A few days passed since the merchant caravan, and the public failed lynching. My family and I all thought that we had settled things, but it seemed that was not the case. It was evening time, and my mother and father were spending some time together by the fireplace.

My brother was busy studying, and I was still working on my fusion magic. The day after the incident, my father filled my mother in on our training and explained to her my breakthroughs. When she found out about my fusion magic, she jumped for joy and began praising me all over again. Because it seemed if I did share it with the kingdom, I could become a court magician. This was an idea for later on, but I was not sure how much I wanted to be around people after this incident.

Well, at any rate, it became a family rule to not speak of my fusion magic. All my drawings of magic circles were also destroyed after creating them. Luckily I could imprint them in my mind before they got destroyed. Sadly, I was still having a hard time combining it all into a quick cast spell.

It was on this day that a knock came at the door. My father frowned and got up while motioning for me to toss my papers into the fire, which I promptly did. He opened it up to see the village elder’s assistant standing at the door. He was a young man in his early thirties. “Sander, it is good to see you.”

“Out with it. Why are you here?” My father did not seem to like anyone from the village after what had happened. It was to be expected, though. While Trent and the others were sent to prison because of what they had done, the fact of the matter that it involved so many villagers and no one actually stood out to help in their time of need made it hard for him to trust anyone.-.“The village elder has called a meeting to address the concerns of everyone in the village. He has asked for you and your daughter to also join the meeting as it concerns her.” I suddenly felt sick. I was going to have to face all these stupid people again. I really just wanted to say I am not going, but if I don’t, I am afraid it would end up causing us issues if we can not voice our own opinion.

I glanced up at my father, who was looking back at me and gave him a nod. He then turned to the village elder’s assistant and asked: “When is the meeting?”

“An hour from now. But the village elder wants to speak with you beforehand.” The village elder’s assistant replied. He seemed to feel a bit of relief. I am not sure if this man is a bad guy or a good guy, but I feel he is one of those neutral type people who don’t make opinions on things. At least, this is my first impression of him. I could be completely wrong, though.

“We will be there soon.” My father said before giving his thanks to the village elder’s assistant and closing the door.

“Sander….” My mother called out. She was worried about what was going to happen. I could tell by the expression on her face.

“Lilith, don’t worry. No matter what happens, I will not let anything happen to Faith. Plus, I think if Faith got really mad, no one could stop her.” My father walked over and patted me on the head. In truth, I think if I really needed to, I could do as my father said. But the thought of killing others was not something I really wanted to do if I could help it. Although, I know the kind of world I live in would not truly allow for such a thing to happen. I know sooner or later I will have to kill someone. I just hoped it would not come too soon.

“Faith….” My mother walked over and hugged me as well. “No matter what happens, we are with you. So do not let anyone walk all over you. Our Cyrilia family has given a lot to this village, so if they do try to do something, we will burn the fields and leave this place and find a new home.”“Your mother is right. We will leave if they try to do anything to you.” My father echoed my mother. Even my brother came over to join in on the hug.

I really had no idea how I could ever repay my family. Even my brother, who would soon be old enough to marry, was never once angry with me. I am sure many girls were not willing to look his way no matter how handsome he was due to him being my brother. But he never held any of it against me. He was the best big brother in the entire universe.

My father had me wear the leather armor he had prepared for me to go out into the forest with. At his word, I attached my sword to my side and then got lifted up to sit on his shoulder as we made our way down to the village elder’s house.

It was already close to evening time as we walked down the dimly lit road. As we walked by some houses, the people living there would close their doors and window shutters as if we were some kind of bandits or invading army.

When we arrived at the village elder’s house, the old man was already standing outside waiting for us. “Sander, you are here. Come with me.” The village elder glanced at Sander then at me before motioning for us to come in.

The village elder’s house was the biggest in the village. This was a given as he was the leader. However, even though it was big, it was a far cry from being anything amazing. It had two floors and was made with the same material as the other villager houses. He brought us to a sitting area that had rustic wooden furniture. And sat down. A young woman who looked to be a maid brought us tea and some crackers. “I wanted to speak with you. This village meeting was called because of those asking for your family to be banished. And! Before you lose your temper, hear me out. I will not banish your family. But unless you can convince them to back down, I will need to do something. But I will make sure it will not hinder you or your family. I do not wish for this, but as the village elder, I have to listen to the villagers’ complaints.”

“Complaints about what?” I asked. He told my father to calm down but not me. “Are you saying they can do as they please just because of their prejudice?”

“That is not what I am saying, but to appease those who might come to harm your family, I will need to do something on the surface. Little Faith, you’re a bright girl. I know this by how well you act. Even earlier, when my grandson was abusing his power to try to get rid of you, you still held it in and saw the bigger picture. I thank you for that…..” The village elder bowed his head to me. He must have been really worried that I would kill the stupid brat, not that he doesn’t deserve death.

I couldn’t actually deny his words. But still, it was stupid that we were being forced to give in to the majority when we did nothing wrong. But if it will keep my family from having to be banished from the village, I do not care. But one thing I did not understand was that if we owned the land, how could they banish us? I am sure it is probably some kind of crazy rules and regulations of the village. But still….

“As long as it is not too unreasonable… But Elder, let me say this. If they push things too far, I will burn those fields and make them useless or I will take them back altogether. You may be the village elder and have the right to kick me and my family out of the main village, but I still own that land if you know what I mean. You know more than anyone that my family are all highly skilled mages.” My father’s words seemed to have carried some weight to them because the village elder quickly shook his head.

“Sander, I already said no one is being banished! I have the final say, and you have my word this will never happen. If nothing is able to be concluded between the two sides, I will enforce something that everyone will have to follow. But banishment is not on the table.” The village elder made sure to make the last point very clear. The village could not live without those fields. It was the livelihood of many villagers, after all.

“Alright, but I will say this if anyone renting a field from me shows up, I am taking it back.” My father stated firmly. This was understandable because if someone were to really show up that was renting a field from the family they are trying to banish, then they were not showing any respect to those who are helping them survive. They would just be digging their own graves even if they were greedy and hoping to get the land for free if we did get banished.