Chapter 16: Albert T. Cronoff

The cold wind blew in through the Window ruffling the black Velvet curtain on the slightly opened window in the still dark room, it was almost winter and the air seemed to get colder each day. As the first rays of sunlight shone in through the curtain and on his face, Albert slowly opened his eyes, his vision a little hazy, he sat up on his bed, yawned slightly and got up, he did some light stretches before walking in the direction of his washroom to splash some cold water on his face.

He had light brown hair that had streaks of grey, it wasn't too long and he usually comb it back, giving him the air of a refined gentleman. His beard had the same streaks of grey as his hair and the conspicuous wrinkles in his chiseled features gave him an air of kindness, he had broad shoulders and a well toned body that made him look like a professional boxer, his sharp penetrating gaze would make a lesser man tremble with only a stare, he looked to be in his late 40s but as a demon it was hard to tell his actual age.

After splashing his face with water he took a towel to dry off, hearing the commotion in the bathroom and being unable to shrug it off, Erin woke up as well, she had long lustrous and silky blue hair that ran all the way down to her waist. Her deep blue eyes were like the boundless sea, combined with her soft facial features, she was a beauty that wouldn't fail to turn the heads of all men, it was almost supernatural.

She sat up on the bed as she took a glance at the window, the sun wasn't even halfway up yet she was forced to wake up. She didn't really like getting up this early but had no choice as Albert was a mourning person and she wouldn't be able to get any sleep with him moving around carelessly in the washroom.

Albert came out of the bathroom and saw his wife looking at him sternly, he chuckled "Ah... sorry i should've been more considerate." she ignore him and got out of the bed heading for the washroom as well, this wasn't the first time this had happened and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

She was wearing a light blue night gown that revealed quite a bit, her stunning looks were made secondary by her amazing and curvy body, although she had a mature deposition, there was still traces of immaturity in her eyes. She went in the bathroom and slammed the door hard. Albert knowing how she gets in the morning didn't say a word. He got dressed and prepared for work.

He had been a demon noble just a few years ago, yet now he was forced to get a job as a guard for the settlement, luckily, thanks to his strength he was quickly promoted to the captain of the guards, which gave him quite a pay raise, but compared to lording over your own region though, this would be considered as quite the downgrade.

After getting ready he saw Erin finally come out of the bathroom, "It's quite a lovely morning don't you think." She looked at him strangely for a while before she sighed "Will you be back for lunch?" Albert seemed relieved, even though his expression hadn't changed, "Of course."

She smiled at him as she went out of the room and into the kitchen to make breakfast, it wasn't a large house, it only had two rooms, two washrooms a kitchen and a living room with space for dinning. They both had breakfast, Black tea, some brown break and scrambled eggs with a side of bacon. Although it wasn't much, but they were both quite satisfied.

Albert said goodbye to Erin as he left for work, Erin didn't have a job, but she was also quite strong so she would help the settlement whenever it would get attack by monsters or sometimes go hunting even though she wasn't a professional Hunter, the town gave her an exception and she got some compensation for her help. Her only job on most days was to take care of the house till Albert returned. The sun had already risen by now and the streets were starting to get a little busy.

The town wasn't that large and was only called a town because it had the defenses of one, there were only a few district in the town and Albert was in the residential district. The inner most district of the town was the administrative area of the town, in addition the area also contained storehouses for combat rations and even the general supplies of the town.

The town was located in the middle of a rocky plain, there wasn't much protection from the terrain and it was unsafe for merchant to come and go. The town would procure goods themselves and the traders in the town would purchase their goods from the town and proceed to sell them in the market place, the town wasn't that large so every single adult had a job, from tailors to blacksmith, herbalist, hunters and many more.

Albert could see other men rushing out of their houses as they headed for their workplace, only most of these men weren't like him, some had pale red skin and almost looked human with either one or two sharp dark horns growing from the top of their foreheads, although demons could have horns or even tails, their skin color was always the same as humans and elf's, beside only lesser demons were unable to hide those features.

This place was the the Red ogre settlement, so most of the residents here were ogres, there were other exceptions like him as this was a freemen settlement so it didn't matter what race you were, still most people gravitated towards their own kind so settlement like these usually contain more than 80 percent of a particular race.

Albert had always related well with ogres, he even let them stay in his region without demanding them to swear loyalty to him. So when he needed a place to run to, they had helped him out to the best of their abilities. He arrived at the guard office close to the entrance of the town, the town's population wasn't large, right now it contained around 700-800 residents.

He soon arrived in the guard office, he noticed the guards in the night shift were just rounding up and preparing to leave. "Ah... Captain Cronoff, you're early as always, Good morning sir" one of the guards that noticed him greeted. "If am ever late you all would take it as an excuse to slack off."

"Hehe, captain we're not all as lazy as Baine."

"You asshole!" The guard named Baine snapped. The entire office burst into laughter as they all agued and talked with each other, mostly complaining about how boring their shift was.

Albert just watched the scene in front of him without interrupting, he shook his head and walked in the direction of his office, "Goodmorning, Captain" a young handsome man dressed.in silver full plate armor greeted him with a smile, "Oh Kelvin, you're still here." This was Kelvin, a demon who also escaped with Albert from his region, he was now the Vice captain of the guard and responsible for the night shift this week, he had long blonde hair styled to the side and blue coloured pupils with a slim face.

"You're early as always sir, am sure you annoyed the Ms. again today."

"Ha ha, i can't seem to help it, how was your shift last night?"

"It was strangely more quiet than usual."

"Hmm... it's been this way for a while now, I wonder what's going on out there."

"Ha ha no need to worry so much sir, winter is almost here I'm sure they're just migrating a lot earlier this year"

"Really... I hope so."

"I should be on my way now sir, I've already organized your schedule for the day so you don't have to worry about that."

"You didn't have to do that."

Kelvin smiled and walked past Albert as he headed for the exit, "It's will always be my job to assist you, it matters not if you're no longer a Lord, besides am the vice captain, Goodnight sir" he wave his hands and was headed for the exit,

"Dumbass, its morning!" one of the guards yelled out at him as he tried to act cool, Albert sighed and decided to ignored the fuss and bickering that had just started, he walked to his office door and entered.

Entering his office, he saw a thick stack of papers on his desk, he had accepted the job as a captain thinking it would make for a change of pace as a former Lord, only to find himself doing pretty much the same thing, the only exception was when there was a monster attack and the town needed all man on deck.

Although he complained about the similarities often, he was glad about this, if it turned out he was doing something completely different so soon it might've taken longer to adjust, right now the only people he was responsible for were the guards, the rest of the town was left to the chief, he preferred this than the politics of being a ruler, the only reason he had been a Lord was for the mere fact that he was born into the role.

He sat behind his desk and began his work, soon he came before a list, the name of his wife Erin Cronoff was written on the second line of that list, "I almost forgot, she's part of the hunting party today, I wonder if she'll be okay." it wasn't that Erin wasn't strong enough to protect her self, he just couldn't help but worry whenever she had to leave the settlement by herself, after all she didn't really like the outdoors, not to mention he had a weird feeling about this.

••••••

After seeing Albert off, Erin started preparing her equipment for today's hunt, she was a magic user so she didn't really have much equipment, she wore light clothing, a dark purple robe with an hood. wearing a single silver bracelet on her left hand and carrying a small pouch.

After all her preparations were done she left the house, having already completed her chores the time had gone by quite fast, the streets was busy with both men and women as they walked in all directions, the sun hung high in the sky as the bright light shined on her skin, she frowned a bit then covered her head with the hood as she walked through the districts headed for the town's gate.

There wasn't many carriages in the town and since the gate wasn't that far from her house, she decided to walk, she seemed quite popular in the town as almost everyone who saw her greeted her warmly, most men admired her for her beauty and seductive features and often sent lustful gazes at her, they all respected Albert and wouldn't act on any of those impure desires. The women all liked her gentle personality but didn't really bother speaking to her except for exchanging pleasantries, she had a faint smile on her face as she nodded slightly to all their greetings, it didn't take her long to arrive at her destination.

She saw five figures waiting by the side of entrance to the town, there were three men and two women, all of them were ogres and had different types of weapons on them.

Ogres were quite strong but rarely had any magic potential, even when they did, they were quite limited in that aspect. "Yo... Erin, Good morning, glad you could make it" one of the female ogress in the group welcomed her as soon as she saw her, she had a bow on her back but carried no quiver for arrows. She ran over to Erin and held her hands, "Come on, we must leave now if we want to return before noon, Jarret already located our prey so we won't spend all day finding one." she said with a bright smile as she dragged Erin by the arm and they headed out of the town.