Adrian stared at Aero, processing in his mind what he had just said while Aero sat there with a gentle smile on his face. He leaned forward with that same smile, plastered on his face and started speaking in a low voice, “So kid-”
But before he could say anything Adrian burst into shouts of disbelief, “You are a paladin?!!!”
Aero jumped from his seat and put a hand over Adrian’s mouth. “Shut your mouth kid. This isn’t supposed to be public knowledge you know.”
The nurse entered with disbelief written all over her face “What is with the commotion, sir I must ask of you to stop agitating the patient ”
“Ah, no madamè. The kid is blabbering nonsense. Hit his head too hard yesterday, I reckon.” He said with a charming smile. The nurse blushed slightly, said “Oh”, and walked away with her face hidden behind her hands.
Aero stared at Adrian with such silent, cold, yet menacing eyes. He thought for a second, If looks could kill, he’d have died a thousand times over. But it was just for a brief moment and it disappeared as fast as it had come.
Aero started again with a smile, “Well, there you have it kid. I don’t want this known to anyone. So you need to keep your mouth shut about yesterday. People shouldn’t……ahem…..know about crexes coming inside cities and all”
Adrian interrupted again but in a slower voice this time, “Umm….speaking of it, how did a crex manage to get into the central parts of the city, I thought the guild had commissioned help from the church-”
“So, the son of a Guildmaster eh.” Aero said out loud cutting off Adrian, “Normally I wouldn’t care about stuff like this but considering other than the soldiers, who claim to have seen nothing other than the crex at the site, I reckon the guild master’s son would say the same if anyone were to ask about it.” Aero said calmly while glaring at Adrian with the same smile he seemed to have plastered across his face.
Adrian nodded in response with the solemnity of a 3-year-old.
“And in return,” Aero said with another charming smile, “I’ll personally train you and help you develop a mana core.”
Adrian said, “Woah really? You'll hel-”
“Shhhhhh, shhhhhh, kid, quiet down. Hell, you are one noisy brat!”
“-p me out?”, he said, squeaking like a mouse.
“Of course. I’m a paladin. I give you my word. Now don’t act like a sissy. I still have some work around town. You can make up your mind and find me in the tavern in 3 days. Same time as we met before.”
Adrian couldn’t believe his ears. A paladin! A PALADIN! The stuff of the legends. And he was gonna be trained by one personally. If he didn’t have recently healed bones to worry about, he would have jumped out of bed and gone screaming around town pulling his hair out.
Seeing Adrian in high spirits again, Aero smiled warmly and stood up, “Well, I’ll see ya around then kid.” He said as he headed towards the door, “Don’t keep me waiting.”
And with that, Aero left.
******************************
The next day Adrian was discharged as his healing was finished. Still thinking about what had happened the day before, he was left with a clear desire to finally get a way to learn mana control. Now with a goal in mind, Adrian headed towards the guild. Upon reaching the guild, however, as soon as Adrian stepped inside, he was punched in the face by a man standing at the entrance.
“You damned brat!!” the man screamed at him, “Do you have any idea of how worried you had me there?!!”
“Ow. OUCH hey sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to-”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me young man!”, he said, throwing another punch at Adrian which he dodged.
“How many times have I told you that you can protect the people, but don't fight crexes!!” the man shouted “Do you even have any idea what I felt like when the nursing home contacted me that you were admitted for serious injuries, that too when we are in the middle of a horde attack”
Ceaser Ainsworth, a man well into his late forties, was the leader of the Lionheart guild and a man respected by all. Having a well-built physique despite his age only added to the air of authority he carried. His greyish-black hair was the same as Adrian’s trimmed short and the stubble on his face worked just to highlight his jet-black eyes, something Adrian also inherited.
Adrian smiled apologetically and sheepishly as uttered a ‘sorry’.
Ceaser let out a deep sigh with the anger slowly turning into concern, “You never learn, do you?”
“But leave that aside Dad. Listen, ” Adrian started again in an excited loud voice, “You know? I met this paladin today and he-”
Before he could utter another word, a second fist came sailing towards his already messed up face and that concern immediately turned into urgency and shock.
“Shut your trap and come to my office. We’ll talk there.”
Saying this, the guild master of the Lionheart guild, turned back and walked in while the emerging members stepped aside, not daring to face him in his current mood.
“Well, it sucks to be you buddy.” a guy giggled and walked towards Adrian.
Mikhel was one of Adrian’s closest friends in the guild. He had been there with him since his childhood, and there was nothing they didn’t share between them. Adrian looked at him and a thought came to him that Mikhel had looks that no man should have had.
If you weren't careful you could easily mistake him for a girl with that feminine face of his. He had a petite figure that any lady in her twenties would have envied. His face was handsomely on the smaller side and he had alluring eyes that could entrap one’s soul in them. His silky auburn hair tempted one to run one’s fingers through them. He had thought this every time he saw Mikhel, but oh well!
“Well, best of luck. He seems to be in an angry mood. Hope you come out in a single piece.” Mikhel smiled and walked away. Adrian walked into his father’s office and saw his father rubbing his temples with furrowed eyebrows.
“Where did you even hear about him?” Caesar said with a stern look.
“I didn’t just hear it, Dad. I MET him. He is the one who saved me.”
“Wait! What did you just say? Eh? Did you meet the paladin? You really hit your head hard” Ceaser exclaimed as he let out a small chuckle.
Then he burst into laughter. The guild members outside the door looked confused. Such a change in mood wasn’t normal for their always-serious guild master. That’s when it dawned upon Adrian as he recalled Aero mentioning the soldiers staying quiet.
But as Adrian rolled his eyes and explained all that had happened in the tavern slowly, Caesar’s humorous face turned grave. “So it was the paladin.”, He said with his chin positioned over his hand on the table.
“And?”, he asked, “What have you decided you are going to do?”
“Well, Dad, honestly I-”
Suddenly the door slammed open and a guild member rushed in: “Sir Ceaser, you need to come see this!!”.
Comments (1)
See all