Knocking at the door awakes me. And by that, I mean an unarmed attack on the door and it’s hinges, not just a mere knock on the door.
“Yes?!” I exclaim, over the unending lightning-like strikes bombarding the door which had fully woken me up immediately.
With that said, the ‘knocking’ stops and as I open my door, I ask, “So, what’s with the urgency Lydia?”
“You reek, have a bath. It’s the Men’s turn for only an hour longer. Do you have spare clothes?”
“Cheers...” I mumble, choosing to ignore the first part of her demand. Then I follow Lydia, who’s now wearing her helmet in addition to her armour from yesterday to the guest’s bathroom.
It’s on the first floor, so it’s we quickly reach it. On the way though, Lydia does mention, “If you don’t mind, can we speak at breakfast?”
I nod, then enter the bathroom.
The room I enter is large enough for about twenty people to change at the same time in, with 3 rows of twenty woven baskets on the walls to store clothes. I assume the runes etched into the baskets are to clean them whilst you wash and protect them from thieves, but I since I can’t actually read runes, I will just not trust them.
Stripping, then enchanting my stripped clothes with the healing spell ‘clean’, I place my clothes into my cane’s storage and cast ‘blink’ onto the cane. I do note how odd it is that there isn’t soap with the towel, but I then remember why and shrug it off.
After placing that into a random basket, I grab a towel, wrap it around me and enter the bath.
To state the bath as only ‘ridiculous’ would be a bastardization; I can’t even see any of the walls through the steam and I should be able to see make out about fifty metres in front of me with it being this thick. It’s a luxurious and humongous square-ish bath with stones and plants around it; the plants were seemingly fake, with hard-to-see runes gently glowing green on their leaves. I still assume that’s why there’s no need for anything to maintain the bath’s heat and remove sweat.
As there are only a couple people inside with me, the sheer scale of the bath is truly apparent. Twenty times our numbers would still be more spacious than two people in the barrack’s baths simultaneously.
Sitting on the large stones is rather awkward but not unbearable and the water is warm. By that I mean not tepid or cool, but also not hot enough for me to complain that I’m boiling to death about it. So when I placed my towel on the side and step in, it feels extremely relaxing.
As I sit there, I wash around my body with the water, which not only removes the visible dirt and so on, but also removes the sweat and leaves a pleasant smell behind. Honestly, not much more happens and by the end of it. I eventually leave, now properly clean.
Using the towel to dry off, I call back my staff then redress myself with my underwear, a t-shirt, cloth trousers, cloth hooded robe and knee-high leather boots which are all clean. Then simply leave the bathroom and head to the dining hall, limping.
When I reach the dining room, it’s chairs are about half full. With maids and butlers encircling those in the room like a rookie adventurer when stalking goblins, waiting for those seated to run out of their drink or a new person to sit down to strike. And as such, when I eventually limp across the room and sit down in a chair next to Ea, it takes less than a second for a maid to rush to me with a tray, which carries a pot of tea, pot of coffee and cups, to ask me if I wanted a drink.
Obviously my pick is tea, which is served by the same maid using her free hand. After waving down another maid who is handling small bowls of sugar and miniature pitchers of milk, she leaves. And after receiving only one of the bowls, the new maid also goes back to her stalking around the table.
In the meantime, Ea notices me and starts up a conversation once I have my drink, “You have to tell me!”
“What about?” I shrug as I tease, seeing her frustration mix with her curiosity clearly written on her face.
She sees me smile whilst looking at her, blushes then elbows me on my side, though she keeps calm enough not to shout this early in the morning,“What happened with my brother?”
“Oh, that?” I pause to laugh when remembering, but promptly continue when it’s out of my system, “He was doing the brothel run a couple days before we left with me, and I came back to see him lying on the street outside the first one on his list, passed out and bruised. Turns out he somehow managed to mix up a changing room with the men’s toilet, and got beaten up by the working ladies and bouncers…”
After both of us have our laughter drained, I add, “He was so embarrassed that he didn’t even report in the next day...” This restarts our collective laughter.
Having conquered her laughter and now fully flush, Ea chugs her coffee down like it was beer.
I finish my tea in peace, and by the time I receive another one, enough people are seated to bring out the food. Though the room is lacking any of the royals, Lydia and a couple people from yesterday including James.
The table isn’t as packed as last night, though enough baskets of toast with butter, and plates of sausages, eggs and bacon are laid out on the table to make me already full with their presence. In the end, I only make a small bacon sandwich and continue to wait…
Eating her fair share of the food, and much more, Ea turns to me now with a serious expression.
“Will, you will visit my sister soon, right?”
“Maybe...” I answer without looking at her.
“Will… you know she misses you,” she states.
'Liar...' I think, unconsciously reacting to the words alone. Yet, I somehow control it enough to no say it outright.
“We were together at the dungeon, and I’m not planning to do anything big anytime soon. I doubt Master will care,” I shrug, struggling to remain straight-faced.
She slaps me on the back, saying, “Just go. If only for mine and her sake.”
“‘Your‘ sake?”
“Who do you think she moans about you with? I do like sleep you know...”
“Fine… I’ll report to Master whenever I’m free enough.”
With this Ea nods and says no more, instead somehow grabbing even more whole baskets and plates to eat herself… My reaction should be nullified at this point, but her gluttony is still akin to pure insanity from my viewpoint.
After awhile of me idling, and a couple more guests filtering into the room, they finally roundup the remaining bundle, who march half-consciously into the room. This bundle being comprised of the remaining knights, including James and Silvia - who I forgot even was here in the first place- Lydia and the royal family. Looking at the royal family, you could clearly see signs of bags under most of their eyes par the son, which - to me - seemed odd for some reason.
Unlike the knights who sit down and become swamped with the maids and butlers upon doing so, the royals and Lydia stood at the side, each holding rather large bags - which judging from the royal children’s reactions, seemed quite heavy. Specified help- who I remember being the head maids and butlers- then enter the room, and receive the bags from the royals to the children’s relief. It was only after that when they sit down in their respective seats and began to eat themselves.
Once they do so, I find that my seat is now near to the king, although Ea and another butler are sitting between us. Additionally, both James and Silvia are sitting opposite to us. Due to Ea smirking when she first saw him, James has only been glaring at me or focusing on his food, whilst Ea is still eating and Silvia eats one sandwich and proceeds to people watch like me…
Many more cups of tea pass my lips, as everyone eats or chats whilst waiting. For me, I mainly view the Princesses and the Queen due to yesterday’s events, both seem to be talking with genuine smiles on their faces compared to the perceived depression looming over them yesterday… I’m slightly relieved, mainly since this can’t turn into more a pain for me if it’s concluded happily.
“Hey, Will… What was that about yesterday anyway?” Silvia asks at some point from across the table.
With her mouth still full, Ea only nods my way, then continues to fill the void that is her stomach. James seems preoccupied by hating me.
“Guess,” I reply.
“My only thought was that she underestimated you and dueled you accordingly, to then realize your strength…” she pauses, and when I nod to her assumption her jaw drops. “No way… Even a princess has fallen for your shtick!”
“I try,” I say, slightly puffing my chest out.
Silvia seems like she’s going to say something, but looks behind me and pauses. A second later a tap of my shoulder seems to be why.
“Mind coming with me Will? Do remember her majesty’s threat whilst you do so.”
I stand up and turn to Lydia, who I then follow out of the room.
We pass a few rooms, and end up in one labeled with her full title, ‘The office of Lydia Crossham - Leader of the King’s Knights.’ I enter this room after she does.
“Okay, now then… Let me ask you a favour,” she states, promptly closing and locking the door. “So, this is about a tournament I want you to enter…”
“No. Not happening,” I cut her off.
“What?! Why?!”
“For one, I don’t want to raise my rank accidently. The second reason is that they genuinely banned me from using a sword, so it isn’t fun any more. Unless you’re paying me a lot of money and can promise I won’t rank up, no way.”
She pauses, aghast at what I said.
“Ten gold, a promise to not raise your rank and I won’t involve the Queen, or King, that sound good enough? I'll also tell Victoria about that if you don't.”
It’s a tough deal for me, so I take a pause myself. After a moment, I state my answer, “I don't have a choice, do I… What do you want me to do there?”
“I want you to beat one specific person, so I have a chance to get a good placing for once and finally get credited for my skill with my spear. With your record, I’m pretty sure you will enter as a dark horse candidate, so can fight her in your third or something round. You will also skip the pools if that happens. Additionally, the girl is a sword supremacist, so I had to ask someone who could beat her without one. Hence I’m asking you.”
“When? The next weekly one or the next monthly one?”
“The next monthly one. I’ll try to tell you any recent rules closer to the event. Anyway, what’s this about using a sword? Did your hands burn off?”
“Master kept forcing me into them to ‘improve my rank’, and since I couldn’t fail by choice or concede out of the top 8, I kept entering with a copper sword. You’d be shocked to know how far I got with my ability...”
She halts, beckoning me to go on. So I do, “I got to a couple fifths, and at worst, a barely seventeenth at one monthly which I should’ve lost two rounds before, but since people suck at positioning and fighting non-linearly…”
“Wow…” she mutters, in a barely audible voice.
“Anyway… Is that it?”
“Yes, you’ve accepted my request. So let’s return. I will remind you of your promise in due time,” she says as we both leave her office.
On the way back, we talk idly about various things, though it’s not like I pay much attention.
We re-enter the dining hall, the food on the table has thinned remarkably… Yet Ea and a couple others are still eating. Of course, since I’m not limping, so I return to my seat swiftly.
Eventually even Ea and the King stop eating, and a rather impatient Queen leaves her seat to reach the maids and butler with the bags - who were standing near the door leading to the master hallway. The King, the royal children and three knights including Lydia, all follow her lead, and it’s there that they start an announcement.
“We will now deal the payments out, so may Madam Ea, Madam Jessica, Madam Silvia, Sir James, Sir Richard and Sir William please come to us first. We have placed your carriage right outside of the entrance, so please follow the king’s knights on the way out. And once again, thank you all for your services,” the King announces, standing in line with his family and highest ranking knights.
All six of us stand, then head their way. When doing so, we each shake all of the royal family’s hands, getting formal praise- which just felt awkward from my perspective- from each of them individually, then finally receive one of the bags of money. None of us bother to count all two-hundred coins, instead group up and leave for the carriage. I silently put this money in my staff’s storage, and the others store it their own ways.
As I’m not limping anymore, we all walk the hallway far faster than we did when arriving, which seemed to be a massive relief for all of them.
Whilst we’re walking, James claws his hand onto my shoulder and glares at me when he says, “William, it seems we need to come to an understanding… I told you not to tell anyone about that, and what do you do?”
“I ignored you. You should’ve woken up earlier if you wanted to stop me. That’s your fault, not mine,” I state back, hearing his teeth grit at my response.
He remains silent, just unblinkingly staring at me as we walk the oddly silent halls for there being so many people lined up by our sides.
“James, it was just a funny moment. I’ll tell you one about Ea if you want revenge,” I offer, now receiving a glare from Ea as well.
“Fine… I will accept that as fair. Changing topics, Jessica, Richard and Silvia, aren’t you three awfully quiet?”
Silvia, who subtly tries to hide behind me regardless of being a head taller, simply answering, “I don’t get to hear Will talk this much… Gossip’s always a nice thing anyway.”
“Then ask me later,” I quip, adding fuel to the fire.
The other two turn to James, their eyes shyly jutting from his eyes in a way akin to fear.
“You two, are you seriously scared of my brother?” Ea asks, noticing as I did. “He only has bloodlust for William, and possibly me. You have nothing to fear.”
They don’t answer, only looking at Ea with the same expression.
“You two, we’re practically siblings. So this amount of bloodlust is normal for us,” I comment, trying to make them feel more relaxed.
“Huh?” Jessica mutters unconsciously.
Richard follows up with another question, “Is William not a human?”
“I said ‘practically’,” I state, rather annoyed that neither listened.
This seems to sate their curiosity, since they just continue walking without further queries. Even with me walking, we easily finish this conversation and walk in silence for over a minute before reaching the front door. I can only pity the them when they had to follow my limp yesterday.
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When we reach the carriage, we jump in with Jessica riding. After negotiating where we wanted to go, we head to the guild, riding for about an hour across the city.
-
The sun hides behind the city streets, though when it occasionally pops through them, its central position and my general feeling leads me to conclude it’s about noon by the time we stop, finally outside the guild.
As they come up on the horizon, the guild towers clearly rose above the other shops in one of the many streets dedicated to two story shops running down its sides, being about five stories itself. We all depart the carriage apart from Richard- who promptly continues in order to return it- and enter the guild.
As we open the door, one word pops to mind as we look around us, ‘bland’. The ground floor has toilets and one more door leading to a staircase on its left wall, it’s right wall is covered with tens of posters of increasing challenge and rank requirements and there’s a large, wooden counter across its front. The counter has roughly ten spots, and a door to its left. And that’s literally it… No fancy decors, no meaningless and fancy trinkets or art, just a plain, inn lobby-like room with no seats.
Of course, none of us bother with anything from the ground floor, so enter the door leading to staircase and go up two floors.
The room we’re in is smaller than the other, but far less bland that its predecessor. On this floor, four offices line the forward wall and again, toilets and a door leading to the staircase are behind us. There is a counter to our left, but it’s far smaller with only four people on it, and only about five posters line the wall to the right. There is also security, for some reason, but since they know us there’s no problem. Additionally, there are embellishment like ornaments on every surface and the roof itself was a massive canvas with stars piercing the darkness of space upon it, whereas the walls are painted to look like a forest at night.
The other four look towards the jobs listed on the right wall, but I walk to on of the people at the counter, asking, “Hey, mind if I check my schedule and list of tasks?”
The man behind the counter replies, “Sure. Your crest?”
I grab my crest from my staff’s storage, then hand it to him, allowing him to check it.
Afterwards, he returns it and continues, “Okay… Will, I will grab some parchment and give you your details. Do you want the weekly or monthly schedule and list?”
“Monthly schedule, weekly list of jobs if you will. I gather I have more to do on my brothel run, so I want to double check.”
“That is fine, please wait for a moment…” He walks off into a door behind the counter, stays for about thirty seconds with some mumbling coming through, and returns with the parchment full of ink. “There we are… Whilst you are here, do you wish to take a job?”
“Maybe, any interesting ones?”
“Ooh, yes. A couple days after you left, bodies of numerous people were found in the alley between West street and Partley’s boulevard, and a day ago at least five more were found around Jim’s Creek. They all have similar wounds, and most of the victims were adventurers and knights so most people think there’s a serial killer inside the city aiming at authorities… By the way, it’s a kill on sight deal. Sound like a good one?”
“Yeah, any leads?”
“None that are reported, but some witnesses heard the attack in the alley and reported some odd sounds, though none of them saw anything. They claim the attack was around two AM on thursday.”
“What weapon was likely used? And what race seemed targeted?”
“A sword… Thought that went without saying, but it seems to be at least mithril in strength. Elves made up the majority of the deaths, so it’s possible that they were random targets.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can add, if anything. Is this an unlisted job or not?”
“It’s unlisted, for now… The higher ups don’t want to cause panic amongst people as of yet.”
“Any other jobs?”
“Unless you want escort jobs, sorry but that was the juiciest. The reward for that one is fifty gold for their head and weapon, and seventy gold for their arrest. You will be checked by the church, so make sure they’re the right one.”
“Got it. But seriously John, nothing else? No robbery or whatnot?”
“Huh? I didn’t think you’d be interested in those, but they’re listed if you want to look. Anyway, here’s your schedule and list,” he states, handing me the papers he held.
I look at the paper, facing the table which dictated my actions for the rest of the month.
“Damn tomorrow’s going to be busy… See ya,” I mutter, before putting the paper away then leaving the counter.
From there I head to the wall opposite the counter, where the jobs are listed and located roughly on four different boards. Although one was greatly over-filled, each of them do have at least ten pieces of paper strapped to them. Each board had different labels in large, bold letters stated from the left-most to right-most boards: ‘the guild’, ‘the church’, ‘nobles’ and ‘other’.
That said, I completely ignore the middle two, scowling over the other two lists thoroughly.
On the Guild’s board were some promising requests, which went as followed:
Employer
The Country of Bellar
Rank required:
One (though exceptions may be made for parties and certain individuals.)
Request:
Subjugation of Great Birds, Wyverns, Dragons.
Reward:
1-50 gold per Great Bird corpse, 1-100 gold per Wyvern corpse and 10-1’000 gold per Dragon corpse. The reward is dependant on age of the corpse, quality of corpse and type of Dragon slain.
Details:
It will soon be the migratory season for all of the mentioned beasts, so keep attentive to requests from surrounding Villages, and the potential for groups of the beasts to arrive together.
Employer
The Guild of Bellar
Rank required:
Any.
Request:
Subjugation of Bandits in the city’s slums.
Reward:
10 copper per bandit killed, up to 1 silver per bandit arrested depending on their condition. (Extra depending on equipment received from them. And bounties override these rewards.)
Details:
Three main groups of bandits and wreaking havoc in the slums and nearby towns/villages, the ‘Mithril bandits’, the ‘bloody bandits’ and the ‘claws’. Subjugations will be judged by the church to see if they are righteous or not.
Employer
The Guild of Bellar
Rank required:
One (Party may be required.)
Request:
Extermination of ‘the spider’s cave’ pseudo dungeon.
Reward:
10-100 gold in total upon completion. Please don’t forget to sell the silk and other resources off to a crafting guild.
Details:
A new-ish pseudo dungeon located in a cave in the south east of Hedgemire’s forrest. Is easy to find according to the scouting team and the initial finders. The length and difficulty of the cave is undocumented, so given enough circumstantial proof, the reward can easily be negotiated higher.
Employer
The Royal Family of Bellar
Rank required:
A rank one party is required.
Request:
Negotiation or Subjugation of the Lakeside Bandits and securing Lilith’s Mine.
Reward:
10-50 silver per subjugated bandit, up to 1 gold per arrested bandit and 20 gold for securing Lilith’s mine until defenses can be fortified. The 20 gold will be lowered if resources are destroyed or stolen in the quest.
Details:
Since the 8th of February, bandits have controlled Lilith’s Mine, leading to a minor shortage of copper, iron and coal. The quest goes out to anyone able to help secure the problem, since the army is still preoccupied with dungeons and civil matters.
The rest of the twenty-eight requests are mediocre, like collecting specified herbs, pest control or animal maintenance. I shake my head when just seeing those types of basic requests on the list, let alone thinking about anyone here who would actually taking them up individually since only two of the herb collection quests even seemed aimed at rank threes, and none aimed for higher…
But for the four I highlight as good, three seem like a pain to travel to and the bandits in the slums request is a permanent request that pays poorly. So I don’t take any of them yet, though I do keep the Spider’s Cave quest on the backburner since it seems rather interesting.
Looking at the twelve requests on the board labeled ‘other’, I only see one remotely worth my time, this being:
Employer
Quecant’s Adventuring Academy
Rank required:
Any
Request:
We need a non-swordsman to help out in a demonstration at the school. Preferably skilled and good against swordsman.
Reward:
Depending on the individual and their rank: between 50 silver and 10 gold.
Details:
To be discussed at the academy.
The rest being private people hiring escorts, bodyguards and other academies wanting similar people for their own demonstrations or teachers for way less money.
Regardless of the choices, I don’t take any requests and just walk off from the guild.
“W-wait! Will, I just remembered something…” John, the same person behind the counter who spoke to me before, yells my way.
Turning on the spot, I begrudgingly face him.
He seems to notice the disdain I momentarily have for him, so speeds up to the point, reading some note as he does so, “Sir Percy gave you some money, a sum of fifty gold if I do remember correctly for... some bandit’s arrest? I didn’t know you could spare people...”
I walk over to his counter, and receive the money.
“Oh… right, he also gave you these,” he fumbled around his side of the counter for a minute before revealing a sword in a sheath and a small, leather bag. Though, by holding, I mean he dumps the leather bag on the counter as quickly as possible, then takes time handing me the sword.
The sword vanishes into my staff’s storage immediately, the bag however seemed useless to me. It was battered, smells horrible and is covered with something gooey that drips off.
Picturing the bag regardless of how much it made me gag, I enchant it with the same healing spell ‘clean’ which I used for my clothes before and only then touch it myself, much to John’s relief.
We both look each other in the eyes, before I say, “you take it,” and waltz off to the staircase.
-
As I get out of the guild, the number of people mobbing the street I was on is ridiculously high, making dodging them a pain. I head down the main street, and walked for a while, passing many shops and people as I do so. The further I get away from the guild, the less dense the people are.
Once I finally escape the commercial district by sensibally walking, I start running the rest of my way. It doesn’t take that long since its only about five miles, although I do go completely around the commercial district to a certain house’s gate.
A fully armoured knight watches the gate, lurking behind it with their weapon- a sword- revealed. So when I reach it they ask me, “Can you show me your crest?” A scowl clearly visible on their face.
Retrieving it from my staff’s storage, I show it to the guard. She sighs upon seeing it, opening the gate for me.
I put my crest away and continue past the vast fields and garden to the main house itself. The fields have handfuls of people running around and a couple of knights having a simple duel and the people density rises as we close into the monolithic mansion, which towers above everything including the massive city walls about a mile away. The mansion is so big, it almost rivals the palace for sheer size. And unlike the palace, I had to run through the miles of gardens to it which is insane on its own.
Although being one main house, the mansion is physically split into five towers separated with walls and small gardens. With one central tower which was the tallest with three more stories than the others and largest with double the rooms of the others, and four towers around it in each of the four nautical directions. Each being nearly identical with six-stories and around one-hundred rooms with facilities like baths and toilets being attached to each of the forty or so bedrooms, and cooking and smithing facilities being on the bottom two floors of the each tower.
Entering the building’s northern main entrance, I head to the southern tower through the central one which, compared to a normal two-story house which comprised most of the other buildings in the city, was three times as tall and around three times as wide and thick.
As I open the door to the tower, I run into a couple of people I forget if I know of who stop me for a conversation.
“Will,” they state, I’m too tired to bother paying attention to people so ignore their other physical appearances and look them straight in the eye. They may know my name, but I haven’t got the foggiest of who they are.
My neck tilts as I look their way so they continue, “Welcome back, but some people from floor five died. Please don’t aggravate the newbies when they come next week.”
“Even if I don’t try to, it just happens,” I rebute.
“Then try to not aggravate them then, or is that too hard?”
“I can try,” I answer half-heartedly. Without giving them the chance to continue, I walk away and start ascending the tower.
Having climbed four stories with a spiral staircase which was present in all of the towers, I free my key from my staff’s storage and head to the northernmost apartment.
After opening which, I am shocked no one beat me here due to my massive detour in getting here. I walk through the common room which was comprised of a bare-bones kitchen and dining table for six people, and reach the door to my bedroom. This being, using the door I entered from as a point of reference, was the second - of four - leftmost door on the wall left of the wall the reference point was on. And to get there I have to go around a counter which separates the kitchen area from the dining one.
Making my way, I notice how everything is still clean and the book left on the table remained there, much to my relief.
Entering my room, a wave of cold air escapes from the door I open. Inside are only a bed, a wardrobe and an empty shelf, in a room where only about a third of the area is taken up by my normal-sized bed.
Checking the wardrobe I find everything to be in place, and I finally sigh of relief.
Taking a breather, my next move is to look outside; mainly to judge what the time is. From the sun’s position, it’s about three-ish AM and people are both still visible in the fields, and still spread like seeds everywhere over the fields in view.
Boredom sets in as I people watch, leading me to query to myself what to do. Juggling the thought for what seemed like an hour- but may have been only ten minutes knowing my attention span- I head out, limping down every step because I forget I don’t need to.
-
There is miles of land surrounding the barracks, including a forest that takes up the northern half of the estate. Although being peaceful and having no monsters, as I reach it there’s no one there like usual.
I reach a certain point of the forest, and using alchemy and smithing magics on my staff, I make it a bracelet then start a run.
There’s no set course, I turn when I feel like it and try to maintain straight lines whilst not hitting any trees or critters. The sounds of far off people get drowned out by the wind blowing through the branches as I jog by them, with only those sounds acting as the backdrop to my steps and breathing.
Whilst running, like normal, I start to phase out of consciousness and delve into thought about my plans as my body does its own thing. As I continue to do so, the miles I run morph into each other and the existence of time eludes my mind.
Of course, the pain of my muscles eventually knocks me back, and after what feels like a shockingly short time, my legs scream at me to release them from their agony. Even though I say that, a look to the skies tell me it’s about six-ish, so I sigh to myself and relax for a while longer in the forest to regain working legs.
Eventually this bores me though, so I retrieve my staff and limp- this time out of actual necessity- back to my room.
The fields which were full of knights doing whatever are now desolate, and a cold breeze passes me, as I return across the fields which act as a short-cut compared to the path I used before. Inside is the opposite, where they were empty when I left, they’re now teeming with knights- all of which I actively ignore.
When I return to the door to the apartment, the voices from within already tell me most of them are here.
As I enter, Ea and James are already looking my way. From James’ expression, it’s not a good sign…
“Welcome back William,” Purr exclaims, soon popping up from behind the oven. “Are you eating with us?”
“How long?”
“About half an hour… And yes, no one is in there… I think?”
My response is a nod, and as I reach the bathroom- which is the left door on the wall directly opposite the wall of the door I entered from- I knock and wait for an answer.
Given ten seconds, no one responds from within. Therefore I enter and lock it behind me.
Taking a quick bath due to the sweat I built up, I clean my clothes the same way as I did earlier and exit in about ten or twenty minutes. By that time, James somehow retained his grumpy complexion. Additionally, Silvia had also joined the table with another beast-kin. Although this one is a dog rather than a cat like Silvia and Purr.
“Hey William. Long time no see, same with the rest of you… but I said that already…” he comments.
Waving is my only response…
“So anyway… Now you’re here Will, does anyone know why the king’s knights were at my master’s place? Since he kicked me out, my conclusion is…”
“Really?” I cut him off, then sigh extremely deeply. Having put some of it together, the wolf looks my way, “A princess wants to become Master’s apprentice or something…”
“Weren’t you…” He trails off, then snaps back into focus mumbling, “No way… Really? Damn, I don’t envy your luck. Although you have to admit, you only have yourself to blame for it.”
“How did you...” Lydia says, but gets cut off.
“His reaction was pretty obvious… I mean, I’m not a complete stranger, am I Will?”
“I remember your name. So you mean more to me than everyone other than these four at this barracks,” I explain, feeling no need to bother lying about it.
He laughs, coming over to pat me on the back with two bottles of beer in his free hand, “Want one?”
I nod, but as I reach for it, Lydia and James both race to swat my hand away from them.
“He’s underaged still!”
“Really? Oh, sorry… Guess you can’t then.”
Cursing under my breath, I relax my expression and go to the dining table.
After a couple minutes of idle chat, Purr comes back with the food- being a couple steaks with vegetables- and serves it on the table for everyone to grab at their own whim, giving a subtle look to Geoff who gives him a thumbs up.
It doesn’t need to be mentioned that most of it goes the the obvious glutton, but now she has competition from Geoff, since he wants to try everything before it goes into the void that is Ea’s stomach. I, myself, split a steak with Purr and eat a handful of greens before leaving to crash in my room.