The Kingdom of the Malaise (28)

"So you are the original inhabitants of this kingdom before the fall and sealing in this... time loop?" I currently sat on top of an upurned piece of stone, the warmth of firelight illuminating the other figures features.

"You will be respectful to Master Elric! Consider it an honor that he even dared to grace the likes of you" Casting an angry look at me, the old man whom he called 'master' Elric sighed.

"Calm down Damian" Running his long gnarled fingers through the strings of his long grey bead, calming down his comrade.

But neverthelessI had to admit, that this master Elric was indeed wise looking.

And seeing as he was an old man nearing his sixties in age and accounting for the fact that everyone in this world seemed much younger then they seemed.

Then on a minimum he was probably ninety.

And when accounting for the fact that the time loop basically trapped people in their respective ages and that had been in place since maybe a few centuries.

In which case, the old man was qualified to be called a master as it tool much more wisdom to survive in this kingdom of the infected.

Letting out a sigh, the old man smiled gingerly at the sight of me and spoke "Don't mind my companion Damian, he's a young accidental who appeared about a century ago"

"I thought I said to stop patronizing me old man!"

Hearing those words I became quite surprised as I looked at the ginger haired man who was flushed at the cheeks, it was hard to see someone who was basically his own age was a hundred years old.

But when accounting for the fact that this place was where time kept on repeating on itself it didn't seem that surprising.

Becoming flustered, the old man only laughed to himself before continuing his words.

"Anyways then, what brings you here new accidental? We haven't had some of you appear in quite some time."

"I keep on telling you that some more people have appeared a few years ago!"

"I only believe what I can see" Dismissively waving his hands at the flustered young? man , I could tell that the old man named Elric was enjoying teasing the young man quite a bit.

"So what are you doing there anyways? I don't think you were here for that giant human thing.. were you?"

"Oh him? No no no" the old man shook his head in denial "That thing is not even human anymore, not after he got infected of course" A dark look took over his face.

And despite knowing that I had probably poked at a sore spot, I pressed on "Were you by chance close to him before he got infected?"

"Him? Before he was infected?" Elric chuckled to himself as a distant look appeared in his blue eyes "Well... I wouldn't say I was close to him, but I knew him due to the nature of my job"

And without further pushing, he told me his past.

Calmly listening to it, underneath the starlight with the moon shining down on us, the fire light carved out the old mans features with shadow, making every line and crease on his face appear deeper in the darkness.

Casting a melancholic aura to him, Elric soon stopped.

"Ah, pardon me" He let out a long sigh "It's just the ramblings of an old man"

Letting out another sigh, the old man paused before staring at the moon.

"Ha... Don't mind him sir" the other man besides Damian sighed "He's just endured much more than what many could've claimed to do"

"Well..." From what he had revealed to me, he really did endure much more then what many could claim to have done.

He was the court royal mage of the kingdom before the fall and was thus involved with many things.

The concierge being one of those many things.

The concierge also known as the previous and last prison warden Castaing of the kingdom, before it was reduced to nothing but a haven for the malaise infected monsters and a nightmare for the remaining survivors.

From what I had heard from the Court mage Elric as well was that the Concierge was a lazy man, but he got the job done.

Being someone, I would hesitantly pace at lower A rank and upper B rank, the Concierge was surprisingly someone who took bribes to support his lazy but rich lifestyle, having his own private home somewhere.

Something I wouldn't have expected to have seen from a giant man.

But besides that, the giant of a man was surprisingly thoughtful and was well read making sure to take care of his subordinates.

From Elric's words, I could tell that even though they weren't particularly close and in fact were something of just acquaintances.

It was seemingly regrettable that his Coworker was reduced to a mindless drone attacking on sight.

If anything, it went to show that despite being lazy he was very dedicated in fulfilling his order of protecting the bridge as in his time it was rare for the Concierge to leave the area of the black bridge.

 Letting out a sigh, I basked underneath the warm glow of the firelight staring at the numerous white stars that shone up above in the starry night sky.

'I wonder what I'm doing this for'

Staring at the black expanse in the sky, no reply came to me.

Letting out another sigh at the none reply, I silently gazed at the flickering firelight which reflected itself off of my orange eyes.

Unbeknownst to me a strange light flickered through the blue eyes of the Royal mage.

---

In the coming dawn which consisted of time rewinding in on itself.

I watched as time quite literally rewound on itself and caused many things to return to their previous state of being a few hours ago.

It was a sight that even if I tried it would be hard to forget.

Many things returned to their state of being an hour ago, a strange feeling of rejuvenation fleetingly passing through my body.

From the embers in the campfire which suddenly turned into logs of wood, I watched as things seemed to return to their previous states.

Such as the upturned stone walls that had big stone bricks float through the air and fixed themselves onto the walls, a few of them hanging in the air.

Some of the other stone bricks remained in their places.

No matter how many times I saw it, it was amazing.

But I couldn't help but notice now as the light dawned in the sky and I wasn't restricted to the confines of the prisoner's quarters that somethings remained in place.

Perhaps noticing my gaze the Court mage chuckled while tapping the butt of his wood staff against the ground "I forgot that you had been confined in a relatively enclosed area, the time spell that the great time keeper cast..."

An envious look flashed through his eyes "Despite being able to mess with time, many things are mostly left untouched and just left in their current states"

"Not that I'm able to do better, but regrettably that same spell somehow always affects the infected"

The blue glow coming from the blue gem suddenly brightened as large blue bolts suddenly left the staff and jumped through the air before locking onto something like homing missiles.

Flying towards the reanimated undead infected monsters that suddenly rose up due to the effects of the time loop.

Watching the old man in action I realized that their indeed was a reason that he had survived this long.

Smiling, I joined in on the massacre of lives, definitely aware that the old man was observing me with scrutinizing.

A grin plastered itself on my face 'Oh I'll give him something to observe'

Pulling out a giant broadsword, I quickly felt the difference as it easily sliced through the variety of enemies that were now swarming towards us due to the open nature of the area we were in.

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