AN: Hi, your lazy author present you chapter 27 :D. Enjoy!

PR by Zenla, the royal proofreader

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It has been 8 days since the old Thoreim left. After finishing with my tasks and my experiments at Old Johrgard's smithy, I used the remaining time improving the quality of my equipment, for the objects or parts that could be upgraded. It was in the middle of the afternoon that he came back. After I greeted him , he inspected my work and the state of the smithy, then had a look at what I was doing with my gear, then he went to rest after leaving a few instructions.

That evening, while we were having diner, someone knocked at the door. I went to see who that was and was surprised to see Old Johrgard outside. I was starting to get anxious, I was wondering if I didn't mess something at the old man's place.

Yaereen «Old man? How rare to see you here!! Please come in and have a seat. You must be tired since you just came back from a trip.»

Roland «Welcome Johrgard, it's good to see you.»

Muriem «Ah!! Good evening sir...»

Old Johrgard «Ya, good evening young ones. Don't ya underestimate this old man, that trip was a vacation for me, hahaha!»

Aenthar «Do you want something to drink master?»

Old Johrgard «Ya, let's drink something nice!»

Muriem rushed to the kitchen and came back with some ale.

Aenthar «What happened master? You look cheerful, you weren't like that when you came back.»

Roland «If he is cheerful, then I'm relieved, I though you did something wrong at his place, glad to see that's not the case... That's not the case right?»

All eyes were on the old man, with anxiety in them

Old Johrgard «Hahahahahahahahaha!! Ye don't have to be worried, the lad did nothing wrong!» He took a large gulp of ale «On the contrary, I'm here because the lad did really well.»

Everybody relaxed, then Yaereen and Roland looked at him in anticipation. He stood up and went beside the young boy.

Old Johrgard «Aenthar! Son, you worked well all these years, and when I left, you took good care of the smithy and completed your tasks with flying marks. Lastly, I saw how you improve equipments you made at the beginning of the year, meaning within several months, you made tremendous progress.»

Aenthar «I reached disciple rank» he said while face palming.

The old man put his hand on the boy's shoulder

Old Johrgard «Ya. You reached disciple rank. Congratulation, lad, I'm very proud to have a student like you. Take this letter, you will have to go to the crafting guild with this to receive your card.»

Girls «Kyaaaaaaaa!!!»

But before Aenthar could take the letter, 2 women rushed to him and gave him a big hug. The old man pouted a little because of the interruption, then revealed a wry, kind smile while looking at the trio.

Roland «These women...»he said with a wry smile.

Aenthar «Mom, Muriem, you interrupted master.»

Muriem «Haa!! Sorry sir, I'm very sorry, really...»

Yaereen «...Ah, sorry old man... Hahaha, I was just so happy for my boy.»

Old Johrgard «Don't worry, I expected this already, just not that soon. Usually you wait for the right time to unleash your emotions.»

Aenthar «Good thing she unleashed them before drinking, she would have hugged me for a while otherwise...»

Roland, Old Johrgard and Muriem chuckled hearing that, and Yaereen gave him a flat stare while smiling and blushing. He responded with a little grin while motioning her to come, and she resumed her hug.

Aenthar «But... Master, did you need to go to the crafting guild for that?»

Old Johrgard «Come on lad, you didn't think I would do all that just for you did ya?»

He pulled out his blacksmithing card, there were 2 stars.

Aenthar «Master is a master! Eh? Congratulation master! And I'm also proud to have had a master like you!»

Roland «Whoa, congratulation old man!!»

The girls «Congratulation!»

Old Johrgard «Seeing the efforts and the progress of the lad was really refreshing, it boosted me a bit I guess. Keep up the good work Aenthar, you will go far.»

Aenthar «Yes master! I will just do that!»

Afterward we drank and chatted a bit then the old man left. The next day would be a rest day for both of us. I was praised a bit more by my parents, then we went to bed. Though a little later, Muriem came in my room while slightly blushing with a mischevious smile, and we kissed and caressed each other for a while. At a time my leg pressed onto her crotch and she moaned while I felt the part was a little damp. It was hard work keeping the dragon asleep, really hard (AN: No pun intended Very Happy)!! Not when we were still in Argot. Later we fell asleep, holding onto each other.

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The next day I went to the river with the girls, and we flirted a lot in the water. I decided to leave for Lazaris the next day, and the girls will be coming with me. After the attack 2 years ago, the road and the surroundings were patrolled more often. It would also be the first time Muriem to see Carduc again, and go to the grave of her parents. She got depressed thinking about it, but in the end she agreed. She would need to cross that path and overcome the past, and she won't be alone.

Since I've become a disciple, my time at Old Johrgard's place is finished. I have a lot more time for exploration and monster hunts, more time for experimentations in alchemy, more time to train my body and my magic, to train with the girls. The academic year start on the second month of the year, which give us around 8 months to get prepared.

The fee for the academy is 1 gold and 20 silver coins per year. And aside from that we will need money for tthe travel, food and other necessities. We have 8 months to gather 2 gold coins each, that's 12 silver and 50 copper coins per month. 2 gold coins is twice what a commoner usually earns each year.

Before, I would spend 10 days in the village and 5 days outside. Now that will have to be the other way around. We will need to go deeper in the Frontier. The monsters there will be more dangerous, but their body parts will bring more money. Besides, there is a small mountain not too far I wish to explore. The area around there is sitll just partially explored. I haven't given up on the idea of finding something nice in the ground with my mana sense, so I can't ignore that mountain. I want to go there before mid-winter, it would be too dangerous after.

But all of that is for later. After enjoying my time with the girls, I went to see Namir, Nana, Erik and Jenna, to tell them about my rank up and our trip to Lazaris the following day. We will be leaving for 5 days, so we went home and made preparations for the trip. And I'm taking Komodo with us.

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AN: Humm... I think I will finish the village part in 4 chapters... After that I will take, maybe a week break for more world building, more characters preparations and more plot preparations.