Helping

A group of men stood in the living room with serious expressions, their attention focused on what was being said by the middle-aged man with brown hair sitting in the chair. The atmosphere felt oppressive because what they were discussing would affect the future of the entire village.

"Ever since the seal of the Abyss weakened twenty years ago, magic energy in the air started getting contaminated by demonic energy, resulting in a drought that has plagued the entire kingdom. We've been through many trials to reach the far end of the continent where the demonic energy contamination isn't as severe, especially due to the presence of dragons that stabilize the magic energy in this region."

The village chief took a puff of his cigarette and exhaled smoke for a moment before continuing. "But now, the dragon is gone. The absence of the dragon's breath and its entire existence would make our land contaminated by demonic energy twice as quickly. Why? Because any living creatures need magic to live, even grass and ants."

"Animals' meat and blood contain magic energy, right? We can hunt and pour wild animals' blood to rejuvenate the farm." One of the men said with an unsure expression.

"Cough–" His idea made the village chief choke on his cigarette. "What are you thinking?! Animals aren't fools; they wouldn't come to a desolate place with low magic energy! They don't want to suffocate to death!"

The man slumped down in shame, while the others looked more worried than before. They tried to think of other methods, but it seemed that nothing would work. The village chief took a puff of his cigarette once again as his head spun to search for a solution.

In the end, he stood up and clapped his hands. "It's dinner time; you all can go out first. We can call the village elders to discuss this issue tomorrow morning."

"Okay, Chief Norman." The group of men slightly bowed to him before they walked out of the house.

Norman, the village chief, puffed out his cigarette and also walked out to visit the village's medicine hall. He saw his son Zarc standing together with a strange man, and he wondered why the guys didn't inform him about the appearance of this visitor.

After all, it had been years since the last visitor came, and it left them with an unpleasant experience.

"Father." Zarc noticed his arrival, and he smiled a bit. "This is Mauri, a herb picker who was lost in the dragon forest. He's the one who told us about the dragon's departure."

Mauri bowed slightly. "Good evening, Village Chief. My name is Mauri; I have been traveling around to pick herbs and accidentally got stranded in this region. This is the only village I've found for the past few days; I hope you can allow me to spend some nights here."

Norman puffed his cigarette for the last time, then he threw the cigarette's butt to the ground. He said with a funny expression. "Of course, there would be no other village except ours here; we're almost on the far edge of the Azreya Continent."

"Yes, even exiled criminals wouldn't come to a place where birds don't poop like here," Zarc said with a small chuckle. "If I didn't feel the fluctuation of magic energy on your body, I would think that you're a demon disguised as a human."

Mauri looked at him in surprise. "You can feel the fluctuation of magic energy?"

"Yeah! My family's innate skills are Perception and–" Before Zarc finished his words, Norman harshly stepped on his feet, which made him howl like a butchered pig.

"Shush! There's a patient inside!"

A hissing sound came out from inside the medicine hall, and Zarc immediately coughed to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry– oh, I just remembered about the herb!"

Zarc hurriedly went inside with a herb in his hand, leaving Mauri standing alone with his father outside. The situation was so awkward that it took both of them a few seconds before they resumed the conversation.

"We don't have an inn or a guest house in the village, but there's an empty room in my house," Norman said with a slightly reserved tone. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No problem. Zarc has invited me to his house; I just didn't expect that he's the son of the village's chief." Mauri smiled. He felt a bit lucky that he didn't need to spend the first night in a different world in the wild; at least he didn't have to guard against fierce animals.

Although he wasn't as lucky as the couple who got summoned formally, he thinks that staying in the capital city, which is the center of this world's trouble, isn't a good thing.

As Mauri and Norman continued their conversation outside the medicine hall, a sudden commotion erupted from within. Zarc's wife, Amelia, had unexpectedly gone into labor inside the building. Panic spread quickly, and Zarc suddenly rushed out, looking anxious.

"Father, Doctor Ran needs warm water!" Zarc exclaimed, his voice filled with urgency.

"Don't worry, you can wait for your wife with peace of mind," Norman said, and Mauri also offered to help.

Without wasting a moment, he and Mauri sprinted toward the well situated at the center of the village. The well was a vital source of water for the entire community. Although the amount of water wasn't abundant, it was their only sustenance during drought since there was no other source of water nearby.

After each of their hands brought two buckets of water, they hurriedly went to the backdoor of the medicine hall and poured the water into a large iron pot.

"Let's raise the pot together! One, two–" Norman counted as he and Mauri grabbed each side of the iron pot, which was bigger than their waist. After they managed to place the iron pot on the brick stove, Norman hurriedly lit a fire for the stove and walked into the medicine hall to see the situation.

Mauri sat alone near the fire while fanning his sweaty face. "Damn, I miss modern tap water! Who knew that drawing water from a well would be this exhausting..."

Although he complained, he knew that helping the village chief during this time would give him a good impression, and his chance to build a house and stay in the village would be bigger.