Dike's Recluse

It turns out that the forest was really all filled with wild animals, yet it was strange that there weren't much unwanted plants and bugs there which made me like the place.

After a few kilometers, I climbed up a thick and tall tree once more and as soon as I got on top, I saw a nearby village further south, and it was surrounded by a valley. There was a small lake towards the east which led to a river that connected to the mountain.

On the west side of the valley, there was a path that led outside town.

I got down and told them what I saw before we proceeded towards the edge of the valley. Before we entered town, I wanted no troubles so I told them that we should probably watch over the distance to see how the people there were.

It wasn't far enough for us to not see the dots of people, but it was a good vantage point to see the general outlook of the place.

From our location, I can see a few large rocks on the side of the road, which had a bridge that connected the elevated town within the lake.

"Wow. What is this place?"

The two girls only tilted and shook their heads as we observed the place below.

There was a large wall that surrounded the town, yet it was only as tall as two adults. From here I can see that there was a cave entrance on the middle part that looked like a hill, and there were a few thin railings that surrounded it.

The entrance had an archway with two guards that didn't belong to any of the large three factions, so this town must be recently new. People rarely left and entered yet there were a lot of people inside.

"Doesn't seem like it's dangerous if there's a lot of people, right?" Three asked as she glanced over my shoulder and appreciated the scenery with a nod of approval.

"I remember some movies where these kinds of places usually housed in the occult so I'm not sure....."

"Did you say something?" Aunt asked me after I finished murmuring to myself.

"Nah. If it's not safe, it's not like we can't escape from the height of that wall, right?"

"With the three of us at the Master-level, I don't think they'll be able to lock us there."

"Me? Master-level?"

"So humble." Three picked on her ear as she walked away.

"If you weren't Master-level, how did we got away from William?" Aunt put her hands on her hips, her tone slightly lower than usual as if scolding me.

"Um... Okay?"

"What okay? You should avoid feeling always like a lamb, Kaff. Did you already forget what Yona-sis said?"

"No."

'Become someone with ambition.'

If not me, then who'll be able to defeat Hamion?

Since the other gods won't do it because of fear of retaliation, then who will?

With that, we also followed after Three which was now on the bottom of a nearby downward slope.

...

The paved road led to town looked very familiar. Is this asphalt? Compared to the roads in Phione which was made by bricks, seeing asphalt was a new experience for me.

As I saw earlier, the big rocks on the side towered and blocked most of the winds that kept the path warm. Near the gate, there was a small house that seemed to be out of place. It was surrounded by a fence that only reached up to Three's chest so it wasn't that high. The fence extended for a few meters before it ended its corner at a tree.

"Does that house look out of place?" Aunt stopped in front of the fence and observed the house within. Three also went towards it, so I followed.

"There are always strange things happening whenever I'm with Kaff so I bet it's owner is another weird person." The two of them glanced at me as Three slowly moved her line of sight towards me.

"What?"

"Oh, there are visitors?" A voice of a man sounded from the front and from his tone, it was not hostile nor friendly. But it had this mellow tone that made people sleepy.

"Hello, sir. I hope you don't mind us being here." I greeted the unknown person behind the door with a slightly loud voice as I might not get heard from the other side.

The door slightly opened and a guy with a yellow shirt and blue pants appeared. His overall clothing looked a bit worn out as if it went through all kinds of hard labor. It kinda reminded me of the blue-collared job workers from my world which I also get to commute with.

Looking closely, his eyes were brown and his hair was a cut short black. His hands looked hard and his arms firm, as if he tended to a farm all of his life.

"I don't mind it. Everyone that gets to go towards the town always drops by here."

"If your house is like that then it really gets the attention." Aunt quickly whispered on my ear, and my eye slightly twitched.

"I usually don't take too long outside, but if you need anything else, just call me. I'm Old Man Garner."

"You don't look like an old man though." Three replied as she twirled her hair with her finger.

"That's nice of you, young lady."

"My name's Kaff. Nice to meet you, sir."

"I'm Arc, and this little girl is Three."

"Perhaps, you'll enjoy your stay. Welcome to Dike's Recluse."

"Thank you, sir. We'll get going then."

I bowed my head slightly as I bade farewell, and the two followed.

"Hm?"

Just as I turned around, the guy was already gone.

"What's the matter, Kaff?"

"I just thought I heard him say something, but he was already gone."

Not thinking much about earlier, we continued to walk towards the arched gate. From this distance, I could already see the people inside the town.

Right at the very front was a very wide and tall building, and above its doors a sign with the label "Town Hall" hung. There was a statue of someone in front of the town hall which also served as a fountain.

The people around were so busy that no one really noticed us coming in.

"We should find a clothes shop first." I glanced at Three and from her clothing, I couldn't agree more with Aunt.

Towards the right side, was the slope that went upwards going to the cave at the top, while the left side had all sorts of shops. Since we're going to find new clothes for Three, we went there and browsed the path.

"Wait... there's something really important that we all forgot about." Aunt tightly gripped our shoulders as we were about to step in to another store.

Seeing her serious expression, I could only ask.

"What is it?"

"MONEY. IT'S MONEY!" Aunt whispered yet I could hear the emphasis on her tone.

"Don't worry, Three is... eh?"

She slowly shook her head as I glanced towards her. Her eyes were quivering and his face darkened.

"Let's find some place where we could sell some things then."

They all agreed and then we asked a few of the shopkeepers about selling things, and they were kind enough to point us towards deep the path. More and more people were walking on and about and there were all kinds of various stalls. Some people were even on the ground with only a large piece of cloth served as their stall.

People were loudly exclaiming as they bartered for item prices.

I held on to Three's and Aunt's hands as soon as the crowd density increased.

"Make sure we don't lose each other."

"If we get lost, we should probably meet by the fountain."

"That's a great idea. It's only one path so let's hope we get done with this soon."

...

Hours have passed, and noon finally became afternoon, then dusk came. I got lost on the way but hopefully the two hadn't separated from each other.

"This place is still lively, eh?" It was already getting dark and it looked like the party just begun.

Good thing I sold a lot of fly swatters, they're really handy, especially for the butcher. I wasn't sure which dress to buy for Three though as I'm not sure as to what her size is. I could only make an assumption from her height and hope that what I bought suited her.

"I hope they're both at the fountain."

Along with a heavy pouch of coins, my other hand held a leather bag which contained a few dresses.

Of course, Aunt's clothes are included too.

Going back towards the direction of the fountain, I skirted through the massive crowd which didn't seem to end.

Sure enough, after another hour I was able to go back to the fountain. They were also there, but from the way they looked...

"What's up, Aunt, Three?"

Once they heard my voice, the two immediately rushed and embraced me. My small body was fully enveloped by Aunt and Three could only complain on the side as she hugged us from the side.

"I... I-I thought I lost you..." I felt my shoulders slightly getting wet.

"Don't worry, Aunt. Do you remember what I told you before? I won't leave you. Please, stop crying." I took off her hands and smiled at her. Her teary eyes make my heart a bit heavy.

"You... you also can't leave me...!" Three stepped back a bit and snorted towards the side. I don't think she's a tsundere, though.

"What do I do with you two... it's like I'm the adult here instead."

"No you're not!" The two of them replied in unison.

"W-well... if you insist. By the way, I happened to know where we could stay for the night."

I led the way and this time, we went towards behind the large town hall, and there was a series of buildings smaller than the town hall. Each of them had different sizes yet their walls had no gaps in between, as if the space here was limited.

"Somehow the way this place is managed looks modern....." I only murmured to myself as we briskly walked straight while we viewed each of the structures.

A while later we finally found a tall red building which had a staircase on the side. The windows were all at the front, and the doors were on the side where the staircases ascended in a spiral form. On each floor there was only a single door.

The spiral staircase was very wide though, at least eight people could walk on it and it would still not feel narrow.

"The old lady I sold a flyswatter to, told me that this place only lets in through an invitation. Good thing she liked my flyswatter and even bought a bunch, then gave me this token as a gift."

I showed them a token that looked like a small red tree branch that split into two.

"Doesn't look fancy." Three quickly commented and glanced at the large staircase instead.

"As long as we could stay for the night safely, anywhere's fine."

We started to climb the staircase along with a few other people. The lights were a bit dim and the only sources were lamps that glowed in orange. It doesn't look like fire was used to light up these lamps, though.

After eight floors, we finally found a path that led to a wall that had a carving on it that looked exactly the same as the small token I had. As we saw from earlier, the people only walked towards here and they magically went through without resistance.

"I hope this works."

Touching the wall with my left foot, I felt no resistance. Without hesitation I walked straight through the wall and the lights inside almost blinded me.

When my eyes finally got used to the brightness, I saw a reception on the front, and behind the counter were all doors.

"You have company? I could sell you some more tokens but there's only one remaining for now. I'll have to wait for the master to come in and create more before the last person can come in."

On the desk was a young woman that had a fit clothing which was made of an unknown material, probably something like cotton yet it looked hard.

Looking behind I only saw Three and Aunt staring at the thin transparent membrane which seems to be the illusive wall outside.

"How much does one cost?"

"Only three hundred silver coins."

Is she trying to scam me? Or did I happen to have received a generous gift? It wasn't enough to deplete my current money so I didn't hesitate to buy one. Yet three hundred silver coins, if I'm correct that's how much Mom made for about two months of hunting.

"I'll get two, and you can give me the one you have right now. I'll pre-order the other one in advance."

"Pre-order?"

"I mean to say that I'll buy the other one in advance."

"That's fine, but the other person still can't enter."

"It's okay. Here." As soon as I handed a smaller pouch containing three hundred silver coins, she quickly took out a similar looking token from her sleeve.

"Seems that this place is safe, yep." I took the token and went out again, meeting the two which already looked a bit worried.

"Looks like you need a token to enter, right?" Aunt had her one hand on her hips as I showed up.

"Here are two tokens. You two can go in, I forgot to buy something so you go pick our room for now."

"Are you sure, Kaff? It's starting to get late."

"No worries. By the way, Three's new clothes are in here, and Aunt's are in here. I hope these fit you well." With a smile, I gave the leather bags to them and quickly went down the staircase.

"I'll be back soon, don't worry!"