Ghost Town (I)

Just a few moments later, the little girl came running back with a blank expression on her face. She stopped right in front of Edric, dead silent as she stared up at him.

"Well, spit it out. The creature will be here any moment," he said hurriedly. 

Despite the tough act Jarvin had put up earlier, Edric doubted that the man would be able to put up much of a fight in the state they had left him.

"Th-There's no one in that village Mister," the girl stuttered, her lips quivering as she spoke.

"No one?" Edric whispered to himself as he walked past her, towards the village.

The area reminded him of the countrysides from back on earth, with cottages made from wood, and roofings from thatch. There were even a few animal pens, though there were no animals in sight.

The village had about 15 houses -by all accounts, this was quite the small community. Despite this, Edric expected at least a few people to be wandering outside of their houses, after all the sun was still up. 

~What happened to the crops?~ Edric thought to himself as he walked through the village, eyeing the crop fields towards his left.

He was unfamiliar with the sort of vegetation they were growing, however, he was certain that it wasn't supposed to ooze a slimy black sludge.

~And that smell,~ he thought to himself, as a gust of pungent-smelling air wafted past him.

"Mister, I don't think we should be here," the girl behind him whispered, holding onto his hand as he walked.

"You really shouldn't be hugging strangers like this little girl. Besides, isn't this your home? Was it like this when you left it?" Edric asked, using the hand carrying his black knife to shield his nose from the terrible smell.

"I-I live in Southport, I've never been this far out," she replied.

"Southport... where's that?" he asked, keeping an eye out on all the houses they passed by. 

He wasn't exactly sure why, but something about this place gave him the creeps.

However, if this really was an abandoned village, then there was a chance they could find some supplies. At the very least something to cover himself with. Although he did not feel particularly naked, it would still make it harder for him to assume any sort of believable role if he walked around like a madman. 

"Th-that way- no, or is it that way," the little girl mumbled to herself, still clinging onto Edric's hand.

The path they were currently using cut the village in half and stopped towards the far end of where the only stone house in the area stood. Though he had never been to the countryside before, Edric was certain that this particular house had to be the village leader's.

~That's as good a place to start as any,~ he thought to himself before approaching it.

"Mister, I really don't think we should be here," the girl whispered as Edric stretched his hand out towards the door, knife at the ready.

"Keep an eye out behind us, that creature is still on our tail," Edric replied, before slowly pushing the door. It swung open with a deafening creak, if anything was slumbering here, it was surely awake now.

The girl froze still at the sound, before quickly hugging on Edric's hand a little tighter.

"What's your name?" Edric asked, looking down at the girl for a moment.

"Afina," the girl replied.

"Afina, can you please let go of my hand? If something tries to attack us, I won't be able to move properly with you holding it," he said, before taking his hand back.

The girl struggled to grab it for a moment, before giving up, deciding that sticking close by him was enough for her.

~Well, wherever these guys ran to, they left in a rush,~ Edric thought to himself as he took in the scene in front of him.

The village head's house was about the size of a large room. It had a brown animal rug on the floor, covering the area right in front of a fireplace.

To the right was a table, with several items still laid on it. To the left was a cupboard, with a trap door just in front of it.

"Search the cupboard," Edric commanded, before heading towards the table.

It seemed that the village head was a writer of sorts, as there were at least a dozen parchments sprawled about the table. There were odd scribblings on them, however, they were not in any language Edric could understand.

~You give me the ability to speak with them, but not understand their writings?~ Edric thought to himself in annoyance. 

He quickly scrummaged through the parchments, looking to see if they were covering anything he could use. 

~A watch?~ Edric thought to himself, picking up a bronze pocket watch from the table.

~Broken,~ he realized, after noticing that one of the watch hands wasn't moving. Despite that however, the craftsmanship seemed to be top-notch. Or at least back on earth, it would've fetched quite the price.

This was no doubt something like a family heirloom, otherwise, there would be no reason for such a fine item to be in such a place.

"There's only clothes in here," the girl said from her side of the room.

Edric looked at her for a moment, his eyes landing on the brown cloak she was currently holding.

"Let me see that," he said, walking towards her quickly, before inspecting it.

It was a little on the small end, however, it would work to cover his scales.

~Speaking of which, this girl doesn't seem frightened by the fact I'm a Drasvalik. Perhaps I was worried for nothing,~ he thought to himself, before placing the pocket watch in one of the pockets of his cloak.

~Heavens this thing smells,~ he thought to himself, before looking through the cupboard for something that smelled a little less.

However, it seemed that this world generally didn't practice good hygiene.

"What's under here," Afina asked suddenly, distracting Edric from his search.

He looked down to where she was sitting on the floor.

"You aren't very smart, are you, Afina?" he sighed, as she struggled to open the trap door.