Paley woke up alone in a large luxurious room. He lay in a bed so comfortable he could've fallen right back to sleep if he didn't sit up. Groggy, he lifted the velvety red blanket that covered him and stood up.
The bed was a large canopy bed with soft white curtains. Gold lined the posts that supported the canopy and the other furniture in the room. He scanned his lavish surroundings. The walls and ceiling were made of a smooth white marble-like material. A table with papers strewn all over it looked out of the open window.
There was a bookshelf opposite the bed that covered the entire wall. It contained hundreds of pieces of literature, both fiction and non-fiction. Paley relished in a breeze coming from the window; he found that he was only wearing his boxes and searched the room for his clothes to no avail.
He sighed and walked over to the caramel door in the corner of the room, turning the gold knob to open it and bump into Libon's sister, Sorafer.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, bumping noses with him. She wore her home gown, blissfully uncaring of how revealing it was.
"Hey. Sorafer, right?" Paley made sure to only look at her eyes.
"Yes, that's my name." She smiled, "Are you okay? You've slept for a whole day. I didn't call your mother because your partner, Hig, told me not to."
"Thank you; she'd be worried to death."
"...Good mother," She said enviously and walked past him to sit on her bed.
"Yeah, she is."
"I wish I could say the same thing about mine." She sighed.
"I'm sorry." Paley was fully aware of how her mother was, "Speaking of which, are your parents okay with me being here?"
"Father took Mother with him on business for a few days. They can't really say no to you staying here, can they?" She gave a cheeky expression.
Paley gave an exhale of laughter, "They can't."
"So... Do you exercise often?" She asked, staring at his muscular physique. He had come a long way from the scrawny Twiglet he used to be. (Though he was still slightly skinny).
"Every day with my big brother." His stomach rumbled, "Can I have something to eat?"
"Anything you want. Name it, and I'll give it to you."
"Can I have some Kavear?" He joked - Kavear is one of the most expensive foods, costing two diamond coins for five grams. (It's like Caviar).
"Okay, maybe not anything you want." She laughed.
"I guess some things you just can't have," He shrugged teasingly, "I'll have some meat."
"Perfect. Follow me." She led him out into the corridors. A thick, fuzzy grey carpet lined the floor. Paintings of the Moon Priestess and her Messengers (Popes) hung on the walls; Jevel Jeice was a strict man of religion. On a less religious note, there was pottery containing exotic flowers.
"Our chefs cook the best food you'll ever taste," She said as she led him down a spiral staircase.
"Hmm, I don't believe you. Mom's food is unbeatable."
"Haha, we'll see about that." They walked through the living room, a spacious room with big sofas surrounding a TV mounted against the wall (Television was just a white sheet of metal and an expensive device that projected images onto it) to a wide flat archway, beyond which was the dining room.
"Wait here," She tied her hair up and put on an apron.
"You cook?" He sat down at the rectangular table in the middle.
"Yeah, it's my passion." She grinned and disappeared into the kitchen through a large door in the corner of the room.
He took in the wealth-filled kitchen around him. There was a wall-sized window on his right behind the head seat; it had beautiful curtains of yellow and purple tucked to the sides. The tabletop was a clear cyan glass, and it already had plates and cutlery laid out neatly on it.
In the center, there was a flower pot holding an Amoreviola flower.
"Those things follow me everywhere," Paley mumbled and sat back in the soft chair.
In the kitchen, Sorafer was fervently commanding a group of professional chefs. The kitchen had multiple stations and all sorts of equipment. It had a pantry that held enough food to feed a small village.
Two chefs went to it, took out a bunch of meat and veg, and rushed back to Sorafer, who assigned a task to each chef. She was the sous chef, guiding them to make perfectly cooked meats for Paley. Though most of the chefs were twice her age, she was much better than them at cooking. As a result, despite their age gap, they all respected her.
After about 20 minutes, she came out of the kitchen, taking her apron off as the chefs put three plates of meat in front of Paley: a steak, beef stew, and a glistening ham. She sat down opposite him; she was only having a steak.
"Libon told me of your great appetite." She sliced her steak with noble etiquette.
"That must be why you got me all this food. Thank you." Paley tried to mimic her manners to be polite.
"You're very welcome." She smiled and noticed that he gripped his knife and fork like a sword. "It's interesting how you hold those."
"Hm? Oh, I'm used to holding them like this."
"Yeah, that's fine. It's kinda cute, actually." She copied him, finding it more comfortable.
They spent the rest of their lunch meal chatting about Paley's hunt and how Libon came to be his apprentice. At some point, Sorafer mentioned how the Amoreviola on the table used to be a pink Orchid, making him question it internally.
They finished, and he joined Sorafer to wash the dishes with her. When they came back to the dining room, Libon and Paley's apprentices bolted into the room, excited to see him.
"Paley! We were so worried!" Negie was the first to embrace him, checking his body for any wounds to find that there were none. "What kind of Healing Magic is this?" She asked, running her finger along his chest.
"Yesterday, you were covered in wounds, and the doctors' Healing Magic didn't work on you. They said you were internally bleeding all over." Libon said.
"Dillie said to leave you be. What happened? Did you heal yourself?" Elhom asked.
"Yeah, I woke up a few hours ago and used Healing Magic on myself." He lied.
"So, not only are you a great Earth mage, but you're also adept in Healing Magic? Where do your talents end, Paley?" Sorafer asked.
"You flatter me," Paley replied, tempted to answer truthfully.
Three kids entered the room, two boys and a girl. "Is that Paley!?" The girl and one of the boys ran over energetically. The other boy stayed behind, nodding at Paley as a greeting.
"Let me introduce you to my siblings, Paley." Libon began. He introduced Polita first, the girl, then Jesom, the other energetic boy, and lastly Pomo, the reserved one. He had an older brother named Kirrar, but he was out of the country attending an Academy.
"Hello, I'm Paley. But it seems you already knew that." Paley said.
"Show us your magic, Paley!" They insisted. During dinner, to his parents' frustration, Libon would tell everyone of how strong Paley was. Of course, he didn't break his promise and reveal that Paley was a Quimnia; he just said he was an Earth Mage.
"You want to see a Golem?" Paley amused the kids by summoning an Earth Golem. "You don't have to worry about your house getting dirty." He turned to Sorafer before making the Golem pick up the kids and put them on its shoulder. Sorafer laughed as Pomo shouted for Paley to stop.
He made the Golem run outside with the kids and extend its arms to swing them around like a funfair ride. They screamed as it threw them around, juggling them. Paley glanced at Sorafer, who gave him an amiable smile.
He spent about twenty minutes chatting with everyone as the kids played with his Golem. Pomo had begun to run around and laugh like the other two. Paley decided to start heading home and stood up.
"It was nice meeting your family, Libon. And thank you for taking care of me."
"My pleasure, Master!" Libon bowed and shook his hand.
"Alright," He turned to the kids, "We have to go home now." He clapped, making the Golem put the kids down and walk to him.
"Aww, stay for longer!" Polita insisted.
"I'll come over again some time." He climbed onto the Golem's shoulder and turned to Sorafer, "Is that alright?"
"Father's going on another trip next month on the 13th. I'd love for you to come over then." She said.
"I'll be sure to do that." He created three more Golems for his other apprentices to sit on. Negie quickly took the seat on the shoulder next to him before anyone else could. "See you." He waved and left Libon and his family.
"See you, Paley!" Libon waved back, grinning from ear to ear.
"I've never seen you so happy before," Sorafer said, watching him watch Paley's Golems carry them to the distant city of Gouon.
"I found a great friend." He replied.
Paley returned home after dropping all of his apprentices off at their houses. He told them he'd give them ten gold coins since he put their lives in danger. He planned to meet Hig the next day and collect his reward from the Guild, but Hig was already waiting for him with the orphans in the cottage.
"Paley, you're back!" Madella embraced him and checked him for any wounds, relieved to find none. "Hig here was telling us of your battle with the Dungeon Boss." She walked him to the others who were staring at two diamond coins in Hig's hands, mouths open in awe.
"Look at them." He held them up to Paley, grinning, "Our first big reward."
"Two diamond coins." Paley smiled too, coolly.
"To be honest, I wasn't surprised when I found out you were the Rookie Duo. My friend told me you're the best hunters Lusitra has seen since Libon Reish himself." Jurie explained.
"Wait, so, am I popular now?" Paley asked, anxious.
"Don't worry, you're not. They only know Hig since he's Reish's great-grandson."
"Sorry, Paley. I'll spread the word that you did all the work-" Hig began, but Paley interrupted him.
"Don't be sorry. That's great. That's exactly what I wanted." Paley sighed in relief.
"Huh?" Hig was confused, but Rauba filled him in.
"He doesn't like publicity." She said.
"Well, Paley. You might've earned two diamond coins, but guess what?" Teerom said from the stairs, showing off a bag of gold coins.
"What?" Paley asked and crossed his arms, humored.
"I-I've earned twenty gold coins so far. I still have a bunch of contracts, so you haven't beat me yet!" He proclaimed.
"Since when were we competing?" Paley had him at a loss for words as he walked past him and upstairs to take a long relaxing bath.
"That little…" Teerom sighed, laughed, and leaned back against the wall.
"Well, I should go now." Hig stood up, stretching.
"Why don't you stay for dinner?" Madella invited.
"Yeah!" Amasha and Bacha exclaimed, "We wanna hear more about your hunts! Paley never talks about them."
Hig glanced at Madella, requesting help, but she just smiled and nodded in agreement.
"O-Okay, if you want me to." He agreed and spent dinner with the orphans. They all teased him for his meekness but became good friends with him. Even Paley was more talkative than usual that night, telling everyone of his hunts with Hig, though they made sure to leave out the parts where Paley got injured.