"The Beginner Village?" Yuuta repeated.
"Yes, the Beginner Village! It's a Village that's known for its Black Grsrzy Scarf. But due to the Evil Spirits proliferating around it recently, it has been cut off from all civilization. That Scarf is rumored to ward off all types of Evil Spirits around Lucid. I'm guessing it's true." Ashuril explained. "Hey, that Scarf, can you sell it to me? I will give you 500 garnets for it."
"Ashuril, don't be so tactless!" Lorraine lightly lectured. "You know how hard it is to get out of the Beginner Village alive. That's probably the only memento he has of the place. Stop asking for such ridiculous things! And where on Lucid can you get 500 garnets?!"
"It's all of my life savings... I'm not asking for something ridiculous, that's a priceless treasure that only exists in the Beginner Village. Only someone from that Village could get a Black Grsrzy Scarf. If you don't belong to the Village, they won't give you a single thread of that scarf."
"Then, how come they haven't been attacked by neighboring Kingdoms? If they had such a treasure, surely a few eyes are already on them." Lorraine asked. Apparently, she doesn't know a thing about the Beginner Village.
"Well, recently, a Demon Lord had his eyes on that treasure. Apparently, he was planning to use it so he could round up all the evil spirits around Lucid and make a formidable army out of it. But somehow, he was stopped by an Alien. Well, more like he was killed by an alien. In an attempt to take revenge, he decided to call on his Evil Spirit so he could surround the Beginner Village with it. Now, the Beginner Village has no contact with the outside world and no one could get in. Even the strongest Holy Element user in our Sacred Stones doesn't have the ability to cross the Evil Spirit territory that surrounded the Beginner Village."
"Wait... when did this happen?" Yuuta asked, surprised. "Are you saying that the Beginner Village is in this world?"
"Yes, and also... why didn't you know anything about it? This happened at least two to three weeks ago." Lorraine asked. "Where have you been all this time? Aren't you from the Beginner Village?"
Yuuta paused for a moment before responding. It had been quite some time since he knew that the two individuals with him were actually NPC's. And since one wouldn't normally be able to differentiate NPC's from Dreamers, Yuuta knew that these two had no idea what his identity was. 'If I tell them the truth, then there's a good chance that they'll leave me alone. That might make it easier for me to get to Aarkra's lair. And if they decided to stay with me, then that would be fine as well. It wouldn't hurt to have a little company at such a scary place.'
"I've stayed in the Beginner Village for quite some time before getting to Revalia City. Well, you could say that I'm from the Beginner Village but— " Yuuta went on. "you might not have noticed it but I'm actually not from this world. I'm a Dreamer. Or I put it on simpler terms, I'm an alien."
With shocked expressions, Ashuril and Lorraine took a step back as they examined Yuuta from head to toe. Just as mentioned before, it's hard to tell whether someone is a Dreamer or an NPC.
Lorraine nudged at his brother and nodded. As for Ashuril, he also nodded before speaking out. "You might be an alien but we can tell that you're different from the others. It's hard to believe that you managed to steal a Black Grsrzy Scarf from the Beginner Village when the demon lord himself wasn't able to. That must mean you either had an invisibility skill that let you sneak in inside the Beginner Village, or the villagers trusted you enough to give you one. If you had the invisibility skill, then it would've been easier for you to sneak up on us... but then again you didn't."
"Big brother, you're talking too much again. Just tell him that we're staying with him." Lorraine lightly reprimanded her brother before approaching Yuuta. "With that said, it's a pleasure to be traveling with you. I look forward to it!"
"Lorraine, you shouldn't be easy to trust. He might seem like a good person but don't let your guard down." Ashuril hissed.
"Um, you do know that I can hear you, right?" Yuuta reminded him.
With greetings and introductions in place, the group finally set off towards the center of the Spirit Jungle. As they walked, the trees became even more clumped together and there was no sunlight peeking through its rustling leaves. The atmosphere has turned into something so ominous that all of them couldn't help but imagine manifestations appearing out of nowhere.
Every other minute, Lorraine could be seen flinching and grabbing Yuuta by the arm. And every time she did so, Yuuta would feel chills run up and down his spine as a gust of wind would hit him from who knows where. As for Ashuril, he would just freeze on the spot from time to time, shake his head, and go on with their walk.
Yuuta cluelessly watched as Lorraine and Ashuril acted weirdly. He had no idea what was causing the winds nor what causes them to flinch or freeze. Had he known about it, he wouldn't have been able to sleep soundly at night.
At one point, their flinching and freezing became so unbearable that Yuuta just had to stop and address it. "What are you doing?" He asked as Lorraine clung to her arms once again. Yuuta's face reddened a little bit but he kept his poker face for fear that Lorraine would get embarrassed. In all honesty, Yuuta did like the fact that Lorraine occasionally clung to him. However, he knew that he shouldn't be enjoying himself at such an important time. There are missions to be finished and a girl to be rescued after all.
"Um... t-t-there!' Lorraine shakily pointed towards the undergrowth which was rustling unnaturally. "Do you s-see that?" She asked.
"No, there's nothing there." Yuuta continued.
"WHAT?!" Ashuril exclaimed... and then he remembered that they were in the middle of the Spirit Jungle and that raising his voice is actually a bad idea. "I mean, you don't see the Evil Spirits around us?"
"Wait, there are Evil Spirits around us?" Yuuta sarcastically commented. "Don't joke with me. I know there aren't any. The two of you are just messing with me, aren't you?" Yuuta suspiciously asked. Of course, one wouldn't easily believe something they can't see. And since Yuuta couldn't see any Evil Spirits or entities around the area, he concluded that there isn't anything.
But what he didn't know was that there were really Evil Spirits surrounding him. He just couldn't see them since only those with the Dark Element or the Holy Element would be able to detect them. As such, even Yuuta's Sight Skill won't work on them.
"So you really can't see them?!" Ashuril reaffirmed before heaving a sigh of disappointment.