I woke up to the sound of Mom singing in the living room. I squinted my eyes as sunlight flooded into the room through the open window. Although I was already awake, I remained in bed, listening to Mom's beautiful voice. For some reason, my mood was better than usual today. I tried to think of the reason for my good mood, then I realized it. I didn't have any dreams last night.

As much as I enjoyed living my second life, I still had dreams of my previous life over the past eleven years. Memories of my previous mother, of my former family, of my happy experiences. They may be joyful memories, but all they did was torture me at night as it reminded me of everything I lost. But for the first time last night, I was able to sleep peacefully. A small step towards acceptance, I thought with a smile.

I looked at Tedd and Cuddles laying beside me. Both of them stared at me with their lifeless button eyes, but right now, they looked happy, just like me. “Good morning, Tedd, Cuddles. Did you have a good night's sleep?”

“I would have had a good sleep if you didn't snore so much!” Tedd exclaimed.

“Tedd is just being overdramatic, Brogen. I slept well last night,” Cuddles said. She seldom spoke, but when she did, it was to contradict her fellow stuffed bear.

“You're not alone in your opinion, Cuddles,” I said with a pointed look at Tedd.

“What do you think you're hinting at?” Tedd asked aggressively.

“I'm just saying that you're so annoyed and grumpy all the time.”

“Anybody would be annoyed if they see a weirdo talking to a stuffed toy.”

After a few more banter and heated words with Tedd, I decided to proceed to the hardest task of every morning: getting up. Some might say that getting up from bed is a simple affair, but I beg to differ. My body was lethargic from all the work and practice I did the previous day, which included magic training, Authority training, and physical training. My mind could easily recover from fatigue, but my muscles were an entirely different topic.

With a pained and exaggerated grunt, I tried to get up, but my abdominal muscles said ‘no’ and I fell back in bed. Did I push myself too hard yesterday?

I did a lot of physical training yesterday which included a wide variety of calisthenics. I performed pushups, pullups, crunches, squats, and other exercises that didn't require equipment since I didn't have the tools to make them. Mom initially looked weirdly at me as I exercised, but she eventually accepted my eccentric actions with a shrug. Looking back on it, maybe I should have made my routine a little lighter.

Ever since I started my physical training four months ago, my body was starting to show the effort I did. My day-to-day endurance had increased significantly and my muscles were starting to take some shape. Because my body had a lean build with little fat in the first place, the shapes of my muscles became visible quicker, although I was still far from getting the six-pack abs I was dreaming of. I tried to make my body look ripped as soon as possible, but it turned out way harder than I expected. Well, at least my progress is steady.

With my muscles complaining so much, I decided to give up on trying to use them and manipulated the spools of thread in the room. Ever since the monster attack four months ago, I began bringing spools of thread around me wherever I went so that I always had something to defend myself with if a threat showed up.

With a brief thought, I slipped them under my nightwear, looping and wrapping them all over my body and limbs like a large net. Then I gathered more fabric and thread from around the room, turning them into eight appendages that looked like spider legs and attaching them to my back. I made sure their ends were blunted to not damage the floor. With that, my transformation was complete. Hehe, I still can't get over how cool this is.

This transformation was one of my brilliant ideas to make myself more combat-ready. With threads looped and spread all over my body, they served as a protective exoskeleton and a strength booster in one. I could overload the thread harden it with a single thought, like armor, and I could manipulate it to move in time with my movements to make myself stronger and faster. I decided to call this my ‘thread suit.’ Technically speaking, all clothes are ‘thread suits.’ Meh, no need to worry about the semantics.

The spider legs attached to my back served for maneuverability and offense. With eight appendages, I could move around a small enclosed space and make tight turns swiftly. If I needed to strike at my enemy, I could make the ends of my spider legs sharpen with a thought and strike faster than a snake. Additionally, the eight spider legs were connected to a big lump of thread hanging behind me like a backpack that acted as an extra supply of thread, so if I needed to make more spider legs or threadtacles, I could create them on the spot. Shit, I feel so badass.

“Get out of here already, you narcissist,” Tedd commented from the side.

“Don't mind him, Brogen. You look cool!” Cuddles cheered.

“Yeah, Tedd is just jealous.”

With a single thought, my spider legs took hold on the floor and walls and acted as my feet. I opened the door and proceeded to make my way to the living room where Mom was preparing breakfast while singing. “Good morning, Mom. What's for breakfast?”

“Good morning, sweetie. Oh!” Mom was shocked by my weird appearance, but she immediately recovered her composure. I always used this transformation as training for my Authority nowadays, so she was already used to seeing me move around the house using my spider legs. “Make sure to keep them off the table, sweetie, they're dirty.”

I followed Mom's instructions and sat at the table, grunting as my butt hit the chair. Even if I wasn't moving my body directly, it still hurt as my thread suit moved me around.

The food arrayed at the table was extravagant. There was toasted bread with generous servings of butter, fried eggs, and sausages. For drinks, Mom made freshly squeezed orange juice with a teaspoon of sugar. I can't believe sugar here costs two silver coins for one small pouch.

Well, the food was extravagant only if it was compared to what we ate in the past. With our clothing business, we were raking in the dough, and even if we donated most of our earnings to the chapel for all the help they had given us over the years, we were still able to buy all the food we wanted, although we still lived in the same old wooden house. Houses in Erfeld were cheap compared to the larger cities, but buying one in this town was still way out of our league.

“Garin came by earlier this morning, but you were still asleep,” Mom said as she sat down on the opposite side of the table. “His father is looking for some able hands to work on their farm for this season's harvest and he asked if you wanted to participate.”

“I don't think I'll be able to go,” I said as I slathered generous amounts of butter on my toast. “I still have my work in the chapel to perform.”

Four months ago, Mother Betha started teaching me how to cast magic spells, and since she was a professional healer and I also had the life-affinity, she decided to teach me life magic first. After a few weeks of diligent training, Mother Betha had deemed me good enough to start healing people. Since I couldn't reveal to the public that I was a mage, I pretended to be the pastor's assistant as she treated ill people who came to the chapel. The people thought Mother Betha was the one healing them when in fact, it was me casting the magic. It was a pretty safe and effective way to train my spellcasting quickly and get hands-on experience.

“It's not like the harvest is going to be finished in a single day, sweetie. It would take several weeks and you could join them if you have the time.”

I considered my options as I sandwiched the fried eggs between my toasted bread. For this month, Mom and I decided to lay off on our clothing business to give people the impression that we had to stock up on our products first. Because of this, I had a lot of free time on my hands even if I considered my various training schedules. I initially intended to stay at the chapel and practice my magic in my free time, but I think this is a good opportunity to spend some time with my friends.

The past months had been really busy for my group of friends since we each had our own work and responsibilities, so Garin's invitation was a good opportunity to hang out with them again.

“Alright, I think I'll accept Garin's invitation,” I said after taking a gulp of fresh orange juice.

“Then make sure to stop by Garin's place to inform him, okay?” Mom replied while stuffing her cheeks with toasted bread.

Mom and I proceeded to finish our breakfast while making small talk before making our way to the chapel.

●●●

“Ow…”

After an arduous journey, I kneeled in relief as we finally arrived at the chapel. My muscles were so sore I was almost tempted into lying down on the ground and staying there until the sun set. If Mom hadn't given me a piggyback ride halfway through the journey, I probably would have collapsed long ago.

“Stop being dramatic, sweetie, people are staring.”

“Fine…”

The walk up the stairs to the chapel's doors was excruciating, but I managed with only a few grunts and complaints. When Mom and I entered the chapel, the mass was still ongoing. Mother Betha was preaching at the front, below the statue of the Holy Mother, who I now know as Aelina the Hero.

The audience had their attention focused on the pastor, so Mom and I easily slipped past the nave towards the back door without catching too much attention. Even though we always worked in the chapel, I never really attended these masses. Mom would attend sometimes, but I would never go with her.

As much as I respected the Holy Mother Church's doctrines and beliefs, I always avoided anything that has something to do with religion. Religious orders were always messy, especially if they encounter other beliefs that differ from their own. If you add the fanatics running the order, then I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to commit genocide on everybody who didn't believe in the same god as them. Mother Betha was a very kind pastor of the Holy Mother Church, but it would be naive to think that all their priests and priestesses were the same as her.

Mom and I went back to the chapel's garden and started our work. Mom asked Mother Betha a few days ago if we could bring home some of the plants so we could have our own mini-farm at home, and the pastor agreed. So today, our task was to transfer some of the vegetable plants into pots so we could bring them with us when we went home. If we were successful in cultivating our mini-farm at home, then it would drastically reduce our food expenses. Just because we had money now didn't mean we no longer had to be thrifty with our resources.

After an hour, I felt the people in the nave start exiting the chapel. The mass must have ended already, and judging by the position of the sun, it was just on time. Some of the people stayed behind in the nave, so I went inside the chapel after bidding Mom goodbye. The people who stayed were probably the ones that needed Mother Betha's healing.

When I entered the nave, Mother Betha beckoned me over by the front. She and the two nuns were in front of the Holy Mother's statue with a small bed propped in front of them for the patient to lie down in. I approached them and stayed beside Mother Betha as she gestured for the first patient to come over.

The first patient, a frail old man, stepped forward slowly as Sister Lina went and assisted him to the bed. When the old man was finally lying down on the bed, Mother Betha asked what his ailment was.

“My back's been killin' me for the past few days,” the old man said as he lay on his side so the pastor could access his back. “It all started when I tried to carry the sack of grain I bought from Loy back at the farms. When I tried to lift the sack, my back suddenly felt like someone stabbed me with a darn knife!”

Mother Betha listened quietly to the old man, then prepared to cast her spells. She pulled the sleeves of her robes up, the signal I was waiting for. Although Mother Betha pretended to be the one casting spells by putting her hands on the man's back, I was actually the one doing the spellcasting.

Gathering my focus, I used my will to accelerate my mana flow while opening a large ‘hole’ on my palms, the part of my body nearest to the old man. Mana exited from my palms and approached the man's back where Mother Betha's hands were, and using my will, I formed the magic circle for a diagnosis spell.

My mana took shape into a single circle an inch in diameter with a rune for ‘Life’ in the middle. Smaller runes formed along the circumference of the circle whose purpose was to dictate how the spell would manifest when I fed mana into it. I included runes like ‘roam’ and ‘return,’ the two most important runes for this spell. I added other supporting runes that would help stabilize my magic circle, then started to feed mana into it.

The moment I fed mana into the spell, the magic circle became visible beneath Mother Betha's hands, emitting a soft, yellow glow. The spell activated and the mana went inside the old man's body, wandering around because of the ‘roam’ rune I included in the circle. After a few seconds, the mana returned to the magic circle thanks to the ‘return’ rune and the circle dissipated.

The moment the spell finished, an image of the old man's body appeared on my mind along with his internals. I immediately noticed that some of the muscles on his back were torn, probably from trying to lift the heavy sack of grain. I noticed other stuff such as inflammation on the man's joints on the knees and hands, probably arthritis.

“What do you think is the problem, Brogen?” Mother Betha asked, pretending to lecture me like a new assistant.

“Judging from his story, he may have torn some of the muscles on his back from lifting the sack of grain. It's probably around here,” I said, gesturing towards his lower back.

Mother Betha and I shared a knowing look, then she placed her hands on the man's back again so she could ‘heal’ him. “That's right, dear student. Just because he lifted the sack with his arms doesn't mean his back didn't take some of the strain.”

I almost burst out laughing after hearing the pastor call me ‘dear student,’ but I was able to hold it in, although Sister Lina was having a much harder time. Sister Tillie stealthily elbowed her fellow nun, causing the latter to gasp in pain. Sister Tillie shook her head in exasperation, although the corners of her lips were slightly raised.

I turned my focus back on the man and cast another spell, this time a second-circle one. Just like with the first-circle spell, I had to exert all my focus for this one just to keep the magic circle stable. Casting low-level magic like this one was supposed to be easy for beginners like me, but due to my large mana pool, controlling the amount of mana I released was a bit more challenging. I had to be extremely careful not to overload my spell or else there would be unknown consequences. Thankfully, due to my constant mana manipulation and spellcasting training over the past months, I was starting to develop fine control over my mana.

After a few seconds of focus, I completed the spell and a brighter yellow glow emanated underneath Mother Betha's hands. The magic that I cast was a lesser healing spell called ‘Mend’ that accelerated the healing of a specific part of the human body, causing the injury to heal much faster than usual. I included the old man's knees and hands as well with my spell while I was at it. I had no idea if it could cure his arthritis, but hopefully it would provide him some relief.

After a few more moments, the glow subsided and Mother Betha removed her hands as she assessed ‘her work.’ “There, I sped up the healing of your injury. You should be fine within the day, but before then, don't strain your back.”

The old man profusely thanked the pastor and got on his way as a new patient took his place on the bed. The morning went by quickly as I treated patient after patient, not getting even a moment's rest, but despite the lack of breaks, I was still full of energy. My large mana pool was one reason why I could heal people one after the other, but the other was seeing the people's faces after I treat them. Even if they were thanking Mother Betha and not me, I still felt quite proud and satisfied every time I see the extreme gratitude on their faces. Knowing that your actions are helping other people feels so good.

“Looks like that's it for today, Brogen,” Mother Betha said as the last patient of the day walked out of the chapel with a satisfied look on her face, caressing her previously broken finger. “As usual, you did a good job. I think it's time for you to start learning how to do third-circle spells.”

“Really?! When are we starting?” I asked excitedly. For the past few months, Mother Betha only taught me magic up to the second circle since the backlash from making a mistake with low-level magic was pretty insignificant. The worst I could suffer from was a minor burn. But according to Mother Betha, third-circle magic was where the ‘fun’ started.

“We can start as soon as tomorrow,” Mother Betha answered.

“Oh, about that, I was planning to help Garin with this season's harvest, so I still don't know when I'm going to be available,” I said.

“The student is the one who's supposed to adjust to the teacher's schedule,” Mother Betha grumbled, but I pretended I didn't hear anything. “Fine, tell me when your free time is, and we'll see what we can do.”

“Thanks, Mother!”

I excused myself from the room and went straight up to the library for the next appointment on my schedule: training with Liz. As fellow students under the same teacher, we strived to train at the same time so we could help each other whenever we struggled with the magic lessons.

Since the only people left in the chapel were people that knew about my secret, I activated my Authority to wear my thread suit again to help ease the burden on my sore muscles. I made sure to double-check with my fabric sense that there was nobody nearby to see me so I didn't worry about accidentally exposing myself. With my thread suit on, the climb up the stairs was a bit less painful.

●●●

Liz focused her mind on one thing and one thing only: the magic circle forming in front of her. It was the first-circle spell ‘condensation’ that caused water in the air to form into water droplets. It was the most basic spell in the school of water magic, and yet she was struggling with it.

“Damn it!” Liz cursed as the spell completed and a few droplets of water formed on the surface of the table in front of her. Her problem wasn't with the magic circle, but with the magic itself. The effect of the magic wasn't proportional to the amount of mana she input, which was evidenced by the fact that Liz felt most of the mana she used dissipate into heat.

Liz had already brought up this topic with Mother Betha, but the only thing the pastor told her was that no matter what spell was being performed, a significant percentage of the mana being used would inevitably be wasted and turn into heat. This was the reason why mages always made sure to limit the amount of mana they used at a time to avoid burning themselves. But Liz didn't believe the pastor's words, primarily because a certain person she knew could cast magic with almost one hundred percent efficiency.

Just when Liz contemplated how weird a single person could be, the said individual entered the library while grunting in pain. Liz immediately noticed the strands of thread snaking all over his arms and legs like a tattoo. No matter how many times she saw Brogen's ‘thread suit,’ she would always stop in awe for a moment at her friend's creative mind.

“Whassup, Liz. Torturing yourself again with that spell of yours?” Brogen asked as he sat on the chair opposite her extremely slowly, his face twisting in agony as he did so. When his butt finally rested on the chair, he made a grunt of pain then gave her a strained smile. “Don't mind me, I'm just feeling the effects of yesterday's workout.”

“Looks like I'm not the only one torturing myself with training,” Liz commented, her eyes still fixated on the threads wrapped around Brogen's arms. “Say, what gave you the idea for that thread suit of yours?”

“Oh, this? I just thought it would be convenient if instead of moving my body myself, something else would do the work for me.”

“So it was a fruit of your indolence,” Liz muttered.

“Being lazy is not such a bad thing, you know,” Brogen said defensively. “Lazy people are pretty resourceful. They would do anything in their power to do things quickly and efficiently to finish them as soon as possible. As a result, they make all sorts of stuff just to make their lives easier. Lazy people are resourceful and efficient.”

Liz snorted at Brogen's attempt to excuse his laziness. “Speaking of efficiency, how do you make your spells so efficient?”

Brogen gave an exasperated sigh as Liz smiled sheepishly. “That's the eighth time you asked the same question, Liz. I honestly don't know why my spells use mana much more efficiently compared to other mages. Maybe it's one of my Authority's quirks?”

“No, no, that's not it. Your Authority has nothing to do with your spellcasting at all,” Liz said as she racked her brain for ideas as to why spells were so inefficient. If other mages saw her conundrum, they would call her arrogant for even thinking that she could solve a problem that mages have had for hundreds of years since the Corruption, but unfortunately for them, Liz was a woman who would stick to a problem until she finally found an explanation for it. “Can you cast a spell for me?”

“Sure, what spell do you want?”

“Any spell.”

Brogen thought for a second, then decided on a spell he would use. “I'll be doing the first-circle spell ‘Push.’”

“You could do Wild magic now? I thought you were studying Life magic first?” Liz asked.

“As much as I enjoy healing people, I'm starting to get the feeling that Mother Betha would recruit me as a healer of the Holy Mother Church if I keep surpassing her expectations,” Brogen said. “So I decided to start studying Wild magic for now and improve on it. If I'm better at Wild magic than Life magic, then I could tell Mother Betha that I would put all my attention first on what I'm good at.”

“I have never heard of anybody having trouble from being too successful,” Liz said bitterly as she looked at Brogen with half-closed eyes. As much as she wanted to be happy for her friend's consecutive successes in all the things he did, she couldn't help but feel jealous of his talent in magic.

“Are you jealous?” Brogen asked while wiggling his eyebrows up and down with a smug smile.

“As a matter of fact, yes, I am very jealous,” Liz admitted easily. “Now if you're done bragging your magic skills to a beginner like me, I'd like to see you cast the spell now, please.”

Brogen grumbled at Liz's response and waved his hand nonchalantly. A book resting on top of the table suddenly slid across the surface and fell over the edge. Liz was only able to realize that Brogen used magic because of her mana sense. She hadn't even seen the magic circle that was supposed to manifest when a spell was cast with how quickly her friend did it. Liz tried her very best not to show any amazement on her face at Brogen's display of talent. The last thing she needed was Brogen bragging to her all day about his magical skills. Although he could only brag about it in the first place because he has the talent to back it up, Liz thought.

“Can you do it again? And do it more slowly,” Liz said.

“Fine.”

Liz put all her focus on her mana sense to try and see if there was any weird stuff in Brogen's way of casting magic. With her mana sense, Liz felt Brogen's Wild mana exiting from his outstretched hand and forming into a magic circle with a rune inside it beside another book on the table. When Brogen poured Wild mana into it, the magic circle manifested and briefly turned visible to the naked eye. Because of its neutral nature, the magic circle made of Wild mana simply appeared as a colorless shimmer in the air, then disappeared before a second even passed. An unseen force then pushed the book to the ground.

“Where did you learn that spell, Brogen? Mother Betha only taught you Life magic, right?”

“I perused Mother Betha's rune book and found the section for Wild magic,” Brogen answered.

“But that book doesn't show the magic circles needed for the spells,” Liz said. “It only shows various runes and their meanings.”

“Yeah, but if you know the meaning of the runes you're using, then you could basically do any spell you want,” Brogen replied. “I didn't really base my Wild magic from a book. I just made a magic circle with the rune for Wild magic in the middle and a bunch of supporting runes that meant ‘push.’”

Liz could only stare at Brogen in wonder. The amount of recklessness he just did was astounding. Although Mother Betha was right that knowing the meaning of the runes made a mage flexible in his spellcasting, it didn't mean they could just whip up any spell they wanted. If the mage was careless and used runes incompatible with each other, they could end up with a magic circle blowing up on their face.

“Were you experimenting spells by yourself again?” Liz asked with narrowed eyes.

“M-Maybe. I was just curious!” Brogen exclaimed.

“You better pray Mother Betha doesn't find out about this. She might stop teaching you magic lessons if you keep on messing around with magic by yourself.”

“I'm not ‘messing around.’ I'm experimenting with magic so I could learn more!” Brogen exclaimed incredulously. “You can't expect me to just sit here and learn magic based simply on what's written in a book. How could you explore the boundaries of magic if you're going to confine yourself with already-established facts without bothering to find out if something else lies beyond?!”

Liz was speechless for a moment. She was shocked at her friend's outburst, but what she felt more was admiration for Brogen's sincere intention to learn. Brogen's genuine desire to discover things by experimenting was similar to how Liz would spend most of her free time reading books in the library, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment when she realized that she was trying to hinder him.

“I'm sorry Brogen, I didn't mean to belittle your way of doing things.”

“Don't worry, it's not like I'm mad or anything,” Brogen said with a chuckle. “Although I said all those things, I'll admit that I did mess around with magic ‘a little bit.’”

“Your words were oddly inspiring though,” Liz commented. “I just realized that throughout my training, everything I did was by the book, exactly as how previous mages did it and how Mother Betha taught it. Maybe that's the wrong approach to things if I'm trying to find out the answer to my conundrum.”

Liz contemplated Brogen's words for a few moments and thought about her approach in finding out why spells were so inefficient. She tried to find the answer by analyzing the magic circle and the mana that fueled it, but no matter how much she tried to observe how it worked, nothing stood out as the cause of the mana waste. From the books that Liz read, mages and researchers in the past also tried to find out the cause and some theorized that part of the cause was the practitioner's fault instead of the mana itself.

Liz recalled one of Mother Betha's lessons where she told them that mages needed two important things to hone if they wanted to be proficient spellcasters: a strong will and an active imagination. The will was for the manipulation of mana, and the imagination was for providing a clear picture of how the spell would manifest.

“How do you use your imagination when you cast spells, Brogen?”

Brogen looked confused for a moment after hearing Liz's question. “Um, I just imagine the phenomenon that causes the effect.”

This time, it was Liz's turn to look confused. “Can you be more specific?”

“Well, for example, when I cast the Wild magic earlier, I imagined it as the magic circle producing a forward force after pouring mana into it. That force then pushed the book off the table.”

Liz was stupefied by Brogen's answer. Brogen noticed her reaction and seemed confused. “Uh, you okay, Liz?”

“O-Oh, I'm fine. Your way of imagining it was just completely different from mine.”

“Well, we each have our own way of imagining things,” Brogen muttered. “What do you imagine if you do Wild magic, anyway?”

Just because Liz didn't have an affinity to Wild mana didn't mean she couldn't cast Wild magic. As a rule, all mages could manipulate Wild mana because of its neutral nature, although Wild magic was considered extremely hard and inconvenient to perform given that nobody had an affinity for it. Wild mana was known for being unpredictable, hence the name and the difficulty. The backlash from casting Wild magic was often more severe because of Wild mana's nature, which was the reason why it was seldom used, but that didn't stop Liz from learning it in her thirst for knowledge.

“When I do Wild magic, I always imagine the object itself moving, instead of some outside influence causing it to move,” Liz said. “If I cast the Push spell, I'd imagine the book moving forward on its own.”

“Objects can only move if an outside force causes it to move,” Brogen replied, recalling Isaac Newton's first law. “An object will remain at rest or in motion unless an external force acts upon it.”

“Where'd you learn that?” Liz asked.

“Oh, uh, I think I read it somewhere,” Brogen said while trying his best to make his face look nonchalant, although Liz wasn't fooled.

She knew Brogen was hiding something from her, but she also knew that it was useless trying to pry secrets from her friend, so she decided to just ask for an explanation.

Brogen proceeded to give Liz some pointers about the forces in the universe like gravity and explained how they were responsible for providing the motion of objects. After a short lecture about Newton's three laws, Liz tried to cast the same Wild magic Brogen did earlier and placed another book on the table. She formed the magic circle and the corresponding runes, but instead of imagining the spell as the book moving by itself because of magic, she envisioned an invisible force that emanated from the magic circle to push the book.

The spell manifested and Liz stared in shock as the heavy book was pushed several inches from its original location. Although it was weaker than Brogen's spell, it was far stronger than the effect of her previous Wild magic when she didn't have the appropriate knowledge regarding forces, and the heat she felt from casting the Wild magic spell with the correct knowledge was almost insignificant. Liz finally found out the reason why spells were so inefficient.

“So, how'd it feel?” Brogen asked in front of her. He had no idea that he had just helped Liz solve the problem of mana efficiency in casting spells.

“I've finally got it,” Liz said calmly. She was too numb from the shock of her discovery to show excitement, and the fact that this wasn't the first big discovery she had made because of Brogen helped her keep her calm.

“Really? What is it?”

“I think most mages are inefficient with their spells because they do not know the science behind the phenomenon they cause with their magic,” Liz explained in a flat voice.

“Oooh, I get it,” Brogen said in realization. “So it's like a water mage not knowing how water molecules turn into crystalline structures when they turn into ice, but they could still do it by simply imagining it to freeze.”

Liz's eyes suddenly widened in excitement at Brogen's words. The calm she exhibited earlier was nowhere to be found as Brogen mentioned new and unfamiliar knowledge. “Molecules?! What's that?! And are you saying that ice is made of crystals?! Teach me, teach me!”

Brogen was speechless at the rabid-looking Liz and realized that he may have made the mistake of triggering his friend's strong desire to learn new things. He looked at the clock and knew that if he stayed to explain to Liz the fundamentals of matter like atoms and molecules, he'd be trapped in this library for several hours. So he decided to retreat.

“O-Oh, would you look at the time!” Brogen said nervously. “I still have to meet Garin after this! It's been fun talking with you, Liz, but I need to go!”

“Wait! Don't go yet, we still have time!”

“Byegottagoseeya!” Brogen said hurriedly as he stood quickly from his chair and ran for the door, his sore muscles screaming in pain.

Liz wasn't having it and chased him, trying to catch her friend. Brogen saw this and quickly sent threads flying from his pocket to bind Liz's feet. The threads wrapped around Liz's ankles and tied themselves into a complicated knot, causing the girl to trip and fall with a loud thud.

“BROGEN! NO, DON'T GO! STAY WITH ME!” Liz screamed like an abandoned lover as she struggled to break the threads binding her feet, but Brogen was long gone from the room.

●●●

“Holy shit, that was scary,” I muttered as I walked towards Erfeld's farms. Right after I escaped— I mean, left Liz in the library, I immediately went to Mom and informed her that I would be going to Garin's place to give him my response before quickly exiting the chapel before Liz could free herself. I knew Liz would never stop hounding me with her curiosity, but I was actually reluctant about sharing too much information about knowledge from Earth. Being a reincarnated person from another world was too big a secret that I didn't risk sharing with other people, even with Mom, and sharing advanced knowledge with Liz could bring about unknown consequences. I'll have to avoid her for now until she calms down.

It took me quite a while to get to Garin's farm because of my sore muscles. Since I was in public, I had to remove my thread suit, slowing my progress tremendously now that nothing was supporting my movements. By the time I arrived at Garin's farm, it was already past midday.

Garin always bragged about their farm being the biggest in Erfeld, and now that I was seeing it with my eyes, I agreed wholeheartedly. The farm was located on the outskirts of Erfeld, spanning an area of several hectares. Rows upon rows of crops covered the large farm as dozens of farmhands and workers harvested under the sun. I could see hundreds of sacks of wheat, beans, potatoes, turnips, carrots, lettuce, and other vegetables being carried by men towards a large warehouse. There was so much food being harvested I was sure it could feed the entire population of Erfeld for several months.

“Ho! You here looking for work, lad?” a man called out to me with a hoarse voice from a nearby wooden building. I looked over and saw a man in his sixties walking over to me. I couldn't see his face clearly because of the shadow being cast by his straw hat, but when he got near, one glimpse was all I needed to realize that this man was probably Garin's father.

“Good day, sir, Garin invited me to help with the harvest. I was hoping to tell him that I was going to accept his job offer.”

“A ‘job offer,’ eh?” the man asked with a chuckle. “Then you must be Garin's friend, Brogen. I'm Jasper, Garin's old man.”

“Nice to meet you, sir. How'd you know that I was his friend?”

“My son told me to expect a well-spoken young man sometime after lunch looking for him.”

“‘Well-spoken?’ That's the last thing I expect other people to call me,” I muttered. “And I think I'm too young to be called a ‘man.’”

“Hah! I think someone who would risk himself for the sake of his friends deserves to be called a man,” Jasper said with a loud voice, attracting the attention of some of the other farmhands lounging around.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I said with a confused face. The only time I could remember risking myself for my friend was when I killed the dire wolf that was about to eat Liz, but Jasper wouldn't know that.

“I'm talkin' about that time the Baronet's guards chased you around town!”

Understanding dawned on my face as I remembered what happened in winter. The Baronet's guards confused us for trespassers trying to scale the mansion's wall, so I used myself as bait to lead them away from my friends, one of which was having an asthma attack.

“Oh, so you were referring to that one. It wasn't anything really special,” I said with a shy laugh.

“Nonsense! If it weren't for you, the Baronet would have started extorting me for money in exchange for pardoning my son's deeds, and I ain't keen on getting bullied out of my hard-earned coin,” Jasper said energetically. The other farmhands listening in on our conversation gave a cheer after hearing his words and complimented me for my ‘bravery.’ I just blushed in embarrassment from all the attention.

“Uh, so about that job…” I started.

“Oh, right! Come with me, lad.” Jasper said before proceeding to walk towards what I assumed to be his house.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I intend to start working tomorrow, sir. My body is still kind of sore from the rigorous physical activity I did yesterday,” I said, referring to my physical training.

Jasper gave me a sly grin while waggling his eyebrows at me. “I see you're already out and about playing around with the ladies, eh? Now that's a man right there, philandering about at such a young age!”

“I-I wasn't referring to that,” I exclaimed in a fluster, but when I saw Jasper's triumphant grin, I realized I'd been had.

“Hah! I know you weren't, but no innocent young boy would know about sex, only a man! Your mother must be proud of her son, eh?” Jasper said while elbowing me.

“Please don't tell her that,” I pleaded, then directed the discussion back to the main topic. “So, can I start work tomorrow rather than today?”

“Sure, sure.”

“…So, can I go now?” I asked. Jasper was still leading me to his house, but now that I clarified things with him that I was going to start work tomorrow, I expected him to bid me goodbye.

“You must be hungry, lad. A man needs to get his fill if he's to work! Your arms look like sticks that could snap at any moment!”

I gave him an indignant look. I was quite proud of my arms that gained quite a bit of muscle after a few months of workout, but when I saw his arms, I shut my mouth. Although Jasper wasn't a very large man, he was muscled. His arms were covered by the long sleeves of his shirt, but I could still tell from the bulge that his muscles were well-developed. Compared to my arms, no wonder he thought they looked like sticks.

I decided to just follow Jasper and accept his hospitality. I had the feeling that he was a stubborn man who would keep pestering people until he got what he wanted.

●●●

“So this is Garin's cute little friend!” Garin's mother exclaimed while pinching my cheeks. My pride got a bit wounded when she called me ‘little,’ but I comforted myself with the knowledge that I would one day be taller than most men. “Come, come, I made stew!”

“My favorite!” Jasper exclaimed happily as he took a seat.

“I'm not serving you food unless you wash your hands,” Garin's mother said as she stared reproachfully at her husband's hands caked with dirt. Jasper grumbled as he left the room to wash.

Garin's mother, Alma Tilcott, was a plump woman with short brown hair and a cheerful personality. After sending away her husband, she ushered me to the dining table where a big pot of stew was steaming. The smell reminded me that I didn't have lunch yet.

“Thanks for having me, Mrs. Tilcott,” I said as I sat down at the table.

“Please, call me Aunt Alma, no need to be so formal,” she said with a chuckle. “I'm glad you came to visit, we don't really receive a lot of guests these days.”

I wanted to tell her that I didn't actually come to visit but to apply for work, but I didn't want to burst her bubble. “I'm also glad I have the chance to keep you company, Auntie.”

Aunt Alma giggled at the much more intimate nickname I called her and served me food. She put so much stew into my bowl I had no idea whether I could finish it all. Is it rude if I asked her if I could take some of it home?

“Is Garin not going to join us for lunch?” I asked Aunt Alma as she sat down. At my question, her cheerful demeanor waned and her smile became strained. Oh no, I did it again, didn't I?

“Garin is still out working in the fields,” she said with a sad smile. “He usually comes back several hours after midday to eat his lunch.”

“Wow, I didn't know Garin worked so hard. You must be proud to have such a diligent son, huh?” I said, trying to cheer her up by complimenting her son. When she heard my words, Aunt Alma's smile completely disappeared and was replaced with a lonely expression. Oh come on, what did I do now?

“Yes, Garin's been working so hard day in and day out,” Aunt Alma said sadly. “He even does more work than most of the farmhands.”

“Isn't it a good thing that Garin's a hard worker?” I asked carefully.

Aunt Alma paused for a second as she contemplated. She looked at the doorway and seeing that Jasper wasn't back yet, she turned to me. “Ever since a few months ago, Garin has been working so hard I seldom see him in the house anymore. He spends so much of his time working in the fields and taking care of our farm. My husband and I would have been happy with this change, but we know our son is not doing it because he likes it, and he does not smile as much as he used to.”

“Is it okay for me to hear all this?” I asked hesitantly.

“I was hoping that you can help us with this,” Aunt Alma said with pleading eyes. “Jasper and I have tried talking to him but he won't tell us anything about it. Since you're his friend, I wanted to ask you if you could talk to him instead.”

I froze in my seat as I heard her words. She was asking me, a guy who probably needs counseling himself, to talk and counsel another person. I would have laughed if it wasn't my own friend who needed help.

“Alright, I'll talk to him,” I replied.

Aunt Alma sighed in relief at my words. “Thank you so much, Brogen, it means a lot.”

As much as I doubted my ability to counsel another person about their problems, I didn't hesitate to help my friend, although I had to be careful about how I broached the topic to Garin. He never brought up this topic within our group, so I feared that if I suddenly brought up his unusual behavior all of a sudden, his trust in his parents might plunge if he found out Aunt Alma told other people about his behavior.

Aunt Alma looked more cheerful than before with the reassurance that I would talk to his son. Jasper got back just in time and was informed about our conversation. Both parents thanked me, much to my embarrassment, as we started our meal. Now, how should I broach this topic carefully with my friend tomorrow?

●●●

“Hey Garin, why are you acting so weird?” I asked my friend the next day as I reported for my new work as a hired farmhand at the Tilcott's farm, abandoning all the subtlety that I planned yesterday. We were both out in the fields harvesting onions, far from anybody else that might be listening.

“W-What are you talking about?!” Garin exclaimed as he suddenly stopped plucking onions from the ground and stood straight to look at me. “Wait, did my parents tell you about it?!”

“Tell me about what?” I asked with what I hoped was a confused expression on my face. Although I was extremely bad at lying, I could always circumvent that issue by deliberately not telling the truth. “I just heard from the other farmhands that you were the hardest worker out of all of us during the harvest.”

I actually did talk with the other farmhands before I came here to make sure I didn't have to lie.

Garin looked doubtful for a moment before sighing in resignation. “I just wanted to help my parents as much as possible, that's all.”

It was pretty obvious even to me that Garin wasn't telling the complete truth. I kept harvesting onions while I pondered on what to say next. When I was on my way to work this morning, I decided to abandon my plan to slowly and carefully broach the topic to Garin. I've known Garin for more than five years already and I know for a fact that he was a man who liked to be blunt with his speech. That was one of the reasons why none of the ladies wanted to deal with him and his sharp tongue.

That was why I decided to be blunt with him. If I chose to beat around the bush while trying to find an opportunity to broach the topic with him, he might get annoyed and lower my chances of getting a proper answer from him. The best thing I could do was to ask him bluntly about his issues and hope that our years of friendship were enough to make me deserving of his trust.

“I've known you for a long time now, Garin, and I always remember you complaining about all the chores you had to do on the farm,” I began. “And then you suddenly begin to work so hard that even the other farmhands think they're going to lose their jobs. Did something happen?”

“It's nothing,” Garin muttered as he kept on harvesting onions.

“Come on, Garin, you can tell me. I'm your friend and I'm here to listen!” I said while struggling to carry my basket full of onions. I was supposed to carry it back to the warehouse and empty it into a sack, but I couldn't go back now that I was talking to Garin about the issue.

“That's pretty rich coming from you,” Garin said harshly. “You didn't even tell me the reason why you disappeared for two weeks several months ago, saying it's a secret, and now you're telling me that I should tell you why I'm acting this way because we're friends?”

“Oh,” I said dumbly, suddenly realizing how insensitive my words were. I remembered the time when I had to keep my mouth shut in front of my friends because I couldn't divulge the reason why Mom and I disappeared for two weeks. Garin had respected my intention to keep my secrets then, and now I was forcing him to tell me his. “I-I'm sorry, Garin, that was pretty insensitive of me. Just forget everything I told you,” I said quickly as I started walking back to the warehouse to dump my onions.

“Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said,” Garin said quickly when I started walking away. I turned back to him and saw him floundering for words to say as we both stood in the middle of the fields holding baskets of onions. Calling the situation awkward was an understatement.

After a few more seconds of silence, Garin spoke again. “I just feel like I'm being left behind by all of you, you know?”

“What do you mean ‘being left behind?’” I asked with confusion.

“Terric and Ralf will become augmenters, Liz will go to the capital to study magic, while you and Maly are probably going to become rich and successful merchants in the future with how your businesses are booming. All the members of our group will one day become successful in their own right, everyone except for me who's probably going to remain a farmer for my entire life. That's why I'm just trying my hardest to be the best farmer there is so I could at least keep up with all of you,” Garin said with a defeated face.

I was speechless at Garin's words. I thought Garin was acting weirdly because something happened between him and his parents or somebody else, but the last thing I thought of as the reason for his behavior was us, our group of friends.

I readied my words and spoke slowly. If I spoke carelessly, my friend might interpret my words as condescending. “Do you hate being a farmer?” I asked.

“What? Of course not!” Garin exclaimed. “I love helping my parents out, especially now that my father is growing older, and I love spending time out in the fields caring for our crops.”

“Do you think farmers are useless?”

“What?! Why are you even asking me that?!” Garin shouted furiously. “If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have anything to put on your dinner table!”

“Then why are you talking earlier as if being a farmer is a lesser profession than any other?!” I shouted back as Garin became speechless. “If farmers produce food that everybody needs, then aren't they as important as the merchants who distribute them to people who need it? If farmers provide the food that keeps people alive, then aren't they as important as the knights and soldiers who fight to protect lives? Don't talk as if we're going to one day have ‘better’ jobs than you because the only jobs that are ‘lesser’ are those that don't help anybody at all! Now stop sulking and be proud of the job that keeps the people of this kingdom alive! If you keep feeling inferior because of your job, then you're just insulting all the proud farmers out there in the world!”

I was breathing heavily after my impromptu speech. I told myself earlier that I would speak carefully while considering my words, but seeing my friend beat himself up because of his ‘lesser’ profession just got on my nerve.

Garin recovered from his shock and looked indignant, but his expression was replaced with a dejected look after a few seconds. “I know that my job is nothing to be ashamed of, I know that that well, but you can't deny that being a rich and affluent merchant is far better than working all day in the fields as a poor farmer.”

“The noblest jobs always pay the least, Garin,” I said. “Although I do agree that being a merchant is much easier and more profitable than being a farmer.”

“Do you now see my plight?” Garin asked with a mirthless chuckle.

“Well, I do have a good solution in mind regarding your problem, although we can't do it until a few more years,” I said.

“What do you have in mind?” Garin asked, although I noticed that he didn't have much hope in what I was about to say.

“When you sell your crops, do you sell them directly to people or do you sell them to a middleman?”

“We sell a small portion of our products directly to customers here in Erfeld, but the majority is sold to middlemen who ship the produce to other parts of the kingdom,” Garin answered. “Why do you ask?”

“I bet those middlemen buy your products at an extremely low price, right? Since I will, hopefully, become a successful merchant someday, I was thinking of being your middleman and buying your goods at decent prices. In exchange, I want a monopoly on your goods.”

Garin's eyes widened at my proposal and gave me a skeptical look. “Are you sure you can give me that offer without consulting your mom?”

My mind blanked for a second before recalling that Mom was the ‘owner’ of our clothing business, at least in the eyes of the public.

“I will be asking Mom's permission regarding this, but in the meantime, what do you think of my proposal?” I asked.

Garin looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the offer, his earlier somber mood gone. I was glad that I at least managed to help my friend, and I hoped that this idea of mine would happen in the future. If I was going to be successful, I might as well bring my friend with me to the top.

“I'll ask my parents first about this,” Garin said finally, but the earlier tension in his shoulders was gone and his face was now devoid of its frown, replaced with a grateful smile. “Even if nothing is set in stone yet, I look forward to the day that you become a successful merchant, Brogen, and I'll always be grateful to be your friend.”

“You and me both,” I said with a chuckle as the both of us made the trip back to the warehouse to empty our baskets. As we walked, I dreamed of a scenario where I became the most successful businessman in the kingdom, so rich that not even the King can touch me easily even if I was exposed as an Ascendant. I wonder when that day will come?

The image brought a faint smile to my face as Garin chattered loudly beside me in his usual demeanor. I breathed in the cool spring air as the peaceful farm provided a calming effect on me. The serene environment made me more aware of my body and I realized that I was very tired. It wasn't fatigue caused by my work on the farm today, but rather the constant fatigue I felt ever since I made myself busy with all the training, work, and the clothing business. I never really had a chance to relax like this for some time.

I decided to give myself more time to relax and to tone down on all the training I had been doing constantly for several months. Enjoying a peaceful walk like this from time to time felt pretty good for the soul, and it might even improve my focus and determination in training that was beginning to wane the more I tired myself out.

I never felt so much peace and relaxation like today. I hope it lasts forever.