The grandmaster was a very good host. He had Lolo take them through a few long corridors that led to a long hall like dormitory.
It was filled with clean beds and was kept warm by some temperature regulating system that had to do with the pipes as far as Rastel could see.
The injured Vars and Baluu were taken to another separate room for treatment. When the grandmaster saw his son, he snorted and turned back to work like it wasn't any of his concern.
He did show a bit of interest in Rastel though for reasons unknown to him but since the grandmaster didn't say anything, he let it be too.
He requested a hot bath for Myra from the giant bal which he happily obliged. Most of the settlers used this opportunity also to push in their requests and not long after, most of the elders and all of the children were sent to a huge hot bath located in the building.
The more Rastel saw of the grandmaster's residence the more amazed he was. There seemed to be some sort of spatial magic at work as the building was far larger than he had first thought.
The bath was also extremely large and filled with steam. He guessed that the water was most likely heated by the forge's flames also.
Roxanne wanted to take a bath too so he let her take care of Myra. With Amba's presence, he wasn't too worried about her safety.
He went back to bed as he wasn't interested in the bath. There was a trolley a food there but he didn't even glance at it.
Immediately he got to a bed, he laid down with a sigh and logged off.
—————————————————————————————
Sai checked out a customer's credit card and politely sent them off with a small bow.
He worked at a large supermarket that operated in the business district of their town ever since he finished school last year.
It wasn't that he didn't have the funds to further his studies into a higher level, it was just that he didn't feel the need too.
He didn't have any lofty goals or accomplishments he wanted to achieve. All he wanted was a quiet life where he could live in peace.
And that was why he was working at this large supermarket that paid nothing more than the required minimum wage.
But he was satisfied. All he did was work and play games to pass the time. And also take care of his terminally ill grandfather that was living permanently in the hospital.
"It's almost closing time." He checked the watch on his left hand.
'I want to finish that game today if possible. I should probably hurry up.' And with that thought, he left his position at the counter.
He went to the changing room to take off his working clothes and wore his clothes. A black trouser and a light blue shirt with a V-neck cut.
He walked out of the supermarket while waving his fellow employee's goodbye, and stepped into the orange evening light that bounced off his pale skin.
'I still have to go and get grandfather the things he wanted. I don't understand how an old man will still be into manga and snacks. Does he not care about his health?'
His grandfather had been in the hospital for the past five years of Sai's life. And as his only living family member left, Sai had been taking very good care of him since then.
He quickly went through the errands before arriving at the large hospital.
"Oooh!!! That's really amazing! What an amazing thing it is to be young!!!"
As Sai entered the large room kept entirely for his grandfather, he heard the older man's yells of excitement.
He sighed as he saw his grandfather with his balding gray hair and frail body gripping the sides of his bed tightly as he watched the large holographic TV in front of him.
A program was been aired and it was showing a PVP battle between two famous rankers.
One was a well-built light skinned man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a long white robe that looked like something ancient romans would wear and wielded a long white staff with a large blue gem set in it.
His opponent was a burly man wielding a large battle axe with a short handle. He was bare chested without any armor, only sporting a pair of brown trousers made with some type of animal hide.
The blonde-haired man who was obviously a mage waved his staff in beautiful arcs as bolt after bolt of lightning flew out towards his opponent.
Someone without much knowledge might think he was randomly throwing attacks unless they saw it from the burly man's point of view.
The countless bolts of lightning seemed to spread out in a pattern of some sort as they approached him with blinding speed leaving him no space to maneuver and dodge effectively.
A grin broke out on his face as he saw the attack. Yelling loudly, he lifted his axe into the air and started whirling it into a blur.
"You have gotten stronger, Son of Odin!"
A black light formed around the whirling axe which he promptly sent into a downward slash that smashed into the ground.
A wide arc of black light flew from the point of the attack and smashed into the bolts of lightning effectively neutralizing them.
The attack should have ended there but the burly man with the axe stilled tensed up.
"Far stronger than I initially imagined."
Although his counter attack had taken out the bolts of lightning that came from the front, those at the side were still bearing down on him as they arced towards his position.
The spells Son of Odin used was a low tier spell called lightning bolt. An attack that fired bolts of lightning straight at the enemy, it was simple and comparatively weak for someone of his level.
But at the hands of a lightning mage like Son of Odin who was an extremely skilled ranker with the position of 12, it was far powerful than normal.
Not to mention this bizarre casting technique he was using.
'How did he get the bolts to curve?' that was the question on the burly man's mind as he saw the incoming bolts.
One wouldn't do him much damage but there were tens, if not a hundred of them.
He grunted as he activated a skill, his muscles seemed to tense up as he was covered by an eerie blue light.
Waving his axe around, he then proceeded to cut down the numerous lightning bolts that were aiming at him with impressive speed!
Son of Odin on the other hand wasn't wasting his time as he had been chanting a more powerful spell all this while.
"Argggh!!!!" with a loud yell, he slammed his staff on the floor and countless bolts of lightning emerged out of thin air, striking everywhere around him.
It was an amazing scene that made him look as awe inspiring as the god of thunder himself!
"Grandfather" Sai called out trying his best to ignore the battle from Age of Magic.
"Keep quiet for a bit Sai-kun, it is getting interesting now! Can you believe it? Son of Odin challenging Rakama who is just a rank below him. Seems he wants to solidify his position before the ranked matches start. This bastard! He really wants to challenge the top ten! That is insane!"
The old man babbled endlessly as he watched the fight with interest. Sai sighed and dropped the package he brought on the bedside drawer.
His grandfather turned to watch him as he busied himself with dealing with the manga and snacks he brought for him.
He knew Sai loved games, that was without a doubt but he seemed to avoid AOM like a plague. Nothing seemed to catch his interest in the game.
"You know you can just read your manga online like other normal people." Sai said as he handed him the manga.
"Huh! You young ones know nothing about culture. The joy in reading manga is having to flip the pages by yourself! That is one thing technology can never replace." His grandfather huffed as he took the manga.
Sai watched him with a smile as he flipped through the pages of his favorite stories. Although his grandfather was old and was suffering with a terminal disease, he never seemed to have left his youth.
Sometimes Sai ended up wondering if the man felt the weight of his age at all. He was always spry and got hyped up by things like action and adventure of the such.
"How are those your friends, Reo and the Aizawa kid, Natsu was it?"
Although they were a year younger than his grandson, he knew them as the closest things Sai had to friends. Sai usually had the habit of fading into the background even if he was in a crowded place.
He wasn't particularly introverted, but just didn't take the initiative to talk to people anymore.
"They are fine grandfather, I met them just yesterday when they were coming back from school." Sai picked up a bag of chips by the side as he answered his grandfather.
He tore open the seal and started tossing the chips into his mouth as he watched his grandfather read.
The battle segment suddenly changed as the program started highlighting another AOM ranker. This time, it was a beautiful elven woman with short light green hair and a large metal bow behind her.
"Oooh!!! It's the queen's apprentice! Hah! I bet she'll be climbing up from her position of 27th soon enough! A position as the Mad queen's apprentice, even all those unique and epic ranked special classes would definitely be suppressed by that position. That is the mad queen we are talking about you know!"
The ranker in question was surrounded by people as she walked down a lush forest city that teemed with life. Only elves and beastmen were seen in the streets as they stood respectfully by the sides for the woman to pass.
"Hah! Even the people of the Ludos forest range pay her respect! Her and her guild are going to soar to prosperity now!"
His grandfather seemed particularly fond of this ranker. Maybe it was because she was an archer.
His family was well known in the past for its archery skills, they inherited the legacy up till now. It was one of the things his grandfather was most proud about.
"I've looked at her drawing form and battles so much I can confidently tell you this Sai-kun! This girl is definitely Japanese!"
"You can't really tell grandfather, various forms of archery are spread around the world and the world government is very happy to share any means of combat as long as people are willing to learn. She might just be someone who took interest in Japanese archery and prefers to use it"
Sai commented dryly from the side as he ate his chips.
"Aahh you know nothing. There are some things only a Japanese can achieve with our archery. I bet if you played this game you would be far better than her." His grandfather waved him away but didn't forget to probe his grandson.
'This again' Sai showed a small frown but quickly eased his face.
"You know back in my day, all we could do was dream and read stories about the joy of full dive virtual reality. It was all just fantasy to us but we still greatly appreciated it."
The old man suddenly took a solemn tone.
"Seeing it now just fills me with excitement! And mhmm, yes regret. Sometimes I wish I died before it got out, I wouldn't have had these regrets. If I was just a bit healthier, I would have bought myself an SVN and gone to explore this world myself."
His grandfather let out a regretful sigh but still looked at his grandson through quick side glances.
Sai slowly shoved the last piece of chip into his mouth then stood up.
"I'm done with my chips, let me go throw away the trash."
He busily picked up the trash from the snacks and headed to the door. Just as he was about to step outside, he heard his grandfather's voice.
"I have told you this before and I will still tell you now, you don't have to keep blaming yourself for your parent's death"
Sai's body tensed and he felt his eyes go red but he didn't respond.
"My son, your father, you know the kind of person he is. He would definitely not blame you, and neither would your mother."
Sai walked out and shut the door before he could say more.
His grandfather just sighed and turned his gaze back to the holographic television on the wall. The elven woman was still being highlighted as she was interviewed by the channel's correspondents.
Sai walked down the corridor of the hospital with hurried steps.
At one point, he thought he heard the familiar voice of one of the nurses but he ignored it and rushed into the toilet door that appeared before him.
He went to the sink and washed his face thoroughly as he allowed the cold water bring some clarity to his head.
When he was done, he clamed down significantly and stared at his reflection in the mirror but after a while, he felt his eyes getting watery again.
'Never...' he swallowed deep as he stared at his pale tear streaked face.
'I will never touch a bow again!'