Aedric

''Alright Ubam, make sure you take it to the tailor, just tell him I sent you, he'll know what to do''. Or at least I hope he will remember, he's quite a ditz.

Ubam who is standing in the middle of the room nods his head before turning around to leave.

''Also Ubam, bring some firewood back, there is not enough to last the night''. Hearing my words he stops and turns to me.

''Alright, Boss, should I get some food while I'm out?''. Nice try, you'll just spend all the money I give you on some obscenely overpriced product instead of the good old black bread of death.

''No need, we have enough to last us for a while, I made sure of it''. Ubam grumbles and walks out the door closing it carefully behind him, it still makes a loud groan followed by a bang as it shuts closed.

Leaning back on my chair I feel the texture of the paper in my hands, a bit too thick and rigid, but it does the trick.

Spread all over my desk are stacks of yellow paper filled with blotches of dark ink, they have been accumulating for the last half a month or so, I kind of lost track of the time in between all the things going on.

The stack on the upper left corner of the table speaks about the process and results of my 'hunts', if I could even call them that. all I did was repeat the earlier success, only this time I used a farm animal as bait, it worked just as fine.

Grabbing a hold of the papers I flip through them, I have read them many a time just to remind myself not to do it again, well maybe I should have written it differently tho as right now it states, cost of materials, irrelevant, just some oil, cost of bait, a handful of coins, we used the innards of a pig, cost to hire workers, irrelevant as it allowed me to obtain some very trustworthy henchmen.

And the most important part, income from the venture, for the meat and skeleton of five Vulnogs, 250 coins, a good 50 coins each, quite a bit especially while taking into account that I did not sell the pelt which is the most highly valued part by far.

In other words, I made a profit of about 200 coins in a handful of days of minimal labor, a normal town worker doesn't make this much in half a year of hard work from morning till dusk.

''No, don't be an idiot, it's not worth it''. I feel that saying it out loud should clear my mind and not turn me into a professional monster hunter, after all, I'm a coward and then some.

Placing back the papers I stretch my hand on the ones located on the other side of the table, this stack is quite a bit larger and the paper seems ruffled and wet in some spots as if it's been carried around outside in this infernal snowfall that shows no signs of stopping, its been going on for days now.

These papers, or more like the words and intent they contain, are the key to both my current and future success.

Holding the documents gently I look over them with the pride of a father looking over his son's barely passed exam.

On every single page there is a list of names with a fingerprint next to each of them, this right here, is the list of my very 'skillful and 'professional' lumberjacks.

It is the result of the very aptly named league of beggars plan that I had such a long time ago. While simple in concept, it is also very simple in practice which makes it perfect.

Carefully placing the papers back down I pick up my feather and get ready to write some more, these will be some notes for my eyes only, containing some of the more questionable information about this fiasco of a plan.

Placing a hand on my hairy chin I can't help but wonder where to start. ''Well, the beginning is as good of a place as any, I guess''. With that resolved I start writing.

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A large shape can be seen walking on the snowy streets, it looked human enough, only much larger than normal, behind it is another smaller figure, small enough to belong to a child when compared to the earlier one.

''How do you feel Aedric, is there anything else you need, the Boss told me to take good care of you''. The large figure spoke in a booming voice, this, was Ubam, the pirate-looking lackey.

The smaller figure walking slightly behind him spoke. ''I am fine sir Ubam, there is no need to bother yourself with me'', This man is Aedric, an apprentice of the druidic path, he is a small man by any standards, being shorter than even some women on the streets.

The giant shrugged his shoulders. ''There is no need for sir, we're colleagues now, let's try and get along, sir this and sir that will just tire me out''. If Caspian were to hear Ubam speak he would be quite confused as his tone of voice was very different from the usual, it was a lot more friendly and a lot less subservient.

''Of course Ubam''. Aedric said with a small smile on his chapped lips. ''Thank you for your concern, but I am fine, you don't have to worry I will make sure to complete all my tasks''.

Ubam once again shrugged and turned a corner. ''I'm not worried''. He said. ''Boss said to take care of you so I'm taking care of you, just stick with me and well be fine''.

Aedric's smile left his lips, he thought about the conjurer that Ubam referred to as Boss, he knew his name, Caspian, a merchant living in the city of Westerngrad, a very talented young man, never trained in the ways of magic but still able to create such advanced constructs.

Aedric felt his eyes grow hot and a small trickle of water touched his cheeks, a snowflake got in his eye, surely.

Aedric may have been an apprentice of the druidic path, but that did not mean he was young, well he was young once, when he first joined the order, at the tender age of ten, it had been almost forty winters since he left his home in the pursuit of magic.

Forty long years and all he accomplished is going from an acolyte to an apprentice. Aedric lacked talent, his control and mana capacity was above average after all the years of training, but he lacked talent, he just wasn't good enough.

So after losing all hope he left the order on a journey and somehow ended up in Westerngrad after taking a ship at some port or another. Here, he got into drinking and gambling and lost most of his wordly possessions, not only that, but he got quite a debt with the less respectable members of the city.

At first, he wanted to flee the city, but the sudden onset of winter stopped him, he knew well enough what happened to unprepared travelers in the deep of winter.

As he had lost all his coin he chose to hide with the beggars of the city, not like any of them would notice him, he looked just like them after all.

All was fine for a time, just live life on scraps and try not to get found out or end up like the others, dead and frozen on the streets, doomed to be there until spring came and people decided to move the remains.

He resigned himself to doing that until one day a rumor reached his ears, some merchant was offering shelter to beggars in exchange for work. At first, he did not trust the news, who would, it was very suspicious, but as he heard more and more about it from his fellow beggars he decided to investigate.

After asking around for a bit he figured out the identity of the merchant, he was the new owner of the lumberyard and he offered both food and shelter in exchange for work. Asking more people he found out the type of work the merchant needed, cutting, transporting, and processing the trees into logs and firewood.

Learning of this, Aedric got excited, he may have been a failure but he was still an apprentice mage attuned to nature, turning a few trees into firewood with his powers was simple work, so he went towards where the workshop was located, next to one of the gates.

After close to an hour of making his way through the frozen streets, Aedric could finally see the gatehouse, he hurried over while trembling from the cold.

As he was walking towards the workshop doubts started to flood his mind, what would he say, would he use his real name, what if the rumor was a lie, would he show the fact that he can use magic, maybe the men he owed money to will track him down.

Many such thoughts went through his brain as he made his way towards the crowd of filthy beggars. Once he saw them he relaxed, there were so many of them, surely nothing would happen.

Only, as he got closer, he felt a strange sensation, one he hadn't felt in a long time, magic, someone was using magic and quite a potent one at that.

Pushing through the crowd of waiting beggars he finally got to the front and what he witnessed made him have second thoughts about many of his life choices.

There, in front of him, stood a group of people, well, a man and a group of giants. The half a dozen giants dressed in long brown leather cloaks stood with their arms crossed in a semi-circle with the human behind them, they were obviously protecting him.

As for the man they were protecting, he sat upon a stack of logs with his back slouched forward, with his head being supported by his right fist which was deeply burrowed in his bearded face, he too was wearing a ragged brown cloak together with a hat decorated by white feathers with red specks on them.

Atop the logs, he stood at the same height as the giants with his eyes closed in what Aeric knew was a combination of deep concentration and a meditative state. This man reeked of magic, Aeric could see the power coming out of him as he was casting a spell, he could also tell that the power was superior to his. A man that looked barely in his twenties had more magic than him, a fifty-year-old apprentice, Aedric could not help but lightly despair at seeing him, it was not the first time he saw someone younger than him being stronger, but that was within the order, they were part of the druidic path the same as him so he could accept it, but this man was not, and he felt inferior.

In what he would consider in the future to have been a foolish move he sent his own mana forward to try and see what spell the man was casting. As his deep green mana touched the royal purple one he felt his body become weightless, he was no longer standing in the frozen courtyard, he was now flying high above the city, he no longer felt cold, his toothache was gone and his mind was clear.

Aedric felt bliss for but a moment as the surrounding once again changed, the cold was back, the toothache stronger than ever, he opened his eyes to gaze back upon the figure sitting on the logs.

The man had opened his eyes, they shined purple from the magic coursing through them, Aedric wanted to flee but couldn't move, it was not out of fear but due to the fact that he was still not used to his body yet.

The man smiled as the purple glow left his eyes and said.

''Well well well, what do we have here''