8 Wolfcrest Village (1)

It wouldn't be fair to say he was disappointed with the sight of Wolfcrest Village when he finally arrived—he was given the sight of a place where he could see all the houses. A place with hardly any tall structures reaching up to third and even fourth floors, along with concrete buildings made it tiny when he compared it to the City of Gloria's lined and numerous buildings and sprawling streets.

But this was the place to be.

In the corner of his vision, the sight of a cool and lush forest awaited him. It was much thicker and denser than the patch of woods he stayed in last night, and according to the village built beside it, the forest was filled with a great number of dangerous wolves.

Alongside that was a good number of ingredients grew there, the ones he wanted for alchemy.

"Finally," He wiped some sweat off his brow and temporarily stepped into the village's entrance, which were simply some wooden structures one could barely call a wall.

He gained some looks from a couple of people and even some waves. Children chased after each other on the dirt patch roads, a wild comparison to the busy stone streets where carriages might have trodden past such small kids. It was an unfamiliar sight and the mere fact they had no Guards approaching him to assess him spoke of how small the village was and how the need for security wasn't as prevalent.

Until the friendlier folks approached him and it started to make sense on why they had no need for Guards. These busybodies were more than happy to gather information about any traveler coming by, and he was the victim of the day.

"Where are you from, kid?" Someone asked casually.

It wasn't as if this man hadn't just approached him from out of nowhere.

Another person called out from the comforts of their hut, rocking on a chair and relaxing under their rickety and ill-tiled roof while smoking a long pipe. "You look like you come from a long way. Would you like to rest a bit?"

"Oh my, a young man like coming here all by himself? That's rare!"

"Do you have any relatives here, boy?"

Owen scratched his head and bowed lightly, keeping guard on his backpack. Dealing with muggers seemed easier than with these folks. "Good morning, can I ask for directions towards your Village Head's place? ...it's true that I've just arrived here, but I'm looking into settling in here."

A little honesty would do him good.

He had no reason to get upset too when they were all being genuinely curious and inquisitive. Owen tried to keep the smile on his face, twitching to fall off the moment another person asked him a question. This was still a bit too much for him and he wanted to get away and settle down in an inn asap—

"Out of the way guys, I'll show this city boy around." A young man finally stepped up to him. At least this one was around his age at last, even though the man looked unkempt with his shaggy brown hair and clothes.

"How did you know he's from a city?"

"A city? Are you from Northelm? Stelfield? Somewhere else?"

"Well, Toby has a good eye."

Owen noted down the information and turned to the boy. "Well, I'd appreciate your help, Toby. You've somehow guessed I'm from a city which is impressive." He didn't actually mean it, but this a silent plea for help before somebody actually dragged him to their hut.

He couldn't retaliate when they were ordinary village people, but somehow almost as insistent as Nobles, if he had to be honest.

This 'Toby' gave him a stink eye, but nodded—probably because they were surrounded by other people and in a village this small, and it probably mattered a lot. "It's Tobias for you, but alright, follow me. Let's get you out of here."

"Thank you."

And so the walk to the Village Head's place, which was really just a slightly larger house after five minutes of walking happened. Despite the gruff introduction and rough start, Tobias didn't say anything else except when he was about to step into the Village Head's house.

Tobias scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I'm not sure what it is that you city folks think you'll get by moving to some random village—but I've seen many men like you leave in less than a week."

"I won't be surprised if they left if there are people like you." Owen raised a brow and quipped back. He kept his tone light. "But not to worry, Toby, you probably haven't got the chance to know me. Which is unlikely an opportunity that'll occur if that's how you're going to keep talking to me, but thank you?"

This was as much as he could say while keeping his grandparent's words in mind: 'Be kind and polite to strangers' was reminded by his grandmother and "Don't make too many enemies. At least ones you can't handle by yourself.' by his own grandfather.

Tobias grunted and waved. "Whatever. We'll actually see if you can stick around, I'm off."

Owen Liddell shook his head before he approached the door.

Maybe the boy would have some points. He had no idea what it would be like to live here—but he already considered this a challenge he'd be taking. Until the door disconnected with the house and flew off along with a man and hit the next house. "I told you to do the laundry, Vernon!"

He blinked at the sight of a man thrown a couple feet back and peered inside of the house and wondered if some kind of monster managed to sneak inside of this place.

Instead, an angry and slightly bulky woman stepped out of the house fuming and clearly livid, but stopped in her tracks when she saw him. Her demeanour quickly shifted, and she smiled at him. "Ah, you don't look like you're from here. Is there anything we can do for you, young man?"

Owen stared at the muscles rippling in her arm and bit back a gulp. "I'm looking to move here, madam?"

"Please, just call me Beverly, dear." She turned back to the man still at the opposite house and snapped. "We have a young gentleman who wants to move here so get y'er ass here, Vernon, if you want to keep your job."

—-—-

Author's Note: Hi there, Reader! Welcome to TGIF Mass Release where I'm releasing five chapters this Friday. Here's the fourth one, although it's quite delayed due to my wrist injury acting up. Have no fear though, the chapters will still come out as promised *fist pumps*