6 The City of Barloc

---Chapter 5: The City of Barloc---

I woke up in the morning, after enjoying the warmness of my bed for some minutes i got up ready to begin the day.

During these few weeks i have been trying to find a way to craft a pickaxe, however i still don't know how to...

There's no way to get any raw metal in this village, and even if i somehow managed to get raw metals, the process could be really slow.

And right now i just have a few months before i left this village.

So i really don't know what to do.

Mmm... maybe the old man knows something, he has lived for so long that maybe he knows where to get some raw metals.

Oh, right...

I need to tell everyone that i'm planning on leaving this village.

I just hope everything goes okay...

...

...

My family and I were having breakfast, they were talking about different kind of things regarding the farm of my father or gossiping about our neighbors.

I was seated in front of them, eating slowly while gazing into the empty air silently.

I wanted to tell them now, because telling them later could be even worse.

I knew they could be against me leaving this place.

After all i have heard a lot of times from them that the outside world is a hellish place where demonic monsters live, that i could be killed in mere seconds if i dared to fight any of these monsters, that inside this village was safe and that i shouldn't go outside.

But i needed to leave.

That's why i was so nervous and silent.

And they noticed that too.

"What's wrong Aspen? You are usually a lot more talkative, is there something that is bothering you?" Mom asked me with a worried face.

Fuuuu, well, here goes nothing.

"Mom, Dad... I want to leave this village."

The place fell silent.

Even my father that always devours the food on his plate stopped eating.

"YOU WHAT!?" Both shouted at me.

"I said that i wanted to leave this village"

"We heard you..., B-but why?" Mom asked me.

"I want to travel around this world and make this world a better place for humans like us. Being in this village won't allow me to do so, so i need to leave"

"You brat-!" My dad raised his hand intending to hit me.

I grabbed his hand and stopped him

"Dad, please, i'm going to become an adult soon, i need to make my own decisions..."

"You know nothing about this world you little brat, I won't allow my only son to die just because of a stupid dream!"

"It's not a stupid dream dad"

"Oh, it is, and i will not allow you to leave this village, even if i have to tie you up to a tree for the rest of your life!"

"You..."

I was getting angry.

I knew this talk couldn't get anywhere even if i tried over and over again to convince them.

But i still wanted to try.

However, it didn't work.

So i needed to make them accept the fact that i was leaving.

By force...

"I'm sorry dad, but i'm not asking for your permission, i'm just telling you beforehand. This is something i have already decided" I stood up and freed his hand from my grasp.

My mother that was silent during all this time finally said something.

"When are you leaving...?"

Her voice was quiet and calm, however i could still feel the deep sadness she was hiding behind her calm demeanor.

"6 months from now, but don't worry, this is why i have been training all these years, i'm strong enough to survive" I told her with confidence, I wanted to make her feel less worried.

However, it didn't seem to have worked

"I see, will you comeback?..." She asked

Will i survive?

Yes.

"I will"

...

...

...

After that, we continued eating our breakfast.

However, the atmosphere was somber, neither of us was in the mood to continue talking, so we ate silently.

When i got outside the house, i heard the sobs of my mother inside, my father was talking with her, trying to appease her.

I felt so guilty...

But it was something i had to do.

Now i needed to tell that old man.

I just hope he doesn't attack me.

While walking around the village i saw many people.

Old childhood friends.

Friends of my parents.

My neighbors.

Some guards.

I knew everyone in this village, and they knew me too as well.

I was leaving this life behind.

Was it really worth it? Leaving a peaceful life like this just for the sake of the human race?

I honestly don't know.

Maybe it really wasn't...

However, i still wanted to do this.

When my dream comes true, i will come back here and i will see my parents once again.

I will see everyone once again.

However, it will be as a hero, and not as the kid that left this village.

"I will survive"

No matter what.

...

While i was lost in my thoughts i arrived to the training grounds.

The old man was waiting for me like every day, sitting under a tree and enjoying the warm air blowing on his face.

"So, you finally arrived huh? What took you so long?"

"I just had to take care of some things" I said while grabbing a training sword and taking my stance.

"You look quite tired, are you sure you want to have a spar?" He asked while taking a training sword too.

"Yeah, i have got to let out some stress..."

"Alright, you come whenever you are ready"

And our spar began, both weapons clashed against each other countless times, moving at a really fast speed.

Each attack releasing a really strong shockwave through my hands

But my mind couldn't care any less.

I continued to hit

Again and again.

Again and again.

Again and again.

Again and again.

Was i really strong?

Have i really prepared enough?

Was i going to be able to survive out there?

These were the doubts that were in my head.

Each time these questions passed through my mind i could feel my blood boiling from rage, exasperation, fear, stress and exhaustion.

I was not completely sure that i could survive as i thought before.

And just that made me angry.

I honestly don't know why... But every time i pictured myself dying i could feel something deep inside me asking for violence.

*Crack*

Ah...!

My sword broke because i used too much strength in it...

While i was distracted something hit me in the head, and i fell to the floor.

"Jeez, you are like a little kid grabbing a sword for his first time today, tell me kid, what's bothering you?"

I guess i got a bit hot heated right there...

"I want to leave this village" I said bluntly

His eyes widened for a second, but he quickly composed himself.

"What happened with your goal to protect your family?" he said in a serious tone, more serious than i have ever seen since we began training.

So he remembered that is said such thing huh?

Though i lied a bit, there was in fact also a bit of truth in it.

I want to be strong enough to protect whatever i want to protect.

And right now that thing i want to protect is humanity.

There are a lot of reasons.

During this time in this village i've seen what the powerlessness of our race can lead to.

Thankfully our village is mostly auto sufficient, so we don't need to trade that much with other cities, because we can produce our own food

However, there were still problems.

There were difficult moments in which we barely had food.

However, we managed to survive that.

I wanted to save those people that had it much worse than us.

Just because i can.

"I want to protect humanity, I want to make this world into a better one for humans to live in, a world in which its people don't fear monsters. I don't want to make a perfect world, because that's impossible, i just want to make a better world, to my family, and to the other people."

"..."

He fell silent for some seconds, but after that his answer surprised me.

"Do you know where will you go?"

I expected him to try to change my mind...

"Ah... no, I have no idea"

I didn't know there was actually a place for me to go...

"Such recklessness... wait for me a bit"

"Alright"

He got up and began to walk towards a nearby house.

After waiting for some minutes he came back with what seemed to be an old paper.

"Take it, it's a map, this way you'll know where to go. Though i recommend you to go to the city of Balroc, that's the capital of this country, there you will find a bast amount of weapons and products that can help you to survive."

This actually picked my interest.

"Do they sell pickaxes?"

"And why the hell could you want a pickaxe?, swords are a way better when fighting against monsters..."

"Personal reason old man, don't ask"

"Tsk...alright, about your pickaxe, yes, they should sell any kind of tool or weapon that you need, so pickaxes are included too"

Nice.

It seems like my last problem has been resolved.

"Though it has been decades since i have been in that place, so maybe they won't let you in, they couldn't want to have more mouths to feed. Lately i've heard that resources in our territory are getting even more scarce, and as the weakest race, we can't obtain resources from any other place than this."

And another problem arises.

Well whatever, i'll deal with it later.

Now i just need to wait some months and my journey will begin.

I'm ready.