Even though he was still feeling guilty for the fact that his intention of saving Alvin was not pure, and also breaking the wooden bedstead on his first day of sleeping here, Mathias sat at the dining table beside a guy that should be Alvin's second son.
Noticing that Mathias is looking at his son, Alvin smiled and decided to introduce him.
"Mathias, this is my son that I was talking about earlier, Faran"
"Hello..."
Since he was taught by his sister to not get close to anyone due to their living condition where many people die every day, Mathias can only say that awkwardly not knowing what to say. Faran also replied shyly with a nod, seemingly a quiet type just like him.
It didn't take long for Alvin's wife to come back from the kitchen with a bowl and a plate.
Putting the food at the center of the medium-sized wooden table fit for six people, Mathias saw that Alvin's wife cooked a meat stew and some vegetables on the other plate. It was a simple breakfast that made Mathias's mouth watery.
Upon seeing Mathias's reaction, Alvin's wife was quite satisfied as she chuckled lightly.
Grabbing a plate of her own, she sat beside Alvin before she started giving everyone their shares.
"What are you waiting for, dig in"
"T-Thank you for the meal!"
Mathias looked at the food on his plate in a reverie, it's not because he has never eaten something like this, but eating food from a plate is something that he didn't experience often. From the first day of living in this new world alone, he seems to develop a sense of gratefulness for everything for having experienced something worst.
Grabbing a spoon of the meat stew and putting it inside his mouth, he stopped for a second.
"I-It's delicious ma'am!", Mathias exclaimed in excitement.
Clapping her hand excitedly with a bright smile on her face, Alvin's wife is definitely pleased by Mathias's compliment as she too finally started eating. With the guest liking their food, there's no stopping them from eating now.
While the four of them are eating, Alvin's wife can't help but comment.
"Now that I can see your face clearly, you seem to have a ladykiller face, Mathias. A little bit of trim to your hair and a bit of weight would make you look manlier", Alvin's wife commented as she looks at Mathias's face that is exposed to the sunlight.
During the night, it's quite hard to get a good look at him. But now she reckons he's dashing.
Upon hearing this Mathias wanted to say thank you but he can only scratch the back of his head with a wry smile, and this kind of response was not expected by Alvin's wife, "What's wrong? Do you not like being complemented by an old woman like me...?"
"No, no, no! It's not that, it's just that, how should I put this... I- I don't know what I look like"
Just as she heard that she was very confused as to how a grown person like Mathias haven't seen his own face, but then her arm was pinched by Alvin from under the table which forced her to turn her head towards him.
Alvin then shakes his head lightly, giving a signal to not pursue the matter.
Since he knows that Mathias was doing somekind of ritual with the Black Ardent Mages, it's clear to him that something went wrong which turned Mathias into this state. In his mind, it's not polite to bring up that matter.
Realizing what Alvin is trying to say, Alvin's wife stands up and left the table, "Wait for a moment..."
The three of them look at Alvin's wife going to her bedroom before they heard the sound of her searching for something, she then walks out not long after with a small hand mirror in her hand which she instantly gives to Mathias.
Upon seeing that, Mathias was surprised as he was not expecting Alvin's family to have one.
Even back in his home world mirror is an indication of status, and only the strong Supernatural creatures have them. Vampires and Demons in particular have an obsession with mirrors. Even in their Kingdom, only the middle to higher class has mirrors.
Alvin's wife then sat back down and said, "Go on, take a look at yourself"
"T-Thank you ma'am", Mathias replied before he slowly raises the hand mirror, his heart is thumping for some reason as he tries to look at his own reflection. It's the first time he's going to be seeing his new face, after all.
Just as he caught his own reflection, Mathias widened his eyes, "Is this me...?"
Mathias saw the face of a teen in the reflection which should be his own face, his face looks older than his face back in his home world. Since this body is eighteen years old, it's not a surprise that he looked older.
Harnessing a bronze skin tone, it matches the bright brown color of his eyes.
Aside from that, he has shoulder-length messy silver hair which is one of the starking features he has. On top of that, he also has quite a firm jawline that made him look many despite his lack of facial hair.
Even though he was looking at himself, Mathias can't help but praised his own face.
Upon seeing the surprised look on Mathias's face, Alvin's wife then intervenes in his thoughts, "If I were twenty years younger, there's no doubt that I'll be fawning over you right now. I envy the women you'll have in the future already"
"Hey! I'm still here you know!", Alvin rebutted, feeling her wife's words prickle his heart.
Just for a brief second there, he regretted bringing Mathias back, how can his own wife compliment another guy with him sitting beside her? It's just ego-shattering to his old frail heart that only has nothing but his family.
Chuckling lightly, Alvin's wife pinched his cheek, "Don't worry, you're handsome too"
Faran who is all silent all this while glanced at Mathias and finds Mathias also looking at him, they both can only smile wryly seeing that Alvin and his wife are still having their blazing love despite their old marriage.
A moment later,
Under the pressure from Alvin's wife, Mathias and Faran left the house.
Since Mathias has already decided that he would stay here for today, Alvin's wife told Faran to bring Mathias around the small town for sightseeing. With the two of them walking side by side, Faran takes Mathias around the small town.
Even though there was not much to see, Mathias was pretty excited about the place.
Looking at people thriving and living together and creating a solid community, nothing makes Mathias happier than seeing humanity prospering like this. At some point he even gets teary, but he quickly wipes his tears when Faran glanced at him.
While walking around the small town, many of the townsfolk are looking at Mathias weirdly.
It was not surprising though since the village head was not a welcoming person, the town seems to be closed to outsiders. But under Alvin's plead last night, he was permitted to stay here for a day before taking his leave.
Although it should make Mathias uncomfortable, he was not.
'For them to be this closed shows that they're a strong community, I also wouldn't trust visitors even though they are humans', Mathias thought with a nod, the humans back in his world is not particularly friendly.
The ones that lived in the wild are usually savages, and they were as barbaric as it gets.
"I've never considered this a thing to be proud of, but this is the Urban Wishing Tree. It's been with us through the making of the city, and many of us believed that it can grant wishes and also protects us from evil Supernatural creatures", Faran said as they both reaches the center of the small town.
Mathias saw a big tree in the middle that is robust and filled with white leaves.
Each of the leaves sparkled under the sunlight as if they are able to reflect the sunlight, and they slowly dances to the rhythm of the wind which brought one word into Mathias's mind as he saw the majestic tree.
"Beautiful...", he mutters softly.
Despite Faran doesn't seem too fond of the tree, Mathias looked back at him.
While pointing at the beautiful tree, Mathias then asked curiously, "How can the tree grant our wishes? Do we just wish while facing it or is there some kind of proper way of doing it?"
"I'll show you", Faran sighs before he decided to show the proper way despite being a bit hesitant.
Mathias followed Faran's movement exactly as he knelt beside the tree before putting his hand on the tree's trunk gently, he then closes his eyes before he can finally wish for whatever he wanted. If he's been heard, one of the silver leaves would fall to the ground.
'I hope I can survive in this new world, and see humanity finally rise once again...'
Just as he thought of that, Mathias smiled gently when he felt a light touch on his arm.
Although he has his eyes closed tightly he knows that a leaf has landed on his arm showing that his wishes have been heard by the tree, but that happiness didn't last long as he suddenly feels electricity invading the palm of his hand.
Upon feeling this weird sensation, Mathias frowned before suddenly, he got flung away.
"Arghh!"
Blitz!
Faran was caught in surprise when he saw Mathias get hit by subtle energy coming from the tree that sent him crashing a couple of meters back, he looks quickly looks back and immediately went over to help, "Mathias! Are you okay?!", he asked in concern.
Groaning lightly, Mathias replied softly, "I'm fine, I'm fine..."
Sitting on the ground, Mathias looks back at the tree with a frown. But soon he looks at the palm of his right hand and saw that it was completely black, it's clear that he really did get attacked by the tree which explains his burned hand.
"I've never seen something like this before...", Faran mutters in absolute confusion.
Living in this small town from the moment he was born, he saw many people go over to the tree and wish for something for themselves. But he has never seen the tree react like this, it's as if the tree deliberately tries to attack Mathias.
Just as confused as Faran, Mathias looked back at the tree.
Right on the trunk that he lays his hand on earlier, he saw the shape of his hand imprinted on it in black, and this made Mathias frown, 'Why did the tree attack me? I didn't do anything wrong...', he thought in aghast.
But as he thought of that, a mocking laugh can be heard from the side.
Glancing to the side Mathias finds three people that look to be around the same age as him and Faran, the guy in the middle that is holding his chin high was the one laughing. On top of that, each of them is strapped with a weapon on their waist.
Even though Mathias is new in this world, he knows that these guys are trouble.
Faran's troubled expression shows clearly that this group of people is not the kind one, bringing a completely different demeanor compared to Alvin's family. It was the demeanor filled with trouble and arrogance.
"Who do we have here? Faran... didn't you forget already?", the guy in the middle said playfully.
Smirking teasingly the guy in the middle then continues while playing with a dagger in his hand, "I told you to not lay your filthy peasant hand on the sacred tree, no? Why did you still come here even after I bothered telling you that?", he said before his eyes shifted to Mathias, "Even bringing a foreign bum with you"
Upon hearing this, Mathias looks at Faran with a frown, "Faran...? Are you going to say something?"
Brak!
Out of nowhere the man in the middle walks closer and landed a front kick right on Faran's chest who doesn't seem to want to defend himself, the kick sent him stumbling back, gasping for air as it seems he was really hurt.
Mathias saw this as his eyes slowly widen, he didn't expect the situation to turn out like this.
Looking at Faran that is crouching on the ground in pain, the veins on Mathias's neck suddenly bulged as something within him snapped. The burning sensation comes out of nowhere, but this makes Mathias glares at the group of three with a reddened face.
"Apologize... Apologize right now", Mathias mutters threateningly.
Even Faran that takes a glance at Mathias was surprised to see the expression he was wearing right now, his entire demeanor instantly changes as the expression he was wearing right now is terrifying.
It's as if he turned into a completely different person.