CHAPTER 22: Confess...
The moment dinner was served, everyone retired to go to sleep, the moment he noticed that his parents withdrew to his father's study instead of their bedroom which was right beside his, he knew the conversation was important enough for him to afford to miss it,
"So they are really going to abandon Ashen…," he thought to himself not at all confident that he could successfully fill the shoes his parents asked of him, even though the reason he hadn't been able to take the exam for four consecutive years was because of his strange sickness which always happened right around the time of his exam,
Mentally drained and frustrated, he slipped out of the house, walking as fast as he could to the closest inn he could find to get a drink to drown his fears in,
"Noon" was the first inn he came across, far away from his parent's house but not too far away for him to get lost in case he got drunk,
Passing the wide-open doors of the inn and stepping in, Klea was not surprised to see a full house as the night was barely starting for people whose favourite places were pubs and women,
"Don't you look nice and extra fancy? For a young man like you, I'll give you a fair discount and I'll let you spend the whole night with me. I'll even let you confess all your troubles and sorrows to me until morning,"
A Woman's voice said from right beside him, as he turned to look at a sparsely dressed woman with a huge bosom, bared opened just enough to fan the flames of a man's curiosity to want more,
"...if you're more into the kinky kind, I can have another woman join us...or a man if that's what you're into," she continued watching with a smirk on her face at the look of surprise on the face of the man in front of her, who seemed to be looking everywhere else but her face,
She again began speaking as her eyes glistened at the new prey that was about to fall into her laps,
"If you don't have money on you right now you can give me something else I can hold…," only for her to be interrupted by a brutish stranger who suddenly jumped in between her and Klea,
"I wouldn't think you would fall for such a scheme but every man has his type," Klea's friend Joe teased as he watched his friend struggle to intelligently refute what he just said,
"What? Me? Of course not…,"
"Trust me...a few more minutes and she would have convinced you to go with her...she has a glib tongue and a fine body but she'll rob you blind and leave you before you can take off your pants," Joe said while leading Klea away from the entrance of the inn where he saw had spotted him talking to Deralia, one of the new prostitutes in town,
"I'm not blind Joe and moreover, I had no intention of following her," Klea began defending himself even though he knew the truth to be otherwise,
"Your aura of sadness could be seen from where I sat the moment I saw you step in...if you don't take her, you would take another," Joe honestly declared, pushing Klea into a seat opposite his own the moment they got back to the table he had been sitting in before Klea walked in,
Quickly, Joe had ordered more beer, which arrived not long after, with Joe pushing a tall glass into Klea's hands and waiting for him to take a large gulp before speaking to him with a serious expression on his face which was different from the goofy one he always carried around,
"Why are you here? You don't like coming to places like this even when I try to drag you and You're obviously not okay…," Joe commented noticing how quickly and greedily Klea down half of the beer, he had just passed on to him,
"Family issues and I have to do my best to awaken my mana. My family needs me to learn magic," Klea confessed right before taking another huge gulp of the bitter beer in front of him as he made sure to swallow it, resisting the urge to spit it out,
"Yeah...I heard about your brother," was all Joe said knowing fully well that for such a thing to have been wild-spread in the town of "Lakod" that barely got any information from the academy, someone must have intentionally leaked it,
"My parents think...urg...I would be a better replacement...urg...when I can't even feel the mana in the...urg...air which is the minimum requirement," Klea lamented in between sips from his beer cup having already gotten used to the taste as he began to gulp it faster than he did before,
"Coupled with the fact that you're older and it's common knowledge that it's easier the younger you are," Joe agreed, speaking his mind and not wanting to give his friend any false hope since he too didn't have much confidence that Klea would suddenly be able to learn magic after four years of not being able to,
"You think I don't know that," Klea simply murmured,
"My parents are getting expensive mana inducing potions for me first thing tomorrow morning and I'm almost 80% sure they wouldn't work,"
"Maybe they will," Joe argued, doing his best to comfort his friend even though he knew he didn't really know the right thing to say,
"...and if they don't?" Klea instantly replied, looking up and into his friend's face as he waited patiently to hear what he would say,
"They might..." Joe said, only to mentally slap himself as he watched his friend's face fall into despair, while he scrambled for something hopeful, and motivating to say,
Joe was still going through words in his head when he suddenly saw Klea get on his feet, staggering and swaying slightly to the side before coming to a standstill as it became obvious that although he was slightly tipsy, he was in no way drunk,
"I'm glad you're in town but I'll be seeing you Joe. It's getting late and I should get home soon," said Klea as he turned around to leave, saying goodbye to his friend whom he was sure would always have his back if he needed it,
"I'll have to leave tomorrow with some merchants on a short trip but I should be back in a week," Joe said getting to his feet and happily throwing his two arms around Klea who he hadn't seen in a long time, and squeezing him tightly without giving him a chance to refuse,
"You don't know how much you miss someone until they spend time with you, and they're about to leave," Joe said loud enough for everyone three tables from them to hear as Klea couldn't help but cringe before bursting into light laughter, and hugging his friend just as tightly as his friend did, feeling a little better than when he first arrived,
Finally, they both separated as Klea left the table and with Joe continuing to stand on his feet as he watched Klea leave,
However, Klea had just gotten to the entrance when he suddenly heard his friend yell from behind him as he turned around to see his goody and energetic face,
"I believe in you," Joe boldly shouted at his friend's retreating back, watching in delight as Klea laughed and shook his head before finally leaving the inn,
Slowly but steadily he began the seemingly long walk on his way home, thankful for the magic-powered lamps that lined some parts of the streets that the town considered important, that way he didn't have to walk home in complete darkness with just the half-moon as the only source of light.
He walked for a while and he could even see his house in the distance when he unexpectedly became aware of footsteps behind him,