Chapter 2
At the Orphanage
“Wake up!”
A voice accompanied by gentle taps on her cheek woke Tarafina up from her comfortable sleep.
She opened her eyes groggily and saw Erik’s usual blank expression.
“Morning,” she mumbled as she sat up on the bed. Suddenly, she remembered that she had fallen asleep in the bath. Why was she in the bed now? She looked down and found that she had been tightly wrapped in a towel.
“Seriously, I leave you for a short while and this happens,” Erik grumbled as he got off the bed took out some clothes from their pack. He then threw them on the bed while saying, “Get changed quickly. We’re going to register in the guild and get a few jobs.”
Tarafina stared at the air for a while processing the thoughts in her head. As soon as she understood what happened, she jumped off the bed grabbed the collar of Erik’s shirt and shook him back and forth.
“Forget everything you saw! Forget everything!” she shouted with teary eyes.
“It’s not like I wanted to see, and it’s not like I was interested in the first place,” was Erik’s heartless reply.
“YOU IDIOT!” she screamed as she jumped back in the bed and wrapped herself with a blanket. It took a few minutes for Erik to pacify her.
After that short incident, they left the inn with Tarafina following Erik’s lead. They had seen the adventurer’s guild earlier when they arrived, but she couldn’t remember exactly the way back.
While grumbling and muttering behind him which sounded like a curse, they walked on the streets grabbing a bit of attention.
“You better stop that or we’ll be the talk of the town,” Erik said.
“Hmph!” Tarafina snorted and snobbishly turned her head to the side. That was when she saw a man madly dashing towards them.
He stumbled in the middle of the street but that didn’t stop him from rolling his way towards them. He stopped right in front of Tarafina and jumped up. He then forcibly took her hand, got down on one knee and said, “Miss, please grant me the blessing of hearing your name!”
“Eh?!” She was shocked to the core. What the hell was wrong with this man? She tried pulling her hand free but his grip was strong.
Erik in front stopped walking and gave them a glance. His eyes wandered on the man’s hand holding on to hers, and Tarafina thought that she saw a glint of jealousy in his eyes.
“I beg of you! Let me hear your name!” the man pleaded. A few bystanders started whispering and gathering, wondering what was going on.
“Go on and tell him so we can go,” Erik said.
Is he in a bad mood? Tarafina thought. His expression was as usual though.
“T-Tarafina.”
“My! What a wonderful name! I am Borfin! May I ask as to where this fair maiden is going to?”
“The guild,” Erik answered in her place.
“Oh? And who might you be?”
“Erik, her brother.”
“Erik… what a strange name… but, I see. We met earlier at the guild. I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is mine, so can we go now? We’re not really in a hurry, but time is precious.”
“Ah! I’m very sorry for holding you back. Please, let me accompany you!”
He finally let go of her hand. Tarafina took this chance to move away from him and stepped closer to Erik.
“Suit yourself,” was Erik’s reply before turning his back and walked away like nothing just happened.
“You’re little brother’s pretty mature, huh?” Borfin said as he hopped to Tarafina’s side, who sent him a death glare.
“So what if he’s mature?” she grumbled.
“Nothing, nothing. Isn’t it nice to have a dependable little brother?”
“Hmph. You’re just saying that because you don’t know the situation.”
Borfin didn’t reply, but a wry smile appeared on his face as well as a slight nostalgia in his eyes.
“Welcome back, Sir Erik,” the lady behind the counter said.
“I brought my sister with me to register. I hope that doesn’t trouble you, Miss Lissan,” Erik politely said.
“Oh, no. This is part of my job so Sir Erik does not have to worry about troubling me.”
Off to the side, Tarafina and Borfin were glaring at the interaction between the two.
Suddenly, a loud laughter came from behind them and said, “The kid’s beating you at your game Borfin!”
It was a female dwarf in her late twenties. She had long dark brown hair tied into a thick braid. Two swords hung on her left hip.
With a smug smile, she started slapping Borfin’s back.
“You need to man up and up your game Borf!” she said with a loud laugh. She then proceeded to a different counter.
“Uhh… Who was that?” Tarafina couldn’t help but ask.
“Grimna,” Borfin replied, refusing to add any more explanations.
His eyes wandered to the young boy talking with the lady behind the counter and saw that he had been looking at them before returning his attention to the front. It even seemed like Lissan didn’t notice that the customer in front of her wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying.
“Come, Tara. Let’s begin the procedures,” Erik suddenly said. With an OK, she went to the counter and began filling up the necessary forms.
Borfin remained where he stood. He had been feeling something strange coming from this young boy. It was a sense that this boy was hiding an extremely big secret. His words and actions were too mature for his age and appearance.
A jolt of lightning seemed to pass through him when he suddenly remembered something. With his eyes glued on Erik’s back, he recounted the tales he had heard when he was a child in his mind.
Tales about Sacred Knights.
“That can’t be,” he thought. “I’m sure it’s just coincidence.”
The procedures went smoothly. Erik and Tarafina now both possess an Adventurer’s ID Card. When she received her card, she felt something being sucked out of her hand, the same feeling she got when casting magic.
It could be used to deposit and withdraw money from the guild’s affiliated banking houses. Monetary rewards from the completion of guild requests can be sent directly into those banks. It could also be used as proof of identity when needed.
“It’s such a handy thing, isn’t it?” Borfin said as he explained their uses to Tarafina.
“So…” Tarafina said with a strange look, “why are you with us?”
Currently, the trio were making their way to a residential district withing Garandale. She and her brother had taken a simple request to deliver a package to a certain resident. This was so they could experience first hand how the guild’s request-and-reward system works, on the behest of Erik.
Tarafina wanted to postpone this for tomorrow, but on her brother’s insistence, she was forced to go.
“Of course, as a veteran member of the guild, it is my duty to provide guidance and assistance to my juniors like you,” Borfin answered smoothly as if he had practiced this line a thousand times.
“We don’t need your consideration!” she said as she tried to increase her pace. Of course, Borfin matched her like a tail. Seeing that she couldn’t shake him off, she turned a pleading look to the young boy in the lead, “Erik, say something.”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“We’re finally in the residential district.”
“Not that!”
The residential district was in the northern area of the city, and the delivery location of the package was close to the city’s northern exit.
“I wonder what’s in the package?” Tarafina muttered as she looked at the object in her hands. It was the said package, a rectangular box tightly wrapped in cloth.
“Lissan recommended this request, so I’m guessing its something related to her,” was Erik’s opinion.
“The person we’re delivering it to is someone she knew?” Tarafina asked.
“Probably.”
Borfin had grown quiet for sometime and Tarafina felt somewhat strange for his sudden change in attitude. Well, it was not a bad thing for her as the nuisance had finally disappeared.
In the end, she couldn’t help herself and ask, “Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Ah… no. I was just admiring your graceful walking… The way you move your legs, your shoulders, your waist…”
A loud thud was heard accompanied by the sound of what seemed like crushed flesh and broken bones. Erik didn’t need to turn his head to know that Tarafina had drilled a painful lesson into Borfin’s body with her fist.
“Geez! I was a fool for even worrying a little! Grrr!” she grumbled as she stomped her foot while walking.
“Did you make sure you didn’t kill him,” Erik asked without a hint of emotion.
“That’s cold!” Borfin’s voice came from behind them.
“Stop following us!” she shouted.
“I’m not following you two… I’m following you.”
“Gaaah!!! Erik do something!”
“We’re almost there.”
Tarafina kept on complaining the entire way as Borfin stuck to her like a leech. Finally, they reached their destination.
“This place is…” Tarafina looked at the small and simple building. On the wide front yard, there were a dozen children of varied ages playing around. Three adults were watching over them.
“An orphanage,” Borfin provided her the answer.
“Excuse me, we have a delivery request from the guild,” Erik said as he approached the gate. The other two followed close behind him.
One of the adults, a man in his forties, approached and opened the gate for them.
“My name is Judivo, the owner of this orphanage,” the man said with a pleasant smile.
The trio introduced themselves and greeted the other two adults as they joined them in the yard.
“Here is the package.”
Erik took the package from Tarafina and handed it over.
“I see. This is from Lissan, right?” Judivo asked.
“I’m not sure exactly. She recommended this request to us without introducing the client, so…”
“That’s just like her.” The middle-aged man chuckled. “Lissan also grew up in this orphanage. She belonged to the first group of children who was taken here, and was also the eldest child in the bunch. She was like the big sister of every kid here.”
Erik listened quietly to the man as he narrated the events of the past.
“Big sis, come play with us,” a little boy approached Tarafina and asked with a shy expression.
Looking to the side, she found that Erik was listening to Judivo’s tale so she took this opportunity to at least enjoy a little.
Borfin silently followed along.
“So, what are we playing?” Tarafina asked as the children surrounded her.
“Uhm, can we ask something, big sis?” it was a girl this time who asked.
“Go ahead!”
“Uhm… Are you an elf?” she asked.
“Ah… haha,” Tarafina laughed wryly at the question. “Sorry to disappoint you, but nope.”
The children had dejected expressions.
“Have you never seen an elf before?” she asked them.
“We only heard stories, and old man Judivo wouldn’t let us out of here, so we hadn’t seen one,” one of the children explained.
“But we know that elves have sharp ears and are very beautiful and s-s-sexy,” a boy said while blushing.
Tarafina felt slightly embarrassed as she was indirectly described as beautiful.
“Well, I may not be a pure-blooded elf, but my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma was an elf!”
The children’s eyes widened after hearing this.
“That’s a lot of greats,” Borfin commented at the side.
“Oh, shut up, you!”
“Shut up, you!” the children imitated her with a cheery voice and laughed.
After that, they started playing a game of hide-and-seek. Although Borfin was uninvited by the children, he joined in and was forcefully made it by Tarafina.
“The children are having fun with your comrades,” Judivo said with a warm smile.
“I’m sorry. My sister is immature despite her age, and that man is just an acquaintance we only met a while ago.”
“It is you I find interesting. Such a mature child,” he placed his hand on Erik’s head and patted it.
He then opened the package. What was inside was a bundle of waivers.
“She really outdid herself this time.” Judivo shook his head then said, “Once you return to the guild, please tell Lissan my thanks and that we owe her a lot and will surely repay her back in the future.”
“Are you sure about that?” Erik suddenly asked.
“What do you mean?”
“This is my opinion, but I think that Lissan will never think that you owe her. Instead it should be that she felt like she was the one who is in great debt to you.”
Judivo was stunned by this. Than shook his head as he laughed at himself.
“I really am getting old.”
“You are still quite young, good sir.”
“Don’t flatter me, kid.” He thought for a while, then said, “Then tell her to come visit us whenever she have time.”
“This message I will surely relay.”
“You should act your age, too, kid. Don’t you want to play around, too, like other kids your age?”
A small bitter smile appeared on Erik’s face. It was an expression filled with many meanings that he only knew of.
“My sister is immature and unreliable. We lost our father about three years ago. She only has me to rely on. If I don’t take this role, I will feel uneasy for her.”
“Hmm… I see… But, if you act this way, won’t she come to just rely on you forever?”
“That’s…”
“Something you have to think about.”
“I thank you for your advice.”
“No, no. I thank you for taking your time to listen to this old man’s ramblings.”
“You’re still far from being old, Sir Judivo.”
As they were about to wrap up their conversation, one of the adults watching over the children earlier came out of the building with a flustered expression.
“Jud, Henoia is missing!”