Page 7: Changing to Grelod

A month had passed since Lun entered the Honor Hall Orphanage, where he confirmed that Grelod was indeed an extremely horrible woman.

The food consisted of a piece of hard bread and a glass of milk that wasn't sweet at all because Grelod diluted it with water to make it last longer, giving it a horrible taste.

As expected, Grelod punished the children who disobeyed her. For now, Lun hadn't seen her punish them physically—only by withholding food or hurling insults.

He also noticed that Grelod never left the orphanage and spent most of her time in her room.

Whenever she went into her room, she could stay there for hours, which gave Lun time to explore the orphanage.

There was a small empty room, which in the future would become Constance's room.

Another room served as a storage area, but it was almost empty.

A tiny bathroom that could only fit one person.

There was another room he couldn't enter because it was locked. When he approached, the children warned him not to go near it or Grelod would get angry for trying to enter the Punishment Room.

There wasn't much to do, so the children would either stay in their beds or play in the small garden.

Lun stayed inside, practicing the magic he remembered.

He could easily use Flames, Frost, Sparks, and Healing, as he only had to say the name or think about it to cast them.

Healing Hands was a bit more complicated because, despite having the same effect as Healing, it was meant to heal others. By focusing on how it felt, he managed to project it outward, and it worked.

He tried to use Oakflesh, but it was difficult. When he cast it, it broke instantly, leaving him drained of magic.

'Why doesn't it work?'

He tried to figure out why it wasn't working but couldn't find a solution.

'Maybe if I had an Oakflesh grimoire, I could learn how it works in the game, but here it'd be hard to find one.'

He felt his magic had recovered, so he was about to try Oakflesh again but decided to use another spell that seemed easier.

'Candlelight.'

A small light appeared in his hand.

'This is much easier than trying Oakflesh.'

He was interrupted when Grelod's voice echoed with a scream.

'Always like that.'

He thought about extinguishing the light, which gradually faded away until it was gone.

'I guess I can do that too.'

He went inside, where he saw an angry Grelod.

He looked at the children, who were all present, as Grelod shouted again.

"One of you stole food from the storeroom! Who was it?!"

The children trembled at her yelling.

"Well?!"

Lun looked at the children, who were terrified, but none seemed more scared than the others, leading him to believe no one had done it.

'Wasn't it any of them?'

"Looks like I'll have to show you what happens when food is stolen!"

Grelod looked at one of the children and went to grab them, but Lun stepped in.

"It was me."

Lun stared directly at her, shielding the child behind him.

"Of course. It had to be the monster. Come here!"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the Punishment Room.

The room was filthy, with a small, dirty cabinet and shackles on the wall.

"Filthy brat. I'll teach you not to steal my food."

She took out a long, thin stick.

'No way you're hitting me with that.'

Lun thought about using Oakflesh again, but it might fail. Then he reconsidered how it worked.

If Healing Hands functioned like that, maybe Oakflesh did too.

'Oakflesh grants the ability to create a layer around the body, providing 40 armor points for 60 seconds.'

He visualized a kind of armor surrounding him, channeling the magic into his hand. The spell activated, and he felt something enveloping him as part of his magic drained.

Grelod struck him in the face, but Lun felt nothing.

"Well, it worked."

"What?"

Grelod looked puzzled, seeing Lun still standing without a scratch or tears.

"You're not going to hurt me with that little stick."

Grelod hit him again, but it still had no effect.

"Well, this is magic. It's Oakflesh, and it gives me protection, meaning you can't hurt me. But I can hurt you."

Grelod backed away but tried to strike him again, only for Lun to catch the stick and stop her.

"Told you that wouldn't work."

He broke the stick with his strength, which reminded him of shattering the glass bottle.

'Maybe I didn't even need Oakflesh, but I could at least make it work.'

Lun looked at Grelod to try and intimidate her but stopped when they heard a noise.

Both turned toward the sound, coming from one of the cabinet drawers. It moved, revealing a skeever.

Lun raised his hand and used Frostbite, freezing and killing it instantly.

"What's a skeever doing here?"

He inspected the cabinet and found baby skeevers along with food.

"So, this is where the missing food went."

Using Frostbite again, he froze the skeever pups, killing them.

"Now then..."

He turned to Grelod, who fell back.

"You've been punishing the children in this room, haven't you?" He stepped closer to her.

"I'll tell you this: if you ever hurt a child again..." He grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. "... I won't hold back just because you're an old woman. Do you understand?"

Grelod looked into Lun's blue eyes and, for a moment, didn't see a child but a gigantic white dragon that looked ready to tear her apart.

"Y-Yes," she stammered.

"Leave."

Lun let her go, and Grelod ran out of the room, heading to her quarters.

The children were confused by her behavior but more concerned about Lun, though their worry disappeared when he came out unscathed.

"Hey."

The children ran to him, asking what had happened inside.

Lun told them Grelod had run off after seeing a skeever eating the stored food, and that he had taken care of it.

Even so, the children were still worried about what might happen when she returned. But hours passed, and Grelod didn't come out.

"That's strange. She still hasn't come out."

"Do you think she was so grossed out that she doesn't want to leave?"

"So, what do we do about the food?"

The children debated what to do, as it was time for dinner.

"Let's get some food out."

The children stopped Lun from doing so.

"Are you crazy?!" said Hjalmar.

"Grelod will get mad!" added Celesse.

"I agree. It could be dangerous," said worriedly Constance.

Lun thought about it and decided to take out the food anyway, since Grelod couldn't do anything after his warning.

"If anything happens, I'll handle it."

He showed the children a Destruction spell, Sparks, casting it in his hand.

"Think she could do anything against this?"

"Wow, you're a mage!" exclaimed Celesse.

"A mage. I don't like mages," said Hjalmar.

"Don't worry. As long as I'm here, Grelod won't do anything."

Despite their worries, the children listened to Lun and took some food for dinner.

When they started eating, they couldn't contain their delight. The milk was sweeter and tastier. The bread was soft and full of flavor.

The children were happy to finally eat real food instead of the usual disgusting fare.

At night, the children went to bed happy with the meal.

Lun was the last one awake. He went to the empty room, ensuring everyone was asleep.

He began practicing small-scale Destruction magic, trying not to use too much magic as he worked on the Novice Destruction perk.

He kept practicing until it was very late, eventually falling asleep right there.