"Dear... have you found him?"
"No... He came back days ago. Old River met him at her shop. The strange thing is that he purchased a Martial Technique for a girl..."
"A gift for a girl? Oh... that's truly strange. What else?"
"Old River only found out about her name and nothing else. Furthermore, his body didn't change at all. Surely, that thing didn't end up in his hands."
Marigold and August were talking about their recent discovery and somehow calmed down.
Marigold was drinking a cup of tea, but the sweet drink couldn't ease her heavy heart: "Dear... if it's not with him, then where?!"
"Who knows... Maybe that damned tome has gone elsewhere, looking for another target."
She looked at August with a troubled expression but sighed: "I hope so. Otherwise... we won't be able to hide the truth…"
|||
"Idiot... he's a human..."
"Borbur... you could have killed him! You call that crazy old man a drunkard, but you're no different from him."
"I swear his face was white as milk and covered with dirt and other shit. Furthermore, it was emitting a nauseating stench. It's not my fault if that fool was fooling around our village like a scruffy!"
"You're lucky that the old drunkard is still as agile as he used to be. Otherwise..."
Atlas didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but as soon as his eyes opened, the past events resurfaced like a torrent, making him grimace in pain.
"Bloody bastard!!"
The young man had woken up lying on a comfortable bed, and although his body was still in pain, the words came out of his mouth as loud as possible.
"Damn, idiot... I told you over and over again that I was a human... Ouch... That hurt like hell."
There were some people around him, a decrepit old man with a walking stick, a middle-aged woman, a man much younger than the others but with a messy and poorly shaped beard, and, of course, that idiot who had erroneously mistaken him for something else.
Realizing that the young man had awakened, the old man approached him and ascertained his condition: "Ohhh... Ohi... Oh... luckily, you are still alive and well... Borbur, that stupid fellow, tends to drink a bit too much sometimes, so forgive us and forgive me, for I am deeply ashamed of my wrongdoing."
"Old man... that's not your fault..."
Atlas looked back at his grumpy face, confused by his affirmation, but then everything became clear.
"Well... it's my fault, as I'm Waret, the village chief of this little place. And my villager's misdeeds are also my misdeeds..."
Hearing his sincere words, Atlas calmed down his throbbing anger and stared back at the others with an inquisitive look.
"Rather... boy, I would like to know why you were wandering outside the village in that horrible shape."
Atlas briefly observed the wrinkled face of the old man and noticed that many old scars were marking it. One was so profound that his left eye had been scourged.
"I don't even know where I am..."
The young man's words surprised the others, and Borbur took advantage of the moment to shift the blame onto the boy: "Told you that... This idiot is a scruffy vagabond who does not even know where he is. Heck, it's normal that a fool like him has found himself in this situation."
"Borbur... Stop saying nonsense. Perhaps the boy suffered a strong blow to the head. Why don't you go back to the guard station?"
"As if I would like to stay around this idiot any more than this..."
Hearing the chief's words, Borbur was delighted and started walking out of the room, but suddenly, the middle-aged woman ruined his newly found good mood: "Hey... since this was all your fault, why don't you give our little friend some compensation?"
Borbur was not so happy about that, but he had several things that were pretty useless in his hands. So, he took out a scroll and only then left the room quickly, avoiding further trouble.
The middle-aged woman stopped bothering him and instead placed a hand on Atlas's forehead to check his condition.
"Hmm... everything looks fine. Do you remember at least your name?"
Of course, Atlas's mind was in perfect condition and slightly altered when he heard that question: "My name is Atlas... and there is nothing wrong with me..."
"Hehehe... well. Anyway, my name is Rosemary. Instead, the boy in the corner is Peterium, a young priest of the Holy Lucent Divine Sect from the Central Continent. He was the one who healed you."
Those people were so friendly that Atlas couldn't rail against them anymore, so he turned his gaze to the other guy and politely thanked him: "Thank you for your help... better to forget about that unpleasant inconvenience. Anyway... could you tell me where I am?"
"Boy... you say you're fine, but you don't know where you are?"
Atlas didn't know how to explain his sudden appearance in this place. After all, he couldn't reveal the existence of Nihilir to them. So, he put on a story that could somehow convince them.
"Something went wrong with the Teleportation Formation... I'm not sure, either. Anyway, I appeared on the old wharf outside the village and somehow reached here."
Problems with this kind of formation happen often, so his lies were accepted by them readily.
"Well... I should say that you are lucky to be still alive, yet you didn't end up in a good place, unfortunately for you."
"Ohh... Now I understand why your face was so battered. That place is a lousy shithole..."
"Hmm... Indeed, a lucky fellow..."
The trio commented calmly until the village chief gave him bad news: "Hmm... then everything is clear. However, right now, you are in the easternmost village on the continent, the Black-Clawed Crab Village."
'I've never heard of a village with this name... Who knows how far I was teleported away from the city...' Atlas reasoned briefly and then asked, "Hmm... how far is the so-called sea of death from here?"
The three looked at each other with perplexity, but in the end, the village chief replied: "Not so far. We are only a mile from it..."
"What?? Only one mile, how is it possible?"
Shocked by the old man's words, Atlas looked out the window for an explanation but could not see past the dense fog surrounding the village.
"Our village is located on a small island very far from the main continent. That's why the sea of death is so close. In fact, I can say with certainty that this place is the last living bulwark before that dark abyss. Anyway, now that you have recovered, we must return to our stations. You can find us near the walls if you need more information."
Indeed, Atlas wanted to know more, but the three got out of the room so quickly that he didn't have time to stop them and could only lament with the only entity that could have given him a reasonable explanation: "Nihilir... what did you do??"