Borzugal had left without saying a word. Harwin looked around everywhere around the quarters, but could not find any signs of him. It was only after he had given up that he found a letter in the quarter. The contents were the following:

  "Gor, I did not bid you farewell as it is considered a bad omen among the orcs to do so. Believe it or not, I am a superstitious man. I also consider this as not the last time we will be meeting. I had already over-stayed my welcome and it was only the kindness of the chief to not say a word about it. I am happy to see that you have found a place for yourself. My advice to you is to seek knowledge, even if you have to grovel at someone's feet for it. In the short time we spent together, I have noticed that though your tongue states something but your heart lies somewhere else — somewhere far. We will meet again when fate demands it, until then remember and follow my advice."

  Harwin was incredibly sad at this revelation, as he did not only consider Borzugal his friend, but also his teacher. None the less, he did not falter in his quest. Infact the letter only further solidified his resolve.

  Upon hearing of this news, Alisa decided to spend more time with Harwin whom she considered to be in a pitiful state. They talked about different matters especially that of adventures and tales of the world. She enjoyed telling them while Harwin enjoyed listening to more and more details of the world so it was a fair exchange.

  It had been a week since the incident took place. All things were proceeding normally, but just in case the two most experienced of the scouts of the village had been sent after the caravan of Yhorm to observe if they really had left and it was not just a feint.

  The reports came back positive and it was now clear that the battle was officially over, and there would be no more attacks from the beast-men. This precaution was more to satisfy the elders and the chief than Graftel, who trusted his old comrade with his life.

  Harwin had been training with Graftel regularly and had certainly improved fast. Graftel had even stated that he was impressed with the progress they were making.

  On top of the evening training, he had also started to practice magika under Alisa. He was only learning to focus for now, but due to his previous world experience, he certainly had much better control over his thoughts than the average man.

  If all continued well, then he would be able to use the basic spells in no time which would give him more advantages in battles. Of-course, he would not reach the level of Graftel who he could never even think to surpass, but he would at-least not be a burden to anyone.

  As for the plan for building a new source of income for the village, it was still in the initial phase. They were still planning of how to get things started. They wanted to clear a path as soon as possible, but there was a threat which needed to be first taken care of first, otherwise, it will cause problems for them in the future.

  There was a bandit hideout somewhere north of the forest as informed by Yhorm. It was not just a small population of thieves gathered, but they were professional outlaws — organized and powerful. As Harwin saw during the ambush, there were at least a hundred of them or close to that number. They were also familiar with the geographic location in the forest as their archers were in crucial positions, raining down arrows on their newest victims.

  It would certainly be foolish to fight with them head on. It was also not known if the ambush on the caravan had failed completely or they were only pushed back. Their total remaining numbers were still ambiguous.

  To get a solution to all these problems, yet another meeting was called upon. The participants were the chief-commander, elders, chief, Harwin and a few other experienced wise men of the village.

  In the meeting, the agenda was put forward by the chief himself and then he asked everyone for their suggestions. All of them gave different advises relating to their professions, experience or expertise:

  “I say, we get my scouts to find those cowardly scoundrels hiding in the forest, vandalizing poor men and then we execute all of them in a single strike. Head-on without any cheap tricks.” Graftel suggested, there was certainly a hint of anger in his voice.

  “Now now, Graftel. We can not just act rashly as much as I hate them myself, but it will certainly be folly to just attack them head-on. They are bandits and certainly do not have any honor or dignity. If we fight them in a fair and square battle, yes we will prevail, but there will be casualties which we can not afford.” Lief, one of the elders argued.

  “I agree with you, brother.” the other elder supported his brother’s argument.

  “And what do you suggest that we do then. It is easier to reject the plan of the others without coming out with one yourself.” Graftel mocked.

  “Of course, I will think of a better plan than you, but It will take some time. I do not wish to just act on my thoughts unlike someone here.” Lief was proud but he certainly was overplaying his hand here.

  “Do not speak unless you have a good suggestion to put forward, Lief. You do know that you are addressing the chief-commander of the village, so speak more carefully." The chief scolded his son and then continued:

  "If we waste our time arguing over whose plan is better, this whole council will only be a waste of time. Graftel has a strong point, he is an experienced warrior and has been to many battles. You can not mock such a person, but it is also true that it is a entirely different matter due to the nature of our enemy. They are not soldiers and thus it will difficult to anticipate their moves. If there are no others plan then we can follow whatever our commander has in mind, as he has the final say in such matters.”

  “Gor, what say you?” Graftel asked.

  All eyes immediately drew towards him. It made him nervous but not tensed.

  “I agree with the first point of master. We should first have the scouts find their locations and determine their numbers. After this, we shall come up with a battle strategy. If their numbers are few then we can easily take them down with brute force, but if there are many, then we would have to think of a different approach.” Gor made his point.

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  “I agree with that. I will have Sarial take charge in this matter. He can take any man he deems necessary with him, and find their base once and for all.” Graftel backed Harwin.

  “Anyone else who would like to add something or has some news that they would like to share?” the chief asked the room.

  “I would.”

  An elf stood up who sitting near the door. He was middle-aged and had the appearance of a craftsman rather than that of a soldier:

  "Why have we not discovered this base of bandits before? It certainly looks like they established their roots a while back, so why were their no reports?"

  "It is certainly an important point, but it is also true that we had never anticipated of such a thing to happen. Our scouts mostly remain close to the village and no expedition have ever been sent to the northern side of the forest. Still, I will relay your worries to the scouts and punish those who were careless." Graftel reassured upon which the elf sat back down.

  “Well, with this I suppose we can end the meeting. We will gather again once the scouts give their reports.” The chief ended the meeting.

  Harwin went to train. After returning from it, he found Alisa sitting in his quarters reading books, which was a norm at his point.

  He sat down to take the lesson as usual. Alisa started her lesson, but there was something new today that surprised him.

  “Today you will perform your first spell. It has been some time, and you have certainly have learned all the basics quite quickly. I think you are ready to start practicing casting from today.”

  She proceeded to hand him a book which he had read before as well:

  “This contains all the casting spells that a novice or intermediate mage can perform. We will have to start from the novice ones, otherwise all of your magika will be dried up and you will be knocked-out. Beware some mages have even died due to magika exhaustion.” She warned Harwin with a stern expression.

  Harwin started to read the details of the spell that he was to cast. It was a quick healing spell, a novice one that required almost no magika at all, but it still required proper focus to channel the magika for casting purposes. He then recited the lines as instructed by Alisa:

  “For all that is living and dead. All belongs to the earth. I am but a mortal who shall not inflict harm. Grant my body the nourishment, peace and harmony. Restore me to my former state.”

  It did not work for the first time which greatly discouraged Harwin, but Alisa reassured him:

  “Not a problem. Try again but this time focus in channeling your magika as well. like we have trained. Do not forget to imagine the spell you are performing as well — the more vivid your imagination, the more likely it is that you will succeed.”

  He followed her advise, but to no avail. He was not able to perform the spell even after reciting it four times so there must have been something wrong. It could not be due to his pronunciation neither due to his focus as he had alrrady practiced it to perfection.

  “Hmm....how about I show you how it works once. It might have to do something with your imagination. Observe clearly now and burn it in your memory.”

  She casted the spell on the first go, but it was only natural.

  Harwin observed very attentively. As soon as she had recited the lines, her hands had started to glow with a lime shade.

  Harwin imagined again and this time imagined it as vividly as possible, trying to copy his teacher and then he recited the lines.

  This time his hands finally began to glow. Alas, he became so happy that it broke his concentration which resulted in immediate ceasation of any progress he had made, but it was still a step forward.

  “Well done, this much will be enough for today. It will be better to try it a few times a day to really get the feel for it. It is the same as practicing a sword technique — the more you practice, the more it will become a part of you.” Alisa gave her advice and ended the lesson.

  “Thank you. You have already helped me a bunch and now helped me to achieve something I could have never managed on my own. I am embarrassed however, as I have not been able to return a single favour yet.”

  “Oh Gor. There is no need as we are friends and there are no favors in friendship. I say, you get rid of those foolish thoughts and think about mastering this spell, as that will be something which will make me very happy.”

  Alisa for the first time called him her friend. He was clearly surprised by this sudden declaration.

  Harwin saw himself as a freeloader in their relation and she was the kind lady who helped him due to her benevolent nature, but she still considered him a friend.

  He was still saddened by the departure of Borzugal ,but it certainly helped ease his heart a-bit knowing that he had someone else to talk to here. Someone he could rely upon and share his thoughts with, but he did not want to overburden her so he still held back from vocalizing all his thoughts.

  They talked for a while after that, he had learned all sorts of things about Alisa. She also had no friends in the village as none shared her interests such as books or magika.

  She was close to her cousin, Landel. He was a taciturn man, but still listened to her without a frown. It was not a romantic relation rather that of a sibling. She told Harwin, that Landel put up a strong up-front, but he was a very gentle soul who deeply cared about the others.

  Harwin's routine continued the same way except for the fact that he practiced casting the spell in the morning as well as the night to really get the hang of it as soon as possible.

  After a week or so, a scout finally came back with a report.

  The hideout was finally discovered. It was almost the size of the village and had about two hundred or more bandits residing in it. Most of them were petty thieves and criminals while a few of them appeared to be properly trained soldiers. They had leather amour and had this aura of experience to them. There were different races present amongst them — from humans to even a few demons.

  As for the location of the bandit village, it was a strategic one. It was based in a cliff of sort preventing any attack from the behind. There also appeared to be various caves inside the cliff-side.

  The scouts hypothesized that there were several of these present which provided a safe haven to the scoundrels in-case of any attack from outside. It was concluded that there was really no way to attack directly as the enemy might just take refuge until their pursuers had given up.

  The scouts had already gathered information regarding the battle that had taken place between the beast-men and the bandits in which bandits suffered a lot of casualties — at least judged from the dead bodies bur the main-camp still looked unaffected.

  It might have been due to the fact that it was a safe place for all the criminals in the region around the forest, so all-together there numbers could be indefinite to determine completely.

  This report was given in the presence of the council called by the chief. Everyone wore a rather grave expression.

  “So attacking head-on will be not suitable anymore. How about we just build our path for the implementation of Gor's plan in the opposite direction to the bandit's camp — far enough that it is safe from the scoundrels?” Lief gave his view of the situation.

  “That will not work. The beast-men were also going through a route which was very far from their main camp yet they were ambushed. There might be outposts all over the forest, from where they gather intel about everything that is going on.” Graftel out right rejected Lief's view.

  Harwin was a bit late to the council-meeting, but as soon as he entered the chieftain's house, all he heard were bickering from one end to the other. The atmosphere made it clear that a storm was approaching. The men in the room had mixed expressions, from that of fear to that of confusion.

  Harwin tried to stay keep out of sight, but as soon as he sat down, all eyes stared directly towards him.

  It was clear from their faces that they had high-expectations from him, and that reliance certainly made Harwin nervous. The next words from his mouth would determine not only his worth, but also the fate of the entire village's economy.