The Windmill Village
We followed the forest wolf through the forest, and by the time the sun started to set, we arrived at the village. I immediately noticed that the roofs of many houses had windmills. They probably got a lot of wind here then.
"Ruff!"
The forest wolf barked and then darted off. It seemed that we had been right about it being a guard dog here. A lone monster would not have run into the village like that, and the forest wolf had been wagging its tail before abandoning us. I almost thought the tail would fly off on its own.
"Ah, he"s come back! Hey, Mido! Marco"s returned!"
An old man came rushing out of a house after hearing the forest wolf bark…well, actually, he wasn"t that old. Maybe middle-aged. He squatted down to hug the wolf before turning around to call for someone else. This was followed by a young boy appearing from the back of the house. From what I understood of the situation, this sweaty boy was the wolf"s owner. He must have been frantically searching all over for his wolf. Was the older man waiting in the house just in case the wolf returned? I could tell by how happy they were, that they had been incredibly worried.
"Marco! Ah, I"m so happy… But, you"re terribly hurt! …Oh, but were you treated?"
"We helped him because he was wounded."
I called out once they calmed down and started to inspect the forest wolf…Marco. At this, the two stopped hugging Marco and looked up at us.
"Adventurers… You helped him?"
"Yeah. I found him covered in blood in the forest. So I had him drink some potions."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The boy called Mido stood up and bowed. Daniela patted him on the head.
"But it is a surprise to hear that Adventurers found a monster without killing it…"
They were happy to see their forest wolf returned. However, they could not help but wonder at the reason. They seemed almost suspicious of me.
"Well, I have a connection with the forest wolves. So I try not to kill them unless they attack me first."
"Oh…?"
The older man rubbed his chin as he stared at me. It was quite rude, to be honest. But given the circ.u.mstances, I pretended not to notice. Daniela saw that I did nothing and followed suit.
"Oh, right. Uh…Marco? He led us to this village. And we were wondering if there are any inns here?"
"So you are travelers then?"
"Yes."
The man looked at our clothes and weapons and nodded.
"This is a very small village as it happens. We have no inns."
"…I see. Well, we"ll find a spot where we won"t get in anyone"s way then."
"Then you must stay with us."
The man suggested with a bright smile. This was a rather sudden change in att.i.tude…though, it was welcome, regardless.
"I believe that I can trust you. Besides, we must thank you for helping Marco."
"Yes! Please stay with us!"
Mido let go of Marco and stood up so he could pull Daniela and me by the hand.
"Are you sure?"
"Aye. Stay and rest."
The man started to lead the way. I glanced over to Daniela. "Well, I guess we have no choice." She said with her eyes. Yeah…we"ll have to accept their hospitality for a night.
"Thank you. Uh…"
"Oh, I haven"t introduced myself yet. I"m Yis. And you?"
"I"m Asagi. This is Daniela. Nice to meet you."
"A pleasure."
"Aye, the pleasure is mine. Welcome to Dana village. Now, please come inside."
Yis opened the door for us, and so we went inside. Mido and Marco followed.
The house had multiple rooms and the first one we entered was the living room. There were several other doors connecting from there. According to Yis, he had built the other rooms himself. Indeed, it was unusual for there to be a house this big in such a small village.
Out of the rooms, two were Mido and Yis"s rooms while one was a storage room. The last room was given to me and Daniela for the night. We would also be having dinner with them. It was to show our grat.i.tude to them for letting us stay. Well, I would be the one cooking.
"Do you have ingredients?"
"Yes. As we travel a lot, I keep a lot of things in my bag."
"I see… A hollow bag. That is rare…"
Yis looked surprised when I pulled out some meat and vegetables from the bag. I felt a little embarra.s.sed. It"s not like I bought it myself… I hope Russell was doing well. I was really starting to miss Fhiraldo. Some of the things that happened really sucked, but the town had so much more to offer, including some great people. Besides, it"s where I met Daniela.
"Hm? What, Asagi?"
"Uhh, nothing. Alright, I"m getting serious tonight!"
And out came the ingredients. Meat, vegetables, fish, fruits. The fish were river fish. I had caught them by attaching a strip of vine and using some sharp monster bones as hooks and then holding it over the water with some bait. The fish looked quite edible. Good, even. It would be grilled with some salt. The meat and vegetables were fried separately with the special sauce. After that, I made some soup. It was a little spicey. The fruits were squeezed to make juice, which balanced out the meal nicely.
I put all of the dishes down on the table and gave Marco some meat that I had cooked separately.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Now, dig in!"
"Ah, don"t mind if I do."
"Thank you!"
"Ruff!"
"Munch-munch."
Yis and Mido put their hands together before eating. Marco barked happily before digging in. Daniela tore into the fish straightway as if she was done waiting. After the first bite, everyone was smiling. Good. I was relieved that they liked it. Now, time to eat my own…
"Hey, Daniela."
"Mmm..mm..hmm?"
"Where"s my fish?"
"Mmm…gulp. Why, it is right here. In my stomach."
I don"t know what it was about Daniela, but all I could think of was, "oh, so it tasted that good, eh?" She really was…there was no use, really.
After the meal, we drank the fruit juice and talked merrily. Well, it was mostly me talking about our adventures. Daniela had eaten too much and was outside walking it off.
"I see… You two have sure seen your share of hardships."
"Oh, I wouldn"t say that. We"ve only started traveling recently. I haven"t been adventuring that long either…"
"Still, you must be very skilled to have gone up against so many orcs."
"Ahahahaha. You should know, I"m immune to flattery."
Yis laughed as he drained his cup.
"Well, it just so happens, Asagi, that I have a favor to ask of you."
"Really? I hope it"s not something too difficult…"
"No. You saw how wounded Marco was. The reason for that is, well, a monster has been attacking the village"s livestock."
Yis said while he stared at the table. I looked down to Marco, who was sleeping on the floor. His deepest wounds had healed, but there was a very visible scar.
"…To be honest, I would like to do something about the monster who did this."
"I"m very glad to hear it. Well, you can, of course, think about it. I"m sure you"ll want to discuss it with Miss Daniela."
"Yes, thank you."
I would talk to her when she returned. We continued to talk after that, though this time Yis told me about himself.
He had been an Adventurer once. He had hunted many monsters in many places, but a grievous wound had forced him to retire. Ever since then, he had lived quietly in this village where he was born.
It was during that time that Mido and Marco had come to the village together. This sudden arrival of a boy and monster had caused an uproar in the village.
"Many people wanted to kill them. But I knew that the boy meant no harm, and so I was strongly against it."
"How did you know?"
I asked, and Yis gave me a hard stare.
"Hmm. I thought that you knew."
"You mean, when you were observing us in the beginning?"
"Ah, so you do know."
"I don"t understand how it works. But I had an idea."
Yis looked satisfied with this as he ran a finger over his left eyelid.
"A fairy tinkered with this eye. It was a long time ago when I was greatly injured. A fairy helped me, but there was a mishap."
"A mishap?"
Yis looked like he was trying to suppress a roar of laughter as he recalled it.
"Quite a mishap, too. This fairy had forgotten that human eyes are different from fairy eyes. And so now, this eye can see good and evil in people."
Yis added that he may originally have been the type of person that fairies were fond of.
"So, fairies can see good and evil as well?"
"Aye. Though, not many people know it. Miss Daniela, she can see fairies too, can"t she? She must have understood what I was seeing."
"Interesting…"
Daniela had a tendency of becoming a poor talker when it mattered. Or she just forgets to tell me important things… Or maybe she just thought I already knew. That was nice in a way, but perhaps she had too much trust in me. I was still an ignorant person from another world.
"Well, that was how I developed this unique skill. It"s called Eye of Character. As the name suggests, it allows me to see a person"s character."
"I had no idea that skills could develop in such a way."
"It is definitely unusual. But it allowed me to save Mido"s life. And Marco is well. Hahaha. All good things."
I drained my cup. But it was just juice. Not the best way to end a meal.
Just then, the window in the living room began to rattle. It seemed like a strong wind, but that was a little strange, given the time…and then something slapped my cheek. I turned in surprise, but no one was there. I just felt a gentle breeze move towards the door.
"Was that…a spirit?"
"The wind is strong. Something might have happened out there."
"Wind… Do you think that something might have happened to Daniela?"
I frantically went for my sword, but Yis grabbed my arm.
"Wait, Asagi. I"ll go too."
"Thank you!"
"I hoped that we would have a peaceful night…but it looks like it"s come. I can tell."
"It?"
I tried to calm down as I waited for his reply. Yis picked up his own sword that was against the wall. He turned to me with a serious expression.
"The wyvern."