Because of the excitement of all the items that Xander had produced so far, they had all forgotten about their fellows declaration of chowing down his own shit.
"Pfft! Oh Darren, Xander Hunt did offer you a way out, please let me know when you plan this feast of yours,"
"I . . Hmph! . . I'm an Elve of my words! Hume! I'll let you see with your own eyes how manly I am compared to you humes!"
"That would be quite the feat, seeing as I'm blinded in both eyes!"
Xander removed his glasses that had been covering his eyes. The entire room gasped as they saw the greyed out pupils that made him look dead.
"But in saying that Darren, you are more than welcome to keep doing so till "I see" exactly how manly you truly are."
"Pfft!"
"Bahahaha!"
"Hey Darren, just stop talking least you dig yourself a deeper pit."
Xander paid no mind to the exclamations from his surroundings and continued demonstrating to the elders with the other items.
"This is safe drinkable water, on the side you'll see a tablet. The water by itself can be used as you would normally use water. However, with this tablet added into the water it will turn the water into an electrolyte drink which I wouldn't use for cooking or for small children to drink alot of as in large quantities it could be detrimental so I would recommend that children just have this as water only or limited to a small cup of it a day. Teens, young adults, adults and order can have at it."
Yyanis demonstrates the water and tablet and offered it to an elder that looked thirsty.
"This is magical! It's chilled and cold like it came straight from the depths of the earth! But it has a flavour that's indescribable!"
Next was the heat and eat pouches. Yyanis done as he had done before and set it aside for the heating duration while Xander explains the other things.
"These four are fruits from my world, I'm not sure if you have them here but, yeah,"
Xander felt the shape of them and laid them out in order,
"This long yellow one is called a banana, the outer part is inedible, so peel it like so and eat the flesh inside."
After peeling it he stretches out his hand and offered it to whoever wanted it. Then he told them about the next fruit which was an orange and how the outer skin can be soaked in water while bathing and the inside of the orange is segmented and had Yyanis peel the fruit with ease.
The apple he told them that all of it is edible except most people don't eat the core and seeds. Then lastly the strawberries.
"I've never seen such fruits before, these are truly good things you have Xander Hunt,"
"Just Xander is fine, once the village is back on track you'll be able to use the seeds to try and germinate and grow them yourselves."
The elders exclaimed excitedly about the prospects of having these fruits growing in their village. Xander showed the elders the seeds of each fruit and also gave a brief description on how to sprout the seeds for replanting.
He was just re teaching them how he had learnt as all these fruits came from his own greenhouse and mini orchard he had grown himself.
Soon the heat and eat pouch started steaming and the aroma of the bloated pouch filled the hall and quickly assaulted the nostrils of all those in its vicinity.
Once five minutes was up Yyanis opened the pouch and poured the contents into a bowl that was provided.
"This is beef stroganoff, the other two heat and eat meals I have are chicken green curry with rice and a sausage casserole."
The elders took to the meal and fell in love with the taste straight away.
Next up the chocolate, Xander gave them an explanation about the benefits of chocolate heated it up from its solid state into liquid they could then be paired well with the fruits.
The only things left were the medications and the water purification tablets.
"This here will be for your treatment, these are antibiotics to combat the legionnaires disease that you've all contracted."
"And this will be our last defence in case we can't find the cause of the villages water problems. A single tablet can clean 50 litres of water. But in saying that, this along with all of these are limited in supply so this will only be used if we can't find the root of the problem or you're unable to find another water source. The worst case scenario would be to uproot and relocate the entire village."
"We understand, whatever you can do to help is much appreciated."
"Alright then let's start treatment of all of you here first, then I'll need your help in showing and telling the rest of the villagers what's what and how to use them."
Xander had Yyanis and his men distribute the
antibiotics which came in easy to swallow capsule form.
"Over the next three days you'll all have to take these capsules twice daily for them to be effective."
"I'll leave you elders to organise the rest of the villagers, brief them and demonstrate the usage of the items before they come for treatment and collect the emergency rations from here,"
"Also it's vital that they get rid of anything that they have to stow water within their homes, if you have wells close them up for now, if there are any that are injured then single them out and have them form a line as I'll treat them separately from the rest."
"Is there a female elder among you?"
"Yes, there are four,"
"Good, please lend me the one who has the best repertoire with all the villagers and also a younger one to be our support."
"Wait! . . why would you need two women for!? What are you plotting Hume!?"
Xander chuckled, he could understand the man's query especially after what had just transpired when he entered the village so he wasn't angry or upset at the question.
"It's simple, I'll be treating the injured myself and I "see" using touch. So if there are any females among those injured then it'll be up to those two woman to carry out any treatment on my behalf."
"Oh . . I see,"
Xander nodded towards the now calmer voice then continued to explain,
"With the exception of pregnant women who will get extra portions of fruit and water, every single person will get the same amount of rations daily so Yyanis and his men along with another elder and these twenty men will have to help distribute them all."
"Please appoint a herald or an alert for people to come collect their rations as well as their antibiotic dosage. The two times for dosage will be now and sun down for the next few days with the ration distribution following the morning dosage."
"We understand,"
"Alright let's get to work people,"
Xander had Yyanis and his men plus an elder help organise the twenty men into groups of five while they act as supervisors for each room. The hall was split into three, left, right and middle.
The left and right would both administer treatment of the capsules and emergency ration packs while the middle was for the line to the fifth room that would be used for treatment by Xander and his two nurses.
The emergency ration packs which consisted of two bottles of water, heat and eat pouches a pack of wet wipes and sanitiser, four fruits, one of each a chocolate bar to everyone.
The elders set out and informed the entire village, while Xander an elder and a young elf went towards the fifth room. The items inside this room had different items compared to the other four rooms.
The items in this room were medical supplies mainly stocked with iodine, bandages, creams ointments and such. It was like a small clinic.
"Xander Hunt, I am Elder Juleps and with me is young Touri."
"Greetings Elder Juleps, Touri, you can just call me Xander and this here is Damage my guide dog."
"Xander, May I speak candidly?"
"By all means,"
"I'm rather impressed with all these items and such that you've shown us. Creating so many things out of thin air are all the other humes from your world just like you?"
"No, not like me, you see there's no magic in my world, so because of that the people on my world use ingenuity in their daily dealings."
"Everything I've shown your are just products I've purchased that were created by others for convenience sake, nothing more."
"Oh but I can sense a calm warm power coming from you, it's not of this world so I assumed it was from yours,"
Xander tilted his head towards the other voice that had been speaking, it was Touri.
"Power?"
"Yes it's faint but it's there,"
The trio started chatting about this world and his own, then after the ice was broken and everyone felt comfortable around each other Xander taught the two women the items inside the first aid kits and the other things in the room and how they'll be used.
A half hour after the elders initially left the hall it started filling up and the distribution of the antibiotics and rations began.
At first, Xander expected pandemonium but the villagers where all calm and collected as were the people who came to have their injuries checked over by Xander and his nurses.
This went on for five hours, before it all settled down. Xander was surprised as it was all over quicker than he expected it to be as the village had over 1500 people in it.
"Good work elder Juleps, Touri, both of you are quick learners and aided me immensely today. Thank you both for your hard work."
"It was good learning new techniques and different approaches to some of those injuries. And the medical supplies you have are truly wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity to see healing in another light."
"Yes indeed, what Touri speaks of is truth, we would usually use life magic to heal our injuries but since the curse took over the village none of us could wield any magic at all."
"Well that will only be for a few more days, after which you'll all be able to use it again. But you shouldn't neglect all these things I've shown you today, as they will come in handy if a similar situation were to arise again in the future."
Xander gave those that worked the hall extra chocolate and fruits for their hard work and soon Xander was surrounded by the village elders as they spoke happily with Xander.
Suddenly a man entered the hall and came right to elder Shin,
"Elder Shin, we've done as you asked,"
"Oh, and the results?"
"The information I've received isn't good for some ears,"
Xander understood the newcomers meaning and chuckled,
"Out with it, the elders would end up having to tell me everything again if not,"
"Hmph, it's not up to . . "
"Do as he says Garrick, what did you learn?"
"Huh!? . . Ah! . . Yes Elder Shin,"
If Xander could see, he'd see the distorted smile and frown combination on Garrick's face.
"It was as you suspected, it seems they were told to venture into goddess Ericales's domain and it seems that they setup some kind of ritual at the grand tree with the help of people from the order of Dumas."
"Ericales? Like the flower Ericales?"
"Savage! Goddess Ericales isn't a flower! She's our race's True Goddess."
Garrick quickly bit back at Xander. Xander tilted his head towards Garrick and apologised to him,
"Oh, I apologise. It's just in my world, Ericales is the name of the most rarest of flower. I truly mean no disrespect,"
"Hmm!? Interesting. Xander, Goddess Ericales is the guardian of Tourrin forest, that vast land behind us. Per our laws we are forbidden from venturing there so it'll be hard for us to investigate."
"Hmm, seems like the king used your beliefs and laws against you in order to help him gather the summoning resources necessary for his scheme."
"It seems so Xander,"
"Elders, what is the order of Dumas?"
"They're just a bunch of heretical fanatics that believe in destroying all spiritual life in the world."
"It's said that the first order of Dumas is to rid the world of all non humans, so naturally that would include spirits."
"Why is that important to them though? Do spirits actually exist on this world?"
"Mhm! They are how we all wield our magic, it's all because we borrow from the spirits in the world."
"So could spirits be behind what's going on with my backpack and Damage's rig?"
Xander understood this world a little better now as he thought internally. He then asked aloud,
"And your goddess, Ericales, does she dwell inside the forest?"
"Correct, it's told that she dwells within the grand tree inside Tourrin forest. We of this village gain our abilities and powers from her. With the curse placed upon us we all thought that we had angered her so, but now the pieces are falling into place, it was nothing more than a plot made by those of the Dumas order and that damnable king."
"Am I able to enter her domain?"
"Ridiculous! Who do you think you are to encroach on our sacred and holy of grounds! Elder you mustn't!"
" . . . "
"Well, Garrick was it? Here's the thing, someone already has encroached, and they've poisoned the well so to speak, someone needs to go in there and find the cause of all of this. I'm willing to go, is there anyone from here that can guild me?"
"Xander it's not that we don't want to it's because we can't. Unless we are granted permission from the goddess herself, but that hasn't happened since the curse started. No one has ever gotten permission to enter the forest."
"That's not entirely true,"
"Who . . ?"
Garrick cocked his head in the direction of Xander, elder Juleps and Touri and whilst scowling at the three, he quickly interjected himself,
"Wait! Why is "she who is forsaken" allowed in here!? You want to taint us along with you!?"
Xander frowns and tilts his head towards elder Juleps and whispered,
"Huh!? Elder Juleps, what's going on? Why is there so much hate directed at Touri?"
Elder Juleps turns to Touri and after getting a slight nod from her, proceeded to explain to Xander the situation.
"As you know entering the forest without permission is forbidden to all within the village but when Sara, Touri's mother fell ill, Touri ventured into the forest in search of medical herbs to cure her."
"But I did get permission, Goddess Ericales even told me when and where to find the herbs needed,"
Touri continued and told how she received an oracle from the goddess with the location of the herbs and also granting her permission to enter forest. All of this was conveyed via her dreams.
She then left the village soon after waking and went in search of the herb, after finding it at the location pointed out in her dream, Touri made haste back towards the village.
"However . . . "
Touri's voice started to tremble and didn't continue as she was interrupted by Garrick's piercing voice,
"Bullshit you were given permission! Why would the goddess give you permission!? Throughout our history permission from the goddess was only granted to the most renown and outstanding among us! Spare us your drivel! I'm glad Jorrick turn down your advances towards him!"
"Lies! Both you and your son! It was me that constantly turned him down, all his endless confessions they were starting to get creepier and because of that you . . you persecuted my parents!"
Xander as well as everyone in the hall could feel the heartache from Touri,
"Then you and Jorrick started telling people the curse was because of me and my family!"
"Nonsense! Shut your vile trap cursed bitch! It's all because of you and your slut mother that we've suffered so much from this curse!"
" . . . "
"Huh!? Dipshit! Are you brain dead!?"
Xander having heard enough of Garrick's toxic ranting abruptly interrupted him,
"You know it's funny, you Garrick, you say this curse is all because of young Touri and her parents, but didn't already get confirmation from those guards? Isn't that what you just told all of us? Isn't that why you're here now!? You Garrick, as well as a few others here have so much animosity towards hume's, yet your very behaviour is so Hume like, could it be that you're actually hating on yourself? For us humans that's a sign of guilt! What are you feeling guilty about I wonder!?"
"Shut your damn mouth filthy Hume! What do you know!? . . They could be lying, and she and her family could be in league with them,"
Xander snickered at Garrick and laughed off his claims,
"Heh! So could you right!? . . I'll just take a wild stab in the dark, seeing as I'm blind and all, but, like you said, the goddess only grants permission to the most outstanding of people of the village, so if those people happen to be Touri and her parents, what would happen if they, along with the goddess were to lose that connection? What would happen to everyone in the village? If it was all part of the king and the Dumas order's plot wouldn't it be in their best interest to sever that tie so that their plans could be realised!?"
" . . . "
"Even without eyes I can see what really went on,"
" . . . "
The entire hall was dead silent, even Garrick had nothing to retort with, the logic was sound and the deafening silence felt akin to agreeing with what Xander had just said to be true.
"Well I believe you all have your answers right elders? You know my origins and intentions, so, putting together the pieces we have gathered so far, it isn't that hard to see the real truth regarding Touri and her parents, right!?"
"I believe Touri, from what I've heard from everyone here it's safe to say that she truly gained the permission needed to enter so she'll guide me into Tourrin forest. I'll leave the village in your capable hands,"
Xander then reached out for Elder Juleps and whispered close to her ear,
"As a precaution, I'd also detain Garrick and his son till we return. It won't be too late to discover the entire truth then."