32 The Village

The tall palisade walls with its pointy tips soar up at tree's length, inside was a tall watch tower that protruded over the walls. The man on standby in the tower seemed to have noticed them, he gestured to someone directly below him.

Then a moment passed, the tall, wooden gates swung open in a slow pace, when it got opened wide, they noticed the gates were being heaved by a group of men.

Seeing they weren't suspicious of any humans, their defenses were obviously focused on demons alone. Blue and Celina strolled and entered the village gates.

The men behind the gate stared at Celina surprised. "You, are you the Light Wielder?" A middle aged man said.

Celina nodded.

They then gazed at each other with amusement, then back to her. "What is an important person doing in this place?" One man said.

"Well, I'm thinking of resting in here for the night." Celina said.

The men pushed each other as they asked for her attention. "Miss, you can try my inn."

"No. I have an extra room, I can offer you for free." Another butted in.

"Wait, try mine, we will offer you free food." One jumped in.

Celina winced a bit, weirded out, she moved several steps backwards and chuckled in a friendly manner, hoping she won't be rude. She grabbed on Blue tightly, then dragged him with her. "Blue, let's go." She whispered. Then they went away. "Sorry, guys but I'd like to turn down your request."

They went away, and when she got far enough, she panted to rest herself. Blue narrowed his eyes upon the environment they just entered.

One assessment of the village, it was composed of casually designed wooden homes with twatched roof, most had a porch on their fronts. The village was a small one, the other side of the palisade gate were already within their sight, the houses that surrounded them were countable. Inside, they could clearly see the broad palisade walls enclosing the entire village, somewhat blocking the view of the woods.

The sky seared in red, the fluffy couds were burnt in hot crimson, even with the sun absent from their sight they could still guess it was already sunset. Stars glow faintly upon the dark-red sky portrait, revealing half of its glow while most of the stars were still hidden awaiting the full force of the night.

While Blue spaced out as he surveyed the village, Celina tapped his shoulder. "Hey, we need to go and find an inn, I'm getting hungry. Can you come with me?" She said.

"What are you five? Go on by yourself." Blue blurted.

Celina gave an irritated gasp. "Geez Blue, I have no time for jokes, we need to move now."

Using his own arm, he motioned for her to go away. "You can go on first, I'd like to roam this place for a while." He said, then spun away.

She rose her lower lip, she lurched forward and grabbed hold of his arm, and then dragged him with her. "You know that I have a bad feeling about this place, you can't just leave me here." She said assertively.

Blue smacked his lips, he retreived his arm away from her clasp. "Fine woman." He said.

Celina yelped in excitement. "Yey, so let's go Blue." She went on first, strutting away.

Blue sighed in defeat. "Your annoying presence might kill me before your magic can." He whispered.

Outside the inn, they stepped upon a wooden stairs that led to a porch that was slightly elevated from the ground, infront of them was a double door, they could peer through the gap between the doors. They could hear the rowdy and rough noises of the men inside, Celina pushed the doors and entered, the room was fairly lit, she then sifted her eyes, appraising the room's interior.

Rotund, grimy tables filled most of the spaces of the room, they were seated by brawn men, who seemed to be the villagers, none of them were fighters, except for one table on the corner that were striking on firat glance. It was seated by five men with swords draping on their waists.

On their front was the front desk, and behind it was the inn keeper, who kept on puffing some smoke as he bit the tip of the tobacco pipe on his lips. He was a middle aged bald man with a scruffy beard.

The two gaited across the room, the people around snuck a glance upon them, Celina could feel a prickle on her skin, it was obvious for her even if they tried to hide their stares. Celina gulped as she probably sensed some malintent from the strangers, regardless, she continued until she reached the front desk.

The innkeeper stood up, he leaned forward and dropped his weight upon the desk. "Is there something you need?"

"How much for a room?" She said.

The innkeeper breathed in his pipe then blew out some smoke. "Every room is occupied, you have to try the other room."

Celina sighed in dismay.

A voice reached their ears coming from behind. "Hey, miss Light Mage care to join us." A man said.

She whirled to check it, she saw three men who casted friendly smiles to her, she sensed no malevolence or deceit behind their faces, they were probably sincerely kind. She was reluctant at first but due to their persistence, she was forced to nod at some point. She then faced Blue, "Hey Blue come with me."

Blue narrowed his eyes upon her. "This again woman?" He said then spun, and trotted away. "I'm tired of your nonesense."

Celina hugged his waist causing him to stop. "Please Blue, I would feel uncomfortable being alone with them."

Blue grunted. "Then, just refuse."

"I can't, I already said yes." She said, tightly locking him on place.

Blue growled and couldn't decide what to do at this point, he complied eventually, they were given some seats as they joined in on their table.

"I was surprised to hear that the light mage came to visit our small village." The tallest man said.

The burly man nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

Atop the table was a metallic grey brazier which held a candle, it illuminated their vicinity. Around it were the mugs of men, the ale frothed inside it, pluming an alcoholic stench on the air.

Celina chuckled aa she tried to force herself into the conversation. "Well we came here by chance." She said.

"So where do you plan to go now Miss mage?" The bearded man asked.

"To the north west." She said.

The tallest man seemed excited. "Then, are you gonna stop his highness?" He said.

Celina sighed. "Maybe at some point." She said with a voice only stronger than a whisper.

The burly man grunted, he slammed his fist on the table, startling anyone close, he growled as he glared upon the tallest guy. "Don't you dare call that pig his highness, call him a swine. Everyone suffered because of his selfishness, that bastard." He blurted with a flushed cheeks, it was obvious he was already drunk.

The tallest man chuckled and let his bursting words brush by over him. "Calm yourself, if any loyalist were to to hear you, you might dig a grave for yourself."

The burly man huffed in rage. "Let them come and get this fist." He said stubbornly.

Celina forced a brief laugh, the bearded man slid her a clean mug of ale. "Miss mage, do you want some drink?"

She shook her head. "No, I prefer wine."

The bearded man hollored across the room. "Hey, she wants some wine!"

A waitress came to her side, her clothes were stained as though giving an impression she had been working non stop from the collective ale spilled upon her. "What would you like?" She said to Celina.

"Well, any good wine will do." Celina said.

The waitress nodded. "The most expensive is two silvers, the cheapest one we got is one silver and ten bronze coin."

Celina stroke her chin, she recalled Don's words not to spend profusely, but anyway who cares, Don wasn't here. "I'll take three bottles of the most expensive wine you have."

The men around her were astonished and had a bit of worry written on their faces. "That's a lot of money Miss mage." The bearded man said.

Celina felt assured when she checked the money inside her bag, she still had a lot of money so splurging several silver coins won't affect her that much. But one silver coin was enough to feed oneself for a week with a good money management.

The waitress scampered away and went to the front desk where the innkeeper was.

The bearded man pointed at Blue. "Hey sad guy, maybe you want some ale?"

The tall man chuckled. "What are you brooding there for, join us." He said.

Blue grunted. "Shut your traps, I'm not in the mood right now." He said harshly, turning the air around them cold.

Celina hit his head. "Blue, behave yourself." She then turned to the men. "Sorry, my friend here is just suffering from depression. I hope you can understand."

They were silenced, and when they returned to their senses, they forced a laugh to maintain the mood.

"Oh, don't worry, one day he'll be happy." The burly man said.

The tallest man sighed. "Maybe, I can cheer him up."

Blue smirked. "Don't bother, I already heard every joke there is, nothing will surprise me anymore." He said coldly.

The burly man laughed. "Pretty bold of you to say that, sounds like you're challenging me, ha ha ha."

The slim wine bottles were delivered to her, she was given a glass as well. Celina turned to Blue, she was slightly vexed when she saw he was the only one who didn't have a drink. "Hey Blue, do you want some?"

"I don't drink." He said.

"Then, what do you want?" Celina said.

"Human blood." Blue said coldly.

Celina frowned, creasing her face. "Except for that one." She said somewhat annoyed

Upon noticing his throat was a bit parched, he thought he might need to consume some liquid. "If you bring me some milk I might consider drinking it." Blue said.

The men nickered. Celina sealed her lips as she was about to burst into laughter.

Blue eyed them irritated. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Celina giggled beside him. "I didn't know you have a cute side, Blue."

The bearded man could barely keep his laughter, he called the waitress. After she went to their side she waited as the bearded man spoke. "Can we order a milk for our little guy here."

The waitress chuckled. "We have ran out of mugs for now."

The bearded man proceeded. "That will be fine, you can just call his mother so he can suck on her breast."

The other men bursted into laughter. "What is he? A toddler" The tallest man added.

Celina laughed heavily as well besides Blue. "Good one uncle, let me try." She cleared her throat, their attention gathered to her. "No wonder why he's so pale." She chuckled, expecting a laugh.

It was answered by an awkward silence, she fluttered her eyelids as embarrassment boiled up on her face. "Get it? Because, he has the same skin color as a milk?" She said with a fading voice. Sweat started to drip on her face.

Blue bursted a fake laugh that echoed across the room. "Hahaha, I find it funny, you're a true comedian woman."

Celina got irked, she then stomped upon his foot, which caused him to wince and cease laughing. She snorted as she looked away.

The men laughed. "Missy, leave the jokes to us, ha ha ha." They slammed the table with every laugh they got.

The men continued scoffing. "He's probably just sad because he hasn't had milk for years." They spout a jeering laugh. Celina was incited to chuckle as well.

Blue gritted his teeth as he grunted, he glowered upon them, flaring his sharp, raging eyes. "Okay, I had enough of you fools." He spat.

The men nervously chuckled, they held out their arms gesturing Blue to stop. "Sorry for that, we're just kidding haha." One said.

Blue sprang up from his seat and oozed out a strong bloodlust throughout the room, it sent some jitters on their spines. Celina pulled him to sit down. "Blue that was just a joke, calm down. Don't take it seriously, geez." She said.

Blue sighed, vebting his frustration on his words. "Yeah, the joke earlier even caused you to stay silent for hours. Tell me once again straight to my face about taking jokes seriously. Hmmph, stupid woman."

Celina stuck out her tongue, she grinned snarkily.

He returned on his chair, his keen ears picked up something odd, he focused his hearing on a certain table on the corner. Lately, one table have been eyeing Celina since she came went inside the room.

***

On a table found on the corner, Five men drew their face close to each other as though they were in a meeting, every minute or so they cast a glance upon Celina's table. Then the double doors slid open, a person with a dark cloak stepped inside the room.

The men became uneasy when they noticed the approaching dark cloak person. "It's Grim." One said anxiously.