《Old Ghost's Stories》


 Ch0

    I''ve met them on the old road to Murntmur. They were two boys of about twelve.


    The old road was abandoned long ago, and no one was using it nowadays. The grass and bushes almost completely covered what was originally a wide and bustling roadway; young trees were sprouting here and there. Only tracks left by wheels of the carriages were too deep and still uncovered.


    It was early in the morning, and the fog which always gathered in lowlands at this time of the day was thick and heavy.


    I was resting next to the old hanging tree. Not the best neighborhood I''d tell you, but when you are old like me you don''t particularly care nor do you have a solid reason to change where you live.


    They came out of the fog young and cheerful. In the morning air, their voices were unrestrained and chirpy.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.First came their voices and then they themselves came out of the fog.


    There was nothing special about them at first glance, just a couple of boys traversing the wilds.


    And there was nothing special about them at second glance.


    They were average. Not too big, not too small. Not too fat, not too tall.


    If not for the place I met them, I wouldn''t give them a second thought.


    One of them was carrying fire, and another was filled with mist.


    They went past me and vanished into the fog. I heard their voices ringing.


    Who I am, you ask?


    That''s not relevant. I''m just an old ghost. Nothing interesting about me.


    I told earlier that I didn''t have reasons to leave? Well, when you are as old as me, you know that not everything in the world is done by the reasons. Sometimes you do things on a whim, just like a story I''m telling you now.

 Ch1

    We''ve been traveling for a week now.


    Following the boys, I¡¯ve got to know that they are traveling this old road not because they are hiding or fleeing someone. It just so happened, that their village is here, by the side of this old road.


    When the new road was built by Lord Malcolm, many people moved to the new towns and villages built on the new road, but not everyone was willing to leave. To throw away everything you''ve got at an old place, to change your settled lifestyle, it was hard for people. Thus, some people decided to stay despite knowing that they will be abandoned by authorities if they choose so.


    The two boys before me are from ones of those who stayed. Actually, it wasn''t them who decided to stay. Obviously, they are too young to make any decisions on that. It was their parents or probably grandparents who choose to stay behind.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.Their village is one of the bigger ones. It used to be a prosperous city some years back. Here, there is a scholar who has made a school and is teaching children from around the abandoned town. Who knows why he stayed here, but he is a kind old man, is good to children, and his teachings are very interesting. Children are coming from very far away to be taught by him.


    From what I¡¯ve understood, the boys are classmates and have been motivated by their teacher to go to the big city. The reason being the scholar is not a mage himself, so he can''t properly teach these two children.


    I should praise this virtuous man for it. I might¡¯ve not been able to see if I was a human, but being a ghost it is clear to me that the magical potential of the boys is pretty good. It surely would be a waste if they were not taught properly.

 Ch2

    The mages are not so uncommon in our world. Untaught mages would be a headache for everyone, that''s why The First Emperor decreed the schools to be built for teaching children how to properly use their powers and how to be reliable citizens and pillars of the Empire.


    You didn''t have to be of some particular birth or anything. As long as you were a mage, you could go and learn. A simple exam was there to determine whether you had potential as a mage to be taught. The Empire would pay for you. The only thing you had to do was to be a good student and study diligently.


    Aside from teaching magic, the schools had yet another meaning - to get children who would later hold power in the Empire acquainted with each other.


    As no one could predict how their kids would turn out (the distribution of powers is completely random, and even now we don''t know why some people have magic while others don¡¯t), there were classes for kids of mages and officials who didn''t have magical powers.


    They also didn''t have to pay and were taught how to deal with strategizing and paperwork. You don''t have to be a mage to be smart, after all. Many managing roles don''t require involvement of mages, and it is good to pass this work to capable people. Even if mages are not rare, they are not common either. There is too much work for them to make them deal with trivialities.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.Then again, trivialities should be managed by someone, and those people hold the power of law in their hand. It was a brilliant idea of The First Emperor to make them study together. This way they could understand the importance of cooperation between mages and officials.


    The third type of classes was for those powerful and wealthy merchants.


    For them, to get into the schools, they had to pay tuition fees. It was the mark of their ability. If the merchant family couldn''t afford the exorbitant tuition fees, their children were deemed unworthy of entering the ranks of higher society. For those powerful merchant families, it was undoubtedly beneficial to have connections with mages and officials, so no one complained about the price.


    The rumors were if a school had two or three merchant patrons the Empire didn''t even need to worry about costs for all other students.


    This system has been in place since then and is working the same way up to this day.

 Ch3

    As I¡¯ve said, we''ve been traveling for a week or so.


    Kids didn''t rush and enjoyed the journey to the fullest.


    From time to time they would wander into berry bushes and wouldn''t move from there until everything was eaten.


    The forest has many such meadows with all kinds of berries and shrubs covered by hazelnuts.


    While going in such a relaxed way, we¡¯ve come across a dead tree.


    It is so thick that even three of me holding hands together won''t be able to circle it. And it is so tall, that even if five of me were put on the shoulders of one another, we wouldn''t be able to reach its top.


    It doesn''t have any branches; it just has a dried up trunk. Even the bark has mostly fallen off, leaving the duramen open to the rain and sun.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.Neil (that is the one with fire; I¡¯ve managed to get their names from the past days'' conversations. By the way, the misty one is called Olly.) So. Neil solemnly examines the tree and finds a place where a part of the trunk is cleft by something. He takes out a knife and starts prying the fissure. To my surprise, at this moment, the large part of the trunk easily separates from the rest of the stock. It falls off, and we see the insides of the tree covered by light-yellow substance. A low buzz comes from over it. Honey!


    Yes, without a doubt, it''s a hive.


    Neil carefully cuts out a big slab of a honeycomb. It is so large that it is hard to hold. He passes it to Olly and slowly puts ¡®the door¡¯ of the hive back to its place.


    The honey is, well, it is just the way you can imagine it; and the boys return to the road cheerfully chewing on it and licking fingers.