Entering the portal, Samuele almost did not believe it. The message from the System spoke of a village. They were outdoors! Reassuring him that he had read it correctly was the landscape around them: an immense expanse of green that ended where the mountains began.
Samuele was enraptured by the sight. He had long dreamed of standing on that very spot. The usual dark, long, narrow caves had tired him out. Being able to enjoy such a beautiful landscape in the light that the moon gave off was something he wanted to experience. And now, finally, he could do it.
Samuele was not the only one who appreciated this.
"Ohhh!!! How cool!!!" Exclaimed one of the group with obvious delight.
"I really feel like I'm in a fantasy world!"
Sofia approached Samuele and looked around at the entire landscape.
"It's amazing!" She said with a look of wonder.
Lucia Moretti stood motionless, looking at the night sky and all that it illuminated. For her, too, it was the first time in that vast world outside the simple caves. However, her wonderment was short-lived compared to everyone else and she spoke.
"Come on, let's go. We have a quest to complete." She ordered, interrupting her companions' moment of amazement.
"The System mentions a village..." Samuele thought aloud as he turned around and saw something that caught his attention. "Which I guess is that." He pointed with his finger to the spot he was talking about.
Not far from them was a small village with about fifteen buildings.
"Look, it's gigantic..."
Said one of them, referring to the tree that by now barely stood beyond that village. In fact, almost halfway up, the trunk had detached itself from the rest of the tree, falling to the ground with all its gigantic branches. Comparing it to the size of the tree, the village really looked like a speck.
"If that's the village of Veridale, then we'd better hit the road. It will take a while to reach it." Said Lucia, moving forward in front of the others and leading them along the path.
"Once we get there what will we do?" Sofia asked the question that almost all of them were asking.
"It seems obvious to me!" One boy, Manuele, exclaimed, causing Lucia, who had opened her mouth to speak, to freeze. "We will go into the tavern and ask for information."
"And how do you know that?" Sofia asked with a frown on her forehead, annoyed that he had said it as if it were really the most obvious thing in the world.
"Have you ever played fantasy RPGs? When you get to a place you've never visited and you need to know what to do to complete the quest, you have to ask the tavern keeper. He always knows something about it."
"Yeah, too bad this isn't a game. We are in another world, real and especially where our lives are at stake. It's not like we can rely on the words of a tavern keeper!" Sofia exclaimed in irritation.
"He's right." Said Lucia, interrupting the two, with the boy turning to Sofia and flashing her a toothy grin, with the latter whose expression became even more irritated. "The tavern is usually a crowded spot. If not the tavern keeper, we will find someone else there who might give us some clues." Lucia continued again and again.
Sofia huffed, annoyed that the arrogant man had been right.
Samuele tried to hold back a laugh, which escaped miserably from his lips. Sofia's dirty look was enough to make him cough and become serious again.
During the walk, the group approached a wheat field. This, however, turned out to be dry. For the entire extent of the field, the wheat was dried.
"Man...this year's harvest was terrible for this village." Sofia affirmed, bending down and taking the wheat in her hand.
"Let's get moving." Lucia ordered, resuming the walk toward the village of Veridale.
As they arrived at the gates of the village, the villagers standing nearby watched them go in with wary eyes, which did not escape the Adventurers' notice.
"And we should get information from them? They are more likely to want to kill us." Muttered Sofia in a low voice, being heard only by Samuele and someone else standing near her.
"I don't think they have it in for us. Maybe it's about their grain crop." Lucia observed.
"And not just about the wheat, it seems." Samuele said, seeing how other types of crops also went bad. The vegetables and fruits that farmers grew in their homes and then sold in the market had gone bad. "They lost all kinds of crops. They look at us wary because they think we are travelers and that we will have to stock up on food."
"They will have few supplies and will not want to share them in any way with foreigners." Lucia added, following Samuele's logic, with the latter nodding.
"So basically we are not welcome and they will not help us?" Sofia asked.
"There's nothing left for us to do but find out." Said Lucia, almost in a solemn tone.
"The tavern is here." Samuele stopped and looked to his left. The rest of the group also stopped near him, almost intimidated that they should enter and find hostile inhabitants who did not want them around.
"You know, I almost think my idea was not as good as I thought." Said the boy whom Sofia had called in her head "arrogant." "Surely these villagers won't know anything, least of all the tavern keeper. Let's go back." The boy made to back away, but an arm around his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.
"What are you talking about?" Sofia asked with an awfully huge smile on her face. Manuele seemed to see a demon. "Your idea was magnificent and, indeed, to reward you, you will be the first to walk through that door." He affirmed in an almost sadistic tone that even Samuele was a little afraid.
"N-no need for that! You were right! A truly terrible idea, just like that!"
""Get in there." If before someone could tell that Sofia was joking, not anymore. With a deadly serious look, she ordered him to enter that tavern, and the boy, looking into her eyes, knew that he was risking his life more with her than with the villagers.
The decision to be made was not difficult for him.
He opened the tavern door and entered with false carelessness. He took a few steps inside and saw how everyone was watching him. Those who before were drinking with gluttony and a blush on their faces were now paying attention to his every slightest move. The boy swallowed the saliva and continued walking toward the counter.
"Stop right there." A big voice ordered him. Without even letting it repeat itself twice, he stopped immediately. He turned toward the voice and had to look up as much as he could in order to look into the eyes of the big man who had called him. His face immediately lost color. Without even realizing it he gave a big smile that did not mix well with his frightened eyes.
"Y-yes, sir?" He barely found the strength to speak.
"We can't give you anything to eat or drink. I saw your other little friends out there. If you know what's good for you, get lost."
The boy, without losing that smile, nodded fiercely. "R-right away, sir! W-we're taking off!" As he was about to bolt with his tail between his legs, another voice spoke.
"Don't be so aggressive, Karl. Wait a minute, boy." Said a woman who might have been in her early forties. Seeing her behind the counter, the boy thought she was the tavern keeper.
"What's your name?"
"Manuele, ma'am."
"Manuele... you carry a sword and shield. I guess your other friends are also armed, right?"
"Yes, ma'am." He said, thinking later about what that meant. "But we don't want to hurt anyone! We just want to help you, I swear!" He added quickly, before anyone could misunderstand the situation.
"Help us? Tell me, who are you?"
"W-We are Adventurers."
"Really? Karl, bring in his other friends. If it's true what he says, then we can trust them."
"But, Ms. Eve-.
"No buts. Welcome them in here." She ordered him.
"As you wish, Ms. Eve."
The group waiting outside saw a tall man coming out of the inn. He squared them with wary eyes, as did everyone else.
"Come in. Ms. Eve wants to see you." He said in a gruff voice.
"They don't want to kill us. It's already a step forward." Said Samuele with a slight note of amusement.
"Let's wait to talk. We haven't seen Manuele yet." Warned Lucia.
"And I hope not to see him again." Sofia added, still annoyed by his previous behavior.
"I thought sending the poor guy to a possible death calmed you down." Samuele thought aloud.
"A little, yes, but I haven't forgiven him." As the group entered the tavern, Karl stood in the doorway checking that no one was left outside. After that, he closed the door and continued to observe the Adventurers.
Lucia, ahead of the rest of the group, walked in front of Manuele and spoke.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. The lady at the bar wanted you all to come in."
"That's right." Said Ms. Eve, drawing the attention of Lucia, who looked at her curiously. "The boy...Manuele, he told me that you are Adventurers. Is that the truth?"
"Yes, it is. We were given the quest to save the village of Veridale."
"Well, right now you are in Veridale, Miss..."
"Lucia Moretti, but you can call me Lucia, Ms. Eve." She said respectfully.
"If you all have such exotic names, then I have no problem believing that you are Adventurers. Tell me, what do you know about this village?"
"Nothing, Ms. Eve, but I can guess what the problem is."
"I'm all ears."
"To get here, we saw the wheat field: it is dry. The vegetables and fruit you have grown in your homes is rotten. In short, you are short of food for this year."
"Perceptive, Miss Lucia, but that is not the real problem. I guess you have also seen a fallen tree on your way, haven't you?"
"That's right."
"There, that is our biggest problem."
"Is one fallen tree more serious than the whole lost harvest?" Samuele asked with a frown.
"If it was only one crop that was lost then we wouldn't make such a big deal out of it, but if it was all the future crops, then yes it would be a big problem. For that very reason, losing that tree has doomed us all."
"Could you elaborate, Ms. Eve?" Lucia asked.
"You see, that tree is not just another tree.
It is a special thousand-year-old tree. With its branches it absorbs the magic infused in the air and, through its roots, spreads it into the barren soil that this is. In this way, it allows crops to grow abundantly, even in the absence of water or fertilizer. And not only that. Even the well water was replenished thanks to the tree's magic."
"So you don't even have water anymore?"
"That's right."
"When did the tree fall?"
"Yesterday. Having some food supplies, we can still eat something for a while if we ration what we have. Water, however, we lost it. All of it. The water in the well has magically turned into sand."
"Then we will see if we can solve your problem as soon as possible."
"And how, may I ask? The tree that allowed us to live has fallen. What solution do you think you can find?"
"How did the tree fall? Was it a monster?"
"No monster, Miss Lucia. During a violent storm, did a powerful enough lightning strike the tree and break it in two?"
"During the storm was there anything strange?"
"Strange, you say? I don't think so." Then she turned to her fellow citizens. "Did you guys see anything strange?"
Each of them turned to the person closest to them, hoping he might reveal something. Throughout the inn only confabulations could be heard, but everyone shook their heads.
"I maybe saw something strange." Said one of them. He was a boy, perhaps about fifteen years old, petite. "Yesterday I was making my usual rounds near the forest, looking for ... well ..."
"We don't care what you were looking for, Fried. Just tell us what you saw." Ordered the tavern keeper, impatient.
"There was an unusual mist inside the forest. A mist I had never seen. It was strange, really strange. I don't know how to explain it, but it was as if it wanted to draw me to itself."
"And what did you do next?"
"Initially I wanted to go into the forest, but, when I heard the lightning, I went back to the village."
Ms. Eve then turned to Lucia. "Is this information enough for you?"
"We will make it enough. Thank you for your help, Ms. Eve." She then turned toward the exit. "Let's get the hell out of here. Let's go, guys."
"I wish you good luck and pray that you will really succeed in saving this village."
END OF CHAPTER.
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Not even the time to get to know him that Sofia already hates Manuele. Poor boy...
Gag aside, I have no notes to add about this chapter. So, see you tomorrow with the next chapter, same time. Bye!