"Why don't the residents living in the slums just move here? Are you intentionally trying to monopolize this area for yourself?" Zuko asked, carrying Lucien's body on his back. Still mesmerized by the new landscape he was witnessing for the first time. Throughout his life, Zuko had only lived in the dingy orphanage and the mundane urban areas. He had never once ventured into the mountains or anything similar.
We had a school field trip when I was in 10th grade. But, because nobody wanted to pay for it, I ended up not going, he thought to himself later.
He replied, "Not everyone prefers the difficult and lengthy access to their homes over living in the slums, but being close to neighbors and easy socialization."
That makes sense, Zuko thought to himself while rubbing his chin.
Jessamy opened the sturdy wooden door of his cottage. Creak. He said, "Quick, bring your friend inside!"
Well, I wanted to savor this fresh air a little longer. He glanced at Lucien's face. "You can't die on me yet, bro."
As Zuko's feet took the second step to follow Jessamy inside the cottage, zzztt zzztt zzzttt. Something unknown was lurking in the darkness. Ready to pounce when no one was aware.
"Please close the door, young man!" Jessamy requested as he prepared the lighting. The day was indeed growing darker. Who knows what else will come besides the sun losing its light?
Cklek.
"Lay your friend over there," Jessamy instructed, pointing to a simple bed made of a stack of straw covered with patchwork or a collection of several pieces of fabric sewn together.
This place could hardly be called a house or a hut; it was more like just a hole carved into the trunk of a still-living tree, thought Zuko as he laid Lucien's body down. He observed every corner of the house. The atmosphere it exuded truly made him feel like he was no longer in the previous world. All of this was real. No matter how he looked, felt, touched, breathed in, or breathed out the air, everything felt so real that its authenticity couldn't be doubted.
Does this mean he can really trust the person who saved them?
As Zuko was busy pondering, Jessamy removed his upper garments, which consisted of a protective layer made of an arrangement of animal bones covered with skin and fur, and a dark-colored long-sleeved shirt. It was like a purplish-blue hue covered in a layer of gray dust. Whatever its name was.
Wow, his body is really amazing, Zuko thought absentmindedly as his eyes inadvertently stared at the sculpted blocks forming on Jessamy's torso with super aesthetic appeal. Triceps and biceps muscles were very firm and well-trained. Rectus abdominis muscle, external oblique muscle, deltoid muscle, pectoralis major muscle, sternocleidomastoid muscle, and even the jawline muscle were so good. Perfectly sculpted like a naked Greek god statue.
"Young man, what's your name?" Jessamy finally asked. He also looked tired of dealing with someone whose identity he didn't know, just like them.
Zuko snapped out of his reverie about how beautiful the man's body was, which he immediately compared to his belly consisting of only a one-pack, aka potbelly. He quickly patted his chest and answered, "Zuko, you can call me Zuko."
"What about your friend?" Jessamy asked again.
"Lucien, his name is Lucien," Zuko answered as he approached the bed. Jessamy was removing Lucien's luxurious clothing and cleaning every wound on his body until their gazes were both fixed on one thing visible on the boy's collarbone.
"What symbol is this?" Jessamy asked, having finished cleaning and now applying a crushed herbal concoction from various plants, its components unknown, for treatment.
Zuko immediately thought to himself, ah, that symbol is... "It seems that both of us are heroes summoned from another universe to aid one of the kingdoms in war," he said, recalling the storyline of the game that brought him and Lucien together. Although all of this still seemed too unlikely to actually happen. He decided to hold on for a little longer.
Lucien, come to your senses quickly! I would really go crazy if I were left to face this situation alone. Even though inside, his heart is weak, and continues to groan. On the outside, Zuko still looks tough and seems capable of cutting a person into three parts with just one blow of his sword.
Jessamy looked serious as he examined the contract symbols on Zuko and Lucien's bodies. He said, "So, you are the souls of knights summoned by magic from the kingdom of the mages, Mac An Gaothaire, right?"
Zuko straightened up and assumed a haughty expression. In a voice deliberately made heavy and authoritative, he replied, "That's right." Despite his inner turmoil, he couldn't help but moan inwardly, Mama, I'm so scared. Even though I never had a mother.
Jessamy leaned closer to Zuko's body, observing the teenager from head to toe. With the uniform of a grocery store employee that the teenager wore, honestly, his attempts to look dignified completely failed. He had no idea what kind of world these knights came from. All he knew was one thing.
"Have you ever wielded a sword?" Jessamy asked.
Still trying to maintain his composure, after clearing his throat, Zuko answered, "Of course." Even if only in the game!!! I've lifted swords hundreds, no, thousands of times in the game. It shouldn't be much different from here, right? After all, this is just a game world.
He tried to escape from reality in his mind.
"I'm not sure about how knights summoned by the kingdom of mages would be tasked in their forces. But I think you need to loosen your muscles with some exercises before heading to that kingdom."
"Exercise? Muscle loosening?" Zuko's eyes widened at the thought of what needed to be done with all of that. He had hardly ever exercised in his life except at school because his body was already tired from working all the time.
But once again, his heart looked down on everything about this world. I'm used to carrying that heavy twenty-kilogram water jug alone without anyone's help.
"At this moment, it's best for you to rest first. I'll accompany you in a little warm-up to get ready for the battlefield," Jessamy said with a gentle tone and intonation. She walked towards the kitchen, intending to prepare an energy potion made from a mixture of thirty different spices for her two young and adorable guests.
Zuko, unwilling to appear weak, immediately stood up straight and pounded his chest a few times in hopes of appearing tougher. He was still worried that Jessamy might have ill intentions towards Lucien.
"Alright, if you insist," Jessamy responded with a soft, gentle tone while placing a clay bottle containing the potion on the bedside table next to where Lucien was lying down.
She retrieved a sword from the wooden cabinet near the door. The interior design of his house was predominantly made of soft-colored wood and painted in calm hues like brown, yellow, and ivory white. Though not very large, there was no doubt it was a comfortable home.
Seeing the two medium-sized swords Jessamy brought made Zuko even more confident. He had long wanted to practice sword fighting firsthand, something he had only witnessed in games or movies. "This is so thrilling," he smiled confidently.
"Here, catch this, HUP!" he exclaimed, tossing a sword towards Zuko.
The teenage boy raised one hand to catch the sword. And, CRACK. CLANG. "WAAAAAAAAKKKKKHHHHH!!!!!!!" he screamed upon hearing the sound of something breaking beneath his soft skin. Forget about lifting and using it gallantly and coolly as he imagined. He couldn't even catch it.
Jessamy immediately approached the suspicious knight, hands on her hips. "What kind of sword have you been using all this time, Zuko?" she asked.
"Not one this heavy!" Zuko replied. He felt like screaming again because his hand felt like it had been crushed by three large water jugs at once. What kind of madness was this world?
Although the knight summoned by the kingdom of the mages, Mac An Gaothaire, was slightly different from what he had imagined, Jessamy didn't tease him at all and reached out her hand friendly. "I don't want the pain to get worse. Let's go inside. I'll treat you as well."
However, things wouldn't go as smoothly as they wished. Lucien wasn't even awake yet. Zuko's hand was broken. Jessamy had to face the looming nightmare alone.
"Today, we will defeat him and hand him over to any kingdom willing to pay dearly," said a large, muscular man carrying a one-meter Gauntlet Sword on his back. Behind him stood four other men with their respective horses, all with great intentions of defeating the forest ghost.
Jessamy the Green Horn.