Chapter 9

Roan groaned as the sharp straws prickled his skin. Oh, how he hated sleeping in the straw bed. He turned to face the ceiling of his hut from where the morning sunlight filtered into the dark and musty room. He shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hands as he slowly sat up ignoring the annoying pain all over his body. He was used to it by now. He had to be after living in the slums for years now.

He tried to stand up but failed. Getting used to pain didn't mean he could ignore it. He fell back on the bed and chuckled as he again tried to stand up. He managed to do so with immense difficulty and went through his morning routine. After which he went outside and stretched out his aching body. A habit of his and It felt good.

"Good morning, Roan." Ruth greeted him with a smile on his face as soon as he stepped outside. He was sitting on a wooden chair which was surprisingly in good condition outside his hut. Roan smiled as he greeted back"Good morning to you too, old man."

"I am not old, you rascal." Ruth lightly scolded and stood up. They made some small talk as they basked in the morning sun.

." Where were you yesterday? you arrived home late." Ruth suddenly asked Roan as he carried the chair he had been sitting on to take it back to his hut.

"It was nothing. I just had some problem finding some materials required for the mission." Roan lied and he too walked back to his hut, their conversation coming to an end.

"You heard about the recruitment?"

"No, what is it?"

"It's the town guards. They need some bolstering, I heard. Probably due to the increase in monster attacks around Mervielle forest." Ruth said as he stared straight ahead, probably trying to hide his emotions. Roan sighed as he said," What's that got to do with me?"

"When they need fodder, they turn their eyes to the poor. So, they might force the slum kids to join. You know how the rich are. They wouldn't want to have their kids fighting some unknown monsters from the pits." Ruth said as he walked towards his hut."You take care of yourself...The world is changing." Ruth added as he stared at Roan with a strange expression that Roan couldn't read. Ruth turned around before Roan could ask what he was trying to say but Roan knew even if he had asked he wouldn't have gotten an answer.

"Yes, the world has certainly become strange," Roan muttered to himself and entered the but. He prepared breakfast as his mind mulled over what Ruth had said. The world had changed. The Pits had reawakened and he had awakened. And now he was trying to figure out what other things might awaken.

But the more pressing issue for Roan was that he had changed. The emotionless state that he had reached yesterday was alarming but he had recovered. But the expectation he had of how he would feel the tomorrow morning after killing a person was a lot different than the reality. He didn't feel bad as he thought about the severed body of the Thug.

I feel like a monster. Roan thought as he chewed on a piece of bread. Even killing animals would evoke emotions from him before but now killing a human for the first didn't even manage to faze him. It was a drastic change. Too drastic. And Roan didn't like it. Nobody would like to have their minds messed up.

Why the heck were they so aggressive while asking questions? They certainly couldn't know that George and Sol are dead. Roan had a sudden thought about the reason he even had to fight those thugs in the first place. They were too aggressive for someone who was supposed to be searching for their friends and they were even willing to hurt or even potentially kill him. It was another strange part of his new strange reality. Everything was getting strange and unreasonable.

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"Here you go." A waitress slapped a plate on a table where was sitting. He smiled at her as she placed a glass of water on the table. She smiled back and said," Enjoy your meal."

Roan watched as she walked away and turned towards the meal in Infront of him after the waitress vanished through a door which probably led to the kitchen.

The aroma of the food teased his nostrils which made his stomach grumble. He was hungry already, the bread from his breakfast not enough to keep him full till midday. He scooped a spoonful of the dish which was meat cooked with many different green vegetables. The spices put in were probably not of many different types but it did the job of making the dish infinitely better than the bread and gruel he had in the morning.

He ate a spoonful and the taste was something he was used to but it still managed to surprise him every time he came to this tavern. It was good as always. A taste that he would never forget.

This tavern which was aptly named The Good Tavern was owned by a couple who lived in the outer district. And he had been a frequent visitor of this establishment since he had visited here with Seth when he was around sixteen years old. This dish had hooked him with its exotic taste. The dish was nameless now that he thought about it. Roan would have been a regular if it wasn't so expensive which meant that he had to restrict the number of times he visited this tavern. Money was to be saved not wasted in Roan's grand philosophy of life.

Roan quickly devoured the food and walked up to the counter where the owner lady was sitting to pay the bill which was a whole silver, an outrageous price but worth it considering how good the food was. Silver was twenty-four copper coins and twenty-four silver coins made a gold coin. The common denomination of currency used in the Ceres kingdom. Roan didn't know what other kingdoms like Luisadh or Lamar used but it was probably the same but with different designs on the coins. He didn't know for sure. It was just a mix of his guess and rumours he had heard around the town.

Roan paid the bill under the sympathetic gaze of the receptionist who was also one of the owners of this establishment. She was the wife of the couple who owned this tavern. But he wasn't that familiar with them and she had probably heard the news of Seth and Lela's death from Ruth. Ruth was the one familiar with the owners of this tavern, a mystery considering that Ruth was more penniless than even the poorest folks in this town. So, who knows where he got the money to spend on this tavern and get familiar with the owners?

Just the thought of dealing with all the I'm sorry and you didn't deserve it was too much for Roan to stomach. So he had been avoiding interaction with other people he was even remotely familiar with. But he couldn't do that forever. He would eventually have to interact with others. That's how life worked. At least as far as Roan knew, that was how it was supposed to work.

Roan fished out a silver coin from the pocket of his pants. He gave it to the lady and was about to walk away when he heard the lady say," You are Ruth's kid, right?"

But he ignored it and walked away. He wasn't ready. Not yet at least.

I should probably take a break. Learn about my powers. Get a grip on myself.