Chapter 17.3

Not knowing how long they were going to be staying with this town given that he was basically on the run after all. The destruction of his village and the complete slaughter of everyone there but himself. The motive was unclear but getting away from here as fast as possible was the plan. There had to be a reason that his home village was wiped out of existence.

"Finally got rid of that annoying forest, I heard a" random townsperson said

"You mean the isolated forest filled with some of the stronger creatures for miles around" a second townsperson replied

"Yup the very same one that has been around for centuries," they told them

"Then did they find anything in the forest as rumor states that there are strong things located at the depth of the lethal forest after all" the second townsperson said

"Nothing was there other than a cliff and a river at the very bottom it seems," the first townsperson told them

"Nothing? Then what was the point of getting rid of the forest as the creatures were not leaving it after all" the second one said

"Who knows what those that make such decision and those that are carrying them out are thinking," the first said shrugging their shoulders before adding "That forest could have been a ticking time bomb as who knows when those creatures could have decided to leave it. That or what if something that causes far more problems than a mere creature attack of any size is now on the loose their home went"

Rangi himself let out a mental sigh

'That's what they thought of the creatures in the forest. A threat but they are not all that strong though' he thought

Unaware that the isolated forest that split his village away from the outside world was one where there were creatures that were considered abnormally strong for the surrounding area. Since he had grown up in the village, Rangi did not see them the same as other people who were considered outsiders to him. Means to deal with them were created and Rangi had even hunted a few of them himself after all. Avoiding and trapping them was what was normally done to the creatures of the forest.

'Anyway, if news of what happened to the village got this far then staying here would not be too good any idea. Also interesting how the existence of my home is never stated once regardless of where I heard the story from or what version of it is told' Rangi thought

This only further proved his decision to get as far away from the village was correct. After all not only was someone, a group, or all three managed to wipe out the village but also covering up the very existence of it from the general public as well. Then there was the fact that he was being targeted but that was not fully clear yet as he was a survivor of the village was he being hunted down for that fact or had he been the target all along? He managed to luck out that he was not in the village at the time of the attack.

If they went with a scored earth policy that took out the village and even everything in the forest before it. Then what chance would the current Rangi stand against such a threat? The only thing he would be doing is joining those who had already died much faster than he needed or wanted to after all. Before getting revenge or anything like that. Living was needed as long as he was alive then Rangi could learn the truth not just about why the village was attacked and taken out in such a manner but why it even existed in the first place.

His travels outside of the village were to look into possible reasons they lived in such an isolated area along with why no one was aware of their existence back there.

'There are so many questions with so little ability to answer them properly at the moment' Rangi thought as he browsed through a general store.

Some stores specialized in the various things he wanted and needed but there was a reason he was not going to those places. They were geared more towards guild members thus they got a discount when compared to everyone else. It was seemingly one of the many unspoken rules that were just around not a law but just a rule that everyone followed on their own. Thus in turn the general stores gave a discount to everyone else thus how the various types of stores that all sell similar things could exist at the same time.

The general store was also a good place for those not a part of the guild to get information on various things that the guild did not have. That and get some news and going ons of those that can not afford to request the guild thus want those that are freelancers to take up the assignment if possible. The local pub, tavern, or bar was the place to go for guild members mostly to get their own information about things regarding them.

Stayed out of each other's way and dealt with things in their own way that was how things went with those who were guild members and those who were not and/or freelancers. It was slightly more dangerous being the latter but those needed help. They could not just wait for a guild member that would be doing without getting properly paid, for free, or whatever. Then there were guild members that just did not take requests of a certain level regardless of the payment or reward thinking it was behind them or something.

For a freelancer, a job was a job as it had to get done somehow and by someone. It normally had to get done before the scenario got worse as those guild members that refused to take requests were sometimes actually waiting for things to get worse thus they could get paid more. Though this was not all guild members there were a lot of them like that that think they graduated from those types of requests even though they never stop coming in because of their nature and someone always needing them done