Arthur slowly opened his eyes, no longer in the forest, and felt a smooth surface on his back and a soft blanket covering his body.
He was lying on a comfortable sofa in a modest looking room and his nakedness was covered by simple clothes.
Turning his gaze slightly, he could see a glass window that revealed a cluster of rudimentary brown wooden buildings covered with yellowish straw.
Only a few people could be seen walking along the dirt roads, accompanied by carts pulled by strong, strange oxen, carrying grains, vegetables, and fruits.
He could hear muffled whispers, followed by a few curious, childish glances from the corner of the window, watching him.
Suddenly, a door opened and the children who had been watching Arthur with curiosity were startled before running out.
Through the door stepped a woman with the aged appearance of someone in her 60s, she had a long blue dress, green eyes, pale wrinkled skin, long white hair and a gentle smile on her lips.
"Ah... children... can't control their own curiosity hehehe" The woman laughed as she walked over to the window and closed it.
"How are you, dear? Are you hungry?" The woman turned to Arthur and picked up a small porcelain bowl from the table in the middle of the room.
"I'm fine... who are you? Where am I?" Arthur hesitated a few seconds before opening his mouth.
"I'm Elizabeth, you're in Dunul..." Elizabeth sat down next to Arthur before stirring the soup in the bowl in her hands with a silver spoon.
"So... who are you? Were you one of Conrad's men?" She asked as she scooped up a spoonful of soup, not even waiting for Arthur's answer before shoving the spoon into the young man's mouth, who nearly choked and coughed.
His eyes widened as he tasted the soup; it was certainly the most delicious thing he had eaten in months, even considering the ultra-processed foods of his former world, the taste was simply divine.
Seeing the gleam in Arthur's eyes, the smile on Elizabeth's lips widened even more, "It's a sheep soup with magic herbs... a specialty of my mother's hehehe".
"It's very good..." Arthur complimented before answering the woman's question "I'm Arthur, and yes, I was one of Conrad's men..."
"Ah... I see. A group of men who worked for Conrad came by; they talked about a handsome young man with black hair who was left behind along with some other people." Elizabeth passed the bowl of soup into Arthur's hands. "You suffered from mana overload; you must have suffered a lot to get here... Eat something..."
Arthur didn't hesitate and took the bowl from the woman's hands before he began to devour the soup.
"How many days have those men been here?" Arthur asked, shortly after he had finished the soup.
"Hm..." Elizabeth looked thoughtful as she tried to remember, "about 5 or 6 days if I'm not mistaken, they left for Noster 4 days ago.
Arthur was about to say something but was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, revealing a hunchbacked man as old as Elizabeth, with a long white beard that fell down to his belly, and a completely bald head.
"That's my husband," Elizabeth stood up and walked over to the man before giving him a quick kiss on the lips and speaking. "I'll leave you two alone."
Immediately after that, she left and only Arthur and the man remained in the room.
The man didn't say anything and walked over to a shelf in the corner of the room, from which he took out a small bottle containing a reddish liquid and two glass goblets.
Placing the bottle in the middle of the table, one of the goblets in front of Arthur and the other in front of him, the man sat down before pouring some of the liquid for each of them.
"It's wine." The man said in an old hoarse voice, "Drink some."
Arthur took one of the goblets of wine, brought it up to his nose and inhaled deeply before swirling it around in the glass and taking a long sip.
He enjoyed the warm, smooth, silky sensation that ran over his tongue and down his throat before he looked up at the man.
"I'm Arthur... I was one of Conrad's men... You are?"
"Rolan, I'm the master of the village of Dunul and the only healer here," Rolan replied before speaking: "I see you know how to appreciate wine, boy."
Although he couldn't remember Arthur's face among Conrad's men, he didn't care. There were so many, and he was so old that it was impossible to remember the faces of so many people.
"I'm sorry about my wife... she's been like this ever since our son left, he accompanied Conrad's men on that damned expedition." Ralan spoke, his voice becoming slightly irritated at the last part.
"Your son? A young man with blue eyes and short hair?" Arthur asked, remembering a boy no older than himself who had died in his arms.
"Yes," Rolan replied in surprise, "you knew him? His name was Robert."
Hearing these words, Arthur hesitated for a brief second before he waved his hands and a rustic necklace appeared from his space ring.
"Ah..." Rolan took the necklace, his face filled with deep sorrow as he studied it carefully.
"I'm sorry..." Arthur said.
" It's okay..." Rolan shook his head as he put the necklace away, "At least he died a dignified death? With a sword in his hands?"
"Yes... he was killed while we were fighting a horde of hobgoblins." Arthur replied, although he hadn't paid any attention to the young man in the battle, he could still assume that he had fought on the front line.
"Hm..." Rolan stood up, "I was supposed to do an interrogation to decide if you were a threat or not, but I changed my mind."
Rolan picked up his glass of wine and downed it in one gulp before offering his hand to help Arthur to his feet. "I'm eternally grateful to you, and I offer to help you with anything you need. There's also a room not far from here, it's small, but it's mine. You can stay there as long as you need to."
Hearing this statement, Arthur froze for a few seconds, his face filled with surprise.
He didn't know how to answer Rolan and decided to be pragmatic.
"I have to make my advance to the 2nd stage..." He spoke.
"Hm... don't worry," Rolan said, "That's something easy to achieve, we have an advancement orb in our village, I can take you there, but first, come with me on a tour of the village, I'll show you where you'll be staying".
Right after that, Rolan left, with Arthur accompanying him.