Drag Him With Us

Elias jumped slightly, not hearing the sounds of footsteps behind him. The sounds of metal hitting metal masked the other sounds that should have been heard by him.

"Yer buyin?" the man said gruffly.

Elias turned around and was greeted with the sight of a man he'd never thought was even remotely possible.

With a bald head and thick eyebrows, the man in front of him was built in a way that he had never seen except for in books. His facial features were just so different from what Elias was used to. So much so that he was blown away.

This wasn't the first time that day Elias felt like he'd walked into a book. The thought excited him.

"Uh," Elias said, uncharacteristically stuttering. He paused and took a deep breath, calming himself. "No. I'm wondering if you're hiring?"

The man eyed him dubiously. "Yer came here not ter buy or sell, but ter look fer work?"

Elias nodded as he deciphered the accent that the man was using. "That would be correct."

Jin eyed the brown-haired kid in front of him. He looked around thirteen or fourteen, which was the right age if he wanted to start working on being a blacksmith. However, Jin had the feeling that things weren't as simple as they appeared to be.

The kid looked like he was slightly nervous. Though, Jin made a lot of people nervous, so he would give the kid that.

"Yer wan ter be a blacksmith?"

Elias hesitated briefly, but it was enough for Jin to know the answer. "Hah. I guess not. Well, I don't mind. I suppose I could use someone ter fan da flames and such."

Though, he was dubious about how much work this boy could do. After all, he looked rather slender and lean. His hands were clean and free of dirt or callouses. Just one look and you could tell that this teenager before him was obviously previously living in at least moderate wealth.

Elias bowed, thankful. "Thank you!"

"Come back tomorrow."

Elias lingered, not quite wanting to leave yet. He still wanted to look at the various weaponry on display.

Jin grinned behind him. This was the reason why he'd accepted the kid. After all, anyone who liked weapons this much couldn't be a bad person.

-

Bunbun hopped around and nosed at the various leaves and plants.

"Bunbun, don't eat anything. You had lunch already."

The rather large bunny reluctantly backed off, still eyeing the plants.

Alec, in comparison to Elias, was not exactly having fun, but as Stanley walked him through what he would be doing for the next couple of days, he didn't find it bothersome either.

Basically, to sum it up, Alec was to be watering the plants, trim a few leaves, and go outside to attract customers since the shop's business wasn't doing too well. Apparently, a small town like this didn't need flowers very often. Who knew, right?

Everything else was fine, but for some reason, when Alec heard about that last part, he felt a chill go up his spine.

Why did that feel so ominous?

"Well, that's about it. The rest, you can learn along the way."

"Mr. Stanley, do you have any books on plants?"

"Drop the 'mr', kid," Stanley said absentmindedly. "I have some books at the back of the store if you want to take a look."

"May I?"

Stanley nodded, and Alec went around the back, finding a small pile of books that had obviously been well taken care of. Though there wasn't any overt signs of wear or tear on the books, they had been meticulously cleaned.

Just holding the books, Alec could feel that they had been flipped though countless number of times.

In the end, he picked up a book that looked like an encyclopaedia about plants. Alec's eyes gleamed.

The book was thick. It was half his arm's length, and had Alec not Awakened himself earlier on, he likely wouldn't have been able to pick up the book at all. Now, though, he picked it up with ease, taking the first volume with him.

Stanley happily flipped the 'open' sign back to 'closed'. "Well, it's fine to go back now, I suppose. It's almost dinner ti-" Stanley cut himself off as he saw Alec come out the back with the Common Plant Encyclopaedia Vol. 1.

The book that was as thick was it was heavy was hard for him to move, but Alec was handling it with such ease that he almost wondered whether or not he had mistaken the weight of the book.

"Do you want me to hold that for you?" Stanley said, holding his hand out.

Alec paused, looking at Stanley before a terrible idea formed in his head. Obviously, the man was just trying to be nice, and was worried about the weight of the book, but he didn't know that Alec could handle it just fine.

"Are you sure?"

Stanley nodded, grabbing the book. "Oof!" he couldn't help but let out, his face going red.

Alec expertly hid the grin that wanted to break out and smoothened it into his practiced smile, picking the book back up.

His mother rubbed off on him more than he thought, if he was doing things like this.

Just seeing the multitude of expressions flashing across Stanley's face when he realized that he lost in strength to an eight-year-old made him feel like genuinely laughing out loud.

Stanley felt baffled. Just how was Alec handling the book with such ease? Could it be that he'd grown feebler? Or was this some sort of training that those who were well-off put their children through? Maybe the book had chosen a master for itself?

All sorts of random thoughts flashed through Stanley's head rapidly. Was Elias also like this?

The man paused. Elias. That's right! They still didn't know how he was doing right now. If the teen needed a job as well, Stanley would help him out by asking around. "Do you think your brother can remember how to get back? Or should we go and look for him?"

Alec resisted the urge to give the man a look. "Big brother has a great memory," he said instead. "Elias would be fine. If he could track his way through a forest, he could trace his way back from the streets with no problem.

Stanley nodded, walking back with Alec. He inwardly thought that if Elias wasn't back by the time they reached, Stanley would make a few excuses before going out to look for him.

When they reached back, they ran into Elias just about to enter the Woods' house.

"Big brother."

Elias turned around. "Alec! Mr. Stanley."

"Just Stanley is fine."

At the dinner table, Lorraine was already there setting up the table. "Oh, you're all back."

"Yes, thank you for the food."

Elias and Alec both bowed to show their thanks.

"Oh, you don't have to bow! We just like to share, that's all."

More than the food at the table, Alec's nose caught the scent of fire and metal from Elias' clothing.

Just what had he been doing? Did he visit the smithy to find work? Alec had a feeling that was the case. Elias' eyes were gleaming like they usually did when he got his hands on a particularly interesting book, or when he heard a piece of information that caused him to think about various things.

Dinner was a pleasant affair, but by the time they headed upstairs to rest for the night, Alec felt like he'd done his entire training routine with Evin back in their clan.

Elias felt the same way as he did, collapsing on the bed.

Alec nudged him. "Don't fall asleep yet. We still have to take a bath."

Elias made a groaning noise, causing Alec's lips to quirk.

It was the little things like this that really made him feel like Elias and the rest were truly teenagers. He wondered if he had been like that at that age as well.

"Bunbun, grab him. Let's go take a bath."

Bunbun hopped onto the bed beside Elias and dragged the reluctant teenager to the bathroom.

Elias felt stunned as he was dragged bodily from the bed.