Farmer Mage

Cal was amazed at the quietness of Orrin’s place. Every other time he had been here, he heard the constant noise of hammer meeting metal.

It almost felt wrong for it to be so quiet. He checked the smithy in the back of the house and saw it was empty, as expected. He glanced at the half-finished multi-bladed plow before leaving, heading into town.

It wasn’t often that Cal was at Mariner’s Rest when the sun was about to set. It was busier than he was used to. He barely noticed the looks he was getting as he headed directly to his destination.

Cal had never thought about asking Seris where she lived; without Orrin available, finding out was a bit of a headache. He doubted Drex would still be at the port, and he had no intention of meeting Nismus, so it left one person with whom he had interacted.

Unfortunately, Cal didn’t know the man's name, though he did know where he worked and lived.

He reached the town square in no time and saw that the leatherworker was still in his shop, thankfully. He remembered the man being extremely fond of Seris.

Cal hoped he knew where her house was.

“Initiate Cal?” The leatherworker exclaimed with wide eyes. “Did my leather strap fail?”

He hadn’t worn that since he got the storage pouch. It served him well early on, but the unwieldy nature of his equipment made it awkward to use it when he was fast enough to just travel back and forth from his storage room.

“Not at all. It holds up well with all the use I put it through. I’m here for another reason. Could you point me to Seris’s house?”

“Seris? Hm, I haven’t seen her in a while myself,” the leatherworker quickly closed up shop. “I’ll lead you there.”

Cal gave him a smile in thanks, still racking his brain on the man’s name. He swore that it had been mentioned, but he couldn’t remember it for the life of him.

Thankfully, the leather worker was more than happy to talk Cal’s ear off as he led them to the western side of the town. Knowing his name turned out to be unnecessary, and all Cal needed to do was nod and smile.

The buildings on the side of town were smaller, but for a girl like Seris, it should be more than enough. Still, it brought up a thought he never really concerned himself about.

I vaguely remember hearing Seris’s parents were sailors. Surely, that means they are wealthy enough to afford a larger house.

“Here we are! I’ll let little Seris know—“

“Cal,” Tavia interrupted the leatherworker from continuing. “I hoped you would visit. Come in. You have to see something.”

Cal heard the leather worker excusing himself, but that was far from his mind. Tavia’s tone concerned him greatly.

When he entered the house, the first thing he saw was Orrin sitting next to a bed where Seris was bundled up in blankets as she slept uneasily.

“What happened?” Cal immediately moved to the bedside and placed a few fingers on her neck to sense her pulse.

“I found her unconscious near the outskirts of town when she didn’t visit my house. I think she was there overnight.” Orrin’s voice sounded bleak.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Cal frowned as he sensed something that was hard to believe. Seris was fine physically, but she was depleted of something that shouldn’t have been possible. He met Tavia’s eyes and understood that she had sensed the same thing.

“She’ll be fine,” Cal patted Orrin’s shoulder. “Give her a week or two and shall be back to normal.”

Orrin didn’t look convinced but nodded in agreement all the same. He must have heard the same from Tavia.

Tavia motioned for Cal to follow her outside the house, and he did.

“She used her essential mana reserves,” Tavia stated with heavy disbelief, even though proof was sleeping on the bed.

“The question is how? She has had no training, and even if she did, this isn’t something that you can do by accident.”

“You know just as well as I on the how. It seems that Seris’s talent goes beyond just memorizing and understanding how mana works.”

Cal couldn’t deny Tavia’s words. Still, he didn’t want to accept it. “The guild won’t allow an exemption for her.”

“Even if you ask?” Tavia raised her eyebrow.

“Even if I ask,” Cal confirmed. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to deal with this.”

Tavia crossed her arms and fell silent. After several seconds, she said, “There has to be something that would block her from using her reserves again.”

Cal shrugged since he had never heard of anything that could do so. Now that Seris used her essential mana reserves, there was a significant chance that she could subconsciously pull on it. Doing so would be a disaster since the reserves were required to simply regulate a body’s function.

The only way he was aware of solving such an issue was to activate the interface. However, Seris was too young. There was no doubt the Celestial Order would greatly value someone like her, but they would still refuse to allow her to go through the Selection to let her develop to her full potential.

The Celestial Order would rather risk letting Seris come to harm so there would be an assurance of a [Mage] joining the guild in the future. If they allowed the Selection to happen now, the Celestial Order could gain another [Farmer] or an equivalent [Class].

“… You need to try, Cal. If they deny you, at least we can focus on trying to find another solution.”

Cal could only nod. He intended to do so anyway but had no real hopes for it. Unless Overseer Marek could convince the guildmaster that allowing Seris to get assigned a subpar [Class] was reasonable to satisfy Cal—who the guildmaster considered to have dubious loyalty to the guild.

“It’s best to look for alternatives immediately.”

Tavia hummed in agreement. There was a brief silence before she said, “How did the meeting go?”

“Promising, but I’ll need a few more days before I can say if the man’s words are worth anything.”

“Don’t put yourself in a terrible position,” Tavia warned again as she looked around for any eavesdroppers. Unnecessary in this town, but it was always good to be cautious.

“I know where the limits are,” Cal assured her before changing the subject. “I’m guessing you’re going to stay here until Seris wakes?”

Tavia nodded. “Someone has to be beside her so she doesn’t relapse into a coma… the boy can’t do much since he doesn’t know the issue.”

Cal questioned that. With how skilled Orrin was in smithing, he had long suspected there was some unintentional usage of mana. There were no mishaps, so he never tested the boy for it since he feared Seris's current situation would happen.

It was hard to control once the knowledge was acquired. As Trainees, they had years of fundamentals beaten into them to prevent mishaps.

“Let me know if anything turns for the worse,” Cal finally replied. “I would like to stay myself, but it’s impossible at the moment.”

“I know, you don’t have to defend yourself, Cal,” Tavia chuckled. “Seris will be fine under my watch.”

“… Thanks,” Cal said awkwardly. “I’ll visit again tomorrow.” He gave her a smile and turned to leave.

“Cal!” Tavia’s shout stopped him.

As he turned, Tavia fell into his embrace. Her lips brushed softly against the corner of his mouth, leaving a tingling warmth before she drew back with a playful look. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Cal touched the spot where she had kissed him and realized he was grinning widely. Tavia giggled at his reaction before she turned to enter Seris's house.

The smile on her lips grew when she saw him staring after her. “That’s not a one-time event. Go do what you need to and come back tomorrow.”

Cal finally moved when the door closed. As he regained his senses, he considered his reaction and wondered if it was something to be embarrassed about.

No. It’s not. I might have looked like a sap, but it earned points for me in Tavia’s eyes.

He finally left Seris’s place and moved towards the port. Even if Drex wasn’t there, he still needed to get the carts for his harvest. He had planned on getting Seris to do the job, but she was at least out of commission for a week.

… And Cal needed to talk with Benan before leaving town. That was something he was not looking forward to.