Chapter 08 - Encounters
*you should have listened to me... this ..wouldn't have happened, fuck!*
*is she..d-dea*
*dont say anything! fuck!*
*sob*
Lena woke up covered in sweat
"ah you woke up! i was thinking if i should wake you or not, you looked as if you were having a nightmare"
Albert was shirtless on the floor, he seemed to be doing pushups, since he also, was covered in sweat, he was breathing very heavy too, as if he was doing that for a long time.
Lena looked down and noticed she had a blanket on her, and Eda was sleeping on her chest
"Yeah, she was the reason i didn't awake you, miss Eda look to be having a nice sleep too"
Lena looked at albert and notice a lot of things, Marks, no tatoos on his back, there was about 20 of those wierd symbols on his back, along with wierds red lines and scars.. about 10 of them, burning and cut scars
Albert who realised that Lena was looking at his back stood up quite fast, and picked up a shirt
"i apologize for showing you such a unsightly view"
"im sorry for looking Albert, you seemd to have been trough a lot too"
"im 18 years old Lena, and im a knight since 13, five years on duty is a lot, i've learn many things"
he said that with a smile on his face, while drying up the sweat with a towel and handing another one to Lena, who picked up and dried her neck and face.
"i see"
"you seem tired, you've been sleep for a while"
"how much time did i slept?"
"about 10 hours? idk for sure, but i woke up to go to the bathroom and you were already sleeping, i slept a 4 hours more and been awake for about 1 hour.. so yeah, you slept for quite a while"
'we walked around for abou 3 hours, and i was already sleeping by the time he noticed me, i guess 10 hours is the minimum, and yet..im still in this dream.. i dont understand, is this another world? did i died in my sleep or something'
"you seem to be thinking a lot, are you ok? your face right now, is telling me you are terrified, if you need help im here"
Albert said that with a gentle smile on his face, Lena looked deeply in his eyes and lowered her gaze to Eda
'he doesn't need to know.. they dont need to know'
Albert noticed her eyes lowering to Eda, and turned around grabing his armor while saying
"Well, im here if you need it"
"t-thanks"
an awkward silence remained after this, for about 1 minute. Lena was thinking watching Eda sleeping, she could not forget the nightmare she just had.. it was Eda.. cutted in half on a table, with the upper part of her head, wide opened. it was a horrible nightmare. but for some reason, Lena felt as if it was real.
Eda let out a short yawn
"g...good morning Lena"
Lena put on a gentle smile and replied
"Yes, good morning, did you slept well?"
"i had such a good dream, i haven't slept this well in years, your chest is a very good spot to sleep"
Eda had a wide smile on her face and a thumbs up
"now that both of you woke up, care to go with me in a restaurant? im kinda hungry right now"
"oh totally, but i..dont have any more money"
"hm.. is that so? its unusual to see a swordsman without money, but come, i'll pay for you, you gonna help me later anyway, you can take this as a thanks for the help. of course i'll pay for your help later on"
'p-pay? im gonna get money?'
Lena's eyes were wide opened as if there was sparkles eveywhere, she was very happy with the fact that she was getting payed, she was worried with the fact that she did not had money, Albert looked at her excitement and added
"just.. dont think i can pay the full price for a Swordsman, you guys are too much expensive! ill give you 100 gold coins plus the food"
'100?!how is that low? this hotel room was 20 gold per week wasn't it? that's really good! i can get a place to sleep and food with no problem for at least a month'
Lena had a small smile in her face, wich made Albert even more concerned
"the max i can pay is 150, more than that and i wont be able to travel to the next city"
'just how much a regular swordsman is, 150 is nothing?'
"that is fine. we can settle at that, thank you for the food"
Albert had a face of relief for some reason, as if he had escaped death
'just how expensive are Swordsman'
"what is this money thing you say, 150 of what?"
"i see. you see this coin Miss Eda?"
Albert took 1 gold coin out of his pocket, and showed to Eda
"this is the gold goin we are talking about, each coin is worth 5 silver coins, each silver coin is worth 10 bronze coins"
"so this gold coin is worth 100 bronze coins? i see, humans could not carry so much coins so they started to increase the value based on rarity of metal, are there ruby and diamond coins?"
"amazing, i knew the Milims were very intelligent being, but seeing the intelectual of one in front of me is definely wonderful"
"hehe"
Eda let out a short laugh with her hands together behind her, as Lena just quietly observed that scene
"Indeed, there are something beyond gold, wich is Emerald its equivalent to 500 gold coins, and of course, a diamond coin is worth 1000 gold"
"one..one thousand?!"
Lena said with a very surprised face
"well, this coins are mostly used by nobles and of course the royal family"
"humans sure need a lot of that 'money' thing huh"
"im curious about that miss Eda, how your people movement the currency in your village?"
"hm? we trade. if you want a apple you give something else, even a kiss"
"hm?!"
Lena and Albert were confused
"a kiss? that is a currency there?"
"yes yes, and the highest one actually"
"but is a kiss! how is that a currency?"
Lena asked in confusion
"ah, i shall explain somethings then, well our lips and saliva have elemental properties"
"hm?!"
they were even more confused
"our saliva especially, it has all elements combined, so if we kiss someone, that someones Enchants will be 100% stronger, is very usefull for planting they grow very strong, but we can only give a kiss that strong once every 3 days, so a kiss is the highest currency there"
"a kiss?!"
Albert asked with a frown
"yes!"
"but is a kiss?"
Lena also asked with a frown
"yes! humans dont kiss?"
"we do, but not as easy, we only do that to our deeply love ones"
Albert said while finishing to put on his armor
"love? what is that?"
"hm?! Milims dont love?"
"i dont even know what is that"
"love is a feeling we have that make us protect something, aways be with something, worry about something and want to always be by its side"
Albert said while still finishing to put on his amor
"hm!? Humans dont have that all the time?"
"i dont think so, we only have that to someone after a while, and not everyone, thats is somekind of quimical involved"
Lena said looking to Eda who was still sitting in her chest
"humans are confusing, well i guess thats how you are"
"to me you are more amazing, miss Eda"
Albert said while still finishing to put on his amor
"me why?"
"its amazing to be able to love as easy as your kind does, a lot of us, can only open themselves to others once in our life"
"Thats just sad"
"it is"
"Do you love me then Eda?"
"if love is what Albert just told me, then yes, i do care about you"
"Would you kiss me then?"
"hm?!"
again Albert had a surprised face
"what will you give me for it?"
Eda answered with a innocent expression, while holding her two hands in front of her
'hm she would actually kiss me?'
"im just kidding, it was just a joke"
"oh i see!"
Eda had a innoncent smile in her face while starting to fly toward the shoulder of Albert
"i saw the enchants in your body when you were shirtless"
"oh, forgive me for showing such scars"
"you have a link with a fire elemental dont you?"
"Fire elemental?"
'what is that'
"you can tell? i cannot understimate you"
"i a friend elemental when i was little, unfortunally he passed away, now only the former marks remain, that is also the reason i learned fire enchants"
"i see, even if your friend passed away, the link partialy remained, and since you use on your hands i assume you have the immunity to fire"
"Yes, as you said miss Eda"
"you are immune to fire and darkness, you are kinda scary, not gonna lie, Albert."
Lena said while standing up and putting the blanket and the towel in the bed
"hahaha i've been told that before"
Albert said that while putting on the helmet
Eda flied to Lena's sholder and started to become invisible
"shall we go?"
Albert who had his hand on the doorknob was already in his full armor and helmet snaped his fingers once, and the field that was covering the room disapeared making them visible and listenable again, at his moment Lena could feel the Enchants being aimed at her and Albert, she put the finger of her right hand below her right eye and Albert understood what she meant by that gesture
he opened the door, and both of them entered the elevator, upon leaving the hotel, they were both greeted by Niko the felix on the Hotel main door
"Hello again, Knight and Crazy girl"
"Cr-crazy?"
"Good morning Niko"
"im not crazy Niko!"
Niko jumped in Albert shoulder
"until you prove me you wont scream out of sudden again you are crazy to me"
Albert looked at Niko at his should while asked
"Do you know any good place to eat Niko?"
Niko looked back to him for a sec and looked foward
"there is a place that smells really good and humans tend to go there a lot"
"is it a brothel?"
Lena asked with a serious face
"Brothel? you talk about the place humans go to procreate?"
"y-yes!"
"No, i hate the smell of that place, most of us dont get even near that place"
"i see"
"the smell of that place is really good but they dont allow cats, nor any animal in there, saddly"
"i'll take you there"
Eda said that while turning Niko's body invisible
"wait- what is going on"
now only his voice remained
Albert asked in confusion
"where did he go?
"i made him phas-... i made him invisible"
"wait, you can talk in my head?"
"yes, hehe"
"increadible"
Niko could see Eda giggling sitting in Lena's head, he looked at his pawn and could see his hands faintly, it was as if they were in a different plane of space, it was a bit darker with dark rainbows in everything, it was the same place and wasn't at the same time.
"i guess the flies are really special"
"you're welcome"
"hmpf"
despite the sound of not caring, Niko had a small smile in his face
"alright Knight, go to the main street westside of the north gate"
"understood"
on their way to the restaurant, Lena explained how they walked after he slept, the meeting with Kas and the attack, when they were abou 5 minutes to arrive at the restaurant Albert asked
"did he actually just slaped the guy's face and he passed out?"
"yes, and very easily too"
"red hair and a lion head"
"what?"
"hm..im not sure, that are a few clans of strong people with red hair. 2 clans to be precisely, the Vasmeras and The Lionhearts! the thing is, both clans have a lion as their symbol, making this man quite hard to guess"
"i see"
"and you said people moving trough the dark, from one shadow to the other?"
"yes, thats what Eda said"
"yes yes, he was very creepy, really.. moving from one shadow to the other like teleportation"
"shadow movement is not teleportation, is more like a graple, they send the information of where they wanna go and move from one place to the other, but unlike teleportation, they need to see where they're going, its a very conmom enchant among Dark users"
"ew"
Eda was disgusted just by remembering it
"it is very annoying to deal at first, but is very predictable since they need to see the next spot. so if you pay attention you'll notice where they wanna go"
"oh yeah now that i think about it, he was only moving in a predictable pattern, makes sense now"
Eda frowned just by remembering again
"ew"
"i'll remember that info if i encounter them again, thank you"
"there it is, thats the place"
Niko pointed to a house, even though he was invisible. a big house with golden gates and doors, it looked a lot expensive, there was golden light, golden sparkle even golden water from the water fountain, it looked really expensive
"what in heavens is this place? do we have money for that"
Lena said in a worried tone
"Niko, im sorry but even though i'am a knight, i dont have the money for this place"
"hm? how not, its so modest?"
"modest? how is that modest Niko? its all covered in gold pretty much"
Lena said in a even worried tone
"gold? ah.. no.. not that one, the one on the side of it"
it was a smaller house, not even close to the gold house, it was in a grey-yellow colour, with flowers in the front door, blue and purple flowers everywhere, it had a cozy feel to it
"oh i see, that looks better"
"yeah, a lot better"
Lena and Albert agreed with each other, and headed to the restaurant, as they got close to it they could hear someone yealling inside
"..so just be nice and take the fucking deal"
"as if i would get this fucking deal"
"how about you shut the fuck up bitch, the mans are talking"
"what a fuck did you just said to me?"
"Aurora please, let me handle this"
"no grand'pa, they will just decieve you, im not allowing this"
"you fucking whore, let the adult do the business or you will get hurt"
the man in white suit with a golden tie on his neck, he looked to be close to 40 years old and had a grim slime on his face, there were two big mans behind him, both of them had chains in their fist and forearms, and the chains had a dark eletric flowing trought it. they were yelling at a old man, that looked to be around 70-80 years old. behind, no in front of the old man, facing the man with the gold tie, there was a women, a blond woman that looked to have between 18 and 20 years old, she had a blonde hair, that did not look pretty since she did not seem to care about it at all, her long hair was tied with a ponytail she had blue eyes and a very intimidating face as she seem'd to be really tough
"call me that again, and you lose these pretty teeth of yours, shit-face"
"Hello!"
Albert meddle in the discussion, as it seem'd it would start to go violent
"is the restaurant opened?"
"look kid, you got some clients, go there for now"
"please Aurora let me handle it"
The woman turned around and looked at the old man
"please grand'pa, dont listen to him"
she said as she walked toward Albert
"Greetings, welcome to the Merilda, please follow me to your seat"
"wow she changed her demeanor very fast"
'very professional'
as they got close to a table by the side of a window Albert made a question
"Is that man with the gold tie a broker?"
"i apologize, but there is no need to have clients to know of such things, please chose your meal"
she said that with a smile on her face as she gave them them menu, they could see it was forced, but since she had such a strong persona, they didn't showed any reactions.
"i'd like this big meat with soup and juice"
Lena started to ask for her meal, as she was quite hungry, Albert noticed that Lena did not want to put her nose in other people business, so he just followed her
"i'd like the warrior's meal"
'warrior'
The woman looked sharply to Albert and Lena, after hearing the 'warrior's meal' since is a very strong meal that can hold your hunger for 2 days, but is very expensive, usually only good adventurers and strong soldiers ask for such a meal. upon a close look, she noticed that the man in front of her was a Knight since he was in full plate armor, also, after changing her gaze to Lena she noticed the sword by her side after she sitted. she gave a small gulp and asked
"anything else?"
Lena replied after noticing a colourful name on the menu
"ah thats a glintleaft bow"
"what is this bow of glintleaf?"
"a special leaf with healing proprieties, its very good for long days without sleep"
"i see, give me one bow too"
"just for you to know Lena, glintleaf is very strong, you might not even sleep for about 3 or 4 days. after that your body will be really stressed"
"have you tried them, Albert?"
"they give this a lot during intense training"
"i see"
"you still want them, miss?"
"yes, please"
after wrinting on a block of paper, the woman asked again
"anything else?"
"thats enough for me"
"thats enough for me too"
Lena and Albert quickly replied her, aftet their response she turned around and headed to a small wooden door, it was probably the kitchen door since there was a very good smell coming from that door. as Niko had said, it smelled really good.
"is really interesting that you have never eated glintleaf before, it'll be a good experience for you im sure"
'hm.. why it seems he's making fun of me'
"you sure you gonna eat that before facing the bloodleaf people?"
Niko asked her while still invisible, his voice was coming from the right side of Albert, close to the window
"why? should i not?"
"well.. you can.. its just.."
'hm?'
Niko was silent, Albert replied instead
"it's because you'll be hyperactive, depending on the amount you eat"
'oh, so is just cafeine?'
"it might get in your sense of decisions, but i think it'll be ok"
'so is a very strong cafeine, noted'
"ah by the way..im curious with something, you said you were attacked by the a assassin again"
"Yes"
"how are you unscathed?"
"hm.. intimidation i guess"
"you scared them?"
"they threw some darts at me again, i blocked it though"
"i helped too Albert, i told her how many were and the direction they appeared"
"Oh eda helped too"
"Yes, she told you, she was very helpfull to me who could not sense their presence because of the dark singularity, so she was telling me how much and where they were"
"dark irregularity"
Niko correct her
"ah yes sorry, Irregularity"
"i see, thats one of the reason they left, a childe who could sense assassins must have been pretty scary"
its something i noticed inside this city, why do the bad people usually run away so fast? this assassin for exemple, they ran away after a few seconds of engaing, i dont understand"
"thats beacuse of Marvin for sure"
Niko said in a tired manner, he was invisible but you could tell he was about to yawn
"who?"
"Marvin is a guardian, the youngest guardian"
"how old is he?"
"this year he made 17 but he is a guardian since 14"
"what?! 14?"
Lena said as she lifted her eyebrows in surprise
"yes! his father and mother were swordsman, they taught him everything, and his talent in swordarts carried him to the position of a guardian."
"that is why they are very cautious with a children carrying a sword, no one wanna die because they messed with the next 'youngest guardian', you got it, crazy girl?"
Lena let out a short sigh after hearing Niko calling her 'crazy' again
"You should just take the fucking deal, Erik! you'll get a lot of money and leave this fucking place"
"im sorry mister Verain, but i dont need your money, please take your leave"
the oldman said while doing a short bow and turning around, but was stoped by one of the big guys
"oh you're not leaving Erik, not until you sign the damn contract"
Lena who was silently watching the whole scene mentioned
"isn't that just coercion at this point?"
Albert said while standing up and putting the helmet on his head
"it is"
he start to walk toward them
"hm.. he is doing it again, that presence of fire again, is that his fight spirit?"
'fight spirit? what is that now?'
"it is very good too, he must be very strong"
'even Niko can sense it, how do they know, i can't sense anything'"
Lena pondered as she stood up and followed Albert
"excuse me, is that any problem happening here?
the man with the white tie looked at Albert and noticed he was a knight and politely answered
"No sir, nothing at all"
the man said that while looking at the big guys, who released the old man and moved close to the man with the golden tie
"Sir knight, im sure the meal here isn't good enough for you , i highly recommend you, to try the restaurant by the side"
he said that as he gave Albert a golden card
"im sure the meal "there will be a lot better then here"
Albert was silent for a second looked at the big guys behind the man
"Old man, pardon, i think i heard he calling you Erik?"
"yes?"
"i do apologize, but i think i'll destroy your front area a little bit"
"excuse me?"
the man with the gold tie was surprised by his statement and at the same time, he noticed a faint fire surrounding his body. Albert kicked of the ground and grabed both of the big guys by the neck and dashed with them to outside from the front door leaving a trail of fire behind, knocking off the man with the gold tie on the ground. Lena looked at the spot where Albert was and starterd to kill the fire on the ground with her feets, she looked at the old man and said
"i'm sorry for the burning marks on the floor, sir"
"w-why did he attacked them?"
as he said that they could hear a noise of flames and screams together
"Knight Albert said to me that he, as a knight, can feel Malice of killers and others criminal people, so im afraid thats what they were. he'll either capture them or kill them, im sure"
"Knight Albert?"
"tsk.. the flame knight"
the man with the gold tie started to stand up as he was trying to run, Lena placed her scabbard on the ground, making a noise of metal hitting the floor
"i'm sure you are not dumb enough to try to run from a swordsman, are you?"
the men stopped on spot and slowly turned his head to Lena, who was looking at him with a sharp gaze, the man with the gold tie and the old man looked at her sword
"a..swordsman?"
"a small girl like you?"
The man with the gold tie said in a angry manner
"try to run, try it"
lena replied with a cheaky smile on her face, the man felt chills on his back after seeing her smile and said
"i'd like to keep my limbs ma'am"
"very wise of you mister, very wise"
the old man and the man with the gold tie gulped and thought at the same time
'so vicious'