First things first, I summon the scythe and approaching with an easy-going gait as I know that the grass isn’t going to put up too much of a fight. I ready myself and let out a great sweeping blow which resulted in a radius of grass around me being chopped down. I stumbled a bit on the dismount, but man that was cathartic. Overgrown weed, prepare to meet your maker.

Blow after blow, swipe after swipe, eventually the legions of overgrowth fell to my blade and after I finished I heard Annabell come out. Looking over at her I saw her jaw dropped expression which I didn’t know was possible as her face never betrayed any emotion in the entire morning, but this shocked expression was a welcome change.

“I know, I know I’m amazed no need to be too shocked.” I tried to calm the nonexistent flattery coming towards me. In return Annabell shot an annoyed look at me, she then walks and looked at the scythe that seemingly came out of nowhere. Does she want to play with it or something, before I could say anything she exclaimed,

“That's mommies,” shit I didn’t think she would notice. What if she tells her mom, I’ll be in deep shit. What do I do? Come clean or lie out of my asshole. I thought back to the hammer and shivered, I’d rather not lie to the person who wielded that.

“Urr yes it was but your mom said I could throw out any junk and I thought that if she didn’t want I would take it off her hands.”

“But how”

“It’s my magic, pretty amazing right?” Her eyes seemed to shine when she heard the word magic, so I took this chance to distract from the fact that I restored herd moms old weapons and to show off a bit and get on her good side. I de-summon scythe and brought out the Warhammer. Her eyes went wide when she saw the hammer. I hefted it up and gave a smile at her, yeah I’m the coolest. She ran around the hammer excitement clearly obvious in her body movements. She then climbed up to my shoulder like I was a tree, was she a damn squirrel or something, and sat on my shoulder to get a good look at the head of the hammer. I then started doing some clumsy moves with the hammer to show off a bit more, man this hammer is heavy but Annabell was squealing so I guess she was enjoying herself.

However, this tomfoolery didn’t last long, as we were fooling around the door creaked open and out popped the landlady. At first, it looked like she was about to admonish me for fooling about but then her eyes settled on the hammer in my hands. Annabell and I practically froze like statues as we knew any sudden movements would set her off. This kept up for a couple moments before she looked straight into my eyes,

“How?” Although she was asking, I knew I better answer correctly as my life relies on what comes words come out of my mouth next. Small breaths. Begin,

“You said earlier that I should throw any junk that I find and I thought that it was a good idea that instead of just throwing them away I would take them for myself.” After a brief pause, I chanced a glance to see what her expression was, thankfully she wasn’t about to rip my head off,

“So I used my magic which allows me to bind weapons to myself and restore them, sorry I didn't me-” She put her hand up as I was about to explain myself, she then put her hand out and quickly passed the hammer over to her. She heaved the thing like it was nothing, damn how strong is she? She stroked the weapon and looked at it with fond eyes. This is a good development.

“I see, well I won’t berate you for seeking an opportunity. I don’t worry I don’t need this anymore as I left that life far behind me.” She threw the hammer back towards suddenly, I wasn’t prepared to catch so I de-summoned it before it crushes me and Annabell. The landlady, in turn, gave a small chuckle and said,

“Well good job on the garden I see you also have taken the scythe, it’s kinda annoying how one of my old weapons is now being used as a common garden tool but I’m glad it’s in good hands, right?” She gave me a small stare at that last part and I nodded quickly in return.

“Also it’s lunchtime in 1 hour so you better get some more done by then.” With that she went back inside, Annabell also jumped off me and followed her inside. I on the other hand hurriedly went back to work, I cut down any weeds with the scythe and crushed and any standing rubble with the hammer. After that I began to tidy up then went inside for lunch, I went to greet the landlady who was plating up the meals for everyone else at the inn. Without looking at me she said before I could get a word in,

“Your form is shit you know that right. You’re already at a disadvantage of having to use weapons as a mage.” I looked down at my feet as she said that. Even if my magic is pretty cool that I don’t need to maintain my weapons, I’m now warrior and I’ll never match them or monsters in strength. Even other mages who have weapon magic have advantages that their weapons are made of energy and they could telepathically use them and other advantages, whereas I have no such advantage. I'm like a glass twig, can’t take any damage and can deal even less.

As I was slipping into another depressed state the landlady cut in,

“So if you do a good enough job I’ll give you some pointers.” I lit up as she said that, who else would know how to use a weapon better than their original owners.

“Don’t get too excited, the only reason I’m helping you is that I got to see my old partners again. But you’ll have to explain yourself when Mathias sees you fixed his old axe, honestly, he loved that damned thing so much even though it’s just a standard-issue.” I heavily swallowed I thought back to that hulking man.

After eating lunch I went back to work, as I walked out Annabell trailed behind me. I had a basic idea at what she wanted so I summoned my buckler shield to let her play with it, which she accepted with shining eyes. I guess I hit the mark. She then ran off with the small shield which looked perfect for her size. I laughed to myself at how excited she was and then went back to work. I tried my hardest to do a good job to get those lessons. When the sun was about the set I went back inside and threw myself into my bed. My gods my body is dead.

I continued in this cycle of working and sleeping for the next three days. I fixed up the back for outdoor eating with new benches and a clean grass area. I even made a flowerbed for the landlady. Furthermore, I fixed up the atrocious colour scheme out front. I also grew a bit closer to Annabell as I played around with her with the weapons I summoned. I also grew some understanding to my powers, if I do decide to unbind with a weapon it returns to its original state as I tested that out with the axe when Mathias begged me to give it back to him. But when I unbound from it, it returned to the state before I bound to it.

It’s now the last day and I’m waiting in apprehension for the landlady’s for her verdict on training me. I sat on the table while Annabel and Mathias were stuffing their faces with lunch which really didn’t help my nervous mental state. Finally, the landlady sat down on the table and did a light cough to get my attention, this, however, didn’t deter her husband and daughter from continuing their meals.

“I have observed you the last couple of days and evaluate the quality of work you have done.

My verdict is…” My heart was in my throat at this moment, even the other two paused themselves from their meal to hear the verdict,

“I will teach you.” I leapt up from my seat with literal tears of joy coming from my eyes, Annabell joined me in my celebrations whereas Mathias' mouth fell wide opened. He then looked at me,

“What have you done with my wife?” The landlady shut him up with a mana infused fist.

“We start early tomorrow.” And with that, she retired to her bedroom. Mathias meanwhile was still recovering while Annabell was prodding his body like it was a dead insect. He then got up and looked at me with a look of newfound respect,

“You’re extremely lucky, back when Maria was on the frontlines she was called the Storming Centurion you don’t know how many other people would kill to have someone her calibre to tutor them.” He then went up to the bedroom, probably to apologise to his wife, meanwhile, I was mulling over the words Mathias told me. While I was in my own world Annabell shook me out of my thoughts with a pack of cards in her hands and I give her a warm smile and begin the deal the cards out.

My luck is really turning around Cassie, but I wish you were here with me.