"Intrusion? Clearly, we're the trespassers here, and this is your house"
His tone of voice felt playful and unserious however his face showed a clear displeased frown. He quickly repositioned Esme behind him and stood face to face with the two men.
Esme felt her stomach churn, Arthur's words seemed sarcastic however she could hear the anger in his voice, it was an anger she had expected to hear earlier this morning when she woke up late and failed in her duty as a wife.
But here it was now, apparent. The fact that it wasn't directed at her made her feel a sense of safety as she stood behind him. Even his arm was extended outward, a gesture of protection.
"Apologies, we're quite in a hurry, you see, so we don't have the time to wait for a response"
"Oh is that so? Then why not leave and save yourselves the time of having to be in a home you aren't welcome to"
Arthur's words invited the small amount of tension that had crept in, making it thicker and more apparent, the more muscular of the two men began to frown and his chest began to puff out in preparation for confrontation.
"I apologise. Our entry was rude. My name is Charlie, Boss Bulat sent us"
The lanky man, now known as Charlie, said as much, hoping to de-escalate things and hoping the mention of Bulat would make Arthur more willing to talk.
"Apology not accepted, Charlie. Get out of my house before I decide I'm no longer in the mood to be cordial"
Arthur threatened as his brows creased deeper, and his eyes conveyed an unamused expression. Seeing Arthur's unamused face, Charlie immediately stopped smiling, and his smile turned upside down.
"Did you not hear me? Boss Bulat sent us, not hearing what he has to say, invites consequences"
Hearing those words, Esme couldn't help but clutch her dress, her hands sweating and soaking it, her gaze pointed downwards avoiding any eye contact with any of the men, she could feel her knees shake and her mouth become dry.
The tension in the room had become so thick she could swear it was bearing down on her shoulders like a boulder, and she doubted she could take any more of it.
"Not listening to my words at this moment also invites consequences"
Arthur warned, his face showed his expression of displeasure clearly, his steel gray eyes turned ice cold.
In his years as an explorer, fighting humans was rare. He's only ever fought barely a handful of humans, most of whom were Mercenaries who challenged him.
When your primary job is slaying monsters, slaying humans is not a common occurrence. Fortunately, that does not mean he was beyond doing it, especially considering his wife was present.
He was unfamiliar with the customs of this kingdom however, he agreed wholeheartedly with the idea of it being his duty to protect his wife and home and although he's only married her for a day, he is prepared to fulfill his duty as a husband.
Charlie could not help but blink at those words, he scrutinised the foolish man before him, looking to see what confidence he had to speak so frivolously, he was certain someone had already informed them of how things worked around here.
This was not his first encounter with someone who did not want to pay the protection fee, but this was his first encounter with someone who outright threatened him so directly.
Charlie looked at his companion, the big and tall man who accompanied him everywhere as insurance.
The two shared a glance, with his companion raising a questioning brow, however, Charlie shook his head before turning to look at Arthur once more.
"Very well then, we shall leave"
Charlie and his friend turned and left, closing the door gently, and once again, Arthur and Esme were by themselves.
"That was interesting, If they're that bold, then I can only imagine how audacious their boss would be. Anyway, you said you're going to make tea?"
"Uhm yes. please wait"
She quickly made her way to the kitchen, almost running as she left his side. He hummed curiously as he witnessed that but decided to ignore it. He guessed she was feeling conflicted.
Just minutes ago, she made the decision not to pay the protection fee, only for Bulat's men to come in demanding, and now they're in open hostilities with Bulat.
"The fact she didn't try and backpedal after they left shows her own mental fortitude"
He whispered to himself and hurriedly made his way up the stairs, and went into the bedroom, kneeling beside the bed, he reached underneath it and pulled out a sword, more specifically a custom-made Katana.
Its sheath was a deep blue with fading white coloring on its edges. Arthur was not a swordsman. However, he was skilled enough to comfortably wield it in battle.
As an explorer, it was important to have some type of weapon with you at all times.
If you overuse your skills resulting in an extended cool down, fighting a monster for several minutes barehanded was a death wish.
Hence, a weapon you can swing decently well was needed. Arthur had chosen Katana, mostly because back in his old world, he thought such a sword was cool.
He didn't really plan to kill anyone with it, rather he took it out for intimidation purposes, unless Bulat has seasoned soldiers as his underlings, the blade should be enough to scare off the typical slum rats that work for him.
After having pulled it out from beneath the bed, he let it rest on the corner of the wall near the door. Arthur was sure Bulat would send his men to attack his home at night, an attempt to force him to pay the protection fee so the Katana would serve as a good intimidation tool.
"I don't think we have any tea bags or any kind of coffee"
Esme shouted from within the kitchen, just as Arthur was making his way out of the bedroom. Hearing her words, he replied without much thought, convinced that his next words were a good idea.
"It's fine, we can just boil water and add sugar. That's basically tea, right?"
He suggested while beginning his descent down the stairs, He was already thinking about getting a slice of cake, Esme had been right about the bread in the morning not being filling, he felt a bit famished, and that only made it more difficult to resist getting a slice of cake.
He heard her hurried steps, almost as if running out of the kitchen. She exited it and stood by its door. There was a look of surprise and a bit of confusion on her face.
"I don't believe I heard you correctly. Could you repeat what you said, please"
Arthur obliged.
"I said we can boil water and add sugar"
His words confirmed she hadn't heard him wrong, she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, his face showed nothing but a straight face, as if what he just said was not completely ridiculous.
"That's not tea, my husband. That's hot water"
"If you add sugar, it basically becomes tea"
She gave him a stare, a long stare that seemed to be trying to find the humor in his tone, but unfortunately, there was none.
Arthur was genuinely serious, and the look of confusion he gave her told her he saw nothing wrong with what he said.
She wanted to gently correct him, tell him there's a distinct difference between hot water with sugar and actual tea, however, she held herself back.
He was an Explorer, as such, it made perfect sense to him that hot water with sugar made for a good tea substitute.
He probably did not have tea a lot, and whenever he was out hunting monsters, he did not have tea bags to make tea, so he just used hot water.
That's what Esme figured. Otherwise, why would he ever think tea and hot water are basically the same thing? With that in mind, she decided to give an alternative solution to the lack of tea bags.
"We should go to the market and buy some, and maybe buy some other essentials as well"
She suggested, deciding not to dwell on his complete misunderstanding of what tea actually is.
.....
A/N: Yeah Arthur is one of those guys who just thinks tea is no different from hot water. He's completely wrong, hopefully Esme will change his mind about tea later.
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