Chapter 11: Ch 11: Frustration and Facades (Part 1)

“Say, it mentioned appetite, right? Is she... going to be eaten?” 

“No my dear boy. Now that they’ve sworn vassalage under the Fleuwagian Kingdom, the ogre clans are forbidden to eat humans. I’m afraid it meant something possibly worse than death.”

"Great... How frickin' great..."

Dar slumped over the table in silence once again, his bowl of steaming noodles still resting by his head, completely untouched. The inn they were staying at seemed pretty luxurious for a place constructed in a village full of barbaric giants. Silk tapestries of every part of the spectrum were draped across the wooden beams supporting the upper floors, and long red couches were set against the gleaming marble walls. 

"What the hell's even going on?" Dar murmured, still sitting face-down "Why won't they let anyone leave the village?"

The air reverberated with clamour from both Ogres and tamer-looking folk alike, punctuating his train of thought. And the fact that his company consisted only of Malfried did not help at all. 

'I'll get us out of this,' huh? I don't even know where to start...

"Apparently the Ogres are looking for one of their chieftain's killers." Malfried replied, pulling his stringy beard "Though I must say, prioritizing that over my safety is utterly ridiculous! In fact, my security should be tripled at the very least. Especially since a murderer is at large!"

"I see..." Dar said, eyes still half closed. Then they widened. "Wait... what?"

Had Malfried really said something useful this time?

"I know my dear boy. Their inconsideration is unbeliev--"

"No not that." the actor interrupted "Run what you were saying from the beginning,"

As the scholar repeated his words grumpily, Dar's blood ran cold.

"How did their chief die?"

"He was pushed off a cliff, from what I've heard. But that's beside the point. You see--"

Dar's thoughts ran wild, drowning out the rest of Malfried's haughty rambling. If his assumptions were correct, the Ogres must be out for him. That was sure to make things much harder. The only good thing he managed to discern from this, was that no one must've seen him that fateful day. Still, he had to take every possible measure to make sure he wasn't recognized, including removing his bandage and even cutting some of his hair.

Damn it. How was I supposed to know I killed some bigshot? No wonder he gave so much experience...

A pale pair of hands entered his line of sight, placing a cup of water beside his noodle bowl.

"Reii kashr," Dar said plainly "Your fingers are very pretty,"

He learnt how to say some basic phrases in ogreish merely through observation, but unknown to him, the person standing behind him was not an Ogre at all.

"Ah-- Eto--, I mean Dolly?" he quickly corrected himself "Sorry, I mistook you for the server. You're back already?"

Standing next to her was Malfried's blonde assistant, who had seemingly just finished with getting Dolly changed into a more respectable outfit. The potato sack was no more, now replaced with a navy blue blouse and brown ankle-length skirt. Both classy and timelessly fashionable, her clothes only served to make the beauty the twins shared, much more apparent.

"I thought I should probably dress differently." Dolly replied, looking dubiously at her skirt and shuffling. He had to resist the urge to ask her to twirl "They may have recognized the bag you stole, after all,"

"Good thinking,"

Whilst yesterday's events had obviously hit her quite hard, she seemed to be doing a good job at not letting it show. However, Dar could somehow feel her fear as a result of being joined by the soul. And she could probably feel his. What they both found most worrying was their inability to sense Etoile's. Dar figured that having one third of their soul killed off was extremely unhealthy. He really needed to draft up some sort of recue plan.

You are reading story Tethered By The Soul System at novel35.com

Dar clenched his hand around the cup, unaware of a newcomer's arrival at their table until its tall shadow loomed over the four of them. The ogre cleared it's throat and flourished it's cloak in a manner that appeared ten times more impressive than Malfried's. Part of the inn seemed to agree, as they began to pipe down and watch. 

"Rehja io <Buran of Zharita!>" it boomed, drawing even more onlookers "<Thank you for> urikhassi"

The ogre then proceeded to take out a large pouch of gold and dropped it heavily onto the table, causing some water to spill as it shuddered under the weight. And with that, it promptly swept it's cloak once more before leaving. The idle chatter returned once more, but this time Dar could sense some envious gazes on him. 

"Quite a hefty sum," Malfried said, looking at Dar's dumbfounded expression "It's payment for the slave transaction. A mere fraction of my own treasures, but--"

The actor swore under his breath. This 'Buran' guy was clearly rubbing salt in his wounds. It didn't need to give small fry like him any payment in the first place. He was being mocked for his inability to stop him. And a small part of Dar silently agreed. What could he possibly do? 

However, though he could just be overthinking it, Dar couldn't help but wonder whether there was a dual meaning.

Is this a challenge? Did it already know I never planned on giving up?

The remnants of Dar's trampled pride seemed to stir. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he sure as hell wouldn't let things go the way this Ogre wanted. He felt wholly responsible for what happened, after all.

"I'm going to my room," Dar said promptly, as he rose from his seat "Thanks for the food,"

"You barely even ate! Do you even know where our rooms are?"

"I'll manage."

 

 

 

After climbing a few flights of stairs, Dar finally reached the room he was meant to be sharing with Malfried. It's layout was exactly to Dar's tastes, which was to say, perfectly simplistic. The only thing he could possibly wish for, was a sound-proof wall straight down the middle. That way the narcissistic scholar could satisfy his ears with his own echoing voice.

He wanted some time alone to bounce ideas off himself and it's scarcely furnished interior would help if only a tiny bit. But the presence that had been tailing him for the past couple minutes seemed to have other plans.

"I know you're behind me. What did you want to talk about?"

"You... Know?"

It was Fiel, Malfried's assistant. She'd been watching him closely since they met and Dar could tell she was bursting to say something. Judging from her awkward English, he could see that she was currently struggling to form words Dar might understand. As she flicked open a massive book titled "Classical Rustarrian to Arashiran By Malfried, Great Sage of Edelweiss, two-time winner of the Annual Glyph Translation Contest," Dar decided to make her job a little easier for her.

"<Speaking> Ogre <is fine>" he said, causing her to flinch.

 

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