I can feel the gazes of the rest of the village focused on me. I don’t sense hatred or any kind of resentment, simply a great amount of distrust, their eyes never stop following me, I can feel them trying to scan me from head to toe all the time.
I ignore the situation. It isn’t entirely unreasonable to see this kind of distrust toward a new visitor in such a remote village. It’s just that… my instincts tell me something else is happening, I need to find out later.
The asylum is a fairly large building similar to a church, though the internal layout is completely different. A small reception area, many tables to the sides, and I can notice several staircases in different places.
I haven’t expanded my Personal World toward the upper floors to avoid invading their privacy. The children stare at me when I enter, some with distrust, others with shining eyes, and some simply with curiosity.
The elderly Marceline begins calling all the people in this place. I already gave enough meat and vegetables to the elder Wedy for dinner, he and the other elders will take care of cooking so everything is ready as soon as possible.
“Sir.” When I turn around, I see a little girl with blonde hair tied into two pigtails and large green eyes. “Who are you? You’re not a bad person, right?”
I offer my hands to carry her, she accepts without hesitation. “No, I’m not.” I give my best possible smile, the little girl smiles back at me. “Who are those bad people? Did something bad happen?” I ask in the gentlest way possible and offer a candy as a bribe.
The little girl’s eyes shine like stars in a dark sky, she eats the candy immediately. “I don’t know… but sometimes the elders come back hurt and we can’t go out to play because of some bad men, that makes me sad.” She takes quite a while to finish her sentence.
“Control yourself.” I hear Glia speak to me telepathically, she goes back to sleep after speaking.
I let out a sigh to calm myself, if I release even a little of my Imra in this place I could traumatize all the children around me.
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to the elders anymore.” I pat her head while walking with her in my arms toward another group of children. They were looking at me curiously, now they look slightly jealous, apparently they saw the little girl eating candy.
What is happening in this place? Corruption? Some kind of criminal gang? Conflict with a neighboring village? Monster attacks? There are too many possibilities, the little girl probably doesn’t know anything, it’s better to look for information later.
“Don’t tell anyone.” I give each of the six children a candy before leaving them in a corner. I can hear their conspiratorial giggles behind my back.
I approach the elder Cipe, he is the first one I met. “I’m going to walk around the village, I want to buy some games for the children and see if there’s anything interesting.”
The elder frowns slightly. “If you want, I can go with you, I don’t want you to get lost.” I had already gently broken some of the defenses of his Imra, for the moment I don’t distrust him, I simply want to know a bit more about the situation.
“It’s not necessary, I can take care of myself and it’s impossible to get lost in this village.” I wave my hand to ease his concern. After a few seconds, the elder relaxes a bit and simply wishes me good luck.
I didn’t sense any strange emotions, just a bit of concern, he doesn’t seem to be hiding anything.
I know the way to the commercial district, we passed near it earlier. I arrive quickly, this place looks much livelier; people eating, others walking back and forth in a hurry, stall owners trying to attract customers, etc.
For a moment I considered using my cap to change my physical appearance, but after thinking about it I discarded the idea. Too many people in the village have already seen me, rumors have probably spread everywhere already, my eyes and rank stand out too much.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I have my presence completely suppressed, I don’t want to stand out too much. Right now I look like a sapphire rank on the verge of advancing or an extremely weak ruby rank, I shouldn’t raise much suspicion.
Indeed, my thoughts were correct, as soon as I step into the commercial district I feel many people focusing their gaze on me. Some are informing others about my arrival, while I simply look around curiously.
I see a hot coffee stall on my left, one of the greatest pleasures in cold weather. I’m curious whether I’ll be attacked or not. When I approach, the woman’s eyes light up, she welcomes me like I’m a trusted customer, excellent service and delicious coffee.
It doesn’t matter if I’m an outsider, as long as I don’t cause trouble I’m still a potential customer to these people. The same thing repeated in several places, I bought some vegetables, meat, spices, and many toys. I tried all kinds of food, especially fried dishes seasoned with local spices.
No one treated me badly, all the sellers relaxed after seeing me leave the second shop, at that point they saw me as a giant walking piggy bank.
Only one thing has been bothering me. There is a person following me ever since I left the asylum, blending perfectly with the crowd around him, interacting naturally and seeming like a local.
I can’t feel any emotions from him, his defenses are very well sealed. Even though he is close to ruby rank, he is still sapphire. I continue ignoring him as if I hadn’t noticed his presence.
I bought far more things than I planned. Huge amounts of chocolate, so the children can enjoy hot chocolate every morning and night during winter; plenty of clothes to keep them warm and large blankets in case someday it becomes colder than usual. I didn’t buy cores for heating, I already have more than enough in my storage.
I discovered that only a little over a month has passed since my disappearance, it was less time than I expected.
In the end nothing happened, no noteworthy incident. The most provocative thing that happened were the women asking about my social status or whether I wanted to visit a more entertaining district. One of them was beautiful enough to hypnotize any man, but I am not easy to convince.
My follower disappeared halfway between the commercial district and the asylum. I don’t know if he completed his mission or simply got bored, maybe he was only there to make sure I didn’t cause trouble in the village.
When I arrive, dinner is almost ready, all the children are helping move tables and prepare everything. The elders are bringing the dishes toward the enormous table they made by combining all the others.
The dinner was the liveliest I have ever had in my entire life. The children enjoyed it greatly, their laughter, arguments, stories, everything was a happy and special moment. At some point they stopped looking at me like a stranger, now they see me as an older brother or a cool uncle.
I asked two of the elders for help distributing toys among the children, I don’t want anyone to be left without one. The remaining board games, supplies, and cores I give to the elderly Marceline, it was like a secret deal between the two of us.
She tried to refuse more than ten times, I insisted more than ten times. In the end she gave in when I told her it was like a donation, the elder accepted everything reluctantly. She feels bad for receiving so much from her savior, well, I understand her a little, they now have enough food for around two months. At least now I can spend the prize money I accumulated, I received so much that I didn’t know how to spend it.
The elder Malcom is watching us from above with a slight smile, I pretend to go to the bathroom so I can approach him. “Why are you so alone?” My question surprises him, he saw me downstairs a moment ago, but now I’m behind him. I moved using my spatial ability.
“I like children, but the constant noise gives me a headache.” He doesn’t take his eyes off the happy children below.
“They say this is good medicine for headaches.” I offer a small can of wine. The elder lets out a small laugh when he realizes, for a moment I thought he would refuse, it was the complete opposite, he snatched it from my hands before I could change my mind.
“Thank you for appearing, Emago, I think this is the most special day in the lives of these children.” His words make me feel warm, but at the same time they are like a dagger to my chest.
“Fate wanted me here and I’m happy to have arrived at this place.” My answer is sincere.
“Will you leave soon? I would like you to stay as long as possible with those children, they adore you, but I know it isn’t realistic.” Malcom sounds slightly sad.
“I was thinking of leaving tomorrow, but I changed my mind, my family can wait a little longer, maybe I’ll leave in five or six days.” I want to enjoy my time with the children a bit more. Nothing has happened in the empire or Brendu’s kingdom according to what the local merchants have heard, so I’m not in much of a hurry to return.
“Now I want to know. What is happening in this city? Something is wrong, be honest with me.”
“It was obvious you would notice. I wasn’t planning to tell you unless you asked, but you need to know, you are our savior.” The elder’s eyes darken slightly and he begins his story.