Farmer Mage

“How are you doing that?”

Cal grunted at hearing the unwanted noise. He had a job to do. And he didn’t want to open his eyes to deal with another intruder.

“Cal!”

He opened his eyes to see Tavia leaning over him with an amazed look. He noticed Nibbles standing a significant distance away while giving him wary glances. It reminded him of what he had previously done when she woke him up.

Cal winced as he sat up and noted the disappearing rain clouds and the sun rising in the sky. The pond size had increased significantly to the point where it looked fifty percent larger.

… Did I doze off and still cast [Rainfall] subconsciously?

Tavia laughed at his expression. “I can’t believe you were really sleeping! This might be the most impressive thing I’ve seen you do.”

Cal couldn’t help but agree with her.

He glanced at the pond’s edge less than a foot away from him. He would try again and keep several feet between him and the pond. He didn’t think it would be dangerous to him since he was the creator of the pond, but he had no desire to test it anytime soon.

“So, did you find out anything interesting? You were there overnight.” Cal pushed himself up and ignored the amused smile on Tavia’s lips.

Her smile immediately dropped off. “Not for the lack of trying. Somehow, I missed that Astris knew far too much about the Dominion’s territory. None of the other merchants know what’s going on inside there. And if they did, they are reluctant to reveal it. Likely due to wanting to keep their relationship as a traitor within the Dominion.”

Cal had assumed she would try something like this. Though, he didn’t think she would have more success. It seemed that the trade map was more accurate than he had realized. There really was little through traffic past the Frostguard Dominion’s border.

Luckily, he might have some good news for her, though he wouldn’t call it a guarantee. It certainly wasn’t since he was dealing with someone like Maelor, who seemed cunning and cold-blooded enough to use his nephew’s death to reach his goals.

“Could you write down the names of the people who entered the Dominion’s territory? Include descriptions of their appearance just to be safe.”

Tavia stared at him with unblinking eyes. Hope was rising. He had to cut that off.

“This doesn’t mean anything… yet. I’m just testing something out to see if it goes anywhere. Until then, it’s best to expect nothing to come out of this.”

“But what are you testing exactly? I thought you stayed at the farm the entire day I was gone. You got far too much done for you not to have.” Tavia waved her hand around vaguely at the planted field around her.

“Someone from the Dominion, a man called Maelor and a few others, came here in the middle of the night. They try to convince me to work against the Celestial Order, so I’m trying to see if I can use that to get your friends out of their situation.”

“Don’t do it,” Tavia said immediately. “It’s not worth endangering your position for something my friends willingly did. There has to be another way I can get them out.”

Cal wondered if he was so easy to please. He felt happy that Tavia was trying to warn him off his decision. Still, this was not as risky as she thought.

“I’ll be fine. I expect the Celestial Order to understand what I’m doing, and even if they don’t, they’ll accept it reluctantly. In the meantime, I want you and Nibbles to stay at Mariner’s Rest for a few days. Maybe with Seris. I’m expecting them to return tonight.”

“Absolutely not! You’ll need backup!” Tavia dared him to contradict her.

He contradicted her. “As much as I appreciate that, Maelor is far stronger than me. I have no doubt that he already knows about you, but on the slim chance he doesn’t, it is better for you not to be here when he arrives.”

Tavia clenched her teeth as she tried to think about arguments that would let her win, but she eventually slumped her shoulders and gave up. “Just for tonight?”

Cal shook his head. “Wait until I arrive in town to let you know. There’s nothing important going on around here anyway.”

She looked even unhappier after his words. “No, I guess there isn’t much going on. Just my home possibly being threatened by the savages from the Dominion.”

Cal frowned when she stormed to the house, entering without looking back. He glanced at a highly interested Nibbles before directing a silent question at her.

She shrugged, the universal motion for ‘I don’t know.’

Cal carefully went over the conversation before coming to a conclusion that he felt confident in. Tavia most likely felt annoyed at herself for being helpless in the face of possible enemies.

It was what he would feel in her position.

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“Nibbles, go ahead and work on the tunnels until Tavia leaves. But there’s no rush. If you’re tired, you can rest as long as you wish.”

She saluted before diving into the ground and disappearing.

Cal glanced at the house, undecided between reassuring Tavia and working on his field. He could feel the exhaustion from subconsciously using his mana core continuously. He had planned on filling the hearthstone before Maelor arrived, but that was no longer an option since he needed to recover.

That meant there was really no reason for him to go into the house. He couldn’t laze out here until Tavia gathered herself.

Cal sighed before shaking his head at himself.

I’m just looking for excuses to avoid talking about… feelings.

He took a deep breath as he prepared himself for the battle ahead. He entered the house expecting a fuming Tavia to be prowling around the main room like an angry beast, but that wasn’t it at all.

She was in the main room, but that was the only thing he had guessed right. She crossed her arms as she stared out the window at the crops almost ready for harvest. It didn’t look like she was fuming at all. It was more of a thoughtful expression on her face.

Tavia looked away from the window when he entered. “I’m sorry.”

“… What?” Cal was thrown off.

“I used you as a convenient outlet for my anger. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Oh,” Cal blinked, even more thrown off at the sudden change. “It’s all right. I can understand why you’re angry.”

Tavia pressed her lips into a thin line. “Do you? It feels like I’m falling behind the more I stay here. I hoped we could push each other to new heights, but I obviously can’t help you there. I feel more like a houseguest than an actual contributor.”

This was going in a direction Cal didn’t care for, but once again, he could see where Tavia was coming from. However, she was comparing herself to someone who possessed an unfair advantage.

“I’ve seen others in the core guild. I can say for a fact that you are far above all of them. If you ask any of the Masters, I would wager this farm that they would say the same.”

Tavia laughed, a bit of her self-recrimination disappearing. “That’s a nice thought, but we both know the ones in the core guild aren’t worth comparing to. “

Cal raised an eyebrow, finding the sudden confidence highly interesting. She was putting herself down and boasting at the same time. “Be that as it may, what I said is the truth. I have some unique advantages that make any comparisons unfair. As arrogant as this makes me sound, there is a reason the Celestial Order is trying so hard to keep me happy.”

“So you’re saying I can never match up to you, is that right?” Tavia asked with narrowed eyes.

He had never been one to swallow his words. And he had never intended to do so. However, he suddenly felt it was appropriate to soften the blow in whatever way possible. There was no desire in him to worsen Tavia’s mood.

Cal didn’t get the chance to try. Tavia started snickering before it turned into full-blown laughter. It took several seconds for it to die down.

“I needed that. The supremely confident Trainee Cal, hesitating to say what he truly thinks,” Tavia walked closer. “Just to let you know, I’m going to prove you wrong. You better not slack off, Cal.”

Cal automatically wrapped his arms around her after receiving an utterly unexpected hug. He felt a featherlike touch against his cheek before she pulled back.

“I should probably leave right now to be safe. Let me know as soon as I can return… and I’ll leave the names and descriptions of my friends with you.”

Nibbles had been disgruntled to realize she was leaving the farm so soon. But Cal was still thinking about the feeling of Tavia’s lips on his cheek—though it was only for the briefest of moments.

He had wanted to tell her there was no rush to leave this soon, but from the pinkness of her face, Maelor wasn’t the main reason she was going so early.

Cal didn’t know he was smiling until Tavia’s carriage left the farm. The smile still didn’t fall as he started to do rounds on his field. There wasn’t much to do other than ensure all the seeds he planted were fine.

I have no idea how she’ll prove wrong, but Tavia isn’t one for making false claims. I look forward to it.

***

The sun was setting, and Cal was relaxing next to the pond, with the pack leader giving him company. There wasn’t much work to be done until Nibbles completed the tunnel network the new part of the field.

He casually reviewed the spell booklet for ‘Fissure,’ the only spell he had bought but hadn’t yet learned. There simply hadn’t been enough time to spare, and now that it was available, he couldn’t strain his mana core before Maelor arrived.

Cal thought it was a relatively simple spell that could be learned in a few tries, so that was one positive at the very least.

The pack leader shifted before sniffing beside him.

He glanced at the large wolf before realizing that referring to it as the pack leader was just as disrespectful as when he called Nibbles a creature.

“Do you have a name?”

The wolf eyed him lazily before snorting. He realized that communicating with that wouldn’t be as easy without Nibbles here to play charades.

Cal considered allowing Seris to name the wolf just like she did with Nibbles. He shuddered.

Seris will name the wolf ‘Wolfie.’

“If you don’t have one, I’ll think of one for you if you want.”

The wolf snorted again, clearly uncaring about it either way.

Cal chuckled at the response. Nibbles was irreplaceable in his mind, but this pack leader was a perfect companion for him. It wanted to be left alone and was happy to laze around all day.

He stared at the pond, thinking about how much larger he still needed to make it, when the wolf suddenly got up and approached the edge. He watched with a frown as the beast that should be intelligent bent down to sniff at the water.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. It might be dangerous.”

The wolf turned his head as if asking if he was barring it from trying. That wasn’t the case at all.

Eventually, the wolf started lapping at the pond water, drinking its fill before returning to its spot beside him and lying back down. It looked rejuvenated.

Cal’s mind slowly formed an idea. It should have been something he thought of long ago when Nibbles did the same thing. For some reason, he considered the pond dangerous when Nibbles refused to dive deeper.

Just because it was dangerous to her didn’t mean it would be so to him. After all, he was the one who supplied all the water the pond was made of.

Cal decided this was a good enough risk to use his mana core before Maelor arrived. He treated the pond as an extremely large hearthstone.

Extending his mana into the surface did nothing. The same applied when he was halfway through the depths. It clicked when he reached the very bottom, where the pond’s mana density was the greatest.

Cal suddenly had access to all the mana he poured into the pond over the month. However, it had somehow multiplied exponentially.

The best part about all this was that the mana was purely his, combined with the natural absorption that occurred.

Cal could use this to replenish his essential reserves.