"No one would ever dare to live there, my dear boy," said the mother.
"No, mom. He is human, I stayed in his house for a while, and he gave me this." Drest showed the Talisman given by Elio. "An object that big brother Elio said could protect me."
Drest's mother took the Talisman and looked at it, then shared a look with her husband. It was a strange and confused look.
Drest said he was sure that the one with him was a human; he was not hallucinating.
Even as he walked away from the forest, he could still clearly see its shape. If he wasn't human, it couldn't be a monster. What monster would be kind to a human?
"This is strange; let's see the village chief talk about this," said the father.
So Drest's father took his wife and their son to see the village chief to tell him what had happened to Drest. Also, to find out who exactly was the person Drest was referring to.
If he was indeed a great person, that could be a good thing, but if, in fact, he was a person who was also in trouble, they would try to help him later.
Before long, they arrived in front of the village chief's house, and the mother knocked on the door. There was no answer, then a young man greeted them from the side of the house.
"What's wrong?" the young man asked.
"Kleiten, is your father home?" asked Drest's mother.
"He's inside, but the front door is broken; you can take the side door."
The three of them listened to Kleiten's words, and they walked in the opposite direction of the young man's voice to the house's side door.
Once inside the side door, they found a middle-aged man sitting with a cup of tea.
The middle-aged man saw Drest and his parents entering through the side door.
"Ah, Drest has been found. Did he go home by himself?" the middle-aged man asked them because previously, his parents had been busy looking for Drest, who had not returned home for two days, but suddenly he was there by himself.
"Well, village chief..." Drest's father then told him what had happened to Drest and how his son had reached the village again safely.
Drest's father also gave the Talisman to the village chief.
The village chief looked at the Talisman in his hand. The village chief could vaguely feel energy emanating from within the Talisman.
"So that young man named Elio gave this to you?" The village chief asked Drest curiously
Drest nodded.
"Then why didn't he come with you all the way here?" the chief asked Drest again.
Drest shook his head slowly. "I don't know; big brother Elio said he had some other business and could only take me to the forest entrance."
"Hhhmm..." The village chief seemed to once again take a closer look at the Talisman in his hand.
"Village chief, is there something...?" asked Drest's father, looking somewhat anxious as the village chief seemed to be in deep thought.
"Do you know the difference between an Artisan and a Craftsman?" the village chief asked Drest's father.
"Of course, an Artisan is just a general maker of normal accessories while a Craftsman is a profession where they make accessories that have magic powers-..." Before he could finish his sentence, Drest's father seemed to realize the direction of the chief's conversation.
"Chief, perhaps you think that the young man who saved my son is a Craftsman?" asked Drest's father to confirm.
"Well, this is just my wild guess. I felt the magical energy from this Talisman, so it's not an ordinary item made by an artisan." The village chief explained.
"Kleiten, are you still there?" the village chief called out to his son.
"Yes, what is it?" Kleiten immediately answered and walked over.
"You call Reeve here immediately; we have an emergency meeting tonight." The village chief announced his decision with a serious look on his face.
***
****
*The next day in the Black Forest
"Phew... with these already 15 monsters," Elio said while pulling out his blade from a dead monster's body.
" I also killed 15 monsters yesterday. That means I've earned at least 30 system points, right?" Elio then immediately opened his system to see the details of his status.
[System Window]
[System Level: 0]
[Host: Elio Vukan]
[Age: 15]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 125]
[Skill: One Heart Flame, Swordsmanship]
[Item: Ring of Aura Concealment, Renunciation Blade]
[System Point: 82]
"Oh, right, yesterday in the late evening, I got a notification from the system that the Choice Mission of the boy named Drest was completed and I got an extra 10 system points," said Elio, almost forgetting. "I think he has made it safely to the village where he lived."
"Hhmm... I guess there's still enough time," Elio looked at the sky, which was still quite sunny. "Maybe I'll try to walk around again looking for monsters." Elio then went away from that area to look for monsters again.
Not long after, there was a strong wind blowing. Elio immediately looked around him, and when he looked up, it turned out that the wind was caused by the flapping wings of several bird monsters passing above Elio.
The bird monsters flew above Elio and landed on a large tree. Elio saw that there were 3 monster birds where size was the size of an adult humans.
They had colorful patterns with a deep green base color, rather long and sharp-looking claws, and spiky beaks, similar to the parrots in his previous world.
[Ding]
[Detecting the presence of an Exotic Monster not far from the Host]
Suddenly a notification appeared from the system while Elio watched the bird monster.
"Exotic monsters? Those birds?" Elio immediately checked his system
[System Window]
[Name: Green Glowing Parrot]
[Race: Monster]
[Level: 125]
"Hhmm... nothing special, I guess?" Elio looked at the information in his system about the bird. Still, there were no signs indicating that they were Exotic monsters.
"Wait, wait a minute... that one over there seems a little different." Elio saw that one bird looked a little different from the others.
[System Window]
[Name: Mutated Green Glowing Parrot]
[Race: Exotic Monster]
[Level: 155]
"I knew it... it's the only bird with a yellowish crest on its head." Elio said while inspecting one of the different birds with his system.
"So shall we get going, my blade?" Elio held his sword tightly and approached the birds with a confident step.
***
In another place at the same time
Four humans arrived and stood not far from the entrance of the Black Forest. They were Drest, the village chief, and accompanied by 2 people who seemed to be their guards.
"Hhmm... are you sure he's a human, Drest?" The one who looked like a guard was still a bit hesitant.
"Well, we won't know the answer if we stay here." Said the village chief leading the way ahead with Drest beside him.
The four of them entered the Black Forest.