I took a deep breath.
And on the release… I shot a much thinner, sharper bolt of mana.
Rather than using an inefficient regular bolt of mana that just hurt targets by forcing mana through them, these were more like arrows.
They actually cut through targets, dealing physical damage in addition to magical.
It was my first tier two spell.
Compressing more mana than was in a mana bolt into a smaller space to create the far more destructive, mana arrow.
My aim has gotten better too.
Now instead of taking potshots at squirrels and rabbits from point blank, I hit a deer from nearly thirty feet away.
Right through the chest.
It bellowed, and only took a single step before collapsing.
“Got it!” I jumped over a fallen log, and jogged over to the deer, Angie behind me.
“Good job.
This is a clean kill.” She kneeled next to the deer as it grew still, fully dead.
“And what comes next?” I clasped my hands together in prayer.
“Thank you, deer.
I promise to not let you go to waste.” “Very good.
Now, let’s gut it and drag it back to the house.” She pulled out her hunting knife.
We worked together to gut it.
I helped her, doing as little damage to the pelt as possible.
Pulling out all the organs.
Then, she hefted the carcass over her shoulders.
I went and picked up the rope with our smaller game on it.
There was a pheasant, a few rabbits, even a snake which had somehow gotten stuck in a snare.
The big game was what we were really after though.
This deer would give us enough money for me and Rey to finally upgrade our weapons.
On the way back, Angie drilled me.
“What are those tracks?” She pointed at some small footsteps in a low muddy area.
“Um, rabbit.” “And where would you go from here to find the rabbit?” “… its burrow is likely in the brush surrounding the meadow to the east.
So, I would look for the burrow.
Then I’d lay a snare outside the burrow to try and catch it.” She smiled.
“You’ve come a long way Kat.” I passed the test.
I smiled as we left the forest and reached the road.
First, she checked to make sure no one was on it.
And then she let me out, and we walked down the road to the farm.
The first thing we did was stop by the shed.
There, we skinned all our catches for the leather and fur.
After, we sliced up the meat, hanging the venison up to help it bleed out.
As for the rest, she had a smoker, and we set the strips to turn to jerky.
As for a good hank of venison, we brought it inside for dinner, wrapping it up in clean cloth.
Once inside, the smell of cooking reminded me I was ravenous.
The kitchen was bustling, Bella and Rey moving to and fro, keeping everything in check.
Rey spotted us first.
“Hey, you’re back.
Any luck?” I held up the roast.
“Fresh venison!
I caught a deer!” I gave it to him, and he and Bella sliced it up before throwing it in the big pot of stew.
I sat at the table as the smell became irresistible.
I had to distract myself from it somehow.
“How did your herbalism lesson go?” “Pretty good.
I managed to find a stony table shroom, and I successfully made a stoneskin potion.” Bella reached over and affectionately ruffled his hair.
“After failing about five times and wasting almost all the mushroom.” “Ack!
I got there in the end, didn’t I?” He ducked away from her hand and grabbed the plates.
“Anyway, once you guys sell it, we’ll finally have enough for better weapons.” Yeah… and it’s almost been three months.
It was fall now, the leaves beginning to change color.
Almost… time to leave.
We learned a lot here.
With my hunting ability and his skill in foraging and brewing simple tonics and potions, we’ll never have to go hungry again.
Not to mention they let us wait out the count’s search for us here… The knights have been back twice more, asking around about us.
But they haven’t been back for a month and a half now.
Everyone had to think we were dead… I hope Orick and Anna weren’t too worried about us.
Or… Rey’s family.
Rey said he left them a letter and that he promised to come home one day, after becoming super powerful.
But it still made me worry… It was just a great big worry circle.
“Okay, it’s ready.” Angie was the first to jump up and poured nearly half the pot into her bowl.
But that still left plenty for the rest of us.
The venison stew was delicious.
The bread we dunked into it was too.
Bella and Angie amicably chatted about their day, Rey bragged about how good with rapiers he was now, and I watched and listened.
Feeling… warm.
And happy.
But all good things must come to an end.
Once the dishes were done, Bella and Angie sat us down, and brought out some boxes.
Bella sighed and gave us a soft smile.
“The town astrologer finally gave us the time for the first snow of the year.
It’s… a month from now.
That’s about how long it is to the capital.
It’s difficult to travel in winter, so your best bet is to leave tomorrow, and winter in the capital.” Rey’s eyes widened.
“Tomorrow!?
But… but that’s so soon…” Angie put in her two cents.
“Well, you were nearing the end of your stay anyway, weren’t you?
And the knights haven’t been by for a while.
I think the two of you are safe to travel now.” “And so, we got the two of you a little goodbye present.” Bella pushed the box forward.
I felt tears prick at my eyes.
“You… you didn’t have to…” “We wanted to.
Go ahead and open it up.” Rey and I looked at each other, and Rey pulled the box towards us.
We opened it up, it was… furs?
No.
These had been treated and sewn into proper clothing.
I pulled the nice winter coat out the box, and Rey pulled out an identical one.
There were even hats, pants, gloves, scarves.
Warm clothing for the coming cold.
Rey was choked up.
“This… This is…” He pulled his coat closer to him, hugging it tight.
Bella gave us a soft smile.
“Winter, even winter in the capital, is still winter.
I included a heater for your tent in there too, and thicker bedrolls.
It’ll be a lot to carry, but it’s important to keep yourselves warm, especially in freezing weather.” I sniffed.
“But… we can’t possibly pay you back for all this…” Angie shrugged.
“Consider it your payment for all the work you two have done on the farm.
Weeding, harvesting, and taking care of the animals is all hard work, but the two of you never complained.
We appreciate you helping out.” “But you gave us room and board!
How can we possibly accept this…” Rey looked up at them, worried.
But Bella just reached out and patted his head.
“Well, let’s say room and board is fifteen coppers a day.
The two of you probably did about thirty coppers worth of work a day.
Fifteen copper a day over three months is about… fourteen silver.
Plus we have to factor in all the foraging, brewing, hunting, and butchering you helped us with!
We probably made about thirty silver from you helping us out.
That more than covers all these clothes and the heater.” “But you trained us… we’ll be better adventurers because of you.
Shouldn’t you be paid for that?” Rey was still insistent on trying to pay them back.
But Bella waved away the notion.
“Nonsense.
Teaching you was a pleasure for both me and Angie.
You livened up this boring old farm.
No, I absolutely insist you take what you’re owed with these clothes and heater.
Neither me nor Angie will have it any other way.” It was clear we had no choice but to accept their goodwill.
I bowed my head to both of them.
“Thank you both so much for watching over us.” “See?
A thank you is all we need Rey.
Really.” Bella reassured Rey, and he took a deep breath.
He bowed his head too.
“We can never thank you enough for helping us.
I promise, when we become famous adventurers, we’ll come back and tell you all about it.” Angie and Bella’s smiles grew.
Bella’s voice was soft, and happy.
“Even better.
Come back one day and show us how well the two of you are doing.
But for now, you should both get a good night’s sleep!
You have a big day of traveling tomorrow!” With that, she bustled us off to bed, with our big box.
I went to the bathroom to change and brush my teeth first, and Rey went after me.
When he came back, I was carefully packing our gifts away into our bags.
The clothes that would keep us warm this winter and the heater.
Our bags were bulkier now.
But we could handle it.
Rey and I could run nearly two miles now, and I was used to carrying animals around in the woods.
We were plenty strong for the trials ahead.
“They’re… good people.” I nodded, my bag all packed, ready to go tomorrow when the sun rose.
I reluctantly drew back from it and turned to my bed.
“They are.” “I hope we keep meeting good people.
Although… I’m sure we’ll run into bad ones too.
Do you think… things would have been different if your parents were good people?” Oh.
I paused getting into bed.
His back was turned to me, hunched over his bag.
“Yeah.
They probably would be…” If my parents… actually cared about me.
He sighed.
“I’m sorry.
I guess I’m just wishing you didn’t have to go through everything you did with them.
But I know you probably don’t want to talk about it.” Not really.
Remembering them just made me… sad.
I got into bed, pulling the quilt over me.
“I don’t really want to.
But… I’m glad too.
I’ve met lots of good people in my life.
I still think I’m lucky.” He snorted.
“Lucky?
How could you possibly feel lucky?” “It’s true my parents are bad.
But I met you.
And your parents.
And Mrs.
Finchwick, and Sally.
You’re all good people.
And thanks to you, I’ve met even more good people.
Orick, Anna, Bella, Angie.
And now I can be happy.” “You’re so… sentimental.” He wasn’t fooling me.
I could see the tips of his ears were red.
“But I guess you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t.
In the future, we should try and be good people too.
Help out people who need it.
My mom used to tell me when I was little, that goodness and evil are like circles.
If you do good, then goodness will come back to you.
If you’re evil, you’ll be struck down by your own wickedness.
So, if we’re good, then I’m sure we’ll meet even more good people in the future too.” I giggled.
“I think that’s even more sentimental than me.” He finally finished packing his bag and got into bed.
“So, what if it is?
Oh, just blow out the candle.
We should sleep.” He turned away, but I knew his face was still red.
I smiled at him before softly blowing out the candle.
“Goodnight Rey.” “Goodnight Kat.”