Change of Scenery

"It seems that I can no longer work as a teacher in this world," Guy lamented as he cautiously plopped down on the bed in his room.

He had only just used his magic to expel the dust that was caked on all the furniture in the room. Unwittingly, he had collapsed a few of them in the process as they were on their last limbs.

(You could try again in another state?) Mast suggested with some uncertainty.

'That won't work. I've been blacklisted! Even if I occlude by identity, they'll figure it out sooner or later and then I'll have to face the music for it,' Guy responded while shaking his head.

'I guess I'll have to find employment somewhere else,' Guy posited. 'There's always The Burning Forge!'

Guy slowly lay down on the mattress and pondered on the idea, 'Karmin did offer me a job the last time. Maybe I could work towards becoming an enchanter for his business. I'll have to redeem my Smithing Practitioner's License and apply for the Enchanting path, but that's okay! I have all the time in the world, after all.'

(Are you going to be content with that?) Mast interrupted Guy's "ambitious" plans.

'Why wouldn't I?' Guy retorted.

(I thought that you wanted to continue in the teaching profession...)

'Well...' Guy dragged the syllable with some longing hidden in his tone. 'It's fine. On the bright side, enchanting is a lucrative occupation. To top it all off, I don't have to worry about money now, seeing as I have a crapload of it in the bank already!'

Guy quickly changed the topic of discussion with a segue, 'Speaking of money, I can't believe I have to stay in such a decrepit place even though I'm filthy rich! It doesn't make any sense!'

In actuality, Guy didn't have much of a choice. All the available inns, motels and temporary housing establishments were booked in Radiant City. The scarcity of lodging stretched out even towards the nearest village. Guy was actually quite lucky to have found a place to stay within the city.

The reason for this could be attributed to the ongoing Beast Taming Guild's 2-star assessment.

Unlike with most other guild assessments, Beast Taming required heavier preparations, in readying the specific beasts for the process and isolating the environment to standardise the testing conditions.

A lot of these behind-the-scenes arrangements took significant effort and thus restricted the frequency as well as the ubiquity of the assessment.

While most other assessments could be undertaken in any guild branch around the world, the higher starred tests for the Beast Taming guild could only occur in specific branches. In Radiant City, it only took place once every three years.

So it wasn't technically out of the blue that all available lodging was occupied by foreigners and visitors, as nearly all of them were preoccupied with the ongoing assessment. It was only unfortunate that Guy happened to be homeless at an inopportune moment.

Guy sighed once again, 'I've contacted a broker to find a room up for rent. Hopefully, he'll come back with some offers tomorrow.'

As Guy made plans for the next day, a series of knocks from his room door interrupted his thoughts.

'Who could it be?' Guy cautiously approached the door and pressed his ears against the surface. He knew that this locale was rife with crime, as he was nearly assaulted on two different occasions while approaching this inn.

With some difficulty, Guy was only able to make out the sound of someone panting. Clearly, the person on the other side was exhausted, and impatient because another set of knocks followed not long after.

Guy opened the door by a crack and peered through the aperture.

"Master!" A familiar voice called out from the other side.

"Markus? What are you doing here?"

Markus pushed open the door and rushed inside the room, panting heavily. He was wearing a burly backpack that bulged out as if it were stuffed full.

"Did you know how difficult it was to find you, Master?" Markus exclaimed with a wronged expression.

He then swivelled his head around and observed his surroundings. This entire time, he'd been focusing intensely on following a trail of breadcrumbs left by his Master and had finally found his temporary domicile. As he trudged through the grimy streets of this district, Markus' heart ached in distress.

'Master has been forced into such an awful state. He's without a job and savings. On top of that, he had to spend a fortune in purchasing that potion for me.'

His resolve only grew stronger after that. And the near ramshackle state of the room cemented it in place.

Guy stared at the spectacle before him in disbelief. "What are you doing here? And what's with the massive luggage?"

Markus shook his head and wore a serious expression. "Master, I've dropped out of the Academy. I'm leaving with you!"

"You did what?!" Guy screamed in shock.

"If the Academy isn't having you, then I don't want to study there," Markus declared.

Guy massaged his forehead and plopped down onto a chair. "You... I've told you many times to be so impulsive when making life-changing decisions. And why are you still calling me Master?"

Markus dropped his bag and fished into it in search of something. He pulled out an envelope and returned it to Guy. "I haven't read what's inside, therefore I don't agree with anything that may or may not have been conveyed through it."

Guy stared blankly at the blatantly resealed envelope in his hand and chuckled wryly, "Markus... I'm doing this-"

"I don't agree!" Markus declared and interrupted Guy.

Guy sighed audibly and leaned back into the chair.

"Markus. You yourself told me that your siblings back at the orphanage were the ones that supported you and got you into the Academy. If you do this, you'd be letting them down," He reminded Markus.

"I... Since the day I became your disciple, my future was sealed. My place is to be next to you, Master. Where you go, I'll go!"

Guy scratched his forehead in irritation and retorted, "Where CAN we go? Have you thought about that?"

Upon hearing that, Markus was stumped.

'That's right!' His Master didn't have any money to his name, nor did he have any strong backing. He was unemployed and had no prospects for the future.

'What to do?' Markus contemplated possible solutions.

While he was doing so, Guy had begun reevaluating his plans. 'It doesn't look like Markus will change his mind. But he's still a child and needs to be properly educated. Maybe I can enrol him into a vocational school, or another non-magical educational institution. I know that civil positions are generally stable and well-paying.'

Guy wasn't worried about money, nor was he concerned about backing. He had both, thanks to Karmin. Guy could essentially retire right now and still live a content life!

While the Master was worrying about his Disciple's future, the Disciple came up with a solution, "Master! Why don't you come with me?"

"Come with you, where?"

"Back to my village. You can wind down and relax there while you search for a new job. Besides, I know that a lot of merchant caravans pass through the village near ours. You could even work as a teacher there!" Markus rattled on enthusiastically.

"On top of that, the Matron will also appreciate an additional helping hand. You wouldn't have to pay excessive rent either."

Guy was stumped by Markus' elated ravings.

'Why would I live in a village if I can rent a house in the city?' He thought. He didn't quite understand Markus' line of reasoning in suggesting that.

'Wait a minute. He doesn't know that I'm loaded!' He realised that he hadn't disclosed his relationship with Karmin Zola to Markus yet. No wonder the boy was so distressed about him.

Guy wanted to explain to Markus that everything was fine, and to not worry about the future. But then he held his tongue in the last minute.

'Maybe...' He thought. His life would be set if he decided to remain in the city and pursued a career as an enchanter. There wouldn't be any surprises, and he could earn and live comfortably.

'That... doesn't sound like fun.' Guy felt that chasing such a life, while safe, was exceedingly lonely and boring.

'This is my second chance, damn it! Why should I tie myself in one place when I have a whole world to explore?'

Guy smiled contentedly and responded, "Sure. Let's do that!"

Markus responded with an even brighter smile, free of burden and shame.

His biggest woe was that he felt responsible for his Master's current predicament. His reasoning behind this suggestion was that he wanted to make it up to his Master in any way possible. This could only be achieved if he remained close to his Master.

____

A few days later, Guy and Markus departed from Radiant City in high spirits. Markus voluntarily took on the responsibility of the preparations and travel itinerary.

Since the boy was still blind to his Master's financial endowment, he devised the travel in a way as to minimise expenditure.

Through some investigation, he found a merchant's caravan that was set to pass through a village close to his own. He intended to hitchhike a ride from that village to the orphanage.

Guy didn't know why Markus was so excited about the travel plans. In the end, he just shrugged it off and decided to roll with the flow.

____

"Good lord, my butt hurts!" Guy cried as he massaged his rear end.

"I'm sorry, Master. That was the most affordable ride I could find," Markus said apologetically.

Guy groaned while stretching his body, "Oh my back! I feel like I've aged by a decade in the last week itself."

He patted Markus' slumped shoulders and added, "Don't worry about the money, Markus. It's not worth losing your vitality if we're only saving a few coins."

Markus nodded in embarrassment and walked forward, "It's this way!"

The duo trudged along for an hour along an uneven and unkempt path, that wound through the dense shrubbery. The trek reminded Guy of his experiences back on Earth. This wasn't his first time hiking through forests to get to a village. Back on Earth, many villages he'd been to were still isolated from sprawling civilisation.

The path they were on veered in the direction of the Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range, towards its northern section. It was a geological feature that neighboured Radiant City and was made of towering and interconnected mountains, with its highest peaks at the ends of the mountain range.

The mountain range formed a crescent moon arcing from the north of Radiant City and extended to the southeast. The forest actually extended from within the arc to without, however, they were labelled with two different names. The inner forest was known as the Green-Sky Forest and the woods on the other side were called the Whispering-Trees Forest. A small opening in the mountain range, right at its centre, acted as a throughway and was a prosperous trade route.

Their destination was a village at the northern end of the mountain range. While the mountain the village was next to towered the highest, the forestry next to it was less dense. Furthermore, a small spring, originating from the mountain range, flowed near the village and into the denser forests.

Guy thought they would following the path which curved away from the large mountain and into the village centre, yet a narrower pathway moved towards the mountain at an upwards gradient. Markus took the narrower path and explained, "Our village is called the Twilight Village, because when the sun rises, the mountain range covers it well and makes it look like its still twilight when its well into the morning."

"Our orphanage is right up this path. There are steps carved into the mountain that lead into our orphanage from our village, however, for that you'd have to go into the village centre first. Besides, going up an incline is much easier than walking up steps."

After a few minutes, Guy beheld the orphanage Markus was gushing about. It had a respectable look, much like a courtyard dwelling from the villages. It was built on a small, flat expanse on the sloping mountainside. And just as Markus had told him, there were steps leading down into the village right next to the orphanage.

Guy approached the sign in front of the orphanage and read it out loud, "Mount Tai Orphanage?"

Markus walked up to Guy and clarified, "Our Matron came up with the name. It's named after the mountain."

Guy turned and faced the majestic peak leading up from the orphanage and sighed loudly, "Right... I had eyes, but couldn't recognise it..."

"Markus? Is that you?" Guy heard a pleasant, yet somehow familiar voice emanating from within the dwelling.

With furrowed brows, he turned towards the sound, and his eyes burst open in shock.

"It's... you?!"