Chapter 8 - Good Work

For the next month, the Holdenville Guild became part of his routine.

He went back and forth between his duties at Beatrice's Bookstore and Holdenville Guild, sweeping the floors one day and taking care of Guild business the next. Despite the invasive species designation, he worried that killing too many hogs all at once could make things even worse, so he switched it up. Sometimes, it would just be hunting herbs used for medicine, which he had a bit more difficulty with due to his relative inexperience. Other times, it was basic work around town, like carrying construction materials across town. Only a few commissions were about hunting animals, like the time he had to hunt rabid deer attacking people at night. As expected, the hunting missions always provided more coin than the others, but also required more effort on his part. Dodging animals hell-bent on murdering him was definitely harder than stuffing plants in his pockets.

As he took breaks in-between jobs, Maya became a valuable source of information. She taught him how to skin animals, so he could carry back meat alongside his evidence. He watched her practice her quick reloading, which had improved significantly. And, most importantly, she let him borrow her book on beginner spells, allowing him to practice other forms of magic. A useful thing to have in case of an emergency.

He practiced his magic in a field not too far from Holdenville alongside Maya. As the book contained much more general magic, requiring specific gestures and motions, he had to channel his focus much harder than he did when using blood magic. Thankfully, his familiarity with one form of magic helped his transition into other forms as well; it took him only one week to figure out how to spit sparks out of his fingers. She clapped with every trick he learned, but he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt for performing them, especially since she couldn't perform any of them on account of her missing fingers.

Despite this, she seemed heavily knowledgeable on the field of magic. In fact, she managed to give him some pointers, such as pooling his focus directly on the tip of his fingers to intensify his mana usage. Sometimes, he'd listen to her talk about the history of magic as she reloaded and cleaned out her firearm. Days flew by without him even realizing it.

At the end of the month, Maya's 19th birthday arrived.

The bookshop was closed for the occasion. The study room turned from a place of reading into a place of festivities. Admittedly, there wasn't much to put up, but the birthday cake was more an enough to turn the atmosphere cheery. Working with Beatrice to set everything up reminded him how little he remembered of his own birthdays. Although it was harder to set up than he expected, everything paid off nicely. Her smile as they surprised her was the brightest he'd ever seen on a woman.

As they celebrated and ate cake, he wondered if it was possible for life to continue like this.

. . .

A couple of days later, a familiar face came straggling into town, bruised and beaten.

The figure was the talk of the town when she arrived, prompting him to take a look himself. To his surprise, it was the elf that first led him to Holdenville in the first place. And boy, had she seen better days. Cuts scattered themselves all across her body, blood mixing with the dirt caking her skin. She took shallow breaths, unable to breath too much lest she disturb one of her broken ribs. She was taken to the local hospital immediately, forced to stay for a week or so to heal. Even under the care of the town's dedicated healer, her wounds needed time to mend - healers skilled enough to heal someone instantly and entirely were mostly situated in the capital cities. The town gossiped about her condition; he personally distracted himself with even more work, wondering to himself what sort of business she had to take care of.

When she healed as much as she could, she approached him in the dead of night, catching him taking a walk through the empty streets.

"I've heard you've been doing very nicely for yourself in the Guild," she told him.

"Yeah..." He didn't know what she wanted with him, but judging from the scorn in her eyes, whatever she wanted to talk about wouldn't be good.

"I need your help for something. Something the Guilds can't know about. Do you know the region called the Tarlands?"

He nodded, remembering his time at the bookstore. "That's the area so covered in black soot that it looks like it's been covered in tar, right?"

"Yes. I need you to escort me there."

"Wait, why?"

"You'll learn in time. But I need people with me. I wanted to go alone, but even I can't deny that I'm too weak to go by myself."

"Why me though? Surely, you can find more capable people in the Guild?"

"Like I said, I need this hidden from the Guild. Plus, everyone else is too known and won't be able to keep their mouths shut. You're right in the middle. You're relatively new here, so people won't be surprised if you're gone, and you're capable of keeping a secret."

"What makes you say that?"

She pulled him in close, then whispered in his ear. "You're a blood mage, aren't you?"

His blood ran cold, his face going pale. "No, I'm not."

"You don't need to lie to me. I saw you stabbing that blood gem into yourself. Not even most black magic users can do that. And not only did you survive, you completely healed your wounds doing so. That can only mean one thing: you're a blood mage."

He stayed silent, unable to come up with a way to cover his tracks.

"Look, I won't stoop so low as to tell everybody here that you're a blood mage. I've been backstabbed too many times like that myself. But there's a rumor that a blood gem's ended up at the Tarlands. You need more of those gems to get stronger, don't you? If I were you, I'd consider a visit."

"Uh... alright. Sure. I'll help you, but only because you helped me. When do we head out?"

She stepped back a bit. "Tomorrow night. Meet me at sunset, in front of the main gate. I've already packed all the necessities, since it doesn't seem like you know how to camp very well. If you've made friends, say your farewells. The journey's going to be a long one."

"...Right. I'll do that then."

"Good. See you then." The elf walked away, leaving him all alone with his thoughts. He went back to the Holden Hotel and laid in his bed, his thoughts running rampant in his brain.

"Do you think she was telling the truth?" He asked Hemofemina.

"For knowing you were one? Yes. I saw her clear as day when you activated it. As for the gem in the Tarlands... I can't say. I don't have enough power to feel its energy from here. You'll just have to go see for yourself."

"Damn it." He went to sleep, trying desperately to not ask himself one question.

If everyone hated blood mages and wanted them to die, then why did she not turn him in immediately?