Chapter 208: The Start of Timothy's Routine

Timothy was resting his head against something soft, warm and—his eyes bleared open, and the sight prompted him to get out right away. The man stumbled out of the rug and he pulled himself up to his feet. He fell asleep while resting his head on her leg?

The young man wouldn't even question how it happened, because it just did. He rubbed his face and shook his head, memories of falling asleep while trying to tend and watch over the girl came to mind. She should have kicked him out though, or had she fallen asleep before him?

It was the only reasonable answer.

Closing the mana lamp still left glowing, he gazed around and noticed that the room was clean—well, he ended up cleaning most of it last night, and then decided to watch over the girl until he fell asleep? He slapped a hand over his cheek, "Concentrate." The very first thing that came automatic to him when he woke up, it was eating breakfast.

Even if he told Han before that most didn't have the luxury to eat, people like Old Man Joe and Becky were working before sunrise with their farming and animal-rearing jobs. His mother on the other hand worked at Grandma Moe's tavern and always cooked so he did get to help out and eat. His stomach grumbled and he sighed. He had enough time to go to the dining hallway, but he also needed to run back here and get the young woman some breakfast.

It was finally time to start the day again.

Honestly, it hadn't been that long but he was quickly falling into a routine of some sort.

And living in the dormitory rooms in Dewrowan Tower had its own perks compared to his old life in the village, he stepped into his own bathroom and took a bath—with hot water. It was possibly with the help of an enchantment or some rune that came with the...water pipes? Somewhat, he kind of understood the cost of twenty gold coins, the amenities per dormitory room, the lavatory was great compared to the outhouses in his village.

Not to mention the meals served per meal, the ingredients in of itself were amazing and—

Knock Knock

He blinked and began to rinse himself. "When did he start waking up before me?" Timothy hurried and clothed himself, already having an idea on who it would be, even if the man was actually earlier than he expected. The man needed to stop knocking unless he wanted to wake Iola up, but maybe that was the intention. Either way, Timothy reached for the doorknob and opened it to see…the Mage. The Illusory Mage.

It wasn't Han.

The guy was probably still snoring in the next room. He narrowed his eyes at the Mage, "What do you want?" He frowned.

"A good morning to you too, fresh out of the shower huh?" The man grinned, "Your hair's wet."

The guy was a contender for inane words… he realized something. Timothy moved closer to the door and stuck himself the gap—the tome wasn't visible right? "I'm not really sure what you want, the deal is off between the two of us."

The Mage's expression stiffened, but he waved a hand, "I'm not here for that, although I wasn't the one who told your friend of you and the Half Elf being at the library, but I actually came here for something else…"

Timothy stared at him.

"You're supposed to ask me 'what?' while acting interested," The older man sighed, "Anyway, I wanted to ask about you and your friend's life at the Pebblestone Village?"

"Rockfall Village."

"Same thing," The Mage shrugged.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Why not the interest?" A smile curled on the Mage's lips, he gestured at Timothy. "You and your friend are notable for coming at this point in time, surely you can tell that, at least?"

One of his eyes twitched, "Well, it's obviously because we know the right people. Did you really come all the way here for that?"

"Ooh, who did you know?" The Mage raised a brow, a curious look on his face. "Were the tests altered thanks to this sponsor of yours? I assumed you and Han won it fair in square, but was it all due to someone backing you?"

Timothy grunted, "We did finish the run fair and square,"

The Mage held a hand over his heart, "It was more of an obstacle course, to say it was simply a run hurts my heart. It was actually supposed to be shown only to the Professors and your possible Classmates, but us higher-levels got a hold of a copy."

"What?" He made a face.

The Mage flicked his wrist as a stone appeared in his fingertips, "Crystal records? Everybody wanted to watch it. Really a good race—er, obstacle course. I guess being a villager boy means that you have lanky legs—although the Noble still outran you so maybe that's not true? Are you underfed?" He continued to talk and shrugged, "I'm frankly more surprised that your friend Han kissed the floor during the test."

He didn't remember that, but Timothy scrunched up his face. "Well the guy does whatever he wants."

"Your friend's not normal is he?"

"He's weird," Timothy frowned. "He does things that no sane man would do—but it's probably because he never had any parents that raised him. He insisted on staying at the edge of the village on a hut, he's always been that..."

"What?"

The Mage was giving him a look of complete interest, if the man had a scroll out, he would have been probably scribbling right now or… the Mage was still holding onto the crystal. It didn't seem to glow to him so it wasn't one that indicated truths or falsity. This guy was recording every single damn thing that he was saying, wasn't he?

Timothy bit himself from saying the word bastard and calmed himself. This guy just led him up to speak about this didn't he? Somehow everyone was interested in Han. From the guy he met at the city to the Mage right in front of him.

How much of this situation was planned from the start?

He almost didn't notice it at all.

Timothy gritted his teeth. "Why don't you ask him instead of me?" He had just woken up and somehow someone was already souring it up with all of these nonsense questions. This reminded him of when Tom and the other kids came up to him and told him that they saw an Elf in the Enchanted Forest and it gave them fruits.

That was to say: It didn't matter to him at the end of the day.

Those kids probably ended up nabbing some fruits at Old Man Joe's orchard or something. It was all talk but nothing of any prime importance—others might have assumed it was important, their parents got worried about their children seeing things in the Enchanted Forest. But the reason for the Mage's question was also slightly different, in that this sounded something like people wanted to gossip. Politics?

But it was still something that he didn't want to involve himself.