At the door of the prayer room, a short middle-aged man, four feet tall, stood waiting with the three Tanzanies for the monks to finish their evening prayers. The middle-aged man stood quietly. Even though the middle-aged man controlled his breathing and had no expression on his calm face, his heart was boiling like hot lava about to erupt.
Yul looked at the half-shoulder-high man and found that there were many wounds on the man's hands, and some of his fingers had no nails. It appears that the four-foot man who risked everything in his attempt to reach the temple. Looking at the middle-aged man, Yul began to feel an uneasy feeling lingering in his heart. He didn't know why he suddenly felt that uneasy feeling, but he knew that every time he felt like this, it meant that he would face great danger.
Yul has learned over the years that whenever outsiders show up at the temple, they usually come looking for help. Although he has been here for two years, only a dozen people have been here, and every time an outsider appears, there will be some monks who usually leave with the outsiders.
Abrafo looked at Yul and Michio and said, "There's nothing good we can do by staying here. They won't let us hear their private conversations." He started down the small staircase. "I just came back from hunting. I'm going to take a rest. If you have any news worth hearing, please tell me at dinner time."
Yul and Michio quickly caught up with Abrafo because they knew that no matter what the four-foot-tall man had to tell Budi and the others, they were not allowed to hear it. They are not allowed to participate in any hunting activities involving outsiders, and this time is no exception.
"We know they won't let us know, but hey, don't you think since we came here of our own volition and didn't try to escape, they should at least trust us a little." Abrafo frowned.
Yul turned to look at Abrafo and said, "They treat us as guests, so Master Budi will never let us take on important tasks."
Abrafo scoffed. "We have helped them hunt countless times, why are we treated as guests?" He turned to Michio. "I don't think monks are heartless, but why are these monks so heartless? I had to change my mind about monks."
Michio said, "Well... I guess they don't want to disturb us."
Abrafo said, "More like these monks don't believe us," he said, walking faster down the stairs. He looked up and saw that Hajime, U-ri, and Yuuto had returned from gathering herbs. "U-ri and the others are back."
When Yul saw Hajime, he rushed down the stairs and rushed towards Hajime. He grabbed the basket from Hajime's back and quickly fastened the basket on his back.
"Did you encounter any problems? Why did it take you longer to come back this time," Yul said.
Hajime said, "We went further this time and actually we crossed to the other side of the mountain."
"You know how to help your pregnant wife, but you don't know how to help this old man," U-ri scoffed, looking at Yul.
"You are old but not pregnant," Abrafo said, walking towards U-ri. "If you want others to pity you. You should be old and pregnant." He smiled and reached for the basket on U-ri's back.
Michio grabbed the two baskets in U-ri's hands. "Do you want to open a pharmacy? Why pick up so many medicines?" he asked.
U-ri said, "Just preparing these for us. Who knows what we'll encounter when we leave here."
"Good thinking, old man," Abrafo said with a smile.
"Hey!" Kaizen shouted from the top of the stairs.
The five Tanzanies looked at Kaizen.
"What!" Abrafo shouted back.
"Master Budi wants your audience," Kaizen said annoyingly. When Kaizen's eyes fell on Hajime and Yul, he quickly turned and walked away.
Hajime said, "U-ri and I will take those baskets back to master Yuuto. You three go and see what Master Budi wants." He took the basket from Yul's back.
"I'll tell you at dinner time," Yul said.
Hajime watched Yul, Abrafo, and Michio quickly rush up the stairs towards the prayer room. "I wonder what Master Budi wants them to do," he whispered.
U-ri said, "Don't worry, we will find out at dinner."
In the prayer room, Yul, Abrafo, and Michio, only saw Budi, three monks, and the middle-aged man. When Budi saw the three Tanzanies, Budi smiled and said, "Come in and sit."
The three Tanzanies sat on the floor in front of Budi.
Budi looked at the three Tanzanies and said, "This is donor Wen, a villager from Dongxue Village. Wen is the son of the current village chief. He came here to ask for help and rescue some villager children who were kidnapped by the Taka tribe."
Hearing Budi's nicely addressed the savages made Wen unhappy, and he muttered through his teeth, "They're savages."
"The Taka tribe is very difficult to deal with, so I would like to ask the three of you if you are willing to follow donor Wen back to Dongxue Village," Budi said. "I originally wanted to send Kaizen, but he just came back from hunting and has already opened three portals, so ideally, it would not be good to send him with donor Wen."
Yul knew that Budi and the monks had been kind to them during the two years they lived in the temple. To repay their kindness, Yul asked, "When do you want us to leave?"
"The earlier, the better," Wen said.
Budi said, "Donor Wen, you have just arrived and are a little tired. Please rest for one night and you can set off early tomorrow morning."
Wen knew it was already evening and it took him three days to reach the steps of the temple, so he decided to follow Budi's advice. "Then I'll trouble Master Budi for one night," he said.
Abrafo looked at Wen and said, "How many days does it took for you to get here?"
Wen turned to look at the three Tazanies and said, "It took me three days to get here."
"Well... we'd better be ready," Abrafo said. "Master Budi, we will go rest and set off early tomorrow morning."
Budi smiled and said, "Thank you."
When Hajime and U-ri came back, Yul and Michio had already made dinner. Hajime and U-ri sat at the table and looked at the three people sitting around the table.
"So?" U-ri asked.
"So, what?" Michio asked.
So, what does Master Budi want you three to do?" U-ri asked.
"Master Budi asked us, along with three other monks, to help save some villagers," Yul said.
Hajime looked at Yul and asked, "So, when will we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning, before sunrise," Yul said. "We; refers to Abrafo, Michio and I. We; do not include you and U-ri."
Hajime asked, "Why not?"
Yul said, "You're two years pregnant and it's not safe to travel."
Michio, who had already started eating, said, "Hajime listened to Yul's words, donor Wen told us that it would take three days to reach the village."
Abrafo said with a smile, "However, if we set off on Hajime's eagles tomorrow morning, we can reach the village in one day. This way we can save two days of walking time."
"That's not an option," Yul said firmly. "Hajime and U-ri are waiting for us here."
"I know," Abrafo said, smiling. "I know you won't allow Hajime to come with us."
Hajime looked at Abrafo and said, "I wouldn't mind going. I've been out of the mountains for a while. The mountains are beautiful, but boring."
Yul looked at Hajime firmly and said, "You can't leave. You stay."
"But Yul..." Hajime said softly.
"No but," Yul said. "You stay here." He picked up a chicken leg and was about to put it into Hajime's bowl, but suddenly found that Hajime had not eaten meat since Hajime was pregnant, so he put the chicken leg into Michio's bowl. "Wait for us here." He turned and looked at U-ri. "It'll be safer if you wait for us here with Hajime."
Hajime said unhappily, "I'm very capable of taking care of myself."
Yul said, "We are not having this conversation. You and U-ri stay here, end of discussion."
Early the next morning, Hajime and U-ri said goodbye to Yul and others. After Yul and the others rode down the single mountain road, a gray wolf slowly crawled towards Hajime.
"Hajime..." U-ri said in a surprise. "You are going to follow them, are you?"
"Are you coming or not?" Hajime asked.
"But I haven't prepared anything yet," U-ri said.
Hajime turned to look at U-ri with a smile. "I'll give you half of an hour to go prepare yourself. If you don't show up within half an hour, I'll leave without you."
U-ri quickly rushed up the stairwell and said, "It's so unfair... That's not how you treat an old man twice your age."
Near noon, Yul and others finally stopped to rest for lunch, before continuing towards Dongxue Village. After Yul dismounted, he reached into his robe to see if the old map would tell them their next destination, and to his surprise, a single road was already created on the map heading south. A huge peninsula appears on the bottom of the old map. Standing further away from the peninsula, words begin to appear.
Abrafo walked up to Yul and asked, "What's wrong?"
Yul said, "Our fourth key appears."
"Really? Let me see?" Michio walked quickly to Yul and looked at the old map. "Oh...how troublesome that this is where our fourth key is."
Abrafo who didn't look at the map asked, "Where at?"
Yul sighed and said, "Kinigan Island."
Abrafo walked over quickly, looked at the map, and smiled. "Haha, U-ri will love this," he said with a smile.
Michio looked at Abrafo oddly and asked, "What is to love about this?"
Abrafo said, "We are going to pass through Dreake Kingdom. U-ri has always wanted to visit the magnificent library."
"Michio is right, Abrafo," Yul said with a heavy heart. "Kinigan Island is the prison of Huoyan, the son of fire."
Yul's words completely shattered Abrafo's brief moment of happiness. "Oh...damn...how on earth did I forget about him. How on earth are we going to kill an unkillable Nephalem," he said with a defeated look on his face.
Yul said, "After helping the villagers, let's pick up Hajime and U-ri and head to Dreake Kingdom. There are so many ancient books, and there must be one that can tell us what to do."
Abrafo said, "I agree with that."
Yul looked at the monks who were mounting their horse, so he rolled up the old map and stuffed it into his robe. "Hajime is still a year away from giving birth, so we need to use this year wisely," he said, jumping onto his horse. "Let's save Dongxue Village and then we go to Dreake Kingdom."