“Surely not.” he made another turn, but to the guards demise, Matheson still followed.
“Dammit, I guess I gotta lose him.” the guard made a sharp right turn, running down an alleyway and onto another street before turning left and then left again down another alley. He started walking as he looked back, thinking he lost him, but quickly began sprinting after he saw Matheson come around the corner, who was just as fast as before.
“Shit. What’s wrong with this guy? I don’t care what he wants, I won’t talk to him”
The guard ran to the east of the village, making random turns through the streets and houses. He even hopped over a fence and crossed a field, running straight through a fog of mist-sheep.
“What the fuck… he’s still chasing me? Even across some farmers' fields? Dammit. I just want to get a meal and go to bed… But I won’t be mentally scarred from that smell again. Anything but that.”
The guard suddenly had an idea, and he smiled to himself smugly while hopping over another fence. They were in the west part of Losla now, so he ran around the outskirts of the village to the north side of town and crossed the bridge before heading directly to a place inaccessible to civilians - the barracks. This was a small building where guards had meetings, equipped themselves as well as rested from their duties. Sleeping here was free, but it was not ideal, and many of the guards had their own homes in Losla; many of them were civilians of Losla before their employment, though they had to leave Losla eventually to train in higher level dungeons before returning again. This was to become capable of handling anything that would happen at Losla, and many of the guards were at least level twenty.
“He won’t be able to chase me into the barracks.. Heheh.”
Still running through Losla, the guard had the stink of Matheson trail across the whole western part of town before he entered the small barracks. It had a small wooden wall around it with another guard at the front, so Matheson couldn’t get in.
“Sorry bud,” thought the guard as he ran past the other, entering the barracks. He felt sorry for the other guard who had to stand at his post and stop Matheson, smelling the stinking noble.
Matheson stopped at the entrance, raising a brow as he looked at the guard.
“Hmm, I guess I can give this to you.” said Matheson, holding the scout badge in hand while giving it to the guard at the entrance to the barracks. He promptly ran off again, heading back to his mansion.
He didn’t seem to mind about chasing a guard over the village, he reasoned that this was probably a routine exercise and he would at least copy the guard, doing what he thought was the bare minimum of training.
Matheson's training was going quite well, in a matter of days his muscle mass had increased substantially. His biceps had stretch marks on them biceps because the muscles got bigger and the skin couldn't grow fast enough. His progress was impossible for any normal human, but he had an energy pool which allowed him to keep going as long as he desired. His clothes were starting to get tighter too, and he began to notice they were looking small, though he would wait a little longer to replace them as it felt good to squeeze his muscles against his clothes.
Back at the mansion, Hodley was peacefully having a cup of coffee with some mushrooms and cheesy eggs for breakfast, though he paused his chewing for a moment upon smelling something horrible - thankfully it was just a whiff and it went away as quickly as it came.
“Hmm? Weird.” he leant forward and smelt his cheesy eggs - they smelled fine, so he went back to eating as he enjoyed his quiet breakfast, watching a few birds fly between trees outside as they collected worms.
“Mmm” he chewed his warm food with contentment.
Suddenly the door burst open and a stinking man covered in filth entered, it only took a moment for the whole room to fill up with the same stench.
“Hodley! Run me a bath! Then prepare me a breakfast feast!”
Hodley nearly fell out of his chair, startled from not only the young master bursting into his room, but also from the stench.
“Y- yes sir!” he said, gripping his chest as he quickly stood up and left the room to prepare a bath.
“What a horrible way to start the day… being yelled at out of nowhere” he thought, filling the bath with water and lathering in some soap.
“And it was worse since I wasn’t expecting it either, I had my guard completely down… I was even feeling peaceful for a moment. Dammit.”
He sighed to himself as he took a deep breath in “But I won’t let something like that ruin my day. I’ve been through worse after all.” he encouraged himself.
“Plus, maybe I’ll be able to go back to the capital if Matheson becomes independent.”
“That’s right, it’s not him I’m serving anyway. He’s just a horrible person I have to be around for the time being. It’s not permanent, I work for his father.”
Hodley took out a communication stone and contacted the head chef,
“The young master is back. Prepare a feast - a dinner feast. He was awake all night so this will be dinner for him.”
“Yeah yeah, we’ll be about… one hour.”
“Thankyou.” Hodley said to the chef.
Hodley sighed again, “How come even the people under me are rude to me too? I’m polite to everyone no matter their status…”
He shook his head before he tested the water with his hand.
“No. I’m not letting myself sink into self-pity. Not today. I’m polite because of the person I am, it has nothing to do with the person I’m polite to.”
“Besides, I’m too old for these silly feelings anyway…” he thought as his spectacles were starting to get foggy.
Hodley had to encourage himself like this nearly every day; no one else would. He wasn’t sure if he was either getting used to the world seeming to be against him and treating him poorly, or if he was actually being worn down, little by little, piece by piece.
The bath was a multi-ruby bath type so it heated much quicker, but the water still took time to fill it. After the temperature was right, he went to tell Matheson the bath was ready before returning to his meal.
The room was stinking and his breakfast was cold, much of the oil had run out of the eggs making the whole plate greasy and gross.
“Why…” Hodley looked at his food.
“Did he plan this?” he wondered as he sat down. Matheson’s timing was perfect; frightening the old man when his guard was down eating breakfast, but right before he could even get half-way through his plate.
The meal was ruined, not just because of the coldness but because of the smell which Matheson brought back, still lingering on.
He opened a window and finished his meal anyway, not letting the food go to waste. He knew things would get harder soon as Matheson would be around less and less, meaning the mansion's budget would decrease.
After bathing then eating like a king, Matheson went to bed, sleeping until midday before he planned his next outing.
