One thing for adventurers to live longer, be cautious!
Still, they had nothing precious, so they didn't have any thought about being robbed. Thus, they let their body crumble to the ground.
Once it met the soil, the pain of hitting it was more than sufficient, as though their body was telling them that this was not a dream. They truly met humans!
Opposite them, Ziya and her mother saw the scene before their eyes and became speechless. They saw the men's bodies trembling, loosening up, and hit the ground right after they saw them. Releasing a sigh of gratitude, a faint smile of thankfulness adorned the men's face as though a long-life burden was released, gradually melting like a glacier.
Ziya's mother embraced a skinny male, the weakest one among them. She took a wooden tube out of nowhere and shook it afterward.
The wooden tube emitted glimmering lights which immediately engulfed Majo's body, and his breath became stable. She did the same thing to the other.
In the process, her mother's face became paler, but the men's complexion became brighter. Ziya couldn't help but worried about her mother's condition, but she could not ask her. She didn't want to disturb her concentration because it could put her mother in danger.
Then she heard her mother's breath slightly heavier. She frowned because this rarely happened to her mother. Thus, she looked at her mother, whose eyes were teary but bold.
'Thud!'
Something throbbed in her heart when she saw the pathetic side of her mother. Moments ago, her mother greeted her with a warm smile, but now there was no such warmth left in it.
Yet, she could only let her mother do as she wish. Not long after, as Ziya watched her mother's face, glossy eyes formed, and a faint sob occupied her mother. Seeing this, Ziya, who was a mere little girl, felt the sadness and sobbed afterward while hugging her mother from behind.
After a moment, she finally asked while sobbing. "Mother, what d-do you want to do to them?"
Hearing this word, her mother smiled awkwardly. She said, "I don't know."
Ziya grumped. She knew her mother well; it must be because of the urge to help people, probably her mother was sad about these weak beggars' condition. Her mother was too nice!
Who knows, after they got better, they might do something bad to her and her mother. She couldn't let them harm her mother. Her mother didn't even ask about their identity. How reckless!
'I'm watching you, bad people. I'll protect mother. If you dare, hmph! ' with this thought, Ziya glared at the unconscious men.
Ziya's reaction could not escape from her mother's eyes. Getting a gentle pat, Ziya heard her mother saying, "dear, doing a good thing with a good intention is good. Rest assured, if they really do bad things, then you know what kind of person they are, but it doesn't mean all of them are bad. Besides, your mother is powerful! Hehe.."
Ziya just nodded and enjoyed the pat. She did not understand why her mother have to do this. After all, she was just a little girl.
They waited for a few hours, then finally saw one of them wake up. It was Po Eldu.
In Po Eldu's mind, things were messy. He didn't know what's happened after he slept, and he finally realized that he had slept accidentally, letting him and his comrades in danger without any guard.
When he woke up, a little girl sleeping on a middle-aged woman's lap, a completely peaceful scene before his eyes. The little girl seemed relaxed and happy while talking to the middle-aged woman who was playing with the girl's hair.
Both were wearing simple linen clothes. The little girl had long, black hair. Round eyes with a tiny mouth adorned her cute figure. Her height was that of an elementary-school girl.
The woman's face was quite pale, but her smile bloomed with care and her hand gently patted the girl's head full of care. Her black bun hair was messy, with some mud adorned her skin, including her hand.
Eldu left in a daze for a few breaths. In his vision, it was as though both radiated faint divine light, touching Eldu's emotion and feeling a hint of peace.
'Is this the afterlife?' thought he.
However, he retracted this thought, replaced with anxiousness, thinking about letting his body rest with no one guarding it up. The possibilities of his fate after he woke up were rampaging in his mind.
The first possibility was he might die from great hunger. Recalling his previous state before sleeping was in dead tired, combined with hunger, which he always had, it was possible to die while sleeping.
If he was still under the pressure of a miserable state, his brain at least made a stimulation that his body could keep going and forced it to do so.
Second, a wild beast might eat him. The human he met may not help at all and ignore them instead.
It was normal if people wanted to help because they could get something in return, but he and his comrades got nothing valuable. Even if they had, the human could take it casually, leaving them alone. Afterward, they slept until who knows how long, then wild beasts came in to have a splendid dinner.
Third. he became a slave. It was the worst he currently could think of. The humans they met would tie them up, sold off somewhere. After all, humans themselves were valuable, hence this thought.
Slaves wouldn't get enough food, for they were a disposable tool to exploit at its fullest. A life controlled by others, he simply wanted to stay as far as possible from this possibility.
This thought flashed in a brief moment, making him in a dazing state, and slightly shook his head to pull himself sane.
Quickly examining his body, Eldu found himself lighter, while his hunger was somehow gone. Scars and wounds remained, but some muscles were not sore anymore. Still, exhaustion did not vanish.
After that, he threw his gaze back at the two humans. The view of a little girl and elder woman talking in peace made him feel like the world no longer matter.
No need to think about food anymore, no need to think about tomorrow.
He cast his gaze to the right, then noticed a figure was covered by leaves. This figure was sleeping under a three meters tree. Then he stared at this figure's features. The pointed nose, shaggy hair, and his sharp face...
'Dun?'
Struggling, Po Eldu lifted his body. He looked at the two females and said in a low voice, "thank you for saving us. Where is it?"
"This is a small village on Tel Town's border." Sitting still, Ziya's mother responded with a smile. Her eyes seemed puffy. "How do you feel about your body?"
Po Eldu frowned. He never heard of this town, let alone the village.
Just as he was about to let a word come out of his mouth, his stomach yelled loudly, creating clear, rumbling noises.
Awkward.
"Follow me. Your body is better now so you can carry your friend," said Ziya's mother. She got up, tapped her butt to let dirt fall off.
'This man has a unique accent. Maybe they're not from here. But how can they survive? I'm confident with my knowledge, and not even people from big cities use such an accent.'
A baffled expression passed through her face as she thought this.
Eldu gave a slight nod, then carried Yi Majo. Immediately after, he realized he couldn't carry all of them.
At that moment, he saw a wooden tube gripped by the middle-aged woman. She shook it, then glimmering lights entered her body. After that, she lifted Banma and Dun on her shoulders.
Eldu saw this with his mouth agape. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of villager could carry two men like a farmer carrying two bags of rice grain sacks.
The little girl held the woman's sleeve while staring at Eldu. Noticing this, Eldu smiled awkwardly.
He didn't know what to say, and he was exhausted to talk.
"Be careful. It's quite slippery here." said the woman without looking back at Eldu. The steep path on a hill was definitely slippery. Especially after rain a few hours ago, utmost concentration was needed.
Walked carefully until they arrived at a wooden house. This house could shelter five people and still have some spare space. There was a big sack of rice, two beds, and a stove when Eldu strolled inside it, following the woman. It was a simple house.
They on the terrace for a while. After that, the woman went to prepare spices and some vegetables while the quick-witted little girl prepared the stove.