NOVEL WEB Chapter 15: Mana
"Make sure you stop and see Leana, she will be very excited to hear your good news. I am so proud of you, K!" My father said before heading back into The Forge.
"James? Are you wasting time? Again? What do I pay any of you useless louts for?" Came the whiney voice of Gastbo, The Forge owner, and my father's boss. "You! Your James's little toy bo…"
Gastbo was a short and fat greasy little man, and when he came out and started to yell and complain, but when he started to insult me, Lesha's arm shot forward and wrapped around his neck. Gastbo's eyes went huge in fear, and he tried to put his hands on Lesha's arms to stop her, but she squeezed harder, preventing the hands from touching her. Gastbo's eyes were near popping out of his head, and my father stood behind him with a concerned look on his face, but he did not try to stop Lesha.
"Enough, don't take it too far or guards will be called, and we don't need that."
Lesha released Gastbo, but he scurried back and ran into the large frame of my father. James glared down at him, and the man nearly squeaked before scurrying for his life. Today was just not a good day for Gastbo.
One of the biggest changes that happened since what we call The Fall when the gods arrived, was the food chain. Higher up like city officials and the few nobles had been pushed to the back now as nothing more than private backers. Adventures were the nobility now, they were the only ones that bought the expensive things and higher quality armor, so they were treated with more respect than was reasonable in some cases. The biggest issue that I found with it is the way we can act outside of the law.
Not a single person batted an eye or made a complaint the entire time the altercation happened. In this situation, this wasn't that big of a problem, but if we were on other adventures, we might not have let him go so easily. It was very easy for a powerful or high-ranked adventure to 'accidentally' kill the offending person, and the charge for the death was fifty gold coins, if they had family, if not, it just wasn't talked about.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted like that," Leasha said, turning to me.
"No, it was a long time coming, I normally let things like that slide with him, simply because he is one of the lowest forms of a human that I have ever seen. He is basically a dog that can walk on two feet, he barks at anyone that walks by his shop, but it was good you did that. There are adventures out there that don't really care about the working class or anyone, better you put the fear of gods into him then he ends up dead, no matter how good it might actually be for the world, hehe."
Lesha looked back at The Forge, but I took her hand in mine. It felt natural, and normal for her hand to be in mine, and the smile she gave me heated up my body, bringing a smile to my face. I turned with her hand in mine and started to walk to the bakery that was just down the street from where we were. This was where Leana worked, and father had told me to stop by and let her know, so that was what we were doing.
The streets were not packed, but no carts or horses were allowed on this main road, there were service streets that ran behind all the shops for them. The people that walked around right now were mostly wives of adventures or younger children running errands, but there were the odd adventures. They always stood out from the rest; besides guards, adventurers were the only ones that carried weapons, and most of the time you could tell the class just by looking at what they were wearing.
Our walk to the shop was peaceful. I was still holding Lesha's hand and we were about to enter the bakery when a disturbance made us both stop. We turned at the same time, to find what looked to be a Fighter bothering a scrawny man in black robes.
"What do you mean you don't want to join my party? You said you're an adventure to that shop lady, and I need a new party member to fill our group. So, what's the problem?" The large brown hair Fighter said, getting into the other man's face.
"I do not wish to join the likes of you! I am not looking for a party, please step back from me now. I do not like when people get too close to my person," The small man said with a scholarly voice, but it almost sounded like the tone was forced.
"You don't know what's good for you! Now, I have asked you a couple of times nicely, and now I'm done asking," the Fighter said in a low voice menacing voice.
I was about to move to stop things before they got worse for the little man, but then stopped. The scrawny man's eye began to glow and he raised his hand almost faster than I could see. Only the man's finger touched the Fighter's armor as he was still drawing his sword, and then the man said two words.
"Lightning{gninthgil}!"
The Fighter exploded off his feet and was sent hurtling backward into the tailor shop wall beside the bakery. I understood lightning, but he had said something else at the exact same time, giving the words an otherworldly effect. I had never seen anything like this before; What did he just do?
'Magic, an art this world has never experienced before. Mages will be rare, but they will start appearing more, and they will be drawn to you.' -Drania.
'Why would they be drawn to me?'
'You are the first real Guild Master in this world and the only one that can create Mana Potions. They will be able to sense your powers even though you do not consume Mana. Mana is the energy consumed when a mage casts a spell like he just did, but at a lower level, they burn through it fast.' -Drania.
I looked at the small man, who was straightening his robes, but then he looked up at me and smiled.
"I think you're the person that I have been looking for. Though I could only just recently sense you, I have been drawn to Healia since I received these powers. I need to give my thanks to Healia, and there is a leader that I am to find. Are you the person I am looking for?" The small man asked.