The days grew colder and colder as winter approached, but the village just got more livelier. The streets were flooded with workers busy building new shacks and houses. The market street was bustling with new life and new wares. Most people weren"t worried about thieves or pickpockets, which made sense considering the size and age of the village. Tighter communities had lower crime rates in general, besides, there was so much to do so there were plenty of jobs for everyone.Will had kept to himself for the most part. He had gotten bolder though, sneaking into the church"s "cla.s.sroom" directly instead of watching from the window. Will was afraid of being noticed from the outside since the town was busier now, and he didn"t like spending hours in the cold.
Sister Lina had moved on from teaching language to teaching history and religion. The religion worshiped a G.o.ddess called the "Nurturing Mother". She was tolerant and caring, but also stern and cruel at times. The teachings heavily emphasized on caring for others, working in unison to lift everyone up together, but also independence so you wouldn"t rely to heavily on others. It taught forgiveness and discipline, instead of punishment.
After Will had learned all this, a lot of puzzle pieces fell into place. The history of the kingdom of Rothfeld was short, only having been founded a couple centuries ago. The religion of the Nurturing Mother was the foundation of the kingdom, and apparently branched off from a more greedy and tyrannical doctrine. This also explained why there were no slavery or major discrimination between different cla.s.ses despite the lack of technological progress, and also explained the tolerance to other demi-human races.
This tempted Will to reveal his own existence, but he was still afraid and not entirely confident. However there was a sprout of hope slowly growing inside him. Despite his four to five months of being alive, he had already experienced a lot of suffering, at least relative to his previous life.
The cla.s.s continued and explained the local geography, there was no map though. Lina explained that they didn"t know the edge of the continent yet, but they were luckily on the other side of a large river east of their current location, which separated them from other kingdoms. Lina emphasized that the other human kingdoms were cruel and harsh, and n.o.bles would trample on the freedoms of its people. Rothfeld on the other hand was still expanding, accepting refugees on a daily basis. The borders were easy to defend considering their known enemy was on one side of the kingdom only. The west was still unknown territory, but nothing serious had happened to this day.
The cla.s.s ended after a couple of hours, Will waited until the room was cleared before getting out of his hiding spot. He knew the evening ma.s.s was approaching, so he had to hurry into his "home" again. It was never packed on weekdays since most people were out working, but there was a small group of housewives and young women who would attend. The only men who attended were elders who couldn"t spend all day working due to their health. Ma.s.s itself wasn"t as preachy as Will had first thought when he listened in. Sister Lina would share some relatable story from a book that had some kind of moral, and then she would ask the attendees to share difficulties and give advice. It was more like a support group than anything else. At the end people would voluntarily leave donations without being asked, in either the form of food or small coins. And Sister Lina would always warmly thank them and embrace them, while whispering to them "May the warm embrace of the mother give you strength."
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After ma.s.s, Sister Lina would usually cook herself a meal change into her evening attire, and sing to herself before going to bed. This was usually the highlight of Will"s day, not the changing clothes part mind you, but the singing. It would always calm him, and it was the one thing Will adamantly meant had held his sanity intact due to isolation. However this evening was different.
Will was getting himself ready to prepare his evening meal at the same time as Sister Lina usually did, however he heard a loud knocking on the church entrance. He ran towards the side of his house that coincided with the entrance to the church, and listened carefully. He heard a pair of feet shuffling, and also smelled strong alcohol. Will got a worried look on his face, but decided to leave it be. He heard Sister Lina opening the door and greeting the stranger, it was apparently a man. He was slurring his speech, but seemed cheerful. Will started filling a plate he had "found" with several pieces of dried meat and some mushrooms, while listening to the noise of people moving around above him.
"Get off me Foster!" Sister Lina panicked scream echoed throughout the church. Will dropped his plate and rushed towards his trapdoor. "You"re hurting me! This isn"t appropri… AH!" Sister Lina screamed again. Will got out of the kitchen just in time to see a scruffy looking adult tearing off Sister Lina"s head shawl revealing a fiery red hair. It wasn"t religious clothing, but it was apparently common to show modesty in public for unmarried women.
As the man called Foster grasped for Sister Lina"s chest, she pushed him back but was the one who fell instead. This infuriated Will, this woman had indirectly cared for him all this time. At least that"s how he viewed her. He rushed the obviously drunken man and tackled from behind. Due to Will"s small stature, his tackle hid the back of the man"s thigh, with his elbow hitting the back of the knee. Foster"s leg went limp, and he fell to the ground hitting his head on the hard floor. Will was panting trying to recover from the adrenaline rush, and saw blood coming out of a rather nasty gash on Foster"s head.
Will stood there paralyzed in thought. Then he looked at Sister Lina and his eyes widened. [s.h.i.t! What do I do now, she saw me, she"s still looking at me, please say something. No wait, don"t say anything.] Will"s thoughts were rushing through his head, then finally in a panic he ran towards the kitchen and his trapdoor. Before Sister Lina could say anything, he was already gone. "Wait, come back..." She mumbled in a low voice that trailed off. Lina was just as confused as Will had been earlier. She got up and walked toward the kitchen, but couldn"t find Will anywhere. Then as if she had just thought of something more pressing, she walked back where she came from.