9 Chapter 8

The same company which ended up buying the curdled goat milk, the third we visited, turned out to also be the people who bought our goats. This time around, at least. Apparently the places my father visited knew him or of him pretty well so someone usually ended up buying our 'specially fed and bred' goats for breeding stock to use at their usual sources.

Sure, we added some of the herbs my mother grew to their feed twice a week, but I knew of plenty farms I had done subjugation and hunting jobs for that had similar practices. Horses and most larger farm animals were the most common. A mundane animal whose diet was enriched with magical plants or other animals either bred magical variations like extra large horses or became magical with enough additives.

A horse that experiences an extra growth spurt is worth almost twice its original value, not only because of its intrinsic strength and other possible abilities but because it was almost certain to breed similar variations.

Our goats had never reached such a point as far as I knew, but their milk and meat was certainly healthier for a person to consume than any normal one.

After having sold everything else but my mother's vest of herbs, Johan took the lead like an actual tour guide. We continued to stop and talk to anyone who would catch my mother's attention, but for the most part we just wandered around looking at administrative buildings for different commerce chambers and even the local Guild branch. For a minute, I actually wondered if I could make copper or even bronze rank with my current body and skills.

When I had first joined the Guild, it was at the age of sixteen after a year of just traveling around the countryside after graduating from the academy. I was originally intending to follow in my father's footsteps and join the legion, but wanted to take a break from the regimented lifestyle and just see some of the country. During this time, I ended up staying at some farm during harvest season for work.

The local area was having trouble with wild wolves at the time and they ended up paying the farm I was working at a visit. The Guild branch from the region's closest city had sent out hunters and mercenaries to help deal with the problem, but the ones designated to our area were late in arriving. So, I handled a pack of six wolves by myself instead of waiting.

Two days later, the mercenaries for the area showed in a neighboring town and caught wind of my solving most of the wolf problem in the area. Of course they wanted to meet the kid who took on an entire pack of wolves by himself and ended up talking me into joining the Guild. After a brief registry and evaluation with a report from the farm, I had started off at iron rank and then settled in silver a few years later.

From copper to bronze, iron, silver, gold, and platinum. People told me I had the ability to go as high as platinum if I put in the effort to train or money for equipment, but silver ranked missions paid well enough that I could live for a couple months at a time between jobs. Why should I take on even more risks that I had to pay to reach?

Most magical equipment drew on the power of its wielder to work and otherwise required the assistance of a mage or mana crystals to keep working. A sword that could slash at a distance was certainly useful, but it was more expensive than useful for someone like me. The sword I had died with was a special weapon made of three different alloys which each had anti-magical properties to deal with enchanted armor or ward off swords that cut at a distance.

I did, however, have a few accessories such as a ring which increased my strength and stamina. The buff to my strength was not much but the increase to my stamina was about half of an hour of running. In controlled combat, that was as much as an hour of careful fighting on top of the few hours worth that I already had.

If I ever actually got good at magic and put in the effort to learn, I could probably enchant my own gear as well as maintain it. That, however, was an endeavor for the distant future. The academy I had gone to offered courses in various crafts such as blacksmithing or enchanting, but the academy was an orphanage so such courses were costly and came with commitments.

After visiting the Guild building that took me on a long stroll down memory lane we headed back to the tavern. Even though my mother still had some herbs to sell, most of them were gone and it was already starting to get late. By the time we got back to the tavern for dinner, the entire place was loaded and active in preparation for the next day's festivities.

There was drinking, eating, shouting, fighting, and all forms of publicly allowed merriment. From the way some people were acting around the edges of the room, there would have been other forms of merriment taking place had it been allowed. Luckily, I did not have to spend my night watching drunken men with prostitutes do the deed right in the commons.

Believe it or not, there were some countries that actually allowed public fornication.

Today was still the day for Gai'ha's practices, so my mother was still wearing her vest to promote her herbal wares even as we ate. She even managed to make a few sales. When dinner was over and we were preparing to go to bed, my mother simply gifted all of the herbs that remained to Mr. Hiel and tested Johan's memory by having him explained to plants uses and preps to his father.

After the impressive display of his learning abilities we all commended Johan on his new knowledge of basic alchemy and went to bed. Over breakfast the next morning Mr. Hiel spent quite a bit of effort trying to convince us to stay for the actual festival day of the holidays. My parents were keen on leaving in just a few hours, but after a few pointed remarks and looks sent in the direction of us kids, Mr. Hiel finally got my parents to cave.

Apparently, Johan himself did not have many friends since completing basic education and spent all his time learning the workings of the tavern. Even though he had a good mind for numbers and was actually much smarter than I gave him credit for, it turned out that Johan was also a shy child who kept to himself much like the original Hugo was. Now, though, our parents decided it would be good for both of us to spend the holiday together.

Even though I was already familiar with the festivities of this holiday through my adult memories, I was actually looking forward to getting to enjoy myself at least once as a child. Memories like these did not exist in my past life and, since I was a kid again, I might as well do my best to make and enjoy some childhood memories. Things that I could only afford to enjoy and experience now while I still had time.

Even though they knew why their son had finally come out of his shell to start interacting with other people who did not fill him with sweets, my parents were glad at least for the fact that Johan was getting to have fun like a normal youngster.

After breakfast our parents gave us both some money to enjoy ourselves with and sent us out alone to enjoy the festival. Even though the central marketplace was where most of the activities were being held, the streets all around the tavern and even further out were still crowded with bodies hurrying this way and that. Street performers of all kinds from acrobats to musicians and even small acting troupes were hard at work everywhere I looked, adding to the festive air with just their presence.

Our first stop was at a candy stall that sold everything from boiled and hardened fruity sugar to softly spun clouds of cotton candy. Even though I could have bought my own paper wand of thickly wadded cotton candy, Johan insisted on buying mine for me. At the next stall closer to the market, though, I repaid the favor by buying us both a cheap skin of mulled wine that had been simmered to lose its alcohol content.

Because of this, we would play jokes on passersby by standing around an intersection of streets and pretending to be drunk while taking long droughts from our skins and yelling at one another about anything and everything. This was actually a common practice among kids who enjoyed the holiday without their parents, but we still managed to trick quite a few people into stopping to check on us with obvious worry. On some level I felt bad for playing on the kindness of others, but the looks on their faces as they tried to have a normal conversation with a supposedly drunk child were priceless.

Finally, though, we had to stop our play after stopping to watch a puppet show of sorts and drunkenly arguing about whether or not the hero or villain should win. The other families present were getting mad at us, though, which brought in the wrong kind of attention. One man who really was drunk even tried to pick a fight with us because we were ruining the show for his daughter but we simply laughed it off in his face and made choice remarks about his actions while walking away.

We made our way around the actual marketplace after that, which had been cleared out of most of its usual stalls and shops to make room for multiple wooden platforms. On some of these platforms were displays of might and magic as people fought each other. It was not uncommon for small tournaments to be held at this time of year, funded by local shops and artisans who used to opportunity to advertise themselves.

However, something I did not expect was for Johan to leave me watching one stage of two adult men fighting one another and come back a few moments later. With registration forms in his hands. Apparently, they also had tournaments for children and teens this year and Johan wanted us to sign up for them.

The last thing I wanted to do was attract too much attention to myself which might make people ask questions, but something about the excitement in Johan's expressions made me cave. Similar to how the excitement of us getting along had helped Mr. Hiel make my father cave. The most I could do was look forward to this as a test of what this body was capable of, there were probably all kinds of kids both trained and untrained my age who would attract just as much attention.