Chapter 61: Chatting With A Veteran
Once his mind told him to go to the local pub instead of dining at the castle and eating the food cooked by his professional chef. He immediately complied and grabbed a normal-looking robe. Not too bad and not the one the nobles used. He topped it up with messing up his hair, completing the disguise.
Soon, he has his back facing the closed window and ready to leave his office at the moment. He opened his door slowly and didn't expect anybody in front of his door.
He found nobody stands in front of his door like he did many times in the past. Instead… he found a cat, with the brown eyes and white and black fur. Just a normal kind of cat he likely found at the street.
He crouched down with his robe placed at his left arm and using his right arm; he pets the cat. Then, he can hear the sound from afar, a rather familiar sound to him.
That sound became louder and louder over time and stopped when he could hear it right beside him. Before he realizes, someone was beside him just looking at him while seeing him petting the cat.
He continued ignoring the sound when it disappeared and continued petting the cat and playing with it. Then, a hand leap from his side and quickly petting the cat.
He got an instant panic attack when he realized his hand became 3 and quickly turned his head beside him. There he is, the 60 year old veteran Louis, served him in a war at the past and now beside him and playing with the same cat as him.
He quickly regained his calm and asked with a rather loud voice, "What are you doing here!? You got me a heart attack just now"
Louis looked beside him with a smirk "Hehe, sorry my lord, I need to bring my cat home"
Arden turned his face in an instant to a moody face seeing the cute cat going to leave him soon, "Oh, okay, good luck on going home, I'm going to the pub" Arden makes his way for the stair.
The only thing he didn't realize is, Louis is also going for the stair and both of them have an awkward situation at that moment (we all know that feeling, the feeling when you say goodbye to a friend but going to the same direction).
Louis opened his mouth while holding the cat with his 2 hands in order to break the ice "Sir if you want a cat, I can bring you to the place I got this cat"
There is a silence between them as they continue walking down the hall and towards the stair. It took Arden a few seconds for him to realize he was being offered to get a cat as a pet.
"Where is that place!?" He turned his attention back to Louis but keep his awareness to not trip.
"The forest!" Louis said with an intimidating tone, and it didn't affect Arden much. Louis quickly turned his face toward the way he was walking as he noticed the stair was near.
Both of them were going down the stair and Arden responded to his words while still focused on going down "Seriously though, I'm not joking around"
Louis decided not to answer him anything as they continued to go down the stair, and only once both of them were almost outside the castle, he continued his words.
"I'm not joking sir, I really found this cat at the forest, the one at the street is rare and unlikely to wander alone" Arden became interested again once knowing that the old man is not lying to him.
"When can you take me then?" Louis didn't answer for a few seconds and then looked at his lord straight in the eyes.
"Anytime when you wish, it can't be at my shift though, probably afternoon or night" him, being told this became excited and soon, he marked the words into his mind.
"How about tomorrow afternoon?" He asked after thinking about the thing he needed to do 2 more days, travelling to the Village of Albe.
"Seems doable, meet me at the pub at afternoon, around this time, I might be late since I have something to do with my family, just some small family dinner" Arden raised one of his eyebrows as he continued on his way.
"Why don't I join your family dinner? This may seem a little disrespectful" Arden continued walking down the path and lowering down his eyebrow, now both of them heading to the town.
"Well, it won't be a problem for me, instead, I would feel very honoured if you do want to join me. Also… why don't you join us now?" He continues rising one of his eyebrows and checking his bag of money he always has with him.
'2 Aurens and 5 Rens' He felt all the money he has right now in his bag of money.
'Enough to buy a barrel of beer!' Arden shouted excitedly at his mind.
"Hey, Louis! Mind if I ask you if there's any kid in your family?" Louis looked at Arden and raised his one of his eyebrows before retrieving his attention to his way.
"Well, 27 years old, 29 years old, 33 years old and 34 years old, all of them have just finished working at the field at this moment, I didn't allow them to join the military," Arden looked at him and quickly looked to the ground in understandingly.
Both of them have a little bit of silence a moment before Arden saw the people using the soldiers uniform entering a building in the distance.
He squinted his eyes to focus on that place and saw the sign which has some drawing of a cup of drinks. Then he turned to Louis and looked at him before saying anything.
"Wait here, I'll go get some beers for us to drink" He rushed to the pub before Louis could even respond to him and gone inside in a matter of seconds.
Louis just took stood outside the pub and has his back against the wall and now just playing with the cat while petting it, the cat seems comfortable enough and happy on his hand.
While Arden, on the inside, met many of his soldiers, almost all of them recognized him but didn't say a word about him and just kept an eye at him in case someone attacked him.
While Arden himself always kept his sword intact with him, even if he goes to his own office. He always had the swords for some safety reason and never left it.
He walked up to the counter and just normally asked for a barrel of beer and the waitress just brought him to the beer storage, like the day he was getting the beers for the new commander's celebration.
He looked at the barrels of barrels of beers there and tested it. He hit it softly several times to hear the sound and smell the wood.
The waitress was impressed by his action and asked while her voice echoed around the storage room, "Sir, you know how to choose the right beer?"
Arden looked at her and just smiled, "Of course no! I'm just joking around with you"
The waitress began turning red and became embarrassed when she believes the one in front of her could actually choose the best beer at the storage.
Arden then pointed at one of the many barrels filled with beers inside that room and shouted, "This one!" And he grabbed it from its place easily and dropped it in front of the waitress.
The waitress looked at it and said while still embarrassed "1 Aurens and 5 Rens" She stuttered only a little bit.
Arden opened his bag of money and gave all the money to the waitress and carried the beers out of the building easily with one hand.
The thing he didn't know is, that waitress is blushing slightly when he left the building and actually liked him a lot and his sense of humour.
Once he was outside of the building, he could see Louis still laying with the cat in his hand. He quickly noticed Arden and offered to help him, but Arden refused.
He smiled when he refused the offer and just said, "Just take care of that cat, I like it very much"
Both of them make their way toward the direction where the sun rises and reached the house of the old veteran, Louis.
It was one of the many houses at the outside perimeters of the town, with the big farming lands near it that some owners of the houses nearby owned.
Many of the people decided not to live in the middle of the town and just stayed there and manage their farmland. In the end, it was one of the main sources of food for the people in the town and is very important not to lose.
Arden looked in front of him and saw the small-sized house, double the size of his old house, the one he saw at his dream before venturing outside his land in order to search for his sister.
Louis entered the house and just said, "What are you doing out there? You don't want to enter the house?"
After hearing this, Arden quickly stepped into the house.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone