Chapter 18 - This Can't Be Happening

"Hey...good morning," I yawned sleepily, before looking around as I rubbed the corner of my left eye, "Where's big brother at? I don't see him."

"He headed into town to buy some supplies we might need. Tents, water bottles, things like that," Replied Lycia, as she gathered some essentials on the table, stuff like canned food, medicines and the like.

"Shouldn't I have gone too? I could have used my Pocket Dimension Skill to help carry the things he buys," I suggested in response.

"We considered that, but you've never gone to town this early, while Argent has done so fairly often. We can't afford to arouse any suspicion whatsoever," Explained Rhyle, as he sipped on some coffee, "Ow, that's hot..."

Believe it or not, I never tried coffee in my previous life. In other words, I've never had coffee. I've had coffee cake though, so I have an idea of what it might taste like.

Last night, I was super restless and stuff, so I couldn't really sleep soundly, and found myself waking up pretty early, despite hardly having gotten any sleep. It's around 6 AM right now, and I woke up about ten minutes ago.

"Can I try some?" I asked Rhyle, nodding at his mug of coffee.

Coffee's supposed to help wake you up, right? I think I could use that right now. Alternatively, I could take a shower, but this early in the morning, the water is bound to be freezing cold and I hate cold showers.

"Hm? Sure, go ahead," He nodded, handing me the mug.

I took it from him and lightly blew on it to cool it down, really don't want to burn my tongue. I then took a slight sip and-...ugh, woah, that's so bitter!

"Ew, nope! I need water," I groaned, as I handed the mug back.

"Hahaha, come on, it's not that bad, kiddo," Laughed Rhyle, giving me a pat on the head.

"Oh, it really is, it's like burnt sand that's been liquified somehow. How do you drink that stuff without gagging?" I frowned, as I poured myself a glass of water to wash the bitterness out of my mouth.

"You get used to it, I like the taste at this point," He grinned in response.

"Seriously? You mean you kept drinking it despite finding the taste bad at first?" I inquired incredulously.

"Well, I used sugar to sweeten it, but I don't need to anymore," He replied with a shrug, as he took another sip.

"It helped that he started with high quality coffee in the capital, Dianus, you should've seen his face the first time he tried coffee in the town we worked as Adventurers in," Smirked Lycia, before adding, "He asked, with a straight face, whether it was expired. Let's just say that the manager of that shop didn't take too kindly to that, and we were banned from that cafe."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I responded with a wry smile.

"Don't remind me, I cringe at how ignorant and clueless I was," He groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"You really were-...hm?" Trailed off Lycia with a frown.

"What is it?" I asked her warily.

"Do you hear that?" She replied, gesturing to us to be quiet.

I don't hear a thing. In which case...

"Initiate Skill: Super Hearing," I chanted, getting slightly dazed as I got a bit overwhelmed by the sudden increase in noise.

I think I can control the extent to which my hearing is boosted...yeah, I got it, I just have to focus on it...there we go, that's a lot better.

"What do you hear?" Rhyle inquired with a look of concern.

"Uh...I can hear the villagers talking. They sound...scared," I frowned as I tried to focus on the words being said.

This is tougher to use than I thought, and it's kinda disorienting. I then negated the Skill with a sigh, shaking my head slightly.

"Hm. I'll go see what's going on. You two stay in here," Remarked Lycia with a worried grimace, as she headed for the front door.

"No, let me go, I'll-...," Began Rhyle in response.

"If it's the Knights, that'll be suicidal. Just stay here," She interrupted firmly, before opening the door and heading out.

"Would they really have acted this quickly?" I asked him.

"Maybe...since it's been so long since I ran away, I had hoped that they've forgotten about me. But if the Knight who spotted me really did recognize me and they've acted already...," He trailed off grimly.

Out of curiosity, I cracked the door open slightly and peered outside to get a glimpse of what was going on, my eyes widening in surprise.

"Uh, maybe I'm seeing things, but...the sky is purple," I remarked in bewilderment, as I shut the door.

"Oh, no...they've placed a barrier around the village. We're...we're trapped," He frowned in realization, clenching his fists.

Huh? No...no way. You've gotta be kidding me.

"Isn't there any way to break the barrier?" I responded in dismay.

"With enough force, yes. But any significant damage to the barrier will result in the Magic Item used to create the barrier alerting the user. And they'll almost certainly have vehicles, so we can't get away on foot.

Not to mention that Argent is in town...in all likelihood, they've set up these barriers around the town and the other nearby village," He surmised with a frustrated look on his face, "Damn it...we should've left in the middle of the night, after all."

"There's no point in regretting that now. What if we use Elemental Earth to tunnel our way under the barrier?" I suggested, trying to think of a solution.

"No, that won't work. Barriers like this extend underground like a sphere, there aren't any gaps we can exploit," He replied with a shake of his head.

The door then opened and Lycia returned, a grim look on her face.

"It's the Knights...one of them showed up to place a barrier around the village. None of the villagers know why, the Knights are being cautious and didn't say much, only that they'd be back later today. This is really bad," She remarked with a defeated look on her face.

"What if we dye your hair or something?" I said to Rhyle, desperately grasping at straws to find a solution.

"Hm...it could fool the Knights, I suppose, but the villagers would react to that. And explaining the situation is too risky, all it would take is one of them to tell the Knights and that's that. Even if we make something up, it'll be hard to explain a disguise like that without revealing that I'm the Knights' target. Okay, then...there's no other option. When they show up searching for me, I'll reveal myself. That's the best, and probably only chance we have of no one being killed," He resolved grimly in response.

Huh? This can't be happening...please, no. I don't want this...there has to be something I can do, anything!

But nothing came to mind. And I was left with a feeling of despair and frustration, an unpleasantly familiar feeling, but one that I was feeling for the first time since coming to this world.

"Hey, it's okay, don't worry...it'll all work out somehow," Whispered Lycia comfortingly, as she leaned down and held me, my head resting on her shoulder.

And I noticed for the first time, that I was crying. I also noticed that her shoulders were trembling slightly and her eyes were glistening, but she was trying to hold it in.

"Yeah...okay. It'll all work out," I nodded, putting on a smile as I wiped away my tears.

"There's...there's still a chance that the Knights won't recognize you," Suggested Lycia hopefully, as she turned towards Rhyle, "Let's hide everything that might give you away. Like the Magic books."

"Lycia...," He responded, his eyes glossing over slightly as he held back his tears as well.

"You can put them in my Pocket Dimension, no one can find them there," I added with a nod.

"Yeah...good idea, buddy, let's do it," He replied with a smile, as he gave me a hug.

Damn it, why does this feel so much like a final goodbye? I...I want to be optimistic, but I can't help but fear the worst. Especially because the worst is what's more likely to happen.

And it's happening once again. I didn't do anything wrong, but yet again, here I am, in a position to lose everything.

I've lived in this world for ten years, and at first, I didn't really consider these people to be my family. I mean, I never disliked them by any stretch of the imagination, but for the most part, it felt more like I was playing at being a family with them.

Somewhere along the line though, that changed. They are my family. More so than my so-called family in my previous life ever were. Lycia is my mother. Rhyle is my father. And Argent is my older brother.

And I...I don't want to lose them. I don't want to lose any of them. The peaceful life I've lived with them in this village...it's all I've ever wanted. Was that too much to ask for?

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