Chapter 25

Aleph was too tired to care about the future… even if it was a very intermediate future related to him. He knew it wasn't the best attitude, but given his exhaustion, he couldn't help it. Fortunately, Hei showed up soon enough.

“It seems that you are all fine; I am glad. Heirina gave me a summary of the situation… I want to talk with you all about this eventually, but only once you are all well-rested. You are all welcome to stay here. I will talk with your families and inform you of that.”

“Sorry, but I would rather sleep in an inn. No offense.”

“I guess we can't force you…”

Hei looked a bit troubled since keeping everyone in the same place was the best way to deal with the situation, but he knew how reserved Aleph was. Heirina had an idea of how to convince him, though.

“You will be able to eat freely here without paying any extra. Considering how much you eat, you will go bankrupt in no time.”

“Nice try.”

Kaitrine let out a very exasperated sigh after that moment. She usually had few reasons to be annoyed at Aleph, but now she had one.

“Can't you stop thinking about yourself only for a moment? We are all in the same boat here. How do you plan to join the group when you are this self-centered?”

“Well, forgive me for making full use of my newfound freedom.”

After hearing that, even Kaitrine had to stop right there… Aleph was being difficult, but he had the right to decide things for himself like that. There was no point in him staying there for someone else's convenience.

“Aaaahhh… whatever, I will stay here for two days since that is probably how much sleep I need. After that, I will leave even if I have to disguise myself.”

“Thanks for the understanding. I will guide you all to the rooms.”

In the end, Aleph was too tired to pay attention to his surroundings. He also didn't pay much attention to what was said before. He just listened to the words when a room was opened for him, and then he jumped on the bed and fell asleep in a few seconds.

After sleeping for a full day, Aleph eventually woke up. He was starving since his wounds had healed, and that consumed his body's nutrients. When he looked around, he found himself in a pretty fancy room. It was weird for the house of a military leader to have such a place… Aleph assumed that the clan was rewarded with that kind of thing at some point in the past.

After Aleph left the room, he saw that the place was mostly made of high-quality wood that was always shining… keeping the dust from piling in should need a lot of work. Aleph was expecting to see some slaves there. Still, he only saw people wearing normal clothes, doing some chores, or carrying weapons or other tools. Since he was a bit grumpy thanks to the hunger, Aleph assumed that Hei should have sent away his slaves while he was there… then again, after thinking too much about it, there was no reason for Hei to give that much value to what Aleph thinks.

Before long, Aleph arrived in the living room and found Heirina reading some scrolls. From a distance, Aleph took a peek at them, but he didn’t understand a single thing. As expected, even though he possibly had someone else's memories, the language was different.

“You are finally up, and I imagine that you are hungry. What do you want to eat?”

“I can wait for the next meal.”

“As always, you are a pain to deal with while trying to be considerate and keep your distance as well.”

 “The others have been sleeping since yesterday when they went to bed late. They slept a lot during the day, after all. You can sit anywhere you like.”

Aleph heard the words, but he decided not to obey. He had relaxed too much in that house already. It was time to stay on guard instead of making himself vulnerable. Still, even though he was used to keeping himself busy, Aleph didn’t have a hard time seeing time pass. In one of the rarest moments that he didn’t have to do anything, he felt some peace and solace seeing time passing outside through one of the living room's windows.

Things in the training grounds were intense since a lot of people were trying to enlist in the clan, and the tests in one week would keep things busy. Aleph was planning to participate in the tests and work for the clan for six months to get a feel of what life would be like there. If he didn’t find things satisfying, he was planning to move on, and that would be that.

Things calmed down on the training grounds around noon, so the people began to disperse. Around the same time, Irlan, Kaitrine, and Edea left their rooms and showed up. They sure got comfortable in someone else’s home to sleep until noon. A few moments later, Hei came from the training grounds, too.

“It seems that everyone is here… but let’s have lunch first. I am starving.”

“Aleph should be as well, I can hear his stomach grumbling.”

Aleph raised his eyebrows at Heirina’s poor attempt at a joke. She was another who had relaxed too much upon arriving home. Still, it couldn’t be helped.

“That must be the sound of you going senile despite your age.”

The group headed toward the dining room and found a large table there with a bunch of chairs. Maybe Hei received a lot of visitors… in any case, some people brought a lot of food for them, and soon they left. Aleph wondered what happened to Hei’s wife… since they decided to eat before anyone else could show up. It wasn’t like Aleph felt off by seeing spoons and forks in a while. Still, he sure felt weird using them when they were made of silver… being a clan leader was pretty profitable, apparently.

Regardless, during the mission, everyone learned how much Aleph tended to eat given the chance, so they couldn’t help but look at him astonished when he finished his meal and didn’t ask for seconds. Heirina was starting to think that she was pretty good at humor, so she decided to try again.

“Are you dying?”

Aleph decided to ignore the comments while he was planning his own steps for the future. He would have to consider the clan's steps. Still, he would have enough freedom to do what he wanted, and that was more important than paying attention to Heirina’s nonsense.

“If everyone is satisfied, then we can start talking. It is a bit soon to confirm anything yet, but I can at least say that no ravens have come from the merchants' territory in the last three days. It doesn’t look like they are making any moves until now. However, after asking around for a bit to the people that I trust, I learned that a bunch of clan members were contacted by people from outside and asking if they were interested in working for other people’s territories once they were done working with us.”

Aleph looked confused about that, so they explained to him that people working for the clan signed contracts to work for it for a certain period. It could be a year, two years, or five years. His plans to work there for six months were shattered, but it made sense since not much could be done or happen in six months. Irlan considered Hei’s words for a moment…

“Sir, did they say who tried to contact them, or did the other part not mention anything?”

“Some of them were mercenaries that belonged to other territories, but most of them were contacted by people who seemed like merchants who wanted bodyguards. While that kind of recruiting isn’t unusual, it is a bit odd at times like this… since warriors need to protect the country, not a small group of people.”

“They are obviously merchants that work directly for the council of merchants, Dad.”

“The likelihood is high, but we can’t confirm it with only our words. Besides, that isn’t against the law either. We will keep our guard but can only wait and see for now. When the time comes, we will be ready to strike back. For now, the issue is related to Edea. What is your clan going to do now that you have disappeared? They will contact us, obviously, and I can’t hide everyone here forever.”

“My clan is getting weaker and weaker. Their influence might cause you some trouble, but without the council or Lua’s help, they won’t be able to do anything.”

“That being said, eventually, this will become a problem in which the country will get involved. What are you planning to do when that time comes?”

“I will tell them that I am here out of my own volition.”

The author here, everyone. Thanks for reading the book. I hope that you have fun reading the book as much as I have writing it. If you want to join our discord, this is the link: https://discord.gg/AQsYm99A

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