9 Chapter 9- Rifwore- Institute of the Arcane

Seeing Oliver bawling his eyes out took Ben for a surprise. This 15-16 years old child who always acted much mature than his age crying like a small kid made Ben realise how much Oliver had suffered at such a small age. But then Ben realised what Oliver had asked and why he was crying.

He connected the dots, it wasn't hard. He stood up and went near the crying Oliver, then he gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry my child, I understand. It's fine, cry as much as you want." Listening to him Oliver unthinkingly hugged Ben in return and cried more.

After a couple of minutes of crying, Oliver calmed down. He said " I am fine, thank you. And sorry for spilling the milk. I will clean it right up." "Don't worry child, it's fine. You just sit here, I will clean it up." "But I.." before Oliver could even reply Ben patted Oliver's head and smiled.

Oliver went quiet and sat down busy with his thoughts. Ben went and brought a cloth to clean up the spilled milk. After cleaning up Ben went back to the kitchen and after a couple of minutes brought another cup of hot milk.

When he gave it to Oliver, he suddenly asked Ben, "Ben how can I learn magic?" Although Ben knew that this question was coming, when he looked at the seriousness in Oliver's eyes he smiled and said, "The only chance for you to learn magic in at the prestigious magic school of our kingdom Rifwore- Institute of the Arcane." When Ben said the name he had a special glint in his eyes and his tone was full of reverence.

"The Rifwore- Institute of the Arcane takes their yearly entrance test at the capital city on the last day of December, the day before new years. So that all children of age could be tested fairly and the new session could start in the first month of the new year."

"Ben, how can I take the entrance test?" Oliver stood up and got ready as if he would run as soon as he knew all the details. But when he saw Ben smiling instead of answering, he knew that Ben already had a plan ready for him, So he sat down and focused on what Ben had to say next.

Seeing Oliver's behavior Ben got impressed by his intelligence. He said, "Every year only children of the age of 18 years can participate in the test. In addition to age, you also need 5 crystals as a fee for the test. But most of all, The most important thing is your aptitude and talent for magic. Because even if all the above conditions are fulled if you don't have talent then even if you are king's son, you won't be able to pass their qualifying test... I just remembered how old are you, Oliver?" "I still am 3 months short of 16 years." "I see so you still have time. So Oliver what are your plans now, now that you know all this?" Asked Ben.

"I will follow whatever plans Ben has for me," Oliver replied with confidence on his face. Listening to Oliver's reply Ben smiled again and said, "You really are a smart child Oliver. How about this you stay here for 3 months till you turn 16. As you have talent in repairing tools and stuff, you can repair the tools of villagers so that you can earn some money and stay with us and enjoy Martha's delicious cooking. After you turn 16 you can go to the capital city where I can introduce you to a friend of mine. He is a blacksmith, not only can you learn blacksmithing from him and become his disciple but he will also hire you and pay you. When you turn 18 you can go and attend the entrance test with the money you have earned. If you could enter the magic school then very good but if you are not able to then you can continue to work for my friend or come back to us. You are always welcome to our little farm."

"I will follow as you say Ben" replied Oliver obediently but then he asked, "But what are crystals. You didn't tell me." with his face full of embarrassment. Seeing this Ben laughed, "Hahaha, I forgot that you have amnesia. But even if you didn't, it would have been amazing if you knew what crystals were. Mainly that is because the currency that we mortals use are bronze, silver and gold. With bronze at the bottom, 10 bronze is equivalent to 1 silver and 50 silver equivalent to 1 gold. But above that is the currency that mages use crystal. it takes 100 gold to make 1 crystal. Well, you don't have to worry about money for now. Just enjoy while you are with us. Hahaha." "hmmm I will do that" replied Oliver with a smile.

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So this started Oliver's new routine. He used to wake up early at 6 AM for his daily routine of running and exercise. Although this was not his old-world Oliver's old habit was hard to pass by. Plus he had no reason to ignore it as not only it helped his body to develop but also helped his mind to get ready for the day.

After his exercise, he would have a delicious breakfast made by Martha. After breakfast, he would help her with the dishes after which he would meet Ben on the farm to help him out with various stuff. After the farm work would finish it would be time for lunch where he would again be treated with another amazing meal. After lunch, he would go to the 36th village which was around 15 minutes of walk. He had opened a rented stall where he would fix people tools and all kind of different stuff and earn a couple of silvers and bronzes. After coming back to the farm it would already be late evening, so he would go straight to the bath and freshen up and then come back to the main hall for dinner. All the 3, the old couple and a young man would sit together and ravish their last meal of the day after which Oliver help Martha again with the dishes.

Then they would sit together and talk till might night. Ben would start to drink but not much and Martha would start to sew clothes of different designs for Oliver. All the clothes she sewed would come of great as if she was a famous clothes designer. Besides, the food that she made was the best Oliver had in both this and his previous life. He was sometimes surprised that how could Marry be so talented to which Ben would always reply "Of course she is, after all, she is my wife" and Marry would just simply smile.

These days with the old couple were really enjoyable for Oliver. They would pamper Oliver to the extreme and their relationship became very deep in the time of weeks. But one day when he woke up and after his daily routine went for breakfast he saw neither Martha nor her delicious food. The only thing that was on the table was bread pieces and homemade jam on 2 plates which were made by Ben and Ben himself.

When Oliver asked about Martha, Ben didn't reply and just signed with sorrow. Seeing this reaction Oliver knew that this was not the time to ask about it so he barely finished his breakfast which was not 'half-bad and went to the farm to work.

Only in the afternoon when Oliver saw Ben drinking so early in the day that Ben slipped up and told Oliver about the true story. The truth was that the old couple had a son and his wife and a cute little grandson which was not much different in age than Oliver. But one year before the three of them had an accident, the carriage that they were travelling in fell of a cliff and resulted in the death of all the 3.

Today was the death anniversary of them so since morning Martha had locked up herself up in her room and didn't come out. This was also the reason why both of them doted on him so much and especially Martha because she viewed him as her grandson. So Oliver decided not to go to his shop and stay with them today.

Only in the evening when Martha came out of her room did Oliver talk to her. Martha suddenly hugged Oliver tightly and started crying. Only after a long period did she stopped and went to sleep because of how tired she was due to crying.

Oliver accompanied her till she slept and then went to Ben who was still drinking. Oliver took the alcohol bottle from Ben and carried him to his bed and laid him down. as soon as he laid he fell asleep but Oliver could still see a single tear running down his eye before he was in deep sleep. After that Oliver too went to his room and slept.

The next day both Martha And Ben acted as they would normally but he could feel the love in eyes of the old couple when they glanced and talked to him. Although nothing much changed in the 3 months Oliver started to look from a thin malnutrition boy to a smart, lean and handsome young man. In addition to that, he had earned around 20 gold in 3 months.

Finally, he was ready to go to the capital city.