Step By Step

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Traversing through the town of Zale felt somewhat surreal, in the entire time I’d been here I hardly ever ventured outside the bounds of the small wooden house that now served as my current dwelling and the few times I did, it was always under the condition that I was hoisted over Julia’s shoulder.

However, things were different now, my control over this body had strengthened significantly, and I was now able to walk the paved brick streets of these foreign lands on my own two feet.

Given how small this place was, the atmosphere here was surprisingly bustling. Both people and monsters were passing us by and heading in some arbitrary direction, but not once did it ever feel congested. The main road we took had led to the ‘town square’ that was nothing more than a broad circular space sporting a stylish fountain at the center of the path where two other roads had converged, making it the perfect reference point for this intersection.

The fountain had been carved into the shape of a large aquatic creature spewing water from its mouth, and the sparkling stream of liquid that glistened in the midday sunlight seemed unnaturally clear for some reason.

The town of Zale had been crafted with an immaculate level of precision, whoever had designed this place had undoubtedly taken the compact land area of the surroundings into consideration. The buildings were crafted from a mix of either wood, concrete or both. They were perfectly placed along the sides of the road, or rather, the roads themselves were crafted to be just wide enough to allow them to seamlessly map every ounce of the townscape without ever compromising on the cohesiveness of the urban design.

The buildings themselves weren’t needlessly large either so they didn’t cast any overbearing shadows, which meant that the town itself had something of an uncanny brightness to it. If you took the eccentricity of the town itself into consideration, then all the elements came together to form a seamless blend that cemented my first real experience with a modern civilization in this foreign land. Peddlers passed us by with clattering carts and jingling items, small ‘monsters’ ran through the streets, and some were even flying overhead, almost everything here felt alien to me.

If it wasn’t for the large paw-like imprints now carved into the sunken patches of the brick laden road, this small town would’ve managed to leave an almost perfect first impression on me.

As we approached the fountain and met up with the oncoming streams of other pedestrian traffic, murmurs began to circulate through the crowd. The once apathetic, disinterested and even exhausted faces of the humans surrounding us soon began mellowing out into ones projecting glee and joy, following their line of sight was all I needed to discern the cause behind their sudden reactions.

“L-Lady Julia!”

“Madam, It’s been a while...”

“Is this your son!?”

A barrage of questions assaulted the woman now holding my hand, she seemed somewhat embarrassed, lightly scratching her flushed cheeks, seemingly struggling to construct a cohesive answer.

“I-It’s been a while everyone, sorry about that. I’m stuck watching Liam at home during the day so I can’t really move around that much unless Oliver’s home.”

“No there’s no need to apologize over something like that, we know how busy you two can get after all.” An old woman that was undoubtedly decades past her prime responded, making her way to the front of the small crowd that had gathered before Julia. The woman was dressed in white robe-like garments and supported herself with the use of a worn-down wooden staff that reached all the way up to her chest. Despite the obvious signs of time wearing her down, the wrinkled smile she wore conveyed an odd sense of vigor about her.

“E-Elder Vreena....” That name quickly began resonating through the gathered crowd but given the demeanor she’d just displayed by way of a single sentence; it wasn’t that hard to figure out. This was obviously someone of a high status.

“Vreena.....out on a stroll again, are you?”

“Yes, Well I do need to stretch these old bones every once in a while you know.”

“Fufu...Just don’t overdo it.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

As Vreena made her way towards Julia, the crowd slowly began parting for her as a sign of respect and yet, the tone she exchanged with Julia wasn’t one of a superior talking down to a subordinate, but much closer to something like two old friends reuniting.

“You people should learn to hold back a little, I know Julia’s easy on the eyes, but she’s already spoken for. Look, she’s even brought her son with her this time.”

Vreena spat those words coated in a tinge of sarcasm, a sly smile formed on her face afterwards. After hearing her sly remark, the onlookers soon began to dissipate and seeing as the majority of them were men in the first place, Vreena’s tactic had been all the more effective.

“Heh-Heh....that one still works like a charm.”

“Thanks Vreena, I was trying to be a little less conspicuous this time around but that didn’t seem to work out at all.”

“Hmph. There’s no way you could ever be conspicuous with something like that on your face.” Vreena pointed to the strange marking on Julia’s forehead, narrowing her eyes as the flickering glint of the daytime sun flashed across it.

“Oh, you know sometimes I forget it's even there in the first place.” Julia shifted her eyes as if to gaze up at her own face but that was obviously an impossible feat to pull of.

Vreena heaved a heavy sigh after seeing the absurdity behind what she was about to do. Taking a few steps closer, she placed both hands on her knees and leaned over, lowering herself to my stature. It was almost like she wanted me to peer into my unflinching soul.

“Black hair and red eyes, eh? That’s not quite what I was expecting to come from these two. You’ve gotten a lot bigger Liam, last time I saw you Julia had to be carrying you around but now you’re walking on your own two feet.....Hm? You look a little confused, don’t you remember me?”

In truth, I did have a vague recollection of her, but now was the perfect time for me to pry for more information. “Mhm.....I think so......Are you the leader here?”

After hearing my words, Vreena paused for a moment before suddenly contorting her features to form a smile. “Pffft! Heh-Heh-Heh....Well you’re not wrong, but how did you figure that out?”

Wiping the pool of fluid now building at the corner of her eyes, she softened her expression in response to the thin smile I was now forming.

“Everyone here likes you. It feels like you have a lot of....friends.”

“Hmm...I suppose you would see it like that. I’m not sure if everyone here feels that way, but if nothing else, I’m sure your mother does.” Julia chucked before finally lowering her eyes to meet mine.

“Go on Liam, introduce yourself just like we practiced.”

She let go of my hand, and following her directive, I took two steps forward before conjuring the motion known as a ‘bow’, this was one of the few things that had been drilled into me day after day ever since this body turned four years old.

“Nice to meet you, Elder Vreena. My name is Liam Irving Rocco, the oldest son of the Rocco family.”

The moment I concluded my brief introduction, Vreena proceeded with her own.

“You can call me Vreena; Liam, while I am somewhat in charge around here you can just think of me as a nice old lady.”

So, my guess was right on the mark then.....

“Okay I’ll remember that.”

Her thin smile widened ever so slightly after hearing those words.

“By the way Julia, where are you two going? You hardly ever come out into town like this unless you’re helping out with something.”

“I’m just out for a little shopping so I thought I might as well bring Liam along since he hardly ever leaves the house. He’s already four years old so I’d like him to start making some friends around his age before we head back.”

“Ahhh......now that you mention it, his presence around here is even scarcer than yours.”

“Heh -Heh...well Oliver and I have to take turns watching over him, but for the most part all he does at home is rummage through his father’s old books.”

The conversation between these two felt like it could go on indefinitely if they were left to go on like this, since they were talking about nothing at all, it made no sense for me to idly stand around here.

Grasping Julia’s slender finger, my upturned eyes had met hers.

“Mother...are we going to see dad again today?”

She paused before answering.

“Of course, he should be returning any minute now.”

Cutting in between us, Vreena lightly tapped her wooden staff on the ground before taking the lead in front of us. “We’ve been stalled here for some time now, why don’t we continue this while walking? I’m sure Liam wants to look around this pace some more.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does. Let’s go, Liam.”

Following the old woman’s lead, the two of us took off further down the winding streets of the bustling town.