ILIAS VAN PAYNE

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A village of stone in the middle of a big green meadow. Surrounding it were fields of wheat, potatoes, carrots, beets, and all known types of vegetables that can grow in a moderately warm climate. The village was encompassed by a protective stone wall seven feet high and two feet deep.

Its name was Gilead.

I never stepped foot outside of the village ever since I was reincarnated and was eager to head out. But as time passed, I came to long the quiet rural landscape. So when we finally came out of the woods and saw the village, all I could think was, we’re home.

When we reached wheat fields, Tank took a moment to sniff the air before letting out a satisfied bellow.

Camaro patted his head. “I know, boy. We’re back.”

The closer we got to the village, the more farmers tending to the crops we ran into. They greeted us all with the same comments.

“Colonel! We thought you’d never return! Glad to have you back!”

“Ilias! Congratulations on passing the exam!”

“We have two State Jynxists in the village now? Very nice.”

John sneered at them, the chains bound to his legs and hands clanked.

“Isn’t this nice?” Camaro shouted to him. “The citizens of Rockbell could’ve admired you just like this.”

John sighed, knowing that all he could do was keep his mouth shut and listen.

“If you protected Rockbell like you were supposed to, I’m sure you’d be somewhere nicer. All that gold you were hoarding for yourself is nothing compared to the generosity and kindness a town you hold can give back.”

We made our way down the road and stopped just in front of my house. Out in the yard, Mother, Doria, and Jaime were hanging out by the garden.

The gate was wide open, so Camaro hopped off Tank and knocked on it. “May we come in?”

Jaime was the first to notice us. “They’re here!” she yelled as she ran towards us. She hugged the colonel first before tackling me off my pony and giving me the same—on the ground. “Congratulations!”

“Woah,” I said. “I could’ve done without the whole knocking me off the pony, but it’s nice to see you too, Jaime.”

She helped me back to my feet. “Nice hat. You look like a wizard.”

“That sounds like you’re making fun of me, but I’ll be nice and think of it as a compliment.”

Jaime scratched Tank’s head while waving at the colonel’s unit. “You guys took too long. It was kind of boring here.”

“You three look like you had fun without us,” Camaro said.

“Quite the opposite. Your guys’ missing chaotic energy had actually made the last three months rather dull,” Doria retorted. “It was nice to have peace of mind for a bit.”

Camaro chuckled at the response. “It’s nice to see you too, Lieutenant. Did anything of note happen while our chaotic energy was missing?”

“Colonel Fundin pointed out that Gilead was rather safe. A couple of drunken fights here and there, a few monster reports we took care of—but other than that, nothing.”

Jaime had gone around high-fiving the colonel’s unit, stopping at John and staring at him. “This man looks like a weird weasel. Who is he?”

“I’m the weird one?” he asked. “You’re the one that has green hair.”

“Is this the bad guy that was scamming the town?” Her eyes burrowed together. “If I were to choose your fate, I would pick public execution.”

“Hey, Jaime, don’t say those kinds of stuff!” Mother told her. “Anyways, everyone in the village has jobs for the party. We can get everything done in two days.”

“Here’s the thing,” Camaro said as he leaned against the cobblestone wall. “Two days is too late. I want the party to happen tomorrow at noon.”

“Have you gone mad? Tomorrow for dinner is next to impossible, and you want it for lunch?”

“John here was breaking protocols and was using the law as a checklist. This whole case will end up in court and since I’m the plaintiff, I’ll need to go all the way back to the Capital to prosecute him. My body is still used to the road, and I’d prefer it to stay that way.”

“That’s a fair enough reason, Ray, but we don’t have enough labour to get everything done by tomorrow. Let alone by noon.”

“Don’t worry about labour. I can summon two hundred of my Dolls to help out. If I say the party will proceed tomorrow, it will proceed.”

“Geez, you really love to bend what is and isn’t possible.”

Jaime raised a hand. “Do I do my job now?”

“What’s your job?” the colonel asked.

“To go around the village and tell everyone to start doing their jobs. But I have to tell them that the party will be tomorrow instead of two days from now.”

“Going around the village and talking to people? That’s certainly a fitting job for you.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Jaime found herself looking in my direction, her eyes gleaming as if she thought of an idea. “Can me and Ilias go together on the pony?”

“Ilias and your Auntie haven’t seen each other in a while. They’ll want to spend time with each other, won’t they?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mother said as she took my luggage and held onto my shoulders. “I think Ilias and I can wait a few more hours. We’ll do that later.”

“Are you sure?”

“Let the kids spend time with each other. I’m sure they missed each other’s company.”

“I’m fine with it if you are.” He turned to Jaime. “Listen to whatever Ilias says and don’t try to ride the pony without him.”

I helped Jaime climb on the mount and find a comfortable seating position behind me.

She wrapped an arm around my waist and pumped her fist in the air. “Go! Go! Go!”

“If I told you that I didn’t miss your loud personality,” I chuckled, taking the reigns and leading the pony out onto the dirt road, “I would be lying.”

Glancing back, Mother grabbed the colonel by the shoulders and went to the porch. I was able to hear a sliver of their conversation:

“You are not being a good father to Jaime!” Mother whispered harshly. “You will follow what I say because Jaime deserves a better parent figure!”

“How many times did she misbehave?”

“She rarely did, actually. After I listened to her, she started to become a good kid. She’s misbehaving because of you!” she sighed. “Also, you owe me a favour.”

“For what? We took care of each other’s kids. That was the deal. You only had to stay at home while I took your son to the Capital and had him become a State Jynxist.”

“Okay then, Mr Chariot, while you were taking my son to the Capital, your daughter had her first period.”

Camaro’s eyes widened with fear. “She did?”

“Yes. And I took care of it—I gave her the talk for you.”

The colonel held up dual fingers. “I’ll owe you two favours.”

Village kids that were playing nearby noticed us and approached. They all paid Jaime no mind but were surprisingly very friendly towards me. I had the pony walk faster so it would be harder to get followed.

“So how have you been?” I asked after escaping the suddenly interested kids. “Did you make any friends while I was away?”

“No. How about you?”

“A couple. Two of my party members were our age and we befriended others during the exam. There was this dwarf, a jester, and a beast person who was a cat.”

“You befriended a beast person?!”

“Yeah, she was actually fun to hang around.”

Jaime paused for a bit. “So, what now? You just saw that everyone is trying to be friends with you now that you’re a State Jynxist. They were even trying to befriend me while you were gone.”

“They were probably trying to use you to get closer to me.”

“I know. That’s why I ignored them.”

“If they thought we were weird back when I wasn’t a State Jynxist, I don’t really like how they’re switching up now. I say we ignore the ones that tried to pick on us. But we need to diversify our friend group. It can’t just be us two all the time.”

“Girls or guys?”

“Girls, guys, dwarves, elves, terran—whoever we can find.”

“Now that you’re a State Jynixst, I heard that the other village girls are starting to have the hots for you. Do you like girls?”

“As opposed to guys?”

“How are you going to deal with the unwanted attention?”

I grinned back at her. “Who said girls having the hots for me is unwanted attention?”

She gave me a dead-eye stare before pinching my waist.

“Okay, okay! I’ll stop messing around!” I inhaled deeply. “Back to being serious, I did expect this to happen. I think I’ll give a chance to the ones who never picked on us.”

“That sounds like a fair plan.”

“Anyways,” I looked back and noticed we were a good distance from my house. “We’re far enough.”

“For what?”

“So that the colonel doesn’t see us.” I offered her the reigns. “The pony’s name is Bill. Do you want to control him?”

Her face lit up as she reached around me to grab the reigns. “Yes! Yes! Yes! How do I control him?”

We spent the rest of the day going from house to house telling everyone that the party scheduled two days after our arrival was happening tomorrow. They all had the same reactions.

“That’s not enough time!”

“Congratulations on passing the exam.”

“We’re going to have to pull an all-nighter if the colonel wants everything done by tomorrow.”

By the time we finished with the last houses, the sun had begun to set and a group of people were already clearing out the village square. Camaro’s Marching Dolls were doing most of the manual labour. The men were setting up tables and chairs while the women took care of the small details. The taverns had an early dinner rush as the cooks were prepared to work into the night to take care of prep.

We ran into the colonel, who returned Bill to the Rohan Company and was kind enough to drop me off. Mother was in the kitchen finishing up her cooking.

“I’m home!” I yelled out, hanging my robe and hat on the coat hanger by the door.

“Welcome back!” Mother waved from the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”

As if it was waiting on cue, my stomach growled. “It sounds like I am.”

After changing into comfortable home clothes, I joined Trisha in the dining room to find a feast made up of beef stew, spiced rice, grilled corn, and carrot cake on the table.

“What’s all this food for?” I asked.

“I know they're your favourites. I thought it was fitting for your first meal back and to show you how proud I am.”

I sat down and took servings of everything except for the cake, which I planned to eat later. After scooping everything onto a spoon and taking a bite, I just stared pleasantly at my plate.

“Are you okay?” Mother asked. “You’re just staring at your food.”

“Yeah. I’ve been on the road, so it's nice to taste your cooking after all this time.”

“Was the food you were eating not good?”

“No, they were good. It’s just that,” I took another bite, “your cooking tastes like home.”

Trisha’s face had a look of satisfaction. “You know, Ilias. I thought you were going to be a rowdy kid that I was going to have a hard time raising. But you’ve turned out to be quite the opposite. You have a way with words I haven’t seen before.”

“Well, I had someone teach me how to have a way with words.”

“See, there you go. You know that’s not true.”

“It is. I vaguely remember you reading to me when I was a baby. Even though you were busy with so many things, you set aside time for me. You told me a lot that I taught myself how to read, but I’m sure the catalyst was you.”

She scoffed. “Illy, you’re too smart for your own good. Has anyone told you that?”

“Yes.”

That remark made Mother chuckle. “Can I stroke your head?”

“You don’t have to ask. Feel free to pet me anytime.”

I leaned my head towards her invitingly. She reached down and began to stroke it gently.

“I missed you so much, Ilias. I wish this moment lasted forever.”

“Me too.”

“Thank you for being born.” She continued to stroke my head.

After an awkward moment, I said, “Well, thank you for having me.”

Her only reply was a chuckle of amusement.