* * *
Garnedell felt his heart calm as he followed Master up the stairs. While he’d been with Master longer than his older aged peers, he was still infected by their fear of abandonment. Abandoning apprentices was certainly not acceptable, but was still quite common if a master should choose to abandon wisely, such as in a minor or unimportant location where word of the master’s deeds would be unlikely to spread.
He knew Master was a good man, but the dream of being apprenticed to a seven mark, and a seven mark who could train them so effectively and quickly, was a story of fantasy. Sometimes he felt he was living in a dream, expecting to wake at any moment. Despite his faith in Master, he had felt moments of doubt, certain that the dream had ended.
When he had seen Master return to the common room, exhausted and covered in sweat, he had felt only relief. He’d then seen his Master’s dishevelment and knew that his Master had been fighting, and worry slowly overcame his relief. Kilniara and Zilnek proved to be only concerned over their apprenticeship, and he could understand as he’d also been only concerned with proving his worth the first few months of working with him. Despite understanding their position, he was still irked and knew he would have to speak about their lack of respect for Master. Although… I should be kind. Today was hard even for someone like me who knows what kind of man Master is.
They reached the room and Kilniara and Zilnek both bowed their heads in shame, apologizing for failing Master. Garnedell joined them, for it was the most reasonable explanation for why Master had abandoned them for the day, but he also knew Master Joe enough to know that there was likely a completely benign reason for why Master had left them alone, so he stood again after bowing. But always wise to be cautious. Kilniara and Zilnek erred on the side of caution and remained bowed.
Master Joe looked at them bowing and cocked his head, confused, “Why are you bowing to me?”
“We are apologizing, Master,” the Kilniara replied for the siblings.
“We failed…”
“Wait. Stop!” Master Joe quickly interjected, “Will this confession cause a job change or something? To criminal or something?”
Kilniara stopped, glancing at Zilnek then turning to Garnedell as Zilnek was still too weak to react quickly.
Garnedell returned her looked, “Will it?”
Kilniara thought for a moment, cautious, before replying, although she did reply with a slight questioning tone, “I think not?”
Master nodded quickly, “Then speak to me in a way that you will not accidently cause a job change. Just explain to me what you are doing. Do not admit to failure or guilt, for I’m pretty sure you are not the ones who failed.”
Garnedell felt relief flood his system, although he was certain that Master had not punished him, so still stood silent without much of a reaction, except for a slight smile. Kilniara actually sobbed a bit, relief releasing her fear as emotions came through unchecked. Zilnek actually joined in moments later as his mental capability caught up with the conversation, his gasp of relief easily heard.
Master looked between the three, surprise easily seen on his face, “You thought that you had failed somehow? Or that I had … what do you think I did? Or what happened?”
Garnedell spoke up at this time, and Kilniara looked to Garnedell with relief, nodding in thanks, “Master… Joe, some masters abandon their apprentices if they feel they have failed them or they are too weak. We were not able to follow or complete your training this morning, then you sent us back to sleep and left us…”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Master’s large sigh and laugh cut of Garnedell’s explanation and Master shook his head slowly, “You know… that makes sense… complete sense from your point of view, but you did not failed at all. I … well… I’m just used to sleeping much less. I usually only sleep eight hours a day. Here, nights seem to be around sixteen hours, if I’m guessing right, and it is much longer than I am used to. But I forgot that you are used to sleep so long, and you must feel exhausted from waking so early and sleeping so late. You have not failed. I was foolish to not take into account your need for sleep.
“I did not abandon you. I left you to rest for today. You were exhausted and needed rest. I wanted you to rest well today. Didn’t I tell you when I left to rest?”
“A holiday?” Garnedell gasped a bit under his breath as relief overwhelmed by warmth rushed through Garnedell as he realized that Master had done.
“Ah.. yeah? I guess. I gave you the day off… or a holiday, if that makes more sense to you?”
Garnedell glanced quickly to Kilniara who also looked back, shock less evident on his face than the obvious appearance on Kilniara’s. Kilniara then looked to Master Joe and bowed again quickly.
“Thank you so much, Master.”
Joe chuckled a bit, with a sigh, “Please remember… my name is Joe. My parents never named me ‘master.’”
Garnedell smiled at Joe’s joke but Kilniara didn’t quite understand, simply ignoring Joe’s statement, not wishing to embarrass Master. Master Joe looked between the three of them, smiling when he looked at Garnedell and realized that Garnedell understood his joke.
Joe nodded for a bit before sighing disappointedly. Both Garendell and Kilniara tensed immediately. Zilnek tensed moments later as his intelligence grasped it.
“So… I guess you guys didn’t get any rest today, did you? You were probably spending most of the day worried instead of resting and relaxing. Right, then we’ll have another rest day, um… holiday, tomorrow. OK?”
Kilniara and Garnedell glanced at each other and grinned brightly, nodding eagerly before the stopped and turned to Zilnek as he interrupted their glee.
“Um… Master? What did you do today?”
“Oh!” Joe exclaimed a bit surprised, looking at Zilnek, “I went to the dungeon and killed some monsters, working on my jobs. I killed some goblins in the beginner’s dungeon.”
They remained quiet for Zilnek’s reply, waiting patiently, “Ah, then… may I go with you tomorrow? I really want to continue my training and growth. I was hoping to reach my fifth growth today.”
Joe nodded slowly, “Um… well… if you really want to, I have no problem. But we will be sleeping longer in the morning. I will probably still wake up before you, just because I can’t sleep as long as you. Since I don’t want to wake you up, I will leave the room to practice and then when you wake up well rested, we can meet in the common room for breakfast. OK?”
Kilniara, and Zilnek a few moments later, looked down, disappointed and Joe was able to catch their disappointment, “What’s wrong?”
Kilniara looked up, but said nothing, and Joe pressed harder, “It’s OK. Please. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Kiliniara remained silent but Garnedell answered for her, “We wish to still be trained in your ways.”
“Oh. Well, of course! I will train you. Do not worry. I’m not taking away your training. Do not worry. I will still find time to do forms. Those are very important. But we will maybe delay the time we go into the dungeon, or finish early so we could practice forms before supper, OK?”
All three beamed in joy at Joe’s statement and Joe then waved them away, “OK. I’m sticky and sweaty, but you all are nice and clean because you all sat in the inn all day playing and having fun! You made your poor master work hard for cores for our meals and beds! Give me my rest and time to bathe.”
Joe smiled at the three, a smirk easily visible on his face and Garnedell actually snickered at Joe’s statement, and Joe turned and chuckled with him. Kilniara’s eyes widened when she heard Garnedell’s laughter, but then relaxed and chuckled nervously herself when Joe only laughed back
“Alright, go. Let me bathe. But don’t let Kukurnal bully you. Go somewhere to have fun or whatever. I’ll take care of him and you guys can rest for the rest of the day. Just come eat when you want, and don’t worry about him. We’ll go to bed early tonight for you, OK? Uh… yeah… also… Take a single core each and sell it. Use that for your allowance money and go have fun!”
Kilniara goggled in shock and even Garnedell found himself struggling to hide his own surprise, looking at each other before grinning brightly and scrambling from the room, bringing Zilnek after. So much wealth, a core means nothing to him!
Joe called for them to wait as he went to the core bag and pulled out three slime cores, his most abundant core, and waved it at the two before tossing two to Kilniara. Kilniara jumped in place while holding the two cores in her hand and it was Garnedell who then called for her to hurry up and leave the room. They almost bumped into the bar staff bringing up Joe’s water shrine for his evening worship. Holiday!
* * *