Bab 9: The Hunt for a Safe Haven

The next day, Vell wakes up and looks at Rika with a smile. He touches her cheek and says "How cute". He then gets up and heads outside the cave to look for food. Before leaving, Vell leaves a note for Rika telling her to pack everything up except for the cooking utensils.

Vell goes into the forest to hunt and possibly find some fruits. After some time, he comes across a deer and slowly approaches it, killing it with his spear. He brings it back to the cave, but hears some voices. He leaves the deer and goes towards the sound, where he sees a man and a woman who are also hunters. However, he sees that the woman is injured. Vell offers his help, but they are surprised and warn him to stay away. Vell insists that he just wants to help and goes to treat the woman's injured leg. After finishing, the woman thanks him and Vell responds with "You're welcome". The woman then stops Vell and says "Can you help us?" Vell responds "I don't want to". The woman continues "If you help us, we'll give you a place to stay in our village for as long as you like". Vell thinks for a moment and agrees, thinking of Rika who has been running non-stop. He invites them both to follow him briefly to pick up his belongings and Rika. When they arrive at the cave, Rika suddenly points her arrow at them, thinking they are enemies. Vell stops her and says "We need to help them for a bit, it's okay". Rika agrees without much thought and blushes, remembering the previous night.

After that, Vell cooked food for Rika and for both of them as well.

As they were eating, Vell asked for their names and the man replied that his name was Oga and the woman was Lina, the daughter of the village chief.

Vell asked again, "What do you actually want me to do?" Oga replied, "A few days ago, our village was attacked by a group of bandits and the village was taken by the bandits. Oga said again that Lina wants to go to the kingdom to seek help but was attacked by the bandits and her leg was injured earlier today."

After hearing their story, Vell understood and asked, "Why do you want my help?" Lina replied, "Maybe you can trick others with your appearance, but not with your strength." Lina continued, "My eyes can see the strength of someone and I can tell that Vell is very strong, but when I saw Rika, I know that Rika is stronger than Vell."

As they enjoyed their meal, they began their journey to Oga and Lina's village. Vell and Oga led the way while Lina and Rika followed behind.

Lina asked, "Are you Vell's child?" and Rika was surprised, responding, "No, I'm just a package to be delivered to a certain place."

Curious, Lina continued, "What is your power? Or do you only have power from crystals?"

Confused, Rika asked, "What do you mean by crystals? Is it some kind of jewelry?"

Lina clarified, "Yes, if that's what you meant. So, if you have your own power, then it's true that you don't need crystals."

Feeling uncomfortable with Lina, Rika moved closer to Vell, but Lina stopped her and said, "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I promise I won't do it again." Then, Lina offered Rika a candy, and Rika accepted it and ate it.

Following that, the focus shifts to Vell and Oga.

Vell asks, "What caused the bandits to attack your village? Was there something special that attracted them?" Oga replies, "I'm not sure, but perhaps they were drawn to an ancient statue that's over 700,000 years old."

Vell asks again, "Why would they be interested in an old statue like that? Wouldn't they want something else in your village, like gold, spices, or strategic locations?" Oga responds, "Our village doesn't have anything like that, except for the statue."

Vell asks again, "If what you say is true, then tell me what the statue can do. Is it a god that you all worship?" Oga replies, "Of course not, and don't play around with the name of the god. It's not good."

Vell apologizes to Oga, Oga continues , "According to the story of our elders, the statue is a descendant of a hero who fought in the war between humans and demons long ago."

Vell is excited to hear the story and asks Oga to continue. Oga goes on to say that most of the heroes in their village are descendants, and they carved the statue to remember the first hero who ever existed in the world. Oga also says that the statue still possesses some of the first hero's power and only worthy people can receive it.

After hearing the story, Vell thinks to himself that the hero's abilities are similar to Rika's and wonders if she is also a descendant of the hero, while observing Lina disturbing Rika.

Vell thanks Oga for the information, but wonders how the hero knows who is worthy of his power. Oga replies, "I don't know either."

While they are still talking, they arrive at the village, which is already surrounded by bandits. Vell notices a figure wearing a crystal chain and whispers, "Not good"

Oga finds it strange that Vell says this and asks why. Vell replies, "There is someone who has a crystal." After hearing this, Lina and Oga are surprised, and they look at each other while Rika is still confused.

Lina asks, "So, how do we save them?" Vell replies, "I might be able to fight that person, but if there is more than one person with a crystal, then I won't be able to win."

After hearing Vell's answer, they fall silent, and then they hear someone screaming. They see several bandits pulling a woman out of her house, forcing her to undress. A young boy tries to stop them, but they hit him hard with a fist.

Although they didn't witness the event, Vell has sharp eyes and returns to the forest to make a plan.

After a few time,

Oga asks, "Will this plan be successful?" Vell replies, "We won't know until we try."

As they were talking, Rika quietly approached Vell and asked what a crystal was. Vell explained that a crystal is a power born from magic, and that its abilities are very strong, but there will still be weaknesses. After hearing this, Rika understood.

Vell then asked Lina and Oga if this plan was good, and they both said yes.

That night, Rika was perched on a tree with her arrow, while Oga was behind the village. Lina came to the main door.

When the bandits saw her, they shouted, "There's a woman over there!" Then the strongest bandit, Rizad, appeared and approached Lina. He asked, "What are you doing here, my dear?" Lina replied, "I just want to free my family, and I'll give you anything you want in return."

Rizad asked, "Anything?" as he slowly touched Lina's body, but he suddenly stopped when a group of demons brought by Vell appeared. Rizad pushed Lina into the village.

Lina quickly went to the village chief and told him to bring everyone to the council hall. The chief followed her instructions, and Lina took a rope and went to the back of the village to throw it out for Oga to climb up.

After that, they all went to the council hall. Oga asked them to close all the windows with wooden planks and the door with a long, heavy chair. Then, they hid behind an overturned table.

Vell, who was on the main street of the village, began his attack on the bandits and demons. A brutal fight ensued, with Vell using his clones to jump from one place to another. After seeing that the bandits could not hold back the demons any longer, he jumped into the village. Yuzin, the leader of the bandits, was already there, holding a crystal in his hand.

Yuzin asked, "Who are you?" Vell replied, "I'm Vell." Yuzin said, "You look strong, but are you strong enough to fight me?"

Their fight began with Yuzin throwing punches, but Vell held his attacks with both hands while transforming into a skull of fire. The fight became intense as Vell entered one house after another, only to have them destroyed by Yuzin. Vell took a piece of wood and pierced Yuzin's chest, injuring him. However, Yuzin was not affected, and he lifted Vell and threw him.

Vell drew his sword and used his flaming blade technique, but it had no effect on Yuzin. Vell began to wonder why all his attacks were ineffective except for the wood earlier. He remembered that only wood could hurt him and ran to find some wood. He threw it at Yuzin and, as he expected, Yuzin was injured.

Vell picked up a wooden spear nearby and stabbed Yuzin, killing him.

As Vell was exhausted from the fight, several demons entered the village. He quickly stopped them by closing the door, but there was one demon behind him who wanted to attack. However, Rika shot an arrow that killed the demon. Several more demons died from inside to outside the village. Vell took advantage of this opportunity to close the door, and it was all over.

Rika went down the stairs and went to the back of the village to climb the rope.

Eight days later, Vell woke up from his sleep and looked over to see Rika lying next to him. He smiled and got out of bed, heading downstairs for breakfast. As he was making his way down, he heard someone shouting, "He's here! Our hero has arrived!" Vell told them to be quiet because Rika was still asleep, and they fell silent.

Vell had breakfast with the villagers and chatted with them about various things. Afterwards, he helped them repair their homes and clean up the remains of the demons and bandits. Rika also pitched in, washing clothes until her face was covered in grime.

Later in the day, Vell asked Lina if she could take Rika upstairs as he wanted to check something. Lina agreed, and Vell went to a place with beautiful flowers and a large statue of a hero. Vell said, "So this is where you were born, hero of Luagam."