The Hero of Vengeance

Chapter 16: Albatross

As the sun was setting, we finally saw the massive city of Albatross come into view. Immediately, the two of us picked up our pace to reach it as quickly as possible.

"Finally! I'm so tired, I feel like I could collapse!" Rose said.

"Me too. I want to rest..." I said.

"Hey, didn't you say that one of your mother's family members owns a restaurant here?"

"Yeah. It's called Jorgan's Diner. Ever heard of it?"

"Heard of it!? That's my favorite place to eat! I'm a regular customer! If you'd like, I can show you how to get there!"

"That would be amazing! Thank you so much, Rose!"

"No problem! You're important to me. I want to help you as much as I can. Although...after I take you to the Diner, I might have to go away for a little while. I need to go back home," Rose said sadly.

"Visiting your father?"

Rose nodded.

"My family might try to keep me for a few days, but I should be able to rejoin you at the adventurers guild at some point. I have a surprise for you!"

"A surprise?"

"And I know that you'll love it! Just be patient, okay?"

"No problem. I can be patient," I said happily.

Then we approached the front gates of the city.

"Hold there! You two, state your names and identities," one of the two guards said.

Rose stepped forward.

"My name is Rose. I'm a resident of this very city. Here are my documents," she said as she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the man.

He read it and nodded.

"Looks good to me, Miss Rose. Thank you for your cooperation and...umm...is this guy an Iratus?"

"Yes sir. My name is Mizik Iratus."

"This isn't the kind of fanfare we usually expect for a noble of your caliber..." The other guard said.

"My apologies, sirs. I'm actually from Lorelei. I plan to stay here for a few weeks until I make my way to Noir. I promise not to cause trouble," I said.

"Sounds reasonable enough. And are you sure that's okay? The Iratus family hates Albatross," he said.

"I'm not sure why. It seems like a beautiful city. Or is it the country you mean?" I asked.

"Well...both. But we were at war a long time ago. They still hold a grudge."

"I don't really know what that has to do with me. But I don't have any sort of grudge against any of you. Is it okay for me to stay here?" I said.

"You seem alright. Just answer one question for us and we'll happily let you in. Do you have any information on the strange substance warping the landscape and making monsters?"

The guards seemed trustworthy so I decided to tell them everything I knew.

"I've seen it. That stuff killed my father and turned someone into a monster. I killed the guy who transformed, though. I started calling it the Black Ooze."

"Hmm...the Grandmaster might want to talk to you, then. Would you be willing to speak with him about this Black Ooze?"

"Of course. I'll help in any way I can," I said.

"Awesome. Where will you be staying?"

"I have a family member who lives here in Albatross. A man named Jorgan who owns a Diner," I said.

"No kidding? Wow. That place has amazing food. Well then, Rose, do you know where the place is?" One of the guards asked.

"I do. I planned to lead him to it after entering the city," she said.

"Sounds good," one of the guards said.

He pulled out a few gold coins and gave them to me.

"Get yourself something to eat, friend. We hope you enjoy your stay in Albatross!" He said.

"Thank you, sir," I said.

After that, the two of us entered the city.

Rose led me to the place where I would be staying and we stopped outside of it.

"Well...I guess this is goodbye for now. I think I'll miss you a lot, Mizik. I've grown really used to having you around..." Rose said sadly.

I just smiled at her.

It made me happy to hear her say that. I really treasured her.

"Don't worry, Rose. We'll see each other again. Until then, good luck with your family!" I said.

Then, she reached out and hugged me.

"Ah...Rose?" I said.

"Sorry! You're just really sweet... Thank you for traveling with me. I promise we'll speak again, soon!" She said.

And with that, she turned and ran off.

Then I turned and looked at the fairly old restaurant with a sign that read: 'Jorgan's Diner'.

I opened the door and walked in. There was a bell that jingled as I closed it behind me.

"Welcome! Find yourself a table and I'll send someone over!" A large bald man with a bushy beard shouted to me from behind the counter. He kind of looked a bit like Maul.

That's probably Jorgan.

I sat down at an empty table and looked around the room. It wasn't as spacious as the dining hall in the Sleeping Dragon, but it was fairly large. Groups of people and adventurers alike sat around enjoying their food.

A minute after I sat down, a woman walked up to me and smiled. She looked to be about ten years older than Aria. She had long dark brown hair and wore a simple waitress uniform.

"My name is Irene and I'll be serving you today. What can I get for you?" The woman said with a comforting smile.

Honestly, I hadn't had a chance to look at the menu.

"Umm...what would you recommend? Sorry, I'm new here," I said.

"Well, my papa makes a great pot roast and we have some today as a special. That alright?"

"Yeah, I'll have some water to drink with it. Also, could you give this to Jorgan?" I asked her as I held up the envelope Maul originally gave me.

She nodded and took the envelope.

"I'll just put your order in and hand this off to papa," Irene said before walking away towards the kitchen.

I sat in silence and thought about Rose.

Why did she hug me? She usually acted weird with physical contact. She must have just gotten emotional...

After a few minutes passed, Irene walked up with a plate of food and a glass of water. She set them down on the table in front of me and pulled out a spoon wrapped in a small cloth from her apron. As she sat it down she looked at me and spoke.

"Sweetie, Papa would like a word with you after you're done eating. Just walk into the kitchen and tell him who you are."

"Thank you so much," I said to her.

She smiled and walked away again.

The food was delicious. Maybe even better than Maul's cooking. Or Aria's. But I couldn't get past the warm and comforting feel of something made by my favorite aunt. It was nice to have warm and delicious food after such a long journey.

Once I cleaned my plate, Irene came by and I paid her for the meal. Afterward, I went into the kitchen.

As soon as I walked in, several people looked at me in confusion.

"Sorry, I'm here to speak to Jorgan?" I said meekly.

"Over here, son," I heard a loud voice shout.

I walked over to the large bearded man who resembled Maul.

"You're Karia's kid, right?" He asked

"Yeah. Karia was my mother."

The large man extended his hand to me and I took it.

"Welcome to my restaurant. I'm Jorgan. My brother Maul sent a letter ahead to let me know you were coming. You're pretty impressive for someone so young, you know?"

"Thank you. I hope my presence doesn't cause you trouble-"

"Stop it with that. I don't wanna see any gloominess here. Anything happens, we'll take care of it. Don't worry about it," Jorgan said with a smile.

"Right. Is there anything I can do to help out?" I asked.

"First, go find Talia. She'll get you set up with one of the rooms upstairs. This place used to be an Inn and most of the staff lives up there. Talia is my wife, by the way," Jorgan said.

Come to think of it, Maul never talked about his wife. Aria only told me that she wasn't around anymore.

Nevertheless, I gave Jorgan a nod and made my way upstairs.

As I walked through the hallway, an older woman spotted me and beckoned me over.

"Are you the Mizik kid we've been waiting for?" She asked while pronouncing my name as Miz-eek.

I felt my eye twitch in annoyance.

"Sorry, it's Miz-ick. Not Miz-eek."

"Oooh, that sounds like a much nicer name. Sorry about that, sweetie," she said with a laugh. "Well, I guess you'll be needing a room, right?"

I nodded and she led me to a vacant room at the end of the hall. She handed me a key and I entered the room.

The room immediately felt like home. I couldn't say why, but it had a comfortable nostalgic feeling about it. The room was very clean. The bed was nicely made, it came with its own bathroom, and even had a window.

"Let me know if you need anything, dear," Talia said as she walked away.

With a nod, I shut the door behind me and started getting cleaned up in the bathroom.

This almost feels like home...

So far, my plan hadn't changed. I still needed to get to Noir. I meant it when I told everyone that I'd give them a better life in Kalsa.

Although I still wanted to spend time with Rose, I had to make my family a priority.

Part of me wondered why they couldn't just live in Albatross City, though...

For now, however, I needed to rest. I laid down in bed and pulled the sheets over myself.

A few things ran through my mind as I relaxed.

I thought about Rose, about my family, And Aria. I didn't want to miss out on everything they were doing.

I wondered if Aria was okay. I knew that I needed to send them letters regularly.

While I was thinking about these things, I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I had a heavy and dreamless sleep that night and awoke feeling refreshed.

After I got out of bed, I put my armor on and went down to the dining area. Jorgan was waiting for me along with Talia. Upon seeing them, I felt the same longing to be with my family in Lorelei, but I pushed it away.

I only needed to rest for a while until I could get to Noir.

"Good morning, Jorgan," I called out to him as I walked down the stairs.

"Morning Mizik. Did you sleep well?" He said.

"I did. Thanks to the room you let me stay in."

"That's good to hear. I wanted to have a short chat with you before you head out if that's alright," Jorgan said.

"Please," I said.

"First of all, I know you're an adventurer. I'm not trying to interfere with your work and I won't ask you to stop. Second, I need to know if you want to help out around here. And lastly, I wanna say that since you're family, you can feel free to stay as long as you need to."

"Thank you. I would like to help out around here in the kitchen at least once or twice a week in between adventuring work," I said.

"Well, I'm full on staff currently. We have more than enough people to work in the kitchen and the dining room. I might not have a place for you, but there could still be work that needs doing if I look hard enough."

"Then anything I can do to help out would be great. Actually, I'd like to learn more about cooking from you, if possible," I said.

Jorgan looked at me and smiled. It was the warm smile of a proud father.

"Maul said you were a hard worker and a good man. He ain't wrong about people too often, Mizik. I'm glad he was right about you. We can work something out, later. Anyways, one of the guards came by to drop off a letter for you."

Jorgan handed me a sealed envelope.

I opened it up to find a message asking me to come to one of the guardhouses stationed in the city.

Along with instructions to get there, of course.

"Thanks, Jorgan. And to you as well, Talia," I bowed my head to her and she smiled. "I need to get going, so I'll be back later."

"Stay safe out there, Mizik!" Jorgan shouted to me as I left the Diner.

I followed the instructions on the letter and arrived at a plain white stone building.

After showing the guards the letter, they allowed me through and I was taken to a small room to speak with one of the people in charge.

I sat down in a chair across from an older man wearing a similar white armor that the others wore. This man's armor was gilded with gold and had several other adornments on it.

"Greetings, Mizik," the knight leader said as he pronounced my name wrong. "My name is Sir Gordan Calos. I'm the Grandmaster of the knights of Albatross. I was told you have some information for me?"

"Yes, that's true. Also...my name is Miz-ick, not Miz-eek," I responded.

He seemed somewhat surprised and bowed his head.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mizik. Please forgive me."

"It's okay, what did you want to know?" I asked.

"Everything. I want to know everything you know about this strange activity in Lorelei. We already have some information on you in the arcane library, recorded by the knights of Lorelei. This information has since been corrected to display a more favorable view of you. I understand that you have a colorful and difficult past. Nevertheless, we understand that you mean no harm."

At that, I began.

I spared only a few details as I recounted things that had happened to me in the past year concerning the Black Ooze.

Especially the part about Cain becoming a monster.

Once I finished, Sir Gordan rested his head in one of his hands and sighed deeply. He looked extremely worried about this.

"That's some serious shit, if you don't mind me saying. Sounds like Lorelei might be in danger. I'll petition for a group of my best knights to head down there and keep everyone safe. Especially those wonderful folks of yours down at the Sleeping Dragon. If they're involved in this because of proximity, they might know some things too," he said.

"Thank you, sir. But...do you need to question Rose as well?" I asked.

Sir Gordon shook his head.

"We've already spoken. She doesn't know any more than you do," he said.

I nodded and smiled at him.

I felt like a tremendous weight was lifted off of me. I was glad to hear about my family receiving protection and that they had the chance to speak with Rose already.

I really like this city a lot more than that crap hole, Lorelei.

It seemed like the knight's order in Albatross was much more trustworthy.

"Also this...'Black ooze', you called it? We might start using that term. It seems pretty accurate considering how it looks. Additionally, there is also something else I need from you..." Sir Gordan said.

"What is it, then?" I asked feeling a bit nervous.

"I heard that you were only passing through here from one of my men. Someone with your skillset would be invaluable to have around, to be honest. Could you maybe stay for a while longer? At least until we can figure out what to do? You'll be well compensated."

There it is. This puts a huge dent in my plans...

Truthfully, it wasn't that I didn't like it here, I just had a promise to fulfill.

But if I wanted their cooperation...and if I wanted my family to be protected, I needed to comply.

I'll let them know, then. Just hold on for a little while longer, everyone!

"Okay...I suppose that won't be a problem," I said.

He said something about compensation, right? Maybe I can get something useful out of him.

"Hey, what did you mean by compensation?" I asked him.

"Well, I was speaking monetary compensation. At a bare minimum, of course. But you've given us something truly useful. Along with that, your help will be greatly appreciated. If there's something you want, I'd be glad to give it to you," Sir Gordan said.

"If it isn't too much, I'd like you to train me. I'm going to be working as an adventurer to raise my level, and I want to learn from the best on how to fight. Also, if it's not too much, I'd also like some new armor..."

I felt greedy for saying it, but I couldn't use this armor forever.

My current set was good, but it was really starting to wear down with repeated abuse.

Sir Gordan smiled a bit. I could tell by his normal expression that it wasn't something that happened often.

"If you're trying to flatter me, it's definitely working. Is that all?" He said.

"That should be it, I think."

"Well, we can get the details sorted out later. I'll let few people know the situation then we'll contact you again. And also, it's an honor to meet the next head of the Iratus household," Sir Gordan said as he extended a gauntleted hand to me.

I took it and smiled at him.

With that out of the way, I stood up to leave.

I let them know that most days I would be doing adventurer work and where I would be staying.

I asked them for directions to the adventurers guild and went on my way.