Chương 16: Ch. 13
It was extremely hard to open my eyes. When I tried, nothing happened. All I could see was nothingness. Darker than having my eyes closed when I was alive. No light was present as if it was like a void had suck up all the light, turning the place to pitch black. This had felt never ending. I'm afraid. I'm a lone just like I had always been before… Occasionally I could hear voices drifting in the darkness. Voices of my past. The ones that were especially loud were the most recent ones. Of the mercenary I had hired. When he apologized right before decapitating me. My body had felt heavy but as time went on, it began to become gradually lighter.
A small light appeared, even though it was small I couldn't ignore it. Walking towards it, the next thing I had noticed was waking up. My eyes were adjusting to the brightness of the sun setting down outside of my window. Even though the sun was going down, my eyes weren't used to it. I was also on top of a comfy bed, the floor was wooden, with no personal belongings in the room beside Kaiser's battle kit. A table was against the side of the wall with a lone chair. It was a typical inn room. The fragrance in the room was pleasant and the linen gave off it's freshly washed sun influenced odor.
I couldn't remember how I got here, I was sure I had died. Placing my fingers on the temples of my face trying to remember what happened. I couldn't remember. I felt rejuvenated though. After having to experience the weight on my body in the pitch black nightmare, my body felt oddly light. I know I couldn't fall slowly like a dropping feather, but it felt like I could do the same. My body and mind conflicted each other, as if I had never went through a near death experience. Still trying to process what was going on, footsteps were becoming louder and louder. It was coming to my directions. It could only be that man. Opening the door with a platter of food. He had set it down on the table.
"Kaiser…"
"What is it boy."
It's strange, the man who was about to kill me… I didn't bear any ill will towards him. In fact I was glad to see him.
"What happened?"
I had looked at Kaiser with such a serious face that I wasn't aware of it until he broke down letting out a sigh, he proceeded to explain himself.
"You were near death and after dealing with the monster we came across another party who helped us... Lucky for you, you were able to get paid. So I took all of it since I had to pay for your inn and meal."
From there on out, Kaiser started explaining in such details. It was a long explanation about expenses like when we first met about the contract, I couldn't keep up with it. I just laughed.
"Okay sir."
"I'm dead beat tired, I'm going straight to sleep so stop hogging the bed and go enjoy something out of town."
His body flopped onto the bed with such force, I bounced right off. I almost fell over trying to get balance landing but I had caught myself. I took a glance at him. He looks pitiful, I seared the image of the worn out state of Kaiser into my mind. Grabbing the platter I made my way out but before I could do so, he began mumbling into the mattress.
"Tomorrow I'll be busy at the Central part of the town all day. Well, You've been asleep more than you've been awake so shoo shoo, get your legs moving"
"Okay got it."
I exited the room. After consuming the meal in the lounge I decided to wander the vast town. Many kids my age running and playing was usual. I was envious of them, I hadn't played like that in many years. I couldn't imagine myself like them, not anymore. The sun had settled down and there wasn't much to do except reflect on my mistakes.
"I've been nothing but useless..."
Sloshing my hands around my empty pocket, I had wandered into the adventurers pub since it was the only building staying open at this time. It would be shortly that all of them would be done for the day. Packed with the lively atmosphere of adventurers. It was full of colors as no adventurers wore the same thing I've noticed. To adventurers, armor was for protection but it was also a sort of fashion. The sight of females in Iron bikinis and such. I couldn't understand. The best thing is to live.
"Hey kid! uh Mark was it"
"Yes?"
I had turned my head toward the direction of the sound. It was the sight of a man with a serious expression. His well groomed hair and well kept armor was what you would imagine when a warrior adventurer when was mentioned.
"Come join us"
I had wanted to refuse the stranger but I couldn't find an excuse fast enough. He then beckoned for me to sit down again. I hate it, I broke under the pressure again. It was to late to break the gleeful smile of the adventurers. I sat next to the man. Thunk! The sound startled me, the man had slammed his mug on the table.
"Waiter! Order of three kabob please" he had enthusiastically yelled across the pub. The attention of the man went back to me.
"You must be confused. While you were recovering, me and my four peers came across your team. We helped get you guys to this town. I'm Dunmar, leader of the party. Red Iron"
"I'm Yuane, a spear wielder. If you need help just tell Onee san alright. I'll strike them up like this Ka-Chaaaa!"
She made fast repeated thrusting motions with her imaginary spear. After realizing her cliche cringe speech, she immediately turned red. No one helped her and she was left bright red.
"I'm Hans…"
I had waited for the rest of his introduction. After six seconds of awkward silence had gone by, Christine had got up from her chair and slapped the back of his head.
"Oh my my, don't worry about this goofball. He's an archer. He's good with delivering arrows but not so much with words. I'm a Priest under the protection of the Holy God Inerva."
"Ya a mage, I'm just that. A typical mage. Nooothing special at all. I'm Elina. Nice meeting you"
With all their introductions, I felt obligated to introduce myself even though they already knew who I was. It was only proper.
"I'm Mark, Thank you for helping us finish our missions. With your help we were able to finish the mission."
Bowing my head in gratitude to my saviours. I peeked up and had noticed the members of Red Iron around at each other guilty. The party stared at Yuane signalling for her to tell me something.
"Waaah me? Uh listen kid…"
I rose my head, intently listening. I wanted to know the truth.
"So um so."
She was sweating crazy, I didn't know though that it was because she felt the immense pressure of having to break the happiness of a kid. I just wanted to hear the truth.
"The mission you were a part of, how would I say it… It was marked as a failure by the client."
As her answer came out, she twirled her finger and puffed her cheeks. I could sense her feeling bad and sulking that she had destroy the dream of a young kid. I've noticed recently that adults usually tended to become frantic around kids with having to confess the hard truth. I gave a half hearted smile.
I wasn't mad that we didn't get a reward but I was mad that once again, I needed someone to cover for my weakness. I had survive years with my wit.
"Anyways that bodyguard with you is really kind huh"
Yuane trying to cheer me up hadn't notice that she looked desperate. I can see her effort. Seeing her made me want to pretend to be swayed by her but I didn't want to lie.
"Yeah... All I've been is a burden."
With that comment, Yuane slumped in her chair as if she took a critical blow. Her soul was floating away. She accepted there wasn't a chance to make a comeback.
"Everyone starts at different levels, all you need to do is catch up" Han had calmly spoken. It was genuine. With Han's comment, I brightened up a bit.
"You're right, I need to continue to get better."
After a couple of hours had passed, I had left the company of Red Iron as all of them had become drunkards except Christine. I have never been surrounded by a happy atmosphere like that in a long time. Dunmar was also nice enough to give me two kabob stick although I had ate earlier. Forcing me to take them with me, I couldn't refuse no matter how hard I tried. A sort of sorrow welled up inside of me. I was envious. I wished I had a place for me as well. With the slight thought of negativity, it all vanished as I stared at the moon. It was extremely bright and illuminated the streets. It was captivating.
With the streets being empty, the thought of being alone a couple of weeks ago came funneling into my thoughts. I hadn't had a companion until now. Even though Kaiser was with me temporarily because of a contract. Only a short period has pass, but I hoped this would continue on forever. The night was truly quiet until the sound of a growling noise interrupted. It was a ferocious noise like a bear. I stopped in my tracks and hadn't bother looking. If I looked, it would probably attack. I heard when there was a vicious animal, sometimes the best course of action would be to stop all things and freeze. It was harder for them to see.
Trying to ignore it, it came again louder and more ferocious than before. Looking possibly couldn't hurt I think... I had convinced myself after some time standing still that I would rather know what killed me then being hit blinded. Through my peripheral vision, I identified the source of the noise.
To my surprise it came from a fully armored person who was sitting. Leaning against the wall, the tower shield this person had was used as if it was a blanket. I had heard rumors about monsters being in full suit of armor in the past.
The growl came again. This time I could pinpoint the noise was coming from the person's stomach. This person needed the two kabobs more than I did... before I approached it, I had lifted my hood on my head. It was a silly reason but I wanted to make sure if it was a vengeful spirit, It wouldn't recognize my face and I could escape without it becoming attached to me.
"Excuse me."
"Hnngh.."
I stuck out the two kabobs to the person. The suit of armor grabbed the kabobs, lifting the visor and ate it mangily. The sight of it was similar to the sight of a demon feasting on the corpse of a human. I wasn't able to see the face as this person had slumped over on their knees facing the other direction when they grabbed it. The illumination of the moon did not reach into the dark alleyway as well. It was hard to make out of the details and decorations.
"What's your name..."
The coarse voice came out, it had sounded like it hosted a demon. My heart pounded. No way a human could sound like that! The way it eats and the way it sounds, it really was a demon… Pretending I didn't hear the question, my legs were stiff.
"Ha ha ha well geez would you look at the moon. It's pretty late, my father would be worried!"
That was one of the lamest excuse I had ever came up with but right now, I was going to have a heart attack! I felt the piercing cold gaze from the shadow. After back pedaling for a couple of yards, I began sprinting for dear life.
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