“Well… around two weeks ago certain attacks against the village explorers began. At first we only thought it was some kind of criminal band passing through this place and that they would leave after seeing how little value the village had, that always happened before. This time it was different.” The elder’s voice becomes a bit heavier.
“On the fourth day, ruby ranks began to appear, some of our explorers died in that battle. The village mayor took matters into his own hands by speaking with the criminal band, he used his savings to try to convince them to leave.” I can feel his anger as he speaks.
“Those damned bastards only took the money and gave an empty promise, a few days later the attacks returned. Our mayor acted again, that old man was close to diamond rank in his prime, although that was obviously more than forty years ago, he managed to kill several attackers and even a ruby rank with the help of other explorers.”
“The mayor was badly injured after the fight, his actions maintained the peace. We thought they had left, but it was only for a few days, those sons of bitches came directly to the village taking advantage of the mayor recovering.” I see his fingers tighten around the wooden railing he is leaning on.
“Most of the villagers contributed a little to gather enough money to convince them to leave. We knew they wouldn’t do it, at least we wanted to buy time until our mayor recovered or the territory governor sent reinforcements.” Malcom falls silent, now it is not only fury, but a mixture of emotions.
“So? What happened?” I press a little more.
“Those damned bastards saw the children. They said they would return soon to collect payment for our protection, if we didn’t have enough money to pay them, they planned to take the children as part of the payment.” He is holding himself back from crushing the wooden railing.
I am suppressing all this anger inside my body. Right now I only want to hunt them down and kill them all.
“Is that how you and Wedy got injured?” My question only adds more fuel to the fire.
The elder turns to look at me with surprise. “How do you know that? Well yes… we acted out of anger and got beaten badly, luckily neither of us died.”
“A little bird told me.” I answer. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen to the children, I will personally put an end to all this before the reinforcements arrive.” I place a hand on his shoulder while offering him a drink with the other.
“Relax a little, we can’t spread negative emotions into the children’s happiness. By the way, we should go down, they are waiting for us.” I point toward the direction where the children are raising their hands toward us.
“Yes…” His response is dry, as if he were confused by my words. Malcom gives a slight smile when he sees the children and we both head downstairs.
Now I understand the enthusiasm of everyone in the commercial district when I went shopping. I noticed the prices were slightly inflated, but I didn’t care, this was one of the reasons.
The reinforcements will arrive soon, or maybe they already have, I can’t stop thinking about the person following me while I was shopping. He could be part of the criminals or one of the people sent by the governor.
That governor is fairly well known for being noble, now that I know where I am, I can vaguely remember the noble in charge of this territory. The lessons with Brendu are paying off, I rub my neck remembering every hit I received whenever I mixed up the countless nobles.
There is an even bigger problem with that governor, I will try to remain unnoticed as much as possible. I could get myself into an even bigger mess if I meet one of the people close to him, it is better to stay discreet until I return to the empire.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I can’t stop thinking about how many times my ability to control my emotions has saved me. At this point my mind is calm, I can keep the anger contained until I release it on the right people.
Marcelina’s point of view:
“We cannot put so much pressure on him, we just met him. He is our savior and yesterday the children had the best day of their lives thanks to him.” I rub my temple because of the slight headache.
“That was his decision. I wanted to stop him, but… when I looked into his eyes, I understood, he isn’t joking. I felt my entire back stand on end just from his presence, he is serious about killing all those bastards.” Malcom looks at the ceiling while speaking.
Malcom is a very reasonable and calm person. If even he couldn’t say anything at that moment, none of us would have been able to.
“That makes it even more worrying. He is a healer, he must have some kind of combat ability to have reached ruby rank, but he is still a healer, he won’t stand a chance.” Cipe seems devastated after hearing everything.
“Don’t forget he has a companion with him. That jaguar or wolf is terrifyingly strong, I froze just from seeing it, it could kill all of us in seconds.” Portad is the next to speak.
“Glia? Yes, she is very strong, but I don’t know if both of them could face five ruby ranks at the same time, this time there may even be more.” I want to stay positive and think this is some kind of divine gift from the heavens to help us, but the situation is very difficult.
Every day I ask myself. How did such a strong criminal group appear in such a desolate place? This village doesn’t have enough ruby ranks to fight back. Most monsters around us are grade 2 or 3, no grade 4 has been sighted for several months.
Could it be planned? Some kind of coincidence? Resentment toward our governor? We will never know the truth.
“Let’s think positively. That young man shines on his own, maybe he is the light we have been waiting for all this time. Just remember how much happiness he brought these children in less than a day, his mere presence changed everyone’s mood.” Wedy lifts the atmosphere slightly with his words.
“By the way. Could he be some kind of model? He has a beautiful face and enviable eyes, I wouldn’t be surprised if any woman in our territory wanted to marry him.” Portad changes the subject quickly.
“I would have conquered him easily forty years ago.” I joke to improve the atmosphere even more.
Some laughs escape, but nobody denies my words. In my best years I received countless marriage proposals from wealthy people, some nobles and many others, but I never had my mind on romance, my focus was always helping the younger generations.
“I’m sure he must have at least one fiancée, maybe two. He seems to come from a wealthy family and has an imposing presence, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had several fiancées.” Malcom scratches his beard while thinking about the young man.
It’s funny how now all our hair is white, our bodies wrinkled, and we’ve become grumpier with time. All of us were orphans once too, we are the only ones who have made it this far.
Many of our “siblings” emigrated searching for opportunities, some stayed and sadly died giving everything for their younger siblings, and others simply forgot their roots halfway through.
We continue talking about the improvements we could make with all the money we can save these months, together with the money donated by Emago. That child is ridiculously rich and humble, something very rare.
When we go downstairs, we see how the largest group of children is surrounding Emago, I can tell they are asking for something. At that moment I only want to smack them on the head for asking more from our savior, but I hold myself back until I know the context.
“What is happening here?” My words surprise them, all the children immediately line up. None of them answers me.
“They want to go hunting in the forest, they want to become stronger to help you as soon as possible.” The one who answers is Emago. “They are asking me to accompany them, they say it is the only way you will allow all of them to go together.”
Inside, my heart leaps with joy, I can’t contain my happiness, we raised these children well. “No, it’s too dangerous.” I don’t let my emotions influence my answer. The hopeful expressions on the children’s faces shatter instantly, all of them lower their heads.
“Nothing will happen, I’ll make sure they stay alive and uninjured. I promise.” I’m surprised Emago keeps insisting, I thought he would be the first to accept my answer.
“There are eight children… I don’t doubt your strength, but it is a great responsibility.” I know that to him a grade 2 or 3 monster is like a baby, but taking care of inexperienced people is completely different.
“Don’t worry, I have experience as a teacher and I have a companion to help me.” Emago winks at me.
Him? A teacher? He doesn’t look older than twenty… well, he reached ruby rank young, he must have talent, and life magic is very difficult to learn, it’s not that strange if I think about it carefully.
“Fine, but only for a few hours.” I give in after seeing the children’s excited expressions. Glia and Emago should somehow be able to handle this group of troublemakers. “You all must promise me that you will listen to him at all times and follow his orders.” Their unified response reassures me a little.