Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Village Part 01

This wasn't a large village, just a small one. Just like Leon's village back in Aruvar.

The only difference was the architecture and the way people dressed.

In Aruvar, the buildings were a more natural color, in shades of brown and tan. It was also more standard looking, not boring, but also not astonishing at the same time.

In short, a village in Aruvar was just the typical fantasy setting.

Terole was a little different. The buildings looked like small huts. They were circular and bricked with stylized roofs in shades of warm colors.

It was different than what Rey was used to seeing. It made him think if this was truly a human village and not a dwarf's instead.

As Rey towed the large, wild boar into the village, everyone stared at him in shock, awe, and fear.

Shock, because no villager has ever seen someone hunt a boar of this size before.

Awe, because who wouldn't be in awe when a man comes walking in, not just strong, but handsome as well?!

And fear, because he came from the forest. This village only had two entrances and a main road connecting the two. It wasn't hard to figure out who came in and who left. One entrance led further out to other villages and towards the city, and the other entrance led to the forest.

The forest was a dangerous place, full of monsters and species unheard of. And this person, who they'd never seen before just arrived through the entrance to the forest.

Rey didn't care for these stares as he was used to them for the last ten years, he was just going to do his business. Sell this boar, get an inn for the night, and then head out to the bigger city.

As Rey walked, a guard stopped him in his tracks.

"State your name and business," the guard demanded.

Rey replied in short and stern words, "I'm Rey. This is Leon. We're here to sell this,"

Rey dropped the boar in front of the guard with a loud thump.

It made the guard take a few steps back, but he hurriedly stood firm again.

"Ahem, I will speak to the village head. Please wait here,"

Rey raised an eyebrow, confused, 'Speak to the village head? Were visitors not welcome?'

Rey did as he was told and stood where he was. Usually, he wouldn't even bother to listen and just do whatever he wanted. But this was a whole other continent and Fay did warn him about humans.

So, he decided that he should wait and see what happens.

"E-excuse me," a village girl had shyly come up to him, "M-my family r-runs an inn nearby, i-if you need a p-place to stay, please d-don't hesitate to come by,"

Rey nodded.

Silence.

The village girl stood awkwardly as if she was waiting for him to say something, but Rey only stared ahead, just waiting for the guard to come back.

If Rey only knew better, this was his chance to start questioning the girl, to start getting information. But he didn't, because he was so used to Leon constantly getting the information that all he had to do was listen and break it down. But how can he listen and break down the information if he wasn't trying to get any in the first place?!

Luckily, he is the protagonist, so he will always get the information somehow.

"Um," the village girl stuttered, "y-you're adventurers, right?"

Rey nodded.

"W-we don't get a lot of v-visitors, e-especially f-from the f-forest,"

Rey glanced at her, confused.

"T-that forest is called the S-Shadow Woods, i-it's very dangerous. W-we've n-never seen humans c-come out of it b-before,"

That was even more confusing. If she claimed that this village was very far out and that the forest was dangerous, then why were there only a few guards guarding this area?

Rey raised his eyebrows, interesting.

"Hey!" the guard's voice yelled, "Get away from him!"

The village girl quickly ran off, but not before waving goodbye.

The guard sighed before turning back towards Rey, "Sorry 'bout that. We don't get visitors a lot, so everyone's kinda excited. The village head said you can stay. And here," he handed Rey a bag of gold, "to pay for the boar,"

Rey silently acknowledged the guard and took his reward.

Then, he grabbed Leon's wrist and began making his way to an inn, which was literally the only inn in this entire village.

In the inn, the same shy village girl worked at the front desk. The inn was obviously empty, almost all the rooms were available. The only rowdy and crowded part of the inn was the pub.

Rey easily made his way through the crowd and to the front desk.

"I'd like to book a room for a night," Rey said.

The village girl smiled, "two rooms?"

"No, just one,"

Much to the village girl's dismay, Rey quickly dropped a few coins and left with a room key.

Once he made it to his room, he sat Leon down on the bed and began undressing him.

He needed to change Leon's bandages.

Leon still had wounds that needed caring and Rey had completely forgotten about it right up until that morning.

He observed Leon's marred skin and after approving that there was nothing wrong, he grabbed a new set of bandages and herbs and started wrapping him up.

He should really go find a healer. He's sure there has to be at least one in this village somewhere. But first, it's time to fill their stomachs.

He dressed Leon up again and pulled him downstairs.

He picked a small table near the walls and away from the crowd. He sat Leon across from him just so feeding him would be easier. Then, he began ordering food.

Just as he finished ordering food, a buff-looking man made his way to them.

Rey groaned, 'here we go again,'

This always seems to happen.

Rey wondered if the man was either going to be nice or if he was gonna start a fight. Guess he would just have to find out.

"Hey," the man called in a gruff voice, "you came from the forest, huh?"

Rey nodded.

"You don't look like you're from around here,"

Rey nodded again. If you compare the way he and Leon were dressed to how they were dressed, it was quite obvious that they weren't even from this continent.

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The people here dressed in more of a loose, robed style. Their clothes were longer and held different designs and quality than Aruvar. In Aruvar, the clothes were tighter and shorter, but they would still fit your body comfortably.

If Rey had to guess, the people here dressed almost like Val Valtine. He wondered if this was where he was from.

"Where're you from kid?" the man asked.

Rey twitched. He was twenty-five, he was no longer a child.

"Aruvar,"

The man looked at him confused. In fact, everyone in the inn looked at him confused. There was a moment of silence before they all started bawling out laughing.

"Bwahahaha, there's no way!" the man mocked and pointed at Rey, "Aruvar is on the other side of this world, you would have to cross countries and seas just to get here!"

"You would be long dead before even getting here!"

"And if you actually got here, you would have arrived in the city of Tevalon and not in this forest!"

"You're actually from the other side of the forest, aren't you?"

Rey still held his straight face. He was not surprised. Even he would not believe himself. He didn't even know where he was.

"So what are you?" the gruff man asked, "You have a sword, you a warrior or something?"

Rey took a brief second to think about it, then just decided to nod his head and agree. He was actually a mage, but he guessed he could be both. But mostly, he didn't want to release so much information about himself to these strangers.

"And your friend?"

Rey took a glance at the nonchalant Leon. He was just staring at the empty table.

". . . He doesn't do anything,"

That seemed to take aback the crowd.

"You traveling around with a guy who doesn't do anything?"

"It's none of your business," Rey glared, "My food is here, please leave us alone,"

And like that, the crowd left them alone.

It seemed they were nice people after all. They were just curious about visitors. Too curious.

Rey ate silently, feeding Leon at the same time. They did get a couple of stares because of that, but Rey didn't care. As long as they didn't bother him, he wouldn't bother them.

"E-excuse me," the shy village girl had come to their table, "y-you're from the o-other s-side of the f-forest, r-right?"

Rey shrugged, "Yea,"

"A-are there any other h-humans over t-there?"

Rey sighed. He wouldn't know, he had never even seen the other side of the forest.

"I'm sure there are," he gave a broad answer.

She frowned, then gave a small smile, "Well, I'm glad you're over here then,"

She quickly ran off. And just as Rey thought they could finally eat in peace, the buff-looking man came back and sat next to them.

"That's my daughter Rosalie," he stated.

"I'm not interested," Rey quickly replied as he stuffed Leon's mouth with a piece of meat.

The buff man chuckled before showing a serious expression, "Listen, you look pretty strong and-"

"-I'm not planning to stay,"

"I'm not asking you to stay, I'm asking for your help,"

Rey ignored him and continued to eat.

"I'll give you money,"

That caught Rey's attention and he stopped eating. He was just a little interested now.

The buff man sighed in relief, then he started whispering, "The thing is, we have a large cargo tonight and we need help transferring it,"

Rey continued to listen.

It sounds shady, but he was used to how shady works.

"I'm sure you can tell, we don't have enough guards, so it's kind of difficult,"

"You barely know me," Rey stated, "Think you can trust me?"

The man leaned closer to Rey and said in a low voice, "You're a demon,"

Rey immediately reached for his sword. But at the same time, the man grabbed the back of Leon's neck and held it tightly.

Rey smirked, "you're not a normal father,"

"You're not a normal human,"

Rey glowered threateningly before he relaxed and so did the man.

"When?" Rey asked.

"Tonight, past midnight, I'll come get you,"

Rey nodded.

Just as the man was about to stand up, Rey grabbed his hand and twisted it, hard. The man struggled in place.

With slightly red eyes, Rey threatened him in a low voice, "The next time you touch him, you'll lose this entire arm,"

Rey harshly pushed the man away. The man stumbled a few steps back before finding his stance. Then, he turned around to wave goodbye with a sorry smile.

And this time, instead of sitting across from Leon, Rey sat directly next to him, keeping Leon near the wall.

'Looks like I'll have to be more careful,' Rey thought as he patted Leon's head.

It was too easy for Leon to die.

And it looks like his first job will be a shady one.

He wonders how well that'll go.

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