Chapter 22: The legendary heroes' relic.

The villagers approached without saying a word, their faces looked desolate, there was great bitterness in the eyes of some and helplessness in others. Then one of them dared to break the silence.

- You damned bastards... you have destroyed our homes! - shouted one of the villagers, crying bitterly.

That wasn't true, they saved the village, didn't they? said Ashram and his friends to themselves, but when they looked around they could only find many shattered houses, piles of smoldering rubble around a street flooded with muddy water and dead monsters. Perhaps the villagers were right after all. They bowed their heads, feeling defeated, it was a victory, yes, but they had caused great damage in their eagerness to do good.

- How are you going to pay for this?! Answer me! - demanded another of the villagers angrily. - There is nothing left of my house...

- They have wiped out everything, I think the orcs would have done less damage. - Said a lady pointing an accusing finger at them.

- I say we arrest them and take them to the authorities, they must pay for what they have done! - Said another one, joining the crowd seeking revenge.

- Seize them! Now! - Another one, wielding a farming tool as a makeshift weapon, asserted.

Other villagers followed suit and tried to surround them. Ashram and his friends did not want to harm the villagers, they had fought a hard battle to protect them and it would not be right to wield their weapons against them. However, it did not seem fair for them to allow themselves to be imprisoned for having tried to help them either.

- WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU'RE DOING? - Faye burst out, losing her patience. - If it wasn't for us, you'd all be dead!

- Silence, girl, you don't know anything....

- You shut up! Now you're going to listen to me! - Faye shouted, making everyone keep silent. - We came to this town without any bad intentions, we just wanted something to eat, drink and maybe rest from a long journey. However, from the very first moment you behaved like apes, or worse, like goblins. You treated us badly, avoiding us as if we had the plague and cursing behind our backs? Did we do anything to deserve it? NO!!! But it didn't matter, we decided to ignore the bad treatment and eat something before leaving, since it was obvious that we were not welcome.

- Shut up brat... tried to interrupt one of the peasants.

- I SAID SHUT UP! - Faye replied angrily, her eyes flashed, making the one who interrupted her, take a step back. - Orc bandits came, we stopped them and how did you thank us? calling us criminals and threatening to lynch us. Then came a horde of almost two hundrer monsters, with giants, ogres, orcs, do you think they came to visit with good intentions? do you think they were not going to kill you all? OF COURSE THEY WERE GOING TO KILL YOU! I was told to go away and leave you all to your fate, but like a fool, I didn't listen. So we stayed, we risked our lives and now you want to arrest us? No, I won't allow that to happen, if you take one more step towards us, you're really going to meet me!

- It's okay Faye... - Ashram whispered hugging her, she gave vent to her tears. She felt that her friends had risked their lives for nothing.

Those words left the villagers thinking, but they still didn't give up on the idea of punishing the adventurers, many of them had nowhere to live and lost everything, it was just too much to let go just like that.

- We did not fight those monsters for a reward or recognition, if you want to hate us, you are free to do so, but charging us is not possible, since we do not possess more than a gold coin, besides, those who destroyed everything, were the monsters, not us.

- Except for the house that we destroyed to bury the goblins.... - Intervened Mila, unable to keep her mouth shut.

- Thank you Mila, that was very helpful.... - Ashram replied. - The point is that we did the best we could, I'm sorry if that wasn't enough for you or wasn't what you expected. The battle was very difficult, we managed to achieve a victory, although a very bitter one, the price was high, but fortunately it was not paid with your lives. We are not legendary heroes, we are just a group of friends, trying to get home, so we understand what it is like to lose your homes. At least your loved ones are with you... that's the most important thing about a home, not four walls.... Now if attacking those who tried to help you, makes you feel better, go ahead, we will not defend ourselves.... - Ashram said and dropped his staff, his companions followed his example and dropped theirs in turn.

The villagers were confused, they didn't know what to do, they were still furious, but they were no longer so sure that the solution was to take it out on the travelers. They refused to drop their weapons, as they had no intention of letting them go so easily.

From the crowd, some voices broke through, it was a group of children, the villagers' children who, through sheer insistence, had managed to reach the front line.

- What are you doing to the heroes? - asked a red-haired girl.

- Nothing... - Answered one of the villagers.

- Well, they want to kill us, what else? - Answered Mathew interrupting

- What? You can't do that to heroes! shouted several children turning against their parents.

The heroes came to save us, they killed the monsters! - Said a boy with messy hair and freckles on his face.

The group of children stood in front of the adventurers as a human shield, hugging those they considered their protectors. The confused parents lowered their weapons, and felt guilty, it was true that they caused a lot of material damage, but their children and they were alive thanks to their intervention.

No, we will not let you hurt them. - Said a girl with a ponytail hugging Zafiro's leg.

- We are glad you are all well, but you must go back to your parents. - Said Zafiro caressing the little girl's head.

- And what will happen to you? - Several children asked at the same time.

- We are going to be punished for doing something wrong. - Said Kunoichi.

- My dad taught me that only those who do bad things are punished, you have done nothing wrong, heroes save people and kill monsters. - Said a brown-haired boy.

Then from the midst of the confusion, an old man came out, pushing his way through the crowd, he looked about eighty years old, a considerable age taking into account that they were in a medieval world. He had a bushy white beard, bushy gray eyebrows that almost hid his eyes, was wearing peasant clothes, like the others, and was holding a cedar cane in his right hand to help him walk.

- I think we'd all better calm down. This is a complicated situation, and we would be wrong to make a decision lightly, blinded by our emotions. - The old man said wisely. - Let's gather in one of the houses that is still standing and talk, there is much to discuss.

The villagers calmed down when they heard these words, their faces softened, dropping their hostile intentions. The children, seeing that their heroes were no longer in danger, also mellowed. Ashram and his friends breathed in relief, however through the intercoms, the druid's voice could be heard warning them not to let their guard down.

They walked escorted by the children, who did not take off from their heroes.

As they walked through the village they could see that while in the upper area, the one closest to the top of the mountain, many houses had been destroyed during the battle, in the lower area, almost no houses had been affected. The damage was still considerable, but less serious than first thought.

That old man was the mayor of the village, as his house was located in the lower part of the town, it was almost intact, only covered with dust and some debris.

- Please come in, we have a lot of things to discuss. - He said addressing the group of friends.

The townspeople were somewhat displeased to see that the matter would be discussed behind closed doors. But the old man knew how to handle the situation, he explained that it was nighttime and that it made no sense to argue for hours outdoors, besides the homeless would have to find a place to sleep, especially the children. So he ordered that those who had houses in good condition should take in one affected family, at least until they could rebuild everything.

Although somewhat dissatisfied, most of them understood, the villagers dispersed to look for a place to spend the night and maybe eat something before going to sleep, it had been a terrible day for everyone.

Once inside the mayor's house, a large table was pointed out to them, where they took a seat, but keeping their weapons handy just in case. Behind our friends, a group of eleven villagers also entered, four of them were of advanced age, like the mayor himself, the others looked much younger, perhaps too young, among the second group, was the guy who had suggested that they should be arrested to take them to the authorities.

The house was not much bigger than the others in the village, it was not fancy either, it was just very clean and tidy, well, that is in the parts where the dust of the fight had not entered, although it was intact, it would need to be swept for a while to return to its normal state of neatness. An elderly lady, with long white hair and a very affable countenance, approached to offer them something to drink. They politely declined the offer, as they were still mindful of Ashram's words, letting their guard down was not a good idea. Nothing assured them that the villagers were not planning to poison them. Or perhaps he was too suspicious? Despite the refusal, the lady, who introduced herself as Elina, the mayor's wife, gave them what appeared to be berry tea. - For the cold, - she said. She then served the same to the other twelve guests, put a tray with cookies on the table and began to sweep the dust from the floor.

Ashram was about to tell his friends not to take the cookies, when he saw Runkdar munching a handful, Zafiro was doing the same with great enthusiasm. The druid couldn't help but smash his palm against his face in disapproval.

- Come on, youngsters, there's no need to be so suspicious. - Said the mayor taking a bite of a cookie, breaking the silence. - Although I can't blame you, after how badly we have treated you, you must think we are terrible and ungrateful people.

Ashram said nothing, but his expression spoke for itself. He had no intention of contradicting him.

- It seems to me that we started off on the wrong foot, my name is Leander Choripanca, I am mayor of the town. To begin with, I think it is my duty to apologize on behalf of everyone for our behavior.

- What are you talking about? - interrupted the man who had previously wanted to arrest them, slamming his hand on the table.

The other members, especially the older ones, looked at him in disapproval and he sat down.

- I'm sorry, Mark is very bad at expressing himself, he still has a lot to learn. - Said the mayor with a smile, and then gave the guy a terrible look.

- Well, no one likes to be threatened with arrest if they haven't done anything wrong. - Said Mathew, who hadn't let go of the "CATling machine gun" the whole way.

- Miauuu Miaa - Kuro said, but this time Ashram did not translate fearing that the villagers would think he was crazy.

- As I was saying, first of all we must apologize, so gentlemen, everyone please stand up. - With that said, the twelve villagers stood up and bowed their heads. Two foreign hands forced Mark to bow his head, as he refused to follow suit.

- We are sorry, we hope you can forgive us! - Said all twelve in unison as if they had practiced it before.

The friends were relieved, except for Ashram, who didn't quite believe them. After all, the number one rule of a good strategist is, never trust anyone.

- Now that we have apologized, let me explain our behavior. - Said the mayor as everyone, including him, took their seats again. - Perhaps it will be easier to understand us if I tell you a little of our town's past.

The younger ones, like Mark, no longer remember this, or if they do, for them they are just legends or old folk stories, fairy tales. It is true that from time to time, there are attacks of orcs or goblins, about fifteen or twenty, that come down from the mountain to plunder, but usually, if we give them money and food, they leave without causing much damage, sometimes that is not enough, and they take some women and children with them.

- And that's okay with you? - Zafiro asked, annoyed at the thought of what would have happened to the children if they did not stop that army of monsters.

- No, of course it is not right, it has never been right, but we are peasants, humble people, not warriors like you, what could we do? - said one of them, the mayor and the others nodded.

- Fight... If there were only twenty of orcs, between all of you you could have stopped them. Runkdar answered, - All the men in the village could have done it, if there are men here, of course.

- How dare you! - Mark shouted angrily but his eyes met Runkar's and he sat down again, the other townsmen ducked their heads in shame.

- Brave words, of course, my father was also a brave man and thought like you. - Said the mayor. - Many years ago, when I was only ten winters old, we suffered a great invasion, just like today, I was only a boy, but I remember it well. They came down in great numbers, burning and destroying everything in their path, cruelly murdering anyone who dared to try to stop them. Their leader was a dark elf with white hair and a fierce gaze. I hope you will forgive us for mistrusting you as you are also a dark elf, we now know that not everyone is evil. - He added, looking at Faye.

- We offered them all our possessions but it was not enough, they began to kill the men one by one, not without first subjecting them to horrendous tortures, they planned to take the women with them, to be sold as slaves or even worse to take them to their lairs in the mountains. My father tried to resist, as I said he was a very brave and strong man, but he was beheaded in front of my eyes, no one from the town helped him or said anything. That was the payment for his courage, I will never forget that day. The price of being a brave man is death, that's what i learned, what we all learned.

When it seemed that all was lost, a group of young adventurers like you, arrived, they were the seven legendary heroes, sailing on their flying boat, they fell like meteors from the sky on the evil doers and finished them all off. The fight lasted all day, at that time the village was also badly damaged, but no one cared, we were happy to be alive. I especially remember their leader, a very tall paladin named Mordren, his voice was imposing and powerful, it was enough to hear him to want to obey his orders without complaining. Shortly after that, the heroes left without asking for anything in return for their help, they boarded their ship and disappeared into the clouds, to continue fighting against the forces of evil. Young people think it's just a legend, but I lived it, and I know it really happened, because the heroes left something behind them. - Said the mayor, taking out a wooden box inlaid with silver. When he opened it, everyone gasped.

- A... a cell... a cell... a cell phone! cell phone! - Faye mumbled, almost losing her breath in surprise.