"It's nice to see you guys." Ely said as he walked up to the dining table. He had an odd feeling, but that feeling was overtaken by his joy in meeting his parents after a year. Ely places the food that he was holding to the table and asks, "Have you guys eaten yet?"
His mom shakes her head with a slight smile and stood up. She went to the kitchen just next to their dining area and went to get some plates and flatware to eat with. "Dear, get the water away from the stove", his mom orders his father. Ely goes to ask if he can help but they only told him to sit down.
Ely's father grabs the large pot of boiling water and removes it from the fire, and then he goes to another room. After a few seconds he returns to the pot of boiling water with blue slime in his palms, and smears the outside of the pot with the blue slime. Immediately, the sound of burbling subsides and his father takes out a wooden jug to get the water.
In villages with plentiful slime populations, slimes are neutralised on sight and used as temperature regulators, red slime for rapid heating, and blue slimes for sudden cooling. Only a certain view know how to activate it though, and luckily enough everyone in Ely's family knew it.
Plates, spoons, and forks were placed down the table and his mom sat down.
"I'll get the cups." Ely stood up and got 3 of them, and by the time he returned to the dining table his parents were quietly waiting for him to start eating. Ely sat down and placed the empty cups next to each plate and his father started pouring water in them.
"Let's eat, the journey here made me hungry.", Ely smiled and said with a small town. Both of his parents nodded, and soon all three of them began to quietly eat. Because of the faint sound of wilderness outside acting as background noise, it sounded truly peaceful.
Ely was the type of person to talk with peers during lunch time back when he was training, however he only did so to not feel like an absolute loner, for the training wasn't easy, and any contact with his previous peers in Class B were the only way he could vent and talk about the hardships of those times. But it's different now, in truth he'd love to just quietly munch down on delicious meals and leave the socialising for later.
With the oddly relaxing sound of chirping crickets softly acting as blank noise they finish their dinner with no words spoken, except for when Ely asked his father to pour a glass of water when he choked on his food.
"Ahhhhh, I'm so full!" Ely said as he burped. "It seems you enjoyed the food in the Lord's banquet earlier.", his father remarks.
"If you want me to cook those dishes, I recommend you ask the lord next time you meet him to meet the cook for the recipe.", his mom, Dolores, recommended.
"Dolores, I don't think he can just ask the lord for such things any time he wants.", his father said with a slightly uncomfortable look.
"Ah right... I'm sorry for asking you to do that, Ely. Anyways, Ryan... Aren't we supposed to wake up early tomorrow? You have to prepare the animal hide and I have to trade with Rika tomorrow."
"I'm so sorry you guys had to stay late because of me...", Ely looked at the floor as if he was ashamed. Ely had forgotten that normal people slept as soon as the sun would go down, but now it was already about an hour after that. It was to be expected they wished to sleep already.
'Commoners' are people who mostly do physically taxing tasks to earn a living. They have to wake up just before sunrise to do their chores and then to do their jobs. It was expected that Dolores and Ryan were sleepy, and the fact is that light was almost nonexistent once night strikes, for this was their world's era where there would only be torches and candles as their light sources.
Ely stood up and asked if all of them were finished eating. The three of them nodded and Ely took the plates and looked around as he asked, " where's the compost barrel?"
"The compost barrel? Are you talking about the slimes? If that's the case the room next to your old room. Wipe away the bones and uneaten vegetable skins from the plate. Hmmm... If I'm right it's Saturday today, because it's Saturday put the food waste on the 2nd last barrel."
Ely went to a narrow room with 7 barrels placed against the right wall. With a candle on his right hand, he walked slowly to the 6th barrel with cold sweats. There was a slimy sound in the barrels as he wiped the food scraps from the plate, and once he was done he quickly rushed outside.
Back in the past, cultivating the slimes by feeding them food scraps was just another chore for him. But it was night already, and being in a dark room with slimes he couldn't see might end up with him being covered with sticky goo. Why did I have to eat at night, anyway?
Thinking about it honestly, Ely noticed that eating dinner after the sun sets was mostly done and reserved for the nobles or the rich. Because the sun was the only powerful source of light in rural areas like this, not including the fact that commoners do their jobs early in the morning... some worked even before the sun rose. It was ingrained to the body clock of the common folk to sleep just after sunset.
It was the main reason there was no one to greet the two knights that came to protect their village. It was late now, and his parents smeared some red slime inside their room to mitigate the coldness. They didn't use blankets here, Ely gave a blank look and felt nostalgia as he remembered the day his father discovered the use of slimes.
Ely let out a yawn and suddenly felt tired. 'Looks like I got exhausted from the long day.'
Ely wandered around the house, but saw no room meant for housing him. Even his old room was redesigned to become a his father's butchering room. He originally didn't want to ask his parents considering they had plenty of work to do early in the morning, but Ely didn't want to sleep on the ground.
He went to the door of the master bedroom and knocked on it. He heard a slight thud and just after a while the door opened. It was his father who opened the door and he asked with tired eyes, "What do you want, boy?"
"Where's my bedroom again? I've been checked around the house but I don't see it..."
"Your 'old' room... It's gone, I've reused it to be the room for processing the hide I gained from hunting animals out in the woods. Besides, you were out for at least a year, if I hadn't used it those bastards would've complained to me.", Ryan had a reluctant look, but his voice seemed to be dry.
"Who are 'those bastards'?", Ely asked.
"The village's 'helpers', they help us with expansion and protection for some money." Ryan added.
"I've never heard of them before."
"-That's because they have only been here for six months at most. They randomly approached the village chief and requested us to give odd jobs for them in exchange for money. We thought about asking them some questions, but most of them had that... intimidating look to them." Ryan adds.
Ely felt his body fume in anger as he came to his own conclusions. 'Why would they anyone want to even try and profit from this village? Are they bandits?' But his questions would be unanswered until he has a 'peaceful talk' with them.
He sighs and Ely asks one final question, "What's the name of their group?" Ryan answers, "They announced themselves as the (Protectors)."
"I'll be going now, father." Ryan smiles and says, "How far you've come in a year..." He had a nostalgic tone in his voice.
It seems he was reminiscing about the past when he gazed upon his son, and it seems he had an idea of the training Ely went through. "Take care, son." Ryan says as he uses a plank to shut the door closed.
Ely jogged towards the mansion, and though he was just jogging, his speed was about 10 meters per second. The most athletic humans in our world were only average in this world. Humans here were born with qi that circulated through their bodies, and it seemed that qi was an infinite resource. Ely continued towards the path to the manor; in 3 minutes he saw the silhouette of a wall and a big building in the background.
In the distance Ely could make out five people who stood near the gate: two of them wielded bows and surveyed above a watch tower; the other three were spread out with torches in their hands, and it seems like they stood outside to give to alert the bowmen if there was any sign of hostiles.
Knights were the ones who defended castles from sieges, so they were taught how to optimally position themselves when looking for intruders. Ely knew he'd be shot if he just randomly started running towards them, so he walked slowly with his arms above his head.
The men who stood outside the gates didn't flinch even when they a boy with simple clothing walking towards them; his hands above his head. Just from their inaction Ely could tell that they were wary of him.
"Good evening, are you the guards of this manor?" Ely asks as he slowly walks towards them.
"We are, state your name and your reason for being here!" It looks like they weren't the type to party.
"I am Ely Rainvor, and I am the partner of the knight, 'Eldrick'. Please call him, I'm sure he'll let me in. We share ownership of the manor, after all." Ely was getting closer and closer to the gates, and Ely enhances his sense of hearing to be at least prepared for if they just decide to attack him, he could hear the sound of the bowstrings being pulled. He gulped out of reflex and waited for them to do something.
The people whisper to each other, however Ely's enhanced hearing could hear every single word clearly. They were saying something about Ely's words matching with what the new owner said. Their whisperings lasted for five seconds, however for Ely, who had bows aimed towards him, it felt like those five seconds were an eternity.
The gates opened and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. One of the three came with Ely to guide him to Eldrick's location, apparently he was in the training room. "How many guards are keeping watch on this place?" Ely asks the guard in front of him.
"About ten, that's including me and the other two you saw." He answers, it sounded like he was honest. Ely felt like giving him a chill down his spine and says, "That includes the two archers that watch over the perimeter near the entrance, right?"
"...Indeed, though you don't need to worry about our seemingly few numbers. We may not be knights like you and Sir Eldrick, but we were trained to be better than average soldiers." It seems the one that guided Ely deeply respected knights.
"I'd love to keep talking to you, Sir Ely, but we are at the training room. Sir Eldrick should be here, anyways I must take my leave now." He gave a slight bow before he left.
Ely opens the door as bright light seeps into his retinas; he winces and cries out: "AHHHH!" He had enhanced his hearing just a while ago, but he had enhanced his eyesight since he left his parents' house, so he had gotten used to only small amounts of light.
"Ely? I thought you said something about going to your paren- Wait... what happened? Did you hurt your eyes or something?" A familiar voice came from the other side of the room. "Why are the lights so bright‽" Ely complained as he covered his eyes. Eldrick continues to practice his sword swings and replies, "Because that's the only setting they have? Wait... were your words rhetorical?" Ely had no idea if Eldrick was just messing with him with that answer.
Ely keeps covering his eyes until he could adjust to the brightness, however it took him thirty seconds just to be able to see properly, and even then he was squinting. "So, how was your meeting your mother and father?" Eldrick asked; he finally paused his training for a bit. Ely looks at him and answers with a brief pause in the middle of his sentence, "It was... all right. I was just happy to meet them, that's all."
Ely remembers an unanswered question he had earlier, "Ah! I almost forgot to ask... That thing you killed and brought to the cart. Did you inspect it? If so, what was it?"
"We checked up on it and it seemed to be a demon: it had pale white skin, no facial features, and it seems like it was already dying even before we killed it. I'll tell Lord Adler about it tomorrow, to suggest an increase in budget to strengthen the defences of the village. "Before you do that, let's meet with some people tomorrow. My father told me about a group of people who came to the village a few months ago. I feel something bad about them. Once we're done with that I'll get you acquainted with everyone in the village."
"All right then, tomorrow, you show me around the village, and then meet up with outsiders, and then after all that is over I can finally ask Lord Adler for an increase in budget." Eldrick continues to speak, "Sigh, so to do tomorrow. I feel like my head's gonna explode." Ely makes a suggestion, "If you're so busy to go to the city, then why not just make a messenger do it for you? You can write a letter to explain it in further detail."
Eldrick listens and is impressed, "That... Actually makes sense, I'm surprised you could even think of an idea like that, Ely, even though that's common sense." Ely snaps back against Eldrick's cruel words, "That's just rude of you to say." Ely complains. It seems that their chemistry and humour wasn't homogenous, not for now at the very least. "I'll sleep now. If you don't wake up by the time I finish putting on my armour I'll just chop your head off, okay?" Ely makes a threat.
Ely walks to the housing area of the training room. If the training room was similar to others, then there would be one. "Ah! Speaking of suiting up, where did you place my armour?" Ely asks. Eldrick quickly replies, "In your room. Judging from you walking towards the beds here in the training room, I'm sure you're quite lost. Follow me, I should remember where your room is." Ely felt that Eldrick put emphasis on *should*.
Fifteen minutes later.
"I feel like I would have found my room faster if I just randomly searched every single room in this place instead of following you." Ely made a snarky comment. "I'm sorry, okay? Both of us have been here for only a few hours, and it's pitch black, too!" It's been a long day for them, so Ely closed the door and laid down on the bed. In just about three minutes he was sound asleep.
The moon sets and the sun rises, and Ely didn't wake up until four hours after sunrise.
Now that is was bright Ely could now see the interior of the manor. It wasn't too shabby. He walked aimlessly until he found himself in the dining hall, there were two plates of food on the table, so it was likely that they were for Ely and Eldrick. If he was wrong he could just apologise later. He sat down and finished the food in just over a minute.
He went back to his room and went to the room's personal bathroom just next to it. Ely turned the showers on and he expected it to not work, because Ely thought that the manor was unused before them, but thankfully he was wrong. Ely didn't wanna have to bathe in river close to the centre of the village, the reason was unexplained childhood trauma.
He showered for a quick eight minutes and quickly put on double layered armour; it was practical, but disgustingly plain. He walked through the halls of the manor and he found Eldrick on his way to shower in his room. "Uhhh... Ely?" Eldrick called out.
"What?" Ely asks.
"You seem to be looking at me like I'm a rich dark-skinned man." Eldrick added.
"What does that mean?" Ely grew confused with the unusual simile.
"You look at me as if I'm a cryptid." Eldrick states with no hesitation.
"Huh?"
"You look at me with disbelief." Eldrick explains. "Oh... uh, yeah... I thought you'd be the type to wake up early." Ely predicted his acquaintance's schedule from just his personality.
"Also, what was that about you comparing cryptids and rich dark-skinned men?" Ely asked the important question.
"I'll take a bath first... I'll entertain that question later." Eldrick rushed to the bathroom.
'What's a cryptid... Considering the comparison Eldrick made with (rich dark-skinned man) it seems like something that means similar to nonexistent...' Ely thought to himself.
Ely walked to the front door, he was eager to meet the idiots who tried to take advantage of his village. He waited for quite a bit of time for Eldrick to come. When Eldrick finally came Ely gave a sarcastic remark, "Aren't you too early?" Eldrick, now clad in pristine plate armour replies: "Why must you be so snarky? Ignoring that, do you know where your horse is? Judging from that stupid expression of yours, it seems you don't."
"Come with me then, follow me, Ely." Eldrick walks to a part of the manor Ely hasn't seen yet. "Where are you going?" Ely was hesitant to follow. "The stables, I put Flash and your horse there." Hearing the word stables, Ely was quickly intrigued . "By the way, what's the name of your horse?" Eldrick asks out of pure curiosity. "My horse? His name is Glory."
Luckily enough, the stables were close to the front gate. Eldrick quickly got on the white horse he named 'Flash'. Whilst Ely pet his brown horse, before getting on top of it.
They now went to the town with their horses, where they asked a middle aged man with a scabbard on his waist where the 'Protectors' station is. They had a sour expression, however they were quite respectful to both Ely and Eldrick. The man says that if they follow a path to the East they'll eventually find it.
Their horses started sprinting and in just about 3 minutes they reach a big wooden building. Eldrick asks Ely if he's seen the building before, but Ely shakes his head.
"Looks like we found the place, then." They dismount and tie their horses to a tree about 100 meters away from the building.
"Is anyone here?" Ely asks as he knocks on the door.
The door opens violently, "Who the fuck is knocking so much! Huh, who are you people?" A large man towering Ely asks as the large man's eyes shift between Ely and Eldrick.
"I'm Ely, and that person over there is a knight named Eldrick. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." Ely gave a polite introduction.
"O-Oh... Is there anything the knight needs, Ely? I'm Anwir, by the way." Anwir offers a handshake. Ely stretches out his hand and shakes Anwir's. 'That's a pretty firm handshake. Is this bastard trying to crush my hand?' Ely thought to himself as Anwir smiles without his eyebrows moving. 'This guy's eyebrows didn't change with his smile, it's obvious that he's faking it. I'll give a smile of my own then!' Ely makes a pure smile, a smile showing pure malice.
Anwir furrows his eyebrows when Ely smiles back. 'Ho~ That's the hostile expression he's showing.'Ely observes.
"Oh uh, I almost forgot to ask, this is the station for the group, 'Protectors', right?"
"Indeed, and it seems you must be looking forward to asking us a question. If you guys really are, then please come inside and sit down." He gave another smile that seemed completely fake.
"Eldrick, we can rest inside!" Ely calls out to him and the knight in shining armour nods and follows them in. Ely sits down on a divan and Eldrick leans against the wall close to the door, there was also another person quietly observing.
"So, what do you wish to ask?" Anwir's sat in another Divan and faced the two knights, though the Divan could comfortably have two people sitting down. Anwir's large stature combined with him spreading his legs wide apart made the Divan look like a stool.
"I've heard that you guys are quite new around here, so I just wished to greet you at first. But in all honesty, I wanted to ask if you guys doing odd jobs for the villagers was the truth, is it?" Ely states, it was subtle, but he had an expression that seemed to be looking down on Anwir.
"Indeed, we were just nomads until we came here, and it took a few weeks of use thinking back then if we wanted to just stay here." Anwir answers as he supports his chin with his hands.
Once more, Ely's expression subtly sours as he gives another question. "Then, why did you guys settle down in this obscure place?" Ely was distrustful of these outsiders.
"At first we were just passing by, but the village chief warmly welcomed us, and so we spent a few days here. We felt gratitude, so we started helping out the villagers, and as we spent those few days, we came to a conclusion that we liked the place and decided to just stay here." At this point in time, Ely's face was evidently angry.
"Your expression is quite worrisome, Ely. Would you and Eldrick like some tea? It seems that you're tired from having go to us."
"I'll have some, then. How about you, Eldrick?" Ely gives a convincing soft smile. Eldrick replies: "Thank you Mr. Anwir, but I want some. And it seems that Ely's fine by yourself, so I'll be going now."
"You heard Ely, Carys, make some tea for the three of us, okay?" Anwir calls out to the guy that observed their conversation. Carys nods as he gives an annoyed glare, not to Anwir, but towards Ely.
"Huh, weird..." Anwir says. "What is?" Ely asks. "Normally, Carys would yell at me for giving him orders, but that isn't important right now, let's go back to our chat. Please, do ask away." Anwir continues the conversation.
"How many of the protectors are there?"
"About seven, including me and Carys. Any other questions?"
"I have nothing else to ask." Ely says.
"Then... Can I ask questions of my own?"
"Feel free... Oh? The tea's here." Ely states as he sees Carys. Carys was a handsome young man that looked to be a bit shorter than Ely. He had blue wavy hair, and piercing red eyes that could immediately be distinguished through a crowd.
Carys' naturally sharp eyes hid the hostile glare he aimed at Ely. "Thank you for the tea." Ely said in gratitude. Carys gives a grin and replies, "Oh? No need to thank me, thank brother Anwir's hospitality, mister knight." Ely picks up a cup that was farther from him. "Oh..." Carys voices out as he thinks: 'He's wary of the drink? Why would he... not that it matters.'
"But of course, you've been so polite to me." Ely smiles as he gulps down on the tea. "AH! Are you okay? You drank ALL of the newly made tea, you know?" Anwir voices out.
"Don't worry, Anwir. Knights are naturally trained to be resistant to changes in temperature, you never know when an enemy fires a fireball to your face, hahahahaaha!" Ely jokes around, but he didn't notice his face getting red.
"So, what do you want... to a-" Ely's rate of blinking accelerates. "Ummmm... Ely, are you sure you're okay? You stopped your sentence abruptly." Anwir gives a worried look.
Ely thinks to himself, 'Did they spike my drink? It seems that Anwir is worried, though. Also, I just drunk that boiling tea like it was nothing, and my training instructor didn't tell me if the training could help with dealing with extreme temperatures inside my body...' Ely's eyes shut.
"Oi, Carys! You didn't spike his drink, did you?" Anwir gives a mixed look of suspicion and contempt. "Boss, of course not!" Carys says. Anwir sighs and gives an order. "Haaa- Put him on one of our beds. I'll get his friend..."
"I'll call his friend, sir. You know I'm bad at taking care of the unconscious." Carys refutes. "Do you know what his friend looks like, then?"
"...No," Carys refutes once more.
"Anyways, let's put him on one of the beds." Anwir grabs Ely's shoulder and Carys holds up Ely's ankles. They put him in one of the beds.
"Take care of him, Carys, we don't need to be on bad terms with Ryan's son." Anwir runs off to look for Eldrick.
*****
Thirty minutes later.
Ely's eyes slowly open up. His vision was still blurred, but he could see the green colour of trees. Ely tried to stand up, but notices his whole body tied to the trunk of the tree. He couldn't stand up, actually even movement was difficult. "So, you've woken up, scum." A voice comes out from the distance.
"I knew it, you 'protectors' really are bastards. Isn't that right, Carys? Where's your friend, Anwir the Brute? It seems that you don't want anyone to stop your abuse of my village." Carys walks to the side of the helpless Ely and gives a kick. "The fuck are you talking about? You're the one who's disrespecting us."
"Ah- Hehe, you think that weak kick would have an effect on me?" In spite of Ely's cocky words, he could feel the burning sensation on his chest. 'This guy, he's pretty strong for a scumbag... I should probably escape, if they have this much strength, they might actually pose a threat to the village...'
"I'll put you in your place, I'll make you pay for disrespecting my friend," Carys says as he shows a cold expression.
Ely pours squirms as he attempts to escape the grasp of the rope. "It's useless, I tied you up pretty tightly, you won't escape from th-"
"AHHHHHHH!" The combination of adrenaline and mana body strengthening allowed Ely to move, the rope didn't rip apart, it was the tree uprooting which had allowed Ely to get free.
"Ha- Ha-, I take you seriously, so be prepared to have a brutal beatdown, Carys!" he pushed the tree away and he readies his stance.
"To think you can do that monstrous display of strength, even with a fractured ribcage." Carys' piercing eyes widen in shock, but he wasn't too fearful. He breathes deeply, and he also readies his stance.