On the south road, six people stood there. Three were standing at the entrance of the village, and three others were standing at the gate of the village. They looked at each other to bid farewell.
"Is that everything?" Doris asked about their supplies.
"Don't worry, we're completely prepared with this." Rudi nodded and shook hands with him.
Rudi's belongings were different from before. He, who used to wear a school uniform, was now covered in iron. The iron was taken from the armor once worn by the marshal. Additionally, the helmet Lidya found last night was now with him. He was now the one who would fight directly in front of the enemy. The school jacket he used to wear had now become a robe of that armor. The school logo, which had been crossed out, was clearly visible on the robe. In his hand was a crossbow he took from one of the soldiers Micah killed yesterday. Now Rudi was ready to fight from both long and close range.
"No need to worry, I can take care of myself." Lidya smiled brightly, but her expression seemed to show a hint of disgust.
Not much had changed in Lidya's belongings. The only difference now was that she wore more layers. The outermost garment she wore was a robe similar to a wizard's in a fantasy world or a doctor's in a modern world. Plus, she now carried a knife to fight enemies nearby.
"I can take care of myself, that's for sure!" Micah spontaneously (friendly) hugged Doris.
Sherry, who saw this, immediately separated the two of them. Her gaze at Micah was very sharp, as if ready to split his head open at any moment.
"Please, don't do anything strange, okay?! You've caused enough trouble already! Don't create new problems! Especially those related to Doris! If I find out, then (she bit her lip) I'll make you regret it!" Sherry said while wrapping her arm around Doris's.
Micah didn't respond to the threat seriously. He just smiled at her. "You, trying to be a mother, but your attitude isn't mature at all," he subtly mocked.
"Gah?! Watch out for yourself!" Sherry shouted in his face, her cheeks turning as red as tomatoes.
Unlike his two friends, Micah didn't bring any new items. He only carried the marshal's axe on his waist as a close-range weapon. For him, bringing new clothes would only slow down his movements.
Hearing Micah's statement earlier, Lidya, who had just found out, was immediately shocked and looked at Sherry with a sharp gaze, "You?! Pregnant?! Why didn't you tell me?!" Lidya felt disappointed. Not to mention she almost caused Sherry harm last night.
"Ehehe (scratching her head with a blush)... I apologize. I didn't want you to worry."
"Forget it! Just make sure you send us an invitation when your child is born, okay?!"
"Hmm (nodding)! I will!"
They both shook hands firmly. It could be seen how close they were just from the expressions of joy they showed now.
"Okay, now... (Turning to Floria, who was hiding behind Doris) Are you both going to take care of yourselves?" Micah raised both of his hands slightly. He seemed to be trying to make his usual gesture, but slightly more respectful than usual. "If you're in danger. Just call us with the message. We'll definitely help."
"You're the first people we met here, so you're important to us," Rudi added.
"Talking too much won't be good. (Turning around) Let's go!" Micah walked ahead of them.
There was no time to chat any longer. They had to move quickly. The longer they stayed here, the stronger their feelings would be to not leave their safe zone.
"He never changes (laughs)..." (Doris)
"Yeah... Micah is Micah." Rudi turned and followed Micah, who had already gone ahead.
Now only Lidya was left in the village.
"Eh? They're gone already?! Sorry, Sherry, I have to follow them. We'll definitely find a way back! Lidya smiled hopefully. Her smiling face slowly began to brighten due to the sunlight from the east. The higher the sun, the brighter Lidya's face would be as she left.
"Goodbye!" Sherry smiled, tears streaming down her face. "Goodbye!" For the first time, Sherry spoke briefly. "Goodbye!" That word was short, but full of prayers for a safe farewell.
"Hmm (nod)!"
Lidya turned around and left the three of them towards the backs of the two who were already far away.
==========
Doris, Sherry, and Floria watched their departure with a sense of sadness. Although their first meeting felt bitter and unpleasant, their farewell ended sweetly.
They saw how important it was to have confidence in others. If they hadn't tried to trust them (especially Micah), who knows what would have happened to them now.
Now they could hold on tight there. Rebuild the village as it used to be, then call on some people willing to stay there to work in the fields under Doris's order.
The land was so fertile it would be easy to plant crops. Although it was once barren, thanks to yesterday's battle, everything was different now. Good or bad fate would clearly await them because of this village land. Not to mention, Hamud was a dry country. Soon this village would become the focus of the various governments.
"They're gone..." Floria looked sadly at their diminishing figures.
"It's okay (stroking her hair), they're going on their journey." (Doris)
"We will build this village, make it the center of planting in this country!" Sherry encouraged Floria.
But as usual, Floria diverted her gaze from Sherry. She hated Sherry with all her heart. She even labeled Sherry a 'liar'.
"I won't go back to my father, okay! Don't worry!" Sherry suddenly hugged Floria. "I won't go back to my father! I'm scared too!"
"Lies, Lord Petrel's troops will surely return soon! And after knowing your condition now, that person will definitely- (Floria began to cry) will-!" She suddenly felt heavy. She couldn't bring herself to say it.
However, the common people who impregnated a princess from the government, even the princess of the former rebellion, the Comoropo Rebellion faction. daughter of Lord Petrel, Prince Sherry. They (Doris and Floria) would surely be killed to cover up the situation.
The reason Floria hated Sherry was no more than that. She was afraid her brother would bear a heavy burden because of Sherry's presence. She even lied to herself and made herself believe that Sherry was a liar. She is too the reason why the bandit raided their village. They are not just a regular bandit. But Lord Petrel agent to search for her.
Doris, hearing their argument, could only hug the two women she loved so much. He could only close his eyes and say, "I love you both. I won't let anything bad happen to you," to the both of them.
As a man, he had to be strong. He must not let either of them get hurt. He had to protect both of them. Whatever the consequences.
=======
Back to the three young men. They began to see the vast dry land around them. There were no signs of life around them except for the scavenger birds.
From what they saw, these scavenger birds were different from what existed in their world. If it had to be visualized clearly, what they actually saw was not birds, but scavenger geese. The geese were flocking to the corpses of Eruplion and Perung lying there.
Luckily, they had been given some knowledge of the ecology of this world by Doris and Sherry before. They also knew the name Perung for the flying turtles from them. And if they were not mistaken, the name of these geese was Tutamit. They lived in freshwater and would swim to the land to look for meat (corpses). Tutamit also had feathers that were slightly crimson-white. The crimson color came from their habit of drinking blood and eventually staining all their white feathers.
"Wow, there's nothing here except for dry land and Tutamit." Lidya felt disgusted.
"According to the information given by Doris. We will meet a herd of Tutamit until the river there." (Rudi)
Micah saw an opportunity and walked ahead of Lidya and started walking backward while facing Lidya. "Are you feeling disgusted? But you've seen worse than this!"
Micah referred to Lidya having seen the piles of corpses collected and turned into fertilizer.
"I know that (glancing sideways)... But seeing cute creatures like them become like this... It feels unpleasant..." Lidya said softly.
"So, hold it then...! We will see their herds lining up like ants till the river." Micah turned around and started walking normally.
"So that's why Doris chose to turn them (the soldiers) into fertilizer rather than let them be eaten by maggots?" Rudi finally realized the truth.
The aridity and scarcity of this country made many cute creatures become terrifying. Rudi couldn't help but feel disgusted when imagining what would have happened if Doris hadn't fertilized all the soldier corpses yesterday.
"If that happened, their population would surely increase rapidly and would... Geh (holding back vomit)!" Rudi felt nauseous as he began to imagine it.
"That's enough! Let's focus on the goal! These are just Tutamit! There are more disgusting and ridiculous monsters that will await us in the future?!" Micah tried to encourage them.
Feeling disgusted now was pointless. There were still many more disgusting and ridiculous monsters waiting for them than these cute scavenger geese.
With that, they walked ignoring the herd of Tutamit, and headed towards the nearby river.
========
At the river surrounded by dense bushes, there was a herd of Tutamit swimming in the river like ordinary geese and ducks. They didn't look disgusting at all when they were here.
"Ah, the atmosphere here is different (stretching) ...!" (Lidya)
"Well, these Tutamit look like ordinary geese here." (Rudi)
Unlike the two of them who had changed their perceptions of Tutamit, Micah immediately distanced himself from them and sought out through a bush near the river.
"It seems that my judgment about Tutamit is still the same..." (Micah)
"Why?" (Rudi)
"Why? Maybe because there are two corpses that are just bones here?!" Micah said with a high tone while opening what was behind those bushes.
Lidya and Rudi's eyes and mouths widened in shock. Their bodies trembled, unable to support their weight. Lidya immediately vomited into the river after seeing the sight.
The bones were still fresh. The blood on those bones was still wet, and the remaining flesh clinging to those bones was still warm.
Something crossed Rudi's mind instantly. If this was the place where they might meet Ingro's eyes, then that meant...
Shortly after, clear footsteps could be heard across the river. The sound was coming towards them.
The three young men immediately activated their Souls Weapons and directed them towards the source of the sound.
"Don't worry, they are not Ingro's eyes. Because I... Am his eyes."
Someone with white skin, short pointed green hair with an ahoge came. On his body, there was an armor that clearly was not made by the hands of Hamud craftsman. The armor was different from what they had encountered. If the armor from Hamud only covered vital parts, the armor worn by the man covered his entire body except for his head. On the chest part of his armor, there was an image of an Eruplion head surrounded by 2 pairs of wings on the neck part of his armor.
Who is that person?