In a certain inn room in the town of Stonevalley, a young man was resting. The sun was starting to set and its rays started to drag across the dark room. Watching the young man sleep was a young woman floating by the windowsill.
"Mother, even if I have to sacrifice this world, I'll reach the garden again! Although, I didn't expect the choice to be this easy. The older ones are lashing out in different ways, but my way will succeed!"
Daiyu approached Alden and placed her ethereal hand close to his forehead.
"…he will make sure of it." She said in a low whisper with a sad smile on her face.
Moments later, she saw Alden's eyelids start to flicker. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Daiyu in confusion, still groggy from his nap.
"Daiyu? Wha-?"
Although her hand was incorporeal, Alden could feel a faint sense of warmth from her. But his body flinched out of reflex, remembering when she took his pinky so readily.
Daiyu seemed a little taken aback by Alden's reaction. She had seen injured humans receive similar care with a smile back in the village, for some reason Alden was not very receptive to this.
"It's nothing… You should move around, resting too much will make you dull." Daiyu said as she spun around and went back to looking out the window. The spot overlooking the town had become her favorite spot, able to see the goings-on in everyday life.
"Is that so?" Alden brushed it off as her boredom getting the best of her. She had stood on the hill for countless years, Alden was probably the first human who could interact with her in a long time.
After taking some more time to fully wake up, Alden got ready to leave the inn. He decided to leave the spear behind and took the two swords instead.
CAW!
Huginn had gone hunting during Alden's short rest and had just come back with more prey.
"What's wrong?" Alden frowned when he saw how ruffled and disorderly Huginn's feathers looked.
CAW
CAW
CAW
Huginn started to flap her wings around in an animated way, but Alden just looked on in confusion.
"She's saying something is agitating the animals outside the town." Daiyu said with a frown as Huginn continued to squeak about.
"It couldn't be…the undead? I better prepare just in case." Alden said as he approached Huginn and wrapped his hands around her. He petted her until she calmed down and carried her with him downstairs.
Just like last time, he tossed the animals Huginn had hunted onto the counter before quickly leaving. This time the innkeeper wasn't there, but Alden thought that he would eventually find it.
"First place to go, the blacksmith's."
From his memories, Alden could recall seeing the forges as a child. His parents had business to deal with there and they brought him along.
Malvri was the country of the metal bear, the Goddess Malvri's symbol. As a result, they produced many craftsmen that specialized in metalwork. Weapons and armor were but a fraction of their expertise.
With the great variety of workshops, Alden decided to wander around until he found one that he liked. Half of the mine's production was shaped and formed in the shops while the other half was sent as raw ore throughout the kingdom.
"That's some interesting swords you got there!"
Alden was looking at some weapons when a shipowner suddenly spoke to him. He was looking at the swords that Alden had gotten from the draugr.
"I found them deep in the mine."
"I see, you're the one-eyed wanderer, aren't you? Cleared the mine of the beast, rumor was that thing was a bear. Better hope Malvri won't curse you!"
"That thing was rotting away while living, it was better to put it down. But what's this about these swords?"
Alden pulled them out and displayed them in front of the shopkeeper. Fortunately, the draugr had sheaths for the swords as well.
The shopkeeper carefully eyed them and went over every intricate detail on the swords before looking up at Alden with sadness.
"It is as I feared, this sword is Bjarke's sword and the other is Carr's. This means that Bjarke's party is dead…"
Alden frowned, now he knew the names of the draugr he had fought. But they weren't presumed dead until now, and they were in the mines as undead.
"What happened to them? It seems like you know them."
"I did, they were a relatively well-known adventurer and mercenary group. There were four of them, Bjarke, Carr, Igor, and Stig. They participated in quite a few skirmishes with Greshir, and they were presented with these unique weapons by the Baron himself."
"So how did they end up in the mine?"
Alden could already guess the answer, but he hoped that he wasn't. It would only bring him more headaches if he was right.
"A few years back, the miners were complaining about their wages. And yet they scraped together enough to get Bjarke's party to talk to the mayor. Tensions were high until one day it was said they left town. Everyone was dumbfounded, no one expected them to be so easily bought off with money!"
"These were in a wall down in the mines." Alden said as he picked up a sword and looked at the blade. In its rusted reflection, Alden noticed someone suspicious watching him.
"You better not walk around with these! You seem to attract bad luck like honest to a bear!"
The shopkeeper said as he hastily pushed the other sword back to Alden.
"Could I pay you to clean them?" Alden offered as he showed his coin to the shopkeeper.
"No! No more. You killed a bear and have the dead's weapons, you should have left them where you found them!" The man shouted nervously as he started to motion for Alden to leave.
The man reminded Alden of some of the superstitious people back on Earth. When they got this fearful, there was no more reading in with them.
Alden could feel the eyes on him as he left this man's storefront with the draugr's swords. It was apparent that during his nap he had grown infamous in the town.
Deciding to hold off on having the swords restored, Alden went towards a general store instead. Inside he met someone he wouldn't expect to be there and they were also as surprised.
"Oh, it's Alden isn't it!"