Chapter 92: The Nelbound

Things were becoming weird and awkward, but eventually, I calmed down. My initial excitement was gone and I could finally assess the situation without making a fuss. Kind off. 

First, this place was big, almost as big as the island itself. And there was fresh air. But more importantly, there were Mutors around they were sentient. Houses, markets, and clothes. Everything was here. 

There was definitely something here that I didn't understand. But panicking wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I rolled with it. 

"Can you tell me who's in charge here?" This was the first order of business. 

Both of them looked at me without blinking. Could reptiles even blink? I didn't know. 

"Let's take him to Zorl." The big lizard guy said. 

"Yes." The snake girl nodded and both of them looked at me. 

"I'm fine with all that, lead away." My saber was still hanging down my underwear, I wasn't unarmed. And if push came to shove, I could use my powers. 

But I was kind of hesitant to use my powers here. After all, these things were more like people than actual Mutors. 

They didn't say anything and just led me through the place. 

There was minimal light in here and it was almost like I was seeing blue arouras everywhere. Were we still underwater? Then where was the air coming from?

The ceiling was at least three stories high and it was awfully black. 

I looked around and got all sorts of stares from the locals. There were two kinds of Mutors here. The Mutors I was used to seeing were like pets while the ones on two legs were the owners. The Mutors in general were mostly aquatic, reptilian, or amphibian.  I guess that only made sense. Since they were surrounded by oceans. 

But strangely even in this cold weather, they weren't clothed heavily. 

But there were also some other types: animals, bugs. There were even bird Mutors that resembled humans: they were flying too. The more I went inside, the more amazed I was at all this. 

But none of them were acting hostile towards me.

'How come I've never heard about any of this?'

Fish, fresh meat, and even fruits were being sold in here. It was only one type of fruit though. I'd actually never seen that type of fruit. It was bright red in color and looked more or less like an inflated guava. 

"Do you want one?" The snake girl said. 

I might have been staring more intently than I thought. "NO, not really." I did want one though. "Who are you two?"

"I am Remia, he is Zig, my sworn brother."

The lizard man puffed his chest up in pride. I didn't know why he was feeling proud of being called sworn brother though. 

"I see. I am Helio. Nice to meet you two." For the first time ever, I introduced myself with my inherited name. I had enough of fooling around. If people were going to be afraid of this name, then so be it. But I was proud of my name. I was proud that I got Gramps' name. 

"He-Helio, you say! Are you, the son of our god!" both of them were squirming more than necessary. And before long, we were surrounded by people, people with armor and weapons that is. 

'God?'

I didn't like where this was going. But I still acted docile enough. I couldn't just act rash and start some war between humans and these guys. 

These people with armors led us to the center of this place. It wasn't a long walk, rather it was mostly skidding our way down on a small raft. The two reptiles, Remia and Zig came with us. 

From the looks of things, this whole place felt like a village of some sort. I didn't see any modern technology and the Mutors never showcased any special powers. 

There was a massive castle-like thing made of blue ice in the center. If I wasn't feeling bad about this before- which I definitely was- I was definitely now. 

"Lord, Karmmramu will see you now." A high and mighty half-frog guy led me into the building, while the two reptiles followed me around like I was some sort of deity. 

But at this point, I just gave up on understanding and just rolled with all this. 

The ice was crude but it didn't melt. Come to think of it, this place was at least 20 degrees, so how come things were still so solid?

I didn't understand and I didn't want to dwell on that either. So, I just walked on. 

"Who is this Kar-" I was whispering to my lizard friend to the right. 

But the frog guy overheard me. "He is the supreme leader of Nelbound."

I got the feeling that that was a warning, a warning to not speak dilly dally. 

The walls and floor were also made up of crude ice. But they weren't that cool to the touch. And they were also pretty solid. There were no signs of melting either. 

But why the hell was I feeling so damn cold?

This was a two-storied building and it reached the ceiling of this whole place. There were spiral stairs here and there, and there definitely were a lot of Mutors. 

But come to think of it, was the ceiling really just solid ground?

Before long, we arrived at a massive double door. 'Are these guys playing Empires or something?' I certainly didn't hope so. 

We went in, and before anything else, everyone around me bowed. 

But I just stared at the guy on the throne. This was a big room and there were soldiers in here. The guy on the throne was cloaked in a robe but I could see his ears. Did the guy even try to hide?

"Bow," Remia whispered. 

I sighed. I already had enough of this. I looked at the guy on the throne. "Hi, long time, no see. Care to explain?"

The soldiers were offended, even the frog guy. 

But before they could act, the guy on the throne meanwhile raised a hand, "Leave." and everyone, even the guards ran out of the room, as quickly as they could. 

Remia and Zig also went out and the door closed. 

"I never thought you'd make it here. I shouldn't have underestimated Julio's blood."

"So, I take it, you knew gramps as well? Anyway, I demand an explanation." I already had enough of surprises, but even so, even I was surprised at how calm I was. 

The guy burst out laughing. "It's kind of hard when you're like that. You kind of took in both of your parent's charms. This always throws me off balance, you know." He kept on laughing. "Just pick a side and stick with it."

I had no idea what he was talking about but I sure had questions. "Are Mutors sentient?"

"That should be self-explanatory. But I do understand your confusion." He cleared his throat and removed his cloak. 

His large elephant ears poked happily. If it weren't for those ears, I wouldn't have recognized the guy. 

"SO, headmaster, explain." I crossed my arms and just stared him down. "And this is where you were spending your weeks I suppose."

He smirked. "Alright, brat, take a seat." He got off from his throne and sat down on the cold floor. I didn't like this but took my seat too. 

My bottom hated me for that. 

***

"We first came into contact with them Sixty-five years ago. I was a freshman at this academy at the time."

My butt was freezing and this guy was singing his life story like a lullaby.

"Can you get to the point please?"

He laughed again. I really hated that. "I envy your bloodline." His laughter stopped. "That was back when we were sent off to a small island for the finals of my freshman year. I really hated your grandfather and as fate would have it, I was partnered with the bastard." He made a fist and grinded his teeth. "Damn that geezer! That bastard just had to put me up with your old man. Oh, apologies. Your other old man." He kept on laughing. At this point, I just got used to it. It didn't make sense; I didn't care. "So anyway, it was during that time, we came into contact with a girl. The girl was half human and half Kin, similar to your lineage, but in her case, she was half-half in a literal sense. Her bottom half was that of a tiger, and the above portion was human. And I tell you, she was beautiful." The guy squirmed around. 

"Enough with the perverseness, can you move on with the story? What happened next?" 

"She was the only one we found. And though I insisted on taking her back, your gramps kind of ruined the mood and made me keep her a secret: but this trip did make our bonds grow and we became friends and rivals. Eventually, years passed and I forgot about it: besides, I couldn't understand them, so I didn't bother to care all that much either. But then things happened and with the help of your grandfather and another moron, I took over the island- this island. But then all of a sudden one day, I had a dream. So I talked with your grandfather and made a deal with him. But frankly, he was more interested than me. He kind of fell in love with a halfling himself." The guy looked at me with a smirk. "That beautiful tiger lady." 

'So, you morons literally took over the whole island?' 

I didn't know much about grandmother, and I never spent much time with her either. So I had no clue if she was even human or not. But she sure didn't have tiger legs if nothing else. But come to think of it, she always did wear baggy clothes. 

Or was the tiger lady gramps' side hustle? I sure didn't hope so. 

"Next, what happened next!" I was getting excited for no reason. 

"We built this place, with the help of one of our friends: your gramps, I and one more idiot became the gods. We secured Halflings from all over the world and brought them here. Turns out, Mutors eventually evolve and become Halflings over time. So given enough time, they might actually become more and more human." Hmm, he pondered for a second. "Meaning eventually, every Mutor will turn humanoid."

"Can we confirm that? And why haven't you made this public?"

"Of course, there are reasons. Not all Mutors are-"

"Lord Karmmramu! It's-" A soldier barged into the room. 

I almost half snorted, half giggled at his name. It was very hard to control. It wasn't this funny the first time around, but now that I knew, who this geezer was, this was funnier than anything else today. 

The headmaster stood up and covered himself at blazing speeds. "Report!"