"Oi! Jaune! We need some help over here!"
"Alright! I'm coming!"
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and dropped the rope attached to the boat, heading towards the rest of the group of men who were pulling on a fishing net from the largest boat in the village, a wooden thing that was the size of maybe a tug boat from Earth.
I walked towards the men and joined them as we stood at the ready to pull the net along with its haul onto the harbor.
"On three, one, two, three!"
With a heave, we pulled at once, bringing the massive hill of fish onto the wooden harbor while the rest of the folk watched with curiosity.
"Damn! That's a rather large haul. How much do you reckon this will go for?"
"Based on how there are rumors from those guys from the East that they've had a bountiful harvest this season, I think we can ask for more than before in exchange."
"That's good. It means we can splurge a little this time during the Winter."
"What do you think? Jaune?"
I turned to the men while still reeling in the remaining net from the ship.
"I think you should only trade the amount you did last time and store the rest for emergencies. The old man says the last storm cost you three boats, which are still in repair. Who knows when you will be back to full capacity again? And do you really want to risk it with Winter so close?"
"Hahaha! True! Alright, I'll tell the old man to put some of this fish in the storage. For the rest, we will trade grain and dairy products like always."
I nodded at Holfson's words and turned back to the task at hand, my mind distracted by the beautiful scenery of the vast ocean spread in front of me, the clear blue skies, and the sheer breath of life that I could feel all around me. A deep breath filled my lungs with pure air and the smell of the sea.
It was mesmerizing, no matter how many times I did this, which was kind of understandable.
A year of living away from the modern, polluted cities of Earth will do that to a man.
It took me a few weeks of hunting quests (read, acting as a damned Pest Exterminator) to scrounge up enough Jewels to buy a book on magic. Unfortunately, it proved to be useless since I found out soon enough that I couldn't use the magic of this world.
Because I don't have a container within my body to begin with, so even if I were able to draw in the Ethernano from the air, which was kind of easy, into my body, it had nowhere to stay. This means that Caster-type of magic is beyond my reach. Thankfully, I can still use the Holder-Type magic since I can still channel Ethernano from the atmosphere into the tools in question.
I did learn something new from my experiments.
I could use the Ethernano to recharge my Aura, even better than its natural regeneration. So I guess it wasn't a big loss.
That being said, I've spent a lot of time since then chasing quest after quest to make ends meet, since I couldn't take better quests than low rank and occasional medium-rank quests because I didn't belong to a guild, and the fact that my current power level was nowhere near enough to take on higher difficulty quests at the moment.
The skills of myself from Remnant are still there, and so is my Aura and Semblance, but my current body is not strong enough to withstand such power, hence why I am currently limited to four or five boosts at most.
Not to mention the fact that I've made no headway on learning more about my circumstances, and the disappointment I felt at the fact that I can't use Caster-type magic (goodbye, my dream of cosplaying as Gandalf).
That does not mean I am going to give up on self-improvement and making money, however.
After all, mama raised no quitter, and a different world or no, there was no way I was going to let life put me down like that.
After that disastrous few weeks, this small village where I woke up heard about my current profession and decided to hire me to help for this season, since they needed to prepare for the coming winter.
It took me a while, where I shadowed these men and women in their daily routines and learned from them. But soon enough, I managed to learn how to do the job I was hired for.
The money that they offered was nothing much to write home about, but I took this opportunity to repay their kindness. I am not one to take such help for granted, especially since I knew how apathetic most people can be, thanks to my memories from Earth and even Remnant.
So I worked to the best of my abilities, using my strengths to do the work of ten men at once, even with the limitations of my 14-year-old body.
Honestly? It was a beautiful few months that I spent with them.
I saw how these folks live their lives. I learned to fish with them, and I joined them in their merrymaking in the evening.
I saw what nature would look like without unchecked industrialization destroying it.
I felt the gentle breeze of the woods, the harshness of their lives, the anger of the sun during particularly hot days, and the rage of the seas. And yet, despite all this, these hardy people lived on, no, they thrived in such harsh conditions, carving out a home for themselves from this dance of rage and benevolence from their world. All without depending on Magic.
Truly, I have never felt so much admiration for someone as I did for these people.
I felt a pat on my back, bringing me back from my musing.
"Hm?"
"The old man is calling for ya."
"Got it."
I nodded at his words and left this for the rest of the guys, heading towards the old man's house.
As I walked deeper into this small village, I saw men and women going about their lives, children playing on the streets, and teenagers fooling around once their chores were done.
Life. I felt life in its truest sense as my Aura brushed their very souls without my input, allowing me to sense their uniqueness and their emotions to a certain extent.
Beautiful, a word that fails to express the true depth of what I felt from them.
My memories of Remnant showed that the people over there held similar emotions and life, but there was always an undercurrent of fear and loathing buried deep beneath. The fear of the world beyond their walls, and loathing for the darkness that restricted their freedom on that forsaken planet.
It has always been that way with everyone that I interacted with during my entire life in that world. Even the ever-optimistic Ruby held undercurrents of anxiety, stress, and various other negative emotions within her soul.
I am not saying that these people do not hold such emotions, because they do. It's just that these emotions are much shallower compared to the existential threat and dread that the people of Remnant felt every day, so they are not worth noticing compared to the more positive and beautiful emotions of these people.
Soon, I walked to the biggest house in the village, which sat on the nearby hill, which was by design, according to the villagers, since the chief's house also serves as shelter for the entire village in case of a flood. It is also the reason why all the produce of this village, which happens to be mostly fish and some other game from the forest, is stored here with the help of a few magic tools and a large underground warehouse.
As I walked in, I saw the old man looking at multiple documents and counting a rather large sack of Jewels, and comparing them to the numbers on the documents.
I guess the payment has finally arrived from the town of Hiryu.
"I take it they liked the planks?"
At my words, the old man looked up from the documents and smiled gently.
"They sure did. I never realized wooden planks were in such high demand over there."
He looked at me gently before speaking again.
"Thank you, Jaune."
I waved gratitude aside before settling down.
"Don't mention it. It is the least I could do for all the help that you gave me. Besides, I didn't really do much. All I did was show some of the men how to work the wood and preserve it with natural materials, and then put them in contact with a few people in the town."
"Which is more than anyone with your kind of knowledge would do. I know that if you wanted to, you could have used this knowledge for yourself and made enough money to spend the rest of your life comfortably. But you didn't and chose to share it with us. For that, I am grateful."
I just chucked at his words and leaned back into my chair.
On Remnant, I was the child of a farmer. Or rather, a Huntsman turned farmer, but a farmer nonetheless. So it was a given that I had a lot of knowledge when it came to maintaining said farm since Papa Arc always wanted me to inherit the farm before I ran away to Beacon.
From raising animals, harvesting natural resources, and other such activities, all the way to hunting the occasional predators, I know it all.
It was the reason why I did not die in a single hit when I faced the Grimm with Pyrrha during the Initiation.
Unfortunately, my shoddy defensive skills, meant for regular predators, proved to be ineffective against the Grimm.
Shaking my head a little bit to get rid of those thoughts, I turned to look out from the window, towards the forest, where I could see a few men cutting down trees that had overgrown or were in danger of rotting to turn them into planks and sell them to the town.
When I was first hired by this old man to help his people with preparing for winter, the first thing I did was take a look at their income and expenditure. I wanted to see where they could use some help and where they needed to cut back a little.
From what I understood from the books, the main export of this village was Fish and the wild game from their forests, which was good, but it was barely enough for them to exchange it for grain, dairy, and other foodstuffs that sustained them through the harsh winters and storms of this area.
Seeing a golden opportunity to repay their kindness, I dipped into my memories of the Arc family home and found the best way to help them thrive.
Wood. Specifically, Wood planks.
During my stay in Hiryu, I saw that the rate at which they ran out of wood was quite alarming, mostly because the forest that borders their town is filled with all sorts of magical creatures, and they are the usual victims of their attacks, requiring them to use a lot of wood for rebuilding. What is left after this use is usually used in various ways or sold to other towns further inland.
However, for gathering this much wood, the men of the town needed to brave the very same dangerous forests around the town, which drove up the cost of the wood and usually resulted in a few casualties due to the rather large population of Vulcans, gorilla-like monsters, Harpies, Humanoids with wings for arms and talons for legs that preyed on humans, and even a Wyvern according to rumors.
On the other hand, this village was surrounded by calm forests where the greatest threat that they would face was the occasional big cat that could be taken care of easily with a sizeable hunting party.
So, why not use this to their advantage and help them earn more money to improve their lives? That was the thought I had, and I am happy to say that the plan worked flawlessly.
It was relatively easy to teach the men how to preserve the cut planks with natural oils since they were already using a similar method, albeit an inefficient method, where they roasted the wood lightly with a hearth and sealed it with beeswax.
Once done, I just helped put them in contact with a few merchants from the town who happily bought the wood at the price I helped negotiate, which was a bit exorbitant and more than the labor used for it deserved, but was still much below the cost of wood in Hiryu proper due to how dangerous it was to harvest wood over there.
It was a win-win situation for both sides, and I felt happy for having finally paid the debt I owed these people for the help they gave me.
I turned back from the village and stared at the old man, who looked at me with his usual kind look.
"So, Holfson said you wanted to see me for something?"
"Yes. Here, your payment for the quest."
"…Are you trying to get rid of me this soon? Old man?"
The chief chuckled at my words as he fetched a drink for himself while he pushed forward a glass of juice for me.
…..Damned child body. I can't even buy a proper drink because of my current form, and according to the law, I need to wait for another year at least, when I reach 15 years old, approximately, before I can officially buy alcohol.
There are loopholes, of course, but I don't want to risk it, especially since I don't know what effects the alcohol of this world will have on my body's growth, so, for now, juice it is.
"I am doing no such thing, Jaune. If you really wanted to, I would be very happy to welcome you into our little village with open arms, just like the rest of our folk would. But I know your ambition. I see it in your eyes. You have somewhere you want to go, right?"
I could not deny him as I gained a faraway look.
In the past year, I've already come to terms with the fact that I am stuck here, for better or worse. However, with this acceptance came the ambitions that I thought I had long since buried under the harsh life of a working man in modern society.
The childish urge to travel the world and see all the wonders it holds. That sense of adventure that was robbed from me when I learned as a child that there were no frontiers left on Earth for me to explore, and the less I think about Remnant's frontiers, the better.
That is why, when presented with the prospect of such an adventure in this new and unknown world, I could not help but answer that call.
With a sigh, I took the pouch of coins and smiled at the old man.
"You are right. As always."
"HAHA! Of course I am! Now-"
"Hold on."
I frowned a bit as I felt the weight of the pouch and immediately put it down.
"This is nearly double the weight of what it should be. I know for a fact that 50,000 jewels do not weigh this much. Old man, our agreement was 10,000 jewels per month for a five-month contract with free housing and food. Why is the weight so much more?"
"Because you have outperformed the parameters of my request and as such deserve to have your payment doubled."
"Bullshit! You will stick to the contract-"
"Don't you dare order me, boy!"
What followed was an argument for the legends, where we fought with words as we would with swords.
Unfortunately, the old man showed why he was chosen to lead this village, and in the end, he emerged the victor in our duel.
But mark my words, old man! One day, I will defeat you. This I swear on my name as an Arc. And an Arc never goes back on his word!
With that promise made in my heart, I tucked my tail between my legs and fled his house lest he make good on his promise.
And yet, I could not help the gentle smile that bloomed on my face.
Truly, a beautiful world, this one.
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