“You’re welcome to hang about the village. But don’t go into the forest. Most of the animals about are harmless. But they die. And Rethis, our [Hunter], says he saw a bear.”

Cara ducked her head. Idelt was getting ready for work; he’d actually woken her up moving about the cottage just after dawn. He had a full day of work, and, of course, she offered to help.

“I’m no [Smith], but I can at least carry things…”

The man eyed Cara dubiously. She was strong enough from working backstage for some jobs, but she was aware she lacked his muscle. And that became more evident when he nodded.

“I’m making charcoal. You can help me carry the wood.”

He led her out back, around the house, which also turned out to be connected to an outdoor smithy.

Outhouse, home, smithy…Violetta and Idelt owned a good amount of land! Not only that, but they had a huge henhouse apparently, with a large, large fenced off area—and three bars high on the fence; what, did they have horses twice as large as normal or something? The fences were taller than Cara was!

And a charcoal-burning hut. Idelt was making some this morning, and he had been about to cut up some dried wood. Cara was all too willing to help, but she quickly realized there was a problem.

The first thing Idelt lifted was a log. As in—a section of the tree he’d cut away without halving or quartering it. It had to weigh at least two hundred pounds, despite the trees being smaller than some of the vast oaks Cara had seen.

Idelt walked with it in his arms as Cara huffed and tried to roll another section after him. She barely got halfway from the wood shed to the charcoal-burning hut before he’d made two more trips. He took pity on her and hefted the piece of wood up effortlessly. The man eyed her, and coughed politely into the crook of his arm.

“…Why don’t you help Violetta with the eggs?”

Cara, shamefaced, ducked her head. She’d thought she was strong, but Noelictus raised them like gorillas, apparently. She slunk off to the humongous henhouse, which could hold like…a hundred chickens? And the weirdly tall fences and as of yet unoccupied space for some animal.

Violetta had been watching Cara as she made up the batches of feed and empty baskets. She smiled at Cara’s expression.

“It’s not you. It’s father. He has [Enhanced Strength]. Most [Smiths] do. And [Farmers]. Or at least,

[Lesser Strength].”

“Oh. A Skill.”

Cara had been wondering what could explain Idelt’s insane strength. Especially given that he wasn’t lifting training weights but just slinging huge, unwieldy pieces of wood around! Violetta nodded.