"Apprentice Cal! It's been too long!" Drex beamed as he jumped down from the cart. The porters on the other carts followed suit. "Initiate Liora told me you were back, but I would have thought the guild would hold you back to honor you."

"Drex," Cal greeted with a raised brow. "You're cheerful today. And honor me for what exactly?"

Drex looked at him as if the question was inconceivable. "Was this meant to be a secret? But everyone knows what you've done for the guild. Both you and Initiate—ah, apologies, Apprentice Tavia."

Cal frowned as he paid more attention to the porters that were heading towards the harvested crops. They were glancing at him with a frequency that far outpaced the attention he naturally got.

He came to an easy conclusion. The matter of the sinkhole had spread, and for some reason, the guild wanted to promote him and Tavia. Just like the incident with Tarn, where the guild was the only one that could have spread the news so quickly, the same applied to this.

"What exactly have you heard?" Cal asked.

"You and Tavia stopped a beast wave from ravaging Lumina, and from there, probably the rest of the territory. I think this deserves more than just... Why do I feel you disapprove?"

Drex's words did not reach Cal. His mind raced as he tried to figure out why the guild was lying about something that was publicly known to all the residents of Silverpine.

However, a bit more thought led Cal to believe that what seemed obvious to him might not be so to others.

Of the alchemists who entered the sinkhole, most perished in gruesome ways, while the ones who survived likely thanked their luck that they escaped with their lives. They truly didn't know what dangers the sinkhole hid, since they hadn't uncovered its secrets.

The only ones who knew the truth, or rather, Cal's version of the truth, were the guild's administration. For them, it would be easy to twist what truly happened to a simple, yet deadly, beast wave.

Ironic. The wolf pack caused devastation in my past life as the beast wave. Now I'm getting credit for stopping a beast wave, but one that never existed.

"Apprentice Cal?" Drex was cautious. "If that's wrong, I can try to spread the truth in Mariner's Rest. I'm not sure how much it'll help, but at least the townspeople will know the truth."

"That's unnecessary," Cal said. "I'm just surprised at how fast the news traveled."

Drex didn't look convinced, but he also didn't argue and moved on, happy that he hadn't accidentally stepped into something unpleasant.

"That's understandable. And your good deeds have gotten some benefactors looking your way. The guild's cut on any foreseeable harvest is to be reduced to nothing. I've never seen such favor shown to anyone, Apprentice Cal."

Cal recognized this could be anyone he dealt with in the guild. It could be the Overseer, but the suggestion of getting the pick of his lot from the treasure room made it unlikely. The Elder Council were more likely candidates because they still hadn't given him a reward, though they had promised.

"Wait, this means I get an extra ten guildmarks. Am I miscalculating?" Cal asked, the result of the waiver finally hitting him.

Drex nodded, almost as happy as Cal was himself. "That sounds about right. And with how generous they're being, I can even try to get you out of the contract that you're currently locked into. It might be a long shot, but if you can sell these red grain variants for the actual market price, you'll be making ten times the amount!"

Cal clasped Drex's shoulder, and his voice nearly trembled. "If you could do that, I would owe you a large favor. I find myself in need of a lot of guildmarks, and this would go a long way in making that a non-issue."

"I'll put my all into it, Apprentice Cal. In fact, I'll put that request in immediately after I go back to town and keep pushing them until I get the answer you want."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Drex's eagerness almost took Cal aback . He might have underestimated just how big of a deal the guild was making of his participation in stopping that 'beast wave.'

Changing the way I sell my harvest will put Drex out of a lucrative job. I still need to switch to Fintan's cousin since my future harvests will be larger than what Drex can handle, but maybe I can move Drex to work with Fintan's cousin.

"Thank you again, Drex. Like I said, I'll owe you, and I'll make sure you get something just for trying. I know this isn't a guarantee, since the guild will probably have to pay out of its pocket to break the contract."

"Boss! Which way did you want us to load this again?" One porter asked loudly as he awkwardly held a Sunfire Grain in his hands.

Drex turned and immediately drew in a deep breath when he saw the porter had positioned his hand on the red grains that grew on the crop.

"Not like that! How could you guys forget the instructions I gave you just a few minutes before we came here?!" He turned to Cal and quickly said, "I'm sorry, Apprentice Cal. We'll have to continue later. Let me make sure my people don't ruin your harvest."

Cal waved him off before his eyes wandered to his hires that were gathered around the lone Sunfire Grain planted in the corner of his field.

They had used the shovels to pile up the soil around the crop like a small fort to protect it. He wasn't sure what the reasoning was behind it, but he also wasn't the most knowledgeable of farmers. In fact, he wasn't knowledgeable at all, so there must be a good reason for it.

Cal could no longer hold back his curiosity and approached them. He asked a simple question. "What are you all doing?"

Bran, who had been deeply engrossed with the finger he had inserted into the wall of soil around the crop, looked startled. Though that was only for a moment before excitement took over his expression.

"Oh, Apprentice Cal! Liora wanted to test if we could direct the effects of the Sunfire grain. We've coaxed the roots to grow into the soil we've built up around the crop. And if this can enrich the soil as we hope, there are ways we can apply this to promote the natural fertility without the need to supplement it with the loam, the crystal powders, and the other things."

Cal knew the mutation of this Sunfire grain could enable something like that, but he didn't know that these three could move so quickly in trying to make that happen. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Unfortunately, no," Liora answered. "This is just a matter of time and some hard-to-find materials we intend to search for once we return to Mariner's Rest."

"What about him?" Cal pointed at Drex, waving his arms emphatically as he lectured his workers. "Do you think he can help you find what you need?"

Liora hesitated before Vela interjected. "Drex can help, but Liora here feels like it's wrong for us to ask a mortal to source materials we need."

Cal gave them an unimpressed stare. "If the guild can use Drex, what's the issue with you all doing the same? Or are you implying that I use him too much?"

Liora shook her head like a rattle. "It's nothing like that. At least when the guild asks, Drex has some protection. But with individuals like us, there's a not so small chance others will be offended that a mortal is trying to make deals above their station."

"Ah, I see." Cal had overlooked this part of reality.

He never understood why mortals were called as such. It wasn't like people who had access to mana were suddenly immortal. It just meant that they had a longer lifespan as Initiates. Of course, with every tier, the lifespan increased substantially, but still nowhere close to being immortal.

"Fixing this will be easy. Use my name when you're asking Drex for help, and make sure he does too. Given that I'm now apparently famous, this should give similar protection to what the guild does for Drex. If any issues pop up, I insist you come to me before it becomes too much of a problem."

The three hires nodded in unison before glancing at each other. Bran was the spokesperson. "Could we ask now? Drex looks busy, but the sooner we can get our hands on the materials needed, the better—faster—we can experiment."

Cal looked at Drex, who seemed even more furious now than a few seconds ago. "Maybe give it until it looks like he will not blow up in anger."

The three hires nodded in unison again.

"Say, does this crop need constant supervision? Or would it be better if you all hunted for the materials that you needed?"

Liora considered the question and said, "I suppose after we get our observations for today, we don't need to observe it until we add another variable. So, it might be better if we put all our efforts into getting the materials as quickly as possible."

Cal jumped at that. "Then that's what all of you will do. After today, there's no need to come back until you have what you need. There isn't much work here anyway, and there won't be more for at least a week."

All of them looked resistant to his suggestion, Bran most of all, but his words weren't false. They agreed, though reluctantly.

Cal left for the stable with a smile. He had got his overly helpful hires away from the farm for a while. This would give him plenty of time to upgrade his tools in private.

He grabbed a tub of powdered crystals and moved it close to the pond and repeated the action several times. Given the area that he needed to cover, this would take quite a while to mix into the slurry needed.

That was fine. All Cal had now was plenty of time on his hands.

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