"You need to head home now," Trisha says to Bryan.
"Awwww I wanted to stay a bit longer…"
"No, you head home now. Which village do you live in?"
"Meredith Village," he responds sadly.
"Oh! That's where I live!" Justin suddenly says.
"Then you can escort him back," Trisha says.
"Take Kyle and Veronica with you," Ryan says while pondering.
King pouts, "Then Astraea is coming with me!"
"Fine," I sum up the plan, "Justin, Veronica, King, and I will go with Bryan. Trisha and Ryan will stay here. Are you sure that King and I should go? They'd probably attack us once they see King and I."
"I will convince them; they'll listen to me," Bryan says confidently.
"Well, King and I will trail and stay on the trees just in case," I say.
We set off as King and I jump from tree to tree. Veronica and Justin walk with Bryan and a good pace for the child while talking about Meredith Village.
"Oh, you're the amazing knight, Justin? I���m a big fan!"
The child looks at Justin with such admiration… Meanwhile, Justin looks so proud, puffing his chest. Veronica stands at the side, facepalming.
Even King laughs, "Pfft! What are they even doing!"
"Haha! Justin is quite the attention seeker."
We arrived at the village shortly after.
Thud! "Justin is that you?"
An elderly woman comes to greet them.
The whole village surrounds them.
"Oh my! Bryan, you're safe!"
"Justin! I thought you died because of Dylan!"
"Ah, yeah, that… he betrayed us and tried to kill us."
Justin's face falls and then he smiles again, "But it's fine! We all escaped safe and sound!"
The villagers sigh in relief, "Good grief…"
A pretty red haired villager walks up to the group.
"My, Justin, you've already found a girlfriend?! Wow, you've grown up quite a bit."
I chuckle when I realize she referred to Veronica.
"Um, excuse-" Veronica starts to protest, but Justin gets there first.
"Sis!"
Then, we hear a sniffle.
A woman walks up with tears, "Bryan, is that you?"
"Mom!"
They hug each other as if they were apart for a year.
"Mom, I think we should have a feast! They helped me so much and even treated my injuries! Oh yeah, you should have seen Justin, Ryan and Kyle fighting! They were so cool!"
Bryan turns in our direction. Uh oh… don't say anything… don't say anything…
I jump higher up in the tree, leaving King behind.
As I feared, Bryan pointed straight at King. The villagers saw him right before he could follow me.
"My, Kyle, what are you doing on the…"
The elderly villager realizes before he could finish.
"Villager Chief, I'm sorry."
Kyle turns away from them and covers his face. There's a moment of silence as the village wonders what they should do. Unexpectedly, they weren't really bothered.
"No, it's fine. We trust you," the villager chief smiles, "If you really wanted to do us harm, you've had many chances.
"Yeah, and I could stop him before he would do anything!" Justin stands up for King.
The complexions of the villagers relax.
"Yeah! Us men of the village are strong too!" one of the village men spoke.
"Come down, Kyle. Let's go eat!"
I smile to myself. I should head back first. I jump acro-
"Ah!"
King grabbed my leg before I could leave them be. I swing and dangle from my leg. My shirt starts to fall. I quickly push it back in place and grab onto the branch.
"You-"
"Oh my, Kyle, you also found a girlfriend?" the villager chief asks in surprise.
My face turns red and I grab the branch. I try to loosen his grip on my leg, but he grabs even tighter.
"Ugh…"
He smiles at the chief and nods.
He pulls me up and hugs me. Wow… he's really assertive these days… he's literally a wolf, the complete opposite of all talk no action.
The villagers start to chatter and judge me. I shirk away, somewhat frightened about what they'll say.