“Really, I was just helping,” Yavneck mentioned with a straight face, he waved the entire basket of fruits the old woman was trying to give him in a bid to push her away.

  “It’s fine! Take it as thanks!” The old woman insisted.

  Yavneck did not get why she was so concerned for his physical well-being- well, he did, he is recovering after all, but he is already well of his patient status, in fact, it can be said that he knows how to take care of himself and thus, he knew that eating too much food currently isn’t exactly ideal because that would result in the opposite effect; making him weak and lethargic as his body would put all its energy into processing all the food he had consumed.

  Well, he supposes food that he would consume if he did not push old Lawtha away.

  “I truly appreciate you trying to help feed me,” he said, putting on his best smile and doing his best to seem least aggressive as he pushed her away, his demeanor was uncomfortable and Yavneck hoped that the old woman would get the gist and leave him alone.

  He gave another shove, “But I assure you, I know how to properly take care of myself and it is best that I feed myself on my own terms,”

  “Nonsense, nonsense,” she said while waving the stick she was carrying around and making Yavneck think that she was threatening to break his bones with it, “You children always say that but you go off and leave only to die because you simply haven't eaten enough when you go back to fight your problems!”

  Yavneck's smile turned forced and his eyes narrowed just a little bit. Did this old hag just imply that he could beat that mage if he just ate?

  Is she saying that he didn't eat enough, hence why he lost?

  Is that it?

  Yavneck grit his teeth and pushed down the stream of curses away from his tongue, swallowing it like bitter medicine in favor of keeping amenities with the old woman in front of him, “I think I found a way that we can both get out of this satisfied,” Yavneck mentioned and the old woman gestured for him to continue, “how about you give me the basket of fruits and I'll eat it slowly, that way I get to eat all of it but at the same time, I do so at my own pace,”

  “That is a good idea,” the old lady nodded, “fair enough, here,”

  Yavneck grabbed the handle of the basket and nodded at the old lady in thanks, and when he was about to leave, he was stopped by a wrinkled hand dropping on his shoulder.

  “Wait, if you don't want to eat all of it and grow strong like I told you to,” Yavneck forced a smile, the words of the old woman did not already make sense as it is, and he downright doubted the ‘grow strong’ part of the sentence but chose not to say it out loud, “then I think I need to give you something that can protect you a bit,”

  “Take your time,” Yavneck agreed, seeing no reason to deny whatever it is the old lady is gonna give him, at best it would just be a small shield and at worst thick clothing that'll help protect him from the cold or whatever.

  The old lady smiled and left for her house, when she came back, she carried something that exceeded Yavneck's expectations yet also somehow fell flat because the item she was carrying had been damaged in vital areas-

  “Here, chainmail.” The old woman said, presenting him a silver, well-oiled, well-maintained glossy iron chainmail that was a right fit for him.

  “My son wore it once, before he got hit by a nasty strike to the stomach by the spiked club of a [Cobblin],” Yavneck grabbed the chainmail- which actually does have a hole in the stomach, proving the old woman's story to be somewhat true, - and was about to say condolences about the guy's implied death but the old woman beat him to it, “I hope it has better use for you, he certainly doesn't need it now, since he's living in the city as some worker and all,”

  “Thanks,” Yavneck’s smile reached his eyes, half-baked words of apologies and sorries about death now thrown to the back of his head, ready to be refined and used for another family in this hamlet that had their children unfortunately murdered. “I'll make sure to use it well,”

  “You’re welcome,” the old lady nodded with a smile, “and if you need it to get repaired, you can go to Cadson, he can fix it for you,”

  “I'll remember that, thanks,” Yavneck nodded and finally left the humble home of old Lawtha.

  Walking away led him to think about the cause of the chainmail’s damage, the [Cobblin], he assumes, came from a nearby tribe of [Goblin]s- most likely ones living in the forest right next to the Hamlet, - which meant that there’s another thing that holds power and territory around this area.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Why the people of this Hamlet decided to keep living here when there’s a Dire Bear and a large tribe of Goblins nearby, Yavneck had no clue and decided that he didn't want to think about it and thus put the situation at the back of his mind.

  He first went back to Barow's home to store the basket of fruits, he grabbed a single mango, from the basket while he was at it as well. Afterward, the mouth of his Port opened and his newly gotten chainmail went in, ready to be repaired when Yavneck had enough money- or resources, - to ask Cadson to do so.

  Cadson, he assumes, should be the man responsible for making the chainmail to begin with, making Yavneck wonder if he was a blacksmith.

  Odd. If he was skillful enough to make chainmail, the [Scholar] genuinely couldn't see how he's staying in such a small hamlet instead of going out and finding his way into Dukedoms, people like him would be valued in large cities and would have been able to live a fairly luxurious life under the merchant's guild.

  Well, whatever the man's reasons may be, he's not really the strangest person to have chosen to stay and live here, given that a [Mage] is also living within such a small Hamlet.

  After his small trip to Barow's house, Yavneck continued his introductions, going around the Hamlet and saying hi to various people, the ones that he met were amicable but did not ultimately need any help. Also, by sheer coincidence, he managed to reach the home of Nela and Nero when he went to his 5th house.

  Yavneck so far has asked about the siblings and as it turns out, the two of them live alone inside of their little cottage; having moved here alongside the original settlers, and for two years now, they have worked alongside the other Hamlet citizens to build this place from the ground up, working various chores and the like in exchange for food and other necessities, sometimes even money.

  That was what he had gleamed of them from the people he had met around the Hamlet, and Yavneck considered such information sufficient for making an impression of the two's character,.

  And Yavneck thought that a small introduction and a bit of small talk wouldn't be so bad to start off their relationship, because if the two truly are what can be considered as drifting helpers around this place, then Yavneck deemed that cooperating with them on tasks would be better than competition between them, as the two are already well known around the Hamlet, they would have better chances at being accepted on the miscellaneous jobs available compared to him.

  “Oh, it's you,” the girl, Nela, said with a scowl as she stared at him down from the top of the stairway that led to their little cottage, “What do you want?”

  “I was introducing myself to the people here, me going to your house would've been inevitable,” he said, “it looks comfortable,” he complimented, making Nela groan.

  “Ugh. I wish it is, but we basically have to sleep on hardwood and thin clothes every night.” She complained without heat, “But hey, at least there’s a roof on top of us right?”

  “Exactly,” Yavneck agreed, she isn’t wrong, living inside a house is better than sleeping on the dirt. “You’re lives currently are most likely much better compared to some of the less fortunate children inside of big cities,” Yavneck added a point, “especially those living inside slums,”

  “Yeah…” Nela looked uncomfortable, “So what brings you here?”

  “Nothing, I just thought that I’d come by when I saw your house, I’m going around introducing myself to the people living here, see,”

  “Oh,” Nela nodded dumbly, “You don’t want to talk or something?”

  “No, not really,” Yavneck replied, “and since that is the case, then I guess this is the part where I bid my goodbye and we part ways,” he said, “It was nice seeing you, and if you need food, then there's a basket of fruits back in Barow's house, take as much as you need from it,”

  “I'll tell Nero that,” she waved him off, “see you,”

  “Mhmm.” With one final smile, Yavneck sauntered off.

  He decided that making his way to Cadson now would be for the best as introductions can always wait and the scholar deemed that the people here did not truly need that much help when it comes to day to day life, and well, it's not like the two siblings aren't helping around already.

  Amidst his idle thoughts, Yavneck moved silently through the Hamlet and before he knew it, he had reached Cadson's home- or rather, Smithy: It was a large, dome-shaped thing made of stones and brick, its semi-circle shape looking as though half of it was buried underneath the ground, at the back, a long, straight chimney grew out of the top, spewing gray smoke into the skies, and surrounding the chimney’s bottom were little holes poked into the roof of the Dome, they emanated so much heat the air on top of them looked as though it twisted and bent.

  On the wall of either side were large windows, open and circular and seemingly without any frames or forms of blockage, though from the way they were angled upwards and facing the sky, the one who built the house must've deemed that if someone were to violate the owner’s privacy, then they’re gonna have to work hard for it.

  A little bit to the right of the building is a large rectangular basin made of stacked stone, within is a pool of water that Yavneck did not know the function of.

  Mayhaps it is just there so that Codson has easy access to cold water and doesn’t have to go to the river, or maybe he had a mule of sorts that needed to drink water. Both, most likely.

  Hm. Sounds possible. Yavneck considered that answer to be satisfactory enough and put the basin of water at the back of his mind.

  As he moved towards the door, he found it truly odd that a genuine [Blacksmith] had settled down on such a small Hamlet. Regardless of his confusion, it is convenient for him that the man had chosen to do so because it meant that he didn't have to go to a city to get his chainmail fixed.

  Or worse still, get forced to wear a damaged chainmail when the looming threat of the Dire Bear suddenly comes down on the village like a wrathful storm.

  For the beginning of the chapter, I know that it’s a bit rough (don’t worry! That’s intentional,) because there isn’t a single mention of the conversation that happened between Yavneck and Lawtha, as for why, It’s because there really isn’t much to add, generally speaking that is.

  I was writing things down and realized that after the 4th “Talk” of both Yavneck and Lawtha, that I pretty much said everything the last chapter with Yavneck setting up a “reputation” for himself, his last words of “I’m a traveling [Mentalist]” pretty much sums everything up and what he got from it is a fake backstory (that’ll start spreading around the Hamlet, explanation as for why is at the end of the note.)

  In the end, it sort of felt redundant to add everything else, which really is just Lawtha asking (interrogating) Yavneck about the specifics of his way of life as well as how his class [Mentalist] works.

  Now for the chainmail… yeah… it’s gonna be useful soon. Ish.

  In the second scene, I think I just want to point out that the reason for why Yavneck and Nela aren’t talking with hostility towards each other is because the argument that they had within the forest kind of just petered out during off screen, which is hours of just Yavneck collecting herbs and the siblings following him around the forest, which yeah, after all of that, you kind of just get tired of the heated argument and just let things be as well.

  (I wanted to write the entire thing down but seriously, it got kind of boring, and also made Yavneck feel kind of a know-it-all since it was basically just him going- "oH a HeRB, THiS DoEs- yadda yadda yadda," and that’s the whole scene. Anyways, expect Barow and Yavneck to start talking about Herbs in the future since it makes sense for an apothecary to actually know about herbs and stuff.)

  Lastly, the third and final scene really has nothing for me to write home about, it’s just the description of the Smithy, Yavneck finding it odd that a blacksmith is living in the middle of nowhere (it’s like farming in the Desert, mind you,) and that’s about it!

  [Cobblin]’s are basically evolved versions of [Hob-Goblin]’s, (and yes, they are a class, that is how monsters evolve in this world,) though these ones are stupider, bulkier, and larger than their previous evolutions.

  [Scholar]’s are an evolved version of the [Acolyte] class, and think of them as the acolyte graduating Fantasy college and all the knowledge to come along with it- which are all jobs that you can find in cities essentially, things such as carpentry, alchemy, scribehood, etc.

  [Blacksmith] self explanatory.

  [Mage] self explanatory.

  Inspirations… how do I start?

  Well, some of you might have thought that Lawtha is basically the stereotypical grandma right? And that’s because you’re correct; so, why did I write her as someone who will spread Yavneck’s “backstory”?

  That’s simple, it’s because in my country, there are basically people here called “Chismosa” and “Chismoso” which are terms used for gossips- which yes, are common enough to be given a term, seriously some of the chismosa’s I’ve seen basically talk to each other in the early morning, like, 5 o clock morning.

  Throughout my life, I’ve grown up with these sorts of people due to growing to let’s say… not so well areas, which are packed full of houses built right next to each other, which again, I want to say that proximity is one of the reasons why gossips are so effective.

  Everyday I would hear them talk over and over again and because of that, I’ve noticed someone’s reputation can be set by these people alone, of course, them being “Chismosas” does mean that there’s so much of them that they start to have contradictory stories and stuff starts to lose narrative and don’t add up but in the case of Yavneck, it’s not really a problem since the Hamlet is rather small.