Supreme Magus novel Chapter 11

Having officially learned how read and write, Lith practiced every day. While his family considered him a genius, he knew better. Needing to practice hard to memorize just twenty-one letters and ten numbers, Lith did not feel much brilliant.

Striking the iron while it was still hot, he asked Raaz to carve for him a wooden ruler, 50 centimetres (19,7 inches) long and 3 centimetres (1,2 inches) both high and wide.

In the front he had engraved all the alphabet, on the back the numbers. It was Lith’s clutch during his homework, a tool necessary for him to be free of practicing anytime without bothering his parents.

Raz was still on cloud nine, so he didn’t make any question about the oddly big sizes Lith requested. He could have easily made it much thinner and shorter, making it easier to carry around. But Lith refused the proposal, begging him to fulfil his wish.

Lith had not missed Orpal’s hostile glare every time someone called him a genius. He had to be sure for it to be not easy to break or go missing by "accident".

It was also the perfect pretext to always carry around something he could practice spirit magic on.

When the weather finally cleared up, Elina decided that it was the perfect moment for Tista to be checked out by Nana. With all the cold and wind during those last days, no matter how much effort Raaz and Orpal had put in the house’s maintenance, it had still been kinda drafty.

Tista had been coughing enough for Elina being seriously worried about her. So, she took the mule cart and brought Tista and Lith to the village of Lutia.

The bad weather had lasted too long, and the accumulated farm work needed everyone’s help to be finished before another frost wave arrived.

She had to bring Lith along, he was too small to be left alone. After stuffing them with the warmer clothes they had, the trip began.

Lith was really happy, it was the first time for him seeing the world outside the farm’s bounds. There was much he could learn from such experience.

On the road they were bothered more than once by stray graaths. They were wasp like insects with a venomous sting at the end of their abdomen. Compared to Earth’s wasps they were much hairier, and blue instead of yellow.

"Why in the Great Mother’s name are they still around?" Elina complained. "They are supposed to be asleep during winter!"

One graath was particularly stubborn and despite all their shooing, it kept going back until it got too close to Tista for comfort.

Lith slammed his hands hard, missing it entirely. He was still nimble as a brick, but his spirit magic wasn’t.

It had already reached a radius of full ten meters (32,8 feet) radius of effect, so the graath was squashed effortlessly.

Lith showed the prey with pride. "Don’t worry big sister, I’ll always protect you." After hugging him, Tista was really curious about the dead insect, but Elina was still worried by the venom, so after throwing it away, they resumed their trip.

When they came in sight of Lutia, much of Lith’s doubts got cleared up. It wasn’t just his family, the whole village resembled closely one of those early middle ages drawings he had seen in history books.

There was no sign of any complex technology, even a windmill or a watermill would have been considered a marvel of science.

When Lith asked Elina about the village, she explained that only artisans, scholars and merchants lived there, the rest of the population lived in their own farms tending the fields and raising livestock.

Lutia consisted in a few dozens of one or two stories high wooden houses well-spaced between them. Not even one was made out of stone or bricks.

There was also no road pavement of any sorts. The space between the houses was just like the road to the village, bare earth and mud.

From the signs hanged outside the buildings, he could spot a blacksmith, a tavern and a tailor shop.

The bakery didn’t need any sign or advertisement, the delicious smell that came out its chimney was enough to make every passerby’s mouth watery.

Lith’s hunger stroke so hard that he already knew what he would have dreamed about that night.

When they arrived at Nana’s house, Lith was surprised noticing it was bigger than their own, yet Elina had told him more than once that Nana lived alone.

In his eyes it meant that either she was from a rich family, or more likely healing was a lucrative business. Lith decided that he had to master light magic as soon as possible.