After traveling for 4 hours by magic train, I finally reached the village of Fcihyn. The village is in the middle of the forest. The nuance seems old-fashioned and lagging behind. Looks like this is a remote village.
I gave the fare to the driver of the magic carriage, then I got off and began to enter the village. In front of me is a gate. And there is also a wooden board that looks weathered. There it says: "256 inhabitants."That's a pretty small population.
Every house in this village, around which there are many trees growing. The birds chirp, creating a beautiful melody that is pleasant to the ear. The breeze blows against the trees, making them sway, along with the melody of birds chirping.
It's really soothing. This village has an environment that is still beautiful and awake. The air is also cold.
Living in a place like this is my dream. Maybe someday, if I had a lot of money, I would live in a place like this, but not here.
Oh, something's wrong. This village looks empty. I don't see any residents here. Well, it must have something to do with tree man. It's dangerous to stay outside when monsters are lurking.
I've walked 45 meters, and I finally found one resident. He was a bald old man with a wrinkled face, a thick beard, a slightly stooped body, wearing a shabby white T-shirt, brown trousers, and sandals made of rubber. I approached the old man and greeted him.
"Excuse me sir, may I ask you a question?"I said.
"Oh, an adventurer! Yes, you can ask anything!"
The old man said it excitedly and with a smile.
"Sir, I want to find the chief of this village. So, can you tell me where is him?"I asked.
"Ooh, village chief... He's home. If you want to go to the village head's house, you can go straight ahead, then there is an intersection, turn right. After that there is a fork turn left, and go straight again, after that there is a large stone you turn right again, and you will meet a luxurious mansion, it is the House of the village chief."
The old man explained as he instructed with both hands. Even though it sounds complicated, I understand it.
"Hmm, I see. Thank you, sir. Then I'll go first."
"Yes, be careful on the road, O adventurer! May you do your duty well!"Said the old man waving his right hand.
After talking to him, I walked away from the old man. I walked in the direction he showed me. Go straight, crossroad turn right.....
Go straight again, T-junction turn left.....
Then the Boulder, turn right....
Well, I'll be there in a minute. It's not too far away. I also saw other residents. Ten men who carried a lot of firewood on their backs. They all look thin and dirty. Their whole skin was covered in sweat, and their clothes were full of stains. But I know, people like them are hard workers who put all their energy to meet their needs.
I walked up to them and greeted them politely. Then I went to the village chief's House. After a long distance, I finally arrived at the gate of the village chief's House. Hey, this isn't home.... It's more like a mansion. The Mansion is surrounded by walls and has an iron gate.
I also saw a security guard post in front of the gate. I approached the security guard post. After I got to the guard post, I saw two guard men chatting. And they immediately realized where I was. They quickly stood up and asked me.
"Who are you? You're not a resident of this village, are you?"Asked one of the guards.
"I am an adventurer. I came here to make a proposal to the village chief and ask him for permission to do quests here."I explained.
"Oh, adventurer huh? Finally there are adventurers willing to take the quest
Tree man. The village will be safe again. Then, wait a minute, I'll call the village chief first."
"Okay, I'll wait."
I waited for the guard who contacted the village chief with a mobile phone. One other guard looked at me with a wary attitude.
"Mr. village chief, the adventurer you want has come. There is only one. Uh, um... please calm down first, you better see this adventurer first. Its looks like he is... Strong. Well, I'll tell him."
Then the guard hung up. His face was a little sweaty.
"Um, adventurer, follow me. I'll take you to the village chief's House."
"Ah, good. Thank you."
After I waited for the guard to call the village chief, I finally entered his residence. The iron gate opened, and we walked into the courtyard of the House... or rather the courtyard of the village chief's Mansion. The courtyard of the Mansion looks clean. There is a flower garden overgrown with various types of flowers. The scent of those flowers could even be smelled by my nose from a distance. I also saw a fountain with clear water.
After passing through the courtyard, we enter the interior, or the inside of the mansion. I was surprised to see the interior. The Interior of this mansion is luxurious and classy. The floor is made of strong brown wood and covered with an elongated red carpet. The walls are attached several paintings, which, of course, have exorbitant prices. There were also other ornaments that I could not understand.
After walking along the interior of the mansion, we came to the living room.
There was a man in his forties with black hair slicked back, a thick black mustache that curved upwards, a fat body, and a distended stomach. He's wearing a fancy black suit. Looks like he's the head of Fcihyn.
Wow, his appearance is in stark contrast to other residents. Other residents ' houses look simple, and the appearance of the residents is also shabby, thin, and dirty. Meanwhile, he instead has a luxurious mansion, good clothes, a fat body, and lives full of luxury in a remote village like this. Maybe he's corrupt-uh, no. Don't think too far ahead. Yeah but I'm sure he's like that.
"Mr. Village Chief, these are adventurers who want to meet you."Said the guard.
"Oh, he did. Then you can go."Said the village chief.
"Good."
The guard left us. Now it's just me and the village chief in this living room. The village chief looked at me intently.
"What's your name?"Ask the village chief.
"My name is Arde, a D-Class adventurer from Belves city. I'm coming
Here to propose to you, to deal with the tree man."
"A D-class adventurer? Just one?! Dont kidding me! I want an adventurer with a higher class! Not a lowly adventurer like you!!!"
The village chief snapped with an angry face. He arrogantly looked down on me, just because I was a D-class adventurer. But the quest is lowly class.
"But sir, the quest to eradicate tree man is a D-class quest. So I, who also belong to D-class, have no problem taking the quest."
"Hey, even if it's D-class, don't think you can do it alone! Tree man is not just one, there are many! I will accept D-class adventurers, if they are in groups and there are many of them. But if it's just one, it's just like a joke!"
"Mr. village chief, although I am only D-class, I am an adventurer with four years of experience. I've faced various monsters, situations, and problems. Just a bunch of tree men alone is incomparable to everything I've faced so far. So, I beg you to allow me to deal with the tree man threat in this village."
The village chief was silent for a moment. Then he nodded his head.
"Good good. Then you can exterminate the tree men. But you must succeed!"
"I promise I will succeed."
"Then, before you go, you must be accompanied by a guide. He'll help you locate the Treemen."
From outside the living room, I heard footsteps. Then the door opened, and there was a man with dark blond hair, with a face that had a lot of acne scars, tall and muscular. He wears. A red jacket, long brown pants, boots, and on his back a rather long spear.
"My name is Gord. I'll be your guide."Said the man.
"I am Arde, nice to meet you."
"Well now you can go. Quickly exterminate the tree men and make this village safe again!"
"Good."
Gord and I walked out of the living room, leaving the village chief alone. Step by step passed, we got out of the mansion and headed to the forest edge of the village.
The forest we entered had many tall trees. And also quite troublesome thickets for us. Gord walked quickly in front of me. He looked as if he had memorized all the places in this forest.
We wandered through the forest until the sun was right in the middle. But we did not feel the heat of the sun because of the trees that covered us.
Shortly thereafter, we came to a place where there were many fallen old trees. And there was a terrible humanoid creature, with a tree-shaped head with leaves, without eyes, the whole skin was in the form of a hard and rough tree bark, legs and hands that had sharp claws. They all numbered five.
"There are only five. I'm sure there must be others."Gord Laughs.
"Gord, have you ever faced a Treeman before?"I asked.
"Yes, I have faced them many times. They are troublesome and dangerous creatures."
Gord said as he looked at the Treemen who were still standing upright. A few seconds passed, the treemen began to walk. They walked away towards the north, leaving this place.
"Let's follow them. They will definitely return to their nests."Gord Laughs.
"Yes."
Gord and I followed the Treemen. They walked very slowly. We followed them patiently. We also keep our distance from them, because the Treeman has quite good hearing and sensors. We continued to follow the Treemen until an hour had passed, when we finally reached their lair in a cave. They're going so slow, you slow fuckers!
However...
"Woah...."
I looked up and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Gord is the same. In front of us, there were 25, treemen sitting cross-legged around a large tree. The large tree has leaves that are also large and also have many tendrils that emit blue light. The soil, rocks, walls and ceiling of the cave are plastered with powder sprinkles that shine like stars. All the Treemen looked like they were crossed between the starry night sky, and the big tree in the middle as the center of the cosmos. Ah, I fantasize too much.
"Arde, is this really a D-class quest?"Asked Gord with a tense face.
"Yes, this is a D-class quest. But what is in front of us is very unpredictable. I'd rather agree that this is a C-or B-class quest."I replied.
"We can't just attack, right?"Asked Gord again.
"No, let's see first. We need to find out what that big tree is."
"Yes..."
We chose to wait, and saw the Treemen still sitting cross-legged around the strange big tree. They didn't move one bit. Strange, I don't know what happened. This isn't the first time I've seen or faced Treeman. But this is the first time I've seen them act that weird.
Treeman is a mindless creature that absorbs blood, and human starch as nutrients for life.
They always acted in groups, but only small groups of three to six treemen. This Treeman we saw was very abnormal. There were 25 of them, sitting cross-legged in a unique formation around a huge tree that was even more bizarre.
"Arde, you are an experienced adventurer for four years right? Have you never seen that tree?"
Gord asked.
"I've never seen that tree. Strange isn't it?"
"Yes, it is a strange tree."
.....
We suddenly felt there would be danger. We began to look at the big tree more closely. The tendrils of the tree suddenly moved, then stuck into the heads of 25 Treeman.
Soon, the tree began to shoot something small in all directions, there were a great many of them.
"What was that!?"I asked.
"I don't know!"
The tendrils that stuck to the 25 Treeman began to pull out. Then all the Treemen who were there started to stand up and look at us. They walked towards us at a slow pace. Gord and I were shocked.
"Shit! We're caught!"I said.
"Run!"
We tried to escape. But unexpectedly, the way out of the cave was blocked by a large thorny log.
"Arde, can you do magic?"Asked Gord in a panic.
"Yes I can!"
"Use your magic to burn this wood!"
"Hey, using fire magic inside the cave is tantamount to suicide! We'll run out of air, suffocate, and eventually die!"
"Then what should we do?"
Gord panicked even more. I started looking for an idea and found it right away.
"Hey, is there another path in this cave?"
"There is, but I'm not sure that's the way out."
"Let's go that way! We must escape first!"
"Yes!"
Before long, Gord and I turned around, and ran towards the other lane in this cave. When we were about to leave, we saw something terrible. The number of Treeman who was originally 25, changed to 50.
"What happened! Why do they even multiply!"Said Gord frantically and tense.
Not stopping there, the cause of the increase in the number of Treeman has been revealed. From the ground and the walls, 30 treemen crawled out. More precisely, they were just born. What the big tree shoots out is a seed, which then grows into a Treeman.
"They keep popping up! We have to get out of here, Gord."I said.
"Come on!"
We kept running without stopping to leave this place. But the Treemen chased us instead. They ran after us very quickly!
"Damn, how could they move that fast!?"Tanya Gord
"I'm also surprised, Treeman should be moving so slowly. But they are different!"
"Does this have anything to do with the big tree?"Asked Gord.
"Maybe. We need to get out and I'll report this to the adventurer's guild!!"
We talked while running in the hallway. Fortunately, the cave passageway we went through was not branched. We'll definitely get to the mouth of the cave, then get out.
Gord and I reached the end of the cave passage. Instead, we found a dead end. In front of us was a very deep abyss. We can't see the bottom. But far ahead of us, on one side of the cliff, I saw a hole that was probably the way to another cave passage.
"Dead end!? Aaaaargh!!! Behind us is also a horde of Treeman in pursuit! We can't go forward, but we can't go back! What should we do!?"
Gord grew panicked and frightened. Unlike me, I can still calm down and think of ways we can survive. This is not the first time I have faced this kind of emergency situation. I have an idea.
"Gord, I'm going to use my magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes, magic!"
I stand, facing the abyss. Then I direct my hands under my feet.
"Supporting magic, magic board!"
After casting the spell, under my and Gord's feet appeared a square board of invisibility. Then the board took me and Gord flew over the abyss. We fly on this board at very low speed.
"Wow, great. We're flying! It's incredible magic, Arde!"
"Gord, please don't move much. I still have trouble controlling this magic board. I have to be very careful."
"Good."
Whosh....
I'm picking up speed a little. We almost reached the other edge of the ravine, and got into the passage we were going.
At the edge of the ravine we left there were treemen standing, silent, and staring at us.
"Hahaha! They can't do anything to us now. We got away from them!"Gord said while showing a happy face.
I'm also glad we were able to escape that horrible creature. But I don't know why I feel bad. Something bad's gonna happen to me.
While I was thinking, suddenly the magic board we were riding on was hit by something and shook violently. Gord was surprised and held on to me.
"Wooaaah!! Why is this thing shaking!"
I looked at the tree men on the edge of the cliff. They put their hands on us. From his hands, something sharp grew. Then it rushed towards us.
Boom!!!
The magic board broke, and we fell free into the abyss.
"Woooaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!"
Gord and I shouted at the same time.
We fall to the bottom of the abyss, we will die!!
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.....
"Uhhh, what happened...."
I slowly opened my eyes. I'm in a reclining position. I looked at the ceiling, there was only darkness. I tried to get up, and I saw in front of me a small river on which there were particles of blue light flying. I was still inside the cave, and in front of me was probably an underground river with a high concentration of mana. I looked around me, and I found Gord lying far away beside me. I looked at him and checked to see if he was breathing or not. And thank God, he's still breathing.
"You're finally awake."
I heard a woman's voice behind me. I turned to face her. In front of me was a woman whose face was not clear. Her figure still looked like a dark silhouette. A few moments later, hundreds of particles of blue light shone around us, making everything clearly visible.
I finally saw a female figure in front of me, who was previously still a dark silhouette.
....
"Oh my god, it's beautiful!!!"
I accidentally said that. I immediately closed my mouth with my hand. Well, she's so beautiful and so cool. The female figure in front of me had a beautiful, fair-skinned face, deep navy blue eyes, soft thin lips, long black hair tied back, and a height that was probably about 175 cm. She wore a long black hooded jacket, and at the waist was tied by a belt that contained several small bags. She was wearing high heels with a cool design, then her hands were wearing black gloves attached to some sophisticated devices that I did not understand. Could he have come from robot Territory? Or esper's territory?
"Finally, I found you big brother."
.....
Brother? Who is he talking about? Me?
"I'm grateful, I still had a chance to meet you in this branch of fate."
After saying that, he hugged me tightly. I was surprised by the action.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?! W-why are you hugging me?! W-Who Are you?!"I said nervously.
After a few seconds we hugged, he took her arms off me. Then she looked at me with teary eyes.
"I am Kiara. Your sister, who is from another branch of Destiny."
.....
To be continued