A few men stepped to the front of the crowd- only one of them looked Neel in the eyes while the others stared at the muddy floor in shame. For a moment the only sounds that could be heard were the trickling of rain and the rumbling of thunder clouds -the calmness in Neel's eyes, and the anger in the eyes of the man in front of him.
"Angus, what issue do you have with me?" asked Neel, moving closer to the man and his posse.
"I'm not the only one with an issue, Ogre. Everyone here feels the same way I do, I'm just the only one brave enough to admit it."
"You're a foreigner, most of us grew up here while you came but a few years ago, yet you act like you're some kind of leader. You flaunt around those massive muscles and use aggression and violence to prostate us, and your calm and logical act isn't fooling anyone. We remember what you did to those enforcers, how they screamed and begged for mercy, how you got the name Ogre."
"But what bothers me the most are the things your family has done just for a bit of gold. What your wife has done just to bare a son with a bit of magical talent... it makes me sick just thinking about it. In fact, I'm happy the children did what they did, having the younger demon walk around unsupervised... it's da-"
"What about my wife?" Neel had stopped listening the moment Angus had mentioned his wife. It was hard to see Neel's facial expression since it had gotten quite dark, but the light from the sudden lightning flashes was enough to tell that he was angry.
"It's common knowledge, Ogre. Your wife slept with a de-" before Angus could even finish that sentence, a cracking sound echoed in the darkness, followed by a feral scream of pain. A split second later someone's body went flying over the crowd. Silence.
Lightning streaks ran across the sky, sending out a light show. The body was Angus's, he was breathing but both his legs were broken, and his nose had collapsed into his face. The other men in the crowd were speechless, it was the first time they had seen Neel actually use his strength against a villager. But no one blamed him, they had all heard the rumors about his wife, and they all feared the day that someone would be foolish enough to say those words to Neel's face.
"And what about the lot of you? Do you think the same thing?"
No one replied. It was one thing to have an issue with a man, but to bring his wife into the matter was a fool's game.
"All the children involved, they will come with their parents to my house tomorrow. Tell Angus's wife I expect her to come with her son." With those words, Neel cut through the crowd towards Angus's unconscious body, before carrying him on his back.
The meeting was over, yet the men watched as Neel carried Angus to Cassandra's, the villagers watched as Ogre carried his victim to the healer. Today many found out why he was called Ogre, many began to fear that perhaps Angus was right, without trying Neel had been using his strength to prostate them. He was dangerous, perhaps a little too dangerous.
***
"N-Neel!" Lillian got to her feet the moment she saw the hulking figure walk into Cassandra's house.
"W-What happened?" asked Lillian in a concerned tone, noticing the body he was carrying on his back, and the blood on his fists.
"I'm sorry Cassandra, can you treat this man. I'll pay you later," he said before placing Angus's body on Cassandra's table.
Cassandra mumbled something before casting a spell on the body. "Well, it would've saved me trouble if he had already been dead," she added before using a base magic spell to carry him to one of her patient beds.
"Are you okay?" asked Neel, before hugging his wife. Although the light from the lamp wasn't very bright, he could tell that she had been crying.
"I'm okay. Arya's fine as well, you didn't have to go and almost kill a man," she said, melting in Neel's arms. She finally felt safe, like she didn't have to deal with everything alone anymore.
"They've given us a two-month break- *cough* *cough*- that means I can stay with you and the children for a bit," he said, feeling Lillian lose all strength as she dug her way into his chest.
"Are you sick?"
"It's nothing, just a cough. Let's go home, the kids must be worried being all alone," replied Neel before walking towards the room Arya was sleeping in.
"Can you not manhandle my patient! You're going to have to put up with all his crying if he wakes up. His bones are healed, but the pain from them setting isn't gone yet," shouted Cassandra from the room she was in.
Neel gently picked Arya off the bed and held him in his arms as he walked out of Cassandra's place.
"By the way, who's the boy at our house?"
When the two of them reached the house, Neel put Arya to bed, while Lillian helped Streya finish off with cooking dinner.
"So Leon was it? When did you get so close to my daughter?" asked Neel as they ate, the light from the lamp flickering as he asked the question.
"I-I d-don't t-think w-we're that close. W-We're j-just friends, t-that's all," stuttered Leon in reply, nearly choking on his food.
"Is that so? Anyway, It's a good thing what my boys did for you, they nearly died, but as much as I hate to say this, they did the right thing. What has your father said about this? I'm sure he must be worried."
"I-I sent a letter b-by c-carrier. A few g-guards should be c-coming f-for m-me tomorrow. A-And i-if its not too m-much trouble, I w-wanted to invite your family to thank you guys for e-everything."
"Can we father?" shouted Streya in excitement.
"I don't want to get involved wi-"
"We risked our lives to save the idiot, might as well take advantage of his hospitality," interrupted a voice.
"Arya, what are you doing out of bed?" shouted Lillian, before quickly running to his side.
{Ugh, everything hurts.}
{Then why didn't you just stay in bed... idiot,} replied Esla in a worried tone.
"Like I said, if you want to truly repay us then you have to get my brothers those scholarships."
"What?" Gray and Armin responded in unison.
"T-That won't be easy. Y-You see, my father only sponsors a small part of it, there are countless other nobles involved in the program. H-he can't j-just give them o-out without reason."
"And we wouldn't want it any other way," added Gray.
"What?" Arya seemed genuinely confused.
"We trained hard for those scholarships. Why would we throw away the chance to show off what we've sweated for all this time," added Armin.
"Exactly," smiled Neel.
"I'm glad to see you're *cough* *cough* well, Arya."
"And I'm glad you're home, dad," sighed Arya as he shook his head in disbelief.
{Arya, did you see that?} asked Elsa.
{See what?}
{Nevermind, must've been a trick of the light,} replied Esla as a wisp of black faded into the blue streaks of mana that circulated in Neel's mana system.