19: First day of work

I leave home and head to the magic academy. Today is the first day that I am going to meet Sofia for our agreement. As I am walking in the midday light, I feel the warmth of Azur on my shoulder, which reminds me of Mia's sadness, yesterday, when she saw that the little dragon was not with me. However, I invoked him again as soon as I got to my room and I sent him flying through the hatch to meet her, with which I could hear her cry of joy. For that reason, and just by way of exception, I let her sleep with it one last night. Upon arriving at the academy, I see a nervous Joseph, waiting for something at the entrance, as he keeps looking in various directions and walking in circles. When he sees me, he waves at me and walks over to me.

"Hi..." he says and seems to be hesitant about how to go on, because he stops talking.

"Hi, I didn't expect to see you here" I say, puzzled.

"Sabrina told me about your work with her aunt and... And I wanted to apologize for yesterday... I shouldn't have caught the attention of the wolves, but I couldn't imagine that they would be a problem for you. You are always very fast and determined in the fighting and... I'm sorry. " he says looking at me embarrassed.

"It 's okay. In any case, I am the one who should apologize for being paralyzed in the middle of a fight. That wolf could have killed you while I was paralyzed. I would understand if you and your friends no longer want to group with me" I say trying to downplay it, I never saw Joseph act like that and it is very strange

"No! No... Ragnar told us your story after you left, and I... WE thought your reaction was understandable and we don't blame you at all. We want to continue making a group with you, if that's okay..." he says hurriedly and waving his hands in front of his face.

"I'd love so. So, see you in two days at the guild?" I say uncomfortable, because I don't like the fact that they have talked about my past behind my back.

"yeah, well... I just wanted to tell you that. See ya!" and after saying goodbye to me, I see him walk away.

I enter the magic academy and, as I head to Sofia's office, I am thinking that I am very lucky that they want to continue to group with me, not only because I could not get the experience bonus in the labyrinth if I do not have companions that take care of the enemies that I cannot kill. But because, in these few days, they reminded me what it is to have friends more or less my age.

When I arrive at Sofía's office, I see that she is waiting for me behind her desk. After a brief conversation she hands me the crown, to which I begin to transfer my mana, and some mana potions to recharge my mana pool, when it's needed.

The process is slow, and I feel like my mind gets more and more stressed with each time I empty my mana almost completely. Azur rests, curled up on my lap, comforting me with his presence. After an hour of transmitting my mana to the artifact, consuming 6 potions in the process, Sofía stops me and thanks me for the work.

"I heard you stopped by old Alaric's workshop" she says, handing me a cup of coffee "drink it, it will help you with the headache..."

"Yes" I answer briefly, accepting the cup, gratefully.

"Did you go to buy something or just out of curiosity? "she asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

"A friend needed to enchant something and he asked me if I wanted to accompany him, since he had observed that I did not have a magic enhancer, and he thought I could buy one, taking advantage of the trip... Actually, I didn't even know they existed" I say and look at her questioningly "But you already knew, didn't you?"

"Sure" she says, making a gesture with her hand to downplay it "but I only know what my friend told me"

"Well, there isn't much else. Thanks to Alaric I 'bought' an enhancer with money that I still don't have and nothing else... Ahh yes, he told me that you ordered something for me, what is it?" I say, remembering the conversation.

"This" she says, throwing a ring on top of the desk "that ring works like the crown, but on a smaller scale. But still, it is more than enough for you. It can store up to three thousand mana. Also, it improves the speed of mana regeneration of the user"

"And you give it to me because..." I say, looking at her questioningly.

"It's an investment, the same as with the enhancer. You don't have to worry about paying for it or anything, the magic academies pay. I already told you that the mana of your particular affinity is extremely useful and difficult to find. It is convenient for me and the academies that you improve your magical abilities as quickly as possible, since the more mana you have, the fewer people there will be in magical coma in the academies. Those two rings can serve you in that. Besides, with that ring I can know where you are at all times, since its third enchantment allows the designated person, in this case me, to know where the enchanted object is... I hope you don't mind" she says, as I look at the ring. It appears to be silver and has a blue gem set "it's mithril and I asked for that gem color because I thought it would match the color of your eyes, at least with the real one..."

At this, I suddenly get up and ask with tension, while I put a hand on the necklace to check that it is still there "how... how do you know?" she shouldn't know my eye color, but then I remember that she had talked to me about it the first time I saw her and I sit down again. I'm not amused by this tracking charm.

"Your spirit" she says, simply pointing to Azur, who landed on my shoulder, as it had flown off when I got up "The color of the skin, feathers, fur and eyes of the summoned spirits is the same as the color of the eyes and hair of their summoner. " I see that her hawk comes down from the shelf on which it was perched to perch on her shoulder and, seeing my gaze, she adds "as you can see, my Siri has the same eye color as me, and that her feathers are the color of my hair. But you don't have to worry about your secret, since it's not common knowledge. Most people don't even know what a summoned spirit is."

"Ahh, ok" I say, calming down and turning my attention to the ring "this... Why do you need to know where I am at all times?"

"I thought I had already made it clear that you are someone very important to the magic academies, after all you are the person known with the second highest mana pool of spiritual affinity in the entire kingdom, it is not strange that we are interested in the safety of such a person." she says in exasperation raising an eyebrow "The first one is me with 680 mana in case you are interested"

"Hmm ok. It is not to my liking, but I suppose it is not so bad" I say, reluctantly accepting it, since I am interested in having the ring.

"The truth is that it is not... Only I can know your location and it is not that I am going to use that information for so many things, but the ring cost me 300 gold and I would not like it to get lost. The same goes for you, but you are worth much more than that" she says, with a honeyed voice, looking at me intensely.

"ok" I say. I am surprised by the value of the ring, but I don't know what to say to that statement, since her gaze is making me feel uncomfortable. So, I rush to finish my coffee and say goodbye to her to go back to Ragnar's house.