Darthañan closed the book surprised by what had happened. The moment he fixed his eyes on the words on the page his internal energy began to be sucked at a fast pace. Not only that, but he and his entire family were also teleported to the place where everything was happening as if they were there.
“I am Laxus!” Theodor shouted, hiding his right arm inside his shirt.
Darthañan assumed that what his children saw was a suitable version for them(Censored) because after what had happened in the caverns of the cranial peaks, the little ones were in a delicate state of mind. And from Theodor and Elizabeth's reactions, he thought they didn't see trolls eat people.
“Mommy, why aren't there more humans?” Elizabeth asked puzzled when she saw that in the story there were several human men and women, but in her entire life, she had not seen any human other than her family.
“Humans mostly live in the middle islands, some in the high islands ...”
Frigglene stopped her explanation when she saw that Elizabeth did not understand what she was saying. Transforming one of her hands into smoke she formed a cylinder. Extending a fingernail from her other hand, she separated the cylinder into three, leaving a fine thread joining the three new cylinders that formed a kind of tower.
" This is all Almawarth's empire, " Frigglene began to explain.
Theodor moved closer to hear the explanation.
“There are thousands of floating islands throughout the empire.
“Which is the largest?” asked Theodor sitting on the lap of his mother.
“That would be the imperial island, which is located above all islands,” Darthañan replied pointing to the top of the cylinder that was above the others.
“And where are we?” asked again Theodor.
“Down here.” Darthañan pointed to the lower cylinder.
“And what ...”
“Theodor!” Elizabeth screamed when she saw that her brother kept interrupting.
“Hmm!” Theodor crossed his arms and stuck his tongue to his sister.
Elizabeth ignored him and asked Frigglene to continue.
“The islands are divided into three because their size and resources change depending on their position. Those that are close to the imperial island are called the higher islands; those in between are the middle islands and the smallest are the lower islands.”
" But there is an island almost as big as the imperial island in the lowest part, " said Darthañan.
" It is known as Morgrum, " he added, trying to make a mysterious voice.
" The vast majority of humans inhabit the middle islands, " said Frigglene, trying not to talk about things not suitable for children.
“Why don't they live in the high islands? If they are better, humans should live there,” Elizabeth asked making good reasoning.
“That’s a very good point because if someone is given the option to pick where to live they would probably always choose the high islands. However, the most powerful species were those that took control of these islands,” Frigglene replied returning her hand to its original form.
“So humans are weak?” asked Theodor lamenting.
“Yes, but you are not only human. Like me, you both have vampire blood in your veins.”
“And the vampires live in the high islands?” asked Theodor.
“Yes, most vampires inhabit the high islands.”
“Yei!” the little kid jumped happily.
" Wait a minute, " Darthañan interrupted.
“Humans are not weak. Many humans are living in high islands.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
" Yes, but most of them live on the middle islands, " Frigglene answered.
“You can say that; However, in total, we have much more numbers than vampires and the number of powerful humans is equal to the number of vampires that exist.”
“And how many of those humans own high islands?”
Darthañan puffing out his cheeks turned his back on Frigglene. Elizabeth watched as her parents argued on her dad's lap saw how her mom suddenly opened her eyes and covered her mouth.
" My love, sorry I didn't mean to, " said Frigglene, lifting Theodor and leaving him on the floor.
Elizabeth gave a little jump and stood next to her brother. Who, while his parents reconciled, indicated to his sister to follow him with his only visible hand.
The two little ones started to walk to the door. Theodor tried to open it with his left hand without success; for the second attempt, he had to pull his right arm out from under his shirt, and by jumping, he was able to open the door.
Hearing the door, the two parents were immediately alerted. They have learned that with the kids they could not be distracted for a moment.
“We are soon going for breakfast. How many times do we have to tell you that you can't go out alone?” Darthañan said going towards the door.
Seeing the Nerthus sitting in the hall outside the door. His body was filled with energy and with a single movement, he appeared in front of the children.
Frigglene who had followed Darthañan recognized the Nerthus and appeared at her husband's side to explain what had happened in the dining room.
“Hello,” greeted Theodor.
“Look, Eli, he is my friend ...” Theodor said soon realizing that he had forgotten the name of the warrior.
“Eh ...” the little boy made up a name.
“Wolf horn,” Theodor confirmed with a serious face.
“Wolf horn, this is my sister Eli.” Theodor introduced them.
Darthañan and Frigglene's faces became complicated. For the Nerthus their names represented their honor, what Theodor had just done could be considered a very serious offense. And when they were both thinkings of apologizing, the Nerthus knelt in front of Theodor bowing his head.
“Sigurd is the name of this coward.”
Theodor's confusion was indeed a strong insult. However, Sigurd was in such a state that he considered abandoning his name. He didn't do it thinking about his parents, but it was a constant reminder of his cowardice.
“Eli, Sigurd; Sigurd, Eli.” Theodor presented them again as if no one had realized what he had just done.
“Dad he is Sigurd, Sigurd he is dad.”
“Mommy you already knew him; Sigurd, this is my mom.”
Once he was done he started to walk towards the dining room. The three adults stared at his back in confusion.
“Good morning,” Elizabeth greeted with a small bow as her mother had taught her and immediately ran after her brother.
Darthañan was the most confused of the three, but Frigglene soon explained what she knew, and inviting the Nerthus to join them for breakfast, she went after the children.
“Nice to meet you.” Darthañan offered his hand to the Nerthus.
"Nice to meet you, " Sigurd replied as he got up accepting Darthañan’s help.
The two men began to walk behind Frigglene in awkward silence. When they got to the dining room everyone served their plates and started eating. The food on the boat was buffet style so there was something for every taste.
Theodor tried a yellow drink that enchanted him. It was passion fruit juice, which he accompanied with meat sausages. Elizabeth when tasting the juice that her brother had chosen made a face of disgust, stuck her tongue out at how acid it seemed, so she preferred orange juice with a dish similar to pink, green, and blue pancakes. In addition to that, both little ones added a suspicious amount of cheese to their dishes.
Darthañan and Frigglene served themselves a good quantity of fruit and a cup of coffee. For his part, Sigurd preferred not to eat anything.
“Are you saying you want to be Theodor's servant?” Darthañan asked for the fifth time, unable to understand why a being as powerful as Sigurd wanted to serve under a three-year-old boy.
More than a good thing, it seemed very suspicious.
" Exactly, " Sigurd replied.
“What my husband means is that we do not understand why a person of the second magnitude wants to serve a young child out of the blue.”
Sigurd ran his fingers through his fur. He understood the situation of Theodor's parents but was ashamed to explain to them the reason why he had nearly killed himself. For this reason, he decided to be brief with his words without explaining everything.
“I am not comfortable talking about my past. I just want to give my knowledge on to someone who will do better than me with it.” Sigurd let out a sigh, and as he had done before, he cut his palm. The first cut had already healed while he waited outside their room.
" I am ready to serve the four of you if that gives you peace of mind, " said Sigurd, showing them the palm of his hand.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Darthañan tilting his head.
" I'm pretty good at this kind of thing, " he added, still not believing that this man was offering himself as the servant of the family.
“I’m totally sure.”
" Well, so be it, " replied Darthañan, smearing the tip of four of his fingers in Sigurd's blood.
Frigglene got up and asking each child, who were focused on the food, for a hand, helped Darthañan place a point of blood on the palms of their hands. Darthañan then placed a point on his hand and another on Frigglene's hand, each with a different finger.
Sigurd closed the injured hand and using a moderate amount of energy together with Darthañan ended the contract. A white light illuminated the hands of the five, attracting the attention of the other passengers, who upon seeing Sigurd were frightened and ignored the poor family that perhaps was being extorted.
In this way, by giving up his blood voluntarily, Sigurd's life had been left in the hands of the family he had just met. For now, only Darthañan and Frigglene knew how to activate the contract, as it would be quite tragic if any of the children activated it by accident or out of curiosity without knowing the consequences.