Chapter 5

"Ummm... You have a name. Don't you?" "Yeah. Why?" "Umm... Is it fine for me to know?" "Takao." "Okay." "What's yours?" "Martin." "I see." They continued to walk some more. "Hey." Takao could hear Martin gulp. "W, What is it?" "I will go inside the village undetected. I don't want anybody to know who I am. Is that clear?" "Yes. Then if you said it. Then you had to be hidden in my house." "Yes. That is fine. Don't mention me to anybody. You're tasked with taking these corpses, right?" "Yeah." "Good. Then. If you told anybody about me. You will be with them." "Yes. I promise. After entering the village. I had to take these to give them a proper burial. Please wait for me to know where my house is." "I see. Then I will silently fly." "You can fly too!?" "Yeah. What's wrong?" "Yeah. Sorry." After more walking. They started to see huge village walls made out of logs. It is strange for a village to have something like this. But since somebody may see them now. They switched places, and he let Martin carried them, then he turned invisible. "For what are those?" "Oh. That? It's for protection." "From what?" "The barbarians. They sometimes attacked us and plundered our resources and food." "I see." "We're closing in. Please fly now and follow silently as you said." "Yeah." Takao floated. Though Martin doesn't know it since he can't see him. "I'm already flying, don't talk anymore." "Oh. Okay." "Oh. Martin'" Some girls called out to him. "Oh!" "How sad. More of our people keep dying." "Yeah. It is rad." Takao is silently watching and listening from the sky. "Well. I will carry them now and give them the proper burial they need." "Yeah. May they rest in peace." Said by one of them. He silently follows while hovering in the sky. After that, they reached a vacant land. This seems to be their cemetery. Martin began digging pits for them. "Need a hand?" "No need. This is also my job while being a village guard." "It's fine. I will help you." 2 rectangular pits then suddenly appeared. Perfectly fit for those two corpses. He helped him since he's eager to get the information he needs and is forced to help because of it. After he put the two bodies inside the pit. It closed slowly. They straight up buried the bodies since they don't have the luxury to mourn them. They could mourn them when they are buried. They both left after that. They reached a house. It seems to be Martin's house. After coming inside. They head to a certain room. They sit on two chairs next to each other. "Listen. This is my house. Then. Whatever you wanted to ask. Ask me now." "First. Why are there walls for the barbarians?" "Yeah. Those walls are made to protect us. It has been there for some months now." "Why are the barbarians attacking and plundering your village?" "They came from Wintervale. In that place, there are no other seasons than the never-ending winter. They may have come down here for food and other needs. Then they set their eyes on our village." "So that's it, huh?" "Yeah." "What kind of money are you using here?" "Oh. About that. We are using Copper, Silver, and Gold coins." "Oh. I see. Then. Do you have a map?" "Map for what?" "For your surroundings." "Oh. A map is kind of a hard thing to get. It costs at least 3 gold coins." "Okay. I won't ask for that again." "Yeah." "So, what is your village's name? You're part of a nation. What nation are you in?" "This is the Marv village. We are far from cities. Our nation is the Galia kingdom. Our kingdom is facing a war." "Oh. Then, how large is the war now?" "It is vast. It happens just a few months too. Maybe this place will be a battlefield in a few weeks. Since the kingdom is kind of being overwhelmed." "Okay. Who's their enemy?" "Our neighbouring kingdom." "What kingdom?" "Sorry. Nobody knows what kingdom that is. We're isolated here and ignorant of the outside world. We are just a poor farming village." "Sorry then." "No. It's fine." "Well. If you said that this village will be a part of a battlefield in a few days. Then why don't you evacuate from here?" "We're all poor, you know? Our grains are our only lifeline for living. And so these barbarians are launching attacks here and plundering resources, and killing people. We're unable to survive in cities!" "I understand. Then. What if these barbarians vanish?" "It's still no use. Even if you can kill them all. We can't still go to cities. We're really poor. Only farming is what we're good at. We can't afford to live in cities." "..." "Also. We really can't afford a journey too towards the nearest city. It's still far for us. We don't even have carriages. We're beyond saving." "I understand. Maybe I could be a hero sometimes. I will help you. Even if the battlefield reached here. I will try to fend it off." "But if the battlefield arrived here. There are thousands of soldiers you may be up to." "It's fine. I could command nature itself to help us." "Really? Then such power... May save us." "Yeah." "I will try to help. You know? I never helped anybody without getting anything from them. But you people may be different. You all may be the best people I could offer my kindness to. But you know. I'm kind of sadistic. So maybe I may torture some of these who oppose me." "Yeah. I would love that. You know? Torturing and public executions seem to be a real deal in the cities. That's what I heard of." "Don't worry. Even if it's your lord. I will kill him." "Yeah. Thank you if you really will help us." "It's just that I wanted to find people worthy of my kindness." "Yeah. I thank you in advance." A woman's voice is then heard at the door. "Martin!! Please come out!!" She loudly knocking on the door. "What was that?" "A problem."