Chapter 13: Extra Chapter 12: Gears and springs.

Roland woke up with the ringing of one of his proudest achievements, a fully mechanical clock. It is not that impressive, as it is truly purely mechanical, even the spring requiring to be manually wound each week, instead of always being wound thanks to runes, but it was his first-ever creation, so it was his greatest achievement, and his most prized possession, no matter what others say. He started off his morning with a daily wind of the clock's springs, and a light stretch, the heavy exercise would be left for the evening, right before washing off and sleeping, so ho could easily fall asleep without staring at the ceiling and imagining countless mechanisms. After a light breakfast of yesterday's boar stew and white bread, he set off running on his daily route, checking up around town if anything needed repairs. Being a sorcerer paid well, but only when he could find work, so he often worked as a mix between different artisans, and did the work others didn't have time for, or just didn't want to do. As he runs from house to house, looking for notices for him laying at their doorsteps or fences, he examines one of his other great works, the Wall. The Wall surround the entire village, protecting them from beasts and invader alike, not that there was much of either. Maybe that's why they allowed such a young elf to make them, but thanks to such an opportunity, his father's teachings and research didn't go to waste.

As he nears the halfway point of his run, the city hall (which he secretly calls the asylum for the elderly in his mind), he slows down and looks over himself to see if he looks at least half-presentable; 'Wouldn't want the elderly to have a heart attack from me having a leaf in my hair, now would we?' -Of course, he would never voice his complaints to anyone, well, except Carla, but he needs to act polite to the elderly and the church, and thinking of her would only make him angry at them, so he quickly ran through the same conversation in his head and stepped through the door.

"Ah! Sorcerer Roland! May the gods smile on you on this blessed day!" -Said the local priest. He often worked at reception at the town hall, as the ceremonies were only carried out on Saturdays during midday, so he was most of the time, and it was easy to find him, as he rarely left his post.

"Good morning to you too. Are the elders in the same room?"

"Yes, do you want me to guide you to them?"

"No thank you. I'll find it myself." -He started quickly walking and already rounded the corner by the time the priest started saying his response. As he walked down the corridor, past the countless numbered doors and once again wondered the lack of door number twenty-three, only a blank wall standing in its place, he quickly stumbled upon the door numbered fifty-five, and knocked.

"Come in." -Came a dry voice from the inside.

As Roland entered, he saw a half circle table with ten plush seats on the rounded side, and a single wooden chair on the flat side facing him. He sat down and looked around at the ten elders on the opposite side of the table. When he first sat on this chair, he was uncomfortable and intimidated by them, but now he sat comfortably on the chair he constructed when the last one broke, thanks to the hidden runes that make it even more comfortable than the elders chairs, that are keyed to only activate for him and Carla (wouldn't want the old farts finding out), and confidently looked at them, knowing that if worse comes to worst, people would defend him against any unfair decisions.

"Did the letter come?" -Asked the librarian on his left. She was now only librarian in name, leaving all the work to her young assistant. Poor girl doesn't realize that she is being used, but it's not his business to stick his nose into things, and ruin people's lives.

"No, still no letter." -He hated these reports. If the letter Did come, he could just tell them then, without wasting time every day just to answer no.

"I see. You may go." -  Said the man in the middle. He was the head of the 'council', despite never actually significant in his life. The only reason he is the head of the council is because he is the oldest.

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As Roland quietly stood up and left the room, none of the elders said anything at his poor misconduct. He was quite vocal when they announced that Carla would be going to investigate the forest, so they knew that if they annoyed him any further, he would probably leave the village to find her, and he was the best, if not only, sorcerer in the village. Some other people knew some basic runes and procedures, but even with all his books and knowledge, they would never be able to replicate his knack to tinker and finding unorthodox solutions to difficult problems, making them easy to solve.

As he ran the second part of his route, and picked up two notes with requests, one being for a new chair, and another was something that actually required sorcery, he stopped by the bakery to pick up his daily bread that he got for installing a magickal furnace that allowed to regulate temperature, and bought some venison from the nearby butcher. He was growing his own vegetables, so there was no need to buy some, and thanks to the sorcery, he had veggies and fruits even during winter. As he came in, deposited the groceries on the table, activated the runes on the fireplace-stove combo, causing a fire to start, and picked up a bucket to go grab some water from the nearby well, he noticed a faint light on his magical mailbox. Dropping all he was doing, he ran up and opened it, seeing a letter with a blood-red mark near the middle. All sorts of negative thoughts about why the letter is so early swam through his head as he ripped it open and started reading. Slowly, his heart rate slowed as he realized that Carla was ok, and then shot back up as she started telling him what she experienced. By the end of the letter, he was both exited and confused. The letter was written in such a way that it was obvious that she wanted him to come as quickly as possible, but at the end she asked him to wait a month before coming, almost as an afterthought. There also is the lack of errors, and the paper obviously being a lot better than what was stored in the letter for her to write, almost as if she had written a letter, and then someone made her rewrite it without any mistakes. Maybe it was that mysterious someone she kept mentioning, but unfortunately, she left just enough information to make you intrigued, but not too much to keep you wondering. But that warning that he should lie and say that it was something natural, like a tree, obviously showed that she didn't want anyone else but him to come. Heating water for a wash forgotten, he started packing while ideas on how to spin the story swirled in his head. Thankfully, he was a good liar.

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Roland woke up an hour early. He was a bit tired, as even after the workout he had some difficulty falling asleep, but as he wound his clock, and packed it into his giant backpack, which thanks to it being bigger on the inside and lighter than what was inside, the entirety of his belongings were able to fit inside. He would still need to give out all the unfinished commissions and quickly finished repairs to their owners, but that could be done after the meeting. As he literally flew to the town hall using his enchanted boots that were rapidly draining his mana reserves, people were looking out of their windows and coming out of their doors to start heading in the same direction to see what this was about. As he almost crashed through the doors to the building, said a quick "Letter!" to the confused priest, and started running (as flying was unfortunately banned) through the halls, he didn't even notice the missing door. He burst through the door to the council chamber and shouted; "Letter!" -Startling everyone in the room in the room. In his hand was a fake letter stating that what she was searching for was a tree and that she would be camping there, waiting for him to 'defend' him while he did his 'nerd things' because the tree had weird glowing drawings on it that blew air and stuff like that. The letter was made to perfectly mimic Carla's style, but that didn't matter because only he knew how she wrote, and he even added grammatical errors, despite how grating it was for him.

"What are you screaming for?" - The head elder glared at him as his assistant wiped the table clean of the spilled tea.

He quickly almost-threw the letter across the table at him. It was a major breach of etiquette, as he was supposed to give the letter to an assistant for them to carry it to the other side, but from what he read in the real letter, he would most likely never return here, so he didn't care.

The elder took the letter from Roland, who was climbing halfway across the giant table, a slightly manic grin across his face, with a look of disgust at such behavior, and started reading. He passed the letter around the table until everyone read it, and looked at Roland standing up, while leaning forward and supporting himself on the table using his fully extended hands;
"So, what this is telling me, is that you are leaving?"

"Yes, I am leaving as soon as I return all the orders to the people."

'Good riddance.' -Thought most of the elders with disdain for the young upstart. The only elder that didn't, was the owner of the bakery. She still tried to work despite her advanced age, and she was extremely thankful to Roland for countless times he helped her, for free nonetheless! She knew his prices, and was extremely thankful, to the point of forcing him to accept free bread, she even came to his house herself if he didn't pick it up in the morning. It's all thanks to him that her back doesn't hurt, with that new enchanted bed. Oh, the dreams on it are as sweet as cake.

Roland looked around the room, and could guess what they were thinking. He also resolved to give Holly her present early. Her own magic mailbox, and a bunch of letters enchanted both for his mailbox and the capital's postal service. He heard that she used the communal one, unlike other elders, and someone kept stealing her knitting magazines, so it's about time she has one of her own, despite protests; 'If I am forced to accept her bread, she will be forced to accept my gifts too.' -Was the final thoughts he had as he left the room. When he exited the building, an exited crowd was outside. The priest was telling newcomers that the letter has arrived, and Roland used this opportunity to announce that he is leaving to investigate what Carla found, and for everyone to come to him for their orders, be it completed or not, and flew off home to take some items and deliver them to the shopping district while stocking up. Commotion or not, the shop keeps rarely left their shops unattended, so he would need to both tell them the news and deliver the order himself.

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By the time everything was given to their proper owner, and Holly forced to take the mailbox, it was already midday, but Roland already packed, and he was too impatient to wait until morning, so he put on the bulky enchanted backpack and started Running using his enchanted boots. It wouldn't be long until he arrives to the home of our fateful hero.