Chapter 90 - Just A Businessman?

After a reaction from Erick that seemed far too... restrained to finding out someone they knew could actually fly, I silently drifted after the three of them in the direction of the inn.

I still don’t really know why I did, I think it was just that it seemed like the only thing to do at that time.

My mind was still reeling around, trying to figure out what was going on.

As we walked down the streets, the villagers that had seen what Daniel had done all lined up next to the road, leaving enough space for us to pass through.

They were all whispering among themselves, some of them telling the newly arrived what had happened, pointing between the massive wall that now surrounded the entire village and Daniel, who was being carried by Erick like a sack of goods.

Eventually we reached the inn, where we found Darvel and all of his staff standing outside looking at the massive wall with mouths agape.

I completely understood their reactions, but for me the surprise of a massive wall appearing out of nowhere had worn off the moment I saw a man standing in the sky like he would on the ground.

"Wha... what happened?" Darvel asked, looking at Julia.

"Daniel created some defenses for the village," Julia said, not even spending a moment more talking with Darvel, simply walking past him into the inn, followed closely by Catharina and Erick.

"Some... defenses?" Darvel whispered just as I walked past him, following the trio in front of me up the stairs, and into a room that seemed like it had become more of a home instead of a normal room in an inn.

Against one wall stood a sort of bench that was separated into three sections, in each section different clothes were neatly folded and laid out.

The middle section held clothes that clearly belonged to a man.

On each side of the bench a different set of armor was neatly displayed on a rack. Both sets of armor looked like they were designed to be lightweight and easy to move in, but where the one set was a striking silver color with golden accents, the other was a black as midnight, with red accents that made it look like blood dripping from its edges.

Within moments I could tell that this room was not only their room, but had been turned into a home by the three of them.

Which made me freeze in the doorway like a statue, it didn’t feel right for me to follow them in there, it would be like strolling into someone’s house completely uninvited.

"I really wish he would stop doing idiotic things, that leads to me having to carry his heavy ass around," Erick mumbled, as he dropped Daniel onto the bed. "I’m getting too old for this shit."

"You say that," Julia said, smiling at Erick. "And yet you’re still grinning like a fool."

She was right about that, even from the side, I could see the smile on Erick’s face, and his eyes looking down at Daniel with complete loyalty.

"Of course," Erick nodded. "I’m just imagining the pain you’re going to inflict on him when he wakes up."

"That is something we should probably discuss," Catharina smiled as she looked at the man passed out on the bed.

The way they talked about a man that was clearly very powerful, as if he couldn’t stand against them at all, astounded me.

They were talking about a man with abnormal, almost inhuman, skills with magic after all.

"Maybe we could deny him sleeping in the same bed as us for a few days." Julia suggested spreading her hands like this seemed like the obvious punishment.

"Please, god no," Erick flinched. "You’ll make my journey with him hell if you do that."

At that time I couldn’t understand how they would see that as punishment, although at that time I couldn’t even understand why they would want to punish the poor man at all.

"What’s wrong, Bronwyn?" Julia asked between giggles.

"It’s just... how can you talk about punishing someone that’s clearly very powerful?" I finally asked.

All three of them turned to look at me with bright smiles on their faces.

"And you," I said pointing at Erick. "Don’t you work for him?"

"Yes I do," Erick nodded, still smiling.

"Then... how do you get away with calling him an idiot?" I asked, extremely confused by all of this, in the few days since I’ve known Catharina and Julia I’ve come to know that they would never let anyone get away with talking bad about their husband.

"Because he’s not just my employer, he’s also my friend." Erick shrugged.

"And he’s our husband, of course we can punish him." Cat shrugged.

All they achieved with those answers was to confuse me even more. I could do nothing but have my gaze drift from one to the other.

"If you get to know him you’ll understand," Julia smiled. "Our husband... well he’s..."

"Let’s just say he isn’t like most humans you know," Cat finished for Julia, looking down at Daniel with pure love in her gaze.

"Hell he probably isn’t like anyone you know, no matter the race," Erick added.

"And he’s pretty oblivious about his own strength," Cat nodded again.

"Oblivious about his own strength?" I asked. "The man literally just flew, and created a massive wall at the same time, how can he be oblivious about his own strength?"

For a moment all three of them just looked at each other, their smiles becoming wider, and wider.

"Well," Julia started. "He believes it’s just because he’s the only person alive that has an affinity with all elements."

"And that gives him a massive advantage," Cat nodded.

"So he actually believes that he isn’t that strong, but that he just has access to more resources," Erick finished with a shrug.

"But..."

"That..."

"That’s literally what strength is!" I finally exclaimed.

"Not according to him," Julia said, nodding toward the still unconscious Daniel.

"He also believes that he’s just a businessman, with no ambitions of power," Erick added. "Which should tell you a lot about him."

"Just... a businessman?"