How Do We Make Money?

The group ran out of the inn to follow Avocado after she had left them all behind at the restaurant. All of them except Kiwi. She stated back at the inn saying that she refused to let the Hero treat her like a commoner.

Terry really didn’t care much but was thankful to have a break away from the bratty Princess for a while. He spotted Avocado in front of a shop talking to a large man. When she saw them, she ran up to them proud as she could be. “I got us a job.” She declared, “The butcher here says he’ll pay us some silver coins if we can get him logs of wood and meat from the forest near here.”

“Wait, really?” Terry asked, he glanced behind Avocado to the man she was just talking to and he gave a small wave. “Yeah, lets go.” She started off in the direction of the woods they had come from yesterday. The group followed behind her. “How did you get him to give you a job?” Blueberry asked.

“Butchers are always looking for places to get their meat. Hiring actual hunters are expensive and if they did their own hunting they would have to close their shop for the day. If you can get extra wood, we could probably sell it to the inn too for more coins.”

Terry was surprised at Avocado’s money-making knowledge, “How do you know all of this?” He asked.

Avocado shrugged, “I grew up in an orphanage in village like this. Doing jobs like this was how we got money when donations ran thin. It’s also a really good way to train too.” She smiled at Terry. Terry smiled back, “Good job.” He said, as he patted Avocado on the head. Even though he had to reach up due to the height difference between them, Avocado was really starting to feel like a little sister to him.

Avocado smiled wider and increased her speed, “Alright let’s go!”

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Once in the woods the group got to work cutting down trees and chopping them into smaller pieces. Terry used the spells he knew to cut trees down, Blueberry used her sword to cut trees into smaller sections, and Avocado held up chunks of wood and pulled them apart into smaller pieces. There wasn’t really anything Pear could do to help so she sat off to the side with Potato in her lap. Once they had gathered enough logs, they all sat for a break.

“Once you have rested for a bit, I can show you and Pear how to use the shield spell.” Potato said as Terry laid down on the grass. He nodded to show that he understood but then a question came to his mind. “You said that the shield spell is more advance magic right. How is it different from the spells you already showed me.”

“I’m glade you asked.” Potato cheered as he hoped down from Pear’s lap. He ran up besides Terry and stood before him like a small, fuzzy, college professor.

“The spells I taught you yesterday are basic spells that practically anyone could do. It involves taking the magic within your own body and molding it with elements that already exist in the world.”

Terry though back to his first day at the training grounds, all the spells that Potato had shown him were variations fire, water, earth, air, and lighting spells used to attack. “Okay, in that case couldn’t I just use an earth spell and make a big dirt wall? How is the shield spell any different?”

Potato smiled, “Okay, I want you to make a wall of dirt over there.” Potao pointed to an area away from the group. Terry complied and conjured up a large wall of dirt in the direction Potato directed him to. Potato then scampered over to the wall and set up his shield spell. Infront of Potato was the familiar shield terry saw yesterday.

“Okay, now I want you to shoot a fireball at the wall and me.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be completely fine. Just do it.”

This didn’t ease Terry’s mind in the slightest. He looked at the girls still resting beside him. Avocado seemed exited while Pear and Blueberry seemed equally concerned. Terry decided to listen to Potato and shot off a small fireball in his direction. The fire burned the earth wall, causing bits of the wall to fall apart in burnt clumps.

Potao’s shield still stood, not faltering in the slightest. Once the last bit of the dirt wall crumbled away, Potato dropped his shield. “Do you see the difference now?”

“Okay, but why is it different from the other spells.” Terry asked as Potato came back to the group. “Like I said earlier, the spells you know use your magic and a bit of elements around you. However, Spells like the shield spell are completely made up of your own magic. It is incredibly powerful but can be difficult to maintain. Are you ready to practice?”

Terry looked at Pear who smiled and walked up beside him. “Okay, let’s do this.”

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A few minutes felt like hours to Terry as he struggled to hold the shape of his shield. He looked over to Pear who was also struggling to maintain her shields shape. One thing Terry didn’t expect to learn was that apparently everyone’s magic came in different colors. While Potato had a bright almost neon pink shade to his magic, Pear’s was a softer pale pink that matched her hair. As Terry started working on his shield, he realized his magic was a nice deep shade of green.

“You guys are doing great!” Potato cheered, “Geeting the right shape and maintain it is the hardest part.”

While Terry and Pear worked on their shields, Blueberry and Avocado sat watching them. At this point they were well rested after chopping wood and were just waiting on the two of them to finish so they could go further into the woods to hunt for meat for the butcher.

“You guys going to finish up any time soon?” Avocado asked. Terry dropped his shield spell. He had never felt do tired before. “It does take a lot of energy to use your own magic. Maybe you guys really call it for the day.” Just as Potato said that Pear dropped to the ground.

Everyone rushed to check on her. Pear tried to get back onto her feet, her legs wobbled like a newborn calf as she did so. “I think I may have over done it.” She said as Avocado gave her arm for her hold onto.

“It may be best for you to return to the inn.” Potato said as he hopped over to her. Terry nodded in agreement. “Avocado, can you go with her? Blueberry and I can do the hunting.”

Avocado starts to argue but Terry pulls her in close and whispers in her ears, “This is a good opportunity to help Blueberry gain some more confidence in herself.” Avocado nodded but she retained her pouty lips. She hosted Pear on her shoulders and started towards the village. “Can you please go with them Potato?” Terry asked. Potato watched as Pear sliped off of Avocado’s shoulder and further down her back. “That might be a good idea.” he agreed and ran after the two girls.