Chapter 50: Chapter 50

“Get out of here, and don’t let me catch you around again!”

The young boy fell back as the baker swung his fist towards his face, falling back into the dirt. He didn’t know why the baker was so protective of his trash, but he wasn’t going to stay around and ask. He scrambled to his feet and ran as the baker kicked at his bottom.

He limped down the road, his stomach growling. His eyes stared blankly forward as he considered where else he could search for food. The other villagers scowled at him as he walked down the street, but he hardly noticed.

He had come to the outskirts of town before realizing that his mind had gone blank, failing to come up with even a single idea. He tripped on a rock and fell into the dirt. He lay there, not bothering to get up. It wouldn’t matter. If he couldn’t come up with an idea to find food, walking around was just a waste of energy...

And then he felt something poke his back.

“Boy, what’re you doing there, blocking my road?”

He barely turned his head to glance back. Some older woman was poking him with a stick, holding a sack over her hunched shoulder. He didn’t respond, but his stomach rumbled. The woman’s face scrunched up. She heaved a sigh.

The boy heard a thud as a sack fell to the ground right in front of his face.

“Come on, get up, will you? Help me carry that home, and I’ll give you something to eat.”

“That’s...acceptable. But...you come here to teach me. And, um, I pay you after the lessons, not before.”

Chief Rohsuak’s smile grew, and she nodded.

“Of course. Thank you, Den Master. It will be an honor. When would you like to begin?”

Belissar frowned. Part of him wanted to put it off...but when he thought about it there was no specific reason to do so. Any excuse of needing to work on his dungeon’s defenses could be countered by the benefits of learning magic for those same defenses. It was just that he was feeling uncomfortable around these people...but that wouldn’t change later. So, Belissar took a deep breath.

“Right away, if that works for you?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded and then glanced over at Metsaitti.

“Why don’t you take the others and proceed with the hunt?”

He raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the soldier bees.

“Are you sure about that?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me.”

Metsaitti nodded and motioned to the others.

The others hesitated but slowly followed as Chief Rohsuak waved them off. Belissar watched them as they went. A couple of the soldier bees followed his gaze and broke off to follow them at a safe distance. He then turned to Chief Rohsuak.

“Do you mind if we sit?”

Belissar shook his head at her question and Chief Rohsuak sat down, crossing her legs on the ground. Belissar followed suit.

“Then, let’s begin. First of all, are you aware of your own mana?”

Belissar nodded. He had felt the warmth of the Tower’s mana flowing through him, as well as the mana within the honeycomb whenever he ate some. At this point, he could also feel that same warmth resting in his body at all times. Chief Rohsuak gave him a smile.

“Then you have already completed the hardest part. Are you able to move it?”

Belissar frowned at that. He hadn’t done anything of the sort. Perhaps the Tower Lords had lied about the dangers of peasants using magic...but at the same time, Belissar had still been concerned about experimenting without any knowledge, so he hadn’t attempted to interact with the mana in his body. He thought about trying now but in the end, he just shook his head. After that fire spell Chief Rohsuak had displayed, he couldn’t deny that magic was dangerous, and he had a possible teacher now.