Questions

It has been a week since Mauri moved to the small village.

At first, he thought its name was Yonda Village because of the appraisal result he got from the ruin before, but he was wrong. The village doesn't have a name because they have only been here for one generation, with a total of 20 households and an average of 4 people per house.

Mauri lived in the village chief's house, and there were four other people living under the same roof – Chief Norman, his son Zarc, his daughter-in-law Amalia, and the newborn son who hasn't been named yet.

The village chief's house was located around five hundred meters from the front gate. On the left side was an ox shed with a wooden cart parked beside it; on the right side was a horse stable with only two aging warhorses living inside.

Its layout was no different from a medieval two-story house on Earth, with stone and wood as the main materials, and a stone staircase located on the side, near a dirt road and rows of vegetable plots.

Mauri lived in a 12-square-meter room on the second floor. When the village chief said it was an empty room, it really meant that it was empty, with no bed or wardrobes available.

He didn't mind sleeping on the floor since the weather during the day was very hot and dry. Before he time-traveled, it was summer in his country, so he just assumed that it would be summer here too.

But... Once the sun set and the sky darkened, the cold wind almost made him freeze to death in his sleep. It was so cold and unbearable for a tropical baby who had never seen snow – although it didn't snow at all.

The cashmere quilt given by the village chief helped him get through the cold nights, but he still felt aggrieved. He wanted to move out immediately and build his own house with a fireplace placed near his bed.

Even though he was busy complaining in his heart, his hands were not idle as they dragged the well rope to draw water. He poured the water into a large wooden basin at his feet, then lifted the wooden basin and brought it to the kitchen behind the village chief's house.

During this week, he really felt the inconvenience of living without modern inventions.

Every time he wanted to cook, take a bath, wash clothes, and help the village chief water his vegetable plots, he had to go out and draw water from the community well, which was basically no different from weightlifting.

As he boiled the water inside a small iron pot, he poured chopped potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and corn grains inside. Then, he added a pinch of salt and stirred the soup with a long ladle until the vegetables' texture became mushy.

The delicious aroma started to spread through the whole house and wafted outside.

"Oh, what a nice smell," Zarc walked in from outside with a dead hare dangling from his waist, while his hand was dragging a bunch of firewood tied with a rope.

"Did you hunt in the mountain behind the village? Or was it in the dragon forest?" Mauri asked while busy adding firewood below the earthen stove to reduce the fire. When he glanced at Zarc, he looked surprised. "Wow! You finally caught something, huh?"

Zarc dropped the hare on the chopping board. His expression looked smug as he answered him. "The mountain behind the village was huge, and there were a lot of undiscovered places! The prey over there wasn't vigilant because we've never hunted there before."

"Is that so?" Mauri wore woolen gloves on his hands before he lifted the pot and put it on the dining table. "By the way, I heard your father called the village elders again for another meeting. I wonder what it's all about?"

He was just asking out of curiosity, but when he noticed the unnatural expression on Zarc's face, he immediately waved his hand. "Hey, it's okay if you don't want to answer. I don't need to know."

Zarc just sighed and sat at the chair. "It's not a secret, I can tell you."

"Oh? What happened?" Mauri sat across from him at the dining table. He prepared breakfast for two people, then he saved the rest for the village chief and his daughter-in-law, who was in confinement after giving birth.

"Well… where should I start…" Zarc mumbled a bit before he finally explained. "You know that every creature needs magic energy to continue living, right?"

"Huh? It's kind of like oxygen, then?" Mauri asked in doubt.

"Oxygen? What is that?"

"It's, uh… Nothing." Mauri just realized that this world might not have the same principles as Earth, so he told Zarc to continue.

Zarc chugged a glass of water and said, "Okay, so the demonic energy that leaked from the sealed Abyss has a negative impact on the magic energy. Although it's not to the point of destroying the living space of humans and beasts, it will decrease the amount of magic energy in the air and slow down the growth of magicians or even natural magical creatures."

Mauri nodded, only half-understanding. He thought that the world was more complicated than he thought.

At first, he thought that the withering grasses and crops were caused by a natural disaster, but... demonic energy?

From the name itself, it sounds ominous and evil. Maybe the Abyss that he mentioned before was from the Evil Camp? Then, does it mean that humans are from the Good Camp? What about the Neutral Camp?

There were too many questions left unanswered in his mind.

Although he wanted to ask Zarc about the camps, he was afraid that it would expose his questionable origin. After all, it might be common knowledge that everyone knows, and he didn't want to appear suspicious.

Mauri wanted to live a peaceful life, and he had no choice but to seek answers by observing more instead of asking in a hurry.