The three of them continued to laugh happily and enjoy these precious moments. As time slowly passed, the misty night fell.
It was the first night in a long time that the villagers had been truly comfortable.
Everyone slept deeply, including Kotaro, Akina, and Ryota.
...
The sun rose again and spread its rays. The birds also rose and whistled over the village buildings, announcing the beginning of a new day.
In front of the village hotel, there were three people, two young men and a girl, who were Kotaro, Akina and Ryota, and after they got up early they were preparing to leave as well. They didn't want to stay long, especially since Kotaro was close to fully recovering.
The three walked to the village exit, and as they passed through the lanes and streets of the village, the expression of the three was little by little surprised because they couldn't see anyone around and all the shops and facilities were closed.
Based on that, the three continued on their way to the exit but after they arrived, the scene in front of them made them speechless.
Originally, the three guessed that the people of the village were still affected by the incident that happened, so they did not leave their homes today, and perhaps it will take some time to recover themselves, but now they know that this was not true, but rather the people of the village were waiting for them in front of the exit to bid them farewell.
About 60 meters away, on either side of the road leading to the exit, stood two mixed rows of men and women, children and old people, everyone came.
At this time, among the crowd, one of the men alerted after seeing that Kotaro, Akina, and Ryota had arrived: "Everyone," as if what they were going to say had been prepared. In the next moment all the villagers shouted forcefully, they bowed respectfully and with true emotions chanted: "Thank you, thank you, thank you" three times, and a voice filled with all kinds of deep emotions rose, like a strong roar that its echo reflected through the winds to the entire village.
silence
silence
"..." At this moment, Kotaro, Akina and Ryota couldn't find any words to describe the complicated feeling they had, and they continued to stare with a strange gaze. They had never in their lives experienced a moment like this, as if they were treated as savior heroes and had received the gratitude and appreciation of dozens of people.
Even in Wind Village they didn't feel like that.
At this time the three recalled something Cesar had said to them before: "After you progress down this road, you will fall and rise, struggle and meet all kinds of challenges as you will face all kinds of filth, expect everything. But just as there is bad in this world, there is also good".
Uncle Cesar continued, "I won't say anything now, but I'm sure you'll have a good time likewise."
...
After a long silence, Ryota spoke first: "Please, ge..." but before he could finish Kotaro stopped him: "Don't Ryota, let's continue walking."
Ryota fell silent and without asking why, he joined Kotaro and Akina.
The three of them stopped at the exit gate, and the villagers still continued to bow sincerely as if their lives depended on it.
Kotaro asked his two friends, and then each of them also bowed toward the village.
After a short while, the three got up, turned around and without saying a word left as if nothing had happened, and among the shades of the trees and the swings of the wind they disappeared in silence.
Sometimes actions were more expressive than words, especially in situations like this, which is why Kotaro stopped Ryota a while ago, and Kotaro did not want to associate this village with him for fear of being harmed because of him.
As for the villagers, they also got up after that and stared outside, wishing the three of them good luck, vowing that they would never forget their kindness and that they would always be remembered.
...
"You are really weird, Kotaro." After they left, Ryota spoke, as if he didn't understand the meaning of Kotaro's behavior.
Akina was enjoying the breezes of the small forest they were in, and when Ryota spoke, she sarcastically replied: "What do you understand about these things?"
"Enough talk, Ryota where are we going next?" As for Kotaro, he seemed carless, as usual.
"Do you remember the city that Uncle Cesar told us about? Our first official step towards our goal will be to join this city."
"I remember its name was Magic City, right?" Akina said.
"Yes, Magic City is a sacred place for all mages, and they always come to it from all over the world. What makes it different is that you won't find a single person who doesn't use magic in it, except for some ordinary people who are sold as slaves or employed in ordinary facilities. In addition to that, it is distinguished by many other things.
"The City of Magic is in the middle of the continent, and if we head west from our current location, we will probably reach it," Ryota explained, but he seemed worried about something.
"Is there a problem, Ryota?" Kotaro had a feeling that getting to this city wouldn't be as simple as they thought.
"Don't worry, if something's wrong, you'll know when we arrive." Ryota shook his head, getting over it.
The three walked together, it was a long journey and it would take them at least one week.
Spend the day traveling and looking at the world's landscapes, barren fields, green forests, tall mountains and deep rivers, strange creatures and diverse animals. And at night they would stop to rest, especially since travel at this time was unsafe, after setting up two small tents, one for Akina and the other for Kotaro and Ryota, and collecting firewood, they set fires to cook dinner from the animals they hunted in the morning. Then the three of them were sitting training under the bright moonlight, listening to the sizzling sounds of cockroaches and insects and the howling of night monsters. Thus, the days passed alternately between night and day, while nature inspired them with its wondrous drawings and intricate designs.
...
On the fourth day, the three adventurers arrived at a strange place.
It was an incredibly deep valley, filled with thick mist and its length extended to infinity, and as for the three of them, they were on a cliff that located above the valley and overlooked it from above. The valley wall looked smooth as glass, as if it had not been formed by nature but had been made by someone.
"We're not going down here, are we?" Akina looked disoriented, terrified by the atmosphere around the valley.
"No, if we continue to the right we will find a long bridge, and we will be able to cross over to the other end," Ryota explained, then said in a nervous tone, "But what I am worried about is whether the bridge was destroyed or someone cut it down on purpose. The situation is that I am afraid that we will not be able to bypass this area in any other way."
"Mn… let's just go, we won't gain anything from staying and expecting the worst," Kotaro said with a calm expression.
After walking for an hour, the three of them caught a glimpse of a long thread cutting through the thick fog and eventually disappearing without seeing its other end, this was the bridge they were going to use to cross the valley.
Everyone arrived in front of the bridge, and due to the suspicion of the two of them, Kotaro was the first to step across it, Kotaro didn't feel anything wrong so he signaled Akina and Ryota to advance as well.
One step, two steps, steadily and quietly the three of them moved along the bridge, getting deeper into the mist and by the time they became completely enveloped in it. They had no vision, and each one of them clinged to the other's back so that they would not lose each other.
It continued like this, and the three did not stumble upon any broken pieces, which indicates that the bridge was intact, so they were sure that if they continued at this pace, they would soon reach the other end, but, problems always came at the most unexpected time and in this moment Kotaro and his two friends had an ominous feeling, because for some reason, all of the three of them suddenly lost contact and none of them felt the other.