Chapter 244: Stone Guardians (1/2)

Hearing Roas mention the 'gateway to the overlords', Aiden, halted in his tracks and turned his attention on him with his eyebrows raised.

”[Orc] Gateway to the overlords? Are you sure? You mean their Grotto?” He asked, with unmasked interest. Although he referred to it differently, he was fairly sure this 'gateway' or 'grotto' was the very same Demon Grotto he was looking for as well.

Seeing his master focusing all of his attention on him, caused Roas to slightly shiver for a moment before he managed to blurt out his answer.

”[Orc] Y-yes, my lord. It's the same. Whilst I do not know for certain where it is located exactly, it should be somewhere at the lower section of the building.”

”Hmm…” Turning his attention back towards the humongous structure stretching out in the distance, Aiden went into deep thought. Taking another, scrutinizing look at the gigantic silhouette from top to bottom, he asked after a while.

”[Orc] Does this building go underground as well?”

Hearing his young lord's question, Roas nodded fervently.

”[Orc] Y-yes, I believe so, my lord. Unfortunately, I was exiled from the tribe before we settled down here and was just used as an expandable scout.” He answered with a downhearted expression.

”Huh…” Listening to his explanation, Aiden's interest was piqued. ”[Orc] Come to think of it…” He turned his attention back to his servant, as he continued with a friendly smile stretching across his face. ”[Orc] So far you didn't tell the reason for your expulsion from the tribe. What did you do that made them replace you, and strip you from your name, title, and honor?”

As he asked, he noticed the increasingly souring, downtrodden look that began to settle on his servant's face. Gently grabbing Roas' left shoulder, he calmly added, seeing the clear difficulty of what his servant was going through. It must be still hard for him to remember back on these dark moments of his life, he was obviously still not over yet, despite the devotion he was showing Aiden.

”[Orc] Roas... ” He abruptly awoke his servant from his downhearted reminisce of these dark moments of his past life. ”... if it is too difficult, don't worry, you do not need to say a thing. I was just interested, please do not feel obligated to recount these moments of your past.”

Seeing the surprised look that slowly began to replace his previous look on Roas's face, Aiden's smile curved slightly higher, kinder. He continued with adding a few extra reassuring words. After all, he wanted to build a true friendship with his first follower and not just your typical master-servant relationship.

”[Orc] Remember, your past deeds no longer matter. As soon as you pledged your allegiance to me, they become irrelevant. I have promised you that we will take down those dark 'demonic' beings as you said and will give your heart and mind some peace. Trust me, I will not fail you, Roas.”

Even though he had his strong willpower, hearing the young master repeat the same words that were his mantra and the only strand of hope for these past several years, caused Roas' eyes to turn blurry with all the water that started to gather in them. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to contain them, and several droplets began to escape through the corners of his eyes, sliding in rapid succession down his rejuvenated, youthful face, only to throw themselves in a leap of faith towards the faraway ground.

”[Orc] Y-young m-master! T-thank you!” It took Roas several seconds before he was able to collect his composure enough to be able to respond to Aiden's words. Taking a knee to the ground, and his right fist over his heart, he began pumping his chest as he took a bow and responded with an increasing volume coming from the truest depths of his heart. ”[Orc] I will continue to serve you proudly for as long as my life will let me!”

Not wanting to raise any unwanted attention, Aiden quickly grabbed his kneeling servant's shoulder and promptly pulled him back up.

”[Orc] I am happy to hear that but calm down for now. We do not want to raise attention to us, remember we have several objectives we have to complete! Focus!” He spoke in a hushed, but lecturing tone.

”[Orc] Y-yes! I-I am sorry my lord, I-I… just…” Roas immediately began another about apologizing for his earlier outburst, in a similarly loud tone, only to be silenced by Aiden's index finger sealing his lips.

”[Orc] W-what did I just tell you?!” He lectured with a similar, but a slightly harsher tone, looking at his servant with a berating look.