Chapter 5A Chapter by Bobby“Yori, sir, we should go. We shall return to the inn, and
then head to the farm.” She
beckoned him towards the door. Following Elina back to the reception desk he found
the beautiful healer was still waiting for him. She had her hands drawn
together in front of her chest as if in prayer. Her brow was raised in concern.
As soon as she saw Yori and Elina emerge from the hallway she perked up and
waved at them.
Yori
looked away, unable to face his fate out loud yet. Elina spoke up for him. “Our
Guild Master was gracious enough to put the boy up in a room at the inn and
find him a job as well.” “Oh,
that is wonderful!” The
robed girl reached out and took Yori’s hand in hers. “I
should officially introduce myself. My name is Lady Kana. If you ever find
yourself in need of healing again, please seek me out at the Church of Light.” She bowed
her head slightly in a polite gesture. Yori could not help but perk up at her
cheerful disposition and met her gaze as she raised her head. “Thank
you, Lady Kana. I owe you a huge debt for taking such good care of me. I would
likely be dead without you. Some day I promise to make it up to you.” “There
is no need. I heal because it is the right thing to do, and I enjoy helping
others. Not for debts or payment.” With
that she smiled and took another gentle bow before walking away, leaving Yori
alone with Elina. He thought quietly to himself as he watched the girl’s white
robes billowing behind her from her brisk, jovial pace. What
a kind, friendly girl. At least there is still something positive in this
world. Yori and
Elina returned to the inn. The morning was in full swing now as the streets
bustled with activity. It was so crowded that Yori had a difficult time
navigating without bumping into the people around him. There was clothing of
all different colours and fashions in the street stalls and the permanent
store-fronts. He caught a glimpse of a price tag on what looked like a
well-made shirt and it almost took his breath away. Yori imagined that most of
the people shopping were from the middle to upper classes since they would have
the money to spare on such items. The building the Guild was in was situated in
a relatively high-class section of the city since it was an esteemed faction
and important to Esaron’s prosperity and safety. The Guild of Esaron was one of
the largest in the country, attracting many talented people wanting to become adventurers
for either fame, fortune, or glory. All of these things were much easier to
accomplish the larger the Guild since better jobs would be available, as well
as more talented instructors. It also helped having a famous Guild Master. The
visit back at the inn was brief. Elina simply wanted Yori to properly thank the
innkeeper and assure him that the room would be paid for by Yori thanks to his
new job. The keeper of the Inn was a fairly large man with dark skin and curly
black hair that he kept in a ponytail above his head. The man was a bit rough
around the edges but kind and understanding to Yori none-the-less. After
discussing the rent and asking about his wages from Elina he discovered that
the job would just barely cover his cost of living. He would have to find
another job on the side if he wanted to move up in the world, but at the moment
Yori’s main concern needed to be simply paying his way and existing for a
while. It took
the better part of an hour to walk from the edge of the city to the farm where
Yori would work. Elina accompanied him so he would not get lost on the first
trip and to properly introduce him to the couple that agreed to supply him with
a job. The farm
was on the opposite side of the city he had first come from, leading him
further away from his home in Oseford. Green fields stretched to either side of
the road to the surrounding farms. He could see the forest spread to the north
of the city as they neared their destination. His trek through the woods was
just days ago but seemed like a dream. This entire time since he slayed the
monster had felt like some twisted nightmare that he needed to wake up from. It was
apparent he was not dreaming now, though. This was his new reality. Elina
led him to a dilapidated wooden gate. She opened it and stepped through towards
the house. Yori followed, gently closing the gate for fear of the old wood
crumbling in his hand. “Don’t
forget, be on your best behaviour and be grateful, this is a favour from the
Guild Master.” Elina
kept whispering this to him over and over on their way here. She seemed very
concerned with his demeanor offending anyone, reminding him also that he was
from a small town and things may be different here then he was used to. A lone
carriage sat in a dirt driveway in front of the house. There was a stable and
attached barn peaking out from behind the right side of the house. Fencing made
of logs and rope stretched behind it. To the left was a field. Yori could tell
the tilling had only gotten partially finished. An image flashed through his
mind: an old rag, brown overalls, and fiery orange hair. A stab of pain etched
at Yori as he quickly averted his eyes from the field. An older couple opened
the wooden door to the farmhouse and came out to greet him and Elina. The woman
was smiling at them and waved while the man looked passed them with distant
eyes. A pipe sat lazily in his mouth, propped up with his left hand. It seemed
that the homeowners were expecting their arrival. The house looked old, but not
in disrepair, like the gate would have led him to believe otherwise. “Lady
Elina, thank you for this, I hope the journey was not too much trouble.” The
woman took Elina’s hand in both of hers’ and squeezed as they met. “No
trouble at all, the Guild Master thought it best for me to escort the young
sir. This is the boy he spoke of, Yori of Oseford.” “Oh,
hello darling, it is so nice to meet you. We have been told that you should be
a skilled farmhand. We are delighted to have you help on our farm... Jansen,
say something.” The
woman gave Yori a quick hug and then elbowed her until then silent husband,
attempting subtlety. The man took the pipe from his mouth and blew a puff of
smoke away from the guests. “Yes,
yes, looks like a fine young lad. Welcome.” “As you
can see, we are getting to be rather old and we can’t quite keep up with all
the work that needs to be done around here. We haven’t needed help until now,
so please excuse us if we seem set in our ways.” Clearing
her throat, she glanced over at her husband, who had placed the pipe back in
his mouth and was looking off into the fields behind Yori and Elina once again. It
seemed apparent to Yori that they had done all of the farm work themselves
because they had no children. Usually when people reached this age, they would
have their children to help or take over the family farm. With the
greetings and niceties out of the way, Elina bid him farewell. “I will
return at the end of the day to escort you back to the city. I will expect an
update on how the day goes when I return.” Yori
turned and looked a bit awkwardly at the old couple. “Sorry,
I didn’t catch your names.” “Yes, of
course, how rude of us. My name is Celia Rutherford, and this is my husband
Jansen.” “Thank
you Mrs. And Mr. Rutherford for this opp-“ “No, no,
you call us Celia and Jansen.” Yori
nodded and wondered if Mr. Rutherford was alright since he was still staring at
the field behind him. The man’s eyes wandered across the horizon and up into
the sky occasionally. “I will
leave you two to work and start on some fresh bread for lunch, and tend to the
chickens. Jansen, give the boy a task to do, you’re boring him.” With
that, Celia left to go back into the house. As soon as the door closed, Mr.
Rutherford took a deep breath and placed his pipe aside on the fence. “Sorry
about that, I like watching the birds in the field in the mornings. One of the
few pleasures I have left in this world. Seems like everything always needs
fixing around here. Celia and I try and keep up with everything but it gets
harder every year.” Mr.
Rutherford took another moment to admire the local wildlife before turning to
Yori. “Alright,
the first task we will tackle is this gate.” He led
Yori down a narrow dirt path to a wooden shed at the left side of the house. It
was filled to the roof with long, irregular boards of wood. As Yori was about
to help transfer some of the boards into a wooden wagon the old man had wheeled
over, Mr. Rutherford stopped him. He redirected Yori’s attention and told him
to grab the tool set and saw on the wall and bring it over to the gate while he
gathered the wood they would need. He
must know what size boards we need to fix the gate. When all
of the materials and tools were set up at the gate Yori got ready to help saw
some wood. However, Jansen instead asked the boy to hand him tools and hold
some boards still as he did the sawing himself. It took about an hour but they
managed to nail together a small wooden gate as a replacement for the current
one. It was not perfect but it would work. Yori
spent the rest of the morning with Jansen tending to the cows and sheep. This
was work that the boy was familiar with. Mr. Rutherford asked him to fetch some
hay and oats to feed the animals, and did the mucking of the stalls and the
heavy lifting himself. As Yori went to pet one of the sheep a memory flickered
in his mind’s eye as he saw an image of his favourite sheep from home, Autumn.
She was likely killed with the rest of the village. A knot caught in Yori’s
throat as he choked back tears, distracting himself with another menial task. After
lunch, Jansen wanted to continue tilling the fields in preparation for
planting. Yori was almost looking forward to the hard physical labour, but all
Mr. Rutherford would let him do was hook up the cattle to the plow and pick up
large rocks from the field to make the job easier. Yori began to feel like the
man either thought he was incompetent or was babying him out of pity. He did
not enjoy the thought of either case. As he watched Jansen guiding the plow another
painful image of his father came to him. As he imagined his father’s face
grimace with effort pushing the plow, it twisted into a grotesque, lifeless frown,
lying on the floor in their family home, a green monster smirking above the
still frame of his parents. Yori
started to sweat, but not from exertion. He put a hand to his chest, his heart
was pounding. Taking deep breaths he slowly steadied his breathing, shaking his
head in an attempt to wipe the memories away. Jansen was facing away from him
and did not notice the boy’s panic attack. The
field preparation took the rest of the day and Yori was wanting to head out
before Celia managed to set up dinner for him. Doubt was piling up in his mind.
Could he just continue as if nothing happened? Could he really be satisfied
with just going back to the life he had? It would be a simple life and one that
he knew quite well already, but something felt wrong. The sympathy he was being
shown felt painful somehow. Even just the mention of his hometown struck his heart.
The sight of a plow, or a tool, or even a homecooked meal brought back so much
pain he could barely stand it. Several times he almost broke down in tears
throughout the day. The joy and sense of accomplishment he had felt at farming
was no longer there and the couple, although lovely, were not his family. Besides
all of this, the tasks they had given him were ones his parents would have given
to Noko, entirely too easy for a boy on the cusp of manhood. As the
day ended Elina appeared again to guide him to the inn the Guild Master had
arranged for him. He was grateful to be relinquished from the monotony and the
painful reminders of his former home. Yori
could also feel the debts adding up. The free healing from the maiden, the
discounted hotel room, the job given to him, the meals made by the Rutherfords,
and all of the sad glances from the people around him. Everyone was going out
of their way to help him and he did not like not being able to give them much
in return. The pity and sympathy were beginning to feel like a weight on his
shoulders that he would have to pay back in order for it not to crush him. All of
these things and more ran through his head as him and Elina walked back to the
city. Neither of them talked this time. The sky was getting dark and the air
around them was crisp, yet comfortable. The last chirps of the day were heard
from the trees as the sun sank behind the edge of the Earth. Elina could tell
that something was bothering him. As someone who had to work her way up to
where she is now, she understood that handouts can be uncomfortable. They
eventually made their way to the inn, but again, there was no talking amongst
them. Yori was too busy with his inner turmoil to strike up a conversation, and
Elina was conscious of the fact that he needed time to process everything that
was going on and what the future might hold. As Elina
left him to his room she stopped in the doorway with her back to Yori. The
light in the hallway illuminated her as a dark silhouette from Yori’s seated
position in the unlit room. She turned her head to the right and muttered. Her
voice was barely audible with the noise coming from the late dinner crowd
downstairs.
What
did she mean by that? He
wanted to ask her, but she was already gone. The light from the hallway
flickered in her absence. He thought about running after her but decided to
ponder her words instead of making a potential scene. Sleep
escaped Yori that night. Every time he closed his eyes gruesome sights flooded
his mind. A hellish nightmare that he had lived through. Blood and gore
threatened to overtake his sanity as visions of his family, and even the
lifeless body of the creature, berated him. He tried to stay distracted by
contemplating Elina’s words. Multiple
paths to what? Family, happiness? He
thought about all of the things that people should want in this world, and what
he truly desired. Yori did not care about money or fame, he just wanted to be
strong. To be able to protect the people around him, unlike that night. Perhaps
not having people to care about would help him evade the pain of losing his
loved ones again. These thoughts circled around his head until the sun peaked
in from the window. The sun
arose it illuminated the calendar on the wall to the left of the bed. Yori
glanced at it and let out a deep sigh.
He wiped
tears from his face and removed himself from the bed. No one else in the world
knew it was his birthday, and honestly, he would rather keep it that way, for
now at least. All of the thinking he did the night before led him to a decision
that he was not exactly excited about. Yori would resign himself to pretending
everything was okay. He would bury all of the negative feelings he had and try
and start a new life. Besides, his family would want him to move on and try and
make something of himself. As he
headed towards the door of the inn to make his journey to the farm to help out
again, he heard a deep voice call his name. “Yori,
come here a minute, I have something for you.” He
turned to see the Innkeeper waving at him. His hair was covered with a beige
bandana, a green apron adorned his torso as he prepared breakfast. The alluring
smell of fried potatoes and rosemary drifted through the room. Yori’s stomach
grumbled. He did not even realize that he had forgotten to eat dinner last
night, and he was about to skip breakfast as well. The
Innkeeper reached under the counter in front of him and pulled out a pouch. By
the sound of it the bag was full of coins. He dropped it on the wood counter in
front of Yori. The noise attracted the attention of a few of the patrons,
glancing over at the pair. “It’s
from the Guild Master. 50 copper coins. That should be enough for a change of
clothes, and a few meals.” Yori’s
first instinct was to refuse the money. More
handouts? But I have no money yet and I do need some new clothing… These ones
that I got from the Guild are ill-fitting, and the only other ones I have are
bloodstained and torn… and depressing. He
inspected the clothing he had on, noting that he had worked and slept in this
same outfit. Reluctantly Yori extended his hand and picked the pouch up off the
counter, thanking the Innkeeper. He felt forced to take it out of necessity,
but at the same time was uncomfortable with incurring an even greater debt. The
more he was given the more it weighted on his shoulders. I
just have to pay it back, with interest. Then it’ll be alright.
Yori
jumped, caught off guard as he had gotten lost in his head daydreaming. Turning
around he understood that he was blocking the path of a horse-drawn cart, lead
by a . He apologized yet again and stepped out of the way. The wooden cart was
simple, with two large wheels on either side that creaked as they rolled across
the stone road. As it passed him Yori sharply drew in a small breath as a saw a
scaled foot with claws draped over the side. This person was transporting
monster corpses to be dismantled. Yori had never seen this before. He was aware
that many of the materials he used every day had been harvested from monsters.
The most useful part of the monsters were the cores. These cores could be
enchanted with spells, and were what protected cities and towns, and villages
such as him hometown. Yori started getting lightheaded at the potential of what
the slain monsters could become. One of the cart’s wheels hit a piece of the cobblestone
road that was protruding from the ground slightly, jostling the soulless
passengers. Another limp arm fell to dangle over the side, previously buried by
its companions. It was a small green arm, an arm very similar to one he saw
every time he closed his eyes. A cold
sweat broke out on Yori’s face. His eyes went wide as his heart started racing.
It suddenly felt like a rubber band was around Yori’s chest as he struggled to
breathe. In the back of his mind, he could hear his own voice screaming to run
and hide. He fell to his knees, hitting the stone hard with his shins. Yori
lurched forward, grasping at his hair and pulling as if trying to yank the fear
from his head as he gasped for air. The atmosphere was dense around him as he
felt like he was drowning, being pulled deeper from reality. Horrifying images
berated Yori, unwilling to let him be. “Are you
ok!?” The
proprietor of the weapon shop ran over to Yori, placing a hand inn the boy’s
hunched back. The touch more than the words brought Yori back to remember
himself and his surroundings. He looked up at the shopkeeper, who had shock and
concern on his face. The man reached out a hand to help Yori up, but the boy
was thinking of some advice he had received.
“What do
you have for 50 copper?” I may
not be able to be an adventurer to become strong, but I can become strong to be
an adventurer. Yori had
decided. He would fight. He would become strong by his own effort and hard
work. He would work as long and hard as it took to accomplish his goals. Just
like farming where the harvest came after months of hard work, so too would his
strength. Other people may be born with power granted to them by the Gods at
birth, but that just meant going down that road would be more difficult for
someone like Yori. The
Jorgga made a slight grimace as he contemplated that small sum of money. Although
a lot of money to Yori, 50 copper was not going to buy you much as far as a
weapon went. “Let’s
see what we can come up with.” © 2022 Bobby |
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Added on March 23, 2022 Last Updated on March 23, 2022 Author |