#24 - War may be coming

A notice about first-year students' flying lessons was posted in the common room.

The lessons were scheduled for Thursday afternoon of the following week, but the discussions had already begun intensely this weekend.

Seamus claimed he had spent his entire childhood on a flying broom, Ron said he almost crashed into a hang glider while riding Charlie's old broom, and Malfoy boasted about dodging Muggle helicopters...

Mune suspected they were all exaggerating. During his time living under the bridge, he had seen those large iron birds called airplanes.

These iron birds were much faster than four-wheeled cars, so how could young wizards possibly dodge them?

However, Mune's skepticism didn't dampen everyone's enthusiasm, as the idea of flying in the sky was a dream for everyone.

......

The arrival of the first weekend after the start of school didn't bring the anticipated lazy morning.

Everyone woke up much earlier than usual that day. Ron and Harry were already restless even before Mune was ready to get out of bed and read.

"So, you wake up this early every day?"

Harry's bed was right next to Mune's. Seeing Mune already dressed, picking up his textbook, and heading out, Harry opened his eyes wide.

Mune simply nodded. He noticed Neville, who was injured, sleeping soundly and quietly gestured for Harry to be quiet.

Mune had many things to do today. Besides studying "Wand Making and Maintenance," he also had to take care of the sapling and complete the astronomy assignment of "Moon Charting."

When the sun was good during the day, Mune also had to move the sapling outside to bask in the sun.

After a full day of observation, Mune found that the sapling showed no signs of withering, which greatly boosted his confidence.

The weather had also been very good these past two nights, with not a single cloud in sight. The moon could be observed very clearly from the astronomy tower, so Mune had already completed most of his moon chart assignment and would be able to finish it all tonight.

The others in the dormitory wanted to borrow this early assignment, so they also became Mune's study supervisors.

Early Sunday morning, after lending the moon chart assignment to his roommates, Mune reviewed the knowledge of wand core materials. He had memorized the entire book and was now only lacking practice.

When night fell, Mune chose to go to bed early, as tonight was the day he would return to Silein.

......

Sleeping in the wooden house on York Farm wasn't as comfortable as the Hogwarts dormitory.

This small wooden house was in the middle of a hazelnut forest, and the humidity was very high. Even though his bedding was a new wool blanket sewn by Aunt Daisy herself, it couldn't withstand the humidity here.

However, there were also advantages here, such as the fresh air and the absence of any snoring or teeth grinding.

Uncle Neil had already brought people over before dawn. This time of year was when hazelnuts ripened, so Mune's first task upon returning was to join the autumn harvest army.

"Little Mune, don't run so fast. Rest a bit before continuing."

Uncle Hawke sat under a hazelnut tree, took a swig of water from a leather pouch, and called out to Mune, who was running past.

"I'm not tired. I can pick some more."

"What a diligent child."

All the workers who came to work were veterans and their families that Neil had hired. After coming down from the battlefield, they received very little federal subsidies and had to come out to work to support their families.

And Neil would provide them with such an opportunity.

Fortunately, everyone here was very kind to Mune. No one would make fun of him for being a "half-baked Awakened," and some of the older sergeants would even bring Mune some homemade candies.

As for why Mune was more diligent than when harvesting hazelnuts in the previous two years.

It was because he wanted to take this time to take a good look at this hazelnut forest, perhaps there would be unique magical wood inside.

Mune had read in a book that hazel wood could also be used as a wand core, and this wood was very suitable for wizards with sensitive hearts.

The harvest of the hundred-acre hazelnut forest took a full five days, and Mune didn't find any hazelnut trees with magical properties.

Fortunately, it wasn't a complete loss for him. The three hazel grouses hunted with a slingshot should be enough for tonight's dinner party.

Uncle Neil's house was north of Silein Town, and this area was inhabited by military families, so it was very safe.

Arriving at this small courtyard with only three stone houses in the late afternoon, Mune heard Aunt Daisy's shout before he even entered the door.

"Sophia, get away from the table, that's a rye wine bought with a silver coin."

"Oh~, Brother Mune!"

Sophia was Neil and Daisy's second child, with an older son named Jay Scarlett.

Seeing his brown-haired cousin running over to hug him, Mune quickly put the hazel grouse in his hand aside.

After the little girl let go, Mune took out a penguin wood carving from his pocket and put it in front of her.

"Is this an animal from the farm? It's so cute!"

Mune guessed correctly, girls always had no resistance to this kind of soft and cute animal.

"Child, I've heard it all from Neil, you've worked hard this time harvesting hazelnuts."

Aunt Daisy came over and hugged Mune, kissing him on the cheek.

"It just so happens that we can burn these three hazel grouses for dinner tonight and save some expenses," Daisy said, looking over the hazel grouse before turning back.

"Also, child, I've made you two winter clothes in the house, go try them on in a while."

......

Dinner was very sumptuous, and this was also the celebration ceremony after the farm's annual harvest.

Mune specially gave all the plump chicken meat to Sophia. This little girl was shorter than her peers and needed to eat more.

"Mune, you eat too." Neil took a sip of mead and looked over.

Mune didn't say anything. He wanted to share some of the meat with his family, after all, his meals at Hogwarts were already very good.

Daisy glared at the somewhat tipsy Neil and turned to look at Mune.

"Little Mune, I heard you're saving money? Actually, the family can afford to send you to school, you don't need to work so hard."

Daisy was talking about Mune exchanging wood carvings for money, but he remembered telling Uncle Neil to keep this a secret.

But now that Daisy asked directly, it was likely that Neil's secretly hidden three silver coins had been discovered.

And Mune was once again unfortunately used as an excuse for his uncle to appease his aunt.

Sure enough, Neil, who was sitting at the other end of the table, was now frantically winking at Mune.

"Auntie, I'm also planning to learn the skills of the farm from Uncle Neil."

For Mune, the ordinary schools in Silein no longer held any attraction for him. He now only wanted to study magic properly at Hogwarts.

Mune's words weren't a very good excuse, and Aunt Daisy started her daily nagging again.

"Even the worst student who comes out of school can enter a government department as a clerk, but on the farm, you can only deal with the land for the rest of your life..."

Every time Daisy said these words, Mune had to keep smiling and listening, even if he was sure he wouldn't go to school, he had to maintain respect for the mistress of the house.

Mune knew that Uncle Neil's family's life wasn't very good.

In addition to supporting Jay to go to military academy, they also had to support Sophia, and even support more than thirty military families nearby.

Especially now that he had solved the problem of learning magic, there was no need to let this family take on more debt.

......

After dinner, Neil sent Mune back to the farm while smoking his pipe.

"Little Mune, are you sure you want to learn skills on the farm?"

"That's right, Uncle, I want to start by learning about timber procurement."

Mune answered very affirmatively.

"Timber procurement?" Neil was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Mune to have already thought about what he wanted to learn specifically.

"Indeed, now that the harvest is complete, some timber needs to be replanted, but this year's procurement will have to wait."

"Why is that?"

Mune asked curiously. He knew that Neil was a person who paid great attention to the growing season of crops. New timber had to be planted before spring warmed up, which was also a guarantee of the farm's income in the coming year.

In previous years, Neil would have already discussed the price with the timber merchants at this time.

"Alas~, war may be coming, and timber is already a controlled commodity."