บท 21: Their First Fight
"Sorry...? What did you just say?"
Ale paused for a moment and looked to his sight. Rudy also stopped walking and repeated the words he had just uttered moments ago.
"A living dragon's lair."
"A what..? I'm sorry. It looks like I'm still half asleep.. This island has a what..?"
"A living dragon's lair, Ale, A LIVE DRAGON'S LAIR!"
Rudy spoke a little louder, so it'd bring Ale out of his haze. Although it was definitely a fact that'd put many people in a dumbfounded state, he expected Ale to be a little different.
'So this is the island where you got your gears from?!?!'
Ale was shocked indeed, but for a reason slightly different from what Rudy had in mind.
In the future, Rudy would have to fight a lot of dangerous people, demons, beasts etc. And during many of his fights, he turned out to be the victor with a hairs breadth of difference.
The factor that helped him win most of those battles and get an upper hand on his enemies was his armour. The material was a mystery for many years before it was finally revealed to be made of Dragon's scale.
But the source of the material, as well as the one who created it remained a secret till the end. To be able to discover one of those secrets so suddenly and so easily, Ale simply couldn't believe his luck.
"Ah.. A living dragon's lair.. I see."
Although he had already heard about the dragon's lair back at the boat, he didn't know that the owner of the lair was still alive.
According to Rudy, they met the dragon during one of their journeys and the dragon received their help with something. Later, the dragon asked Rudy to pay his lair a visit and take his old scales as payment for their help.
These were completely new information for Ale. He tried to calm down and act normal, but it was too forced. Even an idiot wouldn't be fooled with that poor acting.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
Rudy sighed, shaking his head as he continued walking once again.
"What?"
Ale wondered what he was talking about. He did believe. There was no way Rudy would lie to him, that guy couldn't even lie to his enemies. And it made sense considering the future that he knew.
"It's alright. You don't need to believe me. I know how absurd it sounds."
"Oh.. but I-"
"It's okay! You'll see once you get there anyway!"
"Me? I'm going with you guys?"
Ale thought they'd say goodbye or at least Rudy would try to say goodbye to him once they reach the island. Afterall, they only had a deal up to this point.
"Of course? There's no danger and you have a right to the loots as well."
Rudy spoke as if it was obvious. Ale did accompany them throughout the whole journey, and even fought alongside them. So he deemed it obvious that Ale get to see the end of their journey as well. Anything else would be unfair for him.
"I.. don't need the loots. It's enough if you just let me accompany you guys."
Ale was more than happy with the fact that Rudy thought of him as a temporary member of his party. To be able to have a conversation with the future hero and his idol, just that much was more than what he wished for.
"...Let you? Why are you talking like that all of a sudden? Aren't we friends? Why would you need my permission?"
Rudy tilted his head, his brows slightly crunched. It looked like he was angry, or rather, a little sad with what Ale had just said before.
Looking at that expression on his face, Ale finally realised how wrong his line of thinking was. He was only thinking and treating Rudy and his friends as some idol he met by chance.
He only wanted to spend a little quality time with them, get to know them a little, and maybe even ask for an autograph in the end.
It was Ale who wasn't treating the other party genuinely, not the other way around. His feelings were always superficial, all this time.
While on the other hand, Rudy and his friends were treating him as a person, as a friend and a companion. Their feelings were far sincere and honest compared to what Ale had in his heart.
Their conversation came to an abrupt end as Ale came to that realisation. He had no answer to give Rudy. Afterall, he never once treated Rudy like a friend at all.
Their walk back to the inn was quiet and eventless. Rudy didn't know why Ale went silent all of a sudden, and Ale didn't have the courage to continue or change the topic. They were both miserable.
"Did the two of you fight?"
That was the first thing that came out of Ron's mouth as soon as he saw the duo.
"No, we didn't."
Rudy placed his sword on the table and left immediately after answering Ron's question. He didn't know why Ale was acting like that, but there was one thing he was sure of.
"People only fight if they're close. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case between us."
He said those words as he left the room. Ale could feel how hurt Rudy was because of his thoughtlessly spoken words.
No. It wasn't just the words. His behaviour up till this point, his thoughts and the way he perceived the world, all of that was an issue.
"Wow.. That's the first time."
Ron spoke with shock and concern as he watched Rudy disappear from their sight. He had a huge bowl full of snacks in front of him that he was munching on as he spoke.
"First?"
"Yeah. The first time I see Rudy getting so mad. What did ya do?"
As usual, Ron didn't have a filter in his mouth. Whatever he felt, he expressed it with his whole body. Even right now, although others would've felt uneasy in his situation, that guy seemed to be completely fine. He wasn't feeling awkward at the least.
"You're very honest."
"Huh? Ah.. Did you mind?"
"Nope. I'm jealous."
"Jealous?"
Ron tilted his head, not understanding what Ale was talking about.
"Of what?"
He asked again, curious.
"I wish I could be as honest as you are with your feelings."
Ale smiled as he spoke those words and left the room as well. That smile, although Ron wasn't the smartest in the group, even someone like him could tell that it wasn't a smile of joy.
"What's wrong with him now?"
Ron grabbed a mouthful of snacks as he wondered.
"Ah! But what did y'all fight about?!"
"...aw.. He also left without saying anything."
Ron was left curious all by himself once again.
After entering the room, Ale directly went to the washroom ignoring the three people that were awake and looking curiously at his direction.
"Young master? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna take a bath."
He slammed the door shut like an eleven year old going through his first fight as he said those words. The three of them looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, having no idea why their master was acting like that.
After turning on the shower and getting drenched by the cold morning water, Ale finally managed to cool down. The raging emotions inside him started to slowly die down as he took some big breaths and slapped his own cheek a few times.
The realisation that he was doing something so stupid, that he could treat someone with such insincerity, Ale was having a hard time accepting it.
But it was the truth. At the end of the day, he did treat them like that. Even when they were fighting the disaster with such seriousness, he just treated it like some scene from a soap opera and enjoyed the drama.
'I need to apologize.'
At the end of his turbulent thoughts, that's the only conclusion he could come up with. It was clearly his fault, and now that he knew that, he had to apologize genuinely as well.
Knock knock!
"Young master! Are you done? They're leaving in a while so they asked me to call for you."
"Leaving? Who's leaving?"
Ale opened the door in a flash, still in his previous clothes, drenched from head to toe.
"Ah.. Stuart and the rest? So they asked me to call for you."
'Is he leaving early cause he's mad at me?'
Ale wondered to himself as he shut the washroom door once again.
"GIMME A MINUTE!"
It didn't even take him a minute to get changed. He didn't even dry his hair properly as he came out and ran down in a hurry.
"Uh.. Ale?"
"Are you okay? Why are you running?"
"Your hair's wet."
Stuart, Alice and even Ash looked at him worriedly as he came down in such a hurry.
"Are you guys leaving?! Where's Rudy?"
"What..? Oh, he's outside but-"
Ale didn't even let Alice finish her sentence before he ran out in a hurry.
"...what just happened?"
The trio was left speechless by Ale's sudden act.
"Pfft.."
The only person who understood the whole situation, Ron, couldn't help but laugh.
"What did you say when you visited his room before?"
He asked Stuart, having an idea of what just happened.
"Me? I just asked his butler to tell him to hurry, that we're leaving."
"Did you specify that we were waiting since we'll be leaving together?"
Suddenly, Ron started looking like the smartest of the bunch. The trio looked at Ron as if they were seeing him in a new light.
"Why...do I need to do that? Isn't that obvious?"
"Haha.. pfft.. hahaha.."
Ron couldn't hold back his laughter anymore and started laughing out loudly.
"What.. what's so funny? What's going on? Hey, explain."
"Pfft... Haha.. the two of them fought this morning."
"Fought? Ale? With who? Rudy?"
"Yeah.. haha.."
"...."
"...."
"...."
After finally getting a hang of the situation, the three could only stare blankly at the exit, not a word leaving their mouth. That's how speechless they were.
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