After talking to the cohort of the Effese that was imprisoned in the cell, Pops invited us in the bar and talked about our entire conversation with her. I narrated all about her name, her past, the nature of the enigmatic girl that tried to murder us, the Effese, and basically… everything. I decided to discuss those details to Pops since Malthur became uselessly silent the entire time after we left Libra in her cell.
"Hmmm…this is rather impressive. I could not even stress over how uncooperative she was when we tried to interrogate her with the other Guildsmen. I guess, I need to thank you for that…"
While drinking his sparkling honey tea, Pops offered us his gratitude.
"What, so does that mean, we are not required to do the sanitation for the city anymore, Pops?" I asked with expectant eyes.
"Do not push you luck, kid. You are not off the hook just like that. Sure, your cooperation here was essential for the security of the city, but we still cannot overlook your offense earlier."
Excuse me?!
Argh. This city is odd in their selective way of punishment!
While I was rankling from my sit, out of nowhere and without even looking at us, Malthur spoke:
"Libra there was… a person who was deprived of her own free will for unknowable years. She…she said that she was abducted by that cruel girl and was forced to do her bidding. H-How terrible!"
He said those words while gripping his own glass of beverage in a tight manner.
What, have you grown attachment to her already?
I just noticed this recently, but this git can really attach himself in questionable kinds of people on a short span of meeting them!
Hearing his words of worry, my Pops nodded in agreement and said seriously:
"Indeed. We do not know for sure if this girl is lying to the Guild, but after a couple of days, we will see to it if she is telling the truth or not. For now, we just have to be mindful of her. We cannot afford to be complacent from her knowing that the threatening situation regarding the security of this city from the Effese is rather huge…"
Seriously, you said yourself that she is already harmless! Is that cell really necessary?
However, indeed. We need to be vigilant in times like this especially with the looming threat of the Effese.
My apologies, Libra…
"Now… all of these facts about this girl will serve well for the guild in order to prepare us for the Effese. We just need to keep her from doing any shady actions and if she remains that way when the threat is over, we can let her go…"
Both of us sighed in relief when we heard the possibility of Libra's freedom.
"Ah… so the two of you were here after all! I've been looking for the both of you!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in our side and approached us wearily.
It was Roy.
"Welp. I have to go back to the smithy now. It seems that the Grandseer will not calm down on her nagging yet so… I better go back to the smithy. I will leave you three for the meantime in order to let Roy catch up."
Pops stood up in his chair and waved his goodbyes to us. Before going, he whispered at me:
"Listen kid, you still owe me a conversation later okay? I will prepare the dinner tonight so arrive home early, got it?"
"Y-Yes Pops…" I replied silently.
He walked away and waved at us gently when Roy sat before us. He casually retrieved a glass for his own then poured a freshwater for it. When he finally calmed down before us, Malthur spoke:
"You are finally here eh, Redhead? Where have you been?"
When he heard the usual greeting and naming of Malthur to him, Roy stopped in drinking his water and said:
"Hey… I am telling you to cut that 'Redhead' naming already! My name is Roy! It would not hurt you to say it properly! Now that you have mentioned it, I slipped out on the cheery crowd earlier in order to guide Fae in her registration to Bintii and you wouldn't believe what happened in the Infantry station!"
"Ho? What happened? Did they turn down the request?"
It is only natural, now that I am thinking about it. Bintii is a Hainu. Hainus are known for their fierceness and aggressive nature. Not mention, their lethal abilities and capability to turn invisible is rather troublesome too! If people in the Infantry branch realized the complete nature of that creature, there is no way they would register Bintii in the city!
Roy seemed to have peeked my way of thought based on my facial expression, so he answered my worries:
"When we went to the branch, the officer casually regarded Bintii as a Hainu and without an effort, she swiftly got the seal!"
W-What? Are you serious?
But… the Infantry branch is known for their strictness and orderliness! Every staff of the branch are bounded by their rules and will be willful to lay down their name for their entire code and rules!
What happened to this branch exactly?
"Hmph. It is only to be expected. She is my Bintii after all. Not knowing her presence is a disgrace, so allowing her to be in this city is a wise thing to do."
In my side, Malthur proudly drank his fluids while nodding boisterously.
Hoi. Do not talk in that manner like you are the proud father of that little puppy!
"B-But… Bintii is extremely dangerous when we encountered her! Are they not aware regarding the nature of her kind?! How are they certain that Fae can domesticate her in this city starting tomorrow?"
I mean, do not misunderstand, I like her and her cute demeanor as a puppy, but when we encountered her initially where she was inches away from killing us, it made me immediately think the security of this city!
"Hoi! I cannot let you say such hurtful things to my Bintii! Sure, she may be far away from me now, but as her initial master, do not expect me to just sit here while you are dissing her name, got it? Are you blind or something? She is completely harmless now and she already attained her destiny as a domesticated rare creature!"
For some unknown reason, Malthur went furious at me when I was just basically telling the facts to Roy. Look back, idiot! That creature almost killed you!
"Well, sure. I think I have to agree on Malthur here. From her behavior in recent days ever since we uh… turned her into a miniature state, Bintii became unbelievably tamed! Her ferocious and animalistic tendencies from her original form were gone and she is now gentle to everyone! Sure, she is an animal and we might not know what she is thinking… but from the looks of it, she cannot hurt anyone." Roy said.
Hmmm… perhaps that is true.
"Argh. I just cannot afford to see the day where she reverts back into her original form and will proceed to rampage around the city. So right now, I am just being cautious. Well, from her behavior, you two are correct. But remember this, we are responsible for her if ever she does anything detrimental!"
I imposed my worry to the two boys who are still casually drinking their refreshments.
"Quit being such a worry-wart and trust Bintii for this, smitha! I know for myself that she will make that Redhead's little sister happy and I know it!"
Malthur rebutted his reply to me in an irksome manner, probably wanting to stop my needless worrying.
Really, just because of this little creature, you are showing a different side of yourself eh, Malthur?
How utterly uncharacteristic for you!
"Well thanks, Malthur! A-About that statement… that part when you said that Bintii will make her happy…I think, something happened of that sort in the registration too."
Roy probably remembered an embarrassing moment in the branch earlier that made him stutter like this out of a sudden.
"Oh? What is that?" Malthur and I said in unison.
"You see, even if the branch was quick in giving Bintii a seal of approval for the city, there was an initial screening session that took place in order to examine Bintii. While she was being heavily observed by the battalion officers, without a warning, Fae made Bintii do some amazing tricks that a lot of astute trainers do to their pets! There was this one trick where Fae commanded Bintii to turn invisible in order to make an illusion alike to a trick, and everyone were awestruck when they saw that!"
Huhhhh. Is that right?
So… you are telling me that Bintii was accepted here because of her entertaining performance? Is that even allowed?
"Of course, I couldn't tell to the officers that it was just Bintii's natural capability as an animal, but upon watching them be amazed like that with great expectations from their eyes, I just gave up on informing them entirely. The presentation lasted for five tricks that Fae led to Bintii and with that, she happily accepted the seal of the city! Isn't that great?"
Roy smiled in front of us not knowing the illegal ploy that was playing in that scene. When he heard all of those unbelievable report, Malthur sighed heavily while standing:
"Right. I need to retrieve Bintii back after all."
Hoi! Do not turn back to your word now!
***
We managed to calm Malthur down and told him that next time, Roy will suggest to Fae to not make Bintii do those tricks anymore.
After all, Bintii is not a performer.
We just agreed that if we have the spare time, one of these days, we will visit that questionable branch and talk to the officers!
Furthermore, now that Roy is here, we need to make him catch up on every details that he missed when he disappeared before us. While we were still drinking our liquids, we told Roy about his shared punishment with us for doing that 'silly' game with us and our conversation with Libra.
"Argh. Seriously, when I was doing my job as an announcer, a thought came into me that I will be deserving this punishment…so right now, I am not even shocked… Truly, this is embarrassing for me since I am a noble…"
A heavy sigh came from his mouth.
"So…uh, we will start the duties tomorrow eh? Up to what hour will be the duration of our cleaning then?"
Ah. That is right. Nobody told us specifically…
"All I know is that if one part of the city is already cleaned, then we can take our break for that particular day…" I said to him halfheartedly.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!"
Roy jumped out from his seat and made a face that resembled to a reaction knowing that in fact, he was indeed an orphan. He eyes were large, his mouth was gaping wide-open, and his face is basically beet-red.
"What? I just told you the verdict of Pops together with the Chief. If I will repeat, he said that our duties will cover the entire week and we must see to it that our places must be sanitized!" I annoyingly reprimanded him.
Malthur joined me.
"Yes, Redhead! The entire duty starts tomorrow! Seriously! That's what you get for not being around when the penalty is being stated to us!" he mouthed angrily.
When Roy heard the both of us, his expression worsened and his face now is enveloped with fear. He pointed the both of us with his quivering index finger while saying fearfully:
"Hey, do the both of you have an actual idea how big this city is???"
Huh…
Both Malthur and I looked at each other and when we did, we just shrugged the thought off and returned our gazes at him.
"Come now, Flemeroy "Flinston" Arsonstel! There is no sense on brooding such an insignificant detail! The job is just to clean the roads? How hard will that be? Huh? Really, Flemeroy "Flinston" Arsonstel! You told us that you were embarrassed earlier as a noble so act like you are really part of the nobility!!!"
I laughed at him with a particular tone.
"I concur. You… uh… Flemeroy "Flinston" Arsonstel? Look, lad… both of us are nobles and look at me, I am not even thinking about inconsequential things at this very moment! If you ask me, that is the definition of being a noble! That is why, the word itself has the first letters of 'no' on it! NO-tense, NO-sweat, NO-worries!"
For some reason, Malthur joined me and uh…
Wait… were you cracking a joke just now? Do not overdo it, hoi!
Both of us laughed at him with our own tones when he slammed the both of his fist in the table.
"Stop being weird, the both of you! Do you have any idea how big the city is? Huh?! Pray tell me!!!"
He became furious at us.
Malthur just stared at him like a blank idiot since probably, he has no idea how large Estocia is. I mean, he came from Silvos, after all.
Hmmm… the size of the city huh?
Certainly, I know my fair knowledge regarding the overall size of this city since this is the place that kept me since childhood. I basically walked around the city when I was a small girl and upon growing up, I am confident to the overall size of it that… it is not that huge unlike other cities of Ea.
After all, Estocia is a small city.
"Hoi. Come on, Pops just said a 'weeks' worth' of sanitation duties, not 'you will finish it when the entire city is cleaned' kind of duty! Seriously, are you trying to kill us, Flemeroy "Flinston" Arsonstel?" I seriously stated to him while also teasing him.
"That is right, Flemeroy "Flinston" Arsonstel! Seriously you need to properly listen first before you lash out to us!"
Again, for some reason, Malthur joined me.
Hearing our combined sounds of teasing, Roy quivered more and rested his two hands into his head while shaking momentarily.
"AHHHHH! STOP THAT SILLY NAMING, THE BOTH OF YOU!"
Whoops. I think we went too far.
But in all honesty, I did not even know that teasing this 'Redhead' together with Malthur was actually quite entertaining!
"Calm down! Look, we can just perform as always for just a span of an entire week! How bad is that for you?"
Noticing that Roy screamed achingly, Malthur reverted back to his serious self and repeated my words to him.
When he heard those words, he faced us again and frantically said:
"That is not what I am worried about?! What if… w-what if… our duties are already over after the last day and we are not even halfway done on our duties?! How unfair would that be for the other areas of the city?!"
EH??? x2
That is what you are worried about?
We wanted you to think like a noble sure, but not in an extent like this!!!
In the end, although he was still adamant about his own idea, Roy just agreed with us with the duties for tomorrow. For our plan, we divided our parts and roles in cleaning for the different sections of the city and we agreed on it so it can suffice our efforts for a weeks' worth.
Furthermore, we also narrated our conversation with Libra, a woman that he never met from earlier and we found out that she already knows her since he works for the Guild. Our meeting ended with a reminder that we must visit her once our duties are finally done and interrogate her again.
After our long and arduous day from the completion of our first-ever quest, to Nada, up to the troubles in the Guild, we went on our respective homes so that we can finally rest. It is a busy morning tomorrow, after all.
Looking back to my memory, indeed… what a busy day that I just had!
I can already feel the incoming exhaustion finally catching up to my body so I hurriedly went back to the smithy.
I gingerly opened the door and with a soft thud upon closing it, I saw my Pops sitting stiffly in the table while reading a long parchment paper.
In the table, Pops prepared a lot of food that it may seem to be looking like a buffet of a sumptuous banquet.
A pot of roasted mashed potato with a serving of honey? That is good!
Fried lamb smothered in thick tomato paste? Mmmm. So mouth-watering.
A heaping bowl of soy rice in stand? T-That is…
OH? What is this?
A serving of vanilla crackers with different berry dipping?!
Color me surprised and famished!
I just stared happily on the contents of the table when Pops already noticed me…
"Oh. You are already here. I have been waiting for you for quite some time now."
"*Drool*"
"What are you waiting there, kid? The next Adamthryst tournament or something? Come here now and let us eat!"
Wahhhh! I missed this!
I was practically a child at this moment as I happily ate my dinner together with my Pops. I was smiling for the entire time as I felt this feeling of nostalgia inside of me that I haven't felt for quite some time.
Hey, how can you blame me? I haven't seen Pops for days!
Or is it that long??? I just do not know specifically.
"So… to the talk that I have been waiting for…"
While gulping on his drink, Pops stared at me in order to start my promised conversation to him.
"Ah, right…"
I took my sweet time in explaining what exactly happened for the past days of our first ever questing. I told him everything about the quest, the village of Mantleta, its people, Mr. Cardamon, our encounter with Bintii, and of course…
"Let me stop you right there, kid. Are you basically trying to tell me that… you met that fat Boite and he made you risk your lives in his own request that he can actually achieve on his own effort?"
While I was rambling on about my narration, he stopped me when I was at the part of my story about Boss. He sounded with a parental worry but remained serious in his expression.
"Y-Yes… that happened. What is more Pops, I cannot believe that you and the Boss are acquainted! -"
"Hold on, 'boss'? That is his naming for the three of you???"
"Yes Pops. I-Is that bad? I mean, he is the village leader, after all…"
Upon hearing my apparent answer, he gulped heavily on his cup, then sighed exhaustibly.
"Kid…"
"Y-Yes… Pops?"
For a second there, I felt tense about his incoming statement.
"When you are not busy in your duties tomorrow, give me the exact direction of this village so that I can visit him myself."
"Eeek!!!"
I managed to shriek on his dark request.
We continued on our conversation regarding Boss and as he said, they were indeed past comrades in their duties as Myrmidons. He did not press any further regarding that matter so I did not pester him about it, so I continued my narration. Next on my talk, I told him about Nada- his whereabouts, the stature of his life right now, and the illness of his mother. While I was speaking, I noticed that Pops was just listening silently while still eating slowly on the food.
"Hmmm… I wonder if life can become better for this boy…" I said with pure worry for Nada.
In this moment, Pops just kept looking at me when he said something…
"Look, kid…about that boy."
"Yes, Pops? What about Nada?"
He was about to reply on my query but for a moment, it was as if, something just pulled the length of his tongue and it prevent him on saying something.
"… On second thought… never mind…"
"EH??? What is it about, Pops???"
"Nothing… forget about it."
Pops stood up from the chair and took his platter on the washing room. I was actually fast on my eating session tonight so I was finished already and decided to chat to Pops while he is still finishing his platter. He shouted from the back to help him do the dishes and I hurriedly obliged to his words. We washed our platters and everything that was in the table and we did it silently. For some reason, after talking with each other for an extensive time from our dinner, Pops and I went mum on our washing duty. The only sound that was ringing was the running drips of water as we are scraping the dirt on each of the utensils.
"Look… kid." without looking at me, Pops talked to me again abruptly.
"Yes, Pops?"
"How is it? Being a Myrmidon, I mean?"
Troubling of course! To be honest within myself, I will not assume my actual duties as a Myrmidon if I will not get a chance for my dream! However…
"Eh, nothing dire is happening so far so… fine, I guess?"
"Ho? Is that so??? Well, that is good to hear…"
What is with that tone of awkwardness in your words just now?
Pops began to wipe the finished platters with dry towel while continuing his talk:
"Just… remember that I mean what I said a few days ago. About supporting you to your personal careers…"
Pops…
"Perhaps it is about time to give up on forcing you in all of these. Look kid, I know that you are still rebellious towards everything and I can see it into your face every time we meet. So… just do what you want to do from now on."
Really… Pops.
"…Okay."
Hearing him warm up like this towards me left me speechless so I only managed to muster a single word. We kept cleaning the dishes in that manner until we finished them all.
Before I finish up and walk to my room to finally sleep, suddenly and out of nowhere, my Pops patted me in the head and said:
"Good job for your first duty as a Myrmidon, kid."
R-Really… why are you being liker that just now?!
You have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to be…
"But know this… you will never be great as me! Got it?"
Ah… right. That's my Pops, alright.
We teased each other until I was ready to call it a day tonight. I deserve this welcoming sleep for my body!
At that night, I slept with a feeling of warmth in my heart.
The next day…
I saw myself standing in front of the Guild while waiting for those two early-risers.
Argh… what is with those two?! To think that I will be the first one to come here!
At this very hour, the sky is still mixed with two drastic shades of light and dark as it clearly imposes the youngness of the day. I tried to keep my patience in check while I was listening on the soft chirping of the birds that are flying aloft the sky. Right now, few Swordsfolk are already awake while doing their usual morning routines.
…Hmm. How peaceful.
"Oh? What are you wearing, smitha?"
Seeing me stand patiently with annoyance in my face, Malthur approached and asked me tactlessly.
"Hoi… we are here for our cleaning duty so I do not want to make my dress get dirty! You'll see what I mean when we do it afterwards! You should have changed your clothes too!"
Speaking of which, I am not wearing my usual adventure's attire right now. In exchange, I am clad in my smithing tunic for this very moment!
Both Malthur and I were arguing for a minute when Roy finally arrived before us.
"I apologize! Fae was having her first troubles in taking care of Bintii so I helped her a bit when I woke up!" he said while apologizing to us hastily.
No matter. Save those other details for later.
Because for now, we have our new objective! That is right!
Swords are not needed for this duty of ours! Instead, we are carrying brooms!
We are the Myrmidons of Estocia!!!