Mysterious Snowy Village

It has been several days since the youth conducted a funeral for the family of three. He determined the most probable route to the nearest settlement and stuck to that path, without any deviations. However, his physical condition was not optimal for this journey.

Apparently, when the youth had released the soul of his body's previous owner and his own fully integrated with the body, he was hit with a significant bout of weakness as his spirit now had to bear the brunt of the injured body he took over. While he had healed most of the injuries that day, covering everything that would be life-threatening, he never took into account the backlash he would face for releasing the child's soul afterward.

With the backlash from releasing the child's soul and the rest of the injuries that he never fully healed acting up on him at the same time, he was forced into a state of serious weakness, slowing his progress down significantly. That said, the fact that he's currently dozens of kilometers away from where he made the grave shows that even in a weakened state, his willpower was not something to be underestimated.

He never thought of stopping by a tree and cycling his life force with it. Firstly, he did not believe that his condition was severe enough to require such an action, even though he was weak. Secondly, his weakness stems from his soul integrating with his body. Thus, enduring this weakness was a way to ensure that no hidden dangers were emerging in his body, rather than relieving a moment of discomfort and pain.

Regarding the third reason, he intended to minimize the impact of his life force on the expansive forest until his new body was completely capable of accommodating his soul and he could fully control his power. In his previous life, his soul was no longer purely human, and that is the soul that arrived in this world. Whenever he shares his life force with another lifeform, some of it remains within that lifeform and gradually transforms with time. To avoid any unusual changes before he regains some strength and control over his former powers, this was the logical decision to make.

Keeping his goal in mind, the youth persevered despite his weakened body. He journeyed for three more days until he spotted smoke in the distance, indicating human habitation. Determined, he suppressed his feelings of frailty and pushed himself to approach the smoke trail as quickly as he could.

After trudging through the forest for an hour, the youth finally spotted the village in the distance. Although it was still a ways off, he felt relieved to have found a safe haven. However, just as he began to let his guard down, his injuries flared up and he coughed up some blood. Despite this setback, the youth smiled with relief as he collapsed. As he closed his eyes, he saw an old man rushing towards him. The youth fell asleep and was completely unaware of his surroundings until he woke up two days later.

*******

Going back earlier that morning ...

The village was blanketed with fresh morning snow. However, the hunters in the village still woke up at sunrise to prepare for another day of work, undeterred.

Even during the winter season, the hunters in this village never struggle to find game. This is because the surrounding forests are home to beasts that don't hibernate during the cold months and can easily find food in the chilly climate. Additionally, some species of animals in the forest reproduce quickly, which contributes to the abundance of game.

The hunters in the village have adapted to the lifestyle of hunting beasts, which are unique to this area. They go out daily to hunt, which sets them apart from other villages located in forests during winter.

In addition to the hunters, their families and the other villagers also begin their days early. Although the children take a bit longer to wake up than the adults, they still rise earlier than usual. Typically, the children begin their day playing or assisting with household tasks only after the mothers and non-hunting young adults have completed their initial duties.

In addition to these families, there is also the village's sole blacksmith who wakes up early. The blacksmith is an elderly man in his 50s, but he still appears to be quite fit due to his constant hammering in the forge and his ventures into the surrounding forests to gather necessary ores for his work. Even though he could delegate the task of securing ores to the hunters, he chooses to personally seek out the materials.

Today, the blacksmith went around the village and greeted the village head and each family. He informed them that if they had any requests or items to pick up, they could do so in the afternoon. Additionally, he inspected the fences surrounding the village to ensure that no beasts came too close during the night while everyone was asleep. Although he was only the village blacksmith, he made it a daily habit to double-check everything. He considered it a necessary precaution and an added layer of protection in case those responsible for the task had overlooked any important details.

Following his tour around the village, it was finally time for the elderly blacksmith to head out to the forest himself. While he still had an ample supply of materials to work with to cover the possible requests of the villages, this was already a part of his daily routine. That and he always took the time to search for any rare materials that he could use for his personal projects.

While the blacksmith walked through the main gate of the village, he noticed ahead of him a youth standing next to a tree, prompting him to do a double take. In his eyes, the youth appeared to be no older than seven or eight. Although he couldn't make out everything from a distance, the elderly man could still see that the youth's body was tattered, as if he had just escaped from a serious fight.

The blacksmith witnessed the youth suddenly coughing up blood and collapsing right before his eyes. Without hesitation, the elderly man quickly rushed toward the youth. Surprisingly, he noticed a look of relief on the young person's face instead of the expected expression of pain. This left the blacksmith puzzled and wondering about what had just happened.

Upon reaching the youth, the old man sucked in a breath as he could properly see just how badly injured the youth before him was. To say that the youth being alive with those injuries was a miracle wouldn't be an exaggeration, especially when he noticed the sharp cut along the youth's throat, which he assumed touched the youth's windpipe due to its position.

Wasting no time, the elderly blacksmith carefully cradled the youth's body in his arms before rushing back into the village. For now, he had to take the youth to the village's doctor for treatment, as the many injuries on his body weren't something he would survive for much longer if he wasted time here.

It is interesting to note that the youth's injuries appeared to be healing while he was unconscious, although at a slow pace. The elderly blacksmith only noticed this slight improvement after he had taken the youth to the village doctor's house. Even though it was not significant enough to avoid medical attention, the blacksmith made a mental note to ask the youth about it once he regained consciousness. For the time being, the village doctor would take care of the youth's treatment.

*******

It has been two days since the elderly blacksmith brought the youth into the village. At first, there was concern due to the youth's injuries, but after receiving treatment from the village doctor, the youth has been resting peacefully.

After the treatment, the young person was taken in by the village blacksmith, who agreed to look after them. The blacksmith remained in the village the entire time the youth was there, only leaving briefly to attend to village tasks and ensure the fences were secure. Throughout their stay, the blacksmith never left the youth's side.

The second day has come to a close, and most of the village has gone to bed. However, the elderly blacksmith remains in his forge area at home, where he is currently working on a small knife. As he is fitting the blade into the handle, he hears a faint rustling noise. Despite the quiet nature of the sound, the elderly blacksmith notices it and stops his work. He puts the partially finished knife down on his workbench and goes to investigate the source of the noise, which turns out to be the youth.

When he arrived by the youth's side, he notices that the youth was currently staring at the roof of the house. Upon noticing the elder's arrival, the youth slowly turned his head in the elder's direction. Upon fully seeing the elder's face, the youth tried to speak, but no sound left his mouth. The youth tried a few more times but the result remained the same.

This prompted both the elder and youth to furrow their eyebrows at this. For the elder, this meant that he wouldn't be able to get any answers from the youth at the moment on what he had gone through to receive such serious injuries. As for the youth, he found this situation to be quite troublesome as he currently was unable to move his body due to immense pain. The inability to communicate now forces him to rely on his body's natural healing to fully recover.

Both elder and child stared at each other for a few moments before simultaneously releasing a sigh. Upon noticing the mirrored action in the other, the youth raised an eyebrow while the elder just shrugged it off. Following this, the elder went back to the forge area to finish his work.

Facing the elder's back, the youth heard him speak, "Just rest for now. We'll be able to talk when your throat properly heals."

Whether or not the youth understood his words, the old man didn't bother to verify as he was stuck with the child and would be able to check later. As for the youth, hearing the elder's words, he turned his head back so that he was facing the ceiling before closing his eyes. For now, he had to focus on healing his body, especially his throat.

*******

After about a week of rest, the youth was finally able to move independently, although not completely healed yet. Despite the pain, their body had sufficiently healed enough to allow movement.

During this time, the elderly blacksmith no longer spent his days with the youth. Instead, he went out to search for medicinal plants that could help with natural healing. The youth was a bit suspicious when he noticed that the elder had chosen plants with this specific effect, but he assumed that the elder had simply recognized his natural healing abilities. However, he couldn't help but notice that the elder always provided him with the perfect dosage of these plants, which made him realize that there was more to the elder's actions than he had initially thought.

After a week had gone by, the youth was able to move around the house by himself, which surprised the elder. Nevertheless, the elder continued to give the youth medicinal herbs, hoping that the injuries would heal faster. The youth accepted the elder's treatment, realizing that the elder had his own motives for doing so.

Night had fallen and all the other villagers had gone to bed. Only an elderly man and a youth remained awake and were sitting across from each other inside the lounge area of the elder blacksmith's home.

Neither said a word as they both ate the food placed before them. Both had a bowl filled with stew that had large chunks of meat and vegetables.

It wasn't until they had finished their respective meals and allowed the food to digest for a bit before the elderly blacksmith focused his eyes on the youth. He contemplated for a bit about which question he should start with. As for the youth, he waited patiently for the elder to decide on where they would begin.

This went on for roughly a minute before the elder finally spoke, "Just what the heck happened for you to end up in that condition?"

That question prompted the youth to raise an eyebrow. Following this action, the youth didn't speak but used a small piece of charcoal to write out a few words on the table. It was only four words but the elder was able to piece together the clues after seeing them: family - caravan - bandits - monsters - betrayal.