16 Chapter 16: Goodbye Master.

Collect your belongings. Sascha decided. It was the simplest and most difficult action in the world. The action was a milestone, evidence that a radical change touched his life and the meaning behind it was evident, she was leaving Arden, the only place in the world she knew, and perhaps it was forever.

She rested a hand on his flat stomach and a bittersweet smile curled his lips. She had obtained what he most wanted in life, but in return, the universe had demanded as payment from his mentor, the only father she had ever known.

"You can come back when everything calms down." A hand fell on his shoulder, squeezing him comfortingly. Although of course, the old man's words were lies, she knew it and so did he, perhaps for that reason the old man cleared his throat and made amends. "Well, at least you can visit me from time to time. A couple of months should be enough to calm things down. "

Sascha stared at him. The old man growled

"A couple of years then." The sigh. "Cheers up girl, you are going to start a new life. Who knows what wonders you will know. "

"The sky is the limit, you mean?" She wiped away the disobedient tears that had escaped her control.

Hormones Sascha took a deep breath. They are the hormones of pregnancy. She rubbed her nose until it was red and snorted. That is why I am so emotional, I am not a baby to cry every second.

"Do you already have everything?"

Sascha nodded.

"It wasn't much to start with." She said she and they both looked around the narrow cubicle and sighed.

Currently, Sascha's only belongings were three dresses, three sets of underwear, a white cotton nightgown, a hairbrush, and some toiletries. The whole outfit lay inside the simple leather backpack on her bed, the rest had burned on the same pyre as her marriage when her ex decided to make a bonfire with the remains of her life.

"Melida will accompany you to the market in Crimson." The old man consoled him. "And speaking of which ... Here. You will need this to get started. "

The old man asked her to extend a hand, to which Sascha obeyed. Instinctively, she closed her hand over the leather pouch in her possession. She froze when she heard the distinctive sound of coins against coins.

She opened the bag and peered inside it. She blinked in disbelief and shoved the bag back at the old man. "I cannot accept it, I appreciate your kindness, but I cannot accept."

Sheamus stubbornly crossed his arms with his best offended Ogre expression.

"Please, Master," Sascha asked, a lump tightening her throat. "You've done enough for me."

"Accept them." She growled at him. "It's only ten pieces of iron, unfortunately, I don't have more to give you."

Only ten pieces of iron? Those were a thousand pieces of copper in all and more than she had ever had in her possession.

"Look." The old man continued. "If you don't like it, you just have to think of it as your last payment, okay?"

Sascha shook her head in agitation, taking a step back.

"About what? of the year?" It is worth mentioning that Sascha only earned around eighty-four pieces of copper a month. Hence, her extreme state of agitation.

"You're worth three now, Sascha. You will need every piece you can get. " Sheamus gave a meaningful glance to where her hand rested protectively. "And I still think it's too little."

Sascha's shoulders slumped in defeat. "You play dirty, Master," she complained about the resignation.

The old man smirked at him before turning serious once more.

"We better get going." He pivoted on his foot and left the room. Sascha heard the rest of her words in the distance. "Before the village gossipers wake up."

She snorted with a smile. She wiped her cheeks and patted them, a glow of light and vitality illuminating her features. She hung the backpack on her back and took one last look at the piece. That would be the last time she would see her apprentice room in a long, long time and Sascha thought she would even miss the cracks between the planks.

She took a step to the threshold and stopped.

"The mantle." She suddenly remembered. The cloak was not his, to begin with, but considering that he had given it to her well, he could make use of it. Between that and the protective Arcane on his bracelet should be enough to survive the Forest. Maybe. I expected that.

She pulled the scarlet cloak from the wooden chest and slipped it over his shoulders. The edges swept the floor with each of his steps, but it was inevitable. The bloody wolf was a giant after all.

She caught up with the Old Man in front of the pharmacy and Sascha wondered if she was hallucinating when she noticed what was behind the old man. A buggy, just not just any kind of buggy, but a mechanized one. Constructed from rivets of iron, steel, and other materials, the buggy looked a bit ramshackle. Eight hydraulic legs sprang from the main body instead of the common wheels, and Sascha suspected the design would give him an advantage when traveling over rugged and rugged terrain.

"Henry lent it to us." said her teacher too innocently to be credible.

Sascha pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. That was what worried him most about leaving. Without her there to put a brake on him, who would stop the old apothecary from undoing?

"Ah" she sighed. "I feel like my head is going to hurt, what did you do now master?"

It was common knowledge that Henry Blacksmith loved the wagon gadget he called his more than anything else in this world and would rather die than rent it, than say about lending it, and his master expected him to believe her? The old man gave him a strong-toothed smile.

"Nothing I can't live with."

In other words, he blackmailed the blacksmith with his patented demonic concoctions, the hapless victims said that one drop was enough to knock you out, one hunter even went so far as to say that a single drop was enough to turn a goblin green from disgust.

"You are a bully, master." Sascha sighed.

"Thanks, I do what I can." The benign-faced thug smiled demurely at him.

Sascha took a deep breath of fresh air and took one last look at the town square, the temple, the guild, everything around him, the last building he saw in farewell was of course the Apothecary.

With the help of Sheamus, she climbed up the legs of the buggy and sat next to the driver's seat. The cart moved as the old man rocked and took a seat next to him. He activated the controls with his mana and then pulled a pair of levers, the legs straightened, lifting the cart a couple of centimeters off the ground and it began to wobble.

Sascha took refuge in the warm comfort of the cloak as the cold early morning air bit into the exposed skin of his cheeks and arms. Her legs moved with a constant speed and she looked at them curiously.

"What about the legs?"

Sheamus yanked on the levers to direct direction and speed, limbs squealing steam with every movement.

"He said it was an innovation."

"From the Creator God?" she asked, mentioning humanity's most famous magical technician.

"Of course." She shrugged her shoulders.

They fell into a comfortable silence. Sascha was beginning to doze off when the old man broke the silence.

"Melida's house is the same distance as Crimson, but thanks to Henry we will arrive at sunset today."

Sascha yawned. Poor Henry. She thought, but privately she applauded her teacher's initiative.

"Sleep a little. I'll wake you up later to eat. "

Sascha nodded in agreement, wrapping herself tighter in the mantle, and fell asleep. She didn't even consider how she could sleep with the monster's scent filling her senses with every breath she took, but she still slept. The only times that she woke up she was to vomit - several times - and eat - quite often - the next time she woke up was when the buggy stopped and didn't move anymore.

She opened an eyelid. "What happens?"

"We arrived," Sheamus told him.

She finished her wake-up call and sat up straight, looking around curiously. The sun was bending to the west, and autumn was painting the leaves of the trees in shades of orange and yellow. They were far from the road and all he could see were trees, but they were normal trees, without the feeling of power that exuded the trees of the Forbidden Forest. He made out an opening in the thicket and a discreet path disappeared inside.

Sheamus helped him down. Once on the ground, Sascha tightened the handles of his backpack and with a determined step, I started walking. She heard the shuffling of the old man's feet behind her. The footsteps behind her died when they reached the mouth of the trail. She pivoted on her heel and faced the old man.

"What happens?" she asked. There was a complicated, indecipherable look, shining in her master's brown eyes.

The old man swallowed hard and his face tightened as if he were in pain. "I'm sorry, Sascha, but this is as far as I can go with you."

"Are you sick? Does something hurt, master? " she instantly approached her with concern.

Sheamus shook his head and took a step back. Instantly his countenance improved. A sigh escaped the old man's chest.

"I'm fine, but the Forest won't let me take another step. I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Let's leave it at that, I am not welcome in the Forest and I have long since ceased to be." Sheamus denied, a second later he met her with a look. "But you are welcome. Remember that, Sascha, no matter what happens. In the end, it is the Forest that decides. "

"The forest is still far away." she needed to point out.

The old man shook his head as if he had said something amusing. "That is what he wants you to believe. Come here. Let me hug you. "

She didn't have to say it twice, because Sascha fell on him like when she was a little girl with scraped knees.

"I will miss you, teacher."

"And I to you, little girl."

They parted. Tears stained pale cheeks and a suspicious film of water moistened the old man's old eyes. The old man patted his balls until he found what he was looking for.

"Take this." He slipped a quartz pendant that except for a single red line was immaculately white. "It is a communication crystal. Of course, I've already engraved my mana signature on it. You can call me when you need someone to talk to, okay? "

Sascha blinked and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Thanks, teacher." She nodded slowly "Don't you need my mana?"

"Of course." Sheamus cleared his throat and handed her his pendant. Sascha fed the mana to her crystal between her fingers until a pale green line appeared on the quartz.

"Until we see each other again." Sheamus held her one last time and kissed her forehead with fatherly affection. Without saying more the old man walked away with quick steps and without looking back, Sascha watched him until the old man mounted the spider buggy and the sound of his legs disappeared into the distance.

"Bye teacher." She whispered to no one in particular and started. Each step he took from her took her further away from her past and closer to her new life.

Where would they lead you? What new things would she see? How many new people would he meet? She didn't know, but of only one thing she was sure. She would build a place where she and her children could prosper.