Infinite Evolution: Return of the Talentless Mage-Chapter 34 - 0. Morning Haze

Ralph had barely started sleeping when someone walked into the room, a few minutes after he dozed off. They didn’t announce their presence to him, they simply walked up to the open windows and closed them shut before walking out.

They left swiftly, making only the slightest sounds from the mesh of their feet against the muddy floor. Leaving Ralph to his sleep, they shut the door and left. Clicks of their feet against the floor, an aftermath of their presence.

—----

Morning came swiftly, like a thief, stealing the darkness from the earth and replacing it with the beautiful light of its radiance. The skies lighted up with an ethereal Morning glow, slight colours of a rainbow streaking across it.

Ralph was still fast asleep, after all this was his real rest after days of travelling. He hadn’t slept properly, because no matter how hard he tried his brain remained alert at all times.

Even the slightest whistle from the wind was recorded. Not like he didn’t trust the pup could protect them both but the feeling of living alone for so many days had quietly sparked his spatial awareness with his environment.

Making him more aware of his environment than before.

The man from the night before knocked on the door to Ralph’s room continuously but Ralph was way too deep in sleep to hear the knock.

He had finally given himself a proper rest, and he didn’t feel tired like the other nights. He didn’t feel the need to wake up so early since he was now under a shelter.

*Dim dim dim* The knock continued, slowly becoming louder. He stood outside the door, slightly annoyed that Ralph was either ignoring him or still fast asleep when it was clearly Morning.

He gave the door a last knock before swinging it open with annoyance, glancing around the room. He saw Ralph fast asleep on the floor bed, enjoying his sleep while morning had arrived.

"Tch! Kids these days are so lazy, it’s hard to believe we actually gave birth to them. At his age, I usually woke up by 5 am to fill up the family drum so we wouldn’t run out of water that day and look at him, still fast asleep by this time of the day."

He walked to Ralph, bent low and tapped him on the body with the intention of waking him up from his nap. But Ralph didn’t budge, he was still sleeping peacefully as though he was at home.

The man increased the pressure of his taps, the sounds louder than the earlier taps. Hitting him continuously on the leg, so he could wake up but Ralph was still asleep.

He only shrugged slightly, shifting the man’s hand away from him and ignoring the taps with a frown on his face before falling back to sleep.

"He seems extremely tired, I guess I’ll let him rest then. Wouldn’t want him to be weak when he wakes up, wouldn’t want to pay for any medical bills when he owes me a day’s rent bill."

He sighed and rose to his feet staring at Ralph’s dozing body on the floor. He didn’t know what to do but since he had tasks to complete, he decided to do them in the meantime until Ralph woke up completely.

He walked towards the door, staring at him one more time before closing it shut. Outside Ralph’s room, everyone within the tavern moved about, completing their separate tasks assigned to them for the day.

Ralph apparently wasn’t the only foreigner in the city, there were others who came in just like him to stay until it was safe enough to travel again.

Those without money to pay for their fees were given certain tasks to complete, and if they were to stay for a long time, they were asked to continue with the tasks till they leave. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

For example, a family can be given the task of taking care of the village pond, cleaning it, feeding the fishes and much more. Or given the task of making sure the town was kept clean at all times.

With that, they reduced the load on the indigenes of the city, but no one was given a task they weren’t sure they could complete. They were always evaluated before being given any task and if they could pay for their stay then they weren’t given any tasks.

This was done to ensure they remained active during their stay, paying their bills and keeping the city running all in one.

While those assigned various tasks completed them, Ralph was given a timeout due to his age.

A few hours later, Ralph finally woke up from his long slumber. To him, it felt like it was still morning but in reality it was past twelve in the afternoon.

’Man, that sleep was goooooodddd...!’ He stretched out, nudging his joints into position with the action, and a yawn accompanied it, to show how tired he was.

He took a long blurry glance around the half-empty room, then rose to a sitting position. Yawning again, he placed a hand over his face, patting his cheeks continuously.

’How long was I asleep? And how come no one came to wake me up?’

He rose to his feet and walked up to the window, the afternoon sun’s radiance spilling through the window into the room and illuminating it.

The heat touched Ralph’s skin, and he immediately knew it had gone past the morning hours of the day. ’ It’s past morning? How long have I been asleep?!!’ He noticed there weren’t any noises coming from outside the door.

He panicked slightly and ran towards the door and flung it open to realise the door was noise-proof, built to keep outside noise to a minimum.

Outside the door, his eyes locked in with one of the individuals passing through the corridors and for a second he looked so familiar, like he had seen him somewhere before.

’What?’

He tried to reach out for the person and find out more, especially why they looked so familiar to him but he was blocked.

"You’re finally awake, for a second there I thought you had died because of how long you’ve been sleeping."

He tried to go around but the familiar person had already gone through the door to the front part of the tavern. He was left with his curiosity still piqued, and slightly annoyed at the timing of the man standing before him.

’Don’t say anything rude, Ralph.’ He reminded himself....