Eto opened his eyes and when he tried to adjust to the light, he thought he was back again at Veronica's home, waking up after the crash.
When he started to see the details, he could tell that he was in a different place.
The ceiling he was looking at was high and round. He tried to get up but his legs felt heavy. Still, he managed to get up a little and look in the room.
He layed in a bed, in a room where more beds were placed. At the end of his bed was Veronica sitting on a chair, fast asleep.
Eto didn't want to wake her. Instead he took the opportunity to lay down and think about what happened. He could remember them getting to the castle and fighting off Ased before Eto punched him through the window. After that he must have blackened out.
'You're awake!' he heard Veronica saying a little too loud. Eto got up and saw that she also was adjusting to waking up.
'Yeah. How are you?' he asked with effort and she nodded. 'Everything is fine.'
Eto wanted to ask what happened but Veronica talking to him must have alerted the others because the main door of the room went open.
Professor Hawk came in with an older man and behind them two guards in armor only this time their skin wasn't pale and covered in ice. When Eto saw that, he looked around, noticing that nothing was covered in ice.
'How was the sleep?' professor Hawk asked with a big smile on his face. Eto nodded while his attention went to the older man.
'I'm sorry for burstin in like this while you are still recovering, but I want to thank you for all you've done,' the old man said. Slowly he grabbed Eto' hand and shook it.
'Ehh, thanks but who are you?' Eto asked, confused and the guards behind the man were shocked. Luckily the old man laughed.
'I'm sorry. I haven't properly introduced myself. I am the lord of this castle and of port Perdita. Lord Kelvin is the name.'
Eto looked at him, studying his face. The old man started to get bold but had a huge gray beard. The wrinkles in his face showed his age.
'Man, you must be really old,' Eto asked and the guards quickly stood next to the lord.
'Show your manners, little boy!' they said in sync. Eto ignored them and kept looking at the old man.
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'One day I want to have a cool beard like you' he said and he stroked his bald chin. It made the lord laugh which calmed the guards down.
When Eto was able to stand even though his legs were still hurt, they had made their way to the dining hal. The nurses insisted he took his rest to heal but they didn’t seem to get into Eto’s head as he already pushed through to get out of the nursing bed.
It was clear to Eto that the rest of the castle no longer was covered in a layer of ice. The castle was beautiful, decorated with all kinds of fancy stuff.
During dinner later, everything was explained to Eto who was eating like a beast.
'You see, when you defeated Ased, all the ice started to melt and disappear,' Veronica said because she was the one seeing it happen.
'Right,' the professor nodded and he continued the story.
'I came by and the ice was already disappearing. The lord and his family came free and the guards must have gotten out of Ased's control.'
Eto listened but part of his attention was to all the food he was eating.
'You saved us and the entire town,' lord Kelvin said with a large smile, holding up his glass as a token of gratitude.
'I have a message from Vieli who helped you guys. He should be arriving with the assistance of my guards soon. They say the whole town is back to normal.'
Eto smiled while he still stuffed his mouth with food.
'Andd Awsebd?' he said with his mouth full which made both Veronica and the professor sigh. They figured he would not change at all.
The lord's face turned serious. 'Not a trace' he said, troubled and the rest looked at him with confused faces.
'The moment we realized what had happened, I ordered my guards to look for Ased and imprison him. We couldn't find him. The fall was deep into the mountain and no one should have survived that but it makes me uneasy that we couldn't find the body.'
The lord closed his eyes after his story and the only sound left was from Eto chewing.
'Maybe he got scared and ran away?' Eto said, not worrying too much about it.
'Who knows,' lord Kelvin said. 'He shouldn't have survived that fall but maybe he did and now he is wandering somewhere.'
Veronica took a moment to talk to the lord.
'Would you be alright? What if he returns?' she asked but the lord smiled.
'We already got assistance underway. The other towns made their apologies for not bringing help sooner and we took this situation as an example that we always should be prepared for a coming fight. Last time Ased took us by surprise and scarred most of our people.'
He looked at Eto and then back to Veronica.
'The young boy's courage showed us that these situations can be handled. If we are prepared, we can overcome anything.'
Veronica almost wanted to tell him that Eto never goes into a situation prepared but she thought it was best to leave it.
'And for now,' the lord said while standing up.
'Let's eat, drink, recover and celebrate as much as we can!'
Everybody cheered for that, taking the moment to forget the problems they had or still have. This was a night to celebrate with friends.