Frankenstein's Story (Noblesse)

Chapter 15

He had become the lone traveller he once was, so long ago when he first left his home. He destroyed his precious laboratories as he left, having made extremely advanced discoveries, Frankenstein couldn't risk having his precious data fall into the wrong hands. He passed through towns, plagued by wars and famine, until he had reached another small town, so similar to the one he tried to forget. He sighed, shaking off any weak thoughts he held in his mind and walked into what seemed to be an inn.

The bells attached to the doors rang, but not a single costumer rose their heads to check on him. Good.

He sat by the counter, his demeanour remained unreadable, he blended in. Frankenstein looked around, no one seemed to attend to him, he noticed a newspaper resting upon the counter and decided to flip through the pages. The newspaper was old, several decades old, which left Frankenstein wondering what was its utility.

"You know how to read?!" A curious voice along with a small head popped out of the counter, soon a little finger was pointing at the newspaper. Frankenstein looked at the kid right in front of him, not really understanding where he was coming from.

"I do" he said plainly.

"You do?!"

Frankenstein rolled his eyes and focused back on the newspaper.

"So you really do!" The child was becoming agitated, he jumped from one foot to the other. And Frankenstein desperately tried to ignore him.

"Ah! I forgot what can I serve you?" The child tapped his apron and looked intently into Frankenstein's eyes which were focused on the paper.

"Whatever's good around here" he replied shortly.

"Ale! Coming right up" the child used a stool to reach for the cups behind the counter, he pushed the stool around to fill in the cup, the sound seemed to bother no one but Frankenstein. He looked at the child as he struggle to fill the cup and raise an eyebrow wondering why such a small child was attending to the inn.
The child brought the cup to his intriguing new costumer, splashing some of the ale all over the newspaper.

"Here sir!" He said all proud of himself.

Frankenstein didn't bother to thank him and after having glanced at the cup, he knew he shouldn't try to drink from it.

"Where do you come from" asked the child, his elbows resting on the counter.

"From far away" responded Frankenstein displeased.

"How far?" Insisted the child.

"Very far" he replied, clearly annoyed.

"They teach you to read there?" The child started to speak louder, and a few heads turned to Frankenstein as though he was an anomaly.

He didn't bother to respond and focused on the newspaper. A man stood up, dropping a few pennies by the counter he left, the child took the coins and hurried to take out a small pouch from his pocket, he compared the coins, Frankenstein occasionally looked at him. The child looked sad, he stared at the coins in his hand and sighed.

"He should have given me a coin with this written on, but he gave me coins with this" the child was clearly distressed, Frankenstein turned to him.

"You cannot read what's on the coins? He asked, though he clearly did not care

"I don't know what is written on these, so they always leave something different" he confessed.

"How much for the ale" said Frankenstein, he was hasty to leave.

"It's 5" said the child, still looking at his pennies.

Frankenstein dropped a few coins on the counter, more than what the ale cost. He then got up to leave. He walked through the town, it all seemed so macabre, and lifeless. A familiar figure stood a few meters from him, who seemed agitated, Frankenstein walked closer to discover the man who had ripped off the child kicking stray dogs to pass through. Frankenstein walked to  him and tapped on his shoulder before sending him flying over the wall with a punch.

"U--hh wha-why- who the hell are you?!" Said the man trying to stand up.

"So, not only do you enjoy ripping small children off, you also have to compensate for your lack of manhood from stray dogs" Frankenstein stood over the man, clearly in a bitter mood.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Said the man as he tried to take on Frankenstein who, once again sent him flying to the wall.

The man was clearly hurt, he shook his head and his hand went to his hair, he groaned from the sight of blood.

Frankenstein walked over to him, slowly and calmly.

"S-spare me please" said the man as he tried to stand up, obviously too hurt to do so.

Frankenstein slammed his foot on the man's shoulder.

"Pay up your debt" he said as he wiped his shoes on the man's collar. He then walked away and continued his journey.

------------
Writer's note: please note that the amount written on coins aren't written with numbers but with letters, making it harder for the child to guess their value.