2 Chapter 2: Home Base

Following the Hunters back to their village, Marco saw a stone walled village, while they headed straight for the gate. They soon got inside, and Marco immediately scans the vicinity.

The architecture did confirm his idea of a medieval society, and the population was fairly large for a village, he saw at least 20 people in every corner, which gave him an impression of the village's population. He estimated it to be a population of 300-500. It was a bustling village.

The Hunter with the scar saw Marco's thoughtful expression and asked, "Hey kid, you okay? Are you even from around here?"

"Hm? Oh uh.. no, I'm not."

"Sigh... Where are you from then? I just assumed you were a kid from here since you close by."

"I don't know..."

"Wha-... anyways kid if you're fine with it you can stay with us. I'm Marshall by the way, and you?"

"Marco."

"Nice to meet ya lil Marco! Those are my boys, Hans, Chris, and Ali. You saw Hans and Chris are have earth, and water grimoires, as you've seen. Ali is also has an earth grimoire but he's more of a support. As for me, It's iron and it's really useful."

"Grimoires?" Marco thought about the glowing books, making his interest piqued, but decided to ask another time. "Oh uh, I think you guys are not bad people so I'm fine with staying along you."

"Good! haha! by the way lil Marco you actually sensed the boar before us, that's a nice skill you have." Marshall recalled the scene earlier and gave Marco a thumbs up as he chuckled.

'Oh yeah right... I seem to have good hearing huh...' Marco smiled and said, "I actually heard it."

Marshall looked at Marco in thought, 'He heard it? The time it took the boar to approach us was a few minutes... This kid must have hearing like an animal!'. He then looked at the 3 hunters, "You guys heard the kid, he's gonna be with us for a while, so sell that boar off to Kelly's Tavern already! Kid come, let's get ya settled in."

Marco followed Marshall to the outskirts of the village, and saw 4 cottages. "Welcome to your new home. Now in our group you should build your own house, see those 4 houses? You have to build your own around here. But don't worry, you're just a lil kid so we'll help. We start tomorrow, as for now you sleep with Ali."

"Alrighty then." Marco looked around and saw 2 large cottages, and 2 medium sized ones, he asked Marshall whose house were whom.

"Oh, Ali has the other big cottage, that's why you're with him, Hans and Chris built theirs cottages as good enough. Your big Marshall also has a big cottage of course."

"That so? Well I think I'll make mine a bit big too."

"Hehe, Its your call kid... Those three are taking too fucking long, probably stayed at Kelly's... Let's go look for them, also tell Ali about staying at his cottage for a while."

The pair then headed for the tavern, while evading other pedestrians. Soon they came upon a large timber-framed building, with a sign above the entrance saying, "Kelly's Tavern". When they entered the tavern, Marco was assaulted by the smell of alcohol, the fragrance of food, and the noise of shouting, laughter, and chatter. After adjusting to the environment he saw the familiar figures of Hans and company.

"Hey! you three, what took so long?!" Marshall shouted at them. "Oh? hey, Kelly paid some good money, and we got some drinks." Hans smiled at Marshall seemingly in a good mood.

"The fuck?! Why didn't you invite me?"

"We figured you were gonna look for us so we didn't bother, besides you were gonna tuck the kid to bed right?"

"Fuck you! About that, hey Ali the kid's gonna be staying at your place for a while you good?"

Hearing his name being mentioned Ali looked at Marshall before replying, "Yeah sure, I'm assuming we're helping him build a house?"

"You bet." Marshall suddenly took the beer from Hans and emptied it in a flash. Meanwhile Hans just exhaled as he ordered another drink.

"Marshall I'm thirsty." Marco said attracting looks from the four hunters. Suddenly an orange juice in a glass was put on the table.

"Don't worry kid its on the house." A tall man with ash blonde hair with locks on the side said. Immediately transferring the attention from Marco to the man.

"Woah there Kelly, this place might close down because of that." Marshall interjected with all the concern he could muster. Which Kelly looked at Marshall with all the contempt he could muster.

"Don't you worry about that, you just have to worry about fetching me ingredients capiche?"

Marshall scoffed at his rebuttal, while Marco thanked Kelly and drank the juice peacefully. With the momentary peace, Marco started to think about his future moves, 'Hmm... a medieval society... mana... grimoires... I think I need more info...'

"Mr. Kelly do you know what the neighboring kingdoms are?" Marco assumed that the type of government would be a monarchy, and promptly asked for the neighboring kingdoms, in that way, the answer he would receive would be of immense help.

"Hmm? You don't know? The border of Heart Kingdom is actually very close to the village. We're located at the extreme south-west of clover kingdom, so we actually border the Neutral Grand Magic Zone, and the Heart Kingdom." Kelly explained to Marco patiently. Marco continues to ask about the geography and immediately gets shocked and excited for the future. He now understands that the kingdom he is called Clover Kingdom, while at the south is Heart Kingdom, while at the north is Diamond Kingdom, up west is a neutral grand magic zone that separates the three kingdoms from the Spade Kingdom, where east is the sea.

'Haha, exciting! Now, about those grimoires...' Marco organized his thoughts with the new information about this new world. "Thank you for the lesson Mr. Kelly... but do you know where can I get a grimoire?"

"A grimoire? HAHA! Excited are we? You can get yours once you turn 15 years old. There's going to be ceremony every year at Grimoire Towers, so just wait for your turn alright? You should have at least 5-6 years more." Kelly estimated Marco's age to be 9-10 years old based on his physique.

"So kid, you want to be a magic knight?" While Marco processed the culture of acquiring Grimoires, he was alerted to the foreign term that escaped Kelly's mouth.