Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Survive the freeze, please! part

Anne and Helena were going crazy, the place was filled with furniture and stuff that had been delivered earlier. They didn’t know where to put things anymore and everything was a mess.

“What are you guys doing?”

Said Ryu as he got into the tavern along with Rina.

“It’s all your fault, you bought too many things!”

Anne complained arms crossed.

“Uhhh, yeah, but there’s plenty of space at the storage room. Tavern’s gonna be closed for a while now and we will need the space. You know what, forget about that, just gather everyone, we need to talk”

Ryu said as he walked upstairs and came back with Sera on his arms. Her face was bright red and she clung on to Ryu’s neck with all her might. Anne and Helena came running, they didn’t know what happened in between Ryu and Rina, but since they were out most of the day and bought a lot of stuff they didn’t know what to expect.

.....

“Helena, I need you to take a look at her arm and see if you can do something”

“Show me your arm sweetie, I’ll see what I can do”

Helena spoke as if she was talking to a child making Sera blush.

“Uhm, Helena... Sera is my elder sister”

Claire explained awkwardly. The fact was that Helena couldn’t be blamed for thinking Sera was a child, her features were not feminine at all, she just looked like a scrawny kid because of her undernourishment.

Helena placed her hand on Sera’s swollen arm, it looked gruesome but she didn’t feel any pain.

“Try to move it a little please”

When Sera tried to move her hand, Helena couldn’t bear the pain she felt from bond she established and yelped, making Sera flinch. Sera was already familiar with the pain and didn’t think much of it, but to Helena it was something unbearable.

“I- I Think its broken. I don’t know If I can help with this”

Helena said with teary eyes. Everyone else kept quiet.

“could you try to heal her anyways?”

When Ryu nodded at Helena, her hands started shinning in an intense light that almost blinded everyone in the room.

“You’re a priest!?”

Dylan jaw dropped to the floor.

“I am! but how did you know!?”

“My mom was a priest and my father a warrior, they taught me everything about it! Now everything makes sense! you all have classes, that’s why the silver goddess is so beautiful... errr I mean, so strong”

“Dylan, you need to tell me everything”

“It’s not what you think I swear! I haven’t done anything, I just love her, I mean, I saw her naked once but... No! that’s not it she saved my life and now I’m hers, I- I mean”

“Dylan stop talking nonsense, I mean about the classes”

Ryu grunted while Anne was blushing. She did recall when she was cleaning herself in the storage and she left the door unlocked thinking that Ryu might show up, but it turned out to be Dylan.

“O- Ok, First I need to know where do you guys come from, my parents were from the sacred empire and there might be some differences”

“We come from different places, but if we told you, you’d probably think we’re crazy”

Ryu replied

“Not crazier than being from a village nearby... no one ventures south from here. I’ve never believed for a second you came from the forest”

Rina shrugged. Everyone was a bit tense, except from Eiri and Kairi who didn’t know anything about anything.

“Just continue please, and for your information Rina, we did come from the woods. I can take you to our settlement once winter is over if you want”

Seeing Ryu talking with such confidence made her doubt, but she has seen with her very own eyes many people going into the woods only to never be seen again.

“Whenever someone reaches adulthood, a ceremony is performed in the oracle, which allows to communicate with god. Once the connection is established, said person might choose a class as long as they meet the requirements. There are four different basic classes: Warrior, Archer, Thief and Priest.

Warriors have powerful physical skills that allow them to perform beyond what a human being can, Archers are nimble in their feet and have high stamina, Thieves are evil doers that use stealth to commit crimes and finally priests are the most sacred and powerful basic class. Priests are chosen only by god and once they become priests they are provided with unlimited knowledge and power, they have the ability to heal people with nothing but a touch and can cure any disease”

“Yeah, I think your description is a bit biased”

Anne said staring at him, while Helena limited herself to smile awkwardly when hearing the last part.

“How does one get more energy?”

Ryu prompted Dylan to continue

“By killing, anything you kill gives you a small amount of their energy”

“What about the stats?”

“When two people have a baby, the newborn comes into this world with random stats, but there’s a chance they may inherit one or more of their parent’s stats. They can be acquired by training too, that’s why people goes crazy about the mine in this town. While you can get some stats by plowing the land or chopping wood, the fastest way to become stronger is through mining, once people gets strong enough to fight without dying in a single hit they become hunters. Everyone starts as support, but again, when they become strong enough they become front liners”

“That explains why some people were still alive after receiving horrible injuries when we were attacked by the wolves”

“Yes, that reminds me. In the empire people were ranked with a letter. F rank are the common people. E rank would be people like me, that are yet to receive the god’s blessing. D class are people like miss Helena, people with a basic class. C class would be the ones with more than one basic class, but those are pretty rare. B class are those that received an unusual blessing, allowing them to become a different class entirely, when my parents were at the empire there was an arch bishop at the head of the church and they told me there was also a holy knight. Beasts are ranked too, but I dont know about that”

“Ok, last question, you told me about skills, but what about messages?”

“Messages are sent by god through the obelisk, there was a holy crusade to hold control of the obelisk and the sacred empire won. Most people in Ironwoods don’t have a class because even if they met the requirements, we don’t have an oracle in here. The mayor does provide an alternative, but it’s expensive and people who get a class usually leave town. About you...”

“Anne is an archer and Helena a priest, I don’t have a class yet”

Ryu shrugged

“That’s no necessarily a bad thing, you can pick a class whenever you want. I’ll be going to the oracle as soon as the ice melts”

Ryu was so focused talking with Dylan that he failed to notice the temperature in the room started to drop drastically. Only when his breath was visible to the naked eye and the cold gave him goosebumps did he notice that something was off.

“What’s happening?”

“You really didn’t know? this is the freeze. It’s so sudden that sometimes people get caught off guard outside, if you’re not inside a house you’re as good as dead”

Claire said as she took an iron brazier and turned it on, it was fueled by elemental stones and emitted a constant stream of hot air that soon warmed the whole tavern. Ryu took a look around and noticed that there was ice under the door and the wood creaked as if it was being twisted by an invisible hand.

“If this is as bad as it gets, I can get used to it”

Anne said getting.

“It’s not bad as long as you stay inside with one of those. These braziers are the main reason why miners live so crowded in a big building. With just one of these you can keep a whole building at a decent temperature. We shouldn’t have a problem but I recommend you to keep your doors open the whole time or temperature will drop rapidly”

Rina explained and everyone nodded.

After the chat they started organizing everything as best as they could, they placed the tables and chairs, some dart boards. After decorating and tidying up it looked like a different place, it wasn’t high end as the brothel, but it looked warm and lively, except for the fact that there weren’t any clients inside.

Claire and Ryu went into the kitchen to fix something to eat. After the freeze she will be taking charge of the kitchen, that’s why Ryu needed to get her ready before that. In only two weeks she needed to be at least as good as him, which meant they were going to spend long hours at the kitchen.

“I’m sorry for troubling you with my sister’s health condition”

Claire said abruptly while peeling off a potato.

“Don’t worry about it, she’ll feel better soon, just be patient, I think... ahhh!”

Ryu replied, when he was suddenly interrupted by Rina’s hand that pinched his ass firmly.

“Oh, darling are you already cheating on me?”

“what!? no!”

“Then why did you get so scared?”

She grinned mischievously.