With the moon lighting up the dark, villagers were sound asleep after the party.
"Hicc~"
Because of his hiccups, Louis couldn't sleep at all. Turning his body right and left for the hope of sleeping, he finally gave up.
"Hicc~, Kid, you awake?"
Not listening to any answer, he said,
"I know you're awake as well. Don't pretend that you're asleep."
"Don't disturb me." Oslo said covering himself entirely in the blanket, "Let me sleep in peace."
Louis who couldn't get even a wink got jealous of Oslo. He then pulled the blanket to his side making Oslo shudder in pain without any cover.
"Seriously, what were they even thinking while letting me sleep in your house?"
Seeing Oslo finally saying something, Louis laughed, "Hahaha, were you expecting pretty girls to accompany you?"
"Yeah!"
"But how unlucky you're to be paired with a man like me."
"Well that's that but..." Oslo sighed, " Why doesn't your house have a roof? It's chilly out there and these winds are freezing me to death, do you want me to die from catching a cold? Give the blanket back."
"Huh, isn't Magician immune to disease?" Louis asked.
"Yeah they are but," Snatching the blanket and covering himself again he said, "Only powerful magicians don't suffer, heck... I have even seen magician as weak as me dying from sneezing again and again."
"Haha, you magicians sure have a rough life than us villagers who are safe because of the wall. Unless the wall crumbles, we smile and live happily but you guys challenging opponents stronger than you, struggling to survive on a daily basis are really incredible."
"Unlike us, your life is full of ridicule and seeing you guys fills me with admiration. Kid, do you want to know why my house is the only one in the village which has no roof?" Louis said looking up.
"You aren't going to let me sleep anyway. Let's hear it then." Listening to him rambling again and again Oslo had given up on the thought of sleeping.
"Take out your head from the blanket and open your eyes. You'll see." Louis said.
"Stars?," Opening his eyes he saw the black sky filled with thousands of white dots. The thousands of limelights covering the black sky was very eye-catching, to say the least. "It is pretty, yes, but even I would get bored of it when I see it on a daily basis."
Hearing Oslo speak his mind, Louis said,
"It isn't like that...you may laugh hearing it but our village believes that shooting stars can grant wishes. I always waited lying in this bed for a star to shoot down creating a tail so that I could ask of it to save the village from the curse."
"Then it seems your wish has been granted by the power of the stars." Oslo chuckled.
"Haha, not quite, whenever shooting star was seen, I was in the bathroom." Louis laughed, "I was quite unlucky, you know."
He then looked at Oslo and said, "Hey why don't you marry Marie?"
Not expecting the conversation to change suddenly, he laughed, " Haha, I don't want to, and who is that girl?"
"You don't even know the name of the girl that saved you?" Oslo seemed genuinely surprised by his answer, "You're quite an odd lad."
"Its a shame." Louis only sighed and didn't push the matter any further, "My name is Louis Heckermann and what might your name be?"
"Its Oslo Marvik!"
"Quite an odd name for an odd lad. Who gave you name such as that?"
"My gramps," Oslo replied.
"Your gramps must have drunk till he fainted to give you such name, huh?"
"Not only alcohols, but he may also have been high with drugs," Oslo added.
With a confused expression on his face, Louis asked, "What are drugs?"
...
Their conversation lasted the whole night and until the sun burnt their eyes, they were on the bed. Not even getting a wink of sleep, he was ready to leave the village with a dark circle under his eyes for good.
When he was right before the exit, every villager was there to bid him farewell, even the mother dog was there.
"Thank you!" They expressed their gratitude in unison with a bow.
The mother patting its chest said,
"Woof!"
He as always had to make sense with such language. Maybe it is saying that leave the village for me to protect, Oslo thought.
Wearing the clothes villagers had provided him, he bid them farewell and dashed into the wilderness. With the map Louis provided the day before as a guide, he had avoided many possible dangerous areas, but the map wasn't too detailed and only led to the place where human life was, and it was only a possibility as well.
Growl~
With no food in his belly, his stomach was roaring like a hungry lion. Traveling for seventeen hours straight into the wilderness was a difficult job, to say the least, and with no food as well as painful.
If his stomach could speak, it would have cursed him thousand times;
"I'm ashamed to have been born as your belly. When are you even going to feed me? You don't feed me and expect to get energy? Dream on..."
If he was his previous self, he would have fainted with only traveling for seven hours but now he could tread seventeen hours straight with his body which hinted that he had grown a bit stronger at least.
A day was already over and with no food and going in the straight path he doubted if there was indeed human settlement where the map led him.
When he was about to lost hope, he smelled smoke coming for afar inside the forest.
"Am I near the human settlement now?"
If it was indeed true then he was relieved that he traveled this far. With his recharged motivation he trod towards the direction of the smoke at full speed.
It wasn't much but with such speed, the tall trees seemed just like shadows that came and disappeared in seconds.
It must really be human because no magic beasts needed to light the fire to eat and from the smoke he had smelt a slight fragrance of meat so he was sure. When he got closer though, he didn't directly reveal himself and hid behind the tree.
He gulped smelling food, but he couldn't just jump in and intrude offending the party because from what he could tell with his sense was that the adventurer before him was at least a B-rank one.
With long hair reaching her waist, she had no armor on her but the clothes she wore fitted her perfectly making her slender figure shine even more. With a glance, he could tell that the adventurer before him hailed from some rich family because the clothes she wore were tailored by a high-class tailor which made her curvy figure shine even more.
The small meadow in the forest didn't have any flowers but had a small fire grilling the meat slowly as the woods crackled on one of its corners. With her beautiful soft hand, she lifted one of five grilled slices of meat, slowly blowing air maintaining the temperature perfect for eating.
Biting the meat, she stroke back her falling hair. Oslo who was hiding behind her couldn't look at her face but knew offending her would only make the situation worse, so he didn't want to make any sound until she had her food and left.
But his little buddy betrayed him.
Growl~
Enticed by the smoke, his belly could no longer suppress its roars. Clutching his stomach, Oslo had the expression as if asking his stomach to stop. But when he did that it roared even louder.
GROWLLLLL~
The girl smiled hearing the roars made by Oslo's stomach. She had already sensed his presence when he was a hundred meters away from her and now he was near, she could tell that he was a D-rank adventurer from his presence.
"Come out! I already know you're there." She said without turning back.
Embarrassed, he came out of shadows of the tall trees making light shine on him again. When he got in front of her, he could finally lay his eyes upon her face which was also a beauty that matched her figure...but when he saw her face, he couldn't help but blurt it out,
"Anna Raygal!?"
"You know me?" She said in a calm voice chewing on the meat all the same. "Since you already know me, I don't have to introduce myself. What is your name?" She asked.
With a drooling mouth, he replied, "This little me is called Jackson Morph."
He knew to reveal his real name and getting acquainted with a person such as her would only complicate his position in the society where only strong were praised and weak were trampled upon. So he gave her an Alias.
Scratching his head he added, "Me is an adventurer and when me was on my way to clear the quest, me got lost."
"Hmm, you seem more like a son of a farmer than an adventurer but right now, even donkey can ascend heaven so it doesn't matter, but..." She said, "Why is your right hand wrapped with bandages?"
Oslo's mouth twitched when she said that he looked like a son of a farmer but he took it as a compliment as the dress was especially gifted to him by the villagers out of love and respect. He looked at the bandages covering his right hand and said,
"Me wrapped my hand in a bandage to look cool!"
He had wrapped it so that no one could see the tattoo for it was very brilliant at attracting problems. He also felt that if he showed such a thing in public, it would only complicate his life filling it with other problems.
Unless he found out the relation between the tattoo and the Mystic clan, he was determined to never let the tattoo in his hand see the light. It wasn't like the tattoo of White crane which obeyed his orders so it was only the way for him.
Anna had bought the words Oslo told her because she could sense that there was no danger and weapons hidden inside the bandages. She could also feel that Oslo had no malicious intent against her and confirming that there was no mana in an abnormal state in Oslo's wrapped hand, she gestured him to sit beside her and presented a stick with a freshly grilled meat,
"Here have some and make those roars stop."
"Me can? Me really can?" Although he said that, his hands were already grabbing with his teeth sunk deep in the meat. Chewing the meat, he couldn't help but enjoy it because it was the first food he had after a whole day of traveling.
Adventurers could control their hunger to the extent that they didn't need to eat food for the whole year. But he wasn't at that stage and could survive only by filling his belly.
"Delicious!"
Hungry for more, he couldn't maintain his composure and grabbed another stick of meat without even asking. For him who was very hungry, even grilled meat such as that tasted like an international cuisine.
Another stick was also taken by Oslo who was eating like a barbarian, but Anna didn't mind that because she had already reached the state that she could survive without eating for a week and without making her stomach roar as well.
Glancing at the munching monster, she elegantly ate her part of the meat.
"Oh yeah, When are...you going to...return to city Xean?" Oslo asked with inflated cheeks which were making him speak slow.
"After the meal, I will head back." Anna said, "Why do you ask?"
Gulp!
Finally swallowing the meat, Oslo, patting his stomach said,
"Me is lost and is hoping that me will be guided by you to the city."