Chapter 54: Another Member?
…..
Danya opened her eyes and stretched.
"I-Ivery…" Danya's voice was groggy
"Mm…?" Ivery turned on her side, still half asleep beside Danya
"We…we…fell asleep.." Danya sat up and rubbed her eyes
*THUD*
Ivery didn't realize it before it was too late, while she was attempting to turn again she fell off of the bed.
"Ah.." Ivery groaned
"Are you okay?" Danya asked, looking down at Ivery…holding in her laughter
"Yeah…I forgot the bed was small…" Ivery sat up and held her aching back
"Clumsy as always, even so early as today." Luther smirked, he stood beside the bed…also holding in his laughter
"I know you both want to laugh…so just do it.." Ivery sighed with a slight smile
Almost instantly, both Danya and Luther burst out laughing.
….
"Are you two done yet?" Ivery sat annoyedly on the bed with her arms crossed, watching the both of them still chuckling
"Y-Yeah.." Danya wiped her tearing eyes
"I think I'm cramping." Luther had a wide smile and took a deep breath
"It couldn't have been that funny.." Ivery huffed
"You're right." Luther said
"It was hilarious." Luther said with another chuckle
"Hm…" Ivery grinned
She waved her hand and immediately Luther slipped and fell on the floor with a 'thud'.
"Satisfied?" Luther laid on the floor and smiled as he looked up at her
"A little." She smiled back
..
"Are you two hungry? Cause I sure am." Ivery felt her stomach growl
"Very." Danya nodded
"I could eat." Luther sat up
"Let's see what they have downstairs…" Danya said
Ivery saw that Eness was still sleeping on the foot of the bed. She walked out of the room with Luther and Danya and headed downstairs.
As they arrived downstairs, there was a strange commotion outside.
"What's going on?" Danya asked, noticing the crowds of people by the doors
Danya squeezed herself through the surrounding people and curiously took a look.
"What…the.." Danya couldn't believe her eyes
She saw the creepy bearded man from yesterday afternoon with a blindfold covering his eyes and his hands and legs tied, he was dangling upside down from a rope attached to a long black pole.
He was only dressed in his underwear. His mouth was covered by a black cloth tied around his mouth.
Engraved on his stomach was cuts that spelled, ' Peeking creep '.
"So that's what you did…" Ivery looked at the man struggling to break free
"One of the worst feelings to have is humiliation, so I gave him an enhanced version of that." Luther said with a wide grin
"And since he dared to try to take a look at my precious fiance that can only be fully seen by my eyes, I blinded him." Luther shrugged
"I see." Ivery blushed at his beginning statement and felt more satisfied after seeing the pervert from yesterday get a punishment ten times more extreme than his misdeeds
"Let's go eat something." Ivery said as she turned around
Danya and Luther followed her back inside.
….
Once they all finished eating, they checked out of the inn. Ivery went upstairs to get Eness before they left.
They went back to the guildhall, Ivery had to carry Eness in a large bag to conceal her since dragons were seen as beings of chaos and destruction, even infant dragons were to be slaughtered on sight.
When they entered the guildhall there were several adventurers circled around something.
Ivery stepped closer and overheard their conversation..
"How can a kid like you be a rank-A adventurer?" A man laughed
"Shut up…" He angrily said back
"The brat must've stolen it." A girl snickered and added in
Ivery took a closer look and saw a beautiful boy with long light brown hair and light gray eyes, dressed in black mage robes, in the center of several mocking adventurers.
"Excuse me." Ivery pushed her way through the adventurers
"Who are you? His mother?" A man asked with a smirk
"Whoever I am to him, is none of your concern." Ivery glared at him
He stepped back, feeling a dangerous aura from Ivery...
"Come with me?" Ivery extended her hand out to the boy
He looked at her and hesitantly took her hand. She pulled him out of the watchful crowd and led him to where Luther and Danya stood.
"Who's he..?" Danya smiled when she saw Ivery come back with a charming young boy
"Do you get made fun of often?" Ivery asked the boy, not knowing how to answer Danya's question
"Yes." The boy nodded
"Are you always alone?" Ivery asked further
"Yes…" The boy said
"Do you have a family…?" Ivery asked him
"I..used to, but they all were kidnapped by debt collectors…" The boy told her
"So you became an adventurer to earn enough money to get your family back?" Ivery's heart wrenched
"Exactly…I wasn't taken because I was out in the field…farming food for my younger siblings and mother…and when I came back..they all were gone and no matter how long I waited they never came back..but deep down I already knew what happened to them.." The boy gripped his staff, filled with boiling anger and grief
"So you've been on your own this whole time?" Danya asked with a saddened expression
"It's been a year since then.." The boy said
"Do you want to be alone..?" Luther asked
"No.." The boy shook his head
"Would you like to come with us then?" Ivery smiled
"Come with you..? Really? You don't mind that I'm a kid?…No one has wanted me to be on their squad because I'm young, so…I had to make my way to rank-A by my own efforts.." The boy said
"I don't mind at all, you have your own strengths behind that small exterior….and that's enough." Ivery lightly tapped his forehead with her index finger and reassured him
"Thank you.." The boy cried and hugged Ivery
Ivery understood how he must've felt…not having anyone to talk to, or comfort him in such a dire time of need…no one that wanted to help him..no one he could depend on. She already knew he cried so much by himself, wishing every day that his family would return…crying for his mother, for his siblings…crying to go back home.
Being alone must've always reminded him of the family he lost..
She hugged him back as he cried harder in her arms.
Danya and Luther smiled as they watched the heartwarming sight…
He finally had someone to hold him after all this time...
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