Benny thought that riding a roller coaster was fast.
But for this animal, it seemed that it could easily double that!
The view suddenly became a high speed blur as they drove down the road. The wagon rocked and turned but miraculously stayed intact. The same could not be said for Benny as he was pressed against his seat with such force that it felt like his brain was being turned to mush! Whenever they reached a bump in the road, he was sent flying and smashing his head at the canopy then crashing back down hard on his seat.
His cries to slow down went unheard as the Meo and his Unicorn were practically enjoying themselves. It was not long until they reached a winding pass around the side of the cliff that they finally slowed down.
“The turns here are too sharp and narrow to just speed through them.” says Meo.
“Thank God…” says Benny, feeling his heart had just raced along at the same speed as them with them.
“Blast it! I wanted to go really fast and head on back home at full speed!” grumbled Tenryu.
“We have a better chance of running off a cliff!” Benny points out.
“Come to think of it, isn’t that Broome Pointe?” says Nia, pointing up ahead where a ledge jutted out from the cliff.
Tenryu lightened up, “Blistering Blazes, you’re right!”
“Broome Pointe?” repeats Benny.
“It’s a place where we can see Amber City! Hey Meo, can you stop by for a minute!”
They stopped right before the ridge. Before Benny could blink, Tenryu grabbed his wrist and pulled him out the cart. Ignoring Benny’s protests once again, Tenryu dragged him to the very edge.
“Take a look over there! That’s Amber City!”
Benny had never seen a city like that before! It looked like one of those you’d see from a computer game or a fantasy show!
Amber City is a seaside city built along the mouth of a very large and wide river. Making it looked like the city was divided into two large sections. The river itself was so huge that it had a few islets in it. A series of bridges connected the two halves of the city and its islands.
The city had no skyscrapers but it did have several very prominent structures, both of which were on the river islands. At the heart of the city, built atop of the larger island was a magnificent cathedral with two enormous spires. The structure was so huge that Benny could practically see it from this distance! The other prominent structure was a strange building, something like a castle or a fort built which occupied the much smaller island located at the very mouth of the river.
“Amazing, huh?” says Tenryu. “There’s no place like home!”
Benny had to agree, “Yeah…It’s really beautiful…”
Tenryu took a deep breath and then he shouted at the top of his voice!
“HEY, ALL YOU PEOPLE! I’M BACK!!!”
Benny had to clamp his hands to his ears. Tenryu had quite the set of vocal cords! He didn’t even need a megaphone but Benny thought he could easily match that of an airplane jet taking off!
“Geez, Tenryu! It’s not like anyone is going to hear you from here!”
Nia approached them with a chuckle, “That’s just Tenryu’s way of showing that his is homesick.”
Benny stared at the boy who was still hollering at the top of his voice.
“I see… I guess everyone has their own way of expressing it.”
Tenryu stopped and turned to them with a grin, “We’ll that’s the end of that! Let’s get going then! We we’re wasting time here!”
With that, he started marching back to the wagon.
“You’re the reason why we’re wasting time in the first place…”
They managed to speed up again. Even though Benny tried to brace himself again, he couldn’t help but feel as though it were a rollercoaster ride with no safety mechanism. Benny had to count the seconds and by the five-hundredth count they finally reached the edge of city.
“Alright, from here on out we go back to normal speed- meow!”
The Unicorn neighed defiantly.
“You know there’s a speed limit in every cities and towns so no complaining-meow!”
Benny was at least grateful for the speed limit because there was no way he could take another super-speeded trip. When they finally reached the city that’s where the true wonder began!
Being in the city was clearly different from just watching it from afar!
Benny felt as though he had put on a virtual reality helmet and actually stepped into the game. The place had the designs of European town. Complete with parks, fountains and large water channels. Even the locals looked like NPC’s of a MMORPG game.
But this was no game. It was all real! Along with it was all the Magic.
The place was literally filled with everything about a Magic! Benny’s eyes were wide and glittering with excitement and wonder!
One example was the transport. There wasn’t a car, truck or motorbikes in sight. Although the city’s most common mode of transportation were mostly wagons and carriages being pulled by Unicorns.
Even the day to day activities involved Magic! They passed by a restaurant where a waiter was “carrying” several trays of food which were actually incased in giant bubbles floating around the waiter!
“Waiter!” a customer called, “Where’s my order?!”
“It’s coming right up, sir!”
The waiter made one of the bubbles float towards his customer. It popped lightly and tray settled perfectly without spilling its contents! A rather convenient way of serving customers efficiently was what Benny thought.
The wagon passed by a woman tending her garden. This would’ve been a normal sight if it weren’t for the two opposite bushes that had branches that were each holding gardening shears and were pruning themselves while the woman was busy sowing seeds.
“Mom could definitely use one of those…Self Pruning Plants” Benny whispered to himself.
Tenryu kept glancing at Benny’s direction and saw the wonder in his eyes. He felt rather nostalgic. Benny had the same look as he had when first came to this city so long ago…
“So kids, where are you going to head on to now-meow? Mind you, there are places where the wagon isn’t allowed on-meow.”
“Don’t worry about that. Just drop us off at my place. It’s at that street!” Tenryu points to a big street on the right.
“Say Tenryu, where do you live?” asks Benny.
He was wondering what kind of place a super destructive fire Swordsmage would live. To be honest, at first Benny imagined it would be some small cot in a cave to a huge castle like that school in the Harry Potter books. Seeing as Tenryu has a family here and there was obviously no gigantic castles or caves in a big city, those options were immediately crossed out.
“Oh, you’ll see it when we get there!”
“So you’ll be staying over at Tenryu’s then, Benjamin?”
“Um, I guess…I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”
Tenryu suddenly yelled, “We’re here!”
Meo pulled on the reins and Gallop skidded to a halt.
They stopped along a street fronting the huge river! It had a scenic view of the riverside and the buildings built alongside it.
After Benny, Tenryu and Nia got off the wagon, Meo turned his wagon around.
“I’ll be heading off to make my delivery now-meow!”
“Thanks for everything, Meo!” says Benny, shaking his furry hand or rather his paw.
Meo winked at him, “Anytime-meow!”
“And please send our thanks to Mr. Azalea as well!” says Nia.
“Just call me on the Manna-phone if you need me to take you somewhere again-meow!”
They waved goodbye to Meo and Gallop as they well…galloped away.
Tenryu stretched himself, “That was a fun ride!”
“Yeah it was, although I think I can do without the Mach 10 speed.”
Benny rubbed his belly still feeling queasy.
“Mach-what?” asked Tenryu.
“A measure for how fast one goes in sonic speed.” Benny explains without realizing it.
“Oh, really?” says Tenryu, he was leaning his head on one side as though his brain were in processing mode.
“Don’t try to think too much about it! It’s all complicated and stuff.” says Benny quickly.
Tenryu shrugs and grabs Benny by the shoulders and turns him to face a large building.
“Well, never mind that. This is my place!”
Now this was something completely unexpected!
In sharp contrast to the other European-style buildings, Tenryu’s home was an Orient inspired building. It was about two floors tall. A couple of paper lanterns, hung on either side of the sliding door entrance way.
There was some kind of signboard hanging in a wall. Benny could see it was written in a language different from English. To his utter surprise, it was written in one of the languages Abuela taught him!
“Hey, Tenryu, what language is that?” Benny asked.
“What the blitz are you talking about? That’s Runic. It’s an everyday language…”
So that’s the standard language in this world?
“Wait, are you telling me that you can’t read?”
“No, it’s not that! I can read it just fine.”
Yes, he can. And it was all thanks to Abuela.
“You’ll need this someday, Iho…” was what Abuela always told him.
But he clearly remembered the annoyed look his teacher told him not to play around when he showed this language to him. Yet this language was well known here in this world and is even a standard.
If that were the case... how did Abuela know a language from another world? Benny thought.
“So what do you think? The prices are pretty cheap, huh?”
“Huh?”
Benny realized that Tenryu was talking about the signboard. He quickly glance it over. From the looks of it must be some kind of restaurant menu.
There was even a drawing of dragon curled around a sun hung over the entrance. Painted on it where the runic words:
THE SUN DRAGON
“Is this a restaurant?” says Benny in surprise, “Your family runs a restaurant?”
Tenryu frowned, “What’s wrong with that?”
“N-nothing!” says Benny backtracks. “I just didn’t expect you to live in a kind of place.”
“Tenryu’s sister, Flare and his aunt run the whole place.” Nia explains.
“Hey, I help out sometimes!”
“And when was the last time you did?” Nia says with a sly smile.
“Well, I…think that was Tuesday…a month ago… Blistering Blazes, let’s just get in!”
Benny followed Tenryu and Nia as they entered restaurant.
This place looked a lot like the traditional Japanese bars that Benny had seen in Anime. There was a bar surrounding the cooking area where customers can see the chef cook. There were even tables and chairs on the side.
The place had a rather relaxing atmosphere.
There was some kind of bamboo plant that was artfully twisted with a smoking tranquility fountain right next to it on a coffee table. Benny has seen tranquility fountains that emitted smoke to give it a sort of mystic appearance but this one was unique as the puffs of smoke took the shape of a dragon that were waving around before fading away.
The only thing that seemed off from the oriental theme was a small portrait of a rather beautiful, young smiling girl. When Benny went to look at it she seemed pretty familiar.
Benny also noticed that there weren’t any customers. Maybe it wasn’t rush hour for them.
There was a bell hanging on the side which Benny could assume that it’s for alerting the staff. Sure enough, Tenryu approached the counter and rang the bell.
“Aunt Magma! I’m home!”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Benny only just realized that he was about to meet Tenryu’s folks and was getting anxious at thought. Would they look like his family? He remembered Tenryu mentioning that he had a sister and aunt. But would they look like his mother or sister or even any of his female relatives?
Suddenly he felt something else. He needed to go to the bathroom. That nervousness just alerted him that he hasn’t done his “business” since this morning and he was in his breaking point!
“Um, Tenryu…Is there a restroom I can use?”
“Yeah, just down the hall-”
Benny made a mad dash down the hallway and found the restroom. Thankfully they had the same symbols to indicate which was which and ran right in.
“That was fast…” says Tenryu with a sweatdrop.
Nia giggled, “He’s actually quite funny when you get past the similarities.”
“Why are you saying as that as though I’m not funny? I can be funny when I want to!”
Nia shrugged, “To be honest I don’t know when you are trying to be funny or just plain stupid.”
“WHAT?!” yelled Tenryu.
“Now what’s this? You just got back and already you’re making a ruckus?”
The two of them turned and saw a woman approaching them from behind a door. She was wearing traditional Japanese chef outfit and an apron with the restaurant’s symbol printed over it. Her graying red hair was tied into an elaborate bun and held in place with a pair of chopsticks.
Despite her apparently kind face she did look pretty stern as of the moment.
“Magma-tia, I’m back!” Tenryu grins at her.
“Hello, Auntie Magma!” Nia greets her.
“Well, hello, Healer Nia! You’ve just returned from your job I see?”
“Yes.” Nia nodded.
“I’m glad you made it back safe and sound.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I only take on healing jobs anyway. Speaking of which, I also want drop this off!
Nia reaches into her purse and pulls out a small dropper.
“Ah, you’ve made my eye medication! Thank you, dear!”
“OI!!!”
Tenryu grumbled impatiently tapping his foot. “What am I an insect?! Or, are you guys deliberately just ignoring me?!”
Aunt Magma and Nia looked at each other before giggling.
Aunt Magma patted him on the cheek, “Now, now Tenryu-iho? You were yelling from Broome Pointe again, haven’t you?”
Tenryu was satisfied that everyone heard him.
“So you were able to hear me then!”
“Neighbors complained about it just now…every time you do that they come here to complain.” Auntie Magma sighs.
“See? I told you to quit doing that.” says Nia.
Tenryu sweatdropped, “Err…sorry…”
“Speaking of which…Tenryu-iho…You’ve done it again, haven’t you?”
“Eh? What?”
“Burning half of Tin Town?”
She really got to the point fast!
“H-How did you know about-?”
Nia shook her head with a sigh. It seemed as though she was used to this. “I should’ve guessed those rumors about what happened in Tin Town were about you.”
“Geh?! Nia you know about it too?!”
“The rumors were about a young red-headed boy with a flaming sword going berserk in that town. Did you actually think I wouldn’t know it was you?”
“Not to mention I’ve also heard some kind of commotion had happened in Marblewood Town?”
“Don’t worry, Aunt Magma, I was there so it wasn’t bad…at least I hope
“Word traveled fast. And I overheard some merchants talking about it when I went out for groceries. Not to mention it, it was in the newspapers this morning.”
“Gossiping old geezers…and those nosy reporters…” Tenryu grumbled in an undertone.
“So it’s true then?”
“So I burnt a few private homes, but I did capture the bandits terrorizing the town!”
“That’s the problem!” says Nia.
“What? Capturing the bandits?”
“No! I meant burning the town in the process! You didn’t have to smash through those buildings just to get to the criminals though.”
Tenryu pouted as his shoulders slumped.
“It’s just that I had to do something or they’d get away! Robbing the townspeople and the travelers on the road! Those punks need to be taught a lesson!”
“As much as I agree with you, that still doesn’t give you the right to go wild like that. You can’t just go blasting everything in sight. You are too much of a…what was that word? A ‘loose cannon’ I suppose?”
Tenryu has been called loose cannon so many times already that he had lost count.
“From all that’s happened, I’m guessing you didn’t get any reward again?”
“No…but actually I…”
“You’re lucky though that your sister isn’t the first one to greet you…otherwise…”
Tenryu flinched, that last time he came home with another messed up job his sister… He shuddered at the thought.
“Please don’t tell Flare-ate about this!”
“I’m pretty sure she knows… It’s best to be prepared.”
Tenryu groaned in dismay.
For once, Magma gave a sympathetic smile, “I know you mean well, but you have to think before you act. Sometimes a direct approach is not always the best way to handle things. Think about how much trouble you’ve caused for all those people in Tin Town.”
The thought didn’t cross his mind initially but now that it came up, he couldn’t help but feel a tad remorseful.
“All of your reckless tendencies do remind me a lot of that man. But I told you this isn’t something like his line of jobs.”
Tenryu was grumbling underneath his breath. It annoys him whenever Aunt Magma brings either of that up.
“I was just trying to prove myself!”
“I know one day you will! But take it a step at a time. Sometime you have to pause a bit and think.”
Tenryu looked a little dejected.
“Well, at least what’s important is that you’ve come back home safe!” Auntie Magma gives her nephew a gentle pat on the cheek again and then ruffling his hair.
Tenryu shrugs off her hand in embarrassment.
“Auntie, quit it! You’re embarrassing me!”
“Why? It’s only Nia here. And she’s seen me do this since you were younger!”
Nia chuckles, “He probably doesn’t want Benjamin to see Mr. Hotshot looking all sweet and cuddly.”
“Benjamin?” Aunt Magma raises her eyebrows in question. “Who is that? Do we have a guest?”
“Didn’t Tenryu send a letter to inform you?”
“No. Inform me for what?”
Nia looks at Tenryu who suddenly broke out in sweat.
“Tenryu…”
“Um…”
“You did write that letter before we got here, right?”
“Blast it…I knew forgot something…” Tenryu mumbled in an undertone.
***
Meanwhile, at the restroom…
After relieving himself, Benny strode over to the sink to wash off.
“Gah!” yells Benny after catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
His hair was all messy, he had dried drool on his cheek, and not mention there was something stuck to his teeth. When Benny checked his breath it reeked! Did he seriously look that disheveled? Why didn’t Tenryu or Nia warn him about this?
Benny found this quite mortifying.
Immediately, he rummaged in his bag and found his toiletries kit. It still smelled a bit salty but it will have to do. After brushing his teeth, washing his face and combing his hair neatly, Benny applied some cologne that his mom always made him carry.
Checking himself in the mirror again Benny deemed himself satisfactory looking. After all, Dad always said that first impression has a big impact when you’re meeting with new people!
But then Benny’s smile faltered.
Why was the first thoughts that come to mind where that of his parents?
He felt that odd feeling in his stomach again.
But Benny shook his head and slapped himself in the cheeks. “No! No! No! None of that right now!”
He took a deep breath and calmed himself.
“Alright!” he says to himself, “Better go meet the Fyreroars!”
Benny went out of the bathroom feeling refreshed but that odd feeling was still lingering. He was still preoccupied that he didn’t notice that he had bumped into someone.
“Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t-”
“Tenryu?!” says a female voice.
Benny looked up in surprised.
Standing in front of him was a teenage girl who was probably the same age as Ate Cathy. She had brown hair which was braided over her left shoulder. She had a well-defined hourglass figure which was further accentuated by her clothes. She was wearing a kimono that was only knee length and tied around her waist was an apron printed with the same symbol as the one outside.
Benny knew immediately that she was most likely Tenryu’s elder sister.
“Tenryu, is that you?” she said as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“N-no, I’m not Tenryu-” Benny tries to explain but quick as a whip she yanked him painfully by the ear.
“Don’t you try to fool me mister! You think you can hide yourself by disguising yourself? What did you do to your hair? And what’s with those clothes?!”
She kept firing question after question. But Benny was having a hard time thinking of an answer when she was yanking his ear like that!
“But more importantly, what the blitz where you thinking?!” she yelled at his ear.
Yup, she’s definitely Tenryu’s sister: they have the same loud voice!
“Not only did I find out that you wrecked half of Tin Town but on the way back here you’ve caused a mess in Marble Town!”
Wrecked half of Tin Town? Just what has Tenryu been doing?
But Benny was pretty sure the latter part about Marblewood wasn’t true.
“You think we wouldn’t notice the newspapers reporting about it! Do you know how many reporters and nosy gossips I had to fend off?! Auntie Magma has already enough problems without that!”
Benny was starting to lose all feeling in his ear.
“I’m telling you I’m not Tenryu, Ms. Flare!” Benny yelled.
“Ms. Flare?” Thankfully, Flare was so stunned that she lets go of his ear. “Since when do you call me that?”
“What is going on here?”
“Flare-ate!” yelled Tenryu’s voice from the down the hallway.
Flare’s jaw dropped. She was looking from Tenryu to Benny and back in forth.
“Wait…there are two Tenryu?!”
“Like I’ve been telling you I’m not Tenryu!”
Flare still looked stunned.
“He’s the guy who looks like me!” Tenryu threw an arm around Benny’s shoulders and grinned.
Aunt Magma approached Benny to take a closer look.
“Hmm…So this is the boy then? Oh my, you really do look like our Tenryu-iho. At least except for the hair and eyes. You can be mistaken for Tenryu-iho at first but at the second glance you two are very different that’s for sure!”
Aunt Magma gives him a warm smile that seems to melt all of Benny’s worries away.
“And so dear, what is your name?”
“Um, my name is Benjamin Estrella, ma’am.” Benny bows politely. Maybe he was too enthusiastic because his glasses fell off his nose.
Tenryu and Nia seemed to snicker at that.
“You dropped your glasses, dear!”
“Ah, I’m so sorry about that!”
Benny picks up his glasses and cleans the lenses with his shirt. As he puts them back on, he was surprised to see the look of shock in Aunt Magma’s face.
Aunt Magma mumbled, “Those eyes…”
“Excuse me?” asks Benny “Is something wrong?”
Aunt Magma seemed to snap back out of her reverie. “Oh! Forgive me! I was just surprised by how similar you look to Tenryu!”
“You and everybody else, Magma-tia!” says Tenryu.
Benny could tell that this was just part of the reason but decided not to bring it up.
“Your name is Benjamin? It’s a lovely name. In Medea, it means ‘Son of the South’.”
“Oh! Really?” says Benny, with a shy smile.
Aunt Magma was looking at him thoughtfully. “And your last name is Estrella is it?”
Benny nods.
“Interesting…”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I think I should be preparing some lunch! You kids must be hungry from your trip! Now come along!”
She quickly hurried them down the hall.
“What the blitz was that about?” asks Tenryu.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you do that?” says Benny.
A while later everyone was seated within the Fyreroar’s main residence above the restaurant.
The residence itself still carried the style of a traditional Japanese home. The room they were in had tatami mats, pillows and a low-leveled table.
Flare prepared a cold pink-colored juice drink made of a fruit called a Peachmango. She also gave Benny a bowl of ice and piece of cloth while at the same time saying numerous apologies to him. Benny had to assure her so many times as well that there were no hard feelings, although he was getting rather embarrassed by this.
Tenryu sat beside him grumbling. A large, pallid bump was swelling on the top of his head.
“You want some ice for that Tenryu?” Benny whispered to him.
“Nah, I’m good! Flare-ate always hits me for no good reason.”
As soon as the initial shock died down, Flare was quick to pound Tenryu and berate him. But Aunt Magma came to his aide and told her to save it for later.
Benny sweatdropped, “I’m pretty sure she does have a good reason. Speaking of which what happened at Tin Town?”
Tenryu flinched.
“You don’t want to know…and don’t bring that up or she’ll hit me again!”
With that Benny made a mental not never to cross Flare. He took a sip of the Peachmango drink and found that he really liked it.
“You’re name is Benjamin, isn’t it?” Flare asked Benny.
“Yes, but you can call me Benny for short. My name can be quite a handful to say.”
Flare peered at him closely, “Blistering Blazes, you two really look alike. Well, except for the hair color and the eyes. Yours don’t have that crazy look to them.”
“Hey!” Tenryu says loudly in protest.
“Ever since I met Tenryu I’ve been getting that a lot.”
Aunt Magma, who was seated right in front of them, smiled, “So Benny. Care to explain how you’ve come here?”
Benny had practiced his story mentally and finally got it down. Benny started off on how he was riding a boat that capsized in the storm. He met Tenryu who saved him when he was lost in Marblewood Forest and the both of them then decided to travel together. He then went on how they met with Nia in Marblewood Town and facing off against a bandit group that attacked the restaurant they were eating at. Tenryu was quick to pitch in and describe how he dealt with the bandits. Nia added some important details the Tenryu “forgot” to mention, like the part where Tenryu rushed in without thinking and got injured by the Cactus Hun.
“Vacuum Implosion Magic?!” gasps Aunt Magma, “It isn’t serious is it? Is it still painful?!”
“Auntie, I’m fine Nia had fixed me up!”
“However, had Benjamin not distracted the man and shielded us with Magic I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do it.” Nia points out, to which Benny blushed in embarrassment.
“Oh, so that’s what happened? I heard differently…” says Flare.
Tenryu jolted, “W-what do you mean?”
Flare pulled out a newspaper with a huge picture. Benny instantly recognized it as a photo of the restaurant they were in Marblewood Town.
“So you’re saying this isn’t Tenryu’s handiwork?” Flare said it with a smile, but for some reason it caused Tenryu (and Benny) to shiver greatly.
Tenryu was quick to protest, “Hey, it wasn’t me! It was that short creep, Cranky Hut!”
“Tenryu…his name is Cactus Hun.” Benny corrects him before turning to Flare, “Technically the restaurant was destroyed in the process when Tenryu fought him and his crew”
Tenryu stared at Benny in disbelief. Did the guy just sell him out?!
“I knew it!” Flare slammed her hand on the table. “It was you-”
Benny raised his hand as though to stop her from talking, which apparently it did as Flare stopped in mid-flow.
“The restaurant was already very much destroyed from the inside. What with all those bandits firing off everywhere and a full fight going on, damage to the surroundings was the least of anyone’s concerns. Please don’t blame Tenryu for this.”
Flare shook her head, “Well, you don’t know my brother. He has the tendency to go overboard.”
“I don’t know Tenryu all that well to speak for everything prior to what happened in Marblewood. But I do know that at that time, I believe he did what was necessary to save everyone.”
Tenryu stared at him, “Benny…”
“It still doesn’t give Tenryu the right to-”
Benny’s glasses flashed, “Tell me, in that situation would you care more about a piece of table that was about to be split in half or a family about to be killed?”
Flare was taken aback by what Benny’s question.
“Well, of course the latter! Living people are more important than any piece of furniture!”
Benny gave a tiny smile, “Then you would agree that Tenryu was not at fault because his priority was stopping the bad guys and saving everyone.”
Everyone fell silent, completely dumbfounded by Benny’s oral argument.
Tenryu wasn’t able to follow through their conversation but the one thing he was sure of was that Benny had just stood up for him.
Nia nodded with a smile that caused Benny to feel cheeks burning up.
Flare sighed, “I guess you’re right. I shouldn’t just jump into conclusions and see everything as Tenryu’s reckless act. Sorry, little brother.”
“It’s alright, Flare-ate…”
Aunt Magma gave them a warm smile. “It seems you’ve made a very good friend.”
“Well, isn’t it obvious already?!”
Tenryu threw an arm around Benny’s shoulders and grinned at him which Benny shyly returned.
Benny cleared his throat loudly, “Anyway that’s what I think, so please don’t get angry at him for something unavoidable in that situation-OW!”
He yelped as Tenryu elbowed him.
“Hey, don’t downplay your part! It was you who managed to get everyone to safety while were in the middle of a battle!”
“Yeah, but it was you who dealt with those bandits! There’s no way I could’ve done that!”
“What about that bottle you threw at that Shorty?”
“It didn’t do much though except getting to try to kill me! You’re the one who save me from Cactus Hun’s attack!”
“So did you! You used that book to shield me!”
This went on and on, back and forth.
Everybody else was stunned at this continuing complimentary exchange between Benny and Tenryu.
“Alright that’s enough, you two!” says Nia, after they went on for a full five minutes.
Aunt Magma cleared her throat, “I think we strayed off topic. So after that incident in Marblewood…”
“I don’t remember anything else much. I sort of fainted from…what was it again?” Benny turns to Nia.
“Manna Depletion Fatigue,” She answered. “It seems it was Benjamin’s first time using Magic Spells. It clearly took a lot out of him.”
“It happens to everyone. I’ve remembered Tenryu collapsing and sleeping like a log for two days!” says Flare.
“It wasn’t two days!” says Tenryu indignantly, “It was more like a day and a half!”
“Well, I woke up we were already on the way to Amber City and we headed right here to the Inn.” Benny continued.
“I see…” Aunt Magma nodded. “You’ve been through a lot these past few days, haven’t you?”
Benny nodded agreement. These past few days, his whole world had just been turned upside down and inside-out.
“Didn’t you contact your family to let them know that you are safe? They must be worried about you.” says Flare.
Benny felt that stab in his chest again and avoided her gaze.
“I don’t have anyone at the moment…” Benny struggled to say.
“Oh!” Flare realized what she said. “I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay…I’m alright…”
Flare and Aunt Magma looked at him in concern.
“Well, then what are you going to do now then, dear?”
“I…really don’t know…”
Benny dreaded that question.
He had no idea what to do now. All his life he was preparing for college and a regular job. But now it seems that those things don’t apply into this world. Even though he wants to return to his home world, he has no idea how to even do that. Much less survive in this world.
“Hmm…Why not you stay around with us for a while? Help yourself get your bearings on a bit and decide on what you want to do?” suggested Aunt Magma kindly.
“I already told Benny that! He can stay with us, right?” says Tenryu.
“You should’ve informed us first before saying such things!” says Flare.
Tenryu fell silent grumbling.
Nia gave him a slight “I-told-you-so” kind of look.
Aunt Magma reached over the table and grasped his hands.
“But nevertheless, any friend of Tenryu is welcome to us.” says Aunt Magma with a warm smile that reminds Benny of his own great-grandmother.
“Isn’t that great, Benny?! You can stay!” Tenryu grins.
Benny returned the smile.
“I’m grateful, Mrs. Fyreroar…” Benny choked on his words.
Aunt Magma shook her head, “Oh, you don’t have to call me that, dear boy! It makes me feel old! You can call me Aunt Magma.”
Flare also pitched in, “None of that of Ms. Flare stuff either! From now on you can call me Flare-ate.”
“T-thank you, Aunt Magma and…err…can I just call you Ate Flare? That’s how we say it from where I came from.”
Flare shrugged. “If that’s what you want. Although it sounds strange…”
“Well, there’s still the matter of where are we going to put you up.” says Aunt Magma.
“What are you talking about, Auntie? Benny’s going to stay in my room!”
Aunt Magma, Flare and Nia looked at him.
“You want someone to stay in your room?” says Flare.
“Why? What’s the problem?” says Tenryu defiantly.
“Is there a problem, Ms…I mean Ate Flare?”
Flare gave him an odd look, like she was struggling to find the right words to say. However, it was Aunt Magma who spoke.
“I think it would be best for you to see it yourself.”
Benny thought that it was probably because Tenryu has never had the experience of inviting someone over to stay.
But a while later…he found the reason was quite different but at the same time obvious from the start.