Chapter 6: Volume 1 – Chapter 5

'All of them want someone who can enchant, but don't want to bother giving any training to someone like me. Cheap bastards!' Tal cursed, standing outside a shop. From the three days he had spent in Ovalle, Tal had tried almost all general goods shops and a few that sold enchanted items, and had had no luck so far.

There were few shops left to ask, but at this point, little hope was left in him. To not waste any time, Tal walked towards the next one at a quick pace. If the last few merchants would turn him down, he would need to find work and just save up money to afford at least reading lessons.

With the basic layout of the city firmly memorized, Tal reached the next shop with no problems. He looked up at the wooden sign. 'An-An-do… Andon, his name I guess, g-gen… General… Should be it.' He quickly opened the door, with a small bell signaling his arrival, and stepped in.

A cozy, welcoming interior greeted him. The usual bags with dried goods lined at the sides. Various tools waited for eager buyers on shelves. A man with a decent belly, dressed in a gray shirt with a leather vest and with white, thin hair, stood up behind the counter, turned his attention to Tal, and said with a professional smile.

"Welcome to Andon's General Goods, young man. How can I help you?"

"Hello, sir. I am looking for employment. I have a magical rating of three and a recommendation letter."

The man eyed Tal up and down and then said. "A magical rating you say? Do you have any training in enchanting?"

"No, sir." Tal replied, mentally preparing for another rejection. The man's face already showed that he had failed the most important requirement.

"Do you know how to read?"

"A little. The priest from my village taught me the basics."

"I see…" the man slowly said, "Boy you understand, that as of now you can provide little value, and you would have to be trained."

"Yes sir, but I can do basic labor while I'm trained. I am a hard worker." Tal tried a desperate sales pitch. If there was even a small chance, he was not about to miss it.

The man scratched his chin and then said. "Training you will cost a lot, that is an investment that you can't repay by just doing the heavy lifting around the shop."

"I understand sir, I…"

"Do you have family, a wife, a girl waiting for you?"

"N-no, sir. I am on my own." Tal said. This line of questioning was not something he wanted. The man could be plotting to sell him for all he knew at this point.

"Then I have a deal in mind." the man said with a smile and then added, "It's not as bad as you think. I do not deal in that sort of business. Hear me out first."

"O-of course."

"We will sign a contract. I will pay for your training and in return, you will produce two basic stamina enchants per week for free and work in the shop until the debt is repaid or have produced enchants for two years. If you are not able to learn enchanting, you will work for me for five years for a bed, two meals a day, and twenty copper per week."

'Five years working for practically nothing, but I don't think I will get a much better offer anyway.' There was a chance the training would be symbolic and the man was setting him up to fail, but that could not be avoided.

"Don't worry, boy. I prefer you learning the craft as those two enchants would bring me way more profit than just you working for free. I am betting on your success here. Do you agree to these terms?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now let's see… Oh, name's Farruco, by the way." he said and leaned down to rummage through the drawers hidden under the counter.

"Tal."

Farruco pulled up a rolled-up parchment and put it on the counter together with a pen and a small ink bottle.

"Now then, Tal, this is a magical contract, it will seal our deal and make sure we both keep our end of the deal to the best of our ability." Farruco said and unrolled the parchment and started to scribble down the terms of the deal.

"Few additional things. I will provide you with a new set of clothing twice a year. We can't have you look like a common street worker when you are in the shop. People would start nasty rumors. When you will start providing me with two enchants per week, your shop hours will be cut in half to give you plenty of time to rest." Farruco calmly spoke as the contract slowly took shape.

"What else? Oh yes. You can buy out the contract if you have paid for the education that comes down to… let me think, its…" He mumbled under his breath. "Ah yes, two gold coins. Any questions?"

"What if I can provide more than two enchants per week?"

"Then I'm paying you for every extra enchant you can make. You will be trained only to make basic stamina enchants, as they are the easiest to sell, and you don't need extensive magical training to make them."

"Then I have no more questions."

"Good. Now let's sign the contract." Farruco said and signed it first. Tal carefully picked up the pen and scribbled down his name. The moment the pen was off the parchment, it gave out a faint green light for a brief moment.

"The deal is made. Let's start then." Farruco said in a business-like tone and put the contract away. "You will work in the shop from seven in the morning till six in the afternoon. Then you will go receive training from a friend of mine till the sun goes down. I will not expect you to learn the craft in a week, but I will not waste more than a month either."

"Understood, sir." Tal said and straightened out.

"Good. Let me show you what needs to be sorted out while there are no customers." Farruco said and motioned for Tal to follow deeper inside the shop.

Tal followed his employer with eager anticipation. 'I finally did it. I can start working. I can be something more.'

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The day's work around the shop was a lot easier than Tal had expected. After the morning setup of putting all the heavy bags for easy access and filling the shelves with goods that were sold out on a daily basis, he was standing behind his new employer dressed in formal cotton pants and shirt.

Farruco himself just dealt with more expensive stuff safely hidden behind the counter.

"Remember, Tal, be polite and don't argue with clients. I will deal with the difficult ones."

"Of course, sir."

Luckily, the morning hours went by rather calmly, with most clients being regulars that simply came in to pick what was already prepared for them. Even his polite and professional demeanor paid off, as two clients both gave him small tips. It was just a few copper coins, but money was money.

Even if he would not be able to learn enchanting, the new life looked promising enough as is. Farruco was actively using the fact that he had an assistant, and Tal had to keep the living space clean as well, not to mention, make breakfast for both, but those were easy tasks compared to the jobs he did in the village.

Overall, the day went by smoothly. There were few uppity clients, but as long as he wasn't in their way, Farruco dealt with them just fine. Once the last client left and the doors were locked. Farruco said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Quickly sweep up, and then go to the address the old lady gave you earlier. She will teach you the basics of magic." He then added more sternly "Do not play around, Melchora has little patience for fools."

Tal nodded, grabbed a broom, and quickly swept the floors. He could do a more thorough cleaning tomorrow morning after all.

'I have to learn it, I just have to.' he mused as he put aside the broom and left the shop through the backdoor.

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The given address was not far away. Walking at a quick pace, Tal reached it within a few minutes, standing in front of a small brick house with a sign 'Troche's enchants' over the door.

Tal took a deep breath and knocked. The same woman from before opened the door. Dressed in a gray robe with blue lining, she eyed Tal up and down with a neutral expression. She was about fifty years old, with her long gray hair tied in a tail.

"Come in, Tal. Let's not waste time." she said in a calm voice and motioned for Tal to follow. He quickly followed inside, closing the door behind him.

The old woman sat down on a small chair and motioned for Tal to sit down on one next to her.

"Since old Farc wanted to bring you up to speed as fast as possible, I will skip all the theories of magic. All you need to know is how to channel it, and how to put it in the form of a spell." Troche said, straightening out and breathing deeply, "Now relax. Clear your mind and feel the energy within."

Tal straightened out as well. Took a few deep breaths '...not thi… I will not… ahrg… I can.'

"Do not force it. Concentrate on how you feel. Put your attention to the tingling sensation within."

'Tingling sensation within. I can do this.' Tal took another deep breath and tried to sense whatever energy was supposed to be within him. After a few breaths, he started to notice a vague tingling sensation all over his body.

"I think I sense it." Tal said.

"Good. Keep breathing calmly, and continue feeling it, how the energy moves around."

These small tingling sensations felt warm and pleasant. The joy he felt at this discovery was hard to describe. Tal kept taking deep calm breaths reveling in the sensations that steadily grew more pronounced.

"What you feel now is your magical energy. With practice, you will be able to sense it much better. If you want to succeed, you will practice this constantly till you feel this energy flow naturally."

"Do I have to sit down and breathe calmly to do it?" Tal asked.

"At first, yes, but you can do it whenever you have a moment to concentrate. We'll see how fast you progress to do more advanced exercises." Troche said as she exalted. "That's all for today, go home, practice sensing your energy, get a good rest, and come back tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You can call me Troche. Keep the formal business for the highborn, they like such things, and I do not."

"Understood. Thank you for the lesson."

"Yes, yes. Now go, I need to rest my old bones." Troche said dismissively.

Tal bowed lightly and quickly left the house. With his daily tasks out of the way, all that remained was to wash up in the shop's garden area, eat, and then he could practice sensing his energy.

Over the next few days, Tal got the hang of how the energy felt in his body and even learned to move it around. Eager to learn the craft that would jump-start his career, Tal spent every free moment learning to control this force within.

The first day off since he started to work came with morning training, since Troche bluntly stated she wanted to rest as well and would not give a lesson in the afternoon during a Sunday.

"This is a testing amulet." she explained as she put the large silver disc on the table. "I will set it to basic stamina enchant, and you will pour in enough energy in it until this small gem in the center starts to glow."

Tal took a deep breath and put his hand over the amulet. Moving energy around the body wasn't hard at this point, but he had never tried to push it out of his body.

"Concentrate, gather energy in your hand, and then imagine it moving out of your body towards the amulet."

Tal did as ordered, and after a moment he started to feel tired. The gem started to faintly glow under his hand. Assured that his teacher would tell him when to stop, he continued to pour energy into it.

A few moments later, the gem started to glow. "Stop, that is enough." Troche said and Tal immediately stopped. He quickly sat down, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Sorry I just…"

"I know. You don't have that much energy to do it easily. The reserves will grow with practice. The good news is you can clearly cast basic enchantments."

"How do I do that?" Tal asked with a voice that betrayed his tired state.

"Patience, Tal. I will show you how to do the spell. After all, Farc paid for it, and paid good money at that. Now go home and rest. Meditation and sleep are the two best methods to restore your energy or mana reserves."

Tal could only bless the timing of this test, as he was not sure he would be able to work around the shop all day. Farruco had promised that on enchanting days, he would not need to work in the shop, instead he would just do house chores.

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Mishi sat on a tree branch about six meters above the ground, clutching her side. The gash wasn't deep, but it was a close call. An angry sow walked below, making agitated grunting and squealing sounds looking for her.

'I should have stuck to catching hares. Maybe some frogs. The pond to the south should have plenty of them.'

Her attempt at killing a piglet had ended badly. The creature had let out such a devastating call for help that her parent had reached Mishi before she could finish off her prey. Only by pure instinct did she manage to jump out of the way and receive only a light wound.

Mishi carefully removed her hand to look at the wound. It wasn't that deep, but she had lost some blood and felt slightly dizzy. This was bad. She would have to sit in the tree until the massive sow went away and hope to not pass out before that.

Almost a meter and a half tall, and more than two meters long, the massive pig was a threat to a fully armed hunter.

'If only I had some weapon. I need to eat meat soon.' Mishi reminded herself grimly. If it came to the worst, she would have to go to a nearby village and try to steal something resembling a weapon to increase her chances against bigger prey.

Finally, the sow walked off. Mishi listened to the creature making noises for quite some time before getting down from the tree. She slowly and quietly walked to a pond nearby, took off her shirt, and gently washed the wound. With no one around, she could tie the shirt around the waist to cover the wound, as it was a better option than just letting it bleed.

'Dammit, I have only one extra shirt left.' The need to get human-made goods grew every day. Mishi carefully adjusted the shirt to at least partly cover her breasts and her back. Receiving more scratches on exposed skin could only lead to more problems and possible infection, and even though there was no one around in the forest, she didn't want to be exposed, just in case.

As Mishi adjusted her shirt, she heard a loud croak.

'Frogs!' She quietly located her target, kneeled down, picked up a stone, and threw it with impressive precision. A quiet thud made her heart jump in excitement. She didn't miss it. The fat frog sitting at the side of the pond lay dead.

Mishi quickly grabbed the prey and bit into it. Raw meat was not as tasty as it was when cooked, but thanks to her bestial part, she could safely consume it raw. At this moment, it didn't even matter, meat was meat, and it would give her the strength she desperately needed.

She took another bite as the frog's bones broke between her jaws, chewing the meat with a satisfied grunt while her ears moved around, listening for more potential prey. There surely were more frogs, and she was not about to leave easy prey alone.

Edited by Edgy

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