The Normal Farmer - Completed

Chapter 21 – Two more Party members

In the morning, Ronald woke up with Duza kissing him. “Hello, sleepyhead! Get up; you need to get out of here before someone wakes up and sees you leaving my room!”

“Alright, you don’t need to push me!”

As soon as Ronald threw the blanket, he saw it. Duza had his hand marked on both cheeks, and the skin all around was dark and bruised everywhere. “Duza, you… you can sit like that?”

She looked back and screamed, “Aaaah! Such an ugly bruise! Let me… Ouch! Ouch! I can’t ride like this! I can’t even sit properly! What did you do?”

“Me? This was all your fault!”

“Yeah… It hurts, but at the same time, it’s so good… Ouch… Aaaah… Ouch! Yeah, it hurts more than it feels good. Maybe if you slap me a bit more…”

“Shut up, you crazy woman! Let me get my bag.”

Ronald put his hand inside his bag and whispered “Healing Potion“ so that he could find it easier. As soon as he grabbed it, he went to Duza again and placed one drop on each cheek, spreading it carefully with his free hand.

Slowly, the bruise disappeared, along with his handprint. Duza poked both cheeks and made a sad face. “Oh, your mark disappeared… I looked funny, branded like a cow… Well, you need to do another one. But this time, it’s better if you don’t put too much strength into it, okay?”

Duza raised her butt a little and shook it, with Ronald complaining. “What are you saying? I need to go, remember? Crazy woman…”

He gave her a light slap on both cheeks and put his clothes on, with Duza looking at him with a pout. “Meanie…”

As soon as he was ready, he grabbed his bag and kissed her forehead. “Get up; you are too much of a temptation, looking at me like that. I need to go and see if Red Sonja is ready. And her partner… that scaring-looking guy…”

Ronald made a frown and slowly opened the room door. He put his head out and looked at both sides of the corridor. He turned to Duza and smiled. “I will see you downstairs.”

He slowly closed the door and went to his room. He placed his head against the door, trying to hear any noise. Since everything was quiet, he knocked.

Red Sonja opened the door with an angry face, but as soon as she saw him, her face brightened with a smile, and she kissed him on the lips. “Good morning, Lord Ronald! Thanks for this evening; that guy was amazing, as always! So, where can we go now? Conan wants to go as well! Can we join you for today?”

“I… don’t know… I don’t know how I can explain your presence to the others without raising suspicions.”

“Just say that we met during your previous journey! Come in, you look weird standing like that at my door!”

Ronald entered with a frown. “Your door? The last time I checked, this was my room… Oh, you are still here.”

Conan was grabbing his sword, which was leaning against a wall, and placed it in the sheath behind his back. He offered a handshake and squeezed Ronald’s hand, only to have it almost broken because of his firm grip. “You… strong hand, Lord Ronald! Good! No time yesterday for thanks; Sonja too eager. I thank you now. We join your voyage, yes?”

Ronald pointed with his thumb to Conan while asking Sonja, “Does he always speak like this? Or he is mocking me?”

Conan gave a light tap on Ronald’s right shoulder. “Hahaha! I was just joking! I may be called Conan, the Barbarian, but I learned how to talk properly ages ago. So, what do you need? Do you have an enemy for me to love? Or virgins to s*******r? Or the other way around; I really don’t care! Hahaha!”

“Yeah, he is kind of crazy, right?”

Sonja slapped her forehead. “May God Seya help us… Stop that, Conan; you look weird! Sorry, Lord Ronald, he likes to fool around, but he is a good guy. Or a bad guy, depending on the situation. Well, where did you sleep last night? With Duza Sonanji, I hope.”

“I would appreciate it if you don’t talk about that near the others, okay? And also, they don’t need to know that you are both Magical Beings that I summoned. Just pretend to be travellers that want to accompany us for some time. I have some Big Rats that you can use to ride; I just need to buy another saddle if that kind of ride doesn’t bother you.”

Sonja shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t mind; I like feeling hard fur on my thighs. Conan rides almost anything with those muscular legs of his. Even broken glass, if needed.”

Ronald nodded. “That’s good to know. I think you can be with us for today and disappear by nightfall, pretending to go in another direction. I will grab your Magical Cards later on.”

Sonja looked at Conan and nodded. “That should work. Or, if you want, we can be with you for as long as you like. We are not like your average Magical Beings, and we don’t depend on your Level to remain next to you. We have our own Level for that. We can even go ahead of your group, scouting for any danger and getting rid of any enemy you could face.”

“Really? Amazing… That would be a tremendous help, having both of you as scouts.”

Sonja slapped Ronald’s back. “That’s settled; we will do that; you just need to feed us! We can provide the hunt for you to cook! And if we kill an enemy or a Monster, you can have the Mana Orbs.”

Ronald blinked a few times. “Wait, a minute… you eat?”

Sonja frowned. “Hello… not your average Magical Being, remember? We don’t need to eat, but we like to do it. For all purposes, we are alive. The dependency on a Magical Card is only for the first summoning. After that, we can be near you as much as we want or go on a trip if we feel like it. But we will continue to be bonded to you and obey you. Riattus made us like that, just to be sure we didn’t go on a rampage without his orders. We are loyal to our Summoner, which means you. We will obey any order and act as you tell us to. If you say we can’t kill, we won’t even kill an insect. We will be sad, of course, because we both like a good fight, but you are the Summoner, so we do what you say, always.”

Ronald frowned because her speech changed. Yesterday, I remember you saying you wanted to see if I was worthy of wielding your Card. What made you change your mind and acknowledge me?"

Sonja pointed at Conan. “He happened. For you to be able to summon such a powerful and high-level Magical Being such as me and then summon him, you are more than worthy. I may be the one who is not worthy, and that is indeed surprising! So, let’s go meet the rest of your group!”

Ronald stopped to think for a moment, and Riattus tried to reassure him: “You can trust them; they are extremely loyal, as any Magical Being, with the extra that they can also act and think for themselves. You just need to reassure the others and tell them the least you can about them.”

“Yeah… Okay, let’s try to see what happens. Even Riattus thinks it’s a good idea, and he hasn’t given me any wrong advice so far. Let’s go; let’s see if Duza is ready and get down for breakfast. Try to behave near the others, okay? I don’t want to explain to them more than I should about you two.”

Sonja and Conan smiled. They even had a shine in their eyes. Ronald thought that because they had been sleeping for so long, it probably made them eager to see the World again.

He opened the door and waited for them, closing the door afterwards. They went to Duza’s door and knocked.

She opened it almost immediately, as if she were waiting. “Oh! Ronald, I was just leaving! And… Red Sonja… that’s a big man you have there!”

Sonja smiled while crossing her arms under her breasts. “Of course, only the best male for the greatest Red Sonja! This is Conan, the Barbarian! You had a good night’s sleep, I hope?”

“Yes, I did… and you?”

“No, I didn’t sleep. We had too much to catch up on. So, shall we go downstairs? As we walk, can you tell us a little more about our companions?”

Duza looked in surprise at Sonja, Conan, and then Ronald. “Our companions? What does she mean by that, Ronald?”

“They want to be with us for a while, working as scouts, traveling ahead, and cleaning the path from any enemy or Monster that we could encounter. They will even hunt so that they can eat with us.”

Duza was dumbfounded. Red Sonja was a speaking, moody, temperamental Magical Being, and she can also eat? And who was that Conan guy? “Ronald, this… Conan, he is a… you know…”

Conan confirmed. “Yes, Conan powerful Magical Being! Strong! Fast! Good-looking! You not as good as Sonja, but you pretty! Hahaha!”

Ronald shook his head. “Don’t mind him, Duza; he is a joker. Let’s go; it’s getting late.”

While they were walking along the corridor and down the stairs, Duza explained what the purpose of that voyage was and a little about each member of the group.

When they entered the Dining Room, the others were already at a table. Duza and Ronald went to meet them, while Sonja grabbed a table and Conan got two extra chairs. They joined the tables and sat down before the dumbfounded eyes of the others.

Ronald introduced them: “Everyone, these are my friends, Red Sonja and Conan. I met them on one of my previous voyages. They want to accompany us for a while because we seem to be traveling in the same direction, so I thought it would be okay. They offered their help as scouts, going ahead of us and clearing the path of any enemy or Monster we could encounter, and catching some hunt so that I could prepare for them to eat. Conan likes to joke and pretend to speak like a foreigner, so don’t get the wrong idea. Red Sonja is a little temperamental and sometimes difficult to handle. She is…”

He stopped speaking because she was looking very attentively at Ovaidel. She slowly grabbed his beard and approached his face. “You look rather interesting, Ovaidel Satsin… You look just like one of my friends, a Half-Breed Dwarf. He was surprisingly strong and fast for his size. How good are you with a battleaxe?”

“I… I use two short swords…”

“Nice… Are you good with those?”

“I am still alive after all these years. I think I manage.”

Sonja let go of Ovaidel’s beard with a smile. “Like I said, very interesting… You, on the other hand, I don’t like you. Reylom Doggom, I think. Yes, that’s you, right? A Priest… I always hated Priests… For me, a good Priest was always a dead one…”

Reylom shook his head. He had never seen so much hatred towards him from someone he had never met. “No, I… I am not a Priest, I mean, not anymore…”

Sonja looked at him for a while with a frown on her forehead. She then nodded and eased up. “Good, you saw the right path towards God Seya’s Teachings without the biased ways of those guys… and you, Ini, secretive, suspicious Ini Tumrul. Conan, I think you will like him; he is your type of guy, right?”

Conan looked at Ini with a smile. “Yes, he is rather beautiful. Not that I appreciate men, especially one as slender as him, but he is indeed a beautiful male. I like the way he is evaluating us, and I think he has more to it than he looks at first. I once had a brother in arms like him, a splendid fellow. A coward King killed him, but I avenged his death by killing his entire family, army, and country.”

Conan raised a cup of tea and made a toast. “To our fallen comrades, Red Sonja! May God Seya guide them to a new life!”

He and Sonja gulped down the tea, frowning immediately afterwards. Conan was looking at the cup. “Tea… a woman’s drink. Who was stupid enough to fill Conan’s glass with a woman’s drink? Step forward to face my wrath!”

Sonja was squeezing the cup almost to the breaking point. “I always hated this. I may be a woman, but this is definitely not my type of drink!”

Taly and Ari were in silence for all that time, but then Ari asked, “Mister Ronald, I don’t remember asking for extra help. Are these two trustworthy?”

Sonja looked at her, looking shocked. “Girl, you offend us! How dare you ask if we are trustworthy? We are proud warriors, born on the battlefield! We eager for the fights, the killings, and the pleasure of drinking our enemies’ blood straight from their skulls! We don’t need to impress you or that boy next to you! We swore our lives to Lord Ronald, and we would die to protect him! On the other hand, I don’t even care if you die or not. For what concerns me, you could die this instant and I wouldn’t lose my appetite! But if Lord Ronald asks us to protect you, we would gladly use our lives to save you if needed!”

Conan nodded. “Yes, like she said! Minus the anger, she gets angry so easily!”

Taly smiled, pleased by that honest outburst. “If you two face every danger with such vigour, we are all in good hands, indeed. But why the Lord Ronald?”

Sonja raised one eyebrow, looking at him with disdain. “I shall address my friend as I see fit! If I want to call him Lord, I call him Lord! I could also call him Master, but I had only one Master in all my life, and he is long gone! Up until now, no one deserved to hear me call Master! Red Sonja bows to no one, but I am true to my friends and treat them accordingly! You would be wise to do your best to become my friend, boy! Or you won’t live long…”

Taly shook both hands. “No, please, I was just curious; I didn’t intend to offend you! Mister Ronald, is she always like this? Because I thought I was not offending anyone!”

Ronald placed one hand on Sonja’s left wrist and squeezed it. She flinched because of the powerful grip but endured the punishment. “No, Mister Taly, she was just being overly protective. She means no harm; she is just a little harsh sometimes, but she means well. Red Sonja, calm down, please. You are among friends; this is not a battlefield. No one here is going to attack or try to kill you.”

She looked around with a serious look. “Even if they tried, they would fail… Ouch, stop squeezing my wrist; it’s almost breaking!”

Ronald let go, and she rubbed the pain away. “Damn, so much strength! What did your parents feed you while growing up, swords and rocks?”

“Behave yourself, or you will do the rest of your journey all alone with that scary guy!”

Conan looked at Ronald, a little surprised. “Scary? Little me? No way! Lord Ronald, that’s a very mean thing to say to the mighty Conan, the Barbarian! If we weren’t eating, I would take your head for such an insult! Sonja, do you hear him? Calling me scary! Preposterous!”

Sonja was still rubbing her wrist, but she nodded. “Well, you look scary, with all those muscles, big hair, and lack of clothing… We need to get some clothes for you so that you don’t scare everyone around.”

Conan vigorously shook his head. “Never! No clothes will ever hinder the movements of Conan! This fur on my groins is all I can bear with!”

Taly smiled while drinking his tea. “This voyage is getting better with each passing day. What do you say, Ari? They are funny, right?”

Ari was looking at Conan flexing his muscles, with dreamy eyes. “Yeah… better and better…”

Duza shook her head when she saw Conan posing. She remembered one thing. “Ari, how was your walk around the City last night?”

Ari was frozen for a moment, looking at Conan, until Taly elbowed her. “Oh, right, sorry, I was dreaming while awake…”

She took one look around and lowered her voice. “I have found some intriguing things. It seems the City Chief created some weird taxes, like, one has to pay to walk in the City and pay a percentage for everything that is bought. One Guard tried to collect that kind of tax from us, but Mister Ini told him that you already paid for everything directly to the City Village. He told another Guard to check that, and he escorted us around while waiting. The other Guard returned sometime after, and he apologised for disturbing us. It seems the City Chief also ordered him to tell every Guard that we shouldn’t be disturbed. That was good because I could talk with some people without a Guard eavesdropping. A lot of people are unhappy about the way things are done around here. There are too many people living very poorly because of the huge amount of unnecessary taxes. And if someone complains, the City Guards arrest them, and they simply vanish. No one dares to complain, because they could be the ones to disappear next.”

“I see… I was not going to do anything more, but if things are like that… Mister Ronald, can you go get my things from my room as soon as you finish? I must go to the Adventurer’s Guild. I need to send a message to the King. I will meet you all at the stable in a few moments.”

Duza got up and went away. She had an angry look on her face, which worried Ronald. “Is she alright? She looks upset.”

Ini took a sip of his tea and confirmed Ronald’s suspicions: “It’s one of the duties of the Adventurers in this Kingdom, to report directly to the King any misdeeds of a City or Village Chief. And their Guards. The King takes those kinds of reports very seriously. Soon, some Royal Guards will come here, and things will quickly change.”

“Really? That’s good…”