Capítulo 20: Warning Bell Ringing
The next day, four in the morning, the innkeeper's family woke up. Mary came to wake Bolt up, and as for Leo, he was again ignored, he didn't mind it he was getting used to this. He woke up by himself.
After cleaning, they started preparing for the morning breakfast. Guests started coming from 6 o'clock, most of them came for the hot morning tea.
Morning breakfast was uneventful, except for the fact that Bolt was getting more work than Leo. Bolt couldn't understand why the father-son pair was acting like this, after all, he ate so little compared to Leo.
After breakfast, Bolt and Leo got some rest.
Mary took Bolt to show around the town. She especially told Leo and Gary to not come with them. But how could the big brother leave his little sister alone with that pretty boy, his dad also told him to keep an eye on them. So just after they left, he started stalking them.
Now Leo was sitting on the stairs at the entrance of the inn, enjoying the morning sun, his stomach was crying for the food. In the morning he just got the normal portion of food, so how could his stomach be content with that. There was no chance that he was going to get more food from that scary, innkeeper's wife, so he was thinking of how he should deal with his hunger.
He decided to walk around the town to see if could come up with an idea. When he was walking around he was surrounded by the little kids, they forced him to play with them.
While playing he saw an old woman carrying a bag filled with groceries, she was clearly having difficulty holding it.
She was a woman of average height with fair skin, face slightly wrinkled, long straight gray hair tied back. She was wearing a yellow dress with a flowery pattern. Her expression looked scary as if she wanted everyone to keep their distance from her.
When he was just going to help her, one of the little kids said, "Big brother, don't go, you help, she get angry."
Leo understood what he was trying to say, but he couldn't ignore her. So he approached her and asked, "Can I help you with this?"
Kids were amusingly looking at him, expecting big brother to get a scolding.
When she heard this she got very angry. "How many times I told you, I don't need - " But she stopped mid-sentence when she looked at Leo. She kept looking at him for a while and then silently handed him the bag and started walking without saying anything, Leo followed her.
When kids saw this their mouths remained open, adults near them were shocked, for the first time they saw her taking help from someone.
Leo followed her to her house. It was a single-story house with brown roof tiles, in the shade of a large redwood tree. He followed her to the kitchen and put the bag down.
She could hear Leo's stomach rumbling for the whole time they were walking. She wanted to ask him if he want to eat something, but she was hesitating because no one liked eating the food she made, it's been years since anyone ate her food except for her husband.
She finally decided to ask. "Do you want to eat something?"
"Yes, of course." Leo almost yelled in joy. Seeing how improperly he acted, his face turned red in embarrassment. "Sorry, I am just too hungry."
As soon as she heard Leo agreeing, she was overjoyed, she couldn't contain her joy.
Seeing how happy she looked, he felt like he was looking at a completely different person, her blank eyes were now brimming with hope and life. Leo already guessed that she was the mayor's wife because he could smell the mayor's scent from her, and everywhere in the house. Leo already knew the infamy of her cooking skills, but now he didn't care, he was too hungry, as long he could fill the stomach, the taste didn't matter.
She pointed at the chair near the table, "Wait here, I will prepare food immediately." After that, she vanished into the kitchen.
After some time she came out with the food, she put the plate on the table in front of Leo, and then sat opposite to him and looked at him, she was nervous, thinking if he will like the dish she prepared or not.
The dish looked pleasing to the eyes, but when he ate it he understood how her infamy spread in the town. But he didn't care for the taste, he ate like as, if he was even a little slow someone would take that food away from him. In just a short time he finished everything, and with an embarrassed face he asked, "Can I get some more?"
As soon as she heard this, the dam of emotions that started building since the day her son died finally broke, for the first time she cried after her son died, tears were streaming down as if the river was flooding.
Seeing this Leo was frightened. "Sorry. Sorry. Please don't cry, I will not ask for more."
He didn't know the actual reason she was crying. Only her son liked eating her food, only he asked for more food from her.
Just then the mayor entered the house. He was transfixed for a moment seeing his wife crying, and then he rushed towards her and hugged her, and he also started crying. "Cry. Cry all you want. Let out everything," Mayor said while crying.
She cried even louder.
Initially, Leo thought he did something wrong, but now he understood, he could feel the overwhelming emotions coming from her, they were so overwhelming that he was getting infected by it. Unknowingly tears started down his cheeks.
After half an hour she took control over her emotions.
She looked at Leo and said, "Sorry, I am just too happy that I can't control myself. You are the first to ask for more food after my son." She again started crying. "Don't worry you can eat all you want," she said while still crying.
She brought more food from the kitchen.
From here on Leo did not hesitate to ask for more. When all the food was finished, she prepared for the second time. The more he asked for the food happier she became.
Mayor just watched Leo silently, he felt like the large weight from his heart had been lifted.
"Thank you for the food." Leo thanked her when he was leaving.
"Can I hug you?" She asked in hesitation with the sobbing face.
Leo didn't answer her but directly hugged her. "I will forever remember the taste of food," Leo said. Initially, he thought the taste was bad, but as he continued to eat he started liking the taste. It wasn't that the taste was bad, but it was the special taste, which can only be produced by her, it was unique.
Hearing this she again started crying. "You are as warm as my son," she said.
She felt like her son had returned in Leo's form. After they separated she asked, "Would you like to come for the dinner?"
"Of course, I will," Leo replied without any hesitation. After all, this was the only place where he could eat for free, and the food also tasted awesome.
She became happy at Leo's response. "Okay, I will wait for you."
After this Leo headed towards the inn, Mayor accompanied him.
On the way, the mayor asked him to stop when they came under the tree.
Mayor wanted to kneel in front of him, but Leo immediately stopped him. "What are you doing old man?"
"I am so grateful that, I don't know how else to thank you."
"What are you talking about? It's me who should thank you for giving me the food."
"I am thanking you for making her cry."
Leo was confused hearing this.
Seeing confused Leo, Mayor told him what happened in the past.
Around thirty years ago this town was attacked by the 'Joe Blake' pirates, that time he lost his son and his left arm to those pirates. After Mayor's wife heard the news of her son's death she didn't cry, she acted as if nothing happened. She bottled all of her emotions inside her, the only emotion she showed was the anger towards the town's people for not being able to save her son. Even though she knew it wasn't their fault, her wounded heart couldn't help but find someone to blame. And town's people also knew this so they always cared for her, and accepted her anger without any resistance.
Only today after meeting Leo she showed expressions other than anger.
Hearing this Leo felt sad for her. "She must have suffered a lot for keeping all those emotions restrained inside her." He thought inwardly.
As for the 'Joe Blake' pirates he never heard of them, not here nor in the manga.
When Leo returned to the inn, he got scolded by the innkeeper's wife, lunchtime was almost over.
After all the guests left, the innkeeper and his wife went upstairs for the afternoon nap.
Bolt and Gary cleaned the kitchen, while Leo was cleaning the hall, and Mary watched him, trying to learn how he was moving.
After the cleaning was done four of them sat around the table and talked. Twins asked if they had any interesting stories to share from their travel, but when they learned that it's been only a day since they left their island they were disappointed, both of them wanted to go out to the sea, but of course, their parents would never allow them, so they envied Leo and Bolt.
Even if it was just a one-day journey, the twins asked them to share their experience. Bolt explained what he could, even though nothing exciting happened in their journey, the twins still liked what they heard. They asked if they could show them the sea around their island on their boat. Leo agreed with them, they decided to go on a trip tomorrow in the afternoon when their parents take an afternoon nap. After this they talked about some random things, during this Mary tried to get information on Bolt from Leo, like, what he likes, his birthday, any of his interesting childhood incidents.
When they were enjoying their talk, at around 3 PM, they heard the warning bell ringing from the shore.
Twins turned pale hearing it. Leo and Bolt understood the meaning of bell ringing because in their town bell was repaired after the pirate attack, they also had gone through multiple trial simulations of the pirate attack.
The innkeeper and his wife came down hurriedly.
"Mary, Gary, go to the underground hideout, hurry," Lyla said in urgency. "And take these two with you," she said while looking at Leo and Bolt.
"Mom, and you?" Mary said.
"I will be right behind, you go ahead."
"Don't leave the hideout until we say, do you understand?" The innkeeper asked them.
"Yes." Mary and Gary nodded and said, "Take care dad." After this four of them left.
"Husband, remember fighting is the last option, accept their any condition as long as it can keep all of us safe. Our life is more important than anything."
"Don't worry, I know what to do," Gorden assured her.
After this Lyla brought any valuables she can find and gave them to Gorden.
They hugged each other.
"Be safe."
"You too. And keep an eye on the kids, don't let them leave the hideout." After saying this he left towards the town's entrance.
The underground hideout was behind the inn, almost a hundred meters distance from it. Hideout's entrance was on the grass-covered ground, there were steps to walk down to the large hall, the door at the entrance was covered with the grass, and if someone closed the door, it will look as if it became a part of the flat ground, perfectly hiding.
They could see women, children, and the elderly hurrying towards the hideout. Seeing them Leo remembered grandma, the mayor's wife. "You two can go ahead, we have something to do?" Leo said to the twins and then left hurriedly before they could say anything, and Bolt also followed him.
"What the hell are they thinking?" Gary said in anger and frustration. "Mary you go to the hideout, I will bring them back."
After her brother left, she didn't know what to do. "If mom finds only me in the hideout, she will surely beat me right there." She thought for a moment. "I will come back with Gary, or else I will hide in the town." She followed the path that her brother took.
On the way Leo and Bolt saw men heading towards the town's entrance with whatever weapon they could find, most of the weapons were farming tools.
"Bolt, go to the town's entrance, and observe the situation while hiding, and only act if it's an emergency, wait for me to come."
Bolt nodded at Leo and then left.
Leo headed towards the mayor's house.
When he entered the house, he saw her cooking in the kitchen. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even hear the bell ringing.
"Grandma," Leo called.
"You are here." She became happy seeing Leo.
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear the bell ringing? Pirates are coming we have to hurry to the hideout," Leo said in urgency.
As soon she heard the word 'pirate', her face turned pale, she was frightened. The memories of the pirate attack resurfaced in her mind, it was the exact situation, that time also she was cooking and her son came to inform her. She felt as if everything was repeating. Just when she started looking for her son in Leo, pirates came again to take him away from her, she was in despair.
Seeing her expression, and the worry for him in her eyes, Leo understood what she was thinking. He hugged her and said, "Don't worry nothing will happen. Let's head to the hideout."
When Leo hugged her she calmed down and agreed to the fact that going to the hideout was the best possible decision for them.
As for her husband, she was also worried about him. But she knew how stubborn he was, it was impossible for anyone to stop him from heading towards the pirates. She just prayed for his safety.
With her speed they couldn't reach the hideout before pirates arrived, so he carried her to the hideout.
When he arrived, Leo saw the innkeeper's wife making a ruckus for going to the town to search for her kids. Leo thought, "Where did those two go?"
As soon as she saw Leo she asked, "Where are Mary and Gary, you were with them, right?"
"Don't worry, I know where they are, I will bring them right back," Leo said.
Hearing this others decided to let him go, on the condition that he will return as soon as possible.
Grandma wanted to stop Leo, she couldn't bear anything happening to him, but when she saw how worried Lyla was, she didn't stop him, she knew how devastating is to lose a child. She hugged Leo and said, "Promise me that you will be safe, and return as fast as you could."
"I promise, nothing will happen to me," Leo said and after that, he left.
Lyla and others in the hideout were confused at how the mayor's wife was so affectionate towards Leo, but no one dared to ask her the reason for this.
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