Frozen water flasks

"Hey, Alex. Take this back to the warehouse and bring a water sack when coming back" a woman with long red hair tied up with a hair band called out.

"Alright, mom!" A scrawny-looking kid with dirty red hair shouted out in response as he began to jog over to the woman. These two were Alex and his mother who were in dirty clothes.

Alex arrived in front of his mother and she helped him lift a basket filled with tomatoes on his head, he then proceeded to walk behind other kids who were carrying different farm products to the warehouse. Of course, his basket was small compared to others considering how small he was and no one complained about it since he was still helping regardless of how little it was.

"Hey, don't run with those on your heads. You'll get hurt and also get them crushed!" Alex's mother called out when she saw Alex and other kids around the same age started running with the things they were carrying but the kids did not listen to her, she could only hope that they didn't trip on their way.

They were currently working on the field close to the village, the same field that old man Vee had returned from back then and had met the bald old man telling the kids stories.

This field had been the villagers' main source of food for as long as he could remember, which was fifteen years ago when he came here, he got interested in their farm work and naturally joined them as a resident of the village.

Years passed but Vee became more and more engrossed in the work that was tedious for the villagers, the process of working on the dirty field and slowly growing plants was a sort of entertainment for him and he spent most of his time on the field tending to the crops.

Of course, he was not the only one who worked in the field. All the villagers would come once in a while to work on it too but unlike them, Vee literally spent half of every day in the field while the rest of the days were spent drinking and interacting with other villagers.

On harvest day of every year like today, all the villagers would leave whatever they were doing and come together to harvest the crops that were on the field and store everything in the warehouse of the village. The warehouse was literally the only well-secured building in the entire village. Although it was still made of wood, it was in better condition than the houses of the villagers.

After storing the products safely, the head of the village who happened to be the other mage apprentice in the village beside Vee (he hid his strength and only showed the power level of a mage apprentice) would distribute the food to each household, separately some to be sold in the next city that would take days of travel and keep the rest in case of emergency celebrations like marriage or childbirth.

This was the reason that made Vee like the village and its villagers even more, despite their limited resources, they were able to make anything seem enough and would always look out for one another.

"Old Vee. You have been picking tomatoes for a long time now, why don't you take a rest? The kids would be back shortly with water and food" Alex's mother came over to Vee's side and took the basket from him with a sweet smile on her face. She was baffled how the old man was still able to work so hard despite already picking more than seven baskets of tomatoes and was still going, he was already sweating profusely but refused to stop. She had to personally come over to take the basket from him.

'Being a mage really makes one stronger than ordinary people. A lot of people already rested once or twice but this old man had not stopped to take a break even once' Alex's mother praised in her thought before proceeding to pick the line of tomatoes old Vee had been picking.

" Ah, you don't have to help me. I can still go a few minutes more before getting tired. Don't underestimate me, I'm a mage too, you know?" Vee tried to refuse with a short laugh.

" No, I insist. Take a rest before the kids come back, they won't take long" Alex's mother refused to bulge, a helpless smile on her face as she stared at the sweaty old man.

Vee was about to say something when his best buddy suddenly chipped in. Vee regarded them as best buddies because he liked messing with the other party a lot.

"Ptui, trying to act all strong. You are only a weak mage apprentice, keep working and you will pass out soon" an annoyed scoff sounded from under a tree not far away, this person was none other than the old storyteller who was currently lying on the grass under the shade of a tree that protected him from the sun. He had only picked two baskets of vegetables before almost losing consciousness and hurriedly searched for a spot to rest his old bones.

He glared at Vee who was sweating like a pig under the hot sun and sneered.

"You imposter, if it was truly Vee of the northern continent, he would have harvested everything within a few seconds and would not even break a sweat!"

"Well, I don't want to show off to my best friend. What if you get jealous or too excited and die?" Vee shrugged and said nonchalantly causing the face of the old man to tremble and he began to stutter without saying anything meaningful.

Old man Vee, Alex's mother, and the other villagers close by laughed at his angered expression, he looked like he was about to explode from rage.

"Even if you are Vee of the northern continent, you'll still need to rest from how much you are sweating. We can't let the elderly do too much work" A newcomer walked over and patted Vee's shoulder lightly.

This newcomer was also an old man but compared to Vee and the storyteller, he looked like a seventy years old man still full of energy and vigor. He wore a long trench coat under the sun and a wand hanging on his belt.

He was the head of the village and the other mage apprentice in the village. Unlike Vee who was busy with farm labor as he was not seen to be suitable for combat, the village head patrolled the corners of the field and protected the villagers who were busy with work from wild beasts.

The beasts in this area were all of the lowest rank of magic beasts and most were not even magic beasts so it wasn't difficult for a mage apprentice to protect this small village.

Vee did not argue after the village head had come to persuade him personally, he walked off to sit beside his buddy.

"Humph!" The old storyteller snorted and turned away, backing Vee.

Vee only chuckled at this before resting his back on the cold ground. Maybe because this place was covered by the branches of the tree, it was cooling, unlike the burning ground of the field.

'Sigh! I wish I was actually as tired as I look, it would have been more fun' Vee sighed in his heart while staring at a butterfly circling above his face. It went without saying that all these sweats on his body were fake and he had created them himself since it would be suspicious for an old man to keep working without showing any sign of fatigue. Even the village head who was only patrolling was still sweating.

'Anyway, it's not that bad to sit and just do nothing either' he added before closing his eyes.

....

Back in the village, the kids had all kept what they brought back with them in the warehouse and left to get what they had been told to carry, which were food and water.

Alex was one of the kids told to carry water back to the field along with other kids. They knew where to get the water because they had already been prepared by the villagers.

In another house, numerous water flasks made from the beast's skins could be found. The children entered and grabbed as many as they could before going out.

It finally got to Alex's turn but something strange and shocking happened.

The instant Alex grabbed a water flask, his hands would release a cooling sensation and the next thing he knew was the water flask getting covered in frost and the water inside frozen solid.

He was aghast by this strange occurrence and those waiting behind him were also stunned by what they saw and could only stare at Alex with wide eyes as the same thing happened over and over again when he tried picking other water flasks.

"What's…what's happening to me!!" Alex screamed in fear as he stared at his hands thinking he was turning into some sort of beast; he somehow refused to think of magic and mages for some reason and all he could imagine were bad things.