Tea with the Heller Trio - I

The Heller trio was invited to have a meeting with the captain in his cabin. Sebastian was a bit skeptical at first, but he accepted it in the end. But little did they know that the captain’s cabin was located on top of the walls.

After entering the city gates, they took a sharp turn until they reached long stairs that head towards the top of the walls. There waited the captain who was ready to escort the trio to his cabin.

Although, Heller trio was rather indulged in sightseeing. They saw a barracks camp located just beside the city gates with lots of guards on standby. Every guard was wearing steel plated armor from head to toe. There was also a guard post at the gates, who were inspecting the wagons of carts before their departure from the city. There was also a big fountain placed right in front of the entrance with beautiful little fishes. The Heller trio’s eyes lit up with astonishment, they looked like some school kids on a field trip.

The Heller trio was so immersed admiring the cityscapes that it almost slipped Sebastian’s mind that the captain was waiting for them at the entrance of the stairways of the walls.

*cough*

“If you are done looking around, we must head to the cabin.” interrupted the senior guard who was standing behind the Heller trio, “We don’t have a whole day here, the captain’s waiting.”

Sebastian came to his senses, but his delightful face while sightseeing, turned into sour disgust when he heard the senior guard’s voice. He stared glaring back at the senior guard and his bad habit of grinning once again resurfaced.

“What’s with that look! Are you trying to pick a fight? I might be old but I still got some fight left with me!” responded the senior guard as he raised his guard.

“Now, now! Mr. Gregor. They are our guests, so treat them nicely. You don’t want to get court-martialed for wrongly accusing this knight candidate, do you?” said the captain with a friendly smile.

The senior guard’s face turned pale,

“Uhh- I… I apologize, anything but that... ” said the terrified senior guard, Mr. Gregor.

“Good.” replied the captain, “I also don’t want the top officials to chew my head for this incident. Not to forget the big amount of paperwork that I would have to do as the captain. Just thinking about it makes me tired.”

Sebastian looked at the odd pair in a discontented look.

‘Are all the people in this city, such weirdos?’ he thought to himself.

Just when-

“They are weird, big brother,” said Ivan as he pointed at the captain and senior guard while giggling.

Sebastian panicked,

“Shut up, Ivan! You’re being disrespectful!”

The senior guard flared up after hearing Ivan,

“You brat! How dare you call us weird on our face, you’ve no manners!”

“Now, now. He’s just a kid, stop getting so riled up for every little thing.” interrupted the captain with his signature friendly smile.

“But-but..” the senior guard tried to defend himself but decided to end the argument.

The captain then turned towards Sebastian,

“It’s better if you keep your luggage down in my barracks, you can take it later when we get back. After all, we need to climb these damn stairs to reach my cabin that’s way up there..” said the captain as he glanced at the long stairs skulkingly.

Soon, a tall guard approached Sebastian

He had tan-colored skin and quite tall than the other guards.

“Hello, young fellows and welcome to Abros. I am Miles Portio, one of the guards working in the northern entrance. I’ll be taking care of your luggage until you guys return back.” introduced the guard with a smile.

Despite his brutish looks, this tall guard named Miles seemed quite a nice guy.

“Uh- okay,” answered Sebastian.

‘So there are actually some nice people too, huh.’ thought Sebastian to himself.

He willingly gave him their luggage,

“But be careful, it’s a little heavy,” warned Sebastian as he stretched his hand grabbing the luggage.

“Hahaha! Don’t worry about me, kid. This biceps isn’t just for show, you see.” said the tall guard as he flexed his muscle. Although, the biceps Miles was trying to show off were actually hidden under his platted armor.

“I see… Thank you,” said Sebastian with an agreement.

Sebastian carefully handed his luggage which was almost the same size as Sebastian, himself. The tall guard grabbed the luggage with both arms.

“Alright, see you guys later,” said Miles with a smile.

“See ya.” answered little Ivan as he waved his hands. Ivan had already started climbing stairs that lead to the top of the walls.

Sebastian saw little Ivan went ahead,

“You would bruise yourself, wait for me,” said Sebastian as he started rushing to grab hold of Ivan.

But as soon as Sebastian let go of the luggage, the tall guard fell on his knee as he tried to hold the luggage.

“What in the lord’s name?! This is too damn heavy!” shrieked Miles as streams of sweat trickled through his brow.

Sebastian quickly grabbed back his luggage.

“I had warned you that it was heavy. Are you alright?” he asked.

“What have you stuffed in this luggage of yours? Why is it so heavy?” asked the shocked guard.

Sebastian just scratched his head,

“What do you expect, we are moving to the capital. So there’s almost everything from our household, our clothes, my practice equipment, Ivan’s toys, and Martha’s books, also the kitchen utensils and our precious stone grinder. I hope you didn’t hurt your back or something, the last thing I would want is to be charged for an on-duty guard breaking his back because of my luggage.”

“Hey, how long are you going to idle chat around. Get moving already.” said the grumpy senior guard who was still waiting with the captain on the stairways

Martha and Ivan already went ahead with the captain.

“Oh.. nevermind. Thanks for everything.”, Sebastian placed his luggage carefully on the ground “Be careful with my luggage, please.”

“Will do.” responded miles.

The guard glanced at their luggage with a puzzled look.

‘That brat carried around this luggage with no problem at all. Well at least, now I know why he was a magic knight candidate.’ thought the guard to himself.

Later, it took about 3 strong guards to carry the luggage inside the barracks.

After some time, the Heller Trio reached the summit of the walls. They glanced at the beautiful sight of that the city of Abros had to offer.

The capital of the Rublor kingdom, Abros city was located on hilly terrain. The buildings near the center were on higher grounds than on the edges. The city was very well planned and used every inch of space that the city had to offer.

There were a lot of gardens, markets, and shrines all over the city.

People looked like little swarms of ants roaming in the city.

But what stood the most was the imperial palace that stood right in the heart of Abros city. The palace was built on a tall thin rock that was located in the center of the hilly terrain of the city. The palace was made of white marble and because of that very same reason, the palace shined under the sunlight. Also, the palace was surrounded by five tall towers from all sides. But unlike the palace which was built on the rock, the towers were actually built beside the rock from the ground below. These tall towers are the only way to reach the imperial palace.

The three Heller younglings relished the view with their eyes wide open like little kids on sightseeing tours. Although the three Heller kids had reached the summit, the captain and the senior guard was never to be seen anywhere.

But after waiting for 10 minutes the captain had finally reached the summit of the walls. He was out of breath and could barely stand via the support from the railings of the stairs.

“I… uh… finally reached. Damn these stairs..” cursed the captain as he sat on his knees after climbing the last stair, “Curse that conniving old hag and the architects who built my cabin here out of all places.”

The captain was complaining to himself out loud.

Sebastian just stayed away from him and decided not to interfere with the captain’s affairs.

The senior guard was still little stairs away from the summit and he seemed to be taking a breather while sitting one of the steps. The senior guard was very old for these stairs.

The captain after a few minutes of rest entered the cabin with the Heller trio.