Chereads / Necro Fox Fire / Chapter 13 - Chapter Twelve: Expanding Horizons

Chapter 13 - Chapter Twelve: Expanding Horizons

"The seeds need to be fifteen centimeters apart and the hole should be about two to three centimeters deep." Beth instructed him.

"Okay." Ryo answered, picking up a handful of sunflower seeds.

"Beth, when will these bloom?" Robert asked, scratching his head.

"Well, they should be mature right around early fall, if everything goes right that is. Then we can eat the seeds as snacks, or grind them up and turn them into flour." Beth explained, also bending down.

"I never knew you could eat them." Ryo said, looking at the seeds carefully.

"Aye, when I was a lad my mum would give us the seeds as a snack." Robert recounted, his lips forming into a thin, nostalgic smile.

"Really?" Ryo asked, bending down next to Beth.

"Yeah sunflowers have several uses, and I hear they're healthy too." Robert remarked.

"Thank you again, Robert, for talking to the mistress about this for me." Beth said, whilst using her fingers to make a small hole in the ground for the next seed.

"Hahaha! Don't mention it." Robert laughed, shaking his head.

"Oh, I just remembered a joke. Why did the daisy stop courting the sunflower?" Robert asked.

"I don't know, why?" Ryo asked with a groan, as he worked beside Beth.

"She only saw him as a frond!" Robert!" Robert remarked, giving them a mischievous grin.

"..." Ryo didn't understand the joke and just kept working.

"Hehehe. I haven't heard that joke in a long time!" Beth giggled.

"Lad, you just don't know excellent jokes when ya hear them. O-uh, anyway, I'll be right back, mother nature is calling." Robert said, shaking his head as he briskly walked away.

Lately the old man had been telling strange jokes, most of which he didn't really understand. Robert would always look at him smiling, expecting him to laugh, only to be disappointed by Ryo's reaction. He tried his best to understand the jokes, but they just never seemed funny to him. There was probably something wrong with him, because Beth always laughed at the old man's jokes.

"Why do you like sunflowers so much?" Ryo asked, using his hands to dig a small hole, before dropping a seed inside.

"Well, I guess it's because my grandmother loved them so much. I would often help her tend to her garden, and sunflowers were her favorite. So, whenever I see them, I remember all the time I spent with her." Beth reminisced, a smile forming on her face.

"Oh." He replied, as he dug another hole.

Ryo didn't really know who his grandparents were, and only vaguely knew who his parents were for that matter. Everyone in his village took time to raise him and the other children. He didn't realize how strange this was until he had been forced out into the world. Most races seemed to have a very rigid concept of two parents raising only their own children. A part of him was a little jealous of Beth, who seemed to have such happy memories of her family.

"By the way, Ryo, thank you." Beth said, pulling him away from his thoughts.

"For what?" Ryo asked, not sure what she was thanking him for.

"I know you also asked the mistress to allow me to plant sunflowers here." Beth said, turning to him, giving him a genuinely grateful smile.

"I-uh it's nothing, really." Ryo replied, turning away, his face flushing red.

"I'm also sorry for what…" Beth hesitated, "… for what you are going through."

"I know it can't be easy." Beth added.

"W-what… what do you mean?" Ryo stumbled, embarrassed that she knew what was going on. He had accepted and come to terms with the fact that Robert knew, but now Beth as well? For him it was too much to process right now, and he just wanted to hide.

"Don't worry, I won't force you to talk about it, but I just wanted you to know that I'm here if you ever want to talk. I'm sorry that you have to do such things, that someone your age shouldn't be doing. I wish there was something me and Robert could do, but sadly were in no position to do anything." Beth said, putting her hand on his.

"I-I-I...." Ryo stammered, not sure what to say.

"You don't have to say anything Ryo, just know there are people here who will listen to you, when you're ready. You don't need to keep it to yourself, you're not alone in any of this." Beth finished, as she took her hand away from his.

"I-uh… thank you, Beth." Ryo mumbled, trying to focus on working and not remembering.

He knew that Robert and Beth were trying to help, but what could he possibly say? It was too embarrassing and humiliating to talk about such a thing to them. Ryo just couldn't find the time or the courage to bring himself to talk about any of it, and if he was being truly honest with himself, he was also disgusted and ashamed of himself. For him it was best to just ignore it all, bury it, keep it to himself. One day he wouldn't be here anymore, and all of it would just be an awful memory to be forgotten and never spoken of again.

***

"Time can sneak up on you, huh?" Robert mumbled, watching Ryo walk back to the cabin.

He hadn't realized it until Ryo had mentioned it, but it had been almost a year since they'd arrived. The winter he had prepared desperately for had been a light one, which made all the firewood he'd chopped and stacked feel a little worthless. Spring had come early, too, allowing them to get a head start on planting seeds in the garden. Robert wasn't sure how long they would remain here, but it was best to keep it open. Plus, it might make that woman lower her guard, making it easier for them to escape.

If it wasn't for her teaching Ryo magic, he would have tried to escape already. A few months ago the lad had run up to him bursting with excitement. Without a word, the boy had cast some sort of ice spell in front of him. It was far from the strongest spell Robert had seen, but it was still very impressive. Unless you had on some sort of armor or a shield, the spell would definitely injure or even kill you.

Robert was also teaching the lad to fight with a spear, which was going much better than he'd expected. The lad didn't have any natural talent in it, that much was clear, but he made up for it by working hard. He wanted the boy to be able to defend himself if he ever needed to. Many mages he had met refused to touch such "simple weapons", thinking them to be beneath them, which was foolish, because a mage without magic was no better than a walking practice dummy. In fact, at least the dummy would be of more use by being a decent shield!

Robert had been expecting Ryo to ask for his training to stop, so he could focus on magic. Yet, to his surprise, the lad never mentioned it once, and always gave training his all. The lad never complained once, and always listened intently to Robert's commands. His training had helped put some much-needed muscle on the previously rakish looking boy, as well as build up his stamina. Although he was still on the thinner side, at least the lad wasn't all skin and bones anymore.

In Robert's opinion, given time, Ryo could turn into something great. It had only been a little over a year and the feeble boy from before was almost unrecognizable. Of course, Ryo still had some confidence issues, but his current self was still much improved compared to when they had first met. The hollow, dead expression that had haunted the lad's eyes was nowhere to be seen now, instead his eyes were filled with life and purpose, eager and willing for the next day to come. To him, Ryo felt like a magnificent tree ready to dominate the forest, a tree that had just needed time and a little care for it to get going.

"However, that tree will become stunted if it remains in a place like this." Robert sighed to himself, as he made his way towards the garden.

He needed to seriously start looking for a way for them all to escape, without the deranged woman coming after them. The reason he had put escaping on the back burner for so long was because Beth and Ryo had been in no condition to escape. Both of them had been weak, and the boy had been a walking stick! If he had tried to escape earlier, it would have only meant their untimely demise, but now the two of them were much healthier, and he didn't have to worry about them as much. Especially considering that now that the boy had learned some magic, they would have a far better chance.

"Hey, Beth!" He called out, spotting her watering the tomatoes.

"Oh, Robert! You scared me." She said, spinning around to look at him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, stopping in front of her.

"It's fine." She said before adding. "Can I help you?"

"How are the sunflowers coming along? It's been a month now since we planted them, right?" He asked her, looking over to see little green buds sprouting proudly out of the ground.

"Ah, they are doing great. Most have broken through the soil already." She remarked, whipping the dirt away on her dress.

"Good." He answered, nodding in approval.

Robert knew how much Beth loved the garden, he always found her tending to it. He was happy to have been able to help her get the sunflowers. Since the day they had planted them, she had been much happier overall, she had also gotten closer to Ryo recently, which was good for the both of them.

"What's happened to me? Is it because I'm getting older, that I have such thoughts? I was a warrior once, and now look at me fretting over these two like a mother hen." He thought bitterly to himself.

"What's happened to me?" He mumbled to himself again, shaking his head.

"Well, I think I should get dinner prepared." Beth said awkwardly, as she made her way to the cabin.

"Sorry, Beth. I just got a little lost in thought. Can I ask you something?" Robert asked, stopping her with a serious expression on his face.

"Of course." Beth said, giving him a pleasant smile.

"I think it's time for us…" He whispered, leaning toward her.

***

"Ah, there you are. I'll be heading to the cave. I'll be in and out for the next month, and won't have time for our lessons. Instead, I have left some books for you in a bag in front of my room." The mistress said, as she made her way out of the hallway and up to him.

"Yes, mistress." Ryo replied, standing up from the kitchen table to greet her.

"Now that you can now para-chant the "Ice Shard", I'm confident you can move on to other spells." She remarked, gently tracing his lips with her finger.

"Thank you, mistress." He answered, trying to ignore her touch.

Learning "Ice Shard" had been easy, but controlling it proved to be much harder. For two months the mistress had to help guide him until he could cast it on his own. To get to that point, the mistress had made him practice casting it until he passed out, due to a lack of mana. When he woke up, she would then force feed him potions that would help with his mana regeneration.

These potions tasted awful, almost like eating rotting meat that had also been burnt. Even worse, these potions had the texture of snot, which made drinking them challenging to say the least. Luckily for him, you couldn't drink too many of them because of their toxic nature. If someone drank too many of them at once they would likely die of mana poisoning. It was a rough few months, but because of it he could now somewhat proficiently control his mana body, and cast the spell with little effort.

After that the mistress wanted him to learn how to make the entire process faster, by learning to para-chant the spell. Para-chanting was essentially the practice of breaking down the full chant into only a few words, as opposed to reciting it in its entirety. Although it sounded easy, the fact was that it was much harder than learning the spell in the first place, which he'd only recently learned how to do.

"There are a few books in the bag that contain spells in them. I don't expect you to learn all the spells, but I do expect you to learn a few." She stated, switching over to high elvish.

"Yes, mistress. I will do my best." Ryo answered, switching over as best as he could as well.

"Good boy!" She said, giving him a patronizing pat on the head.

The mistress then bent down, giving him a passionate kiss, before leaving the cabin. He stood there, motionless until she closed the door behind her. Even then he waited several minutes, before letting out a sigh of relief. Ryo hated whenever she touched him, but couldn't do anything about it. Pushing that aside he focused his attention back on what she had said about the books.

He had grown restless just practicing "Ice Shard" and wanted to learn other spells. Ryo knew there were a ton of spells out there, in fact he had read about a great deal of them. The problem was that he didn't have access to learn any of them. Now, the mistress had finally given him the chance to learn more spells! Rushing over to the mistress' room, he picked up the bag and brought it to the kitchen table. Just as he was about to open the bag, Beth and Robert walked into the cabin.

"Oh, hey Ryo. Are those new books the mistress gave you to learn?" Beth asked, gesturing to the bag on the table.

"Yeah, she told me she will be in the cave for the next month. She wouldn't have time to train or teach me, so she gave me these." He answered.

"Oh, I see. You just never catch a break, do you?" Beth said, walking past him and into the kitchen.

"Good." Robert said, before walking over to the table and taking a seat.

"So what are these about?" The old man asked, pointing to the bag.

"I'm not sure, not yet at least. But the mistress said that some of them have spells in them I can learn." Ryo explained, sitting down at the table to join him.

"Hmmm. Interesting." Robert said, strumming his fingers on the table.

"Well, I'm sure you will learn all of them in no time, Ryo." Beth praised him, as she pulled out a knife and a cutting board.

"Thank you." Ryo smiled, pulling out the first book.

It was a small brown leather bound book, with no title. He opened it up and on the first page was "The Imperial Field Manual for New Mages" neatly written on the first page. Flipping to the next page, he read:

"The Imperial Army's mission, and our sole purpose remains unchanged: To deploy, fight, and win our empire's wars by providing sustained land dominance by imperial army forces across any terrain or situation as part of his/her majesty's plan. As a mage under the direct control of the emperor/empress, your focus...."

"What does it say, Ryo?" Robert asked.

"Uh-well, I'm not sure." He said, not sure what the book was for. Although he could understand the words, the context seemed a little alien to him.

"Read some of it to me." Robert said, leaning back in his chair.

"Okay." Ryo replied, going back to the very first page. He read from the beginning, only stopping when Robert spoke again.

"Well, I'll be damned, that sounds like noble talk." Robert sitting up in his chair.

"What?" Beth asked, as she pulled a pot out from a chest.

"It just reminds me of the way some knights and nobles talk." Robert explained, looking at the book with interest.

"Flip through it and see if you can find any spells." Robert instructed him, pointing to the book.

"O-okay." Ryo answered, flipping through the pages.

Name - Earth Shield

Tier - Three

School - Abjuration

Components - None

Range - Within six to eight meters

"This spell calls forth a rough square shape from the ground, in whatever direction the caster desires. The dimensions of the square are one meter by one meter, and on average has a thickness of between eighteen and twenty centimeters. This thick protective wall is made from compacted dirt and can absorb or deflect physical and even some magical attacks. In single combat, this spell is best used when…"

"That sounds useful." Beth remarked, as she sliced up a radish.

"Yeah, it does." Robert mumbled absentmindedly, lost in thought.

"This is fun, read another please" Beth asked, sliding the chopped radishes into a pot.

"Okay." Ryo replied, flipping through the book till he stumbled upon another spell.

Name - Summon Petty Fire Elemental

Tier - Two

School - Summoning

Components - Flint, Summoning Circle (pg 143)

Range - Summoning Circle

Special Note - If a mage summons a new elemental, not listed on page 190, by Imperial law they must report the creature to their superiors and submit it for study.

"This spell summons a petty fire elemental from the Ignis realm, to the middle of the summoning circle. You can find a list of known petty fire elementals on page 190. The creature will obey verbal commands that are issued to them. If no commands are issued, the elemental will only defend itself until the summoning connection is severed. You can unsummon…"

"Is it a pet?" Beth asked him sarcastically, as she slid some dried up meat into the pot.

"Hahaha. Doubtful… mages ain't the type." Robert remarked, getting up from the table.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to read more about it to know for certain." Ryo stated, curious about what a petty fire elemental looked like.

"It all sounds so amazing, I wish I could use magic." Beth said, as she poured some water into the pot.

"You know what sounds like fun?" Beth asked, stopping to look at them.

"What?" Ryo asked, flipping to page 190.

"The mistress wants you to learn more spells, right?" Beth said, walking up to the table.

"Yes." Ryo answered looking up to Beth.

"Why don't me and Robert help you." She smiled, looking down at him.

"How?" Robert asked.

"Ryo can read them to us, and we can make a list together about which ones would be useful to him." Beth explained, looking over to Robert.

"That's not a bad idea. What do you think?" Robert asked, turning towards him.

Well, he saw nothing wrong with the idea, and was happy for their help. Robert had lived a life on the road and knew how to survive. While Beth hadn't traveled around the world nearly as much, she was very knowledgeable when it came to plants. Plus, he was happy to do something with them.

"Let's do it!" Ryo replied, nodding his head.