Awkward atmosphere

Ares wanted to say and ask a lot of things to that guard, but he decided to be indulgent and just stay quiet for the time being.

'I am struggling to hold myself not to explode here. But this guy is the person that helped me when I was in a pinch. I do not know his real motivations, but I better stay quiet and just see what he is up to. Also, there is still another guard that knows that I am here.'

Ares was short-tempered and stubborn, but not dumb. He knew the times when he needed to be cold in his judgment and let some things go.

An awkward silence fell on that room. The guard began to take out of the packages the goods that he brought. There was only food there and some metallic pots with unknown content.

'I think that it is safe to assume that this guy represents no danger for the time being... He isn't carrying any weapons as well. Where is his sword? He doesn't have many parts of his armor on his body right now as well...'

"Stop to analyze me like this. I can even feel your gaze on me, haha!" The guard humorously said.

Ares didn't laugh at his joke, though. He just kept looking at him without even excusing himself.

'It's impressive that he noticed it without even looking at me. I was underestimating his perception, to be honest. However, he is the guard of the gates. He isn't there playing around. To make this essential job on the protection of the gates of a fortress, he must have trained a lot.'

After some minutes, Ares decided to shift his gaze to other things in the room. He was also trying to see if they put his battle-axe somewhere around there, but he couldn't find anything.

"I thought that you would be a very energetic and talkative kid, but it doesn't seem to be the case...", the man was feeling a bit uncomfortable with that strange atmosphere. No matter how many times he tried to initiate a conversation, Ares would never reply to him.

It came to a point where he found it pointless to chitchat and just kept organizing the goods that he brought.

Soon, guard B entered the room as well.

It was a bald man with a lot of beard on his face. He was taller than guard A, and more bulked as well. He was still wearing fully his armor, except the helmet. He also didn't have a spear or sword with him anymore and was carrying a jar of beer in his hands instead.

"I found the beer!" He announced when entering there.

His eyes rapidly spotted Ares who was standing beside the bed and analyzing him the same way he did with the first guard.

"Oh, he woke up! That's good! In the conditions that we found him, I thought that he would stay asleep for a day or two more."

Guard B was more of the funny type, who adored talking, differently from Guard A who was more introverted and calm.

Again, Ares didn't reply to them. He sat on the bed and continued to analyze their actions and their behavior.

The two of them couldn't relax at all when being stared at like that, at least not Guard A. Guard B was more carefree, so he didn't mind it as much, but it still made him get awkward.

"Hey, man..." Guard A muttered.

"What?"

"Do you think that this kid has mental issues or something?"

Guard B pondered for a while, giving a glance over his shoulder.

"I don't think so. He seems very sane to me. His eyes are cunning and he isn't just staring at us with a lost gaze. He is clearly analyzing us. I never saw someone with mental issues having this kind of behavior. Maybe he is just a bit frightened because it is the first time that he gets to see humans after crossing that forest."

"Well, if we assume that he was alone, then it makes sense... He may be frightened because he saw people dying as well, you know?"

They continued talking about that matter, muttering in a low tone.

'These guys must be two idiots, I am hearing everything that they are saying...', Ares tilted his head, frowning hard.

"Hm...", that was the first sound that he emitted after so long in silence, so it scared the two guards, who nearly fell to the ground when turning to him.

'Oh well, they must be two idiots...'

"I didn't come here with other people. I came by myself. I think that I spent two whole months inside that forest. I was planning to come to this fortress since the start."

Of course, Ares was lying about spending two whole months inside the forest. He didn't know how much time passed. However, it seemed like two months to him, so he just used his instincts as a reference.

The guards looked at each other in confusion, then looked at him again.

"Are you saying that you crossed THAT forest by yourself... and spent two months while doing so?" Guard A asked, incredulous.

Ares nodded.

"Man! That's crazy!" Guard B was more excited than flabbergasted. He ran towards Ares and offered a high-five to him, which Ares didn't mind retrieving.

'The hands of this man are full of calluses, just like mine, but his is thicker. It seems like hitting a rock. He is way more experienced than I thought,' Ares kept that information noted on his mind.

Guard A approached Ares, looking at him from head to toe.

'Indeed, this boy has the body structure of someone who had an athletic physique. He probably got so weak-looking like this after two months of not eating properly, but I can see that he used to train a lot before. If that's the case, I think he could deal with some hardships, but that forest was full of wolf packs... How could he face these beasts all by himself?'

"Ok, Ares, there is a lot that we want to ask, and I bet that the same goes to you. So, let's eat something and talk about it. What do you think?"