Morning came, and Craydon was seated at a table in the Inn together with his daughter, the Slime, and the Salamander, both of them under the table.
Craydon was looking at a map of the known world that the Innkeeper had given him and said as he made a straight line on the map with his index finger, “If we travel straight ahead, we are probably arriving at the mountain range in three or four days. I have no idea what we will face there, so we better be ready to bail out if things get too dangerous for us.”
“With my Drakes, I seriously doubt any Ooman in the Alliance will mess with us. And now that we have the Karkadanns, it will be even safer. Let’s not forget about my cute Jelly and Lyzy. They are getting a lot of fighting experience along this voyage.”
Craydon said, while rubbing the head of the orange Salamander at his feet, “You are right. He seems peaceful when he is like this, but yesterday he was frightening. I had no idea he could be so fast and deadly. Those Black Shucks never had a chance against him.”
Sophia was biting a piece of bread when the Inn’s door opened. The older Mage, Adad Rholed, entered, followed by an Ooman man in rich clothing.
They both approached, and Adad said with an enormous smile, “Good morning to both of you! Forgive me for this intrusion so early in the morning, but I was afraid I wouldn’t catch you before you left! I wanted to introduce to you this City’s Regent!”
Craydon sighed and got up. He reached one hand for a handshake and received only an affected smile from the other man, who said, “I was told you were both the ones who saved my City from those Monsters yesterday, so I wanted to meet you and grant you my presence!”
With a puzzled look, Craydon asked the now awkward Adad Rholed, “Is this guy for real? Grant us his presence? He is a mere City Regent! Not even the last Count we met acted like him!”
“I beg your pardon! I did you a favour by walking to get here and to talk to you! The least you could do was to be grateful!”
As if the affected man didn’t say a thing, Craydon asked, “Did the Explorers and Adventurers return? Or did you get any news from them?”
Adad Rholed shook his head and answered, while glancing at the annoyed Regent, “I am afraid not. I know they were going north, so perhaps you could put one eye on the ground as you went on your voyage to see if you could spot them. And perhaps tell them to get back, just in case more Monsters appear.”
“I suppose we can do that, and if we see more Monsters, we can make sure they don’t bother you. We will have to fly low, but I think it is doable.”
“You would have my deepest gratitude if you could do that!” He then faced the still-annoyed man and said, “Regent, perhaps we should leave so that this fine family can have their breakfast in peace. I am sure you have other urgent matters to attend to.”
“Let’s, then! I have way more things to look at than to spend more of my time with these… ungrateful people!”
As he was going to the door, Craydon said, “You are the ungrateful one, dumbass! If it wasn’t for us, you would be Black Shuck’s manure by now! I bet being expelled from the butt of one of those Monsters would do wonders for your character!”
“What did you call me? Do you want to be arrested? I am the law in this City! I can do anything I want with you and your daughter, and I would have every right to do so!”
He then looked to his left and jolted when a serious Fae suddenly appeared at his side. “You have such nerve! Threatening my friends as if you were someone important! Go back to the rock from where you came, you lowlife, and let these fine people in peace!”
The Fae turned its back to the surprised man and joined Craydon and Meryda at their table, leisurely grabbing a slice of bread.
The City’s Regent puffed and left the Inn, slamming the door behind him. Adad Rholed sighed and explained, “I am very sorry for this. He is always like this, but we are all used to his manners. I am sure that for outsiders, he can sound very unreasonable and rude, but he does his job.”
“Your problem, not ours. We are leaving as soon as we are done here, and we probably won’t ever return. You are the one who will have to put up with him.”
Adad nodded and left, leaving Craydon to finish eating. Sophia was staring at the closed door and asked, “Are all the Nobles like that? Or only the Oomans?”
“Demis also have Nobles, and most of them are like that man,” answered the serious Fae. “Lately, we don’t like Oomans that much, but it was not always like this. When the first Oomans came to this World, everything amazed them, and the Demis race was too surprising for some and a marvel to most of them. Sometimes, we think Oomans should leave to their original world and never come back; other times, we think they should all die and feed the soil, so at least nothing would be lost because of them.”
“You are too grumpy today, aren’t you?”
The Fae faced the curious Craydon and nodded. “Yes, we probably are. We found the Explorers and Adventurers from this City, and most of them are dead. Only four survived and are now returning. We are escorting them back, but it would be better if you could give them a ride so that they arrive faster before a Monster sniffs them.”
Craydon got up, drank his juice, grabbed a few slices of bread, and waited for Meryda to drink her juice as well.
The three of them left for the stable, and in mere seconds, they came out, riding the scary Karkadanns. The large beasts ran at high speed along the main street, stretching their wings to take off, making everyone duck or run out of their way.
In the sky and the moment they were flying above the sleeping Drakes, Meryda whistled, and they both immediately took off, joining her.
They all flew to the north at a low altitude, with the Drakes diving in occasionally every time they saw a Monster wandering around. One quick bite on the head or a claw slash, and back to the sky, they flew.
When the Fae pointed down to the group of surviving Adventurers with ten Fae near them, Meryda made her Karkadann dive and landed in front of the surprised group, who immediately grabbed their weapons, ready to battle.
Craydon joined them on the ground, and the moment the Drakes landed, no Adventurer dared to move.
It took a lot of convincing from the group of Fae for the Adventurers to calm down and accept riding the Karkadanns to arrive faster in the City. Meryda told them to fly north to join her the moment they left the Adventurers at the City gates, and after one last wave, she and her father mounted the Drakes and flew away.
One Adventurer looked up and asked the smiling Fae at his side, “Were they the ones to defend our City? With two Drakes and these flying horses with them? How is that even possible?”
The Fae gently pushed the Adventurer to the nearest Karkadann and said, “Less talk, more flying! You heard her! These guys are supposed to drop you off and then join her! Let’s get going, or they will never catch up with the Drakes! Even if they fly slower than usual!”
While the Adventurers were going to their home City, back on Meryda’s farm, her friends were making sure the female Bone Boars and their calves were harvesting the fields before going to the farm where they left the males and the Gigantic Spiders.
Pof Grinun had one shower bag on his shoulders, the one that Craydon made, and Rusha asked when she finished her chores. “What are you going to do with that? Have a bath later?”
“Yes, after putting this over a tree branch to warm the water. I am also going to ask the spiders to make more like this. I have a feeling they are going to be a sales hit! Everyone is used to having baths with buckets, a sponge, and soap, but a warm, relaxing shower? I don’t know if even Nobles have something like this!”
“From what I know, Nobles use huge basins, richly decorated, that their servants fill with buckets of hot water. They go inside, and the servants wash them with soap and sponges. Sometimes with creams and oils. But shower — no, no one uses that. Do you want to make more of these bags to sell? I don’t know if you need more money than what you already have!”
Pof Grinun shrugged and explained, “Probably I don’t need more money, but that is not the case. I guess having showers would be good for the people. It would be a better way to have a bath than with a bucket and a sponge.”
“I guess so. But it is nice to hear you want to help others. The old Pof Grinun I used to know only cared about himself and Meryda. Everyone else could rot in a ditch, and he wouldn’t care less!”
“That is not…” Pof stopped and turned bright red. “I suppose you are right, and it was not only Meryda who changed. Or maybe I died in that cave when I saw her falling into that hole, and part of me is still there. The one who came out of that cave calling for help was not the same one who entered.”
Rusha Banei made a gentle smile while caressing the serious Demi-Dog boy’s head. “You were worried sick because of Meryda, weren’t you? The others were also, but you were the one who suffered more. You really care about her, don’t you?”
“I… I have liked her ever since we were little kids. I never stopped liking her. As we got older, my feelings only got stronger, and after she came out of that cave and I saw how much she changed, I lost it completely. Every day, she surprises me with her kindness and calmness. It is like… I don’t know how to explain it, but it is as if she is a different person? Maybe some part of her died in that cave, after all, and the one who came out was a young girl who found out she had to calm down before she died because of her wild character.”
Rusha looked at the cropped fields, waved at the Demi-Centaur siblings that were with Tetil Stog, guiding the Bone Boars’ work, and said, “I think Craydon also changed, you know? He used to be fooling around way more than he is now. Nowadays, he is more silent and serious, as if he were always thinking about something. Not to mention, he cares about me. The old Craydon never even let me approach him!”
“That was probably because you were always trying to make him get drunk, to take him to your bed to get yourself pregnant. At least that was what I heard!”
“Hey! I only did that once! And it was because I was also absurdly drunk!” Rusha bit her lip for an instant and then admitted, “Okay, maybe I did it two or three times… But that was out of desperation because he never gave me an opportunity!”
Pof Grinun sighed and then spoke, “We are doomed with those two, aren’t we?”
“We sure are, kid, we sure are…”
ns 15.158.61.54da2
