[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Cintra, northern kingdoms.
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Madara continued riding his horse towards the Hugkil farm. It didn't take long for the man, still with a broken leg, to start a conversation with him as they passed through the forest. His son seemed still very scared from what had happened and remained silent. He himself was looking at Madara with a certain fear after what had happened.
"You said you were some kind of Ninja, what is that? I've never heard of it." The man spoke, much more cheerfully than before.
"It's hard to explain, you might say we're like wizards, taking on contracts and performing services, earning from it," Madara spoke calmly. He couldn't just say they were assassins, right?
"That sounds amazing, and they teach children from a young age?" The man continued, interested in a force he had until then been unaware of.
"There are many children who learn from the age of 5 or 6, however, I am the only ninja in the world now," Madara spoke, not wanting to delve too much into a military system that didn't exist in this world, making it very hard for people to understand his explanation.
"I see, so it's an extinct and also strict order," the man said, understanding Madara's intent with his last words.
"Yes." He just nodded.
"Still, you saved my life, mine and my son's. I thought we were going to die there facing that monster," the man said, changing the subject.
"You were lucky, I hadn't left Cintra long after that contract, so I still think you owe me nothing, it was just by chance," Madara spoke honestly, he had saved them by chance.
"Even so, fate put you in our path, and I wouldn't forgive myself, it would be a shame to leave without paying such a debt," he spoke with a noble tone. Lord Hugkil didn't care if it was just a coincidence, what mattered was that Madara had saved them and he was not an ungrateful person.
They continued on their way, until they finally emerged from the forest heading towards the great fields. "Do you see all this space, Madara?" The man spoke, even more excitedly, as if he had just come back from death and still with a broken leg.
"I saw it on the map given by Mousesack, he had details of the lands of noble families, I believe these were yours." He might not know how to read, but he certainly knows how to see a division of land, and the forest to the mountain he used as a reference was surrounded by a noble family symbol, so it wasn't hard for Madara to find out such a thing.
"Exactly, my grandfather's father was a simple noble with a small piece of land, but he died serving his king and sacrificed himself saving the king of Cintra at the time. What made the royal family of that time grateful to us, the Hugkils, so my father's father took over a much larger estate than his deceased father and my father took over after him, I'm doing the same with my son after my death," he said as he pointed to each of their borders.
"..." Victor remained silent.
"It's a huge land," Madara admitted, seeing that it stretched to the horizons.
"It is, don't you think about taking care of a large land as well, Madara?" The man asked.
"It's too early to say something like that," Madara commented in a neutral tone.
"That's true, I forget I'm talking to a child," the man laughed at that.
The journey continued until they began to see a small town with a huge castle in it.
The town seemed quite busy as they approached, "I can't wait to get some herbs to calm this damn pain from the broken leg!" The noble commented, feeling the pain.
Soon, some people from the town saw them coming, and some soldiers hearing about men on horses approaching the town quickly met with Madara and the others.
"Lord Hugkil?!" The soldier looked at him in shock. "We heard you were dead!" He murmured.
"As you can see, I came close to it, but survived thanks to this boy. Now take me home, my wife must be devastated thinking her son and I could be dead," he said as they began walking back to the town, with some of the soldiers looking suspiciously at Madara after what they had heard.
The people in the town were already scared that their lord had been killed when some men returned from the forest saying everyone died to the monster. They were even more shocked when Lord Higkill himself returned with his son.
They headed to the castle while everyone stopped to watch the group and point at them. As they passed the gate with the guards shouting that it was Lord Hugkill who had survived, they entered, with a woman running while crying.
"Victor! Victor!" A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes like Victor approached, crying as she hugged her son as soon as she emerged from the castle. "You're alive!! I heard you and your father were dead and my world had ended just a little while ago!" She said, still crying.
Madara remained silent as the family reunited with the lords, until some guards brought in 3 tied-up people, the 3 men who had survived and fled.
"Please, Lord Hugkil! We thought you were dead! Spare us!" They screamed, pleading; they were 2 soldiers and the servant who took care of the horses. Madara remained silent, this was not his problem to opine.
"I will deal with you later, get these 3 out of my sight!" The noble growled.
He dismounted from the horse and saw the man approach his wife with the injured leg, as she hugged him as well, looking like quite the family.
"Let's go inside, come Madara, you are my guest of honor." He announced and asked Madara to follow him.
A servant approached Madara. "Let me take your horse to the stable."
"Alright, the horse isn't mine. Just don't lose the head in that bag." Madara spoke.
"What's in that bag, sir?!" The man was a bit scared seeing the blood coming out of the bag.
"It's the head of the monster we killed, I have to take it to the queen of Cintra." Madara spoke calmly and the man just nodded.
"Yes, I won't lose it!" He said, treating it as the most sacred thing at that moment.
Madara followed to where the Hugkil family called him and he entered the castle.
He saw some servants coming with him. "Dear guest, Lord Hugkil asked to take you to your quarters while he is treated by the healer." He said.
Madara just sighed since he would have to stay here for a while, but accepted anyway. He was taken to a room where he found himself in a large place, even with a bathtub, and the door soon opened with some maids.
"My lord... We were instructed to bathe you..." The maids, some teenagers, approached him.
Although Madara did not like them entering his room like that without knocking, he ended up accepting, he needed a bath, not minding that there were women to do this here, after all, this was a medieval world and he was a child. After nodding, he was placed in a bathtub with water in his own room while the young women scrubbed his body.
"Is it true what they are saying, my lord?" One of the women started. Madara looked at her curiously with his black eyes.
"They say you fought the monster and saved our lord. They say you are a witcher." She said, but without the disdain that witchers usually faced.
"It's true, but I'm not a witcher." Madara commented in a neutral tone.
"That's incredible! You are so young and already so strong!" The woman continued flattering while scrubbing the sponge on his chest, but this could not be said of her colleague next to her, who looked at Madara with fear.
After that, Madara remained silent as the women continued cleaning his body with the woman continuing to talk about monsters surrounding the Hugkill land, hoping he would clean them out as well, although Madara did not believe in 90% of what was said, he just remained silent while merely nodding.
As soon as he was ready, he received new clothes, a sort of cloth to fit his body, which he accepted since his old one was quite dirty.
He then went to meet Lord Hogkill a few hours later as the sun was setting on the horizon.
"Madara, my boy!" Lord Hugkill said as he walked with the help of his wife, since he had a piece of wood wrapped around his leg.
His wife seemed to be very attentive to her husband and son. Victor followed them with another boy, about 10 years old, whom Madara assumed must be the family's second son.
Madara simply nodded as he arrived in a spacious room with a table in the middle of some sofas, where he was instructed to sit and wait for the family to get comfortable, while only servants were bustling from one place to another.
"It's good to see you without all that dirt from the fight; you deserve some rest," Hogkill continued with a good-natured compliment.
Madara didn't respond, but that didn't seem to offend the man. Victor had a still cautious look towards the child, his wife appeared neutral but clearly hiding her emotion, while the younger boy had a curious look towards Madara.
"Now let me introduce my family. Victor, you already know him. Next to me is my wife, Lady Carina Hugkill," the woman nodded, "And our youngest son, Luk Hugkill." The boy with blonde hair from his mother nodded shyly to Madara.
"Now that we're here," the noble continued, "You saved my life and my son's, so I want to thank you properly." He spoke, and some servants brought in a box.
As it was placed on the table, Hugkill began to open it in front of Madara. "I was thinking about how I could repay you, since you were doing a job for the royalty... so I think this is what might interest you the most." He said and showed a box filled with many gold coins.
Madara, taken by surprise, couldn't help but be a bit pleased; after all, it would allow him to enhance his strength. "This is great for me."
Lord Hugkill would never give so much money to a child, but Madara was so mature that he often felt he wasn't dealing with a child. "There are a thousand gold coins here," he said, and Madara nodded.
"I would like you to stay here at least one day; I want to show you my lands as well as a way to thank you." He said. He was not a foolish man; if Madara had the capabilities he had at this age, what could he do in the future? It was obvious that the noble wanted to establish a connection with such power, even though he was still thankful for having his life saved.
Madara sighed but also thought about relaxing a bit; he had another job to destroy a monster nest, but it was something that could wait. Madara was not foolish either; he also thought it was good to create some connections while in Cintra, and a powerful noble would be welcome among his acquaintances. "Alright, but I don't intend to extend my stay," he said.
"Haha. That's great," the man said, pleased. "The servants will take food to your room, since I couldn't join you. After all, I must deal with things with all the families of the people who died at my side in that monster den," the man said, and Madara nodded. "But I would like you to join me for lunch and take a walk with me through my lands in the afternoon," he said.
"You should rest and not go out..." His wife said.
"I can still walk, my dear, don't worry," he said as he began to stand up with his family. Madara said goodbye and returned to his room, thinking about what the system would give him when he absorbed those gold coins.