Opening my eyes, I hear birds chirping. My leg is in agony but I can bare with the pain. The biggest problem for me is my thirst. Getting up, I start to walk out the cave carefully.
'I need to get back to the village.' A sudden uneasy feeling hits me. Panicked that I might've been spotted by someone, I look around.
"Ah, apologies. It wasn't my intention to startle you." A man makes himself known to the right of me, walking out from behind a large tree. He seems to be dressed in a large robe, head to toe. "Edward sent me to retrieve you after finding out what happened."
Based on recent events, I have no reason to believe what he has told me. ".. What give me a reason to trust you?"
"Sigh, here. I hope this helps, you should understand the meaning of this sigil?" He takes off the hood of his robe to reveal a sigil Edward referred to as the 'slave' sigil. If this man's sigil is connected to Edward, then he can't betray Edward even if he wants too. There is obviously many downsides to this sigil, one of them being; if the owner dies, the sigil holder dies.
Thinking for a bit, this does make him much more trust worthy, since the chief is the only one I know to use black magic. "You say he heard of the situation, yes? The he knows of the culprits. What's happened to Ryan and Rebecca?"
"I found Ryan and Rebecca shortly after I started to search for you. They said you turned rouge and attacked them after they wanted to help you with training. Edward says he doubts such is the case. I found you a few hours ago however. I didn't want to disturb your rest." The man explains, pulling up the hood of his robe. "Rebecca and Ryan are being held the village's prison cells for questioning. For now at least. As of Jacks body, it was disposed of."
".. I see. Shall we return to the village? My leg needs proper treatment. I'm sure Edward will want to hear of the full story as well."
…
"I see. So thats what happened." Edward leans back in his office chair. "You have permission to do whatever you'd like to them."
"You're trusting me this easily? Over believing their story? Haven't you known them a lot longer than you've known me?" I question him to ease my curiosity.
"Well, it's precisely that. I know them, I know they are capable of this sort of thing. Besides, what teacher doesn't trust their apprentice? Kekekek."
'It seems he really does want to teach me as his apprentice whole heartedly. Giving me this sort of trust already.'
"I won't use another healing talisman on you since your body is special. The mana should help heal your wound within a few days. Not all of us are weird like you, boy. I need to stockpile these sigil's for myself and useful pawns. Kekekekekek.." After speaking he enters yet another fit of cackling.
I stand up to leave but remind myself of something. "Before I leave, is there any shops in town? I need new clothes, and perhaps a weapon."
"Indeed, my boy. If you head to the village centre, there will be a few local businesses that should suit your needs." He takes a breath and reaches into one of his desk draws. In doing so he takes out an amulet and hands it to me. "With this you are able to get anything you'd like from the local businesses for free. Just don't take everything they have."
"Then I'll have to thank you, I will be off. See you tomorrow. Keep Rebecca and Ryan well fed for now. Give them hope." After speaking I get up and head towards the village centre. Looking about, there are a few shops that peak my interests.
Upon entering the local clothes shop, I show the woman running the store my amulet. This causes her to panic slightly and pick out some clothes that "she thinks will look good on me", being a suit, a few shirts, and a few sets of trousers before hurriedly kicking me out the store. 'God, these look like things cosplayer's would wear.'
'What on earth just happened?' Entering the weapons store, the same sort of reaction can initially be seen on the owner's face. "Ah hello dear customer, what would you like?"
"Give me the most sturdy spear you have. A staff is fine too as long as it is the hardest weapon you have." I dislike flashy weapons like ornamental swords, hand crafted bows, or fancy daggers. Spears and staffs suit my tastes a lot better.
He runs to the back and brings out a black looking poll, roughly 160 cm. "Here, sir. This is the hardest staff I have in my establishment."
After receiving it, he asks if I would like anything else, of course I decline. Right after I am hurried out the store. 'Just what exactly did you give me, Edward.'
Inspecting my new staff, I find the material very bizarre. It feels like stone, while also being extremely light. 'Is this thing really that hard?'
I decide to trust the man who sold it, after all, I don't really know much about this world.
Finally I come across the shop of magic. Taking a look inside the shop, I see what I'm looking for next to the magic staffs. The so called 5 square meter storage ring.
Walking into the shop, the exact same thing seems to happen, although the owner seemed a little more reluctant. This was probably because the price was very high, sitting at 5 gold coins. I heard that the average salary of a commoner in the kingdom's capital is 4 gold. Thinking of this, I can imagine how much of a loss this is for the shop, however I don't really care too much.
When I arrive back I immediately bite down on my nail to draw blood. With this I drop it over the storage ring and it begins to glow purple, symbolising I have successfully taken control of it.
After spending some time getting used to taking things in and out of the ring, I put in my staff, spare clothes, books I got from Edward and the ruins, as well as the notebook by 'Nicholas Chambers' and the clothes I found along with the notebook. and clothes.
Thinking of my silk robe, I need to find a place to wash it, along with the silk trousers. They are covered with blood, it's not exactly something I can wear in public.
After taking a bath and changing clothes, I open a book on sigil's Edward gave to me. Opening it, I read the following; "Sigil's are what most black magic users think of as a language in their own right. However I've made a discovery, sigil's might be a simple crude way of replicating another technique. It is simply a theory, but I believe it is trying to replicate 'runes'. Even though people who are able to inscribe runes have been lost to the ages, I'm sure there is similarities between the too. So much similarities, that I believe sigil's to be a crude imitation.."
Interesting.. Runes huh. It's a shame I can't learn them, if sigil's are this useful to black magi, I would bet runes would open a whole new gateway for black magi. Well, only if they are as powerful as this book makes them out to be.
I start thinking of things I need to do before I can actually be called a magi and start to get stressed. The biggest issue being my aptitude, since I have a unique aptitude even Edward doesn't know about, finding a teacher will be impossible.
'Maybe I should focus on increasing my mana, thus increasing the power of my body..' Thinking of this, a thought comes to mind and I instantly swap my current book for the apprentice mana guide I found at the ruins.
Opening it in excitement, I hope to find a more efficient way to increase mana. The only reason I have to find a sufficient training technique that beats Edward's is that the ruins seemed far from ordinary.
Although he explained what he gave me was the best you would find on the market in the Kingdom's capital, I still can hope.
"Apprentice guide to mana; everyone has their own understanding of mana, some think it's a tool for destruction and achieving their goals while some think it is a wonderful gift the gods blessed us with, a gift of creation. Whatever you think about mana, for now, it is best to throw it aside and think of it as a companion. Your mana is the only thing you can rely on when walking the path of a mage."
After a while of reading the book, I stop and to study a page. After a while excitement washes over me. "Bingo."