Chapter 9: Relaxing?

Passing through the huge doors, Fen felt as if he moved from one world to another. With the turmoil of the crowded streets disappearing as soon as the gate was closed behind his back, the young man entered a place that he would never guess to be hidden within such an inconspicuous building.

"You are finally back! What the heck took you so long? Do you think running this place is free?"

Before Fen could even finish feasting his eyes on the cosiness of this place, an angry female voice pulled his attention to a young woman that entered the main hall from one of the many corridors.

With her short, brown hair encompassing her relatively cute although a slightly rough face, she gave off the vibes of someone who would take care of the others while whining their motivation to live out of them at the same time.

"You know that it's not up to me how fast the caravan will be moving. If you want to whine, go and bother the merchant that employed me."

Shrugging the female's nagging off, Mark took off his luxurious coat before hanging it on the wall beside the doors. Yet rather than going deeper into the hall, as it would mean getting closer to the clearly hostile female, he just stood up in his place while forming a small tube with his hands.

"Firo! Where are you! Come here at once!"

Almost instantly after the shout resounded in the building, a frail-looking girl wearing just a plain dress holding a broom in her hands came running, before stopping right in the middle of the room and bowing deeply. It would suffice to say at this point that her skimpy dress didn't cover her surprisingly robust bust, instantly improving Fen's mood.

"Ready for the order, sir!"

Straightening up in one instant, this maid changed the hold on her broom as if it was a spear while looking at Mark with eyes filled to the brim with suspicion.

"Here we go again… Leave her alone, will you?"

From how tense the atmosphere in the room turned with the first girl's remark, Fen could guess that there was something going on between the three of them in the background. Yet, as if the recent events wasn't enough to make him confused, he wasn't given any time to rest or think about the entire situation!

"Nadia, catch."

Initially ignoring the cute, blonde maid as if she didn't exist at all, Mark took the same pouch that the merchant gave to him, before throwing it right at the short-haired girl.

"This is the investment for this boy sponsorship. I hope you will take a good care of him while I'm away. Also, send a word to Hekarion, I need him as soon as possible."

If the atmosphere was tense previously, then Mark just made it possible to cut it with a knife with just two sentences of his. But with just a quick observation, Fen realised that although Firo pretended to act all high and mighty by acting as if she understood what was going on, the sheer curiosity that struck him from her eyes was a clear giveaway that she was just as much in the dark as he was himself.

"Sponsorship? Call Hekarion? Did you lose your mind?!"

After a moment of tense silence, Nadia suddenly erupted. Slamming her hands at the table that was unlucky enough to be in front of her, she had her eyes wide open, as if she couldn't believe it was really Mark that said those words.

"Firo. Go grab some clothes and help this boy to get clean. Also, I hope there is still some soup ready."

Rather than replying, the petite girl only tightened her grip on the handle of her broom, before nodding her head. Moving a few steps forward, she caught Fen's arm, before pulling him away into the inner part of the building.

Sadly, despite hearing the loud voices coming out from the main hall of the building, the thick walls that soon separated him from the Mark and his female friend quickly made it impossible to discern the words and make sense of what they were talking about.

Additionally, as soon as he was pushed into a strange room by this maid, all his worries disappeared. In this very moment, his mind had to fully focus on his current situation!

"Take off your clothes and jump into the water. I will be back shortly!"

Instructing the young man as if that was nothing, this strange maid stormed out of the room right after. But to tell him to get naked? Despite openly claiming that she would be back soon?

'Are the city people really that open?'

Even back in his village, peeking on the girls or boys if someone was born as a female, was considered to be one of the greatest transgression one could commit while young! Despite living in the orphanage for nearly his entire life, outside of this single failed rendezvous with Galia, he has never seen how a girl looked without her clothes!

Yet, once you go amongst the cows, you need to meow just like them. Keeping in mind that he was still kind of a guest in this place, Fen didn't really have any choice but to follow the orders he was given! After all, showing himself naked couldn't be as bad as being executed on the stake!

Despite all his worries, after throwing his tattered rugs out of his back and getting inside a huge pool occupying nearly three-fourths of the entire chamber, Fen simply lost all the energy to think about his past and current problems.

For the first time in his entire life, he sank his entire body with the exception of his head, in warm water! Even with his fire, getting a bucket of cleaning water a bit warmer than normal was a challenge, so a pool filled with warm and bubbly fluid that somehow continued to make his body relax was a miracle on its own!

Yet, just as Fen could finally calm down and enjoy himself for a moment, his inner peace was disturbed once again.

"Sorry for the wait!"

Coming inside the chamber as if it was nothing, Firo announced her arrival before dropping something soft on the floor. Yet, the true surprise came when the young man actually turned his head around!