6's mouth dropped, stunned by the information the innkeeper just dropped onto him.
The fact that Folrost is closely connected to the land of the spider's nest is amazing news for him, as that makes it the most probable place to find good information about it.
It also means that if there is something special about the place itself, he may be able to learn about that here rather than searching blindly.
Doing his best to hide his surge of joy at finding a helpful hint, he continued questioning the innkeeper.
"So Erver, your sister land, is the location of the spider's nest? Forgive me, but did anyone from Erver survive?" 6 asked.
The pained smile on the innkeeper face left, leaving only the pain, as he shook his head.
"Are you 100% certain?"
"I am." The innkeeper said, his voice less energetic than it was before, cracking slightly. "If anyone from our sister land survived, we would still feel the connection. Erver is dead."
Taking a few moments to process this, as well as give the innkeeper some time to recover from his surging emotions, 6 finally realized that there may be more to what the innkeeper and Cypius refer to as their land.
He originally assumed it meant just ownership, like any old land owner from his world.
But the way they talk about it is too different to simply be talking about the land they own.
They speak about lands as if they are something else, almost as if the lands themselves are an entity.
"When you say lands, are you just talking about the place you live, or is there something more to it?"
The innkeeper's face had some life returning to it, as he tilted his face that was aged more than it should be to the side in confusion.
"I'm sorry to say I don't understand your question, kid."
"Where I'm from, land is just a place to live. There is no connection to anything, it's just the ground you stand on." 6 said, trying to explain what he considered land. "To me, land is any solid ground that isn't underwater."
He never realized how difficult it is to explain something that's considered common knowledge until he had to do it himself.
"Right. That's land for us as well."
"Yes but that's all land is to me. The way you and Cypius speak about Folrost is different, its not just the ground you live on."
The innkeepers titled his face to the other side this time, like a pug who has just heard a noise it didn't understand. He had the wrinkles to match as well. The more 6 thought about it, the more the middle aged innkeeper looked like a pug. One solid punch to his nose would really seal the deal.
"What do you mean? Folrost is our land, not just land."
"See, man, that did not explain anything to me. Never even a little bit." The contempt for the innkeeper's useless explanation was obvious on 6's face.
"What you're talking about is land. Folrost is not land. There is land in Folrost, yes, but that is not what Folrost is. Folrost is our land, our homeplace, our origin. It isn't land." the innkeeper said, with patience in his voice and kindness in his face as he spoke about Folrost.
"Dude. That still completely just sounds like you're saying land. Do you see how you're contradicting yourself? You hear it right?"
"No, I am not contracting myself. Folrost is not just land, it is our land. I don't know what exactly you don't understand about that but maybe we should start with some language lessons."
"First of all, we aren't even speaking the same language, there is a lady in the sky translating our words for us. Second of all, I really don't think you can hear yourself."
"I think if you believe this conversation is being translated by some deity in the sky then we need to start there. Honestly, no wonder you ate breakfast in such a boorish manner. You're completely mad."
"Don't speak badly about Trivrium, I don't care if you don't know what I'm talking about. You don't see me insulting Folrost or whatever land shit you're talking about." 6 rose to his feet as he said this, clearly becoming agitated.
"How dare you!" the innkeeper said, his voice now raised. He rose to his feet as well to match 6, although he remained about half a head shorter than him.
"Dare I do! I don't need a how, I just do!" 6's voice rose to match the innkeeper as he heavily placed his hands flat against the table separating the two of them, not quite slamming them as he did so but far setting them down gently.
"Don't you slam your heathen hands onto my table!"
"I hardly slammed them! If your table can't take a little love tap, then I think you need to get a refund for such shoddy craftsmanship!" 6 scoffed, rolling his eyes at the innkeeper's father like words.
"I did not lend you a room in my inn to be yelled at, young man!"
"You didn't 'lend' me a room at all! I paid for it! Unless you were planning on refunding me for that, but given how badly you need a new table, I doubt you can afford to do so!"
Half an hour later, the two of them were standing apart from each other at Cypius' house. Cypius was leaning back on his chair across the room from the two, with Plono nowhere to be seen.
His hands were on the bridge of his nose as he rubbed it to ease the headache he was getting. 15 minutes ago, one of the younger children in the village heard the two screaming at each other and worried about the innkeeper's well being.
Unsure of what else to do, he ran to inform Cypius of what was happening.
When Cypius arrived, the two men were still arguing, nearly coming to blows. From the few bruises on 6's arms that weren't present the day before, it seemed as though they already had. The innkeeper seemed to be completely unscathed on the other hand.
"Both of you are causing me more trouble than need be. Now is not the time to unsettle the village, especially not the children. You're both grown adults, and you even more so compared to 6, Karkum. You know the state of things here, and how sensitive it is. You should know better than to get into petty squabbles like children. And 6, I expected you to remain sensitive about the matters of the village. Nearly causing an altercation on your 2nd day in town is far from what I would refer to as sensitive."
This was when 6 realized he hadn't even known the innkeeper's name before Cypius said it while reprimanding him. Karkum remained silent at his words, not looking at either man in the room and instead staring at the ceiling.
Cypius sighed and shook his head upon seeing Karkum's response to his scolding.
"You're right sir. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let my emotions out the way I did. I mean, not that I'm going to choose to let my emotions out in some other way or anything, I just mean like, you know… well really, I just meant I wouldn't get in trouble anymore."
"I hope so. Karkum, I'd like to speak to you alone later. I heard much of your argument as I was walking to the inn, and I vaguely know what it was about. For now, I'll explain matters to 6- without- the yelling. I'll come by your inn personally later."
"Okay. I'll see you then, Cypius. I shan't blame you if you yell just a little at the boorish fo-'' Karkum began saying before Cypius cut him off with a raised voice that left no space for argument.
"Enough! Go, now. I need not see your childishness personally.'' As soon as Cypius finished speaking, Karkum closed his still parted lips and gave a very polite bow, so small that it was basically a minor bend as his waist.
Although his body language displayed nothing out of the ordinary, 6 felt like he could sense the slightest bit of sarcasm in the otherwise polite bow. He wasn't complaining, however, as he also wished to display his dissatisfaction at being scolded as if he were a villager under Cypius' rule. Unfortunately, his need for information was much stronger after he learned this town was closely related to the land the spider's nest was located upon, and he could no longer risk offending Cypius any further.
Karkum gently opened the door, showing his utmost grace and mannerisms reminiscent of the way he ate his breakfast this morning, with the air of a gentleman, until he completely shattered that image of himself for the second time that day, slamming the door on his way out.
6 badly wanted to shout after him, exclaiming 'It's a good thing this door is more sturdy than your table, or else we'd be left with just planks and nails scattered across the floor,' but he successfully held himself back.
"I find myself apologizing to you once more, 6, although you did have your own hand in this."
"No need! Forgive me, but it was quite fun. Great stress reliever after the shitty month I've been through." The joy in 6's voice entirely contracted the relatively serious atmosphere of the room.
"Yes, well, despite his grouchy attitude, I'm sure Karkum would agree. Unfortunately, the rest of the village will not see it that way. I won't ask that you two refrain from arguing, but I will ask that you keep it isolated to just the two of you." Cypius said with a sigh, clearly having expected something like this to happen. In fact, he probably assumed the two would butt heads when he offered 6 the opportunity to stay at the inn the day before, but he didn't expect it to get as out of hand as it did.
He underestimated the toll the matters of the village had taken upon Karkum, as well as the nature of 6 himself. Additionally, he had no clue about the things that occurred in the past month for 6. In fact, even if he did know, he would most certainly doubt it.
What type of madman would cheerfully go on an adventure in another world weeks after dying and essentially losing his homeworld?
"Sure, I can do that if he can. Two's an argument, but three is just drama. Arguments yes, drama no."
"Thank you. I won't take up anymore of your time. I will arrange for you to meet with the children you were curious about tomorrow. You may meet me here tomorrow, in the morning, and I will set down some strict ground rules that you will follow."
"Cypius, my friend, I'm sure you've noticed by now that I'm not quite good at following rules. In fact, I tend to break them all, even the ones I try not to."
Without changing his face one bit, remaining kind and slightly smiling as he had been since Karkum left and 6 apologized to him, the room began slowly dropping in temperature.
"I know where you sleep, and who holds the key." Cypius said.