NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 15: Work
With the both of them staying vigilant against the Duke, the news that Sien was being called to help one of his towns was very unwelcome. It had only been two days since the last confrontation between the Duke and Sien, and Ritt had already been informed that Sien being called out last time was all the Duke’s doing, so they were both quite sure that this call had also been orchestrated by him. Sien fretted, unwilling to leave Ritt behind alone with the Duke again to deal with this problem, but because he wasn’t the type to keep anything like an aide close to him, he had no one else that he could send to check things out but himself.
Ritt, seeing the conflicted Sien, decided that it perhaps might be time for him to step forward and make a risky suggestion.
“Sien… Would it be bad if you just took me along?”
Sien’s eyebrows screwed up like he was hearing something strange. Of course, he liked the idea of keeping Ritt close to him, and safely away from the Duke, but the thought that something might happen to Ritt, or that Ritt might experience something that would make him upset, was also worrying. Sien being Sien, he preferred the thought of Ritt being safely at home, content, cared for, and out of harm’s way. Like a pampered inside-dog.
He could see that Sien was beginning to look like he might say no, so Ritt quickly leaned a little closer, frowning slightly and looking towards Sien with pleading eyes.
“Can’t I come with you? I promise to stay right by your side, and not go wandering anywhere. I won’t leave you for even a second!”
Something about Ritt’s words were pleasing to Sien. He rather liked hearing Ritt say that he would stay with him. Besides, with Ritt pleading to him like that, there was no way that Sien could say no.
In the end, it was decided that Ritt would be coming along.
~~~
“Will we be riding horses?”
Ritt had absolutely no clue how far away the place they were going to was, and not wanting to appear suspicious when he’d just gotten so close to Sien, he didn’t want to ask too many questions about their destination.
“Mmmnope. I don’t think I even have any horses here. Maybe there’s some in the stable for the servants? I think I remember there being a stable out back… And it’s possible my uncle sent me a stablekeeper at some point, I guess. If you really want to ride a horse, I can go check!”
“Oh, no, that’s perfectly fine. I’m very used to walking.”
Ritt had, of course, been taught how to ride a horse as part of his military training, but he rather preferred not to. The armor that they’d given him to wear as a Paladin was quite heavy, and he was required to never take it off, to hide his identity. He had no recollection of his family, but apparently his face resembled the others of his bloodline very deeply, and although his hair had turned a completely different color than all the rest of his relatives, his betters were positive that everyone would be able to tell what family he belonged to. They didn’t want anyone thinking that the family had any unnecessary power, or for them to try and take credit for his deeds, so wearing the armor in public became mandated. Sadly, though, the armor they chose for him was quite showy and heavy, and whenever Ritt had to ride a horse, the horse seemed quite unhappy, if not pained. He’d had few good experiences with horses because of it, so it was no wonder that he was reluctant to be around them.
“Well if you’re okay with it, then whatever I guess. It’s not like we’ll be walking for very long, anyway.”
And with that vague comment, Sien took Ritt’s hand and began walking into the surrounding woods. Ritt looked back over his shoulder at the clear roadway that led through the woods, the one that he’d seen the Duke’s carriage arrive on, and the very same one that they were now completely ignoring. He found it odd for a moment that they weren’t walking along such a clearly created path, but he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to ask unnecessary questions. It was easy for him to guess that the town they were off to was simply in a completely different direction than the one that the Duke had come from. Still, it was rather odd that the lord of the territory’s residence didn’t have a single path leading in that direction. Perhaps the town was rather small? Or maybe Sien didn’t like having multiple paths that led to his home? Yes, knowing Sien’s clear dislike of others in his home besides himself, Ritt could definitely believe that it might be the second option.
Hand in hand, the two walked through the forest, dodging around trees and pushing aside flourishing branches, until half an hour later they walked through a parting in the foliage, revealing the outskirts of the town. The town in question was small, only barely large enough to really qualify calling it one, but it still had clearly made roads, even if they were pretty much made of dirt and pounded down stones, and a few larger buildings marked the area. Ritt could even see many houses and farms off to the side in the distance, spread out and sprawling along the horizon.
Thinking it didn’t make sense, Ritt glanced back and forth between the treeline that they’d just exited from and the little town, trying to understand it all. Surely, with how little time it took them to get there and how tall some of the buildings managed to be, he should have been able to see this town from his window in his room on the second floor, right? And, with how large and menacing the fortress that Sien lived in was, shouldn’t it at least be peeking out from the tops of the forest from here? But then why could he only see mountains in the distance? Where had the fortress gone?
Sien, for his part, just kept walking along, not even pausing for a moment, so Ritt, who was still holding hands with him, was forced to come along, no matter how utterly befuddled he was. Sien marched blankly down the street, ignoring the looks and glances that people occasionally shot at the two of them, and when they arrived at the mayor’s house, he slammed open the locked door without even a single knock.
“Hey! I’m here, so tell me what went wrong already!”
Ritt’s mouth wriggled for a moment, knowing even with his limited social skills that what Sien was doing was exceptionally rude. A middle aged, balding man rushed over from the back of the house, brandishing a fireplace poker as if to scare away whatever intruder had busted in. But when he saw Sien, he immediately hid it behind his back, bowing deeply and reverently with a panicked expression on his face.
“Oh, it’s you My Lord! I’m- I’m humbled that you rushed over so quickly for the sake of our town!”
From where Ritt was standing next to Sien, he could easily see the childish way Sien rolled his eyes as if he were bored. In fact, were they not still holding hands, Sien looked as if he would cross his arms and tap his foot at the man any minute now.
“C’mon, I said to tell me what I came to fix! Tell me already!”
Although Ritt could tell how overly petulant Sien was being, for some reason he couldn’t help but smile a little at the display, being reminded of a young child puffing up their cheeks in annoyance. The mayor, however, didn’t seem to find Sien’s act charming so much as scary, and quickly raised himself back up to comply with Sien’s demands.
“Ah y-yes, Lord, I’ll tell you right away! Erm, there’s been m-monster attacks lately, and several of the livestock have been taken away and most likely eaten. If it continues like this, then our town will suffer a food shortage, and we won’t be able to pay the next round of taxes! So I’d sent a request to you in the hopes that… Oh. In the… In…”
The mayor had started out quite frantic and had rushed out his words like it appeared that Sien wanted, but now that he had stood up and was able to look directly at Sien, he could see exactly how impatient and threatening Sien’s glare at him was. Understandably, his vision slowly dropped away from Sien’s menacing look, but it was clear that his gaze had paused its wandering precisely onto the spot where Sien and Ritt’s hands were still clasped together. In fact, not only his gaze paused, but his words seemed to be pausing as well, unable to finish coming out, all because he was too busy going wide eyed and confused over what he was seeing.
Ritt, noticing all of this as it happened, tried to courteously remove his hand from Sien’s, so that the man could finally finish his words. However, Sien’s hold on his hand was much too firm, and no matter how he wriggled, Ritt couldn’t manage to get his hand free. It was surprising, considering that Sien’s hold on him didn’t hurt or feel even a little bit tight. Such a gentle yet firm hold seemed completely impossible to Ritt.
Sien, noticing that Ritt was trying to let go of his hand, of course blamed everything on the mayor. He growled out his words, impatiently guessing the end of what the man was going to say.
“So there’s monsters that need killing. Yeah yeah, it always happens. Now hurry up and tell me where they’re killing your pets!”
Feeling the intensity of Sien’s glare go up a notch, and hearing the harsh tone that he spoke in, the mayor no longer had the courage to speak. He shakily raised a hand, pointing towards the south, in the opposite direction that the two of them had come from, and before even a second had passed, Sien had already started to march his way out of the door, dragging Ritt along behind him. Ritt looked back at the relieved looking mayor, giving him an apologetic smile until Sien turned and reached past him to slam the door shut again, removing the man from Ritt’s gaze.
Ritt couldn’t help but wonder if the poor mayor’s door would ever be able to open and close normally again.
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AN: So uh, I have a patreon, if you're interested. You can read 10 chapters ahead there, if you're up for paying the toll.
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