4.Myths of reality (4)

"Hey....I told you not to fight in my shop."

Alec and William gulped at the sight of the woman. The buffy man had fainted from the blow. William and Alec exchanged glances and looked at the woman.

The young man from before, approached the woman and coaxed her,

"Sister, don't be mad. We can talk this out."

It seemed that these two were siblings.

"Yeah...we should talk this out." William joined in with a shaky voice.

"In fact, I wasn't even involved in the fight. So, I should take my leave."

Half way through, he became confident and turned around to flee. The young man grabbed his collar from behind, stopping him from moving .

"Where are you going? You can't leave me behind," Alec made a hurt face and seperated William and that young man.

"We came here together, do you think you should leave without me?"

"Screw you, did i tell you to kick that guy ?"

Before things could get more annoying, the lady stepped forward.

"I don't care who you are or what you do, you two were responsible for breaking the table and scaring off my costumers!" She rolled her sleeves up.

Alec and William stood still while the young man went behind his sister, picking up broom. She didn't even look behind and called out to her sibling.

"Noah,you're not to sweep the floor. Let these two young Gentlemen do it."

Alec and William shrinked watching the evil smile on the woman's face. The young man named Noah, then brought two brooms and handed each to them with a kind smile, unlike his sister.

"Thank you.." Alec held the broom and watched the lady remove her apron and walk over to sit on a chair, where she would supervise them. Alec unknowingly kept staring at the siblings.

Both were quite alike with their ashy hair and dark eyes. When taken a closer look, both of them were exceptionally beautiful.

"Are you done?" The lady's voice brought Alec back to earth.

"If you are, then get to work."

He smiled and got moving towards the broken table where William was already being forced to sweep the floor.

"This is your fault. Why am I getting punished?" William complained through his breath.

"If you don't like it, then go sit with them. I'll do it. " Alec admited while picking up the broken table, "afterall, this was my fault."

He threw the pieces aside and picked up the broken chair.

"Fine." William patted his hands.." I was tired anyways. You do it," then with a smile, he happily turned to leave ,

"And be sure to suffer." William walked over to Noah and sat on the table beside him.

The woman also sat on the table, looking at alec working hard.

"What's this guy's deal?" She poured herself some herbal tea.

"You mean Alec?" William rised an eyebrow. The woman nodded and poured two more cups of tea.

"Yeah him. You guys don't seem to be from around here."

"Oh, we're from a small town far in east."

"So, that explains why he provoked Sir Richard."

"You mean the swordsman that you knocked out?" He quickly coved his mouth with his hand and looked down in embarrassment.

The woman chuckled, " yeah. I'm Aileen, by the way. " She took a sip from her tea and introduced herself.

" And this is my younger brother, Noah." She pionted at the young man.

"Hello...I'm Noah Lucus."

William nodded and also introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm William Fritz and that guy is Alec."

"What did he even did for Sir Richard to be that mad?"

"That fool, he asked him for a mentor to teach him the sword," William's grip on the cup tightened.

"I see. Sir Richard is actually quite prideful of being a good swordsman." She calmly explained.

"But your friend is an idiot. He shouldve knowm better that a swordsman's pride is not to be taken lightly."

With a sigh, William responded, "i know. He is too straightforward to a fault."

During their conversation, Alec cleaned the damaged area. He wiped his sweat off his forehead and called out for Aileen.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am. Im done with my work here." He walked over to the others and politely sat down.

Aileen looked over at the cleaned area which was once destroyed. She smiled and mischievously retorted.

"You're quite fast, young man. But i suppose that's not enough."

Alec flinched and carefully inquired about the reason.

"You are not satisfied? "

She scoffted and replied,

"How can I be satisfied with just this? Do you even know how much we earn in all day?" She shrugged and her sheepish gaze landed on Alec.

"Starting from early in the morning to late at night, we earn about a hundred gold coins, more than fifty silver coins and about fourty copper coins."

Her explaining left them speechless. It was obvious that she was asking about the compensation of the damage to her shop and loss of costumers.

"How about this, you both work here and give me my compensation in coins or... We can settle this in court."

That's so petty for an excuse! Both of them looked at each other and at Aileen. Alec thought that he should accept the offer and not cause any more trouble, while william had escape plans in his head. His brain worked fast and he looked straight at Aileen to say his mind,

"That's not fair. You see, Alec may have broken the furniture but he did all that because Sir Richard hit you."

Aileen rised an eyebrow and listened,

"Also, the costumers ran because of Sir Richard, not Alec!" His voice was frim and calculated.

"Because of this, it should be Sir Richard to pay the compensation, not us"

Aileen raised her chin and gave a thoughtful expression.

"You sound pretty convincing."

"Right? Besides, it were Sir Richard who fell. So, he should be the one taken into account!"

"Right..!"

Alec's eyes wandered between Aileen and William. He was surprised that Aileen was convinced by William's bullshit.

"But, you guys were the one who provoked Sir Richard." Aileen crossed her arms.

...or not so convinced. Bullshit is bullshit even if it comes out of the mouth of the prettiest.

This time, Alec joined in on the argument which obviously involved him but couldn't find the chance to say a word. He helplessly suggested,

"Ma'am, whatever I did, I didn't really mean to." All now left was to use the power of charms.

"Can you please let us off the hook this time? We are looking for someone, if you let us off the hook, it would really help us a great deal."

Alec had a face of an angle. Warm black eyes with darkest purple hair. He had a natural innocent face. Back in his hometown, he was the most loved by ladies and young girls. When talking, he used the most gentle and alluring tone.

And right now, this was his trump card. After a few seconds, all the eyes were on Aileen. After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke.

"....No."

Alec and William were shocked stupid. The charm didn't work on her? Is she immune to beauty or something?

"While I cannot let you off the hook, I can at least offer to help with finding the one you are looking for."

Did the charm worked or not?? Alec and William were in utter confusion. Alec cleared his throat and continued with the talk at hand.

"We would be greatful for that."

"There's no need to mention," she looked away and her cheeks burned a little.

.....did it worked. or not???

" Can you tell me who are you looking for?"

Alec and william exchange helpless glances,

"We are looking for a mentor who would teach me the use of sword."

Regardless of the previous seduction, she earnestly replied.

" A mentor to teach the sword? Hmm, that's a task. You see, most of the swordsmen does not take in students. While the retired swordsmasters are hardly ever exposed to people."

She stood up and went inside, further in the shop.

"Wait here, I shall be back."

The three guys looked at each other and then at Noah.

Noah, who hadn't spoken a word since the start, cliched at their questioning eyes.

"Hey...is it just me or did Aileen...let us off easy." William inquired hasitently.

"Who's Aileen-?" Alec pointed towards the direction where she left.

"That lady? When did you guys introduced each other?" Alec had suspension in his gaze.

"Eh, when you were cleaning up, we chatted a bit." William shrugged.

"What? Jealous that she talked to me instead of you?" William teased Alec, nuddging him.

Listening to their chat, Noah let out a chuckle. Unfortunately for him, their eyes turned to Noah again.

"Uhh...she..she doesn't like you, that way."

He is too timid. Great siblings, one is bold and the other is timid.

"I mean...you thought right, she ...she did let you off the hook, easy."

Alec and william sat up straight.

"She might not seems like this, but she's actually a sucker for pretty faces."

Noah carefully explained her previous behaviour. So as it was,....the charm did work... unexpectedly.

Right then, Aileen arrived and sat back at her seat.

"The one you're looking for, I just might know of him."

She suggested, "how about this, once you are done with your... compensation, I can give you the Whereabouts of..one of the bestest swordsmasters."

The suggestion wasn't bad and the condition was understandable.

Alec poundered on it and accepted,nevertheless.

"Okey. This is a pretty good deal."

Even though, it was in favour of both of them, it still felt like a good suggestion.

"Great! You can start work tomorrow. I doubt people will come here today." Her voice was nonchalant.

Alec and William felt greatfull and offered to help wrapping things up.

The shop closed and Alec and William silently stood at the counter table, looking quite pethatic. While Aileen seemed speechless.

"So basically, you guys have nowhere to go right now?" It seemed as though, her past impression of them was scattered. She once thought that these two were quite well mannered, thoughtful and impressive.

But once she spent,not even a day with them. She was still impressed. But because of their foolishness and faul boldness.