[Melas] Chapter 84: Adrian VI - Business (Patreon)

Author's Note:

Incredibly short chapter today. I promise I will get two out over the weekend. I just had no motivation today.

Later that night, Adrian found himself sitting at the dinner table surrounded by Elves. He was seated with Alice and Faizan, of course. And to his right— past Alice and Faizan— were the Half Elf boy’s parents. But that wasn’t all. In addition to Bashar, apparently Alima's family decided to invite other guests— family friends— for their first reunion dinner after not seeing them for so many years.

He couldn’t help but stare at these Elves. He had never seen a full Elf before. In fact, Faizan was the first Half Elf he had met. And he had been taken by surprise at his friend’s appearance when he first saw him— before they became friends. Now though, the brown haired boy found himself in the same predicament.

Adrian knew he shouldn’t be staring. But he couldn’t help it. Everyone here had blue skin and pointed ears! And it was not like they wore much to cover their bodies. Unlike Xanderia— where women wore dresses that fell to their ankles, and the men tailored suits to their entire body— the Elves wore shirts with sleeves that reached only as far as their elbow, while the women wore dresses that hovered just above their knees. And he wasn’t really able to tell one Elf from the other— the only one he could really make out was Bashar, who had long black hair, just as Melas did, and...

He glanced over at the head of the table. There sat the one who arranged it all. Ilyas, father of Bashar and Alima, as well as the oldest in the family. Not a patriarch— Elves didn’t have a concept like that. But he was their elder, so he held a level of respect from the others in the table.

And yet, he was really old. Adrian knew that Elves could live long lifespans— Half Elves less so— but Adrian never once thought he would ever see a decrepit Elf. He could imagine them. He could envision what they looked like. However he never once imagined one to look like Ilyas.

The old Elf moved his hand ever so slowly to reach his plate. He grabbed the pair of chopsticks, lifting it up and grabbed a piece of meat with it before putting it in his mouth. That was, of course, how people normally ate. But the amount of time it took Ilyas to do it, Adrian had already taken three bites out of his food. And the boy was a slow eater!

The conversation at the table mostly stemmed around how Alima had been doing outside of Ghab-Ha. It was not the most intriguing or important chat— Adrian found himself bored, playing with the wooden sticks Elves used as utensils. Alice lightly tapped his shoulder.

“Adrian, what are you doing?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“Hm? Oh I’m bored.”

“I can tell! And so can others! You’re being disrespectful.”

He frowned, glancing around the long log table. He noticed a few looks— subtle looks— of disapproval. He turned back to Alice as she continued.

“We’re here not just as Faizan’s friends. We’re the Baron’s guests. If we behave inappropriately, we could alienate him from their family even further!”

“You’re really pushing this ‘they don’t like each other’ narrative, aren’t you?” Adrian said, sighing. He straightened, nodding at her. “Fine. I’ll behave. What’s Faizan doing anyways?”

He looked past her, trying to make out what his other friend was up to. He saw the Half Elf boy smiling and laughing as Bashar cracked a joke. They were all embroiled in a conversation, mostly directing questions to Faizan and Alima.

“So how did you feel when you left him in Xanderia?” someone asked the woman.

“Oh I was devastated. But I knew he could take care of himself. Look, he even has two wonderful friends with him.”

Heads turned to Faizan, then to Alice and Adrian. The three children froze up at the sudden attention.

“Uh, hi.” Adrian waved hesitantly. They waited for him to continue, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. Alice noticed this, quickly picking up after him.

“I’m Alice, and this is Adrian. We’re Faizan’s friends from the Academy. We do apologize for intruding to your reunion.”

Adrian expected Ilyas to be the one to speak, but instead Bashar turned to the children.

“Of course, we spoke earlier. But I’m curious, how are you two enjoying Ma-Dina so far?”

“Sorry, Sir, we haven’t been able to explore much of your wonderful city, but from what we’ve seen, we’ve found it amazing.”

He laughed, leaning back on his chair. “Of course you would. We’re nothing like Xanderia— where are you two from originally anyway?”

Faizan piped up. “Alice is from Xanthe. Her father is a merchant from there. But Adrian— you're from the Rem Republic, right?”

Adrian nodded slowly as the country’s name was mentioned. Bashar folded his arms, rubbing at the stubble on his chin.

“All the way from Vitae, huh? That’s far,” he commented. An Elf— one of his friends— nudged him.

“Don’t you have a friend in Vitae right now?”

“Yes, but I don’t believe he’s in Rem. He travels a lot, and I do keep occasional contact with him. Last I heard, he was in the northern part of the continent.”

“Oh, I’ve never been anywhere outside of my country before I left,” Adrian said, shuffling his feet. He wasn’t sure whether he should say it— these people were well traveled and had been around. But he spoke anyway. “I’m from, uh, Villamcreek. Ever heard of it?”

More than one head shook from side to side, indicating how obscure his home had been. He sighed, disappointed but not surprised. He liked Villamcreek— his home— and he would have liked to talk about it more, however even Alice never really understood what it was like to be in a village.

Bashar cocked an eyebrow. “Villamcreek— yes, I’ve heard of that. It’s a small village in the outskirts of the Rem Republic, yes? Right by where the Incen Mountain Range cuts across

Graham had known of Villamcreek by name, but no more than that. And yet, this Elf knew where exactly his home was too? That made him perk up a bit more.

“You know about it?” Adrian asked, not too excitedly but still rather curious.

“I’ve been to Rem before— I visited their academy in Remheart. A student I met there was from Villamcreek.”

“Really? I don’t think anyone from our village went to Remheart since Mr Walden.”

“Walden!” Bashar snapped his fingers. “That’s who I had met.”

Adrian blinked. “You know him?”

“Of course. He’s an interesting fellow. Always had an interest in us Elves and the vital role we played in defeating the Demon Lord.”

There were a few murmurs of agreement— the boy saw everyone in the room stand up straighter, as if it was they who had fought in the Final Holy War. He thought that none of them were old enough for that, but apparently someone was.

Alima turned to her Ilyas, patting him lightly on the hand as he slowly ate his food. “Father, you were there, weren’t you? During the Final Holy War.”

Adrian and Alice stared at the withering man. He pulled the chopsticks away from his mouth, craning his creaking neck as he faced his daughter. They met eyes for a moment, then—

He started chewing. Adrian blinked as the old Elf continued chewing. He glanced around at the others, trying to see if they were seeing this too. And Alice clearly did. She was just as perplexed as he was.

But no one else cared. Alima waited casually, as though the long lull between replies was normal. Only Graham seemed slightly put off by this, however he waited too, as he expected it but was just not used to it.

Finally, when Ilyas was done chewing, his eyes widened fractionally and he opened his mouth. “The Final Holy War...?” He cocked his head.

“Yes. Back when the Great Hero Xander was still around. You remember Xander, right?”

Ilyas slowly blinked, taking this in at the pace that Adrian thought was even slower than the snail they were being served for dinner. Then he frowned.

“...Ghaleb?”

He looked past Alima, straight at Faizan.

“Uh, grandfather?”

“Is that you, Ghaleb?” The old Elf pushed himself off his chair and stumbled towards the Half Elf boy. Alima tried to catch him as he almost fell, but he brushed her aside.

Faizan looked around in a panic as Ilyas grabbed him by the shoulder. Bashar stepped up behind him. “Father, that’s not Ghaleb—”

“My oldest boy, you’ve returned to me.” Ilyas held onto Faizan as the boy squeaked. But he paid it no mind as he continued. “Your brother and sister have left me, but you’ve returned, just as I always knew you would. They don’t listen to me anymore. They see me as senile. But you— you…”

He trailed off, before his face went blank. He muttered to himself in confusion.

“What… where… where am I?”

Bashar placed a hand on his shoulder. “Father, come on, I think it’s time for you to go back up and rest.”

The old Elf nodded as he got up. “Of course, Bashar. I… where did…”

Alima gently lifted Ilyas by the shoulder. “It’s fine, father. Let’s go.”

“I... “ he trailed off.

The two siblings slowly brought him up the stairs, leaving the dining table silent. And even when they returned, the jovial atmosphere from before did not return.

“Faizan, we need to talk,” Alima said, leaning over the Half Elf boy. He still looked a little bit in shock, but he managed to muster up a nod.

“Yes mother.” She led him by the hand out of the room and gently closed the door behind her. Alice jumped out of her bed, running over to Adrian’s side of the bedroom.

“I told you something was up!”

He blinked, looking at her big blue eyes as she spoke excitedly.

“There is something going on here— this wasn’t just a regular vacation! Look at how

Adrian shrugged. “He seemed old, especially for an Elf. He’s probably sick or something.”

“As if,” she scoffed. “Did you hear what Ilyas said? He was left behind by his children. Why would he say such a thing if there wasn’t something going on?”

“Because Alima left to go the Holy Xan Empire and marry Graham?”

“Ok, then what about Bashar?”

Adrian pursed his lips. “I don’t know? He left him to go downstairs and greet us earlier this evening? Look— there is absolutely nothing bad going on.”

“I didn’t say there was anything bad, I just said there was something. Come on, Adrian, look at the full picture— Graham and Bashar don’t get along, Graham tried to keep Faizan from coming back to Ma-Dina for as long as possible, now this? I think there’s something going on with that man.”

“You’ve known him for a total of one night, and you’re coming to this conclusion? Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable, Alice?”

“How about you? Where’s your sense of mystery, Adrian?”

“Back where I left my business, and as far as I can see, my business isn’t anywhere near here.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “That’s a terrible joke.”

“But it’s true,” he countered, folding his arms. “This isn’t for us to have anything to do with, Alice. We’re children.”

She grinned, jerking a thumb at herself. “Children who will grow up to be the best in the world at what we do— we’re from Xander’s Academy. Do you think the Great Hero would have ignored a situation such as this?”

“...yes?” Adrian gave her a confused look. In the first place, he wasn’t sure what he thought of Xander. He had, like all the other children in Villamcreek, looked up to the Great Hero at first. But after what happened with the Church and Aria— he did not know anymore.

Alice sighed. “Fine. Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten involved in a family squabble like this. But it’s clear something’s going on. And if you don’t want to find out what it is, I will!”

“Wait, where are you going?” he called after her as she started out of the room.

“Eavesdrop— hear what Alima is talking with Faizan about.”

“Can’t you just ask him about it later?”

“No— he’s obviously not liking this situation. We shouldn’t bring up any of this to him. Just act normal. I’m sure you will, but I will too even when I get to the bottom of this.”

Adrian watched the girl leave the room, as the wood door swung shut. He waited for a few moments— he tried to put his mind into something else. But he couldn’t. So he got up and followed after her.

The brown haired boy saw Alice turning around a corner and followed after. But just before he could reach the juncture, a door swung open in front of him and a man came walking out. Bashar blinked as Adrian halted in his steps.

“Uh, hi.”

“Ah, Adrian was it?”

“Yes, uh, Sir?” Adrian wasn’t really sure how to refer to him. He had said Elves didn’t do titles— and that was true. But still, the boy felt that referring to him by his name was too… familiar.

“Were you headed somewhere? I’m sure I can help direct you around the house just fine.”

“No, I was just… going to the toilet.” Adrian bit his lips, cursing himself for using such a stupid excuse. What are you, six? Can’t you come up with a better lie?! He cringed, hoping that he would not be called out for it.

Thankfully, adults believed anything a child said as long as they weren’t aware that something was off.

“Well I’d be happy to show you the way.”

Adrian drew his lips into a thin line, although he said nothing. He nodded stiffly, before following the Elf man down the stairs.

“We don’t have any… plumbing like you do in Xanderia. But I’m sure you’re used to relieving yourself in other ways back in Villamcreek, right?”

“We use outhouses, Sir.”

“Of course. So do we. The only difference is that our outhouses are inside the house.” Bashar chuckled as Adrian gave him a blank look. “Come, let me show you.”

The Elven man pulled open a door, revealing the inside of an outhouse. There was a small ditch on the ground with a bucket of water to the side. Adrian immediately pinched his nose and backed up.

“But the smell—”

“Look up.”

Adrian glanced up, seeing a hole in the ceiling. Because it wasn’t a ceiling. It was just a section of the large tree that had been naturally hollow in the first place.

“We use nature as it is. See how convenient it can be when you don’t overcomplicate things?”

The boy slowly nodded as Bashar smirked.

“Now I’ll leave you to it. But don’t take too long. Alima gets upset when she can’t use the bathroom when she needs to.”

The Elf man turned around to leave, leaving Adrian to do his thing. So the boy closed the door, took a deep breath, and—

He waited for a bit. He counted the seconds passing in his hand, before he finally got up and left the outhouse. Because there was only one thing the outhouse was used for, and that was to do your business.

And Adrian had absolutely no business in this place.

Author's Note:

22 December 2020:

And we're back with another Melas chapter!

The 1 and a half week break I took was absolutely necessary, and I feel so much better now writing Melas with that. Seriously. I apologize for taking so long, but I literally have not felt this good about a Melas chapter in months.

Now all I have to do is maintain these uploads through Christmas and New Years, while trying to pump out 5 Salvos chapters a week. But don't worry, I have a 3 chapter Salvos backlog buffer to help me with that.

Also, I'm no longer writing 4,000 words for a Melas chapter. All that did was force me to make a scene longer than it needed to be. I'll write Melas chapters however long I want it to be now. Whether it's 1,000 words or 11,000 words, I will decide.

Next chapter on Friday or Saturday.

Thank you all for sticking with me throughout the tumultuous last two months. I genuinely appreciate it.

For everyone still reading the backlog/patreon chapters that isn't the latest, I apologize for the quality of writing there. It wasn't my best and I'll be the first to admit that.