CHAPTER 41: SLAYING THE BEAST

The old village chief came up to the soldiers and pulled the staring man back just as he realised the situation was getting worse.

He held the staring man tight as he forced him to lower his head, along with his own, and apologised furiously to the captain as if it was his own head dta stake,

"His wife just passed away a couple nights ago, my lord. He is a bit down on his luck. Please forgive him for his folly."

He couldn’t be blamed however, he had heard too many incidents of chiefs taking the wrath of lords and squires because of villagers.

"How did she die?"

The captain crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked the village chief in his eyes, commanding his authority, not allowing any consolation to the chief.

In response the chief shifted in his position, trying to stay away from his line of sight, refusing to make eye to eye contact.

"She... died of natural causes my lord."

The captain’s eyes went cold as he kept glaring in the village chief’s eyes.

"What about the woman? Who is she? How did her husband and child die?"

He continued asking.

The village chief discreetly looked in the direction of the woman who was still looking at the ground with downcast shoulders, as if whatever was going on in front of her did not bother her in the slightest.

"She is the widow of a hunter that used to live at the edge of the village, my lord. He died a few years ago while hunting, while their child likely died at the hands of some beats while playing in the forest."

Hearing this the captain looked towards the old woman standing a bit behind the crowd, not too far, but certainly not close to any of the peers from the village.

In the end he just took a deep breath as he shook his head a little before saying sternly,

"His bearing isn’t right. Take him to a priest before he does something untowards, to himself, or to others. Understood?"

He put special emphasis on others as he gave another glare to the poor elder before turning around towards the tent they had pitched a little further, moving towards it but not inside, along with the robed man.

"Certainly Sire. Certainly."

The village bowed successively before getting back himself.

The remaining few people shortly and quickly have their own signs of ’bad omen’ before almost everyone was concluded successfully.

Almost because one woman was still remaining.

The man in a fancy burgundy coat and black leather boots who had been watching silently without a movement for the whole time finally made a move.

He started walking towards the villagers just as the soldier recording the testimonies was about to call for the downcast woman that was accused by the eerie man.

Seeing the man make a move, every villager, and even the soldiers, straightened their backs instinctively, watching every move of the man with somewhat bated breaths.

The man came up to the woman who hadn’t even glanced at the whole ordeal since the moment it started.

She just stood with the same expression for the whole couple hours without a sound.

The man asked her,

"Do you have nothing to add about the night of the full moon?"

The question hung in the air for an awkward moment, for another, and another and enough that the chief had once again taken a step towards the man to answer in her stead.

However before he could say anything the man raised a hand towards him, shutting him down while still looking at the woman in front of him.

"I’ll ask you again, did you notice anything strange the night of the full moon?"

The moment stretched another few seconds as everyone anxiously waited for the next ordeal.

Fortunately for all of them however, the woman finally showed some movement as she slowly shook her head side to side while still not looking up.

The man took her response in with neutral expression before asking again,

"When did your child die?"

.

.

.

"He is not dead."

A very faint voice came from the woman. So faint one would have missed it if not for the absolute silence of the spectators.

Even the winds and leaves had stopped moving for an instant.

"Is that so? Well then where is he?"

No answers came this time no matter how long they waited. Thus the man asked again, something different this time,

"When did you last see him?"

.

.

.

"Harvest. Waning summer."

The man’s face changed subtly as he nodded somewhat, losing interest he turned back once again and started moving back towards the camp of the soldiers.

He hadn’t moved far before he heard from his back,

"He’ll be back very soon."

He stopped for a millisecond before continuing moving, although adding some words even as he went further.

"I’d love to meet him, then."

***

"Fuh.... Fuhin finally this shihhh... haah.. haah..."

Noctis ravenously devoured the air as he blubbered his victory while lying on a huge icy hill the shape of a giant egg with broken long shards of ice strewn across the void and blue ephemeral water.

After immense time and effort, he had finally managed to slay this beast that kept nuking him for the last fortnight or something.

Lying on the ice was a very novel, but extremely soothing feeling. Noctis felt himself rewarded along with gratitude as he still remembered his state in the strange sea not too long ago.

’I better stop thinking about that, lest I might actually develop a phobia.’

Noctis just closed his eyes and basked in the glory of his first monster slaying of this fantastical world.

Well technically there was the elk in the forest too, but this thing, this was an entire different realm altogether. It has taken him weeks of grind just to get to witness this monstrosity.

Suffice to say the feeling of exhilaration was not the same as that after slaying the bulky but one spotted elk.

This was far superior to hard, it could make one feel helpless in the face of itself.

Not to discredit himself of course.

While reminiscing about his achievements, the matter of utmost importance came to knocking his brain.

’So... what now?’