Waking up to the beams of light that the sun shone on his face, Eric arose from a comfortable sleep and the first thing he saw after subconsciously peaking through the window was Mogranius, meditating in the backyard.
The yard was small but it definitely doesn't fail to serve its purpose.
King Michael insisted for the group to seek comfort in the castle but Eric stuck firm on his thoughts to do the living here like everyone else.
He preferred a small place able to fit all 5 of the group members where they wouldn't be the main attention.
Might be a bit snug in here but to the young Electus it felt like home since it gave a familiar aura, the one he felt back home at the farmhouse.
The 10 guards they brought along from Lan Zhe were located next door.
Both King Michael and 'King Eric' didn't want to squeeze them all in one house with basically 100 houses available, but since a lot of those houses were long abandoned, the ten guards had to settle for 2 cleaner houses so they could make space for the 100 soldiers of which King Zar sent.
King Michael fell in love with the 10 guards, apart from them belonging to the Calidum Lutum race, which were thought to be extinct for thousands of years, each of these individuals were considerably stronger than 5-10 guards around here.
Even Woldemir being a grand master in swordsmanship struggled to defend himself against one of these beasts.
Michael even offered to hire these 10 guards with a full paying salary once he secured an income instead of just paying them with fish.
Apart from that he offered full documented citizenship to them, each would even get their own house without having to pay tax before they get a stable salary.
Michael offered them what the homeless in Pameres Kingdom spent years possibly decades, trying to get.
Considering the tension, Eric gave these guards the freedom of choice, as these guards working for Michael wouldn't necessarily damage Lan Zhe.
Because even though there were only 45 guards remaining in Lan Zhe, there are 5 grand masters there who can provide lava to 400 manipulators, ultimately defending their town with ease from attackers.
But regardless of the offer and freedom of choice that Eric purely offered them, these guards belong around pava and aren't really well adjusted to the outside world even though considering they were outside for almost a month now.
Shortly and clearly, they absolutely crave to go back home. Well, at least most of them.
Isabel for example, felt like doing more with her life again instead of isolating herself from the outside world which with a certain attitude can make the lady feel like a caged animal with limited opportunities.
She is near to being a master [level 5] in the arts of the sword and wants to use her skills to help the continent Ignis.
This country especially needs every bit of help it can get if peace is to harmonize and stretch wide in all 4 sides of the continent.
Two of her guard friends who recently became experts [level 4] in swordsmanship feel the same and one enthusiastic guard who is still struggling with the third level [wielder] is on board as well.
Being given the freedom to walk freely in Gaster Kingdom and possibly Pameres Kingdom without being called a freak of nature, encouraged that feeling, that crave of freedom.
Eric finally approached Mogranius to join the old man in some much needed meditation but was almost instantly prevented from doing so as Mogranius uttered some words in a calm manner, while still remaining in a meditating position.
Cross legged with his elbows over the knees and arms bent at a 45° angle towards the sides.
The young man was staggered by a single question. "Do you know how to do the fire shield, Eric?"
"No, otherwise I wouldn't have swam in lava to begin with, if I remember it right." Answered Eric with half intentional sarcasm.
"That does make sense." The geezer answered and took a deep breath, aiming not to break his own concentration and shortly added. "How about I teach you right now?"
"That would be great!" Eric screamed which completely broke Mogranius' concentration and left him with a slight pain through the ears, and a deeply displeased look on his face.
"This is why you can't meditate." Pointed out Mogranius roughly but yet sarcastically and added. "However, if given enough thought, you would have unlocked the secrets to the fire shield by now, I expected you to."
"What does meditation have to do with the fire shield?" Murmured Eric, questioning himself over and over.
At this point his concentration completely lost, Mogranius shouted. "Everything! You can never become a grand master if you don't know how to handle emotions, the mother of all demons proved that."
Spotting that Eric was still far lost, Mogranius continued with his lecture. "Imagine a large fireball heading for your father, and the only way for you to save him, would be casting a fire shield. What would you do?"
Answering with what would encourage the old man to smack him behind the head, Eric cited. "I would fight the fire with fire! Like I did against the tons of lava we faced in Lan Zhe."
"No, you goblin! That's the problem. You still choose to attack, the fire shield demands the opposite of that. We just have to fix your dumb ass thoughts and soon." Sooner they realized what the young Electus thought like, the better.