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[Farmer] Mage 2 - Chapter 44: Interlude
🕑 Added 2025-09-16 21:53:23 +0000 UTCBig was a confused ox. Too many things had changed.
He and his brother, Little, were taken from the herd and put under a low sky.
They didn’t like it. Too smelly, noisy, lonely. There were strange creatures close to them, and some were always angry. It was too tiresome to be angry.
Big was happier when he and Little were let out, back under the normal sky, even though they had to pull that heavy thing attached to them for hours.
“Big. Go back?”
Big kept their walking pace and ignored Little. His brother was lucky Boss didn’t care what he heard. Though he understood why Little kept asking. Big felt the same, but it would be rude to say it out loud.
Boss was a strangely shaped ox, but he was still the Boss Ox. After all, only an Ox could speak to an Ox… at least, that’s what Big knew. It also helped that the Boss was in the place with the low sky with them, and Big couldn’t understand any of the others in there.
So Big decided that the Boss Ox was the boss, because he could feel the strength in Boss. Just like the strongest in the herd was his previous boss.
“Big, what are you thinking of now? Surely, you don’t watch to listen to Little?”
Big slowly shook his head. “Little is confused.”
Boss laughed—a strange, ear-hurting sound. But Big had heard it enough to be used to it.
“And so are you, Big.” Boss let out another strange laugh before tapping his front-left foot. “This is the second task—for both of you. Break this boulder into pieces smaller than yourself.”
Big raised his head to see the top of this ‘boulder.’ It was just a very large stone, so he didn’t know why it needed a special name. Still, this task would be difficult.
The first task Boss gave them made more sense. They had to push stones twice their size for hours. Big’s neck hurt, and he had to listen to Little complain constantly, but by the end, pushing those stones became as effortless as walking.
“No. Don’t want.”
Big ignored Little, and so did Boss.
“How? Too large. Will hurt.” Big thought of running into the large stone, but his head hurt just thinking of it.
“Well, let your boss show you a little trick that makes you awesome!”
Big watched Boss let out that strange laugh again before stamping his front feet, hunching in a way that made Boss look like he needed to let his waste out, lifting his head, and opening his mouth.
Big staggered at the sound that slammed into him. It was the Boss’s laugh, but loud.
He always had trouble focusing on anything without motivation, but even in those moments of distraction, it was nothing like this.
The laugh—bellow—slammed into his body, shaking things inside he didn’t even know existed. His legs buckled as he stumbled back to get away from the noisehurtlaugh.
Big found himself somehow upright, though several paces back, after it stopped. The first thing he noticed was that the large stone was gone.
Well, not gone. It was no longer in one piece.
There was a lot of dust, pebbles, small stones, regular stones, and stones slightly smaller than him.
Boss had shown them how to complete the task, but Big still didn’t know how to laugh like that. He was used to using his body to get things done, and laughing at a problem was new to him.
To his surprise, Little seemed unaffected and had maintained his place with ease. It brought the rise of an unknown feeling in Big, one that he did not like.
“HA! So Little has the natural talent for this. Big, you have to work hard to keep up!”
Big felt proud of his brother, but the same unknown feeling rose to a higher prominence within him. He still didn’t know how to place it, but he didn’t need to.
Little always looked to him for advice and guidance. Big would use this feeling to keep up with Little and learn this… laugh. If only to keep his position as Little’s older brother.
“Stone gone,” Little said blandly.
Boss turned to stare at the rubble. “Ah, yes. This is a problem.”
Big tried to make the same sound—that laugh—as Boss decided on what to do next. He tried to copy the pose Boss had, dug his feet in, raised his head, and opened his mouth.
MOOO!
Big blinked after he stopped. That didn’t seem right. The look Boss gave him said the same thing.
“I like you, Big. That was a hilarious try, but it was a try! It means you take the initiative! Now, follow me to the next boulder!”
Big noticed his brother had stopped complaining. Good.
The more motivated Little was, the more that strange feeling in Big grew. He would need it to keep his own drive strong.
