After a few moments of silence permeated the air, one of the villagers pointed out. "Hey, ain't that Daryl's son?" Murmurs erupted all around as they began to recognise Tenur.

"And, isn't that a troll? Why's he not wearing a pants with a female troll as a companion?" Another woman pointed out. The murmurs intensified as a result, most of them jeering at Tenur. The impression he gave them was not exactly a good one.

"Troll fucker!"

"Beastiality!"

Some of the remarks rose above the others. As a result, most of them began picking up on the circulating nicknames, calling Tenur weird, disgusting and most of all, a troll fucker.

"Can this be any worse?" Tenur facepalmed when he heard his mother's voice among the crowd, struggling her way to the front of the crowd. She was wearing her usual clothing which consisted of an old white dress. His father wasn't with her. At least that's good, Tenur thought.

"Son? What's the meaning of this?" Daryl asked once she was face to face with her son. The noise disturbed their mother-son conversation, so she yelled to everyone else. "Don't you all have better things to do than stand here in the middle of the night!?" that earned her some crude remarks but it did the job of shooing the nosey villagers away, leaving only those who truly matter at the crime scene.

"Uh, I can explain-"

"Don't. You're coming home with me now, mister," she then turned to Laura, hands on hips and said, "as for you, how are you related to my son?"

"I'm... his familiar?" she sounded unsure of herself. There was conflict brewing within her. On one hand, she was extremely repulsed at the fact of using 'being Tenur's familiar' as an excuse, while on the other, she was not sure what other excuse she could use, thus the dilemma she was facing.

Daryl looked confused for a moment, before telling Laura, "come with us."

"And pull up your pants Tenur, you're embarassing yourself."

----------------------------------------

As the door slammed shut, Tenur found himself reminiscing his past. He hoped his mother would be willing to hear the whole story before blasting him into oblivion. He also hoped his father would not hear about this incident, otherwise death by his mother's hands would be much more preferable.

"Explain," she gestured for both Laura and Tenur to sit on the chairs couch while lighting the fire place.

"So first..." Tenur then explained everything that happened, how his grimoire was also his mentor, how he took on the responsibility of taking care of Laura the currently orphan troll and how he ended up back here. Occasionally, Laura would add in a few left out details which, to Tenur's dismay, was mostly his bad acts.

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After hearing the full story, Daryl sat with her eyes closed, contemplating all the facts she was given. "So you're not his familiar?" she looked at Laura who shifted uneasily in her seat. The ceiling barely touched Laura's head even as she sat.

"No."

"And you're his teacher?" Daryl looked at the grimoire.

"Yes."

"And both of your companions are trolls?" she looked at her son.

"Yes mom, yes."

Daryl rubbed the bridge of her nose as she thought of it more. On the bright side of things, she was happy her son finally found a teacher that could teach him the basics he needs to control his mana and magic. Yet on the dark side of things, they were trolls. Filthy, overgrown, green and despised humanoid beasts that live in the forest, eating those who trespass on their territory.

"Oh no, we don't eat trespassers anymore ever since we raided one of your kind's village a long time ago. We got the seeds for farming and were able to create an alternate food source, allowing us to become what you call 'civilised'," sensing Daryl's thoughts, Denka quickly explained to clear up the misunderstanding. That's one question down as to how my son survived passing through a village of trolls, Daryl mused.

"Alright then, you can stay with us first until you find a proper residential area," Daryl told Laura after sighing. She looked sleep deprived, considering her beauty sleep was interrupted in the middle of the night and the discussion took place for more than two hours.

"Miss Daryl, I appreciate your hospitality, but I need to sleep with your son."

"You know the amount of implcations from what you're saying right?"

"Yes, but I have stay near your son eight hours a day, or else I'll start to die."

"Sounds serious, but I can't let you literally sleep with him, only near him. Perhaps you could take up residence in the storage room just beside his room?" Daryl suggested.

"That's probably sufficient enough. I'll pay you the rent after I'm able to get a job, is that alright?"

"Done," Daryl stood up. "There's a bed, a blanket and a pillow already inside. You can take the mattress and place it on the floor instead of using the frame because of your height. You might want to wash the bedsheet, blanket and pillow as well, considering nobody used it for almost three years." She then turned and went back to her room.

"Your mom's pretty chill 'bout letting a troll into her house. I kinda like her already," Laura started.

"I know. She rarely gets genuinely surprised, considering her past life as an adventurer and my dad's career which brings a lot surprises back," Tenur shrugged. His mother had told him about her various adventures before as bed time stories, and they had made every one of his bed time sessions the most exciting part of the day. Sometimes, his father would take turns with his mother to deliver an exciting adventure. It always involved life endangering elements that only served to make his career even more exciting.

"You two should probably get to bed, especially you Tenur since you've exhausted your mana not long ago," Denka voiced his advice.

"Yeah, I'll get preparing the room first," Laura walked up and towards what looked like the door leading to the store room and entered, before closing the door behind her.

Tenur looked around for a moment, thinking about something that's been on his mind for some time now. "What's up Tenur?"

"I don't know, I feel like I forgot someone, but forgot who."

"Probably just your imagi-"

His eyes suddenly lit up. "Andrew! I forgot bout him." Tenur was going to look for Andrew, but paused. He felt fatigued.

Oh well. He shrugged and went to bed.

I'll just go find him once I wake up. With that, the book slept beside the tired master.