Ilias Temple and its village (Part 2.1)
(The final act of Part 2)
Seeing the curious, and frequent, situation unfolding in front of her eyes. Old lady Erika felt the need to comment. Looking over the stand and to the exited small boy, she quipped with a small smile gracing her face:
"Still trying to get random adventurers to teach you swordplay, Luka boy?"
"So he does this often?", questioned Peter, finding all of this very funny. A bigger smile grew on his face as he pondered how to respond to the kid. He did have time, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem to spend a few minutes showing off a technique or two to keep the kid satisfied. Because of course, when children ask for something like this, what they really want is not to learn actual, proper martial arts, but to look at something cool; maybe even copy it themselves so they can boast about it. And the way this kid's eyes shone in wonder, he was definitely one of those that liked tales of adventures, swords and magic…
At least this world's equivalent of those. He remembered skimming through the "Tale of the Great Hero Heinrich" or some sort while he was reading up on history. It was another one of those badly told stories with many holes left behind. Again, like the "Great Monster Wars", it was told more like a fairy tale rather than a proper history or biography. It was pretty weird how its supposedly something that actually happened… or at least the rough outlines did. Peter didn't really swallow that kind of stuff, but he had to admit that something must have happened if it was important enough to be mentioned in history books, even children's ones.
"Yeah, yeah. Luka's obsessed with stories of heroes and adventurers, you know? I'd wager he reads Heinrich's tale about 10 times per year, or something like that. Every time a warrior comes here, he asks them to train him for a day.", Erika pointed out, jokingly.
Looks like the boy is a bit more serious than he had thought. But an entire day… he was not sure if he'd like to spend that much time with the kid right now. This is his first time in the village, he should prioritize his connections instead of horsing around with a child.
Choosing to at least get more information about the new duo before coming to a decision, it seemed it was time for introductions.
"I figured.", grinning, Peter said. "… But how about we introduce ourselves first? It's not good manners to ask someone to teach you martial arts without even knowing their names.", The young man turned to the mother-son duo, putting his hands on his hip and relaxing his smile. A friendly semblance, but not an overly cheerful one. Too much cheerfulness wasn't ideal when introducing yourself to certain kinds of people. Since the boy's mother looked the calm and serious type, then better tone down a bit.
Luka looked down in embarrassment, blushing, he had forgotten something as basic as introducing himself.
"Ugh, so adorable!", Peter's internal voice said, letting some of his gushing show on his smile.
The three adults laughed softly at his antics. Which made the boy blush a little bit harder. Peter though that if the kid was doing this on purpose to convince him to teach, then he was really dangerous; even scarier was the idea that he was naturally that cute.
It was like looking at a sad puppy. Very few people went unaffected by it, and Peter was not one of those. In fact, he was probably weaker to it, in comparison.
"Shit, now I'd feel bad if I refuse his wish. I was thinking of showing off just a little bit, but with the way this is going he could actually guilt trip me into spending more time than intended". Our protagonist, being weak to cute things, pondered if he should take the mental damage and only spend a couple minutes with Luka or actually go through until the boy was satisfied
Besides, with the kind of clothes they were wearing, they must be some of the richer ones in this village, so it's good to already make a good impression on them, right?. Let's see, in this town, what kind of job would a family of their caliber have?... Artisans? Landlords? Merchants? Those were the big three the young man could think of. Either way, important people, with money.
Deciding he wanted to know who they were, Peter formulated an introduction that was to his tastes, and hopefully, to the mother's.
"My name is Peter. I'm the son of a rural family from Natalia, and worked as makeshift security for our farm. Due to a personal situation, I'm going to be staying in this area for an indefinite amount of time, and so I'm currently looking for work. I sincerely hope to continue receiving your generous kindness from now on.", bowing his head slightly, the young man tried a more formal and full approach. Hoping that by doing as such he'd sound sincere and polite to the woman. More importantly, by mentioning his previous and current state of affairs, he'd hoped she would mention hers.
But his plans where interrupted by the one thing he didn't expect.
"My, look at how polite you are now! Decided to try your hand at Lucifina, heh?" the old lady teasingly remarked. Finding this the perfect opportunity to butt into Peter's plans and prod at him.
"W-What? No?! I'd never try to seduce a woman I don't even know the name of! Much less right in front of her son!", freaking out a bit, Peter desperately tried to salvage what he thought was a bad situation.
It was just in his head of course, but due to his prudish nature and the situation he was currently in, he ended up taking that comment seriously. To be fair, he HAD been affected by Lucifina's beauty, assumed some things about her that weren't necessarily true and was caught off guard while scheming. More than anything else, he was weak to being called out on these things outside formal events. Those he could fake interest and go along with the comments, and even play along for a bit. But having his words turned against him in conditions like these revealed just how shy Peter really was.
Even worse, it sounded like HE was hitting on HER.
So the young man sweat dropped and blushed, his weak excuse now even weaker. Of course, this wouldn't go unnoticed by neither Erika nor Lucifina.
Of course, they went on the attack.
"Well, well, well. It seems like I hit bullseye. Lucifina, what do you think? Wanna give the young man a chance?", Erika readied the spear, pointing at Peter's heart. Her cheshire-like smile announcing the end of the hunt.
And with a calm and collected expression, the mother delivered the coup de grace. Looking directly into Peter's eyes, Lucifina said what to our protagonist felt like a Daystar of cringe.
"I'm sorry young man, but I'm already married and have a son. Maybe next time you should go for someone more your age? If those are adequate to your tastes, of course,", returning to her days of cruelty during the Great Monster Wars, she annihilated her prey and bathed in their pain and suffering.
"Yeah, mom already has dad!", pointed Luka, wanting to say his piece after finally getting what they were saying.
"… I did not know you were into milfs"
Even his mind seemed ready to kick him while he was down.
"… Excuse me, can I go to a corner and cry out in pain for a moment?", said the defeated Peter.
Still with a neutral look on her face, Lucifina though it was too good of an opportunity to let pass and proceeded with ripping out the guts of her enemy and relish herself with them.
"Don't worry, there's plenty of older fish in the sea". She said as she desecrated our protagonists metaphorical corpse.
"You're cruel", said Peter.
"I've been told that before.", said Lucifina.
"…"
"…"
"… sigh"
"… hehehehe" both woman laughed softly.
Fighting housewives, not even once.
"At least that confirms that she's Luka's mother.", Peter consoled himself with the new information he got. "But Lucifina, huh? What a name.". Seeing the woman laugh at his expense, he though her name was quite appropriate.
"Satania would have been a good fit too, you damn sadist. In fact, Erika, why don't you change your name to that, so that you two have matching names?". Is what Peter wanted to say. But, of course, not only would it bring many questions in his direction, but he also had his fill of being the object of their jokes.
"Married women are invincible."
They sure are…
Remembering his own mother, Peter cringed at how she could always whip the males of the family into shape whenever she got angry. It was not often she did, but when it happened, it was like being hit by a meteor… 666 times over. Her words would emasculate any who heard them, and not even God or the Devil would be able to withstand her onslaught. Worse, not paying attention to her lectures would result in her getting even angrier.
One time, his uncle had the audacity to talk back to her.
He lost his balls forever that day.
Sighing through his nose. Our protagonist admitted to losing this one.
Turning to look at the boy, Peter tried to retain some of his dignity by teasing the boy.
"So, you want to learn martial arts. Swordsmanship, right? Why? Is it to impress some lucky lassie?", putting on his best whimsical smile, Peter waited for the boy's reaction.
"Ah…" behind him, he could hear old Erika say.
What?
Bobbing up and down with excitement, Luka said proudly and confidently.
"To find my father! He left on an adventure to drive out the darkness that's covering the world! He's amazing, I want to find him and be a hero just like he is!"
"I want to be a hero!"
…
…
…
Well shit.
"Ugh, seriously? How do I deal with this?", left completely dumbfounded, Peter chose to look back at the two women, who had stopped laughing real quick, and see their reactions.
He turned slowly.
Lucifina was, again looking at him in the eye, but this time he could feel a certain seriousness in her expression. Not knowing what to make of it quite yet, he looked at Erika. She, on the other hand, was trying her best to smile. Though the sides of her mouth trembled slightly, it was obvious that she did not like hearing about this and was making an effort to try and get the atmosphere back on track to lead the conversation somewhere else.
Yeah, that wasn't going to be easy.
Analyzing the boy's answer more closely. Our protagonist only got angrier and angrier at the man and sadder and sadder for Luka.
He slowly turned back to look at Luka.
"I can also take a guess and say that none of us liked his answer, in more ways than one". His father left him behind for a vague reason such as "driving out the darkness that's covering this world" and what he wants to do? Go and find him. Moreover, the kid obviously idolizes this guy, saying that "he wants to be a hero like him".
Yeah, it was definitely up there on the bullshit scale. In fact, this was probably the biggest one he had ever seen in person.
As the young man clenched his jaw, he wondered what he should say to the boy. Many things passed in his mind, all of then dying before reaching the throat. Peter didn't really know this kid but already felt the need to do something about it. However, again, he met this kid just now, there wasn't much he could do…
Frustrated, Peter hadn't realized the expression he was making.
"Mister, why are you looking at me like that?", said Luka with a tone somewhere between fearful, confused and empathetic?
Reflected in Luka's eyes, Peter saw it.
A face so contorted it barely resembled himself. Teeth clenched in a deep frown and eyes wet and wide. His eyebrows had raised so much, deep wrinkles formed on his forehead. His figure twitched every now and then.
It was a look that reflected primal fear, deep rage and a great tiredness. More than that, it looked that he was barely holding onto his tears.
Peter slowly put a palm to his face.
"YOU RUINED MY LIFE!", a voice screamed inside his head.
...
"...Calm down, Peter.".
It is said a dirty person soils everything they touch.
No matter where they go, be it their own home or a different universe, they cannot escape from themselves.
Just now, Peter was reminded of that.
"Luka, about the swordsmanship training. We're doing it."
"Mmn", Luka nodded slowly, not sure how to feel about what just happened.
…
Lucifina was not sure she wanted that man to teach her son swordsmanship. Not that she wanted him to learn sword skills in the first place, but this seemed even worse.
Peter was obviously unstable, and she did not want a madman to come in contact with her Luka.
As she readied herself to talk him down, Erika grabbed her shoulder.
"That young man seems like a good person to me."
"He's obviously emotionally challenged, do you really think he's safe?"
"I think he's a good person, give him a chance. After all, that's what we do here in Iliasville right? Help those in need?"
Reminded of how they had helped her get used to human life, all without urging her to answer a single question, Lucifina noticed an emotionally scarred person was much less suspicious than she was.
"I'm not asking you to simply accept him Lucifina, I'm asking you to give him a chance."
"… why do you trust him so much, Erika?"
"Because he's an honest person, Lucifina. Emotionally honest, I mean. It seems to me he legitimately likes helping people, and… as much as he tried to hide it, he's quite similar to Luka himself".
"Similar to Luka?"
"Just try it out, I think both have something to learn from each other."
"...fine"
Admitting her loss, Lucifina heeded Erika's council and decided to give the young man a chance.
Funny, as powerful as she was, even after coming to the lower world, she still lost to Erika in terms of wisdom.
…
"That old lady really is similar to the wine shop woman in Peter's memories".
"I barely had to nudge things into place".
…
..
.
Hello! John, here.
This was supposed to be the final act of last chapter, here it is for you to enjoy. I'm still having migraine problems, not as much as last time but it's still interfering in my sleep. So the actual part 3 will be delayed again :(.
So at the very least I tried to make up for it by publishing what was planned to be the final part of last chapter. Again, I'm very sorry for the delays, this is a very embarrassing thing to be doing so early in the story.
As always, your opinions are precious!