-May their souls rest in peace." With a slight bow, Kael paid respects to the makeshift grave he made for the children and the victims of those men.
He spent a minute in silence and walked away, approaching the carriage, in search of something useful before departing. Rummaging around, he found several small bags: most of them contained small coins made of what looked like bronze and engraved on them with numbers.
5 of them had the number '10', 2 of '50' and 1 of '100'. A value of 250 in money, although Kael can't remember if that's a lot.
Other than the money, the only thing he found was some food and a change of clothes.
- "Sorry about this, I promise I'll put it to good use," he said as he got dressed; a long sleeved white colored shirt and simple black pants, a bit baggy.
He gave a final bow and went in the direction of the village. Contrary to what he expected, he only encountered two Beasts in the 3 hours he had been walking.
-(There are less and less Beasts... I hope it won't be long now). About an hour later, the trees began to slowly disappear and in the distance he could finally see what appeared to be the village.
He began to walk faster, impatient to find civilization after being so long in that forest. -He smiled a little, "It won't be long now!
However, the closer he got to the village, the more his smile faded. Even from the distance he was at, the place gave off a rather depressing feeling.
When he finally reached the large entrance gates, instead of being greeted by the guard standing at the side of the gates, a little girl approached him hopping and humming, holding a basket of flowers in her hand.
-"Welcome to Deer Village, sir! Would you like a flower? I'll make a special offer, and leave it for 1 Farin!"
A warm feeling ran through Kael's soul, seeing the girl's innocence really is a change for the better from the death and Beasts of the past few days.
Crouching down to the girl's level, Kael asked:
- "Thank you for the welcome, little girl. Unfortunately, I don't have a coin of that amount, but I'll buy you one for 10 Farin."
- "I'm not a little girl! Ciara is quite the lady!" The girl pouted, seemingly angered by Kael's comment.
- "Oh, I'm so sorry young lady, I wasn't planning on insulting you." As if standing before a princess, he bowed slightly and smiled at her.
- "Mhmm... You are forgiven! But in return you'll have to play with me. Here-"Ciara took one of the flowers in her basket and handed it to Kael.
-Are you sure? I can give you the 10 Farin if you want."
- "Yep! Since I'm a kind woman, I'll give it to you for playing with me." She said and took Kael's hand, running energetically into the village.
Unlike Ciara's energy, all the other villagers seemed to be in no mood or desire. The atmosphere was really depressing, as if it was a funeral.
Even being dragged along, Kael couldn't help but ask; - "Hey, Ciara... Why does everyone look so glum?"
- "Mhmm? I don't know, forget about it, I got hungry, so let's go to Grandpa Seamus'!"
- "Grandpa Seamus? I thought you wanted to play..."
Ignoring Kael, Ciara dragged him some more and finally stopped in front of a two-story building. On one side of the door, a sign read "Stag Inn and Tavern." They both entered and the few people inside drinking, turned their gazes towards them. Suspicious glances were fixed on Kael.
-"Grandpa Seamus! Me and my friend are hungry, please fix us something!" Ciara said to an old man, who looked to be about 60 years old. His face, with few wrinkles despite his age, had a kind look and smile.
- "You're back at last, Ciara. I've told you many times not to go out alone for too long." The old man scolded the girl lightly.
- "I'm sorry, Grandpa Seamus... But look! I made a new friend, I found him at the entrance to the village." A big smile graced her face.
- "Ho, ho, I see. That's good. Excuse me" -I look at Kael- "I'm Seamus, owner of this inn. And you are...?
-"Ah! My name is Kael, sir. I've just arrived in the village and Ciara brought me here."
- "I see... I sorry for her, she can be a bit of a pain sometimes. But she's not a bad kid."
- "No problem, sir, I think so too. Besides, she showed me around a bit as we were heading this way, so I'm grateful."
- "Ho, ho, that's good to hear."
- "See, I'm a very nice lady and I think I deserve something delicious." She said, as she stood on her tiptoes trying to pull up a chair near the bar.
- "Mhmm... I think you're right, I'll tell Sile to prepare something for you. For you too, Mr. Kael."
- "Thank you very much. Oh, and just tell me Kael, You are older than me, after all."
- "Understood." With that, he went to the back of the bar.
- "Thanks for leading me here, Ciara. It would have been hard to get here on my own." He gently stroked her head for a few seconds.
- "Hehe, it's nothing, after all, we're already friends!" She seemed to enjoy Kael stroking his head, she closed her eyes and smiled as Kael did so.
Thirty minutes later, a young woman, no more than 25 years old, came out from the back with two plates of meat and some vegetable soup.
- "Sorry for the delay, here's your food!" Her face, though it could not be described as beautiful, had a simple and pretty charm, the small freckles that adorned her face and the slight natural blush on her cheeks, only made her look more tender. And, in contrast, her voluptuous body could not be hidden by what appeared to be the tavern's uniform, which showed some of her great cleavage and her short skirt that covered the part between her legs and her bottom.
- "Thank you very much, Sister Sile! May I introduce you to my friend, Kael!" she pointed to Kael, who was sitting next to her.
- "It's a pleasure, Miss Sile, I'm Kael." He said and tried to make the best smile he could.
-"..." There was no answer.
-(Huh? Was my smile disgusting?)
- "Uhmm... Miss Sile?"
Slowly, Sile's already red cheeks, grew redder and redder, to the point where she looked like a tomato.
- "Y-Yes! It's a-pleasure to meet you too. E-Excuse me, I have work to do!" She quickly made her way to the back, almost stumbling along the way. The laughter of the other customers echoed faintly through the tavern.
After that, he ate lunch together with Ciara and chatted with Seamus for a few hours. During that time, Kael noticed how Sile looked in his direction and, when he returned her gaze, she blushed like a tomato and quickly moved on.
In that way, the night came and it was time to find a place to rest.
-Mr. Seamus, do you have a room available to spend the night?
- "We have rooms available, but unfortunately we are not accepting any guests. So-"
- "Grandpa Seamus! Kael is my friend, please let him stay."
- "I'm sorry, but- I mean, of course I will, he's your friend." For an instant, Seamus' eyes seemed to glow, but they quickly returned to normal before Kael could notice.
- "This way, please." He said to Kael and headed up the stairs.
- "Understood... You're not staying here, Ciara?"
- "No, I'll sleep at my place. Get some rest!"
◈ ◈ ◈
Once in his room, Kael undressed, becoming completely naked and lay down on his bed.
When he was about to fall asleep due to exhaustion-.
*Knock knock*
Someone knocked on the door and without waiting for an answer, entered:
It was Sile, wearing nothing but a transparent nightgown and with flushed cheeks.