Clink-
The closing of the door confirmed its attendance as Emily locked it, and onfront of her, I was taking off my shoes and socks, to which she joined me in the act shortly after.
As she loosened the apron off her shoulders, she let off a big sigh of relief, satisfied by the change in temperature that she had been anticipating for a long tim-
…wait. Apron? Didn't we leave the house just so we can give the apron back?
And sure enough, I found Emily staring at the apron that she had just taken off with just the same energy that I had, and then prepared herself to say something.
"Uh, Adam. Would you get mad if I told you we had to go back outside again?" She said, sweating.
"Yes." I said, knowing where this was going.
"Yeah, because I completely forgot to give the apron back." She stated the obvious. "I was too immersed, sorry." She apologised.
And so we head out, atleast without the Blacksmiths this time.
|
"Welcome!" A strong, raspy voice replied to the door chime, as an old man in an apron had his attention towards his work. After a few seconds, he finally lifted his gaze, in order to see who his new customer would be. The vibe of his slightly sluggish gaze changed however, as he was pleasantly surprised to find that the one to enter the shop was his daughters friend, who sometimes came to help them in their humble family restaurant.
I could've asked to stay at home, and she would have definitely let me if I had, but I still wanted to be alone with Emily. I was just annoyed because silence with Emily indoors is a lot better than silence with her outdoors, for some reason.
"Oh, Emily! Are you here to return the apron?" He said, his loud, getting a bit obnoxious now, voice not decreasing in volume a bit.
"Hey, Uncle. And yes I am." Emily said with contrasting energy, as she looked around the restaurant for her friend.
"Ahh, are you looking for Liana? She's in the kitchen, should I get her?" He asked, finally with a toned down voice.
"Yes please." Emily replied politely.
The old man then put his cutlery down and went through the door behind him, which paved the way for a not too spacious kitchen to be seen, although not for long.
|
As I looked at the good friends comfortably talk with eachother, sitting on a table together with me, I began probing my memories for answers, questioning the extremely vague familiarity I had toward this woman.
"I would have gotten here a while ago if it weren't for me forgetting the whole reason I left the house, haha." Emily joked with her friend, Liana.
"You are a pretty forgetful person. Remember when you nearly left without opening the treasure chest that one time in the dungeon? I wouldn't be too surprised if someone told me that had never happened in history!" Liana commented.
"Oh yeah, I do remember that." Emily replied.
"I'm surprised you do." Liana teased.
"Oh stop it," Emily replied as she stood up. "anyway, I'm gonna go now, my sons getting impatient I think." She said playfully as she ruffled my hair, calling an end to the short lived conversation.
"Ah okay, well then, have a good day." She said goodbye as she too, got up, leaving for the kitchen.
|
The next week on market day…
I don't think I have ever felt more related to the quote: 'The mantis stalks the cicada, oblivious of the oriole behind', in both of my lives.
Why? Because I'm in that same situation right now, and although not exactly the same, it couldn't look more comedic.
In a would be eerie alleyway, three young boys, looking to be around ten years old, were standing onfront of a young woman, that they had likely just picked off the streets.
Seems familiar? Well it should be, because these are the same children that I robb- ehm, saved Vanessa from being bullied by last week. I had told them to come here next time they wanted to bully someone, and they did. And oh so coincidentally, on the same fateful weekday that they did so last week.
Is that not enough to tell you they wanted me to find them? Well this should do it. On the roof of the buildings that molded the alleyway, were two knights that were crouching down beside the edges of the buildings, waiting for their prey to take the bait.
Little did they know, their 'prey' was actually watching over the whole scene, as if he was the predator all along, from a platform that towered slightly over the place of the guards.
Except I wasn't watching, because every time I did, the scene would end up almost make me burst out laughing, which would in turn, reveal my location.
"W-Why do you look like that?!?" The kings wife's dogs nephew said, trying to recreate a scene like the one from a week ago. It ended up looking extremely out of place however, as the woman was honestly above average when it came to beauty, making the scene seem even more comedic.
"I bet an old man pooped on that hair to make it brown like that." One of his lackeys that I found familiar said. He was a bit better than his leader at doing this, but he wasn't too great either.
And the other two boys went into a stiff laughter that sounded nothing but forced, almost making it sound as if they were mocking the bad joke, instead of the girl.
This went on for a whole five minutes, with the boys just vomiting out anything rude they can think of, even if it didn't make sense, until one of the guards stood up and spoke.
"Sir I think that's enough for today, we need to get back to our jobs." One of the guards said, as the other guard also 'made its presence known', by standing up.
"Come on please! Just five more minutes!! He'll definitely come!" The young master pleaded, as tears slowly welled up in his eyes.
"Sir, our jobs are very important, and it's already unbelievab-" The guards complaint was interrupted by a loud gush of high-pitched, ecstatic laughter, that clearly sounded muffled, but was still loud enough to cut through the serious atmosphere.
I couldn't help myself. Like, it was physically impossible. Just the way they spoke, and the timing… oh, the timing!! It was just so perfect!! If it was their plan all along to make me laugh, I honestly wouldn't even be surprised…
"That's him! That's the guy that robbed us!!" The desperate screams of the king's flower pot's distant cousin echoed from the alleyway below us.
The guards reaction to this was not what the boy wanted whatsoever, as the guards looked at the source of the laughter, with raised eyebrows, as they relaxed the hands that layed on the hilts of their blades.
"It… really was a kid?" One of the guards asked hesitantly, as he looked at the short figure that had a brown mask tightly covering all sides of his head.
They both looked towards the alleyway where the princes best friend that cried to them for help, saying that a self proclaimed nine year old trapped him and his friends between two walls that towered over all of their heights combined, stood. They weren't close enough to the edge to be able to see them without much effort though, so they ended up just meeting eyes with a mundane wall way above the children.
"I'm guessing their story was exaggerated then. They probably used the heights they added together from the time they were measured as a toddler." The other guard sneered, as he completely let go of his hand, relaxing it completely. This action didn't sit right with the other guard however, as contrastingly to his colleague, he tightened his grip on his sword even more, as if the carelessness of the comrade was a reminder to his past experiences.
"Don't be careless, Dorman, we should be prepared for anything. This may be an elaborate trap, for all we know." The more diligent knight scolded.
Until now, I was still laughing, to my hearts content. When my laughing steam finally began to thin up, my mind was also cleared of steam, as I realised that maybe it wasn't the best time to be laughing.
Even with how much time I had put into optic control, I was still not confident at all when it came to fighting adults who were two decades or maybe even more than that, older than me. One reason for this was: I had literally 0 battle experience, atleast when it came to using optic powers. With swords, I've never been curious enough to see if I had still got my skills, as weird as it sounds, also, I wouldn't think this body is suited for weapons, and nor do I have the confidence to add a 'yet' to that statement.
Another reason for this was that although I spent much more of my life practicing optic powers than they did, that only works when I talk about the percentages, but if I talk about the actual amount of hours put in, I'm not sure who would win between us, given that they are much older.
But thinking about all that almost doesn't even matter, as right now, not only do I have one brown adult, who I already am not sure I would best in a fight, approaching me, I have two! The added one seeming a whole lot more experienced than the other! Just looking at them gets me ready to spit some jojo references, screaming at the ghost called Smokey that may or may not be watching me to run away, maybe.
But they'll probably catch up just fine. Also, I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious on how I would fare, given that I have the element of surprise at my disposal. Plus what's the worst that could happen anyway? The boy is just a breeze that happened to enter the kings room after all, yet he is so proud of it.
The more easygoing knight seemed to not pay any heed to his comrades warning, even going as far as to begin yawning.
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Uptight." He said, as he lazily
flicked his hands towards his comrade, all in the barely decipherable voice of a yawn. The yawn was especially long, however, and his hand quickly relaxed to the maximum, making it just hang lifelessly with his wrist as support, as he tightly shut his eyes in order to fully enjoy his hearty yawn.
His annoyingly wide mouth was shut at a weird angle however, as a blunt column of earth crashed abruptly into his chin, putting him into a mild trance, as he staggered back a little, quickly gaining his footing at the first sighting of mindfulness.
It wasn't enough however to escape his trance, as another blunt stick also met his chin, on the same spot that the other had hit him, making him stagger further than he did the first time, this time falling onto the floor. And after one more, the job was done, him falling unconscious onto the floor, nice and cleanly.
Is what i'd like to say. That was not clean whatsoever, nor was it nice to see. Three tries?!? Even with all the strength I put into each, it took so long??
"He needed that lesson." The other guard said as he didn't move his gaze away from the child who had done the monstrosity of what filled one of the corners in his vision.
Yup, he's definitely way stronger than that guy. And is that a scar I see on his neck?!? This is terrible. If before I was getting hot feet to run, now I'm getting cold feet to freeze, as if a tiger was approaching me. Hell, he even looked like one.
I don't really have to fight him, do I?
Disclaimer:
Hiatus for an undetermined amount of time. I decided that I need to focus on more important things at hand. Sorry.