"Oh master Ezakiel, back already?"
A group of farmer, from the village ahead, greet me from far of the fields. They are excited as always. All yelling and gesturing, as if I am some saint descending from heavens..
Well, maybe I really appear as some kind of saint to them.
I am Ezakiel. To be more precise, I am the great master Ezakiel Sasaki. I am master of the Jaganken, A large monastery within the demi-human lands.
That´s right, I am not human. And so are all people around here. Within this world, the demi-human lands are just some border country. Not comparable to the other nations.
I wave my staff towards the farmers, signaling them that I understood them.
I am always clad in my favorite cloak, a big, black and red one. Its kind of a mixture of Kimono and medieval high priests gown and it covers me completely.
In addition to that, my face is covered as well, by my large conical hat. I may look like some old traveling monk...
Uh, I guess I am kind of a traveling monk... but never mind that. I have great authority within this lands.
Why that is?
Well, my country the demi-human lands, are ruled by a king and a high priest. But those two are not concerned about the well-being of the common folks and so it happened that I myself, took their well-being in my own competent hands.
I travel around the lands and look out for people in need of help. With that I mean sickness or famine. I myself happen to be somehow pretty knowledgeable with all kinds of magic.
And every year I wander the country once. Mostly in the period shortly before winter befalls the lands.
That's the most crucial time and I check if the people around, have enough food stored. If not, I cast a spell to rapidly grow out new crops. Sadly there are not enough strong magicians in this country.
Most of our magicians went nearly extinct during a war.
The religion of our enemies had prohibited magic and declared it as something evil. They raided throughout our lands and killed every infant with even the slightest affinity for magic.
Nowadays only nobles are born with magic and very seldom a commoner. But the hierarchy in this country is corrupted from the root. And only the rich get richer, so poverty claimed most of the villages as its nest.
Famine and sickness are all over the lands and our country is slightly declining.
Someone had to intervene with this. Sadly I cant do much, due to my fame within the commoners, the king and the high priest have send someone to watch over me.
They harbor the deep engraved fear, that I might take over their position. Hilarious, all I do is helping the common folks. Its the task they should be doing..
I follow the broad and stony road, until I reach the entrance gate of the small village.
Its a wooden and not very cared for construct, it bends into a small curve at the top and so it looks a little like a Torii.
The village is surrounded by a small and crumbling stone wall. A remnant from the big war, 40 years ago.
Its not much of use for defense now, but its originally purpose of defending the nearby houses is still a gist of memories.
“Ah, great master Ezakiel! We already were waiting for you. Its good to see you.”
As I pass the small Torii, I am greeted by a friendly, old voice.
The small grown, due to her age, elderly women, who greets me is well known here.
She is not really in charge of the village, but the people here refer to her as the village elder.
I know her quite well, every time I came along, she gave me a place to rest and cared for my daily needs. Her name is Anne.
“Hello Anne, its also good to see you. And as I see you havent lost an inch of your beauty.”
“Ah Ezakiel, dont flatter me every time you come here. You always are a big help to us...
especially now, that we cant rely on the landlord anymore.”
Anne´s voice seemed as usual, but the last sentence carried a hunch of sadness.
“Hmm, what do you mean. Wasn't the landlord one of the few noble who actually cared for his people?”
I know the landlord well and even though we weren't always on good terms, he still was a man of his word and always had a tight eye for the people here. So that they would not suffer too great.
So hearing this I am quite irritated
“Ahh, Ezakiel... times really have gotten harsh. Its getting cold, come have some tea with me.”
Anne´s voice dropped and she gestured me, inviting me into her house.
Anne´s house is a small, but very comfortable wooden hut. And even though that the marks of time were already to see, the hut emits a caring and nostalgic feeling.
I follow Anne into her hut. As I step in, I lean my staff against a wall in the small hallway and my hat found a place on a dusty old shelf.
“You can go and find a seat, I will take care of the tea. Is it still the black herb tea?”
As I take a look around me, Anne already disappeared into one of the 3 rooms.
“Uhh, ahh yeah. I still prefer the black one and no sugar please.”
As I want to find my way into the living room I nearly hit my head at one of the roof beams.
Even though this hut is not that small build, I would be considered quite big. My total height is around 210 cm. I am also, ähem, well I am a sturdy build man. And I admit I may have a small addiction towards sweet stuff.
I enter the living room and get embraced by a really emphasizing warmth. The fireplace is blazing in a reassuring pace and filled the room with its comforting warmth.
This is the best feeling, after walking in the cold, late autumn.
I look around and find exactly what I was looking for.
“Hoho, there you are my old friend.”
I mutter along and with a relaxing ~thump..~ I place myself in a comfy old armchair.
“Ah, as I see the old thing is still to your liking. Haha”
Anne entered the room, in her hands a tablet with a tea set and a bowl of the most delicious cookies you can find.
No really, Anne´s butter cookies are the best.
“Of course, its the small things like these armchair, that make my journey a pleasure, even in my old years. Ah and how could I forget about those little fellows.”
I bow slightly over and want to grab a tasty looking cookie...
~Tats!~
My hand got denied from the goal, by a harsh and stern swing.
“Not yet Ezakiel, where are your manners?”
Anne had caught me off guard and scolded me.
Sometimes I dont know how I should feel about this. I am a fully grown man and even coming in age right now. I am nearly 225 years old, but this old women in front of me was already old when I was young. Gods may know how old she really is.
Ah right, the lifespan of demi-human is much longer than that of ordinary humans. We can go up to at least 250 years. But some of us are even older than 400 years. I bet Anne is one of those.
Stolen story; please report.
But we differ not much from humans, with the exception that our bodies show parts of animal features. Some have a tail or cat ears, but some others are fully covered in fur. There are also people who have a fully transformation, than its like meeting a beast in human shape.
So we have prohibited the true form of those. Small parts like ears or tails are allowed though.
But for our economy we need merchants and traveler from other country's.
Imagine you would run into a crocodile/Harpy/human... we cant afford that. So we all learn form childhood how to transform into a human appearance.
Most of us even forget about their true form, since we have to keep up the human appearance all the time. But its said that some of us have the blood of mythical creatures. And deep within my monastery is a document that speaks of another reason to hide our true form.
It says that the other countries have a fear of the mythical demi-humans and that they would slay them by even the slightest sight.
“Sorry Anne, but you know I can´t hold back with your cookies.”
“At least wait until I came to rest as well.”
Anne places herself opposite of me, in an old wooden bench. Which is covered with cushions and blankets, to make it comfortable.
The tea set is placed between us on a small, but very well crafted table.
“So, you mentioned something about the landlord being not reliable anymore..?”
I wait a moment until the mood felt more relaxed and ask her, while taking a long sip of tea.
“Haa, you came to the right time Ezakiel. You know about the young mistress, the daughter of the landlord?”
“Yes, I saw here a few times the previous years. A shy little kid, I think she must have reached the age of 14 by now?”
I reply ogling with the bowl of temptation
“Well story is, the young mistress got ill this spring. No healer could help her, nor identify the illness. The landlord tried everything he could and slowly it has driven him mad.”
Anne´s mouth left a short sigh and she seems to concentrate on my mimic, in desperate search for a satisfying answer
“The girl is ill you say? Well if no healer was able to cure her, you are implying to catch my interest for it?”
My hand began to twitch, I really yearn for the cookies
“Hach, just take one you impatient...But yes, we all have grown a heart for the young mistress. She would also visit us every now and then. And she was a reason why the landlord showed such generosity towards us. But since she has gone ill, the landlord doubled our taxes.”
“Huh? Why would he do that?”
I finally reach out for the cookie bowl and grab a large one.
“At first it was for the young mistress to find the best healer, we all were ok with that. But the healer already said they could do nothing, yet the landlord had again risen the taxes... We all fear hunger and most of us, dont even hold a penny for firewood anymore...”
Anne grabs her tea and sips it.
“Hmpf...well...that situation sounds really urgent. But I am very sorry, the landlord has already forbidden my presence in this village. As you may know, we arent really best buds. And he is one of those unreasonable fellows that have a tight connection to the kings men. So all I can do is already limited to this village´s people.”
I slowly enjoy the taste of the cookie, while treasuring the rest in my hand like its something utmost valuable
“And if I ask you to do it as your promised favor? Come on Ezakiel you always try to hide it, but I know how strong you are... do you really think I have gone blind in my age. I know you have some aces up your sleeve.”
Anne's voice turns stern and she looks at me in a serious matter.
“I dont know what you mean? I admit, I may be pretty versed with magic and especially healing magic...”
I got interrupted.
With a loud ~jangle~ Anne has put her cup down
“Dont play me, Ezakiel. Or should I say silver-beast Ezakiel? I know very well who you are, boy.
I know that you are the legendary magic swordsmen from the war 40 years ago. And I know that your monastery is not for show. You train young man in the art´s of swords and magic!...”
Anne, she never raised her voice once since I know her. 30 years I know her already and yet here she is, nearly yelling at me in a desperate and pleading manner.
“Anne, I dont know what you are talking about. But if I were this so called silver-beast, wouldn´t you understand that precisely because of that, I am not able to help? The bands of the 13 legendary warriors. Dont you know that they are wanted by this kingdom. They are wanted because they have fought against the government and lost everything.”
I am a bit stupefied, but manage to calm my senses again. With the accusing of being the silver beast, Anne really surprised me.
“I do understand that this situation would be very precarious, but I do know that the legendary 13 have indeed fought against the government, but wasnt it all to end this time of poverty... wasnt it precisely to help those who are in need of it? And now here you are, a man who wanders the country every year, coming with magic as strong as wonders... please... Ezakiel if not for the young mistress . Than please do it for all the villagers here.”
While speaking Anne slowly sank to the ground and broke into tears.
“What a nuisance... hrg, I guess it cant be helped. Come, stand up Anne. You are not fit to bow and beg for something so simple. And well, maybe I am indeed a bit curious, what this unidentified illness might be.”
I cant stand the crying of a woman, no matter how old she might be.
“Thank you wholeheartedly, I prepared a bed and lunch for you already. You can stay here and...”
I interrupted her
“No, since I dont want to be uncovered I´ll go now. Its best if I arrive when it becomes dark. Dont notify anyone of your weird conclusion of me being the silver-beast and ...AHH...”
I hastily stood up, helping Anne retrieving her stance, as my cookie dropped and crumbled apart
“Then, if its like this. Take them with you. And of course you can be sure, that your secret is safe with me.”
Anne rashly wrapped up the bowl of cookies and handed me a small bag, filled up to the brim with cookies.
“Ahh, I never said that I am that person...ok then fare well. I will take a look at that lil girl, but I cant promise that I can accomplish anything.”
I prepare my leave. I grab my staff and my hat and step outside. Its a cold breeze, icy cold. The evening has already started to darken the day. I store the bag with the cookies inside my cloak and turn one last time back.
Anne stands at the entrance to her hut and looks at me in a melancholic way. Her eyes are telling me, that she definitely never would tell any one who I really am.
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The first chapters will only include the prologue and will contain of around 2000-2500 words each.
later on i will significiantly increase the length.
please be considerate, this being my first novel and eng is not my native language.
I do apreciate comments and opinions and if you detect a mistake please hint me where, in the comments and i´ll correct it
Enjoy and iam curious if you like this.