[Farmer] Mage
B2 - Chapter 15

It was too quiet. Cal felt it was odd that there wasn’t the constant sound of hammer hitting anvil near Orrin’s house.

He entered the doorless house and passed through the rooms filled with failed creations. He exited through the back door and saw Orrin sleeping next to a pile of voidiron pellets. There were various stages of incomplete tools and weapons made of voidiron shoved beside a wall, and most of them were arrow tips.

Those must be for Seris.

Cal walked closer till he was right before Orrin’s slumped over form. The kid looked exhausted, and the caked-on soot all over his body told of how relentless he was in trying to perfect his new skill. Cal’s eyes slid over to the voidiron pellets as it sparked a nearly forgotten memory.

He had met an Elder Corvin in Lumina, and accepted a mission to investigate and solve a sinkhole that had appeared near Silverpine. The only reason he had done so was the precious materials that were apparently in there, and in Elder Corvin’s words, ‘plenty of voidiron.’

Cal pulled up a tool he had left neglected for a little too long.

[Rare Rake: Excellent Quality] Upgrade: 2 Requirements

1. Tasks Required: 1

- 8452/20000 Tasks

- 0/5 Earth Crystals

- 0/10 Dragonite Scales

- 0/500 Voidiron Pellets

- Progressive Self-Repair: After 24 continuous hours without use, the rake will start to recover its quality in stages. For every additional 48 hours of continuous non-use, the rake’s quality will improve by one stage.

Cal had made zero progress on acquiring any materials, and somehow nearly forgot to complete a mission that had plenty of a required material. This was a disgrace, and tantamount to purposefully weakening himself because he prioritized other matters.

I’ll go to that sinkhole as soon as I can. It shouldn’t be too hard to solve at my current level.

He glanced at the peacefully sleeping Orrin after his resolution and bent down to shake him lightly.

“Wha—” Orrin flinched awake, hissing in pain when he clamped his hands around an arrow tip.

Cal winced in apology. He had somehow missed that Orrin went to sleep with an arrow tip in his hands.

“Ah, Apprentice Cal!” Orrin tossed aside the bloody arrow tip and stood in a rush. “Give me a moment. I’ve finished a tool for you.”

Cal watched him run inside for several seconds before returning with crudely wrapped fabric around his hand. Orrin pushed aside a large sheet of metal to reveal a recessed hole with several tools hidden inside.

He frowned when he saw the first measure of security in Orrin’s house. There was a missing front door, allowing access to anyone who was curious enough to enter, and there was no back door limiting access to the smithy, resulting in the same problem.

Cal realized that Orrin should have been robbed blind, especially with the voidiron pellets haphazardly piled up on the ground. He assumed they cost a small fortune.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He realized he knew little about Orrin. Nobody dared to rob him, and some hidden benefactor gifted the kid voidiron pellets.

Hm, perhaps there’s a reason Orrin is so good at blacksmithing.

“Look at this!” Orrin lost his usual reserved nature and pushed one of the two shovels he held into Cal’s hands. “There are some imperfections on the back of the blade, but it won’t affect its use.”

Cal never thought he would get so excited over a shovel. Apart from the wooden handle, voidiron formed all the metal parts. He thought Tavia’s dagger was stunning, but the shovel was on another level, mainly because of the larger metal area.

“This looks fantastic! Congratulations, Orrin,” Cal praised. “This feels like a Common-ranked tool, but we both know the regular price isn’t fair. How much do you want for this?”

Orrin’s smile faltered, and Cal instantly regretted talking about money when the kid deserved to hear more praises. He freely admitted he still wasn’t the best at emotions, though he had been trying to be more aware, mostly so Tavia wouldn’t feel like she was with an emotional, idiotic rock.

“I won’t take anything. It’s my thanks for trusting me with this.” Orrin tried to hand the other shovel he held to Cal.

“You’re done with it?” Cal asked with surprise. This was the Advanced-rank Shovel he had lent to Orrin for study. It might have been relatively important back then, but he could make several of these shovels in a single day. If needed, Orrin could keep it as long as he wanted.

“I can’t create an Advanced-rank tool yet, but I’ve learned everything I could from the shovel. All I need is practice.”

Cal looked at the two shovels in his hands and still thought he got the better end of it. This was a perfect time to bring up what he had commissioned on his farm. “You know Seris has been asking for you?”

Orrin looked confused at the sudden change of subject. “I was planning on meeting her today… after I make some more arrow tips.”

Cal nodded. “I had a room built for her since she’ll be spending significant time on the farm. It got me thinking, if Seris is going to have her own place on my farm, so should you. I asked the designers to build you a smithy.”

Orrin’s eyes widened in surprise. “A—Apprentice Cal, I can’t ask you to spend so much on me. I’m just happy Seris has received care and—”

“None of that,” Cal interrupted. “I’m more than happy to have one built for you, and if you think about it, don’t you think Seris would be happier to have you close?”

Orrin clicked his mouth shut and pursed his lips before nodding in reluctant agreement. “… Will the smithy cost a lot? I’ll pay back the money after I earn enough.”

“We can talk about that later.” Cal had no intention of talking about it later. “You don’t mind if I hover around until the evening, do you?”

Orrin blinked rapidly before he shook his head and turned away. “Stay as long as you’d like.”

Cal felt something was off with how Orrin was ruffling through scrap. His movements almost seemed absentminded. He hesitated before deciding to leave him be. It didn’t look like his input was required, especially since he had little idea about why the mood had changed so quickly.

He found a spot in the yard that still had some grass, though parched and sparse. He sank into his senses and spread his mana tendrils, intending to gain an even more granular control over enormous distances.

Several minutes must have passed when Cal heard a low voice.

“Thank you, Apprentice Cal.”

Cal pulled himself out of his immersion and opened his eyes to see Orrin fidgeting, looking more his actual age than ever before. “You’re welcome,” he said casually. “Don’t let me disturb you. Pretend like I’m not here.”

Orrin shook his head again. He seemed to do that a lot at the moment. “No, not about the smithy, though I am thankful for that, too. Thank you for making Seris happy again. She’s well liked in town, but it’s not like there are many people our age here. I knew she felt lonely when I was too busy with work, and I couldn’t help.”

Cal knew Seris had sailors as parents, but they could travel for a year or longer, leaving her by herself. That wasn’t ideal, but he would prevent her from being alone in the near future.

He didn’t miss that while Seris had some basic background, Orrin had none. “You say Seris was lonely, but what about you?”

Orrin clenched his jaw. “I could deal with the issues without help.” He turned away and picked up a block of metal and tossed it into the furnace.

Cal assumed that was the signal that Orrin was done with speaking. He stared at the kid and sighed when he looked determined to ignore what had just happened.

It’s impossible to fix this in a day… assuming there is something to fix.

He closed his eyes and sank back into his senses. The sounds of a hammer hitting anvil echoed in the background as Cal worked to better his spell.

He kept track of the time, and more importantly, his mana tendrils slowly spread to the port. It would allow him to detect the Overseer early on.

The short emotional outburst from Orrin made him panic, since Cal was clueless about how to deal with it. However, he was sure getting the qualifications to take the blacksmith test would cheer Orrin up.