Ren, Lara, and Hilda were heading towards the village near the northwest mountains were the unknown monster was spotted. Their destination wasn"t that far and they reached the village after walking for half a day.The village they arrived at was a bigger village than Ren"s hometown, which surprised Lara. When she heard that they were going to a village near the mountains, she imagined a place similar to her hometown with the only difference of it being near a mountain. Yet this village was so different from where she came from.
It was located near the edge of the mountains, and it seem like it acted as a place were travelers would stay before they cross the mountain range. The houses and the general feel of the village was similar to that of Grenton but in a smaller scale.
When the group of three finally entered the village, a lot of the villagers were looking at them. Some of the children even went near and greeted the three with happy smiles. The overall feel of the village seemed lively.
Ren wasn"t expecting this, seeing as their was a report of an unknown monster roaming, he imagined that the villagers would be more alert or frightened.
"Are you here for the quest, the village elder posted?" A man approached the group and asked.
"Yes, we are adventures from Grenton. Can you please lead us to the village elder"s house." Hilda was the one who spoke for the group, seeing as Lara was not really the talking type, and Ren might say something that would anger the villagers.
...
The man led the group of three to the other end of the village. In the very edge of the village was a fancy looking house made of stone instead of wood.
The house was three times bigger than the other houses in the village. When Hilda saw this, she could already guess what kind of person the village elder was.
Ren on the other hand didn"t care for such things. He unlike his friend wasn"t a hero of justice. As long as the village elder doesn"t get in his way, then it doesn"t matter.
After thanking the man that guided them, the three knocked on the door of the village elder"s house. The one who opened the door was a tall skinny middle aged man covered in jewelry.
"Who are you people? What do you need?" The middle aged man sounded a bit irritated when he saw Ren"s group.
"We are adventurers from the guild."
"Oh, so you guys finally sent someone and it"s a bunch of women and children. Is the guild in such a dire state... Well no matter, I guess you will do." Ren wasn"t overly fond of the way this village elder talked, but since this is part of the quest, he just needed to deal with it.
"We will do our best... So village elder, what manner of monster are we facing here? What has it done, and what can it do?" Hilda was also a bit irritated by the village elder, but since she was used to this kinds of situations, she continued on professionally.
"I don"t know." The village elder responded with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You don"t know? Then how are you able to tell that there is a monster near the village." Hilda was holding it in as she continued her questioning.
"It could be a monster, it could be a human, it could be something else. All we know is that one of the hunters in the village went into the mountains and in the trail going up, he saw a lot of blood scattered everywhere. There was no body and all that was seen was blood, so we aren"t sure what was killed. At first we thought that it was just a one time thing, but every now and then when our hunters go up the mountains, they would see a large amount of blood on the trail. But that wasn"t what really frightened the others. What truly frightened them was that the hunters finally found a body to match the blood, and it was a mountain ogre that died. Something or someone is killing the mountain ogres on top of the mountain."
Once he was done recounting his tale, the village elder looked at Ren and his group with a bit of disdain. "That"s the reason why we sent that request, but who knew the guild would send you lot... Well that"s all I have to say, just come back once you figure out what kind of being is killing the mountain ogres."
After saying his piece the village elder slammed his door shut. "That man has a real problem." Ren sighed. "So Hilda what is a mountain ogre? How strong is it?"
"A mountain ogre is a B cla.s.s monster, it is two ranks below the King Drake you fought. Still you need at least two parties of B rank adventurers to safely kill one mountain ogre. The thing that killed those mountain ogres and the other monsters in the mountain must be near the strength of the King Drake or at least a level below it." Hilda who was thinking about the information the village elder gave, answered Ren when he asked his question.
"I see... So what do you think killed those monsters?"
"No clue at all... Well that"s why we"re here. It"s our mission to figure that out." While Ren and Hilda were talking, Lara noticed something looking down at them from the side of the mountain. The moment she saw the silhouette, it ran away. Lara reported what she saw to Ren and Hilda.
"Do not think to much about it. The people here are quite curious about adventurers, since no one has pa.s.sed this mountain ranges in a long time... Let"s just focus on the quest, first we need to talk to those hunters that saw the body of the mountain ogre, as well as the one who first saw the blood on the trail."
Hearing what Hilda said, Lara and Ren decided to not be bothered by the mysterious onlooker. If the one spying on them wants to do something then let him come.
...
Back in the knight academy, Valdel was pointed towards his room in the dormitory provided for him. He was very tired after finis.h.i.+ng his first day of shcool. Since the whole time during cla.s.ses, most of the attention was on him. He was even approached by various n.o.ble ladies wanting to get to know him.
The first day in knight academy wasn"t as he expected. At this point Valdel just wanted to rest for awhile, in bed.
As he opened the door to his new room, there were three other people in there. These guys should be Valdel"s roommates. The moment the trio saw Valdel, they had different reactions. One of them who was eating some bread, dropped the bread he was holding and looked at Valdel stunned. Another one was glaring at him, there was no ill intent behind the glare, but it was still kinda off putting. Then finally the last one smiled at him as he approached.
"You must be that guy, who got a master rank in swordsmans.h.i.+p... Valdel right. Allow me to introduce myself and the others. I"m Noel Ainsley, that boy whose eating the bread over there is called Kurt Fulton, and the boy with the nasty glare is Daniel Ogden. It seems like will be roommates from today onwards." Noel extended his hand for a handshake in which Valdel smilingly shook.
This was the real start of Valdel"s school life.