Ryota was sitting on a huge rock, and after seeing that Kotaro had returned, he went to check on his friend.
"How did it go?"
"Everything is back to normal, the people of the village can return at any time," Kotaro answered directly.
"this is good".
Right now Akina was walking out of the cave accompanied by the village chief.
When Kotaro saw her, he smiled, "Looks like Akina did her part too," and Akina similarly hurried upon noticing them and met the two of them.
She put her hands behind her waist and stared with an optimistic expression. She was confident that Kotaro won't back off his word and will solve the villagers' problem, so she didn't ask what happened but changed the subject: "Are you hungry? Come on, some village women have prepared delicious food."
"That's cool, I'm very hungry" Kotaro agreed and walked with his two friends towards the entrance to the cave.
Inside, all the people of the village, including the old old man, the village chief and his brother, Ryota, Akina and Kotaro, gathered, and a simple feast was held to thank the three saviors.
"Everyone raise their glasses to drink to these three young men," the leader asked, laughing out loud.
"Yeah, even though we only have water here, it will do, ha-ha-ha-ha-," one of them said as well, followed by laughter from everyone.
Everyone continued to have fun, partying with Kotaro and the others, until nightfall and everyone fell asleep.
Kotaro was awake and could not sleep, and next to him sat the old man too, staring at the people of his village who fell asleep.
Then the old man broke the silence and said, "This is the first time since that day that I have seen everyone happy and sleeping in such comfort, and it is thanks to you."
"If you had not stopped to listen to our problem and ignored us like everyone else, we would have stayed in this wasteland for the rest of our lives."
"Thank you all".
Kotaro did not reply and accepted the old man's gratitude so as not to embarrass him further.
"Good sleep." Then the old man got up and lay down in one of the empty places and fell asleep too.
As for Kotaro, he did not fall asleep, so he went out in front of the cave and lay down on the wet grass, looking at the stars in the sky.
In the morning after they woke up, everyone gathered outside the cave, and among them three young men, Kotaro, Akina, and Ryota, emerged.
"Then when are you going back to your village?" Akina said first.
"We have agreed to come back this evening, the sooner the better," the former old man replied.
"That's fine, Kotaro, we should leave," Ryota said.
Kotaro spoke: "Yes, people of Wind Village, your hospitality and generosity was a kindness we will never forget, I hope to find you better off next time.", After Kotaro fell silent, the village chief replied, since he was the one in charge and his expression was helpless and sad: "Don't say that, I couldn't repay a small part of the kindness of the people who saved our lives, I can't even call myself the chief of this village."
"As the chief said, it is a disgrace to us, so if you want our help in the future, feel free to ask for it," the villagers shouted this time.
Seeing their insistence, Kotaro did not reject their words but smiled: "Then we will count on you at that time."
"Now, we'll leave, bye." Kotaro turned and waved his hand as did Ryota and Akina.
"Thank you," everyone behind them said.
The three left with happy expressions, and took the dirt path that was near the cave, and after Ryota used his magic 'Binary World', they knew their next destination.
After a while Kotaro and his two companions had come a long way since leaving the cave, and as they continued their walk they spotted a large group of people far away..
As soon as they approached some of them, they recognized them, they were a group of twelve strong men, who had a common uniform of iron armor that covered both the chest and the legs, and on the left part of the breastplate was fixed a medal bearing a strange symbol, it was an eight star, but it They did not intersect in the middle, but a semi-circle was carved inside it containing the English letter Y, while the head was exposed, and each of them carried a long sword in one hand and a shield in the other hand, they were like military knights.
Seeing Kotaro, Akina, and Ryota, one of the knights came forward and cut off their path, he seemed to be the leader among them, and in an arrogant tone he spoke: "Stop now, how dare you pass my master's area, I am Jess the leader of this group and Master Ken's follower, I order you to pay 10 gold coins for that."
Hearing the man's bravado, the three discussed among themselves, Akina had remembered something: "Wasn't the name of the captain of the knights who attacked the kraken and took money from the villagers also was Ken?" The three fell silent and then Ryota concluded: "Yes, as it is clear that they They're walking towards the village, so it looks like they're the same people."
"In that case, shouldn't we stop them?" Kotaro whispered with excitement.
"Yeah, count on us."
"Didn't you hear what I said, pay the money or it will go badly" After the commander's words were met with silence, he urged again.
"I'm the one who's telling you to leave, or I'll burn your face," Kotaro commanded, with a heavy killing intent.
The captain of the knights gritted his teeth: "You impudent tramp, you have done yourself a disservice," then commanded His followers: "Encircle them, I gave them a chance to pass in peace, but they ignored it, now we will make their death a lesson for the others."
Kotaro saw the determination of these people to oppose them and asked, "You two manage the others, and I will take care of their leader."
"Rely on us."
After the knights surrounded the three and blocking any escape route with their broad gear, they began to advance with their swords drawn in preparation for a bloody massacre.
Akina couldn't wait for the enemy's swords to pierce her, so she made her own move and used her magic: "cloud lions", it was a strange move, small random clouds formed in the air, they were the size of a large pelvis, after which their shape started to transform and acquire the shape of a powerful lion.