Farmer Mage

Maelor’s words were true.

Cal watched from a distance as Tavia hugged her friends in disbelief. As Maelor said, some were worse for wear, but there was nothing to be concerned about. It might take the injured some time to recover, but they were alive. He was more concerned about the other figure who watched the reunited group.

Faelor, the niece who had her finger chopped off, stared with hatred at Tavia and her friends. He still doubted that the finger Maelor threw at him belonged to his niece, but the bandaged nub on her right hand revealed it to be true.

Cal had to remind himself that he was dealing with a man who seemed willing to cross any line to achieve his goal. Or at least, that was Maelor’s outward appearance.

While it seemed Maelor was more than willing to sacrifice his own family for his own gain, Cal didn’t quite believe it. Kaelor’s death was set aside rather easily, but that didn’t mean much. A hyper-pragmatic person could do the same in order to lull a target into complacency.

It was Faelor’s cutoff finger that truly threw a wrench in Cal’s attempts to understand the man. There were ways to fix a sliced-off appendage, but it would never be as good as the original. The girl truly took a lot of the brunt, no matter how he looked at it.

Cal locked eyes with Faelor when she turned away from the happy reunion. Her eyes widened with fear before she quickly left the area.

He stayed still until Faelor was gone for sure. He glanced at the still emotional hugging and blabbering before leaving for the port. It would be best to give Tavia some time before he interrupted them.

Cal watched the group enter Seris’s house before leaving for the port. He had noticed before that he received strange stares from the townsfolk in his previous visit, and now, though stairs had become much more welcoming.

If he had the time and patience to figure out what was going wrong with these people, he would pull someone aside and ask. Unfortunately, he had bigger things to worry about than this little mystery, so he couldn’t care less.

Cal saw Drex moving about on the port and nodded in acknowledgment before entering the building where Brin had led him before.

“Apprentice Cal,” Brin greeted. He tried to look busy, but he was obviously lazing around at his desk. “I didn’t know you would arrive this early. Overseer Marek is set to visit in a few hours.”

Cal didn’t mind. “I’ll wait.”

He made himself look at home as he sat on the chair on the other side of the desk. They were facing each other, but Brin seemed highly uncomfortable.

Brin cleared his throat. “I have some things to do. If you need me, let Drex know. He will find me.”

Cal tilted his head and acknowledged before going back to staring at nothing. He kept track of Brin with his senses as he hurriedly left the room. His fellow Apprentice didn’t leave the building; instead, he climbed a few stairs to settle himself in a room on the third floor.

He chuckled at the way Brin treated him. It was like he was a dangerous, unpredictable beast.

A far cry from how I was treated when Brin assumed I was an Initiate.

Cal tapped his fingers on the chair armrest before closing his eyes. He could put the several hours he had to good.

He spread his mana tendrils as wide as he could. He immediately received an accurate image of every movement on the port, but this wasn’t a challenge since most people here were mortals.

He would’ve been proud of his accomplishment if this had been done in Lumina. Cal didn’t intend to stop in Mariner's Rest until the tendrils covered the entire town. Only then would he call it a minor achievement.

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He felt that he had been on the edge of successfully creating his first spell. Succeeding as he waited for the Overseer would be an unexpected boon.

***

Cal’s mana core was at half capacity. His nascent spell started to draw enough mana to make it noticeable in the past hour. His mana tendrils touched a house with ten signatures, one of which he recognized.

He had successfully reached Seris’s house from the opposite side of the town. This would’ve been more than enough for him to call it a success, but he could still push for more.

Cal’s fingers trembled as he sank deeper into his effort to cover the entire town with mana tendrils. He had gotten the exact number of Initiates that were in Mariner’s Rest, a house that was filled with artifacts, the movement of every single mortal and their most minute actions, and the most difficult of them all, the change in the waves as ships approached and left the port.

At this point, it wasn’t the mana tendrils themselves that were difficult to upkeep; it was the information gathered from them. It put an unbelievable strain on his mind as he tried to process everything at once.

Cal still tried to extend his mana tendrils, but at the same time, he tried to block out unnecessary information. It was easier said than done.

“Impressive as ever, Apprentice Cal.”

He gasped as he snapped out of his single-minded focus and opened his eyes to see Overseer Marek sitting across from him.

It didn’t escape Cal that Overseer Marek had been invisible to his senses. His happiness at his advancement in his nascent spell quickly disappeared.

“Overseer Marek,” Cal said. “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to witness another point in your favor. Creating your own spell this early? Fantastic.”

He would've thought the praise was sarcastic if he hadn’t seen Overseer Marek’s earnest expression.

“… Thank you? There are far too many issues to call it a true spell, but I hope to get there soon.”

Overseer Marek nodded as if he agreed with the assessment. There was a brief silence as they stared at each other before the Overseer broke it. “It’s been a few days, Apprentice Cal. Is there something you need to tell me?”

Cal didn’t try to deflect this time. “I’ve been in contact with an Apprentice from the Frostguard Dominion. During my investigation of the smuggling ring, I had to kill an Apprentice, and the one who arrived at my farm was a relative. I used the opportunity to get some of Tavia’s friends returned from the Dominion.”

Overseer Marek’s expression didn’t change as he took in what Cal said. There was an unbroken stare long after Cal stopped speaking.

“That’s all?”

Cal replied with a slight nod. “That’s all.”

Overseer Marek leaned back in the chair and considered his following words. “This is the point where I usually say the trespassing Apprentice will be taken care of. However, what I learned in the past few days makes this an awkward spot for the guild.”

Cal felt uneasy.

“The Apprentice you are dealing with isn’t one that can be disappeared without further issues. He is directly related to the Frostguard Dominion’s guildmaster.”

Cal no longer felt uneasy. He felt terrified that he would be made a sacrificial lamb. “What about the one I killed? Is the guild thinking of turning me over?”

Overseer Marek laughed. “We wouldn’t turn over a mortal to the Dominion, let alone an Apprentice. However, there are basic courtesies the administration has to follow. It makes dealing with Maelor a headache.”

Cal hadn’t revealed Maelor’s name. The Overseer’s knowledge of it meant the truly was nothing to hide. Still, the so-called courtesy made little sense to him. What was the point of turning a blind eye to the arrival of a rival guild’s Apprentice who caused trouble in the territory?

Overseer Marek understood his feelings. “It seems ridiculous, but the alternative is to deal with the Dominion’s maniac of a guildmaster going on a rampage.”

Cal imagined a guildmaster who was even more insane than Maelor and highly willing to commit atrocities in the name of avenging a dead relative. Given what he knew about the people whose names ended in ‘lor,’ it wasn’t a stretch to imagine that exact scenario.

“So, Maelor is to be left alone?” Cal strangely wasn’t against that. It would mean he would get to test the gem's effects on him as initially planned.

“Not at all. I want you to kill him outside the Celestial Order’s territory.”

It was Cal’s turn to give the Overseer a long stare. That might be possible if he was on his farm with the help of the pond, but trying to take on Maelor, where he didn’t have the advantage, was suicidal.

Cal was many things, but suicidal was not one of them.

Overseer Marek amended his statement after Cal stayed silent. “I don’t mean immediately. With your growth rate, I suspect you can deal with him in a few months. In return, the guildmaster will allow you one request as long as it’s not outlandish.”

That was much more reasonable. Cal had planned to do exactly that before Overseer Marek spoke to him a few days ago. “Agreed.”

“Excellent,” Overseer Marek said as he stood. “Our next meeting will be at your farm. Look forward to seeing the changes in person, Apprentice Cal.”

With that, the Overseer took his leave. Cal followed not long after and relinquished control over Brin’s office.

He wanted Tavia to spend more time with her friends, so he approached Drex. The Sunfire Grain seeds were still plentiful, but it was time to prepare another crop.