A few hours after my fight with the Ironclaw bandits me and Jessie made it to her village, Sri. Looking at how weak-looking and dirty the girl was I figured that her home was not exactly in the best of conditions, and I was proven right as we entered through the main entrance. The village itself looked relatively small and all the buildings looked broken down with holes and cracks on the walls. There were also hundreds of villagers on and about fixing things that were broken or clearing the heavy piles of sand out of their homes. Everyone seemed exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.
"What happened to this place?"
Jessie answered, "There was a terrible famine a week ago which destroyed our homes and ruined most of our food. Our village was not the only one to suffer as many people started fighting for resources. Like the bandits you fought earlier, lately they have been occupying oases for themselves."
"You guys couldn't use the water from the oasis?"
"That's terrible…"
As we walked past the crowd of people, I buried my head deeper into my hood to make sure that no one saw my face. Jessie noticed my strange behavior and stared at me with a confused look.
"What?"
I frowned at the little girl while talking aloud in a mean tone.
Jessie got scared and quickly started facing forward and walking again.
"N-nothing!"
I knew that problems would only increase if the villagers knew who I was, which was why my only mission was to drop off Jessie and leave as fast as possible.
"That's my house!"
Jessie pointed at a house that had seen better days. There was a massive hole in the ceiling and the walls looked like they were crumbling to dust. Excited, the little girl ran to her door and knocked on it nearly a hundred times as if it were a drum.
"Mommy! Mommy I'm home!"
The door opened to reveal an adult woman who looked very identical to Jessie. The only difference was that her hair was shorter, and she seemed to be even more malnourished than her daughter.
"Jessie!"
The mother slapped her child across the top of her head. Jessie cried as she knelt and clenched the new red bump on her noggin.
"Ouch! Why did you hit me, Mommy?"
"Why?!"
The mother seemed to be so mad to the point that tears were coming out of her eyes.
"You left the house without telling me! Have you forgotten that the village chef warned us about the rising bandit activity?! Not to mention that Avaloria is running wild!"
I lifted my head after hearing the name Avaloria.
Jessie looked away from her mother's gaze and said, "I'm sorry…"
The woman then finally acknowledged my existence and stepped back in fright.
"W-who are you?"
Jessie got up and pointed at me while grinning.
"This man saved me from bandits Mommy!"
"H-he did?"
"Yes! He used his fists instead of magic! He looked so cool! His name is Nobody!"
"...Nobody?"
I facepalmed.
"He keeps calling himself Nobody so I guess that is his name!"
Jessie's mother inched closer to me.
"Is your name Nobody?"
"My name is not important," I answered. "I was just passing by when your daughter was getting attacked and decided to help. And I only came here to make sure your daughter got home safely. Now that my task is over you can carry on as if I don't exist."
Just as I was about to leave, I felt a hand grab my arm.
"Please wait!"
The one who was holding me was Jessie's mother.
"You saved my daughter's life it would be against my very being to not repay that kindness."
"That's not necessary. I do not need a reward."
"At least stay for the evening to eat with us! I have just finished gathering enough food for a decent meal and you don't seem to have any luggage on you so you must not have had anything to eat."
"As I said before I am-"
Before I could finish my sentence my very own stomach betrayed me. My bowels released a loud grumble which sounded close to a beast. I held my head down while my cheeks flushed in embarrassment Jessie pointed at me and giggled.
"Nobody's hungry! Nobody's hungry!"
"Don't make fun of him dear," Jessie's mother tried to scold her but not even she could retain her laughter. "Please it won't be much trouble for us. Come in and have dinner with us."
At that point, I hadn't eaten in three whole days. No longer without any food, I would be weak to any bandit or monster that would come across me.
After releasing a loud sigh I said, "Okay okay…"
"Very well my name is Ruth. Please come inside and sit by the table."
Being led in by Ruth and Jessie I slowly walked into the broken-down house which was filled with sand. By the open hole in the wall which seemed to serve as a window was an old man and old lady who seemed to be too dazed to notice anything else.
Ruth left me and approached the old people.
"Come, Mother, Father."
Helping the old people to their feet she led them to the middle of the house where there was a long square-like table made of sandstone. Once they were seated Ruth went into her kitchen while humming a beautiful tune to herself. I proceeded to sit down myself and felt uncomfortable due to the chairs being literal stones. My butt was starting to hurt, and I shifted constantly.
"So, Mr. Nobody."
Jessie tugged the sleeve of my cloak.
"Why are you wandering the desert all by yourself? Do you not have any friends or family?"
"...No."
"Really? What happened to them?"
"Nothing happened to them," I responded as I gently peeled the little girl's fingers off my cloak. "I…I don't have any friends or family. I have always been alone…"
Jessie tilted her head in confusion.
"That can't be true! No one is ever truly alone in the world! There must be someone out there who is close to you!"
"Jessie!"
Ruth yelled at her daughter as she came into the room with a big steam pot.
"Stop bothering the man! If he does not wish to disclose any information about himself then he doesn't have to! He saved your life so treat him with respect!"
Jessie whined as Ruth placed down the pot and took off the lead. Inside was a steaming red soup with chopped pieces of weird-looking meat. It had a very strong smell that made me scrunch my face.
"Here you go, sir! This is all the food we have now!"
"What…even is it?"
Ruth used a ladle to pour some of the soup into a bowl. She placed the filled bowl right in front of me as I looked at it questionably. However, I kept my complaints to myself to not be rude and used the wooden spoon on the table to take a bite. Surprisingly, the taste of the soup wasn't that bad, but the meat was very chewy.
For an hour everybody at the table silently ate. Once we were all done Ruth collected all our plates and started to strike up a conversation with me.
"Excuse me sir you intend to continue your travels, correct? Where are you heading?"
"To the hillside."
Ruth gave me a worried expression.
"Unless you have business there, I suggest you go elsewhere. In that area are monsters such as goblins who kill and rob anyone they come across. There is also the Ironclaw Tribe who have been harassing all the villages in Drogmaria and harboring the oases for themselves. And worse of all there is Avaloria who continues to destroy anything in her path!"
"Has the actions of the beast been getting worse?"
"Yes! Some villages have been destroyed by Avaloria! We do not know why the Silver Line of the World is so aggravated, but it seems she will not stop until all life in this continent is eradicated!"
At that moment, the ground began to shake uncontrollably. Jessie screamed in fear as she held onto her mother, and she held onto her parents. I ended up falling off my seat and hitting the ground. A minute later the shaking stopped but the house was in even more of a mess than before.
"If you haven't guessed that was Avaloria," Ruth stated while breathing heavily. "She is the cause of the strange occurrences in Drogmaria! Earthquakes and famine! Her power disrupts the very foundation of the land!"
"You're telling me that snake is causing all this chaos? Including the famines?"
I picked myself off the floor and dusted the sand off of my cloak.
"That's pretty intense but I guess it will make our meeting more exciting…"
"W-what do you mean? You intend to find Avaloria?"
"And fight her."
Ruth gasped.
"Y-you can't! Avaloria is a deity! A mortal man like you will not stand a chance!"
"Maybe…but my sword is aching to try and test its strength on a beast like that!"
"Are you some savage!? You must realize the folly of this-"
BOOM!
A loud explosion silenced all of us in the house. We hurried out the door to see that one of the village buildings was on fire and people were running around in fear. Before I could wonder what was happening my questions were answered by the sight of five men walking down the center of the village with their weapons out. Four of the men were the same four bandits that I beat up while the fifth guy was a completely new person. He was a tall and extremely muscular man covered in multiple scars from head to toe and wore an eyepatch over his left eye. He carried a giant battle axe that was nearly the same size as his gigantic body and swung as if it weighed nothing.
"We are the Ironclaw! The Rulers of Drogmaria!"
The man with the eyepatch yelled out as he continued to swing his axe. Every swing created a powerful slash that broke the ground sliced or exploded anything it touched.
"One of you bastards attacked our own! Come out now to face my axe or I shall reduce this village into rubble!"
"Do it Big Brother Drake!"
One of the four bandits screamed out while cackling.
"Maybe we can find that cloaked man in the pile of bodies…"
"Good thinking! Let's see…"
Without any form of slowing down the bandit known as Drake continued to swing his weapon and break everything near him.
"He has a wind affinity," I said to myself. "The explosion must be caused by the axe. Must be a magical weapon."
As I was about to step onto the road Jessie grabbed my cloak.
"Don't do it Mr. Nobody! That man looks really scary!"
Ruth came towards me and asked, "Those bandits are looking for you, aren't they?"
I nodded.
"Four of those guys are the same bandits that tried to attack your daughter."
Ruth turned pale and pulled Jessie away from me.
"M-Mommy?"
"You didn't tell me that the bandits you fought were from the Ironclaw! Are you out of your mind!? They are the worst possible people you can make an enemy of!"
"They were attacking your daughter, and they were not in the mood to be civil."
"The last thing the Ironclaw is civil! You need to get out of here! They will kill you when they find you or worse take you to their leader Atlug! No one outside the Ironclaw has ever seen him and lives to tell the tale! He is a powerful warrior with strong magic and is said to make any enemy of his tribe suffer a fate even worse than death!"
"Really? Sounds like a tough customer!"
I couldn't contain my laughter.
"Maybe if I manage to kill Avaloria I should pay that Atlug guy a visit."
Ruth shook her head as she stared at me as if I was some sort of creature.
"What is the matter with you!? Why are you looking for death!?"
I turned back to the lady and shrugged.
"Because I got nothing to live for. Now stay here I take care of those guys…"
Ignoring the cries from Ruth and Jessie I walked away from the house and went down the straight where the members of the Ironclaw were causing havoc. My body started to shake as I felt the enormous pressure from the magical attacks of Drake. In my mind, my end might have been near.
"Heh…in that case I should be happy…right?"