The atmosphere of the party became solemn and cold in a few moments and Arthur knew the reason for that.
After all, a ruined village meant that there was only one possibility. This village was completely destroyed when the invasion of the demon king happened.
Arthur's face frowned slightly as he closed his eyes and leaked a small sigh. He didn't want to even ask to make sure he got his assumption right.
After standing there for a while, Mino turned around and said. "Let's go." He said with a rather nostalgic tone before he stepped forward. The rest of the party followed him as they descended from the hill and headed toward the village.
Their steps were rather hesitant and perturbed. The closer they got to it, the more explicit details of the end of this village became more and more visible. Arthur started seeing the true results of the invasion and it sent a chill down his spine.
Eventually, they got close enough to the village that Arthur finally realized something. All around the area of the village and inside it were dark spots that contrasted the grey plains.
The dark spots were akin to splashed dry paint. Looking at one of the spots that he passed by, Arthur's face turned even more sour when he realized what it was.
'Dry blood…' He thought to himself as he fought the urge to puke. To see this much blood and yet no corpses, truly put into his head how brutal it must've been.
The hero party finally reached the village's gate or what Arthur assumed to be the gate since the place was wrecked from all sides.
Entering inside, they were welcomed with an apocalyptic world straight out of a nightmare. The whole village was wrecked beyond salvation, all the houses were leveled down with some structures still standing loosely.
The howling of the wind as it moved through this desolate scenery of the past and the screeches of the broken wooden houses made it even more nightmarish for the hero's party.
'What a horrible place…' Arthur murmured to himself as he looked around. His heart stung at the sight of this once beautiful place turned into a piece of history, frozen in time forever.
"Let's… Ehem, let's go." Mino said after a while with a wavering tone before he stepped forward.
The party walked through the main street of the village, looking around curiously.
Eventually, they ended up in front of a still intact house that had a roof over it. They decided to enter that one since the others didn't provide protection from the scorching sun.
The interior of the house was small and simple, or at least whatever was left of it.
Arthur, Boriat, Ani, and Kali sat down on the wooden floor. The only one who stayed standing as he looked around the house.
"Psst…" Arthur nudged Kali who was sitting beside him.
"Why is looking around that much?" He asked.
"Oh, I guess you don't know…"
"Know what?"
"This is actually Mino's house when he used to live here," Kali whispered in response.
"Wait, really?"
'So that's why he seemed to be the most affected, this was his village after all.'
"Yeah, when the invasion of the demon king happened, he had to run away on his own and leave everyone behind. He was the sole survivor of this village."
"..."
Arthur didn't find the words to say at that moment. After all, how could he understand what Mino was going through? Seeing his old village gone, must've been horrible. Yet, the hero seemed to be standing strong even though he was feeling a deep sadness and grief at that moment.
His eyes, as sad as they looked, still shone with determination and hope. The hero was still standing tall no matter what. That realization impacted Arthur more than he expected. He was looking at a person who lost everything and yet didn't give up and instead became the strongest man and defeated the existence that inflicted this pain on him.
'So that's what a hero is like. Someone who wouldn't give up no matter what.' Arthur blinked in surprise before he looked at himself.
He was the exact opposite of that his whole life. Arthur had lost too many times to count, and he never thought of ever trying again except when it came to drawing Manga since it was his passion.
He was a loser, through and through.
'Hahaha, what am I even comparing myself to? He's a hero, a legend, I'm not that kind of person.' Laughing at his silly intrusive thoughts, he finally looked up.
"I'm sure they're proud of you, Mino." He said in a complicated tone.
Those words made all the heroes look at him, including Mino with clear shock. He blinked a few times before a small smile finally appeared on his face.
"Thanks, Arthur. I know that I shouldn't be stuck in the past now."
"Yeah! We're going back home now! So much fun is waiting." Boriat interjected with a hearty laugh. "I miss booze and sleep!"
"I want to go back to my library and stay there forever!" Ani added with a silly smile.
"I just want to return to my work as a doctor." Kali chuckled.
"As for me, well, I guess I will just move to a small house outside the capital and live there peacefully." Mino laughed awkwardly.
"Hohohoho, are you gonna finally propose to her, Mino?" Kali asked.
"H-Hey, I don't understand what you're trying to say." Mino averted his eyes.
"Hehehe, he's embarrassed, he's embarrassed."
"If you don't want to marry the princess, then I shall do it then!" Boriat laughed.
"No! Never! She's mine! Ehem, I mean…"
Everyone started laughing at his reaction. Arthur felt relieved that the atmosphere finally became a little bit better. He wanted this group to smile rather than look sad since they deserve to finally be happy. Perhaps their pain was greater than anything else, but life was still ahead of them and they needed to move on from it.
"Oh well, boys! Time to leave! We still have a long way ahead!"
"Yes!!"
Standing up, the group left the house after taking a break and continued their journey. They barely crossed a fraction of the distance which also meant that they needed to hurry up if they didn't want to find more trouble.
For the rest of the day, the group walked a good distance before they finally decided to camp for the night.
Throughout the day, they didn't meet a single monster which made them confused and also suspicious. The land was supposed to still be filled with roaming monsters.
But, they couldn't really do much about it and simply spent the night there.
In the middle of the night, while Arthur was surveilling the area since it was his time, he suddenly felt something weird.
"Hm?"
His body had suddenly shaken out of nowhere. Waiting a few more seconds, Arthur felt the shaking again which alerted him even more. So, he crouched down and put his ear on the ground. A second later, the ground beneath him shook again.
"What in the hell?"
It wasn't actually his body shaking… But the whole stretch of land was!