The Urgent Call And The Far Forgotten Lands

That early morning the Goddess appeared once again…

"Time to prepare for your adventure. Prepare some items for your long quest Alan. You'll need it, the bag you brought was one of your Father's biggest bags out there and it can hold anything and everything without trouble." The Goddess points at the equipment by the next room.

The bag already had my stuff previously and I just added more ammunition. Some more hatchets and axes. I wore some of his old gear that fits me.

This includes his gloves, his chest harness so I could carry a portable flashlight. Some special clothing that looks like hiking clothes but enhanced with protection magic from both physical and magical attacks.

"You can make your bag integrated with your consciousness. And just use your mind to store and retrieve your items at any time; this also decreases the weight you have to carry upon this adventure." The Goddess taught me some basic storage magic to keep things organized and compact throughout this quest.

"May I ask, is this a bit overkill for the things I'll be bringing?" I asked.

"No, you're fighting the demon lord alone, you need as much firepower as you want. Plus you have my protection so you could handle it on your own if you want to." The Goddess replied.

"Alright then. They didn't tell me to overcompensate on firepower so I'll be taking this." I nodded from that fact and grabbed the lever action rifle from the wall in the equipment room and grabbed its bag of ammunition.

"Ah yes that weapon. It's known as the weapon that struck down the giants of this world. It was your Father's favorite when he was still alive and well fighting against the giants that tried to conquer the world." The Goddess gave me a snippet of a story.

"Must be powerful then I'll take it. And that's everything." As I closed my bag and it disappeared with the storage magic I was taught.

"You still have some time to give your farewells to this village, don't worry you'll return here when the time comes." The Goddess gave me instructions.

"I have a letter instead. It's much better if I leave as quickly as possible." I replied back.

"You have your ways then. Good luck adventurer, the legacy of the Woodsman's Son begins here after you leave this village. Go out and find yourself what world your Father has created in his image." She gave her final words before disappearing again.

After that I locked down the house and gave a good look before I left. Letter at hand and walking out into the southern gate where I'm heading towards where one of the demon lords resides.

"What are you doing out here in this hour Hero?" The guards asked.

"I'm going out for a while. I was given a vision of the Goddess to leave before the sunrise. Hand this letter to Lady Vert this will fill-in why I left. I entrust you to give it to her." I patted the guard's shoulder giving this letter and he took it.

"If it's the Goddess's will then I'll follow your orders Hero!" The guard saluted.

"Thanks for understanding, I'll be leaving now." As the gate opens and the next chapter of my life finally unfolds into the beginning of a long and winding course of fate and tribulations.

I do wonder what kind of people I'll meet out here now that I'm out doing my own thing. With the Goddess's support behind me and nothing to lose. What else do I want more of than my previous mundane life.

I now walk down the path of my own story….

Back in the village after a few hours…

"Alan left on such short notice… That he didn't bother to tell us even what the Goddess had told him." Vert rethinks what could have happened when he was given a vision from the Goddess.

"Last time I saw him we did hand-to-hand combat. He's not combat ready yet and he just went out and did a quest for the Goddess. I don't know what was going on in his head or something." Ria contemplates the situation after reading the letter as well.

"Should we call out an emergency?" Asked one of the representatives of the village.

"No, no need for that. We don't want to cause a commotion, chaos, or panic. We just have to tell them that he had gone through a journey where the Goddess had accepted her call to save our world once again." Vert replies to the representatives.

"What about the incident?" Asked one of the elder representatives.

"We've already atoned for our sins when he was still alive here. I don't wanna cross that line again. We've failed him once, we're not doing it again." Vert raised her voice a bit.

"The council has understood your thoughts Ma'am." The representatives stood up as they gave their approval.

"Mother, what are you talking about?" Ria asked.

"I can't tell you that story Ria. I don't want to relive our past, that horrible past of ours on what we've suffered through just to regain his trust." Vert felt uncomfortable after saying those words as she hugged Ria.

"What happened during those times?" Ria asked again.

"No, Ria, I can't tell you at the moment. When you are ready to face the consequences and become the next village leader then I'll tell you what happened. For now we have to support Alan as much as we can." Vert reassures Ria and the entire village's situation.

Back to Alan's whereabouts…

Traversing the vast plains I wondered why I haven't gotten tired. Maybe because of the effects of these accessories the Goddess told me to wear since it was my Father's heirloom as well. A piece of history that I can carry on to remember the only family ever had.

Maybe this is too early to remember your loved ones but I felt like I had to. My intuition isn't the best out there but I felt like it's appropriate for the time being. That is, I'm alone walking through forests.

Climbing mountains, passing rivers, and seeing wildlife pass by. The journey to a path into nowhere had me asking how long was I walking? I stopped from the side from time-to-time to keep me sane for a while.

The Goddess did manage to keep up with me along the way.

"You've covered a week's worth of distance in just 3 days. Impressive, mighty impressive and this is just by foot and not by horseback. Your Father had to travel by caravan back in his day." The Goddess reminiscing about the past.

"Can I ask a question, Lady Agata?" I asked while I was cooking my food.

"Yes, tell me what's in your mind." The Goddess looked at me.

"What was it like to work with my Father when he first came here? I know I have to figure things out and what happened to him here but I wanna know myself how it was like to be with him during the early days of his adventures." I asked quite a nice question with just enough information on how he could have handled things.

"Well for one he was also in the same spot as you were Alan. Confused, conflicted, and a bit happy at the same time. You were lucky since the people of this world already know your Father's greatness.

He had a tough crowd when he first arrived here. Asking that he should prove himself by being everyone's Hero and doing what's right to change things around with his own two hands. And he took that personally.

With hard work and a lot of patience. And I understate his amount of patience during those times and making a name for himself to establish that he could gain respect from even the normal folk that lived here.

I'm not saying you should relive his conditions, he wouldn't allow me to do so. That's beyond my control and that he would get really mad at me if I sent his son to his time." The Goddess felt relieved.

"Any clue where we're going now Lady Agata?" I asked one final time.

"Just head east from this point you'll visit your first village that got affected by the Demon Lord's presence here. They might give you information about the said Demon Lord." The Goddess points out the direction on where I should head as she disappears.

I prepared my sleeping bed as I lay down to sleep for the night before my first quest upon visiting the next village. A night slumber is important after tackling such a long walk from the place where I started, to now where I'm heading next.

Soon as the sun started to rise. I prepared and cleaned up the camp I set up during the night and gave myself a few minutes of walking towards the village. As I got closer I smelled something's off. And I have to move quickly to the village if I want to help them.