Starting A New Life In Paradise Town

"Excuse me," Mikel says as he enters a not-so-big Inn after trekking for thirty minutes.

"You ar....." a lady comes out of what seems to be the kitchen with a welcoming smile on her face but seeing the person in front of her, the smile disappears and what replaces it is a look of shock." How can I help you?" she rather asks the boy.

"I want a place to stay but before that, I need food" Mikel replies immediately not minding the look on her face.

Sizing him up and down, the lady made a series of mental notes of how poor, wretched and sickly he looked.

'I guess he will do anything for money, tsk!' she resolves in her mind while still staring at the boy whose stomach began to grumble at the smell of food.

"I can give you food and a place to stay as well but that will be on one condition"

"Which is?" Mikel raises an eyebrow as he asks the lady.

"You will have to work here, there are no rules. Just get up early, clean the whole Inn, keep everywhere clean and of course serve the customers well"

'Does she want to take me as a slave indirectly?' Mikel asks as he stares at the lady.

'I think you should consider the offer, I'm sure she will also pay you' Conan replied to Mikel's question.

"Are you going to pay me? Or I only get free food and a place to stay"

"Well, I will pay you monthly but before that why don't I show you the place that you will be staying so you can go freshen up"

Remembering that he looks horrible, Mikel nodded and followed the lady.

Entering through a backyard door, they strolled into a small garden and from there they walked to a small building.

The lady went in followed by Mikel who kept on looking around the house, it was not too well furnished but it was lovely and neat with three rooms; one a bedroom that seems to belong to the lady, another room by the corner and another by the end of the house which was not too big like the rest, by the left side of the house is the kitchen which was not very big but able to contain two to three persons.

"Here is where you will be sleeping, touch nothing else and don't enter any other place not even the kitchen," The lady says while pointing to the small room at the end of the house. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Mikel is my name" Mikel replies while looking around the house.

"Mine is Evelyn but you will not call me by my name, now go and take your bath, the bathroom is at the back of the house" After instructing him, the lady walked away and entered the bigger room.

'How do you see the house?' Mikel asked inwardly while looking around the entire place.

'Well, it is nice but not beautiful' Conan replies.

'Uhm, I will have to stay here for the time being until I find something more important to do...huh, she has children? Twins!'

Taking slow steps, he walks to a picture in the wall and glances at It, there in the picture are two identical boys holding their hands together.

"They look so handsome" Mikel exclaims while using his hands to caress the picture.

'What are you doing caressing a mere picture? will you do it to the boys if you see them?' Conan asked in a frustrating tone.

"Am only admiring their beauty nothing more."

Mikel hurriedly left the sitting room the moment he heard the room door open, he rushed to the backyard into the bathroom and removed his torn clothes carefully to not tear them any further.

'Master, your body is something else, this is the first time I'm seeing the human body closely and yours i-is so-so....'

"Great right? hahaha, Of course, my body is indeed great and impressive" Mikel said proudly as he beamed with smiles.

'Hmmm, Master what I meant to say is that your body is unimpressive, I am disappointed in your body structure. From what I know, you are 18 years old, right? but your body is that of a 16 years old, you really need to do something about it ' After speaking, Conan looked at Mikel's face and gulped down.

"What did you just say again?" Mikel asked pretending not to have heard him the first time.

'Mas....'

"Take back your words now!" Mikel ordered as green veins were beginning to bulge out of his forehead.

'I take back my words but mas....' Conan tried to talk again but hearing the loud splash of water he swallowed the words and let out a low chuckle.

Once Mikel was done taking his bath, he wore back his clothes and went into his room to take a look at the place.

A small bed, a chair and a table with a lap on it. Apart from these, there was nothing else. Mikel ambled to the bed and seeing some pieces of clothing on it, smiled and took them.

Soon he was done wearing the clothe and so he left the house and began to walk towards the Inn.

"Here, come and sit down let me get you your food," the lady said to Mikel who had just come into the Inn.

"The clothes....thank you for them" Mikel replied while scratching his head, from his calculation, the clothes he saw on the bed belongs to the twins, they fit him just well and so there is a possibility that they might be of the same age with him.

"There is no need for gratitude, just sit there and wait."

The lady walked back into the kitchen and after a minute or two, she came out carrying two plates of food.

"Here, enjoy!"

"It looks delicious" Without a second thought, Mikel began to munch the food, one was a plate of soup and the other a plate of meat.

He will take a bite of the meat and gulp it down with the soup, he kept eating hurriedly not minding the looks from the people in the Inn and in no time he was done.

"I have never had such a good meal for a long time now" He caressed his now protruding stomach while smiling.

"Mam, thanks for the food. It was great" Mikel says as he enters the kitchen carrying the plates of empty food.

"Uhm" the lady hummed an answer without minding to look at him.

"If I may ask, what meat is that?"

"Snake meat!"

"What?" Mikel screamed causing the lady to drop the spoon in her hands.

"Why did you scream like that? don't you eat snake meat?"

"I don't! I have nev....." before he could finish his sentence, he began to throw up until he emptied his now filled stomach.

"What did you just do?" the lady asked with a look of anger and disgust.

"I'm sorry Mam, but I could not help it. I have never eaten snake meat before" Mikel answered while wiping his mouth with the back of his palm.

"Snake meat is what we eat here, I don't know what you are saying. And you better get used to it already, another thing...get this place cleaned up! Now!"

Mikel jumps to his feet at the lady's shout and begins to look for the mop, seeing it he carries it and starts cleaning the floor with the water close by.

*Ding*

{New Quest:

Get used to snake meats without throwing up.

Reward: 5 points.

--------------------

"Whaaat!" Mikel suddenly screams loud gaining the attention of the lady again who after glaring at him left the kitchen.

"5 points as a reward? This is too tempting but I won't do it"

'Master If you don't do it, you will lose the 5 points' Conan reminded him.

"Yeah...I better lose it" Mikel replied frankly.

'You need points to get strong, what if you encounter some beasts that are stronger?'

"This is going to be hard!" Mikel had a defeated look on his face as he muttered to himself.

Mikel sits in his room with three plates of meat in his front.

"I just have to take it slowly and I'll get used to it" He mumbles to himself as he slowly drives a piece of meat into his mouth.

Before he could chew on the meat, he gets up abruptly and rushes to the backyard, the moment he got there he began to throw up.

"This is bad, very bad" There on his face is a look of hopelessness as he walks back inside after wiping his mouth. "Nevertheless, I will keep trying hard"

Continuously he keeps eating the meat and rushing outside to throw up until the whole meat was wasted. Angrily he leaves his room and goes to the Inn to keep himself busy with something else.

"Excuse me, I need a plate of meat," A young boy says as he walks into the Inn.

Mikel rushes out from the kitchen and walks to the young boy who looked to be slightly taller than him and well built.

"You are welcome, please have a seat" Mikel offers while putting to a set of tables and chair that is just close to one of the windows.

He immediately goes back into the kitchen and returns with a plate of meat and a bowl of water.

"Here is your plate of meat, what drink should I get for you?" Mikel asks as he drops the plate of meat and bowl of water on the table.

"Just get me a glass of white wine, that will do" The boy replies and washes his hand.

Mikel nodded and went into the kitchen to come back with a small bottle of wine and glass, he drops it on the table and takes a step backwards but doesn't leave entirely.

The boy feeling a gaze on him raises his head and when he sees Mikel staring at him he furrows his brows in confusion.

"Ish there a provblum?" the boy asks with his mouth stacked with food.

"Kuku Kuku" Mikel chuckled at the boy's incoherent words.

"Whatve are shou laughing at?" the boy could not help but ask as Mikel kept chuckling.

"Can you finish the food in your mouth please?" Mikel then asked and threw up another laugh.

The boy ignored him and slowly eat his food until he was done, then he washed his hands and turned to stare at Mikel who was still standing on the same spot.

"Why were you standing there and staring at me?"

"Now you talk like a human being" Mikel teased and let out a laugh, he wanted to continue teasing the boy but seeing how he glared at him, he stopped and put on a serious face. "How are you able to eat that meat so well? did you get used to it or it's the normal meat that everyone eats here?"

"I wonder why you can ask such a question," the boy says in a surprising tone while he stares down at Mikel. "Snake meat is what we all eat here am sure you are aware. We have been eating it since we got into this town"

"Why is it the only meat that is eaten here?" Mikel asks curiously

"Well, that is because that is the only meat that is not poisonous to us and at the same time easy to catch. Other animals and beasts are very hard to catch and the people of this town are not much gifted with magic or any special ability. We only know how to hunt down easy meat"

"The way you speak, it seems not everyone here is really from this town," Mikel said as he stares at the boy whose face had already changed.

"Normally, this town was an empty place or put it this way, it was just a forest until we were pursued to this place by some creatures. Till today we do not know why they stopped pursuing us but we felt lucky, our leaders named this town Paradise because to them this place is truly a paradise. They, after settling down began to work on this place, burning trees, clearing up places, the only animals here were mostly snakes so they hunt them down and feast on them. For many long years, they worked on this place until it became what you see now. "

The boy stopped talking for a moment as he stared at a space. "You make me remember the past stories that our old men told us, by the way, why were you asking....snake meat is what we eat here every day and that is why we look good, take a look at me" the boy stood up and turned around slowly causing Mikel to almost rolling his eyes at him.

"You don't look anything great at all," Mikel said frankly earning a click of tongue in his head.

'Master, but he is better than you, far better than you. hahaha,' Conan said with a mocking voice.

"Fine! I must learn how to eat the damn meat" Mikel suddenly shouted out to the hearing of everyone in the Inn. They all turned to look at him and then he hurriedly bowed his head in shame.

"Hey, you are in some ways weird, how much is your money though?" the boy asked as he pulled out a small bag from his pocket.

"6 silver coins for the meat and 2 for the wine, in total it's 8 silver coins" Mikel replied after calculating

The boy counted the coins and gave Mikel which he counted as well and furrowed his brows.

"It is 10 silver coins here, you miscounted," Mikel said while returning two coins to the boy.

"No, take it. Take it as compensation for the time you spent here with me, and don't forget to always eat snake meat so you can look good like me" the boy winked and walked away leaving Mikel who stared at his back for some time before looking at the coins in his hands.

"Is he kind? Or am I that pitiful?" he asked to no one in particular.