7.0 - Feeling of déjà vu
Together with Laen and Sydia, we went to the modest village that I had told them so much about.
We got here quickly, thanks to Ethen's handy invention, the teleporter.
"I wonder that such places still exist." The red-haired man said.
He grabbed his chin with one hand.
"It reminds me of those villages where human-like races live."
Sydia looked at him askance from the side. She felt uncomfortable because of his words.
She turned her gaze to the floor and closed her eyelids.
The boy noticed her discomfort and realized himself that he had made a mistake.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean it."
"It doesn't matter. You reminded me of something important."
She still had her eyes closed, but a smile appeared on her face, and small tears were running down her cheeks.
"It's not a bad memory. This place reminds me of the one I lived in when I was a child."
Aaaaaa, so childhood memories.
"If this topic is inappropriate for you, we don't have to talk about it." I spoke up.
I had a neutral facial expression. After all, everyone has such topics that we prefer not to mention. It's normal.
Sydia wiped a tear from her cheek with her hand.
"It's okay. It's not a bad thing."
"As you already know, different types of beasts have their specific territories in which they prowl. All around Sonill, including Alexandria, is Hardy territory."
"My family home, where I grew up, was attacked by beasts, just like here. In addition, my village was also in the middle of the forest."
A, so that's the kind of memory. It's nothing extraordinary that she remembers all this now.
"There were many more inhabitants in my place. Only elves of my race lived there. Generally, elves are divided into different clans, there are places with different species all over the world. In the place of my childhood there was the last clan of burgundy elves. It was also the only clan of elves in the whole of Limervan, so.... so... I'm the last one who managed to survive."
Tears from her eyelids began to spread down her cheeks in larger quantities, with each passing moment.
Laen grabbed Sydia by the arm.
"You really don't have to say it. We know that such memories are painful. I know something about it myself." He said gloomily.
Sydia grabbed his hand, which was on her shoulder. She didn't push it away.
"I wonder what my life would be like if that village was still there. I would live with my parents and brother."
Laen puts another hand on her other shoulder. He clenches her teeth and has a sad, but nervous expression at the same time.
I hope this topic doesn't go well for both of them. I feel strange just standing there and looking at this.
"You know... I would like to go home myself, but it's IMPOSSIBLE!" He shouted straight into Sydia's face.
"How do you know that no one survived for sure, not counting you?" I asked a risky question.
The girl clenched her teeth tightly. She was thinking about a solid answer.
"I'm not sure... But since then I've never managed to spot an elf from my clan." She whispered quietly.
"You know... my lineage has burgundy hair, so it's not hard to tell us apart. From a distance I can tell which elf is which."
She pointed to the color of her hair.
I looked around and saw an apple stall.
I have little experience giving advice to others, so maybe I can at least try to make them feel better in this way. I can't just watch them stand there and cry.
"Maybe we should go get something to eat?" I nodded in the direction of the stall.
Sydia smiled slightly.
We went to the stall and took an apple each.
"That'll be 3 zeniths." Said the old woman who was the seller of these fruits.
I took out my wallet and handed over three silver coins.
"Here you go."
I don't know anything about the local currency at all, so I don't know if 3 zeniths is a lot or not.
At Ethen's house we get money like pocket money. Once a week, each of us gets a set amount of zeniths depending on how much we did and helped with, for example, repairing the house.
Laen always gets the most, and does nothing. Unfair.
"I'm sorry to disturb the dear youth, but I listened to your conversation for a long time." The apple seller accosted us.
The stall was a few steps away from where we were standing a moment ago. She probably heard our entire conversation.
It's suspicious that everyone is listening to what we're talking about.
No privacy.
If you look around us, you can see that a lot of residents are watching us. There aren't many people around, and when they see the faces of people they don't know, they're probably curious about who we are.
I guess it makes sense, right?
"I've heard a lot about this settlement and a real tragedy happened there." Grandma blurted out.
"Do you know anything more about what happened there?" Sydia asked.
Laen stopped holding her by the arms and stood next to her. Both of them were focused on the old woman's answer.
"I remember a little. It happened about 15 years ago."
I was surprised when she said that. It's possible that she'll give us some interesting information.
I wasn't the only one who thought so. Laen and Sydia's expression was similar to mine.
"My friends lived there. When I was your age, I often visited them."
"Do you remember where this settlement is?"
Sydia was probably a small child when this incident happened there. It would be logical that she doesn't remember where her old home is.
"Everything was razed to the ground there, nothing else was left."
"Who did this? It definitely wasn't the work of ordinary forest beasts! It's impossible." I interrupted, irritated.
"No, please don't ask..." Laen wanted to interrupt me, but he didn't make it, because I finished my sentence.
Sydia became sad when I said that.
Laen also seemed to be in a bad mood.
I don't understand their reaction.
"A scientist named Etheniel, destroyed them."
And there's some scientist Etheniel.
Wait, Etheniel?!?!
"WHAT?!"
Did Sydia really lie to my face, saying that they were beasts? Not very nice!
I immediately grabbed my head with my hand and stuck the other one out in front of me, pointing at the old lady.
Half an hour had passed since this conversation. We were sitting together on a stone wall in Alexandria, in silence.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier that we were hanging out with a psychopath, murderer and terrorist all in one?!" I shouted at them.
Both of them were sitting on the stone wall with their heads down.
I got up from the wall and stood in front of him, pointing my fingers at them.
"Answer me, immediately!"
"Well then..." Laen began.
"A lot of things that haven't been explained are blamed on Ethen. He failed The government once, and they don't forgive themselves for that, so when they can't find the right perpetrator, they blame him. This is the reason Ethen never leaves the house."
I opened my mouth and narrowed my eyes, looking at him.
My brain jammed.
"So what's the deal?"
I didn't understand anything anymore.
"Ethen once betrayed the knights, the king and the royal knights, so they're taking revenge on him."
"Aha, so he did do something wrong. He's not a saint, so I still won't rule him out from my suspicions that he's a murderer, a terrorist and a psychopath."
"Hey, how exactly did he betray them? He told them they were, I don't know, ugly, and they got offended?" I added.
"None of us knows that exactly. As for Sydia's village, he was involved in it and adopted Sydia from there when she was a child."
"So everyone thinks Ethen is some kind of criminal?"
I knew from the beginning that this guy had something wrong in his head and something on his conscience.
"Unfortunately, yes. He is known all over the world because he has made many scientific discoveries. In fact, no one knows his exact goals, not even Sydia and I." Laen explained.
I took a deep breath.
Well, that's not bad.
I looked behind my back.
I really feel like everyone is watching us.