Who Wants Normalcy?

Chapter XXXI

Who Wants Normalcy?

Several months had passed. Summer was ending, and life in the Hasegawa village had become hectic with a flurry of activities as they prepared for the coming festival. This festival was not only to mark the founding of the village, but also to welcome the domain lord’s visit and the belated celebration of her giving birth; she had given birth three months before the festival to twin boys. Lady Aslei was due to arrive at the village any moment now, and the people hurried to finish the last details.

Enji strolled among the people and food stalls, accompanied by four girls by his side. The girls wore dresses that Eithea had procured for them from the capital.

The idea of food stalls was Enji’s. He wanted to imitate, at least to some extent, the festivals from his native Japan.

More people were visiting than there were actual villagers. Some came from the capital, others from Deepford, Aslei’s town. One thing Enji was adamant about was limiting the nobles who could attend. He had had it with them.

Enji didn’t have to worry about security. Koll had handpicked a few adventurers for the job, whom Kasus first screened.

Enji shuddered; Kasus, the man whom he had always believed to be a butler, was actually an ex-assassin from the crown.

“My lord, why don’t we sit under a shade at the central plaza?” Nilsei asked.

Enji squinted at the sky; the sun was shining brightly down on them. “Sure!”

They sat on a bench under one of the many trees that surrounded the plaza. The plaza was Galakei’s idea; she even wanted to erect a statue of Enji, but Enji categorically rejected the idea.

The girls looked great in their dresses, and he had told them so. Enji would have loved to go on a date with each girl; however, he tried to maintain a certain distance, not wanting to encourage them too much.

“Worm, why aren’t you wearing your black outfit?”

“I think of that suit more like a battle uniform; for occasions like this, I prefer just regular pants and a shirt.”

“You look good in black,” Skia mumbled.

“Thanks. I’ll dress like the Demon Lord next time.”

“You would?!” Silma perked her ears and tail.

Silma was a fan of Enji’s chuunibyou persona.

“Anything, my lord, wears will look well on him. Right, Popa?” Nilsei added.

“He looks good even naked,” Popa remarked.

“Popa!” Silma chided her. She was the most prim of the girls.

The arrival of a carriage escorted by guards interrupted the girls’ conversation.

“That’s not Lady Aslei’s crest,” Skia made the observation.

“Isn’t that the royal crest?” Silma inquired.

“It is. I didn’t invite the king!” Enji regretted his clothing choice; he should have dressed more formally.

They stood in front of the carriage waiting for the royal to get off.

First to disembark was Prince Jonidas, who extended his hand to help his sister, the first Princess Lilia.

Enji bowed, and the girls curtsied.

“What brings the prince and princess to this humble village? Enji tried to sound courteous. He wasn’t too good with nobles’ platitudes.

“Our father sent us. Lord Enji, you must treat us as if we were commoners without formalities. He told us to have a good time,” Lilia said.

“We don’t get out of the palace much,” Jonidas added in a low voice. He was shy and avoided looking at the other person’s eyes.

“Erm...We are waiting for Lady Aslei’s carriage. Do you want to sit with us over there?” Enji pointed to the bench. After saying that, he metaphorically kicked his behind; that was no way to treat royalty, even if they insisted on being casual.

“We will,” was Lilia’s response.

Jonidas talked to the coachmen, who immediately drove the carriage to another place. The guards stood a short distance away from the royals, guarding them without interfering with their conversations.

Enji glanced at the prince. He was handsome, exceptionally so—an ikemen by Japanese standards. At first, the girls conversed with the royals in a stiff, polite manner; then, after some time, they relaxed and talked with them as if they were friends. Including the royals, they were all about the same age.

Enji watched the girls have a good time; he wondered if any of them felt an attraction to the prince. Even if Enji were a little jealous, he wouldn’t oppose, but he would make sure that the prince was worthy of them. What am I, their father? That brought another chain of thoughts to Enji. Silsil had been calling Enji ‘Papa Enji,’ which was cute. The problem was that he called Oma ‘Mama.’ And anyone who saw them together, Oma with her child, and if Silsil suddenly calls them Papa and Mama, a lot of gossip would ensue. They would think that Enji was the father of Oma’s child. Something perfectly viable, Goblins and humans had already mated. Two of the goblin women had found mates. One was paired with one of the four-eared laborers, and the other with a human, whose pairing with the goblin was heaven-sent. The man was height-challenged; he was very short. So he was about the height of the goblin woman. Now, both goblin women were expecting children.

“Lord Enji, will Thea join us?”

“Yes, princess, I don’t know what’s taking her so long.”

“I yearn to see her.” The princess sighed. The king’s children loved their aunt, Eithea.

And speaking of the devil, or fox, she appeared. She walked toward them, accompanied by her shadow, Kasus.

Another person who arrived shortly after Eithea was Galakei; she came walking from the direction of the villa, carrying a parasol to shield herself from the midday sun.

After all the salutations, they waited for Aslei.

The carriage arrived escorted by the old knights, and Lady Aslei descended. Enji’s impression was that she was more beautiful now than when she was in her gravid state. She wasn’t hiding her pink rabbit ears and face. Her two maids descended from the carriage, each carrying a baby.

Once the guest of honor had arrived, they all went to the village’s main hall, where they were served light foods, the same as those from the festival stalls. Later that night, they will eat dinner at Enji’s villa. The place was soon packed; everyone wanted to see the domain lord and her children. The few nobles present behaved, as they didn’t want to incur the ire of Eithea or the two grand mages.

Acrobats and dancers performed, and a troubadour sang the exploits of a certain mage who wore black attire. Enji wasn’t sure if it was Galakei or him whose tall tales were recounted.

After the performances, eating and drinking had stopped, the whole group toured the village, during which time Oma joined them. Then they all retired to Enji’s villa.

Enji was nervous; it was his first time hosting such important people.

***

Later that evening, once dinner time ended, Eithea, along with Elpinia and the twins, continued talking with the prince and princess. Enji, with Galakei, the girls, and Lady Aslei, headed to Enji’s office, which was not as big as the receiving hall but could accommodate all of them comfortably.

Once everyone was seated, one of the four-eared maids whom Aslei had sent from her town served beverages.

“I’m glad you have recovered, Lady Skia.”

“Thank you, Lady Aslei.”

Aslei gazed at Oma. “I see you have acquired another wife, Lord Enji.” She gestured with her cup at the green girl.

“Guh?” Oma, confused, looked at her.

“She’s not!” Enji jumped from his seat, spilling his tea.

“Calm down,” Galakei reprimanded him.

One of Aslei’s babies started crying after Enji’s outburst.

“Oh, dear. Monitia, please.” Aslei opened her blouse and began breastfeeding the baby.

“Lady Aslei.” Now it was Silma’s turn to jump from her chair. She looked at Enji to see if he was peeping. He was busy counting the legs of a spider crawling on the wall.

“There’s nothing wrong with breastfeeding; soon you’ll have to get used to it once you give birth to Lord Enji’s babies.” Aslei smiled.

Silma fell back into her chair. Something must have short-circuited in her head by the way her eyes looked and her flushed face. Nilsei patted her head.

The other baby began crying as well. Her other maid, Rea, brought him to Aslei.

Oma rose from her seat and stood in front of Aslei. “Oma, help!” She unbuttoned her blouse, exposing her breasts.

Aslei stared at her for a moment, then allowed her to take the baby. Oma sat next to Popa and gave the baby her breast.

Enji didn’t know where to look. Aslei was beyond beautiful, and Oma, now with regular clothes, was, in effect, a woman.

“Rea, bring to Lord Enji what I brought.”

Rea presented a cloth-covered rectangular object, which, upon unfolding the cloth, revealed itself to be a book.

“It was something that the ex-lord pillaged from my people,” Aslei explained.

Galakei, who was sitting next to Enji, examined the book. “Someone had at one time begun to decipher the writings on it,” Galakei observed.

“It seems that way. We have no use for it, and knowing that you and your disciple are searching for ancient magic grimoires, you can keep it.”

“Thanks, Lady Aslei,” Enji bowed his head.

“The Grimoire was found in a labyrinth on the Bluegrassland’s plains. You might want to visit it.” Aslei delicately sipped from her cup the hot concoction.

“You heard her, Enji. You are going to accompany Lei back to Deepford, and from there you’ll travel to the plains!” Galakei caressed the book in her hands.

Huh?

***

The Bluegrassland’s labyrinth differed from the one in the Forest of Thorns in that it was located underground. It consisted of systems of tunnels carved into the solid rock at the base of a rocky hill.

Simier and his party accompanied them. Oma too. Enji wanted to refuse her going, citing that she was neglecting her baby. However, the way goblin culture functioned was as a communal unit, in which everyone helped one another within the group. Her baby was well taken care of by her sisters/co-mothers.

It took several days to explore the labyrinth. Unlike the one in the forest, where the trees shifted and moved, this one was stationary, and maps could be drawn. According to Aslei, the maze was mostly unexplored; her people were not the adventurous type.

“There’s a big chamber after that turn,” Lumo, Simier’s party tracker, informed.

Both parties entered a vast chamber, ready to repel any monster. Up to that moment, the monsters they had encountered were minimal and weak. They did see some goblins, but the goblins opted to keep their distance and didn’t approach them at all.

As soon as they entered, they were attacked by bat-like creatures that were weak against fire. Silma and Gloram, Simier’s party mage, took care of them with fireballs. Using fire in this labyrinth presented no problem with respect to things catching fire; however, they did have to be careful not to consume the breathable air with prolonged flames.

“It looks like one of those altars, my worm.” Skia pointed to the wall at the end of the chamber.

“It’s heavily laden in [sug]. I advise not to get near it,” Silma warned. Gloram, the small and shy mage, nodded in agreement.

“Then, I’ll go in,” Enji stated. “Pol, get the rope ready.” They came prepared with a fine, but strong rope, in case they stumbled into another trap like the one that incapacitated the guild mages.

Lumo had already examined the floor where Enji would be stepping for signs of mechanical traps.

Enji slowly drew closer to the altar situated inside an opening in the far wall. Gloram had cast an illumination spell over the recessed opening.

Enji’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. Yes, there was another grimoire on top of the altar and some other objects.

Enji took the book, and it did not trigger any message from his translator, just like the one Aslei had given him. He was disappointed.

Together with the book was a piece of glass that, on closer inspection, seemed to be a magnifying glass, and a belt with an empty knife sheath. Enji recalled the dagger he acquired back in the first altar. Maybe they go together. “All clear,” Enji informed.

They all moved around inspecting the chamber.

“Oi, lord lad, there seems to be something behind here,” Simier said. He and Lumo had been examining the wall behind the altar.

“A secret door?” Skia inquired.

They all approached.

“It’s hollow behind the wall. I can feel the joints, but I have not found a way to activate the mechanism.” Lumo slid his finger along a fine line on the partition.

“Shall I break it?” Masia, the warrior woman, asked.

“What do you say, lord lad?”

Enji recalled the many times tombs were profaned by archaeologists, grave robbers, and treasure hunters throughout history. He begged posterity to forgive him. “Let’s open it up!”

Masia took her enormous double-edged axe and, in one blow, smashed the wall down.

They looked inside in awe. There was enough treasure inside the vault to make Smaug’s own seem like a mere pittance.

“Check for traps,” Simier ordered. Lumo, Silma, and Gloram concentrated on searching, each using their particular skills. Even Enji used the ‘peek,’ ‘list,’ and ‘get’ commands to find hidden program attributes.

“It’s clear,” Lumo informed.

“What do you want to do, lord lad? Call it a day, and begin to carry some of it out, or continue exploring?”

Enji wanted to continue exploring. He looked at everyone and asked, “What do you all think?”

The majority voted to continue, but first, they wanted to look at the treasure.

Skia requested two people to act as guards, who would later be relieved by others. So everyone could admire the treasure.

“I smell something!” Was Popa’s succinct warning. Everyone scrambled out of the vault and assumed positions. Oma let one of her screeching sounds when she sensed danger.

“From where?” Skia asked.

“Opposite the way we came.”

They didn’t have to wait long; a pair of tripods showed up. Sol’s magic impaled them.

As they continued exploring, they didn’t find any more tripods along the way. Two days later, they returned to the treasure chamber after having mapped the whole labyrinth. Each took a small portion with them, enough not to encumber them in case of a battle, and headed out of the maze.

Back at Deepford, it was agreed that the treasure would be divided among the Bluegrassland Clan, the domain lord, Simier, and his party, as well as Enji and his. Aslei’s people would be the ones hauling the treasure out of the labyrinth.

Back at the Villa, Enji and Galakei examined the new grimoire.

“This is great! It has more translated pages. Together with the other grimoires, we will be able to crack the ancient language in full.” Galakei, happy, hugged Enji. He smiled; seldom did the mage show such excitement.

“Gala...” Enji had been using her name’s shortened version when they were alone. “You have translated several of these incantations. Is the language in these grimoires different than the ones you have?” Enji swept his hand over the books lying on the table.

“Yes and no. Some words and phrases are the same among all, but the elements and effects they invoke are called differently. I suspect they came from different eras and regions.”

“What was the incantation that cursed you?”

Galakei’s expression changed. “Why do you want to know?”

“With the new understanding of the ancient language, we will see where it went wrong and perhaps correct it.”

“It can’t be fixed. Don’t let it bother you, I’m over it.”

“Sorry.”

Galakei looked at Enji, who had lowered his head. “No. I’m the one who should apologize. I know what you want to attain, but I’m afraid to get you involved in such a dangerous spell.” Galakei hugged Enji’s head against her chest.

“I’ll do anything for you.”

“I know you will, you silly.”