯s right I was thanking a Goddess for the moon being so bright. If I hadn¡¯t died, been reincarnated and wound up as a wolfman on another world I would never have attributed the brightness of the moon to a Goddess, but hey, when you¡¯ve done all of that¡­ Sorry for the digression, anyway after thanking the Moon Goddess of my people I continued forward as fast as I safely could, that is until I caught a glimpse of my humans fighting for their lives. There were nine Susikin in front of them snarling and drawing their attention, one was injured but still active. Unfortunately the alpha was not amongst the nine, which could only mean one thing. I took off at a sprint, the alpha obviously heard me coming because it stepped out of the underbrush and after a quick warning glare it prepared itself to leap at the older human¡¯s back. I howled to give the two some warning, but that just seemed to act as a starting gun for the Susikin as it leapt in an attempt at killing the old warrior before I arrived. I knew there was no way I could reach the two before the Alpha was on them, at least not physically, so I sent my mana ahead of me. The warrior spun quickly upon hearing my howl, but he had no chance at defending himself before the Susikin would be on him, so I used the mana I¡¯d sent ahead to gather some earth and launch it at the leaping Susikin. It didn¡¯t do a lot, my timing wasn¡¯t perfect and I wasn¡¯t able to gather anything hard like a stone, but I managed to do enough to save the old warrior from instant death. The Susikin¡¯s mouth missed my human, its legs were swept to the side as the dirt connected, and the alpha ended up crashing into the warrior. Both of them went down in a tangle of limbs and teeth, but it allowed the boy enough time to do something. When the Susikin righted itself and moved to attack the downed man the boy swung his shovel with all his strength. The hit was brutal and had enough power in it to knock to Susikin several feet away from the old warrior. The alpha got up, a little shaky from the hit, the kid had probably broken a couple of its ribs, and the other Susikin began advancing again. Unfortunately for the Susikin they didn¡¯t act fast enough and I was able to leap in front of the two humans. I bared my fangs at the Susikin and challenged them to come at me. Two of them were foolish enough to do so, the light grey one on the right leapt at me, while the darker grey on the left kept low and went for my leg. They acted fast and were well coordinated, it was probably something the two had done hundreds of times over hundreds of hunts, of course I wasn¡¯t some dumb deer that had never had to fight a wolf before. I fought my father on a daily basis and if I lost to the first pair of Susikin that attacked me he would probably spit on my grave and thank them for saving him from the embarrassment of having a son that couldn¡¯t even fight off a couple of Susikin. I swung out my right hand and grabbed the leaping Susikin by the neck I then continued the motion, redirecting the Susikin¡¯s momentum down and to the left. Its lower body went crashing into the head of the other charging Susikin its head was slammed into the ground, causing a small dent in the trail and breaking its neck. I then leapt forward toward the mildly disoriented Susikin. It was still recovering from having its pack mate¡¯s leg hit it in the face which left it ill prepared for my sudden charge. I lead with my left hand and dug my claws into the beast¡¯s fur and flesh. I sunk my claws deep into its throat and then ripped them out severing its windpipe and an important artery along the way. Blood gushed out of the wound and the Susikin collapsed. I then growled at the eight remaining Susikin, they started to bunch up around their injured members, three were gathered in front of me around the one the human had hurt and the other three were gathered around the alpha. I growled again and the Susikin stayed on the defensive. They now knew that fighting me would be a losing proposition but they also couldn¡¯t just flee due to the injuries some of their members had received, so I started backing up toward the humans. That¡¯s when I noticed that the boy was chanting something, I looked back and saw him gathering ice in between his hands. Apparently the boy could do some magic which was odd since I didn¡¯t find a mana core in his body while healing him. Then again he was chanting something in a language that didn¡¯t quite sound like his own, so maybe had found a way for people to use magic even without a mana core. Either way I sent out a wave of my own mana to disrupt his casting, I didn¡¯t want him foolishly aggravating the pack when we had an opportunity to just walk away. He looked up at me, startled at what I had done, I then shook my head at him and indicated that he should start backing up. He nodded, still a little shocked that I had dispelled his magic and started backing up, shovel in hand. The old warrior had regained his feet at this point and did the same. He still gripped the hoe tightly, but he was also too worried about the Susikin to be much of a threat to me right now. The three of us continued to back up along the path until we got a couple hundred feet away from the Susikin, then I heard the swoosh of the hoe and I had to duck and leap forward simultaneously in order the strike aimed at the back of my head. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I rolled out of the leap and turned to face the new aggressor. The old warrior shook the hoe at me and tried to look as menacing as possible, meanwhile I just laughed. The proud warrior attempting to take me out with a hoe was just ridiculous. I sent out a little bit of my mana and encased his feet in the earth. Once he was immobilized I leapt forward and wrested the hoe from his hands. Julius started chanting again and I could see the ambient mana begin to gather between his hands. I¡¯m guessing if I waited long enough ice would have started to form there, but I decided not to give him the chance, I sent another wave of pure mana toward his spell and disrupted it. He looked up at me and glared, apparently he wasn¡¯t a fan of my ability to disrupt his spells. I grinned at him and then held out my hand, he continued to glare for about a minute before sighing and then tossing me the shovel. After disarming the pair I released the old warrior¡¯s feet from their earthen prison and pointed back down the path. They turned around and began trudging home. When we got a little further away from the Susikin I said, ¡°Claudicatus¡± Which I¡¯d learned meant stop in their language. When they stopped I walked around them and sat down, I pointed to the ground and then said, ¡°Sit.¡± They sat down on the game trail and we started talking. I realized that something had gotten lost in translation the last time I spoke to them so we went over everything all over again in both of our languages. I told them my name, they responded with theirs, the boy was Julius, the warrior was Rufus. We went over sit, stand, stop, walk, run, follow, magic, home, Susi, Human, village, town, city, water, food, me, you, one through twenty, day, night, yes, no, understand, and help. Basically I confirmed that I had all of the words right, so I was a little puzzled as to why they would run away so soon after I told them I would take them home, so this time I decided to use visual aids. I summoned my magic and created small earthen models of myself, Rufus and Julius. Then I made a miniature model of my home. After that I did my best to recreate the continent we were on. It wasn¡¯t great, but I blame a lot of that on the maps I¡¯d been shown and not on my lack of artistic ability. I¡¯m pretty sure they understood though since I made little trees to represent the northern forest and made a lot of small homes and a castle to represent the capitol city. After the map was made I put my home in its proper position and then I walked the figurines from my home to the city and then north toward where the humans were from. After the dolls arrived north of our territory I left and continued to walk the dolls north on their own. I even created a border with little Susi dolls on one side and human dolls on the other. Then I asked, understand? I walk, you follow, you home¡­¡± I saw the light of understanding in Julius¡¯ eyes and he asked, ¡°I vade home?¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Yes, twenty day, I walk you home. Understand?¡± Apparently he understood because he began nodding and said, ¡°Yes.¡± I smiled at the two of them and then got up and said, ¡°Follow.¡± Rufus and Julius copied me, and we made our way back east toward home. I hung on to their improvised weapons while we walked for two reasons, number one, I couldn¡¯t be 100% sure they wouldn¡¯t try to attack me again, at least not until we could understand each other a bit better and number two was that they were exhausted. I mean sure I was tired myself, but it was already getting fairly late into the evening and the two had just worked for most of the day then followed that up with almost no food and then travelled close to 20 miles through rough terrain. Now I would have liked to just rest for the night, fed the two escapees and then made our way back in the morning, but I wanted to engrave this memory in their heads, escaping sucks, and recapture wasn¡¯t going to be any fun either. So while we made our way back home I made a resolution to never let this sort of thing happen again. I allowed myself to get way too absorbed in my own thing, building the new house, completing Raha¡¯s challenges, meanwhile I left two humans alone amongst people they would think of as enemies. I ignored them and then when I came to a decision I simply told them what would happen without really making sure they understood it. Until I returned Julius and Rufus home they were my responsibility and I¡¯d failed them. So starting tomorrow I was going to spend at least two hours every day getting to know them better, I would do my best to include them in what I was doing as opposed to just leaving them in the care of my parents or the Taikas. I¡¯d obviously have to talk to my parents about reprioritizing my lessons a little bit, but there was no way they would survive if they ran off like this in the capitol, or on the road. I nodded and decided to start practicing their language and teaching them mine. As we walked I began pointing out things like trees, rocks, the path, leaves, basically anything I saw. Then I¡¯d ask them for their word for the objects I pointed out and did my best to memorize them. It was slow, repetitive and boring, but it did help pass the time while we made our way back home. When we finally got close to home I saw that there was still light in my house which could only mean that my parents were still awake. That didn¡¯t bode well for me as it meant they were worried about me, and probably concerned that the humans had fled into the countryside. When we got home I opened the door and my father was sitting at the table, elbows resting on the table top, chin resting on his clasped hands. My mother was nowhere to be seen which meant she was either out looking for me or she had gone to bed. I was hoping for the latter because if she was still out looking for me I was in deep shit. I walked inside and said, ¡°Hey Dad, is Mom already asleep?¡± He nodded and said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t exactly say she was asleep, but she is in our room, she didn¡¯t want to be out here for this talk.¡± I nodded and grimaced a little, ¡°I¡¯m guessing this isn¡¯t going to be one of those it¡¯s no big deal Son, just glad you got home safe talks?¡± He shook his head and replied, ¡°No Son, nothing so pleasant, the barbarians ran away today and if they had hurt anyone it would have been on all of our heads. They are dangerous and I think they need to be put down. There is simply no controlling them and I don¡¯t want to risk anyone¡¯s life because you have a soft spot for our enemies.¡± His sentences were cold, he wasn¡¯t talking like a concerned parent he was talking like a judge delivering his sentence. I sat down at the table and responded the only way I could, I got equally cold and logical before I answered, ¡°I can understand why you would feel that way Dad, they represent a risk, you believe I am taking that risk with no real thought, and you may have been partially right about that. I left them in your care and I shouldn¡¯t have done that, I made assumptions that I shouldn¡¯t have and basically I messed up. I got wrapped up in my own world and forgot that I still needed to make sure that they were taken care of and that they understood exactly what would happen with them. I regret allowing this to happen and have already determined the steps I need to take in order to ensure this doesn¡¯t happen again. I¡¯d like you to keep an open mind about not killing them while I run through my thoughts and planned changes. Can you agree to that?¡± My father replied, ¡°I¡¯ll listen for now¡­¡± I took a deep breath and calmly explained, ¡°When I first saw these two on the plains about to die I knew I had to do something, it didn¡¯t matter if they were my enemies or not, they were hurt and needed help. So I helped, I healed their wounds and brought them home, even though they may be the enemies of our people they are still sentient beings, they have thoughts, feelings, they can communicate even if it isn¡¯t our language I know eventually we will be able to speak to each other. With all of that in common how could I just kill them out of hand, as far as I know they have never done anything to our people, they have committed no crimes so ¡°putting them down¡± as you put it just seems fundamentally wrong. Now what you are worried about is that they might run away from here and cause trouble, that they might hurt someone while they try to make their way home. That fear is perfectly justifiable, they may very well see us as their enemies in which case killing one of us while they escape would just be a bonus. But as we both know they are intelligent that means we can reason with them. Our biggest problem has been that we have not been able to communicate I plan on changing that. I plan on keeping the two of them by my side from now on, they will go wherever I go, and I will devote at least two hours every day to expanding both their vocabulary as well as my own. I will also be with them all the time because I am pretty sure I am the only person they feel any sort of trust towards. When I got wrapped up in Raha¡¯s challenges I pretty much ignored the two of them, I left them alone amongst hostile strangers. Wouldn¡¯t you also try to get out of a situation like that? I¡¯m asking for one more chance to sort this mess out without us resorting to killing two potentially innocent men. Will you agree to that Dad?¡± He sat there thinking, Julius and Rufus stood behind me, frozen, they might not have understood the words being exchanged but they clearly understood our discussion was important and they didn¡¯t want to draw any notice upon themselves. After a few minutes of contemplation my father seemed to come to a decision, he said, ¡°Fine, this is their last chance though, you need to accompany them at all times, if they leave the property on their own at any point I will have the guards kill them. They are your responsibility, don¡¯t let something like this happen again.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Thank you Dad, I¡¯ll make sure they learn what¡¯s expected of them and I¡¯ll make sure nothing like this happens again.¡± With that we shook hands and he went to bed. I grabbed some bread from the pantry, gave it to the two then led them to their bedroom. After shutting the door I walked into my own room fell on the bed and did my best to fall asleep. I laid there for way too long, but I was still amped up from my conversation with my father. I was really glad I got him to go along with the first option, because the second option was me leaving with them right now, and I didn¡¯t want to have to go through that. With that thought in mind I slowly drifted off to sleep, the next month was going to be a busy time for me. -------------------------- AN: Well here is the conclusion of Swift''s life on the farm. I spent a lot more time on this part of the story than I initially planned, but I had some fun writing this section of the story and I hope you guys have formed an attachment to Swift, because his childhood is over. Once he leaves the farm people will be actively trying to kill him and he will have to make some morally questionable decisions. To everyone on my Patreon the new chapter will be uploaded later on tonight. I also want to issue a Big Thank You to everyone who has donated money to support me. You guys have allowed me to avoid asking my parents for money for the last month. Cameron Gully, Francisco Villalta, Anton Schmidt and Benjamin Johannsen Thank you!! Ch. 24 Goodbyes Good morning everyone it¡¯s been a month since Julius and Rufus tried to escape and I can now confidently say that they are perfectly happy being in my care. I know this because in the last month I learned how to speak Ilati fluently. Or none of that happened... I did however expand my vocabulary in Ilati the language of humanity in the city of Bellum. That¡¯s right I am by no means fluent, but I¡¯ve picked up enough to speak like a 5 year old. Julius and Rufus have also been learning to speak the Vuohian language aka Sprak, as I figured that Vuohians would be less likely to kill the two of them if they mispronounced a word, apparently some Susi can be kind of temperamental¡­ Anyway over the last month besides doing my best to learn their language I¡¯ve also been training with them so that if they ever do run away again at the very least they won¡¯t die fifteen miles into the journey. We¡¯ve been sparring and I make sure to take them running every day. They¡¯re still slow and get tired too easily, but then that¡¯s in comparison to me, and I make Olympic athletes look like scrubs. Beyond training and teaching them Sprak I¡¯ve also had them sit in on my etiquette and history lessons, their probably only getting one word in three, but I figure that¡¯s better than nothing. Hopefully they learn enough so that they aren¡¯t killed by someone because they said something inadvertently offensive. I also managed to get the house done a few days ago, I was a little worried about getting it done in time to get my bonus, but I subcontracted some of the magical work out to Gurt and he did a great job. He has more power and magical stamina than me so it worked out fine. Plus this helped him improve his control which I know he¡¯ll need if he wants to get into one of the magic academies. Sure I ended up with less money because I had to give Gurt close to a third of the bonus, but he¡¯ll need the money while he¡¯s at school so I guess everything worked out okay. Raha left after the house was finished he said he needed to buy some furniture for the place now that it was finished, he also took most of the construction crew with him. I was kind of sorry to see them go as they made the whole place a lot more exciting. I¡¯m sure I would eventually come to miss the peace and quiet of this little farm house, but now that everyone was gone it felt empty around here. Fortunately I was still pretty busy prepping for the journey, gathering everything that was easily transportable and putting them in a backpack my mom spent the last month making. She ended up using the Lehmakin hide in order to make the backpack so it was very sturdy. Raha also left Muuntaa behind guard his new home, so I was able to continue my wrestling practice, the number of ways a Susi can kill you while wrestling is shocking. All it takes is a claw to an artery and your opponent will be dead in minutes. Never try to wrestle a Susi unless you have a skilled healer nearby as it¡¯s possible for them to almost kill you accidentally. Let¡¯s just say I got to practice my medical skills a lot during our training sessions and leave it at that. I also had the humans practice wrestling with us, they didn¡¯t fair too well until we started showing them some throws, and I showed them how to break joints. Once they picked up the basics of joint locks they started practicing on their own as often as possible. I¡¯m pretty sure they realized that while unarmed this would be their only defense against a Susi that decided to get aggressive. I also found a way to explain their presence without ruffling too many feathers. As a warrior society sometimes the Susi like to settle things with their fists¡­ The loser of the martial display of dominance is then obliged to concede whatever point of contention lead to their exchange of blows. Should they refuse to concede the point they are then obliged to serve the winner for a year and a day. It¡¯s an old custom and rarely is it invoked, but I figured I could use it to explain away the presence of the two humans. With our cover story all straight I was looking forward to Raha¡¯s return, I was excited to finally move on and start doing more with my life, but at the same time I was also incredibly nervous. I plan on changing a lot of laws and customs, you know really make a splash, which means I¡¯m likely to gain enemies, I¡¯ll have to either fight or out think. My safe little life on my parent¡¯s farm was about to come to an end, it¡¯s like I¡¯m going off to college again¡­ Only this time instead of going to a school with a lot of other people my own age, drinking and studying I¡¯ll be going to the capital of a the beastmen races, fighting to change a social injustice all the while establishing my claim to the role of heir to one of the most powerful clans. Like I said, it¡¯s just like college¡­ I decided to try and burn off some of the nervous energy that was randomly pumping shots of adrenaline through my veins. So I got off of my bed and started walking around my room looking for anything I might have forgotten. It was almost empty, there was a small table by my bed and a chair in one of the corners, both items I had built with some help from Dad. My dresser was next to the door and while I know I¡¯d emptied it of any clothes that still fit I rummaged through it one last time to make sure I wasn¡¯t forgetting anything. A couple of vests that were too small for me yet still too big for my little brother, along with some pants still in that useless size between the two of us. In the bottom drawer was a collection of my little brother¡¯s clothes as he was currently staying in my room while we had our human guests. There were also still a couple of pencils in a clay mug on top of the dresser. Oh did I never mention them, yeah, I made pencils when I was about six years old. I whittled some wood into the right shape then added the actual bit that would write. I couldn¡¯t find any graphite so I used charcoal with a moderate degree of success. You could write with them, but it was messy and imprecise, and unless I found some graphite I would never be able to actually sell them. I decided to leave the pencils in the mug. Frankly they would probably break if I packed them and then everything in my bag would be stained black from the charcoal. They simply weren¡¯t worth the effort. In fact a lot of the things that were left in my room were failed attempts at recreating things from my original world. I had some pots filled with charcoal a sealed on filled with sulfur and then a number pots filled of different elements. I¡¯d been trying to recreate gunpowder, but I never could figure out what Saltpeter was. I know it was the third thing you grind together in order to make black powder, but I hadn¡¯t found any so far. Maybe in a city I could find some, but I¡¯d still have to do a lot of experimenting since I couldn¡¯t describe the stuff and no one would understand just based off the English word. The only other thing left in my room was my chess set, that¡¯s right I invented chess on this world, which means I am one of the best players in the world. Unfortunately I showed my dad how to play and well, he¡¯s better than me. But I can still beat my mom and all of the Taikas so I have that going for me. I¡¯d have to leave the set behind, as I doubt that the clay base would last through a journey of 500 miles over bumpy roads. After one last look around the room it was time to wake up the adorable little bundle asleep under the furs. Auttaa was close to two and a half years old at this point and he kept getting bigger every day. I gently shook him to wake him up and after a little squirming and then tiredly rubbing his eyes he finally got out of bed. He frowned at me and said, ¡°Why you wake me up?¡± I smiled down at him and said, ¡°Because it¡¯s our day to play! Remember you and I were going to spend the whole day together.¡± His frown turned upside down and his face lit up with excitement, he shot out of bed and gave me a hug exclaiming, ¡°Oh yeah I forget. What we gunna do first?¡± With a grin plastered on my face I answered him, ¡°Well, first we are going to make breakfast for everyone, then I have a surprise for you, but I¡¯ll only give it to you if you are patient and help me out like a good boy.¡± He enthusiastically nodded his head up and down and said, ¡°I¡¯m a good boy!¡± I ruffled the fur on top of his head and said, ¡°I know you are, so let¡¯s go make everyone some breakfast sandwiches. I¡¯ll cut up the sausage and cook the eggs, you toast the bread okay buddy?¡± He nodded and we made our way into the kitchen. I cut up a loaf of bread and handed the pieces on a plate to Auttaa. Then I started a fire in the stove. that¡¯s right I¡¯d built my mom a stove, it burned wood instead of gas but it worked and made cooking a lot easier for her. As I was saying, I started a fire in the stove, one of the few pieces of fire magic my dad had been able to teach me was the equivalent of lighting a match. It wasn¡¯t powerful but it was useful as hell. Once the fire got going. Auttaa started toasting the bread slices over the stove while I gathered all of the other ingredients. I kept an eye on him while he was near the fire, I know you think it¡¯s a little irresponsible to let a 2 year old cook, but short of killing himself within a few seconds I should be able to repair any damage he could possible cause himself. Besides doing things like this encouraged him to develop a sense of responsibility. While he toasted the bread I thinly sliced some sausage links and then put them in a frying pan. Then I cracked a couple of eggs, mixed them up and threw some lard on another frying pan. With everything else all set I raked the coals out so they were spread out evenly at the bottom of the stove. Once that was set up I started cooking the sausage and heating up the lard. I spread the lard around the pan evenly coating the whole surface. Meanwhile the sausage began to sizzle and let off an amazing aroma. I flipped all of the pieces of sausage then poured the egg mix into the lard pan, not all of it, just enough for two egg and sausage breakfast sandwiches. I double checked Auttaa¡¯s progress and saw that he¡¯d managed to toast close to six pieces of bread with varying degrees of success. I smiled and refocused myself on cooking. I grabbed a plate from the cabinet and said, ¡°Alright Auttaa, it¡¯s up to you to make the sandwiches, so start plating the toast on here and I¡¯ll load them up. He put two slightly burned pieces and two slightly undercooked pieces on the plate and I loaded them up with sausage and the egg I¡¯d just finished cooking. I then raked the coals over to one side of the stove and left the sausages on the grill to keep warm. Auttaa and I sat down at the kitchen table and began eating. I took the slightly burned sandwich and we began chowing down. I nudged Auttaa and said, ¡°Good toast Auttaa, thank you!¡± He beamed with pleasure and replied, ¡°Your welcome big bro, thanks for the sausage and egg.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I responded, ¡°You¡¯re welcome Auttaa.¡± After we finished our breakfast I said, ¡°Okay buddy, go wake up Mom and Dad and the two Huma, I¡¯ll finish making their breakfast, then we can go get your surprise.¡± Auttaa squealed, ¡°Yay!!¡± Then he ran over to wake up Mom and Dad, meanwhile I raked the coals back into place and started cooking some more egg, I also started toasting some more bread as Auttaa hadn¡¯t made enough for everyone. I cut him some slack though since he wasn¡¯t even three years old yet. Just as I finished preparing the sandwiches my parents and the humans made their way out of their respective rooms, all being led by an excited two year old. He dragged my still sleepy parents to the table and I set their plates down on the table. I said, ¡°Hope everyone enjoys their breakfasts, Auttaa and I are going to go play outside.¡± I then looked at Julius and Rufus and said, ¡°Today is rest day. We leave tomorrow.¡± They nodded in understanding and I grabbed my little brother¡¯s hand and lead him outside. First I led him over to the barn and we greeted the horse before doing anything else. It was still a little nervous around us, but after a month of constant contact with various Susi it was mostly calm. After letting it take in our scent, I gave the horse a scratch behind the ears and a handful of whim that we kept in a bucket by its stall. After acknowledging the horse I took my little brother over to a darkened corner of the barn, for it was there that I was keeping his present. I pointed to two buckets with lids on them and said, ¡°You take those two I¡¯ll take these two and we¡¯ll bring them outside.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°Kay¡± We grabbed the buckets and carried them out into the early morning sunshine. I nodded at the lids and said, ¡°Go ahead and open them up. Your present is inside the buckets.¡± Auttaa smiled and tore open the lids of the two buckets he¡¯d been carrying. Inside were a bunch of action figures I¡¯d made out of hardened clay. I¡¯d spent the last couple of days shaping them with magic and I think they turned out pretty good. I¡¯d basically done my best to recreate toy army men, except I¡¯d made three races worth. There were little Vuohians with hammers and staffs, Humans in armor with swords and bows, and large Susi with spears and swords. I¡¯d made close to fifty figurines so I was really hoping he would still have some left by the time I returned home. Auttaa¡¯s eyes got really wide as he took in the sight of so many toys and he screamed, ¡°Awesome!!!¡± He then immediately started pulling out the little toys and lining them up by type. Each figurine was unique, well, almost unique I¡¯d actually made another fifty that were almost identical to the original fifty. I wanted my little brother to have a backup set in case he accidentally broke some. I¡¯d told Dad about them along with where they were stored. If the original fifty lasted the first six months I told Dad to give him the other set. Once he had the toys all separated by species he then started looking at each individual piece. Apparently I¡¯d awed him with the details I¡¯d put into each piece because he spent a lot of time with each figure. I smiled and let him look at his new toys for a bit before I coughed to get his attention again. He looked up from his new treasures and I said, ¡°Those aren¡¯t the only new toys I made for you. Open up these buckets for your second gift.¡± Auttaa¡¯s eyes sparkled with excitement as he opened up the second set of buckets, but I could see he was a little disappointed by what he found inside. I was actually even more proud of this set of toys as they were mind numbingly boring to create and required a lot of precision. But I could see why he might be a little disappointed after all Legos don¡¯t look exciting at first glance, but they were one of the most versatile and popular toys ever created. I knew I¡¯d need to explain how to play with this set, but eventually it would be worth it. We spent the next few hours playing around with my little brother¡¯s new toys, I showed him how to build Lego forts and played the bad guys in a war between the humans and the Susi. After a few hours of playing we were finally interrupted by Mom yelling, ¡°Lunch is ready!¡± I got up from the crouched position I¡¯d maintained to play with my little brother and said, ¡°Okay Auttaa, it¡¯s time to head home for lunch, then we¡¯re going to go with Dad to the river and get some fishing done, okay little buddy?¡± Auttaa nodded and said, ¡°Kay, lunch then fishing, then toys.¡± He stuck out his hand and I stuck out mine, we shook hands and I said, ¡°Alright little buddy, after fishing we can play with your new toys again. But first we have to put them away so that they don¡¯t get damaged.¡± Auttaa nodded again and we spent a couple of minutes putting away his toys before returning home. Lunch consisted of Velocichicken sandwiches with a side of berries. We ate with gusto as playing with Legos and toy soldiers for several hours can work up an appetite. After lunch I gave Auttaa a piggyback ride all the way to the river. When we arrived at the river Dad handed me a fishing spear and then he headed downstream a bit while Auttaa and I went upstream. I set him down after we¡¯d gone about twenty feet upstream and said, ¡°Alright little buddy, here¡¯s the plan, I¡¯m going to go to the center of the river with this spear, you stay close to the bank, when you see a fish you scare it back toward me so I can spear it. Sound good?¡± He nodded, Auttaa tended to understand a lot more than he could say and replied, ¡°I stay over here, scare fish.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Yup that¡¯s exactly right. And if you start to get cold you let me know and I¡¯ll start a fire.¡± He smiled and we both walked into the water. Winter was coming on pretty soon, I could feel it in the water, it had already dropped a couple of degrees from when I had to chase down Julius and Rufus. It was still relatively comfortable for me, but a human would probably start shivering. Auttaa and I made our way slowly downstream, I did my best to avoid giving away my position until I was within striking distance of a worthwhile fish. Auttaa on the other hand had a different approach, he would make his way downstream and then pounce on any minnow, frog, or bug that came his way. I¡¯d argue that his methods were less effective than mine, but he also tended to startle any fish near me, so while he caught a minnow and a frog, which were promptly put into a bucket Dad brought along, I managed to catch nothing. I still had a good time though, it really warmed my heart to see my younger brother so happy. I tended to neglect my family whenever I had a project in mind, so it was nice to just take some time and enjoy the simple pleasure of their company. While I watched over Auttaa and basically scared fish downstream Dad got some real spear fishing done. After the first hour he¡¯d already caught six good sized trout. The fish are actually called Taimen, but frankly the fish were basically river trout, so that¡¯s the way I think of them. After the first hour I built up a fire that Auttaa could sit next to while I began cooking the fish over the open flames. We actually got a decent assembly line going after I started cooking. Dad would catch a fish, Auttaa would go collect the body, and then I would clean and cook it. We ended up getting an even dozen before Dad called it quits. He brought in the last fish himself and sat down next to the small cooking fire. He handed me the cleaned fish to cook and said, ¡°You know I¡¯m going to miss you right?¡± ¡°I know Dad, I¡¯m going to miss you too.¡± He nodded and said, ¡°You sure you want to do this? You can back out now, stay on the farm with your mother and me, you¡¯ll be safe and happy here. Your mother and I did our best to ensure that, so if you want to stay just say so.¡± I nodded, ¡°I know Dad, and you guys have made me feel loved and safe my entire life. No matter what happens, where I go, or what I end up doing, this will always be my home. It¡¯s actually a huge relief to know that no matter what I¡¯ll always have a place I can come back to and feel safe. Honestly that¡¯s one of the only reasons that I¡¯m able to actually go out and try to change things, I¡¯m actually really nervous and kind of scared. But I know I¡¯d never be truly happy knowing that you both can¡¯t visit your parents or your brothers because of some stupid custom. I also know I¡¯d feel like shit if Auttaa couldn¡¯t do whatever he wanted to when he grows up just because his fur is white instead of grey or brown or black. I don¡¯t want his future to be limited in any way and the only thing I can do to change that is to go to the capital and fight for change. So even though I know I don¡¯t Have to go, I still Need to do this.¡± Dad smiled and said, ¡°I know Son, I just had to offer one last time.¡± We sat in relative silence for the next ten minutes while the last of the fish cooked. All the while we munched on some of the fish I¡¯d already finished cooking. I personally went for the skin, it was crackly and delicious. There really is nothing like cooking over an open flame. At some point while Dad and I shared a comfortable silence Auttaa became a lot quieter, I looked over and found him asleep by the fire. I nudged Dad and pointed at his sleeping child. He smiled and then started packing everything up. With all of our gear and food packed up and ready to go we headed back home, I ended up picking Auttaa up and carrying him in my arms, his head resting on my shoulder for the whole walk home. --------------------------------- AN: I know you all were expecting the start of a journey this chapter, but I figured Swift needed to say goodbye to his family before starting his adventure. I''m also going to be going back and editing things as the story has changed a little bit since I initially imagined the story and so some of the details need to be fixed. Next chapter will be available to my patreon subscribers later on today. Thanks for reading and if you haven''t already done so please rate my story, let me know what you''ve enjoyed and what needs some work. It will make the editing process a little easier. Ch. 25 First Steps I woke up to the sun¡¯s rays pouring through my window, blinding me. If you can avoid it, don¡¯t have your bedroom window facing east. Normally I didn¡¯t have to deal with that particular issue as I was in the habit of waking up a little before dawn but I¡¯d apparently overslept, and based on how bright the light was I¡¯d done it by quite a bit. I guess staying up until three or four in the morning wasn¡¯t the best strategy when you plan on waking up early the next morning. I blame the nerves, it was fairly difficult trying to fall asleep last night, I had a lot on my mind especially after my talk with mom last night¡­ I got up out of bed and finally noticed something was missing. My little brother wasn¡¯t snuggled up against me, in fact he wasn¡¯t in the room. I checked under the covers again just to make sure, but the adorable little lump was missing. I threw on the vest I¡¯d left out and opened the door into the living room. There I was treated to the sight of my family sitting around the table with Raha and the humans. Raha spoke before anyone else had the chance, ¡°So the little prince has finally woken up. I hope this isn¡¯t a habit of yours. I¡¯m putting my reputation on the line by backing you and laziness isn¡¯t something I can tolerate.¡± I stared at him and started to feel defensive and unsure. The expression I was making must have been pretty funny because the next thing I knew my dad was laughing and pounding Raha on the back. Raha smiled and Dad said, ¡°I told you that you¡¯d be able to get him with that one. No matter how mature he may act he¡¯s still a kid.¡± Raha chuckled as he said, ¡°I¡¯m just kidding Swift, I got here pretty early, but since it will take a while for the carts to get unloaded, we have all just been sitting around and chatting. We decided to let you sleep in as long as you needed to, figuring that you probably didn¡¯t get a lot last night.¡± Mom nodded along with Raha adding in, ¡°I told everyone to let you sleep in today since I know you were up late last night. Hope you don¡¯t mind but I figured you would want to be well rested since you¡¯ll be heading toward the capitol today.¡± I grinned, ¡°Yeah thanks Mom, I really needed the extra couple of hours though you didn¡¯t have to play along with their joke. I was actually worried there for a minute that I¡¯d have to do this on my own.¡± I looked at Raha as I addressed him, ¡°So when do we leave?¡± Raha was still smirking at his little joke, apparently very pleased he managed to pull it off. He responded, ¡°Oh we still have a little while before my crew finishes unloading everything. Once they¡¯re done we¡¯ll head out.¡± I nodded and then asked, ¡°So, you never did explain our travel plans to me before you went back to Meadow Rest. Mind telling me what the plan is now while we have some time to kill?¡± Raha stroked his beard a couple of times before answering, ¡°Fine I¡¯ll tell you since I¡¯ve finalized all of the arrangements. Why don¡¯t you grab some breakfast while I explain.¡± I went into the kitchen and started reheating the leftovers from everyone else¡¯s breakfast. Mmmm sausages and pancakes. Raha continued, ¡°Gurt, and the barbarians are going to be assigned to one of the Lehmakin carts, Ilkea¡¯s to be precise. You will also be storing your things in his cart, but will spend most of your time with the Guards. You¡¯ll be working under Muuntaa as his lieutenant, you need practice leading other Susi and this is a good way to find out whether or not you¡¯ll be able to cut it. Muuntaa will explain your duties on our way back to Meadow Rest and then you¡¯ll be put in charge of a squad of guards. Hopefully this will give you some much needed experience.¡± I paused for a second to consider the new task Raha had given me. I was going to have to run a squad of merchant guards, something I had no real experience with. I mean really, no experience what so ever, I¡¯d played sports, but none of them were team sports. I¡¯d never really been in a leadership position in my past life and I¡¯d been fairly isolated in this one. Sure I could boss Gurt around, but he was a legit eight year old and I was not only older than him in this life, but I had all the experience of my past life. But I¡¯d be dealing with men many years my senior and I¡¯d be in charge of them. This task was something I wasn¡¯t really prepared for, but now that I thought about it I desperately needed to do it. I¡¯d never lead men, especially in battle and an heir needed to do that. It wasn¡¯t enough that I was a strong fighter with powerful magic, I needed to learn how to lead men if I wanted to have a chance at earning the respect of my clan. I gathered my resolve and nodded at Raha, ¡°Thank you for the opportunity. I¡¯ve never been in charge of anyone but my brother and my friends. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll do a good job, but I will do my best to learn what it takes to lead men.¡± Raha nodded, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you aren¡¯t taking this lightly. The men I place under your command will be relying on you to make smart decisions, their lives will be in your hands, and while bandit attacks and beast attacks are rare on the road to Tehoton, they do still happen. Normally I¡¯d never let someone as green as you lead any of my men, but this is something you need to know how to do before you arrive in the capitol. Don¡¯t betray my trust. Now as soon as you finish your breakfast you might want to go see Muuntaa so he can begin your orientation. I imagine we¡¯ll be leaving soon and you need to be all set by the time we head out. You might want to say your goodbyes now.¡± I sighed then quickly finished my breakfast. I got up from the table, and gave my mom a hug. ¡°Thanks for everything Mom, if everything goes according to plan I¡¯ll be back within a year. If not then we¡¯ll figure something out, just know that I¡¯m going to make a difference. I love you and I¡¯ll miss you.¡± We held each other for a while before I broke the embrace and made my way over to Dad. ¡°Dad I want to thank you for helping to make me into the man I am today. You¡¯ve made me strong, taught me how to take care of myself and most important of all, provided me with a goal. I just hope that I can become a man like you and I will keep your example in my mind while I fight our enemies and take what should be ours. I will stand proud when I introduce myself as your son and I will show our entire clan that you didn¡¯t make a mistake when you married Mom, that you two were meant to be together and that they were fools to try and stand in your way.¡± Dad lifted me up in a bear hug that caused my ribs to flex inward and said, ¡°Just remember Son, despite everything some members of the clan did to get rid of us, they are still family. I lost my position because I forgot that when you are in a position to rule, the clan comes first. I lost myself in love and I¡¯m happy with the choices I made, but if you plan on leading the clan one day you must always remember the golden rule. The welfare of the clan comes before anything else.¡± I nodded, it wasn¡¯t the first time my father had gone over that simple rule since I¡¯d discovered my parent¡¯s history and I¡¯m sure he would continue to remind me of it through letters. But it was something I¡¯d engraved into my heart, there would be no point in taking up a position of power if I didn¡¯t keep in mind why I was taking it up in the first place. For my Dad it was the welfare of the clan that mattered, its position and power. I had different reasons for seeking my inheritance, I wanted to change a fundamental aspect of the society and I couldn¡¯t do it without a base of power to work from. But I realized that there is no point in changing something if I destroy it in the process. I¡¯d reform the laws and customs of my people, and I¡¯d do it while leading them to a brighter future. I know I sound kind of like a douchebag politician whenever I think about what I want my role to be in changing the Susi, but hey, that¡¯s basically what I was signing up to become. I just needed to make sure I¡¯d always remember why I decided to enter into the world of politics. As my father let me down from his hug I looked at the reason why I needed to make our society change its ways. Auttaa was sitting with the two humans, he and Julius had actually become quite close over the last month. I walked over my little brother, picked him up and gave him a hug. ¡°Auttaa, I¡¯m going to be gone for a little while, but I should be back in about a year. And when I come back I¡¯ll have some really cool new toys for you to play with. So be good for Mom and Dad okay?¡± I smiled at my little brother and he smiled back and said, ¡°Kay!¡± I¡¯m pretty sure he didn¡¯t know how long a year was, which was why he seemed to take my leaving so well, but frankly I¡¯m just glad I didn¡¯t have to always remember leaving him in tears. With a final nod to everyone I made my way outside and then headed over to the Taika¡¯s place. I knocked on the door and waited. Kurt answered with a mild glare. While he agreed to let Gurt go he wasn¡¯t very happy about it. When we all talked about it he was expecting to have at least a few more years with his son before he was sent off to a magic academy. Needless to say Kurt was less than pleased to see me. I said, ¡°Hey Mr. Taika, I just wanted to let you guys know that we are going to be heading out pretty soon. Gurt is assigned to Ilkea Vaunut¡¯s wagon along with Julius and Rufus. I¡¯m going to be joining the guards while we¡¯re on our trip, so I¡¯ll make sure Gurt gets to Tehoton safely.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Kurt sighed, ¡°You know I¡¯m not actually mad at you Swift, you are providing my son with an opportunity that¡¯s almost too good to be true. Training in the capitol will allow my son to do whatever he wants with his life. I¡¯m truly thankful for the opportunity, and I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ve been taking my worries out on you.¡± He ended up giving me a hug and said, ¡°I¡¯m proud of the both of you and I know you¡¯ll make sure my son stays safe, just don¡¯t waste this opportunity. You have a goal and if you are dragging my son with you to the capitol I expect you to achieve your goal, you got me?¡± I smiled down at Kurt relieved that we wouldn¡¯t be parting on bad terms and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Kurt, the next time you see Gurt and I we¡¯ll be well on our way to achieving great things.¡± Westra interrupted the two of us at that point, ¡°It¡¯s good to see that the two of you have made up, I know things got a little heated when we originally discussed this but I¡¯m happy it didn¡¯t take a year for Kurt to remove his head from his ass.¡± She smiled at that to take the sting out of the barb and continued on, ¡°Now Swift you make sure the two of you stay safe, I don¡¯t want either of you coming back missing body parts you got me?¡± I nodded enthusiastically and answered, ¡°Of course Westra, I¡¯ll make sure the two of us come back safe and sound. You have my word on it.¡± She came over to embrace me and when she finally let me go she said, ¡°Alright Swift I¡¯m sure you have other things to do besides saying goodbye to us, so be on your way.¡± She made a little shooing gesture and I chuckled at her actions. ¡°You bet Westra, I have to report to Muuntaa, he¡¯s going to teach me about what it takes to be a guard. So I guess I¡¯ll see you both in about a year, unless of course you end up coming to the capitol to visit.¡± Kurt laughed at that, ¡°You know we are way too busy to waste a couple of months travelling. Unlike some young layabouts, we actually have work to do and can¡¯t take months off. No no, we¡¯ll see you both in a year, just make sure you come visit with results.¡± I smiled and left saying over my shoulder, ¡°You can count on it.¡± Then I jogged over to Raha¡¯s place in search of Muuntaa. My search didn¡¯t take very long as he was busy directing the unloading process. Most of the carts were empty by this point, the movers and the guards were just now unloading the last few items. Muuntaa was standing on the last cart that still had anything in it, he was apparently directing traffic. As I got closer Muuntaa caught sight of me, he hopped out of the cart and gave a few last minute directions to one of the guards busy unloading it. Then he made his way over to me. When he got within easy speaking range I said, ¡°So it looks like I¡¯ll be under your care for the next little bit. Please don¡¯t go easy on me, I realized this morning when talking to Raha that I am not very well prepared to lead anyone, so anything you can teach me would be appreciated.¡± Muuntaa smiled, but not the friendly kind of smile, it was more like the smile he got when he was about to execute a move that would hurt me a lot. He said, ¡°Oh, have no fear, by the time this journey is over you¡¯ll be a great leader of men, of course I expect you to follow my orders to the letter, and any sign of slacking will result in let¡¯s call it corrective actions on my part. You might want to enjoy this moment for as long as you can because over the next month this will probably be the only bit of rest you get. Breathe it in Swift, because if I¡¯m not lecturing you on your duties I expect you to be either training or solving problems. Raha told me about his plans for you before he left and I asked him to pick this up.¡± Muuntaa walked back to one of the carts and grabbed a small book. He handed it over to me and said, ¡°Now I know you can read so I don¡¯t have to teach you like some recruits, but I expect you to read this book and memorize it. It¡¯s given to every officer that joins the Council¡¯s army and you need to know it by heart. Of course book learning only gets you so far, which is why you will be given command of a guard squad on our journey to Tehoton. If you don¡¯t act with confidence and exert control over your squad they will walk all over you. If they walk all over you the squad will become ineffective. If the squad is ineffective people will die. If you prove yourself incapable of command Raha will withdraw his support of your position. He¡¯d rather an asshole that knows how to lead be in charge of the Jalo than someone who can¡¯t cut it.¡± I nodded and felt myself tensing up, apparently the friendship that Muuntaa and I had been developing would take a backseat to training. I said, ¡°I understand, where do we begin?¡± Muuntaa answered, ¡°We begin with you learning the proper address for your superior. You will call me sir, and when I ask a question you will answer me with Yes Sir, or No Sir. I don¡¯t want excuses or explanations unless I ask for them. The next thing you¡¯re going to do it report to Sargent Kova. She¡¯ll be the one making sure you know what it means to be a guard before we put anyone under your command.¡± I answered, ¡°Yes Sir. Who is Sergeant Kova Sir?¡± Muuntaa pointed over at the smallest adult Susi I¡¯d ever seen. She stood just shy of six feet tall and had fur colored a midnight black. She directed her subordinates with an air of easy authority and every order she barked out sent a Susi jumping to complete her commands. It was love at first sight, the look of fear she inspired in her subordinate it made something in my nether regions stir¡­ yeah I felt like I was going to piss myself. This woman was not playing around and I was about to go willingly place myself under her command. I never really thought I was an idiot until this moment. I took a deep breath stealing myself for what was to come and jogged over to the intimidating little black Susi. When I got within 10 feet of her she turned to look at me, her piercing green eyes travelled over the entirety of my body and I felt as if she¡¯d just judged and then dismissed me. I mustered my resolve and said, ¡°Sergeant Kova, Muuntaa just sent me over to report for duty. So here I am reporting as ordered.¡± She snorted something that didn¡¯t really suit her small stature but definitely suited her domineering personality. ¡°So you¡¯re Aatto¡¯s kid, the little farm boy that¡¯s got Raha willing to travel to the capitol. I¡¯m not sure what the fuss is all about but I¡¯ll whip you into shape just like any other recruit. So lieutenant farm boy are you ready to finally earn your keep?¡± I felt mildly offended at her accusation that I didn¡¯t earn my keep, but I¡¯d seen enough military movies to know that disrespect just came with the territory. I replied, ¡°Yes Sergeant I am ready to earn my keep!¡± She smiled, ¡°That¡¯s good to hear lieutenant farm boy, why don¡¯t we go have a spar just to see if you have any real potential.¡± I nodded, and said, ¡°Yes Sergeant!¡± She grabbed a couple of quarterstaves from one of the carts and then led the way to a relatively flat and open field. She threw me one of the staves and said, "Begin!¡± By the time I grabbed the staff from out of the air she was already charging in. Now I¡¯d done some work with Dad to learn how to use a spear, and quarter staves worked along similar principles. So upon gaining a firm grip of the weapon I swung the staff out in order to halt the Sergeant¡¯s charge and give myself a second to formulate a strategy. She didn¡¯t give me a chance to do that, instead she showed off just how much faster than me she was. She ducked under the staff and then launched a thrust at my throat. I redirected the momentum of my swing to parry her thrust, but she had apparently planned for that. Instead of knocking her staff away from my throat she used the contact to redirect her strike into my stomach. I had the breath knocked out of me and my body reacted to the blow by forcing me to bow me head. She followed up her thrust by rotating the back of the quarter staff onto the top of my head. Apparently she didn¡¯t pull the strike because I felt a lot of pain emanating from the top of my head which was followed up by me falling to the ground and then everything fading to black. ------------------------ AN: Hope you guys like it, next chapter will be the first from Gurt. Also if you haven''t already done so please rate my work, so I know what everyone has liked and what they haven''t liked. To all my Patreon readers the new chapter will probably be up tomorrow, my auto save apparently didn''t like what I had already done so I need to rewrite it. Ch. 26 Headaches and Hand to Hand I regained consciousness abruptly as I felt a kick to my side, the sergeant said without a hint of concern in her voice, ¡°Get up, that was pathetic.¡± I attempted to clear my head by shaking it, but that was apparently a bad idea as it increased the pounding in my head, a sensation I hadn¡¯t noticed yet thanks to the sharp pain in my side from the sergeant¡¯s kick. I opened my eyes and the light was blindingly bright, it pierced my retinas and intensified the already impressive headache I was developing. I felt another sharp pain in my side as the sergeant was apparently not happy with my progress. Her subsequent words confirmed the theory that she was less than pleased, ¡°I said get up weakling. How you managed to defeat the captain I¡¯ll never understand, did Raha tie him up and give you a sword? No that can¡¯t be it, you have all your limbs and if you were given a sword I¡¯m sure you would have cut one of them off by now. Now get up farm boy, we are going to continue to spar until you can show me that you aren¡¯t an indecisive weakling otherwise I¡¯ll tell Raha that you are untrainable and that he should leave you here on the farm until you grow a pair of balls and some fighting sense.¡± I ignored her taunts for the moment and tried to send some mana into my head to assess the damage¡­ it didn¡¯t work, instead I felt an overwhelming sense of queasiness I tried to force the feeling back but my struggle was in vain. I threw up. So much for my final breakfast at home. For the record it didn¡¯t taste as good coming back up as it did going down. I didn¡¯t let the vomiting deter me though. Clearly I had a concussion and I needed to treat it before the sadistic sergeant had another shot at my head otherwise I¡¯d likely get permanent brain damage. Meanwhile Sergeant Kova decided to treat me to a tirade detailing how useless I was, apparently I was, ¡°A baby who had an upset tummy,¡± she also wanted to know if she should, ¡°go get my mommy so she can kiss my boo boo and make it all better.¡± I decided to ignore the various insults and focus on regaining my faculties. I took a deep breath held it for a beat and then let it out. Then I took another breath, held it for a beat and then let it out. I focused on my breathing and calming myself down before I followed the breath down to my core and checked on the state of my mana. Apparently there wasn¡¯t a problem with my core, I was filled to the brim with mana¡­ so the problem was obviously with my control, which meant my concentration was slipping every time I tried summon my mana. Magic doesn¡¯t come easy or naturally to anyone, it is something that every living being must struggle to control. The various beastmen races have cores which allow us to always have a source of magic nearby. Some of us are naturally gifted others have to work hard, but with the right combination of work and talent any member of the beastmen races can perform some magic. But in order to use that magic a person must be capable of imposing their will upon the mana stored inside of them. That might not be the case with humans as they have some sort of chanting system set up, I¡¯d had Julius do a couple of spells to confirm that. Apparently they use the mana surrounding them instead of inside them as they have no core. But I¡¯m getting off track¡­ stupid concussion. Anyway for a beastman it¡¯s all about concentration and willpower, if you lack either then you¡¯ll never be able to perform magic. I was currently lacking in the concentration department so I¡¯d need to supplement it with pure willpower. After calming my mind with a deep breathing exercise I once more went into my core and then after focusing every fiber of my being on collecting my mana I sent some of the hard won mana into my brain to try and assess the damage. As I suspected I definitely had a concussion, fortunately there weren¡¯t any lesions that I¡¯d have to repair so the first step was returning the blood flow to normal. Fun fact when a person suffers from a concussion there actually tends to be a decrease in blood flow to the brain along with the cells within the brain going out of a balanced state. Sometimes if the hit is hard enough it can mess with the structure of the brain, fortunately for me the concussion was fairly mild so I wasn¡¯t going to have to reshape my brain. The lack of blood flow was the big worry as cells starved of oxygen tend to die and when brain cells die you don¡¯t get them back. So priority number one was returning the blood flow to normal. Thus I returned to my core and gathered up some more mana, not too much as I was going to be performing delicate work, but as much as I could safely handle. Then I pulled the mana up my carotid artery and set about restoring the blood vessels in my brain to their proper size. It was slow work as I had to carefully navigate the circulatory system in my brain making sure not to expand each vessel by too much, but after far too long listening to Sergeant Kova berate me I finished the job. Normally I¡¯d just pour mana into something like this to accelerate the healing process, but I didn¡¯t really want to take chances with my brain. After restoring circulation I focused on returning the natural ion balance to my brain cells. Another rather tedious process, but an important one. It was also a lot faster than returning the blood flow back to normal as they hadn¡¯t had as much time to get out of balance. After repairing the damage and restoring the blood flow I did a quick check on my brain to ensure everything was back to normal. The pounding headache was gone, when I opened my eyes the light was no longer blinding, it was just bright, and while I was developing a large tender spot where my head managed to stop her staff everything else seemed to be fine. Of course having opened my eyes again Sergeant Kova proceeded to squat down in front of my face look me dead in the eyes and say, ¡°If you don¡¯t get up and get ready to fight in the next thirty seconds I am going to start beating you to death.¡± I really wished she was joking but her low menacing voice indicated that she was doing anything but that. So I forced myself to stand, picked up my fallen weapon and got into a ready position. The Sergeant clearly wasn¡¯t playing around and clearly had no intention of going easy on me, so I decided to throw the rules out the window. Whenever Dad wanted to spar the rules were always stated at the beginning of the spar, either we would be training in hand to hand only, or with only magic, sometimes it would be with both and on rare occasions he would show me different weapons, the spear being the one I saw most often. When Sergeant Kova gave me the quarter staff I assumed that I was only allowed to use that weapon, I also assumed she was simply trying to gauge my proficiency with the weapon. I underestimated not only her skill and speed, but also her desire to hurt me. Whenever Dad and I fought we normally pulled our blows, sure I could heal almost anything, but taking a hit full force could be lethal and simply wasn¡¯t worth the risk. If Sergeant Kova didn¡¯t feel the same way and if she didn¡¯t want to explain the rules of the fight then in my opinion that meant that anything goes and thus it was time to magic the hell out of her. The Sergeant came at me once again, rushing in and probably planning to use her speed on me again, so I loosened the soil directly in front of me in the few seconds I had while she closed the distance between us. I changed the density of the soil close to six feet in depth from that of hard packed soil and clay to that of quicksand. I noticed a subtle shift in the ground in front of me as the dirt surrounding the new patch of quicksand quivered slightly. Sergeant Kova apparently either didn¡¯t notice or didn¡¯t understand what the quivering meant as her right foot hit the quicksand and she immediately started sinking to the bottom of the pit. She didn¡¯t go straight to the bottom, but with a further infusion of mana into the mix she quickly hit the bottom. I then hardened the soil around her so that she was now stuck in the ground with only her head and arms free. Sergeant Kova was apparently displeased with this display of magic as she started swearing, ¡°What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing farm boy, I said we were going to spar not go to a magic performance. Did your daddy never teach how to spar, or are you simply too stupid to understand what I meant. I guess I should have been more fucking specific when I explained what we were going to be doing. So I¡¯ll do that now while you get me out of here so that even a fucking idiot like you can understand what¡¯s supposed to happen. You and me are going to fight with these quarter staves, then if I approve of your ability to fight with one I teach you about your job as a fucking guard. If you can¡¯t do that, then I¡¯m going to tell Raha that you are too stupid to be let into the guard much less be a lieutenant in it.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I nodded along with Sergeant Kova¡¯s tirade all the while leaving her in the dirt. Then after making sure to keep my anger in check I responded, ¡°Sergeant Kova, I think we got off on the wrong foot somehow, you see, you seem to be under the impression that I am some hick farm boy that Raha is taking pity on, you also seem to be under the impression I will allow you to beat the hell out of me with a weapon I have never trained with before. I think it¡¯s time for me to clear up those misconceptions before you end up being left behind buried up to your neck in a the ground. Raha is my ally, he has helped my family a lot, but I don¡¯t need him to claim what is rightfully mine, he just makes things easier. If I have to I¡¯ll travel to the capital on my own and kill anything that tries to stop me. As for the quarterstaff you so graciously offered me to defend myself with, the simple fact of the matter is that I¡¯ve never fought with one before, at least not beyond some basics. I¡¯m only nine years old, Dad decided to focus on my hand to hand and magic, he said I¡¯d eventually be able to pick up the rest so long as I learned how to move properly. So giving me a stick and telling me to fight doesn¡¯t really work for me as it negates everything I¡¯ve learned up until now. And finally the strike that knocked me out and had me puking when I woke up was strong enough to give me a concussion, if not for my healing abilities there¡¯s no way I would have been able to get up without help. You need to redefine what you consider acceptable in a spar, because right now you have been acting like a savage and if that¡¯s the kind of person Raha thinks is acceptable in such an important position then I¡¯ll have to rethink my relationship with him.¡± Sergeant Kova continued to glare at me for close to a minute after I ended my little speech before she finally snorted and said, ¡°Good, so you have some stones after all, I was concerned when you started hopping around like a scared little usakin (rabbit). I was beginning to think that Raha had lost his mind when he told me he was bringing you to the capital. It¡¯s good to see he hasn¡¯t lost his eye, though the fact that you haven¡¯t learned how to fight with a staff at this point in your life is a little disturbing. Now get me out of here so I can properly gauge your abilities.¡± I was surprised by the 180 degree turn the Sergeant had just made, instead be being mad she actually seemed pleased by the turn of events that had landed her in the hole. I didn¡¯t want to trust this sudden shift in behavior, but then what else could I do, it¡¯s not like I could just leave her stuck in the ground regardless of how mad she¡¯d made me, so I sent a pulse of mana into the ground and loosened up the earth trapping her. Then I grabbed her quarterstaff and proceeded to pull her out of the trap and back onto firm ground. I asked, ¡°So this was all a test?¡± She nodded and did a little twirl with her quarterstaff, ¡°Yes and you passed, if only just barely, had you decided to take the beating I really would have gone to Raha and told him you weren¡¯t prepared to lead anyone. After all it can be noble to take a beating in order to further a cause or protect your subordinates, but if you take one just because someone is arbitrarily placed above you, then you really don¡¯t have the temperament to lead anyone. First rule of being in charge, do whatever it takes to keep yourself and those under your command alive and capable of fighting. If you let yourself or those under your command get hurt without accomplishing something then you¡¯ve failed as a leader. Now show me what you¡¯ve learned about fighting so I¡¯ll know what to do with you should we find ourselves in combat. The rules for this spar are simple, no overt magic and you are allowed to fight however you¡¯d like, pull your blows so they don¡¯t cause any major injuries and I¡¯ll call the fight.¡± I gave her a single nod, and began applying stone skin. I¡¯d come a long way since the time I first started using the spell, as I absorbed essence of stone the change was now seamless and nearly instantaneous. Over the last couple of years I¡¯d gotten the skill to the point where I barely had to think about it before I was protected, I¡¯d also gotten the skill to the point where it no longer impaired my movements. I smiled as I felt my skin and hair harden then I launched myself forward. Sergeant Kova launched a series of thrusts with her quarterstaff which I¡¯d like to say I expertly dodged. I didn¡¯t because they were incredibly fast, but I did manage to minimize the impact by deflecting most of the blows turning the momentum halting attacks into glancing blows that made me glad I¡¯d applied stone skin to my entire body. Unfortunately as I advanced she retreated, maintaining the distance between us. With her speed advantage it quickly became obvious that my approach wasn¡¯t working so I stopped and hopped back creating a little distance. Sergeant Kova immediately shifted gears and went on the attack, continuing her barrage of thrusting attacks. This time I was a little more prepared for her and I was able to grab quarterstaff as she thrust it toward my throat. She attempted to slip the staff from my grip but I¡¯d already sunk my claws into the wood in order to trap it. While her attempts probably would have dislodged a fingernail or two under normal circumstances with stone skin applied to my body she didn¡¯t have a chance. With her staff in my hand I launched a side kick while pulling the staff toward me, forcing Sergeant Kova to make a choice, take the kick or drop the staff. I¡¯m guessing she doesn¡¯t enjoy broken ribs because she released her grip on the quarterstaff and proceeded to strike my exposed leg. After a couple of light hits to my calf which I was able to largely ignore thanks to the stone skin I threw her staff away and deactivated stone skin. She smirked and said, ¡°Well done farm boy, the stone skin was cheating a bit, but I¡¯ll allow it since I was using a weapon. Now it¡¯s time to see how your hand to hand stands up.¡± I smiled happy that she and I were finally on an even footing and proceeded to launch a series of probing attacks, mixing together jabs with leg kicks. She swayed in and out of my range, using her speed and flexibility to avoid my strikes. I wasn¡¯t really used to being the slower fighter, but I¡¯d experienced plenty of counters that I¡¯d found annoying so I decided to try a few out. First off was changing the distance between the two of us. Normally I¡¯d want to maintain our current distance as I was out of her range and she was at the edge of mine, but the range seemed to give her enough time to dodge all of my strikes meaning I was wasting stamina while she was conserving hers and learning my striking pattern. So I decided to shrink the distance between us, I did a quick step to close the range a bit and lead out with a jab. She ducked under it and landed a strike to my ribs. Not exactly a pleasant feeling, but because she didn¡¯t step in with the strike my ribs were merely bruised instead of broken. I did my best to ignore the pain and instead tried to get in a strike of my own, she jumped out of range before my own hit could land, so I was back to square one. I tried a couple more times to get into an uncomfortable range for her, but apparently Sergeant Kova was comfortable fighting me at any range, so I needed to switch up my tactics, any more hits to the ribs and I might be looking at a break instead of just some bad bruises. I decided to try for some counters, they weren¡¯t exactly my strong suit, but I¡¯d been the victim of a lot of them so I was pretty confident I could one up. To get a really good counter you need to show an opening to your opponent, one they can¡¯t pass up. If you have a good feel for their reaction speed and their striking speed a counter isn¡¯t that hard to time, the problem is making sure your opponent reacts the way you want them to. If they don¡¯t buy that the opening is genuine they won¡¯t strike and you tip your hand, they then know that you are looking for a counter. Before I could set up my counter I needed to get a better feel for her strikes. I¡¯d pretty much figure out her speed by this point and while I wasn¡¯t exactly used to it, it was also no longer a surprise. The next bit I needed to learn was her reaction speed, especially when opening were presented to her, of course they needed to be genuine openings so I prepared myself for some pain and over extended myself on a strike¡­ The pain was pretty intense, my liver was definitely going to need some TLC after this, but it was worth it. I confirmed that if an opportunity presented itself she would go for a punch over a kick and her aim was precise enough to hit vital points instead of whatever presented itself to her. I kind of figured that would be the case, but it never hurts to check, well, normally it doesn¡¯t hurt to check. At least now I knew the opening I should present in order to get my counter off. I jumped back out of her range again and grimaced a bit, letting her know that she¡¯d done some damage. Then after obviously steeling myself for the next exchange I jumped back in and started a series of quick jabs. She was fast enough to avoid them, but then the point wasn¡¯t to hit her so I was fine with it. I continued sending jabs her way and then started mixing in some straights with my right hand. After she seemed to be getting used to the barrage I purposefully over extended myself, presenting an opening I was hoping she couldn¡¯t resist. My prayers were answered she moved in for a strike at my stomach and while I knew my counter wouldn¡¯t reach her before she hit me, mine should do a lot more damage. I took the blow on my fully flexed abs, and boy did it hurt, it I hadn¡¯t been fully prepared for the strike I probably would have lost my breath, of course Sergeant Kova was completely unprepared for the right cross to her temple. I pulled the blow otherwise she¡¯d probably be dead, but I¡¯m pretty sure I rattled her hard enough to give her a concussion. She tried to jump back out of range but her legs weren¡¯t really listening to her brain at the moment, her leap backward was pitiful as she really only managed to move her legs back a few inches. I smiled and launched a blow straight at her face, she moved to block the blow but it was like she was fighting underwater. She was so slow and uncoordinated that instead of finishing her off I pulled my fist up short of her face and instead flicked her nose. Then I took a few steps back and smirked at her saying, ¡°Should we call it a day?¡± Ch. 27 The Tricks of the Trade Sergeant Kova nodded which apparently she immediately regretted as it caused her to wince and then fall on her butt. I walked up to her and put my hands to her head, called up my mana and gave her a quick examination. She had a concussion which was fairly obvious based on her slow response time and her lack of balance, she also had a pretty nasty case of shin splints, probably from all of the stress she¡¯d placed on her legs. I healed the concussion first as every good medical student knows you should treat someone¡¯s head before their legs. I dealt with the little bit of blood I¡¯d managed to knock loose and repaired the broken vein before I restored normal blood flow and rebalanced the ions in her brain cells. Afterwards I sent my mana down through her legs repairing the micro tears in her muscles and filling in the small cracks she¡¯d managed to make in her shin bones. While I was down there I fully repaired an old break in her ankle that had left its mark. After finishing the repairs I opened my eyes and saw that the Sergeant was giving me an incredulous stare. She asked her voice full of wonder, ¡°How did you do that?¡± I responded with a smirk, ¡°You seem surprised? You saw me do the same thing just minutes ago after you gave me a concussion¡­¡± She shook her head marveling at the lack of pain and said, ¡°Well sure you healed yourself, but the way you healed me felt different than any other time I¡¯ve been healed I don¡¯t feel groggy or exhausted¡­¡± I nodded while patting her on the shoulder, ¡°That my dear is because instead of simply dumping mana into you in order to encourage the natural healing process I went about actually fixing the problems I found. I could go into detail about what a concussion is and how to treat it, but the biggest difference between my healing and the healing you have likely gotten can best be explained like this. When a healer deals with a wound they typically give a simple command to their mana, close this cut, or heal this sickness and then the mana as it enters a person provides the body with energy to speed up the action. So for the cut instead of taking days to heal it takes only minutes. You normally feel terrible afterwards because your body isn''t designed to heal that fast and so it uses up a lot of resources to do so. same thing with the fever the mana is just allowing for an accelerated rate of healing it isn''t actually fixing the problem on it''s own your body is doing most of the work. When I heal I am actually using my mana to do most of the work, if you are cut I''m killing all of the bacteria in the wound then pulling it back together and only then does your body have to close the wound. With a fever I would use my mana to scour as much of your body free of the bacteria or virus causing you the illness and only then would I encourage you immune system to fight off the illness. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t feel so depleted as I¡¯m using mana to do things that would take your body a lot more effort and time to accomplish.¡± My erstwhile patient continued to stare at me, apparently lost in thought, so I got up off my knee and asked, ¡°So did I fight well enough to meet your approval?¡± She numbly nodded her head and replied, ¡°Yeah sure you did fine, but back to the main discussion, are you telling me that you are better at healing than the master mage Raha keeps on retainer?¡± I shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve never met the man, if he is in any way comparable to my mom then yeah I¡¯m definitely better than him. I don¡¯t want to sound arrogant, but I¡¯m probably the best healer in the country if everyone else uses the same techniques as Mom. Of course Mom never exactly mastered healing magic so I could be grossly underestimating the skill of the other healers in this country which is why I never even thought of using my talents on anyone except people who desperately needed the healing. I wanted to go to school to verify my theories first.¡± Sergeant Kova¡¯s face grew more horror struck as I explained that I was the creator of the healing techniques that I¡¯d used on her. She exclaimed, ¡°You mean to tell me you used untested healing techniques on me!¡± I smiled and replied, ¡°Well untested is a bit harsh, after all I have been healing myself and the people around me for the last three or four years using this method to no ill effect. In fact the two barbarians would be dead if I hadn¡¯t healed them using my methods as the standard healing spells would have drained them too much for them to survive. Trust me at the very least my method won¡¯t have any ill effects for years to come, personally I think you¡¯ll be healthier because of them, but then I haven¡¯t been doing this for long enough to have the data to back up that claim.¡± The Sergeant looked confused so I patted her shoulder once again and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, you¡¯re fine and won¡¯t suffer any ill effects because of the way I healed you. Now should we move on to my other capabilities or is it time for you to inform me of my responsibilities as a lieutenant?¡± Sergeant Kova shook her head and responded with an exasperated sigh, ¡°Okay glossing over the fact that I should be angry at you for using an untested healing technique on me, I do feel fine, so I¡¯ll let it slide for now. I also don¡¯t think I can handle whatever else you¡¯ve been up to on this farm so let¡¯s skip your other skills and abilities whatever they might be and focus on what you need to know and what will be expected of you on this trip. You¡¯ll be a part of third squad until we reach Meadow Rest, you¡¯ll do you best to learn from this veteran squad all the tricks of the trade. We¡¯ll spend two days in Meadow Rest loading supplies and preparing the caravan before we head out to Tehoton. In that time you¡¯d better figure out what you¡¯re supposed to be doing because you¡¯ll be put in charge of a batch of fresh recruits for the journey to the capitol. If a majority of your squad is taken into Raha¡¯s service then you¡¯ll continue to receive his patronage, if a majority of them are deemed ill equipped then Raha will leave you to fend for yourself. Make sure to read the book the Captain gave you and ask Third squad as many questions as you can. Now let¡¯s head out it¡¯s time to introduce you to your temporary squad.¡± With that inspiring little pep talk we made our way toward the caravan that was all but ready to go. Of the seven carts Raha had brought with him four remained empty having nothing to take back with them. The other three were loaded up with extra two by four¡¯s I¡¯d cut when making Raha¡¯s country estate, along with some extra pelts Dad had acquired from hunting and in the last cart was Gurt and all of the luggage and supplies for our little caravan. He looked a little lonely sitting in the back amidst of our gear, I¡¯d have to make sure I spent some time with him tonight so he wouldn¡¯t feel abandoned. We arrived at the centermost wagon and I was introduced to a pack of scarred veterans. ¡°This is Sergeant Ovela, and he will be your keeper for the next three days.¡± The Susi in question was a relative giant, he not only had a few inches of height on me, but at least another 90 pounds of muscle. His dark brown fur and the dull sheen to his eye made me think the man was a bit dim, but the strength he exuded and the way his squad looked at him let me know he wasn¡¯t a Susi to be trifled with. Next to him stood a brute of a woman, she was almost exactly my height but where I had a lithe athletic frame, she was nothing if not bulky. I¡¯d say she¡¯d give Sergeant Ovela a run for his money in terms of strength and the numerous scars crisscrossing her body and face told me she¡¯d seen more than her share of fights. I also noted the difference in their weaponry for while Sergeant Ovela carried a round shield and spear with a sword strapped to his hip this large intimidating woman carried two hand axes and one giant two handed monstrosity of an axe. Sergeant Kova continued her introductions, ¡°The beauty next to him is Corporal Kukka, She¡¯s the closest you¡¯ll find to a mother in this outfit, just be careful to not piss her off, because I guarantee you won¡¯t like her spankings.¡± Corporal Kukka spoke up, ¡°Now Sergeant that¡¯s not a very nice description, I¡¯m sure this little man and I will get along just fine¡­¡± She gave me a wink and posed in a seductive manner. I did my best not to shudder and responded ¡°I¡¯m sure we will mam.¡± She pouted a little in response but Kova didn¡¯t let the little bit of byplay derail her. Next to be introduced was ¡°Private Kasi¡± I had a few inches on him and about 30 pounds, he nodded in acknowledgement of the introduction and continued playing with a wicked looking 8 inch knife. He had black fur like Sergeant Kova and if I had to guess I¡¯d say he was probably the stealthiest member of the group. Next to him was ¡°Private Hampaat¡± another Susi close to my size with grey fur and a ready smile. He spoke up after his introduction, ¡°Nice to meetcha kid, let me know when you get lost, uncle Hampaat will help you out.¡± I bowed my head slightly and answered, ¡°Thanks, I look forward to your guidance.¡± With the introductions out of the way Sergeant Kova addressed the squad, ¡°Alright third squad, do your best to watch over little Swift here, impart upon him all the knowledge and experience of a veteran squad, be thorough and efficient because if he fails his test I am going to blame you guys for it. Oh and don¡¯t be gentle the boy is an excellent healer so he can recover from even the most stringent of disciplinary measures and the most difficult training. You have three days to get him ready to lead Susi into battle, don¡¯t let him or yourselves down.¡± She glared at the squad and while most of the squad seemed to straighten up under her scrutiny, Sergeant Ovela merely smirked and replied, ¡°Oh no worries the kid is in good hands, by the time we¡¯re done with him he¡¯ll be a right old leader of men, a stalwart Susi prepared for battle.¡± I cringed a bit at that last rejoinder for while Sergeant Ovela¡¯s smile looked innocent enough, the smirk on private Kasi¡¯s face was downright sinister. Sergeant Kova nodded and left me in the clutches¡­ I mean hands of the honorable veterans of third squad. I refocused on Sergeant Ovela and asked, ¡°So what now Sergeant?¡± Ovela¡¯s smile shifted from innocent to sinister, mirroring Kasi¡¯s smile perfectly. He responded, ¡°Now we are going to work you to the bone making sure that you don¡¯t embarrass us in front of Raja. In order to do that we are going to have to jam close to two years of knowledge and experience into your head over the next three days. I really hope you didn¡¯t have any plans on sleeping, because we don¡¯t have any time to spare. Our main focus is going to be on tactics and command, I¡¯m hoping your dad taught you how to fight because we don¡¯t have time to turn you into a warrior, we¡¯ll be too busy teaching you how to lead soldiers without getting them killed.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Sergeant Ovela took a deep breath and started barking out commands, ¡°Third squad, form up behind the fourth wagon, it¡¯s about time the caravan got moving. Swift, you shadow Hampaat for now. Hampaat, it¡¯s going to be your job to explain exactly what duties he can expect from a private, you are to explain exactly what he can expect a new recruit to know and what he will have to teach them. Make sure he knows exactly what to expect by noon, because then he¡¯ll be following Kukka for the rest of the day. When we arrive at the Meadow Rest Kasi will take over, showing him the ins and outs of sentry duty. I¡¯ll be checking in on his progress boys and girls so don¡¯t let me down. Now let¡¯s move out!¡± What followed was one of the longest days of my life, private Hampaat spent the next five hours lecturing me on the duties of a private, which could be summed up in just a few words. Privates were to do as they are told at all times and should be prepared to fight at a moment¡¯s notice. I probably would have gotten annoyed if Hampaat wasn¡¯t such an easy going and upbeat guy. Of course it doesn¡¯t really matter how upbeat you are when you drone on about how to hold a spear or the regulations on cleaning your gear for hours on end. I did my best to remember everything, but I know by the fourth hour I was starting to tune him out. It simply wasn¡¯t interesting, learning how to fight, sure lecture me for hours, the anatomy of the human body, okay I could stay focused for eight hours straight, but lecturing me on the proper depth to dig a latrine for a squad vs. a platoon, vs. a company¡­ I¡¯m sorry but I just don¡¯t care enough. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective the lecture came to an end around noon when corporal Kukka took over my instruction. Her lecture consisted primarily of the duties of each squad, from first squad¡¯s scouting duties, to third squad¡¯s support duties. This was a little more interesting as it dealt a little bit with tactics and strategy. She explained why third squad was traditionally the smallest squad, and all about what I could expect from convoy duty for my future squad. The lecture was interesting, but the sexually suggestive comments the sergeant was dropping made me more than a little uncomfortable. It had been a little over nine years since I¡¯d had any female companionship and Kukka¡¯s version of flirting was more than a little aggressive. Apparently the fact that she was 15 years my senior didn¡¯t really bother her. I did my best to ignore her offers to make me into a real man and focused on the information she was providing me. I learned a lot especially about our proposed route. We would be following the river south until we passed the forest and hit one of the major crossing points, a small village called Joki, after crossing the river it should be a straight shot all the way until Tehoton. Honestly guards on the caravan should prove largely unnecessary, there might be some beasts we¡¯d have to fight off, and apparently there is some kind of big cat called a Leijona that normally ate Lehma but might come after lonely wagons. Kukka didn¡¯t seem very concerned with that possibility so I asked her about my biggest concern, ¡°What about bandits, do you get a lot of them along the route, or is it relatively quiet?¡± She gave me a seductive smile that held far more teeth than I was really comfortable with and replied while doing her best to caress my cheek, ¡°Oh sweetie you don¡¯t have to worry about bandits, there aren¡¯t any groups big enough to take on a caravan of our size. Bandit groups don¡¯t really get above ten members or so because the army runs down any group that gets too big. Besides you¡¯re under the Banner of Raha, he could send an open cart filled with gold without any guards and it would arrive at its destination unmolested. He has a reputation for having any group that dares attack his shipments run down and killed. Our boss isn¡¯t one to allow bandits to get away with anything, so fret not cutie you¡¯re safe so long as you¡¯re with us.¡± She winked and I suppressed a shudder before continuing with the line of questioning, ¡°Okay I can see how his reputation might discourage attacks, but say we run into a particularly stupid group of bandits, what would third squad¡¯s role be?¡± She sighed before explaining, ¡°It depends on how many times first or second squad blow their horns. As you should now understand our job is close in support for the caravan, we make sure the merchandise is safe and the carts remain unmolested, once we are sure that there aren¡¯t any hidden attackers waiting to surprise us by attacking the carts directly we then would move to support whichever squad is under the heaviest assault. Say for instance first squad runs into a group of bandits that outnumbers them three to one, their leader would then blow the horn twice to announce a fighting retreat. We would then wait a minute to hear second squad¡¯s response, one blast from their horn would indicate that our rear is clear and they are moving up for close in support, this frees us up to support first squad by either directly reinforcing them, or by flanking the bandits. Two blasts from their horn would indicate that they have run into a similar number of bandits and will also be conducting a fighting retreat. Should that happen it would be our job to scout out the enemy forces and circle up the wagons creating a strong point for both squads to retreat back to. If we hear three blasts from their horn that would be there is a small force with which they must engage. Three blasts means their confident in their victory and will focus on destroying that force as opposed to delaying it. Our job would then be to stay with the caravan and ward off anyone trying to use the frontal assault as a distraction.¡± It went on like that for a while, the horn system was fairly simple, but it required our squad to wait around for information before reacting to any attack. It really made me miss cell phones as it was kind of a pain in the ass to remember exactly what each series of horn blasts meant on top of everything else I was supposed to remember from almost 7 hours of lectures. We arrived at Meadow Rest before the sergeant finished her talking and then proceeded to dash my hopes that she¡¯d quit upon arrival. I didn¡¯t really get a chance to look around at my new surroundings as every time I looked away from Kukka she would rap me on my nose and say, ¡°A lady should hold your undivided attention, you won¡¯t have much luck with women if you can¡¯t keep that simple fact in mind.¡± I wanted to tell her that she wasn¡¯t exactly my type but one look at her bulging muscles helped me hold my tongue. I didn¡¯t want to find out how hard she could slap. We arrived at Raha¡¯s warehouse and he immediately disappeared inside dragging Gurt and my humans along with him. I wanted to follow them in but Kukka decided now was the perfect time to pass me over to private Kasi. She entered the warehouse giving me a final smoldering glance before disappearing inside. I shuddered a bit before refocusing on private Kasi. He smiled a bit at my inattention and said, ¡°You seem to have wandered off there a bit, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve fallen for the corporal¡­¡± I shook my head to deny it, which just made Kasi¡¯s smile get bigger, ¡°Don¡¯t worry lad you wouldn¡¯t be the first to fall to her charms, but a powerful woman like that has a lot of suitors so you¡¯d better be able to impress her if you want a shot. So I¡¯d best ensure you have that shot by making sure you don¡¯t get us killed by failing in your duties. The goal of tonight is to observe people actually on sentry duty, I¡¯ll be pointing out what they do correctly and how their failing. Your job is to follow me, and don¡¯t get seen. If we¡¯re found out it will cut into your training which you don¡¯t want to happen.¡± He ghosted out of Raha¡¯s compound and I did my best to keep up. His black fur allowed him to blend in much better than my own as he slinked from shadow to shadow. It was like trying to keep up with a ninja. The problem wasn¡¯t so much that he moved quickly it¡¯s that he moved in perfect silence and surety. He never paused or hesitated as he advanced which gave him a speed I had trouble matching as I was doing my best to move quietly and stay out of sight. I did my best to copy him and use everything years of hunting in the woods had taught me, but moving quietly on cobble stones requires a different set of skills when compared to moving quietly in the forest. In the forest you have to be very aware of your footing and if you make noise it tends to blend in with all of the other ambient noise, you just have to pause of you make a sound louder than a rustle. Cobblestones should have been easier, but the claws on my feet kept making a clicking sound whenever they hit the ground. I¡¯d never really noticed they did that because frankly I¡¯d been on cobblestone so rarely it never came up. So instead of using my normal gait I had to use an awkward mincing step in order to cut down on the noise. Needless to say I was falling behind and Kasi didn¡¯t seem to be willing to coddle me so I decided to change things up a bit. We were still in the nicer part of town so all of the building around me seemed to be made of either stone or wood with solid looking shingled roofs. So if I couldn¡¯t hide the noise I was making it was time to go vertical. I moved into an alley and used on of the walls as a backboard to leap off of. I sunk my clawed fingers into the roof tiles and pulled myself the rest of the way up. I then sped off across the thieves¡¯ highway¡­ kind of¡­ not really. Instead I started moving and immediately felt the shingles under my feet starting to shift. Not wanting to make too much noise I held still for a second and then carefully began my advance. Moving slowly seemed to work well, but I was now even further behind my instructor. I advanced across the rooftop, carefully navigating along the slanted and somewhat treacherous footing until I arrived at the edge, then I leapt across the gap to the next roof¡­ I sprinted to catch up with my current mentor and away from whatever caused the giant hole to appear in someone¡¯s roof. I really needed to catch up to Kasi because based on the noise people were making it¡¯s likely that the guards were going to show up soon. As I caught up to Kasi he stared at me incredulity clearly visible on his face, he asked, ¡°Are you and?¡± I smiled sheepishly embarrassed to no end, ¡°Probably¡­ I was falling behind and I had this idea I thought might work¡­ it didn¡¯t work¡­¡± Kasi shook his head and snorted, ¡°Okay well I¡¯ll go a little slower from now on, but this does provide us with a good starting point for our lessons on sentry duty. Now an alarm has been raised inside the camp, watch and listen for the town¡¯s response. In one of our camps, the outcry would be handled by the sentries stationed in the center of camp ready to respond at the least sign of trouble. Here in town one of the nearby patrols should arrive soon.¡± We waited for close to 5 minutes before I heard their approach. It sounded like a mid-sized squad but I couldn¡¯t be sure until I saw the six armor clad Susi running toward the scene of whatever broke the roof of that family¡¯s home. We watched as they took a statement from the distraught family then spread out in pairs to search the surrounding area. Kasi broke the silence, ¡°Notice how they move in pairs, they know that one person cause the incident so they make sure they will outnumber the perpetrator so they shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble taking him in. They also insure that should one of them fall the other will at least be able to call for backup should the perpetrator prove too much for them to handle. Now let¡¯s get out of the area before they find the idiot that broke someone¡¯s roof.¡± I nodded in agreement and we made our way toward the wall, I did my best to copy the veteran¡¯s movements and I am happy to say I made some progress, not a lot, but at the very least I managed to stop clicking with every step. When we got within sight of the wall Kasi hid within the shadows of an alley and pointed out the various patrols and lookout posts. We stayed in that position for hours and I began to see the pattern within the patrols. They were on a schedule when I mentioned this to Kasi he responded, ¡°You¡¯re right, the patrols follow a regular schedule, which is both good and bad. It is good because it allows the townsfolk to know that they can expect guards to be nearby at least once per hour, criminals know they only have so long before they will be noticed and it allows for a relatively quick response time for any problems. The downside is that it is too predictable, anyone with a little time and some planning can accomplish a lot in the time between patrols, plus being predictable means they are unlikely to stop anything except for unplanned crimes. The best way to overcome the issues of regular patrols is to supplement them with random patrols, having a group or two of guards moving wherever they want throughout the night changes everything.¡± I grunted my acknowledgement of his point, before he elaborated, ¡°Normally you want someone with authority with the group not on a particular patrol route as this group tends to monitor the stationary sentries and goes outside the standard perimeter of the camp.¡± Kasi didn¡¯t seem to want a response to his last statement so I remained quiet and we continued to observe the sentries and patrols for a while longer before he motioned me to follow. We slinked along a route only Kasi seemed to know, navigating the pathways between the primarily wattle and daub houses until we arrived at one of the sentry posts where the guard had fallen asleep. I was surprised the guard had managed it since he was standing up, but somehow I could hear him snoring as he leaned against the wooden tower atop the wall. Kasi pointed toward the guard and said, ¡°Take note of the guard and the commanders mistakes, the guard was foolish enough to lean against something while tired, this allowed him enough slack to fall asleep. Sentry duty is not meant to be easy, give your sentries too much slack and not only will they fail you, but they will open you up to attack when you thought yourself secure. The commander should have placed two men here, to keep each other awake, either that or he should have someone patrolling the walls ensuring that his sentries don¡¯t fall asleep or die.¡± I nodded in agreement, then Kasi broke off a small chunk from the wall he was hiding next to and threw it at the sentry. The clod of hardened mud hit the sentry in the helmet knocking him over. He landed face first and started screaming, ¡°Enemy attack!! Enemy Attack!!!¡± The downed guard sprang up snout bloody searching for the enemy he¡¯d just been screaming about and found nothing. Meanwhile the screaming attracted guards from other positions on the wall along with what sounded like several patrols. We slunk away from the scene doing our best to avoid the converging patrols and I could make out Kasi¡¯s grin as we disappeared further into the shadows.