Chapter 27: Riverbank

"Of course, I'll take her back every night till morning with me to our house. After work, that is. I hope mother will agree to my request."

The madam has no protest; she agreed readily.

"Yes, that's no problem. I'm also at ease with her beside me."

That response is just what Juan wanted. Soon, the madam stood up and prepared them the meal for this lunch on the table.

Juan stayed beside Ceth, who was looking at him without blinking.

'Honey, are you a doll? Won't your eyes hurt like that? '

Although this might be embarrassing, Juan somehow grabbed Ceth's soft hand with his.

"I can't just leave you alone in our house. I'm worried some wolf will take that time to hurt you. I hope you're not angry about leaving you here with your mother and father, right?"

When Juan said this, he was looking at her, meeting her unblinking gaze.

And somehow, Ceth's ears seem to flush pink at this time because of his action. But her face remained expressionless.

"Hmm."

So after having lunch, he left the village chief's house after saying some words and showing some intimacy hidden from the madam's view with Ceth.

Juan didn't immediately walk towards the construction area since his mother-in-law had already told the laborer that he was with the village chief right now.

A good excuse since the village chief is the highest voice of the village.

No one can find fault in him since what the village chief wants him to do is seen as more important.

"Now that I think about it, mother also talked about what happened to father and the hunters yesterday night."

'Although I don't really like to call him father, I can't do that outside since I'm already his son-in-law.'

"A monster with no fixed shape and form. It only appears at night or in some dark places away from the sun. It's more like a shadow."

"A shadow monster? Can it be killed? No, can they even hunt it? Garu and the hunters sure have some mystery around them when it comes to this topic."

"But it did show that these village hunters can fight them. They have their ways, which I do not have. Even the word 'courage' is missing in me."

Returning to his house, he picked up the empty pail and a jar inside. And then took them away and started walking out of the village straight to the river bank.

"Although the forest is safe for now, you still need to be careful! Shout to us immediately if you find anything dangerous. We will come to your rescue."

Sandre decided to leave him some advice before he left the village entrance when Juan passed by along the way.

"I will. Thank you."

After thanking him, he continued his journey towards the river bank.

It's a sunny day, as always.

Looking at the sun above the sky at the high center. It can be seen that he is currently located at the equator.

There are only two seasons, which are summer and rainy days.

"According to madam, the shadow monster seems to be unable to move beyond the shades. The morning sunlight or any light is their weakness."

"It's safe to say that only during this high noon hours is it safe to explore outside. And it must be in an open area like the grassland."

Upon realizing this, although Juan was feeling nervous at heart.

There's some uncertainty about whether that information is even reliable or not. Nevertheless, he braced himself for what to come.

He focused on his surroundings and moved quietly as much as possible. Only in this way will he feel somewhat secured in his heart.

Soon, he arrived at the river bank. He observed his surroundings as well as the water and some faint outlines of the fishes underwater.

"No monster nor any strange encounter was checked."

This made his tense heart and mind somewhat relax.

"If I just fill the pail and jar with river water, I won't have enough back at home to really satisfy me."

"Since this place is temporary safe, I should just take a bath here instead. But to be more careful, I should look around more."

Monsters are unpredictable. They might just pop up out of nowhere, which is something Juan doesn't wish to see.

A while later.

"Alright, there's nothing unusual. It's time to take a bath. Unfortunately, I have neither soap nor shampoo to use. Strangely though, I don't stink that much."

While taking off his clothes and standing naked at the river bank. Juan was doing two things at the same time.

He made use of the pail and scooped water into the river, which he poured into his head as he started taking a bath.

Another is his mind thinking about why Ceth was strangely smelling great despite the absence of fragrance-smelling products like soup and shampoo.

'Might be innate? This world is different from my previous one after all.'

He thought rather strongly.

'I might not have noticed it, but maybe they had their own ways? There's time on my side; I can just slowly explore them all.'

Juan stood up and found a rather good stone with a somehow fine, rough surface, just good enough to rub the dirt out of his skin.

Splash.

Suddenly, there was another sound of splashing elsewhere, which made Juan's body stiffen.

He immediately followed the directions for that splash but found nothing. Not even a ripple.

'Nothing? It must be my imagination.'

It might be his brain pranking him because he was all alone, but his heart wasn't as calm as he showed it on the surface.

!!!

'Who's there?!! Is what I really want to shout right at this moment, but I'm not stupid to show weakness at this moment.'

Juan stood up, having cleaned his whole body from head to toe.

Looking at the bright blue sky above, he noticed some dark clouds not far from the horizon and the change in temperature with the breeze.

'Its going to rain. I need to hurry and leave this place immediately.'

There has been this feeling Juan has been having since that splashing sound came out just now.

'Strange, I have been having a feeling that someone has been observing me from somewhere.'

After taking off his clothes from the big rock, Although it's uncomfortably hot, Juan still changed on them.

He filled up the pail and jar before walking away from the river and moving back to the village.

Throughout this whole thing, Juan didn't say a thing. Nor did he look around him in search of something.

'Imagination or not, if there really is someone observing me out there, It's definitely not a good thing for me. It might be an enemy.'

And there's only one enemy he knew out there while being a creep outside the village.

'The shadow monster? It's a high possibility. But there's also the possibility of a person. In any case, I need to return first and take cover.'

When Juan arrived at the village entrance, he met Sandre, who was eating some bread on the ground.

"Sandre, it might rain this afternoon or tonight. Also, I had a feeling someone has been observing me on the riverbank. Be careful if someone wants to go out there."

Juan decided to spread some caution on them since Sandre and his partner are the first ones that would bear the brunt of any unwanted situation.

Sandre smiled as he nodded and replied.

"I got it. Thanks Juan, I'll let the others know. Though I can surmise, that must be the monster yesterday. It still hasn't left out around the vicinity, huh."

"What a troublesome monster we have met. This one is different from the others we know of. And this coming rain, we can't light bonfires and torches around the village like this."

The one who spoke next was Sandre's partner, his brother. He had just woken up from his usual nap and heard Juan's caution just now.

Looking at the dark clouds coming from the horizon, his expression is serious at this time.

"Eh? Why?"

Juan was confused and interested in the topic.

"I don't know if you heard it, but monsters come in different forms and shapes. They are powerful and bizarre, but they each have one different striking weakness."

Sandre's brother continued.

"This one is hidden outside the village; we call it the shadow monster because it's like a shadow, hiding in shades when it's day but will only appear at night."

"There's also that it has no defined shape and form, although it can't hurt us. We can't be sure if that's truly the case. So it's best if you gather more firewood in your house right now."

"Make sure to light up your the inside of your house with a bonfire throughout the night to ward off unwanted things entering your house. Tonight, that shadow monster will surely invade the village."

The night, which is the shadow monster's domain, the rain, which prevents us from making use of it's weakness against it,.

Tonight will surely be a sleepless night. And the whole village might panic a little because of that.

"Just when my happy times were just starting."

Juan sighed helplessly. He's a weak human being, so all he could do was follow the lead of the masses.

"Don't worry, I'll do what you told me right now. Well, then, I'll return first."

"Go ahead."

"Alright."