The kid walked in front of me and said "Whenever someone visits here, it's supposedly a big event. I hope I get to see this as well. I was very small when someone visited out village, so I don't remember anything". I didn't reply, I was still shocked that there could be a village in these parts of the forest. 'The elite animals or rather beasts were more present here. People of this village need to be quite strong, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to survive out here' I thought.
As the kid talked away, we arrived at the entrance to the village. When I entered the village, I could feel many gazes on me. I could also feel killing intent coming from all over the place. I instinctively turned my head towards the largest source of the killing intent and saw a middle aged man looking at me. 'This guy is dangerous. Probably as dangerous as the sword woman that severed my arm' I thought.
Whenever I looked at someone old or young, they seemed strong. 'No wonder this village can exist here. They could destroy villages that numbered 200 household easily, with that kind of strength' I thought. The kid in front of me said "The people in the village are very nice. When you meet them, please don't use those bad words". I responded absentmindedly "Sure".
As we passed the gate and went deeper into the village, I paid extra attention to the guy with strongest killing intent. I noticed him looking at someone and then giving that person some kind of signal with his head. 'I don't know if this is a trap, if everything goes south, I can use this kid to my advantage' I thought and readied myself for a possibility of an ambush.
As we walked towards the centre of the village, another youngster started walking towards us, as if to intercept me and the kid. The kid became quite happy when he saw the that person and shouted while running towards the youngster "Hey! Ricky! There is a newcomer! He came to visit!". I was now on my guard. This seemed like a deliberate play and the kid that looked innocent, was supposed to lure me inside.
With this in mind, I stopped walking. Going in any deeper would be foolish. The closer I was to the exit, the better. 'I wouldn't be able to handle all of these people, even if there were two of me' I thought and stood in place. The kid talked to his friend for a while and both of them started walking towards me.
'...Maybe I'm just paranoid? The killing intents are real but who wouldn't try to protect their homes? Let's see how this plays out' I thought and waited for the kid to come back with his friend. It didn't take long and when they arrived in front of me, the kid said "This is my friend Ricky! He is a bit older than me because he is 16 this year". He then turned towards his friend Ricky and said "This is the guy I was talking about. He is a bit slow in his head but he came to visit our village! The big event is going to happen right? I will finally see what it is!". The Ricky guy smiled at the kid, then turned towards me and said "So, why did you come to visit?".
I looked at the youngster and said "I didn't. I stumbled upon your village as I was travelling through the forest. I must say that, you have some pretty impressive people inside here". The guy wasn't impressed and asked politely "Oh? And who could those people be?". I turned towards the middle aged man and said "For example that middle age man over there. You can stop with your killing intent, I'm not your opponent".
When I faced the youngster again, I said "The same if for you. You are not my opponent". The guy didn't seem to like my comment and said "Would you like a try?" to which I responded "I didn't come here to fight you guys. I'm here for supplies. If you are not willing to trade, I can leave". The youngster snorted and said "Are you scared?".
I looked him in the eyes and said quietly "Of you? No. I'm not even scared of that guy over there" and pointed at the middle aged man. The youngster couldn't take it anymore and rushed at me. He was strong to be honest. At the age of 16, he was able to accelerate pretty well and he displayed some strength.
I waited for the youngster to arrive. He threw a punch at me. I simply raised my left hand and caught his punch. He seemed to be surprised, when he noticed that nothing happened to me. He was even more surprised, that I had a firm grip on his fist. I said "I told you, you are not my opponent" and threw him away. I didn't use a lot of strength but he flew through the air anyway. Because this was not an attack on my part, the guy could easily land on the ground and stand up.
The kid cried to his friend "Ricky! What are you doing? We can't attack visitors! No one would come here if we were to do that!". The kid was obviously delusional but had a kind heart. Ricky answered "I was testing him. Village Chief told me to". The kid was flabbergasted, while I already knew that. He then turned towards me and said "You are indeed strong. I'm not your opponent but I'm younger than you. When I'm your age, I will be much stronger!". I looked at him and said "As you like" and turned towards the middle aged man. "So, the Village Chief, right?". The guy looked me in the eyes and said "Why did you come here?" to which I shrugged my shoulders and replied "Didn't I already tell you? I need supplies, I didn't even know there was a village here". The man responded "And we would like for it to stay that way".
I said "It is your choice. I have my own confidence, that is why I didn't start running yet. You can try me or just sell me some supplies and I will treat it as we never met before". The old man said "Do you think I would believe your lies?". 'When did I lie?' I thought then looked at the man in more details.
After a while, I noticed something. 'Hmmm. He seems to be sick…. no, he is dying. Just like Nick!' I thought. No wonder he was hostile. If the strongest person dies, then who will protect the people that are weaker? 'He probably has a successor already but that successor may be on mine or below my level of skill. He just wants to scare me probably' I thought.
I said to the man "So that is how it is? Listen. I'm a traveller and I didn't come here for any reason besides some supplies. Even if you are dying, I have no intention of doing anything to your people". The man became visibly shocked and muttered "How do you…." to which I responded "Because the person that taught me about medical knowledge, died the same way".
The guy was stunned and not sure what to do. I asked him "How can I prove to you that I don't mean any harm to your people? I just want some supplies". The man contemplated for a bit and said "We don't use money, so we don't sell things here. Money is useless to us here. Everyone works and contributes. So, you want me to believe you? Stay here and work for a while. Then we will give you the supplies that we can provide".
"That is an interesting offer. I will take it then. I need those supplies and besides, it will be only for a while". The man nodded his head and said "I will have my eyes on you, if you try something…" to which I shook my head and said "What am I supposed to do?". He pointed at Ricky and said "He will show you what to do". Then all the people returned to their own tasks.
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PLEASE READ! NOT PART OF CHAPTER!
So, I think you guys can see the results for yourself. More people chose slower progress over faster progress. I'm still a bit disappointed. I thought more people would voice their opinions but guess I was wrong. Slower progress it is BUT I will give you one thing. I don't want the novel to go on and on and on... about one thing. So, although the progress stays the same and the details too. I will skip unnecessary stuff like 20 chapters on 1 thing. About the training, I will shorten that as well (not that he will master stuff faster but that you won't have to read stuff that repeats all the time. Of course when there are changes or large improvements, I will write about that).
For those that voted (for whichever option), I thank you and this shows to me that you care. For those who reached this point and didn't vote -That is fine, I still appreciate your views. Thanks and I hope you will still like me novel :D