Chapter 27 – When the rain comes

Adam was currently being dragged away from Blue Lane street by Fen. Elaine and Luna were giggling as they watched from behind.

"Big Sis… just one more stall? What's the harm?" The food in this world was on a completely different level. Every vegetable and meat was a delight to his taste buds. The spices that enhanced the flavours of the food were like an overload of goodness.

If it was up to Adam he would most definitely become a foodie and roam this world. Finding and tasting every dish this world had to offer.

Fortunately or unfortunately he had found adventuring a bit more exciting and decided to follow that path. This did not mean that he had given up on tasting the food of this world as was evident from his display today.

"No more young master! We already visited four different stalls! Even the girls were unable to eat anymore after the second." Fen was exasperated by Adams ability to eat.

The only thing she was thankful for was her mistress's thoughtfulness. Yuki had long since given her a separate wallet with coins for Adam's use.

If she had to spend from her salary, she would have long since run dry of funds. Her young master was truly a black hole that devoured food endlessly.

"Fine…" He grumbled. He realized that he might have lost himself a little in his excitement so he didn't push any further on the topic. "Let us go back. I'm sure even mother will be surprised that we came back with two little helpers." He gave a look at the two girls who were watching him with obvious amusement.

The four people started making their way towards the lodge.

Arriving at the lodge, it was exactly as Adam had predicted. Yuki was surprised at the sight of two young girls following behind Adam.

One was the girl she had seen before with orange hair while the one with white hair was a complete stranger to her.

She had evaluated Elaine when she had gone to pay for her so she knew her but she had never seen Luna before.

Entering the Lodge, the group made their way toward Adams room led by Yuki.

Closing the door behind them the only people in the room were now Yuki, Adam, Fen and the two new girls.

"Tell me everything that happened in detail." Yuki could no longer hold In her curiosity.

"Yes, I followed your instructions and made my way to Fang street with big sis Fen. We arrived at the destination and were greeted by Ungad. Leading us into his tent…." Adam began narrating the story from his perspective.

Yuki was listening attentively while the other three kept quiet and listened as well.

Every so often, Yuki would give voice to her comments on what Adam had just narrated.

"Truly vile words…Calling other's 'Product's'. Hmph"

"They didn't put on a show with black veils for me."

"Oh! They are twin sisters. I understand."

"The darkness element." She frowned slightly when she heard this.

"These poor little girls. Exiled at such a young age."

Finally, he came to an end of the long turn of twisting events that had taken place on this eventful morning excursion of his.

"That is why I decided to take them both in. I hope mother will be lenient and let me have this selfish request." He bowed deeply towards Yuki.

Taking in just one more member was a lot of added expenses for Yuki. However, now he was asking her to take in two girls. He truly felt guilty asking so much of her.

"Silly boy. You have already brought them here and given your word to them. How can I possibly let them go now?" She gave him a sly glare.

"Haha, I am sorry, mother. Like I said… I felt a connection with them and could not abandon them." The eyes of the two girls who were sitting nearby twinkled when they heard these words again.

"Fine, I shall have a conversation with these girls and see what to do next. You can go out and begin your training for today." She said with a slight tone of pretend defeat.

"Thank you, mother! There's no one who is kinder to me than you. I shall be leaving then." He said with a happy smile. "Elaine and Luna… my mother can be stern but she is actually very caring and sweet. You can be straightforward with her. There is no need to hide anything."

"Adam! Stop with the flattery and get going!" She had a stern look on her face but her eyes betrayed her. Joy was evident in her clear hazel coloured eyes.

Not saying anything else, he walked to the other end of the room and opened the sliding doors. Stepping out onto the wooden porch he gave one last look inside the room and pulled the doors shut.

The weather had been great at the start of the day but clouds had appeared as the morning went by. It was lightly drizzling right now.

The scent of the wet soil, the various grasses and flowers of the yard assaulted his nostrils.

Taking off the top of his robes he stepped toward a side table on the porch that held his six curved daggers and their corresponding belts. Picking them up one by one he began to tie the belts to himself.

In a few seconds, he had already completely holstered the heavy daggers to himself. It was a practised movement that he had gotten used to.

Jumping from his spot beside the table he landed a few feet away from the porch in the yard.

Squish.

His feet sunk into the wet mud from the descent of his weight.

He had completely gotten used to having the training weights on him at all times. His current weight felt completely normal to him at this point.

Not paying any attention to it, he began taking in deep breaths of the cool and fresh air that carried the aroma of nature.

He began his training for the day with a light jog around the perimeter of the lodge.

3 hours passed by smoothly with Adam going through various basic training in his backyard.

The clouds in the sky had further intensified. The whole sky was now overcast by dense dark clouds.

Patter! Patter!

The rain that fell now were massive drops of water that hit the ground with force.

Rumble. Boom!

With a bright flash of light, lightning struck down from the heavens. The sound of thunder reverberated through the skies and earth a few moments later.

A worried Yuki ran out from the room onto the porch.

"Dear! Come in. You'll fall sick if you stay out too long." She called out with worry.

Adam had just finished with a set of squats and was standing in the yard with his face towards the skies.

The rain had been falling on him relentlessly and he was completely drenched.

Hearing Yuki's voice he looked towards her and nodded. With a few steps through the muddy puddle, that had formed in front of the porch he stepped up onto it.

"Stop right there! Fen get me a few hot towels quickly." Yuki gave out instructions.

Within seconds Yuki had thrown a hot towel over his head and was wiping him dry while Fen wiped his feet clean with another. Sitting on the porch with the two of them fussing over him, he didn't know what to say.

Elaine and Luna watched the whole series of exchanges with wide eyes filled with curiosity and longing.

"Mother! I'm fine… I just need to change clothes" He said slightly embarrassed.

"No! Go have a shower in hot water and then change. You can come for lunch only after you do so." She gave her ultimatum on the matter.

"Sigh…alright. So what did you decide about Elaine and Luna?"

"I'll tell you over lunch. Go already!" She could not understand why this boy cared more about that than the cold wind that was barraging his wet clothed body.

"Okay.Okay." Adam waved at the two girls in his room and then walked into the washroom in his room.

Fen stayed back while Yuki led the two girls to the dining room.

Freshening up and changing into a crisp set of new robes, Adam stepped out of the washroom and was greeted by the beautiful Fen.

He kept trying to ask her about what had been discussed while he was training but Fen remained tight-lipped about the conversation.

Fen Had continued to get closer and more open with Adam. If it was before she wouldn't have dared to hide things from him and to tease him like this.

Giving up the thought of gaining any information from Fen he walked at a quicker pace towards the dining room.

Yuki was sipping on warm hound honey and blue pepper water within the dining hall. This was something she liked to do on rainy days and had passed on this habit to Adam.

Hound honey was a product of the forests of the soaring tides alliance. Procured from 3 eyed hound bees nest's. These bees had the size and characteristics of a hound and had packs the size of an average bee colony. The amount of honey they produced was staggering and as such the product was an inexpensive and widely used one.

Blue pepper was a locally grown spice of the unruled plain's. It was something that was used in almost all the dishes that were cooked in the region.

Stepping into the room Adam saw Yuki sitting in her usual spot with the two girls standing behind her.

Walking up to the table he also sat down in his usual spot and glanced at the two girls standing obediently behind his mother.

"Fen can you please go inform the girls in the kitchen to prepare another four cups of hound honey water?" Yuki asked Fen before she could sit.

"Yes, mistress." Fen immediately walked into the kitchen.

"Girls. Come and sit down." Yuki gave a gentle smile to the two behind her.

"Yes, Mistress" The two replied.

"Huh?!" Adam was surprised. How had his mother gotten these two girls, especially the fiery Elaine, to act so obediently?

"Hehe, no need to be surprised. I've already accepted these two. I really like them." Yuki couldn't help but giggle at her son's shocked look.

"I have decided that they will be your personal maidservants from today onward." She said with an authoritative tone.

"They agreed?" Adam still could not figure out how his mother had made this possible.

"They were the ones who suggested it."

"What? Why did they suggest it?" He only got more baffled the more he knew.

"They asked me who gets to stay beside you the most and I said Fen because she is your personal maidservant. The two then begged me to let them become one as well." Yuki said with upraised hands and a shake of her head.

Adam Looked toward the two girls who were walking toward him to take a seat. Their cheeks were bright red and they were doing their best to avoid eye contact with him. They stopped in their tracks and looked down at their feet. Refusing to look up at him.

"I offered them so many other possible positions like guards and so on but they refused everything. They were adamant on being your personal maidservants. What did you do to make them so attached to you in one meeting?" Yuki continued speaking. Towards the end, she gave a curious look toward her son.

"I didn't do anything! You know me, mother… I already told you everything that happened." Adam himself did not realize how much the girls had become attached to him.

"You better take care of them well otherwise ill be very mad at you." She balled her fist and waved it in a joking manner.

"I will. I promised them that I would protect them." He said resolutely.

The two girls hearing this came to each of his sides and sat down beside him.

"We will hold you to that promise then." Two soft voices came from each of his side's.

"Of course. I'll be counting on you two to protect me as well." He said turning to both the girls.

"I will." Elaine still refused to look him in the eyes and mumbled.

"Me too." Luna looked at him and stuck her little red tongue out.

"Haha, then it's settled." He was really happy that he had gotten his party set up so easily. Also, he was able to find Elaine and Luna who he could trust. This made him even more over the moon as this was a result that exceeded his wildest imaginations.

Yuki watched from the sidelines and smiled. Her son did not realize just how reassuring and magnetic his words were.

She was fine with this, If he did it intentionally he wouldn't retain his genuine personality. She was very satisfied with the way he was growing and developing as a person.

At this moment, Fen walked back into the room with a tray of four cups. She sat down in between Elaine who was to the right of Adam and Yuki.

"The sisters in the kitchen said that lunch should be ready in 15 minutes," Fen reported.

All five of them continued to chat and sip on their warm drinks as the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the tiles of the roof created a soothing melody.

After having lunch…

All their plans for the day were waylaid due to the heavy rains. Yuki took the day off as no more customers would come by in the bad weather.

Adam also did not continue his training after lunch.

The Mother and son along with the three girls spent their day relaxing indoors and having long chats with Fen, Elaine and Luna.

They joked, laughed, teased and spoke about serious topics. Slowly but steadily getting to know more about each other. The warm atmosphere in the room was like the rain outside. It gently fell on the girls, slowly but steadily washing away all the dirt that weighed them down.

Pitter-Patter! The rain soothingly washed the day away.