"It's you," shouted Bowen, which attracted the attention of others. Chief and Dale ran over just to find a very familiar face gazing at them with fury and pain in his eyes.
The startled eyes of Chief and Dale fell upon the culprit. "BALE...THIS PIECE OF S**T," Dale's hatred towards his brother multiplied several times that day.
"You sick bastard! How could you do this to your own nephew and to the children of our village?" asked the Chief with a sad expression.
"Hah, brother. He never considered me as one. You too, Father. You always favored the Awakened, and I was always treated like an outcast. I did what I had to do to prove myself and gain the power that was rightfully mine," said Bale, full of scorn.
"Father, just allow me to kill him!" shouted Dale.
"Shut up, Dale!" shouted the old Chief. "Your discrimination against the unawakened has put your son's life in danger today. And you, Bale, I thought I brought you up better than this. Never have I compared you both, even when you failed to awaken. You both are a disgrace to our family. Now tell us, why did you kidnap the children? What did you do to them?"
When Chief and Dale were occupied with Bale, Herald and Gerald were still fighting the rogues. Due to Dale's absence, one of the rogues tried to escape but was soon caught by the second group of villagers who arrived there.
Bowen's face was clouded in confusion. His problem was not Bale nor the rogues. It was the system. He didn't hear the system message saying that he had found the First Target. Meaning, he must have found the wrong target or there must be another person Bale was working for. "Jeez... things never go my way. How do I get my Reaper license now? Maybe if Bale confessed... cough cough..." Suddenly, there was smoke surrounding all the people in the area. No one knew where it came from. When the smoke finally cleared, all the injured rogues, the corpse, and Bale magically disappeared. People started shouting and searching for the missing culprits. Bowen sat down, losing all hope for the mission.
"Umm... system, can we move to another target or can you give me another mission to obtain my reaper's license?"
"The missions are given in ascending order of difficulty, and I do not have the right to dismiss or change a mission. I am just a helpless host," said the system in a monotone voice.
"Right! As if you are helpful at other times," scoffed Bowen.
"All the villages sent search parties to find Bale. Herald overused his ability, and thus his life was hanging on a thread. He was soon put under the care of a village physician. Herald called Bowen to the chamber where he was under medication. He looked more pale and fragile, completely contrary to the previous version of him in the form of a werebear.
"Teacher," Bowen called to Herald with sadness.
"Haa…here you are, kid..do..(cough.. Cough..spits blood from mouth…)," Herald replied weakly.
"Teacher, please rest…don't wear yourself out," Bowen urged.
"Haaa..of course, I am going to rest…rest eternally..cough.."
"No, please don't say it like that. You should take rest. There may be a way to cure this," Bowen pleaded.
"Hehe, if there is a cure for the poison in my body, I could have used it long ago..cough…cough."
"Poison?" Bowen was startled.
"Well, there is no use in hiding it from you anyway… cough cough… I am not a village postman... I am...a...****...cough cough… On a full moon day, I lost all my family and my men in war. Whenever I see the full moon, I regret not dying for them...cough.."
"War, not a drought? [Is that why we don't have classes on full moon?]" thought Bowen.
"Yes! It was just one arrow.. only one…all the people..cough cough…ha.. You ask Atlantis. I don't have much time. I called..to tell you..ha..ha..(struggling to breathe)...take my ashes of my body to..cough cough..to..to Atlantis. Ask him to…take..it.. …grave of my wife, children..ha…and..men. I cannot die with them..so..at least…cough..cough…"
"No problem, teacher. Don't worry, I will fulfill all your wishes. Now you should rest."
"Haha....kid..I am glad I found you..now I have…cough cough..no regrets..oh..tell my warm regards to Atlantis..tell him..cough cough..tell him I never forgot him all these years..cough cough…."
Bowen left Herald to rest with the physician. That was not a good day for Bowen or the villagers. Sad news kept on coming. Bale was nowhere to be found. Due to the chief's injury, caused in body and mind, he was further weakened and bedridden. Another bad news followed, putting the whole Barn village in sorrow. Herald passed away that night.
Rural villages like Barn do not have proper schools for their children. Herald did teaching for free to accumulate karma at life's end. The villagers were so grateful for his work as most of them only earned enough for two to three meals a day. Things like education were put to the back of their head. They need not worry because they knew their children would continue to do their work as they have been continuing their father's job. Only some people like Felina wanted their sons and daughters to go beyond this corner village, for they knew this world was huge, even if they could not fathom what is there.
Bowen remembered Herald's wish. He collected some of his ashes without alerting anyone and stored them in his space bracelet. He looked at the system message
"Congratulations to the Host for completing the mission: Is old man Herald really a werewolf?
Reward: +2 strength, +1 vitality, +3DP."
Nevertheless, Bowen was not happy with his achievement. Even though he knew Herald for only a short time, he could tell he was a good man. Not only did he give Bowen the opportunity to become a sorcerer, but he also sacrificed his life to bring justice for the kidnapped children. Herald's death saddened him a lot.
"Bowen, someone is waiting for you," said Felina, who had just entered the house. She quickly exited, giving a warm smile to Bowen. There was a familiar little girl following Felina. Her eyes were as cold as Everest, her lips folded to make a thin line. Her cute little hands played with the laces on the rim of her shirt. She bit her lips from time to time, showing she was in a state of nervousness and confusion.
"Oh, it's Sister Melee. How can I help you?" asked Bowen.
"Did you just call me Sister?" Melee expressed her shock.
Bowen didn't know what there was to be shocked about. Moreover, he had never conversed with Melee even once during their entire trip. No, he had never cared about her existence in the first place. He didn't know what business she had with him.
"Umm...I heard you are two years older than me. Hence, I called you that way," said Bowen.
"Oh, that's why!" Melee said, as if she was relieved, looking down on the ground, thinking, and hesitating without talking a word.
Bowen was tired of waiting. "Sister, can you tell me why you were looking for me?" Bowen broke the ice.
"That... .ok...umm... show me your hand," said Melee hesitatingly.
"Uh? My hand?"
"SHOW IT" Melee shouted with frustration.
Bowen opened his palm and held his hand in front of Melee. She took a piece of cloth from her skirt's pockets and quickly placed it on Bowen's hand. It was a pink kerchief with colorful ponies and flower drawings. It was a typical baby girl's hankie.
"Err..this..? May I know what this is for?" Bowen was stunned on seeing the unexpected gift.
"Use it," Melee said, looking away shyly.
"Huh?"
"JUST USE IT!" she said, shouting again.
"Use this? For what?"
"Cloud," she uttered softly, still looking at the side wall.
"Cloud? What's that?" asked Bowen.
"FIND IT YOURSELF IDIOT!" shouted Melee at her peak and just ran away.
[What the...? What just happened now? Seriously, what's her deal? By any chance, did she fall for my handsome face? But what is cloud?] Bowen started to stare at the clouds in the night sky and went deep in thought.