Grimalkin's Help - VII - [PT.10]

After sitting tight for a couple of moments, I was made aware of what Dragan was off doing, the Grimalkin was revering me as a god, something I wasn't too kind of per se. They would bring me food and drink, and I would have to accept it. Some brought from their share of the crops, and others made handmade things, after some time, forcing a smile and acting excited for every single present grew tiresome. Yet the watchful eye of the elder kept me nervous and on my toes.

The elders had told the whole village that they were getting free from Zomearon's control. 

I do have to wonder, if Zomearon is all omnipotent as he is becoming to be made off, I have to ask what other evil things he has done in the past to acquire such stature. However, every time I ask for some time with the elders, they either place more work on me with the people or simply refuse to speak with me. 

Do they know that I want to ask them more about Zomearon? 

Dragan on the other hand was assigned to the fields, his muscles help out everyone, and he gets to continue working out in a way. The building I'm in has a direct view to the outskirts of town, I see him working hard, even though only a couple of hours remain before we get to release the Sun God. 

I just want to get this over with.

"It'll be over soon," said Dragan in a thought looking at the direction of the building.

Easy for him to say, he was keeping himself busy. 

I wasn't cut out to be the king of anything and it's not like I was fond of the power fantasy.

Most of the RPGs I played back home were mellow and low-stakes one's, I particularly liked that one where you went into debt and had to pay a tanooki for your home and living expenses.

I played it for 3 years straight every day.

It was my escape from the real world. Most of my days were spent glued to a screen anyway, programming away, fixing bugs, and making sure the code was on track. 

In my human life, I was pretty much an introvert. 

Only going out of the house to get groceries and necessities.

I wasn't a hikikomori by any means, but the pandemic made my company force us all to work from home, I quite liked the change, it gave me my freedom back. 

And I did have friends, they would come over on weekends, or whenever they needed a place to crash because they had gotten way too drunk. 

It wasn't like they were taking advantage of me or anything, just we had that type of closeness, I had immigrated from another place, so at first, I didn't know anyone. 

They would use me for my couch.

Sometimes they would show up unexpectedly with lunch or some type of present. After one too many incidents of waking up hungover in an unfamiliar place, with another dude who didn't have a bath.

I mean I took showers.

And most of them I could say were extroverted, so they wouldn't think twice about knocking at my door unannounced, they knew a warm blanket and a hot cup of coffee was waiting for them regardless.

They would turn on the TV, or read manga, I would say I attracted the misfits and those that felt like they didn't belong. 

My extrovert side would only come out when I got drunk, which was very few occasions. 

Speaking of which, Kuro had brought way too much alcohol, that guy can seriously drink more than his weight. 

Me on the other hand, I'm very lightweight, so a couple of shots and two beers will do the trick.

Finally, night fell and I could take a break, Dragan finally showed up and flopped to the floor, tired AF. 

He was sweating and his skin was light red from being under the sun all day, even though his hue was already on the darker side. 

He had that islander-beach boy glistening sand skin.

"How was work?" I asked, hoping he didn't notice the sad tinge in my voice.

It's not like I was depressed - well maybe a little - since my social battery was completely depleted. 

After he was able to regain his breath and stopped sweating he finally stood up. 

"I think the Grimalkin's took a liking to us," he said with that sweet deep tinge to his voice, I knew him for. Even after a full day's work, he was still happy-go-lucky as ever. 

"But man - it's only spring and it's really hot," he said. I wish there was some type of AC. 

After a little while, we joined Neso and Kuro in the saltwater baths, the water was piping hot but still, Dragan was able to refresh himself. 

I had a brilliant idea, when everyone got out, and sat to eat a meal with the elders, I turned myself into a cube and froze my body solid. The air around us slowly started getting more and more chill. 

Everyone was in awe, and we managed to cool the air around us to a nice chilly breeze. 

During summer, back home I would turn on the AC while working, and only for a couple of hours, then when I went to bed at night. 

My freezing body spread some chill around the room, I was their air conditioning, just for a moment or two. Kuro Neso and Dragan embraced me by sitting close to me, when night finally fell, the three of us had a sleepover of sorts, I stayed frozen for a good long while until finally the sun came and woke me up. I managed to get some shut-eye thanks to the slow snores of the men around me. 

The next day the elders made me stand outside on a pedestal, and bow to the village as they passed by, answering questions from curious children, and mothers alike, some type of depression washed over me, maybe it was because I felt like I had to fake smile to all of them. 

But that was just me. 

The village was as lively as ever, Dragan made really good friends with Neso and Kuro and helped out in the fields.

He even trained with them during the afternoon. 

Was I just experiencing FOMO? 

Maybe so. 

But I couldn't just back away from the elders and what they wanted me to do.

I felt like a little kid, who was put in time out because he had done something wrong, except they had dressed it up as me being crowned an honorary king to their village, because of all the help we had given them. 

I was happy to help them out, but not like this, not like some type of imprisonment. 

Even though I was talking to people and meeting new faces every second, I still felt incredibly lonely.

That night we sat down as before to eat together and discussed when the ceremony would take place.

Sybil was only just a couple of hours away from finishing the parallel processing, so I had to remember to ask her why exactly she needed to run this process in the background. 

Thankfully at daybreak - this would all be over. 

Then I could enjoy the slow life with Neso Kuro and Dragan.