11 + Welcome Home +

A few hours have passed since Folke came back home. It has been clear that most of the warriors in the battle near the shore have been killed. Out of the hundred people that came to the battle under half of the original warriors were still alive.

It looked like mostly the older men had been killed, fathers and uncles. While the younger men who were shell shocked by the experience had pride in their hearts because they survived what they believed to be the best battle in the world.

`This should spell disaster in the long term; they won't be able to defend themselves or attack for resources. They'll be lacking behind the resources and manpower to pay for the tribute this month around.` Folke looked at the situation and did a quick observation which didn't match his usual behavior.

There were emotional reunions between the small number of people in the village, the village population was at least Five hundred or so before the fight dropping down to an estimated Four hundred and they were also closely gathered together. Making the reunions more personal between everyone.

Folke didn't know how much time he had to kill his past and he didn't want to question the scary system either so he assumed that he needed to do it soon. He didn't want to wait for the village to be punished for their tribute which should usually result in some execution of some sort.

Returning to his childish self he cackled within his mind `With this new power I should be able to just kill everyone easily and then I could also make a name for myself!` Folke was still on a power high after defeating the two enemy warriors. His confidence was at a hall time high and he also was able to push people with armor away with the punch of his fists.

Folke was looking at the village from a somewhat tall tree with both feet on it. If someone could see him they'd probably be able to see a tall teen with armor flexing his muscles which was barely visible due to his armor looking at his arms. After the short narcissistic moment with himself Folke began to wait near his little shack for the darkness to fall beneath them.

In the meantime he made a torch from the surrounding environment twigs sticks, etc. He didn't think much of having a sneaky approach; he expected most of the men to be too drunk to fight back and also just too weak after the fight. If he could also burn down the building they were in it would be great to!

He heard movement behind the shack door and a few voices speaking within the shack, He could barely understand what the two prisoners were doing and what they were even talking about. He got up and looked through his windows to see that the woman was against the wall attempting to free herself while the man was in the process of attempting to free his arms while mumbling and groaning.

He walked to the door, removed the barrier and slowly creaked the door to greet his awake prisoners. ``Hello there.`` He opened the door causing the room to go silent, The two prisoners had yet to see him fully open the door yet, It was kind've half open with the only visible feature was the hilt of his sword and his armored forearm.

He heard a curse and a female say ``I thought you said no one was outside!`` It was filled with frustration and rage toward her subordinate.

``There shouldn't be anyone here I checked myself!`` He fervently said back to the woman. Which made her more terrified than she already was.

Folke just wanted to scare the two but what he heard made him confused. He didn't make any measures to hide his presence from the two and he hadn't heard when the assassin had woken up until he heard him struggling with the ropes. Suggesting that they might've been awake for some time before attempting their escapes. The only person who had the answer for this was the well educated Annie.

Annie had learned from her many teachers that magic users can't be detected using normal methods of sound; only experts on the matter of detection can do it and if the mage was really experienced in hiding themselves or in a middle rank they could only be detected by the use of magic.

More certain magic knights had this effect more, Magic knights take in magic through the air meaning they don't need air as much and their breathing slows down a lot and also at the second stage where the muscles are enhanced they become rather lighter depending on the muscle developed.

They could've heard folke when he was walking to the door with the already finished torch, but the novice didn't really want to double check if what he said was right or wrong.

Folke fully opened the door after a momentary pause revealing himself to them, Folke gave off a barbaric look with a smile and he hadn't washed off the blood from his hair and his face. Which gave him this dominating presence within the room the moment he was seen.

The prisoners looked at him with sheer shock and horror, from the empire they expected the worst they expected from the barbarian to do, well were barbarian things. Stories from the pillaged villages across the empire revealed how brutal the looters were when dealing with other people sticking people on crosses, making effigies and a brutal torturing method.

He looked at the two prisoners and then outside the door, The sun was beginning to set and it would soon be his time to destroy his home village and then most likely destroy this shack. He turned his head back toward the prisoners and began to walk toward them.

They shivered and then their visions in lapses went black as soon as Folke was within kicking distance between them and him. He had delivered two swift kicks to their jaws causing them to dislocate and knock the two out. He wasn't sure if he used too much force. He didn't want to kill the two in no way whatsoever.

But Folke shrugged `If I killed them I could always resort to dumping their bodies amongst the dead of the village.` He was walking out of the little shack, closing the door and replacing the barrier of the place.

His walk to the village was long even though he could rush and do it fast he didn't feel it was a right thing to do, even though he was willing to kill everyone in the village he still remembered a few good memories about this place while he was a little lad and not being bullied into beating people up for a boss.

As he entered the village entrance, he saw the houses which lead up to the long house in the center of the village where the village mayor was located and where the feast was happening. The gate had no guards because they were all enjoying themselves from the recent battle.

The mayor position was added some time ago when the mysterious first warlord came to land and determined who the strongest warrior was in the village who was also versed in knowledge and history should be the leader of these small settlements.

The position was for life until the mayor decided to give it up, But that title was quickly abused and mostly passed onto their son turning the tradition of the strongest warrior best suited for the village into a monarchy. This was mostly because the mayor was the most influential person in the village and had the money of the villagers so some families created factions such and most joined the mayor faction.

Unless you were from a big family you had no chance of getting the position of being the mayor unless you staged something similar to regicide.

But regardless of this, the mayor of his village was an old craven too scared to fight and overly cautious during times of peace and more so during times of wars. The mayor was required to lend all of his men in today's battle. If he had it his way the village would've never been seen in battle and he could've stayed and defended the village but culture decided against such acts.

And culture also decided to mourn their losses through celebration. Celebrating the dead fighters who threw away their lives when they would have fared better in a siege. What a perfect cultural tradition.