Next day –Early morning]
Arthur had woken up and readily began his morning exercises.
Mornings in the Lionheart kingdom were the type to be extremely cold but gradually pivot to being hot once the sun was up.
However to him such was trivial not unless it was the extreme sort found in the Ice wall.
Because of that he often did his exercises without anything on top, just short pants and shoes.
It was still quite early in the morning so he did not need to worry about being seen by people, plus the sun had yet to rise so it was a bit dark.
'Guess this is the downside of being in a city, I have to worry about what people see'
He thought to himself while on his jog, the thing about being an explorer, is that one rarely stays within city walls and thus whenever Arthur did his work out, he could do them naked in a forest or mountain somewhere without worry about any human eyes but now he has to remember he can't do that anymore.
It was during this morning jog of his around the neighborhood that he began to notice something a little strange.
He hadn't managed to even get a good distance away from his house but was able to notice forcing him to immediately stop in his tracks and look around.
'Am I being watched?'
That question rang in his head while he let his gaze dart between the rooftops and the corners in between houses but he did not see anything amiss.
Even though his eyes told him otherwise, his instinct as an Explorer told him there were quite a few eyes on him.
As a person who makes a living killing monsters, he's quite used to being stalked and followed by a beast that thinks of him a prey as such he was intimately familiar with the feeling of being watched.
However despite this feeling of being watched Arthur continued on his jog.
Deciding that it was better to ignore it for the time being, mostly because he was getting the sense that whoever was watching him, was also following him so it was likely they weren't going after Esme.
He also assumed that Bulat was doing some scouting or something along those lines. If that was the case, it wasn't something that was urgent so he did not need to take care of it and thus he continued with his jog. Although Arthur would later find out his assumption was wrong.
By the time he returned home, the feeling he was being watched had yet to go away but he continued to ignore it.
Walking into the house and closing the door behind him, he heard the sound of cooking from inside the kitchen, which surprised him, considering that the sun was just barely beginning to rise, Esme should still be asleep.
He made his way to the kitchen and as he arrived he saw his wife over the stove, presumably making breakfast.
"There's no need to get up this early, you know"
He advised as he looked at her back while she was standing over the stove, seemingly focused on her task, although he couldn't help but sneak a glance at her magnificently plump rump.
"I can't just let you eat bread for breakfast. You need to eat something that's filling, especially if you're going to be doing these exercises every day"
Without even turning back to look at him, she responded. Her words were referring to how last time his breakfast was just bread, worst of all, at the time he didn't have anything on the bread, it was just plain bread and "brown sugar water" as he called it.
"If that's what you want, but it's not healthy to wake up so early, and bread is filling if you eat enough of it"
He responded and within the same sentence he added a defence for bread, he doesn't know why she keeps insisting that it isn't filling.
"So it's not healthy for you too right? And no bread is not filling"
She was quick to counter and Arthur could look at her with a quizzical expression.
"What is this? Do you not like bread?"
He decided to avoid answering the first part of her sentence and chose to ask her about her completely unfair slander against bread.
"I don't hate it, but it just isn't filling to me, and answer my question please"
She said as she reduced the temperature on the stove before turning to look at him, she could not help but be pleasantly surprised when she saw that he was topless. His muscles glistened from the sweat, unable to help herself she stared at his arms and chest.
"It's not healthy for me too, however I'm used to it, my body has learned to function with that kind of sleep schedule"
Hopefully, that answer would satisfy her enough to listen, as an Explorer getting little to no sleep was a common occurrence, especially if he's on a hunt for a particularly elusive monster or one of those that are nocturnal. It was completely unhealthy for a normal person to mimic his sleep schedule.
"Well as your wife, it's my duty to make sure you're properly fed, so I'm sure I'll get used to it too"
Esme was undaunted, she turned off the stove and then turned to look at him, showing a light smile
"Isn't that a little unreasonable?"
He let out a sigh, feeling as though this was not going to end unless one of them relented, she was surprisingly stubborn, although that incident with the thief yesterday should have clued him in on that.
"I don't think so, considering our current circumstances"
Her words rang true, and he could not argue against her, or rather he could since he did not believe there was anyone in this kingdom that's a legitimate threat. Bulat and his men are no threat to him but he supposed from her perspective they might be.
"Yeah ok, I'll be in the bathroom, please tell me if breakfast is ready, what are you making anyway?"
He relented and said as much before he went to wash up. Although he figured that he would have to wake up a little later in the morning to accommodate her and it's not like he really needs to wake up so early anyway.
"It's porridge, and it's already ready but it just has to cool"
"Alright, I'll make my bath quick then."
He said before making his way to the bathroom, leaving Esme to prepare bowls for the porridge.
...…..
...
The two had now finished their breakfast, and Arthur was currently resting on the couch in the living room. He lay on his back like he was on a bed, his head being supported by the armrest.
Arthur was staring at the ceiling with a neutral look on his face. He was honestly a bit bored.
Esme had gone to wash the dishes they used and she also said before going looking for a maid she was going to check the house and familiarize herself with it.
He asked to join her, but she said it was unnecessary and not something he needed to concern himself with as a man.
'Damn, I wish I knew how phones were made'
The thought crossed his mind as he suddenly felt the need for a cell phone, by this time back on earth he would have been on his phone using the internet or social media unfortunately however in this world such things didn't exist yet.
As an Explorer, he never used to get the time to even think about something like that, in his early days then maybe but not in the past few years. Battling Monsters was exciting enough, it kept him engaged.
This peaceful life might be a problem if he's going to be bored like this maybe….
He immediately shook his head, discarded that thought as soon as it entered his head. Having someone to talk to was already leagues better than what he's used to as an Explorer.
With that affirmation, his thoughts moved on, quickly switching to more mundane thoughts and musings.
"Hmph"
He let out an amused huff and remembered how he used to pat himself down, thinking he lost his phone, forgetting he was in a completely different world. A sense of Nostalgia struck him as he thought about his old world.
Sometimes, he wondered if he would forget that world the older he gets.
'Hopefully not'
Arthur felt it was important to ensure he never forgot his roots, even if those roots were from a completely different universe.
"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur!"
His thoughts were interrupted as Esme seemed to burst out of the study and leaned over the indoor balustrade of the balcony.
"Yes, that's me"
He sat upright and looked up at her from the couch, the three-person couch he was lying on was closer to the stairs than the other couches in the living room.
There was a look of excitement in her eyes as he got a good look at her, she also seemed to be holding a book with a red hardcover.
"Is this a monster encyclopedia?"
The slight squeal in her voice gave away her excitement.
"Is it?"
He returned the question and hummed while he began searching his memory, wondering if he ever owned a monster encyclopedia.
"It says here " The complete guide of all the currently known Monsters Volume 4" see?"
Esme flipped the book and showed the title to Arthur, who looked at it with a curious look still trying to remember if he owned such a book.
"Oh yeah, I forgot I had that, yeah it is a monster Encyclopedia"
Arthur recalled that the Explorer's Guild does hand those books out to all Explorers to keep them informed of all the monsters, they're handed out every year and volume four came out about four years back.
"You didn't tell me you had something like this, I remember reading the first volume back in the palace library."
Her voice carried a palpable excitement, rising an octave the more she spoke.
"I didn't know you were interested in monsters"
"I wouldn't call it an interest, I'm just curious about them."
She readily denied pulling the book closer to her chest instead of letting it hang over the balcony.
"That's called an interest, in any case, you can read it if you want"
"I can't read this, where's the rest of them?"
"That's the only one I have. I thought you said you didn't have an interest?"
He questioned her with a bit of playful smile on his face. To him, it looked like she was more interested than initially assumed
"I can't read this without first reading the ones that come before it."
Esme chose to ignore the latter part of his statement mostly because he was right and she couldn't counter, plus she felt it was too late to correct herself.
"It's more like a textbook than a book with a narrative, there's no need to read the others and I thought you said you weren't interested?"
He further pushed, wanting the confession out of her. She was oddly adamant about not admitting she was interested.
"OK, I'm interested! Where are the others?"
She nearly threw her hands in the air as she relented, she was embarrassed to admit her interest in monsters, it wasn't exactly a lady-like interest but he seemed adamant on calling her out, she could tell he was amused and that smile on his face was kind of cute