Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) Daniel Schinhofen (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

seat across from her. “One of my friends back in Alturis, Gunnar... he lost two fingers. I wanted to help him, if I could.”

“How did he lose the fingers?” Dia asked.

“Bane wolf,” Gregory said. “A bane wolf came into the village on age day. It came for me, but when I hurt it, it went after a friend. Gunnar saved her, but it cost him his fingers before I could pull the wolf off him.”

“Ah. This would be the one Bishop killed?”

“Yes.”

“The salve he would need is nearly a hundred thousand vela.”

Gregory exhaled, shaking his head. “I see... I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’d been hopeful.”

Dia watched him. “He was your best friend?”

“Yeah. Married another of my friends after I left.”

“Hmm... the stipend we give you. You’ve spent very little of it, haven’t you?”

“Not much for me to spend it on with Yukiko’s family paying for the alchemy supplies.”

“I could deduct part of your stipend and set it aside for the salve to be purchased and sent for you,” Dia offered.

Blinking slowly, Gregory just stared at her. “What?”

“I can halve your stipend, set it aside for the salve, and send it to him. If you’d like me to, that is.”

“That would take years to afford.”

“Four years, in fact,” Dia nodded. “The choice is yours.”

Gregory thought about it before nodding. “Please?”

“Very well,” Dia smiled. “I will make sure it’s handled.”

“Umm... could I get you to send one of the staff to run an errand for me, too?” Gregory asked.

“Of course.”

Gregory took the money pouch off his belt and handed it over to her. “The Rough Gem is the shop I’d prefer to do the work.” He pulled a piece of folded parchment from his bag. “This is what I would like made.”

Dia took the paper and opened it. Her lips curled upwards and she nodded. “A fitting gift. Three of them, I see. Are you sure the sizing is correct?”

Gregory coughed, looking away from her. “I measured thrice.”

“Very well. You know this might take some time.”

“Ask if they can have it done before the tournament, please?”

“Is there anything else?”

“Nothing that I can think of,” Gregory said.

“Very well. Have a good night,” Dia said.

“I will. We have a bit of studying to do before we sleep, though.”

“Studying is good,” Dia said, laughter touching her words.

Gregory blushed lightly as he stood. “We do study.”

“I know. You three are even more studious than I was when I was in your place, and I was teased by my friends for it. I apologize if it bothered you.”

“Oh,” Gregory chuckled. “That’s fine. Friends need to be able to joke with each other. Good night, Dia.”

“Good evening to you three, as well.”

~*~*~

Gregory joined Yukiko and Jenn in their room. “Sorry for the delay.”

“Was Dia able to help you?” Yukiko asked.

“She answered my question, and yes.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Not really,” Gregory said as he sat between them at the table in their room. “I was asking her about ways to regrow fingers.”

“For your friend, Gunnar?” Yukiko asked.

“Yeah. I told him when I left, I’d help him with it if I could. Dia told me that there is a salve that can accomplish it. The downside is the cost of it, but she’s going to withhold half of my weekly stipend to buy the salve and send it to him.”

“But...?” Yukiko prompted when he stopped.

“You read me so easily,” Gregory said. “It’ll take four years to pay it off.”

“We can help,” Jenn offered, Yukiko nodding in agreement with her.

“No,” Gregory said softly. “Thank you, but no. This is one of the things I want to do for my old village. I’m not going to go home, so the least I can do is make some things better for the people I left behind.”

Both of his wives leaned into him, their arms wrapping around his waist. He exhaled and put an arm around each of them.

“We understand, dear one,” Yukiko said. “If you change your mind, please let us know? You became the man you are because of where you came from, so we’d like to thank them, too.”

“She’s right, Greg. We’ll wait, though.”

Gregory swallowed and he pulled them a little closer. “Thank you,” he said, his voice was husky with emotion. “I want to help the village as a whole, too, but I don’t know how or what.”

“Let me think on it, as I’m sure you want it to be sustainable, and not just vela,” Yukiko said.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, dear one. Jenn, why don’t you get the door? We can skip studying for tonight,” Yukiko said.

“That sounds good to me,” Jenn said, rising to her feet.

Chapter Thirty-one

 

They settled into their routine after about two weeks. They started their days seeing their novice friends, doing Magi Squares, and catching up on how they were doing.

Gregory had found very little useful information about the ryuite. It was thought to be able to do anything any other metal or gem could, but it was also difficult to work with. The oddity was that it didn’t seem to follow any known rules for where it could be found or how rich any find of it would be.

Jenn and Yukiko spent their time studying about mythrum and the temple symbol. Mythrum was rare and prized for its ability to store aether. There had been a war with Krogga hundreds of years ago over a mine that once held a rich seam of the metal— that mine became one of the defensive forts along that border. The symbol was said to have come from when Aether walked the planet, but other than being seen on a few buildings, nothing else was truly known about it.