CHAPTER 38: knowledge and preparation

From the moment I let them I escape from my pressure the village was divided in two groups. One who would flee and one who would buy time.

I had placed the bag filled with holy items in the middle of the streets and told them that these items would give them extra protection.

At first hey where hesitant. But after a little boy had picked a tiny statue from the bag more people took some items.

As I expected, there wasn't enough for everyone, but we just had to deal with it.

I walked up to Yohan, Allenya, Elisa, Gert and Alex. All of the still were confused. Allenya bit her lip before she asked. "What is going on?"

I sighed. "I went to the forest last night. There I noticed a large group of monsters, crazed up humans and a demon. So, I warned those at the monastery and took half of their holy items with me. I expect them to come in a few hours."

"Wait, so the nuns are coming?"

"Isn't that what I just told you? Yes, they are coming to at least bring more holy items, and maybe help buy time for those escaping."

Now they sort of knew what was going to happen I turned around to look at the group who had decided to stay.

There where guards who had already chosen to set their life on the line to protect the villagers. There were a few young men and woman who probably felt like it was their duty to give their family's at least one extra second to escape. And the monster hunters where here. If they were to kill all the monsters in the attack, they would make a tremendous amount of money.

But to my surprise an old lady was standing among the small crowd. Her back was bent by carrying so many years of life and knowledge furthermore she was resting on a walking stick.

I walked over and crouched down before her. "why didn't you flee?"

Her pale eyes flamed with determination and strength. It gave of the vibe that if she wasn't trapped in this frail old body, only she would have been enough to kill all the monsters by herself.

"young one. My days have already been counted; I would find it unforgivable if I would let others die for the few days I have left."

I tilted my head to the side. "I admire your bravery. however, isn't it selfish to throw your own life away, just like that? Do you realise what your family will lose when you die, how much they will be hurt? It isn't to late. You can still go after them and live."

The old lady cracked a soft smile. "Yes. I do realise what kind of pain they will be going through. And I know that the few more days I would be able to spend with them would be worth more than all the gold in the world. But I will throw it all away to higher their chance of survival. The pain will eventually fade away, I know for I have been there many times."

I nodded and stood up. "Fine, it is your choice."

Then I climbed a building to have a better view of the village. from where I was standing, I could see how those who decided to leave were driving horsed with carriages out of the stone buildings that were stationed outside the village walls for emergencies like these. Since the village was build on the lake it was hard to keep the horses and carriages in the village itself. Therefore, it was stationed next to it.

Even from here I could clearly make out the form of Allenya and the others. They had nothing to protect at the village and hat thus decided to help the ones who tried to escape.

After having a good look at the village and the wall I jugged that if they were to break trough the walls the village would basically be done for. Some of the monsters would be very swift and agile, but there wasn't enough room for the humans to fight freely.

So, we had to do everything to protect the walls.

"I want you all to throw as much furniture in front of the walls. But don't pile it up. It will prevent the monsters from simply jumping or climbing over them. It won't be enough to stop the, but it will buy time and that is all we need.

Also make sure everyone has access to the roofs and long-range weapons. If not, make sure you have heavy objects you can throw. And make sure that all of you have weapons for close range for when we can no longer keep them out."

When I had spoken those words, everyone went to do their tasks. People broke the boats down to make ladders and dragged all the furniture from the first few streets to the opposite side of the wall. I could see that some of them were gasping for air after dragging the furniture out of the houses, past the streets and eventually trough the gate, before it could finally be placed around the wall.

Despite their fatigue none of them dared to slack of due to my threats and their sense of responsibility. But I didn't care what drove them in the end, as long as they did their work. However, I found it annoying that the elf was just standing in one of the alleyways, observing.

I made my way over to him. "Wy aren't you doing anything?"

He didn't even look at me when he spoke. "Like I would follow the orders of a demon."

I scratched the back of my head. "Well… if you won't be useful in that way, then you can help by summing up all you know about demons."

"What? Why?"

I couldn't see his face due to the mask he was wearing. But only from the tone of his voice I could tell that he was confused.

I bared my teeth and growled at him. "Just do it!"

Hesitantly he began to explain how demons could die from physical injuries in this world, but they wouldn't really die and just be transported back to the world they came from. The reason that they were affected by holy items was because the gods of this world didn't want these intruders and would try to drive them away trough the items.

After that he explained that demons would gain more strength after eating souls. But the people at the stone city hadn't quite figured out why some souls would give more strength than other souls.

Then he told me that if the power of a demon grew to quickly for its body to keep op they would pass out for the necessary amount of time for the body to adapt to its power. So the demon wouldn't be harmed by its own strength.

When he was done explaining there were still some questions I had weren't answered. Like where did they come from? and why did they decide to attack?

But I let those questions slip by for now. I would ask the real researchers at the stone city.

"Thank you, you were a great help."

I walked away to assist the people who were preparing the village against the coming attack. The elf was left in wonder what I needed that information for. Because I was supposed to already know those things.