Authors note. I was going to stop writing for the night at midnight and finish chapter 5 in a part 4 tomorrow.

But Lucky you all... I lost track of time and really got into writing the story. Its now 1:30 A.M and i am off to see what my pillow has been up too while i was away..

Hope you all Enjoy the end of Chapter 5

Wolfgar

Chap 5 part 3

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Opening the door to Martha's I was greeted by the smell of freshly baked cookies and another unidentified but mouthwatering smell. Walking into the kitchen Martha was in the process of setting dinner out on the table. Grabbing a handful of utensils I put a knife and fork at all three plates that were on the table. “Martha..Is there going to be someone else coming to dinner?” Nodding with a smirk “Yes I invited Frank over to join us tonight.” Thinking I had heard that name recently mentioned I silently racked my memory for the name. After a few minutes and still not remembering I gave up, I was about to find out who this Frank person was shortly anyways.

Helping Martha finish preparing the meal and setting out a delicious looking and smelling roast along with some kind of vegetable that looked like a cross between a carrot and a potato. I asked her what the unidentified vegetable was. She informed me that vegetable was called a “Carto” and that they were quite common in the area. She also told me that they they were a staple for almost everyone in Arkhay.

Meat was only available when or if the hunters of the village were able to find game. On rare occasions such as spring and winter festivals the village would slaughter one of the 'as yet unseen by me' draft animals for the party. All of the preparation for diner didn't take all that long but it was a enjoyable experience nonetheless.

Just about the time I was starting to wonder if Martha's mystery guest "Frank" was going to show up there was a Knock at the door. Asking Martha if I should get the door she shooed me away and said she would get it. While I waited I ruminated over the days events a bit. I was upbeat about my circumstances but still a little wary considering that for all intents and purposes this world was total new to me and already almost succeed in killing me more then once.

If you counted the Wolf of Nope in my uncles house it was three times I had almost died in under a weeks time. Granted I killed the Wolf before it even had the chance to get its paws anywhere near me. Remembering the critter I suddenly realized I never did ask the goddess Fortuna about the Wolf. Shaking my head I sighed ..The entire reason why I had gone to the mine In the first place….and I up and forget about it all because of a pretty goddess stripped me bare.. Figuratively speaking that is...well.... Cough..You know what i am talking about..

About the time I finished reminiscing over spilled milk Martha Walked back into the kitchen leading a very old looking maybe 'Foxcat' person. He stood at maybe four and a half foot tall, much shorter then the average members of his race that I had seen around the village so far. His fur was mostly Grey with patches of light brown here and there. His right ear looked like at some point in his life something or someone had sliced it in half from the top down. In his right hand he carried what looked to me a short Cain or walking stick. The last thing I noticed about the old gentleman was he walked with a pronounced limp.

Martha introduced him as “Frank Chanter” and said he was the local Enchanter for the area. Greeting the old guy I said “Hello Mr Chanter, My name is Richard Hollings. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Nodding without taking his eyes off the food he proceeded to declare he was famished and he was ready to eat. He then took the closest seat to him sat down and promptly started to dig in.

Put off by this rude individual I was about to say something when I caught Martha giving me a small shake of her head out of the corner of my eye. Deciding to take my Que from her I walked behind her and held her chair while she sat down. This elicited a rude sounding “Grunt” and a “Snort” from our dinner guest. Once again Martha gave me a silent signal not to interfere.. My mouth and my mind at this point were having a battle to see which of them was going to gain control first. My Mouth wanted to tell the old asshole off but my mind was yelling that it was a bad idea and it would be disrespectful to Martha seeing that she made it clear i should ignore this guys rudeness.

It really was no contest in the end, The mind controls the body after all. My problem has always been my mouth tends to blurt things out long before my mind has any chance to intervene..Or at least that is what I tell myself.... Sitting down to eat I resolved to keep my mouth shut considering I did NOT know what the situation was and Martha certainly didn't seem to want to cause a incident.

After loading my plate with some of the 'Carto' vegetables I looked over and saw the roast was nearly completely gone. Glancing at Martha's plate I saw that she didn't have any of the roast on her plate ether. Looking back at our “Guest” I was starting to get quite angry. 'How dare this asshole come into Martha's house treat her and me like garbage and then wolf down like a pig the vast majority of the roast!' I thought.

My mouth was just about to win its ongoing argument with my brain when I had a sudden thought and quickly calmed down..'This guy is old..Martha obviously knows what he is like and never would have invited him to dinner otherwise.' Realizing that there was something going on I decided once again..I should stay silent and eat my food.

After twenty minutes or so the old guy suddenly got to his feat and let out a enormous belch he then said “He will do Martha, Thank you for the Meal. Have him come to my house after he is finished at Ben's tomorrow.” And with that he turned around and limped out leaving me flabbergasted.

Seeing my expression Martha let out a loud laugh and shook her head. “So Richard what do you think of the Frank the Enchanter?” she asked. Not wanting to loose my tongue I edited out what first came to mind. Taking the high road and seeing if I could maybe turn the tables a bit I said “Oh he's a fine old gentleman, Never meet a nicer individual in my entire life.” While I was saying that my right eye seemed to have developed a major twitch, Maybe I was suffering from a stroke....I thought.. Upon Martha hearing what I had to say about our guest Martha nearly busted my eardrums with her laughter. She laughed so hard and long my ears still ring a bit from her gales of laughter and the resulting coughing fit that nearly made her pass out. At one point I seriously considered going out into the night to find some medical help for Martha.

After she had recovered a bit I looked back over to her and asked “Umm..Would you care to explain what all that was about?” Letting out a very unwomanly giggle for a woman her age she replied.”Oh that's just Franks way of interviewing you for Apprentice Enchanter. I must say you passed with flying colors..Your the first to pass his little test you know..And thank you Richard for being indignant on my behalf. Frank isn't all that bad of a person..He just has a unusual sense of humor.”

Shaking my head at the entire situation I started to worry about my immediate future. Thinking that I was way out of my depth with this Grandmotherly woman I decided that for the time being I would go with the flow. Besides I was actually interested in learning more about enchanting. Maybe I could throw some super powerful enchants onto my weapons or something. Maybe make a Holy Hand grenade or a Grenade Nuke.. Who knows what might be possible with magic.

Nodding to her to let her know I was ok, I asked her something that had been nagging my mind all day long. “Martha what exactly is Franks and the other people like him...I mean.... what is their race called? On my world humans are the only recognized beings.”

She answered “They are named the Certs after their home world supposedly. Not much is actually known about their origins even by them. They have been on this world so long all knowledge of their people before coming here has been lost. Quite sad really..Not knowing your peoples past.”

“They are a humble people generally, but like anyone if you back them into a corner they can be quite fierce. Over the years they have interbreed with humans so much that I doubt there is a full blooded member of their race left on our world. They are well known here and on other worlds as being some of the best Enchanters to exist. People will travel through multiple worlds and pay huge sums just to have a Cert Enchanter enchant something for them.”

While she was explaining the origins of the Certs we had both finished eating and started to clear the table. After helping with the dishes I was about to head to bed when Martha brought up a subject that I had completely ignored. “Richard, if your going to be staying here while working at the blacksmith and learning from Frank we need to come to some sort of agreement.” Slapping myself in side of the head with my hand I turned to her and said “Ohh Damn!! I am so so sorry for just assuming things. I really am quite ashamed of myself.” Seeing my sincerity she chuckled and said “It is really ok Richard.... Now then..all I need you to do is once a week head out and do some simple hunting. Bring back some meat for the village. Shouldn't be too hard for a big strong lad like you.”

Sensing that there was more to the “Simple hunting” then she was letting on, I wondered what this woman had up her sleeves. Knowing I probably wouldn't get to the bottom of it that night I thanked her for everything she had done for me. Turning towards my new bedroom she interrupted my attempt to get away from her before she volunteered me for something new with a nice surprise. Handing me a medium sized cloth bag she smiled at me then turned around and left. Looking inside the bag a huge smile suddenly plastered my face. COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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End Chap 5 little over 4400 words in total.