The next morning, the villagers gather in front of Zeth's house after he volunteered to take in the injured man.
"What do you think happened to him?"
"I hope he is okay."
"I heard his wounds are so deep that chief Zeth and the others spent their entire night stitching his wounds."
Sam watches through the window and sees Elizabeth taking care of the injured man. He suddenly felt troubled at the appearance of someone who is physically better looking than him. He thinks that his relationship with Elizabeth will be at stake.
"I wonder when Elizabeth will come." He asks himself while sitting outside the fence and looking in the direction of the forest.
"It's to imagine would something so beautiful at morn be so dangerous at night. Is this how the world will be forever?" he asks himself.
The tall trees and the refreshing wind blowing on his face empty his mind every time he is in trouble even in the past. Sam likes to roam the forest freely as he finds it to be the only place where he feels comfortable.
"I better start hunting without her. I guess it's a blessing in disguise. No one will let go of my prey." He said to himself, but deep down he wants Elizabeth to be around him. "Should I tell her the truth? What are you talking about, Sam? You are nothing but a big brother to her." He bit his lip in sadness as he enters the forest.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth takes over her father and dampens a cloth to wipe the blood from the injuries and wash the man's body as gently as she could.
She is surprised at how amazing his muscles are, it's like he had been constantly exercising, and he is fit. Seeing the magnificent muscles on his body made Elizabeth flustered and look away.
"Stop it, Elizabeth. You are washing him. You should get yourself together." She tells herself. After a few moments, the man regains consciousness and immediately grabs her hand. "Thank you." He muttered in his weak voice.
"Father! He is awake!" At her father's order, Elizabeth called out to her father who almost immediately woke up and ran towards the room where the man rests. "What- you're awake." He muttered in shock.
Zeth immediately calls out to the others and tells Elizabeth to wait outside. "We have things to ask him, Elizabeth. I will greatly appreciate it if you leave us for now." He asks. "But-" she felt her father's sharp gaze and Elizabeth oblige.
"Thank you."
They helped the man sit comfortably before asking him any questions. "Now then, please tell us what happened and how you got here." Zeth asks and the man touches his head, "Where should I begin…."
Elizabeth walks back and forth while waiting for their business to be concluded. "I don't know why but why do I feel like I am drawn towards him? Is this what they call love?" as she thinks of the man, Sam's face appears in her thoughts.
"WHAT?! Why did that idiot appear in my thoughts? Compared to him, that man inside is way more handsome and cooler." Elizabeth covers her mouth in surprise after thinking of those words. "Since when did I belittle anyone?"
She turns to the room where her father is, and her heart slowly feels uneasy. "What is this feeling?" she asks herself.
"So that's what happened, huh? I understand now." Zeth said after hearing everything from the man. He turns to his elders and nods his head. They all head outside the room at once and decide on what to do with him.
"I need all of your suggestions on this one. Should we let him stay here or not?" they are all silent, all of them know the weight of letting an outsider easily into their village and what's more, that he suddenly appeared at night when the probability of dying in the forest filled with monsters is high.
"As expected, they are hesitating. I should have expected this, even I would hesitate in a situation like this." He said to himself. "I think we should let him stay here for a few days until he recovers. That is the least we can do for him."
A fat bald man cuts in, he is Feredo, one of the elders in the village. At his suggestion, the rest of them stare at him in surprise. "I understand if you want to let that man recover before sending him away but he is an outsider, we cannot let someone like that stay in our village without knowing everything."
With the first person opposing the idea, some of them also express their sentiments while some agree with the suggestion.
"That is until he recovers from his injuries. How heartless can we be to deny an injured man shelter in this dangerous forest?" his words strike through their hearts like needles, they are aware of the danger that the forest poses if they were to send him without his injuries fully healed.
Before they get into an argument, Zeth proposed to decide what to do with the man. "So, everyone. What should we do?" they all look at each other and place their votes.
By the time Sam returned from hunting, the elders have already decided on what to do to the injured man. After handing his catch to the butcher who immediately cleans the animal, Sam turns to Zeth's house and sees that the other villagers are gathered.
"Please gather, everyone. I have a very important announcement to make."Zeth tells everyone. "Due to his injuries, he is not able to face us right now but his name is Darren of Wilmfor. He said it is a part of one of the Beacon's territory and is guarded by the same Beacon."
After he announces his identity, most of the villagers start to mutter to each other. "As for the reason how he stumbled upon our humble village, he said that he managed to fend himself from the monsters' attacks while running for his life. He is one of the higher ranking soldiers in Wilmfor and is on their way to the neighboring territory of another Beacon." He added.
Sam's face stiffened after hearing the reason, "What? Is that it? How in the world is someone able to fend for themselves in the face of all those monsters? That just doesn't make any sense." He thought.
It is indeed impossible for someone to survive during the onslaught of the monsters in the forest. They are a village composed mostly of hunters but they are not even that confident to face the monsters themselves. "Let alone a single person. This is complete nonsense." He adds in.
Without telling anyone about his thoughts, Sam decided to listen to the end of the announcement. Never did he realize that by doing so, he will feel jealous of the injured man when Zeth volunteers to take care of the along with his family.
"What?"
With that, the announcement ended and they all returned to their houses and all of them are in great favor of the decision of the elders.
"What...why?" Sam held his chest. In his entire life, Sam has never been afraid of losing something until he met Elizabeth because he doesn't have that much to lose in the first place. But after he met Elizabeth, everything changed. She is everything to him and to hear that she will take care of someone they barely even know, somehow broke his heart.