Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 29.1 – Grandma – part 1.1

Isi Holl slowly nodded, signaled the two Explorers to sit down, and raised one eyebrow, waiting for Guyi to let her go. He immediately retrieved his daggers and made a slight bow without averting his eyes from the extremely dangerous Water-Dragon female in front of him. “It is so nice of you to grant us your presence, Miss Isi Holl. May the Goddess bless you forever.”

That granted him a head slap from Isi Holl’s tail. “Stop that; you sound like you are mocking me when moments ago we were threatening me!”

“You were the one who started it, Miss Isi Holl. Well, your escorts did when they grabbed Rodhy.”

Isi Holl looked at the growling Rodhocetus, who was so close to one escort that he was feeling uncomfortable, especially because only moments ago his head was being chewed. Isi nodded and sat down again, signaling for Byia and Guyi to join her.

She glanced at the other two youngsters who were looking at her, completely overwhelmed by all that happened, and asked, “Who are those two that are looking at me with those dumb faces? Friends of yours, Byia?”

“Yeah, they are also Apprentices. The female is Miss Toraan’s daughter, and the other one is Mister Indeth’s son. There is also Lodon, but I don’t know where he went; he was here only moments ago!”

The water moved, and Byia saw a smiling Lodon Lunn placing the closed cups with liquid inside in front of her. He made a slight bow and left again, while Toraan Roolyi waited near the table. Isi Holl nodded, and Toraan promptly sat down, trying to disguise her nervousness.

Byia took a sip of her cup without waiting for her grandmother to drink first, making her frown. “I see that your mother didn’t teach you any manners when in the presence of the elderly. So, first things first, I was told that those four that are working as chandeliers on the ceiling tried to rob a group of Apprentices, and judging by the way Toraan is so nervous and glancing at you, it makes me think that you and your friends were the ones that were almost robbed. So, do you mind me explaining why and how four of my Explorers ended up in there?”

Byia shrugged, while sipping her cup. “It just means you should be very ashamed if you have four Explorers in your Guild that are better criminals than honored Explorers. I know exactly what my father would call a Guild Master who didn’t confirm the background of their Explorers, and I am rather surprised by your calmness after finding out. I always considered you the greatest Guild Master in the whole World, but after meeting those four good examples, I wonder what sort of Guild you are running nowadays. If you have a dubious Guild that does all sorts of criminal activities, maybe we should continue this conversation with a sword in our hands because I find it very hard to swallow that the one who gave birth to my amazing father would resort to such activities.”

Isi Holl made a slight smile while sipping her cup with every Explorer and servant around, trembling in fear, thinking of all the dangerous acts that could come from such a frightening and powerful Guild Master.

She then put her cup down and answered, “You have quite a nerve, grandchild of mine, and I wonder where you got that. Not from that annoying pacifist mother of yours, I am sure of it. Maybe you have more of the Holl bloodline than I thought. Do you mind explaining to me first, before we go for our swords, why you became an Apprentice? And does your mother know you are one?”

“No, my mother doesn’t know anything, and I want things to remain that way. She never recovered from the disappearance of my father, and she would never allow me to become an Explorer. I want to learn everything I can to become a very powerful one so that I can go to the Abyssal Pit and find out what happened to him. Unlike you, who wastes your time running a very dubious Guild, I never forgot my father, and I want to look for him or find out what happened to him, even if I must tear this World apart in the process or anyone who stands in my way.”

Isi Holl slowly nodded and took another sip. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again: “Regardless of what those four up there did, I have a very respectable Guild well known in the entire World as the best there is. I never forgot my dear son, and I don’t know what gave you that strange idea. I might not have liked it when he chose your peace-loving mother instead of the dozens of female Explorers who were always after him, but I know he loved her very much. Since Sergge’s disappearance, I have always had a Party of Explorers searching for him, and I even went to the Abyssal Pit a few times to have a look. You should continue with your life the best you can; your father would not like it if you wasted your time always worrying about him. Let me worry instead. It’s my duty, after all, to always worry about my son.”

“Yeah, I can’t do that. I don’t think anyone will be more fitting than me to search for him. You might give up or die of old age, and every Explorer out there will eventually give up. I will never give up. Never!”

Isi Holl took another sip of her cup and smiled. “Yes, you have a lot of the Holl bloodline in you, my child. I might die of old age before I even find out anything, but I will never stop looking as well. My bloodline always had the weird problem of giving birth to the most stubborn Water-Dragons over the years, as the Calla bloodline gave birth to some outstanding and magically powerful females. You, my granddaughter, might as well be the pinnacle of both those two bloodlines, and that makes me expect great things from you. So, what shall we do with those four on the ceiling, and why one of them lost half of his tail?”

Byia shrugged and rubbed Rodhy’s head. “I took it after blinding them with my Magic as a punishment, and Rodhy here had it as a night snack. He was still playing with the tailbone the next morning, and he seemed very happy. I bet he won’t mind eating three more tails.”

“And you think losing a tail would be an enough punishment for daring to rob my favorite granddaughter? Because it sounds so little to me!”

Byia stopped rubbing Rodhyi’s head and frowned. “Last time I checked, I was your only granddaughter, unless you have another one that I am not familiar with. I just want to feed my Rodhocetus. You can do anything you want with them, for what I care.”

“Alright then! Toraan, be a dear and take them down. Slice their tails while you are at it; my granddaughter has a hungry Rodhocetus to feed. By the way, where did you find this guy? He looks smart and very protective of you.”

While Toraan Roolyi rushed out of the table, Byia nodded. “Yeah, he tends to exaggerate a little sometimes. I am still training him, but he can already do many things. Like obeying my mental orders and restraining your scared escort over there. Four Explorers turned out to be criminals and two others were so scared of a cute Rodhocetus — just look at them! You should be ashamed, grandmother. This doesn’t do any good to your reputation; you know that, right?”

Isi Holl looked at her two escorts and saw them avoiding her stare while trying to disguise their trembling. “Yes, I see what you mean. So, you made a Mental Link with this Rodhocetus? I bet Teera Calla will be very happy if you become a ‘Rodhocetus Trainer’, but this guy can be very useful during a Quest.”

“Yeah, he is also my alibi. My mother will never approve if I follow your line of work, but she is very happy with the idea of me becoming a Trainer. I hope you keep this dangerous occupation of mine a secret from her; she must never find out. Or at least, anytime soon. I will tell her eventually. Hopefully, many, many Tides from now.”

Isi Holl nodded and gulped down the full contents of her cup in one go. “I will keep that in mind during dinner. She politely invited me to your home when we briefly talked this morning. As usual, she did her best to keep her cool, even though she was almost blowing up in anger. Maybe it’s my fault for not disguising what I think of her peaceful manners and the safe job she has, but she always messed with my nerves. Even her calm tone of voice messes with me, and I just want to push her buttons, trying to get an angry reaction from her. One of these days I will make her so angry that she will go for my neck, giving me an excuse to break her head in two. Goddess, she makes me so angry! She even managed to turn your older brother into a peace lover as well! I bet that guy has never lost his temper since he was born!”

“You are mistaken, grandmother. Paullu likes to live in his own World, but when there is something weird happening around me, no one can stop him from going to my rescue.”

Isi smiled. She saw the National News about what he did in Byia’s School, but before she could ask anything more in detail, Toraan placed the three tails on the floor and asked nervously, “Here are the tails. What shall I do with these four?”

Isi Holl got up and made a weird smile while looking at the trembling four Explorers, who had the sliced ends of their backs wrapped in bandages. “Don’t worry your pretty head with details, Toraan. I guess you have a space for training at the back of this Guild, right? I want to show these guys what happens when one of my Explorers shames me. You have a Healer around here, right? Send him to the back to meet me, because they are going to need it! Byia, we will see each other at dinner, okay? Now, I must do my job as a Guild Master and punish these dumbasses accordingly.”

“Cool, may I watch? I never saw you fight!”

“No, my cute granddaughter, because what I am about to do is not for your young eyes. It will not be a fight either; it will be old-fashioned punishment with a lot of blood and screams. This is not the image I want you to see anytime soon. They not only tried to rob a group of Apprentices to gain easy money, but they dared to try that with my beautiful granddaughter. And that is something I can’t forgive. Toraan, lead the way, will you?”

Byia quickly hugged her grandmother and made an awkward smile at the two escorts while they pushed the other four, who only moments ago were hanging on the ceiling. Sveta gulped and sat down, followed by Cruvir, who was still trembling. Byia sipped her drink with a puzzled look. “You don’t look so good; what’s up?”

Cruvir placed his paws over the table, trying to prevent them from shaking, and asked with a trembling voice, “You wonder why? You just threatened the most powerful Explorers in your grandmother’s Guild! And Guyi had two daggers on her neck? You two are completely nuts! If she wanted, she could easily kill everyone in here, and the two that are her escorts are almost as dangerous as she is! You didn’t see how my father was nervous? He went with Sveta’s mother, and he looked almost ready to faint!”

Sveta nodded while grabbing Byia’s cup and drinking it in one gulp. “Yeah, I never saw my mother so scared, and she doesn’t fear anyone or anything!”

“Hey, let go of my drink, will you? I totally understand why they acted like that. My grandmother is very impressive. I haven’t seen her for a whole Tide, but she remains the same frightening Water-Dragon that I remember. The last time I saw her, she was annoying my mother so much that I thought they were going to fight, and my mother is very peaceful and hates fights. My grandmother, on the other hand, always enjoyed a good quarrel. My father used to tell me a bunch of stories about her while I was growing up, and many of those are not known by the general public, because if they were, everyone would fear her a lot more! I like her a lot; she was always my role model.”

Cruvir signaled a servant to bring more drinks, and Lodon arrived, carrying a tray with a bunch of closed cups that he skillfully placed on the table and left without saying a word. Byia pointed at him with one thumb claw and said, “That guy is working here now, or what? Why does he keep coming and going from the kitchen, bringing food and drinks?”

Guyi took a sip of his cup and answered, “He is just helping, and maybe our fine Guild Master will offer him a job, considering that most servants here are hiding in the kitchen, and he is among the few that are working. It was my idea, actually, and he seems to be doing an excellent job.”

Byia took another sip of her new cup while glancing at Lodon, who was swimming from table to table, bringing or taking requests with a big smile on his face.