THE SENTINEL VILLAGE.

When morning arrived, specifically at seven, they knocked on the door of the room, since the others had gone to sleep in a room apart from the inn, I was the only one in that place, I opened the door little by little, I had already my armor on as always, I peeked out a bit and saw the guard who had stopped us at the entrance the day before, if I remember correctly, he wanted to ask me some things, so I opened the door.

- Good morning gentleman, I'm Tom, the guard who stopped you yesterday at the entrance of the village.

- Yes, I remember you well, you looked cold at that time, but I see that today you come with a different air.

- That's right, we managed to confirm the identity of the bandits that they captured and indeed, according to the testimony of some merchants who manage to arrive before you, they coincide with the people who assaulted you, with great difficulty they managed to arrive after having escaped between the fights that broke out in the caravans.

- I understand, that explains why we haven't met anyone along the way.

- That's right, the caravans usually go back and forth, another one will not return to the town until the one that came here has returned, most people know that when they do not return, something terrible has probably happened on the way and nobody cares. Dare to venture out and try your luck.

- But in this case, I suppose we have solved the problem, right?

- Yes, for that, we would like to reward them.

- No need... they just crossed our path.

- Don't be like that, gentleman, it's important to foster good relations, if you know what I mean.

What Tom means, is that if the church finds out that we did a job for this village and we haven't been rewarded, probably the next time they need help of some kind, the holy army of the god Vestu will not agree to help them, it sounds cruel, but the bureaucracy that is handled within the church makes this type of situation very common.

This disturbed my calm quite a bit, until I clicked my teeth, Tom stepped back a bit, his eyes looked fearful, he probably thought that I had a negative towards his comment, it was really the opposite, this kind of thing has always bothered me, so I told:

- Let me talk about it with the group for a moment.

- Okay, I'll wait for you at the entrance of the inn, take your time.

I went to my classmates' room and knocked on the door, can I come in?

- Oh, you are "holy knight"

- You can stop now Franz, I'm not here to listen to your sarcasm...

-If Franz, he already leaves that attitude, what will Miss Sora say.

Franz blushed like a tomato; he was really funny.

- Oh, I didn't know you had "glittery" love interests.

- Shut up Saria, what do you care?

-Hahaha that's why I can't stop being her partner, I would miss this every day...

- Since I see that you are in a very good mood, I want to talk about something with you.

- It would?

- The guard who stopped us yesterday at the entrance came to me today, he wants to give the church a reward for what we did with the bandits, it's as if we had accepted a job from them when it hasn't been like that.

- I know about that, they don't want to be on the church's black list...

- Just like our orphanage that stopped receiving funds from the church, something like this could happen, Franz?

- That's right, it could have serious consequences.

- Since you understand the situation, I want to give you a proposal, I think it would be better if we turn a blind eye and talk to the sentinel Tom, we promise that we will ignore the matter and that's it, don't you think?

They looked at each other and nodded. So, we headed towards the entrance of the inn where Tom was waiting for us.

- Oh, that was fast sir gentleman.

- We decided to forget what happened, so the village will not be in debt to anyone, is that okay?

- Hey, are you sure of what you are saying, you would receive a part of that money.

Franz looked at him carefully and said:

- As for me, I see that this place looks pretty bad, where are they going to get money to pay us and the church, we agree, right?

- And you don't seem to be a simple sentinel, to come to speak with us personally, you do it in a very bold way, don't you think so, Mr. Mayor?

- Heeee... mayor, you knew and you didn't tell me...

- You are quite clueless Saria

- But Rose, how was I going to realize...

- Who else could have the authority to let us pass into the town in these circumstances, and take responsibility for any situation if not the main boss.

- Wow, they discovered me, as you know, the bandits think that the mayor has money, and what better way to hide than by being another lookout, so I can take care of people and keep my identity a secret from outsiders.

- Although that can be a double-edged sword.

- Certainly, but I'd rather take my chances in front than watch comfortably from behind.

I could perfectly understand that feeling, Tom seemed elderly so it was also easy to identify his identity from that aspect, for a person like that to think of taking a risk for others, I think it's something really nice.

- But don't think that I'll just let you go like that, walk around the town and have fun, the people here are really grateful to you, they won't despise you, right?

At night I wait for you to give you a small banquet, it's not much, but at least let us do that for you, you still have some time, right? It won't hurt to relax a bit.

He didn't seem to have any hidden intentions so we took him at his word, we passed through the square that was pretty empty for a transit town, I guess it's due to the incidents with the bandits, at least we all agreed on that. However, there were few stalls that were observed open in the surroundings.

After walking for a while and visiting the armories and botanical shops to replenish supplies, we spent some time at the fountain that was in the center of the village.

To our surprise there were many people gathered there, the cause was a woman with crimson hair, her eyes were clear and her ears were long, her body was slender as if it were a work of art, she was singing, I had never heard anything like it and Apparently neither did my classmates, her voice was soft and she sang about legends of the past, "perhaps she is a forest nymph" some said and others said "I have never seen such a beautiful woman" people threw coins to the ground while they seemed to be enthralled with her voice, she continued until it was late, before nightfall she took the coins and left covering herself from head to toe and disappeared into the crowd.

Back at the inn, some sentinels were waiting for us and they invited us to go to a tavern where they would give us thanks.

Once in the Tavern, Tom opened with a toast, "Thanking our adventurous friends who freed us from the bandits... Cheers", there were no more formalities.

- Gentleman, don't you take off that armor ballast not even to eat.

It's more comfortable for me like this...

- Whatever you say then...

The party was already beginning to be felt, the alcohol was already in the air, when suddenly Saria climbed on a table and began to dance, while with her cane she released flashes of light that accompanied her with the movement of the violin and the guitar that sounded in the background.

- That miss, how well you do!

- Keep it up, show us more!

They were yelling throughout the tavern while Rose and Franz in a corner looked at him in embarrassment.

-Hey gentleman, do something, she's going to get too drunk and who can put up with her later.

-Ehhhh… seriously… I thought her show was funny…

- Let's go, otherwise we won't be able to leave early tomorrow.

- In agreement

I jumped up and picked her up and we ran out of the tavern.

- Thanks for the food, but we must go…

Come back, we haven't finished yet...

-We'll leave soon tomorrow, with her permission.

Having finished with that sentence, Rose blew and a spell came out of her cane that made them sleep, so we left the place.

- But I must say, I thought Saria was demurer, that surprised me quite a bit.

- She comes from a wealthy family to try her luck as an adventurer, she told us that she wanted to be free from the will of her strict parents and that's why she decided to become an adventurer, something like Franz, but more sophisticated.

- Hey, don't make me look like a juvenile delinquent.

- Hahahaha... we have to see, how these things come to mind, now we are going to rest, do you think? Tomorrow we will leave first thing in the morning.

- Yes sir…