Deemed A Family

Getting to the shop didn't take long, after a few minutes had passed Alfred realized they went in a few circles then stopped earlier. "Did we go in circles to avoid the shop when we came out of the Craft Smiths shop?" Alfred wondered aloud to the chief. "yes, I wanted to make good and sure you were safe before seeing mom." "understandable its family." Said Alfred back.

Going into the shop to meet the old woman was good for Alfred since in his last life he was an orphan. It would give him a sense of having had a parent or at least show him the few things he never experienced. In the shop from the back a little female voice could be heard, "ill be right with you" it said. And soon to follow the voice was a little lady who looked as if she could win in a battle with a bear. "hello son. What bring you hear?" she looks at her son and then finally notices my hair bright as fire coming up to her son's mid-thigh. "whose boy is that? No one in the village has fire in their hair." Her son, sheepish looking, said, "this boy is from the forest and is here with his familiar. They travel alone and he is plenty wiser than his four-year-old body lets on." "I believe you boy," tome she asks, "son, what are yam hear for?" not suppressed anymore by the shock from anyone Alfred just starts talking. "I am here for selling a few ingredients from deep in the forest and some animals. I also crafted a few potions for selling but I only have mid and high-grade potions." "alright boy, lets see them." Alfred began to open his vault to pull out the herbs saying "we will need to go to an open space to take out the meat from several boar a few deer and several rabbits. Mind you it is the meat I'm selling." The woman, still shocked from the Storage skill Alfred used was even more shocked about the fact a little kid was really like this. Silently, still shocked she motioned for the boy to follow. "this way" she was finally able to get out. Arriving in to what could only be a meat locker several feet underground, Alfred pulled out the dismantled meat and began sorting the 12 rabbit and 2 boar and one deer that he pulled out the meat of. Each part of the meat was rapped in leaf's that were helping to keep them preserved and gauged by the woman to be of top quality and top freshness. "since they were preserved in the space skill well, I will give you 50 silvers for the lot. The best price I can give for potions of mid-grade I can make the total 1 gold. How does that sound young man.?" Alfred mulled it over but, in the end, didn't know the system for money if this world or the rate at what was going. With his lie detector on he already knew the old woman ant trying anything. So, he happily accepted. "my familiar is also going to bring enough meat for the village to eat great for a few nights. This is a gift from me to everyone for treating an outsider with kindness. I already know that is difficult for a lot of people." The woman and her son both looked in awe at the boy both thankful and great full. Having food was hard with the pest that is the boar king in the near by surroundings of the village. It didn't attack people but it made hunting hard as the boar scared the prey elsewhere, away from the village. "I would also like to purchase a lot of vegetables for when I leave the area. I cook for my beast and myself and like a rounded meal with meat and greens, and want a variety. Do you have spinach leaf and carrots? And any seeds I can plant?" the little lady brought him over to the veggies and Alfred bought half the stock of both the carrots and spinach leaf she had. Handing the 15 silvers back to the woman, he then asked for a place to bathe. "is there anywhere to wash clean? I've been outside a while and want to get clean with out my magic." The woman wasn't suppressed about the magic the boy could use as the animals he hunted were killed cleanly. "there's a hot spring that is undeveloped up the way. Its near the forest." "if I develop the springs for the village to use do you think they would help me build a house here for me and my fox?" I'm sure they would help you if you ask boy, we don't look like it since were dirty but we love children here. There's a good 30 of us most of the time. The kids go to a morning school hear at the docs place since she came from the city when my boy went to sell the extra produce." 'That's great thought' Alfred. "ok, but I still wouldn't mind making it a place that is useable for everyone. It would also bring income to the village when it has been noticed by everyone so ill make it for the rich to." 'There could be a few prices with different things available. Maybe 5 gold for the rich with private bathing to first come first serve. And 2 reserved baths for the rich to reserve. And a price of 25 for the one and 50 for the other.' The last bit that he thought to himself on sounded ok to him. Platinum was too expensive for the village to try to protect. The chief led the boy to the area with the bath and the boy looked around to see what could be done with magic for now. Since the springs could be widened and fenced in the boy decided that it was early enough to try to do that for now. "I'm going to widen the bath and put a fence for privacy before I use it. Are you sure its ok if I try?" Alfred was worried about the chief deciding otherwise. "I'm sure. I know you are older than you look. So, I know you will do as you said." "thank you chief. Ill get it done in a month I hope." "Hmmm ok I think your fox is back" "Kiri I'm over here. Chief I have animal meat for the village. I want to give them each an equal portion per person and a good appropriate portion for the children each. Can you take Kiri with you to put the meat wherever you think is good enough? Kiri can use my storage skill due to the Soul bound Companion thing." To Kiri. "kiri go put the meat in a spot with the chief ill be here when your done I am going to make a spring for bathing." Kiri looked worried but knew his master's word was good. He left with the chief. So, Alfred got to work uprooting the trees in the area where he would make the building for the inn for the springs. Alfred thought of a name for the place and made a sign to go with it. The sign would read "WinterGreen Springs"

After getting the sign ready he put it into his storage. He finished the trees and disassembled them into boards for the building. 'magic sure is cool'. Alfred stopped for a snack in the middle of working and made a few dishes for the next few days he had one for himself now and the rest went to storage. After a few hours he had the land surrounding the springs and the area next to it ready and compacted for building. Then went to the springs and started to widen the pond and a few mini areas for the rich and powerful to reserve and for a few rooms connected to the pond to have rooms with their own mini pond of the spring. With that done he was able to start using his magic earth manipulation to put the wood plank in for the extra tall fence and shading in the area as well as to fence off the building area to keep the village kids away from the dangerous areas. Alfred notices by the time his fence was up that the sky was getting dark and took his bath quickly. After bathing he put on an outfit bought from the store and went to the blacksmith shop to sleep. The walk wasn't all that far and he didn't see the villagers. But from the noises at the chief's house, he could tell they were having a good time with eh food they got today. Nocking on the shop's door turned into a little wait as the scuffle of feet on the wood floors was heard. "I'll be there in a second hang on." Said the Craftsmith from within. Opening the door to the small boy surprised George slightly. "here you are boy, chief told me ya would be by late. Fixin up the springs are ya. Need help?" Alfred thought for a second. "yes. I will be needing brackets for the building ill be adding to the land. It is going to be a 3-story inn. With a fourth story for my living quarters while I'm here. Ill magically lock it when I'm gone so that if I teleport here it can be a safe spot." No longer surprised by the boy's magic, having peeked in on him to see if he was alright, he noticed the boy was clean and figured he finished the fence. The Blacksmith new the boy wouldn't stay for long and had already told his wife a bit of what he knew. The boy was smarter than his years, pretty powerful and young looking. His wife was excited to have a kid around regardless of the child's appearance, so as soon as she heard the door open and her husband's voice, she had already made her way out to introduce herself. Alfred having just noticed her said "hello. George, is this your wife? I'm Alfred nice to meet you." The lady was surprise but looked super happy. She hugged the boy and said "my names Maybell. And I have a plate of food on the table if you're hungry." Maybell, not expecting the child to have made his food on his own didn't expect to be tuned down. 'she looks like she will want to feed me lots of food. I don't think I can deny her. I must make sure to leave them a storage and pay it the year. Ill talk to the village chief about it later.' "I wont refuse food. It would be rude to refuse food from you, but under the fact that I know over eating is also bad, I actually know how to cook and made late lunch for me and Kiri to snack on when he came to check up on me." She looked like she was disappointed in not being able to feel the tiny boy, Alfred noticed. "if I let you make my meals while I am here for a month will you be happy?" the excited childish look in the woman's eyes could only be the glimmer of hope. "then by all means please bring my lunch to the edge of the work zones fence and ill have Kiri let me know when your there and if you're not busy we can have a picnic." "her excitement's almost the equivalent of an earth dogs for a bone' Kiri agreed through the link and said, 'indeed, your memory of the earth dogs reminded me of my family. They never got as strong as me so they didn't live that long but the enthusiasm for their favorite foods was quite the sight' the distant look Alfred got was thought of to be sadness by Maybell and so she hugged him tight to her bosom and let out the sadness saying, "if you don't mind both George and I would love to see you for lunch and a picnic, if its not a bother of course." "of course not. Though you will end up being surprised all the same ill warn you now. My magic is higher then a human because I am not a human. I don't want to surprise you if you see fore than one fox in the gated portion of the springs land..." Alfred warned them since he had planned to use the forms strength and ability with the nature to build an inn. Packing the ground alone would be hard in a human form. A lot of it was manipulation of his magic over other things like boulders, as that was how he put the fence posts up. With dowels and a smaller rock, he put the slats to the beams. "my view on you will not change for you even if your half beast half human." Not wanting to lie to them since it was no secret what he was he said "I am in no way any part human. My form is a human look because I am Dragon, Fox and Vampire. I get plenty of blood eating my meat cooked medium rare. And unless attacked I am in no need of any extra. But the fact stands that the blood of any living being will suffice, though boar blood does get old. I won't suddenly bite you."

She hugged him again not caring about any of it. "I get it you like the boy but he is starting to turn blue in the face hun." Alfred looked up into the sheepish eyes of Georges wife and said "I like hugs. I never knew my Mama. So, I am unfamiliar to the human familial love and contact. Whatever senses I poses have deemed you as people of its own. Meaning a part of my family. To already like a stranger even a random child is proof of a good family.my gift to you will be a storage box about the size of the coat closet. Accessible to Mabel and George. Say accept if you accept." The following seconds were tense for Alfred. "accept" the word of both overlapped each other and, in his mind, and theirs they could feel the taunt line of magic with a sharp quick pain in their brains. The formation of the mental area for the storage was finished. And with-it Alfred used his skill to pay the yearly fee. The mere 2 gold for him was nothing. "that hurt." "what was that." The first response from Maybell and the second from George. "that is a skill I have. With it I can give a storage space that is shared in a family. Either between the both of them and myself. As long as you put mail in there marked with the name of the recipient. It will ding in their head with a bell like sound. Course it does cost me to use the system that is created I have to in a sense buy it. But the spare change it cost is negligible to me for family. Plus, with this no matter where we are, I can keep in contact with you and the village. Besides the box that will go to the springs for the mail system and my payment for starting it out of nonresidents payment plans it will be nice to know I can contact family as easy as putting a message into the storage. Hmm, one other thing. Not addressing the note to anyone would also make me aware of the item in the box and it will be seen by me. So, write the person its too." Alfred was thinking of a situation that would end up happening on earth when the mail was sorted with no return to or not addressed to anyone. Some times people regret looking into other people's mail based on the content there. Thing that are sad or otherwise. "with that I think its time to mule things over and head to bed. Alfred your room has been prepared. Its this way." Since he ate when they were talking, he followed Maybell to a room near a back door. "Our room is opposite to this one. And the outhouse is out the door next to your room. If you are scared of something or simply want to talk and it can't wait till the next morning then by all means both me and my husband won't mind you waking us up. Plus, it will be good practice for when we have our own child. So please don't feel bad, even just to wake one of us up for the bathroom. It is dark and sometimes I make George go with me." "thank you, good night."

Authors note about the storage skills mentioned:

the Vault commonly refers to the Dragon Vault Skill Alfred can share with a contracted anything be it beast or human

the skill for the storage thing he can give others is given at his leisure and cost him mana in which a gold currency is used to substitute for a person's lack of mana

a person can use every day magic freely and is not mana induced therefor a manaless person can use it.

a person with only a little mana replaces their used stock every time they sleep of use a Simi expensive mana restorative potion the skill will not use the mana unless otherwise told to by Alfred. the skill could be applied to something that gathers mana. like a battery or engine. but have not been made in the world Alfred currently lives in