Ulmer got married that same night.
He never even expected this before coming to this city, but he ended up marrying whom he believed was the prettiest girl he ever met. He just didn’t want to miss this opportunity, and so he changed his mind and did not run away.
The marriage didn’t happen grandly, but it wasn’t boring, either. The Revers family called those they were close with, and the wedding happened in the presence of about fifty or so guests in the backyard itself.
The one thing that Ulmer was not able to forget was that the groom had to personally serve guests fruit wine and sweets.
It was a custom followed in the city to humble males during the marriage.
But what disappointed Ulmer was that he didn’t get to kiss Ayana during the wedding because kissing on the lips in public was actually seen as obscene in this city. So, everyone was expected to keep their romantic and sexual life hidden from the public.
And last but not least, Ulmer wished his grandmother was with him to see his wedding.
Later that night.
After all the guests left for their homes, the Revers family went to sleep. Ayana was sleeping in her room.
Ulmer was also made to sleep in the same room as Ayana, but because Ayana was already sleeping by the time he came, he lay down on the floor instead.
The next morning.
Ayana woke up early and was shocked to see Ulmer sleeping on the floor. “W-Why is he…” she didn’t understand why he was sleeping on the floor. “Was it because he didn’t want to sleep on the bed without my permission? What have I done!” she was disappointed with herself.
So, she came to him and tried to pick him up. He was heavy, but she was able to lift him up and put him on her bed with great effort.
Her arms were still under him after she put him on the bed. As she was pulling her arms out, Ulmer was mumbling in his sleep.
She stopped and watched him for a few seconds without blinking, and she ended up smiling. “My husband doesn’t seem to snore like Dad. I’m lucky.”
She gently pulled her arms from underneath him.
Men in Syslon city all had very short haircuts, but Ulmer’s hair was a bit long, and she found herself running her finger through his hair. “His hair appears long, but it’s not strong and healthy. Does he not apply datura leaf paste to his hair?” she wondered.
“Mm?” Just then, Ulmer opened his eyes.
Ayana’s forefinger was twirling her hair now, and so her expression froze. She didn’t know what to do. “I-I’m sorry. I was just…” she quickly pulled her finger and scuttled out of the room.
Ulmer sat up slowly and realized that he was on the bed. “How did I get here?”
[She picked you up and put you on the bed… only a couple of minutes back.] Dove said.
“She was able to pick me up?” Ulmer was pretty surprised. “I weigh almost 180 pounds, you know. And you’re telling me, she was able to pick me off the floor? I ain’t believing you.”
[Whether you believe it or not, that’s the truth.] Dove casually and indifferently said.
“Mm?” Ulmer touched the blanket and it felt so soft. He smelled it, and it smelled like some flowers. It was very pleasant. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that this was actually Ayana’s scent. “Ahem,” he was feeling a bit horny after breathing her scent in, so he got off the bed. “Don’t be a creep, Ulmer,” he told himself. “She maybe your wife, but… it’s still too early to be doing these things.”
And then he got up from the bed.
He picked up his bag, which was empty at first sight, but he waves his hand, a few items fell inside.
This was his spatial storage skill, which allowed him to store items in another dimension and then bring them back whenever he wanted. He didn’t even need a bag to carry, but he was doing it to not shock or alert people by taking things out of nowhere.
After brushing his teeth, Ulmer had a delicious vegetable salad with everyone.
“Will you go and see our restaurant, Ulmer?” Robin asked him. “It’s only about half a mile away. You can go with Father-in-law after eating.”
“Sure. Why not?” Ulmer said. He felt like it was better to go out and do something than stay in the house.
After breakfast, Ulmer was given a boiled egg. Everyone in the house also consumed one boiled egg. These eggs were much tastier because they were not broiler chicken eggs but country chicken eggs.
Ulmer was starting to understand why the people here looked slim and pretty. It was because they weren’t eating any GMO food, which basically took over the outside world’s food industry at this point, making people sick and fat slowly, bringing them early death on top.
Just as they finished eating, a group of young men burst open the main gate and angrily entered the house.
“How could you marry someone else, Ayana?” a loud, angry voice came from outside. “How could you betray me?”
“How can you betray me like this, Ayana?” A loud voice reached everybody’s ears.Ulmer was very surprised to hear those words, but he also saw that everyone else at the table looked even more shocked and anxious.Many men entered the house, with a short-haired, long-bearded man entering the house first. He was wearing a brown uniform with star-badges, making Ulmer wonder if he was some sort of military or police or something.And he began to look at Ayana and Ulmer and saw that both of them were wearing the same golden rings. And his blood boiled immediately.“What is the meaning of this?” he shouted.“Senior Henry,” Dustin tried to calm him down. “Please don’t do this in front of our son-in-law.”“Don’t do what? I’m supposed to marry Ayana!” he shouted.“What do you mean?” Ulmer asked.“Don’t listen to his words, Husband,” Ayana quickly said. “He’s been chasing after me for years, trying to marry me, but I rejected him because he’s a pervert. If he wasn’t an officer, he would be in j
A few minutes passed since Henry and his men left.Dustin was definitely still anxious but he had to hurry to his restaurant as it was already seven o’clock by then. He forgot to take Ulmer with him.“I’ll go out and take a look around the neighborhood,” Ulmer said.Robin only allowed him to leave after he wore the local clothes so that others wouldn’t be able to easily tell if he was an outsider or not.On top of that, Robin told Kale to accompany Ulmer.Kale just nodded in return.“Why doesn’t he say anything?” Ulmer asked openly.“Uh, about that…” Robin smiled and said, “he can’t speak. He’s born that way.”“Oh…” Ulmer suddenly felt foolish for not approaching Kale to talk with him. Just because Kale was silent, he assumed that Kale didn’t want to speak with him.“But he can use sign language,” Robin added and then spoke with Kale using signs.Kale smiled back.“What did you just say?” Ulmer asked.“I told him he can introduce you to his friends,” Robin said. “He’s happy about it.”
“Dustin isn’t home, either, so he can lick Robin’s feet, too,” another man said, making the rest laugh even more.Ulmer stopped.Kale waved his hands in a cross-manner, telling him to don’t do anything stupid and just keep going.However, Ulmer turned around and walked toward them, looking at the one that just spoke, “Take back what you said.”“Or else what?” all of them stopped playing and surrounded him quickly.It was so obvious that this was their plan from the beginning. Kale quickly rushed away to ask help from the other adults around, but because of Henry, nobody helped him. Kale came back in about two minutes, and everybody except Ulmer was gone.And Ulmer had no injuries on his body or face.“Where did they go?” Kale asked in sign language.“They learned their mistake and apologized before leaving,” Ulmer said.Kale could see that the poker cards, water bottles, and meat packets were still there under the tree. Why would they leave these things here? It didn’t make any sense,
Dustin came home in the afternoon, looking half the man he was in the morning, in terms of happiness.Without Dustin saying anything, Ulmer understood the situation of the restaurant.“If this continues for another couple of days, we won’t be able to pay the rent,” Dustin was telling Robin and Ayana. “We’ll be forced to shut down the hotel business.”Their family was producing lots of vegetables and fruits. Their hotel business was a way for them to use those fruits and vegetables. If they couldn’t do that now, they’d have to sell them from the house itself.But who would come to their house and buy these things when nobody came to the hotel to eat food?In the end, they might be forced to throw away the extra vegetables and fruits.“It seems I might have to become a porter once again,” Dustin was telling Robin.Ayana heard that from outside and frowned.She came to her room and wrote a letter.Ulmer was sitting on the bed right now, and he could somewhat see what she was writing. Her
Ulmer, Ayana and everyone in the house ate the same food in the afternoon and at night because not a single customer came to their shop.Dustin and Robin felt so depressed and ashamed that they didn’t even come out of their room to eat. Ayana had to take the food to their rooms and make them eat.After they ate the food, Ayana stored some food in an advanced yet earthly refrigerator that was in the shape of a giant pot with doors and many compartments. Then, she tossed the rest of the food in the dustbin.There wasn’t a single street dog present in this neighborhood because Henry had his subordinates hunt every single one of them down. It was only the birds and squirrels that came to eat from the leftover food.At night, after Suki finished her reading, Ulmer asked her to tell him about Henry because he wanted to hear a child’s perspective.To his surprise, Suki told him about Henry’s role and authority as an officer. The gold-badged Senior Officers were ranked from one to five stars.
Later that night, both Ulmer and Ayana slept in the same room, and on the same bed.But neither of them did anything other than sleep because the mood in the house wasn’t good.The next morning.Dustin and Robin would always wake up at around three o’clock to cook the food for the restaurant, but today, they were both sleeping even at seven o’clock.This never happened before, so Ayana was so afraid she had to enter their room and make sure that they were both actually still alive and sleeping. Only after silently confirming to herself, she was relieved.Ayana was about to cook breakfast, but then Ulmer entered the kitchen and asked, “What are you doing?”“I’m cooking breakfast.”“Why? Didn’t we store a lot of food in the refrigerator yesterday?” Ulmer couldn’t help but ask.“Yeah, but you don’t have to eat that,” Ayana replied. “I’ll make fresh breakfast for you.”Ulmer smiled. “Thank you, but I’m used to eating food stored in the fridge for days if not weeks. So, don’t strain yourse
The name of the bank situated in this village was called the Bright Moon Bank. Every village bank had a different name, and their managers were different, but they all still answered to the authorities.The banks signaled status in the city.Not just anybody could enter the bank because there’s the rule of paying 1 silver coin every time one entered the bank. This was why the crowds never rushed to the banks, and only those who could afford to waste a silver coin easily would use the banks often. This would include big businessmen.But the likes of Dustin who only had a small restaurant would not dare to enter the bank any more than once a month or once in two months as one silver was not a small amount for the Revers family. And also Dustin was not the kind of person to waste even a single copper coin.As Ayana kept telling Ulmer about the city and about her parents, Ulmer understood that Dustin and Robin weren’t depressed just because there were no customers coming to the shop but a
“Gold card customer…” one of the workers offered lemon juice to Henry. “Please be seated, sir. I’ll check the balance right away.”Henry took the lemon water and then came and sat down next to Ayana because there was an empty chair. He sipped on lemon water and then offered her, “Want some?”Ayana shook her head.“Too bad. Why are you two here anyway?” Henry asked. “Are you trying to open a bank account for that nobody sitting next to you?”“He’s not a nobody. He’s Ulmer,” Ayana quickly said.“Ulmer… how big is he?” Henry asked, making Ayana frown.Ulmer was getting up, but Ayana grabbed his hand and told him to sit down.Ulmer coldly looked at Henry, but Henry found it amusing.Ayana then looked at Henry. “You should just mind your business, Senior. That’s better for everyone.”“Yeah, yeah,” Henry sucked in a deep breath and then purposely blew air in her face.The veins in Ulmer’s arm bulged from his hand all the way up to his shoulder. Even though he looked like a slim man, when he